Guardian 26,390 – Qaos

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Another puzzle where I made a slow start, but then steady progress to the end. Looking back there’s nothing too difficult here, but a nice variety of clues. Thanks to the setter.

I’m always on the lookout for a “ghost theme” with Qaos, and despite my ignorance of the game I spotted that the grid is full of cricketers: in fact I think all England test match players, as verified by this list. I’ve marked the ones I found with an asterisk, but it’s quite possible I’ve missed some. (I look forward to the test debut of opening partnership Moonphase Herbivore and “Fingers” Antiphon in a future Ashes series)

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. STRAUSS* Composer’s skill turns into knowledge (7)
Reverse of ART in SUSS (I only knew this as in “suss out”, but apparently it can also be a noun meaning knowledge). Take your pick of a number of composers, and this is also the first of our cricketers
5. BOYCOTT* Refuse to deal with lad’s company on Tuesdays (7)
BOY + CO + T +T – I think it was this name that first tipped me off to the theme
10. DEXTER* T-rex evolved after dinosaurs’ extinction — originally right? (6)
D[inosaurs’] E[xtinction] (“originally”) + T-REX*
11. LONDONER City dweller left on the day Nero fiddled (8)
L + ON D + NERO*
12. ALI* Clay unearthed in Halifax (3)
Hidden in hALIfax – reference to Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali
13. BAILEY* Director admits dreadful lie to court (6)
LIE* in BAY (Michael Bay, film director) – a court, as in the Old Bailey, for example
14. NUMBERED Two thirds of students order wine, it’s reckoned (8)
NU[S] (National Union of Students) + MBE + RED [wine]
15. LEVER* Crank puts both hands around girl (5)
EVE in L + R
16. MOONPHASE Perhaps waxing second leg hurt heaps (9)
MO (moment, second) + ON (leg side in cricket) + HEAPS*
19. ABEYANCES A governor bends cane at start of school suspensions (9)
A BEY + CANE* + S[chool]
21. CROFT* Farm rejected portion not for consumption (5)
Hidden in reverse of noT FOR Consumption
24. STARFISH Spooner’s somewhat quick marine creature (8)
Spoonerism (at least to some of us..) of “fastish”
26. ONIONS* Lit by current, Edison half designed bulbs (6)
ON (lit) + I (symbol for electric current) + [edi]SON*
27. OLD* Early typeface lacks breadth (3)
BOLD less B, though I think “bold” for “typeface” is a bit loose
28. CHOO-CHOO Train to eat and eat, say (4-4)
Homophone of “chew chew”
29. STOKES* Feeds pets right away (6)
STROKES less R (crossing with the rather similar 22d)
30. PRISONS In afterthought, no teacher backs places for detention (7)
(NO SIR)< in PS
31. INCENSE Batting, then caught! Cook seen to drive up the wall (7)
IN (batting) + C + SEEN* – the only explicit reference to cricket in the clues, I think
Down
2. TEENAGE Supporter, eg one retired after N Young (7)
TEE + N + (E.G. A)<
3. ARTILLERY They’re literally fired explosively off field (9)
LITERALLY*. &lit, though with perhaps excessive verbiage in the cryptic reading to be perfect. The “field” is a battlefield. I was puzzled by the use of “they”, but the first definition in Chambers is “offensive weapons of war”. Oops, I missed the point here: the anagram is of LITERALLY FIRED minus FIELD, so there’s no “excessive verbiage”
4. SPRAYS Soprano begs for flower arrangements (6)
S + PRAYS
6. ORNAMENT Tenor surprised to receive war decoration (8)
[Viet]NAM in TENOR*
7. CLOSE* Near the end, about to be defeated (5)
C (about) + LOSE, and two definitions
8. TEETERS Hesitates to give direction to street party (7)
E in STREET*
9. SLING ONE’S HOOK Go off and fish? (5,4,4)
Double definition
17. HERBIVORE Basil, say, one against hotel regularly taking recipe for salad eater? (9)
HERB (Basil is one) +I V[ersus] + R in [h]O[t]E[l], with a surface reference to Fawlty Towers, particularly the episode where a loud-mouthed American guest asks for Waldorf salad, and is told by the bemused Basil that “I think we’re just out of Waldorfs”
18. ANTIPHON One Direction not hip playing church music (8)
A N[orth] + (NOT HIP)*
20. BUTCHER* Sonny was an angel, _____’s a killer (7)
BUT CHER – reference to the singing partnership of Sonny and Cher
22. FINGERS Touches skirts, one hand moving lower (7)
FRINGES (skirts) with the R moved down
23. GODSON American thug pinches Nintendo console for child (6)
DS (a Nintendo games console) in GOON
25. ROOTS Fundamental notes, like 4 and 8 of 64? (5)
4 and 8 are respectively the cube root and square root of 64. There are two players called Root in the list, should perhaps this answer should have two asterisks..

