Guardian 26,121 – Arachne

by

A puzzle from the easy end of the Arachnid spectrum, apart from a couple that delayed me at the end, though no less enjoyable for that, being full of the usual spidery wit, and in this case a few digs at the Daily Mail. Many thanks to Arachne.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. COOLLY Foreign labourer’s reported in a less than friendly way (6)
Homophone of “coolie”
4. CANARD Article penned by Dacre’s 80% wild, unfounded rumour (6)
AN in anagram of DACR[e] (Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail)
9. METH Came across hard drug (4)
MET + H – short for methadone or methamphetamine, as in “crystal meth”
10. UNEMPLOYED Wretched, lumpen young described by dictionary as “available to work” (10)
LUMPEN* + Y in OED
11. PUTRID Regularly spout spiteful gossip, reactionary and foul (6)
Alternate letters of sPoUt + reverse of DIRT
12. SMARTING Feeling resentful? Bully migrants! (8)
MIGRANTS*
13. HANGERS-ON They’d like to see capital punishment applied to spongers (7-2)
HANGERS (people who favour capital punishment, often used in the phrase “hangers and floggers”) + ON (applied to)
15. RUES Tours streets — and wishes one hadn’t? (4)
Double definition – streets in the French city of Tours, and “regrets”
16. DODO Old timer snubbing two setters? (4)
DOG, of which the setter is an example, “snubbed” (which can mean “cut short”), twice
17. CHICANERY Funny stuff derived from coffee (substitute an ‘e’ for ‘o’) (9)
CHICORY with O replaced by AN E. Chicory is used as a coffee substitute or flavouring, but it seems a bit of a stretch to define it as “coffee” (and adding “derived from” doesn’t help)
As explained by Eileen and Hillbilly below: it’s “coffee substitute [with] AN E for O (ignoring the cheeky brackets). I even wrote “substitute” in my explanation and didn’t notice it was also in the clue – d’oh!)
21. MORALISM Further detailed Mail’s nasty tendency to make value judgments (8)
MOR[e] + MAILS*
22. SCRAGS Attacks conservative newspaper, boring bunch of Nazis (6)
C RAG in SS
24. POWERHOUSE Might contain live wire? (10)
POWER (might) + HOUSE (contain)
25. DEEM Consider Daily Mail leaders welcoming eviscerated Europe (4)
E[urop]E in DM
26. TATLER Glossy rubbish loved primarily by English right (6)
TAT (rubbish) + L[oved] + E R for the glossy magazine “targeted towards the British upper class” according to Wikipedia.
27. GNEISS Hard stuff derived from champagne is sensational! (6)
Hidden in champaGNE IS Sensational. Gneiss is a type of rock
Down
1. CAESURA Pause, about to turn a trick (7)
CA (circa, about) + reverse of A RUSE – a pause or break in a line of poetry (also used to describe a brief silence in music)
2. OTHER Remaining to be gagged by Rothermere (5)
Hidden in rOTHERmere (Lord Rothermere is the current chairman and main shareholder of the Mail)
3. LAUNDER US city’s less than clean (7)
LA (US City) + UNDER
5. APPEAL Jobs creation long moved south following a request (6)
APPLE Corporation, the creation of Steve Jobs, with the L moved “South” under an A
6. ABOUT TURN Reverse order (5,4)
Cryptic definition, as in “an order to reverse”, or possibly a double definition
7. DUENNAS Chaperones Miss Widdecombe in retirement, charging fees (7)
ANN reversed in DUES
8. SENSE OF HUMOUR Some sour “fun” he misrepresented as wit (5,2,6)
(SOME SOUR FUN HE)*
14. GODPARENT Font selection? (9)
Cryptic definition – a Godparent is one selected to be present at the font at a christening
16. DROP OUT Leave nameless Bond villain with sulky expression (4,3)
DR NO less N + POUT
18. CISTERN Underground facility is, for some Swiss, integral to nuclear research centre (7)
IST (“is”, for German-speaking Swiss) in CERN, nuclear research centre, which happens to be in Switzerland, near (French-speaking!) Geneva
19. REGRESS Note changes in passionate female making return to former state (7)
TIGRESS with TI changed to RE (notes in tonic-sol-fa)
20. LICHEE Tell fib about Argentinian tree (6)
CHE [Guevara, born in Rosario, Argentina] in LIE. For ages the only 3-letter Argentinian I could think of was Eva Peron.
23. RADII Bones from start of Common Era held in institution (5)
AD 1 (start of the Common Era) in R[oyal] I[nstitution]

