The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28158.
I got to this a little late, and then made uneven progress – perhaps because I am tired – ending up with an inordinate time spotting the wordplay for 15D INCREASED.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RAMPAGE | Anger about current violent disorder (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of AMP (measure of ‘current’) in RAGE (‘anger’). | ||
| 5 | MUDFLAP | Spooner’s inundation chart provides protection from murky water (7) |
| FLOOD MAP (‘inundation chart’). | ||
| 10 | PARK | Common or standard weekend (4) |
| A charade of PAR (‘standard’) plus K (‘weeKend’). | ||
| 11 | ROYAL FLUSH | Good hand for throne action? (5,5) |
| Definition (of the poker hand) and cryptic indication, with a play on two meanings of ‘throne’. | ||
| 12 | CARROT | Incentive to get back into motor racing (6) |
| A reversed (‘to get back’) hidden answer in ‘moTOR RACing’ | ||
| 13 | A DAB HAND | One who’s skilled getting a poor deal partly reversed (1,3,4) |
| If you reverse the DAB part, you get A BAD HAND (‘a poor deal’) – definitely neither 11A or 7D. | ||
| 14 | TAOISEACH | Head of government‘s French bird almost mangê par mauvais chat (9) |
| An envelope (‘mangé par’ – the circumflex is a misprint) of OISEA[u] (‘French bird’) |
||
| 16 | QUACK | Jonathan Ross’s expert declared to be a charlatan (5) |
| Jonathan Ross is noted for his difficulty with pronouncing the letter R, so that CRACK (‘expert’) might sound more like (‘declared’) the answer. | ||
| 17, 29 | SPACE INVADER | Character from arcade game is one with disregard for social distancing? (5,7) |
| Devinition and literal interpretation, combining the 1978 game with the 2020 pandemic. | ||
| 19 | SLEAZEBAG | [Creep lazes about, say, around bar endlessly] (9) |
| A charade of SLEAZ, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘lazes’ plus EBAG, an envelope (‘around’) of ‘ba[r]’ minus the last letter (‘endlessly’) in EG (‘say’). The square brackets in the clue serve no discernible purpose – unless perhaps it was the intention to replace the clue or answer, and it never happened. | ||
| 23 | BRIEFING | Preparation of cheese with some fish before midnight (8) |
| A charade of BRIE (‘cheese’) plus FIN (‘some fish’) plus G (‘midniGht’) | ||
| 24 | TOMATO | Consecutive atoms show fruit (6) |
| Do not bother looking up the periodic table: it is an implied hidden answer in aTOM ATOm (‘consecutive atoms’). | ||
| 26 | PROSTHESIS | Substitute part of body of academic work by many 13 (10) |
| A charade of PROS, plural (‘many’) of PRO (A DAB HAND, ’13’) plus THESIS (‘academic work’). | ||
| 27 | See 3 | |
| 28 | TYNDALE | Having neatly translated brought about the onset of death for him (7) |
| An envelope (‘brought about’) of D (‘the onset of Death’) in TYNALE, an anagram (‘translated’) of ‘neatly’. William TYNDALE made a very influential translation of much of the Bible into English, and was martyred, so that the clue has an extended definition. | ||
| 29 | See 17 | |
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ALABAMA | Like past president to blow his top in this state (7) |
| A charade of A LA (in the style of, ‘like’) plus [O]BAMA (‘past president’) minus the first letter (‘to blow his top’). | ||
| 3, 27 | POKER FACE | Somehow cope with freak betraying no emotions (5,4) |
| An anagram (‘somehow’) of ‘cope’ plus ‘freak’, with a grammar problem in the definition; fairly frequently, someone comes up with a construction which kind of justifies such a mismatch, but I cannot see one here. | ||
| 4 | GAROTTE | Throttle component of carburettor again playing up (7) |
| A reversed (‘playing up’ in a down light) hidden (‘component of’) answer in ‘carburETTOR AGain’. | ||
| 6 | UPLOAD | Raise burden put on server (6) |
| A charade of UP (‘raise’) plus LOAD (‘burden’), with the ‘server’ being a computer. | ||
| 7 | FULL HOUSE | What actors hope for is less good than 11 (4,5) |
| Another poker hand, pretty good, but not as good as a ROYAL FLUSH. | ||
| 8 | ARSENIC | As nice as dancing with Romeo (7) |
| An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘nice as’ plus R (‘Romeo’, radio code), with the definition being the chemical symbol for the element. | ||
| 9 | GYNAECOLOGIST | Specialist sending back anything that’s not thin and green (13) |
| A charade of GYNA, a reversal (‘sending back’) of ‘any[thin]g’ minus ‘thin’; plus ECOLOGIST (‘green’). | ||
| 15 | INCREASED | At last, fragrance-scented After Eight: wild rose (9) |
| A charade of INCREAS, an anagram (‘wild’) of ARSENIC (‘eight’ – that is, the answer to 8D) plus E D (‘at last, fragrancE-scenteD‘, with ‘after’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 18 | PORTRAY | Left light show (7) |
| A charade of PORT (‘left’) plus RAY (‘light’). | ||
| 20 | ARTISAN | Papa abandoning biased craftsman (7) |
| A subtraction: [p]ARTISAN (‘biased’) minus the P (‘papa abandoned’ – radio code for P). | ||
| 21 | AUTOCUE | Prompt report of traffic jam? (7) |
| Sounds like (‘report of’) AUTO QUEUE (‘traffic jam’). | ||
| 22 | WITHAL | Draw out of retreat despite everything (6) |
| A subtraction: WITH[draw]AL (‘retreat’) minus DRAW (‘draw out of’). | ||
| 25 | MAFIA | Chiefly murderers and felons in alliance (5) |
| First letters (‘chiefly’) of ‘Murserers And Felons In Alliance’, with an &lit definition. | ||
The typesetting was a bit “manglé” today, if you see what I mean. Agreed with all PeterO’s points, nice blog.
