The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26588.
I found this quite tricky, but it yielded in due course, solving mainly from the bottom up. There are a couple of things that I thought were a little dodgy (at least at first), but no major complaints, and much to admire and enjoy.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAJORITY VERDICT |
Planned diversity hasn’t succeeded in main court — not the ideal finding (8,7)
An envelope (‘in’) of ITYVERDI, an anagram (‘planned’) of ‘diver[s]ity’ without the S (‘hasn’t succeeded’) in MAJOR (‘main’) plus CT (‘court’). The anagrind is unusual, but on reflection, it seems to work, kind of. |
| 9 | SLEIGHT |
Dexterity of extremely skilful boat crew (7)
A charade of SL (‘extremely SkillfuL‘) plus EIGHT (‘boat crew’). |
| 10 | LIGHTER |
Barge carrying less cargo? (7)
Double definition. |
| 11 | AXE |
Get rid of short test, on reflection (3)
A reversal (‘on reflection’) of EXA[m] (‘test’) minus its last letter (‘short’). |
| 12 | DELINQUENTS |
Queen regularly insulted reformed offenders (11)
An anagram (‘reformed’) of QEN (‘QuEeN regularly’) plus ‘insulted’. |
| 13 | DISCOVERED |
Spotted second fielder conked out on the boundary (10)
An envelope (‘on the boundary’) of S (‘second’) plus COVER (‘fielder’) in DIED (‘conked out’). |
| 15 | WRAP |
Muffle sound of punishment (4)
A homophone (‘sound of’) of RAP (‘punishment’). |
| 18 | ENVY |
Grudge disheartened Eastern visionary (4)
Outer letters (‘disheartened’) of ‘EasterN VisionarY‘. Maybe not the happiest of definitions, but Chambers gives it a green light. |
| 20 | APPRECIATE |
Program by amateur brought in to deliver value (10)
A charade of APP (‘program’) plus an envelope (‘brought in’) of A (‘amateur’) in RECITE (‘deliver’). Not my last entry, but the last parsing. |
| 23 | CYLINDRICAL |
Like Rod, Henry leaves clinic hardly changed (11)
An anagram (‘changed’) of ‘clinic [h]ardly’ without the H (‘Henry leaves’). |
| 25 | TUB |
Bath‘s transport system 75% complete (3)
TUB[e] (‘transport system’) without its fourth letter (‘75% complete’). |
| 26 | PONTOON |
Game on, following at once with run out (7)
A charade of P[r]ONTO (‘at once’) without the R (‘run out’) plus ‘on’. |
| 27 | AMBIENT |
Going round is good in Paris, in small amount (7)
An envelope (‘in’, the second one) of BIEN (‘good in Paris’) in AMT. (‘small amount’). |
| 28 | THE KEY OF THE DOOR |
Means of opening adult’s first gift? (3,3,2,3,4)
Double definition – or is it better described as a cryptic definition? Somewhere between the two, perhaps. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MISHANDLE |
Make a hash of announcing composer’s daughter? (9)
A homophone of MISS HANDEL (‘composer’s daughter’! Handel never married, and as Wikipedia says, he “kept his personal life private”) |
| 2 | JEEPERS |
My record’s held in derision (7)
An envelope (‘held in’) of EP (‘record’) in JEERS (‘derision’). |
| 3 | RIGADOON |
Firemen all together out of bounds soon heading off for dance (8)
A charade of [b]RIGAD[e] (‘firemen all together’) without its outer letters (‘out of bounds’) plus ‘[s]oon’ without its first letter (‘heading off’). |
| 4 | TOTAL |
Unqualified bunch turns up full of thanks (5)
An envelope (‘full of’) of TA (‘thanks’) in TOL, a reversal (‘turns up’) of LOT (‘bunch’). As in “an unqualified success”. |
| 5 | VOLUNTEER |
Lively tune penned by lover bursting to propose (9)
An envelope (‘penned by’) of UNTE, an anagram (‘lively’) of ‘tune’ in VOLER, an anagram (‘bursting’) of ‘lover’. |
| 6 | RAGOUT |
Charity event banned highly seasoned food (6)
A charade of RAG (‘charity event’) plus OUT (‘banned’). |
| 7 | INTONER |
Reprobate not initially welcoming to monotonous speaker (7)
An envelope (‘welcoming to’) of ‘to’ in [s]INNER (‘reprobate’) without its first letter(‘not initially’). |
| 8 | TORUS |
Ring? You could say it’s a sign (5)
A homophone (‘you could say’) of TAURUS (‘a sign’). |
| 14 | ESPERANTO |
Language of Home Counties sent up by queen in Christmas show (9)
An envelope (‘in’) of ER (‘queen’) in ES, a reversal (‘sent up’) of SE (south east, ‘Home Counties’) plus PANTO (mime, ‘Christmas show’). |
| 16 | PRESBYTER |
