Thank you to Yank. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Iron Man is a woman (6)
FEMALE : FE(symbol for the chemical element, iron) + MALE(a man).
4. Criticise character from Athens, thus creating sort of poetry (3,5)
RAP MUSIC : RAP(to criticise/pan) + MU(twelfth letter/character of the alphabet of the language of Athens, Greece) + SIC(Latin for “thus”/so, to indicate that something has been quoted as originally written).
Defn: … since it shouldn’t be called music.
9. Snack: portion of spinach ossobuco (6)
NACHOS : Hidden in(portion of) “spinach ossobuco”.
10. Photo, a character from long ago: outspoken rogue (8)
PICAROON : PIC(short for “picture”/a photo) + A + homophone of(… outspoken) “rune”(a character from an ancient/long ago alphabetic script).
Defn: …/scoundrel.
11. Engaged in drink, CIA annulled cryptic system of old Rome (6,8)
JULIAN CALENDAR : JAR(slang for a glass of beer or alcoholic drink) containing(Engaged in …, …) anagram of(… cryptic) CIA ANNULLED.
13. Plunderers’ music fest in part of Winchester? (5,5)
RIFLE STOCK : RIFLESTOCK(what you might call a music festival of plunderers/riflers, after Woodstock, the 60s music festival, a la “gate/Watergate” – I think). And I assume that the “rs” in “riflers” is dropped when forming the compound work.
Defn: …, a type of rifle.
14. Prey for an aardvark: one Contra (4)
ANTI : ANT(prey for an aardvark, an African mammal that feeds on ants, and termites) + I(Roman numeral for “one”).
Defn: …/opposite.
16. God backflips into canal (4)
SUEZ : Reversal of(… backflips) ZEUS(supreme god in Greek mythology).
18. Lifted off around two, say: it may require a shot (5,5)
FIELD EVENT : Anagram of(… off) LIFTED containing(around) EVEN(describing a number divisible by two, an example of which/say, is two, of course).
Answer: A … in athletics, an example of which/may is the shot put, using a heavy metal ball, a shot.
21. Get ogress irritated and annoyed with symbol (2,7,5)
ST GEORGE’S CROSS : Anagram of(… irritated) GET OGRESS plus(and) CROSS(annoyed/angered).
23. Smooth talker on X, say (8)
OPERATOR : Double defn: 1st: …/persuasive person; and 2nd: In mathematics, a symbol signifying an action to be done with specific values, of which X, the multiplier symbol, is an example/say.
24. Arrest in general location reversed (6)
COLLAR : Hidden in(in) reversal of(… reversed) “general location”.
Defn: …/capture.
25. Sob stories in Slate? (3,5)
SAD TALES : Reverse clue: Anagram of(SAD) TALES = SLATE.
26. Turkish bigwig covers arse, it may be hidden (6)
AGENDA : AGA(a title for a Turkish bigwig/respected man) containing(covers) END(one’s bottom/arse).
Down
1. Satisfactory punishment (4)
FINE : Double defn.
2. Ingredient of comfort food covering rear end of Shakespearean (7)
MACDUFF : MAC(short for “macaroni”, an ingredient of Mac and Cheese, comfort food) placed above(covering, in a down clue) DUFF(one’s buttocks/rear end).
Defn: A … character, specifically from the play, Macbeth.
3. Celebrated rugby player offside (8)
LIONISED : LION(a member of rugby union team, the British and Irish Lions) + anagram of(off) SIDE.
5. Amoebae and such travelled nautical miles, giving up sex in retrospect (11)
ANIMALCULES : Anagram of(travelled) [ “nautical miles” minus(giving up) reversal of(… in retrospect) “it”(euphemism for “sexual intercourse)” ].
Defn: An archaic term for microscopic organisms, ….
6. Lower, but greater (6)
MEANER : Double defn: 1st: …/more despicable; and 2nd: …/more excellent, as in “his talent is … than hers”
7. Originally, source (excessively loud noise) was a sub (5,2)
STOOD IN : 1st letter of(Originally) “source” + TOO(more than required/excessively) + DIN(loud noise/a racket).
Defn: …/substitute.
8. Hustler’s damage includes train wreck (3,6)
CON ARTIST : COST(expense/damage, as in “what’s the damage for this lunch?”) containing(includes) anagram of(… wreck) TRAIN.
12. Singer wanting cabbage to whip up piece in advance (3,4,4)
NAT KING COLE : COLE(term for the vegetable “cabbage” and the like) placed below(… in advance, in a down clue) [ reversal of(… up, in a down clue) TAN(to whip/beat severely) + KING(a piece in chess) ].
13. Don’t play at stalls where Yanks relieve themselves? (4,5)
REST STOPS : REST(to stop doing, eg. “don’t play”) plus(at) STOPS(stalls/ceases operation, such as with a motor vehicle).
