The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3744.
My reaction to this puzzle was definitely coloured by the clue to 1A, which on first viewing registered a blank as to its structure. Hence the only partly playful example in 18A. All in all , it did take me longer than usual for an Everyman, but even 1A sorted itself out with the help of a few crossers.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISADVANTAGE | Catch pitiful vehicle with ticket in end (12) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of SAD (‘pitiful’) plus VAN (‘vehicle’) plus TAG (‘ticket’) in DIE (‘end’). | ||
| 9 | ASPIC | Dreams, short of rations, about jelly (5) |
| A charade of ASPI[rations] (‘dreams’) ‘short of rations’; plus C (circa, ‘about’). | ||
| 10 | CALLOUSLY | Cruelly inexperienced, losing wicket, undone initially by cunning (9) |
| A charade of CALLO[w] (‘inexperienced’) minus the W (‘losing wicket’, using the standard abbreviation in cricket statistics) plus U (‘Undone initially’) plus SLY (‘cunning’). | ||
| 11 | PARANORMAL | Artist, joined by number in Italian city, left without natural explanation (10) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of RA (‘artist’) plus NO (‘number’) in PARMA (‘Italian city’) plus L (‘left’). | ||
| 12 | TAIL | Follow story from speaker (4) |
| Sounds like (‘from speaker’) TALE (‘story’). | ||
| 14 | SQUARED | Engineers in group agreed (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of RE (Royal ‘Engineers’) in SQUAD (‘group’). | ||
| 16 | CLEMENT | Mild chapter, part lacking energy (7) |
| A charade of C (‘chapter’) plus [e]LEMENT (‘part’) minus the first E (‘lacking energy’). | ||
| 17 | SCEPTIC | One inclined to question power in sect not usually in charge (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’, the first one) of P (‘power’) in SCET, an anagram (‘nor usually’) of ‘sect’ plus I/C (‘in charge’). | ||
| 18 | SADDLED | Landed in south, confused (7) |
| A charade of S (‘south’) plus ADDLED (‘confused’). As in “I’ve been landed with a particularly difficult Everyman this week”. No complaints, really. | ||
| 20 | ROOK | Piece on board for bird (4) |
| Double definition, the ‘board’ being for chess. | ||
| 21 | STAR-STRUCK | Jump around front of stage with crowd captivated by famous people (4-6) |
| A charade of STARST, an envelope (‘around’) of S (‘front of Stage’) in START (‘jump’); plus RUCK (‘crowd’). | ||
| 24 | CENTRALLY | Essentially needing a bit of money before meeting (9) |
| A charade of CENT (‘a bit of money’) plus RALLY (‘meeting’). ‘Needing’ just links definition to wordplay, and ‘before’ confirms the order of the particles. | ||
| 25 | OMEGA | Last letter from troublesome gangster (5) |
| A hidden answer in ‘troublesOME GAngster’, for the last letter in the Greek alphabet. | ||
| 26 | LEADING LIGHT | Influential figure in field, mostly dull and undemanding (7,5) |
| A charade of LEA (‘field’) plus DING[y] (‘dull’) minus its last letter (‘mostly’) plus LIGHT (‘undemanding’ – music, for example). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEPARTURE LOUNGE | New rule up on red gate in part of airport (9,6) |
| An anagram (‘new’) of ‘rule up on red gate’. | ||
| 2 | SECOND-RATE | Poor judge after support (6-4) |
| A charade of SECOND (‘support’) plus RATE (‘judge’). | ||
| 3 | DECOR | Staff upset about extremes of erratic colour scheme (5) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of EC (‘extremes of ErrariC‘) in DOR, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of ROD (‘staff’). | ||
| 4 | ALLIANCES | Partnerships completely ruined in case (9) |
| A charade of ALL (‘completely’) plus IANCES, an anagram (‘ruined’) of ‘in case’. | ||
| 5 | TROT | Run temperature? Nonsense (4) |
| A charade of T (‘temperature’) plus ROT (‘nonsense’). | ||
| 6 | GUSTAVE FLAUBERT | French author, fantastic but vague, falters (7,8) |
