Guardian Cryptic N° 26,050 by Arachne

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26050.

Arachne has been submitting just one puzzle a month, so I was happy to see her name when it came my turn to blog. Then I started to look at the clues, and had a definite case of modified rapture. It was quite a while before I managed to get any kind of toehold on it, in the SE corner, and only gradually worked my way westward. However, it yielded in the end, and I can look back on some dazzling sleights of hand. Much thanks, Arachne, for the workout.

Across
1. Husband finding one’s bra size a bit of a problem (6)
HICCUP A charade of H (‘husband’) plus I (‘one’) plus C CUP (‘bra size’).
4. Plods are unexpectedly fast runners (8)
LEOPARDS An anagram (‘unexpectedly’) of ‘plods are’.
9. Bloke initially unsure about fertility treatment (6)
MANURE A charade of MAN (‘bloke’) plus U (‘initially Unsure’) plus RE (‘about’).
10. Media bores like endless socialising at Davos, for example (5-3)
APRES-SKI An envelope (‘bores’) of PRESS (‘media’) in AKI[n] (‘like’) ‘endless’.
11. Pen secret deception? (5,9)
FALSE PRETENCES A reverse clue: ‘pen secret’ is an anagram (‘FALSE’) of PRETENCES.
13. Promises no unfair wordplay (10)
SPOONERISM An anagram (‘unfair’) of ‘promises no’. My favourite clue.
14. Beating odds to fly a Spitfire (4)
ETNA A charade of ‘bEaTiNg’ without the odd-numbered letters (‘odds to fly’) plus ‘a’.
16. Appoint  celebrity  underwriter (4)
NAME Triple definition. A Name is a member of an underwriting syndicate at LLoyds
18. Capable of igniting committee shattered by massive service cut (10)
COMBUSTIVE A charade of COM (‘committee’) plus BUST (‘shattered’) plus ‘[mass]IVE’ without the MASS (‘service cut’).
21. Kent changing cubicle (9,5)
TELEPHONE BOOTH Cryptic definition; Clark Kent would go into a telephone booth, to emerge as Superman.
23. Loathsome letters about Arnold Bennett? (8)
OMELETTE A hidden answer (‘about’) in ‘loathsOME LETTErs’. The omelette Arnold Bennett is named after the author.
24. Shame of Top Gear star’s mum (6)
STIGMA A charade of STIG (‘Top Gear star’. The Stig is a character in Top Gear; even though the show is carried on BBC America, I have never watched it) plus MA (‘mum’).
25. Able to stand elite poncing about round playing field? (8)
ERECTILE An envelope (’round’) of REC (‘playing field’) in ETILE, an anagram (‘poncing about’) of ‘elite’.
26. Dictator’s too wise to entertain toff on a regular basis (6)
YEARLY An envelope (‘to entertain’) of EARL (‘toff’) in YY, i.e two Ys, a homophone (‘dictator’s) of ‘too wise’.
…
Down
1. Knock cap off sleeping policeman (4)
HUMP ‘Sleeping policeman’ (a speed bump) is the definition. For far too long, I was fixated on ‘knock’ as another definition, leaving ‘cap off’ doing nothing in particular; but it is [t]HUMP (‘knock’) minus its first letter (‘cap off’).
2. Nazi con involved it (7)
CINZANO An anagram (‘involved’) of ‘nazi con’. ‘It’ is Italian vermouth.
3. Union forcing rebellion (8)
UPRISING A charade of U (‘union’) plus PRISING (‘forcing’).
5. Non-stop bile, not decently articulable (11)
EXPRESSIBLE A charade of EXPRESS (‘non-stop’) plus IBLE, an anagram (‘not decently’) of ‘bile’.
6. Woman in department retired in a huff (6)
PEEVED An envelope (‘in’) of EVE (‘woman’) in PED, a reversal (‘retired’) of DEP (‘department’)
7. Showing many facets of Sue, unclothed (4-3)
ROSE-CUT A subtraction: [p]ROSECUT[e] (‘sue’, ignoring the capital) without its exterior letters (‘unclothed’).
8. Proper wicked hash pipes! (9)
SHIPSHAPE An anagram (‘wicked’) of ‘hash pipes’.
12. Using depilator on or near a canine? (11)
PERIODONTAL An anagram (‘using’) of ‘depilator on’.
13. Sauna without a massage causing overheating (9)
SUNSTROKE A charade of ‘S[a]UN[a]’ ‘without a’ – without any a, that is – plus STROKE (‘massage’).
15. It goes round the neck of a dog (5,3)
ASCOT TIE A charade of A SCOTTIE (‘a dog’).
17. Sweet Manx language (7)
MALTESE A subtraction: MALTESE[r] (‘sweet’) without its tail (‘Manx’).
19. Whole of Bury, say, is quarantined (7)
INTEGER An envelope (‘is quarantined’) of EG (‘say’) in INTER (‘bury’, again ignoring the capital).
20. Most likely asleep after disheartening match (6)
APTEST A charade of AP (‘AsleeP after disheartening’) plus TEST (‘match’).
22. Runs into road, showing caution (4)
WARY An envelope (‘into’) of R (‘runs’) in WAY (‘road’).

