Not too easy this week with some good surfaces and not too much general knowledge required. Overall I rather enjoyed this one, with my main complaint being about 18dn.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PLOUGH – P + LOUGH = lake. A harrow is a type of farmyard equipment used for ploughing. |
| 4 | STAMPEDE – STAMPED + E(asyjet) |
| 9 | REHEARSAL – HEARS in REAL |
| 11 | STILT – (thi)S + TILT = list |
| 12 | OSLO – O after OS + L |
| 13 | FLAMBOYANT – MAN around BOY, all in FLAT |
| 15 | RHODE ISLAND RED – (DISHORDERED)* around LAN(d). Rhode Island Red is a well-known breed of chicken. Mel Gibson’s character in Chicken Run was called Rocky Rhodes and was a Rhode Island Red rooster. |
| 17 | VIOLIN CONCERTO – (ROLE + CONVICTION)* |
| 21 | OVERWEIGHT – OVER + ro(W) + EIGHT |
| 22 | SPOT – dd |
| 24 | SWISH – S + WISH |
| 25 | EZRA POUND – EZRA + POUND. Ezra was a book in the old testament. 20/- is the pre-decimalisation way of expressing 20 shillings which was one pound. Ezra Pound was a 20th Century poet. |
| 26 | TAKE PART – dd |
| 27 | REMEDY – READY = game, with ME substituted for A |
| Down | |
| 1 | PARLOURS – R in PARLOUS = terrible |
| 2 | OTHELLO – hidden in brOTHEL, LOvelorn |
| 3 | GLAD – G + LAD |
| 5 | TELL ME ANOTHER – dd |
| 6 | MISCONDUCT – MIS(s) + CONDUCT |
| 7 | EMIRATE – E + M + I + RATE |
| 8 | ESTATE – (jungl)E + STATE |
| 10 | SALES ENGINEER – (LINE + EAGERNESS)* |
| 14 | FELLOWSHIP – FELLOW’S HIP |
| 16 | HOT TODDY – HY around OTTO + DD |
| 18 | ICE PICK – ICE + PICK. The question mark just about makes this clue ok, but it’s a bit all over the place; to “ice” is slang for to kill, and to pick is to choose, but “to kill you need to choose” really clues “TO ICE TO PICK” which is nonsense! |
| 19 | RAPTURE – (PUT)* in RARE = seldom encountered |
| 20 | DORSET – D(urham) + (STORE)* |
| 23 | APSE – APE around S |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
parking = P
duck = O
lake = L
crew = EIGHT [from rowing]
son = S
amateur = A
Rex = R
good = G
English = E
male = M
one = I
Henry = HY
theologian = DD [doctor of divinity]
small = S
11ac I put in STINT (a wading bird), because it is hidden in the clue.
Put in OSLO for 12ac but didn’t understand the wordplay. I got ICE PICK, but again didn’t follow word play.
Unsatisfactory, as I was planning to make this my last ‘Everyman’ before concentrating my Sunday efforts on AZED. Now I have to get today’s ‘Everyman’ all correct before I feel I can move on!
Sailed through this week’s Everyman, typical as it’s the week that we are not blogging!.
Lorraine.