The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3708.
I had to dodge here and there around the grid to solve this; often, the wordplay was far from immediately obvious, and a second look at the clues, aided by crossers, was sometimes necessary. In other words, it seemed a cut above the usual Everyman. How did you find it?
| Across | ||
| 1 | OFFENDED | Stopped after bad upset (8) |
| A charade of OFF (‘bad’) plus ENDED (‘stopped’). | ||
| 6 | TRILL | Time beside stream making tremulous sound (5) |
| A charade of T (‘time’) plus RILL (‘stream’). | ||
| 9 | HUMAN RESOURCES | Personnel murmur nervously near informants (5,9) |
| A charade of HUM (‘murmur’) plus ANRE, an anagram (‘nervously’) of ‘near’ plus SOURCES (‘informants’). | ||
| 11 | AUDIT | Check praise, omitting line with appeal (5) |
| A charade of [l]AUD (‘praise’) minus the L (‘omitting line’) plus IT (sex ‘appeal’). | ||
| 12 | CONDENSE | Tapering object outside study, small telescope (8) |
| An envelope (‘outside’) of DEN (‘study’) plus S (‘small’) in CONE (‘tapering object’). | ||
| 14 | RATES | Values cherished by democrat especially (5) |
| A hidden answer (‘cherished by’) in ‘democRAT ESpecially’. | ||
| 16 | RECORDER | Instrument in place for playing arrangement (8) |
| A charade of REC (abbreviation for recreation ground, ‘place for playing’) plus ORDER (‘arrangement’). | ||
| 17 | MOREOVER | Doctor, traveller around east also (8) |
| A charade of MO (Medical Officer, ‘doctor’) plus REOVER, an envelope (‘around’) of E (‘east’) in ROVER (‘traveller’). | ||
| 18 | DOUGH | Complete expression of distaste for money (5) |
| A charade of DO (‘complete’) plus UGH (‘expression of distaste’). | ||
| 21 | PASTILLE | Sweet not well covered with marzipan? (8) |
| An envelope (‘covered with’) of ILL (‘not well’) in PASTE (‘marzipan’). ‘Sweet’ in the UK sense of candy. | ||
| 22 | OUNCE | Formerly storing uranium, tiny amount (5) |
| An envelope (‘storing’) of U (chemical symbol, ‘uranium’) in ONCE (‘formerly’). | ||
| 24 | GEORGE GERSHWIN | Composer from south in going here grew excited (6,8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of S (‘south’) in GEORGEGERHWIN, an anagram (‘excited’) of ‘going here grew’. | ||
| 25 | ENEMY | People in revolution breaking heart of fogeyish opponent (5) |
| An envelope (‘breaking’) of NEM, a reversal (‘in revolution’) of MEN (‘people’) in EY (‘heart of fogEYish’). | ||
| 26 | DRUM ROLL | Spirit in amusing prelude to announcement of winner (4,4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of RUM (‘spirit’) in DROLL (‘amusing’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | FOUNDATION STONE | Located article, one among many with sound structural basis (10,5) |
| A charade of FOUND (‘located’) plus A (indefinite ‘article’) plus TIONS, an envelope (‘among’) of I (‘one’) in TONS (‘many’) plus TONE (‘sound’). | ||
| 3 | EXACT | Precise demand (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | DARE | Challenge lawyer on limits of role (4) |
| A charade of DA (district attorney, ‘lawyer’) plus RE (‘limits of RolE‘). | ||
| 5 | DISCONCERT | Throw party before noon? Sure thing (10) |
| A charade of DISCO (‘party’) plus N (‘noon’) plus CERT (‘sure thing’). | ||
| 6 | THUNDERED | Number filled with energy supporting team initially roared (9) |
| A charade of T (‘Team initially’) plus HUNDERED, an envelope (‘filled with’) of E (‘energy’) in HUNDRED (‘number’). | ||
| 7 | INCONSEQUENTIAL | Online scan quite absurdly trivial (15) |
| An anagram (‘absurdly’) of ‘online scan quite’. | ||
| 8 | LESSEN | Speaker’s moral decline (6) |
| Sounds like (‘speaker’s’) LESSON (‘moral’). | ||
| 10 | FAIR | Trade show‘s objective (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 13 | PRIVILEGED |
Translation of Virgil, deep and rich (10) |
| An anagram (‘translation’) of ‘Virgil, deep’. | ||
| 15 | SEEMINGLY | Meet and mix endlessly over year, apparently (9) |
| A charade of SEE (‘meet’) plus MINGL[e] (‘mix’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) plus Y (‘year’). | ||
| 19 | HEEL | Command given to dog in list (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | APOGEE | Top mimic capturing monster, right away (6) |
| An envelope (‘capturing’) of OG[r]E (‘monster’) minus the R (‘right away’) in APE (‘mimic’). | ||
| 22 | OTHER | More trouble with book out (5) |
| A subtraction: [b]OTHER (‘trouble’) minus the B (‘book out’). | ||
| 23 | URDU | Language used by chauffeur dutifully (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘used by’) in ‘chauffeUR DUtifully’. | ||
Found this harder than normal. Learned the odd new odd word like Apogee.
16a – ‘rec’… I haven’t heard that since I was a mere stripling some sixty-odd years ago. ‘Coming down the rec for a game of footie?’
Ah, those innocent days of sun…
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
I, too, found this harder than usual, and had to parse FOUNDATION STONE after writing it in – I’m waiting for Everyman to break his five-part clue record…
The anagram with S for GEORGE GERSHWIN was good!
I finished this more quickly than I usually manage to, but then again without necessarily parsing all the clues. If I’d got stuck and not chucked loads in from definition and / or checking letters, it might have been a different matter.
You have privileged spelt incorrectly
Funny how some minds work. Found this the easiest Everyman in the past two months or so. Could’t parse the “tions” in foundation stone.favourites apogee and pastille
Much tougher! Didn’t get 8dn. Didn’t pick up the homophone. Also had to resort to electronic help for RILL. though I was on the right track.
Enjoyed 18ac, 5d, 12ac, 21ac. Some good clues there.
Great clues though Rec was well beyond me. Nice change to have a party that’s not a do for a change. Thanks Everyman.
Agree with PeterO, it was an excellent puzzle this week. Although in saying that I have found them to be consistently good for some time now. Especially liked human resources (these longer answers are great to get you going) and for some reason drum roll. Thanks to all
Could not make the connection “throw” = “disconcert”, so could not parse
5 down. Struggled with “condense” (12 across) and “recorder” (16 across).
Also struggled with “human resources” (9 across) although it was “easy” once I saw it.
Overall found it *very* tough.
Like Rolf, I failed to get 5 d and 12 ac and also 9ac. But the rest of it was enjoyable. I thought of recorder quite early on but decided it wouldn’t be that until the other clues told me it was. How I remember those screechy days ! .
I’m with PeterO. Took ages to get going and not one to solve in sections. Got there in the end, I have no idea where I’ve heard apogee before, was it some game?
Quite liked Audit. Never heard of Rec.
Privileged needs another i .
Got too much sun yesterday and today, need a lie down. My fault, not complaining about the weather, it’s great.
Kevin @5
That clanger lasted a long time, made longer because the grid is difficult to edit, but now 13D reads privIleged.