The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30142.
Puzzles by Qaos are always welcome, even without the signature mathematical clue. This time he is wearing the theme on his sleeve, with the intersecting 2D OLIVER and 9A TWIST. The immediate references to the novel are highlighted in the grid; perhaps 12A KLEPTOMANIAC might be added as tangentially relevant.
| 1 | ANORAKS |
Maiden to depart mansion and ask about coats (7)
|
| A charade of [m]ANOR (‘mansion’) minus the M (‘maiden to depart’); plus AKS, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘ask’. | ||
| 5 | SABBATH |
Retired bachelor to play cricket during quiet day off (7)
|
| An envelope (‘during’) of AB, a reversal (‘retired’) of BA (‘bachelor’ of Arts) plus BAT (‘play cricket’) in SH (‘quiet’). | ||
| 9 | TWIST |
Tense card game discarding hearts? That’s unexpected (5)
|
| A charade of T (‘tense’) plus W[h]IST (‘card game’) minus the H (‘discarding hearts’). | ||
| 10 | GRUELLING |
Lug leg iron around lacking oxygen is hard to endure (9)
|
| An anagram (‘around’) og ‘lug leg ir[o]n’ minus the O (‘lacking oxtgen’). | ||
| 11 | UNESCORTED |
Trade documentaries aim to leave without a partner (10)
|
| An anagram (‘trade’) of ‘docu[m]ent[a]r[i]es’ minus the letters of ‘aim’ (‘aim to leave’). Since there is no separate anagrind, take the anagram first, then remove ‘aim’. | ||
| 12 | PICK |
Select condiment the French left out (4)
|
| A subtraction: PICK[le] (‘condiment’) minus LE (‘the French left out’). | ||
| 14 | KLEPTOMANIAC |
19 animal swiped by one? (12)
|
| An anagram (‘swiped’) of POCKET (the answer to clue ’19’) plus ‘animal’, with a definition which refers back to ‘swiped’. | ||
| 18 | FOURTH ESTATE |
The press reporting how a government lawyer might act? (6,6)
|
| A play on FOR THE STATE (‘how a government lawyer might act’). | ||
| 21 | ELKS |
Animals: Pink Floyd’s musical masterpiece ends in excitement (4)
|
| An anagram (‘in excitement’) of KSLE (‘pinK floydS musicaL masterpiecE ends’). | ||
| 22 | UNDERSCORE |
Location of music stand _ (10)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. The definition defies underscoring! | ||
| 25 | THE DAMNED |
… and themed cryptic for those sentenced to suffer (3,6)
|
| An anagram (‘cryptic’) of ‘and themed’. | ||
| 26 | SIKES |
In two seconds president ditches in Scotland (5)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of IKE (Eisenhower, ‘president’) in SS (‘two seconds’). | ||
| 27 | DODGERY |
Cunning US car going by railway (7)
|
| A charade of DODGE (‘US car’) plus (‘going by’) RY (‘railway’). | ||
| 28 | DESKTOP |
PC D? (7)
|
| The TOP – first letter – of DESK is D. | ||
| 1 | ARTFUL |
Masterly, say, like the Tate Modern? (6)
|
| ART FULL. | ||
| 2 | OLIVER |
Cook green ravioli to start (6)
|
| A charade of OLIVE (‘green’) plus R (‘Ravioli to start’), for the celebrity chef Jamie OLIVER. | ||
| 3 | ARTICULATE |
Express kind of lorry dropping off floor (10)
|
| A subtraction: ARTICULATE[d] (‘kind of lorry’) minus its last letter (‘dropping off floor’). | ||
| 4 | SUGAR |
Drug money (5)
|
| Double definition, the drug being heroin. | ||
| 5 | SAUCE BOAT |
Perhaps case about gravy (5,4)
|
| Cruptic definition. | ||
| 6 | BILL |
Labour leader supports party over poster (4)
|
| A charade of BIL, a reversl (‘over’) of LIB (Liberal, ‘party’) plus L (‘Labour leader’). | ||
| 7 | AB INITIO |
Sailor: I can rise, framed by moon from the beginning (2,6)
|
| A charade of AB (‘sailor’) plus INITIO, an envelope (‘framed by’) of NITI, a reversal (‘rise’ in a down light) of ‘I” plus TIN (‘can”) in IO (‘moon’ of Jupiter). | ||
| 8 | HIGH KICK |
Stimulation from coke and coffee generates dancer’s move (4,4)
|
| A charade of HIGH (‘stimulation from coke’) plus KICK (… ‘and from coffee’). | ||
| 13 | FANTASISES |
Dreams of cool relaxing siestas (10)
|