15. Drunken peer falls into brewski-chugging contraption in drinkers’ diversion (4,4)
BEER PONG : Anagram of(Drunken) PEER contained in(falls into) BONG(a contraption, in this case a water pipe for smoking marijuana – I’m not sure of the connection with “brewski-chugging”/drinking beer rapidly).
Defn: …, a drinking game.
17. E, for Einstein? (7)
EGGHEAD : Reverse clue: 1st letter of(…HEAD) EGG = E.
Defn: An example of which/? is ….
19. € is based on this Greek character harboured by lone lunatic (7)
EPSILON : PSI(a character/letter in the Greek alphabet) contained in(harboured by) anagram of(… lunatic) LONE.
Defn: €, symbol for the euro currency is based on this Greek letter.
Answer: ε written in lower case.
20. 75% of plátanos turned into something romantic (6)
SONATA : Reversal of(… turned) 6 out of 8 letters of(75% of) “plátanos”.
22. Killer imprisoned in Windsor Castle (4)
ORCA : Hidden in(imprisoned in) “Windsor Castle”.
A fine finish to the week, this was a pleasant late night solve. I smiled at the image conjured up by SUEZ and also enjoyed RAP MUSIC, RIFLE STOCK, ST GEORGES CROSS, BEER PONG, REST STOPS and EGGHEAD. Was pleased to finish with the nho ANIMALCULES by working out the anagram fodder and having all the necessary crossers.
OPERATOR reminded me of this ear worm https://youtu.be/4TYv2PhG89A?si=0UPuFORXaE59qTlP
Ta Yank & scchua.
Comment #2
Thanks Yank and scchua
I’m adding Yank to my “don’t bother with” list. Too many US usages that were totally unfamilar to me. Take 13d, for example – I had heard of REST ROOMS, but not “stops”. DUFF for “rear end”? BEER PONG?
For 6D MEANER, I assumed that the second def referred to the informal use of ‘mean’ in expressions like ‘pack a mean punch’ or ‘make a mean scrambled eggs’. Wouldn’t expect to hear this in the comparative, though.
My only nitpicks here were ‘on’ as a connector in 23A (my LOI), and ‘brewski-chugging’ in the context of the bong. Enjoyed the rest immensely, particularly RIFLE STOCK.
I’ve enjoyed learning some new terms this morning. Useful additions to my vocabulary. Also, did not know the X meaning, scchua, thank you. I was thrown by entering REST ROOMS but I shouldn’t have done that as I was very unhappy with “rooms” as a synonym for “stalls.” Broke my own rule there: if you cannot parse it do NOT bung it in. Well done, Yank, on luring us into thinking this was too easy peasy and then clobbering us with unexpected but fair formulations.
Both Beer Pong and brewski-chugging unknown to me, but a device for the latter does seem to exist….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_bong
Great puzzle, lovely misdirections in places eg 25ac sad tales and 3d offside. Thanks to Yank and scchua
RIFLE STOCK my favourite, probably due to the time taken to get it! Patted myself on the back for knowing ANIMALCULES, despite trying to shoehorn in a version of unicellular for some time. Came here to figure out MEANER.
I can begin to have some sympathy with the French and their latest assault on English terms in everyday use (Black Friday being the most recent). Whatever happened to the Macaroni Cheese I grew up with? Now the US Mac and Cheese seems to have taken over…
Thanks Yank and scchua
Doofs @7
It’s usually the even worse “mac ‘n’ cheese”.
A slow start but once I got the 13s, it opened things up. Liked 23A OPERATOR for the maths link. Thanks to scchua and Yank.
Favourite: EPSILON because of ELON being anagram of ‘lone’ (lunatic).
New for me: BEER PONG; DUFF = rear end.
Was not keen on RIFLE STOCK as Woodstock was all about peace and love, whereas rifles are the opposite or at least about violence and killing.
I could not parse 12d and the mathematical bit of 23ac.
A number of things, not all of them American, that I didn’t know this morning: the beer BONG (thanks Emcsquared@6), OPERATOR=smooth talker, MEANER=more excellent, COLE=cabbage (couldn’t parse NAT KING COLE at all, though I guessed him from the enumeration), DUFF=rear – and I wouldn’t ever have thought of MAC’n’cheese=comfort food as I don’t like the stuff at all. So a rather unsatisfactory result. But I enjoyed many others, especially ANIMALCULES, JULIAN CALENDAR, PICAROON, RAP MUSIC. RIFLESTOCK made me smile. Thanks Yank, and scchua for the nicely illustrated blog.
