What we have come to expect: not perhaps the most exciting surfaces (except for some, particularly 22dn), but plenty of ingenuity shown, and sound clues.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, homophone, hidden, inclusion, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BUFF |
Polish admirer, nude (4)
|
| Triple def — to polish something is to buff it, an admirer of something is a buff (think music buff), in the nude/in the buff | ||
| 3 | REINSTATED |
Straitened, distressed, but back in office (10)
|
| (Straitened)* — one of Everyman’s trademark complete anagrams | ||
| 9 | RATS |
Curses and rants, being heartless (4)
|
| ra[n]ts — rats! = curses! | ||
| 10 | TRUNK ROADS |
Way to wear swimwear in major thoroughfares (5,5)
|
| road in trunks | ||
| 12 | ANYBODY’S GAME |
So began my day, unpredictably: it’s a toss-up (8,4)
|
| (so began my day)* | ||
| 15 | UNCHAIN |
Portion of cinnabun, chai: nourishing – and free! (7)
|
| Hidden in cinnabUN CHAI Nourishing — I’ve never heard of cinnabun, not that it made it hard | ||
| 16 | NESTLED |
Swiss multinational and Dutch cosied up (7)
|
| Nestlé D — Nestlé is the Swiss multinational, D = Dutch | ||
| 17 | ADDED UP |
Reckoned was plausible (5,2)
|
| 2 defs — to reckon a set of figures is to add them up, and if something is plausible it adds up (as in ‘it adds up,’ said the detective) | ||
| 19 | SALIERI |
Initially Schubert and Liszt’s illustrious educator – renowned Italian! (7)
|
| The first letters clue (and it’s true) | ||
| 20 | MASS HYSTERIA |
Everyman’s describing idiot husband – misguided satire – crazy scenes (4,8)
|
| M(ass h)y *(satire) — My = Everyman’s, ass = idiot, h = husband, describing = surrounding — the self-referential clue | ||
| 23 | APOSTROPHE |
Character seen towards end of The French Lieutenant’s Woman? (10)
|
| CD — an apostrophe appears where it says it does. Why the question mark? | ||
| 24 | ENYA |
Irish musician in African country, needing no introduction (4)
|
| [K]enya — this is much more likely than my first thought, which was [G]hana — and I sort of justified the Irish singer, but it was a bit unconvincing, and 13dn made it quite clear that this was wrong. | ||
| 25 | UNDERSTUDY |
Actor, waiting where Cluedo weapon concealed? (10)
|
| An understudy is an actor, waiting (for the main actor to be somehow incapacitated) — the Cluedo weapon might be concealed in the study, but under it? Or is the definition just ‘Actor’ and somehow under = waiting? Can’t see how | ||
| 26 | ASIA |
Eats pilaf regularly – here? (4)
|
| [e]a[t]s [p]i[l]a]f] — semi-&lit. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BARRACUDAS |
Scuba – radar deployed – voracious fish! (10)
|
| (Scuba radar)* | ||
| 2 | FATTY ACIDS |
Taking LSD, greasy hippies – in the end, they’re in a cell (5,5)
|
| fatty (acid) [hippie]s — fatty = greasy, LSD = acid — a cell of the body | ||
| 4 | EARLY ON |
Nobleman over there at crack of dawn? (5,2)
|
| Earl yon — earl = nobleman, yon = over there | ||
| 5 | NONAGON |
Buried in Parthenon, a gong, one with straight edges? (7)
|
| Hidden in partheNONA GONg — a nonagon has nine straight sides | ||
| 6 | TARAMASALATA |
At, sadly, a place of trade stocking American flipping fishy dish (12)
|
| (At alas a mar(A)t)rev. — rhyming with 11dn | ||
| 7 | TOAD |
In the auditorium, drew amphibian (4)
|
| “towed” — towed = drew, ‘in the auditorium’ is a homophone indicator | ||
| 8 | DOSH |
Do be quiet – lolly? (4)
|
| do sh — do = do, sh = be quiet, lolly and dosh are both slang words for money | ||
