Apart from one or two small criticisms that appear in the blog, this is a good well-constructed crossword. Everyman seems to be paying more attention to the surfaces of his clues nowadays. It’s quite impressive that he manages to produce a pleasant crossword week after week, with all the restrictions that he imposes on himself (the rhyming pairs, the first letters clue, the self-reference).
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, homophone, hidden, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams shown (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WIDOW’S PEAK |
Hairline fractures finally | seen in window that’s not new – tip! (6,4)
|
| [fracture]s in (wi[n]dow peak) — n = new, peak = tip, as in the very top of something | ||
| 6 | ABEL |
He’s in the OT in biblical tower, scratching head (4)
|
| [B]abel — the tower of Babel, and Abel of Cain and Abel | ||
| 9 | LEDERHOSEN |
Short trousers and red heels on, dancing (10)
|
| (red heels on)* | ||
| 10 | GARB |
Clothing to boast about (4)
|
| (brag)rev. — notice how Everyman has made the answer absolutely clear; some setters would have had ‘Boast about clothing’, which is ambiguous. On a certain site I have grumbled about this practice and been told that you have to wait for the checking letters to tell you. Which in my opinion isn’t good enough. | ||
| 11 | ONE-HIT WONDER |
It’s almost always off the charts (3-3,6)
|
| CD — if something is a one-hit wonder it doesn’t appear very often in the pop charts — but all compositions are almost always off the charts, because they have their time there and then they disappear, so this seems to me to be a weakness | ||
| 15 | SANDPIT |
Constituents of saliva in play area? (7)
|
| Since saliva is spit, its constituents are s and pit | ||
| 16 | DRESDEN |
André’s denounced, to some extent, somewhere on the Elbe … (7)
|
| Hidden in AnDRES DENounced | ||
| 17 | HOLLAND |
… French president losing energy in part of Benelux (7)
|
| Holland[e] — Francois Hollande was the French president (2012-17) | ||
| 19 | OSTRICH |
He ignores issues over case of suet that’s fattening (7)
|
| o s[ue]t rich — o = over, rich = fattening, ‘that’s’ in the clue is short for ‘that has’ [next to it], where ‘that has’ is |
||
| 20 | SIX FEET UNDER |
What you expect with cricket: below lifeless (3,4,5)
|
| six feet under — six feet = What you expect with cricket (a cricket, the insect, has six feet), under = below — I don’t get the impression that Everyman is a cricket fan [sorry, getting mixed up with the number of legs, misled by the picture] | ||
| 23 | ORBS |
Brother repulsed | by small globes (4)
|
| (bro.)rev. s — bro. = brother, s = small | ||
| 24 | MAJORITIES |
Greatest parts of capitals etc with carbon reduction (10)
|
| major [c]ities — major cities are capitals etc, c = carbon | ||
| 25 | EVEN |
50 / 50 = odd? No (4)
|
| If something is 50 / 50 then it’s even[s], and even though 50 / 50 = 1, which is an odd number, the answer is the opposite of ‘odd’ | ||
| 26 | STILL LIFES |
Even so, sentences that depict fruit etc (5,5)
|
| still lifes — still = even so, lifes = sentences (as in life sentences) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WELL |
Aha! Somewhere to get a drink! (4)
|
| 2 defs — aha! as in well! well!, and a well as in ‘pussy’s in the well’ | ||
| 2 | DODO |
Twice act the fool (4)
|
| do do — do = act, and it appears twice — a dodo is a stupid person (American slang, according to Collins) | ||
| 3 | WAR AND PEACE |
Pa, can we read novel – a big one? (3,3,5)
|
| (Pa can we read)* — and War and Peace (Tolstoy) is a big novel — you might ask why Everyman has used a question mark, but it’s necessary because the sentence is a question | ||
| 4 | PROPHET |
Forecaster making net gains in speech (7)
|
| “profit” | ||
| 5 | ALERTED |
Warned: treadle malfunctioning (7)
|
