Guardian Cryptic N° 26,192 by Arachne

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26192.

I was happy to draw an Arachne puzzle to blog, and was not let down. Perhaps not her most intricate offering, but still prime value.

 

Across
1. Byzantine plainsong scales are vital to them (9)
PANGOLINS An anagram (‘Byzantine’) of ‘plainsong’.
6. Sunday in spring with hour moving forward (4)
WHIT ‘with’ with the H (‘hour’) ‘moving forward’.
8. Redolent of a half-hearted sentimentalist (8)
AROMATIC A charade of ‘a’ plus ROMA[n]TIC (‘sentimentalist’) with one of the middle characters (‘half-hearted’) removed.
9. Half of me pretentiously starts to expect thank yous (6)
MOIETY A charade of MOI (‘me pretentiously’) plus ETY (‘starts to Expect Thank Yous’).
10. Ugly duckling catching small seal (6)
CYGNET A homophone (‘catching’) of SIGNET (‘small seal’), with reference to the Hans Christian Anderden tale..
11. Canine neighbour has vitamin and mineral drops in turn (8)
BICUSPID A charade of BI (i.e B 1, ‘vitamin’) plus CU (copper, ‘mineral’) plus SPID, a reversal (‘in turn’) of DIPS (‘drops’).
12. Minister pursuing sailor in Belgian port (6)
OSTEND A charade of OS (ordinary seaman, ‘sailor’) plus TEND (‘minister’).
15. Bully ashamedly kicking dead dog (8)
SEALYHAM An anagram (‘bully’) of ‘ashame[d]ly’ without the D (‘kicking dead’).
16. Unruffled, Mr O’Leary runs an airline like this (2-6)
NO-FRILLS Mr O’Leary is Michael, the CEO of the no-frills Ryanair.
19. A case for sentimentality? (6)
LOCKET Cryptic definition.
21. I haven’t finished writing to great English poisoner of old (8)
PTOMAINE A charade of PTO (please turn over, ‘I haven’t finished writing’) plus MAIN (‘great’) plus E (‘English’).
22. Hawk seizing tail of mynah bird (6)
CHOUGH An envelope (‘seizing’) of H (‘tail of mynaH‘) in COUGH (‘hawk’).
24. Have first birthday shortly, cause of excitement! (4-2)
TURN ON TURN ON[e] (‘have first birthday’) without its last letter (‘shortly’).
25. Postpone punishment of immature Puritan in ruff (8)
REPRIEVE An envelope (‘in’) of PRI[m] (‘Puritan’) without the M (‘immature’) in REEVE (female ‘ruff’, the bird).
26. Now in the red (4)
HERE A hidden answer in ‘tHE REd’.
27. In retirement I try kebabs, certain to be easily excited (9)
EROGENOUS A reversal (‘in retirement’) of an envelope (‘kebabs’?) of ONE (‘I’) plus GO (‘try’) in SURE (‘certain’).

