Lorraine: Good morning to you all,
I romped through this, this morning, took approximately three quarters of an hour to complete.
Some lovely clues, some of which made me smile when I solved them; 10ac, 12ac and 20ac in particular.
I trust that none of you had too much trouble solving this puzzle, as I believe it was a typical cryptic for beginners (as it should be).
Big, big thanks to Everyman, very enjoyable.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Brewing agent may be obtained from Mediterranean country shortly (4) | ||
| MALT | MALT(a) | ||
| 3. | Pairs a pal’s circulated for valuations (10) | ||
| APPRAISALS | (PAIRS A PAL’S*) | ||
| 9. | Type of broad-leaved weed in harbour (4) | ||
| DOCK | dd | ||
| 10. | Does a full dish of ravioli constitute this? (6,4) | ||
| SQUARE MEAL | cd | ||
| 12. | Do as promised, get rid of virtually all of blades? (4,4,4) | ||
| KEEP ONES WORD | pun: KEEP ONE SWORD [as opposed to all of them!] | ||
| 15. | One who buys nearly clean jumper (9) | ||
| PURCHASER | PUR(e)+CHASER | ||
| 17. | In a week, wood flooded (5) | ||
| AWASH | A+W+ASH | ||
| 18. | Patriarch, one rejected by church (5) | ||
| ENOCH | (ONE<)+CH | ||
| 19. | Fool’s heartless gibe about one aide (9) | ||
| ASSISTANT | (ASS’S+TA(u)NT) around I | ||
| 20. | Two members making a large amount of money (2,3,3,1,3) | ||
| AN ARM AND A LEG | cd | ||
| 24. | Injudicious act giving cheek about king (10) | ||
| IMPRUDENCE | IMPUDENCE around R(ex) | ||
| 25. | Collection of reminiscences about northern girl (4) | ||
| ANNA | ANA around N | ||
| 26. | Indecisive leader in industry runs firm (10) | ||
| IRRESOLUTE | I(ndustry)+R+RESOLUTE | ||
| 27. | Attempt from bunker, initially with wood (4) | ||
| BASH | B(unker)+ASH | ||
| … | |||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Damaging allegations over captain and fish (10) | ||
| MUDSKIPPER | MUD+SKIPPER | ||
| 2. | What key sportsman could use for a change? (6,4) | ||
| LOCKER ROOM | cd | ||
| 4. | Indignation is shown when card game’s cut short (5) | ||
| PIQUE | PIQUE(t) | ||
| 5. | What delay motorists? Stupid arrows do round centre of Tokyo (9) | ||
| ROADWORKS | (ARROWS DO*) around (to)K(yo) | ||
| 6. | Form of refreshment in America coeds concocted (3-5,4) | ||
| ICE-CREAM SODA | (AMERICA COEDS*) | ||
| 7. | Elderly French artist almost set up (4) | ||
| AGED | (DEGA(s)<) | ||
| 8. | Old sailor’s dry wit (4) | ||
| SALT | dd | ||
| 11. | To perform a social duty for others, preside at awards ceremony? (2,3,7) | ||
| DO THE HONOURS | dd | ||
| 13. | Film Spaniard’s house on one of the Costas (10) | ||
| CASABLANCA | CASA+[costa ]BLANCA | ||
| 14. | Snapshot in public house got Harpo upset (10) | ||
| PHOTOGRAPH | (GOT HARPO*) in PH | ||
| 16. | Wear still to be treated in part of building (9) | ||
| STAIRWELL | (WEAR STILL*) | ||
| 21. | A Caledonian racecourse (5) | ||
| ASCOT | A+SCOT | ||
| 22. | Married in one, a short skirt (4) | ||
| MINI | M+IN+I | ||
| 23. | Box in last of fights on equal footing (4) | ||
| SPAR | (fight)S+PAR | ||
| … | |||
Stuck at an event that I didn’t want to be at, I was doing this as discreetly as I could and solved it in full though I got totally stuck a few times and had to pay attention to what I was supposed to be paying attention to.Once I came back to this, for reasons I have never understood, the answers were obvious.
The first time I have completed an Everyman (have come v close a few times).
The only clue I didn’t fully understand was 25A. I didn’t understand how/why the collection of reminiscences bit led to ANA to put around the N from northern.
Well done Hugh on completing your first Everyman. Ana is seemingly a strange word as follows :-
an·a
1 [an-uh, ah-nuh]
noun
1.
a collection of miscellaneous information about a particular subject, person, place, or thing.
2.
an item in such a collection, as an anecdote, a memorable saying, etc.
Origin:
1720–30; independent use of -ana
I had the same doubt as Hugh – unfortunately, Davy’s explanation is not very enlightening 🙂
Nevertheless, fun puzzle, especially the clue for 5d
Thanks Lorraine and Everyman
Thanks for the explanation of 25A. It’s a word I’d never heard of. Knowing that there was an N in there from Northern,that the last letter was an A from the down clue and suspecting that the answer was going to be ANNA, I should have looked in a dictionary to see if there was a word ANA……which of course there is!
Hugh