Omnibus presents us with a challenge today.
I’m not a regular Guardian weekday blogger, so I did a bit of research into previous Omnibus puzzles and found they generated many comments covering a wide spectrum of views. There also seems to be a feeling that Omnibus is a group of setters rather than a single person.
I found this a difficult puzzle to crack, although once I came to write the blog, the wordplay seemed clearer than I had thought when solving the puzzle.
There is a clear theme indicated by the answer to the clue at 24/27 across. There are ten COLLECTIVE NOUNS in the grid. I had to look beyond dictionaries to track down all the NOUNS and the groups they described.
I reckon the ten are:
| Clue | Collective Noun | Describing |
| 12a | MURDER | crows |
| 26a | PACE | asses or donkeys |
| 2d | WISP | flock of snipe |
| 3d | MUSTER | peacocks |
| 4d | CLAMOUR | rooks |
| 6d | PARLIAMENT | owls |
| 15d | GAM | whales |
| 17d | POD | birds, fish, animals |
| 21d | SKEINS | wild geese in flight |
| 26d | PACK | wolves |
Some of the NOUNS like POD and PACK can apply to a wide range of creatures.
Thematic crosswords often place constraints on the words that a setter can place in a grid. Today I thought that STRIDDEN, SPRUCING and UNCIVIL were words that wouldn’t normally crop up in everyday conversation. These words were constrained by the crossing letters, although SPRUCING and UNCIVIL could have been Saracens and insipid.
I liked the surface of the clue for HABITUAL and the anagram for COLLECTIVE NOUNS.
I hadn’t really been aware of the meanings of DEEP STATE and The Blob before doing a bit of digging into the background of each phrase.
TIMBERLINE was a new word for me. I have always referred to the tree line.
The clue for PARLIAMENT could be read in more than two ways, as shown in the detailed table below where I have attributed two meanings to Chambers.
Although I found it hard, the puzzle opened up a bit of interesting reading.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 8 | It’s normal for holiday at Legoland at the outset to involve a little something for everyone (8)
HABITUAL (customary; usual; normal) HAL (first letters of [at the outset] each of Holiday, At and Legoland) containing (to involve) (A + BIT [little something] + U [classification indicating that a film is suitable for everybody to see]) H (A BIT U) AL |
| 9 | See 10
[DEEP] STATE |
| 10/9 |
Spooner’s expensive rendezvous with The Blob? (4,5) DEEP STATE (The Blob and DEEP STATE are both terms/phrases used to refer to a hidden network of unelected government workers, military leaders, or powerful groups who run a country from behind the scenes. They are said to do what they want, no matter who is elected to lead.) Reverend Spooner would pronounce DEEP STATE as STEEP (expensive) + DATE (meeting; rendezvous) DEEP [STATE] |
| 11 | I tremble in feverish place where the fuel runs out? (10)
TIMBERLINE (the upper limit of trees on a mountainside indicating the point where wood for fuel runs out) Anagram of (feverish) I TREMBLE IN TIMBERLINE* |
| 12 | Relish killing (6)
MURDER (relish, as in the phrase ‘I could MURDER an ice-cream in this heatwave’ [‘I would relish an ice-cream’]) MURDER (killing) double definition MURDER |
| 14 | Open to the elements, caps missing, air processor burned (8)
UNGLAZED (in pottery, an item not covered in a glassy coating; an item open to the elements) (lUNG [an organ of the body that acts as an air processor] + bLAZED [burned]) with each word excluding the first letter (caps missing) UNG LAZED |
| 16 | Unravel slam point (7)
DECRYPT (decode; unravel a code) DECRY (criticise as worthless; slam) + PT (point) DECRY PT |
| 18 | Mammoth setter’s crew stripped user (7)
IMMENSE (enormous; mammoth) I’M (I [the setter] AM; setter is; setter’s) + MEN (crew) + SE (letters remaining in uSEr when the outer letters U and R are removed [stripped]) IM MEN SE |
| 21 | Walked free in road house (8)
STRIDDEN (the past participle of the verb STRIDE [walk with long decisive or purposeful steps], so walked) RID (free) contained in (ST [street; road] + DEN [home; house]) ST (RID) DEN |
| 23 | Sew up ruptured uterus (6)
SUTURE (stitch up or sew up a wound) Anagram of (ruptured) UTERUS SUTURE* |
| 24/27 | Ten solutions may provide tonic with novel clues (10,5)
COLLECTIVE NOUNS (a reference to the fact that the completed crossword grid contains ten COLLECTIVE NOUNS) Anagram of (may provide) TONIC and NOVEL CLUES COLLECTIVE [NOUNS]* |
| 26 | Begging your permission, tread carefully (4)
PACE (with, or by the leave of; begging your permission to express disagreement politely) PACE (tread carefully with measured steps) double definition PACE |
| 27 | See 24
[COLLECTIVE] NOUNS |
| 28 | Local, having no cash, in the clear (8)
INNOCENT (not guilty; in the clear) INN (public house; local [drinking place]) + (O [zero; having no] + CENT [monetary unit] – having no cash) INN O CENT |
