The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28855.
A gridful of Prime Ministers, some whole answers, some part, some split across lights (and indicated in blue in the grid)- and one ringer, Ian Douglas SMITH, onetime Prime Minister of Rhodesia (or a near-miss, John SMITH, who would probably have become Prime Mimister had he lived; there was also one Edward Smith-Stanley). Henry John TEMPLE is better known as Palmerston.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | MAJORED |
Officer’s English degree is specialised for an American (7)
|
| A charade of MAJOR (‘officer’) plus E (‘English’) plus D (‘degree’). | ||
| 8 | CHAMBER |
Order within tea room (7)
|
| An envelope (‘within’) of MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, ‘order’) in CHAR (‘tea’). | ||
| 9 | HOME |
Poet dropping right in (4)
|
| HOME[r] (‘poet’) minus R (‘dropping right’). | ||
| 10 | RESURFACE |
Note: master of riding waves to rise up once more (9)
|
| A charade of RE (‘note’ of the solfa) plus SURF ACE (‘master of riding waves’). | ||
| 12 | STONE |
During scare, lacking guts, not turning into this? (5)
|
| An envelope (‘during’) od TON, a reversal (‘turning’) of ‘not’ in ‘s[car]e’ minus its interior letters (‘lacking guts’), with an extended definition. | ||
| 13 | REHIRING |
Soldiers welcome band signing up again (8)
|
| A charade of RE (Royal Engineers, ‘soldiers’) plus HI (‘welcome’) plus RING (‘band’). | ||
| 15 | HILL |
Former F1 champion‘s peak? (4)
|
| Double definition; the champion is Graham Hill, or his son Damon. | ||
| 16 | ETHOS |
Character from Porridge breaks into vault which ends in trouble (5)
|
| An anagram (‘in trouble’) of ESOTH, last letters (‘ends’) of ‘porridgE breakS intO vaulT whicH‘. | ||
| 17 | SARK |
Troy departing from barren island (4)
|
| A subtraction: S[t]ARK (‘barren’) minus T (‘troy departing’). | ||
| 18 | THATCHER |
Perhaps roofer‘s chicken after heading to tower (8)
|
| A charade of T (‘heading to Tower’) plus HATCHER (‘chicken’). | ||
| 20 | HEATH |
Tortured antihero’s been abandoned by Richard in scrubland (5)
|
| A subtraction: HEATH[cliff] (‘tortured antihero’ of Wuthering Heights) minus CLIFF (‘abandoned by Richard’, with reference to singer Cliff Richard). | ||
| 21 | LEMON PEEL |
Man receives a million to get Pele playing with zest (5,4)
|
| A charade of LEMON, an envelope (‘receives’) of M (‘a million’) in LEON (‘man’ – a man’s name); plus PEEL, an anagram (‘playing’) of ‘Pele’. The zest is the coloured part of the peel. | ||
| 22 | GLAD |
Happy state — being hugged by grandad on vacation (4)
|
| An envelope (‘being hugged’) of LA (Louisiana, ‘state’) in GD (‘GrandaD on vacation’). | ||
| 24 | WIELDED |
Joined one inside and exercised (7)
|
| An envelope (‘inside’) of I (‘one’) in WELDED (‘joined’). | ||
| 25 | ISRAELI |
National insurance’s introduction is real variable (7)
|
| A charade of I (‘Insurance’s introduction’) plus SRAELI, an anagram (‘variable’) of ‘is real’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MAYO |
Chairman devouring last of curry sauce (4)
|
| An envellope (‘devouring’) of Y (‘last of currY‘) in MAO (‘Chairman’). | ||
| 2 | ROSE BOWL |
Cricket ground has slower ball spinning: all out, including duck (4,4)
|
| An anagram (‘spinning’) of ‘slower b[all]’ minus ALL (‘all out’) plus O (‘including duck’). It’s in West End, Hampshire, near Southampton.. | ||
| 3 | GEORGE |
Cheddar, possibly — cheese, finally eaten by king (6)
|
| An envelope (‘eaten by’ – the word order is twisted) of E (‘cheesE finally’) in GORGE (‘Cheddar, possibly’). | ||
| 4 | CHURCHES |
Orders around half of your tablets in such buildings? (8)
