The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30105.
Vulcan fulfills his usual task of providing a gentle start to the week’s solving.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TREASURE |
Love endless free entertainment? Indeed (8)
|
| A charade of TREA[t] (‘free entertainment’) minus its last letter (‘endless’) plus SURE (‘indeed’). | ||
| 5 | ISLAND |
Is not sea, but is in it (6)
|
| A charade of ‘is’ plus LAND (‘not sea’). | ||
| 9 | RAG TRADE |
It’s the fashion to purchase from this business (3,5)
|
| Cryptic definition. It is tempting to try to make some wordpay from RAGE and TRADE, but I cannot see how that would work. | ||
| 10 | MEDIUM |
Person entranced that is often called happy (6)
|
| Double definition (‘entranced’ as in a trance). | ||
| 11 | EVENTIDE |
Flow that’s regular late in the day (8)
|
| A charade of EVEN (‘regular’) plus TIDE (‘flow’). | ||
| 12 | FINALS |
Late stages of World Cup seen in Netherlands, Belarus and Wales (6)
|
| FINAL S: ‘NetherlandS BelaruS and WaleS’. | ||
| 14 | PICCALILLI |
Relish saying ‘Choose a flower’ (10)
|
| Sounds like (‘saying’) PICK A LILY (‘choose a flower’). | ||
| 18 | REANIMATED |
With new energy, admire neat dancing (10)
|
| An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘admire neat’. | ||
| 22 | CONKER |
Reportedly overcome hard nut (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘reportedly’) CONQUER (‘overcome’). | ||
| 23 | SERAGLIO |
Gaoler is to reorganise women’s quarters (8)
|
| An anagram (‘to reorganise’) of ‘gaoler is’. | ||
| 24 | IN TOTO |
Completely at home with Dorothy’s pet (2,4)
|
| A charade of IN (‘at home’) plus TOTO (‘Dorothy’s pet’ dog in The Wizard of Oz). | ||
| 25 | CARTHAGE |
Ancient city prison: pictures initially hung in it? (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in it’) of ART (‘pictures’) plus H (‘initially Hung’) in CAGE (‘prison’). | ||
| 26 | ESCAPE |
Key exercise, to trap a fly (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to trap’) of ‘a’ in ESC (‘key’ top left if you have a full keyboard) plus PE (physical ‘exercise’). | ||
| 27 | VELOCITY |
Love to break down large town fastness? (8)
|
| A charade of VELO, an anagram (‘to break down’) of ‘love’ plus CITY (‘large town’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TARGET |
Given time, smash great goal (6)
|
| A charade of T (‘time’) plus ARGET, an anagram (‘smash’) of ‘great’. | ||
| 2 | EAGLET |
Young bird caught by beagle terrified (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘caught by’) ‘bEAGLE Terrified’. | ||
| 3 | STRATA |
Working on skills, turning up in more than one bed (6)
|
| A reversal (‘turning up’ in a down light) of AT (‘working on’) plus ARTS (‘skills’). | ||
| 4 | RED ADMIRAL |
Senior Soviet officer, one previously safely cocooned (3,7)
|
| Definition (the butterfly, prior to emergence, was in a cocoon) and literal interpretation. | ||
| 6 | SPECIAL K |
No ordinary king’s breakfast? (7,1)
|
| A charade of SPECIAL (‘no ordinary’) plus K (‘king’) for the packaged cereal. | ||
| 7 | AMICABLE |
Is the crossword setter to appear on television as friendly? (8)
|
| A charade of AM I? (‘is the crossword setter?’) plus (‘to appear on’) CABLE (‘television’). | ||
| 8 | DOMESTIC |
Maid accustomed to home (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 13 | ACCELERATE |
A cold salad plant not quite consumed: hurry up! (10)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus C (‘cold’) plus CELER[y] (‘salad plant’) minus its last letter (‘not quite’) plus ATE (‘consumed’). | ||
| 15 | PRACTICE |
Cost to hold part of play rehearsal (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to hold’) of ACT (‘part of play’) in PRICE (‘cost’). | ||
| 16 | MAGNETIC |
Showing a natural ability to draw? (8)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 17 | SIDESTEP |
Avoid son, despite staggering (8)
|
| A charade of S (‘son’) plus IDESTEP, an anagram (‘staggering’) of ‘despite’. | ||
| 19 | TATTOO |
Pageant shows tasteless stuff as well (6)
|
| A charade of TAT (‘tasteless stuff’) plus TOO (‘as well’). | ||
| 20 | ALKALI |
Walk a little, holding lime or soda perhaps (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘holding’) in ‘wALK A LIttle’, with ‘lime’ being calcium oxide or hydroxide, and ‘soda’, sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. | ||
| 21 | COMEDY |
Will’s play full of errors? Dante’s was divine (6)
|
| Double definition: references to Shakespeare’s play A Comedy of Errors and Dante’s poem The Divine Comedy. |
Good fun. I managed one of the UK clues (PICCALILLI) but had to reveal the other (CONKER). My first guess for 10a was LARRY, which didn’t have enough letters …
Vulcan with a variety of stimuli — Treasure Island, Rag Trade, Escape Velocity, the Comedies, and Carthage, which always evokes Dido’s haunting Lament in Purcell’s opera, or you could have Mozart via Seraglio. Lovely, many thanks V and Peter.
