The puzzle may be found as a pdf at https://tinyurl.com/Everyman4155.
A couple of quibbles noted in the writeup, and there is no geographical reference this time, but apart from that all is as usual.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | OBSESS |
Occupy thoughts of bosses following reorg (6)
|
| An anagram (‘following reorg’ – there does not appear to be any significance in the abbreviation) of ‘bosses’. | ||
| 5 | SEANCE |
Spirited gathering that’s not without its knockers (6)
|
| Cryptic definition (“one knock for yes, two for no” – and don’t forget the ectoplasm). | ||
| 8 | TABLE FOR TWO |
I’m often the basis for a romantic evening (5,3,3)
|
| Not very cryptic definition. | ||
| 11 | STEERSMAN |
Fellow directing tidying- up of mare’s nest (9)
|
| An anagram (‘tidying-up’) of ‘mare’s nest’. For the surface, a ‘mare’s nest’ is either an interresting discovery which turn out to be worthless, or a hoax; or a disorderly mess. The latter definition might fit better in the surface. | ||
| 12 | MOSEY |
Walk back expressions of agreement and contemplation (5)
|
| A reversal (‘back’) of YES (‘expressions of agreement’) plus OM (… and of ‘contemplation’). | ||
| 13 | DIABOLO |
Blood Rain, essentially hopeless diversion for children (7)
|
| An anagram (‘hopeless’) of ‘blood’ plus AI, which is ‘[r]AI[n]’ minus its outer letters (‘essentially’). For a time, diabolos were popular as childfen’s toys. ‘Blood Rain‘ (italicised as in the original) might be a novel or film – unrelated but neither of which is juvenile. | ||
| 14 | CUSTOMS |
Most people do these duties (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 15 | MIDTERM |
Shock trimmed for election (7)
|
| An anagram (‘shock’) of ‘trimmed’. Of course, the reference of interest is to the midterm elections coming up in the USA in November. | ||
| 17 | NOMADIC |
Zero that are crazy; 99 drifting (7)
|
| A charade of NO (‘zero’ – “yes, we have zero bananas”) plus MAD (‘crazy’) plus IC (’99’ – Roman numeral in a form which has come to be regarded as non-standard, although there are historical examples of its use, and the Romans themselves were not bound by the “rules”). | ||
| 20 | ALEPH |
Antediluvian letter equipping Phoenicians, Hebrews, initially? (5)
|
| The “primarily” clue, but this time ‘initially’; either way, the first letters of ‘Antediluvian Letter Equipping Phoenicians Hebrews’, with an &lit definition. | ||
| 21 | BLUE-GREEN |
Two tones together: silly bungler ringing phone company (4-5)
|
| An envelope (‘ringing’) of EE (British ‘phone company’) in BLUEGRN, an anagram (‘silly’) of ‘bungler’. | ||
| 22 | TOBOGGANIST |
Church musician’s headed for loo for want of alternative: things will go downhill fast for her (11)
|
| TO BOG, [or]GANIST (‘church musician’s headed for loo’) minus OR (‘for want of alternative’). The order of the particles is not clearly indicated (‘headed’ hardly serves, as ‘for loo’ by itself does not, I think, give TO BOG); and the use of the feminine ‘her’ is just for distraction. | ||
| 23 | GRETEL |
With temperature receding, hail landing on lecturer, one that’s lost in the woods (6)
|
| A charade of GRETE, which is GREET (‘hail’) with the T moved to the left (‘receding’ – but arguably advancing); plus (‘landing on’) L (‘lecturer’), for the sister of Hansel in the German fairy tale. | ||
| 24 | ENSURE |
Disapproval, but not about warrant (6)
|
| A subtraction: [c]ENSURE (‘disapproval’) minus the C (‘but not about’ – C for circa, approximately or about). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | BETTER AND BETTER |
Increasingly encouraging couple at the bookies? (6,3,6)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 3 | EMBARGO |
Red light for traffic – changes to amber – go! (7)
|
| An anagram (‘changes to’) of ‘amber go’. | ||
| 4 | STEAM ROOM |
Hot spot whereby ‘don’t sweat it’ is poor advice (5,4)
|
| Cryptic definition. Why ‘whereby’? Wherein, given by Wictionary as a non-standard meaning if whereby, would fit the answer better. | ||
| 5 | SWORN |
Cursed as new arguments rebutted (5)
|
| A reversal (‘rebutted’) of N (‘new’) plus ROWS (‘arguments’). | ||
| 6 | ARTEMIS |
Goddess, Astarte, misbehaved in some measure (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘in some measure’) in ‘AstARTE MISbehaved’. | ||
| 7 | CROSSWORD SETTER |
Mad dog covers news: quite the puzzler! (9,6)
|
| An envelope (‘covers’) of WORD (‘news’) in CROSS (‘mad’) plus SETTER (‘dog’). | ||
| 9 | USED |
Employed house detective to eject some characters (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘to eject some characters’) in ‘hoUSE Detective’. | ||
| 10 | BYES |
Perhaps makes Brown edgy and tense regularly (4)
|
| A charade of B[a]Y (‘brown’), using only its outer letters (‘edgy’) plus ES (‘tEnSe regularly’). You were hoping for a definition? The nearest that I can come is to identify Brown as a cricketer – probably Ben Brown, who, as a wicket keeper, would fit well with the surface, although the &littish definition would be clearer with “they make” (or some such) rather than ‘makes’. Altogether, I find the clue so nebulous that I am not sure that I am not missing the point altogether, or even have the right answer. However, I cannot see any viable alternative. | ||
