The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30126.
Harpo is only an occasional setter of the Cryptic, appearing more often in the Quiptic.Much of this puzzle was near to Quiptic level, althought I found the SE corner the last to fall. It came across as an exercise in envelopes, with varied indicators – except that the ‘in’ in 11A IAGO was not one of them! Looking back at the last Harpo I blogged 1over a year ago, I see that I noted the number of envelopea invoked by ‘in’. Harpo in known to include a Nina or the like, but I cannot make much out of EMBUE and ASSAY in the perimeter
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | STATUS |
Standing of data science around university (6)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of U (‘university’) in STATS (statistics, ‘data science’). | ||
| 6 | ANNUAL |
Book every twelve months (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 9 | ENZYME |
Unfortunately, enemy hides unknown catalyst (6)
|
| An envelope (‘hides’) of Z (mathematical ‘unknown’) in ENYME, an anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ‘enemy’. | ||
| 10 | REFLECTS |
Throws back Republican votes for introducing force (8)
|
| A charade of R (‘Republican’) plus EFLECTS, an envelope (‘intriducing’) of F (‘force’) in ELECTS (‘votes for’). | ||
| 11 | IAGO |
Villain, one in the past (4)
|
| A charade of I (‘one’) plus AGO (‘in the past’), for the character in Shakespeare’s Othello. | ||
| 12 | UNBEATABLE |
Excellent but anal eccentric burying live rodents, essentially (10)
|
| A charade of UNBEATABL, an envelope (‘burying’) of BE (‘live’) in UNATANL, an anagram (‘eccentric’) of ‘but anal’; plus E (‘rodEnts exxentially’). | ||
| 13 | RESPLENDENT |
Brilliant! Again paid out grant charges (11)
|
| An envelope (‘charges’) of LEND (‘grant’; Chambers gives grant as a secondary meaning of lend) in RESPENT (‘again paid out’). | ||
| 18 | LIKE A CHARM |
Following encryption, mail hacker successfully (4,1,5)
|
| An anagram (‘following encryption’) of ‘mail hacker’. | ||
| 21 | CACA |
Caught initially abusing cocaine and heroin (4)
|
| A charade of C (‘caught’) plus ACA (‘initially Abusing Cocaine And’). | ||
| 22 | AGNUS DEI |
Fresh idea involving celebrated revolutionary part of Mass (5,3)
|
| An envelope (‘involving’) of GNUS, a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of SUNG (‘celebrated’) in ADEI, an anagram (‘fresh’) of ‘idea’. | ||
| 23 | LOLLOP |
Lounge suite picked up after losing online address (6)
|
| A devious subtraction: LOLL[ip]OP, a sweet, sounding like (‘picked up’) ‘suite’ minus IP (Internet Protocol address, ‘online address’, a number which identifies a device attached to the Internet). | ||
| 24 | REPORT |
Statement withdrawing recurring theme, right (6)
|
| A reversal (‘withdrawing’) of TROPE (‘recurring theme’) plus R (‘right’). | ||
| 25 | SYMBOL |
Sign as percussion instrument delivered (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘delivered’) CYMBAL (‘percussion instrument’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MARY ROSE |
Admiralty finally rearms bombs around old warship (4,4)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of O (‘old’) in MARYRSE, an anagram (‘bombs’) of Y (‘admiralyY finally’) plus ‘rearms’, for the ship of the navy of King Henry VIII which sank in the Solent in 1545, and whose wreck has been located and substantially raised. | ||
| 2 | BUREAU |
Your escort engages government department (6)
|
| An envelope (‘engages’) of UR (textspeak, ‘your’) in BEAU (‘escort’). | ||
| 3 | UNAFRAID |
Displaying bottle, United supporter overturned attack (8)
|
| A charade of U (‘united’) plus NAF, a reversal (‘overturned’) of FAN (‘supporter’) plus RAID (‘attack’); ‘bottle’ as courage.. | ||
| 4 | EUREKA |
Triumphant cry of ‘Mistake!’ rued, retracted to an extent (6)