71 comments on “Guardian 26,390 – Qaos”

  1. Thanks Qaos and Andrew
    I normally find Qaos an enjoyable and challenging compiler, but for some reason, despite its cleverness, I didn’t particularly enjoy this one. I didn’t know BAY or (Nintendo) DS, so had to guess these. I’m also always a little irritated by constructions like 9d, where you have to wait for crossers before deciding whether the middle word is ONES or YOUR.
    I’m not a fan of Spooner clues in general, and this one was especially awful!
    BUTCHER raised a smile.

  3. Thanks Andrew. I missed the cricketers, and didn’t know 9D: guessed ‘fling’ for the first word. Didn’t like 27A, and guessed ‘odd.’ The Spooner probably only works uniformly down under, so I won’t join what ought to be a general complaint on that one But MOONPHASE was nice.

  4. Thanks, Andrew.

    Well, I certainly enjoyed this Qaos puzzle as much as usual – an excellent example of an unobtrusive theme, cleverly worked into the answers.

    I was chuffed to recognise some of the cricketers [Boycott, Dexter, Close, Bailey – pity not to see Gower [peninsula?] as my son used to deliver his newspaper – but had no idea there were so many. I was also chuffed to recognise leg=on straightaway this time in 16ac – and I loved the surface of the clue!

    Favourite clues, for surfaces and /or constructions: 11ac, 14ac, 18ac, 31ac, 17dn, 20dn.

    Many thanks, Qaos, for the fun – I really enjoyed it.

  7. endwether @6 I am still confused by ARTILLERY, “literally” has 3 L’s but only 1 R, and as Gareth @5 asks how does L change to R ? I don’t understand your explanation, if it is one.

  11. Thanks Qaos and Andrew, I enjoyed the puzzle and blog, also thanks endwether @6 and Russ Bee @9.

    I recognised quite a few of the cricketers from when I was in England 50 years ago. The school I was sent to had cricket equipment, but no longer played the game, and I was furious.

    Liked MOONPHASE and NUMBERED, and HERBIVORE made me smile, Sybil (Prunella Scales) was at the same school, a few forms above me.

  12. Thanks Qaos for some beautifully crafted clues and to Andrew for a good blog.

    I missed the cricket theme entirely – in my school you either played cricket or did athletics in the summer. You might be able to guess which one I did – the fastish one. 😉

    Great clues for FINGERS and HERBIVORES.

  14. Thank you Qaos and Andrew. Very enjoyable puzzle.
    Qaos’s surfaces are often amusing vignettes – 4 together with 6, for example.
    Liked 20, too, but feel something’s gone over my head. Why ‘angel’?

  15. SLING YOUR HOOK was second in, only later did I find that it was SLING ONE’S HOOK. Not a fair clue if it can’t be solved by itself, I think, especially when the “YOUR” variant is presumably a lot more common.

    Other than than, no issues. Nice theme which I completely missed.

  16. Thanks Qaos and Andrew

    Really enjoyed this … the great variety of clue types that we’ve become accustomed to, including the increasingly-popular complex anagram and his trademark ghost theme (which I did spot for a change).

    Never heard of SLING ONE’S HOOK before, but it was very gettable once hook fell out. Do like the clues such as 20d.

    Last one in was the clever hidden answer in CROFT – took ages to finally see it – was initially working with CRAFT – rejected ARC (portion) but struggled to make FT equate to ‘not for consumption’!

  17. Thanks, Andrew.

    Well constructed puzzle. I found this rather easier than the average Qaos, despite not spotting the cricketers (my usual ‘wood and trees’ problem).

    I also put ARTILLERY for 3d thinking that it was just a straight anagram of ‘literally’ – I didn’t bother to check the letters. Nice &lit, though I would have preferred ‘it’s’ to ‘they’re’ in the clue.