| (treadle)* — one of Everyman’s complete anagrams | ||
| 7 | BEARDED TIT |
Small bird illegally traded? I bet (7,3)
|
| *(traded I bet) — illegally is the anagram indicator, maybe rather a stretch | ||
| 8 | LABYRINTHS |
Sadly hit by snarl where dead ends abound (10)
|
| *(hit by snarl) | ||
| 12 | OVER-THE-HILL |
Clear at the outset, Everyman’s on rugby pitch, unwell and too old (4-3-4)
|
| overt heh ill — overt = clear, at the outset, Everyman’s is e, and that appears between two h’s, in other words it’s on a rugby pitch, appearing between the two h-shaped goals, ill = unwell — is this the self-referential clue? If so, then a bit different from usual | ||
| 13 | IS THIS LOVE |
Bob Marley song I Shot the Sheriff’s intro, live, remastered (2,4,4)
|
| I (Shot S[heriff] live)* — but why ‘the’? — since the letters t, h, e appear in the answer is this just gratuitously misleading? [ignore that, sorry, my Bob Marley knowledge is rather weak.) | ||
| 14 | INFLEXIBLE |
In line? I nearly ran, being obstinate (10)
|
| in flex I ble[d] — in = in, flex = line, I = I, bled = ran | ||
| 18 | DETRACT |
Diminish empty, desolate expanse (7)
|
| d[esolat]e tract — tract = expanse | ||
| 19 | OWN GOAL |
Characters from Tinseltown go along to see player’s worst fear (3,4)
|
| Hidden in TinseltOWN GO ALong | ||
| 21 | PIAF |
Proudly impenitent artiste française, primarily! (4)
|
| The first letters clue — ref Edith Piaf | ||
| 22 | ISIS |
River goddess (4)
|
| 2 defs — the Thames as it flows through Oxford is called the Isis, and Isis was a goddess — not very original: I’ve seen this several times, but if you haven’t then if all fits very pleasantly |
John, you have the correct SIX FEET UNDER in the grid, but TEN FEET… in the blog. I was happy with ONE HIT WONDER, and the magnificent clue for IS THIS LOVE definitely need ‘the’ to be able to include the title of Bob Marley’s wonderful hit I Shot the Sheriff. Great fun – thanks, Everyman and John.
I parsed 12d as OVERT + HE( a new self-reference) + H (Rugby pitch) + ILL. A nice puzzle. Thanks E and John
Thanks E and J,. I blame streaming, it’s addling my brain and I’m getting even lazier than i already was, just cqba back-parsing once clues like Is This Love, and over the hill become obvious via def. I wonder if younger solvers know what lederhosen are. Hey ho, nice Sundy puzzle.
Liked OVER THE HILL (for the excellent clueing for ‘between two Hs’), SIX FEET UNDER and EVEN.
STILL LIFES
The def should include the ‘that depict‘, I think.
IS THIS LOVE
The extra ‘the’ spoils the clue a bit.
John, KVa@4: I don’t understand the problem with ‘the’. Without it, the Bob Marley song (that is, the wordplay one, not the answer) becomes I Shot Sheriff (no such song exists), thus destroying the beauty of the clue.
Couldn’t parse “Sandpit” nor “Over the Hill”, otherwise all good. Now think that a rugby pitch represented by two Hs is pretty clever…
Thank you to Everyman and John for the blog.
I’m with TassieTim on this.
Thanks John. One meaning of off the charts in ONE-HIT WONDER is something that’s extraordinary, phenomenal. Can be in an alarming sense, like blood pressure, but can also mean immeasurably, surprisingly good.
I liked the clue. I think it’s a play on both interpretations, the literal one as per your blog, and the one which means very special.
I’m with Tassie Tim and nichbach on the the in the surface for IS THIS LOVE. For me it works grammatically, as anagrist: I shot + the sheriff’s intro + ( first letter of the word sheriff) +live .
I liked it. Fun clue, with one song cluing another.
Agree with John’s preamble about the surfaces. I particularly those in the clues for BEARDED TIT, LABYRINTHS, PIAF, IS THIS LOVE, WAR AND PEACE, and OWN GOAL, which was nicely misleading us to entertainment, playing in Tinseltown, rather than football. And the hidden was nicely hidden as well.
