RC, NC, EC, PC and JC have all been mentioned or actively contributed to this blog.
But is that C a coincidence?
Does the C predispose one for cryptic crosswords?
Does C in any (or all) of these cases actually stand for cryptic or crossword?
A special thanks to AL for his sterling efforts deciphering DA and inspiring me to write up this DA Gold post.
21 down: #1 ranking immune to upset? (3, 4)
Read top spot backwards. And read go hang a salami, i’m a lasagna hog backwards for the fun of it while you’re at it too.
Great palindrome clue from DA, with #1 ranking = top spot = immune to upset.
7 down: My stretched cats…
I couldn’t figure out a place to start with this, and so it remained unstarted. Thankfully, AL came through with my = gee and stretched = long, giving my stretched = geelong = cats.
So short and ever so sweet!
I had mentioned to TH that I had spent an unhealthy amount of time making acca-dacca x jokes with a friend at a party, as in “a person who masturbates to ac/dc is an acca-dacca whacker”.
About a week later, TH texted me from country Victoria on Boxing Day to let me know that I would enjoy DA’s themed crossword. Not long after, I could confirm he was correct in his supposition.
Let there be rock, let there be DA.
10 across: Directly opposed to Milne capturing live music intro (5)
There’s Steven Milne the footballer and AA Milne the author, but I don’t know the answer to the clue.
12 across: Ruthless lord lodged protest rally, unseating friend in power (9)
Umm…?
22 across: Indigenous people from Grafton in crime report (5)
We figured this was Sioux just because it fit with the cross clues, but we had no idea why.
24 across: See you later for Spooner’s dog advice (6-3)
It hurt not being able to solve this Spooner, but unsolved it remains.
27 across: Wardrooms switch in favour of man astride a steed? (9)
???
28 across: Suffering inertia? Not in the extreme! (9)
Looks like an anagram of inertia could be involved…
29 across: Twisted, bit like Camp David guest (5)
Again, hmmm…?
5 down: Silent, cruder, gutless orator? No way (7)
Nothing.
7 down: My stretched cats… (tempt) (7)
???
21 down: #1 ranking immune to upset? (3, 4)
Top spot looks good, but I have no explanation.
23 down: Part of the team pawns post (2, 5)
???
24 down: Bantu speakers regularly tour around 21-down (5)
No clue really.
Me and TH met at Sicilian Orange the Sunday closest to its release date. We didn’t last long at the cafe, mostly because the thought of doing the DA while watching the cricket was too tantalising a prospect on the fifth day of the WACA test.
Sadly, though, hardly any wickets fell on the last day and South Africa won comfortably. Equally sadly, we only got halfway through the DA, we don’t have the answers and I didn’t get around to posting it until now.
Now’s your chance to be one up on DA!
Over at DA’s website, he’s asking for some help in solving a couple of clues from a London Times puzzle.
I’ve helped out with one of the clues (although the comment is still in moderation), but the other remains unexplained. I’m supposing someone else might be able to provide a solution (I’m looking in your directions, AL and NC).
6 across: Moptops surely warrant a barber (4)
Does this one actually break the rules? RC said it best when explaining how to solve cryptic crosswords to an anonymous someone: “If the first or last word is not part of the direct clue, you’ll read about it the next day in the letters to the editor. Actually, you will never read about it in the letters to the editor the next day because it just won’t happen.”
The answer here is tops surely warrant a barber = swab = mop. Without the cross clues, I would say that this is nigh-on impossible because only a portion of the first word, which, admittedly, is the first portion of the first word, is the direct clue.
Did DA go too far here? I say yes.
11 down: Sportingly heroic cubist captures modern leader among Europeans (12)
and
24 down: Halting, big lit on queen (10)
The stroke of brilliance, the q that these two clues share, almost resulted in these clues being left unanswered.
I thought the only three possible answers for cubist in 11-down were pablo, picasso or bracque (sic). I dismissed the last possibility because of what I thought was the inopportune q, but it required EC’s voicing the possibility of the answer ending in esque for me to reconsider the lesser-known cubist as an option. And when I did, I squealed like a school girl when I realised that the answer combined a sporting reference with an artistic reference so that cubist = braque (not bracque), modern leader = m and Europeans = Danes, thereby giving cubist captures modern leader among Europeans = bradmanesque = sportingly heroic.
24-down was a cinch with the q in place, although, again, we might never have realised that it was an anagram clue without the letter already there. Here, it’s just bug lit on queen = ineloquent = halting.
7-down: Content of his poetry has merit!
Everyone loves an &lit clue, and this was no exception. Here, content of his poetry = words and merit = worth, giving content of his poetry has merit = wordsworth = content of his poetry has merit.
9 across: How we pay less often after shop robber of yore (6, 4)
???
10 across: Rejecting famous Battersea? (4)
Not even a once over with Google helped with this one.
15 across: Again try — big edge nicked — appeal! (9)
I thought it might be appeal = tempt, big edge = tear, big edge nicked = reat, which gives big edge nicked — appeal! = reattempt = again try, but I’m unsure.
17 across: Bleak Dover captured retro spirit (5)
Retro spirit might be rum or ale backwards…
20 across: British trendoid called in resale on mobile (6, 6)
Might have something to do with mobile = ringer or mobile = ranger?
3 down: Brings up the rear? (6-6)
???
5 down: Registered a mariner strike (7)
Again, ???
13 down: Supplies for dreams? (10)
I can’t remember the last time I had less of a lead on a clue than for this one.
14 down: This sort of detective doesn’t run! (4-6)
???
8 down: Turkish delight minus six-pack? (5, 5)
We figured the answer was belly dance, just that we had no reason as to why.
1 across: Foot bone armoured at near end? (10)
No one could quite figure out a cogent reason for why the answer is metatarsal, but it does fit!
Nothing has been posted for a while due to our cryptic commune’s lack of co-ordination. We’re back, though, all together in Melbourne once again, and even EC made it into town from Katherine.
This one was a blank slate in my back pocket since its appearance on the 12th. Sadly, it remained largely blank after it was finally attempted only yesterday at my house in the company of RC and EC, with special guest appearances by JC.
This one we considered especially tough. We could not work out most of the answers, and we had not the newspaper that printed the answers.
And besides those unanswered clues, we were left to ponder the following: is this the only example of a cryptic that has ever filled a blank shared by two clues with the letter q?