It seems that Everyman is now closer to producing the sort of pleasant sound straightforward crossword that we used to see in the Everyman slot and which had seemed to be things of the past.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, homophone, juxtaposition, reversal, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green,
All the usual things are here and coloured in the grid: the first letters clue (7dn), the self-referential clue (8dn), and the rhyming pair 11ac and 20ac
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BOWL |
Where broth may be black bird of prey (4)
|
| b owl — b = black (as in pencils), owl = bird of prey | ||
| 3 | ICE MACHINE |
What makes you die of cold? (3,7)
|
| CD based on the original “Die of cold”, with the answer “ice cube” — a die is the singular of dice, those cubes that are used in various games | ||
| 9 | DOOM |
Condemn atmosphere that’s reactionary (4)
|
| (mood)rev. — mood = atmosphere | ||
| 10 | UNANIMATED |
A grandma won at chess, did you say? Not so fast (10)
|
| “a nanny” mated — a nanny = a grandma, mated = won at chess — not sure about this, because I’d pronounce the first syllable as “Uh”, whereas in “A grandma” the “A” is a schwa, the “er” sound | ||
| 11 | ALPHABET SOUP |
If you’re spoonfed, this may put words in your mouth (8,4)
|
| CD: the letters in the alphabet soup may make up words — this at least is how I interpret it | ||
| 15 | RIGHT ON |
Topless seaside town? Amen (5,2)
|
| [B]righton — “right on” and “amen” mean very much the same thing: as Collins says, convention: You say ‘right on’ to express your support or approval. | ||
| 16 | TYPHOON |
Tea and slice of nougat gives you wind (7)
|
| Typhoo n[ougat] — Typhoo, the brand name, is a type of tea, and “slice of” indicates the first letter (by convention. Strictly speaking any letter in the word could be a slice of it) | ||
| 17 | ABOLISH |
Put an end to slippery oil baths – no time! (7)
|
| *(oil ba[t]hs) | ||
| 19 | RANGOON |
Was in charge of twerp somewhere in Burma (7)
|
| ran goon — ran = was in charge of, goon = twerp | ||
| 20 | OUT OF THE LOOP |
Not included: how crossword setter found anagram for ‘pothole’? (3,2,3,4)
|
| If the crossword setter is looking for an anagram for ‘pothole’, then ‘the loop’ will give it to them — but why just the crossword setter? Anyone will do | ||
| 23 | TOP BILLING |
Celebrity in jumper maybe sending invoice (3,7)
|
| top billing: top = jumper, maybe, billing = sending invoice | ||
| 24 | LIAR |
Pork pie purveyor admitted to Juilliard (4)
|
| Hidden in JuilLIARd — Cockney rhyming slang: pork pie = lie | ||
| 25 | ALMOND MILK |
Mad monk? I’ll supply drink (6,4)
|
| (Mad monk I’ll)* — supply in the supple-ly sense | ||
| 26 | MEAD |
Crossword setter getting commercial for booze (4)
|
| me ad —me = crossword setter, ad = commercial | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BAD HAIR DAY |
Period of small misfortunes – like losing to a tortoise, reports suggest (3,4,3)
|
| “bad hare day” — ref the tortoise and the hare, “reports suggest” a homophone indicator | ||
| 2 | WOOD PIGEON |
Baked pie? Good, now what’s in it? (4,6)
|
| *(pie good now) | ||
| 4 | CONCERN |
Business trouble (7)
|
| 2 defs | ||
| 5 | MINDSET |
Resents ‘80s film’s outlook on life (7)
|
| Minds ET — minds = resents, ET = the ’80s film: “ET — the Extra-Terrestrial” | ||
| 6 | COMEUPPANCE |
Rise and criticise church? That’s just retribution (11)
|
| come up pan CE — come up = rise, pan = criticise, CE = church (Church of England) | ||
| 7 | IOTA |
‘I’ – one that’s Athenian, primarily? (4)
|
| The first letters clue that we always have — iota is a Greek letter equivalent to i | ||
| 8 | EDDY |
At first, Everyman’s dreary, vacuous, dreary – I’m going round in circles (4)
|
| E[veryman’s] d[reary] d[rear]y — “At first” refers to “Everyman’s” and the first “dreary”; “vacuous” refers to the second “dreary” — our self-referential clue — “I” is often used by setters to refer to the answer | ||
| 12 | ATTRIBUTION |
Titian to rub out credit (11)
|
| (Titian to rub)* | ||
| 13 | MONOPOLISE |
Swimming pool – mine – so refuse to share (10)
|
| *(pool mine so) | ||
| 14 | UNINSPIRED |
Dull, like a perfume you don’t smell? (10)
|
| If you don’t inspire (breathe in) then you don’t necessarily (hence the ?) smell the perfume | ||
| 18 | HOODLUM |
Stink surrounding old, old, rough ruffian (7)
|
| h(oodl)um and oodl = (o old)* — hum = stink, o = old | ||
| 19 | RETINAL |
Dealing with part of the eye, actual metal’s inserted (7)
|
| re(tin)al — real = actual, tin = metal | ||
| 21 | ETNA |
Volcano: pet name some ignored (4)
|
| Hidden in pET NAme | ||
| 22 | SPAM |
Rejected plans to pester people online (4)
|
| (maps)rev. — maps = plans |
Thanks John. 2 rhyming pairs today. Also TYPHOON and RANGOON. Originally I had Rangoon down as the geographical clue. No reason why it can’t be counted twice, but I don’t think Everyman’s done that before.
