The new setter of the Everyman series kindly dropped into last week’s blog to introduce him/herself and indicate that there would be from now on one setter of the weekly puzzle that we all know and love. This was another sound, well-crafted and entertaining cryptic, where as a blogger I could concentrate on explaining and elaborating on the clues rather than criticising or justifying them. Happy days.
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 Plain-spoken physicist ignoring one madman in laboratory
FRANKENSTEIN
A charade of FRANK and E[I]NSTEIN, and reminding us that the monster is not so-called. The solution is referencing his creator, Victor FRANKENSTEIN.
10 Fancy car frequently encroaching where bus picks up passengers
SOFT TOP
An insertion of OFT in STOP.
11 Fruit, overwhelming touching gifts
DONATES
An insertion of ON for ‘touching’ in the physical sense in DATES.
12 Muscat resident to retire shortly
IN A MO
A reversal (‘to retire’) of OMANI.
13 Horribly mutilate? That’s extreme
ULTIMATE
(MUTILATE)*
15 Swimming around lagoons, she takes it easy
HANGS LOOSE
(LAGOONS SHE)*
16 Happy to see prime minister losing weight
GLAD
GLAD[STONE]
18 Furthermore sighted in Yugoslavia after revolution
ALSO
Hidden reversed in YugOSLAvia.
20 Those turned out in Tudor guise?
TOUR GUIDES
(TUDOR GUISE)* with ‘turned out’ as the anagram, and a cad.
22 Once again, insist phrase is rejected in paper
REAFFIRM
An insertion of RIFF reversed in REAM. The reversal indicator is ‘rejected’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.
24 Unless God did what Jesus did
SAVED
A charade of SAVE for a synonym of ‘unless’ and D for Deus or ‘God’.
26 Resident of Punjab (a state)
INDIANA
A charade of INDIAN and A gives you the US state.
27 Councillor admitted getting bonked on the head
CROWNED
A charade of CR and OWNED.
28 American artist trained in the stencil
LICHTENSTEIN
(IN THE STENCIL)* Referencing Roy Lichtenstein, whose work you may think you’ve never seen, but if you follow this link, you might remind yourself that you have.
Down
2 ‘Stop!’ Who stops play? What stops play?
REFRAIN
A charade of REF, the person who stops play in footie (other sports are available) and RAIN, which stops play in cricket. A bit too regularly at the moment, with the May we are having.
3 Lunatic to criticise vegetarian’s choice
NUT ROAST
A charade of NUT and ROAST.
4 Sexpot’s revealing show
EXPO
Hidden in sEXPOt.
5 Having energetically lassoed, red and aching in the rear
SADDLE-SORE
(LASSOED RED)*
6 During night in Paris, almost gives way to tiredness
ENNUI
The clue works if you take the two French words for ‘during’ and ‘night’ – it’s EN NUI[T].
7 Following Nureyev’s primacy, ballet dancing is an activity no longer associated solely with girls
NETBALL
A charade of N for the first letter of ‘Nureyev’ and (BALLET)* Netball is becoming popular with boys, especially at school, where it’s played up to a certain age in mixed-sex teams.
8 Sound of garish Sinatra medley
AS RIGHT AS RAIN
(GARISH SINATRA)*
9 Much sicker than a parrot?
AS DEAD AS A DODO
A whimsical cd.
14 Black, for example: speedy, but now unlikely to run
COLOUR-FAST
A charade of COLOUR and FAST.
17 Interrupted instruction to army barber
CUT SHORT
A cd cum dd, referring to the fact that army recruits usually end up with very short hair.
19 Shocking thing: in cold, wearing open-toed footwear
SCANDAL
Everyman is inviting you to insert C into SANDAL.
21 Michelangelo’s work incomplete essentially, fancied his rival
DA VINCI
A charade of DAVI[D] and NCI for the middle letters (‘essentially’) of faNCIed.
23 Monk hiding half the Swiss loot
FRANC
FRANC[ISCAN]
25 Glance negligently at and make a detailed copy of
SCAN
A dd.
Many thanks to Everyman for this Sunday’s puzzle. More like this please.
Thank you to both. I too found this more like what I expected. With the long down clues I wondered about a theme then realised the long across clues had more “attendants” but not enough for a real theme. Vaguely arty is as good as I could get.
Loved DEAD AS A DODO – that raised a smile. The anagrams were all very accessible but that might not be a bad thing for those starting out on crosswords. So, not too taxing but clearly clued and that is welcome.
I couldn’t parse 24a SAVE + D? Now I see that D=Deus/god. I was not very keen on this clue, but I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Many thanks Pierre and Everyman, that’s good news and great to see more of the same enjoyable fare today. I can look forward to my Sunday morning coffee again without trepidation!
I’ll echo others comments – one or two of the recent Everyman puzzles have been more difficult than expected, and it is nice to get back to my Sunday morning routine without fearing that lunch will burn before I finish the crossword!
We have not expected in the past that Everyman should include themes, pangrams, ninjas or any other of the more esoteric tricks. But why not? As a gentler device, I did enjoy the way 1ac and 28ac mirrored each other, as did 8dn and 9dn.
