Pretty difficult this week I thought — I often solve Everyman when I’m not blogging and it can be far easier than this. Why do I always get the tough ones? The usual Everyman trademarks are there and coloured above. It seemed there were more cases than usual of there being a need for explanation.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, reversal, hidden, homophone etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPIV |
Primarily squalid purveyor, illicit vendor? (4)
|
| The first letters clue that we always see | ||
| 4 | DASH |
Tiny amount of drink – damn! (4)
|
| 2 defs | ||
| 8 | YELLOW SUBMARINE |
Mustard on a roll, for a song (6,9)
|
| A yellow submarine could fancifully be regarded as mustard on a submarine roll — the reference is to the Beatles song | ||
| 11 | ACADEME |
A bounder, the writer describing European universities etc (7)
|
| a cad (E) me — a = a, cad = bounder, E = European, me = the writer — describing = surrounding | ||
| 12 | INSTANT |
Mo in no need of barista (7)
|
| Instant coffee rather than the nice ones that the barista offers — mo = moment, nothing to do with Farah or even Mowlam | ||
| 13 | OTHER HALF |
Improved health for hubby? (5,4)
|
| (health for)* — a rather odd anagram indicator | ||
| 14 | WHITE |
Counterpart of red – and of black? (5)
|
| I’m not sure what’s going on here: is it referring to chess, where in Alice through the looking-glass what is commonly nowadays called the black side in chess was red? [Yes as many point out, it’s to do with wine] | ||
| 15 | SHRED |
Scrap fairy tale with king at the end becoming … dead (5)
|
| The fairy tale is Shrek, and the k at the end of the word becomes d — k = king, d = dead — I can’t understand the need for an ellipsis | ||
| 16 | BRAND NAME |
What boots may be in a different case? (5,4)
|
| I think this is simply that if one has Boots rather than boots one is referring to the high street chemist | ||
| 19 | UP TO PAR |
How a list of Henry’s wives goes, excluding the final queen, OK? (2,2,3)
|
| If you are reading out Henry’s wives, and omit Katherine (Catherine? Sources differ) Parr you’re reading up to Parr — the homophone indicator is understood: it’s something one is saying | ||
| 21 | ATHEIST |
Component of lathe is twitching? I’m sceptical (7)
|
| Hidden in lATHE IS Twitching | ||
| 22 | I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN |
Understood, in a phrase, how a lip-reader describes her work (1,3,4,3,4)
|
| This is a description of how a lip-reader describes her work | ||
| 23 | STYE |
Location of unpleasantness on edge of eyelid? (4)
|
| CD | ||
| 24 | TEEM |
Falling over, run into swarm (4)
|
| (meet)rev. — meet = run into | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | PIONEERED |
I reopened bananas and showed the way (9)
|
| (I reopened)* — bananas the anagram indicator | ||
| 3 | VISCERA |
Victor is constant, on time, showing guts (7)
|
| V is c era — V = Victor (NATO alphabet), is = is, c = constant, era = time | ||
| 4 | DEBRIEF |
Gather intel from – scare the pants off? (7)
|
| One could fancifully see ‘debrief’ as ‘de-brief’ | ||
| 5 | SNAGS |
Catches son, acts the scold (5)
|
| s nags — s = son, nags = acts the scold — snags = catches as in something being caught on a sharp point | ||
| 6 | DYNAMO |
Monday rattled one that’s full of beans (6)
|
| (Monday)* | ||
| 7 | SETTEE |
Place – place to drive from – place to park it? (6)
|
| set tee — set = place, tee = place to drive from (golf) — but the definition eludes me as I’m doing the crossword. I hope that by the time the blog is done the penny will have dropped — [later] not really; I can only surmise that ‘park it’ has a meaning of ‘sit down’, ‘park one’s body’ | ||
| 9 | LEATHERETTE |
Dubious treat, the eel’s dressed ‘skin’ (11)
|
| *(treat the eel) | ||
| 10 | IMAGINATIVE |
Everyman’s given a drink at 4; from the outset, Everyman’s making things up (11)
|
| I’m a gin at IV E[veryman] — I’m = Everyman’s, a = a, gin = drink, at = at, IV = four (Roman numerals) — the self-referential clue | ||
| 14 | WODEHOUSE |
One who wrote amusing novels such as Emma, you say? (9)
|
| P.G. Wodehouse was the writer of amusing novels; Emma is a reference to Emma Woodhouse, in Jane Austen’s Emma | ||
| 15 | STUPID |
Detective Inspector puts up with absence of intelligence (6)
|
| (DI puts)rev. — DI = Detective Inspector, puts = puts | ||
| 16 | BARRAGE |
Heavy criticism, lawyers blow a fuse (7)
|
| bar rage — bar = lawyers (‘the bar’), rage = blow a fuse | ||
| 17 | ANALYST |
Number-cruncher: fastidious, proverbially patient type accepting unknown number (7)
|
| anal (y) st — anal = fastidious, st = saint, the proverbially patient type, y = unknown number — the patience of a saint was unknown to me, but it’s in the Cambridge English Dictionary and was a song by Electronic in 1991 — I’m not convinced by the definition: is an analyst necessarily a number-cruncher? | ||
| 18 | EATING |
Cockney’s cooking – then … ? (6)
|
| [h]eating — crossword cockneys drop their aitches — after heating food up one possibly eats it | ||
| 20 | PEWIT |
… piece of snipe with another bird (5)
|
| Hidden in sniPE WITh |
I’m with you, John, on this being tougher than usual. In fact, I never did get SNAGS, though in retrospect I ought to have. Thanks, Everyman and John.
