Apologies for a delayed and slightly rushed blog. An interesting mix of clues today, and my favourites were 22ac, 23ac, 28ac, and 8dn. Thanks to Yank for the puzzle
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BETA MALES |
Sheep exist on Mexican food (4,5)
|
| definition: “Sheep” suggesting followers rather than leaders
BE=”exist” + TAMALES=”Mexican food” |
||
| 6 | GROOM |
Cake figurine, stable character (5)
|
| definition refers to figurines of the groom and bride on a wedding cake
wordplay/second definition: a groom is also someone who can be found in a stable for horses i.e. a “stable character” |
||
| 9 | CANOE |
Rickety ocean craft (5)
|
| anagram/”Rickety” of (ocean)* | ||
| 10 | GAME POINT |
Willing to end court situation (4,5)
|
| definition refers to a GAME POINT situation on a tennis court
GAME=”Willing” (e.g. ‘are you game for trying X?’) + POINT=purpose=”end” |
||
| 11 | LOO |
Where peers congregate for game of cards (3)
|
| for first definition/wordplay: “peers” as in pee-ers, those who pee
second definition: LOO is the name of a card game |
||
| 12 | PERESTROIKA |
Reform three-person group fronted by former Israeli PM (11)
|
| TROIKA=a set of three=”three-person group”; with Shimon PERES (former Israeli PM) going in front | ||
| 14 | CARRY-ON |
Dead animals reported in small bag? (5-2)
|
| definition refers to ‘carry-on’ luggage e.g. smaller bags to take onto a plane cabin
sounds like (reported) ‘carrion’=”Dead animals” |
||
| 15 | NOT ONCE |
For the moment, embracing holy book? Never! (3,4)
|
| NONCE=”moment”, around OT (Old Testament, “holy book”) | ||
| 16 | CLAMOUR |
Cry out quiet sort’s pronoun (7)
|
| definition: CLAMOUR as a verb
CLAM=slang for a shy person=”quiet sort” + OUR=”pronoun” |
||
| 19 | BRISKET |
Procedure for trimming most of keto meat (7)
|
| BRIS=a circumcision ceremony=”Procedure for trimming” + most of KET-[o] | ||
| 22 | SPOILED BRAT |
Spooner’s seafood dish for demanding type (7,4)
|
| Spoonerism of ‘boiled sprat’ = “seafood dish”, as ‘sprat’ is a type of fish | ||
| 23 | TUG |
Big jerk in western corporation (3)
|
| reversal (going west, “western”) of GUT=”corporation” in the sense of belly fat | ||
| 24 | LAMEBRAIN |
Flimsy undergarment stylish for dummy (9)
|
| LAME=”Flimsy” (e.g. a lame/flimsy excuse) + BRA=”undergarment” + IN=popular=”stylish” | ||
| 26 | ADDLE |
Befuddle some characters in retro field day (5)
|
| hidden (“some characters”) in: [fi]-ELD DA-[y] reversed/”retro” | ||
| 27 | DECOY |
Undercover cop, perhaps with retro-style ponytail (5)
|
| DECO (Art Deco, “retro-style”); plus the last letter/”tail” of [pon]-Y | ||
| 28 | ROTTERDAM |
Bastard! Butler’s expletive overheard in European city (9)
|
| ROTTER=”Bastard” + DAM which sounds like (overheard) ‘damn’
‘damn’ is Rhett Butler’s expletive in Gone with the Wind – he famously says ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn’ |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BUCOLIC |
Rustic’s neverending malady: acute pain (7)
|
| no ending letter (neverending) in BU-[g]=illness=”malady”; plus COLIC=”acute pain” | ||
| 2 | TANDOOR |
Brown entrée in oven (7)
|
| TAN=”Brown” + DOOR=entrée in the sense of ‘entrance’ | ||
| 3 | MEET PAYROLL |
Employ alert screwball to cover expenses (4,7)
|
| anagram/”screwball” of (Employ alert)* | ||
| 4 | LEG IRON |
One girl crazy for heavy metal band? (3,4)
|
| definition: a band/ring made of metal that is heavy (rather than a music band that plays heavy metal)
anagram/”crazy” of (One girl)* |
||
| 5 | SIMPSON |