<span>Minister from cabinet </span><i>almost</i><span> right about several bits of information </span> (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of BYTE (‘several bits of information’ – eight, generally) in PRES[S] (‘cabinet’) without its last letter (‘almost’) plus R (‘right’). Solving the clue was not made any the easier by the HTML instructions which were supposed to render almost in italics – and further on my Macbook the angle brackets (and the apostrophes in other clues) were given another layer of encoding! |
| 17 | SCALABLE |
Workplace hampered by hierarchy that you should get over (8)
An envelope (‘hampered by – but is that not the wrong way round?’) of LAB (‘workplace’) in SCALE (‘hierarchy’). As an envelope indicator, ‘hampered by’ seems ambiguous – which goes inside which? |
| 19 | VALANCE |
Group of medieval ancestors hanging round bed (7)
A hidden answer in ‘medieVAL ANCEestors’. |
| 21 | ART DECO |
Firm supporting dodgy trade in style between the wars (3,4)
A charade of ARTDE, an anagram (‘dodgy’) of ‘trade’ plus CO (‘firm’), with ‘supporting’ indicating the order of the particles. |
| 22 | SNOOZE |
Weep after a couple of cardinals drop off (6)
A charade of SN (‘a couple of cardinals’ i.e. cardinal points of the compass) plus OOZE (‘weep’). |
| 23 | COP IT |
Get irrational in bed and suffer the consequences (3,2)
An envelope (‘get … in’) of PI (‘irrational’) in COT (‘bed’). |
| 24 | COAST |
Beach ball grabbed by players (5)
An envelope (‘grabbed by’) of O (‘ball’ because it’s round) in CAST (‘players’). |
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO,
A good puzzle, with JEEPERS my favourite.
Re 1ac: I think “hasn’t succeeded” is an instruction to remove “s” from diversity, but that may be what you meant.
I don’t really understand THE KEY OF THE DOOR. Nobody gave me a key when I was 18.
Thanks PeterO. It is a pangarm, too. 2d was the loi. Why ‘majority verdict’ is not ideal finding is not clear to me… as opposed to unanimous verdict? Thanks, Nutmeg.
Muffyword @1
Yes, I made something of a sow’s ear of the explanation of 1A; I hope it is clearer now.
pangram….sorry!
Ilippu @2
1A again: that is how I read it. In the second season of Broadchurch, when the jury was not able to come back with a unanimous verdict, the judge instructed them that they could return a majority one.
Thanks, PeterO for the explanation on 1a.
Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO. Didn’t know RIGADOON nor PONTOON defined as a game. I’m with
Muffyword regarding THE KEY OF THE DOOR. Is it a Britishism?
Cheers…
Thanks Peter, especially for parsing 20A. Envelopes galore: it soon became routine to sniff them out. Were the italics in 16D meant to be there, and if so why? Otherwise straightforward.
I found the top half more difficult than the lower half, and was about to give up but persevered and finished this puzzle. Took a bit longer than expected though.
My favourite was 1d.
New words were RIGADOON, PRESBYTER, VALANCE, TORUS and I need help to parse 7d.
Thanks PeterO and Nutmeg.
Regarding 17dn I think hampered works as held, so LAB is held by SCALE i.e. inside.
My main complaint is BIEN for good, I was taught (a while back admittedly) that BIEN was well and BON(NE) was good.
The one occasion I don’t go looking for a pangram and I spot it with the POI (penultimate one in) which was snooze, one day I will go looking for it early and it will actually be there, one day.
Really liked PI as an irrational number definition in COPIT, more maths and physics in crosswords please (always struggle with the classical references).
Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO for some tricky parsing, some of which completely passed me by.
Nice one Nutmeg, I liked 1d especially.
As to 28ac, being given the key of the door was (in the UK at least) a symbol of having reached ones majority. In the olden days, when I was young, this happened at 21, rather than at 18!
Thanks to PeterO & Nutmeg.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.
An enjoyable puzzle except for 16d. Spotted the pangram, but it did not help me today.
I did like MISHANDLE, JEEPERS and RIGADOON.
