An enjoyable and fairly gentle offering from Masakarade
My apologies for a rather later than usual and now rather rushed blog: I had it all ready to post when I had a phone call re a minor family emergency and managed to delete it all!
As usual from this setter, we have a good variety of clue types with some neat constructions and one or two clever anagrams to help things along, with some misdirection, to keep us on our toes.
I had ticks for 10ac KHMER ROUGE, 13ac ALMSHOUSE, 26ac LIEDER, 7dn SUGGEST and 23dn KAZOO.
Thanks to Maskarade for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Crazy French soul, this woman (6)
MADAME
MAD (crazy) + ÂME (French for soul)
4 Takes over present-day stop-over (6)
ADOPTS
AD (present-day) + an anagram (over) of STOP
9 Tin and silver catch (4)
SNAG
SN (tin) + AG (silver) – a deft use of two chemical symbols for a literal and metaphorical catch
10 Ill-advised Greek ‘humor’ showing Asian guerrilla movement (5,5)
KHMER ROUGE
An anagram (ill-advised?) of GREEK HUMOR
11 Fixed time around rugged ridges (6)
ARÊTES
A reversal (around) of SET (fixed) + ERA (time) – I remember these from O Level Geography
12 Got plastered? (8)
RENDERED
Double definition
13 Saul’s home rebuilt as one for the poor (9)
ALMSHOUSE
An anagram (rebuilt) of SAUL’S HOME
15 Verse omitted from cover song (4)
DUET
DU[v]ET (cover) minus v (verse)
16 It’s seen amongst beta, lambda and others (2,2)
ET AL
Contained in bET A Lambda
17 With windows sealed, say, in hut (9)
SHUTTERED
UTTER (say) in SHED (hut)
21 Unrivalled, as the House of Lords in recess (8)
PEERLESS
The House of Lords in recess has no peers
22 Cost of maintenance all the way to fortification (6)
UPKEEP
UP (all the way) + KEEP (fortification)
24 Dessert Azed rejects, served in a globe (10)
ZABAGLIONE
A reversal (rejects)of A-Z + an anagram (served?) of IN A GLOBE
25 Enthusiasm at heart of Maoris’ home (4)
ZEAL
The middle letters (heart) of new ZEALand (Maoris’ home
26 Songs by Schubert suggested by violinist (6)
LIEDER
Sounds like (suggested by) ‘leader’- first violinist, leader of the orchestra
27 Old England, Peru – new continent (6)
EUROPE
An anagram (new) of O + E + PERU; OE is an abbreviation for Old English but I can’t find it for Old England, nor E for England
Down
1 Ore obtained by worker underground, a trainee (7)
MINERAL
MINER (worker underground) + A L (a trainee)
2 Green finger, perhaps, and what the gardener will do in bed (5)
DIGIT
DIG IT – what the gardener will do
3 Arranges party – with what’s available (5,2)
MAKES DO
A sort of double definition
5 Fearless Bobby that’ll open the Guardian (6)
DARING
(Bobby) DARIN + G[uardian]
6 Action completely adopting inverted interior design (9)
PROCEDURE
PURE (completely?) round a reversal (inverted) of DECOR (interior design)
7 Recommend guests get changed around midnight (7)
SUGGEST
An anagram (get changed) of GUESTS round niGht
8 Frantically text Posh about test result of where’s it at (1,5,3,4)
X MARKS THE SPOT
An anagram (frantically) of TEXT POSH round MARKS (test result)
14 Domestic flight (9)
STAIRCASE
Cryptic definition
16 Closely examine as I weep noisily (7)
EYEBALL
Sounds like (noisily) I bawl (I weep) – I’m always rather puzzled by ‘noisily’ as an indicator for a soundalike
18 Letter about impolite PM (7)
TRUDEAU
TAU (letter) round RUDE (impolite) for either of two Canadian Prime Ministers
19 Most of team gathering at lift (7)
ELEVATE
ELEVE[n] (most of team) round AT
20 Great effort making boot (6)
WELLIE
Double definition
23 Tibetan priest leaves US city for instrument (5)
KAZOO
KA[lama]ZOO (US city) minus lama (Tibetan priest)
Very enjoyable with ticks for ZABAGLIONE, ZEAL, DARING and X MARKS THE SPOT. ARETES was new and couldn’t parse KAZOO.
