A late blog, sorry about that.
I forgot to type this up but a generally easy to solve/parse crossword as we expect for Everyman.
Thanks setter.
Across
1 Dull, not married, longed to be in a relationship (8)
ATTACHED
M(arried) is removed from (m)ATT – dull and ACHED for longed
6 Avoid work making bakery product (4)
LOAF
Two defintions
10 Sloping surface around hard new frame (7)
CHAMFER
C for circa – “around” & H(ard) & an anagram – new – of FRAME*
11 United in support for innovator (7)
PIONEER
ONE for united inside PIER for support
12 Monsieur with set of principles about French wine (5)
MEDOC
M for Monsieur & CODE reversed
13 Start development of giant site (9)
INSTIGATE
[GIANT SITE]* is developed
14 Still trendy, doctor with edge grew plant yielding essential oil (7,8)
EVENING PRIMROSE
EVEN – still & IN – trendy & G.P. – doctor & RIM (edge) & ROSE – grew
17 Deprived of right to vote since friends had changed (15)
DISENFRANCHISED
[SINCE FRIENDS HAD]* changed
20 Gesture brought about by a direct love for sculptor (9)
DONATELLO
NOD for gesture reversed “about” & A & TELL for direct & O for love
22 Unacceptable hesitation in proposal (5)
OFFER
OFF for unaccesptable & ER for hesitation
23 Tale of horror in country around lake and river (7)
CHILLER
L for lake inside the country CHILE & R(iver)
24 Opening with some soporific effects (7)
ORIFICE
Hidden in sopORIFIC Effects
25 Turned back with yen for ascetic discipline (4)
YOGA
AGO (back in time) reversed – “turned” & Y(en)
26 Separate revolutionary agents infiltrating different side (8)
DISPERSE
REPS (salesmen, agents) reversed inside a different SIDE*
Down
2 Tourist, initially with bundle, led astray? That’s nonsense (7)
TWADDLE
Initial letter of T(ourist) & WAD for bundle & an anagram – astray – of LED*
3 One under influence, just about consumed with love (14)
AFFECTIONATELY
AFFECT for “influence” & i for “One” & ATE for “consumed” inside ONLY for “just”
4 Herald getting hot and bothered bearing first of reports (9)
HARBINGER
H for hot & a bothered BEARING* & first letter of R(eports)
5 Cheats held up essential cases (5)
DUPES
THe answer is encased by helD UP ESsential
7 Newspaper covering latest in cuisine with duck and herb (7)
OREGANO
Last letter of (cuisin)E inside ORGAN – newspaper & 0 for zero – duck in Cricket
8 Distant church in absurd situation (5)
FARCE
FAR for distant and CE for the Church of England
9 One going into swirling mud’s heroic old salt (6,8)
SODIUM CHLORIDE
1 – one inside a swirling [MUDS HEROIC OLD]*
10 Two thousand in company stop and salute (7)
COMMEND
Two x M for thousand inside CO(mpany) & END for stop
15 Bitter artist with wit stifling exclamation of surprise (9)
RANCOROUS
R.A. for artist & COR – sound of surprise inside NOUS for wit
16 Advocate in conclusion less good, lacking weight (7)
ENDORSE
END – conclusion & W(eight) removed from (w)ORSE – “less good”
18 Wrong monarch in decline (7)
SINKING
SIN (wrong) & KING
19 Sentimental types thus following obligations (7)
SOFTIES
SO for thus & F(ollowing) & TIES (obligations)
20 Editor coming up with modest enticement (5)
DECOY
ED(itor) reversed – “coming up” in a down clue & COY for modest
21 Sensational club without boundaries, free (5)
LURID
An unbounded (c)LU(b) & RID for free
Some clever clues in here I thought. 14A worthy of special mention.
Thank you Everyman and flashling.
CHAMFER was a new word for me, I got tied up at first having CAMBER (sloping surface) around H (hard) giving CHAMBER, however, the definition did not look right…
I liked the clues for HARBINGER, ORIFICE, OFFER, OREGANO and MEDOC, but parsed EVENING PRIMROSE after entering the answer.
[Kevin @ 1 is not me. Why does this site allow duplicate usernames? Could it have something to do with case sensitivity?]
[kevin @3, there is a (new?) commenter Kevin_from_NY, he uses a capital ‘K’, perhaps he did not enter his full user-name…]
[No, not from New York – Oxon. Just using what I’ve always used on here. Perhaps kevin and I need to be more imaginative in our choice of names in future 🙂
Kevin. (Damn! there I go again! K3vin from now on)]
[kevin and K3vin, that explains things, I have sometimes thought that posts from ‘Kevin’ did not sound like the kevin from Canada (if I remember rightly?).]
I wasn’t wild about cases for the hw indicator in 5d. I get the explanation but I don’t like the cryptic grammar.
Everything else good, and all slotted together more easily than at first seemed apparent – except I belatedly realised I hadn’t solved 6A. Should have used my loaf.
Everyman really seems to have found his groove of late. I know some find them a bit too easy but I don’t like spending more than an hour or so on a crossword, and these have hit the spot for me recently.
Enjoyed this and liked 14 ac and 9d. Chamfer was a new word for me
I agree with Barrie. I like to do a crossword in an hour or two and not spend all week, like Rats does., This one was not easy but the right level for me.,
Agree with all the comments and also don’t really get meaning of ‘cases’ in 5d.
I too had Chamber thinking Camber was a good part answer but also wasn’t sure of the whole thing being correct. When Chamfer came up I knew I would be unlikely to recall that word for future use
14ac, 11ac, some really good clues here and not as many anagrams. 1ac was one of my last .
Been a while since I’ve heard the use of ‘cor’ can only recall it in english comic books.
@kiwis who posted. Great minds think alike! 😉 I too had the same qualms as you good folk. Like Barrie I also didn’t pen in LOAF and like Vanessa I was also leaning towards CHAMBER via CAMBER. In the end I got the crossie out barring 6ac but found this more of a challenge then the last few. Hoping for another toughie next week.
I found this one to be more difficult ( than the previous 10 or so ).
Chamber ( not ) had me barking up the wrong tree and I got stuck in the SW and NW corners. Didn’t get Softies or Endorse or Loaf or Pioneer without help. Grrrr.
Chamfer I knew from having had a carpenter father. To put a sloping edge on a piece of timber he would chamfer it with a plane or a router.