Thanks to Pangakupu for another expertly-crafted puzzle.
The traditional Māori Nina is the word HAURUA, which appears horizontally and vertically in the middle row and column. The first reference I found was to “The location of a large hui [conference] in 1857 in the Ngāti Maniapoto territory where confirmation of the selection of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero as the first Māori King. It was also affirmed that the Kingship was to be hereditary in his family. Pōtatau had been selected as King at Pūkawa on the western shore of Lake Taupō in November 1856,” but according to this, it can also mean “halfway”. I believe this is Pangakupu’s 50th Cryptic: usually there is some reference (often rather obscure) to the sequence number in the puzzles, and 50 is HALF WAY to 100 (and the Ninas are half way across and down the puzzle).
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | BACKLIGHT | Rugby player lacking weight put in the shade? (9) BACK (Rugby player) + LIGHT (lacking weight); backlighting isn’t exactly putting something in the shade, but I get the idea |
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| 6 | MOTTO | Words to live by, not initially arse-backwards (5) Reverse of BOTTOM (arse) less its first letter |
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| 9 | GILET | Joe, for one, allowed a padded jacket (5) GI (GI Joe, nickname of a US soldier) + LET |
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| 10 | RAIN DANCE | Call for monsoon? Mumbai resident dropping one in a hurry (4,5) INDIAN less the second I in RACE |
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| 11 | MISERY GUTS | Tigress, with ‘Yum!’, mauled grumbler (6,4) (TIGRESS YUM)* |
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| 12 | TYPE | Some charity, perhaps, would be kind (4) Hidden in chariTY PErhaps |
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| 14 | PAINTED | Showed desire to embrace one in make-up? (7) I (one) in PANTED |
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| 15 | DATASET | US lawyer ready to accept thanks for information (7) TA (thanks) in DA (District Attorney) + SET (ready) |
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| 17 | AT LARGE | A goal almost entirely securing first place in league, in general (2,5) L[eague] in A TARGE[t] |
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| 19 | DREYFUS | Duke’s decline largely involving unknown figure in French scandal (7) D + Y (unknown) in REFUS[e] (to decline an offer) |
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| 20 | ITCH | Desire to lose, discarding diamonds (4) DITCH (lose) less D |
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| 22 | PERMITTING | Allowing style’s suitable, but not fine (10) PERM (hairtstyle) + FITTING less F |
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| 25 | AMBIGUOUS | Pompous Unionist blocking a timid one, mostly? That’s of doubtful value (9) BIG (pompous) U[nionist] in A MOUS[e] |
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| 26 | AMIGO | Friend I’m backing to invest in a success (5) Reverse of I’M in A GO (as in making a go of something) |
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| 27 | CLANG | Big noise in family group estranging nearly all? (5) CLAN (family group) + GROUP less almost all its letters |
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| 28 | GALAPAGOS | Drink in the past contributing to atmosphere in islands (9) LAP (drink) AGO (in the past) in GAS (atmosphere) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | BY GUM | How stamps are affixed? Crikey! (2,3) Double definition |
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| 2 | CELESTIAL | Starry Parisian is one active in political group (9) EST (French “is”) + I (one) + A[ctive] in CELL |
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| 3 | LITERATURE | University brought in rare title, fantastic writing (10) UN in (RARE TITLE)* |
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| 4 | GARAGED | Book salvaged from rubbish daughter stored (7) GARBAGE less B + D |
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| 5 | TWISTED | Peculiar warped wits hosted by talks provider? (7) WITS* + TED |
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| 6 | MODE | A way with meter and rhyme? (4) M (meter – US spelling of the unit of length) + ODE (a rhyme) |
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| 7 | TUNNY | Fish like the location where fish are readily shot? (5) Referring to the expression “shooting fish in a barrel”, meaning something easy; a TUN is a beer barrel, and something like it is TUN-NY |
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| 8 | OPERETTAS | Stereo apt to distort musical works (9) (STEREO APT)* |
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| 13 | STREET LAMP | US actress swallowing whisky up – by the way, it’s illuminating (6,4) Reverse of MALT (whisky) in (Meryl) STREEP |
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| 14 | PHARISAIC | A chap is upset about scripture lessons being hypocritical (9) RI (Religious Instruction) in (A CHAP IS)* |
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| 16 | SUFFICING | Promoting us following cake decoration appearing to be enough (9) Reverse of US + FF (following, in references to writing) + ICING |
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| 18 | ERELONG | Billionaire probing work unit soon (7) ELON (Musk – now a trillionaire, at least on paper) in ERG (unit of work) |
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| 19 | DAMOSEL | Starring role involving some cut upset the old girl (7) SOM[e] in LEAD (starring role), reversed |
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| 21 | COBRA | Government committee’s firm support (5) CO (company, firm) + BRA (supporter) – this committee |
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| 23 | GROSS | Unrefined Imperial measure? (5) Double definition |
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| 24 | AGOG | Eager to see name removed from a medal (4) A GONG less N[ame] |
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Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew
I found this straightforward, though I didn’t understand the definition for BACKLIGHT (and it seems you have some doubts too), or see why “pompous” equates to BIG. Lots to like, though; I was pleased to remember DREYFUS, and like the construction of GALAPAGOS (when I just had the P and G I tried to justify CHAMPAGNE!)
