Guardian 27,930 – Qaos

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Another enjoyable puzzle from Qaos, which I found quite tricky in parts.

One down was an early answer, and it alerted me to the possibility of a film theme. From JAWS I guessed the link would be Steven Spielberg, but in fact they are all horror/thriller/mystery films of one kind or another. Others I can see are AFTERMATH, The SIXTH SENSE, The SHINING, The THING, HALLOWEEN, CARRIE, the Texas
CHAINSAW massacre, The EXORCIST, The WITCH, SCREAM and The OMEN; perhaps there are more. Thanks to Qaos.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. AFTERMATH Art thief: ‘Am I not worried by consequences?’ (9)
Anagram of ART THIEF AM less I
10. SIXTH Team enters hard times over position in league? (5)
XI (eleven, football or cricket team) in H TS, all reversed
11. SENSE Shakin’ Stevens ignoring TV impression (5)
Anagram of STEVENS less TV
12. RAINBIRDS Nature’s forecasters use brains to obtain current research and development (9)
I (electrical current) + R & D in BRAINS* – “birds supposed to foretell rain”
13. WASTAGE Loss of money earned over players — 100’s missing (7)
CAST less C (100) in WAGE
14. SHINING Bright sun, next to Mercury, orbits cool pair (7)
S + IN IN (twice “cool”, fashionable) in HG (Mercury)
17. THING Object of night shift (5)
NIGHT*
19. PAW Foot as party leader was somewhat untidy (3)
P[art] + “anagram” of WA[S]
20. FUTON Pleasure holding books, retiring to bed (5)
OT reversed in FUN
21. HYSTERO Succeeded in developing theory about the womb (7)
S[ucceeded] in THEORY. Hyster- or hystero- is a prefix for “relating to the womb”, as seen in “hysterectomy”, and also “hysterics”, but not a word in its own right
22. PRAISER Promotion involves salary increase for flatterer (7)
RAISE in PR (public relations)
24. HALLOWEEN He let in English nationalist for celebration (9)
ALLOW in HE + E[nglish] N[ationalist]
26. OGRES Monsters? Turn back — no time to wait! (5)
Reverse of GO (a turn) + RES[T]
28. LANCE Pierce Brosnan finally wears tie (5)
[Brosna]N in LACE
29. TONY BLAIR Fake Tory in Labour? Not our former PM (4,5)
Anagram of TORY IN LABOUR less OUR. Clever construction, though I have a feeling I’ve seen something similar before
Down
1. JAWS Judge saw criminal giving talks (4)
J + SAW*
2. STONES Seconds includes Eton mess with seeds (6)
ETON* in S S
3. GREEN ALGAE New Age rock supports metal plants (5,5)
GREEN (new) + AL[uminium} + AGE*
4. CARRIE Girl‘s transport delivered (6)
Homophone of “carry” (to transport)
5. CHAINSAW Conservative peer noticed tool (8)
C + HAIN (Peter Hain, life peer) + SAW (noticed)
6. RSPB They rescue sick parrots, bandaging heads (4)
First letters of Rescue Sick Parrots Bandaging, and kind of &lit: parrots are probably not one of the RSPB‘s main concerns. The enumeration (4) instead of (1,1,1,1) may be controversial
7. EXORCIST One releasing those caught in possession? (8)
Cryptic definition
8. THUS So, today’s not the 4th? (4)
THURS less its 4th letter
13. WITCH After removing top, change into an enchantress (5)
[S]WITCH
15. ILFRACOMBE Funny film about old vehicle reversing to happen in seaside resort (10)
Reverse of O CAR in FILM* + BE (happen)
16. GONER Toast and orange squash with afternoon off (5)
Anagram of ORANGE less A[fternoon] – “he’s a goner”/”he’s toast” are slang for being dead
18. INSOLENT Playing tennis, keeping ball on line is rude (8)
O + L in TENNIS*
19. PROJECTS Plans for launches (8)
Double definition
22. PANINI At home I sleep, rising to make a sandwich (6)
Reverse of IN I NAP. Some people complain about Panini being used as a singular, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a fully naturalised English word: I’ve never heard anyone claim we should say “spaghetti are..”
23. SCREAM Hilarious person in Sunday best (6)
S + CREAM
24. HELL Man will cause commotion … (4)
HE’LL
25. OMEN … with ‘female only’ sign (4)
O (zero) MEN
27. SURF Waves one off from plane (4)
SURFACE (plane) less ACE (one)

51 comments on “Guardian 27,930 – Qaos”

  3. Thanks Andrew and Puck.

     

    Completed in two sessions and a delight. The theme helped me get CARRIE.

