Everyman 3,927

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I don’t know what has prevented the scheduled blogger from appearing today but here instead is an analysis of the clues. If anything needs further explanation just ask.

Across
1 International transport system, part of experiment? (4,4)
TEST TUBE – TEST (International) TUBE (transport system)

5 Run into trees, break into laughter (6)
CORPSE – R (run) into COPSE (trees)

10 At the outset, handcuffed; occasionally underwater, daredevil in Niagara ill-advisedly? (7)
HOUDINI – initial letters (at the outset) of Handcuffed; Occasionally Underwater, Daredevil In Niagara Ill-advisedly – &Lit

11 Virtuous, perhaps, Merkel endlessly in charge (7)
ANGELIC – ANGEL[a] (perhaps, Merkel endlessly) IC (in charge)

12 Sample of Engelbert Humperdinck provides hit (5)
THUMP – contained in (sample of) ‘engleberT HUMPerdinck’

13 Dye can dry badly, leading to fuss (3,3,3)
HUE AND CRY – HUE (dye) plus an anagram (badly) of DYE CAN DRY – thanks Fiona Anne @2 for spotting my error

14 Disney character, 2-D entity, model for Pluto? (5,6)
DWARF PLANET – DWARF (Disney character) PLANE (2-D entity) T (model)

18 Paid up, spread out all round, got wasted (11)
DILAPIDATED – DILATED (spread out) around an anagram (up) of PAID

21 Nudist regularly seen in the French promontory in painting (9)
LANDSCAPE – NuDiSt (nudist regularly seen) in LA (the French) CAPE (promontory)

23 Get stuck in, / Barney (3-2)
SET-TO – double def.

24 Afternoon with Everyman during journey, losing energy: it’s hard work (7)
TRAVAIL – A (afternoon) I (Everyman) in (during) TRAV[e]L (journey, losing energy)

25 Costumier for Tom Cruise? (7)
ANAGRAM – costumier is an anagram of Tom Cruise

26 Distant socialist with no yen for revolution (6)
YONDER – RED (socialist) NO Y (yen) reversed (for revolution)

27 After messy kiss, run to find snowy incline (3,5)
SKI SLOPE – an anagram (messy) of KISS followed by LOPE (run)

Down
1 Italian signori finally seen with cap doffed somewhere in Polynesia (6)
TAHITI – IT (Italian) signorI (signori finally) HAT (cap) reversed (doffed)

2 Confine is quiet! (4,2)
SHUT UP – double def.

3 Tense and tattered, stumbled (7,2)
TRIPPED UP – T (tense) RIPPED UP (tattered)

4 Barren daylight breaking at crack of dawn (6,3,5)
BRIGHT AND EARLY – an anagram (breaking) of BARREN DAYLIGHT

6 Perhaps bladder is a music-maker? (5)
ORGAN – double def.

7 Using part of scalpel, I can shave waterfowl (8)
PELICANS – contained in (using parts of) ‘scalPEL I CAN Shave’

8 Pathetic counterspy, omitting two consecutive vowels, creates coded message (8)
ENCRYPTS – an anagram (pathetic) of C[ou]NTERSPY (counterspy, omitting two consecutive vowels)

9 Take thermal pants away inside, revealing behind (4,3,3,4)
LATE OFF THE MARK – OFF (away) in an anagram (pants) of TAKE THERMAL

15 Spooner’s put Scandinavian on board for help with navigation (9)
LODESTARS – a Spoonerism of ‘stowed Lars’ (put Scandinavian on board)

16 Adroitly handled hero-worship (8)
IDOLATRY – an anagram (handled) of ADROITLY

17 ‘Banana‘s member of vegetable kingdom’: artificial intelligence note (8)
PLANTAIN – PLANT (member of vegetable kingdom) AI (artificial intelligence) N (note)

19 Noise-maker, a little arriviste, reoffended (6)
STEREO – contained in (a little) ‘arriviSTE REOffended’

20 Speed of light covering no distance: that is revolutionary (6)
COMMIE – C (speed of light) 0MM (no distance) IE (that is)

22 Tool‘s fixed, we’re told (5)
SPADE – sounds like (we’re told) ‘spayed’ (fixed)

33 comments on “Everyman 3,927”

  1. Took a bit longer than last week mainly because I failed to spot ANAGRAM (LOI) till I gave in and used a word finder. Then I got really cross with myself. I remember another contributor pointing out that we had one such clue in March last year and another in June and that maybe we could expect one in September. I don’t think there was one then – and I totally missed this one.

    Some lovely clues. Both CORPSE (appropriately) and LODESTARS made me laugh. I also liked SPADE, HUE AND CRY and DWARF PLANET.

    Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid

  3. Fiona Anne @2
    Absolutely correct. That is how I parsed it last Sunday. I was rushing today and didn’t check the fodder 🙁

  4. Thank you Gaufrid, Agree with Fiona Anne about this, DWARF PLANET my favourite of all.
    HUE AND CRY is an early Ealing comedy with Alistair Sim.

