The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26565.
An extremely inventive offering for UK Election Day, which I found quite difficult.The excellent 17D COMRADE should probably not have been the last one in, but it was. Thanks Boatman.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STAR PUPIL |
Right to Left (margin ahead), despicable types are top of the class (4,5)
A reversal (‘right to left’) of LIP (‘margin’) plus UP (‘ahead’) plus RATS (‘despicable types’). It might take a little special pleading to justify the plural ‘are’ – referencing the components of the reverse charade, perhaps? |
| 6,18 | SOUP KITCHEN |
UKIP notches up gains: a sign of economic failure (4,7)
An anagram (‘up’?) of ‘UKIP notches’. |
| 8 | UNVARIED |
Tedious “nu” clue (8)
Wordplay in the answer – UN VARIED gives ‘nu’. |
| 9 | ORIGMA |
Small bird made of folded paper: one cut and tail twitching (6)
ORIGAMI (‘folded paper’) with the final I removed (‘one cut’) and the previous pair of letters switched (‘tail twitching’). No, I had not heard of the rock warbler of New South Wales either. It twitches its tail too.
|
| 10 | UPSHOT |
Emergency power with feverish result (6)
A charade of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply, ’emergency power’) plus HOT (‘feverish’). |
| 11 | ALSO-RANS |
Losing candidates present as players wearing sweaters (4-4)
An envelope (‘wearing’) of LSO (London Symphony Orchestra, ‘players’; the orchestra made a similar appearance in Everyman 3,576) in ARANS (‘sweaters’). |
| 12 | USED UP |
What’s Left? None of Democratic Unionists follow American election primary (4,2)
A charade of US (‘American’) plus E (‘Election primarily’) plus DUP (Democratic Unionist Party, ‘Democratic Unionists’). |
| 15 | STAMP ACT |
Imposition of tax covers returning Alliance (5,3)
A charade of STAM, a reversal (‘returning’) of MATS (‘covers’) plus PACT (‘Alliance’). |
| 16 | OLD CROCK |
Decrepit vehicle for Spooner’s emotionless style of music (3,5)
A Spoonerism for COLD ROCK (’emotionless style of music’). |
| 19 | PRAYED |
Plaid Cymru, oddly muddled about England, sought help (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of E (‘England’) in PRAYD, an anagram (‘muddled’) of PADYR, the odd letters (‘oddly’) of ‘PlAiD cYmRu’ |
| 21 | DRUMBEAT |
Tattoo of devil’s head and spirit done in … (8)
A charade of D (‘Devil’s head’) plus RUM (‘spirit’) plus BEAT (‘done in’ in the sense of exhausted). |
| 22 | VERIFY |
… support of truly embracing condition (6)
An envelope (’embracing’) of IF (‘condition’) in VERY (‘truly’). |
| 24 | DETAIL |
Remove rump of Respect? (6)
DE-TAIL is ‘remove rump’; Chambers gives “a particular” for ‘respect’, which would seem to fit. |
| 25 | HATCHING |
Several fine lines are emerging (8)
Double definition. |
| 26,3 | BLUEPRINT |
Plan for Conservative and Unionist controlled media at one time … (9)
A charade of BLUE (‘Conservative’) plus PRINT (‘Unionist controlled media at on time’). |
| 27 | GENERATES |
… causes upset in Green seat (9)
An anagram (‘upset’) of ‘Green seat’. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SUNUP |
Dawn for Scottish Nationalists, embracing Union once again? (5)
A double envelope (’embracing’ and ‘once again’) of U (‘Union’) – both times – in SNP (‘Scottish Nationalists’) |
| 2 | ABASHED |
A party, eroded Left and Right, is embarrassed (7)
A charade of ‘a’ plus BASH (‘party’) plus ED (‘ErodeD left and right’). |
| 3 |
See 26
|
|
| 4 | PEDLARS |
SDLP are wrongly depicted as hawkers (7)
An anagram (‘wrongly’) of ‘SDLP are’. |
| 5 | LOOK SHARP |
Quick cut garners approval before rash changes (4,5)
An envelope (‘garners’) of OK (‘approval’) plus SHAR, an anagram (‘changes’) of ‘rash’ in LOP (‘cut’). |
| 6 | STIRRUP |
Old Labour supporter to cause trouble taking on Right (7)
An envelope (‘taking on’) of R (‘Right’) in STIR UP (’cause trouble’). The ‘Labour’ – misleading capital – is childbirth; the World Health Organisation no longer recommends the use of stirrups in labour, hence the ‘old’. |
