Everyman 4,088 by Everyman

by

Everyman seems to have listened to us, or at any rate to someone, because this is a more straightforward crossword than some of his earlier ones. No major criticisms: perhaps the surfaces could sometimes have been honed a bit, but generally I think it’s pretty good and sound.

Definitions underlined in crimson. Indicators (anagram, hidden, homophone, missing letter, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.

 

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 RAIL
Bar teller of falsehoods that’s taken aback (4)
(liar)rev.
4 MADE
In the auditorium, young lady composed (4)
“maid” — maid = young lady
8 DROPPING THE BALL
How Galileo’s experiments began – misjudged act (8,3,4)
This could be 2 defs, but maybe ‘misjudged act’ is a tighter definition; the first part simply refers to how Galileo’s experiments began: the Google entry gives the AI overview: ‘Galileo’s experiment on falling objects involved dropping different weights from a height to demonstrate that they fall at the same rate. This disproved Aristotle’s theory that objects fall at a rate proportional to their weight.’ — this answer rhymes with 22ac
11 RETREAT
Concerning bone-shaped biscuit? Turn back! (7)
re treat — re = concerning, treat = bone-shaped biscuit (as one might give to a dog) — definition by example, hence the question mark
12 LIBERIA
Latin peninsula, land on the Atlantic (7)
L Iberia — L = Latin, Iberia is a peninsula in Europe, consisting of Spain and Portugal (not a Latin peninsula!), and Liberia is a country in West Africa on the Atlantic ocean
13 REFERENDA
And reefer liberated in public votes (9)
(And reefer)* — pedants would grumble and say it’s referendums not referenda, but the dictionaries allow referenda and don’t say it’s wrong (not their business to do so, simply to record how language is used) so Everyman is OK — but as someone on Times for the Times said the other day, the trouble with dictionaries is that if enough people make the same mistake, then that mistake becomes accepted, and we have a sort of ignorocracy
14 SHAME
Quiet Everyman hiding a sense of remorse (5)
sh (a) me — sh = quiet (as in sh!), a = a, me = Everyman — the self-referential feature
15 OCHRE
Brownish hue seen in Loch Restil (5)
Hidden in LOCH REstil
16 CARPE DIEM
Vehicle exercises Bond in finale – in other words, M, you only live once … (5,4)
car PE d ie M — car = vehicle, PE = exercises, d = [Bon]d, ie = in other words (id est, that is), M = m — ‘carpe diem’ is a Latin phrase meaning ‘seize the day’ — the definition is a nice little nod from Everyman to ‘You Only Live Twice’
19 LOWLAND
… terrible downfall – not fine – the only way is up (7)
*(down[f]all) — f = fine
21 MATISSE
Artist showing some characters in laundromat is sensation (7)
Hidden in laundroMAT IS SEnsation
22 ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Messrs Orbison, Yankovic, Green and Bacharach heard with David by Latitude concert venue (5,6,4)
Roy Al Al “Bert” Hall — references to a whole lot of people, two of whom I needed to look up: Roy Orbison; Al Yankovic; Al Green; Burt Bacharach; Hal David, then L for latitude — the Latitude Festival has used the Royal Albert Hall
23 ISLA
Scotswoman is regularly bleak (4)
is [b]l[e]a[k]
24 TORN
Rent in North almost |insane (4)
(Nort[h])*
DOWN
2 APPLE TREE
Phone program allowed right phone network: this’ll bear fruit (5,4)
app let r EE — app = phone program (well I suppose so, but most of my apps are on my tablet), let = allowed, r = right, EE = phone network
3 LONG TON
Not gramme; not ‘timeless’ litre – flipping imperial unit! (4,3)
(not g no[t] l)rev. — not = not, g = gramme, l = litre — a long ton is the imperial measure as opposed to the tonne
4 MATILDA
Fictional schoolgirl, bullied until protected by both parents (7)
ma (’til) da — ma and da are the parents, ’til = until — this refers to the Roald Dahl character
5 DWEEB
Dork departs with little book (5)
d wee b — d = departs, wee = little, b = book
6 ADORER
One loves rest and recuperation, conserving energy after fuss (6)
ado R(E)R — ado = fuss, RR = rest and recreation, E = energy
7 CLEAVE
Cling together – force asunder (6)
2 defs — cleave is a very odd word in that it has two contradictory senses
9 OUT OF THE WAY
Finished? Let me past! (3,2,3,3)
2 defs — if something is finished it’s out of the way, and ‘get out of my way’
10 ADRIATIC SEA
Stadia I race around somewhere alongside Italy (8,3)
(Stadia I race)*
14 SPECTATOR
Observer – that offers weekly journalism (9)
2 defs — an observer is a spectator, and The Spectator is a weekly magazine — ‘that’ a demonstrative pronoun
15 OILERS
Tankers: they work hard with time to spare (6)
[t]oilers — toilers work hard, t = time
16 CEDILLA
A tiny bit of a soupçon? (7)
CD — the thing below the c is a cedilla
17 RUMMEST
Drink offered by Frenchman: his is most odd (7)
rum M est — rum = drink, M = Monsieur (the Frenchman), ‘est’ is the Frenchman’s way of saying ‘is’
18 MUESLI
Breakfast’s sublime bananas | with no | hint of | bacon (6)
(su[b]lime)* — b = hint of bacon (the first letter) — I’m not convinced that breakfast is a satisfactory definition of muesli: ‘breakfast, perhaps’ would be a bit better but it wouldn’t get round the fact that one can eat muesli outside breakfast-time
20 ATLAS
Athletic Titan; legendarily achy shoulders, primarily? (5)
The first letter &lit. clue that is a feature of Everyman crosswords

