The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3776.
Quite different from the last Everyman that I blogged, which now appears to be a misjudged placeholder. This one does not seem to me to be a close match to the three previous puzzles, and was not so straightforward. I have a couple of quibbles.
NOTE: As of now, if you use the print version of the puzzle on the Guardian website, you will find that the clue to 6D is incomplete: there is nothing after ‘after’. The interactive version and the pdf are OK, but as the utility I use to solve and blog is derived from the print version, all I saw was half the wordplay, which was a little disconcerting. My thanks to Gaufrid for steering me to the completed version, which at least gives the full wordplay, even if it does not add much to the surface sense. Of course, the Grauniad may get round to correcting the error by the time this blog is published, but I am not holding my breath.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ARM IN ARM | Trained airman and Royal Marine showing solidarity (3,2,3) |
| A charade of ARMINA, an anagram (‘trained’) of ‘airman’, plus RM (“Royal Marine’) | ||
| 5 | AT EASE | A kid free from anxiety (2,4) |
| A charade of ‘a’ plus TEASE (‘kid’). | ||
| 10 | OWLET | Crumpled towel – who’ll give a hoot? (5) |
| An anagram (‘crumpled’) of ‘towel’. And a codling is a small cod. | ||
| 11 | NO PARKING | Ginger cake dunked in drink: not a welcoming sign (2,7) |
| An envelope (‘dunked in’) of PARKIN (‘ginger cake’ originating in northern England) in NOG (‘drink’. Chambers: “eggnog or a similar drink; Norwich strong ale”. Take your choice). | ||
| 12 | CITY-STATE | Yet Attic’s in need of translation for ancient Athens, say (4-5) |
| An anagram (‘in need of translation’) oh ‘yet Attics’. | ||
| 13 | EVENT | Night before conservationists’ do (5) |
| A charade of EVE (‘night before’) plus NT (National Trust, ‘conservationists’). | ||
| 14 | REMARK | Kramer’s taken aback, giving notice (6) |
| Just what it says: a reversal (‘taken aback’) of ‘kramer’. | ||
| 15 | THEATRE | Surgeon can be seen here and there at play (7) |
| An anagram (‘play’) of ‘there at’. | ||
| 18 | REHEATS | Her tea’s simmering, leading to pops in a microwave, say (7) |
| An anagram (‘simmering’) of ‘her teas’. As was my dinner. Microwaved, that is. | ||
| 20 | BRIERS | Good (the actor) in ‘Wild Rosebushes’ (according to the audience) (6) |
| Sounds like (‘according to the audience’) BRIARS (‘wild rosebushes’). Richard Briers played Tom Good in the sitcom “The Good Life” (which became “Good Neighbors” in the USA). | ||
| 22 | FUNGI | Delightful chap on the radio provides penicillin, etc (5) |
| Sounds like (‘on the radio’) FUN GUY (‘delightful chap’). The definition is not precise: FUNGI is plural, ‘provides’ indicates singular; and things are no better if ‘provides’ is regarded as a link word – penicillin is an extract of Penecillium fungi. | ||
| 24 | WIDE AWAKE | Unfairly bowled, a weak spin on the ball (4,5) |
| A charade of WIDE (‘unfairly bowled’) plus AWAKE, an anagram (‘spin’) of ‘a weak’. I like. | ||
| 25 | INSINUATE | Snidely suggest how unmarried couples live fundamentally undermines a truth eternal (9) |
| A charade of IN SIN (‘how unmarried couples live’) plus UATE (‘fundamentally Undermines A Truth Eternal’). | ||
| 26 | ON ICE | Tonic unopened, almost all of slice discarded: it’s one way to serve gin (2,3) |
| A charade of ‘[t]onic’ minus its first letter (‘unopened’) plus ‘[slic]e’ keeping just the last letter (‘almost all of … discarded’). | ||
| 27 | IN-LAWS | Wassail not as spirited around start of November; Christmas is when you might bid them welcome (2-4) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of N (‘start of November’) in ILAWS, an anagram (‘spirited’) of ‘w[as]sail’ minus AS (‘not as’). | ||
| 28 | AS IT WERE | In a manner of speaking, sweatier, in a way (2,2,4) |
