Another puzzle that hits the spot for the Everyman slot, I thought. Some generous clues to get you going, then all gettable with a bit of perseverance.
There is a gentle nod to education throughout the down clues, with ARITHMETIC, THE THREE RS, READING ALOUD, BOOK, WRITING DESKS all falling into that category. Not at all important to the solve; it’s just something to notice – or not – afterwards. Some people call that a ‘ghost theme’.
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 Flames from bonfires you’d vacantly started
BOYFRIENDS
(BONFIRES YD)* Everyman is asking you to take the middle letters out of ‘you’d’ (‘vacantly’) to provide the second part of the anagram fodder. The anagrind is ‘started’. ‘You made me jump/start.’
6 First of Carlings imbibed by drunk Caledonian
SCOT
An insertion of C for the first letter of ‘Carlings’ in SOT. The insertion indicator is ‘imbibed by’.
9 Oh dear: in Asia, soy pod undergoing ‘modification’
OOPS-A-DAISY
(ASIA SOY POD)*
10 Pro bono lawyer’s rate: that’s about right
FREE
Nice surface. An insertion of R in FEE. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
12 Football pundit’s behind Yorkshire side: ‘I don’t like that, giving ground‘
HILLSBOROUGH
A charade of HILLS, BORO and UGH. The ‘football pundit’ is Jimmy HILL, of a different generation to now but certainly well-enough known in his day; the ‘Yorkshire side’ is BORO, short for Middlesborough. The town was in Teesside, then the county of Cleveland until it got abolished, and is now a unitary authority. However, it is in North Yorkshire for ceremonial purposes, so the setter is on safe ground. Hillsborough is the home of Sheffield Wednesday FC.
15 Terrible dragon overcomes island, becoming object of worship
RAIN GOD
An insertion of I in (DRAGON)* The insertion indicator is ‘overcomes’.
16 Nobody, after embracing Chinese philosophy, remains nobody
NOT A ONE
An insertion of TAO for the ‘philosophy’ in NO-ONE. The insertion indicator is ’embracing’.
17 Caught fish between banks of Tweed
TANGLED
An insertion of ANGLE for ‘fish’ in TD for the outside letters (‘banks’) of ‘Tweed’. The insertion indicator is ‘between’.
19 Less substantial (when describing noise, primarily)?
TINNIER
An insertion of N for the first letter of ‘noise’ in TINIER. The insertion indicator is ‘when describing’. A cad.
20 Sticky secreting structures revealed as mud unclogs sloppily
MUCOUS GLANDS
(AS MUD UNCLOGS)*
23 Sour spell
TURN
A dd. ‘The milk’s turned.’ ‘Let me have a spell at getting the baby to sleep.’
24 Show contempt as chicken amateur finally beats retreat
COCK A SNOOK
A charade of COCK, A for ‘amateur’, S for the last letter of ‘beats’ and NOOK. It’s a derisive gesture, usually involving thumb on nose and wiggling fingers, but etymologists are unsure of its origin.
25 Apply layer of coolant, not evenly
COAT
The odd letters (‘not evenly’) of O
26 Misreading of Jude: priest is a joke!
JEU D’ESPRIT
(JUDE PRIEST)* The surface makes sense if you read it as referring to Hardy’s novel.
Down
1 Personal problem? Fine to show reserve
BOOK
A charade of BO for ‘body odour’ and OK.
2 Remove organs from pet after rising, shrill sounds
YAPS
Well, ovaries and uterus specifically. A reversal of SPAY. ‘After rising’ works because it’s a down clue.
3 Wilde’s prison reportedly permitted recitals
READING ALOUD
A charade of READING, the gaol where Oscar was imprisoned for gross indecency with men, and a homophone (‘reportedly’) of ALLOWED.
4 Communicated something using mixed media about the French
EMAILED
An insertion of LE for one of the words for ‘the’ in French in (MEDIA)* The anagrind is ‘mixed’ and the insertion indicator is ‘about’.
5 Hullabaloo about stub put out in receptacle
DUSTBIN
An insertion (for the third time in this puzzle, ‘about’) of (STUB)* in DIN. The anagrind is ‘put out’.