Thanks John. Yes that’s the meaning I had in mind for park it in SETTEE.
I remember having a sense of greater difficulty when I did this last week, but not sure exactly what it was now, regarding wordplay.’ I do remember having to check some GK, like Henry’s wives, and Wodehouse and Emma, and Shrek. Didn’t know it was a fairy tale.
I had a wrong entry for ISWYM: get what you mean, rather than see. Either would work for the understood definition . The lip reader description seems not quite right to me, and is not necessarily ”work” (except mentally). Maybe something more like sign language interpreters for the deaf, or semaphore or some such.
Yes, distinctly un-easy, or I was distinctly uneasy with the definitions for BARRAGE and STUPID (the definition points to “stupidity”, surely?) and SETTEE. I was not always sure I had arrived at the correct solution, and only completed the puzzle after the check button became available.
pdm@2: I’ve just realised that I also had GET.
Re 14 – I had thought “red and white” was referring to wine
I took white to be the counterpart of red as far as wine’s concerned.
I thought the clue for STYE might be an &lit. The location of unpleasantness could be a sty, as in pigsty; and the edge of eyelid could be E. Giving STYE.
And for UP TO PAR, I excluded the final queen (R) of PARR.
Thank you for the blog.
SETTEE
thefreedictionary.com has this (confirming what john and pdm@2 say):
park it
To sit down and stop moving. Often used as an imperative.
We’ve been hiking for a while now. Why don’t we park it and have a bit to eat, shall we?
STUPID
Monkey@3
Isn’t ‘with absence of intelligence’ equivalent to STUPIDly? The phrase looks adverbial to me.
I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN
Liked it (pdm has a different view but the clue worked for me).
SHRED
Had to google fairy tale synonyms to get shrek.
STYE (As the ‘location’ doesn’t seem to be a part of the def, it’s probably not an &lit) and UP TO PAR
Loved them. Parsed them like Clyde@7.
Thanks Everyman and John.
The Red Army and White Army were the two sides of the Russian civil war. I’ve seen that used in crosswords before.
I also took “counterpart of red” as a wine reference.
The DYNAMO/MONDAY anagram is interesting given the setter of that name who has appeared (twice, I believe?) in the Monday slot. Perhaps Everyman is trying to tell us something.
I took 7d as ‘SETTLE’, i.e. a place name and a place to park something. (First time posting here after many years learning from all the wonderful posts)
I thought there were some great clues. Liked “other half”, and “up to par” and “yellow submarine “ were very pleasing. I quibbled with “brand name” – a bit parochial for non UK solvers and only the first letter changes case for the shop name. I thought “I see what you mean” didn’t work. Lip readers see what you say. But as with audible interpretation what you say may not be what you mean.
Also I would not consider shrek an obvious fairy tale being a modern kids book (the film does contain fairy tale characters).
On the whole though it was fun and challenging .
I had the crossers on SETTEE but didn’t get it. When I saw the answer I immediately got ‘Park your a@@e down there’ for some reason in a scouse accent in my head. Was it something Ricky Tomlinson said on the Royle Family? That was a hard crossword but really enjoyable. Thanks to Everyman and John.
I also took STYE to be an &lit – or an attempted one, anyway.
Very tough puzzle.
I got 5d wrong as I had entered S+PANS (acts the scold) = catches but it didn’t seem all that good an answer.
New for me: PEWIT bird.
I wondered how to parse several of my answers:
12ac INSTANT = mo / no need for barista if making instant coffee?
14ac WHITE / think of pairings – red and white wine? black and white (many possibilities).
14d PG Wodehouse = one who wrote amusing novels, but how to parse the Emma bit?
Thanks, John for clearing up the ones I could not parse.
I enjoyed this, finding the right side trickier than the left, but all fair and fun. And in this puzzle, I enjoyed the GK.
