The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3820.
Everyman seems to be settling into a generally straightforward style, with the trademark pairing of long answers.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | YOU DON’T SAY | Liberal excluded from US only today, outrageous, really! (3,4,3) |
| An anagram (‘outrageous’) od ‘US on[l]y today’ minus the L (‘Liberal excluded’). | ||
| 6 | STAR | Luminary Morris finally introducing art nouveau? (4) |
| A charade of S (‘MorriS finally’) plus TAR, an anagram (‘nouveau’) of ‘art’. In the surface, William Morris was indeed influential in the art nouveau style. | ||
| 9 | MALODOROUS | Amorous, old, perverted and smelly (10) |
| An anagram (‘perverted’) of ‘amorous old’. If you were to use the word, it would be MALODOUR, but the adjective does not have the U. That’s English English for you. | ||
| 10 | WAND | Rod‘s pale before date (4) |
| A charade of WAN (‘pale’) plus D (‘date’). | ||
| 12 | NINE NINE NINE | Having three refusals from Merkel, called phone number (4-4-4) |
| Sounds like (‘called’) NEIN NEIN NEIN (‘three refusals from Merkel’). The emergency phone number equivalent to 911 in the USA, or 111 in New Zealand (to acknowledge our faithful followers), or so on. | ||
| 15 | LIB DEMS | Politicians Dimbleby’s confused by disappearing (3,4) |
| An anagram (‘confused’) of ‘Dimble[by]’s’ minus BY (‘by disappearing’). | ||
| 16 | GET LOST | ‘Let’s go, prepared, ahead of time?’ ‘Stop interfering!’ (3,4) |
| A charade of GETLOS, an anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘let’s go’, plus T (‘time’). | ||
| 17 | CHESTER | Man leaving big city for smaller city (7) |
| A subtraction: [man]CHESTER (‘big city’) minus (‘leaving’) ‘man’. | ||
| 19 | TASTIER | Revamped attire’s more attractive (7) |
| An anagram (‘revamped’) of ‘attire’s’. | ||
| 20 | SMELLING A RAT | Suspicious alarm tingles vaguely (8,1,3) |
| An anagram (‘vaguely’) of ‘alarm tingles’. | ||
| 23 | EMMA | Some dilemmas in 1815 novel (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘dilEMMAs’. | ||
| 24 | INCOHERENT | Neither con breaking loose (10) |
| An anagram (‘breaking’) of ‘neither con’. | ||
| 25 | PANS | Criticises as ‘plainish’ every now and then (4) |
| Alternate letters (‘every now and then’) of ‘PlAiNiSh’. | ||
| 26 | MODEL TRAIN | Following fashion, vacuous lightweight to fall for small diversion (5,5) |
| A charade of MODE (‘fashion’) plus LT (‘vacuous LightweighT‘) plus RAIN (‘fall’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | YAMS | For starters, your aunt might steam veggies (4) |
| First letters (‘for starters’) of ‘Your Aunt Might Steam’. | ||
| 2 | UGLY | Heartlessly using lady is offensive (4) |
| Outer letters (‘heartlessly’) of ‘UsinG LadY‘. | ||
| 3 | OLD WIVES’ TALE | Dispatched Devil to Wales? A superstition (3,5,4) |
| An anagram (‘dispatched’) of ‘Devil to Wales’. | ||
| 4 | TURKEYS | They’re often presented at Christmas, films that few enjoy (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 5 | AMUSING | Australian given to reflection? Laughable (7) |
| A charade of A (‘Australian’) plus MUSING (‘given to reflection’ – or should ‘given to’ be regarded as instruction?). | ||
| 7 | TRAGICOMIC | Smoke rising in unopened kind of bomb: funny … and serious (10) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of RAGIC, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of CIGAR (‘smoke’) in [a]TOMIC (‘kind of bomb’) minus its first letter (‘unopened’). | ||
| 8 | RED SETTERS | Who’s in the doghouse? Bloody Everyman and colleagues (3,7) |
| A charade of RED (‘bloody’) plus SETTERS (‘Everyman and colleagues’). | ||
| 11 | NEW TESTAMENT | Books where reproductive organ is seen in amphibian, exotic creature (3,9) |
| An envelope (‘is seen in’) of STAMEN (‘reproductive organ’) in NEWT (‘amphibian’) plus ET (the ExtraTerrestial, ‘exotic creature’). | ||
| 13 | BLACK SHEEP | One who’s woolly and disreputable? (5,5) |
| I suppose that you would call this a cryptic definition, for want of a better description. | ||
| 14 | ABLE SEAMAN | A meal with beans cooked for one on deck (4,6) |
| An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘a meal’ plus ‘beans’. | ||
| 18 | RUN INTO | Unexpectedly, see vibrating neutrino losing energy (3,4) |
| An anagram (‘vibrating’) of ‘n[e]utrino’ minus the E (‘losing energy’). | ||
| 19 | TEA ROSE | Flower opening initially, offensive scent emitted (3,4) |
| A charade of TEAR (‘opening’) plus OSE (‘initially Offensive Scent Emitted’) | ||
| 21 | FETA | Wife: ‘tapas includes cheese‘ (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘includes’) in ‘wiFE TApas’. | ||
| 22 | STUN | Upside-down bats with cause to be unconscious (4) |
| A reversal (‘upside-down’ in a down light) of NUTS (‘bats’). | ||
I guessed TRAGICOMIC, but hadn’t the foggiest idea about its parsing – so thank you Peter O for the explanation. I also didn’t spot the “pairs”, although I was very taken with RED SETTERS. My fave was CHESTER which I stared blankly at for an eternity, before the answer suddenly hit me. Thanks for an enjoyable morning’s entertainment, Everyman!
