Guardian Cryptic N° 26,010 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/26010.

It took me a while to find my way into Qaos’ style, but then the answers came readily for the most part. There is an impressive array of anagrinds, with a couple which seem doubtful to me.

Across
9. Copper pot endlessly cooked nice meal, lacking energy (9)
POLICEMAN A charade of PO[t] (‘pot endlessly’) plus LICEMAN, an anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘nic[e] meal’ without an E (‘lacking energy’).
10. Mercury’s group on board? (5)
QUEEN Double definition: Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of the band Queen; and the chess piece.
11. Chanel’s biggest fan might be shy (7)
COCONUT A charade of COCO (‘Chanel’) plus NUT (‘biggest fan’); the definition refers to the fairground attraction, the coconut shy.
12. ’80s band dates ’80s musician (7)
ERASURE A charade of ERAS (‘dates’) plus URE (Midge, ’80s musician’).
13. Bronze knight, fighting machine (4)
TANK A charade of TAN (‘bronze’) plus K (‘knight’).
14. Carbon copies are plastic, due to manufacture (10)
DUPLICATES An anagram (‘to manufacture’) of ‘plastic due’.
15. Argonaut thrown into faraway land (7)
ACASTUS An envelope (‘into’) of CAST (‘thrown’) in AUS (Australia, ‘faraway land’). Not the best known character from Greek mythology, but he was a companion of Jason on the Argo.
17,21. Platinum blonde plays any minor role after film’s finale (7,6)
MARILYN MONROE A charade of M (‘filM‘s finale’) plus ARILYNMONROE, an anagram (‘plays’) of ‘any minor role’.
19. Buff over me in sparkle test (10)
EXPERIMENT An envelope (‘over’) of IMEN, an anagram (‘sparkle’?) of ‘me in’ in EXPERT (‘buff’).
22. Lead man of our time (4)
HEAD A charade of HE (‘man’) plus A.D. (‘of our time’).
23. Fool swallows ’ard piece of bacon (7)
LARDOON An envelope (‘swallows’) of ‘ard’ in LOON (‘fool’).
24. Take back miracle cure (7)
RECLAIM An anagram (‘cure’) of ‘miracle’.
26. Services and repairs audio (5)
RITES A homophone (‘audio’) of RIGHTS (‘repairs’).
27. Journeyed beyond, round Uranus first, then Earth — spinning and hollow (9)
OUTRIDDEN A charade of O (’round’) plus U (‘Uranus first’) plus TRID, a reversal (‘spinning’) of DIRT (‘earth’) plus DEN (‘hollow’; with a nod back to ‘earth’; Chambers DEN – the hollow lair of a wild animal).
Down
1. They might circle several core planets, after one take-off (5,10)
SPACE TRAVELLERS An anagram (‘might’) of ‘several c[o]re pla[ne]ts’ removing ONE (‘after one take-off’), with an extended definition.
2. Location of new tiny arrivals, initially (8)
PLACENTA A charade of PLACE (‘location’) plus N T A (‘New Tiny Arrivals, initially’), again with an extended definition.
3. Tin found following small survey (4)
SCAN A charade of S (‘small’) plus CAN (‘tin’).
4. Mature as pickled hams (8)
AMATEURS An anagram (‘pickled’) of ‘mature as’.
5. Old 10’s above short man’s temper (6)
ANNEAL A charade of ANNE (‘old 10’, the answer to 10A being QUEEN) plus AL (‘short man’; earlier today I happened to turn on the TV to the replay of a football match involving Galatasaray. The closed captioning was on, and identified one of the players as Al Tintop)
6. Mark nicks one in four with one on patrol (5,3)
SQUAD CAR An envelope (‘nicks’) of QUAD (‘one in four’) in SCAR (‘mark’).
7. Solution bottled in litres, ultimately (6)
RESULT A hidden answer (‘bottled in’) in ‘litRES ULTimately’.
8. Brown’s work for England made sons rebel (6,3,6)
ANGELS AND DEMONS An anagram (‘rebel’) of ‘England made sons’, for the novel by Dan Brown.
16. Love to run around island with energy? Not me! (8)
TORTOISE A charade of TORTO, a reversal (‘around’) of O (‘love’) plus TROT (‘run’); plus IS (‘island’) plus E (‘energy’), with an extended definition.
17. Iron, it was forged in my childhood (8)
MINORITY An envelope (‘in’) of INORIT, an anagram (‘was forged’) of ‘iron it’ in ‘my’.
18. A nautical way to pull fish up by pole (8)
LEEWARDS A charade of LEEWARD, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of DRAW (‘pull’) plus EEL (‘fish’); plus S (‘pole’).
20. Silver — perhaps small change’s rising cost? (6)
PIRATE A charade of PI, a reversal (‘rising’) of I P (one penny, ‘perhaps small change’) plus RATE (‘cost’), for Long John of that ilk.
21. See 17 across
– See 17 across
25. Nickel possibly two thirds of Alnico compound (4)
COIN An anagram (‘compound’) of ‘two thirds of’ ‘[al]nico’

