Everyman 3,838/3 May

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My fellow blogger Quirister described last week’s Everyman as ‘quirky’. I think that’s not far off the mark for this one too. Whether you are a fan of such quirkiness is, I suppose, down to personal taste.

 

 

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 Top monk’s snack prepared as party staple
POSTMAN’S KNOCK
(TOP MONKS SNACK)* gives you the children’s game.

8 Bottom seen in bearskins, oddly
BASIS
The odd letters of BeArSkInS.

9 Can sprats get battered in famous London location?
ST PANCRAS
(CAN SPRATS)* for my favourite London terminus. Made in Derbyshire (Butterley, to be precise).

11 ‘Independence stifled: ace!’ Cameron ordered drink
AMERICANO
An insertion of I for ‘independence’ in A (CAMERON)*, although strictly speaking, the I only stifles the (CAMERON)* bit.

12 Lavish spread with no starter for Hindu god
SHIVA
([L]AVISH)* There has been some discussion about Everyman’s choices of anagrind, but you can’t go wrong with ‘spread’.

13 Poet known by initials (W. C.) going back over introduction to sonnet
T S ELIOT
An insertion of S for the first letter of ‘sonnet’ in TOILET reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘over’ and the reversal indicator is ‘going back’. Thomas Stearns Eliot, but universally known by his initials, and best known for The Waste Land and The Love Song of J Alfred Prucock. My fellow blogger Kitty would no doubt scold me if I didn’t mention his catty stuff as well, so I just have; but here’s one of my favourite Eliot verses:

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

15 Dish including cheese: sag of the bum to come back round
LASAGNA
It certainly does contain cheese, so we can’t say the definition wasn’t precise. It’s SAG inserted into ANAL (‘of the bum’) reversed. An Italian borrowing, of course: linguistically, LASAGNA is the singular and LASAGNE is plural, but as with many borrowings, we don’t carry over such precision into English usage (most people would ask for ‘two paninis’, but ‘panini’ is already plural). The consensus seems to be that for the dish itself rather than the flat pasta ribbons, LASAGNA is the preferred spelling in American English and LASAGNE is British English.

17 Busy, on a boat, in channels that might get congested
SINUSES
An insertion of IN USE in SS. ‘On a boat’ (or ‘on board’) is crossword convention for insertion something into SS for ‘steamship’.

19 Half of what’s seen in seasoner adding little taste for starters?
SEA SALT
A charade of SEAS for the first half of ‘seasoner’ and ALT for the first letters of ‘adding little taste’. An extended definition.

21 Where you might find Adonis … or bearskins
EIGHT
This is a bit left-field – almost a ‘have you been paying attention?’ clue. The two words are found in 8ac and 8dn.

23 ‘Date, essentially?’ ‘Here and now’
AT PRESENT
A charade of AT for the inside letters of ‘date’ and PRESENT.

25 Partly dapper cap: it adorns a head
PER CAPITA
If I were ever to offer Everyman advice, it would be to stick to writing excellent clues like this one rather than arsing about with too-clever quirky stuff like 21 across. Hidden in dapPER CAP IT Adorns.

26 Swearing’s a little loathsome
OATHS
Hidden in lOATHSome.

27 Fantastic luck: ‘Not haggis, Aunt Sally‘
LAUGHING STOCK
(LUCK NOT HAGGIS)* I’m not entirely convinced that an ‘Aunt Sally’ could be described as a LAUGHING STOCK, but you may wish to persuade me otherwise.  It’s the second of this week’s rhyming couplets (cf 1ac).

 

Down

2 Undressed yobs, spectacle that’s indecent
OBSCENE
A charade of OB for the inside letters (‘undressed’) of yOBs and SCENE.

3 Gives evidence: ‘Four quit wild festivities ‘
TESTIFIES
(FEST[IV]ITIES)* The removal indicator is ‘quit’ and the anagrind is ‘wild’.

4 No good: agates ransacked, lost
AT SEA
(A[G]ATES)*

5 Almost closed shop arranged for one who worked in theatre
SOPHOCLES
The third subtractive anagram in a row: it’s (CLOSE[D] SHOP)* to give you the Ancient Greek playwright.

