All the usual Everyman things are here and indicated (except that I’ve missed one square, which won’t bother you) in the grid. Nice crossword despite a couple about which I’m unsure.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TICS |
Cosmetic surgeon suppresses mannerisms (4)
|
| Hidden in CosmeTIC Surgeon | ||
| 3 | PINOT BLANC |
Bin ends in Ruislip, Southall and Acton shifting? (5,5)
|
| &lit. (?) referring to wine — (bin [Ruisli]p [Southal]l Acton)* | ||
| 9 | USED |
Second-hand American edition (4)
|
| US ed. — US = American, ed. = edition | ||
| 10 | ASK ME LATER |
Mark Steel, a comic? I don’t have time for this (3,2,5)
|
| (Mark Steel a)* | ||
| 12 | BESTIALISED |
Made like an animal after changes to destabilise (11)
|
| *(destabilise) — Everyman’s trademark complete anagram | ||
| 15 | LEATHER |
Belt and coat? (7)
|
| 2 defs — the first one referring to hitting, the second one more tenuous unless I’m missing something: a leather jacket is a coat and could be called a leather | ||
| 16 | SIGHTED |
Seen, quoted, talked about (7)
|
| “cited” — ‘talked about’ tells us that it’s a homophone of a word meaning quoted | ||
| 17 | NO CAN DO |
Lack of honesty you are heard missing in refusal (2,3,2)
|
| no cando(ur) — no candour = lack of honesty, you are heard = UR (it sounds like “you are”) | ||
| 19 | ILL-WILL |
Everyman is going to leave bitterness (3-4)
|
| I’ll will — I’ll = Everyman is going to, will = leave, as in making a will — our self-referential clue | ||
| 20 | CUT AND PASTE |
Perform digital operations by reinstalling updates? Can’t! (3,3,5)
|
| *(updates can’t) — as soon as I saw ‘digital operations I was thinking of playing the piano etc, but they’re that sort of digital operations — by reinstalling a rather unusual anagram indicator | ||
| 23 | PADDINGTON |
Bear fruit finally after waffling on (10)
|
| padding [frui]t on — padding = waffling, fruit = fruit, on = on — the reference is to Paddington Bear | ||
| 24 | PISA |
A taste that’s repulsive somewhere in Italy (4)
|
| (a sip)rev. | ||
| 25 | CHEESINESS |
His essence, weirdly, having broad appeal (10)
|
| (his essence)* — perhaps some would doubt that cheesiness means having broad appeal, but Collins says “informal (of a smile) broad but possibly insincere” which is maybe close enough | ||
| 26 | STYE |
Something taunting your eye, primarily? (4)
|
| The first letters clue — nice and straightforward, nothing strained as sometimes | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | THUMBELINA |
Tiny individual ain’t humble, sadly (10)
|
| (aint humble)* — Thumbelina is a fairy tale about a tiny girl | ||
| 2 | CHESS MATCH |
In which a monarch hopes not to find a mate (5,5)
|
| CD — the monarch is the king, mate = checkmate | ||
| 4 | INSULAR |
Curtly malign a Republican that’s xenophobic (7)
|
| insul[t] a R — insult = malign, a = a, R = Republican (the US political party) | ||
| 5 | OSMOSIS |
Part of cosmos isn’t oozing (7)
|
| Hidden in cOSMOS ISn’t | ||
| 6 | BULLDOG CLIPS |
Films depicting icon of Britishness? They hold things together (7,5)
|
| 2 defs, one a description of the British bulldog with ‘clips’ the cinematic clips, one the items of stationery | ||
| 7 | ANTE |
Might this prompt someone to give you a hand? (4)
|
| I’m rather uncomfortable here and it may not be the correct answer, but I think it’s that once you’ve made your ante (stake in cards) the dealer is in a position to deal, ie to give you a hand of cards. Initially I said “an auto is according to Chambers “a drama, esp a short religious one”, so after performing this you might be applauded” but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong. A CD | ||
| 8 | CARB |
2 mostly rejected – 13 rejects it (4)
|
| (brac[e])rev. — nothing to do with 2dn, just 2 = brace — 13 is, though, about 13dn, and the Atkins diet rejects carbohydrates | ||
| 11 | FISH AND CHIPS |
Dish splitting loudly – tiny pieces (4,3,5)
|
| Well it has to be. I’ve got all the checking letters. It’s a dish; f = loudly; chips = pieces (as in a game); and it rhymes with 6dn. But I can’t see how it works. Let’s hope it comes to me when I finish the blog. [later] Perhaps it’s “fissure” or possibly “fissured” — a fissure is a splitting, and ‘loudly’ can be a homophone indicator, and tiny pieces = chips (as in bits chipped off a larger object), but what about the ‘n’? [fission not fissure. Thanks PeterO@1] | ||
| 13 | ATKINS DIET |
Regime in which, after a time, Parliament includes families (6,4)
|
| (a t. diet) containing kin — a = a, t. = time, diet = parliament, kin = families — that sort of regime | ||
| 14 | ADULTERATE |
Contaminate territory that will be accepted by fawn (10)
|
| adul(ter.)ate — adulate = fawn, ter. is a less than obvious but still OK abbreviation for territory | ||
| 18 | OCTAGON |
Figure can go to … has gone to the dogs (7)
|
| (can go to)* | ||
| 19 | IGNEOUS |
Made from fire, rampant soldier with gumption and energy boxed (7)
|
| (GI)rev. n(E)ous — GI = soldier, nous = gumption, E = energy — rampant reverses it because it’s a down clue | ||
| 21 | EPIC |
Big film cut: Pig in the City (4)
|
| E(pi[g])C — EC = the City (postal district of the City of London), the ‘cut’ refers to the word that follows it | ||
| 22 | IDLE |
Not starting to walk like a crab? That’s unimportant (4)
|
| [s]idle — sidle = to walk like a crab |
Thanks John
11D: Close: try fission.