64 comments on “Guardian 26,121 – Arachne”

  1. Thanks Arachne and Andrew

    Easy enough to finish, though I hadn’t parsed DODO or REGRESS. GODPARENT was my favourite.

    GNEISS is one of the oldest rocks to be found on this planet. Lots of it to see in North West Scotland, where it gives the characteristic “knock and lochan” topography.

  3. Thanks for a great blog, Andrew, and Arachne for a super side-swiping puzzle, providing many wry smiles – bravissima!

    I read 17ac as “Funny stuff derived from coffee substitute – ‘an a’ for ‘o'”, which worked for me – one of my favourite clues, in fact.

  4. Thanks Arachne and Andrew
    Needed help parsing 5 & 19. Read 17 as solution derived from CHICORY, defined as coffee substitute, with AN E replacing O, not as CHICORY derived from coffee. Hope that makes sense. Thought it a lovely clue.

  6. Hi muffin @2
    “What was with the extra “captcha” stage?”

    It seems that, for some unknown reason, CloudFlare has added BT IP addresses to its blacklist and so is requesting confirmation that you are human and not a bot. I have had the same experience this morning and am looking into the problem.

  7. Thanks Andrew, including for explaining Dacre: it was my FOI. On 16a I plumped for Dido, shortening Fido and dog, wrongly. Not hard the rest of it, lots that was gneiss.

  8. Thanks, Andrew.

    Comparatively straightforward for a puzzle from the Spider Woman but highly enjoyable for those of us who like a good surface combined with an imaginative bit of clue construction.

    I sailed through most of it, but POWERHOUSE, GODPARENT and DODO held me up a bit at the end.

    Loved the ‘nameless Bond villain’, the image conjured by DUENNAS, and the many digs at the Daily Mail (and its readership) in cleverly crafted clues. But my favourite, as a scientist, has to be the wonderful CISTERN.

    Bravissima.

  9. Thanks for the blog, Andrew. Lots to enjoy here! I particularly enjoyed the coffee substitute, Tours streets and Jobs creation.

    It was fun to join in a little Mail-bashing. Thanks Arachne 🙂

  10. Another cracking puzzle from Arachne, which took me some time to tease out. Loads of great clues. My last one in was ‘lichee’ as it took me ages to remember that Che was an Argentinian who fought in Cuba and died in Bolivia.
    Eileen @3, you have a typo at ‘an a’instead of ‘an e’.

  11. Super, enjoyable puzzle with lots of great clues.

    Thanks Andrew for a good blog – having the clues is great! [I should have said this at an earlier time.] So many good clues – I missed “Job creation,” so failed to parse APPEAL.

    GODPARENT and POWERHOUSE were particularly good.

    The poor Mail readers are going to be a bit upset. ðŸ™

  12. I did not find this easier than other Arachne puzzles for some reason – possibly because I had various CAESURA equivalents in my solving process. I liked a lot of the clues; the one for GODPARENT had me fooled for ages!
    There are certain words that I love too and GNEISS is one of them so I spotted that on my first run through. Muffin @1 – it may be old, but if I remember my geology correctly it must be younger than igneous rocks at least as it is metamorphic – or have all the earliest igneous rocks metamorphosed?
    Robi @11 I don’t think you need to worry about the ‘poor’ Daily Mail readers as they are unlikely to open the Guardian and certainly never attempt its cryptic crossword!

