Guardian Cryptic N° 25,948 by Paul

by

The crossword may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25948.

I found this a bit of a roller-coaster – the first clues that I tackled  in the NW fell very easily, but the lower half remained vacant for an alarming length of time. Paul produces two neologisms: OMNISHAMBLES I knew because it has come up in a couple of crosswords recently, and EUROGEDDON, which was new to me (and was beaten by OMNISHAMBLES as the OED Word of the Year 2012).

Across
1. Sound unit former Russian soldier sent back to claim Sark etc (7)
DECIBEL An envelope (‘to claim’) of CI (Channel Islands, ‘Sark etc’) in DEBEL, a reversal (‘sent back’) of LEBED (Anatoly, ‘former Russian soldier’).
5. As to that extent, very deep then? (7)
INSOFAR IN SO FAR (‘very deep, then?’).
9. I ramble when flipping over tongue (5)
MAORI A reversal (‘when flipping over’) of I ROAM (‘I ramble’).
10. Sister feeds fish odd question (9)
CONUNDRUM An envelope (‘feeds’) of NUN (‘sister’) in COD (‘fish’) plus RUM (‘odd’).
11. Lover has to fight for music-maker (10)
SQUEEZEBOX A charade of SQUEEZE (‘lover’) plus BOX (‘fight’).
12. Story that’s spun out? (4)
YARN Double definition.
14. Disorganised son blames him for a total mess (12)
OMNISHAMBLES An anagram (‘disorganised’) of ‘son blames him’.
18. Blondie hit song, one’s a gas (6,6)
ATOMIC NUMBER A charade of ATOMIC (‘Blondie hit’) plus NUMBER (‘song’); the atomic number defines a chemical element, and that with number 1 is hydrogen, which is a gas at normal temperatures.
21. Cross cut guarding a paw (4)
MAUL An envelope (‘guarding’) of ‘a’ in MUL[e] (‘cross’) abbreviated (‘cut’).
22. Potential financial catastrophe endured, not entirely good, unfortunately (10)
EUROGEDDON An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ‘endured’ plus ‘goo[d]’ (‘not entirely’).
25. One’s hit a racehorse on both sides of shin (5,4)
SNARE DRUM A charade of SN (‘both sides of ShiN‘)plus ‘a’ plus RED RUM (‘racehorse‘).
26. Tree yielding oil prim­arily, as it happens (5)
OLIVE A charade of O (‘Oil primarily’) plus LIVE (‘as it happens’ – a broadcast, for example).
27. Zero in ten has to suffer for one in ten (7)
TOENAIL An envelope (‘in’) of O (‘zero’) in ‘ten’ plus AIL (‘to suffer’).
28. Government ultimately behind the privileged few — about right, one’s gathered (7)
HARVEST An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘right’) in HAVES (‘the privileged few’) plus T (‘governmenT ultimately’).
Down
1. Stop to request fabric (6)
DAMASK A charade of DAM (‘stop’) plus ASK (‘to request’).
2. Coptic leader and god in agreement (6)
CHORUS A charade of C (‘Coptic leader’) plus HORUS (Egyptian ‘god’, often represented with a falcon’s head).
3. Union supporter depends on mother to break proposal (10)
BRIDESMAID An envelope (‘to break’) of RIDES (‘depends’) plus (‘on’) MA (‘mother’) in BID (‘proposal’).
4. Customer initially going in to draw money (5)
LUCRE An envelope (‘going in’) of C (‘Customer initially’) in LURE (‘to draw’).
5. Beefy stews obtain meat (3,6)
IAN BOTHAM A charade of IANBOT, an anagram (‘stews’) of ‘obtain’ plus HAM (‘meat’). The England Test cricketer (now retired) Sir Ian Botham has the nickname ‘Beefy’.
6. Green finally absorbed by blue to become greyish-yellow (4)
SAND An envelope (‘absorbed by’) of N (‘greeN finally’) in SAD (‘blue’).
7. Classmate, according to protocol (8)
FORMALLY A charade of FORM (‘class’) plus ALLY (‘mate’).
8. Catholic Asians among rampant extremists (8)
ROMANIST An envelope (‘among’) of OMANIS (‘Asians’) in RT (‘RampanT extremists’).
13. Male agent head-over-heels in love for the current time (6,4)
AMPERE HOUR An envelope (‘in’) of PEREH, a reversal (‘ead over heels’) of HE (‘male’) plus REP (‘agent’), in AMOUR (‘love’). An ampere hour is a unit of electrical charge, with ‘current time’ as a literal interpretation.
15. Back of Robin Reliant damaged, rear of Subaru caught, parked up? (2,7)
IN NEUTRAL An anagram (‘damaged’) of N (‘back of robiN‘) plus ‘Reliant’ plus U (‘rear of subarU‘). What car is always in neutral?
16. Planet invaded by second alien simian (8)
MARMOSET An envelope (‘invaded by’) of MO (‘second’) in MARS (‘planet’) plus ET (‘alien’).
17. Mate welcoming cryptic Paul into bird’s home (8)
COPULATE An envelope (‘welcoming … into’) of PULA, an anagram (‘cryptic’) of ‘Paul’ in COTE (‘birds home’; an often elaborate nesting box, generally for doves).
19. Notice depravity in suggestion (6)
ADVICE A charade of AD (‘notice’) plus VICE (‘depravity’).
20. Deposit lolly down underwear? (6)
INVEST IN VEST (‘down underwear’). ‘Lolly’ is money.
23. Drive with speed beyond roundabouts? (5)
OOMPH A charade of O O (’roundabouts’) plus MPH (‘speed’).
24. Gargantuan gastronome gaily guzzles (4)
MEGA A hidden answer (‘guzzles’) in ‘gastronoME GAily’.

