Everyman 3,999

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3999.

We have Everyman’s common symmetrically placed rhyming pair, the self reference, the ‘primarily’ clue, and two geographical names. All’s well in the world.

ACROSS
1 RIOT
Three-piece band’s tenor moved to rear: he’ll make you laugh (4)
TRIO (‘three-piece band’) with the T moved to the end (‘tenor moved to read’).
3 ENSNARLING
Causing problems for English nationalist, audibly furious (10)
A charade of E(‘English’) plus N (‘nationalist’) plus SNARLING (‘audibly futious’).
9 DEER
Ruminant finding grass in retreat (4)
A reversal (‘in retreat’) of REED (‘grass’).
10 HEAVY METAL
Music with loud singer: Mercury? (5,5)
Definition and literal example.
11 ASSEMBLY LINE
Part of factory being refitted means bill? Yes (8,4)
An anagram (‘being refitted’) of ‘means bill yes’.
15 PRESSES
Strongly urges for drinks (7)
A double definition, although I find the second a slight puzzle: I wondered if it might refer to a drink made from pressed fruit, but I cannot find justification for that. My best guess is to include ‘for’ in the definition, with reference to a coffee press.
16 ASTUTER
Alan’s beginning to get increasingly wide. Nothing’s consumed? That’s increasingly wise (7)
A charade of A (‘Alan’s beginning’) plus ST[o]UTER (‘increasingly wide’) minus the O (‘nothing’s consumed’ – ‘consumed’ can be read either way, added or subtracted; the latter is required here).
17 TANTRUM
Pet, a little tiny creepy-crawly? Odd (7)
A charade of T (‘a little Tiny’) plus ANT (‘creepy-crawly’) plus RUM (‘odd’).
19 PLAINLY
At repose, tucked into fold? For sure (7)
An envelope (‘tucked into’) of LAIN (‘at repose’) in PLY (‘fold’).
20 NINE NINE NINE
A square number, tripled: might you get help with this? (4,4,4)
NINE (‘a square number’, the square of three) ‘tripled’, for the emergency phone number in many countries, including the UK.
23 COMMENTATE
According to Spooner, Jones ‘n’ Winslet describe the game (10)
A Spoonerism of TOM (‘Jones’ – take your choice) ‘n’ KATE (‘Winslet’).
24 CENT
Money‘s in the post, did you say? (4)
Sounds like (‘did you say’) SENT (‘in the post’).
25 STRASBOURG
Regurgitated roast grubs in French city (10)
An anagram (‘regurgitated’) of ‘roast grubs’.
26 USES
Employs house-sitter? Not entirely (4)
A hidden answer (‘not entirely’) in ‘hoUSE–Sitter’.
DOWN
1 RED CARPETS
Communist severely criticises VIPs’ treatment (3,7)
A charade of RED (‘communist’) plus CARPETS (‘severely criticises’).
2 OVERSEEING
Managing some Adorno verse (Ein Gedicht) (10)
A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘AdornO VERSE EIN Gedicht’. Ein Gedicht is a poem; Adorno said that writing one after Auschwitz is barbaric.
4 NEEDLES
LED seen flickering, causes annoyance (7)
An anagram (‘flickering’) of ‘LED seen’.
5 NOVELLA
Short month taken by Fitzgerald for short story (7)
A charade of NOV (ember, ‘short month’) plus ELLA (‘Fitzgerald’).
6 REMONSTRATE
Expostulate and hold protest march? Leading Democrat ousted by Republican (11)
DEMONSTRATE (‘hold protest march’) with the initial D replaced by R (‘leading Democrat ousted by Republican’).
7 IOTA
Greek character one thanks, getting round in (4)
An envelope (‘getting … in’) of O (’round’) in I (‘one’) plus TA (‘thanks’).
8 GALA
Primarily glamorous and lavish affair? (4)
A short and sweet ‘primarily’ clue : ‘Glamorous And Lavish Affair’.
12 MISERLINESS
In ‘less is more’, wasting zero, displaying this? (11)
An anagram (‘displaying’) of ‘in less is m[o]re’ minus the O (‘wasting zero’), with an extended definition.
13 STINKINESS
At 12, good to become King? That reeks! (10)
STINGINESS (’12’ MISERLINESS) with the G replaced by K (‘good to become King’).
14 FRAY BENTOS
Box in fights in S American port (4,6)
An envelope (the first ‘in’) of BENTO (‘box’ – a single-portion Japanese boxed meal) in FRAYS (‘fights’). And, yes, the tinned meat company is named for the Uruguay port.
18 MAESTRO
Great musician‘s ear, most refined (7)
An anagram (‘refined’) of ‘ear most’.
19 PAINTER
Constable, maybe one keeping boat secure (7)
Double definition.
21 ICES
Chills dry drop of Italian when laid up (4)
A reversal (‘when laid up’ in a down light) of SEC (‘dry’ of wine) plus I (‘drop of Italian’).
22 EMIR
Stuck in hesitant utterance, Everyman’s held up monarch? (4)
An envelope (‘stuck in’) of MI, a reversal (‘held up’ in a down light) of I’M (‘Everyman’s’) in ER (‘hesitant utterance’).

