A new setter makes his Guardian debut, and a very promising one, with a good variety of sound clues. I found this quite hard, perhaps partly because I didn’t know what to expect, but it all yilded nicely in the end. Thanks to Screw, and welcome.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | GIGABIT | Show pretty PC unit (7) GIG (a concert or show) + A BIT (pretty, a little) |
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| 5. | DEMOTIC | Popular, like Jersey-Ibiza return? (7) Reverse of CI (Channel Islands) TO MED (where Ibiza is) |
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| 9. | THETA | Part that he tackles in a letter to Sophocles (5) Hidden in thaT HE TAckles |
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| 10. | LASER BEAM | Seared lamb chops daughter made for Ray? (5,4) (SEARED LAMB)* less D |
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| 11. | BANANA SKIN | Cuckoo family in trouble, potentially (6,4) BANANAS + KIN |
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| 12. | ERA | Start to act — about flipping time! (3) Reverse of A + RE (about) |
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| 14. | TRAINSPOTTER | What Snape does, being on Platform 9 3/4? (12) Severus Snape is a teacher in the Harry Potter books, so he TRAINS POTTER, and a trainspotter might be a “being” on a platform; also in the books Harry takes the train to Hogwarts from platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station |
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| 18. | LOLLIPOP LADY | One dad and lad in capital getting crosser (8,4) I POP + LAD in LOLLY(money) |
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| 21. | PUS | Yellowish liquid thrust out of end (3) PUS[H] (i.e. thrust, which of “out of” its end) |
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| 22. | GUNSLINGER | One shooting tight turns having to wait (10) SNUG< + LINGER |
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| 25. | REINSTALL | Two stops to station again (9) REIN + STALL – two verbs meaning “stop”, transitive and intransitive respectively |
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| 26. | GROWN | Developed grand place for 14th in line? (5) G + ROW N (the 14th line, after Row A, Row B etc) |
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| 27. | PASSIVE | Don’t even consider setter’s voice (7) PASS (don’t consider) + I’VE (setter has) |
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| 28. | AIR BEDS | Song by county supporters on the floor? (3,4) AIR + BEDS (Befordshire) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | GETS BY | After vacation, give this boy passes (4,2) G[iv]E T[hi]S B[o]Y, with vacation meaning “emptying” |
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| 2. | GREENS | Ecowarriors putting on these (6) Double definition – the “putting” being in golf |
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| 3. | BRAIN DRAIN | Learned moves from bachelor, finally honed in showers (5,5) B + [hone]D in RAIN + RAIN |
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| 4. | TILLS | Cash in these topless photos (5) [S]TILLS |
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| 5. | DISMISSAL | Surprisingly, said S&M is left in the sack (9) (SAID SM IS L)* |
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| 6. | MARX | Comedian‘s impressions on podcast (4) Homophone of “marks” (impressions), and take your pick from the Marx Brothers for the comedian |
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| 7. | TRECENTO | New parts to 14th century in Italy (8) RECENT in TO – literally 300 in Italian, short for “mille trecento”, so the 1300s, meaning the 14th century (well, approximately – cue arguments about when a century starts..) |
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| 8. | COMPADRE | Close to forehand in set against friend (8) [forehan]D in COMPARE (set against) |
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| 13. | GOLD-DIGGER | Dogged girl after fling? (4-6) (DOGGED GIRL)* &lit |
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| 15. | INOCULATE | Lunatic fringes of Oxbridge cast ready for travel abroad? (9) (LUNATIC O[xbridg]E** |
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| 16. | CLAPTRAP | Hand and mouth used in bunk (8) CLAP (hand, as in applause) + TRAP (slang for mouth) |
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| 17. | PLASTICS | Carry On films inspire more than one type of material (8) LAST (carry on) in (inspired by) PICS |
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| 19. | IGNORE | Blank canvas ultimately binned by Italian bloke (6) SIGNORE less [canva]S |
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| 20. | BRANDS | Hide signs — odds on Boris finding them? (6) The odd letters of Boris are B R AND S, and brands are signs on the hide of cattle |
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| 23. | SALSA | Dance as pair, looking up and left between them (5) L in reverse of AS AS |
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| 24. | ASTI | Hastily bottles wine (4) Hidden in hASTIly |
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Thanks Andrew and welcome, Screw
Great! I found it challenging, and several took a lot of effort to parse; I didn’t get the parsing for DEMOTIC at all. Lots of wonderful clues – too many to mention, really, but I must cite TRAINSPOTTER, GETS BY, GREENS, TRECENTO, GOLD DIGGER and BRANDS.
