Fed sets the midweek challenge …
…with an absorbing and enjoyable puzzle. There are several clever cross references, including a nifty combination of two of my potential bugbears – a Spoonerism and a meaningless ellipsis at 7/19 and 8dn – which produced a delighted chortle when I worked them out.
There are a number of simple charades (1, 11, 14ac and 3, 16, 20 and 23dn) to help the solve along. Some of the clues seemed rather ponderous at first sight but I enjoyed unravelling them. As often, my list of ticks is quite long but I’ll include them all: GERIATRIC, COSH, BENEVOLENCE, CROW, ACCIDENTAL, ARRAY, EDAM, BURGER BUN, IRRELEVANT, RELUCTANT and – pick of the bunch – PERSONAL STEREO.
Reading the remarks on the Guardian website, which I do occasionally to gauge others’ reactions after I’ve blogged a puzzle, I suspect that not everyone enjoyed this as much as I did: it just seemed to hit the spot for me today. I look forward to reading your comments.
Thanks to Fed for the fun.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Sort of holiday some rugby players must have time for (7)
PACKAGE
PACK (some rugby players) + AGE (time)
5 Cup of tea turned up with a little Bounty Bar? (7)
BREWPUB
BREW (cup of tea) + a reversal (turned) of UP + B[ounty]
9 Possibility of outlet store finally opening (5)
EVENT
[stor]E + VENT (opening) – I’m rather puzzled by ‘outlet’: ‘outcome’ seems more logical, in which case I’d have underlined it as part of the definition but I’m probably missing something: ‘outlet’ certainly makes more sense in the surface reading
10 I worked with cash register she’s discarded – it’s old (9)
GERIATRIC
An anagram (worked) of I + CA[sh] R[e]GI[s]TER minus she’s
11 Confused as senior coppers demanded … (10)
DISORDERED
DIS (Detective Inspectors – senior coppers) + ORDERED (demanded)
12 … commanding officer essentially use the truncheon (4)
COSH
CO (Commanding Officer) + middle letters (essentially) of uSe tHe
14 Firm steal something many people like to drive (4,7)
HARD BARGAIN
HARD (firm) + BARGAIN (steal)
18 Goodness – neighbour’s entrance buzzer rings with excessive force – I must hide (11)
BENEVOLENCE
BEE (buzzer) round (rings) N[eighbour’s] + V[i]OLENCE (excessive force) minus i (must hide)
21 Show off contribution to murder (4)
CROW
Double definition, murder being, as all crossword lovers know, the collective noun for crows – which never fails to delight this one
22 A Western losing Oscar – that’s unexpected (10)
ACCIDENTAL
A + [o]CCIDENTAL (Western) minus o (oscar)
25 It must go through on time they regularly stress (9)
REITERATE
IT in RE (on) + ERA (time) + T[h]E[y]
26 Order Andrew’s source to meet King Charles, say (5)
ARRAY
A[ndrew] + R (king) + RAY (Charles, say)
27 Fool taking smack maybe loves to escape (7)
DINGBAT
D[o]ING (taking) + B[o]AT (smack, maybe) minus (to escape) o o (loves)
28 Drunk dwelt on disappointment (3-4)
LET-DOWN
An anagram (drunk) of DWELT ON
Down
1 Maintains focus for cryptic clues (6)
PLEADS
[cry]P[tic] + LEADS (clues)
2, 17 Without using tons, strangely it does not enhance crisp flavour (6,3,5)
CHEESE AND ONION
A clever anagram (strangely) of I[t] DOES NO[t] ENHANCE( minus t t (tons)
3 David Beckham makes one eat dessert first (10)
AFTERSHAVE
AFTERS (dessert) + HAVE (eat) – a thing I learned today
4 Silver lining – occasionally he’ll get two below par (5)
EAGLE
AG (silver) in (lining) hElL gEt
5 Supply gum rubber – wanting metre on new roll? (6,3)
BURGER BUN
An anagram (supply) of GU[m] RUBBER minus m (metre) + N (new)
6 2 seconds to read advertising watchdog’s email (4)
EDAM
Second letters of rEad aDvertising wAtchdog’s eMail – the entry at 2dn is CHEESE