+1 for PeterO’s parsing of 11d. When I was a kid we often used to refer to the meal as “nuclear chips” for that reason. 🙂
Thanks John for your parsing of 16 which I failed to see; mind you I’m with you on ‘ter.’ for territory being a bit dodgy, isn’t it usually ‘terr.’, although it’s probably “in Chambers”.
Thanks to Everyman for the workout; 3a took ages to fall.
PINOT BLANC
What’s the def? Bin ends?
Or is it a CAD?
(liked the WP tho)
Also liked NO CAN DO, CHESS MATCH and FISH AND CHIPS.
ANTE is the correct solution. The blogger’s explanation looks
all right.
Thanks John.
Thank you, John, there were several I couldn’t parse.
Could someone please give me the link for today’s Everyman? I’ve tried 3 different links but they don’t work. Thanks.
Crosser@4 here you go.
Heartfelt thanks, Jay@5.
Thanks for the blog, yes, I had similar feelings, having opted for ANTE.
There was lots of nice stuff though.
To my mind 3a is just completely wrong.
Tilloubill, 8
I think that simply “bin ends” makes a better definition, but then “ends” is doing double duty.
But hey, there’s a question mark, so all is forgiven.
Graham@2: sorry to disappoint you but yes, Chambers has both Ter. and Terr. as abbreviations of Terrace (in street names) and Territory.
Small point: in 25a I read ‘having’ as a link word. ‘Having broad appeal’ would define CHEESY(adjective) [Chambers – again – ‘having a popular appeal in spite of being artificial or inferior’]. The appeal itself is CHEESINESS(noun).
I’m still none the wiser as to why 3a is Pinot Blanc 🙁
Thanks for the blog .
Jordan@11 – bin ends is a term used by wine dealers for wines sold at a bargain price , this still does not make the clue any better .
I thought this was quite difficult. I failed to parse NO CANDO(ur). I liked Everyman leaving ILL WILL, PADDINGTON waffling on, the BULLDOG CLIPS icon of Britishness, and the ATKINS DIET for parliamentarians.
Thanks Everyman and John.
Thank you so much for this, helping me so much to get back into cryptic crosswords.
3a was just impossible, even after reading the blog! 🙄
Yes Lynette 3ac does seem to have been found pretty unsatisfactory by several people. The blog expains how the wordplay works, but what the definition is, or how the whole clue works, goodness knows.
i believe for 3 across bin might refer to the acronym of batch identification number?
Today, Bin numbers represent a specific style, blend, or recipe that the winemaker replicates year after year (e.g., Penfolds Bin 389 or Bin 28). These numbers do not indicate the wine’s quality or price.
Jon 16,
Aha! You may well have it, but if so, then I’d say that’s a tad esoteric for Everyman?
I failed on 3ac and still can’t see the parsing. PINOT comes from the last few letters of Ruislip and Acton reversed but then why is Southall mentioned and where does BLANC come from?
Can I ask if anyone else is struggling with the revised online version of Everyman? It seems to blank out cells while solving, and randomly changes letters once words are completed. The ability to submit online is great, but most weeks I’m finding that there are errors after submitting, that then can’t be corrected. Never going to win a prize at this rate!
Adrian’s @19 , the whole thing is a messy anagram . Ends of Ruislip and Southall give P + L , add on BIN and ACTON , Shifting BIN + P + L + ACTON gives the answer . Bin ends are bottles of wine sold cheaply . Perhaps best to forget this clue .
I did manage to complete this one but couldn’t parse several (notably NO CAN DO, CARB and EPIC). Can somebody explain please why ‘diet’ = ‘parliament’ in 13D? Thanks all!
If you look it up in a dictionary you’ll see what the secondary meaning is. You may have heard about the Diet of Worms (1521), which schoolchildren have always found very funny. In 1066 and All That, the famous satirical history book by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, the “Diet of Worms” is described as a historical event where the Germans were told that they “must eat nothing but worms”.
Thanks John. Been around 30 years since I read 1066 and that part clearly didn’t stick! (I also did not do very well in History A Level…)