Another solid offering from Everyman for our Sunday entertainment.
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 Fifty pence ‘entertaining’ Everyman’s spent
LIMP
An insertion of I’M in L and P. The insertion indicator is ‘entertaining’.
4 Condition in which frost becomes frothed?
LISP
Someone speaking with a LISP might pronounce ‘frost’ as ‘frothed’.
8 Swagger, as sax player will do
TOOT ONE’S OWN HORN
A cd cum dd. The first definition is a phrase meaning ‘swagger’; the second is a literal definition.
11 Horses for children who ride motorbikes?
ROCKERS
A dd. The first refers to a child’s rocking horse; the second, to the youth subculture from the late 1950s and early 1960s.
12 Like Billy-No-Mates, Friday’s gone – going on forever
ENDLESS
[FRI]ENDLESS
13 Morals you declined in licentious manner
AMOROUSLY
(MORALS YOU)* with ‘declined’ as the somewhat left-field anagrind.
14 Depicted as haggard
DRAWN
A dd.
15 Military trainee‘s dishonourable type – and French
CADET
A charade of CAD and ET, the French word for ‘and’.
16 Australian pointed rudely, son – here?
ANTIPODES
A charade of A, (POINTED)* and S. The anagrind is ‘rudely’ and the definition is an extended one.
19 Orion arranged company for river to the Atlantic
ORINOCO
A charade of (ORION)* and CO. The anagrind is ‘arranged’.
21 Primarily ‘ravenous’, offensively avaricious driver hindering others gallingly?
ROADHOG
The initial letters of the last seven words of the clue and a cad.
22 Spotless: all hesitance was resolved
CLEAN AS A WHISTLE
(ALL HESITANCE WAS)* with ‘resolved’ as the anagrind.
23 Small dish that’s sweet potato
SPUD
A charade of S and PUD.
24 After line cut, theatre work is profitable
PAYS
P[L]AYS
Down
2 Organised routine do, and cleared up
IRONED OUT
(ROUTINE DO)* with ‘organised’ as the anagrind.
3 Urges drinks
PRESSES
A dd. The second definition would need an acute accent in real life: PRESSÉS.
4 In vague sense, how post- diet clothes fit
LOOSELY
Another cd cum dd.
5 Vacuous silly academic getting promotion in ecclesiastical council
SYNOD
A charade of S[ILL]Y and DON reversed (‘getting promotion’, since it’s a down clue).
6 We hear of harder breastbones
STERNA
A soundalike clue (‘we hear of’) for STERNER.
7 Agreement accepted by leprechaun is ongoing
UNISON
Hidden in leprechaUN IS ONgoing.
9 Happy – formerly – to take in brash nephew at home
ON CLOUD NINE
An insertion of LOUD, N and IN in ONCE. The insertion indicator is ‘to take in’. N for ‘nephew’ will be in a dictionary somewhere.
10 Dancing upon the sand? That’s easily solved
OPEN-AND-SHUT
(UPON THE SAND)* with ‘dancing’ as the anagrind.
14 Sinfulness in drunken VE Day trip
DEPRAVITY
(VE DAY TRIP)* with ‘drunken’ as the anagrind.
15 Delicious serving of gazpacho I celebrated
CHOICE
Hidden in gazpaCHO I CElebrated. ‘A delicious/choice cut of meat.’
16 Revelled topless, titillated
AROUSED
[C]AROUSED
17 Reveal ultimately stylish line of stitching included in source of wool
THROW UP
An insertion of H for the final letter of ‘stylish’ and ROW in TUP. The insertion indicator is ‘included in’.
18 Good to visit Impressionist retrospective that’s hung slackly
SAGGED
An insertion of G in DEGAS reversed.
20 Confess painful response as joke backfires
OWN UP
A charade of OW and PUN reversed.
Many thanks as always to Everyman for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Didn’t parse FRIENDLESS. rest was fine.
Heard of “Blow ones own horn” not “TOOT…..”
Liked: ON CLOUD NINE, THROW UP, CADET, LISP
Thanks Everyman and Pierre
My faves: LISP, ENDLESS, C A A WHISTLE, O C NINE, CHOICE (yummy surface)
and SAGGED.
ANTIPODES
In the clue, it refers to Australia (here?). Should it not be ANTIPODE?
OPEN-AND-SHUT
I think the def works better without that’s.
Thanks Pierre.
I enjoyed this. It took me far too long to come up with LISP but it really made me smile when finally the penny dropped!
KVa @2 Antipodes is usually used like this in the plural to refer to Australia as a whole – I’d imagine because an ‘antipode’ is a single point.
Good Sunday solve. I liked the sax player’s TOOT ONES OWN HORN, although as Fiona @1 I am more familiar with blow ONES OWN HORN (or trumpet). I also liked the organised routine in IRONED OUT and the line of stitching in THROW UP. The only reference to N = nephew I could find was in the Collins American English dictionary. I also queried ‘declined’ as an anagrind.
Thanks Everyman and Pierre.
I had BLOW which caused a bit of head scratching at 6 down for a while. I’m still not convinced about TOOT and some of the soundalikes – STERNA? – are a bit iffy…
I had BLOW too, Stools77. But on reflection maybe it’s BLOW YOUR OWN TRUMPET and TOOT YOUR OWN HORN.
Soundalikes are intrinsically iffy, I fancy, because people pronounce things differently. But my criterion is that if a good percentage of the English-speaking world pronounce it so it sounds pretty much like … then it works. We have had the rhotic/non-rhotic debate innumerable times on these pages over the fifteen years I have been blogging here, and most of my fellow bloggers call them soundalike clues rather than homophones for that reason.
We have had many fewer comments on this thread since the Observer went behind a paywall, but I for one am happy to keep blogging it. It’s the crossword that got me back into cryptics so I have an sentimental attachment to it.
Pierre, you and Fiona and Roz are the encouragement that persuades me to continue every week – thank you all
and always!
Thank you Everyman, and thanks Pierre – I’m certainly glad that you continue to blog them. Scribbling them onto a pdf via the tinyurl link is not ideal, but worth it, and I always appreciate the blog here a week later!
Thanks for the blog , I am very sentimental about Everyman as well , it is how I learnt to do cryptics . Fortunately I get the paper but I know quite a few people who are struggling with the online version . I am going to start photocopying my paper version for people on a Monday , do it just in my head on a Sunday as an extra challenge .
Cara@8 , being stubborn and persevering is the best way to improve .
A printed pdf works perfectly for me, but this blog really assists. Did not understand how 16 ac parsed but entered correct solution. Couldn’t really have been anything else! But thanks to explanation I now do and love the use of charade to describe the cluing method. Many thanks for enhancing my enjoyment of the puzzle and the setter’s methodology
“since the Observer went behind a paywall”
Has it? I can access the Everyman without paying anything. I had to create a free account but that’s all.
Yes I’m not sure about this paywall. Someone I know gets it for nothing, but my guess is that this won’t last, once The Observer gets things sorted out. The long answer at 8ac (which I’d never heard) is probably one of several variants. I’ve always known it as “Blow your own trumpet”.
Didn’t get a 4 near the top, nearly got 1a but not quite however, when I read the answer to 4a I burst out laughing! Brilliant 😁 🤣