I found this quite tough going for an Everyman
Partly, I guess, because I started – as I always do – in the NW corner and got nothing after ARCH, until I worked my way round, in increasing desperation, to the bottom half, where a run of relatively solver-friendly anagrams gave me the toehold I needed to climb back up. The NW still held out, though, for longer than I’d hoped, with my last three in being AUTOGRAPHS, CREDIT CARD and TWEE.
Anyway, all the standard Everyman tropes seem to be present, as shown on the grid – the linked pair of solutions, the geographical reference, the single-word anagram, the self-referential clue and the primarily clue. I have a few small quibbles here and there, but nothing serious.
Favourites this time out – ACRONYM, OCTUPLE and RED CARPETS. I will be on my hols by the time this blog appears, so I won’t be able to respond to any comments immediately, but I’m sure you’ll all manage very well without me. Thanks as ever to Everyman.
Moh’s slightly brain-drained cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ARCH |
Cunning in Bow (4)
|
| Double definition, ignoring the capital on Bow | ||
| 3 | SALAMANDER |
Amphibian making up most of sausage with a half of beer (10)
|
| SALAM[i] (most of sausage) + AND (with) + [be]ER | ||
| 9 | TWEE |
Professorial material largely affectedly quaint (4)
|
| TWEE[d] (professorial material largely, if you think professors swan around in tweed suits. I have known – and still know – an awful lot of professors and I can’t think of one who wears tweed) | ||
| 10 | YOURS TRULY |
Everyman? This means I’m about to say goodbye (5,5)
|
| As well as being a standard epistolic sign-off, YOURS TRULY is also, of course, a (slightly arch) way of referring to oneself | ||
| 12 | GUILLOTINED |
Used a revolutionary means of capital reduction (11)
|
| Cryptic definition, “capital reduction” here suggesting heads being chopped off in post-revolutionary France | ||
| 15 | ASCRIBE |
A writer’s credit (7)
|
| A + SCRIBE | ||
| 16 | MANDELA |
Frenchman then knocked back drink for hero of democracy (7)
|
| M (monsieur, so Frenchman) + AND (then) + reversal (knocked back) of ALE | ||
| 17 | HORATIO |
A little psycho rat I obtained for Danish friend (7)
|
| Hidden in (a little…) psycHO RAT IObtained for Hamlet’s friend | ||
| 19 | BASMATI |
I’m bats about devouring a kind of rice (7)
|
| Anagram (about) of IM BATS around (devouring) A | ||
| 20 | ASTRINGENCY |
Disturbed, angry insect’s nature prone to biting (11)
|
| Anagram (disturbed) of ANGRY INSECT, with what seems to me a slightly awkward definition | ||
| 23 | RED CARPETS |
Yorkshire cats and dogs getting VIP treatment (3,7)
|
| Cats and dogs from one particular Yorkshire town might be termed REDCAR PETS | ||
| 24 | LIAR |
Ancient Greek instrument can be heard? Don’t trust me (4)
|
| Soundalike (can be heard?) of “lyre” | ||
| 25 | MONTENEGRO |
Mentor, gone bananas, somewhere on the Adriatic (10)
|
| Anagram (bananas) of MENTOR GONE | ||
| 26 | OGLE |
Offensively gaze, lecherously eyeing, primarily? (4)
|
| First letters of the first four words | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AUTOGRAPHS |
Handles made by your own fair hand (10)
|
| I think this is a cryptic definition, where “handles” suggests names rather than something on a bit of furniture and “hand” suggests handwriting rather than artisanal crafts. Not really sure that “fair” is adding much to the clue though | ||
| 2 | CREDIT CARD |
‘Plastic‘ attribute comedian carries (6,4)
|
| CARD (comedian) after (carries, in a down clue) CREDIT (attribute, as a verb) | ||
| 4 | APOSTLE |
Champion – Pole – sat uneasily (7)
|
| Anagram (uneasily) of POLE SAT | ||
| 5 | ACRONYM |
Not ‘BBC’ – nor ‘YMCA’ – in need of correction? (7)
|
| Anagram (in need of correction?) of NOR YMCA. YMCA and BBC, of course, are both abbreviations but neither is an acronym | ||
