Everyman 3,904

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3904.

I have a few minor quibbles here, but nothing basic, which perhaps reflects the style on which Everyman is settling – definitely above Quiptic level (except a few maverick ones of the latter).

ACROSS
1 SLEEPYHEAD
12 sheep delay broadcast (10)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘sheep delay’. 12A RIP VAN WINKLE answers that in spades.
6 USES
Employs guessers now and then (4)
Alternate letters (‘now and then’) of ‘gUeSsErS‘.
9 FOLK SINGER
Traditional musician‘s fiddle enthralling ol’ Kansas (4,6)
An envelope (‘enthralling’) of ‘ol” plus KS (‘Kansas’) in FINGER (‘fiddle’).
10 COAL
Fossil fuel in eyeliner, we’re told (4)
Sounds like (‘we’re told’) KOHL (‘eyeliner’).
12 RIP VAN WINKLE
Somnolent type to tear open vehicle with seafood (3,3,6)
A charade of RIP (‘tear open’) plus VAN (‘vehicle’) plus WINKLE (‘seafood’). Rip van Winkle is the eponymous central character of a story by Washington Irving, who falls asleep for twenty years, missing the American War of Independence.
15 LEARNER
A little unclear, nervous beginner (7)
A hidden answer (‘a little’) in ‘uncLEAR NERvous’.
16 OBTAINS
Gets in boats to resort (7)
An anagram (‘to resort’) of ‘in boats’.
17 SPLURGE
Spend a lot, swell place obtained (7)
An envelope (‘obtained’) of PL (‘place’) in SURGE (‘swell’).
19 GODSEND
Go Dutch, splash out, save penny – stroke of luck! (7)
A charade of ‘go’ plus D (‘Dutch’) plus S[p]END (‘splash out’) minus P (‘save penny’).
20 CARRIAGEWAYS
I saw Gary race around roads (12)
An anagram (‘around’) of ‘i saw Garry race’.
23 ROAD
Highway travelled by horse noisily (4)
Sounds like (‘noisily’) of RODE (‘travelled by horse’).
24 METICULOUS
Fastidious Everyman given time: ‘silly not to deliver’ (10)
A charade of ME (‘Everyman’) plus T (‘time’) plus [rid]ICULOUS (‘silly’) minus RID (‘not to deliver’; ‘deliver’ as in “Deliver us from evil”, but the ‘to’ does not sit happily here).
25 SUEZ
Egyptian city where god’s rejected (4)
A reversal (‘rejected’) of ZEUS (‘god’).
26 LONGITUDES
Ungodliest, harrowing: together they circle the world (10)
An anagram (‘harrowing’) of ‘ungodliest’.
DOWN
1 SUFI
Primarily, spiritualist ultimately finding ihs?n? (4)
First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Spiritualist Ultimately Finding Ihsan’, Sufism is Islamic mysticism, much concerned with finding ihsan, perfection of worship.
2 ELLE
Beauty magazine, whichever way you look at it (4)
A palindrome.
3 PASSION FRUIT
Granadilla spread one consumed on Friday. Peeled? Quite (7,5)
A charade of PASSION, an envelope (‘consumed’) of I (‘one’) in PASS ON (‘spread’); plus FR (‘Friday’) plus UIT (‘peeled? qUITe’). The grantadilla is a fruiting vine in the Passiflora family, similar to the passion fruit.
4 HANOVER
Constituents of Antioch, an overseas principality once (7)
A hidden answer (‘constituents of’) in ‘antiocH AN OVERseas’; Hanover was an independent state in what is now Germany, for a period ruled by a Prince Elector.
5 ATE INTO
I tucked into tea, not ardently consumed (3,4)
An envelope (‘tucked into’) of ‘I’ in ATENTO, an anagram (‘ardently’) of ‘tea not’. The appearance of ‘into’ in clue and answer is unfortunate.
7 STOCKPILES
Bouillon for starters: pungent, inedible, the French food not yet eaten? (10)
A charade of STOCK (‘bouillon’) plus PI (‘for starters: Pungent Inedible’) plus LES (‘the French’), with a rather loose definition..
8 SILVERSIDE
No end of fish and beef (10)
A subtraction: SILVERSIDE[s] (‘fish’) minus the last letter (‘no end of’). Silverside is a cut of beef hindquarters; silversides is a family of fish, unfortunately for the clue also treated as a plural.
11 BIRTHDAY SUIT
The raw bananas: I try a dish, but … (8,4)
An anagram (‘bananas’) of ‘I try a dish but’.
13 FLASH CARDS
Vulgar wiseacre’s teaching aids (5,5)
A charade of FLASH (‘vulgar’) plus CARDS (‘wiseacre’).
14 TAILOR-MADE
Bespoke material old duke ordered (6-4)
An anagram of ‘material’ plus O (‘old’) plus D (‘duke’). Cf 18D, but I think that the justification here is a little more tenuous.
18 EL GRECO
Artist representing Creole? Good (2,5)
An anagram (‘re-presenting’) of ‘creole’ plus G (‘good’). This borders on a derived anagram, where the clue does not give the anagrist directly, and which is widely seen as unfair. However, the abbreviation of G for ‘good’ is so common that it may be forgiven.
19 GAWKING
Slack-jawed at first, getting affectionate with royal (7)
A charade of GA (‘at first, Getting Affectionate’) plus W (‘with’) plus KING (‘royal’).
21 BOND
Spy giving up date of birth (including name) (4)
A reversal (‘giving up’) of an envelope (‘including’) of N (‘name’) in DOB (‘date of birth’).
22 ASPS
Wife avoiding insects and snakes (4)
A subtraction: [w]ASPS (‘insects’) minus the W (‘Wife avoiding’).

