The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30163.
Quite a surprise: after blogging an Omnibus last week, it’s déjà vu all over again. Prominent again is the long anagram spread all over the grid – 33 letters, after last week’s mere 21. Obviously, solving that clue is key to the full grid, but there were a few obstacles in the remaining parts. In all, I thought that this was the best Omnibus yet. I seem to be all thumbs today, so I hope I have caught most of the typos.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7, 8, 11, 21, 5 | YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR CHAINS |
23’s advice to 25: the reader ‘Ought to Buy Shares in Nanotech’ (Vol. I free) (3,4,7,2,4,3,4,6)
|
| An anagram (‘free’) of ‘ought to buy shares in nanotech vol i’ (note that the last letter is indeed a capital I for India, without the serif for number 1). ’23’ is MARX (Karl this time, of course), and the advice to unite directed to the ’25’ WORKERS of the World, using a form which is a translation/paraphrase of the closing words of The Communist Manifesto, in the form in which it is popularly reendered. | ||
| 8 |
See 7
|
|
| 9 | RAMP |
Batter’s finale a representative cricket shot (4)
|
| A charade of R (‘batteR‘s finale’) plus ‘a’ plus MP (‘representative’). In cricket, according to Wictionary, it is “A way of hitting a boundary by facing the bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball. 100% of it done against pace.”. | ||
| 10 | DETENTION |
Prison’s number one turns up after extra time in pit (9)
|
| A chafrade of DETENT, an envelope (‘in’) of ET (‘extra time’ – this would seem to be an obvious and useful initialism, but I have not tracked down a dictionary that acknowledges it, nor E for extra by itself) in DENT (‘pit’); plus ION, a reversal (‘turns up’ – which would mesh better in a down light, but perhaps can be justified here) of NO I (‘number one’). | ||
| 12, 16 | CLASS STRUGGLE |
Dialectical battle to rule the school? (5,8)
|
| Cryptic definition, with play on CLASS as a school session or form. | ||
| 13 | LIAISONS |
Encounters back trouble – is one’s drug missing? (8)
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| A charade of LIA, a reversal (‘back’) of AIL (‘trouble’) plus ‘is on[e]s’ minus the E (‘drug missing’). | ||
| 15 | DAWN |
Starts to dwindle as we notice first light (4)
|
| First letters (‘starts to’) of ‘Dwindle As We Notice’. | ||
| 16 | SISAL |
MI6’s last vestiges of moral fibre (5)
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| A charade of SIS (Secret Intelligence Service, also known as ‘MI6’) plus AL (‘last vestiges of morAL‘). | ||
| 17 | DICE |
German froideur cut to pieces (4)
|
| A charade of D (Deutch, ‘German’) plus ICE (‘froideur’). | ||
| 18 | SPARE RIB |
Harry, for one, takes boat to get something to put on the barbie (5,3)
|
| A charade of SPARE (‘Harry, for one’, the title of a memoir by Prince Harry, a reference to his position as the latter half of “an heir and a spare”, an injunction for a monarch, in times when life was not so certain, to have two sons in case the first died prematurely) plus RIB (‘boat’, by synecdoche). | ||
| 20, 23 | HARPO MARX |
Comic to go on about bit of opportunity to spoil vote (5,4)
|
| A charade of HARP (‘go on’, dwell excessively on a topic) plus O (‘bit of Opportunity/) plus MAR (‘spoil’) plus X (‘vote’). | ||
| 21 | YOUNGSTER |
Mopped gents in 21d’s nipper (9)
|
| Am envelope (‘in’) of NGSTE, an anagram (‘mopped’?) of ‘gents’ in YOUR (the answer to ’21d’). | ||
| 22 | ISMS |
Doctrines in sciences modified slightly at first (4)
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| Initial letters (‘at first’) of ‘In Sciences Modified Slightly’. | ||
| 24 | QUIETLY |
Stealthily abandon farmland, moving east west (7)
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| QUIT LEY (‘abandon farmland’) with the E moved one place to the left (‘moving east west’) | ||
| 25 | WORKERS |
Staff swore vehemently, accepting hollow rank (7)
|
| An envelope (‘accepting’) of RK (‘hollow RanK‘) in WOERS, an anagram (‘vehemently’) of ‘swore’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | YOGA |
Philosophical approach exhibited by Tokyo gallery (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘exhibited by’) in ‘TokYO GAllery’. | ||
