Another bit of Sunday fun from Everyman
With all our favourite Everyman trademarks present and correct. Except that that isn’t quite true. Having not seen the usual geographic reference in recent puzzles – Everyman is, after all, a very well-travelled chap and perhaps feels he’s been everywhere he needs to go – I’ve started to look out for something different. It started a few weeks ago with the appearance of Rafael Nadal, followed the week after by Andre Agassi. And now we have STEFFI GRAF (who, as it happens, is married to Mr Agassi). I may very well be wrong about this, but I have nevertheless tentatively highlighted that clue in the grid. We shall have to wait to see whether this mini-trend continues in coming weeks. [Edit: having glanced quickly at today’s puzzle, I see no sign of any tennis players. Ah well, perhaps they will return…]
My favourites this time out are the aforementioned tennis star, the neat anagram/CAD for RATIONALISE, MAESTRO for introducing me to a new word, and, top pick for me, the rather brilliant HILLARY. Thanks to Everyman.
Moh’s unarguably inexact cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Gypsum
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AS PER USUAL |
Predictably, sadly, start to unclasp purse, alas! (2,3,5)
|
| Anagram (sadly) of U (start to Unclasp) PURSE ALAS | ||
| 6 | USER |
Computer owner regularly getting bum steer (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly getting) of bUm StEeR | ||
| 9 | HAMSTRINGS |
Bad actors smothering series – but to pull them would be painful (10)
|
| HAMS around (smothering) STRING (series) | ||
| 10 | TEAM |
Eleven, maybe, in swarm that’s heard (4)
|
| Soundalike (that’s heard) of ‘teem’ for swarm | ||
| 11 | GOOD CLEAN FUN |
Canoodle, most of fungi spreading – hardly this! (4,5,3)
|
| Anagram (spreading) of CANOODLE FUNG[i] | ||
| 15 | HILLARY |
Adventurer going to extremes with many heights surrounding? (7)
|
| AR (first and last letters – going to extremes – of AdventureR) inside HILLY (with many heights), &lit definition of Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the two people who were first to reach the summit of Everest in 1953 | ||
| 16 | CHARGER |
It’ll bring your phone back to life – or is that bull? (7)
|
| Double definition of a sort, the second being a slightly whimsical play on bull as short for BS as well as an animal that might charge at you | ||
| 17 | TOURISM |
The writer visiting French city with Frenchman – doing this? (7)
|
| I (the writer) inside (visiting) TOURS (French city) + M (monsieur, Frenchman) | ||
| 19 | AT HEART |
Basically a menace when a little rascal scoots over (2,5)
|
| A THREAT with the R (first letter – a little – of rascal) moving to the right | ||
| 20 | BAD RECEPTION |
It has insufficient bars – or no bar at all (3,9)
|
| Double def, the first playing on the signal bars on a mobile phone, the second on, say, a wedding reception that has no bar | ||
| 23 | ERRS |
Everyman’s introduction, meeting bishop, first of several blunders (4)
|
| E (Everyman’s introduction) + RR (Right Reverend, honorific conferred on bishops in the Anglican and Catholic churches) + S (first of Several) | ||
| 24 | STURDINESS |
Stud rinses off showing lusty quality (10)
|
| Anagram (off) of STUD RINSES | ||
| 25 | DADA |
Duchamp’s / Arp’s derisive avant-gardism, primarily? (4)
|
| First letters of the first four words of the clue, Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp both being prominent figures in the Dadaist movement | ||
| 26 | CONDIMENTS |
After split second, mint for mint sauce, etc (10)
|
| Anagram (after split) of SECOND MINT | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ACHE |
A revolutionary’s a persistent pain (4)
|
| A + CHE (Guevara) | ||
| 2 | PUMA |
Quiz mostly a beast (4)
|
| PUM[p] (quiz mostly) + A | ||
| 3 | RATIONALISE |
How to make realisation? (11)
|
| Anagram (to make) of REALISATION with the clue as definition | ||
| 4 | SPIN-DRY |
Activate a kind of cycle and long to swap hands (4-3)
|
| SPIND[L]Y (long) with the L (left) replaced by R (right) (to swap hands) | ||
| 5 | ANGELIC |
Orange licorice, somewhat divine (7)
|
| Hidden (somewhat) in orANGE LICorice | ||
| 7 | STEFFI GRAF |
She regularly attended court having broken giraffe’s foot (6,4)
|
| Anagram (having broken) of GIRAFFES FT for the German former tennis player | ||
| 8 | REMUNERATE |
Pay rock band in Paris, one wanting speed (10)
|
| Charade of REM (the band) + UNE (in Paris, one) + RATE | ||
| 12 | ANACHRONISM |
Bad timing? (11)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | WHITE BREAD |
Chess player getting money – that might be a bloomer (5,5)
|
| WHITE (as opposed to black in chess, so chess player) + BREAD (money) | ||
| 14 | FLOUNDERED |
Stumbled when given flatfish that’s one-third cooked (10)
|
| FLOUNDER (flatfish) + [cook]ED (one-third cooked) | ||
| 18 | MAESTRO |
Top musician, cellist, smeared roset (7)
|
| MA (Yo-Yo Ma, cellist) + anagram (smeared) of ROSET. Wiki tells me that ‘roset’ is another word for the rosin that string players rub on their bows | ||
| 19 | ALTERED |
Modified wonky treadle (7)
|
| Anagram (wonky) of TREADLE | ||
| 21 | VEIN |
Blood vessel‘s useless, you said? (4)
|
| Soundalike (you said?) of ‘vain’ | ||
| 22 | ASKS |
Requests jobs that will take no time (4)
|
| [t]ASKS (tasks without the T) |
I see The Observer paywall is up again this week for Everyman 4147 after a few Sundays’ respite. I’ve tried to update the slowdownwiseup url but that’s not working, either. Can anyone help wiith a link, please, or do I finally have to call it a day with the Everyman after soooo many years?