Ta Maskarade & Eileen.
Thank you, Eileen, I hope the family thing was minor.
I can’t recall where I saw this, so apologies for the repetition if it was here, but 23d brought it to mind…
The 1-L lama, he’s a priest,
The 2-L llama, he’s a beast
But I’ll bet my best pyjamas
There never have been 3-L lllamas
(Easier to learn the spellings than remember the mnemonic!)
In 4a, over seems to be an anagrind rather than reversal indicator. An error? I don’t think it should serve as an anagrind.
Never heard of wellie for “great effort”.
Only had a vague recollection of ARÊTES. [See, Eileen, I found the little hat too!]
Good fun, nothing too taxing.
ADOPTS is AD + an anagram (over) of STOP.
GDU and AlanC – thanks: I knew there would be some casualties! – will amend now.
Geoff, I remember blogging WELLIE not too long ago: the expression (which I love) is ‘Give it some wellie!’
Mostly quite easy but I got completely bogged down in the NE corner. I ended up needing a word search for PROCEDURE which is actually a great clue so I kick myself for that. Also nho ARÊTES (autocorrect put the circumflex in) so that was a struggle.
Fascinating that a small city called Kalamazoo in Michigan achieved worldwide fame. Useless fact: it was the original home of Gibson the guitar makers.
Liked PEERLESS, ZABAGLIONE and the neat DUET.
Ta Maskarade and Eileen
Bobby Darin is one for the kids! But then, I suppose, Schubert is older.
(Not that Paul, btw)
Quite tough for a Tuesday and not convinced by 26A LIEDER as a homophone for Leader, and 5D DARING is tough for anyone under the age of 70?
Thanks to Eileen for the blog and Maskarade for the challenge.
Certainly a tougher Maskarade than I have experienced previously. Had to scrape my brain for a few words.
Ticks for ALMSHOUSE and KAZOO
Thanks Eileen and Maskarade
Very enjoyable puzzle.
Favourites: SUGGEST, STAIRCASE, KAZOO, ZEAL, SHUTTERED, MADAME, DUET (loi).
New for me: ARETES.
Thanks Eileen and Maskarade.
Struggled with ZABAGLIONE. Who knew there was a place called KALAMAZOO!
I mightn’t have explained myself clearly, above. I’m disappointed that over can be used as an anagrind. I thought perhaps the setter used it as a reversal indicator by mistake, not realising the letters are not in fact reversed.
Sadly, it would appear that almost anything can be used as an anagrind these days. I blame the government …
Can’t say I’ve ever come across the French for soul before, and I’m not a fan of using foreign words in clues anyway.
Thanks, Eileen – hope minor emergency has been sorted.
@Eileen re. ‘noisily’ as soundalike: I think it’s a play on an adverbial — so we might say that letter O is similar to zero “visually” (= in a way pertaining to vision) so ‘bawl’ is similar to ‘ball’ “noisily” (= in a way pertaining to noise).
I worked in a lab for Upjohn Pharmaceuticals*, who also had their HQ in Kalamazoo. With that, AME and ARÊTES, I felt the required knowledge was falling my way today. I’m just old enough to remember my mum talking about Bobby Darin as a figure from the already distant past when I was very young. The only thing I checked was LIEDER.
I see GDU’s point about over. It is a little misleading in crossword context.
A good puzzle. Quicker than yesterday’s I think, but it’s not a race.
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen.
[*Inadvertent discoverers of hair restoring shampoo.]
Fuddleduddy@11: Glen Miller and His Orchestra had a hit in 1942 with ‘(I’ve got a gal in) Kalamazoo’. Way before my time, but I had still heard of it.
GDU@3
“Gie it soom wellie” was an oft heard command in my childhood, so came pretty easily to me, unlike some of the rest
Though did know arete from reading tales of Himalayan climbing adventures
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen
Very entertaining. I found it easier than yesterday’s – only real holdup was waiting for a second crosser before deciding between LIEDER and LEADER for 26a – either fits the clue. I didn’t know AME for soul, but it had to be right.
I remember Bobby Darin, but I imagine he will be unfamilar to lots of solvers.