| A charade of FAN (‘cool’, verb) plus TASISES, an anagram (‘relaxing’) of ‘siestas’. | ||
| 15 | PREGNANCY |
Publicity, for example Reagan being with child (9)
|
| A charade of PR (‘publicity’) plus EG (‘for example’) plus NANCY (‘Reagan’). | ||
| 16 | AFFECTED |
Influenced camp (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | BULKHEAD |
Part of ship where Marvel Avenger sleeps, according to Spooner (8)
|
| A Spoonerism of HULK BED (‘where Marvel Avenger sleeps’). | ||
| 19 |
Corrupt cop takes a shilling away in bag (6)
|
|
| An anagram (‘corrupt’) of ‘cop’ plus ‘t[a]ke[s]’ minus AS (‘takes a shilling away’). | ||
| 20 | MESS UP |
Botch clue for ‘wets’ (4,2)
|
| All that I can think of here, is that a reversal of ‘wets’ is STEW, which can mean a mess. | ||
| 23 | ENDED |
Stopped as repaired bonnet’s fallen off (5)
|
| A subtraction: [m]ENDED (‘repaired’) minus its first letter (‘bonnet’s fallen off’). | ||
| 24 | FATE |
Stock exchange index rejects dollar over American future (4)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of A (‘American’) in FT[s]E (‘stock exchange index’) minus the S (‘rejects dollar’). |
Nice puzzle, nice blog. I got the theme too late for it to help (as usual), but like PeterO wondered if KLEPTOMANIAC was part of it. But you can add GRUEL(ling), surely.
In AB INITIO, I saw it as I + TINreversed + IO and wondered what the “framed by” was all about, so thanks for that.
SAUCE BOAT is an anagram of ‘case about’.
I think if you started in the NW the theme probably came early, but I arrived there at the very end not having noticed the other hints. Doh.
Thanks PeterO.
SIKES are found in northern England, too.
PREGNANCY I spent far too long trying to fit REAGAN in the answer, until the penny dropped. The penny didn’t drop at all with FATE, which I had to reveal.
5ac I agree with Balfour on this. I liked the neologism “cruptic” – reminds me of cruptocurrency.
Thanks Qaos for another very enjoyable crossword
Didn’t finish — ran out of enthusiasm.
So SUGAR has two slang meanings I’ve never heard of. Perhaps I need to get out more.
I was lucky enough to see OLIVER TWIST early so began to keep an eye out for others. Like Dr WhatsOn @1, I included GRUEL and also thought the excellent KLEPTOMANIAC was part of the theme. Like Balfour @2, I had SAUCE BOAT as an anagram. I thought the surface to THE DAMNED could also be included and was disappointed I couldn’t find Bullseye anywhere. My favourites were FOURTH ESTATE and FANTASISES.
Ta Qaos & PeterO.
Remembered to look for a theme and could see OLIVER TWIST, ARTFUL DODGER, BILL SIKES, NANCY.
I had the same idea as PeterO re 20d – mess = stew wets.
New for me: SIKES; SUGAR = money, drug; DODGERY.
Favourites: DESKTOP, UNDERSCORE.
I thought this was fun. I don’t really care about themes and didn’t notice it. Like Balfour @2, I finished in the North West, so it would have been too late anyway. I actually thought of Andi Oliver as the cook. She’d be pleased. LOI UNESCORTED as I hadn’t seen what was going on.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
Too many I had either never heard of or couldn’t parse for me to enjoy this. Didn’t see the theme. of course.
FOURTH ESTATE was a great clue, though.
I missed the theme completely, Thanks PeterO for illuminating it.
Thanks PeterO, and Qaos. I think I’m getting better at spotting themes, even ones that aren’t there! I did get this one eventually, after initially looking for a musical theme (SABBATH; THE DAMNED; SUGAR; Pink Floyd)
NHO SIKES for ditches, but got it purely from the Oliver theme (Bill SIKES).
Ditto for DODGERY.
This was a case of ‘if you don’t spot the theme early, it will be a tricky one’.
Didn’t spot the theme – as usual.
MESS UP? It couldn’t be anything else with the crossers, but a poor clue to finish with, after all the excellent ones elsewhere.
By the way blogger – it looks like you’ve had a stroke in the parsing for 10A.
