The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hi again. Thanks to Raich who today brings us a puzzle to mark a topical relocation, featuring the locations in question and some notable past personnel. All is revealed below.
I found the puzzle largely gentle, but was held up in a couple of places by a lack of knowledge and hesitated to put my last answer in for some time. I enjoyed it – but it helped that my answers did turn out to be correct!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Tennis champion Chris referring to team from another sport (7) |
| EVERTON — EVERT (tennis champion Chris) + ON (referring to). A sport other than tennis, and one which may be featuring today … | |
| 5a | Small amount I included in total for sports arena (7) |
| STADIUM — TAD (small amount) and I included in SUM (total) | |
| 9a | Called about family’s position on scale (7) |
| RANKING — RANG (called) around (about) KIN (family) | |
| 10a | A friend, pure at heart, not seeking reward (7) |
| AMATEUR — A + MATE + pURe at heart | |
| 11a | Initially flippant, unpredictable, entering pub as a joke (2,3) |
| IN FUN — The first letters of (initially) Flippant, Unpredictable, entering INN (pub) | |
| 13a | Article by writer, lower in rank — not how to describe this puzzle! (9) |
| THEMELESS — THE (article) + ME (writer) + LESS (lower in rank) | |
| 15a | Well-behaved child I hugged as home to be left for 1A/5D (8) |
| GOODISON — GOOD (well-behaved) and SON (child) with I contained within (hugged). Everton are leaving Goodison Park for 1A/5A, EVERTON STADIUM. 5D (as given in the clue) is SEABED which I assume is a mistake – however I did discover from the website that “All 480,000 cubic metres of sand required for the initial dock infill process were transported to the site by boat from the sea-bed, 20 miles out in the Irish Sea.” | |
| 16a | “Dixie” — part of side, a natural (4) |
| DEAN — Hidden: part of siDE, A Natural. William “Dixie” Dean, was a footballer who played for England and Everton | |
| 20a | 1966 World Cup winner Alan’s essential for the game (4) |
| BALL — Two definitions, including another England footballer who played for the club, Alan Ball | |
| 21a | Unusually brief, cold, mostly convincing (8) |
| FORCIBLE — An anagram of (unusually) BRIEF, COLd, mostly | |
| 24a | Yorkshire racecourse manager, Harry (9) |
| CATTERICK — A double definition. Harry Catterick both played for and managed Everton. This was my last in and I stared at it for probably a full five minutes before entering the only thing I could think of that fit the checkers. Neither our man nor the racecourse rang a bell | |
| 26a | Part of play getting noticed reportedly (5) |
| SCENE — Sounds like (… reportedly) SEEN (noticed) | |
| 27a | Time of charges for 1A, familiarly (7) |
| TOFFEES — T (time) + OF + FEES (charges). A nickname for our thematic team | |
| 29a | One of large group, many, at race, at the outset moving around (4,3) |
| ARMY ANT — An anagram of (… moving around) MANY AT with Race’s first letter (at the outset) | |
| 31a | In front of Palace this could make rival of 1A? (7) |
| CRYSTAL — Putting the answer in front of “Palace” would give us a competing team, CRYSTAL PALACE | |
| 32a | Howard’s trick — ultimately close everything (7) |
| KENDALL — The last letter of (… ultimately) tricK + END (close) + ALL (everything). Howard Kendall was another who played for and managed … you guessed it! | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Great desires, though not at first, for income (8) |
| EARNINGS — Missing the initial letter (… not at first), yEARNINGS (great desires) | |
| 2d | Mile End’s poetic evening (3) |
| E’EN — Hidden in milE End, with the possessive apostrophe serving as the indicator | |
| 3d | Hearing about boredom, leaving university at regular intervals (9) |
| TRIENNIAL — TRIAL (hearing) around (about) ENN[u]I (boredom), leaving U (university) | |
| 4d | Denial country’s welcoming for example (8) |
| NEGATION — NATION (country)’s taking in (welcoming) EG (for example) | |
| 5d | Low point, bad, see suffering (6) |
| SEABED — BAD, SEE anagrammed (suffering) | |
| 6d | A temptation, we hear, to diminish (5) |
| ABATE — A + BAIT (temptation), soundalike (we hear) | |
| 7d | Anger as country’s land taken away (3) |
| IRE — IRE[land] (country) has LAND taken away | |
| 8d | Confused situation in Timor, as shown (6) |
| MORASS — The answer is in TiMOR AS Shown | |
| 12d | Big fort redeveloped as a plant (7) |
| FROGBIT — BIG FORT anagrammed (redeveloped). A new one on me, but the only arrangement of letters that made sense. An aquatic plant with floating leaves | |
| 14d | In from France half-heartedly interfere with honour (7) |
| ENNOBLE — EN (in from France) + with just one of the central pair of letters (half-heartedly) NO{Bb}LE (interfere with) | |
| 17d | Official rearranged exams — nice (9) |
