The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3908.
Like Sil last week, I found myself with the left half filled (even 1A, unknown to me – has the potato variety reached a degree of fame in the UK? Otherwise, it seems a somewhat specialized piece of knowledge to match with a none-too-simple clue) and virtually nothing in the right half. No rhyming pairs this time, but possible semantic connections – STREETS AHEAD and ON THE UP-AND-UP, or SONG and DANCE – which might be an appropriate motto for the last two Everymans (Everymen?).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MARIS PIPER |
Potato I coated in chocolate and seed put before Queen (5,5)
|
| An envelope (‘coated in’) of ‘I’ in MARS (Bar, ‘chocolate’ – is it OK to imply the bar?) plus PIP (‘seed’) plus (‘put before’) ER (Elizabeth Regina, ‘Queen’). Apparently, it is now the most widely grown potato variety in the UK, being versatile and resistant to some nematodes. | ||
| 6 | ZOOM |
Noisy scene, mass online chat (4)
|
| A charade of ZOO (‘noisy scene’) plus M (‘mass’). | ||
| 9 | GRANNY FLAT |
Concede around New Year: ‘Florida’s where retiree might live‘ (6,4)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of N(‘new’) plus Y (‘year’) plus FLA (‘Florida’) in GRANT (‘concede’). | ||
| 10 | STYX |
Goes spearing, we’re told, in hellish river (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘we’re told’) STICKS (‘goes spearing’ as in pig-sticking). | ||
| 12 | STREETS AHEAD |
About time pilots returning, each a long way off (7,5)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of T (‘time’) in SREETS, a reversal (‘returning’) of STEERS (‘pilots’) plus A HEAD (‘each’ – “only five quid a head”). | ||
| 15 | AVERRED |
Pronounced a little slaver ‘redeemable’ (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘a little’) in ‘slAVER REDeemable’. | ||
| 16 | CO-CHAIR |
Help to oversee French swine, not on air (2-5)
|
| A charade of COCH[on] (‘French swine’; pushing the envelope of the French expected of English speakers) minus ON (‘not on’) plus ‘air’. | ||
| 17 | TABASCO |
Hot liquid state (7)
|
| Double definition: the hot sauce, and the Mexican state. The sauce is named for its principal ingredient, the tabasco pepper, and the pepper is named for the state. | ||
| 19 | CARROLL |
Author‘s two automobiles? Almost (7)
|
| A charade of CAR and ROLL[s] (‘two automobiles’) minus the last letter (‘almost’); there are probably several other authors, but surely Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) is intended. | ||
| 20 | ON THE UP-AND-UP |
Being successful, UN had pop tune composed (2,3,2-3-2)
|
| An anagram (‘composed’) of ‘UN had pop tune’. The phrase has two meanings: successful or honest. It is probably your choice whether ‘being’ is part of the definition (the slightly awkward “he is being successful”) or just introduces the definition. | ||
| 23 | DEAR |
Expensive ducks (4)
|
| Double definition, the second being a term of endearment. | ||
| 24 | VERSAILLES |
Palace where ninth stanza read aloud? (10)
|
| Sounds like (‘read aloud’) VERSE I (‘ninth stanza’ if the previous ones were lettered A, B etc.) | ||
| 25 | NITS |
Nasty infestation tormenting scalps, primarily! (4)
|
| First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Nasty Infestation Tormenting Scalps’ &lit (but to be pedantic, it is not the nits which torment, but the lice which hatch from them – OK, Chambers does give an alternate meaning of nit as a young louse). | ||
| 26 | ESTATE CARS |
Upset that dodgy actress secures vehicles (6,4)
|
| An envelope (‘that… secures’) of ATE (‘upset’) in ESTCARS, an anagram (‘dodgy’) of ‘actress’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MUGS |
Faces simpletons (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 2 | REAM |
Read 1,000, not 500 + 500 sheets of paper (4)
|
| ‘Read’ with the D (Roman numeral ‘500’) replaced by M (likewise, ‘1000’). | ||
