(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) Definitely not a write-in, in fact, one to warm up with for the Prize puzzle. Thanks to Philistine. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
The answers defined as “… 10” ie. “.. presumably” are proper words whose starting letters spell prefixes that denote a negative meaning, like “de-“, with such “prefixes” deleted to yield their antonyms, presumably. Such “antonyms” could be in proper or rare usage, or just whimsies.
Across
1 Order cheap rubbish after joke backfired (6)
DIKTAT : TAT(cheap rubbish) placed after(after) reversal of(… backfired) KID(to joke;to tease).
4 Paracetamol is helping part get erect 10 (6)
MOLISH : Hidden in(… part) “Paracetamol is helping “.
Answer: From “demolish”, the opposite of “to erect”.
9 Desirable fruit (4)
PLUM : Double defn.
10 One might expect a plumber’s work to have a messy end (10)
PRESUMABLY : Anagram of(… work) A PLUMBER’S plus(to have) the last letter of(… end) “messy “.
11 Democrat available to frame up image (6)
AVATAR : Hidden in reversal of(… to frame up) “Democrat available “. The “up” works better in a down clue.
12 Had empty sleeve tailored to be tidy 10 across the pond (8)
SHEVELED : Anagram of(… tailored) [the 1st and last letters of(… empty) “Had ” + SLEEVE].
Answer: From “disheveled”, the North American(across the pond) spelling of “dishevelled”, the opposite of “tidy”.
13 Audible drivel you provided, temporarily drunk (9)
CRAPULENT : Homophone of(Audible) [“crap”(drivel;rubbish) + “you”] + LENT(provided temporarily, to be returned later).
15,16 Missing family is OK at last, with the paramedic team, getting treatment (8)
HOMESICK : Anagram of(…, getting treatment) [ IS OK + the last letters, respectively, of(at last) “with the paramedic team “].
17 Straight battle: the odds leave one standing (9)
CANDIDATE : CANDID(straight;outspoken) + “battle ” minus its 1st, 3rd and 5th letters(the odds leave).
Defn: … for election.
21 10 content of beastly noise went first (8)
GRUNTLED : GRUNT(noise made by a beastly pig) + LED(went first).
Answer: From “disgruntled”, the opposite of “being content”;”satisfied”.
22 Set up camp by an arcade game (3-3)
PAC-MAN : Anagram of(Set up) CAMP plus(by) AN.
24 De janvier, peut-être, la fille devient jeune dame (10)
DEMOISELLE : DE + MOIS(French for “month”, “janvier, peut-être” or, in English, “January perhaps”) + ELLE(“la fille”, or, in English, “the girl”).
Defn: …, or, in English, a young lady. Had to resort to an online translator – pardon my French, but my French is no effing good.
25 Impulse of the bourgeoisie (4)
URGE : Hidden in(of the) “bourgeoisie “.
26 Italian with bride can cause disturbance (6)
TUSCAN : Anagram of(… can cause) [TUSCAN plus(with) “bride “] = “disturbance”.
27 Seal hiding place with leading Tamil Tiger, perhaps admitting revolutionary court is painful (6)
CACHET : Triple wordplay: 1st: CACHE(a hiding place;where to squirrel things) plus(with) the 1st letter of(leading) “Tamil “; 2nd: CAT(an example of which;perhaps is a tiger) containing(admitting) CHE(Guevara, the revolutionary) ; 3: ACHE(pain) in CT(abbrev. for “court”), or, in other words, to experience pain in court.
Down
1 Vilified when raised to be free (7)
DELIVER : Reversal of(… when raised, in a down clue) REVILED(vilified;maligned).
Defn: As a verb.
2 10 12 10 1,000 kept out (5)
KEMPT : M(Roman numeral for 1,000) contained in(… out) KEPT.
Answer: From “unkempt”, the opposite of “tidy”;”sheveled” presumably.
3 Offend when taking note of clothes (7)
APPAREL : APPAL(to offend;to cause repulsion) containing(when taking) RE(the syllable representing the note on the musical scale)
5 In Latin, opera works (6)
OPUSES : In Latin, the plural of “opus”(work) is “opera”.
Defn: The plural for an artistic composition, especially a musical work.
6 Nasty and nice, so soon (2,1,6)
IN A SECOND : Anagram of(Nasty) AND NICE, SO.
7 Shelley knew endless Greek (7)
HELLENE : “Shelley knew ” minus the respective 1st and last letters(endless).