|
| A charade of CHURCH, an envelope (‘around’) of UR (‘half of yoUR‘) in CH CH (Companion of Honour, ‘orders’); plus ES (‘tablets’) | ||
| 5 | IMPAIR |
Spoil 1 + 1,000 + 2? (6)
|
| A charade of I (‘1’) plus M (again Roman numeral, ‘1,000’) plus PAIR (‘2’). Qaos is noted for his numerical clues. | ||
| 6 | DENE |
River crosses northern valley (4)
|
| An envelope (‘crosses’) of N (‘northern’) in DEE (‘river’ – tere are several of them). DENE as a (steep-sided) ‘valley’ survives in dialect, and in place names. | ||
| 11 | SURCHARGE |
Extra cost keeping car in drive outside entrance to home (9)
|
| A double envelope (‘keeping … in’ and ‘outside’) of H (‘entrance to Home’) in ‘car’ in SURGE (‘drive’). | ||
| 12 | SMITH |
Economist hits out over money (5)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of M (‘money’) in SITH, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘hits’. The economist is probably Adam Smith. | ||
| 14 | NORTH |
Pole position or third, thereabouts (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘thereabouts’) in ‘positioN OR THird’. | ||
| 16 | ENHANCED |
Improved, he can dribble during final (8)
|
| An envelope (‘during’) of HANCE, an anagram (‘dribble’) of ‘he can’ in END (‘final’). | ||
| 17 | SHANGHAI |
Press into service in City (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 19 | TEMPLE |
In London, stop politician hiding in box (6)
|
| An envelope (‘hiding in’) of MP (‘politician’) in TELE (‘box’), for the station on the London Underground, Circle and District lines. | ||
| 20 | HOLISM |
Theory that alcohol is more than the sum of its parts? (6)
|
| A hidden answer in ‘alcoHOL IS More’. HOLISM, the idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, might whimsically be applied to alcohol, with ‘parts’ carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. | ||
| 21 | LAIN |
Even Alsatians rested (4)
|
| ‘Even’ letters of ‘ALsAtIaNs’ | ||
| 23 | ABLE |
Clever stories have no introduction or conclusion (4)
|
| [f]ABLE[s] (‘stories’) minus the first and last letters (‘have no introduction or conclusion’). |
Also CHURCH(es) + HILL
Also May, and an anagram of Eden.
Qaos is on my “bad” list (a list that is diminishing little by little as I gain experience, I’m pleased to report) but I had a go anyway. I only got about two thirds out, as too much depended on specifically British knowledge that I didn’t possess. The prime ministers (which didn’t matter), RE, Dee river, “dene”, “Rose Bowl”, Sark, Cheddar gorge. I vaguely recall coming across one or two of these in previous puzzles, but they’re not front of memory yet. I know I have a cheek complaining about Britishisms in British crowsswords, but so be it. The clue for HEATH was too convoluted for this little black duck. In 12a, why is “this” stone? And I’m more inclined to shorten television to “telly”, rather than “tele”.
FOI was THATCHER which had me looking straight away for UK PMs. I did like HEATH for the Cliff bit.
Dnk Temple was Palmerston, was thinking tube, or Bar, but later saw the PMs. A dnf, as I did a synonym search for barren to get S[t]ark then Shanghai. Islands are like fish and (both!) flowers… thousands of the buggers and almost any pronounceable letter combo will be one! Hey ho, all part of the fun, ta PnQ.
Ditto re stone, GDU@3 … scary Medusa, maybe?
grantinfreo@6 ….. exactly what came to my mind too
With all these ex-PMs appearing, I did wonder if there was a snub-by-omission intended, with a certain person joining their ranks today…. it is the Grauniad after all.
I love it when Peter O blogs. I can go to bed early. Thank you for your highlighted grid and explanations.