Typography in 19ac had me thinking “bracket creep”!
Well, I suppose the weekly streak of challenging puzzles had to end. I knew today was going to be a disappointment when the whole NW segment was solved before the puzzle emerged from the printer. Veteran solvers aren’t likely to be phased by the Irish big-shot, otherwise he might have been a stumbling block. The clue for INCREASED was a clever deception, and SPACE INVADER raised a wry topical smile. Nothing much else to add in the way of joy though ….
Nice, fun puzzle.
Liked PARK, ARSENIC + INCREASED, BRIEFING. Also gynaecologist, taoiseach – I will be able to spell these two words more easily from now on if I recall these clues.
Could not parse QUACK (not familiar with Jonathan Ross – is he on UK TV?), TOMATO.
Thanks to B+S.
As per rodshaw at first, galloping through three-quarters but then stuffing up the SW by having earlier mistyped spave instead of space …idiot! Well, made it last a bit longer, along with nutting out chat* around the tailless oiseau, remembering the As trick then transporting it for increase. Liked Tyndale (the clue and the man…brave, esp for annoying Henry!) and the ‘many a dab hand’ was pretty neat. I too was thinking ‘bracket creep’, Trovatore@3. So, lots to enjoy, if (mostly) brief. God to brie fin g, der! Thanks both, good weekend everyone.
…as for the missing d in poker face[d], PeterO, yes it’d need some kind of yoofism such as “He was, like, totally poker face” in which the ungrammar has become common usage..
Re 15d. Isn’t there a time-honoured convention that in a clue the word in another slot can be referred only by the number in figures and not words?
Two possible valid solutions came to mind for 24 across. TOMATO and ORANGE; O(xygen) + RA(dium) + N(itrogen) GE(rmanium). Any suggestions for a third to match yesterday’s 21d. I’m sure I could get another one out of the periodic table, but that seems like cheating.
Thanks to Philistine for a delightful puzzle – nice to return to enjoy his trademark medical inclusions – 26a PROSTHESIS and 9d GYNAECOLOGIST (as mentioned by michelle@4). Some neat references to card-playing. Your early blog is appreciated as ever, PeterO: what’s happening in your part of the world continues to be of great concern.
[Footnote by way of explanation: For several years I have tried my best to contribute positively on 15². However, the “bloated blogs” of a few weeks ago made me feel very marginalized because they contained some rude and egotistical posts and exchanges indicative of an inclusive inner circle. Those thoughts made me withdraw and reconsider my motivation for being part of this “community” – and whether I have thought of how newcomers might feel coming here – and if I too can sound smug or be inconsiderate at times.
A contributor who knew of my situation emailed me a few days ago to say that the blog has returned to a more civil and welcoming tone which I was glad to hear. Nevertheless I continue to regret the loss of some contributors who have been put off completely by a lack of respect, unconsciously meant or otherwise. I remain concerned too at the disproportionate participation of women in the Guardian cryptic crosswords on a number of levels.
I suspect “COVIDITIS” might have had a lot to with the recent outbreak of tedious repetition and some selfishness on this site, but the Pollyanna in me was certainly disappointed given that I believed the events of these recent challenging times might make the world a better and kinder place.]
Not a write in for me by any means – surprised so many found this easy but Philistine is often like this – I have had the opposite reaction at times. For me tge bottom half was quite tricky. All very inventive and entertaining.
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO
Absolutely not on the setter’s wavelength today so didn’t get a lot of pleasure from this. My fault, I’m sure.
Having commented in the past on the coincidence of solutions appearing in more than one publication, today’s occurrence is quite freaky: Guardian 21d “Prompt report of traffic jam” – AUTOCUE Telegraph 21ac “TV presenter prompts report of traffic congestion” – AUTOCUES.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
(Also, in case they drop in today, thanks to Gazzh and sheffield hatter for answering my query about denier yesterday.)
First, JinA, a very warm welcome back. Now I’ll read your post..
Re 24a
Suppose one interprets “consecutive atoms” as ‘atoms atoms”?
JinA @9 Welcome back indeed. You have a special place here and were missed with several posts asking your whereabouts. I’ll own up to one slightly snappy comment on my part – and, funnily enough, yes it was in connection with the “bloated blogs” posting. True, they became a tad unwieldy at one point. But, if that’s a reflection of more people crosswording and wanting to contribute to a community, that didn’t worry me too much. It might mean I didn’t read everything and it also presents the dilemma of which posts to acknowledge or reply to. I get a threefold pleasure from the blog: reading others’ comments, posting my own and eliciting response. When the blog reached 100+ posts, all three pleasures inevitably suffered a bit and I’m sure that must apply to others too. Which might account for some of the frustration that then materialised in comments.