Royal’s lover’s idiot offspring (7)
|
| definition: “Royal’s lover” referring to Edward VIII and Wallis SIMPSON
SIMP=foolish person=”idiot” + SON=”offspring” |
||
| 6 | GAP |
Something to mind in central Singapore (3)
|
| definition refers to the phrase ‘mind the gap’
central letters from [Sin]-GAP-[ore] |
||
| 7 | OPINION |
No limit? That’s what you think! (7)
|
| O=zero=”No” + PINION=to confine=to “limit” | ||
| 8 | METHANE |
Rancid hen meat gives you gas (7)
|
| anagram/”Rancid” of (hen meat)* | ||
| 13 | RETAIL TRADE |
Sale of merchandise I alter? (6,5)
|
| in a crossword clue, RETAIL TRADE might indicate an anagram of RETAIL, giving “I alter” | ||
| 16 | CASTLED |
Players took the van, protected in a way (7)
|
| definition may refer to fortification in a castle, or castling in chess to protect the king
CAST of actors=”Players” + LED=”took the van” as in vanguard |
||
| 17 | ANOSMIC |
Foul comedians (but not Gamble) not smelling so good? (7)
|
| definition: loss of smell as a sense, not being able to smell well
anagram/”Foul” of (com ians)*, taking the letters of [com]-ED-[ians] minus ED for Ed Gamble the comedian |
||
| 18 | RED HAIR |
Disturbed, harried Harry has this (3,4)
|
| definition refers to Prince Harry’s red hair
anagram/”Disturbed” of (harried)* |
||
| 19 | BARONET |
Titleholder held up sailor in vocal quartet? (7)
|
| upward reversal (help up) of TENOR AB=able seaman who is a tenor=”sailor in vocal quartet” | ||
| 20 | KATYDID |
Perry, accomplished in form of cricket? (7)
|
| definition: the name of a type of cricket (the insects)
reference to KATY Perry the singer, plus DID=”accomplished” |
||
| 21 | TAG TEAM |
Pair of wrestlers spray graffiti on several mules (3,4)
|
| definition: in wrestling, a pair of wrestlers who may ‘tag in’ or ‘tag out’ to take turns in the ring
TAG=mark with a graffiti tag=”spray graffiti” + TEAM=set of animals harnessed together e.g. “several mules” |
||
| 25 | BAY |
What wolf might do, seeing horse (3)
|
| double definition: to bay like a wolf, or a bay horse that is reddish brown in colour |
The setter’s sense of humour was immediately evident with the first two clues, BETA MALES and GROOM and continued throughout. Lots of ticks but my favourites were GAME POINT, PERESTROIKA, SPOILED BRAT, TUG, LAMEBRAIN, ROTTERDAM for GWTW, TANDOOR, SIMPSON, RETAIL TRADE and the amusing RED HAIR. Very ‘stylish’ indeed.
Ta Yank & manehi, hope everything is OK.
I hope all is okay manehi! I missed the pee-ers subtext and got delayed by putting in anosmia instead of anosmic. Otherwise a gentle puzzle. Thanks to Yank and manehi.
Took me a while to get 20 down then remembered the cover for Steely Dan’s 1975 album.
Generally, a nice, middle-of-the-road puzzle.
For the clue to LOO, I would have thought “go” would be a better choice than “congregate”. It doesn’t hurt the surface and makes the cryptic definition less potentially icky.
In CLAMOUR, the OUR is not, as far as I know/can tell, a pronoun (it doesn’t stand for a noun like “he” and “we” do). Chambers calls it an adjective, others say possessive determiner. (Though we should probably give Yank(s) a pass for not knowing English grammar too well!)
Thanks Yank and manehi (I hope your emergency wasn’t serious)
Several usages I wasn’t familiar with – BRIS, SIMP, PINION for limit, TAG for graffiti.
Not sure RETAIL TRADE works – “trade” is a pretty weak anagram indicator.
I liked the “pee-ers”, but shouldn’t there be an indication that they are contracted to “peers”?
Favourite KATYDID, though that usage is just American, I think.
