The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3537.
I left it until the last minute to transfer the blog into fifteensquared, and then found that I could not access it. So all I could do was to solve the puzzle again, and write up a brief unformatted blog. I hope it is intelligible.
ACROSS
1 Face endless people giving a torrent of abuse (6)
DIATRIBE
A charade of DIA[l] (‘face’) without its last letter (‘endless’) plus TRIBE (‘people’).
5 Incendiary liquid buddy used in Vietnam (6)
NAPALM
An envelope (‘used in’) of PAL (‘buddy’) in NAM (‘Vietnam’).
9 Coin kept popping up (2, 6)
IN POCKET
An anagram (‘popping’?) of ‘coin kept’. I am not sure if ‘up’ is intended as the definition, or the whole clue. Either way, I think that it is not only the change that is loose.
10 Moderate English politician during short period of office (6)
TEMPER
An envelope (‘during’) of E (‘English’) plus MP (‘politician’) in TER[m] (‘period of office’) without its last letter (‘short’).
11 Artist brought in can teach (5)
TRAIN
An envelope (‘brought in’) of RA (‘artist’) in TIN (‘can’).
12 Italian poet holding passage back for socialite (9)
DEBUTANTE
An envelope (‘holding’) of EBUT, a reversal (‘back’) of TUBE (‘passage’) in DANTE (‘Italian poet’).
14 Kept mistress monied maiden originally (12)
DEMIMONDAINE
An anagram (‘originally’) of ‘monied maiden’.
18 Had meal with group, filling entire pub (8, 4)
WATERING HOLE
An envelope (‘filling’) of ATE (‘had meal’) plus RING (‘group’) in WHOLE (‘entire’).
21 Hospital doctor pressing substance right into bottom (9)
REGISTRAR
An envelope (‘pressing … into’) of GIST (‘substance’) plus R (‘right’) in REAR (‘bottom’).
23 How Alfie ends is unimaginative (5)
INANE
IN AN E (‘how AlfiE ends’).
24 At home and abroad, to some extent (2,1,3)
IN A WAY
A charade of IN (‘at home’) and AWAY (‘abroad’).
25 County players in blue (8)
DOWNCAST
A charade of DOWN (‘county’ in Northern Ireland) plus CAST (‘players’).
26 Understand article in revolutionary newspaper (6)
GATHER
An envelope (‘in’) of THE (‘article’) in GAR, a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of RAG (‘newspaper’).
27 A depression involving her advocate (8)
ADHERENT
An envelope (‘involving’) of ‘her’ in ‘a’ plus DENT (‘depression’).
DOWN
1 Fine titbit (6)
DAINTY
Double definition.
2 Drawing power of a quiet ringing of bells (6)
APPEAL
A charade of ‘a’ plus P (piano, ‘quiet’) plus PEAL (‘ringing of bells’).
3 Foreign count, rare storyteller (9)
RACONTEUR
An anagram (‘foreign’) of ‘count rare’.
4 Sole wage earner in new diner/bar? Unlikely (11)
BREADWINNER
An anagram (‘unlikely’) of ‘new diner bar’.
6 Operative, a well-bred fellow (5)
AGENT
A charade of ‘a’ plus GENT (‘well-bred fellow’).
7 It contains supplementary material that may have to be removed (8)
APPENDIX
Double definition, the second being allusive.
8 Butterfly in car (8)
MERCEDES
Double definition. The car I knew, the butterfly not.
13 British, further gangster in fraternity (11)
BROTHERHOOD
A charade of BR (‘British’) plus OTHER (‘further’) plus HOOD (‘gangster’).
15 Playing field’s ending marriage (9)
DALLIANCE
A charade of D (‘fielD‘s ending’) plus ALLIANCE (‘marriage’).
16 Getting hot under sun, moving in large numbers (8)
SWARMING
A charade of S (‘sun’) plus WARMING (‘getting hot’).
17 Motionless deer seen by worker after noon (8)
STAGNANT
A charade of STAG (‘deer’) plus N (‘noon’) plus ANT (‘worker’).
19 Locality around a monarch’s official residence (6)
PALACE
An envelope (‘around’) of ‘a’ in PLACE (‘locality’).
20 Get going and defeat Italian (4,2)
BEAT IT
A charade of BEAT (‘defeat’) plus IT (‘Italian’).
22 Pity some Irish-Americans (5)
SHAME
A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘IriSH-AMEricans’.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
I enjoyed this puzzle even though I failed to solve 23a, 25a, 15d.
My favourites were 7d, 18a, and 26a and after reading this blog I love 23a INANE.
This was my least successful attempt for ages, failing on 1d , 6d (shold have got), 8d ,15d , 14a, 23a and 25a.
I have never come across demomondaine or a mercedes butterfly.
Not exactly a crossword for a novice.
The blog is fine, Peter; thank you for doing double duty. (Although for future consideration, the yellow colour you have chosen to highlight the definitions is not the best option for someone with eyesight as poor as mine …)
I think ‘up’ is indeed the definition of IN POCKET, but I’m not mad about the clue either. Otherwise the usual sound stuff from Everyman; I’m sure I’ve seen INANE, or a variant of it, before, but it was nonetheless chucklesome.
