Guardian 26,638 / Brummie

37 comments on “Guardian 26,638 / Brummie”

1. Thanks Eileen – I suppose NC in 24d is National Curriculum, so it’s not North Carolina this time.

2. PS thanks also for pointing out the theme, which I had forgotten to look for..

3. Many thanks, Andrew – bamboozled by a non-existent ‘lift and separate’! 🙁

4. Hard graft today, a bit short of laughs, but that is because we completely failed to spot the subtly concealed theme. Thankyou Eileen for elucidating it. We were defeated by ROBERT and THE BENDS – the latter, when revealed, was one of the best. Didn’t spot the National Curriculum either till reading Andrew above.

   Have to take issue with ‘rub’ for ‘pat’, amd thought that ‘Chinese name’ Wong in WRONG was just plain lazy.

   Did enjoy WHOLETONE and VOL-AU-VENT. Thankyou Brummie – kept us sitting up in bed longer than we planned!

5. Thanks Brummie for a fun crossword and Eileen for a helpful blog.

   This was a real Jekyll and Hyde puzzle, some clues easy to solve, others seemingly diabolic, but not so on looking back.

   I first entered RECOIL at 1d, which did not help solve the ‘Ridiculous popgun challenge’.

6. Thanks Brummie and Eileen. In what way are culottes a skirt? I thought they were short trousers or breeches.

7. It took me a while to see the theme – only after solving STEVEN, SON & HEIR, KIDNAPPED, ISLAND & LOUIS so it helped me to solve TREASURE & ROBERT (which I could not parse).

   I also could not parse 11d, 18/16 and 24d.

   Thanks Eileen and Brummie.

8. All a matter of taste I know, but I thought the surfaces were much better today than in yesterday’s.

9. xjpotter @6, culottes, according to the OCED, are “women’s (usually short) trousers cut to resemble a skirt.”

10. xjpotter

    They certainly are in French but, as a ‘fashion item’, they are designed to look like a skirt.

    Chambers defines culottes as ‘a divided skirt’. I remember when I started secondary school, decades ago, the uniform list specified a divided skirt [also known as shorts!] for gym.

11. Sorry, Cookie, for the cross.

12. I should have pointed out that ‘cullotte’ is the French for men’s knee-breeches (and for women’s knickers). By the way, it is against the law for women to wear trousers of any sort in France, the old law has not been rescinded, and yet women, particularly teachers and pupils, are now sometimes sent home, or dismissed, for wearing skirts.

13. Sorry, Eileen, for my cross. I well remember those gym ‘skirts’.

14. Thanks Brummie and Eileen

    Cookie and Eileen: the ‘divided skirts’ are sold as ‘skorts’ these days…not a particularly felicitous term!

15. Simon @14, what an awful word, but they couldn’t sell them as ‘shirts’.

16. Thanks both

    I had only encountered “honcho” in the expression “head honcho”. I assumed it meant “man” but now I discover that a head honcho is a chief of chiefs. You live and learn

17. I’ve just spotted FROST R in reverse in the top row – one of those coincidences, surely?

18. I shared your feeling that some of the clues were odd, Eileen. Needed you to point out that there was a theme, and to work out what it was before I could appreciate what turns out to be a good puzzle!

    So, many thanks to both Brummie & Eileen.

    [The culottes discussion certainly brought back memories, both good & bad. I enjoyed wearing them when I was a follower of fashion in the 80s, but the mention of them as a divided skirt reminds me of the dreaded PE lessons way back when!]

19. Eileen@17 – Yes, I noticed the backwards FROST. Bit of an unlikely coincidence. Quite hard work, but satisfying once completed. VOL-AU-VENT, WRONG and UMPTEEN were my favourites. Thanks to B and E.

20. Curious puzzle. No real errors as far as I can see, but it just seems to lack sparkle. Some surfaces a bit nonsensical too I note, and somewhat clunky.

21. Pleased to be enlightened about culottes. I had always thought of them as short trousers made to look like a skirt, now I know I have to make a shift and think of them as a divided skirt 🙂

22. Thanks Brummie and Eileen. I found this hard going, and even though I thought “Robert Louis Stevenson” when I put in Kidnapped, it didn’t click at all.

    Cookie @5 – nice one!

23. Adding to the theme, there’s the film The Wrong Box, which according to wikipedia is based on a novel co-written by RLS. You learn something new every day in Cruciverbaland, dont you!

