Everyman 3643

by

Another good Everyman for solving over Sunday morning coffee (or Saturday morning coffee for our NZ friends).  Some fine surfaces, and a good variety of subject matter in the solutions.

 

 

 

 

Abbreviations
cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined

Across

1  Pretend to be in charge in training
PRACTICE
No, it’s not IC for ‘in charge’ this time: it’s an insertion of ACT in PRICE.

5  Bird fluttering to cave
AVOCET
Excellent.  I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms recently from not being able to offer you the obligatory Pierre bird link.  It’s a handsome wader with a perfectly designed curved bill.  The pied avocet is the symbol of the RSPB.  (TO CAVE)*

9  Strike and call for riot
RAMPAGE
A charade of RAM and PAGE.  Pagers were all the R[AMP]AGE at one time, but I think they’ve pretty much disappeared from use now because everyone owns a mobile.

10  Revel in constant cause
CAROUSE
A charade of C and AROUSE.

11  Mark from piano teacher
NOTE
Hidden in piaNO TEacher.

12  Supporter‘s complaint about name used by player
BENEFACTOR
An insertion of N in BEEF for ‘complaint’ followed by ACTOR.

14  Left lusty one rambling forebodingly
PORTENTOUSLY
A charade of PORT for the left-hand side of a ship and (LUSTY ONE)*

17  Silent comedian in tank sure to be in trouble
BUSTER KEATON
(TANK SURE TO BE)*

20  Panic resolved by old boy with a cocktail
PINA COLADA
(PANIC)* plus O LAD, plus A.

21  Shrill greeting heard
HIGH
A homophone of HI!

23  Study source behind revolutionary scrap
EXAMINE
Everyman is inviting you to place MINE behind AXE reversed.

24  Pal idly tossed leaf on pond
LILY PAD
(PAD IDLY)*

25  Present extremes of sadly unorthodox doctrine
HERESY
A charade of HERE and SY for the outside letters of ‘sadly’.

26  Unaware, I admit, about drama
IGNORANT
I GRANT outside NO for the Japanese ‘drama’.  If you haven’t come across this definition of NO before, commit it to memory, because it often comes up.

Down

1  Standard cuts in vegetables
PARSNIPS
A charade of PAR and SNIPS.  I am partial to a PARSNIP myself, especially with the Sunday roast.

2  Artist coming up with sensible framework
ARMATURE
Since it’s a down clue, it’s RA reversed and MATURE.

3  Rush meal and run
TEAR
A charade of TEA and R.

4  Prime minister‘s people gossip in shelter after start of campaign
CLEMENT ATTLEE
One of this setter’s trademark multi-part clues.  ‘People gossip’ is MEN TATTLE.  Put that inside LEE for ‘shelter’ and precede it with C for the first letter of ‘campaign’ and there you go.

6  Parts of poem about a ruinous palace
VERSAILLES
An insertion of A and ILL in VERSES.

7  Bad-tempered cur damaged enclosure
CRUSTY
A charade of (CUR)* and STY.

8  Attempt to engage man with love for idea
THEORY
An insertion of HE and O in TRY.

10  Signal at end of race varied following delay
CHEQUERED FLAG
A charade of CHEQUERED for ‘varied’, F for ‘following’ and LAG for ‘delay’.

13  United in hunting mostly small marine creatures
SEA URCHINS
U for ‘united’ in SEARCHIN[G] plus S.

15  Sad poet I hail, missing lake in country
ETHIOPIA
(POET I HAI[L])* for the African country.

16  Not wildly popular, cut by editor promptly
ON THE DOT
A charade of (NOT)* and ED in HOT.

18  Talk quietly in spot in front of church
SPEECH
An insertion of P for the musical ‘quietly’ in SEE, followed by CH.

19  Fun playing tune out of order
UNFAIR
A charade of (FUN)* and AIR.

22    Singer in national tournament
ALTO
Hidden in nationAL TOurnament.

Many thanks to Everyman for this morning’s puzzle.