Down
1. Chilly, like Hyde? (5)
PARKY A cryptic reference to Hyde Park, not Dr. Jekyll.
2. I’m no Machiavellian, born to be contender (7)
NOMINEE A charade of NOMI, an anagram (‘Machiavellian’) of ‘I’m no’ plus NEE (‘born’).
3. G8 leaders to end talks after 31 days? (5)
OCTET A charade of OCT (the month October has ’31 days’) plus ET (‘leaders to End Talks’). G8 is, literally, group of eight.
4. Nightmare of expecting bear to crush me and you (7)
INCUBUS A charade of IN CUB (‘expecting bear’) plus US (‘me and you’). ‘to crush’ seems superfluous to the wordplay.
5. Alchemist rebuilt old high street brand (2,7)
ST MICHAEL An anagram (‘rebuilt’) of ‘alchemist’, for the one-time Marks and Spencer brand.
6. Question about Arachne’s extremely strange, fanciful behaviour (7)
WHIMSEY An envelope (‘about’) of I’M (‘Arachne’s’) plus SE (‘extremely StrangE‘) in WHY (‘question’).
7. Tantric cavorting that is superficially complicated (9)
INTRICATE An envelope (‘superficially’) of NTRICA, an anagram (‘cavorting’) of ‘tantric’ in I E (that is’).
13. Mel’s quick temper (5,4)
SHORT FUSE The wordplay is in the answer: ‘mel[t]’ (FUSE) cut SHORT.
14. Trifling with daughter before marriage (9)
DALLIANCE A charade of D (‘daughter’) plus ALLIANCE (‘marriage’).
17. Cameron broadcast lie (7)
ROMANCE An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘Cameron’.
18. Guarantee people in general a right to occupy in this way (5,2)
SWEAR TO An envelope (‘to occupy’) of WE (‘people in general’) plus ‘a’ plus RT (‘right’) in SO (‘this way’).
20. BBC Horizon series making Granada scoff (7)
CHORIZO A hidden answer in ‘BBC HORIZOn’ , for the Spanish sausage.
22. Policemen said to be dense, wooden lot (5)
COPSE A homophone (‘said to be’) of COPS (‘policemen’).
23. Permits G4S to restrain anyone, ultimately (5)
GIVES An envelope (‘to restrain’) of E (‘anyonE ultimately’) in G IV S (‘G4S’).

48 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,192 by Arachne”

  1. I found some of the words obscure and the clues didn’t help to find them. I do this crossword every day but after this maybe I should stick to Quiptic. I’m not that good for this convolution.

  2. Another original and inventive puzzle from Arachne. Usually I’m on her wavelength – I made harder work of this one.

    On the lookout for the Arachne trademark of the feminine alternative I convinced myself (until the crossers proved otherwise) that 2d must be INGENUE – so that wasted a good easy one. Bad reasoning – although that’s the feminine version in French in English it’s the only one. So when it finally came (REEVE/RUFF) buried in the wordplay I was foiled there too – as far as explaining REEVE went.

    @CrumlinT #1 – you were jumping in the deep end here. The previous pattern of difficulty increasing gradually through the week seems increasingly to be disappearing. Best thing is to get to know which setters you find hard/easy – even that varies quite a bit.

    Thanks for the blog PO.

  3. Thanks Peter for a few explanations, including who Mr Leary is, the kebabs thing and the parsing of 13d. I actually got down to the last two quickly. I looked up PARGOLINS and amzingly there it was. 11a stumped me – I had ‘buckskin’ as a thought – but TEAS showed the answer. Inventive stuff, Arachne.

  4. Thanks Arachne and Peter. This was enjoyable but tough – I couldn’t parse EROGENOUS and REPRIEVE and I had BACKSPIN for 11ac as a turn (though obviously not fitting the rest of the wordplay!). Wondered about the definition of CHORIZO because I’d only heard scoff used as a verb, but apparently it can be a noun (meaning food) as well. I’m not sure I’d ever have got PRI from immature puritan!

  5. Thanks for the blog Peter. Bicuspid had me totally confused.

    For what it’s worth I had the immature Puritan down as a prig rather than prim.

  6. Lovely all round, but the best was one of the easiest with the witty clue for CHORIZO.

    To ‘kebab’ is to skewer like a kebab, hence its use to signify inclusion. All perfectly clear now but the spider woman had me stumped there.

  7. Thanks Arachne and PeterO

    Challenging and enjoyable, but I have a few question marks.

    10a can’t be decided without the crossers (SIGNET is just as valid from the clue). 14d I would have said “trifling” in the sense required is a verb (it can be a noun, but not with the sense of “dalliance”), while the solution is a noun. Is “permits” equivalent to “gives”?

    I wrote in PREMOLAR for 11ac, without parsing it, obviously – this held me up. Didn’t understand SHORT FUSE, though I got it from the definition. “Kebabs” in 27 baffled me too.

