A few mild obscurities, perhaps, but plenty of smooth surfaces. Thanks to The Trafites and to PeeDee for the tools to help create this blog.
| Across | |||
| 1. | A master of light farce with point to get across (8) | ||
| TRAVERSE | Charade of TRAVERS (‘a master of light farce’, Ben Travers) + E (‘point’). | ||
| 5. | Wrong answer for peninsula (6) | ||
| CRIMEA | Charade of CRIME (‘wrong’) + A (‘answer’). | ||
| 9. | Aunt Sally, perhaps? (4,4) | ||
| FAIR GAME | Cryptic definition, referencing the fairground (and pub) game, and also the colloquial meaning of the answer. | ||
| 10. | Dessert – seconds accepted by timid type (6) | ||
| MOUSSE | Envelope (‘accepted by’) of S (‘seconds’) in MOUSE (‘timid type’). | ||
| 12. | Suffer, popular course of remedial treatment incomplete (5) | ||
| INCUR | Charade of IN (‘popular’) + CUR[e] (‘remedial treatment’ ‘incomplete’). | ||
| 13. | Malibu, drab for us surprisingly (9) | ||
| SURFBOARD | Anagram (‘surprisingly’) of ‘drab for us’. Strictly, Malibu is a type of surfboard, not a definition of the word, and this should be indicated by some tag such as ‘perhaps’ or ‘for example’, or at least a question mark to suggest the liberty. |
||
| 15. | Type of rhyme senior eleven composed (7,5) | ||
| LEONINE VERSE | Anagram (‘composed’) of ‘senior eleven’. A type of poetry, originally mediaeval Latin, using internal rhymes. | ||
| 18. | Novel author left out all the time, at first (7,5) | ||
| FOREVER AMBER | Charade of FOREVER (‘all the time’) + AMB[l]ER (‘author’, Eric Ambler), with the l (‘left’) removed (‘out’). The novel by Kathleen Winsor. |
||
| 21. | The old one getting out of bed is a speculator (9) | ||
| THEORISER | Charade of ‘the’ + O (‘old’) + RISER (‘one getting out of bed’). | ||
| 22. | Daring support garment, extremely versatile (5) | ||
| BRAVE | Charade of BRA (‘support garment’) + V[ersatil]E (‘extremely VersatilE). | ||
| 23. | Spotted motorway leading to Yorkshire town (6) | ||
| MOTLEY | Charade of M (‘motorway’) + OTLEY (‘Yorkshire town’). Motley is particoloured or variegated, which is close to ‘spotted’, if not quite. |
||
| 25. | Little known about Greek character, a monster (8) | ||
| MINOTAUR | Envelope (‘about’) of TAU (‘Greek character’) in MINOR (‘little known’, as in minor poets, perhaps. The Cretan monster. | ||
| 26. | Follow notice in programme (6) | ||
| SHADOW | Envelope (‘in’) of AD (‘notice’) in SHOW (‘programme’). | ||
| 27. | Champion eight reportedly unhappy about capsizing (8) | ||
| CRUSADER | CRU, homophone (‘reportedly’) of crew (‘eight’; again indication by instance, not definition) + SAD (‘unhappy’) + ER, reversal (‘capsizing’) of re (‘about’). | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Petty quarrel at home making midday meal (6) | ||
| TIFFIN | Charade of TIFF (‘petty quarrel’) + IN (‘at home’). | ||
| 2. | A coin for each person (6) | ||
| APIECE | Charade of ‘a’ + PIECE (‘coin’). | ||
| 3. | Agree, oddly, with bearded man, one volunteering for extra work (5,6) | ||
| EAGER BEAVER | EAGER, anagram (‘oddly’) of ‘agree’ + BEAVER (‘bearded man’). Beaver as a bearded man derives not from the animal, but an item of mediaeaval armour covering the lower face. |
||
| 4. | Dickens character, strong man securing power with money (7,5) | ||
| SAMPSON BRASS | Envelope (‘securing’) of P (‘power’) in SAMSON (‘strong man’) + BRASS (‘money’). Sampson Brass is a character in Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop. |
||
| 6. | Letter from Greece from air hostess (3) | ||
| RHO | Hidden answer (‘from’) in ‘aiR HOstess’. | ||
| 7. | Wholesale slaughter in Israeli port after religious ceremony (8) | ||
| MASSACRE | Charade of MASS (‘religious ceremony’) + ACRE (‘Israeli port’). | ||
| 8. | City, Lincoln, run by university administrator, we hear (8) | ||
| ABERDEEN | Charade of ABE (‘Lincoln’) + R (‘run’) + DEEN, a homophone (‘we hear’) of dean (‘university administrator’). | ||
