Guardian Cryptic 28,223 by Qaos

by

A quicker solve than usual for a Qaos puzzle…

…with a theme that helped me to write in some answers with more confidence – terms for members of the police: PEELER, SWEENEY TODD (rhyming slang for ‘flying squad’), BARNEY (US slang), BOYS [in] BLUE, BOBBY, PLOD, COPPER, OFFICER, the LAW, the OLD BILL, and NARK as an informant to the police.

Favourite clues were 12ac, 16ac, 27ac, and 25dn. Thanks to Qaos.

ACROSS
8 BADLY OFF Poor, poor lady’s taken in by unelected scientist? (5,3)
(lady); inside BOFF[in]=”scientist”, with “unelected”=>’not in‘
9 ABACI Artificial intelligence, holding degree: key to manufacturing old computers (5)
AI (Artificial Intelligence); around BA (Bachelor of Arts)=”degree” plus the centre/key of [manufa]C[turing]
10 See 18
 
11 PRICKLIEST Most irritable clergyman grasps 1 + 100 + 1000 + 50 (10)
PRIEST=”clergyman”, around I C K L – ICL as Roman numerals for 1, 100, and 50 around K/kilo for 1000
12 PEELER Salesman returns carrying fish and device for removing skin (6)
REP=”Salesman” reversed around EEL=”fish”
14 ENLISTED Engaged? Let’s dine out (8)
(Let’s dine)*
16 DRAGOON Soldier on after cutting tail from monster (7)
ON; after DRAGO[n]=”monster” missing its end letter
18, 10 SWEENEY TODD Small, small net captures unknown eccentric barber (7,4)
=the fictional murderous London barber [wiki]
S (small) + WEE=”small” + NET around Y=maths variable=”unknown” + ODD=”eccentric”
21 MASTODON During Christmas, to donate, give an extinct mammal (8)
hidden in [Christ]MAS TO DON[ate]
23 BARNEY Noisy disagreement heard in fifth farm building? (6)
=slang for a loud quarrel
homophone of ‘BARN E’ which might be the fifth farm building after barns A, B, C, and D
24 CLOUDBURST Heavy rain could possibly run into chest (10)
(could)* + R (run, cricket abbreviation) inside BUST=”chest”
26 BLUE How to get down from a whale? (4)
BLUE=sad=”down”; and referring to the blue whale
27 BOBBY Man is 25, single and collects books (5)
25 down is BOYS, made single to give BOY; and around B B (short for book, twice)
28 WILD LEEK Kill weed accidentally? It’s edible (4,4)
(Kill weed)*
DOWN
1 SABOTEUR Boast about European Union, right, for one could wreck things (8)
(Boast)* + EU (European Union) + R (right)
2 PLOD Walk quietly on 17 ground (4)
P (piano, quietly) + (old)*, where OLD is from 17 down, and “ground” is the anagram indicator
3 COPPER Metal flying machine loses height (6)
C[h]OPPER=helicopter=”flying machine”, minus h for height
4 OFFICER Dignitary has fine, fine diamonds gold-plated (7)
F F (fine, fine) + ICE=”diamonds”; all inside OR=”gold”
5 NARK Spy knows Russian ambassador never starts revolution (4)
the starting letters to K[nows] R[ussian] A[mbassador] N[ever]; reversed
6 LADIESWEAR In 25, that’s fighting over English clothes (10)
LADS=BOYS=25 down; around I.E.=that is=”that’s”; plus WAR=”fighting” around E (English)
7 TISSUE It’s cryptic woman’s paper (6)
(it’s)*, plus SUE=”woman”
13 LIGHT BULBS They illuminate gentle origins of some plants (5,5)
LIGHT=”gentle” + BULBS=”origins of some plants”
15 LAW Act with mistakes when naked (3)
definition as in an Act of Parliament
[f]LAW[s]=”mistakes”, made “naked” by removing its outer letters
17 OLD Aged around 500,500? (3)
around 50/0,/500 => around “50”, “0” and “500” => around L, put an O and a D
where L and D are Roman numerals for 50 and 500
19 EXECUTES Performs shoots (8)
double definition
20 ANDREWS Perhaps Julie wanders about (7)
Julie Andrews the actress and singer [wiki]
(wanders)*
22 AD-LIBS They’re creatively said — line’s blown initially (2-4)
(said L b)*, where “creatively” is the anagram indicator, and the L and b come from L[ine’s] b[lown]
23 BOTTLE Find courage in drink (6)
double definition
25 BOYS Young men or unruly yobs? (4)
(yobs)*
26 BILL Account of Liberals making a comeback (4)
L LIB (two abbreviations for Liberal i.e. two “Liberals”), reversed

