The Observer crossword from Sept 30, 2018
All good again but a crossword that was perhaps slightly easier than the recent Everymen (?!).
As often mentioned by Pierre in his blogs, there were a lot of charades and envelopes – more than usual, I thought.
That said, enjoyable as ever.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SIDEKICK | Partner in punt next to bank (8) |
| KICK (punt, in football) + SIDE (bank), confusingly in that order | ||
| 5 | ADRIFT | Loose plug split (6) |
| AD (plug) + RIFT (split) | ||
| 10 | ALL IN | Section of vital links wiped out (3,2) |
| Hidden answer [section of]: vital links For this definition it is essential that there is no hyphen in the answer. |
||
| 11 | REHEARSAL | Catches in actual practice (9) |
| HEARS (catches) inside REAL (actual) | ||
| 12 | RUMMAGE | Odd game disrupted search (7) |
| RUM (odd) + anagram [disrupted] of GAME | ||
| 13 | SURGEON | One qualified to operate system initially and press ahead (7) |
| S[ystem] + URGE ON (press ahead) | ||
| 14 | CHAMP AT THE BIT | Show impatience in talk about politician with silly hat, I bet (5,2,3,3) |
| CHAT (talk) around {MP (politician) + anagram [silly] of HAT I BET} | ||
| 17 | STAFFORDSHIRE | Saint provides charter for county (13) |
| ST (Saint) + AFFORDS (provides) + HIRE (charter) | ||
| 20 | PIRANHA | Fierce aquatic creature? Old man, to catch one, worked hard (7) |
| PA (old man) around {I (one) + RAN (worked) + H (hard)} | ||
| 21 | SLANDER | Defamation put down in sermon? Not half (7) |
| LAND (put down) inside SER[mon] | ||
| 23 | CONCIERGE | Terribly egocentric, having no time for hotel employee (9) |
| Anagram [terribly] of EGOCENTRIC minus T (time) | ||
| 24 | SUPER | Smashing odd bits of sculpted alabaster finally (5) |
| The odd letters of Sculpted , followed by [alabaste]R | ||
| 25 | STYLED | Farmyard enclosure was first to be designed (6) |
| STY (farmyard enclosure) + LED (was first) | ||
| 26 | STITCH-UP | Irritation in places about unfair arrangement (6-2) |
| ITCH (irritation) inside a reversal [about] of PUTS (places) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHAMROCK | Fiction with foundation in Irish emblem (8) |
| SHAM (fiction) + ROCK (foundation)
|
||
| 2 | DILEMMA | Problem raised in middle of eating fruit? Not on (7) |
| Reversal [raised] of AMID (in middle of) going around [eating] LEMON (fruit) minus ON Probably the most difficult clue to parse today? |
||
| 3 | KENYA | Range over unknown area in country (5) |
| KEN (range) + Y (unknown) + A (area) | ||
| 4 | CURRENT AFFAIRS | Wild ranter during strike gives publicity to topical events (7,7) |
| Anagram [wild] of RANTER going inside {CUFF (strike) + AIRS (gives publicity to)} | ||
| 6 | DIATRIBES | Group of people in rising uttered verbal attacks (9) |
| TRIBE (group of people) inside a reversal [rising] of SAID (uttered) | ||
| 7 | INSPECT | Examine bug restricting power (7) |
| INSECT (bug) around P (power) | ||
| 8 | TALENT | Story not without heart and skill (6) |
| TALE (story) + N[o]T | ||
| 9 | PHOSPHORESCENT | Glowing broadcast cons the shopper (14) |
| Anagram [broadcast] of CONS THE SHOPPER Nice word. |
||
| 15 | PLAINTIVE | Simple obligation, guarding against being mournful (9) |
| PLAIN (simple) + TIE (obligation), going around V (against) | ||
| 16 | PEAR DROP | Sweet daughter after attention surrounded by support (4,4) |
| D (daughter) coming after EAR (attention), together inside PROP (support) Quite a coincidence that this ‘word’ also appeared in yesterday’s Monk (Independent), with a similar construction. |
||
| 17 | SPRINGY | Elastic band round plant? On the contrary (7) |
| SPY (plant) around RING (band), instead of the other way round For those who wonder about SPY = ‘plant’ [as I did], for example the SOED gives us for ‘plant’: “A spy, a detective; a group or cordon of detectives, hidden police officers, etc. [slang]”. It can also be used as a verb. |
||
| 18 | IN-DEPTH | Detailed description’s first suppressed by useless hotel (2-5) |
| D[escription] inside INEPT (useless) + H (hotel) | ||
| 19 | SPACES | Empty areas in resort dry up (6) |
| SPA (resort) + reversal [up] of SEC (dry) | ||
| 22 | ASSET | Advantage when prepared (5) |
| AS (when) + SET (prepared) | ||
Thoroughly enjoyable as ever from Everyman. And yes, I thought this was easier than par, more akin to the difficulty level I remember from the old Everyman.
Thank you Everyman and Sil.
I agree with Jon_S @1, and, yes, I found DILEMMA difficult to parse, was the fruit meant to be MELon or LEMon, finally saw that it had to be the latter.
As usual, a SUPER anagram, that for PHOSPHORESCENT.
Getting closer to my first complete one. A few caught me out, but the explanations here are invaluable. Thanks to all. K
I found the SW corner a bit tricky, not helped by misspelling Phosphorescent. Springy and Spaces and Styled all took a while to arrive.
The setter has found just the right level of difficulty with this one. As Jon@1 said it is reminiscent of the old Everyman that I so enjoyed. Would have finished this quickly if I hadn’t put ‘ chafe at the bit’ instead of ‘champ at the bit’. Took ages to get plaintive because of that.
Good crossword.
Agreed, this was quite an easy puzzle. Didn’t take me long to finish. Favourite clue was SPRINGY
NW was last for me & I couldn’t parse 1a or 2d so thanks Sil. For 1d I actually convinc myself that punt was side as in side bet and kick was bank as in a banked race track that kicks up.