Guardian 25,782 – Orlando

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This somehow didn’t feel like a typical Orlando while I was solving it, especially with the long answer at 5,11,18, which is more the sort of thing one expects from Araucaria or Paul. On writing up the blog, though, I do see more of the Orlando style, with some nicely elegant clues. The way 5, 9 and 10 across are linked is rather nice.

 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. OCTOPUS OCT + OPUS. Octopus’s Garden is a Beatles song (hence “noted”)
5. ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS (THE NIFTY MELODIC ARTISANS FAMED)* , with “dance” as the anagram indicator and “music group” as the definition of Sir Neville Marriner’s famed ensemble. As is often the case with such clues, I guessed the answer from the enumeration and some crossing letters, and the clever and appropriate anagram was no help at all.
9. DARTS Reverse of STRAD[ivarius]
10. EXQUISITE Homophone of EX QUIZ IT
12. YARD Reverse of DRAY
14. SIGHTSCREEN SIGH + CENTRE’S*. Sightscreens are used in cricket, in particular in test matches.
21. TEEN Alternate letters of ThE bEaNo – reminding me of the Dandy-themd puzzle I blogged last week.
22. PLEASANTRY L[abour] in PEASANTRY
25. REELED OFF Reverse of E’ER + LED OFF
26. IDIOT [Christian] DIOR less R in IT
27. STADIUM TAD (a little) + I in SUM (problem)
28. LIGHTER Double definition
Down
1. ODDS-ON Reverse of DO + DSO (medal) + N
2. THRUST H in TRUST
3. PASS MUSTER PASS (overhaul) + MUSTER (assembly), with “Do” as the definition, as in “that’ll do”.
4. STEER Double definition
5. ACQUITTAL QUIT in A CT + AL
6. AKIN TAKING less its outer letters or “wings”. This was so obvious that it took me ages to spot..
7. EMIRATES EMI + RATES. Umm al-Quwain is one of the states of the United Arab Emirates, and Arsenal play at the Emirates Stadium
8. YIELDING Double definition (though the two meanings are very close)
13. ICE-SKATING (I CAN GET SKI)*
15. GRILL ROOM RILL (stream or “little flower”) in GROOM (curry)
16. BITTERNS BITTER (very cold) + N S
17. ET CETERA ETC, the “brief” form of ET CETERA, is hidden in SKETCHBOOK. The definition is “and similar items”
19. STRICT DISTRICT less D[etective] I[nspector]
20. OYSTER Double definition – native oysters, and “a pale greyish beige or pink”, i.e. a colour or shade.
23. AWFUL F[ouling] U[p] in AWL
24. PERI Hidden in reverse of yorksIRE Pudding.

19 comments on “Guardian 25,782 – Orlando”

  1. Thanks Andrew, including for the stadium explanation (not 27a – no trouble with that) in 7d. I was ignorant, too, on the long answer, but it fell readily enough into place. I liked SIGHTSCREEN.

  2. Like Molongo I didn’t even attempt the obvious long anagram but the penny dropped with the crossing letters at 18ac. A pity it was finished rather quickly as it’s a lazy bank holiday here. Thanks to Orlando and Andrew.

  4. Thanks, Andrew.

    I agree that it is atypical Orlando, but with the usual good variety of well constructed clues. I liked the 9/10 linkage and 7d was cleverly devious. A lot easier than usual, I thought, but perhaps I’m just on form today (having struggled with Rufus on Monday!).

    For once I did use the anagram fodder together with the enumeration to solve the long anagram, as I was puzzled by the 2,2 for the second and third words when I read it, and O_ S_ seemed rather odd. As soon as I saw that there was only one O in the anagrist, the answer leapt out. A very well constructed clue (if you like that sort of thing…).

  5. Thanks Andrew.

    Enjoyed this, especially IDIOT… Picaroon gave us “Company offering record value in Dubai?” in his prize in September so EMIRATES was first in. (Funny the way these things stick in the mind.)

