Everyman 3,703

by

Mostly straightforward this week but perhaps tending towards the more difficult end of the Everyman spectrum.

1ac gave me some problems when trying to sort out the parsing because I became convinced that ‘in connection with’ gave the AND. Thereafter I had tunnel vision and couldn’t see that which is now obvious. Fortunately an email to a fellow blogger set me straight (for which, my thanks).

Across
1 Cringe in Washington in connection with predicament (3,3,6)
BOW AND SCRAPE – WA (Washington) in BOND (connection) plus SCRAPE (predicament)

9 Take place in company going around with scoundrel (5)
OCCUR – CO (company) reversed (going around) CUR (scoundrel)

10 Garage designed to accommodate tank in compound (9)
AGGRAVATE – an anagram (designed) of GARAGE around (to accommodate) VAT (tank)

11 Weak revolution ending in trouble to a smaller extent (9)
SPINELESS – SPIN (revolution) [troubl]E (ending in trouble) LESS (to a smaller extent)

12 Avid solver omitting every other letter in passage (5)
AISLE – A[v]I[d] S[o]L[v]E[r] (avid solver omitting every other letter)

13 Average temperature indicated (5)
MEANT – MEAN (average) T (temperature)

15 Crime covered up by attendant in minister’s place (9)
PARSONAGE – ARSON (crime) in (covered up by) PAGE (attendant)

16 Freeze street in part of film about city (9)
LEICESTER – ICE (freeze) ST (street) in REEL (part of film) reversed (about)

17 Shine in field among leaders of great movement (5)
GLEAM – LEA (field) in (among) G[reat] M[ovement] (leaders of great movement)

19 Suppose visitors must be short of time (5)
GUESS – GUES[t]S (visitors must be short of time)

20 Long distance from the rig, lay wrecked (5-4)
LIGHT-YEAR – an anagram (wrecked) of THE RIG LAY

23 Scent in tune with surrounding country (9)
FRAGRANCE – RAG (tune) in (with surrounding) FRANCE (country)

24 Danger in place full of revolutionary anger (5)
PERIL – PL (place) around (full of) IRE (anger) reversed (revolutionary)

25 Bug? It’s caught by poor player, we cry (6-6)
CREEPY-CRAWLY – C (caught) plus an anagram (poor) of PLAYER WE CRY

Down
1 Mature crowd upset about defeat (7)
BLOSSOM – MOB (crowd) reversed (upset) around (about) LOSS (defeat)

2 Song from enchantress, heartless with language, holding men up (7,7)
WICHITA LINEMAN – WI[t]CH (enchantress, heartless) plus ITALIAN (language) around (holding) MEN reversed (up)

3 Audacity never out of order (5)
NERVE – an anagram (out of order) of NEVER

4 Post / put at risk (5)
STAKE – double def.

5 Keeper of records about substance, endlessly scarce (9)
REGISTRAR – RE (about) GIST (substance) RAR[e] (endlessly scarce)

6 Pretend to co-operate in drama with arm initially extended (4,5)
PLAY ALONG – PLAY (drama) A[rm] (arm initially) LONG (extended)

7 Be surprised by arena, I see, excited before fight (5,2,7)
RAISE AN EYEBROW – an anagram (excited) of BY ARENA I SEE followed by ROW (fight)

8 Part of treatise renegade composed (6)
SERENE – contained in (part of) ‘treatiSE RENEgade’

14 Audit’s conclusion stern about certain person in charge of funds (9)
TREASURER – [audi]T (audit’s conclusion) plus REAR (stern) around (about) SURE (certain)

15 Bad temper shown by alien in rising up with weapon (9)
PETULANCE – ET (alien) in UP reversed (rising) plus LANCE (weapon)

16 Trademark? Very loud exit (3,3)
LOG OFF – LOGO (trademark) FF (very loud)

18 Doctor with demonstration in ethical style (7)
MORALLY – MO (doctor) RALLY (demonstration)

21 E.g. key unusually handy with technology? (5)
GEEKY – an anagram (unusually) of EG KEY

22 Become thinner in band on run (5)
TAPER – TAPE (band) R (run)

12 comments on “Everyman 3,703”

  1. Yet again the Guardian website had managed not to load the Azed puzzle pdf, instead just loading a jpg of the grid.

  2. Thank toy Everyman and Gaufrid.

    I found this a little harder than usual, which was surprising since none of the clues were those long ones involving four steps, clues I find very difficult to solve.

    I had never heard of the song WICHITA LINEMAN, but finally sorted it out from the clue and checked by googling. LEICESTER and AGGRAVATE were my last in.

  6. Now, I found this to be the easiest Everyman for a few weeks. Horses for courses I guess. I did know the song, though not how to spell it, which no doubt helped. Last in 8d, too many E’s to spot the hidden word quickly. ?

  7. Nice.

    I too stumbled on 1A, but US state abbreviations aren’t my long suit. I also had Aggregate for 10A which I clearly couldn’t parse either, but it seemed a possibility for Compound.

    Once that was all sorted out the rest went in quite methodically, helped I must say by two or three simpler offerings like Guess and Gleam.

    5D was nice, along with quite a few others – I don’t agree with Jon that this was an easier Everyman, I thought it tended the other way if anything, but it was fairly balanced.

    Thanks Gaufrid and Everyman.

  8. Well these don’t come often. That was a very simple pen in. Took the best part of 20 odd minutes. Nothing really stood out. WICHITA LINEMAN was the best I think.

  9. I found this one more to my liking with fewer of the long, involved clues. As with others, Bow and Scrape held me up for a while, but once I thought of it, Witchita Lineman fitted in as well. I remember Glen Campbell’s music well. And I was another who put aggregate for 10ac.

    Thankyou Setter. I like them like this.

  10. How funny —a mix of people finding easy and hard – I thought quite hard and also had aggregate–
    Am not all that sure bow and scrape means cringe- I thought it means to be servile … I better look that one up….

  11. Always save Everyman for Sunday afternoons. Got aggregate first too until I realised it was bow and scrape for 1a. Not sure it means cringe either. Had to look up witchita lineman…..never heard of this song before. Always enjoy Everyman…..have never ventured to Kropotkin though…..anyone brave enough?

  12. Kropotkin crosswords are generally straightforward as far as the wordplay is concerned. It’s just the vocabulary that is obscure.

Comments are closed.