8 Primarily means a national darling ending longstanding apartheid’s prior hold (6,7)
NELSON MANDELA : The 1st letters, respectively, of(Primarily) “means a national darling ending longstanding apartheid’s ” placed below(…’s prior,in a down clue) NELSON(a wrestling hold). A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
14 Chef beginning to stuff little French onion, must be peeled and loaded 10 (9)
PECUNIOUS : The 1st letter of(… beginning) “Chef ” contained in(to stuff) PEU(French for a little bit) + “onion, must ” minus the respective 1st and last letters(be peeled).
Answer: From “impecunious”, the opposite of “irich”;”loaded”.
16 Skinhead, if true, got drunk to excess (7)
SURFEIT : The 1st letter of(…head ) “Skin ” + anagram of(…, got drunk) IF TRUE.
18 Soundly immersed, time flies (7)
DIPTERA : Homophone of(Soundly) “dipped”(immersed) + ERA(a period of time).
Defn: The taxonomic order of insects with a single pair of wings, that includes flies.
19 10 calm, if instructed to keep right (7)
TRAUGHT : TAUGHT(instructed) containing(to keep) R(abbrev. for “right”).
Answer: From “distraught”, the opposite of “calm”;”undisturbed emotionally”.
20 Regrettably, tea break ends up in a state (6)
ALASKA : ALAS(an expression of regret) + reversal of the last letters of(… ends up, in a down clue) “tea break“.
Defn: … in the USA.
23 10 polite and out of touch (5)
COUTH : Anagram of(out of) TOUCH.
Answer: From “uncouth”, the opposite of “polite”;”well-mannered”
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Great puzzle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done before. Took me a fair while to solve.
I wondered whether there was an error in 27a – “court’s painful” would have given {CT has ACHE} – so C(ACHE)T – maybe a last minute edit – I hadn’t thought of your reading scchua but I’m happy to buy it. If there was no error (as there most probably wasn’t) that must surely have been the intention.
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
Thanks for a great blog, and to Philistine for a challenging solve.
My parsing of 24a was slightly different – I thought it was DE + MOIS (French for month) + ELLE (her = the girl), and that devient is just a linking word. But your parsing works equally well.
I think the “presumably” answers are all examples of the phenomenon of unpaired words: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaired_word
Ben
Thanks, scchua.
The French for month is MOIS, which I think is what Philistine is after…
I really liked the last part of CACHET – “court is full of pain!”
I’m not sure I fully understand TUSCAN, though.
Thanks schhua
A very inventive and highly enjoyable puzzle. I loved it – many thanks to Philistine.
I parsed 24ac as DE + MOIS [janvier, peut-être] + ELLE
Ah! Just seen what you mean about TUSCAN – very clever! 🙂
Thanks Philistine and scchua
Well, at least it lasted longer than yesterday’s. Clever but irritating – the most annoying being SHEVELED, where he couldn’t even fit in the proper spelling!
Got the theme from TRAUGHT. I was disappointed that my favourite of “these” didn’t get a look in – “if not inert, then not exactly ert”.
Thanks for TUSCAN – I hadn’t parsed that. I always seem to miss these “additive anagrams”, though I generally do see the “subtractive” ones.
Many thanks scchua and Philistine.
Loved this – a great idea brilliantly executed.
I took 24 to be simply DE + MOIS (French for month) + ELLE.
Thanks Scchua and Philistine, that was an interesting workout, once I twigged the device in 10.
I parsed 24ac all in French, thus DE + MOIS (=”month”) + ELLE (“la fille”)
Interesting that no-one yet has complained about a clue in French. Perhaps all solvers did at least school French (mine was adequate for this challenge, anyway).
Re the French one – I think I did the whole thing in French; DE+MOIS (French for month = Janvier peut-etre = January perhaps) + ELLE (la fille – girl) becomes (devient) young woman (jeune dame).
But I don’t think it’s a fair clue for an English crossword.
Thanks all for the French correction. What did I say about my French? Blog amended.
