The Observer crossword from Jun 7, 2020.
Another enjoyable Sunday offering from Everyman, perhaps a bit more demanding than usual (especially in the SE)?
First one in: 6dacross (that’s a surprise!), last one in: 12d.
As ever a few cads (‘clue as definition’) but less anagram based clues this time.
We liked it, and my solving partner singled out 11ac as this is one of her favourite films.
Oh, and today we had DOORS and WINDOWS.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | THIRD-PARTY | Trip had try-out of some insurance policies (5-5) |
| Anagram [out] of: TRIP HAD TRY The definition is perhaps for some not precise enough but it is clear what Everyman means. I tweaked the definition as suggested by phitonelly @13. |
||
| 6 | AMIE | Primarily, amicable mademoiselle I’ll esteem? (4) |
| Indicated (as ever) by primarily, the first letters of: Amicable Mademoiselle I‘ll Esteem This was by far my favourite clue today ….. 🙂 |
||
| 9 | METHUSELAH | Everyman – so healthy! – knocked back enormous quantity of booze (10) |
| ME (Everyman) + THUS (so), followed by a reversal [knocked back] of HALE (healthy) It’s a very large wine (esp. champagne) bottle holding 8 normal ones! Wow! |
||
| 10 | ECRU | Fawn in pie crust (4) |
| Hidden solution, indicated by just the word in: piE CRUst | ||
| 11 | SLIDING DOORS | Romantic tale is long, sordid novel (7,5) |
| Anagram [novel] of: IS LONG SORDID This is about the 1998 film with Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, no books involved. |
||
| 15 | PO-FACED | Dour rival displayed impatience for Spooner (2-5) |
| Spoonerism of: FOE (rival) PACED (displayed impatience) | ||
| 16 | ROE DEER | Perhaps Bambi seen in rejigged order, Ena’s introduction included twice (3,4) |
| The letter E (Ena’s introduction) twice inserted in an anagram [rejigged] of ORDER | ||
| 17 | IN CHECK | Controlled creep, by ‘eck (2,5) |
| INCH (creep) + ECK | ||
| 19 | EXOTICA | ‘Abaci to Xeroxes’: retrospective includes unusual items (7) |
| Hidden solution, indicated by includes: AbACI TO XEroxes, then reversed [retrospective] | ||
| 20 | STORM WINDOWS | What might rattle ‘mid worst snow? (5,7) |
| Anagram [rattle] of: MID WORST SNOW Kind of (semi) &lit, or what we call here a cad. |
||
| 23 | OMAN | Mother getting in on Sultan’s territory (4) |
| MA (Mother) going inside ON | ||
| 24 | CHARTREUSE | Green with plan to recycle (10) |
| CHART (plan) + REUSE (recycle) After 10ac, here’s another colour – one that doesn’t have to be totally green, though. |
||
| 25 | THOR | God, person with lisp’s angry (4) |
| How that person would pronounce SORE (angry) | ||
| 26 | CAMEL’S HAIR | Fibre provided by pathetic meals — ‘moderate sandwiches’ (6,4) |
| Anagram [pathetic] of MEALS, going inside [sandwiched by] CHAIR (moderate, as a verb) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TIME | ‘Date‘s a herb’, we’re told (4) |
| Homophone [we’re told] of: THYME (a herb) Bit of an odd surface, isn’t it? |
||
| 2 | IOTA | Audiotape’s gripping, A Letter From Greece (4) |
| Hidden solution, indicated by gripping: audIOTApe | ||
| 3 | DOUBLE CREAM | Measure of alcohol, a kind of sherry, is trifle ingredient (6,5) |
| DOUBLE (measure of alcohol) + CREAM (a kind of sherry) | ||
| 4 | AMENDED | ‘Reformed’ Duke – I agree, newspaper boss to cover (7) |
| AMEN (I agree) + ED (newspaper boss, the editor), together going around [covering] D (duke) | ||
| 5 | TRAINER | What might affect an athlete’s career in one of two ways? (7) |
| Both a coach and an athlete’s footwear can affect his or her career – both can be a TRAINER See, in addition to this, also phitonelly’s comment @13. |
||
| 7 | MICRONESIA | Witches and I end up touring Pacific lands (10) |
| Reversal [up] of AIM (end), going around [touring] {CRONES (witches) + I} | ||
| 8 | EQUESTRIAN | Receiving pursuit, shake a rein of a horse (10) |
| Anagram [shake] of A REIN, going around QUEST (pursuit) | ||
| 12 | DIET OF WORMS | Wren has designs for this political assembly (4,2,5) |
| Double definition The first one is bit whimsical, a wren being a bird and not the famous architect. Wikipedia doesn’t really link wrens with worms (see: here) but I am not an expert like Pierre. The second part of the clue is about this. |
||
| 13 | SPOILSPORT | Turns before dock that’s damper (10) |
| SPOILS (turns) + PORT (dock) | ||
| 14 | AFICIONADO | A heartless romance leads to bother for lover (10) |
| A, followed by FIC[T]ION (romance) with the middle letter (T) removed, then ADO (bother) | ||
| 18 | KRISHNA | Skirt (it’s chiné) as regularly worn by divinity (7) |
| Regularly chosen letters (the even ones) of the first four words here: sKiRt It’S cHiNe As | ||
| 19 | ENDORSE | To some extent commend, or second? (7) |
| Hidden solution, indicated by to some extent: commEND OR SEcond The third cad of the day (and therefore I didn’t underline anything). |
||
| 21 | TUBA | Join up with part of orchestra (4) |
| Reversal [up, again] of: ABUT (join) A clue with a construction similar to 24d in last weeks’s Paul puzzle, blogged yesterday. |
||
| 22 | PEER | Look — with eyes half-closed, a parliamentarian (4) |
| Double definition | ||
A bit crunchy for Everyman again, which is no bad thing. Took me ages to get TUBA which was silly because it was in early in the Paul the day before.