picture of the completed grid

59 comments on “Everyman 3,999”

  1. Thanks both, this was a DNF as Ifailed to get ASTUTER and then forgot all about it until I started reading the blog. I remembered when I got to that clue and went back to check which one I hadn’t completed.

  2. Seem to remember this going in pretty smoothly, with the port being the last one to drop. STINKINESS was nice for the cross reference. Thanks, PeterO and Everyman.

  3. Thanks, Everyman & PeterO!
    PRESSES
    PeterO!
    I found this online:

    The name Vodka Press might sound a bit strange, but there is a reason this drink is called press. The name took inspiration from a whiskey drink called “Presbyterian.” Plus, any drink with an equal quantity of 7Up and soda water is called “press.”

    The traditional Vodka Press cocktail was made by mixing club soda and ginger ale equally. The modern version substitutes the ginger ale with vodka instead.

  4. ASTUTER
    A nice extended definition.

    Nothing is consumed=Nothing is left out
    (What a sweet paradox!)

  5. For a minute there I thought we were blogging the wrong Everyman.
    Love the riff on Freddie Mercury in HEAVY METAL

  6. Good fun I thought. Enjoyed ASTUTER. I took “Alan” to be a self-reference.
    Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.

  7. Thanks for the blog, another fine puzzle,. Thanks KVa@3 , I had assumed that press=drink in some way but could not think of an example.
    FRAY BENTOS I just thought of the corned beef , although I wrongly thought it was in Argentina. I only know BENTO from Murakami, it is not in my Chambers93.

    Everyman001 is available, there is a link on General Discussion and a blog on this site.

  8. I have just finished this week’s everyman and the 16a clue appears there as well. Maybe it’s the carryover?

  10. A presse (the final e should have an acute, but I don’t know how to type one on my phone) is a drink, elderflower being a common one.

  12. Agree with ragged @ 9 about pressé
    Citron pressé – is it lemon juice or a lemon in a hurry? (Old joke, sorry)
    I knew Fray Bentos, named after the port, but didn’t know the bento bit.
    Nice little puzzle. Thanks to everyman.

  13. Crispy, On my phone, if you just hold down the e, the phone gives you all the other diacritics, é being one of them.

  14. I completed this in the final hour of the week, having struggled with SE corner. I had asked my wife for help with 14d. “It’s no good, all I can see is Fray Bentos”, she said. Wikipedia did the rest.

    A query about 19d: is there a special relationship of painters and boats, or is this referring to the sealing property of some paint that applies to all manner of objects? If so, not a very precise definition?
    Thanks to PeterO & Everyman.

  16. Chrisps @14. A painter is a short rope or chain by which the shank of an anchor is held fast to a ship’s side when not in use

  17. Chrisps@14
    A painter is a rope that is attached to the bow of a dinghy, or other small boat, and used for tying up or towing (Wiki).

  21. Favourite: COMMENTATE.

    I was only able parse 19d PAINTER as ‘Constable, maybe’ but did not understand ‘one keeping the boat secure’. Thanks, Crispy@16 and KvA@17 for explaining that.

    New for me: FRAY BENTOS.

    Thanks, both.

