Everyman N° 3,509 (5 January 2014)

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3509.

This week’s puzzle has a slightly American feel to it.

Across
1. Islander, terrible hypocrite, he ignored (7)
CYPRIOT An anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘[h]ypocrit[e]’ without HE (‘he ignored’).
5. Hit rain when high, and this on Everest? (4,3)
THIN AIR An anagram (‘when high’) of ‘hit rain’.
9. Forward almost missing header (5)
EARLY A subtraction: [n]EARLY (‘almost’) without its first letter (‘missing header’).
10. Plant from Andorra, so peculiar (6,3)
AARONS ROD An anagram (‘peculiar’) of ‘Andorra so’.In addition to mullein, the name is also used for goldenrod.
11. Carnival uncommon around the East at present (5,4)
RAREE SHOW An envelope (‘around’) of E (‘the East’) in RARE (‘uncommon’) plus SHOW (‘present’). ‘at’ is justified in the cryptic interpretation of the clue, for “plus”, and of course it nudges one to take the wrong pronunciation and meaning for ‘present’.
12. Attacker overlooking a person on a horse (5)
RIDER A subtraction: R[a]IDER (‘attacker’) without (‘overlooking’) ‘a’.
13. Settlers introducing dour priest to lager-like beer (7,7)
PILGRIM FATHERS An envelope (‘introducing … to’) of GRIM (‘dour’) plus FATHER (‘priest’) in PILS (‘lager-like beer’).
17. Typical delegate (14)
REPRESENTATIVE Double definition.
19. Fresh Police Constable arresting male teacher, retired (5)
CRISP An envelope (‘arresting’) of SIR (‘male teacher’) in PC (‘Police Constable’), all reversed (‘retired’).
21. Hush-hush operation with leading character in Coronation Street amazingly being brought round (3-6)
TOP-SECRET An envelope (‘being brought round’) of OP (‘operation’) in TSECRET, an anagram of C (‘leading character in Coronation’) plus ‘street’.
23. Police vehicle part modified by Carlo abroad (6,3)
PATROL CAR An angram (‘modified’) of ‘part’ plus another anagram (‘abroad’) of ‘Carlo’.
24. I spot one inside supplying dope (5)
IDIOT An envelope (‘inside’) of I (‘one’) in ‘I’ plus DOT (‘spot’).
25. Industry importing special rum, a racket (7)
TURMOIL An envelope (‘importing’) of URM, an anagram (‘special’) of ‘rum’ in TOIL (‘industry’).
26. Reaches former nurses (7)
EXTENDS A charade of EX (‘former’) plus TENDS (‘nurses’).
…
Down
1. Happy to salute youth leader (6)
CHEERY A charade of CHEER (‘slaute’) plus Y (‘Youth leader’).
2. Doorman admitting characteristic bore, an artist (8,7)
PORTRAIT PAINTER An envelope (‘admitting’) of TRAIT (‘characteristic’) plus PAIN (‘bore’) in PORTER (‘doorman’).
3. Brown is one of its members, girl with class (3,6)
IVY LEAGUE A charade of IVY (‘girl’) plus LEAGUE (‘class’). Brown University is one member of the Ivy League, a group of eight highly-regarded universities in the northeastern USA.
4. Whippet finally spots litter (5)
TRASH A charade of T (‘whippeT finally’) plus RASH (‘spots’).
5. Go mad, disconcert a worthy (5,1,3)
THROW A FIT A charade of THROW (‘disconcert’) plus ‘a’ plus FIT (‘worthy’).
6. Wrongdoer beheaded in secret (5)
INNER A subtraction: [s]INNER (‘wrongdoer’) ‘beheaded’.
7. A card game, distraction not including one shorter form (8,7)
ABRIDGED VERSION A charade of ‘a’ plus BRIDGE (‘card game’) plus D[i]VERSION (‘distraction’) without the I (‘not including one’).
8. Revolutionary annoyed relief organisation (3,5)
RED CROSS A charade of RED (‘revolutionary’) plus CROSS (‘annoyed’).
14. The very same dialect in resort (9)
IDENTICAL An anagram (‘re-sort’) of ‘dialect in’.
15. Start to trust man brought in to handle as much as possible (2,3,4)
TO THE HILT An envelope (‘brought in’) of T (‘start to Trust’) plus HE (‘man’) in ‘to’ plus HILT (‘handle’).
16. Crazy shot leading cup (8)
CRACKPOT A charade of CRACK (‘shot’, as in “I’ll take a crack at solving this puzzle”) plus POT (‘cup’).
18. Briefly set out American position (6)
STATUS A charade of STAT[e] (‘set out’) cut short (‘briefly’) plus US (‘American’).
20. Recently stolen – that appears in Post Office picture (5)
PHOTO An envelope (‘that appears in’) of HOT (‘recently stolen’) in PO (‘Post Office’).
22. Quietly press for expulsion (5)
PURGE A charade of P (‘quietly’) plus URGE (‘press’).

5 comments on “Everyman N° 3,509 (5 January 2014)”

  1. Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

    I had “chimp” in 19a. It fits “him” (male) in “CP” (“fresh” PC) but I couldn’t figure who would call a retired teacher “chimp”.

    Loved 1a, 3d, 7d and 15d.

  2. It did have an American feel, Peter; I hadn’t spotted that. But no old films this week.

    Like Dewey, I thought CYPRIOT was a nicely constructed clue.

  3. Not happy with ‘pils’ being a ‘lager-like beer’. The erroneous British use of the word lager relates to generally very poor interpretations of the original style of beer developed in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. ‘Lagern’ is German for ‘to store’, relating to the long, cold fermentation that creates the real thing. Most ‘lager-like beer’ in the UK has little to do with real Pilsner.

    Ra.

  4. I found this a little more difficult than a lot of Everyman puzzles, and it wasn’t the top-to-bottom solve that I have become used to on a Sunday morning. RAREE SHOW was my LOI from the wordplay, although once I entered the answer I realised that I had seen it before.

    I didn’t have a problem with pils defined as a lager-like beer, irrespective of the origins of the words and the comparative low quality of some English lagers compared to a lot of their Czech and German counterparts.

  5. Re-reading the clues this morning, I was struck again by the beautiful surfaces – well done Everyman!

    Thanks PeterO; I did not know RAREE SHOW although the wordplay was clear enough.

    Tim Phillips @3 – Chambers has for Pils: ‘a lager beer similar to Pilsener,’ so I think Everyman can be defended for using it.

    I liked CYPRIOT, PORTRAIT PAINTER, TRASH, TO THE HILT and, especially, TOP SECRET.

    THROW A FIT was nicely misleading as ‘worthy’ and ‘disconcert’ pointed to an anagram.

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