It’s Boatman back, after quite a while, I think ….
… and nearly two years since my last blog.
Boatman’s puzzles always have a theme: today’s is chess, predominantly MAN, and all the pieces are here, in clues or entries, together with the trademark couple of Boatman clues, one generic, at 6dn and the other self-referential, at 22dn.
The cluing is generally straightforward and there were no problems with parsing. I liked the alignment of CHECK and MATE in column one, the link between 10 and 11 ac and the use of key(s) to clue ISLAND / SKYE. Ticks, too, for 14ac STATION, 19ac HOP, 29ac AUTHENTIC, 3dn FRANGIPANI and 15dn ARABESQUES.
Thanks to Boatman for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 Centrism in turmoil about one troublemaker (9)
MISCREANT
An anagram (in turmoil) of CENTRISM round A (one)
10 Second man gets permit … (5)
BROOK
B (second) + ROOK (chessman)
11 … to get second man (5)
SPAWN
S (second) + PAWN (another chessman)
12 Orange fury stops pointed article (9)
TANGERINE
ANGER (fury) in (stops) TINE (pointed article)
13 Drug laws in Spain (7)
CODEINE
CODE (laws) + IN + E (Spain)
14 Perhaps Paddington is still not finished – no limits for his creator (7)
STATION
STATI[c] (still, not finished) + (Michael) [b]ON]d (creator of Paddington Bear)
17 A piece of text? Rather more (5)
EXTRA
Contained in tEXT RAther
19 Dance piece, twice released (3)
HOP
[bis]HOP (chess piece) minus bis (twice, in musical scores)
20 Devious man and go-between (5)
AMONG
An anagram (devious) of MAN + GO
21 Man admits evil murder? (7)
KILLING
KING (chessman) round ILL (evil)
22 Host transmitted in advance? (7)
PRESENT
PRE-SENT (transmitted in advance)
24 Rouses rabble with lie after naked lie, concealing dollars to gain heart of Essex (9)
MOBILISES
MOB rabble) + [l]I[e] (‘naked’ lie) + LIE round S (dollars – I think I’ve seen this before) + S (the ‘heart’ of esSex)
26 Holy text with God appearing where there is need essentially in Man (5)
QURAN
RA (god) in QU[ee]N (chessman) minus [n[ee]d
28 Tips to transform any communication instantly: try without words (5)
TACIT
Initial letters (tips) of Transform Any Communication Instantly Try
29 Accurately depicted Gaul, Athens and Utica for Discovery (9)
AUTHENTIC
Internal letters (dis-covered) of gAUl, aTHENs and uTICa
Down
1 Contemplate cycling with fast-running Australians (4)
EMUS
MUSE (contemplate) with the letters ‘cycled’
2 Man perhaps is left in addition (6)
ISLAND
IS + L (left) + AND (in addition)
3 Composition of Paganini in support of French perfume (10)
FRANGIPANI
An anagram (composition) of PAGANINI under (in support of, in a down clue) FR (French)
4 Move two men, extracting unit from Spanish region (6)
CASTLE
CAST[i]LE (Spanish region) minus i (unit) – reference to a move in chess
5 Pay for drink that holds water (6,2)
STANDS UP
STAND (pay for) + SUP (drink)
6 Boatman: extremely lithe and fit (4)
ABLE
AB (boatman) + L[ith]E
7 Compilation edited to remove letters from man, a party animal (8)
POLITICO
An anagram (edited) of COmPILaTIOn, minus man
8 2 keys used in pieces (4)
SKYE
An anagram (used in pieces) of KEYS
13 Confirm payment from America (5)
CHECK
The American spelling of cheque (payment)
15 Poses on one foot off base in square-dancing (10)
ARABESQUES
An anagram (off) of BASE in an anagram (dancing) of SQUARE
16 Dark man in audience (5)
NIGHT
Sounds like (in audience) ‘knight’ (chessman)
18 Seminar on support for retort (4,4)
TALK BACK
TALK (seminar) + BACK (support)
19 Sound, something that trumpeters aim for in the main (4,4)
HIGH SEAS
Sounds like ‘High CS’ – aimed for by trumpeters
22 Boatman in online article on southern states (6)
POSITS
I (boatman) in POST (online article) + S (southern)
23 Rues turning down top to waders (6)
EGRETS
r[EGRETS] (rues) minus its initial letter
24 Tea with a friend (4)
MATE
Double definition
25 Behind time getting up – and the rest (4)
LATE
A reversal (getting up) of ET AL (and the rest)
27 Take shape (4)
NICK
Double definition, the second as in ‘in good nick’
I managed to see the theme for once after solving QURAN and NIGHT so HOP & BROOK were made easier 🙂
I could not parse 14ac – I was thinking of unfinished STATIONary, and I thought of the author Bond but could not work it all out.
