Everyman 3610

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To me, at any rate a much harder than usual Everyman

Not sure why exactly but I found this difficult to break into and finish, nothing is overly obscure but…

Thanks Everyman for a bit of  workout.

completed grid

Across

1 Keep track of idiot in upland area (7)
MONITOR

NIT in MOOR

5 Enchantress after small change (6)
SWITCH

S(mall) & WITCH

10 Wayward inspector, very corrupt, securing end (11)
DISOBEDIENT

D(ectective) I(nspector) & SO (very) & DIE (end) inside BENT (corrupt)

11 Central point about hairstyle (3)
BUN

NUB reversed

12 Sheep confined by iron structure (5)
FRAME

RAM in FE

13 Pair united in support, endlessly diligent (9)
ASSIDUOUS

DUO & U(nited) both in ASSIS(t)

14 Financial backer behind newspaper showing protective spirit (8,5)
GUARDIAN ANGEL

(the) GUARDIAN & ANGEL (theatrical backer)

18 Absolute icon, in and out, changed and left (13)
UNCONDITIONAL

[ICON IN AND OUT]* changed & L(eft)

20 Game in social event involving crowd with energy (9)
BAGATELLE

GATE in BALL & E(nergy)

22 Liking sample (5)
TASTE

Double def

23 Drink part of the last round (3)
ALE

Hiddden reversed answer

24 Detest union, badly biased (11)
TENDENTIOUS

[DETEST UNION]* badly

25 Modest protest beginning in earnest (6)
DEMURE

DEMUR & E(anest)

26 Rush about, being one responsible for operation (7)
SURGEON

SURGE & ON (about)

Down

1 Fielder upset about finish (3-3)
MID-OFF

DO (finish off) in MIFF (upset)

2 Losing cat, sadly hankering for the past (9)
NOSTALGIC

[LOSING CAT]* sadly

3 Firm wanting leader present for discussion (5)
TABLE

Leader removed from (s)TABLE (firm)

4 Poet‘s judgement, carrying depth above measure, on sleep (7,7)
RUDYARD KIPLING

D(epth) & ELL ( a mesure) & KIP (sleep) all in RULING

6 Comedian, hot and strained, retiring (9)
WITHDRAWN

WIT & H(ot) & DRAWN (strained)

7 Extremely engaging sailor restricted by custom (5)
TABOO

A.B. (sailor) in TOO (extremely)

8 Truly pious, embracing retreat (8)
HONESTLY

NEST in HOLY (pious)

9 Playing versus Spain, see convincing quality (14)
PERSUASIVENESS

[VERSUS SPAIN SEE]* playing

15 Writer of comments from Wigan, not a Tory (9)
ANNOTATOR

Hidden answer

16 Odd angles, lot in crystalline mass (9)
GALLSTONE

[ANGLES LOT]* oddly

17 Republican in vicious coup bad for cabinet? (8)
CUPBOARD

R(epublican) in [COUP BAD]* viciously

19 Time? It’s a vast expanse, child (6)
SEASON

SEA (vast expanse) & SON

21 Brightness in valley mostly before noon (5)
GLEAM

GLE(n) & A.M. (before noon)

22 Instructor in middle of ritual on hill (5)
TUTOR

Middle of (ri)TU(al) & TOR (hill)

16 comments on “Everyman 3610”

  1. I did most of this fairly steadily, but then got stuck with 3 or 4 to go. When I came back to it, I finished it off fairly quickly. RUDYARD KIPLING was one of the last ones. Doh!

  2. Thanks Everyman and flashling – surprised to see you, do hope the new job is going well.

    I also found this hard to break into last Sunday, but did not take much longer than usual to finish, seem to remember WITHDRAWN and SWITCH were the last in.

  3. Thanks Everyman and flashling.

    Nice, smooth surfaces in general. I think this one was par for the course for the ‘new’ Everyman. I ticked ASSIDUOUS & ANNOTATOR. I did not much like finish=do [do-in maybe.]

    WITHDRAWN was my LOI because I felt sure that the ‘retiring’ meant backwards.

  5. A nice puzzle. I didn’t note any particular problem with it other than the same reservation about DO = “finish” as Robi @3, and no particular favourites either.

    Thanks, Everyman and flashling.

  8. Thanks Everyman and flashling

    John @ 4: are you not familiar with the work of Rudell Kipling, the not-so-famous older brother? The success of his younger brother did ‘im!

    😉

  9. Agree with all the above, couldn’t parse mid-off and knowing Kipling was right with the D and the Yard didn’t bother working out the rest. I find I tend to do that a bit with this bloke, the answer must be right but it’s all a bit of an effort working out exactly why sometimes. Thought there were two or three like that here.

    Thanks Flashling.

  10. I really struggled with this one and needed to resort to the blog to finish!! Never mind- always look forward to the next week!

  11. Yes there was a certain vagueness about some of these clues so found it a little frustrating overall. However, got there in the end after numerous visits to the table.

  12. i kept trying to find a comedian’s name for rudyard kipling and so therefore never got it. Then wondered why he was considered a comedian, despite re-reading the clue,I still got my metiers confused. duhhhh
    Also am not 100% convinced on GATE for Crowd? can anyone explain?

  13. Vanessa, when you refer to those attending say a concert or sports event you say the gate was 80,000 and ticket sales proceeds are ‘gate takings’.

  14. Played bowls yesterday so did this this morning. Didn’t find it as hard as some recent ones, but we’re all different aren’t we? Like Barrie, I know the answers are right but often can’t parse them. I still for the life of me can’t understand the parsing for Rudyard Kipling. Loved his poems and stories.

  15. Audrey, it’s Ruling (judgment) around (carrying) D (depth, as in H x W x D), Yard (measure) and Kip (sleep).

    RU D Yard Kip LING

    Flashling mistakenly referred to the measure as Ell. Ell is a different measure and I expect he was blogging overlapping crosswords or similar.

    so this clue does work albeit the surface is a bit bonkers.

    I’ve concluded this new Everyman is perfectly sound but just needs to lighten up a tad. bit like a vw beetle, workmanlike but better with a big red nose.

  16. Yes I’ve no idea how the ELL/YARD mix-up occurred, most bizarre. I blame it on having several excitable grandchildren demanding food/”frozen” videos/last minute Christmas shopping!

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