The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30156.
Omnibus, whoever he/she/they may be, provides us with a puzzle centred around 7D GARDEN. It requires more than a dash of GK, and raises the odd quibble – and has one definite error in 17D PANACEAS.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | ON AVERAGE |
As usual, United bags, say, silver (2,7)
|
| An envelope (‘bags’) of AVER (‘say’) plus AG (chemical symbol, ‘silver’) in ONE (united’). | ||
| 10 | CHART |
Last of nomadic deer to be hit (5)
|
| A charade of C (‘last of nomadiC‘) plus HART (‘deer’). I suppose the definition is a reference to a pop song, say, charting, that is, being a hit. | ||
| 11, 7, 18 | A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES |
It’s fun for kids to throw salad dressing over chef (1,6,6,2,6)
|
| A remarkable long anagram (‘to throw’) of ‘salad dressing over chef’. The definition is a collection of poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson. | ||
| 12 | RHONDDA |
First of drivers in car follows river valley (7)
|
| A charade of R (‘river’) plus HONDDA, an envelope (‘in’) of D (‘first of Drivers’) in HONDA (‘car’). The valley is in Wales, and gives its name for the hymn tune Cwm Rhondda. | ||
| 13 | HOST |
Army, it so happens, trapped in retreat (4)
|
| A hidden (‘trapped’) reversed (‘in retreat’) answer in ‘IT SO Happens’. | ||
| 14 | CONTINENCE |
Self-discipline, over time, displayed innocence (10)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of T (‘time’) in CONINENCE, an anagram (‘displayed’) of ‘innocence’. | ||
| 15, 22 | GOOD AND EVIL |
Literary 7 is excellent – a new Dickens (4,3,4)
|
| A charade of GOOD (‘excellent’) plus ‘a’ plus N (‘new’) plus DEVIL (‘Dickens’). The definition refers to the non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt (and the film and musical of the same name). | ||
| 17 | PERGOLA |
At each turn, the French get something to climb in 7 (7)
|
| A charade of PER (‘at each’) plus GO (‘turn’) plus LA (‘the French’). The garden feature might be ‘something to climb’ if you were a vine or rose, say. | ||
| 19 | GETHSEMANE |
Olive 7, for example, reversed position – she meant ‘working out’ (10)
|
| A charade of GE, a reversal (‘reversed position’) of EG (‘for example’) plus THSEMANE, an anagram (‘working out’) of ‘she meant’. | ||
| 22 |
See 15
|
|
| 23 | OUTCROP |
Exposed rock group’s work around criminal court (7)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of UTCRO, an anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘court’ in OP (‘work’). I have added ‘group’ to the definition because it does not seem to be of use elsewhere. | ||
| 24 | CHEERIO |
Revolutionary repertoire E.H. Carr described in parting comment (7)
|
| A hidden (‘described’) reversed (‘revolutionary’) answer in ‘repertOIRE E H Carr’. | ||
| 26 | NYLON |
What’s woven by transatlantic municipal alliance? (5)
|
| NY LON – New York, London. | ||
| 27 | STATEMENT |
Soldiers close to revolt after government communiqué (9)
|
| A charade of STATE (‘government’) plus MEN (‘soldiers’ – let us just say dated) plus T (‘close to revolT‘). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MORAL HIGH GROUND |
Political capital derived from honourable record and motive (5,4,6)
|
| A charade of MORAL (‘honourable’) plus HIGH (‘record’ – many entries in the Guinness World Records are of new HIGH values) plus GROUND (‘motive’). | ||
| 2 | MACHISMO |
Great speed’s operating procedure for display of manliness (8)
|
| A charade of MACHI (Mach 1, the speed of sound – ‘great speed’ depending on to what it is being compared) plus IS (the apostrophy s) plus MO (modus operandi, ‘operating procedure’). | ||
| 3 | WELL |
What’s found in the 7, alive and kicking? (4)
|
| Double definition. A (wishing? – or even functional) WELL might be a feature in a garden. | ||
| 4 | PASSWORD |
5 signal to give up on brief conversation (8)
|
| A charade of PASS (‘give up’) plus WORD (‘brief conversation’). | ||
