The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3716.
Oodles of envelopes this week.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HERALD | Artillery in middle of sustained signal (6) |
| An envelope (‘in middle of’ – and it is, dead centre) of RA (Royal ‘Artillary’) in HELD (‘sustained’). | ||
| 4 | CAREFUL | Vehicle fuel not properly guarded (7) |
| A charade of CAR (‘vehicle’) plus EFUL, an anagram (‘not properly’) of ‘fuel’. | ||
| 9 | PETIT FOUR | Small cake, favourite one with number around end of buffet (5,4) |
| A envelope (‘around’) of T (‘end of buffeT‘) in PET (‘favourite’) plus I (‘one’) plus FOUR (‘number’). | ||
| 10 | FORUM | Meeting in university breaking mould (5) |
| An envelope (‘breaking’) of U (‘university’) in FORM (‘mould’). | ||
| 11 | LOOP | Combine to go round in circuit (4) |
| A reversal (‘to go round’) of POOL (‘combine’). | ||
| 12 | DOUBLE TAKE | Delayed reaction appropriate after image (6,4) |
| A charade of DOUBLE (‘image’) plus TAKE (‘appropriate’). | ||
| 14 | SUPERANNUATED | Nun at sea? Prude, awfully old-fashioned (13) |
| An anagram (‘awfully’) of ‘nun at sea prude’. | ||
| 16 | CRAFTSMANSHIP | Vessel, great success, bearing north ahead of one with power and skill (13) |
| A charade of CRAFT (‘vessel’); plus SMANSH, an envelope (‘bearing’) of N (‘north’) in SMASH (‘great success’); plus (‘ahead of’) I (‘one’) plus P (‘power’). | ||
| 20 | ALIENATION | Be deceitful, getting into a state, causing estrangement (10) |
| An envelope (‘getting into’) of LIE (‘be deceitful’) in A NATION (‘a state’). | ||
| 21 | ANTE | Stake in card game opponent declared (4) |
| A homophone (‘declared’) of ANTI (‘opponent’ – a less than common nounal usage). | ||
| 23 | ADELE | Singer back in style led appeal (5) |
| A hidden (‘in’) reversed (‘back’) answer in ‘stylE LED Appeal’. | ||
| 24 | EDELWEISS | Less wide ground behind energy plant (9) |
| A charade of E (‘energy’) plus DELWEISS, an anagram (‘ground’) of ‘less wide’, with ‘behind’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 25 | DRYNESS | Doctor sure about name linked to singular lack of moisture (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of N (‘name’) in DR (‘doctor’) plus YES (‘sure’) plus S (‘singular’). | ||
| 26 | VERGER | Church official against endless remorse in retirement (6) |
| A charade of V (versus, ‘against’) plus ERGER, a reversal (‘in retirement’) of REGRE[t] (‘remorse’) minus its last letter (‘endless’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HOPELESS | Impossible exercises in pits with sulphur (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of PE (‘exercises’) in HOLES (‘pits’) plus S (chemical symbol, ‘sulphur’, to use the traditional British spelling). | ||
| 2 | RETROSPECTIVELY | Excited over spicy letter with consideration of past events (15) |
| An anagram (‘excited’) of ‘over spicy letter’. | ||
| 3 | LATE | Former illustration in book with page missing (4) |
| A subtraction: [p]LATE (‘illustration in book’) minus the P (‘with page missing’). | ||
| 4 | CARIBOU | Deer united below a ridge in Colorado (7) |
| A charade of CARIBO, an envelope (‘in’) of A RIB (‘a ridge’) in CO (‘Colorado’); plus U (‘united’). | ||
| 5 | REFLECTING | Expressing resistance, choosing to restrict force (10) |
| A charade of R (‘resistance’) plus EFLECTING, an envelope (‘to restrict’) of F (‘force’) in ELECTING (‘choosing’). | ||
| 6 | FORWARD THINKING | Progressive, cross, embracing conflict with weak monarch (7-8) |
| An envelope (’embracing’) of WAR (‘conflict’) in FORD (‘cross’) plus THIN (‘weak’) plus KING (‘monarch’). | ||
| 7 | LUMBER | Move awkwardly stored furniture (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 8 | COCOON | Expression of surprise, taken in by fraud in case (6) |
