Guardian 26,682 – Nutmeg

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A pleasant surprise to see Nutmeg’s name today, but this was definitely not your usual “easy” Monday puzzle, with a couple of obscure words and some tricky clueing. So, a slight shock to the system, but very enjoyable. Thanks to Nutmeg

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. SHORT MEASURE Quick resolution — not quite what you bargained for? (5,7)
SHORT (quick) + MEASURE (resolution, as in something decided by a committee)
9. LIMIT Landed outside one mile boundary (5)
1 M in LIT (landed, as in “alighted”)
10. WAPENTAKE Writer cheers during solemn watch, causing division in north (9)
PEN (writer) + TA (thanks, cheers) in WAKE. A Wapentake is an an old administrative subdivision of a county, etc, similar to the “hundred”.
11. WEATHER Brave don penning article (7)
THE in WEAR (to don, put on)
12. THERMAL Current queen entering London street with large cast (7)
R[egina] in THE MALL less L – a kind a current favoured by hang-gliders et al
13. TRIANGULAR Like warning signs Alan Turing devised, changing number for radius (10)
(ALAN TURING)* with one of the Ns replaced by R. Triangular road signs are warnings (as opposed to e.g. speed limits, which are circular)
15. ETCH Wayside flower not very sharply cut (4)
VETCH less V
18. SWOT Apply oneself to doubles after change of ends (4)
TWOS with the outer letters exchanged
19. MADELEINES Itinerant men and ladies devouring last of free cakes (10)
E in (MEN LADIES)* – I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten a madeleine, but I do know that one has great significance in Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu
22. RALEIGH What Cupid drew, heading off after artist and explorer (7)
RA + [S]LEIGH – Cupid is one of Santa’s reindeer in Clement Moore’s poem The Night before Christmas. Sir Walter Raleigh is the explorer
24. FORWARD Dispatch impertinent player from team (7)
Three definitions
25. ANCHORMEN Those running last once regularly backed by Merry Monarch (9)
MONARCH* + reverse of [o]N[c]E
26. VOILE Oscar’s dipping into sordid material (5)
O in VILE
27. SECOND FIDDLE Little Mo’s racket not the main attraction? (6,6)
SECOND (“just a mo”) + FIDDLE (racket)
Down
1. SIMPATICO Compatible notes written about clubs in terrace (9)
Reverse of MIS (notes, as in do-re-mi) + C in PATIO
2. OUTSHONE Dilapidated house not left standing (8)
(HOUSE NOT)*
3. TOWER Possibly keep barge horse? (5)
Double definition – “keep” as in a mediaeval castle, and a horse tows a barge
4. EXPATIATE With king banished, émigré at length set forth (9)
EXPATRIATE less R (“at length”) because “expatriate” is often abbreviated to “ex-pat”)
5. SUNDEW Two things dawn may bring for insectivore (6)
SUN + DEW
6. REARM Prepare to fight again behind military leader (5)
REAR (behind) + M
7. BLOW IT Mess up part of drill, keeping quiet (4,2)
LOW in BIT
8. HEALTH Left in open country, one often gets drunk (6)
L in HEATH
14. UNASHAMED Brazen manoeuvres UN has made (9)
(UN HAS MADE)*
16. TENTATIVE Nameless local chasing temporary accommodation with no confidence (9)
TENT + [n]ATIVE
17. REPROVED Censured delegate was on the move (8)
REP[resentative] + ROVED
18. SPREAD Feast before cutting down (6)
PRE in SAD – I spent a while wondering whether SEREAD was an obscure kind of feast..
20. SYDNEY State capital‘s second terminus erected within a couple of years (6)
S + reverse of END in Y Y
21. KIMONO Setter’s appearing in tolerable climbing gear from the East (6)
I’M ON (setter’s appearing) in reverse of OK
23. LUCRE Cash primarily what’s tempting fences? (5)
C[ash] in LURE, &lit
24. FUNGI Animal tucks in, if turning up truffles, say (5)
GNU in IF, all reversed

44 comments on “Guardian 26,682 – Nutmeg”

  1. Thanks Andrew. You have an extra E in THERMAL. I think the ‘queen’ should read ‘king’ (for R)to be a correct clue.

  2. Thanks, Andrew. I agree entirely with your preamble – a lovely puzzle.

    Lots of great clues but I think my favourite must be 2dn, for the definition, which took a while to see. I liked 13 and 22ac a lot, too.

    pex @1

    R stands for queen as well as king and ‘king’ would make a less appropriate surface.