Wasn’t keen on ABEL, needing Biblical knowledge for both wordplay and answer.
I liked the IS THIS LOVE clue too, complete with earworm of I Shot the Sheriff, and SIX FEET UNDER – crickets are insects so have 6 feet, and the lifeless refers to the traditional depth of a grave, so how far down a corpse is buried.
Enjoyable puzzle – thank you to John and Everyman.
Especially liked 21d PIAF (Click for earworm with bilingual subtitles).
11a The ONE-HIT WONDER is the singer, or the group, not the song. (Originally 1914, from baseball – TiLT).
Thanks for the blog , I was just about to make the same point as Frankie@13 , the ONE-HIT WONDER is the act and “it” is seldom in the charts again.
Tassie Tim @1 has sorted out the “the” from IS THIS LOVE . Unusual to have S = the Sheriff’s intro but not wrong.
HOLLANDE has “French PM ” in the paper , it must have been corrected at some point.
Roz@14. Not seldom – never, otherwise they’re not ONE-hit wonders
I had no idea how to parse SIX FEET UNDER but it seemed like the only answer from the crossers. Tried to work in six balls an over but got nowhere. Didn’t even consider a different meaning of cricket.
STILL LIFES a bit tricky too. The dreaded Everyman four letter words a bit easier this time. They must be listening.
[Roz@14. I remember now being
puzzled by the French PM online last Sunday. That was a bit of a faux pas. Since changed.]
Crispy@15 I think the typical one-hit wonder has a number 1 single selling many copies. They will release a follow-up that flops but does make the top 40 , so is in the charts , perhaps a few more singles. Musical Youth spring to mind.
SIX FEET UNDER is a common UK phrase for being dead , in the cemetery . It must be US as well , there was a TV series about undertakers.
First time poster, came to Everyman from the quick cryptic series, and found the blog.
I have a question about this post if that’s ok? Why in the grid is “One-Hit Wonder” and “Six feet under” green, “Alerted” blue and “Piaf” orange? Looking at faq thought it might be a Nina but can’t see it
Thanks off to tackle todays Everyman having found where I stumbled last week
Rockhoppers@19 good to see new solvers in the blog from the quick cryptic.
The colours just highlight the usual Everyman features.
A rhyming pair – green .
A complete one word anagram – ALERTED .
A primarily clue, first letters – PIAF .
There is also a clue referring to Everyman , OVER THE HILL this week .
17 across was ‘French PM’ online, which had me searching through all the obscure French prime ministers since the revolution. I see it’s now corrected as president.
Quite tough.
Favourites: LABYRINTH, SIX FEET UNDER.
I could not parse:
15ac – only guessed at AND in SPIT
12d: OVERT + HEH + ILL. What is the HEH bit? Oh dear, this was way too complicated for me to parse – I have no idea about H-shaped goals in rugby!!!
14d
Thanks, both.
Welcome Rockhoppers! Many thanks to Everyman and John. I needed help to parse OVER THE HILL and SIX FEET UNDER but really liked them plus the rhyming counterpart ONE-HIT WONDER. I agree with the comments above about the clueing of IS THIS LOVE. Some lovely earworms today, but the one that’s going round in my head is REDEMPTION SONG, my favourite by Mr Marley…
https://youtu.be/kOFu6b3w6c0?si=jnKj8e-KlfBg6HGP
Roz@18. Radio presenters (or DJ’s, as we used to call them) usually refer to a one-hit wonder as an act that makes the top 40 once, rather than number 1.
Awesome. Thanks @Roz at 20. I’ll look out for that next week! Gives me something to look for in 4065
Crispy@25 I am somewhat glad to see that I disagree with radio DJ’s .
As many already noted, some nice surfaces this week (and 2 German references on top): LEDERHOSEN, LABYRINTHS, SIX FEET UNDER, INFLEXIBLE, IS THIS LOVE… [With the latter, I think the is meant to emphasise that “intro” relates to “Sheriff” only.] OVER THE HILL was very clever indeed.