Glittering prizes for EGGHEAD, LIONISED and the SMOOTH operator for the X misdirection – X also a place where comment #2 might be more at home
I also wondered about MEANER but figure “she plays a mean fiddle” was the required sense and Chambers has Skilful or Excellent (slang)
I thought there were very few Americanisms overall and we even got something to keep the flag-shaggers happy
Cheers S&Y
IMHO if an archaic term is used it should be indicated, particularly an esoteric one.
‘Amoebae and such once travelled nautical miles, giving up sex in retrospect’ would do it. 🙂
Thanks to Yank and scchua
I agree with Muffin#3 and #8. Not much joy for me with this setter.
Should have twigged the misdirection in RIFLE STOCK much sooner as I [re]watched Shaun of the Dead earlier this week. Recommended! Spoiler: the Winchester in the Winchester is loaded.
@Blaise But dogs CAN look up!
I found this tough but fair. I was surprised to see I’d fully parsed everything. I try to do the same as Terri @5 but sometimes plonk them in when the solution becomes evident. NAT KING COLE took a while to sort out, including a trip to dictionary corner for COLE.
Thanks to Yank and to scchua for a very clear blog.
From soaps, knew of mac and cheese, the drinking game beer pong. and that guzzle funnel, but dnk that the latter had pinched ‘bong’ from the pot scene. Duff for one’s sit-upon was another nho, and cole, tho assumed it’s from kohl. Otherwise pretty cruisy, ta both.
English speakers should be familiar with cole=cabbage from COLE SLAW.
I managed to finish and surprised myself in doing so! I enjoyed some it but agree with earlier comments, there was much that I didn’t like.
Now that I’ve completed this one, my admiration for mrpenney, Valentine, Tony S and all the other regular US-based commenters has increased exponentially.
Thank heaven for the check-button! Like muffin @3, I confidently started with REST ROOMS (even though the second word didn’t parse well) before being forced to switch to a hitherto unheard-of REST STOPS. Similarly, I was sure it had to be BEER SONG – but the check-button was equally adamant. With scant options available (I did try “american drinking games” in DuckDuckGo: bad idea!) I worked my way through the consonants… PONG. Ah.
And if DUFF means somebody’s bottom, I sympathise with any American encountering a dessert menu that includes Plum Duff…
EGGHEAD & SUEZ made me grin, the latter for its mental image, and I liked the surface to 22D.
Thanks Yank and scchua
This took a long time and I couldn’t see how MEANER = better. NHO DUFF in that sense, and a SONATA isn’t necessarily romantic (think of Prokofiev, for example). I don’t think RIFLE STOCK quite works. Too many little niggles for this to be entirely enjoyable, but thanks Yank for the workout and scchua for the working-outs.
That stretched my US GK a lot, but some nice clues all the same.
A nice steady solve to finish off the week. ANIMALCULES was new to me but eminently gettable from the word play, and I am pleased with myself for spotting the “giving up sex” trick that has confounded me in the past. Having spent half of my life now in the US, the American vocabulary did not throw me.
It is perhaps time to retire the female Iron Man, I think. It’s come up at least once before here, perhaps twice, as well as in other publications. (Of course, it may well already be in submitted crosswords currently stacked on the editor’s desk.)
REST STOPS, sometimes called rest areas, are higjway pullouts with toilet facilities (and often other amenities). It’s less of a euphemism than the related REST ROOM, since many of the users (such as over-the-road truckers) are in fact there to rest. (Truckers are required by law to spend a certain fraction of each workday, carefully logged, not driving.)
Both BEER PONG and beer BONG are creatures of the frathouse.
Pedantically × and x are not the same symbol. I always read it as “times” but I guess others say X. Fe + male has been in too often but I’ve not seen EGGHEAD before.
Ta both.
From “The Pirates Of Penzance”:
I’m very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General!
Good find Crispy! G&S always come through. Sorry for all the sufferers on the East side of the pond. (I’m waving from the West side). This didn’t feel esp. full of American phrases to me, but I guess it doesn’t take many to put folks off. Thanks Yank and scchua.
Agree with #1 a ‘fine finish to the week’. Playful and entertaining. As an offshore solver I’m acclimatised to working through different lexicons without complaining and adding to my general knowledge. For example, ‘jar’ being a glass of beer. Not obvious to non-drinker me. I also think this puzzle was friendlier than Yank can often be. Thanks.
Ditto Muffin #3
I was impressed with myself getting BEER PONG quickly before feeling a little bit of shame. I think it’s a result of growing up around movies like Marrican Pie and other teen-comedy coming of age movies around that time. Enjoyed that clue.
Other ticks for EPSILON, FIELD EVENT and ST GEORGES CROSS.
A fine end to the week thanks Yank and scchua
Almost finished it but revealed BEER PONG as I knew it would be something I didn’t know. Not happy with RIFLE STOCK like some others. Couldn’t parse MEANER but just about OK. You’d never hear the comparative in normal speech. Definitely time to retire female.
