The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3704.
Another Everyman, reliable as ever.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PICK UP | Learn from rally (4,2) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | FUSSPOT | Worrier following American spy (7) |
| A charade of F (‘following’) plus US (‘American’) plus SPOT (‘spy’). | ||
| 9 | ASP | Snake in role of tempter, centrally (3) |
| A charade of AS (‘in role of’) plus P (‘temPter, centrally’). | ||
| 10 | CHANDELIERS | New shop in frantic search for light fixtures (11) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of n (‘new’) plus DELI (‘shop’) in CHAERS, an anagram (‘frantic’) of ‘search’. | ||
| 11 | TRIUMPHS | Succeeds in turning quiet after stumble involving hesitation (8) |
| An envelope (‘involving’) of UM (‘hesitation’) in TRIP (‘stumble’) plus HS, a reversal (‘turning’) of SH! (‘quiet!’). | ||
| 12 | SCHEME | Plan about border in south-east (6) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of C (circa, ‘about’) plus HEM (‘border’) in SE (‘south-east). | ||
| 13 | SEVILLE ORANGE | Fruit, small and bad, in front of sign with assortment (7,6) |
| A charade of S (‘small’) plus EVIL (‘bad’) plus LEO (‘sign’ of the zodiac) plus RANGE (‘assortment’), for the bitter orange which is the basis of any orange marmalade worthy of the name (actually I have had a passable marmalade made from calamondin oranges). | ||
| 17 | TIM BERNERS-LEE | Beam serenely, foolishly ignoring unknown computer scientist (3,7-3) |
| A charade of TIMBER (‘beam’) plus NERSLEE, an anagram (‘foolishly’) of ‘serenel[y]’ minus the Y (‘ignoring unknown’), for the inventor of the World Wide Web. | ||
| 19 | PLIANT | Flexible part broken by turning spike (6) |
| An envelope (‘broken by’) of LIAN, a reversal (‘turning’) of NAIL (‘spike’) in PT (‘part’). | ||
| 20 | PRODIGAL | Extravagant friend, entertaining one, good behind bar (8) |
| An envelope (‘entertaining’) of ROD (‘bar’) plus I (‘one’) plus G (‘good’), with ‘behind’ indicating the order of the particles, in PAL (‘friend’). | ||
| 23 | COLLABORATE | Join forces and pass law endlessly awkward to bear (11) |
| A charade of COL (mountain ‘pass’) plus ‘la[w]’ minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) plus BORATE, an anagram (‘awkward’) of ‘to bear’. | ||
| 24 | MOA | Second area for extinct bird (3) |
| A charade of MO (short for moment, ‘second’) plus A (‘area’). | ||
| 25 | DECAYED | Rotten, stained clothing repelled expert (7) |
| An envelope (‘clothing’) of ECA, a reversal (‘repelled’) of ACE (‘expert’), in DYED (‘stained’). | ||
| 26 | ESCAPE | Get away from edge of fire grate, right away (6) |
| A charade of E (‘edge of firE‘) plus SC[r]APE (‘grate’) minus the R (‘right away’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PRACTISE | Run through court, interrupting worship (8) |
| An envelope (‘interrupting’) of CT (‘court’) in PRAISE (‘worship’). | ||
| 2 | CAPRI | Island that’s cold over most of month (5) |
| A charade of C (‘cold’) plus (‘over’ in a down light) APRI[l] (‘month’) minus its last letter (‘most of’). | ||
| 3 | UNCOMPLIMENTARY | Disparaging inept army column in disarray (15) |
| An anagram (‘in disarray’) of ‘inept army column’. | ||
| 4 | FADE | Enthusiasm and energy decline (4) |
| A charade of FAD (‘enthusiasm’) plus E (‘energy’) | ||
| 5 | SELF-CENTREDNESS | Sign of embarrassment after track about pixie with narcissism (4-11) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of ELF (‘pixie’) in SCENT (‘track’) plus REDNESS (‘sign of embarrassment’). | ||
| 6 | PIECEMEAL | Little by little, sound of silence spread (9) |
| A charade of PIECE, a homophone (‘sound of’) of PEACE (‘silence’) plus MEAL (‘spread’). | ||
| 7 | TASTER | Sample varied treats (6) |
| An anagram (‘varied’) of ‘treats’. | ||
| 8 | CASHMERE | Material change? Simple (8) |
| A charade of CASH (‘change’) plus MERE (‘simple’). | ||
