Another fine puzzle from Everyman. I have tried to explain everything fully, but if there’s something you don’t understand or want more detail about, just ask.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Puritan ignoring pressure to be naughty
RUDE
[P]RUDE
3 Puzzle’s finished order
CLOSED BOOK
A simple charade of CLOSED and BOOK. So simple it was my second to LOI.
10 One giving reassurance about working to reform
COMFORTER
A charade of C and (TO REFORM)* with ‘working’ as the anagrind.
11 Fool playing about with glossy fabric
SATIN
A reversal (‘about’) of NIT and AS. ‘Olivier as King Lear is considered to be one of the finest performances of the 20th century.’
12 Test saint, poor soul without wife
STRETCH
A charade of ST and [W]RETCH. ‘That Thursday puzzle in the Indy was a bit of a stretch.’
13 Write about air for planet
NEPTUNE
Well, if you accept Pluto’s demotion, you’ve only got eight to choose from. A reversal of PEN followed by TUNE.
14 Associate firm revolutionary party with speaker
COLLABORATOR
A charade of CO for company or ‘firm’, BALL reversed and ORATOR.
18 Controller behind the scenes turning a handle during reel
STAGE MANAGER
An insertion of A NAME for ‘handle’ reversed in STAGGER. The reversal indicator is ‘turning’ and the insertion indicator is ‘during’.
21 Artist in salon, sadly not a winner
ALSO-RAN
An insertion of the ever-faithful RA for ‘artist’ in (SALON)* The anagrind is ‘sadly’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.
22 Make up with approach, securing concession after reflection
COMPOSE
An insertion of SOP reversed in COME. The reversal indicator is ‘after reflection’ and the insertion indicator is ‘securing’. SOP is rather an old-fashioned word now, I fancy, although still sometimes heard in the phrase ‘a sop to Cerberus’.
23 Step in tango studied
TREAD
A charade of T for the phonetic alphabet ‘tango’ and READ.
24 Adjust tie, neat or otherwise
ORIENTATE
(TIE NEAT OR)* with ‘otherwise’ as the anagrind.
25 Dispute claim
CONTENTION
A dd.
26 Last enclosure, holding area
STAY
An insertion of A in STY.
Down
1 Bag and barrel dog overturned before end of walk
RUCKSACK
A reversal of CASK and CUR before K for the last letter of ‘walk’. No St Bernards were harmed during the writing of this clue.
2 City supporting protest in modest way
DEMURELY
A charade of DEMURE and the cathedral city of ELY. ‘Supporting’ works because it’s a down clue.
4 Fastening some tinsel at Christmas
LATCH
Hidden in tinseL AT Christmas.
5 Terrible transmogrification, not half violent
STRONG-ARM
Please tell me that this was your LOI as well. ‘Not half’ is telling you to lose the second nine letters of ‘transmogrification’; ‘terrible’ is the anagrind. So it’s (TRANSMOGR[IFICATION])*
6 Regret getting sink filled with juice and oily substance
DISAPPOINTMENT
An insertion of SAP in DIP followed by OINTMENT.
7 Decision not to take part in work with illegal seller
OPT-OUT
A charade of OP for opus or ‘work’ and TOUT.
8 Place for boxer perhaps in ring endlessly occupied by extremes of exertion
KENNEL
Great misdirection. It’s not a pugilist’s ‘ring’, but this kind:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea …
An insertion of EN for the outside letters of ‘exertion’ in KNEL[L]
9 Cross after catch in card game
CONTRACT BRIDGE
A charade of CONTRACT and BRIDGE.
15 Part of church crumbling for a long time
ORGAN LOFT
(FOR A LONG T)* with ‘crumbling’ as the anagrind. Fine surface.
16 Not knowing about soldier coming up with tirade
IGNORANT
A reversal of ON for ‘about’ and GI for ‘soldier’ followed by RANT. Because it’s a down clue, ‘coming up’ is the reversal indicator.