| 14 | CONSULATE |
Diplomatic office not happy with clause (9)
|
| An anagram (‘happy’ – perhaps as intoxicated) of ‘not’ plus ‘clause’. | ||
| 15 | MEAN |
Stingy Everyman getting a round – not until the fourth (4)
|
| A charade of ME (‘Everyman’) plus ‘a’ plus ‘rouNd’, picking its fourth letter (‘not until the fourth’ – in case you were wondering, the US midterm election will occur on November 3 this year). | ||
| 16 | EXHIBIT |
Former partner greeting boring tool: it’s for show (7)
|
| A charade of EX (‘former partner’) plus HI (‘greeting’) plus BIT (‘boring tool’). | ||
| 18 | MUGGINS |
This chap‘s pullin’ faces at front of stage (7)
|
| A charade of MUGGIN’ (‘pullin’ faces’) plus S (‘front of Stage’). MUGGINS is an easily fooled person, often used self-deprecationally (“As usual, just leave it to Mugguns to get you out of trouble”). | ||
| 19 | CANE |
Rod for Old Testament murderer, we’re told (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘we’re told’) CAIN (‘Old Testament murderer’). | ||
| 21 | BAGEL |
Spooner’s delivering Clark, maybe, a roll (5)
|
| A spoonerism (‘Spooner’s delivering’) of GABLE (‘Clark’, “King of Hollywood”). |
Thanks for blog. I, likely incorrectly, thought 10d was dyes (regular letters of edgy and tense). Fits a bit better with the surface.
Also, wondered if 12ac could be musey
MOSEY seems all right.
DYES instead of BYES as JohnB@1 says.
TOBAGGANIST
for too=TO BOG
‘headed’ shows ‘TO BOG’ comes ahead of GANIST?
JohnB @1
DYES – yes but it does not raise the clue much in my estimation.
Musey does not seem to have made it into any dictionary I could trace other than the Urban Dictionary, and the meaning there and in other references I found online seem to have not the slightest relevance to the clue.
KVa @2
As I said in the blog, I was not convinced by for loo = TO BOG; but there does not seem to be an alternative.
PeterO@3
TOBOGGANIST
Sorry. I misread the blog.
One question:
Is there a difference between ‘headed for (the) loo’ and ‘headed to (the) loo’?
for loo=TO BOG seems a reasonable equivalence (even if there is a subtle difference between
the two phrases).
DYES
With ‘Perhaps makes Brown’ as the def, the clue seems to work all right.
Another who had DYES from regular letters of edgy and tense and definition as KVa says.
Liked: MOSEY, NOMADIC, EXHIBIT, MUGGINS
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Yep, dyes here too …
Another vote for DYES, even letters of edgy and tense and a process that could make something brown.
Got ENSURE though failed to see the parsing, so thanks PeterO for that.
And another vote for DYES, though I also think it’s far from a great clue. Re TOBOGGANIST I think, as KVa says, that “headed for loo” and “headed to bog” have a reasonable equivalence, so that “headed” isn’t a word-order indicator (that’s already given by “for want of alternative”), but heck, it’s a really clunky construction however you tease it apart. Thanks PeterO and Everyman.
I’ve checked on the Observer site and the correct answer for 10 down is DYES
I know many different words are used to indicate an anagram, but ‘happy’? And I’m not sure it works positioned between ‘not’ and ‘clause.’ Apart from that, all good!
Glad to be able to put a tick beside DYES as my version of 10d, as well 🙂
Anyone got a link for today’s print version, 4156….Please ?
PeterO – I don’t think it’s fair to say that the use of “her” in 22a is a “distraction”. An organist or a tobogganist is just as likely to be female as male. Credit to Everyman for redressing the balance a bit, we females have been under-represented in crosswords for too long.
My quibble is with 12a, shouldn’t “expressions” be in the singular? There is only one “yes” in the solution.
Tamarix @13
22A TOBOGGANIST: I do not think my views are so far off from yours. By “distraction” I was intending to point out that for many people – perhaps mostly male – the use of a feminine in a clue would suggest something significant to the answer – for example, that it used a feminine form such as actress. As you point out, in this case it could equally well be either sex, and going down that rabbit hole would be a distraction. My apologies if I mislead you. While I am about it, I have added the definition indication to the blog.
12A MOSEY: expression of agreement and expression of contemplation.
MOSEY, yes I get it now. Fair enough 🙂
DYES, and I didn’t think it was such a bad clue. Not all that memorable perhaps but quite OK. “her” does indeed redress age-old unfairnesses, but it would be good if setters could avoid using this, because it suggests that something is going on which isn’t. In this case “for her” could have been omitted, or maybe “for this person” would have served.
(I see I’m still signed in from the blog I did yesterday for Gemelo, to appear on Sunday, when you’ll also get my blog of yesterday’s Everyman.)
I don’t think ‘hopeless’ 13a and ‘shock’ 15a are acceptable as anagram markers. In effect now any word can indicate anagram if we are happy with these..very misleading. IC = 99 nonsense! Agree with quibbles about 22.