Everyman 3,756

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3756.

I found this a particularly satisfying Everyman, with hardly a weak clue to be found.

Across
1 DRIP Ineffectual type, king going into decline (4)
An envelope (‘going into’) of R (rex, ‘king’) in DIP (‘decline’).
3 DUPLICATES Mixed tapes, lucid copies (10)
An anagram (‘mixed’) of ‘tapes lucid’.
9 NOTICED Observed number bound to catch cold (7)
An envelope (‘to catch’) of C (‘cold’) in NO (‘number’) plus TIED (‘bound’).
11 LINEAGE Time, attached to rope, to make descent (7)
A charade of LINE (‘rope’) plus AGE (‘time’). ‘Attached to’ gives the order of the particles, and ‘to make’ connects wordplay to definition.
12 SHARP PRACTICE Distinct cost about pretence and chicanery (5,8)
An envelope (‘about’) of ACT (‘pretence’) in SHARP (‘distinct’) plus PRICE (‘cost’).
14 BASIC Major airline? So essential (5)
A charade of BA (British Airways, ‘major airline’) plus SIC (‘so’).
15 ARCHETYPE Model car involved with publicity surrounding Spielberg film (9)
An envelope (‘surrounding’) of ET (‘Spielberg film’. Where would crossword setters be without it?) in ARC, an anagram (‘involved’) of ‘car’ plus HYPE (‘publicity’).
17 UNCONCERN Lack of interest in vase around northern clubs formerly (9)
An envelope (‘around’) of N (‘northen’) plus C (‘clubs’, in the records of card games such as bridge) plus ONCE (‘formerly’) in URN (‘vase’).
19 AISLE Son in trouble with English passage (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of S (‘son’) in AIL (‘trouble’) plus E (‘English’).
21 ADVERTISEMENT Items broadcast after hesitation in time before Christmas commercial (13)
An envelope (‘in’) of ER (‘hesitation’) plus (‘after’ indicates the order of the particles) TISEM, an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘items’ in ADVENT (‘time before Christmas’).
24 EPIGRAM Witticism in record, one with good force (7)
A charade of EP (‘record’) plus I (‘one’) plus G (‘good’) plus RAM (‘force’).
25 CRYPTIC Call film about tango mystifying (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of T (‘tango’, radio code) in CRY (‘call’) plus PIC (‘film’). I hope you do not find ‘mystifying’ too accurate a description of this puzzle,
26 SIMILITUDE Terrible tedium is broken by one with line creating likeness (10)
An envelope (‘broken by’) of I (‘one’) plus L (‘line’) in SIMITUDE, an anagram (‘terrible’) of ‘tedium is’.
27 FREE Not working on the house (4)
Double definition.
Down
1 DANISH BLUE Cheese and bun deli has prepared (6,4)
An angram (‘prepared’) of ‘bun deli has’.
2 IN TEARS One approaches overwhelming defeat, finally weeping (2,5)
An envelope (‘overwhelming’) of T (‘defeaT, finally’) in I (‘one’) plus NEARS (‘approaches’).
4 UNDERTAKE Less than regular parts of track we tackle (9)
A charade of UNDER (‘less than’) plus alternate letters (‘regular parts’) of ‘TrAcK wE‘.
5 LILAC Shrub that’s shown up in botanical illustration (5)
A hidden (‘shown’) reversed (‘up’, in a down light) answer in ‘botaniCAL ILlustration’.
6 CONSIDERATELY Kindly captain initially just accepting team on merit (13)
An envelope (‘accepting’) of SIDE (‘team’) plus (‘on’) RATE (‘merit’, verb) in C (‘Captain initially’) plus ONLY (‘just’). ‘Kindly’ is more often an adjective, but can be an adverb.
7 TRACERY Judge occupied by competition to make ornamental stonework (7)
An envelope (‘occupied by’) of RACE (‘competition’) in TRY (‘judge’).
8 SEED Democrat supporting witness in beginning (4)
A charade of SEE (‘witness’) plus D (‘Democrat’). ‘Supporting’ is well suited to a down light.
10 CAPE CANAVERAL Vehicle expert upset during escapade on a large rocket launch site (4,9)
An envelope (‘during’) of ECANAV, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of VAN (‘vehicle’) plus ACE (‘expert’) in CAPER (‘escapade’) plus ‘a’ plus L (‘large’).
13 RECEPTACLE Referring to church with quiet story about candle’s first holder (10)
An envelope (‘about’) of C (‘Candle’s first’) in RE (‘referring to’) plus CE (‘Church’ of England) plus P (piano, musically ‘quiet’) plus TALE (‘story’).
16 CONVINCED Certain deception very popular with December coming up (9)
A charade of CON (‘deception’) plus V (‘very’) plus IN (‘popular’) plus CED, a reversal (‘coming up’ in a down light) of DEC (‘December’).
18 CRANIUM Skull in opening of chiller set on an island possessed by spirit (7)
A charade of C (‘opening of Chiller’) plus (‘set on’ in a down light) RANIUM , an envelope (‘possessed by’) of ‘an’ plus I (‘island’) in RUM (‘spirit’).
20 SHELTER Woman before reform not having a refuge (7)
A charade of SHE (‘woman’) plus [a]LTER (‘reform’) minus the A (‘not having a’).
22 REMIT Brief dispatch (5)
Double definition, neither very obvious.
23 MEWS Street speaker’s source of inspiration (4)
A homophone (‘speaker’s’) of MUSE (‘source of inspiration’).
completed grid

19 comments on “Everyman 3,756”

  1. Came up a few short on completion, but progress continues week to week. I would be lost entirely in the absence of these explanations – many thanks to all.

