A pleasant Everyman, not too difficult; sound so far as I can see, except for one minor thing that’s mentioned in the blog. There are the usual Everyman trademarks: the first letters &lit, the rhyming pair, the self-referential clue. Maybe some others but I can’t see them.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
I suppose one could also say that BLOC rhymes with WINE O’CLOCK but Everyman has always so far as I know chosen for his rhyming pairs words of the same length.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TAKES A TURN |
Rolls dice in game, perhaps Occupy Ringed Planet (5,1,4)
|
| Take Saturn — take = occupy, Saturn has rings and is known as the Ringed Planet — I suppose the capital letters suggest that it is the name of some computer game | ||
| 6 | BLOC |
Group using sample of Pablo Casals (4)
|
| Hidden in PaBLO Casals | ||
| 9 | WINE O’CLOCK |
Drinks time: company kicked back during lock-in we arranged (4,1’5)
|
| (co)rev. in (lock in we)* — this expression is rather unfamiliar to me, but when I Googled it the AI overview said “Wine o’clock” is an informal, often humorous, phrase referring to an appropriate or desired time of day to start drinking wine, typically in the late afternoon or evening. Officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015, it signifies a transition from daily responsibilities to relaxation. It is commonly used as a cultural reference for unwinding.” Obviously haven’t been moving in the right circles. | ||
| 10 | ODIN |
Mythical figure: sculptor’s forgotten head (4)
|
| [R]odin | ||
| 11 | CLOTHES HORSE |
Fashionable type puts on blanket, nosebag etc? (7,5)
|
| 2 defs — one of the definitions in Chambers is “a person, usually a woman, whose value is primarily perceived as a model for fashionable clothes (informal)” and one can also read the clue as a description of how one clothes a horse | ||
| 15 | ROOKERY |
Pooh’s friend Kanga (to begin with) and Eeyore regularly muddled in bird’s home (7)
|
| Roo (K[anga] E[e]y[o]r[e])* — Pooh’s friend is Roo | ||
| 16 | SUCCOUR |
Comfort from a mug, reportedly (7)
|
| “sucker” — sucker = mug | ||
| 17 | ACERBIC |
Grimacer bickering, somewhat bitter (7)
|
| Hidden in GrimACER BICkering | ||
| 19 | PRESENT |
Quietly take exception to gift (7)
|
| p resent — p = quietly (the musical term ‘piano’), resent = take exception to | ||
| 20 | CHANGE COURSE |
Not much dough: part of meal to take different direction (6,6)
|
| change course — change = not much dough (money), course = part of meal | ||
| 23 | UGLY |
Unattractive on the outside, underling and lackey (4)
|
| u[nderlin]g l[acke]y | ||
| 24 | INTOXICATE |
Supply excitation? (10)
|
| *(excitation) —the clue can be thought of in two ways: as a CD, where to supply excitation is to intoxicate (in the wider, non alcoholic, sense of ‘intoxicate’) and as a clue where ‘supply’ is to be read as ‘supple-ly’ and is an anagram indicator | ||
| 25 | BUST |
Shatter sculpture (4)
|
| 2 defs | ||
| 26 | STREAKIEST |
See skirt at resort that’s most in need of a clean (10)
|
| (see skirt at)* — resort as re-sort | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TOWS |
Pulls studious type up (4)
|
| (swot)rev. — swot = studious type | ||
| 2 | KIND |
Family with daughter that’s a strain (4)
|
| kin d — kin = family, d = daughter — strain = kind (in the sense type, sort) | ||
| 3 | SHOULDERBAG |
In the event that old monarch given black and silver luggage item … (11)
|
| should ER B Ag — should = in the event that, ER = old monarch, B = black, Ag = silver (the abbreviation for the element) | ||
| 4 | TOLSTOY |
Tales ordinarily long, scribe telling of yore, primarily? (7)
|
| The first letters &lit. that is a feature of the Everyman crossword | ||
| 5 | ROCKETS |
Leaves sun in spaceships (7)
|
| rocket s — rocket = leaves (as in salad), s = sun — I suppose one can say at a stretch that a rocket is a spaceship | ||
| 7 | LEDERHOSEN |
Seen her old fancy man’s attire (10)
|
| (Seen her old)* | ||
| 8 | CONSECRATE |
Dupe taking wings off used car that’s seen better days: bless! (10)
|
| con [u]se[d] crate — con = dupe, crate = car that’s seen better days | ||
| 12 | HOCKEY STICK |
Spooner’s spoken of thickset yokel’s sporting equipment (6,5)
|
| For Spooner, this is “stocky hick” | ||
| 13 | BREADCRUMB |
Apply gratin to crab? Er, dumb move (10)
|
| (crab er dumb)* — breadcrumb a verb, to apply breadcrumbs to | ||
| 14 | POLE VAULTS |
E European crypts in which people get high (4,6)
|
| Pole vaults — Pole = East European, vaults = crypts — when people do pole vaults, the athletic activity, they go high over the bar | ||
| 18 | COCONUT |
You can get butter from one person that’s mad on hot drink, did you say? (7)
|
| nut on (ie following) coco, which is “cocoa” — nut = person that’s mad, cocoa = hot drink — ref. coconut butter [On a second look I think this parsing is wrong: it’s a Down clue, so ‘on’ would mean ‘on top of’, ‘above’; I think Everyman meant the whole thing to be read as “cocoa nut” — a cocoa nut is someone who’s mad on [a certain] hot drink] | ||
| 19 | PLUS-ONE |
Date, such as 31st is to 30th (4-3)
|
| 30th + 1 = 31st — in a sense at any rate; one might say that really 30 + 1 = 31 — a date can be a plus-one (not necessarily, so perhaps Everyman should have said ‘maybe’ or some such) | ||
| 21 | FADE |
A short-lived pleasure, Everyman’s beginning to decline (4)
|
| fad E[veryman] — fad = a short-lived pleasure — the self-referential clue | ||
| 22 | MEET |
Run into rain that’s upside- down (4)
|
| (teem) rev. — teem = rain |
My top fave: INTOXICATE (&lit).
