Guardian 26,518 / Qaos

72 comments on “Guardian 26,518 / Qaos”

1. Thanks, Eileen. What a lovely puzzle! I spotted the Zodiac theme about half way through – I think ARCHER was the giveaway clue. It really helped with the LOI LIONFISH, realising that there were two still missing. [Actually, I thought there three to go until I spotted the split SCALES 🙂 ]

2. It is ninety ‘divided’ by a C that replaces the second N, so not an anagram. Back soon.

3. HH, you posted while I was already amending it, thanks to Gaufrid.

4. Thanks, Eileen and Qaos. I echo Neil’s sentiments.

   I too spotted the theme first time through, but from Scorpion, Goat and Crab, and it certainly helped with other solutions later. However, I couldn’t spot SCALES, so thanks for that – I did wonder if the WEIGHT in 11a was as near as it got.

5. Eileen, sorry, small point, should be British in 23a

6. Thanks, Dave – I have an optician’s appointment next Tuesday. 😉

7. Very enjoyable, although couldn’t get a few. Favourites were NICETY, GAIN WEIGHT, BULLET and TWINSETS. Many thanks to Qaos and Eileen.

8. Well it is Qaos, with whom I do not cryptically get on. But I think 11a is very good, I think 20a is good, and also 6d.

   15a not really precise enough for me, as the C directly replaces the second N; 23a ‘was’ is redundant; 25a ‘had’ – why the past tense?; 26a tenses confused, plus (for Eileen) it is a containment of ME; 1a tense of def, whi ‘got stung’ etc?; 2d weird sense; 3d is ‘sexy’ and anag-ind?; 4d is tap-water usually called ‘drink’?; 5d indicator tense seems wrong; 13d not very convincing CD; 16d ‘with’ changes the meaning of the def; 21d ‘internal mix-up’ isn’t right; 22d ‘split in two’? What happened to the LT part?

   As others say a lot of these errors are becoming house style at Guardian so who am I to moan, but we will lose the technical ability if we do not remark upon problems, I think. Anyway I’m on hoggyday next week so you won’t have to put up with me 😀

9. Brilliant work, Qaos. Lovely story of how you got to the theme, Eileen.

10. @hh

    If you posted like that every time then I don’t think anyone would get riled. But please don’t refer to stylistic points that you don’t like as “errors”!

    Hope you have a good holiday.

11. They are grammatical errors (for me) and not stylistic points, Mitz. If it were simply style I would shut right up. The ‘house style’ remark was intended as irony.

12. @8
    For God’s sake. Nouns (e.g. eruption in 5d) don’t have tenses (or do you actually think “obscures”, the other indicator, is the wrong tense??), and the imperative (e.g. rock and welcome in 26a), is a mood, not a tense – there can’t be a tense problem with two imperatives (they aren’t conjugated in any tense, but are effectively all present – Go! Come back! Speak! etc.). And yesterday you called an imperative an infinitive. You may have many qualities but expertise in English grammar is not one of them. You do not know enough to correct any of the Guardian setters with authority. Your comments, uncorrected, could only have a deleterious effect on technical standards. They are not all wrong, but you are more often wrong than any other regular commenter here. That is your problem – not pedantry, but a terrible habit of grammatical inaccuracy and error.

    And you are still occasionally just writing nonsense – “weird sense” for 2d? What does this mean? You don’t understand it? You think it’s too innovative? You think it’s disturbing? Why should anyone care about any of this? Any intelligent person can understand both readings (there are no grammatical or syntactical errors, nor do you suggest that there are), and clues are meant to be weird, in the sense of unusual and cryptic. The comment says nothing.

13. I solved this pretty quickly but the theme escaped me completely. Thanks, Eileen, for the enlightenment and the wider point about this setter’s usual MO. I’ll try to remember for next time.

    Thanks also to Qaos – very clever!

14. A whole week without our resident troll’s self-important ramblings. Deep joy. That’s just my opinion of course ……….

    I found this one much more accessible than some of Qaos’s previous puzzles but I’m afraid the theme passed me by completely, which is a shame because it was very well done. I really liked the clue for NICETY, and I finished in the SW with the LIONFISH/COCONUT OIL crossers.

15. Thanks Qaos and Eileen
    On the whole I found this easier than Qaos generally, but I took a long time to get CHASTE and EMERALDS and even longer to parse them!
    My sentiments exactly on GAIN WEIGHT, Eileen.

