Everyman 3,671

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Perhaps a little more tricky than your average Everyman but still a pleasure to solve.

If Pierre had covered this puzzle he would have had his customary ‘bird’ link but I’m sure you all know what a goldfinch looks like so I haven’t included one. I don’t usually pick out specific clues for comment but I must say I rather liked 2dn both for its simplicity and the image it evoked.

Across
1 Gangster without assistance seizing crown (2,6)
AL CAPONE – ALONE (without assistance) around (seizing) CAP (crown)

5 Direct debit cutting very large price (4)
ODDS – DD (direct debit) in (cutting) OS (very large)

10 Cheat turning to automatic machine (5)
ROBOT – ROB (cheat) TO reversed (turning)

11 Convey elevation in case (9)
CARTRIDGE – CART (convey) RIDGE (elevation)

12 Writes about river safari, initially poor (9)
PENNILESS – PENS (writes) around (about) NILE (river) S[afari] (safari, initially)

13 Popular point about English being awkward (5)
INEPT – IN (popular) PT (point) around (about) E (English)

14 Go for it, needing that leg-up, keen to work (4,3,6)
TAKE THE PLUNGE – an anagram (to work) of THAT LEG-UP KEEN

17 Angry protests after damage outside new buildings (13)
CONSTRUCTIONS – RUCTIONS (angry protests) after COST (damage) around (outside) N (new)

21 Some now energetic in retirement begin again (5)
RENEW – hidden (some) reversal (in retirement) in ‘noW ENERgetic’

22 Distance after day covered by game bird (9)
GOLDFINCH – INCH (distance) after D (day) in (covered by) GOLF (game)

24 Explain concern, not small, about public relations (9)
INTERPRET – INTERE[s]T (concern, not small) around (about) PR (public relations)

25 Cross island with speed (5)
IRATE – I (island) RATE (speed)

26 Chatters, getting power in voice back (4)
YAPS – P (power) in SAY (voice) reversed (back)

27 Left chosen ground, beginning to seek monster’s abode? (4,4)
LOCH NESS – L (left) plus an anagram (ground) of CHOSEN plus S[eek] (beginning to seek)

Down
1 Brisk sailor with routine, quietly absorbed (6)
ABRUPT – AB (sailor) RUT (routine) around (absorbed) P (quietly)

2 Group in government showing it can be complicated (7)
CABINET – an anagram (complicated) of IT CAN BE

3 Role involving a prank, worry for actor (7,7)
PATRICK STEWART – PART (role) around (involving) A TRICK (a prank) STEW (worry)

4 Hour during pleasant recess (5)
NICHE – H (hour) in (during) NICE (pleasant)

6 Failure with information about old resentment (7)
DUDGEON – DUD (failure) GEN (information) around (about) O (old)

7 Time put into search over half of area in plant (5,3)
SWEET PEA – T (time) in (put into) SWEEP (search) [ar]EA (half of area)

8 Be successful mostly on court in view (8)
PROSPECT – PROSPE[r] (be successful mostly) CT (court)

9 Official threat shaking strong belief (7,2,5)
ARTICLE OF FAITH – an anagram (shaking) of OFFICIAL THREAT

15 Violent behaviour almost embraced in test (8)
THUGGERY – HUGGE[d] (almost embraced) in TRY (test)

16 Shortage having lasting effect on urban area (8)
SCARCITY – SCAR (lasting effect) CITY (urban area)

18 Constant drama, north and south, before summit (3-4)
NON-STOP – NO (drama) N (north) S (south) TOP (summit)

19 Soldier perhaps in secure state capital (5,2)
SANTA FE – ANT (soldier perhaps) in SAFE (secure)

20 Layers in places drilled by man (6)
SHEETS – SETS (places) around (drilled by) HE (man)

23 Learner with excessive love for game (5)
LOTTO – L (learner) OTT (excessive) O (love)

13 comments on “Everyman 3,671”

  1. I enjoyed this. I remember PENNILESS held me up the longest as I tried to solve from the wordplay alone and think of four letter names for rivers, rather than focussing on a synonym for poor.

  3. Kevin
    From Chambers:
    no, n? or noh
    noun (pl no or noh)
    (often with cap) the traditional Japanese style of drama developed out of a religious dance (also n??gaku (pl no?gaku))

  4. Thank you Everyman and Gaufrid.

    Yes, an enjoyable crossword. I, too, liked the clue for CABINET, and also those for ARTICLE OF FAITH and TAKE THE PLUNGE.

    Last in was ODDS since I was not sure about the abbreviations. I always interpret OS for ‘very large’ as ‘outsize’, but I notice that many setters no longer do so. OS is in my COED of 1995 for ‘outsize’, but recently ‘very large’ was blogged as ‘over size’ – perhaps ‘outsize’ is considered derogatory these days for clothing, in the States OS means ‘one size’.

  5. All correct without aids for 2017, and success today makes it 9 in a row. Enjoyed CABINET clue, and the surfaces of the clues. This, I’m sure, takes some doing for what is regarded as a straightforward puzzle.
    Thank you Everyman!

  6. Now, that’s the quickest Everyman solve for me this year, so it just goes to show… Perhaps it just played to my strengths, such as they are.

  10. Couldn’t see any of the reasoning behind 17ac – don’t know why I couldn’t see Ructions, and wouldn’t have worked out the rest either – oh well, it fitted and so be it.
    Thought that in 19d the solder wsa TA so couldn’t work out what the N was doing.
    But I see the reasoning behind ant now
    22 ac and 1 ac my favourite clues for their trickery

  11. Well we got that without any electronic help (apart from checking that there was an actor called Patrick Stewart and that Santa Fe was a state capital).
    Better than we usually do.

  12. Didn’t get around to this until this morning when it all came together rather satisfactorily.

    Loose ends were no for drama (must remember that, I’m sure we’ve had it before) and set for place got me until I realised they are being used as verbs in the wp. Doh.

    Very nice crossword, just right. Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid.

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