Plenty of anagrams this week particularly in the down clues (I count 10 clues containing at least a part anagram). Since these are often the easiest to spot, it should have been quite good going, at least at first, this week but it wasn’t completely plain sailing with a couple of words not necessarily used by most of us on a daily basis – olios and caparison spring to mind. In this sense it was a very nice crossword with an easy “in” but also one where you it was necessary to rely on getting easier answers to have a chance at getting the harder ones.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ESCALOPE – PLEASECO* |
| 5 | SMYTHE – S(atirise) + MY + THE. Reg Smythe is a well-known British cartoonist. |
| 9 | SOLITAIRE – dd |
| 11 | OLIOS – (F)OLIOS |
| 12 | WHOLE – “HOLE” |
| 13 | CAPARISON – CAP + SORAIN* |
| 14 | ONE-DAY CRICKET – ONE-DAY + CRICKET |
| 18 | ROOT AND BRANCH – TORNADO* + B + RANCH |
| 19 | SMART ALEC – RASCALMET* |
| 20 | RODIN – R + O + DIN |
| 22 | NEHRU – (B)ENHUR* |
| 23 | STRINGENT – STRING + E.N.T (= ear, nose and throat dept. in a hospital) |
| 24 | ARRANT – RANT after A + R(eichstag) |
| 25 | AS WELL AS – A + SWELL + A + S(tate) |
| Down | |
| 1 | EASTWOOD – [A + ST (John’s) WOOD] after E |
| 2 | CELLO – CELL + O(rchestra). This clue, of course, refers to Julian Lloyd Webber not his brother Andrew. |
| 3 | LITHE – L + [HE after IT] |
| 4 | PRINCE CHARLES – PRINCE + C + H(istorical) + ARLES. Historical is doind semi-double duty since Arles could correctly be described as a historical French city. |
| 6 | MOONRAKER – dd |
| 7 | TRIES IT ON – IT in NISTORE* |
| 8 | ESSEN – SENSE* |
| 10 | ESPRIT DE CORPS – COPPERSSTRIDE* |
| 15 | EARBASHER – [HERE + ARABS]* |
| 16 | ABOUT-TURN – dd |
| 17 | RHINITIS – HINTIRIS* |
| 19 | SANTA – dd ref. Santa Monica, Santa Barbara |
| 20 | RANGE – RAGE around N |
| 21 | DWELL – W in DELL |
Common crossword abbreviations this week:
female = F
British = B
right = R
old = O
Eastern = E
Latin = L
caught = C
Italian = IT
name = N
wife = W
I did most of this fairly quickly, and then had 11 and 13 to solve. Eventually got 13, but put OMITS for 11 (Leaves…) without knowing why. Now I know, thanks for introducing me to a new word!
Pleasing puzzle, maybe a little harder than Everyman sometimes is. Liked ONE-DAY CRICKET.
I was the same as Andrew K – made a rapid start but was stumped by 11 and made the same mistake, entering OMITS due to ‘leaves’ in the clue. Good to widen my stew-based lexicon!