| 5 | SECRET |
Curtailed leak of what shouldn’t be leaked (6)
|
| A subtraction: SECRET[e] (‘leak’) minus its last letter (‘curtailed’). | ||
| 6 | SCHOONER |
Glass is rather overwhelmed by church? Just the opposite (8)
|
| An envelope (‘overwhelmed by’ – with ‘just the opposite’ indicating which goes inside) of CH (‘church’) in SOONER (‘rather’). | ||
| 7 |
See 11 Across
|
|
| 8 | IT TAKES ALL SORTS |
What the liquorice-loving magpie does? There’s no accounting for taste (2,5,3,5)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation, relying on the reputation of a magpie as a thief (La Gazza Ladra), and allsorts – generally one word – as a liquorice confection. That one definitely raised a smile. | ||
| 16 | ALSO-RANS |
The losers, what’s more, managed to take last of medals (4-4)
|
| A charade of ALSO (‘what’s more’) plus RAN (‘managed’) plus (‘to take’) S (‘last of medalS‘). | ||
| 17 | PANACEAS |
Universal fixes one-to-one in tracking shots (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of ACE (‘one’) plus A (another ‘one’) in PANS (‘tracking shots’ NO: in a pan the camera remains in place but pivots, while in a tracking shot the camera moves to follow a subject). | ||
| 18 |
See 11 Across
|
|
| 20 | TATTLE |
Talk let down by rubbish introduction (6)
|
| A charade of TAT (‘rubbish’) plus TLE, an anagram (‘down’?) of ‘let’. | ||
| 21 | MOPISH |
Listless shock is hard (6)
|
| A charade of MOP (‘shock’ of hair) plus ‘is’ plus H (‘hard’). | ||
| 25 | EDEN |
7 put paid to by Suez? (4)
|
| Double definition: the biblical GARDEN and Anthony Eden, the Prime Minister whose tenure collapsed as a result of the aborted Suez invasion. |
Balmy spring day here, ideal for enjoying a garden puzzle (thankfully milder than yesterday’s Io). And yes our 7 does have a 17 and a 3. Nice job, cheerio Omni and Peter.
I was looking for an anagram for 11,7,18, but didn’t see OVER as part of the feed-in, thought that the chef must have been CHILD as in Julia, and just bunged the answer in when I saw it… and no, my 7 has neither a 3 nor a 17.
I am not up on my camera movements so PANS seemed logical to me. Peter, thanks for the education on that one. As for 20D I agree that it should have been “talk let UP—not DOWN”. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle so a big thank you to Omnibus. My favorite was IT TAKES ALL SORTS, since I learned about the licorice mix I had never heard of before.
I live in Southern California and our climate is warm and dry. In my garden I have a lot of cacti but no well or pergola.
I struggled with this one, partly because I’d NHO of the theme clue (although I got the 7d bit fairly early after getting 25d), partly because of brain, and partly because of what felt like dubious clueing. 3d feels barely cryptic or fair to me, I don’t understand the anagrind in 20d, the cryptic grammar in 13a is odd (I think it just about works, but you really have to squint), I don’t understand how ‘displayed’ indicates an anagram, and I don’t like (probably a matter of taste) ‘to take’ as a juxtaposition indicator rather than an insertion indicator.
I did enjoy 8d and 6d a lot, for what it’s worth.
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus, and sorry for being a grump about it!
One of Omnibus’s better offerings in my opinion.
I didn’t know the ACGOV so was a case of finding 5 words that fitted the anagram. Helped by working backwards to GARDEN from the theme.
I also had a question mark next to TATTLE but parsed it as PeterO.
Liked RHODDA and IT TAKES ALL SORTS.
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus
NY LON as the transatlantic municipal alliance was cute. I missed that parsing.
I enjoyed the GARDEN theme, which did help to confirm a couple and was looking out for the SECRET GARDEN by the end.
Agree that ACGOV was a very clever anagram and the liquorice-thieving magpie in 8d was delightful.
I also liked the Olive7 definition of GETHSEMANE, quite misdirecting.
Thanks to Omnibus and PeterO.
