Goodness me! This one was a toughie by Everyman standards with some less common abbreviations creeping in (RR for Bishop rather than B for example), and some less common knowledge required (including in one of the all-important long clues; 10dn). Hopefully some of you found this easier than me, as I did take a rather long time. Having said all of that, once the answers were there, the clues revealed themselves to be generally very precise.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | RUSKIN – IN after R {river} + USK {Welsh river} |
| 4 | SCRAPE – SCRAP + E |
| 8 | BRAVADO – BRA + V + A + DO |
| 10 | FLATTER – dd |
| 11 | TERRORIST – ERRORS around I in TT – I can only assume that TT is an abbreviation for tattoo |
| 12 | LUPIN – UP in LIN(e) |
| 13 | WALTER MITTY – WITTY around [ALTER + M] |
| 15 | COUNTERFEIT – COUNTER + FE + IT |
| 19 | REBUS – RE + SUB< |
| 20 | IN ADVANCE – I + N + ADVANCE |
| 22 | WARRANT – RANT after WAR |
| 23 | AUSTERE – AUSTER {the South wind} + (shor)E |
| 24 | POTMAN – POT {to pocket in snooker} + MAN {a piece in chess} |
| 25 | FACTOR – F + ACTOR |
| Down | |
| 1 | REBATE – BEERAT* |
| 2 | SPARROW – SP {starting price for odds} + ARROW |
| 3 | IMAGO – hidden in (h)IM A GO(alkeeper) |
| 5 | CHARLOTTE – LOT in CHART + E |
| 6 | AUTOPSY – AUTO + SPY*. PM stands for post-mortem here. |
| 7 | ERRANT – E + RR {Right Reverend} + ANT |
| 9 | OLIVER TWIST– OLIVER [Hardy] + TWIST |
| 10 | FATA MORGANA – ATANAGRAMOF*. A Fata Morgana is a very rare and specific type of mirage. |
| 14 | LOUISIANA – LOUISA around [I + AN] |
| 15 | CABARET – CAT around BARE |
| 16 | TANGENT – TAN + GENT |
| 17 | GROW UP – W in GROUP |
| 18 | VENEER – NE in VEER |
| 21 | VISTA – hidden in (Ma) VIS TA(te) |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
river = R
energy = E
five = V
one = I
male = M
iron = FE
name = N
female = F
East = E
English = E
women = W
Northeast = NE
Agreed. I had to look up FATA MORGANA and confirm POTMAN. I thought AUTOPSY and AUSTERE were very nice clues
Thanks Arthur & Everyman
Enjoyed this one very much, as you say somewhat more tricky than usual but as always IMO very well clued.
In 11ac ‘TT’ is not an abbreviation for tattoo but is the ‘middle of tattoo’.
Thanks Arthur,
Yes this was a more difficult Everyman which I finally finished in the evening. The main problems were FATA MORGANA and the top righthand corner. 6d was very well-disguised. All very enjoyable though.
Cheers, Arthur. Agree, a bit tougher than usual; I too had to confirm FATA MORGANA. I’ve noticed Everyman will often throw in a less well-known word or phrase – there have been several over the past months where I wasn’t familiar with the answer. But the clueing is invariably precise so the puzzle always remains solvable.