    I liked WHIT, PARKY and the revelation that ALCHEMIST and ST MICHAEL are anagrams of each other.

  9. Lovely stuff thank you Arachne. *s by too many ‘favourites’ to list. Nice to see the return of ST MICHAEL and the appearance of the dog of which there are probably more sightings in crosswords than real life!

    Thanks to Peter O for the blog.

  10. I thought “SHORT FUSE” was MEL(D) rather than MEL(T). Along with PRI(M)/PRI(G) there’s a few things that are open to interpretation!

    In general I’m strongly in favour of Arachne puzzles. I agree that 20D was the highlight today and that there were some pretty tricky customers among the rest, but only 11A actually defeated my parsing abilities, though I got it by realising early on that we were probably looking for a word for “tooth”.

  11. Me @7 Re DALLIANCE
    Chambers does give “n. dalliance: dallying, toying or trifling”, but it then contradicts itself with “adj. trifling: of small value, importance or amount; trivial”

  12. Brilliant. Delighted when I saw the identity of the setter today, then horror when I only got one across solution on the first read through. However, as usual with the Spiderwoman, steady application permitted the completion of the puzzle without aids. Definitely not a tyros puzzle CrumlinT, but what better incentive to persevere and enjoy the pleasure of trying to crack such an enjoyable challenge?
    Many thanks to Arachne and to PeterO.

  13. Thanks, PeterO, for the blog.

    Once again, I’m in total agreement with crypticsue – I know she uses dots rather than ticks, but, otherwise, her paper must resemble mine. The surface of the clue for the dog was superb – and I must also mention the giggles at the expecting bear and the kebabs. I’ll stop there.

    [CrumlinT @1, please follow the advice given above. You will be richly rewarded.]

    Huge thanks to Arachne for another bundle of lovely stuff.

  14. I agree, CrumlinT. I was so enthused after completing yesterday’s quiptic solo, then got one clue on the first read today. Hopefully i’ll find inspiration over lunch!

  15. Hi Colette @14 [and CrumlinT]

    Arachne used to set Quiptic puzzles and there are plenty available in the archive: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/series/quiptic+profile/arachne.

    I think it might be helpful for you to have a go at some of those, if you’re new to cryptics – and you can find blogs on them in the 15² Search facility at the right hand side under the calendar. You would get to know Arachne’s style in a gentler way – she’s an excellent teacher – and, probably, before long, get hooked, as so many of us are! 😉

  16. I enjoyed the usual wit and giggles in this one, but failed to finish: PTOMAINE was beyond the ken of this solver. Took me as long to finish the SE corner as the rest of the puzzle – couldn’t see CHORIZO for ages. TURN-ON and PARKY were funny, and I was also pleased to see the return of ST MICHAEL. Not sure that ‘permits’ and ‘gives’ correspond, though.

    Thank you to Arachne and Peter.

  17. Hi K’s D

    “Not sure that ‘permits’ and ‘gives’ correspond, though.”

    If I agreed with you – and, in this instance, I don’t 😉 – I might say, “I’ll give / grant / permit you that. [I won’t even mention the big red book… ]

  19. Much enjoyed pangolin on a visit to the wife’s family in Guangdong many moons ago. Much to enjoy, but 11 and 27 a little too 7, for my taste.

    1d was my favourite, and I look forward to it being clued one day via the Barnsley Bomber.

  21. 4D “IN CUB” is on top of “US” in a D clue, so I can’t see the problem with “to crush”. The wordplay certainly wouldn’t make sense if those two words were removed.

  22. Thanks very much, Eileen – I will! I’m not too bad with Rufus now, my current ‘real’ cryptic favourite. And always the prize Everyman

  23. Thanks Arachne for another special puzzle that I found rather tough.

    Thanks PeterO, especially for the parsing of EROGENOUS and SHORT FUSE. I ticked especially ROMANCE, TURN ON, MOIETY, BICUSPID and CHORIZO.

