My turn to do the Everyman it’s been a while since I’ve actually been able to do so.
Thanks to Gaufrid for covering my absenses and Everyman for a rather pleasant puzzle.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOCK | Clip showing enclosure in court (4) |
| Double def to get us underway | ||
| 3 | AMALGAMATE | Unite in the morning before gala arranged by friend (10) |
| A.M. (morning) & an arranged GALA* & MATE – friend | ||
| 10 | STAINED | Tense, run away, disgraced (7) |
| R(un) taken from ST(r)AINED | ||
| 11 | RADIANT | Beaming, getting help back in storm (7) |
| AID reversed inside RANT – storm | ||
| 12 | ENSCONCED | Settled purpose consuming odd members of sect formerly (9) |
| Odd letters of S(e)C(t) & ONCE – formerly all inside END – purpose | ||
| 13 | GRAIN | Texture of wood, small quantity (5) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 14 | SHORT AND SWEET | Concise news hardest to broadcast (5,3,5) |
| A broadcast [NEWS HARDEST TO]* | ||
| 18 | SHOULDER STRAP | Part of garment, hot in essence, displayed with revolutionary pieces with colour (8,5) |
| H(ot) inside SOUL – essense & PARTS (pieces) RED (colour) reversed – revolutionary | ||
| 20 | APRIL | Month‘s resistance in westward border area (5) |
| R(esistance) inside a reversed – westward in an across clue LIP – border & A(rea) | ||
| 21 | CAMBRIDGE | City clubs developed big dream (9) |
| Hmm I was there today seeing the mother in law who’s broken her leg, anyway it’s C(lubs) & a developed [BIG DREAM]* as opposed to the dreaming spires of some other place I can’t quite bring myself to mention. | ||
| 23 | TREMBLE | Medium possessed by high voice? Be fearful (7) |
| M(edium) inside TREBLE – high boys voice | ||
| 24 | REWOUND | Engineers, hurt, turned back (7) |
| R(oyal) E(ngineers) & to WOUND – hurt. Turned back as defintion? Thanks Everyman, Grrr. | ||
| 25 | MASTERMIND | Small stations endlessly restricted by crazy plan (10) |
| S(mall) & most of TERMIN(i) – stations all inside MAD – crazy | ||
| 26 | HERD | Speaker’s paid attention to crowd (4) |
| Sounds like HEARD | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DISPENSE | Inspector meaning to secure quiet deal (8) |
| Deal as to to deal out justice. D.I. & P for quiet inside SENSE – the meaning of it | ||
| 2 | CHAOS | Tea, very large order? On the contrary (5) |
| CHA – tea & O(ver) S(ize). This took rather more work than it should have | ||
| 4 | MEDICINAL | Restorative lunch perhaps disrupted by gambling? Not good (9) |
| G(ood) removed from DICIN(g) – gambling inside MEAL for lunch, say | ||
| 5 | LURID | Sensational line, universal and clear (5) |
| L(ine) & U(niversal) & RID – to clear | ||
| 6 | AT DAGGERS DRAWN | Ready to fight in war, grandad gets agitated (2,7,5) |
| [War, grandad gets]* AGITATED | ||
| 7 | ALABASTER | A place equipped for experiments on flower and stone (9) |
| A & a LAB(oratory) & the flower ASTER | ||
| 8 | EXTENT | Area covered by text entirely (6) |
| Hidden in tEXT ENTirely | ||
| 9 | UNCONTROLLABLE | Wild about online troublemaker, a bully initially protected by relative (14) |
| ON – about & TROLL – online troublemaker & A & B(ully) all inside UNCLE | ||
| 15 | OBSERVERS | Terrible bores with poetry lacking energy as commentators (9) |
| Terrible BORES* & E(nergy) missing from VERS(e) | ||
| 16 | STEAM IRON | Smoother southern group in front of club (5,4) |
| Well an Iron is a SMOOTH-ER. S(outhern) & TEAM & IRON for a (golf) club | ||
| 17 | SPLENDID | Declines, upset, to accept advance? Brilliant (8) |
| LEND – advance inside an upset DIPS – declines | ||
| 19 | BANTAM | Outlaw thanks farm finally for fowl (6) |
| BAN – to outlaw & TA & the end of (far)M | ||
| 21 | CREAM | Stuff including English dairy product (5) |
| E(nglish) inside CRAM – to stuff | ||
| 22 | DOUSE | Put out party treat (5) |
| As in put out a fire, DO – party & USE to treat | ||
*anagram
Classic Everyman, simply and elegantly clued.
Thank you Everyman and flashling.
That was SHORT AND SWEET, but the clue for CHAOS held me up for a little while as it did for flashling.
Very enjoyable puzzle.
My favourites were 17d and 2d.
Thank you Everyman and flashling
An excellent Sunday morning made better by this fun puzzle. Last in were CHAOS and STAINED. Hard to pick a favourite answer as they were all well clued, but UNCONTROLLABLE and SHOULDERSTRAP stand out. Thanks Everyman and flashling.
Most definitely 14ac this week, perhaps the most straightforward Everyman in some time. No less enjoyable for that, but a nice start to a Sunday morning. Worked clockwise from the NE, finishing in the NW corner with 10ac.
22 down. How are treat and use synonyms please ? You can treat a stain using something but that doesn’t convince me. We knew it must be the answer, but couldn’t see why use could stand for treat.
Great crossword. Thanks Flashling & Everyman. My favourite and LOI was 16d. Dock to quite a while too. Hard to get away from ct for court, especially when you have a c. Never heard the expression in 6d (before my time) but the anagram was easy enough to work out.
I too was held for a time up by three or four, and I agree with Naomi @6. I suppose if you treat something with care you use it carefully, but it’s a bit loose. Otherwise all very good.
Nice to see I’m not the only one who struggles with being able to spell the word ‘absence’ : )
(Or indeed ‘essence’)
Thanks Flashling and EM.
Really enjoyed this one. Right at my level. Didn’t have to struggle too much. Chaos was the first one in for me, unlike some others. Liked amalgamate, tremble, shoulder strap, alabaster among others. The only one I couldn’t parse was douse. Agree with Naomi @6.
Paul @7 I have heard the expression in 6d, but it is rather old fashioned, and I thought it was ” with daggers drawn” not “at”.
I loved Chaos my favourite along with Bantam, the short ones can often be the most brilliant, in my opinion. But 9d was great too. I had no idea why mastermind was mastermind but now I can see why.
Another Goldilocks puzzle; struggled, but got it all eventually, and found it both challenging and satisfying.
“Dock” (1 across) certainly did not “get me started”; it was my second last one in. Chaos (2 down) was my LOI.
To Naomi W. @ 6: I think “use” as a synonym for “treat” is a bit obscure and archaic. (“How could you use me this way/How could you treat me this way?”) But it’s not an impossible stretch.
Agree completely with flashling. Short and sweet! Strangely chaos was one of my first clues. Cha with os could only mean one thing. Use for treat a bit iffy but otherwise all good.