Everyman 4,012

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The usual good crossword from Everyman, all sound so far as I can see, and the usual rhyming pair, the self-referential clue, and the first letters one. Quite a task to produce these grids every time. You’d think he’d run out of rhyming pairs eventually.

Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, anagram, reversal etc) in italics, Anagrams shown (like this)* or *(like this), depending on where the indicator comes. Link-w0rds in green.

 

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 DROP
Fall to the ground (touch of hydrophobia) (4)
Hidden in hyDROPhobia
3 SWARTHIEST
Extremely dark sweatshirt worn (10)
(sweatshirt)* — I always feel in clues like this that it should be ‘most dark’ because that’s what ‘swarthiest’ means, but perhaps I’m fussing and it’s OK really — it does in a sense = ‘most dark’
9 UNIT
Soldiers, Italian, following peacekeepers (4)
UN It — UN = peacekeepers (United Nations), It = Italian
10 DISCIPLINE
Teach a lesson in specialist area (10)
2 defs, for the first one Collins has ‘punish or correct’, so maybe that’s close enough, the second one referring to one’s field of study: you can call say Philosophy a discipline
11 SWIMMING POOL
Feeling giddy before stakes amassed in sports venue (8,4)
swimming pool — swimming = feeling giddy, pool = stakes amassed (in eg a card game)
15 INANITY
Madness without Suggs at the front? It’s meaningless (7)
In[s]anity, with s coming from S[uggs] — insanity = madness — the surface refers to the fact that Suggs was the frontman of the pop group Madness for 40 years
16 SCROOGE
Twisted conceit: Tolkien’s monster’s a meanie (7)
(ego orc’s)rev. — ego = conceit, the monster in Tolkien is an orc — Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol gave rise to the word meaning a curmudgeonly person, a meanie
17 KNEECAP
Ape with neck out of shape: it’s a bone (7)
(Ape neck)*
19 CATALAN
A little ecstatic at a language that’s spoken in Iberia (7)
Hidden in ecstatiC AT A LANguage — as in 19dn, ‘that’ is a demonstrative adjective
20 SUNDAY SCHOOL
Son has cloudy disposition in place of learning (6,6)
(Son has cloudy)* — some would criticize the use of ‘disposition’ as an anagram indicator because it’s a noun, but I follow several people who know far more about this than I do in saying that it’s OK
23 PLAYS ALONG
Actors’ performances, amateur, drawn out: pretends to enjoy it (5,5)
plays a long — plays = actors’ performances, a = amateur, long = drawn out
24 CANT
Is unable to sermonise (4)
2 defs — one of them to can’t, the other one looking odd since you’d think ‘cant’ was a noun, but Collins has as an intransitive verb ‘to speak in or use cant’
25 STEPSISTER
Priest’s set off to find relative (10)
(priest’s set)*
26 ODES
Naked, bashful, praiseful verses (4)
[m]odes[t] — modest = bashful and it’s naked, ie has its outer letters removed
DOWN
1 DRUMSTICKS
Chicken pieces, as seen in steel pan (10)
One could call a drum a steel pan, where drumsticks will be
2 ORIGINATES
Begins and gives a speech having consumed one drink (10)
or(1 gin)ates — orates = gives a speech, 1 gin = one drink
4 WHITNEY
Dash with money from the South to get to Houston? (7)
whit (yen)rev. — whit = dash, yen is the Japanese currency — ref Whitney Houston
5 RECIPES
Initially playing for time, intones instructions (7)
recites with its t replaced with p — t = time, recites = intones, and p[laying] replaces t
6 HIPPOCRATIC
Big beast close to Arctic, barking a kind of oath (11)
hippo (Arctic)* —hippo = big beast — ‘close to’ just means ‘next to’, barking is the anagram indicator (barking mad)
7 ERIN
In earliest stages (elsewise, romantically), Ireland’s name? (4)
The first letters &lit.
8 TEEM
Reportedly, players proliferate (4)
“team” — clearly this way round because the ‘reportedly’ can only apply to the players; if Everyman had said ‘Players reportedly proliferate’ it would have been ambiguous. Some people would say that it doesn’t matter because the checked ‘e’ tells you, but I disagree with them and feel that a clue should stand alone and be solvable
12 MAIN COURSES
Seaways offering larger things to eat (4,7)
2 defs, the first of them a bit whimsical: one doesn’t often talk of seaways as main courses — ‘larger’ is a bit odd as it doesn’t apply to all main courses
13 NOEL COWARD
Playwright having chicken after Christmas (4,6)
Noel coward — Noel = Christmas, coward = chicken (in the cowardly sense) — Noel Coward wasn’t just a playwright, although perhaps this was his forte
14 REINFLATES
Once again, blows up ten flares … I digress (10)
(ten flares I)*
18 PADDLES
Quietly confuses those propelling a boat (7)
p addles — p = quietly (piano, the musical term), addles = confuses
19 CAYENNE
Urge to tuck into something sugary that’s spicy (7)
ca(yen)ne — cane = something sugary, yen = urge — as in 19ac ‘that’ is a demonstrative adjective
21 OPUS
Work‘s over; drink up (4)
o (sup)rev. — o = over, sup = drink
22 FADE
A passing diversion, Everyman’s beginning to lose freshness (4)
fad E[veryman] — fad = a passing diversion

35 comments on “Everyman 4,012”

  1. If you read disposition as dis-position – i.e. put out of position, then it works for me. The usual good fun from Everyman – thanks to him and to John.

