The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3657.
Maybe a little more complicated than some, but, I think, nothing to frighten the horses.
| Across | ||
| 1 | RECITATION | Actor in tie prepared for reading (10) |
| An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘actor in tie’. | ||
| 6 | ACID | Cutting some medication back (4) |
| A hidden (‘some’) reversed (‘back’) answer in ‘meDICAtion’. | ||
| 9 | CUE | Reminder, pretty short of time (3) |
| CU[t]E (‘pretty’) without the T (‘short of time’). | ||
| 10 | OVERARCHING | Finished a paper’s last feature, good and comprehensive (11) |
| A charade of OVER (‘finished’) plus ‘a’ plus R (‘papeR‘s last’) plus CHIN (‘feature’) plus G (‘good’). | ||
| 12 | PIEBALD | Horse that is taken into lead by excited lad (7) |
| An envelope (‘taken into’) of IE (‘that is’) in PB (chemical symbol, ‘lead’) plus ALD, an anagram (‘excited’) of ‘lad’. | ||
| 13 | IGNOBLE | Shameful refusal to stop rotten bilge (7) |
| An envelope (‘to stop’) of NO (‘refusal’) in IGBLE, an anagram (‘rotten’) of ‘bilge’. | ||
| 14 | AT THE SAME TIME | Still together (2,3,4,4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | MUDDLE THROUGH | Cope in confusion with temperature hot and unhealthy (6,7) |
| A charade of MUDDLE (‘confusion’) plus T (‘temperature’) plus H (‘hot’) plus ROUGH (‘unhealthy’ – “I’m feeling a bit rough today”) | ||
| 21 | LAMPOON | Fool to accept measure of current ridicule (7) |
| An envelope (”to accept’) of AMP (‘measure of current’) in LOON (‘fool’). | ||
| 23 | STIRRED | Roused son, weary, around middle of afternoon (7) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of R (‘middle of afteRnoon’) in S (‘son’) plus TIRED (‘weary’). | ||
| 24 | CANADA GOOSE | Preserve proverb about duck, very large waterbird (6,5) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of O (zero, ‘duck’) plus OS (‘very large’, alternative to XL in clothes sizing) in CAN (‘preserve’) plus ADAGE (‘proverb’). | ||
| 25 | TWO | Number in fact working (3) |
| A hidden answer ‘in’ ‘facT WOrking’. | ||
| 26 | TIDE | Flow restricted in sound (4) |
| A homophone (‘in sound’) of TIED (‘restricted’). | ||
| 27 | STEELYARDS | Reset sadly faulty balances (10) |
| An anagram (‘faulty’) of ‘reset sadly’. ‘Balances’ as weighing devices. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RECIPE | Ready to admit limits of exotic formula (6) |
| An envelope (‘to admit’) of EC (‘limits of ExotiC‘) in RIPE (‘ready’). | ||
| 2 | CLEVELAND | Steady in honesty, missing our place in Ohio (9) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of LEVEL (‘steady’) in CAND[our] (‘honesty’) without OUR (‘missing our’). | ||
| 3 | THOMAS TELFORD | Engineer changing the old formats (6,7) |
| An anagram (‘changing’) of ‘the old formats’. | ||
| 4 | TREADLE | Lever altered in error (7) |
| An anagram (‘in error’) of ‘altered’. | ||
| 5 | OCARINA | Middle of rock song including new instrument (7) |
| An envelope (‘including’) of N (‘new’) in OC (‘middle of rOCk’) plus ARIA (‘song’). | ||
| 7 | CLIMB | Go up and start to cut branch (5) |
| A charade of C (‘start to Cut’) plus LIMB (‘branch’). | ||
| 8 | DOGGEREL | Tenacious, endlessly referring to line in comic verse (8) |
| A charade of DOGGE[d] (‘tenacious’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) plus RE (‘referring to’) plus L (‘line’). | ||
| 11 | CONSECUTIVELY | Vice-consul yet to get involved in a row (13) |
| An anagram (‘to get involved’) of ‘vice-consul yet’. | ||
| 15 | INHERITOR | One with anger up in north mistaken for successor (9) |
| A charade of I (‘one’) plus NHERITOR, an envelope (‘in’) of ERI, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of IRE (‘anger’) in NHTOR, an anagram (‘mistaken’) of ‘north’. | ||
| 16 | IMPLICIT | Understood appeal to support rascal left in charge (8) |
| A charade of IMP (‘rascal’) plus L (‘left’) plus IC (‘in charge’) plus IT (sex ‘appeal’). ‘to support’ indicates the order of the particles. | ||
| 18 | TONIGHT | Strict about working this evening (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of ON (‘working’) in TIGHT (‘strict’). | ||
| 19 | RESTORE | Return and break mineral (7) |
| A charade of REST (‘break’) plus ORE (‘mineral’). | ||
| 20 | ODIOUS | Foul island covered with smells? Run away (6) |
| An envelope (‘covered with’) of I (‘island’) in ODOU[r]S (‘smells’) minus the R (‘run away’). | ||
| 22 | MINED | Excavated and raised material (5) |
| A reversal (‘raised’ in a down light) of DENIM (‘material’). | ||
Thanks both. Good Everyman. STEELYARDS = balances was new to me but perfectly gettable
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
I, too, found this a little more complicated than usual, and took a while to spot ACID and to get AT THE SAME TIME. Dredged STEELYARDS and THOMAS TELFORD up from the back of my mind to solve the anagrams.