Finished but without parsing at least a dozen, so well done and thank you! Not surprised it was late …
Entertaining, good variety of clues. Favourite LEG IRON, for the “heavy metal band” — very good.
For BARONET I had half an idea that the held up sailor was a RONET (a male Ronette?). Your explanation is much better! (And I see that The Ronettes were actually a trio.)
I hadn’t come across SIMP — Chambers says it is “esp N American” — it sounds rather offensive to me.
Thanks Yank and manehi.
muffin @5: I thought trade was fine, as in to exchange the letters as you would exchange goods for money.
AlanC @8
Have you ever seen trade used as an anagrind in a crossword? I haven’t.
Lord Jim @7: I agree with you on SIMP, I think it’s short for simpleton and we used it as horrible kids in NI.
Muffin @8: i don’t think I have but we get new ones all the time and far more stretched than TRADE.
I found this quite difficult, but the solutions kept coming, and with a very high parse rate, I have no complaints. I thought I’d parsed it all, but I now see I hadn’t resolved the urinators in the LOO or taken the time to fully understand the Rhett Butler reference in ROTTERDAM.
I’ll run with AlanC’s extensive list of good clues @1.
I note with disappointment that I have failed to learn the genital mutilation term BRIS despite having commented on it when Yank last used it in June. I guess I’ll remember it this time.
Thanks Yank and manehi.
I liked this. Many were encouragingly easy and helped attack the harder ones. I loved the misdirect in “heavy metal band“. Admired the backward clue in RETAIL TRADE. Also liked the gentle smile throughout.
Thanks Yank and manehi for a pleasant evening.
Found this tough, particularly in the SW corner. LAME-BRA-IN did feel rather like fitting together three Lego bricks and then wondering what I had there. Have never come across ANOSMIC before, either. GROOM didn’t have me thinking about the top of wedding cakes, I’m afraid, though the stable reference was a clear pointer with crossers in place.
However, as ever, enjoyed the challenge…
muffin @9. You’ve obviously got a bad memory 🙂 Qaos used it 3 days ago in 11a.
muffin@9: Believe it or not, ‘trade’ was used as an anagrind on Tuesday by Qaos!
It’s also appeared in a DT: Flooded coastal area halts arms trade (4,5) = SALT MARSH and a Julius FT: Be employed in sex trade at the lowest price? (2-5) = EX-WORKS.
Not my favourite anagrind but, as AlanC notes, we encounter new ones all the time.
I see Hovis has faster fingers – but then I *was* typing a few more words.
Hovis @14
Quite right! I hadn’t parsed that one, but see it now 🙂
And PostMark
Pleasant solve with one or two things I found difficult – BRIS, Butler’s expletive, PE-ERS. I liked the SPOILED BRAT’S seafood dish according to Spooner and the heavy metal band LEG IRON.
Thanks Yank and manehi.
Tougher end of the spectrum but filled with humour
PERESTROIKA strikes again – at least I knew it this time, implying I’m actually learning something from doing these.
BOILED SPRAT sounds utterly horrible, but then again so do spoiled brats…
All filled in but several unparsed and needed Googling.
Pick of the bunch goes to the excellent CARRY-ON.
Top job unravelling these, manehi, many thanks.
Thanks Yank for a most entertaining crossword that I found mostly straightforward. I didn’t see the clever ‘pee-ers’ in LOO and I didn’t understand ANOSMIC but all else made sense to me. Favourites included BETA MALES, CARRY-ON, SPOILED BRAT, TUG, LEG IRON, SIMPSON, and RED HAIR. Thanks manehi for the blog.
Showing my age that I was looking for FRED with the Perry reference!
A slow start but got there in the end, minus the parsing of 27a and the Rhett Butler reference in 28a.
One thing still befuddles me, though: why is a TENOR in a vocal quartet in particular? Perhaps a more musically-minded poster can enlighten me.
Tough puzzle.
Thanks for explaining the Rhett Butler connection in 28ac.
I couldn’t parse 27ac.
New for me: SIMP = fool; MEET PAYROLL; ANOSMIC; BRIS = circumcision; TAG TEAM = pair of wrestlers.
