Nice to see Picaroon, as a relatively new setter, given the prize slot. I made relatively rapid inroads into this (particularly the northwest corner) but then ground to a halt. My solving partner Timon came to my rescue. Some ingenuity on display here , to such an extent that we couldn’t fully parse a couple of the clues, so your suggestions are as always very welcome. I’m particularly interested in your views on the possibly controversial usages in 22 across and 6 down. Am I being unduly sensitive, I wonder? This extract from The Guardian’s style guide seems relevant:
| Take care using language about mental health issues. In addition to such clearly offensive and unacceptable expressions as loony, maniac, nutter, psycho and schizo, terms to avoid – because they stereotype and stigmatise – include victim of, suffering from, and afflicted by; “a person with” is clear, accurate and preferable to “a person suffering from”.Across | ||
| 9 | HEDGE | Primarily horticultural border (5) |
| H(orticultural) EDGE. An & lit clue (where the whole clue is also the definition) for the first clue in the puzzle. | ||
| 10 | STATUS QUO | Rock group standing round without question (6,3) |
| QU(estion) in STATUS O(round). | ||
| 11 | TRUMPETER | Musician from Thailand with funny Biblical rock (9) |
| T(hailand) RUM PETER. Matthew 16:18 is the source of the quotation. | ||
| 12 | CRANE | You may get a lift from this van in Rome — stick around! (5) |
| R in CANE. I haven’t come across the use of “van” to indicate the first letter of a word before, but it seems legitimate. Thanks to Timon for spotting it. | ||
| 13 | SPAMMER | Undesirable correspondent in rock group plans for comeback (7) |
| REM, MAPS (both rev). | ||
| 15 | TRACKER | Bad food queen swallows right for dog? (7) |
| R in TACK, ER. I don’t understand why tack is necessarily “bad” food. | ||
| 17 | UNTIL | Up to no good, luting merrily (5) |
| *LUTIN(g). Thanks again to Timon. “Up to” is the definition. | ||
| 18 | CAT | Jazz fan chants unevenly (3) |
| Odd letters of “chants”. | ||
| 20 | KNIFE | Bowie, say, printing material backing heavy metal (5) |
| INK(rev), FE. | ||
| 22 | BUNTING | Streamers in Cork to welcome loon back (7) |
| NIT(rev) in BUNG. The capitalisation of Cork is (deliberately) misleading. | ||
| 25 | EARLOBE | Fleshy part of nobleman with honour (7) |
| EARL OBE. | ||
| 26 | SNIPE | What knockers do, given pinch in tops of satiny elastic (5) |
| NIP in S(atiny) E(lastic). | ||
| 27 | OLIGOCENE | Two ducks with nice leg cooked in ancient period (9) |
| *(OO NICE LEG). | ||
| 30 | ADDRESSED | Sent more compasses about ship (9) |
| RE SS in ADDED. | ||
| 31 | HERON | Newton follows star Greek mathematician (5) |
| HERO N(ewton). HERO (also known as HERON) was an ancient Greek mathematician. As neither of us had ever heard of him, this was our last solution, although the answer looked obvious. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHAT | Teatime conversation (4) |
| CHA T(ime). Nicely concise. | ||
| 2 | ADJUTANT | Officer in a tuxedo heartlessly upset worker (8) |
| A DJ U(pse)T ANT. | ||
| 3 | PEEP | Gander to make noise like a chick (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | ESOTERIC | Mysterious coteries in disguise (8) |
| *COTERIES. | ||
| 5 | PARROT | Unoriginal commenter’s standard twaddle (6) |
| PAR ROT. | ||
| 6 | NUTCRACKER | One cuckoo — tailless cuckoo — finds way into Brazil? (10) |
| NUT CRACKER(s). The use of these (to some) offensive synonyms for mental illness does not apparently breach any of The Guardian’s guidelines, presumably because they do not refer to any particular individual. | ||
| 7 | SQUAWK | Queen observed king must eat crow (6) |
| I think this is QU(een) in SAW, K(ing), but I can’t adequately explain the wordplay. | ||
| 8 | DOVE | Opponent of conflict runs out of English port (4) |
| DOVE(r). | ||
| 13 | SQUAB | Short, fat person bowled instead of tail-ender in team (5) |
| B for D in SQUAD, I think. | ||
| 14 | MILLIPEDES | Philosopher espied larks about to get insects (10) |
| (John Stuart) MILL *ESPIED. | ||
| 16 | REEVE | Old magistrate to turn up with heart of steel (5) |
| VEER(rev), (st)E(el). | ||
| 19 | THE BIRDS | What performer doesn’t want to get lead in Scorsese film? (3,5) |
| THE BIRD S(corsese). Definition is “film” (the Hitchcock one). | ||
| 21 | ISOMETRY | My! Tories messing up a form of equality (8) |
| *(MY TORIES). | ||
| 23 | NAIADS | Scot from the South notices Greek maidens (6) |
| IAN(rev) ADS. | ||
| 24 | GROUSE | Government to incite complaint (6) |
| G(overnment) ROUSE. | ||
| 26 | SWAN | Aussie runner’s small and pale (4) |
| S WAN. It’s a river in Australia. | ||
| 28 | OCHE | WWI enemy destroying British missile launch site (4) |
| (B)OCHE. | ||
| 29 | ERNE | Irish flower found through the internet (4) |
| Hidden in “intERNEt”. Another river. | ||
*anagram
Thanks bridgesong. I had convinced myself that 28 had to be OTTO, a common German name or maybe something to do with the Ottoman Empire and this delayed completion. I like 28 now though.