    Colette@22; yes, the Everyman is a very good beginner’s puzzle, more straightforward than some of the Quiptics.

  24. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. There were quite a few where I failed to parse them e.g. kebabs meaning ‘to include’!

    On 4d the first bear I tried was pooh (so often a bear in crosswords) then I thought of astronomy where ursa major is the great bear – still no joy. I eventually found INCUBUS but without understanding where the bear was. 🙁

  25. West of the Atlantic, we don’t have “parky” or “St. Michael” (as a brand rather than an archangel), but the clues were good enough that they went into the grid well enough. I also have never seen “PTO” (all U.S. epistolists and correspondents I’ve ever run across simply write “over”–we’re famously less polite), so ptomaine had to be cheated.

    I’m used to triple and quadruple clues from Arachne, and since “runs” are so often “rills” in crossword-land, I came here hoping to learn how to get NOF out of Mr. O’Brien. Of course, my problem is never having heard of O’Brien in the first place.

  26. Thanks Peetro and Arachne

    I found this quite hard but managed to complete it. The answer to 11 (LOI)took quite a time to see and then I failed to parse it properly I’m afraid acc. to the instructions – so thanks for that PeterO.
    I thought of ‘prim’ in 25 but ‘prig’ is probably better. I thought it was ‘mel(d)’ in 13.

    Lots of clever cluing- I happened to tick 1a (I carry a pangolin scale in my purse given to me by someone once to help ward off lions – 🙂 so far so good!), 8a, 21a, 24a, and 1d.

  27. I thought this was nigh perfect. Many thanks Arachne. And Peter O for the blog. For what it’s worth, I too went for meld and prig.

  28. For about two thirds of this I thought this was one of Arachne’s easier ones, but the last few took longer than the rest put together, BICUSPID and PTOMAINE defeated me, and I’d only heard of SEALYHAM because it’s been used in a previous crossword. Also failed to parse EROGENOUS. I did like PARKY, INCUBUS and SHORT FUSE, and I expect unusual and inventive anagrinds like Machiavellian from Arachne, who is rivalling Enigmatist as the Guardian’s most difficult setter, but is always entertaining.

  29. Having been distinctly underwhelmed by (and under-solving of) the last Guardian Arachne puzzle, I approached today’s offering with trepidation – and thoroughly enjoyed every word, although defeated by two of them. Moiety was new to me, and I failed to parse the obvious in Chough. It reminded me yet again that one bad experience with a puzzle is my problem, not the setter’s failure. Obvious I know, but too often conveniently forgotten.

  30. Eileen at no 17. That’ll be the big red book that says that a millipede is an insect, then? And although I haven’t looked (‘cos I don’t own it), it probably says that disinterested is a synonym for uninterested. I rest my case, m’lud.

  31. I never knew you could have so much fun waiting in the queue for the car wash (cheap deal on Tuesdays). Vainly I tried to fit in ATROPINE at 21 before realising what would have to happen to Mr Cameron were this to be so.

    Must go, they are about to clean out my insides.

  32. Hi again, Kathryn’s Dad @30.

    I think it’s well known that I hold no brief for the volume that I’m not mentioning; my brief is for Arachne, who said a few months ago, in answer to a similar discussion [I’m not naming it, because I don’t want to go there again 😉 ]:

    “Apologies for offending those in the know with ……: 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.”

  34. Thanks, PeterO

    I’m rather late to the party today, so there is not a lot left to say.

    Splendid puzzle, as we have come to expect from the Spider Woman, full of wit and ingenuity.

    Last in for me was BICUSPID; though I grasped the possible significance of ‘canine neighbour’ fairly early, and had the crossing C, I was puzzled that INCISOR has too few letters. ‘Mineral’ for CU would normally seem a bit off-the-wall, but in the context of ‘vitamins and minerals’, as in this clue, it works fine. I immediately spotted that ‘kebabs’ was likely to be a container indicator in 27a – perhaps because I am on guard for novelty direction words in Arachne crosswords – but it still took a while to work out the solution.

