A mostly straightforward Sunday stroll last week.
Along with many of the standard Everyman features (as well as the ‘primarily’ clue being complemented by an ‘ultimately’ clue for TONG), there were some nice anagrams – SHATTERING, ALGORITHMS and TORCHBEARER stood out for me.
I also liked CHOPPED LIVER for the wittily self-effacing New York vibe, LLOYD GEORGE for the surface misdirection that makes you think you’re looking for a US statesman, and, my LOI, TRIPLET, which took me a while to see and seemed such a different syle of clue that it might have wandered in from another crossword altogether. Many thanks as ever to Everyman.
Moh’s made-up cruciverbial hardness scale rating: Talc-ish
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHATTERING |
Straighten out – but it’s exhausting! (10)
|
| Anagram (out) of STRAIGHTEN | ||
| 6 | YETI |
Still, India’s supposed mountain-dweller (4)
|
| Charade of YET (still) + I (India) | ||
| 9 | ALGORITHMS |
Procedures for solving problems as clattering hailstorm overwhelms golf (10)
|
| Anagram (clattering) of HAILSTORM around (overwhelms) G. A cynic might argue that algorithms have in some spheres become procedures for creating, rather than solving, problems | ||
| 10 | GRIT |
Determination regularly exhibited by Geraint (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly exhibited by) of GeRaInT | ||
| 11 | CHOPPED LIVER |
Axed before 50, Everyman’s at end of career, an irrelevance (7,5)
|
| Charade of CHOPPED (axed) + L (50) + I’VE (Everyman has, shortened to Everyman’s) + R (end of careeR) | ||
| 15 | HOTHEAD |
Madman seen in Psycho (the adaptation) (7)
|
| Hidden (seen in) psycHO THE ADaptation | ||
| 16 | SPONSOR |
North, then south, track circling: back! (7)
|
| SPOOR (track) around (circling) N + S | ||
| 17 | THEOREM |
Some loathe – or embrace – idea (7)
|
| Hidden (some) in loaTHE OR EMbrace | ||
| 19 | TADPOLE |
I’m grateful to get support embracing prince who’ll become a frog (7)
|
| Charade of TA (thanks, I’m grateful) + DOLE (support) around (embracing) P | ||
| 20 | UNDERDELIVER |
Rashly endure drivel; fail to make good on promise (12)
|
| Anagram (rashly) of ENDURE DRIVEL | ||
| 23 | TONG |
Ultimately prudent to learn mingling; one would lose grip without partner at the barbecue (4)
|
| Last letters (ultimately) of prudenT tO learN minglinG | ||
| 24 | SKYLARKING |
Broadcaster backing poet (German) gallivanting (10)
|
| Charade of SKY (broadcaster) + LARKIN (Philip Larkin, librarian and poet) + G. Seems to me that ‘backing’ isn’t quite the right word here – ‘introducing’ might have been better? | ||
| 25 | REEL |
It may be a Fisherman’s Dance (4)
|
| Double def – a reel may belong to a fisherman, as well as being a dance | ||
| 26 | STATUETTES |
Laws covering alien little figures (10)
|
| Envelope (covering) of STATUTES around ET (the only alien ever known to have visited Planet Cryptic) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SEAR |
Heard prophet sizzle (4)
|
| Soundalike (heard) of ‘seer’ | ||
| 2 | ARGO |
Slowly, learner’s lost mighty ship (4)
|
| [L]ARGO (at a slow or stately tempo in musical notation) without the L (learner’s lost) | ||
| 3 | TORCHBEARER |
Race brother pathetically – he’s seen in the lead (11)
|
| Anagram (pathetically) of RACE BROTHER | ||
| 4 | RETAPED |
Made another recording of French father that’s stuck up (7)
|
| Reversal (stuck up) of DE (of in French) + PATER | ||
| 5 | NUMBERS |
Songs in book (7)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to the Old Testament book of that name | ||
| 7 | EUROVISION |
Air battle across the Continent? (10)
|
| Cryptic def, ‘air’ used in the sense of song | ||
| 8 | INTERBREED |
Cross Italian footballers given Belgium: maybe buck up (10)
|
| Charade of INTER (Inter Milan, Italian footballers) + B + reversal (up) of DEER (a deer may be a buck) | ||
| 12 | LLOYD GEORGE |
Statesman: Gee! Old Glory aflutter! (5,6)
|
| Anagram (aflutter) of GEE OLD GLORY | ||
| 13 | SHOT-PUTTER |
Sportsperson damaged golf-club (4-6)
|
| SHOT (damaged) + PUTTER (golf club) | ||
| 14 | ATTENDANCE |
Servants in the auditorium: but how many in the audience? (10)
|
| Soundalike (in the auditorium) of ‘attendants’ | ||
| 18 | MEERKAT |
At sea, ark teems with small flying kind of a mammal (7)
|
| Anagram (at sea) of ARK TEEM[s] without the S (small flying/fleeing) | ||
| 19 | TRIPLET |
Unusual issue characteristic of Pitt the Elder? (7)
|
| There are three consecutive Ts – a TRIPLE T – in PiTT The Elder, as long as you ignore the space. And also in Pitt the Younger, for that matter. ‘Issue’ here used in the sense of offspring | ||
| 21 | GIFT |
Present the northern fruit that’s offered up (4)
|
| Reversal (offered up) of T’ FIG (‘the’ in a Yorkshire accent + FIG) | ||
| 22 | EGOS |
Exhausting grandeur of showbusiness primarily displayed here? (4)
|
| First letters (primarily) of Exhausting Grandeur Of Showbusiness, with an extended definition |
TRIPLET was my LOI too. It was the likely answer but the parsing took forever!
