The puzzle may be found athttp://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3581.
Perhaps I am getting use to the new Everyman’s style, because I found this easier than the past few weeks, with less elaborate wordplay and fewer well-disguised definitions – not that either is absent nor is the puzzle by any means a push-over.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SABOTAGE |
Disrupt a program in authority (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus BOT (‘program’; one of various kinds of computer programs which run around doing background tasks, some useful, some malicious) in SAGE (‘authority’). |
| 5 | PSYCHE |
Mind tipsy cheers to some extent (6)
A hidden answer (‘to some extent’) in ‘tiPSY CHEers’. |
| 10 | AVOCADO |
Trouble after confusion getting rid of hard fruit (7)
A charade of [h]AVOC (‘confusion’) without the H (‘getting rid of hard’) plus ADO (‘trouble’). |
| 11 | OMINOUS |
Threatening nothing, I’m retreating with common sense (7)
A charade of O (‘nothing’) plus MI, a reversal (‘retreating’) of ‘I’m’ plus NOUS (‘common sense’). |
| 12 | LOWRY |
Artist, ironic, having look ahead (5)
A charade of LO (‘look’) plus WRY (‘ironic’), for L S Lowry. |
| 13 | GENTILITY |
Information list about island with unknown culture (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of I (‘island’) in GEN (‘information’) plus TILT (‘list’) plus Y (‘unknown’). |
| 14 | WORD OF HONOUR |
Promise controversy, repelled by awful fur on hood (4,2,6)
A charade of WOR, a reversal (‘repelled’) of ROW (‘controversy’) plus DOFHONOUR, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘fur on hood’. |
| 18 | CHURCHILLIAN |
Seethe about scare by one with article in wartime leader’s style (12)
An envelope (‘about’) of CHILL (‘scare’) plus I (‘one’) plus A (‘article’) in CHURN (‘seethe’). |
| 21 | SYNERGISM |
Working together in criminal ring, messy (9)
An anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘ring messy’. |
| 22 | TUTTI |
All express annoyance with appeal overturned (5)
A charade of TUT (‘express annoyance’) plus TI, a reversal (‘overturned’) of IT (sex ‘appeal’), for the musical indication that the entire ensemble is to play or sing. |
| 23 | BAMBINO |
Book with endless range, not at all for young child (7)
A charade of B (‘book’) plus AMBI[t] (‘range’) without its last letter (‘endless’) plus NO (‘not at all’). I was held up here for a time because I read ‘range’ as rage. |
| 24 | UNEARTH |
Find university close to author’s heart (7)
A charade of U (‘university’) plus NEAR (‘close to’) plus TH (‘auTHor’s heart’). |
| 25 | EASTER |
See art newly produced for festival (6)
An anagram (‘newly produced’) of ‘see art’. |
| 26 | CHAPLAIN |
Cleric taking tea, not elaborate (8)
A charade of CHA (‘tea’) plus PLAIN (‘not elaborate’). ‘taking’ serves just to link definition and wordplay. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SWALLOWS |
Accepts summer visitors (8)
Double definition. |
| 2 | BOOKWORM |
One keen on reading new work in progress rapidly (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of KWOR, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘work’ in BOOM (‘progress rapidly’). |
| 3 | TOADY |
Notice, in play, fawn (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of AD (‘notice’) in TOY (‘play’). |
| 4 | GEORGE HARRISON |
Sheer roar going to shake one subjected to Beatlemania (6,8)
An anagram (‘to shake’) of ‘sheer roar going’. |
| 6 | SPIRITUAL |
Odds on one ceremony being religious (9)
A charade of SP (starting price ‘odds’) plus I (‘one’) plus RITUAL (‘ceremony’). |
| 7 | CHOPIN |
Writer of music cut out? On the contrary (6)
CHOP IN, as the ‘contrary’ of ‘cut out’. |
| 8 | ESSAYS |
Attempts to rise in busy assembly (6)
A hidden reversal in ‘buSY ASSEmbly’. |
| 9 | DOWN IN THE MOUTH |
Party win, then blundering on entrance? Not happy (4,2,3,5)
A charade of DO (‘party’) plus WNINTHE, an anagram (‘blundering’) of ‘win then’ plus MOUTH (‘entrance’). |
| 15 | OTHERWISE |
Sensible to support parent, miles away, in different circumstances (9)
A charade of [m]OTHER (‘parent’) without the M (‘miles away’) plus WISE (‘sensible’). ‘to support’ indicates the order of the particles in the down light. |
| 16 | VICTORIA |
Monarch in charge on hill breaking through (8)
An envelope (‘breaking’) of IC (‘in charge’) plus TOR (‘hill’) in VIA (‘through’). The surface recalls Landseer’s famous painting – which was much admired in Victorian times.. |
| 17 | ANTIPHON |
Husband in pain not disposed to make response (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of H (‘husband’) in ANTIPON, an anagram (‘disposed’) of ‘pain not’. |
| 19 | USABLE |
Working underground, initially dark (6)
A charade of U (‘Underground, initially’) plus SABLE (‘dark’). |
| 20 | ANIMUS |
Problem in area raised hostility (6)
SUM (‘problem’) plus ‘in’ plus A (‘area’), all reversed (‘raised’ in a down light). |
| 22 | TIE-UP |
Connection that is found among sheep (3-2)
An envelope (‘among’) of I.E. (‘that is’) in TUP (‘sheep’, the male of the species) |
Thanks Everyman & PeterO.