  3. I failed to solve 15a and 8d and new words for me were WAPENTAKE and SUNDEW.

    My favourites were REPROVED, SYDNEY and FUNGI.

    I agree with Eileen @ 2 – I parsed THERMAL as R (Regina/queen) in THE MALL less L

  4. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew

    Quite a challenge for a Monday. I think RALEIGH was my favourite, for thelength of time I wasted trying to fit (b)OW in. The GNU re-appears in crosswordland!

    Thanks for the parsing of SPREAD – I hadn’t seen that.

    I’m not convinced about the definition for OUTSHONE – in what sense is it “left standing”? It seems to lack an object (Bill left Ben standing – Bill outshone Ben?)

    I thought the clue for SIMPATICO was too convoluted for elegance; in particular I didn’t like MIS = NOTES.

    The “wayside” in 15a seems superfluous.

  5. Eileen @ 2: thanks for the info.

    I’m far from an expert but this is he first time in 40 odd years of attempting Guardian crosswords that I have come across R on its own for Queen. But that’s why I do them – learn something every day.

  6. Hi muffin @4

    That’s why I picked RALEIGH, too!

    “(Bill left Ben standing – Bill outshone Ben?)”: yes – what’s wrong with that?

  7. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew.

    Rather a shock for Monday morning, but most enjoyable, and I do like meeting new words, here WAPENTAKE.
    For EXPATIATE I had the definition as ‘at length set forth’ and wasted time trying to fit COLE into ANCHORMEN!
    LIMIT, ETCH, SWOT, VOILE and SECOND FIDDLE were fun, as were many others.

  8. Hi Eileen @6
    I wasn’t quite clear – in fact I’m still not quite clear in my own mind – but OUTSHONE = LEFT STANDING just seems odd if Ben isn’t there to be outshone/left standing.

  10. Thanks, Andrew. This was a great puzzle that would have been a challenge on any day of the week. The Nina didn’t help either, only becoming apparent at the end or, should I say, the middle. 😉

  12. pex@5

    it is interesting for me to hear that R = queen (as a stand-alone) rarely appears in Guardian crosswords. Usually we have ER = Elizabeth Regina/Queen Elizabeth so the “R” = queen was familiar to me.

    I suppose that some time in the future we will need to become accustomed to CR and WR and GR – all of which will suit the setters very well I’m sure! Cramp, wrangle and growl will all be fun to clue….

  13. Orange @9, no, to be OUTSHONE is to be beaten by the one who is left standing. If instead of reading outshone as passive, we take it as a perfect active, then you’d have to say I have outshone (Ben or anyone else), so I am left standing. I am struggling to find an example in that sense where the two can be interchanged. “I outshone” doesn’t work with “I left standing,” nor does “I am outshone” with “I am left standing.”

  14. Thank you to Nutmeg and Andrew. This was a pleasant surprise on a Monday. I struggled with a couple last week but this one went in fairly promptly with lots of smiles along the way. I had to “Google in Hope” for a couple. Was relieved when SUNDEW showed up but was amazed when WAPENTAKE turned out to be a real word. I see that some also found MADELEINES obscure. It must be a symptom of the strong French presence in both Hong Kong and Tokyo that they are a common part of my environment if not my diet.

  17. So I was. Thanks, Van Winkle and Eileen for putting me right, and of course Andrew for the blog and Nutmeg for the pleasant Monday outing.

  18. I think it’s the word order that is unsettling me. “Bill outshone Ben”; “Bill left Ben standing”; but not, I think, “Bill left standing Ben”.

  19. Allow me to add my name to the chorus of people who thought 2dn was absolutely brilliant. Foxed me right to the very end, and then it’s so obvious when you see it.

  21. Thanks to Nutmeg and Andrew. To my surprise I got WAPENTAKE from the clues (with the help of a Google check) but was slowed down by “dilapidated” and especially “merry” as anagrinds. As to TRIANGULAR road signs, the US system is different. See
    http://www.trafficsign.us/signshape.html
    Briefly, the triangle point down is Yield; circle is Railroad; octagon is Stop; diamond is Warning.