| 11 | HOWARD CARTER |
‘Ho! Abruptly draw back, draw back!’ – one who entered tomb (6,6)
|
| Ho (retrac[t] draw)rev. — retract – draw back (and ‘abruptly’ tells you to cut the last letter) — Howard Carter entered the tomb of Tutankhamun — this rhymes with 6dn | ||
| 13 | BLUEPRINTS |
Plans suggested by erotic etchings (10)
|
| blue prints — blue = erotic, prints = etchings | ||
| 14 | ADDIS ABABA |
To make greater numbers, is Swedish band touring a capital city? (5,5)
|
| add is Ab(a)ba — add = to make greater numbers, is = is, Abba is the Swedish band — Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia | ||
| 18 | PASS OUT |
Deal – or collapse (4,3)
|
| 2 defs, the first of them referring not to someone who passes the finishing exams of their college etc, but to the dealer in a card game, who passes out the cards | ||
| 19 | SCYTHED |
Was hacking, chesty daughter given treatment? (7)
|
| (chesty d)* — why the question mark? It can only apply to ‘scythed’, and there is no doubt in my mind that ‘hack’ and ‘scythe’ are synonyms | ||
| 21 | RAGU |
Pasta sauce in uniform covered with bit of old cloth (4)
|
| rag u — rag = bit of old cloth, u = uniform | ||
| 22 | CORD |
While using phone, removed central part of cable (4)
|
| “cored” — the homophone (While using phone) applies to all of ‘removed central part of’ |
Great first-letter clue; true, as John says, and not only Schubert and Liszt, but Ludwig van too!
UNDERSTUDY
The def underlined is convincing. Does STUDY mean a STUDY table?
SCYTHED
The clue reads like a question. The question mark is there only for the surface. Or is there some other reason?
Thanks Everyman and John
Liked this, DNF though, didn’t get 22d, homophones continue to be my bugbear…
6d was a new word, would never have got it without crossers. Figured the anagram and just tossed in the remaining letters to arrive at something vaguely culinary…
Had seen “Addis Ababa” elsewhere recently, else perhaps I may have struggled…
Liked “Buff” very much.
Thank you to Everyman and John for the blog.
22d was my LOI. Bunged in CORD without parsing it. Like TPS @ 3 I often fail to spot homophones.
Liked: MASS HYSTERIA, EARLY ON, ADDIS ABABA, SCYTHED, FATTY ACIDS
Thanks Everyman and John
This felt like the Everyman we all hope for, straightforward without too many difficult tricks. As the blogger of the Quick Cryptics, if every week was like this it would be easy to recommend the Everyman to newbies as the next step up.
I love TARAMASALATA so not a challenge here.
Thank you to John and Everyman.
Everyman 3452 (back in 2012) – “18a In which every second one is a starter (12)”
A good challenge, neither too easy nor fiendishly difficult.
I could not parse 6d and 11d apart from HO + rev of DRAW + ??
Favourite: BLUEPRINTS.
Thanks, both.
1 ac buff does not usually mean admirer, but expert, knowledgeable person but not seriously misleading with two other definitions
15a UNCHAIN Knew CinnabOn from its starring role in Better Call Saul, but it’s been misspelt here.
16a NESTLED – Old enough to remember “Nestle’s Milky Bar” rhyming with wrestles, when Mad Men hadn’t yet noticed the acute accent.
I think the definition in 25a could be ‘Actor’ or ‘Actor, waiting’. The problem is with the cryptic fodder, which in either case doesn’t make much sense.
19d SCYTHED – The question mark is there because the clue can be read as a question, with “hacking” = coughing.
“Was hacking, chesty daughter given treatment?” – “Yes. We gave her a spooful of Veno’s Cough Mixture”.