Favourite: CASTILE.
Delightful puzzle, one where even I could see the theme as I solved. Am entirely in agreement with Eileen’s ticks, so thanks to her and to Boatman for a fun excursion.
Totally agree with Eileen’s summary.
Failed to parse HOP and NICK but now think they’re both nice.
So good to see this excellent setter again.
I hesitated for a while to enter SPAWN as it didn’t seem synonymous with ‘get’, but the wordplay made the answer clear. I also mistakenly entered ‘koran’ at first before the chess man theme took me to the QURAN spelling, seen less often these days. Otherwise, I think Eileen has said it all. Welcome back Boatman and thanks to him and Eileen.
A cleverly woven theme I thought. I wonder if Boatman considered clueing the first three letters of 18d with reference to GM and World Champion Mikhail TAL (a crossword chess favourite).
Thanks to Eileen and Boatman.
Lovely puzzle – appreciate the chess theme, though I could not parse HOP or QURAN, having biffed them in. Now looking back, they were the missing pieces I was looking for!
I found this much harder than yesterday [although that was a bit of a breeze]. I saw the theme yet again, not that it really helped this time.
I thought this was a good little challenge. I was pleased with myself when ARABESQUE led to QURAN and I saw what was going on there. I quite liked STATION.
Boatman seems like a setter I could really tune in to but he’s not here often enough for that to happen.
Thanks Eileen and Boatman.
Great fun, I especially enjoyed the theme with the interplay of man & piece, including the subtraction of ‘man’ in POLITICO and ‘in pieces’ as anagrind for SKYE.
I also liked the positioning of CHECKMATE, which made me think there could be an oblique reference to ‘The Man in the HIGH CASTLE’ by Philip K. Dick and/or ‘The SKY at NIGHT’?
And TACIT made me laugh!
Many thanks to Boatman and Eileen.
Perfectly summed up by Eileen, I also liked the alignment of CHECK and MATE. My favourite was QURAN, after I eventually worked out was going on.
Ta Boatman & Eileen
Like others , I failed to parse ‘hop’. Otherwise an enjoyable solve, thanks B and E.
Good fun. I’d put Boatman in my “Don’t attempt” list but I’ll move him back
Missed the theme.
Oh, so that’s how HOP works! Thanks, Eileen.
Good to see Boatman again after quite a while, with a well worked theme. I liked ARABESQUES, the places “for dis-covery” in AUTHENTIC, and the orange one’s fury at the article in TANGERINE.
Newly hooked puzzler enjoyed solving this one. Help and guidance from Eileen and this site essential to my learning curve.
Comment #14
Couldn’t quite parse the tiddlers HOP, NICK, LATE and MATE, so many thanks Eileen with the clarification on those. I’ve taken up playing chess again after a lapse of many years, so this was a fun solve today…
Never heard of mate in the sense of a drink resembling tea. Otherwise enjoyable.
From memory, Boatman was quite a frequent setter, so it’s good to see him back. A good variety of clues here making it a good workout. I parsed BROOK differently as BRO (man) + OK (permit) but the definition doesn’t really work. Thanks, Eileen.
