Another pleasing puzzle from Everyman and perhaps a diversion for some from an Easter egg hunt in a frost-covered garden. Recognising that many readers of the blog will be those in the early stages of their cryptic careers, I have tried to give full explanations; but if there’s anything that’s not clear, you know what to do.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
6 Pastry‘s sour: bit of tarragon the French included
TARTLET
An insertion of T for the first letter of ‘tarragon’ and LE for one of the words for ‘the’ in French inserted into TART. The insertion indicator is ‘included’.
7 Tea room sent back plaited loaf
CHALLAH
A charade of CHA and HALL reversed gives you the Jewish bread. The reversal indicator is ‘sent back’.
9 The origin of Emmaus, Liebesahnung, Gloria, Arthur and Rosemary!
ELGAR
The first letters of the italicised words of the clue and a cad, since all the works mentioned are by Edward ELGAR.
10 Tried to listen with attention, like a judge
EARWIGGED
A charade of EAR and WIGGED. An informal verb for listening in furtively on a conversation; the equivalent dialect word where I live is tab-hanging.
11 Cuthbert, less bold, quivering somewhere in Low Countries
UTRECHT
(CUTH[B]ERT)* The anagrind is ‘quivering’ and the removal indicator is ‘less’.
13 Some boycott a warmonger: capital!
OTTAWA
Hidden in boycOTT A WArmonger. The capital of Canada, of course.
15 Completes, romantically what icers do, showing enormous flair
CONSUMMATE SKILL
A charade of CONSUMMATES and KILL. To ‘ice’ is a slang word for to KILL.
17 Numbers intended to be heard by more; words intended to be heard by fewer
A-SIDES
It took me a while to see this, but when I did realise that it was a dd, I liked it a lot for the brevity and contrast of its surface. A-SIDES, referencing a vinyl disc (they’re making a comeback) would be the ones you’d listen to first, since they had the ‘hit’ on them (cf B-SIDES); ASIDES in a theatre are meant to be heard by the audience, but not the other characters on stage.
18 Stretchy base: perhaps Tupperware loses lid
ELASTIC
A charade of E and [P]LASTIC. The number e is a mathematical constant which is the ‘base’ for a logarithm; Tupperware is such a common trademark that I think Everyman is entitled to use it as a synonym for ‘plastic’, particularly since he has prefaced it with ‘perhaps’.
21 Honouring monarch around end of day
KNIGHTING
An insertion of NIGHT in KING. The insertion indicator is ‘around’.
22 A pooch rolled over, having eaten last of bleu cheese
GOUDA
An insertion of U for the last letter of ‘bleu’ in A DOG reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘having eaten’ and the reversal indicator is ‘rolled over’.
24 Unexpectedly encounter ram
RUN INTO
A dd.
25 Health Secretary who reluctantly gave blood?
HANCOCK
A potential non-starter for overseas solvers, since it’s very much a UK-centric clue. It’s a dd: the two HANCOCKS are Matt Hancock, currently the UK Health Secretary in the Conservative government, and Tony Hancock, the comedian who died by suicide way back in 1968. The latter was very famous in his day, however, and his blood donor sketch has become a classic. ‘I don’t mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That’s very nearly an armful!’
Down
1 Dress up and show off
BRAG
A reversal of GARB with ‘up’ as the reversal indicator in a down clue.
2 ‘Uncle Ricky’: deep down inside, a father
CLERIC
Hidden in UnCLE RICky.
3 Everyman’s with drunken ‘best mate’; I’ve no idea why
IT BEATS ME
A charade of I for ‘Everyman’ and (BEST MATE)* The anagrind is ‘drunken’.
4 Sir, a tab’s arranged for those at the drinks counter
BARISTAS
(SIR A TABS)* with ‘arranged’ as the anagrind.
5 Topless beekeeper going round trail: his ideas aren’t fresh!
PLAGIARIST
An insertion of LAG IN [A]PIARIST. The insertion indicator is ‘going round’ and ‘topless’ is your instruction to remove the initial letter.
6 Brazil might prove resistant to this ballet?
THE NUTCRACKER
A cd cum dd. The brazil nut is a tough one to crack, especially with the ancient pair of nutcrackers that only see use at Yuletide.
7 Announced roadside limit
CURB
A homophone (‘announced’) of KERB. Except if you are a speaker of American English, where the clue would work with only the last two words.
8 Curly hid a playing card: that’ll help in raising!
HYDRAULIC JACK
A charade of (CURLY HID A)* and JACK. The anagrind is ‘playing’.
12 Performances: when they’re extraordinary, they’re secret?
RENDITIONS
Everyman is referencing the term EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION, the government-backed abduction and transfer of a person from one jurisdiction to another which is by its nature done in secrecy. The United States of America is the number one offender.
14 Set free knight who’s regularly hidden assets
STRENGTHS
Hidden regularly in SeT fReE kNiGhT wHoS.
16 ‘It’s used for plastic coating‘: what Macbeth wanted to hear?
URETHANE
URETHANE is a compound which in liquid form is used, among other things, as a coating. The Shakespearean reference is to the fact that Macbeth was the Thane of Glamis, and then the Thane of Cawdor, so in an act of status confirmation, might want to be told ‘You’re a thane’ (which is a homophone of the solution). Thane is derived from the Old English word þegn, meaning ‘servant’ or ‘attendant’, but in the play’s context it means a man who holds land from a Scottish king.
19 Once clothing removed, managing to treat disorder
ANGINA
([M]ANAGIN[G])* The anagrind is ‘to treat’ and ‘once clothing removed’ is the instruction to take off the outside letters.
20 Artist seen in mailroom every now and then
MIRO
Every other letter of MaIlRoOm. Referencing Joan Miró, the Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist.
