Lots of fun today from Nutmeg, with plenty of misdirection – favourites were 24ac, 26ac, and 3/25dn.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHASTISED |
Unsullied daughter’s clothing is flogged (9)
=”flogged”. CHASTE=”Unsullied” plus D[aughter], all around (i.e. “clothing”) IS |
| 6 | REJIG |
Update gear worn by English judge (5)
=”Update”. RIG=”gear”, inside (i.e. being worn by) E[nglish] J[udge] |
| 9 | ROGUE |
Accent’s primarily given away villain (5)
=”villain”. [B]ROGUE=”Accent”, with its first/primary letter given away |
| 10 | EXPANSIVE |
Old mate having returned photo, setter’s affable (9)
=”affable”. EX=”Old mate”, plus reversal (“returned”) of SNAP=”photo”, plus I’VE=”setter’s”=’setter has’ |
| 11,12 | ALL HANDS ON DECK |
Call for the entire workforce to collect their cards? (3,5,2,4)
=”Call for the entire workforce”; also cryptically =a request to “collect their cards” by getting their hands on their deck of cards |
| 12 | ALL HANDS ON DECK |
See 11
|
| 14 | HONESTY |
Secluded home in Orkney island getting the best policy? (7)
Honesty is proverbially “the best policy”. NEST=”Secluded home”, in HOY=”Orkney island” |
| 15 | TACHYON |
Faster-than-light mover on yacht at sea (7)
=An elementary particle that is faster than light. (on yacht)*, with “at sea” as an anagram indicator |
| 16 | PARTIAL |
Biased people, clergy excepted, almost hit back (7)
=”Biased”. LAIT[y]=”people, clergy excepted, almost”, plus RAP=”hit” – and all reversed (“back”) |
| 19 | STABBED |
Wounded man of God, not yet up, visited by bishop (7)
=”Wounded”. ST=saint=”man of God”, plus ABED=”not yet up”, with B[ishop] inside it |
| 22,23 | GINGERBREAD MAN |
What’s beginner cooked with unnamed grandma? (11,3)
&lit – something a beginner might cook with their grandma? (beginner gra[n]dma)*, with “cooked” as the anagrind and “unnamed” indicating the removal of an n[ame] |
| 23 | GINGERBREAD MAN |
See 22
|
| 24 | AGINCOURT |
Make amorous approaches after a drink — result, engagement (9)
=[military] “engagement”. COURT=”amorous approaches”, after A GIN=”drink” |
| 26 | EXILE |
Banish half of cricket team, bringing another side in (5)
=”Banish”. ELE[ven]=”half of cricket team”, with XI=”another side” inside it |
| 27 | TIGHT |
Loaded, but not giving much away (5)
=”Loaded”, slang for being drunk; also =”not giving much away”, miserly |
| 28 | SPEAKS OUT |
Protests, One Direction finally failing to secure top spots (6,3)
=”Protests”. SOUT[h]=”One Direction finally failing”, around PEAKS=”top spots” |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CAR WASH |
Aid for motorists from fighting funds, after exchange of capital (3,4)
=”Aid for motorists”. WAR CASH=”fighting funds”, which becomes CAR WASH after exchanging their first letters (“capital”s) |
| 2 | ANGOLAN |
Diary kept by grandmother travelling north from African state (7)
=”from African state”. LOG=”Diary”, inside NANA=”grandmother”, all reversed (“travelling north”) |
| 3,25 | THE CHESHIRE CAT |
Sale marmalade, perhaps, that disappeared gradually? (3,8,3)
=the gradually disappearing character from Alice in Wonderland [wiki]. “Sale” is a town [historically] in Cheshire, and “marmalade” is a type of cat. |
| 4 | STERNLY |
Showing no leniency in the end? (7)
=”Showing no leniency”; cryptically =”in the end”, making an adverb from STERN, the back end of a ship |
| 5 | DEPOSIT |
Top side’s changing grounds, perhaps (7)
=”grounds”=sediment, as in coffee grounds. (Top side)* |
| 6,13 | RUN NECK AND NECK |
Manage identical cuts to keep abreast of the opposition (3,4,3,4)
=”keep abreast of the opposition”. RUN=”Manage”, and NECK AND NECK are “identical cuts” of meat |
