Silvanus made his debut in the Indy in March of this year and has been contributing roughly one crossword a month since. I blogged his debut, and enjoyed it; I liked this one too, but have one or two grumps. These were assuaged by the fact that there were no bloody golf references.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 He’s up frequently in night, on the telephone
HORSEMAN
I think I see how this works; I’m just struggling to find a label for it. A dd cum cd/homophone, perhaps. If someone is ‘up frequently’ they are on horseback or riding; and ‘night’ is a homophone (‘on the telephone’) of ‘knight’, who is a HORSEMAN.
5 Why an operation at first is botched carelessly
ANYHOW
(WHY AN O)*
9 Quality attracting retired sailor to become a pirate
WATER RAT
A charade of WATER and TAR reversed. WATER for ‘quality’? I had to get the crane and the magnifying glass out to trawl through my SOED, which finally yielded the following under definition III/10b:
of the first water, of the purest water, of the rarest water, etc (fig.) unsurpassed in one’s (or its) class
So ‘quality’, I guess. You may have a better explanation.
10 Traditional honour for old comedian
LAUREL
A dd: the origin of the phrase ‘resting on one’s LAURELS’ and the comedian Stan LAUREL, who partnered Oliver HARDY.
11 A setter’s given your old stone this colour
AMETHYST
A charade of A, ME (for ‘setter’), THY and ST.
12 Sign of spring in Cambridge minister
GEMINI
Hidden in CambridGE MINIster. Gemini goes from 20 May to 20 June, so could just be described as a ‘spring’ sign of the zodiac.
14 Like this good clue, it might have you stuck!
SPOONERISM
I didn’t care for this much, partly because it was my LOI and I couldn’t see it, and partly because I’m not a fan of spoonerism clues, since not everyone agrees how they work and that often leads to ultimately fruitless arguments. Silvanus is suggesting that if you made a SPOONERISM of ‘good clue’ you’d end up with COULD GLUE, which ‘might have you stuck’. At least the spoonerism works here.
18 Cook, silly man, with no filling for cake mix
MISCELLANY
(SILLY MAN C[AK]E)* The anagrind is ‘cook’.
22 Contrive to stop working
CUT OUT
A dd. My SOED gives a couple of definitions of ‘contrive’ that could vaguely be synonymous with CUT OUT, but happen I’m missing something here.
23 Crazy for one in photograph to become successful through personal effort
SELF-MADE
Talking of the SOED, its big sister, the OED, introduced SELFIE as one of its new words of the year a while back. Here you need to take the I out of that and replace it with MAD.
24 It may be served by him, a male lawyer?
BARMAN
Well, a male lawyer could be a BAR MAN, I guess. So another cd cum dd. The ‘it’ is referring to the vermouth in ‘gin and it’.
25 Confirm meeting after six around area beside lake
VALIDATE
An insertion of A and L in VI for ‘six’ followed by DATE.
26 Avoid artist with no right to get work
ESCHEW
A charade of ESCHE[R] and W. W for work? It’ll be somewhere in a list, but commonly it’s found in DWP, Department for Work and Pensions. That probably doesn’t count, though. The artist is responsible for this kind of stuff.
27 Arrest key suspect Yard released, one quickly revealing all
STREAKER
(ARREST KE[Y])*
Down
1 Cricket’s unique appeal
HOWZAT?
Sounds like I’m being a bit arsey about this offering from Silvanus, and I don’t mean to be; but this one struck me as a bit weak. So now everyone else is going to tell me that they loved it. It’s a cd. For overseas solvers and those who find cricket as interesting as I find golf, I will explain that in order for a batsman to be dismissed in cricket, under Law 31 an ‘appeal’ has to be made to the umpire, who – if he is of the opinion that the batsman is out – will raise his finger. The appeal is strictly HOW’S THAT?, but sounds like HOWZAT? It’s the accepted spelling, so the setter is on firm ground from that point of view. The actual appeal in current cricket often sounds more like HOWAAAAZEEEEEE, screamed in a simian-like way, accompanied by outstretched, pleading arms and followed by the double teapot when the appeal is turned down.
2 Under a therapist continuously? Yes, indeed
RATHER
Hidden in undeR A THERapist.
3 Gross expenses are rounded totals having yearly headings
EARTHY
The first letters of Expenses Are Rounded Totals Having Yearly.
4 Water engulfs two parking signs in prominent feature
ADAM’S APPLE
Water is referred to sometimes as ADAM’S ALE. Stick two Ps in that and you’ve got – in men at least – a ‘prominent feature’.
6 Spruced up castle, one regularly in the grip of poverty
NEATENED
An insertion of ATEN for the regular letters of cAsTlEoNe in NEED.
7 Very bad split briefly concealed by worried choir
HORRIFIC
An insertion of RIF[T] in (CHOIR)*
8 Bills for sisters attending the courts
WILLIAMS
I thought this one was clever, and it put a smile on my face. It’s another dd cum cd. Bills are really WILLIAMS, and the second bit is referring to Serena and Venus WILLIAMS, the tennis sisters.
13 Resist law regarding shop trading?
COUNTERACT
Another clue in the cd/dd vein. A ‘law regarding shop trading’ could whimsically be referred to as a COUNTER ACT.
15 Friendly guy, essentially beaming to begin with
AMICABLE
The middle letters (‘essentially’) of beAMIng are followed by CABLE for ‘guy’ in its sense of holding tents down.
16 Mysterious drug boy accepts drunk
ESOTERIC
A charade of E for Ecstasy or ‘drug’ and ERIC for ‘boy’ with SOT for ‘drunk’ inserted. Why ERIC is a ‘boy’ and not a man, I can’t say. Sometimes setters use ‘boy’ when it’s a shortened name, like WILL for WILLIAM. But ERIC is just ERIC. Cryptics are a mystery to me sometimes.
17 Reject letter from abroad on gun control
REGULATE
A reversal of ETA, for the Greek ‘letter’ and LUGER for the ‘gun’.
19 Position of authority is postponed no longer?
OFFICE
If something is postponed, it’s ON ICE. So when it’s no longer postponed, it’s … Another cd cum dd.
20 Greyish-pink colour mother needs to question
DAMASK
A charade of DAM and ASK. The cloth from which the colour comes originated in DAMASCUS.
21 Reportedly encounter gloomy character shooting star
METEOR
For those who don’t get the surface reading, ‘shooting star’ is nothing meteorological. ‘Star’ is slang for cocaine, so someone ‘shooting star’ would be injecting cocaine. Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, and paid attention to too many Hoskins puzzles. Whatever, it’s a homophone to finish off. The homophone indicator is ‘reportedly’ and it’s MEET for ‘encounter’ and EYEORE for ‘gloomy character’. EYEORE is Winnie-the-Pooh’s mate and a personal hero of mine because he’s even more grumpy and anti-social than me.
“I might have known,” said Eeyore. “After all, one can’t complain. I have my friends. Somebody spoke to me only yesterday.
And was it last week or the week before that Rabbit bumped into me and said ‘Bother!’ The Social Round. Always something going on.”
Double teapot? A posture made famous by another celebrated grump, the Australian fast bowling legend Glenn McGrath.
Many thanks to Silvanus for the puzzle and a gay week to all.
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