54 comments on “Everyman 3643”

  1. Thanks both. Good stuff for an Everyman.
    Re 9a, pagers are still handed out in busy Toby Carveries. Also some pa announcements say “paging Mr Smith” etc

  2. Thank you Everyman and Pierre.

    An enjoyable puzzle. VERSAILLE and AVOCET appeared together in another crossword a few days ago – good to have a bird link again, thanks Pierre.

    I liked the clue for RAMPAGE, but must be an old-timer since the idea of a “pager” never came to me at 9a, my father-in-law when a boy was a PAGE in a hotel and, as Shirl says, some PA announcers still use the term “paging”.

    The wording of the clue for ETHIOPIA brought Haile Selassie to mind.

  4. Enjoyed this as ever and especially liked PRACTICE (last one) although the parsing escaped me completely. I convinced myself it was a double definition and missed ‘act’ in ‘price’ which was clever. I also liked RAMPAGE and had forgotten about the pager that people on call used to take home with them. The good old days.
    Many thanks to Pierre and Everyman.

  5. Thanks for the comments and for the link to Toby Carveries. You obviously live the high life, Shirl … You are right about the verbal sense of ‘page’ of course – I should have explained that a bit better.

  6. I found this much tougher than last week’s – probably because I was tired and stressed, as none of the clues were overly complicated. I still enjoyed it, though.

    Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.

  8. 15 Down . – Is SAD a common anagram indicator? I hadn’t come across that before. I actually got the answer as I had all the across clues there and worked out the country, but couldnt get the wordplay to fit.

    I got 16 Down – ON THE DOT the same way, couldnt understand the wordplay section at all.

    Frustratingly I was thinking Sea Urchins for 13 D, but thought the definition was ‘small marine animals’ and then couldnt get my head around the rest of the clue again.

  9. I’m the first from NZ! Woohoo! That’s cos I cheated and printed off #3643 rather than wait for the Herald tomorrow. 😉

    I was left with a few before I gave up. Didn’t get AVOCET, CRUSTY or CAROUSE. Had an inkling for VERSAILLES but didn’t pen it as I couldn’t parse it. I didn’t like the use of AROUSE = CAUSE.

  10. You’ll probably be the only one from NZ Rob. I was stunned to find that the Herald has not included an Everyman cryptic crossword this week. They’ve put an easy one similar to the weekday ones. After having othe Everyman puzzles for more than 20 years, I’m flabbergasted that they’ve changed. I’ve emailed Time Out to ask them to give us Everyman back and I hope that lots of others will do that too.

  11. Well Mr/Ms Rats, you were fortunate to have jumped the gun ( portentously?), as it appears our illustrious (not) publication has chosen to publish a different puzzle this morning. I had charged through the top left hand corner in double quick time (something which I normally struggle with), when I realised something was strange; then checked on line and indeed the one I had started was a different, and in my view far inferior crossword. So I also downloaded the relevant Everyman version and found this to be up to the recent standard. In this case the top left corner presented the usual challenges but I managed to get there in the end. Very enjoyable. A letter to the Editor may be forthcoming! Thanks to all.

  12. Haven’t commented previously but read the blog every week. Like Mark and Audrey I started the crossword and quickly realised that it was not an Everyman. Very disappointed with the Herald, have enjoyed the more challenging crossword on Saturdays for decades. An e-mail will be sent forthwith!

  13. Audrey Mark & Bridgid,
    I too am disappointed with the offering in this morning’s Herald. I have followed Audrey and Brigid with an e-mail to the powers that be!!

  14. I, too, downloaded Everyman 3643, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn’t know Avocet, but all in all, a great puzzle, at my level. Thanks Mr Everyman for listening, and thanks Pierre for your explanations.

  15. Here I was patting myself on the back for finishing the Saturday Cryptic in under an hour, then spent just as long searching for the blog on fifteensquared. There goes my only reason to buy the Saturday Herald.