 

74 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,223 by Qaos”

  1. This puzzle is surely worthy of the prestigious trophy for the easiest Guardian cryptic of this century.     Would anybody like to second the motion?

     

  2. Don’t know about ‘of this century’,rodshaw, but yep, first morning cuppa barely got cool. Getting down from a whale gets few thumbs down from G threaders, but I get a grin out of the odd GoD (Groan of Day) clue, esp if innovative. [Btw, hope that acronym, which I pinched from elsewhere, causes no offence.. name in vain etc). Peeler always reminds me of Modern Britain, our high school text, which had some great Punch cartoons, and the whole theme’s reminiscent of cosy evenings in with Mrs ginf watching Pie in the Sky and The Bill. Even puzzles that are quick have their resonances. Thanks Qaos and manehi.

  3. PS speaking of cop shows, didn’t remember the rhyming slang, but have have just remembered The Sweeney, with Thaw, Waterman et al…what a prolific genre, all the way back to Z Cars..

  4. Since I failed at BADLY OFF and BARNEY and I missed the theme I wouldn’t classify this crossword as easy but I did complete the rest of it over a two course dinner so it wasn’t a head scratcher. There was lots to like — SWEENEY TODD (eccentric can be seen as doing double duty), PLOD, NARK, and ANDREWS — thanks Qaos and Manehi.

  5. The Oxfords tell us that NARK is a legit variation of “narc” — so another cop there.

    They also tell us that BLUEBOTTLE (26ac, 23dn) — if dated — is also an agent of the constabulary.

  6. Damn, and I thought I finished so quickly because I was on the ball.

    26a reminds me of the following

    :Q:  How do you get down off an elephant?

    A:  You don’t get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck.  (Think about it.)

  8. Enjoyable puzzle and most of it a personal achievement as I didn’t need any reference sources. For 9a, I had ATARI (well, I knew it was something to do with old computers), though I couldn’t parse it at the time – even though I know BA is usually “degree” – so a DNF. Not as easy for me as others who have posted but then I am not as smart as many of the commenters on here. I liked the clever theme of police-related words, particularly OLD BILL (17 and 26d) due to similar sentimental memories of The Bill as gif@2. Purely out of vanity, I ticked ANDREWS at 20d. Many thanks to Qaos and manehi.

  9. [I have to say that I have very few fond memories of Bill Leak cartoons, Trovatore@7, and his son Johannes has proven he can be just as offensive recently.]

  11. Very enjoyable puzzle to solve. Not the easiest of the century – rodshaw@1

    Liked BADLY OFF
    New: Barney = a quarrel, especially a noisy one

    Did not see theme of policemen till I had completed it.

    Thanks, Qaos and manehi

  12. I did nearly all of this without resorting to the put-in-letters-and-check approach which was highly satisfying but should have warned me that I woukd come here and find it categorised as (very) easy. Ah well. I sort of spotted the theme in that I kept recognising terms for policemen, but did not register that I might be looking for such terms. Shame as thus could have helped with my LOI, BLUE. I too was thinking of “down from a duck” (and the okd joke about getting down from an elephant had also come to mind, as for Dr W-O). A fun start to the day: Thank you Qaos and Andrew.

  13. Thanks Qaos and manehi

    Not only did I, for once, see the theme, it actually helped – with COPPER, BLUE and BILL. The only thing I missed was where the C came from in ABACI – I though it was a (rather weak) “key of C”.

    ANDREWS raised a smile.

