The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3900.
Wot no ‘primarily’? At least we have the rhyming pair, or I might not know what day it is.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PETUNIAS |
Blooms set up in a jumble (8)
|
| An anagram (‘jumble’) of ‘set up in a’. | ||
| 5 | LAPTOP |
Computer in flipping pocket, mate (6)
|
| A reversal (‘flipping’) of POT (‘pocket’, verb, in billiards, say) plus PAL (‘mate’). | ||
| 10 | ELITISM |
Partially candlelit? Is mum displaying snobbery? (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘partially’) in ‘candlELIT IS Mum’. | ||
| 11 | OYSTERS |
Yes, sort out seafood (7)
|
| An anagram (‘out’) of ‘yes sort’. | ||
| 12 | SEIZE |
Take possession of oceans, by sound of it (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘by the sound of it’) SEAS (‘oceans’). | ||
| 13 | DROOPIEST |
Dutch grub includes pies most feeble (9)
|
| An envelope (‘includes’) of ‘pies’ in D (‘Dutch’) plus ROOT (‘grub’, verb). | ||
| 14 | PERSPIRATION |
For each spirit, a bubbly knocked back: no sweat (12)
|
| A charade of PER (‘for each’) plus SPIRATI, an anagram ( |
||
| 18 | BLOWS THE GAFF |
Discloses secret: distressed staff beg, howl (5,3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘distressed’) of ‘staff beg howl’. | ||
| 21 | CLEOPATRA |
Queen, King in palace to broadcast (9)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of R (Rex, ‘king’) in CLEOPATA, an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘palace to’. | ||
| 23 | CHILE |
Report of distant country (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘report of’) CHILLY (‘distant’). | ||
| 24 | NEPTUNE |
God, write about air (7)
|
| A charade of NEP, a reversal (‘about’) of PEN (‘write’); plus TUNE (‘air’). | ||
| 25 | TRIESTE |
Sad in France, English staying in seaside city (7)
|
| An envelope (‘staying in’) of E (‘English’) in TRISTE (‘sad in France’). | ||
| 26 | SLEEPS |
Son getting spa treatments lies back, rests (6)
|
| A reversal (‘lies back’) of S (‘son’) plus PEELS (‘spa treatments’). | ||
| 27 | FRANKLIN |
A founding father who demanded respect? (8)
|
| Double definition the first being Benjamin,the second Aretha (although the whole clue might be applied to the former). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PLEASE |
Give satisfaction, if you’d be so kind (6)
|
| Double definition; many will object to this clue, in that both define etymologically the same word. Against this, it might be maintained that the second definition, in an expression such as “Yes,please” has taken on a life of its own, virtually distinct from the first definition. You pays your money (or not, for the Guardian) and takes your choice. | ||
| 2 | TRIVIA |
Tory, in vain, regularly advanced minutiae (6)
|
| A charade of TRIVI, alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘ToRy In VaIn’ plus A (‘advanced’). | ||
| 3 | NOISELESS |
Losing unfurled umbrella, Simon Russell Beale unusually quiet (9)
|
| An anagram (‘unusually’) of ‘Simon Russell Beale’ minus an anagram (‘unfurled’) of ‘umbrella’. | ||
| 4 | AS MAD AS A HATTER |
Seas that Armada tours, going round the bend (2,3,2,1,6)
|
| An anagram (‘tours?) of ‘seas that Armada’. | ||
| 6 | AESOP |
Extract from reggae’s oppressed storyteller (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘extract from’) in ‘reggAE’S OPpressed’. | ||
| 7 | THEREMIN |
‘The REM Introduction’ begins with eerie instrument (8)
|
| Just what it says on the label: ‘THE REM INtroduction begins with’. The theremin is an early electronic instrument, notable for being played without physical contact: the player’s hands are waved in the vicinity of two antennae, controlling pitch and volume. Its speciality is eerie glissandi, as in this clip from Hitchcock’s Spellbound (scored by Miklós Rózsa). | ||
| 8 | POSITING |
Assuming Post Office finding location (8)
|
| A charade of PO (‘Post Office’) plus SITING (‘finding location’). | ||
| 9 | NO JOKING MATTER |
Toppling Trojan King: to me, it’s a serious business (2,6,6)
|
| An anagram (‘toppling’) of ‘Trojan King to me’. | ||
| 15 | AFFECTION |
Love pretentiousness? No thanks (9)
|
| A subtraction: AFFEC[ta]TION (‘pretentiousness’) minus TA (‘no thanks’). | ||
| 16 | ABSCONDS |
Muscle vacuous: dangerous second prisoner held, escapes (8)
|
| An envelope (‘held’) of S (‘second’) plus CON (‘prisoner’) in AB (‘muscle’) plus DS (‘vacuous DangerouS‘). | ||
| 17 | SO HELP ME |
Exasperated utterance, revolting slop he put before setter (2,4,2)
|
| A charade of SO HELP, an anagram (‘revolting’) of ‘slop he’; plus ME (‘setter’). | ||
| 19 | DIESEL |
Conks out, ’empty’ sign, learner driver wanting fuel (6)
|
| A charade of DIES (‘conks out’) plus E (’empty sign’) plus L (‘learner driver’). ‘Wanting’ is no more than connective tissue. | ||
| 20 | DEMEAN |
University official: ‘Everyman’s wearing, lower in reputation‘ (6)
|
| An envelope (‘wearing’) of ME (‘Everyman’) in DEAN (‘University official’). | ||
| 22 | PLUMP |
Flop down, Chubby (5)
|
| Double definition. |
Well I finished it finally on Thursday but could not parse CLEOPATRA or FRANKLIN. Thought they might be homophones but they were’t. Not seen broadcast as an anagrind and don’t think I knew that Aretha’s surname was Franklin.