I won’t be tackling the Everyman anymore – I can’t justify the expense of the subscription just for a crossword. I will miss it, though, it was an enjoyable part of my Sunday routine.
You can access the puzzle for free through PressReader. You need to log in to that app using credentials supplied by your local lending library. The Everyman crossword is in the New Review. I capture the image of the crossword and then print it out.
Seems to be working again today. I’ve only registered (not subscribed) and both Everyman and Gemelo are available 😀
Last one in was BAD RECEPTION, which I thought rather good when I finally got it.
vannucci, 1:
I think that we’re only allowed so many free visits. I delete the O’s cookies from time to time, (which I guess record visits) and was able to print off today’s without charge. Hope this might assist.
Cheers all.
ARhymerOinks #2 – my sentiments entirely. A sad loss after 50 years, but all good things must come to an end……:(
For those struggling to access this week’s puzzle… https://tinyurl.com/Everyman4147
Found this super hard this week -couldn’t get in at all…only managed about 3/4s. Felt more ‘cryptic’ and less straightforward than recent weeks. Frustrating 😵💫. Thanks for all!
Thanks for the blog , I hope people continue to persevere , Jay@7 and others often put links . I am just hoping the Observer continues to publish a newspaper .
I agree with Cara@8 , this seemed a bit tricky after a good run , hope it is a one-off .
If anybody does need a new crossword home , I am told the FT provides free on-line puzzles . I do them in the paper and several each week are very friendly .
@Roz – thanks a lot! You are always so supportive and make me feel slightly less useless and slightly more determined not to give up 🙂
I assmed that there wasn’t a rhyming couplet in this Everyman. Bit surprised to see you’ve highlighted 11A and 20A but I suppose they work at a stretch.
Certainly not fun though. This was more like hard work. Not much joy in this puzzle.
I’m with Cara @8, I found this way harder than the average Everyman, it needed two revisits before succumbing. Is it a known phenomenon that the puzzle is harder for holiday weekends (I’m a relatively new Everyman aficionado), or was I just having a bad head 3 days?
Thanks to Everyman and Moh.
Peter@11, the pairing this week is GOOD and BAD. Everyman occasionally uses ‘antonym’ word beginnings or endings in place of a rhyming pair. In the past we’ve had Black/White, Hot/Cold, Grand/Little, Ball/Chain, Rock/Roll, Bread/Potatoes, Back/Front etc.
Always in symmetrical grid positions.
I have yet to have any difficulty accessing the Everyman weekly puzzle. I am registered but not paying a subscription.
Tangentially, the printable version has changed in the past few weeks and is now notably harder to read because of a change of font (the clue numbers in the grid being almost illegible). It also ignores printer settings which I configured to save toner.
I really struggled with 8 down. I thought it was renumerate but had the ‘M’ from TEAM. REMUNERATE a new word to me after 60 years! Good to keep learning I guess. Thanks Everyman and Miserableoldhack for the blog.
‘Primarily’ clues are always quick and easy and provide a bit of welcome relief! But I’m not sure DADA at 25A is entirely satisfactory when the meaning of the words leads to Dadaism rather than the one name.
With a bit of perseverance deleting Observer cookies and others that I didn’t recognise, I managed to get today’s to load on about the 5th attempt. No doubt they read these comments so no doubt it won’t work next week. 🙁
Roz @ 9 and others
re the FT puzzles.
If you click on the Financial Times link on this page top left, you go to the FT and can either pull up a PDF version to print out or go to an interactive online version (I do the latter).