Regardless of the theme, I liked the crossword, particularly HEATH and HOLISM, and ETHOS all of which made me think and look closely.
And had to think twice (google) about ROSE BOWL’s def, which I knew as a USA football ground. TILT. Made me smile.
Thanks Qaos & PeterO. This was definitely a case where spotting the theme helped me finish the puzzle quicker – my last three in were MAYO, MAJORED and HOME and I might have spent much longer over them if I hadn’t twigged.
I guessed the wrong antihero for 20a and was left wondering how MAC meant Richard.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
Good luck to overseas solvers on ROSE BOWL, especially as it isn’t called that any more (it’s the Ageas Bowl), and TEMPLE (I guessed this as I didn’t know TELE as “box”).
Is CHURCHES an attempted &lit? I don’t think it works if it is.
“Man” for LEON is very lazy clueing.
I did like RESURFACE.
Ah that sort of “box”.
Some very ‘economical’ clues here, e.g. 21d. Tidy. Neat. Didn’t spot the theme, though!
Newbie composer’s escape with native, not Scotsman. (3,5)
Having THATCHER and MAYO early helped in spotting the theme, though I missed the split CHAMBER+LAIN, GLAD+STONE and CHURCH+HILL. I remembered ROSE BOWL from seeing Tests on the TELE, but wasn’t aware it had a new name. I wonder what it will be called when the current sponsorship deal runs out; me no Leica.
Favourite was the the highbrow lit and popular culture mix in the clue for HEATH.
Thanks to Qaos and PeterO
Some fun clues here and so many prime ministers hidden. As we’re on our fourth in six years, (Cameron, May, Johnson, and shortly to be Truss), there have been a few opportunities for this theme.
For those interested, sometime yesterday the Prize appeared on the app, as a Monday puzzle.
Thanks to PeterO and Qaos.
I noticed the theme of former PMs about halfway through when I saw Thatcher, Chamberlain, Gladstone, George, North and then I saw a few more later.
Liked SURCHARGE, IMPAIR, CHAMBER.
New: F1 champion Norman Graham Hill; Rose Bowl (cricket ground) in West End, Hampshire.
I did not parse 20ac and failed to solve 9ac.
Thanks, both.
ROSE BOWL is a bit obscure. I only know it because I follow cricket and it’s my local county ground. And as muffin@12 points out it’s not even called that anymore.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO for those parsings I decided life was too short to figure out for myself.
Missed the theme completely, but then Prime Ministers is a subject one tries not to think about these days.
Pace The Other Mark @8, one could see 3d as a nod to the latest political titan to reach the top of the greasy pole and 19d as a nod to her predecessor, the one who Got The Big Calls Right and Did His Best when he wasn’t hiding in fridges.
Once I’d worked out what the CHs were, I thought CHURCHES was quite a neat clue.
Thanks Qaos for a pleasant workout and PeterO especially for the explanation of HEATH and the identification of the theme.
A framework made in simplest form from two short planks.
Ta Qaos & PeterO
Good fun. I spotted the theme in time to go looking for GLAD after I’d got STONE.
Lord NORTH was always traditionally reckoned to have been the worst ever Prime Minister. Has he subsequently been superseded?
Many thanks Qaos and PeterO.
Nobody seems to have noticed Peel.
Grim and Dim @23: it’s highlighted in PeterO’s grid.
Haha, well done Grim and Dim.
I spent time trying to make an anagram out of ‘antihero’ minus R (Richard) and IN.
Thanks for setting me straight on that, PeterO and Qaos for the fun.
Oh, AlanC@24. I didn’t check.
AlanC @ 24 So faintly that my aged eyes couldn’t see it.
Surely ‘tea’ is ‘cha’ not ‘char’: the lady wot does is a ‘char’.
… and no-one — I mean absolutely nobody at all ever in the history of humanity and the English langauge — wrote TELE as an informal or abbreviated form of ‘television’.
