Anto provides our cryptic crossword this morning.
It’s over a year since I last blogged an Anto puzzle and I don’t think I’ve solved one since then. He’s given us a generally very straightforward set of clues, with a number of simple charades and neat anagrams, with smooth, often witty, surfaces throughout and several smiles along the way.
I had ticks for FIVE A SIDE, CARBON EMISSIONS, SCAT, A BIT MUCH, THE BACK OF A LORRY, VERBALS, POST-HASTE and HEIFERS. I have a quibble at 21ac but, otherwise, found it a pleasant solve – thanks, Anto.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Quins getting slaughtered reportedly in this game format (4,1,4)
FIVE A SIDE
Whimsically, sounds like (reportedly) ‘five a cide’, using the combining form ‘-cide’ to indicate killing, as in ‘insecticide’ – rather outrageous but it made me smile, with the nod to Harlequins at the beginning
6 Take apart resistance with very little money raised (3,2)
RIP UP
R (resistance) + I P (one penny – very little money) + UP (raised)
9 Transport doctor secures undertaking to show damaging output (6,9)
CARBON EMISSIONS
CAR (transport) + BONES (military slang for a doctor) round MISSION (undertaking)
10 Muck about in street (4)
SCAT
CA (circa – about) in ST (street)
11 Casting chum bait overboard? (1,3,4)
A BIT MUCH
AN anagram (casting) of CHUM BAIT – a reference to the expression ‘go overboard’ – to go to extremes
14 Examine current wealth declaration that’s provided in court (9)
TESTIMONY
TEST (examine) + I (current) + MONY (sounds like – declaration – ‘money’ (wealth)
15 Resolved to return short communications (5)
NOTES
A reversal (to return) of SET ON (resolved)
16 Traditional name dropped – it’s a matter of principle (5)
ETHIC
ETH[n]IC (traditional) minus n (name)
18 Made clear: hero moved improperly (5,4)
DROVE HOME
AN anagram (improperly) of HERO MOVED
20 Enquiry identifies food included in sample (8)
TRIBUNAL
BUN (food) in TRIAL (sample)
21 Retaliation involves the others (2,2)
ET AL
Contained in rETALiation – but ‘et al’ means ‘and others’, not ‘and the others’
25 Terribly fat York bachelor the source of hot stuff (3,4,2,1,5)
THE BACK OF A LORRY
A clever and amusing anagram (terribly) of FAT YORK BACHELOR, with a cryptic definition, ‘hot stuff’ being stolen goods, claimed to have fallen from there
26 Defence is useless to hold back this woman (5)
SUSIE
A hidden reversal (back) in defencE IS USeless
27 Extended conflict has grafter almost completely apprehensive (6,3)
TROJAN WAR
TROJAN (grafter – ‘work like a Trojan’) + WAR[y] (apprehensive, almost)
Down
1 Aim is to shrink Fort Custer by half (5)
FOCUS
FO[rt] CUS[ter]
2 Block clergyman over argument (7)
VERBALS
A reversal (over) of SLAB (block) + REV (clergyman)
3 Common direction of travel after they open border fronts (1,2,1)
A TO B
Initial letters of After They Open Border
4 Thing that makes loving couple … (4)
ITEM
Double definition
5 … irritated by indolent author (4,6)
ENID BLYTON
An anagram (irritated) of BY INDOLENT – ‘indolent’ made me smile: see here
6 Got up coloured with optimism (4-6)
ROSE TINTED
ROSE (got up) + TINTED (coloured)
7 One paid on channel to provide content (7)
PRODUCT
PRO (one paid) + DUCT (channel)
8 Issue dispatch ASAP (4-5)
POST-HASTE
POST (issue) + HASTE (dispatch)
12 Put off recording what we’re living though (10)
DISCOURAGE
DISC (recording) + OUR AGE (what we’re living through)
13 British agent satisfied capturing vessel – something that intimidates governments! (4,6)
BOND MARKET
BOND (British agent) + MET (satisfied) round ARK (Vessel)
14 America sticks poor material in papers (3,6)
THE STATES
TAT (poor material) in THESES (papers)
17 They’ll come into estate carrying 50% of feed for livestock (7)
HEIFERS
HEIRS (they’ll come into estates) round FE[ed]
19 Beat in a gunfight with banned move? (7)
OUTDRAW
OUT (banned) + DRAW (move)
22 Sort of early film (5)
LAYER
An anagram (sort of) of EARLY
23 Occasional infusion is required on that basis (2,2)
IF SO
Alternate letters of InFuSiOn
24 Simple form of life spotted in spiral galaxy (4)
ALGA
Contained in spirAL GAlaxy
Another intriguing set of clues from Anto (his QUIPTIC on Sunday is also worth a look). I was hooked by FIVE A SIDE, my FOI, and also liked CARBON EMISSIONS, (helped by remembering the Star Trek character), TRIBUNAL, THE BACK OF A LORRY, TROJAN WAR, VERBALS, ENID BLYTON (amusing link indeed, Eileen), DISCOURAGE and BOND MARKET.