I also saw ‘red’ and ‘white’ as referring to wine and parsed UP TO PAR as Clyde@7 did. I struggled with ISWYM for a while, then accepted this as the most appropriate phrase.
My favourite was UP TO PAR. (It pays to read those Hilary Mantel books.)
I also liked WODEHOUSE and ANALYST, among others good ones.
Thanks Everyman and John.
A tough one this time around, largely due to many definitions requiring a bit of lateral thinking. An enjoyable ride! SETTEE and UP TO PAR were probably my favourites.
@5 and/or @9, and @7, have it right for the white and the par. Both were nice clues I thought. I also took the STYE clue to be a traditional def + wordplay and a near-enough &lit.
Thanks both
Very rare that after a week of looking at an Everyman there are still several clues I can’t do. Beaten by BOOTS, ANALYST, SNAGS, BARRAGE SETTEE and DASH. So yes, difficult in my opinion. I think BOOTS is pretty tenuous nor am I convinced by ANALYST for number cruncher. BARRAGE for heavy criticism? I suppose so. I got as far as possibly something to do with a golf tee, but the SETTEE eluded me. All a bit meh, I thought.
On the one hand this seemed to be another example of an Everyman that harder than tradition suggests it should be, on the other there were some great clues, especially UP TO PAR.
UP TO PAR is not something I’ve ever heard but it works well.
I don’t read Austen and the like but my wife does. I did not understand the WODEHOUSE clue at all. I just spoke to my wife and said you might have told me that Emma’s surname is Woodhouse and, not for the first time she replied that everyone knows that.
KVa @8, yes, “stupidly” is the word I meant. I blame posting tired(ly) for my stupidity.
On BARRAGE, “he faced a barrage” of what? Questions? Blows? Ah, criticism.
🙂
I would have enjoyed that as a slightly difficult cryptic. I didn’t like it as an Everyman but then I have an obsessive nature. I still wait until Monday to do the Quiptic (and get unreasonably annoyed when I would have enjoyed it as a cryptic but find it unlikely to be for a beginner or someone in a hurry.j)
I did get all of this in and parsed, but SETTEE was my last in as I could see the parsing, but wasn’t sure of the definition, especially when settled also fitted.
I love both WODEHOUSE and Austen’s Emma so wrote that in (I had the crossers to see which way round when I got there). Another wine for red and white.
Thank you to John and Everyman.
I found STYE questionable. Surely it means the inflammation rather than the location. I don’t see how it can be an &lit.
It took me a long time to see DASH, given Everyman’s habit of including extraneous words, in this case ‘of drink’. I kept trying to justify DRAM, and only got it finally when SNAGS suddenly popped into my head.
pdm @2 and TassieTim @4 I’m another who had I GET WYM.
I had to Google to check Emma’s surname, and BRAND NAME took an eternity.
Liked ACADEME, INSTANT and UP TO PAR.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
Same clues that eluded me Gliddofglood@18. Though I should have at least got DASH. After a number of years completing Everyman, this was my worst attempt.
Found this rather challenging. Parsed both UP TO PAR and STYE as Clyde@7 did [the latter being a charade clue partially overlapping a cd]. Had SETTLE for SETTEE, failed to see Shrek as fairy tale, and wondered if BRAND NAME might be “board game” or “bland cake”, say.
Thank you, Everyman and John
.
My father often told me to sit with “park your carcase” so I understood “park it”.
I think 22a needed to be see rather than get as a lip reader needs to see how the lips are forming the words rather than just getting the drift.
A toughie this week and it took me several days to complete.
Loved Wodehouse and up to par – maybe because I love Austin ( Emma is my favourite of all I think ) and am currently engrossed in Mirror and the Light on tv
In the late 1960s Roberto de Vicenzo ‘won’ some major golf tournament but did something like signing for a wrong score, and was disqualified. He famously said, in his broken English, ‘what a stupid I am’. I think this was when a new word was coined, ‘stupid’ as a noun, and this is what Everyman was using at 15dn.
My parsing of UP TO PAR is that the first component is only up to the comma ( the full list goes up to & includes Parr ). ‘excluding the final queen’ meaning remove R(egina) from the end.
This was the first Everyman puzzle I’ve attempted and the first cryptic without a checker to give me confidence. Given that most people found it quite tough, I’m pleased that I got a good half of the answers. I liked YELLOW SUBMARINE and WODEHOUSE (I’m another Austen fan) and DEBRIEF was funny.
I thought 4a was a triple definition. If you look closely enough?
Well it might be Mev@36 I suppose, but if so the three definitions are presumably ‘Tiny amount’, ‘drink’ and ‘damn!’, and I can’t see how ‘drink’ is a definition.
John @38. I was thinking of the exact same two definitions you’ve underlined, with the third one being between them.
