The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4075.
All present and correct: as highlighted in the grid, the rhyming pair (11A and 20A, lime green), the ‘primarily’ clue (8D, blanchedalmond – let us just call it beige), the self-reference (1D, lightpink) and geographical references (14D and 24A, cornflower blue). After last week’s fest, there is no one-word anagram. A very cosmopolitan offering, with borrowings from French (3D), German (23A), Spanish (14D) and even Farsi (25A). I suspect that Everyman is reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting these blogs; at least; the numeration of 6A and 3D is impeccably correct – or making for a dead giveaway, take your choice.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MARK ROTHKO |
Morph: OK, OK Mr Hart, here we have an artist (4,6)
|
| An anagram (‘morph’ as an imperative) of ‘OK OK Mr Hart’). | ||
| 6 | A S A P |
An idiot yesterday, in a manner of speaking (1,1,1,1)
|
| Without the numeration: A SAP (‘an idiot’). “I need this by yesterday”. | ||
| 9 | PICNICKERS |
Those choosing prison for Spooner: might they be hampered? (10)
|
| A Spoonerism of NICK PICKERS (‘those choosing prison’), with a cryptic definition. | ||
| 10 | PAIR |
Storage unit for socks, nip of putrid atmosphere (4)
|
| A charade of P (‘nip of Putrid’) plus AIR (‘atmosphere’), with a definition that unidexters might find objectionable (in addition to the suggestion of a pong). | ||
| 11 | COUNTED SHEEP |
Used woolly thinking when lacking illumination? (7,5)
|
| Cryptic definition – ‘lacking illumination’ suggesting someone who cannot get to sleep even in the dark. | ||
| 15 | ABANDON |
Walk out on salsa band onstage for using a sample (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘for using a sample’ – ‘for’ does not sit too happily here, but I think is acceptable. Just) in ‘salsA BAND ONstage’ | ||
| 16 | SLIPPER |
Evidently clumsy type – and a loafer (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | TOASTER |
Swallowing duck, one checks for poison; I say ‘Cheers!’ (7)
|
| An envelope (‘swallowing’) of O (zero, ‘duck’) in TASTER (‘one checks for poison’ as employed by monarchs, say, in fear of their lives). | ||
| 19 | TENANTS |
Residents x workers? (7)
|
| A charade of TEN (‘x’, Roman numeral – a substitution more often used the other way round) plus ANTS (‘workers’). | ||
| 20 | FALLEN ASLEEP |
Sinful American peels back – and out (6,6)
|
| A charade of FALLEN (‘sinful’) plus A (‘American’) plus SLEEP, a reversal (‘back’) of ‘peels’. | ||
| 23 | DANK |
I appreciate that German is curt, having unpleasant air (4)
|
| DANK[e] (German for “thank you” – ‘I appreciate that German’) minus its last letter. Note that ‘having’ is part of the definition, for an answer (generally) adjectival. | ||
| 24 | NICARAGUAN |
Can Guaraní get translated for C. American? (10)
|
| An anagram (‘get translated’) of ‘can Guarani’. Guarani is a language spoken in parts of South America, but not in Nicaragua, making for an apposite surface. | ||
| 25 | NAAN |
It goes well with curry, whichever way you look at it (4)
|
| A flatbread and a palindrome, but not necessarily in that order. | ||
| 26 | HELLO KITTY |
‘Hot location acceptable’ – tiny oriental feline (5,5)
|
| A charade of HELL (‘hot location’) plus OK (‘acceptable’) plus ITTY (‘tiny’ – alternative forms itty-bitty and itsy-bitsy), for the marketing character. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MOPE |
Everyman, having taken on work, to look miserable (4)
|
| An envelope (‘having taken on’) of OP (opus, ‘work’, particularly of a music composer) in ME (‘Everyman’ as author of this clue). | ||
| 2 | RICH |
Dicky and Fatty (4)
|
| Double definition, the first being two diminutives of Richard, the second applied to food. | ||
| 3 | RAISON D’ÊTRE |
Calling for the French? (6,1’4)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 4 | TAKEN IN |
Admitted what the sights may be (5,2)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 5 | KERNELS |
Cores – or, reportedly, senior members of what sounds the same? (7)
|
| Sounds like (‘reportedly’) COLONELS (‘senior members of what sounds the same’ – i.e. CORPS). | ||
| 7 | SEA SERPENT |
Southern facility by river restrained aquatic menace (3,7)
|
| A charade of S (‘southern’) plus EASE (‘facility’) plus R (‘river’) plus PENT (‘restrained’). | ||
| 8 | PARAPHRASE |
Present alternative rendering, albeit parallel – here represents a suitable example, primarily! (10)
|
| The ‘primarily’ clue: first letters of ‘Present Alternative Rendering Albeit Parallel Here Represents A Suitable Example, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 12 | SCIENCE PARK |
Snack recipe concocted in experimental facilities (7,4)
|
| An anagram (‘concocted’) of ‘snack recipe’. | ||
| 13 | EAST OF EDEN |