Thanks Peter and Omnibus. That was tough but fair. ACGOV was very impressive. And like others I chuckled at It takes all sorts. Even apart from the very well constructed long clues there were some very nicely phrased clues
Chambers has PAN: “To move (a cinema, video or still television camera) about (or as if pivoting about) an axis while taking a picture so as to follow a particular object …” so once again we’re in the specialised versus general meaning zone. So you might pan in order to track. I’d give the setter a pass on this one
I liked the liquorice allsorts although last time I tried them they were much sicklier than I remembered
Cheers P&O
I wonder if it’s relevant that The Secret Garden was first published in November 1910? 116th anniversary?
NYLON is often assumed to be derived from the two cities, where DuPont had labs. It is my understanding that “Norun” was initially proposed as the yarn was to be used for ladies’ stockings, but they still ran, so it was transmuted to “Nuron” and finally the now familiar NYLON.
My thanks to Omnibus and Peter O.
Thanks Omnibus and PeterO
I had never heard of the book, but an anagram finder solved it for me. I hadn’t heard of the GOOD AND EVIL one either, but nothing else fitted.
“found in the garden” is very loose for WELL!
There are actually two RHONDDA valleys – large and small (Fawr and Fach in Welsh)..
An early Jonathan Creek episode turned on the difference between a panning and a tracking shot.
I dispute the whole notion that poetry is ‘fun for kids’.
Unnacountably, I sailed through this one, which I enjoyed much more than previous ‘by all’ offerings. I agree with Tom @5 that some clues are rather less taut than they might be, but the surfaces are good and the definitions not difficult to recognise. I was helped by spotting the RLS anthology as a possibility from just A C and the enumeration (I confess I didn’t stop to parse it, but it is a very clever long anagram). A lot of good constructions – I particularly enjoyed PERGOLA, SECRET, ALSO RANS and the sweet-toothed corvid.
Thanks to Omnibus and PeterO
I know my Robert Louis Stevenson quite well, so the long one fell into place quite quickly, and that really helped. Loved the magpie clue/
Needed PeterO for the parsing of NYLON, and also to be reminded that Mop is a Shock (of Hair). The anagram for ACGOV was a great help, without which I might have struggled to fill the grid. I thought this Omnibus puzzle, whoever is responsible, was quite a bit better than some of the previous ones, imho…
SueB@10 I think it is more pertinent that 70 years ago today, we were in the middle of the Suez crisis that ended Anthony EDEN’s term as prime minister.
Enjoyed that. Still have my ACGOV from 1974.
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus.
Excellent stuff but could some kind person explain why 5 signal=PASSWORD. TIA.
Oops – just seen it – doh!
digbydavies@19: the ‘5’ references the solution to clue 5d = SECRET; a ‘secret signal’ is a PASSWORD.
I saw the theme but can’t say I enjoyed this puzzle.
15/22 I understood the ref to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (novel by John Berendt) but now realise I did not parse the rest of it.
I could not parse 26ac, 1d and I wondered about 2d – is it Mach 1’S MO?
As flagged in the blog, ‘down’ as anagrind in 20d seems very dubious. We already accept ‘up’ in that role so what’s the justification?
poc@23 we’ve had up as an anagrind, why not down?
poc@23 down = “out of order” maybe? a tad indirect but hey, it’s the Guardian
Loved the allsorts clue, contender for most amusing of the week. Apropos of nothing, there is the nina, GNAT in the middle down colunm, doubtless a complete coincidence.
Thanks to S (s?) & B
A challenging and educational offering to brighten the lowering sky here in Lincolnshire. I too found 8d the most enjoyable( like Billymills#15).
digbydavies@24 because ‘up’ can mean wrong (“something’s up”, “what’s up”) whereas down doesn’t have meanings in the direction of wrong/in a mess/agitated (although bodycheetah@25 has made a valiant effort!)
That said, if we’re just allowing ‘displayed’ through on the nod as an anagrind, maybe anything goes!
Down as in sad? Not well? Out of kilter?
I found this enjoyable even though I’d never heard of either of the books. I don’t have a garden but fortunately the public Japanese garden round the corner from my flat does, so I could solve the two clues relatively quickly. 8d was fun, especially as I haven’t eaten such sweets for about 60 years.
