Only one or two rough edges this week. The Everyman crossword is getting better and is moving towards becoming what it says on the packet, a good sound entry-level crossword like the old Everyman. Are the rhyming clues 8dn and 13dn? Or 12ac and 16ac?
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, hidden, reversal, etc) in italics. Letters omitted are [like this].
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | OUT OF TOUCH |
‘Old-fashioned‘, old university with ‘tense’ old fellow? ‘Tense? That hurts!’ (3,2,5)
|
| o U t o f t ouch! — the first o = old, then U = university, t = tense, o = old (again), f = fellow, t = tense (again), ouch! = that hurts! — lots of quotation marks here: I’m not sure they’re all needed | ||
| 6 | SPAS |
Part of hospitality industry: foolish people in retirement (4)
|
| (saps)rev. | ||
| 9 | SHRINK-WRAP |
Therapist with discussion that offers protection (6-4)
|
| shrink w rap — shrink = therapist (slang word for a psychotherapist), w = with, rap = discussion | ||
| 10 | RIAL |
Saudi money? Retreat, retreat! (4)
|
| (lair)rev. — the first Retreat is an imperative verb telling the second retreat (= lair) to reverse | ||
| 12 | ADRIATIC SEA |
Resort site: Arcadia (it’s part of the Med) (8,3)
|
| *(site: Arcadia), with ‘resort’ an imperative, an instruction to re-sort | ||
| 15 | UPSIDES |
They’ll deliver packages ‘on 15th March, perhaps’ – plus points!? (7)
|
| UPS Ides — UPS, the delivery service (which so far as I know is UK-centred so will be a problem for our worldwide readers), the Ides of March is the 15th March — one sees UPS more and more in crosswords nowadays, because it’s a convenient way to clue three letters which often appear together in English; but they’re getting free advertising and I’ve seen criticisms of this — I’m not quite sure how to understand ‘perhaps’: I thought the Ides of March was definitely the 15th, but maybe with the new calendars since Roman times this has become only an estimate | ||
| 16 | LET IT BE |
Beatles song, The French Bird, live (3,2,2)
|
| le tit be — le = the in French; tit = bird, live = be (live rhyming with sieve) | ||
| 17 | YOU WAIT |
U8? That sounds like a threat (3,4)
|
| “U8” — if you say this out loud, it could (just about) be interpreted as ‘you wait’, but in some accents the ‘w’ wouldn’t be sounded. I say ‘in some accents’; some people might think that should be ‘in most accents’ | ||
| 19 | CARRIED |
Bore seeing vehicle with bumpy ride (7)
|
| car *(ride) — ‘seeing’ a link-word — Bore is not a noun but the past tense of bear | ||
| 20 | STANDOFFISH |
Cold – it’s often covered in ice! (11)
|
| A fish stand (or a stand of fish) often has ice over it — the exclamation mark is being used as Ximenes didn’t like, saying ‘I’ve made a little joke, ho-ho’: it’s quite a good one, though (however hackneyed in crosswordland it may be) | ||
| 23 | BACK |
Rugby player‘s retreat (4)
|
| 2 defs — a back is a position in rugby, to retreat is to back | ||
| 24 | MEANINGFUL |
Telling Everyman: ‘Wave Union flag, nothing to lose‘ (10)
|
| me *(Uni[o]n flag) — me = Everyman — this self-referral seems to be as much a part of Everyman crosswords as the long rhyming answers | ||
| 25 | EASE |
At heart, Balearic cassette offers calm (4)
|
| [Bal]ea[ric] [cas]se[tte] — usually ‘at heart’ refers only to the word that follows, but in this case it refers to the next two words | ||
| 26 | VANITY FAIR |
Victorian allusive narrative – it tickles your fancy? Accordingly, I recommend, to start with, ____! (6,4)
|
| First letters, referring to this book | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OAST |
It provides beer and some toasties (4)
|
| Hidden in tOASTies — I personally don’t like ‘some’ as a hidden indicator, because it doesn’t quite mean ‘some letters of’, but this usage is very widespread | ||
| 2 | TYRE |
Rubber cushion for bore that’s outspoken (4)
|
| A tyre on a car is a rubber cushion against the hard road, and to bore is to tire, so it sounds like “tire” — the homophone is indicated a bit oddly but one often sees this — American readers might be a little bewildered by this clue | ||
| 3 | FINE AND DANDY |
Penalise a vacuously natured fop? OK (4,3,5)
|
| Fine a n[ature]d dandy — fine = penalise, dandy = fop | ||
| 4 | ONWARDS |
Where nurses go in direction of front (7)
|
| If you’re moving onwards you’re moving in the direction of the front — nurses go on wards | ||
| 5 | CHAGALL |
Painter‘s title describing witch (7)
|
| c(hag)all — call (verb) = title, hag = witch, describing in the sense of going outside — Marc Chagall | ||
| 7 | POINSETTIA |
House plant‘s site? In a pot, strangely! (10)
|
| (site in a pot)* | ||
| 8 | SALSA VERDE |
Serve salad, tossed: it contains capers and anchovies (5,5)
|
