Thank you to Brendan. Definitions are underlined in the clues. And sorry for the lateness.
This is a crossword with a crossword theme. In the completed grid and in the clues are direct or indirect references to the word game of crosswords.
Across
1. Crazy MAGA ran America as a repeated crime, for instance (7)
ANAGRAM : Anagram of(Crazy) MAGA RAN.
Defn: An example of which/for instance, is “America” in relation to/as [ “AA”( a repeated) + CRIME ].
5. Traumatized son held by uncle outside (7)
IN SHOCK : S(abbrev. for “son”) contained in(… outside) [IN HOCK](pawned/held by a pawnbroker/”uncle” in slang).
And the clue should have been “… (2,5).
9. Compose crosswords at home to become established (3,2)
SET IN : SET(to compose/construct crosswords) + IN(at home/not out).
10. River plant may spread in profusion (9)
RAMPANTLY : Anagram of(… spread) [ R(abbrev. for “river”) + PLANT MAY ].
11. Closely observing vote in favour, with subsequent outcry heard (10)
EYEBALLING : Homophone of(… heard) [ “aye”(a vote in favour/yes) plus(with subsequent) “bawling”(outcry/a loud shout) ].
12. … is 21 reversed? So it is! (4)
ERGO : Reversal of(… reversed) OGRE(answer to 21 across).
Defn: …/hence it is!
14. Kind of setter one’s figured out? Produced solution again (11)
REDISSOLVED : RED(a kind of setter in this case the Irish Setter, a breed of dog) + I(Roman numeral for “one”)’S + SOLVED(figured out/found the answer).
Defn: …/again making a solution by adding a solute into a solvent.
18. Angry outburst about small fight (5,6)
CROSS SWORDS : CROSS(angry/in a bad temper) + WORDS(an argument/outburst) containing(about) S(abbrev. for “small”).
21. Turn back on monster (4)
OGRE : Reversal of(… back) GO(one’s turn try to do something/a try) + RE(with reference to/on).
22. Nothing in numbers is changed as result of moving 15 (10)
SUBMERSION : O(letter in the shape of 0/nothing) contained in(in) anagram of(… changed) NUMBERS IS.
Defn: … , that is, the answer to 15 down, “down under”.
25. Like the most one can do, in terms of manual employment (3-6)
TWO-HANDED : Cryptic defn: Refering to work/task that one, at most, can do manually/with one’s hands.
26. Program’s producer, person able to handle Morse, say (5)
CODER : Double defn: 1st: A computer programmer; and 2nd: One who can handle/translate into a code like/say, the Morse code.
And the fictional Inspector Morse was a crossword fan.
27. Rector having letter forwarded? It’s about one name for God (7)
CREATOR : RECTOR with the letter C moved to the front(forwarded) containing(It’s about) A(a singular article/one).
28. Solidly constructed – one’s mad to change it (7)
MASONED : Anagram of(… to change it) ONE’S MAD.
Defn: …/built with cemented stone and bricks.
Down
1. Something solvers may lack – and so were not finished (6)
ANSWER : “and so were” minus the last letters, respectively(not finished).
2. Part of bloomer in Guardian? There you have it (6)
ANTHER : Hidden in(… you have it) “Guardian? There”.
Defn: …/flower that makes and holds its pollen.
3. Happens to meet – as any intersecting answer here does (4,6)
RUNS ACROSS : [RUNS ACROSS](any answer here/in the crossword intersects with/shares at least one common letter with, another answer).
4. Good lesson as example of double definition (5)
MORAL : The clue “Good lesson “ is an example of a clue with a double definition: 1st: Virtuous; and 2nd: That which can be learned from, a fable, say.
5. About negative introduction, admission of meanie who delivers jabs? (9)
IMMUNISER : UN-(a prefix/introduction to the word that has the negative meaning of a base word, eg. “unclear”) contained in(About …) [ I’M MISER ](an admission/confession of a stingy person/a meanie).
Defn: …/one who gives vaccinations.
6. Get across what’s central to crossword? Separate out valuable bits (4)
SPAN : Middle letter of(what’s central to) “crossword” + PAN(to wash gravel, sand and such like in a pan to separate out heavy, valuable metals like gold).
7. Excel on course in skill, not in approach (8)
OUTDRIVE : OUT(not in) + DRIVE(a road for vehicles leading from a public road to someone’s house/an approach).
Defn: …, on the golf course, that is.
