The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26752.
Another crossword with Special Instructions:
If it’s 15, it’s not defined.
15A is AMUSE, and five of the nine muses appear in the answers, undefined in their clues.
I hit on the theme very early; with just 2D INTERLUDES in place, the U suggested MUS as SUM reversed, and after rejecting AMUSE-GUEULE the CU gave the rest away. Then, of course, it was another step (but an easy one, as 19A ERATO was familiar) to split AMUSE into A MUSE. Even with this headstart, the puzzle took some cracking, with some artful misdirection. Many thanks to Philistine for the workout.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SKI SLOPE |
Perhaps kiss and run? It’s easy when green (3,5)
A charade of SKIS, an anagram (‘perhaps’) of ‘kiss’ plus LOPE (‘run’). Ski runs (at least in the USA – I do not know about elsewhere) are colour coded from green, the easiest, to black. |
| 5 |
See 15
|
|
| 9 | ON THE FLY |
Aim of swat when rushing (2,3,3)
Definition and literal interpretation. |
| 10 | STRIPE |
Decoration for high priest … (6)
An anagram (‘high’) of ‘priest’. |
| 12 | TERPSICHORE |
… and another task (11)
A charade of TERPSICHORE, an anagram (‘…and another’, referring back to the previous clue) of ‘priest’ plus CHORE (‘task’). |
| 15, 5 | AMUSE-BOUCHE |
Recall what copper gong some heard, announcing first appetiser (5-6)
A reversal (‘recall’) of EH (interrogative, ‘what’) plus CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus OBE (Order of the British Empire, medal, ‘gong’) plus SUM (‘some heard’) plus A (‘Announcing first;). |
| 17 | MELPOMENE |
Brit and national leader separately entering 24 (9)
A split envelope (‘separatiely entering’) of POM (‘Brit’) and N (‘National leader’) in MELEE (’24’ FRACAS). |
| 18 | GREAT SKUA |
Retreating, a country’s expression of gratitude to unit for work as one flying the North Atlantic (5,4)
A reversal (‘retreating’) of ‘a’ plus UK’S (‘country ‘s) plus TA (‘expression of gratitude’) plus ERG (‘unit of work’). The great skua (also known as Bonxie) nests primarily in the northeastern seaboard of the Atlantic, but regularly crosses to the west.
|
| 19 | ERATO |
Time after time love comes last (5)
A charade of ERA (‘time’, the second one according to the wordplay) plus ‘time’ plus O (‘love’); ‘comes last’ states the obvious. I am sure I have seen this clue fairly recently, but I cannot pin it down. |
| 20 | PEREGRINATE |
Before smile, spread out and wander (11)
An envelope (‘out’) of ERE (‘before’) plus GRIN (‘smile’) in PATÉ (‘spread’). |
| 24 | FRACAS |
Stole after breaking in, a recurrent disturbance (6)
A reversal (‘recurrent’) of SACARF, an envelope (‘after breaking in’) of ‘a’ in SCARF (‘stole’). |
| 25 | CALLIOPE |
Manage to include everything by compiler (8)
An envelope (‘to include’) of ALL (‘everything’) plus I (‘compiler’ I.e. Philistine speaking) in COPE (‘manage’). |
| 26 | STEAMY |
Blue pen written about West, if heading that way (6)
An envelope (‘written about’) of EAM, a reversal (‘if heading that way’ – I.e. West) of MAE (‘West’, screen actress) in STY (‘pen’). |
| 27 | PEER GYNT |
Grey pen rewritten Pinter’s fourth play (4,4)
A charade of PEERGYN, an anagram (rewritten’) of ‘grey pen’ plus T (‘PinTer’s fourth’)., for Ibsen’s play |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHORT-RANGE |
Good northern paintings put up in seaside location, not going far (5-5)
An envelope (‘in’) of GTRAN, a reversal (‘put up’) of G (‘good’) plus N (‘northern’) plus ART (‘paintings’) in SHORE (‘seaside loctaion’). |
| 2 | INTERLUDES |
Breaks resulted in disruption (10)
An anagram (‘disruption’) of ‘resulted in’. |
| 3 | LIENS |
Rights of foreigners first for the chop (5)
A subtraction: [a]LIENS (‘foreigners’) minus its initial letter (‘forest for the chop’). An all too relevant surface. |
| 4 | POLICYMAKERS |
They set the course for producer to interrupt Olympics broadcast (12)
Is there an error here? The clue appears to be intended as an envelope (‘to interrupt’) of MAKER (‘producer’) in an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘Olympics’; but that of course has one M too many. There is a composer of music for video games (yes, there is such a job title) called Josh Aker – I happen to have heard one of his pieces just the other day. At a stretch he might be called a producer (of music), but I think the error explanation is more likely. |
