I thought this was good but on the hard side for an Everyman and some clues held me up for quite a while. There are the usual Everyman extras which are highlighted in the grid. Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in olive.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | EASY CHAIRS |
Where to comfortably enjoy Spooner’s schmaltzy music (4,6)
|
| If you spoonerise this you get “cheesy airs” | ||
| 6 | HEWS |
Talked of colours in prunes dramatically (4)
|
| “hues” — hues = colours — nothing to do with cutting parts of a play, just that if you hew, you prune heavily or dramatically. I think. My last one in and this took a while | ||
| 9 | MANAGERIAL |
Concerning boss’s hidey-hole, say, an American in retirement (10)
|
| (lair eg an Am.)rev. — lair = hidey-hole, eg = say, an = an, Am. = American | ||
| 10 | ASIA |
Perhaps ChatGPT’s a step back for most of humanity (4)
|
| (AI’s a)rev. — AI = Perhaps ChatGPT, a = a, step back is the instruction to reverse (I think we need to see ‘step’ as an imperative) — the majority of the world population lives in Asia | ||
| 11 | NO HARM NO FOUL |
Dodgy moolah for nun: forgive the transgression (2,4,2,4)
|
| *(moolah for nun) — not an expression I knew, but it’s in Google | ||
| 15 | EARACHE |
What makes a lug smart? (7)
|
| CD — if it aches it smarts | ||
| 16 | POT-HERB |
Swap other basket – that contains culinary flavouring (3-4)
|
| Hidden in SwaP OTHER Basket | ||
| 17 | IMPINGE |
Everyman’s to send text: Everyman’s beginning to intrude (7)
|
| I’m ping e — I’m = Everyman’s, ping = send text (typically an email), E[veryman] — the self-referential clue | ||
| 19 | SPIDERY |
Abrupt notion: run into intelligence agent like Black Widow? (7)
|
| sp(ide[a] r)y — idea = notion, so the ‘abrupt’ shortens it, r = run, spy = intelligence agent — ref. the Black Widow spider | ||
| 20 | TURKISH TOWEL |
What gets wetter when it dries up in Istanbul? (7,5)
|
| CD — taken literally it’s a description of what happens in Turkey, but it also refers to towels used in Turkish baths | ||
| 23 | ATOM |
Tiny thing seen in first half of dictionary (4)
|
| The first half of the dictionary is A-M (A to M) — at any rate that’s what my SOD has although I’ve seen A-N | ||
| 24 | AUSTRALIAN |
Gold pin Arthur’s taken back – is he from Perth? (10)
|
| Au (nail Art’s)rev. — Au = gold (the chemical symbol), nail = pin, Art = Arthur | ||
| 25 | TANK |
Cistern to fail – at great cost (4)
|
| 2 defs — I was unsure about the ‘at great cost’ since in my experience to tank simply means to fail, but Collins has ‘(esp commercially)’ | ||
| 26 | STREET FOOD |
Trendy dining option: Coronation chicken? (6,4)
|
| street food — street = trendy, food = dining option — I’m rather vague on this but it looks as if it’s right, if only because it’s the only thing that fits: the wordplay is OK but do they sell coronation chicken on the street? | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ELMS |
Key limes regularly seen in trees (4)
|
| [K]e[y] l[i]m[e]s | ||
| 2 | SINS |
Seven in number. Satanic? Originally (4)
|
| s[even] i[n] n[umber] S[atanic] — the first letters &lit. referring to the seven deadly sins — unlike the usual first letters clue, this wasn’t a write-in for me: I went down the wrong track thinking that ‘Seven’ referred to 7dn and the east of ‘Eden’ was the letter n, so looked up ‘sinx’ to see if it was a word … | ||
| 3 | COGNOSCENTI |
Unimportant employee with no trace – bit of inkling they know (11)
|
| cog no scent i[nkling] — cog = unimportant employee, no = no, scent = trace — ‘bit of’ is by convention the first letter (even though really it could be any letter) | ||
| 4 | AIRFARE |
Broadcast: food’s price to go up (7)
|
| air fare — air = broadcast, fare = food, with a clever tricky definition: you go up in an aeroplane | ||
