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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4011.
All we have come to expect from Everyman: a sound puzzle with the usual ‘primarily’ clue, the rhyming pair, the self-reference and the geographical answer.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | COME COME |
Approach twice for censorious comment (4,4)
|
| Just what it says. | ||
| 5 | WARDER |
Custodian visibly pained twice in retreat (6)
|
| A reversal (‘in retreat’) of RED RAW (‘visibly pained twice’). | ||
| 9 | STAPLER |
Plaster moulded for stationery item (7)
|
| An anagram (‘moulded’) of ‘plaster’. | ||
| 10 | ENGLAND |
No good tucking into antelope in part of kingdom (7)
|
| An envelope (‘tucking into’) of NG (‘no good’) in ELAND (‘antelope’). | ||
| 11 | ERROR |
Mistake, ignoring onset of extreme fear (5)
|
| A subtraction: [t]ERROR (‘extreme fear’) minus its first letter (‘ignoring onset’). | ||
| 12 | MORSE CODE |
Spooner’s rough method in which ‘i’s are dotted twice (5,4)
|
| A Spoonerism of COARSE MODE (‘rough method’). In Morse code, i is dot dot. | ||
| 13 | DOGGY-PADDLE |
Stroke family pet with ping-pong bat (5-6)
|
| A charade of DOGGY (‘family pet’) plus PADDLE (‘ping-pong bat’). | ||
| 17 | IN THE SADDLE |
Taking joint, he’s addled, not entirely able to control matters … (2,3,6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘taking … not entirely’) in ‘joINT HE’S ADDLEd’. | ||
| 20 | DIRT CHEAP |
… gossip: fellow taking methamphetamine with little price to pay (4,5)
|
| An envelope (‘taking’) of E (‘methamphetamine’) in DIRT (‘gossip’) plus CHAP (‘fellow’). | ||
| 22 | DWELL |
Live large with lustful revolutionary (5)
|
| A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of L (‘large’) plus LEWD (‘lustful’). | ||
| 23 | EYESORE |
We’re told the writer observed ugly scene (7)
|
| Sounds (for some) like (‘we’re told’) I SAW (‘the writer observed’). | ||
| 24 | ESTATES |
Earl reports landholdings (7)
|
| A charade of E (‘earl’) plus STATES (‘reports’). | ||
| 25 | SASHES |
Boxers’ ultimate sporting prize: they’re worn like belts (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘boxerS ultimate’) plus ASHES (cricket, ‘sporting prize’). | ||
| 26 | ISOLATED |
Everyman, very behind, deserted and alone (8)
|
| A charade of I (‘Everyman’) plus SO (‘very’) plus LATE (‘behind’) plus D (‘deserted’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CASTES |
Ranks putting energy into throws (6)
|
| An envelope (‘putting … into’) of E (‘energy’) in CASTS (‘throws’). | ||
| 2 | MEAGRE |
Insubstantial, somewhat irksome? Agreed (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘irksoME AGREed’. | ||
| 3 | COLERIDGE |
Poet seeing tip of esker between mountain pass and elevation (9)
|
| A charade of COL (‘mountain pass’) plus E (‘tip of Esker’) plus RIDGE (‘elevation’). | ||
| 4 | MARY MAGDALENE |
Madman eagerly represented Biblical figure (4,9)
|
| An anagram (‘re-presented’) of ‘madman eagerly’. | ||
| 6 | ANGLE |
Take fish (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 7 | DIAMONDS |
Costly accessories suit (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 8 | REDEEMED |
Scripture considered to have morally improved … (8)
|
| A charade of RE (religious education, ‘scripture’) plus DEEMED (‘considered’). | ||
| 10 | EARLY ADOPTERS |
… lay readers opt out: they anticipate what’s coming (5,8)
|
| An anagram (‘out’) of ‘lay readers opt’. | ||
| 14 | ANECDOTAL |
Reported dodgy act: no deal (9)
|
| An anagram (‘dodgy’) of ‘act no deal’. | ||
| 15 | WINDLESS |
Still cheats, first to last (8)
|
| SWINDLES (‘cheats’) with the first S moved to the end (‘first to last’). | ||
| 16 | STARLESS |
Like a damning review describing low-budget film? (8)
|
| Double definition, both of which may require a little explanation: a review may offer a number of stars, with none as the worst; and a low-budget film is not likely able to afford a star’s salary. | ||
| 18 | BEAT IT |
Emulate a bird: leave in haste (4,2)
|
| BE A TIT (’emulate a bird’). | ||
| 19 | CLOSED |
Sealed the deal; shut down the business (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 21 | CHORE |
Cleaning home or running errand, primarily? (5)
|
| First letters (‘primarily’) of ‘Cleaning Home Or Running Errand’. |
Thanks PeterO. STARLESS did need a bit of explaining. I liked it, and COME COME.