60 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,050 by Arachne”

  1. Very nice as always from Arachne. Almost too many goodies to identify.

    26a I liked – surely that trick must have been used before – new one on me I think.

    Putting KIOSK instead of BOOTH in 21a slowed me down – should have known – it would never be called that in America.

    Thanks and well done PO – needed you for the expl of 7d – got it from the def and crossers but stared at it for the WP for so long that what little remained of my “fluid intelligence” had all evaporated.

  2. Thanks Peter. Lots of cheeky stuff, adding to the pleasure. I flopped on 25a and needed TEAS for it, after which all went well. Couldn’t make perfect sense of 7 and 15d until now. I suppose the ‘without (any) a’ is OK in 13d. JollySwagman: I think wise=YY has been used fairly recently.

  3. Thanks Arachne and PeterO. It took me quite a while to finish this puzzle, but I liked 5d, 19d, 6d, 13d, 25a, 20d & 1d (last in) and my favourites were 10a APRES-SKI, 11a FALSE PRETENCES, 13a SPOONERISM, 9a MANURE & 26a YEARLY.

    I couldn’t parse 16a (only got as far as DD, didn’t know about the Lloyd’s def), 7d (very clever!), 17d.

    New word for me was OMELETTE Arnold Bennett (and having just read the recipe, I want to try one soon).

  4. After a quick solve of the Times today, I thought I was on a roll, but this one took me ages. I have to say, very enjoyable ages. I had exactly the same experience as tha Jolly Swagman @1, so inserting ‘kiosk’ was one reason for my tardiness, until I had the checkers. I thought there was some wonderful misdirection, and it took me far too long to see the hidden ‘omelette’, though I was vaguely aware of the Arnold Bennett variety. I look forward to the next Arachne challenge.

  5. Thanks, PeterO – lucky man! – for the blog.

    As so often with Arachne’s clues, it would be easier, I think, to list those I didn’t give ticks [I can’t even discriminate regarding the surfaces, because, as usual, they’re immaculate] but perhaps double ones to 1ac, 10ac, 11ac, 12ac, 26ac, 19dn.

    7dn raised a wry smile: I don’t think anyone can complain of this use of ‘woman’.

    [Years ago, I spent quite a bit of time helping students to see the difference between ‘prosecute’ and ‘sue’, so was momentarily amazed to find that Arachne, of all people had got it ‘wrong’. However, reaching for Chambers, I found, as I expected: ‘sue: to prosecute at law’, so all is well, in Crosswordland at least.]

    Huge thanks, as ever, Arachne. I loved it!

  6. Thank you to Arachne for brightening up my day no end – one of those days when there are more stars by clues I liked than not. There are two stars by 21a even though I like others put ‘kiosk’ to start with. Thanks to PeterO for the explanations too.

    The big smile on my face may compensate for the horrible work job I now have to start.

  7. JollySwagman@1
    Regarding 26a YEARLY, I also thought I might have seen this usage of WISE before. Indy 8360 by Crosophile had something similar in that a homophone was the answer for the clue “Knowing unknown factors say” (4), and that might have jogged my memory today.

    Further thoughts re 21a
    For me this was just about a write-in because of the letter count, so I thought it the weakest clue of the whole puzzle. As an antipodean I think of BOX rather than BOOTH, and KIOSK never occurred to me.