33 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,010 by Qaos”

  1. Thanks, PeterO.

    Hmm.. a mixture of the very simple and the slightly odd. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this as much as other Qaos puzzles. I suppose there’s a mini-theme of metals and/or planets.

  2. I enjoyed all of the anagrams in this puzzle and I particularly liked 27a, 22a, 11a, 26a. My favourite was 20d PIRATE.

    New for me was the 1980s band ERASURE, LARDOON, ACASTUS (thanks Wikipedia).

    I needed help to parse 6d, 16d.

    I loved the description of Australia as “faraway land” which of course it is, if the setter is in the UK.

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO. I also wondered about “sparkle” in 19a and I think you are right that it is the anagrind for ME IN.

  3. Thanks Peter. Apart from the unknown band at 12a, the only difficulties cropped up in the SW corner. Last in was the unknown ACASTUS; I suppose where michelle and I are is indeed a long way from the Black Sea.

  4. Thanks, PeterO, for the blog.

    Well, I enjoyed this! Apart from the eyebrow-raising ‘sparkle’, my only niggle would be that it was over too quickly.

    The inclusion of nine metals [plus one non-] in the clues, all but one with non-metallic definitions, which raised a few smiles, surely amounts to more than a ‘mini-theme’ and I thought it was cleverly done.

    In 20dn, I think the ‘perhaps’ is attached to ‘silver’, as it’s a definition by example.

    Many thanks for the puzzle, Qaos – it was fun!

  5. Thanks Qaos and PeterO
    I found this a very odd mixture – most of it was very easy, but a few were really obscure (I gave up on ACASTUS, and got nowhere near the parsing of OUTRIDDEN – except for the OU, of course).
    I knew “lardon” but hadn’t come across the spelling LARDOON before.
    I don’t think the definition (“extended” or otherwise) for PLACENTA quite works – it isn’t a “location”, surely?
    Not quite sure what memory bank I dredged up ERASURE from, though I did like Midge Ure’s Ultravox.

  7. a Bit scruffy in places, such as the ‘Brown’s work for England made sons rebel’, where I deon’t get the underlyi ng grammar!! ‘On board’ == QUEEN?? @….might be shy’?? Lots like that whicha was dissapointing, just all ‘not thought through’, it was truyly ‘Qaotic’!!

    Rowly.

  8. Got most of this reasonably quickly except for the bottom left. Needed help from here the unknown ACASTUS, and parsing TORTOISE (though now I don’t see why).

    Did have a smile early on after I realised that 8d was not SUPPLY AND DEMAND – from the other Brown in the other job!

  9. As I did not want to use aids, I plumped for ‘Acastes’ at 15a – justifying myself on the grounds that it looked right and could be parsed as ‘cast’ in reversed ‘sea’ ( making it oversea). Obviously, didn’t know ‘Acastus’, so, setter 1 George 0. Rest of the puzzle was fine though,and at least I had a good outcome on The Times today.

  10. Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

    Like many others, it seems, I found most of this to be a breeze but then struggled later on to finish. In the top half there seemed to be a clear and pretty overt theme of ’70s – ’80s pop music (POLICE[MAN], QUEEN, ERASURE, [Midge] URE and maybe even MARILYN (not Monroe, but the singer who followed on Boy George’s coat-tails) but then it seemed to peter out. Knowing Qaos’s past form I wouldn’t rule out something that I’ve missed completely.

    I made a mess of the SE by putting in “lanyards” at 18, but I was forced to re-think when I realised 22 had to be HEAD and soon saw the correct answer. LARDOON (with a double ‘o’) was new, but confidently entered. I’m another that had no idea of the individual names of the Argonauts, but I found the same list as muffin @6 and so that was sorted out immediately. By George’s standards (@9) a failure! TORTOISE was lovely when I saw how it worked.