  5. Thanks Everyman, and Gaufrid for stepping in. I don’t think I’ve seen Tom Cruise/costumier before and ‘stowed Lars’ was delightful. (There was a Spoonerism round on House of Games the other day, including a misbehaving traffic wardens/San Francisco sports team combo 🙂 )

    No rhyming pair this week that I can see (unless somebody, somewhere, rhymes -DATED with PLANET) but we do have EARLY and LATE in 4/9d.

  6. Ho hum stuff for me again I am afraid, plus one or two strange inclusions, namely LATE OFF THE MARK, which I am not sure is a properly idiomatic phrase, and SKI SLOPE which also seems rather suspect in the same way, both reminding me of Manley’s YELLOW SHIRT example.

    I was surprised to find that barney is not CRS for trouble (as in Barney Rubble) but of unknown 19c origin meaning ‘a rough noisy quarrel’.

  7. Fiona Anne @1: yes,that was me! In late January Everyman gave us Enid Blyton/tiny blonde and in late May it was Eric Clapton/narcoleptic. I predicted, therefore, that this comet would reappear in late September, but it went off on a longer orbit. I too was again caught off-guard (D’oh!) and it was LOI for me after much infuriated puzzling while doing routine domestic tasks.

  8. Like the last plantagenet @6, I don’t recognise LATE OFF THE MARK as a familiar phrase (I know what it means, of course, but that’s a different matter.) It was my last in with all crossers. Liked BRIGHT AND EARLY, CORPSE, ANAGRAM (Doh!)

  9. Spooner’s catflap @ 7

    Do you think we can work out when the next one will be?

    Last year Jan then May – expected Sept but not – then Jan (but 2022).

    I am going to be watching in May.

  11. Re LATE OFF THE MARK, I’d usually say slow off the mark, but if you google the former there are plenty of examples, including this in the Graun.

  12. Could one of you fine folks who liked corpse please explain for me? Clearly that was the word, but I cannot parse / see where the break into laughter comes from….sure I’ll slap myself …..

  13. dereks186 @12
    From Chambers “(of an actor on stage) to forget one’s lines, etc, to be incapable of speaking one’s lines because of a sudden attack of hysterical laughter”.

  14. dereks186 – CORPSE is thespian speak for an actor breaking onto laughter against script in the middle of a scene or sketch.

  15. #11 unfortunately, as gladys points out, that is not the point.

    #12 the CORPSE idea is theatrical slang.

  16. derek@12 it is mainly an acting term, corpsing is breaking into laughter during a scene that does not require laughter.

  17. I guess there’s a difference between LATE OFF THE MARK, which I can’t find in dictionaries, and SKI SLOPE, which is in Chambers and Collins.

    I liked ANAGRAM and Lars stowed.

    Thanks Everyman and Gaufrid.

  18. Thanks Gaufrid.

    Re CORPSE, I felt “break into laughter” was slightly lacking something as a definition (needs that sense of being inappropriate) but that’s a very minor niggle. I had no qualms about LATE OFF THE MARK though. Overall, another good solid outing from Everyman with some very entertaining clues. Loved the cheesy Spoonerism.

    I’d forgotten the Enid Blyton and Eric Clapton clues. Tom Cruise is another nice one to add to the collection.

  21. Pretty straightforward, but I liked the 0 mm in COMMIE, and LODESTARS made me chuckle.

    As some have mentioned, to CORPSE is to burst into a fit of the giggles, often silent, usually involving being bent double, For an example, see the out-takes/bloopers of any TV show or film.

  24. DNF due to LATE OFF THE MARK. I had TAKE OFF THE MASK, but I knew it coundn’t be right, as it had ‘take’ in both clue and answer, and I couldn’t quite see the wordplay (though it was close-ish). I would be in the ‘it isn’t a proper phrase’ camp. NHO that sense of CORPSE either, but that’s my fault. And, as Roz @19 notes, neither alliteration nor rhyming pair. Apart from that… Thanks, Everyman and Gaufrid for stepping into the breach.

  25. I thought the schtick in this one was the initialised TestTube and SkiSlope, along with the contrast of BRIGHT AND EARLY and LATE OFF THE MARK.

  27. I knew ANAGRAM was the answer, too vague for anything else – but for the life of me I couldn’t work out why until I came here.

  28. Thank you Gaufrid for stepping in. I’d given up and only came back here today.
    I had the wordplay for CORPSE but didn’t know it. One to remember.

    I like it Simon S@25. Gotta be right. A double double but not like the others. More inventive.

  31. “Corpse” meaning “break into laughter” was too obscure. I guessed that it *had* to be “corpse”, and a web search revealed that “corpse” indeed had that meaning.
    Needed a wildcard dictionary to get “anagram”, then kicked myself.
    Could not get “late off the mark” so DNF. (And a wildcard search on “*a*e *f* t*e *a*k” told me that there was no such phrase to be found). So IMHO this clue does not work.

  32. I’ve been involved in stage work for years but have never heard of ‘corpse’. I’ll ask my fellow thespian mates.

    Nice crossword.

  33. I am mystified how so many like the spoonerism clues I find them ridiculous and not at all clever !
    But whatever floats the boat I guess
    I’ve never heard of corpse either but I liked landscape,
    Yonder, plantain and hue and cry so lots to make up for one gnarly clue

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