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With the new regime, it seems that the interactive version of Everyman is only available for the current puzzle; the pdf version may be found at https://cdn.observer.co.uk/media/documents/Everyman_4099_11_May.pdf, but it remains to be seen how long it will be archived.
The change has not affected Everyman’s distinctive quirks (highlighted in the grid: 2D and 7D as rhyming pair, 6D as ‘primarily’ clue’, 3D as geographical location – with 6D doing double duty – 14D as the occasional one-word anagram, and 15D as personal reference), but the puzzle has, for me, one very unusual feature for an Everyman: the answer to 22A is clear, but the reference in the clue passes me by. I hope others will enlighten me (but please check first if someone else’s comment has already put me out of my misery).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | UPTAKE |
Some disrupt a keynoter’s understanding (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘disrUPT A KEynoter’. | ||
| 5 | PILOTS |
After reflection, stop accommodating 51 aviators (6)
|
| A reversal (‘after reflection’) of an envelope (‘accommodating’) of LI (Roman numeral, ’51’) in ‘stop’. | ||
| 8 | RESPONSIBLE |
Sober – to blame? (11)
|
| 11 | OTHERWISE |
Failing that is here to – initially – worry about (9)
|
| An anagram (‘about’) of ‘is here to’ plus W (‘initially,Worry’). | ||
| 12 | NAIVE |
Green Day’s forerunner approaching, did you say? (5)
|
| Sound like (‘did you say’) NIGH EVE (“day’s forerunner approaching’ – EVE as eg Christmas Eve). | ||
| 13 | DISDAIN |
Amid clamour, retro ads I scorn (7)
|
| An envelope (‘amid’) of ISDA, a reversal (‘retro’) of ‘ads I’ in DN (‘clamour’). | ||
| 14 | PANACHE |
Horned god with hunger to demonstrate swagger (7)
|
| A charade of PAN (‘horned god’) plus ACHE (‘hunger’). | ||
| 15 | MENTHOL |
Doc charged with ear, nose and throat: hospital’s left decongestant (7)
|
| A charade of MENTHO, an envelope (‘charged with’) of ENT (‘ear nose and throat’ – a hospital department) in MO (Medical Officer, ‘doctor’); plus L (‘left’). | ||
| 17 | RETAILS |
Carries, and plays ‘donkey’ game again? (7)
|
| RE-TAILS – a reference to the game “Pin the tail on the donkey”. | ||
| 20 | PAPAL |
Heard in Australia: folk related to His Holiness (5)
|
| With something approaching an Australian accent, PEOPLE (‘folk’) might sound like the answer. | ||
| 21 | HARBINGER |
Cut off heavy drinker, perhaps it’s a sign (9)
|
| A charade of HAR[d] (‘heavy’) minus its last letter (‘cut off’) plus BINGER (‘drinker perhaps’ – probably with HAR[d] BINGER as a phrase). | ||
| 22 | WHAT DO YOU DO |
Concerning situation, monarch’s demand? (4,2,3,2)
|
| This one baffles me. Is it a reference to King Charles III, and his |
||
| 23 | ARGYLE |
Lethargy! Lethargic to some extent, seeing pattern on socks (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘to some extent’) in ‘lethARGY LEthatgic’. | ||
| 24 | DREARY |
Unexciting bottom entertained in course of empty day (6)
|
| An envelope (‘entertained in course of’) of REAR (‘bottom’) in DY (’empty DaY‘). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | PURCHASING POWER |
China grows; upper bounds showing value of money (10,5)
|
| An anagram (‘bounds’ – I suppose as in leaps and bounds) of ‘china grows upper’. | ||
| 3 | AUSTRIA |
Street paved with gold bearing up somewhere in C Europe (7)
|
| An envelope (‘paved with’ – as unusual envelope indicator, but I think the best interpretation for its presence) of ST (‘street’) in AU (chemical symbol, ‘gold’) plus RIA, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of AIR (‘bearing’) | ||
| 4 | EMOTIONAL |
I’m alone, to regrettably become het up (9)
|
| An anagram (‘regrettably’) of ‘I’m alone to’ | ||
| 5 | PASTE |
What may follow cut meat prepared for sandwiches? (5)
|
| Double definition (cut and paste). | ||
| 6 | LEBANON |
Location encompassing Beirut, a nation – originally Natufian, primarily? (7)
|
| First letters (‘primarily’) of the first seven words of the clue. The Natufian culture flourished in the area aroung 20,000 years ago. | ||
| 7 | THE WITCHING HOUR |
Midnight: time with which cat may be familiar (3,8,4)
|
| A play on ‘familiar’ as the’ associate spitit of a witch, often taken as having the form of a black cat. | ||
| 9 | HOLD |
Grasp where your luggage will be stowed? (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 10 | PELE |
Footballer’s games destroying Blues regularly (4)
|
| A charade of PE (‘games’) plus LE (‘bLuEs regularly’). | ||
| 14 | PORTRAYED |
Depicted as predatory savage (9)
|
| An anagram (‘savage’) of ‘predatory’. Everyman likes to throw in an occasional one-word anagram. | ||
| 15 | MOPE |
Sulking, Everyman’s taking on work (4)
|
| An envelope (‘taking on’) of OP (opus, ‘work’) in ME (‘Everyman’). MOPE as a noun would be the nearest definition. | ||
| 16 | HILLARY |
Like uplands – welcoming sherpa thither, ultimately – that’s me (7)
|
| An envelope (‘welcoming’) of AR (‘sherpA thitheR ultimately’) in HILLY (‘like uplands’). The whole is an extended reference to Sir Edmund HILLARY, who, with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, made the first confirmed ascent of Mount Everest (‘uplands’!). | ||
| 18 | TRIBUTE |
I butter up, presenting ode? (7)
|
| An anagram (‘up’) of ‘I butter’. | ||
| 19 | SIRI |
Part of eye raised to access virtual assistant (4)
|
| A reversal (‘raised’ in a down light) of IRIS (‘pert of eye’). ‘To access’ is connective tissue, of which Everyman seems to be providing in plenty this week. | ||
| 21 | HEDGE |
Guard stall (5)
|
| Double definition. |
Well the one which baffles me is 17a – how is carries = retails
22A is the question supposedly asked by monarchs when they are meeting and greeting people.