Thanks Andrew. Very good to see the new setter. Got on his (?) wavelength At once, starting on 1D accidentally, which jumped out. Then the across clues which we just about all very likeable. Spent most time on the last two, M-R- and -R-N-S but then the comedian and 20D were ahas. Thanks Screw.
Enjoyed this. We also found we had to think hard before the penny dropped but when it did, lots of 26s on podcast – notably TRAINSPOTTER – which for us is usually the sign of a good puzzle!
Much to enjoy here. Thank you Screw – look forward to more from you in the future.
Thanks to Andrew, too.
Thanks for the blog, Andrew.
Lots of interesting and witty stuff here. My own favourites were DEMOTIC, TRAINSPOTTER, BRAIN DRAIN, TRECENTO, INOCULATE and BRANDS but, like muffin, I could easily list more.
Many thanks – and a very warm welcome – to Screw. I look forward to more!
Help! Phew! and Wow!, in that order.
‘Congratulations and welcome’ to Screw. And thanks to Andrew for what must have been a scary assignment.
Welcome and thanks to Screw – a great debut. And thanks Andrew.
Wonderful clues – my favourites were DEMOTIC, GOLD-DIGGER, GUNSLINGER and LOLLIPOP LADY.
I hadn’t heard of Screw before so presumed he was a new setter. But would he be tight or loose? I dare say hedgehoggy will reveal . . .
Many thanks to him (presumably a chap) and Andrew.
Many thanks to him (presumably a chap)…
?
Pretty good, obviously a setter who pays attention to the cryptic reading which is good to see.
5a ‘like’ isn’t doing anything except pad; 9a ‘a’ is not needed (‘a’ appears al ot in Guardioan I notice); 14a def is a stretch to help the surface; 18a def ‘crosser’ isn’t much help; 21a ‘out of end’ is weird; 26a ‘in’ is not needed except for surface; 27a maybe QM; 28 dodgy def; 2d massive chestnut; 13d not really &lit but it works okay; 15d cdef could be anything, pretty much.
Is ‘Screw’ a name that the Guardian editor would find amusing?
HH @10
I would agree about the looseness of the definition for INOCULATE – weakest clue in the puzzle, I thought.
Eileen @ 9 – I made my comment was because I’m not sure of the setter’s gender!
Thanks Andrew and Screw – and welcome. I wasn’t on Screw’s wavelength at all, but looking at the blog there’s some good stuff there – DEMOTIC and TRAINSPOTTER to name a couple. Looking forward to seeing what else this setter can offer.
Welcome Screw, a terrific puzzle, and thanks Andrew for a super blog (it can’t have been easy).
This was fun, rather hard for me and I needed help with parsing from Andrew for DEMOTIC, TRAINSPOTTER (haven’t read H. P.) and GETS BY!
I did like REINSTALL, ERA, GETS BY and many others (only criticism the use of LAD in the clue to 18a).
I feel royally “screwed”, for which many thanks.
@11
I rather liked that one (so did Eileen @5) – I liked the crafty use of “ready” as a verb, which held me up. I was trying to think of some equivalent of traveller’s cheques (the old crosswordese “ready” for money). And to be fair s/he did have a question mark too (inoculation not always being for travelling, etc.) I also think good setters tend to use an oblique definition when there’s relatively easy wordplay, and Screw seems to agree.
Thanks Andrew and another welcome to Screw! It was quite a workout, but I eventually got there after applying aids for 7d. DEMOTIC was my favourite – I thought it looked utterly impossible at first but it fell out nicely in the end. There were lots of imaginative definitions but they all seemed fair to me – perhaps that will be our new setter’s trademark style?