    So many references crammed in – amazing.

     

    The Rainbird Pattern is apparently a thriller novel adapted into a film by Hitchcock – his last; and Ogre is a 2009 horror film. Not heard of either.

  4. Totally missed the theme, not my genre (though I miss them even when they are). But no matter, pottered tbrough happily. Rainbird caused a sigh, as the pallid cuckoo, nicknamed rainbird, is no longer around the city here; its call is 8 notes in a rising scale, sadly missed. Forgot about ace for one, doh, so surf was unparsed. We’ve debated before whether you can have a single panini, ok by me, no-one says panino. The ‘to’ in 20ac is a bit hmmm, but makes the surface work. Nice puzzle, thanks both.

  5. Thanks Qaos and Andrew. Re the theme there’s (The) Shining too. Pity about HYSTERO- which is a bound stem and not a word. Being a professional pedant, I’d say the clue at 22d should read ‘sandwiches’ and not ‘a sandwich’. And I say things like ‘These spaghetti are rather good’ all the time.

  7. Thanks Qaos and Andrew

    I told myself “Qaos always has a theme”, and, with JAWS and WITCH first two in, it was obvious what it was, though not a lot of help, as it’s not a genre I know much about (though I did look out for anywhere I could fit BLAIR and PROJECT to go with the WITCH).

    I didn’t know about RAINBIRDS.

    Several I didn’t like. PAW was clumsy; “peer” for HAIN is very loose (and parochial); no indication of abbreviation for THU(r)S; and PANINI, of course, though I won’t go into that! I also raised an eyebrow at HYSTERO by itself.

    SHINING was favourite.

  8. A DNF for me as I couldn’t for the life of me see 8d THUS – Thursday without the R!!! Doh!

    I also solved then had to look up 6d RSPB, an unfamiliar abbreviation, to check my work, so I guess that disqualifies me as well.

    Wish I hadn’t given up as I loved the puzzle, the theme and many of the thematic and non-thematic clues. I am with Dave Ellison@3 regarding CARRIE at 4d – I don’t think I could have solved it from the clue alone without spotting the theme first. But how could I ever forget that ghastly last scene where she rises from the grave? 1d JAWS was also my way in, Andrew. I needed your help to parse OGRES at 26a, my LOI.

    Favourites were 28a LANCE, 7d EXORCIST, 16d GONER, 23d SCREAM, 25d OMEN and 27d SURF. I only solved ILFRACOMBE at 15d from the crossers – it is an outback town in Queensland, probably named after your UK one, but nothing like a seaside resort at all – its main claim to fame is that it was where a wonderfully clever and elegant former Australian Governor-General, Dame Quentin Bryce, was raised.

    Many thanks for the enjoyment to Qaos, who defeated me on the day (it is always touch and go for me with Qaos, whether he will beat me or I manage a complete solve). Much appreciation to Andrew also for a great blog.

  10. Thanks to Andrew and especially to Qaos for using as a theme my favourite genre of movie. SENSE, THING, and JAWS were my first three in and from there I had high hopes that several more horror films would be making an appearance. I was pleased to see one of my favourites, The Witch, in there, and never did notice the pieces that made up The Blair Witch Project. My only letdown is I was hoping the clue for EXORCIST would turn out to be a clever &lit that I couldn’t see and not a bland (to me) cryptic definition. The C from “caught” was right there, so my fingers were crossed. (Don’t mind me. I find the majority of cryptic definitions to be a disappointment.)

  12. I struggled to solve 19a, (it was 1:30 and snoring husband was keeping me awake) I finally fell asleep concluding it was PAW but couldn’t parse it. I’m sure you are right, but I didn’t like the clue. Sympathising with my Italian friends and their plural panini!