| 7 | JOINERY |
Suitable trade for craftsman knowing a good deal? (7)
cryptic definition – “deal” here means ‘fir or pine wood’. |
| 8 | GHERKIN |
Grand lady’s family descending London landmark (7)
=the London skyscraper [wiki]. G[rand] plus HER KIN=”lady’s family” |
| 13 | RUN NECK AND NECK |
See 6
|
| 16 | PAGEANT |
Each year, toff takes in a spectacular show (7)
=”spectacular show”. P[er] A[nnum]=”Each year”, plus GENT=”toff” around A |
| 17 | RANTING |
Loud-mouthed worker interrupts call (7)
=”Loud-mouthed”. ANT=”worker”, interrupting RING=”call” |
| 18 | LABOURS |
Fat fellow’s overlooked Guardian’s Herculean efforts (7)
=”Herculean efforts” [wiki]. [f]LAB=”Fat”, with F[ellow] removed, plus OURS=”Guardian’s” |
| 19 | SPECTRE |
Faction retaining prophet’s primary touching vision (7)
=”vision”. SECT=”Faction”, around P[rophet’s], plus RE=’concerning’=”touching” |
| 20 | BAMBINO |
Upset over writer describing a doctor’s delivery in Rome? (7)
=’child’ in Italian=”delivery in Rome”. Reversal (“Upset”) of all of the following – O[ver], plus NIB=”writer”, plus MB=’Bachelor of Medicine’=”doctor” around (i.e. “describing”) A |
| 21 | DENSEST |
Most impenetrable part of warden’s estate (7)
=”Most impenetrable part”. Hidden in “warDEN’S ESTate” |
| 25 | THE CHESHIRE CAT |
See 3
|
Really quite simple for a Guardian puzzle, if you just follow the cryptics. In ‘gherkin’, ‘Agincourt’, ‘rejig’ and ‘car wash’ I just went along with the wordplay, and got rewarded with the answer.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of ‘sale marmalade’, so thanks to the blogger for that one.
Enjoyed this, particularly “Cheshire Cat”. Thank you Nutmeg.
Needed help to parse 23ac so thank you for that, manehi
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
I really enjoyed this, despite finding the NW (inexplicably) difficult, and missing a couple of parsings. I missed “loaded” as “drunk”, and couldn’t see how to get the A in BAMBINO. I don’t think that “war cash” is a recognised phrase, is it? I’ve only heard “funds” or “chest”, I think.
I thought that the clue for THE CHESHIRE CAT was one of the best this year!
Very nice puzzle – many thanks to nutmeg and manehi. I particularly liked THE CHESHIRE CAT and GINGERBREAD MAN.
Very nice indeed – loved the Cheshire Cat. Thanks to Nutmeg and Manehi.
Thanks, manehi. As you say, lots of fun – and a nice one for grandmas, with 22,23 and 2dn.
As often, I agree with your favourites and also really liked GINGERBREAD MAN, with its evocation of cookery and story-readng sessions with the grandchildren.
It’s always particularly satisfying when composite answers run on in the grid, as they do in all four cases here.
There are some lovely story-telling surfaces, too, notably CHASTISED, STABBED, AGINCOURT, etc…
As usual, a very elegant and witty puzzle – many thanks to Nutmeg.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi. Very enjoyable, particularly GINGERBREAD MAN – lovely clue.
Interesting to see CAR WASH clued without a reference to the Rev. Spooner.
Thanks, manehi.
Good fun – I also agree with manehi and Eileen’s favourites. 27a and 5d are also very neat.
Perhaps I’m just getting used to her style, but I found this a lot more straightforward than Nutmeg’s previous Guardian puzzles; I spotted all the composite answers from the clue and the enumeration, apart from GINGERBREAD MAN, which took several crossers.
LOI for me was STERNLY: I was looking for an adjective rather than an adverb, though the clue could have led to either, and the Y at the end should have proved more of a prompt.
