Guardian Cryptic N° 26,124 by Nutmeg

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26124.

Followers of the Quiptic will have known Nutmeg for some time now, but this is only her third Cryptic spot, and the first that I have been assigned to blog. I think she is a worthy addition to the roster, and has here produced a satisfying puzzle, with many excellent surfaces that bespeak carefully crafted clues.

Across
1. Having all relevant attributes restricted (9)
QUALIFIED Double definition.
9. Assume post after losing first appeal (4,2)
TAKE IT A charade of [s]TAKE (‘post’) without its first letter (‘after losing first’) plus IT (sex ‘appeal’).
10. Illness, horribly acute, in which temperature’s seen to go up and down (9)
FLUCTUATE An envelope (‘in which’) of T (‘temperature’) in FLU (‘illness’) plus CUATE, an anagram (‘horribly’) of ‘acute’. 
11,24. Knave audibly tucked into Murphy’s meal (6,6)
JACKET POTATO A charade of JACK (‘knave’) plus ET, a homophone (‘audibly’, if you listen to the right person) of ATE (‘tucked into’) plus POTATO (‘murphy’, with possibly misleading capital). 
12. Misleading report of constituency generous editor first retracted (9)
DECEITFUL A charade of DE, a reversal (‘retracted’) of ED (‘editor’) plus CEIT, a homophone (‘report of’) of SEAT (‘constituency’) , and, still on the homophone, FUL for FULL (‘generous’). 
13. Extra charges academic slips into bills (3-3)
ADD-ONS An envelope (‘slips into’) of DON (‘academic’) in ADS (‘bills’). 
17. Pasture‘s mostly unproductive (3)
LEA A subtraction LEA[n] (‘unproductive’) incomplete (‘mostly’). 
19. Account of fashionable singer? (7)
INVOICE A charade of IN (‘fashionable’) plus VOICE (‘singer’). 
20. Absolutely worst rat’s back, seeing off a cat (7)
TROUNCE A charade of TR, a reversal (‘back’) of ‘r[a]t’ without the A (‘seeing off a’), plus OUNCE (‘cat’). In the definition ‘worst’ is a verb. 
21. Scandinavian bread for egg sandwiches (3)
ORE A hidden answer (‘sandwiches’) on ‘fOR Egg’. 
23. Justly won as Ashes eventually were, it’s said (6)
EARNED A homophone (‘it’s said’) of URNED (‘as ashes eventually were’). 
27. Anyone unorthodox hosting party in South Africa causes trouble (9)
ANNOYANCE An envelope (‘hosting’) of ANC (African National Congress, ‘party in South Africa’) in ANNOYE, an anagram (‘unorthodox’) of ‘anyone’. 
28. Using old Latin in will could be wise or foolish (6)
OWLISH An envelope (‘using … in’) of L (‘Latin’) in O (‘old’) plus WISH (‘will’). The word does have both opposite meanings. 
29. Takes off, admitting rather trivial 27s (9)
FLEABITES An envelope (‘admitting’) of A BIT (‘rather’) in FLEES (‘takes off’).
30. British memo repelled provincial Celt (6)
BRETON A charade of BR (‘British’) plus ETON, a reversal (‘repelled’) of NOTE (‘memo’). 
31. Doctor rants on about contentious type of food for weightlifter (9)
STRONGMAN An envelope (‘about’) of GM (genetically modified, ‘contentious type of food’) in STRONAN, an anagram (‘doctor’) of ‘rants on’. 
…
Down
2. German position in ancient city’s more threatening (6)
UGLIER An envelope (‘in’) of G (‘German’) plus LIE (‘position’) in UR (‘ancient city’). 
3. Council’s final agreement, letting in church schools (6)
LYCEES An envelope (‘letting in’) of CE (‘church’) in L (‘counciL‘s final’) plus YES (‘agreement’).
4,16. It’s time unfinished motor got scrapped (6,9)
FOURTH DIMENSION An anagram (‘got scrapped’) of ‘unfinished motor’.
5. Artist leaves particularly ill-mannered press out (7)
EXTRUDE A charade of EXT[ra] (‘particularly’) without the RA (‘artist leaves’) plus RUDE (‘ill-mannered’). 
6. Rowing man and his best friend (3-3-3)
CAT-AND-DOG A charade of CAT (‘man’) plus ‘and’ plus DOG (‘his best friend’).
7. Vault below lectern offering no escape from office (4-5)
DESK-BOUND A charade of DESK (‘lectern’) plus BOUND (‘vault’). I think the definition does not quite work, with or without ‘offering’. 
8. Politicians set about visiting part of plant (9)
STATESMEN An envelope (‘visiting’) of TES, ‘a reversal (‘about’) of ‘set’ in STAMEN (‘part of plant’). 
14. X collects large sum of money for terrorist weapons (4,5)
TIME BOMBS An envelope (‘collects’) of BOMB (‘large sum of money’) in TIMES (‘X’). 
15. Missing date, shambolic developers come round too late (9)
OVERSLEEP An anagram (‘shambolic’) of ‘[d]evelopers’ without the D (‘missing date’).
16. See 4
– See 4
17. Stars turning up from time to time in novella (3)
LEO An unusual construct: the letters are in order, but not contiguous (‘from time to time’) in a reversal (‘turning up’) of ‘nOvElLa’. 
18. Scoffed as mother stripped (3)
ATE [m]ATE[r] (‘mother’) without its outer letters (‘stripped’). 
22. Lock partially obscuring letter box (7)
RINGLET A hidden answer (‘partially … box’) in ‘obscuRING LETter’. 
24. See 11
– See 11
25. No time for checking maxim (6)
SAYING A subtraction: S[t]AYING (‘checking’) without the T (‘no time’). 
26. Contrary expert tackles setter with unknown complaint (6)
ECZEMA The reversal (‘contrary’) of AMEZCE, an envelope (‘tackles’) of ME plus Z (‘unknown’) in ACE (‘expert’).

