Everyman 3,926/9 January

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Another solid and tractable puzzle from Everyman to accompany my Sunday morning coffee.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1 Commonplace kind of crossing?
PEDESTRIAN
A dd.

6 Old tribesman regularly used lion’s claw
INCA
The odd letters of lIoNs ClAw.

9 Turnips! I am displaying austerity
PURITANISM
(TURNIPS I AM)* with ‘displaying’ as the anagrind.

10 Hands back in exchange
SWAP
A reversal of PAWS.

11 Apportion old rule encountering demonstrator and streakers
METEOR SHOWER
A charade of METE, O, R and SHOWER.

15 Soil, grit mostly mixed for platforms
OIL RIGS
(SOIL GRI[T])* with ‘mixed’ as the anagrind.

16 At first, soldiers and meditators; ultimately, rulers – awfully intense!
SAMURAI
The initial letters of the last seven words of the clue, and a cad.

17 Flipping artificial intelligence to arrest gangster leading Balkan state
ALBANIA
A charade of AL [Capone] and AI plus NAB reversed.

19 Food options hotel bar detailed for musician
MENUHIN
A charade of MENU, H for the phonetic alphabet ‘hotel’ and IN[N]. ‘Detailed’ needs to be read as ‘de-tailed’ – in other words, with the last letter removed.  Yehudi MENUHIN, the violinist regarded by many as the greatest of his generation.

20 Key vehicle pulling another in part of airport
CENTRAL TOWER
A charade of CENTRAL and TOWER.

Edit: in fact, it’s CONTROL TOWER, which makes much more sense.  The reference is to the CTRL key on your keyboard.  Thanks to those who pointed out my mistake.

23 Takeaway where French is spoken
TOGO
You’d order a takeaway TO GO, which if you run the two words together gives you the Francophone country in West Africa.

24 Still, that’s how a very brief debate is?
MOTIONLESS
A dd, with the second part a slightly whimsical one.

25 Auditor’s opposed to advance payment
ANTE
A homophone (‘auditor’s’) of ANTI.

26 Give speech to drinkers, depicting what’s often included in tab
ADDRESS BAR
If you give a speech to drinkers, it could be said that you ADDRESS BAR. The definition refers to part of a webpage tab.

Down

1 Everyman engaged in second clarifying remark in tweets
PIPS
An insertion of I for ‘Everyman’ in PPS, which is one step further one than just a PS or post scriptum.  The insertion indicator is ‘engaged in’.

2 One creating stain, we’re told, is dreadful
DIRE
A homophone (‘we’re told’) of DYER.

3 Who creates backdrops representing singed trees?
SET DESIGNER
(SINGED TREES)* with ‘representing’ as the anagrind.

4 They smuggle strips of carpet
RUNNERS
A dd. Think drug runners.

5 Adult, tension rising, swears
ASSERTS
A charade of A and STRESS reversed. Since it’s a down clue, the reversal indicator is ‘rising’.

7 Why we snort dubiously is significant
NEWSWORTHY
(WHY WE SNORT)* with ‘dubiously’ as the anagrind.

8 Poisonous creature’s hosting ‘topless’ version: slander!
ASPERSIONS
Pretty weird surface reading, but it’s [V]ERSION inserted into ASPS. The insertion indicator is ‘hosting’ and the first letter removal indicator is ‘topless’.

12 Shun big name, resolving to see people in general
HUMAN BEINGS
(SHUN BIG NAME)* with ‘resolving’ as the anagrind.

13 Peculiar avocations in Canadian province
NOVA SCOTIA
(AVOCATIONS)* with ‘peculiar’ as the anagrind.

14 Questionable, seeing military demonstration when it’s dark
FLY-BY-NIGHT
A charade of FLY-BY and NIGHT.

18 A Lord Lieutenant, elderly, taking time taking everything in
ALL TOLD
An insertion of T in A, LL and OLD. The insertion indicator is ‘taking’.

19 Less cheerful: French sea swallows specs, swim cut short
MOODIER
An insertion of OO and DI[P] in MER. OO is crosswordspeak for ‘specs’ because of the physical resemblance to two lenses (well, the ones that Harry Potter wears, anyway). The insertion indicator is ‘swallows’.

21 Perhaps Basil’s tucked into feather bed
HERB
Hidden in featHER Bed.

22 Powerful person in sports arena
TSAR
Hidden in sporTS ARena.

Many thanks to Everyman for this weekend’s puzzle.

37 comments on “Everyman 3,926/9 January”

  2. You were correct, as confirmed by the solutions now available. ‘Key’ is the CTRL key on your keyboard.

  3. Another good puzzle which went in a bit quicker than usual for me.

    My favourite was METEOR SHOWER, partly because it contained METE – a lovely word. I like seeing old words I know but rarely use popping up in crosswords.

    Other ones I liked were PIPS (which made me smile and was one of my LOI), TOGO, PEDESTRIAN (my FOI), MOODIER

    I guessed ANTE – didn’t spot the homophone.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre

  4. I also put central tower, assuming they mustn’t be called control towers in the UK. CTRL is much cleverer.
    Some good clues though seemed to be a lot of anagrams & (not so hidden) hiddens. Favourite was Meteor Shower, with Motionless, Address Bar and Fly-By-Night close behind.
    Thanks Pierre & Everyman.

  5. Thanks for the blog, I also put CONTROL TOWER , I was baffled by the key but it was the only tower I know from airports.
    I agree with the praise for METEOR SHOWER which formed the rhyming pair.
    I wonder if the OO for spectacles first came in with John Lennon ?