8. In part of Florida, wife or daughter located crucial elements (3,5)
KEY WORDS : KEYS(low-lying islands or reefs, which form part of Florida, the US state) containing(In …) [ W(abbrev. for “wife”) + OR + D(abbrev. for “daughter”) ].
13. Builds lead in constituency, embraced by Tory supporters (10)
CONSTRUCTS : 1st letter of(lead in) “constituency” contained in(embraced by) [ CON(abbrev. for a Conservative Party member, nicknamed Tory) + STRUTS(bars or rods used in engineering and architecture to support weight/supporters) ].
15. Doctor’s beginning new round, confused and extremely distant (4,5)
DOWN UNDER : 1st letter of(…’s beginning) “Doctor” + anagram of(…, confused) NEW ROUND.
Answer: …, refering to, mainly, Australia and New Zealand, extremely distant from those on the other side of the globe.
16. Wordplay known to Greeks, Socratic sort (8)
ACROSTIC : Anagram of(… sort) SOCRATIC.
Answer: Wordplay in which specific letters in each line of a piece of prose or poetry spells a word, message or the alphabet, used by the Ancient Greeks, amongst others including setters in some of their crosswords.
An example by Edgar Allan Poe:
Elizabeth it is in vain you say
“Love not” — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:
In vain those words from thee or L.E.L.
Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well:
Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,
Breath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried
To cure his love — was cured of all beside —
His folly — pride — and passion — for he died.
17. Little Women, for example, in half a reel? (8)
FOURSOME : FOURSOME(whimsically, half of an “eightsome” or eightsome reel, a Scottish country dance for eight people).
Defn: A group of four persons, an example of which are the four sisters whose lives are described in “Little Women”, a novel by Louisa May Alcott.
19. Like certain answers in relation to clues, some of which I’d denigrate (6)
HIDDEN : Hidden in(some of) “which I’d denigrate”.
20. Girl’s name forming part of solution (6)
INGRID : [ IN GRID ](describing that which forms part of a crossword solution).
23. Way to address lady in Mother’s Union (5)
MADAM : [MA(informal term for one’s mother) + DAM(the female parent of a farm animal)](a union of 2 mothers).
24. Endure like this clue (4)
LAST : Like/describing this clue, 24 down, of all the clues here.
Another super themed puzzle from Brendan and with him being Irish, I laughed at ERGO with ‘So it is’ as a typical NI expression to end a sentence. I hope this doesn’t offend anyone but I wondered if he was tempted, with the juxtaposition of ANSWER and ANTHER, to clue the latter as a homophone of the former with a speech impediment. Nice touch with the two CROSSes crossing as well. Too many ticks in this one but my favourites were ANAGRAM, REDISSOLVED and OUTDRIVE, which I rarely do.
Ta Brendan & scchua.
*”anagram of MAGA ran”
There is a typo – 1 across is an anagram of MAGA RAN.
Good fun.
Thanks for clarifying the misdirection in 5a as being 2 words, not one. Could not find a single word to fit the crossers, and the definition. Otherwise a lovely puzzle, and great blog.
My faves: ANAGRAM, ERGO, SUBMERSION, CREATOR, MORAL, IMMUNISER,
CONSTRUCTS and MADAM.
ANTHER
I thought “in…you have it” was the “hidden” indicator.
(On second reading, I think scchua said the same thing in their blog).
Thanks Brendan and scchua.
I struggled a bit in the NE corner because I dismissed IN SHOCK as an answer as it is two words, not one (although I see that has now been corrected on the Guardian website. Not sure if it is still wrong on the app or in the paper).
This was a lot of fun! I needed clarification on FOURSOME (not familiar with the eightsome reel) and the parsing of IMMUNISER, but otherwise this was within my modest abilities. Thanks to Brendan and scchua.
What a treat, following on Brockwell yesterday – we’re being spoiled!
Brendan on top form, doing what he does best: as always, the whole is more than the sum of its parts – among my many ticks were ANAGRAM, IN SHOCK, ANSWER, IMMUNISER, CONSTRUCTS, ACROSTIC, FOURSOME, INGRID, MADAM.
I thought TWO-HANDED might refer to the plea, ‘I’ve only got one pair of hands!’
AlanC @1 – I grinned at ERGO, ‘So it is’, too – one of my favourite NI expressions. (Nifty linking with 21, too.)
Huge thanks to Brendan for a lot of fun and thanks to scchua for the blog.
I particularly appreciate self-referential crossword clues and this one had a lot of them! I liked 15a DOWN UNDER (of course), 17d FOURSOME, 19d HIDDEN and 20d INGRID. Thanks to Brendan for all the enjoyment and to scchua for the blog.
