Everyman as usual: a bit untidy in places but a fun solve.
Those who don’t like contrived or wordy surfaces and imprecise definitions may be a little irritated – though no more than usual for Everyman, and for once the anagram indicators all seem to be clear enough. We have a few homophones too: they work for me, but your mileage may vary depending on your accent. The usual pair of long entries can be found at 7d and 8d: as well as the rhyme to connect them, 7d is a good description of the character at 8d.
I liked the cryptic definition at 4d and the double meaning at 20d, but my favourite (despite the wordiness) is 12a. And before anyone asks, Everyman is correct to use two different spellings of whisk[e]y: 12a refers to Scotch whisky which is always spelled without the E, but 22d refers to the radio alphabet which follows the US spelling (though it doesn’t matter in the spoken version). Thanks Everyman as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | KNEE-SLAPPER | Hilarious joke Planer keeps reeling off (4-7) |
| Anagram (reeling off, though either word would do as an anagram indicator by itself) of PLANER KEEPS. I assume the surface refers to Nigel Planer, actor and comedian. I wasn’t sure about the definition but Collins Dictionary tells me it’s US slang. |
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| 9 | AMPLEST | ‘Samples’ torte (the lion’s share), becomes most rotund (7) |
| Hidden answer (the lion’s share = most of it) in [s]AMPLES T[orte]. As usual, Everyman’s fondness for inverted commas is best ignored; the surface would be fine without them. Ample = rotund = euphemisms for overweight. |
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| 10 | RALEIGH | Beer consumed by Doctor Who, essentially an adventurer (7) |
| ALE (beer) contained in (eaten by) RIG (doctor = interfere with, as in a rigged election) + [w]H[o] (essentially = middle letter only). Sir Walter Raleigh |
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| 11 | IDIOM | Everyman would back me in France for use of local lingo (5) |
| I’D (Everyman would), then MOI (“me” in France) reversed (back). | ||
| 12 | JURASSIC | Island producing whisky since – to begin with, and this is not my mistake – ‘190m years ago’ (8) |
| JURA (Scottish island known for its single malt whisky) + S[ince] (to begin with = first letter) + SIC (this is not my mistake: used in quotations to indicate that an apparent error is part of the original quoted text). The surface is a bit too wordy and convoluted to be a real sentence, but I love the idea. Jurassic: a geological period, roughly 200 – 150 million years ago. |
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| 14 | SUGAR-COATS | What dentist hates to see and tries to make attractive? (5-5) |
| Cryptic-ish definition (a dentist doesn’t want to see your teeth coated in sugar) and straight definition (sugar-coat, usually to sugar-coat a pill = attempt to make something unpleasant more acceptable). | ||
| 15 | ANTE | Vocally opposed to what poker players do (4) |
| Homophone (vocally) of ANTI (opposed to). Ante = to place a stake before the deal in a poker game. |
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| 17 | RIOT | Hilarious character, Judas, perhaps? Not half (4) |
| The Biblical character Judas [isca]RIOT with half his surname removed. I’m familiar with “riot” meaning “a very amusing occasion”, but the dictionaries tell me it also means a very amusing person. |
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| 19 | NE’ER-DO-WELL | Idler and loner we led astray (4-2-4) |
| Anagram (astray) of LONER WE LED. Old phrase for a lazy or useless person. |
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| 21 | CHEETAHS | Big cats, not maters for life, we’re told (8) |
| Homophone (we’re told) of CHEATERS = people unfaithful to their partners. | ||
| 23 | BASIC | Introductory – to start with – involved with ABCs? (5) |
| Anagram (involved) of I[ntroductory] (to start with = first letter) + ABCS. Clue-as-definition. |
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| 25 | EDITING | Making changes, leaving 10 as 500 (7) |
| I think the intention here is E[x]ITING (leaving), with the X (Roman numeral for 10) replaced by D (Roman numeral for 500). But “10 as 500” seems a rather vague instruction for that. | ||
| 26 | PRECEDE | Introduce spin: England to give up (7) |
| PR (public relations = spin, as in “spin doctor”) + E (England) + CEDE (give up), with a cricket-themed surface. A slightly vague definition: precede = come before, but I don’t think it suggests a connection or handover in the same way that “introduce” does. |
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| 27 | SWEENEY TODD | Hairdresser’s newest ‘do’ restyled with dye (7,4) |
| Anagram (restyled) of NEWEST DO + DYE. Fictional Victorian barber and murderer. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | KIPLING | Poet sleeping quietly once replaced by student (7) |
| KIP[p]ING (sleeping), with P (p = piano = musical term for quietly) replaced by L (learner driver = student). “Once” indicates that only one of the two Ps is replaced. Rudyard Kipling |
