I got back into cryptics twenty years ago by trying the Everyman every Sunday, but didn’t always complete it for quite a time. I do remember the first time I did finish one, and got so excited that I posted it off to try to win the dictionary I already had. Failed on that account, but I’ll always be thankful to the setters of this puzzle, because here I am now blogging it once a month. And still enjoying the solving process.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Dance music in tavern
TAPHOUSE
A charade of TAP and HOUSE.
5 Supports couples
BRACES
A dd.
9 Gobble up mockery
SCOFF
And another.
10 Son succeeding daughter in laziness and rudeness
INSOLENCE
Everyman is inviting you to replace the D in INDOLENCE with S.
12 Decide to put cosmetics on solver: skin contains mark
MAKE UP YOUR MIND
A charade of MAKE UP, YOU for ‘solver’ and M inserted into RIND. The insertion indicator is ‘contains’.
14 Concerning political process, the Spanish muscle wanting bit of protection
ELECTORAL
A charade of EL for one of the words for ‘the’ in Spanish and [P]ECTORAL.
15 Primarily baleful, like Eeyore and knelling?
BLEAK
The initial letters of the last five words of the clue and a cad.
16 Cockney’s language is not mainstream
INDIE
An aitch-dropping Cockney might pronounce HINDI like INDIE.
18 ‘Extremely stable‘ Stateside freak
STEADIEST
(STATESIDE)* with ‘freak’ as the anagrind.
20 Oh! Find Morecambe – without a struggle – unexpectedly win
COME FROM BEHIND
(OH FIND MOREC[A]MBE)* with ‘struggle’ as the anagrind.
23 Singing gondolier heard somewhere in S America
VENEZUELA
A soundalike clue (‘heard’) for VENICE WAILER.
24 Weapon hidden in flipping wastepaper basket
SABRE
Hidden reversed in wastepapER BASket.
25 Abide the dregs not having uniform
RESIDE
RESID[U]E
26 Everyman to promise to put away, for a start, nasty ties etc
MENSWEAR
An insertion of N for the initial letter of ‘nasty’ in ME for ‘Everyman’ and SWEAR. The insertion indicator is ‘to put away’.
Down
1 At heart, Photoshop’s rubbish
TOSH
Hidden in PhoTOSHop.
2 In favour of flat having no trace of laughing gas
PROPANE
A charade of PRO and P[L]ANE gives you the gas you might have been using to fire up the barbie during the recent hot spell.
3 Fort with fence constructed, not in the middle
OFF-CENTRE
(FORT FENCE)* with ‘constructed’ as the anagrind.
4 Here skeletons may descend from on high; situation likely to worsen
SLIPPERY SLOPE
A cd cum dd. The ‘skeletons’ are the tea-tray like sleds on which brave souls propel themselves down a terrifyingly scary frozen track.
6 Person in charge appearing in the end, after you yell blue murder
RULER
The final letters of the last five words of the clue.
7 Swiss bread‘s aroma absent at first – then I’m getting hint of edelweiss
CENTIME
A charade of [S]CENT, IM and E for the first letter of edelweiss. The Swiss Franc is divided into 100 CENTIMES.
8 Sportingly compete and see Kaepernick finally pasted, sadly
SPEED SKATE
(SEE K PASTED)* with ‘sadly’ as the anagrind. Rather a broad definition, I would aver.
11 Bear has weapon: it’s wedged in your body
SHOULDER BLADE
A charade of SHOULDER and BLADE.
13 Once more find echoey effect mostly overwhelming dance music
REDISCOVER
An insertion of DISCO in REVER[B]. The insertion indicator is ‘overwhelming’.
15 Curt biddy shuts out believers
BUDDHISTS
(BIDD[Y] SHUTS)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
17 What may be played in pub as one of the Three Tenors is no good?
DOMINOS
DOMIN[G]OS. The Tenor is Placido Domingo. I would always write DOMINOES for the plural, but dictionaries give both spellings, so fair play.
19 Elevate, somehow, ankle bone – but not back – every now and then
ENNOBLE
([A]N[K]LE BONE)* with ‘somehow’ as the anagrind. The instruction to remove the A and K from back is given by ‘not … now and again’.
21 Startled as first and last characters taken in by policeman
FAZED
An insertion of AZ in FED. The insertion indicator is ‘taken in by’.
22 Act the lech and stagger up
LEER
A reversal (‘up’) of REEL.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for this week’s puzzle.
Many thanks, Pierre, I needed your explanation for 4d.
