Everyman 3,866/15 November

by

I think we need to give credit to Everyman – and I don’t at all mean this in a ‘faint praise’ way – for producing a tractable but entertaining puzzle week in and week out. I had a couple of quiblets in this one, but comments on the blog over the last few months seem to suggest that most weeks he hits the spot.

 

 

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

 

Across

1 Fetch coals, kindling and what to clean up with
FACE CLOTHS
(FETCH COALS)* with ‘kindling’ as the anagrind. You have to think of the verb ‘kindle’ in its ‘arouse’ sense: ‘my love of crosswords was kindled early on’.

6 Bar, one offering pork pie that’s been recalled
RAIL
A reversal of LIAR, and relying on the cockney rhyming slang of ‘pork pie’ for ‘lie’.

9 Spooner’s to be bold enough to divulge honest transaction
SQUARE DEAL
A Spoonerism of DARE SQUEAL.

10 Block and bar
STOP
A dd, but essentially the same meaning, I think.

12 Island in plaza renovated with evenly built-in stone
LAPIS LAZULI
An insertion of ISL in (PLAZA)* followed by ULI for the even letters of ‘built-in’. The blue-coloured metamorphic rock that is prized as a semi-precious stone.

15 Hard seeing stories’ heroes topless, wanting clothing
HOODIES
A charade of H and [G]OODIES, but I can’t really see what ‘wanting’ is doing, either as part of the surface reading or definition.

16 Smoothly operated, not beginning to see bureaucracy
RED TAPE
([O]PERATED)* The removal indicator is ‘not beginning’ and the anagrind is ‘smoothly’.

17 Farfalle grocer hides quickly
ALLEGRO
Hidden in farfALLE GROcer.

19 Seen in sonar: ‘Whale … another whale‘
NARWHAL
Hidden in soNAR WHALe.

20 Make improvements to cello lacking content in performance
RECONDITION
An insertion of CO for the outside letters of ‘cello’ in RENDITION.

23 China about to tip over, making loud noise
CLAP
A reversal of PAL and C for circa. More cockney rhyming slang: china plate = mate, whence PAL.

24 Not changing oil, I’m not coming home for starters, having broken down
MONOLITHIC
(OIL IM NOT CH)* The last two letters come from the initial letters of ‘coming’ and ‘home’.  The anagrind is ‘having broken down’.

25 What makes breeze breathe?
LISP
Regular solvers will recognise the LISP trick has been used two weeks running. Someone with this speech condition might pronounce the first word like the second. Violet Elizabeth Bott certainly would have.

26 Sportspeople fight in front of nightspot
BOXING CLUB
A charade of BOXING and CLUB.

Edit: the answer given on the Guardian website is in fact ROWING CLUB, which works.  But then so does BOXING CLUB, as some commenters have mentioned.

Down

1 Not eating quickly
FAST
A much more convincing, if somewhat chestnutty, dd.

2 Every now and then, coloured part of puzzle
CLUE
The odd letters of CoLoUrEd.

3 Grins, having coal and gin prepared for festive event
CAROL SINGING
Give me a break, it’s only November. (GRINS COAL GIN)*

4 Everyman put in dictionary: ‘pu‘s a Greek character‘
OEDIPUS
An insertion of I for ‘Everyman’ in OED and PUS. OED is the Oxford English Dictionary.

5 Animal’s eaten acre, made to go on run, sounding less healthy
HOARSER
An insertion of A in HORSE followed by R.

7 A renowned tennis hero; universally respected American sportsman; his excellence spotted early on?
ARTHUR ASHE
Everyman’s trademark ‘primarily’ clue, except here it’s ‘spotted early on’. The initial letters of the first ten words of the clue give you the tennis player who, among other things, won Wimbledon in 1975. A cad (the clue, not Ashe).

8 Crookedly makes cuts, unedifyingly including education
LOPSIDEDLY
A charade of LOPS and ED inserted into IDLY. I’m not convinced that IDLY and ‘unedifyingly’ are synonymous.

11 How bells may be sounded: loudly, expressing distress
HAND-WRINGING
A homophone (‘loudly’) of HAND RINGING.

13 Dramatic recital that almost worked
THEATRICAL
(RECITAL THA[T])* with ‘worked’ as the anagrind.

14 Old scrawl’s deciphered with unparalleled skill
WORLD-CLASS
(OLD SCRAWLS)* One of our Great Leader’s favourite adjectives, generally used without justification.

18 Regularly dropping oars, I annoy cox endlessly leading us to river
ORINOCO
The odd letters of OaRs I aNnOy followed by CO[X]. The South American river. And a Womble.

