Lorraine: Good morning to you all, for the last time.
A big thank you to Gaufrid and everyone involved in fifteen squared. A big thank you to all of you who follow the Everyman blog. This weeks x-word was a toughie, makes me wonder if Everyman knew it was my last blog? ; )
Thank you so much Everyman, I have been solving your puzzles for 25 years.
I shall continue to try to solve them but without the stress of blogging them.
Good luck to whom ever is taking over from me.
Good night from me and good night from him (Nick)
| Across | |||
| 1. | Sergeant major, breaking phone, becomes gloomy (6) | ||
| DISMAL | SM in DIAL (phone=dial is hard to get here but correct) | ||
| 4. | Teach group to make a model railway (5,3) | ||
| TRAIN SET | TRAIN+SET | ||
| 9. | Complain in western type of joint (6) | ||
| WHINGE | W+HINGE | ||
| 10. | Eastern girl, a really heartless spy (8) | ||
| EMISSARY | E+MISS+A+R[eall]Y | ||
| 11. | Type of cricket clue with dash (3-3-3) | ||
| TIP-AND-RUN | TIP(clue)+AND(with)+RUN(dash) the Trafites have never heard of this, but it is in Chambers |
||
| 13. | Scoffed at in course of poetic evening (5) | ||
| EATEN | AT in EEN | ||
| 14. | Argument over supremo with excellent liquid assets (7,7) | ||
| WORKING CAPITAL | (ROW<)+KING+CAPITAL | ||
| 18. | Gaming machine in dated bar – endless money involved (3-5,6) | ||
| ONE-ARMED BANDIT | (IN DATED BAR + MONE[y])* | ||
| 20. | Perfect suggestion by learner driver (5) | ||
| IDEAL | IDEA+L | ||
| 22. | Tested public opinion, as aviator did? (4,1,4) | ||
| FLEW A KITE | cd – old planes were called kites, due to being made of light wood and canvas |
||
| 24. | It’s fishy, comic’s temper tantrum (5,3) | ||
| HISSY FIT | (IT’S FISHY)* | ||
| 25. | Clothes worn initially in pews (6) | ||
| SWEATS | W in SEATS took ages to get clothes=sweats – US slang |
||
| 26. | High-ranking officials decorate section of orchestra (3,5) | ||
| TOP BRASS | TOP+BRASS blow yer own trumpet |
||
| 27. | ‘Times’term, an outstanding example (6) | ||
| BYWORD | BY[maths = 2×2 = 2 by 2 e..g.)+WORD[term] bloody difficult clue. Last in. |
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Down |
|||
| 1. | Duke won’t now broadcast in city centre (8) | ||
| DOWNTOWN | D+(WON’T NOW)* was it Cilla Black, Sandy Shaw, Dusty Springfield or Anita Harris? Nope it was Petula Clark |
||
| 2. | Runner, representative to cut corners (5) | ||
| SKIMP | SKI+MP | ||
| 3. | Conductor losing son in a South American country (9) | ||
| ARGENTINA | [s]ARGENT+IN+A | ||
| 5. | Firework, too large to be brought into court! (5,6) | ||
| ROMAN CANDLE | (AND+L) in ROMANCE tough clue indeed |
||
| 6. | I prosecute after second matter (5) | ||
| ISSUE | I+(SUE sfter s) | ||
| 7. | Clever character produces a piece of plastic that stores data (5,4) | ||
| SMART CARD | SMART+CARD | ||
| 8. | Testing hearing (6) | ||
| TRYING | cdd | ||
| 12. | Mostly recreation, in travelling funfairs, for urchins (11) | ||
| RAGAMUFFINS | GAM[e] in (FUNFAIRS*) tough stuff |
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| 15. | As good as gold? Not quite, us! (7-2) | ||
| RUNNERS-UP | dd basically the first person to lose 🙂 |
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| 16. | Suffering from how poor performers perform? (2,1,3,3) | ||
| IN A BAD WAY | cdd ref. the song we think… | ||
| 17. | Emphasised editor is under pressure (8) | ||
| STRESSED | ED after STRESS | ||
| 19. | Up-to-the-minute intelligence prior to strike (4,2) | ||
| WITH IT | WIT+HIT | ||
| 21. | One supplying eggs for plate? (5) | ||
| LAYER | cdd | ||
| 23. | Mental picture of him, a goalkeeper (5) | ||
| IMAGO | hidden: hIM, A GOalkeeper don’t like this as (goal)keeper doesn’t mean keeper of the words hidden as much as Ximenes said masthead doesn’t mean head of mast (M) |
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After 25 years, I think you’ve earned a rest, so enjoy solving without the stress and accept our thanks for all you’ve done, Lorraine. Life wouldn’t be the same without 225 and it’s ‘staff’.