7 Wealth taken from doddery OAP? I concur
CORNUCOPIA
(OAP I CONCUR)*
8 Operatic act avoiding bum note? It’s kids’ stuff
THE THREE RS
Great clue, but a tricky one to parse. The setter is asking you to remove (NOTE)* from THE THREE TENORS.
11 They’re seen in classrooms strewing kids around
WRITING DESKS
(STREWING KIDS)*
13 Calculating, cold: possibly I’m the replacement for Conservatives’ leader
ARITHMETIC
Another one where the parsing takes a bit of working out: ‘cold’ is ARCTIC and the setter is inviting you to replace the C (‘Conservative’s leader’) with ITHME, which is an anagram (‘possibly’) of (IM THE)* Delightful surface, and so many contenders it could apply to.
14 ‘Select’ prison: more spacious, by the sound of it, with pleasant place for lunch
PICNIC AREA
A homophone (‘by the sound of it’) of three words: PICK, NICK and AIRIER.
18 Infernal, horrible poetry, ‘When Half Becomes One’
DOGGONE
The ‘horrible poetry’ is DOGGEREL, so it’s DOGG[EREL] with the latter half replaced by ONE.
19 Acknowledged North Korea originally involved in suspicious death
THANKED
An insertion of N and K in (DEATH)* The insertion indicator is ‘involved in’.
21 In favour of vociferously delivering a number
FOUR
Another homophone (‘vociferously’) of FOR.
22 Second outfit to offer little satirical observation
SKIT
A simple charade to finish: of S and KIT.
Many thanks to our new (but now not so new) Everyman. Keep them coming. And a gentle request to commenters on this puzzle: please don’t tell us anything about how hard or otherwise you found this week’s. It’s a prize puzzle and it’s not appropriate to say anything at all about it on here until Sil’s blog next week. Merci.
Much better I thought. And today’s is terrific.
Thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
Nice puzzle but I’m still struggling to read 26a, ‘Jude:priest is’ as Jeu d’esprit (with our without ‘is’).
Not complaining as I am well used to this level of difficulty in puzzles published elsewhere but I did find this somewhat harder than Everyman puzzles as experienced prior to retirement of the regular setter. I regularly knocked those off in 15-20 minutes before settling down to a real tussle with the Sunday Times, but last Sunday I found the Sunday Times much easier than the Everyman. This was well-worth persevering with, however.
Morning Mark. JEU D’ESPRIT is – at a stretch – a ‘joke’ and is an anagram of (JUDE PRIEST)* The anagram indicator is ‘misreading of’. Thomas Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure is often referred to just as ‘Jude’, so the surface makes sense if you consider that. The ‘is’ is just leading you to the answer.
I thought this was difficult for an Everyman and way above the beginner level that you always bang on about Pierre. I did however enjoy it but thought that TURN and TINNIER were pretty vague. Has anyone heard ‘tinnier’ being used in conversation ?. I was reminded of the old Monty Python sketch where words were either tinny or woody.
Thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
Thanks Pierre, I had noticed the Hardy reference but putting it all together escaped me – sometimes they just do.
I don’t always ‘bang on’ about the Everyman being a beginner level puzzle, Davy. It is intended to be, and always has been, an easy end puzzle for those newer to cryptics. I flag that up to encourage people who are new to cryptics to have a go. You are entitled to think that this is ‘way above’ beginner level. But if you want to be constructive, then perhaps then you could bang on about/recommend to readers of the blog another readily available and regularly published beginner level puzzle, so they can work their way into enjoying our harmless pastime. That’s the main reason I blog for Fifteensquared.
Thanks Pierre
Davy@5 – tinny is used as a description of sound quality, so you could hear “These speakers have a tinnier sound than the others”.
For what it’s worth I’m thoroughly enjoying the “new” Everyman, finding it more varied and inventive than it used to be.
