Guardian 26,784 / Arachne

37 comments on “Guardian 26,784 / Arachne”

1. Excellent puzzle and blog.

2. Thanks Arachne and Gaufrid

   Although Arachne is my favourite compiler, I didn’t enjoy this as much as usual – probably because of the number of clues where I had the answer but not the parsing (11a, 22a, 27a, 28a, 2d, 17d). (With AUTHOR in particular I was on the wrong track, taking the OR in the clue as giving the last two letters, A as the individual, and THU as Thursday, without being able to explain why the U was in the wrong place.)

   INCENTIVES and ASSASSIN were my favourites.

   I suppose the French required for 19d was fair enough, but non-curry-eaters might struggle with ALOOF!

3. btw Chesterton wrote “The man who was Thursday”, so was “the individual behind Thursday” – very clever!

4. Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.

   As you say, all the Arachne trademarks here, in spades. Like muffin, I found some of the parsing harder than usual – but in my case that simply added to the enjoyment and the satisfaction when the pennies dropped. [I didn’t quite get to the bottom of 2dn, though.]

   I loved the wit of support for labourers, Murphy in Mumbai, invalid setting off, grave expression and nasty Cameron, among others. I also liked the picture of Arachne scribbling in the sea and her dig at the Guardian after the boob in her last puzzle!

   We see ASSASSIN and MANIFESTO quite frequently and it was good to see them clued differently from the usual charades.

   Lots more to admire but I’ll leave it for others to have a go.

   Huge thanks, as ever, to Arachne – a wonderful start to the day.

5. I too had a lot of answers with no parsing, so was very grateful for the blog. I’m still puzzling over 28a though – how is RE ramble on vacation?

   MEMOIR was my favourite, and I loved the misdirection in AUTHOR.

6. Thank you Gaufrid and Arachne. Enjoyable start to the day. New words for me today were runtiness and niff.

   MarionH @5 vacate (take the centre out of) RAMBLE gives RE.

7. I enjoyed this one too, but like a few others, I had difficulties with the parsing of some clues eg 2d. NIFF and ALOO were new to me, both likely to reappear at some time I suspect. I thought MIDWESTERN was a great clue, both the ‘Support for labourers, if left…’ bit and Minnesota sort of doing double duty (I know not really) for the whole answer and for the first and last letters (‘MN’). Other good clues were NOXIOUS, BORDEAUX and MODICUM.

   Many thanks to Arachne and Gaufrid.

8. I did enjoy this, especially struggling with some of the parsing. MIDWESTERN, NOXIOUS, BORDEAUX and MEMOIR were my favourite clues.

   Thank you Arachne for a fun puzzle and Gaufrid for a helpful blog.

9. Getting the answers was a bit easier than usual for Arachne but getting the parsings wasn’t, so I can’t rate this as one of the very best of her excellent puzzles – though anything with NOXIOUS thus clued has to get an hon. mention at least. Didn’t alas get the ‘number ten’ bit – I worked more from the descriptor of the PM.

   I do eat curry so ALOOF was very good and so was WATER.

10. Always good to see Arachne, enjoyed this one a lot. WATER was last in – couldn’t see how MIDWESTERN parsed so thanks for that. Too many favourites to list.

    Thanks to Arachne and Gaufrid

11. This was tremendous, as ever from Arachne. I got all the parsing eventually, after some head-scratching. Loved MODICUM, NOXIOUS, ALOOF, MISPRINT, and just about all the others! Never a dull clue. Many thanks to Arachne and Gaufrid.

12. Thanks Arachne & Gaufrid.

    Top-notch enjoyable puzzle, especially with Gaufrid’s helpful parsing. I was a bit stumped by ALOOF as, apparently, there is a loo called a Murphy but not, as far as I know, in India. I loved MEMOIR and NOXIOUS once they had been explained. I thought of ‘ten’ but not ‘No X.’

    I also particularly liked the ‘support for labourers,’ and biting the backside of Conservative was a worthy vision.

13. Thanks Arachne and Gaufrid

    Was able to finish this one in relatively good time – have had difficulty finishing the last couple of her puzzles (including her recent prize one). Like others, found that there was a lot of grist in the parsing effort required for the clues – only missed NO X (for Number 10 Dowling St) which was pleasing.