Incidentally Nat King Cole was a very fine pianist before he made his name as a singer.
Some nice clues in here though. Liked JULIAN CALENDAR, FIELD EVENT, ST GEORGES CROSS, EGGHEAD and EPSILON.
Thanks Yank and scchua for the excellent blog.
For Crispy @27, Nakamova @28 and other lovers of G and S (and Araucaria), who may have missed Soup’s reference, commenting on his Genius puzzle, earlier in the month, to the poem from Araucaria’s memorial service, written by his sister, Mary Holtby:
“He understands the meaning of Hamartia and Hendiadys,
Can name the Tribes of Israel and inform you what a Naiad is,
He soars above our dullness like a gleaming helicopter, a
Magician, or an eagle, or those curious Lepidoptera,
Which gaily cruise the continents, though storm winds seem implacable
And only by the experts can their enterprise be trackable.
As one who scarcely has the skill to trace a parallelogram
And from the dear familiar ounce has never learned to tell a gramme
I can’t decide if knowing him is pleasanter or scarier –
The man a famous critic calls ‘The Mighty Araucaria’ “
Another one not happy with RIFLESTOCK. I see the comparison with GATE, but that particular suffix has been used on numerous occasions when political scandals arise, but I can’t think of STOCK ever having been bunged on the end of a word for a festival.
Other than Americanisms, this was okay. I won’t avoid Yank, like some, but I won’t look forward to him either.
Well I really liked RIFLE STOCK which I thought was very amusing. STOCK certainly has been used as a suffix, as in Popestock, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more such clues.
Nice to see the much missed PICAROON at 10a.
Thanks to Yank and scchua.
I started strongly and thought this was going to be an easy Friday but I was soon disillusioned. I liked the irritated ogress with her ST GEORGE’S CROSS, the SAD TALES reverse anagram, the LIONISED rugby bloke offside, and the CON ARTIST’s damage. I didn’t know some of the Americanisms but the clues were solvable anyway.
Thanks Yank and scchua.
Some of the Americanisms were too much for me. Never heard of a beer pong, for instance. Or a bong in this meaning. Or “mean” for “excellent.” Just bunged in “meaner” and shrugged. Overall, though it was fun.
But RIFLE STOCK doesn’t mean a type of rifle, it means a part of one, specifically the wooden part at the back end that you jam into your shoulder.
Eileen, did you attend Araucaria’s memorial? And do you do the Genius puzzle, source of the admirable commemorative verse?
Thanks to my fellow Yank, if you are, and to scchua for the pictures.
Enjoyed this. Always find the comments fascinating. It seems we are more concerned about a few Americanisms than the liberal use of letters from a foreign alphabet, the name of a Turkish leader, or a character from a play written centuries ago. Crossword land does have an expectation of general knowledge which doesn’t always align with the modern world. No one seems to mind Nat King Cole as an answer, but I suspect that would not be a very helpful solution for a younger crossword solver. I love all the endless variety and idiosyncracies of our setters, and will happily take up the challenge against them all, win or lose.
For many years I was the Academic Director of an American summer school, where each wave of students would bring new Americanisms to enjoy and absorb, including BEER PONG and ‘brewski-chugging’. I therefore did not baulk at these ‘creatures of the frathouse’, as mrpenney calls them @25. Nor did REST STOPS detain me. I have an old acquaintance who on her cv declares herself to be bilingual in American English and English English, and it is a useful skill. Anna in Helsinki would no doubt be horrified. That said, on a different tack, the presence of MAC in 2d has scuppered my dinner plan and sent me down the road to buy the necessities for making macaroni cheese (with chips), comfort food of the gods. It has been about three years.or more.
Valentine @ 37
I did attend the memorial service (not the funeral) for Araucaria, along with a number of other 15² contributors, in January 2014. The poem was printed on the back of the Order of Service and I’ve treasured it ever since.
As for the Genius puzzle, I’ve only ever managed to solve a handful of them over the years (one by Araucaria) and haven’t attempted one for a long time now but I quite regularly look at the blogs, which usually confirm that the puzzles are now way beyond me.
I didn’t get round to Yank’s puzzle today but, again, happened to read the blog.
If you are doing a crossword by a setter named Yank, surely that is fair warning that a few bits of American vocabulary and usage are to be expected? We are already supposed to deal with Latin, French, German, Italian and Spanish, plus the occasional Irish or Australian usage, plus all the huge regional variations within the UK, and mostly we do so without complaint (apart from the perennial rhotic disputes). And our many non-UK solvers seem to cope with some very parochial British stuff.
I often note things that were new to me, but from me at least this should never be taken as a complaint, just a fact.
I, as a British person, had no problem with DUFF = ‘rear end’.
