I found with a lot of these clues I was saying "It can't be..." and it was. Then I said "Why is it that?!" and there I struggle. It's happened, after a year of solving cryptic crosswords everyday I'm now solving clues by looking at them and just knowing. Sadly, that's not good enough, I still have to know why.
I have many unsolved elements that hopefully I'll get as I type through them. Here's the pic:
1A - D-d-drunk skipping round, drunk in East London (9)
"D-d-drunk" is our demonstrative definition. I'm not sure how "skipping round" = ST but I get "drunk in East London" is a cockney hint to (-h)AMMERED to create STAMMERED.
6A - Pyjamaed banana's TV show (5)
"TV show" is our definition and "Pyjamaed banana's" leads us to the Bananas in Pyjamas show where the bananas are named B1 and B2. If we spell out B ONE then add the S in the clue we can get BONES. I did not get this, I had the cross letters in place and drew a blank. Sandy cleared it up with "6a just sound out a pajamaed banana (just one if them) and write that done without using numerals and see if that helps."
9A - Devour lamb stew for seconds (3)
"Devour" is our definition and this is odd because we need the definition to solve the clue because "for seconds" is our signpost to use every second letter for each word to get our answer; "dEvour lAmb sTew" = EAT. It's not often we use the definition as part of the solution.
10A - Emperor dipped both hands, thence foot, in wine, trimming gut (11)
"Emperor" is who we are looking for and with cross letters I could see the answer was CHARLEMAGNE. I think the "both hands" = RL for right and left and I think the wine is
CHAM(-p)AGNE where "gut removed" means to drop the letter P. so that's CHA(RL)(E)MAGNE. Ah, so "thencE foot" means use the last letter from "thence" which means this one is solved!
11A - Fat cat ends on tasty cheese (6)
"Fat cat" is our definition and "ends TastY" = TY and "cheese" well more precisely "tasty cheese" = COON which is a brand of cheddar which gets us TYCOON.
12A - Chili Pepper music wasted beat initially (8)
Such a tricky misdirect for us Gen X crowd. I got this from cross letters and definition "Chili" is our definition and "pepper" = CAP, I suppose, but I got "MUSIC wasted" as fodder and anagrind which got me the answer. I'm not sure what "beat initially" is about or if "CAP" really is a nick name for a pepper unless it's a Scotch Bonnet but that's a stretch.
15A - Declared honest love for old ruler (7)
"Old ruler" is our definition and "declared" is a homophone signpost where "honest love" becomes FAIR O which sounds like PHARAOH.
16A - Meeting first couple on quitting addiction (7)
"Meeting" is our definition and I got this from the thesaurus and cross letters but how we get there I'm not sure. I had thought it was something to do with "quitting addiction" and cessation but I don't know how.
18A - Question underling (7)
Double definition: SUBJECT.
19A - Sensitive guy lost heart catching crooner heading off (7)
"Sensitive" is our definition and "GuY lost heart" = GY which will be "catching" a "Crooner" = SINGER and "heading off" means to drop the first letter leaving INGER to make G(INGER)Y. I've never used gingery in that way, have you? "After 100 squats my ass is pretty gingery" or is it to describe someone who's emotional, like they've poked ginger in their eye? I spent a lot of time listing crooners and trying to remove compass points from their name to get this, I was frustrated when I realised I was down that rabbit hole.
20A - Creeps or runs? It's undecided inhouse (8)
"Creeps" is our definition and this was explained in the D.A. Trippers by Ray "“runs” = letter 3. “It’s undecided” gives a TLA for letters 4,5,6. “inhouse” – read as “in house”. “in” position indicator. “house” 4 letter synonym for letters 1,2,7,8." So this means "runs" = R, "it's undecided" = TBA for "to be announced" and "in house" = DIGS with in as a container signpost to make DI(R)(TBA)GS.
22A - Wash out bowl rims separately (6)
"Wash out" is our definition and "BowL rims" = BL as rims is used like edges and "separately" = EACH to make BLEACH.