6 Galliano nosejobs – covered up – they’re taboo
NO-NOS
Hidden in GalliaNO NOSejobs.

7 Kinky game
CURLING
Another excellent, concise clue. A dd.

8 Adonis undresses, rising for the rest
BEAUTY SLEEP
A charade of BEAUTY for the handsome Greek youth and PEELS reversed.

10 They hang from the ceiling in attics, stale, sultry
STALACTITES
(ATTICS STALE)* ‘Sultry’ as an anagrind? If you must.

14 Conductor: ‘Opera by Paganini? Not half!’
TOSCANINI
A charade of TOSCA for the opera by Puccini and the last half of PagaNINI gives you the Italian conductor who was renowned as a perfectionist and wasn’t afraid to bollock members of his orchestra who weren’t. Two minutes of bilingual abuse here if you are interested.

16 Son dressing monkey, George, in jacket – he’ll be in trouble
SCAPEGOAT
A charade of S and APE, G inserted into COAT. The insertion indicator is ‘dressing’. G for George? Not in any of my dictionaries.

18 Somewhere in Africa, ‘dry’ European: ‘Drink up!’
NIGERIA
A reversal (‘up’ since it’s a down clue) of AIR, E and GIN. Think dry/air clothes on a clothes horse.

20 On the contrary, US spies take month to become clean
ASEPTIC
An insertion of SEPT in CIA reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘take’ and the reversal indicator is ‘on the contrary’.

22 Primarily, tone with adenoidal nasality, generally?
TWANG
This is becoming a weekly clue type, and I personally find it rather clunky and repetitive. It’s a cad. The initial letters of the last five words of the clue.

24 Primarily, pesky road accident necessitating garagist?
PRANG
This is becoming a weekly clue type, and I personally find it rather clunky and repetitive. It’s a cad. The initial letters of the last five words of the clue.

Many thanks to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.

24 comments on “Everyman 3,838/3 May”

  1. Thanks Pierre, nice meta-comment at the end.
    In 11, it could be (A CAMERON)*.
    Chambers has ‘a target for abuse, criticism or blame’ for ‘Aunt Sally’, so I suppose if the abuse was ribald it could fit ‘laughing stock’.
    Thanks Everyman.

  2. Failed to solve 8d  BEAUTY SLEEP. I had considered BEAUTY STRIP but could not justify STRIP = undresses as the conjugation was wrong, should have been BEAUTY STRIPS in that case.

    Thank you, Everyman and Pierre

  3. Re 16d: I assumed G = George from GR = King George

    Re 24d: I agree, but it does offer an easy way in every week.

    thanks both

  4. Morning Aphid.  I too considered GR = George Rex for an explanation, but I don’t think we can really go there, can we?  Otherwise next week we’ll have E for Elizabeth, which is a step too far, I think.

  5. Thanks Pierre. I too  (1Gonzo) liked your meta comment at the end. Its one thing to have 22 and 24  the same clue type but lazy clueing to make both so similar. And thanks too for explaining EIGHT – I got fixated on a rowing eight of artistic nudists sitting on their bare skins. Clearly my attention got diverted.

     

  6. There is an alternative to the widely recognised NATO phonetic alphabet, that begins Able, Baker, Charlie… where G is ‘George’. I think it may still be in use somewhere.

    Thanks to Everyman and Pierre.

  7. Thanks both. TOSCANINI made an appearance that week in Friday’s Guardian and, two days later, in this puzzle. Differently clued though

  8. Thanks, greensward.  I have never come across that one before, and for those in the same boat, it’s explained here.  I’m minded to use it from now on, because P is PETER; but I reckon it’s got no place in crosswordland, because it’s so little known.

  10. An interesting mix of ticks and queries for me.  We discussed anagram indicators last week and I was a bit dubious about two here.  Maybe “ransacked” just about works in 4d AT SEA – if a place has been ransacked I suppose it’s been messed up.  But I don’t really see how “sultry” suggests an anagram (10d STALACTITES).

    My biggest query was at 19a SEA SALT.  What is the definition supposed to be?  I note you say “an extended definition”, Pierre, but I’m afraid I still don’t understand.