I had two minor (but hopefully constructive) criticisms. The first is that the grid seems rather economical with the alphabet, particularly at the intersections. I always prefer a liberal helping of consonants to push things along after I run out of solving talent. The second is that the inclusion indicator in 17d seems the wrong way around to me. Perhaps there’s some sort of imperative voice which can make it work, but I can’t see it. I think the cryptic instruction needs to be “Films inspiring Carry On” or “Carry On inspired by films”.
All in all though, I enjoyed the solve and I’m looking forward to more!
Thanks Screw, nice debut with an entertaining puzzle.
Thanks Andrew for a good blog. I missed the B R AND S ðŸ™
Many good clues, I particularly liked DEMOTIC and LOLLIPOP LADY.
[Hoggy, screw, OCED v. 4 tr. a, put psychological etc. pressure on to achieve an end, b, oppress!]
Thanks, Andrew
It’s always good to see a new setter, particularly one as clever with the succinctly ambiguous wording as Screw (albeit rather at the expense of some of the surface readings). Like molonglo @2, I spent a long time at the end fathoming MARX and BRANDS.
Favourites were DEMOTIC, TRAINSPOTTING, REINSTALL, PASSIVE, TRECENTO, COMPADRE – all tight constructions with plausible surfaces.
I look forward to more of this!
I struggled to make inroads for a while, possibly because of Screw’s unfamiliar setting style, but it all fell into place, fully parsed, eventually. I had the most trouble in the NE and TRECENTO was my LOI after COMPADRE and DEMOTIC. I look forward to more puzzles from this setter.
Thanks Andrew and Screw
I found it hard to get into this at first but it was very worthwhile. Lots of clever cluing. It’s good to have a stylish new setter.
Some very, very good clues here. Thanks Andrew for BRANDS (brilliant) and TRECENTO. Come back soon, Screw.
Thanks to S & B,
An excellent work-out with some great clues. I particularly liked 18 and 22, but there were plenty of other highlights. Screw looks as though he or she will be one of those setters who inspires trepidation whenever his or her name appears in the future, but if this puzzle is anything to go by, enjoyment and hopefully a sense of achievement will eventually trump a bit of frustration along the way.
A very impressive debut, but a little too clever for me, at least for the time I have available on a weekday. I gave up after doing just over half of this on paper, and only finished with a lot of guessing and checking, but that may be down to unfamiliarity with a new setter’s style, and in retrospect there is a lot to admire. Last in was MARX after DEMOTIC – the NE was the hardest section. Liked LOLLIPOP LADY, GROWN, BRAIN DRAIN and AIR BEDS
Thanks to Andrew, thanks and welcome to Screw.
It’s always a pleasure to see a new setter inducted and I wish Screw well in the future. However, large parts of this – particularly the bottom half – were well beyond me, at least without aid. I can see though that there is a keen cruciverbalist’s intelligence in play and hopefully next time I’ll have a better idea of what is going on. TRECENTO, one of the clues I got early, was my favourite.
Thanks, Andrew. Needed your excellent parsing for several here.
Welcome aboard Screw – much to admire in this debut.
Come again.
This was rough. I was on the verge of giving up when things started to come to me. Needed a little help with tercento (Italian being, like, my fifth strongest language).
What the flip is a lollipop lady, in what sense would she be a “crosser,” and how is lolly capital? The words went in easily enough, once all the crossing letters were in place, but I’m still baffled. Sincerely, the resident clueless Septic
mrpenney @28
LOLLIPOP LADY is a bit parochial, I suppose. She (or, sometimes, he) is a “school crossings warden”, supervising children crossing roads outside their school. They hold up a pole with a circular sign on the to, which says “STOP CHILDREN”; this is the “lollipop”. Traffic is supposed to stop for them.
..on the top..
(not on the to)
Oh, and “lolly” is a slang term for “money”, or “capital” (a bit of a stretch, there, I think)
I’ll join others above in welcoming Screw. Found this hard but eminently gettable, with some delightfully witty and deceiving word play. It will be interesting to see whether further acquaintance with the style will make it easier to read or not. Something to look forward to!