Prior to 1970, 21 was the age one was considered adult and had the right to vote, also the right to come and go as one wanted, hence the gift of the KEY to the front door; birthday cards and the birthday cake were usually decorated with a gold or silver key.
Thanks PeterO and Nutmeg
No hieroglyphs in the paper version of 16d, of course! The italics were not really necessary – in fact they put me off for a while, thinking there was something subtle I was missing.
I, too, liked PI in COP IT.
I put TO instead of OF in 28a so got held up with 14d – I was trying to shoe ESTURINGO? or something like it in there for a while.
Thanks to Nutmeg for the puzzle and Peter O for the blog.
Small typo in the parsing of TOTAL – says T for “thanks” instead of TA.
Funnily enough, 28 was my FOI, but I put KEY TO THE DOOR, which delayed my getting 14d until much later.
I was going to say what Cookie said about its significance, so I’ll just add that my recollection was that the concept and the symbol transferred to 18th birthdays – it would be interesting to know from those who were in the relevant age group when it ceased to have significance.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
Re 28ac:
Does anyone remember this chorus from an old music hall song?
I’m 21 today, 21 today
I’ve got the key of the door
Never been 21 before
And Pa says I can do, as I like
So shout, Hip Hip Hooray
He’s a jolly good fellow
21 today.
And of course, there’s the Bingo caller’s nickname – 21, key of the door.
All very nice, I’m very impressed with the neatness of the compound clues at 1a, 12a and 23a. I was almost beaten by THE ?E? OF THE ?O?R, but the pangram rescued me with a K. I’m always pleased to get a last minute reprieve like that.
Ah, 16dn … that’s why we love the Grauniad, and why it’s called the Grauniad.
Good puzzle, where only the last three or four held me up. Not mad keen on ENVY for ‘grudge’; SCALABLE wasn’t my favourite either. But little niggles in an enjoyable crossword.
AndyK is right about BIEN and BON, which is why I couldn’t parse AMBIENT. BIEN is an adverb and BON is an adjective, like WELL and GOOD in English. I’m trying to get the setter out of jail by thinking of an example in French of where you could use BIEN as ‘good’; but I can’t. Unless the definition is ‘is good’. Shay pa, as they say in Paris. So I’ll just say that the setter done good, and leave it at that.
Thanks to Peter for the blog. And having provided us with the Quiptic on Monday as well as this one, Nutmeg will be off to the shops this weekend, no doubt.
K’s D – I hesitate to question your professional expertise, but can’t “bien” be used on its own, or in “c’est bien” in a way that’s more or less synonymous with “good”?
You can question my expertise any time you like, Andrew (especially when it comes to crosswords…) You are right, in a very general sense. You could say ‘Bien!’ in the same way as you’d say ‘Good!’ in English as a one word utterance. But I still think it’s a bit loose. Any road up, a good puzzle that I don’t want to pick holes in over subtleties of French usage. But if one more of my (often very well educated) friends responds to my question ‘How are you?’ with ‘I’m good, thanks’ I swear I will lose it, big time.
Thank you PeterO. Enjoyed this but needed you to parse APPRECIATE & PRESBYTER.
cholecyst @15, my Dad used to sing;
Twenty day to one, twenty day to one,
I’ve got the door of the key,
Never been twenty four by three…
Strange chap.
K’s D @17 I’m with you on BIEN/BON. Also like you, I tend to look for ways to get the setter off the hook and, although I work in French, and have to say I can’t think of an example of bien = good.
Back to APPRECIATE, I need a bit of help with APP = program. Not sure what the context is. Anyone?
Nice week, all.
K’s D @17
I follow Andrew @18, both in his observation and his trepidation – I looked tor something with BON in it first, but was satisfied with BIEN as an interjection.
Mac Ruaraidh Ghais @14
Typo corrected in 4D.
William @20
An APP (for application) is used for a program to perform a limited function such as accessing Facebook or Twitter on a smartphone or the like.
PeterO Many thanks…no wonder I failed on that, its Newspeak!
Tricky but fair. “Press” = “cabinet ” was new to me – must try to remember that
Sorry – meant to say thanks to both. This site is a real boon.
On GOOD = French BIEN: it can do when good is a noun meaning eg benefit or virtue:-
le bien et le mal – good and evil.
C’est pour ton bien – it’s for your own good.
