It’s Sunday and my shift at the Everyman wheel.
Struggled a bit but that was entirely my own undoing as it turned out. Thanks Everyman.
Across
1 Permit cry of pain in rage? No time (7)
EMPOWER
OW in Timeles (t)EMPER
5 Base linked to era producing amount of film (7)
FOOTAGE
FOOT (base) & AGE (era)
9 Delivery from popular vocalist carrying weight (9)
INSWINGER
Cricket term. IN popular & W(eight) in SINGER
10 Get over being annoyed (5)
CROSS
This was my last in by a mile, entirely due to me entering 8d wrongly, like Eric Morecambe, I had all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order. Should have noticed earlier that ESNIGN isn’t actually a word. It’s a simple double definition this one.
11 Opening achieved by one in working for diamonds (7)
ORIFICE
1 in FOR* working & ICE (rocks, diamonds)
12 Reach junction going west in Welsh town (7)
MAESTEG
GET SEAM reversed (going west)
13 Not allowed to be hostile for example with hint, dropping name (12)
ILLEGITIMATE
ILL (hostile) & E.G. & I(n)TIMATE (hint without n)
17 Caught by evil demon, state criticism (12)
CONDEMNATION
C(aught) & DEMON* evil & NATION (state)
20 Rowing boat stuck behind loud river transport (7)
FREIGHT
F (loud) & R(iver) & (rowing) EIGHT
22 Followers showing energy come together and run around (7)
RETINUE
E(nergy) & UNITE & R(un) all reversed
23 Correct people engaged by editor (5)
EMEND
MEN in ED(itor)
24 Silent pal bothered one involved in radio quiz? (9)
PANELLIST
[SILENT PAL]* is bothered
25 Swindled, receiving instrument reduced in strength (7)
DILUTED
LUTE in DID (swindled)
26 Serious about following novelist endlessly (7)
AUSTERE
RE (about) after (jane) AUSTE(n) endlessly
Down
1 Broadcast is copied in serial form (8)
EPISODIC
[IS COPIED]* broadcast
2 Sweet old man not moving east (8)
PASTILLE
PA (old man) & STILL (not moving) & E(ast)
3 One can, entertained by joker, miss point in play (7,3,5)
WAITING FOR GODOT
1 & TIN (can) both in WAG (joker) & FORGO (miss) & DOT (point)
4 Lamented bird appearing on front of tabloid in colour (9)
REGRETTED
EGRET & T(abloid) all in RED
5 Place for discussion in university in fashion (5)
FORUM
U(niversity) in FORM (fashion)
6 Conducted groups high above small seats for audience (9,6)
ORCHESTRA STALLS
ORCHESTRAS (conducted groups) & TALL (high) & S(mall). One of my last to parse correctly for some reason
7 Takes on commercial work, climbing street (6)
ADOPTS
AD (commercial) & OP (work) & ST(reet) reversed –climbing
8 Officer among aliens ignored (6)
ENSIGN
Hidden answer, a rather junior officer though
14 Notes Roman made all over the place (9)
MEMORANDA
[ROMAN MADE]* all over the place.
15 Important person is being excited, accepting Oscar (3,5)
BIG NOISE
O(scar) inserted in [IS BEING]* excited
16 Upset head of state trapped by upper-class weed (8)
UNSETTLE
S – head of S(tate) inserted in – trapped by U(pper class) NETTLE (weed). What is a weed? just something growing where you wish it wasn’t.
18 Bad result hurt (6)
OFFEND
OFF (bad) & END (result). Anyone else spend a while trying anagrams of RESULT?
19 Delight about answer let out (6)
REVEAL
A(nswer) in REVEL (delight)
21 I had to support favourite, taken up without enthusiasm (5)
TEPID
I’D after PET reversed taken up
Although I can’t believe it hasn’t been done many times before I really liked the reverse charade for RETINUE. By the way Flashling, I like the colour scheme you use.
Thanks Everyman and flashling, I am not sure if the good Mr Scott has waved goodbye…
I entered ELSTREE at 5a, ENSIGN went in nicely at 8d, then was stuck in the NE corner for a long time:
it certainly was a ‘base linked to era producing amount of film’. i.e. quota quickies.
I had not heard of the Welsh town MAESTEG. EMPOWER, RETINUE and ILLEGITIMATE were good.
Agree about weeds, my garden is a natural one; I once had a lovely soft NETTLE fibre knitted top.
typos, 3d TIN not TIM, 6d ORCHESTRA STALLS and 15d BIG NOISE two words
Thanks Everyman & flashling.
I had to check MAESTEG. I particularly liked ORCHESTRA STALLS & TEPID.
