Posted by ilancaron on 29th July 2007
My Scots theory I think has more evidence in the form of Everyman also being Ascot in the Spectator. This week, JJ is Jeremiah Johnson and admirably the two J’s are checked. Some literary and musical refs as well: Conrad, Satie, Jonson, Auden, Hitchcock — none of whom are Scots though.
Across
| 1 |
MEANS WELL – The wordplay is MEAN, SWELL where MEAN is “excellent” as in: “he has a MEAN serve” – probably more of an Americanism though. |
| 6 |
BALSA – it’s a South American tree indeed – not sure about a “good deal of resin” yet… unless it refers to the fact that BALSA while technically a hardwood is actually a softwood (“deal”) and produces “resin” (?). |
| 10 |
TURN, ROUND – wordplay is: TURN for “go” and ROUND for “stage” (as in a tournament). |
| 11 |
JEREMIAH, JOHN’S,ON – needed all the crossing letters I could get and even then had to wiki-check that JEREMIAH JOHNSON is a 1970’s (Robert Redford) film. |
| 14 |
MULL,AHS=has* - took me a while to get from MULL (our Scots island!) to something that means (Islamic in this case) a plural of “teacher”. |
| 18 |
BO(MB)AST – note that Brit doctors can be any of: DR, MO, MB, MD. |
| 19 |
FAMOUS LAST WORDS – clever cryptic def and my first clue: “Memorable remarks made on the way out?” |
| 21 |
WIS[e],CONS,IN – American states all have a nickname and the Badger State is WISCONSIN – turns out having to do with the fact that early settlers were miners who actually lived in the mines. Unions probably wouldn’t allow that nowadays. |
| 22 |
ALIBI – (Bail? I)* — nice consistent surface. |
| 27 |
NOTORI=(noir too)*,US – another film which qualifies as an anag &lit since it was indeed complicated, American and the genre was noir. |
Down
| 1 |
MARI(JUAN)A |
| 2 |
ADDER – it’s a “snake” – not sure about the wordplay though it might be ADDER[wort] but I don’t see how “make off” removes “wort” from adderwort which is a “plant”. |
| 3 |
STOP ME AND BUY ONE – (about – ‘Spend money’)* — good apposite anag fodder. |
| 5 |
LORD, J,I,M – ref. Conrad’s novel. |
| 6 |
BARTHOMOLEW, FAIR – Bart’s our boy and ref. Jonson’s play. |
| 7 |
LOUIS(IAN)A – another US state. |
| 8 |
A,U,DEN |
| 13 |
ALA(R,MIST)S – “suppressing” is quite a good containment indicator since it means “holds down” which is appropriate since it’s a down clue. |
| 15 |
SAT(IS,F)IE,S – def is “meets” but my wordplay interpretation depends on IS being abbrev of “island” or the IVR for Iceland: “Meets French composer touring island with fine son”. Ref. Erik SATIE. |
| 17 |
NI(LSSO)N – loss* in inn*. Ref. Birgit NILSSON (soprano). |
| 18 |
BASINET – (Beast in)*. |
| 20 |
RHINO – two meanings: the second a frequent cryptic (African) currency (“lolly” is Brit swag). |
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Posted by neildubya on 22nd July 2007
| Across |
| 1 |
BY (”buy”) CHOICE - “on the phone” is your homophone indicator. |
| 12 |
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND - I think I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this quote in a crossword. “Douglas” is the capital of the Isle of Man. |
| 15 |
A,VERA,G in ONE |
| 16 |
RED (”read”),MULL,ET |
| 21 |
EG<,(OUR CHEERY CAFF)* |
| 26 |
C(heste)R,O,ELM<,CH - best clue of the puzzle. Lots of cryptic elements, all handled very smoothly in surface reading. It was a new word to me but easy to get from the wordplay. Explained here. |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
CHAR,MER(e) |
| 3 |
G in ORAN |
| 7 |
AGA SAGA - the last one to go and for a while I thought I wasn’t going to be to finish. I figured that “upside-down” indicated a palindrome but I just couldn’t think of a book that would fit. |
| 8 |
(DENISE I)* - SINE DIE is one of those Latin phrases that I’ve never bothered to look up the meaning of. That said, it was a fairly easy anagram so I was reasonably confident it was right. |
| 14 |
PLUS,F,OURS |
| 19 |
ON in CYCLE |
| 22 |
hidden in “TerritoriAL ARMy” |
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Posted by ilancaron on 15th July 2007
Back to Scotland again this week with Muriel SPARK. More than Everyman’s usual share of weak surfaces though: e.g. 9A, 2D, 5D, 17D. The rest are quite good though so perhaps this isn’t such a bad trawl.