49 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 25,948 by Paul”

  1. A most amusing puzzle, with the points unknown to me (Ian Botham, Anatoly Lebed) filled in from the rest of the clue, and the neologisms nicely supplied by the cryptics.

    I agree the bottom was a bit difficult compared to the top, as it was harder to get started. I was stuck in neutral for a while, then started to see a few things.

    Besides ‘Atomic’, the Blondie clue alludes to the lyrics “Heart of Glass”, from Parallel Lines. Paul probably had the uncensored version in mind.

  3. I enjoyed this witty puzzle even though I failed to solve EUROGEDDON and I could not parse 1a & 21a.

    I especially liked 28a, 4d, 1d, 9a & 18a and my favourites were SQUEEZEBOX, IAN BOTHAM, TOENAIL, BRIDESMAID & INSOFAR.

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

  4. Thanks, Peter. I really enjoyed this Paul puzzle, and I must be getting on his wavelength these days, because it went in reasonably smoothly. I was pleased to get EUROGEDDON from the wordplay, and OMNISHAMBLES was cleverly done (it’s copyright Armando Iannucci, writer of The Thick of It, I think).

    ATOMIC NUMBER was clever, although I couldn’t understand it until coming here, but there was good stuff all over the place really. Thanks to Paul for this one.

  5. Thanks PeterO and Paul
    I looked at this casually over breakfast (pen not in tomato-ketchup-stained hand) and solved every clue I read at one glance. How misleading! I took ages to finish, and gave up on EUROGEDDON despite seeing the anagram.
    Lots of lovely clues. Special mention must go to IAN BOTHAM and COPULATE (no implied connection).

  8. Thank goodness for that. If (my) Kathryn took an interest in cryptics, I’d be seriously worried …

  9. Thanks PeterO and Paul

    An enjoyable puzzle with clever and fair clues. I got but failed to parse ‘maul’. I enjoyed seeing ‘eurogeddon’ and ‘omnishambles’

  11. Thanks Paul and PeterO.

    Loved every minute of this, especially as I had a picture of Paul chuckling maniacally to himself as he stuffed in as many different ways of annoying various solvers as possible. Masterful stuff.