  13. Good fun. Managed to spot the theme, if not all of the films.

    Favourites were the two clues referring to previous Labour Party leaders. I looked up Michael Foot on Wikipedia and was interested to read that he was an “ardent supporter” of the CND (no surprise there) but also of leaving the EEC. Well I never.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

  14. As I hadn’t spotted the theme, and in 4d my brain was seeing “transport” as a noun, I felt pretty confident that the answer was LAURIE, with “delivered” not only indicating the homophone but also extending the definition (lorries deliver…). AND it matched all three crossers. As a result my check bounced…

  15. I’m afraid I found this fiddly, as is the way with a Qaos crossword. Only when I realised the theme, late on, did the last clues slide satisfyingly in. Thought RSPB for a four letter word misleading and unfair…

  17. An enjoyable and entertaining crossword. I thought it had to be a film theme when I got JAWS, but I didn’t see many of them. Well done to Qaos for fitting them all in.
    CARRIE was my last in, and I’m convinced LAURIE (which didn’t even occur to me) is equally valid.
    I solved THUS and GONER without really understanding them, so thanks to Andrew for finishing those off.
    My favourites were SENSE, RAINBIRDS, LANCE and STONES. I thought CHAINSAW was also a good clue, but it did require knowing Baron (Peter) Hain.
    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  18. Having overlooked that this was by Qaos, didn’t think of looking for a theme. Consequently (like Blaise@14) solved 4d as LAURIE – a perfectly good clue otherwise.

    I think the enumeration of initialisations such as 6d has been raised here before, so was aware of the possibility, but it was rather unfair not to give a warning that 21a was a prefix.

    18d reminds me of the riddle “Why wouldn’t anyone rescue the man overboard at Cowes Week?” – ‘Because he was in Solent’

  19. I liked the Michael Foot clue as he was unfairly pilloried by the right wing tabloids for wearing a duffle coat to the ceremony at the cenotaph. hence untidy. He was a man with high principles and intellect, but ineffective as a leader. History may repeat/

  21. For once, I remembered to look out for a theme in a Qaos puzzle. I saw this one quite late in the solving, but it helped after that.

    There is also a horror movie about Jack the Ripper, called From HELL.

    Some non-horror movie clues required help from google for the GK such as HAIN (peer), ILFRACOMBE (resort), and RSPB (I guessed it might exist as I know the RSPCA).

    My favourites were SHINING, PANINI, SIXTH, GONER (loi).

    I could not parse SURF or GREEN ALGAE.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

  22. Got round to this rather late in the day, but enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to Qaos and Andrew. The plural of “panini”, according to the menu in a would-be up-market snack bar in Aldwych, central London, is “panini’s”.

  23. Thanks both,

    Very enjoyable and I guessed the theme early on. 17ac was a pithy delight.

    I was sceptical that green algae were really plants but some googling confirms they are classifed as plants (but red or brown algae are not). Indeed, as it is thought land plants are descended from green algae, some classifications included land plants as a kind of green algae.

     

  25. Enjoyed this many thanks Qaos

    Couldn’t help but think that ‘former’ could be omitted in 29d to approximate the current hashtag/slogan “#NotMyPM” to the delight of some – lovely clue all the same

  26. Totally missed the theme, which is a shame because then I would have been certain of Carrie, which I was not confident of because I failed to parse it. Are there any other “standard” girl’s names matching *A*R*E ?

  27. I made a mess of this, failing on the unfamiliar (to me) ILFRACOMBE as well as HYSTERO(-), about which I agree with PeterM @18, and failed to parse several others. Also failed to spot the theme despite knowing that Qaos always has one, so an especially humiliating defeat today (due to my shortcomings, not Qaos’). I agree that 6d is properly (1, 1, 1, 1), but such abbreviations are usually clued as (4) and enumerating them otherwise would in most cases be too much of a giveaway.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  28. I know it’s technically spelled wrong, but (IN)SOLENT GREEN(ALGAE) feels too close together be a coincidence, so maybe another one…?

  29. Quite surprised to find such a positive response to this, I was sure that it had something to displease everyone but it seems just a lot to displease me!