Julie @9: let me echo ginf and Mark, very good to see your name again among the contributors.
Wiggers @8: Barium and 2 sodiums? (or should that be sodia?)
I’m hoping that rodshaw @3 has a really slow printer; it would help my self-esteem.
PeterO, I think your pointing out of the misprint in 14a has fallen victim to Muphry’s Law 😉
Many thanks Philistine and Peter; I enjoyed this, although the combination of FLUSH, TOMATO and FACE had me wondering if there was going to be a blushing theme, and sent me on a fruitless (or veg-less) search for BEETROOT.
Hi all, I really enjoyed this, and realised as I was doing so that if I could do this then there would be complaints that it was too easy. Lots to love but especially ARSENIC and GYNAECOLOGIST. Thank you PeterO for the explanation of INCREASED (eight = 8[d] duh…). And many thanks to Philistine for a lovely beginning to what will be a challenging day. (Chairing a long and complex meeting via zoom.)
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
I found the top went in quite easily, but the bottom took a lot longer. In contrast to yesterday’s Spooner, this one was acceptable as it makes sense either way round. Favourite was SPACE INVADER. I didn’t see the parsing of INCREASED.
Jonathan Ross was a rather parochial (and dated?) reference.
I got TYNDALE from the anagram, but it barely has a definition at all.
[Certainly agree about the repetitive knit-picking, JinA. As for the sniping, yes some of it got personal (eg Qaos 23,138, in which I tried a bit of mediation, inexpertly). Having lived with a heavyweight coalface Psych for 40 years, Principle 101 is None of us is free from repressed stuff and toxicity, which sometimes pokes through our compassion and civility. Painful, yes, but it doesn’t offend me as such; part of the human condition. ginf.]
Really enjoyed this one today. But without google translate I would never have got 14a. Thanks to Peter for parsing 15d – I looked at it for long enough but never connected the Eight with 8d. I spent a while thinking After Eight might have been IX, but once I got space invaders, that didn’t look likely. My favourites are Arsenic and Tomato. Nice end to the week.
Off topic
Years ago I was a blogger on FT puzzle and a frequent commenter, explaining queries on annotations, discussing matters relating to crosswords and so on.
For some months I have not visited this forum. I now find much water has flowed under the bridge.
It seems focus on the crossword on hand and crosswords in general is gone and mere chat is going on.
Welcome back, Julie! I have missed your contributions. Be heartened that Antipodeans who don’t know you have been concerned. That’s the essence of proper human relationship.
Thanks for parsing of CARROT Peter and for the rest of the blog.
That was the only one had query on, I can only ever spell TAOISEACH when guided by wordplay.
Lots of fun clues
I think the tuffometer reached its peak yesterday but its been an excellent Graun week
The one I tripped up on was in fact Nutmeg-I think it was DEBATE-she looks like she’s bowling a fairly straight ball but turns out to ea a doosra. I wised up for the rest of the week.
And thanks Phil
A crossie of two halves for me – the top went in very quickly, but the bottom took much longer (an experience several others had, I see). TYNDALE shouldn’t have taken so long, since I have just finished reading the last of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy and I had all the anagram fodder. Got there in the end, though. It’s been a tough week for me – I could only finish the Quiptic, Wednesday’s and today’s. Maybe the easing lockdown here means I have less time… Thanks to PeterO and Philistine.
I enjoyed this enormously. The ARSENIC, GYNAECOLOGIST (thought it must be that, but was hesitating because I didn’t realise that was what they did), INCREASED and TAOISEACH clues alone were worth a month’s subscription. Philistine entertains you – which is so important.
Unlike many I found this really tricky and, also unlike many, not much fun. I thought the wordplay over-convoluted and grammatically stretched. The lack of any adequate definition for “tyndale”, the ambiguity of “tomato” (I started with “banana” which worked just fine), “up” = “raise” (verb=adjective?) and the unnecessary “trick” with “eight” instead of 8 (just to fit in the “after eight” phrase) just annoyed me rather than made me wonder at the setter’s skill. Usually I love Philistine, not least because he does not shy away from scientific and medical terms, but this one was not to my taste.
Than again, that’s my problem! Thank you PeterO for parsing “increased” and thanks Philistine for further covid distractions.
A very fine crossword with some unusual tricks. As French is not one of my languages TAOISEACH was LOI by then obvious from definition and crossers.
Thanks to PeterO and Philistine.
PS. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”
Thank you PeterO for explaining definition of 8D (hopefully not to be forgotten, we’ll see) and then how this works into parsing of 15D which I hadn’t understood at all and only got with all crossers there.I have tried but cannot precisely equate POKER FACE with “betraying no emotions”, closest I got was “he had a poker face” = “he had a face betraying no emotions” but that double face is awkward. The first few clues I got had a vague cards/games tinge so I suspected a theme but soon gave up on looking for more, fortunately.
Had to cheat a little to get 28A with whom I was not familiar – wordplay clear, guessing TYN as possibly Shakespearean and google autofilling the rest.
23A (like 15D) had me thoroughly misled as I guessed ING as being part of LING and then went looking for a fancy cheese dish, wanting the def to be a period of time just before midnight (eg gloaming is approx twilight).
