Everything fits together very neatly in this, the getting-better-by-the-week Everyman, and judging from the time I took to solve it he is getting the standard more like that in the old days. Only one or two clues leave me feeling something is wrong, and quite possibly that’s my own fault.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (juxtaposition, reversal, homophone, anagram, etc.) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)*. Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MILK OF MAGNESIA |
I make flamingos tipsy: it’s a medicinal preparation (4,2,8)
|
| (I make flamingos)*, which as a child I was often given for some reason. Haven’t seen it for years — this and 25ac are the clues linked by their assonance — the rather silly surface cries out ‘ANAGRAM’ | ||
| 8 | ODIN |
First nothing, then terrible noise revealing Norse god (4)
|
| 0 din — 0 = nothing, din = terrible noise | ||
| 9 | CANTALOUPE |
Uncle Pat, a merry | entertaining old fruit (10)
|
| (Uncle Pat a)* round o — a type of melon | ||
| 10 | CORNEA |
Décor neatly provides something to help with the vision (6)
|
| Hidden in DéCOR NEAtly | ||
| 11 | OVERALLS |
Sun blanket earlier offering protective clothing (8)
|
| overall s — s = sun, and earlier than the sun is ‘overall’, a word meaning ‘blanket’ | ||
| 12 | STRADDLED |
Stood on both sides of stream, not half confused (9)
|
| str[eam] addled — stream, not half, is just the first three letters of the word, addled = confused | ||
| 14 | TIES |
By the sound of it, Siamese’s collars may be attached to these (4)
|
| “Thai’s” — collars may be attached to ties — the old name for Thailand was Siam and the Siamese cat isn’t now called the Thai cat because it was called the Siamese cat before the name change | ||
| 15 | EATS |
Everyman’s beginning to get a stout chassis, finally – as he does this (4)
|
| E[veryman] a [stou]t [chassi]s — as he eats he gets fat and acquires a stout chassis, so this is a sort of &lit. — the self-referential clue, although in this case Everyman is not I or me | ||
| 16 | AMERICANO |
Having some creamer, I can overlook serving of black coffee (9)
|
| Hidden in creAMER I CAN Overlook | ||
| 20 | COMPLAIN |
What follows Dot? Clearly, grouse (8)
|
| com plain — com as in dot-com, plain = clearly (one might think it ought to be ‘plainly’, but I think it’s OK, as in ‘that’s just plain stupid’) | ||
| 21 | TEACUP |
Container for gunpowder that may bring you your fortune? (6)
|
| CD playing on the fact that another name for gunpowder is tea, also referring to fortune-telling by reading tea leaves [I didn’t express myself very well: should have said that gunpowder is a type of tea] | ||
| 23 | KITSCHIEST |
It’s the sick clowning, least tasteful (10)
|
| (It’s the sick)* | ||
| 24 | ASHY |
Australian timid, being pallid (4)
|
| A shy — A = Australian, shy = timid | ||
| 25 | MAGIC MUSHROOMS |
Wise men proliferate in Civil Service: they’re picked to change minds? (5,9)
|
| Magi C(mushroom)S — Magi = Wise men (the Three Wise Men), CS = Civil Service, mushroom = proliferate, magic mushrooms have hallucinogenic properties so are picked to change minds — this and 1ac are the clues linked by their assonance | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MADE OUT |
In report, might have questions – understood? (4,3)
|
| “may doubt” — no giggling at the back, please, amongst those who have watched certain American films | ||
| 2 | LENIN |
Socialist, 9:50, getting up (5)
|
| (nine L)rev. — nine = 9, L = 50 (Roman numerals) | ||
| 3 | ORCHARD |
Where to find fruit – or vegetable (7)
|
| or chard — or = or, chard is an example of a vegetable | ||
| 4 | MIND ONES MANNERS |
Be good to take exception to your customs? (4,4,7)
|
| 2 defs — if one’s minding one’s manners one’s being good; another way of reading it is: if one minds ones manners, one cares about (minds) your manners (customs) | ||
| 5 | GRATES |
German scores, perhaps causes irritation (6)
|
| G rates — G = German, rates = scores, perhaps — not very satisfactory here, since the synonym for ‘scores’ has to end in an s, so it should grammatically be ’cause irritation’, but that isn’t a synonym for the answer | ||
| 6 | EGOMANIAC |
Come again – horrible narcissist? (9)
|
| (Come again)* | ||
| 7 | IMPALAS |
Abruptly run through gutted, artless antelopes (7)
|
| Impal[e] a[rtles]s — ‘abruptly’ indicates that the last letter is missing (not so comfortable with this) | ||
| 13 | ANTIPASTI |
Against having French apéritif endlessly for starters (9)
|
| anti pasti[s] — anti = against, pastis is the French apéritif | ||
| 15 | EROTICA |
Republican replacing kiss in foreign art, titillating material (7)
|
| exotica with its X replaced by R — exotica = foreign art, R = Republican (US politics), X = kiss (as at the end of a letter) | ||
| 17 | ROTATOR |
It goes round and round, up and down (7)
|
| If you reverse ‘rotator’ it stays the same; up and down because it’s a down clue | ||
| 18 | NOUGHTS |
What 1900s and 2020s have in common? (7)
|
| 1900s and also 2020s have noughts in common (as do lots of other dates) — this seems a bit feeble so I wonder if I’m missing anything | ||
| 19 | FATHOM |
Twig, a unit of distance (6)
|
| 2 defs, one of them the usual sense of ‘fathom’, the other an imperial measurement usually referring to depth of water | ||
| 22 | ALAMO |
Primarily: abandoned landmark, American mission once? (5)
|
| The first letters clue: as so often it’s a good one, and as so often it contains the word ‘primarily’ |
MIND ONE’S MANNERS:
‘take exception to’ is the second meaning, I think. She minds your customs/manners. She doesn’t like them.
