Everyman 3,931

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It appears that the scheduled blogger has again been unable to be with us so you will have to put up with this simple analysis of the clues. I have one or two reservations but I will leave it to you to discuss the detail.

Across
1 Smooth move: child’s play? (4,6)
SAND CASTLE – SAND (smooth) CASTLE (move {in chess})

6 Hardly any, you say? What a relief (4)
PHEW – sounds like (you say) ‘few’ (hardly any)

9 Son, charmer, baked pastries (5,5)
CREAM HORNS – an anagram (baked) of SON CHARMER

10 Russian‘s a little vigorous (4)
IGOR – contained in (a little) ‘vIGORous’

11 Messages about time-shifted treat: drink here? (6,6)
COFFEE TABLES – CABLES (messages) around TOFFEE (treat) with the T moved to the end (time-shifted)

15 Given a warning, changed (slightly changed) (7)
ALERTED – ALTERED (changed) with the T moved (slightly changed)

16 Bring-a-bottle party? Afraid not (2,3,2)
NO CAN DO – def. & cryptic indicator

17 Frenchman known for mould in spread that’s original (7)
PASTEUR – PASTE (spread) UR (original)

19 In retrospect, Everyman has small problem, that’s obvious (7)
EVIDENT – I’VE (Everyman has) reversed (in retrospect) DENT (small problem)

20 Primarily allegorical episodes (sometimes offering proverbial suggestions) following anthropomorphised beasts’ learning experiences succinctly? (6,6)
AESOPS FABLES – initial letters (primarily) of the rest of the clue – clue as def.

23 Suddenly change direction, getting knocked off (4)
SLEW – double def.

24 Interpreters tear apart rulers, according to Spooner (3-7)
LIP-READERS – a spoonerism of ‘rip leaders’ (tear apart rulers)

25 NT book / has an effect (4)
ACTS – double def.

26 Indian moon waning now? (4,6)
ANNO DOMINI – an anagram (waning) of INDIAN MOON

Down
1 Axe in bag (4)
SACK – double def.

2 Miss that’s born, daughter (4)
NEED – NEE (born) D (daughter)

3 Topshop came undone making a pile – that stinks (7,4)
COMPOST HEAP – an anagram (undone) of TOPSHOP CAME

4 Satirised pampered, absent son at last (7)
SPOOFED – SPOO[n] FED (pampered) without the N (absent son at last)

5 Light in city initially niggled bird (7)
LANTERN – LA (city) N[iggled] (initially niggled) TERN (bird)

7 Scotsman, tipsy, riding moon vehicle (10)
HIGHLANDER – HIGH (tipsy) LANDER (moon vehicle)

8 Argument over merit in poet (10)
WORDSWORTH – WORDS (argument) WORTH (merit)

12 Hair gel a cop recovered in islands (11)
ARCHIPELAGO – an anagram (recovered) of HAIR GEL A COP

13 Liquid Asian space? (7,3)
CASPIAN SEA – an anagram (liquid) of ASIAN SPACE – clue as def.

14 According to relative, coverage is constant (10)
PERSISTENT – PER (according to) SIS (relative) TENT (coverage)

18 Lout disrupted funfair (7)
RUFFIAN – an anagram (disrupted) of FUNFAIR

19 ‘I need a hug’ offered up – stop! (7)
EMBARGO – O GRAB ME (I need a hug) reversed (offered up)

21 I ran up to see where salami is sold? (4)
DELI – I LED (I ran) reversed (up)

22 Some fantastic wine (4)
ASTI – contained in (some) ‘fantASTIc’

39 comments on “Everyman 3,931”

  1. I wasn’t very impressed by EMBARGO. “O grab me” didn’t grab me as meaning “I need a hug”. NO CAN DO was nicely clued.

    Unfortunately I thought of “skew” and persuaded myself that it just about worked, so didn’t look very slightly further for the much better SLEW.

    Overall, I didn’t think it was Everyman on top form, but PASTEUR and SPOOFED were quite nice.

    … and of course a COMPOST HEAP should not stink.

  2. Thanks for stepping in Gaufrid. I needed your help for COFFEE TABLES and EMBARGO.

    Agree Monkey@1. re COMPOST HEAP. The definition stinks, but the wordplay is good. Maybe ‘Wasteful investment’ as an alternative def. 🙂

    Couldn’t find a satisfactory definition of ‘waning’ for its use as an anagram indicator in ANNO DOMINI, except that it’s etymologically related to Old English wana meaning defect. I suppose the question mark is there to indicate that it’s a bit of a joke.