  3. Thanks John. No problem with TEEM. But I know what you mean. I’ve been caught out by those. Extra tip for beginners: Ignore punctuation.
    I read disposition as Tassie Tim@1. OTOH digress in REINFLATES probably needs to be read as an imperative.
    Interesting word picture in ODES. INANITY my pick enhanced by looking up Suggs.

  5. Thanks for the blog, another very sound puzzle which I think is just the right standard. I agree for TEEM , properly done, relying on crossing letters should never be an excuse for careless setting.
    INANITY is good on many levels, it even hides the fake capital M at the front.

  7. A minor gripe but I take issue with Sunday school as a place of learning. I think some places may have Sunday schools

  11. Yet another group (along with, eg, hmhb) I’d never heard of, but notwurry, insanity sans s was clear. Making a verb out of dis-position is the kind of rule bending that tickles my tummy. Speaking of which, pdm, could it be a cheeky noun, as in ‘a digress of’ …? Whatevs, all fun, ta both.

  12. Agree with John’s crit. I think I’ve been irked a bit before by Everyman’s -IEST suffixes being clued as ‘extremely’ something. The problem for me is that being extremely something doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m the most something. I might be extremely swarthy, but you might be still swarthier.

    Then there are his nounal anagrinds. As John says DISPOSITION isn’t a verb, but were you to try to force that meaning out of it, to stand any chance it would need to be at the front end of the anagrist.

  13. Oh that was fun! Really enjoyed the inanity one (my son listens to Madness) and was cross with myself for taking so long with hippocratic. So many satisfying “aha I get it” moments. Reading this blog is half the fun!

    Why are some words highlighted in colours in the image of the completed crossword please? Learner here. Thanks!

  14. QuietEars@13. Good to see you here. Was wondering how learners might be faring.
    The colours in John’s highlighted grid refer to Everyman’s trademark clues as highlighted in John’s preamble.

  15. Colour green. Rhyming pairs.
    Pale orange (it looks to me) Everyman’s “primarily” clue, ie first letters of each word spelling out the answer.
    Blue . The clue where Everyman refers to himself.
    These often occur in Everyman.
    John has helpfully highlighted these here in colour.

  16. John, and Roz@5: I have never understood the objection to a clue that has two possible answers, with the crossers determining which is the correct one. If these were called “word puzzles” then maybe. But they are “crossword puzzles”; surely the crossers can be an integral part of the clue, in which case once you have the relevant crosser, the clue is unambiguous. It just adds another cryptic element to the clue, and not an unfair one.

    Thanks Everyman and John for the typical fun and games.

  17. What’s the problem with nouns as anagrinds? He’s asking you to make a disposition of “son has cloudy,” that is, what is required is a ‘sun has cloudy’ dispositon. Drop the article like you’re writing a headline, and booya! you’re done.

  18. It’s clearer with a different noun: can we all agree that AMERICAN is a Cinerama montage? So why not disposition?

  19. Because disposition isn’t a verb that means alter the position of?

    I’m not saying you never see nounal anagrinds, because you do see them, but for me there is always a more satisfactory way around.

  20. Cellomaniac@16 it is undemocratic, all clues should be solvable by themselves without relying on other superior clues. Some people like to solve all the clues in order without using the grid at all until the end, it just requires a bit of care like today.

  21. @John (and Ui Imair @12) – the use of ‘extremely’ for a superlative does have a logic to it; at the extreme (as in end-point) of an adjective is its superlative. It might not fit with the everyday use of ‘extremely’ as an intensifier but that doesn’t make it incorrect; English is very flexible like that 🙂

    Re nounal anagrinds: my personal take is that some work and some don’t, and the deciding factor is [setting aside nouns which are also verbs or adjectives, e.g. ‘doctor’ or ‘bananas’] whether the noun is derived from a verb-action… so, for example, I would be fine with ‘arrangement’, ‘construction’ or ‘translation’ to indicate an anagram, but not e.g. ‘problem’ or ‘cocktail’. Using this criteria, I was OK with ‘disposition’.

  22. Roz@20. And some of us prefer to do the puzzle by getting an answer, then using it to get those which it forms part of. It’s partly why I struggled with yesterday’s Guardian prize crossword. There’s no right or wrong way.

  23. Crispy@22 I do Azed like that , every answer going in gets attacked immediately , but my point still stands, you need to know that the one you put in is correct.
    I cannot say anything about yesterday but your method still works if you start from the right point , the only one that is unambiguous.

  24. paddymelon@15 – thank you! This learner is having fun. Working on today’s new Everyman and about half way through. Helps if I use pen and paper!

  31. Got it but did not like WHITNEY. Had rhe W and the reference to Houston and yen upward but whit = dash ?

  32. Can anyone explain how the S is justified in Scrooge? I can see the Orc and Ego but no ref to the S, or is it ‘ Orc’s’ a meanie
    I found that clue impossible to answer

  35. Re 1d I think it’s dd; chicken pieces and Indian vegetable moringa (called drumstick) used for making stew in steel dishes. ( preposition ‘in’ suits)

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