A fairly straightforward Everyman this week.
As we’ve come to expect, there are lots of anagrams and anagram indicators, a few slightly contrived definitions, and punctuation that’s put there to hinder rather than help. All fair enough. There are a couple of places where an editor should have done some tidying up: the repeated device in 9a and 10a, and the spelling error in 25a.
And of course we have a matched pair of entries in 1d and 8d. One each from Cambridge and Oxford, to avoid any suggestion of bias, and both very clever anagrams in different ways.
Thanks Everyman as always.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SAFE AND SOUND | Out of harm’s way, a sodden faun’s given treatment (4,3,5) |
| Anagram (given treatment) of A SODDEN FAUN’S. | ||
| 9 | EMENDED | Demented broadcast with no time to be edited (7) |
| Anagram (broadcast = scattered) of DEMEN[t]ED, with the T (time) removed. I think I’ve seen EMEND in various forms quite a lot in recent crosswords, including an Everyman earlier this year; it means much the same as AMEND. |
||
| 10 | DA VINCI | Having no time or energy, distractedly vindicate historical figure (2,5) |
| Anagram (distractedly) of VINDICA[te], with T (time) and E (energy) removed. It’s a shame that “no time” means the same thing in two successive clues; I can’t help thinking Everyman could have done something different either here or in 9a. | ||
| 11 | HOP IN | Endlessly desiring friendly words from driver (3,2) |
| HOPING (desiring), without the last letter (endlessly). Hop in! = invitation from a vehicle driver offering a lift. |
||
| 12 | HARRUMPH | In retrospect, ‘sound of approval’ politician claimed? It’s a sound of disapproval (8) |
| HURRAH (sound of approval), reversed (in retrospect = looking backwards), with MP (politician) inserted (claimed). Harrumph = a grunt of disapproval. |
||
| 14 | NUT CUTLETS | Head hurt? Let’s get together some food (3,7) |
| NUT (slang for head) + CUT (injured = hurt) + LET’S. Vegetarian food, containing nuts and made into shapes resembling cutlets of meat. I can’t remember seeing them much recently; I think they’re from a few decades ago, when vegetarianism was less common and pre-prepared options were a bit unimaginative. |
||
| 15 | SLUR | Primarily, smear, libel, undo reputations? (4) |
| Initial letters (primarily) of Smear Libel Undo Reputations. &lit (clue-as-definition): slur = smear = libel = to say something that damages another’s reputation. |
||
| 17 | ARCH | Anarchist, to some extent, is mischievous (4) |
| Hidden answer (to some extent = only partly) in [an]ARCH[ist]. Arch (adjective) = mischievous or cunning. |
||
| 19 | AS ARRANGED | In line with plan, a second place in Scotland revoked degree (2,8) |
| A S (second) + ARRAN (the Isle of Arran, in Scotland) + DEG (short for degree) reversed (revoked). | ||
| 21 | KATMANDU | Delivered by Spooner, rug prepared in old Asian capital (8) |
| MAT (rug) + CAN DO (prepared = ready and willing), pronounced as a Spoonerism so sounding like CAT MAN DO. An old English-language spelling of the capital city of Nepal, now usually written Kathmandu. |
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| 23 | STRAW | Fast-food freebie recalled, growths found on skin (5) |
| WARTS (skin growths), reversed (recalled). In full: drinking straw, often included with take-away cold drinks. The argument continues between those who object to throwaway plastic straws and those who say paper straws aren’t up to the task. The argument also continues between crossword solvers as to whether “A reversal-indicator B” is a fair clue construction, because it requires one or more crossers to work out which way round the answer goes. I think it’s fine, but not everyone agrees. |
||
| 25 | NAIROBI | Perhaps McKellan’s comeback: singer contracted in safari destination (7) |
| Reversal (comeback) of IAN (perhaps the actor Ian McKellen, though either Everyman or the Guardian website has got the spelling wrong) + ROBI[n] (singer = bird; contracted = last letter removed). | ||
| 26 | LORELEI | Charmer is lovelier, not very unreliable (7) |
| Anagram (unreliable) of LO[v]ELIER, without the V (very). Charmer = siren = mythological female character who sings to lure sailors towards dangerous rocks. Specifically, the one said to inhabit a rock in the River Rhine known as the Lorelei. |
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| 27 | IT’S EARLY DAYS | Sat idly, years wasted: there’s still time! (3,5,4) |
| Anagram (wasted) of SAT IDLY YEARS. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STEPHEN HAWKING | Eminent scientist makes you think when page’s turned (7,7) |
| Anagram (turned) of THINK WHEN PAGE’S. Extended definition: Stephen Hawking, scientist and author. |
||