    If I had to choose one it would be HIGHLANDER, for the image which made me smile, but I wonder if the Scots are tired of being characterised as inebriated. I imagine there are a lot of puns and in-jokes about Highlanders.

  3. Spent ages trying to work treat with a shifted t into 11a then realised the answer was COFFEE TABLES and the treat was toffee.

    Also liked ALERTED which had a similar construction.

    Other favourites SPOOFED (made me laugh), SAND CASTLE, LIP-READERS

    Thanks to Everyman and Gaufrid

  4. Thanks for the blog , agree with the favourites and will add CASPIAN SEA , which I thought was very neat.
    Had the same thoughts as PDM@2 for “waning”. It works nicely with moon but not really for the anagram.
    11 and 20AC are a nice rhyming pair this week .

  5. Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid. Unfortunately this goes down as a DNF for me – drew a total mental blank on 23a. Did consider SLEW but couldn’t reconcile “knocked off” until the penny dropped just moments ago… now kicking myself. Hard.

    I thought CASPIAN SEA was great though, among other favourites already mentioned. Unlike Monkey, I thought this was fine overall, and I liked EMBARGO too.

    “Waning” is a bit of a stretch for an anagram indicator, agreed, but I’ve seen worse from Azed. It seems to be one area of clueing where even the strictest setters take liberties with meaning for the sake of a good surface.

  6. When I printed this from the online site 8d had a typo “Argument overt merit…” and I am relieved to find that it was just the Grauniad being the Grauniad.
    Particularly liked NO CAN DO, and where AESOP’S FABLES is concerned, it’s brave to do an initial letters clue for a 12-letter light, but it works rather well.
    Thanks to Everyman and to Gaufrid for stepping into the breach.

  7. re paddymelon@2, as a gardener I wanted to protest about the definition of COMPOST HEAP as a “stinking pile”. Either Everyman knows nothing about gardening or there is something seriously wrong with their compost heap! I was turning mine last week in the calm before the storm (Zeynep as she was called here in Germany) and it didn’t smell at all.
    Thanks to Everyman and Gaufrid.

  10. As others have observed, there are some unsatisfactory things (as usual, I regret to have to say) in the Everyman puzzle. Some of the definitions for the answers I found insufficient, or wrong, as with the compost heap, plus we have the awful embargo, the tiresome first-letters clue, which today uses twelve words, and the well-worn no can do.

    Sorry in advance to anyone who will be sending a boo my way, but the setting just doesn’t feel right to me for the Everyman. One day perhaps we can return to the ‘easy, but witty, and good’ method that was once employed.

  11. Everyman has a mischievousness that I enjoy. Lots to like and many already mentioned. I gulped then laughed at the silliness/audacity/ambition of the twelve letter AESOPS FABLES. Happy with EMBARGO too.

    LOI was SLEW (on Friday)
    – held up because I knew the second definition but not the first.

    Thanks Everyman for another enjoyable puzzle and Gaufrid for making the show go on.

  12. Dnf, with just SLEW left. Never heard of the first definition, which fits SKEW fairly well, so couldn’t decide between the two possibilities. Otherwise, I enjoyed this a lot.

    No problem with EMBARGO, personally.

  13. I don’t find the first letters clue tiresome. It’s like crossword comfort food, not haute cuisine, but a reminder that it’s Sunday. I have to admit I agree about EMBARGO and waning, though. CASPIAN SEA was my favourite, bringing back happy memories of sturgeon kebabs.

  14. This was OK. On the positive side, I liked NO CAN DO with the topical reference to BYOB, and SPOOFED with the good wordplay.

    It must have taken some time to write the ‘primarily’ clue but I thought it was a bit silly, as, in my opinion, was the Spoonerism. The temptation to use waning in the surface of 26 was there but, like some others, I didn’t think it made a good anagrind. As I’ve said before, for this audience it might be just as well to stick to those anagrinds in the Chambers list.

    Thanks Everyman and to Gaufrid for coming to the rescue.

