The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3824.
Here we have the linked answers 8D ON THE LEVEL and 14D OFF THE WALL. Everyman also seems to be making almost a theme of &lit answers – here we have 4. One, 20A CREPE SUZETTE I thought forced, but there is a cracker in 23A AHAB (although I must admit that it is a while since I read Moby Dick, and I needed Wikipedia to remind me of just how apposite it is). Two clues held me up: 9A THE GUNNERS, with its cleverly hidden definition, and 13D LIKE A CHARM. The latter took some time to sort out even when the only other expression I could see to fit the crossers and enumeration was FILE A CLAIM. I suspect we may have some howls of protest over that one. Clever? Too clever by half? Your choice.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TRENCH COAT | Technocrat redesigned form of protection (6,4) |
| An anagram (‘redesigned’) of ‘technocrat’. | ||
| 6 | ST LO | Lost, wandering around Norman city (2,2) |
| An anagram (‘wandering around’) of ‘lost’, for the city in Normandy, more properly Saint-Lô. | ||
| 9 | THE GUNNERS | Article ensuring independence abandoned when changing side (3,7) |
| A charade of THE (definite ‘article’) plus GUNNERS, an anagram (‘when changing’) of ‘ensur[i]ng’ minus the I (‘independence abandoned’). THE GUNNERS is the nickname of Arsenal Football Club (‘side’). | ||
| 10 | SMUT | Suggestive banter, perhaps, revealed in regressive corporations (4) |
| A reversal (‘regressive’) of TUMS (‘corporations’ as bellies, particularly if generous). ‘Revealed’ in a crossword clue generally suggests a hidden answer, but here is just connective tissue. | ||
| 11 | ST BERNADETTE | French girl in beret attends dance (2,10) |
| An anagram (‘dance’) of ‘beret attends’. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1933 as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Great surface. | ||
| 15 | IN FOCUS | ‘Poop a swear word?’ ‘Almost’ ‘That’s clear’ (2,5) |
| A charade of INFO (information, ‘poop’) plus CUS[s] (‘swear word’) minus its last letter (‘almost’). | ||
| 16 | MUST-SEE | Think about taste? Oddly, it needs to be experienced (4-3) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of TSE (‘TaStE oddly’) in MUSE (‘think’). | ||
| 17 | ENTRAPS | Embroils parents in strife (7) |
| An anagram (‘in strife’) of ‘parents’. | ||
| 19 | ICE CUBE | Cool to reach number one, perhaps, for musician (3,4) |
| A charade of ICE (‘cool’, as a verb) plus (‘to reach’) CUBE (‘number one, perhaps’; 1 cubed is 1). O’Shea Jackson, stage name ICE CUBE, includes rapping among his many talents. | ||
| 20 | CREPE SUZETTE | What’s blazing in zest, purée, etc? (5,7) |
| An anagram (‘what’s blazing’? I think that the choice of anagrind owes more to the &lit meaning than the wordplay) of ‘zest purée etc’. Crêpes Suzette (generally in the plural) is a dessert of thin pancakes in a sauce containing orange zest, juice (Escoffier has tangerine zest and juice; purée is close, if not exact) and enough orange liqueur to allow the dessert to be served flambé – set ablaze. | ||
| 23 | AHAB | Early on, a harpooner and boy? (4) |
| First letters (‘early on’) of ‘A Harpooner And Boy’. In Moby Dick, Captain AHAB of the Pequod first took to sea at the age of 18 as a boy-harpooner. A first-rate &lit. | ||
| 24 | ASPIDISTRA | Evergreen Shakespearean killer, not half: ‘Ides isn’t tragic’ (10) |
| A charade of ASP (‘Shakespearean killer’, Antony and Cleopatra -at least, Cleopatra) plus ID IS TRA (‘not half: IDes ISn’t TRAgic’). | ||
| 25 | MALI | African national? Not so: African nation (4) |
| A subtraction: [So]MALI (‘African national’) minus SO (‘not so’). | ||
| 26 | OPEN SESAME | Old writers mentioned before, adopting eastern magic words (4,6) |
| An envelope (‘adopting’) of E (‘eastern’) in O (‘old’) plus PENS (‘writers’) plus SAME (‘mentioned before’; grammatically doubtful). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TUTU | Archbishop‘s skirt (4) |