| 6 | ON THE DOLE |
Finally put horseradish sauce in noodle soup? That’s not working (2,3,4)
An envelope (‘in’) of THE (‘finally puT horseradisH saucE‘ – it makes a change from ‘article’!) in ONDOLE, an anagram (‘soup’) of ‘noodle’. |
| 7 | CLIO |
25 not pale, somehow (4)
25A is CALLIOPE; removing ALPE, an anagram (‘somehow’) of ‘pale’, leaves CLIO. |
| 8, 23 | EDENTATE |
Gummy garden gallery (8)
A charade of EDEN (‘garden’) plus TATE (‘gallery’). Edentate means without teeth (or maybe at least front teeth), hence ‘gummy’. |
| 11 | FOUL LANGUAGE |
Sounds like “quack”, for example, is inappropriate terminology (4,8)
“Quack’ would be FOWL LANGUAGE. |
| 13 | DEFAMATORY |
Fed up with romantic casting aspersions (10)
A charade of DEF, a reversal (‘up’) of ‘fed’ plus AMATORY (‘romantic’). |
| 14 | DENOUEMENT |
Refusal to enter Europe and make crazy all-encompassing resolution (10)
An envelope (‘all-encompassing’) of ENOU, an envelope (‘to enter’) of NO (‘refusal’) in EU (European Union, ‘Europe’), in DEMENT (‘make crazy’). |
| 16 | ECTOPLASM |
Spirit found in this place? Most unlikely (9)
An anagram (‘unlikely’) of ‘place most’, with a very nice extended definition. |
| 21 | IDLER |
For starters, I do love endlessly relaxing (5)
Initial letters (‘for starters’) of ‘I Do Love Endless Relaxing’, and a true &lit. |
| 22 | UFOS |
Telescopes of universities partially looking up for them (4)
A hidden (‘partially’) reversed (‘looking up’) answer in ‘telescopeS OF Universities’, with an extended definition. |
| 23 |
See 8
|
|
Thanks Philistine for a most enjoyable puzzle and PeterO for the blog. It does look like there’s an extra M in 4d: sure to be lots of debate.
Unfortunately a fair amount of the blog is missing, with the text not wrapping at the right margin of the white area. (It can be accessed by right clicking to get the context menu and selecting View Page Source or by pressing Ctrl-u)
Thanks Peter, including for explaining FRACAS to me. I, too, was held up by ‘amuse-gueule’ as likely for 15 – and probably for longer than you. I wondered also about a possible ‘aker’ in 4D. Luckily the muses in the puzzle were ones I vaguely knew: the other four would have been a trial. Good puzzle, thanks Philistine.
thanks to Philistine for a typically interesting puzzle and PeterO for the blog.
I popped in to see if I had missed something about 4d as I couldn’t reconcile it either.
My mischievous side wondered if a topical attempt to link the IAAF, say, with Olympics rake-off had been contemplated and interfered with by m’learned friend!
Nice weekend all
baerchen and Peter O are right re 4d- I’d missed that extra or missing M
A lovely puzzle – got the theme pretty early because the old favourite ERATO jumped out at me (PEER GYNT was first in). Thanks for explaining FRACAS, which was my last in – didn’t think of using recurrent as a reversal indicator.
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO
Thanks for the blog, PeterO.
I started this puzzle online during the night, when I couldn’t get back to sleep, and the special instructions weren’t visible, so I was completely nonplussed when I got CALLIOPE from the very clear wordplay and ERATO very soon after. Then I went back to sleep!
All became clear when I opened my paper this morning and back-solved the more difficult 15,5 from what I had already. Pure delight from then on. As usual with this setter, I had to stop adding ticks, as there were too many, but I think top favourite was ECTOPLASM. I also loved the connection between 10 and 12 – an ellipsis that made sense – and it was a joy to write CALLIOPE and take out the letters of ‘pale’ and see CLIO appear – in order. Clever stuff!
it’s such a pity about 4dn: PeterO’s suggestion is tempting but rather far-fetched and past experience of editorial input suggests error, yet again, I’m afraid.
The engineer has just arrived to fit my new smart meter, so my electricity is going off NOW – huge thanks, Philistine!
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
I got GREAT SKUA (Bonxie) early, and with the reference to “compiler” in 28, I wondered if that was going to be the theme; the easy ERATO put me on the right track, though. I didn’t parse FRACAS either.