‘Kick up the duff’ was a fairly common expression when and where I grew up – along with ‘punch up the bracket’.
Andrew @42
Curious use of “up the duff” – it usually means “pregnant”! (Apparently a further development of “in the pudding club”)
Could someone explain egghead for me. I just can’t see it
muffin @43
Gosh, yes – I had completely forgotten that usage.
This was a bit of a ho-hum puzzle for me. MEANER was LOI, probably trying to overthink it, but still not sure anyone anywhere has used the comparative form of mean=great.
Didn’t know the non-pot-smoking meaning of bong. What does that say about me?
As for RAP MUSIC, a contradiction in terms, my younger son said when he was 8: “The C is silent in rap”.
Valentine, if you haven’t heard of beer pong, it means you spent your college years drinking responsibly or not at all, so good work. (There are several variants, but all involve landing a ping-pong ball into a half-full cup of beer. This being college, it’s usually the cheapest beer available.)
I justified MEANER with a phrase such as “He plays a mean game of tennis”, which is a compliment; but as others have said, the comparative form doesn’t seem likely to be useful. I agree with you that it still seems dodgy.
Tim#44 An EGGHEAD used colloquially means a brainy person, as was Einstein.
brian-with-an-eye@22 I hesitated to put SONATA in for the same reason.
And the ‘head’ (first letter) of EGG is E
Thanks crossbar and alphalpha.
Still don’t get it. Yes I know an egghead is a brainy person ( unlike me) but I don’t see how the E or the head relate to Einstein. I don’t see how you get egghead from the clue, other than knowing that egghead is an example of a clever person
All the info is there
[Eileen @33:
Thank you very much for that!
Clearly Araucaria’s sister was as brilliant with words as he was, which, to be honest, doesn’t surprise me.]
@Alphalpha
Perhaps – like me – the original poster is not convinced that using the single letter E to clue Egghead (in spite of the letter ‘e’ obviously being the first letter of the word egg) is acceptable
It’s not well known that NAT KING COLE was one of the half dozen greatest jazz pianists of the pre-bop era. It was a great loss to the music when he gave up the instrument ( publicly at least).
Balfour and Cellomaniac, if you don’t know his trio recordings with Lester Young I strongly recommend them.
Tim#44 & 51 It’s what’s known as a reverse clue where the solution is a clue to the clue or part of it., if that makes any sort of sense. Egghead gives you the E of the clue, Einstein was a brainy physicist (also used colloquially for a brainbox) and E=mc² is his most famous equation.
Enjoyable mix of easy and challenging clues. FOI 1a FEMALE is a great clue, but we have seen it a few times, so that went in straight away. LOI 26a AGENDA was an enjoyable definition and pdm. Not convinced by many of the surfaces, though
Favourites were 3d LIONISED (good surface, and good use of “offside”), 6d MEANER (tricky DD), 8d CON ARTIST (“train wreck”), 12d NAT KING COLE (what a great name!), 22d ORCA (“Windsor Castle”)
The definition for 20d is questionable. There were certainly plenty of SONATAs composed before the Romantic period (Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, etc.), and after (brian-with-an-eye@22)
2d MACDUFF, Mac and Cheese is definitely comfort food for Mrs Mig!
Crispy@34, yes, I’ve seen “STOCK” used as a suffix for music festivals. My sister-in-law, for example, gathers her female friends for a whimiscally-named “CHICKSTOCK” in her back yard!
Tim@51, maybe think whimsical double definition:
1. E = first letter of “Egg” = EGGHEAD
2. Einstein = brainy person = EGGHEAD
Thanks both
As AlanC#1 said a fine end to the week, though I must confess the first pass yielded very little and I was expecting the worst. A short break and return was far more fruitful and I eventually completed it without recourse to reveals but with a few guesses and use of crossers. I can’t claim it was fully parsed, but that’s why we have this wonderful blog. Worryingly, I had no problem with the Americanisms and was all over BEER PONG, REST STOPS et al but floundered on ANIMALCULES which was LOI and guessed from crossers, which no doubt says more about me and my younger days than it does about this puzzle.
As always thanks to Yank and of course Scchua.
I know Nat King Cole from an LP of his cover of the songs from the musical My Fair Lady (a screen version of GBS’ Pygmalion I think). Saw the film later – Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Liked the King’s jazz version of many of the songs. Film was brilliant though!
Thanks both
Thanks Baerchen #54 and Crossbar #56.
Fairly new to crosswords, not come across reverse clueing before. My thoughts entirely Baerchen, very unsatisfactory clueing imho
Although beer pong may have been named in the US, I think we’re seeing a generational difference. My house in London was used for a 21st Birthday party last weekend (apologies to my neighbours) and we returned several ping pong balls to the Beer Pong set in the kitchen for return to its owner. I’m pretty sure that most British under-30s would recognise the phrase.
