Everyman 3290
Posted by Arthur on October 25th, 2009
Another one that took a little while to get going but then got much easier. Not my favourite ever, but probably pretty fair throughout.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MODICUM - ODIC in MUM. An odic is a lyric poem. |
| 5 | POTOMAC - POT + O + CAM< |
| 9 | UNTAMED - DUETMAN* |
| 10 | ALMONER – ALONE around M + R. Almoners were Christian officers whose duty was to distribute alms to the poor. |
| 11 | DRAMATIST - DRAM + A(r)TIST |
| 12 | ADAGE – AD + AGE |
| 13 | DAYLIGHT ROBBERY - BYATHIRDGLORYBE* |
| 15 | STATE DEPARTMENT – STATEMENT around DEPART |
| 19 | METAL - ET AL after M |
| 21 | PEGGED OUT – dd ref. cribbage |
| 22 | ROUTINE – ROUTE around IN |
| 23 | AUCTION – ACTION around U. I assume the U stands for universal ~ acceptable but any better ideas welcome! |
| 24 | ADDRESS – dd |
| 25 | DEPRESS – DE + PRESS |
| Down | |
| 1 | MOULDED – MOD around DUEL* ref. Mods and Rockers |
| 2 | DITTANY – DITTY around AN |
| 3 | CAMPANILE- CAMP + A + NILE |
| 4 | MIDNIGHT EXPRESS - MIDNIGHT (Cowboy) + EXPRESS |
| 5 | PRAETORIAN GUARD - RINGATOURPARADE* |
| 6 | TAMPA – “TAMPER” |
| 7 | MANDATE – MAN + DATE |
| 8 | CARVERY - CAR + VERY as in “jolly/very good” |
| 14 | BUTTERCUP – B(lue) + UTTER + CUP |
| 15 | SAMARIA – A + MARIA under S |
| 16 | ASTOUND - T(raining) in A + SOUND as in “of firm/sound mind” |
| 17 | EMOTIVE – E + MOTIVE |
| 18 | TETANUS - TE + AUNTS* |
| 20 | LOIRE - LORE around I |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
duck = O
miles = M
runs = R
son = S
English = E
one = I
October 25th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hello Arthur, I had no trouble starting the puzzle but had trouble finishing it, yet again had to concede and ask Nick for help.
Lorraine.
October 25th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Arthur, 23dn, ‘U’ is the lowest film rating of the which does indeed mean ‘Universal’ ~ suitable for all. I have yet to see ‘X’ used in this way, BTW.
Nick
October 25th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
In 23 across, the U means “acceptable” in the sense of U and Non-U as proposed by one of the Mitfords. Thus, in their terminology, U = acceptabel, non-U is “not acceptable”.
“Action” = suit and “Public Sale” is the definition.
John McDonald
October 25th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Hmm. I’m not sure we’ve cracked this one fully yet. I have to admit, I followed the same route as Nick, but I’m not really certain “suitable for all” and acceptable are true synonyms. In fact, I realised it was auction, then found action and realised U must be acceptable, went away and when I came back thought of film ratings and decided that would do, but I do wonder if there’s a better solution.
Similarly with John’s solution, U here stood for Upper Class, so although to the Mitfords and and various others, U speech was acceptable while non-U speech was not, I’m not sure that U and acceptable are really synonyms either.
Any other takers?
Arthur
October 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
OK, Chambers states under U?; Universal, as used by or found among upper classes, hence socially acceptable.
Nick
October 25th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
U3, that is… the superscript font did not appear.
Nick
October 26th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Just to be clear: U (as in U and non-U) means ‘acceptable to the upper classes’, while U (as in universal) denotes in Britain ‘(a film) acceptable to people of all ages’. Thus each meaning – while suggesting some kind of acceptability – is genuinely different from the other.