Willi @16
Re MATE – see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(drink)
With this grid, I always go first to the 3-letter clue in the middle, which is often thematic, although not in this instance. The only dance I could think of was ‘jig’, which, not having yet seen the theme, I could not make to work, so I started elsewhere and came back to it. I hadn’t thought that it might be ‘the local hop at the local county jail’, as 10cc sang in ‘Rubber Bullets’. Well, it was 2 o’clock in the morning in my defence.
I parsed 14 as stationary not finished, so less the -ary, and wondered what the no limits bit was there for.
Very entertaining. I liked the way that “man” was mostly a chess piece, but sometimes it wasn’t, as in ISLAND and AMONG. The two Boatman clues were well done, with “Boatman” being at the start so it wasn’t obvious whether it was a boatman or Boatman.
Like michelle @1 I was stuck on the idea of “stationary” in 14a so didn’t quite parse that one.
Many thanks Boatman and Eileen.
Boatman is incapable of producing anything other than delightful puzzles. This was by no means his hardest, perhaps because for once I found the theme both easily identifiable and helpful! Particularly enjoyed the misdirectional use of “man” in ISLAND and the linked SKYE, and thought CODEINE was a masterpiece of concision. Great stuff.
Comment #23
Thank you Eileen@18. I was about to ask the same question. Never heard of mate for tea. Or mah-tay.
And thanks to Boatman for a nice crossword. Enjoyed it all.
Comment 23 was deleted – not by me! There’s no sign of it.
And I got my favorite colour too.
It’s not that I couldn’t parse HOP, just that I forgot to try. But I should have noticed that the bishop was the only man missing.
Thanks to Eileen for the as-always delightful blog, and especially the link to the fascinating yerba mate article. With all the complexities involved in preparing the brew (and avoiding social faux pas when drinking it) it’s something else that I think I’ll forget to try…
Not sure I should be posing this question on here, but I picked up a paper copy of The Times just now when out food shopping. I notice their crossword today is numbered 29654. That’s not that far away from our own Guardian 30118 today. Did both crosswords originate in about the same year, then, or have there been gaps…?
On the subject of chess, however, there’s a local charity based in Northstowe near Cambridge promoting/encouraging actual face to face chess to improve mental health…
A great rarity for me, not only did I see the theme, it actually helped me with a couple of clues including 19A and 26A. Congratulations to Boatman for working in all the pieces, plus bonuses Skye and the reference to Man. FRANGIPANI was new to me, so required an internet search to verify.
Thank you Boatman and Eileen.
Even I spotted the theme today and after solving only 3 clues. It helped with QURAN.
I hadn’t noticed that Boatman has been missing for so long, but I welcome his return.
Thanks to him and to Eileen.
Most enjoyable puzzle, put together with Boatman’s customary skill.
Particular faves were CODEINE (possibly because I was having to spend three hours in the waiting areas of the local hospital) and the very cleverly clued and thematic QURAN.
Thanks to Boatman and Eileen
Good fun. There’s even a slight chess link in the wordplay that uses “discovery” in its older meaning of “uncovering”, since “discovered check” & “discovered attack” are phrases used by chess-players.
Lovely puzzle. Slap bang in the middle of my Goldilocks zone.
Like others, I thought of STATIONary for 14ac, then could not parse the rest.
I spotted the theme early, which helped with 10ac and 26ac.
Musically, 19ac immediately made me think of XTC’s wonderful Life Begins At The Hop.
For 17a, my thoughts went to EXTRACT as a piece of text, and then I read the whole clue as some sort of play on ‘less’ and’ more’. Well, it worked …
Really good to have Boatman again, and Eileen always
Yes, good to see Boatman again; I failed to parse a few, but although (as per) I forgot to look for a theme, it could hardly have been clearer. Delightful, TTS&B.
Wasn’t he good, oh so good?