Pace Simonc@13 “A child’s garden of verses” was one of my favourite books when I was six, but I suppose there weren’t many to choose from. Nice to see it again. I failed on the parsing of 1D and didn’t notice the panning/tracking anomaly, so thanks to PeterO for the explanations. An enjoyable solve – thank you Omnibus.
I don’t think anyone else has pointed this out specifically – apologies if I’ve missed it:
It’s generally been speculated (though I think not confirmed) that Omnibus represents a collection of clues by various different setters contributing to the same puzzle. If so, 8d seems very appropriate.
Probably the best Omnibus I’ve tried and it felt more like one setter, rather than a mishmash. I didn’t know either of the literary works, but solvable from the wordplay. I liked GETHSEMANE, MORAL HIGH GROUND, the thieving magpie and ALSO RANS. Interested to know what’s going on with Michelle’s double entry @22?
Ta Omnibus & PeterO.
Not being one of those who necessarily do the clues in order, I spotted 25d straight away, and it had to be EDEN. That suggested 7d was GARDEN which gave me a way in to 11, 7, 18. An enjoyable puzzle.
Maybe “down” as in “our systems are down”? Or as in “man down”?
Many thanks Omnibus and PeterO.
The magpie clue is very amusing, even though I did not know the allsorts liquorice (perhaps very far hidden in my brain). We used to call them English liquorice, as opposed to the just black liquorice. I struggled to parse nylon. I thought NY may be the transatlantic municipal (yes, should be municipality), and googled if lon could be an alliance (it can: League of Nations). I also had problems parsing cheerio. I got stuck on che=revolutionary and did not know what to do with the rest…
Cheerio, Omnibus and PeterO
Alan C @33, as you liked the clue for MORAL HIGH GROUND, could you explain how that means political capital? I can’t see how they are even related terms.
A big old meh from me.
Never heard of the big important clue at 11,7,8, which immediately put me on the back foot. And then a lot of it just felt a bit disconnected. which is an accusation we often level at Omnibus.
I think PANACEAS for 17D is just a typo. It should be PANACEAN then there is a one-to one (AN and ACE) in PAN.
Difficult when you don’t know the two literary references but I managed them eventually. I liked ON AVERAGE, NYLON. STATEMENT and PANACEAS. I can’t say that I enjoyed ‘down’ as an anagrind; ‘up’ is quite different.
Thanks Omnibus and PeterO.
I don’t think that works, Neill97@38. The definition is universal fixes, so it must be panaceas
I didn’t catch the impressive long anagram for the Stevenson collection, just bunged it in with a “what the hell?”
The MORAL HIGH GROUND clue is a mess.
How does Lon = London? Never seen it before.
Thanks to Omnibus, whoever they are, and PeterO, whose identity is clear and welcome.
ACGOV was new to me, so not much help. ALL SORTS did make smile, even though I cannot stand the taste of liquorice (or aniseed).
I’m not sure about GROUND for motive: isn’t it (usually) plural, e.g. “grounds for termination” or “on what grounds?”. I can’t recall seeing it in the singular in this sense (although I expect Chambers allows it…)
Neill97 @38. The one-to-one is ACEA
For CHEERIO I guessed the revolutionary was Che, and bunged the rest in without bothering to parse. My mistake!
When I got the theme I was on the look out for Earthly Delights, but none were forthcoming.
Thanks to Omnibus and PeterO
I liked the thieving magpie. Like others I deducted GARDEN from other clues. It was nice that RHONDDA was helpful, though I suppose that the Beach Boys Rhonda had only one ‘d’.
I enjoyed this Omnibus more than previous ones by this/these setter(s). The clues seemed to flow better, and the ALL SORTS clue in particular made me smile. As a teenager many decades ago I did a summer holiday job in the Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts factory in Sheffield. (Other brands are available, but Bassetts are said to be the original make.) The experience did not put me off them. Bassetts have since merged with other confectionery makers, and I’ve no idea if that factory still exists.
Thank you Omnibus & PeterO
Thanks, Omnibus and PeterO. Nothing really wrong with this crossword, but I didn’t really feel engaged with it for some reason. Valentine @41 – LON is used, for example, when looking up flights to or from London and you want to include all the airports in your search.
