The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3580.
Quite a tricky one.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ORDINAL |
E.g. first row in examination (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of DIN (‘row’) in ORAL (‘examination’). |
| 5 | BEWITCH |
Longing to join network, about to make entrance (7)
A charade of BEW, a reversal (‘about’) of WEB (‘network’) plus ITCH (‘longing’). |
| 9 | THROW IN THE TOWEL |
Give up project with silly title when receiving nothing (5,2,3,5)
An envelope (‘receiving’) of O (‘nothing’) in THROW (‘project’) plus INTHETWEL, an anagram (‘silly’) of ‘title when’. |
| 10 | RECALL |
Evoke scene of public games and everything (6)
A charade of REC (for recreation ground, ‘scene of public games’) plusd ALL (‘everything’). |
| 11 | INFRARED |
Radiation during and following unusual day (8)
A charade of IN (‘during’) plus F (‘following’) plus RARE (‘unusual’) plus D (‘day’). |
| 13 | PHILOSOPHY |
System of belief in operation aboard holy ship at sea (10)
An envelope (‘aboard’) of OP (‘operation’) in PHILOSY, an anagram (‘at sea’) of ‘holy ship’. |
| 14 | IFFY |
Uncertain moment with judge absent (4)
A subtraction: [j]IFFY (‘moment’) without the J (‘with judge absent’). |
| 16 | VANE |
Reportedly pointless blade (4)
A homophone (‘reported’) of VAIN (‘pointless’). |
| 17 | MIGNONETTE |
Flower in good composition held by small child (10)
An envelope (‘held by’) of G(‘good’) plus NONET (‘composition’ for nine players) in MITE (‘small child’). |
| 20 | SUITCASE |
Diamonds perhaps with justification in item of luggage (8)
A charade of SUIT (‘diamonds perhaps’) plus CASE (‘justification’). |
| 21 | GATEAU |
Good meal for all to see including a cake (6)
An envelope (‘including’) of ‘a’ in G (‘good’) plus TEA (‘meal’) plus U (‘for all to see’). |
| 23 | UNDERPRIVILEGED |
Poor distracted prude driven to cover one limb (15)
An envelope (‘to cover’) of I (‘one’) plus LEG (‘limb’) in UNDERPRIVED, an anagram (‘distracted’) of ‘prude driven’. |
| 24 | ABRIDGE |
Raised band led by sailor in trim (7)
A charade of AB (‘sailor’) plus RIDGE (‘raised band’). |
| 25 | SMOTHER |
Put out from southern source (7)
A charade of S (‘southern’) plus MOTHER (‘source’). |
| Down | ||
| 1 | OUTCROP |
Broadcast cut poor rock (7)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘cut poor’. |
| 2 | DIRECTION FINDER |
Friend wandering after desperate deed without a navigational aid (9,6)
A charade of DIRE (‘desperate’) plus [a]CTION (‘deed’) ‘without a’ plus FINDER< an anagram (‘wandering’) of ‘friend’. |
| 3 | NEW BLOOD |
Fresh members of team bowled no differently (3,5)
An anagram (‘differently’) of ‘bowled no’. |
| 4 | LINE |
Fill column (4)
Double definition. |
| 5 | BEHINDHAND |
Late supporting round of applause (10)
A charade of BEHIND (‘supporting’) plus HAND (’round of applause’). |
| 6 | WATERY |
Cautious about alien, upset and weak (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of TE, a reversal (‘upset’) of ET (‘alien’) in WAQRY (‘cautious’). |
| 7 | TOWER OF STRENGTH |
True supporter prepared for north gets wet (5,2,8)
An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘for north gets wet’. |
| 8 | HOLIDAY |
Leave area under cover in boat (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of LID (‘cover’) plus (‘under’ indicating the order of the particles) A (‘area’) in HOY (‘boat’). |
| 12 | ROTISSERIE |
Restaurant‘s decline is followed by most of chain (10)
A charade of ROT (‘decline’) plus ‘is’ plus SERIE[s] (‘chain’) cut short (‘most of’). |
| 15 | INTAGLIO |
Carving giant warped painting up (8)
A charade of INTAG, an anagram (‘warped’) of ‘giant’ plus LIO, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of OIL (‘painting’). |
| 16 | VISTULA |
View across middle of grounds with lake and river (7)
An envelope (‘acrosss’) of U (‘middle of groUnds’) plus L (‘lake’) in VISTA (‘view’). |
| 18 | ECUADOR |
Land in trouble right after changing cue (7)
A charade of ECU, an anagram (‘changing’) of ‘cue’ plus ADO (‘trouble’) plus R (‘right’). |
| 19 | SCARED |
Fearful bother between son and daughter (6)
An envelope (‘between’) of CARE (‘bother’) in S (‘son’) plus D (‘daughter’). |
| 22 | IVES |
Composer raised in US evidently (4)
A hidden reverse in ‘US EVIdently’ with an extended definition. |
Yes, couldn’t finish this unaided, and today’s seemed more difficult. I found the Times puzzle on Thursday easier!
