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I have to say that the "skiing" clue has faulty cryptic grammar to my mind. The definition is supposed to be at the beginning or end of the clue. The final "g" is out of place. I have similar reservations about "Ezekiel and others pray" = OT, "c" for Catholic, "the (r) itz, where gutted doesn't usually mean removing just the middle letter, and what on earth are c clefs??
Didn't like it at all. Loose and sloppy.

I meant "Ezekiel and others" without the "pray" which is part of the definition.

And finally, how do we arrive at the "on" of neoconservative without reactionary doing double duty?

Re 8d: neocon = revolutionary(def)
As explained earlier, quocunque, it is an anagram of
f "once" and "no(w)"

Thank you elle. I understand that but just saying it's an angaram doesn't parse the clue. The anagrind (liberal)
cannot include both pieces of the fodder when it is placed between them , and the "reactionary" is the def so can't also be used to reverse "no(w)". Unless it is supposed to be &lit which hasn't been suggested, and even then I don't think it works.

Well, definitely a mixed response to this Everyman, with some really liking it and others not so much, but I think there's one thing everyone can agree on - it was very, very difficult! I think my reactions, at different times, mirrored that of everyone else. To begin with I just couldn't get going, and when, after about half an hour had passed and I'd only solved three clues, I was on the verge of giving up. Instead, I had a shower, made a sandwich and came back to it in a much brighter frame of mind and, one by one, the answers started to come. Oddly enough, the clue I found the most difficult, (not least because I misspelled Pooh), is one nobody else seems to have had any trouble with, at least there are no posts asking for help regarding it. Looking forward, I don't think anyone should be put off from trying the Everyman on the basis of this week's offering, after all, last week's was ridiculously easy so there's no way to know what next Sunday will bring.

Thank you scorpiojo

Thank you Mamya

I agree. I have been completing the Everyman every week for years but could not get into this one. After several hours I am up to eight clues solved an nowhere near getting the others.

I learnt to solve cryptic crosswords by doing the Observer Everyman religiously every week for the past 4 years . Recently it has gone off the rails and the latest offering is, in my opinion, beneath contempt . This is a middle level crossword and should remain so ..... There are plenty of harder crosswords around, The Telegraph, The Times and the Guardian, to name but a few ...
I never thought I would find Phi in the Saturday i an easier solve .... so now I will bid a farewell to the Everyman and find a new puzzle .... Rosa Klebb in Saturdays FT ( a great paper) will be my starting point .