Everyman 3,779

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The Observer crossword from Mar 17, 2019

Another Everyman crossword that, luckily, didn’t frighten the horses.

Yet, I would ask “will the real Everyman please stand up”.
In my opinion, this crossword was miles apart from the one I blogged four weeks ago. Was this puzzle really set by the same compiler?
What they had in common, though, is that it was mostly fine.

Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.

Across
1 OF MICE AND MEN Best-laid plans (that is, what’s expected to succeed) (2,4,3,3)
Nothing’s underlined here because I think there’s no proper definition here.
There is an expression “Best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” meaning “the best prepared plans may go wrong” [a bit like Brexit – did I say ‘best’? (and ‘may’)?].
Therefore, the answer indeed succeeds (i.e. comes after) ‘Best-laid plans’.
But is this cryptic? You tell me.
The whole thing comes from the Robert Burns poem “To A Mouse” (which uses ‘schemes’ instead of ‘plans’).
For the full title of the poem see beaulieu‘s comment below (for which thanks!).
Here’s a part of it:
  But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren’t alone]
  In proving foresight may be vain:
  The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
  Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]
  An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
  For promised joy.
10 EXEMPTS Former European politican talks emptily, making excuses (7)
EX (former) + E (European) + MP (politician) + T[alk]S
11 GAP YEAR Time out before study in space age unit (3,4)
GAP (space) + YEAR (age unit)
12 ORDER King rode off before giving command (5)
R (King, Rex) preceded by an anagram [off] of RODE
13 NEW DELHI Was familiar with where to buy cold meats: they say, in a big city (3,5)
Homophone [they say] of:  KNEW (was familiar with) DELI (where to buy cold meats)
15 LE MOT JUSTE Lecturer with big book about gravy boat culture finally finds desired piece of terminology (2,3,5)
L (lecturer) + reversal [about] of TOME (big book) + JUS (gravy) + the last letters [finally] of BOAT CULTURE
The construction is fine but the surface? Never met a lecturer dealing with ‘gravy boat culture’.
16 USES What an employer does is manipulates (4)
Double definition
There’s something wrong here, surely?  Apparently not: see comments 22-24.
18 COCO Care of company address for Chanel (4)
CO (care of) + CO (company)
Coco Chanel
20 GET-UP-AND-GO Outfit with attempt to convey ‘pizazz’ (3-2-3-2)
GET-UP (outfit) + AND (with) + GO (attempt)
22 NOSE DIVE Dramatic drop in bill at seedy bar (4,4)
NOSE (bill) + DIVE (seedy bar)
When an airplane has a ‘nose dive’ it really is a ‘dramatic drop’.
In November 2013, a dear friend of mine lost her life that way in Kazan. It was a Boeing 737 …..
24 EXACT Conservative pursues cut back, at first taking on the money (5)
C (Conservative) coming after a reversal [back] of AXE, followed by T[aking]
26 WICCANS They might spell trouble, 200 wains (7)
Anagram [trouble] of C,C (200, twice 100) WAINS
Wiccans are followers of the Wicca religion, people who believe in witchcraft.
While ‘trouble’ is a valid anagram indicator and while many solvers who are more libertarian than I am think punctuation doesn’t really matter, I cannot help feeling that the combination of the word ‘trouble’ (as a imperative here?) and the comma that follows is a bit odd.
27 HOME RUN Sporting achievement in show (4,3)
HOME (in) + RUN (show)
‘Run’=’show’ can be justified, I guess.
28 WHAT’S-HIS-NAME Sh! The man I saw crawling around – you know… thingummy… (5-3-4)
Anagram [crawling around] of SH THE MAN I SAW
Down
2 FREEDOM Release, from loud wind instrument, a contemplative sound (7)
F (loud, forte) + REED (wind instrument) + OM (a contemplative sound)
This had me thinking but it’s all right.
‘Om’ is, according to Chambers, “A sacred syllable intoned as part of Hindu devotion and contemplation”.
3 IMPURITY Exemption from prosecution right for nuclear pollution (8)
IMPUNITY (exemption from prosecution) with N (nuclear) changed to R (right)
4 EASE Comfort to be found in tea set (4)
Hidden answer [to be found in]:   [t]EA SE[t]
5 NEGLECTFUL Half of lectures skipped after negative feedback’s beginning: university student’s remiss (10)
NEG (negative, abbreviated) followed by LECT[ures], then: F[eedback] + U (university) + L (student)
6 MOPED Languidly moved bike (5)
Double definition
7 NEEDLES Largely unnecessary heckles (7)
Largely (i.e. minus the last letter) NEEDLESS (unnecessary)
8 TEN O’CLOCK NEWS Gather up old lamps to collect mint in long-running TV show (3,6,4)
Reversal [up] of NET (gather) + O (old), then CLOCKS (lamps) around NEW (mint)
9 TRAINSPOTTING Novel, starting point for film (13)
Anagram [novel] of STARTING POINT
This is a great anagram.
It was also one very familiar to me for reasons only I know.
Why haven’t I seen this more often?
Let’s ask (The Guardian’s) archivist beeryhiker.
14 SUPERVISES Oversees ‘Pies Versus Stew’ (10)
Anagram [stew] of PIE VERSUS
17 SALESMAN Salem’s gone berserk: an Arthur Miller play’s subject (8)
Anagram [gone berserk] of SALEM’S, followed by AN
This Arthur Miller play: Death Of A Salesman
19 CASH COW Wimbledon champ, bully, gets easy money (4,3)
CASH (Wimbledon champ) + COW (bully)
Pat Cash won Wimbledon in 1987.
21 DIAGRAM Taj Mahal’s setting captured in simple drawing (7)
AGRA (Taj Mahal’s setting) inside DIM (simple)
23 DIANA Naiad, fabulous goddess (5)
Anagram [fabulous] of NAIAD
25 THAI Said what you might find on collar of Siamese (4)
Homophone [said] of TIE (what you might find on collar)
I am happy if one thinks the definition should be ‘of Siamese’ (which is perhaps even neater).