BEATIT and BEACON go round the traps a bit.
Perhaps a couple of the tak/ings could have been taken away, 2 in successive clues IN THE SADDLE and DIRT CHEAP, 3 altogether in the wordplay, including ANGLE. Maybe Everyman’s showing us his versatility? All 3 functioned differently, envelope, hidden and one part of a double def. But the subtraction clue ERROR used ignoring . Bravo.
Favourites were MORSE CODE and STARLESS, the more cryptic ones.
And I was tickled by EMU late a bird.
Esker now added to the physical geog teems — like terminal moraine, and oxbow lake — deposited at high school. Thanks PnE.
.. terms …
Esker Me too gif@3. I’m a bit of an Antarctica nut, and wondered why I hadn’t heard of it, so looked it up on an Antarctic site and all the pics on the link below are from the Northern Hemisphere, not surprising as its derivation is from either Gaelic or Middle English, depending on your source.
https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geology/glacial-landforms/glaciofluvial-landforms/eskers/
[Roz may know/of the author of the article. As Roz doesn’t do links here’s a reduced bio. Fascinating space age work.
Dr Frances Butcher is a planetary scientist researching glaciers on Earth and Mars. She completed her PhD entitled ‘Wet-Based Glaciation on Mars’ at the Open University (UK) in 2019. … Frances has been involved in preparations for the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars (‘Rosalind Franklin’) Rover mission to Mars in 2022…..
“I use data from satellites orbiting Mars to analyse the landscapes generated by past and present glaciers on the Red Planet. In doing so, I aim to better understand the history of environmental change on Mars, with a particular focus on the history of glacial meltwater production “ ]
Thank you Everyman for the TILTS.
Another good one from Everyman. As PeterO says, he is consistently sound. I especially liked 17a, the hidden IN THE SADDLE, where the surface makes you wonder whether the definition is “powerful” or “powerless”. And 16d STARLESS was a clever(ly) DDD (deceptive double definition). I also liked the aural wordplay of 23a EYESORE.
Thanks, Everyman and PeterO, for the enjoyable puzzle and blog.
ESKER
Was in the Guardian Prize puzzle by Maskarade and is elsewhere too today (in a way).
paddymelon@5
Thanks. On this planet, our greed cum hot-headedness mars the efforts to
cool it down.
While on the subject of space exploration, you may be interested to know that the rover
that India (through its mission Chandrayaan-3) has deployed on the moon is named
‘PRAGYAN’, meaning wisdom. Prajna is from the same root and could be spelt pragya.
SASHES
A nice extended def. For boxers, there are a few coveted belts.
MOSE CODE
dot dot the i’s and dash the t’s. Nicely clued!
Thanks, PeterO for the excellent blog (The 5-star clue of the 5-star blog is STARLESS)!
MORSE CODE
Sorry for the typo.
Methamphetamine is not the same as ecstasy so, “e” doesn’t really work for me here.