  1. Nutmeg’s first Cryptic featured a ghost theme of trees. Her second a well-hidden nina. Can’t find anything much in this. Apart from the pangram.

  2. Nice stuff! It seemd to get harder the further I went – just the kind of resistance I like in my puzzle. FLEABITES was very good.

  3. Thanks Peter. I really liked this (just one quibble – the audible bit of 11). Great anagram in 4, 16. Several pretty thought–provoking clues, like 12a – last in – and the TROUNCE one. Nice work Nutmeg.

  4. Forgive me but many of the clues made sense after they had been solved, rather than helping to solve the answer That to me is the wrong way round

  5. Eventually completed successfully, but only after spending quite a while on the NE corner where, for some reason, I was determined to fit in ‘take-up’ or ‘take-on’, and I don’t know why it took me so long to see ‘statesmen’. An enjoyable challenge.
    I agree with Peter, Nutmeg is a very welcome addition to the cryptic setters roster, and I look forward to tackling more of her puzzles.

  6. Thanks PeterO and Nutmeg

    An enjoyably challenging puzzle in which my last ones in were the centre four which took time to parse.

    I liked several clues including 1a, 20a, 21a, 31a, 14d and 15d.

  7. 27 suffered from slightly unfortunate timing, given last night’s news from South Africa, although who knows – perhaps “Unorthodox troublemaker hosting South African party” is a decent tribute to the great man.

    I think 7d works OK, as long as you include “offering” in the definition. 23 made me smile.

  8. Thanks PeterO and welcome back Nutmeg.

    Can’t put my finger on why, exactly, but I’m not keen on TAKE IT for assume. Perhaps ‘post’ is doing double duty, as in ‘take a job’?

    Also, is cat = man (in CAT & DOG) referring to the beatnik term as in jazz cats etc? Seems a bit tenuous to me.

    Other than that a good, solid puzzle with much to recommend. Favourite TROUNCE.

  9. Excellent puzzle with some nice clues that I found a bit tricky towards the end.

    Thanks PeterO; the ‘et’ could be pronounced as ‘ate’ in such as “I et me dinner.” Maybe heard in East Enders or somesuch. 😉

    I solved the RH bit, but the LH took longer. I wondered about the pangram as I went along but it didn’t really help the solve. I think rhotician @1 may be underestimating the difficulty of constructing pangrams.

    I particularly liked TROUNCE and OVERSLEEP.

  12. Robi @9
    I suspect the comment @1 is less an underestimation of the difficulty of constructing pangrams than an overestimation of the credit to be had for spotting them.

  13. Thanks PeterO.
    I disagree with molonglo @ 3 and Robi @ 9. Both “et” and “eight” are correct pronunciations for “ate” in British English. It is only in American English that “et” is considered “substandard”.

  15. Thanks all
    An enjoyable addition to the rota.
    Schroduck @7,it is only your silly contrivance that is slightly unfortunate; can’t you just leave it alone, it’s a puzzle, nothing more.
    Favourite ‘trounce’.
    Last in (actually failed because I could not convince myself that’take it’ was correct.)

  16. Crosser @ 13

    In the 16th or 17th century ‘ate’ was often spelled ‘et’, leaving little doubt as to pronunciation. And in the 1960s my English teacher insisted “ate is a number”.