| 2 | FLEAPIT | Pale, shuddering, overcome by convulsion in infested locale (7) |
| Anagram (shuddering) of PALE, contained in (overcome by) FIT (convulsion). | ||
| 3 | ADDENDUM | PS: Tipsy dad and mummy regularly hugging, close (8) |
| Anagram (tipsy) of DAD + alternate letters (regularly) of [m]U[m]M[y], containing (hugging) END (close, as in close of play). PS = postscript = addendum = something added to the end of a document. |
||
| 4 | DODO | Dead bird komodo dragon’s eaten, brought up (4) |
| Hidden answer (… has eaten), reversed (brought up, in a down clue), in [kom]ODO D[ragon]. | ||
| 5 | OLD MASTERS | Art’s models represented by these! (3,7) |
| Anagram (re-presented) of ART’S MODELS. Extended definition: Old Master = an accomplished painter working in Europe before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. |
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| 6 | NEVER | Nebuchadnezzar, extremely welcoming Old Testament figure? In no degree! (5) |
| First and last letters (extremely) of N[ebuchadnezza]R, containing (welcoming) EVE (Old Testament figure). | ||
| 7 | ANIMAL | ‘Everyman’s superseded’: note in chronicle that’s brutal (6) |
| ANNAL (chronicle), with I’M (Everyman’s) superseding (replacing) the second N (note). | ||
| 8 | RICHARD DAWKINS | Scientist Darwin gets in a muddle with dishrack (7,7) |
| Anagram (in a muddle) of DARWIN and DISHRACK. Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist, though I don’t think I’ll ever see him in quite the same light again after this anagram. |
||
| 13 | FLASH DRIVE | Instant urge to get IT gismo (5,5) |
| FLASH (instant, as in “in a flash”) + DRIVE (urge). A portable re-writable computer memory device, such as a USB drive or data card. |
||
| 16 | DAD’S ARMY | Show’s host appears after 500 commercials (4,4) |
| ARMY (host) after D (Roman numeral 500) + ADS (advertisements = commercials). The BBC TV sitcom Dad’s Army. |
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| 18 | CAT-SIT | Perhaps to keep a Persian in attic’s wrong (3-3) |
| Anagram (wrong) of ATTIC’S. Persian = a breed of cat; cat-sit = to look after someone else’s cat(s), by analogy with “baby-sit”. |
||
| 20 | GORILLA | On the radio, an insurgent ape (7) |
| Homophone (on the radio) of GUERRILLA (an insurgent). | ||
| 22 | AFOOT | Ampere: unit giving current (5) |
| A (abbreviation for Ampere, which is indeed a unit of electrical current) + FOOT (unit, of length in imperial measurements). Afoot = current = happening now, as in “trouble’s afoot”. |
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| 24 | BLUR | Band’s promotional material is abridged (4) |
| BLURB (promotional description, for example on the back cover of a book), abridged (shortened = last letter removed). Blur, Britpop / rock band. |
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First to comment? – I’m usually a few days behind.
I liked the science anagrams, and HARRUMPH raised a chuckle. AS ARRANGED was pleasing also, as the Scottish isle makes me think single malt, and warms me up.
Thanks, Everyman and quirister for the fun.
Is there another theme going on alongside the paired scientists? As well as animal itself, flea pit and cat-sit are on top of one another, and there is a dodo and a gorilla for good measure.
An enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked the surface of the STEPHEN HAWKING clue, and the very appropriate anagram at 5d OLD MASTERS.
Angela Rippon would not have agreed that “guerrilla” is pronounced like GORILLA!
Many thanks Everyman and Quirister.
After every Liverpool game, ThisIsAnfield has a column called The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, and I feel this could apply to each Everyman offering. As well as the mispelt McKellen, the double use of t for time, there were 2 runners, 11 anagrams (including one indicated by “distractedly”! and 2 subtractive anagrams), 7 overly easy clues, including the old chestnut gorilla-guerrilla, interspersed with good clues like the marvellous anagram of Darwin and dishrack, making Richard Dawkins.
Failed to parse 3D, never heard of a nut cutlet or the band. The rest was ok but again too anagrammy and using the same device to remove the same letter is either lazy or poor/no editing or both. Come on Everyman you can do some excellent clues but your checkers are woeful,
Good puzzle; could not parse 7 down (animal); thanks to Quirister for the explanation. Struggled with 22 down (afoot) ; LOI. Could not come up with “afoot” as a synonym for “current”. Had to resort to a wildcard dictionary for this one.
What’s wrong with anagrams?
Finally finished with a bit of help in the end. agree with the mixed bag comments.
copland smith @ 4 I’ll check out ThisIsAnfield but can’t imagine what will be in the last 2 sections!