Otherwise, enjoyable as always. Thanks PeterO and Everyman
Found this a bit tougher than last week’s. Didn’t like EYESORE – not wanting to get the homophone rhotic (whatever) argument going – but really?
Liked SASHES – made me laugh. Also WINDLESS, MORSE CODE
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Thanks for the blog, another sound puzzle with enjoyable clues at the right level. MORSE CODE my favourite for the double-dotted i .
Agree with Jaz @9 , this is just called METH or speed, e=ecstasy is MDMA and needs a lot more letters which I will not try to spell.
Esker and variants turn up in Azed a lot.
[ PDM @5 thank you for being so thoughtful with your link, I do know of Frances because of the Rosalind Franklin lander. She is a geographer so comes at things from a different angle. The article may be a little out of date , the RF rover was meant to go up on a Russian probe and landing gantry but was cancelled due to the war. It does seem possible that it will launch much later this decade after some alterations.]
Roz@11 even then I wouldn’t call methamphetamine “speed”. That’s just amphetamine. Methamphetamine is what is known as crystal meth, and this is a different drug than speed.
In the UK at least, anyway. Other countries may vary.
But it’s definitely not ecstasy. Although to be fair, I’ve seen this clued like this at least a couple of times now, so I was able to parse it.
I know (from Breaking Bad, not lived experience) that methamphetamine is neither ecstasy nor speed, so a tap on the wrist for that one. But redeemed by the excellent hidden IN THE SADDLE.
Thanks both
Enjoyable puzzle.
Favourite: MORSE CODE.
Thanks, both.
I enjoyed that. I couldn’t get SASHES. Now I see it here, it’s so obvious. But isnt that the way. Thank you for the blog.
[KVa@7, liked your pun on mars. Some have to look back on the Blue Dot to see what’s happening here on Earth.
Rozcozmoz@12, hope I’ll still be around to see that.]
Fiona@10: I agree about EYESORE, not that either setter or editor is going to take any notice.
Jaz Pearson@9 and RobT@14. Agree. Methamphetamine here is known as ICE. Back to eskers and glaciers. : -)
😀
Most speed these days is from methamphetamine , as a powder or even tablets , but very impure. In fact probably the least pure of all street drugs.
Is d=deserted from the military?
Quite right Lin, army records usually , along with MIA , KIA , etc
E a.k.a. MDMA, i.e. 3,4-Methyl?enedioxy?methamphetamine shurely.
a.k.a. 3,4-Methyl?enedioxy?methamphetamine 😀
I give up.
Methamphetamine contains mainly C10H15N carbon chains, most speed in the uk does now as well, Speed used to be C9 chains. MDMA is related but rather more complicated.
My knowledge of illicit drugs is extremely limited, but even I was fairly sure that ecstasy and methamphetamine were different things. Oh, well.
Otherwise I thought this hit the Everyman spot very well. I particularly liked 15dn (WINDLESS).
Fiona@10 and poc@18. This is my first comment on here so please be kind. What is (potentially) ‘wrong’ with eyesore? In my mind it sounds very similar to ‘I saw’. Is it that eyesore seems to place slight emphasis on sore and I saw places slight emphasis on I (or potentially vice versa)?
Found the puzzle challenging, but got it all out, and parsed all of the answers. A lot of forehead-slappers.
Agree with others that “E” and methamphetamine are, in the common parlance at least, two different drugs. But the answer “dirt cheap” was obviously correct, so I didn’t let it worry me.
Favourite was 18 down. Rolled about laughing when I finally saw it.
Paddymelon@1 says it’s been around the traps, but I hadn’t seen it before.
NZDave@29: IMHO there’s absolutely nothing wrong with “eyesore”.
Thanks to Everyman and to PeterO.
Liked 12A
Not happy with 20A
10D got me thinking!
Rob from Auckland
Easy as playing England at rugby or cricket.
Well half right – close to the wire and we got beaten by bottom left corner.
Notwithstanding that, really.liked morse code, beat it, and lots more.
.