Guardian 26,632 by Screw

60 comments on “Guardian 26,632 by Screw”

1. In 1a the definition is ATTACK, and a pole and a mic(rophone) might be tools for a singing stripper, or a pole dancer if they are the same thing.

2. In 13, I think the initial IS comes from the implied ellipsis ‘is other male?’ rather than from one = i + ‘s.

3. Thanks Peter, including for explaining the 3D re-placing. I liked this, despite the odd awkwardness: one such was limb=pain in 10A. 1A was just about my last in, for the reasons you give. But the clueing was at othe times so adroit that the answers leaped out, and I had more than half done within minutes. Ticks for LAPDOG and the last two down clues.

4. It seems I liked this more rather more than you PeterO – thoroughly enjoyable and very creative.

   As well as the points raised @ 1 & 2 above I would suggest that the anagram indicator at 28 is “Do in”

   Thanks for the blog and to Screw for a very nice puzzle.

5. @morphiamonet

   thanks for explaining the “in” at 28; I assumed the anagrind was simply “do” but of course you’re right…..I suppose if we can split infinitives nowadays then a split anagrind is kosher too.
   Warm thanks to Screw and to PeterO

6. We have seen ATOM and IOTA (rev.) receive letter sequence treatment. Here, 26 METAL, with the treatment ‘M et al’, is refreshing. Congrats to Screw.

7. I failed to solve 16d DIVIDEND and needed help with the parsing of 10a, 26a, 27a, 3d (I was thinking it was something to do with MINOR + TORIES so I gave up).

   New words for me were ISOTHERMAL, STITCH UP and Corfe Castle for COFE.

   My favourites were IOTA, AS YET, HIATUS, TARTAR SAUCE (PeterO – it is sometimes used as a “dip” for French fries, fried calamari rings, etc)

   I agree with sidey@1 about the definition of 1a being “attack” etc.

   For 13d, I was quite confused how to parse it and settled on I + HER (female) in anagram of ALMOST.

   Thanks Screw and PeterO.

8. oddly enough, for 26 I had METAL as meta(after, Gk.)+ L

9. Thanks Screw and PeterO

   I really enjoyed this – lots of smiles. I struggled with the NW, but laughed out loud when I got POLEMIC.

   I didn’t parse METAL or CACAO. I tried I’S HER MAL for 13d, but that left an unexplained OT – I don’t think this clue quite works.

   I haven’t seen TARTAR SAUCE spelled without the E before, but apparently it’s OK.

   Favourites were the above-mentioned POLEMIC, CHAMPAGNE, DEPRESS, RELATIONS and C OF E.

10. I thought 1a was a fantastic clue. And I thought 23 and 24 were great- as was just about everything in between. Agree thoroughly with baerchen.

11. The crossword gangster makes another appearance, but this time not to provide AL.

12. One’s female, but IS OTHER MAL[e]? Seems plain as day and solid cluing, as throughout this enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Screw and PeterO.

13. Ian @12
    That makes sense. Well done.

14. Very nice – some nifty wordplays. Too many to mention but the “royal we” for “I” made me smile in 21a.

    28a “Do” or “do … in” as the anagrind? I think I can buy either – in the former case “in” being the linkword – which is commonplace enough.

    Splitting anagrinds in general shouldn’t pose a problem – although I can’t think of an example where the auxiliary word is not optional.

    Eg: Bash {fodder} about. – here also “bash” works on its own – but if the surface needs “about” then why not?

    Splitting infinitives is one of those myths. No serious grammarian from the Fowler brothers to the present day has ever regarded it as a solecism. Heffer in his notorious Telegraph style guide (he’s back there again now) calls it “inelegant”. What he means is that he doesn’t want to admit that he was originally wrong – or else: “Well – our sort of people don’t.”

    The Guardian style guide says it’s OK – so it must be 🙂 :

    It is perfectly acceptable, and often desirable, to sensibly split infinitives – “to boldly go” is an elegant and effective phrase

    but then goes on:

    and stubbornly to resist doing so can sound pompous and awkward

    by way of demonstration.

15. Thanks, but Flavia said it first @2.

16. Plus – many thanks to setter and blogger.

17. Ian @15
    …..but you used words I understood……………..

18. I thought this was one of the outstanding puzzles of the year so far. I’ve never fully clicked with Screw before now (my fault not his, obviously), but this was joy from start to finish, and some of the surfaces were prodigious! Sparkling Arachne-class clueing throughout. So many lovely inventive ideas.

