Everyman 3286

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I didn’t really like this one. It’s unfortunate that IOUs was used in a clue to 14 ac and a solution to 2dn. I can’t properly parse 1dn, 16dn is a dreadful clue neither being a proper &lit or having any definition and I’m not sure why ground is “g” in 21dn or golf is “g” in 11ac except the words begin with the letter – surely there must be a common use of it as an abbreviation for it to be allowed. I’d love anyone to enlighten me on these points! “May cause” is a pretty poor anagram indicator in 14ac meaning you really have to rely on counting letters and realising there are 15 of them which is far from satisfying.

Across
1 CINEMA – (AMEN + I + C)<
4 THE BYRDS – “THE BIRDS”
10 WATERFORD – AFTER* in WORD
11 TIGER – G (for golf??) in TIER
12 LURGI – (I + G + RUL[e])<
13 IMPLEMENT – dd
14 PROMISSORY NOTES – PERSONSMOROSITY*
16 NO SPRING CHICKEN – HIPCONCERNSKING*
20 REGISTRAR – GIST + R in REAR
22 ON AIR – hidden in ArizONA – IRonside
23 HEAVE – HEAV(y) + (revu)E
24,25 SEE HOW THE LAND LIES – dd
26 STOREY – STORY around (danc)E
Down
1 COWSLIP – I think this must be COWS + LIP. A lip is a border but not sure about cows as neat? I can’t come up with any other words that fit though.
2 NOTORIOUS – NO + ROT< + IOUS
3 MARTINI – MARTIN + I
5 HYDE PARK CORNER – ROCKERYDAPHNE* + R
6 BITTERN – BITTER + (Afgha)N(istan)
7 ROGUE – ROUE around G
8 STRATUS – STATUS around (afte)R(noon)
9 ROBINSON CRUSOE – ROB + CONNOISSEUR*
15 TAKE AFTER – TAKE + AFTER
16 NARWHAL – N + A + WHAL(e) around (icebreake)R + &lit?? Only if you take a narwhal’s tusk to be an icebreaker (which according to Wikipedia is not what they are normally used for) does this even begin to be an &lit and then you’re still left with “Name a” which I suppose could be an instruction to the solver. All in all, poor.
17 ROSWELL – R + O + SWELL
18 IRON OUT – IRON + OUT
19 NURSERY – N + SURREY*
21 GRAIN – G (for ground?) + RAIN

Common crossword abbreviations this week:

one = I
good = G
right = R
grand = G
name – N
runs = R
round = O
Northern = N

3 comments on “Everyman 3286”

  1. Hi Arthur. Neat is a dialect word for a cow or cows, rather like sheep. Pretty standard fare I think. I rather liked narwhal, not what you’d normally see in an Everyman though.

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