Wrens do NOT normally eat worms. I’m sure Pierre would have something to say about this. However, the correct alternative of Blackbird would have a very unpleasant surface reading in the current climate. Also Bambi was an American deer and roe deer are only native to Europe and Asia. You’d think Everyman would have time to have a shufti at Wikipedia from time to time…
MICRONESIA my favourite clue by some distance.
I enjoyed this, with the 26a (CAMELS HAIR) and 21d (TUBA) pair probably taking me as long as all the rest put together. It was fun working out METHUSELAH.
Nice puzzle
New: storm windows
Like: diet of worms
Thanks Sil and Everyman
Satisfyingly tricky in places – took longer than usual.
I kn ow CAMEL HAIR (as in “camel hair coat”), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it given as CAMEL‘S HAIR.
This was primarily OK.
I liked the clues for MICRONESIA and CHARTREUSE. I thought ‘tale’ for a film or script was a bit loose.
muffin @4; CAMEL’S HAIR is an alternative in Chambers.
Thanks Everyman and Sil.
Definitely moved up a notch or two. Used to reckon to do an everyman in 30 minutes with no electronic aids. Last two have taken much longer and involved some assistance from the gizmos.
My favourite was 19a EXOTICA with its wonderful surface about an exhibition of office equipment through the ages!
Thanks Everyman and Sil.
I found this much better than previous week, agree re Camel’s hair, not seen it with the ‘s’ in before, so it was slightly guesswork- what else could it be. I liked ‘exotica’ too. Some clever, pleasurable ones in this. Thanks Sil, for the explanations.
Let’s see what this week has to offer; as soon as I think I might have it taped……… Pride comes before.. and all of that!
For “camel’s hair” think paintbrushes rather than coats.
I find Everyman odd as a setter for the range of difficulty within a single puzzle. Always some trivially easy clues and then a few really hard ones.
Thanks to setter and blogger both.
Thanks Everyman and Sil, like Sara I enjoyed this week’s more than last week’s.
Although when Sil wrote “ First one in: 6d (that’s a surprise!)” it was a surprise to me too, since there was no 6D in my copy of the crossword.
The god of war rode out one day,
Aseated on his filly
I’m Thor, he cried –
The horse replied
You forgot your thaddle, thilly.
Ha, Adrian, you got me there! Now corrected.
I enjoyed this puzzle, particularly CHARTREUSE with that clever surface. The word’s almost tailor-made for it.
I saw 1a as an adjectival phrase, so thought the definition included the “of”. In 5 (TRAINER), I think the setter’s use of the phrase “in one of two ways” may be to indicate both senses of the word career – the course of a profession and running headlong.
Thanks, Everyman and Sil
…and on his way, Wol, he seduced a maiden who cried OMG and, later, What’th your name?. I AM THOR, grandly quoth he. I’m thore too, said she, but I’m thatithfied.
Like Boffo I wondered about Bambi as a ROE DEER but this was clearly what the clue wanted so in it went. And thank you for the confirmation that wrens don’t eat worms. Until the crossers indicated otherwise, I was looking for something with Wales and this was a real duh moment (I once did an In Our Time about the 1521 Diet of Worms, and teach it every year!! Many thanks to Everyman for and enjoyoyable crossword and to Sil for confirming some obscure parsings.
Second week running I’ve been defeated, this time it was the SE corner. Thought Chartreuse was a drink, not a colour, and Diet of Worms is a new one for me regardless of its ornithological accuracy. Could grumble about some of the others I didn’t get, but I fear it might sound like sour grapes, especially given the praise from some others.
We got this apart from Diet of Worms & Camel’s Hair. Overall some really good ones, definitely made us work harder this week.
We struggled with Methuselah for which I was blamed given I control our wine cellar. Clearly I need to start buying bigger bottles.
Like Barrie I don’t want to be a grumbler but somes clue here I just cannot see how you could solve if from the clue - way too obscure. - seems ok when reading the reasoning in reverse, but the likes of Diet of Worms and camels hair make me wonder who would get those. But plenty to like; loved Chartreuse even though I didn’t get it, Thor, which I did get and laughed, Double Cream, Methuselah. More to like than to grumble over, although my days of finishing these off in full seem well over sigh.
For 12d, Diet of Worms, sprang out with about four crossing letters. But then having a passing knowledge of key events in church history does help. On the other hand, not having wrens in New Zealand so no idea that they didn’t eat worms was also helpful.
First one I’d finished in awhile. I got 15A although not from the Spoonerism – I really don’t like these clues when I can’t get them!