I’m very used to the phrase rest stop being used in novels so it wasn’t a surprise to me.
When I lived in West Yorkshire a local village had their annual Brigstock festival,
I really enjoyed this offering from Yank, even if rap for criticise took me far too long, I was hung up on “pan” for a long time. Thanks Yank and also sschua for a great blog.
Thanks for the blog , I found it very interesting and original , a lot of variety and clever wordplay . a neat bit of fission for LIONISED .
RIFLE STOCK – Plundererers like to rifle so call their festival by this name .
Pigs call their festival Rootstock , spliff makers attend Rollingstock . Clowns go to Laughingstock .
Apologies, the festival on the Calder vValley was Brodstock.
‘Two’ does not fairly lead to EVEN. Yes two is an even number but you can’t just clue by association. You would not use ‘tree, say’ as wordplay for ‘green’.
‘Operator’ on its own simply does not mean ‘smooth talker’. Again, it’s clueing by association.
Does the editor actually ever edit?
I agree with several others above in disliking this crossword and disliking all crosswords by Yank, I’m afraid. Rather baffled by the mods on the Guardian site removing my comments (which were along those lines). First time that’s ever happened to me – very strange!
Chambers has “a crooked or calculating person” for OPERATOR, which doesn’t seem a million miles away from a smooth talker. I felt the pluses LIONISED, RAP MUSIC, NAT KING COLE especially outweighed any negatives.
Having read the blog, it looks like a good crossword. However, it was way above my standard.
re 19d – EPSILON. The habit appears to be creeping back into the Guardian crossword of using words associated with mental illness as anagrinds. It was confirmed many years ago that this was not the done thing for the Guardian.
Sorry, Yank. I don’t mind the odd Americanism, but not this many! Are we now the 52nd state (I’m sure Mr Drumpf thinks so)
I just started this morning reading Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks, and just a handful of pages in from the start he used the word ANIMALCULES. Funny how that happens!
Thanks both.
A very mixed reaction reflects my own feelings but I did think EGGHEAD alone was worth the entrance fee – if there had been one.
Roz@62: chuckle at the clowns
Contrary to some of the negative comments above, Ginger Tom and I absolutely loved this puzzle! Beer pong is played regularly in our tennis club by the younger members, here in Manchester England. I believe we old folks need to try and keep up with the younger generation re tech, music etc. I have to admit that we have no idea what brewski-chugging has to do with 15 down!
Keep up the good work Yank and thanks for the excellent blog Scchua.
I enjoyed this crossword overall, but as well as agreeing with Mig@57 about SONATA I really don’t like “operator” meaning “X”. The mathematical symbol is _not_ a capital X (nor even a lowercase x, though it looks more like that than it does like the capital X) and while of course anyone’s welcome to write an X instead that letter just isn’t a mathematical operator, it’s merely an X.
Wow, lots to comment on from the comments:
scchua (blog) and DrWhatsOn@46, I agree, rap is poetry, not music. Its origins go back to the beat poets of the 1950s.
brian-eith-an-eye@28, Zoot@49, Mig@57, I too hesitated with 20d SONATA, although the wordplay was obvious. Thinking romantically, Yank could have written “turned into something moonlit?”
Zoot@55, re NAT KING COLE, yes. I recall that Oscar Peterson once said that the two pianists who influenced him most were Art Tatum and Nat King Cole. I think the blues-y side of his playing came from Cole.
To add to gladys@41, when non-UK solvers complain about too many UK-specific clues, UK solvers say “It’s a British crossword, you should expect Britishisms”, but when the shoe is on the other foot – and Yank’s name says it all – some of them make the equivalent complaint. I think neither side should be complaining, and we should enjoy the differences between our regional languages.
And finally, thanks Eileen@33 (and Mary Holtby, of course) for the absolutely brilliant G&S/Araucaria patter song.
Have never heard the 2nd def of meaner used in real life. Had to reveal that one and a few others. Got RIFLE STOCK early and was pleased with myself. Perhaps it says something about my youth that both BEER PONG and brewski-chugging were quick solves.
Had to check that BEER PONG & BEER BONG were things, & also that ANIMALCULES was a word. Was grateful for the smattering of more straightforward clues. Am happy to tackle the odd crossword peppered with Americanisms & found this on the whole stimulating & enjoyable.
As for MEANER in an approbatory sense, I think Jan & Dean’s 1960s hit “Little Old Lady from Pasadena” may be an example of this:
“Everybody’s saying that there’s nobody meaner / Than the little old lady from Pasadena.”
Although to be fair it isn’t certain, as it goes on:
“She drives real fast & she drives real hard / She’s the terror of Colorado Boulevard.”