Favourite: SPOILED BRAT.
Jacob @22
A typical vocal quartet (others are available) would be soprano, alto, tenor, bass.
grrrjames @21
Fred my first thought too. When I used to play tennis, all my shirts were Fred Perry Brand.
[In Douglas Adams’s The meaning of Liff, he defines Ebbsworth as something very little, and has the original Rhett Butler line as “Frankly my dear I couldn’t give an Ebbsworth”, but the producers changed it!]
Jacob @22 I took it that quartet is referencing the fact that tenor is one of the four standard voices in SATB choral music (the others being soprano, alto and bass).
An enjoyable puzzle with the exception of MEET PAYROLL which seems weak as it’s not really a recognisable term.
Wouldn’t a spoonerism of SPOILED BRAT be BROILED SPAT, or to put it another way would a spoonerism of BOILED SPRAT be SPROILED BAT? Or was the reverend not so picky?
Anyway, lovely crossword.
MattS @25 – It’s also one of the four voices in barbershop, the others being bass, baritone and lead, tenor being the highest
DNF today as I had limp for the first part of 24a. I haven’t heard of LAMEBRAIN, or SIMP for a fool for that matter. My first thought for Perry was Como and I stupidly Googled comodid before the penny dropped. Liked LEG IRON and METHANE the best.
Bit of a stuggle overall. Maybe lack of familiarity with the setter.
Thanks, Yank and manehi. Hope the hiccough was sorted.
Nho Ed Gamble, not well-known outside the UK, I’d guess. Other than that, a good set of clues and for once I was on the setter’s wavelength!
No-one else saw Perry & cricket and tried desperately to fit in Ellyse? Which isn’t long enough let alone I already had 23 and 26 correctly….
Interesting puzzle with a mix of British (Ed Gamble) and American (KATYDID) references and persons old and current. I’ll also go with AlanC’s list of favourites.
I agree with Dr WhatsOn @4 that ‘our’ is not a pronoun (I prefer the modern term ‘posessive determiner’). If someone who sees is a seer, surely someone who pees is a peer, with only two Es, as Yank has clued it?
digbydavies @27: Spoonerisms exchange whatever precedes the first vowel in the two words – boiled sprat to SPOILED BRAT is perfectly regular. Reading aloud, I once mangled ‘show snobbery’ into ‘snow shobbery’, which was embarrassing (but wouldn’t make a good clue).
Thanks to Yank and manehi
A very clever but challenging puzzle, neither gentle or middle of the road, except to the vainglorious. Absolutely no chance of parsing 19ac without consulting google and I now know much more about circumcision than necessary.
With 24ac, I am impressed that Yank managed to get two ableist references into one clue. The word Dumb uses muteness as a metaphor for stupidity, and lame uses physical disability in the same way.
I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle. Thanks to Yank and manehi.
Protase @32: wouldn’t doing what you suggest (“exchange whatever precedes the first vowel in the two words”) give the results that digbydavies says @27? SPOILED BRAT would become broiled spat, and boiled sprat would become SPROILED BAT. But in fact Spoonerisms don’t follow rigid rules and are quite variable, as in “Kinkering Kongs their Titles Take” and “Someone is occupewing my pie”.
Thanks Yank & manehi. Another here for whom AlanC pretty much says it all @1.
[And, harking back to Monday’s Vulcan, wanted to wish Alan bon voyage on his upcoming trip to Graceland. This is Alison Krauss (with Jerry Douglas on Dobro) at a 2007 songwriters’ award ceremony for Paul Simon in D.C.]
First post here, to mark another first: first time, in my late 60s I’ve finished every Guardian cryptic in a week. Childhood ambition achieved! Had trouble parsing one or two: eg Baronet.. and last ones in the bottom right corner seemed obvious once I’d got them.
Coloradan @36: that is very kind.
Crumble @37: congrats, it’s all downhill now.
Crumble @ 37. Well done, and thank you for saying “bottom right” and not “south east”!