| 2 | CHAPLAIN |
Minister put down following split (8)
|
| A charade of CHAP (‘split’, as of skin in cold dry conditions) plus LAIN (‘put down’, past tense). | ||
| 3 | EVADES |
Decaying eaves harbouring first of downy ducks (6)
|
| An envelope (‘harbouring’) of D (‘first of Downy’) in EVAES, an anagram (‘decaying’) of ‘eaves’. | ||
| 4 | TOWN HALL |
Mayor’s office won’t broadcast lobby (4,4)
|
| A charade of TOWN, an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘won’t’; plus HALL (‘lobby’). | ||
| 5 |
See 7 Across
|
|
| 6 | ANON |
Unknown with Q when conspiring? (4)
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| A reference to QAnon, a manifestation of the lunatic American far right conspiracy movement. | ||
| 11 |
See 7 Across
|
|
| 12 | CRAMP |
Constrain 109? (5)
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| A charade of C (100 – part of ‘109’) plus (mathematically’) RAMP, the answer to clue 9A. Devious. | ||
| 14 | NACHO |
British bean counters eat Swiss cheesy whatsit (5)
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| An envelope (‘eat’ – eats would fit the wordplay better, but not the surface) of CH (‘Swiss’ IVR) in NAO (National Audit Office, ‘British bean counters’). | ||
| 16 |
See 12 Across
|
|
| 17 | DERRICKS |
Slip up in detectives offloading gear (8)
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| An envelope (‘inn’) of ERR (‘slip up’) in DICKS (‘detectives’) | ||
| 19 | ROUSES |
Kindles for everyone accepted by woke school (6)
|
| An envelope (‘accepted by’) of U (film certification, ‘for everyone’) in ROSES (‘woke school’ – over to you: is this some specific reference that I have not been able to dig out, or is it just “rose-coloured glasses”?). | ||
| 20 | HARROW |
By what means to include a bishop in drag? (6)
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| An envelope (‘to include’) of ‘a’ plus RR (Right Reverend, the address for a ‘bishop’) in HOW (‘by what means’). | ||
| 21 |
See 7 Across
|
|
| 23 |
See 20 Across
|
|
Although forbidding at very first glance, the long one fell pretty easily. 7a had to be YOU HAVE just from the crossers; then, strongly suspecting what was afoot, I checked 20a,23 already predisposed to think that the second name would be MARX. That confirmed the rest, with WORKERS then also being a write-in. My only subsequent problem was, at the final hurdle, with QUIETLY, which I could not parse, so thanks to PeterO for that.
Am I right in thinking that Spooner may have said 7, 8, 11, 21, 5 when exhorting the motorway drivers of the world to unite?
ROUSES uses woke as the past tense of wake for ‘rose’ + S for school (which finds support in Collins, though not Chambers it seems).
I’m surprised there is not formal support for ET as abbreviation of Extra Time. Having watched some of England’s matches at the recent World Cup (men’s football) go to Extra Time (but, thankfully, not the dreaded penalty shootout), the TV scoreboard / clock would show ET during these extended periods.
7 etc quite pointless. So easy to get from the enumeration and with a little help from a few crossers and Marx; will any one check the anagram? and the surface? No comment. The clue might as well have been just 23’s advice to 25. And it is 18% of the crossword.
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus
7 et al. is YOU (the reader) followed by the monstrous anagram. I parsed 19d like Jay #3
Like Balfour #1 and DaveEllison #5, I got it very quickly, too, which helped a lot for an almost disappointingly fast solve. Still somewhat challenging and rewarding in the end.
Gratias maximas ago omnibus, thanks for the blog, PeterO!
@Dave Ellison #5 agreed – I find that clues of this kind generally make for a very uneven solving experience (they are invariably set aside at first, but leave far fewer entries that can be solved on the first pass; and then once a word or two can be gleaned the solution jumps out, without the whole wordplay having to be parsed – and just like that there are crossers all over the grid)
Surely, the roses of rouses is simply rose (woke) + s (school)?
In 18a, I don’t understand what synecdoche has to do with it. A RIB is a rigid inflatable boat.