  8. Thanks, PeterO

    I’m glad it wasn’t just me that found this puzzle somewhat harder than Arachne’s usual fare. But a very pleasant struggle, of course.

    Lots of amusing devices and good surfaces, as we have come to expect. Favourites, for their combination of construction and surface, were 9a, 10a, 11a, 26a, 15d – and I even forgave my least loved contraction in 1a because of the entertaining image conjured by the clue.

    My first crossing letters for 21a were the T and the final E of the first word, so what should spring immediately to mind, given the ‘Kent’, but TUNBRIDGE WELLS. I couldn’t get this out of my head, so the correct answer took rather a long time to find….

    Thanks a lot, Spider Woman.

  9. Thank you PeterO and Arachne.

    13c was pure double delight, as were so many others already mentioned.

    Bravo Arachne for another witty web of womanly wiles!

  10. Excellent crossword up to Arachne’s usual high standard and very enjoyable.

    Thanks PeterO; I’m not sure about ‘about’ as a hidden indicator in 23A. Could it be in the clue as (loath)SOME LETTERS? Knowing her spidery logic, I think that that is possible.

    I was another kiosk person at first.

    Very many excellent clues but I particularly liked ROSE-CUT, YEARLY and probably the COD for A SCOTTIE, which caused a broad smile.

    Being a scientist I might have been tempted to use plutonium (UP rising) in the clue for 3D. 😉

  11. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. You explained several where I had the right answer but did not know why.

    I was like JollySwagman@1 I had KIOSK first in 21a.
    I was like michelle@3 I had never heard of OMELETTE Arnold Bennett. However, I’m not so sure I want to try one myself. The ingredients sound fine but the quantities sound large and for somebody trying to loose weight I think it might be a bit much.

  12. P.S. Is there much difference between COMBUSTIVE and combustible [apart from the latter not fitting in the puzzle?] I was not familiar with the former term.

  13. I have now fully read the recipe for OMELETTE Arnold Bennett. It sounds like far too much work for me to do if I fancied an omelette. For me this will have to wait until I am in a restaurant where somebody else will do the cooking 🙂

  14. Robi @12

    Good question. I had not looked it up, but had assumed that combustive meant capable of causing combustion (which fits Arachne’s clue), so that a flint could be said to be combustive, but not combustible. A troll of the dictionaries gives some support to this, but on the whole they seem rather vague as to what difference, if any, there is between the two words.

  15. I like the way UNFAIR means ‘not looking pretty’ for the anagram of the Spooner clue. Alll in all this is a GOOD example of how puzzles should be written, veryt FAIR and with no extraneous material.

    Well done Arachen!!
    Rowly.

  17. Very tough today – we managed very little. The explanations nearly all raised groans or smiles though – thanks Arachne & PeteO.

    Can anyone explain 2d for me though? I don’t see why ‘cinzano’ = “it”.

  20. Thanks, Arachne, thanks for the blog, PeterO. One observation though; 7D was gettable from the acrostic but, strictly speaking, to sue is not to prosecute. The former relates to civil actions, the latter to criminal proceedings. Just wearing my law professor’s hat, I suppose.

  21. Gervase@8
    Wonderful – I should have thought of “Tunbridge Wells” too, but TELEPHONE stuck in my brain for the first word. Sometimes there is an advantage in being an antipodean.

    Chas@11&13
    We could always share the omelette, no need to eat the the whole thing on one’s own.

  24. Kiosk/booth?
    Booth would be used in the US, perhaps a kiosk in Kent. One of those ones where you might need to second guess the cryptic intentions of the setter to be certain, with no cross-checkers. Certainly the clue would be pretty lame if “Kent” really did mean “Kent, England”

  25. Eileen@22

    If it is in the dictionary we do have to acquit the setter, of course.

    But it doesn’t stop dictionaries being wrong. This is a good instance, as also are ‘arpeggio’ and ‘sewerage’ in Chambers.

  27. michelle@21 The description I found on Delia’s website sounded to me as though Arnold Bennett ate the whole thing himself.
    When I looked again I saw a bit of description I missed the first time “serves two people for supper or three for lunch with a salad”.