Whoops! Sorry — Grauniad effect right there! … “language”.
pserve_p2 @28, the BRB says “cha n tea; char. [Chin cha; see char3]…. and “char 3 (sl) n tea. [Cockney spelling of cha]
Slowly worked my way through this and ended up wondering why the only possibility for 16ac with all the crossers in place was ETHOS. Would never have parsed this in a month of Sundays. Couldn’t get HOME, even though I tried all sorts of combinations, so a DNF today. ISRAELI a frequent visitor to Crosswordland. As usual, didn’t see the PM’s for the trees, even with THATCHER and PEEL and MAJOR and Co staring me in the face…
Defeated by ETHOS. No room for Johnson? Already forgotten like a bad dream?
TimC@31: thanks for the reference. Er… what is ‘the BRB’?
The Big Red Book, i.e. Chambers pserve_p2 @34
[btw the American Phil HILL won the F1 championship the year before Graham Hill]
Qaos never lets us down, with consistently inventive and solvable clues, improbable numbers of them somehow related to a theme which never impinges on the overall solve, plus a bit of algebra as usual.
Today’s theme is depressingly relevant to current affairs, a “good news, bad news” scenario with the worst PM ever departing, replaced by a credible challenger for his title.
HEATH was probably my favourite for somehow combining Wuthering Heights with Cliff Richard to arrive at a former PM who was far from great, but so much better than the most recent examples.
I agree with David @2 on 6 down: DENE is one of the most obscure among dozens of words that would fit the -E-E pattern, but that’s the closest that Eden gets to the grid.
I expect Gordon was Browned off to miss out. As for Liz Truss, I shall be happy once she hAS QUIT Her role.
Thanks to P&Q.
I’ve by now got used to Qaos=’theme’ but it never helps.
A DNF with a similar experience to Ronald@32 and once again my admiration for the bloggers here is refreshed. I didn’t get by the watery definitions involved in SARK (‘barren’=’stark’), WIELDED(=’exercised’) and HEATH (‘tortured antihero’=’Heathcliff’, ‘Richard’=’Cliff’ (apropos of which the leap from ‘Harry Webb’ to ‘Cliff Richard’ always seemed to me to be a tremendous leap of fancy)). muffin@12 mentions ‘man’=’Leon’ (although I actually got that one I thought it weak).
But no complaints – I got THATCHER early enough to have twigged the theme if I hadn’t stopped looking for one (as I always seem to do) and it would surely have helped.
Thanks both.
Even though I should know by now that there’s a theme with Qaos, and today being a handover of PMs and all, I still didn’t spot the theme! But I did finish, so there’s that.
Liked CHAMBER, RESURFACE and IMPAIR a lot.
Cheers both.
A terrific achievement to get so many PMs in the grid. Almost got Archibald PrimROSE, 5th Earl of ROSEBery, in there as well.
Many thanks for what I thought was a more than usually challenging puzzle from Qaos (even having spotted the theme) and PeterO for his customarily helpful blog.
Sorry about the Brown and Asquith jokes @37. As former PM gags go, they were the Pitts.
12a How is “this” a definition for “STONE”?
With _I_L at 15a, I biffed in HILL for “peak” knowing as much about F1, whatever it is, as my cat. Neither of us has ever heard of Cliff Richard either.
CHURCH + HILL has too many h’s. It’s CHURC(hes) + HILL.
I had POPE for the poet at 9a, having lost two R’s and with no discernible definition. Pathetic.
That said it was a pleasant return to crosswordery after two weeks away from the Internet. Nice to have this to go to bed with. Thanks, Qaos and PeterO.
Congratulations PeterO for not placing the Rose/Ageas Bowl in Southampton, as cricket reports usually do. I used to walk past the site on my way to school.
I mean, why couldn’t he have clued ROSE BOWL as the considerably more famous, massively larger, and significantly older stadium in Pasadena? (True, it mostly hosts American football, but it also has held its share of soccer matches, including the final match of the 1994 World Cup. The US lacks a national stadium, but if they held a competition for that honor, the Rose Bowl would be on the shortlist.)
For once I spotted the theme early enough for it to help. Still a difficult solve and a DNF for me.