12a NINE NINE NINE was perhaps a bit too obvious! Apart from that I enjoyed this. I liked the clever reference to William Morris and art nouveau in 6a STAR, and the ABLE SEAMAN tucking into his beans in 14d. And like Wellbeck @1 I enjoyed 17a CHESTER!
Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Good, entertaining puzzle; I liked the small diversion as MODEL TRAIN.
No real quibbles; I thought ET as exotic creature was a bit unusual.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
I too liked the RED SETTERS and the art nouveau.
But 9a “Amorous, old, perverted and smelly” – never mind clue of the day, that’s got to be my Clue of the Year so far.
(Or has (AMOROUS OLD)* = MALODOROUS been done before, and I just haven’t noticed it?)
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
Re this pairing of long answers.
Please allow me to say that in the crosswords that I have been setting regularly for a mainstream broadsheet in India since 2001, I have used the device.
I didn’t deploy it as a trademark but I resorted to it often just for self-satisfaction. Solvers may or may not have noticed it
.
Enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Way too many anagrams again and so easy it was like they couldn’t really be bothered.
Well in New Zealand we’ve only just seen this and I’m bemused. How does this bloke get away with this? Only Claret is mildly critical with “Way too many anagrams again” but 12 across, nine-nine–nine was puerile. Lower fifth stuff. About the only one to raise a smile was turkeys. Otherwise, I think he gets away with murder.
This was obviously an entry level crossword but that’s what it’s supposed to be, isn’t it? I enjoyed it.
I think the criticism at 8 a bit harsh! I have enough stress in my work week to just want to enjoy a slightly challenging puzzle on Saturdays and if I get to finish it is a triumph. Many people marvel at anyone who can do cryptics so I am proud of myself for finishing or near-finishing but still consider myself entry level.
Yep lots of anagrams but plenty to smile at too, I particularly enjoyed Wand, Model Train, Red Setters, Tragicomic, Black Sheep, Able Seaman, Stun and only one of those had an anagram portion
I thought Nine nine nine was clever and not dumbed down I didn’t get Chester though I should have…that was a great clue.
only one clue was weak in my book – 23ac Emma
plenty to like – happy here and no need to call eins eins eins for rescue.
I agree with Tony. By far the fastest I’ve finish an Everyman in all these years. Far too many anagrams Nothing particularly witty. Such a shame.
Liked this puzzle; got it all out but had to struggle with a few of the clues. Which is as it should be.
If the tweasers don’t like it they should tackle the Guardian Weekly cryptics instead. They are readily available on line and should be found to be sufficiently challenging.
Thanks to Everyman and Peter O.
I enjoyed all of this though I didn’t get 19d and haven’t heard of a tea rose. After the wobbles of a year ago I think Everyman is now consistently good. Its funny how different peoples minds work though. I got into these crosswords with the help of my elderly mother. I could often solve the ones she struggled with and vice versa. Likewise I’m often surprised be some of the comments on this blog about the ease or difficulty of certain clues. Makes it pretty hard for a setter to get out of the dog box!
I agree entirely with Vanessa@10.
DNF with Tragicomic unsolved and Tea Rose unparsed.
I thought this about right for an Everyman. I liked the upside down bats. And I also agree that those wanting a harder challenge have plenty of online fare. If this is generally Quiptic Level then that is what an Everyman should be.