    I think 11 24 works fine if you separate knave and the homophone, leaving ‘et’ as a standalone which can only be pronounced one way. But I guess that could be seen as re-building after solving!

  17. I rarely appear on here, and then generally only to grumble about clues which lead from (rather than to) the solution.

    So I am delighted for a change to express my delight at Nutmeg offering the sort of cleverly misleading surfaces concealing decent clues which I have come to expect from the likes of Arachne.

    Enigmatist et al, please note!

  19. Like Peter O, I have enjoyed Nutmeg’s Quiptics for a few years now, and am pleased to see she is becoming a regular setter of the Cryptic. Fine puzzle. ET for ‘ate’ is compulsory if you come from where I do. FOURTH DIMENSION was a clever anagram.

    Thanks to S&B.

  20. I thought this was Nutmeg’s trickiest puzzle to date, and it was a satisfying solve. FLEABITE was my LOI after I finally saw the hidden RINGLET.

  21. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO. It was pretty hard work for me, but there were some very clever and enjoyable clues. I also thought that FOURTH DIMENSION was particularly good.

  22. No problem with ‘ate’ pronounced as ‘et’, but I can’t think of an accent in which the second syllable of ‘jacket’ is pronounced as ‘et’. Isn’t the vowel usually a short I, occasionally schwa? Apart from that quibble, an excellent puzzle. For some reason I found the NW tricky.

  23. [4] I tend to agree. Got tired after inserting OVERSLEEP in the wrong lights! And I had COX AND BOX for 6: whyever should I think I had it wrong?

  24. Yes: tricky-tricky for me, but I got there. Oddly, it seemed to have a similar feel to last night’s: maybe it’s me.

    It was one of those four-part grids, which kept me on the hook that bit longer too.

    But well set, Nutmeg.

    Thanks all.

  25. I absolutely loved this crossword, so if you’re reading this Nutmeg – thank you, and congratulations on some very effective clues.

    It made me laugh that I kept missing the indicator words – both of the Hidden Word clues (“partially obscuring” – lovely!), and several Anagrams.

    Got there in the end though.

    The increase in the number of female Setters is such a good development (IMO).

    Thanks PeterO

    P.S. @David Mop – I do love your phrase (not relating to this crossword) “clues which lead from (rather than to) the solution”

  26. I really enjoyed this too.

    A suitably well crafted and difficult puzzle for a Friday. I can’t believe this was produced by the same setter as the last Nutmeg we had which I really didn’t like. (Perhaps I was having a bad day)

    Anyway more please Nutmeg.

    Thanks to PeterO and Nutmeg.

    P.S. The day I “Spot a pangram” will be very sad as I will certainly have gone stark raving mad! Why does it matter and how could one possible notice or care that all the letters of the alphabet have been used?

  27. Why does it matter? It doesn’t much.
    How could one possibly notice? One just does.
    Who cares? If the setter has taken the trouble to add such a decoration then I think it deserves to be acknowledged.

  28. I suppose once you’ve seen an X and a Z, your curiosity might be aroused.

    Re losing it: I recently bought a car, and alerted my neighbour that if he ever saw me washing it, he was to shoot me. However, being in Yorkshire, all it got was a baffled “why, don’t you look after it?”…

  29. Why is using all the letters of the alphabet a decoration? I guess it could even happen by pure chance. (Now there’s a good problem for a calculator of probabilities. There doesn’t seem to be an accepted word for this! Statisticians and Actuaries don’t quite fit the bill. It would of course be grid dependent.)

    I guess I just don’t get it. It does seem to be mentioned on here more often than would be expected. Perhaps some past setters were keen on this sort of thing?

    Logically I suppose the next step is to discuss the letter distribution of a puzzle. Now that would be interesting 😉

  30. Having a pangram makes the puzzle marginally harder to set, and I expect setters like to fair wherever possible: why should we eschew JQXZ? It’s just snobbishness I think, and it’s nice to have exotic people at your party.

  31. In footballing parlance, you ‘nutmeggged” me good and proper with 12a. Thanks for the fun. ps wasn’t that sure about cat=man but i now see it was a ’60’s jazz ref, doh!

  32. Horrible grid, barely justified by the two quadrant-crossing clues. Not a lot of fun, although I surprised myself by finishing it.

    “JACKET POTATO” made it a lot harder, as an ex-pat.

    “CAT-AND-DOG”? where one third of the answer is in the clue? And what does this even mean?

    Sorry, it was a rough end of the week at the Grauniad.

    There were some good ones, of course. I ticked 10A, and starred 4D/16D.

    Thanks to PeterO for the blog and the spice for the puzzle.

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