Everyman N° 3,529 (26 May)

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3529.

Everyman’s usual mix of smooth surfaces and elegant if not too complicated constructions, with film references and geographical references thrown in.

 

Across
1. Depressed facing autumn in America, and heavy rain (8)
DOWNFALL A charade of DOWN (‘depressed’) plus FALL (‘autumn in America’).
5. First aid received by soldiers (6)
MAIDEN An envelope (‘received by’) of ‘aid’ in MEN (‘soldiers’).
9. Secret meeting about chapter in a novel badly written (8)
CONCLAVE An envelope (‘about’) of C (‘chapter’) in C (circa, ‘about’) plus ONLAVE, an anagram (‘badly written’) of ‘a novel’.
10. Bound to spoil alcoholic drink (6)
MARGIN A charade of MAR (‘spoil’) plus GIN (‘alcoholic drink’).
11. Hanger-on given refuge by church (5)
LEECH A charade of LEE (‘refuge’) plus CH (‘church’).
12. In which to deposit odd things, a few wife left out (5,4)
NIGHT SAFE An anagram (‘odd’) of ‘things’ plus ‘a fe[w]’ without the W (‘wife left out’).
14. Masseurs may mix socially (3,9)
RUB SHOULDERS Double definition (after spending a while hunting for an anagram of ‘masseurs may’)
18. A cut he showed off out on Wensleydale river – classy gear (5,7)
HAUTE COUTURE A charade of HAUTE C, an anagram (‘showed off’) of ‘a cut he’ plus ‘out’ plus URE (‘Wensleydale river’ in Yorkshire).
21. Missile is fired in front of stand – a big brute (5,4)
POLAR BEAR A charade of POLAR[is] (‘missile’) without (‘fired’) ‘is’ plus BEAR (‘stand’).
23. Bishop elected to start game (5)
BINGO A charade of B (‘bishop’) plus IN (‘elected’) plus GO (‘start’).
24. Close to Edinburgh, soldier’s after a good Scottish dish (6)
HAGGIS A charade of H (‘close to EdinburgH‘) plus ‘a’ plus G (‘good’) plus G.I.’S(‘soldier’s’).
25. Top of the bill set off on vessel (4,4)
STAR TURN A charade of START (‘set off’) plus URN (‘vessel’).
26. Wizard dramatist and author of children’s books (6)
POTTER Triple definition: Harry, Dennis and Beatrix. Wot no Painless or Colonel? (That’s for dedicated followers of this site)
27. Place for fruit, old variety, extremely ruddy (8)
ORANGERY A charade of O (‘old’) plus RANGE (‘variety’) plus RY (‘extremely RuddY‘).

Down
1. Tame code broken, broken by the Italian (6)
DOCILE An envelope (‘broken by’) of IL (‘the Italian’) in DOCE, an anagram (‘broken’, first time round) of ‘code’.
2. Victor, film director (6)
WINNER Double definition; the film director is Michael Winner, of Death Wish, I’ll never forget what’s’isname, and the remake of The Big Sleep, among others.
3. Rather good hand from capacity crowd (4,5)
FULL HOUSE Double definition.
4. Explorer from Scottish town close to shore (11)
LIVINGSTONE I presume this is a charade of LIVINGSTON (‘Scottish town’ in West Lothian) plus E (‘close to shorE‘).
6. A fraction to one side (5)
APART A charade of ‘a’ plus PART (‘fraction’).
7. Shabby magistrate, a Communist (3-5)
DOG-EARED A charade of DOGE (‘magistrate’ of Venice or Genoa) plus ‘a’ plus RED (‘Communist’).
8. Around noon, son seen playing in folly (8)
NONSENSE An envelope (‘around’) of N (you choose which one, ‘noon’) in an anagram (‘playing’) of ‘son seen’.
13. Worthiest novel written in Greek? I may get a little credit (11)
GHOSTWRITER An envelope (‘written in’) of HOSTWRITE, an anagram (‘novel’) of ‘worthiest’ in GR (‘Greek’).
15. Poet getting praise in speech by king taking place (4,5)
LORD BYRON A charade of LORD, a homophone (‘in speech’) of LAUD (‘praise’) plus ‘by’ plus R (Rex, ‘king’) plus ON (‘taking place’).
16. Cut slice of meat quickly (4,4)
CHOP CHOP A charade of CHOP (‘cut’) plus CHOP (‘slice of meat’).
17. Insult about a French port? (8)
SUNLIGHT An envelope (‘about’) of UN (‘a French’) in SLIGHT (‘insult’). Port Sunlight is a model village in Merseyside., in the north-west of England,
19. One name certain to give cover (6)
INSURE A charade of I (‘one’ Roman numeral or the perpendicular pronoun) plus N (‘name’) plus SURE (‘certain’).
20. Premium for naval ship . . . (6)
BOUNTY Double definition. HMS Bounty was a merchant ship purchased by the Royal Navy for the expedition to take breadfruit to the West Indes, a mission never completed because of the famous mutiny.
22. . . . put up – extra is excusable, partly (5)
RAISE A hidden answer (‘partly’) in ‘extRA IS Excusable’.