Thanks Everyman and Peter0.
Yes, this was quite a tricky one, but most of them are now.
I failed to parse MIGNONETTE, but could remember my mother planting it in the backyard in Wellington when I was a small child, and have always remembered the name. I still don’t get the fill = LINE relationship.
INTAGLIO only rang very faint bell, a lovely word, opposite of cameo, as did VISTULA.
typo 6d Q?
Cookie @2
I pondered about 4D LINE. The nearest I could come was something like “he lined his pockets at another’s expense”.
Definitely trickier than the Everyman puzzles we have been used to. I finished with MIGNONETTE, and I saw fill=line the same way as PeterO.
Yes, that makes sense, thanks Peter0, line one’s pockets – mine always have holes in them.
just checked in the OCED, line² v.tr. 3 colloq. fill, esp. plentifully.
21A. I got GATEAU, but how is U=’for all to see’?
K_T
The symbol “U” meaning “universal” is used by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) for films it deems suitable for anyone (aged 4 or over I think) to view.
Thanks Everyman & PeterO.
I echo the comments about being more difficult these days. I felt the clue for MIGNONETTE was fairly dastardly, especially as I didn’t know the word. I also didn’t know INTAGLIO and HOY=boat.
I ticked GATEAU and TOWER OF STRENGTH.
Thanks EllisB!
I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, with my favourite clues being 23a, 12d, 2d, 7d, 14a, 9a, 3d, 6d, 8d.
New words for me were VISTULA river, BEHINDHAND & MIGNONETTE but as they were all very well-clued it only required a quick visit to the dictionary to check that the words actually exist.
I was unable to parse 5a and 21a (parsed it wrongly as G+ATE+A+U)
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
Got this all out with a bit of googling. Didn’t get all the parsing though. U is clever but in NZ it’s G so wouldn’t have got that. Got Line without knowing why, Fill is a slight stretch. Otherwise same observations as Michelle @ 11.
I’m liking this setter more though. Nice challenge, take each word in the clue one at a time.
While I was able to solve several clues on my first run through and progress steadily from there i could feel for some of my local friends who commented upon the struggles they were experiencing in getting started on the current crosswords. I encouraged them to
(a) Access this blog and its very helpful and pertinent explanations.
(b) To heed Barrie’s advice and to read each clue one word at a time (eg 11(a) not “unusal day”=anagram of day but unusal=rare + day=d etc) and
(c) I hope that I’m not treading on anyone’s toes but the reccommendation of Sil van den Hoek ( blog Everyman 3579) to certain sites containing an intermediate level of challenge could prove to be a useful conduit to solving the current Everyman for someone who is having difficulty getting started. I’ve spent several enjoyable evening hours this week with Crux and Falcon-thanks Sil.
Cheers all. This evening has some interesting viewing options on the rugby front and some patriotic interest for both sides in the ODI. While we here want an NZ victory, I for one am delighted at the redemption, of what was a woeful performance, of England at the World Cup.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Took me a long time today and still didn’t finish the top right corner. Many of those that I got, I didn’t get from the clues and wasn’t able to parse. This setter is way above my level of expertise in crosswords. I was pleased with myself for getting Vistula, and mignonette, and one or two others, but I notice that some people who used to comment on this blog regularly have dropped off now.