[bullhassocks at 10 I see from your avatar you are a Geograph fan?]
Great stuff from Qaos. Glad to have spotted the theme although it was one of the more obvious ones. Don’t know sugar as a drug but fingered, wrongly, it could be cocaine.
Liked BULKHEAD and POCKET
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
With the wordplay in two clues involving the removal of money, I wondered for a moment if that was also thematic. Probably not, I just wanted some more.
DaveEllison@14 – indeed, well spotted. I never thought I’d be outed on here!
For some reason I started on the right side, got SABBATH then BILL, and thought this is obviously a Black SABBATH theme (BILL Ward the drummer). I looked around for other possible themers (could that be a guitar PICK?) but the idea started to run out of steam. Went back to the top left and the real theme became apparent.
I thought this was great. PREGNANCY was very good, with Reagan for NANCY (also of course in the theme). But FOURTH ESTATE was brilliant. I note PeterO carefully says “a play on” rather than a homophone, but I think it’s close enough for a soundalike — as we often say, these can be puns rather than sounding exactly the same!
Many thanks Qaos and PeterO.
Qaos as good as ever. LOI OLIVER, so of course I didn’t spot the theme! I think there’s a justifiable quibble about FOURTH ESTATE, which requires some selective homophoning, but it passes the sniff test for me, and it’s such a lovely surface and idea that I choose not to quibble. Favourite probably PREGNANCY, but there are almost too many good ones to pick a fave.
Thanks both.
I missed the theme entirely, as usual. Like several others, SIKES was new to me but readily confirmed with an internet search engine. DODGERY also, but an obvious extension of dodge, so fair enough.
Lots to like, UNDERSCORE my favorite.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
Minor quibble on 1a: ‘manor’ and ‘mansion’ are not really equivalent terms.
Otherwise quite enjoyable, though I am still puzzled over 20 MESS UP.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
I thought MESS UP was going to be STEW UP (very slightly better?), but I already had SIKES (familiar in northern England).
FATE took me a while – needed the crossers to get on the right track. Was familiar with ‘s’ for dollar but it somehow doesn’t feel right – is the dollar sign really just a stylised ‘S’, the same way that £ is a stylised ‘L’? The ‘L’ was an abbreviation for libra. The most we can say of the ‘S’ seems to be that it grew out of a ligature ‘Ps’, standing for pesos. If that is its origin, treating it as a ‘S’ seems a little unsatisfactory to me.
[bullhassocks at 17 I was looking up syke at Abbeystead. I was born at Temperance Hotel, Quernmore]
We think 20d MESS UP relates to:
wets = urinates (in one’s trousers)
mess = defecates (in one’s trousers)
and perhaps the two words could be interchangeable?
Also, the clue is “botched” – i.e. the setter mistakenly used MESS instead of another word for wets.
(This is a little obscure…)
I think 20d is as PeterO parses it. STEW<, reverse wordplay. The problem for me is in making 'mess' a synonym of 'stew'. The closest I can get is that if you're 'in a stew' you're very worried about something, so you might say you're 'in a mess' about it?
When I saw THE DAMNED and SABBATH, I also thought there was a musical theme, doh! Enjoyable solve, I liked KLEPTOMANIAC and UNDERSCORE.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
Well a mess of pottage is a stew — might that be the idea?
I’ve learned to look for a theme with Qaos. In this case it definitely helped with more obscure words like DODGERY and SIKES. I have fond memories of Oliver! the movie-musical, and quite enjoyed this. I didn’t mind STEW = MESS. I’ve heard them used similarly — perhaps it’s more common in the U.S.? Liked SAUCE BOAT, with both an anagram (case about) AND the cryptic definition to help in solving. Thanks Qaos, thanks PeterO.
20d is a fair enough clue in my eyes. ‘Wets’ in a down clue is ‘stew’ up = mess up. If you’re in a stew, you’re in a mess. A stew is a mish-mash, a jumble, a mess.
Yes, Lord Jim @28 – you beat me to it. In Genesis chapter 29 it is for ‘a mess of pottage’ – a portion if lentil stew – that a hungry Esau sells his birthright as first-born to Jacob. Strictly, it is the pottage that is the stew and the mess just means a meal or a portion, but over time I think that semantic distinction has got blurred as the phrase has passed into proverbial use.
Thanks to Qaos and PeterO. At the risk of annoying people, never seen or read the theme, not a fan. Not sure about posting a link either, but I will try this music video on SUGAR, which starts a little slow and then gets a little wild…
System of a Down – Sugar
OK, brandom @32, I am duly annoyed and really rather perplexed. If you have not read any Dickens, or seen any of the many films and serialisations, how do you know you are not a fan?
