Another sound Sunday puzzle from Everyman. Last week we had different clues in the online and dead-tree versions; this week we have a lack of spacing in some clues where Everyman has chosen to italicise some words, which is annoying if not life-changing. This is going to carry on happening as long as the paper doesn’t have a crossword editor.
The obligatory clue-pair this week is to be found in the two outside down clues: PEPPERED STEAK and KIDNEY DISEASE.
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 Fervently adored hymn, In The Bag
HOME AND DRY
(ADORED HYMN)* with ‘fervently’ as the anagrind.
9 To raise some children? No blessing
ENNOBLE
Hidden in childrEN NO BLEssing.
10 Oriental force, hostile and red
CHIANTI
A charade of CHI and ANTI.
11 A lever to push, by the sound of it
PEDAL
A homophone of PEDDLE.
12 Primarily, ecologists’ crusade: release of gases
EMISSION
A charade of E for the first letter of ‘ecologists’ and MISSION.
14 Twisted mess, they say? It’s not oblique
RIGHT ANGLE
A homophone (‘they say’) of RIGHT TANGLE. Or it is in everyday speech, where most people would make the elision (in the same was as practically no-one says PRIME MINISTER, but rather PRY MINISTER, or HISTRY rather than HISTORY). In geometry, an oblique angle is an angle that is not a right angle or a multiple of a right angle, so it’s a definition by exception.
Edit: as several contributors have pointed out, there’s no need to get so complicated. It’s just a homophone of WRY TANGLE.
15 Disburden yourself in part: say ‘no’
DENY
Hidden in disburDEN Yourself.
17 Primarily dim and fairly thick?
DAFT
A cad. The initial letters of the last four words of the clue.
19 Favourite of the Queen, he’s entangled with cowgirl
WELSH CORGI
(HES COWGIRL)* with ‘entangled’ as the anagrind.
21 Clothing from River Island included in something to treat woman
TEE-SHIRT
A charade of the North-Eastern river TEES followed by I inserted into HRT for Hormone Replacement Therapy, which is a treatment option for menopausal women.
23 Old hat (pork-pie), on vacation, worn by buffoon
PASSÉ
An insertion (‘worn by’) of ASS in PE for the outside letters (‘on vacation’) of ‘pork-pie’.
25 ‘Then!’ … ‘Any minute now!’ … (etc)
AND SO ON
A charade of AND and SOON.
26 Where a ruble’s circulated?
BELARUS
Another cad. (A RUBLES)* The currency in that part of the world is the Belarussian ruble. Ruble and rouble are both accepted spellings.
27 First signs of opposing Brexit: time ended by prorogation evokes passions
OBSESSIONS
A charade of the first letters of ‘opposing’ and ‘Brexit’ and SESSIONS. When Alexander decided to strategically (and ultimately illegally) prorogue Parliament last year, the Parliamentary SESSION ended.
Down
1 Put 19 to death, perhaps, for appearing guilty
HANGDOG
I’m anti-monarchy personally, but that’s a bit harsh even for me. A cd cum dd.
2 Thousand members of aristocracy decapitated for a kind of freedom
MOBILITY
Everyman is inviting you to remove the first letter of NOBILITY and replace it with M for ‘thousand’.
3 Inhaling helium in the morning: excuse me!
AHEM
An insertion of HE in AM.
4 European Community overcome by mad idealism to get rid of the pound, etc
DECIMALISE
An insertion of EC in (IDEALISM)* I’m not going to be pedantic, but we didn’t get rid of the pound when decimalisation took place in 1971; we simply divided it into tens rather than twelves.
5 Miser, drunk, in Champagne city
REIMS
(MISER)* for the French city which English people pronounce as ‘reams’ but which in fact is pronounced nothing like that.
6 Keep speed trap working? That might be rare
PEPPERED STEAK
(KEEP SPEED TRAP)*
7 Leaves tip? Everyman has
ENDIVE
A charade of END and I’VE (‘Everyman has’).
8 Yes indeed, I ask about diagnosis
KIDNEY DISEASE
(YES INDEED I ASK)* Fair enough, it’s an anagram, but it’s a fairly random definition, and is only there to give the paired clue with STEAK.
13 Writer where bonnets aren’t endlessly represented!
ANNE BRONTË
(BONNET[S] AREN[T])* with ‘represented’ as the anagrind gives you the youngest Brontë sister. I haven’t read enough of the sisters’ work to say whether the surface reading has a nod toward the truth.
16 Latin offered by a top university, first third of course somewhere in Latin America
ACAPULCO
A charade of A, CAP, U, L and CO for the first two letters of ‘course’.
18 Deals with American comedian
FIELDS
A dd, referencing W C (‘never work with animals or children’) FIELDS.
20 Makes another list of holiday destinations
RESORTS
Another dd.
22 Explosive on the fringes, hubbub includes rising rabble
H-BOMB
An insertion of MOB reversed in HB for the outer letters (‘fringes’) of ‘hubbub’.
24 A bird spotted in hibiscus
IBIS
Hidden in hIBIScus and a chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. There are twenty-eight species of ibis, but the scarlet ibis is the one I have chosen, because its spectacular colouring will hopefully brighten up a January morning.
Many thanks to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre. In 14 I took the homophone to be ‘wry tangle’.
In 4, the pound could be the weight…
The paired STEAK and KIDNEY is continuing a theme then?
I do believe we have some spam above.
As did Gonzo, I took a wry approach to 14a. The oblique reference made the clue easier after Boatman’s triangular puzzle on Friday. There’s a blizzard outside here in Ottawa , so thank you Pierre for the most welcome summery colour, and thanks Everyman for another satisfying puzzle.