    They say the reason that Australians are such quick lovers is that they can’t wait to get down the pub to tell their mates, and I felt much the same with this – rushed through the last few clues in order to come here, see if others had enjoyed it as much, and gush in my turn!

    Many congratulations Screw, and thanks PeterO.

19. I think baerchen@8 is 5correct about 26 across. Otherwise it would be METFF if one meant M and the following letters.
    With reference to 4 down is it ok to make fun of a stammer or are we going to see complaints from the easily offended?

20. One of the best puzzles of the year so far – up there with Bonxie’s last. Brilliantly creative. Thanks Screw, and PeterO. (Hope you have seen the light on 1a, 28 and 13 now, Peter, all of which are brilliant. And of course tartar sauce is a dip – you put it on the side of your plate of fish ‘n’ chips and dip forkfuls of battered goodness into it!)

21. David @19 – where in the clue for 4 is there any ridicule of people who stutter? Can’t see any reason for anyone to get offended here.

22. Excellent puzzle. I struggled to parse 23d despite having spent most of yesterday afternoon booking an EasyJet flight…!

    Many thanks to setter and blogger for the fun and entertainment.

23. A nice challenge; thank you Screw.

    I liked “metal” very much after the parsing was explained – thank you PeterO. My only problem with “cacao” was that I’ve been pronouncing it wrongly (only in my head, fortunately) for years. Guess that’s why I’m not keen on homophones in clues!

24. Thanks to PeterO and to Screw for a great puzzle.

    The top half went in well but I got a bit Screwed on the bottom half. Loved METAL and LAPDOG among many other good ‘uns.

25. I thought this was an excellent puzzle. About three-quarters of the way through it I was thinking that it was towards the easier end of Screw’s spectrum, but then I ground to a halt for a while with the six clues in the NW corner unsolved. LAPDOG opened the corner up for me and then I saw the others. I thought the clue for POLEMIC was superb once the penny dropped.

26. Thanks Screw and PeterO. Inventive stuff, and we got lots of nicely concealed definitions. I thought many clues were right on the verge of becoming unfair, but they all miraculously fell on the right side of the line and resolved themselves without too much difficulty. “Pops one of them” as a definition still makes me wince a bit though, whichever way I try to read it. The neat and uncontroversial 24d was my favourite.

27. Thanks Screw and Peter0.

    A great crossword. I, too, had C of E as my favourite, with many others crowding close behind, such as POLEMIC, AS YET, CHAMPAGNE, FLOOR BOARD and HIATUS.

28. I agree – one of my favourite puzzles of the year so far. Some great clues: IOTA, FLOORBOARD, CACAO (though I couldn’t parse it), PACIFY, RELATIONS, POLEMIC, LAPDOG . . . Re LAPDOG: I wouldn’t says it’s a definition by example – who wants a poodle in their lap?! Surely it’s rather that lapdog and poodle are both slang for people who are easily malleable. Many thanks to Screw and PeterO.

29. What a corker, metal looks like m & late reversed

30. Thanks to Screw and especially to PeterO for the blog. I eventually got the solutions but without seeing the parsing for C OF E (I did not know Corfe castle), CHAMPAGNE (“bubbly” was clear enough but I missed “sham pain”), IOTA, METAL, CACAO, AS YET, and MINORITIES. Clever and enjoyable, but somehow I’m not on this setter’s wavelength.

31. Probably the easiest Screw yet, but that doesn’t mean it was a pushover, and I failed to parse MINORITIES or METAL so thanks for those. Last in was RELATIONS. All very enjoyable – liked CHAMPAGNE, IN THE CLOSET, PACIFY, CACAO and AS YET.

    Thanks to Screw and PeterO

32. Superb puzzle – I found the last few Screw puzzles a bit much, but this one was perfect for a tricky Friday brainteaser. I saw no problem with either POLEMIC or ISOTHERMAL – as the other commenters have said, I think these can be parsed perfectly fairly (and in my work I use the word “isothermal” all the time, so it was great to get a totally new way of looking at the word).

    JollySwagman @14 – “put about” and “stand around” are a couple of anagram indicators would probably only work with their auxiliary prepositions – “stand” or “put” alone would probably not be seen as fair indicators in a standard puzzle.

33. @Cyborg #26 re 15d

    I think PO has it right. “Pops” is the relation and you have to read it as:

    Pops [is/being] one of them.

    which, even when you drop the “is” or “being” can still give that interpretation by mere juxtaposition.

