Yet another mixed bag from Gordius, with several examples of what I would call loose or vague cluing / definitions.
Regular readers will know that seeing Gordius’ name on a puzzle does not instantly fill me with 21 ac – and I know that I am in a [shrinking] minority here – which is perhaps why I entered COMPASSION on the first run through, before the easy 17 and 18dn made it impossible. My fault entirely – and it raised a wry smile when I saw it: ENTHUSIASM is a better answer!
Thanks, Gordius, for the puzzle.
Across
1 Rector squared the circle? (6)
CLERIC
Anagram [squared] of CIRCLE
5 Coastal resort wherein time may be put by (3,5)
SET ASIDE
T [time] in SEASIDE [coastal resort]
9 Died with violin play and forgetfulness (8)
OBLIVION
OB[iit] [died] + anagram [play] of VIOLIN
10 Get one’s own back from, say, Russian flower (6)
AVENGE
Reversal [back – which is doing double duty] of EG [for example – say] + NEVA [Russian river]
11 Leave that’s fairly short (4)
QUIT
QUIT[e] [fairly – short]
12 Absence of French in English city outbreak (5,5)
BLACK DEATH
LACK [absence] + DE [French ‘of’] in BATH [English city]
13 Range said to be a sailing blunder (6)
SIERRA
‘Sea error’ [some say]
14 Shelter in former educational establishment with power (8)
POTENTLY
TENT [shelter] in POLY[technic] [former educational establishment]
16 Fiddle somehow led to stand with legs apart (8)
STRADDLE
STRAD [fiddle] + anagram [somehow] of LED
19 Get excited? No! (4,2)
TURN ON
If you TURN ‘ON’, you get NO
21 One doesn’t much care to be without it (10)
ENTHUSIASM
Cryptic definition
23 High note needs drink (4)
TOPE
TOP E [high note]
24 Figure is about 80 chains (6)
SIMILE
Reversal [about] of IS + MILE [80 chains]
25 Gland inclined to Erastianism? (8)
PROSTATE
PRO STATE – but that, to me, seems a poor description of the doctrine that subordinates the church jurisdiction to the state – a doctrine never propounded by the 16th century Swiss theologian Erastus, after whom it is named.
[He opposed excommunication as unscriptural, advocating in its stead punishment by civil authorities.]
26 Bird that concludes with a period (8)
SENTENCE
Cryptic definition: ‘bird’ is slang for a prison sentence and a sentence ends with a period, as the Americans call a full stop.
27 Last under English system (6)
ENDURE
Anagram [system] of UNDER + E [English]
Down
2 Sweat — ie, invents work offering more jobs (6-9)
LABOUR-INTENSIVE
LABOUR [sweat] + anagram [work] of INVENTS IE : I liked the ‘invents work’ wordplay here but not the ‘offering’
3 Noisy reveller for whom dawn herald gets one for nothing (7)
ROISTER
I [one] instead of O [nothing] in RO[o]STER [dawn herald]: I always thought ROISTER was a verb – and that’s the only way Collins has it – but Chambers lists it first as a noun.
4 Reduce council item employees carry to look indispensable (9)
CLIPBOARD
CLIP [reduce] + BOARD [council] – I rather liked this one
5 Illumination from paper could be unhealthy (7)
SUNLAMP
LAMP [illumination] from SUN [newspaper]
6 Course of time with torture (5)
TRACK
T [time – for the second time] + RACK [torture]
7 Live in lustre at the boozer (7)
SHEBEEN
BE [live] in SHEEN [lustre]
8 One who counts on his fingers? (7,8)
DIGITAL COMPUTER
Cryptic definition – but incomplete, surely?
15 Fetish to ring in place of worship (5,4)
TOTEM POLE
TO + O [ring] in TEMPLE [place of worship]
17 One without faith somehow hates it (7)
ATHEIST
Anagram [somehow – for the second time] of HATES IT
18 Pattern formerly sufficient (7)
EXAMPLE
EX [formerly] + AMPLE [sufficient]
20 Turned last of 15 round gallery (7)
ROTATED
ROD [equal to a POLE – ‘last of 15’ – I don’t like that] round TATE:
interestingly, I think this is the third instance within a week of clues involving rod / rood, pole, perch
22 Drinkers find some taste in a glass or mug (5)
STEIN
Hidden in taSTE IN – neither the drinkers nor the glass are strictly necessary – both Collins and Chambers define STEIN as [only] a [beer] mug
Thanks Gordius and Eileen
Odd one – first run through of across clues yielded nothing (except, like Eileen, “compassion – though I wasn’t convinced, so “checked” it). I then got a few of the downs, and suddenly all became much easier.
