Independent 6583/Dac - Wednesday 21.11.07
Posted by John on 21st November 2007
As usual Dac’s clues are consistently excellent. Few stand out (except for 14D), but they are always sound and have clear good surfaces. It’s a bit like Mozart (although Dac might feel a bit flattered to be compared to Mozart) - you think “how simple, I could have done that”, but no.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | M IF FED. |
| 4 | D(EXTR[a])OSE. |
| 10 | “Rue lard”. Is “lard” really “bits of bacon”? Not sure I’ve got this quite right. |
| 11 | ACE TATE. |
| 12 | LITTLE VOICE is a film; of which I’d only vaguely heard, but confirmed here. |
| 16 | SCRAP (a little bit) ME(T)AL. This took me a while since it seemed that “rubbish” was “crap”. After Morph the other day anything is possible. |
| 18 | C(ANON IS)T IC. Had never heard the word, but it was quite likely, so long as one accepts that “put” is a nothing word and just means “put next to”. Or so it seems to me. |
| 19 | (AGRA)*. What is the function of “in”, apart from helping the surface? |
| 21 | (IN PISA THREE)*, a pretty obvious anagram although it took me ages. |
| 25 | I had to use a crossword dictionary to discover that a girlfriend was a SQUEEZE, something that I never knew. |
| 26 | IMP(R)UDENT. |
| 27 | Yesterday. |
| Down | |
| 1 | MAR(B LEAR)CH. |
| 2 | FL(UTTER)ING. |
| 3 | E (One ultimately) M(AIL)S. Excellent clue. I approve of (6), not (1-5). |
| 5 | A cryptic definition that took me until I had almost all the checking letters. |
| 6 | “Thai” BEAMS. Had never heard of tie beams, but it was a pretty safe bet. |
| 7 | O KAY. |
| 8 | I think this is EXES, since a thrice-married man would have to pay alimony to more than one ex. But why thrice, and not twice, or often, or some such? |
| 9 | (CONVERTS AI SITE)*. This wasn’t totally easy since “Converts” could have been the (very dodgy) anagrind. But I suppose Dac wouldn’t have stooped thus. |
| 13 | (THAT CAME)* N T. |
| 14 | A(L TARP IE)CE. At first I thought this was simply a cryptic definition, but it’s a beautiful &lit. |
| 17 | KNO(T)W DEE rev. |
| 20 | JE(I US rev)T. |
| 23 | PRO P[arty]. |
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