Guardian Cryptic N° 26,319 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26319.

This went fairly quickly for me, despite some references that I did now know in 11A (ARCHIVOLTS) and 18D (ketamine). Mainly because of the former, the NE corner was the last to be filled. There are several clues with extended definitions – I leave open the contentious designation of &lit – a couple of unusual anagrinds, and some fine surfaces. The apparent keystone clue at 8/19D seems a little strange, since its reference in other clues seems sparse and peripheral.

 

Across
7. Presiding officers trading power for new shoes? (8)
SNEAKERS S[p]EAKERS (‘presiding officers’) with the P (‘power’) replaced by (‘trading … for’) N (‘new’).
9. Character brewing tea with urn (6)
NATURE An anagram (‘brewing’) of ‘tea’ plus ‘urn’.
10. King’s playable after one club (4)
IRON A charade of I (‘one’) plus R (‘king’) plus ON (‘playable’).
11. They say Gemmill leaps over fancy formations (10)
ARCHIVOLTS A homophone (”they say’) of ARCHIE (‘Gemmill’, a former Scottish soccer player) VAULTS (‘leaps over’). Archivolts are decorative mouldings on an arch.
12. In Paris one time with regret? Not so (6)
UNTRUE A charade of UN (‘in Paris one’) plus T (‘time’) plus RUE (‘regret’).
14. Space travel is male fantasy (8)
ESCAPISM A charade of ESCAP, an anagram (‘travel’?) of ‘space’ plus ‘is’ plus M (‘male’).
15. Go away and don’t come back! (3,4)
GET LOST Definition and literal interpretation.
17. Minister’s language is spin (7)
REVERSE A charade of REV (‘minister’) plus ERSE (‘language’).
20. Saving for the future, as things might go wrong (8)
STASHING An anagram (‘might go wrong’) of ‘as things’.
22. Country joined Europe to mine tin (6)
SWEDEN An envelope (‘to mine’) of WED (‘joined’) plus E (‘Europe’) in SN (chemical symbol, ‘tin’).
23. Canaries playing well as Norwich team score headers (10)
INFORMANTS A charade of IN FORM (‘playing well’) plus A N T S (‘As Norwich Team Score headers’). Norwich City Football Club are known as The Canaries, a name considerably older than their home colours of yellow and green.
24. Bad back during delivery (4)
EVIL Hidden (during’) reversed (‘back’) in ‘deLIVEry’.
25. The devil’s cards? (6)
DEUCES Double definition.
26. When Vangelis composed, he was hypnotically in control (8)
SVENGALI An anagram (‘when … composed’) of ‘Vangelis’ (who, incidentally, is a composer), for the character in George du Maurier’s novel Trilby.

Down
1. Lobby for charm (8)
ENTRANCE Double definition.
2. Murderer, one in jail (4)
CAIN An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘one’) in CAN (jail’).
3. Marriage guidance service for clergymen getting their ends away (6)
RELATE [p]RELATE[s] (‘clergymen’) ‘getting their ends away’ in one sense. Relate is a counselling service in the UK.
4. Losing time over faulty electronic compass (8)
ENCIRCLE An anagram (‘faulty’) of ‘elec[t]r[o]nic’ without the T (‘time’) and O (‘over’).
5. Atoms in motion acquiring pressure in this place? (10)
ATMOSPHERE A charade of ATMOS, an anagram (‘in motion’) of ‘atoms’ plus P (‘pressure’) plus HERE (‘in this place’), with an extended definition.
6. Primarily, they hurt badly with original saying? (6)
TRUTHS A charade of T (‘primarily, They’) plus RUTH, an anagram (‘badly’) of ‘hurt’ plus S (‘original Saying’), with an extended definition.
8,19. Dark forces clued around this grid (6,6)
SECRET AGENTS A charade of SECRET (‘dark’) plus AGENTS (‘forces’). This appears to be the keystone clue, but it was no help for me, as the references in other clues are, unless I am missing something (which happens all too frequently), few and mostly quite oblique.
13. Close lorry wrecked car (5-5)
ROLLS-ROYCE An anagram (‘wrecked’) of ‘close lorry’.
16. Manage risk getting married? His indefinite engagement (8)
SKIRMISH A charade of SKIR, an anagram (‘manage’) of ‘risk’ plus M (‘married’) plus ISH, an anagram (‘indefinite’) of ‘his’.
18. Ketamine for breakfast? (7,1)
SPECIAL K Double definition: I suspect that ketamine as a recreational drug took its name from the breakfast cereal.
19. See 8
– See 8
21. It’s meant to be cycled around Germany (6)
TANDEM An envelope of D (Deutchland, IVR ‘Germany’) in TANEM, an anagram (‘to be cycled’) of ‘meant’, with an extended definition.
22. Group of tsetse flies (6)
SESTET An anagram (‘flies’) of ‘tsetse’.
24. Border guard wants heroin (4)
EDGE [h]EDGE (‘guard’) without the H (‘wants heroin’).