FrankieG@9 While Cinnabon is a well-known bakery chain, the pormanteau “cinnabun” is common enough for a cinnamon bun.
I think the question mark in 23a signifies a definition by example. It could have been One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest or Lady Chatterly’s Lover. I agree with others that in 19d the question mark is for the surface reading.
Thanks John and E.
[typo – spooNful]
I enjoyed this, and thought it was just in the sweet spot for difficulty.
I had parsed HOWARD CARTER using retrac[e] as opposed to retract, but it got me to the same place – I had to google that he was indeed a tomb-raider.
I’d heard of TARAMASALATA, but never eaten it and was unaware that it is a fish dish – with some crossers in place it became obvious (although I spent a long time thinking how some variant of tiramisu might fit).
Favourites were the EARL YON and APOSTROPHE (which took an age to spot).
Thanks to Everyman and John.
What is Cluedo (Clue in the US) doing in a study? Professor Plum wielded his lead pipe in the library, I’ll have you know.
Phooey on CARTER as a rhyme for TARAMASALATA. But Taramasalata is delicious, and I’m sorry for whoever hasn’t had any.
Thanks, Everyman and John.
Didn’t think it was very exciting, but liked both parts of the rhyming pair. [I like the olden clue, courtesy of FrankieG@6, even more, though it only accounts for half the word and else totally relies on crossers.]. For the sake of readability, would prefer “Way to put on swimwear” in 10a.
Thank you, Everyman and John
Old hands may remember the occasion, almost three years ago, when Paul improbably managed to clue TARAMASALATA as a reverse hidden solution:
Athenian’s dip in defeat, alas, a marathon backfiring (12)
OneLook.com only finds “cinnabun” in Urban Dictionary, which says: ‘Its just a shorter version of “cinnamon bun” you bunch of freaks’.
That’s not a reputable source. I’d advise not looking up “cinnabon” there. It’s not even in Chambers, either. …
… But I did find out that Cinnabun is (or was, in 2010) the name of Sandra Bullock’s pet pit bull bitch, and that she and her husband Jesse James hired a pet detective (not Ace Ventura, but a firm called Find Toto) to find her, when she went missing.’
[Incidentally it was Sandra’s 60th birthday on 26 July, so I was hoping for a theme, but the G I FTs all went with the boring old Olympics on that day.]
A long time ago Azed asked for a clue for ROUGH-AND-READY. I shall always remember the entry of B. Burton (which only got a VHC, perhaps because the clue was on the long side): ‘For sort of repair newspaper DIY column may suggest, search through and read yesterday’s!’ Which is one letter longer than TARAMASALATA. In his How to do The Times Crossword Brian Greer gives ‘Sensation concealed by Chopin, Sand — needlessly (4, 3, 7)’, so this is the longest I know.
Liked: REINSTATED, ADDIS ABABA, ENYA, UNDERSTUDY
Quite liked: BARRACUDAS
Sort of liked: HOWARD CARTER (“Ho!” was a bit of a gimme)
DOSH: “Do” in the clue = “do” in the answer?!
Thanks both.
Re ‘scythed’ I think Frankie G @12 et al have it, but a skillfully used scythe glides easily through the grass rather than hacking it down. Perhaps the question mark is also justified because ‘scythe’ and ‘hack’ are not quite synonyms.
Understudy is an actor waiting (on the lead falling ill)
Much easier than normal
From Epsom in Auckland
Rob.
Much easier than normal
From Epsom in Auckland
Rob.
Much easier than normal
From Epsom in Auckland
Rob.
Three times as easy, Rob?
DNF; could not get 22 down; missed the homophone.
A couple of unparsed bung-ins in 6D and 22A but this maintained the standard set over the past few weeks.
Agree with Jayuu at 17 re the Trunks clue, the infinitive doesn’t really work.
Got cored/ cord but couldn’t really see where the phone came into it.
Otherwise OK. Trunk roads seemed old fashioned
Ok. Just. Liked blueprints.
Cord – really!