    Lots of great clues, but a special mention for WHIT, TURN-ON, OCTET and SHORT FUSE for their clever construction/surface combinations.

  35. PS And CHORIZO, which took ages to see, despite my recognising ‘Granada scoff’ as ‘Spanish food’ on first reading.

  36. K’s Dad (30)
    No, Chambers doesn’t say a millipede is an insect and it doesn’t say disinterested is a synonym for uninterested. Case dismissed?

  37. Welcome, if unexpected, appearance of Arachne on a Tuesday. To my surprise, I streaked through most of it but ground to a halt in the NE corner, defeated by the dog references. Lunch on the seafront at Salerno did nothing to improve my perception, so I had to cheat finally.

    Great fun despite that, and I look forward to more like it.

    Why do people sneer at Chambers?

  39. Herb, I was referring back to a puzzle a little while ago in the Guardian where the definition was ‘insect’ and the answer was MILLIPEDE. Which aroused some debate, including in Hugh Stephenson’s weekly editor’s blog.

    And Mac Ruaraidh Ghais, I am not sneering at Chambers: I’m just saying that all dictionaries will give some meanings or definitions that careful users of English will consider not to be correct. That’s the nature of the way language develops.

  40. Herb @36: No dictionary defines ‘millipede’ as ‘insect’ – the problem is the other way round: they all give one definition of ‘insect’ as any invertebrate animal, albeit qualified as either a loose or archaic usage.

  41. And both my edition of Chambers and the iPhone Chambers app give ‘uninterested’ as a definition of ‘disinterested’, describing the usage as ‘revived from obsolescence’.

  42. I started badly, putting swear BY instead of TO for guarantee, but found the rest doable, although scoff as a noun was new to me and I have never seen WHIMSEY spelt that way. Thanks, Arachne for a wonderful web and PeterO for an excellent blog.

  43. I had the NW completed in next to no time, but after that I slowed down considerably. My last few entries were BICUSPID (after considering an unparsed “backspin” for “turn”), PTOMAINE once I’d sorted out the wordplay, SWEAR TO after I finally parsed it correctly (I had “swear it” for a while), and my LOI, EROGENOUS, where once again I finally cracked the wordplay. I knew how Arachne was using “kebab” but it took me a long time to see the reversal of “one go” inside “sure”. I liked some of the unusual anagram indicators used in the puzzle, such as Byzantine and Machiavellian. All in all another quality puzzle from one of my favourite setters.

  44. Blimey did Indy and ft but got beat with a third to go. Nicely played spider lady and thanks for explaining the rest Peter. Hmm hope tomorrow’s is easier.

  45. Jolly good on the whole, but without going over points raised by others, if I’m honest, I think Arachne went a bit wild and woolly here and there, e.g. copper, CU merely as “mineral”.

    Thanks bloggers for the one or two things I didn’t get. Arachne: keep them coming, steady as you go.

    Cheers all.

  46. A superb puzzle from the spider lady.

    Everything has already been said I believe although my favourite was 4A for it’s beautiful misleading impossible surface.

    I loved this puzzle although like some others I finished rather quickly for an Arachne. I guess now I always look for the deviousness when doing her puzzles which does help.

    Thanks to PeterO and Arachne.

    P.S. I tried to ignore Colette @22 but I’ve failed. The association of ‘real’ cryptic and Rufus was too much to bear. But I’ll stop there. 😉

  47. Late to the party – in all senses. Puzzle was way beyond me but reading the blog made me realise how clever it was, so thanks Arachne and Peter O.

    BICUSPID had me puzzled, even after reading the blog before twigging that it referred to the tooth I would normally call a premolar – good one!

  48. I wanted to object about CU (copper) for “mineral”, but on further investigation, it appears that copper meets the defining criteria for minerals. I’m still (far too) upset about Paul use of “lathe” for “smoother” a while back; that is simply wrong.

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