  23. An enjoyable challenge, especially on a Monday. I particularly liked the misleading ‘cupid’ in 22a

    Followers of my inability to spot Ninas will be pleased to know I did see this one.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Andrew.

  26. Found this pretty tough for a Monday but quite an enjoyable challenge – as always with Nutmeg there was plenty of inventive misdirection. Thanks for the parsing of SIMPATICO which eluded me. Last in was SPREAD.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Andrew

  27. Muffin and Michelle @24/25 – the CENTRE refers to WEATHER CENTRE, HEALTH CENTRE, CENTRE SPREAD and CENTRE FORWARD too

  29. Thanks for the blog Andrew. At 22a, you have underlined ‘what Cupid drew’ implying that’s the definition, which I believe is ‘explorer’

  30. Be careful of what you wish for. I look forward to non-Rufus Mondays but found this a bit on the hard side for so early in the week. Enjoyed it nevertheless, and was very proud of getting the likes of WAPENTAKE without Google’s help, but other bits of the NE held me up, until ETCH / HEALTH needed a bit of cheating.

    As well as 2d, I quite liked 23d / LUCRE.

  32. Trailman@30: you’ve taken the words right out of my mouth, I agree with you on all counts. I also had to use the cheat button for the same clues, both of which caused “doh” moments when I read the answers!

    Many thanks to Nutmeg, who is fast becoming one of my favourite setters, for a good, if challenging, puzzle; also to Andrew for the blog.

  33. Perhaps I was in Rufus mode and never moved on because I found this extremely difficult. Indeed I came very close to abandoning it. However I didn’t but this was bloody mindedness because I can’t say I enjoyed it much.
    Can’t see the problem with OUTSHONE; this was one of the easy ones. I can’t complain about the cluing though. I loved RALEIGH, SECOND FIDDLE and WEATHER. ETCH was LOI.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  34. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew

    I thought that was a tough delight, which took me quite a long time as I was watching a recording of the South Africa / Japan game from the other day, so happily followed every misdirect offered…

    Nutmeg’s best yet, I believe.

  35. Late to the party.

    As others said, I found this rough going. I needed to cheat on WAPENTAKE, which is almost unfair if you’re not British. All the rest eventually went in.

    “Left standing” in the sense used here isn’t in my dialect. I suppose we might say “left standing in the dust.”

    They have madeleines at Starbucks here, in little packages of three. They do go well with coffee.

    On Michelle’s comment at 12: I did once see a puzzle where ER was clued as “king,” referring to any of the eight previous Edwards. So I suppose they could already use WR or CR or GR as “king.”

    Clue I came up with once: “Elizabeth’s father and Elizabeth’s brother were marauders (7)” (Fair? Unfair?)

  36. Did not like 5d – dawn does not bring dew – it forms in the night, and is only seen at dawn because it gets light!

  37. I found this very hard. I solved six clues and didn’t really enjoy it at all. Where do I go from here if I don’t get one at my level even on a Monday?

  38. Most of this was too difficult for me but I very much enjoyed reading the explanation of the clues.

    27ac. “Little Mo” was the nickname of the great Maureen Connolly, winner of many tennis grand slams – yet another subtle clue.

  39. Thanks all
    No anniversary, no theme and yet a thoroughly satisfying puzzle.
    Favourite was 22 for the brilliant misdirection.
    I enjoyed also some interesting words which I knew but had to be dragged from my vocabulary store!(10ac., 25 ac, 19 ac).

  43. Thanks Nutmeg and Andrew

    Was also surprised to see Nutmeg in the banner for this – and immediately thought it might be one of her Quiptic style puzzles – wrong! This was right up there with the tough end of her scale, but certainly worth the effort when the Monday slumber was shaken off !!!

    Lots to like in many of the clues – which have been called out above. Always good to see the AUS reference, with SYDNEY our biggest city clued as a state capital – a nice misdirection because I was straight off to the US for them.

    Last few in were the clever OUTSHONE, the well-disguised VETCH and the previously unknown SUNDEW.

  44. Thanks Andrew and Tramp.

    Tough to get into, tough in the middle, and tough to pick off the stragglers.

    WAPENTAKE a new word for me – thanks – and I liked RALEIGH.

    Not really sure what ‘one’ is doing in 8dn unless it’s a typo and should have been ONE’S (possessive).

    Overall good, but not special.

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