I generally find Everyman puzzles to be on the easy side and this was no exception, though it did provide a gentle warm up in preparation for the Azed and EV. So far as I can see, there were only two answers that may be unfamiliar to some, 6dn which was clued in such a way that the solver needed a knowledge of French and science fiction in order to parse the wordplay, which was perhaps a little unfair, and 25ac where the wordplay was quite straightforward.
Across
7 ASPIC A SPIC[y] (chopped pungent)
8 LAID AN EGG *(GAG DANIEL)
10 OVERDUE OVER (extra) DUE (expected)
11 AILMENT *(IN METAL)
12 LEADERSHIP LEADERS (newspaper articles) HIP (with it)
14/15 LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS LIKE (similar to) NOBODY’S (Charles Pooter’s) BUSINESS (profession) defn. ‘very much’ – a reference to the novel ‘Diary of a Nobody’ in which the main character and author of the diary is Charles Pooter
18 SPRY R[ing] in SPY (agent)
19 MONTE CARLO *(CARMEN LOOT)
21 OPIATES *(APE SO IT)
23 PIMENTO MEN (chaps) in *(POT I)
25 EVENTUATE EVEN (uniform) U[trillo] in TATE (gallery
26 ROVES ROVE[r]S – a reference to the Association Football team
Down
1 EPEE E (English) PEE[r] (aristocrat’s short)
2 ACIDHEAD ACID (sharp) HEAD (boss)
3 SLEEPS S (son) PEELS (shaves) reversed
4 TIRAMISU *(IT IS A RUM)
5 EARL hidden in ‘fEAR Lately’
6 RÉPÉTITEUR E (European) PETITE (small, in French) in RUR (Czech play) – R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), a science fiction play in the Czech language by Karel Capek which is noted for introducing the term “robot”
7/9 A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS A ROLLING STONE (one with rock group) GATHERS (learns) N (knight) O (old) MOSS (racing driver, Stirling Moss)
13 AUBERGINES IN (popular) in AUBERGES (French taverns)
16 SCOTSMAN CO (company) in ST (street) S (small) MAN (staff)
17 IN CAMERA *(AMERICAN)
20 TOPPED dd
22 TUTU TUT (express disapproval) U[nion]
24 NAVY VAN (vehicle) reversed [piccadill]Y
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.
I thought 6dn was a little dubious – requiring a knowledge of French and science fiction to come up with a French word that (as far as I’m aware) is not in everyday use… That apart, a straightforward puzzle…
REPETITEUR was my last one in. I had to google RUR. Otherwise, fairly straightforward.
I admit the answer to 6dn is a less well-known word but I don’t think ‘a knowledge of French’ is needed to know ‘petite’.
This clue made me laugh when I got it: in my first term at university, a friend and I had signed up to be stage crew for RUR, which we’d never heard of. On the first night, they’d decided they needed more robots, so a handful of us were bundled into boiler suits, given a club, shoved onto the stage and told to look menacing! We never did discover what it was all about.
Eileen, agreed!
I should have made plainer that I meant a knowledge of French to recognise the solution as being a valid French word… even my scant knowledge of the language was able to come up with ‘petite’
Sorry for the misunderstanding, SimonG! 🙁 [I was referring to Gaufrid’s comment, too, which referred to the wordplay, rather than the solution.]
Thanks, Gaufrid. I got répétiteur without knowing what the RUR bit was about, so thanks for explaining that. Not too tricky as you say, but eighteen months ago I was just managing to finish the Everyman on most Sundays, so goes to show what a bit of practice can do. I still think it’s one of the best puzzles for those comparatively new to cryptics, so to whoever sets it, well done.
Eileen, your undergraduate days were clearly more eventful than mine! Can you still do menacing?
I found it necessary to use répétiteur in order to keep EASTER SUNDAY as the top and bottom lines of the grid.
Eileen, no problem!
Everyman, excellent – managed to miss that completely!
Judging by the lack of comment on it previously, I think we all did, Simon … but cleverly done in any case.
Not quite all K’s D. I spotted the Nina when I solved the puzzle early last Sunday morning and then completely forgot about it when I came to write the post nearly a week later. Had I known when solving that I was going to be covering this puzzle I would have made a note on my copy as a reminder.
We’re not used to looking for Ninas in Everyman! I’m kicking myself because I actually had noticed how neatly A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS fitted down each side – and missed the rest. Congratulations, Everyman!
I whizzed through this fairly quickly (with a quick Google of RUR) and without much enjoyment. But am very sorry I missed “Easter Sunday” (you refer to it as a Nina?). That would have changed my mood and admiration for the setter completely.
Hi Colin
A ‘Nina’ is a message, or similar, hidden in the grid (often in the perimeter). It is so called because the American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld used to hide his daughter’s name, Nina, in many of his pictures.
Thank you Gaufrid. Now I know what to look for and what to call it if I find it!
And even though I find Everyman fairly simple, it seems a long step up to Azed and EV. Perhaps when I have more time available.