| An envelope (‘taken in by’) of COO (‘expression of surprise’) in CON (‘fraud’). | ||
| 13 | GREAT-NIECE | Relative cheers up over first couple of nights in country (5-5) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of AT , a reversal of TA (‘cheers’ in the sense of “thank you”; if you are not familiar with this, keep it in mind – it pops up now and then in cryptics) plus NI (‘first couple of NIghts’ – a construction which grates for some) in GREECE (‘country’). | ||
| 15 | APPEASER | Look outside state’s borders for conciliator (8) |
| An envelope (‘outside’) of SE (‘StatE‘s borders) in APPEAR (‘look’). | ||
| 17 | TATTERS | Shreds potatoes, consuming time (7) |
| An envelope (‘consuming’) of T (‘time’) in TATERS (‘potatoes’). | ||
| 18 | MOORED | Low revolutionary tied up (6) |
| A charade of MOO (‘low’) plus RED (‘revolutionary’). | ||
| 19 | HAZARD | Difficult to grasp a variable risk (6) |
| An envelope (‘to grasp’) of ‘a’ plus Z (mathematical ‘variable’) in HARD (‘difficult’). | ||
| 22 | TWEE | Mawkish material lacking depth (4) |
| A subtraction: TWEE[d] (‘material’) minus the D (‘lacking depth’). | ||
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
Enjoyable, with a mini-theme, RETROSPECTIVELY, FORWARD THINKING, REFLECTING… Perhaps Everyman was considering the events of the past year and New Year resolutions?
A little trickier in places than usual for Everyman? Or perhaps it was just the effects of solving late New Year’s Eve when the old brain cells had begun to give up the ghost. 9ac and 14ac were both new to me, though perfectly gettable.
Solved it although failed to parse 5D and don’t think I’ve encountered 14A as an adjective, only the cash flow sort or noun. Maybe I’m looking forward to receiving my pension soon. Or not.
Thanks PeterO and Everyman
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Lots of the convoluted clues that I don’t like. Plus a few that I did. Liked tatters and moored. Don’t think I’ve heard of the word appeaser, and anyway there are better words that I would use.. Is coo a word of surprise? Maybe it is in the UK.
Even though I’m a superannuitant, I’ve never heard of 14 ac either.
I’m with Audrey there were lots of over-convoluted clues. I found this hard and many of the explanations were too weird . 16ac too weird, I did like 18d tho.
Anyway am fine with the fact this was not a favouriite – I didnt do too well on it, had a good run lately so will put this one out of mind.
If it hadn’t been for Enid Blyton books and Dad’s Army I would probably not have gotten COCOON and VERGER!
Managed to get this out in the end although I got 7dn wrong. Went for LIMPED here.
@Barrie and Audrey, long time before I’ll be collecting my pension but I had no issue with SUPERANNUATED.
@Vanessa, I agree 16ac surface was poor but it was easy enough to solve
I hope you’re all enjoying the heat wave. Till next weekend.
Sunday afternoon relaxation….I’m with rats here and had put limped for 7d. Edelweiss completely floored me…went scampering down the wrong trails there…..yes cocoon took a while too….otherwise very enjoyable.
Rats, yes now I come to think of it I do remember a few ‘coos’ in Enid Blyton books. What a word! Fortunately the only coos here are politicians cooing over babies.
This one took ages. Blame the heat for the lack of brain functionality. Particularly enjoyed double take even though it was the LOI. Couldn’t get my mind around the appropriate meaning of appropriate, so for some reason was fixated on bobble or womble( which I proved myself to be!) or something similar. So it took far too long but at least I got value for money! Thanks to all.
Nope – I was never going to get ‘coo’ from expression of surprise.