Was very happy to get 14A and spot the typo, but my favourites were the neat reverse inclusion in 4D and the amusing 21D. Thank you Philistine.
Thanks for the blog, PeterQ.
I agree entirely with Komornik @24 re ARSENIC, GYNAECOLOGIST, INCREASED and TAOISEACH [should I ever have to spell this, I now have three foolproof mnemonics [thanks to Indy setters Eccles and Tyrus {Vlad}, too] – but I think the wonderful TYNDALE tops the lot.
Many thanks to Philistine, as ever.
[It’s really good to see you back, Julie. x]
One way to tell if a grid has clues which have less than 50% checking (squares that have crossing compared to total number of squares for that clue) is if the grid feels like a composite of 4 sub-grids. This one did, and sure enough, there’s 16 and 17 across, for example, both with enumerations of 5, but each with only 2 crossers. And there’s 9 down, 13 letters totally with only 6 crossers. Not sure if it necessarily matters to most solvers, but it stands out to me, and there are a few in the past who have pointed it out as being a tad unfair. Thanks, Philistine and PeterO. A nice weekend to all.
Julie in Oz @9: Welcome back. This place can be a bit of a rough and tumble at times but I feel that’s more to do with the fact that there are some fairly bright men and women who enjoy this weird pastime, and that can sometimes lead to strong views. I would have nothing to do with any group that marginalized ladies and I honestly don’t detect that here. I do hope you’ll stay and continue to contribute in your positive way.
I enjoyed this puzzle, albeit at the easier end of the spectrum. I feel we’ve seen the “consecutive atoms” gag before but can’t remember when. Perhaps Beery can.
TYNDALE was a tad GK but clever nonetheless.
Favourite was INCREASED for it’s neat hidden definition.
Nice weekend, all.
On the subject of essexboy’s Muphry’s Law @15; I still have a blush-making memory of a bungled attempt to correct my mother’s grammar. With a withering stare she told me “there is only one crime in the English language for which you will surely burn in hell, and that is inaccurate pedantry.”
Still burning.
i really enjoyed today’s, more on my wavelength and ability level. I thought there was lots of elegant clueing, though I couldn’t parse 15d either. Just happy to make it to the end with my sanity intact and no need to resort to the reveal button out of fatigue or frustration…
thanks Philistine and PeterO
In the printed newspaper delivered to me this morning there is no misprint at 14a (“mangé”) or at 19a (no square brackets visible).
Spelling it is hard enough, but I hope that one day we get a Spooner clue for TAOISEACH so that I can work out how to pronounce it…
blaise @34: I’m reliably informed by an Irish friend that it’s pronounced tee – shock but the more Angliicised tee-shuck is heard also.
@33 John Wells
As far as I know, preparing the crossword for the print edition is one thing and preparing it for the interactive version is another thing. The latter requires the recall of grid from the library and importing clues. The pucca proofread clues file may or may not be used in the IA ver. The work at this stage may be handled by a sub-editor/intern. Even if the same pucca clue file is imported, some work may still be needed – like fixing the diacritical mark, etc. If formatting is not done properly, variations will be there.
I loved this. QUACK and ARSENIC and AUTOCUE and CARROT and SPACE INVADER. TYNDALE was a mystery to me, but I didn’t care.
Brilliant stuff – possibly one of my favourite puzzles of the year so far.
Phew! Glad it was considerably easier today than the previous four days. Busy boy today, so inside an hour helps!
Same as several others, couldn’t parse INCREASED and hadn’t heard of TYNDALE, but both answers went in and I felt pleased with myself!
Thanks to PeterO for the comprehensive blog as ever
@29 rohanm
I am surprised by your remark on 9d slot. As long as every other cell in a word of any length is checked (or is a crosser) it’s fine. Only, two or three consecutive cells should not remain unchecked.
Despite the infelicities of “poker face[d]”, “eight” for 8d, and the excessive French in 14a, I really enjoyed this one.
muffin @17, TheZed @25: TYNDALE was my favourite clue. I read it as an &lit, but I now see that the “for him” supplies the “definition” and is no component of the wordplay. But I thought it was pretty neat. GYNAECOLOGIST was pretty impressive, too. Toilet humour in 11a made me chuckle.
By the way, the online version of this puzzle that I was looking at had none of the extraneous brackets or typos mentioned by commenters here.
Thanks to blogger and setter today.
Easy? Not for me! Challenging and inventive would be my assessment. Good fun. Thanks s & b.
I agree with the sentiment that the top half was easier than the bottom, and I really struggled with the latter.
Is knowledge of French universal in Britain? Here, you’re generally required to study at least one foreign language, but you get your pick (my HS offered Spanish, French, German, Latin, and Japanese), and while Spanish is the most popular, you can’t assume that even a well-educated American knows any one particular other language. Anyway, I took German and Latin, and don’t have enough French to solve a clue like the one for TAOISEACH.
I also didn’t know the old British TV personality, so that one was baffling too.
Failed on ‘Taoiseach’ as I was looking for a specific bird rather than a truncated version of the general noun. I enjoyed most of the puzzle, but I’m not a fan of clues that require a knowledge of a foreign language, however basic.