Favourite SUGGEST.
Andy in Durham @16 – Yes, that is how knew of it. Somewhere on YouTube there is an enjoyable version with Tex Beneke and Marion Hutton (sister of the more famous Betty) leading the vocals.
pserve_p2 @14 – thank you, that works for me: I wish I’d mentioned it before. 😉
I have quibbles for too many clues to mention. That reduced the pleasure.
GDU: you are getting no bites for your observations @3 and 12. I don’t think ‘over’ works as an anagrind. It is a reversal or positional indicator. Very occasionally used as a container indicator. I see nothing in the definition of ‘over’ that supports the idea of reorganisation, over and above plain reversal. So I’m with you on that one.
Quite some years ago, when Rob Brydon did straight acting, there was a very entertaining drama about the origins of the Paralympics. The central European doctor who originated it, having been appalled at all the men invalided out of the army being doped to the eyeballs and kept in bed, relished encouaging them to “Give it some wellie” when he’d got them up, out and playing football. Delighted to be reminded of that play
Among the useless memories in my head is this:
A B C D E F G H I got a gal
In Kalamazoo
J K L M N O oh oh Oh what a gal!
In Kalamazoo
so 23d was easy. Thanks for the puzzle and blog!
PostMark @22 – thank you for reminding me: I had a response to GDU composed in my head, then got sidetracked and forgot to post it.
I thought perhaps the setter used it as a reversal indicator by mistake, not realising the letters are not in fact reversed. (GDU). I’m pretty sure that this was the mistake I made when hastily restoring my lost blog. I totally agree that ‘over’ is not a valid anagram indicator.
(No one has commented on ‘served’ (24ac), nor the several other quibbles I hinted at and didn’t have time to enlarge on.)
I meant to add ‘ill-advised’ (10ac).
In 1995, 50th anniversary of the end of WW2, we did lots of 40s themed gigs. KALAMAZOO was one of the Miller numbers we played almost to death, so was one of the first in.
Gdu @3 et al.
Agree about stop-over esp when stop-out was available.
I’ve got used to any word being used as an anagrind. If a word looks to serve no other purpose in a clue, it’s probably an anagrind, e.g. “served” as Eileen suggests.
I would also like to know what “green” is adding in 3dn.
Nice puzzle, nice blog. I thought I’d point out the message from Maskarade in the first letters of the across clues.
Thanks to Maskarade (musn’t get that wrong after he’d told us how to spell it!) and to Eileen
*me @28 2dn
Re anagrinds, Chambers has a useful list in the Crossword Dictionary (and elsewhere), which includes serve and overthrow and overturn, but not over. Generally good crossword where I particularly enjoyed the PEERLESS House of Lords, Azed’s ZABAGLIONE dessert, the gardener’s DIGIT used in bed, and X MARKS THE SPOT for Posh.
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen, and Walrus @29 for the acrostic in the Across answers.
Walrus @29 well spotted! Thank you.
Thanks for that, Walrus (I think you mean answers, though) and my apologies to Maskarade for missing it.
jeceris @28 – I wondered, too. A reference to gardener’s green fingers, I think.
I liked staircase . Neat.
I struggled with that a bit more than most, apparently, but got there in the end. I wasn’t helped by not getting the long 8D until I had all the crossers.
ARETES was new for me, but otherwise I had the required GK. Starting from LAMA it was not hard to light on Kalamazoo, especially as I am a Glen Miller fan, and I dredged up Bobby Darin from who knows where.
STAIRCASE was my favorite for the cleverness and the terseness.
Well spotted Walrus @29. I was (very) briefly puzzled by a word starting SPUZ, though!
I got wellie from the boot but had to look it up. My Chambers has the phrase “give it (some) wellie” but doesn’t define the noun wellie as a great effort.
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen. I enjoyed that. ‘Wellie’ was also new to me. Unsettling (as an Australian) to know a relatively small US city (from a song) but not an English expression.
Posterntoo @ 37 – the whole Chambers entry is ‘give it some wellie (slang) – to put one’s foot down heavily on the accelerator; to put all one’s efforts and energy into what one is doing’, which supplies the definition.
