Everyman provides us with another well-constructed cryptic crossword this Sunday.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Supports – or declines to intervene?
STANDS BY
A dd.
5 Gives a place to grad – MIT spellbound (to some extent)
ADMITS
Hidden in grAD MIT Spellbound.
9 ‘Relaxing‘? Terrifying!
CHILLING
A dd.
10 Weighty and large stones
GRAVEL
A charade of GRAVE and L.
11 African shivering with cold; time: 10.35?
DECIMAL FRACTION
(AFRICAN COLD TIME)* with ‘shivering’ as the anagrind.
13 What’s found in first-aid kit? In part, swab and a gel
BANDAGE
Hidden in swaB AND A GEl.
14 I and others are … or used to be …?
WERE
‘I and others’ are is equivalent to WE’RE; the second element is equivalent to WERE, and we’re always told to ignore punctuation.
18 Reportedly deserves coffee in large quantities, here
URNS
Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) for EARNS.
19 Meal prepared with headless fish for Abraham’s son
ISHMAEL
A charade of [F]ISH and (MEAL)* with ‘prepared’ as the anagrind.
23 Patient type is fast at work, case bringing professional pride
JOB SATISFACTION
A charade of the Biblical JOB, (IS FAST)* and ACTION. The anagrind is ‘at work’.
24 Peninsula? Wrong answer
CRIMEA
A charade of CRIME and A.
25 ‘Plaiting twists’: some youngsters talk this way
PIG LATIN
(PLAITING)* with ‘twists’ as the anagrind.
26 Star is earnest, did you say?
SIRIUS
Aural wordplay (‘did you say’) for SERIOUS.
27 Without changes, Benedict’s regularly failing, in my view
AS I SEE IT
A charade of AS IS and the even letters of ‘Benedict’
Down
1 Break away from some predecessors, being revolutionary
SECEDE
Hidden reversed in prEDECESsors.
2 One coin per person
APIECE
A charade of A and PIECE.
3 Sam and Everyman cover up problems
DILEMMAS
A reversal of SAM, ME and LID.
4 Report by young fellow: is he perhaps from S. Asia?
BANGLADESHI
A charade of BANG, LAD and (IS HE)* with ‘perhaps’ as the anagrind.
6 What the Coen Brothers do is straightforward
DIRECT
A dd.
7 Accounts consisting of utterances
INVOICES
A charade of IN and VOICES.
8 Unwisely realigns with US author
SALINGER
(REALIGNS)* with ‘unwisely’ as the anagrind.
12 Urchins having sport, largely, in itinerant funfairs
RAGAMUFFINS
An insertion of GAM[E] in (FUNFAIRS)* The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘itinerant’.
15 Lays open the topics
SUBJECTS
A dd.
16 Somewhat nastier, overprivileging bluer blood in élitist reactions, primarily?
SNOBBIER
The initial letters of the first eight words of the clue and a cad.
17 Removes crusted matter from stinking sled case
DESCALES
(SLED CASE)* with ‘stinking’ as the anagrind.
20 Golden Gate – first, cake!
GATEAU
A charade of GATE and AU.
21 Circus venue’s not quiet: audience finally seeing ‘Piggy‘
BIG TOE
Everyman is inviting you to replace the P in BIG TOP with E for the final letter of ‘audiene’. ‘This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed at home …’
22 Allow granny to hang loose?
UNKNOT
A cd, referring to the granny knot. (See also the comments below.)
Many thanks to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre. And 22d. UNKNOT I still had that one unsolved and got it just now with ”reveal all”. I was going to ask about the wordplay, but just got the cryptic def..
PIG LATIN, genuine question. Everyman and Wiki both mention youngsters. About the only people I know who know or know of Pig Latin are older. Is it still a thing?
I got good and proper by SALINGER, who I do know, but I thought the anagrind was much more likely to be realigns than unwisely , and same letter count.
I also overthought 10:35 in DECIMAL FRACTION thinking I had to look at clues 25 to 11. 🙁 Fun surface.
Liked the double def STANDS BY.