I have the same difficulty as you with 7; all the ingredients are there and I suppose CROW could = SQUAWK but I can’t fit them together.
I guess in 13d that D is the tail end letter of ‘instead’.
Unless it is observed king must eat (take inside) queen.
I see QU is used as an abbreviation for both QUESTION and QUEEN here which I don’t remember seeing before.
There’s a ghost theme identified by 19dn THE BIRDS. They’re in solutions and clues, as in ‘loon’ in 22ac.
PS Superb stuff from Picaroon.
bridgesong – your parsing of 13dn SQUAB is fine. And 7dn reads SAW K mmust eat QU.
Many thanks Bridgesong & Picaroon
Very enjoyable!
However, I must point out that MILLIPEDES (19d) are not INSECTS.
They are, in fact, DIPLOPODA!
Y had thought that everyone knew that.
Thanks bridgesong. I too shot through this until there were just six left, including 12a, 7d and the Aussie runner. But I did like OCHE, for misdirection – luckily it’s common enough in crosswords. HERON a headscratcher, too.
Thanks for the blog, bridgesong [and Timon].
I really enjoyed solving this puzzle, as always with this setter, but didn’t see what was going on until I’d practically finished it. Last Saturday, I counted up the instances of the ‘ghost’ theme but I’ve lost the bit of paper. I have to go out soon and haven’t time to count again but I reckon there were nearly twenty in the answers and another half dozen or so in the clues – quite a feat!
And then I saw the neat little extra twist in the middle at 18ac and laughed out loud!
Many thanks, Picaroon, for a really fun puzzle!
Nice puzzle and I’ve only just seen the theme.
Yes you are being unduly sensitive. Anyone who sees offense in this use of words would indeed be in need of mental care! The English language is so rich and multi-layered that almost any sentence can be construesd as non-PC. The loony (sic) liberal left faction have a lot to answer for. As have the idiots (sic) who listen to their garbage.
Thanks to bridgesong and Picaroon
Thanks bridgesong and Picaroon
Satisfying solve, but a couple grated. The mistake of millipedes = insects has been noted by Bryan @ 5 (does anyone remember a crossword a couple of years ago where there were a two similar errors – mussels = crustaceans was one, I think?).
Also in current usage a SQUAD isn’t the same as team. Chambers gives, in this context, “a number of players trained in readiness for the selection of a team” – the squad therefore contains more players than the team.
Well, it seems that I am unduly sensitive, or else everyone is too scared of being labelled as belonging to the “liberal left” faction. Anyone have a contrary view?
As to the theme, it eluded me completely, so thanks to rhotician and Eileen for pointing it out.
I found this puzzle relatively straightforward but fun, although no surprise that I didn’t notice the proliferation of birds throughout the puzzle. I didn’t know that MILLIPEDES aren’t insects, and to the layman it hardly matters. In fact the Macmillan online dictionary’s definition says “an insect with a long thin body and many pairs of small legs” so it isn’t just the layman that is confused. Although SQUAD isn’t the same as one narrow definition of “team” it is certainly synonymous with broader definitions of the word. No problems with the cluing of 22ac and 6dn.
An excellent Saturday puzzle, which I finally wrestled to the ground. Many thanks.
One quibble – I thought chicks went CHEEP, not PEEP!
Hard to credit it now, but I didn’t spot the theme until reading the blog.