Less adventurous than some Guardian compilers, but probably more sound than a lot of them, this is a pretty typical Nutmeg puzzle. Good bits first, 15a nice def, 4d quite fun.
11 12a I found rather weak, but such clues usually are. 22 23a not really &lit, but evocative, even if in some dated and possibly non-PC way, women in the kitchen etc. 24a ‘result’ is there for surface only. 1d woolly def. 3 25d leads to CHESHIRE CAT, the ‘the’ has to be assumed. 7d Rufous, but them Nutmeg probably is. *d ‘descending’? What is that doing?
As I say quite good, but a little predictable, to me.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
Very enjoyable. As for several others, the Cheshire cat was my favourite. The answer was obvious from the start but the parsing took some time.
HH @9
8d needs a word between “family” and “London landmark”; “descending” does describe the direction of the letters. Yes, I know that the answers to all down clues are written in descending direction, but that doesn’t make the description wrong.
No, quite, but my query was as to necessity in the wording. I wondered, for a bit, if the descending has something to do with lineage.
Count me as another who found this a little easier than some of Nutmeg’s previous puzzles, but it was very enjoyable nonetheless.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi. I needed help with some of the parsing, extra thanks manehi.
New word, or one forgotten, was TACHYON (still a hypothetical particle).
I did like THE CHESHIRE CAT and the GINGERBREAD MAN.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi.
Enjoyable puzzle with good clues. I particularly enjoyed marmalade and the Italian baby.
Thanks all
Last in was sternly. Favourite 18 down.
I usually struggle with nutmeg so presumably she has been more lenient this time.
Enjoyed that – started quickly getting ALL HANDS ON DECK from the enumeration, but found it quite tough in places. Like RCW, my last in was STERNLY. TACHYON was new to me – my first thought was “isn’t that impossible?”, but I guess anything is possible as a conjecture. Failed to parse PARTIAL and SPECTRE so thanks for those. Liked GINGERBREAD MAN.
Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi
I rather liked this. Mostly quite straightforward although I had to guess PARTIAL. I’m not sure I fully understand it even having read the blog. I,too, liked THE CHESHIRE CAT,AGINCOURT and GINGERBREAD MAN.
Thanks Nutmeg.
I finished a Nutmeg for the first time. Favourite was 24ac, and like others I appreciated the absence of Spooner in 1d. Still not quite sure how Sale becomes “The Cheshire”. Does any town in a county become “the county”?
Thanks all for the comments.
muffin @3 – a clearer parsing would have separated WAR=”fighting”, plus CASH=”funds”.
Peter Asplnwall @18 – ‘laity’=”people, clergy excepted” – the “almost” indicates the removal of the last letter. Plus RAP=”hit”, then all reversed (“back”).
marienkaefer @19 – “Sale” is used as an adjective i.e. “Sale marmalade”=’marmalade from Sale’, and if something is from Sale it is also from Cheshire, so “Sale marmalade”=>’Cheshire marmalade’=>CHESHIRE CAT. The addition of ‘THE’ is not indicated directly, but the “perhaps” maybe hints towards one particular instance of “Sale marmalade”.
Well that’s right marienkaefer. ‘Sale marmalade perhaps’ gives CHESHIRE CAT at best, and even then, ‘marmalade’ is usually adjectival, describing a kind of cat.
Two firsts for me today – finishing Nutmeg and agreeing with HH. First time round though I thought the last word was “cut” as in thick/fine cut etc.
The name Sale is derived from the Sallow tree, the common Willow, often called the Pussy Willow!
There was only one Cheshire Cat who disappeared gradually so that justifies the ‘THE’. It can’t be any old Cheshire Cat so it must be /the/ Cheshire Cat.
And Hoggy, me old chum, using “…is usually adjectival” as a criticism just don’t cut it when it comes to crosswords. It may be usually adjectival but it can be nounal (no such word!) so it’s totally valid.
I am sure at cat shows they will talk about “a marmalade”, “a tabby”, “a Manx” or whatever.
I don’t think any of your other criticisms hold up either. Car Wash is not a woolly definition at all. It’s an aid for motorists, no argument. And of course it could never have been a Spooner clue because of the (or any possible) pronunciation. But ‘fighting’ is certainly ‘war’ and ‘funds’ can certainly mean ‘cash’, so no issues at all (I realise these weren’t your criticisms).
