Everyman 3,557 (7 December 2014)

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3557.

We have Everyman’s trademark geographical reference at 24A, films at 22A and 14A (which clue is unusual for its allusive nature), and impeccable surfaces. There is a definite ambiguity in 5D.

completed grid
Across
1 STORMY
Passionate tale about leader of Mohicans (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of M (‘leader of Mohicans) in STORY (‘tale’).
4 SHETLAND
Sheepdog the lads let loose around noon (8)
An envelope (‘around’) of N (‘noon’) in SHETLAD, an anagram (‘let loose’) of ‘the lads’. A Shetland (or Sheltie) is a dog as well as a pony.
9 REFUGE
Good for son inside to decline asylum (6)
A substitution: REFU[s]E (‘to decline’) with the S replaced by G (‘good for son’).
10 COLESLAW
Salad we locals ordered (8)
An anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘we locals’.
12 TARANTULA
Spider coming from altar – aunt going berserk (9)
An anagram (‘going berserk’) of ‘altar aunt’.
13 ELVES
Brownies in chapel vestry (5)
A hidden answer in ‘chapEL VEStry’
14 AND ALL THAT JAZZ
Everything connected with the subject mentioned in New Orleans? (3,3,4,4)
I suppose that “cryptic definition” is as good a description of this clue as any.
17 STICKY-FINGERED
Prone to pilfering, as Bunter often was (6-8)
Definition and literal interpretation (all those gooey tuck-shop snacks).
21 ASHEN
A female, initially nervous, is pale-faced (5)
A charade of ‘a’ plus SHE (‘female’) plus N (‘Nervous initially’).
22 SPYMASTER
Messy part upset M, say (9)
An anagram (‘upset’) of ‘messy part’, for the head of MI6 in the James Bond books and films.
24 LOOKED ON
Watched king brought in by Cornish town lecturer (6,2)
An envelope (‘brought in’) of K (‘king’) in LOOE (‘Cornish town’, today’s geographial titbit) plus DON (‘lecturer’).
25 MINUTE
Very small amount of time (6)
Double definition.
26 STRESSED
Emphasised sweet dishes must be returned (8)
A reversal (‘must be returned’) of DESSERTS (‘sweet dishes’).
27 RED-HOT
Very busy with calls, daughter in other resort (3-3)
An envelope (‘in’) of D (‘daughter’) in REHOT, an anagram (‘re-sort’) of ‘other’.
Down
1 SPRITE
Supernatural being priest exorcised (6)
An anagram (‘exorcised’) of ‘priest’.
2 OFFER
Come up with chest missing lid (5)
A subtraction: [c]OFFER (‘chest’) without its first letter (‘missing lid’).
3 MAGENTA
Mother ringing rep bringing colour (7)
An envelope (‘ringing’) of AGENT (‘rep’) in MA (‘mother’).
5 HOORAY HENRYS
Brash types cheer Plantagenet king and son (6,6)
A charade pf HOORAY (‘cheer’) plus HENRY (‘Plantagenet king’, II to VI) plus S (‘son’). I had not heard  of the expression, but I note in Wikipedia that it has been applied to David Cameron, so perhaps it is not uncommon in a section of the British press. Also it is a toss-up berween HOORAY and HOORAH.
6 THEREAT
At that point, theatre collapsed (7)
An anagram (‘collapsed’) of ‘theatre’
7 ALLEVIATE
To mollify everyone, I’ve turned up and dined (9)
A charade of ALL (‘everyone’) plus EVI, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of ‘I’ve’ plus ATE (‘dined’).
8 DOWNSIZE
Move to a smaller property in depressed area (8)
A charade of DOWN (‘deptrssed’) plus SIZE (‘area’).
11 PULL A FAST ONE
Play a sly trick to attract individual after a hunger strike? (4,1,4,3)
A charade (presented with instructions for ordering the particles) of PULL (‘attract’) plus ‘a’ plus FAST (‘hunger strike’) plus ONE (‘individual’).
15 NEIGHBOUR
Happy hour binge for one next door (9)
An anagram (‘happy’ in the sense of drunk, maybe) of ‘hour binge’.
16 ISRAELIS
Is serial broadcast for Middle-Easterners? (8)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘is serial’.
18 KENNELS
Shelters for animals, well-groomed, reared round outskirts of Nuneaton (7)
An envelope (’round’) of NN (‘outskirts of NuneatoN‘) in KEELS, a reversal (‘reared’ in a down light) of SLEEK (‘well-groomed’).
19 EXAMINE
Inspect former pit, going after answer (7)
A charade of EX (‘former’) plus A (‘answer’) plus MINE (‘pit’).
20 URGENT
Man from ancient city calling for immediate attention? (6)
A charade of UR (‘ancient city’) plus GENT (‘man’), presented as an entire phrase (‘man from ancient city’ – UR GENT).
23 TOUCH
Feel spot (5)
Double definition (“a spot/touch of the good stuff”).
*anagram

23 comments on “Everyman 3,557 (7 December 2014)”

  1. For once I breezed through this until coming to a grinding halt in the SE corner. Went away and did something else and came back to it . I wrote the answers in at once -how does that happen?
    Hooray Henry is a term very familiar to me . Worth tucking away “Sloane Ranger” and “Trustafarian” which are in the same vein.

