Everyman 3746/29 July

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As always, I enjoyed solving and blogging this Everyman crossword. He’s good, you know.

 

 

 

 

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

 

Across

1 Moment ending for pair about to part
SECTOR
Everyman is inviting you to insert TO in SEC and R for the last letter of ‘pair’.

4 Jump over field with force splitting type of rock
LEAPFROG
A charade of LEA and F inserted into PROG. Nice misdirection with ‘type of rock’.

10 Have soft hair without depth
OWN
[D]OWN

11 Romeo in effect in charge with a line that’s romantic
IMPRACTICAL
An insertion of R in IMPACT followed by IC, A and L. R Romeo, S Sierra, T Tango …

12 Vessel? Small crew’s with it
STEAMSHIP
A charade of S, TEAMS and HIP.

13 Cat in part of pound
OUNCE
A dd. An OUNCE is another word for the snow leopard and is one of the setters’ favourite cats (well, maybe TOM comes close …)

14 Hero, better prepared, keeping restraint around king
ROBERT THE BRUCE
An insertion of CURB reversed in (HERO BETTER)* The anagrind is ‘prepared’; the reversal indicator is ‘around’; the insertion indicator is ‘keeping’.

16 Justification by one in dispute dispatching a rodent
GROUND SQUIRREL
A charade of GROUNDS and QU[A]RREL with I inserted instead of the letter removed.

21 Talk, not last for religious leader
RABBI
RABBI[T] Bit of a chestnut, but hey ho.

22 Message-storing system failing, storing nothing? Start to make trouble
VOICEMAIL
An insertion of O in VICE followed by M for the first letter of ‘make’ and AIL.

24 Novel is a bit long, following old commitments
OBLIGATIONS
A charade of O and (IS A BIT LONG)*

25 Sleep in afternoon apparently
NAP
Hidden in afternooN APparently.

26 Modified survey finally conducted after break
RESTYLED
A charade of REST, Y for the last letter of ‘finally’ and LED.

27 Supplied entertaining poem subjected to severe criticism
FLAYED
An insertion of LAY for an archaic word for ‘poem’ in FED. The insertion indicator is ‘entertaining’.

Down

1 Back page, grabbed by children, torn in the middle
SPONSOR
A charade of P inserted into SONS followed by OR for the middle letters of ‘torn’.

2 Flowering plants arranged by current labels
CANTERBURY BELLS
(BY CURRENT LABELS)*

3 Platform lacking power to create disgust
ODIUM
[P]ODIUM

5 Liberal after electronic vote for instance
EXAMPLE
A charade of E, X for ‘vote’ and AMPLE.

6 Hotchpotch to revise or to rip up
POTPOURRI
(OR TO RIP UP)*

7 Going fast, time in specific year? It’s inevitable
RACING CERTAINTY
A charade of RACING and T in CERTAIN Y.

8 Upset about loud record player on course
GOLFER
A reversal of RE, F and LOG. ‘Upset’ works as the reversal indicator because it’s a down clue.

9 Raises spicy product
UPSHOT
A charade of UPS and HOT.

15 In stirring style leaders of rebellion offer unity one by one
ROUSINGLY
A charade of R, O and U for the first letters of ‘rebellion, offer, unity’ and SINGLY.

17 Fan with support following county endlessly
DEVOTEE
A charade of DEVO[N] and TEE.

18 One with number entering as seeds
QUINOA
An insertion of I and NO in QUA. The ablative feminine singular of the Latin word QUI gives you the last bit, but you knew that already. It means ‘as’, or ‘as being’. What I don’t know is how to pronounce the solution: I say kin-noah, but eldest daughter always corrects me to keen-wah. This has been known to spill over into familial discord.

19 Play boisterously, breaking top part of water plant
LILY PAD
An insertion of (PLAY)* in LID.

20 Republican in affair getting protection
ARMOUR
An insertion of R in AMOUR.

23 Facility with large support for artist’s work
EASEL
A charade of EASE and L.

Many thanks to Everyman for this Sunday’s puzzle.

15 comments on “Everyman 3746/29 July”

  1. Thanks Pierre

    You were nodding in 26A RESTYLED; the Y is, of course, the last letter (‘finally’) of ‘surveY‘.

    Rather to my surprise, Chambers seems to agree with you on the pronunciation of QUINOA, but I believe that Kathryn has Quechua on her side, so I would not make a family feud of it.

  2. Everyman is always a pleasant Sunday morning ritual for me. I don’t care that some see it as “too easy”, or a “beginner’s puzzle”. I enjoy going back to the beginnings sometimes, and I cut my teeth on Everyman. My parents would solve it over a glass of sherry while the Sunday roast was cooking – the challenge is not solving it, but whether it requires more than one glass of sherry (or cup of tea at this time of the morning).

    Like PeterO @1, I’m surprised at the Chambers pronunciation of QUINOA – I’ve variously heard it pronounced as “kee-NO-ah”, “KIN-wah” and even “CHIN-wah”. A recent online check told me that it should be “KIN-wah”, but I’m glad I can never get it wrong. And I’ve always proniunced “tofu” as “TOFF-oo”, but nowadays people correct me and say it should be “TOE-foo”, although it turns out that it depends on whether you are borrowing the word from Chinese or Japanese.

