Another carefully compiled puzzle from Everyman this week.
All the usual elements are there: the primary letters clue, the rhyming couplet, the self-reference. Some original clueing as well in a couple of places, which I liked; and the opportunity for a bird link, which I especially liked.
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 Snakes which may repel the rain, Hans tells us
VIPERS
On a car, WIPERS would ‘repel the rain’. W in German is generally pronounced with a V sound: for example, the question words Who? What? Where? When? Why? become Wer? Was? Wo? Wann? and Warum? all pronounced with an initial V. So Hans, our stereotypical German (BFF with Ian the Scot and René the Frenchman) would pronounce WIPERS as VIPERS.
4 Eldest archdeacon concealing primness
STARCH
Hidden in EldeST ARCHdeacon.
10 Old fellow amid leonine noise and activity showing boisterous amusement
ROARS OF LAUGHTER
An insertion of O and F in ROAR and SLAUGHTER. The insertion indicator is ‘amid’. Is SLAUGHTER a leonine activity? Ask a zebra.
11 Not good, working – ingenious! – assert rights collectively
UNIONISE
(IN[G]ENIOUS)* with ‘working’ as the anagrind.
12 Announced 007’s means for seeing tiny oriental craft
BONSAI
Aural wordplay (‘announced’) of BOND’S EYE.
13 They’re doubly of interest to the sawmill’s bookkeeper
LOGS
A cd. The accountant at the sawmill will be interested in how many logs the organisation has sold, but will record that in their own logs.
14 Italian food: Victor, tell Inigo to take a portion
TORTELLINI
Hidden in VicTOR TELL INIgo.
18 Safari’s speed?
EXPEDITION
A dd.
19 Counterpart of doe or hen
STAG
STAG is the partner of the female deer or the female on her girls’ night out before the big day.
20 Like water on lake? £1
LIQUID
A charade of L and I QUID.
22 Duck, ablaze: this bird’s brightly coloured
FLAMINGO
Whimsically, if a cricketing ‘duck’ were on fire, then it would be a FLAMING O. But it would also be an opportunity for the obligatory Pierre bird link. The word derives from a Portuguese and Spanish word meaning ‘flame-coloured’, but only the adults are pink. The young when hatched are grey and develop their roseate tinge from eating shrimp and plankton rich in carotenoids.
25 In which squiffy or tight men fear retribution, finally?
THE MORNING AFTER
(OR TIGHT MEN FEAR N)* with ‘squiffy’ as the anagrind, and a cad. Great clue.
26 Runs over, sits back for Alpine dish
RÖSTIS
A charade of R, O and SITS reversed. The dish (singular) is RÖSTI, so ‘dishes’ might have been a better option in the surface.
27 Less important songs lacking energy as well
B-SIDES
B[E]SIDES
Down
1 Preposterously arty, evil ritual in which other worlds are ‘seen’
VIRTUAL REALITY
(ARTY EVIL RITUAL)* with ‘preposterously’ as the anagrind.
2 Misbehaving act in animated film trousering £1,000
PLAYING UP
An insertion of G in PLAY, IN and UP (a 2009 animated film from Disney). The insertion indicator is ‘trousering’.
3 Sap about to stray
RESIN
A charade of RE and SIN.
5 Snare’s component set up
TRAP
A reversal (‘set up’, since it’s a down clue) of PART.
6 In fancy car, duke carries silver playthings
RAG DOLLS
An insertion of AG and D in ROLLS. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and ‘carries’ also works because it’s a down clue.
7 Primarily: hideously detailed, titanic, verisimilous screens?
HDTVS
The initial letters of the last five words of the clue and a cad.
8 With components reversed, run away to find branch
OFFSHOOT
A reversal of the elements of SHOOT OFF.
9 Leaving chief execs exhausted where knives are out?
DRAINING BOARDS
If you made senior managers work so hard they were all tuckered out, you might be said to be DRAINING BOARDS.
15 Meandering topless, provoking reactions
TROLLING
[S]TROLLING
16 National Trust supported by Everyman: donated, tipped, droned on
INTONATED
A charade of I, NT and [D]ONATED. But with the same reasoning as 5dn and 6d, the surface would lead to NTI, not INT.
17 Mentors giving Bill protection from sun
ADVISORS
A charade of AD and VISORS.
21 Unusual powerful chesspiece, itself taking its own knight
QUEER
Everyman is inviting you to take the N (chess notation for ‘knight’) from QUEEN and replace it with R for Regina, which is the Queen ‘itself’.
23 Nasty and small, the wherewithal
MEANS
A charade of MEAN and S.
24 Against – alternately, ‘gainst – independence
ANTI
A charade of ANT for the even letters of gAiNsT and I.
Many thanks to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Thank you Pierre. I did like FLAMINGO (the clue) and your colourful pic. I also like shrimp (prawns down here) and food rich in carotonoids. Funny how the colours of flamingos go in reverse order to human beings. I had similar misgivings about ROSTI(S).
DRAINING BOARDS was amusing. TORTELLINI was well hidden, to me. UNIONISE great surface.
And yes, THE MORNING AFTER was a great clue. I had only recently encountered squiffy meaning drunk in another cryptic. Not familiar to me, and wondered why Everyman used both tight and squiffy.
THE MORNING AFTER
paddymelon@2
I was wondering about both squiffy and tight being in the clue.
Chambers says ‘squiffy’ is ‘tipsy’ and ‘tight’ is ‘intoxicated’.
Some other dictionaries mention ‘awry’ as another meaning of ‘squify’.
Is Everyman playing with two senses of THE MORNING AFTER (the excessive
drinking-related one and the general one).
