Guardian Cryptic 27463 by Philistine

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27463.

For whatever reason, PeeDee’s utility, which I normally use for solving and formatting the blog, was not available, and I had to cobble together the blog by hand. PeeDee did give warning of service trouble a while back, and perhaps that has resurfaced. Sorry, no grid. Fortunately, the puzzle itself did not give me much trouble.

p.s. It turns out not to be too difficult to add a grid, so I have done so (hoping that it does not generate unforeseen problems!)

Across

1 Bare-legged, perhaps, avoiding ugly leer of despicable person (3,3)
BAD EGG
An anagram (‘perhaps’) of ‘bare-legged’ minus (‘avoiding’) an anagram (‘ugly’) of ‘leer’.

5 With right to be called, let it end badly (8)
ENTITLED
An anagram (‘badly’) of ‘let it end’. As Eileen @12 – to whom thanks – points out, there are two definitions.

9 Buzzer and horn sound about right for Russian course requirement (8)
BEETROOT
An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘right’) in BEE (‘buzzer’) plus TOOT (‘horn sound’), for the principal ingredient of the Russian soup, borscht.

10 Press ID (6)
PAPERS
Double definition.

11 Bride can suss out contract information (8,4)
BUSINESS CARD
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘bride can suss’.

13 Wind and fire wiping out half the network system (2-2)
WI-FI
‘WInd and FIre’ ‘wiping out half’.

14 Regularly repair musical instrument’s sound receivers (8)
EARDRUMS
A charade of EAR (‘regularly rEpAiR’) plus DRUM’S (‘musical instrument’s’ – or maybe you could take DRUMS as a ‘musical instrument’).

17 Success with other arrangement so far (8)
HITHERTO
A charade of HIT (‘success’) plus HERTO, an anagram (‘arrangement’) of ‘other’.

18 Bias of south-facing gardens (4)
SKEW
A charade of S (‘south-facing’) plus KEW (London botanical ‘gardens’).

20 High on drugs, ruins the environment (12)
SURROUNDINGS
An anagram (‘high’) of ‘on drugs ruins’.

23 This source of insect sounds almost a type of food. (6)
TIMBAL
This gets complicated, although both meanings derive from the meaning of kettledrum. Oxford online gives for TIMBAL “a membrane that forms part of the sound producing organ in various insects, such as the cicada”, and for TIMBALE “a dish of finely minced meat or fish cooked with other ingredients in a pastry shell or in a mould” so that the result is drum-shaped (remember the timballo in the film Big Night?). The OED gives TIMBALE for both meanings, and TIMBAL as a kettle drum. Chambers does not give the insect meaning at all.

24 Willing in the morning to empower (8)
AMENABLE
A charade of AM (‘in the morning’) plus ENABLE (‘empower’).

25 Once more fire in a nerd-like fashion (8)
REKINDLE
An anagram (‘in a … fashion’) of ‘nerd-like’.

26 Internet mob organisation (6)
ENTOMB
A tricky lift and separate: an anagram (‘organisation’) of ‘-net mob’.

Down

2 Top copy chased by Times (4)
APEX
A charade of APE (‘copy’) plus X (‘times’ ).

3 Found Basil Faulty in east of France hotel! (9)
ESTABLISH
An envelope (‘in’) of ABLIS, an anagram (‘faulty’) of ‘Basil’ in EST (‘east of France’) plus H (‘hotel’). Of course, the real Basil was Fawlty.

4 Bereavement between the covers of gay magazine (6)
GLOSSY
An envelope (‘between’) of LOSS (‘bereavement’) in GY (‘the covers of GaY’).

5 Perhaps French camping call centre restricted agreement (7,8)
ENTENTE CORDIALE
A charade of EN TENTE (‘perhaps French camping’) plus CORDIALE, an envelope (‘restricted’) of DIAL (‘call’) in CORE (‘centre’).

6 Record attempt to cover pole in fabric (8)
TAPESTRY
An envelope (‘to cover’) of S (south ‘pole’) in TAPE (‘record’) plus TRY (‘attempt’).

7 Subject to choice, but not quite (5)
TOPIC
A charade of ‘to’ plus PIC[k] (‘choice’) cut short (‘but not quite’).

8 Regularly repairs musical instrument’s sound amplifier (3,7)
EAR TRUMPET
A charade of EAR (‘regularly rEpAiRs’) plus TRUMPET (‘musical instrument’). A companion piece to 14A, although too similar for my taste.

