Another well-crafted offering from Dac this week, but one clue didn’t seem to fit the normally excellent surfaces and wordplay.
Perhaps because we hadn’t heard the phrase ‘wall pass’ before (not being football afficionados), we first thought that there was a misprint in 27ac, as the clue didn’t seem to make any sense, and Dac’s surfaces are normally so good. However, once we had the crossing letters, there could only really be one answer – which turned out to be a synonym for ‘wall pass’. That said, we’re still not 100% sure about the parsing – does anyone have any other ideas?
Apart from that, this was another enjoyable Wednesday puzzle.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Act like Dac, presumably, embracing American puzzle | |
| BEMUSE | BE ME (act like Dac, as the setter) round or ‘embracing’ US (American) | |
| 4 | Show anger, clutching loud weapon | |
| AIR RIFLE | AIR (show) + RILE (anger) round or ‘clutching’ F (loud) | |
| 9 | Accepts place for hanging’s no good | |
| ALLOWS | ||
| 10 | Student leaders (American) linked to pro-Democrat city in Connecticut | |
| STAMFORD | ST (first two letters or ‘leaders’ of STudent) + AM (American) + FOR (pro) + D (Democrat) | |
| 12 | A late actor? | |
| PERFORMER | PER (a – as in ‘twice per day’ for example) + FORMER (late). We keep getting caught out by per=a but we do feel that it has become more common recently! | |
| 13 | Cinema in old county gutted | |
| ODEON | O (old) + DE |
|
| 14 | Hours teacher wasted in school | |
| CHARTERHOUSE | An anagram of HOURS TEACHER – anagrind is ‘wasted’ | |
| 18 | Making light of court case involving four from Rome, I burst into song | |
| TRIVIALISING | TRIAL (court case) round or ‘involving’ IV (four in Roman numerals) + I + SING (burst into song) | |
| 21 | Landowner – mostly secular, by the way | |
| LAIRD | LAI |
|
| 23 | Hot pancake? Chucks cold one | |
| DROP SCONE | DROPS (chucks) + C (cold) + ONE. What happened to drop scones? They were very popular when we were youngsters. | |
| 24 | Nice place to eat outside old hospital | |
| PLEASANT | PL (place) + EAT round SAN (old hospital) | |
| 25 | Fellow, one wearing clog, coming round | |
| TOBIAS | I (one) in or ‘wearing’ SABOT (clog) reversed or ‘coming round’. This unfortunately had nothing to do with paupers wearing clogs – a favourite pastime for Joyce at our local National Trust property! | |
| 26 | Drink knocked back? Then hang around for a piece of cake | |
| PUSHOVER | SUP (drink) reversed or ‘knocked back’ + HOVER (hang around) | |
| 27 | Wall pass with ball, after it reaches goal | |
| ONE-TWO | As mentioned in the preamble, we’re still not sure about the parsing: we think it is: W (with) O (ball) after O (it – the ball again?) + NET (goal). Does anyone have any other thoughts? | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Rowdy celebrities start to bash sailor up on deck | |
| BRAT PACK | B (first letter or ‘start’ to Bash) + TAR (sailor) reversed or ‘up’ on PACK (deck- as in playing cards) | |
| 2 | Abuse male, waving a rattle | |
| MALTREAT | M (male) + an anagram of A RATTLE – anagrind is ‘waving’ | |
| 3 | Tool repairer had medical consultation | |
| SAW DOCTOR | Cryptic definition – is there really such an occupation? | |
| 5 | Maybe detective interviewing in fear grabs hold of gun, nothing more | |
| INTERROGATOR | IN TERROR (fear) round or ‘grabbing hold of’ GAT (gun) O (nothing) | |
| 6 | Film, a combination of ‘The Artist’ and ‘Doctor No’ (‘second half’) | |
| RAMBO | RA (artist) + MB (Doctor) + O (‘second half’ of nO) | |
| 7 | Fine cow, perhaps: Daisy? | |
| FLOWER | F (fine) + LOWER (cow perhaps – an animal that lows) | |
| 8 | Conclusion: there’s no time for being a nurse | |
| ENDING | ||
| 11 | I’m heading for French region without ID: such recklessness | |
| IMPROVIDENCE | IM + PROVENCE (French region) round or ‘without’ ID. We liked this clue – reminds us of the time we drove to France without all the necessary documentation and worried about being stopped by the gendarmes. Two months previously our son had borrowed the car and Joyce was extremely careful that he had all the paperwork! | |
| 15 | Reduces amount of wild moss spreading round end of garden | |
| SLIMS DOWN | An anagram of WILD MOSS (anagrind is ‘spreading round’) + N (last letter or ‘end’ of ‘gardeN’) | |
| 16 | Prince is received by right strict Catholic? | |
| RIGORIST | IGOR (Prince) IS in or ‘received by’ RT (right) – not a word we’ve come across before | |
| 17 | Accepts drug should be put into storage, possibly | |
| AGREES TO | E (drug) in an anagram of STORAGE –anagrind is ‘possibly’ | |
| 19 | Sort of meal friends organised? | |
| SLAP-UP | PALS (friends) reversed or UP | |
| 20 | Stands keeping kit, it turned out, for motorcyclists | |
| BIKERS | BIERS (stands) round or ‘keeping’ K |
|
| 22 | Party in lead is Conservative | |
| DISCO | Hidden in ‘leaD IS COnservative’ | |
Thanks for the blog BertAndJoyce. Re: 3d – check out http://www.sdauk.co.uk/ for saw doctors in the UK. They really do exist and I have used them.
Thanks Dac and BertandJoyce
I don’t often try the Indie, but is was quite good fun. I didn’t parse STAMFORD or BIKER. I think your parsing for ONE TWO works if the “it” does mean “ball” again.
There is a great band from Galway/Mayo called “The Saw Doctors”! Have a listen to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_5nP9VKxbQ
B&J – I parsed ONE-TWO the same as you. Another good Dac puzzle IMHO, and I finished in the SE with TOBIAS after RIGORIST.
A lot of good stuff in there – and I spotted “A = PER” – woohoo!!
Thanks all.
Thought pleasant a bit weak, but the drop scone was a guess. Bit of a curates egg some cracking stuff with a few that misfired. Thanks B&J and the ever reliable Dac
Re 23a: I always thought they were called ‘dropped scones’, those Scottish pancakes – – . Nice puzzle and parsing nonetheless.