Some lovely clues – SIERRA, TURN ON, SIMILE, SENTENCE and PROSTATE for example (I had to Google Erastus to help with that one).
Very satisfied to have finished it.
(Misprint, Eileen – 20dn it’s just ROD around TATE – fair enough, I think.)
Thanks, muffin – corrected.
My favourites were 19a TURN ON, 13a SIERRA, 11a QUIT, 25a PROSTATE.
New words for me were Erastianism, SHEBEEN, ROISTER, BIRD = “prison sentence”.
Thanks Gordius and Eileen.
Not keen on ‘squared’ as an anagrind in the first clue, nor the superfluous verbiage in the last, but in between Gordius was (mostly) much tighter I thought. POTENTLY the pick for me.
Trailman@4
I read squared as an anagram indicator straight away, because of the construction of the clue. Unfortunately I tried to find an anagram of “rector” to mean “circle”………..
I wondered about “squared” as an anagram indicator in 1A, but when I thought about I found it is reasonable given the first letter of Cleric is from the first letter of Circle, the 2nd from the 5th and so on. Then we find:
1 Cleric C from 1 of Circle 1 from 1 1 is 1 squared
2 cLeric L from 5 of circLe 2 from 5 25 is 5 squared
3 clEric E from 6 of circlE 3 from 6 36 is 6 squared
4 cleRic R from 3 of ciRcle 3 “2” 4 324 is 18 squared
5 clerIc I from 2 of cIrcle 2 to 5 25 is 5 squared
6 cleriC C from 4 of cirCle 6 from 4 64 is 8 squared
A very squared anagram I hope you will agree.
And for his next trick Gordius will prove the earth is flat and that mice are created from dried figs.
Eileen, you are not alone in your lack of enthusiasm for Gordius. I’ve been solving Guardian crosswords for 35 years and have time and again been bored to tears by his puzzles. Ditto Rufus. This is not a personal criticism of the two compilers concerned. Each, I’m sure, is an admirable gentlemen. It’s just horses for courses, and as far as I’m concerend these two are back in the stables.
On the other hand, over the years I have come to appreciate more the professionalism of some that I had previously thought humdrum: To pick three examples at random, Shed, Enigmatist and Chifonie never fail to entertain. By and large the Guardian standard is very high. I think Gordius and Rufus let the side down rather (yes, yes, I know about Rufus having to set simple puzzles on Mondays, but even so…).
End of whinge, I’m not trying to start a row – Gordius and Rufus fans can just snort their contempt and move on: I know you’re out there, and I respect your views – I just don’t share them.
Many thanks to Eileen and Gordius
re 25a, I wondered whether ‘inclined’ may also be serving as a second definition
on second thoughts, that added to my confusion re prostate and prostrate….
Kriscros@9
You might be prostrate with a prostate problem
Largely enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Eileen; I’m not sure I like ‘could be unhealthy’ as the definition for SUNLAMP. Is it perhaps a semi-&lit? [whatever that is!] I wasn’t particularly concerned by the double-duty of ‘back’ in 10A, although, no doubt, the purists would object.
Had to look up Erastianism, but from what I see of the description, PRO-STATE seems to be fair enough (at least in crossword land :))
I did like SENTENCE and STRADDLE – interestingly for the latter Chambers gives:
‘to sit, stand or walk with legs far apart.’ [cowboys anonymous]
O.k. but not quick. I got ‘prostate’ from the checkers without knowing about Erastianism, but I’m of the age where the condition of the prostate is never far from one’s consciousness. Perhaps a little more challenging than the general run of Gordius puzzles.
Thanks Eileen and Gordius
I must confess I liked this one which seemed to fit with Gordius’ recent tendency to greater rigour than sometimes in the past.
I had to check Erastianism and the Chambers definition seemed to justify the clue.
Re 26a Collins gives for ‘period’ – ‘a complete sentence, esp. a complex one with several clauses’.
Wow Beermagnet @6, I am in awe. Well done.
The ? helped as well.
Top stuff this from Gordius.
