I checked in to Fifteensquared this morning to see what everyone thought of last Sunday’s Everyman. Then I said a bad word, with four letters in it. It was DAMN of course. Apologies for the late blog.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Shake tower of strength
ROCK
A dd.
3 Fellow enthralled by complicated maths, no novelist
THOMAS MANN
An insertion of MAN in (MATHS NO)* gives you the German novelist
9 Level still without one floor covering
PARQUET
A charade of PAR for ‘level’ and QU[I]ET.
11 Colourful display in fantastic bar I own
RAINBOW
(BAR I OWN)*
12 Run into a wild, rough old animal
ARMADILLO
Trademark Everyman multi-part clue: he’s asking you to insert R for ‘run’ in cricket in A MAD and follow it with ILL and O.
13 Certain alien back in fashion
FATED
An insertion of ET reversed in FAD.
14 Artist, good artist with clarity, finally sad about broken pen
GRAYSON PERRY
More trademark stuff: a charade of G, RA, Y for the last letter of ‘clarity’ and (PEN)* in SORRY gives you GRAYSON PERRY, the transvestite artist best known for his/her ceramics who is indeed an RA.
18 Not familiar with upper-class conduct, same all over the place
UNACCUSTOMED
A charade of U (as in U and non-U, Nancy Mitford style) and (CONDUCT SAME)*
21 One with force reflected about love for language
MAORI
A reversal of O in I RAM for the language of the indigenous Australian people.
22 Sorry about thousand libels, criminally elaborate
EMBELLISH
An insertion of M for ‘thousand’ and (LIBELS)* in EH? for ‘sorry?’
24 Energy in motivation daughter gained
DERIVED
A charade of E in DRIVE followed by D for ‘daughter’.
25 Model army’s leader after survival seizing power
REPLICA
An insertion of P for ‘power’ in RELIC, followed by A for the first letter of ‘army’.
26 Painting left strangely grainy
PORTRAYING
A charade of PORT for ‘left’ and (GRAINY)*
27 Network becomes helpful to some extent
MESH
Hidden in becoMES Helpful.
Down
1 Cancel article in disgust
REPEAL
An insertion of A in REPEL, as in REPELLENT.
2 Approach keeping fringes of hair yellow
CHROME
An insertion of HR for the outside letters of ‘hair’ in COME. Is CHROME ‘yellow’? Over to you.
4 Spanish article supporting fashionable guest house
HOTEL
Since it’s a down clue, it’s EL underneath HOT.
5 Travelling merchant hurt company with game
MARCO POLO
A charade of MAR, CO and POLO for the travelling man.
6 Sign of fortitude, having quarrel with superior in error
STIFF UPPER LIP
An insertion of TIFF and UPPER in SLIP. How terribly British.
7 Judges in time consumed by bias err badly
ARBITERS
An insertion of T in (BIAS ERR)*
8 Negative methods receiving notice in these times
NOWADAYS
A charade of NO and AD for ‘these times’ in WAYS for ‘methods’.
10 One doing less well than expected, suffering ruin, ached continually
UNDERACHIEVER
A charade of (RUIN ACHED)* and EVER.
15 Beatles song certainly rated uncommonly higher than unknown quantity
YESTERDAY
A charade of YES, (RATED)* and Y for one of the mathematical ‘unknowns’. Scrambled eggs, for those who are in the know about The Beatles and Sir Paul.
16 Day in season, endlessly cheerful, described concisely
SUMMED UP
An insertion of D for ‘day’ in SUMME[R] and UP for ‘cheerful’.
17 Sailor breaking rule or prepared to give a hand?
LABOURER
An insertion of AB for ‘sailor’ in (RULE OR)*
19 Beautiful guess
DIVINE
A rather nice dd.
20 Refuse to accept hard defeat
THRASH
One of the beautiful/annoying things about the English language is that many words can be pronounced in different ways. You can refuse an offer to go out on a date because you’re too busy taking the refuse out. It’s H in TRASH.
23 Stop working for lord
BARON
A charade of BAR and ON.
Many thanks to Everyman for last week’s offering, and please may I be blessed with a brain larger than the size of a pea.
Quick, Pierre, do something about 21a before those in NZ see this (some do the version online now), remember, we have our own continent now, nothing to do with Australia.
I think that 8D is parsed with AD as notice?
Thank you Everyman and Pierre.
I enjoyed this. GRAYSON PERRY was relatively easy to find from the clue, but I checked on line to make sure, his ceramics look fantastic. CHROME yellow apparently is a pigment made from lead chromate, it’s not very stable, so doubt that Perry uses it.