Well, this was one of my all-time favourites. Great blog, too! I’m a bit of a collector of these “asymmetric” words that seem to exist only in the negative. Interestingly, my mother tongue, German, has them, too. You may feel “unwirsch” (disgruntled) but you cannot be “wirsch”. You might meet an “Ungetuem”, a kind of bulky monster, but you will never meet a “Getuem”, which presumably would be a well-shaped beauty like this puzzle. Thanks again and season’s greetings all round!
muffin –
At 12:01pm yesterday, on the Paul blog, you gave away a solution to yesterday’s Indy Crosophile. I doubt you were being deliberately selfish; more likely in an eager haste to let people know you’d solved the crossword you didn’t think of the consequences. It is clearly an infraction of site policy. When I last mentioned this (a recent Araucaria tribute puzzle) I was chided by Eileen who considered it quite normal behaviour. That reproach kept me away, in sadness, until now. On returning…. it’s déjà vu all over again. Why do people do this? I shall now have to consider staying away for good. Such a shame….:’-C
Chambers has KEMPT, but I was surprised that it doesn’t list COUTH as a word, as it is one that I have certainly come across in its own right. I wonder if “whelmed” was on Philistine’s wish list but just didn’t fit. Love muffin’s “ert”.
William F P @13, yes, I noticed muffin’s boob yesterday, and it was the day the Crosophile puzzle was published. Sil also recently did the same thing, but it was two weeks after the puzzle referred to appeared. I think these are the only ones since mine with the Araucaria puzzle.
Please check with site feedback, Gaufrid has clarified several questions there.
Thanks scchua and Philistine for an interesting challenge. I’d got MOLISH from the wordplay and checking letters, assuming it was simply a word I didn’t know, and after SHEVELED went in the theme became clear.
I could only get DEMOISELLE from the checking letters and what I correctly assumed to be the definition. I would not have been able to parse it, though. Unfair, perhaps, but if we only get such a thing once in a blue moon then I’ll call it forgivable.
5d pleased me, after our conversation about opera and Latin a few days ago.
A definite Araucarian feel to this.
@ John Appleton
I have to say that I smiled at the juxtaposition of your grudging acceptance of a French clue followed immediately by praise for a Latin one…
I must apologise about my Crosophile error yesterday. At least I didn’t say which clue it was.
(I only consciously noticed afterwards that fifteensquared blogs Independent crosswords as well – I generally only look at the Guardian ones.)
William F P @13
I have searched the comments on my blog on 30th November and just can’t see how you think I ‘chided’ or ‘reproached’ you. Indeed, I didn’t address you directly at all. Since it was my blog, I simply wanted to reassure Cookie that she hadn’t committed such a heinous offence as she seemed to think.
My comment was:
“I really don’t think any further apologies are necessary. There is nothing unusual here about comments made on previous days’ puzzles. I’m sure that I and many others have done the same, without a thought.
As you say @43, the ultimate irony is William’s unwitting comment on the ‘Grantchester’ clue – before he’d done the Io puzzle!”
I did find it ironically amusing that you had mentioned the central theme of Io’s puzzle on the day it was published – all unwittingly, as I said, since you hadn’t then looked at the puzzle. I’m very sorry that you failed to see the joke and I apologise for seemingly having offended you. It would be a real pity if you stopped commenting because of a misunderstanding.
Thanks Philistine and scchua
I was very gruntled with this philistine puzzle, and the blog was really helpful.
Loved MOLISH, SHEVELED and TRAUGHT.
Mitz @14, COUTH is in the OCED, also KEMPT.
Mitz@17…good point!
Thought this was terrible – there is no connection to me between presumably and opposites and no logic to me in deleting “de or dis or whatever ”
And yes I did finish it but not to my taste at all !
@ RPH
The link is that if (for example) “uncouth” can be defined as “impolite”, then presumably COUTH = “polite”; “demolish” can be defined as “tear down”, so presumably MOLISH = “erect”, etc.
Mitz @17 and R P Hiscocks @22, many English words are derived from Latin, if the 24a clue had been in Italian you would probably have complained. Why should John Appleton know French?
Sorry Mitz @ 23 – understand all that but still do not like it one bit – just me I guess – and Cookie @24 I think you have mixed me up with someone else I made no comment re 24a !
Sorry R P Hiscocks @25, don’t know how that happened, oh dear, it has been a bad day for you.
I think the unfairness is that 24a doesn’t just want you to know the odd word in French – the entire wordplay is in that language and inaccessible to non-speakers.
By the way, I enjoyed the unusual theme very much.
“Well, get gruntled” is an old response to those who aver that they are disgruntled. Tuscan was simply brilliant! Thanks Philistine and scchua.
Philistine deserves high praise for constructing a difficult but fair and very fun puzzle with so many devices that, in lesser hands, would have been total slogs (A French clue, Latin grammar, triple wordplay, an additive anagram and words that don’t exist, all in one grid!?)
Cookie @24, I don’t think Mitz was suggesting I should…just making a comment on the irony of me disliking a French clue but liking one to do with Latin.