I thought both last week’s and this week’s Everyman puzzles were too difficult for the slot having more in common with a non-Monday daily cryptic. If that’s what they’re aiming for, fine, but it’s not the Everyman of old. Obscure French phrases in particular are out of place, unless I’m the only person who finds them to be obscure! 🙂
Pierre@7 – sorry, I didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers but I do think that you are the only Everyman blogger to regularly refer to this puzzle as being for beginners. I just see it as a mainly entertaining crossword which has its share of easy and more difficult clues. The target audience for Everyman, if there is one, is of no interest to me. I only do Everyman and the Quiptic these days but both puzzles can vary enormously in difficulty.
8d is a very indirect anagram, isn’t it?
Did you really mean 8d, AJK? It’s not an indirect anagram really – Everyman is asking you to take the anagram fodder out of a phrase, so it’s anagram removal rather than anything indirect.
I’m surprised that there has not been more criticism of French phrases…..This was a topic a few months ago, and it is back. Jeu d’esprit worries me on two counts, it is French, and it is really three words, reduced by the apostrophe. We got it ok, but it seemed obscure for the sake of it. But it will be part of my daily vocab now!
I was concerned by the lack of comment over George 1 in 3789. The number 1 doubles for an i in fighter planes. I’ve never seen that before, it leaves me feeling a bit discomforted. Is this OK? A bit dodgy if you ask me.
Which sums up neatly our feeling about this new chap(ess?)
Terry, it would be written correctly as ‘George I’ not ‘George 1’, so perfectly acceptable IMO
Did anyone notice SCOT FREE and TURN COAT in the opposite corners?
Are they significant? If so what are they?
I enjoyed most of this but didn’t get tinier or cornucopia or Hillsborough (though I got the borough part). Still have trouble parsing many of them but I think this setter is improving.
Where are all the kiwis today?
At the GABS beerfest, Audrey! I gave this away with three to go. Thought Tinnier must be wrong as there is no word R blank. Didnt get (and therefore disliked!) 18d and 26a. Am a tad worried this setter is trying to be a bit too smart for this spot.
I agree Barrie, but I got both 18d and 26a. That doesn’t mean that I’m smarter than you though. I missed some others.
I’m sorry but I’m just not feeling it. I found this to be a most disappointing puzzle. I got it out alright but found a lot of the parsing ordinary. Also I see the quotes are back.
I, funnily enough, mostly enjoyed this puzzle, didn’t finish it. The French connection got me as did 18d.
I too didn’t put in tinnier for the same reason as you Barry.
But when I worked out 1d I actually laughed out loud! Little things I suppose!
Hmmm. Too many late nights made this a tricky one to get, had to turn to Mistress Google a few times. Some goodies in here though, making us think.
I think this was a little up a level, but all the more enjoyable for it. Still getting used to our new setter, and getting there more every week. Many thanks to Everyman and Pierre.
Found this very hard and often “unfair”. Got it all out (with quite a bit of assistance from wildcard dictionaries, except for 26 across. I wound up changing 21 down from “four” to “fore” (the call “fore” being vociferous!) and then put in “red dessert” for 26 across (thinking “red dessert” could be a pun on “red desert” ergo a joke). No way I would ever have figured out “jeu d’esprit”. Would never have got 12 across without a wildcard dictionary.
Could not parse 8 down nor 24 across.
This one was a touch too hard for me, though my only complaint is the French.
Glad to not be the only one who found someclues unsolvable. I think the Turn for sour is way off, didnt get Three Rs , Jeu d’esprit ( how are we supposed to know that!) Dont understand Doggone, didnt like Book . Only got Hillsborough cos the borough stood out, we would never know all that regional stuff.
The others were ok, but I didnt even look at it until Sunday. Did like Tangled, Reading Aloud ( tho that took some research into the life of Oscar) some of the shorter ones brought a smile, Four, Skit, Scot
maybe a few too many anagrams in this puzzle?
Great puzzle I thought – didn’t get 8 down and 23 across, but otherwise thoroughly enjoyable!
This definitely was a step up in difficulty for me this week.
We got 23 wrong; we put in tart – ok for sour but didn’t mesh with spell. When milk is going sour it is said to turn – so that’s fine.
This one was challenging, but brilliant. 8d is a great surface/clue.