    A lot of good things here (though I can’t say I liked the Spooner). Favourites were 11a (‘fiddled’ is a nice anagrind to accompany ‘Nero’), 16a (great surface), 20d (I always enjoy antonymic clues) and 21a (LOI for me – a well disguised ‘hidden’ clue).

  18. Morning all and thank you Andrew – lots I needed you for here.

    Not my cup of tea today, I had a problem with a few even though I wrote them in.

    “Go off and fish” for me yields “Sling your hook” not ” Sling ones hook”.

    And what is “angel” doing in the Sonny & Cher clue, and where are the “notes” in 25d.

    …I’ll get my coat.

  19. I’m definitely a Qaos fan and enjoyed every single clue, Spoonerism and homophone included. Great surfaces and great variety, so I’ve got nothing else to wish for.

    I’ve been indoctrinated by the Times to write ONE’S instead of YOUR by default, so I don’t have any objection there either.

  21. A really dreadful puzzle with so many grammatical errors in the clues – and so clumsy! Sorry, but this is not really up to a professional standard, is it?

  26. @hedgehoggy 25

    not a “really bad pun” but a puerile and gratuitously offensive piece of bilious garbage. Your earlier post wasn’t all that smart, either.
    His name was David Hookes, by the way.

    thanks to Qaos for a really nice puzzle, and to Andrew for the blog

  27. Re 9dn:

    There’s always discussion about ‘your / one’s’ in this type of clue and I seem to remember that, as Cyborg says @19, ‘one’s’ has been put forward as the preferred option.

    [William @18 – if you think of it as ‘[to] go off’ – infinitive, rather than imperative – ‘one’s’ makes perfect sense.]

    hedgehoggy @21 – from 15² Site Policy:
    “Any criticism of a puzzle or clue must be valid, constructive and presented in a polite manner. The reason for any dissatisfaction should be clearly indicated.”
    Would you care to clarify ‘so many grammatical errors in the clues – and so clumsy!’

  28. The Australian cricketer was Hookes rather than Hook wasn’t he? Unless there was another…

    Shame there’s no wicketkeeper I can see in the list or it could be a decent team.

  29. Hi Eileen

    I do understand, but I wouldn’t want to effectively reblog. Or split the infinitive, really. But if you want me to…!

  31. endwether @6, just realised my post @7 looks horribly rude, it was not meant to be, and I apologise. Had cricket on the brain, and was wondering if there was such a term as ‘off field’ where the ball was considered to go from L to R (or from R to L as the case may be), so was not sure if your post was an explanation, or a pointing out of something that was common knowledge.

  32. Okay, I’ve been challenged, so let’s start with 1 across, and why not!

    Composer’s skill turns into knowledge (7)

    What function does the apostrophe serve here? If it’s IS or HAS, there is an immediate and obvious grammatical fault in both surface and cryptic reading. Equally, the possessive produces a problem. So it’s just plain wrong, I’m afraid. Also, SUSS as a noun isn’t ‘knowledge’, it is ‘social astuteness’. Wrong again, or at the very least (if it is a Chambers entry that I have not seen) obscure beyond belief in a daily puzzle.

    And I would be doing this for every clue I deem incorrect, which I think would be very rude indeed! But if you want me to…!

  33. Despite knowing all the cricketers and seeing the theme (at least BUTCHER and LEVER) fairly early I found this surprisingly tough to finish, especially the SE corner – the Durham boys ONIONS and STOKES were the last two in. All good fun – I liked ALI (took me ages to think of the right Clay), BUTCHER and DEXTER. I did groan when I saw STARFISH, but I think that’s forgivable. Would have been nice to see a Notts player in the squad (BROAD or maybe FRENCH, who would solve the wicketkeeping position)…

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

  34. hedgehoggy @32 – from Chambers 2014 edition (electronic)

    suss or sus (slang)
    transitive verb
    1. (often with out) to investigate
    …
    noun
    1. Knowledge, awareness

    Thanks for the blog Andrew and to Qaos for a very enjoyable puzzle. Some very amusing surfaces too, for example 17d. In around 30 years of crossword solving I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Guardian use your instead of one’s so I didn’t have a problem with that one.

  35. @hedgehoggy

    Surely it’s just ‘possessive’ for the surface reading, and for the cryptic reading it is : A composer IS [i.e. is made up of the following elements] a word for ‘skill’ turning in a word for ‘knowledge’.

    I can’t see any problem, or any need to be so critical of a highly skilful and fun crossword.

