Everyman N° 3,505 (8 December 2013)

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3505.

It so happened that, unusually for an Everyman, that of the first several clues that I looked at, not only could I not solve them straight off,
but I could not even spot their structure. However, by the time-honoured process of hunting out the easier clues first,
all became clear in the end. As usual, there are many fine clues here, and some well-used misdirection.

Across
1. Scotsman, doctor, describing his masculinity (8)
MACHISMO An envelope (‘describing’) of ‘his’ in MAC (‘Scotsman’) plus MO (Medical Officer, ‘doctor’).
5. Affected, American college grounds (6)
CAMPUS A charade of CAMP (‘affected’) plus US (‘American’).
10. Blessing given by one disciple on mountain (7)
BENISON A charade of BEN (‘mountain’) plus I (‘one’) plus SON (‘disciple’). ‘on’ is in the sense of “just after”.
11. Imposing, a state capital (7)
AUGUSTA A charade of AUGUST (‘imposing’) plus ‘a’.
There are several places called Augusta in the US (and elsewhere),
but the one we are looking for is the capital of Maine.
12. Excited holding data about earnest biblical combatants (5,3,7)
DAVID AND GOLIATH An envelope (‘about’) of AVID (‘earnest’) in DANDGOLIATH, an anagram (‘excited’) of ‘holding data’.
13. Profession out East for one into social welfare? (5)
CARER A subtraction: CARE[e]R (‘profession’) without an E (‘out east’).
14. Bit of magic involving a bowler? (3,5)
HAT TRICK Double definition, the second being the cricket reference to a bowler
taking three wickets in successive balls.
17. Vaudeville star left judge in bawdy saloon (2,6)
AL JOLSON An envelope of L (‘left’) plus J (‘judge’) in AOLSON, an anagram (‘bawdy’) of ‘saloon’.
19. A clipped English accent (5)
ACUTE A charade of ‘a’ plus CUT (‘clipped’) plus E (‘English’). I have not come across this one before,
but it is so good that I would be surprised if it has not been spotted by someone.
21. A military display? Darn – it ought to be abandoned (9,6)
EDINBURGH TATTOO An anagram (‘abandoned’) of ‘darn it ought to be’.
23. Artist has no reason, at first, to sound surprised (7)
WHISTLE A subtraction; WHISTLE[r] (‘artist’) without the R (‘ no Reason, at first’).
24. Pirate captain has unusual pipes (7)
HOOKAHS A charade of HOOK (‘pirate captain’ in Peter Pan) plus AHS, an anagram (‘unusual’) of ‘has’.
25. End of May, too soon for annual (6)
YEARLY A charade of Y (‘end of maY‘) plus EARLY (‘too soon’).
26. Something added or removed? (8)
APPENDIX Double definition, the first in a book, the second in the intestines
(OK it is not necessarily removed, but the question mark covers that,
and anyway the clue is too neat even to quibble).
…
Down
1. Novel, second by detective (4,4)
MOBY DICK A charade of MO (moment, ‘second’) plus ‘by’ plus DICK (‘detective’).
2. Waterway crossing state from cape in Florida (9)
CANAVERAL An envelope (‘crossing’) of AVER (‘state’) in CANAL (‘waterway’).
3. Mole in team close to dictator (7)
INSIDER A charade of ‘in’ plus SIDE (‘team’) plus R (‘close to dictatoR‘).
4. Tom, Dick, or Harry entertains them, juggling (3,2,3,6)
MAN IN THE STREET An anagram (‘juggling’) of ‘entertains them’. Excellent clue.
6. Bony, a maltreated langur (7)
ANGULAR A charade of ‘a’ plus NGULAR, an anagram (‘maltreated’) of ‘langur’.
7. Finished last of frittata, Italian food (5)
PASTA A charade of PAST (‘finished’) plus A (‘last of frittatA‘).
8. Bandage top half of head after whack (6)
SWATHE A charade of SWAT (‘whack’) plus HE (‘top half of HEad’).
9. Taken unawares before the dance became popular (6,2,3,3)
CAUGHT ON THE HOP A charade of CAUGHT ON (‘became popular’) plus THE HOP (‘dance’).
15. Curry favour with eccentric queen, perhaps (5,4)
COURT CARD A charade of COURT (‘curry favour with’) plus CARD (‘eccentric’).
16. Senator confused by instrument (5,3)
TENOR SAX A charade of TENORSA, an anagram (‘confused’) of ‘senator’ plus X (multiplication sign, ‘by’).
18. The M25, say – what’s said about small section? (7)
ORBITAL An envelope (‘about’) of BIT (‘small section’) in ORAL (‘said’).
For those who do not know London, the M25 is the ring road around it.
19. Sailor only gets shellfish (7)
ABALONE A charade of AB (‘sailor’) plus ALONE (‘only’).
20. Margin of safety in course of action supporting Confederate general (6)
LEEWAY A charade of LEE (‘Confederate general’) plus WAY (‘course of action’).
22. Tailless wading bird, unknown on a Balearic island (5)
IBIZA A charade of IBI[s] (‘wading bird’) cut short (‘tailless’) plus Z (‘unknown’) plus ‘a’.

  1. In 14ac note that a bowler is a type of hat.

    3down threw me. I had “invader” because I guess I thought Darth Vader could be a dictator.

    16down would have worked better as “Senator confused by unknown instrument”

  2. A pleasant early morning solve. I echo Dewey@1’s comment about the reference to the bowler hat in 14ac, but I disagree with his opinion about 16dn because I thought the way Everyman used “by” in the clue was clever. HOOKAHS was my LOI.

  3. Up to the usual high standard.

    Thanks PeterO; I lazily tried CAUGHT IN THE ACT at first for 9d.

    Particular favourite was APPENDIX.

  4. Thanks, Peter (and Everyman of course).

    APPENDIX was my favourite too, partly because it reminded me of the fact that it has two plurals: editors deal with APPENDICES but surgeons deal with APPENDIXES.

    [Trivia if you’re bored: there is another English singular that forms two different plurals …]

  5. [index/indices
    book publishers deal with indexes; mathematicians, economists and statisticians deal with indices]

  7. [I have two brothers and two sisters. As a member of a crossword society, I meet my brethren once a month. There are some sistern too in that society!]

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