Everyman 3,816

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3816.

Everyman is mostly on a back-to-basics kick this week, although there is the &lit clue at 9A NERVOUS TIC, where the entire clue doubles as definition and wordplay, and a few of the down clues (for me, 8 BELLY LAUGH, and the parsing of 18 REAL ALE) required a little thought. For the trademark linked answers, we have the rhymed pairs in the downs, and the Marxists in the acrosses.

ACROSS
1 PUERTO RICO Top courier lost somewhere in the Antilles (6,4)
An anagram (‘lost’) of ‘top courier’.
6 TOMB Tom Baker, to start with, is grave (4)
Charades do not come much simpler: ‘Tom’ plus B (‘Baker to start with’).
9 NERVOUS TIC It uncovers having the heebie-jeebies! (7,3)
An anagram (‘having the heebie-jeebies’) of ‘it uncovers’, with an &lit definition.
10 TEAL Duck spotted regularly in The Mall (4)
Alternate letters (‘spotted regularly’) of ‘ThE mAlL‘.
12 LEON TROTSKY Composition of Kern: ‘Tolstoy, Russian Icon’ (4,7)
An anagram (‘composition’) of ‘Kern Tolstoy’.
15 ACOLYTE One of the faithful seen back in rickety local (7)
A hidden reversed (‘seen back in’) answer in ‘rickETY LOCAl’.
16 NIGERIA Farage cut off before broadcast about African country (7)
A charade of NIGE[l] (‘Farage’) minus the last letter (‘cut off’) plus RIA, a reversal (‘about’) of AIR (‘broadcast’).
17 ENAMOUR Cockney’s a tool, they say, with charm (7)
Sounds something like (‘they say’) “an ‘ammer” (‘a tool’), with the Cockney dropped aspirate.
19 MEETING Rendezvous with Everyman after work – get in! (7)
A charade of ME (‘Everyman’, as the writer of the clue) plus ETING, an anagram (‘after work’) of ‘get in’.
20 FIDEL CASTRO Revolutionary for citadels to be overthrown (5,6)
An anagram (‘to be overthrown’) of ‘for citadels’.
23 LEER Stagger backwards giving lecherous gaze (4)
A reversal (‘backwards’) of REEL (‘stagger’).
24 SAUSAGE DOG Troubled? Assuage trouble with a pet (7,3)
A charade of SAUSAGE, an anagram (‘troubled’) of ‘assuage’ plus DOG (‘trouble’)
25 SIDE Audibly expressed frustration with BBC4, perhaps (4)
Sounds like (‘audibly’) SIGHED (‘expressed frustration’); among the various meanings of SIDE in Chambers is “a television channel (inf)“. I suppose that dates from when there were just two channels – “I don’t think much of this programme, let’s see what’s on the other side”.
26 DECELERATE Ant’s friend, celeb: ‘Unlimited speed? Slow down!’ (10)
A charade of DEC (‘Ant’s friend’) plus ELE (‘cELEb unlimited’) plus RATE (‘speed’).
DOWN
1 PINS Bolts, being cut up (4)
A reversal (‘up’) in a down light) of SNIP (‘cut’).
2 EURO Neurotic hides cash (4)
A hidden answer in ‘nEUROtic’.
3 TROLLEY DOLLY One of a crew to cause online offence on empty vacuous platform (7,5)
A charade of TROLL (’cause online offence’) plus EY (‘EmptY vacuous’) plus DOLLY (‘platform’). Slang for a female flight attendant.
4 RESTORE Touch up a painting of deranged headless forester (7)
An anagram (‘deranged’) of ‘[f]orester’ minus the first letter (‘headless’).
5 CLINTON Eastwood close to becoming president (7)
A charade of CLINT (‘Eastwood’) plus ON (‘close to’).
7 OVERSTRAIN Tax excessively deliveries by coach (10)
A charade of OVERS (‘deliveries’, cricket) plus TRAIN (‘coach’).
8 BELLY LAUGH Make call to your lady, answering initially with expression of disgust and roar (5,5)
A charade of BELL (‘make call’; not common) plus Y L A (‘Your Lady Answering initially’) plus UGH (‘expression of disgust’).
11 BOOGIE-WOOGIE Catcall girl at first; that is, make a play for girl at first, skipping (oddly) wine and music (6-6)
A charade of BOO (‘catcall’) plus G (‘Girl at first’) plus I.E. (‘id est, ‘that is’) plus WOO (‘make a play for’) plus G (‘Girl at first’, again) plus IE (‘wInE skipping (oddly)’.
13 WATERFALLS Fats Waller treated for cataracts (10)
An anagram (‘treated’) of ‘Fats Waller’
14 HOWARDS END Novel describing Cameron becoming Tory leader? (7,3)
David Cameron became Tory leader after the resignation of Michael Howard; Howards End (no apostrophe) is a novel by E M Forster.
18 REAL ALE Having drunk a litre – about a litre – finally appreciate beer (4,3)
An envelope (‘having drunk’) of ‘a’ plus L (‘litre’ – the first one’) in RE (‘about’) plus ‘a’ plus L (the second one) plus E (‘finally appreciatE‘).
19 MATISSE Samiest, re-hashed figure in collage (7)
An anagram (‘re-hashed’) of ‘samiest’. Matisse, when ill-health prevented him from painting and creating other forms of visual arts, turned to collage.
21 IDEA Clue: sidearm’s concealed (4)
A hidden (‘concealed’) answer in ‘sIDEArm’.
22 OGRE Fairy-tale figure masticating gore (4)
An anagram (‘masticating’) of ‘gore’.

