Another fine Sunday puzzle from Everyman. Plenty of charades today and some characteristically clever anagrams.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Lover’s lost love in European capital
ROME
Possibly the best-known lover on the planet, ROMEO, needs to lose his last letter. The O for ‘love’ equivalence comes from tennis.
3 Leaders, real idiots, in dissaray
EDITORIALS
(REAL IDIOTS)*
10 Agree to study mould
CONFORM
A charade of CON and FORM. CON for ‘study’ I have never heard or seen except in crosswords.
11 I name magazine that’s current
IN VOGUE
A charade of I, N and VOGUE for the glossy magazine.
12 Substantially surrounded by German city church
IN ESSENCE
Another charade: of IN for ‘surrounded’ (which is a bit of a stretch), ESSEN and CE for Church of England.
13 Celebrity, first in training to jump
START
And another: of STAR and T. ‘You made me start.’
14 Extremely happy, nun once idol destroyed
ON CLOUD NINE
(NUN ONCE IDOL)* I was minded to look up why we say this, but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer. However, we used to say ON CLOUD SEVEN, apparently. There’s inflation for you.
18 Stable in eastern walled city
CONSTANTINE
A charade of CONSTANT, IN and E for the walled city in current-day Algeria.
21 Decline drinks, say
LAPSE
A homophone (‘say’) of LAPS. Think cats and saucers of milk.
22 Thinking back, criminal hid things
HINDSIGHT
(HID THINGS)* with ‘criminal’ as the anagrind.
23 Check on fatality by entrance to Stormont Castle
SCHLOSS
A charade of CH for ‘check’ (it’s not in my dictionaries, but it’s commonly used in chess abbreviations) and LOSS, preceded by S for the first letter of Stormont. What some people like to call a ‘lift and separate’ clue, since in the surface reading Stormont Castle appears as a single concept.
24 Cocky type rounded hill, was almost captured
KNOW-ALL
An insertion of WA[S] in KNOLL, a word in most people’s minds forever associated with the events in Dallas just over 50 years ago.
25 Cool enough?
SATISFYING
A dd.
26 Male part shortened
STAG
STAG[E].
Down
1 Flinch in fear on bend
RECOIL
A charade of RE for ‘on’ and COIL for ‘bend’.
2 Bodyguard died in pit on top of ridge
MINDER
Everyman is inviting you to insert D for ‘died’ in MINE and follow it with the first letter of ‘ridge’.
4 Sister in party dress can
DOMINICAN
A charade of DO, MINI and CAN. ‘Sister’ in the ‘get thee to a nunnery’ sense.
5 What some northerners eat is rubbish
TRIPE
A dd. Is TRIPE an exclusively northern delicacy? Probs. Can’t imagine many folk in Kensington and Chelsea putting it in their posh mouths, unless some SW3 butcher’s shop gave it a fancy-sounding French name, when it would go down a storm.
6 Reading this may get one over sin, might we deduce?
REVISED VERSION
The technical description of this clue is a reverse anagram thingy with a hint of &lit. In fact, if Everyman had omitted the last three words of the clue, which he could easily have done, I could have described it as &lit without risking being mauled by the &lit rottweilers that lurk just below the surface on this site, waiting to sink their teeth into bloggers who say a clue is &lit when it’s not. Whatevs, if you take REVISED as an anagrind, then VERSION could become ‘over sin’. And reading the REVISED VERSION of the Bible could well help you to get over your sins. For newer solvers, ‘&lit’ is crosswordese for ‘and literally so’, where the whole clue leads to the answer. Sometimes called an ‘all-in-one’ clue.
7 Cooked, covered with breadcrumbs, I turn Aga off
AU GRATIN
(I TURN AGA)* Cheese as well as breadcrumbs in our house.
8 Tapes wound round small garden plant
SWEET PEA
An insertion of WEE for the mainly Scottish word for ‘small’ in (TAPES)* with ‘wound’ as the anagrind.
9 Favouritism in the workplace that does not extend to girls?
JOBS FOR THE BOYS
A cd.
15 Bulbs kept initially in paper
ONIONSKIN
A charade of ONIONS, the first letter of ‘kept’ and IN for the translucent, lightweight paper.
16 Old copper writes down eye specialists
OCULISTS
A charade of O, CU and LISTS.
17 Flares up over recently stolen photograph
SNAPSHOT
Shedloads of charades this morning. This one is SNAPS for ‘flares up’ (in the losing your temper sense) and HOT for ‘recently stolen’.
19 Horrified at hag’s concoction
AGHAST
(AT HAGS)*
20 Prison camp over in Bengal, at Siliguri
STALAG
Hidden reversed in BenGAL AT Siliguri.
22 Muscular dog
HUSKY
Well, it had to be this for our last clue, and it’s a dd, but I’d only known HUSKY as referring to a voice. However, my SOED gives this definition as mainly North American, and says ‘tough, strong, hefty’. And you can’t get more muscular than that.
Many thanks to Everyman as always.
Thanks, Pierre, for your very clear explanations. I also had doubts about whether tripe is a uniquely northern dish, and what you said about tarting it up for “more delicate” palates made me laugh!
Thanks Pierre,
Very enjoyable as always. Took me a long time to see SCHLOSS and even longer to see JOBS FOR THE BOYS
which was my last one in. My first guess was BOYS GOT THE JOBS (don’t laugh) but I just could not see
it even though it’s fairly obvious. What a clodpoll !.
Many thanks Everyman.
Another very pleasant Everyman puzzle. I liked the clue for REVISED VERSION, and without the last three words it would indeed, IMHO, have been a nice &lit. Have you noticed how there have been far fewer “not an &lit” comments since Rowly has been away?
CONFORM was my LOI after DOMINICAN.
Another good Everyman.
Thanks Pierre; I thought this one was a bit more difficult than some or perhaps it was just the red wine last night!
I guess your source for ON CLOUD NINE was this.
The dissaray (sic) typo/misspelling in 3a reached the Guardian blog.
I liked the DOMINICAN lady although it might have been better if the ‘can’ was replaced with ‘may, able etc.’ Favourite clue was for REVISED VERSION.
Thanks, Robi.
I usually pride myself on being able to pick up on spelling mistakes, but how did I miss that one? Reproducing the clues is just a bit of cut and paste, so I have forwarded this error further into cyberspace. Mea maxima culpa (although there is perhaps need for just an ordinary mea culpa from the editor …)
My source for ON CLOUD NINE was indeed the link you give. No real definitive derivation, though, is there?
&lit Rottweilers then? Well, woof-woof.
Let’s take the last three words off, as advertised:
Reading this may get one over sin.
To be &lit, that would need to be sans extraneous elements, definition part equal to the cryptic instructions, and it’s clearly not. Yes, the whole clue DOES read as one reasonable definition of a holy work, but just that isn’t enough (or is too much). Cf 6 in today’s Azed blog, a bit controversial for some maybe, but see.
‘May’ and ‘might’ too, ooh. Pierre put those silly dog biscuits away and throw me a steak.
Paul, I will endeavour to do that next time I am blogging and the opportunity comes up. Rump steak, saignant, and not already cut up into small pieces, I presume?
Well, all right, and DON’T put any drugs in it like they do in the films!
Pierre! I love your Everyman explanations. New to cryptic and think this site as wonderful. Your explanations way far wittier then others!
Pierre! I love your Everyman explanations. New to cryptic and think this site is wonderful. Your explanations are far wittier than others! (Ignore previous typos).
Thanks again!