Thanks muffin. Here, we call that person the much more pedestrian term (pun not intended) “crossing guard.” And she holds a “sign.” Americans have no sense of humor. Or humour, for that matter.
–M.
mrp @28 – maybe it’s a local crossword for local people (but I suspect the League of Gentlemen were pretty obscure over the pond too)…
BH @34–don’t misunderstand: when I post here, I’m never complaining about Britishisms in British crosswords. That would be awfully arrogant of me, wouldn’t it? In fact, I like the fact that local color makes the puzzles more unexpectedly difficult for me.
No, I’m merely inquiring as to their meaning so I’ll know the next time they come up–and so that I learn something just for its own sake.
Don’t worry, that was a facetious comment aimed at a parochial audience, hope it didn’t come across as offensive!
Not much to add. I found this quite hard to begin with but it was enjoyable doing battle with it and there were some excellent clues notably BRANDS and TRAINSPOTTER. I didn’t manage to parse everything-PLASTICS and PASSIVE eluded me- but on the whole a rather good debut from Screw!
It has been suggested elsewhere that Donk = Dave Warder and Warder -> Screw – an interesting theory?
Hi beery hiker
I didn’t know Dave’s surname but that really does make sense – I do hope it’s true!
There seems to be a [near] consensus about the quality of this puzzle. I was lucky enough to blog the début puzzles of Tramp, Philistine and Picaroon and can imagine Andrew’s initial feelings but there was an integrity about their cluing that gave me confidence from the beginning and they’re all among my very top favourites now. I have the same feelings about this setter, whoever[s]he is. 😉
Evening all,
Thank you to Andrew for a brilliant blog. I’m absolutely delighted to have made my debut here, and that there have been so many encouraging comments.
All the very best and see you soon,
Screw (Donk)
Screw @40 – thanks for the crossword, for dropping in and for confirming our idle speculation!
Quite soon, I hope, Screw!
Hi Screw @40
Hurrah! – great to have it confirmed.
Guardian solvers who don’t also do the Indy puzzle have many treats in store. Unfortunately, the Indy doesn’t have an archive, so you can’t try the puzzles from scratch, but, if you look up Donk in the 15² archive, you can get some idea of the brilliance of his cluing. An absolute classic is this one: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/01/09/independent-8498-donk/
Many thanks, again, Screw – hope you’ll get even more regular slots over this side!
Eileen @ 43
Re the lack of archive in the Indy, I’m told that if you use CrosswordSolver you can copy & paste the following into the download box:
http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/editorial/xword/c_ddmmyy.bin (changing ddmmyy, of course)
it will bring up the crossword from the date concerned. I haven’t tried it myself, and of course you can’t search by setter, but it may be worth a random spray.
hth
Me @ 44
Or, of course, he said with a blinding flash of perspicacity, you could use the search here to find a Donk date and see if CrosswordSolver can pull it up.
Is ‘trecento’ in regular (or even occasional) use in English?
I’m just wondering how many languages we’re supposed to know to do an English crossword. I only speak two with any degree of fluency, neither of them being Italian.
Alistair @46
“Trecento” (etc.) are terms frequently used in discussing the Italian renaissance, so are familiar in English, I think.
Alastair: It seems that they assume that we went to Eton or Harrow in the 1920s, which makes us fluent in French and Latin, with a passing familiarity with ancient Greek, German, and Italian. Spanish words are only fair game if they know them in Texas.
And if you can’t hear what I just said, that’s because it’s awful hard to talk with one’s tongue in one’s cheek.
……sorry – Alastair….
…………..but I might be biased,as it was my second one in (after GREENS).
I’m also biased because I really couldn’t get into the puzzle – I managed about half a dozen then required liberal use of the cheat button and word lists to make any further headway, then this blog to try to figure out why the answers were correct.
As for languages, presumably they’re all fair game since they’ll all come up when discussing that language or country. So people who discuss Czech art and history will presumably use Czech expressions. Would those also be reasonable in an English crossword?
