The DA Trippers

2 down: Dug light drink carrier (3, 4)

I figured this was tea tray, but I had no idea why dug = teat. A dictionary told me, though, that dug is exactly a teat as well as being related to a shovel.

7 down: Barge equestrian champ (3)

Here, barge = hoy = equestrian champ (as in Andrew Hoy, the Olympic gold medallist). Until I looked it up, I had no idea barge = hoy.

13 across: …stars in carbon-free cycle wear (4)

This one was guessable with cycle wear = lycra so that carbon-free cycle wear = lyra = stars. And with that, I learnt a new constellation.

16 across: Woeful line with PC-adapted tool for editing (4, 6)

We’ve got woeful = blue and line with PC-adapted = pencil so that woeful line with PC-adapted = blue pencil = tool for editing. What I had no idea of was that a blue pencil is customarily used for editing.

19 across: How rappers welcome politico slog? (4)

How rappers welcome = yo and politico = mp, but who knew before doing this crossword that yomp is slang for slog?

17 down: Leaner dog breed?! (7)

Leaner = lurcher = dog breed. What I didn’t know is that a lurcher is a crossbred dog.

26 across: Headlined feature: High Water Repelled Vermin (5, 3)

RC, in his guise as a well-travelled geographer, came out with tarn as a small mountain lake, which I had never heard of. With that, we had ourselves the following explanation: headlined feature = brow and high water = tarn gave headlined feature: High Water Repelled = brown rat = vermin.

Update: Now that I know how the following clue works, thanks to AL, I’ve got another teaching to list:

21 across: Savage dog returns about mating period (6)

Dog = lab and mating period = rut (which was news to me), which gives dog returns about mating period = brutal = savage.

(the circled answers are either incorrect or benefited from the Saturday Age)

This one took a long time to get done. I didn’t have all that much time to devote to the crossword, and, quite frankly, I didn’t get very far early on when I tried. Thankfully, RC, N? (she’s new!) and I got together at a Melbourne Cup Day barbecue to hammer out most of it and leave ourselves mightily perplexed by three clues we could not answer.

As usual, this crossword features some DA Gold and DA Confusion. What is unprecedented is the amount of DA Teachings on offer: I learnt seven new words from this one crossword alone!

I haven’t yet had a good go at last Friday’s cryptic, and tomorrow’s public holiday for Melbourne Cup Day, at least in Melbourne, is shaping up as a good time to devote myself to DA.

But, in the meantime, here’s a little cryptic crossword I prepared earlier. It was my first attempt at creating a 15 x 15 cryptic, and, well, it was fun.

Here it is:

Geoffrey Rush, or GR, is as cool as I thought; he too loves a DA cryptic, as this excerpt from an Age article attests:

He is, for instance, addicted to the cryptic crossword in Friday’s Age by “DA” (David Astle) - so much so, he insists that overseas friends who like crosswords access it online. (”He’s the Sergeant Pepper of cryptic crosswords. A complete mindfuck.”)

22 down: Worker with practically nothing? That smells! (6)

I was pretty sure this was making reference to a nose, but I had no idea that a slang term for nose is beezer, so that worker = bee and practically nothing = zer, giving worker with practically nothing? = beezer = that smells!.

25 across: Brief spy issue (6)

I had never heard of Molson as a beer, and here we have spy = mole, brief spy = mol and issue = son (which I’m not completely sure about), giving brief spy issue = Molson = beer (the crossword’s theme).

1 down: Family collected one semi-tropic herb for Americans (8)

Herb for Americans = cilantro, but exactly how everything else fits together is beyond me.

2 down: Feature a themed salute, doubled? (4)

I’m guessing feature = chin, but the rest I’m completely at a loss to explain.

21 down: Putting off shaking bub’s toy? (8)

I’m supposing shaking bub’s toy = rattling, but I can’t explain the other half of the clue.

24 across: Outright authority (4)

The answer, Bass, is a beer, but how outright authority = bass remains a mystery.

