It seems that Everyman is now a solid setter and this is typical of his nice output. Although I am in a little doubt at times there are no weak clues. The usual trademarks are there and indicated by colours in the grid, which has an addition: the long one-word anagram.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ROME |
Starters of rancid octopus given to Everyman in city on the Tiber (4)
|
| r(ancid) o(ctopus) me — Everyman’s self-referential clue | ||
| 3 | ODD NUMBERS |
’19’ is among these unusual songs (3,7)
|
| odd numbers — odd = unusual, numbers = songs — and 19 is an odd number | ||
| 9 | SAGE |
Primarily: Solomon / astute / green / edible? (4)
|
| The first letters clue which always appears — green refers to the colour sage, edible to the fact that you can eat it | ||
| 10 | DAMASK ROSE |
Touring Odessa, Mark makes bloomer (6,4)
|
| *(Odessa Mark) — bloomer as in bloom-er, ie something that blooms | ||
| 12 | TRAVEL GUIDE |
Spooner’s talk of judge’s mallet and what he did in book (6,5)
|
| In Spooner’s language this would be “gavel tried” — gavel = judge’s mallet, tried = what the judge did | ||
| 15 | LEAPT AT |
Eagerly accepted some suitable – apt – attributions (5,2)
|
| Hidden in suitabLE APT ATtributions | ||
| 16 | HIDEOUT |
Den‘s extreme uncertainty declared (7)
|
| “high doubt” | ||
| 17 | NATURAL |
Organic frank (7)
|
| 2 defs | ||
| 19 | CAMPARI |
I criticise Scotsman that’s sent back drink (7)
|
| (I rap Mac)rev. — I = I, rap = criticise, Mac = Scotsman | ||
| 20 | TURN THE TIDE |
How crossword setter can clue last across answer (4,3,4)
|
| I suppose this is a sort of CD — am not quite sure — since the last across answer, 26ac, is EDIT, if you turn round tide you get edit | ||
| 23 | THE BELL JAR |
Sporting beret, lead character in Jerry Hall novel (3,4,3)
|
| *(beret J[erry] Hall) — a novel by Sylvia Plath first published in 1963 | ||
| 24 | UNDO |
Cancel larks before fuss – never starting (4)
|
| [f]un [a]do — fun = larks, ado = fuss | ||
| 25 | BREATHIEST |
One taking a temperature in check on driver sounding most panicked (10)
|
| breath test with one of the t’s replaced by an i — breath test = check on driver | ||
| 26 | EDIT |
Alter order – Conservative storms off (4)
|
| edi[c]t — edict = order, c = Conservative | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RESETTLING |
Finding new place for abandoned letterings (10)
|
| *(letterings) — Everyman’s typical whole-word anagram | ||
| 2 | MAGNA CARTA |
John okayed this lively armagnac, thank you (5,5)
|
| *(armagnac) ta — King John | ||
| 4 | DRAUGHT |
Type of ale that’s not ready for public, you say? (7)
|
| “draft” — a draft isn’t ready for the public — I suppose Everyman omitted the ‘the’ which I used, because of the nod towards a public bar | ||
| 5 | NEARISH |
A little burn – ear is hot – I’m not far away (7)
|
| Hidden in burN EAR IS Hot — I refers to the answer, a convention that we sometimes see in crosswords | ||
| 6 | MAKE ENDS MEET |
Live within budget as you may do when tying the knot (4,4,4)
|
| Nothing to do with getting married, just a statement of what you may do when tying a knot | ||
| 7 | EROS |
Red nose displayed – not Dancer, oddly – Cupid’s counterpart (4)
|
| (re[d] [n]os[e])* — Cupid is the Roman god of love and Eros is his Greek counterpart — the odd letters of Dancer are d, n and e — Everyman is being very ‘correct’ (some would say, anyway; Ximenean certainly) because those letters d, n and e appear in order in ‘Red nose’ | ||
| 8 | SEEP |
Spot penny in drain (4)
|
| see p — see = spot, p = penny — I’m not sure about drain = seep: the meanings overlap but neither Collins nor Chambers seems to support it | ||
| 11 | BEAT A RETREAT |
Fled, exhausted by Australian yoga venue? (4,1,7)
|
| beat A retreat — beat = exhausted, A = Australian, retreat = yoga venue (I suppose you could go to a retreat to practise yoga, but this seems odd and maybe I’m not aware of the right sense of retreat) | ||
| 13 | NON-ALIGNED |
Neutral one landing in trouble (3-7)
|
| (one landing)* | ||
| 14 | STRIKES OUT |
Gets rid of source of scooters – vehicles banned! (7,3)
|
| s[cooters] trikes out — trikes = vehicles, out = banned | ||
| 18 | LORELEI |
Look – Lake Erie – staggering figure on rocks (7)
|
| lo (L Erei)* — lo = look — in German legend, a siren of the Rhine | ||
| 19 | CUTLASS |
Do miss sword (7)
|
| cut lass — cut = do (off the top of my head I can’t see how; no doubt it’s there in the dictionaries (although a quick look at Chambers and Collins turns nothing up); but I can’t think of two sentences where cut and do are interchangeable), lass = miss | ||
| 21 | STAB |
Small price for drinks – that’s a guess (4)
|
| s tab — s = small, tab = price for drinks (? — often drinks, but generally a bill) | ||
| 22 | MEME |
Committee member recalled enthralling viral content (4)
|
| Reverse hidden in committeE MEMber |
19d: I thought haircut/hairdo.
Thanks Everyman for a typically satisfying puzzle and John for your blog.