I think it may be WITS* within TED to justify the ‘hosted’ but nho TED either way.
Thanks both.
Thanks to Andrew for explaining TUNNY. I didn’t understand the shooting reference, though the answer was obvious once the crosses were in place. However, I found this more straightforward than the usual puzzles from this setter. I recognised the reference, but it took me a while to remember DREYFUS. Liked PHARISAIC, STREET LAMP and DAMOSEL. I await the usual objection to erg as a unit of work in ERELONG, but I think it’s a word that’s too useful to setters to forego. Thanks to Andrew (not least for explaining the nina and relevance thereof) and Pangakupu
Yes great stuff on the Maori word Andrew. I raced through this (by my standards at least) but failed in fact on TUNNY where I had chucked in a hopeful ‘tanky’.
I enjoyed this but felt the subtraction technique was a little over-used? I counted 11 including five in a row from 17a onwards
ERELONG was one of my faves regardless of what the quibblers may say
Never seen that spelling of DAMOSEL but what else could it be? “Damsel in distress” feels like it was born to be in a crossword clue for gongs/awards etc
Cheers P&A
Phi/Pangakupu are always a delight.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
By the way – and I prefer your explanation of the Nina – Hau Rua as two words can mean Double Hit; which, as we see it twice, is also quite satisfying
Nice puzzle, but I found it surprisingly quick for a Pangakupu – not much struggle required. Liked PHARISAIC and RAIN DANCE in particular. Thanks to P & A.
I enjoyed this from a setter who I never find easy, and didn’t today. Solving and parsing everything was satisfying. MISERY GUTS and STREET LAMP stood out.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
Nice puzzle. Still a bit unclear on the nina though. Found much the same as you Andrew but why are we halfway to 100, and why are there two of them? I feel there must be more to it…
I know I’m being an 11 across, but I don’t like M for METER. Yes, I know it’s in Chambers, I know it’s how the Americans spell it, but in SI the word is METRE. (Even the flipping spell checker on here doesn’t like METRE!)
This is indeed Pangakupu’s 50th Daily Cryptic for the Guardian.
I have “hau rua” (two words) translating as “second wind”.
mikeB at 2
Ted talks
Enjoyable throughout; always glad to see a puzzle from Pangakupu. Though I didn’t find it difficult overall (except TUNNY, where I knew neither it nor TUN), I misspelt DREYFUS being too lazy to parse it 🙁 Liked STREET LAMP. Thanks Pangakupu (looking forward to the next 50) and Andrew for a neat and concise blog!
Sorry Andrew I didn’t notice your link
No objection here for “erg” which is absolutely and precisely a measure of work in physics, just not the SI one. Not sure what the objection might be either. However, I agree with Crispy@10 that a “meter” in British English is a measuring device and the unit is “metre”. My Chambers has only the latter listed under “m” so I think an American indicator is needed here.
In photography, if someone is strongly backlit then you only see their silhouette – it can be a problem photographing someone with the sun behind them but is also used as an effect in stage shows and in films (the shadowy figures backlit by an explosion for example). Hence “put in the shade” worked just fine for me.
Many thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
I would note that it is both my fiftieth Pangakupu puzzle and Guardian grid No. 50, so 50-50, and half-and-half. Nice that I could get the two six letter Ninas positioned in the appropriately numbered grid.
Now I look at it, ‘meter’ might simply be a typo that survived all the way from my forefinger to publication…no obvious reason for that spelling. ‘Erg’ as unit of work confirmed by all three major dictionaries and (going back too many decades) my O-level physics class.
