I enjoyed this Everyman offering. Getting used to his or her ‘trademarks’ – linked clues and a propensity for clue-as-definition devices – helped the solve along. What did you make of it?
The two linked clues here are Latin phrases along the top and bottom rows: DEUS EX MACHINA and COGITO ERGO SUM. Both would, I imagine, be at least known to a reasonably literate, well-read solver (that’s you, btw) so I don’t think we can grumble about them being in a puzzle from this stable. Grumble about never having heard of James Brown, or the NI/Ulster non-correspondence, if you must.
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 French pair with James Brown classic, shaking rear-ends: a theatrical device
DEUS EX MACHINA
Everyman is asking you to remove the last letters of DEU[X] and SEX MACHIN[E], then add A. DEUS EX MACHINA, meaning ‘God from the machine’, is a device dating from Greek times which is used in theatre to resolve a seemingly intractable problem by external intervention.
8 Greedy, demanding star flipped
AVID
A reversal of DIVA.
9 Sweet caught by hacking at tree?
CHEWING GUM
A charade of C, HEWING and GUM, which is an example of a ‘tree’. Not one to get stuck up.
10 English financiers beheaded communist
ENGELS
A charade of E and [A]NGELS. A mate of Marx, with whom he co-authored The Communist Manifesto in 1848.
11 Originally Byzantium, a sunlit resort?
ISTANBUL
A cad. (B A SUNLIT)* with ‘resort’ (or more precisely ‘re-sort’, as the imperative of the verb) as the anagrind.
12 Draws symbol involving face of Malcolm X
TIMES SIGN
I particularly liked this one. An insertion of M for the first letter of ‘Malcolm’ in TIES and SIGN.
16 ‘By ear?’ ‘By ear.’ ‘By mouth!’
ORAL
A homophone (the second ‘by ear’) of AURAL.
17 Siberian city? No time for Siberian city!
OMSK
There are two Siberian cities, called OMSK and TOMSK; so it’s [T]OMSK. Two crossing letters out of four should have been a help if your Russian geography was lacking.
18 Group chant, ganglions atingle
SINGALONG
(GANGLIONS)*
23 Von Rompuy etc‘s sad bleatings wasting time
BELGIANS
(BLEA[T]INGS)* with ‘sad’ as the anagrind.
24 Clumsy poetic angler might announce this
OAFISH
Everyman is whimsically suggesting that someone with a rod and line might cry out ‘O Fish!’
26 Style of gown with crumpled ermine pile
EMPIRE-LINE
(ERMINE PILE)*
27 Money invested in neuroscience
EURO
Hidden in nEUROscience.
28 Come to our gigs: dancing and a bit of philosophy
COGITO ERGO SUM
(COME TO OUR GIGS)* Descartes’ famous quote, usually rendered in English as ‘I think, therefore I am’. He actually first wrote it in French: je pense, donc je suis. It’s his assertion that the very act of doubting one’s own existence serves as proof of the reality of mind.
Down
1 Morse, say, imbibing a French drink, reveals genius
DA VINCI
Colin Dexter’s fictional Morse was a Detective Chief Inspector, or DCI. Insert A VIN into that and you’ve got your answer.
2 One from France superior to two from Italy? Inappropriate
UNDUE
A charade of UN for the French word for ‘one’ over (since it’s a down clue) DUE for the Italian word for ‘two’.
3 Old-time Catholic customs, offering indulgences
EXCUSES
A charade of EX, C and USES.
4 Leaderless regiment bungled encounter
MEETING
([R]EGIMENT)* with ‘bungled’ as the anagrind.
5 Feature with topaz, vacuous floral design
CHINTZ
A charade of CHIN and TZ for the outside letters of ‘topaz’.
6 Largely popular officer
IN GENERAL
A charade of IN and GENERAL.
7 Typical: USA messed up twice, then left
AS USUAL
A charade of (USA)* twice and L. Nice surface.
13 Relaxed with a piece of cake before departure
EASY-GOING
A charade of EASY and GOING.
14 Ionise oddly, creating connections
INS
The odd letters of IoNiSe. ‘We think Jenny might have an in for us at the client.’
15 In turn, oddly missing sister
NUN
The odd letters of iNtUrN.
17 Candid note about amateur attempt to amuse
OPEN-MIC
A charade of OPEN, MI for the second ‘note’ of the tonic sol-fa and C for circa or ‘about’.
