The puzzle may be found as a pdf at https://www.tinyurl.com/Everyman4147.
All present and correct, with a few variations: there is an avian pairing at 8A PELICAN CROSSING and 22A DUCKING THE ISSUE; the ‘primrily’ clue at 23A MEOW; the self-reference at 2D ACCORDION; the geographical reference at 6D SPARTA; and two near misses (thus highlighted palely) at one-word anagrams at 9D LOGARITHMIC and 14D GET BEHIND. Perhaps this puzzle is a little harder than usual for Everyman, although that opinion might be coloured by the time I spent before getting the wordplay for 4D BORSTAL. As usual, the ‘primarily’ clue provides an easy entry, and there is a generous helping of double definitions to keep things moving.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RASH |
Unguarded hives? (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | BALE |
Announced legal collateral package (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘announced’) BAIL (‘legal collateral’). | ||
| 8 | PELICAN CROSSING |
Safe arrangement in which breeding comes with large bill? (7,8)
|
| A charade of PELICAN (‘comes with large bill’) plus CROSSING (‘breeding’). I have split up the wordplay to emphasise how it works, but it is better treated as a whimsical cryptic second definition. See here if you are not familiar with the primary definition. | ||
| 11 | REGARDS |
Compliments looks (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | TORPEDO |
Put an end to fuss about Republican games (7)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘Republican’) plus PE (‘games’) in TO-DO (‘fuss’). | ||
| 13 | AIR PISTOL |
I will dance with pilots, mostly arm in arm (3,6)
|
| An anagram (‘will dance’) of ‘I’ plus ‘pilots’ plus ‘ar[m]’ minus its last letter (‘mostly’). | ||
| 14 | GO RED |
Stuck flush (2,3)
|
| As one word: GORED (‘stuck’). | ||
| 15 | LET ON |
Allow to board – and squeal (3,2)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 16 | GREAT DANE |
Maybe Hans Christian Andersen, the dog! (5,4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 19 | MOMBASA |
A mambo’s choreographed somewhere in Kenya (7)
|
| An anagram (‘choreographed’) of ‘a mambos’. | ||
| 21 | ROE DEER |
Uncapped pederero wounded woodland creatures (3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘wounded’) of ‘[p]ederero’ minus its first letter (‘uncapped’). A pederero was an old kind of gun for firing stones. | ||
| 22 | DUCKING THE ISSUE |
Stuck inside – huge blunder – avoiding reality (7,3,5)
|
| An anagram (‘blunder’) of ‘stuck inside huge’. | ||
| 23 | MEOW |
Primarily, mog’s exclamation (or wail!) (4)
|
| The ‘primarily’ clue: first letters of ‘Mog’s Exclamation Or Wail’. If you afe not familiar with it, ‘mog’ or moggy is a familiar word (or name) for a cat. | ||
| 24 | TIDE |
Season limited, did you say? (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘did you say?’) TIED (‘limited’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ACCORDION |
Agreement: Everyman never to pick up musical instrument (9)
|
| A charade of ACCORD (‘agreement’) plus I (‘Everyman’) plus ON, a reversal (‘to pick up’ in a down light) of NO (‘never’). | ||
| 3 | HANDSET |
Had sent off for phone component (7)
|
| An anagram (‘off’) of ‘had sent’. | ||
| 4 | BORSTAL |
Muscle collective commit crime – picked up here? (7)
|
| A reversal (‘picked up’ – NOT a soundalike this time) of LATS (the latissimus dorsi muscles of the back, ‘muscle collective’) plus ROB (‘commit crime’), with an extended definition. | ||
| 5 | LOSER |
No-hoper, charlie abandoning one sealing deal (5)
|
| A subtraction: [c]LOSER (‘one sealing deal’) minus the C (‘charlie abandoning’). | ||
| 6 | SPARTA |
A sneaky trick’s backfiring somewhere in ancient Greece (6)
|
| A reversal (‘backfiring’) of A TRAP’S (‘a sneaky trick’s’). Sparta is also a modern city in the same place. | ||
| 7 | AGE-OLD |
Ancient earl sporting a medal (3-3)
|
| An envelope (‘sporting’) of E (‘earl’) in A GOLD (‘a medal’). | ||
| 9 | LOGARITHMIC |
A microlight deployed in concerning operation (11)
|
| An anagram (‘deployed’) of ‘a microlight’. | ||
| 10 | ICEBREAKERS |
They float topics to start conversation (11)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 14 | GET BEHIND |
Support benighted rogue (3,6)
|
| An anagram (‘rogue’) of ‘benighted’. | ||
| 15 | LAMBDA |
Greek character represented by naïve type, US lawyer (6)
|
| A charade of LAMB (‘naïve type’) plus DA (District Attourney, ‘US lawyer’). | ||
| 16 | GLASGOW |
City‘s wing exhausted; goal’s unlikely (7)
|
| An anagram (‘unlikely’) of WG (‘WinG exhausted’) plus ‘goals’. | ||
| 17 | EARSHOT |
Hearing sign they’re talking about you? (7)
|
| EARS HOT. | ||
| 18 | EARNED |
Achieved, somewhat learnedly (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘lEARNEDly’. | ||
| 20 | ANISE |
Aromatic slice of flan I served (5)
|
| A hiddel answer (‘slice of’) in ‘flAN I SErved’. |
Pedants corner: 8 should really be ‘pelicOn crossing’ given the definition. When this type of ‘safe arrangement’ was introduced in the UK (late 60s / early 70s?) I well recall they were ‘PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled crossings’ and were spelled as such. Spelling with an A crept in later. Of course the O variant rather ruins the bird pairing in place of the rhyme.