| 3 | SONG THRUSHES |
The son shrugs off noisy creatures (4,8)
|
| An anagram (‘off’) of ‘the son shrugs’. | ||
| 4 | INFIELD |
Toward wicket, one lacking faith died down (7)
|
| INFIDEL (one lacking faith’) with the D moved to the end (‘died down’ in a down light’). | ||
| 5 | ELASTIC |
The last ictodosaur, somewhat resilient (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘thE LAST ICtodosaur’. Why did Everyman choose the obscure ictodosaur rather than, say, the better known icthyosaur (or, to take a quite different tack, ice-age)? Wikipedia does not even mention the word, and a search turns up mainly dictionary definitions (perhaps it is a discredited interpretation of the fossil record?) | ||
| 7 | ON THE WAGON |
Cowboy may be seen here, avoiding saloon? (2,3,5)
|
| I suppose this is intended as a double definition, but I cannot say that I like it: covered wagons and cowboys are both prominent in Western lore, but the former would be used by settlers, and cowboys might be familiar with the chuckwagon, but not on it. Everyman seems to be fond of clues which straddle the divide between a double definition and an extended crypticish definition (cf. 13D). | ||
| 8 | MIXED GRILL |
Adjusted sound of quiz with plenty of meat (5,5)
|
| A charade of MIXED (‘adjusted sound of’) plus GRILL (‘quiz’, verb). | ||
| 11 | DANCE ROUTINE |
Ruin anecdote about some choreography (5,7)
|
| An anagram (‘about’) of ‘ruin anecdote’. | ||
| 13 | EAST LONDON |
Where those who are harmless are said to have no weapons? (4,6)
|
| What would you call this? It refers to the dropping of aspirates , so that harmless comes out as ‘armless (‘no weapons’). | ||
| 14 | MELBA TOAST |
Everyman has pound, wanting a drink and a snack (5,5)
|
| A charade of ME (‘Everyman’) plus LB (‘pound’) plus (‘wanting’) A TOAST (‘a drink’). | ||
| 18 | ORPHEUS |
Unopened body of work describing he who went to Hell and back? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘describing’) of ‘he’ in [c]ORPUS (‘body of work’) minus the first letter (‘unopened’). | ||
| 19 | CANASTA |
Second time for drive in Trudeau’s land: it’s a pastime (7)
|
| CANADA (‘Trudeau’s land’ – a whole family prominent in the country, including the current Prime Minister Justin) with the D (‘drive’ – not in Chambers except in combination – FWD for front or four wheel drive) replaced by S (‘second’) plus T (‘time’), for the card game. | ||
| 21 | ULNA |
Regularly pulling at bone (4)
|
| Alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘pUlLiNg At’. | ||
| 22 | ISIS |
Goddess brought about emphatic agreement in Mexico (4)
|
| A reversal (‘brought about’) of SI SI (’emphatic agreement in Mexico’). |
I liked STREETS AHEAD, ON THE WAGON, INFIELD, ORPHEUS (loi).
New: COCHON = pig, TABASCO = state in Mexico; MARIS PIPER.
Thanks, both.
No rhyme, no alliteration – but a bit of a song and dance. I found the bottom went in faster than the top. I had to construct the spud – I think I have vaguely heard of it but it must be a Pommy variety. I’m not sure about the cowboy being ON THE WAGON – I had him (home, home) on the range for a while. The cowboys were on horses, surely – the pioneers on/in the wagons. Thanks, Everyman and PeterO – your thoughts and mine were similar in many places!.
Tassie Tim @2
1A: well, it is a Pommy de terre.
PeterO @3 – LOL!
Thanks again, Everyman and PeterO
My reading of 7d is that if the cowboy is avoiding the saloon (bar) it might be because he is on the (metaphorical) wagon, i.e. teetotal. Nothing to do with the range or real wagons.
Haha, love the Pommy de terre!
I was thinking of the same parsing as adrianw for 7d.
Thinking about the cowboy on or not on the wagon, the old Cowboys and Indians movies that I recall often had the Indians versus the white men (and their families) travelling in wagons and in that sense I guess I thought of those (or all?) white people as being the ‘cowboys’ within that film genre.
