Everyman 3559

by

Another excellent entry-level puzzle from Everyman, but with a few unusual features, none of which were Christmas-related.

 

 

 

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

1 Pitch for all the players
CAST
A dd, with ‘the players’ being of the acting variety.

3 Her husband’s often away – word is, wag’s worried
GRASS WIDOW
(WORD IS WAGS)*  A phrase I vaguely knew, but a great surface reading.  For those not into the beautiful game, ‘wags’ here are not comedians, but ‘wives and girlfriends’, particularly of footballers.  If you’re that intrigued, look it up.

9 Album by 1 Across – an announcement at 19, perhaps
ALL CHANGE
Cross-referencing clues and referencing modern music: unusual for Everyman.  Too much Christmas sherry, perhaps?  The group CAST made an album in 1995 called ALL CHANGE and if you arrived at 19 across, then you’d get the call ALL CHANGE, because the train is nestled against the buffers and there’s nowhere else to go.  A dd.

11 Bar of gold I obtained around noon
INGOT
I GOT around N.

12 Went to rear of orchestra pit and played second fiddle?
TOOK A BACK SEAT
A cd cum dd, which again is not Everyman’s trademark clue type.

14 Iberis spread across lake? That’s ludicrous
RISIBLE
(IBERIS)* with L inserted.  IBERIS is a genus of plants.  It would indeed be ludicrous, because they are bedding and border plants.

16 A fool, cleaner to tell tales
CHARLIE
A charade of CHAR and LIE.  ‘He’s a right Charlie.’

17 The M25, say – what’s said about small section?
ORBITAL
An insertion of BIT in ORAL.  For overseas solvers, the M25 is London’s orbital motorway, and most of the time a car park.

18 Water lilies – many round practice
LOTUSES
An insertion of USE in LOTS.

19 Awfully ostentatious name for a rail terminus
EUSTON STATION
Great surface and anagram spot.  It’s (OSTENTATIOUS N)*  End of the line if you are travelling from Birmingham or the North-West.

23 Soldier breaking free completely
RIGID
An insertion of GI for ‘soldier’ in RID.  Not entirely convinced by RIGID for ‘completely’, if that is indeed what the setter is getting at.

24 Groom’s partner, in good health in gaol
BRIDEWELL
BRIDE plus WELL.  BRIDEWELL was a prison established in London in 1553 for the purpose of ‘the punishment of the disorderly poor and the housing of homeless children’.  The 1553 bit could be why the setter has chosen the old-fashioned spelling: GAOL rather than JAIL.  I think the Guardian/Observer style guide recommends the latter.

25 Teams go off demonstrating a way of riding
SIDE SADDLE
A charade of SIDES and ADDLE.

26 Drama in parking place
PLAY
A charade of P and LAY.

Down

1 There’s much talk from me about mad character on TV
CHATTERBOX
A charade of C for circa or ‘about’, HATTER for the ‘mad character’ from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and BOX for ‘TV’.

2 Volley in Oval’s out of place?
SALVO
Well, a half-volley wouldn’t be out of place at The Oval (if you were a batsman), but a ‘volley’ would, because that’s tennis.  (OVALS)*

4 Disc on new label – sound familiar?
RING A BELL
A charade of RING for ‘disc’ on (LABEL)*

5 Small point, say
SPEAK
A charade of S and PEAK.

6 Sporting arena with the ultimate in football on display inside?
WHITE HART LANE
(ARENA WITH THE)* around (‘on display inside’) L for the last letter of ‘football’.  I always had Everyman down as a golfing fan, so perhaps it’s the disappointment of Rory McIlroy not winning Sports Personality of the Year that has led him to giving us two football clues in one crossword.  And this is something you hardly ever see in an Everyman crossword: an &lit clue, where the whole clue defines the answer as well as there being a cryptic definition.  If you’re a Spurs fan, I suppose, which is why there might be a question mark at the end.  Tottenham Hotspur play at WHITE HART LANE.  For the minute.

7 Understands about Italian boxer and medicinal drug
DIGITALIS
An insertion of IT and ALI in DIGS.  Comes from foxgloves, I think.  At the time of writing, Mohammed Ali was unwell.

8 Possessing ingenuity, lead in Hamlet
WITH
A charade of WIT and H for the first letter of ‘Hamlet’.

10 Listen to all the LP, as good judges do
HEAR BOTH SIDES
We’re getting back to old-fashioned: if you had an LP (long-playing record) then you’d have to listen to both sides to hear it all.  So it’s another dd cum cd.  Vinyl is making a comeback, apparently.

13 Loner plays foolishly, in my opinion
PERSONALLY
(LONER PLAYS)*

15 Drunken bum’s greed overwhelmed
SUBMERGED
(BUMS GREED)*

16 Heavenly, Castile, rebuilt to enthral the Spanish
CELESTIAL
An insertion of EL for one of the Spanish words for ‘the’ in (CASTILE)*

20 With a spherical shape, bored out
ORBED
(BORED)*

21 Perfect suggestion over learner driver
IDEAL
A charade of IDEA and L.  It’s a down clue, so ‘over’ tells you to put the first bit over the second bit.