Ta Anto & Eileen.
Thanks Anto and Eileen
Some odd ones. I didn’t see “cide” in FOI 1a. “Traditional” is a long way down a list of possible meanings of “ethnic”. Why is “move” DRAW in 19d?
Held up by writing AFGHAN WAR in for 27a at first – I thought that closer inspection would reveal it to be some sort of subtractive anagram.
Favourite HEIFERS.
muffin @2: DRAW as in pull, drag or move something.
Thanks AlanC – again a rather off-centre usage.
I liked HEIFERS and FIVE-A-SIDE.
CARBON EMISSIONS and DISCOURAGE held me up. POST HASTE didn’t hold me up but I’m not comfortable with the parsing; haste ≡ dispatch?
Thanks Anto and Eileen
I don’t really understand 2d. The clue seems to suggest singular whereas the answer seems to be plural.
What am I missing?
Eileen says it all. Thanks both
Martin @5
Collins – ‘dispatch: prompt action or speed (often in the phrase with dispatch )’
Chambers – ‘inconsiderate or undue speed’.
kenmac @6: There was a bit of VERBALS between the two opponents.
Martin @5: she completed the task with HASTE/dispatch.
Muck @7: I’m surprised you didn’t highlight your name check in SCAT.
kenmac @6
In slangish usage, if you have VERBALS with someone, you are having a row.
kenmac @6
The best I could find – Collins: ‘verbal: (plural) slang) abuse or invective’.
I was amused by the Harlequins reference in 1ac. Very appropriate after the terrible season they have had this year! I wonder if Anto is a fellow Quins fan.
Thanks to Anto and Eileen.
Thanks Anto, thanks Eileen! Finished just after 9am, this is a first for me!! Solved quickly but didn’t entirely understand. Now Eileen has explained. Five-a-cide!! Oh my. I was momentarily stumped by SCAT and DISCOURAGE. Lovely, good-natured puzzle. Have a great day everyone.
Thanks Alan and Eileen @8 and 9.
There was certainly no question over the accuracy. I was merely unfamiliar with that meaning.
I had looked in Chambers but somehow missed the line that said Haste, promptitude
Good work on the blog, as ever, Eileen.
Congratulations, Nic @13! – glad you enjoyed it.
Should have been straightforward but I wasn’t on the same wavelength as Anto but all perfectly fair.
I couldn’t parse FIVE A SIDE, and reading the blog I see I was never going to. I wrote in Eric Ambler for the indolent author which slowed me up.
Favourites: TESTIMONY and BACK OF A LORRY.
Martin@5 to do something with dispatch is to do it quickly.
Loi VERBALS where the plural had me confused.
Thanks Anto and Eileen.
Tricky and mildly enjoyable.
Favourites: THE BACK OF A LORRY, DISCOURAGE, A BIT MUCH, NOTES (loi).
I agree with Eileen re 21ac.
Didn’t know bones was a doctor, so couldn’t parse CARBON EMISSIONS, and I don’t understand move/draw.
GDU @18
Never seen Star Trek, then?
Dr Macoy in Star trek was always referred to as Bones by Captain Kirk. I didn’t spot the CIDE = side link, but now that it’s been explained have to admit, very clever. BOND MARKET was knew to me, and like many others VERBALS was LOI. thanks to Eileen and Anto.
12ac typo in clue in my version – “though” should be “through”. ?
I mean 12d of course!
Very entertaining. The “five-a-cide” was brilliant. I was also amused by THE BACK OF A LORRY and ENID BLYTON — Eileen, that link is amazing. Many thanks to Anto and you.
Nic @13 – well done! It’s downhill from here…
Thanks for the hints, Eileen. The CIDE at 1a eluded me, as did IP for ‘very little money’, thanks.