Mmmmm. I’m sure it was enjoyable for those better at crosswords than me. I didn’t get very far. Having read the blog, I’m very pleased that I didn’t keep trying! Not for me (too difficult).
I spent longer than the rest of the solve trying to find an answer other than WELL for 3d. Shouldn’t the clue say “what may be found in the garden”? As it stands, it seems to imply that every garden has one.
Other than that, a big improvement from this setter(s).
Thanks to them, and thanks to PeterO too.
I’m a refugee from the alas no more Independent Cryptic (sob) and enjoyed this best of all the Guardians I’ve done so far (all of four, starting on Monday). Good theme, excellent long anagram, loved the thievish magpie.
I’m also picking up a lot of background info and the general feel of the thing from all these comments, so thanks for that! And thanks to Omnibus and PeterO
Good to have you along Jayjay.
James @36: re MHG, it’s all about promising the world to voters (and of course, usually delivering little).
AlanC@51: I think that is a misleading definition. All politicians make promises. The Moral High Ground, traditionally occupied by the Liberal Democrats and Greens in the UK, is pledging to govern in a way many people would consider morally good, rather than resorting to the compromises that government usually requires. A slogan such as “We would never sell arms to a Middle Eastern dictatorship” takes the moral high ground, and appeals accordingly to some people (hence it provides some political capital). It doesn’t say much about the factories and workers that produce the arms, nor about the question of whether one dictator might be preferable to another, and the party espousing it probably does not expect Ito be in a position to implement the policy. If it does end up in government, things often end badly for it (see Lib Dem Coalition with Conservatives in 2010).
the AVERAGE is not the usual – that is the Mode
Valentine @41
There is an oft repeated urban myth that the word NYLON is an acronym of NY (New York) + Lon(don).
Sagittarius @52. Recent governments have tried to take the MORAL HIGH GROUND by taxing betting offices heavily, while ignoring online gambling where harm is less well controlled. How moral, or how high, is that?
for outcrop i had group’s work as our op around tc( anagram of ct for court).
Croc@53. There are several ways of assessing an average. The mode is one of them (the others being mean and median). As the mode is defined, both in maths and in fashion, as what occurs most often, the clue looks pretty accurate to me. (And to forstall arguments, “usual” is not an example of an average; it is an average.)
Jon@56. Not many rock groups have opus numbers assigned to their works, so it’s a bit loose. 🤔
@58,sheffield hatter, not sure what you mean by opus? i had the definition as exposed rock = outcrop. group’s work as our op around ct(court).
I’m fairly sure that OP around court* was intended, though the other explanations work too.
Since when was displayed synonymous with anagramed?
I don’t think any comments have mentioned E H Carr in 24a — how often does he crop up in a crossword? A slightly controversial figure, but his book “What is History” is brilliant, especially the chapter on determinism. Which setters would think of him (if we’re trying to identify Omnibus)?
Comment #63
thanks Sheffield Hatter. I think whenevrer Average is used with numbers, it means Mean; but when it is used non-numerrically – an average guy – it means Mode.
Sorry, Omnibus. I’ll take the tram next time.
Croc at 64 There was a very protracted discussion on average following Maskerades Prize puzzle very recently
SH@55: your question falls outside the remit of comments on a crossword blog! I was simply trying to illustrate how taking the moral high ground might offer political advantage, as mentioned in the clue and queried by James@36. But your example suggests that it is a much easier space to occupy for those who don’t actually have to decide or implement anything, but can criticise those who do.
Comment #68
AlanC @51 neither term means that. Don’t worry, it was a rhetorical question.
Gave this one another day and was rewarded. Some delightfully mind-bending synonymns, like 10a CHART = “be hit”, 17a PERGOLA = “something to climb”, 19a GETHSEMANE = “Olive garden”, 1d “record” = HIGH, 6d “rather” = SOONER, 21d “Shock” = MOP
Couldn’t parse 11/7/18 ACGOV, looking for “chef” = CHILD. Missed the brilliant anagram
Other favourites, 12a RHONDDA (good surface), 23a OUTCROP (“criminal court”), 8d ITAS (funny)
Thanks O and PeterO
I don’t think that claiming the moral high ground is political capital, but doing something which entitles the party to it very much is.