|
| A reversed (‘retracted’) hidden (‘to an extent’) answer in ‘mistAKE RUEd’, for the famous cry attributed to Archimedes. | ||
| 5 | SUNDAY |
State checks exposed financial reserves for 24 hours (6)
|
| An envelope (‘checks’) of [f]UND[s] (‘financial reserves’) minus its outer letters (‘exposed’) in SAY (‘state’). | ||
| 7 | LITTLE |
Not much time left to open low-calorie beer (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to open’) of T (‘time’) plus L (‘left’) in LITE (‘low-calorie beer’). | ||
| 8 | PROBLEMATIC |
Questionable climber atop rocks (11)
|
| An anagram (‘rocks’) of ‘climber atop’. | ||
| 14 | PICADORS |
Sanctimonious rogues protecting soldiers who’ll goad animals (8)
|
| An envelope (‘protecting’) of OR (‘soldiers’) in PI (‘sanctimonious’) CADS (‘rogues’). | ||
| 15 | NICKLEBY |
Devil close to ensnaring large English Dickensian protagonist (8)
|
| An envelope (‘ensnaring’) of L (‘large’) plus E (‘English’) in NICK (‘devil’) plus BY (‘close to’). | ||
| 16 | FINGER |
Identify digit (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | SCHOOL |
Discipline son Henry amidst calm (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘son’) plus CHOOL, an envelope (‘amidst’) of H (‘Henry’, physics unit)in COOL (‘calm’). | ||
| 19 | EQUIPS |
Base jokes causing fits (6)
|
| A charade of E (mathematical ‘base’ of natural logarithms) plus QUIPS (‘jokes’). | ||
| 20 | MALAYA |
Old country mum caught hen? (6)
|
| A charade of MA (‘mum’) plus LAYA, sounding like (‘caught’) LAYER (‘hen’). |
Good fun. I’d not heard of CACA or MARY ROSE, and couldn’t parse BUREAU (I’m not into “text speak”), PICADORS or LOLLOP (which I associate with a clumsy movement, although I see it’s less commonly used to mean “lounge”).
AGNUS DEI brings back memories of arguments we had in choirs: whether it would be pronounced like “Agnes” or whether the “gn” was as in “poignant”. I always plumped for the latter.
Not a bad way to pass the time tonight, although some surfaces weren’t terribly smoothe.
In STATUS, data science is a whole lot more than statistics, but it is probably an ok approximation for the general public. (And, as far as I can tell, data scientists get paid a lot more than statisticians.)
In LITTLE, I was wondering: if “lite” is low calorie beer, what is “lite beer”?
Liked ANNUAL, IAGO and LOLLOP.
Thanks Harpo for an excellent crossword with the ‘hidden extras’ I’ve come to expect. My top picks were ENZYME, UNAFRAID, SUNDAY, PROBLEMATIC, (nice anagram and surface), EQUIPS, and MALAYA. I enjoyed spotting STATUS SYMBOL, LITTLE FINGER, SUNDAY SCHOOL, and ANNUAL REPORT, symmetrically placed. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Dr. WhatsOn @2: ‘Lite’ is Miller’s low alcohol beer. It’s very popular in the US but I find it tasteless. I prefer ‘real ales’.
Was done by LOLLOP as I didn’t know it in that sense.
Googling didn’t give heroin for CACA, though the clue was clear enough. Otherwise a pleasant way to start the day. Thanks both.
Great stuff from Harpo.
Couldn’t parse or see what the definition for LOLLOP was but it was the only word I could see that fitted. I’ve only used the word to describe uncoordinated movement.
Liked LITTLE and IAGO
Thanks PeterO and Harpo
Thanks Harpo and PeterO
A DNF – nho CACA. I also didn’t parse LOLLOP (no chance!) or SUNDAY.
I think ANNUAL is the same definition twice – an ANNUAL is a summary book that comes out once a year.
CACA and LOLLOP were my last two, but were very accurately clued. I’d come across AGNUS DEI in a crossword this year but religious nomenclature never tends to stick. Once again, the clue was clear enough.
I didn’t solve particularly quickly but neither was I misled at any point. I was pleased to write the likes of PICADORS and NICKLEBY straight in.
