The puzzle is available to solve online or download here.
Hello everyone. I hope you will forgive this impostor for bringing you the blog for a very special puzzle. When I agreed to cover for scchua I had no idea it would be number 30,000. Once I realised I felt a bit sheepish for taking this in place of one of the regular Guardian bloggers. But as it’s an Arachne I admit I don’t feel too bad!
Following the top and bottom across entries, PERIMETER TODAY QUICK CROSSWORD, we discover a nina in today’s Guardian Quick which turns out to be a bonus clue:
LEADER I TAILORED BADLY — an anagram of (… BADLY) I TAILORED — EDITORIAL
Continuing on the breadcrumb trail takes us to today’s Guardian editorial: The Guardian view on a cryptic crossword landmark: 30,000 grids of noble trickery. Marvellous!
Edit: the trail does not end there, as pointed out by Rob T in comment #3. Taking an AROSTIC (13a) of the paragraphs of the editorial spells out a message. For the final step, I think we need to take a look at previous puzzles. Unfortunately I have to start work now so will leave it there for the time being and hand over you. To be continued …
… Edit 2: back from the day job, I can finally pick up the continuation of this puzzling treat. That message from the editorial is LAST THIRTY FIVE PRIMES. Yes, this refers to the last 35 prime-numbered puzzles! Askival has done the hard work of examining these, and reports back in comment #20 (and also #24 – sorry, I wasn’t able to approve the comments straight away). Rather than repeat everything here, I will simply direct you there where all is revealed.
Amazing stuff, and a great feat of planning and cooperation by the editor and setters. Thanks to all involved. I’m really looking forward to the GENIUS.
It’s never easy to select a manageable number of highlights in an Arachne puzzle. I remember many smiles during the solve and looking through the clues now will pick out 25a’s “study of roots”, the genius taking legal action at 1d, the wingless shiny bug in 2d and 18d, SWALLOWS, for all round cryptic perfection. ACROSTIC (13a) was my last in and a proper facepalm moment.
Big thanks and a very warm welcome back to Arachne.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 7a | Edges of empire sacked by Egypt’s last queen (9) |
| PERIMETER — EMPIRE anagrammed (sacked) by EgypT’s last letter + ER (queen) | |
| 8a | Told ally to lose three pounds before tomorrow (5) |
| TODAY — TO[l]D A[ll]Y removing (to lose) three Ls (three pounds) | |
| 9a | Bring this novel for Leo, perhaps (5,4) |
| BIRTH SIGN — An anagram of (… novel) BRING THIS | |
| 10a | Reportedly failing, fell (5) |
| FLOOR — Sounds like (reportedly) FLAW (failing) | |
| 12a | Some thoughts on Gabonese Bantu language (6) |
| TSONGA — Some thoughTS ON GAbonese | |
| 13a | Always, come rain or shine, tongue in cheek? (8) |
| ACROSTIC — Always, Come Rain Or Shine, Tongue In Cheek is an example of the answer, indicated by the question mark | |
| 14a | In bits, heads to America (see below) (7) |
| ASUNDER — The initial letters of (heads to) America See + UNDER (below) | |
| 17a | Earliest of begonias continued blooming (7) |
| BLASTED — The first letter of (earliest of) begonias + LASTED (continued) | |
| 20a | Free money for Americans, with short notice (8) |
| BUCKSHEE — BUCKS (money for Americans) + all but the last letter of (short) HEEd (notice). | |
| A new word for me, but the clueing is clear | |
| 22a | Goes off round centre of Damascus and swelters (6) |
| ROASTS — ROTS (goes off) round the middle letters of (centre of) DamAScus | |
| 24a | Delicate international agent put on weight (5) |
| WISPY — I (international) and SPY (agent) put next to (on) W (weight) | |
| 25a | Exciting yet gloomy study of roots (9) |
| ETYMOLOGY — An anagram of (exciting) YET GLOOMY | |
| 26a | Brief question for bachelor in automobile (5) |
| QUICK — Q (question) is substituted for B (bachelor) in [b]UICK (automobile) | |
| 27a | Oblique signal in setter’s work (9) |
| CROSSWORD — CROSS (oblique) + WORD (signal) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Einstein retrospectively taking legal action over equation’s origin (6) |
| GENIUS — In reverse (retrospectively) SUING (taking legal action) around (over) Equation’s first letter (origin) | |
| 2d | Lustrous, wingless bug (6,2) |
| LISTEN IN — Without outer letters (wingless) gLISTENINg (lustrous) | |
| 3d | Parched after cycling in area south of Suez (3,3) |
| RED SEA — SEARED (parched) after cycling the letters round | |
| 4d | Loose gravel’s slippery stuff (7) |
| VERGLAS — An anagram of (loose) GRAVEL. I had to check this one: it’s a glassy coating of glaze ice formed on a surface by freezing precipitation | |
| 5d | See you doffing cap a lot (6) |
| OODLES — Removing the first letter (… doffing cap), tOODLES (see you) | |
| 6d | Fossil fuel left dons suffering agonies (8) |
| GASOLINE — L (left) goes inside (dons) an anagram of (suffering) AGONIES | |
| 11d | Offer and appraisal both turned out to be unwritten (4) |
| ORAL — OffeR and AppraisaL both having inner letters removed (turned out) | |
| 15d | False promise goads nurses (8) |
| SPURIOUS — IOU (promise), which SPURS (goads) holds (nurses) | |
| 16d | Authentic beach huts oddly disappearing (4) |
| ECHT — bEaCh HuTs with odd letters missing (oddly disappearing) | |
| 18d | Buys barrier to stop litter droppers (8) |
| SWALLOWS — WALL (barrier) going inside (to stop) SOWS (litter droppers) | |
| 19d | Familiar with your sib’s butt trouble (7) |
| PERTURB — PERT (familiar) + UR (your) + siB’s end letter (butt) | |
| 21d | Roger backing strike for change in Russia (6) |
| KOPECK — OK (roger) reversing (backing) + PECK (strike) | |
| 22d | Lacking vigour in harem is shameful (6) |
| REMISS — Hidden in haREM IS Shameful | |
| 23d | Chasing game, regularly dispatching zebras and big cats (6) |
| TIGERS — TIG (chasing game) + removing alternate letters from (regularly dispatching) zEbRaS. | |
| I originally had “chasing” down as a positional indicator, but as Eileen has pointed out in comment #7, TIG is not just any old game but a “chasing game” | |
How lovely to have an Arachne puzzle to mark this milestone! I found this very tricky in parts, but ultimately doable, so certainly no quibbles from me, plus the extra hidden clue was a delightful ruse. Thanks to Arachne, and of course to Kitty for standing in (but no tiger picture??).
Minor issue/typo on 22a – centre of Damascus is AS. A great crossword and very clear and thorough blog.
There are more breadcrumbs, I think.
