Guardian 26,210 – Nutmeg

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Nutmeg has become quite a regular setter in the Cryptic seat recently. As she is perhaps better known as a Quiptic setter, I was expecting a fairly gentle ride this morning: maybe it’s just me, but I thought this was quite hard, and it took me quite a while to make much headway with it. Fortunately everything worked out in the end, with some interesting and varied clues. Thanks to Nutmeg.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. DECAMP Desert city to discourage housing (6)
EC (City of London postal area) in DAMP (to discourage)
4. ATLANTIC Duke leaving country in Greek liner might cross it (8)
LAND less D[uke] in ATTIC (Greek)
9. SINGLY Like some beaches where husband goes separately (6)
SHINGLY less H (changed from my original “SINGLE”, in case anyone is confused by the earlier comments)
10. DOGGEREL “Bank — rely — extremists fly”: worse verse! (8)
DOGGER Bank (famous for giving its name to one of the sea areas in the BBC Shipping Forecast) + [R]EL[Y]
11. BOXER REBELLION 24’s sway over black cat rising in Far East (5,9)
BOXER (dog) + B in REEL + LION
13. PORBEAGLES Unfortunate 24s heard predators at sea (10)
Homophone (?) of “poor” + BEAGLE
14. UREA River of top quality? It’s in the water (4)
URE + A – Urea is found in urine
16. FAST Fleet unable to move (4)
Double definition, “fast” being a nice example of a word with two almost opposite meanings
18. INORDINATE Excessive noise in spout adjoining home (10)
IN (home) + DIN in ORATE
21. ANTI-MARKETEERS They’re not keen on Brussels playing streaker in team (4-10)
(STREAKER IN TEAM)* – a rather old-fashioned name for people opposed to what used to be called the Common Market: nowadays they’d probably be known as Eurosceptics
23. DENTISTS First to fill cavities? (8)
1ST in DENTS &lit
24. CANINE Just under 10 roughly treated by 23, or 26, say (6)
“Just under 10 roughly” is “C[irc]A NINE; canine teeth are treated by dentists (23); and a setter (26) is a type of dog
25. ROCKETRY Studying what’s driven up temperature in part of garden (8)
T in ROCKERY
26. SETTER Son’s less resolute, wife having left me (6)
S + [W]ETTER
Down
1. DISC Only half of hit on record (4)
First half of DISCover (hit on)
2. CANDOUR Conservative dashing around — not something MPs are noted for (7)
C + AROUND*
3. MALTESER Chocolate treat an islander’s 7 runs after (8)
MALTESE (type of terrier) + R, and two definitions: chocolate treat and islander (Chambers doesn’t give malteser= person from Malta, but I’m sure I’ve seen it used. Or possibly it’s just “islander’s 7” to define the terrier)
5. TROUBLEFREE Easy money (French) pocketed by supporter (11)
ROUBLE + FR in TEE
6. ANGOLA Country cat (long-haired) primarily looking for queen (6)
ANGORA (long-haired cat) with R (queen) replaced by L[ooking]
7. TERRIER No good cat bites stray 24 (7)
ERR (to stray) in TI[G]ER
8. COLONNADE Peristyle showing sign of listing disturbed Dean (9)
COLON (punctuation mark, used to introduce a list) + DEAN
12. REGENERATOR Reformer‘s golden age described by viceroy in North (11)
ERA (age) in REGENT “to the North of” OR (golden)
13. PUFF ADDER One arranging publicity in the reptile world? (4,5)
Cryptic defintion
15. AIREDALE 7 let out by porter, perhaps (8)
AIRED (let out) + ALE (of which porter is a type)
17. SATANIC Iniquitous acts in a novel (7)
(ACTS IN A)*
19. AIRLIFT Companion leaving mountain transport to provide help from above (7)
CHAIR LIFT less CH (Companion of Honour)
20. UMPIRE Aussie runner’s enthralling cleavage upset judge (6)
RIP (cleavage) in EMU, reversed
22. WEAR Stand for don (4)
Double definition: “stand” as in “put up with”; “don” as in “put on/wear [clothes]”

44 comments on “Guardian 26,210 – Nutmeg”

  1. Yes, very hard! Porbeagles was my last in – a new word for me, as was peristyle. I couldn’t see the parsing of 1d – thought it might be half of discover, but couldn’t think why.

    I had SINGLY for 9ac – that seems to fit the clue just as well as single.

    Thanks Nutmeg & Andrew.

  2. Gosh. I found this a real challenge, and a super puzzle. Loads of variety in the clues, some general knowledge required, plenty of cunning misdirection and quite a lot of lateral thinking needed.
    In my view, Nutmeg is an excellent addition to the cryptic crossword setters.
    I also enjoyed the canine theme.

  3. Alan R @1
    I also had ‘singly’ and it shows up as correct on the Guardian site. I considered both ‘single’ and decided that the former fitted the clue better.

  5. Thank you Nutmeg for the puzzle and Andrew for the blog.

    I suggest Andrew has over-complicated the parsing of 3d: the definition is simply “Chocolate treat”. MALTESE is “Islander’s 7” (terrier) + R “runs after”

    There’s also an R too many in the parsing of 5d – it should read:

    ROUBLE + FR in TEE.