John Appleton @30, guess you have got a point. My argument doesn’t really hold, many words in English come form Ancient Greek, and most of us would be up in arms if such a clue appeared.
Thanks to Philistine and scchua.
This was a bit too much for me given the combination of a difficult theme, a grid with only 3 links between north and south, and some fairly wordy clues. No doubt it’s a fine puzzle, but the clues just didn’t suit me today.
I lost faith halfway through when I got to PECUNIOUS – I don’t really see how “onion, must be peeled” can be read as NIOUS. I think “get peeled” might have worked better.
Hugely enjoyable, not too tricky, and plays with a love of the English language – and if we don’t have that, we’re following the wrong pastime.
On the French controversy: it’s a basic tenet of cryptics that knowledge of simple words in a number of European languages is expected. The only really tricky word in 24a is ‘devient’ and that’s just the link between the parts of the clue. If there is a problem then it’s expecting that solvers know ‘mois’ for month. I certainly wouldn’t have known it in German or Italian say, but I hope I might have had the gumption to look it up.
On another note, I do wonder if this is the first cryptic clue ever to have been written in the French language, for I’ve never seen anything more than simple definition-based stuff over there.
24a my favourite.
26a my downfall, with a guess of tiswas!
I did enjoy the puzzle, and after being a bit shocked by the French clue I just parsed it and solved it. However, I don’t think this sort of thing should be encouraged, or who knows what they’ll try next?
I was stuck on ‘opuses’ for a long time, suspecting a clue for a word meaning ‘translation’. Then I saw the obvious.
Took me a while to get going, but once I understood the theme it got a lot easier, and was very enjoyable. Last in was HOMESICK. Liked HELLENE, CANDIDATE, DEMOISELLE (though that might have been a little unfair on those who never did French, though as Trailman @33 rightly says there’s nothing very difficult) and SURFEIT. Not sure I’ve seen a hyphen in PACMAN before but Google seems to confirm that both versions are quite common.
For those who were following yesterday’s conversation about compilers who have been more prolific than ever this year, Philistine has joined the list.
Thanks to Philistine* and manehi
@vinyl1
“…who knows what they’ll try next?”
Lots of things, I hope. For me the biggest pleasure of today’s puzzle was that the central conceit was not something I had seen before. Sure, by taking a punt some ideas won’t work as intended, and of course it is nigh on impossible to appease everyone’s taste every time, but I would hate to think that I will never see anything new in a crossword ever again!
Enjoyed this hugely – molish was second in, but I didn’t click until “kempt”. And lovely to have a French charade. I initially thought “devient” might be a fiendish anagram indicator.
Andreas61 – I am sure it would be possible to construct a German equivalent.
An absolute mess really.
Not that I particularly mind the idea in this puzzle, I had grammatical problems at 4A, 10A, 14D, 16D, 19D & 23D; 11A should have the equivalent of ‘back’ and not ‘up’; 12 is doubly awful for having the US spelling of ‘shevelled’; 22A I didn’t like the anagrind; 24 is a clue in a foreign language; 26A as a compound anag should have used ‘This Italian’ or something like it to make clear the format; 27A the 3rd construction is very weak; 3D is clumsy; 8D, well, if you must be so prolix, and that’s probably about it!
This is COMPILERITIS at its worst, where the technique as expressed in the clues is simply not strong enough to carry the idea.
hedgehoggy @39 – glad at least one other agrees with me !
hedgehoggy @39 – whatever happened to Christmas spirit. Bah humbug…
Hedgehoggy – what’s the problem with an American spelling of a word which doesn’t exist?
@42
I mentioned this one too – the word “dishevelled” certainly does exist, but “disheveled” looks peculiar in English (though my spellchecker, of course, has underlined the former rather than the latter!)
@39 As a long time lurker and even longer time solver I can assure you I’m not one of the “usual crowd”, so don’t go blaming regulars. It’s precisely *because* I’m a long-time reader of this very helpful site that it grates to see such mean-spirited and graceless criticism as yours. This crossword was good, clever fun. Didn’t Araucaria himself say the only “rule” was that the solver should be able to go from clue to solution fairly?
I’ve been gracious enough to answer your previous question of me, so please return the favour and answer one of mine. What would you say to the classical music fan posting on a jazz website to continually criticise jazz music and all who play it?
