The usual thing: every clue has a silky-smooth surface that never compromises the parsing. I thought this was on the hard side for a Dac and it took me some while to understand one or two, particularly 23ac, which I almost gave up on, but my parsing is I think what he intended, although perhaps it is on the edge compared with Dac’s usual.
After his Nina on April 1st I was wondering if Dac has decided to make a change from his policy of not using them; but I can see nothing and no doubt he has returned to his old ways.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOPE |
Fool enters the podium backwards (4)
Hidden reversed in thE PODium |
| 3 | DARTS MATCH |
Hurries to agree indoor sports fixture (5,5)
darts [= hurries] match [= agree] |
| 9 | SWEEPING CHANGES |
In school, tearful learner cuts corners: major reforms needed (8,7)
s(weeping)ch ang{l}es cuts meaning ‘doesn’t appear in’ rather than ‘comes in the middle of’ |
| 11 | INCLEMENT |
Harsh measure taken by so-called Labour leader (9)
in. Clement Clement Attlee |
| 12 | SONJA |
Portion of damson jam for Norwegian girl (5)
Hidden in damSON JAm |
| 13 | SPIRIT |
Brandy bottle? (6)
2 defs: it really needs to be ‘Brandy? bottle’ to get round this Dac could have had ‘bottle of brandy?’ but perhaps he wanted to avoid the link-word |
| 14 | BRUNETTE |
Beastly sort conceals trap for brown-haired girl (8)
bru(net)te |
| 17 | CHEQUERS |
Country house provides toast, without question (8)
che(qu)ers this country house |
| 18 | SHOWER |
Who might expose worthless group? (6)
2 defs one of them of a show-er |
| 21 | ALARM |
A large weapon creating panic (5)
a l arm |
| 23 | GUINEA HEN |
Stale bread he placed at end of garden for bird (6,3)
guinea [stale bread: old money] he {garde}n this bird |
| 24 | SAINT PETERSBURG |
Russian GP better off here? (5,10)
(Russian GP better)* |
| 25 | SCARLATINA |
Silky material covers boy with a contagious illness (10)
s(Carl)atin a another name for scarlet fever |
| 26 | BENN |
Political family, one coming from part of Africa (4)
Benn (as in Tony Benn and Hilary Benn and others like old Viscount Stansgate) Ben{i}n |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DISMISS |
Sack female teacher after inspector’s taken over (7)
Miss with DI’s over [= above] it |
| 2 | PRESCRIBE |
Strongly recommend vacuous potboiler by English writer (9)
p{otboile}r E scribe |
| 4 | ARNHEM |
Servicemen caught in a border battle (6)
a (RN) hem |
| 5 | TACITURN |
Saying little about it after army’s going to pot (8)
c it after TA, followed by urn |
| 6 | MEALS ON WHEELS |
Maybe lunches and dinners too brought in by people with lists (5,2,6)
me(also)n w heels |
| 7 | TIGON |
Reportedly Asian left, cross (5)
“Thai gone” a tigon is a cross between a male tiger and a lioness |
| 8 | HOSTAGE |
Prisoner with form of identification sewn into breeches, once (7)
hos(tag)e |
| 10 | PRECIOUS METAL |
Somehow locates impure gold, perhaps (8,5)
(locates impure)* |
| 15 | TOWN HOUSE |
Arrangement for South-East to limit private dwelling (4,5)
own in (south e)* |
| 16 | FRAGMENT |
Piece newspaper employees inserted in Financial Times (8)
F(rag men)T newspaper employees are. rather fancifully, rag men or else it’s rag = newspaper, men = employees I’m not sure which is the parsing Dac intended, perhaps either |
| 17 | CLASSES |
Girl admitted to these French groups in school (7)
C(lass)es |
| 19 | RΦNTGEN |
Physicist, right-on gent, possibly (7)
(r on gent)* this physicist |
| 20 | PIGEON |
Bird seen regularly in spring, and a long time afterwards (6)
{s}p{r}i{n}g eon |
| 22 | ANIMA |
Aspect of personality a mother from the province shows (5)
‘A NI ma’ is a mother from the province of NI |
Contrary to John’s impression, I foung this middle-of-the-road for Dac – no particular problems and a delightful diversion. I know “animus” but not “anima”, which was the only answer I still had in pencil when I finished. “Scarlatina” was my last answer.
Congratulations to Dac on the splendid anagram for Saint Petersburg!
And thanks to John and Dac, of course.
I agree that the anagram for SAINT PETERSBURG was a cracker. I also agree that Dac’s use of “stale bread” in the clue for GUINEA HEN is a little more cryptic than we’re used to seeing from him. Still, it was another fine Dac puzzle, and INCLEMENT was my LOI after TACITURN.
Gosh tumbleweed time here, nothing to moan about I guess. Thanks John & Dac, messed up with 19 as in my youth he was spelled Roentgen which made a mess of my grid when I realised it didn’t fit. Lovely spot on 25a