Introduction
It was somewhat demoralizing to see Big Dave headline his blog "An easy puzzle today" after havng surrendered with two clues unsolved.
Today's Glossary
Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle
Dave Cameron - leader of the Conservative Party in the UK and apparently not the British football (soccer) player and manager and most definitely not the obscure Canadian hockey player
dosser - slang a homeless person sleeping on the street
tiddler - Brit colloq a small fish
Today's Links
An indication of the ease of today's puzzle (at least in the mind of the Brits) may be the fact that I found only a single question on AnswerBank discussing today's puzzle. It (together with the clues to which it relates) is:
- AnswerBank [DT 25854]-a: 26ac, 24d
Commentary on Today's Puzzle
The clues that did me in:
1d A little dab? (7)
I knew that one meaning for "dab" was a kind of flatfish. However, this knowledge proved of little use, having never heard of the term TIDDLER. If I had persevered long enough, I may have eventually found the solution among the 76 possibilities suggested by Chambers Word Wizard based on the checking letters.
3d Taxing split by English leader (6)
In hindsight, this is not that difficult a clue. However, I got on the wrong path (and foolishly never left it) thinking that split was being used as a containment indicator. I spent a lot of time in a futile search for a word meaning "leader" that could be formed by inserting "E" into another word meaning "taxing".
Other clues of interest:
14ac Put in rinser to clean (6)
In his review, Big Dave seems to suggest the solution goes as follows:
14ac Put [INSERT] /\ {in (hidden word indicator)} {r[INSER T]o clean} (6)
Based on a feeling that "insert" means "put in" rather than "put", I came up with a slightly different explanation:
14ac Put in [INSERT] /\ {r[INSER T]o} {clean (delete the outer letters} (6)
That is, I interpreted the word "clean" to be an instruction to delete the first and last letters of the phrase "rinser to".
20ac He made "Small step" with crew (8)
I saw the connection to Neil Armstrong's pronouncement, "One small step ...", upon setting foot on the moon, as well as "crew" meaning MAN. However, the obvious "[S]mall step [PACE]" wordplay escaped me. To explain the solution, I resorted to using a definition for "space" meaning "one of the areas between or below or above the lines of a musical staff" which could presumably be thought of as a "step".
These latter two examples show, as the old saying goes, there is often "more than one way to skin a cat."
Solution to Today's Puzzle
| Legend: | "CD" Cryptic Definition; "DD" Double Definition |
| "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed | |
| "( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted |
7ac CITADEL* - DIALECT*
8ac L|EARNED
10ac ADULT|E_|RATE - [E]ye
11ac V(IS)A
12ac REAPPEAR - CD
14ac _INSERT_ - r[INSER T]o
15ac DESPERATION* - {PAINTER DOES}*
19ac S(A|L)OON
20ac S|PACE|MAN
22ac BAN|E
23ac TREMENDOUS* - {SEEM ROTUND}*
25ac KERATIN - CD
26ac L|IGNITE
Down
1d TIDDLER - CD
2d C|ALL
3d SEVER|E
4d DERELICT* - {CIDER LET}*
5d GRAVE(S)TONE
6d ME|A|SURE
9d HAIRDRESSER - CD
13d P(HEN|O|MEN)AL
16d PONYTAIL_* {[PLAIT ONLY] - [L]ong}*
17d CA(DAVE)R
18d FA(C)ULTY
21d ACE|TIC
24d D|ONE
Signing off for today - Falcon
Hi Falcon,
ReplyDeleteI'm the compiler of this crossword and thought that you might like some feedback. Big Dave was quite correct in his explanations. For 14ac, I'm afraid that the word 'clean' was used merely for the surface reading. With hindsight, I could have constructed a better clue. 20ac is just as Dave said with, I think, no further explanation needed.
Regards,
RayT
Hi RayT,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. There can certainly be no more "authoritative" answer than one coming straight from the author.
The use of "clean" as a possible instruction to remove the outer letters was suggested to me by one definition of clean being to "remove shells or husks from ('Clean grain before milling it')" [Ref.: OneLook Dictionary Search - Quick Definitions .