Yes, a long anagram can overwhelm the puzzle, but like Araucaria’s famous Grantchester one this is a very clever spot by the setter, with MARX, WORKERS and CLASS STRUGGLE fitted in as well. Each to his own, but after a fairly quick solve I was happy to admire a cleverly constructed puzzle. Thanks to Omnibus for the cleverness and to PeterO for explaining the two I couldn’t parse
Initially, I found this impenetrable, with a 33-letter (partial) anagram dominating the grid. To my great surprise, the communism-themed puzzle yielded in a not too long while…
To me, CRAMP is not crisp: purely as a string of characters, 109 = 10 + 9 ie X + RAMP. To get C, one needs to deconstruct it arithmetically: 109 = 100 + 9. But then, where do we stop? Can e.g. 100 stand for LL because 100 = 50+50?!
Thanks Omnibus and PeterO!
I messed myself up initially by thinking that the long one was YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF. Got there in the end though
Similar experience to Balfour @1, guessing YOU HAVE and then solving HARPO MARX to work out the reference. I thought that HARROW (school) was part of the theme, as an example of the CLASS STRUGGLE. The E is moved two places to the left in QUIETLY and I also parsed ROUSES as Jay @3. I was reluctant to take this on last night but I really enjoyed it, especially the Qaotic CRAMP
Ta Omnibus (team?) & PeterO.
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus
Too long a single clue for that size grid. Got workers on first quick glance through and 33 letter answer followed almost immediately. Feels as if the only requisite was to get that quote into a 15^2 grid – with little thought to overall effect on puzzle.
@Layman #11… I think a less algebraic parse: “One hundred and nine” is fair?
Robinn @15: It makes sense if you spell it out like that, I agree. But I still think 1009 would have been cleaner
Exactly that Robinn @15. No controversy there.
I thought the cluing was more even than previous Omnibuses but too many multi-parters for a grid with few slots in the first place.
Held myself up with ‘horlicks’ as a slip up before I got DICE.
For DETENTION I’m not sure why ‘turns up’ couldn’t simply have been ‘returns’.
Small typo of ‘rendered’ at the end of the explanation of 7…
Like Matthew N @14, I spotted WORKERS at the outset, which gave me the (translated) quotation and half the puzzle was already solved, as the other related clues practically solved themselves. The very long anagram is well constructed to make sense, but unlike Araucaria’s famous ones (pace NeilH @10), it isn’t a clue-as-definition, which the late master’s classics were (my favourite was ‘Roundhead: Thy sire flew on a Tuesday?’). All of which makes me feel that this was more fun to construct than to solve.
I concur with Robinn @15: ‘one hundred and nine’ gives C RAMP, without the need for a Qaotic algebraic parsing.
Thanks to all and PeterO
I agree with PeterO that this was the best Omnibus to date. Yes the long one may have been a bit too long, but it held the grid together nicely, and some of the other clues were really clever.
Was able to solve the long Karl Marx quote with help from an online search as I had solved 20/23 HARPO MARX before that. I agree with various commenters such as Dave@5 and Menander@7 about the long clue.
I could not parse the SIS bit of 16ac.
New for me 9ac RAMP = cricket shot; E = extra (for 10ac); RIB = boat (for 18ac); LEY = farmland; NAO = National Audit Office (for 14d).
I parsed 19d ROUSES in the same way as TIM S@8 ie U in ROSE + S.
Does anyone know who is Omnibus? Is it a single person or a combo of setters?
I thought this was OK. I actually solved HARPO MARX first, and it rather flowed from there. Although I had a HIIT class between starting and finishing, which means I’m probably the only person here who got WORKERS quite late on, having lost my train of thought.
Having deduced I was looking for something RIB at 18A before solving the excellent CRAMP, I figured my options were PRIME and SPARE. There was actually a big band vocalist called Harry Prime, but the correct solution is far more current.
The mega anagram (largely unsolved I imagine, not even considered by me) made this a quickie for Friday but it was entertaining enough.
Thanks PeterO.
Thank you Lizzie @9. Boats can have ribs, but I couldn’t make it work.
Good fun and definitely more coherent than previous Omnibus outings. Top Marx for CRAMP, LIAISON & QUIETLY
I noticed that all the 4 letter clues were quite simple- maybe they’re assigned to a junior member of the omnibus crew?
