ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THEMELESS MONDAY]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Everyman Crossword No. 3352
Constructor: Anonymous
Relative difficulty: Medium-plus
THEME: None
Word of the Day: EFFULGENT {22A: Leader in event to head back into the wind on the way back – man is brilliant (9)}
adj. Shining brilliantly; resplendent. (American Heritage Dictionary)
No Guardian came to the in-law’s house over the weekend, so I didn’t try that one. Looks like it’s going to be the Observers puzzles instead. There is a variety puzzle by Azed that I glanced at, but was too intimidated by the thing. So, onto the traditional one (after the obligatory Sudoku warm-up).
Surprised that I was able to get roughly 60% of this one not a problem. I guess the reasons for that are manifold. For starters, I’ve been Devouring the stellar Wall Street Journal Saturday puzzles, and we all know that means once a month there’s a cryptic by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. And their work is always in the gentle side of cryptics. Secondly, I rather enjoyed David Astle’s Book “Puzzled” which pretty much puts training wheels on those starting off on cryptic solving. Lovely techniques outlined in that book that helped immensely with this puzzle. And finally, this puzzle is called the “Everyman” puzzle. Presumably every man can solve it.
Right out the gate nailed ORANGE {4A: Fruit in orchard’s first row 6)} which gave me ON THE FACE OF IT {4D: Where you can see clock’s hands, apparently (2, 3, 4, 2, 2)} not so much that I got the, uh, riddle per se? But got it from the enumerations and it just sort of “felt right.” More solving the puzzle by using enumerations and feel approach for AFTER ALL {5D: Last, at the end of the day (5,3)} which as I’m typing that now is probably a double definition, and the utterly silly GRIN AND BEAR IT {8D: How, stoically, to suffer the unwanted paparazzi? (4, 3, 4, 2)}. It probably bears (Get it? Bears!?) repeating that really the only way to “stoically” “suffer the unwanted” Chicago Bears Shuffing Crew video is to GRIN AND BEAR IT.
Had to dredge up what the Brits call gas stations as 7A: {Charging Victoria, say, where juice is sold (7, 7)} clearly ended in STATION (Petrol didn’t seem to want to fit). I eventually recalled FILLING. Had not a chance in hell with the other British-isms. Take 23A: LECTURE THEATRE {Reprimand rep in hall (7, 7)}, for instance. No clue. Had to take a lucky stab with that one. from the crossings. Crossings didn’t help at all, though, with the Natick-tacular 16A: BERMONDSEY {Governor taking in surprisingly modern small London district (10)}. Who knows, maybe that should have been the Word of the Day?
It became clear that about mid-way through the puzzle, I was better off just guessing what words could probably fit in the grid, as opposed to, you know, sussing out the riddle. This lead to three ludicrous stabs in the dark. For EFFULGENT (which was entirely new to me), I had E?F???E?T. So I threw down confidently EFFICIENT. That lead to ?C?E?E in 19D {Charged way over the odds for wool (6)}. I figured SCHEME seemed right as in I schemed money out of someone. At least that’s what I talked myself into. It was only after a quick Google check to confirm some of these guesses did I realized SCHEME was in fact FLEECE (so obvious now as I’m retyping the clue). I had also talked myself into ARGENTINE for 10A {Friar of noble birth in Spain (9)} which I’m guessing is supposed to be AUGUSTINE??!? Since I had the N in that spot it took forever to recognize the crosswordese special of OTIOSE at 3D {Lazy old couple housing sailor (6)}. Lazy indeed.
Bullets:
- 1A: {Think logically about a boy (6)} REASON Love the way this clue reads. Elegant starting point of a puzzle.
- 17A: {Novel set in Salem, Massachusetts (9)} EMMA Just throwing it out there, I got married at the House of the Seven Gables, which is a novel that was set in Salem, Massachusetts.
- 24A: {Mimic arrives on board vessel (6)} PARROT While I was prepping for this post, I had flagged this clue as a possibility to run alongside a Jimmy Buffett YouTube clip. You can thank me later for saving you the horrorshow.
- 2D: {Reptile flying at gorilla (9)} ALLIGATOR This time last year, all I could have grokked were the anagram clues. What a difference a year makes.
- 11A: {Codeword, more used in front of ‘Oscar’ (5)} ROMEO Last night, Liz and I watched this ridiculous made for TV movie followed immediately by a documentary both about Live Aid. These guys should have played one of the concerts, IMHO:
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
I haven’t done the (Guardian’s) Everyman as much as the cryptic because I’ve found too many of the clues to be jokey definitions. Most of the ones you gave were straight cryptic, though, so maybe my impression was wrong or the Observer’s are better.
Kinda rude of them to use “luff” for “into the wind”. Have to remember that in case I need it. You should’ve got the rest of that word quickly, though.
You were supposed to get “filling” from “charging”. And everyone who does UK puzzles knows “Victoria” is station at least half the time. 🙂 the “Lecture hall” clue was the same two-word game, of course. They love those.
My absolute least favorite kind of (real) cryptic clue is the hidden word (like “Emma” above, of course). When I teach people to do cryptics, I always tell them to look for one if they get stuck.
My favorite daily cryptic used to be the Sydney Morning Herald, but you can’t get it online for free anymore. Ditto the Herald (of Scotland). I now do the Guardian Cryptic and the FT Cryptic as well as the Independent and Glove and Mail (Canada) when I have time. I don’t really recommend the G&M as it has the “too many jokey clues” problem too, though they have a lot of anagrams to help you get the rest.
Again, postgame analysis at fifteensquared.net is really useful. See you there. 🙂
BEQ’s puzzle deserves more of an introduction than it got. Really liked the 5 15s and the way they intersected.
SNOOK is what a thumb is called when it is applied to ones nose. I did not know that.
Another thing I don’t know is how to get David Astle’s “Puzzled” book shipped to America.
Took a while to figure out the bottom middle section of BEQ’s puzzle. Didn’t know the LL Cool J song (not a surprise, since I couldn’t have told you the name of any LL Cool J song), and got stuck on 63A, because in the Lord’s Prayer I learned, the last word is EVER. Wikipedia says this is standard in the Book of Common Prayer — I had no idea there were other versions.
I had trouble with some of the names (though I should know Yost by now…), but I got the long ones pretty readily. Liked the clues for 54A and 18D. 48D took me a second even after I got it from all the checks. I don’t watch ESPN, but realized that was what it was about.
I first tried Palo and Alto in the other order, but figured that out pretty quick. Reading the clues again, I don’t know why I thought to go the other way.
Romeo Void is indelibly imprinted on my memory.
Even as a hormone-addled teen, I could tell that I didn’t want to sleep with the woman who was singing “I might like you better if we slept together.”
Tough one. I also had EVER. Didn’t connect Horn group with ESPN and didn’t know the LLCoolJ hit (although CALI seemed better then CALE) so I was doomed because I was sure about the prayer. Rats, fine puzzle however.
They used “Going Back to Cali” in some early ads for “NCIS: LA” (starring Cool James himself of course). Then MTV V-Jay Martha Quinn is looking cute in the video too, as I recall.
I, too, know “EVER” as the last word in the Lord’s Prayer. But apparently the portion of the prayer I think of as the end (which I learned as a young Episcopalian to be “For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever.”) is used only by certain denominations. My new fact for the day. Didn’t know the rap song or IGAS, but otherwise had one of my better BEQ Themeless showings.
I also just did tomorrow’s puzzle, which mysteriously showed up early on my Stand Alone app. Loved it.