| (Serve salad)* — this was a struggle because although I realised that it was an anagram of ‘serve salad’ the answer escaped me despite most of the checkers: I’d never really heard of it. I googled ‘salad capers anchovies’ without success and eventually found the answer electronically. So far as I can see the ingredients which Everyman insists are part of it are in fact somewhat optional — there seem to be lots of varieties of salsa verde | ||
| 11 | BITTER SHANDY |
Resentful, quiet, Warhol’s concocted thing involving pop? (6,6)
|
| bitter sh Andy — bitter = resentful, sh = (be) quiet, Andy Warhol — bitter shandy is a mixture of bitter and either lemonade or ginger beer | ||
| 13 | BUSY AS A BEE |
Characteristic of a hive of activity? (4,2,1,3)
|
| A sort of Cryptic Definition? I’m not very convinced by this: I suppose that if you’re as busy as a bee you’re in a hive of activity, and there is the reference to the hive, but that’s how the expression originates. Can anyone explain? | ||
| 14 | ASSURANCES |
Promises Caesar: ‘Sun’s to rise‘ (10)
|
| (Caesar Sun)* — the anagram indicator ‘to rise’ seems a bit odd: does it really indicate jiggling or disruption? | ||
| 18 | TAFFETA |
Material from Falstaff et al. (7)
|
| Hidden in FalsTAFF ET Al. | ||
| 19 | CHIANTI |
Greek character (averse to wine) (7)
|
| chi anti — chi is the Greek character (letter), anti = averse to | ||
| 21 | OFFA |
Mercian king taking most of entrails (4)
|
| offa[l] | ||
| 22 | BLUR |
Britpoppers‘ endless promotional material (4)
|
| Blur[b] — this group |
I thought some of the clues were ungainly and awkward, but I have to give Everyman credit for hiding VANITY FAIR well enough for me to miss it on my first pass.
Enjoyed UPSIDES and the politically-dubious RIAL.
Thanks both.
14d RISE – think of “rise up”, as in riot
I thought STANDOFFISH was great – really made me laugh.
Also liked the rhyming pair FIT AND DANDY, BITTER SHANDY.
Other favourites were UPSIDES, LET IT BE
I got confused on LAIR as I thought the Saudi money was riyal
Thanks Everyman and John
I’ve never seen an OAST produce beer; it dries hops for use in beer brewing.
Credit to Everyman for producing a fun Crossword every week. Oh that the Quiptic compilers were so consistent. Thanks John for the explanations.
Re. 15A, UPSIDES, because each month in the Roman calendar has ‘IDES’, I took ‘perhaps’ as being an implicit recognition that the IDES of March was only one of 12 possible IDES. ‘Say’ might have been more recognisable crosswordese for this.
Yes, I thought Saudi money was riyals, but it’s obviously one of those pesky alternative spellings. VANITY FAIR was well concealed, unlike the laborious OUT OF TOUCH. STAND
OF FISH and LE TIT BE were fun.
Favourites: CHAGALL, SALSA VERDE, STANDOFFISH, MEANINGFUL, YOU WAIT (loi).
New: BITTER SHANDY.
Remember staring in awe at one of Chagall’s windows but can’t for the life of me remember where (can no longer ask Mrs ginf, and it would take too exhaustive a photo-search). Meanwhile, immediately thought salsa verde but needed all crossers to make sure, and the ‘hive’ and ‘cold’ clues are both what I call nudges (or allusions). All part of the fun, thanks Everyman and John (welcome, or have we seen you before?).
[grantinfreo @9: there is a stained glass window by Chagall in Chichester Cathedral – there maybe?]
I don’t understand the quibbling over Everyman’s clueing. I agree with Spooner’s catflap@6 – it is consistent and fun.
UPS is US owned and global. Salsa verde can, I guess, mean any old green sauce but the classic recipe calls for capers and anchovies and I wouldn’t have it any other way – it’s an umami heaven.
I must say though, I’m with Ximenes on exclamation marks.
Michelle @8 BITTER SHANDY is one of the most British things ever.
Shirl @2: ‘Rise’ had me thinking of bread. The rising process is the result of reactions between yeast and sugars that certainly involves changing structures. I think you’re is better but it’s a possible alternative?
UPS is a US Corporation and, I think, present on all continents so it should be familiar to our internationally based commenters.
I’m another who enjoyed LET IT BE and the delightful STANDOFFISH. I was also taken with the construction of BITTER SHANDY.
Thanks Everyman and John
I’d note that TOWARDS is an equally good, if not better, solution to 4d (better IMHO because nurses are on wards but they go to wards ). That held up 1a for me for a little while.
Thanks to Everyman and John
I thought 16a LET IT BE was great. “The French Bird” could (almost) be an alternative title for “Michelle” – a really good surface.
Many thanks Everyman and John.
Grantinfreo there are some in a small church in Tudely in Kent or maybe you saw the ones in Jerusalem ?
[GinF
This might be useful. I’ve seen the ones in Reims.]
