Another accessible puzzle from the Everyman stable, with all setter’s usual trademarks: the rhyming pair, the self-reference, and the initial letter clue.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Frustrate fly
DASH
A dd.
3 Piano music, as can be picked up in Chinatown
CHOPSTICKS
Another dd: the first element is referring to the simple tune that beginners can play on the piano mainly using just two fingers.
9 Diligent pupil trails back
SWOT
A reversal of TOWS.
10 Supports chain restaurants
BRASSERIES
A charade of BRAS and SERIES.
12 Does an impresario’s job – or just pretends
PUTS ON AN ACT
Another dd.
15 Speech’s missing opening – making allowances?
RATIONS
[O]RATIONS
16 Cordate, styled in ‘20s fashion
ART DECO
(CORDATE)* with ‘styled’ as the anagrind.
17 Artist’s questionable offering welcomed by deviate
VERMEER
An insertion of ERM in VEER. The insertion indicator is ‘welcomed by’.
19 Announced what you may do to a flat singer
WREN-TIT
Aural wordplay (‘announced’) of RENT IT. Which is indeed what you might do to a flat. A chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link, of a bird I can’t say I had heard of. That will be because its habitat is restricted to the far western US: it is found only in chapparal and woodland in a coastal strip of Oregon and California. Its name reflects the fact that ornithologists could not decide whether to place it in the wren or tit family. Very recent DNA analysis suggests it is more closely related to the parrotbills. But it’s too late to change the name now.
20 Certain kids jostled for favourable position
INSIDE TRACK
(CERTAIN KIDS)* with ‘jostled’ as the anagrind.
23 Devise alien people, ones who’ll do the dirty work
HATCHET MEN
A charade of HATCH, ET and MEN.
24 Row when Mr Woods ditches golf
TIER
The clue is subliminally pointing you in the direction of the golfer, Tiger Woods. Consider the ‘golf’ as the NATO/phonetic alphabet and it’s TI[G]ER.
25 What you do in spare time, finding charger: it’s an obsession
HOBBY HORSE
A charade of HOBBY and HORSE.
26 Wager on a character coming from Athens
BETA
A charade of BET and A.
Down
1 Dad’s come up, popping in to contradict and censure
DISAPPROVE
An insertion of PAS reversed in DISPROVE. The insertion indicator is ‘popping in to’.
2 Summer clothing, blue: a brief distraction
SHORT STORY
A charade of SHORTS and TORY.
4 Harry’s getting drunk with us: cheers!
HURRAYS
(HARRY US)* with ‘getting drunk’ as the anagrind.
5 Ingredients of tapas, satay and Italian sauce
PASSATA
Hidden in taPAS SATAy.
6 Perfect scores
TWENTY-TWENTY
A dd. The ‘perfect’ refers to vision; and TWENTY is a score.
7 Canonically, Abel’s iniquitous nemesis, primarily?
CAIN
The initial letters of the first four words of the clue, and a cad. From Genesis, 4:9, King James Version:
And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?
But of course he was telling porkies, because he did know all along. His brother was lying face down in a field ditch.
8 Band’s appeal? Not a sound
SASH
A charade of SA for sex appeal and SH!
11 Party top substantial woman’s lost: turn around
DO A ONE-EIGHTY
A charade of DO, A-ONE and [W]EIGHTY. ‘That is a top/A1 suggestion.’
13 Interlaces ornately to bring everything to one place
CENTRALISE
(INTERLACES)* with ‘ornately’ as the anagrind.
14 Country’s down on job that’s announced
SOUTH KOREA
A charade of SOUTH and aural wordplay (‘that’s announced’) of CAREER. ‘South’ for ‘down’ is fair enough, I think.
18 Piece belonging to collector is Ottoman dish
RISOTTO
Hidden in collectoR IS OTTOman.
19 Everyman would get stuck in to vacuous words and devices
WIDGETS
An insertion of I’D for ‘Everyman would’ and GET inserted into W[ORD]S. The insertion indicator is ‘stuck in to’.
21 With derisive remarks, sent up old king
SHAH
A reversal of HAHS. ‘Sent up’ works because it’s a down clue.
22 End of U-boat? About time!
STUB
An insertion of T in SUB. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
My top fave: DO A ONE-EIGHTY.
HOBBY-HORSE (read a bit differently)
What you do in spare time: HOBBY
Charger: HORSE (the same as in the blog)
Def: an obsession
Thanks Everyman and Pierre!
Yep, no doubt about it, KVa, re 25ac
DASH is the keyboard entry for this week. Loved the surface for 24. DO A 180 was my other favourite. 1D is just PA reversed. Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
I found it pretty straightforward this week, nothing very convoluted or unfamiliar (except Wren-tit, which I just bunged in, hoping for the best). As usual, had trouble with the homophone. Some good surfaces.
Thank you to Everyman and Pierre.
Thank you Pierre. I like the little birdie looking us straight in the eye.
HOBBY HORSE in the blog I think is just a matter of an underlining slip, the definition ‘obsession’ as per KVa and gif.
And Paul T has mentioned PA sans S.
I wasn’t sure why the SHAH was old, but if it’s referring to the Shah of Persia, then the last one was dethroned in the revolution in the 70s so I guess old means former.
HOBBY HORSE
Agree with you paddymelon@5 that it is just a matter of an underlining slip.
SHAH
Agree about the SHAH of Persia/Iran.
I get really tired of supports cluing bras. Are they synonyms in the real world?
And SA for sex appeal, and its cousin IT. They went out with the sexual revolution when previously people
coded those words so that children, or the parents, depending on who was keeping what from whom, wouldn’t cotton on (theoretically).
Pdm said it all for me. Thanks both.
Ps. Surely KOREA and CAREER are close enough to be punny?