  17. I took one look at it and knew something was wrong! Likewise this was my only reason to buy the Weekend Herald. Anyone know if this is a permanent change?

  19. Well if I wasn’t Chippy from last week I certainly am now.

    Snotty letter to the Herald coming up.

    Will download Everyman forthwith.

    Pierre, is it possible to contact Everyman and see if he knows anything about the New Zealand Herald seemingly having cut off his subscription? As others have noted, the replacement is rubbish. I’ve been enjoying the Everyman on a Saturday (and this blog) for ages now (though maybe not the twenty years that Audrey has mustered) and having the plug pulled without so much as a by your leave is like having a death in the family.

  20. Goodness me, we may well have a good old “rampage” on our hands down here in the colonies! Strangely enough my annual invoice for the Herald turned up the other day (portentously again?) and I had visions of having to mortgage the house to pay for it. Now I’m not so sure; it’s becoming a crap paper anyway so could probably do without it to be honest. There is something about sitting down and staring at the crossword on the weekend though, so let’s hope this was a one off.

  21. Out of interest I went back to see how long we Kiwis have been enjoying this site (and of course the Everyman crosswords in the Herald).

    I don’t know about the latter, but my first post here (I think) was November 2013, crossword 3502. I see Audrey and Vanessa and a few others were a bit ahead of me. It wasn’t until around March 2014 that we Kiwis started commenting on a fairly regular basis.

    It would indeed be a great shame if this were to be the end of an era.

    I have vented my spleen and emailed the NZ Herald expressing my disappointment. I do hope all other Kiwi visitors to this site do likewise (letters@nzherald.co.nz)

  22. I used to read the blog for years before I started commenting. I used to think that no one would read it as all the comments were a month before.

    I sent my email to the Time Out email address. Maybe I should send another one to the editor.

  23. I for one will be glad if the NZ Herald never publishes another crossword created by the current Everyman setter. Good riddance I say!

  24. It’s not compulsory to do it Joe. If you want something less challenging there are plenty of other options including the Herald five days a week.

  25. I too am amazed they would take the only decent part of the herald out. I shall add my bitter complaints, though to tell the truth the herald had gotten so bad I refused to buy it and liberated the crossword every weekend from cafes.

  26. Hey team, I’ve just had another look at the puzzle section and the proper x word is over the page next to the kropotkin and the Ken Ken, woops!!

  27. Woops again, the puzzle I found is definately not an Everyman, as you lot so correctly pointed out, it is an anagram fest as found during the week, so my letter to the weekend editor still stands.

  28. I liked the Everyman cryptic when the previous setter created the crosswords, Allan might have been his name.
    Then about a year ago Allan retired and we have a new setter whose name I do not know.
    Anyway the new setter’s style is often more convoluted, sometimes with almost no logical connection between the clues and the answers. That is so even after a commentator has attempted to draw a logical connection between the clue and the answer. I would not be surprised if the current setter suffers from schizophrenia or some other psychotic illness.
    I congratulate the editors of the NZ Herald for doing what is necessary, by removing this insult to the intelligence from its pages. Well done!

  30. @Joe

    That’s a bit harsh mate! This new guy’s style is, well, new. It’s different and although I enjoyed the old setter I am also enjoying the new puzzles.

  31. Goodness. I usually drop back in here when my latest blog is published because I know you’re all four weeks behind and I’m always interested in what you all made of it.

    All sounds a bit strange, so I hope your letters to the editor will have some effect. I don’t have contact details for Everyman, but I doubt he’d know anything about it – once the Guardian/Observer have paid for a puzzle, it’s up to them to use and distribute it.

    If push comes to shove, you can all, of course, access the current puzzle on the Guardian website, but I know what you mean about sitting down with the paper version.

    Joe, accusing a setter of having a psychotic illness just because you don’t like his style is out of order.

  32. Pierre,

    Thank you for your advice, and downloading it from the Guardian seems the best option.

    Now fellow kiwis, do we keep to the four week delay?

