It wouldn’t be Everyman …
… without the familiar devices in 3d & 11d, 15ac and 17ac, or without moans, groans and quibbles from the solver. I found DOOR a little weak and was mightily underwhelmed by the cluing for 19d. Other quibbles noted below.
But the positives, as ever, far outnumber the negatives, and there was plenty to enjoy here: WHITE FLAGS, Spooner’s bolder shag, NUMBSKULLS, SPACE CADET and the odd Algerian habiliments, to pick out a few.
On that note, the Algeria/regalia anagram appeared twice this week, with an outing in Boatman’s excellent puzzle on Friday. ALFALFA also turned up again, when Imogen used it on Wednesday, albeit clued very differently. And I feel sure I’ve seen the LEEK/KEEL manoeuvre somewhere else recently. I dare say this sort of thing happens more than I realise – I just happened to notice it this time.
Thanks to Everyman for a pleasant Sunday outing. MOH’s utterly made-up hardness scale rating: Talc
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RECIPE CARD |
Chef’s convenience: caper-cider concoction (6,4)
|
| Anagram (concoction) of CAPER CIDER | ||
| 6 | BARB |
Insult and obstruct bishop (4)
|
| BAR + B | ||
| 9 | WHITE FLAGS |
After least bit, energy droops; ‘I’m giving up’, they say (5,5)
|
| WHIT (“least bit”) + E + FLAGS | ||
| 10 | SNUB |
Insult by returning baked goods (4)
|
| Reversal (“by returning”) of BUNS | ||
| 12 | SHOULDER BAG |
Spooner’s increasingly intrepid seabird that hangs usefully by your side (8,3)
|
| Spoonerism of “bolder shag” | ||
| 15 | PIERROT |
Everyman makes mistake, boring dope, clownish character (7)
|
| Envelope (“boring”) of I ERR (“Everyman makes mistake” – such as, ooh, I don’t know, maybe thinking Guatemala is in South America?) inside POT | ||
| 16 | ALFALFA |
Calves losing heads, given a clovery fodder (7)
|
| cALF + cALF (“calves losing heads”) + A. Alfalfa isn’t actually a clover, but is said (by Wikipedia, so it must be true) to resemble it in its early stages of growth | ||
| 17 | CARACAS |
City abutting roaring Atlantic’s Caribbean arm; socialist, primarily? (7)
|
| Clue as definition (even though Caracas doesn’t, strictly speaking, abut the Caribbean – there’s a large mountain range in the way) | ||
| 19 | TIE-DYED |
In reports, maritime movement observed with psychedelic colouring (3-4)
|
| Soundalike of “tide” and “eyed”. Not all tie-dyed items need be psychedelically coloured, of course | ||
| 20 | COMPOST HEAP |
Passage in blogger.com post he approved: ‘How to Use Veg Peel’ (7,4)
|
| Hidden answer (“passage in”) in blogger.COM POST HE APproved | ||
| 23 | DOOR |
In introductions, delight, overwhelm or entrance (4)
|
| First letters (“in introductions”) of Delight and Overwhelm + OR (from surface) | ||
| 24 | NEER-DO-WELL |
Reprobate we enrolled for improvement (4-2-4)
|
| Anagram (“for improvement”) of WE ENROLLED | ||
| 25 | TIER |
One securing rank (4)
|
| Someone who ties something (“one securing”) might perhaps be referred to as a tie-r | ||
| 26 | NUMBSKULLS |
Note: Musk’s flourishing with bull for boneheads (10)
|
| N + anagram (“flourishing”) of MUSKS with BULL | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ROWS |
Disturbances in queues (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | CLIP |
A little child with insolence? ___ its ear! (4)
|
| C (“a little child”) + LIP | ||
| 3 | PRESSURE-COOK |
Railroad chef to use airtight pan (8-4)
|
| PRESSURE (“railroad”) + COOK | ||
| 4 | CALL OUT |
Challenge type of repairman’s fee (4,3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | REGALIA |
Algeria’s bizarre trappings of power (7)
|
| Anagram (“bizarre”) of ALGERIA | ||
| 7 | ANNE BOLEYN |
Article on Bonny Lee in Reformation, major Tudor figure (4,6)
|
| AN (indefinite article) + anagram (“in Reformation”) of BONNY LEE. No connection to the similarly named Chicago blues singer | ||
| 8 | BABY GRANDS |
Pet project: 1,000 small pianos (4,6)
|
| BABY + GRAND + S | ||
| 11 | SELF-HELP BOOK |
Will the writer, with catchy phrase, captivate confused pleb in ‘improvement manual’? (4-4,4)
|
| SELF (Will Self, the writer) + envelope (“captivate”) of HOOK (“catchy phrase”) around anagram (“confused”) of PLEB. Slight quibble with this – the surface grammar demands “captivate” (as it’s in the form of a question and/or because there are two things doing the captivating), while the cryptic grammar demands “captivates” (to indicate the envelope properly, as it’s only “hook” that’s doing the captivating). I know, I really should get out more… | ||
| 13 | SPACE CADET |
Flaky person, given room to manoeuvre, acted weird (5,5)
|
| SPACE + anagram (“weird”) of ACTED | ||
| 14 | HENRY MOORE |
7’s husband increasingly admitting love for sculptor (5,5)
|
| HENRY (VIII, husband of 7d) + envelope (“admitting”) of O inside MORE (“increasingly”). Can’t help feeling there could/should have been a Thomas More reference here | ||
| 18 | SET MENU |
In parts of Somerset, men unable to get meal at agreed price (3,4)
|
| Another answer hidden (“in parts of”) in SomerSET MEN Unable | ||
| 19 | THE CRAB |
Sign showing what may go into the cake (3,4)
|
| The astrological SIGN of Cancer is known as “the crab”. Crab (but not “the crab”) is also a fairly critical ingredient in crab cakes. To my mind this somewhat random connection, alongside the repetition of “the” in both wordplay and solution, makes this one of the weakest clues I’ve come across in a long while. But it may be that I’ve missed some subtlety – do let me know if so | ||
| 21 | KEEL |
Barnacles gather on this vegetable that’s sent back (4)
|
| Reversal (“that’s sent back”) of LEEK | ||
| 22 | ALAS |
Regrettably, a whip not reaching backside (4)
|
| A + LASh (“whip not reaching backside”) |
Thank you moh. Yes, there do seem to be a few recycled/repeated clues lately. I read somewhere that if compilers are using the same software that this is likely to happen, but I think Mitz may have some statistics which counter that claim.