IMPALAS:
Parsed it as John did. Can’t see any issue.
NOUGHTS:
Can’t think better.
Thanks, Everyman and John!
GRATES:
German scores (and due to this action she/he) perhaps causes irritation. 🙂
Otherwise, ‘perhaps’ doesn’t seem to have a role to play.
Thanks John. Have no problem with ”abruptly” being a truncation indicator.
I parsed MIND ONE’S MANNERS similarly to KVa.
TIES had me puzzled because I thought the tie was attached to the collar rather than the other way round.
Liked the ”up and down” indicator for the palindrome ROTATOR in a down clue.
NOUGHTS, my initial thoughts were similar to John’s in the blog. Then I wondered if the answer was cryptic. NOUGHT +S. In other words they have nothing in common, and they have an ‘S’ in common.
KVa @1 – Agreed, though ‘mind ONE’S manners’ is a bit weird for that second reading. ‘One’s’ refers to self – as in your example, it is YOUR manners she is objecting to. And this is the third alliteration answer, too. Thanks, Everyman and John.
My favourite Everyman grid. And got MILK OF MAGNESIA the minute I read the clue. Off to Jay’s list and there has been one M before MURDER MYSTERY.
Liked IMPALAS, COMPLAIN, MAGIC MUSHROOMS
Didn’t get rotator
Thanks Everyman and John
2 NOUGHTS are there in cOmmOn too!
Does it indicate anything?
KVa@6. I think your parsing for NOUGHTS is spot on.
Just realised I didn’t get 5d. I had gravel with G for German and ravel – the composer – for scores. I find gravel irritating as does my dog who refuses to walk on it.
Never knew gunpowder could be called tea. I realised it had to be TEACUP, just couldn’t work out why.
.. they both end in “0s” …
Have seen gunpowder qua tea several times recently, but have been dipping in the archives, so could’ve been anywhere …
MIND YOUR MANNERS was a sharp putdown by my grandparents generation to us children when we got a bit cheeky. Living in Vietnam, I find that many westerners should MIND THEIR MANNERS when critisising Vietnamese culture and customs.
Milk of Magnesia was administered for stomach ahes. I liked it.
Another highly enjoyable Everman and thanks for the blog
Thanks for the blog , another solid Everyman, like Fiona Anna I do like this type of grid but I did not recall Murder Mystery.
For TEACUP I think it is that gunpowder is a type of tea, not the other way round. Chinese tea, little rolled up green leaves.
MAGIC MUSHROOMS was a very neat construction and definition .
[I was just about to say can’t wait for Roz to drop in. Getting excited. A once in 50,000 year opportunity, if only I can stay awake. Might need a bit of gunpowder tea. Little green leaves might help to see the Green Comet.]
[ https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/04/the-green-comet-how-to-see-a-once-in-50000-years-event-in-australias-night-skies ]
[PDM@14 hope you get to see it , we have not had clear skies all week, it is just on the edge of naked-eye visibility , do not be misled by the pictures .]
Agree with earlier comments, another fun offering. 1a went in very quickly which allowed the additional M’s to be pencilled in in their likely positions in 4d and 25a.
Fiona Anne, yes you’re correct re MURDER MYSTERY. Note that that puzzle used the more usual grid which has 13 lights in rows 1 and 15. This grid is slightly modified to accommodate 14. Perhaps the blog image could have highlighted in 4d in green also.
Thanks to John and Everyman
Great crossword. Especially enjoyed MAGIC MUSHROOMS. Somehow I missed the previous week’s Everyman so I picked 4a “Be good” as the follow-on to “Do good” in the DOGMA clue, only to realise that clue was actually two weeks prior. Thanks John and Everyman.
Enjoyable puzzle, easier than usual for this setter?
Liked COMPLAIN, MAGIC MUSHROOMS.
New for me: gunpowder tea (for 21ac) though I might have seen it in crosswords before. Never saw it in real life!
I was fine with 18d NOUGHTS and also for 5ac with German as a noun (as parsed by KVa @2)
Thanks, both.
