Everyman 3500/3 November

A special edition puzzle from Everyman this week.

 

Lorraine wasn’t able to blog this one, so you’ll have to put up with me two weeks running.  I’m happy to help, especially since it’s something a little special from Everyman this morning.  As a puzzle intended for improving solvers, there is seldom any hidden message or theme in an Everyman crossword.  But today, being puzzle number 3,500, the words THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED are spelled out by the first letters of each of the clues: THREE THOUSAND for the acrosses, and FIVE HUNDRED for the downs.

The puzzle was, frustratingly, not available as an online version at all for a good while; then it appeared with an apology and a link to the downloadable pdf version.  Quite what the problem was, I don’t know, although in the pdf, the first letters seem to have been boldened, making it more obvious that there was something going on; in the version in the paper, this didn’t happen.

Anyway, enough of all that.  Here’s what I made of the puzzle.

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

5  Twitter comment, short and excessively sentimental
TWEE
TWEE[T]

7  Heath Robinson, say, showing duck in box – it’s Daffy?
CARTOONIST
An insertion of O for ‘duck’ (in cricket) in CARTON, followed by (ITS)*  ‘Daffy’ is the anagrind, although of course he’s also a duck.  Heath Robinson was the cartoonist best known for his depictions of unlikely inventions, and his name is used nowadays to describe some apparatus or equipment that’s been cobbled together.

10  Rectangular harpsichord, spotless
VIRGINAL
Well, it had to be that; but I needed Tinternet to confirm that a VIRGINAL is indeed a ‘rectangular harpsichord’.  So it’s a dd.

11  Exhausted, American editor on horseback
USED-UP
A charade of US, ED, and UP for ‘on horseback’.

12  Envisage article making one fume
SEETHE
A charade of SEE and THE.

14  Transport access
ENTRANCE
A dd.  If you haven’t seen it before (and it has been round the block a bit) then for the first definition put the stress on the second syllable, and for the second definition put it on the first.  One’s a noun; the other’s a verb.

15  Headcase with broken finger, leaves group of extremists
LUNATIC FRINGE
A charade of LUNATIC and (FINGER)*

17  Ordered to repeat a G&S work, perhaps
OPERETTA
(TO REPEAT)*

19  Utter part of lament I recalled
ENTIRE
Hidden in lamENT I REcalled.

20  Song, a diva’s first after formal dance
BALLAD
A and D for the first letter of Diva after BALL.

21  Affluent four on right included in article
THRIVING
An insertion of R and IV in THING.

23  Neglected child runs through Battersea, distressed
STREET ARAB
Everyman is asking you to insert R into BATTERSEA and then make an anagram (‘distressed’).  I’d never heard this phrase, but STREET was fairly obvious and (ABRA)* can’t be much else.

24  Drawn on match day
TIED
A charade of TIE and D for ‘day’.

Down

1  Female trapping number in lift
HEIGHTEN
An insertion of EIGHT in HEN.  Think hen nights.  Or maybe not.

2  Image I study
ICON
A charade of I and CON for ‘study’, which definition you only ever see in cryptics these days.  ICON is indeed strictly a ‘religious image’, but the battle to keep it as just that has long been lost, I fancy.

3  Valuable wood from this place?  Better off spending capital
LOCUST TREE
A charade of LOCUS (‘this place’) and TTREE, which is ([B]ETTER)*  The removal indicator for the first letter is ‘spending capital’ and the anagrind is ‘off’.  Someone better at botany than me will have to tell us why the wood is ‘valuable’ (or perhaps it was just the need to get the V at the start of the clue).

4  E.g. Lana, unusual girl’s name
ANGELA
(EG LANA)*

6  He, with wit, edited jumbo, a conspicuous failure
WHITE ELEPHANT
A charade of (HE WIT)* and ELEPHANT.

8  Ups and downs on this vessel covered by heavy wave
ROLLER COASTER
COASTER under ROLLER.

9  New layout of mall can secure the demolition of squalid houses
SLUM CLEARANCE
(MALL CAN SECURE)*

13  Dues payable upon a death, say, in eastern part
ESTATE DUTY
An insertion of STATE for ‘say’ in E DUTY.  DUTY for ‘part’?  Think In the Bleak Midwinter:

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him:  give my heart.

16  Representation of Christ’s birth – service handling it in two ways
NATIVITY
More Christmas (don’t even mention it, although obviously I just did …)  An insertion of TI and IT (‘it’ in two different ways) in NAVY for ‘service’.

18  Easing out of harbour, Eli, effortlessly
RELIEF
Hidden in harbouR ELI EFfortlessly.

20  Dressing-gown in rear portion of closet
ROBE
[WARD]ROBE.  Just about works because it’s exactly half of the original word.

Given the constraints produced by having to include the initial letters, I reckon Everyman has still given us an accessible puzzle.  According to his profile on this site, the current setter (Allan Scott) has been compiling the Everyman puzzle since 1994, so by my reckoning he will be coming up to his thousandth puzzle sometime soon, although I guess he’s the only one who knows. Thank you to him for this one.