Guardian 26569 – Otterden

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A few nice clues here, including some ingenious “subtractive anagrams”, and a mini-theme around the answer to 25d …

… but in general I’m afraid this confirms my opinion of Otterden’s puzzles as ones I do not look forward to, mainly because of the inaccuracy of some of the cryptic grammar. I know opinions differ (strongly sometines) on these matters, but I find it hard to accept things like: “dish” used intransitively in 1a, “listed to open” for L, and “loses even” to indicate “remove the even letters”. Maybe it’s just me: people are raving over it at the Guardian site. Thanks to Otterden.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. GOOD GRIEF My word for doggie dish (4,5)
(FOR DOGGIE)*
6. CREAM 25‘s not PM after leading close run election (5)
C[lose] R[un] E[lection] + A.M. (which is not P.M.)
9. SEPIA Opt out of apposite anagram 25 (5)
APPOSITE* less OPT
10. EMPATHISE Understand pastime in which he’s involved (9)
(PASTIME + HE)*
11. ROD Staff ends up agreed to differ (3)
Final letters of agreeD tO diffeR, reversed, though “up” can’t accurately indicate this in an across clue (I suppose it could be as in “road up”, meaning disturbed, and so an anagram)
12. SELFIE STICK Hold out for one’s viewpoint about life support (6,5)
I think this is SE (compass point) + LIFE* + STICK (support), with a lift-and-separate for the definition. These devices are now banned in various places.
14. CONDONE Excuse when party’s over (7)
CON[servative] + DONE
15. HABITAT A regular occurrence at one’s home ground (7)
HABIT (regular occurrence) + AT
16. SCALPEL Used to 6 down various places listed to open (7)
PLACES* + L[isted]
19. RAT-A-TAT Revised Maastricht Treaty lacking chemistry — heard repeatedly from knockers (3-1-3)
(MAASTRICHT TREATY)* less CHEMISTRY
22. PROCREATION Erotica and porn rubbished by new generation (11)
(EROTICA PORN)*
23. EBB Go out with Victorian female poet for starters (3)
Initials of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
24. ACID HOUSE Vitriolic Commons output of the ’80s (4,5)
ACID (vitriolic) + HOUSE (of Commons)
26. AMBER 25‘s doctor taking part in a TV series (5)
MB in A ER (TV Series)
27. OCHRE Christ briefly implicated in opposite sides for 25 (5)
CHR (listed as an abbreviation of “Christ” in Chambers, I was rather surprised to find) in the “sides” of OppositE
28. SATEDNESS Incredibly end with assets in bloated condition (9)
(END ASSETS)*
Down
1. GASTRIC Hangover chiefly to restrain incipient corpulence of the stomach (7)
GAS (reverse of SAG, so “hang over”) + initial letters of To Restrain Incipient Corpulence
2. OPPIDAN Urban work he investigates requires a desperate character (7)
OP (work) + PI (private investigator) + DAN (Desperate Dan, character in The Dandy)
3. GRASSHOPPER He gives away funnel for a cocktail (11)
GRASS (one who betrays, or gives away) + HOPPER (a funnel, as used for moving grain etc).
4. ICEBLUE 25 diamonds squandered, we hear (7)
ICE (diamonds) + homophone of “blew” (squandered). Chambers gives this as hyphenated: ice-blue
5. FOPPISH Vain search to include roundabout double parking (7)
O (roundabout) + PP in FISH (search)
6. CUT Refuse to acknowledge central role in public utility (3)
central letters of publiC UTility
7. ELITIST Title is abused by snob (7)
(TITLE IS)*
8. MEERKAT South African animal meat possesses a low rating (7)
I think this is ERK (RAF slang for an aircraftman, the lowest rank, hence “low rating”) in MEAT
13. SUBSTANDARD Inferior editorial team member on London paper, briefly (11)
SUB[-editor] + [Evening] STANDARD
16. SOPRANO Free impersonator loses remit for a particular voice (7)
IMPERSONATOR* less REMIT
17. ANOUILH Writer of article starts to lose heart after foreign agreement (7)
AN (article) + OUI (French “yes”, so “foreign agreement”) + L[ose] H[eart]. Jean Anouilh, French playwright: I once played the heroine’s sister in his play Antigone at my (all-boys) school. Fortunately there are no photographs or recordings of the event.
18. LEAGUES Unions pass off workmates (7)
COLLEAGUES less COL (mountain pass)
19. RAIMENT Old clothing ripped without intention (7)
AIM in RENT
20. TREMBLE Shake like 16 down over first meeting (7)
M[eeting] in TREBLE
21. TABARDS Bastard to get retrained, once worn out (7)
BASTARD*
25. HUE Part of 24 loses even tone (3)
Part of 24 is HOUSE, which if it “loses [its] even [letters]” leaves HUE

44 comments on “Guardian 26569 – Otterden”

  1. I liked the subtractive anagrams, some of which were very clever (does Otterden use software to generate them?). Got stuck on SELFIE STICK and LEAGUES, but all very enjoyable. Favourites included RAT-A-TAT, GOOD GRIEF and FOPPISH.