16. Oh, I missed the Zodiac, of course.

17. Can anyone explain the cryptic depths of 13d? Or alternatively explain why this clue has not been getting a pelting of the rotten CD fruit that normally flies on a Monday? (Apology pending if I have missed something.)

18. This puzzle was fantasteric, thanks and well done Qaos. Also thanks to Eileen for a very helpful blog.

    At first I thought the scheme was going to have something to do with ‘animals’, I got LION FISH, which belong to the SCORPION fish Family, then CRAB, then GOAT, and then the penny dropped.

    I liked GAIN WEIGHT, NICETY, SCORPION, TECHIE and CHASTE among others.

19. Thanks all
    Enjoyable. I liked 1ac,1d and19d.
    Not sure about rites are services?

20. Herb we are talking cryptic readings here which I hope you understand.

    26a imperative ‘rock’ implies the singular for ‘leads’ which is then used as plural by ‘welcome in’ for the inclusion ind, and so is grammatically inconsistent and an error.

    2d ‘Cut short sweet rolls up’ does not mean anything (to me).

    5d ‘eruption (fodder) obscures C’ is grammatically incorrect. The compiler is probably assuming double duty with the ‘at’.

    Yes I do make mistakes occasionally but were I a setter I would make sure that I did not. Hopefully 😀

21. Van Winkle re 13d I ‘pelted’ it! Well I said I found it unconvincing. I don’t know how anyone would be able to ‘get’ it.

22. RCWhiting @19

    Rite = service works for me: I could preface either with ‘marriage’ or ‘burial’, for instance.

23. HH – you do remind me a bit of critics of the great composers, who accused them of “errors” when they deviated from classical norms.

    Great puzzle Qaos, and lovely blog Eileen. The theme passed me by, but I did note the week’s them of frequent butters.

24. 2d, if you have a strip of toffee from which you cut an individual sweet, the cut end sometimes rolls up.

    13d, tropical fruit, COCONUT; juice (petroleum) OIL ?

25. I loved the theme! The ghost variety are always my favourite sort in that they don’t distract from the clues but provide a nice bonus at the end. Today ARCHER was my last one in, so I happily got to a complete grid before spotting it. I was quite worried about having to find a theme involving SCANDIUM; thankfully it didn’t come to pass. Thanks to Qaos and Eileen.

26. Thanks to Eileen for the blog.
    I missed the zodiac.

    When I came here and saw the theme answers highlighted in red I was happy until I saw BEARER. I have now checked against a list of [English] zodiac names. I’ll admit that Maiden=Virgin and so all the zodiac names are covered.
    I guess BEARER was Eileen getting over-enthusiastic with red colouring.

27. Please remind me: what is the classic Araucaria anagram of archer and chaste – I cannot make anything of that.

28. Thanks Qaos, nice setting to fit in all the signs.

    Thanks Eileen, I did wonder what ‘ES’ had to do with the signs until I realised it was the end of SCALES, doh! It must be the ‘flu addling my brain. 🙁

    The ‘improper’ Spoonerism was a bit Paulian and raised a smile. I didn’t think the clue for COCONUT OIL was very strong, but I particularly enjoyed ACCIDENTAL & CHASTE.

29. chas, it’s:

    Poetical scene with surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)

    Thanks to Eileen for the blog, and to Qaos for another great puzzle – I caught on to the theme early on from CRAB and GOAT, and for once it was actually helpful it solving some other clues.

30. chas @26, it’s WATER BEARER

31. I rarely comment as I am way below other’s solving proficiency, just enjoy the blog & parsing etc.
    My comment was to second an earlier post; O2 is fuel to trolls, bullies & attention -seekers..best ignored & not referred to..UKWUR
    Thanks Eileen, always enjoy your blogs & Qaos for the tricky but admirable puzzle.

32. Hi chas @ 26

    If you look at your completed grid, you’ll see that BEARER comes immediately below WATER, as I said in the blog, giving WATERBEARER = Aquarius.

33. Chas @27

    I can’t help [again] mentioning Io’s brilliant puzzle built around the anagram, on the anniversary of Araucaria’s death:

    http://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/11/26/financial-times-14789-by-io/

34. Sorry, Robi @30 – I’ve only just noticed we crossed. Get well soon!

    Hi nocomment55 @31

    Anyone can comment here – as you’ve noted. 😉 Come back soon!

35. CHASTE come immediately below MAIDEN, for those who have doubts!

36. Eileen @33

    Thank you for that link! I’m newly returned to cryptic puzzles after a long break, so I hadn’t seen that one before. Awesome! (Literally so – I’m in awe of anyone who can set a puzzle like that.]

