Morning all - enjoyed this one, with 1a FOI. I thought Everyman perhaps meant Amsterdam the band (although the book is probably better known to us solvers, and there’s a plural that doesn’t quite work if that’s the logic). For me 11d a clear COD for its nifty construction.
phil, apologies, the "typo" I mentioned in 19 consisted of me mistyping the answer into the Guardian screen. That created an incorrect crosser in 20, which slowed me down.
Interesting! I finally got 18d thanks to your help and noticing the word ‘up’. As for the spoonerism, I have a dog written in but can’t see why. And also can’t fathom the ME dishes. Stuck on 25a — s?y? And 21d — ?a?t. Help please?
Hi Catcharmer,
25a look for middle letters of the words which follow ‘essentially’
21d is a double definition, a fishing lure and an unpleasant use of dogs
See @29 for the Spoonerism
catcharmer, the dog is correct. I'd call them "ME foods" rather than "dishes". For the Spoonerism, interchange the first 2 letters of the first word and the first letter of the second word.
Thanks Both of you. Got the short ones but still don’t understand the spoonerism, even when I change those letters round. Unless more letters have to be swapped, which does give two foodstuffs. Whew!
It's a homophone Spoonerism rather than textual. Switch those leading letters and pronounce the remainder of the two words as they're pronounced for the dog.
I don't think it's the band as the clue states its being read, (reading Amsterdam), also can't quite see the problem with the plural, as once read, it's discussed by "these", which is plural.