  12. It’s only the usuals thougfh, coptic leader, rampant extremeists etc that spoil an otherwise good puzzle. I’m one solver who’s Not THAT annoyed!!!

    Cheers
    Rowly,

  13. Ha! Glad to hear it!

    What’s wrong with “coptic leader” for “c” and “rampant extremists” for “rt”?

  14. As usual, at least one filthy clue from Paul, and I don’t mean 17d.
    And I’m not complaining…

  16. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Enjoyable workout that took a number of short sessions to get through. Can see where Rowly is coming from where six clues point to a first or last letter of a word – certainly unusual for Paul.

    Lots of new words – LEBED, SQUEEZE (for sweetheart) and the two relatively newer long words.

    Worked my way clockwise around the grid from NE to finish with SQUEEZEBOX and LUCRE as the last two in. Particularly liked both 18 and 21.

  17. They don’t menan ‘leader of coptic’ or ‘extremists of ramapnt’ respPectively. Csome peole don’t mind alkl that but I DO!!!

    Cheers
    mmITX,
    rOWLU

  18. Please don’t take this the wrong way – by no means do I intend to seem confrontational, but I am genuinely fascinated as to exactly why this sort of thing bothers you. I take brucew@aus’ point that where any device gets overused in a puzzle it can get a bit repetitive, but obviously the kind of clue where there is an indication that a certain letter of a clue word is required always needs to follow extremely strict rules in your book. For me “coptic leader” seems to be pretty obviously and unambiguously indicating the letter “c” – but you clearly disagree. What would have been a better way of constructing the clue to give C + HORUS = CHORUS?

  19. I’m guessing: “Leader of coptics”?

    For what it’s worth, Mitz, I agree with you about the ‘coptic leader’, but agree with Rowland about ‘rampant extremists’. For me, extremist does not mean the same thing as extremity.

    Yours,

    Matt

  21. Found this one tough but fair. Got but couldn’t parse MAUL (and even coming here had to wait a while for the penny to drop as to why mule = cross. Oh dear, long day at work!)

    Also got but couldn’t parse DECIBEL. I did not know of Lebed the Russian soldier, so I will google him to file away for future reference.

    And I completely missed EUROGEDDON, despite the fact it’s been in the news nearly as much as omnishambles (great word, makes me think of ‘In the Thick of It’).

    I didn’t have a problem with RT being ‘rampant extremists.’ I wonder if, as the Guardian is the only cryptic I have done, I don’t mind the slightly more relaxed cluing that seems to be used? I will have to try the Times at some point.

  22. I’m just amused by someone who is as pedantic as Rowland clearly is having quite so many typos in such a short posting as no 17.

  23. jeceris @ 20 – is it not like the skean-dhu from yesterday, in that you could put it down your sock which is (to me anyway) the same as in your sock. That’s how I read it.

  24. hounddog @ 22 – Rowland has had an illness recently which means that he finds typing very difficult.

  25. Saran @ 20. I came to the same conclusion but found it weak. As well as your skean-dhu, is your foot “in” or “down” your sock? Other examples might be “in” or “down” a hole, or “in” or “down” the pub. To me they’re not synonymous.

  26. Well, women stuff their fags and cash ‘n’ other items down their bras, don’t they, so I don’t see the harm in a little poetic licence with vests.

    And on the subject of poetic versus grammatical licence, I take Matt’s point re the meaning of ‘extremists’ but would still allow same, given that office, though the clue always would need to deserve such a let-off by reason of an excellent surface. OTOH, I’m squarely with Rwlyo on his two qualms, since to accept either is to be seduced by the surface (as I was the other day with ‘good heart’ = OO). At the cryptic level, which is all that’s actually real in a crossword clue, the grammar breaks down, and it shouldn’t. Moreover, as we see time and time again in clues, the correct (or let’s say ‘more correct’ to keep the anti-pedants away)) forms are so easy to achieve, usually without changing the sense of the surface. What’s wrong with ‘leader of Coptics’ anyway?