| 14 | VITRIOLIC | Acrimonious against one group of three left in charge (9) |
| A charade of V (versus, ‘against’) plus I (‘one’) plus TRIO (‘group of three’ or triad or triumvirate or …) plus L (‘left’) plus I/C (‘in charge’). | ||
| 15 | RING ROAD | Organ played in clear way around town (4,4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of NGROA, an anagram (‘played’) of ‘organ’ in RID (‘clear’, verb). | ||
| 16 | TELLTALE | Revealing lines in a letter, sadly, Romeo erased (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of LL (‘lines’) in TETALE, an anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘a lette[r]’ minus the R (‘Romeo erased’). | ||
| 18 | SPICED | United, apart from learner, seasoned (6) |
| A subtraction; SP[l]ICED (‘united’) minus the L (‘apart from learner’). | ||
| 21 | GAMMA | Letter in scam magician set up (5) |
| A hidden (‘in’) reversed (‘set up’ in a down light) answer in ‘scAM MAGician’. | ||
| 22 | HOOD | Covering for head gangster (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
Up to Everyman’s expected high standard. Faves were CASHMERE and especially RING ROAD.
Thanks to E & PO.
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
A pleasant puzzle, but I stupidly took a long time to get FADE. My favourite clues for their surfaces were those for CHANDELIERS, SCHEME, ESCAPE and PRACTISE.
I wonder if Everyman has broken his record for a multi-part clue with that for VITRIOLIC? Ah, just checked, his clue for BUTTERFLY STROKE last December also had 5 parts, but it was a longer answer…
A little trickier than par for Everyman? The Computer Scientist was quite obscure (and that’s my field as well), and I struggled at the close on 8d and 16d.
Jon-S @3, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while working at CERN – he is hardly obscure, but my garden is over the Large Hadron Collider, and one of the points is at the end of our field, so I was bound to have heard of him…
Enjoyable tussle, I’ve not heard of the www spinner but got it through crossers and anagram fodder.
I would enumerate tell-tale thus, i.e. 4-4 so that clue took longer than it probably should.
Also spiced and pliant took a little while, but some nice clues here, 23 and 25 had nice WP.
I thought Cashmere was genius
But I am struggling to understand why Spliced means united. Isnt it the opposite or am I doubling my negatives too often.
or is that a throwback when you would splice a cassette tape. Maybe.
Other favourites were 1D – kept me guessing till nearly the end.
vanessa @6
I do not know the meaning of spliced as separated, but as joined, it goes back a lot further than tape recorders. The principal meaning I know is primarily nautical: the joining (or rejoining) of ropes by interweaving their strands. To get back to date, to get spliced is to be married.
I found this quite difficult and it took me a while. Had to look up the scientist as I’d never heard of him either. Liked some of these clues though. e.g. Piece meal. Last in was 16 D.
Ah, the rain at Piha falls endlessly. Crossword done, not too hard this week, although had to search memory deeply to recall Tim BL’s name.
Liked “cashmere” and “vitriolic”.
On to Kropitkin given the incessant rain.
Haven’t commented for a while as I have had nothing useful to add to the comments already made! This week is no different really, but I must admit I struggled this week and got a DNF! Much like Fabian Coulthard in the first V8 race of the weekend, mind you I didn’t end up upside down!
I sympathize with Pluvial at Piha, the rain must stop soon, surely?
I was nursing a nasty cold over the weekend but still managed to get all bar 6 in one sitting. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance until this morning to nut the remainder out and good ones they were too! SEVILLE ORANGE, RING ROAD, CASHMERE and PIECEMEAL were the last ones in.
I’m not just in time for this weekend’s crossie 🙂