Cheers P&O
michelle @21: We assume it is a collective, rather than an individual – Omnibus being a Latin ablative plural : ‘by all’ (the name of the vehicle, originally horse-drawn, now abbreviated to ‘bus’, was ‘omnibus’ as a dative plural, ie ‘for all’).
Is Omnibus AI?
Re 18, probably the most famous spare in history was Henry VIII, who went from spare to heir when his brother Arthur died.
21a YOUNGSTER: can anyone come up with a word to replace the number 21 that might make sense in context? Of course ‘Mopped gents in your’s nipper’ is gibberish, but it appears that the setter has gone further and contrived a string of words that has as many possibilities as the extent of the dictionary, all of which are gibberish. Nice work.
On first seeing the long clue, my first reaction was to check the clues for 23 and 25. CHICO MARX came quickly to me and that made me think of the Marx quote. A quick check of 25 confirmed that was WORKERS and I was off. With all those letters to help me, the rest of the puzzle fell easily.
I was pleased to see that our blogger knew that the commonly quoted version is a later paraphrase rather than the original words. I believe they were “working peoples of all lands unite, (etc)”. The current version is slightly shorter and more alliterative.
Charles I was also a “spare” – his elder brother Henry died in his teens.
I think that the huge multi-word solution (particularly when combined with several more multi-words) is to the detriment of the puzzle because — as others have noted — we do not really have to work out the clue, but simply use the enumeration and wait for a few key crossers to confirm the answer; and also because the setter short-changes us with a reduction in the number of cryptic clues to be solved. There are just 24 solutions in this puzzle, but there are 36 available lights.
Not a football watcher then
James@28: Good point! The surface is indeed a total mess. I can’t think of any alternative that would make it plausible.
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Have we all lost our critical faculties?!
A setter cannot just decide to make CH equal ‘Swiss’ because it fits the surface – CH=’Switzerland’, not Swiss.
Equally, D for ‘Germany’. Deutsch can be an abbreviation for D but D = ‘Germany’ not ‘German’. Arbitrary nonsense. You cannot just have setters deciding for themselves what abbreviations mean because they can’t be bothered to rework the surface!!
I had the same thoughts as others regarding the long anagram. I really don’t see the point. The setter(s) must have spent a good deal more effort in creating this than the solvers have in spotting it.
RAMP as a cricket shot is not in Chambers as far as I can see, and not being a cricket fan I’ve never heard of it. Luckily it was an easy clue, though I had to use the Check button to confirm it.
Similary RIB=boat, and HARROW=drag is pretty loose. Quibbles aside, I did quite enjoy the puzzle, unlike some other efforts by the mysterious Omnibus.
As a certain crossword editor once said (I paraphrase): “If you use a very long phrase, either it is almost impossible to a solve if unknown, or if known, it soon becomes a write-in to the detriment of the rest of the puzzle”. I knew ‘Workers of the world unite” but not this one. However, I just looked up Marx’s sayings and then put it in. Not a very inspiring process.
Thanks Omnibus and PeterO.
protase@19 – Tried to find the Auracaria anagram of “Roundhead: Thy sire flew on a Tuesday?” only turned up http://bloggingtherenaissance.blogspot.com/2006/04/odd-ballad-my-bird-is-round-head.html. Search for “auracaria Roundhead: Thy sire flew on a Tuesday?” found http://www.anagrammy.com/archives/2011/anag-201109.html and entry by Tony Crafter with:
‘And When Did You Last See Your Father?’ =
A Roundhead: “Thy sire flew on Tuesday?”
All a bit showy-offy to me, both the crossword and much of the blog, but I’m grateful to PeterO for giving us the explanations.
Bingy@35, totally agree!
I thought the blog was very good, PeterO.
@Bingy#35, agreed
Bingy@35: also agree
KateE@39: not sure why you should choose to be churlish towards a blogger.
Whilst I’m busy agreeing, I also include Robi@38’s reference to the value of long phrases.
Not a fan of Omnibus overall, but thanks to whomever & PeterO
Angus @37: Definitely first used by Araucaria (spelling!), sometime in the 1970s:
AI Overview
The phrase refers to a famous cryptic crossword clue by the legendary Guardian setter Araucaria (John Graham):
“Roundhead: Thy sire flew on a Tuesday?”
