Guardian 26,016 – Arachne

by

After an unfortunately stormy week in Fifteensquaredland, what a delight to see an Arachne puzzle to restore us to normality. Perhaps not one of her hardest, but no walkover either, and with plenty of witty and ingenious constructions. Many thanks Arachne.

 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. TENT PEG Anagram of PENETRATING less RAIN – anyone who has had a camping holiday in Britain may recognise the scene suggested by this clue…
5. SEMINAL [Tracey] EMIN in SAL (=Sally, a form of Sarah), with “seminal” defined in its literal sense of “relating to seed” (or semen)
9. BENTO BENT = preference, cup of tea, as in “Justin Bieber’s music is not my cup of tea” + O (doughnut shape).
10. LABURNUMS (URBAN SLUM)*
11. THOROUGHLY HOT* (“pants” is getting to be a familiar anagram indicator) + ROUGHLY (more or less); definition “clean”, in the sense of “entirely”, as in “ I clean forgot his name”
12. IDO IDOL less L. Ido is an artificial language, intended to overcome some of the flaws of Esperanto
14. FERMENTATION (EMINENT ART OF)*, &lit
18. JACK-IN-THE-BOX JACK IN (give up) THE BOX (set as in television)
21. COW CALLOW less ALL
22. EPISCOPATE [rebelliou]S in EPIC + O (round) PATE (head)
25. ON THE DOLE Hidden in wON’T HE DO LEss
26. IRONS Double definition – the film star is Jeremy Irons
27. SURPLUS S[O]UR + PLUS (and)
28. TO TASTE TOT + SEAT*
Down
1. TO BITS [jus]T + OBITS (death notices, with a superfluous comma in the clue). “So much” as in “I love you to bits”
2. NON DOM N[ational] + [L]ONDO[N] “eschewed by its banks” + M[ale]. I can’t find NON DOM in Chambers, after a quick look (I would write it with a hyphen myself) but it should be fairly familiar as an abbreviation of a non-domiciled resident, often mentioned in regard to dodgy tax arrangements.
3. PHOTOGENIC Cryptic definition – a photogenic person is pretty, as a picture
4. GULAG U (upper-class, elite) + L[iberal] in GAG (silence)
5. SIBILANCE IBIS< + LANCE (pike – the weapon: perhaps not exactly the same thing, but close enough, I think)
6. MIRE ADMIRE with AD (bill) “down” or removed
7. NEURITIC INURE* + TIC
8. LASSOING LASS + [g]OING
13. TAXONOMIST (TOXIN ATOMS)*, with one of Arachne’s trademark feminine pronouns where others might use “he”
15. METAPHORS (TOM SHARPE)* &lit, referring to the comic novelist, who died recently
16. EJECTORS ELECTORS with L[awful] replaced by J[udge]
17. ICE WATER A (perhaps controversial?) homophone of “I swore to”
19. TABOOS TA (thank you, cheers) + BOOS (jeers)
20. NESSIE N[otic]E (i.e. after being vacated) + SS + IE (that is). Chambers doesn’t seem to give S=species, but I think I’ve seen it used; and species is also the plural form, which is why the S occurs twice; and of course Nessie is rarely (most would say never) seen. Better explanation of SS from NeilW and others – the S[pecie]S is also vacated
23. SPELT S[on] + PELT (speed)
24. CELL Homophone (indisputable this time) of SELL

44 comments on “Guardian 26,016 – Arachne”

  2. Thanks, Andrew. As you say, a little more gentle than some of Arachne’s webs, I think because she let us have a few gimmes early on with pretty obvious definitions. Still, high quality as ever.

    In NESSIE, I understood SpecieS was being vacated as well as NoticE but I suppose your explanation is just as possible.

  3. Excellent puzzle – thanks Arachne and thanks Andrew for parsing ‘non dom’ where I couldn’t.
    I loved 8d, distracted as I was by the surface.
    “Ice water pay him back” sounds good to me.

  4. Thanks for the blog, Andrew.

    I liked 15d, 14a, 4d, 8d, 25a, 22a and my favourites were 6d MIRE, 21 COW, 20d NESSIE, 27a SURPLUS, 1d TO BITS.

    I failed to solve 2d.

    New words for me today were NEURITIC, IDO, SIBILANCE, SAL = Sarah, EPISCOPATE.

    I parsed NESSIE in the same way as NeilW@2 – N(otic)E S(pecie)S + IE.