Fiona @1
You might say that a shop carries a particular item.
Richard B @2
Simple as that. Thank you.
PeterO. Your blog on 22a has an unfortunate typo. It may be apropros, but it wouldn’t be considered PC.
I find it hard to believe royalty still go around asking people what they do. That’s a no-no surely in modern times?
As a linguistically-trained person with specialisation in acoustic and articulatory phonetics, I’m amazed that the Australian pronunciation of people is heard as papal.. I get it, but I would render it differently, more like a triphthong.
Liked the misdirection of the band Green Day in NAIVE. No prob with that homophone.
Is the QM in the clue for TRIBUTE indicating definition by example for ode? I did find the surface sort of amusing.
Why is meat prepared for sandwiches PASTE?
Pdm@5: Meat and fish paste were common spreads to put on sandwiches. Shippams is the brand that springs to mind.
It is 9:13 in Vietnam and this week’s Everyman has appeared.
I think that 15D is MOPY.
paddymelon @4. I agree, and came here just to comment on the same clue. As a 35 year naturalised Australian (originally POMmie), there is no way even the most ocker Australian pronounces ‘people’ as ‘papal’. Having said that, the answer to the clue was obvious, if groan inducing.
I agree 15d should be MOPY.
And having just checked, it’s given as the correct answer in today’s pdf.
Thanks for the blog , like Coby@8 I put in MOPY . PORTRAYED a very neat clue with a single word anagram . Nicbach@6 , I remember Sutherland’s Spread , 70s adverts .
I had a lot of complaints this week about this and the Quiptic and the Quick Cryptic , many newer solvers unhappy .
My complaint about 15d is that it should be “Everyman’s taking in work ” but did put in MOPE. I often grumble about homophone clues, where the options have the same number of letters, but you can not work out which from the crossers.
I think 3D is a linear set of components rather than an envelope, with ‘paved with’ indicating gold is on top of street, with ‘RIA’ following.
The Guardian crossword blog this month starts with a paragraph on the Everyman (and Azed) and where to find the archive on pdf. It has lots of links, and Akismet will spam me out if I link everything separately on this blog.
I did this last week and don’t remember it being out of line with Everyman puzzles.
[Last week’s Quick Cryptic was tough, Pasquale introducing a new clue type, deletions, with only anagrams with all the letters present, the others were charades and reversals. This week Ludwig has introduced the tougher percentage clues but with anagrams, acrostics and hidden clues as the other 3 clue types, and most people seem happier. I doubt the Quiptic is going to make anyone happy, I’m just relieved I’m not blogging it.]
Thank you to PeterO and Everyman.
Beaten by 17A and 18D this week. I did have the answer for 18D in my head but couldn’t find anyway to make the connection from tribute to ode and was not sure presenting was an anagram indicator either. Not that it matters much as there was no way I was getting 17A even with all the crossers in place.
All good fun though.
Parrot Swarm@13
AUSTRIA
Agree with your parse.
MOPY
Humph@12
‘taking on’ seems fine in the sense of ’employ’ or ‘acquire’.
I think 13D is missing the ‘I’ from in DIN in the explanation.
Thanks all (and thanks to frequent commenters – you always help me when I don’t understand the blog first time round).
Had MOPE as well but can see how MOPY is better ( even though I don’t recall coming across this word before ). I had RETAINS instead of RETAILS & wondered what TAINS had to do with donkeys until my partner pointed out my mistake.
I didn’t get a score so I must have had an incorrect letter(s) but now I cannot go back and find out. Next time I guess I have to print the darn thing.
The Grauniad’s revamped interface has some problems I hope they fix but at least your previous grids remain in your local cache.
I used to enjoy revisiting my old tabs and partially completed grids for older Everyman puzzles back on the Guardian site to see if I could make any more progress so only having the current puzzle available to ‘play’ is a bit annoying. Not the worlds largest problem but i hope they are able to change this at some point
We got MOPE & it works well for us! PANACHE is a goodie; PAPAL really should be as per Kiwis not Ozzies IMHO.
Overall a good crossword with plenty to get the brain fizzing. Hope everyone in Marlborough is ok after the awful weather yesterday.
Many clues were too vague, too obscure, or just plain wrong
(20 across).
I’d associate bingeing with eating or watching endless shows on Netflix rather than drinking. Agree Mopy works better. A few other unsatisfying bung-ins. Papal works okay, but not in New Zealand thank you.
Pretty tricky.
Once I had the down clues I suspected PAPAL but. I discovered PIPAL as a synonym for the PEEPUL tree – which only confused me further..
Liked THE WITCHING HOUR and NAIVE.
I wasn’t impressed with WHAT DO YOU DO. Even with the explanation given I think DEMAND is stretching the setters authority to mislead.