I found this on the easier end of my previous experiences with Boatman, undoubtedly helped by spotting the theme for once – although that only happened when ARABESQUES forced me to change KORAN to QURAN as others have said.
It definitely enabled me to get HOP. It’s interesting that Eileen refers to musical scores for “bis”. My own route to that subtraction was through computer modems, back in the dial-up days before broadband. These complied to international standards given names like V.22 and V.34, and I distinctly remember that there were some variants such as V.32bis which provided data rates around double the original standard.
Thanks again to Boatman and Eileen.
Thanks, Eileen. I had trouble parsing 15, because I was trying to use only POSES as the definition.
Good to see the Boatman back from his sails. It seems a while since I was doing his rather delightful prize puzzle.
A rare occasion I spotted the theme AND it helped. Especially with the parsing of QURAN as I was expecting the most powerful piece to make an appearance!
Not heard of ARABESQUE but it seemed the mostly likely order of letters. Liked SPAWN, MOBILISES and CODEINE.
Thanks Boatman and Eileen
Yes nice to see Boatman back. Really enjoyed it. Maybe his non-appearance means he’s spending more time playing music.
Nice puzzle, nice blog.
Got the theme via QURAN and HOP, kind of backwards from a lot of others. Oh well. KILLING cemented it.
Liked STATION and CODEINE especially.
Tx!
…answering my own query @28…The Manchester Guardian first published its crossword in August 1929. The Times theirs on Feb 1st 1930. Just looked it up…
Great to see Boatman again. HOP was my favourite. I like the way the French don’t shout “encore” but “bis” or “un autre”
Thanks for the blog , clever clues on the whole but not my sort of puzzle . Do not like themes in the clues , I prefer them all to be individuals which means more of a challenge .
Thanks, Eileen & all – glad you enjoyed this one! I remember that Araucaria produced a chess-based puzzle quite a few years ago – he also had references to all six types of piece, and his jeu d’esprit was to include MAURICE in the grid, with a clue based around a reference to the other game, nine men’s morris, the solution to 9 Ac being CHESS. Lovely!
Jay @5 and JNM @32 – Excellent chess references! No, I hadn’t considered either (though with hindsight, perhaps I should claim credit for the idea about discovered checks). Would using Tal’s name have been fair, I wonder … I’d have had a battle with my conscience over that one, I suspect.
Boatman @45, did a quick search and found that both Qaos and Arachne have used TAL references in clues in recent times.
Hah! I’d have to take that as being completely fair, then – if I’d thought of it, the combination of TAL+K as a different way to refer to the King would have been tempting!
I’ve no interest in chess but I finished this. I did wonder what the reaction to a cricket theme would have been.😉
I got cricket out of my system once … https://fifteensquared.net/2020/03/19/guardian-cryptic-28085-boatman/
Some very nice ones here! I’ll only mention mate pronounced to rhyme with pate, having heard it often in an American musical serial Mozart in the Jungle where the young maestro drinks endless mugs of mate.
Thanks Boatman and Eileen
I got the theme after noticing the frequent appearance of “man.”
I don’t think that “between” = “among.” The first refers to two things and the second to more than two. In case you have trouble remembering which is which, the “tween” in “between” is a variant of “twain.d
I had no idea who’s written the Paddington stories and I do the puzzle in bed so couldn’t look it up, and forgot to this morning.
How does “host” = “present”? And I don’t think a seminar is a talk/lecture, but more of a conversation.
I have a mate holder and straw like the ones shown in Eileen’s link. An Argentinean friend gave them to me, so I tried mate, but didn’t like it.
Thanks as ever to Boatman and Eileen.
Thanks Boatman and Eileen. I haven’t always enjoyed B’s puzzles but this was great fun and really well constructed. Super stuff – and a fine blog from Eileen, as ever.
Valentine @51: that’s an interesting comment about “between” and “among”, and I take your point about the origin of the former. But looking it up in Fowler (Modern English Usage) I see he refers to “the superstition that ‘between’ can only be used of the relationship between two things, and that if there are more, ‘among’ is the right preposition”. He says that “between” has always been extended to more than two, and that, for example, “A treaty between three powers” (rather than “among three powers”) is correct.