ALPHABET SOUP my choice today.
I also paused over the homophone/soundalike clue UNANIMATED, but Everyman is usually pretty good with these.
Sorry. Don’t know how to (easily) do phonetic script on my phone . In my dialect it’s more like this:
A(schwa) NAN-NA(schwa) MATED, though the two schwas aren’t quite identical and non linguists will argue the point.
I haven’t checked, but I believe the dialect of standard British crossword English would have “NANNY” as part of the soundalike.. Is that right?
Timed out on my edit while I was checking online sources. It seems that British pronunciation varies between nanny and nanna (or closer to one or the other).
And if that’s so, Everyman has worked a miracle. A homophone that suits many dialects, and no rhotic rebellion! 🙂
Liked UNANIMATED (nana or nanny, punny enough), ALPHABET SOUP, OUT OF THE LOOP, IOTA, EDDY and UNINSPIRED.
Thanks Everyman and John.
A v nice Everyman, thanks. Especially liked WOOD PIGEON and OUT OF THE LOOP. I’ll let others argue over the aptness (or not) of the soundalike clue! And thanks to John for the excellent blog.
I was unsure how to parse 10ac and only got as far as U = you + NAN I mated. I didn’t know nanny=grandmother.
Thanks Everyman and John
Sorry, John, you have “milk” instead of “monk” in the fodder for ALMOND MILK.
I didn’t like the first letter of UNANIMATED either.
With homophones we have to look out for single word citation, or in a string.
paddymelon@8
I think it could either be one word or a string of words.
I’m afraid I still don’t understand 3 across. What does CD mean, please?
CD is Cryptic Definition. The clue doesn’t have a wordplay section and a definition.
Die of cold/cold die=Ice cube. What makes (an) ice cube is (an) ICE MACHINE.
The whole clue works as a cryptic definition.
@patmerkins @10 CD cryptic definition
BTW isn’t the online version a total mess PuzzleMe ™ are pretty rubbish.
Thank you @kva, @wooly_head
I agree that the homophone in 10a doesn’t really work. A pity as the rest of the puzzle was fine.
I see that the online submissions system is now live for those wishing to try for a prize.
Just tried to submit the solution for today (17/07/25) only to find that my surname, which contains an apostrophe, is not acceptable and I had to modify it. It’s absurd that this nonsense still persists in 2025, and doubly so given The Observer’s much touted “modernisation”. I’ve complained to puzzles@observer.co.uk and would urge others to do so if it affects them (or even if it doesn’t).
Thanks Muffin@7. Blog corrected.
poc@15: I hope you have better success than I did when you emailed The Observer. I did so recently (but so long ago that I’ve now forgotten what it was about) and they haven’t replied.
John@16: I emailed them a few weeks ago when the printing wasn’t working and got a reply almost immediately, but that was from their software supplier rather than the puzzles address. The printing was fixed shortly thereafter, though that may have just been coincidence. If I don’t hear back I’ll try the software provider’s address again. Too often we see these things being ignored because not enough people complain (also called “bugs redefined as features”).
UNANIMATED: I kept reading it as YOU NAN I MATED which implied granny had lost, so I enjoyed seeing the explanation confirming she indeed won. Thanks John.
Agree re the homo but overall this was an excellent puzzle other than perhaps 8D which was a bit forced.
Liked the ice cube clue even if it has been done before.
This is our Everyman at his best, tricky but gettable!
Thanks to all.
Strong crossword today, v enjoyable & challenging in parts.
ALPHABET SOUP & COMEUPPANCE our top picks this week. Thanks Everyman!
Cmon the ABs & Silver Ferns & the Black Ferns! Big weekend for NZ sport.
Could not understand the parsing of 3 across until I saw the explanation from KVa@11. I thought that 10 across was very weak (and the parsing involves “a nana” rather than “a nanny”).
Never heard of “typhoo” tea.
“Twerp” == “goon” in 19 across is just plain wrong.
Another balanced, occasionally witty and entertaining crossword. Ticks against Comeuppance, Bad Hair Day, Mindset, Rangoon, Monopolise, Out of the loop, Typgoon, Hoodlum and Right On. Thanks Everyman & John. The parsing of Ice Machine was too clever for me – I was happy with the @lit concept of a machine designed to kill (ice) people.
Nice crossword. I put INANIMATED at 10a figuring “a” meant “one” = I. Just a thought
Was away over the weekend so didn’t finish until Monday. A bit tough I thought, especially If you don’t have any British connection. TYPHOO INDEED! And , like Duane,I didn’t think that the jump from ice cube to ice machine made sense.
Twerp = goon only makes sense if you were the right age at the right time to listen to the Goon Show…. somewhere past 80.