23 Company abandoned voucher: it’s over!
UPON
[CO]UPON. The words ‘over’ and UPON need to be taken in their locative sense to show equivalence.
Many thanks to Everyman for the Easter Sunday puzzle.
I was puzzled over the parsing of HANCOCK – I remembered Matt (is? was?) Health Secretary, but what was the blood about? – until I remembered the famous Tony Hancock sketch. A-SIDES had me stumped until a lovely PDM (snap!, Pierre) – as also happened with URETHANE (please, please, nobody start a homophone discussion here!). ELASTIC doesn’t exactly mean stretchy – rather, that it will return to its shape after deformation – not necessarily by stretching. The topless beekeeper was a nice image. I guess the matching pair is CRACKERJACK. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
You’re a thane made me grin and groan out loud. Hancock was a total bung..didn’t know Matt the health minister, and don’t remember any particular sketch of Tony’s…I always found him rather depressing, poor chap. Agree technically with TT that elasticity and stretchiness aren’t equivalent, but forgiveably near enough in ordinary lay language. A pleasant Sunday puzzle, ta EnP.
Found this quite difficult. Gave up on 17ac and 16d.
Favourite: THE NUTCRACKER.
Solved but did not parse: HANCOCK. I know of ‘DoorMatt’ but not Tony.
Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
Hancock and The Blood Donor
Thank you for the blog, very informative. Splendid effort from Everyman,, recent improvement is continuing.
Thought this was a lovely puzzle though sadly did not get UPON.
LOI was HANCOCK. I thought that was the answer on first reading but it seemed too obvious and I couldn’t work out how to parse it. But the crossers confirmed that it must be the answer and suddenly Tony Hanock popped into my mind – off to Goggle and I found the famous sketch.
A-SIDES made me smile – definitely an aha moment.
Other favourites: CONSUMMATE SKILL, ELASTIC (took me a while to remember e = base) PLAGIARIST, RENDITION.
Like GiF @2 URETHANE made me groan.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
To be pedantic, the coating is polyurethane.
Does anyone else remember Dr. Strabismus, whom God preserve, of Utrecht?
LOI was 17a (by some margin) but when it did go in, it really did make me LOL.
As an ex-chemist, I concur with muffin – plastic coatings are all polymers
Thanks to Everyman and Pierre
More than a handful (in fact, almost an armful) of good clues, I thought. In crosswords (though not in health policy) I am happy for a little scientific inaccuracy for the sake of a joke. RENDITIONS was clever, as was A-SIDES, though I foolishly toyed with A-lists for a while.
[Muffin @7: Yes, I’ll admit to Dr. Strabismus. I must dig out my Best of Beachcomber sometime and refresh my memory.]
Lumme, Muffin @7 I do! But could you list the names of the twelve red-bearded dwarves? Aged about 15 I came across that sketch and lay there howling with laughter for some 20 minutes or so.
Very enjoyable. A-SIDES and URETHANE were the stand-out clues. (I suppose if you wanted to quibble about the latter you could point out that Macbeth already was a Thane – of Glamis – at the start of the play. The witches prophesied that he would become Thane of Cawdor, and then King. But before the action starts there was no doubt a time when his ambition was to become a Thane.)
Many thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Good Sunday crossword.
I didn’t know CHALLAH, and it took a while for me to connect with Tony Hancock’s blood donor – both definitions needed GK, unfortunately. According to the ODE, URETHANE is used as an abbreviation for polyurethane, so that lets Everyman off the hook then. I thought STRENGTHS was cleverly hidden in a regular fashion. A slight quibble about ELGAR in that it would have been better to use ‘Origins of/in’ and an ampersand instead of the and, otherwise grammatically it would give Elgaar.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
muffin@7: Yes indeed, also Mr. Justice Cocklecarrot, Captain Foulenough and others, including the ballerina Tumbleova and her constant companion Serge Trouserin. I used to have a selection of these edited by Richard Ingrams but it’s on another continent now and sadly out of reach.
I didn’t know CHALLAH, and took a while to spot A-SIDES. ELGAR was a particularly evil example of Everyman’s unnecessary italics, which filled my mobile screen with line after line of “span” coding, rendering the clue unreadable and parts of the grid invisible. I do WISH he wouldn’t do that.
muffin @7 and Phil @8 – but surely urethane is used for polymerising to make the coating, so it is used for plastic coating? Grapes are used for wine, but you don’t drink the grapes – you process them first.
In fact, TassieTim polyurethane isn’t a polymer of urethane. The name refers to the type of bond between the different subunits. See here and here..
Did this online as I’ve decided to slowly catch up to the UK rather than wait for the 6 weeks behind the times NZ Herald. Needed help with Hancock, being unfamiliar with both definitions and completely missed A-sides though that was still my favourite. Great puzzle all round. Thanks Pierre & Everyman.
I guessed “Hancock” (25 across) from vaguely remembering having heard of the blood donor sketch (never actually saw it). And then did a duckduckgo search to find the health minister. Obscure? !!!
Couldn’t parse “plagiarist” (5 down); never thought of “lag” for “trail”. Felt a bit of a dill when I saw Pierre’s explanation.
Couldn’t parse “elastic” (18 across) but I think it’s a perfectly legitimate synonym of “stretchy”.
Had to use a thesaurus to get “upon” (23 down) as a synonym of “over”.
Overall I like the puzzle a lot. Thanks to Everyman and to Pierre.
Nice, one of his best yet.
Blimey, Hancock’s Half Hour takes me back. A bit stretchy that one.
A-sides was a-step too far. Enjoyed the rest.
Loved A-Sides/asides! Stumped by Plagiarist, overall v enjoyable.