The usual smooth sailing from Boatman . . .
. . . with most of the clues and some of the solutions (e.g., REGIME CHANGE, SUPER POWER, DIPLOMACY, SURGE, LOGORRHEA) obliquely (or not so obliquely) thematically commenting on the current “military conflict” with Iran.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | AGREE |
Comply with one hooked on avarice without end? (5)
|
| A (one) + GREE[D] (avarice) minus last letter (without end) | ||
| 10 | ATONEMENT |
Reparation that one mentioned in passing (9)
|
| Hidden in (in passing) [TH]AT ONE MENT[IONED] | ||
| 11 | HIGHLIGHT |
Hair colour of intoxicated bully at core ‘not starting conflict’ (9)
|
| HIGH (intoxicated) + middle letter of (at core) [BU]L[LY] + [F]IGHT (conflict) minus first letter (not starting) | ||
| 12 | PAINS |
Displacing the leader of a country causes agonies (5)
|
| SPAIN (a country) moving the first letter to the end (displacing the leader) | ||
| 13 | STARE AT |
Boatman in base for watch (5,2)
|
| TAR (boatman) inside (in) SEAT (base) | ||
| 15 | ABUSERS |
Aggressors led out of rules-based order in chaos (7)
|
| Anagram of (order in chaos) {RU[LE]S BASE[D]} minus (out) LED | ||
| 17 | PUT-UP |
Falsely planned from both sides (3-2)
|
| Cryptic definition, “from both sides” indicating a palindrome | ||
| 18 | RAN |
Stood by elimination of a country’s leader (3)
|
| [I]RAN (a country) minus first letter (elimination of . . . leader), in the sense of standing for election | ||
| 20 | POWER |
Might is right? Captive enemy’s leader taken at the front (5)
|
| POW (captive |
||
| 22 | RECKONS |
Playing conkers with judges (7)
|
| Anagram of (playing) CONKERS | ||
| 25 | WREATHE |
Honour as peace finally follows devastation of the war (7)
|
| Anagram of (devastation of) {THE WAR} + last letter of (finally) [PEAC]E, with “follows” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 26 | MEANT |
Signified Boatman by symbol of industry (5)
|
| ME (Boatman) + ANT (symbol of industry) | ||
| 27 | DIPLOMACY |
Order: comply with aid talks (9)
|
| Anagram of (order) {COMPLY + AID} | ||
| 30 | LOGORRHEA |
Content of blogs: sorry, cheap, using too many words (9)
|
| Hidden in the middle sections of (content of) [B]LOG[S] + [S]ORR[Y] + [C]HEA[P] | ||
| 31 | SONAR |
Cycling round raising fire as a defence against submarines (5)
|
| ARSON (raising fire) with the first two letters “cycling round” to the end | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RASH |
Ill-considered result of conflagration after 7th of October (4)
|
| 7th [letter] of [OCTOBE]R + ASH (result of conflagration), with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 2 | PREGNANT |
Expecting quiet fury to rise over holy books (8)
|
| P (quiet) + ANGER (fury) inverted (to rise) + NT (holy books) | ||
| 3 | HEEL |
With the end of truth, he’s evasive: a despicable type (4)
|
| Last letter of (end of) [TRUT]H + EEL (he’s evasive) | ||
| 4 | LAUGHTER |
Paroxysm of pointless killing? (8)
|
| [S]LAUGHTER (killing) minus S (south) (“pointless”) | ||
| 5 | PORTIA |
Apparently a lawyer, she is one that moves quickly in hearing (6)
|
| Homophone of (in hearing) PORSCHE (she is one that moves quickly), referring to a character in The Merchant of Venice who impersonates a lawyer, Balthazar | ||
| 6 | DEEP PURPLE |
Band initially denied piss-up over unmixed disc set up inside (4,6)
|
| First letter of (initially) D[ENIED] + PEE (piss) inverted (up) + {LP (disc) inverted (set up) and inside PURE (unmixed)} | ||
| 7, 23 | REGIME CHANGE |
Clue for emigré in coup (6,6)
|
| Reverse anagram, REGIME being an anagram of (change) EMIGRÉ | ||
| 8 | OTIS |
Toti Soler covers King of Soul (4)
|
| Hidden in (covers) [T]OTI S[OLER], referring to Otis Redding | ||
| 13 | SUPER |
Society to raise former ruler to be glorious (5)
|
| S (society) + UP (raise) + ER (former ruler) | ||
| 14 | EXPLOITERS |