 

40 comments on “Everyman 3,779”

  1. Sil
    Re the clue 9a and the comment.
    The clue “Odd starting point for a hobby (13)” appeared in  Guardian 26,105 (Chifonie) on Nov. 14, 2013.
    It is not unusual for a setter to take a string of letters from the search results obtained in an anagram finder and write a clue.
    I don’t know what you expect from beeryhiker.
    The solution reminds me of Stephen Leacock’s novella.

  2. I enjoyed this puzzle.

    My favourite was New Delhi.

    Thanks Sil and Everyman

     

    * In contrast, I am not enjoying today’s Everyman very much.

  3. Didn’t mind this at all.

    In agreement with Michelle regarding today’s. It was tough as nails mainly due to inadequate answers, esoteric wordplay and strange definitions imo.

  4. This  was a fair one, I didn’t have too many problems. I would be surprised if today’s was by the same setter, to my mind it’s all over the place, with no coherent methodology.

    Thanks to Sil and the setter.

  5. Thanks both.

    I agree that there doesn’t seem to be a valid definition in 1a. The full title of the poem is ‘To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785’ and it’s typical of Burns’s best poetry, taking an apparently minor subject, and finding deep meaning in it. (Anyone  who, like me, was educated in Scotland will be familiar with at least some of this poet’s writings.)

  6. There were some nice clues here but one or two horrors.

    I liked NOSE DIVE (although not Sil’s unfortunate tale) and NEGLECTFUL. However, the gravy boat culture book was silly as was 8d. What on earth does that mean? Also, although clocks is a Brit. expression, lamps is US slang (given as obsolete!) 8d is an example of a very poor clue, IMHO. 1A would have been better with the simple change of ‘that’ to ‘this.’ The latter being the usual reference to an answer in a clue.

    Thanks Everyperson and to Sil for a good blog.

  7. Apart from 1a this was a reasonably good crossword and I especially liked Trainspotting.

    Have to agree with Michelle and Lohengrin that today’s Everyman is not any fun at all

  8. I’m giving up on the Everyman. I did not enjoy this one much and, without giving too much away, I think that the one that appears today is worse. Shades of the Radio Times crossword at its lowest ebb. Sorry setter.

  9. Now I have managed to finish it, I would revise my earlier comment about today’s Everyman. It’s tough and there are a couple of debatable clues, but there are some good ones as well.

  10. Rishi @1, thank you for pointing at another “trainspotting” clue – I knew it must have done before. I mentioned beeryhiker because he is well-known for being capable of telling us exactly what clue when appeared in any Guardian crossword.

    Robi @6, I fully agree about 8d. I just filled in ‘ten o’clock news’ and couldn’t be bothered too much anymore. Also, as a blogger I shouldn’t be too or unnecessarily negative, in my opinion.

    Reading the comments above, I think I wasn’t far off when I said: “will the real Everyman please stand up”, was I?

  11. SimonBxl@9

    I also managed finish today’s Everyman.

    I ended up with two favourites and one I cannot parse.

  12. Thanks Everyman and Sil

    Re 27, I think RUN = SHOW is more than ‘can be justified’: “I’m going to run/show a DVD”, especially if you have some form of home cinema installation.

    The ‘lamps’ clue left me confused, as in my understanding, the current UK slang version of ‘lamp’ = ‘punch’: I misremember, it turns out, an Araucaria clue along the lines of “Sicilian port hit America” = LAMPEDUSA. A search of this site reveals the clue was actually “Lighted on America”, so JG was after all using it in the same sense as Everyman.

    No comment on today’s Everyman, though.

  16. Simonbxl at 9, my comment comes across a bit harsh. I’d finished the puzzle at that point and felt it was far too difficult for an Everyman. But yes, there were a few good ones, I concede. I just felt it was difficult for the sake of it. More detail next week I guess.