19 Safari destination‘s Guyana; I rob ibises’ nests
NAIROBI
Another hidden: in GuyaNA I ROB Ibises.

21 Pulse noted as children’s author has heart transplant
DHAL
The author is the much-loved Roald DAHL. ‘Heart transplant’ is Everyman’s instruction to reverse the central letters. Works for me.

22 Ultimately, this taxi’s not one loved by unions
SCAB
A charade of S for the final letter of ‘this’ and CAB.

Many thanks to Everyman for this weekend’s puzzle.

40 comments on “Everyman 3,866/15 November”

  1. I had BOXING CLUB for 26a too but having checked the Observer/Guardian website they have ROWING CLUB.

    This one took me a bit longer than previous weeks’ puzzles – the SE corner was last – took me ages to get MONOLITHIC and DHAL – duh.

    Thanks to Everyman and Pierre

  2. I had ROWING CLUB for 26a, but I agree with Fiona Anne and Pierre that BOXING CLUB is equally good. Thankfully there is no prize, otherwise this could get ugly.

    I concur with Pierre on the quality of Everyman’s efforts. This week I had 6 ticks, all with clever constructions and good surfaces – my COD was 13d THEATRICAL.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre for the fun and lucid explanations.

  3. I found this one difficult to solve.

    Did not parse ARTHUR ASHE.

    Liked SQUARE DEAL, OEDIPUS, LOPSIDEDLY.

    Failed 25ac.

    Thanks Pierre and Everyman.

     

    NOTE: Guardian puzzles no longer load on my laptop. I have no idea why because every other site loads perfectly. Maybe they stop allowing us to access for free? I’ll miss doing cryptic crosswords in future… I was looking forward to doing the Prize puzzle yesterday and the Everyman today. *sigh*

  5. I had ROWING at 26a.  I considered BOXING but decided at the time ROWING was better.  If there had been no other option I would have been happy with BOXING.  Agree that this is a good week in which to not award a Prize.

    Michelle – the Guardian puzzles still load for me, on an iPad, so it is not due to restricting free access.  I suggest you try another browser – Chrome, Firefox, DuckDuckGo, etc. (I had to change browsers recently to access the Independent Puzzles.)

    I also concur with Pierre on appreciating Everyman’s weekly contribution.  Not often my favourite puzzle but never the most irritating.  A pleasant break from  unfamiliar slang, stretched synonyms and annoying GK (esp. Oxbridge and drug culture terminology.)

    Thanks Pierre as well, always enjoy your light touch with the blog.

  6. [ Thanks for the advice. I have tried on Safari, Opera, and Chrome browsers. I have cleared cache, cookies, and history. Restarted my laptop. Nothing helps. Very sad now. This year just goes from bad to worse 🙁 ]

  7. [Michelle – I have just noticed that the crosswords don’t load on my iPad under Chrome, Firefox or DuckDuckGo.  Everything else on the Guardian site loads fine, so it is definitely crossword-related.  I also noticed that the Print, PDF and Accessible versions all load, so that is another way to access the puzzle in the interim. I hope this is good news bcs no-one is picking on you?, it must be a Guardian problem.  It still works on Safari for me, fortunately. Try updating Safari perhaps?]

  8. As typical of late, a mix on various levels… some easy, some not… some nice clues, some near misses… a few quibblets & stretches. Essentially, in keeping with the title, a little something for every solver… and I agree, Pierre, some credit is due Everyman for delivering in that regard week after week.

    For STOP, perhaps viewing block as a noun (e.g. a door stop) might allow a little distinction twixt the defns.

    Refreshing to see the traditional “primarily” clue not actually use primarily this time. Perhaps a harbinger of more changes to come in this space?

    Thought THEATRICAL particularly well performed… my COTD.

    Regards to setter, blogger, and commenters!

  9. Thanks to those who pointed out that BOXING CLUB was wrong.  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, and all that.  I have amended the blog.

  10. On 26A I awaited fifteensquared’s Supreme Court judgment.

    I opted for BOXING because the clue said “fight” not “fighting”. Whereas “fighting” is ROWING, a “fight” is a ROW

    Everyman’s linked solutions seemed to be linked cluing as the 17A/18D and the 19A/19D pattern were similarly swtructured buried answers.

    A harder puzzle this week for me but some enjoyable constructions. Thanks Everyman and Pierre

  13. I’m another in agreement with the general sentiment being expressed here.  I’m glad I was referred to Everyman and enjoy my gentle Sunday mornings.  Much though I enjoy some of the more rigorous tests elsewhere during the week (albeit, I have my limits and fall well short of what some others are able to attempt, let alone find pleasure in), it’s actually rather nice to know I’m not going to encounter a Vlad or similar on a Sunday.  And the standard remains remarkably consistent.