12 Four in cast mutinied, like Piglet (10)
DIMINUTIVE
An envelope (‘in’) of IV (Roman numeral, ‘four’) in DIMINUTE, an anagram (cast’) of ‘mutinied’.

15 Proof of wanton tartiness (9)
RESISTANT
An anagram (‘wanton’) of ‘tartiness’. Waterproof and water resistant are related, but there is a distinction.

16 Anxious heart of Putin: his currency finally devalued (8)
TROUBLED
A charade of T (‘heart of PuTin’) plus ROUBLE (‘his currency’) plus D (‘finally devalueD’).

19 Southwestern enterprise zone vacated in allergic response (6)
SNEEZE
‘SouthwesterN EnterprisE ZonE’ ‘vacated’.

21 Man of religion employed by Arab billionaire (5)
RABBI
A hidden (‘employed by’) answer in ‘ARAB Billionaire’.

22 Type of rock garden looked a mess to begin with (4)
GLAM
First letters (‘to begin with’) of ‘Garden Looked A Mess’.

67 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27463 by Philistine”

  1. The entomological etymology of TIMBAL escaped me at the last.

    But what else to do with ?I?B?L when “timbale” is lurking?

  2. I struggled with TIMBAL, wondered if it could be ‘in-sect sounds’, referring to a type of drum used by e.g. the Hare Krishnas!

  3. TIMBAL was last in for me, too, and I confess I entered RESISTANT without getting the water connection. I got 26ac well enough, but thought it was pretty cheeky; I‘d not seen the ‘lift and separate’ idea before.

  4. I didn’t know TIMBAL either, and it took longer than it should to parse 9ac…

    Outside a Russian university-

    Mikhail: I want to be astrophysicist

    Doorman: No

    Mikhail: I have beetroot

    Doorman: Come in, friend

  5. Pretty straightforward apart from TIMBAL where I had the same issue as everyone else. Also not very keen on 26 across.

  6. Couldn’t get TIMBAL; loved ENTOMB (after much head-scratching). BEETROOT and DIMINUTIVE. Many thanks to Philistine and PeterO.

  7. I enjoyed the puzzle which went on quickly except for TIMBAL. As with others above I put in without knowing the insect connection.

    Re 15d it’s not just water is it? You can be proof/RESISTANT against lots of things.

    I particularly liked 10a, 20a but ENTOMB was my favourite.

    Bit surprised by the same clueing for EAR twice.

    Thanks PeterO and Philistine.

  9. LOI was SKEW, probably because I was struggling with TIMBAL. Vague recollections from A-level zoology.

    A fun puzzle, thanks Plilistine and thanks PeterO.

  10. I had fun, so thanks to Philistine, though technically I didn’t get over the line, as I tried CIMBAL (unparsed) instead of TIMBAL at 23a. i didn’t parse the “proof” part of 15d RESISTANT.
    However, I agree with drofle@6 and Crossbar@7 (sorry Frankie the cat), as I liked ENTOMB a lot. I must have been around for a while now as I recall various “bra” allusions for “lift and separate” clues.
    Other faves were 9a BEETROOT, 18a SKEW, 12d DIMINUTIVE, 16d TROUBLED, and 21d RABBI.
    Anagrinds like “cast” 12d and “wanton” 15d raised a smile – I like Philistine’s inventiveness.
    Can I say, Crossbar@7, that I actualy accepted the repetition of the “Regularly repair musical instrument’s …” clue, with the different answers; I thought it was kind of neat. But when I read your blog, I did think that it could have been an error to repeat “ear”, clued in the same way.
    Thanks PeterO for your great blog, and comiserations for the hiccoughs in delivering it.

  12. Thanks, PeterO – especially for the explanation of TIMBAL.

    Apart from that, I thought Philistine was being rather gentle with us today but there are some cracking clues – my favourites: ESTABLISH, DIMINUTIVE, TROUBLED and ENTOMB  [definitely a marmite one – I love them!]. I liked the ‘call centre’, too.

    I think ENTITLED has two definitions: ‘with right’ and ‘[to be] called’.

    Many thanks to Philistine for an enjoyable puzzle.