Well, I finished this in bed last night, a rarity for me. Justification of my opinion that, except for Monday, the difficulty of puzzles has no connection to the day of the week,
Inspector Morse did the Times puzzle. I often thought, “If you’re so smart, why don’t you tackle the Guardian?”
I went to the puzzle site and refreshed it to see whether the word count had changed from (7) to (2, 5) Instead, now it’s (6)! Not only still one word, but now the wrong number!
Thanks for lots of fun, Brendan, and a good blog, scchua!
A little trickier today, not helped by the IN[-]SHOCK issue. The partial and perennial theme helped slightly.
I liked CROSS SWORDS, DOWN UNDER, ERGO/OGRE and INGRID.
Thanks Brendan and scchua.
Even I spotted the theme today. Very enjoyable. Thanks sschua for your clear explanations of a few answers I couldn’t parse.
Ticks for MADAM & IN SHOCK despite the error. Other than that very much what I’ve come to expect from Brendan
Cheers B&S
I liked this very much – a very clever and well-clued puzzle. Does anyone agree that ‘it’ is redundant at the end of 28a and that the clue would be better without the final word?
For a few seconds, I thought 5D was womaniser
I think 3 Down is RUNS ACROSS because any clue intersecting with 3 Down will be an across clue.
Thanks for the blog , ANAGRAM such a great start , IN SHOCK another neat clue which I discounted because of the (7) until I put all the Downs in . Andy@7 it has been corrected in my paper using my Personal Electronic Notemaker . IMMUNISER very clever , especially the use of UN .
I agree with Eileen@9 for TWO-HANDED , a phrase I often use .
FOURSOME my favourite and a further reference , Eightsome Reels a type of crossword invented by Azed .
I have now equalised and 2/4 for guess the setter . I was worried that this week would be my KPR penalty shootout week .
Thanks to tachyons I can respond to Tom@20 , some people like to pretend that hitting a ball with a stick is a skill .
Nice.
Thanks for the parsing of FOURSOME. I didn’t know about eightsome as a reel either. (@Nakamova).
I’m a bit confused about the word ‘skill’ being used in 7D, OUTDRIVE. I would have thought it would work without it, no?
For 5D IMMUNISER I parsed I’M MISER as I’M = ‘admission of’ and MISER as ‘meanie’ separately. To me ‘admission of meanie’ would come out as ‘I’M A MISER’ or ‘I’M MISERLY’
Lovely puzzle. Only one word I did not know (anther, and I missed the hidden word!) and had not heard of “in hock” meaning pawned or pawnbroker=uncle so 5a was left unparsed. Needed a few of Scchua’s explanations to fully parse a few others (e.g. 1a), but otherwise good. I saw and loved the theme. Thanks, Brendan and Scchua
A tutorial in itself. I’m with Eileen@9 re TWO-HANDED; TTS&B.
[Valentine@11 – re Morse and crossword difficulty – is there an established pecking order among the broadsheets? My father always did the Guardian, but I cut my cruciverbal teeth on the Times, when it was half-price for students. I aimed to complete it during the half-hour bus ride to my Long Vac job on a Newcastle building site; otherwise odd looks at “bait” time. Happy days].
I think OUTDRIVE is an &lit, a drive not being an approach shot. Great puzzle.
Yes, attempted this in the wee small hours, which meant as 5ac was (7) then, I ground to a halt, with intersecting OUTDRIVE also not filled in. Had not come across MASONED before, but it simply had to be that. Some very nice smooth cluing throughout as befits Brendan…
Petert@24 I had thought OUTDRIVE was referring to motor racing but that would spoil your nice &lit idea. So I prefer your version.
Oh dear what will Roz do? She has already posted before number 42!
Petert @24 I noticed the subtle inclusion of “approach” although the length some Pros drive these days (e.g. Rory) they can be on the green in one on a 400+yard hole!
Re yesterday’s posts, Valentine @11 I hope that the hints from me and Eileen @9 ended up helping and not further confusing.
To prove that I clearly spend too much time in Crosswordland I woke this morning convinced via a dream that someone else had posted saying that my clue for “Think alike” was ok but their’s was better – “Hi, Kit! Ankle sprained?” (5,5)
I really need to get out more…..
Ah, schooldays memory of my mate, when we were learning the parts of flowers, singing “the ANTHER, my friends, is blowin’ in the wind”. Did anyone else have KEYER for 26a, at first? Fits the clue just as well IMHO, but not the crossers. Petert@24: I agree. Lots of fun. Thanks, Brendan and scchua.