    In Italy a LASAGNA (15a) is a single sheet of the pasta, and so not a dish, which would be lasagne.  (I have had a single, large, raviolo as a dish, but I don’t think you could do the same with a lasagna.)  However LASAGNA for the dish does seem to be used in other countries, and is in fact in Chambers.

    My last one in was 21a EIGHT.  Indeed a bit left-field, but I suppose quite inventive.

    I liked 1a POSTMANS KNOCK for the clever misdirection – I was initially looking for some type of party food.  And the surface of 11a AMERICANO was brilliant with its reference to David Cameron’s reaction to the Scottish referendum result.  (Jess @9: isn’t it just the A on a playing card?)

    Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  11. Thanks for explaining the parsing to 21A, Pierre – I, too, was tying myself in knots trying to figure it out, though my musings weren’t as entertaining as Cosmic’s. Thanks also for the link to the Toscanini hissy-fit. [I once witnessed a conductor (still alive, so no names) tearing a strip off some orchestra members; it was painful enough for me – so it must have been horrendous for them. Especially since the music being rehearsed was sublimely beautiful. I wanted to rush down and hug the musicians in question.]
    Thanks to Everyman for the fun, in particular: TS ELIOT and LASAGNA.

  12. Thanks Everyman and Pierre

    I had the same doubts about SEA SALT as Lord Jim. “Extended definition” is rather a cop-out. This sort of clue only really works if it is genuinely &lit, but this one wasn’t, as some words in the clue aren’t part of the definition. The definition, if there is one, is just “seasoner”, but that doesn’t work, as it’s in the middle (a breakable rule) and, more seriously, it’s part of the wordplay.

  13. Largely entertaining solve with a few quirks as noted by Pierre.

    I agree with Lord Jim @10 that sultry is a poor anagrind – it’s not as if STALACTITES are anyway sultry, so why not use an accepted anagrind, like ragged, for example? I also thought the clue for EIGHT was just silly, rather than clever.

    I did like the W.C. poet.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  14. I liked 21a. I thought it very inventive. I could see that EIGHT would fit the crossers, but couldn’t see how it fitted the clue, until I thought ‘weren’t those words elsewhere?” and looked for them. Then I had to realise that there were two 8 clues. So, I was amused, even if others weren’t. I doubt that anyone entered the answer until they had the crossers, though. Did anyone?

    Although (having lived in Oxfordshire for a year and a half) I knew Aunt Sally as the game, I can’t say I have ever heard it used as LAUGHING STOCK (or anything like it, really). But I couldn’t see anything else I could make with that fodder.

  16. Been trying to convince myself that 21a is somehow cryptic

    To me, the last two clues just look like intentionally blatant bad practice. In Big Dave’s rookie puzzle feature we are rightly taught not to repeat indicators. Cute or ugly? Eye of the beholder, I guess.

    I did like 25a and 7d, both highlighted by the blogger

    Many thanks everyman and Pierre

  18. I read The Dam Busters many years ago and, as I recall, one of the aircraft had a call sign G for George (I think there was an A for Apple as well). Anyone read the book or seen the film recently?

  19. History now, but surprised no mention of the regular related words which presumably are the PRANG and TWANG

  20.  

    Had to use a wildcard dictionary to get “Sophocles” (5 down) and “lasagna” (15 across) and then kicked myself, especially about lasagna!  Could not parse “eight” (21 across) but put it in since given the cross letters what else could it be?  Then fell about laughing when I saw Pierre’s explanation.

    Liked the puzzle a lot.  Thanks to Everyman and to Pierre.

    P.S. I’m surprised that the wowsers didn’t complain about the clues for 13 and 15 across! 🙂

     

  21. Boo hiss for 21ac! Mainly because we just didn’t get it. Otherwise some great clues in here to wake up our brains. Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  22. A variety of challenges here which took me a second morning to complete after struggling with both Adonises. My thoughts neatly summed up by Rolf @ 28.

    Lord Jim & Cookie if you are still around I too had a question mark beside 19a. CAD as half of salt & pepper perhaps?

     

  23. Sorry, that was meant to be Muffin, not Cookie re Salt & Pepper. This is sounding like a food blog!.

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