  33. Sad news I’m afraid from NZ Herald Subscriptions confirming their new puzzle format is here to stay. In switching to online there seems little point in maintaining the Kiwi time difference, though I quite enjoyed some of the delayed topical comments. I’ve always just googled a clue to find the right blog, without paying attention to the puzzle numbers. I assume they are sequential?

    .

  34. My heart sinks. Like others I am questioning whether I need to subscribe to the Herald any longer. Does anyone know what number next week’s Everyman is without the time delay?

  35. Out of order? Yes just like the crossword clues. Obeisance is fine where it is due, but not from a pusillanimous sycophant.

  36. Audrey, it looks like NZ Herald is 4 weeks behind so I’m guessing the next one will be 3648, presumably available online some time Sunday afternoon NZ time. Looks like we’ve got some catching up to do this week!

  37. Hey guys, you could always do a Rats and do three this week to catch up to 3648 when it’s published 😀

    Rats -> Off to print 3644 🙂

  38. So if I want one to do on Saturday I will need 3647? Is that right? I didn’t go to,the Guardian to get this week’s. I googled Everyman 3643 and got a beautifully set out puzzle on a full page.

  40. Took me all week to even find the blog ..did it all in reverse rather …haven’t even done this puzzle! Am saving for next sat if the same rubbish gets served up, but can someone tell me where to download the puzzle without the answers?. Am trying to avoid reading too much…..

  42. Thanks for that Gaufrid I can’t believe I have apparently been reading this blog since 2013 or earlier!! I don’t want to miss the comments and banter.. So next sat is Everyman 3648? I shall do what everyone else seems to be doing but won’t be the same on ordinary paper I bet …..but much better than being fed rubbish

  43. Vanessa
    “So next sat is Everyman 3648?”

    No, 3648 was published two days ago on the 4th. Next Sunday’s Everyman will be 3649.

  45. Vanessa
    Just go to the link that I posted at #41 after midnight (UK time) next Sunday and, unless the gremlins have set in again, you should find the new Everyman indexed on the crossword home page, with no need to use the ‘view all’ or ‘search’ options.

  46. Didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, however the Editor of the Saturday Herald is a customer of mine, and has just returned from the UK. Yesterday being her first day back, she was surprised to hear of the change. Today she assures me Everyman will be back. Apparently in her absence, the subscription simply hadn’t been renewed, and no one was sure how to do it.

    Glad to bring some good news to “most” of you.

  48. CoffeeGuy@46 – that is excellent news, significantly better than Paul@33 indicated. I do hope you’re right.

    At the risk of skipping a few numbers, perhaps we could close the time gap a bit too?

    Joe @35, We have all had a bit of a grumble about the not-so-new setter at one stage or another, but we do try and keep comments on this site constructive and civil. As has been pointed out, you don’t have to do this or any other crossword. You may find the weekly David Tossman crosswords in the NZ Listener more to your liking – they are certainly less ‘layered’ in their cluing.

  50. Well said Barrie, apart from a few, most comments are always really constructive and helpful and the idea of an enjoyable exchange of ideas is to be respectful of everyone’s style and ability. Can imagine the diversity of all contributors
    It’s same as someone angrily not liking a TV programme, just turn the darn thing off.I await Sat paper with great deal of interest! Thanks Coffee Guy your sources ‘sound sound’ so thanks for the info

  52. Just checked in to see if there were any more comments and what good news. Can’t believe it. Vanessa you can download the Crosswords just by googling Everyman 3644 or what ever number. However we won’t need to now and we can just stay 4 weeks behind. Yay!!!

  53. Hmmm … so I just received this email from NZ Herald:

    “Thank you for your email regarding the puzzles on Saturday.

    Due to a processing error, the wrong puzzle page appeared in the Herald on Saturday.

    We have escalated this matter to our editorial team and we do apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”

  54. That’s one way of putting it. I like Coffee Guy’s story better. Rats, how ome they replied to you and not to me.?

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