When working through this weeks' DA I only got 11. I'll half claim another 4 because I managed to get the answer through wordplay but I was so convinced the answer was wrong because it was local slang I discounted the answer as correct.
What I absolutely do love about the DA puzzles is they challenge this pedant inside me, and make puzzles what they should be: a fun challenge. A challenging fun thing to do. With jokes! Yes crosswords can have jokes. Cheeky jokes, in the club jokes, "you had to be there," jokes. I'm still not feeling like part of the gang so when I completely miss the joke I feel left out. I have to put that aside. I'm not being excluded, I'm being invited! By taking this very real challenge to learn how to work these puzzles, I'm invited into this club every time I pick up my pencil and have a go.
I'll have to pluck out my ego and shove into the #5 pocket - because except for a condom or a tampon that pocket is useless. Perfect for egos needing knocked down in size. There's no space in my life for being a crossword snit.
I know it's Sunday, but these puzzles do take longer to solve. You know I've never managed to get to the Saturday cryptic - I feel bad for DS I don't give them a better go.
Here's what I've got, click it to big it:
1A - She tends to the young noble receiving backhand (13)
Nurse? Nanny? Aupair? Mom? No! Welcome to the 20th century where a woman can also be a PAEDIATRICIAN. Yes, I did go the nurse route first, that's as much a jab to me as anyone. I don't get the word play entirely. Yes I see PATRICIAN as a synonym for "noble" but how we insert "AEDIA" into that I can't see.
10A - Hardly rush Punter after conceding boundaries (5)
Which part is the definition? Not easy to see. I saw "rush" followed by "Punter" with a capital P and thought it might be a person, like Geoffrey Rush. Why else capitalise Punter? Well after many quit/retry from another angle, I can only assume the Capital P is there to completely annoy us. Red Herring! We want a synonym for "punter" GAMBLER and "conceding boundaries" is some odd way of telling us to remove the first and last letters to give a synonym for "hardly rush" or AMBLE.
11A - Treasurer, by mid-april, loves to be an offensive stick wielder for the nation (9)
This is one of the slang/local knowledge things I mentioned earlier. I got the answer fully on breaking down the clue but it looked wrong so I ignored it. Australia's current Treasurer just released the party's budget on Tuesday and it's dominating the news. This made getting Joe HOCKEY an easy guess. "love" is cryptic crossword speak for O and we can garner a further O out of "offensive" Now I had HOCKEYROO, but that's not a word, and what's "stick wielding" all about? That would be part of the definition. Locals or sport inclined people would quickly guess the Australian field hockey teams, mens and womens, are both called the Hockeyroos.
12A - NZ-Oz writer pursued by demonic personality in Sydney CBD (4,4)
I spent far too long trying to find the name of an author - wouldn't you? Doesn't that seem an obvious definition. I'm learning the hard way that obvious is a gotcha! to DA. Sadly this leaves me a bit stumped on the word play that leads to the answer. Yes there's a NZ writer named Hyde who died in the 1930's. CBD means business district but not "park" although HYDE PARK is a street in Sydney CBD. Nah, too much twisty-turning for me to get this answer.
13A - Twisted pig angling to free fish? Get lost! (2,4)
I knew "Twisted pig" was telling me to twist the words for pig for the beginning of the answer. Not many two letter from p-i-g so how about a synonym sow? hog? HOG gives us GO H and the rest "angling for free fish" huh?? Fishing for fish? Itching to fish? "Get lost" made more sense and I'd put in "GO HOME" but I was being far too polite, as our answer is GO HANG!
15A - Line found in nightclub certain to elicit admission (10)
I got this from its cross letters. A lucky guess. The answer is DISCLOSURE a synonym for "Admission"
16A - Composer reproduced viral phenomenon (4)
"Composer" is not us running around trying to find a famous 4-letter Mozart. It's referring to DA himself, and was a hint at DATrippers. I had DA in there for ages, then scrapped and looked at "viral phenomenon" I know my Dawkins and realised it MEME. DA was literally saying ME.
18A - Recording over an outline (4)
4 letter words give such headache. Definition is "outline" a very abbreviated term for a recording is LP we want ANLP, then turn that over to get PLAN
20A - Vagrant got 21-down suit (10)
Jump ahead to 21D to get the word INITIAL, Vagrant is an anagrind and we want to mix GOT with INITIAL to get a synonym for "Suit" LITIGATION.
23A - Harry Potter maybe, or Rowling's own Riddle, fleeing Moaning Myrtle? (6)
This one stumped me but I kicked myself because I know I'd have felt amazing getting it. I still do not understand "Fleeing Moaning Myrtle" and I got hung up on plumbing terms. Even knowing Tom was Riddle's first name didn't help. And there's no "maybe" about it, Harry and Tom are both an ORPHAN.