If I hadn’t already had the O checker from ESPERANTO I would have entered “the key TO the door” at 28ac like Dave@13 and Mac@14 did. The pig’s ear of an online clue at 16dn flummoxed me for a while and PRESBYTER was my POI (thanks AndyK) before WRAP. I enjoyed the puzzle.
Bon, bien, je capitule. Now let’s get back to how good the puzzle was …
K’s D: Agree about Bien = well, but the lamentable (IMHO) americanism and footballism whereby “good” replaces “well” almost universally (“How are you? I’m good”; “The boy done good” (=played well)) suggest that yet another useful distinction is going out of the window.
Re bien. It is true of course that it is an adverb. But it is also a noun: pour le bien du pays, for example, is for the good of the country.
Thanks Nutmeg and Peter0
I thought there were some lovely clues here: 1dn (Handel wrote “O Daughter of Zion” so you could say he had a musical daughter), and the two bed clues at 19 and 23 with the delightful image of the ancestors, and PI.
I spotted it was probably a pangram early on, but then I always get excited when I encounter a Q, X or Z.
Like others I thought it was “Key to the Door”. When I was 21 all the birthday cards had keys on them. The only thing that 18 unlocks now is voting.
Still don’t understand the itlics for almost in 16d.
Very nice solve – took a fair while.
Good can be “bien” in French both as a solitary exclamation and also as a noun.
Eg le bien public – the public good.
Enfin bon thanks to S&B.
Sorry Alan #30 – crossed there on the same point.
Idem cholecyst #26 – missed yours completely
Marienkaefer @31
Perhaps the idea for the italics in 16D – if they had been rendered correctly – was to reinforce the deception that ‘almost’ belongs with ‘right’ and not ‘cabinet’.
Thanks Nutmeg, great puzzle that yielded slowly for me.
Thanks PeterO; I eventually found the 31st definition of press in Collins as: ‘a cupboard, esp a large one used for storing clothes or linen.’ Can’t say I’ve ever used it – my ODE says it is chiefly Irish & Scottish. Any English or Americans out there that use it?
I was trying to fit in ‘bon’ in 27, but I gather, like cholecyst @26, that it can be used for ‘good.’ Ses vacances lui ont fait beaucoup de bien [now that’s how to get italics] gives apparently: ‘His holiday has done him a lot of good.’
I particularly liked CYLINDRICAL.
P.S. Piece of useless information: Brigadoon (BRIG-uh-doon) noun
An idyllic place that is out of touch with reality or one that makes its
appearance for a brief period in a long time.
[From Brigadoon, a village in the musical of the same name, by Alan Jay
Lerner and Frederick Loewe, based on the story Germelshausen by Friedrich
Gerstacker. Brigadoon is under a spell that makes it invisible to outsiders
except on one day every 100 years.]
Robi @37 – Brigadoon was frequently used during the Scottish referendum debate by critics of the SNP’s policies.
There were not very many critics of the SNP’s policies however 😀
This is a very good puzzle, with excellent technique pretty much throughout. The only one I really thought weak was the KEY OF THE DOOR, not really cutting it for me.
HH – there were plenty of critics of the SNP’s policies – though the Brigadoon jibe was more frequently used on forums.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
I carelessly entered MINORITY VERDICT for 1a, thinking “it’s an anagram of something”, then forgetting to check until I got stuck on 2d. The pangram helped me get WRAP.
I didn’t parse SNOOZE – it now becomes my favourite clue. I too liked “irrational” for PI.
Why is is scale=hierarchy in 17d? What is the function of the “Group of” in 19d?
Something of a curate’s egg. I wasn’t familiar with “The key of the door” and was another who tried TO until ESPERANTO ruled it out. Last in was PRESBYTER (PRESS=cabinet was new to me) and the SE corner caused me quite a bit of trouble, not least because I lost confidence in THE DOOR. Plenty to enjoy though.
Thanks to nutmeg and PeterO
Tellement bien for me, this – she really is a master, our Nutmeg. Although, if nit-picking, possibly a fraction ‘sandwich clue’-heavy for absolute perfection.
I enjoyed being so distracted by the otherworldly surface of ‘hovering medieval ancestors’ that there was a fair wait for the descent of the penny. A good Hidden Word clue is a rare but delightful pleasure.
And anyone from the South West must have enjoyed the surface of “Bath‘s transport system 75% complete” – a generous assessment for sure!
Many thanks to both – a very enjoyable crossword.
@muffin – the idea is that ‘hierarchy’ = classification in graded subdivisions, and ‘scale’ = a graduated series or order
and the (19dn) ‘group of’ is the Hidden Word Clue indicator (which I didn’t spot for so long!).
