Everyman 3,560

by

A steady-as-she-goes Everyman puzzle, with not too much to alarm (or thrill), but a good collection of clues at the shallow end of the pool.

completed grid
Not sure if some of the antipodean solvers who join these discussions will have known of Bangor as a town in County Down, or Hamley’s perhaps, but the wordplay was quite gettable. A noticeable lack of double defs or cryptic defs this week, but a nice grid, and just the one query at 1a
Across
1 DEPTH
Insight shown by hospital department, originally (5)
H (hospital) with DEPT (department) at the front (originally). Is insight a synonym for depth? I’m not so sure.
4 TRADITION
Established practice in art? I do it differently with end of crayon (9)
Anagram (differently) of ART I DO IT with crayoN
9 WAISTCOAT
American’s vest in desert, reportedly shown on film (9)
(reportedly) Sounds like WASTE, then COAT (film). Oh, those crazy americans with their different words for things.
10 ANNUL
Cancel yearbook missing second article (5)
ANNUaL, with the second article ‘a’ left out
11 TOYSHOP
Hamleys, say, developed photos – first of yours displayed inside (7)
Anagram (developed) of photos, with Y (first of yours) tucked in
12 OMICRON
A rounded character, but not initially amusing man (7)
One of these, with cOMIC RON providing the wordplay
13 WEIGHT TRAINING
Women’s crew, showering after end of work-out improving muscle performance (6-8)
W(women’s) EIGHT (crew) T (end of work out) RAINING (showering)
17 BROAD IN THE BEAM
Fat American woman shown up by car headlight? (5,2,3,4)
BROAD (US woman) IN THE BEAM – I liked this clue.
19 SETTLED
Resolved to live permanently with daughter (7)
SETTLE (live permanently) D (daughter)
20 CAMILLA
Girl in cold area round a factory (7)
C(cold) A MILL (factory) A (area)
22 URBAN
Living in a city, some favour banking (5)
HD – favoUR BANking
23 ANNOUNCER
Can one run broadcast? (9)
Nice &lit clue, anagram (broadcast) of can one run
24 OVERSPEND
To exceed one’s budget unfortunately proves point (9)
Anag (unfortunately) of PROVES,, then END (point)
25 HUMID
Unpleasant odour I start to detect in damp (5)
HUM (unpleasant odour) I D (start to detect)
Down
1 DOWNTOWN
Business centre in Bangor, perhaps (8)
Ref to this town in County Down
2 PLINY
Old writer, popular within fold (5)
IN (popular) within PLY (fold)
3 HIT THE HEADLINES
Struck senior teacher – row’s made the papers (3,3,9)
HIT THE HEAD (struck senior teacher) LINES (row’s)
4 TROOP
Bad time over in platoon? (5)
reversal (over) of POOR (bad) T (time)
5 ASTRONAUT
One who might have excited NASA tutor? (9)
Another &littish clue, anagram of NASA TUTOR
6 ITALIAN VERMOUTH
Drink – two words for it! (7,8)
Nice clue: ref to IT as an abbreviation of ITALIAN, and a synonym for VERMOUTH (in the construction ‘gin and it’)
7 IGNORANCE
Lack of awareness in church sheltering good girl (9)
IN CE (in church) around G (good) NORA (girl)
8 NYLONS
Stockings, new, only ruined by son (6)
N (new) YLON (agagram of only) S (son)
14 IRRITABLE
One bishop, one on board, is cranky (9)
I (one) RR (right reverend, bishop) I (one) TABLE (board)
15 THIRD-RATE
That rider is shaky, not much good (5-4)
Anag (shaky) of THAT RIDER
16 IMPAIRED
I’m mated, being handicapped (8)
IM PAIRED (mated)
18 ESCUDO
Criminal does, pocketing copper coin in use before the euro (6)
Anagram (criminal) of DOES around (pocketing) CU (copper), for the old coin of Portugal, which my sources tell me is still used in Cape Verde
20 CANED
Thoroughly defeated a northern European, breaking record (5)
A N E in (breaking) CD (record)
21 LOCUM
Stand-in doctor reduced swelling across one’s chest, initially (5)
LUMp (reduced swelling) about O C (one’s chest, initially)
*anagram

13 comments on “Everyman 3,560”

  1. Thanks for your explanations, Matt.
    As regards 1a, I thought maybe a critic’s analysis of a novel could have depth, in the sense of insight.

  2. Thanks Matt and Everyman.

    I enjoyed this puzzle.

    New words for me were OMICRON (loi) and BROAD IN THE BEAM.