As to the question of sensitive words, I very much agree with Brendan NTO that we should not worry about using words in the crossword context even if they might be questionable or unacceptable when applied to real people. There is far too much synthetic, and often vicarious,outrage about, and unfortunately bloggers on this site sometimes succumb to the temptation to indulge in it (I certainly don’t mean you, bridgesong!).
But as a fully paid-up member of the loony liberal left I have to say to Brendan that the idea that oversensitivity in these matters is the result of some LLL ‘faction’ is nonsense. Most of the controversies are stirred up by commentators – usually in the right-wing press – looking for sticks to beat the left with. Tilting at windmills.
Thanks, glarsen @12, for that contribution. I would only add that when Azed has to use a term which Chambers designates as “offensive”, he usually tries to flag this up in the clue. I accept that it is perhaps unnecessary to do so with words such as nut, cuckoo and crackers, all of which have other meanings and none of which is being applied to any person (or group) in the real world.
Reverting back to the theme, I see that the annotated solution flags up no fewer than 15 solutions involving birds, and a further nine references in the clues. It’s here if you need to check it: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2014/jan/24/prize-crossword-annotated-solutions
AndyB @ 11
I am horrified that any respectable dictionary could define millipedes as insects. I would suggest not using that one in future!
(P.S. all insects have precisely 6 legs, without previous injury, of course.)
Thanks all
As I have said many times, words are technical devices, only when used can they become emotionally involved and cause any offence.
For example I do object to the political designation ‘left’ which is the most subtle and thoughtful such descriptor being associated with the unthinking characteristic ‘PC’.
muffin@14 are all six legged creatures insects?
It’s seldom I do the Guardian Prize crossword (too hard, mostly) but when I saw Picaroon’s name I thought I would have a crack. It all fell out nicely, with only the last few taking a bit of headscratching. The surface readings are excellent.
Missed the theme, naturally, but Eileen pointing out CAT in the middle of all the birds made me smile.
As for the use of words relating to mental health, this was debated at great length a couple of years ago on the Guardian thread (Wolfie, where are you?). Clearly I wouldn’t want to see any of the words mentioned in the Guardian style guide in the main paper; but in a crossword, using ‘nuts’ as an anagram indicator, for example, doesn’t seem to me to be offensive. I could describe a number of my friends as ‘nuts’ without implying that they have mental health problems.
MILLIPEDES as ‘insects’ on the other hand, is just a complete howler, and how Andy can think that ‘it doesn’t matter’ is beyond me. Is it because it’s ‘just’ biology and we’re all scientifically illiterate anyway these days? On that basis, having JANE AUSTEN as the answer when the the clue is ‘author of Middlemarch’ would be acceptable, I guess.
Fine puzzle; blog the same. Thanks to both.
Dave Ellison @ 16
Arthropods are animals with “jointed legs”. They include insects, arachnids, crustaceans, centipedes and millipedes. OF THESE, the ones with six legs are insects.
Hi bridgesong, the issue of using words such as ‘nutter’, ‘loony’ etc was addressed in one of the Guardian crossword editor’s newsletters, maybe a year or so ago. His stance was that although it is Guardian policy to avoid such language in articles, it is not policy in crosswords. His view was that it would be impractical to remove it from cryptic puzzles as a) would hamstring setters to such an extant that the quality of the crossword would suffer and b) it is clear that the use is not in a personal or offensive context.
So, in summary, it is not against Guardian policy (and yes, you are being a bit over sensetive).
Am I an arthropod?
Further to the “insect” debate, the first online dictionary I looked at has the following :
1a – Any of numerous usually small arthropod animals of the class Insecta, having an adult stage characterized by three pairs of legs and a body segmented into head, thorax, and abdomen and usually having two pairs of wings. Insects include the flies, crickets, mosquitoes, beetles, butterflies, and bees.
1b – Any of various similar arthropod animals, such as spiders, centipedes, or ticks.
I then checked a number of other online dictionaries and they all had a similar pair of definitions.
The first definition of INSECT in my Chambers says “a word loosely used for a small invertebrate creature, esp. one with a body divided into sections”. It then goes on to define INSECTA as “a subphylum of arthropods having a distinct head, thorax and abdomen, with three pairs of legs attached to the thorax, usually winged in adult life”.
On the basis of the above it would seem that there is some confusion between the words INSECT and INSECTA, and the loose definition of “insect” used by laymen is perfectly acceptable. The Jane Austen/Middlemarch analogy was frankly ridiculous.
