The Age Cryptic by DA #20,612

I had a hard time here! Many of the clues were very tight with only three or four words to play with. There were three letter answers that are always tough in a DA. I got through about half and then gave up. Went back every so often and would get one more. After dinner I got a DM from Celia Fate on Twitter who prodded me to keep going and get it finished - not allowed to slack off! We chatted for a bit and with her help I got it done - Thanks Celia!

I fell into a few pitfalls that held me up like I had UNDER PAR in 12A instead of BELOW PAR and I put in BEAM for "True light bearer" instead of TRAY. 23D took me far too long because I forget Aussies call all candy/sweets a LOLLY so I was thinking of "sweet" as a term of endearment. For 25A I'd never heard of "cipher" = O but the dictionary confirmed (hinted by Celia) so no wonder I couldn't make what seemed an obvious anagram work for me.

I  don't have time for the full breakdown of everything but I think my notes are pretty good. If there are any questions I'm happy to get a discussion going in the comments. I'll list the one's I'm not fully sure of below. Here's my pic:

15A - Nintendo icon gained contract with strings attached? (10)

I just wanted to be sure I have this one right. "Nintendo icon" = MARIO and "gained" = NETTED but "contract" means to shrink NETTE(-D) leaving MARIONETTE. I stared at this clue for ages and that's what I have but I felt the definition would have more but it does work.

21A - Sugary doughnut linked to worst heart in tourist mecca (8)

Again, just want to be certain I have this right. "Doughnut" = O and "woRst heart" = R going into "tourist mecca" = VENICE for O(VE(R)NICE) it's just the word MECCA threw me as I was thinking of the Middle East and why Venice? It could've been any tourist spot. I'm not even sure I like "sugary" as a synonym for "overnice" but that's me being a bit grumpy.

2D - Last empty sounding wind instrument? (11)

I got this with cross letters and the definition of "wind instrument" but I'm not sure how the clue works to get us to WEATHERVANE.  I'm not sure if "empty-sounding" is a homophone indicator and if it is what the homophone is we need.

6D - Perhaps 3-down way to reverse decay (3,3)

Even though I had 3D CAMEROON I don't understand what I'm supposed to do to get the "decay" = DRY ROT.

13D - Step in for mauling, protecting lame foot after lions arrive (5,2,4)

With a hint at D.A. Trippers that this was a dance step I set to google to help me out because the wordplay isn't working for me. When I saw PRIDE OF ERIN I thought "lions" could work for PRIDE. I think it's "IN FOR mauling" as part fodder and anagrind with "lamE foot" = E but it was too much for me to guess "lions arrive" = PRIDE to get the solution.

26D - Nail part of a pontoon (3)

I get that "Nail" = ACE as is to nail/ace a test or exam, but what do pontoons have to do with anything? I figure we need to reduce a larger word meaning "pontoon" containing ACE to get the answer but I don't know what that is. I know pontoons to be floatation devices. I did look in the dictionary as opposed to a thesaurus and saw Pontoon is a card game like Blackjack - so is ACE the card?


That's me done. I was out in Geelong with family getting some schtuff together for my daughter's birthday and popped into my favourite haunt Mindgames (I spend a fortune in there) for a card game of my own called Fluxx. I've been playing it on my mobile phone but I got the proper game to play with the family. Mother's day tomorrow and I shall insist on may board games! Then some Tokaido and finally a round of Lords of Waterdeep (another game I play on my phone, too) before letting everyone free to bleed their brains on Youtube.

Happy Mother's Day to the Moms out there, both here and gone. (I'll be phoning mine on Monday morning, she's in Florida) Have a great weekend!