  2. Thanks Everyman and PeterO

    Like Bamberger I got stuck in the SE corner, went back to it later and wrote the answers in, but I just entered SPYMASTER from the crossers (don’t know much about James Bond). Put in HOORAH HENRIES with an H rather than the Y, thought it sounded more plummy.

  4. Thanks Everyman, I thought this one was easier than most of the recent ones.

    Thanks PeterO; you say there is ambiguity in 5d but the expression is HOORAY HENRYS. I don’t think ‘hoorah’ is used in this context.

  7. Robi @4

    In a recent crossword, I wrote HOORAY HENRY … only to find that the
    “official solution” was HOORAH HENRY.
    (Chambers does give this as an alternative.)

    In this part of the UK we use the word HURRAY for ‘cheer’.
    Obviously this – and other dictionary possibilities like HURRAH, HURRA,
    HOOROO and HURROO – don’t fit last week’s grid.

    Surely a more sophisticated wordplay is required for any words with
    alternative spellings where the ambiguity is unchecked.

  8. HOORAY HENRY is the only term I’ve ever heard in speech for the expression.

    Thanks Peter for all your Everyman blogs this year, and thanks to the setter himself for today’s puzzle. We’ve not had much to argue about on this thread in 2014, have we?

  9. PeterO – Good point. I had never heard the term ‘Hoorah Henry’, nor is it as widely used as Hooray Henry, (per the link I gave earlier) but I concede that it is certainly ambiguous in the light of your information (acknowledging that Wikipedia is not authoritative, but it’s good enough for me in this context!).

  10. Here it is just after 7am and I’m done and dusted! No problems this week, had to think about M in 22a for a bit. Another perfect day in paradise!

  12. Even I managed to complete this one. I’ve never heard of Cornish town Looe, but got there anyway. I liked ‘and all that jazz’. I thought of Hooray Harrys, at first, then realising that it was Hooray Henrys (wide boys maybe?). Nice work everyone. Thankyou. Have a great day.

  13. Not even the need to use a dictionary today! Another excellent puzzle. I didn’t have any quibbles with the Hooray Henrys or 22a. My only second look was for 2d and then loi 9a. I’m probably in the minority not a sun worshipper and gasping for some rain for my garden!

    Thanks as usual to Everyman and PeterO

  14. That was way to easy. Had all bar three left after a quick 10 minute sit down with my cup of coffee. Polished it off after lunch. Till next weekend.

  15. I dId well this week also
    But stupidly stuffed up the sticky with slinky and never got 20d but others came in quickly …..for me anyway.
    Must be this non stop sun
    Sorry northern hemisphere-dwellers for gloating ( none of the uk bloggers will read our comments anyway so won’t mind our smugness)

  16. Completed this one quickly too. Vanessa, I’m old enough to remember Billy Bunter, the fat boy, with a sweet tooth, so 17 ac came easily. You are right. No one in the Northern Hemisphere will read our comments, but isn’t the weather lovely this year. Haven’t had holiday weather like this for years. Perfect for the Bowls Nationals. We do need some rain for the garden now though.

  17. “No one in the Northern Hemisphere will read our comments …”

    Oh yes they will! The blogger receives a copy of every comment via email, I read every comment posted on the site and, of course, the comments will be seen by those who subscribe to the RSS feed.

  19. I have quite often seen responses to our comments from the earlier bloggers so yes, not only do they read them but there seems genuine interest in our thoughts on the clues through our faraway lenses.

    Like most I found this an easy solve. I’m in the “Hooray” camp though I couldn’t tell you where I first came across the expression. Phrase finder suggests it to be US in origin (hence Hoorah) and the Brits adopted (and amended) it. There is apparently a feminised version, Hooray Henriettas which I’ve not encountered. As Bamberger @ 1 says Sloane Ranger is more usually applied.

    Back to Auckland today sadly, but hope to catch some of the tennis.

  20. Enjoy the tennis Barrie. My son-in-law caught one of the autographed tennis balls that Venus Williams hit into the crowd.

  21. The first time for ages I was able to complete this without divine intervention (assuming HOORAY gets a tick). It’s nice to have a slightly easier one occasionally to convince ourselves that the brain is still functional – sort of!

  22. Mark @21

    Look out for this week’s Everyman #3561 – I found it particularly easy (though in the way of things, that probably means that you will not).

  23. My quickest solve of Everyman ever ……. 43 mins ( it usually takes 3 hours and some help ! )
    Either this was easy or I’m improving

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