7, 19 Walkman – perhaps as Spooner relates playing … (8,6)
PERSONAL STEREO
An anagram (playing) of SPOONER RELATES: I think this must go into my little book of classics – it made my day
8 … one from The Strokes (unoriginal pop group, according to him) (8)
BACKHAND
HACK (unoriginal) + BAND (pop group), as Spooner might say
13 Allowed to take caravan briefly – that is assuming posh car up front is connected? Not so (10)
IRRELEVANT
I E (id est – that is) round RR (Rolls Royce – posh car) + LET (allowed) round [cara]VAN
15 Can rule Tottenham’s first 11 out – ultimately not up for it (9)
RELUCTANT
An anagram (disordered – 11ac) of CAN RULE + T[ottenham] + [ou]T, ultimately
16 Made cloudy as former students smoked (8)
OBSCURED
OBS (old boys – former students) + CURED (smoked
20 Teasing related to exploit (4,2)
PLAY ON
PLAY (teasing) + ON (related to)
23 One wood is perfect (5)
IDEAL
I (one) + DEAL (wood)
24 Perhaps Rosemary is writing her book (4)
HERB
Hidden in HER Book: I can’t quite see the indicator – should the clue have ‘Rosemary’s’, rather than ‘Rosemary is’?
I loved the way a few clues confounded expectations. It was quite accessible overall, but I made myself slightly late for the gym by completing the last couple, BREWPUB and BACKHAND, without help. “Having a brew” is not part of my life practically or linguistically; 5A must have been far easier for some others. I parsed everything; Fed deserves to have them all unravelled.
“In the event” referring to a possibility was my take on 9A.
Favourites: IRRELEVANT, BENEVOLENCE, HARD BARGAIN and PERSONAL STEREO.
Excellent stuff. Thanks Fed and Eileen.
Hi, I read 9a as…outlet for vent with the whole clue as the definition of event (opening puts stor E first)
Thanks Fed and Eileen
Lots to like. Favourites CROW, ARRAY, and PERSONAL STEREO
Several not fully parsed, so thanks Eileen. I didn’t know about the Beckham aftershave, for instance.
Subtractive anagrams are one of my least favourite types of clue, and we had several here. Spoonerism are another type I dislike, so I was delighted when this one wasn’t one!
Enjoyed that.
For some of the clever clueing (the crisps and the spooner), the solution was really obvious so it became a case of “That’s the answer!” then parsing back.
I get for some people that rankles but it made me chuckle.
Thanks to Fed and Eileen.
Top ticks for BREWPUB and the ellipses that actually meant something with PERSONAL STEREO (loved the fake Spooner) & BACKHAND
Bonus points for lining up the multi-word answers in the grid
Slightly furrowed my brow over the wordplay for DAVID BECKHAM but did LOL when the penny finally dropped
Cheers E&F
Muffin’s reminded me that I should have listed AFTERSHAVE as a favourite. That’s a classic!
I parsed EVENT as SimpleS @2. Like Eileen, this hit the spot, but Fed always does, despite what seem like ponderous clues at times. AFTERSHAVE and PERSONAL STEREO were sublime but I also ticked BREWPUB, BENEVOLENCE, HARD BARGAIN, ARRAY, PLEADS and BURGER BUN. I solved quite a few from the definition first and then parsed afterwards, which is part of the fun. I had to google smack to check if it was a boat.
Ta Fed & Eileen.
I agree with Eileen about the lack of indicator in HERB. I toyed with ‘is writ in’ but couldn’t lose the pesky ‘g’. Or maybe it is HER + B rather than a HA?
I’ve never had the intellectual ability to solve cryptics solely from the wordplay. I give everlasting thanks to Mr Turner at my primary school who wholeheartedly encouraged my joy of words and word puzzles. Seeing words from scattered letters and having a wide vocabulary means back parsing is a common way of my dealing with crosswords.