Particularly liked 22d. It might have been “You will find …’ but that would have been so plain vanilla – the allusiveness of “Drinkers will find … ” is great – something so often lacking these days.
Thanks all
I found this quite tricky. Last in was ‘simile’
Although ‘Erastianism’ was completely new to me when I checked Chambers the clue seemed fine, I don’t think one can expect or want extensive and complete definitions in a crossword clue. An allusion is satisfactory
Hi RCW
You might have missed my belated “welcome back” yesterday. If you did, may I repeat the sentiment.
I don not understand why that clue has so much ‘extra’ jolly! It is very generous however!!
Thanks to Eileen for the blog.
I was like muffin@5: I tried to make an anagram of rector. I did not like ‘squared’ as an angrind. Beermagnet’s arithmetic excellence does not convince me to change my mind.
On 8d the clue is talking about a person but the result is a non-human object. I am sure a little more work by Gordius could have produced a better clue with a similar idea.
chas@19
A “computer” meant a human calculator before it meant a machine. I agree that “digital” does stretch that a bit far, though.
muffin you have reminded me of an Isaac Asimov short story “The feeling of power”. I have it in an anthology published in 1959. In there a person is called a computer i.e. one who controls a computing machine.
My career was spent in the computing industry where ‘computer’ always meant a machine so it’s not surprising I had forgotten that older usage.
Hi chas
I remember the story well – it was about a lowly technician who re-invents arithmetic (replacing calculators)!
….in fact I used it once as the basis for a school assembly.
Hard work for me. Sympathy with those not happy with some of the definitions.
Re 25a ; It’s all very well saying “it looks OK in Chambers”, but that is of no help whatsoever for us poor souls that lack that tome. So what did Chambers actually say? If we want to compare that with what other sources say then we are a bit stuck. For example, dear old Wikipedia says “A generalization of this idea, that the state is supreme in church matters, is known somewhat misleadingly as Erastianism.” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erastianism) which is pretty much the same as given by the link @11 above.
beermagnet! Wow, well spotted! I presume it was a quiet day at beermagnet Towers! 😀
In case anyone is interested (or didn’t know already) ‘bird’ as in 26a is rhyming slang: bird lime = time, so doing bird = doing time. I was confused with the def in 5d. Otherwise some good fun. I particularly enjoyed the terrible punning of 13a!
I thought this was a good puzzle. SIERRA was my LOI after I got the last two checkers when I trusted the wordplay at 3dn, even though I had never seen ROISTER as a noun, and then parsed the clue for CLIPBOARD correctly.
Wise words there, Derek Lazenby. Just seemed a loose one to us, with the first clue using ‘square’ just because it goes with ‘circle’ rather than for a good reason! So maybe that set the stall out. Couldn’t get off on it at all, and it turned out to be quite a tough solve because we were kinda primed to inspect all the devices, and being so nervy we weren’t confident in entering stuff. Exhausted after it!
Re 1a “Square” is there because if you could square a circle you’d effectively be rearranging it to make a square. That’s probably most laymen’s understanding of the phrase. It’s mathematically impossible of course (one reason for the question mark)…
Beermagnet @6
I assume the unsatisfactory nature and arbitrariness of your “calculation” was I assume meant to reflect that of yet another Gordius curate’s egg.
I’m with Eileen and Ian Payn but I don’t believe we are a minority.
Rufus – Gordius – …..
If tomorrow we have who I fear we’ll have then it’s going to be an awful week. (You know who I mean!)
Thanks to Eileen and Gordius
Thanks Eileen and Gordius. Most of this was good. However, I’m surprised no-one has queried 13. Whether it’s a Ford car or a (new?) mountain range, I’ve never come across SIERRA pronounced anything like “sea error”. It’s enough to send me to the erring cupboard 😉
MikeC @30.
Go ask an antipodean for the name of that car/mountain range, and you’ll see your(their) error.
Brauchsel@31. OK, you win – I knew entering homophone territory was dangerous! I’m off to the cupboard.
Oh no he doesn’t.
No antipodean I know would pronounce it like that, and in any case The Guardian Crossword is in England, mainly, or Britain (is it?), and not Australia (somewhere past Dover, is it?). I never venture far from Tunbridge Wells if I can help it (the Old Town), and only then with my private army. Sea-error lacks the customary stretch on the ERR (sounds like AIR) bit if you ask me.
I liked the BLACK DEATH one though, and I liked it a lot.