I agree that this was not as difficult as the previous few weeks. I thought 9 might have been DOWN IN THE dumps, but of course ‘entrance’ didn’t then parse. LOI was TUTTI.
I ticked AVOCADO, GENTILITY and ANTIPHON.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO.
I could not parse SABOTAGE and, like Robi, at first thought 9 might have been DOWN IN THE dumps.
Favourites, also like Robi, AVOCADO, GENTILITY and ANTIPHON, but will add SABOTAGE now that I understand it.
Thanks Peter,
I don’t remember any particular problems with this puzzle so I must be getting used to Colin’s style. It was entertaining which is the main thing and I particularly liked GENTILITY, GEORGE HARRISON (how could I not like a reference to George) and VICTORIA. Thanks Everyman.
For anyone who’s interested, here’s an amusing Beatles story :
They were performing on stage and trying to compete with an audience of screaming fans.
Afterwards Ringo turned to the others and said ‘I thought Hard Day’s Night went well’,
and John replied ‘We didn’t do Hard Day’s Night’.
‘And then Ringo goes ‘Well, I did.’
My favourites were 9d, 24a, 18a, 15d, 13a, 2d.
I failed to solve 23a and 19d and I needed help to parse 13a.
Thank you Everyman and PeterO.
For a while I wondered if this was the same setter. Not only was it easier, it seemed to have a different feel with many of the early clues just being a whole bunch of words just thrown together. 5a for example, 2d, 15d, 16d, I don’t know, they just seemed random words one after another. Then I got to the SW and SE corners proper and ground to a halt until I unravelled a bunch of unusual words and slightly harder wordplay. So overall a bit easier but just had a different feel being unlike either the old Everyman or the new one. I’m confused.
Well if he’s a new compiler I don’t like him. Too smart-arsed by half. The last couple of weeks have been nightmares, so it’s back to The Times and the Daily Telegraph cryptics.
Sorry I didn’t think it was easier today. Took me three hours and I still ended up with 6 unsolved. These crosswords are not for the likes of me. I’ve never heard of BOT in 1 ac. Nor have I heard of antiphon or synergism. And nor will I ever use them.
I’m fast becoming disillusioned with these crosswords. I can hardly solve any from the clues. I just find that after staring at them for long enough I think of the answer but in most cases can’t parse it. You need a PH.D to be able to do them.
I agree with Tony and Audrey.
Here here, Tony and Audrey, I’m over this guy, way too clever for me, they can stick these crossword where the sun don’t shine!
I couldn’t agree more with the comments just above, especially Tony’s. This was the worst I’ve ever done and I won’t even say how badly. There seem to be far too many layers to each clue for me to get my head around. Is it just a Kiwi thing??
T’was a dog of a thing.
hmmmm – I’m feeling very discouraged too. I just can’t get a handle on the latest crosswords. Too many clues to unravel just for one answer – and too many words I haven’t heard of.
I didn’t realize so many people out there would agree with me. I started doing the Everyman crosswords in England in the late 1950s (yes, I’m that old). I struggled, of course, at first but gradually found that the Everyman was a very good cryptic, a fun puzzle. I also did the Daily Telegraph’s cryptic and The Times, but felt that the Everyman was often just as much fun, if possibly slightly easier than the Telegraph’s and considerably easier than The Times. But over the last two weeks I’ve felt I was going senile. I’m glad I’m not the only one -having trouble with the Everyman, I mean, not going senile!
