Everyman 4,113/17 August

by

Another sound puzzle in the typical Everyman style to go with the Sunday morning coffee, in the UK at least. Our US and Antipodean friends may have different habits.

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 Northern Ireland party rejected supreme god
ODIN
A charade of NI and DO, all reversed.

4 Drinks part of eggnog in silence
GINS
Hidden in eggnoG IN Silence.

8 Racing damn poor, terribly cross in F1 event
MONACO GRAND PRIX
(RACIND DAMN POOR)* followed by X. The anagrind is ‘terribly’.

11 Frank wants extracts of vitamins in cereals
SINCERE
Hidden in vitaminS IN CEREals.

12 Satirical Picador reprinted
PARODIC
(PICADOR)* with ‘reprinted’ as the anagrind.

13 Put out oddest pie
DEPOSITED
(ODDEST PIE)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.

14 Subset of commies runs easily
TROTS
A dd.

15 Displayed anxiety audibly by gum!
PACED
Aural wordplay (‘audibly’) of PASTE.

16 Ushered in by bears, postman refuses to change
STANDS PAT
A charade of STANDS for ‘bears’ (‘I can’t stand/bear him’) and PAT for the Greendale postie with the black and white cat.

19 Twice in France, fellow admitted, big city’s no laughing matter
UNFUNNY
An insertion of F in UN and UN, followed by NY. The insertion indicator is ‘admitted’ and UN, UN is – at a stretch – ‘twice’ in French.

21 Paintings with relations in wet-weather wear
OILSKIN
A charade of OILS and KIN.

22 A single man’s part in a revolution that’s mentioned in CV
BACHELORS DEGREE
A charade of BACHELORS and DEGREE. The second reference is to degrees in a circle, of which there are 360.

23 Quietly, I’m scared to take a look
PEEK
A charade of P for the musically ‘quiet’ and EEK.

24 And the others? Flipping tardy!
LATE
A reversal (‘flipping’) of ET AL.

Down

2 Reduced what you did with iron?
DECREASED
A dd cum cd.

3 Losing independence, foolishly electing to pass by
NEGLECT
(ELECT[I]NG)* with ‘foolishly’ as the anagrind.

4 German spoke roughly – understood?
GRASPED
A charade of G and RASPED.

5 What’s primarily nethermost? Absolutely dreadful, irredeemably rotten?
NADIR
The initial letters of the final five words of the clue and a cad.

6 Tickled to see commercial describing The Observer cutting Everyman
AMUSED
A double insertion: of US for ‘The Observer’ in ME for ‘Everyman’, all in AD. The two insertion indicators are ‘describing’ and ‘cutting’.

7 Demands and obtains one-time performers
EXACTS
A charade of EX and ACTS.

9 Offering some illustration on spec, if I choose to be vague
NON-SPECIFIC
Hidden in illustratioN ON SPEC IF I Choose.

10 Communist angry before game that’s seen in the garden
RED HOT POKER
A charade of RED, HOT and POKER.

14 Tiniest bit drunk? Extremely so
TIDDLIEST
A dd.

15 Gauges – that sounds like fruit?
PLUMBS
Aural wordplay (‘that sounds like’) for PLUMS. The correspondence between the two words is found in an expression like ‘plumb the depths’.

16 Shakespearean character‘s far-from-bold hair
SHYLOCK
A charade of SHY and LOCK.

17 Waking up, finding topless partying
AROUSAL
[C]AROUSAL

18 Raw currency
TENDER
A dd.

20 Relative regularly ignored indigencies
NIECE
The even letters of iNdIgEnCiEs.

Many thanks as always to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.

23 comments on “Everyman 4,113/17 August”

  1. I liked RED HOT POKER although I have failed to manage to grow them in my garden. Also liked TROTS and thought NON-SPECIFIC was well hidden.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre

  2. Thanks Pierre. (Lost my post. Somehow my email address keeps coming up incorrectly. Hope this isn’t a repeat. )

    I thought there may have been an error in UNFUNNY but now I think it’s just not very funny. Maybe that’s the point?