Yesterday’s setter was Rosa Klebb – always has great puzzles.
Cara@10 I know quite a few people at work who do the Everyman and this week it was just complaints . We should get another good run soon .
Mincarlo@15 I do know it is REMUNERATE but whenever I use this word my first thought is always renumerate .
Thanks Fiona@18 , I hope people will use your tip , the puzzle yesterday is highly recommended . I have recently upgraded from quills to ballpoint pens so enough progress for now .
I found this one really difficult – brain not on form – but onwards and upwards. I still buy the Observer as a real paper so feel I’m supporting a decent platform for good journalism – and getting the Everyman thrown in, too. I guess I’m old fashioned and rich enough to afford the £4.50/week my subscription costs
I’d happily pay a puzzles only subscription for Everyman. If they are reading this, please consider offering this. Other newspapers do it.
Also thank you @Jay, much appreciated.
Thanks moh, in particular for the parsing of HILLARY which I just bunged in with a shrug. And now I know of one famous cellist. Overall I found this one a bit of a slog, but got there in the end.
I seem to be one of the lucky ones getting free access. I notice that The Observer website has a few contact email address, maybe worth a try for those getting blocked?
Thanks Everyman
Thanks Fiona @18. I always enjoyed the FT crosswords when we got the paper free at work; colleagues in Finance would actually read the contents and not understand the crossword, but with me it was the other way round. I shall now get some pink paper to print them on (for the proper FT experience) and add it to the daily routine.
Regarding this Everyman (which I enjoyed as usual), I’m not entirely sure about the anagram for STEFFI GRAF. I don’t feel the wordplay has done enough to get rid of the oo in foot, to leave us with just ft. Clever definition and surface though.
I liked the single word anagram RATIONALISE as well as SPIN DRY.
Thanks to Everyman and MOH.
Re Roz@9, hoping the Observer continues to print a newspaper:
I went to a public event (with the new owner and others) around the time the paper’s ownership was changing hands last year. They insisted they were committed to continuing to produce the paper (in fact there were hints that if they hadn’t taken it over, it might be at more risk if still owned by the Grauniad). I gather that [print] sales are steady since the change, but they’ve having trouble building up the digital income they need to balance the books. (So maybe it would have been safer if still with the Guardian?)
Re various comments on this one being harder and less enjoyable. I’m puzzled. If I could just sit down and go through it in one go I’d find that boring and UNenjoyable. It’s the _process_ of getting there, not having the answer, which is – for me – the fun of crosswords (and of other puzzles too).
Re problems with online access and cookies. It’s surely good practice to block cookies as much as possible anyway [and, indeed, to block all tracking of access to websites]; or, at the very least, to set your browser to delete all cookies (etc) when you close the browser, if not when you leave a site.
I’ve been enjoying Everyman crosswords for some years and they are always a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon but lately they have been quite difficult. The cluing is more obscure than usual. I don’t mind a bit of a cerebral work-out but give me a break…
A touch harder than usual, but nothing unfair. I liked Remunerate, Tourism, Hillary and Anachronism. Did the Herald skip a week?
Duane @26 yes no 4,145 for us Kiwis, hard to find on this site too as it is shown as 4.145.
4,146 was fine, I enjoyed the bull.
Rather a shame most of the UK commentators spend so much time wailing about accessibility. Why doesn’t someone telephone the paper and get it fixed?
Unlike Duane I thought it was quite a lot harder than usual. The BARS misled me for a long time. I liked GOOD CLEAN FUN. Do they realize that Hillary also went to the South Pole?
The bull could have been a horse too.
We seem to have lost a lot of posters recently.
I was puzzled by the lack of 4145, was last week 4144? Anyway, it is an enjoyable brain workout, thanks to all.
Ok, I’ll post. I found this one good clean fun, although I missed parsing -ar- in Hillary, looking for extremes of going, somehow Hillggy didn’t seem quite right, but guessed it. I thought if the main clue was “adventurer” then that wasn’t the extreme word.
Also just bunged in pump for 2D without thinking it through.
Happy with it though.
Hard for sure with done dubious clueing
Thought Hillary clue a bit weird
Loved bad reception thought that was v clever
Didn’t like clueing for spin dry either
But overall good but tricky
I couldn’t parse 19a so I put AT LEAST which means I didn’t get 12d which would have been my loi. Sad face.
Barrie Everyman is in the NZ Herald newspaper on Saturday
I enjoyed this. A bit harder than the last few but nothing ‘unfair’ or too obscure.
I think The Herald missed 2 puzzles – 4,144 and 4,145. I double checked back and there are no NZ comments on here for those puzzles. 4,145 seemed very familiar to me – I began to think it was a repeat but may just have been a bit of deja vu.