  3. I don’t mind “dish”, but I agree about Ice Blue not being one word.

    When I was at university I directed a production of Anouilh’s Antigone. The poor girl who played the lead had, having been cast, gone off during the holidays and learnt the Sophocles version. On reflection it would have been kinder to do that one instead rather than stick to my guns and do the Anouilh. It’s not as though I had any great vision (although at nineteen I believed, of course, that I did).

    Bad luck, Andrew, on being stuck with the sister part. It’s not much (although better than mum who just sits there knitting). It’s not, frankly, an obvious choice for an all-boy school, really, is it?

  4. I agree with your comments, Andrew.

    I failed to solve 23a and 21d, and I could not parse 9a.

    Ironically, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the only Victorian female poet that I thought of this morning but I just could not understand the clue!

    I parsed 12a & 8d in the same way as Andrew.

    Thank you Otterden and Andrew.

  5. Thanks Andrew and Otterden. Relatively straightforward, with a couple of toughies. I quite liked the way the puzzle came together as an entity rather than a sum of its parts, with a mini-theme and several connected clues (which I normally find quite irritating).

  6. Thanks for the blog, Andrew. I agree with your comments.
    Liked the clues for SOPRANO (16d) and LEAGUES (18d). But in the clue for AMBER (26a), is ‘taking part’ really necessary? Seems to be just clutter.
    OPPIDAN was a new word for me.
    Thanks to Otterden for the puzzle. First time I’ve ever finished one of yours unaided. Couldn’t parse MEERKAT though.

  7. I don’t think I have ever seen ICEBLUE as one word before but I’m assuming there is a dictionary somewhere that supports it. OPPIDAN was only vaguely remembered so I was glad the wordplay was relatively helpful, and if I had ever come across ANOUILH before I had forgotten him, and in the end I trusted the wordplay.

  8. Thanks Otterden and Andrew
    As usual with this setter’s offerings, I am left with mixed feelings but it was quite entertaining on the whole.

  9. Both of yesterday’s Guardian puzzles were poor, and this one for me is even worse. Very loose on technique in most clues. I don’t really like the use of numbers to other clues where the surfaces don’t relate back in some way, and this was a case in point. Also we have the unnecessary use of ‘a’ a lot which I also don’t like.

    1a as blogged; 6a all the clued part is wrong ‘not pm leading close run’; 9a ‘anagram’ is wrong tense even though it is obvious instruction; 10a leads to HE somewhere in PASTIME; 11 as blogged plus senseless surface; 12a Guardianism, plus definition does not define correctly; 15a HABIT too close to the answer-word; 16a def does not define; 19a def does not define; 22a ‘by’ if it could be ‘in’ would be a lot better; 23a indirect, ungettable clue; 26a why ‘taking part’?; 27a obscure CHR plus grammar error ‘opposite sides’; 1d hang/over Guardianism plus ‘chiefly to’ grammar error for the first letters; 2d ‘requires’ isn’t needed and is just padding anyway; 4d as blogged; 5d ’roundabout’ is a bit much for O and ‘double parking’ doesn’t say PP clearly; 6d why not ‘central part’?; 7d ‘by’ is not required, ‘Snob’s title is’ etc would be better; 18d ‘workmates pass off’ would be better; 20d ‘first meeting’ does not give M; 21 def does not define; 25d which part? Plus as blogged.

    So a lot of things I do not like. The Guardian is getting worse I believe.

  10. Thanks Otterden and Andrew.

    I enjoyed this, especially the subtractive anagrams, but needed help with some of the parsing, MEERKAT in particular, and tried to work Beatrice WEBB into 22a.

    A lot of smiles, GOOD GRIEF, SELFIE STICK, OPPIDAN, FOPPISH…

  11. Thanks Otterden and Andrew.

    Quite entertaining but I thought the convention with subtractive anagrams was that if the subtracted word was all jumbled, one needed a second anagrind. Perhaps an experienced setter could comment on that. ‘Point about life’ doesn’t, for me, give SELFIE – if the ‘about’ is an anagrind, there is no container. If the ‘about’ is a container, there’s no anagrind (?). I did, however, like the clue definition.

    AndyB @7, I haven’t found a dictionary yet that supports ICE BLUE as one word – either hyphenated or two words.

  12. 23ac EBB. Not sure why Victorian FEMALE poet was necessary in clue. Is there another poet with initials EBB (..Erudite Bobby Browning perhaps?).

    Thanks Otterden and Andrew.

  14. One of ER’s main characters was a Dr Green, which lends 26 a little more &lit; on seeing crossing letter C-E– in 6A my first thought was Clegg…

  15. I quite liked this one, despite a few minor quibbles. OPPIDAN, GRASSHOPPER and ERK were new to me but guessable. Last in was SELFIE STICK, which I liked, along with PROCREATION and ANOUILH.