Having got that off my chest I thoroughly enjoy Fed’s playfulness. The use of the almost universally redundant ellipsis was a particular highlight for me.
CRIW and EDAM also up there.
AlanC @8: your alternative is how I parsed HERB. I think ‘is’ is link word followed by ‘the writing of’ HER straight from the clue and book = B.
I found this very tough, maybe not used to this setter. I gave up on 26ac and 20d.
New for me: BREWPUB; David Beckham = aftershave.
I could not parse 25ac apart from IT ERA and could not work out the RE TE bits, as well as 27ac, 1d, 8d.
Favourite: CROW.
I parsed EVENT as outlet = VENT with (stor)E first/opening, and just ‘possibility’ for the definition but now see CAD is a possibility!
Loved STEREO@not-a-spoonerism.
I tried both DING & BAT for smack before thinking of the boat.
AlanC@8: ‘is writ in gHER Book’ – ingenious.
Thanks to Fed & Eileen
PM@10: Yes, I think it’s not a hidden — ‘is’ is a link word to the wordplay which instructs the solver to write HER + B (=book).
Joining the praises for the Spooner double bluff. Thanks Fed & Eileen!
I really couldn’t parse the BACKHAND wordplay — so flushed with delight at the misdirection of the Spooner clue that I didn’t notice the crucial ellipsis; I mean, ellipsis dots are never crucial, eh!
At last, a meaningful pair of ellipses – and I missed the connection! Joint clues of the day, now I see it, although CROW was an honourable runner up.
Lots of complicated back-parsing to do, as usual with Fed, and I never did fully untangle IRRELEVANT. Like michelle@11, I didn’t know about David Beckham’s AFTERSHAVE or that a BREWPUB was a thing.
“Perhaps Rosemary is writin’ her book” would be a fun clue – I’m not sure how the one we have parses, though the answer is clear. Bargain=steal puzzled me for a while, but I think both are nouns – it’s a steal if you got a good deal on it?
Thanks Fed and Eileen.
Thanks to Eileen for the excellent blog as I had several, like 8D, which I didn’t fully parse. As others have said, impressed with the ellipses actually meaning something.
Not sure I like my green colour?
Paul Glasswell@4 and AlanC@7: Re. solve first, work out wordplay afterwards (“bung in from definition” or BIFD): I’m one of those solvers who finds this style of setting much less satisfying than the “use the wordplay to lead to the solution” method, because it separates the two essential elements of cryptic crosswording, i.e. a) filling in the grid and b) working out the ingenious tricks that the setter uses to form the clue. Once these elements are separated, the setter can then define all the words in the grid quite simply and then indulge themselves by constructing very convoluted wordplays which no-one could actually use as a clue for the solution. What is impressive in crossword setting, in my view, is the ability to synthesise a) and b).
I parsed 9A as others: VENT (‘outlet’) with the end of storE first. BACKHAND eluded me, but in hindsight is fiendishly clever. SMACK as a type of boat was new to me.
24D HERB was my FOI, because apparently I was underthinking it.
Well, I’m very glad we’ve got Eileen unravelling some of the parsing for us today. The likes of CROW, CHEESE AND ONION (simply had to be that, but why precisely?), BENEVOLENCE, and BURGER BUN. Never come across the term BREWPUB before. Did manage to plot my way through this eventually with PLEADS the last one in, yet another one I needed the parsing for…
DNF because of 3d. Never heard of the aftershave (and I doubt that Beckham makes it but rather lends his name). I also raised an eyebrow at HERB, for the reasons stated. The Spooner clue was clever, and of course I missed the very rare significance of the ellipsis.
Re 5ac: I’d never heard of BREWPUB before, either, but, since it’s in both Collins (‘a pub that incorporates a brewery on its premises’) and Chambers (‘a combined pub and small-scale brewery, serving its own real ale’), I assumed it must be generally familiar and so I didn’t comment.