  14. Trovatore @7 – Regular readers will know that crypticsue and I very rarely disagree regarding crosswords. I practically yelped with delight when I solved 7dn. It’s my turn to call her lucky today. 😉

  15. Definitely not the easiest this century but certainly the easiest this week. I know there will be a theme from Qaos, but as usual I didn’t see it until I had finished. I did know BARNEY was an Americanism for the PLOD.
    Otherwise all good and a boost to the confidence.
    Thanks Manehi and Qaos

  16. I always greet a Qaos puzzle with joy, and have yet to be disappointed.  Can I add BLUEBOTTLE as a theme word?  (I know BLUE is now doing double duty).  I seem to recall it’s a term used in PG Wodehouse for the local police.  Many thanks manehi for the useful blog.

     

  18. [Munromad @17

    It’s amazing the number of times a post of mine omits “n’t”. I wonder if the site filters them?]

  19. Thanks, manehi – once again I concur with your favourites but have to add 7dn TISSUE (see me @14)  and I was tickled at the construction of 17dn OLD – a little gem: two ‘mathematical’ clues today.

    I also rather liked the repetition of ‘poor’ (8ac), ‘small’ (18,10) and ‘fine’ (4dn). Nice to see Julie get a mention, too.

    It’s only a very short while since I repeated that a puzzle doesn’t have to be hard to be enjoyable – so I won’t say it today. 😉

    Many thanks to Qaos for the fun.

  20. Didn’t get the theme until I was nearly finished, but then it became quite helpful for getting the last few.

    Favourites were SWEENEY TODD, PRICKLIEST and OFFICER.

    Thanks to both!

  21. Knowing by now that I should be looking for a theme with Qaos, it rather helped that 2d directed me to 17d – OLD – which was cute but straightforward – and that resulted in PLOD.  Which led to SWEENEY TODD.  With those four on the grid, the theme – for once – arrested my attention and we were off.  I actually went looking for something that might be BILL next and found it.

    Yes, it was easier than some recent puzzles but I still enjoyed this and I liked the repeated device of ‘fine, fine’, ‘small, small’ etc.  Jay in Piitsburgh pointed out very recently that this is often found in Indian English which came to mind when I saw it pop up today.  JinA @8: I had the unparsed ATARI in for a while (having previously considered ASCII). Trovatore @7 & Eileen @14: yes, I found myself immediately thinking of her and re-reading the clue to see if it was intended.  It sounded as if it was written for her.  (The list of posters who have found themselves – intentionally or not – referenced here is growing longer by the week!)

    MASTODON was the only clue that seemed less than smooth – which is probably just me – and WILD LEEK made me smile: there are songs about wild mountain thyme, wild roses, wild flowers generally but I doubt there’s one about wild leeks!

    Thanks Qaos and manehi for the blog

  22. Eileen @19: we just crossed and are very much in tune today.  Julie is the name of my other half so, as well as hinting at a couple of posters here (sorry, JinA – I think there has to be an Australia in there somewhere for you to claim full rather than partial bragging rights!), it certainly jumped out.

  23. mark@21

    How about the allegedly Marie Lloyd lyrics

    ‘she sits amongst the cabbages and leeks’

    changed from ‘peas’ to suit censor’s objection

  24. OK it was a bit easy, as Qaos has tended to be of late. But there were all the trademark mathematical bits, lift and separate (500 = 50 + 0), diversions and the like. Good use of the “boys” across other clues, as well as the imaginative doubling up as others have mentioned. The theme was clear and helped me with the 26s which were otherwise sitting blankly staring at me. I figured there had to be a “blue” and “bill” to go with “bottle” and “old” and then spent a few moments working out which was which!

    As Eileen says, fun puzzles are not a subset of hard puzzles, but there is some overlap in the Venn diagram.

  25. Like JinA @8 I spent way too long trying to force ATARI in – probably because it was my first computer. Lots to like here including PRICKLIEST, AD-LIBS and GotD BARNEY

    A cornucopia of musical delights today – pick whichever BOBBY floats your boat – Darrin, Mcferrin, Womack …

    Also if MASTODON isn’t the name of a heavy metal band it really should be 🙂

    Cheers all

  27. Lucky me indeed – as usual I concur with Eileen @ 19 – although at the moment, I’m probably a lot more chuffed than she is!