  22. You don’t just use painters to tie dinghies to quays or trailers, a painter is what’s used to tow a dinghy behind a bigger boat.

    I saw pressé too, and according to Bottle Green, manufacturers of said drinks it’s PRESSÉS in English

    Thank you to PeterO and Everyman

  23. I didn’t know that FRAY BENTOS was a port and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word ENSNARLING although I do understand it.

    My favourite (like some others above) was ASTUTER. And I think Alan must like it because as NICBACH @ 9 says he’s used it again this week.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO

  25. The Observer today , page 3, feature article about Everyman, crosswords, Alan Connor.
    I would put a link but my IT skills are too advanced for the current version of the internet.

    You are welcome Fiona Anne , the original prompt came from Rob T .

  26. ENSNARED and ENSNARLING for the follow-on?
    Or PRESSÉ and CONSOMMÉ ?
    Or PLAINLY and HONESTLY ?

    As NICBACH and Fiona Anne point out, the astuter among us will already have spotted something for next time (and a couple from 1945! – thanks Roz @7/25)

    Talking PLAINLY, I don’t think LAIN = ‘at repose’ quite works, grammatically. Lain is the past participle of lie (intransitive), not lay (transitive).

    ‘The increasingly wide Alan had lain on the bed for several hours’ = he had at repose for several hours?

    We could get round the problem by substituting ‘rested’ for ‘at repose’ (‘to rest’ has the double advantage that it can be used both transitively and intransitively, and that its past tense is identical with its past participle).

    Thanks E & P, I enjoyed STRASBOURG particularly with its tribute to French cuisine – should go nicely with a flammekueche and a citron pressé.

  27. Tried E 001. Some I recognise. Others, haven’t a clue, but it’s been fun playing. Thanks for the tip. Even I wasn’t around in 1945.

    I do like Alan Connor’s humorous self-deprecating, self-referential clues. In this one, getting wider in ASTUTER, and the brilliant Stuck in hesitant utterance, Everyman’s held up Fantastic, and only a 4-letter word solution.

  28. Roz@25, AC just posted that today’s Observer article should appear online soon. More going on in today’s puzzle than I had realised…

  30. Jay@28 I am glad I did the puzzle before the article, I recognized a few of the clues but did not realize it was such a mixture.
    PDM@29 the internet is too primitive to interface with my Personal Electronic Notemaker.
    MrEssexboy@26 good set of follow on clues. Azed also had snarly last week, in the “growly” sense. Is this linked to the “entangled” sense ?

  32. [Roz@30. You had me in stitches on the blog of Paul on 16/6. Is it the summer swim? Thank you, it warmed me.

    KVa @31 🙂 Pongle on! ]

  33. Roz @30, interesting question. The short answer is no, probably not. (Longer answer here.) Snarl = entangle is related to snare, also to German Schnur = string/cord, and goes back to a root meaning sling/loop/noose.
    Snarl = growl goes back to earlier ‘snar’ and is probably onomatopoeic.

  34. [PDM@32 I swim nearly every day , all year round, even February. The Shipping Forecast warns of potentially severe weather , I will still go but I will not take students if there is any risk of danger. ]
    Thanks EB@33 I have now checked in Chambers, agrees with you , even has a separate entry for snar. I guess this must happen quite often for words that now have the same spelling.

  35. Nothing to do with the puzzle, but I’ve recently switched to doing crosswords on the Graun app and it doesn’t seem to have a Check All option for Sat and Sun crosswords, even after the website makes them available. Anyone know whether this a “feature”, or whether I am doing something wrong?

  36. Hi Fiery, it has always been that way on the app, I assume because of the ‘prize’ aspect at the weekends. You do however get a ‘green’ tick if your grid fill is without error. Ps. the ‘Clueless’ gang misses you, Jay (aka Jono!)

  37. I suppose it is quite appropriate that the Observer article has a major misprint ( name of Ximenes ) I wonder if it has been corrected online.

  38. I’ve never heard of BENTO, which as Roz @7 says is not in Chambers (although in the ODE and Collins). My LOI was ENSNARLING, where I was looking for an (audible) homophone of furious. I liked the pet definition for TANTRUM, the quirky clue for MISERLINESS, and the good Spoonerism for COMMENTATE.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  39. Found this quite abit harder than last week’s, didn’t know either PAINTER, ENSNARLING, or that consumed can mean take out, as well as put in, so I guess it’s saying nothing is consumed from stouter.
    Enjoyed HEAVY METAL and the anagrams.

