A fairly straightforward puzzle with a small amount of word play en clair. There were a couple of tougher clues in here too.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | TURNOVER | TURN OVER | …a page as a reader might do. |
| 12 | ENCORE | NCO in ERE | NCO stands out a little obviously in this clue. |
| 14 | OMELETTE | sOME LETTErs | nice hidden clue though it’s probably been used before in some form. |
| 22 | BACKER | dd | the two definitions here seem very much the same. An angel is the backer of a play or other performance. |
| 23 | CLOISTERED | (TREE IS COLD)* | I’m not keen on ‘like this’ to indicate an anagram. I thought it might somehow use the clue in some semi-&lit way but I can’t see it. |
| 24 | MAYO | MAY+O | again, MAY is very clear in the clue. |
| 25 | BAGNIO | (A BINGO)* | a BAGNIO is a house where rooms could be rented with no questions asked. |
| 26 | CHINAMAN | dd | a CHINAMAN is a type of cricket delivery, ie a bowl. |
| Down | |||
| 1 | AUDIENCE | dd | the clue has to be separated into ‘gate’ and ‘house’ to define audiences in stadia and theatres respectively. |
| 3 | AVENUE | A VENUE | |
| 4 | INNOCENT | dd | there was at least one pope called Pope Innocent. |
| 5 | ANTISEPTIC | SEPT 1 in ANTIC | |
| 8 | REASON | RE A SON(g) | strain = song! |
| 16 | IDIOT BOX | IDIOT + BOX | slang for television. |
| 18 | EVERYMAN | MARY* in EVEN | definition is ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’. |
| 21 | I’LL SAY | (SALLY + I)* | this got me for a short while as the answer isn’t simply (3,3) as crossword convention would have it. |
| 22 | BODKIN | BOD+KIN | I’m not sure about ‘in the’ as the connector here. |
Easiest Gaurdian crossword for a while, this one.
“Guardian”, even.
22 d. The paper clue is “Old dagger for person with family”
Dave, thanks for posting that. For those paper solvers the online clue is:
“Needle discovered by old fellow in the family (6)”
Chris, normally every time I think the same thing, an Enigmatist one comes along soon after to address the balance 🙂 Taking bets now …
Flew through this one, before getting stuck for *ages* in the top left hand corner…. (didnt help that I carelessly wrote CHANCE into 3d (instead of AVENUE) without thinking about it). D’oh. The apostrophe in 21d also threw me for a while.
I thought 1d was the trickiest though, personally – AUDIENCE, quite clever that….
26a. Being only slightly pedantic, and even though the answer was pretty obvious, ‘bowl’ is not a cricketing noun – ‘bowl’ is a verb, ‘ball’ is the noun!
Ron, you’re right to be pedantic. My explanation shouldn’t have tried to use the same device used in the clue without a (sic) after it.
Agree with Comfy Settee – straightforward apart from top left hand corner, and AUDIENCE (a very good clue, nevertheless) was also my last entry.
Clue for 24a had rather strange grammar (in the paper version: ‘What may be in this sauce? May a duck’s egg?). Too many ‘mays’. ‘May a duck’s egg be in this sauce?” would have been conciser, and more satisfyingly &lit.
24a: Another difference between the print and online version – the online version is “May nothing be added to this sauce?” It might be more concise, but in some ways it’s less pleasing than Geoff’s &lit version.
Geoff,
24a online was “Chap eats nothing but beef (4)”.
Just how different were these two Logodaelalus puzzles? And, how do two such different puzzles arise—though that’s a question that should be addressed to Hugh Stephenson.
Sorry, I was quoting 24d. 24a is as Qaos quotes but my question still stands.
I agree, Colin. It is disturbing not know whether the on-line and paper versions may be even slightly related. When in UK, I don’t look at the on-line version. When elsewhere, I can’t easily get the paper version.
You do wonder sometimes, with The Guardian, about the communication twixt left and right hands.
Surely, the Guardian has no right hand, it has a left hand and a centre-left hand.