KD
One, not much educated, may sometimes fill in wrong answers but I am sure one may not have JANE AUSTEN when the clue is “Author of Middlemarch” because the latter is of 11 letters (6,5) whereas the creator of Emma is of 10 letters (4,6).
Of course, I see what you mean. Jus’ kidding.
Andy B @21
I’m sorry – any definition, for laymen or otherwise, that allows insects to be arthropods with more than six legs is just plain wrong!
RCW @ 20 arthropods have exoskeletons rather than internal ones. Does this apply to you?
There is a general term that could be applied to any small arthropod. It is “wiggy”. Millipedes and insects can both be wiggies.
muffin@ 16 I was really asking if there are creatures, other than insects, with six legs. Now I have searched for “hexapods”, I see there are: entognatha, which apparently used to be classed as insects, but due to lack of external mouth parts are no longer – if I have read the article correctly.
Outside arthropods, are there any other six legged creatures?
Dave Ellsion @25
I believe that squids are very variable in the number of legs they have, so it is possible that some squids have six legs (only a guess, though). btw squids are molluscs.
Thanks, bridgesong.
Fun puzzle from Picaroon. I failed to see the theme, but my enjoyment was not spoiled thereby.
Nothing left to say on the puzzle, really, so here’s my opinion on the points of contention.
I’m with the majority in being perfectly comfortable with words being used in crosswords which would be inappropriate in a serious article. I would have no qualms in saying to a friend ‘you must be crazy’ – unless they really had a serious mental health problem, in which case I might be more circumspect, but even then it would depend on their sense of humour and the care I took in the tone of voice. The one-size-fits-all approach to language is itself dehumanising and insensitive. Context is everything.
And on the subject of ‘insect’ I’m with those who frown on its use for anything other than a member of the Hexapoda. Etymologically, the word is from the Latin translation of the Greek ‘(zoon) entomon’, literally ‘cut up’ (animal). So the Greeks, and presumably the Romans, must have used it for any segmented animal. However, the COED definitions are interesting:
1. Orig. any small invertebrate or (occas.) other cold-blooded animal, esp. with a segmented body and several pairs of legs. Now only as a loose extension of sense 2, any terrestrial arthropod.
2. Any member of the class Insecta of small arthropods which have the body divided into head, thorax and abdomen. the thorax bering three pairs of legs and usu. one or two pairs of wings.
3. fig. An insignificant, contemptible or annoying person (!!!)
The word has undergone a semantic drift from the general to the particular. Calling MILLIPEDES ‘insects’ is therefore either very archaic or just ‘loose’ (= ignorant?).
Another example of semantic drift is shown in 26d. WAN originally meant ‘without a predominant hue’, i.e. ‘greyish’, and didn’t refer to the intensity of colour. Hence the formulaic expression ‘pale and wan’ (practically the only current use of the word) was not originally tautological: it meant ‘pale and without any pinkness’.
Thanks, gervase
Erudite as ever!
Amen to Gervase @27 – I’ve often said that myself.
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong. I did spot the theme but missed the relevance
of the cat in the middle. Very clever.
Cheers…
Thanks to PeeDee for reminding me about Hugh Stephenson’s column on the mental health issue, which in fact appeared as long ago as 2010, which is why I had failed to remember it: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2010/sep/06/crosswords-hugh-stephenson. I accept that there has been no breach of the newspaper’s policy, and I think KD @17 and Gervase @ 27 sum up the position perfectly fairly.
Apologies for missing the inaccuracy over millipedes; taxonomy is not my strong point.
Nobody so far has commented on “bad food” in the clue for TRACKER at 15 across. Chambers defines tack as “food generally, fare, esp. of the bread kind, such as hard tack (ship biscuit) soft tack (loaves). Is it perhaps the association with “tacky” that has led the compiler to use “bad” here?
A millipede is not an insect. Jane Austen is not George Eliot. RCW, although I have never had the pleasure of meeting him, is not an arthropod, because he doesn’t have an exoskeleton. Quod erat demonstrandum. Rats, mights have used a gerundive there (see Guardian blogs passim). Gervase, Eileen, where are you when your country needs you?
Sorry to hog the blog, but have just turned to the crossword in the Indy i today.
19dn: Hard copy’s garbled? Crazy (6)
Spooky? Yes. Unacceptable? You say.
Thanks bridgesong and Picaroon
And thanks too to Rhotician and Eileen for their help re nailing the theme. I can almost see a smile on the cat’s face.
An enjoyable and generally very well-clued puzzle.