    Lots of interesting clue constructs and a couple of very clever hidden answers. NIFF was the only new term for me.

    Favourite was the complex AUTHOR, especially with the allusion to “The Man who was Thursday” within the surface. It was closely followed by the excellent MIDWESTERN (where I started with MN as the bookend letters) and the cunning first part of NOXIOUS.

    Finished with MISPRINT and smiled at the tongue-in-cheek definition.

14. I thought there were a couple of dull clues here. The devices in 1d, 4d and 24d have grown a little tired with experience. I would also dispute the equivalence of swarm/infestation (14a) and reasons/incentives (3d). But I don’t mind a bit of dullness if it gets some initial letters in the grid and the equivalences weren’t that far from the grasp. Nitpickings, then.

15. I pronounce “Bordeaux” the French way, so parsing 17D was a bit of a puzzler for me, even though the solution was obvious from the crossers.

16. I thought this was excellent – both challenging and enjoyable with some clever clues. Funnily enough, like muffin (@2) I had exactly six clues where I needed to come here to verify or discover the correct parsing (muffin, for 11A substitute 4D, then my six are the same as yours).

    When the penny dropped on 2D (AUTHOR), after reading about it here, I thought this was an amazing clue. Apart from that my favourites were 26A (ALOOF), my first in, and 15D (FLAMINGOS).

    I find I’m weak on near-homophones, and when a setter ventures into using a foreign language, as in 17D (BORDEAUX), I’m even worse. Like realthog @15, I found the answer easily enough from a couple of crossers, but I thought this clue didn’t quite make it for me – the only one.

    Thanks Arachne for your ingenuity and Gaufrid for the blog – and for working everything out.

17. Thanks to Arachne and Gaufrid. Like others I had trouble with parsing. E.g., I did not know “aloo,” missed the “vacation” signal for RETURNS, and had trouble with the “no x” in NOXIOUS. Very enjoyable.

18. In 27 ac I parsed N OX as “north Oxfordshire”. Must have been thinking of Jeremy Clarkson. Put in the mood by 14 ac, which unlike others here I think is the clue of the century. And 5 ac

    Mega thanks, Arachne!

19. Thanks Gaufrid and Arachne. Good fun.

    Fav: 1a, 12a, 18a, 26a, 6d and 19d

    18a refers to Jude the Obscure?

20. Thanks Arachne and Gaufrid. Arachne is always a joy and this was no exception. I loved the images conjoured up by 14a and 19dn. The only thing missing was a trademark quadruple definition.

21. As usual, I found Arachne a tough challenge, though I think I’m beginning to get on her wavelength and I’m enjoying the process very much. This time I couldn’t parse MIDWESTERN, RETURNS or AUTHOR. Like Iain @18, I took NOX as N. Oxfordshire, which I assumed referred to the location of Cameron’s constituency. That was silly of me as I’ve been to Witney and know it is west of Oxford, not north. It also took me a long time to spot the near-homophone for BORDEAUX.

    As others have said, there are many clever clues and lovely surfaces, so many that I’ve given up on picking favourites.

    Thanks to Arachne and Gaufrid.

22. ilippu @19

    I’ve been dying for someone to complain that 18ac was too obscure. 😉

23. Eileen@22
    When I saw the clue I thought you will go on about the literary allusion if you were the blogger 🙂 I was surprised that you skipped the opportunity in your comment as well!
    🙂 🙂

24. Marion @ 9

    Yes, I struggled on this and it was my LOI.

    I assume that RAMBLE after vacation means Ramble having been vacated or, with the middle letters taken out.

    Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable.

    Thanks Arachne and Gaufrid

25. I’m with Muffin et al as regards some of the parsing here. So not quite so enjoyable as usual but I remain a fan of the spider woman. And there was some nice stuff here. I loved STONEMASONS having spent some time trying to find something that that signified obscurity. I liked BROWNED OFF too. LOI was AUTHOR which I thought was a lovely clue.
    Thanks Arachne.

26. Arachne back on top form.

    I managed to parse everything eventually except for NOXIOUS.