If cryptics were consistent (but one of their delights is that they are not, imo) then following the logic of “French soul” (thank you, French O-level) “Maori’s home” should be Aotearoa. [I was in NZ earlier this year, and was impressed with the extent to which the Maoris are now recognized. For example, in one museum I visited (and maybe all the others), descriptive information next to exhibits was first in Maori, and then, as if it were a second language, English.]
I join a number of posters in liking STAIRCASE but not liking over.
Thanks for the blog , ZEAL was very neat and PROCEDURE is very clever wordplay .
Well done Walrus@29 .
I have my rightful position at last , can people try to note the new rules which clearly state that comment 42 is reserved for bright yellow squares only .
Oh I see Kalamazoo is actually quite famous!
Nice puzzle, harder than yesterday’s as a non-Monday one should be.
Arete (my spellcheck doesn’t add the circumflex) began its life as a fish’s backbone, still used as such in culinary writing. (Google told me that last bit.)
Seems to me that RENDERED doesn’t mean either “plastered” or “got.” What am I missing?
Green baffled me too in the DIGIT clue. But we say “green thumb” over here.
Is “wellie” usually spelled that way? I thought it was “welly.” When I was living in England on a boat, I had a pair, and also some very thick socks I wore with them and called welly woolies.
As an American I’m quite familiar with “Kalamazoo” as a place name, Just as well, since I’ve never heard of the song. It might count as compensation for all those “Town in Shropshire” clues. But it didn’t help with the clue, I only back-parsed it once I got the instrument, from
K – – -O.
Roz@42,your number is the answer to everything.
Thanks to Maskarade for the puzzle including the clever first-letter trick (would that count as an acrostic?) and to Eileen for the friendly accompaniment, which. is always a delight.
Very enjoyable puzzle, blog and discussion.
My only quibble is ZEAL. It didn’t sit right with me for the home of Māori to not be Aotearoa, when this name is used officially in NZ/ Aotearoa. I know it’s the setter’s privilege etc but it sounds colonial. Wondering what NZ readers think.
Otherwise, good fun. Favourites KHMER ROUGE, X MARKS THE SPOT, DUET (misdirecting and very neat), WELLIE, KAZOO, ZABAGLIONE.
I’m old enough to remember Bobby Darin, Kalamazoo, Arete from geography, and that the Lama poem was written by Ogden Nash. One for the oldies today?
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen.
Edit. I now see Dr Whatson @40 has made the same point about ZEAL.
Kalamazoo was also the original home of the Gibson guitar company, from 1894 to 1984 when production moved to Tennessee.
Re the debate about ‘over’ as anagram indicator, perhaps the sense is as in ‘start over’ = ‘start afresh’? If so, I fear many would see that as the thin end of the wedge!
As a lover of languages, I’m still a bit unsure about the solver needing to know the French word for soul.
Valentine @44
“Render” is similar to plaster in that it’s a protective coating on a wall. It differs in ingredients, though, and is generally used on external walls, while plaster is internal.
Easy for the rest of you, but not for me.
Yes, I feel like an idiot.
Far too many NHO’s.
Thanks both.
More on the inexhaustible Kalamazoo! It is also the name of a loose-leaf hard cover durable register used to keep company minutes and other records before the flood.
Thanks both
Another for whom ARÊTES was known from A-level Geography long, long ago. (Glaciation was my favourite bit).
Nice to see Maskarade in orthodox mode, and hope Eileen’s emergency was indeed minor.
Thank you for your concern, Irishman @51 – all worries over now. 😉
Valentine @44, ´rendered´ can mean ´plastered´ in the decorating sense but I agree that it can´t mean ´got´ but the reverse, ´gave´.
Comment #54
Re Valentine @44, I am also doubtful about rendered as a synonym for “got”. Surely render is to provide or cause, rather than being on the receiving end?
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen.
Why is L an abbreviation for trainee in MINERAL?
ilippu @54 – please see comment 29.
aemmmnostt @56 – it isn’t really but (from L plates on a learner driver’s car) it’s widely used in crosswords for any kind of ‘learner’ – ‘student’ is perhaps most frequent: it’s worth filing away.
Can someone help me out with the NINA please. I’ve looked and looked but my aged brain isn’t registering anything!