Apply an across answer to the EDITORIAL and another message appears…
(I have hit a wall here, however)
Wonderful to see the Spider Lady back. Been doing her Rosa Klebb’s in the FT. A very nice crossie. Smooth clueing though VERGLAS was new to me.
Russthree #2 – oops, thank you. I will amend the blog.
Rob T #3 – oh, yes, so there is. I will add a note above. Thanks!
Brilliant to have the spider lady for this occasion.
Failed to parse PERTURB being unfamiliar with the ur shorthand for your.
Thought toodles for goodbye a little precious but I suppose some Sloanes might use it.
Wasted time trying to find an anagram of goes plus ‘AS’ in the ROASTS clue.
Despite this, a lovely enjoyable crossword with a cracking nina.
Many thanks also to our stand-in blogger.
What a delight to have Arachne back for this special occasion! And a lovely blog from Kitty – no need at all to feel sheepish! 😉
I’m still chasing up the extra layers! For now, in 23dn, I took TIG as a ‘chasing game’.
I thought the chasing game was tag, not tig.
William @8 – it’s both, they’re regional variations. Dictionary-wise, TIG is given as primary word in Chambers with TAG as an alternative
Comment #10
Fair enough, thanks Rob T.
Eileen #7 – thanks! I am sure you are right about TIG. I think my original interpretation is reasonable, but much prefer yours. I will update the blog.
Personally I don’t see why no. 30,000 should be any more special than 29,999 or 30,001 but glad to see it pleases others.
To continue in a slightly negative vein, I didn’t much like OODLES (never heard of ‘toodles’ as a word) and if FLOOR as a homophone of ‘flaw’ had been suggested by, for example, Paul there’d be a chorus of disapproval. I’m not saying either clue was in any way unfair.
The remainder was very good – especially ACROSTIC, VERGLAS, SPURIOUS.
Thanks Arachne and Kitty.
Lovely to see Arachne for this milestone puzzle and some wonderful misdirection on show. FLOOR defeated me as my mind cannot comprehend it sounding anyway similar to Flaw, but lots of fun overall.
[For it is he…]
Lovely puzzle from the much missed Spider Woman to celebrate a milestone. Great range of clue types and the smooth surfaces which this setter reliably provides. BLASTED, VERGLAS, SPURIOUS and SWALLOWS were my pick of a fine bunch (I’m a non-rhotic speaker myself 🙂 ).
The additional trail went over my head of course, but bravissima.
Many thanks to Arachne and Kitty
Thanks both. What a delightful puzzle. LOI perturb, for which I’ll admit to needing a few checks.
For those of us not of a mathematical persuasion can anyone explain the message from the editorial?
I realised it was puzzle #30,000 but I was not paying attention to ninas etc and I never do the Quick crossword so that went over my head. That is all very clever and congrats to all who noticed the trail of breadcrumbs and so on!
This was a lovely, challenging puzzle by my favourite setter.
New for me: BUCKSHEE (although I knew BAKSHEESH); TSONGA; VERGLAS.
Favourites: SWALLOWS, TODAY (loi).
Comment #19
Bingy @17 If you look at the bottom row of the cryptics whose numbers are the 35 primes before 30,000 (going all the way back to 2/1/2025!) you get:
29581 WELL DONE
29587 BRAVO
29599 HERE
29611 IN CONCLUSION
29629 IS OUR F
29633 INAL CH
29641 ALLENG
29663 E ARE YOU
29669 KEEPING UP GREAT
29671 THERE WI
29683 LL BE A WON
29717 DERF
29723 UL PRIZ
29741 E BUT FIR
29753 ST YOU M
29759 UST ENT
29761 ER A RAC
29789 E NOT A N
29803 ACTUAL ATHLETIC
29819 RACE OF C
29833 OURSE TH
29837 AT WOULD
29851 BE WEIRD
29863 NOT THAT
29867 IT’S A CER
29873 EBRAL RA
29879 CE IN THE
29881 FORM OF A
29917 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
29921 IT’S A GEN
29927 IUS PUBL
29947 ISHED AT
29959 NOON BST
29983 TOMORROW
29989 GODSPEED
Game on! So exciting 😀
I knew VERGLAS from winter driving in France. BUCKSHEE is, I assume, from “bakshish”, a bribe or tip. Never, ever heard anyone say “toodles”! All good fun.
My thanks to Arachne and Kitty.
I’m afraid the message I got from this crossword, using as it does one of the most unfriendly grids in the Grauniad library (twelve clues with a majority of unchecked letters), was a gesture of disdain from the Graun to its solvers.
Well constructed crossword, as always from Arachne (though [T]OODLES is iffy, and VERGLAS suggests someone struggling to finish filling the grid). Excellent blog from Kitty.
But not something I’ll remember with any great pleasure. Sorry.
How lovely to see Arachne back for this momentous occasion. Not as tricky as I feared, but I did take a while to unlock the NE corner. I now have the paper so can savour the extras.
Thanks to Kitty for stepping in. Here’s to the next n-thousand.
This is a second attempt at writing this, sorry if it comes through twice (looks like moderation issues, or patience issues on my part…)
Anyway, the message from the editorial directs you to the last 35 cryptics with prime numbers. The bottom rows spell:
29581 WELL DONE
29587 BRAVO
29599 HERE
29611 IN CONCLUSION
29629 IS OUR F
29633 INAL CH
29641 ALLENG
29663 E ARE YOU
29669 KEEPING UP GREAT
29671 THERE WI
29683 LL BE A WON
29717 DERF
29723 UL PRIZ
29741 E BUT FIR
29753 ST YOU M
29759 UST ENT
29761 ER A RAC
29789 E NOT A N
29803 ACTUAL ATHLETIC
29819 RACE OF C
29833 OURSE TH
29837 AT WOULD
29851 BE WEIRD
29863 NOT THAT
29867 IT’S A CER
29873 EBRAL RA
29879 CE IN THE
29881 FORM OF A
29917 CROSSWORD PUZZLE
29921 IT’S A GEN
29927 IUS PUBL
29947 ISHED AT
29959 NOON BST
29983 TOMORROW
29989 GODSPEED
Looks like we’re witnessing a wonderful tribute which has been a couple of years in the making – thanks to everyone involved!
Bingy@17. AI will quite happily give you the numbers. Even for those of us of a mathematical persuasion working them out otherwise would be tedious!
The last 35 primes below 30000 are:
29581, 29587, 29599, 29611, 29629, 29633, 29641, 29663, 29669, 29671, 29683, 29717, 29723, 29741, 29753, 29759, 29761, 29789, 29803, 29819, 29833, 29837, 29851, 29863, 29867, 29873, 29879, 29881, 29917, 29921, 29927, 29947, 29959, 29983, 29989
Also: well worth it. Keep going
Thanks Arachne and Kitty
Good to see Arachne back. Favourites ACROSTIC and ETYMOLOGY. I share the doubts about “toodles”, but I suppose it could be “yoofspeak”, like “laters”.
