The Age Cryptic by DA #20,624

We do battle again with David Astle and this week we have no theme to contend with it is just a straight up puzzle. Not that it's anything to sniff at. No this puzzle was sharp and bitey. I found I could get the definitions on many and struggled to parse them - a common occurrence now. I think this is how puzzles are for most people. I hacked into the clues and solved them by chunks here and there.

I found the SW corner got me started and then the SE with solutions falling in place from the bottom up. Others at the D.A. Trippers said the got the NW corner first and found those clues easy - I beg to differ! Although it take me a long time to get that 9A'a "Gem" was a PEARL and I've seen DA use that before.

As I sit here I have only parsed fully about half of the clues and have many, many holes to fill. Here's hoping I have some Eurekas as I type. Here's the pic and key to my scribbles:


Definitions are underlined
Actionable signposts or words are circled
Anagrinds are in rectangles
Anagram fodder has a squiggly underline
Dashes above/below letters are beginning/end letters or odds/evens 
Curved underlines are clue elements I try and separate. Looks like a wee hammock.
Underlined numbers are not fully parsed unless ticked, and circled numbers are ones I share with the Facebook Cryptic Crossword Learners club.

1A - Sailor to sink everything in the pool potentially (7)

I'm a bit unsure on the solving here. I think it's "Sailor" = JACK and "to sink everything" is when everything goes to POT and "The pool potentially" becomes the JACKPOT. I'm less confident about my interpretation of "to sink everything."

5A - Difficult to manage his dilapidated trunk outside (7)

"Difficult to manage" is our definition and "HIS dilapidated" is partial fodder and anagrind that will be held inside "trunk, outside" = BOLE to make BOL(SHI)E.

9A - Gem, one of four in ring (5)

"Gem" is our definition and this is a literal clue. We need to figure out which letter from the word "four" will go into a synonym of "ring" to make our answer and it's fouR in PEAL as to ring a bell, for PEA(R)L.

10A - Sydney campus solidly walled in northern Melbourne? (9)

"Northern Melbourne" town is what we're looking for and I got this with all the cross letters and I think it's "Sydney campus" = UNSW for University of New South Wales held in a thing that makes "solid walls" = BRICK to become BR(UNSW)ICK.

11A - Intrinsically, internships of ACT outdated (4,5)

I got this from cross letters and just now figured it out. Grrr. DA is one of the best at hidden word clues. "Intrinsically" is our definition and "intern..." is our hidden word signpost with "...sIPS OF ACT Outdated" concealing IPSO FACTO. It's infuriating when I don't see these right away. I knew something was up with "internships" as well but I thought we were going to "intern" something to do with "ships" and was trying to get SS in the middle of the solution somewhere.

13A - Tract attached to gambling game (5)

"Gambling game" is our definition and a "tract" = LOT which gets "attached TO" becoming LOTTO.

14A - He began old spot in part of West Africa or closer? (8,6)

"He began old" is the definition and a "spot" = JAM as a spot of trouble, in a jam. "Part of West Africa" is BENIN (I'd never heard of it before, I'm pretty shit at geography) to become BEM(JAM)IN and the "closer" is a BUTTON for the character BENJAMIN BUTTON who starts his life old and gets younger.

18A - Perhaps Persian girl's one novel touching on lean spinner (9,5)

"Spinner" is the very cryptic definition. "Perhaps Persian?"  = CAT, "girl" = HER and it's frustrating how sometimes we use the extra "'s" or can just ignore it. "one" = I and "novel" = NEW and finally "lean" = HEEL to become a CAT(HER)(I)(NE W)(HEEL) the type of spinning firework. I had to ask the D.A. Trippers about the last element and learned that "heel" is akin to listing and leaning in boats. Although I can't find the quote to attribute it which gives me hives. Thank you to Mike who mentioned it was boat related.

20A - Half-stripped behind, limb, over the counter (5)

"Over the counter" is the definition and "hALf stripped" = AL and it's going "behind, limb" = LEG for LEGAL as "over the counter" drugs are legal to buy without a prescription.

22A - Far from scientific deacon messily abridged story (9)

"Far from scientific" is our definition and "DEACON messily" is partial fodder and anagrind working with "abridged story" = TAL(-e) as "abridged" means to shorten to make ANECDO(TAL).

24A - Disguised infirm dolt obstructing shot (9)

"Disguised" is our definition and let's split up "in firm" to become IN CO as in a company and "dolt" = NIT although it's usually a nitwit otherwise it's a louse - which will be "obstructing shot" = GO as in to take a shot/have a go to become INCO(G(NIT)O).

26A - Empty vault (5)

Double definition: CLEAR. My daughter just pointed at this one and said "Are you sure it's not a Harry Potter reference?" Dear child, my confidence is already paper thin...

27A - Slowly appeals to misfit? So wrong! (5,2)

"Slowly appeals" is our definition and "misfit SO WRONG" is anagrind and fodder to become GROWS ON" and this was my first entry which may explain why I solved from bottom to top.

28A - Desire to understand bottling room (7)

"Room" is our definition and a "desire" is an ITCH and "understand, bottling"  = KEN which will contain ITCH to become K(ITCH)EN. Have I told you before that where I come from in New England the words itch and scratch are interchangeable. The action of scratching can also be called "itching" as in "I'm itching my bug bites" and I used to ask my teachers "Do you itch a scratch or scratch and itch" and the answer is both.