    Of course before the ximenean terror just as we could ignore all punctuation we could also introduce it at will so we could have read it as:

    Pop’s one of them.

    but I doubt that was Screw’s intention.

    Had it been I wonder whether he would have got it past the editor.

34. @S #32

    Good examples. I thought there might possibly be some – just couldn’t bring any to mind myself. They would both work well.

35. One’s female, but IS OTHER MAL[e]? Seems plain as day and solid cluing

    Agreed, but rarely encountered in dailies, much more likely to be encountered in Azed. That’s a compliment to Screw.

36. I can understand why PeterO had trouble with ISOTHERMAL. Maybe it’s because I’m American, but “One’s female, but is other male?” is not the way I would ever ask that question. Instead: “One’s female but is the other male?”

37. Thanks all. Mostly, I stand corrected. It was indeed perverse to lump ‘tools’ into the definition of 1A; the plural is justified bu POLE and MIC separately. However, no-one has (as yet) countered my stripper/pole dancer distinction, so that I can for now retain a shred of dignity in the handling of that clue. The source of IS in 13D ISOTHERMAL is surely as indicated by Flavia @2 and others.

38. Thanks Screw — this was fantastically enjoyable.

    A game of four quarters for me: the North East was followed by the South West, giving it a pleasingly asymmetrical look; then the South East, followed by a struggle in the North West, with POLEMIC leading finally to LAPDOG (two of many favourites).

    Loads of clever misdirections and tricky parsing, but absolutely nothing untoward or unfair. Other pleasures: IOTA, C. OF E., STRATEGIST, METAL, ISOTHERMAL, TELLS ON, et al.

    One of my favourite puzzles in recent memory. I didn’t agree with a couple of observations in PeterO’s blog, but I think they have been covered above, by posters quicker than I.

39. I found this a bit curate’s-eggy I’m afraid, with wonderful stuff such as IOTA and TARTAR SAUCE jostling with “do” as an anagrind and the not-quite-there POLEMIC. My fault no doubt, it’s just a bit too hard for me in places.

40. I agree with Andy B. My progress almost exactly mirrored his even down to LAPDOG as the key to the NW corner. I really loved POLEMIC and thought it a splendid clue. I had problems with Screw’s last puzzle but I thought this was rather good.
    Thanks Screw.

41. The parsing of several solutions eluded me today (1a, 26a, 3d, 13d, 23d) so thanks to PO and others for clarification. Still so much to enjoy here, though, with lots of fun and lovely surfaces. 18a gets my vote for the smoothest of the smooth.

42. There really is no problem with 1a: “Attack” is the definition. A tool is something someone might use to help them with their work: a stripper might use a pole, a singer might use a mic, so a singing stripper might use both. The question mark indicates that we are looking for examples of what a singing stripper might use, not what all singing strippers would use. The clue is just about perfect.

    The anagrind in 28 is not just “Do” (which would probably be a bit vague) but “Do (fodder) in” (as morphiamonet @ #4 et al have suggested). Again, a perfect clue.

43. “One’s female, but IS OTHER MAL[e]?”
    Long time peruser of this forum, first time posting. I had to as this has flumoxed me. Is this a common expression or something? If someone asked me to finish the sentence “One’s female, but….” I’d say “What?” I would’t know what they were talking about. Have I missed something?

44. Thank you Screw for once again providing a puzzle with high entertainment value.

    My last quadrant was NW. Thank you PeterO for the exact parsing of 3d and 4d.

45. Aztecmike @43, welcome. 13d is a real puzzler, isn’t it.

    I tried “one’s female, but her? Almost!”, I (‘one’) plus (HER ALMOST)*, however there is no anagram indicator, unless ! suggests an anagram, so it is a worse solution to the one PeterO proposes.

46. @ Aztecmike

    Firstly, thanks for de-cloaking.

    Some clue’s answers are easier to spot from definition, and then to confirm using the word play. Others suggest themselves more readily from the wordplay and the definition merely confirms what you have already worked out. Sometimes, as with 13, the setter asks you to trust them with a bit of a liberty and use both at once.

    “Not changing temps…” Even once you’ve spotted that we’re not talking about office workers but lines of equal temperature on a meteorological map, you might still struggle to remember what that term is (I know I did). But then with the help of the “finish the sentence” part of the clue (and a couple of helpful crossers) it’s perfectly possible to get there without the required phrase being grammatically correct.