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi

  29. Certainly not the easiest of the year let alone the century, but pretty straightforward, nevertheless – except that my first one in was ATARI (like JinA and a few others) and I never went back to check it as it fitted the crossers. Being Qaos, I looked for a theme, and found… something to do with legal matters. Thick or what? And that was after Wikipedia-ing (is there such a word?) Sweeney Todd the Musical, which I expected would have Julie Ansdrews in it – but it didn’t. Loved PRICKLIEST, the OLD and PLOD pair, BOYS and its derivatives – and quite a few others, too. Thanks Qaos and manehi.

  30. bodycheetah @25: here you go mastodon.  And, straight from their website – first thing on it, in fact – We have a brand spankin’ new track called “Rufus Lives” coming out.  More unexpected references to setters and solvers!

    Penfold @ 28: many thanks for that.  We appear to have a solver community bending its powerful hive mind to identifying songs about leeks!  Brilliant.

  31. bodycheetah @25 With Bob(by) Todd in today’s grid, 99% of people might have expected a biscuity reference.

    Also plenty of songs featuring our flat footed friends e.g. Police and Thieves, or

    The Sweeney’s doing ninety ’cause they’ve got the word to go
    They get a gang of villains in a shed up at Heathrow

  32. Thanks manehi, I had though C = key in ABACI, like muffin@13, and your explanation is better and improves my opinion of the clue. Rodshaw@1 you wouldn’t have found this quite so easy if you had entered ANDRWES for 20D as I unaccountably did – then scratched my head over 28A for quite a while before going back to the source of the crossers and kicking myself. Otherwise enjoyable and fairly straightforward, I like the mathematical elements as many others do and the word repetition added something too. Mark@21, I may be wrong but I think there is an occasional rock/metal reference dropped into Qaos’ grids so this could explain how Mastodon got there. I might argue that Barn E doesn’t really sound much like Barney as the former would stress the E, but that would be nitpicking in the extreme and there’s a question mark to get Qaos out of jail. Nice theme which helped me a couple of times and brought back memories of a bunfight in the Drones club when a Bluebottle appeared at the door. Thanks Qaos.

  34. essexboy @33: a veritable surfeit of leeks.  I’m on holiday so meant to be taking a break from the allotment!  (Let’s not get onto the courgettes: I’ve just checked and there’s The Zucchini Song by Tim Curry and even Colin, the Singing Courgette!)

  36. Very quick solve today but just what I needed to give me that boost of confidence.   FOI was ABACI, LOI PLOD but only because I forget to complete it…

    Thanks Qaos and manehi for some fun diversion this morning.

  39. The 1928 independent short film BLUEBOTTLES, meaning policemen, can be seen in full on YouTube. Interesting collaboration between Ivor Montagu as director, H.G.Wells for story, cast including Charles Laughton, and photography by future Oscar-winner Freddie Young.

    At 14ac I wonder if anyone else initially wrote in LISTENED, as I did before the crossers indicated ENLISTED? Admissible in the sense of ‘paid attention’?

  40. I liked the apparently less complicated clues here, BOYS, BLUE and BOTTLE. Not too difficult after that to espy the theme. Still thought it an enjoyable solve and challenging enough for Thursday. There’ve been many easier, less satisfying solves in the past, surely…

  42. Although this was reasonably straightforward, I really enjoyed the theme having recently put my ‘flat feet’ up for good. FOI was abici and after chopper and Sweeney Todd went in quickly, even this thick plod got the theme For once. Did not know the Barney link with the US and I won’t even go near ‘executes’!! Thank you Qaos and manehi for the great blog

  45. Surprised that no one has commented  that in the explanation for 9ac, the mathematical genius Alan Turing as in [manufa]c[turing] invented Artificial Intelligence. I wonder if this is how Qaos came up with the word manufacturing as part of the clue…

    Thanks Qaos and manehi

  46. Bully for rodshaw @1. This more average mortal found it about average, and third easiest of four so far in the week. But I am feeling chuffed. I saw the theme! The theme helped the solve! Specifically, like Mark @21, OLD led to BILL.