19 down: Not moved during Nazi summer? (7)

Disappointing effort, although, thankfully, it did not adversely affect the answering of this clue. Here, Nazi = Hess and not moved = otn so that not moved during Nazi = hotness = summer. That hotness = summer, though, is just not good enough.

3 down: The rest of Barcelona change top for party (6)

This took a while, but the semantic switch makes for a nice clue indeed. Party = fiesta so that change top for party = siesta = the rest of Barcelona.

6 down: Within a schedule, skipper shows respect, perhaps, is in reach (10)

Ridiculously clever clue. Here, skipper = captain, skipper shows respect = tain (one doffs one’s cap to show respect) and schedule = table so that within a schedule, skipper shows respect, perhaps = attainable = is in reach.

7 down: Residents liable to be punished by thematic overindulgence? (6)

As mentioned in the report, RC conjured up livers as a synonym for residents so that residents = livers = liable to be punished by thematic overindulgence to reveal the theme.

22 across: How this themed group is made in group-speak (6)

Nice sounds-like clue, with group = brood so that group-speak = brewed = how this themed group is made.

(The red clues were from the Saturday Age)

RC is back in town after many months of absence, and Friday night we caught up over wine and a DA.

Themed crosswords have been a feature of DA’s efforts of late, but we had never before been greeted with the peculiar instruction:

Please note: all across clues are 22-across, and go otherwise undefined.

We weren’t sure how to correctly interpret the instruction. My guess was that the answers to the across clues in sequence would constitute a poem or the lyrics to a song. The absence of short clues for English’s prepositions, pronouns and articles put paid to such a notion, so we plunged headlong into the down clues, hoping something would come of our efforts over time.

We did manage to get a few answers out, but it was RC who made the important breakthrough on the humorous 7-down:

7 down: Residents liable to be punished by thematic overindulgence? (6)

Somehow, from somewhere in the dark recesses of his prodigious mind, RC managed to drag out livers as a synonym for residents so that residents = livers = liable to be punished by thematic overindulgence. And, with that, we had ourselves the theme locked up.

Clearly, alcohol had something to do with the theme, and when RC in a flash turned to 12-across and proclaimed it to be Stella Artois, we knew we had for ourselves an amber-ale-themed crossword.

Notwithstanding the theme being revealed, further progress was arduous; DA had still managed to make the crossword quite difficult even for boys well-versed in beer. We called it a night having done about half the crossword some time after midnight, and we were both impressed by the amount of mental strain involved in getting as far as we did, which wasn’t all that far at all.

I answered a few more clues on Saturday before admitting defeat and consulting the answers on Sunday. How a few of the clues work still baffles me; how my favourite of all beers, Tsingtao, went unsolved baffles me still more.

Thanks to the commenters, we’ve got the following pieces of highly exquisite gold:

1 down: Safe cushy job in shed (6)

Here, cushy job = sinecure giving cushy job in shed = secure = safe (very nice use of shed as a verb rather than a noun).

5 across: She’s hot to trot — yet inert after big apple? (6)

This clue is one part nasty to two parts gold. The brilliant piece of nastiness comes from inert = mpho, which is an inspired shorthand for zero miles per hour. With that we then get big apple = ny, giving yet inert after big apple? = nympho = she’s hot to trot.

9 across: Princess stops old Israel national siding with America (8)

Again, another inventive use of a word, in this case siding. What we’ve got here is princess = di and old Israel = canaan, which gives princess stops old Israel = canadian = national siding with America (where siding takes on the meaning of bordering in this instance).

13 across: Old redhead composer in cuckoo grove (9)

Wonderful reference to a political leader with composer = bach and cuckoo grove = gorev giving composer in cuckoo grove = gorbachev = old redhead.

7 down: Fledgling detainee singularly supported infinite truce (8)

This is perhaps one of the most difficult and brilliant clues DA has ever created. Detainee = hicks, detainee singularly = hick, truce = peace and infinite peace = peac (something infinite is endless), all of which means detainee singularly supported infinite truce = peachick = fledgling.

8 down: Sick of what you see in summary (8)

Yet again, DA invents. Sick of = over (think slang) and what you see = view, so that sick of what you see = overview = summary.