Generally sound clues this week, usually fairly straightforward, but Everyman hasn’t been able to resist making one or two of them a bit tricky to disentangle. All the usual things are there, although the rhyming pair is only an eye-rhyming pair (for me anyway). I haven’t been able to see any of the new touches, just these. Maybe you can see something else. It really is quite an achievement for Everyman to do these things week after week,
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagrams, homophones, reversals, deletions, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DIPLODOCUS |
Detective Inspector, cop, old copper, last thing in obnoxiousness: dinosaur! (10)
|
| DI plod o Cu [obnoxiousnes]s — DI = Detective Inspector, plod = cop (slang word for one), o = old, Cu = copper (abbreviation) | ||
| 6 | OWEN |
Nothing new about Welshman (4)
|
| 0 (new)rev. | ||
| 9 | RATTLETRAP |
Jalopy in which conductor confined? (10)
|
| CD — the reference is to the conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who has just turned 70 | ||
| 10 | CREW |
Rowers swaggered (4)
|
| 2 defs — crew is the past tense of crow (to swagger) and rowers constitute a crew | ||
| 12 | NAME-DROPPER |
Snob: one who calls everyone simply ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’? (4-7)
|
| Fancifully, if one drops names one doesn’t use them: one simply calls people “Sir” or “Madam” | ||
| 15 | EARWORM |
Catchy song remixed, Warmonger – No Good (7)
|
| *(Warmo[ng]er) — we have to see what looks like a dash in the clue as a minus sign, telling us that NG is subtracted from Warmonger | ||
| 16 | NEONATE |
One’s just arrived, consumed by inert gas (7)
|
| neon ate — neon is the inert gas, ate = consumed — a neonate is a new-born | ||
| 17 | USUALLY |
Sally’s beginning | to wear uniform – twice, as a rule (7)
|
| S, the beginning of Sally, wears u (= uniform) twice, so it’s (u)S(u)ally | ||
| 19 | PROTEIN |
Polymeric rows, ornately twisted – essential in nutrition, primarily? (7)
|
| The usual first letters &lit. — I’m not going to research protein and will take it on trust | ||
| 20 | PIANO PLAYER |
Pages describing Scotsman Oscar having row with keyboardist (5,6)
|
| p(Ian O)p layer — p = page, Ian is the Scotsman, O = Oscar (NATO alphabet), layer = row — “describing” in the sense of going round the outside of — I know I always moan about this, but you don’t see “with” as a link-word in the best places | ||
| 23 | ICON |
The writer swindles revered figure (4)
|
| I con — I = the writer, con = swindle — one might think it says “I cons” although the answer is “icon”, but it has to be read as “the writer swindles” = “I con” | ||
| 24 | BIG BROTHER |
From prison, runs into trouble – who sees it all? (3,7)
|
| b[r]ig b(r)other — this is my parsing of this (which may be wrong!): brig = prison, and you remove the r (= runs, cricket) from this and put it into bother (= trouble) — it refers to Big Brother, Orwell’s creation from Nineteen Eighty-Four, who sees everything | ||
| 25 | NORM |
Standard choice of | extremes of Neoplatonism (4)
|
| N or M — the extremes of “Neoplatonism” are N and m, so the choice is N or m | ||
| 26 | AGREEMENTS |
Meets anger flexibly for treaties (10)
|
| (Meets anger)* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DIRE |
As you heard, one who’ll stain clothes is awful (4)
|
| “dyer” — a dyer is a stainer of clothes | ||
| 2 | PATE |
Meaty spread for the Crown (4)
|
| 2 defs, the first one paté really | ||
| 3 | ORLANDO BLOOM |
English actor to flourish following location of Disney World (7,5)
|
| Orlando bloom — Orlando, Florida, is the location of Disney World, bloom = flourish | ||
| 4 | OPTIMUM |
‘Best opera? Time’s running out! Time’s running short!’ … ‘I’m not sure’ (7)
|
| op[era] tim[e] um — era = time, um = I’m not sure | ||
| 5 | UGANDAN |
African’s somewhat smug and annoying (7)
|
| Hidden in smUG AND ANnoying | ||
| 7 | WORKPLACES |
Lacks power supply in offices etc (10)
|
| (Lacks power)* — the supple-ly sense of supply | ||
| 8 | NEW ORLEANS |
City’s owner, surprisingly, Banks (3,7)
|
| (owner)* leans — leans = banks — this took a while because I was thinking it was an anagram of “City’s owner”, but the two n’s in the checkers put me right | ||
| 11 | GO TO YOUR ROOM |
Yogurt: ‘moo’ or ‘oat’, principally? | Irritated parent’s testy response (2,2,4,4)
|
| (Yogurt moo or o[at])* | ||
| 13 | RESUMPTION |
Topless – impertinence – starting again! (10)
|
| [p]resumption — presumption = impertinence | ||
| 14 | TROUBADOUR |
Minstrel with horn going round queen, old and grumpy (10)
|
| t(r o)uba dour — tuba = horn, r = queen, o = old, dour = grumpy — “with” a link-word again, but it’s not so bad when it’s [definition] with [wordplay]; what I don’t like is [wordplay] with [definition], because in the first case “with” has a function, whereas in the second it doesn’t | ||
| 18 | YELLING |
Flogging – initially taking seconds, becoming year – crying in pain (7)
|
| selling with its s (= seconds) becoming y (= year) — selling = flogging | ||
| 19 | PAYABLE |
Outstanding isle for exile: constantly speak up (7)
|
| (Elba yap)rev. — Elba is the isle for exile (Napoleon), yap = constantly speak — if a bill is outstanding it needs to be paid so is payable | ||
| 21 | CHIN |
Feature observed in etching (4)
|
| Hidden in etCHINg — a facial feature | ||
| 22 | IRIS |
A woman – a flower – Everyman with chance? Almost (4)
|
| 2 defs + wordplay — Iris is a woman’s name and also the name of a flower — I ris[k] — our self-referential clue — I = Everyman, risk = chance |
I remember seeing a film called The Brig, showing 24 hours in a high-seecurity prison … grim as hell! Not so this puzzle, which was pleasant enough. Thanks E and J.
