Really quite enjoyed this one. Some tricky clues, but plenty of entry points and an abundance of great surfaces.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISTRESS | Upset one saint in costume (8) |
| I ST in DRESS | ||
| 5 | CHASER | Forlorn search for second drink (6) |
| Nice anagram (forlorn) of SEARCH | ||
| 9 | TIRED | Sick heart of artist, revolutionary (5) |
| TI (heart of artist) RED (revolutionary) | ||
| 10 | OFFSPRING | Bound to follow bad issue (9) |
| SPRING (bound) after OFF (bad) | ||
| 12 | BAPTISMAL | Psalm, a bit revised, relating to religious rite (9) |
| Great surface. Anag (revised) of PSALMABIT | ||
| 13 | INCUR | Suffer from strain currently (5) |
| Hidden in straINCURrently | ||
| 14 | STEVIE WONDER | Motown star with opinion about Detroit initially in control (6,6) |
| VIEW (opinion) ON (about) D (detroit, initially) in STEER (control) Another nice surface, now I look back at it. Here’s one of Mr Wonder’s many classic songs. |
||
| 18 | BALANCE SHEET | Weapon held by party reversing support for financial statement (7,5) |
| LANCE (weapon) in BASH (party) then TEE (support) reversing | ||
| 21 | AVAIL | Help in trouble, following Bible (5) |
| AV (authorised version) AIL (trouble) | ||
| 22 | HOBGOBLIN | Mischievous creature limping endlessly to conceal energy (9) |
| HOBBLIN(g) (limping endlessly) around GO (energy). Another evocative surface |
||
| 24 | CUT AND RUN | Clip plus last bolt (3,3,3) |
| CLIP (cut) AND (plus) LAST (run) | ||
| 25 | ERICA | Plant fears in clan losing regular characters (5) |
| fEaRsInClAn, losing the regular (even) characters | ||
| 26 | RIPPLE | Ready to protect place in disturbance (6) |
| RIPE (ready) protecting PL (place) | ||
| 27 | STRAGGLE | Trail involved great slog with lack of oxygen (8) |
| Anag (involved) of GREATSLOG, minus O (oxygen). Was confused for a while, thinking it had to be STRANGLE, with the lack of oxygen as part of a definition. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DATABASE | Collection of facts supplied by sailor while in court (8) |
| AB (sailor) AS (while) in DATE (court) | ||
| 2 | STRAPPED | Head of state caught in financial difficulty (8) |
| S (head of State) TRAPPED (caught) | ||
| 3 | RADII | Notice, in river, two bones (5) |
| AD (notice) in R (river) II (two) | ||
| 4 | STORMY WEATHER | Maiden in tale, we hear, sadly consuming time in song (6,7) |
| M (maiden, as in cricket) in STORY, then an anagram (sadly) of WEHEAR, around (consuming) T (time), for this lovely song Great clue. Nice bit of misdirection, with the ‘we hear’, and a very apt surface reading. |
||
| 6 | HAPPINESS | Delight in strange sin, perhaps? Not right (9) |
| Another great surface. Anag (strange) of SINPERHAPS, without R (right) |
||
| 7 | SWITCH | Joker in school for a change (6) |
| WIT (joke) in SCH (school) | ||
| 8 | REGARD | Concern doctor raised, keeping passion up (6) |
| DR (doctor) backwards (raised) around (keeping) a reversal (up) of RAGE (passion) | ||
| 11 | FILING CABINET | Item of office furniture reassembled in nice big flat (6,7) |
| Anag (reassembled) INNICEBIGFLAT. Yet again, an elegant surface |
||
| 15 | IVAN LENDL | Tennis player making new advance in match without resistance (4,5) |
| rIVAL (match, without R(esistance)) around N (new) LEND (advance). Tricky wordplay, which took a while after the clue had been filled in, but a great surface. |
||
| 16 | REPLYING | Agent, deceitful, giving answer (8) |
| REP LYING | ||
| 17 | STONE AGE | Learned about mood in prehistoric time (5,3) |
| SAGE (learned) around TONE (mood) | ||
| 19 | SAUCER | Curse a broken dish (6) |
| Anag (broken) of CURSEA | ||
| 20 | LAPTOP | Left suitable work for computer (6) |
| L (left) APT (suitable) OP (work) | ||
| 23 | OMEGA | Letter that’s become garbled to some extent (5) |
| hidden answer (to some extent) in becOMEGArbled | ||
*anagram
Thanks Matt and Everyman
I forgot to take any notes on this puzzle but I have a feeling that I did not manage to parse STEVIE WONDER – although it was clear to see what the answer was.
I liked DATABASE.
Thanks Matt. I solved 15d (IVANLENDL) but needed your explanation about the parsing. All the rest was fine.
Thanks Everyman & Matt.
I thought this was a very amenable puzzle with only IVAN LENDL taking some time to see what was going on. I think the setter has now relaxed into a more approachable Everyman style.
Thanks, Matt.
I did enjoy this one. Some lovely surface readings, and I liked the anagram for FILING CABINET. Couldn’t parse IVAN LENDL, but the great thing about 225 is that you know that some kind soul will.
Well done, Everyman.
Thank you Everyman and Matt.
I failed to parse IVAN LENDL and had to parse STEVIE WONDER, BALANCE SHEET and STORMY WEATHER post solve.
Loved the BAPTISMAL, HOBGOBLIN and FILING CABINET clues!
Thanks Everyman and Matt
Another enjoyable puzzle from Everyman.
One minor point re the blog, Matt: in 25 the answer is losing the odd characters rather than the even ones.
Very enjoyable. As Matt said, lots of very nice clues, with my personal favourite being HAPPINESS, I think.
Thanks, Everyman and Matt.
Matt, another minor point: 24a should be “CUT (clip) AND (plus) RUN (last)”.
Perhaps not the easiest Everyman we’ve had of late, but not the hardest either. All in all an enjoyable solve. Only 2d caused me any difficulty, which I can only blame on a late night.
100% completed before lunch time that makes a pleasant change. Puzzle a bit easier this week.
First one in was 27a Straggle, last one in was 26a Ripple.
Quite liked 10a Offspring & 17d Stoneage. 4d Stormy Weather is quite tricky, sadly missed anagram.
Amusing and enjoyable puzzle. Thank you.
Found this hard to get started. Once I got Stevie Wonder, I could find my way with the rest. I didn’t find it easy though as some have implied it was.
I found this was a stinker – by far the hardest from this setter I thought. Really struggled – hence straggled from beginning to end. In saying that all of the answers finally made sense so I can’t complain; and considering that I was staring at Ivan for some time refusing to put in Lendl because for some reason I was convinced the surname had an 6 letters not 5. However, got there in the end. Thanks to all
Ripple, Chaser and Regard all held me up for ages, the others all slotted in fine. Really enjoyed this. And no place names to look up either, woo hoo.
Only minor grumble is the overworked Erica, although to be fair we’ve not seen her for a while.
Thanks Matt and Everyman.
IFuny, I got the supposed hard ones that caught others, and struggled on my last two which on the face of it were quite simple 5 ac tripped me up as then did 7d. Was convinced the second drink was starting with S.
AV authorised version is a new one on me…must try to remember that am sure it will turn up again
As I work through back issues … this one was quite easy. Got all the clues but the only one I couldn’t parse was STORMY WEATHER.