I’m surprised that some posters are lucky enough not to have encountered VERGLAS; we occasionally have it forming on our drive, and it’s lethal – quite impossible to walk on.
I can see that Askival (comments 20 and 24 above) has rather brilliantly worked out what the 35 primes thing is all about, and it’s shows an extraordinary build-up to this puzzle. Unfortunately Askival’s comments are in ‘pending’, and while I can see them I don’t have the necessary permissions to approve them. Kitty, if you’re still around, could you do the honours?
Does the trail of clues suggest that Arachne was also responsible for today’s Quick? Lovely to see her again.
There will be protests about FLAW/FLOOR, which is the one I missed in spite of having the right accent. The unknown VERGLAS and TSONGA were fairly clued, and I guessed (t)OODLES despite never having heard it said, and TIGERS despite the game being tag where I come from.
Favourites ETYMOLOGY for the study of roots, SWALLOWS for the litter-droppers, ASUNDER for the creative punctuation, and GENIUS.
Thanks to Arachne and Kitty for standing in so nicely.
Wow. Thanks Askival. That is very impressive. And explains a few things from previous puzzles!
[thanks to Kitty or kenmac for approval on Askival’s comments!]
VERGLAS is what used to be called “black ice” until the (descriptive, not pejorative) term became politically incorrect: I’m not sure what UK weather forecasters call it now, but it isn’t “verglas”.
Wow, thank you, Askival – that is very impressive of you to work all that out.
I am amazed and impressed that all those bits and pieces were waiting patiently to be discovered in celebration of puzzle #30,000!
Well done!
Was delighted to see Arachne last night and I wasn’t disappointed. I thought there was a theme with PERIMETER TODAY, ACROSTIC, QUICK CROSSWORD and GENIUS but didn’t realise it was hinting at something else, so thanks for pointing that out. As Eileen says, tig is the chasing game we played in NI but FLOOR for me is nowhere close to a homophone although maybe for someone who says toodles. I really liked ACROSTIC, BUCKSHEE and SWALLOWS, although I also thought OODLES was a bit twee.
I’ve just seen Askival @24, how wonderful!
Ta Arachne & Kitty for a lovely blog.
Thanks Arachne, Kitty and Askival (and the G editors/setters) for working out such a beautiful and mind-boggling breadcrumb trail!!
The puzzle itself was a pleasure, too, if quite tricky; my favourites are GENIUS and ACROSTIC
After reading Askival @24, I’m speechless – never in a month of Sundays …!
I’ve often suggested, when blogging her puzzles, that it’s worth going back over Arachne’s clues to fully appreciate the always wonderful surfaces, for instance – but this was something else.
I’ve been surprised – and disappointed – to read some of the rather niggardly comments above. I think most of us would have felt rather shortchanged, to say the least, if this occasion had not been marked as special, in line with the celebration of previous milestones, highlighted during the week. Thanks and congratulations to all who had a hand in preparing this, which, as Askival says, must have taken quite a while!
My ticks, as so often, are too numerous to list – but I think GENIUS gets the gold for me, on all counts.
Huge thanks to Arachne – please come back soon! – and to the lucky ‘impostor’. I hope you’ll stand in over here again soon, Kitty.
Goodness me, I feel as though I’ve gone back in time and stumbled behind the scenes at Bletchley Park…
This explains a lot!
Very, very clever concept brilliantly executed.
Chapeau (ba-dum tish!)
Eileen – your tact is to be applauded.
Thanks Askival. We had got as far as working out the last 35 prime numbers below 30,000 and started looking into the cryptic solutions. Unfortunately the search engine we used gave us the WRONG numbers – e.g. it said 29999 was a prime – so that’s where the trail stopped. Never trust AI!
A trail that was laid down over a year and a half – wow! That will surely go down in puzzling folklore.
Apart from the that, the actual cryptic was fun and, like others, I was a bit dubious about “toodles” as a valediction.
I was expecting a complex puzzle but the complexity is elsewhere. Thanks to Askival @24 et al for revealing the secret.
Back to the puzzle, it was excellent with clever clues and quite a few ‘Why didn’t I see that?’ moments. Favourites GENIUS, LISTEN IN, ACROSTIC.
Couldn’t parse PERTURB.
Thank you to Arachne and Kitty.
I think the puzzle was a fitting tribute to the 30,000 milestone.
Well constructed, as would be expected from this setter.
Perhaps rather easier than I was expecting.
Pity Arachne was instructed to include so much american nonsense. Quite unnecessarily.
But that’s the grauniad for you.
13a was lovely. Thanks Arachne and Kitty.
…and Askival. Coo! Baerchen@37. It does, doesn’t it! I am enlightened. And impressed and amused. Well played to all involved.
Sorry if this offends anyone, but I’m afraid FLOOR/flaw ruined for me what was otherwise a superior puzzle. I had to reveal the answer and stare at it for several minutes before the penny dropped. I was so irritated that I ended up just revealing the last few answers. Naturally I didn’t follow the breadcrumbs either. Such a pity.
Sad to see some comments sneering at a very cleverly worked freebie. I presume they came from people who refused to celebrate the millennium until 2001.
O M G!! I was thinking there wasn’t much special about this for no. 30,000, but to link it back to the last 35 primes is just mind-blowing.
Amazing job, Arachne, Kitty & Askival
It would have been delightful just to have Arachne back after such a long absence, but this is simply extraordinary. Hats off to Askival who beat me to it. I worked through the primes and I’ve got the same message, except for two Grauniad typos at #29,753 (H instead of M) and #29,863 (NO INSTE – I’m guessing initially intending the next puzzle’s nina to start …AD, rather than NOT THAT).
Never mind. The planning that has gone into this is mind-blowing and I’m full of admiration for all that took part, even unwittingly!
@poc #43, I’ve given up moaning about RP homophones.
I found the upbeat editorial depressing. The next 30,000? Six a week for 96 years? Hard to imagine we’ll still be here or doing quaint old puzzles.
Christ, keep it light people
Brilliant. Really enjoyed. Totally missed the hidden message over 15 months but don’t feel too bad.
Alastair @47: by then, AI will be setting all the puzzles, and also solving them and winning all the prizes.
Askival@24 I can’t begin to imagine how complicated it must have been to plan all this in advance. Were those previous crosswords all Arachne or is this a group/crossword editor effort?
Jim@51: Arachne didn’t set any of the earlier puzzles that are referenced. My quick flip back indicates that Paul, Brummie, Imogen, Carpathian, Alia, Chandler, Ludwig and Ix have been the setters, and must presumably have been asked to compose a puzzle with the necessary letters in the bottom row (though one or two of the names above may have involved the crossword editor asking himself). The comment from Ix@42 suggests that they may not have been told how the whole thing would add up. I imagine that at some stage somebody will produce a comprehensive blog on how it was all conceived, which is indeed very impressive (though for neatness I feel it should have been the last 30 primes that were used). But I don’t think anybody could fairly complain that the 30,000th puzzle milestone hasn’t been recognised!
poc @43. I concur, although my degree of chagrin did not cause me to curtail my address to the rest of the crossword, and I did pursue the trail through the Quick and as far as the editorial. There, while registering that it was written in strangely short paragraphs, I did not spot the ACROSTIC. If it is any excuse, this was at 4.00 am. Even had I done so, I would have lacked the patience to check back the 35 ‘primes’. I’m full of admiration both for Askival and for the numerous co-conspirators who must have participated in this deeply-laid plot.