47. This went weirdly. First in was CAPON, but nothing around it fell. Then I worked my way clockwise around, with LAPDOG finally being the last in. I parsed everything, which means I even remembered (from some previous puzzle somewhere) that there’s a castle called Corfe.

    From my theater days, I do remember some references to such a thing as a pole mic (yes, a mic on a pole), but I’m pretty sure the term isn’t in common usage. Anyway, that clue had me laughing out loud. I agree with PeterO that a pole dancer is not necessarily a stripper, and vice versa, but the two activities do tend to go together. Admittedly, the second of my two visits to a “gentleman’s club” occurred about 15 years ago–amazing how when you come out as gay, your friends stop dragging you to strip clubs!–so I’m hardly an expert.

48. I like Mitz’s explanation of why 13 is just acceptable. I do think it is OK to have the odd clue where the wordplay is only of use for confirmation purposes – but it only works if the word really is gettable from the definition alone, which I think this one is (THERMAL becomes obvious with some crossers and ‘temps’ in the def, and ISO is a common prefix for ‘equal’ (isophase, isobar etc) ). It’s a difficult balance to achieve, because the ‘solving from definition’ mustn’t be too easy either. This seemed just right.

    Then the wordplay part is purely there for the post-solve amusement.

    The odd/confusing thing with this clue (as Cookie pointed out) is that it also contains an anagram of ‘I + HER + ALMOST’ (for ‘one’ ‘female’ and ‘almost’). Bizarre!

49. Thanks, PeterO.

    Very late to the party – well, this one, anyway: I’ve been partying all day in the role of proud grandma at a Graduation ceremony at Sheffield University.

    I was delighted to see Screw’s name on this as my paper dropped through the door just before I left at 6.30, because I was pretty sure that it would occupy most of my train journey but that I could rely on the integrity of Screw’s cluing to solve it without aids. And so it did – but I didn’t quite get a couple in the top left corner, including 1ac. I was pretty sure that 2dn was LAPDOG but couldn’t explain it [but totally agree with drofle re the definition – not by example] and so missed 1ac – but have no problems with it now.

    I’ve had a really lovely day and am too ‘tired and emotional’ to add any more but simply wanted to say a great big thank you to Screw for starting it off so well. x

50. [Hi Eileen
    Many congratulations to your grandchild, and to you on having had such a good day.]

51. Thanks, muffin. 🙂

52. In 28a DO works perfectly well as an anagrind.

    Eg Collins 1:#2(transitive) to arrange or fix
    ? “you should do the garden now”

    There are few better ones.

    Both readings (ie “Do … in” also) are equally valid.

53. Eileen @ 49

    I’m sure you can contribute some more, however tired and emotional you may be…

    …come on Eileen…

    😉

54. Since ‘box’, ‘blow’, etc. can be anagram indicators, surely ‘but’ could be one, a goat will but things all over the place.

    To me the clue suggests an employee pointing out the temps to a newcomer, saying “one’s female, but ___? Almost!” with a snide glance at the other temp..

    ISOTHERMAL, I (‘one’) plus an anagram (‘but’) of ‘her almost’.

55. Sorry, my English is getting very rusty, the verb ‘butt’ has two t’s and there is no homophone indicator in 13a.

56. 13a, just realized, a homophone indicator is not needed, this is someone talking, so ‘but’ ? ‘butt’ is possible.

    ISOTHERMAL, I (‘one’) plus an anagram (homophone ‘but’ ? ‘butt’) of ‘her almost’.

57. Those ? are meant to be arrows…

58. Just a quick note from me to say thanks for all the great comments, and especially to PeterO for the blog.

    All the best,
    Screw

59. Only just completed the crossword so very late to the party.

    We loved the puzzle – too many good clues to mention. Keep them coming Screw!

    Thanks to S & B.

60. Thanks Screw and PeterO

    Did do this last week, but only got around to checking it today. Like many others, found this one tough, but a real pleasure to solve.

    Had gone the anagram path with ISOTHERMAL, but can see the intended I’S OTHER MAL(E) is a better and clever alternative. Think that only recall Paul using this technique and always enjoy them when I spot them – had to enjoy this one in retrospect !!!

    Needed help with the parsing of CHAMPAGNE and the CORFE (which I hadn’t heard of before) part of C OF E.

    Loved the misdirection – no better represented than with my last one in – TELLS ON, as well as the innovative devices used throughout. Look forward to his next one.

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