Also liked CLOTHES HORSE and POLE VAULTS.
Thanks John for the neat blog.
I think EXCITATION -> INTOXICATE is Everyman’s trademark single word anagram for this week, making the second suggested parsing the intended one. Plus it’s the one I had so I prefer it LOL.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
Thanks Everyman and John. Great puzzle and blog; my favourites CLOTHES HORSE, TAKES A TURN and ROOKERY
Very enjoyable crossword. 24a was an especially good clue, I thought. The use of caps for Occupy Ringed Planet in 1a was, as I imagined it, to suggest that it was the name of a board game in which the dice were, perhaps, being thrown. Anyway, a fine crossword and blog – thanks Everyman, thanks John.
An exemplary Everyman, doing everything it is meant to without controversy.
My favourite was 24A: just two words making just about the most economical &lit possible, “supply” a nicely ambiguous anagram indicator, plus a single word anagram which is always pleasing.
I don’t recall seeing a word count expressed like 9A before (4,1’5). Given that the clue included “time”, it did point straight at something O’CLOCK, but unlike some other apostrophes which get ignored in the word count, this one had to be left in.
Thanks to Everyman and John.
Oh dear. I had WANE for 21d with a much ruder ‘short-lived pleasure’. Rather ashamed of myself, but the parsing does work!
No hope of solving 9a as the 1) term is unknown to me, and 2) the enumeration in my copy gives (4) and not (4,6). The only result of a word search using the crossers was WINDOWLOCK, which doesn’t make sense. Sloppy job on the part of the editor here.
Davey @6 – WANE is brilliant! Had this been a Cyclops puzzle it would undoubtedly have been right.
Davey@6, I had also put down WANE for 21d and was abashed to see FADE as the solution. I am feeling better now 🙂
Thanks for the parsing of 8D. I tried to work CAR into CRATE but had no idea where the TE would come from. Obviously, I’ve never heard of a car being called a crate before.
I was in exactly the same position as Peter @10, so thanks to John for that one in particular! And thanks to Everyman for the puzzle!
Thanks for the blog , we seem to be in a good run now , hope it continues . INTOXICATE is just about the perfect clue .
Good spot Davey@6 , I agree with MOH@8 it would have been my thinking for Cyclops , may even be better , a fad is often not a pleasure . Many diets are fads .
I also had wane, glad to hear I wasn’t alone!
INTOXICATE was my last one in but otherwise a bit of a breeze. Thanks to DAVEY@6 for a good chuckle this morning…
INTOXICATE was my last one in but otherwise nothing too difficult here. Thanks to DAVEY@6 for a good chuckle this morning…
Another waner here :-/
Regarding 19d. A “plus one” can be
a person invited to accompany a named guest to a social event, such as a wedding, party, or gala.It refers to the permission for the original invitee to bring along one additional, often unspecified, guest.
WANE here too. Knew it couldn’t be the rude idea but thought short lived pleasure might be WAN(T). I failed to get TEEM. First Everyman I haven’t finished in a long time.
Another WANE here (but with the short lived pleasure being WANT).
Mummy Bear crossword here, just right. Ticks to Intoxicate and Pole Vaults. Agree with the amended parsing of Coconut, it’s clearly a homophone of cocoa nut. As for Wane…!
Here in the North Island we are battening down the hatches. All rather tedious, but there are many worse countries to be in right now. At least when the lights go out it isn’t because some low life has lobbed a bomb on the substation.
Thanks for the crossword, thanks for the blog.
Easy, but also clever and amusing. Biggest laugh was reading the blog – maybe ‘short lived guilty pleasure’. Barrie, I think you mean Baby Bear. Freudian slip?!
Clever, amusing and enjoyable.
What has happened to the other kiwi comments?
HAVE they given up as too easy?
I’m really late this week, a motorsport event in Dunedin took priority.
I’ve just completed this crossword in a P.B. time which makes it very enjoyable.
Always love the Spooners, this one particularly good.
14D, great clue and so now it is 9A!
Too.much fun. Worked all weekend on the stock take which other honest retailers will recognize. Just got.to the quizz and enjoyed.
Thought intoxicate was daft until.the joy of reading the reason why. 👍 clue.
Duane @#21 yes Baby Bear. It’s been a long time.