| An anagram (‘in a way’) of ‘sweatier’. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | AT ONCE | Having let cold in, make amends immediately (2,4) |
| An envelope (‘having let … in’) of C (‘cold’) in ATONE (‘make amends’). | ||
| 2 | MILK TEETH | Use force? There are only 20 of them! (4,5) |
| A charade of MILK (‘use’) plus TEETH (‘force’). | ||
| 3 | NOT AS FAR AS I KNOW | Awkward swot is anorak fan? No-one’s told me otherwise (3,2,3,2,1,4) |
| An anagram (‘awkward’) of ‘swot is anorak fan’. I do not think that the definition meshes with the NOT in the answer. | ||
| 4 | RANSACK | Rifle spread fire (7) |
| A charade of RAN (‘spread’ – “the colours ran in the wash”) plus SACK (‘fire’). | ||
| 6 | THREE MEN IN A BOAT | Funny story, flailing a baton after agitato? Me neither (5,3,2,1,4) |
| A charade of THREE MEN I, an anagram (‘agitato’) of ‘me neither’ plus N A BOAT, another anagram (‘flailing’) of ‘a baton’. | ||
| 7 | ALICE | Carroll’s lead in a story (5) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of C (‘Carroll’s lead’) in A LIE (‘a story’). An &lit clue – the entire clue can be read as wordplay or as definition; it is frowned upon if a word or part of a clue does double duty – serves two purposes – but it is difficult to come up with a full &lit, and one is thus generally admired. | ||
| 8 | EIGHTIES | This decade, endlessly weightiest (8) |
| ‘[w]eighties[t]’ minus its outer letters (‘endlessly’ – which might mean minus its last letter, or, as here, both ends). Not this this decade, of course. | ||
| 9 | UPBEAT | Cheery, rowdy pub receives penalty regularly (6) |
| A charade of UPB, an anagram (‘rowdy’) of ‘pub’, plus EAT (‘pEnAlTy regularly’). | ||
| 16 | TURN ASIDE | ‘Avert your eyes!’: sounds like Romantic painter was full of sorrow (4,5) |
| ‘Sounds like’ TURNER SIGHED (‘Romantic painter was full of sorrow’). | ||
| 17 | GRAFFITI | Wimbledon ace in good shape, one imparts the writing on the wall (8) |
| A charade of GRAF (Steffi, ‘Wimbledon ace’) plus FIT (‘in good shape’) plus I (‘one’). | ||
| 19 | SO WHAT | I don’t care who’s at fault (2,4) |
| An anagram (‘fault’) of ‘who’s at’. This puts me in mind (I hope my memory is correct) of a test question on the Second World War in 1066 and Now all This: “Never in the what of what what has so what been what by so what to so what?” | ||
| 20 | BAD NEWS | Wrapped in cotton wool, end up delivering unwelcome information (3,4) |
| A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of an envelope (‘wrapped in’) of ‘end’ in SWAB (‘cotton wool’). | ||
| 21 | SEVERE | Strait-laced, stuck up in cashmere vestment (6) |
| A hidden reverse (‘stuck up in’) answer in ‘cashmERE VEStment’. | ||
| 23 | NASAL | Alan’s confusedly giving description of Alain’s vowels (5) |
| An anagram (‘confusedly’) of ‘Alan’s’, for the French version of the name complete with French pronunciation. | ||
It was OK, but too many anagrams for my liking, and a little loose with the directions/misdirections. Without over-emphasizing the point, we have been spoiled over the years, and expect a certain precision. I’m just not seeing the same yet.
Today’s seems to be more like the old Everyman. Very witty, I thought.
I liked 16d, 25d.
I dd not parse 6d but suspected it was an anagram.
I failed to solved 20a – I put BRIARS – never heard of the TV show or the actor Briers.
Thanks Peter and Everyman.
I’m still struggling with the parsing of 25 (I got it from the definition and crossers). I get the in sin bit, but how does ‘fundamentally undermines a truth eternal’ give ‘uate’? Can anyone enlighten me? (I’m guessing ‘fundamentally’ is a initial letter indicator, but Chambers doesn’t give it as such)
Alison, re 25, the word fundamentally is supposed to indicate the first letter of a word so take the first letters of undermine a truth eternal.
Thanks Mark
Looking back I wrote “some barely cryptic clues, lots of easy anagrams, still not found the groove yet.” I did like the ALICE &lit. Let’s see how today’s turns out. Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.