I don’t think staring at this one any longer will help solve my last three: 11a LOO, 1d, BUCOLIC, and 17d ANOSMIC. DNF, but a decent puzzle
2d TANDOOR, it helped that there was a recent 225 discussion about this
6d GAP took me back to various visits to the UK. I can hear the voice and its particular cadence…
I correctly guessed 19d BARONET, but couldn’t parse it. Not convinced
24a, I agree with Jeremy Kahn@34 that that the terms “lame” and “dumb” are best avoided
Chapeau Crumble@37
Jeremy Khan@34 I would say that lame does not mean flimsy . I put in limpbrain instead, although is that less ablist or more? NHO lamebrain nor limpbrain.
And where I come from the entire family were known by names prefixed by “our”
– Our Kath, Our Jim…even the dog was Our Mo. Does that make our a pronoun?
I’m very late to the feast today, so this may be seen by very few lingering contributors. Also, it is possible that I have shared this story before, so apologies to anyone who remembers it. It pertains to NONCE. Many years ago, I recall reading an exam script on Shakespeare in which the candidate was discussing the scene where Claudius conspires with Laertes to kill Hamlet by one means or another during their duel. Claudius tell Laertes:
“… And that he calls for drink, I’ll have prepared him
A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,
If he by chance escape your venom’d stuck,
Our purpose may hold there.”
The candidate expressed some perplexity as to why Claudius was referring to Hamlet as a nonce.
I think there is some gossip hiding in that crossword!
Jeremy Kahn @34, Mig @40: If we were to go down the road of finding simple words like ‘dumb’ and ‘lame’ to be offensive to the disabled then we must also include ‘stupid’ and ‘idiotic’ as offensive to the mentally challenged. In the same vein ‘drunk’ and ‘stoned’ are offensive when speaking about substance abuse disorders. Finally, ‘crazy’, ‘nuts’, ‘berserk’, ‘bananas’, ‘cuckoo’, ‘mad’, and ‘lunatic’ are offensive to those with psychiatric conditions. Stripping the language of every possibly ‘offensive’ word helps no one and makes for dull and boring speech.
My progress was fairly slow but reasonably steady, with a lot of wry smiles; the SW remained empty for a long time. (22a was my eventual “entrée” there.) Mostly successful parsing, but I didn’t get “corporation” for _gut_ (insufficiently lateral thinking) or understand what the “Butler” was doing in ROTTERDAM until coming here. NHO Gamble but had deduced he must be an Ed, so looked him up for verification.
I didn’t think of the right kind of “peers” at 11a until I had both crossers. (I agree it doesn’t want another E.)
I too agree OUR isn’t a “pronoun”, but IIRC it was called a _pronominal adjective_ when I learned grammar, so pretty close. I also note that its third-person correspondences _his_, _her_, _their_, and the neologistic _hir_, _xyr_ &c. fall within the scope of _pronouns_ in the recent gender-identification sense, as in “My pronouns are ….” I don’t think of a CLAM as shy, just silent—as in the phrasal verb _to clam up_.
Toni Santucci @44: I see your point, but nonetheless I did not enjoy finding SIMP and LAMEBRAIN. I feel neutrally about the words you list. I think it’s because I can’t imagine SIMP and LAMEBRAIN being used other than as offensive insults, whereas the ones you list have uses I don’t find offensive.
I know other people will feel differently. I don’t think I’ll be attempting a Yank puzzle again, but others will make different choices.
Odysseus @45
Surely people who pee are pee ers?
I had a lamé bra for the flimsy undergarment, which was a bit over imaginative.
Muffin @47 – Are people who see
see-ers?
Crispy @49
I don’t think seers is the same as see-ers.
Petert@48: and at first I thought of a lace (or lacy) bra, and wondered whether the resulting word was an Americanism I hadn’t heard of.
Chambers defines spoonerism as a transposition of initial sounds of spoken words, and gives as an example ‘shoving leopard’ for ‘loving shepherd’. Difficult to make that one work if you are limited to exchanging letters.
Muffin@50: Chambers disagrees, but I don’t think that will persuade you.
Not since “Spongebobs” (#24,938) have I had such a strong sense of entering an alternative crossword universe. I do admire many of Yank’s clues but, as they say, was not on his/her wavelength. I’m going to lie down now.