    As one of the antipodean solvers, I had to look up Bangor as I had never heard of it. Luckily, Hamley’s was fresh in my mind because it had been mentioned in a programme about Christmas shopping on BBC World Servce radio.

  3. Thanks Everyman and Matt

    It took me a while to get WAISTCOAT, CAMILLA and PLINY.

    I wonder how the antipodeans reacted to ‘cranky’, when I was young it meant sick, the original meaning.

  4. Thanks Everyman and Matt.

    I thought Bangor was the Welsh one until I did some Googling. I knew MICRON, but not the one with an initial ‘o.’

    Favourites were WEIGHT TRAINING, ANNOUNCER and BROAD IN THE BEAM.

  5. Thanks, Matt.

    I like your ‘shallow end of the pool’ analogy. Everyman’s puzzles are – for all that – still a pleasure for me to solve.

    I’ve always had CRANKY for ‘irritable’ down as an American English usage, but I could be wrong. I’d never use it myself.

  6. I was unfamiliar with omicron and needed to confirm it from the word-play so it was my loi. I initially had innocence for 7d but couldn’t see any good girls (nuns?) in it so had to think again!
    Despite some uncharitable and adverse criticisms there are some entertaining clues here (17d) and some that require some thinking but there are enough straightforward ones to enable the gaps to be filled in and the clue resolved as a result.
    Another enjoyable start to the weekend (and also some moisture) thanks as per usual to Matt and Everyman.
    I’ve recently acquired a beehive so I’m off to swap some of our first honey collection for some avocadoes.
    Cheers all.

  7. I managed to complete the eastern and southern sections but had to ask trusty old Samsung about the north west. Depth is vaguely insight but only just.Thought troop was right for 4d but couldn,t see why, so thanks Matt for that explanation.Didn’t know Hamleys or Omicron. Missed waistcoat too.Liked 17a.

  8. Sand pit, entry level, now we are in the shallow end, eh? Well it suits me just fine, some of the more esoteric crossword puzzles which ask you to take this from that and do the Hokey Cokey leave me cold. Give me a clue like 17a any day.

    I spent hours browsing Hamleys as a kid so that was easy even if the others weren’t all so straightforward.

    Downtown was a nice clue, and yes I initially thought of its Welsh cousin from that wretched song of the 1980s:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8WiPy1xSkw

    No issues with either Cranky or Depth/insight. Never heard of Pliny though.

    Thanks Everyman and Matt.

  9. Never heard of hum meaning unpleasant odour and found that completely obscure. Unlikely to ever use that word in the context EVER.
    Was interested to see someone from antipodes solving this early in Jan. Maybe it shows up in some Oz papers easier than the herald.
    Or they do it on line.
    I like the paper version gives me something to scribble all the anags on.
    Think we antipods all get cranky fine thanks! I think we all do damn fine down here with all the eng references that we just cannot know without reference help. Even with resources it isn’t always that easy,

  10. Barrie, the only song I could come up with wasn’t that wretched one you alluded to but an American one by Roger Miller that said something about “destination Bangor Maine” Vanessa, hum for stink is a pommy thing, I remember it from many years ago when I Worked in Camberley in Surrey.I am happy in the shallow end.

  11. Like Ian, I had ‘innocence’ for 7d so couldn’t get 12 ac ‘omicron’ even if I’d heard of it, which I hadn’t. Had to look up Hamleys which I hadn’t heard of either. Liked 13 ac and 17 ac.
    Yes I know the ‘Riding down from Bangor’ song, and remember driving through the Welsh town in North Wales. I remember Roger Miller’s song too, Rod. I used to have a record with him singing ‘ King of the Road’ but he pronounced the word differently, so was it spelled Bangor?
    Barrie, Pliny the Younger wrote a famous description of the eruption of Vesuvius from his vantage point across the water. His uncle (or was it father?) Pliny the Elder, died trying to escape the falling ash.
    And yes Cookie, sometimes I get a bit cranky trying to figure out these clues, e.g. Hamleys.
    Great puzzle, and thoroughly enjoyable even if we were in the shallow end . That was deep enough for me.

  12. Yes Rod, Roger Miller’s town was Bangor, Maine. Just looked it up. Same place as ‘Riding down from Bangor, on an Eastbound train” apparently.

  13. Well I asked for it and got it. That was a toughy. Didn’t get several clues as a mental block fell in place and I couldn’t look past the break down of a clue I had entrenched in my head 🙁

    Never heard of HUM being used for an UNPLEASANT ODOUR. Thanks to Everyman and Matt for the blog. Till next week!

Comments are closed.