Across
| 9 |
ORMOLU – (loo, rum)*, ”rum” is fodder not the anagrind which it often is. |
| 11 |
CHRONIC,L[owgrad]E – CHRONIC is “very bad” as in the slang “something chronic” sense. CHRONICLE’s our “record” (elsewhere, record is CD). |
| 13 |
P(A,G[uru])AN |
| 14 |
ONCE OR T,W,ICE – (coronet)*. ICE for “diamonds”. |
| 18 |
BRIGHT, SPARK – two famous Brits: the first ref. John BRIGHT (Radical 19C politician) and second ref. Muriel SPARK the Scots novelist. |
| 22 |
GREEN,HORN – trivia fans might want to know that GREENHORN appeared in Everyman 3162 as well. |
| 24 |
GANYMEDE – (men, edgy)*. |
| 26 |
END,ANGER – “nark” can mean annoy or needle thus ANGER. |
| 27 |
O,BE(YE)D – lovely suggestive surface: “Complied with demands, making love with you in bed”. |
Down
| 1 |
CHOP-CHOP – good surface: def is “quickly” (must be derived from pidgin I would think). |
| 2 |
LIME,RICK – RICK is a “stack” of hay. |
| 3 |
COLON[y] – if you didn’t already, you now know that the COLON is Costa Rican currency. |
| 5 |
A(B)IDE WITH ME – B in (The maid, I we)* and it’s a hymn (also British as it happens). |
| 6 |
STOP, PRESS – in the wordplay PRESS is a “crowd” and in the def it’s a newspaper. |
| 7 |
O,RANGE – our second “Fruit – “ clue (see 2D). |
| 8 |
TYRANT – hidden in “parTY RAN Tanzania” with a convincing surface. |
| 12 |
CUTTING EDGE – sometimes now called the “bleeding edge” which is consistent with biting your lip! |
| 16 |
MAHOGANY – I didn’t know this was an “old Cornish drink” but it is according to Google and Chambers has it as “gin and treacle”. |
| 17 |
SKIN,HEAD – rather weak surface (not I hope referring to his fellow Independent setter). |
| 19 |
MAN,GLE=leg* - my last clue. Not hard but I wanted it to be a containment clue. |
| 20 |
C(ANNE)D – Brit slang for “drunk”. “Record” this time is CD. |
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Posted by ilancaron on 1st July 2007
I think Partick Thistle is the only Scots reference in this puzzle. Of course, my Caledonian theory might be completely incidental but it gives me a goal each week. Overall, pretty easy cluing and familiar vocabulary but, as always, sensible and meaningful surfaces.
Across
| 5 |
LAP,TO,P – my last clue: rather sad since I’m writing this on a LAPTOP. |
| 9 |
LUC[k],ID – “chance” is LUCK and presumably “virtually” is used to indicate “almost all” – I think the clue would have been better both cryptically and surface-wise as “Clear chance, virtually all I had”. |
| 10 |
TOWN-CRIER – (tricorn we)* — not a bad clue; cryptic def of “bellman” and a guy wearing a tricorn is the image I conjure up in my mind’s eye of a TOWN-CRIER (carrying a bell). |
| 14 |
SIDE,REAL - def is “of stars”. Incidentally given the fame of Real Madrid, familiarly just Real, “team” could also indicate REAL! |
| 18 |
CUCK=”cook”,OO |
| 20 |
CLARENCE, D,ARROW – well known (American lawyer) for being on the right side in the Scopes evolution trial. Turns out that CLARENCE is a type of carriage and “quarrel” is a type of (crossbow) ARROW. Couple of red-herrings here: DA is an American “lawyer” and ROW is a “quarrel” of course. |
| 23 |
IN,T(ROVER)T – ROVER is a type of “car” and heart of “BriTTany” is TT. |
| 24 |
E,LAND – nice economical charade |
| 25 |
E(ME)NDS – another nice economical clue with a consistent surface. |
Down
| 2 |
MACBETH – (match, be)*. Nicely misleading surface (games rather than dramatic). |
| 3 |
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD – cryptic def (“Central square?”). This term appears frequently in cryptics – possible because of its length and its popular letters. |
| 6 |
AT CLOSE=locates*, QUARTERS – another economical clue with a fine surface. |
| 7 |
THIS,TLE=let* – our Scots clue: Partick THISTLE is a Glaswegian football team I think. |
| 13 |
SUB,SCRIBE – SUB as in SUB-editor. |
| 15 |
FE,S(C)UE – FESCUE is a type of grass that seems to only grow in cryptic gardens. |
| 17 |
SE(A)TTLE – one of my last clues: extremely embarrassing since I lived there many years. |
| 19 |
KNOW-A(L)L – L in (on walk)* |
| 22 |
ADA,R – ADA’s our “girl” this time. |
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Posted by neildubya on 24th June 2007
Not too taxing and therefore perfect for a Sunday morning, especially if Saturday night went on too long and you’re in desperate need of a 23A or similar restorative.
| Across |
| 8 |
AIR<,LAND in TERROR - I liked “eastern state” for RIA (AIR if you read from right to left or east to west). |
| 11 |
(STAR DIES)* |
| 12 |
TA,HOE - “volunteers” for TA (Territorial Army) is a well-established piece of crossword lingo. |
| 14 |
R,UNA,CROSS |
| 16 |
TRIA(l) in MARCH - March is the fenland town in Cambridgeshire I think. I stupidly filled in PATRIARCH because I didn’t think too hard about the wordplay. I realised it was wrong when I couldn’t solve 13D. |
| 23 |
(AIR YES I REPORT)* - I don’t know where I heard about a PRAIRIE OYSTER but I must have done somewhere. It’s that vile-sounding drink made with a whole egg yolk, Worcestershire sauce and salt and black pepper. I’d rather have two paracetomol and a fry-up, thanks very much. |
| 24 |
ELM in PET - “Border collie” disguises the definition very well. |
| 25 |
R in STAIN |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
IT,IT in SPOUT |
| 3 |
ALL in MAR(re)D - excellent wordplay in this one (”all aboard spoiled on departing”) |
| 6 |
RAT in ERIC |
| 13 |
MB in COAT - the last one to go in because of my mistake in 16A. |
| 15 |
(CHART ROSE)* - at least the setter avoided (CARTHORSE)*. |
| 17 |
(FAIL AT)*,L - more nice wordplay. You need a keen eye to spot the anagrind in “Fail at swimming length”. |
| 18 |
AN,A,”liszt” |
| 20 |
PO,PUP |
| 22 |
NORI (going up) - Nori is a Japanese word for different types of edible seaweed. |
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