    I’m now wondering why QUA should be the feminine ablative singular (as indeed the OED confirms) and not neuter?

    Thanks Eveyman and Pierre.

  3. Your question about ablative singulars in Latin requires a knowledge of the language beyond mine, Trismegistus.  In University Challenge parlance: Nominate Eileen.

    I think it’s generally accepted that Everyman is a puzzle for those less experienced solvers, or those more experienced solvers that want fifteen minutes entertainment without having their cruciverbal brains overloaded.  One of our New Zealand contributors (you won’t see their comments unless you go back a few weeks, because Everyman is syndicated over there a month or so after it appears here) remarked that there are daily crossword puzzles as ‘easy’ as Everyman among the daily Grauniad cryptics.  He’s right, but what I like about Everyman as far as recommending it to beginners is that you are guaranteed that it will be accessible, and in a certain style, week in and week out.  So it can become your Sunday ‘ritual’ and help you get better at the Dark Arts.

  4. Thank you Everyman and Pierre.

    An enjoyable puzzle, the clues have lovely smooth surfaces. That for LEAPFROG had me fooled for a long time, I had never heard of PROG rock music. The anagrams for CANTERBURY BELLS and POTPOURRI were good. As for QUA, I  only remember encountering it in “sine qua non”…

  6. Thanks, Pierre @3! – I haven’t been prevaricating: I’ve been out at a parish picnic.

    Hi Trismegistus @2 – I think I’ve wondered about that, too and never bothered to investigate. Collins and Chambers both give the same explanation as Pierre – as does my preferred dictionary for derivations, the SOED. My guess is that it was originally ‘QUA re’ – in the capacity of / by virtue of being which thing [re, which is feminine ablative singular] – but it is only a guess.

     

  7. Thank you very much, Eileen @6. Your guess is a very educated one, and all the more plausible for that!

  8. Thanks, Trismegistus @7 – as I said, I don’t know and haven’t researched further. It’s something I’ve always accepted without thinking about it – so thanks for raising it!

    [I’m still having to enter my details in order to post a comment,]

  9. Sadly this got the better of me. Gave up on Leapfrog, thinking the def was some obscure type of stone, and stupidly I put the little inky line in the grid in 16A after five letters rather than six, meaning the word which was to become Squirrel had an extra letter and started with a D. Having ballsed all that up, Quinoi was never going to happen. Oh, and it’s Kee-nwa over here, Or Keen-wa, little real difference.

    As for the reference to seasoned solvers knocking these off in 15 minutes, all I can say is how sad, life must be awfully humdrum and unfulfilling for them. These usually employ a good 3/4 hour and two cups of tea for me. If I did them over sherry you could double the time.

    Thanks Pierre et al.

  10. Mostly very pleasant, though LEAPFROG took a while but raised a smile in the end. GOLFER was my last one in. I distracted myself trying to have an upset LEG for COURSE, and puzzling over the possibilities of LP and EP for RECORD. Thanks all.

  11. Unlike most it seems, I got leapfrog first! But then struggled. We’re all different. But like Barrie I gave up on this one and agree with his comments re those who can do these crosswords in fifteen minutes.

  12. A pleasant enough crossie. Enjoyed voicemail and impractical. Couldn’t parse Robert the Bruce but that was easy enough to guess.

    I still find it amusing people are discussing the “easiness” of Everyman. I’ve been doing a lot of other, supposedly, more difficult crosswords and I’m finding them no harder or easier than the Everyman. Sure there are certain clues that make you think but otherwise it’s just a matter of getting used to the style of the setter.

    ABs for another easy win tonight? I’m getting rather bored of our continued dominance. We need the hard games before the WC next year.

  13. Aha problem solved Barrie. The reason I seem to take so long on this thing (alot longer than 15 mins anyway) must be the brandy! Pierre is right; he is a good setter – golfer for example was a great clue I think, although it took me a while to solve. As did ‘flayed’. In fact I ended up with ’played’ for that answer; logic being played = supplied entertaining, p for poem and layed (into) (sic) for the rest. Thought I was quite smart until I saw the answer when I found out quite the opposite.
    Thanks to all

  14. Found this one extremely hard.  Got it out finally with much use of a wild card dictionary and thesaurus.

    I’d never heard the phrase “racing certainty” — Googled it after getting sufficiently many cross letters.  I thought “impractical” to be a very weak/poor synonym for “romantic”.  Likewise “upshot” is a week/poor synonym for “product”.

  15. I am definitely in a totally different league from all the contributors as I usually find these a challenge and never ever get them finished in one sitting . In fact it usually takes me most of the daylight hours fitting around all the other duties of a saturday. Wouldn’t have it any other way I like that it entertains me and challenges me to find answers .

    I got totally lost with the explanation of Quinoa.  is there a lay version?

    I did have a less  success than usual this weekend  – i just couldn’t get 1a or 1d and failed on Flayed also.

    I wasn’t  a  bit bored by the ABs last night.   The challenges will certainly come. Be careful  what you wish for

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