Another week, another Everyman, with all the usual trademarks.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Mess up drink request for the most part
RUMPLE
A charade of RUM and PLE[A]
5 Step? Not half! Travel … travel with long steps
STRIDE
A charade of ST[EP] and RIDE.
8 Recovered from intense blow, sporting affliction
TENNIS ELBOW
(INTENSE BLOW)* with ‘recovered from’ as the anagrind.
11 Meet up with Carol – she’s not on time
LATECOMER
(MEET CAROL)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.
12 Proportion‘s half, if that’s taking 50%
FIFTH
[HAL]FIFTH[AT] with only five of the ten letters selected.
13 Deliveries, one hundred tons: as ham this’ll do?
OVERACT
A charade of OVER, A, C and T.
14 Alas, sadly as an alternative, admitted Everyman ultimately no-hoper
ALSO RAN
An insertion of OR in (ALAS)* followed by N for the final letter of ‘Everyman’. The insertion indicator is ‘admitted’ and the anagrind is ‘sadly’.
15 Primarily cumbersomely rambling; you piece together its components – like this?
CRYPTIC
The initial letters of the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh and eighth words of the clue, and a cad.
17 Bags of salt in small amounts
PINCHES
A dd.
20 Commit burglary with mafiosi uptown, in the end I’ll sing
ROBIN
A charade of ROB and IN for the final letters of ‘mafiosi’ and ‘uptown’. A chance for the Obligatory Pierre Bird Link. This personal indulgence has been a feature for so long that this answer has come up several times before, so for a bit of variety I have gone this morning for the Ryūkyū robin, which is endemic to the Ryūkyū Islands of Japan.
21 Against church boxing plonk Dutch sold
CONVINCED
An insertion of VIN in CON and CE, followed by D. The insertion indicator is ‘boxing’.
22 Oxford University often admitting a German, Bill – and later another? That’s capital!
OUAGADOUGOU
I think this is three lots of OU for ‘Oxford University’ with an insertion of A, G, AD for ‘bill’ and another G. The insertion indicator is ‘admitting’.
23 Departures that are listed in charts
ASIDES
A dd.
24 Groups of performers without safety equipment?
NONETS
NO NETS might be an indication of being ‘without safety equipment’.
Down
2 So involved a decision for intellectuals, says Cockney
UP TO THE EYEBROWS
A cockney accent might render such a decision as being UP TO THE ‘IGHBROWS.
3 Horned god, wicked one that’ll cure all
PANACEA
A charade of PAN, ACE and A.
4 Mysterious giant mice exploding
ENIGMATIC
(GIANT MICE)* with ‘exploding’ as the anagrind.
5 Barber is, we’re told, very nearly vertical?
SHEER
Aural wordplay (‘we’re told’) for SHEAR.
6 Gives another polish to snubs
REBUFFS
A dd cum cd.
7 Prostrate, eyes closed: what’ll keep nobleman warm in bed?
DOWN FOR THE COUNT
A dd cum cd.
9 Further allusion regularly unnecessary
ALSO
The odd letters of AlLuSiOn.
10 Cut string taken from dachshund
SHUN
Hidden in dachSHUNd.
14 Source of music that’s long – and high!
ALPENHORN
A cd, referencing the fact that the instrument is both long and played in high places.
15 Perhaps Jack‘s a funny fellow
CARD
A dd.
16 Spooner’s ridden at speed for quantity of ale
TANKARD
A Spoonerism of CANTERED.
18 Succeed in, with Rev’s support, getting help posting notices
NAIL GUN
A charade of NAIL and GUN. ‘She nailed the job application.’ GUN is a slang word for revving a car engine.
19 Small fuss: flipped over drink (non-alcoholic)
SODA
A charade of S and ADO reversed.
21 Changing sides in boorish form
CLASS
Everyman is inviting you to change the R in CRASS for an L.
Many thanks to him for this week’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre. Lovely birdie.
I came to a halt in the SE. Wrongly tried a wordplay for the groups of performers.. Got the def right, but without as a containment indicator around PE or PPE personal protective equipment didnt work.
Didnt get the CD in ALPENHORN. but it's now a highlight of this crossword.
As for the capital of Burkina Faso, NHO, and no hope of parsing. I think Everyman may have clued a geographical from BF before.
Smiles for CRYPTIC, DFTC and UTTE.