I liked this one more than PeterO seemed to. If you have played boules (or petanque) you might know that the small ball is called the cochon (or little pig). Most cars over here have a gear shift with P for park, N for neutral, and D for drive. As others have mentioned “on the wagon” means attempting to recover from an alcohol addiction (and thus avoiding the saloon).
I did think that the potato variety was a bit difficult but it did have reasonable charade given the crossing letters.
I liked EAST LONDON, my LOI. Not sure what you would call that. The whole thing reads as a cryptic definition, with a kind of reverse cockney indicator.
Made me laugh. Like a riddle in a Christmas cracker.
A pleasant little diversion, so thanks Everyman.
There seems to be a mini food theme with at least four answers referencing it.
I agree with the recovering from alcohol interpretation for 7d too.
I noticed he used the same device in 2&19d, maybe even 16a.
Otherwise the usual mixed bag.
Thanks for the blog PeterO.
Enjoyed this.
Worked out that the second word for 13d must be LONDON but gave up on the first word so did not quite finish.
Like others had *on the range* for 7d then the penny dropped.
MARIS PIPER was one of my favourite clues – though I prefer King Edwards to eat.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Thanks for the blog, I think MARIS PIPER is in wide use these days. Markets will certainly label potatoes as Maris Piper ( also Kind Edwards from Fiona Anne ) , other varieties just labelled as Whites or Reds.
I did like East London , thought it was very original and overall I found this pretty sound.
I did pick up the ON THE WAGON = avoiding the salloon (bar) at the time when I got the answer. No problem with that part – I just thought the definition was pretty weak, as cowboys weren’t ‘on the wagon’ in any literal sense – they were on their horses. As I said, the wagoneers were pioneers or settlers, not cowboys (at least in my understanding of the Wild West).
I think the question mark implies that this is unusual behaviour in both senses. For a wagon train the cowboys not usually on the wagon, by reputation the cowboys would not usually avoid the saloon and be teetotal.
Definitely the teetotal explanation for 7d, but it still doesn’t mean that you would expect to find cowboys on a wagon. Nor is a SONG THRUSH the first creature you’d think of as “loud”.
The AILLES=I=ninth business went straight over my head, I’m afraid.
I too liked ON THE WAGON and EAST LONDON I think a possible category might be something along the lines of cryptic pun?
MARIS PIPER was my FOI, and to me it was a gimme. I didn’t work out the ‘ninth’ in VERSAILLES, so thanks for explaining that and also for pommy de terre – lol
I’m afraid that most of us Brits would mispronounce VERSAILLES as “verse isles” or even “verse ails”!
Here’s a cowboy on a wagon 🙂
TBF the clue does say “may” and have a question mark
MARS without bar is ok – the advert used to say “a mars a day helps you work, rest,
and play”. Whether it’s fair to clue one proper noun with another like that …
According to the (now sadly defunct) web-site potatopro.com (yes, really), King Edward is the best known variety of potato in the UK at 84% recognition (YouGov poll in 2012. Yes, I’m being serious here. Stats, authorities and all!!!). Closely followed by MARIS PIPER at 83% and Jersey Royal at 81% (those are the new potatoes that famously appear earlier than others). So we may get more appreciation/defence of 1ac as the day goes on. (Interestingly, brief research suggests that varieties are less well acknowledged in the other two large English speaking parts of the world – Australia which seems to market under brand names and North America which seems to go by colour). Clearly, no chip on my shoulder when it comes to this subject!
PostMark @18. In Mainland Australia, they may market by brand names, or even just call them all ‘potatoes’, but we Taswegians know our spuds. But the varieties here (pink eyes, bismarks and so on) are different to the Pommy de terres, so I have never heard of Maris Piper here (King Edwards, yes, but not Jersey Royals either). BTW, pink eyes are the best spuds in the world (IMHO).
Did anyone else get a strong Qaos vibe from this puzzle?