Many thanks to Everyman and Pierre.
Yes, enjoyable solve; the only slight niggle I had was that I think that admitted is owned up, rather than just owned.
I ticked REFRAIN, NETBALL and COLOUR-FAST.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Robi @5. Here’s an example of admitted as just owned:
http://en.oxforddictionaries.com/thesaurus/own
Very nice. 2D was my favourite.
thanks to Pierre and Everyman
I thought this was easily the best of the new-era Everymans so far – fair with a great deal of wit.
NETBALL was a little awkward, and an insult to Nijinsky though. 😉
Interesting that “essentially” in 21d is used conventionally to indicate central letters, whereas it was used unusually a few weeks ago to signify initial letters. A different setter perhaps?
I also enjoyed this puzzle a great deal. The construction of the clues was mostly sound and clever, with some good surfaces. I particularly liked the plain-spoken physicist and the Sinatra medley, as well as the amusing construction of 2d.
Having said that, I can’t resist some quibbles!
26a needs a definition-by-example indicator, as not all Indians are Punjabi.
“essentially fancied” = NCI seems too imprecise for me: Could it be used to indicate any central portion of the word (i.e., ANCIE, NCI, or C), as well as the initial letter as Nila Palin points out?
My dictionaries don’t support D as an abbreviation meaning “god”, but maybe I just haven’t looked at the right ones. I think I may have seen d.v. for “deo volente” at some point, and maybe d.g. for “dei gratia”. Is this one of those cases where a single letter is being extracted from a multiword abbreviation? That way madness lies, in my opinion: it opens up so many possibilities that the solver would have to assume that more or less any word could be replaced by its initial.
Ted @9, I think 26a is fine. It’s not saying “resident of India” to get Punjabi, but the opposite.
I would expect to see “essentially” for the middle letter, or the two middle letters if the clue has an even number of letters. So NCI in fancied is unusual, but more justifiable than using it for the first letter.
D for Deus/God is supported by Chambers.
Nila Palin @10 —
My understanding is that, to a strict Ximenean, a definition-by-example indicator is warranted when one is using an example to indicate the whole category: one can use “dog” to indicate “poodle”, but to go the other way requires an indicator. If that’s so, then the indicator is required: not all Indians are residents of Punjab, just as not all dogs are poodles. But it seems clear that this rule is not, and perhaps should not be, strictly adhered to in all cases. There’s a nice discussion of the question here.
Thanks for the information about D = deus being in Chambers. In that case, I cheerfully withdraw that quibble. The online dictionary one finds at chambers.co.uk doesn’t include this, but I know that that source is not the canonical Chambers that crossword solvers refer to. I should really get my hands on the One True Chambers.
Ted, thank you for the reply. I take your point that a “perhaps” or similar would make the clue technically watertight, albeit at the expense of a smoother surface. An interesting area of contention, but for me this particular clue was fair as it was. But then… “perhaps” would obviate any doubt about “state” doing double duty to distinguish the Indian state from the province of Punjab in Pakistan? I’m overthinking it!
I cannot believe this is the same setter who has simply found their feet. Perhaps we shall never know, but this was indeed a far better puzzle which I solved in a bit over an hour and thoroughly enjoyed.
The only niggle was 20A which to me lacks a definition. Or is it supposed to be an &Lit and there are tour guides sporting Tudor kit somewhere in Blighty that we are meant to know about?
Very enjoyable, I hope this standard keeps up. Ennui to me means boredom, had to go to the dictionary to confirm the definition extended to tiredness. Was in Fiji last week so missed the Everyman’s contribution to this blog. Most enlightening
Took me a while to get started and needed to cheat a bit, but once I got going and cottoned on I began to enjoy it. Liked the similes down the sides and the top and bottom clues which mirrored each other. Couldn’t parse quite a few, as usual, especially tour guides which I still don’t get. Agree with Barrie.
Nice to be missed last week, Rats. No,I’m fine.have had a short break but also been very busy trying to get the book I’m writing ready for digital printing. (Just a family history).
I really enjoyed this one and thought some of the clues were extremely clever My favourites were Donates, In a Mo,Indiana, Cut Short and Colour Fast. I appreciate the blog to see the thinking – all too often I do get the answer but am not always sure of its construction….lots of aha moments. The one I didnt get 3d was stupidly missed. With a vegan in the house you’d think I would get NutRoast but I was stuck on Not something. Thank goodness havent been asked to make that. Good to know we are all getting used to this setter.
Another great crossword. What a welcome return to the Everyman tradition! The hardest thing was finding it buried in Canvas and coping with the grease-proof paper, though I did need help with the French. Thank you new Everyman. Hope you stick around for a while.
Forgive me but I still can’t say I’m enjoying the new Everyman(men?). Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by doing too many Picaroons. We shall see.
@Audrey Good to hear ?
Sorry that was meant to be an exclamation mark and not a question mark. 🙂
A cracking crossword that raised a few smiles. More of the same please! Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Yes, we are back in our happy place. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
Liked this a lot, still a few tricky ones but overall keep going with this please! My fave was 12ac, he liked 2d.