    A question for anyone – what makes a theme a “ghost”?

37. I agree with all of Eileen’s positive comments about this one – very enjoyable and fairly painless – I did spot the right theme about halfway through and needed it to see LIONFISH, which was my penultimate answer – ISRAEL was last. Ticked SCANDIUM, GAIN WEIGHT, TWIN SETS and STEWARDS. As Eileen says, it has been another good week.

    Thanks to Qaos and Eileen

38. @jennyk

    A ghost theme is one that is not explicitly referred to in any of the clues, but becomes apparent (or not!) when you notice a set of themed solutions that form a group.

39. Thanks to Andrew@29. As soon as I shuffled the letters around I saw it again – and cursed my failing memory.

    Robi@30 thanks. In my laziness I had assumed that Aquarius = water. Now I look it up I see that BEARER is an integral part of the meaning. Apologies to Eileen for alleging she made a mistake. 🙁

40. I did about two-thirds of this last night (the puzzles drop at 6 p.m. Chicago time). Then I noticed I was bogged down, and also falling asleep. As I figured the two phenomena were related, I went to bed. This morning, I finished the remainder in about five minutes. Proving once again that “sleeping on it” works.

    I forgot to look for the theme–so when Eileen mentioned that there was one, I went back to look. Thanks for not telling us what it was right away!

    And now, my first, last, and only comment, ever, on the hedgehog’s habitual remarks: The odd little sentences that appear below the grid are clues. They are designed to clue you in. They are designed to do so in a hopefully clever way using wordplay, puns, amazing connections between disparate parts of the language and/or culture, or just a cheeky sense of humor. If they do that, they are successful. Did you eventually get the right answer? Yes? End of story! Who cares whether the right or wrong tense (or sense, or whatever) is used? What does “right” and “wrong” even mean when all the clue is supposed to do is clue?

41. Thank you, Mitz! @38

42. I finished this quite quickly, which is not always the case when I embark on a Qaos puzzle,but I didn’t see the theme. I hadn’t heard of LIONFISH but I couldn’t think of anything else that would fit although I initially wanted it to be STARFISH. Still quite a good puzzle.
    Thanks Qaos.

43. mrpenney @ 40 My feelings entirely – although I’m not sure I will be able resist the temptation to comment on HH’s comments in the future . . . You must have admirable self-restraint.

    In the meantime, have a good holiday, HH!

44. hedgehoggy @20

    In your interpretation of 26A, you seem to treat ‘rock leads’ as a nounal phrase, along the lines of “the result of rocking ‘leads'”. Would not a rendering as “the letters formed by rocking ‘leads'” be just as good, and have no grammatical problem? If there were a problem, it would be one of person or number, not tense. However, as Herb @12 points out, ‘rock’ and ‘welcome in’ can both be regarded as imperatives; if I were to use a form like this, I would put a comma after ‘leads’, but this is at most a question of Truth in Punctuation, a debatable stylistic point. All roads up, it seems to me that you are in error.
    From the tenor of many others posts, it would seem that there is a consensus that your litanies of complaints are a mixture of 1) your errors, 2) infractions against your ideas of good style, which, despite the occasional recent disclaimer that they are “just your opinions” (as if there were any doubt of that), are regularly presented as if the problem lay elsewhere (“error” today, “illegally’ on Wednesday) and 3) errors by the setter, genuine if generally pettifogging (in my opinion, of course).
    If you yourself were to use the precision that you seem to demand of setters, and cut down on 1) and 2), I think more people would be willing to give you a sympathetic ear on 3).
    “If it were simply style I would shut right up.” Again, you might take your own advice.

45. Hi drofle @43

    Believe me, if I can do it – and I have so far – anyone can. 😉

46. mrpenney @40 Spot on and well said. I wish I had been around after posting yesterday and been able to reply to you. Didn’t mean to ignore, just went out. No, I don’t think ‘grinch’ is yet an official word but it jolly well needs to be. The wretch in question manages to completely suck out the joy I used to get from coming here.

    Thank you, Eileen, an excellent blog – ashamed to say I finished it and missed the lot!

    Nice weekend, all.

47. Afternoon all!

    Many thanks for all the comments and to Eileen for the lovely blog. After my previous Fri 13th puzzle was deemed a little tricky, I’m glad you all found this one to be more accessible. We’ve certainly had a superb week so far (I can only comment on Mon-Thurs) and it’s been great to welcome two quality setters to the Guardian stable this last fortnight. Anyone taking bets for next week?