    Incidentally type “Suss definition” into google, and the second definition is :

    noun
    1.
    knowledge or awareness of a specified kind.
    “his lack of business suss”

  36. Personally I found this an utterly lovely crossword from start to finish. The partial anagrams were beautifully disguised (LONDONER was a particular favourite), and it also had that rare thing…a Hidden Word clue that actually hid for a while!

    Big thanks to Qaos for a lovely solve, and Andrew for another fine blog.

    As a huge cricket fan I blush hotly at missing the theme altogether. But Andrew, I think you can star ROOTS as well, as there was Fred Root in 1926 (!) and of course everyone’s teenage daughter’s favourite cricketer playing today (whom even Eileen could name 😉 ).

  37. Well, that’s still grammatically wrong Limeni: IS in the cryptic reading will cause indicators to take an incompatible tense.

    I take the Chambers (weird dictionary) def comment on the chin though!

    But my point for Eileen is that this is just one clue. Would she really want me to do them all? Isn’t it better just to say I found it all badly written? And I always do say when I think the work is good, don’t I?

  38. I enjoyed the puzzle, put “your” in at first, and missed the cricketing link entirely (probably because “Boycott” went in second from last). Thought we might have had the full SATB though …

  39. Thanks for the elucidation, hedgehoggy @32.

    My point s that to describe a puzzle as ‘really dreadful’ and ‘not up to professional standard’, without any substantiation, is not my idea of being polite.

    As a yardstick, I always wonder if the commenter would be happy to say the same thing to a setter’s face, at one of our Sloggers and Betters gatherings, for instance. [But the less complimentary people never seem to come. 😉 ]

    Qaos is one of the setters who do read this blog and often contributes. I know several who have understandably stopped doing so, which is a pity.

  40. Well, I thought you needed clarification on the grammar! Still, thanks for getting back. Really, I don’t think this is a good enough standard, however.

  41. Eileen @27

    [William @18 – if you think of it as ‘[to] go off’ – infinitive, rather than imperative – ‘one’s’ makes perfect sense.]

    Yes, I see what you mean, (sort of).

    Thank you, Eileen.

  42. Eileen above, good point. Does one have to be invited to Sloggers & Betters? I’ve often thought I’d like to contribute.

  43. I see no issue with the grammar. Certainly in the example @32, it’s grammatically correct in its surface. Cryptically, a precise definition, a fair subsidiary indication, so aside from the ‘s, it seems quite Ximenean.

  44. Hi William @43

    *Everyone* is invited to Sloggers and Betters!! [See the ‘York S and B’ Announcement at the top of this page from John Henderson [Enigmatist et al].

    I’m just gutted that I’m not able to go this time, as I’d booked a holiday a few days before the announcement. Do go – you’ll have a brilliant tme! 😉

  45. Love the preamble, Andrew!

    For the first time I got the theme but not till I got to the Blessed Geoffery three quarters of the way through!

    I enjoyed the puzzle but my native accent refuses to succumb to the Spoonerism! Chuckled at Sonny and Cher, and really liked Moonphase.

    Thx both

  47. Eileen @44 Many thanks. Too close to the date on this occasion but I’ll keep my eye open for it in the future. Are they always ‘oop north’?

  48.      Composer’s skill turns into knowledge (7)

    The surface with a possessive ‘s reads as

         The ‘skill’ of the ‘composer’ becomes ‘knowledge’.

    You are studying A Level Musical Analysis, and the ‘skill’ used by Bach in writing his chorale harmonisations has now become ‘knowledge’ which you have to acquire. It makes perfect grammatical sense.

  49. Andrew, there was a Spooner in 1905, and Dick Spooner in 1951…. but perhaps these don’t count being in the clue.
    Although I know nothing about cricket, I know a lot of the names from the 1950 period as my father would always listen to the Test Matches on the wireless.

  50. Thanks all
    For heaven’s sake. I think hedgehoggy is wrong on most counts and is showing enormous glugs of pedantry.
    BUT if he wants to say it,let him, and if the compiler is upset, hard luck, As I have often said there is no criticism of his person just his published piece of journalism.
    I enjoyed today’ effort but couldn’t parse bailey, fingers and doubt the Spoonerism.