Assembly of Experts with grip on oil wrongly supply profiteers (10)
|
| Anagram of (assembly of) EXPERTS around (with grip on) anagram of (wrongly) OIL | ||
| 16 | SURGE |
Powerful movement, certain to embrace an end to fighting (5)
|
| SURE (certain) around (to embrace) last letter of (an end to) [FIGHTIN]G | ||
| 19 | NEWSPEAK |
Fox etc an extreme instance of Orwellian communication (8)
|
| NEWS (Fox etc) + PEAK (an extreme instance), referring to the language spoken in George Orwell’s 1984 | ||
| 21 | WET PAINT |
Where Trump, lacking guts, is not to touch this: would be unwise (3,5)
|
| Outside letters of (lacking guts) {W[HER]E + T[RUM]P} + AIN’T (is not), with a bit of deceptive punctuation | ||
| 23 |
See 7
|
|
| 24 | SADDHU |
Strictly austere, doubly devout Hindu, unshod primarily (6)
|
| &lit and first letters of (primarily) S[TRICTLY] A[USTERE] D[OUBLY] D[EVOUT] H[INDU] U[NSHOD] | ||
| 26 | MALE |
Man using computer virus etc: battle is lost (4)
|
| MAL[WAR]E (computer virus, etc) minus (is lost) WAR (battle) | ||
| 28 | OUST |
Depose leader missing in combat (4)
|
| [J]OUST (combat) minus first letter (leader missing) | ||
| 29 | YARD |
Where to hang sheets in back garden (4)
|
| Double definition, the first in the nautical sense |
Took a while
Liked: HIGHLIGHT, SPAIN, PREGNANT, REGIME CHANGE (which took me a lot longer to get than it should have as I put regime as the second word…..)
Thanks Boatman and Cineraria
Thanks Cineraria. Smooth sailing indeed, most of it went in readily enough, I had to look up Portia (The quality of mercy) but LOIs were RECKONS and SONAR which both should have been write ins. I enjoyed it.
After a few sittings, all completed and parsed, though some of the parsings were tricky and convoluted. Two favourites: 22a RECKONS (concise, with an amusing surface), and 29d YARD (“Where to hang sheets” misdirection)
15a ABUSERS, “order in chaos” an odd, wordy anagrind. Took me a while to put those together into one instruction
Cineraria, now that you’ve drawn my attention to the theme, in both clues and solutions, I see it’s pretty powerful, and sad
Thanks Boatman for the challenge, and Cineraria for a great blog
LOI Abusers, really struggled with this one, don’t know why now! ATONEMENT was nicely hidden as well.
Thanks Both
Thanks Boatman. Despite the unpleasant theme I enjoyed this prize because so many clues were so well written. My favourites included ATONEMENT, LOGORRGEA, PREGNANT, LAUGHTER, PORTIA, and SURGE. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
It didn’t take me long to twig to the theme. Many of the clues were an absolute delight in the way they so cleverly managed to both make pointed comments about the present madness and yet clearly and accurately lead to the answer. Add in excellent thematic answers such as those Cineraria highlights in the introduction, and I have to say this was one of the cleverest and most enjoyable crossie I have done in a long time (which is, of course, not to say that its subject is in any way pleasant). Thanks heaps, Boatman and Cineraria.
Thanks for the blog , I totally missed the theme but like Mig@3 after your prompt I now see it throughout clues and entries . I agree with Tony@5 and Tim@6 about the sheer quality of the clues .
We have the classic double Boatman for STARE AT and MEANT plus the nautical YARD . DEEP PURPLE is very cleverly done ( could have used Smoke on the Water ) .
I really enjoyed this too, and also spotted the theme. Was delighted to see Boatman as the setter.
I found this a steady solve without too much new vocabulary or GK, but I’ve studied Merchant of Venice both at school and as an adult to teach it.
Thank you to Cineraria and Boatman.
I nearly didn’t attempt this when I saw at a glance the theme. I was looking for a bit of peace, but as others have said the clues were so well crafted.