    Elsewhere, I too flirted with ATARI, and even ASCII, which is at least a key of sorts, but thankfully was never convinced enough to put pen to paper.

  47. I should have said earlier that EXECUTES was very topical as far as I was concerned, having finished Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light yesterday, which begins with the execution of Anne Boleyn and finishes with that of Thomas Cromwell himself.

  49. Very enjoyable and I saw the theme mid-solve, yay.  Like others I liked the repeat words clues (small small etc). And kudos to cryptic sue.

    Though not a policeman , having seen BLUEBOTTLE I couldn’t help but think of the Goons, ” he’s fallen in the water” etc.

    Thanks to Qaos for the fun and Manehi for the blog.

     

  50. I didn’t know that ‘Barney’ was US slang for the police. I wonder why? I know ‘bear’ is another such term; is there a Barney Bear? Or is it possible that Cockney rhyming-slang has crossed the pond and Barney derives from Fred Flintstone’s pal, Barney Rubble, and that ‘Barney’ means Trouble?

  51. CHANCE TO MEET THE GUARDIAN CROSSWORD EDITOR

    Great puzzle Qaos. Really enjoyable.

    Here’s a chance to meet Qaos’s boss on Zoom with Paul!
    If you’ve ever wanted to ask Hugh Stephenson, the Guardian crossword editor, anything now’s your chance. He’s very kindly offered to be my (John Halpern (aka Paul)’s) guest on his next Zoom call, this coming Tuesday, September 1, 7.30pm.
    To be on the call, simply subscribe via johnhalpern.co.uk and you’ll get posted the link to the call.

    Hope to see you then! All the best,
    John (aka Paul)

  52. With the theme helping, that felt easy compared with Boatman yesterday. Several clues were neat, if simple. I can never stop musical links from shooting into my brain while solving, and today there were so many: No direct appearance from Sting’s lot, but two fine albums (Randy Newman’s Good OLD BOYS and Sugar’s COPPER BLUE), Kate Bush’s CLOUDBU(R)STING, the mighty Gil Scott-Heron’s The BOTTLE, and that godawful, life-sapping bagpipe version of Amazing Grace by the Royal Scots DRAGOON Guards that topped the charts for far too long in about 1972. If you don’t remember it, I envy you. Oh, and ‘Why’ by SWEENEY was No 9 in Peel’s Festive 50, 1996. OK, I’ll go now.

  54. We mused how Rodshaw might respond to this gentle offering.

    We thought it was clever and enjoyable with plenty of neat clues.

  55. It must have been easy, as we finished it in one sitting, over lunch, which doesn’t happen often.

    Another ATARI for 9a, which of course didn’t work.  ABACI is fine for ‘old computers’ but C for manufacturing key is a bit of a stretch.

  58. Forgot to look for a theme (forgot to look at the setter’s name or I’d have remembered) until manehi mentioned it, then did a quick scan to find it before reading the rest of manehi’s sentence.

    ngaiolaurenson @49  I know Bluebottle of the goons, but what’s the connection with falling in the water?

    I knew the British (argument) meaning of barney, but the American (police) one is news to me.  Barry Anderson @50, state police wear hats like park rangers, including Smoky the Bear, so they are sometimes (I think) called Smokys, but not bears that I know of.

    Lots of fun, thanks to Qaos and manehi.

  59. [John @51 – I went wobblesome on 225 yesterday when Boatman appeared and now my wobbles exceed me!  I’ll be there on Tuesday and positively melting with excitement at the thought of meeting Hugh Stephenson. Eeeek!]

  60. I came here looking for an explanation of “Officer Andrews”, being convinced that s/he would be a popular character on a British TV program – but apparently not?  Lovely puzzle, I agree quicker than most for Qaos but none the worse for that.

  61. Another that put in LISTENED in haste. Otherwise all nice and smooth, only thing I didn’t get was the ‘key to manufacturing’. Barney Rubble also came to mind And with that and MASTODON early entries I wondered if there was going to be some kind of prehistoric theme!

