Another Sunday offering from Everyman that I think will please beginners and less experienced solvers. I’m sure they’ll tell us if not.
The trademark clues this week are the rhyming couplet PITTER-PATTER and THE MAD HATTER; Everyman inserting himself into the clue for BURMESE; and the ‘primarily’ clue as definition in OGLE.
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 Old boy spouts about traditional knick-knacks
OBJETS D’ART
A charade of OB for ‘old boy’, JETS and TRAD reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘about’. An OBJET D’ART is – in its English use at least – more than a ‘knick-knack’, I would aver.
6 Namby-pambies knocked back casserole
STEW
My pet niggles in crossies are few, but this is one of them: the setter putting the reversal instruction (or, often, a homophone indicator) between the two particles, so that you have no idea what the answer is without crossing letters. The instruction could be ‘namby-pambies knocked back = casserole’ or ‘namby-pambies = knocked back casserole’, leading equally plausibly to WETS or STEW.
9 Perhaps fillies west of Tennessee oddly lacking judgment
HORSE SENSE
A charade of HORSES and ENSE, which are the even letters (‘oddly lacking’) of tEnNeSsEe. The ‘west of’ is just there to tell you to put the HORSES before the ENSE, since in a left-to-right language like English that’s where it would geographically appear.
10 Unattributed, somewhat uncanonical
ANON
Hidden in uncANONical.
12 Since I’m talking to a techie: play in a forest!
AS YOU LIKE IT
A charade of AS for ‘since’ and YOU LIKE IT, which is what you might say to an Information Technology person. Shakespeare’s play As You Like It is set in the Forest of Arden.
15 Inebriated tennis legend admitted by second doctor
SMASHED
An insertion of [Arthur] ASHE in S and MD.
16 Confines criminal instead
DETAINS
(INSTEAD)*
17 What’s often part of underwear, laciest pants
ELASTIC
(LACIEST)* with ‘pants’ as the anagrind. Some folk were moaning somewhere else on Fifteensquared the other day about ‘pants’ as an anagrind. I’ve never had a problem with it: round here, ‘That is complete pants’ is often heard, meaning ‘That is complete rubbish’.
19 Cat given stroke the wrong way by Everyman sore at each end
BURMESE
A charade of RUB reversed, ME for ‘Everyman’ and S and E for the outside letters of ‘sore’.
20 Misappropriation setter concealed. ‘Not entirely perfect?’ That’s outrageous!
THE VERY IDEA
A charade of TH[I]EVERY and IDEA[L]. ‘Setter concealed’ is the instruction to remove the I and ‘not entirely’ the same for the L.
23 Lazy superstar, we’re told
IDLE
Perfect. The homophone indicator at the end, meaning it can only be an instruction to change the spelling of IDOL to give you the answer.
24 Crude gluten isn’t causing concern
UNSETTLING
(GLUTEN ISNT)*
25 Very, very average
SO-SO
A charade of SO and SO.
26 Coquette and Romeo finding depravity in China
TEA SERVICE
A charade of TEASE, R for the phonetic alphabet ‘Romeo’ and VICE.
Down
1 Line for throwing in East End ball game
OCHE
Everyman is suggesting – quite rightly – that someone with an East End accent would pronounce HOCKEY as OCHE, which is the line you have to stand behind when you throw darts. Typically, the ‘East End’ or similar hint suggests removing only the H, but I think this device works fine too.
2 In France, I will take starters of raw kidney – idiot!
JERK
A charade of JE for the French word for ‘I’ and RK for the initial letters of ‘raw’ and ‘kidney’.
3 Strangely, he dreamt that he drank with a dormouse
THE MAD HATTER
(HE DREAMT THAT)* The reference is to the tea party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The other attendee was The March Hare.
4 Apparently innocent, like Cupid?
DOE-EYED
A dd, with the second reference not being to the god of love but to Rudolph’s mate.
5 Echo about coastal inlet
RESOUND
A charade of RE and SOUND.
7 Reinserted fancy culinary implement
TENDERISER
(REINSERTED)*
8 One smelling the roses, with an accent?
WINE TASTER
It’s the roses that need an accent of the acute variety, to make them rosés.
11 Treat pet with trip to resort with gentle sounds
PITTER-PATTER
(TREAT PET TRIP)* You have to read ‘resort’ as ‘re-sort’ to make it an anagrind.
13 Discovers a discoloration’s covering half of saucer
ASCERTAINS
A charade of A and CER for the latter half of ‘saucer’ inserted into STAINS. The insertion indicator is ‘covering’.
14 Persuade Greek character: talk up trinkets
BAGATELLES
A charade of SELL, ETA and GAB reversed. Since it’s a down clue, the reversal indicator is ‘up’.