25A - Norm can flag (3-8)
"Norm" is our definition and it's not the guy from Cheers but shortened form of normal. "Can" = BOG as both are slang for toilet which was reminiscent of last week's clue where "can" was used. "Flag" = STANDARD to make BOG-STANDARD.
27A - Literary convict eludes woman spelling I-S-S-U-E? (3)
It's one of those rare occasions where my feminist radar didn't ping but others' did regarding this clue. I was more involved with the struggle of thinking of "literary convicts" and yes my first thought was Great Expectations but I discounted it as it was too many letters. Silly me. I thought of Of Mice and Men, Count of Monte Cristo, Man In The Iron Mask, The Fugitive which I wasn't sure was a book first, Les Miserables even Harry Potter and got nowhere. Should have stayed with my first instinct and MAGWITCH from Great Expectations where "eludes woman" = -WITCH and leaves MAG as a synonym of "issue" and here the misogyny claim is laid. DA didn't have to clue this as "woman" he could have used sorceress, enchanter, conjuror anything to keep this in the realm of fiction and magic to get us to remove the word witch. By just using "woman" it's like saying women are witches. I'm glad others pointed this out as I was so absorbed in which criminal I hadn't noticed. Glad to know others look out for this sort of thing, too. A short discussion about it is on DAT.
28A - Applaud text oldie retained (5)
"Applaud" is our definition and "retained" is a hidden word signpost showing that within "tEXT OLdie" is the word EXTOL.
29A - Tackle a bloke smuggling stripped part aboard boat (9)
Not sure if "Tackle" or "boat" was the definition I worked the middle trying to find words for "bloke" that had "stripped pARt aboard" = AR in it and that was A MAN giving us AM(AR)AN leaving the beginning to be CAT and our definition is a "boat" = CATAMARAN. I've never heard of "tackle" = CAT so this took me a while and thankfully there was a cross clue to get us the C. CAT is a short name for catamaran in the dictionary so I wonder if the same thing as 12A is happening here where a thing's nickname is clued as its opening?
1D - Cleaned up benches on time (5)
"Cleaned" is our definition and "up benches" = PEWS but for a down clue it's reversed to SWEP which is sitting "on time" = T to make SWEPT.
2D - Lobby for an IT expert adding light (11)
"Lobby" is our definition and the answer is ANTICHAMBER. I don't know how we get there. I figure "an IT" is fodder but that makes "expert" an anagrind and not one I've seen before. Nor do I know how "adding light" = CHAMBER unless AMBER is a stop light colour and "adding" is just CH? Lost here.
3D - Half a mind to flaunt way to cook (9)
"Way to cook" is our definition or maybe just "cook" I'm not sure. I get that "half a MInd" = MI and "to flaunt" = CROW but I'm not sure where the AVE comes from to make MICROWAVE. Unless "way" = AVE as similar street names and AVE is short for avenue?
4D - Race tips supplied by morning papers (4)
"Papers" is our definition and "RacE tips" = RE and "morning" = AM to make REAM. I had thought "supplied" was going to be a container signpost but it's just for surface.
5D - $50 lord gains Scrabbling (6,4)
Took a while to see that the definition is just "$" and "50" = L as the Roman numeral and "LORD GAINS scrabbling" is fodder and anagrind to make DOLLAR SIGN.
6D - Fails ultimately from investing in crops (5)
"Fails" is our definition and "ultimately" is usually used to hint that the first letter of the previous word is our target letter - or maybe I've thought that because it's usually used to the right of the target word in clues I've solved before and I grab the first letter from the word on its left (is that confusing or what?). The definition of "ultimately" is "last; furthest or farthest; ending a process or series:" so it really means the last letter of the next word furthest away, either side. This was a revelation for me, so don't laugh! As "fails" is the definition we need to take the last letter from the next adjacent word "froM" = M and that will be "investing in crops" where "investing in" is a container signpost and "crops" = BOBS like the haircuts not the agriculture, to create BO(M)BS.