gif @1
[I remember that too. I lived in West Germany for a fair bit of my childhood and it was one of the few programmes that was shown in English. Highly inappropriate for a child, I imagine. Very little scenery as I remember. Just white lines on the floor ]
Thanks John for the explanations. That’s how I parsed BIG BROTHER as well. I liked that one.
I agree some multi-part clues needed a bit of untangling, but were fun to work out. Of these I liked DIPLODOCUS, TROUBADOUR and my favourite, OPTIMUM.
I didn’t finish this puzzle, failing to solve WORKPLACES and NEW ORLEANS. Obvious now, of course.
Thanks Everyman and John.
I found this more difficult than the last few weeks – especially the SW corner.
My favourites were the same as SueM48 @ 3 and also NAME-DROPPER
Thanks Everyman and John
Hardest Everyman in ages. Thanks for explanations.
In common with others, I found this Everyman took me longer to unravel than recent puzzles and was up with the daily Cryptics.
Thank you to John and Everyman.
Yup, tougher than usual IMO. I couldn’t parse the Brig bit of BIG BROTHER, which is a shame since it’s a great clue, along with plenty of others. There were a lot of playful devices this week. I guess our weekly place name is ORLANDO.
Regarding “with” as a link word, I don’t mind it as much as our blogger, though I’m a sticker for having ones such as “for” and “from” in the correct direction. I rationalise “{wordplay} with {def}” similarly to “what’s (up) with him?” and “the trouble with that”, whereby the with associates some component(s) or underlying thing(s) to the target.
Thanks both
Quite tough but got there in the end.
New for me: DIPLODOCUS (well-clued).
I could not parse 24ac apart from BIG + R in BOTHER but I could not see why. Never heard that BRIG = prison before but I knew that the English kept convicts on ships when they ran out of regualr prison space before sending them off to Oz.
Also with 4d I only got as far as OP= work T IM UM= I’m not sure. I still don’t get why the clue had to repeat the Time’s running out! Time’s running short!’ bit. Wouldn’t one of them have been sufficient?
Tougher than previous weeks but still mostly accessible. Somewhat disappointed not to finish this one as couldn’t get RATTLETRAP even though I’d guessed the first part was RATTLE-. Isn’t that really a word?!?
OPTIMUM
michelle@8
Time’s running out=’time/era’ is removed (from opera).
Time’s running short=Time becomes TIM.
Both instructions are essential.
OP(era)+TIM(e)+UM
KVa@10 – thanks for explaining. I guess I was thinking it could also have been clued:
Best opera? Time’s running short!’ … ‘I’m not sure’ (7)
then one would have been enough. Time’s running out would be unnecessary. But that’s probably because I confused opera = op when it is opus =op.
AP@7 NEW ORLEANS is also a place name.
After being months behind the play I have finally caught up, so this was the first time I did the puzzle without having access to the “check” button. Managed everything but the rattletrap, because I had put in dyer instead of dire. Still feeling rather pleased with myself getting so close to finishing it without assistance.
Thanks Everyman for the puzzle and John for the explanations. Having completed two Everyman’s in a row, I came unstuck here. Yes, the SW corner. USUALLY and EARWORM. But the Sunday puzzle does raise one’s self esteem, giving a much-needed boost for attempting the complexities of midweek.
Like Vireya, this was the first time I finished without using the “check” button, but I ended up with one letter wrong: I had YELPING for “crying in pain” and couldn’t quite parse the clue. So close!