18 Spicy pepper: Rod has urge to tuck in
CAYENNE
An insertion of YEN in CANE. The insertion indicator is ‘to tuck in’.
19 Baits burrowing creatures
BADGERS
A dd.
21 Image of head seen in Identikit
TIKI
Hidden in idenTIKIt. Chambers has:
tiki n an image, often in the form of a large wooden or small greenstone ornament, representing an ancestor
In the pictures I looked at, the head is often exaggerated, so ‘image of head’ is fine. In the Maori creation story, Tiki is the first man, and the name derives from that. I immediately thought of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947 from South America to Polynesia and thought that the Tiki element must be derived from the same source. But it’s not: it’s named after an Incan god.
22 Primarily obscenely / greedily / lecherously eye?
OGLE
The initial letters of the last four words of the clue and a cad.
Many thanks to Everyman for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Re 3D. It’s a perfectly good clue and answer, but just a little snippet FYI. I’ve just been re-reading Alice and there isn’t a character in Alice in Wonderland called “The Mad Hatter” . Also, the tea party takes place at the March Hare’s house, so I guess it should be called “The March Hare’s Tea Party”
Thank you Pierre for DOE-EYED. I thought it must have been O (love, as in tennis score) in the middle of (eyed) DOE. So I guess Santa won’t be coming this year as Cupid might feel rejected.
re STEW/WETS. Yes, I often get caught by that kind of clue. Would quibble if the crossers didn’t help.
‘Pants’ I only learnt from cryptics as I’m not familiar with the word used that way. Is it only a UK thing? It seems a bit overused as an indicator though.
Chuffed to have known OCHE and getting the East End parsing. TIKI was familiar as it’s close to home and we had miniatures as children.
Favourite was the fancy culinary implement, TENDERISER, and the clue for TEA SERVICE.
Fun, quick solve but some clues were very hard for me to parse so not exactly a good one for beginners.
Favourites: OBJETS D’ART, ASCERTAINS, THE VERY IDEA, BAGATELLES, TEA SERVICE
New for me: OCHE (pronounced like ‘ockey).
I did not parse 12ac (the ‘Since I’m talking to a techie’ bit) and still do not understand it.
Thanks, both.
Michelle @3
Read “it” as “IT” – short for Information Technology
Enjoyed this and managed all but two last Sunday. Went back to it yesterday and finally got OCHE and WINE TASTER which seemed so obvious once I got them – and are two of my favourites this week.
Also liked TEA SERVICE, BAGATELLES, CAYENNE
Didn’t manage to parse the first bit of 20ac
TIKI was new for me.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
Thanks, both.
26 A:
A charade of TEASE, R for the phonetic alphabet ‘Romeo’ and VICE.
Tease instead of teaser.
Loved OCHE:)
This was another pleasing Everyman, so thank you for the fun, and thanks Pierre for the blog. It was a dnf for me, as 1d OCHE was a nho, and (a) not knowing the word, on seeing it I wouldn’t have thought to pronounce it “awkee” and (b) in Canada, hockey is not a ball sport.
I especially liked 20a THE VERY IDEA for its double-subtraction construction and its excellent surface.
If this were a Guardian cryptic I would expect to see this blog full of objections to the IDLE / IDOL homophone, but thankfully we might be spared. That was another nice and concise clue.
I really enjoyed 8; a surprising break from all the homophone chatter. Tiki is more than a head, but it was easy to find. Thanks Everyman & Pierre.
Thanks for the blog, I had the same minor quibble for 6Ac , it often happens with homophones as well with the indicator in the centre.
The rest of this was very good, top three being THE VERY IDEA, WINE TASTER and TEA SERVICE.
Did this just now, having been away and busy last weekend. Good fun. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
Generally agree with comments above, nothing to really complain about as the crossers sorted out 6A.
I think the recent objections to pants were more about it’s recent overuse. Certainly I’ve no issue with it as an anagrind.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
6ac I had WETS which held me up until WINE TASTER finally digested the clue.
Nice one Thanks Everyman and Pierre
AS YOU LIKE IT was neat; and I liked THE VERY IDEA, despite the slightly complicated clue.
I didn’t mind STEW; the crossers are part of the solving fodder, otherwise you might as well just have a list of clues with no grid.
On the other hand, some clues I thought weren’t very good: OCHE is a homophone of ‘ockey but no homophone indicator, though answer was obvious; RESOUND – I think of a marine sound as a channel rather than an inlet; OGLE seemed to be an afterthought – setter got to last clue and realised (s)he hadn’t done the obligatory initial-letter one.