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,319 by Qaos”

  1. Brilliant puzzle Qaos!

    There’s a nina around the grid. “Disguise creates men like them”, which can be parsed as:

    SECRETA (creates)* with GENTS (men), which is the answer at 8,19.

  2. Thanks Peter. All but four went virtually straight in. Never heard of the footballer so looked him up and that gave 11A, new to me. It still didn’t help with LOI in 3D which I greatly dislike as a clue; wee bit better maybe if I’d heard of ‘Relate.’ 8,19 was easy enough but I couldn’t be bothered with it after that.

  3. Thanks Steve B. The grid and setter shout nina, and still I missed it, because it starts in the SW corner. Shouldn’t be allowed.
    It certainly makes the puzzle a tour de force.

  4. @Steve B- this is a rare appearance from me but thanks for that last clinching bit. I was looking for a nina very early- and i thought “Thats certainly not Shakespeare or Dickens- it barely makes sense” Until it was pointed out- very neat indeed.

  5. If it’s any consolation, I first Googled the nina to see if it was a quote about spies 😉 When nothing came up, I decided to look at it a little more closely…

  6. Another crackingly good crossword today. I didn’t know ‘archivolt’ but deduced it from the wordplay. I’m the right vintage to remember the quick feet, skill and passion of Archie Gemmill and his contributions to the Scottish team when they had the chance to qualify for major championship finals.
    Many excellent clues, such as 22a, though I felt that 15a was a little lacking.
    I thought that I had seen the nina when the words appeared, but I had not discovered the full explanation, as described by Steve B, for which many thanks.

  7. Ninas shouldn’t be allowed to start in the SW corner, Peter? Setters have committed more heinous crimes …

    Thanks for blogging. I did in fact work out the perimeter message, which helped me finish, although I had no idea what it was about; so thanks to Steve B for explaining that.

    Fine puzzle by Qaos, with a nice twist, which I much enjoyed solving.

  8. This kind of of grid always suggests the possibility of a nina. It only takes a few answers to tell you if there isn’t one and if there is one a few answers can help with a few others. In this case I guessed DIS and E from GUIS. I got two or three more before ‘clued around this grid’ revealed the full brilliance of the whole thing. And the nina clue itself is also an extended definition.

  9. 11ac is one of the worst clues I have ever seen. The answer is obscure (un)general knowledge. Football is an area of little interest to many solvers. Gemmill’s moment of real glory was in 1978. He was not known as Arky and his leaping can never have been electrical. Dodgy homophone puns have a place in crosswords as they do in comedy but only if they are funny.

  10. I thought 3d was excellent! The construction justified the smuttiness in my book! Some nice surfaces e.g. 20a and 5d. A good start to the day.

  11. Well, I got it from the word play, but then I was around in the 70s, although I have never been the least bit interested in football, I have heard of said player. He was very famous.

    No quibbles from me today. Done and enjoyed. Very clever!

  12. Fine work from Qaos today. I was looking for some theme hidden in the clues for a while, until the nina hit me, which proved a help for the rest of the puzzle. Last in was actually 8,19, which I happily then had the full clue for.

    I did think that the reference to the footballer might be seen to some as obscure; indeed those of my generation might be more familiar with Archie’s son Scott, who played for Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough. But Archie is probably better known.

  13. Am I so attune to Paul that I thought 22d might be testes for flies as in the term for the male buttons (now a zipper) covering such things. It is almost too crude for this site. may someone forgive me.

  14. Thanks, PeterO

    Nice puzzle from Qaos, which I found unusually straightforward for one of his. I often miss Ninas, but 8,19 went in easily and ‘around this grid’ was as clear an indication as one is ever likely to get. Completing the Nina did help with the last few clues, though I failed to register its clever cryptic reading, assuming it to be quotation from somewhere or other (I should have noted the word ‘clued’ in 8,19).