I suspect he’s doing some moonlighting…
Cyprus potatoes are the best in the world but only seem to be sold in proper markets, I have never seen them in any supermarkets , perhaps not sufficient quantities produced for them.
Roz @11: With huge respect, I think you made a minor hash of your post: Kind Edwards? I’m not gnocching you – it’s just half-baked proof reading. So no need for a roasting – or a rosti-ing – in return. I’ve been fried by you before – and it’s still grating. … I’ll get my jacket.
Agree problem with pronunciation of Versailles even the French would widen the ‘tall’ i sound to an ‘eee’ at the end. Also not sure about lettering verses. Can lines be known as verses when working out a rhyme scheme ?
Laura @23: ‘the French would go ‘eee’ at the end’ – but so do weee 😉
I do think it’s weird that we’re expected to be familiar with ancient mythology and long-extinct dinosaurs, yet the name of a very common variety (in the UK at least) of a very common vegetable is apparently niche knowledge!
Thanks Everyman and PeterO. I liked the VERSAILLES clue (when the penny eventually dropped) – notwithstanding quibbles about pronunciation or whether verses may be lettered rather than numbered. I think COCHON is acceptable, being sub-GCSE level vocabulary – I would think most people are as likely to know that as to know the symbols for chemical elements (sub-GCSE level chemistry).
MARIS PIPER make excellent chips, by the way.
PM @22 – nice mash-up of puns.
Thank you MrPostMark @22 for pointing out my mistake so humorously , I cannot even blame the alto-connect thing and the D is not even next to the G . I will blame my post-swim fingers.
Enjoyable, my favourite was MARIS PIPER.
The best Everyman puzzle for quite some time in my book. Last in & the biggest head scratcher for me was EAST LONDON which I thought a super clue among plenty of other fine ones.
Thanks all.
PM@22. Hilarious. Red-skinned, laughing out loud.
Does anyone call it ‘Vair-sigh’ nowadays? Yes, the French more or less do. My guess is that we’re all so insular that we can’t make any attempt to pronounce French words as the French do. As a result this clue was rather hard.
I think a stanza is a verse, so talk of lines is irrelevant, surely?
Wil Ransome @ 31 – I confess I have never in my life heard it pronounced ‘Ver-sails’, which it is suggested that most British people do, but I must have led a sheltered life. I wonder how frequently those ‘so insular’ and so ignorant of how to pronounce the name of a French palace (or, for that matter, the treaty named after it that ended WW1), would be likely to find themselves in the position of trying to do so in any case.
“Does anyone call it ‘Vair-sigh’ nowadays?” Well, I do for one. But Verse-aigh is, surely, wrong, whether in French or in English. I am with those who think that “Cowboy” was unnecessarily inaccurate; it would have been easy enough to put something like “Wild West pioneers” without losing the pun. In 26A, how does “upset” correspond to “ate”? It seems that no one else is baffled by this, but I certainly am.
Apologies, all, for the earlier waffle.
RG @33: ‘what’s eating you?’ = ‘what’s upsetting/worrying you?’
The vairse/verse thing was the one aspect that caused me some doubts as well. But, then again, that’s just a Sassenach problem – maybe Fiona Anne or S’s c will confirm that it’s not an issue for our Scottish friends?
A bit of chit-chat is always fine on here MrPostMark@34
I pronounce it *Ver sigh* so the *verse i* works for me – but no idea if that is typical for other Scots. I have always been told that Scots are better at pronouncing French than English people because of how we pronounce some words – don’t know what others think.
Thanks Fiona Anne @37. Just to clarify – your ‘ver’ rhymes with ‘air’?
And yes, I’m happy to concede that the Scots are better at many things, including French pronunciation. 🙂
No – sorry – my *ver* is like the beginning of *very*
Like I said no idea if it is right
Am I the only person who has a problem with 23a? I am not aware of any way in which “ducks” could become “dear” – the former being strictly plural and the latter being strictly singular when used as terms of endearment. “Expensive duck” would be a good clue but the incorrect plural annoys me to a probably irrational extent.