Forgot to look for a theme as always. Congratulations QAOS in getting so many PMs in and thanks for the puzzle. I failed to parse HEATH (like others, looking for an anagram), ROSE BOWL (but knew the ground) and SARK (just a lucky guess). I think that I have seen “tele” for television. I recall being asked in an English lit lesson at school why the author had spelled it “telly” not “tele” – something to do with drawing attention to the character’s way of speaking. Funny what trivial things stick in the mind. Thanks PeterO for the excellent blog.
oh – forgot to say that it’s not clear from the blog what is the definition for 20D. I assume that it is “theory” and not &lit.
Pleasant and straightforward solve.
But Richard = Cliff (old chestnut) in 2022? Please!
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
[muffin@36 Coincidentally Phil Hill came up in one of the questions in Only Connect last night. Despite being a follower of F1 now, I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of him before ]
Ark Lark@47 I suspect Cliff Richard still has a a huge following. And according to Wiki is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. So why not?
Entertaining crossword; good setting to get in all the PMs.
Alans @33; if MAJOR had been sacrificed, 1D could have been BOJO, with Lieutenant COLONEL (HEATH) for 7A.
I thought of HEATHcliff but failed to think of Cliff Richard. I liked the use of orders in CHURCHES.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
The Heath(cliff) clue is even better than has been mentioned so far. Believe it or not, Cliff Richard starred as Heathcliff in a 1996 musical of that name.
Regarding Temple PMs, George Grenville, both Pitts and William Wyndham Grenville were all associated with the Temple-Grenville family of Stowe (look up Cobham’s Cubs).
[Crossbar @48
Sussed! I did remember the name, though.]
Thanks for the blog, maybe “this” for stone is alluding to petrified.
Saw the PMs …after. Didn’t like T Troy ED English degree and M money as rarely used I would say.
Thanks Q (is that ok?) and PeterO
Just finished! Unusually for me, I did spot the theme. But MAJORED & HOME we’re my last two in, despite the fact I was actively looking for HOME earlier. Personally I don’t think it matters that the ROSE BOWL now has a sponsor’s name. And it is one of the more well known cricket grounds in England, being used for international cricket. I know I am in danger of sounding like a complete sports fanatic (I promise I’m not), but I do think it is as valid to include sports references as any other sort of GK. Personally I like having my GK stretched, in whatever direction.
GeoffDownUnder@3. I have huge respect for anyone who tries a crossword with different cultural references to their own. I don’t see this as cheek (or even a complaint). You don’t seem to be asking for ‘Britishisms’ to be avoided, just explaining why you found it insoluble. Absolutely fair enough.
If you roll the grid up into a cylinder around its horizontal axis you get EDEN with the last letter of 23d and the first three of 6d.
Paul @46
Indeed, if I had underlined anything in 20D HOLISM it would be ‘theory’. However, as I tried to suggest in the blog, the whole clue could be taken as a playful
extended indication by example (not an &lit). I liked it, although it might not satisfy those who regard “the rules” as paramount.
Enjoyed that, and nice to have a theme that people should either know, or accept that they should know! Only complaint from me was the obscure GK ROSE BOWL… despite living all my life in the UK, the only Rose Bowl I knew of was the much more famous one the other side of the pond. It is a little irritating that such cricket references are used so often in these crosswords. Otherwise… all good.
Roz @53
Yes, I also see “petrified” as the most significant word to describe 12A STONE.
Ian@58. You shouldn’t make assumptions based on your own GK. The Hampshire Rose Bowl is totally familiar to me whereas, until today’s comments, I had never heard of the ‘much more famous one’ in the US. One of the beauties of crosswords is the daily extension of ones vocabulary and knowledge.
Mike@60 Thanks for the reply, and yes it is interesting how GK differs between people in this way. I think objectively I would have to still stand by my “much more famous” comment though, even if only because cricket aficionados are, by any measure, a relatively small subset of the population. Totally agree with your last line however, expanding GK is one of the beauties of such crosswords.
Disraeli?