From the general thrust of the lyrics though, I get the impression there is at least a sneaking admiration of the lady’s motoring skills.
Forgot to add – Eileen @33, thank you for sharing that marvellous eulogy.
Amen to Zoot @55 on Nat Cole’s piano playing. Look for his 1945 sessions with Lester Young and the young Buddy Rich.
I accept that if you are writing equations, you do need to distinguish between x the classic unknown quantity and × the operator. But we are not writing equations here and I am not convinced that the classic use of times=x in crosswordese is wrong. All sorts of visual equivalences find their way into wordplay: round for O (though it often isn’t), spectacles for oo, rugby post for H and so on.
Just for the record, regarding EGGHEAD. A number of dictionaries agree with the brainy/academic sense, but add that the term is usually used disapprovingly. I’ve never encountered anyone disapproving of Einstein. Not sure the question-mark helps.
WhatsOn @80: how about the generic use of Einstein: “The traffic pattern at this junction is maddening–what Einstein at IDOT came up with it?”
I thought this was really good. I find Yank quite tricky, but a generous grid allowed for a helpful amount of bung ‘n’ parse. A beer bong is one of those things that shouldn’t be tried more than once. The STOCK suffix has been in common use for festivals since at least the mid 1990s (so hardly a neologism) – the first use I can remember was in that estimable movie “Wayne’s World 2” where the plot (such as it is) revolves around the title character’s efforts to organise a rock music festival called “Waynestock”. (As an aside, anyone who doesn’t find the Wayne’s World films funny needs their head examining.) All the so-called Americanisms in here are easily achievable for anyone who has watched a handful of American films. And refusing to watch American films is a bit like someone in the 1500s refusing to look at Italian paintings. Favourite EGGHEAD.
We thought this was an interesting but awkwardly mixed crossword with some clues so sillily easy that we suspected our answer must be wrong, others in the way of old chestnuts (EGGHEAD and FEMALE) and others quite hard, some because like others we’d never heard of them (eg BEER PONG, ANIMALCULE) and others as many have already discussed here because the cluing wasn’t quite spot on. So a lot of pencil for us, and in the absence of a check button, one wrong answers PAN MUSIC ( it’s meditative apparently, perhaps like poetry — hmm) and one forgotten when BUMP, BULL and then BUNG for the outer parts of the anagram in BEER PONG were finally demolished by the crossers.
BUT I do like having a US setter! How about an Aussie as well. New Zealander? Canadian? Indian…..
Being from the other side of the pond and struggling sometimes with extremely British phrases, I do enjoy having americanisms involved in the odd crossword.
I enjoyed it too! RIFLE STOCK seems pretty great to me, with neat junction of a rifle stock being part of a rifle, -stock being a solid festival suffix for this Canadian at least, and rifling being what ruffians do. I liked it. And yes, given how often I’m expected to know cricket terms and such, fair play!
+ or * are mathematical operators. X is a variable. Oh well- antelope eland springbok oryx..
Yes, Manoj @86 – my thoughts entirely. I had a big argument with my husband about that but it turned out he had the right answer all along.
manoj @86
If X is to be read as “times”, it is an operator. However I agree that it’s much more obviously a variable. (Please explain the antelopes.)
Much more to my liking after the pummelling of Wednesday & Thursday. Made steady progress from top downwards with a bit of a sticky patch in the bottom of the lower half. Thanks Yank, thanks sschua.
I found this an interesting mix – some really imaginative stuff and a few which made me flinch. I didn’t waste time trying to parse MACDUFF, and simply made up ANIMALCULES to find that it worked, as is surprisingly often the case.It had to be BEER PONG, but had no idea what that was.
[Cloud’s coming in from the West, so eastern parts perhaps luckiest for the partial lunar eclipse around 0500?]
Thanks all.
Have to agree with Brian, Mig, G, Zoot, Cello etc, SONATA is wrongly clued; ‘romantic’ doesn’t cover baroque (when sonatas became a thing), classical or contemporary. Great puzzle otherwise, but dare I guess classical music is not Yank’s (or the Editor’s) bag.
I’ve seen beer-funnelling done but didn’t know the device had a name, let alone that it was shared with the water-pipe. Couldn’t be anything else, though. I knew “rear end” in 2d solely from the expression “Get off your DUFF!”
I took MEAN-ER to be a similar wordplay to that in “slipper[-]y” or JUG-ULAR in recent puzzles; I’d have been happier if the clue had ended in a question mark. I share a couple of the other quibbles that have been raised above, but none enough to spoil the fun.
On my first pass I put _Energie_ in 17d, quite pleased with myself. It wasn’t until some considerable time later, when ST GEORGES jumped out at me, that I realized it needed a rethink. Per mrpenney @81, I suppose the equivalence is not so much calling Einstein an egghead as calling eggheads “Einsteins”, so to speak. But the E remained a mystery to me: indeed I failed to parse either “reverse clue”—a new device to me. I’m also naïve enough to have chuckled at FEMALE.
