Nick: Me again this week folks, Lorraine’s work load is a bit heavy.
Usual pleasant stroll with Everyman and some nice misleading clues.
I will draw your attention to 14dn – please visit the link, it will make you chuckle.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Formal caution suggested by this court (4,7) | ||
| STAR CHAMBER | STARCH+AMBER | ||
| 9. | Spanish mayor called a lunatic (7) | ||
| ALCALDE | (CALLED A)* | ||
| 10. | Smiled broadly having good cooked dinner (7) | ||
| GRINNED | G+(DINNER*) | ||
| 11. | Match between local teams in English city (5) | ||
| DERBY | dd | ||
| 12. | Governor worried about wicket covered with weeds (9) | ||
| OVERGROWN | (GOVERNOR*) around W | ||
| 13. | Scoff, upset by famous industrialist’s film (10) | ||
| GETTYSBURG | (GRUB<) after GETTY’S | ||
| 15. | Love quiet American work (4) | ||
| OPUS | O+P+US | ||
| 17. | Girl in public school, losing heart (4) | ||
| RUBY | RU(g)BY | ||
| 18. | Most uncommon to receive gen in jungle (10) | ||
| RAINFOREST | INFO in RAREST | ||
| 21. | Admonished, head of council went quickly (9) | ||
| CHASTENED | C+HASTENED | ||
| 23. | Exercise may make doctor unwell! (5) | ||
| DRILL | DR+ILL | ||
| 24. | Variety of kilts, notice, back in Hebridean archipelago (2,5) | ||
| ST KILDA | (KILTS*)+(AD<) | ||
| 25. | Business interest (7) | ||
| CONCERN | dd | ||
| 26. | Favourite in form? Note odds in the race fluctuating (8,3) | ||
| TEACHERS PET | TE[note]+(SP in (THE RACE*)) lovely misleading definition |
||
| … Down |
|||
| 1. | Protection across the board? It may help one sleep at night (8,7) | ||
| SECURITY BLANKET | cdd | ||
| 2. | Yale elmy? That could be nonsense (3,2,3) | ||
| ALL MY EYE | (YALE ELMY)* | ||
| 3. | About to be included in Conservative party’s statement of belief (5) | ||
| CREDO | RE in (C+DO) | ||
| 4. | Metal bracket in corner by press (5,4) | ||
| ANGLE IRON | ANGLE+IRON | ||
| 5. | Game bird, initially with crest (6) | ||
| BRIDGE | B(ird)+RIDGE | ||
| 6. | What Carter once did successfully, but not his predecessor? (3,3,9) | ||
| RAN FOR PRESIDENT | factual clue: Gerald Ford became President after Watergate when Richard Nixon resigned, and thus never ran for president at all! |
||
| 7. | Mean scoundrel after drink for pet (6) | ||
| LAPDOG | DOG after LAP | ||
| 8. | Handsome youth a lecturer is after (6) | ||
| ADONIS | A+DON+IS | ||
| 14. | Bairn, surprisingly, was hard to indoctrinate (9) | ||
| BRAINWASH | (BAIRN*)+WAS+H this was the Azed No. 92 competiton word to clue: the winning clue is quite brilliant |
||
| 16. | Frosty spell may cause viral infection to flare up (4,4) | ||
| COLD SNAP | COLD+SNAP(i.e. lose one’s temper) | ||
| 17. | Suspension of business in bay (6) | ||
| RECESS | dd | ||
| 19. | Special gift adult left in shelter (6) | ||
| TALENT | (A+L) in TENT | ||
| 20. | Girl is excellent right away (6) | ||
| STELLA | STELLA(r) | ||
| 22. | Extremely debatable, my colour scheme (5) | ||
| DECOR | D(ebatabl)E+COR[!](my[!]) | ||
| … | |||
Thanks for the blog. A rare completion for me (I even posted it in).