BLOW EROS, SLOB WORE & SLOW BORE didn’t sound like cricket grounds so ROSE BOWL it had to be and I for one was delighted as I refuse on principle to call sports grounds by their sponsor’s name.
People rarely take umbrage when we have obscure Shakespeare characters or Latin phrases, 1940’s music hall stars etc.
Fun crossword despite getting the theme too late to be of much use
Cheers
For what it’s worth, the cricket scores in the g’s sports section list the Hampshire game as being at the Rose Bowl.
tim the toffee @ 54, it’s not ED = English Degree it’s = English & D = Degree, while M = Money is regularly used by economists for the definition of money supply, with a numeral suffix to indicate which definition they’re referring to.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
Jennifer@62: See PeterO’s grid. Sorry…
I’m always on the lookout early for a theme with Qaos.
Started with Radio 1 DJs – (John) PEEL and (Simon) MAYO, then was happy with Welsh rugby players – GEORGE NORTH, (Dwayne) PEEL, (Cory) HILL before THATCHER spoilt everything.
I had problems with 13 of the clues for style or grammar today, in this piece from Qaos/ Everyman, for it must be he, the styles are so similar. I won’t go through them all, save to say that clues become much harder when they contain errors.
As regards topicality and Truss, I’m sure I remember Tramp saying that his recent puzzle had been composed over 2 years ago, so unless this was specially commissioned I can’t imagine that any ‘snub by omission’ (the other Mark @ 8).
…was intentional (sorry — MY mistake this time).
I enjoyed this, despite failing to spot the extremely obvious theme. I was also a bit stupid in failing to parse ETHOS…. amongst others.
And pserve_p2 @ 29 – I ALWAYS write ‘tele’ (even though I pronounce it ‘telly’)…. And I am sure I am not alone!
Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.
Ian@61. “Cricket aficionados are, by any measure, a relatively small subset of the population.” What measures; what population? If you mean British population then American football aficionados would be a still smaller subset. If you mean worldwide Guardian crossword solvers then I have no idea but, judging by comments here, there seem to be far more Australasians than Americans, so I suspect cricket would still be the bigger subset.
MikeB @70–let’s reiterate that besides American football, the U.S. Rose Bowl has also hosted a lot of association football. Wikipedia: “Though best known as an American football stadium, the Rose Bowl is also one of the most decorated soccer (association football) venues in the world. The stadium hosted the prestigious 1994 FIFA World Cup Final (an event watched by over 700 million people worldwide), the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final (at the time the most attended women’s soccer match in history), and the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal Match, making it the only venue in the world to host all three of international soccer’s major championship matches. The United States men’s national soccer team has played 17 games in the Rose Bowl, the fourth most of any venue. It has hosted 5 U.S. women’s national team matches. It has also hosted MLS Cup 1998 and the 2002 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Finals. Mexico has played a number of friendlies in the stadium against nations other than the United States.”
Can I rant?
I am a big fan of keeping British puzzles British, regardless of complaints from overseas persons that their culture is being ignored, or that arcane British culture (e.g. cricket) is being prioritised, or even retained in spite of globalisation or whatever, as I have a sneaking suspicion that it is precisely this Britishness (or quirkiness) which both pleases and reassures those of us who hail from these islands, and attracts others.
I might be wrong about that, but even if that is the case I will continue to bang on about it and foam at the mouth as if I am right. Already, on some websites, solvers are moaning about literary entries and the like, and due to this bombardment by the boorish (some of whom are Brits) we do see a reduction in cultural references in some crosswords.
Anyway, I’m originally from Winchester, so I know exactly where the proper Rose Bowl is. And because I am an unconscionable snob, I don’t care where the other one is or what happens in it 😀
* unless an English national football team ever plays there.
Lionesses tonight! Yay!
Thanks Qaos for a crossword with an obvious theme that helped with several clues. Missed HOME, SARK and SHANGHAI, the latter of which I should have seen. Favourite was IMPAIR. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
paul b @72
I would guess that you aren’t particularly enamoured of the name change, then? 🙂
Bodycheetah @63: I’m sure that many of us here would consider SLOW BORE to be a rather apt name for a cricket venue.