  13. Lovely puzzle as always from Arachne – I also found it on the easy side.

    The sideswipes at the Mail were fun, but what about the online Indy, which looks more like the Mail every day? Since its recent redesign it really is awful (apologies for being a bit off-topic).

  14. Not as much fun as the last one, with some weaker clues like ‘font selection’. Still good enough though.

  16. Reading TAT as “glossy rubbish” (eg Collins: tasteless articles) 26a can also be read as an &lit (ie in addition to the reading given in the blog) – so one of those 3-way clues. Even without that reading there are great “Extended def” properties in there.

    My fave today by a mile – for that – as well as one of the better political digs. Chippy – moi?

  17. Hi Rowland @15
    “Extra captcha today?”

    Please see my comment #6. However, it now appears that the problem is not confined to only BT IP addresses.

  18. Thanks Arachne and Andrew.

    We residents of the People’s Collective of Croydon South (formerly the Tooting Wolfie Smith Appreciation Society) thoroughly enjoyed this. Any dig at the inflammatory language used by the press in general and the Daily Heil in particular is OK by us.

    Particularly liked CANARD, SCRAGS and TATLER, with an honorary, non-political mention in despatches for GODPARENT which was also lovely.

    Only slight downer – this was probably the last Arachne of 2013.

  21. Solidarity message to you, Mitz @18, from the Newham North-West chapter. Loved all the Daily Mail stuff; Arachne can always be relied on for her ace surfaces and today she has excelled herself. The combination of surface and solution in PUTRID made this my clue of the day (and many other days too).

    SW corner had me stuck for ages, being certain that the 3 in 16d was OFF. I’ll be honest, when I got home I used the check button, so settled on OUT, hence POUT and I was back on track. Well, what’s a check button for if you can’t check with it?

  22. No Mitz you would take off ‘glossy’. Then it would be whether you agree with that OPINION or not. It has a definiton and separate ‘wordplay’ parts.

    Thx.

  23. I always had Arachne down as a rabid right-winger, so was slightly surprised when she chose this puzzle to have a sideswipe at the paper of choice of the hangers and floggers of Middle England. Only yesterday were they fighting the good fight against more waves of immigrants coming to this green and pleasant land who won’t pay any tax. They’ll be reminding us that Phil the Greek is an immigrant next. And he hasn’t paid much tax, has he?

    Back to the crossword, I don’t know about ‘easy’, Andrew. It took me a while to finish, although some of that was through giggling too much. It was all fun, but RADII and METH were favourites today.

    This comment is not &lit.

  24. Many thanks to Andrew for the blog.

    A matter of days after accusing a dead man of having “hated Britain”, the Daily Mail’s leading article on 10 October was an attack on the Guardian headed “The paper that helps Britain’s enemies”. Given that the Mail has accused the Guardian of treason it seems reasonable to expect that it won’t mind a little gentle satire being wafted back at it. I knew I’d cop some flak for this one (although it’s as nothing compared to what’ll happen if my mum sees the crossword) and I apologise to those who don’t like “politics” in their puzzles. Normal service will now be resumed.

    Love & hugs,
    Arachne

  25. Thanks Spiderwoman and Andrew, rather enjoyed the digs at that rag. Another that struggled with the godparent dodo powerhouse area.

  26. Thanks Andrew and Arachne

    Generally pretty strightforward before getting stuck for a while in the SW. An excellent puzzle overall with a fine mixture of clever, fun clues.

  27. Another enjoyable Arachne puzzle that I agree was towards the easier end of her spectrum.

    Like quite a few you the GODPARENT/DODO crossers were my last ones in, and for a while I was considering throwing in an unparsed “dude” before I finally saw what “snubbing” was doing in the clue.

