The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3780.
That was HARD. I suspect that the Observer is still in search of a regular Everyman. There were places where it seemed to me approaching Guardian Prize if not Genius level (not necessarily a complement; the Genius in particular essentially has the brief of making life difficult for the solver). It also required some GK which I think many would find not very general, and puzzles with four &lit clues are far from common. Still, I struggled through it, albeit with a couple of parsings which seem doubtful. It will be interesting to see what the Everyman set makes of it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DO TELL | In valley, Ezekiel and others pray, continue (2,4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of OT (Old Testament, ‘Ezekiel and others’, to identify one book) in dell (‘VALLEY’). The definition nicely echoes the antique flavour of the answer as well as adding to the misleading surface reference to the dry bones. | ||
| 4 | STUBBORN | Sticky end delivered (8) |
| A charade of STUB (‘end’) plus BORN (‘delivered’). | ||
| 9 | WHEEZE | Gasp! A cunning plan! (6) |
| Double definition. I blogged that one in last Monday’s Vulcan. | ||
| 10 | HERE WE GO | Where, surprisingly, I find song with three words (4,2,2) |
| A charade of HEREW, an anagram (‘surprisingly’) of ‘where’ plus EGO (‘I’). The definition refers to the soccer chant consisting of the words “Here we go” sung repeatedly, to the tune of Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever. | ||
| 12 | LOLL | Primarily: lounge, or lie lazily (4) |
| First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Lounge Or Lie Lazily’, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 13 | WHOOP-DE-DOO | With head oddly empty, bear reflected in wood, spluttering ‘Huzzah!‘ (5-2-3) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of HOOPDE, a reversal (‘reflected’) of ED (‘hEaD oddly empty’- i.e. with the odd letters left out) plus POOH (‘bear’) in WDOO, an anagram (‘spluttering’) of ‘wood’. | ||
| 15 | ACT THE PART OF | Play where that carpet’s frayed; sofa’s out of bounds (3,3,4,2) |
| A charade of ACTTHEPART, an anagram (‘frayed’) of ‘that carpet’ plus ‘[s]OF[a]’ minus its outer letters (‘out of bounds’). | ||
| 18 | ACT OF WORSHIP | A Catholic grandee, severest for the most part in liturgy, say (3,2,7) |
| A charade of ‘a’ plus C (‘Catholic’) plus TOF[f] WORS[t] (‘grandee severest’) minus the last letter of both words (‘for the most part’ – rather loose, if I am reading the clue correctly) plus HIP (‘in’). | ||
| 21 | KOOKABURRA | Strident Australian on radio: where to buy BBQs? (10) |
| A sound alike (‘on the radio’); the first part is COOKER (‘BBQ”), but I struggled with the second part, eventuall settling on the nearest homophone BOROUGH. At least COOKER BOROUGH hangs together in a bizarre kind of way as a ‘where’ that the clue requires. | ||
| 22 | THIN | Implausible… but fine (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 24 | IRISH SEA | Man’s environment is as part of Earth; is running out of time (5,3) |
| An envelope (‘as part of’?) of ‘is’ in IRHSEA, an anagram (‘running’) of ‘Ear[t]h is’, minus the T (‘out of time’). In the definition, Man, as often, is the Isle; the parsing is the best I can do, but is, to put it mildly, tortuous (or should that be torturous?). | ||
| 25 | BIGGER | Tucking into Bavarian lager, a couple of Germans become louder (6) |
| An envelope (‘tucking into’) of GG (‘a couple of Germans’) in BIER (German for beer, ‘Bavarian lager’). | ||
| 26 | GROSSEST | Romance involving Friends character, most obscene (8) |
| An envelope (‘involving’) of ROSS (Geller, ‘Friends character‘ in the popular American sitcom) in GEST (‘romance’). | ||
| 27 | C CLEFS | Tone’s set by these two chapters on self-destruction (1,5) |
| A charde of CC (‘two chapters’) plus LEFS, an anagram (-‘destruction’) of ‘self’-. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DOWNLOAD | Sorry, charge is something applied to your phone (8) |
| A charade of DOWN (‘sorry’) plus LOAD (‘charge’). | ||
| 2 | THE BLITZ | British left occupies gutted hotel: major damage to London (3,5) |
| An envelope (‘occupies’) of B (‘British’) plis L (‘left’) in THE [r]ITZ (‘hotel’) minus its middle letter (‘gutted’ – which more often is used to indicate the removal of all but the first and last letters , so that for example you might expect ‘gutted hotel’ to give you HL) | ||
| 3 | LAZE | Act with inadequate zeal? (4) |
| An anagram (‘act with inadequate’?) of ‘zeal’ with an &lit definition. | ||
| 5 | THE BORROWERS | Novel and its library readers? (3,9) |
| Double definition The novel for children is by Mary Norton. | ||
| 6 | BREADBOARD | Committee goes after money; it’s where cuts will be made (10) |
| A charade of BREAD (‘money’) plus BOARD (‘committee’). | ||
| 7 | OVERDO | Missing Latin lover at party, go too far (6) |
| A charade of ‘[l]OVER’ minus the L (‘missing Latin’) plus DO (‘party’). | ||
| 8 | NEOCON | Once liberal, now almost completely reactionary? (6) |