Nice puzzle. Thanks, E and moh
SKYLARKING
Agree with moh on ‘backing’.
TRIPLET was my top fave too.
Also liked TADPOLE and GIFT.
Thanks Everyman and moh.
TRIPLET at 19d was my LOI also, and I needed moh’s help in parsing it, but it was also my favourite clue – very clever.
Lots of good clues in this excellent puzzle, along with a great otherworldly comment from moh about 26a STATUETTE. Thanks, both, for the fun.
Thought this was much more like an Everyman puzzle should be.
Liked: SPONSOR, TADPOLE, EUROVISION, INTERBREED and my favourite TRIPLET.
Thanks Everyman and MOH
Didn’t parse TRIPLET (a great clue) and “the northern”, and it took me ages to see ATTENDANCE (only then REEL fell into place). For EUROVISION, I thought of airwaves; tunes probably fit better. Overall, very nice, thanks Everyman and moh!
I wasn’t familiar with CHOPPED LIVER, as defined, in 11a, and it’s not in Chambers, Collins or ODE with that definition as far as I can see. I read, however, that the earliest use is attributed to Jimmy Durante.
Thanks to Thanks Everyman and moh.
CHOPPED LIVER (KA: Jay@6)
Collins online
chopped liver
in American English
Origin: Yiddish gehakteh leber, traditional dish of chopped, cooked chicken livers, seasonings, etc.; extended use ? from its being a side dish rather than a main course
US (Slang)
a person or thing regarded as negligible
that suggestion isn’t just chopped liver
IThank you MOH.
NUMBERS. It seems to be assumed that cryptic solvers know the books of the Bible, both in the solve and the blog.
CHOPPED LIVER yum, and so nutritious. I did know the meaning here though.
EUROVISION and SHOT-PUTTER brought a smile.(Doesn’t take much. 🙂 )
Doing the crossword on the phone, the long anagrams are a lot harder than they used to be when Everyman was hosted on The Guardian website with its “anagram helper”. This enables you to visualise the letters you haven’t yet used – I never use the random sorting feature which may help some.
Thus the statesman remained unsolved – there are a lot of them. It wouldn’t have helped much with CHOPPED LIVER – never heard of it. And TRIPLET remained unsolved too. I imagined that my historical ignorance about Pitt the Elder was letting me down.
So trickier than some, I thought. I suppose I could get a pen and paper out but unless I’m doing my mother’s Telegraph crossword on visits to her, I don’t.
I completed it but I must say it took me a while! Is ‘one would lose grip without partner at the barbecue’ the longest definition ever? I looked up Pitt the Elder to see if by chance he was a triplet and completely missed the three Ts. Now for this week’s challenge …
CHOPPED LIVER and TRIPLET both needed all the crossers before I could see them. Google confirmed the former could mean “irrelevance” which was new to me, but also that PtE was not a triplet, so that was unparsed until the blog.
Thanks Everyman and moh.
I didn’t know the Bible reference to NUMBERS and just guessed it. Thanks Paddymelon@8 for the explanation.
Thanks MOH and Everyman
Apols paddymelon @8 and HumbleTim @12 – my oversight re NUMBERS now corrected!
Found this FAR more difficult than any in recent months. DNF. Only managed 2/3 (I have been finishing). Thought anagrams were harder and more obscurity in the clues. Thanks to all here.
Thanks to Everyman: on characteristically good form with all the usual elements. I’m always a fan of a proper anagram (one word) so 1ac was a favourite.
I missed the TRIPLE T in Pitt the Elder, so thanks to miserableoldhack for explaining what immediately became my favourite clue.
24ac: I agree that “backing” seems odd, but it could be read as “backing poet, German” ie the G for German backs (comes after) LARKIN. “Introducing” seems a better choice, though – the surface would make just as much sense.
A good standard for an Everyman (well I got most of it!). Never heard of ‘chopped liver’ in that sense, but the analysis was obvious and I assumed it was some US TV thing.
7D A minor point but Eurovision is a battle of European broadcasters so I think Air refers to broadcasters rather than songs.
RE: 7d, I thought similarly to Layman (#5) and Lorcán (#18) that ‘Air battle’ referred to a battle that took place on air (i.e., on TV, over the airwaves).
Enjoyed this.
Eurovision was my favourite although I see that Triplet was cleverer than I realised.
I took air battle to be a reference to songs but I guess it works as a TV contest too.
This is a great cryptic! TRIPLET was a step to far for me , but now I get it – excellent clue.
Also didn’t get 16ac, SPONSOR- so a DNF but no grumbles at all, really enjoyed the brain workout. Thanks Everyman!!
Very nice puzzle. Just the right level of difficulty.
I agree with Robot@19 about “Air”.
Favourite was “meerkat”. Took me a while to see that “small flying” meant
“get rid of the s in ark teems”.
Pretty tough. A few I got but still couldn’t parse.