Everyman 3,812

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3812.

Everyman seemingly on a new tack; I thought it distinctly harder than previous offerings, and I see no trace of the linked answers which have been his trademark. Then there is 4D, which surely can only be solved from the crossers. To justify it, I would say that it should be treated as a joke, probably to be filled in as the last entry (I cottoned on more quickly than I might have otherwise, because I had just made a Tarte Tatin), and the crossers are fairly distinctive. I hope you found it a light-hearted ending to the solve, but I suspect that is not how some will see it.

ACROSS
1 THUMBS UP Tom’s family are revolting? Yes (6-2)
Definition and literal interpretation.
5 MOTORS Moves quickly around but finally stops boat moving (6)
An envelope (‘around’) of T (‘buT finally’) in MOORS (‘stops boat moving’).
10 USELESS To reduce consumption is futile (7)
USE LESS
11 ADOPTEE One taken in by amateurish demo tape, wasting millions (7)
An anagram (‘amateurish’) of ‘de[m]o tape’ minus the M (‘wasting millions’).
12 ADDED Attached and confused when left out (5)
A subtraction: ADD[l]ED (‘confused’) minus the L (‘when left out’).
13 DEEP-FRIED Sickly dip feeder’s unhealthily prepared (4-5)
An anagram (‘sickly’) of ‘dip feeder’.
14 GOOD HUMOURED Happy dog given ball rolled over, getting indulged (4-8)
A charade of GOOD, a reversal (‘rolled over’) of DOOG, an envelope (‘given’) of O (‘ball’) in ‘dog’; plus HUMOURED (‘indulged’).
18 SWALLOWTAILS Readily accept stories: ‘Caught butterflies’ (12)
A charade of SWALLOW (‘readily accept’) plus TAILS, sounding like (‘caught’) TALES (‘stories’).
21 AMINO ACID Dictator’s goal, essentially: police force is something essential in life (5,4)
A charade of AMIN (Idi, ‘dictator’) plus OA (‘gOAl essentially’) plus CID (‘police force’).
23 BRAVO I like this codeword (5)
Double definition, the second being a reference to the radio code for B.
24 SEASICK Surrounded by the blue and green? (7)
Cryptic definition.
25 OARSMEN Ransome represented people in boats (7)
An anagram (‘re-presented’) of ‘Ramsome’.
26 NEEDN’T Mustn’t take heart of intended then mess about (6)
An anagram (‘mess about’) of NTENDE (‘heart of iNTENDEd’). ‘heart’ is somewhat elastic, and the definition is questionable, though perhaps more as a difference of emphasis than meaning.
27 ON MY WORD Silly money Europe spent on Microsoft software: honestly! (2,2,4)
A charade of ON MY, an anagram (‘silly’) of ‘mon[e]y’ minus the E (‘Europe spent’, with the usual complaint that E stands for European, not Europe) plus WORD (‘Microsoft software’).
DOWN
1 TRUMAN President sounds like sincere guy (6)
‘Sounds like’ TRUE MAN (‘sincere guy’).
2 U-BENDS Where half of grub finishes up? (1-5)
A charade of UB (‘half of grUB‘) plus ENDS (‘finishes up’), with an extended definition.
3 BREAD ROLL Something waiter offers might be found in old barrel (5,4)
An anagram (‘might be found in’. Everyman’s creative anagrinds, again) of ‘old barrel’.
4 UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE Nub? (6-4,4)
‘Nub’ UPSIDE-DOWN is bun (CAKE).
6 ON-OFF Rock star’s partner, very loud and unreliable (2-3)
A charade of ONO (Yoko, John Lennon’s wife, ‘rock star’s partner’) plus FF (fortissimo, musically ‘very loud’).
7 OUTLIERS Reforming constitution of our islet reveals anomalies (8)
An anagram (”reforming constitution of’) of ‘our islet’. The geological sense of the answer is perhaps the closest to ‘anomalies’.
8 STEPDADS Relatives died after being taken in by aerobics commercials (8)
An envelope (‘after being taken in by’) of D (‘died’) in STEP ADS (‘aerobics commercials’?). Altogether not the happiest clue.
9 PACED UP AND DOWN Betrayed anxiety seeing step taken by unionists with part of NI (5,2,3,4)
A charade of PACE (‘step’) plus DUP (Democratic Unionist Party, ‘unionists’) plus DOWN (County, ‘part of NI’).
15 ON LIBERTY Philosophical work just squeezing in movement of tribe (2,7)
An envelope (‘squeezing in’) of IBERT, an anagram (‘movement’) of ‘tribe’ in ONLY (‘just’). On Liberty is an essay by the philosopher John Stuart Mill.
16 ASSASSIN One with contract taking pair of idiots in (8)
A charade of ASS ASS (‘pair of idiots’) plus ‘in’.
17 SALIVATE Laxative’s working? Don’t get cross: it’s drivel (8)
An anagram (‘working’) of ‘la[x]ative’s’ minus the X (‘don’t get cross’).
19 WARM TO Become more enthusiastic about motion, oddly, following open hostility (4,2)
A charade of WAR (‘open hostility’) plus MTO (‘MoTiOn oddly’).
20 HORNED With sharp points, tip removed, still with sharp points (6)
[t]HORNED (‘with sharp points’, first time around) minus its first letter (‘tip removed’).
22 ORION Orpington vacantly hosting carnival centre presenting seven notable stars (5)
An envelope (‘hosting’) of RIO (de Janiero, ‘carnival centre’) in ON (‘OrpingtoN vacantly’). The constellation of Orion has many stars, but the brightest and most recognizable form the shoulders and legs (two apiece) and the belt (three).

