Everyman 3754/23 September

by

The usual well-constructed mixture of charades, anagrams and insertions from Everyman to accompany Sunday morning coffee.

 

 

 

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 Old man without hesitation seizing power, extremely revolutionary in a way (8)
FOOTPATH
First one tried (as always); last one in. An insertion of P and TOO for ‘extremely’ reversed in FATH[ER].

5 Stop talking about large cougar being around (4,2)
CLAM UP
A charade of C for circa or ‘about’, L and PUMA reversed.

9 Intermittently popular, proper French novelist gets going (2,4,3,6)
IN FITS AND STARTS
A charade of IN, FIT, SAND and STARTS. The writer in question is Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, best known by her nom de plume George SAND.

11 Ace breaking record for circuit (3)
LAP
An insertion of A in LP.

12 Insider felt prepared to be most sociable (11)
FRIENDLIEST
(INSIDER FELT)*

13 Face villain with no right to make conversation (8)
DIALOGUE
A charade of DIAL and [R]OGUE.

14 In dystopia nothing’s soft (5)
PIANO
Hidden in dystoPIA NOthing

17 Easy match (5)
LIGHT
A dd. ‘Her duties were light.’ ‘I asked him for a light.’

19 Dock in area of land next to reserve (8)
SUBTRACT
A charade of SUB and TRACT.

22 Dinosaur hoax, not last, best in ages (11)
TRICERATOPS
A charade of TRIC[K] and TOP inserted into ERAS.

24 Diamonds seen in circlet, regularly spaced (3)
ICE
The even letters of cIrClEt.

25 Gift having adverse consequences once policies had changed (8,7)
POISONED CHALICE
(ONCE POLICIES HAD)*

26 Problem with French name, turning page (6)
SUMMON
A charade of SUM for a mathematical ‘problem’ and NOM, the French word for ‘name’, reversed.

27 Posted cutting when editor agreed (8)
ASSENTED
An insertion of SENT in AS and ED.

Down

1 Flutter about feeling pretty (6)
FAIRLY
An insertion of AIR in FLY. ‘She was feeling pretty/fairly confident about completing an Everyman at last.’

2 Bad time of year for litter (9)
OFFSPRING
A charade of OFF and SPRING.

3 Sad soul, so lost, with hollow uncertainty ahead (7)
PITIFUL
A charade of PIT for ‘hollow’, IF for ‘uncertainty’, and [SO]UL.

4 Aim to protect delta and develop industrial area (7,6)
TRADING ESTATE
An insertion of the phonetic D for ‘delta’ in TRAIN, followed by GESTATE for ‘develop’.

5 Revealed skill finally on northward ski run, keeping in line (3,4)
LET SLIP
A charade of L for the last letter of ‘skill’ and PISTE with L inserted reversed.

6 Good in lake and pool (5)
MERGE
An insertion of G in MERE.

7 Is work lifted and shifted into place? (8)
POSITION
A charade of IS OP reversed and (INTO)*

10 Study part of speech with vicious scorn about love for American football team (6,7)
DENVER BRONCOS
A charade of DEN, VERB and O inserted into (SCORN)*

15 Keeper of records in vault, one with endless view (9)
ARCHIVIST
A charade of ARCH, I and VIST[A]

16 Mammal, a tailless sort – positive about that? (8)
PLATYPUS
A charade of A and TYP[E] inserted into PLUS gives you the Australian egg-laying mammal, one of only five species in the monotreme order.

18 Doctor in new role after time identifying quivering effect (7)
TREMOLO
A charade of T and an insertion of MO for Medical Orderly or ‘doctor’ in (ROLE)*

20 Lean period present again in dramatic form (7)
RESTAGE
A charade of REST and AGE.

21 Part of journey with purpose in story (6)
LEGEND
A charade of LEG and END

23 One not clear about old expression (5)
IDIOM
An insertion of O in I and DIM.

Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.