39 comments on “Everyman 4,088 by Everyman”

  1. Like you, John, I found this very approachable. ROYAL ALBERT HALL was my favourite: I knew of all the required people. Thanks, Everyman and John.

  2. I enjoyed this too – although I didn’t know that the little squiggle below the c was called a cedilla

    Favourites included” ROYAL ALBERT HALL, CARPE DIEM, DWEEB

    Thanks Everyman and John

  3. I couldn’t really see how “misjudged act” fitted 8A, but maybe it’s used differently in other parts of the world (for me it indicates failure to do one’s job properly, or missing opportunities). What makes EE a phone network?
    3D clue threw me as I assumed “timeless litre” would be “lire”, but couldn’t make it fit.

  4. Thanks John. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this much. Too many went in from defs, and while Everyman obviously went to some lengths with the word play, eg RAH, it seemed like a bit of a waste after a quick look. Same with CARPE DIEM and LONG TON. Thought the ’til/until closeness a bit unfortunate in MATILDA.

    My favourite was CEDILLA for the surface/cryptic definition. Characters have become another trademark of Everyman’s.

  5. Dylan@3: f you misjudge the flight of the ball as a fielder you are going to drop it
    EE. is a UK phone company, it used to be Orange, then it became the owner of Orange and then it incorporated Orange, or something like that.
    Nice Everyman RHA for me too.
    Thanks both

  6. nicbach@5
    DROPPING THE BALL
    I was thinking of juggling. Your cricket example sounds good.

    CEDILLA was my fave too.

    Thanks Everyman & John.

  7. Hi John. By some accounts, the weights Galileo dropped were canon balls. So I thought both definitions were reasonably tight.

  8. I enjoyed this, but sailed through without much trouble. We were taught the names of the accents we used in French, so CEDILLA was a pdm.

    EE, the mobile network, is now part of BT (was British Telecom, split into Openreach covering infrastructure and BT customer sales following Ofcom edict in 2016). Bits of the BT site say it is becoming EE.

    Thank you to Everyman and John.

  9. Not greatly fussed about -enda vs -endums and suchlike, but I take John’s point about ignoracracyy. “Hone in on …something”, instead of the correct “home in …’ is one of a number currently about.

  10. 9, gif

    I remember a newscaster in the 1990s describe a burglar’s entry to a building as being by “shimmying” up a drainpipe.

    Can’t get the picture out of my mind to this day.

  11. Favourites: CEDILLA, CARPE DIEM (loi).

    New for me: the fact that fictional Matilda was bullied (for 4d) – I never read this book; OILER = tanker.

  12. Enjoyable and fairly straightforward Sunday solve. I liked the Bond reference in CARPE DIEM, the surface for ADORER, the tankers working hard, and the Frenchman’s ‘is’.

    Thanks Everyman and John.

  14. Enjoyable and accessible.
    Favourite was ROYAL ALBERT HALL, such fun to put together.
    Ticks also for CARPE DIEM, CEDILLA and the amusing surface of ATLAS.
    Thanks Everyman and John.

  16. My favourites were ROYAL ALBERT HALL, CEDILLA, and CARPE DIEM. This was a welcome relief for last weekend’s Enigmatist for me. Thanks to John and Everyman.

  17. Another tick for RAH – nho Hal David, but the solution was obvious from the others, and raised a smile for the construction.

    DROPPING THE BALL took an age, I think because the phrase is more commonly heard in the past tense (for me, anyway) – and I would consider it a mistake rather than a “misjudged act”.

    Thanks Everyman and John.

  18. Thanks for the blog, seemed to be a very suitable Everyman . LONGTON could have been clued as the centre of the world pottery industry .
    Dave@13 there is often a geography reference but not always. I only count actual countries like this .