Came very late to this, but thankfully a relatively easy solve, despite some being a bit out of the ordinary and a few Americanisms. Frankly, one of the nicest clued crosswords I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks very much Yank. A few excusable slips per the comments above. As mentioned frequently – OUR is not a pronoun (perhaps a pro-adjective or (pro-)genitive).
btw – I parsed LAME BRA as “flimsy undergarment” as a whole, rather than LAME as flimsy – although it could well be: LAME excuse = FLIMSY excuse
To clarify lame (with acute accent) bra
Muffin @47, only when decomposed—as marked by your space (& hyphen @50). ISTM that dropping silent E before adding a suffix is pretty regular, even with a preceding vowel as in _vier_, _hoer_, _pursuer_ &c., so this seems like special pleading. Is it that you regard EE as indivisible here? Or that you don’t consider the second E to be silent?
Lord Jim @ 35: You’re quite right. The only rule seems to be that the sounds in each word that are to be exchanged must be consecutive, and that no sounds are lost in the process.
I think that I’ve said before – and sorry if it’s been repeated – but there’s at least one toilet in the House Of Lords with a “Peers only” sign on the door.
I thought that this was very good, and if Yank really is a Septic, then the UK-only GK e.g. mind the GAP was commendable.
Ta all.
Re 19d BARONET, I too had difficulty with tenor as a vocal quartet. I immediately thought of SATB, but that refers normally to the range of singers in a choir, not a quartet. (Choirs can have any number of singers, including although not usually just four.) But Crispy@28 has the answer – tenor is one of the voices in a barbershop quartet.
I think that Yank, as an American, shouldn’t be expected to flag Americanisms, and we should welcome the variety he brings to the Gaurdian puzzles.
Apropos of not much, I thought that I’d mention that the German for stupid is “dumm” and for mute “stumm”.
German has had a big, relatively recent influence on American, and I don’t think that the US use of “dumb” where we would say “daft” need suggest that they equate muteness with dimness. The derivation of the English usage on the other hand might be a cause for rather more reflection?
I’ve been catching up after being away, and did Imogen and Pangakupu yesterday, though in reverse order, before tackling Yank and drawing an almost complete blank on first go through. “Gentle” (Nakamova@2 – ha ha very funny) was not the word that came to mind.
I had no difficulty with ‘pronoun’ =OUR, and Chambers agrees, writing “possessive adj or properly pronoun. When did it become improper?
I always struggle to get on Yank’s wavelength, so this took a while. Not knowing of Katy Perry or Ed Gamble didn’t help, but I did enjoy ‘sheep’ for BETA MALES and the very good Spoonerism, once the penny eventually dropped.
Thanks to Yank and Manehi.
Very late to the blog on this one, and sorry to be a misery, but this one crossed the quibble threshold for me. Am I being completely unreasonable?
– 15a: shouldn’t it be ‘holy books’? I suppose you could buy the Old Testament as one volume, but probably not under that name?
– 23a: why is it a *big* jerk? Doesn’t seem to add anything to the clue.
– 27a: maybe I’m not familiar enough with undercover policing operations, but a decoy is something which draws the attention away while something more important happens. This seems like the opposite of what an undercover cop does?
– 28a: why is it a *butler’s* expletive? Does the addition of “butler’s” change anything here?
– 19a: is the idea here that the sailor has been added to the famous Three Tenors to make a quartet? If not, I suppose the quartet would have to be a barbershop quartet, without any indication, and either seems to me like a bit too much of a stretch!
Ah, I was too hasty in pasting my rant from the Notes app on my phone and didn’t see that “butler’s” had been explained above! Thanks manehi.
Very belatedly: we enjoyed this puzzle, despite sticking in a few places until we had enough crossers. My time in the US obviously helped. We were surprised that no one before Tom@61 complained about DECOY for undercover cop— we also thought that odd behaviour for an undercover cop!
Agree with the concern about “dummy” and “lamebrain,” familiar respectively from UK and US sources—so not really explained away by Etu@5s observation about German “dumm” as an influence on American English. But that was illuminating anyway.
Thanks Yank, and thanks Manehi for clear explanations.
Edit: Etu@59’s comment