It's a DON deal!

[Vagrant]

Another diagramless crossword.

The grid is 15x15 and the solved puzzle will have 180 degree rotational symmetry.
This time it’s American style – every letter is checked i.e. appears in an answer in both directions.
The clues are not numbered, but they’re in the order they would appear if they were numbered.
Some answers are multiple words and some are abbreviations.
The DON clues work a little differently to the others.
As with the last one of these, I'm not sure how easy or hard it will be the way I've presented it, but the clues are (mostly) much more straightforward.

ACR
African country that can be found entirely within another African country?
Tennis obstacle
Guiding light
Paris rail system
DON
Geoffry Chaucer and others like him
Conveyance by tube (of water for example)
Country that shares a border with Brazil
45DWN vote
Supplication
__ KAPITAL
LAX announcement
Ms Fitzgerald
__arthritis
DON
Contempt
Away from the wind (at sea)
Objective
Miners’ goals
Stephen or BB
Some sleepwear, informally
CO(NH ₂ ) ₂
More spooky than spooky
Love affair
DON
One of the Williams sisters
As one (with ‘in’)
Play section
Biblical garden

DWN
__ best friend
The other set of clues
Flowchart function
Asian country
A degree in mathematics?
Prior to 16ACR
Rocky mountain
Coffin stand
“Here, have some more!”
Illya Kuryakin for example
Walk slowly and steadily
Summer on the Seine
iTunes purchase
Male deer
Ms West
Inclines
Santa’s helper
__ carte
Senior member (in age, rank or experience)
Volcano output
Suit to __
Mr Bean
A mammal has three
__ Bell
An __ effort
Female Japanese diver
Out of place
Fury
Type
Floral neckwear
Milton Marx
Not con
Cif in Australia
Play on without pausing
Brown with grey and white markings
Where you’d find Fra. and Ger.
__ Garfunkle
Australian native bird
Capital of Spain?
Separate violently
Grp or Org relative
Ms Gardner
Xmas mth
Social insect
Finish together

[edit]typo fixed; first DWN clue changed[/edit]

[Suspence]

African country that can be found entirely within another African country?
I'd say LESOTHO, but the question mark makes me think more like NIGER, as is part of NIGERIA, though I'm not sure it fits the bill for "entirely within". There might be other/better examples.

EDIT: MALI, as is SOMALIA, is probably the better choice.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

African country... - MALI
Tennis obstacle - NET
__ KAPITAL - DAS
Ms Fitzgerald - ELLA
Away from the wind (at sea) - LEE or ALEE
Stephen or BB- KING, which seems to work with DON.
CO(NH ₂ ) ₂ - UREA
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Zag]

Using Suspense's version because I can edit that one, too.

[Suspence]

ACR
MALI ---- African country that can be found entirely within another African country?
NET ---- Tennis obstacle
CANDLE ---- Guiding light
RER ---- Paris rail system
---- DON
POETS? ---- Geoffry Chaucer and others like him
---- Conveyance by tube (of water for example)
FRENCH GUIANA, SURINAME, GUYANA, VENEZUALA, COLOMBIA, PERU, BOLIVIA, PARAGUAY, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY ---- Country that shares a border with Brazil
---- 45DWN vote
---- Supplication
DAS ---- __ KAPITAL
---- LAX announcement
ELLA ---- Ms Fitzgerald
RHEUMATOID, PSORIATIC, or SEPTIC ---- __arthritis
---- DON
---- Contempt
LEEWARD ---- Away from the wind (at sea)
GOAL? --- Objective
GEMS? ORE? ---- Miners’ goals
KING ---- Stephen or BB
PJS ---- Some sleepwear, informally
UREA ---- CO(NH 2 ) 2
---- More spooky than spooky
---- Love affair
---- DON
VENUS or SERENA ---- One of the Williams sisters
UNISON---- As one (with ‘in’)
---- Play section
EDEN ---- Biblical garden