Have you noticed that there are not nearly as many comments on this blog as there used to be? This time there were only four from the UK. That probably indicates that many former crossword puzzlers ( if that’s the right word) have dropped out. What a pity! I used to really enjoy the Saturday Cryptic in the Herald. I’ve been doing it for years too.
hear hear!!! I read all the uk comments and was dreading what the kiwi counterparts would say – and to my relief, everyone feels the same way as I do. Odd that the brits like this style. I think it is rubbish.
i really enjoy and admire the clever clue-compiles when we get them, and there were one or two in here but the rest was meaningless and doing it was a waste of precious weekend time! i’m definitely ‘9d’ about this guy!
what to do! I only ever do the sat cryptic. only time I have free to mull it over. Can anyone recommend a herald day that has a good one? or are all 5 mon to fri usually the same, after this weekend i’d be prepared to stockpile a midweek one and save it for saturday….. saturday isnt the same without a decent puzzle to think over
If you look at the Blog 2 weeks ago, Sil someone mentioned the crosswords I’m the Financial Times, and gave the URL for them. Every so often they are set by Falcon, which is one of the pseudonyms for Alan Scott who used to set this cryptic crossword. You might be able to find them by Googling too. Maybe you would be able to print some of them off. The answers are blogged on Fifteen Squared, the same as these ones.
Vanessa I forgot to say that the Herald weekday crosswords are all the same, and not very clever.
This morning’s (Monday June 29) Herald cryptic was originally in The Scotsman way back in Marcg 2010. It actually had a couple of unusual words which took a bit of time but the rest was a ten minute write in so really not much of a challenge – eg Consent to father going on ship (4). Quick to lay off food (4). Additional protection on the cricket field (5,5). I don’t think any of the Kiwi contributors to this blog would derive much satisfaction solving at that level, but we don’t yet seem to have arrived at a happy medium, and as I said earlier many of the clues in the above Everyman were just a bunch of random words thrown together in an effort to make a cryptic clue. I suggest you guys start buying the NZ Listener and do their crossword over the weekend. Ours arrives on a Friday.
Regarding Barrie’s comments on today’s Herald cryptic, I didn’t know they are from The Scotsman now. Several months back (it may have been longer) I thought they had been “dumbed down” but persevered, although they are not as good as the old daily cryptics. I don’t do ’em any more and the examples Barrie gave shows it’s a pretty ordinary challenge. Is The Listener’s still locally sourced?
I still do the Listener cryptic from time to time, but don’t like it much. There are too many slang expressions, and it’s not as challenging as Alan Scott’s were.
FT cryptic 14969 for today 29 June is set by Falcon, in other words Alan Scott. Why don’t you google that and print it so you can write on it.
Well, I gave it a good crack and failed miserably. Not even a pass mark. That was tough. Much tougher than the last few weeks. A bunch of words I’ve never heard off in TUTTI, GENTILITY, ANTIPHON and TOADY. I also missed all the container clues and some of the anagrams which could have allowed me a bit more progress.
It was an off weekend for me and I’m hoping for better this Saturday. Till next weekend!
Reading some of the comments I feel for my fellow solvers. I too had a tough time with the latest crossie but I’m hoping for a more manageable one this weekend.
thank you Audrey – & enjoyed reading the many other comments …i have found that url that you directed me to and will print myself a copy for next weekend in the event it turns out to be another stinker for us.
Will have to get used to a printed copy not on newsprint… I am very used to the format fm the supplement…I use all the blank spots to write all over ….
You’re not the only one who writes all over the margins and spaces. I was listening to a former editor of the Herald on the radio today saying that soon all newspapers will be in digital form. We crossword puzzlers won’t like that.
As prompted by Stil I go to http://www.ft.com/intl/life-arts/crossword where a series of crosswords are listed chronologically (many by FALCON) which are obviously more akin that to which we have become accustomed and may be more to your preference. They are all numbered eg I’ve printed No.14945 set by Falcon and 14957(set by Crux) which has the solutions to 14945. Hence I can check any answers if necessary or I could go through the fifteen squared blog if I was unable to understand the complexity of the clue. When enlarged 150% and printed off on a sheet of A4 there’s plenty of working space around the edges.I hope that proves to be of some help. Again from a purely personal viewpoint I thoroughly enjoyed last Saturday’s puzzle and accepting the challenge of spending a couple of hours in working it out but realise that this may not be to everyone’s taste.
Have just done 14969. Had to google the capital of Ecuador but the rest was quite straightforward. Would send it in for a prize except they only accept snail mail and it won’t get there in time! So yes, fun for half an hour during the week but was easier even than the old Everymans. Example “additional clothing fielder required (5,5)”. Mm, sounds familiar?
I’m having to work backwards – guess the answer and see if it fits the clue. Not very satisfying when the next one arrives before the last is finished.
This crossword came to me only this week here in India. Found it harder than other Guardian crosswords. Tuttiand antiphon were new to me.
Incidentally, all my Sundays start with a cryptic crossword. The Hindu prints a 3 or 4 months old Guardian puzzle every Sunday.