 

image of grid

25 comments on “Everyman 3,812”

  1. Thank you for the deciphering PeterO. I also noted the linking lack and, after getting 1a, confidently went looking for a DOWN across the bottom. Turned out it was in 9d instead.

    This seems to no longer be a pleasant after lunch exercise and I had to return to it later. My big problem turned out to 26a, which I just could not see. When I did get it I was still not convinced. Then again, my problems with apostrophes have been mentioned before.

    I did find a theme of the antonyms of my feelings towards the crossword though – 1a, 23a, 17d, 19d. I thought of adding 14a too but I did smile at 4d.

  2. Thanks. The linked answers were 9D and 4D – thats how I eventually deciphered 4D. I wasnt convinced by the synonym in 26A; “mustn’t” is an order whereas “needn’t” is voluntary. I too found this harder than usual and not much fun (though the “nub” reminded me of the famous “gsge?” [9,4] for scrambled eggs.

     

  3. Thanks to Everyman and PeterO! I must say I really enjoyed this crossword, and I thought that 4D was a great clue. Sure, I also needed a number of crossers before I got the anwer, but when the penny dropped, it was a moment of great joy. I don’t see it as a problem if I need some crossers before being able to find the answer: If every clue could be solved without having any crossers, we wouldn’t need a grid and could be presented with just a list of clues instead. I really like it when a clue such as “Nub?” is a big mystery when I start to solve the crossword, and after a while there are enough crossers so that the answer, and the intended parsing of the clue, reveal themselves.

  4. It took me till yesterday to finally finish this puzzle with NEEDNT being my last one in. I found it a struggle and for a change not particularly enjoyable.
    I got Nub quite early on and didn’t mind it apart from its inaccuracy. Reading a word from right to left is not the same as being upside-down. If there
    was such a thing then “backwards cake” should have been the answer. As Peter says, maybe it was just a fun clue.
    Thanks to Peter and Everyman.

  5. I think my favourite was 1a.  Last week we had the Twists (Oliver’s family) and this week the Thumbs (Tom’s family).  Very good.

    4d is one of those occasional quirky clues where the answer seems like the clue and vice versa.

    Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  6. I had no particular issue with 4D, and indeed got it quite early on (possibly without any crossers, I can’t remember). I agree with previous comments on NEEDNT and STEPDADS being a little iffy, although both were straightforward enough once you’d a few crossers. 14A was lovely and very satisfying when I finally got it; 18A was one of those ones where I simply lack the knowledge and therefore don’t enjoy – the clue was fairly kind, but I had to google SWALLOWTAILS to check it was indeed a butterfly species. THORNED was by some way the last I got, it took my return from the pub on Sunday night for it to fall into place.

  7. Thank you Everyman and PeterO.

    Rather fun, especially the clue for UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE, one of my last in – I do not have a problem with it, as does Davy @4, since I visualise the word NUB in the 4d column since that is where the answer is to go.

  8. Rather tricky, unlike recent puzzles which seemed to have settled into a sort-of Everymanish vibe. I’ve seen variants on 4d before so it went in quickly, and raised a smile. Overall though not what I’m looking for on a Sunday.

  9. Yes, this seemed to be more difficult than usual but largely OK. I’m not a great fan of the many compounds and phrases that Everyman seems to use.