    A really enjoybale crossword. I can’t believe that there are complaints that the puzzle wasn’t as much fun as usual because of the “difficult” parsing. None of the wordplay is actually incorrect (quite the opposite in fact) so the gripe seems to be that some solver’s inability to see clever parsing spoilt there enjoyment. Bizarre!!

    I personally thought that it was a treat to have a bonus second puzzle cracking the parsing of the 5 clues I couldn’t completely fathom the first time round. (Well 4 of them anyway! 😉 )

    20D made me smile. I think that’s not the first time that Arachne has been a little “Paulish”. (Why no complaints from the smut brigade though? Are ladies exempt?)

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Arachne

27. I loved this puzzle, chortled through it. Really enjoyed the clues. Loved 19a, 27a.

    Except – I can translate the French, German and some Spanish but “aloo”?? That’s a bit mean.

    Thanks to the blog I’m now to the point of finishing most of the puzzles (by hook or crook). I am actually starting to solve some whole clues from parsing, usually solve part of most clues and understand explanations of the rest. Please could someone explain the word “surfaces” with regard to crosswords.

    Thanks to Arachne & Gaufrid

28. @ChrisP #27
    the best clues read like perfect, standalone phrases or sentences; they are plausible in their own right. The clue is “the surface” – some setters are particularly careful to make their “surfaces” as smooth as possible.
    Many solvers believe that Arachne is pretty much at the top of the pile in this dept.

29. Chris P
    The surface refers to the literal meaning of the clue, were you just to take it as read, without thinking of dissecting it in order to parse your way to a solution. When the surface itself happens to define the solution also, you have the beautiful synergy of the and-lit. Hope that makes sense 🙂

30. I forgot to mention that Boatman tweeted the following today.

    Ashley aka Boatman (@BoatmanCryptics) tweeted at 10:36 am on Tue, Jan 19, 2016:
    In the @guardian tomorrow: boy, a good person, meets girl with nice top on (6)

    Does this mean we have a new setter tomorrow? Steven perhaps?

31. BNTO @26
    I agree entirely. I enjoy a crossword more when I have solved and parsed it completely – it was my failing that I hadn’t managed all the parsing on this one. It was too clever for me!

32. Brendan @ 30

    No: as Boatman tweeted about a week ago (giving advance warning as he generally does):

    “Advance warning … In the @guardian on Wednesday 20 January. Will you see your name in lights?”

33. Thanks to Baerchten and Nametab @ 28 & 29 for excellent explanations.

34. Late to the party after arriving home from Tarragona in the early hours, but just had to post to say what an honour it was to be blogged by Gaufrid at last! Absolutely top stuff, needless to say. Thank you so much, Gaufrid, and I hope it won’t be too long until I strike lucky again.

35. Thanks to Arachne for an enjoyable puzzle. I managed to finish it but thanks to Gaufrid for parsing the ones I couldn’t. Sharing Chesterton’s view of Thomas Hardy’s works – “the village atheist writing about the village idiot” – I spent too much time trying to fit in a reference to St Jude the apostle at 18A. I don’t think that “geezer” would be an acceptable clue for HE so why should Cockney geezer stand for E? I have to admit that I also spent too long reading “bit” in 5A as the past tense of “bite” as Arachne no doubt intended. I too had to guess that “aloo” in “vindaloo” means “potato” and I didn’t know that “vacation” can mean “evacuation”. I missed the fact that “state” in 17D indicated a homophone and doubt if I would have got to BORDEAUX any more quickly if I had.

36. Thanks Gaufrid and Arachne.

    I also parsed the NOX in 27 as North Oxfordshire. Both work.

    I did fail on 12. I put in BURR which can mean a turned-up metal edge and I have heard that term for an engine noise as well.

    Really liked FALSE START, ALOOF, WATER and MIDWESTERN. And was pleased to get STONEMASONS having read the book many years ago (one of the saddest I ever read).

    Needed your help to parse AUTHOR which I see is brilliant.

37. Can anyone tell me how ‘brown’ means dark? Is it a bit un-pc? Also, along those lines, as an Irishman I feel a little uncomfortable about Murphy meaning potato…

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