Whoops. Huge apologies to our NZ contributors. Of course. I blame it on my hasty blogging of the crossword. And please don’t organise a haka outside my house. And SimonBxl, of course you are right.
The usual enjoyable and rewarding solve from Everyman – thank you and to Pierre as well.
Good to know it’s not just me that forgets Pierre.
This was my second stab at an Everyman, after a near total failure with the current puzzle. I appreciate your explanations, all relevant and concise. However, I, a USPerson, never saw the use of the word ‘charade’ in this context and it does not show up in Google search. Where can I find out about its meaning here?
MICHELE WERNER @7
“Charade” in the context comes from the parlour game Charades in which one participant acts out a word, phrase or title for the members of his team to guess. Although sometimes the player may act out the whole thing, it is often easier to break it down into elements. In the same way, a charade-type clue breaks the word into sections which are easier to clue.
Thanks, jennyk for explaining that. It’s exactly what you say, although I think I’m the only 225 blogger who still uses it. It’s just joined-up stuff, like the game. If this is your first comment, Michele, then welcome, and keep stabbing.
As enjoyable as ever from Everyman, on the gentle side perhaps?
I thought I posted this earlier, but it seems that I didn’t …
Another good Everyman (except perhaps for one clue), favourites being THOMAS MANN, PORTRAYING and UNDERACHIEVER. However, although chrome yellow is a common artists’ paint colour containing chrome, as Cookie said in no way can you say yellow defines chrome or vice versa. It makes no more sense than defining “Prussian” as “blue”.
Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
jennyk @11, or “communist” as “red”?
(jennyk, I wonder why Aldous Huxley associated “yellow” with the village of Crome? It is a while since I last read the book, have you any idea? I think I will read it again.]
Cookie @12 and @13
I think “red” is used frequently enough as a synonym for “communist” that it is not really comparable.
I’d forgotten about “Crome Yellow” – perhaps just a pun on the paint colour? I think a lot of his expected readership in that period would have had some experience of painting, or perhaps it was well known at that time as a colour in interior decorating or some other use? I don’t think it (the colour) is very widely known today, but the book is famous enough that perhaps it is fair to expect solvers to make the association and then adjust the spelling. [To be honest, I thought the title was spelt “Chrome” until I looked it up in response to your post.)
Was going to dash into print about Maori but some of you got there first. Still don’t understand the parsing for it.
Never heard of Thomas Mann so couldn’t get the surname, but got Grayson Perry though he is unknown to me as well. As usual got most of these by guessing, not parsing.
Hi Audrey had a laugh about the indigenous Australians. Think the reasoning is the I for ‘one’ inserted into RAM – force – backwards and around the O for love
I had Feted for Fated as I thought that mean in fashion, and DEF backwards as a childhood abbreviation Most Def. But I think Fated is better
Thank you Everyman for the indigenous New Zealand reference. Pierre, shame on you.
Enjoyed this, especially Eh for sorry.
If the chrome on my old Saab convertible went yellow I would not be a happy camper.
I circled 25 as I’m not sure Relic equates to Survival. Survivor maybe?
And in 10 down how can Ever be synonymous for Continually without its For?
Maybe I’m getting old and grouchy, as I did enjoy this crossword.
Point to ponder though: why is it a stiff upper lip when it’s generally the lower one that’s given to wobble when the going gets tough?
Chrome yellow is one of the standard artists’ colours (as are burnt sienna and prussian blue) There’s a tube of it on our paints. By the way, anything that we’ve got that the Aussies would like they try to claim as theirs. They can’t have the Maoris!
We thought this was one of the easier ones lately
I thought that this puzzle was like unto the Piranha Brothers.
E.g. I have never heard of Grayson Perry (nor has anyone else, I’m sure;
at least no sane person). Nevertheless I was able to get the answer
by piecing together the bits of the clue — and then using Google to
check that there really is an artist named Grayson Perry.
Enjoyed the Maori cock-up. Rather like saying the Scots are inhabitants
of some French Départment.
Double apologies for the Maori balls-up. I must learn to look at the 225 calendar and see when it’s my turn to do the blog so I can get brain in gear in good time. Comments from our NEW ZEALAND commentators always welcome and interesting.
I find your website really helpful and just love the way you explain the answers. Thanks so much for providing a most informative resource.
Just one little error I have found on Everyman 3674 at 21 across. Your answer, “A reversal of O in I RAM for the language of the indigenous Australian people” should read ‘New Zealand’ not Australian. Australian natives are Aborigine and New Zealand native people are Maori. Cheers.