19 Encourage erection of Ulster steeple
INSPIRE
A charade of NI reversed and SPIRE. The reversal indicator, since it’s a down clue, is ‘erection of’. Northern Ireland and ‘Ulster’ are – as we have discussed on this blog many times before – not strictly synonymous: three counties of Ulster are actually in the Republic of Ireland. Setters (for crossword purposes), and some residents (in everyday speech), use the two interchangeably, which does irk/really annoy/completely exasperate some people from the province and beyond.
20 Travel on horse, holding poem, to deliver brick
GOOD EGG
An insertion (‘holding’) of ODE in GO for ‘travel’ and GG for (the child’s) ‘horse’.
21 Casinos: Trump taking a cut; it’s bogus
NOSTRUM
Hidden in CasiNOS TRUMp.
22 PM with outfit, they say, to achieve success
MAKE IT
Perhaps the puzzle was compiled pre-BoJo, but Theresa May isn’t PM any more, so ‘Ex-PM’ might have been an appropriate edit. It’s a homophone of MAY and KIT.
25 Clears ice, reportedly
FREES
Another homophone, of FREEZE.
Many thanks to Everyman for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Re 20d, I wish an artist gives us an illustration for it..
My favourites were SINGALONG, DA VINCI, GOOD EGG, OAFISH, FREES.
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
Engels was an obvious enough communist – but can someone explain why financiers are angels? Seems a bit of a stretch!
Mike
Angel is the term used in the theatre for an individual who funds a production. HTH
Thanks Conrad – that one’s new to me!
I really enjoyed this. Too many favourites to list them all, but 11a ISTANBUL was very clever and 7d AS USUAL was amusing. And 28a “Come to our gigs: dancing and a bit of philosophy” was great.
Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Angel is also used in the technology industry, for people who invest to get new companies started. Paul Allen (who got rich from Microsoft) would be a good example.
Isn’t his name Van Rompuy (23a)?
I, too, am enjoying the Everymans – they make up for my failure to complete, or completely parse, the weekday crosswords!
Good spot, Bob M. He is indeed Herman van Rompuy. Which since Everyman was using the ‘Belgians’ clue he should have known – the von prefix is German and the van Dutch/Flemish. I didn’t notice the error, mind you.
28 was my favourite.
Minor point, but I think the alleged announcement in 24 is “Oh, a fish!”
Another enjoyable puzzle although I didn’t know Tomsk and time is not necessarily just the letter T so the city might have been Omskera which has a ring to it.
My last answer was ENGELS preceded by TIMES SIGN. I wanted the last answer to be ANKERS but I couldn’t account for English so concluded it must start with E.
I quite liked the Latin phrases as they are both well-known and didn’t take long to work out.
Many thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
I thought this was quite enjoyable and easier than most, although maybe as Pierre says that’s just because I’m getting used to the setter’s style. A number of vivid and amusing surfaces added to the pleasure.
There was a bit of inelegance, it seems to me, in the two clues for 14d, 15d. Either one alone is fine, but it was unfortunate to have such similar devices right next to each other in the two short answers. And the definition in 11a seems imprecise — I don’t think that Istanbul is primarily thought of as a resort — but I’m happy to make allowances in an &lit clue. In any case, if that’s the worst that can be said, then it must be a good puzzle!
A very good Everyman and a fine blog too.
Failed on the banker, the fish and the ice.
I have been a lay actor for many years and haven’t ever heard of 1A.
No matter, this was a good Saturday workout for us Kiwis as we count down to our first game of the RWC this evening. Always a bit of a tense time.
Some great clues. 21d has to be the best ever hidden word surface and nicely paired with 7d. Thought 11ac & 12ac were very clever. I clearly need to read more as I had to look up the Latin expressions. Thanks Pierre & Everyman.
Go the ABs!
Cracking crossword. Everyman is really getting into stride. Many thanks to Everyman and Pierre.
ABs!!
Ted@ 13 the use of resort is ref to a re-sort of the letters…. it is a bit of a double def where you add the original letter of Byzantium to the letters ‘ A SUNLIT’ to get Istanbul. Clever but wish there was some indication in the clue to know that a part of a clue has two jobs so to speak.
Neither do i have any idea of meaning of angels.
Also is this picky or did anyone else disagree on 16ac.??…Aural and oral are pronounced quite differently.
liked Omsk, Good egg, open mic and Inspire.
go the ABs!
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Liked this a lot. Couldn’t completely parse 10 across and 12 across, but was sure of them anyway. Forehead-slapped when I saw the explanations.
People who are unaware that “angel” means a financial backer of theatrical productions need to get out more!
Go the GWS Giants who won another barn-burner of a game last night against Collingwood, holding on by the skin of their teeth in the dying minutes, just like they did against Brisbane last week.
Booooo rugby; Aussie Rules OK!!!