What really irks me most as an ageing Bolshevik about these Brian Sewell ‘soundalikes’ is how a certain class, born to wealth and privilege, managed to get their systematic mispronunciation of their language passed of as ‘standard’ and ‘received’, so that is embedded in dictionaries, thereby marginalising and disenfranchising those who, while doing so in a variety of accents and idioms, nevertheless pronounce the language (in my view) properly.
OK. Rant over, from an old Scottish Bolshevik who, on an election day, feels disenfranchised in more ways than just phonetically.
JuanDango @44 – I wasn’t sneering, I was just being mildly grumpy about a grid which I regard as horrible.
I have been cheered up by the moans about FLOOR/FLAW, though. As I have observed before, “homophone” is a misleading term. You aren’t looking for “sounds the same as” but “sounds like”, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be “sounds vaguely like”.
Personally (and this is very much a matter of personal taste) I think that the more outrageously far-fetched a Spoonerism or a “homophone” (should we call them slightly-heterophones? perhaps not), the more entertaining it is.
With which thought, I shall go back to trying to forget about the local elections…
Congratulations to The Guardian on the milestone! The Nina (and the Nina’s Nina, and the Nina’s Nina’s Nina and so forth) went over my head, so thank you to all involved, Askival especially, for the revelation. Absolutely delighted to see the message has been building under our noses for a year and a half!
I don’t normally dare attempt the Genius, but occasion merits it.
Another great puzzle from Arachne, and thank you Kitty for the blog!
When I saw it was the 30,000th puzzle, I thought there may be a special mesage and looked for it. But all I could see “perimeter today” and “quick crossword” and could not imagine what that meant, I am dumbfounded by the various layers in the breadcrumb trail (the word reminds me of Hansel and Gretel), the years it was in the making, and am totally impressed by the people where who managed to solve it!
I thought the puzzle was a mix of relatively easy (e.g. birth sign and roasts) and very difficult clues. Never heard of tsanga (very well hidden as I was looking for a Gabonese Bantu language), buckshee and kopeck. Failed to parse floor, even though I knew it had to be a homophone meaning failing. I always see the written word in front of me and would also not pronounce floor as flaw (I live in Scotland). “Genius” was the best one for me, which could also be said of the puzzle.
Thanks, Arachne and Kitty!
To celebrate cryptic 30,000, just having Arachne back would have been enough for me. The lovely clues for BLASTED, GENIUS, LISTEN IN and TIGERS meant I had more than enough.
But there was more!
I managed to follow the trail as far as the perimeter of the Quick crossword, but there I stumbled. I wrongly thought I needed an anagram of LEADER I TAILORED. I found RIDDLE, which seemed promising, but could go no further.
And then I read some of the comments above, and then the editorial, and then more of the comments above.
How extraordinary!
Warm congratulations to everyone involved in the years of planning, and many thanks to the Guardian, to all the setters, to all the bloggers, and to the great majority of the commenters.
Bravissimi!
Those grumbling about the FLOOR/FLAW homophone might wish to consult the cruciverbalist’s ultimate authority. Chambers gives the phonetic pronunciations as identical in UK English, but pronounces the R in US English. Take your pick.
Please delete my comment @19. I was uninformed. If I’d waited 5 minutes I’d have seen Askival’s revelation and realised how much work has been done. Work which has now given great joy to lots of people. It also puts comments about the editor’s supposed lack of care onto the back burner. Apologies if I spoilt it for anyone. I’m not one of the (increasingly bizarre) complainers around here.
I reiterate my thanks to Kitty for an excellent blog and to Arachne for an enjoyable crossword.
I got as far as the PERIMETER clue in the QUICK CROSSWORD leading us to the editorial, but didn’t think to look for an ACROSTIC there. I must admit that when I first read Askival’s comment @20 I thought it might be some sort of joke, but no! I am absolutely flabbergasted. To have planned this over so long, and to ask setters to have a bottom line of ALLENG or ACTUAL ATHLETIC for example, is extraordinary.
Many thanks to Kitty for the blog, and to Arachne and all others involved in this.
Satisfyingly difficult, although I failed to parse 19D, not being… uh… familiar with this definition of PERT, which doesn’t appear in my usual thesaurus.
I’m surprised by the complaints about toodles: while it, along with its long form toodle-oo and relative ‘toodle along’, is whimsically archaic, it doesn’t strike me as particularly obscure. And we had toodle-oo just last weekend in the Prize crossword.
Well I saw the QUICK CROSSWORD PERIMETER TODAY, and the QC Nina but I’m now amazed at the complexity of the previous 35 prime crosswords; how brilliant and thanks to Askival for unravelling it all. It’s always good to see an Arachne crossword, and this one didn’t disappoint. I particularly liked Egypt’s last queen in PERIMETER, the acrostic ACROSTIC, the dons’ agonies about GASOLINE, and the SPURIOUS nurses.
Thanks Arachne and Kitty and other setters and the editor for putting it all together.
Happy 30,000 Day everyone! My head is spinning with the multiple layers of trickery, planned and coordinated over many months. Thank you to all the detectives! I guess there’s a Genius puzzle tomorrow to check out. How does the Genius usually work? Is it on a certain schedule? Difficulty level?
In this puzzle, lots of great clues with plenty of challenges and enjoyable pdm’s. NE last in, with loi 10a FLOOR unfortunately depending on a non-rhotic soundalike, so ending with a bit of a thud for me (and I see I’m not alone)
Favourites 8a TODAY (surface and wordplay), 13a ACROSTIC (unusual clue, but works for me), 25a ETYMOLOGY (“Exciting yet gloomy” anagram), 26a QUICK (caught the substitution), 2d LISTEN IN (concise), 18d SWALLOWS (triple points: surface, definition “buys”, and wordplay “litter droppers” = SOWS)
NHOs 20a BUCKSHEE, 4d VERGLAS, TIG game in 23d TIGERS (“tag” in Canada)
Thanks everyone
OK, I’ll bite. How are people pronouncing FLOOR and FLAW so as not to be homophones (or at least acceptably close)?
Mig @63 — having set the regular May Genius puzzle I think I can answer some of your questions 😁 the Genius puzzle normally comes out just once a month, on the first Monday (this will be the first time I’ve seen an extra one partway through a month).
It’s quite advanced, always with some special instructions that lead to hidden messages, usually thematic and/or providing further instructions e.g. for the solver to enact on the completed grid. It’s quite a step up from daily cryptics, difficulty-wise, but can definitely be cracked with patience and a little lateral thinking. Good luck!