Thanks anyway to Everyman, and to Pierre.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
As Blah says, the objection to ‘pants’ was mainly its over-use (and I only mentioned it at all because the blogger had highlighted it) – I didn’t say it explicitly in my comment on last week’s Everyman (because spoilers) but that’s two weeks running now. Or is it three…?
But since you’ve raised the question, Pierre, does it really work as an anagram indicator? I’m familiar with ‘pants’ meaning ‘rubbish’ (first encountered that use probably 30 years ago), but how exactly does pants/rubbish suggest changing the letter order? Hmmm?
Anyway, it’s well established by precedent, so that ship has well and truly sailed and there’s no point complaining.
Besides, I’m not one to let these things spoil my enjoyment of the puzzle – and this was a very enjoyable one with much to commend it. And I liked the clue for ELASTIC regardless.
Enjoyable puzzle as always, TEA SERVICE being my favourite. “Pants” in 17a raised a smile after the comments about it last week, and although it is becoming very common, once again it made for a good surface.
beaulieu @13: surely “East End” is the homophone indicator in 1d, hockey in the East End being (spoken) as ‘ockey. I don’t think East Enders would actually write “‘ockey”.
Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Widdersbel,
One last thought on pants, your argument that it doesn’t suggest changing letter order also applies to criminal in 16A and crude in 24D. Although I suppose if you define crude as unrefined, then by refining the fodder..
Anyway my point is that the anagram instruction is only implied sometimes quite obliquely in many anagrinds. Nonsense, badly, poorly, rubbish all seem OK to me but I don’t see any instruction in them.
Entertaining Sunday diversion.
I particularly enjoyed TH(i)EVERY IDEA(l) and ‘smelling the roses’. Beaulieu @13; as my Chambers Crossword Dictionary says: ‘East End’ is a dialect indicator, so it implies a homophone. Widdersbel @14; the ODE gives this for rubbish as an adjective: adjective British informal very bad; worthless or useless: people might say I was a rubbish manager | she was rubbish at maths.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
I fell straight into writing in WETS for 6a, before I realised what 7d had to be, so yes, annoying. Also, I wasn’t familiar enough with the darts jargon of 1d to know immediately what the final vowel was meant to be.
Correct. It can actually be fun to try to use one that really does the job, but y’know, usage and all that.
Blah @16 – you’re absolutely correct. We often accept a bit of looseness in anagram indicators unquestioningly, which is why I don’t make a habit of complaining about ‘pants’ specifically. As long as there’s a suggestion of being ‘no good’ or roughly treated, that tends to be sufficient for everyone except strict Ximeneans.
And we have to give setters some latitude to be creative and inventive and witty, so a bit of looseness is fine by me on that score. And this brings us back to the real problem with ‘pants’, which is that it has become dulled from over-use, so no longer seems witty. (See also: flower, six-footer etc)
I’m in no position to complain about looseness anyway – I used ‘smoked’ as an anagram indicator the other day…
By the way, Everyman also used pants in a clue three weeks ago, but not as an anagram indicator on that occasion. I wonder if ‘the pants clue’ is going to become another running joke like the primarily clue.
Robi @17 – putting my ‘Strict Ximenean’ hat on, that definition does not suggest changing the order of the letters to me.
Lord Jim @15 – the fact that I had done this week’s Everyman before looking at last week’s blog is the only reason I thought it worth commenting on last week. QED, as it were.
Already looking forward to a ‘lively discussion’ on next week’s Everyman blog… 😉
widdersbel @21: Don Manley is as Ximenean as they come, but on a quick glance I can see that he uses “horrible” and “bad” as anagram indicators in one of his sample puzzles in the Chambers Crossword Manual. Are these not along the same lines as “rubbish” and “pants”, all suggesting that the order of the letters is wrong?
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
I’m a bit puzzled by DOE-EYED. Cupid is a male deity, so wouldn’t Cupid be a male reindeer, hence not a doe?
muffinn @24 – Some have argued that all Santa’s reindeer must be female, as they are depicted with antlers, which males shed in winter: https://www.livescience.com/32149-are-santas-reindeer-males.html
I think I wrote in AS YOU LIKE IT at 12a just from the definition and a few crossers, without thinking too much about the parsing. Looking at it again, I’m not convinced by “I’m talking to a techie” for “you like IT.” I might say that to a techie, but I might just as well say “fancy a coffee?” or “Yes, I have tried turning it off and turning it on again.”
Miche @26 (and Pierre), I think 12a works better if you take the whole phrase “Since I’m talking to a techie” = “As you like IT”, rather than splitting out since = as. For example: “As you like IT, can you help me sort out my problem with . . . ?” (which anyone working in the industry is all too familiar with).
Miche @25
Thanks. I knew that reindeer is the only deer species in which the females have antlers, but I didn’t know the females retained them for longer.
Quirister @27 – yes, good point.