  28. Thanks PeterO and Arachne
    I too wrote in “kiosk” confidently. I failed on YEARLY.
    Lots of very clever clues, as one would expect with Arachne. STIGMA was a bit parochial (what would it have meant to foreigners?), and do you think she was confusing leopards with cheetahs?

  29. Thanks to PeterO and the ever-delightful Spider Lady.
    I’d never heard of the Ascot cravat, although I used to wear something similar as a young’un. The AB omelette sounds a bit rich for my tastes.
    13a was a favourite.
    muffin, I think leopards are pretty nifty on their toes over short distances. I don’t think I could outrun one!

  30. Sue/prosecure:
    This from COED:
    SUE: institute legal proceedings against (a person or institution)
    PROSECUTE: institute or conduct legal proceedings against (a person or organization)

    Hmmm

  31. Thanks PeterO and Arachne.

    Found this very tough today, as others have, but equally enjoyable.

    I was toying with PARONOMASIA (pun) for a longish time at 13a; the letters were all there save for the two As, which I thought Arachne was referring to by UNFAIR in some way. Turned out to be much simpler.

    WARY my first in – thought I was going to fail first time through – followed by TELEPHONE, with BOOTH/KIOSK in doubt for a while.

  33. Re OMELETTE Arnold Bennett and portion size, I once ordered this at one of the good old-fashioned chop houses in Manchester – it was listed as a starter, so I expected something dainty. Instead, I was presented with an eggy mound bathed in about half a litre of hollandaise. Delicious, but I don’t think my cardiovascular system has ever quite forgiven me.

  34. Thanks Arachne, PeterO and for everyone who has posted thoughts on the AB Omelette!

    Tough but fair, enjoyable and amusing – fine stuff from Arachne as ever. Giggled childishly at HICCUP and kept on doing so periodically until my last in, ASCOT TIE, was safely in place.

    I’m yet another who confidently slammed KIOSK in at first. Only spotted my mistake much later.

    One small quibble: it is the cheetah that I think of when it comes to big cats whose defining characteristic is speed. I know the surface of 4 is lovely, but when I think of LEOPARDS the first association that springs to mind is resistance to change.

  35. Thanks for that, mitz – I think of “How the leopard got his spots” from the “Just-so stories”. I associate cheetahs with speed.

    P.S. I had a (fairly) close encounter with a leopard in South Africa last year, when it tried to jump through the open driver’s window of the car in front (in the Kruger National Park) – it wasn’t quick enough!

    Did anyone else think that the indication to remove BOTH As from sauna in 13 dn was a little lacking?

  36. Re previous use of TOO WISE, a very similar device was used by The Rev in his christmas prize last year (25826), which had

    46 Blitz ending, the wise talked about witticism on one visit in relation to infectious disease (11)
    the answer being ZYMOTICALLY

    hth

    Simon ô¿ô

  38. Hi muffin @35

    I nearly commented earlier that sometimes people complain about ‘timeless’ indicating the removal of only one of two or three Ts. I thought this clue was fine.

  39. Hi Eileen (@38)
    I’m not sure it’s quite the same – I would be happy that “timeless” meant “no Ts”; less so that “without a” means “take out all the As”. Very minor quibble about a great crossword, though.

  40. @muffin,

    As someone has pointed out elsewhere, 36mph (which leopards are apparently capable of) is probably rapid enough for most! I too absolutely love Just-So, although when reading a very old copy to one of my kids I suddenly had to pull up short and edit out a statement from the Leopard’s companion the Ethiopian – if you remember it well you’ll know what I mean!

    I did scratch my head over SUNSTROKE for the same reason as you at first, but on reflection thought it fair enough.

  41. Sorry – misunderstood your point. I might complain about “timeless” meaning “remove only one of several Ts”!

  42. Mitz @ 40
    I know exactly what you mean.
    I saw a Tim Minchin video the other day about prejudice against people identified by an anagram of GGRIEN (but not the more obvious one!)

  43. Thanks all
    After my recent recovery of form this one brought me crunching back to earth. An extremely impressive crossword by the expert;I failed on some 9 clues but since it was Arachne I am not too disappointed.

  44. Hi RCW

    Considering what you said last week, failing on *only* nine clues [in an Arachne puzzle] seems to indicate your recovery is progressing apace!