Please sir,I want some more 🙂 Great fun while it lasted and another theme spotted so maybe my theme blindness is cured at last
B@32 presumably because you would have to have some exposure to the work of Dickens to be a fan, ergo …
Cheers P&Q
Passing by here to find out who the heck Oliver Cook was. Seems I’ve completely wiped the TV star from my memory even though he stuck one of his pizza joints in Bath when I lived there. That meant it and TWIST were last two in and my inability to spot a theme even when it punches me on the nose continues.
Thanks both.
Liked this. Up with the GK required but did not spot the theme (as usual). Couldn’t get FATE. I’m with Menander@23 on S for dollar, but I suppose I’ll have to remember it for next time. I’m in the mess of pottage school of thought.
Favourite PREGNANCY.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
Thanks Qaos and PeterO. Didn’t spot the theme, but all nicely clued. Particularly appreciated UNDERSCORE and MESS UP (unpopular choice I know, but I happily equate ‘stew’ and ‘mess’ – I’m in a stew, I’m in a mess). Failed to parse FATE, but only because I didn’t realise that A ‘over’ B can mean insert B anywhere in A, which I now do know and will probably soon forget again.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO! I started in the NW and saw the theme early… somewhat, as after getting PICK I stared at the other four-letters for a bit trying to get WICK out of one of them, and also did think that we might somehow be headed for THE DAMNED plus black SABBATH. The Dodger reassured me though.
My first toehold was in the bottom half. SIKES and POCKET made me think we were in for a Dickensian theme more generally (Herbert Pocket from Great Expectations) but it eventually became clear that we were firmly in Oliver Twist territory. The theme did help me get OLIVER.
Funny enough, I’ve not read Oliver Twist (I’ve read a lot of Dickens–six novels in their entirety, plus efforts at a couple others–but not that one). But it’s familiar to me from Oliver!
Thanks Qaos. I found this on the more challenging end of the Qaos spectrum and I guessed too many answers to be fully satisfied. I persisted, however, because I knew there would be tasty nuggets like DESKTOP, BILL, FANTASIES, AFFECTED, and ENDED. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Thanks for the blog , KLEPTOMANIAC a great anagram , MESS UP was neat , DODGERY seems a very dodgy word but is in Chambers93 .
UNDERSCORE , I like a symbol clue and I now know the name for _ .
Back in my rightful spot , still no Brummie and his amazing clue for 3 Down .
Roz @42: go on, I’ll bite. Brummie?
Dickens is what you get if you pay an author by the word – why use one word when ten will do?
Another here failing to spot the theme yet finishing, with the exception of FATE, after wasting time trying to shoehorn [D}AX, [D}OW in there somehow.
All those years at Sunday School meant I took STEW = MESS in my stride. Actually, that’s only the second place my mind goes to; when Joseph entertained his brothers and sent them food it says “Benjamin’s mess was five times so great as any of theirs.” Having observed my younger brothers at mealtimes I wasn’t at all surprised by this.
I also suspected a music theme from THE DAMNED and SABBATH, missing the obvious until coming here.
I liked the anagrams generally. Particularly like SAUCE BOAT, which I think is a genuine &lit. MESS UP felt a little indirect, but in the end, I was happy with equating mess and stew. As Nakamova @29 said, I think it’s used more in the US, maybe southern. The folk singer Tony Joe White’s song Polk Salad Annie talks about a “mess of polk salad”. Nho SIKES in the ditch sense.
Other faves, FOURTH ESTATE, OLIVER and DESKTOP. AB INITIO took me back to school days and quantum mechanics. I once mistranlated “from the beginning” as ex initio in a Latin test, but it was a near miss.
Good fun. Thanks, P&Q. Mind ’em!
AlanC@43 , you of all people should get this one , I have given enough clues .
Some superb clues here! Both the sound alike and spooner were clear and intuitive, which for me is a rarity.
Thanks both.
Perhaps the half hint at 12ac means that sometime in the future Qaos will compile a crossword with PICKwick Papers as the theme. Lots of humorous and larger than life characters to focus on there.
I was another, with SABBATH my first clue solved, who thought this might turn out to be another Ozzie tribute. But no…
Nice crossword. Never spotted the theme but flew through it. Never heard DODGERY used as a word and didn’t know SIKES as ditches, but it was obviously ‘ike’ between 2 Ss. Thanks.
