Everyman 3,586

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Last time I blogged here I said Everyman was getting easier…

Not so sure today, was made to work a bit for some of these, which may well produce some grumbles from old hand Everyman solvers.

completed grid

Across

1 Employees receiving nod resolved deadlock (5-3)
STAND-OFF

NOD* resolved in STAFF (employees)

5 Bullet ends in target under tree (6)
TRACER

Ends of (targe)T (unde)R & ACER (a tree)

9 Clubs in chains (5)
IRONS

Double definition

10 Company managed decline, losing large frequency (9)
INCIDENCE

INC. & L(arge) lost from [DEC(l)INE]*

12 One dispute, a perfect example, beset by hollow scorn (13)
DISPARAGEMENT

1 & SPAR (dispute) & A & GEM (perfect example) all in DENT (hollow)

15 Case about skill with clear, good English (9)
CARTRIDGE

C(irca) (about) & ART (skill) & RID (clear) & G(ood) & E(nglish)

16 Fish paste trader carries (5)
TETRA

Common crossword fish this – hidden answer – carried

17 Plain across middle of plateau (5)
OVERT

OVER (across) & middle of (pla)T(eau)

19 Search clothing when that is most uncomfortable (9)
QUEASIEST

AS (when) & IE (that is) all in QUEST (a search)

21 Tax in store, price that’s bad for part of nation’s economy (7,6)
PRIVATE SECTOR

VAT (a tax) in [STORE PRICE]* that’s bad

23 Profound corruption of real theft (9)
HEARTFELT

[REAL THEFT]* is corrupted

24 Crumbs soldier provided for dog (5)
CORGI

COR (crumbs, crikey) & G.I. (soldier)

26 Walk out on wasteland (6)
DESERT

Double def.

27 Innocent yen to follow river put into action (4-4)
DEWY-EYED

WYE (a river) & Y(en) all in DEED (action)

Down

1 Propagandist distorted drop in cost (4,6)
SPIN DOCTOR

[DROP IN COST]* is distorted

2 Fuss caused by commercial, then nothing (3)
ADO

AD(vert) & 0 (nothing)

3 Beginning to doubt psychic power, express loss of hope (7)
DESPAIR

begining of D(oubt) & E.S.P. & AIR (express, say)

4 Figure after fashion defending country honestly (4,3,6)
FAIR AND SQUARE

IRAN (country) in – defended by –  FAD (fashion) & SQUARE (a figure)

6 Beef, say, about broadcast made ahead of time (3,4)
RED MEAT

RE (about) & MADE* broadcast & T(ime)

7 Part from emperor endlessly breaking agreement (11)
CONSTITUENT

Emperor TITU(s) endlessly inside – breaking into – CONSENT (agreement)

8 Feel dizzy and look unpleasantly upset (4)
REEL

LEER reversed – upset

11 Solution mostly found in bond with man offering drink (5,2,6)
CREME DE MENTHE

Most of REMED(y) – solution – inside CEMENT (bond) & HE (man)

13 Conceal pressure on places in film scripts (11)
SCREENPLAYS

SCREEN (conceal) & P(ressure) & LAYS (places)

14 Architect crazy about singular style at home (10)
MASTERMIND

S(ingular) & TERM (style) & IN (at home) all in MAD (crazy)

18 Swindler‘s wits exercised on odd parts of theory (7)
TWISTER

WITS* exercised & alternate letters of ThEoRy

20 Slight cut in region of atmosphere (7)
SKETCHY

ETCH in SKY, not overly happy here, sketchy is well a bit sketchy for slight and SKY a region of the atmosphere? Hmm not convinced.

22 Drop building in garden? (4)
SHED

Double def

25 Beam up in shiny armour (3)
RAY

Hidden reversed answer

23 comments on “Everyman 3,586”

  1. This was a bit tougher than the previous week. Almost gave up, as I couldn’t think of any architects. Looked in ‘Bradford’ and no options available of the required length, then realised it must be a generic word. Then the penny dropped. Everything else unaided.

  2. I found this the hardest Everyman since I started doing them two months ago, but I still enjoyed it. The trickiest for me was DEWY-EYED as I got “wide-eyed” stuck in my mind, even after I knew it didn’t fit the crossers. Also, like AJK @1, it took me a while to see “architect” was meant more figuratively.

    Thanks to Everyman and flashling.