| Double definition. Desmond Tutu was the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town 1986-1996. | ||
| 2 | EDEN | PM of Sweden missing the point at first (4) |
| A subtraction: ‘[Sw]EDEN’ minus SW (‘missing the point at first’ – ‘point’ of the compass, of course), for Anthony EDEN, Prime Minister of the UK 1955-57. | ||
| 3 | COUNTY CLARE | Nobleman taking year to be concerned about lough in part of Ireland (6,5) |
| A charade of COUNT (‘nobleman’) plus Y (‘year’) plus CLARE, an envelope (‘about’) of L (‘lough’) in CARE (‘be concerned’). | ||
| 4 | CINDERS | In ruins, discern evidence of blaze (7) |
| An anagram (‘in ruins’) of ‘discern’. | ||
| 5 | ACRONYM | An associate member of Nato, perhaps (7) |
| A charade of A CRONY (‘an associate’) plus M (‘member’). | ||
| 7 | TOMATO SOUP | Potato and mouse (once tail removed) cooked as comfort food (6,4) |
| An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘potato’ plus ‘mous[e]’ minus the last letter (‘once tail removed’). It sounds about as appetizing as strawberry tart with less rat (but that included the tails). | ||
| 8 | ON THE LEVEL | Highest degree, English, old examination accepted, above board (2,3,5) |
| An envelope (‘accepted’) of NTH (‘highest degree’ – as in “to the nth”) plus E (‘English’) in O LEVEL (‘old examination’). It is perhaps ambiguous, but I would have thought that ‘accepted’ here would more likely suggest an envelope in the other way. | ||
| 12 | DESSERT WINE | Diners’ sweet concoction? (7,4) |
| An anagram (‘concoction’) of ‘diners sweet’, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 13 | LIKE A CHARM | Prepare for Auld Lang Syne, with number going wonderfully (4,1,5) |
| At Hogmanay, it is the custom to join hands to sing Auld Lang Syne – LI[n]K EACH ARM, minus the N (‘with number going’). | ||
| 14 | OFF THE WALL | How fell fat sort!? (3,3,4) |
| An anagram (‘sort’) of ‘how fell fat’, with an &lit reference to Humpty Dumpty. | ||
| 18 | SHUTS UP | Gags and locks away (5,2) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 19 | IBERIAN | Cold, topless, in Spain and Portugal (7) |
| A subtraction: [s]IBERIAN (‘cold’) minus its first letter (‘topless’). | ||
| 21 | ETNA | Estonian regularly visited Italian hot spot (4) |
| Alternate letters (‘regularly visited’) of ‘EsToNiAn’ | ||
| 22 | TATE | Art gallery‘s thank-you note (4) |
| A charade of TA (‘thank you’) plus TE (‘note’ of the sol-fa). To end with, a couple of relatively fresh takes on crossword staples. | ||
As well as the paired answers at 8D and 14D, there are the rhyming French icons ST BERNADETTE and CREPE SUZETTE.
Is this a new setter? I liked it, but much harder and wackier than the usual Everyman.
My favourites were ASPIDISTRA, ACRONYM.
New for me were St Lo and ‘gunners’ = Arsenal F.C.
I could not parse 13d, but the solution was very obvious.
Thanks Everyman and Peter.
As suggested by our blogger I believe it’s more usual for French place names to be written with ‘Saint’ rather than ‘St’ but perhaps it happens when saving space is important.
Re 13dn, my understanding is that no true Scot would ‘prepare for Auld Lang Syne’ by linking arms. That doesn’t happen until the 5th verse:
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne.
But perhaps the setter also sings the words ‘For the sake of…’ in the final line of the chorus!
🙂
I agree with jacckt about Auld Lang Syne (both of his/her points!)
I got horribly bogged down with 5D: tried ARMENIA at first but couldn’t discern any reasonable parsing, then switched to ALBANIA, same problem – then, an eternity later, ACRONYM. A real d’oh moment.
My faves today were AHAB, MALI and TUTU (incidentally, when I was at university, graduates who ended up with a 2.2 Degree used to call it “a Desmond”; I wonder if they still do?)
Many thanks to PeterO for the lucid blog and to Everyman for the fun of solving it.