Although as Dave Ellison and I said, SIKES is also known in northern England, but, come to think of it, the spelling is much more usually “sykes”.
Since I own a Dodge, DODGERY was an odd word with an easy clue for me 😄
Took a while to see “dodgery” . I fantasised there might be an American word “sedanery” meaning cunning. Alas not so.
Chemist @53. Yeah I tried ‘deucery’ in a similar desperate vein, as in “my little deuce coupe, you don’t know what I got.”
Well, for once I spotted a Qaos theme, though not early enough to help. But instead of 70’s rock bands I’ve never heard of, this time it was a book I’ve actually read! I was also enticed by Herbert Pocket, once I’d spotted the theme, but he wasn’t part of the cast. The Artful Dodger was the first I noticed, once I’d started looking for a theme, and Oliver was in the last corner I managed to fill in.
I didn’t think of computers with 28ac, just policemen, do it took all the crossers to give me DESKTOP.
I’m with gdu on SUGAR, never heard either of ’em. I’ve also never run across S for dollar, here in the land of dollars. L for pounds we’re all quite used to.
Does one say “elks”? There were six elks on my front lawn?
Thanks to Qaos and to PeterO.
Valentine @55
Are elks like fishes? A fish/elk, a few fishes/elks, lots of fish/elk?
btw I think elk in the US refers to what we would call red deer, so it would be possible to see lots of them; over here elk is what I think the US calls moose, which are rather more solitary?
Muffin @65
As a Canadian having lived in the UK for 40 years I can inform you that moose and elk are totally different animals, no matter what country you live in. Moose are huge and solitary whilst elk are smaller party animals!
The elk I saw in Poland were solitary. Google Translate gives “moose” as the equivalent of the Polish word for “elk”. I think muffin may be right. Chambers has the European elk as identical or very similar to the North American moose.
Also, elk have antlers with points, like deer. that add a point each year. Moose have palmate antlerss, that have a large flat part with a few points at the edges. Both shed their antlers eacy year, and only males have them, as is true of most cervids except caribou, where the girls get them too.. (I have a caribou antler that I picked up in Alaska.) Both elk and moose are much larger than most deer.
Google quotes the Guardian: Eurasian elk (Alces alces, known as the moose in North America) are currently extinct in the wild in the UK, having disappeared roughly 3,000 years ago due to hunting and habitat loss,
The Spanish word for moose is alce, which confuses things. The American word moose is an Algonquian word, as are some other names for North American animals such as chipmunk, skunk and woodchuck.
Also in the US, ELKS with a pluralizing “S” is associated with the Brotherly and Paternal Order thereof, more than with the non-plural usage associated with the members of the Cervidae family. Or should that be “$?” I’ve not seen the dollar sign used to signify an S before, so I’ll add it to my list along with Menander@23 and Valentine@55.
Top-notch themed puzzle for me…though I confess struggling with Oliver for a bit, since I’m not familiar with the Celebrity Chef Jamie and the English rower named Oliver Cook upon consulting Mr. Bing seemed far too obscure to count as GK.
I also think that GRUELLING usually appears in Stateside English with one L, but this wasn’t much of a hiccough.
I looked in vain for a FAGIN, even as a NINA, but he remained in hiding, I suppose. Many thanks to Qaos and PeterO!
Valentine @59
Two countries divided by a common language again! I’m not absolutely sure what your elks are (Google tells me that red deer aren’t native to the US), but our elks are definitely your moose, and your caribou are our reindeer.
Very entertaining though facepalmed on reading the excellent blog.
Failed to spot the theme which was obvious once I’d been enlightened.
In my defence I finished in the NW corner with Oliver then Artful.
Had to reveal FATE as I too was trying to subtract a D from Dow or Dax DavidT@45 Still couldn’t parse it (though I didn’t give it much time)
Failed to fully parse Pocket & couldn’t see Olive for Green as I was taking the last 3 from Ravioli & sticking them at the start of ver(t) then looking for a cutting in bafflement. It’s been a long term!
Thanks Q&P and all constructive & instructive posters here who have inducted me into the cryptic arts over the past year.
I’d like to think that’ musical masterpiece’ in 21d is at least a nod to Lionel Bart’s wonderful creation. Qaos and PeterO, consider yourself thanked 😊
[Hadrian @63
I was lucky enough when quite young to see the original London cast production of Oliver! (Ron Moody as an unforgettable Fagin).]