Good puzzle though – enjoyed it.
Thanks Everyman and Peter0
THEREMIN was a gimmee, since the son of a good friend of ours is Miles Brown, one of the world’s leading players – it is fascinating to see him play. I can’t remember the rest being too difficult – the rhyming pair predisposed me to see MATTER. Nice crossie, Everymen and helpful blog, PeterO.
The last Post-it Note read: “Primarily: so last century”. Great puzzle once again. Thanks PeterO & Everyman.
The first Everyman puzzle I solved completely. Milestone moment after I started solving cryptics this January. Theremin was last one in. Thanks, PeterO, Everyman and all the good folks at Fifteensquared.
Well done Ravi@4 , I remember my first Everyman finish, took me more than six months though.
I thought this was pretty good but a bit taxing in places.
NOISELESS is quite a tricky subtraction anagram. TRIESTE was beyond my French but obvious enough.
E = empty sign ?? can someone explain please ?
E = empty: look at the fuel gauge on your car dashboard!
Thank you , how simple , it is because I do not drive.
AESOP was fabulous and I enjoyed the reference to Aretha FRANKLIN (just a little bit).
Thanks to Everyman (we’d better let him in,
he’s got a theremin) and PeterO
Thanks both.
In 14a I thought that “bubbly” was the anagram indicator, followed by NO “knocked back”.
I was away on holiday and I did not print until my return yesterday. It proved an enjoyable and fairly straightforward solve. Thanks for the explanations. I had got the Benjamin Franklin part but not the Aretha Franklin reference.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. to Penfold @8. (No sailing dingies today?) I wonder which other FRANKLINs might provide clue fodder: ‘Free man offering a free Quarter Pounder?’
Agree with Shirl about the bubbly anagrind. Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Checking my notes I found “lots of pencil needed” and “wot no primarily!?”
All good fun with ticks for AFFECTION and TRIESTE
I forgot my manners , thanks for the blog, it is always appreciated.
[ If anyone is ever tempted by the Azed, the puzzle today is very accessible ]
Very pleasant Sunday morning entertainment with some really nice clues. I liked CLEOPATRA and the Trojan king (who you just assume is going to be Priam but it wasn’t), and I thought the Simon Russell Beale one was very clever.
Many thanks Everyman and PeterO.
And there was me thinking that 27ac demanded too much knowledge of the Franklin’s Tale.
Thanks, both.
Another New Everyman puzzle then.
I’d argue that NOISELESS doesn’t actually need its initial anagrind, as SIMONRUSSELLBEALE* can lead to UMBRELLANOISELESS.
Paul @16: you may well be right, but I always thought that if you wanted to form an anagram from (a set of letters minus a word), then the word you’re subtracting should have an anagram indicator itself unless the letters of that word appear in order in the large collection of letters. And in this case the letters u, m b r, etc don’t appear in order in ‘Simon Russell Beale’, so an anagram indicator for ‘umbrella’ is needed. At least that’s what I thought was the case. Is it not?
The blog for PLEASE reminds me of a story my grandfather told. As a young man, visiting England for the first time, he found that every time somebody offered him something to eat or drink and he said “Thank you” — they’d take it away! Eventually he learned that in England, “Thank you” is short for “No thank you,” and if he wanted some of whatever it was, he should have said “Please,” short for “Yes, PLEASE.”
Nice puzzle, thanks Everyman and PeterO.
Hi Wil
There was a good old ding-dong about this on a Crossword Centre blog a few years back, in which Roddy Forman (among others) was quick to point out the sense of it all, via some bizarre lexical bodmas.
As I recall we were able to find some that would need a second anagrind (though I can’t think of any of those now), but eventually agreement was reached as to how others parsed unproblematically without. I think ‘losing umbrella, Simon Russell Beale unusually quiet’ ticks all the logical boxes.
Shirl @9
Thanks for pointing out the slip in 14A, now corrected. I am not sure where ‘bubbly’ was hiding when I wrote up the clue.
Paul Bringloe @16, 19 and Wil Ransome @17
The question of a second anagrist in a subtractive anagram has popped up occasionally in the past, as I remember with complaints that, in comparable circumstances, the second anagrind was not included. Obviously it depends on whether you take the anagram first, and then the subtraction, or vice versa – and perhaps whether the clue mandates one of the other.
For what it’s worth, I agree with paul b @19’s logic: the second anagrind in this clue isn’t necessary, although of course it’s not wrong to include it.
Very enjoyable crossword, thanks to all involved.
Good fun this morning. We flew through it – perhaps being in full lockdown has cleared our minds.
Absolutely no ‘nasty clues’.
Pretty consistent with the quality and standard of last week’s puzzle. Whizzed through in about an hour. Franklin was the last one in and I am ashamed to say that I missed the Aretha reference.
I don’t think a second anagram is needed, you are removing the letters UMBR…from the jumble.
But I know convention is agin me.
Fair crossword, too many meaningless surfaces again.
I enjoy crosswords that I can solve with a bit of mental agony and a few easy ones to supply the crossers.
I enjoyed 3900
Thanks E and 15 squared.
In Auckland, full lockdown, just finished my third walk for the day, dogs barking, I’m going barking, so the crossword a great distraction. Finished this one quickly, had to research TRIESTE (poor French and limited knowledge of sea side towns north of the Equator), an hour gone by. Weathers packed in, so we’ll start drinkies early……
The many comments from other Kiwis did not dampen my personal excitement that I got 99.5% of this out with out any computer help whatsoever. I am so stoked, it is years since I managed this particularly with setter changes that we have so complained over. This was great. I wrote Do help me instead of So help me, but I don’t even care about one error.
My favourites were Affection, Diesel, Demean and Sleeps. Lockdown must have some upsides perhaps….