Lovely crossword – even without understanding any of the extras. Thanks to Arachne and Kitty and to everybody else who identified and explained the frankly mind-boggling extensions. (I’m happy enough just to solve the clues and complete the crossword with only one of two missing parses!) I’ve never come across PERT in its apparently standard meaning of “familiar” in my 70+ years, so failed to parse PErTURB
A “nina” is obviously a term that is familiar to most of you, but means nothing to me – can somebody explain?
I have to quibble with the objectors to FLOOR – surely it is an exact homophone of FLAW in received English pronunciation. Even for those of us who don’t speak it, the use of the silent R is one of the favourite sound-alike tricks of the crossword-setter.
PeterB@66: if you Google “Nina crossword meaning” then all will be revealed.
Martin @59: fair play, if only others sometimes reflected on their gratuitous negative comments, dragging the rest of us down.
That was exactly my cup of tea – what a splendid construction (set!). My thanks to Arachne, Kitty and of course to Askival for doing the hard work on those other puzzles!
@Jacob #64 search for Rhoticity
I checked with my home counties English partner and it works as a homophone for them but it doesn’t for eg Celts or North Americans.
PB@66 I’m afraid you’re casting pearls of wisdom into the abyss regarding FLOOR. As a Yorkshireman I’m used to soundalikes that aren’t how I’d say it but somehow manage to remember that other accents and pronunciations exist. This seems to be a specific bit of lateral thinking that some forum members are unwilling to engage in. Odd given the nature of this hobby
I thought this was a joy from start to finish and the backstory build-up beggars belief
Cheers K&A
Thanks Arachne for a silky smooth crossword with my favourites being ACROSTIC, QUICK, GENIUS, LISTEN IN, and ORAL. I couldn’t parse FLOOR because floor/flaw are not homophones to my ear but Chambers says they are so that settles it. Aside from the obvious I didn’t see the hidden backdrop but having an Arachne to solve was enough for me. I can’t think of a better setter to mark this milestone. Thanks Kitty for a wonderful blog.
Rob T / Odo @65 Many thanks for the Genius info. Okay, I’ll give it a go. It sounds like I’ll need the good luck you offered, though, so thanks for that, too! 🙂
How wonderful to have our lovely spider lady back. Made my day! As for the background of primes what an achievement. Many thanks to Arachne Kitty and of course Alan Connor.
Alistair @70 The homophone works for the majority of English accents, I think. Worked for me (Cumbrian) and my wife (Londoner), at the very least.
All I can say is: Wow!
Jacob @64: in most North American dialects, not only is the R in FLOOR pronounced, but the vowel sound is slightly different from that in FLAW. True also in various UK rhotic dialects.
But I’m with those who say that while this might be something worth observing (the many different forms of our language are interesting!), it’s not something worth complaining about.
Thank you, Arachne and Kitty, delightful puzzle and blog. 10a works fine in my East Riding pronunciation, as in Ah’ll floor you f’t’flaw in t’floor. The 35 primes are astonishing, how someone can come up with the idea and then make it work is way beyond my imagination!
On the matter of near-homophones/soundalikes, the way I look at it is this, using today’s questionable pair as an example.
If someone says to you “The glass broke when it fell on the flaw”, would you understand them?
If they said “He made a great case but there was a major floor in his argument” would you understand them?
Just an attempt to get around issues of explicit regionality, rhotism etc.
This morning I started the crossword but had to break off. Now, when I go back to it, not only is it wiped clean but it has changed format to the one I don’t like I.e. the crossword filling the whole screen and only one clue on display. Is the “old” format still available and, if so, how can I access it? Please can someone help!
A well pitched crossword and execution of a bigger plan.
The surface reading of Arachne’s clues is always tight and lucid. As far as I’m concerned that means while the clue for FLOOR is terse it’s not misleading.
I don’t normally do the quick crossword but made an exception so I have the components of the larger puzzle.
Thanks to Rob T and Askival for showing the additional steps.
I wouldn’t want to miss out by not commenting on this milestone crossword. I very much enjoyed the puzzle but would have been just as happy with a “Hooray” nina to celebrate it. I’m afraid the intricacies of quick puzzles/editorials/primes were totally lost on me.
This was wonderful, thank you Arachne, and wholly suited to the 30,000 milestone. It was a masterclass in the setter’s art – surfaces that tell a story, inventive wordplay, challenge, misdirection galore, the full range of clue types and lots of fun. I would have settled for this on its own; but thanks to Kitty for pointing out all the other links as well, which I am now off to explore.
Not seen this setter before, so I only got 3/4 of the way through, but what is did, I thoroughly enjoyed.
Kitty’s ‘breadcrumbs’ bit was way over my head, but sounded intriguing.
Thanks both.
Well, who’d have thunk it?
I was congratulating myself on completing the thoroughly enjoyable and (for me at least) difficult puzzle when I come on here to discover that I had seemingly missed the point altogether.
Congratulations to all who spotted the trail and especially to Askival et al who actually followed it through and of course many thanks to Arachne, one of my favourite setters, just for the surfaces if nothing else, even if she defeats me on a regular basis and of course to Kitty for the superb blog.
I may even have to have a go at the Genius now, wish me luck!
Just loved this – the layers are certainly worthy of Brendan (the prime numbers made me think of Oulipo) – but this is both a fine puzzle and an astonishing achievement over the set of primes. Will try the Genius … .
I am, correctly I hope, in awe of the Guardian expectation to find themes within crossword puzzles, and this one developed over many suns is a masterpiece. And even the general daily ones (Brendan et al) who always have a theme is another true skill. However, for me, the simple challenge for the past 50 years has simply been to try to unravel these incredibly well-constructed and often very misleading clues and create answers to each clue, so I am never looking for a set of connections of any sort.
So congratulations to Arachne on a magnificent, relevant and thoroughly well-clued crossword, and to Kitty for the clear explanations. I will always to continue working through these best crosswords without any knowledge or expectation of a theme, and continue to come here for enlightenment, so thank you to all and sundry involved.
Thanks for the blog , I will keep my views to myself .
I just want to ask does anyone know if the Genius puzzle will be in the paper for once ? Or will loyal readers who spend over £1100 a year on the Guardian be insulted yet again ?
@Roz
I’m sure you have your reasons, but I am confused by your stance. I take it that you prefer to access the Guardian via the traditional newspaper – it is possible to get a full 6 days of the week subscription for £65 per month (£780 per year) which also entitles you to access the website and app ad free should you wish. For home delivery it is more: £78 per month (£936 per year), also with full digital access. The newspaper only costs over £1,100 per year (with none of the digital benefits) if you go to your newsagent and pay as you go. If you prefer to do it that way, then fine, but why do you feel insulted?
I am not a Guardian employee or affiliated with them in any way, except for being a loyal reader of many year’s standing like yourself! I just hate that you feel you are being needlessly ripped off.