You have betrayed your position as our Englishman in New York with a typo at 1 across. The clue actually says ‘fine titbit’, not your American English version, ‘fine tidbit’. The urban myth is that US folk were embarrassed to see the word ‘tit’ in the word, and so changed it to ‘tid’. I must stop describing Americans as cocksure, then.
Thanks Everyman & PeterO – the usual smooth surfaces although it took me a while to see what ‘Playing field’s ending marriage’ meant. 😉
I hadn’t come across DEMIMONDAINE or the MERCEDES butterfly before. I liked the clue for INANE, although, yes, something similar must have been used before. WATERING HOLE was another favourite.
Come, come KD and PeterO – the ‘in pocket’ clue is totally acceptable, esp. for an Everyman. In fact it’s perfect; the anagram and its indicator are accurate and concise. Of course ‘up’ is a synonym for ‘in pocket’ – just think of any gambling scenario when you are either up or out of pocket (alternatively; in pocket or down). Or any other sort of deal.
Another enjoyable Everyman puzzle. My last two in were DEMIMONDAINE, which was vaguely familiar although I needed all but the final checker before I saw it, and MERCEDES where I didn’t know the butterfly. I can see why the target audience might not have appreciated the clue for DEMIMONDAINE because it isn’t exactly a common word and the checkers were mostly vowels.
I enjoyed this but was dubious about some of the parsings. I thought one could be an “adherent” without being an “advocate” and one could belong to the demimonde without being a “kept mistress”. I see, however, that some dictionaries list these as synonyms.
Couldn’t parse IN POCKET but completely agree with TP @ 5
Thanks Peter,
I enjoyed this as ever and particularly liked WATERING HOLE, REGISTRAR, DOWNCAST and DALLIANCE.
I too hadn’t heard of DEMIMONDAINE but arrived at the answer as the most likely word to fit the
anagram. Also, took me ages to see MERCEDES (last one). Thanks Everyman.
K’s D @3
I had not been happy with the colour (darkgoldenrod) that I had been using from the Trafites’ utility, and the one (amber) from the fifteensquared palette is a shade lighter. I have changed it to maroon, which looks much more readable. I’m not sure how I will end up when normal service is resumed, but I will try to find something more legible. I have also corrected the typo in 1A.
Tim Phillips @5
I accept ‘up’ as definition in 9A IN POCKET, as you suggest.
I’m the first kiwi today! I flew through the crossword today, loved 23a and loved the previous blogger who described it as “chucklesome” I should have got 8d sooner, being a car guy, but not being Rudi Kleinpaste, the butterfly mention threw me. Had to look up demimondaine. An enjoyable start to the weekend.
Second Kiwi in – I loved it too and flew through it. also had to check out demimondaine but otherwise it was an easy one.
I too needed a dictionary for butterflies and bits on the side but this was an enjoyable solve even though some (swarming, watering hole) took far longer than they probably should. Inane and dalliance were nice. Only mild grumble – does a breadwinner have to be the sole earner?
Btw fellow kiwis – check out the newish toughie in the SST by a young kiwi lady compiler under the moniker Eudoxus. It has too many external references (films, people) for my liking but she is finding her feet and responds to feedback (email address provided). One of the clues last week was simply brilliantly clever -even though I got it it wasn’t until some days later that the penny really dropped. The SST gives the answers which in some ways is maddening and there was a letter last week grizzling that it was too hard but for me it is a satisfying step between Everyman and the often unfathomable Kropotkin.
I think the Mercedes and butterfly reference goes back to the bat-wing Mercedes sports car introduced cica 1960 in the UK. The two doors were hinged in the roof centre and opened upwards (like a bat or butterfly) so once I got the M of napalm M(ercedes followed). Maclaren have recently produced a similar design. So the butterfly is what the car looked like with the doors open-not a particular species of butterfly. Hi Barrie when we moved north from ChCh (where we had the SST delivered) we lost that service. While there a lady compiler (perhaps the one you mention) ran an educational series of crosswords highlighting the various indicators towards solutions for beginners eg anagrams etc. it was very well done. Today I got 25a stuck in my mind as Cornwall (blue) and couldn’t see players eventually beat-it and downcast came to life! Oh well only another week to wait for our next challenge!
That’s my point. You don’t need to wait a week. Just pop into the dairy or gas station for the SST tomorrow. (No interest to declare btw.)
While we are on other NZ crosswords, does anyone still do The Listener? I think it’s gone off big time. Ugly contrived clues and meaningless surfaces.
Didn’t get the butterfly either, nor 15d or 23 ac. Enjoyed the crossword though. Yes I still do the Listener crossword, but have never liked it. Too many slang expressions and poor clues. I miss the days of RWH.
Another great crossword. It’s exciting when you know the word but can’t quite get it. Viz 14a
Yes. I too miss RWH, a lovely lady, much missed.
I see the connection with the gull wing Mercedes Ian but Wikipedia tells me there is definately a butterfly by the same name, so Peter O’s explanation of a dd is correct
Thanks Rod it appears this particular butterfly has only recently been identified-I wonder why it was so named? I also had to smile at 23a. Looks like I’ll have to cancel the Sunday Herald and take a trip out tomorrow. I’ve also been subscribing to the weekly world edition of The Telegraph which has an excellent general knowledge crossword puzzle.