picture of the completed grid

25 comments on “Everyman 3,904”

  1. Liked SPLURGE, TAILOR-MADE.

    Did not parse: 13d flash cards (def = teaching aids).

    New for me: GRANADILLA = passion fruit; silversides = fish (8d).

    Thanks, both.

  2. Many nice clues here. Not sure how one is to know that 10a is coal and not kohl since both fit in puzzle. Is coal being first sufficient reason?

  3. acrossthepond @2
    It is a common gripe with “sounds like” clues, that it is not always clear which form is the answer – especially here, where both fit the crossers. However, in this case, I chose COAL as the answer because ‘in eyeliner, we’re told’ seemed to me to suggest that way (‘in’, muffin’s bugbear, helps with that).

  4. I think there is a better justification for COAL, rather than KOHL (@2, 3). The definition is traditionally at either beginning or end, not in the middle. I enjoyed this, though I need help parsing FOLK SINGER and SILVERSIDE. Thanks, PeterO and Everyman.

  5. Another good puzzle which I enjoyed tho’ I now realise I parsed SILVERSIDE incorrectly.

    Liked STOCKPILES, METICULOUS, RIP VAN WINKLE and the last two little ones BOND and ASPS.

    At first had *yawning* for 19d tho’ couldn’t see how it parsed, then thought it might be *fawning* – same problem. This made 19ac difficult. When I finally realised that 19ac must be GODSEND I thought 19d must be *gawping* which still didn’t parse then at last the penny dropped and I got to GAWKING – one of my last ones in.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  6. Thanks for the blog. COAL is fine for me because of the order. If “we’re told ” was in the middle the clue would be ambiguous, it often is.
    I am fine with the anagrams for 14D and 18D , the letters are actually in the clue, unlike cu for copper recently.
    I found this very tidy overall and the rhyming pair is very nice.
    25AC is what you were looking for Gladys.

  7. Thanks Everyman and PeterO
    George I of Britain was Elector of Hanover. His descendants were too, until Victoria, as Hanover had a “Salic Law”, and she was unable to succeed. The title instead went to her cousin, one of the Dukes of Cumberland.