Good one Roz @7. Perhaps Smoke on the Water is what we were meant to think of with the Iran war.
I too enjoyed the double Boatman which I was specifically looking for, amd I thought ATONEMENT was an excellent hidden (in fact I had to get it from the def after some thought and some checkers, and only spotted the hidden when backparsing).
LAUGHTER was one of my last ones in; I’m not sure it’s paroxysm per se, though of course it has the potential to be.
I failed on PORTIA (we did Macbeth what seems like 3 times, not TMOV, which is a shame because the latter does sound good). Those in the know will have enjoyed that clue I’m sure.
Thanks both
Some very satisfying solving here.
Liked DEEP PURPLE and PORTIA as light relief within the menacing theme.
A theme superbly worked out, with RAN standing out. I also liked REGIME CHANGE, NEWSPEAK, LAUGHTER (disturbing as the clue is) and many others. Thanks Boatman and Cineraria!
A clever commentary on the current Middle East situation. Many thanks to Boatman for incorporating so many references to the conflict which continues to trouble all of our minds. Thank you also to Cineraria for explaining some solutions I didn’t quite parse at the time. I liked the &Lit SADDHU at 24d.
A theme that was so pervasive as to be impossible to miss, but so well executed as not to be intrusive. The quality of the clues, as has been mentioned, was top notch. I bunged in my last two, SUPER and STARE AT but came back to them later in the week to parse them for a rare total solve for me.
Favourite was PORTIA, partly because it reminds me of Arthur Ransome’s The Big Six, a children’s detective story set in the Norfolk Broads, where one of the grown ups refers to Dorothea as Portia, because of her lawyerly presentation of the evidence, and she thinks he has simply got her name wrong, having not read Merchant of Venice herself. 🙂 I’m still waiting for someone to say that it sounds nothing like Porsche in their part of the world. 🤔
Thanks to Boatman and Cineraria.
I felt some discomfort at “enjoying” a crossword with such a tragic theme, but, on reflection, it seems fair that crossword setters can express their anger, too.
See the blind man
Shooting at the world
A sheet hanging from a YARD would probably bring a stiff rebuke from an Aubrey or a Hornblower. It’s a rope and as I understand it would be attached at both ends.
Great to see a seasoned and accomplished setter again – thanks Boatman.
Cheers all.
gratinfreo@16 – thanks for that! I didn’t see what linked DEEP PURPLE to the theme; that’s brilliant
A nice hors d’œuvre before the giant Maskarade.
Honestly I think I may have enjoyed this more despite the constructional awesomeness on display by M.
The clever and economical [I]RAN and the easy but pointed REGIME CHANGE and the chameleon ATONEMENT standouts for me.
Thanks Boatman and Cineraria.
Thanks, Boatman and Cineraria. I was unsure whether to call all the current references a theme, but most people think it qualifies as such. I liked PORTIA also. AP@10, I would not rush to study The Merchant – I think it was Judy Dench who described it as her least favourite Shakespeare, as everyone is so unpleasant to each other.
BTW, is there (or has the been) a blog on the bumper Guardian Easter special, which unfortunately provided the solution on the very same page? It’s a pity the paper has changed its policy about these holiday specials.
I agree with AP@10. Saying that ‘paroxysm’ means LAUGHTER is like saying that ‘fit’ means ‘melancholy’, or ‘boredom’, or ‘enthusiasm’, or …
I meant: – BTW, will there be (or has there been) …
Sjshart@21 see Site Feedback @80 .
If you can be bothered there was a discussion about the Christmas special @21-28 .
Thanks Boatman and Cineraria. I quite enjoyed this despite the theme. Also enjoying listening to a spot of Toti Soler as I write this comment.
I enjoyed the puzzle despite a sense of melancholy induced by the theme which was clear enough even for me. More of a commentary than a theme, perhaps? Saddest clue for me was LAUGHTER, but HIGHLIGHT cheered me up a little. Well spotted gratinfreo@16 for the linking lyric by DEEP PURPLE. I am sometimes reminded of Cody (James Cagney) in White Heat, shouting “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”, before the tank explodes. Trouble is, we’re all standing on top of the tank. LOI was Yard. I saw the nautical link, but, like Zoot@17, I wasn’t entirely convinced.
