I enjoyed this week’s offering from Everyman. Perfect accompaniment to a Sunday morning coffee (or two).
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 A day to get around the Continent
AFRICA
A charade of A, FRI AND CA for circa or ‘around’.
5 Slovenly type‘s got some neck!
SCRUFF
A dd.
8 Everyman has potential to improve, solver: honestly
I PROMISE YOU
A charade of I, PROMISE and YOU.
11 Eyre hears a line that needs cutting in preparation for performance
REHEARSAL
Hidden in EyRE HEARS A Line.
12 Small athletic club in purple
LILAC
A charade of LIL and AC. LIL is a colloquial form of ‘little’ and is often seen in musicians’ names.
13 Company constructed silos: they’re enormous
COLOSSI
A charade of CO and (SILOS)* The anagrind is ‘constructed’.
14 Conman‘s retiring, wanting rest badly
SHYSTER
A charade of SHY and (REST)* The anagrind is ‘badly’.
15 A little garland is dainty, getting scorn
DISDAIN
Hidden in garlanD IS DAINty.
17 Bin meat that’s rotten all around
AMBIENT
(BIN MEAT)* with ‘rotten’ as the anagrind.
20 Send back – drive back, perhaps, potato?
TUBER
A reversal (‘send back’) of REBUT.
21 Lofty structure from which it’s announced: ‘It’s time for girdles’
BELL TOWER
A soundalike clue (‘it’s announced’) for BELT HOUR.
22 Re-do the pork: awkward bloomer
RED-HOT POKER
(RE DO THE PORK)* with ‘awkward’ as the anagrind.
23 One authoritarian at back of boat
ASTERN
A charade of A and STERN.
24 One primarily dominant, yet nepotistically appointed, securing throne?
DYNAST
The initial letters of the last six words of the clue and a cad.
Down
2 Multiple sentences with no escaping e.g. penguins?
FLIGHTLESS BIRDS
I think this is just a rather convoluted cd: BIRD is slang for a prison ‘sentence’ – ‘he’s doing bird’ – and if there was no possible escape/flight from more than one of them then they would be FLIGHTLESS. Unless someone has a better idea.
3 Some progress when visiting Greek island, reportedly
INROADS
A charade of IN for ‘visiting’ and a soundalike (‘reportedly’) of RHODES.
4 Concession for entrance
ADMISSION
A dd.
5 Rope material is brought into stable regularly
SISAL
An insertion of IS in SAL, the odd letters of SiSaL. The insertion indicator is ‘brought into’.
6 Songwriter’s payment: Taylor collected Japanese currency
ROYALTY
A charade of (TAYLOR)* and Y for Yen. The anagrind is ‘collected’.
7 ‘Term’; ‘oath’; ‘news’; ‘chat’?
FOUR-LETTER WORDS
A cd.
9 Caught by fabled avian, one with dozens of teeth
CROC
A charade of C and ROC.
10 Cake decorator‘s instructions returned with two cuts
ICER
A reversal of RECI[PE].
14 Wavy at the edges, building collapsed
SCALLOPED
(COLLAPSED)* with ‘building’ as the anagrind.
15 Ascertain age of potential partner
DATE
A dd.
16 A card game? Cut
ABRIDGE
A charade of A and BRIDGE.
18 Give evidence of risk: Barbie’s boyfriend accepting love
BETOKEN
An insertion of O in BET and KEN. The insertion indicator is ‘accepting’.
19 Right-winger offering two extremes in tyranny?
TORY
The choice of outside letters in ‘tyranny’ is T OR Y.
21 Author Dan is toast
BROWN
A dd. Dan Brown is an American author, perhaps best known for The Da Vinci Code.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Many thanks, Pierre.
Could someone please provide the link for this week’s puzzle, 4166?
Re Crosser @1
https://tinyurl.com/Everyman-4166
will get you there.
Thank you very much, Humph.
FLIGHTLESS BIRDS
Agree with the blogger’s parsing.
(multiple sentences=BIRDS; with no escaping FLIGHTLESS)
FOUR-LETTER WORDS
Each word in the clue means “WORD” in a sense.
And all four words are four-letter words. Liked
this CD.
Thanks Pierre.
An easier one this week: I actually managed to complete it!
Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
The subtlety of FOUR-LETTER WORDS had eluded me – neat! Thanks KVa @4.
Slight typo in the parsing of SISAL; you’ve given the odd letters of the solution rather than the fodder.
I imagine it’s not in a twitcher’s regular wheelhouse, but no Compulsory Bird Link for penguin?
I thought ‘term,’ ‘oath,’ ‘news’ and ‘chat’ seemed a bit random so thanks, Kva @4, for pointing out that they can all mean ‘word’ in certain contexts.
I liked Eyre’s performance as REHEARSAL and the cake decorator’s ICER. I also missed the significance of the FOUR-LETTER WORDS.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
@holypeanut, the bird has to be the answer, the whole answer and nothing but the answer for the OPBL.
Thank you Pierre for the excellent blog. Either I am getting better or this was at the easier end of the scale ?
Pierre@9 🤣🤣
Did they remove the “check” button?
@9 Pierre – gotcha! I did think that might be the reason, but good to have it confirmed with such rigour!
I was having trouble cracking 5 across, ended up settling on “SERIFF”, because it seemed to be connected to the word “type” in the clue.
Serif only has one F. And I don’t know why it would make a font “slovenly”. But it was the best I could do, and it fit, and it didn’t stuff up any of the other 3 downward answers, so I left it 😆
An example of the Gettier problem in cryptic crosswords? 😜