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Everyman has given us more this time than he usually does: two first letters clues (not just one), the usual rhyming pair, and two symmetrically-placed answers both of which are fruits. Probably more, but I can’t see anything. With these limitations he has, as is now customary, provided us with a good sound crossword (I think, although 18dn still troubles me).
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, homophone, hidden etc) in italics. Anagram indicators shown *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | NAPS |
Dozes: term in recess (4)
|
| (span)rev. — span = term, ‘in recess’ tells us that it’s reversed — at first I thought this was some sort of dodgy homophone clue to ‘apse’ [recess] with the homophone indicator rather badly indicated by ‘term’, but fortunately this silliness didn’t last long | ||
| 3 | STRASBOURG |
Originally somewhat tinier Roman Argentoratum, settlement built on Upper Rhine Graben? (10)
|
| The first letters clue — it’s so obvious that that’s what it is that I’ll take it all on trust | ||
| 9 | COAL |
Source of heat? Eyeliner, we’re told (4)
|
| “kohl” — kohl = eyeliner | ||
| 10 | KEW GARDENS |
Grand: week’s wasted in verdant tourist attraction (3,7)
|
| (Grand week’s)* | ||
| 12 | ARTHUR MILLER |
Dramatist fermented rum; rather ill (6,6)
|
| *(rum rather ill) | ||
| 15 | INCANTS |
Chants in native American tongue soothing (at first) (7)
|
| Incan t[ongue] s[oothing] — the Incan is the native American | ||
| 16 | RICOTTA |
Dictator, scratching head, | ordered cheese (7)
|
| ([d]ictator)* | ||
| 17 | ENTENTE |
10 repeatedly ignoring extremes, finding agreement (7)
|
| [t]en ten te[n] | ||
| 19 | BELTING |
Going fast, or making fast (7)
|
| 2 defs [As many have pointed out it could equally well be BOLTING. That’s the official answer and it’s a little better than ‘belting’ for the second definition, but if I were entering the competition and had my entry disallowed I’d be a bit miffed.] | ||
| 20 | SPINE-CHILLER |
Prince’s ill; he shivers; it’s terrifying (5-7)
|
| (Prince’s ill he)* | ||
| 23 | TENNIS BALL |
Ban lentils? Bizarrely, some sportspeople need this (6,4)
|
| (ban lentils)* — unfortunately the surface really needs ‘these’ [two commenters below say that ‘this’ refers to the ban on lentils, not to the lentils, but my guess is that this isn’t what Everyman really meant. Makes it grammatical, though.] | ||
| 24 | ANON |
Soon to be unknown (4)
|
| 2 defs, the first a straightforward sense of ‘anon’ and the second short for ‘anonymous’ | ||
| 25 | HEARTBEATS |
Signs of life in blinks of an eye (10)
|
| 2 defs — if one detects heartbeats one detects signs of life; and the common expression ‘in a heartbeat’ | ||
| 26 | ISIS |
Fertility goddess in Oxford river (4)
|
| 2 defs: the goddess of fertility (amongst other things) and the name for the Thames as it flows through Oxford | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NECTARINES |
Sir: canteen in resort will give you fruit (10)
|
| (Sir canteen)* | ||
| 2 | PLASTICITY |
Fashionable quality? (10)
|
| CD — Everyman is trying to lure you into thinking of chicness | ||
| 4 | THERMOS |
Picnic item among – bother! – mosquitos (7)
|
| Hidden in boTHER! MOSquitos — I’d have thought it was ‘-oes’ but evidently it’s either | ||
| 5 | ANGULAR |
A new German university left a bit of room spare (7)
|
| a n G u l a r[oom] — more or less every letter is a single abbreviation: a = a, n = new, G = German, u = university l = left, a = a, ‘bit of’ is an indicator of the first letter (although some don’t like this, since we’re not told that it’s the first bit of) | ||
| 6 | BORDER COLLIE |
Guest announced: pitman’s docked family pet? (6,6)
|
| “boarder” collie[r] — guest = boarder, collier = pitman | ||
| 7 | USED |
Worked – like charity-shop items? (4)
|
| 2 defs — I recently gave some brand-new things to a charity shop, but Everyman is aware that this might be the case, so has the question mark | ||
| 8 | GASP |
Head of grass snake; shocked sound (4)
|
| g[rass] asp — asp = snake | ||
| 11 | TURNING POINT |
‘Go to bed’: doctor with ointment not half offering opportunity for change (7,5)
|
| turn in GP oint[ment] — turn in = go to bed, GP = General Practioner/doctor | ||
| 13 | STRIPLINGS |
Lads remove clothes before | topless affaires (10)
|
| strip [f]lings — strip = remove clothes, flings = affaires | ||
| 14 | TANGERINES |
Fruit, nettle secured by fork’s prongs (10)
|
| t(anger)ines — tines = fork’s prongs, anger = nettle | ||
| 18 | ENNOBLE |
In Spain then in France, the good rise in honour (7)
|
| (el bonne)rev. — el = In Spain ‘the’ (we have to ignore the ‘then in France’), bonne = in France, good (not sure how we are told to ignore ‘the’) — rev. because it’s a down clue with ‘rise’ — this is a rather tortuous and possibly inaccurate parsing; you may be able to do better | ||
| 19 | BACKLIT |
Second drunk standing between you and illumination? (7)
|
| back lit — back = second, lit = drunk (one of the many words for it), and if the second drunk (in the usual sense) is standing between you and illumination he or she will be backlit | ||
| 21 | ETCH |
‘Eat away!’ … taking all starters, Everyman tests café’s hospitality (4)
|
| Two for the price of one: another first letters clue | ||
| 22 | ANNA |
Pavlova? Heavenly dish, but not at first (4)
|
| [m]anna — manna is the heavenly dish and the references are to the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova and to the pudding |
Took a while to get the last few.
