The puzzle may be found in interactive form (behind a paywall or as a sample) at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4175 or as a pdf at https://finyurl.com/Everyman4175.
Another Everyman, and all’s well with the world. We have the usual trademarks – the rhyming pair, the self reference, the ‘prinarily’ clue, the geographical reference (at 7D HAITI, wirth Key 14A LARGO as runner-up, and two one-word anagrams (12A TREPIDATION and 15D REPRODUCE, with 18D INGRAIN as a third, although not clued as such – and it would have been greeted with howls of protest if it had been clued as a derived anagram). All the main ones are highlighted in the grid.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASTIFFS |
Mother gives raw deal to guard dogs (8)
|
| A charade of MA (‘mother’) plus STIFFS (‘gives raw deal’)). | ||
| 5 | EIGHTH |
Athlete’s rear end, thigh massaged; nowhere near podium (6)
|
| A charade of E (‘athletE‘s rear end’) plus IGHTH, an anagram (‘massaged’) of ‘thigh’; the definition refers to an Olympic envent, say, in which eighth place is far from the podium reserved for the top three. | ||
| 9 | ITALIAN DRESSING |
Perhaps Pavarotti, donning bow tie, leaves with this? (7,8)
|
| A charade of ITALIAN (‘perhaps Pavarotti’) plus DRESSING (‘donning bow tie’ – dressing formally, that is), with a cryptic definition referring to the leaves of herbs added to the salad dressing. | ||
| 11 | ASH |
A quiet wood (3)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus SH! (‘quiet!’). | ||
| 12 | TREPIDATION |
In a state, partitioned – disquiet (11)
|
| An anagram (‘in a state’) of ‘partitioned’. | ||
| 13 | STOCKADE |
Defence – that’s trite – a defendant entered initially (8)
|
| A charade of STOCK (‘trite’) plus ‘a’ plus D E (‘Defendant Entered initially’). | ||
| 14 | LARGO |
Learner leading fabulous ship: this movement’s slow (5)
|
| A charade of L (‘learner’) plus ARGO (‘fabulous ship’, referring to the fable of Jason and the Argonauts). | ||
| 17 | ALIBI |
Defence that’s part of deal I binned (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘that’s part of’) in ‘deAL I BInned’. | ||
| 19 | SCHNAPPS |
We hear S Connery testily declares: “Strong booze …!” (8)
|
| As Sean Connery might have pronounced SNAPS (‘testily declares’). | ||
| 22 | WINE GLASSES |
… vessels headed for these ports? Could be the reverse (4,7)
|
| I cannot see anything here beyond “ports headed for these vessels” – port wines, that is. I’ll drink to that. The ellipsis linking to the previous clue does not seem to make much sense, unless perhps it is a reference to some role that Mr. Connery played, which does not ring a bell for me. | ||
| 24 | OIL |
51-0’s reversal of fortune, in a phrase (3)
|
| A reversal of LI (Roman numeral, ’51’) plus O (‘0’). I suppose the definition is the idiomatic “striking oil” for coming into a fortune. | ||
| 25 | MASSAGE PARLOURS |
Employers of hands employing hands? (7,8)
|
| Cryptic definition, with the ‘hands employing hands’ being masseurs and masseuses. | ||
| 26 | NYLONS |
Stockings left in, weirdly, Sonny (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘left’) in NYONS, an anagram (‘weirdly’) of ‘sonny’. | ||
| 27 | SEVERELY |
Cut off cathedral city in ruthless manner (8)
|
| A charade of SEVER (‘cut off’) plus ELY (‘cathedral city’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MAI TAI |
In reports, the writer’s Siamese. Cocktail? (3,3)
|
| Sounds like MY (‘the writer’s’) THAI (‘Siamese’). | ||
| 2 | SPAGHETTI |
You tend to wind up eating this (9)
|
| As I am doing at the moment, it is usual to eat spaghetti by twirling it on a fork. Cryptic definition. | ||
| 3 | IDIOTIC |
Everyman “not quite” style icon? Jerk! Stupid! (7)
|
| A charade of I (‘Everyman’) plus DIO[r] (‘style icon’) minus uts last letter (‘not quite’) plus TIC (‘jerk’). It is tempting to ignore parts of the clue and parse it as IDIO[m] plus TIC. | ||
| 4 | FINNEGANS WAKE |
Fans weakening, intricate novel (9,4)
|
| An anagram (‘intricate’) of ‘fans weakening’, for James Joycw’s novel. I must dig out my copy, and have another attempt to read it. | ||
| 6 | INSTALL |
Appoint those elected, standing proud? (7)
|
| A charade of INS (‘those elected’) plus TALL (‘standing proud’). | ||
| 7 | HAITI |
Hispaniola’s an island; this isn’t, primarily! (5)
|
| The ‘primarily’ clue: first letters of ‘Hispaniola’s An Iland This Isn’t’. Hispaniola is the island split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and thus the clue is an &lit. | ||
| 8 | HIGH NOON |
Western delighted almost nobody (4,4)
|
| A charade of HIGH (‘delighted’) plus NO-ON[e] (‘nobody’) minus the last letter (‘almost’), for the film by Fred Zinnemann. Indeed, the film was not well-received at first, but has come to be regarded as a classic. | ||
| 10 | RAISE THE STAKE |
What vampire slayer will do – intensify risk (5,3,5)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 15 | REPRODUCE |
Multiply botched procedure (9)
|
| An anagram (‘botched’) of ‘procedure’. | ||
| 16 | CATWOMAN |
Cartoon character Bart finally having “a cow, man”, agitated all around (8)
|
| An envelope (‘all around’) of T (‘BarT finally’) in CAWOMAN, an anagram (‘agitated’) of ‘a cow man’. or, if you prefer, add the T to the anagram, with anagrind ‘sgitated all around’. | ||
| 18 | INGRAIN |
Fix: showering while cycling (7)
|
| RAINING ‘while cycling’. | ||
| 20 | ABSOLVE |
Sob! Veal cooked? Pardon? (7)
|
| An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘sob veal’. | ||
| 21 | CLASSY |
Chic, like group of schoolchildren? (6)
|
| A whimsical play on a CLASS of schoolchildren. | ||
| 23 | NASAL |
Pinched some tuna salad (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘tuNA SALad’. |