I thought this was much improved and heading in the right direction. I’ve even ticked three clues which hasn’t happened since Colin retired. I liked AT EASE although it’s probably been used thousands of times; INSINUATE and ALICE.
Thanks to PeterO and Everyman. Does anyone know if Everyman now has a permanent setter ?.
Definitely going in the right direction compared with the last few weeks, though I agree that the definition for 3d doesn’t quite work: “No-one’s told me so” would be better. But some enjoyable clues: EVENT and SO WHAT are straightforward but neatly done. Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.
It strikes me that the Everyman we know and love is slowly but surely getting there. Improving week on week.
I definitely found this to be an improvement over previous weeks.
Incidentally, I don’t agree with PeterO’s quibble about 22a: It seems to me that “<wordplay> provides <answer>” is a perfectly legitimate structure for a cryptic clue regardless of whether the answer is singular or plural. The wordplay is not supplying actual fungi — it’s supplying the word FUNGI.
Ted @11
Perhaps I did not make my point clear: if you regard the structure of the clue as <wordplay> provides <answer>, then the definition is wrong – ‘penicillin etc’ gives a plural, but whatever the ‘etc’ may be, penicillin is not a fungus,
Yes, the ‘new’ Everyman may be improving week by week but I still think The Observer should not be the breeding ground for a ‘developing’ setter (like Anto for the Guardian Quiptic).
90% of this crossword was perfectly all right one way or another, yet I didn’t like the two (very) long definitions at 27ac and 23d much
Probably a matter of taste.
I think, in 26ac the word ‘slice’ is very unfortunate as what we have to discard has a lot in common with the ultimate solution.
Another clue that’s really unfortunate is 20ac: the rosebush in case has two alternative spellings (brier and briar) and therefore the homophone device is slightly out of place.
Many thanks to PeterO for the blog & to Everyman for the puzzle.
PeterO @12 — Apologies. I should have read more carefully. I understand now, and I agree with you.
The new Everyman seems to stretch the meaning of common indicators. “Fundamentally” (in 25), to my mind, ought to indicate the bottom of the words, rather than the top. Today’s puzzle provides another example of this. I agree with PeterO about the problems with FUNGI and NOT AS FAR AS I KNOW. The precision that we’ve become accustomed to with Colin G is somewhat lacking as yet . I think this is a pity, because precise cluing is invaluable to new solvers to help them along and the Everyman used to be ideal in this role.
On the plus side, I liked ALICE and SO WHAT. The latter set me looking for a jazz theme, to no avail.
Thanks, S&B
I found this to be a really enjoyable puzzle.
I particularly enjoyed ALICE, BRIARS and MILK TEETH.
I’m another who can’t see how ‘fundamentally’ (25a) can indicate a first letter. I’ve never seen that before. Like phitonelly @15, I’d think it would mean the last letter in a down clue, or possibly even a middle letter in the sense of ‘essentially’ at a stretch.
I agree that there’s some interesting quirkiness in some clues, and it may well be improving week by week, but some of the surfaces are just too much of a stretch for me by Everyman standards. Looking at the occasional comment on the Guardian’s crossword site, there seem to be others who are enjoying the looser style, so horses for courses I guess. [ASIDE] They are wrong.
I did complete this one, after not doing so for the previous two, but I agree that a number of the clues are not that smart. I am missing some of the lovely clever ones we used to get. Still room for improvement but possibly the Obs is paying attention to this blog?? Would love to think so…..
Not too bad. Improving me feels. Enjoyed 19d
Not bad. At least the Herald has caught up and given us the right one this week.
I quite liked this too and thought the UK protests a bit OTT
Accolades for timing of 1ac thought it v poignant for all kiwis
Then came 4d and was about to google ‘ types of rifle ‘ not knowing the first thing on that subject but just couldn’t bring myself to …and then the light went on
I had 13ac right and then changed it to enact for some reason so didn’t get Alice either
Liked 22ac verymuch and 11ac 27 ac
I ticked a couple of ‘likes’ in 5 and 16. Not precious about Fungi being plural, and Fundamentally didn’t ruffle my feathers unduly. I’m just not yet on this setter’s wavelength, mainly in the definitions.
I am surprised to hear someone say that they’d never heard of Richard Briers. We have has so many repeats of The Good Life.