24. You do indeed, Simon S – many thanks for that. I suspected there might be one or two more but couldn’t see any and never would have: I knew of the film but had no idea of its origin. It doesn’t appear in any of the lists I’ve perused today!

    [I was reminded of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, ‘The Tinder Box’ – which fascinated me as a child with the idea of a dog with eyes as big as mill wheels.]

25. Thought this was going to be reasonably straightforward, which it was apart from ROBERT which was last in – it took me a long time to understand the definition. Plenty of ingenuity – liked RUBELLA, STEVEN and FIDDLE.

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

26. If I’d seen the theme ROBERT would have gone in without a second thought – Doh!

27. Skorts have been worn in Newcastle for ages. What’s the problem?

28. Thanks to Brummie and to Eileen for the parsing that I badly needed (e.g., PLUM and UMPTEEN) – and SPAHI and LOVE RAT were new to me.

29. Rather odd puzzle I thought. I found myself seeing the answer before working out why. But then I didn’t see the theme until reading the blog and,like hiker ROBERT was LOI. Not the hardest puzzle this week but quite a challenge nonetheless.
    Quite enjoyable.
    Thanks Brummie

30. Thanks, Eileen, certainly needed you today.

    I read your theme comments, and then managed to solve much more; finally cheated on WRONG and SPAHI and finished the rest.

    I don’t think it will be a coincidence that FROST R appears in the top row. As a crude estimate, choosing 6 letters at random would lead to the probability of FROSTR appearing of ~ 1/300,000,000; and there is surely a good hint in the clue to 5d: “a capital start” would be the top of a column?

31. [Eileen – how funny, I used to beg to be read ‘The Tinder Box’ as a child; I don’t know why it fascinated me so much. But it is the ‘dinner plates’ which stick in my mind!]

    As ‘Frost R’ has nothing to do with RLS, presumably he found that those letters had mysteriously appeared where they did, and decided it was a lucky opportunity to clue ROBERT and make it look planned…maybe? Who knows? But I can’t see why he would go to considerable trouble to engineer it when it has no connection with the theme of the puzzle.

32. I didn’t think we’d better Vlad’s puzzle on Tuesday but this certainly did.

    I didn’t find this “odd” in any way. It was just ingenious and mysterioisly difficult. In retrospect none of the clues were hard?(How do they do that?)

    I too had a slight problem with PAT = RUB in 16A but the SOED has:

    pat pat ? noun1. lME.
    I A noise or action.
    …
    3 A light stroke or tap with a flat object, esp. to flatten or smooth something, or with the hand or fingers as a sign of affection, approbation, etc. e19.

    So I suppose a “light stroke” could be a “rub”.

    It goes without saying that I didn’t notice the theme.

    Thanks to Eileen and Brummie

33. Hi Dave Ellison and Limeni

    I’d started to compose a reply to Dave, on the lines of ‘Great spot, since a capital is the top of a column’ – but was diverted by a telephone call, before Limeni’s comment appeared – but I think, like Limeni, that, since it was not an integral part of the puzzle, the reversed R FROST must have been a case of Serendipity [I use that word whenever I can!]. It’s very intriguing, though – and, unfortunately, Brummie is not one of those setters who tend to drop in.

34. missed the theme. completed it except I had INVEST for 5d: figured that you’d wear a vest in cold weather, and that investing = putting in capital. consequently totally flummoxed by 8a. oh well.

35. Hi bat020

    I like your INVEST!

    I don’t recognise your name, so Welcome, if you’re a new commenter!
    [Come back soon!]

36. Thanks all
    I too found this tough going but enjoyable. My last in and unparsed was treasure. Louis took me a long time too although now I don’t know why.
    I liked Robert.
    I couldn’t see NC in honcho, it’s not a familiar abbreviation.

37. Thanks Brummie and Eileen

    A backlog puzzle … which was a beauty! Had a similar experience as Marienkaefer when I entered KIDNAPPED and also didn’t take it through to the full theme.

    Plenty of other stuff that I missed or mis-parsed:
    11d – had lead as PLUMB as the lead weight on a line – with the B (bottom letter) removed;
    18,16 – had the start of REVOLution reversed followed by AT;
    24d – NC, didn’t understand the reference to National Curriculum and British state schools.

    A good mix of clue devices made for an entertaining solve.

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