| A charade of NEOC, an anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘once’ plus ON, a reversal (‘reactionary’) of ‘NO[w]’ minus its last letter (‘almost completely’), with an &lit definition. | ||
| 11 | THE PRODUCERS | Film and its originators? (3,9) |
| Mel Brooks’ 1967 film, which became a musical, which became a film; and any film will have a producer or producers. | ||
| 14 | CHA-CHA-CHAS | Again and again, penniless bloke arrives at square dances (3-3-4) |
| CHA[p] (‘bloke’) minus the P (‘peniless’), three times (‘again and again’) plus S (‘square’). | ||
| 16 | THE HAGUE | Not just any Tory leader in court (3,5) |
| A charade of THE (‘not just any’) plus HAGUE (William, ‘Tory leader’). The city, among other features, is the home of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, | ||
| 17 | UP IN ARMS | Italian renounced fussy puritanism, being hot under the collar (2,2,4) |
| An anagram (‘fussy’) of ‘puritanism’ minus IT (‘Italian renounced’). | ||
| 19 | SKIING | With fleece surrounding one, being drawn down by gravity? (6) |
| A charade of SKIIN, an envelope (surrounding’) of I (‘one’) in SKIN (‘fleece’; if you find the sheepish sense too loose, try the swindle sense); plus G (‘gravity’), with an elaborate &lit definition. | ||
| 20 | DOMINO | Tenor misses opening of Götterdämmerung, a dotty little thing (6) |
| A subtraction: DOMIN[g]O (Plácido, ‘tenor’ for most of his career, although now more of a baritone) minus the G (‘missing the opening of Götterdämmerung’),with a cryptic definition. | ||
| 23 | DISC | Revealed in indiscreet circle (4) |
| A hidden answer in ‘inDISCreet’. | ||
I agree that this was difficult. I took quite a while to get going on this puzzle.
I liked WHOOP DE DOO + ACT OF WORSHIP.
I could not parse KOOKABURRA.
Thanks Everyman and Peter.
It was mainly difficult because it was lousy. everyone’s heard of The Producers but The Borrowers? -easily guessed but not good.
Th cluing was contrived and clumsy . The only saving grace in this dogs breakfast was the Australian.
Bravely blogged.
Well done PeterO! I had far too many cases of think of a word and then see if I could get it to match some parsing. THE (BORROWERS & PRODUCERS) are most definitely not GK here. As for gutting THE RITZ. This was not a pleasant exercise and it did take more than one session to finish.
Positives? A smile was definitely raised by IRISH SEA and KOOKABURRA but the rest had too many struggles. And I have not finished 3781 yet either.
Can’t make sense of KOOKABURRA, and I for one have no idea what C CLEFS are or how they set the tone. Several other items of not very general knowledge required here. The difficulty level of Everyman has been up and down like a yoyo since Colin left. Let’s see what we’ve got this week…
What differentiates Everyman from the Prize? Is it supposed to be easier or is it some other factor?
My experience was the same. I found it generally missing definitions and being imprecise. I don’t think an Everyman should be this much of a struggle. I try to do this first, then the AZED, now I’m doing them the other way round. Having started today’s (3781), I’m find it just as impenetrable, and I don’t think it should be like this.
I used to breeze through the old Everyman, now I struggle. I managed to complete this one (just!) but am still fighting with 2 of today’s clues
There were some nice clues here but others that were inaccurate. It looked to me like THE PRODUCERS and THE BORROWERS had been put in and then an Autofill had been used. Why else would one use C CLEFS when words like access, octets or screws etc could have been used. WHOOP-DE-DOO is, I think, mainly an American expression, where again ?H?O?????? could have produced much more acceptable solutions.
I did tick STUBBORN, BIGGER, BREAD BOARD, NEOCON and DOMINO. In 10A, ‘with three words’ is unnecessary as the enumeration tells you this. I personally would call the clue for SKIING a semi-&lit or extended definition, since ‘being drawn down’ is not really part of the wordplay, but that is just a small point.
Thanks to PeterO for the blog, and let’s hope that Everyperson(s) can improve with time.
Nearly gave up on this one but persevered and finally finished. I found a kind of curious satisfaction in finishing a puzzle which was clearly unacceptable for the Everyman slot. I had no problem with any of the answers except maybe C CLEFS which would be quite obscure to those people with no knowledge of music but quite simply clued though. @copmus, I would say that you can never be sure what people have or haven’t heard of. The Borrowers was serialised on TV and I would say it’s probably better known than The Producers.
Thanks to PeterO and Everyman (must do better).
I also struggled through to the end and didn’t make sense of KOOKABURRA. A mixed bag of a puzzle which would probably have been viewed differently if it hadn’t been an Everyman. I’ll save today’s for later. Thanks to the ever changing Everyman and PeterO for sterling blogging work.
Outrageous. Today’s is worse. Parsing is a passing art. Something must be done. Off to breakfast…Humph.