Great puzzle from Brendan. For once, even I got the theme!
I do the print version. Like others confused by IN SHOCK – thought there must be some modern usage that had conflated the words. I see it’s corrected online.
Agree with Petert #24 and for that reason possibly my favourite clue – along with FOURSOME – despite minor quibble that OUTDRIVE on its own would refer to a single instance, rather than “excelling in a skill”.
Fun crossword where even I got the theme. Roz@19 – I know you are a purely paper person but as an FYI, the setter’s name is hidden in the latest (and messed up) version of the Guardian iPhone App. It can only be seen in the top right menu.
Good use of the theme. I liked the crazy MAGA lot making an ANAGRAM, the ANSWER that some solvers lack, the Tory supporters with their CONSTRUCTS, and the FOURSOME half of reel.
Thanks Brendan and scchua.
A few parsing failures, and only got FOURSOME the unsatisfying way of trying to think of words that fit the letters, but other than that a fun puzzle.
Thanks Brendan and scchua!
This being Brendan, I was surprised that the columns saying ANSWER ACROSTIC, KEYWORDS IN GRID didn’t lead to anything more than being part of the theme, but if there is a hidden acrostic anywhere, or special keywords in the grid, I can’t see them. I liked INGRID, RUNS ACROSS, FOURSOME, ERGO and MADAM, and didn’t get IN SHOCK until the numbering was corrected. Spent a long time trying to make REDISSOLVED be an anagram of “one’s figured” before I realised how it really worked. If this was Countdown, I wouldn’t have bet on MASONED being in the dictionary, but it obviously is.
Nearly finished my third of the year, undone by the reel, no idea that it had 8 people.
Thanks both
Even I can spot the theme when the theme is crosswords. Fun puzzle, favourites HIDDEN and RAMPANTLY.
@34 Hoofit. Glad to see you were on here yesterday. I’m only doing that crossword today and as the other Millwall supporter on this site I shared your delight at seeing the Lions mentioned! Looking forward to first home have tomorrow!
Thanks Brendan and scchua. I had no idea uncles were pawnbrokers, so I can’t fairly say the hyphen and word count errors caused me much delay, but mostly I’m just pleased to be there or thereabouts on a Thursday.
Tricky puzzle.
New for me: FOURSOME = half of an lightsome reel.
I could not parse 1d; 5d; the ‘not in approach’ bit of 7d; the ’union’ bit of 23d.
Mostly straightforward and always enjoyable. Even an athemic like me spotted the theme.
I had a problem with the parsing of ANAGRAM, IMMUNISER and SPAN, but bunged them in as obviously right.
I was a bit startled by INSHOCK as a 7-letter word rather than 2,5, but liked the clue.
Favourites EYEBALLING, OUTDRIVE and CREATOR where unusually for me I worked out the letter shift correctly.
Thanks Brendan and scchua
Perfect
Timing
My rightful position yet again .
FD@26 , the sun came out and the sea was calling my name but the timing has worked out .
Simon@30 you can play guess the setter every day . One week per month for me and not a Vulcan week .
Thanks Brendan for an ‘inside baseball’ type of puzzle with the theme covering things only regular solvers would know. That, of course, made for a quick solve but nevertheless a fun one. Favourites included EYEBALLING, ANSWER, SPAN, HIDDEN, and INGRID. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Tomk @36 – it’s the hope that kills us!!!
Good to hear from you…
A greatly worked theme, thanks Brendan and scchua! I needed a few checks as I couldn’t parse some. Maybe a little quibble (I am becoming spoiled for good puzzles) is that there are “solutions” in the clue for REDISSOLVED. And I was – just a little bit – hoping for “jorum” as an entry… but I should shut up as there were so many good entries here. My favourites SUBMERSION, ANSWER, MORAL and LAST.
Finally completed after a couple of sessions. The last few were stubborn. The crossword theme was apparent pretty early on, which helped a little. LOI 1a ANAGRAM, a word I always have trouble with when it’s a solution!
As always with Brendan, I have many favourites. Generally excellent and enjoyable clues throughout
Apologies, no time to read the comments right now (though I see Roz has snagged the coveted #42 again — two in a row). No doubt someone has mentioned that we had a very similar clue and solution for 11a EYEBALLING recently. Was it yesterday? Maybe more later…
Thank you Brendan and scchua
Roz@42 – I am not anywhere near good enough to guess the setter – except maybe Paul when his lavatorial humour gives him away and Vlad Prize crosswords which are usually above my pay grade.