I believe 14a might be WRY TANGLE instead of RIGHT TANGLE, which would spare your hand-wringing over dropped consonants
Thanks both. I must be more pedantic than you, Pierre, because 4d (“getting rid of the pound”) really annoyed me. Old pennies and half crowns went, but the quid survived.
I went with wry too. Does decimalise include pounds to kilos? Thank you to all contributors. I always enjoy reading the comments.
Thanks, Pierre.
I thought decimalisation applied to currency, and metrication to things like pounds/kilos, miles/kilometres etc, but Chambers has …
dec?imalize or dec?imalise transitive verb
To convert to a decimal system, esp the metric system
… so 4d probably refers to lbs, not £.
Thanks Miche @ 9 – I am pacified now
Wry for ‘twisted’ of course in 14ac. My bad. Blog corrected.
I have also removed the spam that Skinny refers to in what has now become comment #2.
I think that some of my irritation at 4d is because, at school in the late 50’s and all of the 60’s, I was taught to use the metric system of length and weights. So “decimalisation” means (to me) that day in February 1971 when “real” money was replaced by “funny” money.
Pierre, I do enjoy reading your blogs!
Like you at the outset, I missed the WRY in RIGHT ANGLE, believing it to be merely an aural elision and, having now read the comments, I feel both interpretations work.
Unlike you I was forced to read just about all the Brontës’ books at school, and really didn’t enjoy the experience. (I mean, clearly the poor souls must have had a miserable time, stuck in a draughty parsonage with that spoilt brat of a brother, but – to misquote the marvellous and much-missed Neil Innes – they suffered for their writing and now it was my turn…). Bonnets must have been in the books somewhere, but I honestly can’t remember any making their presence felt.
I enjoyed the steak ‘n’ kidney, grinned at WELSH CORGI & HANGDOG, and liked the economy of CHIANTI. Thanks to Everyman for a fine puzzle.
A good Sunday puzzle; thanks Everyman.
I, too, was a bit mystified by getting rid of the pound but I guess it could relate to pounds weight as noted by some of the above.
I think ‘diagnosis’ is the identification of a disease, not the disease itself; so, complaint or some such would have been better.
I particularly liked the pork-pie hat, thanks to Pierre for a good blog.
Not a difficult puzzle but I spent ages trying the solve the last clue : 7d Leaves tip? Everyman has (6). I just couldn’t see the answer although it seems so obvious. I ended up putting
ENTIRE because one definition relates to leaves or petals having a smooth edge. Aha I thought, it’s a DD, edge=tip and Everyman=entire. Just trying to justify myself for getting one wrong. Oh the shame !. Enjoyable puzzle all the same. Many thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
I feel a pedantic mood coming on re 4dn, though perhaps even more so than Shirl @5
Before 1971, the pound was not divided into 12ths. It was divided into quarters (crowns), twentieths (shillings) and even tenths (florins), but I don’t recall a 20d coin or unit of currency (“Have you got ten twentipences for a quid?”).
Now we do have a 20p coin, but it doesn’t have a name like “new florin” so isn’t – to my mind – a subdivision of teh currency A least, I can’t remember asking for “10 twentypencepieces for a quid”… or 10 “neoflorins”….
Oh, rant over. That was cathartic 🙂
Thanks Everyman, and thanks @Pierre particularly for 21ac where I had TEE SHIRT but hadn’t worked out how to derive it from the clue.
The lack of spacing to which Pierre refers affects the online but not the printed version. So I suspect the spaces went missing in the process of transcribing the original definition onto the website. Picking up that kind of error might or might not be part of the job description of a crossword editor.
Trismegistus @ 15
V good, but don’t forget eighths (half crowns), and 240ths (pennies). You can then move on to further subdivisions (halfpennies, farthings) and multiples (threepences, tanners). 😉
I hope the supposed ‘golden age’ we’re allegedly about to embark on doesn’t resurrect these complications.
I enjoyed this puzzle. My only quibble is that the wordplay in 27a seems to lead to OBSESSION, not OBSESSIONS, but that’s minor.
I’m another who thought of RIGHT TANGLE, but WRY TANGLE is surely the intention. I assumed that decimalisation referred to currency and didn’t even notice the problem with that (viz., that the pound didn’t go away then).
I failed to parse TEE-SHIRT, forgetting the abbreviation HRT, although it is one that in principle I knew.
Great crossword which for me was a fairly quick solve after being stumped last week. Didn’t manage to parse 21a being ignorant of English rivers and menopausal treatments. Especially enjoyed the misdirection in 10a & fancied the 5 part clue in 16d was one even Colin G would be proud of.
Thanks Everyman & Pierre.
7a. Thought this could be ENGINE. Original meaning, per online Concise Oxford, is ingenuity or cunning. So leaves tip (clue) because Everyman is cunning !
Also love the comments. Thanks to all.
Didn’t know Chi and bunged in a few unparsed. Thought 25 a bit feeble. I was another Right ‘angle grumbler, what is a ‘wry tangle’ anyway? Otherwise all straightforward. Home and dry (or as we say here home and hosed) in 3/4 hour. Everymans usually take me longer.
Never heard of anyone in a ‘wry tangle’, but have definitely heard of people getting into a ‘right tangle’.
Another great crossword for me, thoroughly enjoyable. The misdirection in 10 across was devious and had me stumped.
Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Like others I got 21 across (“tee-shirt”) but could not parse it. Thanks to Pierre for the explanation; thanks to Everyman for a great puzzle.
Incidentally here n NZ with metrication / decimalisation we got rid of both pounds; the first went to kilograms and the second to dollars.