  2. Thanks Everyman, another near-faultless puzzle. Favourites were all but 2 of the 9+ letter solutions, the exceptions being 17 and 26, where I thought the surfaces lacked the usual ‘tightness’. Also liked ‘mews’ and ‘free’ (‘on the house’ is an expression close to my heart.) I wonder how long it will be before someone on this site asks what EP/LP have to do with records? I don’t think I’ve seen it yet.

    Thanks PeterO for a very comprehensive blog.

  3. Thank you Everyman and PeterO.

    Yes, a near-faultless puzzle – I found the clue for MEWS mystifying because to me it is not a street, I know that streets can be labelled that on city maps, but you could not clue ‘garden’ as a street (e.g. Hatton Garden in London),  or ‘hill’  (e.g. Saffron Hill), or ‘place’ (e.g. Torrington Place)…

    …for those who disagree, they would probably find 23d one of their favourite clues.

  4. PS, the COED gives for mews n. Brit. 1 a set of stabling round an open yard or along a lane. 2 such a set of buildings converted into dwellings; a row of houses in the style of a mews … [of mew, originally referring to the royal stables on the site of hawks’ mews at Charing Cross, London] – the royal hawks were kept here at moulting (or ‘mew’) time.

  5. Cookie @3

    Point taken, but in Everyman’s defense, I would say that MEWS has all but lost its original meaning, so that the generic “a mews” would, to most people, signify a back street, whereas “a garden” etc. would not.

  7. MEWS threw me completely at the close, but just because I didn’t think of it. The rest though went in pretty sharpish. Enjoyable throughout.

  8. Held myself up for a while trying to make ‘cheap trickery’ work for 12a. Some of the crosses fitted and some of the clue letters worked, but eventually 1d sorted me out. Also 21d took a while, possibly because ‘mews’ is not commonly used in the antipodes. Thanks Everyman and Peter O.

  9. As an antipodean like Pinky, MEWS eluded me completely. My understanding was that of Cookie’s definition above. When i checked the answer i had a chuckle to myself – ‘muse’ as a source of inspiration had occurred to me, but i hadn’t made the connection to street. As a result of the chuckle, that was my favourite clue. Many thanks PeterO and everyman.

  10. I missed 23 d and 8 d too. But I enjoyed reading the explanations. Agree with the other comments about Mews.

  11. Nice crossword. Seemed all too easy for a start. 25ac took way longer than it should have, not helped by writing the launch site in 6d instead of 10. 15ac took a little by time to parse as I was convinced the car was E-type. Similitude a new one for me. Thanks all.

  13. I always love the comments especially to see which clues were the trickiest for all. I missed a lot this week

    I struggled with Archetype, similitude and considerately but funnily enough with all those failures had no trouble with Mews.

    liked 11ac 16d 20d best this week

  14. We thought that maybe “street speakers source of inspiration” was just a different sort of cryptic clue and we put in “news” – as something that might inspire a street speaker.
    Incidentally its almost unknown in NZ to call a street something mews but that’s only an excuse.

  16. New poster from NZ, long time ‘lurker’. I’ve been learning the art of the cryptic for years, and at 58, feel I’ve come a long way lol. Have enjoyed and learned so much from this site. The explanations, and the comments from others (especially fellow Kiwis who offer a sense of belonging) have encouraged me greatly. I love jigsaws too … cryptic are pretty similar really. This one I completed with relative ease … with a British family history, I got Mews easily enough, but I still sometimes miss the indicators of a homophone, and today still needed to be reminded. Favourite today was Archetype.

  17. Jaq, Gulf Harbour @16

    Welcome – maybe you are not exactly a newcomer, but we do not know you are there until you stick your head above the parapet. The NZ contingent is a thriving community, although probably not much known to the outside world, other than the blogger. Long may it prosper. MEWS seems to have got the most attention this time round, as not too well known (although I think it was I’m sorry I’ll read that again which came up with the address 1, Pussycat Mews, so it can’t be that obscure), and with the well disguised indicator ‘speaker’s’.

  18. Just found that Ronald McDonald House, (Auckland Hospital ) is in Grafton Mews. It’s a recently completed place where families can stay when their children are in hospital. Why it was called Mews beats me. I don’t think there were ever stables there.

  19. Another great crossword. It did look like a breeze early on but as usual, just when I was getting overconfident, I ground to a halt struggling through to the end. Found a few of those lesser used words a challenge ( such as similitude); Enjoyed “undertake” and yes I did finally get Mews after looking at it for a while. Great reference to “Sorry I’ll read that again” too PeterO! Thanks to all.

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