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| 2 | EVERMORE | Increasingly … or unceasingly (8) |
| EVER MORE = increasingly. Evermore = for ever = unceasingly. | ||
| 3 | SETH | Primarily: son (Eve’s third, happily!) (4) |
| First letters (primarily) of S[on] E[ve’s] T[hird] H[appily]. Clue-as-definition, from Genesis chapter 4. Seth was Eve’s third son, born after the first (Cain) murdered the second (Abel). |
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| 4 | AIR GUITARS | Instruments that leave you empty-handed? (3,7) |
| Cryptic definition: Air guitar | ||
| 5 | POLKA | One who went to war with Mexico over a dance (5) |
| James K POLK (former US President who started the Mexican-American War) + (over, in a down clue) A. | ||
| 6 | REINS IN | Curbs Bahrein’s independence to some extent (5,2) |
| Hidden answer (to some extent) in [bah]REINS IN[dependence]. | ||
| 7 | PANIC-STRICKEN | Alarmed as rankest picnic laid out (5-8) |
| Anagram (laid out) of RANKEST PICNIC. | ||
| 8 | CHICKEN LICKEN | Beat, in dangerous game, equestrian that’s gutted, jumpy character (7,6) |
| LICK (slang for defeat, as a verb = beat), inserted into CHICKEN (dangerous game) + E[questria]N (gutted = middle letters removed). Folk-tale character (otherwise known as Henny Penny or Chicken Little), who is alarmed by a falling acorn and starts an outbreak of mass hysteria about the end of the world. |
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| 13 | COPENHAGEN | Reforms to change open city (10) |
| Anagram (reforms to; the grammar requires “reforms” to be a plural noun) of CHANGE OPEN. | ||
| 16 | SOMBRERO | Angry about maiden over: bowled, run out – what’s needed when cap’s not up to the job? (8) |
| SORE (angry) containing M (maiden over) + B (b = bowled), then RO (ro = run out). All of these are cricket scoring abbreviations. Sombrero = a wide-brimmed Mexican hat worn as a sun-shade (in climates where a cap wouldn’t provide enough coverage). |
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| 18 | ONESIES | Stand-alone siesta’s clothing? (7) |
| Hidden answer (. . . clothing) in [stand-al]ONE SIES[ta]. Clue-as-definition: onesie = a one-piece garment (stand-alone in the sense of not needing anything else), worn for sleeping or relaxation (so perhaps dusing a siesta). |
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| 20 | EAST END | Part of London not historically associated with aspiration? (4,3) |
| On the face of it, this looks like a snobbish put-down: the East End of London is historically the home of Cockneys, who might be viewed as “working-class and proud of it”. But it’s cleverer than that: the Cockney accent is characterised by dropping an initial H sound (aspiration), as in ‘orse and cart. | ||
| 22 | TRITE | Tired, tense author downing whiskey (5) |
| T (t = abbreviation for tense: presumably in some specialised sense that most of us don’t know, but “it’s in Chambers” so we have to accept it), then [w]RITE (author, as a verb) without the W (Whiskey in the radio alphabet). “Downing” here is as in “downing a plane” = taking down = removing, not “drinking” as the surface suggests. Trite = clichéd = tired. |
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| 24 | SPRY | Lively, so party regularly (4) |
| Alternate letters (regularly) of S[o] P[a]R[t]Y. | ||
The fact that the clue for 6d contained the (to me) very rare alternative spelling of Bahrain helped get the anagram sorted, but I’m not over-fond of the use of infrequent exceptional spellings.
My FOI was JURASSIC – it had to be that, just from the 190Ma (a Geology degree does come in handy sometimes) – checking the wordplay was a formality. We had a very similar clue to 21a recently. The answer to 8d helped with 7d, given I was sure they were the rhyming pair. Quite a pleasant solve, all things considered – though, by entering SUGAR TOOTH, I have to accept a DNF. Thanks, Everyman and Quirister.
Oh!! I was going for sweet tooth in 14 a, but then when I knew it had to be sugar, I ended up with sugar-tooth. which I’d not heard of, but it sort of worked as a cryptic-ish clue.
Thankyou Quinster for the aspiration in East End. Should have got that as a linguist. Much preferred the ‘cleverer’ interpretation.
I went for sugar tooth as well. Otherwise a fun solve.
Thanks Quirister.
I always enjoy the weekly Everyman. I tend to think the worst after the first pass, but the grid is so well constructed that I can just chip away, eventually emerging victorious after an hour or so. He might consider ‘Goldilocks’ as another pseudonym: not too easy, not too hard… just right!
DNF’d for the first time for a while. I guessed 8d was a proper character name but could not get it. 10a also beat me.
22d defeated me and, although I got 10a, as it could only be that, I am little the wiser even after Quirister’s excellent explanations. Not you, Quirister, but definitely Everyman. A tad too contrived for me leading to frustration rather than admiration. Probably me, but I do think the line between clever word play and too clever obscurity is very thin this week. 25a also in that category. Let’s see if there is fun this week!