Liked: TANGERINES, STRIPLINGS, BORDER COLLIE, INCANTS, TURNNG POINT
Thanks Everyman and John
Thanks John, and yes 18 is a little odd. It must be ‘in Spain, the’ (EL), with ‘in France, good’ (BONNE) reversed, but this is not a particularly elegant way of constructing that, for me. Also the indicator, RISE, demands plural usage, which again isn’t one for the purists. The indicator at 1 ac I wasn’t thrilled by, either, but I always find the Everyman, which has long settled into a somewhat Guardianesque style, to be this way. With all that taken into account I do enjoy these puzzles, and this example was no exception.
Why not “Bolting” for 19 ac
Thannks John
I had to give away the parsing for ENNOBLE. Too much brain strain for an Everyman, or any crossword. And I also don’t think it’s fair to clue a word using only foreign languages, especially when they inflect for gender.
Good question James K @3. Both belting and bolting work.
Favourites were HEARTBEATS, ANNA and PLASTICITY, for their surfaces, and the misdirection in the latter.
ENNOBLE
in Spain=In in Spanish=EN, (and then in) France the=the in French=LE
In French good=BON —–>rise—–>NOB —->NOB in EN LE.
LE and BON are independently taken and only BON is reversed.
The nearest I could get to.
ENNOBLE
We can read like this…
In Spain ‘the’, and then in France ‘good’ (like saying, ‘the and good respectively’).
EL BONNE reversed (the same as what the blog says, I guess with
a minor tweak).
BOLTING (19c)
is the official answer.
For ‘making fast’, does BOLTING not work better?
So it is KVa@8, and James K@3. BOLTING confirmed with Reveal All.
@John, the blog needs amendment.
Ignore my parsing of ENNOBLE@6 and consider the one@7!
kVa I liked your one @6
Agree with bolting, but belting seems to fit too.
I didn’t get PLASTICITY though. I just couldn’t see it. And now I’ve seen the parsing, I don’t think I ever would. Makes sense now I’ve seen it though.
CanberraGirl@11
me@6 I feel the ‘in Spain’ part is not equivalent to ‘in Spanish’. Another point is: ‘In France the good’=’LE BON’ but there is no indicator to reverse only BON but not LE.
me@7 On the other hand, the EL BONNE reversal seems to work better.
In Spain, then in France, the, good rise—>(In Spain and in France, the and good respectively) rise
BACKLIT
The underlined part of the clue works well as the definition, I think (without having to refer to the ‘second drunk’).
Ok KVa @13 you’ve convinced me
Thanks for the blog, another good puzzle and I think the standard was fine.
I had BELTING but agree with James @3 and perhaps bolting slightly better, I have sent my grid off, wonder if they accept both ?
PLASTICITY was very neat , I liked ISIS just because I used to swim there every day.
TENNIS BALL perhaps the “this” refers to the ban and not the lentils.
I read 18 as KVa @13, you have to translate “the good” into first Spanish and then French to get “el bonne”, which gets raised.
PLASTICITY was a tea tray moment with all the crossers in place and thinking that I could only see plasticity to fit that, duh! THERMOS I’ve only ever spelled that way, so no problem for me. I had BELTING too.
Thank you to John and Everyman.
I spotted the BOLTING or BELTING ambiguity but concluded BOLTING was better and the puzzle app gave a green tick so I knew it was the intended solution.
One other cavil was that in 12a ILL is not anagrammed, it’s simply a lift from clue to solution?. An anagram of “rather rum” around a synonym for “ill” would be more precise wordplay. There was another clue like this in this week’s Quiptic. Perhaps I’m alone in it bothering me.
Otherwise, great fun as usual.
Thanks to E and J.
I thought that was a great Everyman. Really fun. I did the two fruits first and it made me smile. It took me til Friday to get it all, with BOLTING going in last. I could not get COAL until I guessed it and looked up eyeliner on the web and found kohl, which I had never heard of, other than the German Chancellor. But like others, PLASTICITY was great. Thanks for the puzzle and the solve.
12 & 20 both have ILL as part of the anagrist, where the sequence I-L-L nonetheless appears in the solution. Neither has another L in the grist, while 20 has an extra I.
Agree that BELTING could also be BOLTING, though ‘making fast’ is probably a bit better for the latter.
Ticks for TURNING POINT, ENTENTE, and ENNOBLE which I parsed the same way as KVA@7
Cheers J&E
Enjoyable puzzle.