Thanks Peter – I guess we have the other pairs: TARGET PRACTICE and DOMESTIC COMEDY as well as those Grant @2 spotted. IN TOTO doesn’t seem so charming once Toto is identified as a dog. Thanks to Vulcan.
There isn’t really a word fast-ness meaning high speed, hence the question mark, but it’s a fun clue, like the FINAL S which earned me a bash from the tea tray when the light finally dawned.
I particularly enjoyed ISLAND. I took the def, ‘is in it’, to specifically reference the IS abbreviation for ‘island’ that is in the aforementioned sea. I suspect PeterO spotted that but it is not emphasised in the blog.
Thanks both
Didn’t notice the word pairs until the end – a nice touch. PICCALILLI and SPECIAL-K sounds like the breakfast from hell 🙂
Top ticks for ISLAND, FINALS & SERAGLIO just because it’s a lovely word to say
Cheers P&V
I solved but could not parse 12ac – soccer clues make my brain switch off 😉 Got a clue to the parsing when reading the comments btl/online and finally parsed it as final letter S before coming here 🙂
New for me: lime and soda being alkaline (for 20d). Haha, soccer and science are two of my weak points.
Favourites: COMEDY, ISLAND.
Good Monday morning fare. I failed to notice the word pairs round the outside, but that’s usual for me.
Liked SPECIAL K, PICCALILLI and the well hidden ALKALI which was my loi.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
I didn’t understand the blog for 10A where an alternative definition of MEDIUM is “often called happy”.
Grateful if someone could explain.
A blessed relief after the mauling I took from Enigmatist at the weekend. (More on that later, no doubt).
Confess to having to Google PICCALILLI for the spelling, but otherwise all fairly clued.
Many thanks, both.
Happy medium.
TonyM @11
Thanks.
Lovely touch with the pairings. My favourites were SPECIAL K and PICCALILLI.
Ta Vulcan & PeterO.
Long time since I have eaten SPECIAL K for breakfast. Last two in were Hannibal’s city and MAGNETIC. Vulcan always manages to skilfully pitch the Monday puzzle at just the right level imho…
Not too taxing, despite sparse N-S linkage; I’m another who missed the paired solutions. Snookered myself by misspelling PICCALILLI. TTS&B
Quite enjoyed this but thought 26 was weak, given the key in question is formally the Escape key – spent too long trying to find some kind of triple definition til the penny dropped.
Michelle @7 – as the clue doesn’t specifically mention soccer, and plenty of other sports have World Cups, you could just assume it’s something else and see if your brain stays switched on next time 😜
I found this tougher than usual for a Monday.
Did not get 16d (CDs are my weak spot), so DNF for me. Plenty of smiles along the way, nonetheless.
I always have to look up the correct spelling of PICCALILLI (even when writing it on my shopping list – which no-one else will see).
Is 5a an &lit? It’s a lovely clue however parsed.
Is there a theme with the four outside double words? Thanks both.
Isn’t SERAGLIO a lovely word. Can anyone remember who once clued it as “A pound of sultanas”?
AlexinSG@16 I’m not sure I understand the objection to ESC? Yes, it is short for Escape, but it is labeled ESC on every English-language keyboard I have ever seen, and is pretty common in Guardian crosswords. (Another favorite is ALT.) As far as abbreviations go, I’ve seen far worse here!
Blaise @21 This was before my time, but I have seen it attributed to Rufus, who seems to have used it for SERAGLIO and HAREM. Someone may remember when and which came first.
Ideal Monday puzzle, not hard but certainly not a quiptic either. DOMESTIC and MEDIUM took me as long as the entire rest of the puzzle, for no good reason. Favourite ISLAND.
Gentle start to the week….
I needed innumerable checks, guesses and reveals.
Would it help my chronic solving inabilities if I read the clues like Yoda?
Thank you for the blog and solutions.
Blaise@21
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/25359
18d
Tricky for a Monday. Couldn’t figure out 10a MEDIUM, so entered HELIUM just for kicks, which was obviously wrong. Others took some doing. Didn’t notice the phrases on the outside edge until starting to read the blog
A very fine collection of clues, without any standing out as favourites
Thanks both
Cliveinfrance@26 Interesting to read the blog for that puzzle:
https://fifteensquared.net/2011/06/27/guardian-25359-rufus/
The clue doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression at the time, but it lives on as one of the great classics
Nice crossword. Not difficult but not too simple either. Had to check seraglio once I’d got every other letter in it. Not heard of that word. 26a could have been clued better. Escape IS the key, esc is the abbreviation. Good fun though!
Thanks, Mig and Cliveinfrance (or should I say merci). For me, the other great classic is “Bar of soap (3, 6, 6)”. Araucaria, I think?
