Nothing really to frighten the horses with here, which is as it should be. One or two where it took me a while to see where Everyman was coming from, but I think it’s all fairly clued.
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 Capital – African port – elevated Table overlooking waterside neighbourhoods, primarily?
CAPE TOWN
The initial letters of the first eight letters of the clue and a cad. Today’s trivia: Cape Town harbour faces due north.
5 Young Scout enters elite fighting force, explores underwater
SCUBAS
An insertion of CUB in SAS. The insertion indicator is ‘enters’.
9 Approaching girl: a nasty moment
NEAR MISS
A charade of NEAR and MISS. This has always struck me as an odd phrase, since it’s really a near hit.
10 Slammin’ do – orgiastic to some extent – like some fireworks?
INDOOR
Hidden in SlammIN DO ORgiastic.
11 Give a hand to Everyman first … it’s the best we can hope for
IDEAL
A charade of I and DEAL.
12 Spiritualist’s boring kind of wine
MEDIUM-DRY
A charade of MEDIUM and DRY.
14 Fight vulgarisms in grand source of illumination
SLANGING MATCH
Plenty of charades in the acrosses: this one is of SLANG, IN, G and MATCH.
17 Fantastic technician, pot smoker’s help in quitting
NICOTINE PATCH
(TECHNICIAN POT)* with ‘fantastic’ as the anagrind.
21 Hush-hush: street cop in disguise
TOP-SECRET
(STREET COP)* with ‘in disguise’ as the anagrind.
22 Conscience … ‘Golden’, you say?
GUILT
Aural wordplay (‘you say’) for GILT.
24 Problem: some rotting litchis
GLITCH
Hidden in rottinG LITCHis.
25 Jam in Cuban club – hero! – or perhaps that’s a wrap?
SANDWICH
I think this is just a quadruple definition. The first as a verb meaning to pack in; the second as a potential lunch item; the third as a definition of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (he did vaguely heroic things, as well as fathering nine children with a mistress) who is said to have invented the said sandwich, or ‘wrap’, which is the fourth definition.
26 Shrewd batsmen, regularly dismissed, suppressing disapproving expression
ASTUTE
An insertion of TUT in ASE for the even letters of bAtSmEn. The insertion indicator is ‘suppressing’.
27 From cakehole, forsakes puddings!
DESSERTS
Aural wordplay (‘from cakehole’) of DESERTS in its verbal sense.
Down
1 Ancients’ brews, sharper than the rest
CANNIEST
(ANCIENTS)* with ‘brews’ as the anagrind.
2 Greek character with spinning disc hoisted piece of crockery
PLATE
A reversal (‘hoisted’, since it’s a down clue) of ETA and LP.
3 Delay Spooner’s green label
TIME LAG
A Spoonerism of LIME TAG.
4 Times strewn about in part of London
WESTMINSTER
(TIMES STREWN)* with ‘about’ as the anagrind.
6 Usher’s behaviour
CONDUCT
A dd.
7 Harry holds boot that’s red-tinged
BLOODSHOT
(HOLDS BOOT)* with ‘Harry’ as the anagrind.
8 Waters some flowers
SPRAYS
A dd.
13 Maybe sit in show
DEMONSTRATE
Another dd.
15 Never seeing use putting atomic number first
AT NO POINT
A charade of AT, NO and POINT. ‘What’s the use/point of this clue?’
16 Covers axes, since temperature’s risen
THATCHES
Everyman is inviting you to move the second T in HATCHETS northwards. Took me the longest time to see this.
18 Manpower reduced: a short shock?
CREW CUT
A charade of CREW and CUT.
19 In nightwear, trouble turning to deity in temples
PAGODAS
Everyman is asking you to replace the JAM in PAJAMAS with GOD. My problem is that I always spell PYJAMAS with a Y, but this is an accepted alternative.
20 In the morning, jerk’s shown up: shame
STIGMA
A reversal of AM and GITS.
23 At regular intervals, inclined railway’s beginning to get more frosty
ICIER
A charade of the odd letters of InClInEd and R for the initial letter of ‘railway’.
Many thanks to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Thank you Pierre. Agree with the quadruple for SANDWICH. Never heard of a Cuban Club sandwich, but it looks yummy,
I think the POINT in AT NO POINT clues use in the sense of you can/can’t see the point/use in doing something.
*redacted*
As you’ve said yourself, Pierre. 🙂
*redacted*
*redacted*
paddymelon@1
AT NO POINT
Agree with you. I was thinking of a similar example: There’s no use/point doing this.
Thanks Pierre!
Had the same question mark as Everyman for 10ac, and then some! Indoor fireworks… ???
Saw 25a as a verb “Jam in”, plus 4 examples of SANDWICHes: “Cuban”, “club”, “hero”, and “wrap”.
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.” – Why?
KVa@6. AT NO POINT. I posted @1 before I realised Pierre had already said that in his “question”. That’s what we call around here a Mascot joke, Mascot being the airport for Sydney. The joke went straight over my head.
paddymelon@8
AT NO POINT
Thanks a lot. My sincere apologies to Pierre. I often miss such subtleties. Went over your head? My head is at a lower elevation. 😊
KVa@10 🙂 [or whatever the number is now, it’s all getting out of sequence as Frankie G’s@8, as I post, is awaiting moderation, and it’ll get worse when a couple of mine are deleted as requested]
I was slightly irked by PAJAMAS being primarily the US spelling and felt this needed indicating in the clue. Otherwise very straightforward.
Just testing
Comment seems to be working for me
Even as my non-admin account
Didn’t parse PAGODAS because I didn’t think of pajamas, spelling them as Pierre does.