Good to see a posting from Julie in Australia @9. I also refrained from submitting comments for a while, having attracted some unwelcome responses from a troll for having the temerity to say that I do not like clues of a particular nature, but decided to resume as most contributors are constructive and polite when expressing opinions, even ones with which I disagree. I always appreciate hearing from you Julie.
Welcome back Julie and Rishi.
I don’t really understand ‘some fish’ for FIN; perhaps someone can help to unscramble my brain about this.
Yes, the top largely went in quite well, but I got stuck on the SW corner.
I thought for a while that the Head of Government was going to be French but it wasn’t! My schoolboy French was good enough, and I liked that clue, among others.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO.
Such a joy today, I thought, light bulbs popping all over the place. Couldn’t at first imagine finding a word that would accommodate the string of letters OISEA for 14ac, but there it was. And, 26ac PROSTHESIS and 9d GYNAECOLOGIST a pointer to perhaps to Philistine’s vital day job, or have I got my setters mixed up again?
Robi @44: while normally in Crosswordland “some fish” might be FIS or FI or just F, here they want some of the literal fish–just the fin.
Thanks Philistine & PeterO
TheZed @ 25: ‘up’ can be a verb as in ‘up the ante’ or ‘up your game’.
Simon S @47 Yes – thanks for that. After posting I thought of “up your offer” which is a bit more slangy than your examples, but still fair. Like Robi @44 I thought “fin” for “some fish” also slightly off (and no-one wants off fish, or to be standoffish) as it is really some part of a fish and I did not see how “part of a” can be left implied. If someone said “Would you like some apple?” and then offered me the core I’d be disappointed. Then I thought of “Would you like some chicken?” – that would definitely lead to being satisfied with the offer of breast, leg, thigh etc. So “Some chicken” could, in that instance, be “a specific part of a chicken”.
Having reasoned that one out I was less satisfied with “current” = “amp”, which is the unit of current. Would we be OK with “length” = “metre”? If a student had said to me “the amps in the circuit are 5” I would’ve corrected them immediately as it is simply not correct. There are times when the unit becomes a noun metonymically describing the quantity itself – we use “acreage” for “area” and “yardage” for length. So this one I have yet to properly justify and if someone can do for that what Simon kindly did for “up” I’d be grateful!
I too found the online version free of errors, so by the time I had loaded it they must’ve exorcised the printer’s devil.
Really enjoyable, thanks Philistine and PeterO
Was I the only person who confidently put CARNAGE straight into 1ac, parsing as an anagram (‘violent’) of ANGER + C (‘about’) + A (‘current” – S.I. Symbol for amp)? POKER FACE soon set me right but I think my way just about works as an alternative answer, certainly within the Guardian’s freer interpretation of crossword grammar.
Top half – a write in. Bottom half – many pauses. I kept looking for POKER references in the bottom half, which didn’t help.
I liked the TAOISEACH clue for two reasons: I’ve got enough French; and I it’s a word that I can’t spell without aid. mrpenny@42, I fear for crossword solvers in the future, for language learning in schools in England (can’t speak for the other nations, education is devolved) has been in decline for some time, owing to the restricted curriculum forced on schools.
Rishi@39: I agree it’s probably not so bad for long-ish words (like the 13 letter 9d), but having only 2 crossers for a 5 letter word makes the ‘unfairness’ (for lack of a better word) a tad more stark, imo.
Robi @44: Re some fish = FIN, I had the same thought. Indeed, I’m not really happy amp = current at RAMPAGE. Both so readily yielded that I overlooked them but it smacks of slightly sloppy setting to me.
I enjoyed this. Mistyping held me up in SW corner, but correcting this gave me TYNDALE which I loved. Other favourite was MAFIA but lots more to like. Fortunately had enough left of high school French to work out 14a and googling Jonathan Ross should have helped with 16ac, ie that is was re his speech impediment, but didn’t although I readily had QUACK for charlatan.
Thanks to Philistine and to ANdrew.
And welcome back JinA, you have been missed.
A lovely puzzle from Philistine. Like others I thought there were a number of great clues, including TAOISEACH, GYNAECOLOGIST, SPACE INVADERS and SLEAZEBAG (because of the square brackets I tried to shovel in BRACKETED or something like PARENTHESIS).
Welcome back JinA! I don’t always pay too much attention to arguments that go on here, but you reminded me of the HH (Hideous Hog?) palaver some years ago, which went on for months, with him criticising almost every clue and setter. I remember writing long rebuttals to his criticisms, but eventually it became clear that he was intentionally winding us up – it was described as trolling.
Regarding folk taking all this seriously: I can just about understand that, but for myself I really don’t mind a DNF provided I’ve had a good time along the way. For some reason I find very short clues (four letters, or even three) of little interest, but I always like to get the longer ones. Chacun a son gout.
TYNDALE was among my first ones in (fois?) – isn’t it a semi &lit? I remember thinking as I contemplated the clue for TAIOSEACH that this would be quite hard for anyone with no French; likewise for non-UK solvers the Jonathan Ross reference in 16a. I thought the aTOMATOm device was good, and also enjoyed the semi-Pauline “throne action”. Thanks to Philistine for the witty clues and the variety of devices used. Thanks also to PeterO for parsing INCREASE, which I wrote in but gave up on in the end.