    I had STAND PUT for STAND PAT, which was unfamiliar, but a dictionary check has clarified.

    Liked TIDDLIEST and LATE for their surfaces and misleading punctuation and grammar.

  4. Thanks Pierre
    Like PaddyMelon@2 I too found UNFUNNY unfunny. More a contortion than a stretch for moi.
    MONACO GRAND PRIX was a great clue and helped me get my B.Sc. at 22

  5. Thanks Pierre,
    In 16a can anyone explain what the ‘Ushered in’ bit of the clue is doing? Thanks!

  6. Thanks Pierre. I didn’t get 16a – other than Pat from postman. I’ve not heard of ‘stands pat’. But when I’ve googled it this morning it’s ‘Stand Pat’. Not sure there should be an s?
    Otherwise great crossword, especially liked DECREASED

  7. Duncan Campbell @5, “ushered in” is telling us that PAT is preceded by STANDS. Which is kind of unnecessary as it comes first in the clue anyway, so I guess it’s really there to make the surface sound more plausible.

  9. Mincarlo @6, it needs to be STANDS PAT to be equivalent to the definition, which is ‘refuseS to change’.

  13. Pugg fuggly @12 – left wing groups which follow Trotsky’s philosophy are generally referred to as Trots (e.g. the SWP)

  14. pugg fuggly@12 ‘Trots’ is a word often used to describe left-wing people. A contraction of ‘Trotskyites’ or possibly ‘Trotskyists’. I imagine you’re happy with the other definition.

  16. I thought the top half or so of this puzzle was pretty sound, as Pierre says. But then I got to 19ac…. One one might – at a push – stand for two, but no way (in any language) does it mean twice. “Ushered in” in 16ac is not much better. 14dn: tiddliest can mean tiniest, but not “tiniest bit”. So maybe the “bit” goes with the “drunk”, which makes sense, as tiddly does mean a little drunk. But then you’ve got “extremely so” – how can you be extremely a bit drunk? I know it’s there to indicate the superlative, but why not something like “more than anyone else”?

  17. RED HOT POKERS – took me back to our garden in the 70s, mum loved those plants.
    STANDS PAT – didn’t like this one at all. Got the connection with Postman Pat but had put STAYED – not familiar with the other term. Hey ho minor grumble.
    UNFUNNY ; TROTS & DECREASED our top picks this week. Thanks Pierre & Everyman.

  18. Put Etal for 24A so that was the SE corner knackered. I hate clues like that which could go either way. Thinking about it now the numeration should have told me it was wrong. Hmph.

  19. Hi Barrie. I thought et al too but was worried because it’s obviously 2,2 and not4 so tried late which eventually worked out. But I started with
    Red leg expecting a bird until I figured TROTS.
    I liked MONACO GRAND PRIX, STANDS PAT ,SHYLOCK, One can’t get the primarily clue wrong but I didn’t like the definition of NADIR.

  20. i agree with MunroMaiden@16 that “un un” does not mean twice.
    Very weak. As were a lot of the clues.

    “Tiddliest” meaning “tiniest” does not cut it.

  21. And furthermore “the Greendale postie with the black and white cat” was egregiously obscure. Meaningless to me.

  22. Another “just right” puzzle for me. I was going to do what you did Barrie, but it didn’t feel right, so I left it until I got the two down clues.
    Thanks again to all

  23. Missed a few in the SE corner. 16A: ‘ushered in by’ really threw me – I can’t see that it has any purpose in the clue. Also never heard the phrase to stand put. 14A: I should have got Trots but didn’t. 14D: Just couldn’t get there, although I see it now.
    Unlike others, I’m OK with 19A – I see ‘un’ as meaning ‘a’ so ‘twice in France a’ gives us ‘un’ and ‘un’ with the F for fellow in between.
    Overall a good level Everyman. Not pleased with myself to have a DNF.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.