  6. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew
    I too found this hard. Luckily I got CANINE reasonably quickly, or I wouldn’t be posting for several hours yet!
    Some unusual parsings, I thought, (nothing wrong with that) – for instance “sign of listing” for “colon”. DOGGEREL, DENTISTS and ROCKETRY were my favourites.
    I had a blind spot over WEAR – I stared at it for ages without seeing the “don” definition.
    I had a slight chuckle on entering AIREDALE, as I had previously tried AIRE for 14a!

  7. I too was a bit confused about the “7” in 3d – I thought the clue worked without it. However it seems to make it a “triple”.

    I had SINGLY for 9a.

  8. I was slightly uneasy about SINGLE, so thanks to those who pointed out that SINGLY is better (and correct..). Also I underlined the wrong part of the clue – I’ll fix these in the blog.

    Mac Ruaraidh Ghais: thanks also for pointing out the other typo. I had thought about “Islander’s 7” as defining the terrier, but in the end tilted in favour of the extra definition: I think both explanations are possible.

  9. Thanks for the blog, Andrew. I also found this hard. The double defs WEAR and FAST went in first and I usually find these the trickiest. Then it was v slow progress indeed.

    I was another one who had SINGLE. But Singly does fit better.

    Last one in was PORBEAGLES after a lot of head-scratching.

    Thanks to Nutmeg for a good work-out!

  11. Thanks, Andrew. I agree that this was of above average difficulty but very enjoyable nonetheless. Like muffin, I saw CANINE early on and was away.

    Jonny @10, Chambers has it as a single word.

  12. Thanks Nutmeg; I’m glad others found this difficult but some super clues.

    Thanks Andrew, especially for the COLON=sign of listing, which I completely missed.

    I didn’t get 24 until nearly the end, which made the solving process more laborious but my gadgets coped.

  13. I thought this was a bit too hard for a Guardian puzzle. I finished it, but only because the solutions were normal words which I could guess. With obscure words as solutions this could have been one of those Sunday puzzles I leave to the experts.

  14. Thanks to Nutmeg and Andrew. Puzzle was very hard for me too. Couldn’t have finished without
    the check button. Nonetheless, enjoyed the struggle. Tried to make ADRIATIC work at 4ac.

    Cheers…

  15. My cheat was to look up ‘peristyle’ and found it was a COLONNADE. Lazy I know. But I did get SINGLY first off and PORBEAGLES was a long way from last. We had a pet beagle when I was growing up – the things that help eh?

    But yes, no more will we think of Nutmeg as one of the easier ones.

  16. Got there in the end but struggled. Would have made a very good Saturday workout. Gives a new, but not dissimilar, meaning to the football term ‘nutmegged’! Thanks Andrew for an excellent blog.

  17. I have eaten porbeagle. When it used to be regarded as OK to eat shark (indeed, to eat any wild fish), porbeagle was generally regarded as the best tasting. It was a bit like swordfish, but firmer and meatier.

  18. The class dummy finished so it can’t have been too hard!

    David Mop @13, but I trust you make an exception for the Observer Everyman on Sundays as they are normally pretty straight forward.

  20. beermagnet @ 19
    BEAR made just as much sense to me as WEAR – in fact I “cheated” to see which one was correct. (As I said above, the second definition completely passed me by.)

  21. Yes, Derek Lazenby @18, I do regard Everyman as “normal”. It’s usually the ones with bars which make me hide in a corner. And yes to beermagnet @19, I had BEAR, but as I do the hard copy I had to come on here to find that in that case my guessing was wrong.

  22. Having spent almost two hours already doing about three quarters of this, I decided I was well and truly defeated, and I can’t say there was much to enjoy, though I did like DOGGEREL. Maybe I was just off form today, but my working day is too short for me to rise to this sort of challenge on a regular basis. This would have been good for a very long train journey.

    Thanks to Andrew and Nutmeg

  23. Cor what a pig that was, I did this after quite a slog with Anax, this was much harder. well done and thanks Andrew.

  24. I thought that this was probably Nutmeg’s trickiest puzzle to date. and it contained some cracking clues. ROCKETRY was my LOI after UMPIRE. My only quibble is 9ac where “single” fits both the wordplay and the definition, as does the correct SINGLY.

  25. Sue and I found this a riveting challenge, over at the Halfway in Pontcanna. The regulars were more than happy with our being harmlessly detained too I expect.

    A superb puzzle all round: more please Nutmeg 🙂

    Thanks setter, Andrew and all.

  26. beermagnet says:

    “22d: Anyone else put in BEAR?
    Just me then”

    ==

    No, not just you (sorry I didn’t spot you earlier) I wavered between BEAR and WEAR but decided the former was the better synonym for “stand”. This was the only point with which I quibble. I think “don” means the very act of assuming a garment etc., not the condition thereafter, (though I’ll be corrected, I suppose).

  27. I only had 5 in after an hour, and gave up to check here. Discovered I had solved 4 more (ATLANTIC, SINGLY, CANINE and SETTER) but couldn’t see why.