A nice set of clues to enjoy overlooking the calm of the Ionian Sea.
I was pleased when working on 17th-century letters to discover the literal meaning of ‘post-haste’ – an order from Charles I in 1639 to prevent any unauthorised person or letters from leaving the country is marked ‘Hast Hast / Post Hast / with all speed’; the postmasters at each stage have noted on the cover the times at which his letter passed them on its way to Dover.
Thanks to Anto and Eileen – this was fun.
No, never saw Star Trek.
Jacqui @21/22 – well spotted. I’d missed that: you see what you expect to see. (It’s the same in my paper version, too.)
Sarah @25 – thank you for that interesting titbit.
Absolutely loved FIVE-A-SIDE – so inventive. I find Anto’s cryptics much more fun than many of those by other setters. Maybe it’s a wavelength thing.
I read 12d as through !
As mystified as some others by VERBALS. I’ve ever heard of that meaning and can’t see the plural form in a dictionary, the singular being defined by Chambers as voluble or articulate (e.g. Verbal Klint in The Usual Suspects). Also DRAW=move (I nearly had OUTDREW but opted for the present tense as a guess). FIVE-A-SIDE was obvious but couldn’t parse it.
Enjoyed that with the SW quadrant being most challenging.
Do things still fall off the back of a lorry? Not heard that phrase for a while. Those drivers were quite clumsy back in my youth. My favourite clue today.
Also enjoyed FIVE-A-SIDE
Glad someone else spotted the typo. Is the editor not checking Anto’s crosswords?
Thanks Eileen and Anto
poc @30: as Eileen says @11, Collins online has, for VERBALS, “(plural noun) abuse or invective”, and it gives various examples including “He traded verbals with fans who went for him” from
The Sun (2010) and “One thing I didn’t mention was a bit of touchline verbals between the managers” from The Guardian (2020) . It’s not in my paper Collins, which is 1998, so it’s maybe more recent than that.
A smooth, steady solve today; favourites were the York bachelor and the indolent author. Although an erstwhile Blyton devotee, I didn’t realise she was so prolific until I followed Eileen’s link: a book a year for each of her major series was a tremendous output. I was unfamiliar with SCAT, and the intersecting VERBALS took a long time to stare down. I have a distant memory of the latter being used in tv programmes but I haven’t heard it in a while. Thanks to Anto and to Eileen.
Another use from my bad old Detective days, although no admission here 😉, was ‘the copper gave me some VERBALS’, as in fitted up or scripted up.
I wrote in FIVE-A-SIDE immediately but never did figure out the ‘cide’ reference. And VERBALS was new to me, although I should have done better with the parsing, getting REV but not SLAB.
Otherwise, lots to like including the impressive long anagram
ET AL. Puzzled by Eileen’s quibble, given that Latin doesn’t really have an equivalent to “the”,
That’s why the Romans found it handy to have both ALTER = (the) other (of two), and ALIUS = other (of an indefinite number).
JNM @36 – I’ve just caught your comment but can’t respond to it now: I have a friend here and we’re soon going out for lunch – back mid-afternoon. 🙂
I liked the hot stuff falling off THE BACK OF A LORRY, DISCOURAGE what we’re living th(r)ough – I didn’t notice the misspelling, the British agent’s BOND MARKET, and the estate HEIFERS. I also missed the -cide part of FIVE-A-SIDE.
Thanks Anto and Eileen.
HoofItYouDonkey @24… 🤣🤣…😢
Only knew SCAT from my flimsy knowledge of Jazz, had never heard of the Muck version before. Last two in therefore that one and the intersecting VERBALS. The latter turned into rather more than than for ten years or so, apparently, with the epic TROJAN WAR. Lots to enjoy today, many thanks Anto and Eileen…
Thank you Eileen; and Anto, Goldilocks for me [though our now-Canadian daughter and her Canadian-Irish husband wouldn’t appreciate the definition of 14d].
Gentle puzzle today. Got most of it last night, revealed a few this morning, which I almost never do. And messed myself up by putting in ETHOS at 16ac, which made DISCOURAGE unavailable.
I’d forgotten about British graft, which in the US means corruption. I do know that meaning of the word, from a song.
No one has mentioned yet that “bones” for “doctor” is short for “sawbones.”