All the best!
Many thanks Lorraine (and Nick). BYWORD was my last one in too. I agree, at the harder end of the Everyman spectrum, but as always, some very satisfying clues. The word ‘OF’ is the indicator for the hidden clue ‘IMAGO’
Many thanks, Lorraine, not just for this blog but for all the others. You’ve been a great help over the years so it’s time for you to enjoy the relaxation of solving without blogging!
All the best.
I found this easier than any of the previous 3 weeks but harder than what I perceive to be the general Everyman degree of difficulty.
Sweats was the last one in and a pure guess . I’ve never heard anyone use this term.
By contrast tip and run is a game that I’ve known for years (it would make test matches much more exciting).
Thanks for your efforts
Thanks, Lorraine.
AJK is right in that ‘of’ is just the hidden indicator for IMAGO. And you are right about IN A BAD WAY – a cd cum dd.
Thank you both so much for blogging over the years – the Everyman blog has a few faithful followers, but I’m certain that there are many solvers who drop in to check their answers, or the ones they missed, but don’t comment.
[Bamberger, I think we’ve just had two pretty exciting Eng v SL test matches, don’t you?]
Thanks for your blogging over the years, Lorraine.
I actually found this one towards the easier end of the Everyman spectrum, and RUNNERS-UP was my LOI after WORKING CAPITAL. I honestly don’t recall ever having come across that definition of IMAGO before, but the wordplay was clear enough and I parsed it the same way as AJK@2.
…. and K’s D@5 – we crossed.
As one who has viewed this blog, but doesn’t normally comment, may I say thank you Lorraine. I needed you to understand “sweats”.
Enjoy your Sundays!
Thanks Everyman and Lorraine,
I don’t see and = too in the clue for Roman Candle. I can’t think of an example that would allow the two words to be interchanged, but I may just be being dense.
I will miss your blogs.
Thanks Everyman for a satisfying challenge.
Thanks Lorraine & Nick for your sterling service. I don’t really understand 15, even with your explanation! In 16, I thought it was just a dd – ‘suffering from’=’in a bad way.’
I particularly liked ONE-ARMED BANDIT, ROMAN CANDLE, RAGAMUFFINS and WITH IT.
@Robi. I took it that the ‘us’ meant that we, the runners-up, are not as good as the gold medal winners.
HTH
Many thanks for the blogging Lorraine – I’ve been one of the generally silent readers of the blog, and so don’t often take the time to say thanks.
I’ve very much enjoyed your wit and erudition, so thank you.
and thanks, as always to Everyman. Another enjoyable solve.
I failed to solve 22a – only got as far as “flew a”.
I needed your help to parse 5d, and my favourites were 13a & 19d.
Many thanks Lorraine and Nick – I have always enjoyed your blogs.
Many thanks to the talented solvers for their erudite explanations-it always adds to the enjoyment of the solutions to discover that there were some subtle underpinnings to the clues which make the answers incontrovertible. In NZ its the time of the Friendly games so 15(d) took no time at all. 11(a) very common game where I grew up in UK (before TV etc)-if the batsman touched the ball with his bat he had to attempt a run!! And hence frequently be run out-exciting! Imago in my dictionary an idealized image of another person was ok with me particularly as it was in the clue. As with many others apparently my loi was 27(a) again perfect or proverbial in the dictionary.
I enjoyed this week’s puzzle except I had tissy instead of hissy! I certainly hope fifteen squared continues in the excellent manner in which Lorraine and Nick have conducted it.
Couldn’t get several at the bottom this week. Found it quite a difficult puzzle. But Tip and Run was easy, and remember playing it often.
I too will miss Lorraine and Nick’s blogs. They have been doing it ever since I first found this blog, and it won’t be the same without them. .
This one must have been on my wave length as all came to hand (or mind) quite easily. Not sure what the ‘us’ is for in 15d though. Everything else worked ok and I agree ‘of’ is the hidden indicator in Imago.