I parsed TWISTED as MikeB @2 and like him, hadn’t heard of TED. I found the double Nina but had no idea about its relevance to 50, so thanks Andrew for making sense of that. As others have said, this was very straightforward for the setter, and as enjoyable as ever. The DREYFUS scandal was covered in a podcast, I was listening to last night about the anti-semitic Coco Chanel working for the Nazis, so that was a write-in. I liked RAIN DANCE, PERMITTING and GALAPAGOS.
Ta Pangakupu for dropping in and explaining 50, very clever & Andrew for a great blog.
I think the metre/meter referred to in MODE is nothing to do with the SI unit of length but relates to poetic metre – iambs, trochees and the like. Makes no difference, of course, but it does make more sense of the surface reading.
Anyway, really enjoyable puzzle and blog, thanks both.
I didn’t understand the allusive TUNNY: before I had the initial T I thought it might be FINNY (fish-like).
Otherwise a nice straightforward solve: I leave Maori ninas to those who know about these things. I liked the neat surface for TYPE.
Tough puzzle, took me a while to get going and there were a few answers that I parsed afterwards (ie “solving” back to front”) such as 25ac, 28ac, 13d.
I couldn’t parse the G in 27ac CLANG (humph) and 7d ‘like the location where fish are readily shot’ (ugh).
New for me: BACK = rugby player; DAMOSEL; PHARISAIC = hypocritical; ERELONG written as one word; TUNNY = tuna.
23d I learnt that the Imperial measure GROSS came from French grosse douzaine, literally ‘large dozen’.
I parsed TWISTED as WITS* within TED like MikeB@2 rather than WITS* plus. TED
Lovely puzzle and thanks to P for dropping in.
I still think Robert Harris’s retelling of the Dreyfus affair was one of the most unputdownable books I’ve read.
Damosel is surely a young woman rather than an old one, or am I missing something?
KateE@22 it is an old spelling of what is now damsel
I knew DAMOSEL from G&S’s ‘Patience’, though they spell as ‘damozel’:
When I go out of door,
Of damozels a score
(All sighing and burning,
And clinging and yearning)
Will follow me as before
…
The nina does make more sense as 50/50 but I don’t think I would ever have managed the grid number aspect on my own.
Thanks for the blog , some clever clues , especially CELESTIAL .
I did a similar count to Bodycheetah@5 and found 10 clues where a single letter was being removed in wordplay . all valid and fair enough but a trifle overdone .
Tomsdad@3 and JackOFT@15 , I agree the ERG is a valid unit , just not SI , and it is still widely used in astrophysics .
Entertaining puzzle. The actress in STREET LAMP seems to confirm that the Guardian style guide does not in practice apply to the crossword. And the same with the tigress in MISERY GUTS? — amusing surface.
BY GUM is supposedly a Yorkshire expression, though having lived in Yorkshire for about fifty years I’ve never heard anyone say it (except as a joke). But you certainly can’t imagine it being said in a cockney accent for example.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
That was fun. Agree with Roz@26 and others re ERG and re the number of subtraction clues. Thanks to P and A re explaining the Nina.
A propos of nothing at all, I see that Mr Mugabe’s name pronounced backwards is E ba gum!
I found that gentler than usual from Pangakupu but none the worse for that. To my own surprise I had heard of TUNNY. DAMOSEL was new to me, but fairly clued and reasonably guessable. The trickiest GK for me was COBRA, something that did not exist in my time in Britain.
Congratulations to Pangakupu on the milestone, I’m looking forward to the next 50.
Going back to count the deletions (I agree there are a lot – I didn’t notice this at the time), I saw a minor typo, Andrew – LITERATURE is U and RARE TITLE, not UN.
Enjoyed the puzzle. Forgot to look for the nina — I can usually spot it even though I don’t speak a word of Maori.
What is the COBRA committee?
Thanks, Pangakapu and Andrew.
Valentine @32
Andrew gave a link (though the text doesn’t stand out very clearly!)
I too noticed the number of deletions: there comes a point where you think it might be theme-related, but I guess not (this time).
I knew that RUA meant two from my time in NZ earlier this year, but that’s as far as I got with the Nina. Enjoyed the puzzle, tx!
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew. There I was patting myself on the back for knowing words like Dreyfus and pharisaic and damosel, and along comes something called a ‘nina’ which many mention but no one explains. That took a bit of looking up. Well, you learn something everyday.
Valentine@32: UK Govt “Cabinet Office Briefing Room” (COBR, usually given as Cobra) is an ad hoc emergency committee pulled together for a rapid response to a crisis such as terrorist attack, pandemic, wildfires. Typically the PM chairs it.
Definitely UK-centric knowledge.