I agree with Gladys@79 , any X will do as a multiplication sign in a crossword clue . From a young age I was taught to write the variable as a “curly x” , I can’t show it with this keyboard , like the letter c back to back .
Etu@90 , a day late , the eclipse was yesterday and yes the clouds ruined it in the West .
Roz 93, [ just as well I didn’t get up then. Sorry about the cloud. Tsk. That’s a bit like what happened to my son and me in Cornwall, 1999, but the black wall racing through the clouds towards us was a spectacle of a different kind all of its own. I remember a total eclipse of the moon back in the 1980s – I guess – on a starry winter night with the dim red moon high among the stars – a truly singular sight]
I didn’t get PICAROON as I had STAND IN for 7down – it seemed to parse the same. but otherwise a good solve and I liked RIFLE STOCK and EGGHEAD particularly…
Etu@94 , the clouds spoil everything . In my star-gazing diary my usual entry is one word – cloudy . Lunar eclipses are fairly frequent of various degrees . It is quite rare for nearly total at a moonset which is what I really wanted to see .
Full moonsets always coincide with my morning swim .
Very disheartened by the dismissal of rap as an artistic genre of music in the blog and comments. This is what has happened throughout history for all black artforms like jazz soul blues and rock, and make no mistakes it is just racist. Including Dr WhatsOns 8 year old son. I expected better from this website
Breaking my vow of silence, I’m with Eddie @ 97.
Back to being quiet…
Gil Scott Heron has some claims for first rap records and certainly a poet .
Rap music is as poetic as any other music with lyrics. Some rap music doesn’t have any music! Not very poetic at all. Some rap music is of course very poetic but as a genre calling it a form of poetry is outdated and wrong.
I don’t see how suggesting that rap is poetry, not music, is racist. It’s just a comment on the definition of the art form. And I wasn’t in any way denigrating the artistic merits of rap poetry.
Incidentally, my comment traced the origin of rap back to the beat poets of the 1950s, who were predominantly white, and calling the likes of Alan Ginsberg’s work poetry, not music, doesn’t strike me as racist.
Roz 96,
[Yes, total lunar eclipses are about 150 times more common than solar ones. The one that I saw was purely by chance. I find meteorological spectacles at least as mesmerising as celestial ones, and the last few months have been a desert in that regard too.]
FWIW at this late stage, I enjoyed and was challenged by this puzzle. The intersecting RIFLE STOCK, ANINALCULES (bith nho) and JULIAN CALENDAR were amongst the longest hold-outs, which of course being long and central presented me with some obstacles. Fave was undoubtedly SUEZ, with LIONISED and NAT KING COKE completing the podium.
I must say that the majority of the negativity on here seems like sour grapes to me. Aside from the misclassification of SONATA, the clueing seems perfectly solid. EGGHEAD is a textbook inversion clue, examples of which crop up fairly routinely although it’s a lesser-used and advanced clue type. And if you haven’t heard of the Americanisms (all of which except REST STOPS – mac and cheese alas included – are used in Britain) then you’re in the wrong age or cultural bracket, which is no more a problem than the use of classical poetry, tedious team sports or Musical Hall performers is for others.
I teased out REST STOPS, assured that I would (and indeed did) know it; but in truth I couldn’t tell you from where I must have absorbed it. X is as much the multiplication sign as a 0 is an O or a 1 an I, those last cropping up almost daily, so that quibble seems particularly shortsighted.
As for MEANER, I’m surprised even mrpenney questioned it because surely “that beer is lighter but it packs a meaner punch” is perfectly natural-sounding, again even to British ears.
I for one look forward to the next Yank (and yes we’ll know what’s in store, just as with all Guardian setters). Thanks both!
We visited our niece and her family in Liverpool yesterday, and she mentioned that they had been to the Bickerstock festival in the nearby village of Bickerstaffe 🙂
I just wanted to reiterate that I thought RIFLE STOCK was a great clue — thanks Yank.
#101 do you have any credible references for tracing rap to the Beats? I am finding nothing in the usual places. Gil Scott Heron and spoken-word seem to be closer to the origins. Plus, as it stands today, it refers to the genre of music so calling it poetry is a bit outdated- kinda like the old man who used phrases like people of Asian persuasion in the cohousing I used to live in.
My lack of knowledge but could someone explain 25a SAD TALES to me more simply please – I don’t understand the concept of reverse anagram or where the SAD comes from?
Slate is an anagram of tales, so it is “sad tales” with sad being the anagram.
I meant anagrind, but autocorrect thought differently.
Many thanks – I understand now.