[AC87’s “the Guardian’s freer interpretation of crossword grammar” (@49) reminded me of the exchange I had late on in the comments on last week’s Maskarade (see 77ff.) on this subject, which probably most on here will not have seen. I mention this in the context of the problems some contributors here have identified with Philistine’s grammar, my response to which might have been “If we all know what it means, what is wrong with it?” But considering the distress I seem to have inadvertently caused Sil van den Hoek @83, baerchen @86 and James @91 by saying that in last Thursday’s forum, I’ll just keep quiet.]
First things first: hello Julie in Aus, you’ve been missed!!! Like you, I sometimes find the verbal hot air a bit heavy-going, ditto the occasional willy-waving – the latter being particularly hard to take when I’ve struggled determinedly to complete a crossword yet the commenters are all puffed up with glee at how easy they found it. (On such days I decide discretion is the better part of valour and simply keep schtumm.)
Rest assured, sites such as this benefit hugely from input like yours – for it’s always constructive, considerate and kind.
Thanks to Philistine for some truly clever clues: 14a, 26a, 8d and 21d being especially satisfying. Thanks also to PeterO for the always-entertaining blog and for helping complete the parsing to INCREASED & SLEAZEBAG…
William@52, TheZed@48, Robi@44 (and any others) – for the FIN maybe it would have been better as “some shark” since that part of the beast is often a key meal ingredient (somewhat controversially), whereas if I went to the chippie, asked for a piece of cod and got a battered fin I would be a bit miffed, to put it mildly. But shark would make it a bit obvious perhaps.
I now recall that I was also annoyed by AMP = current (AMPAGE has been seen recently and is OK for current, I think, but then the R wouldn’t work and this confused me at first). But have I seen “short length” = inch or “little weight” = g in a clue before? I think mileage, tonnage or Square footage etc are fine but agree that I can’t clearly bring to mind an exactly metonymic unit (is that the right usage of metonymic)? I will keep it on the back burner in case something pops up.
Thanks, PeterO.
It’s been a good run this week, and I enjoyed this one. Raised an eyebrow at “current” for amp, smiled at “some fish” for fin.
Regarding the pronunciation of Taoiseach: both TEE-shock and TEE-shuck are good approximations (the second vowel is a schwa), but the final consonant should be a /ch/ as in the Scottish loch or the Welsh bach. Or think of a Scouser asking for sticky chicken teriyake. 😉
Stay safe, all.
Johnny come lately here – been out all morning in deepest darkest Suffolk where second home owners dare not invest.
All been said on the crossword which was excellent so my thanks to P².
As to the blog (& JinA’s as ever thoughtful post) it seems to go in waves. It has returned to being chatty and discursive which I prefer. A few months back it got very grammitical – which is fair enough but not my cup of tea so I passed for a while.
As I only pop in 2 or 3 times a week not sure I’ve been too aware of the issues and pray I haven’t been the cause of any. I do recall some interminable and repetitive mansplaining about a numerical thingy (technical term) and a long exchange between a self-confessed pedant and setter brought to an end by a humorous intervention by the poster’s sister. There was also an occasion when things got tetchy and Eileen in true schoolmarm/landlady style said “oi you two take it ahtside’ – although she may have been slightly more eloquent!.
I suppose some sites have a formal moderator. I would hope we don’t need one. Perhaps unhappy posters could show a yellow card to remind us all that things are getting out of hand.
Agree that a substantial part of this one was the easiest of the week but still fell 3 short of completion- 5a, 14a & 15d. Wouldn’t have got 14a in a month of any days – way above my lowly pay grade. Enjoyed the tussle nevertheless & I’ll chalk it down as an honourable failure.
Thanks to all.
Despite not finishing — TAOISEACH and TYNDALE were unknown to me and the parsing for INCREASED too convoluted for me — this was an enjoyable crossword. Though simple, MAFIA was amusing because its surface hit the nail on the head as did ALABAMA’s. Also got a kick out of A DAB HAND and SLEAZEBAG — thanks Philistine and also to PeterO.
Late to the party, so just to say I enjoyed this offering by Philistine (currently my favourite setter) greatly although a DNF, as I had never heard of TYNDALE. Blaise @ 34 I seem to remember that Private Eye always refers to the Irish PM as the Tea Shop!!
Regarding the pronunciation of TAOISEACH, for years I thought people were saying ‘teashop’ which conjures up an image of a little cafe with check tablecloths.
I, too, wrote in the top half and then slowed dramatically. I loved ‘throne action’. Thanks Philistine and PeterO.
Julie @ 63 Miss Mollett’s High Class Tea Room, in the lovely Kent Village of Appledore, is just such an establishment. Highly recommended!!!
Not a write-in for me at all, more a puzzle to savour for its originality. I didn’t spot the neat trick in INCREASED (referring to 8 as Eight), but having been caught just once yonks ago with a clue beginning ‘As’ I’ve never fallen for that ARSENIC trick since, so that one was straightforward. I liked very much the clever use of French in TAOISEACH for the sake of both ‘oiseau’ and ‘chat’. MUDFLAP was an unexpectedly neat spoonerism, catching me out until a crossing letter came to my aid.