  3. Thanks Everyman and Flashling.

    I did this last Sunday without help. It was hard, but took longer to fully parse than to solve, except for MASTERMIND where I stuck for ages. I was too tired to note favourites.

  4. Thanks flashling and Everyman

    I enjoyed solving this puzzle last Sunday. It is always an added bonus to be able to parse all the solutions so I was quite pleased with myself.

    My favourites were 1d, 12a, 11d, 7d adn 8d (LOI).

    New word for me was TETRA.

  5. Hi

    This is a great site and was reassuring when Everyman suddenly started getting tougher – partner thought he was losing his marbles!

    In 14d why does style = TERM?

    We got the answer but just couldn’t fathom that out. No doubt we’re missing something obvious – can someone explain?

    Thanks!

  6. Welcome Marcol, from Chambers’ thesaurus for TERM:

    verb
    call, name, dub, style, designate, label, tag, title, entitle
    formal denominate

  8. Quite tricky but very enjoyable. Took me ages to get DEWY-EYED and SKETCHY.

    Thanks to flashling and Everyman.

  9. The time it took to cook dinner, plus a bit after the washing up, so definitely not as easy as the Everyman of old.

  10. By contrast, 3578 is easy and I completed it in less than 30 minutes, with no clue posing any especial difficulty.
    Wondering whether the new setter’s plan is to use both easy/hard puzzles so that it is not stamped with one or the other label.
    Everyman crossword is reproduced in a local (Chennai, India) paper after a timelag of some seven weeks. Solvers have made the same kind of comments that appeared on this blog after there was a change of hand.

  11. If I may ask … how did the ‘old’ Everyman compare in difficulty with the Guardian’s Quiptic and Monday Cryptic?

    I used to do the Everyman puzzles years ago, but I’ve only come back to them recently, after the change of setter. I’ve gathered that the current ones are (on the whole) harder than before, but I don’t have a good sense of the earlier standard.

  12. jennyk @11, I found the old Everyman nearly always easier than the Quiptic, which itself is supposed to be easier than the Monday Cryptic. I could usually completely solve it without help. I am probably the ‘slowest’ solver on this site.

  13. Everyman before the change of setter was certainly not as beginner-friendly as the Quiptics are or are supposed to be.

    The gridfills did not have obscure words and the worplay was not too convoluted. But it was marked by good cluemanship. The references to British culture could be managed by an educated person outside of the country.

    An experienced solver could complete the crossword in reasonable time.

    I may add a personal anecdote. Before the days of Internet and web edition, once the paper here in Chennai that reproduced it did not have access to the solution of the previous week’s, as the hard copy had not arrived. I, who was on its staff, was asked by a colleague if I could solve it and provide the solution. I am glad to say I was able to do it.

  14. Rishi’s opinion is more reliable than mine, I have been doing these crosswords for less than a year. The Quiptic has been very variable lately, and today’s Cryptic, Rufus, is definitely easier than the Quiptic or than the old Everyman ever was.

  16. Well once again I found myself putting in many of the answers without being able to parse them e.g. 15ac, 27 ac and 7 and 11 d.
    I would not describe this as an easy crossword. Also whatever is tetra. It’s not something I’ve heard of here In NZ. Is it a fish?

  17. Tetra: any of the various species of tropical freshwater fish of the family Characidae [Short form of Tetragonopterus, former name of the genus]. No worries!

  18. Bit of a mixture. Some were easy (2D, 9A, 26A, 22D) others took a bit of nutting out, and I was still left with a good half a dozen that defeated me. 10, 12, 27A and 11,13,20D all proved elusive.

    I got Audrey’s fish but I’ve never heard of the thing either.

    So to Flashling’s opening point, yes bit of a mumble from me.

  19. I think this Everyman is misnamed. Every man (or woman) does not think as he does! Too hard for me today, and I think the comments above reflect the frustration that we solvers feel when we are stumped by unfathomable clues. Lighten up man. Thanks Flashling for unravelling the unravel able!

  21. I’m puzzled by 19 across. I can see “Search (Quest) with ‘as’ (when) and ie (that is) but how “clothing” fit into the clue?

  22. Clothing is another way of saying enclosing or surrounding, as in quest enclosing ‘as’ & ‘ie’ = que as ie st.

  23. Mostly a simple enough crossie but I was very busy this weekend and didn’t get the time to nut out the south east.

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