Gaufrid: What has made this site so lovely to read and learn from over the years, is the good nature of most of those posting. I would urge you to review the site policy regarding hedgehoggy’s comments, as if they do not constitute the very definition of being a troll, then I clearly haven’t understood the word means in my old age!
As for today’s crossword, you would not see such a clever, inventive puzzle in a paper that enforces strict crossword “rules”. And it would be exceedingly mean-spirited of me to find one of their blogs in order to point that out.
Merry Christmas all
RPH @40. Make that 2. But then I was screwed from the moment I entered EQUALS for 5d. Rats.
Thanks all
Delightful! That’s what a wordsmith’s theme should look like…you couldn’t google that!
muffin @43, is your spell checker on American English? Mine underlines “disheviled”. (However it underlines “spell checker” if it is one word.) Were you not in the mood today for the Quiz?
just noticed my mistake @36 – thanks to scchua and apologies for crediting the wrong blogger.
RCW @46 – hear hear!
[Hi Cookie
I was out shopping when the Picture quiz was posted, and I couldn’t add anything when I got back – in truth, I only recognised Sonny and Cher with His Bobness. I liked your comments about scchua’s corns – I hope the other contributors realised what you were talking about!.
I don’t use this laptop for much else than Internet and Email, so it’s possible that I haven’t changed the Office spell checker (which I think that other programs also use) from the US version.]
Only a troll would call for the removal of a genuine contributor. That’s a disgrace, but I won’t call on site administrators to back my opinions up, I’ll just stand by what I say with confidence.
Marienkaefer that’s funny! I agree, and well spotted.
I’m sure you know what I mean though: the compiler should at least stick with the original spellings nromally attributed to the words he or she is molesting.
(normally)
Not a difficult solve once the theme was clear, and some nice touches, but less a crossword, more a pyrgic puzzle.
I don’t like puzzles which seem to be more about the “cleverness” of the setter than the ability of the solver to decode well contructed clues from the wordplay.
On the whole I prefer crosswords.
[@49 – that’s not the explanation; the default dictionary is set to English (U.K.). Does anyone know where the spellchecking in draft posts comes from?]
I am sure Hedgehoggy’s comments are genuine, and that he is no troll. He often posts favourable comments on other sites.
BTW, your analogy with jazz and classical music is flawed as it relates to Guardian puzzles as I am a big fan of so many of the current compilers, such as Paul, Enigmatist, Picaroon, Shed, Nutmeg (usually!) and Arachne (when she appears). And there are others. That’s why I’m not going to answer you.
Nor incidentally do I hark back to some bygone age when things were perfect here at Grauniad. Right now we see examples of great stuff – it’s just that over the past couple of days, for me at least, it hasn’t been so great!
So continue in your dream-world as long as you may, X-or-N and the other one or two. When you wake up, you can start being fair to others using this great site.
Thank you Cookie! I know we don’t always agree, but you get me for what I am. Thanks.
muffin @54 – I think the only spellchecking comes from the browser settings – you could try the same thing on a different website to confirm that.
Cookie @55 – I’m going to stop digging now, after all it is the season of goodwill…
muffin @54, we have had a problem like this before. When my spell checker is on French the English words I write here are underlined. At the moment I am on English (U.K.), and the spell checker is underlining disheviled.
[beery hiker @58
Thanks – it was hidden deep in the Chrome settings. Now set to UK.]
Cookie
I’m not surprised that it’s underlining disheviled – No i in either spelling!
@50 But hedgehoggy, you’re still avoiding my question. Imagine these comments on a jazz site by a classical music fan to try to understand what readers of this Guardian crossword blog might think. These are all yours:
“Awful technique used to create ‘story-telling surfaces’ no doubt. Badly-made, and thus hard to solve.”
“Absolute rubbish in my view. No care whatsoever is taken here.”
“A ‘way’ terrible dose of compileritis. I can’t give examples because it would be a total reblog. Awful.”
“Usual Guardian ‘make the surface work at all costs’ stuff. You get that in Rufus all the time.”
Google supplies many more. Where’s the “constructive” part of those comments? Criticising the Guardian crossword style is very much like criticising jazz for being jazz. To do it repeatedly here of all places would seem like trolling to me. Maybe I’ve misunderstood the word? Perhaps some of the regular posters could give their opinion (Gaufrid too).
I realise the best thing is to ignore trolls, so I will go back to lurking and enjoying the educating blogs.
Thanks muffin @61! disheveled, dishevelled, it is underlining the first of these.
I can’t see any problem wuth 12ac: it’s clearly clued as being the American spelling.