| An anagram (‘fantastic’) of ‘but vague falters’. | ||
| 7 | CAMPUS | Mass to occupy top American college area (6) |
| An envelope (‘to occupy’) of M (‘mass’) in CAP (‘top’) plus US (‘Amercan’). | ||
| 8 | EYELET | Look at rent making small hole (6) |
| A charade of EYE (‘look at’) plus LET (‘rent’). | ||
| 13 | HEADSTRONG | Wilful leader’s weight about right? Good (10) |
| A charade of HEAD’S (‘leader’s’) plus TRON, an envelope (‘about’) of R (‘right’) in TON (‘weight’); plus G (‘good’). | ||
| 15 | DECATHLON | Sporting event strangely not held outside California (9) |
| An envelope (‘outside’) of CA (USPS approved abbreviation, ‘California’) in DETHLON, an anagram (‘strangely’) of ‘not held’. | ||
| 17 | STRICT | Bits of satire I’d cite that aren’t even accurate (6) |
| Odd letters (‘bits of … that aren’t even’) of ‘SaTiRe I‘d CiTe’. | ||
| 19 | DIKTAT | Youngster put up with tacky stuff in order (6) |
| A charade of DIK, a reversal (‘put up’ in a down light) of KID (‘youngster’) plus TAT (‘tacky stuff’). | ||
| 22 | ROYAL | Rector’s first love? University, endlessly splendid (5) |
| A charade of R (‘Rector’s first’) plus o (‘love’) plus YAL[e] (‘University’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’). | ||
| 23 | BRED | Produced signal to stop following bishop (4) |
| A charade of B (‘bishop’) plus RED (‘signal to stop’). | ||
I took a while to get started with this one, maybe because I started too late other night and the brain was not firing. I was also stumped with 1a for a while. I often find with Everyman that I get a lot of the answers independently of the cryptic parts of the clue, then have to work on the parsing. I find it more satisfying when I’m able to work it out from the cryptic clues. For 22d – I’m not really familiar with ‘Royal’ meaning splendid, except ironically,as in a ‘right royal mess’.
Very enjoyable! My favourites were 1a and 11a.
Thank you Peter abd Everyman
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
This did seem a little harder than usual, but was a pleasant solve (I wonder when this ‘noun’ will be acceptable?). I needed the crossers to sort 1a out and had ‘forgotten’ that meaning of RUCK in 21a.
Great to see FLAUBERT get a mention.
At first I didn’t think I was going to make much progress with the puzzle but it came together over about an hour or so. Last one in was 1a which looks so simple when I see the explanation above. I didn’t get DIKTAT which is a new word for me. I enjoyed 21a and 23d. Like Pinky I find the parsing often confirms the answer rather than producing it but today’s puzzle had me working through the parsing on many clues to get the answer. Good fun. Thanks Everyman and PeterO. I took the straight part of 26a to be Influential Figure in the Field and couldn’t figure out why such as person would be deemed as Dull and Undemanding. Thanks for the blog and the proper explanation.
A little trickier I thought than the last couple of weeks, but of top-notch quality throughout. Especially liked 1ac and 17d.
It’s unusual for me to be the first Kiwi. Where’s Barrie? I enjoyed this one. I got stuck on 18 ac for a bit as I put ‘settled’ but once I realised it was ‘saddled’ everything came together. Haven’t heard of diktat before and had to look it up. Liked 1 ac and 10ac. Among others.
I cruised through this crossie and had all bar 19d completed in 20 mins. Then I spent half an hour trying to figure it out but couldn’t for the life of me. Enjoyed 1a.
Some great clues here such as leading light and starstruck, although I was having doubts about the latter when I couldn’t make the “k” work. Have never heard of Diktat either. Sounds like something out of a Borat movie! Thanks to all.
Good on you lot for completing this. I was away for the weekend but only got a handful on my first and only sweep.