    I really struggled to finish in the top left, but once I saw OCTOPUS, (doh) the rest fell into place.

    Great entertainment value, as ever, Orlando, thank you.

  6. Finished with computer help but failed to parse one or two properly…….

    Thanks Andrew; I liked ET CETERA and EXQUISITE especially. Yet again forgot flower=river – we haven’t had it much recently, I think. SIGHT SCREEN is two words in Chambers but one in Collins. I didn’t see any being used during the Olympics. 😉

  7. Thanks Andrew and Orlando

    I enjoyed this.

    Like others I did not ‘solve’ the long anagram but liked the answer somehow and the mental search. I kept thinking it must be one of those long multiple names for colliery brass bands but naturally got nowhere with that line of thought.

    I missed the enclosure in sketchbook so thanks for that. Ticked 10a, 22a, 3d.

  8. I had my letters written out in a LARGE circle, and made a point of solving it first. Failed! But it was worth the effort, with a few crossers I had it pretty soon. Great puzzle from this really accurate setter.

    Thanks
    Rowly.

  9. Thanks orlando and andrew

    I also saw that the third word in the anagram could only be “ST”, so that made it fairly easy to guess.

    AKIN, however, was so obvious that I didn’t get it – I wrote in a very unconvincing AXIS instead. Oh dear!

  10. Very many thanks Andrew and particularly Orlando for an imaginative puzzle. But for me it was by no means easy!! The long one went in almost immediately once I got off my fixation with Orchestra of etc. My COD by some distance was 17dn. But, like others I struggled with 6dn which was last in by some minutes. My only quibble was that I thought ex quiz It was a bit of a stretch!! When I got that, I was looking for a pangram but it was not to be.

  11. Thanks all
    This started slowly and finished slowly so a satisfying exerise today.
    I guessed all but’academy’ (in 5,11,18), using Gervase’s method, so had to do the long anagram check-off.
    Last in was ‘grill room’ which I had solved much earlier but could not write in since I took a long time to parse it – no idea why.
    I liked 1d (great definition) and 6d (clever).

  12. Robi @6 “Yet again forgot flower=river – we haven’t had it much recently, I think.” Are you joking???

  13. Made very little progress with this one, as I failed to get the long clue; I had too few crossing letters to be of any use. I think if I had got THRUST, leading to ST (along with IN THE) I would probably have got it. But why did I fail to get THRUST? It seems obvious enough. Ah well, hope for something more 8d tomorrow.

  14. Like Robi with his ‘flower = river’ I have the same problem with ‘native = oyster’ – it delayed me again in this one.

  15. Thanks Orlando and Andrew. Favourite clue, 17d.
    Also liked that the clue for 20d contained the phrase ‘in the shade’, which is where the 1a’s garden was.

  16. Yes RCW (@14 I agree! I have never heard oyster for native. I only got it because nothing else seemed possible! I must have lived a long sheltered life.

  17. After yesterday’s defeat in the NE corner today was a pleasant stroll.

    BITTERNS and ICE SKATING was enough to get the long anagram without having to look at the “fodder”. Then it was all over as it all fell into place.(That’s the problem/benefit of long answers)

    Last in were 1 and 28d not long after.

    Enjoyable puzzle though as ever with Orlando. Thanks to him and Andrew.

  18. Thanks Andrew, got ’em all but, pathetically, couldn’t parse REELED OFF.

    Gervase @4 I wish I’d spotted your ‘only one O’ wheeze, it would have forced the answer much more quickly.

    CoD SIGHTSCREEN very elegant.

    Excellent crossword Orlando, more please.

  19. Thanks Orlando and Andrew
    Look forward to the challenge of this setter and it was no exception. Finished it last week but with Melbourne Cup carnival started … only checked up on it today.

    The orchestral group was new to me … so needed both fodder and reference help. A combination of factors led to a number not parsed properly – 10, 25 and 26.

    Finished in NW corner with OCTOPUS and the clever ODDS ON – appropriate for this week!

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