See here also: https://www.brewhouseandkitchen.com/brewpubs#
Another like for the non-Spoonerism here. Enjoyably tough, thanks Fed and Eileen.
Thanks for the blog , really good set of clues with many nice touches . I like the joined clues being in order and lining up in the grid . BACKHAND is brilliant , BENEVOLENCE very clever , many more …. I do like subtractions . Only HERB a bit of a dud .
EVENT – I agree with SimpleS@2 for vent=outlet and hence the wordplay , the definition is just possibility , this is termed an event in probabilty theory and Particle Physics .
Nice to see Spooner get a hat tip on his birthday!
Easiest of the week so far for me, but some parsing to check.
Thanks both.
Nice spot, Jay @25 😉
Had no idea how BACKHAND worked as I did not realise that the ellipses meant ‘him’ referred to the doctor…thanks Eileen
Great: Spooner-related clues. Not so great: definitions like event = possibility.
Simply outstanding, even by Fed’s high standard. Many thanks to DG and Eileen.
Roz @24, now you point it out I am inclined to agree, I should have remembered event spaces in probability theory.
I enjoyed this.
3d – does that mean you can have your cake & eat it?
Thanks, Fed & Eileen.
SimpleS@31 even more important in Particle Physics , each collision outcome is an event . On the wall in my office I have large prints of famous cloud/bubble chamber photographs for key events such as the first positron and first Omega-minus .
Roz@33…must take down my 2026 World Cup Chart now and replace it with some of those!
Glad the aficionados enjoyed this – simply too convoluted for me, gave up halfway through.
Loads of fun.
I guessed that Bounty Bars must be some sort of British candy — sure ‘nough when i googled it. We don’t have them here, but we have a very similar bar called Mounds, which is made by Hershey, not Mars as is the BB. It’s my favorite candy bar.
Thanks Fed and Eileen.
I saw EDAM first which led me to CHEESE AND ONION. Without that I would have struggled a lot more.
Can I suggest SPOONAGRAM: a cryptic clue with “Spooner” as part of the anagram, design to mislead the solver.
I parsed 24d as simply HER plus B for book, rather than a hidden. Not very tricky but at least conforming to the rules.
Thanks to Fed and Eileen!
Some of the Guardian commenters really are joyless. Isn’t getting some solutions pop into your head and others take some working out and seeing that others must be right, and the reason popping into your head minutes or hours later what makes them fun? That and learning new words or being reminded of ones you hadn’t seen for a long time?
Well said, Paul @39 – I entirely agree!
Great stuff from Fed. I do enjoy a setter throwing a Spooner dummy. Also enjoyed the actual Spoonerism.
Lots to like on top of that as well.
Thanks Fed and Eileen
matt w @38 – that seems to be the consensus: please see comments 8, 10 and 13 et al above.
Bit of a struggle today, and found it not as much fun as most on here, apparently. EDAM went in early on, which made CHEESE AND ONION a write-in. Had never heard of (my LOI) BREWPUB, was only vaguely aware that Mr Beckham might have his own brand of AFTERSHAVE, and was surprised to find that DINGBAT could be a synonym for fool (presumably amongst our younger generation?). Still, the fake Spooner was an entertaining clue, at least.
Lovely puzzle – thanks, Fed – esp for the delightful 7/19 and 8 down. My favourite for a while. Thanks also Eileen for the parsing PLEADS – completely stumped me, but as usual obvious when pointed out.
Couldn’t agree with Paul #39 more. The joy of a cryptic crossword is that you solve some clues one way and others another way and when the penny drops it gives you a smile!
In full agreement with Paul#39! Solving a cryptic is meant to be fun, by hook or crook. On days you can solve it completely there’s one kind of joy. On others (particularly like this woeful one:-) a different kind. As with many, was delighted by the googly around Spooner!