Thanks flashling for your excellent blog. Another enjoyable Everyman and my two favourites today were EMPOWER and BIG NOISE. I’d never heard of MAESTEG despite having Welsh ancestry and couldn’t even parse the clue although I got the answer. Thanks Everyman.
@Cookie thanks for the typo spots, fixed ta. The 2 word things are caused by the blogging software in part and my failure to proof-read in toto!
For the NZ crowd I’ll be on holiday and unable to comment when you get this, will look forward to your barbed comments. 🙂
(I visit NZ at least once a year – interesting to note that the Saturday cryptic in the New Zealand Herald is substantially more difficult than the usual daily offering and is in fact the Observer’s Everyman with a time lag of approximately two months – a constant source of disappointment to find that I have already done the crossword!)
Thanks Everyman and flashling.
I failed to solve MAESTEG and I needed help to parse 22a and 3d.
Really enjoyed this although I was close to throwing in the towel at half time. Maesteg had to be checked of course but everything else resolved itself after sucking on my pencil and realising that orofice wasn’t a word.
Thanks Everyman (yes still seems to be here) and Flashling (enjoy your hols) and well done to the people of Britain for actually achieving an election result despite the polls.
Well I struggled with this and can’t say I enjoyed it. I, too, am wondering if Alan Scott was giving us a cryptic message last week and has said goodbye. Not sure if this is the same setter, despite Barrie’s certainty.
Aha! Thank you Audrey, the penny has possibly dropped. Whilst Everyman is still ‘here’, was it a different Everyman perchance? Although there was a token play and a token geography reference the whole crossword seemed to have a different feel to it, and some of the wordplays seemed more complex, Waiting For Godot was especially tortuous and Illegitimate and some others had about three different bits to them which is not like Allan Scott.
So did he indeed go adios and goodbye and sayonnara etc. last week?
Flashling, any insights? (when you’re back that is?) Anyone else perceive a different feel to this offering?
Some years ago a colleague produced 3d and assured me it was a comedy! So I found this to be a really subtle and clever(and amusing) clue having sat through several performances of the play without ever seeing the(any) joke. With the M and the G in early and a background of travelling through South Wales I would have been one of the few to whom Maesteg was straightforward but there were aspects of this particular crossword that could be construed as more convoluted/obscure than the normal Everyman. Barrie alluded to Aracuria’s penchant for hidden messages last week so I downloaded his farewell message crossword informing his followers of his retirementl (and found it quite challenging) so we await any feedback on our favourite Saturday puzzle with interest.
Another paradox-Will Scotland have another referendum?
Thanks Everyman(?) Flashling Cheers all
I am sorry but I did not enjoy this crossword and there is not one clue that that I liked. As for Waiting For Godot, which is characterised as “absurd drama” and a tragi-comedy, the joke is on the reader and audience for persisting in reading or attending a play in which nothing happens or ever will happen. My thanks to Flashling for explaining the convoluted processes required to solve this crossword.
Hi, yes Alan Scott has retired and is replaced by Colin Gumbrell who is a prolific compiler elsewhere, I wasn’t aware until you pointed it out.
Not on my holiday yet, that starts Tuesday 🙂
Colin Gumbrell – ‘elsewhere’ – you mean The Times!
We’re in for a bit of a hike in complexity, then, imho…
And to think a week or three ago there was talk of sandpits and trainer wheels!
Hi team, there was a definite difference in this puzzle and I too was disenchanted at first, but came to appreciate the various subtleties (?) of the clues. Missed 7d 20a and the Welsh town. Jovis, you can see why Saturday is looked forward to by we crossworders, I think the Herald gives us easy ones on weekdays to make sure we get to work on time!
Always a relief to see that others have also struggled. I found this considerably harder than usual but enjoyable nevertheless.
me too to all the above.and agree that the clues weren’t quite as clever as some we have come across..I did think 2d was quite clever tho….my heart always sinks when see the answer has to be the name of a play or a film in there, but in saying that, did actually get 3d… hope they are not all going to be like this from now on… or my weekends are ruined!
By the way am I the only one who really doesn’t think a seam is a junction? By definition doesn’t it mean something linear?
It’s as I feared then. I will certainly miss Alan Scott and thank him for all the new words I learned and for the exercise my brain has had. I believe he has set the crosswords since 1991 so he has probably earned his retirement. But it will take a while to get onto someone else’s wavelength.
Thankyou too Flashling and have a good holiday.
Vanessa, a junction is technically just the place where things join. So that can be linear.
I know I’m over a week late but I gave this a good crack and found a number of clues very difficult. In the end I gave up and consulted a thesaurus which helped me finish off the crossie.
It is good to see my suspicions confirmed about there being a new setter. This week’s crossie was equally hard but I persisted and was able to finish it in the end.