I liked the DREYFUS Duke’s decline, the book salvaged from GARAGE(D), the CELESTIAL Parisian, and the illuminating STREET LAMP.
Thanks Pangakapu and Andrew.
Jack of Few Trades @33 & Valentine @ 32: Cabinet Office Briefing Room A … guess there’s a B somewhere!
Perfectly positioned for a Tuesday. Thanks to both
For 18 down I have no problem with ERG. My only quibble is that I’d have thought of ERELONG as a (3, 4) rather than a (7).
both ERELONG and ERE LONG are given as acceptable alternatives in Chambers.
With a T and an N in place at 7d I wanted to impetuously put TENCH in for the fish. Still not a great deal wiser about TUNNY, however. BACKLIGHT took a bit of convincing about. Last one in was the scandalous French figure at 19ac. Many thanks for a challenging solve today Pangakupu…
No-one has picked up on my comment @1 about pompous=big. I can’t see that they are equivalent. In what context could one be substituted for the other?
muffin@43: ‘pompous ass’? Perhaps not…..
A couple of NHO’s TUNNY and DREYFUS, but all fair and good fun.
Thank both.
muffin @43: re pompous = big, couldn’t agree more. I was hoping someone would posit a defence.
Me @43
There are lots of much closer synonyms he could have used for BIG than “pompous”. Off the top of my head, how about “stout”?
Queenslander@35 – the FAQ on this site, found under the ‘info’ tab at the top of this page, gives explanation for things such as ‘what is a nina?’.
Thank you for the blog, Andrew: I learned a lot.
I’m with muffin regarding pompous and big.
4D took longer than it should, largely because I initially had trouble believing “garage” could be a verb – although I’m aware of “housed”. (I suppose it’s also possible to be officed? Palaced? Cottaged?)
TUNNY was a new word for me.
I liked the surfaces for OPERETTAS, AGOG and COBRA.
Stop acting big – will do and there is no need to quote Chambers93 .
Ronald@42 – Teasing football fans is like shooting fish in a barrel – proverbially easy . The location where fish are readily shot is a barrel = tun .
Like this location = tunny – in crosswordland .
You have stolen my rightful position .
muffin@43: how about this from Plum’s The Coming of Gowf:
“The Grand Vizier, a man who had been getting a little too big for his boots of late…”
Coloradan @51
I suppose so – a better example than Roz’s, anyway. The implication for me is more vain than pompous, though.
Fair but tough. I have to register this as dnf as I went off the rails a couple of times and needed the check word button. Nho pharisaic or damosel. Like fd@4 I thought the fish must be a tanky until the penny dropped.
Thanks to Pangakupu and Andrew.
Me @52
…or “bossy”, whereas “pompous” is more “self-important”.
bobandcogs@38: The UK govt website on contingency planning only talks about “COBR” and I can find no official mention of a “briefing room A”. I suspect it is a ‘backronym’ from the pronunciation of COBR as “cobra”, though it is commonly quoted e.g. by AI summaries without a source I have been able to find.
A couple of NHO and a couple I couldn’t parse fully, but I completed today much more quickly than yesterday, so pleasing overall.
Roz@50, not entirely sure what you mean by your rightful position, unless 42 is significant. We certainly seem to be sharing the RO whatever it is, but with a different hued background…
By the by, a long time after everyone else had given up all they wanted to say on Fed’s puzzle on Wed 30065, I responded @80 to you re the soccer theme…
in 2 down, why is it “a” for active?
Jon@58 I think in the military , A means on active service .
Ronald@57 , AlanC monopolises Number 1 so 42 is my place for obvious reasons .
My screen has gone haywire so I can’t find the Fed puzle .
Jon @58 – All I can say is Chambers gives “a” as an abbreviation for active.
Roz @59: you’re such a cod with always an angle, forever putting me in my plaice, however I don’t wish to carp. La fin.
AlanC @61
That post seems a bit fishy
Nice puzzle that fell gradually through the day, as time allowed. After research, loi was 7d TUNNY — nho, nice pdm, and amusing. Like Fuddleduddy@4 and others I found out there’s no TANKY fish
I liked 12a TYPE (not hard, but a nice surface), 15a DATASET (nice wordplay), 27a CLANG (great word), 6d MODE (“meter and rhyme”), 13d STREET LAMP (definition), 14d PHARASAIC (great gettable new word), 16d SUFFICING (delicious!)
Agree with bodycheetah@5 et al, too many subtractions — maybe generally overused by setters?
Thanks both, and congrats Pangakupu for the milestone!