Thanks Harpo and PeterO
…and LOLLOP my last one in too. Even with all the crossers by then in place I wasn’t sure I might be imagining a word from Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear. But in it went. I remember a few years back (he repeats ad finitum) going to a bull fight in Arles en Provence for the first and very last time. I hated the way those PICADORS tormented the bull before the matador strutted into the arena…
Enjoyed solving this Harpo puzzle this morning, with MARY ROSE and IAGO the first two in I imagined for a while whether there might be a Tudor or Shakespearean theme. But no. The MARY ROSE one of many highlights today in the Historic Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth…
I couldn’t parse lollop, and now I see why. The only word (acronym if you insist) I can think of is for online address is URL. The internet protocol defines (among many other things) the format of an ip address, as an IT professional for 40 years, I’ve never heard it used on it’s own to mean the address. (Though I would agree email can mean email address because you do hear “what’s your email?”)
I was trying for URL too until I saw what was going on.
All rather breezy until LOLLOP – parseable once I had the crossers but personally, I don’t like homophony used in this way.
Menander @12
Last Saturday’s Quick Cryptic used the homophone/synonym as one of its training clue-types. I didn’t like it then either!
Podium places for LOLLIPOP, MALAYA and PICADORS for the accurate PI and gender-neutral soldiers
EUREKA was nicely hidden and made me wonder if these type of clues are tougher in the printed version as they often span a line-break. Maybe because the hidden word tens to be in the middle of the wordplay?
I though CACA was a crap clue 🙂
Cheers H&
A reasonably quick solve last night, there were some good clues along the way. I did manage to parse LOLLOP and thought it was excellent. Online Collins gave CACA as slang for heroin, so that stopped the head scratch. I wonder if Balfour will have any gems about NICKLEBY. I noticed the ‘extras’ but like the blogger, I couldn’t see any significance.
Ta Harpo & PeterO.
Where on earth did Harpo find CACA? He can obviously dig deeper than Google!
Having recently struggled with a patent case involving an IP address, LOLL(IP)OP went straight in!
Nice enough crossword but some slightly bonkers surfaces.
William @16
Yes, Google finds an entirely different meaning for CACA, one that Paul might use!
William @16 – I sometimes think there’s a dark web that’s only available to crossword setters.
I see Sunday School, Little Finger, Status Symbol, Annual Report.
Well done PWLW @19: I did notice SUNDAY SCHOOL but didn’t look any further.
Caca is the word Spanish kids use for a “number two”, or what their parents say to warn them off touching/eating something. I didn’t know its use for “heroin”, but it seems appropriate.
William @ 16
“Caca” is on the DEA’s list of “Drug Slang Code Words” (DEA-HOU-DIR-020-17, May 2017).
Or so my Google search tells me!
Caca is the word Spanish kids use for a “number two”, or what their parents say to warn them off touching/eating something. I didn’t know its use for “heroin”, but it seems appropriate.
Had fun with this, since it appeared I was on the same wavelength, and got through it top to bottom fairly easily.
LOLLOP my LOI – tricky to parse, but clicked once IP was considered for online address (Like others I was stuck on URL for a while).
Didn’t get the correct homophone parse for MALAYA, so thanks blogger for the explanation. I wasted time googling types of hens looking for a LAYA or A LAY!
MALAYA reminded me of a clue I saw years ago (Araucaria?), something along the lines of:
Mountainous sensation in the henhouse? (9)
muffin @7: yes, I agree on ANNUAL. I think the same objection applies to FINGER: surely the “identify” meaning comes from putting your finger on something or pointing to it? I’m always slightly disappointed by such “one-and-a-half definitions” where one meaning is derived from the other.
Google will find the meaning if you try caca heroin
I think FINGER is OK Quirister @26. It has a specific meaning (maybe slang) to identify a guilty person. That was news to my uni class when a French lecturer told one of the girls he’d fingered her. Much hilarity ensued.
PWLW #19 and AlanC #20 – Tony Santucci #3 spotted it first.
CACA is in the Collins English dictionary as “a highly addictive drug”.
Ravenrider@10: As you say, IP is just Internet Protocol, but an ‘IP address’ is correct usage in the right context (though perhaps not in the sense the setter meant). Unfortunately the general public has picked it up and misapplied it, as usual.
CACA is from Spanish and is the impolite term for excrement. I’d never heard the drug meaning, which is apparently US (not indicated in the clue).
MALAYA? Yet another hormophorne.
Fairly straightforward solve and enjoyable. I liked the RESPLENDENT charges, being UNAFRAID of attack, and the nicely hidden EUREKA.
Thanks Harpo and PeterO.
