The puzzle may be found as a pdf at https://www.tinyurl.com/Everyman4151.
Maybe not my favourite Everyman, but with the usual hallmarks: the rhyming pair at 2D BRICKS-AND-MORTAR and 7D GET INTO HOT WATER (passing over the near miss at 8A and 22A); the self reference at 5A DOTAGE, the geographical reference at 15A ANDORRA, and the ‘primarily’ clue at 14A UNICORN, all highlighted in the grid. There is no one-word anagram this time.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ABOARD |
Ace meals on a ship (6)
|
| A charade of A (‘ace’) plus BOARD (‘meals’ – “bed and board”). | ||
| 5 | DOTAGE |
You shouldn’t have got into setter, perhaps Everyman’s beginning to show feebleness (6)
|
| An envelope (‘have got into’) of TA (‘you shouldn’t have’ – giving thanks for a gift, say) in DOG (‘setter, perhaps’) plus E (‘Everyman’s beginnng’). | ||
| 8 | INK-BLOT TEST |
Startled kittens bolt in psych procedure (3-4,4)
|
| An anagram (‘startled’) of ‘kittens bolt’. | ||
| 11 | MAKE A WISH |
Birthday announcement pathetic, a mawkish constant (4,1,4)
|
| An anagram (‘pathetic’) of ‘a mawkish’ plus E (‘constant’ – lower case e is generally used to denote the constant Euler’s number, the base of natural logarithms; Euler’s constant is a quite different number. Got that?) | ||
| 12 | ACNED |
Spotty old hat for a Cockney (5)
|
| An h-dropping ‘Cockney’ might confuse the answer with HACKNEYED (‘old hat’). | ||
| 13 | GRANDPA |
He’s related Greek saga’s finale including, additionally, prince (7)
|
| An envelope (‘including’) of AND (‘additionally’) plus P (‘prince’) in GR (‘Greek’) plus A (‘sagA‘s finale’). | ||
| 14 | UNICORN |
Unlisted (not indexed) company offering riches nowadays, primarily? (7)
|
| First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Unlisted Not Indexed Company Offering Ritches Nowadays’, with an &lit definition referring to a startup company which has reached a valuation of US $1 billion while remaining in private ownership – maybe not quite as rare as unicorns. | ||
| 15 | ANDORRA |
Part of Finland – or, rather, another country (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘part of’) in ‘FinlAND OR RAther’. | ||
| 17 | TEDIOUS |
Wearisome after time, editor with promises of payment (7)
|
| A charade of T (‘time’) plus ED (‘editor’) plus IOUS (‘promises of payment’). | ||
| 20 | DROLL |
On reflection, Liberal parliamentarian is amusing (5)
|
| A reversal (‘on reflection’) of L (‘Liberal’) plus LORD (‘parliamentarian’ in the other house) | ||
| 21 | OUTGROWTH |
How gut-rot’s provoked? (9)
|
| An anagram (‘provoked’?) of ‘how gut-rot’ with a rather stretched &lit definition. | ||
| 22 | TAXIDERMIST |
Stuffy type occupied with relics of the past? (11)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 23 | FRIDAY |
Good is the one that comes yearly (6)
|
| Of the 52 or 53 Fridays in a year, only the one before Easter Sunday is known as Good Friday. Cryptic definition. | ||
| 24 | DREARY |
Gloomy and arid, capturing attention (6)
|
| An envelope (‘capturing’) of EAR (‘attention’) in DRY (‘arid’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | BRICKS-AND-MORTAR |
Stand back! Mirror, perversely, is not online (6-3-6)
|
| An anagram (‘perversely’) of ‘stand back mirror’. In the original clue, ‘Mirror’ is in itaics. | ||
| 3 | AWKWARD |
Graceless sabre-rattler not starting to usher in war dead (7)
|
| A charade of [h]AWK (‘sabre-rattler’) minus its first letter (‘not starting’) plus (‘to usher in’) ‘war’ plus D (‘dead’). | ||
| 4 | DALAI LAMA |
Spiritual leader in a state, a chap’s written up (5,4)
|
| A reversal (‘written up’ in a down light) of ‘a’ plus MALI (‘state’) plus ‘a’ plus LAD (‘chap’). | ||
| 5 | DITCH |
Drop in moat? (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 6 | THE MAGI |
Those people: one soldier; three kings (3,4)