  5. NeilW@2
    Collins gives SPP as the abbreviation for ‘species’ so we might be on the right track with NESSIE.

  6. Thanks for the blog, Andrew. I particularly liked 14a. When I saw “See” in 22a, I tried to make BISHOPRIC work (BIOPIC about S, R – but whence the H?) before I noticed the letter count. As for 17d, I tried to connect “eye swatter” to Arachne of myth before finally noting the setter’s name. (As a Yank, I sometimes struggle with homophone clues. But, as was the case with 17d, the penny usually drops when I affect various (admittedly poor) British accents.) Anyway, I found this crossword 11a 28a.

  7. Thanks for a super blog, Andrew. I wish I knew how you do it so quickly!

    Apart from so many wonderful constructions, what a lot of lovely stories! [I shared your wry smile at 1ac.] I know a lot of people don’t bother about surfaces but I find that it’s always worth going back over an Arachne puzzle, after solving it, to find gems I may I have missed. Far too many to pick out favourites – but I wonder if that’s really what Arachne thinks of Tracey. And I love the idea of her – or anyone – pledging to drink, rather than signing the pledge not to!

    Two &lits in one puzzle, to boot: this is real class, as ever. Huge thanks, Arachne, for a refreshing end to the week.

  8. Thanks Arachne and Andrew
    I was defeated by TO BITS and BENTO and failed to parse NESSIE and ICE WATER (still not all that convinced by the latter), but that doesn’t detract from a wonderful, humorous puzzle. Lots of lovely clues – favourites (all across) 1, 11, 14, 22 and 28 (what a great “hidden”!)

  10. Good morning everyone and thank you Andrew. (Been learning to be a Grandpa in NZ so hence the absence).

    This had everything I like in a crossword – really clever constructions with interesting answers.

    TENT PEG is just one of many.

    Parsed NESSIE the same as NeilW et al.

    Even the one I failed on (IDO) was interesting.

    Thank you Arachne, first class offering.

  11. Lovely and very clever puzzle by Arachne as always – thanks to both. Couldn’t get EPISCOPATE (despite the number of times ‘see’ is used in a clerical sense in crosswords), nor TABOOS, which is also a wonderful short clue.

  13. I am waiting for my sister and family to arrive to camp in our garden for the 22nd annual camp/beach gathering. Its thundering and raining outside so I thought I would do the Arachne while waiting. As you can imagine, 1a made me laugh out loud.

    Thanks to Arachne for another fun crossword – a perfect cryptic to end the week. Thanks to Andrew for the blog too.

  14. Nice to be able to cope with Arachne without too much trouble for a change, though thanks Andrew (and NeilW) for help with parsing 1a, 9a and 17d.

    TO BITS and TABOOS favourites, not least for their clever surfaces. I’m at one with Eileen @7 on these – it’s good to read proper English sentences/phrases, especially those which divert one from the answer, and their construction is one of Arachne’s many strengths.

  15. Thanks, Andrew.

    Lovely puzzle from Arachne; not her most difficult, as others have remarked, but as full of clever and amusing clues (and the non-patriarchal touch at 13d) as we have come to expect from the Spider Woman.

    Lots of favourites, particularly 9a, 14a, 18a, 25a, 28a, 1d, but all the anagrams clues are particularly well crafted, with excellent surfaces.

    NESSIE was my last entry, and I agree with NeilW about the parsing; ‘species’ is always abbreviated to sp (singular) and spp (plural) (cf ‘pp’ for ‘pages’).

  16. Great crossword with a nice balance of clues.

    Thanks Andrew; ON THE DOLE was mistressly hidden. Do Japanese lunchboxes contain Fray Bentos? 😉

    I especially liked EPISCOPATE, TO BITS and TENT PEG, and there were many other superb clues.

  17. I fully agree with Eileen @7 – it’s always worth going back to Arachne’s clues just to savour the beautifully crafted vignettes.
    1a and the quite brilliant 20d could even have been from the same story.
    Other favourites were (across) 9, 21 and 28, and (down) 1, 4, 8, 15 and 19.
    Terrific, Arachne. Thank you.
    And many thanks to Andrew for the blog.

  18. Is a bent really one’s cup of tea? I would have thought that the “cup of tea” impacts externally, while the bent a more natural inclination. And what type of accent makes I swear to sound like “ice(d) water”?

  19. Jeff Cumberbatch @18

    Think Spike the bulldog in the Tom and Jerry Cartoons: “Ice water god, pussycat, if I’se comes back here and finds you bothrin’ ma boy agin I’s’ll pound yez inter the dust!”

