A seasonal offering from Everyman. As always, a pleasure to solve and blog.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 One excluded old theologian connected with a Mount, oddly
ODD MAN OUT
A charade of O, DD for Doctor of Divinity or ‘theologian’ and (A MOUNT)*
8 One held captive round Mount after end of speech
HOSTAGE
The Mount is centre STAGE today; Jesus’ sermon from that place will be next. It’s H for the last letter of speecH, O for ’round’ and STAGE for ‘mount’.
10 Personal assistant’s to take home one Christmas cake
PANETTONE
A charade of PA, NETT and ONE.
11 Rushes jobs
CAREERS
A dd, relying on the fact that English has many words which can be nouns as well as verbs.
12 High, the Parisian church tower with spire
STEEPLE
A charade of STEEP and LE for one of the French words for ‘the’.
13 Saw ghost floating across rear of theatre in pantomime?
STAGE SHOW
(SAW GHOST E)* with ‘floating’ as the anagrind.
15 One involved in pantomime turn again?
DICK WHITTINGTON
A cd cum dd. ‘Turn again, Whittington’ is a famous line from the story/pantomime.
17 Checks in chess? Aunt confused
STAUNCHES
(CHESS AUNT)* What was I just saying about nouns and verbs in English?
20 Hypocrisy at a choral work
CANTATA
A charade of CANT, AT and A.
22 A soldier shown round small house of a native American
ARAPAHO
A charade of A PARA reversed and HO.
In the wilds of Borneo
And the vineyards of Bordeaux
Eskimo, Arapaho
Move their body to and fro
Ian Dury fans will know what I’m on about.
23 Instrument, unusual in one regard
REED ORGAN
(ONE REGARD)*
24 University stopping dissertations in ancient Greek
THESEUS
An insertion of U in THESES.
25 Previously ending in Alsace, then Lorraine, strangely
EARLIER ON
A charade of E for the last letter of AlsacE and (LORRAINE)* It’s a clever clue, because Alsace-Lorraine is now a region of France, but in the past it has been much fought over. Whether my fellow Everyman blogger Lorraine has been fought over in the past, I can’t say.
Down
1 Short operation on model’s face
OPPOSE
A charade of OP and POSE.
2 Fellow on essential Nativity play animal?
DONKEY
A charade of DON for the academic ‘fellow’ and KEY. Just so we have sacred and secular in the same blog …
Little donkey, carry Mary, safely on her way
3 Behave in a troublesome way at college after play
ACT UP
A charade of ACT for ‘play’ and UP for ‘at college’.
4 Shoehorning hose away in an attitude of smug superiority
ON ONE’S HIGH HORSE
(SHOEHORNING HOSE)*
5 No one’s about to chastise unstable Catholic king in play
THE COAST IS CLEAR
A charade of (TO CHASTISE)*, C for ‘Catholic’ and LEAR for the king in Shakespeare’s play.
6 Object from cracker daily found on hearth, oddly
PAPER HAT
What we’ll all be wearing (or will have worn by the time this blog is published) while tucking into the turkey. A charade of PAPER for ‘daily’ and the odd letters of HeArTh.
7 Swing he composed, with bit of ragtime thrown in?
GERSHWIN
(SWING HE R)* The anagrind is ‘composed’ and Everyman is asking you to add R for the first letter of ‘ragtime’ to the anagram fodder. Referring to George GERSHWIN, so you could describe this as an ‘all-in-one’ clue, or an ‘&lit’, since the whole clue defines the answer.
9 Social worker after cloth, one with stripes
SERGEANT
A charade of SERGE and ANT.
14 Ballet in middle of Christmas week, an excess
SWAN LAKE
Well, my best guess at this is that it’s: S for the middle letter of chriStmas, W for week, AN and LAKE for ‘excess’ in the sense of when Europe has produced too much wine, there’s a WINE LAKE. But I am happy to be corrected. Sugar plums, anyone?
15 Revulsion shown by DI, say, about latest of assaults
DISTASTE
Nice surface. DI and STATE around S for the last letter of ‘assaultS’.
16 Hears a CD prepared for Christmas party game?
CHARADES
CHARADES are a setter’s best friend in crosswords, but it’s of course also a game played after Christmas dinner when Auntie Jean’s had a sherry too many. (HEARS A CD)*
18 Fixture in stable causing male irritation
MANGER
Are you in the Christmas mood yet? A charade of M and ANGER. Manger is of course the French verb ‘to eat’, and cattle eat feed from a MANGER (except when Baby Jesus is lying there). The two things might be related.
19 Priest reportedly shot playing billiards
CANNON
A homophone of CANON. A CANNON is one way of scoring points in billiards.
21 Girl I lament over
NAOMI
A reversal (‘over’) of I MOAN.
Since this will be the last Everyman blog of 2013, just a chance to say thank you to him for all the puzzles this year, and best wishes for 2014 to all the Everyman bloggers, commenters, and lurkers.
The usual pleasant Sunday morning solve. MANGER was my LOI after CANTATA. On my first read of 20ac I thought it was going to be an anagram of “a choral” with “work” as the anagrind and “hypocrisy” as the definition, and it was only when I went back to the clue after NAOMI had been entered that the penny dropped.
Good, Christmassy puzzle.
I see Lorraine got a namecheck again! It took a little while to realise that the home in 10 was not ‘in.’
PANETTONE, ARAPAHO, EARLIER ON and THE COAST IS CLEAR (nice misdirection of ‘about’) were my favourites.
Never heard of Arapaho, but got A-a-aho. Good Christma puzzle but it’s well into the NewYear here in NZ.