I did not find this straightforward. Like others, I thought online address would be url, so could not parse lollop (didn’t think of the suite/sweet homophone). I guessed caca from the wordplay, and googling “caca meaning heroin” found the solution. Being a chemist, enzyme was my first one in. I thought “caught” in 20d was an envelope indicator, so had problems parsing malaya, thought thought there may be a layer involved.
A good metal workout. Thanks , Harpo and PeterO
21a. CACA is Spanish slang for SHIT
Ed @34
Did you read the earlier comments?
TS@3 Yes, I am familiar with it. They have managed to make something tasteless to begin with even worse (imo).
I thought I had a good handle on drug slang, but CACA was new to me. The wordplay was clear enough, though. Otherwise, I found this straightforward.
Thank you Harpo and PeterO
AlanC @15 Nothing particularly interesting o/r enlightening about Nicho/as Nickleby, I’m afraid. I have quoted from the book once on this site when, a few months ago, Imogen (I think) defined USHER as ‘old teacher’ to the perplexity of some solvers. It is the word used by the narrator and the ghastly Miss Squeers to define NN’s ;position at Dotheboys Hall.
Not as tough as I was expecting Harpo to be, but I’ve never heard of that meaning of CACA and I’m not enough of a mathematician to remember E=base, so this was a dnf.
Ed@34: it’s what French kids call it too.
In La Gloire de Mon Père, Marcel Pagnol reminisces about his joyful revelation as a schoolboy that Lake Titicaca really existed.
As a mathematician I am not very happy about using E= base as in mathematics it is always written as a small e.
I found this more challenging than PeterO did, requiring a couple of sessions. NW then SE last to fall. I got my loi 23a after looking up LOLL = “Lounge”, and my eye fell upon nho LOLLOP, which can mean the same thing. It went in unparsed. Thanks for clarifying PeterO. Yes, the double wordplay was devious indeed!
Many enjoyable clues. Thank you Harpo
Yep, another long term techie here who would not see or use ‘IP’ as ‘address’. And I too associate LOLLOP with labradors. for me as well. for H was a new one
Having started working in datacomms in 1984 (on X.25 networks ) I found that younger people came into the field from around 2010 using IP to refer to IP addresses, a usage that jarred with me but seemed to become common.
Typo @44: That should have said “For me as well, ‘CACA’ for H was a new one” but my paste fell off.
Eoink @45: yes, even my (reasonably tech-savvy) ISP has a marketing department whose blurb goes on about giving you a static IP.
I nho CACA for heroin either. Also nho IP in any sense of the word.
I biffed in SUNDAY, and now that I see how it parses, I would never have had any hope of solving it.
To me LOLLOP is a way of moving, not a way of sitting.
Thanks, Harpo and PeterO.
Valentine@48: LOLLOP reminded me of this scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: definitely ungainly movement rather than sitting.
I’d have thought to ‘loll’ is to lounge. Lollop is more of a clumsy way of moving, surely?
Good crossword though. Liked it!
I found this an excellent exercise in devious anagrams!
Thanks both
N@42 it’s just a site convention that answers and parts thereof are written in upper case. The clue itself is case insensitive
[does anyone paper-solving use lower case?]
I struggled more than most with this, it seems. Never did parse LOLLOP, which seems dangerously indirect to me: think of a synonym of a homophone, then remove a not universally accepted tech synonym. Hmm… ANNUAL was my other quibble in that it’s too much of a straight definition for my liking.
Enjoyed the MARY ROSE, LIKE A CHARM and PROBLEMATIC anagrams most.
Pretty good work-out. Thanks, H&P.
Well done #3 ! Like others I had caca and lollop but wasn’t sure why.
Re LOLLOP, the OED and Chambers both support Harpo’s meaning, with the OED’s first citation from the eighteenth century.
I first heard of PICADORS, not to mention matadors and toreadors, in the Tommy Steele song ‘Little White Bull’ in 1959.
Simon S @55: I’ve stopped complaining about definitions especially when the setter is Harpo/Monk. They will always be found in dictionaries.
Roundhegian26 @56 “There were matadors, and picadors, and toreadors – and who do you think as well?” My father was fixated on that song for some reason. He would occasionally attach himself obsessively to some song or other and sing it endlessly while accompanying himself on a four-string guitar. God, I was fed up with it! I’m not sure I ought to thank you for the reminder.