  20. Re surfaces they are the presen tation of the cryptic parts made to look like something else, or they should be! It does not wlak like a duck? That’s the art of it to Mr Rowly. But there cannot be any ‘short-cuts’ or it is all a waste of time.

    Well done Arachen!

    PS good surfaces in all the papers today.)

  21. Jeff Cumberbatch @18

    “Ice water” sounds like “I swore ter”, at least it does does rahnd ‘ere.

  22. Jeff Cumberbatch @18

    Two niggardly comments [and nothing else] on an Arachne puzzle in less than two and a half lines – Wow!

    I often use the expression ‘just / not my cup of tea’ in my blogs / comments here and had no problems with that definition [or approximation].

    I thought the discussion re ‘homophones’, as I still sometimes whimsically call them in my blogs, had been amicably resolved, in that, in some accent, somewhere, a can sound like b. So long as it’s as amusing as this one, which made me laugh out loud, anything goes, as far as I’m concerned. I thought nickinoz had it perfectly: just read it aloud. [I loved Keeper’s comment @6 on this.]

  23. Hi crypticsue @13

    I’ve just had my grandson and his girlfriend to lunch and waved them off on a group camping weekend. ‘Heavy rain’ forecast locally for the exact time they’ll be pitching their tents. They didn’t seem fazed – maybe I wouldn’t have been at their age! 😉

    I’ve been trying for a long time to get my grandson into cryptics and so I used 1ac as an introduction to a mini-tutorial – fingers crossed!

  24. Greetings from Spider Towers, and sincere thanks to Andrew for the cracking blog. NESSIE was intended to parse as n[otic]e s[pecie]s + ie. Thanks to all for kind comments.

    The original clue for 9ac began “Abe’s lunchbox…” and I still wonder whether that would have been unfair/just too difficult (Shinzo Abe is the Japanese PM).

    Eileen@7: My dear old dad never tires of telling people that, as a lad, he “signed the pledge” and joined the Rechabites. I signed a rather different pledge, and joined the Reprobates.

    Love, hugs & *peace*,
    Arachne x

  25. Hi Arachne

    “The original clue for 9ac began “Abe’s lunchbox…” and I still wonder whether that would have been unfair/just too difficult (Shinzo Abe is the Japanese PM).”

    ‘Unfair’? I think Lincoln might feel unjustly ousted – so soon – from his safe seat in Crosswordland.
    ‘Just too difficult’? We love you 1dn but – er, yes. 😉

    [Did you get as far as running it by Hugh?]

  26. Thanks, both.

    I thought this was another excellent puzzle from Arachne, but I wouldn’t describe it as one of her easier ones. I failed on BENTO and IDO, but hey ho, perhaps my mood is low because Australia have been crashing England all round Old Trafford for most of the day. Mind you, I could bat on that track with a stick of rhubarb.

    TO BITS was my favourite today.

  27. Thanks Arachne and Andrew.

    19D was late in for me as I hadn’t come across TABOO as a verb before…fortunately I referred to my friend google before making a fool of myself by crying foul!

    Great puzzle from a maestra (is that the female of maestro?)

    Simon ô¿ô

  28. Thanks, Arachne, for your usual clever clues and Andrew for the blog.

    Simon S @ 276, yes, maestra is correct and applies very nicely to Arachne!! xx

    TENT PEG was super – been there in pre – en suite days!

    I liked MIRE as I’m reading Pilgrim’s Progress at the moment and the miry Slough of Despond has been safely crossed!

    As others, I forgot see in the episcopal sense yet again and came to it the hard way – but what a super clue.

    Giovanna xx

  29. I did what a few of you have been suggesting for a while and went back and read all of the surfaces of this puzzle post-solve. Very impressive.

    The NW corner was the last to fall, and BENTO was my LOI after I finally saw TO BITS. If “Abe’s lunchbox” had been used in the clue for BENTO I think I would definitely have cried foul ………. I didn’t have a problem with either bent=cup of tea or the ICE WATER homophone, and I thought that the FERMENTATION anagram was superb.

  30. Thanks Andrew and Arachne.

    I too thought this was easier than her usual, but still enjoyable.

    My cheat book suggested Apostolic for “See”, so I wrote “Apostolate” and forgot to check it!

    Eileen @ 22. “Two niggardly comments [and nothing else] on an Arachne puzzle in less than two and a half lines – Wow!” Do you really mean this? I read and re-read Jeff’s points and thought they were all fair comment, with no criticism implied. In any case, this site is for comment and criticism, positive or negative – surely it is not solely a setters’ appreciation society.

