The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3700.
When presented with a crossword clue, I tend to look first for its possible cryptic structure, and when I am impressed by a clue, it is likely to be because the structure is cunningly hidden. Surface often comes as an afterthought, so that it was only on writing up this blog that I really noticed how good most of the surfaces are – although good surfaces are par for the course with Everyman. In particular, I was amused by 8A when I finally took note of the surface.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EXPRESSIONLESS | Fast, funny lines, so deadpan (14) |
| A charade of EXPRESS (‘fast’) plus IONLESS, an anagram (‘funny’) of ‘lines so’. | ||
| 8 | HERETICAL | Unorthodox man with muscular movement breaking concrete (9) |
| A charade of HE (‘man’) plus RETICAL, an envelope (‘breaking’) of TIC (‘muscular movement’) in REAL (‘concrete’). | ||
| 9 | KICKS | Gives up thrills (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 11 | CHOIR | Singing group from Switzerland or around Italy (5) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of I (‘Italy’, Internatinal Vehicle Registration) in CH (‘Switzerlnd’, also IVR) plus ‘or’. | ||
| 12 | STINGRAY | Grain scattered in enclosure for fish (8) |
An envelope (‘in’) of INGRA, an anagram (‘scattered’) of ‘grain’ in STY (‘enclosure’). |
||
| 14 | PARAMOUR | Soldier with lament missing last lover (8) |
| A charade of PARA (‘soldier’) plus MOUR[n] (‘lament’) minus its last letter (‘missing last’). | ||
| 15 | ITCH | Irritation caused by trench lacking depth (4) |
| A subtraction: [d]ITCH (‘trench’) minus the D (‘lacking depth’). | ||
| 18 | AGOG | Excited back before start of game (4) |
| A charade of AGO (‘back’ – “it happened a long time ago/back”) plus G (‘start of Game’). | ||
| 19 | PITTANCE | Inept act working for meagre payment (8) |
| An anagram (‘working’) of ‘inept act’. | ||
| 22 | BEGINNER | Appeal by spiritual novice (8) |
| A charade of BEG (‘appeal’) plus INNER (‘spiritual’). | ||
| 23 | TAUPE | Colour for all to see in strip of material (5) |
| An envelope (in’) of U (‘for all to see’, film certificate) in TAPE (‘strip of material’). | ||
| 25 | TRASH | Condemn revolutionary painting? Be quiet (5) |
| A charade of TRA, a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of ART (‘painting’) plus SH (‘be quiet’). | ||
| 26 | SPECTACLE | Display power in second challenge, ousting king (9) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of P (‘power’) in SEC (‘second’) plus TAC[k]LE (‘challenge’) minus the K (‘ousting king’). | ||
| 27 | SAGRADA FAMILIA | I’m afraid a gala’s out of order in unfinished church (7,7) |
An anagram (‘out of order’) of ‘I’m afraid a gala’s’, for the Gaudi’s famous Basilica in Barcelona, due for completion by 2026. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ETHICS | Singular quote coming up about hard morality (6) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of H (‘hard’) in ETICS, a reversal (‘coming up’) of S (‘singular’) plus CITE (‘quote’). | ||
| 2 | PERSONA NON GRATA | Theatre upset with composition involving new organ, sadly undesirable (7,3,5) |
| A charade of PER, a reversal (‘upset’) of REP (‘theatre’) plus SONANONGRATA, an envelope (‘involving’) of N (‘new’) plus ONGRA, an anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘organ’ in SONATA (‘composition’). | ||
| 3 | EXTERNAL | Superficial, relentless, securing vote (8) |
| An envelope (‘securing’) of X (‘vote’) in ETERNAL (‘relentless’). | ||
| 4 | SICK | Poorly covered by basic kilt (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘covered by’) in ‘baSIC Kilt’. | ||
| 5 | OBLITERATE | Vicious bile to assess and eliminate (10) |
| A charade of OBLITE, an anagram (‘vicious’) of ‘bile to’ plus RATE (‘assess’). | ||
| 6 | LIKING | Taste defeat, caught out (6) |
| A subtraction: LI[c]KING (‘defeat’) minus the C (‘caught out’). | ||
| 7 | SECURITY COUNCIL | UN institution cruel cynic is out to change (8,7) |
| An anagram (‘to change’) of ‘cruel cynic is out’. | ||
| 10 | SCYTHE | Small article cut by edges of curvy tool (6) |
| An envelope (‘cut by’) of CY (‘edges of CurvY‘) in S (‘small’) plus THE (definite ‘article’). | ||
| 13 | COMPRESSED | Reporters in funny drama almost flattened (10) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of PRESS (‘reporters’) in COMED[y] (‘funny drama’) minus its last letter (‘almost’). | ||
| 16 | RABBIT | Religious leader with time for poor player (6) |
| A charade of RABBI (‘religious leader’) plus T (‘time’). | ||
| 17 | FACTOTUM | Servant following law supported by part of Bible with doubtful expression (8) |
| A charade of F (‘following’) plus ACT (‘law’) plus OT (Old Testament, ‘part of Bible’) plus UM (‘doubtful expression’). | ||
| 20 | ANCHOR | An endless job providing source of stability (6) |
| A charade of ‘an’ plus CHOR[e] (‘job’) minus its last letter (‘endless’), | ||
| 21 | GENEVA | Information on eastern half of vast city (6) |
| A charade of GEN (‘information’) plus E (‘eastern’) plus VA (‘half of VAst’). | ||
| 24 | REEF | Ridge in portion of sail (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
I hardly like to admit it, but my last one in was GENEVA, and I virtually live there, just over the border in France, 5 miles away! Perhaps ‘vast city’ confused me at first, then I tried the “eastern half of vast”, i.e. ST. Finally, with all the vowels in place, light dawned.
Favourite clue was that for SAGRADA FAMILIA.
I found this to be a little trickier than usual for Everyman, not helped by not knowing 27ac, and being too stubborn to Google it. The second part was pretty gettable, but the first a bit of a guess. 🙂 And, oh, another unknown at 23ac. 17d I knew thanks to the Bukowski book of the same name. Enjoyable overall, passed the time while waiting for dinner to cook.
The clue 27a was too vague.
Where are all the Kiwis!
In 23 ac the U doesnt mean much to Kiwi film goers but guess worth remembering for another time.
Lucky Mr Roget gave me Factotum had never heard of that one before. The meaning of Rabbit was new to me too, learn something new every week!
20 d Am being picky but it’s not strictly fair to combine ‘An ‘with Chore, in my book, but maybe that is being pedantic
Clues I enjoyed 6d, 10d , 21 d and 9ac
Vanessa you were the first this week, unusually. I had other things to do this morning plus a visitor for lunch before I could attempt the crossword. Thoroughly enjoyable but as usual, I thought of the answer before I parsed it, and some I couldn’t parse, e.g. Heretical. Liked lots including 19ac, and 10 and 16d. and luckily I had read an article about the Sagrada Familia in The Listener a week or two ago.
Wow that was a toughie. Didn’t get EXPRESSIONLESS as I’d stubbornly penned in MATERIAL for 3d despite not being able to parse it. Also didn’t get FACTOTUM and TAUPE. The former I’ve never heard of and the latter perhaps only in passing. Interestingly enough with FACTOTUM I had the ACT, the OT and the UM parsed but couldn’t put it all together.
That’s now like 3 or 4 in a row I have not been able to complete. Hopefully I go better next week.