| Down | |
| 1 | Brand accepts plan backing guarantee (4,4)
MAKE SURE (put beyond doubt or risk; guarantee) MAKE (brand) containing (accepts) RUSE (plan) reversed (backing) MAK (E SUR<) E |
| 2 | Start to watch broadband supplier’s strand (4)
WISP (thin strand) W (first letter of [start to] Watch) + ISP (internet service provider; broadband provider) W ISP |
| 3 | Subsection of secret summons turned around rally (6)
MUSTER (assembly; rally) MUSTER (reversed [turned round] hidden word (subsection of] in secRET SUMmons) MUSTER< |
| 4 | One who keeps quiet before the Guardian’s outcry (7)
CLAMOUR (outcry) CLAM (very reticent person; one who keeps quiet) + OUR (belonging to the Guardian; Guardian’s) CLAM OUR |
| 5 | A female or male tennis icon? (4)
ASHE (reference Arthur ASHE [1943 – 1993], American tennis player who won threeGrand Slam Singles titles and two Grand Slam Doubles titles; male tennis icon) A + SHE (a female) A SHE |
| 6 |
Chamber’s diet for those chosen (10) PARLIAMENT (chambers) PARLIAMENT (a DIET is a national, federal, or provincial assembly, council, or PARLIAMENT) double definition You can also read the clue as a reference to Chambers Dictionary, which defines DIET as written above. PARLIAMENT |
| 7 | Late meeting of party in bishop’s office (6)
SEANCE (a session or meeting of psychical researchers or spiritualists for the purpose of trying to contact the spirits of the dead [late people] or promote supernatural manifestations; late meeting) ANC (African National Congress, a political party in South Africa) contained in (in) SEE (the office of a bishop) SE (ANC) E |
| 13 | Thwart fickle rule in gear shift? (10)
DERAILLEUR (a variable bicycle gear depending on a mechanism by means of which the chain can be transferred from one sprocket wheel to another of different size; gear shift) DERAIL (impede; thwart) + an anagram of (fickle) RULE DERAIL LEUR* |
| 15 | Sport cut short leg (3)
GAM (a human leg) GAMe (sport) excluding the final letter (cut short) E GAM |
| 17 | Hope to God every third letter appears in books made to order (3)
POD (a reference to Print On Demand, which is a means of printing a book to order) POD (every third letter of hoPe tO goD) POD |
| 19 | Smartening up University College in April and May (8)
SPRUCING (smartening up) UC (University College) contained in (in) SPRING (the season including April and May) SPR (UC) ING |
| 20 | Offensive in the armed forces? (7)
UNCIVIL (discourteous; offensive) UN– [not] + CIVIL (not military) interpreted as a double negative [not not military = military = in the armed forces] UN CIVIL |
| 22 | Some leaderless after god proving hard to please (6)
THORNY (troublesome; difficult; hard to please) THOR (Norse God of thunder) + aNY (some) excluding the first letter (leaderless) A THOR NY |
| 23 | Ask Einstein to include networks (6)
SKEINS (webs; networks) SKEINS (hidden word in [to include] aSK EINStein) SKEINS |
| 25 | Whack the top guy and stay mum (4)
COSH (hit with a blunt weapon; whack) CO (Commanding Officer; top guy) + SH (be quiet; stay mum) CO SH |
| 26 | Wild Bunch get ready to hit the road (4)
PACK (bunch of wild animals; wild bunch) PACK (place items in a suitcase before travel; get ready to hit the road) double definition PACK |
Oof. I like the theme idea but I found this really hard. Definitely not on the setter’s (or perhaps setters’) wavelength today.
Thanks for the blog, I had lots of bung-and-shrugs that still needed parsing and a few still incomplete but it ended up in the no-longer-fun basket.
This really made me appreciate the high quality of the other Guardian setters
Cheers D&O
Ps: I assumed UNGLAZED referred to a building without windows
Agree with blogger and both above commenters
Too many stretches and not enough ticks
Omnibus always seems to me to be showing off; prioritising cleverness over good cluing
Didn’t help that I wrote in Borg [B(oy) or G(irl) for the tennis icon]
But still a good mental workout for the morning
Thanks blogger and setter
Agree with all the above. Couldn’t make it, albeit there are a few entries that I enjoyed, like DECRYPT and MAKE SURE. Thanks Omnibus and Duncan
I liked the puzzle. Omnibus generates a range of comments but I didn’t think this was too hard or conceited in any way. I think it’s an improvement. I liked the thematic touch although I left the indicator clue until last. Liked MURDER because it came to mind immediately, and PARLIAMENT. Thanks duncan and Omnibus.
Life too short.
bodycheetah @3
I assume that what you mean is a window without glass; anyway, that is the meaning I took for the clue.
Thorny/hard to please, den/house in whose world or dictionary? Pace is a preposition in that sense. Is it too much effort to write a clue that gives it as a preposition instead of a ballpark muddle?
So typically poor.