I agree this was a harder than usual Everyman, for the second week in a row.
Thanks to Everyman and PeterO.
GrahaminSydney @1
Wikipedia seems to disagree. In the link I gave, it agrees that the term derives from the portmanteau you note, but shows the cover of the Statuory Instrument by which they were introduced in 1969, which announces them as “Pelican” Pedestrian Crossings; that is not to say that some people did not use the etymological form.
Possibly out of place to ask, but is anyone else seeing a clue error at 1 across in puzzle 4148 today from the printed paper (on Press Display)?
The obvious answer doesn’t fit, but it matches to 22 down.
My faves: PELICAN CROSSING, MOMBASA, MEOW, BORSTAL and AGE-OLD.
Thanks PeterO.
Major @3: yes this baffles me too
ALGORITHMIC is a much better answer at 9d.
I think ‘pelican’ became popular as it was an animal like zebra crossing.
And it appears that there is another word that exists to fit the definition for 1 across today
I agree with most observations so far.
(My free registration is still giving me access to the puzzle, incidentally, and I haven’t renewed the O’s cookies for a while.)
I enjoyed the more substantial than usual challenge, but I hope that there’ll be something better for newer solvers soon.
Cheers one and all.
Major@3 in the paper there is clearly a problem with 1 Across .
I am trying to avoid spoilers or discussion but have a simple request .
If there has been a CORRECTION online could someone please put it on here ?
Just the correction please which avoids any spoiler issues .
Published correction to today’s 1A.
“ Starters of rancid octopus given to Everyman in city on the Tiber (4) “
Link to updated pdf… https://tinyurl.com/jonoEveryman4148
Thank you Jay@10 , that is very helpful .
Thanks Jay – I see the previous clue for 22d has also been replaced by the clue formerly known as 1a.
Thanks all, I’m glad I wasn’t alone in my confusion.
Put in ALGORITHMIC for 9d which held me up for a while before figuring out PELICAN CROSSING. I agree with muffin@6 it seems a better answer. Never heard of lats.
Thanks Everyman and PeterO
Major @3
Yes, its a print edition error. A typesetter once told a friend that crossword misprints generated the largest number of complaints (even in the Grauniad)
A typesetter (in the hot-metal days) once told a friend that they got more complaints about crossword clue errors that any other part of the paper.
Looks like the Observer is monitoring Fifteensquared
Miseroldhack@12 and others: I have the (original) printed version and am now confused as to what the correct clues are supposed to be for today. The original 22d (crossword setter repeatedly…) I was happy with, and the “new” 1a also. But you say 22d clue has also been replaced with the “old” 1a “committee member….”
So, what are the “correct” clues for 1a and 22d (for those of us who pay to buy The Observer….:)
Cosmic @18
What a mess, I buy the print copy too, starting to wonder why.
Cosmic@18 the new 1 Ac is given by Jay@10 and now has a separate posting on this site , it means we now have the traditional Everyman in a clue .
The OLD 1 Ac and 22 D had the same answer so no need for the switch really .
DNF again!! Felt very cryptic in parts and quite frustrating …have heard of neither earshot nor lambda and would
NEVER have got 4D. Still fighting the ‘beginners’ corner here though
Thanks as always for the link, Jay @10…
Makes ir really easy for me….
DNF again. Thanks for the correction to this week’s crossword thatI’m just about to start…
I gave up as well. Got most out but not top half. 17d was quite nice
I chuckled at the large bill in 8a when I worked out the answer!
Another good brain workout, thanks to all.
Gave up on Saturday, but brain coped better this morning and got it out finally with Onelook, although couldn’t parse a couple. Never heard of PELICAN CROSSING and now there’s a puffin crossing. Where will it all end? Favourite DUCKING THE ISSUE.
Never got Borstal or air pistol as have never heard of arm in arm in a gun sense
I never thought arms were ever referred to in singular but guess so.
Otherwise enjoyable just those two last ones stumped me
Very much liked G Dane, Accordion, Icebreakers and Earshot
Bit more difficult than recently. Struggled and DNF.
Lucky to have a wife and child to bounce ideas off and help with final 5 clues so I could get there.
Welcome back Barrie and Rod. Took me a while but I’m out of sorts. I still thought it was tough. Liked PELICAN CROSSING, TORPEDO, GREAT DANE, DUCKING THE ISSUE
Kept going but missed bale.
Rather hard this week.