Thanks Brendan and scchua
The top went in quite easily; the bottom less so. After getting DOWN UNDER and having crossers U, R, I, and N in 22a I spent ages trying to justify AUSTRALIAN!
Favourite the neat MADAM.
Hi Mig @46
Just for the record, for what it’s worth, it was Maskarade on Tuesday:
Closely examine as I weep noisily (7)
I remember because I blogged it.
Simon@47 , it just takes practice , I have seen many of the setters over many years , some are quite distinctive . Brockwell , yesterday , often has animal themes and uses a lot of proper names in the clues and also quite modern . I messed up Monday and Tuesday , only seen Dice once before . I usually score 4 or 5 out of 6 .
Mig@46 , we had EYEBALL on Tuesday with a similar clue , not had EYEBALLING since …
Mig@46
The “eyeballing” thing (where an unusual word appears in more than one puzzle in quick succession) has happened enough times that I now believe some setters are given the same word to try and fit into their respective grids.
I picture a group of them sitting around a table in a cosy pub somewhere waiting for “this week’s great revealing”.
Like the time when I asked someone I know who wrote for the Sunday Sport to try and fit the word “bananas” into that afternoon’s match report.
Great fun as ever and thanks for the blog.
Eileen@49 and Roz@50 thanks for confirming. I now see that no one actually did mention it before me@46. Forest Fan @51 I think someone on this site actually did a study of word repetitions and found that, although it can look like a pattern, it’s actually random. Anyone else remember that?
Roz@19, On the other hand, hitting a puck with a stick — now that takes skill! 🙂
Roz@50 Thank you, I will work on it. Last week I did spot Qaos – another setter who has themed puzzles.
As others have said in similar words, a real treat from Brendan, and worth making the time for. The general theme became evident very quickly (starting with ANAGRAM), and I had to admire the way in which it was sustained throughout. At the end, I failed to solve SPAN, having got the S (in ‘crossword’), but failed to see PAN.
Thanks to Brendan, to scchua for the blog and to others for their comments.
Forest Fan@51 think about keeping a record of non-coincidences , for two puzzles without a same-ish word there are about 900 , for three puzzles about 27000 ……
Great name , I like trees as well .
Mig@52 the puck is usually moving .
Simon@53 like all things in crosswords it is all about experience and perseverance , try to spot Brockwell next time . A tip for Philistine , usually a fission clue . Qaos also usually has numerical clues .
Very clever. Thanks
Are ‘TWO’ and ‘FOUR’ supposed to be highlighted in the blog grid? I don’t see the reason.
Brendan brilliantly brightens my day once again. No particular favourites, I liked the whole thing. The juxtapositions, ANSWER/ANTHER and ERGO/OGRE were neat. Thanks B & s for all the fun.
A great fun. I enjoyed the theme. Among my favourites are ACROSTIC, OGRE/ERGO, ANSWER, SPAN, CROSS SWORDS.
Couldn’t parse IN SHOCK.
Thank you, Brendan and scchua
Rich @57: TWO and FOUR can be paired with ACROSS and DOWN to become part of the crossword theme.
Thanks Tony@60
A DNF, but a clever theme made me want to keep going.
Didn’t pick this up until late yesterday, and hardly made a dent in it. Did better this afternoon but got stuck on my last two. I got FOURSOME by writing down the letters and spaces, when it could only be that, and an eightsome reel eventually came to mind. But a lengthy clue for a four letter solution is always tricky, in my experience, and SPAN was no exception. (I was thinking of SPAY at one stage, with removing the valuable bits taking on a different meaning than the setter intended.)
Thanks to Brendan and Scchua.
An enjoyable solve
sh 63,
Well, I’m glad that someone has stretched out the attention span of this blog a bit. We bedtime solvers – I’m sure there are probably a few of us – generally find ourselves in a wilderness the next day.
Mrs. E cracked the harder nuts in this as ever, but I’d say that it was otherwise Piper’s Crisps on the PSRHS.
I liked REDISSOLVED a lot.
Is there something wrong with me? A beautiful crossword but I found it extraordinarily easy, no harder than an average Monday!!
… and scchua, you never cease to amaze me with your wondrous blogs. It took me far longer to enjoy your generous contribution than the puzzle itself, and nearly as coruscating!
Both puzzle and blog deserve an A+
Great puzzle as always from Brendan! Thanks for the fun.