Enjoyed the rest of it though – I couldn’t parse Versailles but having seen the explanation it is an exact homophone as I would pronounce them.
Patrick @40 ducks to mean dear was certainly used a lot when I was growing up and just referring to one person
Just add my bit on Versailles – I would say it exactly as verse I – get this from my history teacher at school.
Patrick@40 ‘ducks’ is an exact equivalent to ‘dear’ but is perhaps a term that is falling/has fallen out of use nowadays, so that only people of a certain age are familiar with it.
And Roz@41 I wonder how your history teacher at school got on with your French teacher. The French pronunciation of the first four letters of ‘Versailles’ is far more like ‘vair’ than ‘verr’ as in ‘herd’, and in the case of words that are clearly foreign (rather than those like ‘banquet’, which are imported and which you’d find in an English dictionary) some attempt should in my opinion be made to pronounce them something like the way the users of that word do. So Everyman’s clue isn’t very good I think.
Interesting how much we argue over homophones in foreign languages, given the extremes of difference in accents and pronunciation of English just within the four nations of the UK alone – sometimes even within just a few miles. From my knowledge of the French (admittedly both dated and limited) they would be more impressed if one’s grammar was correct than in your pronunciation and accent.
Thank you, essexboy @35. Clearly, that must be the explanation. However, while I am, of course, familiar with the term “What’s eating you/him/her?”, I am morally certain I have never heard anyone say or write “That ate him” to mean “That upset him”. “That was eating him” perhaps, but not “That ate him”.
“in the case of words that are clearly foreign (rather than those like ‘banquet’, which are imported and which you’d find in an English dictionary) some attempt should in my opinion be made to pronounce them something like the way the users of that word do.”
Do I dare ask how you pronounce “Paris”?
I think somewhere between “v?r – sigh” and “verse i” is pretty close to how I often hear English-speakers pronounce the word (OLD gives v?r?sa? and M-W gives v?r-?s?). It’s a well-known name in English and I don’t think it’s within the scope of Everyman to try to fix the language. I think it’s a solid clue, though it didn’t occur to me to think of “I” as the 9th letter of the alphabet, so I spent a bunch of time wondering what happened to the “X” in “IX”.
hmm, the fifteensquared database can’t handle the schwas I pasted in 😛 so they are all question marks now. But the point should be clear enough.
In 22D, should there not be a “for example” or equivalent after “Mexico”? There is, surely, nothing especially Mexican about the phrase “Si si”, which has that meaning in any Spanish-speaking (or Italian-speaking) country.
Roz @41 interesting, I grew up in the East Midlands in the 90s and heard duck, ducky and even “ay up me duck” quite a lot. I can’t ever remember hearing “ducks” used to address a single person though and it sounds really weird to me.
The city of Versailles, Kentucky, USA is definitely pronounced “vers-ails” — you’d get puzzled looks and/or corrections if you referred to it with the French pronunciation. But when referring to the French palace, I think many English speakers, including me, would say something very close to “verse I”.
I share the puzzlement about cowboys being on the wagon. I’m another who had “on the range” for a while (but didn’t know how to parse the saloon part of the clue).
I only knew the “honest” meaning of “on the up-and-up”, and I’m not sure I’d heard the expression “streets ahead” before, but the cluing got me to the answers, so my ignorance didn’t do me any harm, and now I know some new things.
JDQ @45
If all the characters which did not register are intended to be the standard schwa symbol, ə, you can insert them by typing ə. (nb. the string you should type ends with the semicolon – the period belongs to the sentence) See here and following pages, although it does not seem to list ə.
Patrick @48: I’m with Roz in that I’ve mainly heard the endearment as “duckS” to a single person.
For what it’s worth, here’s my theory: it may have originated as a term of endearment for a baby, ie. “what a little duck!”, once a common compliment on being presented to a baby, becoming over time “Ducky”. This eventually got shortened to “Ducks”, rather as Maggie became Mags, or Barry became Baz…
I’ll get my matinee jacket.