Thanks for the parsing. I had thought 16d was some clever but obscure wordplay and initially entered “hypertext”, not a foul up.
Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO. Most of my comments have already been made. RAG as charity (“raising and giving”) was new to me as was PONTOON as a game, SN as cardinal points of the compass, and KEY TO/OF THE DOOR. I have nothing to add to the Bon(ne)-Bien debate other than an anecdote. A family moved to a new locale with a less than noteworthy school system. When their son brought home papers that were awarded high grades but had numerous spelling and grammatical errors, the mother complained to his teacher who responded: “Why Mrs. Jones, Johnny done good!”
Limeni @44
Thanks – though I don’t think that either of them are all that good! “Group of” is a really obscure inclusion indicator, isn’t it?
FOI KEY OF THE DOOR but then I’m of the appropriate age. Next came MAJORITY VERDICT which had to be correct but I could only parse it partially. The rest of it went in quite easily with the exception of ENVY over which I puzzled for far too long. Good enough but I was left feeling rather unsatisfied with the puzzle.
Still, thanks NUTMEG.
As some of you haven’t come across the game Pontoon before, can I just explain that it is a card game similar to Blackjack. Those two are related by both being descendents of an earlier French game Vingt-et-Un.
In general, the place to go for card game descriptions and rules is House of Cards at http://www.pagat.com/ They list most games. I even get an honourable mention in the entry for Pontoon! (and in the entry for Nap)
ACD @46
We have just been given the lowdown on PONTOON from the horse’s mouth (as it were), but I might add that RAG Week, when students engage in stunts to raise money for charity, is an institution in many (mostly UK) universities. Think Antonioni’s Blow up – if you can remember it; I happened to have seen it again recently.
A really good puzzle which was a good challenge for a Wednesday.
Quite a lot of criticism on here too about a few things, none of which merited it. Shame on you 😉
Thanks to PeterO and Nutmeg
The key of the door was a new one for me. I had Esperanto, and early on–thanks to delinquent–figured out there was a pangram. So, since I was missing both the K and the F I took a stab at it and also guessed at door. Thanks to everyone who enlightened me on the phrase.
Really enjoyed 1D. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.
The “special instructions” on the online version currently read “in clue 16 down, the word ‘across’ should be italicised”.
Eh?
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
DuncT @53 – Yes, I noticed this. It’s ‘almost’ that should be in italics. A correction that itself needs correction.
Difficult – but entirely doable without recourse to external aids.
Nutmeg – my favourite setter.
Kathryn’s Dad @ 19:
Whenever someone says “I’m good” to me, I reply, “I was asking after your health, not your morals”.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
Whilst I did this on the day, only got around to checking it today. Found it pretty solid going throughout, but very enjoyable. Didn’t spot the pangram at all.
Finished up with SCALABLE, AMBIENT and WRAP as the last few in. Did get KEY TO THE DOOR very early on, but needed ESPERANTO to change the TO to an OF. Back in the day the person celebrating their 21st birthday was presented with a wooden key signed by all who were present at the party.
Sorry muffin @47 – I didn’t check back here until today.
I think the idea of “Group of” as a Hidden Word indicator is that the fodder words are to be seen as just a sequence of letters; therefore a group of them will give you the answer.
i.e. A group of [the following letters] MEDIEVALANCESTORS
..Maybe!
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO. I am commenting late as normal, but maybe someone will see.
I had lots of fun with this. “Key of the door” was my way in. (It wasn’t; I just wanted to make that lame play on words.) In common with many who have posted, I went initially for “key to the door” — with “of” as a back up — but since it had to be “Esperanto” that was sorted quite quickly. I’m quite surprised that this was unfamiliar to a few posters. I suppose most kids have their own keys well before they reach majority these days, and this would be a disappointingly meagre present on one’s 18th or 21st.
Can accept bien as good: not the most common, but certainly in use, so tout va bien. Torus was new to me.
LOI was 20ac. I didn’t spot app as programme in the parsing: I feel so old fashioned.
The pangram passed me by completely!
Coming to this late via the G Weekly edition. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO. Have to admit I didn’t finish it and really appreciate the parsing in order to get my skills up. Thought composer’s (nutmeg’s) daughter was ‘mace’, and it was all downhill from there for me. But, yes, in Australia we still use ‘press’ for ‘cabinet’ – as in our linen press – and we get the key to the door. Loved ‘jeepers’.