The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3804.
A couple of quiblets, but essentially the ship sails serenely on, including the related pair of long answers top and bottom.
| Across | ||
| 1 | QUEEN OF HEARTS | Here, fan quotes wild card (5,2,6) |
| An anagram (‘wild’) of ‘here fan quotes’. | ||
| 8 | TALC | Antenatal class includes what you might find in nappy (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘includes’) in ‘antenaTAL Class’. | ||
| 9 | WHISPERING | Hard to get broadband firm? We call around, maintaining calm voice (10) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of H (‘hard’) plus ISP (Internet Service Provider, ‘broadband firm’) in ‘we’ plus RING (‘call’). | ||
| 10 | AT ONCE | Having ingested cocaine, apologise immediately (2,4) |
| An envelope (‘having ingested’) of C (‘cocaine’) in ATONE (‘apologise’ – not the best definition). | ||
| 11 | BUST A GUT | Coach, before game with United: ‘Time to go all out‘ (4,1,3) |
| A charade of BUS (‘coach’) plus TAG (‘game’) plus U (‘united’) plus T (‘time’). | ||
| 12 | FREEZE-DRY | Preserve architectural band declared ‘uninteresting’ (6-3) |
| A charasde of FREEZE, sounding like (‘declared’) FRIEZE (‘architectural band’) plus DRY (‘uninteresting’). | ||
| 14 | LION | For starters, lynx!? I ordered no big cat (4) |
| First letters (‘for starters’) of ‘Lynx!? I Ordered No’. | ||
| 15 | COWS | We take milk from these birds? Not right (4) |
| A subtraction: C[r]OWS (‘birds’) minus the R (‘not right’). | ||
| 16 | VIDEO GAME | What’s overthrown aged movie? (5,4) |
| An anagram (‘overthrown’) of ‘aged movie’, with an extended definition. | ||
| 20 | DISRAELI | PM ordered airfields to keep out France (8) |
| An anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘air[f]ields’ minus the F (‘to keep out France’). | ||
| 21 | TARZAN | Movie star, zany – sides splitting (6) |
| A hidden answer (‘sides splitting’ – i.e. with outer letters departing) in ‘sTAR ZANy’. | ||
| 23 | MODIFIABLE | Indian PM with tale about one with potential to change (10) |
| A charade of MODI (Narendra Damodardas, ‘Indian PM’) plus FIABLE, an envelope (‘about’) of I (‘one’) in FABLE (‘tale’) | ||
| 24 | TOWN | Nowt up in Ilkley, say (4) |
| An anagram (‘up’ – more commonly used as a reversal indicator in a down light, but acceptable as in “because of a burst main, the road is up”) of ‘nowt’ | ||
| 25 | KING OF THE ROAD | ‘Her Kind of Goat’, unusual number-one song (4,2,3,4) |
| An anagram (‘unusual’) of ‘her kind of goat’, for the song by Roger Miller. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | QUARTER | Coin a term for ‘dismember’ (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 2 | EX-CON | Former Tory, such as Jeffrey Archer (2-3) |
| Double definition (although they roll together). | ||
| 3 | NOWHERE | ‘Present.’ ‘Present.’ ‘Absent?’ (7) |
| A charade of NOW (‘present’ the first) plus HERE (‘present’ the second). | ||
| 4 | FLIBBERTIGIBBET | Flighty one, tale-teller describing law-breaker’s head that is initially displayed on gallows (15) |
| A charade of FLIBBBER, an envelope (‘describing’) of L (‘Law-breaker’s head’) in FIBBER (‘tale-teller’) plus TI (‘That Is initially’) plus (‘displayed on’) GIBBET (‘gallows’). | ||
| 5 | EXPOSÉ | Separating Earl and model kiss: it’s a scandal (6) |
| An envelope (‘separating’) of X (‘kiss’) in E (‘Earl’) plus POSE (‘model’). The answer needs the acute accent on the final E. | ||
| 6 | REREADING | Once more, leafing through ‘Drunken Grenadier’ (9) |
