Everyman 3,629

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3629.

I thought this a particularly fine example of Everyman’s work, with many excellent surfaces, and the only DUD is followed by GEON.

Across
1 DEPOSE Topple record in bout (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of EP (‘record’) in DOSE (’bout’, as in “a bout of the flu”).
4 ARDOUR Revolutionary artist with stern passion (6)
A charade of AR, a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of RA (‘artist’) plus DOUR (‘stern’).
9 CONSTRAIN Prisoners exercise force (9)
A charade of CONS (‘prisoners’) plus TRAIN (‘exercise’).
10 PRIOR One assisting abbot earlier (5)
Double definition.
11 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT Film derived from grand hit, say, had worked (1,4,4,5)
An anagram (‘worked’) of ‘grand hit say had’, for Richard Lester’s film with the Beatles.
12 EPISTLE Letter, last of sequence by saint in stack (7)
A charade of E (‘last of sequencE‘) plus (‘by’) PISTLE, an envelope (‘in’) of ST (‘saint’) in PILE (‘stack’).
13 DUDGEON Resentment created by faulty information about love (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of O (‘love’) in { DUD (‘faulty’) plus GEN (‘information’)}.
15 CHEROOT Idol in company with time for cigar (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of HERO (‘idol’) in CO (‘company’) plus T (‘time’).
17 COMPETE Finish without large fight (7)
A subtraction: COMP[l]ETE (‘finish’) minus L (‘without large’).
18 OVER-PARTICULAR Fussy, done with detail (4-10)
A charade of OVER (‘done’) plus PARTICULAR (‘detail’)..
21 CORGI Dog going round in big rocket (5)
A hidden (‘in’) reversed (‘going round’) answer in ‘bIG ROCket’.
22 FACSIMILE Dossier about dodgy scam I copy (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of ACSIM, an anagram (‘dodgy’) of ‘scam I’ in FILE (‘dossier’).
23 CHATTY Talkative, spiteful, interrupted by husband (6)
An envelope (‘interrupted by’) of H (‘husband’) in CATTY (‘spiteful’).
24 WRENCH Strain shown by architect connected with church (6)
A charade of WREN (Sir Christopher Michael, ‘architect’ of St Paul’s in London, among many other buildings) plus CH (‘church’).
Down
1 DOCK Take off from landing place (4)
Double definition.
2 PUNCHLINE Calling after drink for end of joke (9)
A charade of PUNCH (‘drink’) plus LINE (‘calling’).
3 SATURATION POINT Planet mostly at one concerning aim for population limit (10,5)
A charade of SATUR[n] (‘planet mostly’) plus ‘at’ plus I (‘one’) plus ON (‘concerning’) plus POINT (‘aim’)
4 ANNOYED Cross ground one day, bearing north (7)
An envelope (‘bearing’) of N (‘north’) in ANOYED, an anagram (‘ground’) of ‘one day’.
5 DAPHNE DU MAURIER Remain hard up due to struggle as novelist (6,2,7)
An anagram (‘to struggle’) of ‘remain hard up due’. A fine anagram and surface.
6 USING Employing some devious ingenuity (5)
A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘devioUS INGenuity’.
7 SADDLE Led to suffer under sorrowful burden (6)
A charade of SAD (‘sorrowful’) plus (‘under’ giving the order of particles in a down light) DLE, an anagram (‘to suffer’) of ‘led’.
8 PRETENCE Creep nervously round trap, lifting cover (8)
An envelope (’round’) of TEN, a reversal (‘lifting’ in a down light) of NET (‘trap’) in PRECE, an anagram (‘nervously’) of ‘creep’
12 ENCROACH For chance to reform, giving up following trespass (8)
An anagram (‘to reform’) of ‘[f]or chance’ minus the F (‘giving up following’).
14 ELEVATION Height of delight about English verse (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of E (‘English’) plus V (‘verse’) in ELATION (‘delight’).
16 THRIFTY Careful – your old-fashioned clothing split (7)
An envelope (‘clothing’) of RIFT (‘split’) in THY (‘your old-fashioned’).
17 CLINCH Confirm chlorine measurement (6)
A charade of CL (‘chlorine’, chemical symbol) plus INCH (‘measurement’).
19 EARTH Soil in shortage lacking depth (5)
A subtraction: [d]EARTH (‘shortage’) minus the D (‘lacking depth’).
20 MESH Border rising involving small network (4)
An envelope (‘involving’) of S (‘small’) in MEH, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of HEM (‘border’).
completed grid

17 comments on “Everyman 3,629”

  1. Thank you PeterO and Everyman.

    I enjoyed this – I thought it was easier than recent Everyman puzzles.