|
| A charade of THEM (‘those people’) plus A (‘one’) plus GI (‘soldier’), for the “wise men from the east’ who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew; although the Gospel indicates neither the number nor the rank of the visitors, by later tradition they are ‘three kings’. | ||
| 7 | GET INTO HOT WATER |
Experience mishap when visiting geyser? (3,4,3,5)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 9 | SMOG |
Foul air from small cat (4)
|
| A charade of S (‘small’) plus MOG (or moggie, a name for a domestic ‘cat’). | ||
| 10 | ADEN |
Major port in Pasadena (4)
|
| A hidden answer in ‘PasADENa’. | ||
| 14 | UNTUTORED |
Turned out, sadly, to be ignorant (9)
|
| An anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘turned out’. | ||
| 15 | AIDE |
Help with a passport, perhaps as embassy opens (4)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus ID (Identity Document, ‘passport, perhaps’) plus E (‘Embassy opens’). | ||
| 16 | RELAXED |
Rush around California airport that’s restful (7)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of LAX (the location identifier for the Los Angeles International Airport ‘California airport’) in REED (‘rush’). | ||
| 18 | DORMICE |
Rodents cut up – headless worm inside (7)
|
| An envelope (‘inside’) of ‘[w]orm’ minus its first letter (‘headless’) in DICE (‘cut up’). | ||
| 19 | SOHO |
I’m surprised map- maker’s upset part of London (4)
|
| A reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of OH (‘I’m surprised’) plus OS (Ordnance Survey, now a government-owned company in the UK, ‘map-makers’). | ||
| 21 | ODDLY |
In a weird way, how number’s found in the end? (5)
|
| I suppose the wordplay refers to the enumeration ‘(5)’ at the end of the clue (or to the clue number 21, the last in the list). |
ODDLY
Looks like it refers to…
‘the end’ ODDLY is TEN
Thanks PeterO.
Ta E and PO.
For a fun Aussie take on The Magi, google John Clarke Star of Wonder.
I had the same parsing as KVa@2 for 21d. Bit of an ODD clue I thought. I’ll take my hat…
Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.
Thanks for the blog , I suppose gut-rot can be caused by an OUTGROWTH of bacteria but maybe puzzles in this slot should have an actual definition . MAKE A WISH earned a severe Paddington stare . I hope that newer solvers got some enjoyment from this puzzle .
I noticed the word was mentioned to be italics. I’ve often wondered why italics are used. Could someone explain please?
I MEANT THE WORD ‘MIRROR’
Good enjoyable Everyman. I liked GRANDPA in a Greek saga, Good FRIDAY, and GET INTO HOT WATER in a geyser. Like Roz @4, I disliked the clue for MAKE A WISH, which is an indirect anagram. My Chambers crossword dictionary for ‘constant’ gives c, G, h & k, although there are others as well. Rod @5/6; Mirror is a proper noun here – the name of a UK paper.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Re Rod (5&6) I believe italics are used to suggest “enterties” to help with the surface of the clue. Here it suggests that it is perverse for the Mirror to not be online. In #4150 we had Carry On Nurse hinting at a comedy and a comedian. It is a form of misdirection.
Comment #9
Couldn’t parse ODDLY, so thanks KVa@1 – it makes sense now. Otherwise I found this less of a slog than last week.I did think OUTGROWTH was a bit odd.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
No, this bear of little brain still doesn’t get ODDLY.
I thought OUTGROWTH lacked a definition, and still think so.
Rod@5: it’s dangerous to assume that italics mean anything specific in cryptics. They might and they might not. Often they’re there just to make the clue read better.
poc@11 – if you take the odd letters (ie oddly) of ‘the end’ you get ‘ten’, which is a number. I hope I’ve understood that right.