| 6 | ACTED ONES AGE |
Responded to advice, ultimately wise: eschewed immaturity (5,4,3)
|
| ACTED ON (responded to) + [advic]E (advice ultimately) + SAGE | ||
| 7 | DO UP |
Redecorate beehive? (2,2)
|
| Double definition, though I’d have thought the 60s coiffure would be an “up do” rather than a “do up”. But this is very much not my area of expertise | ||
| 8 | RAYS |
Skates, and beams (4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to the flatfish that is closely related to rays | ||
| 11 | FLY INTO A RAGE |
Fashionable, following some trend: snap! (3,4,1,4)
|
| FLY (fashionable) + INTO (following) A RAGE (some trend) | ||
| 13 | REPAINTING |
Pertaining to change that will get you a new coat (10)
|
| Anagram (to change) of PERTAINING | ||
| 14 | FAMILY TREE |
Arboreal schema including many elders (6,4)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 18 | OCTUPLE |
Couplet developed – needing three more? (7)
|
| Anagram (developed) of COUPLET. If a couplet is two, adding three more couplets will give you octuple | ||
| 19 | BLISTER |
Not one most sought after by media bubble (7)
|
| Presumably a B–LISTER would not be as sought after by the media as an A-lister | ||
| 21 | PRAM |
Baby’s here, rising to spoil quiet (4)
|
| Reversal (rising, in a down clue) of MAR (spoil) P (quiet) | ||
| 22 | ADEN |
A spot of decadence in Arabian seaport (4)
|
| Hidden in (a spot of…) decADENce |
Thanks for explaining OCTUPLE. No matter how I tried I couldn’t get beyond the sum leading to an answer of “5” 🤦♂️
AUTOGRAPHS
A fair hand most commonly refers to the idiomatic phrase “with your own fair hands,” meaning you made or did something completely by yourself without any help, often used in a humorous or proud way (Gemini supported by dictionaries).
Liked GUILLOTINED, FAMILY TREE and OCTUPLE.
Thanks moh.
Thanks for the blog , I hope the newer solvers are not put off by this . REPAINTING was a neat clue .
I thought this was hard and had to revisit it a couple of times to get the parsing of COUPLET and FLY INTO A RAGE. Isn’t it strange how giving your brain a rest from it often does the trick?
As someome who has worked in the university sector most their working life, I’ve probably met hundreds of professors and don’t recall any of them wearing TWEED.
LOI was 11D. Even with the crossers I put FLY INTO A RAGE in as couldn’t think of anything else. FLY meaning fashionable is a new one on me.
Greetings from León, where the hotel wi-fi is currently permitting me access to the site.
KVa @2 – yes, the “own fair hands” idiom is familiar enough, but what I should have said is that “fair” doesn’t seem to be doing anything in the cryptic reading of the clue, and it generally annoys me when a word/words is/are only there to help the surface reading.
Admin @1 – more than happy to be of assistance, sir!
@Roz, the newer solvers will have to be 60+ to remember beehive hairdos, the recent Ugly Duckling song clue etc. 🙂
I too couldn’t understand OCTUPLE, though the answer was obvious. Also never heard of FLY=fashionable, which Chambers has as an Americanism, not indicated in the clue.
Thanks moh. Your introduction precisely describes my experience of solving this puzzle. Never heard of ‘fly’ = ‘fashionable’.
bobM@7 – my first thought about beehive was Marge Simpson!
Thanks Everyman
Normally I get on quite well with the Everyman, but DNF this time.
“And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly (for a white guy).”
Thank you so much for explaining octuple, really confused me how 3 more added up to 8. Now seems obvious! Doh! 🙄
Glad I’m not the only one challenged by this – even with all the crossers, I couldn’t get to AUTOGRAPHS or GUILLOTINED, though I quite enjoyed the latter once I discovered the answer!
Piers @10, that was going to be my example for FLY=fashionable!
Many thanks to moh and Everyman
Much harder than usual