Everyman 3302

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I rather enjoyed this one. No particularly obscure words and a couple of nice cryptic definitions as part of more precise clues which raised smiles. Also generally the surfaces seemed to read better than they have done in a few previous weeks.

Across
1 TYPE – dd
3 PINCUSHION – CHOPINUSIN*. Nice misdirection with ‘small pad’ seeming to reference a bedsit
10 EARHOLE – E + A + ROLE around H. Nice cd too
11 THEATRE – THE + A + T(osh) + RE
12 PANATELLA – PA around {AN + TELL around A}
13 KRILL – KILL around (lobste)R
14 ALPHABET SOUP – “ALF” + ABETS + OUP [= Oxford University Press]
18 ADDER’S TONGUE – GROUNDSEATED*
21 ALICE – cd
22 PINOT NOIR – INNPOORIT*
24 CONCERN – dd
25 BARMAID – BARM(y) + AID. Again another nice cd
26 TALK TURKEY – TURKEY after TALK
27 STYE – STY + (lan)E. And another good cd
Down
1 THESPIAN – HES in PAINT*
2 PARSNIPS – PAR + SNIPS
4 IDEAL – I + DEAL
5 CUTLASSES – LUCASSETS*
6 SPEAK OUT OF TURN – OFT in U-TURN after PEAK in SO
7 IN TRIM – IN + TRIM
8 NEEDLE – dd
9 PORTLAND CEMENT – MODERNPLANTETC* &lit
15 EYE-OPENER – EYE + OPENER. To correctly parse this clue, ‘wonder’ has to be read as a noun as in ‘seven wonders of the world’
16 IGNORANT – RANTING* around O
17 BEGRUDGE – BEG + RUDGE ref Barnaby Rudge
19 SHANDY – M + ASCOT
20 SIGNAL – dd
23 NOBLE – NOB + LE

Common crossword abbreviations this week:

East = E
one = I
Somalia = SO
love = O
maiden = M

5 comments on “Everyman 3302”

  1. Thanks for the blog, Arthur.
    I think, 25ac and 27ac aren’t cd’s, just nice charades.
    Very friendly crossword, nothing too demanding.
    The only one I still don’t understand is 21ac (ALICE).

  2. Hi Sil van den Hoek.

    Perhaps I didn’t explain myself very well. When I referred to cryptic definitions on 25ac and 27ac, I didn’t mean the whole clue, rather that the part of the clue that defines the answer (not the charade bit) is itself a cryptic definition of the word rather than a straight one. The cds I am talking about are – 25ac Local girl is a cd for a barmaid as she is a girl who works in a ‘local’, not a girl from the local area; 27ac a stye is not an eyesore in the sense that it is something that looks ugly, but an actual sore on your eye.

    21ac is a reference to an Alice band which is a type of hairband that is made of a horseshoe of plastic that grips to your head. Apparently this name derives from Through the Looking Glass, as the pictures depict Alice wearing this sort of hairband.

  3. I enjoyed this crossword as well – nothing too challenging, but some nicely crafted clues.

    @ Sil – an alice band is a type of hairband, like a hard plastic inverted U shaped thing to hold hair back off the forehead, if you get what I mean. As far as I know it’s a specifically British term, and I’m guessing from your name you’re not British, so the confusion is understandable.

  5. Thanks Arthur & Sam.
    I was probably too fixated on the answer possibly being linked to, um, Alice Cooper (of all persons).
    Just this morning, I remembered Alice to have seen before as a ‘hair band’, and one quick look in Chambers was enough.
    Should have known – even so, thanks for the explanations

    And Arthur, you’re absolutely right about your cd’s!

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