Everyman’s recent run of slightly harder puzzles continues – but it’s an enjoyable one.
As usual some of the definitions involve a bit of lateral thinking, and the wordplay in 25a is not obvious. We don’t quite have the usual pair of parallel / rhyming clues; instead we have two things in the leftmost column that are “distinctly Scottish”, as Everyman puts it, and two in the rightmost column that give their names to shades of purple. It’s a pity he didn’t manage to work in HEATHER to link the two.
My favourites this week (partly because I enjoy cricket, music and science fiction, not necessarily in that order) were 1a, 24a and 2d, with top prize going to 9d for both the remarkable anagram and the neat clue-as-definition. Thanks Everyman for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HAT-TRICK | Bowler’s second stopping run … leads economically to 3 down (3-5) |
| HAT (for example a bowler hat), then TICK (second, as in “just a tick”) containing R (run). I’m not sure about “stopping” as the insertion indicator – but perhaps it’s TICK grabbing hold of R, rather than the usual construction (like a stopper in a bottle) which would require “run stopping second”. The definition is not referring to the clue at 3d, but to cricket (as suggested by the surface). A hat-trick means a bowler taking three wickets with three consecutive balls, leaving the opposing team “3 down”, and is “economical” in the cricketing sense of not allowing them to score many runs. |
||
| 5 | PERSIA | Reconstituted spare parts for Everyman in the old country (6) |
| Anagram (reconstituted) of SPARE, which parts (splits in two) to include I (Everyman). Historic name for the country now usually known as Iran. |
||
| 10 | GORILLA | Our cousin‘s a warrior, we hear (7) |
| Homophone (we hear) of GUERRILLA. | ||
| 11 | EYEHOLE | You can see right through this earl with the old predicament (7) |
| E (abbreviation for Earl) + YE (“the old” = a way of writing “the” in mock-archaic style, where the Y represents an obsolete letter corresponding to TH) + HOLE (predicament, as in “when you’re in a hole, stop digging”). | ||
| 12 | IDIOM | Fool almost getting married, in a manner of speaking (5) |
| IDIO[t] (fool; almost = last letter dropped) + M (abbreviation for married). | ||
| 13 | LAST-DITCH | In desperation, hold out scrap (4-5) |
| LAST (hold out = persevere) + DITCH (scrap, as a verb = discard). | ||
| 14 | DOS AND DON’TS | Advice lacking energy, odd: ‘Stand one’s ground’ (3,3,5) |
| Anagram (ground = broken into bits) of ODD STAND ON[e]S, lacking the E (energy). | ||
| 18 | AS UGLY AS SIN | Southern guy is nasal, revolting, disgusting (2,4,2,3) |
| Anagram (revolting = rebelling) of S (Southern) + GUY IS NASAL | ||
| 21 | PASO DOBLE | Errant – so bad – pole dance (4,5) |
| Anagram (errant) of SO BAD POLE. Spanish dance, originating from music for a double-speed military march, hence the name meaning “double step”. |
||
| 23 | IRANI | One in 5 now wanting some veterinarian to return (5) |
| Hidden answer, reversed (some . . . to return) in [veter]INARI[an]. Irani (or Iranian) = person in Iran, now the official name of Persia (5 across). |
||
| 24 | PLACING | Setting down two things musician might do for audience (7) |
| Homophone (for audience) of PLAY / SING, which are two things a musician might do. | ||
| 25 | OPTIMAL | Best part of visual increased tenfold (7) |
| OPTICAL (visual), with the C part of it changed to an M. In Roman numerals, C = 100 and M = 1000, so that’s a tenfold increase. | ||
| 26 | SMELLY | Esme Llywellyn’s a little malodorous (6) |
| Hidden answer (a little) in [e]SME LLY[wellyn]. | ||
| 27 | STAYS PUT | Sup tasty prepared remains (5,3) |
| Anagram (prepared) of SUP TASTY. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HAGGIS | Witches, soldier included in something distinctly Scottish (6) |
| HAGS (witches) with GI (US soldier) included. | ||
| 2 | TARDIS | It’s a complex container for rising Doctor! (6) |
| Anagram (complex) of IT’S A, with DR (Doctor) reversed (rising = upwards in a down clue) contained in it. Clue-as-definition: the time/space travelling vehicle used by “the Doctor” in the TV series Doctor Who. |
||
| 3 | ROLE MODEL | Not initially well groomed – could become one to emulate (4,5) |
| Anagram (could become) of [w]ELL [g]ROOMED, with the initial letters dropped (not initially). | ||
| 4 | CHARLES BABBAGE | Mathematician blathers madly, wasting time in Savoy (7,7) |
| Anagram (madly) of BLA[t]HERS, dropping (wasting) the T (time), inserted into CABBAGE (of which Savoy is a variety). Mathematician and engineer, who devised an early mechanical computer; he never quite managed to build a finished working version, but other people picked up on his ideas and the rest is history. |
||
| 6 | EMEND | Polish team regularly getting goal (5) |
| Alternate letters (regularly) of [t]E[a]M, then END (goal = target). Emend = correct and improve (written text) = polish. |
||
| 7 | SHOW TUNE | Primarily, something hollered out with the utmost noisy energy? (4,4) |
| Everyman’s trademark easy clue. The first letters (primarily) of all the other words in the clue, giving a clue-as-definition (a big popular song from a stage show). | ||
| 8 | AMETHYST | Incorrectly, ‘the May stone’; it’s the February birthstone (8) |
| Anagram (incorrectly) of THE MAY, then ST (st = abbreviation for stone as a measure of weight = 14 pounds). | ||
| 9 | PEASANTS’ REVOLT | Riotous pastoral events? (8,6) |
| Anagram (riotous) of PASTORAL EVENTS. Clue-as-definition: civil disobedience in 14th-century rural England. |