Yikes, the Everyman is no longer the Everyman. I suspect setting easier puzzles is quite difficult, at least from my observations of good setters taking a while to find the right balance when asked to produce something more straightforward. Is the editor still aware of our concerns?
I haven’t done this but read the blog carefully. Respect, PeterO. Not sure whether to try today’s now.
Robi@8 I wondered if ‘being drawn down’ could simply mean put in a down clue
I did manage to finish, but admit I struggled. The Everyman is getting harder, and less enjoyable, as parsing is increasingly obscure. Have almost given up on today’s…….
I’m with Terry. And “COOKER”, yes, but “BOROUGH” – very poor. As for today’s – well, I look forward to seeing the parsing decoded in next week’s blog as the constructions are getting ever more obscure.
Like Dutch, I didn’t try this puzzle but read the solution and the blog. I’m sure I would have struggled!
C clefs set pitch, not tone. Well, that’s shorthand for what they actually do, but in music they are defintely to do with pitch and not tone.
I remember this puzzle being quite hard but I can’t remember exactly where I was stuck now. The parsings are generally more convoluted than the older Everyman style, but I personally don’t mind that. Some of the definitions are a bit too vague (eg major damage to London for THE BLITZ and court for THE HAGUE).
I had no issues with the homophone for KOOKABURRA, but the phrase COOKER BOROUGH is meaningless and doesn’t suggest somewhere to buy something necessarily. I like the ideas behind the clue surfaces of IRISH SEA and SKIING, although the wording’s a little off in both cases. I did like HERE WE GO very much. WHOOP-DE-DOO is an odd phrase for a British crossword (and makes me think the setter is probably American, since the clue didn’t indicate this). I’d say it was bizarre rather than Huzzah!
Overall, it was definitely a mixed bag, but I tend to think that, with time, I’d grow to like this Everyman incarnation.
Ref pitch and tone, Collins has tone as: sound with reference to quality, pitch, or volume
Thanks to PeterO and Thatblokeintheofficewhohadn’thadagoyet
Do Australians pronounce BARROW as a London barrow boy might?
If so, still a dreadful clue.
This was not fun!
And Dansar, you might very well find an Australian pronouncing BARROW as BARRER, but, in my experience as an old Australian, not as BURRA. But BARROW does make more sense than BOROUGH. How does a London barrow boy pronounce it? Maybe we just have to assume that the BBQ was being bought from a London cooker barrow? Is that even a thing?
Agree with those who criticise the Kookaburra clue; it just isn’t clever. I got it but only by a process of elimination and feeling it really didn’t fit. Dtto the C Clefs
Hoping that the more dissatisfied customers who comment might lead to better clueing…. Just not the fun it used to be.
I wish I could remember where and when I last encountered a variant of the IRISH SEA clue.
This week’s just as hard and whimsical as this one. Completed it but after an almighty struggle. But l am glad that l am getting the hang of this setter after those two weeks.
Absolutely terrible. If Everyman doesn’t improve soon, I will be joining those who appear to have already given.
I am nowhere near this setters wavelength as yet: if there is ‘a setter’. Today’s was virtually impenetrable for me. The problem for me is that since Colin left, there hasn’t been a consistency of setting allowing me to get used to the style. It was like that early on with Colin too, to be fair. Let’s have the same person a few weeks in a row please!
Only got one in the first pass then came straight here. Some clever clues as it turned out but altogether too much like hard work for a holiday.
Got it out, with a lot of help from wildcard dictionaries, after a great deal of struggle. Very hard. Couldn’t parse a large number of answers (e.g. kookaburra, Irish Sea, The Hague, the blitz, …).
Too difficult to really be pleasureable.
“Gest” for “romance” escapes me, and I’d never heard of Ross Geller (never having rotted my mind by watching “Friends”.
Horrible – and on a holiday weekend too. Here’s hoping things get back to ‘normal’ soon
The Everyman have been so inconsistent of late it is impossible to believe it is anything other than a pool of setters rather than just the one. I did about 3/4 of this before tossing it in. Too many layers, iffy homonyms, and obscure people.
Bring back the sand pit.
Completely agree with #2 copmus . This is just a bunch of hodgepodge nonsense. The term “try hard” comes to mind. It’s like the setter wants to be like Picaroon but fails miserably.
PeterO, thank you for your guidance to understanding the clues for this puzzle.
Couldn’t get a handle on where it was going (achieved 9 answers only – my worst effort in this crossword for many yrs).
While ‘Whoop-De-Do’ may be an uplifting cheer for others, NZ usage is with significant irony and perhaps sums up my experience!
However, the struggle continues and will see if 9 can be bettered next week.
I am completely “up in arms” about this crossword (like many others), lol. Found it very difficult to get into this setters head-space. Actually I did like some of the clever ones, like BREADBOARD – nice. Took me an embarrassingly long time to get 23d!!
I am completely “up in arms” about this crossword (like many others), lol. Found it very difficult to get into this setter’s head-space. Actually I did like some of the clever ones, like BREADBOARD – nice. Took me an embarrassingly long time to get 23d!!