The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4119 (interactive version) and https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20250928.pdf (pdf).
Instead of a rhyming pair, we have contrasting MORE THAN/LESS THAN in 2D and 7D. 1A IMPAIR is the self reference , and 23A HEARTY the ‘primarily clue. This time there is no geographical reference, unless we go astronomical with 4D RED GIANTS, or meteoroligical with 23A ON CLOUD NINE wherever that might be.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | IMPAIR |
Brace, after Everyman’s blunt (6)
|
| A charade of I’M (”Everyman’s’ – i.e. Everyman is) plus BRACE (‘pair’). | ||
| 5 | CAROLE |
King of music’s festive tune ending in carnage (6)
|
| A charade of CAROL (‘festive tune’) plus E (‘ending in carnagE‘), for the American singer-songwriter and musician Carole King. | ||
| 8 | READDRESSES |
Chooses new recipient for frocks following study (11)
|
| A charade of READ (‘study’) plus DRESSES (‘frocks’). | ||
| 11 | PUT ON AIRS |
Act superior in broadcasts behind stage (3,2,4)
|
| A charade of PUT ON (‘stage’ as in “Let’s put on a show!”) plus AIRS (‘broadcasts’). | ||
| 12 | ROTOR |
Turbine component you may see going round again (5)
|
| A palindrome. | ||
| 13 | CLAPTON |
Applaud heavyweight, he plays guitar (7)
|
| A charade of CLAP (‘applaud’) plus TON (‘heavy weight’), for Eric Clapton, who seems to pop up regularly in crosswords, most recently in the Guardian Prize 29805 of September 20 by Enignatist. | ||
| 14 | RAMPART |
Incline, cunning defence (7)
|
| A charade of RAMP (‘incline’) plus ART (‘cunning’). | ||
| 15 | DAWKINS |
Biologist was kind to rock (7)
|
| An anagram (‘to rock’) of ‘was kind’, for the biologist Richard Dawkins (or equally well his ex-wife Marian). | ||
| 17 | SANDPIT |
Components of dribble where children play (7)
|
| S AND PIT make up SPIT (‘component of dribble’). | ||
| 20 | WILCO |
Is Olympic honcho going to read out agreeable message? (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘to read out’) WILL COE (‘is Olympic honcho going to?’ – reference Sebastian Coe, as Olympian champion, but aso, more pertinently, as the person who spearheaded the successful bid for to 2012 London Olympics) WILCO is used in radio communications to signify understandng and agreement. | ||
| 21 | IRONWORKS |
Plant contraptions for the evening, involving job (9)
|
| An envelope (‘involving’) of WORK (‘job’) in IRONS (‘contraptions for the evening’ – ‘evenng’ as making even). | ||
| 22 | ON CLOUD NINE |
Could you get this merry in inn? One could! (2,5,4)
|
| An anagram (‘could you get this merry’) of ‘inn one could’. I have chosen to interpret this as an &lit, which is a slight stretch, but otherwise ‘merry’ might be regarded as the primary (but with extention) definition. | ||
| 23 | HEARTY |
Primarily ‘hardy’; elsewhere ‘ample’ / ‘rich’ / ‘typically yeomanly’? (6)
|
| The ‘primarily’ clue: first letters of Hardy Elsewhere Ample Rich Typically Yeomanly’. | ||
| 24 | RARITY |
Bloody quality that’s seldom seen (6)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a steak, for example. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | MORE THAN WELCOME |
The memo can lower hiccups – much appreciated! (4,4,7)
|
| An anagram (‘hiccups’) of ‘the memo can lower’. I would tend to think of MORE THAN WELCOME as a response to ‘much appreciated’. | ||
| 3 | AGAINST |
Opposing but touching (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | RED GIANTS |
Gradients grappled with; they’re highly intense (3,6)
|
| An anagram (‘grappled with’) of ‘gradients’. RED GIANTS are more noted for extense than intense. | ||
| 5 | CHESS |
Duchesses somewhat game (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘duCHESSes’ | ||
| 6 | ROSTRUM |
Stage showing, among others, Navarro’s trumpet (7)
|
| Another hissen answer (‘showing among others’) in ‘NavarROS TRUMpet’. Fats Navarro was an American jazz trumpeter. | ||
| 7 | LESS THAN PERFECT |
Hardly ideal, what this suggests: < kind of tense (4,4,7)
|
| A charade of LESS THAN (‘<‘, mathematical notation) plus PERFECT (‘kind of tense’, grammatical). | ||
| 9 | EPIC |
Portray, without limits, vast tale (4)
|
| A subtraction: [d]EPIC[t] (‘ortray’) minus its outer letters (‘without limits’). | ||
| 10 | TROT |
Rejected legal wrong in red (4)
|
| A reversal (‘rejected’) of TORT (‘legal wrong’), for TROT as a Trotskyite (‘red’, Communist) | ||
| 14 | RESPONDER |
One might be first to consider backing resolution (9)
|
| Double definition, sort of; the second perhaps requires the preceeding ‘one might be’. | ||
| 15 | DOWN |
Blue clue, like this? (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 16 | I CONCUR |
Venerated figure and scoundrel agreed (1,6)
|
| A charade of ICON (‘venerated figure’) plus CUR (‘scoundrel’). | ||
| 18 | NEWSIER |
Most of red wine’s drunk, increasingly full of tidings (7)
|
| An anagram (‘drunk’) of RE (‘most of REd’) plus ‘wine’s’. | ||
| 19 | TASH |
The northern tree’s hairy growth (4)
|
| A charade of T (‘the northern’ – the word ‘the’ is often reduced to a stop, repersented by T, in Northern English dialects) plus ASH (‘tree’); TASH is short for moustache. | ||
| 21 | IRONY |
Twist 21 products like this? (5)
|
| A reference to 21A, IRONWORKS, the products of which are IRON-Y. |
The description of Fats Navarro as ‘a jazz trumpeter’ does him a great disservice. He was one of the very best, as I suspect Everyman knows.
I found this less of Everyman and more of a regular cryptic. Not a complaint. Enjoyed the chewier clues.
Thanks E and PeterO