[Yep muffin @17, think it might have been Reims. Spent a week with mates in a little town in the Champagne region, St Quentin le Petit in fact, and toured the area]
Good Everyman fare.
I particularly liked CARRIED, POINSETTIA and VANITY FAIR. I thought the 1A clue was unnecessarily wordy. For U8? I wondered if this was supposed to be U with (w) EIGHT to give the YOU W AIT homophone.
Thanks Everyman and John.
On ides, it is, or was, a day falling near the middle of the month, 15 in some month, including March, 13 in others, so the clue is spot on. I also did not find SALSA VERDE despite having correctly identified the anagram fodder, but the clue seemed very fair to me. (I can’t stand either capers or anchovies so never eat it, which may be why I didn’t spot it.) Others have affirmed the international nature and American origins, of UPS. Overall, I thought this was all very fair though I was not entirely on Everyman’s wavelength last week (unlike today!).
Oh and thanks to Everyman and to John.
I obviously have one of those accents that hears a W in the middle of U8 – or perhaps doesn’t emphasise it enough in you wait. Whichever it is, it works for me.
Unless one inserts a pause between the components when speaking, ‘U 8’, ‘you wait’, ‘ewe ate’, and ‘yew weight’ are all homophones. With a pause, all bets are off, as Eliza Doolittle shows at the end of her song: “Oh ho ho, ‘enry ‘iggins down you’ll go, ‘enry ‘iggins, just… you… wait.”
The Ides of each month in the Roman calendar fell on the first full moon of the month, some time between the 13th and the 15th — not necessarily always on the 15th. The Ides of March were on the 15th, but not so for every month. Hence the “perhaps.”
What is a fish stand?
I have not yet internalized Everyman’s “initial letter” device, so didn’t twig to it in VANITY FAIR. Instead, with _A_I_Y _A_ _ _ I thought it must be “Family something,” maybe a Family Saga like the Forsytes, though I think the likes of Jalna are more 20th Century.
John — most of us Yanks on this site are used to British spelling, I’d bet.
Offa of Mercia seems to have made a good many crossword appearances of late — he’s getting to be a regular.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
Valentine @24: Offally frequent!
I took a fish stand to be a plaice (!) where one buys fish. Outdoors or in a market or, perhaps, also something like a whelk stand? I guess I’d more usually use the word stall but I suspect stand has been used in that way.
I took stand of fish to be a raked dispay on a fishmonger;s stall. There used to be several in Blackburn fish market.
I forgot to thank Everyman and John earlier.
I came here in hopes of finding out that there was something more to 13dn. No doubt you’re right that it’s just meant as a cryptic definition, but in that case it seems to me not at all cryptic. I was hoping that I was missing something, but I guess not.
Oh, well. They can’t all be gems.
10ac seems to me to be one of those reversal clues that could go either way: I didn’t know whether to write in RIAL or LAIR. I know some people regard that as a flaw in a clue, but I don’t (as long as the crossers resolve the ambiguity, of course).
[ I would not call a bitter shandy fine and dandy – what a waste of a good ale ]
I’m with TimW@11 – for some reason Everyman gets more niggling criticism than other setters, and I don’t think it is warranted. The rhyming couplets are fun, and the weekly primarily clue is always worth a chuckle. Thanks Everyman for the fun, and John for the nice blog.
Late to the party, but having just eaten a Thai dish with tomatillos in it, I was reminded that I meant to add this comment: where I live, salsa verde means the condiment made from tomatillos and jalapenos, not the pasta sauce with capers. Of course, I live in the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country (yes, our native speakers of Spanish outnumber Argentina’s), so that’s natural. So that clue made my eyebrows raise. I’d meant to comment on Sunday, but I had a week-early Mother’s Day thing that occupied us.
Another good one. Favourites were 15ac (had to look up 15 March) & 20ac (new to me). Thanks John & Everyman.
Hi Paul
how did you get this crozzy on May 23 ?
The NZ Herald only had it today!
The usual fun challenge.
I agree with others that Everyman gets a lot of toadally unfair flak. Really enjoyed this puzzle; got it all out after considerable struggle. LOI was “tyre”. Couldn’t get my head in the right place ….
Favourite was “standoffish” — ROFL when I finally worked it out.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
oasts dry hops – they don’t provide beer.
Sap = foolish person? Really?
I must be one then, never heard of it.
Agree with the eyebrow raising around the Oast Houses. Bit of a leap.
Really enjoyed this.
Standoffish was a great answer and we didn’t get it. Good to be defeated by a great clue.
Second week in a row found this weekend’s puzzle hugely enjoyable. Like Rolf I also had tyre as LOII didn’t twig to Vanity Fair and wrote Easily Said – not really right but it fit.. I should have realised there is another way other then ‘primarily’Favourites were Upsides, Shrink wrap, Chianti; I thought Busy as a bee was great and clueing was fine
Kiwipair@31 I got sick of The Herald slipping further behind the times & switched to solving online. I’m now up to date which has its own frustration – having to wait a week for this blog to come out. Hope I don’t become one of those grumpy first-responders.