  6. I haven’t been doing the everyman for a while but started again last weekend (I was saving Azed for a journey in the week) and I’m glad I did! I thought this was very satisfying to solve with a few chewy bits of parsing that I thoroughly enjoyed.

    Control tower almost got me, I am usually stumped by keyboard references though I’ve no idea why that should be so.

    Excellent rhyming pair.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  8. Aren’t snakes venomous rather than poisonous? That’s all from pedants corner for now. An enjoyable Sunday morning stroll

  9. I enjoyed this puzzle but was confused by 6 across, surely ‘South American Empire’ would make more sense than ‘Old tribesman’ or is there a sense of Inca I’m not familiar with?

  10. Thanks for the blog, Pierre. And thanks Everyman for another entertaining crossword. I do enjoy the trademark “primarily” clues and SAMURAI is no exception.

    Jake @9 – I think as long as it’s a valid definition, the setter is free to go with whatever works best for the surface. Besides, “South American empire” would have been too much of a giveaway for what was already a fairly easy clue.

  12. Another Observer puzzle that doesn’t quite feel right for style to me. A mixture of the awkward and occasionally the too-obvious, though I think in the end I’m missing the smooth wit we sometimes see in better-crafted puzzles. It feels very Guardian, which is something it never really was, in my view.

  13. @widdersbel haha yes fair enough. I guess I’m arguing it’s not a valid definition as – as I understand it – the Incas were not a tribal society. But yes definitely drifting into unproductive pedantry here and I did really enjoy it!

  14. Another good Everyman.

    I ticked CONTROL TOWER and MOODIER.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre. ‘Where French is spoken’ was a bit loose for the definition of TOGO, I thought.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  16. Thanks for the blog, Pierre. Is it only me who thought 9a was a reference to Blackadder? When his puritan aunt (Miriam Margolyes) visits and is served a suggestively shaped parsnip.

  18. An entertaining puzzle as usual. I do however agree with Jake @9 and 13 that “tribesman” is wrong for INCA. “Tribe” implies a pre-city level of development. It would be normal to refer to the ancient British Brigantes or Iceni as tribes for example, but you would hardly call an ancient Egyptian a tribesman.

    Thanks Everyman and Pierre.

  19. Quite a rapid solve, but I took a while to work out 9ac because I had wrongly bunged in DYER instead of DIRE for 2d.

    Thanks, both.

  20. To answer your question @16 about 9ac, brian-with-an-eye: very probably yes. But don’t feel bad about it. Crosswords take us to some esoteric places.

  21. #19 michelle sometimes, when the indicator bisects the two apparent definition terms, it can be harder to spot which one is actually the homophone. 2d is okay, as the use of ‘is’ helps to point us in the right direction, but I feel your pain.

  22. Paul Tutukaka @4

    I noticed that there seem to be quite a few anagrams in each puzzle and I counted them in the last few weeks and there were usually six or seven. (This is not a complaint.)

    When I decided, back in May, no longer to use aids when doing Everyman puzzles I still did use an anagram finder once I was sure that I had identified the anagrind and the fodder as I was too impatient to work them out. This was often helpful getting me on my way in the puzzle. But I have now stopped using the anagram finder and become more aware of how many there are. I am not that good at solving anagrams – but I am improving.

  23. Sorry, Pierre, but I’m damned if I’d ever order a coffee or anything else “to go” – that’s just another ugly Americanism which I can do without!

  24. vicktim@23 If you wanted to take your coffee with you, how would you ask for it? (In Spanish you’d say “para llevar”)

    Thanks to Everyman and Pierre.

  25. Valentine @24, I don’t know about vicktim, but I would order it “to take away” or “to take out” or “to take with me”.

    An easier Everyman but one of a series of more satisfying ones recently.

  26. Lord Jim@18, what about the Roman tribes – did they not live in a city?

    Correctness of Inca definition notwithstanding, this was a typically enjoyable Everyman, for which much thanks.

    Roz@5, I wonder who is the more renowned figure in today’s culture – John Lennon or Harry Potter?

  28. cellomaniac26 I suspect that Harry Potter is far more famous today, especially amongst younger people. I wonder if this will be true in 50 tears time ?
    Mountain lions are surprisingly very distant relatives of lions, jaguars are much closer. Mountain lions can purr, the true big cats can only roar.

  29. Enjoyed this one though got hung up on mainstream for 1a. It seemed to fit the definition of commonplace and could I suppose be a place for crossing. Worked well the the latter half puzzle crossings. Of course, left 1d and 2d as mysteries. Correct answer is quite nice though i always thought the commonplace meaning a bit class-ist to those who had to walk or prefer not to ride.

  33. Fun puzzle that we did over breakfast.
    Even though it is a lot easier with two, we didn’t find any clue that challenging. Hope it gets a bit harder in the future.

  34. The septics have much to answer for, but using the expression “to go” is one of their less egregious sins.

    I found this puzzle very satisfying; mostly challenging, but I got it all out without any computer assistance. To me “control tower” was straightforward; “central” would never have occurred to me.
    “Meteor shower” (11 across) was my LOI.

    Thanks to Everyman and to Pierre.

  35. Took a while to shake off Widespread and Mainstream as candidates for 1A

    I rather liked Togo. It’s slowly creeping into use here, especially getting coffee etc during lockdowns. There are worse abuses of the language.

  37. I found this one to be a bit easier than usual. Again I found the correct answer at times without fully understanding why!
    Thanks Pierre for the clarifications and our mysterious Everyman for the setting.

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