We love you Audrey! Don’t go!
I’m still hanging in there Barrie though it’s not as enjoyable as it once was. But I’ve been doing these crosswords now for more years than I care to remember, so we’ll see how it goes. It would leave a big gap in my weekends if I stopped. There was a time when I was the only one who wrote any comments and I was really pleased when the rest of you turned up.
I am a weekly reader of the blog being another kiwi (struggler)..my comments are usually posted well after everyone is on to their next week as it takes me all weekend to finish! today however was different with the auckland rain, I sat inside and did v well… Got all done by 5.30pm with a tiny hint by phone from my mum who is across town and an avid crosser…. i did have a moan at rotisserie though while i knew it was correct a rotisserie is not and never has been i believe a restaurant, but a shop only and supplier of the obvious…i may be wrong and i may be picky but every check i did confirmed -anyway..i finished it and that has made my day
I wasn’t overly impressed with today’s crossie and gave up with two left (IFFY and MIGNONETTE).
In particular I did not like ROTISSERIE as I’ve always considered it a method for cooking and not a restaurant. Wiki does say it is a restaurant though …
Also with 14d OIL is a type of painting. Other setters would have used a perhaps or something to similar to indicate a type and not a direct synonym.
Some of this setter’s clues can be quite obscure though on reflection the BEWITCH clue was excellent.
Fellow Auckland solvers … would you be interested in catching up for a Saturday morning coffee and a collaborative effort one day?
The cryptic in the NZ Herald yesterday was about my level. I got it out and enjoyed it. Eg: He’s not unemployed but he’s never done a day’s work. Answer Nightwatchman. Very funny. This morning’s crossword – nothing, not one answer could I find after hours of searching. This new setter is ruining my weekend. I might write to the NZ Herald and complain.
Yes, RATS, I see what you mean about ‘Bewitched’. Entrance meaning to bewitch, not meaning ‘to make entrance’. Still very tricky though.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Barrie complained about the word ‘entrance’ being overused to mean bewitch rather than ‘gateway’. Yet I didn’t get this clue today.
vanessa @17
Like you, ROTISSERIE puts me in mind of the spit-roasting apparatus, and the definition in 12D did raise an eyebrow. However, as Rats @18 points out, Wikipedia does attest to that, and Chambers gives shop and restaurant as alternative definitions.
Rats @17
Setters most often use a word such as ‘perhaps’ in a clue when it warns of indication by example – that is, the clue contains an example of the word appearing in the answer (e.g. if APPLE in the answer were indicated by ‘Granny Smith, perhaps’ in the clue). In 15D, it is the other way around: OIL (reversed) in the answer is an example of the ‘painting’ in the clue – not a synonym (although “an oil” is pretty close to “a painting”), but a definition in terms of a more general category. If you look in a dictionary you will find many words defined in this way rather than by synonyms.
I did a lot better this week, missed a few, hopefully starting to get the hang of this new bloke!Lets see what next Saturday brings. The mid week puzzles are a little more challenging than before, maybe a new setter there as well? Thanks PeterO and Everyman
And we lost the cricket : (
Well done England, great series and a brilliant comeback after the World Cup, good luck with the Ashes, you might not find Australia quite so chummy – unless they do to their behaviour what England have done to their overall standard of play. Not very likely imho.
Rats the coffee club sounds fine to me but not for a few weeks as we are renovating. Weekends a bit precious.
I am not enjoying this crossword any more – used to be a very enjoyable part of my weekend. Feeling decidedly annoyed……..
Perhaps we are getting used to this new setter. Gave up on last week’s one but got all of this one out ( with quite a lot of electronic help).
Don’t want to trample on Peter’s blog, but just to say keep going with the Everyman. The last couple have been decidedly easier and I think people are getting used to a different style.
And I couldn’t possibly not comment about the ODI series. You smash it everywhere; we smash it everywhere; we win. What’s not to like? Apart from if you are a poor bowler …
Very difficult once again but gradually getting into the style of the new chap