Everyman 3,826/9 February

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A pleasing puzzle from Everyman for our Sunday morning entertainment.

 

 

 

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 A U-boat, to begin with, has never exploded in German transport lanes
AUTOBAHN
(A U BOAT H N)* The H and N are given by the first letters (‘to begin with’) of ‘has’ and ‘never’.

5 Ancient vessel emptied, filled with fizzy wine
PAST IT
An insertion of ASTI in P[O]T. The insertion indicator is ‘filled with’ and the removal indicator is ’emptied’.

10 Horrible baby’s malodorous sample
ABYSMAL
Hidden in bABYS MALodorous.

11 You finally admitting dead pager’s broken? Perhaps get a new phone
UPGRADE
A charade of U for the last letter of ‘you’ and D inserted into (PAGER)* The insertion indicator is ‘admitting’; the anagrind is ‘is broken’.

12 Piece of cloth on goolies?
THONG
A cad. Hidden in cloTH ON Goolies.

13 Tired, I cry about trendy street food
DIRTY RICE
So trendy I’d never heard of it, but it’s an anagram, so fair play once you’ve got the crossers. (TIRED I CRY)*

14 Dean’s address is, surprisingly, never ever dry
VERY REVEREND
(NEVER EVER DRY)*

18 ‘Quakerism’ … not ‘quaking’ … ?
QUESTION MARK
I liked this one specially. It’s (QUAKERISM NOT)* with ‘quaking’ as the anagrind and the definition given by the punctuation mark at the end of the clue.

21 If parties needing animation, drinks served beforehand
APERITIFS
(IF PARTIES)*

23 Hellish character, government by the wealthy? Not half
PLUTO
PLUTO[CRACY]

24 Country song I Eat Bananas lacking gravity
ESTONIA
I couldn’t understand this at first because I read the italicised I as a forward slash, which is muppetry, I know. (SON[G] I EAT)* with ‘bananas’ as the anagrind.

25 Country dancing rodeo mostly welcoming cougar, oddly
ECUADOR
Plenty of countries this morning. An insertion of CUA for the odd letters of CoUgAr in (RODE[O])* The insertion indicator is ‘welcoming’; the removal indicator is ‘mostly’; the anagrind is ‘dancing’.

26 Knock off turbulent priest beforehand
PIRATE
A charade of P and IRATE. ‘Turbulent’ would not have been my first choice of synonym for IRATE, I have to say.

27 Rovers maybe making itinerant crusades
USED CARS
(CRUSADES)*

Down

1 Set up in first pad, adolescent achieves accommodation
ADAPTS
Hidden reversed in firST PAD Adolescent.

2 Beckett character turns up, carrying ? finally, finally ?a tiny pooch
TOY DOG
Referencing Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. It’s Y for the final letter of ‘finally’ inserted into GODOT reversed.

3 In audition, smile I supposed to be welcoming expression
BE MY GUEST
A homophone of BEAM I GUESSED.

4 Foal had idly relaxed in hay for time off
HALF-DAY HOLIDAY
An insertion of (FOAL HAD IDLY)* in HAY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘relaxed’.

6 Primarily, annoyed, narked, getting extremely ratty?
ANGRY
An extended definition. The first letters of ‘annoyed’, ‘narked’ and ‘getting’ followed by the outside letters of ‘ratty’.

7 ‘Where to drink, Everyman?’ (Everyman, at last, answers.) ‘When to drink?’
TEATIMES
This is a bit too convoluted for my taste, but it’s clearly clued. A charade of TEAT, I and ME for two ‘Everymans’ and S for the last letter of ‘answers’.

8 To start with, Nicomachus died in his home with painful sickness
THE BENDS
An insertion of N for the first letter of ‘Nicomachus’ and D for ‘died’ in THEBES, which was indeed the home of Nicomachus, the 4th Century BC painter.  The sickness that results from ascending too quickly from a dive.

9 Army officers diverted stream in regions
QUARTERMASTERS
An insertion of (STREAM)* in QUARTERS. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘diverted’.

15 Poet represented azure pond
EZRA POUND
(AZURE POND)*

16 Prepare for fight … or settle
SQUARE UP
A dd.

17 Merit given by the Queen to traitor
DESERTER
A charade of DESERT (as in ‘just deserts’) and ER.

19 Cockney bruiser returns to wasteland
TUNDRA
A reversal of ‘ARD NUT, which is how a Cockney allegedly would pronounce HARD NUT.

20 Dates and locations for actions
COURTS
A dd.

22 Nooky after pub: do you agree?
INNIT
A charade of INN and IT for intercourse of the sexual kind. INNIT is a contraction of ‘isn’t it?’ and is what linguists call a ‘tag question’. For many speakers, it’s invariable – the equivalent of the French n’est-ce pas?, the Spanish ¿verdad? and the Dutch nietwaar?  So you might hear:

‘She’s definitely coming, innit?’ (‘isn’t she?‘)
‘We all knew that, innit?’ (‘didn’t we?‘)
‘That Everyman’s a top setter, innit?’ (‘isn’t he/she?‘)

So the ‘do you agree?’ definition that the setter has chosen is a good one.