    Peripheral Ninas should certainly be read clockwise, unless otherwise indicated, and start in one corner, but I see no reason why they should always have to start top left.

    I agree with rhotician that 11a is unsatisfactory, though Gemmill immediately suggested Archie. I did have to check the word, though. The problem is that neither half of the solution is pronounced as in ‘Archie vaults’. Off-centre vowels are just about acceptable in homophone clues, but wrong consonants are stretching things a bit far.

    Some excellent clues, however. I liked all the allusive ones, but my favourites were 10, 22, 23a and 3d (!)

  15. Thank you PeterO for explaining 11a and 18d. I got the answers, but I must have led a sheltered life as the clever bits of the clues meant nothing to me. Thanks also to Steve B for explaining the nina. Perhaps I would have looked below the surface if 8,19d had been left unclued.

    Thank you finally to Qaos, for showing that it’s possible to set a good puzzle without “slipper itself” contrivances.

  16. Thanks PeterO – I think you might have become subconsciously aware of the Nina, as you referred to it as ‘sparse and peripheral’ which describes pretty well!
    I didn’t know the slang meaning of 19dn, but no problem with the cereal, as I had some this morning.
    I concur in disliking 11a – Gemmill is only known to football fans, so Google or the like is needed to get Archie, which even so doesn’t sound like the required syllables.
    Otherwise Qaos has constructed an excellent puzzle.

  17. I parsed 24a slightly differently, with “during delivery” meaning “live” (as in, “The speech was broadcast live”, “I listened to the show live”). That left me a little grumpy, since that would mean that the clue was ambiguous as to whether it clued EVIL or LIVE (and it suggested the latter more strongly). I’m glad there’s another, unambiguous way of reading it.

  19. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. 11a left me scratching my head as I had never heard of the footballer.

    On 24a I realised that it was included backwards in delivery. The first matching word is VILE so I wrote that in. Eventually I realised that this would not do and looked at it again, getting EVIL. Both words fitted the definition of bad so I conclude that Qaos was somewhat sloppy here.

    On the words around the edge I started at the top left hand corner and looked clockwise. At first it made no sense then I tried starting with C from 2d. This was better but still obscure. Thanks to SteveB@1

  22. Enjoyed this a lot. The only unfamiliar word was my last in, ARCHIVOLT, and since Archie Gemmill was familiar from 1978 and Ally’s Tartan army (the first world cup I remember properly) that was easily guessable, so there were no real difficulties. I think special K = ketamine was learned from the Archers, but that story was a few years ago. I liked the perimeter message starting somewhere other than the usual top left corner – I knew it had to be there but it took me a while to work out what it was. But does it count as a nina when it is explicitly referenced in a clue?

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

  23. Thanks Qaos, great setting!

    Thanks PeterO & Steve B @1. For once I did see the NINA although I couldn’t make much sense of it. At first I got LIKE THE ‘M’ DISGUISE and thought the SECRET AGENT was Bond. 😕

    The bad homophone of ARCHIVOLTS is the sort of thing that Paul frequently does – often to great applause for being a bit outrageous.

    I liked TANDEM, which looks like an &lit to me, although no doubt someone will correct me.

  24. Thanks Qaos and PeterO
    In contrast to others I found this (apart from the nina) unusually uninspired for a Qaos crossword – indeed, the clues for ENTRANCE and CAIN are hoary old chestnuts, I think.

    I too am the right age for Gemmill to immediately suggest Archie, but the second part of this solution remained unentered for quite a while.

    What’s the Guardian guidelines on checking brand names in crosswords?

  25. TANDEM was originally a highbrow joke. One of its meanings in Latin is “at length”.

    I think that PeterO means by “extended definition” “nearly &lit”.

  26. To long suffering Notts County fans of a certain age, Archie Gemmill was also a well known member of Brian Clough’s Forest team (and his title winning team at Derby before that). Despite that, I have to agree with the quibbles about the dodgy homophone…

  27. Unusually for me, I’d worked out there was a nina from early on, and guessing spare letters helped with some of the later clues (as indeed it should) – eg TANDEM, EVIL (where I originally had the possible VILE).

    All hail to Qaos for setting the grid with only one obscure word. I did know of the footballer, but wasted precious time thinking it couldn’t be him, this is the Guardian. 11a last in as a result.