PS: AI found the clue, but couldn’t solve the anagram!
another ‘meh’ for me.
if you’re going to have a huge amount of the grid dependent on one clue and that clue dependent on two others, you need to make those other two really really tough, in my opinion.
in other words, 23 and 25 were write-ins, which meant that 1a was relatively straightforward from the enumeration.
and from there i just wrote loads in without bothering to parse.
maybe i’m just hungover.
I’m in the same camp as several others. The long clue was quite easy to get and made the rest of the puzzle a bit easy. I have never liked very long anagrams and this one confirmed my dislike.
Otherwise mostly good. Favourites QUIETLY, CRAMP, HARPO MARX (spoiled for me by having already got the long clue) and SPARE RIB.
After the parsing has been explained I still don’t like ROUSES – woke and rose don’t seem like the same to me.
Thanks Omnibus and PeterO.
Fairly straightforward an enjoyable, though I failed on 12d as I bunged in CLAMP (unparsed) Realised it must be CRAMP after completion when ‘check all’ revealed a blank but still needed the blog to parse it. I’m with Layman@16 in preferring 1009 to signify C & 9.
The long anagram fell only once I had several crossers & even then I had to do a search to find its significance/origin. Once I had the SE corner swiftly fell into place.
QUIETLY my LOI, moving E 2 places westwards meant I checked to see if ELY was a type of farmland before realising it was LEY 😆
Enjoyed CLASS STRUGGLE & HARPO MARX.
Thx PeterO & Omnibus.
I had a comment ready to go about the long anagram, but I see it’s been well covered already. Makes you wonder if Omnibus puzzles really are “for all”.
I did some eyebrow-raising for the unnecessary “about” in HARPO MARX and “mopped” indicating an anagram in YOUNGSTER.
Did like the 109 trick.
If Omnibus is a collection of setters, do I detect Qaos at 12 down?
I also thought PeterO’s blog was fine.
One comment though, if the farmland in QUIETLY is ley then surely the E has to be shifted two places “west”, no?
I let out a sigh seeing Omnibus this morning but quite enjoyed this.
Spotting WORKER and MARX early leading tongettting the long clue made this quite a bit easier than it could have been.
Liked HARPO MARX
Thanks PeterO and Omnibus
Am I the only one who wondered why ELY meant farmland in 24a??
I agree with Lizzie@9 that “synecdoche” is unnecessary in 18a, as a RIB is an *example* of a boat. Incidentally, that (synecdoche) is one of those words I have only ever seen in print, and never heard, so seeing it at least prompted me to check how it’s pronounced 🙂
GrannyJP see me @51.
I woke a long time before I rose this morning (having spent some of the intervening time doing Omnibus’s crossword). No they are not synonyms.
I was unfamiliar with LEY, having only seen it spelled LEA, and it has usually been defined as “meadow,” so QUIETLY was the only one I didn’t selve.
This was the best Omnibus puzzle so far, with several clever, but not too difficult clues. It felt different from what I remember of previous offerings. I’m beginning to think that Omnibus has a variable cast, rather than being an unchanging collective.
Another Omnibus after just a week. I agree with PeterO that this was another good one. For 7/8/11/21/5 my first thought, like kenmac@12, was YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF, but I thankfully resisted the temptation to put it in. Once it was solved correctly, the rest of the puzzle followed soon after
Favourites were 2d CHAPLAIN, 4d TOWN HALL, 19d ROUSES
14d is “cheesy whatsit” a suitable definition for NACHO? Is it some kind of British slang?
20/23 HARPO MARX, gradually working my way through all of their movies. Delightful stuff
Thanks O and PeterO
I am in the camp of those who found this disappointing, for all the reasons already expressed, so I won’t pile on. I always feel that Omnibus puzzles are more fun for the setters and the solvers, and this one exceptionally so.
GrannyJP @53 You are not alone. I have never heard of LEY.
Also NHO RIB as a type of boat. I also don’t think the synecdoche works, unless somebody can point to an example of its use in the wild?
Extra time is abbreviated to E.T. Football results in knockout games that go the distance to get a result will say ‘3-2 (a.e.t).’ (after extra time) or whatever the score was.