7d is a delightful clue yet you suggest that to be ‘Rufous’ is negative. I think you are trying too hard to find ANY criticism, and that doesn’t help your reputation here! Any chance you’ll be at the S&B in Cambridge in April? I have a great idea for a picture!
manehi @20 and Tim Phillips @24
Yes, “war” and “cash” as separate entities makes more sense than”war cash”.
Well Tim Phillips ‘tabby’ is a noun (although it is short for ‘tabby cat’ actually) that you find in dictionaries whereas ‘marmalade’ isn’t. ‘Manx’ of course is short for ‘Manx cat’ in that sense. So where’s your point?
If car wash is an aid for motorists, then so is good weather, or regular opportunities to buy fuel. It’s just not specific enough for me.
Or let’s start using a universal definition: all clues are for ‘thing’.
muffin, one often sees ‘drug war cash’, ‘Iraqi war cash’, etc. I find ‘fighting funds’ = ‘war cash’ reasonable.
Hi Cookie
I must have missed those – as I said earlier, I have seen “war fund” and “war chest”, but not “war cash”. Maybe I read the wrong paper!
muffin @ 28, googling I came up with ‘Report reveals how drugs war cash funded reign of terror (Daily Mail), ‘Missing Iraqi war cash may be biggest heist in history’ (Gawker.com) …
Hoggy and Tim, the OCED gives ‘marmalade cat n. a cat with orange fur’, but ‘tabby n. (pl. -ies) 1 (in full tabby cat) a grey or brownish cat mottled or streaked with brown stripes’.
Thank you Nutmeg and Manehi. Can’t recall completing a Nutmeg before and particularly enjoyed CHESHIRE CAT, finding Sale a perfectly fair indicator of the neighbouring county. Needed the blog to parse ANGOLAN and BAMBINO. Thought EXILE a neat and succinct clue once I finally clocked ele-ven.
I found “faster than light mover” a bit of a giveaway for “tachyon” (what else could it be?)
A lovely puzzle requiring three whole passes, each yielding satisfying results. I don’t have the patience today for a lengthy head-scratcher, but a simple write-in would not have satisfied as well. Just right. Thanks, Nutmeg and manehi.
Well there’s the OCED and there’s what normal people say and how they use language. HH asks where my point is. Obviously it’s in a location where HH is guaranteed to miss it!
I’m getting quite good at crosswords now; I really enjoy the variety of styles of clues and I don’t regard them as exercises in grammatical perfection. Very satisfying when I can complete them.
If I get stuck, I just change to ‘Hoggy Baiting’. Dead easy and guaranteed successful, as this day’s blog demonstrates! Such fun!
Thanks Manehi. Now I get it-Why I couldn’t see from your blog I can’t think. But thanks again.
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
Re 15A:
Barman: “We don’t serve your sort here”.
A tachyon enters the bar.
I’ll get mi coat…
Ian SW3 @ 33. Absolutely. Perfectly pitched puzzle for those with limited time who don’t want it too simple. Most enjoyable in many varying ways. As for the THE CHESHIRE CAT clue, I really don’t think it needs defending as it’s perfectly capable of standing up for itself – and does, wonderfully. I just wish any irritants might follow that particular feline!
Thanks to Nutmeg and an appreciative nod in manehi’s direction…
I agree with hh.
Well Tim Pillips if that’s okay with the moderator here whoever it is, then you’ll be allowed to continue with your ‘hoggy-baiting’. What sport!
ðŸ™
Thanks Nutmeg and manehi
Only got to this one today … and I too found it a bit more straightforward than her usual puzzle.
Loved all of the long clues. Finished in the NW with CAR WASH (corrected from an erroneous and unparsed FOG LAMP originally!), ANGOLAN and HONESTY the lady three in. GHERKIN, in the oirm of a London building had to be searched for.
Needed help with the parsing of LABOURS and as it turns out SPEAKS OUT (where I had S [direction] and OUT [as failing]).
A lot of clever and innovative clues here