Mig@28
https://fifteensquared.net/2012/02/13/guardian-25557-rufus
This was when Rufus replicated the clue but changed the answer which did get a bigger response. Eileen was the blogger. You can track Seraglio and Harem in the archieves
Blaise@30
Rufus again 24184 but see comment in his 1,000th 24966
Clive @32 – Just looked at 24966 – it’s a Paul?
Oops 24946 comment is by Rufus towards end
Steffen @25. Yoda speak can often be helpful.
The main thing is not to treat the apparently meaningful sentence which forms the clue as actually meaningful. There are exceptions to this, but it usually helps to try to identify bits of wordplay or potential definitions, rather than trying to make sense of the (surface reading of the) clue.
This restored my faith in the joy of crosswords after last week’s slogs.
Smiles for 5a and 6d. Simple pleasures. 😃
I agree with Alex @16 that ESCAPE is a bit weak. The wordplay ‘key’=ESC is frequently used, and “esc” is short for escape. Another weak one was COMEDY, in my opinion (it’s just GK, isn’t it?) .
Perhaps the best clues were the ones that begin with ‘Love’ – 1a where it is the definition and 27a where it took me ages to see it was fodder, rather than an O inserted somewhere between ‘down’ and ‘large town’. The tea tray clanged when ‘fastness’ was not a stronghold but a crypticity. (Is there such a word?)
Thanks to Vulcan for a good start to the week, and PeterO for not making me feel totally stupid when MEDIUM was my pre-penultimate answer.
Just getting back into cryptic crosswords so starting with Monday’s Guardian ones. Enjoyed today’s but didn’t get Magnetic, Tattoo or Alkali (all obvious now!)
Thanks 15 squared for easing me back into the cryptic conventions and parsing.
In 10a, is a medium not the one who allegedly does the trancing, instead of being tranced?
Found this quite tough for a Monday. nho SERAGLIO.
Still, better than the last 3 dailies from last week.
Thanks for the blog , do not like this grid at all and failed to notice the perimeter .
Perfect timing , you give people enough chances and they refuse to take them . Everybody a KPR striker these days .
Steffen@39 the medium usually goes into a trance to contact their spirit-guide , invariably this is an old Native-American who speaks perfect modern English .
Steffen: the medium is the one who pretends to be in a trance and providing a means to communicate with the dead. It’s the singular of the Latin plural media, which is now used for terms like “social media” and “mass media”.
Roz@42. I wrote and sent a version of my post #44, but it failed to send. Probably clashed with your #41 or – dare I say it? – #42.
Perhaps the site has been adjusted to only allow bright yellow squares to occupy 42 , the site did request this but perhaps now they are enforcing it .
That seems about as likely as a long deceased Native American speaking perfect modern English through a MEDIUM.
When did 15sq adopt the practice of including the clue in the blog? Looking back at the links to old puzzles, I was struck by its omission, and by how much easier it is to follow nowadays.
I don’t think that RED ADMIRAL pupae enclose themselves in cocoons. Few butterflies do.
Tough for a Monday. Grid unhelpful. Got about halfway through. Thanks for explaining 5A, 10A, 7D and 8D. All a mystery to me. I guessed 12A but couldn’t parse it.
Jeceris @48 – Having been doing some old crosswords (2010), I noticed that the blogs back then didn’t include the clues, which meant a bit of toing and froing between windows
crispy, jerceris
You need to search the archive.
It depended on the blogger, some had the clue, some didn’t but from mid 2012 more bloggers started to reproduce the clue.
https://fifteensquared.net/2012/07/31/guardian-25702-thank-you-peedee/
This blog shows the change which was requested by both bloggers and solvers. The link doesn’t function now.Before 2012 it was rare to see clue , after it became more common, now the clue is always reproduced
Joseph @22, I think AlexinSG’s objection is not to the abbreviation as such, but over the overlap with the solution—that is, that the clue could have been just the double definition “Key fly”. So perhaps more of an aesthetic criticism than a matter of correctness or fairness.
I was somewhat daunted after my run through the Across column had yielded only two solutions, but a generous handful of Downs got me well on my way. Like Steppie @15 et al., I was held up a bit by misspelling PICCALILLI at first. At 25a I was well misdirected, thinking ‘either Bastille or something with a P in it’ for quite a while, until the fourth crosser (20d) suddenly made it clear. (Clues where the solution is embedded literally can be the easiest, in a way, but I rarely think to look for those until I’ve run out of other ideas.)
Thanks Odysseus – yes, the clue was fair but when ‘escape’ is definition and an abbreviation of ‘escape’ is part of wordplay, that’s not really a strong clue.
A game of two halves, or rather, four quarters it was, but with a kind perimeter.
Yes, Yoda-speak (typical Welsh syntax) is helpful. (It’s Brains you want).
Cheers all.
I.6.
1604–
The quality of being fast in one’s movements or actions, esp. high speed, swiftness.
Only in occasional use; never an established alternative to speed, swiftness, rapidity.