 

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26 comments on “Everyman 3,816”

  5. Re TROLLEY DOLLY. There are plenty of words which were once commonly used but are now considered so offensive that no-one would use them in a crossword (plenty of racial epithets, for example). Is Trolley dolly that bad? A question of judgement, I suppose, but I wouldn’t use it, especially when remembering that it was often used homophobically to refer to male flight attendants.

  6. Everyman here. I have only heard TROLLEY DOLLY used self-descriptively of late, though I can see that others’ air-mileage may vary. Many thanks to PeterO and all solvers.

  7. What a laugh, perhaps the canine censors will complain about SAUSAGE DOG.

    Thank you Everyman for a fun puzzle and PeterO for a helpful blog.

  8. Quite entertaining; I particularly liked the Fats Waller cataracts.

    I didn’t like the use of ‘with’ as a linker in 17 and 24, or ‘after’ in 19. I also thought ‘figure in collage’ was not very accurate.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  9. I did raise and eyebrow at 3dn, but only to a small degree. There are some words that become offensive, so they are never used; then the offensive meaning is forgotten. There are others, though, where the offensive meaning will never be erased…

    I’m sure this is how Everyman @6 came across the phrase – perhaps used by a flight attendant in a humorous, self-deprecating fashion. Because I have heard it in a similar context.

    I must object to 24 ac in the strongest possible terms – the word “sausage” suggests that meat-eating is normal, and “dog” has allusions to inferiority…. (desperately trying to conjure up objections here, but sure it can’t be difficult).

    A DNF for some reason, though when I revisited before visiting the blog I was surprised to find amany of the unfilled answers were nearly write-ins…

    Perhaps Sunday morning lethargy was to blame ….. If so, I hope I enjoyed the time off from mental activity 🙂

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  10. Trismegistus @9, I live just over the border from Switzerland, and checking the countries that eat dog meat found this on Fox News

    “5. Switzerland

    While many people often associate eating dogs with Asian or African cuisine, the practice is still common among farmers in Appenzell and St. Gallen districts of the country. The practice is legal as long as the animal is killed humanely and the meat is not sold for commercial purposes.”

    of course Appenzell is rather primitive, they only gave women the vote in 1989, Ausserrhoden, and 1990, Innerrhoden (here by decision of the Federal Supreme Court).

  11. Oh, and there has just been a complaint from our cats about “Catcall”, 11d, Swiss vans come over the border to steal them for the glove factories.

  14. hi Ben neiither me  Lazy NZ Herald skimping at the break with the skinny issue.   Had to hunt something down online and found it easily.   Don’t mind an e-version once in a while but prefer pen and paper…  too many anagrams

    Had never heard of a cataract waterfall, learn something every day

     

    In 11d I thought a cat call was more like a wolf whistle but obviously not.  Few too many bits to that clue to make it tidy I thought.

    i too raised an eyebrow over 3d and was sure someone would be offended but hopefully it is just a term kicked to the past

    Liked 16 ac and 5d. 16ac my FOI

    Happy new year everyone

     

  15. Hi team, you clever people who found 3816 on line last weekend are going to be frustrated today…. Thanks to Everyman for the construction and for popping in and to PeterO for the explanation. Happy New Year to all.

  16. This one on NZ Herald today. Clues all good, even if very British. One does not, though, comprehend why ‘Dec’is Ant’s friend. Who is Dec? And who is Ant?

  18. Please Everyman fewer anagrams, charades and reversals! I found this puzzle tedious and predictable because of them. Sorry to be negative but I think that you may have resorted to these staples because in earlier blogs people have complained about the level of difficulty. May I suggest giving yourself a limit of 3 or 4 of each device?

  19. Agree re anagrams, I counted around eleven full or partial, which is way too many.

    Surprised no comments about 17A.  “An ‘ammer” and “enamour” are not even closely soundalikes. The first vowel sound (Annn vs EEEEn or Innn) is quite different to my (London born) ear.

    Why all the fuss about a sausage dog? Isn’t that what dachshunds are known as?

    Trolley Dolly is a bit quaint, but bit of a stretch to say it’s offensive imho.  Clue nigger or golliwog and you may have a case.

    And ‘side’ is no longer vernacular for TV channel. Fine when there were but two.

    Finally 8D, why is ‘bell’ ‘not common’ PO?  Give us a bell and I’ll explain.

     

     

  20. Great crossword if a week late thanks to The Herald going on holiday. At this rate us Kiwis will be doing the Christmas edition at Easter.

  21. Did this online last week – going to be out of sync with the Herald for the rest of the year!

     

  22. PeterFitz @16. Watch Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday evenings.

    Finished most of this but agree with Barrie’s comments.,

  24. Thought this was an excellent puzzle.  Thought that the people who objected to “trolley dolly” were precious twits.  This is a *crossword* for Pete’s sake, not an exercise in excessive political correcteness.  I enjoyed the satirical response from Trismegistus@9.

    I’d never heard the term “trolley dolly” but, so I struggled with this clue. (LOI).

    Could not completely parse “decelerate” (26 across) having never heard of “Ant and Dec”.   Likewise “side” (25 across) mystified me.  Thanks to Peter O. for the explanations.

    Thanks to Everyman and Peter O.

  25. Trolley Dolly – out of date term which we should all stop using but fine for a crossword IMO.
    Too many anagrams and didn’t like 19d – Matisse used collage as an artist, was not the figure in it. Otherwise all good here in NZ in 2020!

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