| An anagram (‘drunken’) of ‘grenadier’. I would hyphenate the answer. | ||
| 7 | SUNBURN | Tenderness where miserable nun rubs (7) |
| An anagram (‘miserable’) of ‘nun rubs’. | ||
| 13 | EDWARDIAN | Fellow lost, scour far and wide for an age (9) |
| An anagram (‘scour’ – not the most obvious anagrind, but I have seen worse. Far worse.) of ‘[f]ar and wide’ minus the F (‘fellow lost’). | ||
| 15 | CHINOOK | Two ducks enter crack in helicopter (7) |
| An envelope (‘enter’) of OO (zeros, ‘two ducks’) in CHINK (‘crack’). Made by Boeing. | ||
| 17 | EXTREME | Rambling around Exeter, topless Everyman: it’s the limit (7) |
| A charade of EXTRE, an anagram (‘rambling around’) of ‘[E]xeter’ minus it first letter (‘topless’); plus ME (‘Everyman’ as the writer of the clue). | ||
| 18 | MIAOWED | Sounded like Tabby, maid swooning with woe (7) |
| An anagram (‘swooning’) of ‘maid’ plus ‘woe’. | ||
| 19 | DE NIRO | Movie star fan ignored – not good (2,4) |
| An anagram (‘fan’) of ‘i[g]nored’ minus the G (‘not good’). | ||
| 22 | RETRO | Old-school tie at first overshadowed by sombrero? Not half (5) |
| An envelope (‘overshadowed by’) of T (‘Tie at first’) in ‘[somb]rero’ minus the first four letters (‘not half’). | ||
I liked VIDEO GAME, with its extended definition. TALC wasn’t what I was expecting to find in a nappy so it took me a bit longer to see that. Loved the clue for QUARTER.
Present. Present. Absent is possibly an oldie for NOWHERE, but Everyman’s playfulness is a delight.
And ‘Tenderness where miserable nun rubs’ made me laugh, although not the memories of some childhood sunburn experiences in Queensland which nearly landed me in hospital. It’s the Celtic skin. You see it at the cricket out here. 15 minutes to beetroot. Cricket? Did someone mention cricket? 🙂
I am starting to enjoy Everyman as he (?) has settled to a slightly quirky style which always raises the odd smile. I certainly look forward to them more than I did a month or so back. I had to look up the spelling of the cat noise for this one although the clue was clear. It was me that wasn’t.
Cricket! Doesn’t start out here until 9:30 at night so I do not see much and all the interesting bits seem to take place after I go to bed. No chance of 7d watching this series.
A very enjoyable puzzle. I really liked the already mentioned 8a TALC and 16a VIDEO GAME. And the surface for 25a was hilarious.
Is it just me or is there another layer of meaning, and hint of naughtiness, at 15a? A four-letter word, “We take milk from these birds” – can it be… – oh hang on a sec, “not right”. Very clever!
Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Very enjoyable puzzle to solve. My favourites were BUST A GUT, FLIBBERTIGIBBET, REREADING, FREEZE-DRY, EDWARDIAN, MODIFIABLE.
Thank you Everyman and Peter.
Not quite at the enjoyable stage yet…… Hope it will come. Still not completely a happy bunny, too many loose definitions.
I wouldn’t call a whisper a calm voice necessarily.
All else good, thanks Peter O and Everyman.
Foolishly I put BUST A NUT for 11ac & never looked at it again when I couldn’t find the game. Good puzzle all round though a bit quicker than most. Thanks Everyman & PeterO
Quite liked this one, though I didn’t manage to finish it all. Liked King of the Road, ex-con, nowhere, miaowed ( though I had to check the spelling for this).
Good puzzle. LOI was “retro”. Also struggled with “freeze-dry”. Using “whispering” to mean “maintaining calm voice” is definitely misleading (unfair).
Thanks to Everyman and to Peter O.