Guardian 24916 / Brendan
Posted by mhl on January 25th, 2010
A very quick post today, so please accept my apologies for any errors or omissions. It probably goes without saying, given the setter, but this is great stuff – lovely surface readings, fair clues IMO and there’s a nice theme. Quite a few hidden answers compared to normal, but I’m not sure if there’s any pattern there.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. | GRAVES | niGht = “midnight” + RAVES; the definition refers to Robert Graves, but pronounced in a French accent it would be a claret, to fit in with the theme |
| 4. | ROMANO | “Hard cheese” is the definition, |
| 9. | SUNG | Double definition; the Sung dynasty is also known as the Song Dynasty, depending on the transliteration |
| 10. | INITATIVE | I = “One” + IT in I = “current” + NATIVE = “local” |
| 11. | YEMENI | (ENEMY I)* |
| 12. | EPISODES | IS = “one’s” in |
| 13. | PERMANENT | Double definition; “Standing” as in committee and “wave” as in perm |
| 15. | HALO | |
| 16. | ALSO | Hidden answer; the definition is “What’s more” |
| 17. | SCRIPTURE | (R PICTURES)* |
| 21. | SINECURE | INSECURE = “Lacking confidence” with S = “son” moved forward |
| 22. | FIASCO | IF = “Provided” revesed + AS = “when” + CO = “company” |
| 24. | HALF-NELSON | Apparently a Nelson in cricket is 111 |
| 25. | PATH | Hidden answer |
| 26. | TILSIT | (LIST IT)*; more about the Treaties of Tilsit here – also to fit the theme, there’s also Tilsit cheese |
| 27. | MALAGA | MA = “old woman” + A GAL “a young [woman]” reversed; as part of the theme, you can get Malaga wine |
| Down | ||
| 1. | GRUYERE | GUY = “man” around R = “right” + ERE = “before”; more cheese |
| 2. | ANGLE | Two rays extending from a point will have an angle between them |
| 3. | EDITION | [s]EDITION |
| 5. | ORIGIN | Double definition; “axes” as in the axes of a graph |
| 6. | ASTRONAUT | A fun clue: A + (TO SATURN)* |
| 7. | ORVIETO | OR = “Otherwise” + VIE = “struggle” + TO = “in the direction of”; also a wine from that area |
| 8. | WINE AND CHEESE | Double definition; “marginally represented here” meaning that the clues around the margins are all wine or cheese |
| 14. | MASTERFUL | (SMART)* around FU[e]L |
| 16. | ALICANT | Hidden answer; another wine region, more commonly spelled Alicante, I think |
| 18. | INFANTA | Hidden answer; a member of the Spanish royal family |
| 19. | RICOTTA | More cheese: (ACTOR IT)* |
| 20. | HUMERI | Hidden answer |
| 23. | ALPHA | Nice clue: either an ALPHA male or the first letter of Athens (originally in both senses :)) |
January 25th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Thanks, mhl. I think the dynasty is Romanov.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Yes – a really enjoyable puzzle, particularly the way the theme gave extra definitions.
I thought ROMANO might be Romanoff shortened, and EPODES are a type of verse
January 25th, 2010 at 11:36 am
14d. I think that the E from fuel needs to be moved to inside (securing) the anagram.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Thanks, MHL.
Enjoyable theme. Wish I had the wines and cheeses as a reward for completing the puzzle!
BTW Graves can also be a white wine – not very fashionable now alas but capable of developing great complexity. And FIASCO (22ac) is one of the Italian words for wine bottle, particularly for the flask that Chianti used to come in before it went up-market.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Thanks mhl!
4ac. Could the dynasty referred to be the Romanovs? Both the word and they were ‘brought to a premature end’?
January 25th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Not on my wavelength, gave up with about six to go
January 25th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Thanks for the corrections and comments, everyone – I’ve fixed those above with credit for the first spotters…
cholecyst: my favourite thing about fiasco is that it seems that no one really knows why the word came used to mean “a total failure” – I once had an Italian teacher who suggested that the audience holding fiaschi would be a polite explanation for a lack of applause after an abysmal performance. Or that someone who does something very badly is obliged to buy a bottle of wine, etc. etc.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:55 am
thanks mhl.
lovely crossword to start the week. finished it quite quickly. i took romano as being romanov, cut short. i was somewhat puzzled by alicant, although it was easy, being a hidden answer, but when i got wine and cheese i didn’t realise the theme ran all the way round the edge – just had 1 and 4a in that category at the time. i am not very bright in the mornings! i did wonder if it was the grape, ref press, but didn’t think of it as the spelling of alicante. still don’t altogether understand the current in initiative, but that is almost certainly due to my ignorance. there are some very large gaps in my knowledge!
i did like permanent and halo very much, and thought sinecure was a gem of a clue. thank you for explaining the half-nelson. i didn’t look nelson up as it is difficult for me to use dictionaries at present – impossible in the morning! i am awaiting an op on my arm. so double thanks.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:58 am
sorry – crossed with all of the above
January 25th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Thanks, mhl, especially for explaining HALF-NELSON. Most enjoyable and ingenious, as ever from Brendan.