I was briefly worried though, as I put ran rather than run for president, as it seemed to suit the tense better. All is well though as it’s ran that appears in the paper.
Thanks Nick,
Another enjoyable puzzle. You have 3502 at the top and it should be 3504.
I particularly liked RAINFOREST, BRAINWASH and DECOR. Thanks as ever to Everyman.
I find that, if I have time to make a dent in the Everyman on the Sunday, then I can at least come close to finishing it during the week. However if I’m only getting chance for a quick look on a Sunday then the lack of progress seems to carry through the week.
I still don’t make much progress, on the rare occasions I attempt a daily. It’s partly a time issue but even when I check the blog, I think I wouldn’t have got a lot of be them, even with more time.
Thanks Davy @2, numbering corrected.
Enjoyable crossword that I thought was a bit more difficult than usual.
Thanks Nick; I liked your clue link. I knew ‘MY EYE,’ but not with the ALL. I parsed 16 as COLDS + NAP< and wondered why the virus infection was singular. π
I particularly liked STAR CHAMBER, RAINFOREST and my favourite, TEACHERS PET (the 'odds' threw me for a while.)
Thanks for the blog, Nick.
Not only did Ford never run for president, he never ran for vice president either, as he was appointed to that job to replace Spiro Agnew.
Thanks for this. I managed to finish it – but missed the post yesterday! I still can’t work out why some of the solutions are correct. Could you explain a bit more how you got there?
1. STAR CHAMBER STARCH+AMBER – where did this come from?
24. ST KILDA (KILTS*)+(AD<) – I got the anagram but AD<?
26. TEACHERS PET TE[note]+(SP in (THE RACE*))
3. CREDO RE in (C+DO)
5. BRIDGE B(ird)+RIDGE
7. LAPDOG DOG after LAP
22. DECOR D(ebatabl)E+COR[!](my[!])
Thanks very much
Actually Ford did run for President in 1976, but (as the clue says) not successfully, as he was beaten (quite narrowly) by Jimmy Carter.
Although I entered the correct “ran” rather than “run” for 6dn I don’t really see how the solver is supposed to choose which of them is correct because they both work. I agree that this puzzle seemed a little harder than the usual Everyman, and I made a stupid mistake at 9ac when I didn’t read the anagram fodder properly and entered a careless “alcelde”. Ho hum.
Hannah @ #7,
1. STAR CHAMBER STARCH+AMBER where did this come from?
Formal=starch + amber=caution (as in amber warning)
24. ST KILDA (KILTS*)+(AD<) I got the anagram but AD<?
notice is an advert, abbreviated to 'ad' reversed (back)
26. TEACHERS PET TE[note]+(SP in (THE RACE*))
SP is short for 'starting price' hence 'odds'
3. CREDO RE in (C+DO)
about=re in C(onservative)+party=do
5. BRIDGE B(ird)+RIDGE
'bird initially, indicates the first letter, hence B + crest=ridge (as in the crest of a hill)
7. LAPDOG DOG after LAP
horrible person (dog) after drink=lap
22. DECOR D(ebatabl)E+COR[!](my[!])
the extremes of debatable=the end letters=DE, and if you say 'my!' (as in my word!)=Cor!
Hope that helps.
Nick
Andy B @ #9
I changed the blog above to ‘RAN…’ as that is the solution, but I agree ‘ran/run’ are both correct, and to me, ‘run…’ sounds more of a natural thing to say.
Nick
First of all, forgot – thanks Gaufrid @ #4 – a bit of cut ‘n’ pasting I forgot to edit.
Actually, thinking more about 6dn, the clue does lead to ‘RUN FOR PRESIDENT’ due to the ‘once’, which places the solver ‘there at the time’.
Take the ‘once’ out:
What Carter did successfully, but not his predecessor? (3,3,9)
and this then leads to ‘RAN FOR PRESIDENT’ as we are now talking about a past event.
Nick
Thanks so much Nick, that’s really helpful