There is an age factor in the PC issue. Many of us grew up with forms of usage which are less aceptable these days and we sometimes find it hard to slough them off. A bit of tolerance on both sides would be welcome. Although my sympathies are to the left of centre, and while readily acknowledging that bridgesong himself asked a perfectly reasonable question in a perfectly reasonable way, I must confess I do occasionally find it hard to choose between more strident members of the PC brigade (happily not here today) and the more blimpish ‘Tunbridge Wellsians’ who similarly rise to the bait in righteous indignation at every opportunity. That said, can we not declare a temporary moratorium on these frequently repeated debates that lead around in a spiral before disappearing etc.?
And don’t forget the millipedes (as if we could) whose shocking racial stereotyping has been vividly exposed today 🙂 !
Fascinating post on the semantic drift of insect, Gervase. It occurs to me that a drift from a general term to something more particular must be rather rare (although I have absolutely no data to back this up). I’d expect it to be the other way around. In this case, I wonder if the scientific community co-opted the word to mean the specific order of arthropods and thereby induced a rather abrupt “drift”, something which would not normally happen to a word.
A highly entertaining puzzle, by the way. CAT at 18 was brilliant for its “among the pigeons” location and for the fact that it’s a themer too.
Thanks to Picaroon and to bridgesong for the blog.
It is obvious that a millipede is not a member of the Insecta class, but under the alternative definition given in most dictionaries it can be called an insect, however much those with expertise in the area disagree. Isn’t a word’s meaning defined by usage? That is why the “looser” definition still exists in dictionaries. I certainly wouldn’t say that Hugh has let through “a complete howler”.
Hi AndyB @35
I suppose that it’s back to the argument about whether dictionaries should be descriptive or prescriptive.
For example, what do you understand by “aggravate”?
I would like to try to preserve the correct* meanings of words.
*Please discuss “correct”!
Well lots of interesting debate regarding use of language and insects.
Can’t say that I even noticed either issue when doing the crossword. The insect issue is obviously an issue in a crossword clue although having read all the comments I’m not sure I’m any clearer.
With regard to the PC and Loony Left issue I’m afraid I must take issue with g larsen who seems to be saying that the origins of political correctness are not within certain left wing groups!
My earlier comment seems to have been interpreted somehow to associate me with “the right”. Nothing could be further from the truth 😉
phitonelly @34: Semantic drift from the general to the particular is not that unusual. An example is the word ‘starve’, which originally just meant ‘die’ (like the related German ‘sterben’) but has come to mean ‘die of hunger’. ‘Die’ is a Scandinavian borrowing (compare ‘dö’ in Swedish), courtesy of the Vikings.
A well-known form of semantic drift from particular to general occurs with brand names such as Hoover and Kellogs.
I know what a hoover is but I’ve never heard of a kellogs?
The six-legged category in Brighton’s gay dog show judges owner and dog together. Last year it was won by a couple,
joint owners tied at the ankle, and a lovely amputee pedigree miniature greyhound.
(Doggy Pride is a wonderful event, featuring everything from show dog to family pet, with something for all persuasions of dog lover.
Or anybody really.)
rhotician, I imagine that the six-legged category in the gay dog show must be a ‘popular group’ (6)
It’s all right, my medication will kick in soon.
Hi Brendan
Sorry for the misspelling. Kelloggs is of course what I meant to write.
Hi tupu. I didn’t even notice the spelling!
I was really asking a question.
I know there is a noun “hoover” which a a general term for a vacuum cleaner. But you seem to be implying there is a noun “kellogg” or “kelloggs” which I’ve never heard of?
Hi Brendan
Tyhanks. The usage must be less widespread than I assumed. In my own experience Kelloggs became a generic term for cornflakes – so that one might well be asked ‘Would you like some Kelloggs for breakfast?’ when the offering might in fact be other brands which came on to market later – the first I remember being Danish ‘kelloggs’ followed by products from the main supermarkets.
Brendan Sorry – Thanks
Re: the mental health topic. As someone who…
a) has a mental health problem, and
b) is on the committee of mental health charity (though the views expressed here are entirely my own)
… I have no problem at all with the clues under discussion. Indeed, I loved 6 down. “Finds way into Brazil?” for NUTCRACKER is superb.
I’m *am* annoyed about my inability to spell OLIGOCENE, which prevented me from completing the puzzle :p
Coming back to this after a wet weekend away, I was surprised at the length of this debate. I always enjoy Picaroon, and I found it straightforward enough to finish all except SQUAB (not a word I remember seeing before) on a train with no references. Since I wasn’t looking for it, I missed the theme. Favourite was OCHE.