  14. Sorry Eileen@12, we probably crossed, or I would have acknowledged agreement on the clues we both enjoyed.

  17. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO (and I too had some major PC-internet problems yesterday so I can sympathize). I had problems not only with TIMBAL (which I guessed correctly but could not spell) but also with the definitions for ENTOMB and RESISTANT. Overall, a bit easier than expected but very entertaining.

  18. Thanks PeterO, well cobbled!

    My body usually stiffens slightly on seeing Philistine’s name on a puzzle so I crept forward warily only to find a perfectly straightforward and surprisingly easy grid.

    Then I timbaled.

    Thanks both.

    Nice week, all.

  20. With the BEETROOT clue (we say “beets” over here) I never thought of borxcht, I floundered around thinking that there’s some sort of Russian salad with beets in it.

    TIMBAL — good thing I used google.  No complications. I had all the words last night except that one, and this morning a mistake led me to the answer.  I had _I_B_L and thought the answer might be some kind of ball, like a meatball, so I put an A in before the L and looked at the answer.  TIMBAL surfaced out of the mental muck, I thought of “timbale” (whatever it was, it was some kind of food) googled both and there was Uncle Bob.

    Nice puzzle, a bit easier than usual, and welcoming blog.  Thanks Philistine and PeterO.

     

  22. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO. My experience much like others, raced through most of it and then got “timbaled ” at the end. Looking at the parsing I do not think I would get it if I tried until next Christmas. Hey ho still an enjoyable nearly solve and thanks again to Philistine and PeterO.

  23. Thanks Philistine for an approachable crossword that was, as some others have said, easier than some of his previous ones.

    Thanks PeterO for a good blog. The near repetition of clues for 8 and 14 [maybe something like ‘listening device’ would have sufficed for both] reminded me of Soup’s Genius puzzle and Donk’s similar crossword. By all accounts, the setters said “never again!”

    TIMBAL(e) was also unknown by me. I guess CIMBAL or GIMBAL probably wouldn’t have been any better.

    I like lift-and-separate clues (not for the purists) like that for ENTOMB.

  24. No hope with TIMBALE for which I thought the answer might be a homophone of ‘kibble’. Not too difficult otherwise though I was too lazy to fully parse a few which went in from the def. I liked the ‘Anxious heart of Putin’ and ENTOMB.

    Just a coincidence. Related to one of the clues here, from another place today:
    ‘Artist keeps recipe for soup (6)’

    Thanks to Philistine and PeterO

  26. Thanks to Philistine, in gentle mood today, and PeterO.

    I am with Eileen @12: I liked the clues which some others didn’t: the trumpet/drum repetition, and “entomb”. I am therefore clearly not a purist, Robi @23. Favourite was 3dn, like many of the clues, raising a smile.

  27. Until I got to TIMBAL, a fairly easy ride – though I reckon the lift-and-separate from ENTOMB would have been thrown out by Ximenean editors (I liked it – for the record)!  I think Alberich warned me that if I submitted any clue like that to him, I’d get pretty short shrift!

    So to TIMBAL.  Both Chambers and the OED give only the definition of the musical instrument – not the insect part.  But Wiki (under “Tymbal”) does give the poor old cicada its chirp, so I suppose that’ll have to do.  And “Timbale” is not all that common a word either – more likely to be uttered in Masterchef than in your local chippy or takeaway.  I was lucky in that I’ve heard of it – even made one, very occasionally!

    I was actually having lunch, which included a BEETROOT salad, as I wrote in 9a.  Nice definition!

    Rest of it – well, I don’t like saying ‘too easy’ because that annoys some, but what else can I say?  In WI-FI I’d have thought another layer of encryption, i.e. not using the words “wind” and “fire” in the clue, might have been a Good Thing.  Maybe others disagree?  And having both EARDRUM and EAR-TRUMPET in the same puzzle, with the same wordplay – that’s taking it too far!  If that’s some idea of a mini-theme, I have to say an emphatic no – sorry!

    So – thanks to Philistine – with some reservations – and PeterO.  Hoping for more of a challenge next Thursday!

     

  28. To clarify (reading Peter’s blog again): the OED I refer to above, is a rather ancient SOED which we have sitting on our bookshelves.  Its definition of TIMBAL is the same as Chambers.  I didn’t check the online OED which is a hassle to access.