    I thought 22d was &lit – if you blow/forget your line you have to ad-lib? If not then I’m not sure how it works

  62. Lovely puzzle. I didn’t spot the Po-po theme till I was almost finished, so alas not much help (and me the offspring of a man who was not only in the Met for years, but also in the Sweeney – oh the shame.)
    I’m another who started with ATARI but finally saw the light, although, ignoramus that I am, I’ve always said Abacuses.
    Thanks to Qaos for the fun, to Manehi for the blog – and to Penfold for providing me with a smashing earworm for the second day running… [Difford & Tilbrook being bangin’:
    “And meanwhile at the station there’s a couple of likely lads,
    Who swear like how’s yer father and they’re very cool for cats”]

  63. I think I must have spent as long on the two 26s as the rest of the puzzle. Having looked for a theme might have helped me, but of course I forgot. I was stuck with a possible TALE for 26d, which didn’t help, being obviously wrong.

    And what is going on with 26a? “How to get down from a whale?” What kind of clue is that? The first three words have no function that I can see. I played with the idea of a grampus for a while – a ramp would be a means of getting down – but I was clearly going nowhere. Finally getting BILL made BLUE obvious, so well done to all those who solved those two clues in about a millisecond.

    Easiest crossword this century? I don’t think so.

  64. I was wondering where the policeman meaning of BARNEY came from, and I discovered it was from a fictional TV character Barney Fife.  Maybe more interesting is that there is a Wikipedia page for slang terms for the police, here. They are not all English, but there must be 200 of them.

  65. Wellbeck @62 “abacuses” is not ignorant but a perfectly acceptable alternative plural. Our word “abacus” derives from a Middle English word which in turn derives from a Latin word which actually refers to a board with sand on where you could work out calculations and keep count of things. So the device we call an abacus doesn’t seem to have a proper Latin equivalent, so “abaci” as the plural of the 2nd declension noun is fair but not compulsory – the word is not a purely Latin one.

    Like Sheffield hatter @ 63 I was confused by “blue” until I had the theme and went looking to put that answer in. In the end I read it as “how do you get a word meaning ‘down’ from a (type of) whale?” and left is a just a bit weak. Likewise “ad-lib” in which 80% of the clue does double duty so it’s a “mostly &lit” or “some-of-the-clue-as-definition” (sotcad?) In the latter case I had no doubt I had the right answer once I saw it which I think is sufficient to give a clue a “pass” (sorry, I’ve just heard that’s been upgraded to an A*). That is less true of “blue” which is why I felt it to be weaker.

  66. Loved every minute of this. Favourites were SWEENEY TODD, OLD and BADLY OFF. Like JinA @8 and Bodycheetah@25, spent far too much time thinking it was ATARI on ATARI and really can’t understand why… Thanks to DrWhatsOn@6 and 64 for the joke and the explanation of BARNEY. For once, I got the theme – so I am really happy.

     

    Many thanks to Qaos and to Manehi

  67. [TheZed at 65: thanks for the authoritative reassurance! My memories of the years of latin lessons are mostly of learning great screeds of Caesar’s Gallic Wars off by heart, and phrases such as, “ut plus the subjunctive”, or “questions expecting the answer yes” – and, in all fairness, the last two haven’t been enormously useful in the subsequent decades…]

  68. Well I enjoyed it :-)  It must’ve been relatively easy for all you guys as I managed to finish it…..  (writing as someone who usually fills in one or two answers in a Paul puzzle).

     

  70. Not the easiest of the century, but I agree that it was too easy for any day except a Monday.  Some clues (Sweeney Todd, for example) were simple write-ins.

  71. Dr.WhatsOn @64: BARNEY as slang for a policeman was unknown to me and I live in the U.S. I’ve heard incompetent cops called “Barney Fife’s” but never just a “Barney.” There was also a sitcom in the 70’s called Barney Miller which took place in a Greenwich Village police precinct which may or may not be relevant.

  72. Rodshaw clearly needs to switch to something more challenging.  More at this level please.  I solved most of this one by Friday lunchtime and came here to discover what the rest of the answers were and for explanations of some that I had got.

  73. I had LISTENED first

    Surely BUSY should have been one of the themed solutions

    Whoever said they had forgotten the rhyming slang: it’s Sweeney Todd, Flying Squad

    And thanks Munromad at 47 ! You should have put up a spoiler alert !

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