@hedgehoggy
You clearly have firm opinions which you are not afraid to express, and all power to your elbow. I don’t agree with very much that you say, but as has been said an untold number of times before: how dull things would be if we all liked the same things.
That said, I do wish you would give it a rest when you complain that the compilers whose styles you dislike are making mistakes, or lacking in care – it really is utter rot. They are not playing by your preferred rules, that is all. As for your self-coined “compileritis” – implying as it does that those who don’t share the same code of standards as you are somehow diseased, or perhaps spreading a viral contagion of stuff that you don’t like – I find it quite obnoxious.
Eileen @64
I agree that the US spelling is clearly indicated, but it does give a inelegant (I originally typed “bodged”) feel to the grid.
What a totally wonderful puzzle! Is there not some phrase somewhere (Virgil?) that the Tuscan bride brings nothing but trouble. Just a back-of-the-mind thing. Probably wrong!
Eileen @64, no problem with the clue and answer, it is just that the spell checking from time to time goes crazy. I think we have finally worked out that it is our own computers that control the checking, not the site (we had a similar problem a while back). In my case my granddaughter sometimes changes it to French, then gmail puts it on to U.S. English. We were just using the word “dishevelled” as a word to check what was happening (except that I was bedevilled).
12ac: ‘Across the pond’ to mean ‘[North] American’ is about as transparent as you can get. I really cannot see the problem with this clue, once you’ve grasped the theme. A challenging puzzle but entirely fair, in my view.
A lot of truthiness today! I found this very difficult I have to say and it took a long time for the penny to drop. Still today is my 70th birthday so perhaps my mind was elsewhere. Anyway I did finish it. I liked CRAPULENT,DELIVER and OPUSES and I thought the lapse into French was fair enough. I can’t say my parsing was espoused thorough though.
Thanks Philistine
Happy 70th Birthday Peter Asplnwall
Yes, Happy Birthday, Peter Aspinwall.
I was whelmed.
Paul B @73
That’s a step further – a triple! You can be under, or over, but………..
Great puzzle, Philistine – *so* not an appropriate soubriquet for today’s delightful treat. I agree with Trailman @33 that an assumption of plurilingualism among regular solvers is not unreasonable. I seldom post here, but hugely enjoy the wit and wisdom of the vast majority of those who do – thank you. I always recommend the site to those who ask me how cryptics work. And many thanks to Scchua for the blog.
This puzzle was way out of my league and even after I had discovered the “trick”, I simply gave up. But I love it! Clever through and through!
Cookie @68
Apologies for the delay – I’ve been entertaining the grandchildren to their Friday ‘tea’.
Re SHEVELED: I was not entering the debate about spell checks, which I arrogantly ignore when they pop up, but responding to hedgehoggy’s comment @ 39: “12 is doubly awful for having the US spelling of ‘shevelled'”
I believe that English is not Philistine’s first language and so, ever since his first appearance, I have been amazed at his excellent command of it [and others, as shown today] – which might put many of us to shame.
I totally endorse Trailman’s comment @33 and reiterate my own appreciation of, in my opinion, a superb puzzle. Huge thanks again, Philistine
Wow, I had no idea English was not Philistine’s first language! Now I’m doubly impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed this, finding my way in through MOLISH, SHEVELED and TRAUGHT, but couldn’t parse TUSCAN so thanks for the blog, and tanks for the puzzle, Philistine.
I enjoyed this. The first presumable antonym I got was MOLISH – used to be a favourite among a usegroup (remember them ?) on my ISP dedicated to hobbyists and tinkerers (“the Shedi”) who were forever molishing things in their sheds.
And isn’t GRUNTLED a Wodehouseian word ?
Absolutely wonderful puzzle – inventive and original, SHEVELED and all. I really can’t understand how hedgehoggy can grumble about it – I generally ignore his comments nowadays. Many thanks to Philistine and scchua.
Mr Beaver @79: yes, the quote is “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”
Thanks Philistine and scchua
What a novel idea … and made me smile because I actually use GRUNTLED as a word (in a silly context).
Found it quite tough going all the same … and blanched when I saw the French clue … can remember one from Boatman a long time back that I never got. With Google Translate (and distant French lessons in my early secondary days) this one eventually fell and appreciated it
KEMPT and DIKTAT were the last to go in … in what was a very satisfying effort.
Nothing to add really except to add my plaudits for a great puzzle.
Very inventive and a real challenge.