Failed to parse PRESSURE COOK so thanks for that.
I’m none the wiser for THE CRAB but I suppose it has to be crab cake. Haven’t had one in decades. Is it still a thing in the UK?. I got stuck on the possibility of eh (what) goes into bar (cake of soap) but no reversal indicator.
I’m often struck by Everyman’s ”me and them” definitions. They date and define him.,to my mind. Clearly he has a fixed idea of people who make or wear tie-dyed material. psychedelic?? SPACE CADET flakey person. . They could be geniuses. Geography still a bit skewwhiff.
NUMBSKULLS was timely, with Trump and Musk butting heads this week.
The surface in ALAS made me wince.
I’ve taken to doing Everyman on a Sunday morning just before the blog comes up so it’s fresh. Probably should have stayed in bed. Too many quibbles, most of which have been mentioned by moh, to enjoy this one, or pick a favourite.
My faves: WHITE FLAGS, SHOULDER BAG, SELF-HELP BOOK (Yes. the captivate vs captivates issue is there), ANNE BOLEYN and ALAS.
S-H BOOK
Can we defend Everyman by reading it as
SELF with HOOK captivate PLEB* ?
H MOORE
increasingly=more and more. Right? Not enough space for MOORE and More. 🙂
Great blog MOH. Agree on ‘talc’. Can’t add any new angle to THE CRAB.
Thanks MOH.
Thanks for the blog , minimalism my wisest course for this , REGALIA was a neat complete anagram .
I looked at THE CRAB for a few days while it was still T_E _R_B and couldn’t see why it should be THE CRIB or THE GRUB or similar, so put in THE CRAB as it was at least a star sign. What the connection was with cakes I failed to register and the repetition of THE seemed unlikely. I came here for elucidation but I’m happy to see that there isn’t some genius reason: it’s just an astonishingly feeble piece of clueing. The rest was fun although the new Observer interface which requires a physical pen and paper to mess around with anagrams isn’t a patch on the Guardian’s.
Pleasant enough Sunday solve. I liked the headless calves enjoying ALFALFA, the well-hidden COMPOST HEAP, the topical Musk bull for BONEHEADS, and the SPACE CADET acting weird.
Thanks Everyman and moh.
“Stir the crab into the cake mixture”?
Not a brilliant clue but not sure it deserves the level of vitriol displayed by some comments this morning
Cheers E&M
Sitting in Boston MA while doing this clue, THE CRAB was quickly seen. Maybe context is important! I didn’t parse WHITE FLAGS which was annoying, but once you see the answer it’s clear. I have come to love the Spooner clue, and this was a great example.
Thank you MoH and the setter. I am continuing to do Everyman every week.
Agree ‘a cake’ would be better than repeating ‘the’ and Door was rather feeble but on the whole I thought this was enjoyable, especially the better than usual Roonerspism.
I enjoyed this one. A bit reliant on general knowledge but some nice word plays. I like NE’ER DO WELL , PIERROT, WHITE FLAGS . Couldn’t parse ALFALFA.
I remember parsing sentences for O level English in form 4. When did it get this extra meaning?
I found lots to like. The Crab was my last one in, but it didn’t take too long to figure out what Everyman was thinking. Amazingly few comments on this blog compared to most – a good or bad sign?
I found this *very* challnging, even with heavy use of wildcard dictionaries.
But the clues that others have complained about were no more difficult for me
than any of the others.
Particularly liked the Spoonerism.
For NZ Herald readers today’s Styx is quite accessible.
Done. Fun.
Urgh – THE CRAB – really didn’t get it or like it. Struggled a bit with this one but could be mid winter blues. Hopefully back on track next week!