[Julie @9, welcome back indeed. I know you well as a positive contributor to this community of solvers and am as glad to see you back as I was sorry to hear of the reasons for your withdrawal. I for one acknowledge that some blogs around the time you are referring to did indeed go too far in the way you eloquently describe, and I hope (1) that the more considerate and inclusive tone of these blogs is here to stay and (2) neither you nor anyone else is put in the same position again.
Under-representation of women in this community is an issue all by itself, which cannot be resolved here and now but I hope can be explored more fully.]
Way off topic but mildly comical. The reference to tea shop reminds me that I believed for some time that the song Guantanamera in its Sandpipers version was actually ‘Want an Umbrella’.
BlueCanary @59 – Ouch! [you sent me on a trawl through the archive. 😉 ]
Special shout out to 4 d for the terrific surface and a hearty welcome back to JinA – we were getting worried!
[SPanza @66
Love the umbrella – it goes with Bob Dylan’s “the ants are my friends”.
In case anyone’s interested, there’s a whole world of mondegreens out there…]
All good clean fun as far as I could see: entertaining and fair. I generally approve of setters stretching the boundaries a little in the cause of variety and amusement, and there was plenty of both in this. I had no issue with Eight, FIN or POKER FACE, as some seem to have done.
The north succumbed quickly but the south held out for longer.
TYNDALE was new to me but fairly clued. As an occasional poster myself, I’m pleased to see that others have returned, along with the ambience. G’day Julie. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO
Hi essexboy @69 – and Philistine themed a puzzle on them here
[… and SPanza told us about Guantanamera – and I commented but had completely forgotten: oh dear, it was only a few weeks ago. 🙠]
[SPanza@66 and essexboy later- great thread subject. One of the joys of this blog is learning stuff. I’m pretty sure it was Muffin who first made mention here of the term and origin of mondegreen.
Always thought the Bobsters Tangled Up In Blue was China Loving Blues – made the lyrics a complete mystery.]
On the subject of mondegreens: I always thought that Nazareth’s My White Bicycle was my wife buys pickles!
drofle@54
Excuse me, you mean lights or solution words of four or three letters, don”t you?
Most of this was straightforward but,as others have said, the top half was easier than the bottom. It took ages to see the,now obvious, SPACE INVADERS. And as for INCREASED: I got it via the crossers and didn’t see the wordplay until I’d written it in!
Nice puzzle.
Thanks Philistine.
P.S. Welcome back Julie!
Oh dear I had completely forgotten that I had mentioned Umbrella before. Getting old very fast I’m afraid!! On the subject of old friends here welcome back JinA, please don’t go away again!!
I have asked before but have not had an answer does anybody know what happened to an RWSmith who was a very regular contributor here back in the day?
Eileen @ 71, don’t feel so bad it was over a year ago!!!
SPanza – I feel much worse – I’d been so doolally I’d misread the year! ðŸ™
You probably got the year right, Eileen – 2020 seems to have been cancelled!
Eileen, yep so did I first time around!!
Any road up, as they say around here [or ‘Whatever’, as they say these days] – it’s nice that this digression links to another Philistine puzzle, so we can claim not to be entirely off-topic. 😉
[Thanks Eileen et al @71-81, I missed that one (whenever it was!) One of my favourites, which wasn’t mentioned: Never a frown with Gordon Brown. You can even get the T-shirt if you want. Interesting that the phenomenon is not restricted to English – in German they’re known as Agathe Bauer songs, from a mishearing of ‘I got the power’!]
To be a pedant (ou un pinailleur) it’s à chacun son goût).
Je trouverai mon manteau!
The highlight for me today was JinA’s return – followed by SPACE INVADERS TYNDALE ARSENIC (because I remembered the trick) and INCREASED – but only after coming here for the parsing.
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO.
Quite a moderate puzzle. I enjoyed the simple but effective PARK. Struggled a lot with the last two, BRIEFING and WITHAL. I decided to search for a pangram after QUACK and SLEAZEBAG, but it was not to be. I was surprised to learn from Wiki that TYNDALE was voted 26th on a BBC top 100 Britons poll. A lot of people must be quite well up on their Biblical translators!
Merci buckets, Phil and Pete.
[SPanza @76. Do you perhaps mean RCWhiting? I tried doing a search, but I don’t think this site’s search facility can look at individual postings btl, so it’s only when a contributor is acknowleged by the blogger (such as here) that an instance can be found. Perhaps someone else can help to find when he last posted? I don’t know what has happened to him, but I do remember him appearing in these comments several years ago. (Sorry if this is not who you were referring to.)]
Way back in the mists of time there was a series of Maxwell cassette ads on the theme of misheard lyrics including Desmond Dekker’s classic “me ears are Alight” 🙂 Great crossword BTW. Super fast until the last three TYNDALE, TEASHOP & INCREASED
Delighted to have you back JinA – I was wondering whether you were ok. your posts are always worth reading
Hi sheffield hatter @88 [and SPanza @76]
RWSmith didn’t ring a bell with me, either but RCWhiting was a regular commenter here.
Another remarkable coincidence with today’s Philistine’s puzzle: a year ago, I recommended here Philistine’s latest book, which told how he had operated on 15² crossword enthusiast RCWhiting and included a puzzle that he had composed for him. We haven’t heard from Roger since then – I hope all is well with him.