Do we need to stick to the Latin alphabet? What about those whose speciality is Russian history – can we use Russian words in the crossword? And is there an agreed transliteration for them? (or must we learn the Cyrillic alphabet as well?)
TRECENTO had very clear wordplay to help us get the answer, especially with all the checkers in place, so I don’t see why there are so many negative comments about it.
Alastair,
To pull my tongue back out of my cheek for a minute and give you a serious answer: Generally, it’s accepted that if a word appears in a standard single-volume English reference book (dictionaries by Collins or Chambers are standard in British crosswords; the Webster’s Collegiate is the standard over here in Yankshire), it’s fair game. Proper nouns are fair game if you learn them in a standard high-school curriculum. Past that, it’s a judgment call by the setter and editor as to whether the entry (or clue element) has risen to the level of common knowledge.
So no, Cyrillic characters would not be fair game. Random bits of Czech (or Swahili or Navajo or whatever) would not be either. But “trecento” appears in even the abridged Webster’s –and thus I presume also in Collins and/or Chambers.
Well done, Screw (/Donk/Dave).
I found it hard but so are most of Donk’s puzzles.
No smut yet but, knowing what he is capable of, some Paulian naughtiness will surely pop up in the future.
Many solvers at this place do like that – btw, I am not (always) one of them.
By entering the wrong word in 4d ([s]TAKES, see why?) I couldn’t find 10ac (I should have) and therefore missed out on the two Italian entries in that corner.
Eileen recommended already a true classic written by Donk just about a year ago.
But early 2013 there was another corker that I nominated for ‘crossword of the year’ in the Centenary Year (that is, until initiator Paul dropped the whole idea).
This is the Crossword Solver file for that one: http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/editorial/xword/c_150113.bin
Thanks Andrew.
And Screw, hope to see you again, in the Guardian and in Cambridge in just under two months time.
Thanks Andrew and Screw. Looking forward to the next crossword from this setter
A great debut and a real slow-burner for me – many thanks both.
I thought this was a great puzzle, but it took me 24 hours to solve it. Well, not continuously, but you get the idea. A lot was blank for a long time, and then I just started filling it in on instinct, without understanding the cryptics.
As an American solver, I knew lollipop lady, but didn’t know who Snape was. Fortunately, the answer became obvious.
I always wonder how UK solvers would do on difficult puzzles filled with obscure US allusions, but there aren’t any such puzzles so there is no way to tell.
Loved it! Had CLASSICS instead of plastics, thinking of the films and e.g. songs, books as being of more than one type. Look forward to more from Screw (hastily amended ‘my next screw’!)
This crossword was a struggle all day and I ended up solving it on line. That to me is unsatisfactory and suggests that may be setter may have problems with style lay down would work perfectly well for the last clue across.
Eminently ungettable (cf DP @32) but ultimately—learning here with help of Andrew and all, thanks — understandable and enjoyable for this beginner.
@59
“Lay down” wouldn’t fit the definition (“supporters on floor”) in 28a. No problems with the setting style that I can see (you don’t specify any either). As the blogger said, this is full of varied, sound clues.
I just wasn’t on this setter’s wavelength at all, and only managed about two-thirds of the puzzle before coming here for enlightenment. But I look forward to the next encounter, and will hopefully do better then.
Many thanks to Simon S @44. I can confirm that the method given there for retrieving old Independent crosswords does indeed work. You just need to know the date when the puzzle was published.
You’ll have to excuse me now, I have some serious Donk practice to do…
Welcome, Screw and thanks, Andrew.
Sorry about the late post but I didn’t get round to it till this evening.
Enjoyed your different style. TRECENTO was a favourite. As others point out, it is fair game and in the dictionaries.
Look forward to your next one.
Giovanna xx
trecento – you’re kidding! You are, aren’t you?
By chance we noticed today that Donk was now masquerading as someone else. Thanks to the Grauniad back catalogue of puzzles we were able to access the crossword this evening.
We are very late on commenting but if you are still reading this Donk/Screw – we loved the puzzle.
Thanks Andrew.