(Me@5. Or Shah of Iran. Apologies if I’ve offended anyone. I’ve known Iranian born people and English-speaking people who refer to Iran as Persia. )
nicbach@8. Yes they are, in my dialect, perfect homophones (wash my mouth out with soap and water), but I won’t mention the rhotocists. (oops)
Thanks Pierre. I think it’s been a while since Everyman included a bird. My first inclination for the crossing 19s was GREY-TIT and GADGETS both of which match the definitions though clearly not the wordplay.
I believe the 80/20 Rule is known as the Pareto Principle.
Thanks to Everyman
I agree with the points made by KVa and others re HOBBY HORSE. PM@7, spot on 👍.
DO A 180° was a great clue and a nice change from U Turn. I also liked VERMEER. HATCHET MEN made me smile. WIDGETS was tricky. My thanks to Pierre, especially for the information on the WREN-TIT, which I’d not heard of. Also thank you to the setter. Have a great Bank Holiday (those of you who have one on Monday).😎
Thanks for the blog and the extra information for WREN-TIT , not heard of this , I thought it was a good soundalike. CENTRALISE a very neat complete anagram for Jay .
For once I got the follow-on clue , CHOPSTICKS from Chinatown last week , to celebrate there will be a UK Bank Holiday tomorrow.
PDM@7 I suppose bra(s) turns up in a lot of words and support(s) is a fairly neutral way of clueing it. I just shrug but it is probably good for newer solvers to help them build words.
IT and SA I think should be consigned to history now.
Lovely witty puzzle. Favourites WREN-TIT, nice misdirection, and DO A ONE-EIGHTY.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
The long down answers are also linked as scores in darts – double top and maximum (three treble twenties).
Thanks to Everyman and Pierre
Never heard of wren-tit but it was fairly clued. On looking it up after, I noticed that every source I saw, bar Chambers, has it as as single word, wrentit. The enumeration made the clue easier to solve, so I’m not complaining.
Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
Was fun, this one. Favourites: BRASSERIES, WREN-TIT, HATCHET MEN, SHORT STORY, DO A ONE-EIGHTY, WIDGETS. The only rhyme I could make out was DASH/SASH, while SASH and SHAH were nearly symmetrical opposite each other in the grid.
Thank you, Everyman and Pierre
Today’s earworm. Chopsticks played by two classical pianists and not on the same piano, as how I learned. 2 grands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SdZINPY4ew
Other paired solutions: ART DECO & VERMEER; PASSATA & RISOTTO
Paddymelon @7 I fully agree. Although there are too many bizarre crosswordese connections – if we take them out, the whole thing will collapse! It’s an exclusive, elitist hobby, lagging 50 years behind the rest of the world. Maybe that’s why we like it.
Just couldn’t make a case for NORTH vs SOUTH in KOREA. Rather unfortunate that the crossers were of no help. I suppose up’t north vs dan sarf, but…
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Monk@21. Exactly! It’s a bit anachronistic, but agree that those of us of another era enjoy these cryptics. Alan Connor, Guardian crosswords editor, and Everyman setter, has been fostering innovations for newer solvers, to his credit, which hopefully will keep the tradition going for the rest of us. But he is also influenced by his long experience and may not be able to burst the bubble.
Only minor tournaments to link to the darts scores – this weekend it’s all snooker (or maypole dancing).
I looked up the WREN-TIT to see if it exist, although the soundalike is good, and wasn’t surprised I had never heard of it, too. I’m finding these crosswords on a par with the weekly Cryptics, but I find cryptic clues the hardest to solve, preferring clear instructions to follow, so quite like the jigsaw clues.
The Guardian newsletter to supporters when they launched the new Quick Cryptic, clued it as Bras, Jockstraps .. and you? so there seems some awareness at the Guardian/Observer of the inherent sexism of just using bras as supports/supporters.
Thank you Pierre and Everyman.
Didnt get wren tit – despite googling “types of tits” rather daringly.
Ah, Shanne@24. I also thought of jockstraps today as supporters. Bras, Jock straps and you/us as supporters. That’s funny. We might yet see a good Scottish clue from Everyman about jockstraps.
I hope not not, Shanne@24.
Never heard of PASSATA — it sounds musical, if anything. In the US we just call it tomato puree. Never heard of wrentits either.
Thanks, Everyman and Pierre (liked the little birdie).
Douglas @27 – hope not what?
The point about BRA is that the three letters turn up in many words so support(er) = bra is common in wordplay.
Jock-strap unlikely to be part of wordplay so support(er)= jock-strap likely to only be a definition either way .
ART DECO – I think I prefer “red coat refashioned in 1920s style.”
CENTRALISE – impressive large one word anagram, nice surface.
PUTS ON AN ACT – liked this one; witty.
SASH – didn’t understand how “appeal” = SA, I see it now. I’ll have forgotten it the next time it appears in a crossword.
Liked this Everyman this week.
paddymelon @5 —
I’m far from an expert, but to the best of my knowledge the title “Shah” was used exclusively in the region of Persia / Iran, and there thus haven’t been any shahs in the world for half a century or so. That seems to justify the word “old” to me (speaking as someone who is about that old).
I liked Brasseries for the succinctness of the clue. Franchises came to mind first, but I couldn’t see how it fit. Let’s not mention the twenty-twenty 🙁
I didn’t get SASH.
Got HOBBY HORSE early but kept thinking it might be wrong as I was fixated on King Cole. When SHAH dropped I was able to get HATCHET . In 17ac I wasn’t convinced by erm but VERMEER was obvious. just my level
PS Answers like PASSATA we always referred to as run-ons. I like SHORTS TORY
Really good puzzle. No bad clues. A gem we thought and took some time too.