22 Girl is touring Rhode Island
IRIS
An insertion of RI for ‘Rhode Island’ in IS.  If it ever comes up in a quiz, RI is the smallest US state by land area.

Many thanks to Everyman for this puzzle, and for all the other ones he has set for us this year.  I’ve enjoyed them all, and am looking forward to more in 2015.

20 comments on “Everyman 3559”

  1. Many thanks, Pierre. I had never heard of CAST but the clues were very fair and I solved them all with the help of the crossing letters. I needed your explanation for the parsing of 6 down, though.
    Season’s greetings to all.

  2. Failed on 5d where I thought something small was required so went for speck as in “speck of dust” being a point of dust. I don’t see 23a either

  3. Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

    Like Bamberger @2 I had SPECK at 5d. I tried OVOID (O VOID) at 20d, and got stuck for a long time.

    These puzzles are the ones I enjoyed most this year, thanks again Everyman.

  5. Many thanks, Everyman, for a lot of pleasure during the year, and also thanks, Pierre, for your blogs.

    Digitalis does indeed come from the foxglove, the biological name of which is Digitalis purpurea. It was discovered by William Withering, an eminent physician practising in the Midlands in the late 18th. century. The story goes that he was travelling in Shropshire and was asked to look at an elderly lady suffering from “dropsy”, an old term for congestive cardiac failure – swollen legs, shortness of breath, etc – and he pronounced the case as hopeless. On returning to the area a few weeks later he enquired after the old lady and was mystified to hear that she had been restored to health after being given a healing draught from a local purveyor of folk remedies. He tracked the remedy down, learnt that it was an extract of foxglove and started treating patients in his own right with “digitalis”. And, as they say, the rest is history…

  6. Thanks Everyman & Pierre for good entertainment in 2014.

    Cast as a band is pretty obscure, although I got 9 anyway.

    I particularly liked EUSTON STATION, WHITE HART LANE & DIGITALIS.

    Seasons Greetings to everyone.

  8. I was pretty surprised when I saw the Cast album clue in there – I knew it right away from being at school when they were first around and my English teacher raving about them. But I thought it was quite obscure for this, or any crossword really.

    Cheers Everyman.

  9. I’d never heard of CAST before they appeared in this puzzle – in 1995 I was already an OAP, too old to take an interest in that sort of stuff. But the reference to 19 made it clear what was needed, so didn’t bother to google for clarification.

  10. Following my criticism @1 of last week’s Everyman, readers may like to see my retraction posted today and I reiterate here that Everyman crosswords are excellent for what they are. Having had my wider family ages 7 to 83 with us over Christmas, I can imagine sitting down with any of them and enjoying a worthwhile and rewarding spell on a puzzle such as this. Only the 83-year-old is a cruciverbalist!

    Pierre – on 20ac, the underline is in the wrong place.

    Happy New Year Everyman and everyone.

  11. No problems or contentious issues from my neck of the woods today.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

    Cheers all have a pleasant holiday weekend.

  12. Like others I have never heard of Cast, or Bridewell for that matter, and I didn’t parse a couple of clues completely but got them all the same after an hour or so.

    And how reassuring to know we have progressed from the sand pit to entry level, too.

    Thank you Everyman.

  13. I thought that a grass widow was the wife of a golfer. Golfers have wags too. I had Elston Station, I didn’t see the anagram. All change was pretty obvious, although I had never heard of Cast. I did not like 23a rigid. Is to rid oneself of something to break free completely? May be it is. White hart lane, Bridewell, Euston, M25 – all very British. I liked 18ac lotuses – very nice.

  14. Got all except White Hart Lane which I have never heard of. Agree with the comments about ‘rigid’. Liked 19ac and easily guessed 9 ac though I had never heard of the Band ‘Cast’ either. Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Entry level must be right for me.
    Managed to buy a Herald in New Plymouth this morning. Lovely day down here and the mountain is clear with not much snow.
    Thanks Pierre.

  16. A rather simple one which took about 15 mins to complete. Looking forward to more of a challenge next weekend. Thanks everyman and Pierre.

  17. Completed in one sitting and almost back to back; I’d even heard of the group Cast! A pleasant puzzle for a lovely summer afternoon here in Welly

  18. Hi Audrey,
    If you google White Hart Lane/Bill Nicholson you’ll find some interesting facts re Spurs and their part as the premier club in the UK in the sixties so any (of a certain age) soccer fan would be well able to follow the clue! You’ve also destroyed the myth that you can actually see the mountain and it’s not raining in New plymouth!

  19. Until I read all the comments here I was congratulating myself on a non electronic aided completion! Spent the day yesterday under the hot Waikato sun. Here’s to next Saturday

Comments are closed.