Dinin’ on chocolate eggs, you say, in Steinbeck novel (4,2,4)
|
| Sounds somewhat like (‘you say’ – which depends on who you are, or perhaps how drunk you are) EASTER FEEDIN’ (‘dinin’ on chocolate eggs’). | ||
| 14 | CASABLANCA |
Film in Almodóvar’s language for the White House (10)
|
| Pedro Almodóvar is a Spanish film director, but appears here just for the Spanish language (although he has directed films in English), as the very famous film Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz. | ||
| 18 | REALISE |
Appreciate fizzy ale, Sire? (7)
|
| An anagram (‘fizzy’) of ‘ale sire’. | ||
| 19 | TELL-ALL |
Newspaper exposé showing Archer and friend scratching bottom (4-3)
|
| A charade of TELL (William, ‘archer’) plus ALL[y] (‘friend’) minus its last letter (‘scratching bottom’). | ||
| 21 | AUNT |
Relative somewhat daunted (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘dAUNTedd’. | ||
| 22 | ENVY |
Jealousy picked up from leading characters in Nouvelle Vague? (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘picked up’) N V (‘leading characters in Nouvelle Vague‘ – an influential film movement with protagonists such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais, although Godard identified Resnais as separate from the Nouvelle Vague). Perhaps with no relevance at all, but Alain Robbe-Grillet, himself a film-maker, but perhaps best known as the writer of L’Année Dernière à Marienbad directed by Resnais, and a prominent novelist of the Nouveau Roman, wrote a novel entitled La Jalousie. |
But Hello Kitty isn’t an oriental feline – she’s a British schoolgirl!
You beat me to it Paul! It’s like calling Paddington a Brit.
Notwithstanding the inaccuracy I’m very pleased. The first one finished without any assistance (albeit having completed it I had to check 1A as never heard of him!)
Well I think I’d have to be very drunk (insensible?) to think EAST OF EDEN sounded like Easter feedin’.
Didn’t get ASAP or, annoyingly, DANK
Liked: HELLO KITTY, FALLEN ASLEEP, TOASTER, TENANTS, SEA SERPENT
Think I have seen a very similar clue for CASABLANCA before
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Thanks Peter O.
I thought Ia was unfair. I got the morph anagrind, and the fodder, but If you didn’t see the word pattern and associate it with an artist, it was already looking like a foreign language, so there were lots of possibilities. The definition was unfair as well. here we have an artist. .
I first spent some time looking for a foreign art gallery, because of the here. And anyway, artist is too broad a definition, regardless.
I remember in one of the Meet the Setters blogs, the setter commented on that kind of clue as being unsatisfactory, ie an ill-defined solution to an anagram, and I agree. Maybe Alan Connor/Everyman forgot about that. Grrrrrr.
I really enjoyed this. Particularly liked picnickers, Hello Kitty, the sea serpent and the toaster. Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
pdm@4: conversely, I really liked MARK ROTHKO. Takes all types… My only hold up was bifding SEA MONSTER. Thanks, Everyman and PeterO.
i had to google MARK ROTHKO… was able to guess MARK R?T??? but KERNELS was my final entry in the grid… so I was struggling without the K, and i’m not all that cultured like with the art and whatnot *hiccups*
HELLO KITTY was my favourite clue… thats way more my ‘brow’
I also liked PAIR and TENANTS
Very enjoyable.
I really liked MARK ROTHKO, especially for the anagrind (once his name came to the surface).
Good to see the related rhyming pair, in my case one helped to solve the other.
I also liked the international flavour, especially RAISON D’ÊTRE and CASA BLANCA.
Other likes – TENANTS for the x, TELL-ALL and HELLO KITTY.
Thanks for the very clear blog, PeterO and for the puzzle, Everyman.
I liked the ROTHKO clue. Thought it was cleverly done, and a nice reminder of a lot of enjoyable TV in days gone by.
Favourites: TELL-ALL, TENANTS, HELLO KITTY.
It took me a while to parse 13d and I finally guessed it was a homonym of easter feedin’.
Like @TassieTim I am also called Tim and also wrote in SEAMONSTER. In the end I found the error due to TENANTS. I enjoyed the puzzle, which was the right level of hard for me. I did the bottom half on the first day, but took all week to get the top half. Thanks to both Everyman and PeterO.
So @TassieTim and @Tim 11, I too could NOT get beyond sea monster (and not even called Tim) ! But as the first Everyman in weeks, was shocked to almost finish (kernels defeated me…slipper too 😫). Thanks to everyone here for continuing, invaluable support.
Thanks for explaining EAST OF EDEN, I mean it never works in a month of Sundays but there we are.
Never heard of HELLO KITTY. Liked MARK ROTHKO.
For some reason, my copy of The Observer had a ‘d’ in the anagram for NICARAGUAN, instead of a third ‘a’ but it wasn’t really a problem.
