Another solid offering from Everyman.
Most of the regular features are on display (as marked in the grid), aside from the geographical excursion. The single-word anagram wasn’t perhaps as audacious as they can sometimes be, but there was plenty to admire here. I particularly liked CHEESEGRATER and ROCK THE BOAT for the neat anagrams, SUGGEST for the somewhat alarmingly suggestive surface and, my top pick this week, another well-worked anagram, USER’S GUIDE for the nicely concealed definition. Thanks to Everyman.
Moh’s wholly unreliable cruciverbial hardness scale rating: Gypsum
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PERMISSIVE |
Easy-going, according to correspondence (10)
|
| PER (according to) + MISSIVE (letter, correspondence) | ||
| 6 | ICED |
Knocked off – like some tea? (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | DRAWING PIN |
Making illustration of leg that’s tacky (7,3)
|
| DRAWING (making illustration of) + PIN (leg, from Cockney rhyming slang: “pin pegs” for legs) | ||
| 10 | PASS |
I don’t know that way through mountains (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | CHEESEGRATER |
He gets career arranging help for chef (12)
|
| Anagram (arranging) of HE GETS CAREER | ||
| 15 | NASCENT |
Rising smell of sodium? (7)
|
| NA (chemical symbol for sodium) + SCENT | ||
| 16 | TACTILE |
A bit of eye-contact, I learn, is touching (7)
|
| Hidden (a bit of…) in conTACT I LEarn | ||
| 17 | SCRATCH |
You should come up to this damage (7)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to ‘come up to scratch’ | ||
| 19 | OATMEAL |
Nothing at repast but porridge, basically (7)
|
| O (nothing) + AT (from surface) + MEAL. What’s ‘basically’ doing here? I think it’s indicating that most porridge – but not all – is made with oatmeal. | ||
| 20 | FIGURE SKATER |
Did she hope her 8 would get +5.0? (6,6)
|
| Cryptic-ish definition. I suppose the 8 – as in figure of 8 – is there to suggest ‘figure’. I have now learned that in competitive figure skating, the rather complicated system of scoring includes a Grade of Execution for the various elements of the routine, which runs from -5.0 to +5.0. But I expect you all knew that already. | ||
| 23 | RAIL |
Pole, fibber, heading west (4)
|
| Reversal (heading west, in an across clue) of LIAR | ||
| 24 | INVIGORATE |
Get perked up – fantastic rigatoni and drops of excellent vinos (10)
|
| Anagram (fantastic) of RIGATONI and EV (first letters – drops – of Excellent Vinos) | ||
| 25 | HEEL |
Part of foot to get better, so we’re told (4)
|
| Soundalike (so we’re told) of ‘heal’ | ||
| 26 | RAINSTORMS |
Idea sessions not started in precipitation (10)
|
| [b]RAINSTORMS (idea sessions) without its first letter | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PADS |
Increases apparent value of homes (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | ROAM |
Travel with Mum – otherwise going back (4)
|
| Reversal (going back) of MA + OR (otherwise). Am I alone in thinking the reversal indicator seems a bit odd for a down clue? | ||
| 3 | IRISH SETTER |
Limerick writer offering conundrums, perhaps your best friend? (5,6)
|
| IRISH (as someone from Limerick would be) + SETTER (writer offering conundrums, such as, ooh, I don’t know, a crossword setter, perhaps?) | ||
| 4 | SUGGEST |
Good cops straightened out gusset, getting intimate (7)
|
| Anagram (straightened out) of GUSSET around (cops) G | ||
| 5 | VAINEST |
After revolution, natives most proud (7)
|
| Anagram (after revolution) of NATIVES | ||
| 7 | COASTLINES |
Make little effort with script, Land’s Ends? (10)
|
| COAST (make little effort) + LINES (as in an actor’s script) | ||
| 8 | DISCREETLY |
With diplomacy – and one- by-one, did you say? (10)
|
| Soundalike (did you say?) of ‘discretely’. Surely no one is going to claim this doesn’t work for their accent? | ||
| 12 | ROCK THE BOAT |
Beth took car, swerving to make trouble (4,3,4)
|
| Anagram (swerving) of BETH TOOK CAR | ||
| 13 | AND SO FORTH |
Ergo, Scottish river etc (3,2,5)
|
| AND SO (therefore, ergo) + FORTH (Scottish river) | ||
| 14 | USERS GUIDE |
Manual labour finally, I guess, due for upgrade? (5,5)
|
| Anagram (for upgrade) of R (labouR finally) I GUESS DUE | ||
| 18 | HOSANNA |
Primarily happy outcry, sung, about nifty Nazarene’s advent? (7)
|
| First letters of Happy Outcry Sung About Nifty Nazarene’s Advent. I think this is probably the first time I’ve ever seen Jesus referred to as a “nifty Nazarene”. | ||
| 19 | ORATION |
Relation in on speech (7)
|
| Insertion of RATIO (relation) inside ON | ||
| 21 | FAIR |
Just panache student’s missing (4)
|
| F[L]AIR without the L (student’s missing) | ||
| 22 | MESS |
Everyman on vacation sightsees in confusion (4)
|
| ME (Everyman) + first and last letters (on vacation) of SightseeS |
Moh, in suggest i think cops (ie takes on) is the includer and g (good) the included.