  11. Thanks Qaos and PeterO. I’m afraid I still don’t get 16? A definition extended into … ?? This puzzle has met with mixed comments but I found it most enjoyable, even given tortoise-frustration.

  12. Hi, Eileen @4. I stand corrected! Mini-theme was the wrong description: shadow theme might be more accurate: what I meant was that all the metals (or according to Qaos’s tweet some time after my comment, elements) are hiding out in the clues rather than the solutions so it seems hard to call it a full-blown theme.

  14. I’m with Eileen – great fun – especially my clue of the day 16d – I did laugh when the penny dropped

    Thanks to Qaos and Peter.

  15. Eileen @4

    You are right of course about 20D. I was a little too quick in writing up the clue; ‘perhaps’ is now transferred to its rightful place, in the definition.

    George Clements @9

    Not a bad choice, particularly as Acasrus has a Latinised ending (the Greek is -os, but -us is in this case the more widely used by far). I think there are two grounds for objecting to the use of AUS in the wordplay for such an obscure character – 1) that there are solvers for whom Australia is not a ‘faraway land’ and 2) that using an abbreviation (or IVR) with such a loose definition is a step too far. Incidentally, thanks Muffin @6 for the link; I rather think that Acastus has preeminence only because the list is alphabetical. Reading on, it does seem to include Everyone who is Anybody.

    Dunsscotus @11

    The definition is extended into the wordplay.

    Muffin @5 (and Schroduck @13)

    I do not see any objection to ‘location’ in 2D, but I did look askance at ‘arrival’ for foetus, although ‘initially’ is obviously a push in the right direction.

    Rowland @7

    I see no problem with the grammar of the surface of 8D, so I take it your objection is to the anagrind ‘rebel’. I think that it might work if you regard it as a personification – that the words (plural) ‘England made sons’ are running riot.

  16. Fine puzzle. Same experience as most above. Fun clues but it seemed too easy to be true at the outset. Then how the thumbscrews tightened.

    @Rowland

    “a Bit scruffy in places”

    where exactly – other than the two you identified which are fine by the normal rules of this paper.

    “Lots like that whicha was dissapointing, just all ‘not thought through’, it was truyly ‘Qaotic’!!”

    Once again where exactly – the rules of this forum say that you’re supposed to specify exactly where.

    You claim to be primarily a Guardian solver – only a year ago you first started posting here introducing yourself as:

    “I usually complete the Guardian each day, while the Indy and Times very often beat me, or take a long time.”

    Since then you have consistently slagged Guardian puzzles, – often going into technical detail where you wrongly apply the rules of The Times (with which you are obviously familiar) to the Guardian – which runs by different rules.

    It is surely time that this ludicrous pretence was brought to an end. You’re not fooling anyone.

  18. Thanks PeterO and Qaos

    As often I missed the theme which was unlikely to help or hinder.

    I had to work out 12a, 15a, and 10a from the clues and available letters since they were a bit beyond my ken. Oddly enough though, I assumed the on board referred to the various liner Queens Mary and Elizabeth, despite being quite interested in chess – must be the heat :).

    I found the SW hardest, and tried to make sense of dormouse and porpoise before the penny dropped for 16d once Acastus was sorted.

    Overall I liked this a bit less than some recent puzzles, though I’m not sure why. Despite the wording I ticked 2d which amused me.

  19. Hi Jolly, you don’t understan that grammar thing well ebnough., because you can’t have ‘Brown ‘s work for England made sones are running riot’. iT doesn’t make any sense!! Agree Guardian is very different, but not always. See Brendan, Paul, Araucaria.

    Cheers and have greast weekend – don’t get a sore head!!
    Rowls.

  20. Thanks, Qaos and Peter0,

    TORTOISE was my clue of the day. I had it as being Tort for wrong (Not me) and Oise the river which runs. It has many layers and is a clever clue.

    Giovanna x

  21. Sadly Rowland I understand it and you and where you’re coming from all too well.

    “the Indy and Times very often beat [you]” you say.

    They don’t beat me Rowly – least of all The Times – easy peasy.

    You seem to have a split personality. One minute an old geezer who can’t type properly and who struggles to solve straightforward puzzles but a regular Guardian solver – next moment a world expert on cryptic grammar à la Ximenes with a grudge against the Guardian.