It’s a comparatively recent usage, is more common among young people, and seems to have spread from certain immigrant groups of speakers in London to parts of the wider population. Language evolves – which is good, innit?

Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.

17 comments on “Everyman 3,826/9 February”

  1. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
    I was puzzled by 8d because the first page of a google search showed no-one but the mathematician Nicomachus of Gerasa.
    But that set me thinking that if only he had come from Thebes, the clue would have worked. Wikipedia’s disambiguation discloses several others of that name including Aristotle’s father and son and the Theban painter.

    12ac made me smile, as well as 18ac, and this week the two long down clues were linked by their use of fractions.

  2. I really liked the clever surfaces of so many of these clues. ‘Piece of cloth on goolies’ was probably my favourite: as brief and economical as the garment it described. The DESERTER in 17d made me think of this traitor ; and I could forgive the admittedly imprecise synonym for ‘irate’ in 26ac because the clue referenced Thomas Becket, that famously turbulent priest, with such wit.

  5. This was indeed a fine crossword. It defeated me on 13A – and also on 6D, though I wasn’t aware of that second failure at the time.
    I had indeed started with 13A being an anagram of “tired I cry”, but “dirty rice” simply made no sense to me (I briefly toyed with the idea that the rice was dirty because it was in a street and so couldn’t be washed – but dismissed that as being too convoluted an explanation.) So, of course, not having that vital Y meant I didn’t realise my mistake in writing ANGER for 6D. Am now kicking myself. Hey ho
    I enjoyed the anagram of VERY REVEREND, grinned at TUNDRA – and share everyone else’s awe at QUESTION MARK. Thanks to Everyman for a puzzle that left me lying in the dirt, and to Pierre for dusting me down and gently setting me upright again.

  6. Very enjoyable crossword.  I agree that 18a QUESTION MARK was brilliant.

    But Pierre, INNIT “comparatively recent”?  It’s been Cockney for “isn’t it?” since time immemorial.  Even its use in the slightly wider sense, including as you say “didn’t we?” etc, must go back decades at least.

    Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  7. Depends what you (I) mean by ‘recent’, Lord Jim.  Just from my own recollection (and I have an interest in language use and development) I would say probably this century (which now you mention it is in fact a couple of decades …)  About the same time that we stopped solving problems and began addressing issues.  Or when people started saying ‘I’m good, thanks’ in response to ‘How are you?’

  8. Lord Jim@6 and Pierre@7.  I was having my hair cut in Wimbledon in 1987 or 1988 when the Greek barber, who I’m sure must have been the inspiration for Harry Enfield’s Stavros, uttered the memorable sentence “It’s a bloody wotsit, innit?”

  9. Wiggers @8 here in North London, “innit” has become popular among the Greek Cypriot community because it sounds a bit like “E ne”, which I am told means “Is it not so?” (or nicht war, or n’est-ce pas etc).

    Enjoyable as usual for a Sunday morning. I also liked THONG and the question mark (though it is hardly a new method of cluing). I missed the customary doubling of clues as I was looking around the edges, so was pleased to have it pointed out to me.

    Thanks to E and P and Adrian Walmsley @1

  11. As I was solving this puzzle, I had the impression that it was very anagram-heavy, and I think the previous one was as well. I think that 12 out of 28 clues involve anagrams, but I haven’t gone back to other puzzles to confirm my impression that this is a lot.

    I thought there were quite a few delightful clues in this puzzle, particularly the compact &lit for THONG at 12ac.

     

  12. I too had anger for 6d but now I see my mistake. So I couldn’t get 13ac but wouldn’t have anyway. Nichomachus is a bit out of my knowledge area too.
    I liked tundra, autobahn and upgrade.

  13. I was sure that ‘ just deserts’ was ‘ just desserts ‘ but see it has evolved
    Favourites were Thong, Be my guest, Very Rev
    Didnt get 5ac. I should have remembered that Asti comes up often
    Teatime utterly confusing

  14. Having been surrounded by Essexites at work in the 70s, Innit was second nature but I wonder whether it needed a Cockneycator.

    I thought this a better effort by Everyman although 7D was a bit forced and I failed to parse 8D.

    Very Rev was nice. I wasn’t particularly taken with the QM clue though.

    Thanks Pierre and EM.

  15. A really enjoyable puzzle this time around. Particularly liked ‘teatimes’ (even though it may have seemed a little self indulgent of EM). Sat looking at p-r-t- for absolutely ages until ‘pirate’ came to mind so that was the last one in of a pleasant few hours ( on and off). Thanks to all

  16. Found this a lot easier than the past two or three Everymans, but there were still several clues that I could not parse (“teatimes”, “the bends”, “question mark”, ….) although I was able to see that the answers were right.  Thanks Everyman; thanks to Pierre for the explanations.

  17. Missed a few this time but very enjoyable nonetheless. Expected a chuckle over some derisory comments about 12ac or 22d but there were none. Well done Everyman.

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