I agree that 18d was tortuous to prse. The best I could do was EN = in (Spanish) + LE = ‘the’ in French with insertion of reverse of BON (good in French) = the good rise in[side]. I think this is the similar to what KVa @6 is saying.
Thanks, both.
Also spotted BELTING/BOLTING. As there’s no way to distinguish between the two options, this is poor clueing and poor editing.
I biffed ENNOBLE since it was clearly correct, but couldn’t be bothered trying to torture the parsing into shape.
ENNOBLE was a bit of an IKEA clue. I had all the bits and they fitted together, so I threw the plan away.
I always enjoy Everymanand I think setting a puzzle at this level, nothard but some cluesjust that bit more difficultplus introducing as many conventions as posslble, every week cannot be easy.
Thankyou both.
Loved PLASTICITY – Rufus would have been pleased to come up with that. I didn’t consider BELTING for 19 – BOLTING was my first and only guess and, as per Jay, the app confirmed it was correct with a green tick. I agree with your parsing for ENNOBLE, John – as lady gewgaw says, it’s not the most elegant clue here but it works well enough for me.
Very enjoyable puzzle overall. Thanks, Everyman and John.
I was another BELTING, it seemed to work. I arrived at ENNOBLE via the parsing as KVa @6 but I accept that ‘in Spain’ doesn’t really mean ‘in Spanish’.
I liked the anagram for ARTHUR MILLER, the good surfaces for HEARTBEATS and STRIPLINGS, and the wordplay for BACKLIT. A rather strange surface for COAL, although I suppose eyeliner might cause inflammation and thus heat? [Personally, I don’t use eyeliner].
Thanks Everyman and John.
I was in Camp Bolting. Didn’t even think of belting, perhaps because that one isn’t common in American English for “going fast”.
It’s fairly rare for a clue to produce more than one valid solution; the most common is a homophone clue where the indicator is in the middle. But most setters are savvy of that problem, so they usually remember to avoid it, unless it’s going to be unambiguous for other reasons. This wasn’t that, so a rarity indeed.
I was in the BELTING camp, but confused why the puzzle app wasn’t giving.me a green tick – went through all the answers multiple times, and it wasn’t till Tuesday that I twigged BOLTING would also fit.
I parsed ENNOBLE as KVa@6, but I agree the blogged version is better.
The most enjoyable Everyman for a few weeks I thought – thanks to Everyman and John.
Is “incant” really a verb? I’ve never heard it, though I’ve heard of incantations.
Nice puzzle, I enjoyed the anagrams in 12 and 20 across. Thanks, Everyman and John.
Valentine@29, for INCANT (vb) Collins has “to utter incantations”, “to summon up by incantation” and “to enchant”
Re BELTING / BOLTING: This marred an otherwise very good puzzle. There’s no reason to prefer one over the other – for those who say BOLTING fits the second definition better, I’d point out that BOLTING does not mean going fast (although it often implies it).
Roger @ 31: Merriam-Webster has as its second verb definition for BOLT:
“2: to move or proceed rapidly : DASH”
…and that is how I usually hear it used, too.
Jay@18, I too noticed that ILL wasn’t anagrammed in 12a and 20a, but unlike you it didn’t bother me (i.e., it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the clues).
I have a similar view of 19a BELTING/BOLTING. Having entered BELTING without even thinking of BOLTING, I am happy to consider both to be correct answers, but it is still a fun clue. Like John, I would have been bothered if it was a competition, but it’s not so I’m not.
Favourites were the concise but deceptive 2d PLASTICITY, and the tricky but clever construction of 18d ENNOBLE.
Thanks Everyman for the usual fun, and John for the excellent blog.
Oh, and I agree with Roz@16, that “this” in 23a TENNIS BALL refers to “ban” and is therefore both grammatically and superficially correct.
I saw the Belting or Bolting problem and thought about it.
Going fast is a state of fast movement.
Belting = Going for it as fast as you can.
Bolting = Setting off fast.
Both can work. But ‘Belting’ is the more appropriate answer,
Quite annoyed that the Grauniad disagrees,
But… It’s the Guardian. Figure it is “Belting” and the Graun has made a typo.
Where the compiler is not quite up to the mark, the editor intervenes prior to publication. Where the editor also is not quite there, or is absent entirely, we solvers are presented with an ambiguous clue, et cetera.
For me a puzzle with some infirmities, but still an improving franchise.
I absolutely loved ENTENTE.
14 minutes this time! ENTENTE was my favourite.
We did this in one sitting, yay! Stripping, Plasticity our two faves; Bolting/Belting was a major disagreement here! And for once I was right re Isis in Oxford.
Thanks Everyman
Fashionable = plasticity
Got it from the letters and was about to type that I didn’t get it when the penny dropped I too was hung up in chicness!
I don’t see a problem with 23 across. Tennis ball. Some sportspeople need this. What’s wrong with that?
Having recently stumbled across Contranyms of which Bolt was one of the given examples, there was no doubting it and I never thought of an alternative.
A few biffed in unpaused but very enjoyable.
Stupid spell check.
Yeah ha. Was about to berate the world for plasticity and finally got it.
What a good clue.