    Having said that, there is a certain amount of leeway offered by some editors on these points, perhaps they are regarded as niceties or summink, whereof since everyone ‘knows what you mean’ somehow it’s okay. And some very naughty compilers know this full well.

  28. I’m obviously very dim but I do not understand any grammatical difference between “coptic leader” and “leader of coptic”, nor between “good heart” and heart of good. Never mind. This was a fabulous puzzle that made me laugh! Thanks for blog too. Didn’t get Ian B or maul without it.

  30. A typical enjoyable Paul crossword.

    I managed not to be too upset by the leader and extremist omnishambles. (That will probably annoy Rowly even more than the crossword)

    Bizarrely my bottom was full while my top was almost empty. (Ooooh er missus!)

    Different strokes etc.

    I solved both the neologisms from the word play but checking them found they both originate from “The Thick of It”. Perhaps I should watch TV more as I’ve never even heard of it. Then again perhaps not. 😉

    Thanks to PeterO and Paul for the entertainment.

  31. James g and Mitz
    Re Coptic leader: there is a slight grammatical difference between conveying the genitive by using “of” and doing so by placing one noun in front of another. In the second case what really happens is that the first noun becomes an adjective so in “cigarette butt” “cigarette” really means ” of or pertaining to a cigarette”. The meaning is usually the same. With “Coptic leader”, Coptic is doing the noun-into-adjective thing as it means the word Coptic, a nounal concept; the phrase means “the leader of or pertaining to “coptic””). The idea that this constitutes a grammatical error has never to my knowledge been defended. Until someone puts up a defence – cites another rule of grammar explaining the exception – I think we can assume it is itself an error. But phrases like this do break one of the Ximenean rules of crossword-setting, not all of which have anything to do with grammar. With Ximenean setters (which would include Paul when he sets for the Times) the wordplay is sometimes given away when you see an “of” (or similar) which is clearly only there to satisfy this rule. Imagine a surface about a wine shop: if someone’s had to replace the normal “bin end” with the more eccentric “end of bin” you can be pretty sure they mean “n”… The unfair thing is that you have to know the setting rules to have this advantage, since this rule cannot be deduced from a knowledge of English grammar.

    I think Ximeneans should keep the rule for their setting system – which I enjoy trying to follow myself in Azed competitions etc. – but should not try to bend the rules of grammar to fit with it.

  32. PaulB and Thomas99
    Nounal concepts, Ximenean grammar – too hifalutin for me.
    In my book Labour leader, fag end and such are OK. Good heart is excellent.
    Such as leading seaman, last post and first flush are wrong.

  33. Finished this in the morning as we started it late last night. Somewhat tricky in places but all very enjoyable. Eurogeddon was a new one and we needed all the crossing letters before the anagram fell into place.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO!

  34. Crazier and crazier!!

    Labour leader, fag end and such are OK, good heart is excellent but leading seaman, last post and first flush are wrong???? Why?

    I’ll attempt to summarise for beginners.

    Crossword clues must follow English grammar. (However don’t forget that this is a movable feast and much debated)

    A guy called Derrick Somerset Macnutt (1902–1971) aka Ximenes put a lot of rules down in a book called Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword which laid down a lot of rules for cryptic crossword clues. Many people now follow this as a bible while a lot of people are “Libertarian” and don’t.

    When you start a crossword you cant tell whether it’s Ximenean or Libertarian.

    So to conclude all we need is someone to write a book which encapsulates all the rules for modern crosswords and everyone will be happy. (And it wont cost £80 for a dog eared copy like TAOC!!)