21ac. I didn’t know that gunpowder could be called tea, but I did know that gunpowder is a type of tea (Chambers gunpowder definition 2: A type of green China tea )
23ac KITCHIEST was a new word for me – I’d worked out it probably had to be an anagram but I needed a lot of crossers.
Enjoyable puzzle, thanks to John and Everyman.
Thanks, Everyman & John. Agree with everyone else that this was very enjoyable.
As a long-time drinker of gunpowder tea, that one gave me no difficulties. I recommend it.
I liked the definition in STRADDLED, where at first I thought it was just ‘stood’. The surface of the clue for MAGIC MUSHROOMS was amusing, with a good definition. I also liked MADE OUT with the quirky homophone.
Thanks Everyman and John.
I liked ROTATOR. It’s a song lyric, isn’t it?
Thanks, Everyman and John.
Yup, gunpowder is a type of green tea; its dried in such a way that the leaves roll up into little balls that reminded some ancient of gunpowder pellets. Never having seen the latter, I’ll take his word for it. Gunpowder tea is one of the best green teas in my opinion. (But the leaves unroll when they brew, and are unusually large, so I don’t think gunpowder would work well for tea-leaf reading!)
I have been to the Alamo, and while it’s no longer an active mission church, it’s far from abandoned. (It’s one of the main tourist attractions in downtown San Antonio. It’s also surprisingly small.)
Some of us are easy to please. I love this grid when Everyman uses it to give us a triple alliteration; I look forward to his self-deprecating clue (15a), and I get a kick out of his always clever primarily clues.
I didn’t share any of John’s quibbles, but I do share his view that Everyman keeps getting better. Thanks, both, for the Sunday fun.
I’m surprised you don’t share my quibble with the GRATES clue, Cellomaniac. I just can’t see how it makes sense. How can ‘German scores, perhaps’ be a singular?
Sorry Jay @ 17, you’re quite right: MURDER MYSTERY is also one of the assonant group, but it’s too late now — the software doesn’t allow me to highlight it in green once the blog has been done.
Thank you for the blog John. Like Cellomaniac I don’t have a problem with 5d: scores, rates, grates and causes are all 3rd person singular verb forms so it seems to me that it works
John @17 – it is MIND ONES MANNERS (4d) which is the third alliteration answer, not MURDER MYSTERY (which was in a previous puzzle), as I pointed out @4.
Paul b@23 Let’s Twist Again of course. Good spot.
John @27 (in case Cellomaniac hasn’t seen your query):
‘German scores’ (understood as adjective + noun) can’t be singular, but a ‘German’ can.
It may help to think of the ‘German’ in the surface meaning of the clue as a German footballer. He (or she) scores, and thereby – perhaps – causes irritation (in fact, almost certainly does so!)
Re NOUGHTS, there are indeed many decades which have a NOUGHT in common, but in recent history – say, the last 200 years – only the 1900s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s have NOUGHTS in common.
Thanks Everyman and John.
Thanks to Essexboy @ 31 for pointing out that it could well have been along these lines, something I missed. But in that case I wonder why Everyman didn’t say ‘German scores, perhaps, and causes irritation’, which would have read like a proper sentence.
Scores perhaps for RATES seems weak to me. That aside, all is well, I feel.
essexboy@31, thanks for the clear explanation of “German scores”.
John@32, if you read the clue as typical newspaper headline-speak, the grammar is OK. Adding “and” would detract from the deception of scores – verb or noun? In fact, my first thought on reading the clue was that German was an adjective referring to e.g., Bach or Beethoven, until I saw the part of speech deception (thanks to the singular verb “causes”).
24 minutes this time, not bad. LOI CORNEA. I had a bit of trouble with 23a, as I had SHTICKIEST, but it eventually fell into place.
This was a really fun one for me! I loved the “stout chassis” self-description and the zany anagrams. The verb meaning of TWIG was new to me. AMERICANO was surprisingly well hidden—it took me a while to find! I’d like to meet merry, entertaining, fruity old Uncle Pat. Cheers to Everyman, and to John for the blog.
TassieTim @29 has it right. I’d agree that 1 & 25ac are primarily alliterative (double M&Ms) above assonant (twin Mags).
Liked this and I agree with the comments that Everyman is getting better. Liked Lenin and complain.
Can’t make head or tail of the WP in 11A despite the explanation. Why is S = sun and why is overall a blanket?
Never heard of gunpowder tea.
Orchard is a bit of an old chestnut.
Everything else good.
Couldn’t parse “overalls” (didn’t see “s” for “sun”) nor “teacup”.
The penny didn’t really drop until I saw the post from Roz@13 pointing out that there is a type of tea called “gunpowder”. I *then* remembered having heard of gunpowder tea.
John should emend his blog in this respect.
Nice puzzle
11a Agree ‘overalls’ is a weird clue
7d Does Impale really mean ‘ run through ‘? I wouldn’t hv put that def
Liked best : ties, rotator, made out
good puzzle
11a was excellent as blanket, as in a blanket order, aligns nicely with overall and simply placed before s(un) makes overalls.