| EXCISEMAN — An anagram of (rearranged) EXAMS — NICE | |
| 18d | Something to help finding place — make reservation with Antony, say (8) |
| BOOKMARK — BOOK (make reservation) with MARK (Antony, say) | |
| 19d | Friend welcoming media boss is in Paris giving support (8) |
| PEDESTAL — PAL (friend) taking in (welcoming) ED (media boss) and EST (is in Paris) | |
| 22d | Describing acid quote upset Bill at first (6) |
| ACETIC — CITE (quote) reversed (upset) with A/C (bill) preceding it (at first) | |
| 23d | Fuel doesn’t last, hell inside! (6) |
| DIESEL — DIES (doesn’t last) + hELl inside | |
| 25d | English opening contest (5) |
| EVENT — E (English) + VENT (opening) | |
| 28d | Young prison reformer (3) |
| FRY — Double definition, the second being Elizabeth Fry | |
| 30d | I’m pleasantly surprised originally as help arrives (3) |
| AHA — First letters of (originally) As Help Arrives | |
I did wonder, briefly, whether Raich and the editor had an alternative puzzle referencing Man City just in case the FA Cup final had gone the other way but it became clear that this was Evertonian in flavour throughout. Like our blogger, I was unaware of some of the necessary GK though the odd snippet did surface from the deep memory banks. Very enjoyable and a bit different.
Thanks both
Really enjoyed this, largely because of an affection for the club stemming from receiving a lovely gift from them as a child. Gentle, but for this old footie fan, lovely.
Just to spell it out fully, the timing of this puzzle is significant because today is the last time ever that Everton will play a league match at Goodison. Their final game of the season next week is an away fixture.
For 24a, my first thought was Wakefield, but there was no Harry Wakefield. I don’t think of Catterick as being Yorkshire but of course it is.
Thanks both. Right up my street, and obviously more difficult for those lacking interest in the sport; although my footballing colour is a different shade of blue, all the GK fully resonated. I can just about hear the Z Cars theme tune already….
PM – you’ll be pleased to learn that the new ground “will be known as Hill Dickinson stadium for sponsorship reasons” 😀
Thanks, Widders @3. My researching muscles were tired by the end of this, so I much appreciate you supplying the full detail.
Well, that’s a goody, son!
Spotted the theme, after my first two in, second row: RANKING :- AMATEUR.
Amazing how the setter has included every single one of Everton’s great players and managers, past and present, in one grid.
Nice misdirection at 5(d), [ ” Low point, bad, see suffering” ]; surely part of the theme? But, no.
Nice hidden words in 18(d) and 27(ac), BOO OFF. Clever.
As a lifelong scouse Red, ( and that’s a helluva long time ), I hope the Blues will boycott the commercial stupidity, and call 5(ac), the 16(ac).
Good luck next season. The derbies will be a bit tasty, no doubt, but this puzzle was right up my Gwladys Street.
Cheers, Raich & Kitty
Thanks, Raich, for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Can we expect a Sunderland themed puzzle from you next week, if they upset the odds at Wembley? As a Leeds supporter, I am only too aware that it is quite possible.
Well, I finished this. I had the same problem as our blogger knowing neither the racecourse nor the Evertonian who shares its name, so I had to ask Google about that one. The other footballers were all accessible from crossing letters and wordplay. But I’m obviously not in the target audience for this one, since I hadn’t heard of any of them. Ah well, that’s sometimes what I get for solving foreign crosswords.
I’ve often said I know far more about football than I ever intended to, having absorbed by osmosis whilst living with a fan. And (finally!) it helped. Great fun; just right for a Sunday morning after the night before. Thanks to Raich and to Kitty
MrP@9 totally, utterly unfair, I agree.
Harry Catterick played for Everton in the 40s, their manager in the 60s, a lovely man, a character, and I once met him.
Catterick is a racecourse, (dating back to the 1780s) in North Yorkshire, where my first horse won his only race.
I am amazed that this is not common knowledge around the globe.
This was a puzzle which, whilst completing it , my first thought was…..not fair to MrP.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Kitty, esp from someone perhaps not following fortunes of some particular team each weekend…
15A should of course have said 5A, not 5D, as you surmise.
Thanks also to all those who commented. I did try to fit in as much thematic material as possible without having to use unfamiliar words for other entries. In the end I think FROGBIT was the only one so I tried to clue that in as straightforward a way as possible.
Aww, thanks Raich. I like variety in puzzles and didn’t have any grumbles. Admittedly, CATTERICK might have gone a different way – but at least there was a CAT in there for me!