A friend of mine hosts a song swap at a local folk festival called “Songs of -cide,” the higher the body count the better. I usually contribute with the only song I know that includes donkeycide.
nho the Harlequins, so I thought the quins must be quintuplets. The comments have enlightened me.
Thanks to Anto and Eileen. Enjoy your lunch, Eileen!
Manageable puzzle today. Favourite 1a FIVE A SIDE for the really bad pun. Not many plausible surfaces, except 12d DISC OUR AGE, 14d THE STATES, 24d ALGA were pretty good. Thanks Anto for the puzzle, and Eileen for the blog
Eileen, thanks for the link to Enid Blyton. I had no idea she was so insanely prolific! Wikipedia describes her as “one of the best selling and most prolific writers of all time”
Valentine @42
The “quins” does refer to quintuplets in the parsing. The Harlequins reference is only for the surface – and they would never play five-a-side anyway; the reduced form of Rugby Union is seven-a-side.
FIVE A SIDE was foi and I kept rolling, but had a couple of raised eyebrows.
ET AL has caused issues before, but I thought the problem here was with the “and”, not the “the”.
In TRIBUNAL, “identifies” has too strong a semantics to just vanish. It is quite unusual as a link word.
Fave was THE BACK OF A LORRY.
When VERBALS swam into focus, I did wonder how many non-Brits would know the term.
Or even non-Londoners, perhaps.
Lord Jim @32, it certainly pre-dates 1998, for I grew up with it and it also appears in one of my favourite scenes from the masterly 1980 film, The Long Good Friday: in trying to discover which toe-rag grassed him up, Bob Hoskins has his minions round up all the heads of rival crime gangs and hang them, upside down, from meathooks in an abattoir. As he puts it, “s’up to you: frostbite or verbals!”
(And if you’ve never seen the film, I envy you – for you’re in for a treat!)
I also only knew SCAT from jazz, and crossed my fingers when sticking the answer in.
HEIFERS was nice, and 1A made me grin.
Thanks Eileen and Anto
I’m not complaining about the MONY-money homonym–it’s close enough. But it’s an opportunity to let Tommy James and the Shondells provide a relevant earworm.
Wellbeck @46: is the Long Good Friday quote a slightly different meaning of VERBALS, to mean a confession? My paper Collins does include “(pl) slang a criminal’s admission of guilt on arrest”.
Wellbeck@46 I’ve seen that great movie, but didn’t remember the reference — probably because, as you say, this non-Brit didn’t know the term (or Lord Jim’s clarification @48). It probably just washed over me. I’ll catch it next time!
Nice puzzle: chewy enough to need two bites, one before and one after going to the gym, which sharpened me up a bit.
DISCOURAGE was LOI and took far longer than it might have done, partly because my errant mind had locked on to “TAPE” at the end being the “recording”, despite its fitting no possible word. Mrs TheSheep suggested DISC.. and then all became clear.
I liked HEIFERS, THE BACK OF A LORRY and TROJAN WAR; it’s a long time since I’ve heard “”Work like a Trojan” (my family’s variant of that is “Fart like a Trojan”, though I don’t know if there’s any evidence that the Trojans were well known for either their work ethic or for excessive flatulence)
Thanks Anto & Eileen
JNM@36 I was going to make the same point. I would think that meaning ‘others’ or ‘the others’ would depend on how specific the writer was being.
Lord Jim @48: as I understand it, verbals means any and all kinds of spoken communication.
So, yes, it can mean a confession, but also a perfectly ordinary good-natured chat, or an argument (in the same way that the phrase “we had words” can mean a dispute, but one could also say “may I have a word with you?” and not mean it aggressively.)
The Long Good Friday was full of villain slang (you’re a bit out of your manor, old son!) but “verbals” isn’t one of them. Growing up, my mates and I used the term all the time and I swear to you, guv, we woz all honest, non-criminal kids!
[Mig @49: I once watched the film on DVD in the company of a Canadian friend – and we frequently had to put it on pause to explain bits of the dialogue to her. The phrase she had the most trouble with was, “and they DON’T lose their bottle!!!”]
For reasons least known to myself I was left 26ac?
VERBALS I loved. A knowledge of Euston Films output of the 70s and 80s helped, Terence😄
Thanks Eileen and Anto.
Eileen, many of the books listed in your link have dates well after her death. Surely she couldn’t have a list of so many unpublished books at that time.