FIGURE SKATER
My expertise is more or less uniform across various fields: Googling, copying and pasting!
Google AI overview
In figure skating, “figure 8” refers to both foundational edge-control drills and the historical “compulsory figures” where skaters trace precise 8-shaped patterns on the ice using forward/backward crossovers and turns. It is also a key level in skating curricula (Basic 8) and often refers to 8-meter circles.
Her 8 won’t be adequate to get her +5.0!
OATMEAL
I think ‘basically’ indicates that OATMEAL is a type of porridge. What the blogger says seems all right as well.
SUGGEST
G cops GUSSET* grantinfreo@1 must be right.
Thanks moh for the great blog.
Thanks for the blog , I agree with Grant@1 for SUGGEST in the sense that cops=acquires .
FIGURE SKATER , the only thing I know is that they do a figure of eight .
I think OATMEAL is the base for porridge , you need hot milk as well .
I had STRETCH for 17a. You can stretch up, if you stretch something the deformation could be considered “damage” and it fits the crossers. Another good crossword. Thanks to E & MOH.
Humph@4: Stretch for me too though I now agree Scratch works better.
Nice crossword. Thanks Moh
Roz @3 My aunt on the Isle of Arran always made porridge with oatmeal and water, not milk (and salt of course). Cook it gently on the hob stirring frequently and it comes up thick and creamy. For perfection add a drop of jersey milk and sweeten to taste with honey, maple syrup or soft brown sugar.
Roz@3: Growing up in Belfast we always had porridge for breakfast, made with water rather than milk. We would then heap cornflakes on top, plus sugar, then some milk.
poc@7 Love that !
I also had STRETCH. Darn.
Enjoyed this one – surfaces seemed smoother than usual. Favourite (with a slight groan) was IRISH SETTER. Many thanks moh and Everyman
Tony@6 and Poc@7 , people using anything except oats and hot milk should be doing porridge .
poc@7, porridge with cornflakes sounds like the breakfast equivalent of a chip butty. Last summer I made some strawberry jam that failed to set. It’s useless for spreading on toast but quite good stirred into porridge with some creme fraiche. Apologies to horrified Scots …
Don’t forget rhyming cheese grater figure skater
Have to agree with Roz@11.
[As a Leicester City fan, KPR picked a bad day to break their no goals during Lent run …].
My dad used to soak the oats overnight in water with a pinch of salt and cook them on the stove in the morning. He then put the porridge in one bowl and put cold milk in another bowl. He would take a spoonful of the porridge, dip it in the cold milk and eat it.
I also make my porridge with water (in the microwave) but I add berries at the end – raspberries , blackcurrants or redcurrants from the allotment. This year I hope to have blueberries as well.
For FIGURE SKATER, agree with KVa @2; the compulsory figures are why figure skating is so called – they drew figures on ice with their skates! For OATMEAL, agree with Roz @3 – it is the base for the porridge. I felt the puzzle was less gentle than a few previous ones but even better for that (being still very much doable). Thanks Everyman and moh!
Roz@11 🤣
But Roz & Simon@14, you are both wrong! 😉
Generally a comfortable puzzle . Had some trouble parsing 8d for a while and where vacation fitted into 22d . Liked 20a Figure skater and Coastline 7d.
Can someone explain 4D again? I don’t understand why G is Cops?
Hi Rob, ‘good’ is only cluing G (it’s a cryptic crossword staple). ‘Cops’ is there in its slang sense (as in ‘I copped a new pair of Nikes’) to suggest that G cops/acquires/grabs/seizes an anagram of ‘gusset’. Hope that helps!
Nice one again. Liked the switch of meaning for Intimate. Unaware Iced had another meaning?
I didn’t like 6A or 22D. Have no idea why iced means knocked up, and neither does Collins, because I checked to see if I could make it fit. I also don’t see how on vacation leads us to the first and last letters of sightsees. I was wondering if Everyman was on a steamship, and therefore on vacation. Also was worried about Everyman as a subject becoming the object with me. So while I got those clues, I didn’t find them satisfying. Thought 20A was quite a stretch. Got it from the rhyme, not the clue. And I’m not convinced by cops in 4A either. While there were lots of lovely clues, this one annoyed me.
Very solid cryptic today for those of us in NZ on ANZAC Day.
IRISH SETTER and FIGURE SKATER top two for us. Oh and I always use water, never milk when making porridge (plus a pinch of salt), stirred with our spyrtle.
Not bad but a few tricky ones. It took me a while to get the play on discreet and discrete. I liked 1ac.. per missive.
For Susan and Barrie :US slang iced = killed . Knocked off. You need to watch more old gangster movies.
Vacation meaning emptying.
PS for Pip.
I’m not a porridge purist. I use the microwave. Any way you like to use it helps to soak the oats overnight. My late father-in-law taught me that one. Not Scottish – as kiwi as they come.
Susan @22 ‘on vacation’ is an old crossword convention. It means the word that it’s applied to is vacated or emptied leaving just its outside letters. It is a thing I’m afraid.