Well I solved this quite late in the day as I wanted to buy the paper (when did it become £3.50?). Glad to see Arachne back. I was on the look out for something sneaky but it didn’t occur to me until right after completion.
For someone who (perhaps wrongly) considers themselves a competent cryptic solver I proved to be quite terrible at the quick crossword. A few reveals and could see the next stage which was solved.
I guess there had to be a message in the editorial and the short paragraphs soon gave it away. Managed to solve the next step in the puzzle but didn’t do the legwork going back through them all and relied on the previous comment. Guess I will be making a rare foray into the Genius tomorrow.
Feel I shouldn’t comment until all steps have been done but enjoyed SWALLOWED AND PERTURB.
Thanks Kitty and Arachne. And happy crossword birthday. They must be close to or just over 1 million clues now.
Mitz@89 Well put. I could not understand this apart from Roz just not liking the web. Which is a little interesting, but not really connected to today’s crossword. I’ve supported the Guardian both print and online and in donations for a longer time than I care to remember … .
Mitz@89 , can I pay cash for a subscription and not give the Guardian any of my details ? I think not . I will only do a crossword in a paper that I have paid for , I am very happy to support the Guardian in this way but buyers of the paper are denied the full suite of crosswords , that is the insult .
Polyphone@91 this puzzle IS clearly connected to the Genius puzzle tomorrow which I suspect will not be in the paper .
A terrific puzzle and my compliments to editor on the very clever extras. Favourites today were OODLES and FLOOR.
I’m glad I picked up this weekday crossword (a rare occurrence for me these days). I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I side with the majority in praising the skill that is evident in the clues throughout. I left PERTURB unsolved, unfortunately, as I never thought of UR (‘your’) and could not think of a word likely to mean ‘trouble’ that would fit.
As for the long prime number build-up to this 30,000th puzzle, I am simply amazed, although if any paper would implement such an idea it would be the Guardian.
Thanks and congratulations to Arachne and Kitty.
Alan B @ 95 I also gave up on 19D, PERTURB. In my view, it’s not fair play to use UR for “your” without indicating that it derives from text messaging. Further, the grid entry had fewer than 50% of its letters checked.
Bagpuss @96
… and 1d GENIUS was an unindicated definition-by-example, but I easily tolerate these minor blemishes in an otherwise well-crafted puzzle.
Alan B @97: Einstein, at least in American English, is used generically to refer to a highly intelligent person. (Sometimes it’s used sarcastically when addressing a not-too-bright individual as well.) I think the lack of a DBE is OK.
Alan @97, I agree with Tony @98 but to add that also in contemporary British English the word ‘Einstein’ is a synonym for GENIUS without the need to specify it as an example 👍
I loved that, the homophone at 10A held out for a long time, not an accent issue, more that I somehow thought of all the other meanings of “fell” when trying to solve it. Coming back hours later it was a tea tray moment.
Thanks to Askival@20/24 for following the breadcrumbs and showing us the careful planning that went into to this anniversary. Brilliant.
And to think I nearly skipped this, because I generally find puzzles later in the week too hard!
Not only was the puzzle quite doable- I’d say I managed at least half without reveals (which is an achievement for me!), but then I came here and discovered this entire treasure trail leading up to this Puzzle #30000!!
Way beyond my tiny brain, but I’m absolutely floored by the planning and preparation to execute this! Hats off to everyone involved. I feel like shouting this from the rooftops, but I don’t know any cryptic solvers in real life, so commenting on the blog is the best I can do!
As a newbie, I’m grateful to this community and this blog. It’s wonderful to come here and read through the comments at the end of the day.
Thanks Kitty and Arachne.
(And sorry about my long post!)
Brilliant. And extraordinary to think that we’ve all unknowingly watched the message build up over the last year or so.
Thanks to all involved
Today’s multi layered offerings were a superb way to celebrate such a landmark in crossword puzzles, although, unsurprisingly, Arachne defeated me at the first hurdle. I fear tomorrow’s Genius will have a similar result. Huge thanks to everyone involved in what must be one of the longest planned and complex feats of puzzle setting ever.
Roz @93
I don’t think there’s anything stopping you from doing the Genius crossword. You just print it off from the Guardian website. You don’t even have to put an email address in if you’re not entering the competition. It is literally free to anyone who wants it, whether they get the paper digitally, physically or not at all. You do have to print it though, because they never sorted out the bug in the online interactive version.
JuanDango@44 As Roz has pointed out, this crossword is not free for everyone here. Many of us buy the paper. Without the buyers of the print edition and the online subscribers there would be no Guardian and no crossword.
Some of us acknowledged 2001 as the start of this millennium because it was. The start of the 20th century was correctly celebrated on Jan 1st 1901.
I came here to say I finally completed it, then to read about the whole breadcrumb trail… I’m flabbergasted!
Several NHOs, and a few I needed help on parsing (thanks, Kitty). A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle even without all the background. I don’t think I’ll be up for the Genius, but I may take a peek!
Lost in admiration of a puzzle so complex. Congratulations to the individual or team who came up with, plotted and delivered such a brilliant tribute to the 30,000th crossword. And congrats to Askival# 20 for track backing.all the previous primes.
Well done everyone involved.
Wonderful and incredible.
Totally amazed and impressed.
I’m still in the improver group (via the Quick Cryptics, the Quiptics, and doing reasonably well recently with the weekday cryptics) but I have to say Arachne’s puzzle was almost impenetrable at the start for me, and I almost gave up after only seeing a handful of answers and some of those were guesses with wordplay a mystery. I was finding it all obscure, sometimes very loosely defined (IMO) and for me not much fun. My wife persuaded me to not just run away from it and came to help. We managed to complete it but it was hard work. Brain is now fragged and so off to bed. Thanks A and to Kitty for your blog.
I don’t understand 13a.
Where is the indication that this is an acrostic?
I solved 2 clues.
Thank you for the blog.
The long game behind this is astonishing, as is the ability of the few to pick up on it and decipher it for the rest of us mere mortals.
I couldn’t finish the puzzle, quite, and thought it tough but fair, and otherwise unremarkable. Could not have been more wrong. Bravo.
Having digested this blog, I’m now lost in admiration of the complex layers in this puzzle and the work that must have been put in to develop them! But I’ve been doing Cryptics for almost 60 years now, and nowadays I’m just looking for gentle relaxation rather than a cerebral challenge of this order, so I didn’t even start to search for these layers. Prime numbers, forsooth! As to individual clues, 5D bothered me because I’m unfamiliar with TOODLES as meaning ‘See you’, I got ACROSTIC only by the checking letters, and I did not know TIG for the chasing game as I have known it as TAG right from my schooldays. I’m happiest with anagrams so I liked 9A and 25A best.
An astonishing sustained feat of cruciverbalism. A tour de force. Congratulations to everybody involved.