  51. Hi William @47

    Initially they were always in London and then three years or so ago we thought we’d try one in Derby. Between forty and fifty people, including about a dozen setters, came and, since then, there have been three more meets in Derby and others in Birmiingham, Manchester and Sheffield. And, of course, the London ones continue, coinciding with the Times Setters’ Lunch and the Times Crossword Competition.

    If you scroll down under Announcements on the left hand side of this page, you’ll find reports [and photos] of these occasions. Announcements about future events will always appear at the head of this page initially. Hope to see you soon. 😉

  53. Apart from add yet further traffic about the difference between surfaces and cryptic readings! But better not to. I would have preferred not to add anything else re specifics on clues here, but was asked to, and look what has happened. Facepalm! as they say elsewhere.

  54. One last thing…pace RCWhiting 🙂 …

    @hedgehoggy, the problem is, you haven’t explained what it is that you find ungrammatical.

    If you’re talking about the cryptic reading of the clue, isn’t it perfectly normal in a crossword for the Definition section to be separated from the wordplay with ‘s ?

    It just means “this word [Strauss=Composer] IS made by the following cryptic indication…”

    In this case

         skill turns into knowledge (7)

         [a synonym for] ‘skill’ reverses into [a synonym for] ‘knowledge’.

    I think it’s just a normal clue-writing convention.

  56. I find ‘bold’ for type-face to be exact. cf italic, condensed, et al.

    Font is a family of typefaces in various sizes.

  57. I quite enjoyed this but I puzzled for a long time over FINGERS,which,once the parsing is explained,is absurdly easy. I loved the “spoonerism” but I can understand those who didn’t.
    I was going to say I’d missed hedgehoggy but—–
    Thanks Qaos

  58. Andrew , in fact all the names in the clues, except for one, are/were Test Cricketers. Several Spooners, Youngs and Cooks are on your list, then there is Basil d’Oliviera, a South African who played for England, Peter Nero, for the West Indies, Sonny Ramadhin, another for the West Indies…. the only one who seems not to be is Edison, but his inventions contributed to mass communications allowing Test Matches to be broadcast.

  60. I didn’t see the theme, but I’ve never heard of any of the cricketers concerned so I’m not surprised.

    Can someone explain the Spoonerism, please – I guess it in the end from the crossing clues and the marine animal bit.

  61. Alastair @ 60, the Spoonerism switches the “st” and the “f” in “fastish” (fast-ish, i.e., somewhat quick) to create – at least in certain British pronunciations – “starfish” (marine creature).

  65. Lovely puzzle – just popped in to see why the thread is so long.

    Generally easiest to let deliveries from the likes of hedgehoggy go through to the keeper.

    It is meaningless to speak of clues being ungrammatical unless one firstly defines one’s favoured grammar; even within the Ximenean heresy there are many variations.

    The notion that the word grammar can take the plural often comes as a surprise to the less well-tutored.

  66. Thanks for popping in Jolly. I’ve just popped in too!

    Fact is, there is no crosswording grammar, Ximenean or otherwise: only correct grammar that we (most of us anyway) associate with the form English currently takes. Ximenes, it seems, favoured this correctness, and for some reason his name is now associated with any compiler who understands English properly. Oh how these elitists must vex the hoi swaggoi.

    To me, over time, the whole thing’s become pretty bloody obvious really.

  67. Thanks to Eileen, ClaireS, Limeni and JollySwagman for (trying) to put hedgehoggy right. He also defamed this puzzle on the Indy blog!
    I enjoyed this accomplished crossword. Oh, and I’m one who quite unashamedly relishes all Spoonerisms – I guess it’s the schoolboy in me!
    Thanks to S & B
    (I’ve had 1 – ? = zero twice running. Surely I can claim some prize?)

  68. Andrew’s last cooments in the introduction intrducing “Fingers” Antiphon could have been inspired the South African team of the early 1930s, which included the exotically named Xenophon Balaskas, not to mention the famous Norwegian Eiulf “Buster” Nupen…

  69. I think hedgehoggy has basically missed the point…or missed the basic point, whichever he thinks is correct.

  70. How am I ‘put right’? here, exactly, William? Is it that some people can put forward their view while others can’t or something?

    I’m not a sheep, and probably won’t share the ‘normal’ view, so as they say in the Stonewall ad, get over it!

    Just to be clear, I was asked to clarify or expand my comment, that’s what led to your annoyance, so not really my fault, if that’s the right word.

  71. @WFP – always glad to oblige.

    Why is it that I’m starting to get that sense of déja vu all over again?

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