    Well done on getting the ghost theme. It wasn’t as obscure as previous ones, so I’m glad it added a bit of extra fun. You won’t believe how hard it was to get all 12 into the grid without upping the oscure-word count! In fact, just to explain why BRITISH SEA in in there, it was to have SEA GOAT for Capricorn, rather than just GOAT, since technically it’s half goat, half fish.

    hedgehoggy @8 I also appreciate that you put some positive comments first. After my post on Puck’s last puzzle, I hope you continue in this direction, as there’s much to be enjoyed and admired in all of my colleagues’ excellent work. So many different styles, playfulness and creativity from all of them. I’m very privileged to be setting alongside them, so I hope you continue to see more of the positives in every puzzle. I firmly believe if you can include one positive comment for every thing you don’t like, you’ll appreciate the puzzles all the more.

    Thanks again all and have a great weekend.

    Best wishes,

    Qaos

48. I couldn’t quite manage all of this (and partly that was because of lack of time), but the bits I did manage I enjoyed.

    Thank you for blogging, Eileen.

    Hedgehoggy, you are simply using this blog to become more self-important, and sadly we are indulging you. I think that we’ve had enough comments about your comments to know that you really don’t understand cryptics. Or maybe, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, post one of yours and we’ll all say what we think of it.

    In the meantime: two words, seven letters in total, three letter F’s. And enjoy your (hopefully extended) holiday.

    And thank you to Qaos for the puzzle.

49. Wonderful crossword from a personal favourite setter, lovely blog as ever, and as many have said – what a terrific week of crosswords!

    Every day we wake up and there is yet another little masterpiece waiting for us (..or most of us 😉 ).

    Eileen, I’m pretty sure that the cryptic implication of 13dn is that COCONUT OIL is very often used as a diesel substitute – hence “juice” as in ‘fuel’  {Chambers: JUICE – def 5: “…petrol, or other source of power (informal)” }.

50. Frankly, I think many of the comments about Hedgehoggy are more offensive than his about crosswords.

    Happy holiday, Hoggy…and Herb et al.

51. Thanks, Limeni @49 – I knew juice = fuel but not that coconut oil was so used.

    And many thanks to Qaos for dropping in – it’s always so good when setters do but some of them have got a bit fed up!

    As for bets on next week, I’ve been wishing for Anax over here for ages…

52. Eileen @51 – Anax in the Guardian, now that would be interesting! Is this becoming a regular guest spot?

    Thanks to Qaos for the explanations and for injecting a note of sanity. As for hedgehoggy, I hope you have a nice holiday, and I resolve to stop posting anything that may fan the flames! 😉

53. Cookie @50 Hear hear!

54. I too think Boss Hoggy gets more than his fair share of abuse.

    The thing is, he’s often spectacularly wrong, as today on 25 across, and is made to look rather bad without assistance from anybody else: so live and let live. Regardless we might allow that some of his opinions are worth having, and his postings are always good for a laugh. As long as one is not a compiler. Maybe I should shut up immediately, though I note that at least three have stepped into the breach to remonstrate, very politely, with the Erinaceous One.

    My congratulations to Qaos for Waynegate, inter alia, in a super puzzle.

55. The Guardian Weekly has just arrived.

    “Graffiti gets its grammar fixed. Vigilante editors in Ecuador are correcting the writing on the walls. Nocturnal pedantry…graffiti in Quito being corrected at night by the grammar guerrillas.”

    Now there is an idea, if Hoggy could work off some of his energy before tackling the daily crossword…

56. Thanks, Eileen.

    An enjoyable week’s puzzles, indeed – and this was no exception. Thanks Qaos – both for the entertainment of the crossword and for gracing us with your presence.

    Not much left to say at this late stage in the day. I sniggered over ‘Waynegate’ and was pleased to see a bit of chemistry (7a is an excellent clue, though Sc is a rather dull element). We do seem to have had rather a lot of goat/butters lately, haven’t we?

    I agree with others that this was at the easier end of this setter’s spectrum; perhaps this was the reason I failed to spot the ghost theme yet again. (Despite many encounters I still have blind spots around ghost themes and the fact the a U can be preceded by a Q).

    I just failed to see the signs – not the houses 🙂

57. [Hi Gervase
    Talking about “Houses”, I’ve just started reading “The Luminaries” be Eleanor Catton. Highly recommended (to me, not, as yet, by me), but the preamble seems all a bit astrological!]

58. K’s D @48 Marvelous! Thank you.

    Nice weekend.

59. My favourite this week so enjoyable. Thank you Eileen and Qaos. I also missed the zodiac theme which was very clever. Personal favourites were 16d 11ac and 3d.Enjoy your holiday hh what are we going to do without you.