This took me longer than all but the Vlad of this week’s Cryptics and nearly twice as long as the Pasquale, so I found it around the same difficulty as the Cryptics. But I don’t find the Everyman to be consistent – the week before was quicker than the Quiptic.
Thank you to Pierre and Everyman.
Tough puzzle.
Favourite: PAGODAS (even though it was US spelling of pyjamas).
Could not parse 25ac SANDWICH – I only got the def as ‘perhaps that’s a wrap’.
Thanks, both.
[Thank you kenmac @13,14, 15. A good workaround to keep the numbering. Sorry to trouble you in the middle of your night.]
Defeated by SANDWICH and have waited a week to see what the answer is and have come here to find out why. Never heard of a Cuban sandwich and had no idea that the Earl was a hero. And sandwich as “jam in” wouldn’t have occurred to me unless it was obvious. So all in all I’m not overly surprised that I didn’t get it.
I though this was fun with some clever twists e.g. PAGODAS.
SKUBAS follows on from the previous week’s SNORKELLED. (Sadly no FREE-DIVING today).
GnF@7 I think the only other place I’ve encountered Indoor Fireworks was an earlier Everyman.
Thanks Pierre & Everyman.
On SANDWICH – I wondered about another sort of sandwich – a Hero (link is to a recipe) – didn’t query the multiple definition.
I like that take on ‘hero’, Shanne. I’m sure that’s what the setter intended. The Duke wasn’t particularly heroic in any military sense. Good call.
Everyman more do-able with less of the 3 and 4 letter words, hence this was pleasant.
I think the SANDWICH is actually a quintuple definition: Cuban, club (not ‘Cuban club’, which I’ve never heard of), hero, wrap and the rather loose ‘jam in’.
Sorry, can’t understand the parsing of 15 down. Help !
Paul @20 I have had the underwhelming experience of watching indoor fireworks. I’m not entirely surprised they have fizzled out. It’s also the title of an Elvis Costello song.
This was more challenging – and fun – than any of the latter puzzles. It took me quite a while until the penny dropped for SANDWICH (here’s another link for hero), then THATCHES fell in as LOI – liked it a lot in the end. Parsing PAGODAS required some effort as well. Was the apostrophe strictly necessary in “jerk’s” for GITS?
Thank-you, Everyman and Pierre
Oh, and I enjoyed the crossword except sandwich. Everyman is fun again.
@ phil elston @25
AT NO POINT is a definition of ‘never’. ‘Use’ means POINT, as in the example given; then the instruction is to put AT for ‘Atomic’ and ‘No’ for ‘Number’ before that. Does that make sense?
Nobody’s mentioned the rhyming pair at 14a and 17a yet.
You’re right Lin@30. Pierre usually leaves that to us.
I think SANDWICH is a quintuple definition. Cuban, club and hero are three types of sandwich, plus ‘Jam in’ and finally the wrap. The Cuban and the hero seem to be from the US, and club sandwiches are those neat little triangles they serve in clubs.
Thanks Pierre and Everyman
Apologies poc@24, I didn’t see your comment saying the same thing as I did about Sandwich.
I thought THATCHES was a very clever clue. It was my last in and it took me ages to see.
[@21, @22, @24, @32 – all ignoring @8, but never mind. Here’s Declan Patrick MacManus’s 10a Fireworks]
Oops! My apologies FrankieG@8. It was a long day.
I don’t know if you have them in the UK, but a club sandwich is one made with three slices of bread with the same filling above and below. A Cuban sandwich is one made with ham, roast pork, pickles, Swiss cheese and mustard in loaf of Cuban bread, like a baguette but wider. Once the sandwich is filled, you ut it in a buttered frying pan and put a heavy weight on top, cook till warmed through. It’s hard to imagine a “club” version of that. A here sandwich is another American custom, I think. A long loaf filled with a variety of cold cuts, and called a hero, a grinder, a submarine and perhaps a po’boy in different parts of the country. The link at 21a gives a picture and the one at 27a gives more names for it than I’ve ever heard (spuky? really?).
Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
If the Earl and his mistress had nine children, then she was the hero!
Valentine@37. 🙂
Thanks SueM48@36 – at least you noticed. 🙂
Liked: BLOODSHOT liked the misdirecting “harry” anagrind.
Liked: MEDIUM-DRY.
PAGODAS: not familiar with this spelling of pajamas.
DESSERTS: didn’t really parse fully.
Normally I have to look for the Primarily as it’s my first one in, but today it was 1A – handy!
@ Pierre @ 29. Thanks !
Much easier than usual.
Liked 1ac as the ABS play there tomorrow NZ time.
We should have been warned about the spelling of the ‘pjs’.
Rob.
Liked this puzzle. Got it all out without resort to any electronic aids.
Could not parse pagodas, though I knew it had to be right. I was taking “trouble” to be “ado” (which is in there backwards), and never twigged to trouble==jam. Thanks to Pierre for putting me right.
I thought “sandwiches” (quintuple definition) was great. Also “thatches” was a great forehead slapper.
Dave F@26: I always thought “Indoor Fireworks” was a Nick Lowe song (The Rose of England CD), but you’re right.
Thanks Everyman. Keep ’em coming at this level.
Nice. Medium Dry and Top Secret were good. Missed the homo in Desserts.
Got pagodas early but couldn’t convince myself it was correct- where did the j go! Got thatches as an anagram and then the penny dropped. Wrap > sandwich OK but the rest was not much help.
I liked medium dry and top secret.
Liked pagoda, though we put it in before we understood the clue. Generally, a great crossword with lots of good moments.