Thanks, Eileen. I hope so too but it doesn’t sound very promising.
sheffield hatter and Eileen, of course it was RCWhiting thank you both so much. I knew he had had a heart operation but had no idea it was performed by Mr Samer Nashef!! Of course the good Doctor would know how he is, but probably could not comment for privacy reasons. I always enjoyed RC’s comments and miss his slightly acerbic wit. If you are out there Roger, do get back in touch!!! As you said Eileen none of this is so way off topic!!
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO.
I hope it’s not too narcissistic of me to say so, but while I’m no cuisinière de poisson I am A DAB HAND at fish fingers.
The first syllable of TAOISEACH is pronounced as if you were saying “twee” without moving your lips. Near enough…
And see Miche@58 for the ending.
Yeah, I’ve gotten a bit teed off occasionally with people shuttlecocking back and forth, each stooping lower and lower to get their point across. But for the most part the conversation in this bar is stimulating and uplifting. And generally keeps to topic which will inevitably lead to the (oh dear) the occasional “cross word”. But we musn’t upset the children by confusing the issue imho and as with all social media it’s important to pick and choose in order to avoid indigestion. For my part I restrict my perusals to those who take the INCREASED trouble to spell out the clues they are referring to, as exemplified my JinA – whose offerings have been much missed in this parish.
Not a lot from cookie recently either.
drhhmb @83
Well said regarding à chacun son goût. (It’s not pedantic – it’s French!) Unless you tell me otherwise, chacun a son goût (Everyone has …) is an acceptable alternative. I checked my Brewer’s Dictionary before writing this – I have found that to be a more reliable source than dictionaries for some foreign phrases.
My references to dictionaries (@93) didn’t quite make sense. I was contrasting Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable with the English dictionaries that I have, which are Chambers and Collins.
I always like a Philistine crossword.
Despite the fact that he often takes liberties that wouldn’t have been my choice.
But they usually add to the fun, my fun too.
When solving I knew that someone would ‘complain’ about AMP (in 1ac) or FIN (in 23ac).
And so it happened but I (I must say, we) got on with it.
We thought ARSENIC (8d) was especially pleasing as was CARROT (12ac), so nicely hidden in a normal term like ‘motor racing’.
My solving partner and I had different opinions on the use of French in 14ac.
She thought it was nice, given that the bird was French.
However, to me it felt a bit overdone.
Most of the clue is in English, so why not the last part? Philistine could have used ‘cat’ and then somehow have found an alternative for the remaining H.
Our last one in was the Spoonerism, even with nearly everything in place (MU?F?AP).
It was because we thought of a 4/3 split instead of 3/4.
I just saw that sheffield hatter @55 mentioned my name but I can assure him that he did not cause me any distress. I can’t speak for the others he mentioned.
I actually like these kinds of discussions on crosswords because, I think, we learn from them.
For example, Philistine himself thinks that ‘punctuation doesn’t matter’.
I, for one, think that nowadays he is generally right but there are situations when it does matter.
And that was exactly my issue with sheffield hatter’s statement last week: “If we all know what it means, what is wrong with it?”.
I am often OK with it but not always.
Let’s say, a setter writes: Carnivorous threat to the world (11), then we all know that the solution will be ‘coronavirus’. However, there’s no anagram indicator but, of course, we know what the setter means.
And I’ve seen clues like this, with the indicator missing.
Anyway, today’s crossword was a nice one.
Not difficult? True but was it easier than Philistine usually is? Not sure (he’s no Vlad).
Many thanks to PeterO for the blog & Philistine for the entertainment.
Sil, I’m glad you enjoy that sort of discussion, and I shouldn’t really have applied the word “distressed” to your part in it. You said (@83), with what I take as a combination of resignation and humour, “I’m not going to start an argument that I probably will lose. Because ‘they’ are right and I am wrong. Might well be the other way round though.”
I also like what you have said tonight, “I am often OK with it but not always.” Whereas some of the others involved in last week’s discussion were certain that there’s a right and a wrong way to write a cryptic clue (and that the Guardian allows the wrong way to prevail). I can’t agree with that, though I can see some strength in the arguments that have been put forward. I think that attitude is too constricting. And this is why I ended up saying “I like signposts. Or patterans. Or hints. Or suggestions. Especially if they’re trying to look like something else. [Crossword clues] are developing all the time, constantly stretching the boundaries to see what still makes sense.”
Even if that means that sometimes I don’t finish the crossword. I want to be able to say, at least once a day, “that was clever!”, win or lose.
The convention in our house is to solve the crossword the day after it is published: this predates my father’s death when he couldn’t get it printed in time for my mother to solve first thing in the morning so “today’s” crossword was prepared for the next day.
This means I never comment because all that needs to be said has been said but I always read the blog.
However if I wanted to, I could simply follow the invitation to “skip to the end” which means adding something without reading what came first. Perhaps this has inadvertently encouraged some repetition and bloating of length as someone described if?
Nevertheless I appreciate the work and contributions of all who are more organised than my late father ever managed to be or who wake up earlier than mum does!
Enjoyed this puzzle and am grateful for the parsing of INCREASED. Couldn’t see how the INCRE bit was done and had taken Eight to mean As only.
Don’t pop in much since the Independent went online as am doing the i and there’s a different blog for that, but it’s nice to see some familiar names.
Lucky there’s an editor to proof read and check before publication – wake up!