    Thanks to Otterden and Andrew

  16. Robi @11 – I think Andrew’s parsing is right – “about” is the anagrind and no container is needed if you put SE in the right place (i.e. at the start)

  18. Otterden must be improving or he would not have attracted attention from Mr hh (even if it was scathing- but thats almost a plus from him)
    Many happy DBEs and compileritis.

  19. Very enjoyable – 12a was my COTD and also LOI.

    Many thanks both.

    Andrew – when I read (re 12a) “These devices are now banned in various places” I initially thought it was lift-and-separates that you were talking about. Then I followed the link.

  20. As I’m not a Graun solver/setter I won’t comment on clues, but just a note about 4d. It’s an error which should have been picked up, but also a slight imperfection in Crossword Compiler, which is standard setter software.
    If you type the answer into a slot rather than select it from a wordlist, CC doesn’t recognise whether or not it’s a phrase, capital noun etc, so ICEBLUE will show in the clue-writing pane as ‘iceblue’ while Canada will show as ‘canada’. Over the years I’ve learned to never type an answer in unless it’s a lower case single word, but it’s still easy to fall into the trap of doing so.

  21. A quick but enjoyable solve, but a few elements of parsing (e.g., ERK) eluded me.

    I was Creon.

    Thanks, Andrew and Otterden.

  23. I found this rather easier than some others from this setter. I didn’t like ICEBLUE as one word although the answer couldn’t be anything else. OPPIDAN was new to me although pretty obvious from the clue. I liked RATATAT-FOI-ANOUILH and EBB-LOI.
    On the whole I found this pretty satisfying.
    Thanks Otterden.

  25. I too was surprised by ICEBLUE as one word and did not know OPPIDAN and ERK but did manage nonetheless once I got HUE. Thanks to Otterden and Andrew.

  28. Thanks all
    I failed to solve selfie even after guessing stick.
    I too enjoy the compound anagrams, good to see more of them in The Guardian.Always a thrill when one comes out.
    I couldn’t parse 1down, although I got it very early!

  30. Thanks Otterden and Andrew
    I enjoyed this more than I generally do with Otterden. I thought that the subtractive anagram for RAT A TAT was very clever.
    A little disappointed with the definition for MEERKAT – I would have thought that several more inventive possibilities are out there!

  31. Not sure about this?

    Finished it OK but failed to parse EBB and the ERK in MEERKAT.

    I’d never heard of ANOUILH but despite it being unlikely I trusted the wordplay. The same applied to OPPIDAN. I’m also in the ICE BLUE camp but I’m sure the editor must have found the single word version in his dictiobary. 😉

    I agree with others that I find Otterden’s cluing style slightly unnerving.

    Still a lot to enjoy here though.

    Thanks to Andrew and Otterden

    P.S. Why have the smileys shrunk?

  33. Thanks Otterden and Andrew

    I’ve been an ‘early adopter’ of Otterden and found this puzzle among his best that has been presented so far. I find his clues interesting, for most part quite original and one has often got to take a second or third look at the clue to see where he is thinking.

    Thought EBB was a classic case in point – an ingenious use of the initials of what should be a fairly well known Victorian female poet – it was my second favourite clue. SELFIE STICK wins the honour – a relatively new word that brought a grin when it finally dawned what it was.

    Funny how what can be someone’s grammatical nightmare is the source of enjoyment and appreciation of clever lateral thinking to another. Agree with MikeP@5, that it was much better viewed as a whole rather than to be picked away at it’s component parts.

  34. It was fine to me. Some clueing is different but not wrong (ICEBLUE skims this assertion) or unfair. Isn’t the point of The Guardian naming setters to highlight the individual and emphasise the difference in their styles?

  35. Thank you, Andrew – I’d blindly missed the `point` in 12, even after cheating the first word.
    Very good clue.

    I’m not sure that anyone was `raving` on the Guardian site. Some of us thought this was a more enjoyable offering than usual from Otterden… I’m one of them.

    (23’s my favourite clue of his, so far.)

  37. Those incessant meerkat commercials gave me 8d, but I was totally unfamiliar with “erk”. Inspiration comes from the oddest sources.

  38. There’s something about this puzzle I really liked (though found LHS a bit quiptic – not that I’ve ever done a quiptic!) The Thunderesque ‘niceties’ passed me by; for me, Otterden is a worthy, and enjoyable, part of the Guardian stable. Huge thanks.
    And many thanks to Andrew for blog (I missed the Browning connection – like cookie, was toying with Beatrice Webb…!)

  40. William @39 – just read the clue for 23 and follow it literally and you’ll see what Paul B is saying!

  41. [dirky @35 – welcome to the dark side – I agree – “best Otterden yet” may be true but it isn’t the world’s greatest complement]

  42. beery hiker –
    Of course! And thanks – unanswered questions can be irritating. I’m very grateful.
    (I was presuming it to be some artful – and yoofful – abbreviation/expression that was passing me by!)
    Wx

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