7D - Silver, say, close to coin silver (3)
I'm not sure but "Silver" must be our definition and I know one of them is "silver" = AG and "close to coiN" = N as we want the closing letter of the word coin. This makes our answer N(AG) but why "Silver, say" means I don't know. I'm not seeing a homophone of silver and nag unless we're back to horses like last week's Trigger and this is the Lone Ranger's horse Silver who was a nag? From what I've read Silver was a boy horse.
8D - Spy prepared to accept mark or yen as kickstarter kitty (4,5)
"Kickstarter kitty" is our definition and I know "mark or yen" are different currencies or MONEY but this wasn't helping me get what "spy prepared to accept" was about. It could be "spy" = SEE and "mark" = DM for Deutschmarks the old German currency but then I can't get the end of the clue. Answer is SEED MONEY. I feel I'm missing an anagram here with "prepared" in the clue. DAT Dom says "8d letter 4 is the first letter of a 4-letter word meaning prepared – this means that “yen” is NOT backwards, just the single letter." Meaning "prepared" = DONE which takes in "mark" = M and then "yen" = Y for the end? SEE(D(M)ONE(Y) is this right?
13D - Be pugnacious at first, laying into quieter Canberra heavyweight (5,6)
"Canberra heavyweight" is who we are looking for but I got this from cross letters and a confirmation that I was looking for a proper noun but spent a fair amount of time looking for Aussie boxers out of Canberra. It wasn't until I'd solved 12A that I twigged the answer was CLIVE PLAMER. Unfortunately I'm not able to reverse solve this clue. All I've got is that it's likely "quieter" = P but not the rest. Ah, Ray has explained this morning "13D – “Be” gives 4 letter synonym for letters 2,3,4,5. “pugnacious first” = letter 6. “laying into” – container indicator. “quieter” gives 6 letter synonym for letters 1,7,8,9,10,11." meaning "quieter" doesn't give a P as I'd expected but means CALMER with "be" = LIVE and "Pugnacious at first" = P to be C(LIVE)(P)ALMER.
14D - Pretty exotic broth won over nice cook (10)
"Pretty" is our definition and "exotic broth" = PHO and "won over" = GOT as in "got them eating out of the palm of my hand!" reversed to TOG and "NICE cook" is partial fodder and anagrind to make PHO(TOG)(ENIC).
15D - A bod's contorted with pole dance (4,5)
"Dance" is our definition and "ABODS contorted with POLE" is anagrind and fodder to make PASO DOBLE. A kind of Spanish dance.
17D - Admit style reflected solo state (9)
"Solo state" is our definition and I think "admit" = SING as in one who confesses "sings like a bird" and "style reflected" = MODE reversed to EDOM. What I'm missing is where we get the middle letter from to make SING(L)(EDOM)
21D - Nut to punt on Eels centre (5)
"Nut" is our definition and "to punt" = BET and "eELs centre" = EL to make BETEL.
23D - Dominate an old comic (5)
"Old comic" is who we are looking for and I was looking for a comic strip or cartoon for a long time, trying to make HAGAR fit. I needed cross letters to see this because I wouldn't have thought "dominate" = HOG (not that I thought it was hag either I just couldn't think another five letter comic strip character starting with an H) and the "AN" from the clue would make HOGAN the favourite Aussie comic and movie star.
24D - Finesse nailed in reception (4)
"Finesse" is our definition and "reception" is a homophone signpost for "nailed in" = TACKED -> TACT.
26D - Old coot getting back object (3)
"Old coot" is our definition and I don't know what this is! So infuriating to get stumped on a three letter word. I think "getting" = TIG like in a game of tag. Do Aussies call that Tig like the Scots do? reverse that for GIT but what is "object" there for? I don't know!
That's me done for the week. Not a bad week really. I think I'm going to drop the DP and focus on the Guardian puzzles for Wednesday. I still find them really hard. any other free puzzles you can recommend? I have a subscription for the Age/SMH but don't want to pay for another subscription to just solve the puzzle unless it's really worthwhile.
Enjoy tour weekend! I'm taking the kids out for burgers because I have a thing for burgers. Need a big break from the computer before it becomes my Grand Overlord.
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