| 11. | Liqueur, one imbibed by imposing George Eliot character (5,7) | ||
| GRAND MARNIER | Envelope (‘imbibed by’) of I (‘one’) in GRAND (‘imposing’) MARNER (‘George Eliot character’, the eponymous Silas Marner). | ||
| 14. | What some violent troublemakers wear for kicks? (6,5) | ||
| BOVVER BOOTS | Cryptic definition; for putting the boot in. | ||
| 16. | Frequently ring two newspapers (8) | ||
| OFTTIMES | Charade of O (‘ring’) + FT + TIMES (‘two newspapers’). | ||
| 17. | Beverage teenager brewed (5,3) | ||
| GREEN TEA | Anagram (‘brewed’) of ‘teenager’. | ||
| 19. | False rumour an eccentric put about (6) | ||
| CANARD | Envelope (‘put about’) of ‘an’ in CARD (‘eccentric’, noun). | ||
| 20. | In heart of Vietnam, blunder causes extreme fear (6) | ||
| TERROR | Charade of T (‘in the heart of VieTnam‘) + ERROR (‘blunder’). ‘In’ does not indicate an envelope this time. | ||
| 24. | Italian novelist in the city centre of Bologna (3) | ||
| ECO | Charade of EC (‘city’ of London) + O (‘centre of BolOgna’). The Italian novelist Umberto Eco, best known for The Name of the Rose. | ||
Thanks, PeterO – your blog looks fantastic.
I don’t comment very often to Everyman puzzles.
Don’t get me wrong, I dó like them, but I’ve hardly a thing to add to what’s already been said.
This time, Mr Scott won.
I really couldn’t find MOTLEY (23ac).
I’ve been in a lot of places in the UK, but I’d never heard of Otley.
Didn’t know what to do: M1+T?E? or M+?T?E?.
Almost went wrong in 15ac, too.
“Senior eleven” is indeed an anagram of LEONINE VERSE, but also of ONE LINE VERSE [which I filled in initially – silly me].
Interesting thing, a one line verse ………… 🙂
Also wonder whether some people would have gone for “dinosaur” instead of MINOTAUR in 25ac. I didn’t!
Here’s an interesting explanation for “on with the motley” :
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-with-the-motley.html
Very thorough and nicely presented blog, Peter.
I struggled with this. I didn’t help myself by putting in FAIR PLAY instead of FAIR GAME, and couldn’t get EAGER BEAVER for ages because I’d convinced myself that ‘agree, oddly’ meant it started with ARE; would never have understood the ‘bearded man’ bit. But got there in the end.
Many thanks, PeterO, especially for the ‘armless-looking monster. 🙂 [I have actually seen it.]
Re EAGER BEAVER – A Level English to the rescue again, in the description of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father:
Hamlet:
Then saw you not his face?
Horatio:
O yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up.
Hamlet:
What, look’d he frowningly?
Horatio:
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
Hamlet Act 1, scene 2, 229–232
[If only I could remember much more recent things so well!]
Sil – 23A is a definite obscurity, particularly as ‘spotted’ is a dubious definition. Davy’s link sums up the word very well; the use in Shakespeare (ditto for beaver) would likely pass by in a stage production as something that must have has a meaning to the Bard. Motley crew (or Motley Crüe) is better known, but many might use the phrase without any idea of what ‘motley’ really meant.
I like your ‘one-line verse’ – outhaikuing the haiku.
Thanks PeterO. 23ac was my last in as well. I hadn’t heard of Otley but then I rarely know UK place name references. A bigger obstacle was as you say, that ‘spotted’ is a dubious definition. I think the word itself is fairly common. Those who don’t know Motley Crüe probably know Motley Fool, on both sides of the Atlantic by now.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO for a good blog.
Didn’t realise EC was the city centre; it’s also hidden in thE City, which was the way that I parsed it.
As usual, an enjoyable Sunday solve.
I did this puzzle a few days after Sunday and on the same day as I tackled a Telegraph cryptic. They both had TRAVERSE and TIFFIN and both pairs of clues used the same wordplay. Both were enjoyable.