  28. In case there is any doubt, the only reason for my “shouldn’t be allowed” remark was that I did not see it. Having ground that crack into the dust, let us move on.
    muffin @ 25 – as I suggested in my preamble, I use the term “extended definition” to sidestep the argument of whether a clue is an &lit or a semi-&lit or a nearly-&lit. By the term I mean that the definition extends into, or is amplified by, all or part of the wordplay.

  29. Hi all,

    Thanks to everyone for the comments and to PeterO for the excellent blog.

    Given my love of ghost themes, I thought it would be fun to try and hide a second Nina within another. A Nininana, perhaps? Hugh quite rightly pointed out that for a mid-week puzzle, the average solver might appreciate a little extra nudge in finding the “hidden” clue. So I’m very impressed the first post here not only found it, but parsed it!

    Trailman @27 – thanks. You should have seen the dictionary crawl produced when the perimeter clue started from the NW corner! As my remit is fun, accessible puzzles, this would very have been a step too far.

    For 11a, blame my mis-reading of Chambers’ pronounciation guide.

    Best wishes,

    Qaos.

  30. Really quite enjoyed that, got the Nina early but bravo Qaos.
    hmm tricky Ninas? I’ve had worse this week on Monday.

  31. Thanks to PeterO for the blog and Qaos for dropping by. Was slowed down considerably by confidently entering HIDDEN AGENDA early on at 8d. ARCHIVOLTS was new to me. Great puzzle.

    Cheers…

  32. Sorry but I found this a little disappointing as I was hoping for the usual challenge from Qaos.

    It was obvious there was a nina but I’d completed the puzzle before I spotted it.

    Was I then supposed to look for it? Couldn’t be a***d as I believe they are there to help solve the grid so it was already redundant.

    I was surprised that the Gemmill reference was indeed Archie as I thought this a little obscure for “normal” solvers. Not for me however as I worked at Preston North End as a lad when Archie Gemmill was there. A pleasant chap as he always gave me a friendly nod of recognition if we passed each other. ( I only worked for the catering company!)

    A pleasant enough solve but far too easy.

    Thanks to PeterO and Qaos

  33. I enjoyed this puzzle, and considering he had to accommodate the nina Qaos did well to have included just the one relatively obscure answer in the puzzle. I was going to add to the chorus of disapproval about the incorrect homophone in the clue for ARCHIVOLTS, but as seeing as Qaos has already admitted that it was an error there seems little point. The SKIRMISH/DEUCES crossers were my last ones in.

  34. Great puzzle indeed.
    Didn’t miss the Nina but did miss the importance of it.

    ARCHIVOLTS (11ac) was our last one in [because of the second part, the ARCHI bit was ‘clear’] and since Qaos already apologised I will leave it there.

    22ac is SWEDEN but can anyone please explain this to me?
    I read it as “A to mine B” meaning B goes inside A, but it’s apparently the other way around.
    With a stretch or two one might read it in such a way that the solution can be justified but I’m not very happy to do that – unless, of course, I miss something.

    INFORMANTS (23ac) is really a terrific clue (for reasons the surfacian Qaos will understand).
    Surfacian? A new word? 🙂

  36. Thanks for the parsings. Learnt about nina just today. Happy I got as much as I did. That is all.

  37. Great puzzle. Thanks Q. Some quibbles posted above seem to be for sake of quibbling. Squibbling?

  38. @34
    I don’t see how “mine” in 22a could be read your way. Qaos’s way seems obvious and unambiguous.

  39. Thanks, rhotician (and Herb), 22ac is so clear now. With hindsight, I can’t understand anymore why we (plural!) saw it the other way around.

  42. Thanks Peter and Qaos

    As I am working backwards through the week’s puzzles, I was aware that there is a nina, so that helped me a bit, but I still failed to solve 11a, 23a, 25a. I solved but could not fully parse 18d, 24d.

    My favourites were 12a, 5d, 16d.

  43. Solving this 4 years later on, on my odyssey through the archive. I’m posting to celebrate the fact that it’s the first time I’ve ever spotted a Nina. I did it early, which helped me solve clues in the N and E. Like others, I assumed it to be a Shakespeare-or-similar quote and never sussed the cryptic significance. Really enjoyable crossword pitched at about my current level. Thanks Qaos for the puzzle and Peter for the blog.

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