  28. Haven’t counted carefully, but surely more than half the puzzle theme-related in clue or solution or both. Great fun. Struggled, like others, in the SW and was very irritated (with self) to know what I was looking for in 14d, but fail to find it.

  31. Well a great puzzle, (except for the Rufusian 14d)

    In my opinion this was by no means easy. I did however solve all but the SW corner in double quick time. This was because I was inspired and not because the puzzle was easy. 😉

    And Rowland 26A IS &lit. Your reasons for excluding it from this category are not sufficient as nothing precludes an “&lit” from being a “normal” clue at the same time!

    Thanks to Andrew and Arachne

  32. Not for serious &litters, Brendan, as ‘true’ &lits don’t have separate definition parts. ‘Glossy rubbish’ would be, as your guy says above, an opinion rather than a fair and proper definition, so it can only parse as an extended definition clue, I guess. It’s a good clue though, and the extension does serve to kick out at what some people will see as a very stodgy old title.

  33. Query from a novice. I have a problem with homophone clues when the two homophones have the same number of letters. I entered COOLIE for 1ac as I assumed foreign labourer was the definition of the clue. Is there anything in the wording of the clue to indicate that COOLLY is the correct answer?

  34. Jovis, I was in doubt too but I decided that it had to be COOLLY.

    While solving, that little word “in” made the difference for me.
    A’s reported in B.
    A homophone of A will be found in B.

    But now I think about it, I am not so sure anymore.
    Perhaps, “A (the solution) is reported in B (the homophone)” is just as legitimate.

    Arachne won’t like it, this kind of ambiguity.
    But on second thoughts, I think you’re right.

  35. 26a &lit

    Glossy rubbish loved primarily by English right (6)

    Whole of surface as wordplay:

    Glossy rubbish: TAT
    loved primarily: L
    by English right: by E R

    Whole of surface as def: – works rather well for me (pace equestrians etc who actually read it).

    Can’t really get much simpler than that.

    The other reading also holds good (brilliantly in fact) but doesn’t detract from the &lit one.

  37. @rho

    We must be using a different version of the internet.

    I have:

    Collins:

    tatty articles or a tatty condition
    tasteless articles
    a tangled mass
    Oxford:

    tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewellery, or ornaments:

    the place was decorated with all manner of gaudy tat

    ————————————————-
    although Collins does give “tawdry as:

    cheap, showy, and of poor quality ? “tawdry jewellery”

  38. OK bootkins @32 and all “serious” &litters

    Please could you furnish us with your reference source for an &lit?

    I guess it’s carved in stone somewhere in Ximenes’s fair hand. (Although that might be an anachronism!)

    P.S. Any quotes from a Mr Manley publication won’t be acceptable. 😉

  39. Ah: GNEISS to see you, to see you…

    Yep, DODO got me too, loved GODPARENT, REGRESS etc., though.

    Long may like laughs at the DM’s expense continue, I hope some other kind soul picks up the baton.

    Thanks one and all.

  40. TAT does not mean ‘glossy rubbish’ except in Brendan/ J Swagman’s mind, so Clue CAN NOT be &l;it, clue is charade w/ extended definition. Simples.

  41. So “tasteless jewellery or ornaments” can never be “glossy rubbish”.

    I’ve read some nonsense here but that takes the biscuit.

    Green monsters on the prowl again.

  43. Rowland @ 42

    I guess that depends whether you see dictionaries as descriptive or prescriptive. I’m in the former camp, as they always record and ‘define’ usage after it’s happened, so dictionaries trying to prescribe (ex Latin write ahead) is a bit like rolling back history.

    Suggestion for further investigation, should it be wished, is Wardhaugh’s “Proper English”, though it’s a shame that a book with that title is riddled with typos.

  44. So do dictionaries, documenting usage, include “them” as a definite article (“I like them shoes”), or “of” as a synonym for “have” (“I should of told you”) etc.?

    I’m not sure where we end with all this.

