Everyman 3,888

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3888.

Apart from the usual rhyming pair at 7 and 8 Down, and the ‘primarily’ – this time ‘initially’ – clue at 10 Across, this one has plenty of hidden answers and “sounds like”s. 1A is a particularly fine clue.

ACROSS
1 LADY MACBETH
Rattled by death, calm Shakespearean character (4,7)
An anagram (‘rattled’) of ‘by death calm’. An apt extended definition.
9 AMASSED
Collected idiot found in a body of water (7)
An envelope (‘found in’) of ASS (‘idiot’) in A MED (‘a body of water’).
10 ORIGAMI
Initially oriental recreation, it generates animalist miniature imagery? (7)
First letters (‘initially’, ringing the changes on ‘primarily’) of ‘Oriental Recreation It Generates Animalist Miniature Imagery’.
11 ELITE
Best section of comparative literature (5)
A hidden answer (‘section of’) in ‘comparativE LITErature’.
12 FOOTREST
Where might you find plates of meat under a desk? (8)
Cryptic definition, relying on the rhyming slang ‘plates of meat’ for feet.
14 NEGOTIATOR
Unhappy interrogator runs away twice, becomes diplomat (10)
An anagram (‘unhappy’) of ‘inte[rr]ogator’ minus two Rs (‘runs away twice’).
15 MOOD
Flipping catastrophe leading to ill temper (4)
A reversal (‘flipping’) of DOOM (‘catastrophe’).
17 HOBS
After a drop of Hermitage, old boy wanting seconds where food’s prepared (4)
A charade of H (‘a drop of Hermitage’) plus OB (‘Old Boy’) plus S (‘seconds’). Food preparation more often refers to activities prior to cooking, while a hob would be used for the actual stove-top cooking.
19 DORIAN GRAY
Handsome narcissist in angry radio broadcast (6,4)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘angry radio’, for the protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey Gray.
21 AGNUS DEI
Hard to ignore anguished moving prayer (5,3)
An anagram (‘moving’) of ‘anguis[h]ed’ minus the H (‘hard to ignore’).
23 DIANA
Virgin goddess. Guardian angel? Not entirely (5)
A hidden (‘not entirely”) answer in ‘guarDIAN Angel’,
25 T-SHIRTS
Ma wanting marsh tits represented in casual clothing (1-6)
An anagram (‘re-presented’) of ‘[ma]rsh tits’ minus MA (‘ma wanting’).
26 LAB COAT
Protective equipment that may be black and hairy? (3,4)
Double definition, the second referring to a Labrador dog.
27 MEAN STREETS
Movie‘s averages sources of pleasure, we’re told (4,7)
A charade of MEANS (‘averages’) plus TREETS, sounding like (‘we’re told’) TREATS (‘sources of pleasure’), for the 1973 film directed by Martin Scorsese.
DOWN
1 LOAFING
Activity of oaf, primarily indolent, lazy, no good? (7)
Something in the vicinity of an &lit, if you allow ‘activity of’ to indicate an anagram, of ‘oaf’ plus ILNG (‘primarily Indolent Lazy No Good’)
2 DESSERTS
Tense up, seeing cobblers, etc (8)
A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of STRESSED (‘tense’).
3 MADE
Announced young woman is accomplished (4)
Sounds like (‘announced’) MAID (‘young woman’, antique usage).
4 CHOCOHOLIC
One with sweet tooth‘s terribly chic: oh, cool! (10)
An anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘chic oh cool’.
5 ELIOT
A depicter of English rural life, he brought down Al Capone (5)
Double definition, more or less: Mary Ann Evans, who wrote a well-regarded series of novels under the pen name George Eliot; and Eliot Ness.
6 HEAVE-HO
He’s next to a bar, temperature becoming hot, getting rejection (5-2)
A charade of ‘he’ plus (‘next to’) A VETO (‘a bar’) with the T changed to H (‘temperature becoming hot’).
7 HALE AND HEARTY
Well, hot drink dispelled any hatred (4,3,6)
A charade of H (‘hot’) plus ALE (‘drink’) plus ANDHEARTY, an anagram (‘dispelled’) of ‘any hatred’.
8 BIRTHDAY PARTY
Pithy bard launched pretentious annual celebration (8,5)
A charade of BIRTHDAYP, an anagram (‘launched’?) of ‘pithy bard’; plus ARTY (‘pretentious’).
13 BARONESSES
Everyman’s drained Soave in pubs with posh ladies (10)
An envelope (‘in’) of ONE’S (‘Everyman’s’, with the impersonal personal pronoun) plus SE (‘drained SoavE‘) in BARS (‘pubs’).
16 INEDIBLE
Dine out in France: the starters of intestines and brains ingested – unfit for consumption (8)
An envelope (‘ingested’) of IB (‘the starters of Intestines and Brains’) in INED, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘dine’ plus LE (‘in France: the’).
18 BENTHAM
Moral philosopher, dishonest pig (7)
A charade of BENT (‘dishonest’) plus HAM (‘pig’), for Jeremy BENTHAM.
20 REASONS
Rationale for decapitation: acts of betrayal (7)
[t]REASONS (‘acts of betrayal’) minus the first letter (‘for decapitation’).
22 SYRIA
Spy … or vicar? Odd characters noted in country (5)
Alternate letters (‘odd characters noted’) of ‘SpY oR vIcAr’.
24 SLUR
Slight component of fisherman’s lures (4)
A hidden answer (‘component of’) in ‘fishermanS LURes’.