| 7 | UNMANACLE |
Release humanity, first held by moneylender (9)
An envelope (‘held by’) of MAN (‘humanity’) plus A (‘first’) in UNCLE (‘moneylender’; colloquial name for a pawnbroker). |
| 13 | SOLAR CELL |
Source of power for free spirit: a deal, I hear? (5,4)
A homophone (‘I hear’) of SOUL (‘free spirit’) plus ‘a’ plus SELL (‘deal’). |
| 14 | PHONE PLUG |
In the pub, Boatman? Drink up and make a connection for talking (5,4)
A charade of PH (Public House, ‘pub’) plus ONE (the impersonal personal pronoun, ‘Boatman’) plus PLUG, a reversal (‘up’) of GULP (‘drink’). |
| 17 | COMRADE |
Liberal Democrat has no time for fellow socialist (7)
An anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘democra[t]’ without the T (‘has no time’). |
| 18 |
See 6 across
|
|
| 20 | AIR SHOT |
Broadcast’s topical but it fails to connect (3,4)
A charade of AIR’S (‘broadcast’s’) plus HOT (‘topical’) |
| 22 | VOTER |
Today you can be awkward — revolt, ejecting head of legislature (5)
An anagram (‘can be awkward’) of ‘revo[l]t’, without the L (‘ejecting head of Legislature’), with an extended definition. |
| 23 | FINES |
Sinn Fein rejects House and forfeits result (5)
An anagram (‘result’?) of ‘S[inn] Fein’ without INN (‘rejects House’). |
Thanks PeterO and Boatman. Enjoyed this one. Needed parsing help with also-rans and phone plug. Liked 5d, 8a and 17d.
@PeterO. There is a typo in 6d ‘STIR UP’ and not STIP UP.
Thanks Peter. Shouldn’t whinge because I galumphed through this to the end, on the whole happily. But I had a slew of questionmarks, most of which you have resolved – on DETAIL=respect, on the 12A DUP, on the 11A ‘arans’, on 26,3’s print being a union thing, on 7D’s ‘man A’, the 13D homophone etcetera. Not nearly as neat and tidy as the puzzles that really please.
Double anagram time, green seat also gives teenagers – who cause a lot of upset in this house; UKIP notches also gives pink touches, which doesn’t answer the clue but for some reason the juxtaposition of this and Farage made me smile, or am I the only one that finds him quite camp?
Also could somebody explain to me how you get PRINT from ‘Unionist controlled media at one time’. I am aware that at one time printing was one of the most highly unionised closed shops, however this doesn’t seem to fit that, what am I missing?
Good week with Nutmeg Imogen and Boatman in a row. You know with all three you will struggle and smile in equal measures. One question: Why is “Margin ahead” in brackets?
Thanks PeterO.
I found this easier than most Boatmans, but a little disappointing, as typified by 8ac; this had the air of something exciting, but it turned out to be just varied for “un”.
I had DRUMFEST for 21a, but, of course, the FEST does not fit the clue – what a pity.
I thought this was pretty clever. Only complaint: If Rev. Spooner wanted “cold rock,” wouldn’t he ask for rolled cock? (Butterflied rooster cutlets, I guess that’d be?)
I liked pretty much all of the other clues, even the ones I cheated on (SOLAR CELL, with my old nemesis, the non-rhotic homophone, and HATCHING, for which I first put “fetching”: F for fine, etching for lines, and an unsatisfyingly vague definition).
While I did love the puzzle, I do earnestly hope that politically themed crosswords will now be given a long, long holiday. And I hope the good guys win (whoever that may happen to be).
Andy K@5, the National Society of Operative Printers and Media Personnel, the NATSOPA Union, known as the ‘Print’, was a closed shop until Thacher came along.
Thanks all
Quite tough but enjoyable.
Last in was upshot.
Favourites were 1,8 across and 6 down.
sorry Maggie, Thatcher…
Origma was completely new and not entered until long after I had solved it!
Thanks all – good to see you all retaining your sense of humour, despite the frustrating qualities of today’s happenings.