Once again, none of the links I have will give me access to today’s puzzle so could some kind person (Jay?) please help? And perhaps explain what I need to do to save asking for help each week? I should add that I live in France.
I’ve been doing the Everyman for decades and really don’t want to stop!
Crosser, here you go.
Again, thank you, Jay.
DNF. Found this really tricky. Been happening for some weeks now. I breeze along adding about 10 clues quite cheerfully and then grind to a halt and manage to limp along for the rest of the week adding a handful more but never finishing. Pierre’s inspirational message at the beginning gives me hope though. Thanks all.
It can be a long learning curve, Cara. But that’s part of the fun, I think. There are so many things to learn as a beginner: the different clue types, all the little abbreviations, how to read the cryptic grammar, rivers being flowers, journalists always being eds, and aliens always being ET … But as long as you’re enjoying the journey, keep on keeping on.
Thanks Pierre…your kind words will spur me on!
Cara, If it’s any help, I was finishing the Everyman regularly, but the last four weeks or so I haven’t been able to. I have a friend who is a little better than me and we chat about the harder to parse items.
I did enjoy this one, and despite living in Switzerland, I didn’t get CENTIMES!
Thanks for the blog , COME FROM BEHIND was very neat and I liked the skeletons for SLIPPERY SLOPE .
Keep going Cara@4 , I help a few people at work who only do the Everyman , like Tipsy@7 they have found it tough going recently . We are due a good spell .
For once a homophone actually works better than the setter may have intended. The Z in VENEZUELA is pronounced in Latin America as an ‘s’. The name literally means ‘little Venice’ and is said to have been bestowed by Amerigo Vespucci when he saw indigenous settlements on wooden pilings in Lake Maracaibo, though other derivations are sometimes touted.
The -ER of course doesn’t work at all.
It does work, poc, because it’s a soundalike and not a homophone. Please let’s not start that whole discussion again. It’s been done to death.
Tipsy @7 – that is VERY welcome!
Roz @8 – you are always so reassuring!
All these lovely motivational messages! I’ll crush it this week : )
Ì found this an Everyman pitched at the right level.
When it came to 20a, did anyone else think of “doing a Bradbury”? That term entered the Australian vernacular after the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City when Stephen Bradbury won the Gold medal in a speed skating final when all the other competitors fell over.
I know the letter count is entirely wrong.
Try googling doing a bradbury
Thanks Everyman and Merci Pierre.
Pierre@10: -UELA does not sound like ‘wailer’ to me and to many others. I’ve no intention of debating this yet again, but neither will I simply accept that my pronunciation is wrong.
Thank you so much Pierre. Every week I feel I am getting better at understanding some of the ways of the Everyman but then. .. 🙄
It helps SO much to read this.😁👍
In sixty years of doing the puzzle I found this one of the more intractable. Perhaps the years of experience were not enough to offset possible decline in skill? Or, maybe this was way outside the general Everyman difficulty.
Cogmax, 15, I discern a general feeling that your last sentence has it.
Good Everyman, perhaps a little tougher than some. I liked MAKE UP YOUR MIND to put cosmetics on, COME FROM BEHIND with no Eric in sight, the MENSWEAR nasty ties, and the bear’s SHOULDER BLADE.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
Cogmax@15, I’ve been doing Everyman crosswords nearly as long as you, and in my opinion they have definitely got more challenging lately.
Thanks E & P
I’ve been doing Everyman since 2017, including hundreds of downloads dating way further back. I’m used to finishing in nearly every case – until about 4 weeks ago since when DNF has been mostly the case. Either they’re getting harder or my marbles are leaking away fast . . . I hope not!
I struggled to find any reference to skeletons in anything other than the usual contexts. Having read the solution I Googled “skeleton snowboard” which brought up the Burton Skeleton Key. I don’t see how I could have guessed the context out of the blue?
Thanks Pierre! I finished the Everyman today and was very excited to do so, submitting, of course, in the hope of winning a book token… when what I really need to do is get rid of hundreds of books!! So, perhaps I’ll be blogging crossword solutions 20 years from now… 😊
Well done Nic@21 , use the book tokens to buy a Chambers Dictionary and start doing Azed/Gemelo .
DavidMW@20: a bit late, I know, but if you’re still here….I don’t know what your sources of reference are, but under the headword SKELETON Chambers has an entry for SKELETON BOB or BOBSLEIGH: a small flat sledge with no steering mechanism on which one person races head-first down an ice-covered course.