(I noticed on the Observer site this morning that a Puzzles newsletter is coming if people want to sign up. Wonder who might be behind that. )
Must be a senior moment (or week), but I couldn’t find the usual rhyming pair. 2d and 7d do go well together. Maybe E can give up on the customary acrostics, as they seem to be more contrived, nowadays?
Enjoyed the puzzle and blog. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
WordSDrove @3, the pairing this week was the use of the symmetrically placed antonym prefixes UP/DOWN in the two long down clues. Everyman does this from time to time as an alternative to a rhyming pair. In recent times we’ve seen pairs such as Black/White, Hot/Cold, Grand/Little, Bread/Potatoes, Back/Front, Mother/Father.
You would have had fun blogging the prize puzzle by Brockwell, Pierre!
Thanks to Everyman and Pierre.
I thought SHEER/SHEAR was ambiguous in that the clue could work either way and we didn’t have the benefit of a crossing letter to confirm. In fact I went for SHEAR as I recall, due to “is” and the “?”.
I’d say that the French orthography for Wagadugu and its various other spellings is OK in a crossword.
Thanks all.
A rare DNF for me. I’ve never once said or even knowingly heard ‘up to the eyebrows’, I’ve always said ‘…eyeballs’. Thus 22a remained a mystery, and probably would have even with the correct initial. Never heard of that either. But speaking of the latter, thank you, thank you, thank you Everyman for the rarity of actually using in the clue the word ‘so’ correctly as an opener in a sentence. The usual meaningless way it is uttered as intro to a phrase makes my teeth itch, a la ‘at the end of the day’, ‘basically’ when speaking of something literally, and indeed ‘literally’ when speaking figuratively.
Winston@7 I was the same with eyeballs, and couldn’t understand it! And therefore ouagadougou wouldn’t fit!
Agree that 2D is not a common saying. Couldn’t parse 21D, so thanks for that.
7 down, I was sure this was ‘down for the (K)night’, so got hung up on the SE corner.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
I agree with Jay@5 about 5d SHEER/SHEAR – I thought it could possibly go either way and finally opted for SHEAR.
Rare DNF. This didn’t feel like an Everyman.
Got the top half done but the bottom half was just impenetrable – just couldn’t make anything work and it seemed out of tune with the usual fare that I have come to expect from an Everyman puzzle. Quite a few clues in there that really didn’t work at all for me at all are just a couple of examples and even with the answers in front of me they make next to no sense with 22A and 14D being prime examples of what I thought very poor and clumsy cluing.
At least I did well on the Quiptic last week.
Another DNF, not for the want of trying. I think I got about 3/4, and some of those wrong, I see now. Some really odd clues that don’t quite stack up even with an explanation.
I found this Everyman more difficult, and DNF. Comforting to find I was not alone.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one that struggled with this one! Also initially fell into the same pitfalls that have previously been mentioned with the long clues (eyeballs & knight) and ended as a DNF as I had SUPPLE at 1, with no conviction, having seen that it could be a verb.
Another DNF for me this week. I’m spending too much time now trying to complete the Everyman and it has become a time waster. After thirteen years I’m no longer enjoying it, so I’m going to select my weekly crossword elsewhere from now on.
In 18d I’d never heard of gun as slang for reving engine. But managed to complete because of definition.
I loved the Japanese Robin – thank you Pierre. Never been to Japan but similar colouring to American Robin ( but size of European Robin Im guess from photo).
Found this puzzle doable and have answered some of today’s in my head so looking forward to doing it later, plus the quiptic.
Just returned after my morning constitutional (in time for the cricket) to see the comforting news that I was far from alone in not finishing. Also, I parsed the second word of NAIL GUN in that a Reverend Gun is an oft-used reference to a Reverend Six Gun guitar. Thus, it seemed somewhat niche and esoteric to me. Never thought once about the more commonly known car reference.
@7 Winston Yes, eyeballs not eyebrows for me too, and also “out for” rather than “down for” the count. That one caused me problems too.
How is REBUFFS a cd? Even barely? How does ACE = wicked?
EYEBALLS for me too.
Holly@18 The Japanese robin isn’t similar in coloring to the American robin, which is actually a thrush and only got named a robin because, like the English one, it has a red breast. Pierre’s elegant Japanese robin (thank you, Peierre!) has a red back! How is that similar?
Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
Valentine @ 21 Ace & wicked are both words expressing extreme approval among da yoof.
