Guardian 24,144, Chifonie: Multi-skilling
Posted by michod on August 1st, 2007
A pretty straightforward puzzle, by and large, which took me about 15 minutes. The long answer at 1, 26 across was vaguely familiar, but felt a tad obscure – is it a common enough phrase?
ACROSS:
1. CHIEF COOK AND BOTTLE-WASHER (anag of first five words). Not sure about the origin, but the phrase means someone who has to do everything. In my line of work this is called multi-skilling, and apparently it’s very good for one’s career development, as well as saving one’s employer money. There also seems to be a rude meaning, but company web access policy won’t let me explore it, so I’ll have to use my imagination.
8. CHIC AGO. Nice clue, more satisfying than using IN, as I expected.
9. A(MATE U)R. As said before, I think U is now non-U, but never mind.
12. TRIP LET. (?) Not absolutely sure about this one, as inaccuracy = trip seems an imprecise fit.
14. P(OSTH)ASTE. Should it be two words?
16. OR CHEST RA. OR = ordinary ranks.
23. OPT I MUM. I like this one – good surface, reflecting what kids do when trying to get round you.
25. (D)ELUSION. Empty-headed as an alternative to headless.
DOWN:
1. CLIP PIE. Old word for a bus conductor. For younger readers, that’s the person who sold you tickets before the advent of multi-skilling (see 1ac).
3. FLOWERPOT. Again, I’m not sure of this, as I don’t quite see the wordplay. You pick a flower, and to pocket a snooker ball is to pot it, but how does ‘used by pickpocket’ give ‘flowerpot’?
5. K NAVISH (HIS VAN*).
6. NEED LES. Sewers = things that sew.
7. OCEANOLOGIST. A lone cryptic definition – ‘main’ referring to the sea.
10. RE(TRENCH ME)NT. ME being a mining engineer, I gather.
15. SO(A)POP ERA.
19. RETOUCH. (HE CUT OR).
22. SATI(r)E. Ref French composer Erik Satie.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:07 pm
just a tad curious as to the 5 clues not mentioned – by coincidence the same 5 that I couldn’t get and the reason I did the search that led me to this posting in the first place.
(11, 21 & 24 ac. 17 & 18 d.)
Pip pip!
August 1st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Chambers gives POSTHASTE only as one word, sans hyphen.
It doesn’t give any unexpected definitions of FLOWERPOT to shed light on the mysterious pickpocket connection.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Re PICKPOCKET. Chambers includes, for “flower”: “The best of anything”, which would seem to be equivalent to the “pick” of anything. Hence Pick-pocket could = flower-pot.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Robin, sorry my choice of which answers to leave out was unhelpful – we never give all the answers, but my selection tends to go on how much I have to say about them. I actually skipped ten, but here are the ones you mention:
11 ac: A(PP)RISE.
21 ac: ILL NESS (ill=bad, ness=head, +lit).
24 ac:T(E MP)EST (screen= test as a verb).
17 dn: C(O L)OMBO.
18 dn: LUM PIER. Lum”s an old word for chimney, and support is quite often pier (when it isn’t bra).
As for PICKPOCKET, I suspect Rufus has the correct explanation, in which case ‘used by’ is just linkage.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm
thanx – luckily life in the office has slowed down so I managed most of the rest. Pickpocket is a good example of the drawbacks of having an internet connection when solving a crossword – I picked up on the ‘used by’ and was deep into research into criminal slang before realising, as you say, that it’s just a link. What did you make of 18 down, which still has me beat? (‘lumpier’ is 20 dn).
August 1st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Okay – ‘element’ – just figured it out – E=LE(MEN)T – these early starts are playing havoc with my brain!
August 1st, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Depends on your point of view, but {answer ‘used by’ subsidiary parts} would possibly excite me rather less than some other options.