picture of the completed grid

22 comments on “Everyman 3,888”

  1. I took the longest time to see my LOI DESSERTS, even though I have seen that reversal before – slow! The other that took time was BARONESSES – too much thinking that ‘Everyman’s’ would be ME, or MY or IVE… Those apart, it was a smooth solve, with MEAN STREEETS a standout. Once I had HALE AND HEARTY, I was immediately looking for a party. Might not the clue for LADY MACBETH have been “Rattled by death, calm she isn’t”? “Out, damned spot” doesn’t sound calm to me. But it was a nice clue anyway. Thanks, Everyman and PeterO.

  2. Tassie Tim @1
    Yes, but remember that, before being ‘rattled by death’, Lady Macbeth had exhorted her husband to “screw your courage to the sticking place”.

  3. My favourites: HALE AND HEARTY, DORIAN GRAY, BIRTHDAY PARTY, MEAN STREETS, DESSERTS, HEAVE-HO.

    I failed to solve: FOOTREST, ELIOT. Never heard of the rhyming slang ‘plates of meat’ for feet.

  4. Great contrast between The Untouchables and, say, The Mill On The Floss, though Daniel Deronda has a bit of derring do.

  5. Like TassieTim @ 1 I took ages to get BARONESSES for the same reason. I also spent a while over LOAFING thinking it couldn’t simply have OAF in the answer – but once I got the crosses it had to be. Didn’t manage to parse HEAVE-HO but the rest was fine.

    Favourites were: NEGOTIATOR, MOOD, DORIAN GREY, MEAN STREETS, REASONS

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  6. Thanks Everyman and PeterO
    I liked LADY MACBETH and LAB COAT. I wondered if Everyman had forgotten that Eliot was the policeman’s firstname.
    Peter, it must be Dorain GrAy for the anagram to work (as Oscar had it, in fact).

  9. Thanks for my special mention at 4d, Everyman – how did you know?! Just a pity it had to be by Zoom (my birthday party, that is).

  10. I too took a long time to think that 1d could be loafing: just too obvious? I thought it was a (loose) convention not to have a direct word in the clue so straightforwardly part of the answer? Clearly not. I enjoyed 26a, again a while to think of a different kind of ‘lab’ and it made me smile. Overall fairly straightforward with the usual loose clueing on some. Thanks to Peter O for the explanations, I do like to see how I should have worked them out.

  11. A very enjoyable puzzle. I had ticks for DORIAN GRAY, BARONESSES, BENTHAM and SYRIA, which all had excellent surfaces.

    TassieTim @1, I wondered about the “calm” in 1a, but as Peter suggests @2, she is definitely the calmer of the pair in the earlier part of the play, but later becomes “rattled by death” – maybe that’s what Everyman had in mind. Or maybe that’s overthinking it. Anyway it was a great clue.

    The surface of 25a, “Ma wanting marsh tits represented in casual clothing” was bizarre! But funny.

    Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  12. Seems to me that HOBS is H + OB (for old boy) receiving seconds. Wanting would mean lacking seconds for a subtractive clue like the one for T-SHIRTS.

    LOAFING is “oaf” inside and anagram of ILNG.

    Thank you, Everyman and PeterO.

  13. Mostly a good effort by Everyman, but I was unimpressed by FOOTREST which I felt was “underclued”. The foot part was fine, but I can’t say I’ve ever come across a footrest under a desk so it would have been nice to have some wordplay leading to it.

  14. [Monkey @13 – perhaps you’re tall enough not to need a footrest under your desk! I always needed one.]

  16. Funny how everyone’s tastes are different. No one has mentioned my favourite clue, 16d INEDIBLE – excellent construction and a hilarious surface, being a typical English person’s comment on French cuisine. My second favourite was 1a LADY MACBETH.

    This was an excellent and nicely pitched Sunday crossword, so many thanks to Everyman and PeterO for the fun.

  17. [ Mycat @15, I agree, but arty and artful have developed negative connotations for many people, while art, artist, artistic and artistry haven’t. Go figure. ]

  18. Another enjoyable solve, though I needed to look up quite a few answers due to GK gaps. I also failed to parse 6D, thinking the T was barred from HOT, leaving an orphaned AVE. Sometimes its just too hard to “unthink” something & start afresh.

  19. Cobblers = desserts, you lot up over have some words which are a bit tricky down under.
    But a fun crossword this morning. Alan should be playing golf but has a cold so we did the crossword – probably a better result.

  20. Got the wrong end of the cobblers stick – thought we were looking for a load of rubbish instead and didn’t get what we deserved.

  21. First time in ages I finished and really enjoyed it; my favourites were Amassed, Baronesses, Inedible and Lab Coat even tho I think first of a golden lab before a black lab for some reason. Did not like or understand fully the reason being Heave Ho that was weird.

Comments are closed.