Everyman 3,951

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Everyman producing another fine to me Sunday morning crossword, not too tricky for most solvers of all levels.

All the usual suspects, initial letter clue, name check and rhyming couplet all present and correct, thanks Everyman. If you need clarifications please speak up and I or other commentors will assist.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Contrived neologisms bringing misery (10)
GLOOMINESS

A contrived NEOLOGISMS*

6. In conversation, all initially relieved by Everyman giving promise to pay late (4)
CHIT

Start with CHAT – conversation replacing A(ll) initially by I – Everyman. My last one in, took a few mins to spot what was going on.

9. In tent, forces on manoeuvres finding kind of chocolate (4,6)
SOFT CENTRE

Manoeuvring [TENT FORCES]*

10. Surrounded by flipping dull Austria (4)
AMID

Reversed – flipped (DIM – dull & A(ustria))

11. Abundance, supply: holy, kind – Amen (4,3,5)
MILK AND HONEY

A supple [HOLY KIND AMEN]* See 20a

15. Turned right away, or changed gradually (7)
EVOLVED

Right taken from (r)EVOLVED

16. Clever clogs (Sting, that is) (7)
SMARTIE

SMART – sting & I.E.

17. Go off with – largely – the quality of a ninja (7)
STEALTH

STEAL- go off with & most of TH(e)

19. Source of veal increasingly florid Earl’s swallowed (3,4)
RED DEER

E(arl) in REDDER – more florid

20. According to Spooner, ornamental edging peculiar, needing cash (7,5)
FOLDING MONEY

A spoonerism of MOULDING FUNNY. Been a while since I had any, it’s payment by card these days.The other half to the rhyming couplet – 11a

23. Recess taken from rap session (4)
APSE

hidden – taken from –  rAP SEssion

24. Declaration: ‘It’s a career’ (10)
PROFESSION

Double def

25. Poet‘s boring in retirement (4)
BARD

DRAB reversed, retired

26. They dance and sing about Egyptian god’s ancestry (6,4)
CHORUS LINE

C(irca) & Egyptian god HORUS & LINE – ancestry

DOWN
1. German tree that’s cut (4)
GASH

G(erman) & ASH tree

2. Lounges not opening for louts (4)
OAFS

(L)OAF meaning to lounge

3. Very fast with classic greeting, Lord Lieutenant is not half conniving type (11)
MACHIAVELLI

MACH 1 – speed of sound & AVE – classic greeting & L(ord) L(ieutenant) & half of I(s)

4. Kind son re-fitted safer kind of tyres (3-4)
NON – SKID

A re-fitted [KIND SON]*

5. Therapists‘ contracts (7)
SHRINKS

Double def

7. In the U.S., aim to alter history, etc. (10)
HUMANITIES

An altered [IN THE US AIM]*

8. Rest day arranged with bed and cuddly companions (5,5)
TEDDY BEARS

[REST DAY BED]* arranged

12. That man’s attention is on capital investments? (11)
HEADDRESSES

HE – that man & ADRESSES

13. Ultimately daring, tucking in to the French duck, briefly flambé meaty hunks (4,2,4)
LEGS OF LAMB

(darin)G inside LES – “the” French & O – duck, nil & most of FLAMB(e)

14. Near Cram finally, Coe’s overtaking: Cram’s first runner-up? (4,6)
COME CLOSER

(cra)M inisde COE & C(ram) & LOSER – runner up.

18. Greedy type, earthy, stripped off for artist (7)
HOGARTH

HOG- greedy pig & a stripped (e)ARTH(y)

19. Former Test captain getting boundary, loudly cheer on (4,3)
ROOT FOR

(joe) ROOT & sounds like FOUR

21. What gives seemingly intelligent robotic intonations, primarily? (4)
SIRI

It’s a phone thing – the primary letter clue

22. Stuart monarch, somewhat mannered (4)
ANNE

Hidden – somewhat – in mANNEred

 

35 comments on “Everyman 3,951”

  1. Enjoyed this and got them all last Sunday except three including the spooner one – got them when I returned to it yesterday.

    Liked CHIT, SMARTIE, BARD, HOGARTH

    I didn’t think veal came from deer

    Thanks Everyman and flashling

  2. “Veal” in 19a should of course have been “venison”. The mistake was soon put right in the online version. A bit unfortunate but these things happen.

    Otherwise this was pleasantly entertaining as usual. I ticked SMARTIE and CHORUS LINE.

    Many thanks Everyman and flashling.

  3. Lots of chuckles. GLOOMINESS for the surface and great discovery in the fodder. HUMANITIES for an oblique reference to fake news in the US altering history etc. HOGARTH for the word picture of the subject of the artist. SIRI for the ‘seemingly intelligent robotic intonation’.
    COME CLOSER was clever. Liked the way Everyman crammed CRAM and COE in there.
    TEDDY BEARS was cute. Took me a while to parse MACHIAVELLI. The greeting HI distracted me from the AVE which meant I made a mash of MACHI.

    Thanks E and f

  5. [You’re right gif @4. There’s nothing in the clue to indicate it isn’t a change for the better. Thank you for the cup half full.]

  6. And Everyman’s nice attempt to alter history, or at least its definition, from last week. Lots to like fit favourites MACHIAVELLI and COME CLOSER. (Only with such intense rivalry could runner-up be defined so harshly.)
    Thanks flashling and Everyman.

  7. Thanks for the blog, I thought this was just right for an Everyman, I hope the newer solvers liked it.
    Did not know SIRI so I was glad it was a primarily clue.
    I will join PDM@3 and Paul@6 in the appreciation of MACHIAVELLI and COME CLOSER .

  9. I was puzzled by 19 source of veal = red deer but now I see it was a mistake in the clues.

    Liked CHORUS LINE.