Agree re the “duck”/“ducks” comments; my husband is from the Potteries and the term , very common there, is always in the singular. It is, I am given to understand, also used around the Midlands generally so it may be different in other places, but as a Potteries man, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head!
13d: I thought this by a process of elimination and other crossers, but why? I get the explanation but despite several favouring it, I cannot see enough in the clue to lead it to this answer. I’m very much with Peter0, not the best of clues. More weak than clever imo.
[PeterO @50: thanks for the schwa tip. I’ve just done a little searching and discovered the HTML codes for all the phonetic symbols here.]
Sara @52 et al
duck/ducks: As you say, it may be a regional thing. The OED only gives the singular, but the supplement adds the other, with examples, of course, including two from the Times (one being “One is waited on; called ‘sir’, not ‘ducks’.”)
Is Boffo right about Qaos? Is Everyperson John Tabraham?
18d Why does ‘Unopened’ mean the ‘c’ is removed? I’m a novice.
I think I’ve heard ‘ducks’ as an endearment in the south-east.
Thank you
Rosie @56
18D: that is a trick you should remember, because it ,or similar, comes up frequently: ‘unopened’ means striking out the opening – first – letter.
Thank you.- that’s useful. I got ‘Orpheus’ by a different route- opus +re + h(e), thinking ‘body’ meant the answer, but was left puzzled by ‘unopened’.
What’s with the cliche about East Londoners!
And yes I have heard ver sails from Americans.
And I’m sorry you folk don’t get Agria.
Enjoyed this although the spud had to be googled. Agria are the taters of choice here.
Didn’t get that ate = upset and thought resilient an odd definition for elastic. Verse I was a bit strained too.
East London was a nice reversal. Overall a good crossword to while away our never ending long weekend lockdown.
Found this very hard. Needed a *lot* of wildcard dictionary help and web searching to get it out. Thought “Maris Piper” was unbelieveably obscure. “On the wagon” fits perfectly with “avoiding saloon” but is just dead wrong for “Cowboys may be seen here.”
Favourite was “East London”. Fell about laughing when I finally got it (using a wildcard dictionary).
Thanks to PeterO for explaining all the answers I could not parse (and to essexboy@35 for the elaboration on
ate = upset, by which I, like Robin+Gilbert@33, was totally flummoxed).
This was fun. Loved the clue for maris piper (but will still stick to agria). Felt a bit offended for the sweet-singing thrushes being referred to as noisy creatures! Verse eye is exactly how I would pronounce the palace so enjoyed that one. Got co-chair through guesswork not knowledge. Couldn’t get estate cars. I was convinced it was a person’s name so was thinking of potential “dodgy actresses” and figured I’d be here all day so gave up.
Really enjoyed this crossword thank you! Maris Pipers, Jersey Royals, King Edward’s, Agria- all worthy spuds cooked everywhichway.
I thought Versailles was a weak clue – shame it could have been a really good one. Difficult when introducing foreign words and expecting that the world over it will be pronounced correctly.
Wasn’t too impressed with Ate to mean upset. To me, it is meaningful in the present tense as was used as an example but doesn’t commonly transfer to the past tense.
Clues I liked best: Styx, Maris piper once I decided to check out UK potato varieties , unknown to us here in Agria land. Also like Carroll, Melba Toast. I didn’t get On the wagon which was a fantastic clue and wish I had got it.
had no problem with use of wagon.
Mostly very good. Glad we had a long weekend.
On the wagon was great. For those who thought it wasn’t really enough cowboyish, please read The Virginian. All will become clear (not a Lone Ranger or posse in sight).
Sorry I’m late. I liked 7d; you can drive/ride wagons in Red Dead Redemption so the dd is just fine by me.
New to Everyman, harder than most cryptics. I had opus as body of work and smoodged around to Orpheus in 18d.
For 5d, I threw in tuatara (certainly the most “resilient” living creature on the planet), being convinced I would find ictodosaur as it’s specific name. Alas not.
I also had “on the range” which threw me out for that top right-hand corner.
Maris Piper?? Never heard of them spuds! Must be me Irish roots.
Will keep trying.