  29. The full OED (which I find pretty easy to access, FWIW) gives timbal/tymbal as (1) the drum and (2): “= Timbale”, which gives: “A membrane (resembling a drum-head) in certain insects, as the cicada, by means of which a shrill chirping sound is produced”. Rather an unfair clue in an otherwise easy puzzle, as both meanings are a bit obscure, and in any case it’s essentially the same word in both cases (the food gets its name from the shape of the pan used to cook it).

    Lift-and-separate clues are something of a Philistine trademark, so I was on the lookout and 26a didn’t detain me long.

  30. EmilyM @4

    Thanks for the joke, which adds another dimension to the definition.

    Eileen @12

    Thanks for the correction to 5A ENTITLED. By the time I got round to it, I was too taken up with formatting the blog to note such niceties.

    Laccaria @27

    It so happens that I had made a timbale just a few weeks ago – or perhaps it should be timballo, as it involved pasta and Italian sausage – for a pot-luck brunch. That made the clue to 23 TIMBAL easier for me than it would have been otherwise

  31. Thanks Philistine and PeterO

    A few days ago we had a Paul puzzle that was largely not set by Paul; I wondered if something similar was going on here – it was most-unPhilistine like! Nothing wrong with it (apart from EAR being clued the same way twice), but nearly as easy as Vulcan’s on Monday (except for TIMBAL, of course).

    I’m in the “like ENTOMB” camp.

  32. Thanks to Philistine, and thanks to PeterO especially for the explanations of TIMBAL and CORDIALE, which eluded me.

    LOI, as for most above, was TIMBAL. I first got the kettledrum definition when I first looked online, but as that fitted in with the EAR TRUMPET and EARDRUMS, I thought that might have been Philistine’s offering to us as extra hint/affirmation on TIMBAL. Not a long solve – I hadn’t meant to look at the crossword till after work – but several clues that I loved – BEETROOT, ENTOMB, REKINDLE, ENTENTE CORDIALE, DIMINUTIVE.

  33. I’m another who took a tumble at TIMBAL and had the same favourites as Eileen – although DIMINUTIVE only became one after I’d read the blog for the parsing as I didn’t see cast as the anagrind and then, like JinA, appreciated the invention.
    My immediate reaction to the two EAR clues was “really!?” and then I got down off my high horse and thought “it’s a bit of fun”, and I assume a setter with the experience and expertise of Philistine did it with intent.
    Thanks to Philistine and PeterO.

  34. For anyone who is interested I posted this comment on yesterday’s FT Monk blog.
    “Didn’t finish this but am so glad I read the blog with the nina discovery and Monk providing the back story. I feel it wouldn’t be worth posting on the Guardian blog that this blog is worth reading even if they didn’t do the puzzle. Thanks to all.”

  35. Both meanings of TIMBAL(e) were unfamiliar (unlike the kettle drum) so I had to cheat that one. The rest fell pretty rapidly, but were quite entertaining.

    Thanks to Philistine and PeterO

  37. Thanks, WhiteKing @34 – the term nina is new to me, so it’s great to learn about them and yesterday’s FT puzzle!

    Thanks also to Eileen @12 – I didn’t pick up on the two definitions for ENTITLED.

  38. Beaten by one entry, whose identity will not be hard to guess (I would have appreciated a bit more help from the clue than telling me it was most of another obscure/unfamiliar word!)

    Favourites today were DIMINUTIVE and ENTOMB (a neat little device that I must store away in the memory bank of setters’ tricks). Thanks to PeterO for the parsing of BAD EGG and ENTENTE CORDIALE and to Philistine for a fun solve.

  40. I have just discovered that epicurious.com makes a distinction between timpano, the complicated dish of Big Night, and timballo, a simplified version without the pastry case – but Wikipedia treats the two words as equivalent. My version had a puff pastry case, but apart from that was simpler.

  42. Did this ages ago, forgot about it, came back and remembered that 23a was still outstanding. TIMBAL to me is a random collection of letters that happens to fill the grid, with a clue many miles above my head. What a pity, I’d quite enjoyed it up to then.

  43. La Chatelaine@37. I’ve never yet spotted a nina before reading the blog but as crimper says and Monk endorses they are “delightfully pointless” – although this particular one is more delightful as it has a point to it – or at least a reason, for Monk working it into the puzzle. It seems to me it must add hours to the setting time and given the level of fees paid for puzzles setter’s have personal reasons for including them. When the setter explains these reasons, as Monk did, it adds another dimension to the solving experience.