I’m almost as astonished by the number of petty quibbles and complaints here. OK, you don’t pronounce “flaw” and “floor” the same in your accent. Just as I never call rivers “flowers” or use half the conventional arcana that solving cryptic crosswords involves. I simply don’t get the mindset. If you complain that s crossword conceit is “too clever by half” or blame the setter for using a word that you don’t know or a clueing trick that you don’t understand (how do you ever learn anything new?), then maybe cryptic crosswords aren’t for you.
Sorry, this isn’t meant as an attack on anyone in particular and youre entitled to your (ungenerous) opinions, but I thought this was a legendary piece of work and the petty negativity has rather spoilt it.
No room for any more
I cant spake!
No problem with FLAW/FLOOR
Arachne once had BLUR/BLAIR(with appropriate district )
Thanks Kitty and Arachne!
Thank you Herb@104 , I know you are trying to be helpful but it is not for me . I only like doing crosswords “live” in the paper on the day and I never visit websites except for this one , the BBC , JWST and Euclid . No registration , no adverts , no capitalist surveillance .
Exactly Zoot@105 , the Guardian has had a series of articles recently encouraging us to buy the paper for the tactile experience but they keep some crosswords back for online only . I wonder why ?
I’m late to this party, but so glad I came. Unravelling the immaculate Arachne is always a joy, but without 225 I’d never have guessed this glistening web had so many hidden strands. 65 years ago my grandfather sat me on his knee and inducted me into the magic and mystery of cryptic crosswords. Thanks, Pop, for 65 years of undiluted pleasure! Bring on the next 30,000, Grauniad.
#116 The Genius crossword is presumably attempted by a tiny number of people, and, as has been patiently explained to you, is available free online with no registration or login required. You clearly have internet access. And yet you want the Guardian to devote significant space to it in the paper edition because of your self-imposed refusal to use the web?
I’m not seeing an insult here.
(Also a Guardian subscriber.)
Amazing crossword, and at the centre of a real treasure hunt – thank you to all involved.
Steffen @110 if you look in again…
Somewhat tricky to explain! This is a kind of &lit. Solving it depends on the solver spotting that the first letters form the word ‘acrostic’, and realising that this word describes the clue as a whole. There is no conventional ‘indicator’ to tell you to look for an acrostic. This is a case where the normal rules aren’t applied. I only got the answer after I had all the crossers, and I think that was quite a common experience.
Don’t know if that helps.
Murphy @80: I kept having the same problem of the changed format you describe. It happened after I downloaded the Guardian app, having been promised a “better puzzles experience”. I disagreed with this description & found the way to avoid the new format was simply to delete the app completely (not just remove it from my desktop), and now I get the familiar old format. I hope it works for you, too.
I love an Arachne crossword, and was really pleased to see one as no 30,000.
I regularly do the cryptics, and the Genius when I’m feeling in the zone. I started decades ago, and only recently started doing the online versions, as a Guardian subscriber, for reasons I won’t bore you with.
Crossbar daughter is following in my footsteps when she has the time usually just the Saturday prize, and Mr. Crossbar too, usually Monday and Quiptics (though he’s much better than he thinks he is).
Where I’m heading with this, is that I don’t think this (yes, frightfully clever) celebration trail is for the vast majority of Guardian solvers, if they even notice it. Mr. C didn’t, and was expecting something. Who regularly reads the editorial? This was great fun for a very small elite and for the setters. But the Guardian is a NEWSpaper, not a specialist crossword publication. Most readers just have an occasional foray into crossword land.
Also, further to Roz’s points re what is (or rather isn’t) in the print versions. Who’s going to keep all those back copies to search for the Nina’s in the prime number puzzles?
I would have liked to see something much more obvious and inclusive which would encourage many more people into this pastime. Maybe the extra Genius will help me get over my disappointment, but I’m not holding my breath.
Balfour @53 na bi craibte, a bhalaich. We had our chance yesterday and who knows where it may lead. Solidarity from another old Scottish socialist (and no, floor and flaw don’t sound the same!)
Following the comments above, I’m really struggling to understand how floor and flaw sound materially different?!
Not That Paul @124 if you have an accent where you don’t pronounce the ‘R’ at the end of floor, then they sound the same (they do when I say them) – but if you have an accent where you do pronounce it (Scottish, Lancashire…) then they don’t. One or other is called rhotic I think, can’t remember which!
Ha ha – looking back at the blog to the first ‘prime’, which had a hidden ‘WELL DONE’ at the bottom:
After all is done, we are congratulated – presumably for finishing the puzzle.
If only we knew!
Blog
Crossbar @122 – seconded. It all struck me as a strange way to celebrate, irrespective of the cleverness of it all. The crossword itself gave me the sense of small dissatisfaction that usually means that I am about to discover from this site that it was prepared under a constraint. The contrivances might also explain why I have been having similar feelings about many of the crosswords over the last year or so.
Crossbar@122 I couldn’t agree more. Despite the unhelpful grid (which should long ago have been excluded from the Guardian set) the clues were, on the whole, fair, but I had no interest at all in the background, particlarly as the relevant information needed to be spelt out in detail for us to be aware of its existence and import. This is pretty self-indulgent editorial stuff. It would have been far more satisfying, in my view, if the occasion were to have been marked by something discernible in the clues or the grid.
Candymandad54@83 Like you I am in awe of the achievement and brilliance demonstrated in this special 30,000 puzzle by Arachne.
A great way of commemorating this milestone. I look forward to seeing more Cryptic puzzles by Arachne.
Thanks also to Kitty for standing in, and please drop any thought about being an imposter.
Rob T @65 I had a lovely time solving your puzzle, which I thought might be part of the hunt, owing to the GENIUS clue here. And then laughed a lot whern I solved 15A. Was that a deliberate part of all these shenanigans too?
Given that the entire community has commented, I feel I ought to as well!
For me the treat was simply having an Arachne to solve for this milestone. It wasn’t one of my absolute faves by her but I love her style and I thought she was a great choice for the occasion.
I never look for ninas so I didn’t follow ths breadcrumbs. Indulgence editorial stuff? Undoubtedly. A bit of fun and an impressive “back story”? Also. Each one of us is free to get as much or as little from it all as we wish. Personally I’d have preferred to mark the occasion directly in the puzzle – but then again, as one other commentator has said, is it really such an occasion anyway? I’ll still be looking forward to the next Paul, and Vlad, and ….
If the puzzle itself suffered in some way, it was only in that – as Steffen said – the ACROSTIC doesn’t really work for me. Surely it ought to have been &lit, else what’s the point? Alphabetical construction reliant on selecting the initial characters? I won’t give up the day job, but at least that one makes sense. That said, maybe the answer wouldn’t have felt special/different, and hence wouldn’t have stuck in the mind – which might have spoilt the larger game I suppose.
I for one would like to thank Alan Connor in addition to our setter and blogger. His approach apparently isn’t to everyone’s taste but I’ll take the Guardian’s puzzle philosophy over the Times’s any day.