  30. Definitely trickier than most Qaos daily puzzles, but quite an entertaining solve. ILFRACOMBE was last in and needed all the crossers.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

  31. Do those who say “these spaghetti” and “one panino” also say “two gelati”, “two cappuccini”?  And should they also say “two pennauguin” instead of “two penguins”? Yours partially in jest, Phil

  32. Phil J @31

    Definitely “two cappuccini” and “two gelati” for me (though it’s more likely to be “due” in each case). I do, however, speak Italian reasonably effectively 🙂

    (I had an argument in an “Italian” restaurant last Friday on how to pronounce “bruschetta”. They insisted (incorrectly) on “brushetta”. I wish I had thought to ask how they would pronounce “chianti”!)

  33. Phil J @31, in the same spirit of jest: well, it’s debatable whether “penguin” is Welsh at all – it would mean “white head” which doesn’t make sense.  But even if it were, Welsh generally uses a singular noun when counting: one penguin, two penguin, three penguin. Isn’t language fun?

  35. I quite liked this and saw the theme-although originally I thought it was connected to the Rolling Stones,with STONES and AFTERMATH crossing but I couldn’t see any more- but noticed JAWS and OMEN and most of the others. I didn’t know AFTERMATH was a film though.
    Nice puzzle.
    Thanks Qaos.

  37. [My Welsh friends tell me that the word Penguin was originally applied to the Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, now extinct. When Welsh sailors discovered the Antarctic, they saw similar flightless birds and named them accordingly. Who am I to argue?]

  39. [Tyke @37

    Thanks for that. It reminds me of the Quiz question – what bird has the scientific name Puffinus puffinus?]

  40. Clever and entertaining as usual. Have just been to the Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum, so The SHINING resonated. I would highly recommend the show but I believe it has sold out and/or finished.
    I thought PAW was a bit weak, but everything else was excellent, in particular the ‘fake Tory’ in 29 across, brilliantly combined with WITCH and PROJECT (what a letdown that film turned out to be). Thanks to Q & A.

  41. I guess we all have our pet annoyances. Objecting to “panini” for “sandwich” seems absurd to me. Whatever the Italian word may mean, “panini” is a perfectly good English word, which means “sandwich”. (The same goes for “latte” and “coffee”, by the way.)

    Here’s my hobbyhorse: one-letter abbreviations. I can’t find dictionary support for “afternoon” = A. I also raised an eyebrow at N for “nationalist”, but Chambers includes it, so I guess I can’t complain about that one.

    Personally, I’m inclined to give setters a break on enumeration for things like 6d, on the same grounds as DaveinNCarolina: (1,1,1,1) would be a giveaway, and where’s the fun in that?

     

     

  42. Thoroughly enjoyed this crossword and theme even though I’m not a fan of all the films mentioned. How clever to get so many in, Qaos.

    COD was GONER. Minor quibble with plane being surface so needed clarification from Andrew for that and a couple of others so thanks for the parsing too.

  43. Awesome theming, which helped us to CARRIE and SHINING. Several in, and right, but not parsed properly (or at all), so many thanks Andrew.

    No two pedants are in exact agreement, I think: I was with those who bristled at HYSTERO (whereas hystera would have been OK), but have no problem with ‘a panini’ etc. To my mind these are English words now. There again, I still prefer cherubIm and seraphim . . . In awe of Qaos’s ingenuity: how long must it have taken to construct I wonder.

  44. Am I the only person who initially put HEARSE (delivered: sounds like ‘hers’) for 4 down? Nice puzzle, missed the theme but managed all but 3 down.

  46. Some great clues but also some rubbish. I imagine this is the problem when you’re trying to shoehorn clues in to fit a theme.

    I really did not like 8dn (THUS). I like to “store” crosswords and then print them out take on holiday – no way of working out on what day of the week a particular crossword appeared!

  48. Simon S @ 45 Not in my Chambers it isn’t but mine was published in 1990 and I’m not going to buy a new one just for crosswords.
    I shared Muffin’s dislike of PAWS, HAIN, and THURS @ 7 and overall there were rather too many find a word the remove a letter clues for my liking, e.g. players = cast then remove the C, to wait = rest then remove the T, orange anagram less the A, Switch minus the S. Never my favourite type. I didn’t spot the theme but I don’t complain about something that doesn’t stop me completing the grid and gives pleasure to so many others.

  49. GrantinFreo@4:

    Take a drive up LeFroy Rd to the shops.

    There you’ll find Il Panino bakery.

    Fabulous bread, pastries and coffee(s).

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