I knew Isaac but not ISHMAEL. I remember thinking “whaler would have been a better definition”. [Earworm: God said to Abraham…] The rhyming pair is nice, especially the 10.35 (no colon, PDM, or it doesn’t work) and RAGAMUFFINS is a lovely word. All in all, a great Sunday crossie. Thanks, Everyman and Pierre.
paddymelon@1
UNKNOT
A reference to ‘a granny knot’. Right?
Faves: the same as those of paddymelon@2
Nice puzzle and a good blog!
Thanks both!
KVa@4. Yes, the clue was Allow granny to hang loose. I got hung up on the allow and didn’t see the cryptic def.
Another nice crossword from Everyman. My favourite was UNKNOT – thanks paddymelon@1 for completing the blog. Appreciation also for your comment yesterday which I feel is even apt to feedback on Everyman.
Thanks Pierre and Everyman.
TassieTim@3. I’m still seeing double today! Good trick ; : . Got me.
And for the sake of accuracy and me finally getting my punctuation right, the clue for UNKNOT was Allow granny to hang loose? with question mark, which I didn’t see, indicating the cryptic definition.
Like Tassie Tim, I enjoyed the rhyming pair GATEAU and BIG TOE ….. for their surfaces/wordplay.
CRIMEA made me laugh. Clever.
I also did not get UNKNOT and still don’t really get it.
Liked RAGAMUFFINS – made me smile.
Also: AS I SEE IT, WERE, INVOICES
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
pdm@10 – I was thinking of the pair as DECIMAL FRACTION and JOB SATISFACTION, but you are right that there is another pair.
Thanks for the blog, UNKNOT seems to have slipped its bounds and escaped from your list of clues.
JOB SATISFACTION and BIG TOE my favourites .
SAM ( reversed ) and GATE both in the clue and answer , not wrong but not fond of it.
DECIMAL FRACTION , I wonder why 10.35 is used , any signiificance or just a random example ?
Ah,, and so it goes Tassie Tim@12. I noticed you didn’t mention the pair, but I didn’t see the longer one.
I have never done an Everyman puzzle before, so I am probably missing something obvious. I just did 4,034 dated 10 Feb, and it was a different puzzle. What did I get wrong, I wonder
Martyn@15 it is a Prize puzzle, the blog always one week late because of entry dates.
Someone might have a better explanation of UNKNOT Fiona@11. But I see it as a kind of visual joke with a play on granny as a person, and granny as a kind of knot, and hang loose in the literal sense of a rope, for example, and also as a colloquial expression for relax.
So if you undo the knot, she/it can relax/hang loose.
Roz@13. DECIMAL FRACTION time:10.35 I just see as part of the deception. (It deceived me anyway.). I assume it could mean 10:35 am in the (misdirecting) surface reading. You wouldn’t expect an African to be shivering with cold in the late morning.
PDM@18 I am just wondering if 10.35 = 207/20 means anything further.
There is nothing wrong with the clue but many times could have been picked and it still works.
Thanks Roz@16. I knew it would be obvious. I will wait for next week with anticipation.
DECIMAL FRACTION
dunno if 10.35 has any special significance.
Just enjoying life …it’s 10.35
https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/10-35-by-Tiesto-and-Tate-McRae-Lyrics.jpg
pdm@17
UNKNOT
I agree with your explanation.
Not explicitly mentioned: UNKNOT means ‘untie’ as
well as ‘relax’ *
*(Of a muscle) relax after being tense and hard.
You are welcome Martyn@20 , join the blog next Sunday.
KVa@22. Thank you for massaging my explanation of UNKNOT. You hit the right spot. 🙂
paddymelon @ 2
I’m coming up to 70 in April and I had never heard of PIG LATIN. I had heard of children having secret languages but didn’t know they were known as Pig Latin. Is that what you were asking?
and @ 18
It was fairly cold in the morning, even late morning, in Swaziland when I was there. Definitely needed jumpers.
and in other news
Here in Finland, Pig German (siansaksa) is the equivalent of Double Dutch.
Anna@25. No, I meant I’ve only known of older speakers who remember how to use it, but not young people.
The Wiki entry below also mentions languages other than English with a version of Pig Latin, including a Finnish variety called Kontinkieli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Latin
We used a version of Pig Latin as children but we called it backslang, I realised I knew what it was when I came across Pig Latin in an old book as a child, which puts it back earlier than you, Anna @25. Pig Latin is spoken and becomes igpa atinla – our version became ackben angslen.