Like you, Quirister, I was a bit doubtful about “introduce” = PRECEDE at 26a. And I initially queried “downing” in 22d, but then thought of workers downing their tools, so I think it’s OK for dropping / discarding.
I thought the surface of 7d, with the “rankest picnic”, was funny. Also the surface of 27a SWEENEY TODD was clever. And I liked 1d KIPLING, partly because it reminded me of the nervous young man asking his date, “Do you like Kipling?”, to which she of course replied, “I don’t know, I’ve never kippled”.
Many thanks Everyman and Quirister.
Thanks, Quirister. My first Everyman dnf in decades: I finally put in SUGAR TOOTH, though it didn’t seem right – but then neither did (or does) SUGAR COAT.
I think the quotation marks in 6a do improve the surface: if one samples a torte it won’t have much effect on the waistline; writing it as ‘samples’ suggests a euphemism for eating a lot.
I seem to remember that I found this quite tricky though having read Quirister’s blog I wonder why. I was another with SUGAR TOOTH. Lover JURASSIC and some of the anagrams were great Thank you, Quirister and Everyman.
Finding that it was a DNF – as I was yet another who had SUGAR TOOTH at 14a -was a bitter pill to swallow….
I was stuck on the parsing of 26a as I had convinced myself that PRECESSION (e.g. of the equinoxes) had something to do with “introducing spin”. Thanks Quirister for making it simpler. And to Everyman for the Sunday entertainment.
Had been managing quite well with the everyman crosswords over the last few weeks – sometimes got the whole thing, other times just one or two not solved – but this one not so well – quite a few I didn’t get. Oh well off to try this week’s
Thanks to Everyman and Quirister
Like Beobachterin @10, I recall trickiness, but also pleasure from a steady solve with some real moments to savour. I share two favourites with Quirister: JURASSIC may have an ugly surface but it’s justified, for me, by the cleverness and the quirky relevance of the surface, EAST END is very smooth (I did spot the double meaning this time) and two with Lord Jim @8: SWEENEY TODD for the surface and KIPLING for the device. Other ticks for another wordy one – SOMBRERO – which amused; ONESIES and POLKA which are beautifully succinct all-in-ones and, for once, a ‘primarily’ – SETH. COTD to another shared with Lord Jim – PANIC STRICKEN: a nice image and economical clue.
I’m afraid I share Miche’s ‘meh’ for SUGAR COATS which I only got correct from the definition element which didn’t support SUGAR TOOTH. I assumed it was sugar coated sweets, cakes etc that the dentist would dislike. I think that was the second CHEETAH to appear in the week – less endangered than we think?
Thanks Everyman and Quirister
A dnf for me, unusually for Everyman, as I thought about ‘Trite’ but couldn’t really see that it meant ‘tired’ and certainly couldn’t parse it. Other dodgy synonyms, I thought, were the aforementioned ‘Precede’, and the Victorian barber, who may or may not have cut hair. Thanks to Everyman and Quirister.
Definitely at the more challenging end of the Everyman spectrum, and like some others, an uncommon Everyman DNF for me. SOMBRERO in particular just didn’t click, the cricket Britishisms eluding me. DNK (nor get) CHICKEN LICKEN; had -ED at the end instead, guessing it was an unknown idiom for “beat”… though might’ve gotten -EN from the long rhyme if I’d paid attention. I too didn’t care for PRECEDE, nor a few others… but quite enjoyed JURASSIC and RALEIGH. So a mixed bag overall.
Tip o’ the hat to our setter/blogger/commenters…
Really enjoyed this weeks, which we flew through until we hit 22d (trite), 16d (sombrero), and 26a (precede).
As always looked for justicstion of our inability to parse these, and found none for 16d and 26a which were just hard clues for us. However, 22d does seem very technical…
Pleased to see we were not the only ones to go sweet tooth to sugar tooth! We must be more diligent next time.
A few biffed unparsed but a fun solve. East End was nice
Some clues unnecessarily layered for an Everyman
I’m another DNF — totally flummoxed by 22 down; would not have got it in a million years. Far too obscure/convoluted. I’m also another who put in “sugar tooth” rather than “sugar coat”; in retrospect the right answer was “obviously” right. Got many answers without parsing them properly.
Didn’t much like “precede” meaning introduce, but this paled by comparison with 22 down. *Did* like “Jurassic” and “Sweeney Todd”.
22d – what a beast of a clue! Didn’t get that one, but got the rest. Unlike many we got Sugar Coats which was great, but put in Chicken Little which completely stuffed us up in that corner! Thanks for the brain workout, always our treat each weekend here in sunny Auckland.
New Jura island
Failed 8D even though I had all the crossers