1D - Couple grasped playful tips from US composer (6)

"US composer" is who we're looking for and "couple" = JOIN which "grasps PlayfuL tips" = PL for JO(PL)IN.

2D - Smoothest Scottish girls infiltrate court (9)

"Smoothest" is our definition and "Scottish girls" = LASSIES who "infiltrate court" = CT going around to make CLASSIEST.

3D - Ham off-limits in repulsive, saucy rice dish (5)

I had the three cross letters in place and then a hint from a friend on Facebook who thoughtfully assumed I knew the answer but I am completely lost. Others in DAT mentioned "repulsive" to be a bad use of a signpost/element but didn't say further - is it a reversal signpost? An anagrind? Can't be anagrind as the fodder isn't there - I can't make heads or tails of it. Definition is "rice dish" and answer is PILAF. Ok maybe "Ham" = APE and "off limits" leaves the P to start but that's it.

4D - Bill forbidden when acquiring a killing license (3)

"Bill" is the definition and I just did not know. The hints were even tougher to figure out. Ray said " defn is “Bill”. And if you add 2 letters to the end of that (meaning a “licence to kill”) the resultant 5 letter word means “forbidden”." and Mort said "4D definition is “bill” – as in restaurant “bring me the XXX”. If you add a licence to kill to the answer, you get a word meaning “off-limits”. I think that there must be only 9 spies licenced to kill…"

I'm guessing it's TABOO but the name of license eludes me and I'd thought perhaps we were deleting ID from something. What's odd about this clue is it works backwards. Usually we build a clue up like blocks, here we'd expect it to be "forbidden" = TABOO and somewhere we're supposed to drop the OO to get TAB our answer. Yet we're told the answer is something "when acquiring a killing license" My head was broken trying to add things not take them away. We're supposed to know the smaller word and then make it bigger to confirm the small word is right? ACK!

5D - Period check-ups stopping one bloomer at wedding (11)

"Bloomer at wedding" is what we want and it's what the groom wears. "Period" = BOUT, "check - ups" = REIN being entered into the grid from the bottom up, "stopping ONE" means REIN is getting put into ONE making BOUTONNIERE which looks like BOUT(O(NIER)NE)

6D - Ultimate satisfaction displayed by Minnehaha? (4,5)

"Ultimate satisfaction" is our definition and "displayed by" means there's a visual trickery ahead as opposed to a hidden word with "minneHAHA" as the LAST four words are a LAUGH giving us the LAST LAUGH. I had to get that explained and I am not used to this kind of clueing. Nice to have a change though, learning lots of tricks in this puzzle.

7D - Crime guy's heading for trouble (5)

"Crime" is our definition and "guy's" = HE IS as and "heading for Trouble" = T for a HEIST.

8D - Hunk lead circle about dog (8)

"Dog" is what we're looking for and "HUNK LED circle about" is straight fodder plus "circle" = O to make an ELKHOUND.

12D - Key alternative to sequential blows? (11)

Double definition: COMBINATION as a combination lock or a 1-2 punch.

15D - Average bloke getting enfeebled heart in work, say records (3,6)

"Average bloke" is our definition and "getting enfeEbled heart, in work" where "work" = JOB gets us JO(E) B and then "say records" = is a homophone of LOGS/LOGGS for the slang term JOE BLOGGS. It's also a local skateboard shop.

16D - It went with the fashion last century (9)

"Last century" is the definition and "IT WENT with THE fashion" is fodder and anagrind for TWENTIETH.

17D - Hot builder's framework bumped off (8)

"Hot" is our definition and a "builder's framework" = SCAFFOLDING but we must delete with "bumped OFF" which means to remove the letters OFF leaving SCALDING.

19D - Old money banks in fall over inflation (6)

"Old money" is what we're looking for and "banks in FalL OveR InflatioN" = FLORIN. I've only just realised it's the whole thing, otherwise I'd been trying to figure out how the "in" from the clue worked here and if "inflation" was a signpost. I always fall for this trick.

21D - Crawler, say, escalated business bridging $1000 (5)

"Crawler" is what we want and I got this from cross letters and I'm not getting the "say escalated" bit unless it's EG reversed, oh it is isn't it! I was thinking I was missing yet another homophone. Oh now this makes new sense. "business" = CO which goes around "bridging"  the $1000 = K and not G as I'd thought to make GE(C(K)O) the sticky lizard with amazing feet.

23D - Heard how to avoid a bouncer with gold coin? (5)

"Gold coin" is the definition and I got this quickly but then had to work out the homophone - there really is one here. "Heard" is the homophone signpost and "how to avoid a bouncer" and it's not the burly guy in a suit at the door of a club but a cricket term and the answer is "DUCK IT"  for a DUCAT. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be "duck out" which worked a bit better with the burly doorman but played havoc with the accents so I played the audio on dictionary.com and it's pronounced "duck it."

25D - Tree to die on losing columnar edges (3)

"Tree" is what we want and "to die" = CROAK which loses the "ColumnaR edges" = -CR leaving OAK.

There we go. Another week going head to head and a full grid. Never a total victory unless all the clues are fully understood so let me know in the comments if you have solutions to help me out or if you came by your answer in another fashion.

I'll be back Monday. Hope you enjoy your weekend.