    Always tricky when two perfectly valid answers arise for the same clue and crossers.  Bad enough when one has to plump for one alternative and then see if the crossers work but when, as with this one, that doesn’t distinguish, what can one do but take it in good faith and with a smile.  These things are diversions after all.

    For me, HAND WRINGING was favourite with OddOtter’s nomination of THEATRICAL a close second.  ‘Primarily’ clues have the obvious disadvantage that they require as many words in the clue as the solution has letters meaning ARTHUR ASHE was always going to be tricky to hide but the clue Everyman came up with was delightful.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre

  14. I argued with myself about BOXING and ROWING. I decided on ROWING on the flimsy grounds that the rowing club seemed more like a collection of oarspeople, whereas a boxing club felt more like a venue. Congratulations to Everyman for frustrating my lazy scan for the word primarily, but still including a trademark clue.

  15. Yes, I echo Pierre’s comments; I thought this was an entertaining solve. I think Everyman has definitely improved – hopefully, this blog may have helped.

    I agree with cosmic @10 that BOXING CLUB seems to be a better solution than ROWING CLUB. “I went to see the boxing/fight but “I saw them rowing/fighting.” Any other way that ‘rowing’ can mean fight?

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  16. I was one of many, it seems, who put the “wrong” answer for 26a; agree too, a good week for no prizes. I liked 4d quite a lot and got 15a but, for the life of me, couldn’t work out why, so many thanks to Pierre for a lucid explanation. I like too, the notion that Everyman is something for everyone, as I can get very frustrated with some clues, even if I do end up getting them. Overall, good fun.

  17. I had ROWING CLUB, and I think that works better cryptically, because ROWING in the surface and in the cryptic reading have different meanings, whereas with BOXING CLUB the first word would basically mean the same in both.  But I agree that both answers seem to work, unfortunately.

    Graham @12: I wondered about “smoothly” as an anagram indicator too (16a), and tried to justify it like this.  “Smoothly” is the opposite of “roughly”, which I think we would accept.  You start off with RED TAPE, which “roughly” gives you [o]perated, and then you “smooth” that back to get RED TAPE again.  Does that make sense?  (I must admit I’m not quite sure myself.)

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  18. I don’t think ‘smoothly’ is a good anagrind. Here is the Chambers’ Thesaurus entries for smoothly:

    evenly, calmly, steadily, soothingly, peacefully, tranquilly, serenely, pleasantly, mildly, easily, effortlessly, equably, fluently

    Of these, ‘easily’ seems the only one that might fit, but its use as an anagrind has a different meaning to ‘smoothly’, I think. As I have said before for an accessible puzzle, I would stick to the Chambers’ list of anagrinds.

  19. Robi @18: would you be able to direct me to an online source of Chambers anagrind list?  You’ve referred to it on previous occasions, as have others, but searching Google for Chambers+anagrinds or similar doesn’t seem to lead me to the Chambers list.  It would be a useful source – though I’m always open to new/different indicators and feel setters shouldn’t be constrained by a list.  Provided their alternatives pass (parse?) muster.  Smoothly doesn’t seem a good one (unless smoothly is how one produces a smoothie – which often requires a liquidizer which would certainly suggest rearrangement – but I suspect that would be smoothily!)

  20. I’m another who flipped between BOXING and ROWING, writing and rewriting the two letters over eachother so often that I now genuinely can’t read which word I ended with. Bit of a weak clue, then – but be that as it may, I agree with your opening comments, Pierre: producing an entertaining crossword every single week is a laudable achievement on Everyman’s part. And, generally speaking, the satisfying clues vastly outnumber the meh ones. Lots in the former camp this week, with LISP, OEDIPUS and CLAP being my faves.
    So thanks to Pierre for the ever-readable and interesting blog, and to Everyman for providing just the right level of fun for lazy Sunday breakfasts…

  21. PostMark @19; I don’t think one can access the list online. It is in the Chambers Crossword Dictionary (which is a good buy anyway, in my opinion). It was also in one of the previous Chambers Dictionary editions (not the current revised 13th Edition – might have been the 12th Edition).

  22. Robi @21: many thanks. I do have a Chambers Crossword Dictionary somewhere but I fear, like most of my library, it’s still in deep storage following a house move four years ago! Being incredibly tight (stingy, not tiddled) I shall have to survive without for a bit longer until I can dig it out.