  8. We’ve been here in previous crosswords: a homophone clue where the crossers don’t determine which option is correct. I had KOHL for 10ac although having read the comments above, I agree that it should probably have been COAL. With 23ac only one of the homophones fits. As usual, some really nice anagrams; ungodliest and birthday suit being my favourites. 24ac had to be Meticulous from “fastidious” and the crossers, but after MET I couldn’t parse the rest of the clue. I got 8d correct but by the wrong route. I knew that silverfish was a thing (though not a fish) but didn’t remember silversides the fish. Overall, another enjoyable puzzle and my thanks to Everyman and PeterO.

  9. I really didn’t like 5D, not just because into was both in the clue and answer, but also ardently as an anagrind?

    Otherwise quite enjoyable with some nice anagrams.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  11. Fairly enjoyable Everyman.

    I didn’t think there was an issue in incorporating standard abbreviations into the anagram fodder of 14D and 18D since the enumerations showed that these were single letters. I thought the surface of 12A was a little silly. I didn’t know GAWKING; I just assumed that that was gawping, although I couldn’t parse it.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  12. I hit a brick wall with 16ac and 6dn. Just didn’t see the anagram indicators as such. Gave up and moved on. Not a criticism of Everyman – the problem is entirely with me suffering a mental block. Both seem obvious now I can see the answers. Maybe I would have got both if I’d come back to this with fresh eyes during the week.

    On the other hand, I had no trouble with 10ac, didn’t see it as at all ambiguous – as per the convention spelled out by TassieTim @4.

    Thanks PeterO and Everyman.

  13. Pleasant puzzle, thank you Everyman and PeterO.

    3d PASS ON for ‘”spread” seems like a bit of a stretch.

  14. What Blah@9 said. For 5d, how about “I had tea, not about twice consumed”.

    Thanks Everyman for the fun and PeterO for the nice blog.

  16. A pleasant and entertaining puzzle as always. I ticked BIRTHDAY SUIT which was clever. SILVERSIDE didn’t seem to work so well for the reasons given in the blog.

    PeterO, I’m not sure I agree with you when you say that the sort of anagram at 14d and 18d is “widely seen as unfair”. I’ve just put a mini-dissertation on the subject on General Discussion (where it can be safely ignored).

    Many thanks both.

  17. I knew I’d seen SUEZ/ZEUS somewhere recently – but of course nobody was allowed to say so until the Everyman was out of purdah.

    Didn’t know silversides were fish.

  18. Good start to the week.

    Like Pedro @4, I assumed the definition for VETOES was ‘votes cast about embargo.’ I liked EARLINESS and SEEP.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

  20. Re anags such as we see @ 14 & 18 dn, they are regarded as fair in certain quarters (including one that has an otherwise rigorous style sheet), and as inelegant or impure in others (including another one that also has a rigorous style sheet). In my experience such things can be worked around, and around, until you get something you like, according to your (editor’s) personal taste.

  21. Must be the lockdown-induced foggy brain, but this Everyman seemed harder than usual. At least the sun is out for the weekend!

  22. I enjoyed this, didn’t parse everything, partly through putting Class Cards and Gawping erroneously. Agree 5D was doubly bad, answerword in clue and defective anagram indicator: where is the mayhem or reassembly implicit in ‘ardently’?

    That apart, and overall, the recent lift in standards is maintained, thank you Everyman and PeterO.

  23. Like others I parsed 8 down in terms of “silverfish”. I took
    the “no end” to mean to chop off the “fish” and also interpreted “side” as “no end” (not an end). A bit of a stretch, but hey, it worked for me!

    Enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks to Everyman and to PeterO.

  24. Same for me Rolf. I immediately thought of those creepy little critters that invade our linen cupboards and shuddered. Silverside jumped off the page and I shuddered again (childhood memories of the accompanying soggy carrots and squeaky cabbage). Very nice crossword that I completed in record time (for me of course).

  25. Took me til Sunday to finish -found it harder than other weeks.Funny how fresh eyes find answers that were impossible to solve day before
    I too thought of silverfish and liked splurge, stockpiles, asps the best.
    I would have added 12 ac to my list but the clue didn’t make any sense

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