Thanks in advance.
aemmmnostt @56
Learner (as in learner driver with L-plates) – very common in crosswords
SteveThePirate @58
Write down the first letter of every across solution in order.
#56 – L for Learner as in learner driver
AE@56 , L-plates and superglue used to be frequently used on stag nights .
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen – pretty straightforward, I felt, despite some quibbles. Pleany of nice clues.
Unlike others, I’m pretty relaxed about almost anything being used to signify an anagram these days, so can live with OVER. However, RENDERED does not mean GOT – rather the opposite. Not too happy with PROCEDURE as a synonym for ACTION, but liked the clue anyway. Biggest objection – in 1960, when my father introduced me to the Everyman cryptic in the Observe at the age of 6, he told me that the one golden rule was that solutions must be a unique resolution of the clue. On that basis, I object violently to 26 ac – LIEDER – fortunately it was immediately recognisable as ambiguous.
Muffin @59. Thank you. I now feel like an absolute fool!
I think you have to think of “render” in the sense of “cause to be or become” [Chambers] and “get” in the same sense. The drink rendered/got him insensible.
STP @63
Not absolute, surely – you must have finished the crossword….
Rendered and got are interchangeable in a sentence like The puzzle rendered / got me flustered.
Had to Google Schubert to get LIEDER and US cities with Z to learn about KA(lama)ZOO. Never heard of ARETES.
That said, finished with that little bit of help.
Re: âme – I spent time living in France, so this was fine for me, but did make me wonder how much foreign language knowledge is too much to be expected?
@ many: Thank you. L for learner, trainee, or student, filed away somewhere near “old boys” for former students.
As no-one else has made the comment, I must be the only one to write CRÊTES for 11. I couldn’t parse it of course, but it seemed to fit ridges so well. Thanks for straightening me out!
Not too hard and mostly pretty good IMO.
I agree that almost any word seems to be considered a valid anagrind, but examples like ‘served’ and ‘over’ result in points deducted in my virtual scoring system.
No problem with ZEAL – the UK English word for the country is New Zealand.
Also no problem with MADAME though I didn’t know (or had forgotten) âme. Just the same as using an obscure English word in a clue – you can always use a dictionary if you can’t work out the answer from the rest of the clue and the check letters (did anyone actually fail to solve this one due to not knowing the French?).
Favourite KAZOO – don’t know the song but for some reason knew of the place.
Usually can’t be bothered with hidden themes, ninas etc, but I did like the acrostic after Walrus@29 pointed it out.
Thanks Eileen and Maskarade.
paul@ 7 You’d have to be in your 70’s or 80’s to remember Bobby Darin B36-D73 don’t get one for the kids or is it ironic?
[Weird coincidence – yesterday my daughter and I were quoting “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee” to each other (from Grease, I think); when I followed Eileen’s link, I discovered that Bobby was married to her (for a while, at least).]
I enjoyed the crossword but didn’t see the acrostic. I’m blaming the new Guardian app which doesn’t fit the whole grid on the screen. I can’t believe this could have passed any testing with actual solvers.
William@2:
A three-L-ama is a big fire in Boston (3 “alamah” alarm-er)
Thanks Eileen for the blog, and bravo Maskarade. Herewith the 14th mention of Kalamazoo — merits the earworm methinks. Tex Beneke on vocals and sax, nonpareil.
Coloradan @75
You could have said peerless instead of non pareil!
William@2 and Zen@74 … as footnoted by Ogden Nash in his original verse: “The author’s attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmed. Pooh.”
Someone may have mentioned it but the message from his nibs is maskarade’s puzzle . Very clever.As always with him there’s a sense of fun. So ta M and Eileen
Thanks all for the comments.
If you’re still there, Beaulieu @60 – fair point: âme is in both Collins ad Chambers, so as accessible as any English word.
Petert @64 and TJA @66 – I’d been coming round to that line of thought and it works for me. I don’t think Maskarade is one of those setters who drop in from time to time to elucidate, though.
tony @71 (and muffin @72) – exactly so: quite a fan in my youth, which is why I gave the link!
