Everyman 4,119

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The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4119 (interactive version) and https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20250928.pdf (pdf).

Instead of a rhyming pair, we have contrasting MORE THAN/LESS THAN in 2D and 7D. 1A IMPAIR is the self reference , and 23A HEARTY the ‘primarily clue. This time there is no geographical reference, unless we go astronomical with 4D RED GIANTS, or meteoroligical with 23A ON CLOUD NINE wherever that might be.

ACROSS
1 IMPAIR
Brace, after Everyman’s blunt (6)
A charade of I’M (”Everyman’s’ – i.e. Everyman is) plus BRACE (‘pair’).
5 CAROLE
King of music’s festive tune ending in carnage (6)
A charade of CAROL (‘festive tune’) plus E (‘ending in carnagE‘), for the American singer-songwriter and musician Carole King.
8 READDRESSES
Chooses new recipient for frocks following study (11)
A charade of READ (‘study’) plus DRESSES (‘frocks’).
11 PUT ON AIRS
Act superior in broadcasts behind stage (3,2,4)
A charade of PUT ON (‘stage’ as in “Let’s put on a show!”) plus AIRS (‘broadcasts’).
12 ROTOR
Turbine component you may see going round again (5)
A palindrome.
13 CLAPTON
Applaud heavyweight, he plays guitar (7)
A charade of CLAP (‘applaud’) plus TON (‘heavy weight’), for Eric Clapton, who seems to pop up regularly in crosswords, most recently in the Guardian Prize 29805 of September 20 by Enignatist.
14 RAMPART
Incline, cunning defence (7)
A charade of RAMP (‘incline’) plus ART (‘cunning’).
15 DAWKINS
Biologist was kind to rock (7)
An anagram (‘to rock’) of ‘was kind’, for the biologist Richard Dawkins (or equally well his ex-wife Marian).
17 SANDPIT
Components of dribble where children play (7)
S AND PIT make up SPIT (‘component of dribble’).
20 WILCO
Is Olympic honcho going to read out agreeable message? (5)
Sounds like (‘to read out’) WILL COE (‘is Olympic honcho going to?’ – reference Sebastian Coe, as Olympian champion, but aso, more pertinently, as the person who spearheaded the successful bid for to 2012 London Olympics) WILCO is used in radio communications to signify understandng and agreement.
21 IRONWORKS
Plant contraptions for the evening, involving job (9)
An envelope (‘involving’) of WORK (‘job’) in IRONS (‘contraptions for the evening’ – ‘evenng’ as making even).
22 ON CLOUD NINE
Could you get this merry in inn? One could! (2,5,4)
An anagram (‘could you get this merry’) of ‘inn one could’. I have chosen to interpret this as an &lit, which is a slight stretch, but otherwise ‘merry’ might be regarded as the primary (but with extention) definition.
23 HEARTY
Primarily ‘hardy’; elsewhere ‘ample’ / ‘rich’ / ‘typically yeomanly’? (6)
The ‘primarily’ clue: first letters of Hardy Elsewhere Ample Rich Typically Yeomanly’.
24 RARITY
Bloody quality that’s seldom seen (6)
Double definition, the first referring to a steak, for example.
DOWN
2 MORE THAN WELCOME
The memo can lower hiccups – much appreciated! (4,4,7)
An anagram (‘hiccups’) of ‘the memo can lower’. I would tend to think of MORE THAN WELCOME as a response to ‘much appreciated’.
3 AGAINST
Opposing but touching (7)
Double definition.
4 RED GIANTS
Gradients grappled with; they’re highly intense (3,6)
An anagram (‘grappled with’) of ‘gradients’. RED GIANTS are more noted for extense than intense.
5 CHESS
Duchesses somewhat game (5)
A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘duCHESSes’
6 ROSTRUM
Stage showing, among others, Navarro’s trumpet (7)
Another hissen answer (‘showing among others’) in ‘NavarROS TRUMpet’. Fats Navarro was an American jazz trumpeter.
7 LESS THAN PERFECT
Hardly ideal, what this suggests: < kind of tense (4,4,7)
A charade of LESS THAN (‘<‘, mathematical notation) plus PERFECT (‘kind of tense’, grammatical).
9 EPIC
Portray, without limits, vast tale (4)
A subtraction: [d]EPIC[t] (‘ortray’) minus its outer letters (‘without limits’).
10 TROT
Rejected legal wrong in red (4)
A reversal (‘rejected’) of TORT (‘legal wrong’), for TROT as a Trotskyite (‘red’, Communist)
14 RESPONDER
One might be first to consider backing resolution (9)
Double definition, sort of; the second perhaps requires the preceeding ‘one might be’.
15 DOWN
Blue clue, like this? (4)
Double definition.
16 I CONCUR
Venerated figure and scoundrel agreed (1,6)
A charade of ICON (‘venerated figure’) plus CUR (‘scoundrel’).
18 NEWSIER
Most of red wine’s drunk, increasingly full of tidings (7)
An anagram (‘drunk’) of RE (‘most of REd’) plus ‘wine’s’.
19 TASH
The northern tree’s hairy growth (4)
A charade of T (‘the northern’ – the word ‘the’ is often reduced to a stop, repersented by T, in Northern English dialects) plus ASH (‘tree’); TASH is short for moustache.
21 IRONY
Twist 21 products like this? (5)
A reference to 21A, IRONWORKS, the products of which are IRON-Y.

picture of the completed grid

7 comments on “Everyman 4,119”

  1. The description of Fats Navarro as ‘a jazz trumpeter’ does him a great disservice. He was one of the very best, as I suspect Everyman knows.

  2. I found this less of Everyman and more of a regular cryptic. Not a complaint. Enjoyed the chewier clues.

    Thanks E and PeterO

  3. I found this on the tough end of Everyman. I agree with PeterO on the definition for 4d; RED GIANTS are not “highly intense” they are in fact the opposite – extremely diffuse.
    Thanks Everyman and PeterO.

  5. I liked this, even though I fell short of RESPONDER and the intersecting ON CLÖUD NINE.
    I also didn’t get the definition in the primarily clue HEARTY, but I note the QM, looked up yeoman and can see the allusion.

    I find Everyman/Alan Connor erudite, masculine, of a certain age, and Brit-centric in his cluing. Perhaps even more so now he’s ‘gone back’ to the Observer. But that’s okay. An extra challenge for me as an observer from the Antipodes.

  6. What RT @4 said on RESPONDER. Liked it; needed help with a couple of words incl. WILCO, which I NHO. Favourites the long pair and IRONY. Thanks Everyman and PeterO!

  7. Thanks Everyman and PeterO!

    Liked SANDPIT, ON CLOUD NINE and RESPONDER.

    Agree with RT@4 on RESPONDER. Also agree with the observation in the
    blog on RED GIANTS.

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