Is Everyman extending the paired clues? Last week we had two poets and this week two knick-knacks (objects d’art and bagatelle)
In 12ac, I’m wondering if it isn’t supposed to be a homophone (I’m talking) of “as you like kit”. Hence the techie reference. Not v. elegant.
*I should have typed this without the “as” which comes from “since”
Lord Jim @ 23 talks about anagram indicators. So far as I can see, Azed (who is regarded super-highly by Don Manley, and is the carrier of the flame lit by Ximenes) can be remarkably strict about certain things, but as regards anagram indicators he’s very relaxed. He has gone on record as saying (and now I can’t actually find the words he used) that so long as there is an indication of some sort of jiggling or disruption then that’s OK.
Licence is everything, as the BBC so frequently tells us. If the compiler’s ‘anagrind’ (yuk) complements the clue, then even if said indicator is pants, most likely commenters on threads will not comment on it.
kenmac@4, Miche@26 and Quirister @27
Thanks for explaining ‘Since I’m talking to a techie’ / as you like IT.
From my perspective, I guess it is like one of those jokes that requires such a long explanation that it is no longer amusing 😉
Very late, so probably won’t be read … Lord Jim@15, Robi@17 – thanks for the explanation. Usually “East End” or similar seems to indicate merely dropping an initial H, keeping the usual spelling of the remainder of the word; but I accept your point that a homophone can be implied, though I’m still not keen on the clue.
I’m pretty new to cryptic crosswords and this is my first comment on a blog (and a very late one at that). But i have been following for a few weeks and picking up pointers. Thanks everyone.
If anyone is still following this can they explain why in 20a ‘setter concealed’ means remove the ‘I’ rather than add one. I understand I or me are indicated by setter, but I would have thought to conceal something would be to add it within another word not remove it. Is this just a convention?
Hi PontyMython @37, and welcome to the site! (I’ve just seen your comment after posting on this week’s Everyman blog.)
I think you’re right that ‘concealed’ normally means ‘insert’, as putting Y within XZ could be thought of as hiding it between the X and the Z.
Occasionally, however (as here), it means the opposite. In this case, think of concealing a stain by painting over it – just as the stain is no longer visible to the viewer, the ‘i’ in ‘thievery’ is no longer visible to the solver. Hope that helps.
I found 1 down infuriating. No-one but a dedicated darts player (and probably few of those) would know the word.
And hockey is *not* a ball game. Hockey is played on ice,
with a puck, not a ball. Field (or grass) hockey is a ball game.
Other than that it was a good/satisfying puzzle although there were numerous answers that I got but could not parse completely. Thanks to Pierre for the explanations.
Hi Rolf
I think that to most of the world
Hockey is a ball game and Football is played with a round ball. In North America hockey is played with a puck and football is played with a little pointy thing that they call a ball.
Nice crossword, one of his best imho. Stew v Wets was my only quibble.
I played ‘ockey for years. With a ball.
Best one for ages. I am not a dedicated darts player but knew 1 down, and I, too, played hockey with a ball.
A tiki is a Maori ornament , well-known in New Zealand. It represents a body, not just a head.
Further to what I wrote above, a tiki is not just an ornament. It is an image that is carved on many M?ori buildings and gateways at entrances to Pa. . It always has a hand with 3 fingers. The ornaments worn around the neck are called hei tiki and are usually worn only by women. They are often carved from greenstone (pounamu) or bone.
I surprised myself greatly by finishing this in a few hours which has never ever happened before, and I wouldn’t call this particularly easy. I appreciate the explanations that clarify the answers…. in 8d was wondering what the accent meant about the roses. Clear as mud now. Loved the rationale behind Doe Eyed and even more intrigued by the discussions over the validity of Cupid and his/her antlers. Always learn something that I hope I will retain every week.
Liked So So, Tea Service, Bagatelles and Smashed. Not that many anagrams in these past couple have increased the quality I think even though I quite like the anagrams when I am feeling totally stuck.
Finished it this morning. A good puzzle in which the response to the answers, when found, was delight rather than to quibble.
I really have no problem with WETS / STEW. It does introduce more complexity which surely is not a bad thing?
Not too bad at all compared with the cricket (Patel for NZ becoming only the third player ever to get 10 wickets in one innings vs India, swiftly followed by NZ being all out for 62! ) We could not get Bagatelle for some reason but really liked the rest of it. Great to have a NZ reference in there with the Tiki.
Nice puzzle. Liked The Mad Hatter and Wine Taster. Got As You Like It but don’t understand the clue, even with the explanations from other solvers. Never heard of Oche but couldn’t leave it blank do wrote in Oohs with no rhyme or reason. Enjoy learning something new. Thanks all.