MrP – That’s very funny! Those compound consonants always inject a note of ambiguity into a Spoonerism – you get a similar issue with LIFEBOAT. Anyway, I promise, no more politics for, oh, a month or two …
Andy – I completely agree with your assessment of the teenager experience! If I’d written “Causes of upset in Green seat”, you’d have had a perfectly ambiguous clue, though as it is (and I can’t say it was intentional) I avoided the issue, as “causes upset” couldn’t indicate multiple teenagers. And you’re not missing anything in BLUEPRINT – strictly, it should have been “unionist-controlled media, at one time” but that would have rather given the game away, and you know that I regard punctuation as fair game for all manner of misdirection …
DaveE – Well, I did warn you that 8Ac was a tedious clue … !
Andy K @5, I should have pointed out that NATSOPA was founded in 1889 as the Printers’ Labourers’ Union. It often changed its name but kept the same initials adopted in 1904. To it, along with other later formed printers’ unions, the covering monniker the ‘Print’ was applied.
Hi Boatman@13, thanks for replying, wasn’t implying any ambiguity, to my mind the upset is clearly the indicator, just the two potential alternative anagrams amused me and I though I would share.
Andy – Absolutely! I wasn’t complaining – one of the joys of this sort of discussion is seeing all the alternative constructions that the deviously inclined can come up with …
I share with molonglo @3 the frustration over this … answers are one thing, understanding what on earth is going on is another. LSO = players, unionist-controlled = union-controlled, that sort of thing. Still, I got there, after a fashion, and without taking all day over it, as I sometimes do with Boatman.
Plus the implied instruction in 22d is entirely in keeping with the Guardian’s editorial line.
Oh, and – gsol – interesting that you should question those brackets. I wasn’t particularly fond of them myself – I started with “Right to Left, a margin ahead, …” but Hugh felt that there were enough tricks in the puzzle without sending solvers down a blind alley caused by expecting “a margin” to indicate ALIP rather than LIP.
Thanks Boatman; nice timing by you and Hugh.
Thanks PeterO; some unusual anagrinds here: ‘up?’ and ‘result?’ I did hesitate with anagramming UKIP notches until it looked like KITCHEN was the second word. I guess the ‘up’ is ‘in an excited state.,’ so that makes sense.
I especially liked the ‘old Labour supporter,’ PRAYED, DETAIL & COMRADE.
Interesting puzzle with 17d getting the nod of the returning officer for its delicious notion of Lib Dems – or anyone else for that matter – still being Socialists.
Somewhat off topic: the best-ever Election Day crossword had to be the one run by the New York Times in 1996. There were two possible solutions. The central Across entry had a clue something like “_______ Wins (tomorrow’s headline).” Either CLINTON or BOB DOLE would fit–and all the Down clues crossing it had two possible answers too! Given that this was an American-style crossword grid, with every letter checked, that’s just mind-blowing.
If you Google, I believe you can still find that puzzle.
Enjoyed this a lot – thanks to Boatman and Peter O. DETAIL = respect just about made sense, and was needed to shoehorn in the Respect party, I guess. Favourites were OLD CROCK, SOUP KITCHEN and ALSO-RANS.
The fragment I couldn’t parse was the “one” in phone plug… so thanks PeterO, and in particular for the delightful expression “impersonal personal pronoun”
Found this one of Boatman’s more enjoyable offerings – tough in places but nothing too daunting. ORIGMA wa the only unfamiliar word and it was clued very fairly. Last in was the clever FINES, also liked ALSO RANS and PRAYED.
Thanks to PeterO and Boatman
I found this to be one of Boatman’s less abstruse puzzles, and I wonder if that was because of the constraints of the theme. Having said that, I still needed to check ORIGMA before I was happy to enter it because it looked like such an unlikely word.
A fine puzzle. This American finished without too much trouble despite being unaware it was election day in the UK. Only quibble is the double use of _s + hot for shot. This may be why my LOI was upshot. Fitting though, I suppose.
Thanks Boatman and Peter O!
A nod to the Grauniad’s Australian edition, I see.
Thanks Boatman and PeterO.
Finally got UNVARIED and UPSHOT. Had to check ORIGAMA and was another for a while with TEENAGER for ’causes upset’.
I did like ALSO RANS, HATCHING, ABASHED and PHONE PLUG.
Thanks to Boatman and PeterO. I needed PeterO’s parsing to understand “one” in PHONE PLUG and “solar” in SOLAR CELL and had to guess at ORIGMA but what slowed me down was trying to work in “usurer” rather than “uncle” into UNMANACLE and fixating at first on “air ball” (a common usage in U.S. basketball lingo) rather than “air shot.”