    From this week’s crosswords I found the quiptic much harder than usual, only getting 5 clues, whilst the regular Monday one, which I tried after someone helpfully suggested it, was much more enjoyable and I filled in more than I ever had on a standard weekly Guardian cryptic. Is it common for the Monday crossword to be easier than the quiptic?

  40. Robi @ 38

    Bento is in the 12th edition of Chambers. I’d be surprised if it was not. Lots of places selling takeaway bentos now.

    I lived in Japan for a while and sometimes used to go to the Kabuki theatre in Tokyo to watch the plays and I always bought a bento to eat while watching.

  41. Eddie@36 I do not do the Quiptic , it is not in the paper, but others may answer later. The Guardian on Monday is usually very fair and suitable for newer solvers, I would say that most weeks it is slightly easier than the Everyman.

  43. Eddie @39; the Quiptic is supposed to be easier than the Monday cryptic, but sometimes it is not. It depends on the setter and what the editor decides to put in on a Monday.

  44. Never heard of FRAY BENTOS, either the port or the product.

    Eddie@39 I think the most accurate answer is that the Quiptic, the Everyman and the Monday Cryptic are all usually easier then the rest of the week’s cryptics, but which is easiest among those three changes all the time.

  46. I didn’t parse FRAY BENTOS, but I have heard of bento, mainly thanks to my partner watching a million K- and J-dramas. I particularly enjoyed NINE NINE NINE and ASTUTER.

  47. I wondered whether 6,12,13,23 were also intended to be rhyming pairs (DEMONSTRATE MISERLINESS, COMMENTATE STINKINESS).

    Re20a, it always puzzled me that, in the rotary dial age, they chose the three-digit number that takes the longest time to dial. Here in Canada we use 911, which makes more sense to me.

    Thanks Everyman for the reliable fun and PeterO for the equally reliable blog.

  49. Bunty @48
    Mainly because most people refrain from commenting on prize puzzles prior to the closing of entries.

  50. Bunty@48 it’s deliberate but something for next week’s discussion I think. However, there’s more info and a link to a related article over on the Everyman 001 thread if you are interested

  51. It must be about 30 years since I attempted an Everyman. I had just finished the same day’s Azed and decided to try this puzzle while I was out, without my reference sources around me. (They were needed for the Azed!)

    My ‘practice’ for this has been the Guardian puzzle over the last few years, and this seemed to be pitched in that range, but with its own character. I enjoyed solving it, but I did not notice the pair that rhymed and couldn’t solve FRAY BENTOS. I was not familiar with that S. American port, and because I did not know BENTO either it was out of my range.

    I liked NINE NINE NINE for its originality.

    Thanks to Everyman, PeterO and those who have commented.

  52. I interpreted 15ac the same way PeterO did, with the second definition being “for drinks”, but rather than coffee, I thought of a cider press. The word pressé didn’t occur to me.

    I agree with Essexboy @26 that “at repose” doesn’t work for LAIN, and I don’t really understand how “consumed” works in 16ac.

    I failed to finish this one, because of my ignorance of Fray Bentos.

    I found this puzzle to be sloppier than the usual Everyman, but maybe I’m just projecting my frustration at not finishing onto Everyman.

  53. Thanks both
    I’m confused by TANTRUM for ‘pet’. I have only ever heard it refer to an outburst?

  54. Minestrone@53,
    Chambers has under “Pet” (noun)

    2. A slight or childish fit of aggrieved or resentful sulkiness
    3. The sulks, huff

  56. Loved NINENINENINE and STINKINESS, struggled with 3ac & 14dn but otherwise some good stuff here. Thanks to all!

  57. Liked 23a, 25a. But 14d – of course I knew BENTO (had them nearly everyday for 14 years in Japan, but didn’t know it formed part of a SA port.
    Rob.

  58. Not one of his best with some rather forced words I thought.

    Hope 4000 is better. Here we will find out next week.

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