A little tougher than par for Everyman, especially 17ac I thought. That and 19d were my last in. A fairly obscure answer at 27ac made that half of the puzzle especially tricky…
I enjoyed this and encountered no particular problems. I especially liked the clue “Shameful refusal to stop rotten bilge”. Could this be an indictment of the current government ?.
Thanks to Pierre and Everyman.
Thanks for the thanks, Davy, but you need to send your compliment over the pond to today’s blogger, PeterO, in New York. It certainly could be an indictment of the current government here, and possibly in PeterO’s adopted country once The Donald gets his hands on the levers of power.
Thanks Pierre for your thanks for my erroneous thanks.
Apologies to PeterO who I didn’t realise lived in NY. I don’t know where Pierre came from although there are four common letters out of six so that’s not too bad.
So, thanks to PeterO for the blog.
I found it easier than last week’s, and finished it more quickly. Favourites included PIEBALD, TWO, OCARINA and ODIOUS.
Thanks, Everyman and PeterO.
Thanks Everyman et al.
I too have never heard of steelyards. Otherwise fairly straightforward.
I found this to be an excellent puzzle with some very clever clues (overarching for example)I thought. And that was considering that after my first turn through the word ‘two’ was looking rather lonely being the only one I had got at that stage. Managed to get there in the end. Thanks to all.
Well what do you know? I finished this one. Are steelyards the objects the Plunket Nurse used to bring to weigh the babies with? The definition sounded like them.
Not sure about ‘treadle’ for ‘lever’. That’s not the kind of treadle I’m familiar with.
Nevertheless I enjoyed this one, as you do when you succeed.
When is the weather going to become more summery?
Thanks PeterO. Fancy you doing this from New York!!!!’
No particular hangups today.
Steelyards fell in for us pretty early on. My uncle had some on his farm when I was a kid. Had probably been used for weighing animals etc.
Liked the surface of piebald best.
I found this super hard – I almost gave up completely after not getting anywhere. Waited until sunday and resorted to a bit of elec help to kickstart and then managed to ‘cope’ But really did find this hard. So annoying to read how so many found this no particular problem.
Might be the brain-unenhancing effect of seasonal celebrations perhaps.
Funny how we are all different. Failed to fully parse Inheritor but otherwise found this easier than some of late.Nice not to have an acrostic for a change, they were getting a bit tiresome.
Now, dare I brave the shops on Boxing Day…?
Why did we get an old puzzle today? From reading the above I did this in 2016. No wonder I couldn’t find the correct number for a while. No wonder there was no acrostic Barry. This was the old Everyman.
Merry Christmas everyone
Audrey, looks like The Herald has packed up for the holidays again. Annoying having the grid span the centre of the large page too. Surprisingly I found this easier than the current puzzles and, judging by the comments above, less contentious (or are we just grumpier these days?)
Isn’t that funny, I didn’t notice the 2016 until I read the comment about ‘the Donald getting his hands on the levers of power’ Did a total double take and realised I had seen no news over christmas. Phew. That was a hot cold moment. I have been struggling through for years but I don’t remember this at all, whether I did it or not. So it didn’t really bother me to have a dredged up old one. I actully did quite well and was pleased others thought it hard. My favourites Piebald, Muddle Through, Canada Goose and Recipe. I had never heard of steelyards as balances, so it’s my learning for today. Happy new year everyone
Hmm yes a recycled one for we Kiwis. Still set out by the Puzzle Company so it’s them on behalf of Herald. I had wondered why no “primarily” clue or linked long answers. Happy Sunday solving. Now for Kropotkin. At least we know they are recycled!! ?