I remember HELLO KITTY as a Japanese import, one of the routes taken by my daughter into that culture as a preteen, seeing merchandise on Camden market as I took her and her friends there. I struggled to parse EAST OF EDEN, although did eventually slur it enough.
Another person with no no problem with MARK ROTHKO, visualising his paintings, upside down or not, Morph and Tony Hart when solving that, with a smile.
Thank you PeterO and Everyman.
Oh the anticipation of this blog! A whole week to wait for answers to niggles (OK truth be told, 48h). 5D I knew I was wasting part of the clue, because we’d already had reportedly, so why sounds the same too? CORPS! Thank you.
I needed the blog for the parsing of TELL-ALL – I had completely forgotten about William Tell. I was also hoping it would clear up SEA SERPENT, but I’m still struggling – can someone explain why facility = ease? (I was another SEA MONSTER at first.)
TENANTS and PICKNICKERS both raised a smile.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Liked this very much – even if not being able to twist EAST OF EDEN to anything sensible -, especially the thematically related rhyming pair and its correct order in the grid (first COUNTED, then FALLEN – really nice). ENVY was also quite inventive [reported from Nevada?], as was x for TEN.
Thank you, Everyman and PeterO
Defining RAISON D’ETRE as ‘calling’ is pretty tenuous in my opinion. As for the Steinbeck reference, I got it on crossers and decided not to subject myself to the torture of trying to justify it.
TanTrumPet@16: E.g., He had always spoken with facility. (as offered by Collins)
jayuu @19 – thank you, although it’s not a meaning I could ever see myself using!
2D is actually a triple definition: Richard Rich tudor Lord Chancellor — so my not getting it was a triple failure.
Thank you setter and blogger.
Came to this after battling todays Quiptic and this was a lot more learner accessible and therefore enjoyable.
First cryptic I’ve finished without any checking/cheating, on my own, since starting out in January. Pleasing. 2d was the hardest!
I thought this one was fun – precisely because I couldn’t quite get all the answers (and/or parse what I guessed the answers were) until seeing the answers in today’s paper, and looking at this blog, respectively. So, just about the right level. Except … I didn’t and still don’t understand the answer HELLO KITTY … what on earth??
Albert@24: There’s an explanatory Wikipedia link in the blog, courtesy of @PeterO
poc @18
Looking back at 6A and 3D, I note they both use particularly tangential definitions, and I wonder if this was deliberate, to compensate for the precise numeration.
I enjoyed this one a lot and it was the first time for a few weeks that I very nearly finished without help, although I did cheat and looked up rich.
I found it especially pleasing that I’d heard of both Mark Rothko and Hello Kitty, and wondered if I might be in quite a small group in that Venn diagram!
@Tantrumpet I was a bit stuck on that as well, but…
Facility can mean “absence of difficulty or effort”.
With ease: She completed the puzzle with great ease.
With facility: She completed the puzzle with great facility.
jayuu @25: Thanks for this. Goodness – is that supposed to be within anyone’s [or at least any non-insignificant minority’s] stock of general knowledge / awareness? Maybe it’s just me – but I can’t remember any Everyman clue leaving me quite as mystified even after seeing the answer.
Enjoyed this one. Dank was LOI. Thanks PeterO as always for the explanations.
I half parsed hello kitty, HELL, and worked out the rest with the downs. Helps that it was in my gen knowledge bank along with Rothko.
I often finish Everymans without parsing all the answers. Still satisfying!
Very enjoyable crossword today on a beautiful summer morning here in Whangaparaoa. MARK ROTHKO; HELLO KITTY; SEA SERPENT all goodies today. Couldn’t get the final one – KERNELS, we were overthinking it. Thanks for a great start to our weekend!
Thoroughly enjoyable. Kernels was my last one in. Same likes as most above, particularly Sea Serpent Tenants and Toaster.
Did not enjoy this at all. Far too difficult. The connections were too obscure and tenuous. Never heard of Mark Rothko or of “Hello Kitty”. Got it all out with HEAVY us of wildcard dictionaries, but had to have the parsings of many anwers explained by Peter O.
I thought that “Mr. Hart” might refer to Lorenz Hart (as in Rogers and Hart) but that didn’t fit with anything. A wildcard dictionary revealed “Mark Rothko”.
13 down was an immediate write in; no need to parse. The homophonics were weak, but.
I thought this a step back too. Shame, last week’s was rather good.
I found this abit easier than last week but felt that some of the definitions didn’t really mean what the answer said. For example its a big jump from lacking illumination to counting sheep and ones calling is not necessarily one’s raison d’etre. Luckily I had to explain the connection between Buddy Holly and James Dean to my late wife so East of Eden jumped out. Mope gave me the M for Mark so I had few starts. Envy made me smile. and so did ten ants when the penny finally dropped. You need to be a certain age to understand that!
Having read the Herald before attacking the Crozzy I had 7D as sea anemone until I got slipper.