An enjoyable challenge from Everyman, which can be found here.
Pretty much all the standard Everyman features are on display, as shown in the grid. I have a couple of pretty minor quibbles, as discussed below, but overall this was a lot of fun. Ticks from me for COSTA BLANCA, EARED SEALS and INTRODUCES, but clue of the week for me is undoubtedly SCENERY. I thought I detected a Nina along the second row, but I assume ‘O no crap’ wasn’t actually intentional.
For some reason I found this a trickier solve than normal, hence moh’s cruciverbial hardness scale rating: Fluorite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TRIM |
Car’s upholstery and part of its wheel as described in Yorkshire (4)
|
| ‘The rim’ (part of a wheel) in a cod Yorkshire accent becomes t’ rim (sort of) | ||
| 3 | CHESS PIECE |
Musical number that may be promoted on the boards? (5,5)
|
| CHESS (musical by Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice) + PIECE (number), def referring to promotion of a pawn on a chessboard | ||
| 9 | BUTS |
Objections: proof of payment returned (4)
|
| Reversal (returned) of STUB | ||
| 10 | BLUEBOTTLE |
Fly down with Spirit (10)
|
| BLUE (down) + BOTTLE (spirit, courage) | ||
| 12 | GROUNDSWELL |
Shift in public opinion having sound basis at first (11)
|
| WELL (sound, as in good physical shape) after GROUNDS (basis). Or it could possibly be SWELL after GROUND, but on the whole I prefer the first interpretation | ||
| 15 | AMUSE ME |
An inspiration? Yours truly? I could do with a laugh (5,2)
|
| A MUSE (an inspiration) + ME (yours truly) | ||
| 16 | YEMENIS |
The old group of chaps is group of Arabians (7)
|
| YE (old written form of ‘the’) + MEN (group of chaps) + IS (from surface) | ||
| 17 | EYESORE |
Everyman regarded, in report, as one unpleasant to behold (7)
|
| Soundalike (in report) of ‘I saw’ (but only for those with non-rhotic accents) | ||
| 19 | OOH LA LA |
Primarily ostentatious outcry heaping liberal and lavish admiration? (3,2,2)
|
| First letters (primarily) of Ostentatious Outcry Heaping Liberal And Lavish Admiration | ||
| 20 | COSTA BLANCA |
Estimate price of a Chardonnay, peut-être, one in resort (5,6)
|
| COST (as a verb, to estimate the price of something) + A (from surface) + BLANC (French for white, so ‘Chardonnay peut-être’) + A (one) | ||
| 23 | OSCILLATOR |
Clip from radio’s Cilla, to remember one that’s Swinging (10)
|
| Hidden in (clip from) radiOS CILLA TO Remember | ||
| 24 | BRIO |
After change of heart, writer showing élan (4)
|
| BIRO (ballpoint pen, so writer) with its central letters reversed (after change of heart) | ||
| 25 | EARED SEALS |
Erased ‘sea lions’ at first – rewritten as: ___ (5,5)
|
| Anagram (rewritten) of ERASED SEA L[ions] – the sea lion is an eared seal, as distinct from true seals and walruses, according to Prof Wiki | ||
| 26 | RYES |
Grasses grow, you hear? (4)
|
| Soundalike (you hear) of ‘rise’ | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TOBOGGANED |
Went rapidly downhill? (10)
|
| I think this is meant to be a cryptic definition, but it seems quite literal to me, unless there’s a usage of the verb ‘to toboggan’ akin to ‘barrel’ or some such? | ||
| 2 | INTRODUCES |
Launches risible reductions (10)
|
| Anagram (risible) of REDUCTIONS | ||
| 4 | HOLY SEE |
Just: that man, Rev Spooner says, in the Vatican (4,3)
|
| Spoonerism of ‘solely he’. Not sure this quite works, as to my ear ‘solely’ is pronounced with the second L audible, not so as to rhyme with ‘holy’. A very minor quibblet | ||
| 5 | SCENERY |
Stylised screen at back of play? (7)
|
| Anagram (stylised) of SCREEN and Y (back of plaY), clue as definition. Or is it an &lit? Either way, it’s a very fine clue | ||
| 6 | PROBLEM CHILD |
Truant perhaps having issue following bit of Maths (7,5)
|
| CHILD (issue) after PROBLEM (bit of maths) | ||
| 7 | EATS |
Scoff at tablets swallowed (4)
|
| Insertion (swallowed) of AT (from surface) inside ES (ecstasy tablets), ‘scoff’ and ‘eats’ here being nouns rather than verbs | ||
| 8 | EPEE |
Physical exercise – cutting: ‘en garde’ discharged? (4)
|
| PE (physical exercise) inside (cutting) En gardE (en garde discharged, ie without its central letters), with a sort of extended definition referring to the sport of fencing and one of the swords used in it | ||
| 11 | UNRECONCILED |
Iffy clue – ‘Cord (9)’ – not resolved (12)
|
| Anagram (iffy) of CLUE CORD NINE | ||
| 13 | UNMANNERLY |
Rude, curt male nunnery reformed (10)
|
| Anagram (reformed) of MAL[e] (curt male) NUNNERY | ||
| 14 | ESCALATORS |
Alas! Escort lost in flights (10)
|
| Anagram (lost) of ALAS ESCORT | ||
| 18 | ENSLAVE |
Bind some of Gwen’s lavender (7)
|
| Hidden (some of) in gwENS LAVEnder | ||
| 19 | ON A ROLL |
Where butter is put is repeatedly lucky (2,1,4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | POLE |
Rod’s European (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | SCAR |
Athletic events set back with lack of energy – and evidence of injury (4)
|
| Reversal (set back) of RAC[e]S (with lack of energy) |
Many thanks for the blog.
I think SCENERY qualifies as an &Lit, very good clue.
EPEE I’m less convinced about as the word describes the sword itself rather than the activity of using it (in Chambers at least).
Not happy with the definition for 20, excellent as the clue otherwise was. Costa Blanca is not A resort, it’s a region that has MANY resorts. That’s an unusually egregious geographical error from Everyman and a shame as adding the word region to the end of the clue would not have affected it in any way. Maybe it fell out in Grauniad editing / proofreading?
That said I found this Everyman one of the better and more taxing of recent examples with ticks for LOI 5 & 25.
Thanks Everyman & moh.