[paul b @72: As an American I concur with keeping British crosswords as British as possible. Those who complain about British puzzles being “too British” remind me of folks who buy a house next to a fire station and then complain about the sirens.]
[paul b @72. I’m not sure that anyone *has* complained about “overseas … culture … being ignored, or that arcane British culture (e.g. cricket) is being prioritised”. Perhaps GeoffDownUnder @3 seemed like he was complaing, but he acknowledged he was being cheeky by doing so, and Moth @55 absolved him. I know it can be soothing to get a rant off your chest, so I’ll absolve you, too.]
the last plantagenet @67. As many as “13 problems with the clues for style or grammar today”, but you’re not going to tell us what they are? In general, I agree that “clues become much harder when they contain errors”, but usually I find that problems of the sort you seem to be describing either diminish or vanish altogether when shared with the community below the line here, if they haven’t already been dealt with by the blogger or earlier commenters. How else can we be sure that they are errors by the setter rather than failures of understanding by the solver? I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing you would share with us rather than making a comment which anyone less kind and tolerant than me might be tempted to call snarky.
It wasn’t directed at anyone here really, just a thing I see around that irks me. I can’t stop people having that opinion though, and I am serious when I say I think UK crosswords could really suffer if eds think that to obtain a wider market the puzzles need to change.
Ten-nil though 😀
Thanks PeterO and Qaos ! Nice easy theme again today, although embarrassed to have missed spotting CHAMBERLAIN in the completed grid. Fully agree with British references in British puzzles, but I also agree ROSE BOWL is a tad cheeky after it was renamed a number of years ago. Happy that so many setters like cricket, having been a bit of a cricket nerd over the years – it certainly sits better with me that the traditional setter’s presumption of knowledge of the classics, mythology, Latin and other trappings of a public school education, although one could equally argue cricket forms a part of that set too !
I liked the theme, and the inventiveness. Despite being an Aussie, I am very happy for these crossies to have Pommy references. Sometimes I don’t know them – so what? It’s a Pommy puzzle. Thanks, Qaos and PeterO.
I remain the undisputed world champion of missing the theme.
slipstream @83
Mmmm – I may dispute that! It didn’t even occur to me that there was a theme.
rose bowl is no longer the name of the hampshire cricket ground
A few I didn’t fully parse and I completely missed the theme! Didn’t know Troy = T. I’m not a big cricket fan but had heard of the ROSE BOWL, possibly as it’s occasionally a music venue as well.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
Roz and Peter, see @6 and @7
I don’t think the Aus “men’s” team play tests at the Rose Bowl, but I’ve certainly heard of it.
Simon S@64 yes I knew the E and D were separate and I read a book by Nigel Lawson once but M is rarely used outside economics. The rarity of usage of these single letter abbreviations, I think, diminishes the clueing.
Grant@87, I was not actually thinking of the Medusa, just the casual use of petrified for being a bit scared when it literally means turned to stone. People will say ” I was petrified” just because they had seen a (UK) spider.
PeterO@57 thanks very much for explaining. I’m still new at this game and am definitely not one to pick up on bending ‘the rules’ as I don’t know most of them! I am also not really sure what &lit means, and had never heard of ‘example by definition before’, so lots of learning today. Which is why I love this site so much and appreciate all the bloggers’ for their patience as much as their erudition.
Late thanks PeterO for the CH orders and the parsing of SARK (lucky guess). This took me a few visits, falling into same trap as many with HEATH on the way.
Pserve_p2@29, my old aunt, a teacher, always used to write “tele” in her regular letters updating us of her news. I agree it is now probably only seen in crosswords!
Mrpenney@44 thanks for reminding me of the Pasadena Rose Bowl which must have hosted a superbowl back in the 80s when I took a vague interest in such things – but the surface of that clue neatly uses so many cricketing terms that I hope you can excuse the slightly less grand definition chosen.
1961blanchflower@37 nicely done!
Thanks Qaos.