Thank you, Everyman and John
Enjoyed this, had quite a few unparsed however. Disappointed I didn’t get ISIS as an Oxford student. Why does act = do? Thanks.
Liked: anagrams LEDERHOSEN, ALTERED, BEARDED TIT. Also liked DRESDEN.
Couldn’t parse: OVER THE HILL, SIX FEET UNDER, OSTRICH. Give me another few Sundays and I might have parsed SIX FEET UNDER and OSTRICH, but I’m never getting “rugby pitch” = “H, H”. By the same logic, can “football pitch” = “Π , Π” ≈ “a couple of big pies”…?!
Eddie@29: Collins only has act = do something, but this passed me by. Z @30 the rugby pitch thing I’ve seen before but I agree it’s a bit of a stretch. I think the couple of big pies is a stretch too far, though: to ask the solver to equate the Greek letter pi with the shape of a football goal is too much I think, whereas the rugby posts stand out as a letter H. I’m surprised, though, that more people haven’t grumbled, indeed the opposite.
My point about one-hit wonders was that ALL songs are almost always off the charts.
Thanks for the parsing of OVER THE HILL, I wouldn’t have got that in a month of Sundays, although the answer was obvious once a few crossers were in.
I found this on the tough side, but very enjoyable. Big ticks for IS THIS LOVE and OWN GOAL which was beautifully hidden.
LEDERHOSEN gave me a chuckle as there exists somewhere in the family box of old photos one of me sporting a pair, aged around 7 or 8, when an aunt brought them back as a gift from her holiday.
Thanks Everyman and John.
A comment (eg “Special instruction”) on the online version about the PM/President correction would have been nice. Found it slightly annoying to see it sneakily changed like that.
Thanks to Everyman & John
I think it safe to say that we needed some crossing letters for some of these clues, and that’s being polite. I was a bit confused by IS THIS LOVE, which is a song I’d never heard of tbh. I Shot The Sheriff I had heard of, but not I Shot Sheriff. Agree with John on that one. The rugby posts thing I’ve seen (though not doubled for HH), but probably only in The Guardian, and that clue was another pretty confusing one. So much for easy old Everymans. The modern ones are bloody baffling at times.
Humble Tim@33. I had similar thoughts about the correction of the clue for HOLLAND.
Very minor change, but it would have been nice if the setter/Everyman/crosswords editor had ackmowled the brain twisting that resulted from the error.
I’m surprised no one mentioned but Holland fits the required geographic reference. Apologize if it was commented on and I missed it
Dewey@36: [Well, DRESDEN does as well, fwiw.]
I must say I enjoyed this although I didn’t know the president and I thought a six was what you expect more of in all forms of cricket but the feet remained unparsed. If it really is supposed to be a reference to the insect it should be A cricket. Liked Majorities and the He on H in 12D.
Too tough by half. Could not parse “Is this love” (still can’t, even after seeing the explanation), “ostrich”, “inflexible”. The parsing of “over the hill” was far too recherché, even though the answer was easy to get.
Thought that the hidden “own goal” was very cleverly hidden, but.
Am I right in saying that labyrinths, unlike mazes, have no dead ends, ie there is only one route from start to centre and back again. That was certainly the case with the one I walked recently.
Nice puzzle for a long weekend. We will labour on.
Eventually concluded that SIX LEFT KNEES mght fit but ther had to bee something better.
All those L’s next to each other was odd.
Song titles are OK if you are in the right age group but some of us are not familiar with anything after 1970!
Some really hard ones here – 19ac can anyone clarify for me why the ‘ue’ is removed from suet
and what part of the clue tells us to remove ‘ue’?
I thought the rugby pitch thing was way too hard but will remember that for anything future
thought this was not one for beginners. Tho a challenge is always good.
Vanessa@43 it says ‘case of’ suet, so that gives the outer letters of suet. Apologies because I wasn’t quite clear in the blog: I said that ‘that’s’ was just a link, whereas it’s more a juxtaposition indicator (an indicator that st has rich next to it) — I’ll amend the blog.