I’m still getting used to the style of our new Everyman setter. It’s certainly taking me a lot longer to solve Everyman these days, so I would surmise that the difficulty level has increased. In this offering, there were only two full anagrams in 30 odd clues, which in a puzzle for ‘beginners’ is probably too few. Some great surfaces, but also many that were just a meaningless collections of words, to me at least. Anyway, let me know what you thought.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Practical stuff cancelled by law
MATTER-OF-FACT
A charade of MATTER, OFF and ACT.
9 Slip one amended in letter
EPSILON
(SLIP ONE)* for the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet.
10 Hear about old disaster
TRAGEDY
An insertion of AGED in TRY in its judicial sense.
11 Be nostalgic about small beginnings of some colossal enterprise
REMINISCE
A charade of RE, MINI and SCE for the first letters of ‘some colossal enterprise’.
12 Drum with robotic uses
THROB
Hidden in wiTH ROBotic.
13 United in funny old game
LUDO
An insertion of U in (OLD)*
14 Variation of heat and cold in test affected
THEATRICAL
(HEAT)* plus C in TRIAL. The anagrind is ‘variation’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’. For me the surface doesn’t really work; it would need ‘effected’, surely? But then it wouldn’t work.
17 Messy machines, retaining approval, puff endlessly
CHAIN-SMOKE
Meaningless surface for me. An insertion of OK in (MACHINES)*
18 Slight advance around noon
SNUB
An insertion of N in SUB.
21 Confused amateur’s opening with seconds in meal
AT SEA
Another surface that’s not putting a picture in my head. A charade of A for the first letter of ‘amateur’ followed by an insertion of S in TEA.
23 Revolted in end, madly seizing gold throne?
NAUSEATED
An insertion of AU SEAT in (END)*
24 Mostly happy with move into south-western city
GLASGOW
A charade of GLA[D] and GO in SW.
25 Candidate‘s source in revolutionary period
NOMINEE
An insertion of MINE in EON reversed.
26 Drink ordered by dry rancher
CHERRY BRANDY
(BY DRY RANCHER)*
Down
1 Purveyors of news, as dilemmas developed, losing line
MASS MEDIA
(AS DI[L]EMMAS)* The anagrind is ‘developed’ and the removal indicator is ‘losing’.
2 Thanks given for skill
TALENT
A charade of TA and LENT. I wouldn’t necessarily equate LENT with ‘given’, although when it comes to twenty quid, my children all would.
3 Writer has eagle on rock encapsulating the dynasty
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Can someone please tell me what this surface is about? Unless it’s some clever reference to the writer – and if it is I apologise to the setter – then it’s just throwing a few words together to give us an equation to get the the answer. Here’s the equation: ERNE plus THE MING in SWAY.
4 Set aside wild bunch, broken at end of movie? Right
ON THE BACK BURNER
See my comments at 3dn. (BUNCH BROKEN AT)* plus E plus R.
5 Praise prison reformer taking coffee inside
FLATTERY
An insertion of LATTE in FRY for Elizabeth FRY, the Quaker prison reformer.
6 Open vault
CLEAR
A dd.
7 Fuel‘s particular job, releasing energy
PETROL
A charade of PET and ROL[E]. Think ‘my pet hate is …’ In my case it’s thoughtless surfaces.
8 Mostly excited, having time off, receiving book token
SYMBOL
(MOS[T]LY)* with B for ‘book’ inserted. The anagrind is ‘excited’ and the insertion indicator is ‘receiving’.
15 Devotion in company with saint in French city
CONSTANCY
A charade of CO and ST in NANCY.
16 Stop annoyance and compromise
ENDANGER
A charade of END and ANGER.
17 Care order
CHARGE
Since it’s a two-word clue, it’s pretty much bound to be a dd. The second bit I see: CHARGE! which would be an ‘order’ to attack. The first bit? Someone who had a CHARGE would be ‘caring’ for a child, say. But perhaps that’s not what the setter had in mind.
19 Begin to develop secure financial plan
BUDGET
A charade of BUD and GET.
20 Pests in mood outside room
VERMIN
An insertion of RM in VEIN.
22 Residue after street collection
STASH
A charade of ST and ASH.
Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.
17: e.g. in your charge = in your care.
Surface of 7 seems fine: a fuel’s job is to provide energy.
It’s always nice when a surface has a relevant meaning, but it seems a bit much to me to expect it every time.
Enjoyed the puzzle and have done since the new setter started.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre for the blog.
Thanks, Pierre, I agree with what you say about the new setter, but I found this one more accessible than the previous ones. Perhaps I’m just getting used to him/her?
In 17d I had simply thought that you have charge of something if it is in your care. You do suggest this idea, but sound doubtful about it.
Sorry, phitonelly, I hadn’t seen your first line!
Thanks for the CHARGE explanation. That makes sense.