  44. Another crossword in a week (so far) of puzzles that have been fun to solve.  After RESISTANT I got ENTOMB – a super clue – and that put me in a perfect mood to go anti-clockwise round the grid, as it were, and finish in the SW corner (inevitably) with TIMBAL.

    Like JinA @10, I thought the repetitious wordplay in 8d and 14a was neat (and obviously deliberate), and I would add that where the result is different (the two different instruments) it is especially neat.  EAR is the same, though, as is the way of getting it: hence, probably, the feeling that it is not the best clue of its type.

    I’m glad crosswords in other papers have been mentioned here.  Unfortunately, I don’t have as much time for crosswords as I would like, but I have found the time this year to try a few Indy and FT puzzles, and I really enjoyed the slightly different feel of those puzzles (they were themeless!) – and of course there is quality there as well as here.  My next move, after posting this comment, is to visit the Monk blog that WhiteKing has mentioned.

    Back to this page: I found this crossword mostly straightforward, and there were several very good clues.  My list of favourites is the same as JinA’s, except that RABBI for some reason wasn’t in my list.

    Many thanks to Philistine, and to PeterO for posting a blog in difficult circumstances!

  45. WhiteKing@34:Many thanks for the link to the Monk blog – well worth reading and I agree with your point about (low) fees for setters.

    A Dupuytren’s contracture condition (now there’s a thing) led to me being operated on this morning, so typing is not so easy at the moment, but I enjoyed this and agree with Alan B@44. Thanks to all.

    :

  46. Sorry, Eileen. Hadn’t noticed that you had already pointed out the two definitions for “entitled”.

  48. Just reread my original post on yesterday’s Monk which I copied and pasted here and I wrote “wouldn’t be with posting on the Guardian blog” of course I meant to write it WOULD be!!! Sorry for any confusion.

  51. Hi Whiteking @48/49

    Yes, I miss the preview button [must take more care] but, for me, its loss is amply compensated, for by the additional options – I could never do links the old way, for instance – and it’s really good to be able to do italics and bold.

    I never got round to thanking Gaufrid for that – which I do now. 😉

  53. bit of a curates egg.  fairly easy with some good clues – I quite liked internet… – but TIMBAL was a bit of stin(ker) in the tail.

  54. Eileen@51 – thank you, but the preview button wouldn’t have saved me from my own wilful blindness! I read my post over before completing the captcha – but I obviously saw what I wanted to see and read “would” and not “wouldn’t” that I’d typed. The “with” is a typo (probably “woth”) “corrected” by autofill and not noticed by me. Maybe we can explore how we all interpret things in ways that support our view of how things “should” be and how crosswords relate to that at the S&B meet?

  59. Somehow in the course of a very busy workday, I never made it here, despite finishing today’s puzzle much earlier than any day this week!

    Great fun today, I thought, but I too got stumped and had to resort to online solving aids for TIMBAL.  A shame, since, upon seeing that word on the list of possible solutions to “_ I _ B _ L”, I immediately remembered that I knew both TIMBAL and TIMBALE.  I guess that makes this a “TIRT”?

    My favorites were ESTABLISH, REKINDLE, and my CotD, ENTOMB.

    Martin @45, I hope your surgery was successful and not too painful!  My grandfather had Dupuytren’s contracture, as I recall.  I hope you availed yourself of this great opportunity to use the old “Doctor, will I be able to play the violin after my surgery” gag.  Wishing you a speedy recovery!

    Many thanks to Philistine and PeterO and the other commenters.

  60. I am puzzled by the suggestion that the clue for ENTOMB is somehow not on, or at least “not for the purists”. The hidden answer clue type where the letters are spread across 2 or 3 words seems to be considered totally acceptable (eg RABBI in this grid). Why would it be ok to clue in a way that requires the solver to disregard a space between two words but not ok to require the solver to insert a space to turn one word into two? of course “liking” a clue or not is a matter of taste.

    Thanks to philistine and PeterO

  61. Kieran @60 – it’s down to a matter of personal taste.  But many solvers – and setters – are of the opinion that we should all be following the rules set down in the 1960s by Ximenes (Derrick Macnutt).  Others disagree.  Anyway, Ximenes expressly forbids ‘lift-and-separate’ type clueing.