60. Thanks Qaos and Eileen

    Had been focusing on FT puzzles this week more than Guardian ones, so have missed all of the good ‘uns so far – glad that I didn’t miss this one though ! Have the rest sitting there waiting …

    My hat off to Q for squeezing all of the signs symbols in (including the full description of WATER BEARER and SEA GOAT) – very well done!

    Like others, I did find this a bit easier than normal from this setter, but certainly none the worse for that – left me fresh enough to actually find the theme this time, although I lazily didn’t spot all 12.

    It’s strange how some can be so focused on the minutiae to not appreciate the overall mastery of a work like this!

61. Do we know Hoggy is male?

62. Do we care?

63. Just brilliant – entertaining and satisfying all round, as I’m sure Qaos is/was on having devised and derived it. Missed the theme.
    Thank you Eileen

64. Re 62

    That was unworthy – sorry. 🙁

65. Although I enjoyed this I can’t be as enthusiastic as others seem to be.

    I didn’t particularly like 11A as it was particularly easy and the “joke” wasn’t really worth the sacrifice! I also found LIONFISH a bit iffy as was COCONUT OIL. I also ask the same question as HH about 22d. “What happened to the “LT” in BELT.

    All in all a little looser than normal for Qaos.

    Of course I didn’t see the theme but as usual I wasn’t looking.

    Thanks to Eileen and Qaos

66. We did this after a day spent researching and ordering a new washing machine and I’m afraid, although we enjoyed it very much, the theme completely passed us by. I’m so glad that I came here to find your blog Eileen and all the explanations. Thanks to you and to Qaos.

    PS Mum, who will be 88 next week, was chuffed to solve some of the clues and I, returned from Paris for the weekend (including Mother’s Day), was too. We’re hoping we manage the Prize tomorrow before I leave again on Tuesday.

67. It’s very nice to see you back, George. Have a happy Mothering Sunday! 😉

    I’ve had to have another go at this because three times the captcha refused to accept 2 x 7 = 14 ?? Here’s hoping that 5×1=5 is more straightforward for both of us. 😉

68. Bingo! 😉

69. Just when I thought ‘that Tramp puzzle was quite brilliant’, Qaos stunned with a wonderful puzzle, one with a lightness of touch that I like very much.

    Looking at hedgehoggy’s objections, I think this is one of those occasions that he just goes too far. It feels as if (s)he is looking for ‘errors’, as if that is the first thing we should do when solving a crossword.
    That said, I questioned the use of ‘welcome in’ too. However, PeterO’s view that this may also be an imperative (just like ‘Rock’) is 100% valid.
    I don’t know how Qaos should have done it better but ‘eruption’ as a nounal anagram indicator in front of the fodder does indeed not feel comfortable here. But if one accepts it, the use of ‘obscures’ is perfectly all right.
    What happens in 22d is the only thing that I agree about with hedgehoggy. ‘belt split in two’ does not mean ‘throw LT away’. I did think of ‘rear damaged’ doing double duty as it might perhaps also indicate to throw the last bit of ‘belt’ away.
    And, yes, I think 20ac and 13d are relatively weak but, gee, what remains is a corker of a puzzle.

    My favourites were 10ac (marvellous), 11ac (a spoonerism with a surface that made me smile) and 16d (great find).
    I was also extremely pleased with Qaos cluing EC the right way in 6d: ‘the City’. So many setters recently wrote ‘the city’ or just ‘city’.
    And I haven’t even mentioned the ghost theme (which, BTW, was one we had before if my memory serves me well).
    Oh, I almost forgot 7ac (SCANDIUM), another highlight.
    Perhaps, using ‘dance’ instead of ‘dancing’ would have been even better, but soit (as the French say).

    Thanks Eileen for your blog (but do have another look at 26ac).

    Thanks also to Qaos for providing such delight.

70. Sil (apologies for late hour): I do agree that 5d is rather infelicitous, though I didn’t complain as the surface is fine, and I do love a good surface. A better way to cast the clue might be: ‘At Iceland eruption obscures heart of glacier’. For me, anyway, ‘eruption’ is good enough as a stand alone anagrind without the need for ‘unexpected’. But some people are very precious about anagram indicators…..

71. But, Gervase we need ‘unexpected’ as it is the definition!
    And you’re right, a very nice surface.

72. I’m AT Wimbledon for the tennis, but IN Wimbledon for the craft market. Maybe the frozen food store was the one to go for here!

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