    I did not parse 14d.

    Thanks, both.

  10. I use the GuardianEditions app for my crosswords, but that doesn’t get updated unfortunately, so sources of veal had me stumped.

    I had MOVE CLOSER instead of COME CLOSER. I was a bit quick to put that one in and didn’t parse it properly.

    I got HEADDRESSES, but i don’t get how it is related to capital investments?

    And i just could not get the spoonerism.

    As always, i enjoyed the puzzle though!

  11. Just looked at the blue words, I can see them Crispy @8 but only just.
    FOLDING MONEY reminded me of Arthur Daley.

  12. Jaz@ 10, it is a bit whimsical, CAPITAL means relating to the head and INVESTMENTS are clothes .
    So it means things you wear on your head.

  14. The OED dates the first use of investments in the sense of clothing to 1597 which would suggest Shakespeare.

  15. Jay and Roz

    I wondered about HEADDRESSES. I put it in because I couldn’t think of anything else that fitted. So thanks for the query and explanation.

  16. Red deer/veal was an odd one. I know veal doesn’t come from deer so I did a quick web search and seemed to be a Red Deer butcher selling veal which did leave me wondering if there was more too. Sorry if the colouring proved a problem for some

  18. Crispy I write these on a computer and check it on an Android phone – I can read the blue easily, the dark green less so. Hmm I’ll think on for next time.

  19. The ‘cross-week continuity clue’ is fast becoming another Everyman trademark, like the matching pair and the ‘primarily’. Recently we’ve had STEWARD and AIR HOSTESS in successive weeks, then RAINBOW and REFRACTION (defined as ‘what makes a rainbow’), and now, as Paul @6 points out, two ways to classify history. Last week “subjects such as history” = SOCIAL SCIENCES, today “history, etc” = HUMANITIES.

    I wonder if there are any historians among the contributors here, and, if so, which classification they would prefer? I think someone commented last week that they didn’t get a BSc in history.

    For HEADDRESSES, I think the parsing works better if you take the wordplay as a whole phrase – “that man’s attention is on (the XYZ question)” = “he addresses (XYZ)”.

    [Re the colouring, for me it depends on what angle I am looking at the PC screen at (at at?). I can see the blue words if my line of sight is strictly perpendicular to the plane of the screen, but as soon as my head moves to one side, or up and down, they disappear. For the green SIRI it’s the other way round – OK at a slight angle, but invisible straight on. So I can read both colours, but not at the same time. The red CHIT is permanently visible, but it’s a bit shouty for this early on a Sunday morning 😉 ]

    Thanks Everyman and flashling.

  20. Flashling @18. I suspect it’s a make and model thing. Works on some less well on others. Unless you have a full range of models, you seem to be doing a good job. It could be my eyes, of course!

  21. Good spot from Paul continued by MrEssexboy@19, I will look out for this in future. ( Your Azed clue today is 12Ac ).
    The historians I know would emphatically say humanities and not social sciences , I do not know if that is a widespread view.
    I will let your refraction “definition ” pass, just this once.

  22. Lord Jim @2 – I use the Guardian app and the veal / venison mixup still hasn’t been corrected on the app version. It’s all a little disjointed behind the scenes, I think! Before now I’ve seen totally different clues in the app to the PDF version…

    Other than that mixup (which didn’t stop me from getting the right answer) I thought it was an enjoyable Everyman.

  23. There is a correction today in the paper for venison/veal , next to the solution/winners and also on the letters page.

  24. As a history graduate, I have always used “humanities” to describe “subjects such as History, English, Classics” and I was mildly irritated to see tham described as “social sciences” in the previous crossword. It now seems that the setter was mainly interested in manufacturing a link between consecutive crosswords.

  26. I have a question about 20a:

    According to Spooner, ornamental edging peculiar, needing cash (7,5)

    is ‘needing’ being used here as a linking word to mean results in / produces? If so does it serve this purpose correctly?

  28. alsanch1 @26 I agree. This was my LOI because I thought the definition was “needing cash” so was trying to find a phrase meaning impoverished.

  29. John E @24 – I think the English and Classics last week were there for the anagram fodder, and the definition was just “subjects such as history”. But for what it’s worth, I shared your (mild) irritation.

    alsanch1 / Lin @26/28 – ‘needing’ goes along with ‘wanting’ in my mind; both are used sometimes as linking words between wordplay and definition, and I’m not too keen on either of them.

    I suppose you could justify it as follows:
    These questions need answers
    ⇒ These clues need solutions
    ⇒ Cryptic instructions in wordplay ‘need’ (us to find) synonym for definition
    ⇒ [“According to Spooner…”] is needing [word/expression meaning ‘cash’]

    [Roz @21 – the refraction ‘definition’ was Everyman’s; I disclaim all liability.]

  30. EB@29 I see your point know, fair enough for a puzzle. I did not notice your quotation marks but they are single not double.

  31. ‘Needing’ is one of those link words some compilers try to avoid using, as is ‘wanting’ (especially as the latter is also used as a subtraction indicator). Both can mean ‘calling for’ however, so I wouldn’t ever deem either completely out of court. I guess the right way forward would be to avoid an unwanted ambiguity as to indication and/or definition (as Lin observes).

  33. This was thoroughly enjoyable. I didn’t put a single cross or question mark against any clue, which is rare. A few ticks – Root For, Machiavelli and Chorus Line.

  34. Lots to like about this puzzle and nothing to complain about, from my pov

    Loved the Spoonerism once I finally got it. (LOI).

    In respect of humanities/social sciences — History can legitimately be classified as either, but no-one would ever refer to *English* as a social science.

    Thanks to Everyman and Flashling.

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