I found this easily the most straightforward of the new setter’s puzzles and for me it was a top-to-bottom solve. To be honest I didn’t really notice the surface of 3dn and I agree with phitonelly@1’s comment about not expecting a meaningful surface with every clue. CHARGE was my LOI and I saw the first definition before the second.
I do understand that surface readings aren’t the be all and end all of a clue; but personally I do like a meaningful one. Each to his own.
Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
It took me an hour to solve the top half, but two hours for the bottom, roughly the time it would have taken me for an old Everyman.
I did like MATTER OF FACT, REMINISCE, ENDANGER and BUDGET.
Thanks Pierre; yes, definitely more difficult than the previous setter.
Quite unusual to see ‘mostly’ used as fodder in 8. I’m equally mystified by 3d although there is an Eagle Rock in LA.
I thought THROB was well hidden with ‘uses’ I suppose as the indicator.
Robi @8, I checked that too, John Steinbeck lived there, but could find no reference to Hemmingway…
Thank you Everyman and Pierre
I enjoyed this puzzle and my favourites were 1a, 10a, 11a, 23a, 25a.
This was the first puzzle by the new Everyman that I have managed to complete.
I liked 24a and 7d amongst many others but share Pierre’s views re some of the surfaces and 3d in particular. LOI 20d.
I enjoyed this puzzle immensely but had to cheat just a little to get there. Thanks to Pierre for his help with some of the parsing.
By the way, what does the term ‘surface’ mean in the context of crossword clues?
John@12
Surface just refers to the way the clue reads. It should not look like a crossword clue, but should look relatively ‘ordinary’, and if it is witty enough to send you down the wrong track, so much the better.
In 3d I took “encapsulate” in its meaning of “succinctly express the essential features of [something],” and thus pictured a writer using the image of an eagle on a rock to symbolize a political dynasty. Not the best phrasing of the idea but not entirely meaningless either.
Another puzzle just the right side of difficult.
Liking this new guy
Thanks Conrad.
Did this on-line as I’m going to be tied up this weekend when it will be in the Saturday New Zealand Herald (assuming the complaints re difficulty haven’t led to its replacement – which is possible).
Completed it in an hour with no reference to anything which is a first for me for this setter.
Failed to parse the Hemingway clue but understood the rest. Thought Charge = care was fine. I had a bigger gripe with 14A which I parsed as HEAT and C all (variously) in TRIAL and so there was no anagram of HEAT, and thus little justification for ‘Variation of’ but I think it’s better the way the setter (and Pierre) interpreted it.
Never heard of Elizabeth Fry – actually wondered what reforms Stephen Fry had done while he was in the nick – and in 20d Vein = Mood I found a bit of a stretch.
I think I had a grumble about this setter’s surfaces a week or so ago, although oddly I didn’t notice them so much today. Either I’m getting used to them being a bit random or I’m learning to ignore the surface completely and just read each word separately. It seemed to work today. But Pierre is being a bit kind I think, none of them were great.
Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
Sorry but I’ve had it up to here with this bloke. I got everything for the first time with the new setter, but derived absolutely no satisfaction at all from the exercise. I totally agree with Barrie about 20 down. So it’s back to the Daily Telegraph. As far as I’m concerned this is NOT for every man.
Well this was easy compared to last week. Managed to blast through it in about an hour. However I concur with previous posters. I too am not getting any satisfaction from this setter. He appears to be just whacking together a bunch of synonyms and wordplay to form clues. There is no rhyme or rhythm with his method. Aside from one clue a while back (HE APPEARS SECOND IN THIS LIST (8,5)) I can’t think of any others I’ve really enjoyed.
Hoping for something a bit harder than today’s but easier than last week’s next weekend. Dang, we’re a picky lot, aren’t we?!
Thanks Everyman and Pierre 🙂
And picky we should be, this is our relaxation time! I’m slowly coming to grips with the challenges this new bloke presents, but they are just a little on the obscure side of being completely enjoyable. I failed this week on the eastern side of the puzzle, but I will persevere!
I’m not getting any satisfaction from this crossword anymore and am pretty unhappy about it – a large chunk of weekend relaxation has gone.
Bah humbug….
I found this puzzle enjoyable and not too hard. However I didn’t/don’t really get
the parsing of 18 across — sub == advance ??? I also agree with Barrie@17 that
vein == mood in 20 down is a bit of a stretch.
Struggled with 17 down (“charge”) and with 16 down; took me a while to realise that
compromise = endanger, then felt a bit “Duhhh!” when I did realise.
That being said I thought 3 down was flawless. What are people going on about in
respect of “eagle rock”? Rock == sway; the literal (non-cryptic) part of the clue
— I was under the impression that this is what “surface” means — is “author”.
What else is needed?
I agree with Pierre’s views about this setter. Got all but two of them this week but often couldn’t understand the parsing. I am one who does not enjoy these crosswords any more.
Rolf @ 22. In British English at least,’sub’ is an informal term for an ‘advance’ on one’s wages from an employer when you can’t manage till the end of the month. It’s apparently an abbreviation for ‘subsistence allowance’.