    A few quibbles: 5A Yoda-speak was; I don’t think the ‘up’ in 2D was needed; drivel = dribble, that I don’t think is the same as SALIVATE.

    I did particularly like the clue for SEASICK.

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  10. 1a from me; I can sympathise with most of the grumbles above, but I have to say that (as a keen baker) I rather liked 4d, and the enumeration is helpful.

    There’s a reference / extended definition in 25a that nobody seems to have commented on: Arthur Ransome was the author of the Swallows and Amazons series of books, which are (mostly) about children having adventures in sailing boats. Perhaps the homophone in 18a, “Swallow tales”, has something to do with this too?

  11. Quirster#10 The Ransome link was discussed on the Arthur Ransome Facebook page. I made the puzzle harder for myself by writing in ‘tales’ to start myself off on 18A and failing to correct it. Mostly, tough but fair but I persuaded myself that 20D was ‘spined, making it impossible to arrive at ‘bravo’ and today I see that my ‘seapink’ for 24A was wrong, both sort of plausible?

  12. I definitely found this more difficult than the usual Everyman: I was stuck in the SW for what seemed like ages.LOIs: 17d, 26a — not sure in which order.

    I thoroughly enjoyed 4d. Yes, it’d be difficult to get without some crossers, but not impossible, I think, given the unusual enumeration. I did need some, but not all, crossers before the penny dropped, and I found that moment to be very satisfying. In any case, I’m firmly in the camp that thinks it’s fine for some clues in a puzzle to need the crossers, for the reason given by majortom @3, although I know others disagree.

    It’s rare for a cryptic definition to be among my favorite clues, but I enjoyed 24a (SEASICK) greatly.

     

  13. I actually found this quite satisfying. I completed it more quickly than many recent puzzles, putting that down to my getting used to the new Everyman’s style, and got 4d quite early on. I agree some clues were a bit ‘loose’ but there were none I couldn’t parse in the end.

  14. I agree with Majortom@3 and Ted@12 about clues requiring some crossers – they’re called crosswords, aren’t they?

    I loved 4d, and cosmic’s scrambled gsge reminded me of the most efficient clue ever – “E” (13).

    Thanks Everyman and PeterO for a pleasant Sunday afternoon.

  16. cellomaniac@14:  I’ll bite. What’s the answer to that one?

    I enjoyed the Everyman a great deal; I haven’t done one before so can’t comment on the difficulty.  Favourites were 21a (amino acid — so nicely defined as “something essential in life”) and 11a (adoptee — anagram indicator “amateurish” fitting really nicely into the surface).

  17. cellomaniac@14: given that there is not enough information to solve the E[13] clue uniquely are we to assume this clue’s senselessness implies the answer is indeed “sense” less “ness” = E?

     

     

  18. I’ve been doing this crossword puzzle since 1960, or thereabouts, so you can’t say I’m slow to accept change, but I’ve had enough of this bloke. The fact that any mention of that talentless twit Yoko Ono in a clue is bound to put my back up, but this crossword used to be a pleasant and sometimes baffling exercise. Now I find it smart-arse, to use a phrase that probably betrays my age. To put it more politely, I find the new setter infelicitous. Others may be blunter.

  19. Isn’t 4D lacking a definition? (which was the main objection to the scrambled egg clue as I recall).

    Otherwise I liked this, 24A was good.

  20. total fail for me this one

    explanations pls anyone

    in 18 ac how does ‘caught’ represent sounds like?

    1 ac  – also don’t get the relationship between thumbs up and revolting ?

  21. Vanessa, caught as in ‘I didn’t catch your name’ I.e. caught = heard
    Revolting as in the peasants are revolting, there is a revolt, they are up in arms. So up = revolting

  22. Found this *very* tough; had to use wildcard dictionaries a lot.  Could not parse (and was unsure of) “motors” ( 5 across).

    Loved 4 down (“upside-down cake”) once I got it — which took quite a while.

    I found 8 down (“stepdads”) to be very weak.

    Thanks to Peter O for the explanations.

    P. S. Yardsdale@14:  The answer to cellomaniac’s’ “(14, four words)” is something like “hasn’t got a clue” or “doesn’t have a clue”.  But these are 13 and 15 letters respectively — if you don’t count the apostrophes.

    If you *do* count the apostrophes then “hasn’t got a clue” is 14 “letters”, so maybe that’s it.

     

  23. I really enjoyed this one and found it far simpler than the two previous outings. I agree with others about 8d and 26a. It was kind of Everyman to gift us 1a after last week’s Twists and turns – an early win certainly helps. Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

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