Everyman No. 3508 (29th December)

Nick:  Me again folks, Lorraine has been laid up with flu for 5 days.

Fairly tough for an Everyman, I thought, but some great anagram work going on.
I have a slight query with 7dn – not sure what is going on there.

 

Across
1. Dance with former copper and seem clumsy (6-2)
EXCUSE-ME EX+CU+(SEEM*)
5. Material‘s marvellous, very amusing once abridged (6)
FABRIC FAB+RIC(h)
10. Very little fly found in tin (7)
SMIDGEN MIDGE in SN
11. Understanding of current things in variety (7)
INSIGHT I(i = electric current)+(THINGS*)
12. Show deficit after end of trading (5)
GLOSS LOSS after (tradin)G
13. Active at night? No? Go in around beginning of Lent (9)
NOCTURNAL NO+((TURN in (CA+L))
14. Film makers run into trouble blocking those advising caution? (6,8)
WARNER BROTHERS i (R in BOTHER) in WARNERS
17. Crony, architect, organised benefit show (7,7)
CHARITY CONCERT (CRONY ARCHITECT)*
21. We do, after a struggle, accommodate writer (9)
WODEHOUSE i (WE DO*)+HOUSE
23. Trouble after advertising Madrid gallery (5)
PRADO i PR+ADO
24. Stylish defence saving one heading towards trouble (2,3,2)
IN FOR IT IN[stylish]+(I in FORT)
25. English PM suppressing ambassador’s nickname (7)
EPITHET i E+(HE in PITT)
26. Go round Ayr and get lost (6)
GYRATE (AYR+GET)*
27. Ratings cooked unknown fish (8)
STRINGRAY (RATINGS*)+Y[unknown]

Down
1. Soldier who carries the Colours in? Gen’s misleading (6)
ENSIGN (IN? GEN’S)*
2. Fried potato – a lot cooked, served with a sausage (9)
CHIPOLATA CHIP+(A LOT*)
3. Hires Mark, disciple (5,2)
SIGNS ON SIGN+SON
4. Unseen establishment figures, good inside foreign ministry? (Unseen mostly) (3,2,4,5)
MEN IN GREY SUITS G in (MINISTRY+UNSEE(n)*)
6. Offensive, a sailor reportedly (7)
ASSAULT homophone: A SALT (i.e. a sailor)
7. Possessed girl, a daughter of King Lear (5)
REGAN this seems to be a cryptic plain definition? See comments #1 and
#2 – ref ‘The Exorcist’
8. Spurn girl initially, girl with a refined accent? (3-5)
CUT GLASS i CUT+G(irl)+LASS
9. Military manoeuvre – could it be the making of prince? (6,8)
PINCER MOVEMENT i pun that movement of PINCER = PRINCE
15. Attention given to female in pub, incessant talker (9)
EARBASHER EAR+(SHE in BAR)
16. Heather following barge, glowering (8)
SCOWLING LING after SCOW
18. Be left at home with that girl, Italian (7)
INHERIT IN+HER+IT
19. Legend, suitable, I displayed in study (7)
CAPTION (APT+I) in CON
20. Somebody deserving (6)
WORTHY cdd
22. Give way in Grande ferry (5)
DEFER hidden: granDE FERry

11 comments on “Everyman No. 3508 (29th December)”

  1. Muffyword

    Thanks Nick and Everyman,

    I agree that this was on the tough side for an Everyman.

    7dn is a double definition/reference: The other half is Regan MacNeil, from The Exorcist.

  2. scchua

    Nick thanks for the blog. 7dn that was Regan MacNeil, possessed girl in The Exorcist.

  3. scchua

    sorry muffyword, we crossed.

  4. Dewey

    Thanks Nick and Everyman. Found this rather easy. Had out-class in 8d which made 5a difficult. 4d and 9d came very quickly for such long clues. I think the enumeration helped. 21a was quite nice.

  5. scchua

    P.S. Thanks to Everyman too, of course.

  6. Bryan

    Many thanks Nick & Everyman.

    I was sorry to hear about Lorraine. Please tell her to get well soon. We do miss her.

    The only daughter of King Lear I could remember was Regan – which was fortunate because the allusion to ‘The Exorcist’ was way above my head.


  7. Thanks for comments #1 & #2 – I have corrected the entry @ 7dn.
    Now, having never seen The Exorcist, I could have stared at that clue for days without ever getting it.

    Thanks,

    Nick


  8. Count me as another who only got 7dn from the daughter of King Lear. I liked the clue for PINCER MOVEMENT. CHARITY CONCERT was my LOI after SCOWLING.

  9. Rishi

    (From Everyman 3501)

    After solving the above-mentioned Everyman in its local appearance, a solver wrote the following in the Comment section of an India-based blog
    http://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.in/

    Quote begins

    From today’s TH Sunday CW:

    26 Extracting pounds from sport (8) WREST(-L)ING

    Is extracting doing double duty?

    Quote ends

    I would think that the observation is right.

    Yet I find that in the blog on this site PeterO wrote (in the main blog itself): “The subtraction is indicated by ‘from’, so that ‘extracted’ does not have to do double duty.”

    My question is: Is “pounds from sport” enough as an instruction to delete L from ‘wrestling’ (sport)?


  10. Rishi,

    To me just ‘from’ doesn’t indicate a removal, ‘removed from’, or ‘taken from’ yes.

    But having said that, Chambers first entry for ‘From’ is ‘out of’ – so transpose the clue:

    ‘pounds out of sport’ works.

    Nick


  11. I found this crossword rather hard and didn’t get too far with it. Too cryptic for just my brain and needed someone else to ‘spa off’. It doesn’t help having 2 grand-daughters living here at the moment. Not getting a couple of the longer answers is always a hindrance, too.
    I’ve never heard of ‘cut-glass’ as meaning a refined accent. An English term?
    So saying, looking at the answers there were a few I should have got easily.
    Oh well, next week….

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