DWN
MANS ---- __ best friend (formerly __ the fort)
ACR? ---- The other set of clues
---- Flowchart function
---- Asian country
ANGLE? ---- A degree in mathematics?
---- Prior to 16ACR
---- Rocky mountain
BIER ---- Coffin stand
---- “Here, have some more!”
SPY ---- Illya Kuryakin for example
---- Walk slowly and steadily
ETE (été) ---- Summer on the Seine
SONG? ---- iTunes purchase
BUCK ---- Male deer
MAE ---- Ms West
SLOPES ---- Inclines
ELF ---- Santa’s helper
ALA ---- __ carte
---- Senior member (in age, rank or experience)
LAVA ---- Volcano output
ATEE ---- Suit to __
---- Mr Bean
M'S---- A mammal has three
---- __ Bell
AFOR ---- An __ effort
---- Female Japanese diver
---- Out of place
ANGER ---- Fury
---- Type
LEI---- Floral neckwear
GUMMO ---- Milton Marx
PRO ---- Not con
JIF? ---- Cif in Australia
---- Play on without pausing
---- Brown with grey and white markings
EUR ---- Where you’d find Fra. and Ger.
ART ---- __ Garfunkle
EMU ---- Australian native bird
ESS, PESO, or EURO ---- Capital of Spain?
REND? ---- Separate violently
ASSN ---- Grp or Org relative
AVA? ---- Ms Gardner
DEC ---- Xmas mth
ANT? BEE? ---- Social insect
TIE ---- Finish together
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Quailman]

---- Australian native bird EMU
---- Capital of Spain? PESO or EURO?
---- Separate violently REND?
---- Grp or Org relative ASSN

[Vagrant]

Crap. Discovered a typo. Play sections should be Play section.

Remember that the clues are in the order they would appear if they were numbered. This helps with the ACR clues in particular.

[Vagrant]

I'm changing the first down clue. I thought it would be pretty easy but it seems to be a local colloquialism - so local it's not even on OneLook.

New clue is:
__ best friend

[Suspence]

MANS best friend / the fort.

I say "holds down the fort" here in MA, USA.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

Clues seem to be in numerical order, which helps

Based on that
Guilding Light should be BEACON and
Asian Country will be INDIA

[Quailman]

ERE ---- Prior to 16ACR
TOR ---- Rocky mountain
METRO ---- Paris Rail System

[Quailman]

ACR
MALI ---- African country that can be found entirely within another African country?
NET ---- Tennis obstacle
BEACON ---- Guiding light
METRO ---- Paris rail system
ARIANRODSMOTHER ---- DON (Arianrhod?)
POETS ---- Geoffry Chaucer and others like him
PIPAGE ---- Conveyance by tube (of water for example)
PERU ---- Country that shares a border with Brazil
AYE---- 45DWN vote
PLEA ---- Supplication
DAAS ---- __ KAPITAL (Aussie TV Show?)
ETA ---- LAX announcement
ELLA ---- Ms Fitzgerald
OSTEO ---- __arthritis
MAFIAFAMILYHEAD---- DON
SCORN ---- Contempt
ALEE ---- Away from the wind (at sea)
END --- Objective
ORES ---- Miners’ goals
KING ---- Stephen or BB
PJS ---- Some sleepwear, informally
UREA ---- CO(NH 2 ) 2
EERIER---- More spooky than spooky
AMOUR---- Love affair
ADAMSOFGETSMART---- DON
VENUS ---- One of the Williams sisters
UNISON---- As one (with ‘in’)
ACT---- Play section
EDEN ---- Biblical garden