  31. Thanks, Dave@30. I intended no calumny in my comments. And thanks to the blogger and setter as always.

  32. Hi Dave Ellison @30

    “In any case, this site is for comment and criticism, positive or negative – surely it is not solely a setters’ appreciation society.”

    Of course. I’ve always made it plain, as a blogger and commenter, that Arachne is one of my favourite setters – and so, of course, I am biassed. I just thought it sad that anyone would choose to pick on a couple of [I thought, see above] dodgy niggles
    on this [I think, ezcellent] puzzle without a word of thanks.

  34. Eileen@25: It was the Dear Leader HS who decided that “Abe’s lunchbox” was beyond the pale. He was right, as ever. Shinzo Abe (two syllables) has contributed a new word – “Abenomics” – to the English language, albeit only in the Pink ‘Un and the Wall Street Journal, but for now I think our dear old monosyllabic Abe retains his authority in Crosswordland over the two syllabled Japanese PM.

  35. Well this wasn’t my favourite Arachne and I certainly found it harder than any of her others.

    I didn’t finish the NW corner as I’d never heard of NON DOM and it doesn’t appear to be in any dictionary.

    I agree totally with JC @18. Never heard of BENTO and “cup of tea” = bent just isn’t right! (the major dictionaries seem to confirm this)

    And Eileen, it seems the week’s bad feeling is being continued. I think your use of “niggardly” was uncalled for.

    I also think that Arachne’s “she” joke is wearing a bit thin. I suppose that will brand me sexist which I am definitley not.

    SOED

    he hi: ? , unstressed ? ? pers. pronoun, 3 sing. masc. subjective (nom.), noun, & adjective. OE.
    A pronoun.
    1 The male person or animal, or the person or animal of unknown or unspecified sex, previously mentioned or implied or easily identified. OE.

    Thanks to Andrew and Arachne

  36. Hi BNTO (you’re missing an E before you get to the menu at my local Japanese), you and Jolly Swagman love to quote from your dictionaries, and that’s really great. A good solid reference in each case. You’re not related though, of course.

    I agree with Eileen that Cumberbatch is niggardly, and furthermore I agree that BENT is precisely synonymous with ‘cup of tea’. What’s your ‘personal inclination’, B(E)NTO? And look it up in Collins before responding.

    What a splendid puzzle.

  37. My personal opinion is that “BENT” is definitely not synonymous with “cup of tea”. I base that on 50 years of experience and extensive reading. (Also on the SOED and the big Chambers. I haven’t got a Collins as I don’t rate it!)

    I quote dictionaries because I foolishly thought they were of relevance to crosswords. I assume you are about to disabuse me.

    P.S. I don’t have a local Japanese restaurant. In fact I have never seen one despite having lived a various locations in the UK and abroad for 15 years. (Obviously never in Japan 😉 ) Perhaps I’m just unobservant as well as illiterate.

    By the way here is some asssitamce:

    SOED

    niggardly ?n?g?dli ? adjective. m16.
    1 Having or displaying an unwillingness to give, spend, or use anything up; mean, miserly. (Foll. by of, with.) m16.
    T. R. Malthus The earth had been so niggardly of her produce. R. K. Narayan Never knew people could be so niggardly with cucumber. C. G. Wolff She was apparently not above the most niggardly retaliation.
    2 Such as a niggard would give; meanly small, scanty, closely limited; given grudgingly. l16.
    Economist America’s foreign aid has become notoriously niggardly.

    I like to get my money’s-worth.

  38. BNTO

    Perhaps you missed my comment @33. I don’t think I’m the one trying to prolong the week’s bad feeling. I shall not comment further.

  40. On hols and just catching up, so I’m undoubtedly too late to put my two cents in, but defining NON DOM as “not legally resident” is both inaccurate and misses the point of the recurrent public debate on the subject. Mind you, the debate (in the press, anyway) is invariably innacurate and ill-informed as well, so the imprecision won’t have stopped anyone from solving.

  42. No, my point is that “non dom” invariably means “resident but not domiciled,” therefore legally resident. Domicile is only relevant to the income tax status of those who are resident, so I do not see in what possible sense non dom = not legally resident (or legally not resident).

  43. Yes. I’ve looked into this now. I wish I hadn’t. I don’t suppose you would like to offer a definition suitable for a crossword clue.

  44. I dunno. “… who’s taxed on the remittance basis” doesn’t have much of a ring to it. Nor does “… who’s tarred with the same brush as tax evaders.”

Comments are closed.