Roz@24, thank you. It seems we should expect it later today. We seem to have the same views about this practice.
Wanted to *reeaally* like NEWSPEAK from the clue, but it isn’t quite right. Newspeak was the reduction of words, what the State-sponsored abomination which is Fox Propaganda uses is doublespeak.
Enjoyed this, as others have said.
Cineraria, the definition in 20a is just “captive.” Enemy is needed to supply the E as its first letter, so if the definition is “enemy captive” then “enemy” is doing double duty.
Thanks to Boatman for a fine puzzle and Cineraria for a fine blog.
Valentine@29: ??? The definition in 20A is “might.”
Thanks, Cineraria & all – Good to see that you enjoyed this one and weren’t put off too much by the unignorable context. Sometimes, you just have to say something …
Grantinfreo @16 – Excellent! I had nothing of the sort in mind when I wrote the clue, but Deep Purple will forever be connected to the theme in my memory now.
Winston @28 – I think you’re trying to turn 19 Dn into an &Lit clue, which it isn’t – if you read the two parts of the clue separately (as parsed by Cineraria), you’ll see that each leads to the solution in the usual way regardless of the surface reading, which has its own independent truth. I hope that helps with the realliness (should be a word) of your liking!
Cineraria @30 – Indeed. For “definition” in Valentine’s note @29, read “definition of POW”.
Thanks, Boatman@31 for dropping in. I see what I did now on 20A. Blog corrected.
Boatman@31
Thanks for the reply. I just thought it was a shame that it so very nearly but couldn’t quite work in the way I’d dearly wanted it to. If it had I think it might just have been the most perfect cryptic clue ever. Even better than Vlad’s old ‘That man failing, mate’ when the solution was Matt Hancock. (Although I might have been a little ruder with the latter part of that one.)
Heh heh …
Sjshart@27 , I just find it sad to lose this tradition just to cater to the online solver .
I can’t say what I really think , KenMac has been very diplomatic getting me back on the site after bans so I am trying to behave for a whole year .
Roz @ 35 and Sjshart @27
I get the paper guardian every day (and was grateful for Roz’s warning not to look at the answers printed just under the jumbo puzzle – an annoying innovation).
I settled down to do the puzzle last weekend without high expectations that I would get far – but over long Saturday and Sunday sessions (much enjoyed) I managed to complete it. However there were a few I couldn’t parse and so I was hoping to find a blog about the puzzle here.
I wish the Guardian would go back to not publishing the answers with the puzzle and I would like to see a blog about jumbos here a week later as in the past.
[ Fiona@36 , KenMac said it would be today but it could be delayed . Apparently this puzzle is not online at all so I suppose the whole blog has to be done from scratch , although I actually know less than nothing in this area .
I could write it out by hand and post it to people but I suspect this would not be popular . ]
Roz @37
If you go to the Guardian online site and go to cryptic crosswords the Maskarade Jumbo is there. It can’t be done online but it can be downloaded. Although that doesn’t help with the blog.
Sheffield Hatter @14 says it’s impossible to miss the theme, but I managed a fully parsed solve without noticing. I think it’s because of the way I switch off part of my brain to avoid misdirection. I tend to complete the solve, but generally miss the theme and any insight or entertainment it may offer.
Thanks all.
Superlative puzzle and blog. Only quibble is with 8D. Sam’s my man, and I thought I’d share his message of hope just to leaven the theme.
[ Sjshart , Fiona and others , the Maskarade blog has appeared , it has jumped the queue and is with the Friday blogs . ]
I know nothing of Deep Purple’s music, but ginf#16’s quote from them is the best description of what’s going on that I’ve seen: “See the blind man, shooting at the world.”
This was a very enjoyable puzzle with a very unenjoyable theme, which was nevertheless done with great panache, so thanks Boatman and Cineraria for the prize puzzle and parsing.
Very late to the party and the blog but just wished to record my thanks to Boatman for a superb puzzle with wit, critique and relevance in virtually every clue. With the kind of subversive comments and language that the mainstream media are too intimidated to use, but which a “harmless” crossword can get away with. What hasn’t been picked up is the reference to the damnable RASH SUPER MALE in the left-side down solutions.