I think “host” = “present” works as in someone hosting or presenting the Oscars for example.
Boatman @49. My tongue in cheek comment was certainly not directed at you, but at those solvers happy with references to bridge, golf and tennis as well as chess ( and baseball) but not our summer game. I must have missed your earlier contribution. Thanks for the link. I’ll try it later, but Sri Lanka will be batting soon.
I thought that this was really good and getting the theme helped me with 10A and 11A. Thanks to Eileen for parsing a couple that escaped me – 15D and 29A.
Valentine @51 – I agree re between / among: I remember explaining it to O Level English Language students and, quite recently, someone posed me a (grammar) riddle: something like ‘How do you share X between / among …?” – but, as so often, I can’t remember the wording now! 🙁 …
…and re 18dn: both Collins and Chambers have seminar = discussion; neither has seminar =talk.
Re host =present – see here (first sentence of Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_presenter
“A television presenter (or television host, some become a “television personality”) is a person who introduces or hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience.”
This is the link I should have given you this morning:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddington_Bear
I’ve taken so long over this that I’ve been massively overtaken by Lord Jim @53
Yes, good fun; I got the theme fairly early on, which helped with the B-ROOK – nice one! I also liked the AUTHENTIC Gaul, Athens and Utica and the ARABESQUES square-dancing. Of course, Queen would have fitted into 26A but maybe Boatman thought the indirect man was more interesting.
Thanks Boatman and Eileen.
Thanks Boatman for a satisfying crossword. This was slow going at first but I somehow made it to the finish. Recognising the theme helped. Lots of good clues including AMONG, KILLING, QURAN, POLITICO (liked how the anagram fodder worked), and POSITS. Because I don’t know everything, I couldn’t parse STATION and HOP but the clear definitions saved the day. Thanks Eileen as always.
I really enjoyed this but got off to a clunking start with 9ac as centrism and i gave me CRETINISM. Sort of fits the definition but ‘surely not in the Guardian’ I thought and the check button wiped it out, thankfully. Also hung up for a while on Boatman = LithE + FiT which also makes a little sense. I got the chessiness, but should have looked much deeper as the ‘man’ hints passed over my head but obvious in retrospect. Tilts, Frangipani (vaguely knew of its existence) and Mate.
Thanks very much to Boatman and Eileen.
Yes, nice to see Boatman make an appearance. Always enjoyable puzzles. This one provided a nice clean completion in two sessions, the first in a while. Lots of great clues. Needed Eileen’s help for one or two parsings
Favourites 17a EXTRA (well-hidden), 22a PRE-SENT (concise, with misdirecting definition), 29a AUTHENTIC (clever use of place names), 2d ISLAND (I always get fooled by “Man”), 7d POLITICO (removing the theme word from the anagrist)
15d ARABESQUES, interesting to have an anagram containing an anagram
3d I was surprised to find FRANGIPANI lurking in the recesses of my memory
Thank you Eileen and Boatman
Eileen @56. As a regular presenter/host for Zoom get-togethers they make a strong distinction between “meetings” (ie discussions) and what they call “webinars” (ie seminars). Maybe that’s why I was happy with “talk” for “seminar”
Excellent puzzle. As a chess fan, the theme jumped out. I thought Boatman made great use of all the men. Picks for me were QURAN and SKYE. 24a brought to mind the Orange Fury again, so I wondered why Essex was used rather than, say, Louisiana. Maybe to avoid any possible litigation??
Lots of fun. Thanks, B&E.
Well, the receipt of dollars has been linked (allegedly!) to the gaining of seats in Essex, so that might have been in my mind …
I should have remembered that the spectacled bear is Andean (could be “darkest: Peru, wherever that is). But Paddington doesn’t seem to be wearing spectacles in the illustrations.