Everyman 3,578

24 comments on “Everyman 3,578”

1. Got on to the ‘new’ everyman’s wavelength here, and enjoyed the puzzle.

2. Thanks Everyman and flashling.

   I liked 2d, 19d, 4d, 3d and my favourite was 1a.

   I had problems in SW corner and gave up on 17 & 20a and 17d. I needed help to parse 16a as well as the CHARLOTT bit of 3d.

   AJK@1 – is this a new setter? No wonder I could not completely get on to their wavelength!

3. Sorry Flashing but I’m going to totally disagree with your analysis of this being “a usual easyish crossword”. I gave up on this one with only 9a,10a,18a , 7d ,13d and 22d solved. Now I’m perfectly happy for that to be down to my inadequacies but I have been trying to solve for several years and usually get there or thereabouts.
   Maybe Everyman has just joined the mainstream of crosswords and is no longer aimed at the novice solver? To me this was like taking blue run skiers on black runs -the ski leader was such a good skier that they had forgotten what a blue run skier was like. Looking at queries on the Answerbank and the Crossword Solver Forum (which I look at but don’t post in) suggests I’m not alone. I hardly think the Ebro is a well known river
   I didn’t know what the word allegory meant in 4d and I’d suggest that I’m not alone.

   For 23d I guessed laud which seemed plausible without 24a and 26a.

   Hopefully this weeks will be more of the expected level of difficulty.

4. Thanks Everyman & flashling.

   Horses for courses but I didn’t this was as hard as some of the other recent ones.

   I ticked OLIVE BRANCH, TOFFEE NOSED & CHARLOTTE BRONTE.

5. Yes Michelle- Allan Scott has retired from being Everyman. Colin Gumbrell has taken on the mantle of Everyman.

6. I found this pretty straightforward once I got on the setter’s wavelength, but I agree that the puzzles have got a tad harder since the new setter arrived. However, I disagree about the Ebro not being a well-known river, and it is probably the only Spanish river I know.

7. I also really struggled with this one. Not at all on the new wavelength. Escort = Attend is not something with which I’m familiar but that is just one example of many where I struggled. I probably only got about half; usually (well, old everyman) I would finish or get down to one or two.

8. Thanks Everyman and Flashling.

   This took me all day, and even then the SW corner was virtually empty; having entered ARTIFICE (deception) at 15d did not help (yes, I know it will not parse). I was too tired to have any favourites.

   I have been doing crytic crosswords for nearly a year now, and until recently could manage the Everyman, the only one in the week solvable without help from the check button. I will probably have to leave it to the following Sunday from now on.

9. Thanks flashling,

   At the moment I’m not enjoying the new compiler as much as the old but we shall see. I found there to be too many short clues in this puzzle and the level of difficulty has definitely gone up. I’ve never known Bamberger get so few answers and this must be frustrating for someone who is trying to improve.

   I did however quite enjoy this puzzle and there were lots of clever constructions such as HEART RENDING so thanks Everyman.

10. My quickest Everyman in months, so either I’m getting used to the new setter, or this was easier. That said, the wordplay on one or two was more convoluted than under the old regime.

11. I like the new setter but miss the film theme (I see Spawn and Animal Farm but it is likely coincidence) However, Colin Gumbrell is also Antico in The Oldie which I have been enjoying for over a year so I think I am well tuned in to him already.

12. I used to enjoy having a go at these Everyman crosswords once a week because I could usually get most of the clues given enough time and there was a fighting chance I could get all of them about 50% of the time if I stuck with it. I have had a go at crytic crosswords in other newspapers and got nowhere. Now this one is like the others, if I stick at it for a couple of hours maybe I will get half a dozen of the clues – but where’s the fun in that? It’s not rewarding if there’s no chance of success. Time to stop wasting my time. Maybe time to look for a different Sunday newspaper. I’ve been reading the Observer for 50 years and I feel totally let down by them.

13. Hmmm. Managed to complete this one but I must say it was quite often a matter of filling in the holes and figuring out the rationale afterwards (or not!). Nevertheless I enjoyed it. Thank you.

14. I managed to finish today but had to resort to a lot of help. I can see that these crosswords with the new setter are going to take me a lot longer than previously, and I might need to be patient and take an extra day. I thought I was quite clever to solve 9 ac. I also liked 25 ac and 11ac.

    Unfortunately here in NZ we can’t look for a different paper and Kropotkin is beyond me so I’ll just have to soldier on and hope that I will get to enjoy them in time.

15. Yep, like most I got this all out after a couple of sittings although I did have to check that sacristy was a word as I’ve not come across it before. Not sure I’ve seen E for Spain either but it felt logical. This level of difficulty is about right for me but it does take half as long again than the previous Everyman and the parsing is more layered.

    Thanks Flashling but please don’t say these are easy-ish as a number of us are still finding them harderish, at least in comparison.

16. I have to say I am really struggling with this new setter but each week achieve a little more so hopefully I am slowly getting on to his wavelength!! Fingers crossed!

17. Barrie, the E for Spain stands for Espana and E is the Internaation ID code. For Spain.

18. Sorry I meant International.. This iPad keeps putting in the wrong letters.,

19. Thanks Audrey. I figured E = Espanol which was close enough for me, but your version does look betterer.

20. “Everyman” is now a misnomer for this crossword because it has been taken over by a supercilious toffee nosed intellectual, who, by the way, does not seem to have a sense of humour :-(@

21. Well folks to be honest, I’d just blogged a stinker elsewhere and this was a welcome relief.

    The last 2 published (in the UK) seemed a lot easier, seems the new setter is reacting to your feedback but you will NZ chaps and chapesses have another couple of trickier ones to come I’m afraid.

22. I concur with the other posters here. This setter’s crossies appear to be getting easier. No more entire weekends spent trying to solve them. I had this one nutted in a couple of sit downs.

    I must say, I do enjoy the tougher ones though. I like to just sit there and stare at the crossword for minutes at a time trying to figure out a clue.

    Thanks to Everyman and Flashling. Till next weekend!

23. When I started this one yesterday morning I was sure I would be left high and dry, but as I progressed with Andy the anagram solver, I soon found I was down to my last clue. 23d got me, is a pier a support? I was dismayed when I read your headline comment Flashling, but was relieved when I read Bamberger s comments. Looking forward to the coming weeks.

24. Contrary to Flashling’s (and others’) assertions, this was extremely hard. I got it out using a wild-card dictionary a great deal. Could not parse many of the answers that I did get. E.g. “motives”, “alienate”, “Charlotte Brontë” — I got the latter from the cross-letters and the word “novelist”.

    I agree with Bamberger@3 and Chris@12.

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