I’m rather surprised that I seem to be the only one to have queried E = England in 27dn but it’s not important. At my advanced age, I’m going to call it a day now. 😉
Enjoyable and not too taxing, except I was completely flummoxed by 11a ARÊTES, an ungettable nho that I spent far too long on
Favourites 1a MADAME (knew the bit of French), 9a SNAG (as Eileen says), 24a ZABAGLIONE (my first guess was correct), 5d DARING (invoking Bobby Darin, and the sublime “Beyond the sea”), 14d STAIRCASE (brilliant CD), 18d TRUDEAU (Canadian reference, yay!)
Couldn’t parse 17a SHUTTERED as I was fixated on “hut”
Thanks Maskarade and Eileen!
Coloradan@75. I enjoyed the video. The gal in question was “a real pipperoo” which sounds like a description PG Wodehouse might have used.
Coloradan @75 Yes, that is the video I was referring to @19, but I was unable then to post a link for technical reasons. (Just to add that he Guardian puzzles app was entirely blameless!)
[Interesting video. The choreography with the instruments rather preshadows the Shadows with their “shadow walk”!]
The Kalamazoo Frog is the name of a fishing lure in Robert Murphy’s book “The Pond”. It’s very attractive to Bass (its back legs kick when it’s pulled through the water you see) and plays a part in one of the many life lessons taught to Joey, the hero of the book.
I can’t help but think the setter must have had it in the back of their mind.
This was a nice puzzle, although I didn’t notice Maskarade’s message.
The clue that defeated me was DUET – easy if “duvet” is part of your vocab, hard if it isn’t. Or maybe I was a bit thick on the day.
Srivats at #50 has mentioned the Kalamazoo bookkeeping system which was a big part of my early working life. I smiled when I figured out that clue.
[muffin@76: You’re right. Mea cu-, er, my fault.]
Thanks to Maskarade and Eileen.
Re Kalamazoo, there’s also the filing system:
https://www.kalamazoo.com.au/about/history/
I just wanted to say that I win the “I have actually been to Kalamazoo” award. (If you drive from Chicago to Detroit, it’s about the halfway point, so a great place to stop for lunch.) Still, it took me ages to think of a city in America with the string LAMA in it. (I needed that K.)
@ various: my 9 month old granddaughter (and her 40-something parents) know of Bobby Darin, because every time she has a bath, they play his ‘Splish, Splash’, which she loves. Thanks, Maskarade and Eileen.
Rendered = got as in taken to Guantanamo Bay possibly
Eileen@79 rootsweb lists ‘Old England’ and ‘Old English’ under O.E. In their glossary but I’ve not found any other reference to support it.
Thanks for the blog. Didn’t spot the nina.
I remembered Kalamazoo from packets of guitar strings. I think that “got”, in the sense of “made to become” is a possibility, but is clumsy. E.g. was got tired by exertion = was rendered tired by exertion.
I’m amazed by the number of commenters who blithely mention something that’s already been pointed out three times at least, and then disappear, never to be seen again. I always read through the comments, all 92 of them in this instance, before commenting. As a result I now have nothing to say, except thanks to Maskarade and Eileen of course.
sheffield hatter – many thanks for that: much appreciated!
Finished this off this morning. Nice puzzle thanks to blogger and setter. My only comment, I’m ashamed to add, is that I worked out the anagram fodder for 27 as O E and PERU and then actually put it into the anagram tool below the puzzle to work out the continent. With a bit of an ‘oh’ moment.
sh 93,
Is there a site rule, which says that no one may comment unless they’ve read every single previous comment and verified that what they intend to say has not already been said, whether paraphrased or not? Many sites have thousands of comments, don’t they?
Personally, I welcome the fact that what I say might chime in with someone else’s observation, if it just happened to do so, and feel no need at all to ascertain whether or not that might be the case.
And I think that you had plenty to say.
Etu: I think it’s just polite to say – as some regulars do from time to time – “sorry I didn’t have time to read all the posts, so I’ll just say…” If such commenters never look to see if someone else has had the same idea, they’ll never feel like part of a community, which is what a lot of regulars seem to appreciate.
Could the setter not have used Spain in the clue for 27 across. Seems to make more sense given that Peru was part of the Spanish Empire and E is an accepted abbreviation for that country.
I’m surprised that no-one has commented on the use of AD for “present day” in 4ac. In what context could these two terms be used interchangeably?