The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3836.
That slipped down easily, with the pair of double T long lights, and a particularly good crop of &lits.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TONGUE TWISTER | Tricky phrase that might produce stuttering woe? (6,7) |
| An anagram (‘that might produce’) of ‘stuttering woe’; with an extended definition. | ||
| 8 | BALM | Some herbal medicine? (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘herBAL Medicine’, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 9 | UNDERSTAND | Get below platform (10) |
| A charade of UNDER (‘below’) plus STAND (‘platform’). | ||
| 10 | FESS UP | Extremely fertile cat returned to admit misdeeds (4,2) |
| A charade of FE (‘extremely FertilE‘) plus SSUP, a reversal (‘returned’) of PUSS (‘cat’). | ||
| 11 | AMARILLO | Burrowing creature loses daughter, runs forward to reach Texan city (8) |
| ARMADILLO (‘burrowing creature’) minus D (‘loses daughter’), and with the R moved up a place (‘runs forward’). | ||
| 12 | OFFAS DYKE | Piece of British landscape depicted in off-key, sad composition (5,4) |
| An anagram (‘composition’) of ‘off-key sad’. | ||
| 14 | ADDS | Puts on about 500 commercials (4) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of D (Roman numeral, ‘500’) in ADS (‘commercials’). | ||
| 15 | SO-SO | Very good … very good … distinctly average (2-2) |
| SO (‘very good’ as an interjection). | ||
| 16 | STICKY BUN | Unpleasant haircut that might be seen at tea time (6,3) |
| A charade of STICKY (‘unpleasant’) plus BUN (‘haircut’ – but a style rather than a cut). | ||
| 21 | FOREWARN | Alert: ‘Following boundary, Australian captain declared’ (8) |
| A charade of FORE (‘boundary’ at the front) plus WARN, sounding like (‘declared’) WARNE. Shane Warne was ‘Australian captain’ principally in One Day Internationals. | ||
| 22 | MEGHAN | Duchess, low in rank, obtaining grand husband? (6) |
| An envelope (‘obtaining’) of G (‘grand’) plus H (‘husband’) in MEAN (‘low in rank’), for the Duchess of Sussex, with an extended definition. | ||
| 24 | HEAD-HUNTER | ‘Executive Search’ pro haunted her disturbingly (4-6) |
| An anagram (‘disturbingly’) of ‘haunted her’. | ||
| 25 | MAIN | Extensive head of hair, we’re told (4) |
| Sounds like (‘we’re told’) MANE (‘head of hair’). | ||
| 26 | TEMPER TANTRUM | Team Trump rent asunder, leading to explosion of rage (6,7) |
| An anagram (‘asunder’) of ‘team trump rent’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TEA LEAF | One that might be brewing or poaching? (3,4) |
| Double definition, the second being rhyming slang for thief. | ||
| 2 | NUMBS | Makes dull songs without hesitation (5) |
| A subtraction: NUMB[er]S (‘songs’) minus ER (‘without hesitation’). | ||
| 3 | USURPED | Pursued, trounced, commandeered (7) |
| An anagram (‘trounced’) of ‘pursued’. | ||
| 4 | TED TALK | Primarily, trendy educational disquisition to advance latest knowledge? (3,4) |
| First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Trendy Educational Disquisition To Advance Latest Knowledge’, with a fairly accurate &lit definition. | ||
| 5 | INROAD | Sort of raid, no? (6) |
| An anagram (‘sort’) of ‘raid no’, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 6 | TO THIS DAY | Even now, toady’s hit ferociously (2,4,3) |
| An anagram (‘ferociously’) of ‘toady’s hit’. | ||
| 7 | RANKLES | Malodorous, the French starter of snails causes vexation (7) |
| A charade of RANK (‘malodorous’) plus LE (‘the French’) plus S (‘starter of Snails’) | ||
| 13 | AMSTERDAM | McEwan novel, Decapitated Pet Cuckoo’s Upset (9) |
| A charade of [h]AMSTER (‘pet’) minus its first letter (‘decapitated’) plus DAM, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of MAD (‘cuckoo’). | ||
| 15 | SHOVE IT | Sit around, loiter endlessly with contemptuous expression (5,2) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of HOVE[r] (‘loiter’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) in ‘sit’. | ||
| 17 | TINY TOT | Little bird going round city in direction of very little one (4,3) |
| An envelope (‘going round’) of NY (‘city’) plus TO (‘in direction of’) in TIT (‘little bird’). | ||
| 18 | CAMERON | Instigator of Brexit vote: ‘Country will lose nothing’ (7) |
| A subtraction: Republic of CAMERO[o]N (‘country’) minus an O (‘will lose nothing’), | ||
| 19 | URANIUM | A little unwisely, skull cap removed for heavy metal (7) |
| A charade of U (‘a little Unwisely’) plus [c]RANIUM (‘skull’) minus its first letter (‘cap removed’). | ||
| 20 | CANUTE | Lunatic overcome by boundless ocean, misrepresented? (6) |
| An envelope (‘overcome by’) of NUT (‘lunatic’) in CAE, an anagram (‘misrepresented’) of ‘[o]cea[n]’ minus its outer letters (‘boundless’). If you are not familiar with the story referenced in the &lit definition, try Wiki. | ||
| 23 | GAMER | Perhaps Guitar Hero fan offering a bit of Young Americans (5) |
| A hidden answer (‘a bit of’) in ‘younG AMERicans’. | ||
I could not parse TEA LEAF – I see it is rhyming slang.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Another pleasant little rumble but it took a lot to convince me of STICKY. For some reason it just did not seem to fit but it was the obvious answer. I had to check the novel title too as I had no idea there. Again, the clueing give the obvious answer so it went in before checking. There may well be grumbles about 22a but, again, the clue led you you nicely to the answer.