  22. Rowland @19

    You seem to be quite confused. Apart from the fact that I introduced the “running riot” bit, not JS, are you talking about the grammar of the surface of 8D, in which, as I said, I see no fault, or the wordplay? I certainly see no reason why your mish-mash of both should make any sense, and I think few others would.
    Also, I was a little surprised with your mention, apparently commendatory, of Araucaria; his was the first name that came to my mind for the allusive references (queen on board, coconut shy) that you criticise @7.

  23. Hi all,

    Thanks as ever for the comments and Peter for the blog – always appreciated. This puzzle was intended as the antidote to my first Genius puzzle, which had chemical elements in abundance. I can’t remember when or where I spotted it, but after seeing “copper”, “lead” and “mercury” all had additional non-chemical meanings, I felt a crossword theme brewing! That explains why the [Argon]aut appeared. Apologies to those solving in Australia, but “far away land” just worked too well for the surface, re: the search for the golden fleece and all that.

    Overall, given the puzzle was heading towards the easier side, I had to throw in a couple of tough ones for variety. You don’t get off that lightly :-).

    Best wishes,

    Qaos.

  24. My experience was the same as some of the other posters. I hadn’t come across the alternative spelling of “lardon” so I was reluctant to enter LARDOON until I had all the checkers. I needed to check the list of Argonauts online because I didn’t have all the checkers in place, and despite knowing that the faraway place had to be AUS I was looking at A?A??US and I just didn’t think of thrown=cast. The answer was obvious enough from the Wiki list, I then saw TORTOISE, so I was able to enter LARDOON with a measure of confidence. I don’t agree with the opinion that cluing “Aus” as a faraway place is obscure because The Guardian is a British publication and solvers should be expected to take that into account.

  27. We had a similar experience as yesterday.
    Nice puzzle but just a tad too easy.

    That said, the styles of the Guardian (relative) newbies – Qaos, Philistine, Picaroon – have clearly something in common, a something that is usually right up my street.

    We had the feeling that there were more anagram-based clues than we normally have but perhaps we’re wrong.
    Many of them were very good, though.
    Some anagram indicators I wouldn’t have used (sparkle, cure, even rebel as it is used here) but that is only a matter of taste.

    After finishing I remembered Qaos being a setter specialised in ghost themes. We looked and looked at the grid but couldn’t see one. Angels [Marilyn, Queen]? Demons [policeman, tank, pirate]? No :).
    How could we have missed it?
    It also explains the use of ‘Lead’ in 22ac which we found rather weak given the fact that it had 3 (out of 4) letters in common with the solution.

    Well done again, Qaos.
    And many thanks to PeterO.

    CoD? perhaps the very imaginative TORTOISE at 16d.

  28. As others have said only held up by the SW corner. Otherwise this was disappointingly easy for a Friday!

    Manged in the end to complete and parse everything.

    A thoroughly enjoyable crossword as ever from Qaos although the Marilyn Monroe clue was the real giveaway and gave the solver far too much advantage.

    I am totally puzzled by comments such as “I didn’t want to use aids” when this obviously extends to not even using a dictionary or other reference to check a possible solution derived from the wordplay. Obviously it’s personal choice but at this level one is bound to come up against answers which are outside one’s knowledge. So this approach seems to say that when this happens the crossword is automatically unsolvable! Crazy in my opinion.

    16A is an instance. Personally the only Argonaut I knew was Jason! So after failing to generate a faraway country with JASON plus 2 I decided the answer was obviously one of Jason’s shipmates! A quick trawl of Wiki showed me there were a surprising number of named Argonauts but ACASTUS was obviously my man!

    Thanks to PeterO and Qaos

  30. Derek, it’s number 8 on the list in my copy of Chambers, which is the iPhone app (thoroughly recommended.)

    I associate it with slang for knighthood as an honour – “He’s got his K.”

  32. I just wanted to pop in mention how much I admired and enjoyed the “theme” – a bunch of metals (not elements, bronze is an alloy) all being used in other senses, and the exception, carbon, a non-metal being used in its elemental sense.

    But all that falls apart now that Qaos has pointed out argon to me…

    Similar to most, the SW took longer than the rest of the puzzle.

    Ticked 2 and 12 as especially fun.

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO, and the fun, Qaos!

  33. Enjoyed the puzzle, but the outstanding feature today was PeterO’s excellent clear, comprehensive blog.

    Many thanks Peter.

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