  23. Postmark @19 and Robi @21

    The list of anagram indicators (and other indicators) is in the central section of the 12th Edition of The Chambers Dictionary. I hadn’t noticed before because, as you said Rob, the lists of indicators are  towards the beginning of the Chambers Crossword Dictionary – which I also find very useful as can be seen from its battered state. I got it when I first started trying to solve cryptic crosswords earlier this year (during lockdown).

  25. Rosmarinus @24; yes, but we still have the problem of how rowing is the same as fight. “I was having a rowing with my wife” – I don’t think so!

  26. I had rowing for 26a. When pronounced to rhyme with ‘cowing’ it means arguing, or does to me at any rate, and so I feel it fits slightly better than boxing.

  27. Like others, I had BOXING CLUB for 26ac. But on reflection I agree with  Lord Jim @17,  Rosmarinus @24 and others that ROWING CLUB is the better solution.

    That’s because of its use of two different words that are spelled identically, “row” as in “row a boat”  and “row” as in “have a verbal slanging match with”. Wikipedia and Chambers tell me that (since they are pronounced differently) they are heteronyms.

    But the clue would work better if it were Sportspeople fighting in front of nightspot

  29. 26ac I put in BOXING, found it unsatisfying for the reason expressed by Robi @25, changed it to ROWING and realised it was no better, but BOXING felt barely criptic.

    26ac Sportspeople line-up in good nightspot (6,4)

  31. I too found “smoothly” rough to accept… but now see a possibility in the standard refs: lexico includes “without problems or difficulties”, and Chambers (under smooth) has “free from problems or difficulties”… so “smoothly” as in free from the problem/difficulty of the letters being all (ana)ground up?

    As a USian, rowing never even came to mind… didn’t realize boxing “incorrect” til coming here! But to Robi’s point, how about “the rowing/fight next door kept me up all night”?

    PostMark, re Chambers, might try here (short term checkouts available):

    https://archive.org/details/texts?and%5B%5D=Chambers+crossword+dictionary&sin=

  32. I agree with Pierre’s general words of praise for Everyman. I think that in general these puzzles hit the spot. However, this one seemed dodgier than usual. In addition to weaknesses mentioned by others (the dd that’s really one definition in 10ac, “smoothly” as an anagrind, and “rowing” being different from “fight”), I have to object to the definition in 19dn. While I confess I’ve never been on a safari, I”m pretty sure they don’t take place in cities!

    (I also thought that cluing PUS as the nonsense word “pu’s” in 4dn was weak, but I can see why others disagree.)

     

  33. Ted: I saw Nairobi as being a common starting point for safaris, and thus a “destination” for those traveling from elsewhere in the world who are going on safari; googling “Nairobi safari” yields lots of refs… and reveals Nairobi is also a natl park (near said city) where safaris are led, thus another way it could work.

    Can’t help w/pu though… seems nonsense to me too, unless others can elucidate.

  34. Also re smoothly, anafodder might be described as “all wrinkled up”, and an answer is revealed when it’s smoothed out. This and my earlier suggestion are both reminiscent of Lord Jim’s idea @17; all might, I suppose, be described as a sort of implied reverse anagram.

  35. Got there. But only just, as is often the case for me and everymans.

    I also didn’t like “smoothly” as an anagram indicator, though I liked that “operate” was also part of the clue, which is a frequent indicator and, as such, a cheeky red herring.

    I also went with “boxing” over “rowing”.

    I did not parse 15a or 23a (didn’t think of goodies for stories’ heroes, or pal for china).

    “Dhal” was my favourite — the UK is a nation of curry lovers.

    Thanks, All.

  36. OddOtter @33 — The existence of the national park, which I didn’t know about, completely demolishes my objection. Cheerfully withdrawn. Thanks!

    (I’m open to the possibility that I was being too picky even without considering the park, although I’m not sure. Anyway, the park renders that question moot.)

     

  37. Finished before 9am, a record for us! Didn’t like explanation for 8d, idly is not the same as unedifyingly IMO. Loved Lisp, got Rowing not Boxing. Overall v enjoyable and as it is less than one week to Christmas, 3d was spot on for us here in NZ! Meri Kirihimete one and all.

  39. A really good puzzle except for 15ac ‘wanting’ which we thought was lazy and a bit wanting. Also smoothly equating to smooth it out is somewhat obscure.

  40. Late in in this one. Rowing as a noun meaning a fight works for me. Completely missed the primarily clue & didn’t even notice it’s absence so went round in circles trying to parse 7D using Rash for spotted & Ruth for American sportsman.

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