Everyman 3,724

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3724.

I found this one slipping in quite easily. How did you fare?

Across
1 COALESCE Join together in company with drinks before church (8)
A charade of CO (‘company’) plus ALES (‘drinks’) plus CE (‘Church’ of England).
5 ABACUS Device for calculating area covered initially in a vehicle (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of AC (‘Area Covered initially’) in ‘a’ plus BUS (‘vehicle’).
10 PORCELAIN China, clear about power, ignoring France (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of [f]ORCE (‘power’ – for once not indicating P; scientists might complain that power and force are different, but in common use the two are blurred) minus the F (‘ignoring France’) in PLAIN (‘clear’). Coming to this with the initial P in place, my first reaction was PAL…, from the rhyming slang China plate/mate; but it was not to be.
11 CRAWL Car may well, at regular intervals, move slowly (5)
Alternate letters (‘at regular intervals’) of ‘CaR mAy WeLl’, with an extended definition, unfortunately.
12 EARLY Nobleman unknown in advance (5)
A charade of EARL (‘nobleman’) plus Y (mathematical ‘unknown’).
13 SHORTENED Reduced number in coastal region by day (9)
An envelope (‘in’) of TEN (‘number’) in SHORE (‘coastal region’) plus D (‘day’).
14 KNOCK SPOTS OFF Easily outdo spies, sour after setback (5,5,3)
A charade of KNOCK (‘setback’) plus SPOTS (‘spies’) plus OFF (‘sour’ eg. of milk)
18 DISPARAGEMENT Ridicule inspector and anger people in quarrel (13)
A charade of DI (Detective ‘Inspector’) plus SPARAGEMENT, an envelope (‘in’) of RAGE (‘anger’) plus MEN (‘people’) in SPAT (‘quarrel’).
20 IMMODESTY Arrogance in memo I’d amended with pen (9)
A charade of IMMODE, an anagram (‘amended’) of ‘memo I’d’, plus STY (‘pen’).
23 UNITS Modules among best in use, on reflection (5)
A hidden (‘in’) reversed (‘on reflection’) answer in ‘beST IN Use’.
24 TENCH Unpleasant smell, not first to indicate fish (5)
A subtraction: [s]TENCH (‘unpleasant smell’) minus its initial letter (‘not first’). ‘to indicate’ just links wordplay to definition.
25 COUTURIER One delivering messages around Utah for designer (9)
An envelope (‘around’) of UT (US Postal Service approved abbreviation for ‘Utah’) in COURIER (‘one delivering messages’).
26 DARING Bold call led by lawyer (6)
A charade of DA (District Attorney, American ‘lawyer’) plus RING (‘call’).
27 THIEVERY Stealing hearts during match, especially (8)
An envelope (‘during’) of H (‘hearts’ in card games) in TIE (‘match’) plus VERY (‘especially’).
Down
1 COPPER Element about work upset agent (6)
A charade of C (circa, ‘about’) plus OP (opus, ‘work’) plus PER, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of REP (sales ‘agent’).
2 AIR BRAKES Devices for slowing down broadcast? Pauses in speech (3,6)
A homophone (‘broadcast’) of AIR BREAKS (‘pauses in speech’). I had to wait until solving 14A before deciding which was the answer and which the homophone – a common difficulty with this kind of clue, particularly here with the punctuation.
3 EVERY NOW AND THEN Always handy, went on working periodically (5,3,3,4)
A charade of EVER (‘always’) plus YNOWANDTHEN, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘handy, went on’. A difficult construction, well hidden.
4 CLASS Outstanding lesson (5)
Double definition (“a class act”).
6 BACK TO THE FUTURE Cut rebuke of that complicated film about time travel (4,2,3,6)
An anagram (‘complicated’) of ‘cut rebuke of that’.
7 CHAIN Tea? New range (5)
A charade of CHAI (‘tea’) plus N (‘new’). A variant of CHA or CHAR.
8 SOLIDIFY Freeze sauce to retain top condition (8)
An envelope (‘to retain’) of LID (‘top’) plus IF (‘condition’) in SOY (‘sauce’).
9 UNCOUPLE Separate northern takeover, in principle, not right (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of N (‘northern’) plus COUP (‘takeover’) in [r]ULE (‘principle’) minus the R (‘not right’).
15 KNAPSACK Spring up, diving into gift bag (8)
An envelope (‘diving into’) of APS, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of SPA (‘spring’) in KNACK (‘gift’).
16 ON THIN ICE Nothing pleasant about silly hint in a risky situation (2,4,3)
An envelope (‘about’) of THIN, an anagram (‘silly’) of ‘hint’ in O (‘nothing’) plus NICE (‘pleasant’).
17 ADMITTED Hand in a legal document, not English? It’s accepted (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of MITT (‘hand’) in ‘a’ plus DE[e]D (‘legal document’) minus one E – your chioce – (‘not English’).
19 ASTRAY Off course since daylight’s last gleam (6)
A charade of AS (‘since’) plus T (‘daylighT‘s last’) plus RAY (‘gleam’).
21 MANOR Neighbourhood style, according to report (5)
A homophone (‘according to report’) of MANNER (‘style’).
22 YOUTH Adolescent diary finally published? Hard to support that (5)
A charade of Y (‘diarY finally’) plus OUT (‘published’) plus (‘to support that’ in a down light) H (‘hard’).
completed grid