  16. Yes, as the last plantagenet@10 says, NO CAN DO is well-worn. The first person who ever thought of it had a nice idea, but it has been done to death since. The first letters clue, even if a bit laboured, as here, always seems pretty good, though. So, widdersbel@5, I’m not the only one to have noticed that people who are meticulous in their setting are often very relaxed about anagram indicators. Anything seems to go so long as it connotes some sort of jiggling. But to use the list of indicators in Chambers Crossword Dictionary, as Robi@14 seems to suggest, would seem to me to be rather hard on the poor setters.

  17. I spent far too long trying to parse 8d because I had ROW reversed (argument over) and couldn’t work out where the DS came from. Real “d’oh!” moment when I realised the clue was simpler than that.

  18. Quite tough – had to guess a couple that I was not sure how to parse:
    23ac SLEW
    19d rev of O GRAB ME

    Favourite: NO CAN DO (haha).

    Thanks, both.

  19. There are some really nice anagrams here. I grant you “hair gel a cop” doesn’t make much sense, but “Indian moon” to ANNO DOMINI is lovely, and “son, charmer” for CREAM HORNS ain’t bad.

    Thanks to Evreyman and to Gaufrid for stepping in.

  20. Yes Wil, ‘wane’ perhaps you might mean for example: ‘to grow weaker’. Well, it sure as eggs is eggs helps the surface there!

    I dunno if Albie Fiore was the inventor of the NO CAN DO idea, but he went for brevity with Bottle party?

  22. I see Matilda in the Guardian had: Impossible bottle party?. And someone else in The Independent had: Party enforcing six-pack ban? Impossible

  23. PS: Albie later established himself as a setter of crosswords – a characteristic clue, of which he was justly proud, was “No can do (6,5)”.

  24. Harder than the usual Everyman for me.

    I’m surprised at the dislike for EMBARGO, which made me smile. I have a stronger distaste than some for dodgy anagrinds, so it’s not surprising that my main complaint about this puzzle (about which others seem to agree) is “waning”.

  25. Missed SPOOFED, I just bashed in SCOFFED, which fits and sort of works, but doesn’t parse. I liked EMBARGO as well.

  29. Dutch @28
    I too am concerned and have been trying to make contact, so far unsuccessfully. No activity on 15² since just before Christmas which is not like Sil, who used to comment regularly.

  30. Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid. In 17a, why is PASTEUR associated with mould? I associate mould with Fleming, not Pasteur.

  31. Fleming is certainly associated with the mould that contained penicillin and killed bacteria. The work of Pasteur was more general but did involve harmful moulds as well as bacteria, Pasteurisation does stop the development of moulds as well as bacteria.

  33. Unlike some, I look forward to the trademark initial letter clue, some of which are breathtakingly smooth and clever. I applauded this week’s appearance for its audacity.

    Agreed about ‘waning’.

  34. Gaufrid @29 – I did wonder why we hadn’t heard from Sil for a while – I always enjoy his contributions here. Sincerely hope he’s OK.

  35. Was no one else upset with 4,6 for sandcastle, which has always been 10 in my book? I accept 4,6 is valid but certainly far less common

  37. hi all I rather enjoyed this and found the clues entertaining. Have no problem with o grab me though I confess it would be a miracle to hear anyone saying it.
    I usually hate the Spooner clues for their nonsense, but Lip Readers was a great clue. I liked Wordsworth, Compost Heap, Phew and Persistent. Although not sure about Tent for Coverage.
    like a few others, I had one that eluded me – Slew- did not get it. I do kind of see it now but not a perfect clue.
    in Pasteur – never heard of UR for original?

    First thing I thought about the compost heap was like most others, that it should not smell at all and was looking forward to bringing that up but everyone else did too.

  38. Agree with the critics of Embargo and the very silly twelve letter acrostic. Never heard of Ur or Toffee meaning treat. Or Cream Horns come to that. Perhaps I’ve lived a sheltered life.

    Add me to the list of well wishers for Sil. I think he would have dealt harshly to this crossword via the blog.

  39. Embargo was a very clever clue – well done Everyman.
    The acrostic is inevitably easy – almost a give away, so I cant understand how one can like one acrostic but not another. I cam accept that acrostics are contrived, but that more raises the question of if they should be included at all. I’m unsure, but do not that when we are stick they are very useful as a starter.
    Spoofed and slew defeated is as we had scoffed and scew. We must keep our focus to the end next time, rather than rush to check fifteensquared!

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