  62. Well, you can add me to the list of those who couldn’t get ‘timbal’ 😀
    And, indeed, to the list of people who disliked the clue for ‘entomb’ 🙁
    All I do here is kvetch, eh? 🙁 Still, ‘temet nosce’ and all that 😉

    kieran @ 60:
    You are certainly right that preferences for certain clues over others come down to personal tastes, and as such nothing can be done to prevent some people from disliking them.
    This is similar to some people finding ‘clue A’ facile to solve, and ‘clue B’ impenetrable, while others have an exactly opposite experience.

    I cannot speak for anyone else, but my own problem with the clue for ‘entomb’ is as follows:
    NO part of the clue tells me that I need to start ignoring parts of any words in it in order to find the letters to make the anagrind.
    And I particularly disliked its property that, in order to find the definition of the answer, I *must first* intuit exactly which components of the word in which it is hidden to remove AND then include them in the anagrind. Had there been any indication that I needed to start pulling the clue to bits in order to make it read as a clue, I would have had no problem with it.
    Finding out the answer made me feel ‘cheated’ – although I must stress that this was caused by my frustration at not being able to work it out, rather than any ‘objective’ feeling that the technique is ‘just not cricket’.

    In contrast to this, the clue for ‘rabbi’, like every other ‘inclusion’ clue that I can recall seeing, DOES contain a word to indicate that I will find the answer spread across parts of one or more words in the clue (although I would have preferred the surface with ‘houses’ instead of ‘employs’), AND it includes a separate definition of the answer for which I am looking.

    Of course, part of the pleasure of cryptic crosswords is trying to learn ‘new tricks’, so now that PeterO’s blog has shown me how this particular encryption ruse works, I hope that I *have* *learned* it, and that I will remember it in the future.
    Alas, knowing me, I rather suspect that I will forget it again very soon, and will then be back here complaining about frustrated I am by its next appearance. D’oh!

    FWIW, the clue that I enjoyed the most (today) in this one was 19dn.

    Cheers,
    Gem

  63. It’s funny, Gem, that you singled out 19d as your favourite. Just like ENTOMB the device in this clue is also one of Philistine’s trademarks. We’re talking about the use of ‘multiple fodders’. You seem to say you need an indication in a clue when something unusual happens. Well, who told you to vacate southwestern, enterprise and zone [and not just the latter]? Should there have been one, you think?

    PS, I’m fine with it all, though not a great fan, but being on the same track as Andrew when he says “Lift-and-separate clues are something of a Philistine trademark, so I was on the lookout and 26a didn’t detain me long” [the last bit doesn’t fully apply to me].

  64. Hi Sil,
    the reason why the clue for ‘sneeze’ did not cause the same consternation in me as the clue for ‘entomb’ is as follows:
    the words to be ‘vacated’ in the clue for ‘sneeze’ occur consecutively, and they comprise a full and closed list of the ‘object’ of the instruction ‘vacated’; this list occurs immediately prior to the instruction ‘vacated’, and; the definition that I am required to find then appears in plain sight immediately afterwards, as a discrete word at the end of the clue.
    As such the clue itself is a straightforward description.
    To solve it I am not required to infer that I need to extract the target definition from where it had been hidden inside the first half of the string that is the ‘object’ of the instruction ‘vacated’.

    Although this is a poor analogy, to make the clue for ‘sneeze’ like the clue for ‘entomb’ (which lacks half of the decryption instructions), the target definition would have needed to be ‘south’, with the first of the words to be ‘vacated’ being ‘western’ and, crucially, *with nothing within the clue to indicate that making this cut is necessary*.

    On the positive side of things, this puzzle has taught me that ‘lift-and-separate’ clues are a) even a thing, and; b) often used by some setters – so I hope that I can remember to look out for them!

  65. We are new to Guardian Cryptics  (Toronto Star has just started featuring them).  Do all of them have themes?  If so what was the theme in this one?

    Thanks.

    Janet and Tom.  Toronto.

     

    P.S. We really enjoyed the few we’ve done so far.

  66. Hi Janet & Tom, welcome to 15².

    The majority of Guardian cryptics, this one included, do not have a theme. However, certain setters do like include one, usually a ‘ghost’ theme where no knowledge of the thematic material is required in order to complete the grid, though occasionally there is a true themed puzzle.

  67. Thanks Gaufrid.

    Thanks as well to all the setters and bloggers.  Without the blogging we’d be totally in the dark sometimes.

    J and T.

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