20 comments on “Everyman 3,724”

  1. I enjoyed this puzzle.
    My favourites were ON THIN ICE, PORCELAIN.
    New for me was “knock spots off”, though I do have a very dim memory of having heard it before.
    Thank you Everyman and Peter.

  2. Thank you Everyman and PeterO.

    All went in quite easily except for MANOR, but that had to be the answer – checking in the COED I find that this is the colloquial expression for “the district covered by a police station” (makes me wonder who Everyman frequents and what he has been up to).

  5. A pretty quick time, though with one or two I must admit not fully understood when solving. Last in was the NE corner where after a pretty sharpish solve elsewhere I slowed to a crawl on 4d / 13ac and 7d. 25ac was a tricky one to spell, wasn’t it?

  6. Thanks for the blog. It had to be PORCELAIN from the crossing letters but I failed to understand the clue so glad of the explanation.

  7. Cookie#2 London gangsters had their own ‘manors’ and if you look up the old TV show “Minder”, Arthur Daley mentions his Manor in nearly every show.

    Nick

  8. Thanks Nick @7, I have not lived in the UK for over 50 years, probably the term is mentioned in detective stories, but I rarely read these.

  9. Yes, basically it’s the area of operation. Gangsters on good terms do not operate in another’s manor by way of some sort of respect, but when they do gang warfare breaks out.

  10. Nick @ 9

    So gangsters with good manners restrict themselves to their manors?

    I’ll get mi coat…

  14. Thanks to PeterO and Everyman.

    I had a slightly different parsing of 2D.  I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be AIR (= “broadcast”) + a homophone of BREAKS (“pauses”), with “in speech” as the homophone indicator.

  16. A bit easier this week. Some nice surfaces. Hadn’t heard of Chai so I wondered where the I came from.

    I had 2D as PeterO did but it works either way

    Now, will the weather save England? After being knocked over for 58 or whatever it was they don’t deserve it.

  17. Yes I agree it was a bit easier, but that suits me. Didn’t get knock spots off. Thought it should be socks, but it didn’t work. Hadn’t heard of manor= neighbourhood either but it had to be that.

    Looks like the weather will save England in the cricket, though it’s not raining in Albany at the moment. Maybe it will clear at Eden Park soon. NZ deserve to win.

  19. All pretty straightforward in the end. Was busy yesterday so could only start this afternoon. Enjoyed 15d. Couldn’t parse 10ac but it was simple enough to guess.

  20. Just starting out with cryptic crosswords so the explanations are wonderful for me.
    Many thanks to all involved

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