Did anyone else enter INSECURE first for 21ac?
January 25th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
sandra: “I” is often used to represent electrical current in equations in physics, e.g. Ohm’s law is often written as V = IR (voltage = current * resistance)
Sorry to hear about your arm – best wishes for a speedy recovery…
January 25th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Eileen: bad luck – I didn’t spot that it worked both ways (and debatably more neatly with your version since you don’t need the link word…)
January 25th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Very good puzzle. There is such contrast among the Guardian’s compilers though, you don’t always know what you’re going to get. A good one today, no doubts.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Thanks mhl, especially for the explanation of HALF-NELSON. Good fun again from Brendan.
Eileen, I was unsure about INSECURE/SINECURE, but as it seemed it could go either way I pencilled in both possibilities!
January 25th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Thanks, mhl. Lovely start to the week!
Despite finishing, I failed to see the ‘marginal’ theme…Also didn’t know the cricket meaning of nelson, so thanks for that.
I missed quite a few hiddens last week, so it was nice of Brendan to give me so much practice today!
re15ac I read the wordplay as HO for house with the letters A, L inside, which isn’t a hidden, unless I am missing something? I agree the def is lovely.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Thanks, mhl.
I do like Brendan’s crosswords.
Like Liz, I didn’t know the cricket meaning of Nelson and didn’t see the ‘marginal’ theme.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
thanks for the eplanation of “i” for the current. that makes 2 things i have learnt from you today, and saves me from having to use the dictionary later. thank you also for your good wishes. much appreciated all round.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
meant to say (thanks) mhl
January 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Thanks for the blog mhl – it was much appreciated.
Loved the theme. I particularly enjoyed the wordplay for ALICANT and GRAVES.
The late David Shepherd reminded me about the signifcance of a cricketing ‘nelson’.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Like rrc, I wasn’t on Brendan’s wavelength today and didn’t get very far. Ashamed to say that despite my enthusiasm for cricket, I didn’t get HALF-NELSON. But David Shepherd, the umpire who passed away last autumn, made it famous as a cricketer’s unlucky number by his reaction whenever 111 or a multiple of it was on the scoreboard, raising one leg off the ground. His polite explanation for the term was that ‘Nelson had one eye, one arm, and one lump of sugar in his tea …’ The ‘official’ version has an alternative for the third element, roughly equivalent in size, but not shape, to a lump of sugar.
Not supported by historical evidence, apparently.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Mhl, of course you’re right about fiasco. Follow this link for an attempted explanation: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fia1.htm.
I can heartily recommend Worldwidewords to anyone with an interest in the nooks and crannies of the English language.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I’m with Liz @15 re 15ac. It’s A + L (lamp primarily) in HO (house), not a hidden answer.
January 25th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
liz, Tom_I: sorry about that error in 15 across – I parsed it correctly when solving but was trying to write the post too fast!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
cholecyst: thanks for the excellent “fiasco” stories!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Not what I would call enjoyable, more like seriously hard work, partly due to not being familiar with that part of Italy and not being a cheese person. I nearly gave up as others above, but having nothing better to do I kept at it and finished eventually thanks to the on-line gadgets. I try hard to minimise my use of them, but this one rather forced me down that path.
Given that when I mention cricket in social settings a goodly proportion of my audience say they can’t stand it I’m surprised no one has complained about 24. Maybe we have lots of wrestling fans who used the checking letters!
January 25th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
What a refreshing change from the usual Monday’s offering – not a Cryptic Clue in sight.
It took me a while to spot the theme: I was looking for parties (political? knees ups?) in the words I had fitted in the periphery – RAVE in 1a, GALA in 27a, until the penny dropped.
I wouldn’t have predicted a Brendan today – an alphabetic Araucaria this Saturday, perhaps?