    Adrian

  18. Thanks to Sil van den Hoek and Everybuggerintheofficewhocancomeupwithavaguelycrypticclue

    This is becoming dreary. There was, for me, a brief flicker of hope after the first dreadful offering, but things are going backwards. I think I may join George@8.

    Just one thing to say in his/her/their favour – I had no problem with lamps in 8d. In London at least, both lamp and clock can mean hit/chin. The rest of the clue was ***** though (and so easily fixed), ah well.

  21. Sil @20: no, you’re not dim, this is just not a good clue.  Employ = use, fair enough; manipulate = use = take advantage of, also fair enough; but the second is an extended sense of the same meaning, not a different meaning.

  22. Thanks, Quirister, for replying.

    English is not my first language (and I showed this clue to my (English) solving partner) but is this a proper English sentence? Shouldn’t it be “what an employer does is manipulate” (without the final S)? That‘s my point.

     

  23. Sil @22.  Yes, it is a valid English sentence (a verbose way of saying “an employer manipulates”.

  24. I too am not a native speaker of English but I didn’t think the construction of clue 16a wasn’t right. However, while writing I too would use only “manipulate” in the end.  For that’s fine and probably more natural.
    I am only talking about the language of the clue. Quinster @21 has a point.

  26. Sil, I think you’re right about 16a.  It would only be ‘an employer does manipulate’, so the s should not be there.  On the other hand, it is quite common to see clues in which the answer is the third person form of the verb (say, ‘MANIPULATES’), given in the clue  by something like ‘what an employer does’.  Occasionally they are commented on for the same reason, but on the whole they seem to be tolerated.

    I’ve just had a go at this weeks Everyman having read the comments above.  A really bad puzzle can be just as enjoyable as a good one, even if it presses different buttons.

  27. This was somewhat typically Eman buy the current one is a beast. l am afraid Eman has lost its consitency of late.

  28. @17 Sil van den Hok

    Yes tis I, though stopped setting due to personal reasons out of my control a couple of years past. I could – and would – set now, but seems a tad unfair to rock up to Mike and rock the boat.

  29. I don’t know. I’m not finding the new Everyman particularly enjoyable. I finished the crossword alright but just felt the clues and answers were a bit meh.

  30. Lamps = clocks? Really?

    I thought last week’s was showing promise, but this was a step backwards. I didn’t actually finish it, mainly I think because of what Rats eloquently described as altogether too much Meh right from the off (1A).

    This is starting to seriously affect my Saturday quality of life. I may need counselling.

  31. I was quite enjoying it until I got to 15 ac. Why do we need obscure French words? I liked 13 ac and 10 ac. But didn’t enjoy some others.
    From what I’ve read, the setter is still finding his way, and the crosswords are going to get better. So here’s hoping.

  32. interesting to read the many comments, many very emotive.  I do not understand the link between clocks and lamps at all and found that clue together with 15ac to be a total shocker.

    Foreign words and phrases are fine to include from time to time but it is unfair to make no indication or hint, no matter how obscure, to ID what language we are seeking.  Le mot juste is not in common use at all, especially down here. I doubt in UK it is well used?  On a positive note I did like 22 ac , 25d, 28ac, 13 ac  but 3d was clunky and some of the horror clues cause my enjoyment to somewhat nosedive ho hum

  33. I found half of this almost too easy to be fun, a few satisfying challenges, then the remainder impossible. Can anyone recommend another crossword that resembles the Everyman we used to know?

  34. I am pretty sure that the new Everyman puzzles are written by a pool of setters.

    Much to my un-delight, as a blogger it’s me who seems to be the one that ends up with one of the iffiest of that pool.

    For those, like PT @33, who look for alternatives, go to the Guardian Quiptics and search for Carpathian, Pan, Matilda and the occasional Orlando, Arachne or Nutmeg in particular.

    Or have a look at The Independent where Vigo and Dutch, to name two, do a pretty good job.

    And there’s the FT with ex-Everyman Falcon perhaps being the best of choices.

  35.  

    I liked this puzzle.  Didn’t worry too much about the parsing, once it was clear that the answer was correct.  (Couldn’t and didn’t bother to parse 8 down; clocks = lamps is totally opaque to me.) I was happy with 1 across — “of mice and men” describes those plans that are expected to succeed (but often don’t).

    I see nothing wrong with 15 across (“le mot juste”) except perhaps that it was too obvious.

  38. I hope it won’t be a pool of setters permanently. I like to get onto a setter”s wave length. It’s not satisfactory the way it is at present. No fun at all.

  39. I am going to have a go at the Guardian Picaroon  thanks Rats….I like if I can read the reasons on a blog that I otherwise don’t understand. The puzzle alone without a blog feels incomplete to me.   Let’s see how that goes.

  40. This had some exceptionally clever clues: my favourite was 17d – of course The Crucible was another Arthur Miller play – so the reference to Salem was very apt!

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