Everyman 3,920

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3920.

The usual Everyman trademarks, with perhaps an extra helping of general knowledge – at least, that was my impression at the time. Looking back, I do not see much more than usual, and indeed the film title is becoming something of a standard feature for Everyman. We are happily without the blatant error that gave last week’s offering a sourish taste.

ACROSS
1 SUMMER SOLSTICE
Ones who do sums to slice when wastage occurs, finding turning point (6,8)
A charade of SUMMERS (‘ones who do sums’) plus OLSTICE, an anagram (‘when wastage occurs’) of ‘to slice’.
8 ANON
A refusal in Paris will be coming soon (4)
A charade of ‘a’ plus NON (‘refusal in Paris’).
9 SOLAR CELLS
These are collarless, fitted and they might keep you warm (5,5)
An anagram (‘fitted’) of ‘collarless’.
10 LEGATO
Gelato blended smoothly (6)
An anagram (‘blended’) of ‘gelato’. We seem to have had a spate of musical directions in crosswords recently.
11 NUISANCE
Endless, unceasing, awful pest (8)
An anagram (‘awful’) of ‘unceasin[g]’ minus its last letter (‘endless’).
12 NOT SO FAST
‘Slow down!’ making you more likely to run? (3,2,4)
Definition and literal interpretation, referring to a non-colour-fast fabric.
14 BRIS
Berries regularly consumed in Jewish rite (4)
Alternate letters (‘regularly consumed’) of ‘BeRrIeS‘.
15 SIRE
Goddess of discord returns to see father (4)
A reversal (‘returns’) of ERIS (Greek ‘Goddess of discord’).
16 BLACK SWAN
Boycotts sick-looking film about ballet (5,4)
A charade of BLACKS (‘boycotts’) plus WAN (‘sick-looking’), for the 2010 film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman.
20 CANNIEST
Superlatively skilful, refined ancients (8)
An anagram (‘refined’) of ‘ancients’.
21 CASTRO
Socialist actors run out (6)
A charade of CAST (‘actors’) plus RO (‘run out’, cricket summaries).
23 PIGEON-TOED
With feet pointing inward, glutton takes age to come forward at last (6-4)
A charade of PIG (‘glutton’) plus (‘taking’) EON (‘age’) plus ‘to’ plus ED (‘comE forwarD at last’).
24 LIVE
Ultimately frugal: Everyman has to be (4)
A charade of L (‘ultimately frugaL‘) plus I’VE (‘Everyman has’).
25 STAINLESS STEEL
Listen: eat less, starting with small cutlery? (9,5)
An anagram (‘starting’ – as response to a surprise, I suppose) of ‘listen eat less’ plus S (‘small’), with a somewhat tenuous definition – or indication by example, which might account for the question mark.
DOWN
1 SAN REMO
Southern European Roman resort? (3,4)
An anagram (‘re-sort’) of S (‘southern’) plus E (‘European’) plus ‘Roman’, with an &lit definition.
2 MANIA
Craze that is, we’re told, increasingly ‘leonine’? (5)
Sounds like (‘we’re told’) MANIER, a whimsical coinage for having a more prominent mane.
3 EASE OFF
In East End that man’s going to relent (4,3)
‘E’S OFF, with ‘in East End’ suggesting both the dropped aspirate and the ‘sounds like’.
4 SALINE SOLUTIONS
At first surgeon dresses … wrapping key component of cleaning wounds (6,9)
An envelope (‘wrapping’) of SOLUTION (‘key’) in S (‘at first Surgeon’) plus A-LINES (‘dresses’).
5 LARKIN
Librarian and rhymester, Kingston-upon-Hull’s ill-humoured notable, primarily? (6)
The ‘primarily’ clue, treating the hyphens as forming single words; a potted biography of the poet Philip Larkin, although he moved about quite a bit, and only lived the latter part of his life in Hull (he was the Librarian of the Uniiversity of Hull). He was also a jazz critic, and a fellow alumnus of St.John’s, Oxford.
6 THESAURUS
Isaac’s son devoured by songbird, detailed in book (9)
An envelope (‘devoured by’) of ESAU (‘Isaac’s son’) in THRUS[h] (‘songbird’) minus the last letter (‘de-tailed’).
7 CALICOS
Being a little economical, I costed plain white fabrics (7)
A hidden answer (‘being a little’) in ‘economiCAL I COSted’.
13 SERENGETI
The writer supports peaceful … engrossing … good time in national park (9)
A charade of SERENGE, an envelope (‘engrossing’) of G (‘good’) in SERENE (‘peaceful’); plus T (‘time’) plus I (‘the writer’, with ‘supports’ placing the I at the bottom of the down light).
15 STATIST
In Jacques Tati’s ‘Trafic’ we see advocate of big government (7)
A hidden answer (‘in … we see’) in ‘JacqueS TATI’S Traffic’ – an actual film.
17 CICADAS
Noisy beasts, 101 reprobates, Australian being hugged (7)
A charade of CI (Roman numeral ‘101’) plus CADAS, an envelope of A (‘Australian’) in CADS (‘reprobates’).
18 ARRIVAL
On the radio a contender’s coming (7)
Sounds like (‘on the radio’) A RIVAL (‘a contender’).
19 REGNAL
Drink raised taking note of a king (6)
An envelope (‘taking’) of N (‘note’) in REGAL, a reversal (‘raised’ in a down light) of LAGER (‘drink’).
22 SOLVE
What you’re trying to do, alone, very engrossed (5)
An envelope (‘engrossed’) of V (‘very’) in SOLE (‘alone’). Cf. ‘engrossing’ in 13D.

picture of the completed grid

27 comments on “Everyman 3,920”

  1. Found the last two Everyman puzzles more difficult than usual but this one was fine.

    Liked both the homophones MANIA, EASE OFF and also BLACK SWAN and THESAURUS.

