A pleasing puzzle in the usual Everyman style, including – as is often the case – some references that I’d not come across before. I did however need to phone a friend to understand the parsing of one clue. But no spelling mistakes this week …
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Show amusement about one as daft as a brush, say
SIMILE
An insertion of I in SMILE. The simile ‘as daft as a brush’ has always struck me as strange. Its origin seems uncertain, but there’s some speculation here.
4 Convincing Roman Catholic to admit weakness? Just the opposite
FORCIBLE
Another insertion, of RC in FOIBLE.
9 Old boy stretched, in shape
OBLONG
A charade of OB and LONG.
10 Nonsense written in columns exposing clowns
PIERROTS
Another insertion clue: of ROT in PIERS.
11 Goddess seen in play
VENUS OBSERVED
A new one on me, but I guessed it from the crossing letters and checked. It’s a 1950 play by Christopher Fry.
14 Eminent newspaper framed by the US actress, Myrna
LOFTY
The US actress is Myrna LOY (no, I hadn’t either) and Everyman is asking you to insert FT for Financial Times or ‘paper’ in it.
16 Sort of beer – not lagers, oddly
STRONG ALE
(NOT LAGERS)*
17 Ivy, perhaps, always pale and sickly-looking
EVERGREEN
A charade of EVER and GREEN.
19 From Soho, telephone the Savoy, perhaps
HOTEL
Hidden in SoHO TELephone. For overseas solvers, the Savoy is a London hotel.
20 Our host, hidden away, poured drinks
DID THE HONOURS
(OUR HOST HIDDEN)*
23 Begin a journey in craft with sturdy exterior
START OUT
Plenty of insertions today. This one is of ART in STOUT.
24 Trumpet playing drowned by cor anglais, initially
CORONA
An insertion of ON in COR A. ‘Is Hamlet on/playing at Stratford currently?’ The surface suggests an orchestral trumpet, but in fact it’s the botanical kind.
25 Looks at head, uneasy in a visor
EYESHADE
A charade of EYES and (HEAD)* with ‘uneasy’ as the anagrind.
26 Sculpted figure of Nehru finally acquired by nation
STATUE
Yet more insertions: here it’s the last letter of NehrU in STATE.
Down
1 End bombardment with a delicate tennis stroke
STOP VOLLEY
I did myself no favours by originally entering DROP VOLLEY here (it kind of works …) A charade of STOP and VOLLEY in its armament sense.
2 Fruit from Middle East – large ones? Not half!
MELON
Confusingly, MELON is made up of the first letters of Middle East Large Ones Not. But in fact it’s ME for Middle East followed by L for ‘large’ and ON for half of ‘ones’.
3 Girl soprano, Jenny, for example
LINDSAY
Jenny LIND was a Swedish opera singer and soprano who lived from 1820 to 1887. I so knew that. Not. Add SAY for ‘for example’ to her surname and you’ve got another girl’s name.
5 Peace offering from bachelor in 7 around 5
OLIVE BRANCH
This is where I needed to phone a friend to sort out the parsing. My feeble excuse is that Everyman hardly ever does this stuff, where one clue is referenced to another; so I was off my guard and led astray, your honour. You need to make an anagram (‘broadcast’, the solution to 7dn) of (BACHELOR IN)* and then insert V for the Roman numeral for 5.
6 A Romany leader entering Irish county in a mobile home
CARAVAN
An insertion of A and R for the first letter of Romany in County CAVAN.
7 Outspoken actors in show
BROADCAST
A charade of BROAD and CAST. Broad: ‘of language, outspoken, unreserved, trenchant, vulgar, somewhat coarse or indecent’ (SOED).
8 Bridge player, poorest having lost pounds
EAST
[L]EAST. ‘Pounds’ in its pre-decimal LSD sense
12 Dog‘s plus point husband discovered during spring
BASSET HOUND
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many insertions in a puzzle. ASSET and H in BOUND.
13 Property not supposed to be taken to car
REAL ESTATE
The largely American term for ‘property’ is a charade of REAL for ‘not supposed’ and ESTATE for ‘car’
Let us be lovers; we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag …
… as Paul Simon wrote, and he and Arty sang.
15 Pick up food for bird
FIELDFARE
A charade of FIELD and FARE. The former in its cricketing sense, I suppose. Everyman is into his films, and I’m quite keen on ornithology, so here is the obligatory Pierre bird link. I usually say something along the lines of ‘he’s a handsome little fellow, isn’t he?’ But in fact he’s quite plain.
18 Attempt, with wife, to share expenses equally
GO DUTCH
A charade of GO for ‘try’ and DUTCH for the Cockney expression for ‘wife’ (from ‘duchess’, I think). One of a number of English expressions using DUTCH. Not many of them are complimentary.
19 Spend time relaxing in lodge
HANG OUT
A dd, relying on the fact that HANG OUT can be a verb or a noun.
21 Worried about vessel
U-BOAT
(ABOUT)*
22 Man, perhaps, in his Levi’s
ISLE
Having persuaded myself that SLEV wasn’t a man’s name, I realised that it’s the ISLE OF MAN that we need. Hidden in hIS LEvi’s.
Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.
I got two clues wrong. For 1a I put in DIMPLY and for 1d I had put in DROP VOLLEY. My favourite was 5d.
Re 18, the Cockney rhyming slang is Duchess of Fife = wife. However, as I lived in Indonesia for a long time, I always think of “Dutch wife” which is the long bolster pillow that Indonesians like to use, and you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolster
Thanks for the blog, Pierre.
Many thanks Pierre & Everyman
However, I was very surprised that you had never heard of MYRNA LOY nor JENNY LIND.
MYRNA was lovely:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001485/
And Jenny – The Swedish Nightingale – was portrayed in several movies of yesteryear:
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0307438/?ref_=fn_ch_ch_1
1d as DROP VOLLEY stopped me. Got stuck at top right corner as result.Pleased to know it wasnt just me.
Add me to those who have never heard of Loy and Lind. I failed on 4a,10a, 25a and 15d.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
There are not many Myrna’s around, so I knew of ‘Loy.’ I also had cause to try to shoehorn JENNY LIND into a puzzle, so also knew of ‘The Swedish Nightingale.’
Usual smooth surfaces, although a little disappointing that ‘COR’ was in both clue and answer for 24A. I was a bit stumped at the beginning by playing=on and outspoken=broad, although both were fair. I particularly liked FORCIBLE.
Thank you for the kind welcome a few weeks ago. Do other people find a great variation in how hard the puzzles are? I got all of the week before’s but only about half of this one.
Hello again, Hannah.
It’s hard to say, I think. Everyman is always the puzzle that I recommend to those who are starting out with cryptics, along with the Quiptic on Mondays in the Guardian. Generally they are accessible once you’ve got going. But sometimes I do struggle to get the last few clues in both. And I’m the blogger, don’t forget. But bloggers here are just enthusiasts who want to encourage others to have a go at this pastime; it doesn’t mean we’re ‘experts’. Some days it all goes in smoothly; some days it doesn’t.