15 comments on “Everyman N° 3,529 (26 May)”

  2. Another sound and pleasing puzzle from Everyman. Like every week.

    I didn’t know the ‘bound’ and MARGIN link, but it must be the root of BOUNDARY, I suppose.

    Thanks for blogging, Peter. You are quite right with your parsing of LIVINGSTONE. And for those who aren’t familiar with PORT SUNLIGHT, I suggest a search online: it’s a really interesting social development, as well as having some extremely attractive architecture.

  3. Another very pleasant puzzle from Everyman. I finished in the NE corner with the MARGIN/APART/MAIDEN trio.

    I live close to PORT SUNLIGHT and I visit it a few times a year.

  4. Thanks Peter,

    I agree with your summary of this puzzle and I think that the skill involved in writing
    a smooth surface is much under-appreciated. Many people who do crosswords also fancy themselves
    as setters and I’m sure there are millions of home-made clues out there that never see the light
    of day. I have about 200 so far but they fall well below the standard set by Everyman and other
    compilers.

    The last two that I struggled with were DOG=EARED and MAIDEN (perfect example of a smooth surface).
    I also liked MARGIN, NIGHT SAFE, STAR TURN, CHOP CHOP and RAISE (well-hidden). Thanks Everyman.

  6. Particularly liked (PORT) SUNLIGHT as someone from Birkenhead. DOG-EARED also made me smile. Struggled with the parsing of LIVINGSTON(E).

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

    Looking forward to today’s puzzle.

  7. What? No other kiw’s? Just for the record I struggled with this one, particularly the lower left corner.

  8. I found this an odd crossword. Some ridiculously easy (top left) and others stumped me completely. Never heard of Margin meaning Bound and didn’t know Doge either so got stuck in that corner. Hadn’t heard of an Orangery either. Or Port Sunlight although I did get that one. So for me a rather uneven crossword with I think five unsolved. Harrumph.

  9. Hi Audrey! Usual Sat morning went into limbo. Had overnight visitors so puzzle section unopened until after lunch!! Have since spent an absorbing afternoon rapt in another aracuria crossword with 7(d) proving a stumbling block. I couldn’t get red-faced out of my mind although I knew it wasn’t quite apt until maiden-as in first-tumbled with margin following! So top right corner was my loi.

  10. Hi Barrie.

    The doges were the judiciary in Venice. You’ve probably seen pictures of the Doge’s palace in St Mark’s Square. I think .bound’ meaning ‘margin’ means ‘boundary’ e.g. ‘Out of bounds’. I’ve only heard of an orangery through reading books set in Victorian England. I think this crossword was more difficult for us down here in NZ than it would be for Poms. I had a lot of unanswered spaces this week.

  11. I’m bloody glad other kiwis had trouble, I thought I was alone, particularly with that north east corner. And orangery. I’m with Barrie and Ian on their comments.

  12. Kiwi no.?. here
    Can anyone explain why there is …. after clue 20d and …before 22 d, cannot quite see any connex?

  13. Vanessa @12

    ellipses between clues can serve various purposes, or sometimes none at all. Not so long ago we had one, probably in a Guardian cryptic, where it was the definition, with answer ELLIPSIS. Here I would say that it serves as a tenuous link between the surface of the clues, given a surface reading to the pair about extra money put up for a ship.

    I’m happy tot hear from the NZ contingent (as blogger I get an email for every comment; it is unlikely that anyone else will come across the comets, so the conversation is between yourselves and me). It happens that you get the Everyman about four weeks behind its first publication, and I am on a four-week rotation of bloggers. When the first kiwi comment appeared not so long ago, it gave me a moments panic: as a prize puzzle, the publication of the blog is held up until the contest is closed, and at first sight it looked as if the comments were for the current blog, and I had accidentally scheduled the publication a few days early. I have come to expect these late comments, so keep up the good work.

  14. Well l’d heard of Port Sunlight & its origins – but we ran aground with half a dozen other clues. 1st one we haven’t got completely out in quite a few weeks.

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