Stand out clues were for PEREGRINATE and STEAMY; on the other hand there were some rather clunky surfaces (18a and 1d for instance).
I spotted the extra M in 4d too, and think it must be an error – pity about that.
The extra M in 4 down is indeed an error. I’m so sorry.
Thanks for popping in and holding your hand up, Philistine. You’re forgiven (by me, at least).
Nothing is meant to be perfect, just an extra thread in the rug…
@Philistine
Thanks for a beautiful puzzle. Don’t beat yourself up about the error in 4 – that could happen to anyone, and I would suggest that it is the editor’s job to spot this kind of thing.
Thanks also to PeterO for the blog.
Thank you Philistine for a lovely puzzle and PeterO for a helpful blog.
I got AMUSE BOUCHE early on and thought we were in for a selection of culinary treats, though the horseradish sauce and noodle soup did not augur well.
So many good clues, SKI SLOPE, GREAT SKUA, FRACAS, ECTOPLASM and CALLIOPE/CLIO among many others.
I’m ashamed to say that I failed to parse not only FRACAS but also PEREGRINATE. And, failing to spot the &lit in 21dn, I was left wondering in what sense IDLER was a muse. In short, I failed to give this excellent puzzle the attention it deserved.
Thanks to PeterO for the enlightenment, and of course to Philistine for a fine puzzle: I’d say that 4dn is merely the grit in a very fine oyster.
Thanks Philistine & PeterO.
My FOI was IDLER, which at the beginning seemed undefined but then I got CALLIOPE. I got AMUSE- BOUCHE later which revealed the theme but only realised the &lit of IDLER near the end. I’m not a great fan of undefined clues.
I didn’t know most of the Muses so had to rely on a list. I did look up ‘Aker’ in case there was a producer but assumed that it was an error. Thanks to P @8 for explaining it.
I did like the “Fowl” LANGUAGE.
Fine puzzle Phil (if I may be familiar). And thank you for a new usage to me of recurrent meaning reversed. Collins has:
(anatomy) (of certain nerves, branches of vessels, etc) turning back, so as to run in the opposite direction.
After much thought, I took the ‘aker’ in 4d to be the archaic form of acre, which I grudgingly accepted as a producer in the agricultural sense. I wasn’t very happy with it though, so thanks to P @8 for owning up!
Thanks PeterO and Philistine
I tried searching ‘Aker producer’ and of course found one – a Michael Aker. Thanks Philistine for an otherwise excellent puzzle and for letting us know about the error’.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO. A lovely puzzle. I managed to misdirect myself twice: I got 15,5 early on and was then looking for twee little bits of food, and then started thinking fairgrounds when I got Calliope.
Eileen @6 – does your “smart” meter solve crosswords?
What a splendid, enjoyable puzzle to end with after other good puzzles we have had this week.
To Philistine’s credit, his/her precise clueing meant that it was possible to get many answers, whether themed or not, by working through the cryptic indications until either the whole word or a good part of it emerges. I got CALLIOPE this way (my 3rd one in after 8D and 22D), and that led immediately to the theme. This is a much better experience than having to guess (or leave) too many answers first and then (after going back to see why they are the answers) get stuck because you have too many blanks including the theme words. (It actually adds spice and enjoyment to have to guess some answers first, but they should not be too many.)
I see the mythical crossword editor has been mentioned again at 11. If only!
Well done, Philistine. Never mind the error. Thanks to PeterO for explaining a couple of clues I was not quite sure about.
15,5 was early for me too so I immediately started muse-hunting. I don’t know them all, but it wasn’t long till just 17a held out. By the time I had all the crossers, plus a surmise about MELEE, so I was working with MEL?O?ENE. Going through loads of three-letter combinations didn’t help so here alone I consulted the Wikipedia list. There, I’ve fessed up, in the same spirit as Philistine gracefully did re POLICYMAKERS.
[BTW, any ideas why yesterday’s cracker from Paul attracted almost a record-low number of blog comments? ]
ERATO was my second answer and my way into the theme. The five muses used included what I think are probably the four best-known ones, so it was perhaps less difficult than it might have been.
I ended up with three unparsed answers, PEREGRINATE, FRACAS and POLICYMAKERS. The first was entirely my own fault. Having started by thinking of “pre-” for “before”, I failed to switch to ERE and completely missed PATÉ, so all I had was a rueful GRIN. I got FRACAS via the MELEE in MELPOMENE, but I wasn’t familiar with the anatomic meaning of “recurrent” so I didn’t spot the reversal. I did see the (im)possible parsing of POLICYMAKERS, but was stymied by the second M. As others have said, don’t beat yourself up about it, Philistine. Thanks for confirming it so promptly, thus saving us from thinking up increasingly implausible alternative parsings.