    I loved all of the anagrams and my favourite was THRIFTY.

  2. I remember having fun solving this puzzle last Sunday, particularly appreciating the clue for DAPHNE DU MAURIER. I also liked EPISTLE, thinking of stack as a library store-room, SATURATION POINT, THRIFTY and DUDGEON.

    Thank you Everyman and PeterO.

  3. Another good Everyman puzzle. I made a slowish start even though I saw my FOI, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, quite quickly. Favourites were CORGI, WRENCH, DAPHNE DU MAURIER and THRIFTY.

    Thanks, Everyman and PeterO.

  4. Thanks to PeterO and Everyman. Had an unusually slow start but finally got the rhythm and it all fell in quickly.

    Has anyone else noticed that the check and reveal buttons are not appearing on Prize and Everman puzzles on the Guardian?

  5. Dewey @ 4: that’s because they are both prize puzzles. It really would be shot in foot to make the answers available while solving!

  6. Simon S @5, in the recent past the check and reveal buttons appeared on the following Saturday, that would have been today for this prize puzzle…

  7. correction – the check and reveal buttons appeared the following Saturday for the Guardian cryptic prize, the following Sunday for the Everyman.

  8. Dewey @4 et al, I think they haven’t appeared for the Prize and Everyman since the Guardian site was ‘improved’ late last year.

  9. Slight mistake on ELEVATION, where I equated ‘height of delight’ to ELATION, and was looking for a new type of verse called ‘ELENATION’!

  10. Excellent as always from Everyman. Couldn’t help but think though that 12d is the sort of thing we wouldn’t have got under the old regime. Or perhaps that’s just because it took me a while to spot it?

  11. Think I must be the first kiwi today, that is a FIRST for me.
    Surely they could have thought of a cleverer clue for corgi…working out the clues must be as much fun as solving them. Struggled to justify why thrifty was thrifty but in a round about way I suppose it is clever.
    Learnt a new word 15 ac but how useful that will ever be is doubtful….

  12. Like a bunch of others, I liked “thrifty” even though I slotted it in some time before I figured out the rationale. In fact, I was so unsure that I was looking for alternative answers. The reasoning finally dawned on me – clever clue I thought. Some other good ones as well – altogether very enjoyable – eventually. Thanks to all

  13. Slow start and missed some in the right bottom corner. Don’t know why I didn’t get Daphne du Maurier as I’ve read a number of her books. I’ve even had lunch at the Jamaica Inn (though I know the original was burned down).
    Vanessa, cheroot often comes up in crosswords, so that might be useful for you.,

    Good puzzle though I couldn’t understand the parsing of pretence.

  14. I completed this out of sheer doggedness. Didn’t realise 21a Corgi was a hidden answer in reverse. A dog has been into space, but probably not a Corgi.
    Anyway I got 100% without knowing why half the time. Last one in was 14d Elevation. Quite an enjoyable puzzle, thank you.

  15. Didn’t get round to this over the weekend, but it was a fun solve when I did. Enjoyed cons train.

    Think there is a slight mis parse in 13 A as it’s the Gen that’s around the O, not the Dud.

    Thanks PeterO and Everyman.

  16. Barrie @15

    I think my description of the wordplay is OK, provided that you perform the plus before the envelope. I have adjusted the blog, borrowing some mathematical notation to make this clearer, Of course, giving the wordplay as “a charade of DUD plus an envelope of O” etc. would avoid the issue altogether, but that takes a couple of extra words.

  17. As I work through back issues this was a good one. Took me a while before I gave up with only THRIFTY (very good clue!) and WRENCH (poor clue) to go.

    Learnt some new words in DUDGEON and CHEROOT. Enjoyed FACSIMILE and CONSTRAIN.

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