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| 15 | DENTISTRY | Finding crater on island, attempt practice with canines (9) |
| DENT (indentation = crater) + IS (short for island) + TRY (attempt). Medical practice looking after teeth, including canine teeth. |
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| 16 | BAGPIPES | Cold shaken off, biceps flexed, a doctor’s inserted instrument (8) |
| Anagram (flexed) of BI[c]EPS, discarding (shaking off) the C (cold), with A GP (general practitioner = doctor) inserted. | ||
| 17 | MUG’S GAME | Partridge perhaps pulls funny face earlier in absurd endeavour (4,4) |
| GAME (wild animals or birds hunted for food, for example partridge), with MUGS (as a verb = pulls a face) before it (earlier). “A mug’s game” = something that you’d be stupid to try, because you’d be very unlikely to succeed. |
||
| 19 | WARM-UP | Pervert hides letter from Greece; it involves muscle-stretching (4-2) |
| WARP (as a verb = twist = pervert), containing (hiding) the Greek letter MU. | ||
| 20 | VIOLET | Knight abandons aggressive tone (6) |
| VIOLE[n]T (aggressive), abandoning the N (chess notation for knight). Tone = shade of colour. |
||
| 22 | DRILL | Man fleeing bright-bottomed baboon? That’s boring (5) |
| [man]DRILL (a primate with a brightly-coloured bottom, though according to Wikipedia it’s no longer considered a baboon), with MAN taken away from it. Boring as in making holes. |
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Enjoyably crunchy for Everyman – I had to go away and make a couple more cups of tea before returning to complete it.
TARDIS, DENTISTRY, OPTIMAL and HAT-TRICK were magnificent, in my opinion.
Loved HAT TRICK (despite the apparently superfluous ‘economically’ – thanks for the attempt to clarify this, Quirister) for the smoothly misleading reference to ‘3 down’ – which might, admittedly, be a puzzle for those from lands sadly denied cricket. I thought this on a par with Qaos’ MORE from Tuesday. TARDIS was another excellent clue. I had SPARTA for 5a until IRANI at 23d pointed me in the right direction (eastward, as it happens). Some nice pairing too: HAGGIS and BAGPIPES down the left hand edge, and AMETHYST and VIOLET (my LOI) down the right. Also enjoyed the two long ones, 4d and 9d – the latter for the delightful image it invokes – bucolic indeed. Thanks, Everyman and Quirister.
Thanks Quirister. I took “economically” in 1a to indicate that the “3 down” are taken in as few balls as possible – which is necessary for it to be a hat-trick.
I wrote on the printout: ‘More difficult than usual.’
I toyed with optimum because opticum could be ‘part of visual’: the crossing of the optic nerves from the two eyes at the base of the brain. Putting in VIOLET meant the more straightforward OPTIMAL was correct.
Good anagram for PEASANTS REVOLT; I wonder if that’s been done before?
Thanks Everyman and Quirister.
Could someone explain why “one in 5 now” is the definition for 23a? I see it’s a hidden answer reversed but that’s it.
Thanks.
Blue @5: 5 across is PERSIA, which is an old name for what is now officially called Iran, hence “5 now” = Iran.
I did get 1a, but via deduction, having all the possible letters. Thanks, Quirister, for the explanation although as a non-cricketer, it was almost more confusing than the clue! I do enjoy the explanations, as I often get the clues, think I’ve understood why and then find it’s something quite different! All the fun of the crossword, I suppose. Liked 4d, not difficult, just nicely done. Agree re 25a, got it but ?? Again, thanks Quirister
Quirister – thanks for 5a explanation!
I really liked 1d HAGGIS with its clever surface evoking images of Macbeth. And 9d PEASANTS REVOLT – a brilliant anagram.
I wondered if “the old” for YE in 11a might be controversial (it’s cropped up a couple of times on recent puzzles), but Quirister, your succinct explanation of it is very well put.
Many thanks Everyman and Quirister.
A very good challenge from Everyman with the SE holding out for a considerable while. I nearly gave up at one point but now that I cannot do the harder cryptics any more, it’s important that I always finish E. I agree with Boffo’s last sentence and TARDIS was my favourite by a long way. I also liked the two long answers especially the phrase “wasting time in Savoy” which amused me. Shame on me but I couldn’t parse OPTIMAL although it’s obvious when explained.
Many thanks to Q and E.
I agree that this was a bit harder than past Everymans, but I’m not complaining. I didn’t know that hat-trick was cricketing term. In North America, it’s an ice-hockey term, referring to three goals scored by a single player in a game. There’s also the “Gordie Howe hat-trick”, which refers to a single player accomplishing three different achievements in a single game: a goal, an assist, and a fight.
My two favorite clues in this puzzle were both clue-as-definitions (or &lits, although I favor the switch to the less-obscure name cad), namely 2dn and 9dn.
Pushed us to our limits! But some great ones in here, thanks for the brain workout.
One of his best, although I erred with 24A and put in ‘PLAY IN G’ without thinking of the homophone. Hat Trick, Tardis and Peasants’ Revolt were all excellent.
Playing might have been too, had it been correct.
Lots of fun. Great clues. Took us to 11.31pm, but made it.
25a was cool.
Great puzzle. Mine had to soak overnight but all resolved with a morning coffee. The two cads were were favourites.
Found this one to be nearly impossible. Did not get “eyehole”, “optimal” and “violet”. Could not parse many of the others. Everyman is becoming too difficult to be enjoyable.