Everyman N° 3,469 (31 March)

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/everyman/3469.
This time Everyman comes up with two words that I would describe as downright unfamiliar: SADDLETREE  and STANHOPE. The former is a reasonable compound, and the latter rang a bell for me from somewhere, but I would not like to say where.

Across
5. Some in opposition secretly follow taxi I catch (6,7)
SHADOW CABINET A charade of SHADOW (‘secretly follow’) plus CAB (‘taxi’) plis ‘I’ plus NET (‘catch’).
8. A table in a train, say (6)
ABOARD A charade of ‘a’ plus BOARD (‘table’).
9. Animal in area – tent abandoned (8)
ANTEATER An anagram (‘abandoned’) of ‘area tent’.
A giant anteater.
10. Eats in Lemnos hotel (4)
NOSH A hidden answer in ‘LemNOS Hotel’. ‘Eats’  (food) as a noun to agree with the answer.
11. Practical person‘s grim past at camp (10)
PRAGMATIST An anagram (‘camp’) of ‘grim past at’.
13. Point of land facing tornado? It’s hard to say (6,7)
TONGUE TWISTER Definition and literal interpretation.
15. Desert deal possibly in the frame (10)
SADDLETREE An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘desert deal’, for the frame of a saddle
17. Shrewd tramp, not married (4)
ARCH [m]ARCH (‘tramp’) without the M (‘not married’).
18. Stephano crashed carriage (8)
STANHOPE An anagram (‘crashed’) of ‘Stephano’, for a light one-horse open carriage. Curiously, another anagram of the fodder is PHAETONS.
A Stanhope carriage.
20. Artist losing knight in game (6)
HOCKEY A subtraction – HOCK[n]EY (David, ‘artist’) without the N (chess notation, ‘knight’).
Arrival of spring, by David Hockney
21. Family magazine disagreed, strangely, with others around (7,6)
READERS DIGEST An envelope (‘around’) of EADERSDIG, an anagram (‘strangely’) of ‘disagreed’, in REST (‘others’).
Down
1. Mother runs with ghastly hat on in race (8)
MARATHON A charade of MA (‘mother’) plus R (‘runs’) plus ATH, an anagram (‘ghastly’) of ‘hat’ plus ‘on’.
2. What could be done with me about choice of pseudonym? (3,2,5)
NOM DE PLUME An envelope (‘about’) of PLUM (‘choice’) in NOMDEE, an anagram (‘what could be’) of ‘done’ plus ‘me’.
3. Touch a bottom? Almost (4)
ABUT A charade of ‘a’ plus BUT[t] (‘bottom’) cut short (‘almost’).
4. Really popular female turn (2,4)
IN FACT A charade of IN (‘popular’) plus F (‘female’) plus ACT (‘turn’).
5. Who might supply our best stamps? (13)
SUBPOSTMASTER An anagram (‘who might supply’) of ‘our best stamps’, with an &lit definition (or, if you do not like including the ‘who’ in the anagrind, a semi-&lit).
6. Nondescript figure, to a smaller extent (13)
CHARACTERLESS A charade of CHARACTER (‘figure’) plus LESS (‘to a smaller extent’).
7. Box of valuables found in wreckage of usherette’s car (8,5)
TREASURE CHEST An anagram (‘wreckage of’) ‘usherettes car’.
12. Fern‘s first musical (10)
MAIDENHAIR A charade of MAIDEN (‘first’) plus HAIR (‘musical’, ever popular in crosswords at least).
Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum raddianum)
14. Which dear French PM? (8)
THATCHER A charade of THAT (‘which’) plus CHER (‘dear French’).
16. Gloomy pub in Scottish town (6)
DUNBAR A charade of DUN (‘gloomy’) plus BAR (‘pub’).
19. Exposed old writer (4)
OPEN A charade of O (‘old’) plus PEN (‘writer’).

6 comments on “Everyman N° 3,469 (31 March)”

  1. Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    This was an enjoyable Everyman because I love it when I can solve and parse all of the clues!

    I liked THATCHER, TREASURE CHEST, TONGUE TWISTER, SHADOW CABINET, ABUT, HOCKEY with my absolute favourite being MAIDENHAIR.

    New words for me were SUBPOSTMASTER, SADDLETREE, STANHOPE & DUNBAR (last in).

  2. Thanks PeterO and Everyman.

    Another well-pitched puzzle with nothing too difficult and nice smooth surfaces. The two less familiar words were both very clearly clued.

  3. Thanks Peter,

    Oh dear, I got 5d wrong and put ‘subcontractor’ because it fitted. I missed the anagram completely.
    Must try harder. I thought that ARCH was clever and also THATCHER. Thanks Everyman.

  4. Is that a Dyson Anteater, Pete? It looks like it could hoover up just about anything, despite the smallish aperture, doesn’t it. Bet it uses a bag of some sort, though.

    Re 5D, I’d say &lit, or at least an excellent attempt: there are no extraneous words AFAICS, so the only discussion would be one to assess the degree of accuracy attained by the (whole-clue) definition.

  5. Good entertainment from Everyman.

    Thanks PeterO; ‘camp’ as an anagrind seemed quite unusual. I particularly liked the simple IN FACT and the SUBPOSTMASTER.

  6. I can’t tell you how much this American loves your website. My solving skills have improved immensely since I found you. Thanks so much!

    PHAETONS really messed me up for a while.

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