  45. They should as an adjective or pronoun, not as a definite article (cf I like those shoes & I like the shoes), if they are documenting usage.

    What comes first, the usage or the dictionary prescription?

  46. But people do use “them” as a definite article. Almost to the total exclusion of “these” and “those”, and a majority in many areas do this.

    As I say: where does it end?

  48. You are right: so the dictionary seems to say. However, the one I use only has “them” as a pronoun.

    Someone seems to have made a decision, that although its adjectival use is extremely common, it will not be included. I wonder how that decision was reached?

  49. That’s a theme that Wardhaugh explores quite thoroughly: if I may I’ll sum it up briefly and probably inadequately, so please check Wardhaugh out rather than castigating me 🙂

    In brief, educated grammarians, originally self-appointed and later mutually educating, document and prescribe usage based on their background and social environment, to the exclusion of the vast majority of the populace who make themselves perfectly well understood with completely different modes of expression. A further example he cites is said grammarians’ practice of defining English grammar on the basis of the Latin grammar they were taught at school, ignoring such facts as there being no future tense in the English language (a tense being an inflection of the root verb, whereas English uses a compound verb to express futurity).

    My background is in Languages, and reading Wardhaugh this year has made me reassess many of my long-held preconceptions about grammar syntax and vocabulary.

  52. Thanks Simon S.

    Wardhaugh sounds like a worthwhile read: am I to understand it’s used as a reference by lexicographers?

  53. Martin @ 52

    To be honest I have no idea whether it’s seen as a reference or not. I came across it as a recommendation earlier this year, can’t actually remember who mentioned it or even where. But I thought it sounded interesting, so bought it, and read it a few weeks ago.

    I found it a very refreshing challenge to ‘traditional’ notions of grammar etc, & as I said it has made me reassess and change/relax my previous views.

    Should you decide to get hold of it, I hope you’ll enjoy it. 🙂

  54. JS @41

    No-one has asserted that tat can never be glossy. But it ain’t necessarily so. Not all rags are Tory rubbish.

  55. @Rho – well someodboy did.

    Your last sentence infers or implies or both that some can be so, by Afrit, I’m home.

    @Simon S #49 – thanks – that’s very good – I must look that guy up.

    It’s kinda like (re any departure from normal English):

    If posh people say it it’s idiom.
    If anyone else says it it’s slang.

    innit?

  56. JS – Who did? Where?

    Some cars are black. It is not usual practice to clue CAR as ‘black automobile’. I agree with Andrew’s parsing.

  59. Signing off on this – it’s getting too tiresome.

    Although it doesn’t apply in this particular case the regular &lit denier(s???) would do well do consult X and the Art to see the broadness of their hero’s definition of &lit. If their ideas differ from that and we are getting some of their homebrew masquerading as shop-bought perhaps they would do us all the privilege of stating exactly what their own definition is before boring us with yet more enigmatic twaddle.

    Really it’s a bit of a non-issue – if all or a large part of a clue’s surface chimes with the definition in a special way (ie as opposed to the normal “misleading” surface) there’s generally some enjoyment to be got from that – doubly so if it comes as a bonus.

    But in this case it’s an &lit – lapin as the neos on Pinocchio’s face.

  62. JS – and Arachne did not use ‘glossy rubbish’ to clue TAT. As Andrew says she used ‘rubbish’. ‘glossy’ is not part of the wordplay. As Rowland says the clue is therefore not &lit. For me your reading does nothing to enhance its excellence.

  63. Great puzzle, thanks Arachne and Andrew for the blog.

    “&lit” I thought meant “AND literally”.

    That is, a perfectly Ximenian clue that “also happens” to be a literal description of the answer.

    If “glossy rubbish loved primarily by English right” isn’t a literal description of the Tatler, what else is?

    Surely it doesn’t mean “only can be read this way”?

  64. No, techinique for &lit is wordplay only that *al;so happens* to ne the definition. No extra bits are allowed. That is the pointr.

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