Favourites included TERPSICHORE, ERATO, ON THE DOLE, FOUL LANGUAGE and ECTOPLASM.
Thanks to Philistine for an entertaining puzzle and to PeterO for the blog.
Thank you, Philistine and PeterO. A very nice puzzle, error and all.
Fortunately I’ve never heard of amuse-gueule, so after I’d put in Erato (that crossword perennial)15 looked like amuse, and then amuse-bouche went in too. But like Rog @13 I had already entered “idler” and taken it for undefined, so for a while I tried to figure out what category could contain both Erato and an idler. Then Terpsichore went in and I gave up on the idler, but didn’t register the &lit until now.
Strangely for me, my fist one in was amuse bouche but then I screwed it with great auks! It took ages to spot that. I only twigged the muses when the crossers brought calliope to mind. Couldn’t parse fracas.
I had smart meters installed on Tuesday and have to say neither was a damned bit of help today. Overrated.
Harry @23
Unfortunate choice of Great Auks – not only are they extinct, they were also flightless!
Thanks to Philistine (especially for resolving the M problem) and PeterO (for the very helpful blog). As usual I needed help parsing several clues (e.g., FRACAS and PEREGRINATE), but I caught on to the muses early thanks to ERATO and CALLIOPE. Very enjoyable.
[Trailman @20 – in my experience there is no correlation between the number of comments and the quality of the crossword – all it takes is a little disagreement…]
beery hiker (@26)
Absolutely. There were 55 comments [to date] on Tuesday’s blog (Brummie’s puzzle). I’m sure that is not a record, but regulars may remember there were a couple of contentious points on that day as well as a discussion on a side-issue that happened to arise from one of the clues. Like Philistine today, Brummie could have helped on that occasion by popping in to explain a point at issue (a long-winded clue that was in effect just a definition), but perhaps some setters are simply not available to do that – and possibly don’t even know on what day their puzzle is published.
I find this to be a good-humoured, inclusive blog – I don’t mind how many or how few contributions there are! It’s always good when the setters themselves pop in, particularly when there is a question that calls out for an answer from the horse’s mouth.
Muffin @24. Well if they tried walking across the Atlantic no wonder they’re extinct. Serves em right.
BTW, I forgot to thank Philistine and PeterO. Sorry both. Not my day. I blame the smart meters.
Wonderful puzzle, as others have said. Even after I had AMUSE it took me a long time to realise what was going on. Sad but true – I thought there must be some mistake in the special instructions! When the penny dropped I managed to complete it. Lots of great clues including SKI SLOPE, PEREGRINATE (couldn’t parse) and FRACAS. Many thanks to Philistine and PeterO.
Alan Browne @27
“Like Philistine today, Brummie could have helped on that occasion by popping in to explain a point at issue (a long-winded clue that was in effect just a definition), but perhaps some setters are simply not available to do that – and possibly don’t even know on what day their puzzle is published.”
Don’t forget that this site is not officially linked to the Guardian. Some of their setters may not even know that it exists (though I suspect that most do). Others may just prefer not to read comments, given how nitpickingly negative some of them are, though of course reading constructive criticism could be helpful.
Well, a theme that I got even if it was a little late in the day. It was CALLIOPE that gave it to me. I did get AMUSE BOUCHE early on- just after PEER GYNT- but the (obvious) clue to the theme eluded me at first. In the end a rather satisfying workout. Pity about 4dn. Is there really a crossword editor? If so, what does s/he do all day?
Thanks Philistine.
A very good point, jennyk (@30) – thank you for making it.
I suspect that all the setters know this site exists. I was aware that it is separate from (and independent of) all the publications featured on it. Brummie has every right to stay away, and I should not have made it seem otherwise.
A lot of factual input, constructive criticism and intelligent discussion goes on this daily blog, and it would be nice to think that setters are encouraged to make occasional input (a) when they see it would help and (b) when they feel like it.
Peter @31
I’ve submitted a few contributions recently on the subject of the Guardian’s mythical crossword editor, as I now call that postholder.
Is there some-one in this audience who has any inside knowledge of an actual, active crossword editor at the Guardian? The evidence points the other way.
The essence of the job would be to set and maintain standards, but there are some simple, basic things that are escaping the editor’s watch: (1) typos, (2) other sorts of error that take a modicum of skill to find and put right.
Thanks to Philistine for an excellent puzzle and PeterO for the blog.