    Any takers? 🙂

  35. But ‘surface’ has NO grammar!! Doesn’r exist! That’s the main poijt to be made. I feel.

    Rowly.

  36. OK Rowland, I’ll bite!

    How does ‘surface’ have no grammar?

    (Is this like “My dog’s got no nose.” 😉 )

  37. Brendan @34: Why?
    Because Labour leader means the same as Labour’s leader and leader of Labour.
    Last post does not mean the same as post’s last or last of post.

  38. Rowly @35 –
    That is certainly NOT the point! Nobody has asserted or implied that the grammar of the surface is relevant. Look at all the comments: nobody at all. It isn’t. Any argument along those lines is not wrong but it is irrelevant. Brendan is also right to point out that the surface does of course have its grammar. I assume what you mean is that it shouldn’t be confused with the grammar of the cryptic reading. It shouldn’t, and it’s very important that setters shouldn’t forget that, but that has no bearing on whether “coptic leader” works or not. My post above is of course only about the grammar of the cryptic reading.

    I think it is significant that after so many exchanges on this setting rule nobody has indicated what grammatical rule is meant to be being infringed (I indicate which is being followed above: juxtaposition of the two nouns makes the first one adjectival and so on – cf. post office etc. etc.). “Surface has no grammar” is not even close to doing this. We should be open to any grammatical objections, but not to the mere assertion that somewhere an unspecified objection exists. To repeat what I’ve said before in a different way, I think there are actually quite defensible reasons for this setting rule but none of them is that it follows the rules of grammar.

    rhotician says “too hifalutin” etc. but I basically agree with all of his examples. I can easily parse “fag end” (meaning “g”) etc. as grammatically correct but “leading seaman” (for “s”) is more wayward. Can anybody think of a grammatical objection to what he says about Labour leader @ 37? I can’t.

  39. Rowland @35:
    The editors of the Listener crossword, as far as I can tell, apply Ximenean standards to clueing requirements.
    But they also say that “the surface sense of clues should read well as English, regardless of their cryptic construction”.
    Some setters commit what the Listener calls clueing errors to enhance the surface.
    Araucaria seems to share your view of surface but not of cryptic grammar.

  40. No. I meanet it! Surface is anillusion, there is ONLY the cryptci grammar. To me amyway!! Srfacre must read WELL, but that is not the same

    Cheers
    R

  41. “ONLY… to me anyway”. Reminds me of the mother who shouted that ONLY her soldier boy was marching in step.

  42. Hi all,
    Boingggggg.
    Robin Reliant? It’ll be Escort Ford and Bonneville Triumph next…

  43. Yes, yes, yes, but isn’t anyone else disposed to ponder as to how an arbitrary string of symbols COPTIC can be an adjective or a noun?

    This should be giving you something of a cryptic heads up.

  44. rhotician @37

    Yes, of course post’s last and last post mean different things! But as a device in a clue they can indicate the same thing.

    I think all these objections come down to interpretations of Ximenean principles. But as Alberich suggests these can be reduved to one sentence.

    CLUES MUST BE FAIR.

    And these devices are definitely “fair”.

    It is worth remembering that Ximenes was following Torquemada who was definitely not fair. Perhaps X overreacted and perhaps he needed to.

    However objections to last post and leading seaman as a simple device, to me at least, seem merely pedantic.

  46. Paul B @45

    The following are worth a read if you’ve not seen them

    http://www.alberichcrosswords.com/pages/id51.html

    and

    http://www.alberichcrosswords.com/pages/id200.html

    Buying Ximenes book is out of the question as it is now rare and would cost between £80 and £200 for the tatty paperback.

    Perhaps Swallowtail Books might reprint a small number.

    What we really need is a modern TAOC. Then we can all become pedants about that and bore all the cryptic beginners with our “vast experience”! 😉

  49. Re 46 can we, indeed.

    I don’t think you’re really the sort of person who is genuinely interested in understanding crossword clues.

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