    CICADAS reminded me of my first night in Japan – they really are noisy.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  2. I thought the second part of NOT SO FAST referred to a situation where someone shouted at a person caught in a misdeed *hey you – not so fast* as they ran away.

  3. Again, I was able to spot the fact that there would be alliteration answers due to the grid used – helpful (and SOLAR CELLS almost provides a fourth – homophonically, anyway). NHO BRIS, but the clue could not be clearer – similarly BLACK SWAN as a film. STATIST also appeared recently. Enjoyable – thanks, PeterO and Everyman.

  4. New for me: BRIS, ERIS = Greek goddess of strife and discord.

    I did not parse 4d (guessed Saline Solutions).

    Thanks, both.

  6. Thanks for the blog, I had not noticed the film titles but now you mention it I realised it does seem to have become a regular feature along with the primarily.
    The letter S to add to Jay’s list this week.
    Did not know BRIS and agree with Tassie Tim@3 about the fairness of the clue.

  7. @Roz, duly noted. Did you also notice that Everyman varied the usual alliterative grid just a little to make 1a and 25a 14 rather than 13 letters, so that 1a becomes (6,8), thus thwarting our earlier attempts at predicting future 1a entries, very sneaky!
    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  8. First thought – surely Everyman doesn’t think ‘aligns’ is spelt ‘alines’????? (I was thinking dresses = aligns in the sense of ‘to dress ranks’.) I hadn’t even thought of A-lines, so thanks PeterO for coming to the rescue, and sorry for doubting you Everyman.

  9. On NOT SO FAST, I had PeterO’s parsing of ‘non-colour-fast’, with the ‘you’ in the dative. ‘I’ll make you a nice cup of tea’, with ‘I’ being the solution, ‘you’ being the solver, and ‘a nice cup of tea’ being the alternative definition.

    I can see Fiona Anne’s and Crosser’s alternative @2/5, but I’m not totally convinced – in the case of a miscreant running away, isn’t the ‘Hey you!’ to get them to stop, with the ‘Not so fast (sunshine)’ more likely to be spoken once they have already stopped, or slowed down, or been apprehended?

  10. I mis-parsed 12, not noticing the alternative meanings of fast and run – very clever. Thanks Peter O & Everyman.

  13. essexboy @ 9

    I thought that *not so fast* could also be shouted at a miscreant observed in the act causing them to give up and run away.

    The non-colour-fast didn’t occur to me.

  14. Thanks Everyman and PeterO. This was a good one! CANNIEST is a neat anagram. And the clue for THESAURUS is very nice. Also enjoyed the LARKIN primarily.

    The subtleties of the grid design are completely lost on me, but I’m enjoying the ongoing commentary from Jay and Roz. I did spot the alteration though.

    Mildly surprised so many are unfamiliar with BRIS. The butcher in The League Of Gentlemen is called Hilary Bris, which I always thought was a rather gruesome joke.

  17. Like essexboy I wondered about alines and also missed the dye sense in NOT SO FAST. ESAU seems to be catching up with CAIN as the crossword-setter’s favourite old testament character. I expect to see “Cockney nonchalant man with a weakness for soup” 4 soon.

  18. I also noticed that CASTRO was an anagram of actors, although I don’t think that that was the intended parsing. I know that Everyman likes to use unusual anagrinds but I think that ‘starting’ is rather doubtful. I don’t think it was very likely that Isaac’s son could be devoured by a songbird but perhaps a bird-watcher can elucidate. STATIST was nicely hidden.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  19. Jay @7 I did not notice the change to (14) but it is obvious now you mention it, I suppose (15) would work as well, It is just the central down answer that needs to stay the same.
    I was with Fiona Anne@ 2 for NOT SO FAST but have changed my mind now I have seen the colour-fast idea. Clearly MrEssexboy@9 has more experience of being arrested than others.

  20. Robi @18 – maybe not, but it sounds plausibly like the kind of crazy thing you might read in the Bible.

    I’m sure Esau used to crop up a lot more often in crosswords, usually clued as ‘hairy man’.

  21. Calico isn’t a plain white fabric, it’s printed with colorful designs. My calico cat isn’t a plain white one either.

    Nice one, essexboy@16!

    Pleasant workout last week, thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  22. Like Fiona @2 and Crosser @5 I too interpreted it as a natural reaction of a miscreant to do a runner. But thanks PeterO for the not-so-fast colour-fast which is a delightful concept that I would otherwise have missed.

  23. Valentine @21 – calico seems to be yet another one of those words that changed its meaning when it crossed the Atlantic. It’s definitely a plain white cloth over here.

  24. widdersbel@23 in case you read this. Here’s wikipedia on calico, which seems to say both that “calico” originally was printed fabric and that now it can be printed or not. In spite of its comment about UK/US differences, to me calico is a fabric, not a pattern. Do you have calico cats over there, and if so what do you call them?

  25. Thought a number of the anagrinds were pretty iffy, esp. Fitted, Wastage and Starting. Where is the mayhem or jumble in any of those words?

    San Remo was a good clue.

    Failed to parse 4 or 13D, and not keen on acrostics ignoring hyphenated word parts. So all in all another rather disappointing crossword I fear.

  26. We got 21ac from an anagram of actors, so another way of solving it? We had not heard of Bris, nor Statist so lots to learn from this one. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

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