–
Not sure if this was deliberate or not. 🙂
Re John @33:
Yes, “stupid” is occasionally used as a noun, under certain circumstances. The last case I remember was in the “docufiction” film The Age of Stupid, about 15 years ago (made by Franny Armstrong). [A film about how our species trashes our ecosystem, but warnings go tragically unheeded.]
(More directly on topic…) There were a few clues I struggled with – at least with the parsing – in this one, but thanks to this blog almost everything is now clear; and it was an enjoyable puzzle.
I agree with many others that this was unusually hard, hence a DNF for me. I got SLAPS for 5dn, on the basis that laps = catches (up), and slaps = scolds. The only snag(!) is the order of the clue elements.
22ac doesn’t quite work for me. Why is the lip-reader given as female – it could simply have been ‘. . . describes their work’? And surely you see what is said, rather than what is meant, which is inferred subsequently?
Newbie questions:
1. What’s special about “Everyman” puzzles that the Guardian does not add reveals, and fifteensquared don’t provide solutions until a week later?
2. Is “Everyman” a particular setter or a bunch of setters?
3. What is the intended difficultly level of Everyman? Is it between Quiptic and Guardian Cryptic, or does it belong in the Guardian Cryptic level? This one for me was more difficult than last week’s Thursday cryptic (which I only 50% completed). In contrast, this week’s Everyman, which I’ve almost completed, is in the Monday Cryptic difficulty level IMO.
AR – no one else will see this, so I may as well attempt answers for you. :-). 1. Everyman is a weekly puzzle, so the answers appear weekly – everyone should have a chance to complete it before all is revealed. 2. It’s a single person, whose name is known ( but not by me!) 3. It’s intended as an advanced learning level, much like Monday, although the latter is less predictable. Having said that, Everyman is pretty much my permanent level (I really haven’t got the way of thinking for the real brutes – they usually irritate me with their contrivances), and I manage most of it most weeks, like this one. Hope that’s some help!
@42 Lloyd That’s great. Thank you very much!
@42 Lloyd which Monday puzzle do you do? Everyman also my level, sometimes in a day, sometimes most of the week, sometimes I miss a few clues.
@Peter – I didn’t get the Emma Woodhouse thing! Many were too hard for me. I had to reveal some a week later…
didn’t get WODEHOUSE or BRAND NAME
i liked the clue for SETTEE tho
Johnathon @44
I suspect that’s the Monday Guardian cryptic that’s far more doable than the cryptics later in the week.
Jonathan 44 and AR 47 – yes, the Monday Guardian, which has the convention that it’s more approachable than some of the other challenges in the week. Although that’s not always the case; so you never know! But I really haven’t got the mindset for some of the others which usually leave me frustrated and annoyed with their convoluted and clunky clueing. But that’s me- I know others get real pleasure from them.
Just got to this one – and I’m glad it wasn’t just me that thought it was hard.
“Park yer backside (or it) on the settee.” I have heard many times, thought this may indicate my lower breeding.
Easily the most obscure Everyman (and therefore the least enjoyable) I have ever seen in over twenty years.
My heart sank when I saw the awful grid and things went further downhill from there.
I probably solved around a third before giving up and reading this. Pleased I did, would hate to have wasted any more time on it, there was little satisfaction in any of the answers.
AR@41 the delay and no reveals etc is because in the UK when it first comes out it is a prize puzzle.
As usual these days, too hard. Got it all out with heavy use of a wildcard dictionary. “Snags” was LOI.
Did not know Emma’s surname, but Wodehouse had to be right.
Did not like “one that’s full of beans” as the definition of dynamo.
A lot of the clues were very clever, but.
Took a few goes but we got there albeit with two minor mistakes- SETTLE not SETTEE & SEARS not SNAGS. Loved the King Henry VIII clue! Alsp IMAGINATIVE & WODEHOUSE. Thanks to all.
Nice one. Tough but not too tough. Instant, up to par and I see what you mean made me grin. Went on a yellow soviet sub parked in Dubrovnik once.
Agree it was v. hard this week
Fave clues debrief and instant
I think using stupid is fine as the def is ‘with absence of intelligence’ so it is to me, an adjective. if it was ‘absence of intelligence’ it should be stupidity. Or the modern acceptance of stupid as a noun like ‘I’m with stupid ‘
Either way I thought it was a great clue
Didn’t get brand name or settee
The one I didn’t like was shred. Obvious from s-r-d but I don’t feel that modern kids’ movies are genuine fairy tales. I am probably showing my age.
Not for the faint-hearted.
Got there after much thought with only snags defeating us.
Bring it on.
I filled up 14dn instantly without bothering to parse since the one and only comedy writer is P G Wodehouse, in my opinion.