Everyman on good form this morning. One or two definitions which I thought were a bit imprecise, but otherwise all sound, with some clever anagrams.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Secretary’s attempt to make dough
PASTRY
A charade of PA’S (Personal Assistant’s) and TRY. Is ‘dough’ PASTRY? You decide.
4 Gemstones in suit
DIAMONDS
A dd.
10 Drinks drop of tea in wood in the Holy Land
PALESTINE
An insertion of ALES and T for the first letter of ‘tea’ in PINE. The stuff that’s going off there at the minute certainly isn’t holy.
11 Such music is constant during party?
DISCO
Another insertion: of IS and C in DO.
12 Tonight, a telling off in a London Tube station
NOTTING HILL GATE
(TONIGHT A TELLING)* On both the Central, and District and Circle lines
13 Musical instruction from an eminent Florentine
ANDANTE
A charade of AN and DANTE for the Italian poet who was born in Florence and is best known for his Divine Comedy. ANDANTE comes from the Italian verb andare, meaning ‘to walk’: so ‘at a walking pace’, or in other words at a moderately slow tempo.
15 Sufficient to answer demand in the noughties
ENOUGH
Hidden in thE NOUGHties. The ‘noughties’ was coined to cover the decade from 2000 onwards; but we don’t seem to have found an equivalent for the decade we are in now. We’ll have to wait for the ‘twenties’. Pedants can queue up to tell me that decades start in 2001, 2011, etc, but I won’t pay any attention to them.
17 A service attended by elderly poet
ARNOLD
A charade of A, RN for Royal Navy or ‘service’ and OLD. Referring to the Victorian poet Matthew ARNOLD.
19 Lad went swimming in marshy area
WETLAND
(LAD WENT)* with ‘swimming’ as the anagrind.
21 Golden sands – name changed in novel
ANGELS AND DEMONS
(GOLDEN SANDS NAME)* Dan Brown’s best-selling novel.
23 Gather in place to dine
PLEAT
A charade of PL and EAT.
24 Musical work, formerly spoken start to elegy
PASTORALE
A charade of PAST, ORAL and E for the first letter of ‘elegy’. Some might argue that ‘former’ rather than ‘formerly’ is the correct synonym for PAST.
25 Police officer gets near criminal
SERGEANT
(GETS NEAR)* Nice surface.
26 Plans to include large models
IDEALS
An insertion of L in IDEAS.
Down
1 Foppish type to pay a quick call on one who talks foolishly at length
POPINJAY
A charade of POP IN and JAY. The latter is ‘a foolish or gullible person’ (Collins).
2 Part company in Adriatic port
SPLIT
A dd.
3 USA-run lotteries, awfully chancy business
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
(USA RUN LOTTERIES)*
5 List that is full of incorrect times
ITEMISE
An insertion of (TIMES)* in IE.
6 “In the Mood” a fiddler rearranged – that’s easy listening
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD
(THE MOOD A FIDDLER)*
7 Lots again suffering homesickness
NOSTALGIA
(LOTS AGAIN)* I suppose ‘homesickness’ can be one form of NOSTALGIA.
8 One who points out a worthless group of people?
SHOWER
A dd.
9 Free one individual
SINGLE
A triple definition. Another clever surface.
14 Terribly rude urge I suppressed, as required by etiquette
DE RIGUEUR
I think this only works if you insert I into (RUDE URGE)* ‘Suppressed’ is the inclusion indicator.
16 Greek hero‘s trek cut short by us
ODYSSEUS
ODYSSE[Y] plus US.
18 Notice old man in study, poker-faced
DEADPAN
An insertion of AD and PA in DEN.
19 Heading for workshop that is most spacious
WIDEST
A charade of W for the first letter of ‘workshop’ and ID EST, the full version of the abbreviation we had in 5dn.
20 French writer penning page in college grounds
CAMPUS
An insertion of P in CAMUS. Albert CAMUS, the French author and philosopher.
22 Some from a haunted place in Nebraska
OMAHA
Hidden in frOM A HAunted.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for compiling this Sunday’s puzzle.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre,
I loved all the anagrams and my favourite was RUSSIAN ROULETTE.
I failed to solve 8d.
I know it’s not the same as the noughties and the twenties, but I say that we are in the teens (or even the “tweens”) this decade.
Thanks Everyman & Pierre.
I seem to have lost my printout of the puzzle, so I have to try to work out what happened a week ago…………..
I seem to remember that I really liked the RUSSIAN ROULETTE anagram.
Following Michelle’s comment, perhaps we are in the ‘in betweenies?’
But of course you don’t become a teenager till you’re thirteen … We’ll have to pretend that 2010-2012 didn’t happen.
I particularly liked RUSSIAN ROULETTE as well, Michelle.
Another good Everyman puzzle that does what it says on the tin, and I agree that the clue for RUSSIAN ROULETTE was particularly excellent.
Interesting that Michelle@1 said she didn’t get 8dn because I spent as long on that clue as I did on the rest of the puzzle before I finally saw it.
If no one has spotted USA RUN LOTTERIES before it is a remarkable find by Everyman. Used extremely well too.
Robi@2 – I like your suggestion of the “in betweenies” and I would use “tweenies” as the short version.
18d. Why. Is ‘ad’ Notice in the clue? Does it refer to the old D. Notice forbidding publication ?
Tony, AD is short for ‘advertisment’, which is a type of ‘notice’. Often comes up in crosswords.
Thanks. Stupid of me
I put in shower for 8d but still don’t get the worthless people bit.
Stephanie, SHOWER is British English slang for a group of people who aren’t up to much. ‘They’re a complete shower’, meaning that they’re useless or worthless. Often applied to politicians …
Here come the kiwis! Enjoyed this crossword but I must have been on the right wave length as even popinjay and shower came to mind immediately. I then blew it by misspelling Odysseus and Rigueur which took ages to unpick and needed my wife to get pleat while I did the poached eggs. Now we just need to do some research on the Statue of Liberty which thwarted us in this morning’s brain trainer (quiz in Saturday’s NZ Herald).
My dictionary came out very early on to check those two spellings in 14 & 16d! My last two in were 9d (it took a while for the third penny to drop) and, as with several others, 8d. As per usual a fun way to start the weekend-happy father’s day tomorrow.
I finished quickly today except for 8d which I didn’t know . Needed Pierre”‘s explanation to understand. I also needed to check the dictionary for the spelling of rigueur. Good fun though.
Now I’m off to Opening Day at bowls.
If it helps to make things clearer, further to Pierre’s explanation: in slang vernacular a “drip” is a bit of a pathetic individual and a “shower” is a load/collection of drips hence the second part of the clue. They’re putting down an all-weather astro-turf green locally-guess why! And Barrie my wife and I really enjoyed our surf and turf a few weeks ago. The cold has hopefully evaporated. Cheers all.
Thank you Pierre!
I’d heard of ‘drips’ of course, but never a ‘shower’. What a laugh.
I’m late in today as we had a weekend away. I missed Omaha! Stupid me. Shower needed explaining and I didn’t do enough research to find Arnold. An enjoyable solve this week
Great crossword , very cleverly Serb, hardly a bad clue and many gems ( especially the anagrams ) thanks