  46. Never mind the litigation aspects, I see a clue with Sue in it and….!! 😀 I can confirm my clothes remained on throughout the solving of this and the other 6 crosswords today.

  47. Super puzzle, but really tough. Didn’t help that I couldn’t get to it till this evening, when my crossword brain is not so ready for action (excuses, excuses …) YEARLY was my favourite today, and that omelette is going on the table for lunch sometime soon. (Found the Delia recipe, so it’ll be cooking in the missionary position, but it’ll be good.)

    Thanks to S&B.

  48. 6 egg starter. that’s VIE surely! It would be a struggle. Thanks spidery woman and Peter.
    Kiosk or booth well I already had integer making it moot.
    A good one even if I didn’t understand word play for 7d.

  49. I thought I must have put my daft head on by mistake because it took a long time to solve, and even then I got one wrong, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I came here and saw that a lot of you also thought it was a tough one.

    My error was an unparsed “operetta” at 23ac where I thought the clue might have been referring to a Britten work I had never heard of. I had never heard of the omelette and had forgotten Arnold Bennett was an author, but that’s still no excuse for not seeing the hidden. When I clicked the check button and was left with O?E?ETT? the answer, and the hidden, suddenly became blindingly obvious.

  50. Andy B @49

    Didn’t help for me that I confused Arnold Bennett with Alan of that ilk, so was frantically hunting for a Yorkshire connection…

    Simon ô¿ô

  51. A fabulous crosssword, although that cheat button is just too tempting at times, such as 14a. 21 a was my favourite.

  52. Brilliant from Arachne (as usual): superlative surfaces; clever misdirections; not a wasted word in the clues.
    A high count on today’s tickometer.
    I was locked into KIOSK for a long time.
    Kept trying to work something around MOLASSES for 17d.
    Must remember IT can denote Italian Vermouth.
    Thanks to PeterO.

  53. Yeah, this was much more like it. I was with whoever it was who was dreading a poor week, and so felt lucky when along came a spider. Just one or two tinsy niggles – and I was confident about KIOSK too – but pretty insignificant really, got right into this one. Just shows to go ya, doesn’t it, what you can do with a bit of thought for us solving crew.

    Thanks, too, Peter.

  54. Well the week has been saved.

    Superb crossword which I steadily solved. (Slowly, in fact very slowly, the unintelligible became suddenly obvious.) Lots off aha moments.

    Last in was YEARLY in which I failed to parse the YY but of course it had to be correct.

    Thanks to PeterO and Arachne

  55. Conrad @25

    If you take a few looks via Onelook you will find, pace Prof Jeff @20, that a lot of dictionaries, including some claiming
    to specialise in matters legal, allow ‘prosecute’ to relate to both criminal and civil proceedings.

    I didn’t spend a lot of time on ‘arpeggio’ and ‘sewerage’ as they don’t appear in this puzzle but I see that if Chambers is
    “wrong” then so is Collins. (Further comment would belong in General Discussion.)

    Arachne, Superb stuff.

  57. Re ultimate definitions, look down a deep well, as of history, that dims more the further one peers into it.

    Or name a source and stick to it.

  58. Usually do Indy cryptics, so had only come across Arachne/Anarche a couple of times before. After staring aghast at an unproductive first pass, got it all eventually except HUMP, though I entered it as “must be, but why?”. Not aware of the expression “sleeping policeman”.

    A brilliant crossword, perhaps my favourite ever.

    Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.

  59. Greetings on a crackly line from Spider Towers. Better late than never, huge thanks to PeterO for the splendid blog, and to all for comments.

    With regard to 13dn, I was thinking that ‘a’=’the letter a’. Apologies for offending those in the know with ‘sue’=’prosecute’: the trouble is, setters have to rely on the dictionaries and sometimes dictionaries can be wrong. When things go awry we can only hope for indulgence and pray for forgiveness.

    Toodlepip!
    Arachne

  60. We only got around to solving this puzzle this evening. Thanks Arachne – we’re glad to see that the cricket based clue (22d) was balanced by a gardening one (9ac)!

    Great fun despite having KIOSK for a while!

    Thanks Peter and Arachne.

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