I’m told by those with today’s paper that the printed solution to 5D is SHEAR.
I agree that the south-east corner was particularly difficult for a so-called Everyman. I got there only by dint of “cheating” on 22A by looking in Bradford’s Crosswords Lists for a capital city in 11 letters begining with O and ending with U, the answer being a place I had never heard of. For a particularly complex, not to say tortuous, clue to have such an obscure answer surely puts it in a different league of difficulty. I still don’t understand how in 23A “asides” is defined by “departures”. To use a nail-gun (18D), rather than drawing pins or thumb-tacks, to put up notices strikes me as a trifle extreme.
Robin@24 think of a departure as in deviating from the main topic of conversation etc, that could be making an aside.
Yes SHEAR for me too. I think that given the complete ambiguity, no one need feel that they failed either way though.
I mangled in EYEBROWS in to fit crossers, as I did with DOWN, like almost everyone else being more familiar with “eyeballs” and “out” for the sayings.
Yes, in some ways this was unusual for an Everyman.
Cheers all.
Am I right in saying that, apart from this excellent blog, there is now no way to check the previous week’s Everyman solutions online?
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
Humble Tim@27. I hadn’t noticed that you can no longer get the previous week’s solution by downloading the current crossword.
I’ve just had a look at previous crosswords and there is a Reveal Grid option under a light bulb icon at the top of the grid. ( but not 20 July as yet).
Humble Tim@27. cont.
That lightbulb icon changes to a trophy icon once you’ve revealed the grid, even if you reveal the whole grid and get a score of zero. : -)
Paddymelon@28 – ah yes, I see an ‘assist’ menu on 4108 that gives all the reveal options. No doubt it’ll appear on 4109 tomorrow – thanks
I looked at SHEER quite a few times before finally going with SHEAR. (I knew it was one or the other) If it was “Barber is very nearly vertical we’re told”, I think that should be SHEAR for sure, so I thought moving we’re told up a little shouldn’t change the answer. I was taught that “is” acts as the equals sign and the homophone indicator is on the other side of the equation.
Not a clear clue for me.
I liked the puzzle and did finish it but with quite a bit of crossword solver, esp. for the capital of Burkina Faso which I couldn’t tell you even now.
Humble Tim @ 27 – yes you can get the previous week’s solutions from the online copies of the printed paper. Strangely enough this is available on the Guardian Editions app. Alternatively via BorrowBox or Pressreader using a local library card number (assuming you’re UK based)
Simon S, wicked & ace were used interchangeably by da yooof of 40 years ago, very much not da yoof of today. As confirmed by my disgusted 15 year old.
Also found the SE corner impenetrable other than Nonets which was nice. And after an age I plumped for Shear. Don’t like ambiguity. Suspect this crossword might win an award for the most meaningless surfaces but little else.
We definitely found this one a bit harder but funnily enough got OUAGADOUGOU & UP TO THE EYEBROWS v quickly. Overall challenging but in a good way. Coffee helped push us over the line!
Go the AB’s tonight!
No way I could have got this out without the use of a wildcard dictionary.
(For the SE corner.) Who’s ever heard of Oagadougou?
Like several others I thought “shear” worked better as the answer for 5 down. (Taking the first word “barber” as the literal definition.)
Thought pinched = bagged was very weak.
Had no objection to “up to the eyebrows”; “up to the eyeballs” does not fit with “intellectuals” whereas the former fits perfectly.
Liked “nonets”.
I hope my fellow east Aucklander in Pakkers liked this week’s Eman. I thought it was just right but like Barrie, I didn’t complete the South west corner.
I still don’t understand 21d, despite Pierre’s best attempt hto explain!
Hello fm central akl
I don’t understand 21d either and found some clues incomprehensible like 21a
Definitely on the harder side but a good challenge to keep the brain warm today
Thanks Rod . Managed to finish. Started at 9.30am and finished after the AB’s game. Got Ouagadougou as a capital starting with Ou- but had to look up the spelling – I’ve always thought it was Ougadougou. Liked SHUN, ALSO RAN and LATECOMER and NONETS. I couldn’t parse FIFTH, CONVINCED, CRASS & I’ve never heard departure used to mean an aside, although the first A-side I ever bought was a 78.
Unsatisfying and unsatisfactory this week for the reasons given by Barrie. 21d the answer is to change sides (from R ight to L eft) in cRass (meaning Boorish), to get cLass (meaning Form as in school form)