January 25th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Dave Ellison : I was looking forward to a Burns Night offering.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
When I saw it was Brendan in place of Rufus today I thought it must be a pegged theme, and was surprised when it turned out to be cheese and wine rather than haggis and whisky – what with Burns night and all. So very nice, but why today?
January 25th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
Yes, an alphabetic (jigsaw) Araucaria! That would get my vote too…
This Brendan was good fun though. I figured out HALF-NELSON, and patted myself on the back for that, but then failed on some which (in retrospect) should have been easier. Eh well.
Sandra – quick recovery on the limb. Chin up old girl.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Unlike some others (the minority) we were completely on Brendan’s wavelength.
A crossword full of splendid clues (and above, wonderful surfaces) – too many to mention.
The only one we didn’t understand was HALF-NELSON (hyphenated?), but then we are both not into cricket at all – although we saw that there was no other way to look at it than Nelson being 111.
Just like Eileen (#10) and Andrew (#14) we had the choice between INSECURE and SINECURE. We even think that INSECURE fits the clue better, but because we knew that 16d had to be ALICANT, a decision was quickly made.
Yes, ALICANT. I am not sure whether this is right or not. Googling leads only to Vino Alicante. Of course, the region is also known as Alicant, but the wine?
The funny thing is that ALICANTE is also hidden in the clue, so maybe it is even a little mistake by Brendan. Maybe he took the wrong word out of his database.
BTW, the surface of the clue is, we thought, superb.
So, very good crossword, for me personally, somewhat spoilt by an overdose of hidden answers in the bottom half of the grid. Especially the combination 16d & 18d was a bit of a shame, good though the clues are.
On the other hand, 20d (HUMERI) was not so very good, because too obvious.
But these are all minor quibbles.
Fine crossword, not even very difficult (so rather apt for a Monday).
January 25th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Sil, as you might have guessed, Alicant is in Chambers.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Thank you, cholecyst, to be honest I was rather convinced that the wine should be Alicante, so with an e. But as it is in Chambers, it must be right. Is it the same as, or the English word for what is known to me as Vino Alicante? Even the Spanish Wikipedia mentions the wine as Alicante(vino). But I don’t want to argue.
Still funny that both are hidden answers in the same clue.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Sil, I must confess I’d never heard of Alicant wine, but I suspect in English this is now quite an old-fashioned word, see the following from:
Title Drinks Of The World
Author James Mew
Publisher Scribner & Welford
Year 1892
“Into this wine, as into some others, the Spaniards are wont to put roasted pears, under the conceit that thereby it is much improved in taste and rendered more wholesome. Hence arose the proverb El vino de las peras dalo a quien bien quiéras. Malaga Xeres is often known in England as the pale, gold, dry sherry,l as the wines of Alicant, Benicarlos, and Valencia are sold as a rich and fruity Port.”
What happy pre-EU days!
January 25th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
As I’ve said here many times, I’m a big fan of Brendan/Virgilius’s work, and this was no exception for the tidiness of the clues and the surfaces (apart, perhaps from 21ac., but I’d already got 16d, so didn’t even notice).
My only *slight* personal comment (not a complaint, just to appease those who frown on that sort of thing) is that I would have preferred it to be a bit more tricky.
I imagine that’s why it was placed on a Monday? (Nice change from Rufus, though, as has been said here).
It was just that all the themed answers (apart from Graves) were defined as wine, cheese or the place of their origin, so the theme wasn’t difficult to get straight away, compared to, say, his fairly recent Presidents one.
Tomorrow’s Indy ought to be a Virgilius, so I hope it’s slightly more challenging.
(As I say, just a personal opinion. To paraphrase Sil, don’t burn the commenter)…
January 25th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Derek (@26) – “not being a cheese person” – more of a whine person perhaps ?
Sorry, couldn’t resist..
January 26th, 2010 at 12:17 am
mike m #29 thanks for your good wishes
January 26th, 2010 at 12:26 am
Oh, I was so right about today’s Independent…
January 26th, 2010 at 8:28 am
I imagine everyone did notice, but perhaps it is worth noting the periphery alternated wine and cheese
January 26th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Having just told someone at the Farmers market on Saturday that if she wanted a move up from the Irish Times cryptic then she should look out for Rufus on Monday in the Guardian, what do we get only Brendan. Misdirection apart, I was quite pleased as it was my birthday yesterday and I always get a simple childish pleasure in bringing in Brendan to the wife at breakfast. I spent a while on the phone last night to my friend Paul, and what do I have this morning only …
We finished it all, romano apart, despite being reasonably cheese savvy and the wife having a pinny with Italian cheeses depicted thereon.