17 comments on “Everyman 3754/23 September”

  2. A lot enjoyable in this puzzle. I found the NW corner was the last to solve. Shook my head when I finally got footpath, and was reluctant for a while about air meaning feeling. But the challenge for this NZ resident was trading estate, the trading part only coming because if the crossers. It’s not a term I’m familiar with – they are called industrial states here. So I had to resort to Google to convince myself.

  3. Is this your first comment here, Pinky?  If so, welcome.  We do get a number of comments on the Everyman blog from NZ residents, but usually a few weeks in arrears, as the puzzle is syndicated in your country around a month after it appears here.  Check out previous blogs if you want to see what they’ve been discussing.

  4. This was an excellent puzzle and by far the hardest Everyman I can remember – it took me far longer than the Picaroon prize the day before. Like Pierre FOOTPATH was loi. I didn’t parse 9a and I had lots of ticks – I think the anagram for POISONED CHALICE was my favourite. Many thanks Pierre and Everyman.

  5. Thanks Everyman and Pierre

    Welcome Pinky

    It may be different in NZ, but here there’s a distinction between industrial and trading estates. The former tend to be more in the manufacturing and light industry sector, not generally frequented by the general public, while the latter are collections of retail superstores of varying types, to which the general public flock, especially at weekends.

    hth

  6. Thank you Everyman and Pierre.

    FOOTPATH was also the last in for me, I had gaffer and pater blocking my thought processes.  The clue for POISONED CHALICE was my favourite, as it seems to have been for WhiteKing @4,  another of Everyman’s super anagrams.

    Still no birds for Pierre …

  7. Hi Simon S
    In NZ the retail estates are likely to be called Shopping Malls, even if they are not covered, or even just Shopping Centres, even though that also refers to an old style shopping street. It’s not confusing though, because everyone knows where and what these monstrous developments are.
    Not my first post, though I usually just lurk in the background reading others’ posts. Also I generally do this crossword on line, rather than wait for it to appear in the NZ Herald. I find that if it’s three or four weeks later that I’m getting to read the blog I’ve forgotten what my experience of the puzzle was like!

  8. Quite a tricky puzzle I thought. I ended up with three clues that I couldn’t get until I saw POISONED CHALICE which meant that TREMBLE  was wrong (of course it’s wrong because it’s got no ‘o’ in it from *ROLE). So having got TREMOLO, my last clue was SUMMON. I liked FOOTPATH (sneaky), PIANO (good surface) and OFFSPRING (another good surface).

    Thanks to Pierre and Everyman.

  11. Spent ages on 1a assuming it had to end RY being Extremely RevolutionarY. Also couldn’t shake off Frilly for 1d. Agree with Pinky on Trading Estate and as 1a still ended RY I was in a deep hole. I really must heed the advice of someone on here ages ago saying if an idea didn’t seem to work, abandon it and try another. Was it you, Pierre? Or PeterO? No matter.

    Good crossword.

  12. I was also trying to get an ‘RY ‘ in 1 ac but eventually got footpath. Pinky is right about Trading Estate. That was my last one in. But I thought this was a good crossword and pleased that I could finish it.
    Favourites were offspring and dialogue.

  13. Seems everyone down here struggled on the same ones.Even when I had the F I could not find footpath until a lot later ..then wondered why it was the answer
    Loved 26ac 1d and 2d a good challenge for a long weekend

  14. This was an excellent puzzle. Lots of very good clues. Enjoyed 1ac, 9ac, 22ac (my favourite dinosaur!) and 8dn.

     

  15. Never heard of “trading estate”.

    Went with “frilly” for 1 down, even though “ril” doesn’t make sense.  Psigh!

    Don’t get 19 across.  Does “sub” equal “reserve”?  Makes no sense to me.

    The rest was pretty easy.

  16. Great crossword in the sun after unsuccessful morning’s fishing. Rolf it’s the sporty noun reserve as in substitute or sub for short

Comments are closed.