FLAMINGO and DRAINING BOARDS were very good.
Hii pdm, squiffy is one of those fun words, like toffy and spiffing, thatve.been around for yonks but aren’t current, a bit Boys’ or Girls’ Own, or maybe Nancy Mitford-ish.
Nice Sunday puzzle, thanks PnE.
me@3 contd
THE MORNING AFTER
Tight (miserly) men may regret in THE (or a) MORNING AFTER, “I should have spent a bit more on ABC.”
Possible that I am overthinking.
Thanks for the blog.
KVa@3 squiffy indicates an anagram and TIGHT is part of the answer after mixing up , both are needed to make the clue work , although both not necessary strictly for the definition.
Agree with Grant@4 that squiffy very out of fashion now.
Roz@6
T M AFTER
Thanks.
Yes. ‘Squiffy’ is an anagrind (I saw it as one and the blog says so).
I tried to justify the use of both ‘squiffy’ and ‘tight’ in the clue (which is a CAD as the blog mentions).
Typical Everyman. Took a while to see DRAINING BOARDS – gazed at the crossers without really thinking about the clue and eventually the answer came to mind.
Regarding INTONATED, I saw it as I and [d]ONATED standing either side of (supporting) NT. A bit like yesterday’s discussion of ‘inland’ in the Prize puzzle, the clue is solved before being entered in the grid, so the fact it’s a down clue is irrelevant.
Trivial fact – in the UK a STAG is also a male turkey, counterpart to female hen (elsewhere I believe he’s a Tom)..
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
I like your explanation of INTONATED, beaulieu. That works for me.
I did not parse 1ac – I could not see any connection between Hans and vipers.
New for me: STAG = a turkeycock over one year old.
Thanks, both.
20 £ is a stylised L and in crosswords 1 is often changed to I. £1 is a QUID. That’s how I got this one. Not a fan of ‘non’ words (7) but otherwise a good crossword. Thank you Everyman & Pierre
Needed the blog to understand a couple ( bonsai and intonated ). Pointing out key words (eg announced in Bonsai) helped , so thank you .
Loved Vipers !
The plural ROSTIS in 26a rather contradicts the description of this as a ‘careful construction’.
This was fun for the most part, with a nice rhyming pair in ROARS OF LAUGHTER and THE MORNING AFTER. My only quibbles: RÖSTIS for a singular “dish” and VIPERS: were Hans to read WIPERS out loud, he’d definitely “tell us” [vipers], not [vaipers].
Thank you, Everyman and Pierre
It very, very slightly contradicts the description, poc. Would ‘Only one small quibble in an otherwise carefully constructed puzzle’ have been acceptable to you as a description? You can tell us what you thought of the rest of the crossword if you have time. That’s what the blog is here for.
I didn’t finish this or the Quiptic this week. I was hoping to find other comments that it was harder than usual, but maybe it’s me that’s gone off the boil!
I think even seasoned solvers will tell you, Monk, that sometimes your head is not in the right place. And cryptic solving requires a good helping of creative thinking, so for lots of reasons that can sometimes be temporarily missing. And not finishing is not a failure … just a step to getting better next time.
Thanks for the great blog which clarified a couple of parsing issues I didn’t understand. Particularly regarding zebras ! For some reason I didn’t see ‘leonine’ as also applying to the activity.
Monk@16 I also found this quite challenging but did get there in the end after a number of attempts.
My favourites were the rhyming pair and helped a lot with the rest. I thought DRAINING BOARDS and VIPERS were clever and amusing. All in all a good mental workout. Many thanks to Everyman and to Pierre.
Liked: BONSAI, STAG, VIPERS, LOGS
Appreciated it and kind of liked it but not as fun as the three clues mentioned above: RAG DOLLS, QUEER.
Isn’t it funny sometimes how you struggle for ages, then when you get one answer all the others (with the help of crossers) fall into place domino like?
Bish bash bosh. Not bad for THE MORNING AFTER a STAG do!
I thought HDTVS might cause a kerfuffle in here but apparently not! FLAMINGO and THE MORNING AFTER were my favourites. Thanks for the blog!
Definitely more challenging than normal – I wonder if the POMS have their arsenal ready for the big one!
Robbie from Epsom Auckland.
Funny, I found this much easier than others of late, only draining boards held me up. It almost felt like a different setter. The hidden words like starch and tortellini seemed to stand out like dogs’. Shows we are all different.
Liked vipers, The Morning After and B-sides. I’ve never read or heard intonated – intoned yes
I think someone is confusing squiffy with skew-whiff
Doesnt anyone else question why 24 ac Flamingo clue states Duck Ablaze, shouldn’t it be Ablaze Duck? Just wondering why no one else has asked
There is no D in Bonsai and certainly not when spoken. Minor quibble
Did not like bill==ad in 17 down. Like Pakuranga Singleton@25 I was unfamiliar with the word “intonated” although familiar with “intoned”. Had never heard of the movie “Playing up” and so was perplexed by the “animated film” part of the clue for 2 down. For a while I tried to find an answer that included an anagram of “film”.
Found the puzzle tough but eventually got it all out, modulo some uncertainties about some parsings.
Rolf in Birkenhead
I’m very late to getting this done.
I am also not keen on bill=ad. In fact I’m not sure how it is explained. Is ad advert or a debt or what?
Couldn’t get the answer at all so ended up doubting my other answers in bottom left. So puzzle unfinished.
I think you have the understanding for 2 down not quite right (unless you were just explaining why it was initially difficult). I think the animated film is ‘Up’ (a quite well known one – Disney, I think). The rest of the clue is act=play, in=in, £1,000=g (as in ‘a grand’). That’s how I got it anyway.