As others have said this was on the easy side for Boatman. I’ve never heard of ORIGMA-my LOI-but I managed the rest of this and ended up finding this rather enjoyable.
Thanks Boatman.
Ashamed to admit that I had ‘u prats’ for despicable types in 1a. Thanks PeterO for the correct parsing, and Boatman for a topical test.
Thanks Boatman and PeterO
No fault of Boatman, but I didn’t enjoy it – I’m fed up with political references, and this is, I think, the third crossword full of them that we have had recently (one could perhaps argue that today’s had the greatest justification).
I gave up on ORIGMA. Favourite was AIR SHOT.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned that in SOLAR CELL the def is probably meant to be all of: “Source of power for free”, with SO[U]L being just “spirit”. Doesn’t make a huge difference, but splitting “free” and “spirit” adds an extra layer of finesse to the clue.
Limeni @33
That’s the way I took it, too – but reluctantly: ‘for free’ is on my current hate list.
I enjoyed this.
It started of with very few answers entered after the first pass but slowly each answer led to another.
Never heard of ORIGMA but the wordplay was obvious.
My only gripe is 16A. It was obviously OLD CROCK from the crossers but as far as I’m aware OLD CROCK isn’t a decrepit vehicle it’s a decrepit person and COLD ROCK isn’t a Spoonerism for OLD CROCK. In all other respects the clue was sound 😉 . Am I missing something.
Thanks to PeterO and Boatman
Brendan (NTO) @35
On November 1, this year as many previously, there will be held the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, widely known as the old crocks’ rally. I do not think that this refers to the drivers.
Limeni @33
Good point.
PeterO @36
Thanks for that. I’ve never heard the phrase “old crock” used for anything but a person. (Although of course a “crock” can be other than a person!)
Having no interest in cars old or new it’s not surprising that I haven’t met this specific use.
Still don’t see the Spoonerism though?
Brendan (NTO)@37
It depends on your definition of a Spoonerism. Wikipedia seems to be in two minds: after defining one as the exchange of parts of two words, it gives a list of examples including “a well-boiled icicle”, which, like this one, is a one-way transfer. So you pays your money and takes your choice.
A very enjoyable crossword with some witty and, what else would you expect, clever clues.
I don’t think it was completely hedgehoggyproof but the overall pleasure it gave made me walk on.
However, there’s one thing here that I put question marks to before (in the FT) and that is E for England.
I cannot find any justification for that in the dictionaries.
E for English, fine, but E for England?
It’s one of those that may look obvious – alas not.
Good puzzle.
Many thanks to Boatman, and PeterO for a ditto blog.
Sil@39 I don’t have any problem with E = England. Cf. in for example C of E / Church of England
I fear, I cannot agree.
Abbreviations in crosswords should be stand-alone abbreviations.
Dear Giudice, I did expect someone coming up with a composite abbreviation to give a counterexample.
But what would you say if UK (United Kingdom) leads to K for Kingdom?
Thanks Boatman and PeterO
Boatman usually finds his way on to my backlog pile, but last night must have been feeling extra brave and went for it. Always find his puzzles quirky and interesting, and so was this one – completed in ignorant bliss of the general election going on – but twigging to the fact after 22d that there must’ve been one. Quite cleverly woven in both clues and answers.
ORIGMA was my last in and was totally unknown here as well – totally gettable from the cryptic part though.
I had ONE = I in my interpretation of Boatman at 14d. Had no ideas at all with the parsing of ALSO-RANS though!
At 26, I had BLUE as either a Conservative or Unionist (US Civil War – Union) and PRINT as just media – but can see where it comes from now.
Good fun!
Sil @ 41
What about the 1990 World Cup anthem: “It’s E for England…”
Boatman @ 18 A belated thanks for your reply. A number of tedious distractions did not allow me to return to the blog until just now. Editors eh? (Sorry Hugh)
Technically, in 13d, a solar cell is not a free source power given the financial and environmental costs involved in producing one. But here Boatman has been very precise, as ‘a source of power for free’ indicates the cell as a means of obtaining free energy. Nice.
Also on 13d, I pronounce ‘solar’ as so-lar, so ‘soul-a-sell’ doesn’t quite work for me. I’m sure Paul could have found another word for posterior to fit in the middle.
It was not hedgehoggy-proof Sil, but unfortunately I had been called away for the (election) day. I shan’t make any pronouncements about it this late in the day.