I was on the right wavelength and solved this in a sitting, but not a particularly quick Everyman time.
Thank you to Everyman and Pierre.
[TT @3, yes very proto-rap that one. Johnny’s in the basement… is another]
Shanne @ 27
Thank you. How fascinating. Clearly my childhood was as boring as the adult I became! Though I do know about backslang. I always felt that was something different.
paddymelon @ 26
I have never heard of Kontinkieli but then I came to Finland when I was already more-or-less retired so my contact with the world of children has been almost non-existent.
Incidently, Kieli is language, tongue, or the string of a musical instrument. Kontin is the genitive of Kontti, which I have come across in the plural (kontit) to mean ‘nonsense’ ‘rubbish’. And also joulupukin kontti is Father Christmas’ sack. You hear this word all the time in the adverts on telly in the run-up to Christmas.
Slightly easier than usual for an Everyman puzzle.
Favourite: WERE, DILEMMAS.
I needed to help from google for the GK mainly to check if ISHMAEL was a son of biblical/mythical Abraham.
I agree with paddymelon@18 on the parsing of 22d.
Thanks, both.
Everyman does manage a very even standard of difficulty. I finish them a bit too easily for Sunday breakfast to complete – I have time for more of a challenge on Sundays.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
[Anna @25. A few years ago, we were on safari in Swaziland (now Eswatini, by the way) and the South African guide gave us a warning in the evening.
“Hey, guys. It’s going to get really cold tonight”
“How cold is cold?”
“Could be as low as 16”
Being Brits, we laughed our socks off!]
I liked the African shivering with cold for DECIMAL FRACTION, the DILEMMAS of Sam and Everyman, the report by young fellow in BANGLADESHI, the urchins in funfairs for RAGAMUFFINS, and the granny hanging loose to give UNKNOT. I couldn’t remember the name of PIG LATIN but the clue was clear.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
I liked JOB SATISFACTION and GATEAU. With 22D, however, I didn’t know whether it was referring to a granny knot, or a granny stitch – so I had no way of deciding between UNKNOT and UNKNIT.
In the end I tossed a coin and chose UNKNOT but, because of the uncrossed letter, the other also works…
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
10.35 is not random. Everyman has chosen it instead of 9.30, 8.25 … 6.15 … 3.00 … 11.45 – as indicating a quarter FRACTION of the clock.
It would have to be a toy clock, for teaching a child to tell the time – “If the hour hand is pointing at 10 and the second hand at 7…”
On a real clock the angle is 107.5, not 90.
Very satisfying for this solver. Liked many of those the others mentioned above.
Thought 2d was another double definition, “one coin” = A PIECE.
Like Wellbeck@34 wondered if a granny could be UNKNIT.
And as much aa I liked the clue, in a strict sense, 10.35 is a decimal number, with decimal fraction being only a part of it after the point, that is, .35.
Thank you, Everyman and Pierre
A decimal fraction simply means the denominator is an integer power of 10 .
10.35 = 1035/100 not in the simplest form but it will do.
Matthew@31 you could try Azed on a Sunday , probably not a good idea today if it is your first go , but most weeks they are “Plain” .
And if you do try the Azed today make sure you read the instructions. I didn’t and got very confused very quickly 🙂
Bodycheetah@39 always read the instructions/question/rubric. I catch my students out every year with a fake rubric.
The Azed is not as bad as it seems because the wordplay is totally normal.
Apologies for missing out the last clue – a bit of too much cut and not enough paste. Added now.
Thanks Roz and Bodycheetah – not sure I can get on the app but will search and give it a go.
My Mother to all her children, grandchildren etc. always last words before an exam or test: “remember to read the question – R the Q!“. So many bad performances are due to answering the question one would like to see rather than the question as actually printed.
PDM: I am 49 and was exposed to PIG LATIN as a kid. Do I count as old?
My favorite example is that “trash” becomes “ashtray.”