Everyman gets knocked for setting style at times, but 5d is a fine, fine clue
Really enjoyed the crossword. Favourites were 20A and 13D. But none the wiser as to why ‘poop’ is a charade of ‘info’. Thought Chambers might shed light but nothing there to link them that we could see. Illumination gratefully received…
JessJohn @7
The fourth definition of ‘poop’ in Chambers is:
poop (N American informal)
noun
1. Information
2. The facts
@JessJohn ‘poop’ is slang for information – possibly more American than UK English. Check out some of the links here https://www.onelook.com/?w=poop&ls=a
A smooth puzzle for the most part, but I didn’t like 13d. The answer was obvious from crossers, but an indirect anagram of an unlikely phrase? People would say LINK ARMS, nor LINK EACH ARM.
Thanks Gaufrid and Lin! That helps. Need to refine my dictionary skills !
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
I found this fun – as regards Auld Lang Syne, Wikipedia, referring to The Scotsman, says
“It is now common to sing this in a circle of linked arms that are crossed over one another as the clock strikes midnight for New Year’s Day, though it is only intended that participants link arms at the beginning of the final verse, before rushing in to the centre as a group.”
I enjoyed this and thought 11a ST BERNADETTE was brilliant.
I couldn’t parse 13d. It was very tricky, but poc @10 I don’t think it’s an indirect anagram. The order of the letters isn’t changed, the n is just removed.
Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.
just a point, probably more relevant to mention this during the week, but I wonder if such instructions as “wandering around” (6a), “revolving”, etc. could be referred to by another term than “anagram”, something like “cycling” – this would show up a greater variety of clue types, solvers often complain about there being too many anagrams in a puzzle.
A fun puzzle with something of a French flavour.
Agree with PeterO and jackkt @ 4 that ST LO is written Saint-Lô in French, as generally with place names. However, ST BERNADETTE is never spelt that way in France either – she’s normally just Bernadette. If you put a St. in front of a female name in French, it should be Ste.
This is not a criticism – I liked both clues, and as it’s a puzzle for English-speakers I think it’s OK to use equivalent English abbreviations.
Re CRÊPEs, coincidentally today is La Chandeleur (Candlemas), which is the traditional day in French-speaking countries for eating pancakes, rather than Shrove Tuesday / Mardi gras.
Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.
I found this puzzle more difficult than recent Everymans, but very enjoyable.
Never having read Moby-Dick, I didn’t appreciate the aptness of the &lit definition in 23a. What a great clu
I couldn’t parse either 9a or 13d. Now that I see how they work, I like the former, but I’m definitely in the “too clever by half” camp for the latter.
My other favorite was 15a (in focus), although I suppose that a purist might want some sort of indication that this sense of “poop” is an American usage.
Lost the final “e!” in “clue!”, but I suppose the meaning was clear.
My now-distant memory is of an enjoyable solve, but with a few answers that I couldn’t parse – so thanks to PeterO for the explanation of how LIKE A CHARM works. I was a vegetarian from a very early age in an otherwise conventionally-eating meat & two veg in the 1960s, and my school lunch pack was invariably TOMATO SOUP in a vacuum flask and a cheese sandwich; so it’s not only comfort food but a source of deep nostalgia. AHAB was excellent, and I enjoyed the light-bulb moment on getting ST BERNADETTE. Lourdes is a seriously weird place.
I have to say that I enjoyed this one. Liked 23ac and 26ac particularly.
my favourites were some of the short ones, like 1d, 25 ac 18d and 22d thought they were great
Did not get the link each arm reference far too contrived for me to get. Never heard of poop = info and i dont really ee how CUBE can mean reach
oh well largely good fun tho
Vanessa @26
I might have made the blog clearer: in 19A ICE CUBE, ‘to reach’ just confirms the order of the particles (which is how you would take in anyway), and it is ‘number one’ that is the cube.
Great crossword. Many were too clever for me but I appreciated the explanations. If Everyman took the pedantic criticisms to heart we would be back to an anagram fest or paint by numbers so good on you for stretching the boundaries (and our minds) with some interesting clues.
I found this puzzle to be impossible without wildcard dictionaries and Google searching. With those aids, I got it all, except for 9 across — I put “the runners” (as a wild guess) rather than the gunners. Thought this was beyond the pale in obscurity. Could not parse a large number of the answers that I got, and found the parsing, when it was explained by Peter O, to be unbelievably obscure — 13 down (“like a charm”) takes the cake.
We really struggled with 9ac & 5d, 13d too. Hey ho – good for the brain to work hard! Thanks for the challenge & thank god for Fifteensquared helping us over at the last few hurdles.