[15a: David Bowie’s 24a (1974)]
I’m possibly too late here to catch anyone’s attention, but I am perplexed by John’s remark in his preface that the long rhyming clues are, for him, only eye rhymes. I have been trying to imagine a British accent in which ‘GO TO YOUR ROOM’ and ‘ORLANDO BLOOM’ are not aural rhymes and am completely stumped. Can anyone please enlighten me? – I am genuinely curious.
In reply to Balfour@17, I realised after writing this that although they are eye-rhymes for me (room has a short vowel sound, Bloom has a long one) they are indeed aural rhymes for many speakers, who make them both short or both long. So I qualified it with “(for me anyway)”.
Does 5d count as a geographical reference or do only countries count, not nationalities?
SueM48@12 (& Lin@19), indeed – I’d forgotten about that one, tucked away at the edge there 😀
Some lovely clues this week. My favourites were BIG BROTHER and OPTIMUM for the clever and tricky parsing. Thanks to Everyman and John and also to FrankieG for the earworm – it’s been ages since I heard that track.
After completing the last three Everyman in a row on the Sunday for the first time, I found this one harder. For an intermediate solver like me YELLING and RESUMPTION are both great clues, but I didn’t get them. They are a different type of clue that I now need to look out for.
I like the double reference to regional names IAN and OWEN, both of those clues made me smile.
Thanks to Everyman and John as always.
15ac – in printing, a dash is an em, while a minus sign is (typically) an en – half the size, so I don’t think this really works. Equally, I thought 23ac was dodgy; as John says, it has to be read as “the writer swindles” = “I con”, but a good clue builds each element separately. I also agree with John about “with” being an inadequate link word in the order wordplay with definition. So, some sloppy clues, I thought, alongside some good ones, as people have mentioned.
John @18 — Do you mean that the vowel sound in “room” is like that in “good”? I think I’ve heard people pronounce it that way, although not often in the circles I move in.
(For me, BLOOM and ROOM rhyme perfectly.)
I personally pronounce “room” as in “good” and suspect quite a few people do. But not everyone; many people pronounce “room” as in “Bloom”, with long vowel sounds. And some pronounce both “room” and “Bloom” with short vowel sounds as in “good”.
I’ve just started doing the Quiptic, Quick Cryptic and Everyman after a lifetime of not being able to do cryptics and a couple of years of training myself on the Private Eye/Cyclops ones. Wanted to branch out, especially as I’m usually getting through Cyclops’s in a day or two now and they’re only out every two weeks.
I didn’t realise the Everyman was so accessible with a few tools under your belt! My first one was 4085 but I ended up with two clues I couldn’t get in so tried this one and finished it fairly quickly which was pleasing.
Could I ask about the highlighted words in the grid though — there’s an allusion to japery in the introduction to this post, so I’m guessing the current setter puts a rhyming pair into each crossword and that’s what the brown highlight signifies. But what do the turquoise and green ones represent? Are they a “first letters” and self-referential clue respectively, and is there always one each (and only one each) of these in each of the current Everymans (Everymen?)?
Sorry for asking, I just don’t want to go looking through previous posts and spoiling the actual solutions for me because it looks like I’ve got a backlog of enjoyable crosswords to tackle on the Graun website ^_^
You’re right Si that the highlights are the “usuals”: Everyman always has a (just one, I think) first letters clue; he always has a self-referential one; and he nearly always has a rhyming pair, although sometimes he finds other clever ways to link clues. As for the colours used, I always just choose any old colours. Perhaps other bloggers have a system; perhaps there is some sort of a colour-coding system for the various types. But nobody has ever impressed this on me.
Thanks John — that makes sense, it’s nice to have those little things going on in each grid. Can’t imagine they’d help too much with a solve, especially as the first letter and self-referential ones tend to announce themselves fairly loudly, but I might actually scan the current one for rhymes and see if that helps me get the last few answers in.
I’m sure there are as many colour-coding systems as there are bloggers so I’m not too fussed about that; I can see now you’ve mentioned “usual” in your answer breakdowns which I’d missed. (related/obligatory: https://xkcd.com/927/)
As usual another good puzzle
from Epsom in Auckland NZ
Rob.
As usual another good puzzle
from Epsom in Auckland NZ
Rob
Found this pretty hard. Needed a wildcard dictionary to finish.
Particularly liked “name-dropper”.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
A step backwards after a few weeks of good crosswords. Pity.
My favourite dinosaur in my favourite crossword! Enjoyed this one today, definitely a tad trickier in places but that’s no bad thing. Favourites today – DIPLODOCUS; BIG BROTHER; NAME DROPPER.
Thanks all!
Completed after extensive use of my device, thought I was going to be DNF, but persevered. Thanks to all, Barrie , Styx is a bit more demanding isn’t it!
Same as all others have said – much trickier today
I learn now to look for the minus sign -new to me – and the use of ‘ supply’ to not mean the obvious
Clever trick
Rod @34 yes certainly was. DNF.
We thought this was a good puzzle. Definitely challenging but not through deceitful practices, just thought clues
Bring it on.