[You’ll notice that the narrator of Moby Dick says “Call me ISHMAEL,” not “My name is Ishmael.” We’re invited to wonder if it’s not his name, and if he’s instead analogizing himself to Abraham’s estranged, peripatetic son. There are no unintentional biblical allusions in Melville…]
[Matthew@42 I hope this does not seem patronising but not really a good Azed for a first go today. If you can find the one from last week it would be perfect, and the blog is on here for when you have finished. ]
Roz – not patronising. I have just spent 5 mins trying to get rules / instructions straight in my head and deciding too much to attempt on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Will look at last week’s as suggested. Thx again
Beautifully blogged, with such succinct explanations. Not sure if ‘cad’ is familiar to all. Maybe better to expand?
My brother and I were taught PIG LATIN by our dad under the name ‘A-slang’. He said it was used in the British Army during the 2nd WW. Never heard it referred to as PIG LATIN or as a children’s thing. Was thinking of ‘dog Latin’ when I solved, but went with the obvious anagram.
Tassie Tim@3, if you’re referring to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, it’s ‘God said: “Abraham[, kill me a son”]’ (without “to”).
Frankie G@35, eh?
Jayuu@36, agree re number/fraction (pace Roz)
TC @ 46
The various official Dylan lyric books I have all say Highway 61 Revisited starts
‘ Oh God said to Abraham “Kill me a son” ‘.
Liked gateau
Didn’t get: unknot.
Re 9a Chilling: I thought the adjective in the ‘relaxing’ sense as used by da kidz was spelt without a g! ?
Re: 25a Pig Latin (Paddymelon @2 etc) – I only ever remember my Dad speaking in Pig Latin (I’m in my 50s).
19 minutes, about average. I enjoyed JOB SATISFACTION, I didn’t parse DILEMMAS and INVOICES was my LOI.
@46 Tony Collman, ‘cad’ is always explained in the rubric preceding each blog.
Tony Collman@46. There is a section in the site FAQ page that explains the abbreviations
Simon S@47, oh! Must be my memory that’s wrong? Listening to the official soundtrack, you’re right! However, Johnny Winter’s version doesn’t seem to have “to”. Maybe that’s where I got the wrong idea?
Pierre@50, 0h yes! Thanks.
11a – DECIMAL FRACTION – Only twice in any 12-hour period do the hands on an analogue clock subtend an upright right-angle,
neatly marking off a nice quarter FRACTION of the clock face: 03:00 three o’clock and 09:00 nine o’clock.
The quarter and half hours – 00:15, 03:30, 05:45, 06:15, 09:30, 11:45 – don’t work because the hour-hand isn’t pointing directly at the number.
These are the actual (mostly approximate) times that the hands are at right angles:
00:16, 00:49, 01:21, 01:54, 02:27, 03:00, 03:32, 04:05, 04:38, 05:10, 05:43, 06:16, 06:49, 07:21, 07:54, 08:27, 09:00, 09:32, 10:05, 10:38, 11:10, 11:43
I think Everyman has picked 09:30 and rotated it clockwise one twelfth of the circle, 30 degrees, to 10:35, to disguise what he’s doing.
Then changed the colon to a dot, to make it a DECIMAL – but it should have been 10.38
Another good Everyman – was mystified by 10.35 and thanks to FrankieG @54.
From a cooler Epsom in New Zealand
Rob
I didn’t see anything in 10.35 other than it being both a time of day and a decimal. Could have been 2:30 or 3:13 or anything of that ilk, couldn’t it?
Found this a mite harder than some recently. Couldn’t parse Dilemmas, tried forcing I and Meld backwards.
White Devil do you ever read these blogs?
I was wondering about bang = report in 4d can anyone clarify ?
Liked dilemmas, were, apiece and urns best
Was surprised no one complained about the pronunciation of Sirius !
Vanessa @57. The sound a gun makes is sometimes referred to as a “report”. So in this sense it is synonymous with “bang”.
Easy and hard.
Some.good clues and no bad clues.
But fun.
Just my level this week, and last.
Thanks to all
Barrie, probably not, it would take too long!
Is pig Latin the same as Dog Latin? e.g.nil illegitimati carborundum.
Got unknot from the letters eventually but hadn’t thought of granny knot and kept trying to have nan in my answer.
Had Highway 61 in the CD player ( LP wore out years ago) “to” is not there.
To Vanessa. Quoting Mr McEnroe “you can not be ….”
Rod, might give him something else to time.