JNM @36 (and Zoot @51), following me @37, if you’re still there and still interested …
As simply as possible: the indefinite pronouns alius (alia, aliud) and alter (alter alterum) both mean ‘other’: ‘alius’ in a general sense (‘other, another’ – of an unspecified number) and ‘alter’ specifically ‘the other’ (of two people or things – or, in the plural, two groups of people or things) – giving us derivatives like ‘alternate’ or ‘alternative’ (as used in the blog @23dn). Also illustrating why you can’t have more than two alternatives – although that seems to have gone by the board these days (another of those poor dead horses that I can’t stop flogging. 😉 )
For ‘the others’ we usually use ‘etc (et cetera’ – ‘and the rest’.)
Eileen @ #55.
I take all of that onboard – except of course you can have more than two alternatives, a word’s meaning & its root’s meaning being not necessarily the same, and in this case ALTER was a handy word for the Romans because of Latin’s lack of articles, a lack not shared by English.
I’m still mystified by your objection to THE others.
JNM @56 – well, I really can’t think of any more to say. We’re not at all on the same wavelength – I just don’t understand where you’re coming from, I’m afraid.
Eileen
I partly agree with you – one of my pet hates is mixing up alternate and alternative – but surely “that is one option, but what are the alternatives” is valid?
Eileen @57 – thanks.
In the case of e.g. an academic work “by Smith, Jones et al”, I don’t see why not “by Smith, Jones and THE others (who contributed)”.
Hope you had a good lunch.
ET AL
I expect you’ve all gone home by now, but anyway …
I’ve only just done the puzzle and looked at this site.
My objection to the clue was that it means AND (the) others, not just the others.
I don’t think Eileen’s post @55 really explains why it can’t mean *the* others.
Anyway, as I say, I doubt if anyone’s reading this anyway.
As usual, I’m really sorry I started this, by my comment on the blog. My thanks to everyone for their patience. 😉
I think Eileen’s objection is that ‘et al’ does not just mean ‘the others’; it means ‘and the others” (or ‘and others”) – as per your example above.
You still haven’t addressed *my* objection, which is the word ‘ET’ meaning ‘and’.
Or, are you suggesting that it is implied in the word ‘involves’ in the clue? In which case, should it not be underlined as part of the definition?
Before reading the blog I would have said ET AL could mean “and others” or “and the others”, depending on the context. But if Eileen says that’s wrong, I need no further proof of my error.
I do agree with Anna # 60&63, that “and” is an integral part of the meaning of ET AL.
I didn’t get the “icide” pun at 1a, but as soon as I saw Eileen’s explanation, FIVE-A-SIDE became my favourite clue.
Thanks Anto for the amusing puzzle and Eileen et al for the engaging blog and subsequent discussion.
Thank you, Cellomaniac @64. 😉
This has been one of those occasions when a knowledge of Latin has proved a distinct disadvantage, rather than a help. I lapsed into schoolteacher mode @55, which turned out to be quite inappropriate and resulted in a lot of speaking at cross purposes. Once again, I apologise for a throwaway comment on the blog, which added nothing to clarification of the solution. I will once again promise to try to refrain from doing this and stick to the job in hand!
[Wellbeck@52 I probably didn’t worry about understanding every word and phrase — I got the gist! And maybe I caught more than your (other) Canadian friend because of all the cryptic crosswords I do!] 🙂
Don’t you dare change, Eileen!
It is Tuesday, isn’t ?
Qaos all over the place!
Muffin @ 67
Hear! hear!
There was absolutely nothing wrong with pointing out the difference between alius and alter.
I’m going to bed now, it’s 11 pm.
And that’s the end of that.
Not quite the end! Eileen, I (we) love the discussions you initiate! You have a distinctive style that is very warm and engaging. Don’t ever hold back!
Thank you, Anna – me too! Not quite so late here but still a long day since 12.00 midnight BST, (past my normal bedtime), the earliest time we UK Guardian bloggers can access the puzzle, like the rest of you, leaving not a lot of time to solve/ parse the puzzle and prepare and post a blog before 9.00am (my personal deadline) and snatch an hour or so of sleep!
I’d have liked to discuss your comment @63 but far too tired now. 🙂
Just caught your comment, Mig @70 – much appreciated.
Gobsmacked by your link to Enid Blyton, Eileen, thank you! And I thought she just wrote about Noddy and the Famous Five… turns out she was/still is an industry.