Re the role of crossword editor, there are two other pretty essential tasks: firstly ensure that the crossword is properly test-solved, which would pick up minor slips like extraneous letters, and secondly, as someone on the graun site has pointed out, look at the puzzles as a wood not as trees, to prevent the same word appearing in answers in consecutive puzzles (or maybe not even in the same week).
Alan Browne @33
Some months ago there was an impenetrable clue in the Quiptic (of all things!). I wrote to ask for an explanation, and got a very polite and apologetic reply from the crossword editor – see below:
Here is Moley’s comment, explaining that Roger’s Thesaurus gives ‘tyranny’ as a synonym. But it is a very bad one and I add my apologies to hers for letting it stand.
Hello, Quiptic solvers. Thank you for your comments which I always read with great appreciation. I regret that so many of you were fazed by “chutzpah” being described as “tyranny,” (a synonym given in Roget’s Thesaurus). The word has such an angry sound that I hoped you would infer its implied bossiness from the pronunciation once you had discovered it – but there’s the rub! Note to self: must do better.
A suitably admonished
Moley.
HUGH STEPHENSON
There is also the job of building and managing the team of setters, which I suggest most contributors to this site would agree has been performed to an excellent degree.
As most of you are chomping on a free lunch at the Guardian, what expectations can you have other than to get what you are given? And generally you get given something of the highest quality with the occasional lapse.
As usual I am swimming against the tide of free lunchers. I got 2d and 9a. Most of the others I would never get near. I pay £1.80 a day for this!
Thanks all
I surprised myself with my muse knowledge set off early like BH with erato.
However I failed with fracas and UFOS.
Like many others ERATO was in early. (After failing to parse OMEGA which I thought very clever but lacked a reversal indicator)
As I had already toyed with AMUSE BOUCHE but hadn’t got round to a successful parsing all became clear.
I did chunner a little for a while as the insertion of the remaining muses was a little too easy. However the excellent cluing for the remaining clues more than made up for this short spurt!
Very enjoyable and some splendid clues.
If it’s any consolation Philistine I didn’t even notice the extra M in 4D. However I must agree with others that this should have been noticed by our “illustrious ed”. The fact that some get this offering for free is irrelevant as I’m sure that the Guardian don’t get the services of their “editor” gratis!
Thanks to PeterO and Philistine
Thank you, muffin @35 and Van Winkle @36.
That is really useful information about the existence of the somewhat maligned crossord editor at the Guardian!
Now it’s only the ‘occasional lapses’ that I’m at all bothered about.
I’ve just returned from spending a month in Australia, where on 3 or 4 days a week I solved (or tried to solve) The Times crossword about 30 days behind publication in the UK. I was struck by how similar they were to Guardian puzzles but with some significant and, I think, interesting differences:
– the almost complete absence of typos and other obvious errors in The Times clues: evidence of a watchful editor;
– the closeness of the level of difficulty of the puzzles in each paper;
– (not really pertinent but interesting) the fact that Guardian crosswords are more enjoyable, having more variety in the clueing, more themes and more creativity.
Give me the Guardian any day, but the puzzles would be better if the gremlins went away.
Don’t forget also that the Guardian has generally a longstanding and famous representation for typos and similar mistakes to uphold.
Typo … for “representation” read “reputation”
Thanks PeterO for a fine blog and Philistine for an excellent puzzle.
I never cease to be amazed at how crosswords manage to drag up things from the deep recesses of my brain which I’d thought long forgotten.
In this case it was all of the mentioned Muses (other than MELPOMENE who I don’t recall at all – but was easy to find) plus PEREGRINATE.
However, having got ERATO without understanding why, the penny only dropped with half a dozen to go.
Got there in the end but did need your help to parse FRACAS – thanks for that.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
Late to this, but thought that this was an excellent puzzle, even with the minor error at 4d. Funny how we are all different – AMUSE-BOUCHE was my last one in and afraid to say was the first time that I have ever encountered it. Unlike others UFOS was my first in. I did have the AMUSE part of 15a, 5a early enough for it to be a help after finding TERPSICHORE and then CALLIOPE to understand the theme. Strangely enough ERATO came a bit later.
Was another who couldn’t parse FRACAS.
The other last couple i were ECTOPLASM which gave me the last crosser to bung in FRACAS unparsed.
Alan@40 – I hope that when you were down here that you took the opportunity to try some of the Aussie compilers – for most part quite a different style, but there is one guy, David Astle, who sets a good challenge generally every Friday in the Melbourne Age / Sydney Morning Herald. Having said that, I haven’t done one for ages – these English ones are keeping me busy enough.