    Had BEAR, too and RAIN for UREA (which fits the clue), which obviously didn’t help.

    Can’t say I enjoyed this, despite liking previous offerings

    Thanks Andrew.

  28. Thoroughly enjoyed this although it was tough to get into it.
    I also had BEAR instead of WEAR, and SINGLY instead of SINGLE.
    Nutmeg is a welcome addition to the Grauniad stable following the sad loss of The Master, so thanks Nutmeg, and thanks Andrew.

  29. Cosafina et al: I fully agree this was tough. Had it not been for Sue making it a two-header, I alone would have been on the rack with it. But I didn’t feel irked at any point, nor that I was having my time wasted, and that’s probably mainly why I think it was a brilliant puzzle.

  30. Thanks Andrew, good blog of a tough puzzle. I was defeated by PORBEAGLES, never heard of them. I could not think of the other half to DISCxxxx either.

    In your comment on 9ac I think you mean “changed from SINGLE“, you will be further confusing the already confused!

  31. Some nice clues but a little too difficult for midweek.

    Got there in the end.

    I’ve never heard of “damp” as a verb and I’m still not sure about DON = WEAR. (Certainly not according to the SOED or me!)

    Somehow I found this a chore?

    Thanks to Andrew and Nutmeg

  32. Finished at 4.30 this morning. Lately I find that, when I sit down with the crossword in the evening, on the first run-through I get hardly anything, and then sit there staring stupidly at the grid. It’s the wine, you know. Then I wake up as usual around 3am, pick up the paper and breeze through it (relatively speaking). Good evidence that the little grey cells keep themselves occupied while the owner is out cold . . .

  33. Yes AdamH. I always find a look through in the morning before the paper arrives gives more answers. What are our brains up to in the night?

  34. AdamH @32 – you describe my modus operandi perfectly. Waking up at 5am with (say) PORBEAGLE on one’s lips is really a very strange thing when you think about it. I wonder if any academic research has looked into this.

    Thanks to Nutmeg for a tough but rewarding exercise – marred only by the SINGLY/SINGLE WEAR/BEAR ambiguities, on both of which I of course plumped wrongly.

  36. Why does SINGLY fit better by the way?

    SINGLE is equally good. It can be validly used as an adverb and SHINGLE can be used as an adjective. So two answers without crossers to help us decide!

  37. A lovely puzzle. Started (slowly) last night, finished (quickly) this morning. In my opinion, not too difficult for a Guardian – not at all. Quite lovely.

    9ac had to be “singly” from clue. “Like some…” and “separately” both indicate an adverb required. How could it possibly be “single”?

    Only issue – “bear” v “wear”; I feel former at least as apt as latter.

    A lovely puzzle (I’ve said that thrice – so it must be true!!)

    Thanks, Nutmeg!

  38. Brendan (not that one):
    Just seen your latest post. Maybe I was a little dogmatic, but please tell how “single” is as likely to be a synonym for “separately” as “singly”.

  39. Hi William F P

    i was actually questioning the statements previously in the blog that “singly” was a “better” answer.

    “Better” on what grounds. Firstly the most likely answer has nothing to do with cryptic crosswords. It’s the job of the setter via the wordplay to to make the answer a certainty. (Failing this the crossers should help us out!)

    Of course “single” is perfectly valid as an adverb. Although this use is “archaic” according to the SOED it is still a possibility.

    So we have at least two valid answers that fit the grid. The fact that people are reduced to choosing the “most likely” or “best fit” indicates that the setter hasn’t done their job. Or does anyone believe that asking the solver to guess is OK?

  40. Brendan (not that one):

    Sorry, Brendan, but I have to try this final point. The phrase “we went in separately….” conveys same meaning as “we went in singly…” whereas “we went in single…” has a different meaning. This is why I see “singly” as ‘the one true answer’! Though, not being religious, I pray that, in spite of our differing views, we can remain friends in the sight of 225 for the sake of Crosswordism!

    Best wishes!

  41. A last thought on WEAR: how about, to an undecided dresser “No. Don’t wear that. Wear this”? Under those circumstances the verb would mean “don”.

    That’s the best I can do.

  42. William F P

    But the clue doesn’t have the phrase “We went in separately” in it, only the word separately as the defnition.

    The SOED has

    single ?s??g(?)l ? adjective & adverb. ME.

    …..

    B adverb. Singly, alone; one by one. arch. ME.

    So single and singly are equivalent as an adverb and could both mean separately!

    Of course we can remain 225 friends as this is the place were differing and often opposite views are posted. Naturally I accept that my views could be and often are wrong. However in this case I have yet to be convinced of my stupidity 🙂

  43. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew

    Found this one really tough when I wasn’t expecting it to be … and ended up with two wrong answers – SINGLY (agree that my single was wrong) and PROA even though the PO and R for river kept nagging at me it was wrong!

    Thoroughly enjoyable notwithstanding these errors – innovative clues that had one thinking as much about the parsing as the actual solving, a smattering of new words – PERISTYLE and ANGORA CAT. I had seen PORBEAGLE before though.

    Liked the clues for BOXER REBELLION and PUFF ADDER a lot.

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