Another sound and accessible crossword from Everyman.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Extended odds studied
SPREAD
SP for Starting Price, or ‘odds’ and READ pronounced to rhyme with RED.
4 Attacked since corruption of ideals
ASSAILED
A charade of AS and (IDEALS)*
10 Worker perhaps after middle of shift tucked into crusty item from bakery
CROISSANT
An insertion of I for the middle letter of ‘shift’ in CROSS for ‘crusty’ followed by the setters’ favourite worker, the ANT.
11 Odd parts of tour, wrong, around capital city
TUNIS
A charade of TU for the odd letters of ToUr and SIN reversed.
12 Skills shown by airman with observations filled with refinement, missing nothing
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A charade of AC for ‘airman’ followed by P[O]LISH in COMMENTS.
13 United in hope, excited by revolutionary song giving joy
EUPHORIA
An insertion of U in (HOPE)* followed by AIR reversed.
15 Piece of furniture with flap, French article
TABLE
A charade of TAB and LE.
18 Sea duck completely ignoring lake
OCEAN
I was getting excited for a moment. A charade of O and C[L]EAN with not a bird in sight.
19 Bring down remote-controlled aircraft outside the ground
DETHRONE
An insertion of (THE)* in DRONE. The anagrind is ‘ground’.
21 Doctor’s work with officer by law in charge
GENERAL PRACTICE
A charade of GENERAL and ACT inserted into PRICE.
24 Part of cargo, necessary element
ARGON
Hidden in cARGO Necessary gives you the gas.
25 Note adapted hose, old invention
FALSEHOOD
The note in question is FA (a long, long way to run); that’s followed by (HOSE OLD)*
26 Admired English horse covering miles with energy
ESTEEMED
E followed by M and E inserted into STEED.
27 Lack of interest in course occupying a year
APATHY
An insertion of PATH in A Y.
Down
1 Party, cold one, in country going north
SOCIAL
An insertion of C and I in LAOS reversed (‘going north’, since it’s a down clue).
2 Basic reason to carouse, being tipsy
ROOT CAUSE
(TO CAROUSE)*
3 Some tea’s sampled? Here’s region producing it
ASSAM
Hidden in teAS SAMpled.
5 Well, time is element in voyage, unknown
SATISFACTORILY
An insertion of T, IS, FACTOR in SAIL, followed by Y for one of the mathematical ‘unknowns’.
6 Issue raised during change in device measuring height
ALTIMETER
An insertion of EMIT reversed in ALTER.
7 Policy with new material
LINEN
A charade of LINE and N.
8 Calamity regarding temperature reported to be rising around south
DISASTER
An insertion of S in RE, T and SAID reversed.
9 Afraid full pace is out of order for long-distance runner
PAULA RADCLIFFE
(AFRAID FULL PACE)*
14 Fashionable doctor admitted to risk, disregarding first obstacle
HINDRANCE
An insertion of IN and DR in [C]HANCE.
16 Marsupial that has outlaw stifling utterance of surprise
BANDICOOT
An insertion of COO! in BANDIT.
17 Fibre witch coated with red powder
ROUGHAGE
Good clue. An insertion of HAG in ROUGE.
20 Prime tips for hastily covering a stain up
HEYDAY
An insertion of A DEY reversed in HY for the outside letters of ‘hastily’.
22 Dark time one of King Arthur’s men reported
NIGHT
An indubitable homophone (‘reported’) of KNIGHT.
23 Progress slowly beginning to concern and upset lord
CREEP
A charade of C for the first letter of ‘concern’ and PEER reversed.
Many thanks to Everyman for the Sunday morning entertainment.
Can someone explain the parsing of 20 dn – what is A DEY? I get the HY bit but don’t understand the part about covering a stain up. Otherwise a good solve and thanks to Pierre.
20 A DYE reversed (stain up)
Cheers AJK!
Apologies for HEYDAY – my bad, as young people say. Thanks to AJK for explaining it properly.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
I feel breathless after looking up the ACCOMPLISHMENTS of PAULA RADCLIFFE [height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) weight 119 lb (54 kg) in her HEYDAY] and think I should go on a diet, no more CROISSANTs for breakfast!
Pierre, I was sure there was a bird hiding somewhere, and there it is in 16d, but guess that does not qualify for a link…
…here is a poem by Gloria Bracken, Bandy Coot
I’ve seen a bandy coot or two
In my time here on this earth.
And though I know it wasn’t kind
They were a cause of mirth.
Buth there is another creature
Whose name sounds just the same –
But it’s not of the two-legged type,
That’s not its claim to fame.
No, I have just discovered
There’s something in my garden,
It’s there only at night time
And without a beg-your-pardon.
It’s digging all around the plants
That I have tried to raise,
Some of them are beautiful
And worthy of much praise.
But, does this creature give a hoot
About the damage that it’s wreaking?
Of course not, for this bandicoot
Wouldn’t understand plain speaking.
to Cookie @6 – I’ve been doing the Everyman for years and years – are you saying that there’s always a bird hidden in there, that I’ve missed after all this time? Blimey!
Uncleskinny @8, no, there is not always a bird hidden in the Everyman, it is Pierre’s special interest and if one of the answers is a bird in a crossword he is blogging (not just the Everyman) he posts a picture or a link.
Middling in terms of difficulty I thought – no real hold-ups, just a reasonably steady solve. Last in 17d because it took me too long to work out where the HAG needed to go. Kicked myself when I eventually spotted our long distance runner.
A very enjoyable Sunday puzzle as always!
My favourites were 20d and 21a.
Needed help from google to check my answer to 9d.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
A refreshing and enjoyable Everyman, no real qualms, save perhaps the clean for ocean. But otherwise a pleasant and entertaining solve. DETHRONE and HINDRANCE are perhaps the most memorable.
Maybe it was the order of approach but this is the first time I’ve completed an Everyman without revisiting any clues. Some real gems here but I especially liked 9D probably because I am (or was) a long distance runner.
Ashamed to admit that I couldn’t get Paula Radcliffe. She’s not so familiar in this part of the world. Nor did I get Heyday. But apart from that I found this very enjoyable, and realise that I am at last getting better at parsing clues from this setter.
Zoomed through the top half, slowed down a bit in the SW corner. Didn’t manage to parse 21A, figured out the runner but didn’t know her.
Nice crossword though, especially Falsehood and Dethrone.
Thanks Pierre and EM.
We Kiwis cannot help if we don’t know uk local heroes.. am pretty sure I could only come up with Mo Farah and Lord Seb Coe so a quick google search turned up Paula. I don’t feel guilty any guilt using a bit of research for those kind of clues.
my last one in was 20d i really didn’t really get that explanation either but a great day’s puzzle otherwise.
very clever 19ac rah rah
These are getting too easy. 30 mins and I was done. Enjoyed falsehood and roughage.
Got stuck on “heyday” and had to use a wild card dictionary. Got the rest, but. NIce puzzle.
Pierre,
Thanks for your guidance with this, the blog is much appreciated.
One question though: for 1ac – is it usual for a ‘sounds like’ clue to not have a homophone indicator?
While I arrived at the same answer, I had parsed this clue as dd with second half being the odds offered by a bookie (i.e. the ‘spread’ of odds studied by a punter).
Finally, thanks to Everyman for continuing to set a challenging, but ultimately achievable puzzle each week!
DexterC, I don’t think 1ac is a homophone; Pierre’s comment was just explaining the form of read that means study. The first part of the charade is SP (short for starting price) which seems to be the accepted synonym for odds. Not being a gambler I haven’t come across that term outside of crosswords.