DWN
MANS ---- __ best friend (formerly __ the fort)
ACR ---- The other set of clues
LOOP---- Flowchart function
INDIA---- Asian country
NTH ---- A degree in mathematics?
ERE ---- Prior to 16ACR (poets)
TOR ---- Rocky mountain
BIER ---- Coffin stand
EATUP ---- “Here, have some more!”
MOG ---- Walk slowly and steadily (huh?)
ETE (été) ---- Summer on the Seine
APP ---- iTunes purchase
ROE ---- Male deer
SPY ---- Illya Kuryakin, for example (Out of sequence)
MAE ---- Ms West
LEANS / slopes ---- Inclines
ELF ---- Santa’s helper
ALA ---- __ carte
DOYEN ---- Senior member (in age, rank or experience)
ASH ---- Volcano output
ATEE ---- Suit to __
SEAN ---- Mr Bean
EMS---- A mammal has three
TACO ---- __ Bell
AFOR ---- An __ effort
AMA ---- Female Japanese diver
ODD ---- Out of place
IRE ---- Fury
ILK ---- Type
LEI---- Floral neckwear
GUMMO ---- Milton Marx
PRO ---- Not con
JIF ---- Cif in Australia
SEGUE ---- Play on without pausing
ROAN ---- Brown with grey and white markings
EUR ---- Where you’d find Fra. and Ger.
ART ---- __ Garfunkle
EMU ---- Australian native bird
ESS ---- Capital of Spain?
REND ---- Separate violently
ASSN ---- Grp or Org relative
AVA ---- Ms Gardner
DEC ---- Xmas mth
ANT ---- Social insect
TIE ---- Finish together

_ _ _ _ M A L I _ _ _ _ N E T
_ _ B E A C O N _ _ M E T R O
A R I A N R O D S M O T H E R
P O E T S _ P I P A G E _ _ _
P E R U _ _ _ A Y E _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ P L E A _ _ _ D A A S _
E T A E L L A _ _ O S T E O
M A F I A F A M I L Y H E A D
S C O R N _ _ A L E E _ E N D
_ O R E S _ _ _ K I N G _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ P J S _ _ _ U R E A
_ _ _ E E R I E R _ A M O U R
A D A M S O F G E T S M A R T
V E N U S _ _ U N I S O N _ _
A C T _ _ _ _ E D E N _ _ _ _

[Quailman]

I found the definition of MOG. I never heard of the word.

Daas Kapital was an Australian TV comedy with 14 episodes in 1991-2.

[Suspence]

Nice work. I just copied your solution into code, so I can see it more clearly:

[Vagrant]

[referee]

Nice. Suspence, you forgot a blank between ETA and ELLA
_________________
Jan 21st, 2008: The pillaging continues.
Mar 4th, 2008: Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax. May your dice always roll a natural 20 wherever you are.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Quailman]

I forgot the blank. Oops.

Wkipedia (and other refernces) include the H. Wki says Arianrhod's father is Beli Mawr, according to the Welsh Triads. That would make us related about 57 generations back, according to this tree.

[Scurra]

Very nice puzzle. I got badly misled by the top corner and wasted too long not recognising that "ACON" had to be part of BEACON.
I too am surprised by MOG - it isn't even in my wordlist here, so I guess it required a somewhat obscure clue.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Vagrant]

I like the way American crosswords tend to have a number of themed answers and was keen to make one.

When working on this one I had considered that, because the theme clues work backwards i.e. the answer is the definition of the clue, it would be ok (if a little sneaky) to have those definitions appear reversed in the solved grid i.e. REHTOMSDORNAIRA instead of ARIANRODSMOTHER.

I'd like opinions on whether you think that would've been fair and/or interesting?

[Scurra]

[Vagrant]

I think the way American crosswords are themed is a bit different to UK but there's not really enough space here to describe precisely what I mean by that (if I even could). Suffice to say, American crosswords can't theme the entire puzzle the way a UK cryptic can because of the restriction of having every letter checked.

As for the reversed answer idea, my line of thought was that you can't solve those answers from the clues anyway; so discovering them reversed through backsolving would be a nice surprise. Of course, there would've been hints built in somewhere, probably in a much cleverer title, and the clues would've been NOD rather than DON.

[LordKinbote]

I think you'd agree that it would be interesting if there was a thematic reason for the phrases being backward. I don't know if it would have been appropriate in a crossword about clues for DON, but in a crossword with entries like ABOUT FACE and LOOK BACK IN ANGER I think it would be *very* clever.

[Quailman]

I was working from the top, and before I figured out any theme answers, I thought perhaps they wrapped around - since the first began a_ian, and S didn't fit in the blank. I moved to the bottom and worked out ADAMS..., and then I had almost all the word lengths.

Wrapping the theme answers (like TSMARTADAMSINGE) would really have made it a challenge. I've seen that done in NYT puzzles.