Lorraine: Morning all, Started quite well this week but soon came to a grinding halt until Nick came to my rescue.
Think my crossword head got up and ran off halfway through this weeks offering. All in all a lovely offering from Everyman as usual.
Big thanks to Everyman as always.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Learner driver with challenging manner reportedly in range (8) | ||
| LATITUDE | L+ATITUDE | ||
| 5. | Bird, duck, in Loire, swimming (6) | ||
| ORIOLE | O(duck, as in cricket) in (Loire*) ‘in’ makes this clue’s surface reading work by putting ‘O’ in the anagram of ‘Loire’ rather than starting with ‘a duck’ which would make the ‘in’ redundant |
||
| 9. | Sucker cast as pirate (8) | ||
| PARASITE | (AS PIRATE*) fleas et al |
||
| 10. | Aim to lodge a protest (6) | ||
| OBJECT | dd | ||
| 12. | Deck, alternatively dock (5) | ||
| ORLOP | OR+LOP | ||
| 13. | Learn cheat exploited sorrow (9) | ||
| HEARTACHE | HEAR+(CHEAT*) | ||
| 14. | Laxative in a glass butler served (8,4) | ||
| GLAUBERS SALT | (A GLASS BUTLER*) | ||
| 18. | Magazine, up-to-date says husband (3,9) | ||
| NEW STATESMAN | NEW+STATES+MAN | ||
| 21. | Former inflationary measure – fish included in recipe for disaster (5,4) | ||
| PRICE CODE | COD in (RECIPE*) | ||
| 23. | Keen to employ old dodge (5) | ||
| AVOID | AVID around O(ld) | ||
| 24. | Moan about having to guard silver dish (6) | ||
| HAGGIS | (SIGH<) around AG | ||
| 25. | Interrupted row on canal boat (6,2) | ||
| BARGED IN | BARGE+DIN | ||
| 26. | Hat, good sort (6) | ||
| TOPPER | dd | ||
| 27. | TV series open about king (4,4) | ||
| STAR TREK | START(open)+RE+K | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Circuit used by best computer (6) | ||
| LAPTOP | LAP(circuit)+TOP | ||
| 2. | Excitement caused by the endless brook (6) | ||
| THRILL | TH(e)+RILL(brook) | ||
| 3. | One up for trial? (4,5) | ||
| TEST PILOT | cdd | ||
| 4. | Lots go here after prices fall (5,7) | ||
| DUTCH AUCTION | cdd | ||
| 6. | Automaton, British in origin (5) | ||
| ROBOT | B in ROOT | ||
| 7. | Closed small company at Inverness, say (8) | ||
| OVERCOAT | OVER(closed)+CO+AT | ||
| 8. | Appeal of centre at Yonkers (8) | ||
| ENTREATY | hidden: cENTRE AT Yonkers dodgy clue with no indication of the hidden word |
||
| 11. | Actor in Jaws – meet star, unexpectedly (5,7) | ||
| JAMES STEWART | (JAWS MEET STAR*) a shame James wasn’t in the film Jaws |
||
| 15. | Article on German tanks turning up initially in a Norwegian port (9) | ||
| STAVANGER | AN+GER after (VATS<) | ||
| 16. | Covers put over recently stolen picture (8) | ||
| SNAPSHOT | (SPANS<)+HOT | ||
| 17. | Admitting boxer retired following win on races (6,2) | ||
| OWNING UP | (WIN ON*)+(PUG<)(boxer) | ||
| 19. | Private, not one to join up (6) | ||
| SOLDER | SOLD(i)ER | ||
| 20. | Leader in group, daughter sank off Baltic port (6) | ||
| GDANSK | G(roup)+D+(SANK*) | ||
| 22. | Select English, low in calories (5) | ||
| ELITE | E+LITE | ||
| 000000000000000000 | |||
I sympathise, Lorraine. I started this last night while watching the TV, thinking I must be able to complete an Everyman fairly quickly; but no! (Maybe it was the red wine as well because I put NEW STATESMAN in 14 by mistake at the beginning, which didn’t help!) I thought this was unusually tricky with ORLOP, Inverness OVERCOAT, GLAUBER’S SALT all new to me. I got a bit stuck in the SW corner.
Thanks Lorraine for a good blog. I agree about 8; it would have been better to put ‘appeal IN centre at Yonkers.’ I didn’t like use of ‘on’ in 25; surely, this should be reserved for down clues?
Quite a few reversals – about being a tricky little word as an indicator for an anagram, containment or reversal as well as for ‘re.’ I did particularly like the STAVANGER clue though. I also enjoyed OWNING UP.
I will have to concentrate on today’s offering!
Thanks Lorraine,
Regarding ENTREATY, the indicator for the hidden word is ‘of’ meaning ‘belonging to’.
I don’t see anything wrong with this. Excellent puzzle Everyman.
Many thanks, Lorraine. I know what you mean about your crossword brain going awol! I don’t remember this one being too difficult, although ORLOP was a little unusual and I hadn’t heard of GLAUBER’S SALT for about three decades. I liked ORIOLE and BARGED IN. For the latter, I think ‘on’ is fine; it’s ‘up’ I don’t like being used in across clues. For me it works in the sense of Henley-on-Thames: it just means that Henley is next to the Thames, like DIN is next to BARGE.
Agree though that ‘in’ would have been a better choice than ‘of’ for ENTREATY, since it would have read equally well on the surface, but frankly both work, and if that’s all we can get exercised about today it’s an indication that Everyman has given us another sound and enjoyable puzzle.
Many thanks Lorraine
I failed to get GLAUBERS SALT although it now rings a distant memory. Not that I have ever tried it.
Lorraine —
13 across is not the anagram you specify. It’s LEARN = HEAR + ANAGRAM OF *CHEAT
Thanks, that was the typical ‘after the event’ rush blogging/typing – why one’s mind forgets what one did I do not know.
Lorraine.
Thanks to Lorraine, and to Everyman.
I found this weeks crossword particularly tricky, it took me much longer than usual.