| 5 | ROAD MAP |
Perform hiphop about old admiral? I’ll tell you where to go (4,3)
|
| r(o Adm.)ap — rap = perform hiphop, o = old, adm. = admiral —I don’t know much about this sort of music but I should have thought rap was a bit different from hiphop | ||
| 7 | EAST OF EDEN |
English feasted on novel – one from 1952 (4,2,4)
|
| (E feasted on)* — E = English — a novel by John Steinbeck of 1952, later made into a famous film with James Dean | ||
| 8 | STABLE BOYS |
So let baby cavort; they won’t frighten the horses (6,4)
|
| I think this is correct, but am not sure: it looks like a mistake, but the definition seems a bit odd and (so let baby)* only gives nine letters and there is an s missing; I suppose that stable boys are trained to treat the horses well so that they won’t frighten them; and it fits — so I’m going with this and reckoning that there has been a mistake, although I may well be wrong | ||
| 12 | OUTSIDER ART |
Creation on the fringes: bizarrely, it’s our trade (8,3)
|
| *(it’s our trade) — again, not an expression I knew | ||
| 13 | REGISTRANT |
One signing in and restarting after revision (10)
|
| (registrant)* | ||
| 14 | PROPER NOUN |
May, say, but may … not (6,4)
|
| CD — May (when it refers to the month) is a proper noun, but when it doesn’t it is probably a common noun or a verb — a slightly odd construction that I don’t fully understand | ||
| 18 | EXHAUST |
Sap getting a kind of pipe (7)
|
| 2 defs — tire out/as in exhaust pipe | ||
| 19 | SCOTTIE |
Small bed with couple and pooch (7)
|
| s cot tie — s = small, cot = bed, tie = couple (verb) | ||
| 21 | CIAO |
A friendly ‘hello’ in Naples – or quite the opposite (4)
|
| ‘ciao’ means either hello or goodbye in Italian, so ‘or quite the opposite’ refers to the fact that it’s hello or goodbye, not to its friendliness | ||
| 22 | ENID |
Maybe Blyton’s a bit uneven? I daresay (4)
|
| Hidden in enevEN I Daresay — ref. Enid Blyton the author, and the surface is arguably true |
John: ‘Coronation’ in 26a is a reference to the long running UK soap “C… Street”.
I also fond this harder than usual with 2 NHOs (11 & 20) but got there in the end. I also agree with the issue in 8d, I too think there’s an ‘S’ missing
Thanks to Everyman & John.
There’s more to Coronation Chicken.
Is a Turkish towel a thing, like Egyptian cotton? And doesn’t a sting smart while an ache, well, aches? Whatev, mere quibblettini. smooth puzzle, ta John and E.
[Turkish baths are a great institution. The one I frequented was built round a huge low granite outcrop, slightly convex, on which you lay and slowly melted. Then someone scrubbed you and chiropracted your bones. All for about a dollar. Bliss!]
An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks for the blog.
20A must refer to a type of good quality cotton towel. I have no idea what’s supplied in a Turkish Bath.
26A might also refer to all those street parties for the coronation of Elizabeth II where coronation chicken was served.
Thanks John. HEWS was also my LOI. I got stuck on ”reds” with crossers and couldn’t see my way past that. Agree with your parsing with ”dramatically”. STABLE BOYS may be an error, or it’s just a leap in Everyman’s mind that we’re meant to follow, from singular to plural.
TURKISH TOWEL. Any towel gets wetter when it dries up. In Istanbul gives the Turkish bit.
PROPER NOUN. May or may not, I think just means that a capitalised “May” is a proper noun, but lower case “may” isn’t.
The STABLE BOYS clue was changed online and in the pdf later in the day last Sunday to include the errant “S” in the fodder.
Agree with earlier comments regarding the intended Coronation Street soap reference and PROPER NOUN relating to the capitalisation of May.
Thanks to E and J.