24A - Pygmy daughter acquires fighting dart, possibly (8)
"Pygmy" is our definition, and not as I'd first assumed, a hint to shorten a word elsewhere. "Daughter " gives us a D and a "fighting dart" is a WAR FISH for DWARFISH.
26A - Next to the hypotenuse (9)
I did google the math term. It wasn't so tedious. We want a synonym for "next to" and "a hypotenuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle" so it's ALONGSIDE.
27A - Dirt close to ruining winter coat (5)
Did not get as wordplay is elusive. I thought "dirt close" meant to use the letter T, I thought ruining was an anagrind but no fodder was working. Went back thought close meant last letters which also didn't work. The answer was GRIME, synonym for "dirt".
28A - Taipans transported by royal with utmost care (13)
"Taipans transported" transported means taking something elsewhere and here is an anagrind. Adding a synonym for "royal" KING and rejig those to get PAINSTAKING and somehow we get to add LY to that but I don't see how apart from being a grammar pedant.
2D - Use a chisel to pen crummy morning poems (7)
I got with lots of hints through DATrippers. I had the B so it did make finding the answer easier to whittle down. The hint "Think French for dawn" got me AUBE and then some googling about with word finders got me AUBADES. How "pen crummy" fits, I'm not sure. I'm also told "use a" is fodder and chisel is an anagrind.
3D - Name-changing paperwork contrarily cut exploit (4,4)
I went straight for "Name-changing paperwork" and knew in the UK it was something like "Deepol" at least that's how the Scots pronounce it. I'd never looked up the term before but it's DEED POLL. I can't figure out the wordplay to get me there if I'd not known, sorry.
4D - Hip actor is frightfully pithy (10)
This was my first solve. Frightfully is an anagrind signpost for "Hip actor is" to give APHORISTIC.
5D - Discovered drug torment (4)
Here we get an instruction in one word. I'd just read the chapter in DA's book Puzzled (Don't I sound like a fangirl!) on these clue words and was sharp to see it. "Discovered" is an instruction to remove the cover or dis-cover, a drug CRACK to give a synonym for "torment" or RACK. You have to scroll down for the twelfth definition.
6D - Muse what fellers do in music school (4,2)
Definition is "Muse" but not the proper noun, the verb. "Fellers" here aren't "blokes" either but lumberjacks - who can be blokes but that's not important. "Music school" is a conservatory. Fellers HEW and put the in CON to give CHEW ON. I got it as a guess with cross letters.
7D - Farm needing years to fence creamery? Not half (7)
Full on guess in frustration. Synonym for "years" AGE and half of "creamery" is ACRE - even though it says "not half" he wants half! ACRE. ACREAGE.
8D - Nurse insulates a lean-to dunny for an uncouth parvenu (6-2, 5)
Here's the other slang clue that although I'd heard the term, never assumed it would be in a published newspaper puzzle. "uncouth parvenu"I had RN for too long and it was the wrong word here. We want CUP and insert a synonym for "lean-to" or SHED to get CASHED-UP, and a synonym for "dunny" which is a toilet is a BOGAN. No I had no idea Bogan was a word for toilet, just redneck.
9D - SURDUASS? (6-2-5)
This is a Rebus. They're not used much in cryptics because you can't really offer clues to its solving. I didn't get this but I'm told it's URDU is a "tongue" placed inside SASS which is "cheek" so we get TONGUE-IN-CHEEK. I'd guessed cheek because of ASS so...yeah.
I had TRECK for "expedition" but didn't get REIGN for "dominate" Spoonerism means to swap the first syllables of the two word to give TRAIN WRECK.
19D - Aspiring parent loudly in favour of one jar (7)
Here "aspiring" is a hint to reverse the word for "parent" in the grid. MA becomes AM. "loudly in favor of" is PRO but I did not get the last two letters that would have led me to AMPHORA.
21D - Partly to explain it, I alter opening (7)
...yeah, no. Did not get this. Stuffed me up getting its partner clues. INITIAL.
22D - Side to destroy spirit (6)
I can see how a synonym for "side" is MARGIN but what I'm destroying in "spirit" unless it's...Mar Jinn. Homophones, I hates them.
25D - 21-Down heartlessly offers punch ingredient (4)
"heartless" is usually a clue to use a letter from the middle of the following word "offers" having even number of letters makes that hard - do we want the F or the E. I had the I from 26A so use the F for FI?? and a synonym for "punch ingredient" gives us FIST.
There. Done. See you Monday.
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