I can understand the objections to the French clue which was probably fairly impenetrable if one had no French at all.However even a basic knowledge of the language was sufficient surely? Certain setters still expect solvers to have an in depth knowledge of classical mythology (or something similarly esoteric) and don’t seem to receive as many complaints!
Thanks to scchua and Philistine.
Eileen @ 77, oh, how I agree, look at my English, I use alright (which is ‘alwrong’). The best English I have ever heard spoken was by the Omukama of Toro in Uganda, King George Rukidi III. I find that many people with English as a second language often speak it better than the natives.
Again, thanks to Philistine for a great puzzle, and scchua for a very helpful blog.
We thought this was terrific, an absolute masterpiece!
I just wanted to add my thumbs up for this crossword. I found it inventive, funny and, above all, great fun. A terrific theme of (im)probable words. KEMPT and COUTH showed me what I was looking for even if PROBABLY eluded me for ages. I also second (third? fourth?) Trailman’s @33 comment re love of playing with words and the English language.
Thanks to scchua for the blog and to Philistine for a lovely puzzle. Count me as very gruntled.
Wonderful puzzle.
@Mitz 65: Concur with your sentiments.
*From the place where we are right, flowers will not grow in the Spring* Yehuda Amichai
Thanks scchua & Philistine
Thanks to Philistine and scchua.
Plussed, eventually.
Well, I thought this was very enjoyable.
On 24ac, coupled with Eileen’s supposition that English might not be Philistine’s first language, I found this interview by Alan Connor with the setter may be illuminating:
http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2013/jan/31/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-philistine#
from which the following extract may be significant:
“It’s interesting that cryptic puzzles seem to be confined to Britain and her areas of former influence. I believe that other languages can adapt to the cryptic crossword. German and Arabic would be hopeless, but French is ideally suited, especially for charade and homonym clues. One day I’ll have a go at compiling one in French.”
That puzzle was very well stroyed.
So clever, really out of my league, but I battled on and nearly finished.
I got TUSCAN, but still don’t understand the parsing, can anyone help?
I think we can now say (fairly safely) that most of us enjoyed this one. Thanks and happy Christmas…
Merdre, quelle emotion ce soir!
Here we have a setter who sticks out his neck to try something that’s really inventive. Some purists might not like the fact that some solutions are not proper English words (my PinC being one of them), so I expected some comments on that tonight. Alas. I also expected comments on the non-Britishness of 24ac. In the past, other setters have been criticised for using foreign language but Philistine gets away with it. Araucaria was his inspiration and let’s not forget he also used French every now and then.
I think 24ac is actually a magnificent clue.
On the other hand, I am not very much taken by 11ac (in which ‘up’ is just not right) and 5d (which is very poor).
Apart from these, I also agree with hedgehoggy about 26ac.
I am surprised to see so many posters rave about the construction of this clue while it is actually one of the trademarks of another excellent Guardian setter, Crucible, who does it all the time. Never read any specific comments praising him for that.
And “be peeled” in 14d, just about.
Let’s be clear, I think this was a very enjoyable and original puzzle but I also think that today Philistine had too many similar one-letter-deletion/selction devices [15/16,17ac,7d,8d,14d,20d].
And does ‘out of touch’ really mean ‘take an anagram of touch’?
I am not hedgehoggy’s biggest supporter, mainly because he likes to stick to the rules too rigidly, but some of his criticism @39 does make sense. While at times he should perhaps use less unfriendly words to describe a setter’s work, I think his criticasters should also try to understand where he comes from. For example, I am not wholly against what some call ‘lift and separate’ nowadays but I do like a sort of basic precision like he does. That was not always there today and that’s what hedgehoggy refers to.
Still, unlike hedgehoggy (and some others) I/we liked it.
Finally, there was some discussion on SHEVELED (12ac).
For us, the single L is not the problem (it’s clearly indicated) but why is the ‘opposite’ of DISHEVEL(L)ED not HEVELED? It’s a non-word anyway.
Thanks scchua.
And many thanks to Philistine for a puzzle completely off the beaten track.
Elenem@ 91, Italian is the definition. Happens to be someone, with the letters of ‘bride’ can make the word ‘disturbance’. So, without “bride”, “disturbance” is, “stuanc” – fodder for Tuscan, who is an Italian.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, though ‘sheveled’ spelling threw me off; now I see ‘the across the pond’, reference. Thanks, Philistine and Scchua.