Mallimack @130 – thanks! And 15a in mine is entirely coincidental, I’m as in the dark as everyone else here! (I wasn’t even aware that a second Genius puzzle would come out in May…!)
For what it’s worth, the Genius is now on the website. It’s Enigmatist. Enjoy 😀
Just for the avoidance of doubt for anyone refreshing the Genius page for the special puzzle — the top one there, numbered 275, is NOT the special one (although I highly recommend it, of course 😁)
EDIT: the bonus one is there now anyway 👍
Roz, if it’s not in the paper, I would ask you really nicely to please make one exception for this special occasion! I’d really appreciate it if you could be part of the conversation for the culmination of this very special series of events. Your comments are so entertaining and insightful, I’d love to be able to see your thoughts about it. The benign link below links directly to a pdf of the bonus Genius puzzle. You just have to click and print
Bonus Genius, 2026-05-08
🙂
This was a very good crossword, and that’s all that I ever want. Yes, I thought that VERGLAS was just French for black ice, itself a perfectly good description of its near-invisibility on tarmac.
Some of the words made me think that there might be something else going on, but as ever I didn’t pursue that.
mrpenney@77: Thank you. I have lived over 30 years in the US now, both east and west coasts, and have remained oblivious to that distinction. Is it perhaps more Canadian, which I understand is heavily Scots-influenced?
Anyway, I shall ask my wife, who is a native New Englander.
What a pleasure to see the Dementors turn up the next day. Sad people.
That doesn’t sound anything like the AlanC we’re accustomed to hearing. A case of usurped identity?
AP @139: I’m just fed up with detractors who try and ruin a wonderful milestone. For me, it beggars belief. Thankfully the rest of us can smile.
Thank you GrannyJP @ 121, i’ll try that.
AlanC @140 – why does it beggar belief? There are a tiny handful of people that actually worked out what was going on, and even then the trail seems to require solving an Enigmatist Genius puzzle. What I would guess is the majority of solvers who don’t visit this website to have it explained to them will be wholly oblivious. Crossbar @122 argued cogently why a lot more people might be smiling if everyone could have been in on the wonderful milestone celebrations just by having a go at Cryptic Crossword 30,000.
VW @142: I have absolutely no idea what your point is, bur I’m sure it is valid. Enjoy yr evening😉
A sweet-as-ever puzzle from Arachne (which I found quite hard in places, but with trademark smooth surfaces and cunning humour), combined with awesome background work from the editorial team and an unknown number of others.
I have to admire that accomplishment and at the same time I resonate with the sentiment of Crossbar@122 et al – I too was looking for other Easter eggs in the puzzle itself.
Can anyone tell me how I find the ‘Editorial’? I misunderstood the blog and went to look at the Guardian Crossword Blog of 6th May, but that’s evidently not the right place. (I subscribe on line but don’t have the paper paper).
@118 people pay over £90 a month to buy the paper so I do not see why we do not get the extra puzzle once a month , the Observer prints Azed/Gemelo every single week .
I do find it quaint that some people still believe that a commercial website is “free” . It is quite sweet really , I hope you still get visits from the Tooth Fairy .
Mig@135 thanks so much for the thought , I am very grateful but there are two problems . First I am incredibly stubborn and second my screen minutes for the week are nearly up and I want to comment on the Omnibus .
Jvector @144 it is of course in the paper but I suspect it is online as well . More commonly known as the Leader Column . If you search for this for yesterday I think you will find it , it was the second Leader Column .
Jvector @144 -it is here
Thanks to AP@131 for the alternative clue for 13a: “Alphabetical construction reliant on selecting the initial characters?” Definitely an improvement on the original.
Thanks to Arachne and all who sailed with her.
Tvm VW@148. The end at last, phew.
I say all this while genuflecting, eyes downcast, in retreat (it’s not easy) but PERTURB remains to be plumbed imho. The pertinent synonym is (purportedly) unfamiliar – is there any support?
I confess to reaching for the podiatrist’s chair (defeat staring at me) and got online solver assistance which offered PERTURB among 73 possibilities but I didn’t spot it. Among the rest lay ‘Textury
– The art or process of weaving; texture’. (TILT)
I can’t give a standing ovation while typing so I’ll just acknowledge wondrous textury.
Thank you Roz@147 and vanWinkle@148.
It’s an interesting read and the formatting makes you think “There’s something going on here…”
Tremendous!
Thanks again, Kitty for covering for me. (I’ve just got round to looking at 15squared.) I’m glad you were the “chosen” one. Special puzzle or not, there was no way I could have blogged it whilst in the plane I was travelling in. Now to try it out.
I haven’t been able to give time to the crosswords for a week or so, and thought that I would just do no. 30,000 from the ones that I have missed before getting back into the flow. I’m so late that probably nobody will see this comment, but I think that Kitty will be notified at least, so I want to say thanks for the lovely blog. And thanks Arachne for a very enjoyable crossword which I managed to finish in about three hours I think over various sessions! Worth the perseverance.
Belated thanks and congratulations on a great crossword (and year and a half of planning). We are running about nine days behind (obviously) so not commenting generally, but couldn’t miss this.
We are amused by the complaints over FLOOR/FLAW—as Australians we say them as full homophones, just like your RP apparently despite the sneers on British TV shows about Australian accents! We do not say TOODLES, however, which Baz associates with Bertie Wooster (and I thought he said toodle-oo). VERGLAS was nho but gettable from the wordplay. I knew BUCKSHEE but Baz did not. A lovely challenge—thanks to Arachne!
Wow! What a wonderful way to celebrate a milestone. I am filled with awe at the convolutions that led up to this lovely puzzle’s appearance, and gratitude towards all the setters, bloggers and editors who make it all come together every day.
Thoroughly enjoyed the long solve, but I too was one of those foiled by PERTURB, even after using solver assistance to try and find words that would fit with the crosses.
After getting as far as I did I guessed that there was something in the Quick, but thought that I’d lost that section of the paper, so didn’t follow it to the editorial, let alone to the Primes!
Will definitely try the Genius now; the care and effort that has gone into making this trail means I want to experience the end game.
I think the decision to celebrate the milestone in this way was utterly wrong. We need greater inclusivity not exclusivity. Crossword setters should have total freedom with the crossword editor there to ensure fairplay and decency … though with a considerable degree of freedom to the editor too (i.e. to edit in their own style).
It took me many hours over many days to finally solve this puzzle. While I had to use more aids than I generally prefer to use, I could tell that the compiler was presenting first-rate clues. I have no beef with Arachne whatsoever.
Puzzle 30000 ought to have been more inviting to the less experienced, more fun, and entirely freestanding. The choice of grid was in itself a poor advert.
225 is a wonderful resource. Great thanks to all. It reminds that we see things in different ways, and there isn’t always a right and a wrong. The informative, concise and light tone of many commenters makes the site really special. Usually!