  19. Etu @10, not sure what the correct word is for getting up a drainpipe but yes, the shimmy is about dancing, like sister Kate, a great old song.

  20. Shinned up a drainpipe, also allowable: shinnied up, according to the dictionary. I suspect using shimmied in that sense came from P G Wodehouse, it’s a word he used and abused.

  21. grantinfreo @9 Those insisting on ‘referendums’ on the grounds that ‘referenda’ messes improperly with a Latin gerundive (an argument that I saw put forward here quire recently) would need to reject also ‘corrigenda’ and ‘addenda’, not to mention ‘agenda’ which, to add insult to injury, now functions as a singular noun. While accepting that dictionaries record language use, and thus to an extent can normalise ignorance, I gather that (horror of horrors!) some now accept ‘disinterested’ as meaning ‘uninterested’, so common has that solecism become. O tempora, o mores.

  22. An imperial ton is 2000 pounds. A long ton, or tonne, is not imperial, it’s metric — 2000 kilograms, or 24,000 pounds. Somebody’s definitions have gone astray.

  23. An imperial ton is 2000 pounds. A long ton, or tonne, is not imperial, it’s metric — 2000 kilograms, or 24,000 pounds. Somebody’s definitions seem to have gone astray.

  24. I’m trying to post a comment, but the algorithm keeps telling me I’ve already posted it. So instead I’ll add it to this comment with the editing function.

  25. There’s a little bit more to the clue for 16a. Judi Dench, who played M in the Bond films, celebrated her 81st birthday by getting CARPE DIEM tattooed on her wrist. See here.

  26. Valentine@22,23,24. When that happens to me, I try not to post again, but sometimes I get it wrong. . Give it a bit of time, go out and come back when you get that message, and if it’s there you may be able to edit if you want to, or avoid duplication..

  27. That’s interesting DuncT@25. Have always admired Judy Dench. I’m not far behind her in age. Can’t see myself having that sort of tolerance for pain.

  29. [“long ton n. A unit of weight equal to 20 hundredweight in avoirdupois measure, 2240 lb. (approx. 1016 kg), esp. as distinct from the short ton of 2000 lb.” (the US one) ]

  30. Some nice background for CARPE DIEM – which I missed because I got hung up on the answer being something FILM. The surface for ATLAS was fun.

  31. [I always thought that a long ton(ne) was the same as a metric ton(ne), so thanks to FrankieG for the correction. I knew that a hundredweight was 112 pounds, although I’d never known why; it appears that it’s because it’s 8 stone. How exactly we ended up with that latter unit is the remaining mystery to me. For completeness, the metric ton is 1000 kg, or about 2200 pounds, so quite close to a long ton.]

    As an overseas solver, I didn’t know the phone network EE, but the clue was quite gettable.

    [Yes, in my case “overseas” means “US”, but things being the way they are I’m inclined to start saying the former in the hope that civilized people will think I’m Canadian. Maybe I’ll sew some maple leaf patches on my luggage before the next time I come your way.]

  32. Balfour@21 – No, gerundive plurals are fine, it’s gerunds that shouldn’t be pluralised. Referendum, in its usual definition as ‘a referring’, is a gerund; therefore to pluralise it as REFERENDA is wrong, it should be REFERENDUMS. Addendum (thing to be added), corrigendum (thing to be corrected) and agendum (thing to be done) are all gerundives, they are very happy as plurals. Incidentally, the word ‘referendum’ does also exist as a gerundive, but that has to be translated as ‘an issue to be referred’, not the referring, or public vote, itself. In short (or Lewis & Short?), the plural REFERENDA does exist in Latin, but that plural would have to mean ‘issues to be referred’; it is not the correct plural of the gerund ‘referendum’, which means the ‘act of referring’ as in the ‘public votes’ in the clue 13ac. As the OED editor wrote in 1978 “by preferring Referendums as your title you have the angels of Rome and the O.E.D. on your side”

  33. Balfour and Hadrian, sorry, too gramtechnical, too late here in freo, and too many shirazes 🙂 .

  36. I’m starting to (sort of) get the hang of these, managing to solve it in one or two sittings.

    Cedilla was a lovely answer, I enjoyed the Adriatic Sea, but full marks to the Royal Albert Hall. Excellent cluing!

  37. ROYAL ALBERT HALL; CARPE DIEM; DROPPING THE BALL – these were our top picks this week. Struggled with RUMMEST.
    @Hadrian ROMANI ITE DOMUM!
    (For fans of Life of Brian)

  38. Enjoyed this. EE was the only unknown bit. Wikipedia says a long ton is also known as an imperial ton, so maybe not a mistake as some have suggested.

    Carpe Diem and cedilla were my faves. Got Rummest but not its WP.

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