Thanks both
A very enjoyable puzzle Thanks
[I haven’t seen anybody else mention the new Guardian app crossword section. It was unusable 2 weeks ago (Enigmatist Prize day, ho hum) but is bedding in slowly. However, today, for 2,17 and 7,19 it withheld where the rest of the clue would fit after 2 and 7 respectively, so I had to go looking. This is not ideal. I know you’re not all working on physical newspapers. Did anyone else experience this, or am I a one-person trial?]
Why is Bounty ‘b’ ? And the parsing for ‘dingbat’ was gibberish wasn’t it?
MartinD @48
It’s “a little Bounty” – i.e. just the B. I don’t like this all that much, really.
Good fun from Fed. I liked the GERIATRIC cash register, the HARD BARGAIN for a drive, King Charles’s ARRAY, the cryptic clue leading to PLEADS, the faux-Spoonerism for PERSONAL STEREO, and the RELUCTANT Spurs’ eleven. I failed to see the actual Spoonerism of BACKHAND, excellent use of the ellipsis.
Thanks Fed and Eileen.
Ingenious and delightful set of clues .. thanks to Fed and Eileen for unravelling those that I couldn’t .. I particularly enjoyed reading the collective effort here in parsing the couple that held out.
Hi Martin @47 – not being a user of apps, I can’t really comment, except to say that this is the blessing of having the more painstaking setters like Fed, Philistine et al, who practically always contrive to have multi-word clues running on in the grid. I didn’t mention this today but bodycheetah @ 5 and Roz @24 did. (Or perhaps you can’t see the grid on your app? I wouldn’t know.)
MartinD @48 – I rather liked the surface of 27ac, with the double meaning of ‘smack’.
(BTW – talking of collective nouns for birds – AI tells me, “A group of (house) Martins is most commonly referred to as a “gulp,” “flight,” or “richness”. You might also hear them called a “circlage” or a “swoop,” which perfectly describes their fast and acrobatic flying style.” 😉
Ronald@34 , I am surprised that you would support such a corrupt organisation .
Lobsterdarts@37 , I will use spoonergram in my crossword diary , I like to annotate concisely and single words to describe a process are ideal , I use fission and fusion plus several others that I do not mention on here .
The Spooner/non-Spooner is clever, but too many clues were ‘obvious from crossers so parse from there’. I don’t think 13d was gettable from a standing start if I’d tried all day. And “David Beckham makes one” leaves too many options of which “vain publicity-seeker” is the only one that would pass the censor.
I’m an online solver, but have never attempted to use the Guardian’s app. I don’t know what it would provide that the interactive website screen on my phone doesn’t, and the various remarks I hear from people who do use it are not encouraging.
Is BACKHAND actually easier if you’re not aware The Strokes are a band? I found myself going through the member names – well the two I could remember – before I realised I’d been led up the garden path
Can someone please explain deal = wood
Thanks to Fed and Eileen
Robruss24#57
Deal is simply a type of wood.
I interpreted ‘David Beckham makes one’ as meaning ‘David Beckham’ is an example of one. -‘David Beckham is the name of the aftershave itself, as well as that of the vain publicity-seeker.
Deal is a term used, somewhat derogatively, for cheap softwood from pine and fir trees. There isn’t actually a “deal tree”!
Robruss24 @57
Collins – ” deal²-1 a plank of softwood timber, such as fir or pine, or such planks collectively; 2 the sawn wood of various coniferous trees, such as that from the Scots pine (red deal) or from the Norway spruce (white deal) …
Deal = wood crops up quite often in crosswords – worth filing away.
I use the app for most other puzzles, but for crosswords I go via the web browser view instead. Much better layout and easier use.
Thanks both and a fine entertainment which held out to the very end (a tussle with the PLAY ON/ARRAY t-junction.
In spite of the sub-atomic pleadings I don’t think EVENT works at any level and would hazard that Eileen has go it right: ‘outlet’ should be ‘outcome’ to make any sense of the definition. But unfortunately that would mess up the wordplay – would ‘Express, after store closing, possibility of outcome’ work?. (Not great I know….)
