What would Wednesday be without a Dac (or an occasional Crosophile)?
Dac has come up trumps again with a set of finely crafted, wholly sound clues – does he ever not? – with no tortuous wordplay in sight. Overall, this was a quicker-than-average Dac solve for me, with just the NE quadrant proving a tad problematic.
I didn’t really know the use of 7 as “rescue”, but Chambers Thesaurus confirms it. The wordplay at 8 foxed me for a while. I wondered about goody-goody? for the definition at 19, but I suppose the addition of the question mark could allow a more positive reading of the term. My favourites today were 27 and 3, both for their misleading/well-hidden definitions, and 16 for its smooth surface.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | LET OFF | Spare a portion of treacle toffee
Hidden (“a portion of”) in “treacLE TOFFee” |
| 04 | WISTERIA | Plant is to be put in water I fancy
IS in *(WATER I); “fancy” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | CHEQUE | Means of payment coming to light in auditor’s examination
Homophone (“auditor’s”) of “check” (=examination) |
| 10 | ONE-LINER | Using the Internet conserves energy, right? That’s a joke!
[E (=energy) in ONLINE (=using the Internet)] + R (=right) |
| 12 | RAINPROOF | Slate on top of house keeping home protected from storms?
IN (=(at) home) in [RAP (=slate, i.e. pan, criticise) + ROOF (=top of house)] |
| 13 | SHOVE | Push south, reaching coastal town near Brighton
S (=south) + HOVE (=coastal town near Brighton) |
| 14 | TAKE NO NOTICE | Keen to act on information at first? Wrong – turn a blind eye
*(KEEN TO ACT ON + I<nformation>); “at first” means first letter only; “wrong” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | RECEPTIONIST | Hotel employee unfortunately not precise with IT
*(NOT PRECISE + IT); “unfortunately” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | HEATH | Former PM finding pressure hard?
HEAT (=pressure, as in to stand the heat) + H (=hard); the reference is to Conservative PM Edward Heath |
| 23 | MATRICIDE | Killer’s identity revealed within a short time, following lead for Morse
M<orse> + [ID (=identity) in A + TRICE (=short time)]; “lead for” means first letter only |
| 24 | RANKLING | Status assigned to Liberal in government is causing resentment
RANK (=status) + L (=liberal) + IN + G (=government) |
| 25 | STATED | Said women in army once backed 21
STA (ATS=women in army once, i.e. Auxiliary Territorial Service; “backed” indicates reversal) + TED (=Heath, i.e. entry at 21) |
| 26 | BANJOIST | Outlaw support for musician
BAN (=outlaw) + JOIST (=support) |
| 27 | PRAYER | Maybe collect rupees held by person settling bill
R (=rupees) in PAYER (=person settling bill); a collect is a short prayer conveying one main petition |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LACERATE | Cut price – under £1?
L (=£, as in LSD) + ACE (=1, i.e. in cards) + RATE (=price) |
| 02 | THE KINKS | Pop group regularly perky, inspired by muses
<p>E<r>K<y> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) in THINKS (=muses); the reference is to English rock band The Kinks, formed in 1964 |
| 03 | FOURPENCE | Change railings surrounding our patio at the front
[OUR + P<atio> (“at the front” means first letter only)] in FENCE (=railings) |
| 05 | IN NO FIT STATE | Ailing local from Italian community
INN (=local (pub)) + OF (=from) + IT (=Italian) + STATE (=community) |
| 06 | TALUS | Bone can be set in hospital usually
Hidden (“can be set in”) “hospiTAL USually”; the talus is the ankle-bone |
| 07 | RANSOM | Rescue Romans in trouble
*(ROMANS); “in trouble” is anagram indicator; ransom is rescue in the sense of redemption, deliverance |
| 08 | AGREED | Shared same opinion about old houses
RE (=about, i.e. regarding) in AGED (=old) |
| 11 | COUNTERMANDS | Overturns stand at Marks and Spencer
COUNTER (=stand, i.e. display) + M and S (=Marks and Spencer) |
| 15 | CHORISTER | Singer, one drowned by orchestra playing endlessly
I (=one) in *(ORCHESTR<a>); “endlessly” means last letter dropped; “playing” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | MINISTRY | Government department is getting in millions in tax
IS in [M (=millions) + IN + TRY (=tax, i.e. of patience) |
| 17 | ATTENDER | I’ll be there to make offer after a short time
A + T (=time) + TENDER (=to make offer) |
| 19 | CHERUB | Polish guerrilla, initially a goody-goody?
CHE (=guerrilla, i.e. Che Guevara) + RUB (=polish) |
| 20 | TANNIN | Ingredient of wine girl carried in container
ANN (=girl) in TIN (=container) |
| 22 | HELLO | Fellow will love glossy magazine
HE’LL (=fellow will) + O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis) |
Thank you to setter and blogger. Reasonably gentle after yesterday but very enjoyable. Theme? I don’t think 2 included a 15, 26 or for that matter were particularly 19’ic. Maybe 21 used to moonlight for them tickling the ivories?
I agree that this puzzle was towards the easier end of Dac’s spectrum but was still a fun solve. The SW was the slowest to reveal itself and CHERUB was my LOI after TANNIN.
Perfect! A beatifully constructed XWord with an immaculate blog.
I thought this was a top class DAC puzzle. For a while I was convinced that 20 would be some chemical I’d never heard of, but it turned out I had. The SW was also the most difficult part for me – 19 was deceptive with the misleading “initially” pointing you towards initial letters. I was toying with things like cheagg for a while.
Fine stuff RR and Dac. Some silly miswriting buggered me good and proper. Cherub had me scratching my head for a while for reasons I can mo longer see.
Reasonably quick solve until we had 2 left in the SW corner when we ground to a halt. They were perfectly fair – we just missed the misdirections!
Thanks Dac – excellent clueing as always. Thanks RR for the blog!