17 Odd parts of garden go without good foliage
GREENERY
The odd letters of GaRdEn followedy by ENER[G]Y.
19 Presenter accepting wine gum
MASTIC
An insertion of ASTI in MC, or EMCEE, or Master of Ceremonies, or ‘presenter’.
20 Flower with name behind
ASTERN
A charade of ASTER and N.
22 Feature old material
CHINO
A charade of CHIN and O.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for the Sunday morning entertainment.
A typo in 2D. It is DEMUR and ELY
Thanks for decoding Everyman. Please help me decode your decode: What does “LOI” mean?
venividinotvici @2
Last One In.
Thanks, Gaufrid. Guilty as charged, venividinotvici – memo to self: don’t use acronyms that some folk aren’t familiar with. The other one you might come across is ‘biffed’, as in ‘I biffed 12dn’. It means ‘bunged in from the definition’ – in other words, I entered it just from the definition, without understanding the parsing. Oh, and maybe ‘lift and separate’ – nothing to do with bras, but where you have to separate out a word into two halves before you can do what the setter’s asking. For instance, ‘indeed’ might have to become ‘in’ and ‘deed’ so that you can insert something into DE and ED. There are probably others which I can’t bring to mind at the minute.
Thanks Gaufrid and Pierre. LOI to self (Letter of Intent): Beware ambiguous TLAs 🙂
Thanks Pierre and Everyman
I had put CLOSED DOWN for 3a (‘puzzle’ in the clue led me think along the lines of across and down, and then KNELL for ring never came to mind so KENNEL was never an option. Had to resort to the Reveal button to complete the puzzle. An excellent challenge at just the right level for me – although I biffed in a few so I appreciate the blog entries for the parsing!.
Great puzzle though I didn’t get mastic. I ‘biffed’ in quite a few but not 5d which was not my LOI as I figured that one out quite quickly.
Thanks for the parsing Pierre. And thanks Everyman. It’s taken me a while but now I am getting to grips with your clues.
Phew, much easier than the ones in The Australian I’ve been doing recently. Think they were from The Times. My strike rate was fair only.
Closed book, as for playing, and Go without Good all took some unravelling, but there were some nice simple ones to give a toehold.
Very good crossword
After last week I was worried about more obscure words but luckily this was more pleasurable. I didnt know mastic though and had words like pastis and paste I knew weren’t right but couldn’t rid them
Not sure I understand the relevance of ‘puzzle’ in the clue for 3ac can anyone explain ( or is it just glaringly obvious it is part of this puzzle?)
Thanks Pierre, although the obvious answer I couldn’t parse STRONG ARM. I knew that the building trade used mastic as a glue. I suppose glue could be gum. My LOI was KENNEL
I’m with you, Vanessa. I’ve heard of someone’s life being an open book, but not a closed one.
LOI was DEMURELY and required some electronic help but otherwise a nice outing. Enjoyed MASTIC and GREENERY.
Black Caps are playing poorly right now. Wonder how the ABs will go tomorrow. They say this is the game to decide who is number 1. We’ll find out around 10am tomorrow morning. 🙂
Found this tough, but got it out — by biffing quite a few — 11 across, and 1, 2, and 5 down. Had to look up “mastic” in the dictionary. Had never heard of “Ely”, which is what held me up on 2 down (in addition to being uncomfortable with “demur” meaning “protest” — I think of “demur” as indicating reluctance rather than protestation. “Strong arm” was indeed my LOI.
Didn’t get mastic at all till I looked in here, otherwise a good Sunday afternoon pastime. Love the biffing analogy….yes I biffed quite a few too.
Vanessa , I think that a Closed book means that it’s an enigma.
Once a again a great crossword. Statistically I would have to admit ‘biff’ is my middle name considering the number of answers I throw in before understanding the rationale. Not sure what the adjective is for getting the correct answer in a logical manner but finding out that the logic used was incorrect. An example this week was ‘demurely’ when I figured out that the protest was ‘dem’ and the city was ‘ur’. That was good enough for me!
Thanks to all