Alphalpha@63 , don’t make me quote Chambers .
Alphalpha @63: I have to disagree. To me it’s a nice &lit as explained by SimpleS @2 and seconded by me @7. I’m hoping Fed drops in to clear this one up along with HERB. At least the fun continues…
Thanks Eileen and thanks all.
The intended parsing for EVENT is as follows.
Outlet = VENT
Store finally = E
That E is first, is it is opening.
As to the definition, Chambers has Event = contingency or possibility of occurrence.
Cheers!
Re 9ac, I’ve been keeping my head down all day … 🙁 I capitulated re 24dn @42.
(As I’ve been reading and typing, Fed has dropped in – many thanks again to him. 🙂 )
I am not going to say I told you so . ( smug mode engaged )
I missed CROW (left it blank) but at least now I can join other crossword lovers who know how crows are called collectively (what an appropriate name… they attacked me once in my childhood). I liked all the long entries – they are great. Thanks Fed and Eileen!
[Layman @69
Another to tuck away is a “parliament of owls”]
I enjoyed this. Had that moment of thinking “What the heck I’m never going to manage this” and then bit by bit it did all come together. I confess to being one of those who often BIFDs (if you’ll pardon the inelegance) but I see it as all part of the fun. As well as essential in fact!
I would just like to put in a plea for HERB. Can’t one read it simply as ‘her book is writing Rosemary’? So the letters ‘herbook’ (also) write HERB? Well anyway I took it to be a genuine lurker and thought no more about it.
Ahhhh… I have it now. ‘In the event…’ = ‘In the possibility….’ – so the definition is ‘Possibility’. (Which (I now realise) is what Martin@1 said. (And wynsum@12 (and Jacob@19 (and roz@24!)!)!)). I just couldn’t get past ‘opening’=’vent’…
Thanks all.
As an amateur charcutier I have to take exception to 16d: meat need to be cured first, then can be smoked: the terms aren’t interchangeable.
Took me a little while, but very happy that I got all of this – which is a rarety for me with any crossword or setter, even the apparently easy ones. Seems my brain works in a similar way to Mr Gorman’s, whereas it works in a very different way to others (Paul being a prime example).
Special note like so many others for the fake Spooner … Spooner combo.
So we’re meant to know world-famous ex-footballers now are we?
3d makes it irresistable to not recycle an old story:
Liverpool FC wanted Yul Brynner to be the face of their own brand aftershave, but he turned them down, as Yul never wore cologne.
Persevered with this (after far too many World Cup late night addled failures in recent weeks). Was glad I did due to several clues of brilliance alluded to by others. Favourite AFTERSHAVE, both for the clue and for provoking @muffin to revive a classic dad joke at #76.
Another great puzzle from Fed — many thanks! Almost gave up on the NW, but one more look broke the ice. Still two short in the SE (the same two as michelle@11), but out of time
I usually have a long list of favourites with Fed puzzles, so it’s hard to keep it short. They’re all excellent. I agree with Eileen that 7/19 PERSONAL STEREO is my top favourite, with the brilliant “Spooner” anagrist misdirection. Also 1d PLEADS because it held out so long and had a satisfying finish
Thanks Eileen for the typically engaging blog
Martin@47, Yes, the Guardian web interface no longer works properly on my old tablet. The same problem arose last year, and was fixed after I wrote in. I’ve written again, but somehow I don’t hold out much hope this time…
Like Alphalpha @72 I didn’t think of math or physics in 9a, just the common phrase “in the EVENT that”; elsewhere “eventuality” might be a better synonym for “possibility” but it’s not that much of a leap IMO. (I admit it was one of the last in for me, with two crossers IIRC.) Clever surface, blurring the difference in function between “outlet” and “opening”.
I too very much enjoyed the doubly misdirecting 7d & 8d. Honourable mentions to 21a & 22a.
Roz@53…I just wanted to keep some kind of historical record as to why on the TV at 4 in the morning I could see grown men in green shirts weeping on the grass…