Everyman seems to have settled into a comfortable style and I appreciate that.
Many thanks to both.
Thanks, PeterO.
I parsed the first part of 21a as “Boundary” = FOUR runs in cricket. Then the homophone indicator “declared” applies to both parts of the solution.
Struggled with CANUTE but love the anagrams at 1 and 26
For 21 across (Forewarn), I parsed it as four being a boundary in cricket, followed by Warne as the Australian cricket captain and the two together (Four + Warne) being “declared”
I agree on the fore/four.
And I wish cross word setters would leave poor Meghan alone. Although I suppose it is factual the clue is not in good taste, and exemplifies for me the kind of snide coverage the Sussexes have been compcerned about.
There were some really nice clues here. I particularly liked 12a OFFA’S DYKE, and the excellent CAD (clue as definition) of 20d CANUTE.
MEGHAN at 22a was also one of my favourites. Beobachterin @5, I know what you mean, and I sometimes get a bit fed up with, for example, Trump-bashing clues where the sentiment seems more important than whether the clue is any good. But in this case I thought the clue was so clever that it was too good to miss!
Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Mixed, I think. Mostly fairly straightforward but although I got 20d, it felt very contrived and I only did get it by a process of elimination when all others completed. Am no royalist but I thought 22a was snide and pandered to that awful British notion of hierarchy.Low in rank? In 2020?? Really! In The Observer too. Let’s have more witty clueing and fewer Victorian biases.
Yes, good Sunday fare.
I liked the Trump-bashing TEMPER TANTRUM clue – very appropriate. I don’t really understand the parsing of AMARILLO; surely the R [runs] moves backwards to give the answer(?) I was another FORE/FOUR homophone user.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
An enjoyable puzzle with some lovely clues.
There are also two double T answers down the centre.
Enjoyable, and I even finished it! Agree with others who used FOUR / FORE as a homophone for 21A.
We agree that the homophone indicator in 21ac applies to both parts of the word.
As for the parsing of AMARILLO, this device always seems to spark debate on fifteensquared; does ‘forward’ mean towards the front (beginning) of the word, or in the direction in which one reads the word? No-one seems able to agree.
An enjoyable puzzle nevertheless. Our favourite was OFFA’S DYKE.
Thanks to setter and blogger
I’m another who interpreted boundary as FOUR. I was quite proud of myself for actually remembering a cricket term, as I’m still regularly flummoxed by things like LEG = ON. (Even now, I can’t remember if I’ve got that right.)
TEA LEAF was another of the many bits of rhyming slang I didn’t know, although the answer wasn’t hard to guess.
I thought this was a very enjoyable puzzle, with 20dn (CANUTE) a particular favorite.
‘Four’ for me too.
I baulked at the backwards-moving R in 11, but otherwise a fun puzzle.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
To my mind, when discussing cricket, where “captain” and “country” are mentioned, Test Match Captains of the country are in the intention.
Shane Warne captained Australia in 11 ODI’s. No test matches. What next? 20/20 Captains?
Warnie did much to provide more relevant fodder for a setter.
The discussion about forward vs backwards in the solution to 11ac reminded me of the controversy over up vs down when In 2011 Apple shipped OSX Lion and flipped the way the mouse wheel controlled scrolling. Which version is more natural depends on the mental model you have of what’s going on.
Completed the top half quickly and then stumbled over the bottom half. Liked lots, even Meghan.
Could not parse “tea-leaf” (1 down); Google told me that tea can be used in poaching various food substances so I thought that was the idea. Never heard of “Offa’s Dyke” but figured it out, and Google confirmed. I don’t like “hover” as a synonym for “loiter”, but worked it out. I thought that “Canute” (20 down) was dellightfully subtle. “Amsterdam” (13 down) when I finally got it was a forehead slapper and grin producer.
Lord Jim@6: Trump deserves all the bashing he gets, and more. Meghan does not deserve it.
Thanks to Everyman for a very enjoyable puzzle and to Peter O. for explaining that which I could not understand.
Great puzzle. Missed Canute & needed google for Offa’s Dyke but otherwise just the right amount of challenge & a lot of fun. Thanks Everyman & bloggers.
Have just got round to having a go at this one- the paper version. The clue for 16a says ‘Unpleasant haircut that might be seen at breakfast time’. Not as appropriate as your version.
I’m very grateful to Fifteensquared for all the help and guidance. I think I’m gradually improving.