As usual we’ve completed the puzzle the following morning since we get our Graun very late in the day. Took a long time for the penny to drop, but then all smooth. Couldn’t parse Tuscan, but this was a great puzzle. As for Hedgehoggy’s comments, well, it’s not what you say it’s the way that you say it. Moderation in all things, especially comments on t’internet. Otherwise you end up sounding like that fabled beast, the keyboard warrior. Or the old guy muttering to himself in the corner of the saloon bar.
In its inventiveness I’d say this puzzle was Araucarian. Than which there is no higher praise, IMHO.
Sil @ 93
I think it’s SHEVELED not HEVELED because DI operates similarly to DIVERGE and CONVERGE and other antonyms of that ilk. Is that plausible?
Sil @93, dishevelled should really be spelt dischevelled (from the French deschevelé), if ‘dis’ is taken away ‘hevelled’ sounds like nonsense.
Bit late with this but I have to say – well said Hedgehoggy@50.
With respect to X or N for generally keeping out of blogging, I suggest H has a point.
The comments here have provided me with more entertainment than a puzzle that, brilliant as it may be (according to most), required a more than a little cheating to complete.
Personally, I think that good cryptic clues should be able to be worked out from either the definition or the cryptic separately…. sorry – rambling now.
Re Sil, I guess it’s because we don’t say DIS plus HEVELLED, we join the two bits with a SH sound (and it isn’t sounding much like DI(e) SHEVELLED either). If I were being jocular, and not sitting here with a bastard hangover, I would probably go for SHEVELLED. And with two Ls :-). For Simon S I think that DI, DIS & DIF are all related Latin forms. But I don’t actually care, as hinted.
Re the Hog, @ 39 he is talking about the puzzle: it’s not directly critical of the compiler, even though his running idea of ‘compileritis’ is applied here, and so it’s all right. Others have suggested in a reasonable way that he might like to tone it down a little, but that’s really as far as anyone ought to go I think. After all, he isn’t always critical here, and hardly ever on our associated blogs. But the other combatant just appears, or seems to appear out of the woodwork to launch an attack on another poster and goad the site admin, which is, as far as this veteran of the Guardian Troll Wars knows, straight-ahead trolling.
I think I understand why Hedgehoggy is more critical on this Guardian site than on other sites. Here many people comment, usually over 30, and nearly all of them very positively. He probably feels he has to put things more into perspective, at least to his way of thinking.
On the other sites, e.g. the Independent, often fewer than 10 people comment, and only mild criticism is necessary to get his view over (in fact he often praises).
Superb puzzle. It has taken me two days and I even had to cheat on the first two to get going, being of decidedly small brain. But I was delighted to crack the theme thanks to 19d and 23d, and deeply gruntled to have completed it. (Shame about the feud amongst the commentators though.)
I was going to post my comments on this puzzle even before I read R P Hiscocks and hedgehoggy’s opinions (with which I happen to agree).
I would add that this puzzle, in common with many recent puzzles, includes far too many clues which – to my mind, at least – fail the “Aha!” test. When you’ve got the right answer, you should know it immediately, or almost immediately. You shouldn’t have to perform a kind of linguistic algebra in order to find out why the solution is what it is, or whether you’ve got it right in the first place.
There’s also an asymmetry to this kind of clue: unless you already have the solution (either from the definitional part of the clue or simply from letters already solved), your chances of solving it from the cryptic part alone are relatively low, or at any rate lower than I believe they should be.
Maybe times have changed (no pun intended) and I haven’t. But I do feel that crosswords aren’t as much fun – or as genuinely clever – as they once were. And today’s puzzle was a perfect example of this.
Having had a couple of days to reflect on this, I think I agree with most of what Sil says @93, and even some of what hedgehoggy said – the reaction to certain posts is often due to tone rather than the content. I had no real problems with completing this or knowing that the solutions were right, but I might have questioned more had I tried to write down the parsings. The Guardian crossword has always been a “broad church”, with a variety of setters appealing (or irritating) to different tastes.
Wow! I really struggled with this one and failed to complete it, a rare occasion. But never using google, spellchecker or check button, relying only on memory, reference books and intuition, this is hardly surprising. However, I enjoyed the lesson and appreciate Philistine’s inventiveness. Well done!
Cyborg @32, I don’t think your question re. 14d. has been answered. ‘ious’ comes from peeling both ‘onion’ and ‘must’.
The only thing that spoiled this great crossword for me was the assumption that a clue entirely in a foreign language with an answer in a foreign language is acceptable in a crossword. As it happens I am fluent in French and got the answer pretty quickly, but I don’t really want to see this trick repeated.