Guardian Cryptic 26864 Crucible

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(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)  A challenge, in some places, from Crucible, even after twigging the theme. Thanks to Crucible. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

The answer to 5 down was born this day, 21 April, in 1816. Answers marked with an asterisk are linked to her (there may be more I’ve missed).

Across

1 Fine musical returns, featuring unknown old minx (6)

FIZGIG :  F(abbrev. for “fine”) + reversal of(… returns) GIGI(the stage and film musical based on a Collette novella) containing(featuring) Z(symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).

Defn: An old term for a flirtatious young woman.

5 Conservative MP gets in again after changing crusade (8)

CAMPAIGN : C(abbrev. for a Conservative party member) + [ MP contained in(gets in) anagram of(… after changing) AGAIN].

9 Small range, one in city state (8)

SLOVENIA : S(abbrev. for “small”) + [ OVEN(a range in your kitchen) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) ] contained in(in) LA(abbrev. for the city of Los Angeles) .

10 Style attained height in churches, primarily (6)

GOTHIC : * GOT(attained) + H(abbrev. for “height”) + the 1st letters, respectively, of(…, primarily) “in churches “.

Defn: … of literary fiction, say.

11 Clerical office Harry Lauder ran on English lines (5,7)

RURAL DEANERY : Anagram of(Harry) LAUDER RAN plus(on) E(abbrev. for “English”) + RY(abbrev. for “railway”;train lines)

13 Nice setter entertains a new girl (4)

JANE : * JE(self-referential pronoun for the setter, in the language of Nice, France) containing(entertains) [A + N(abbrev. for “new”) ].

14 Class sorts out test cases (8)

TUTORIAL : * Anagram of(sorts) OUT contained in(… cases, or encases) TRIAL(a test).

17 Ray follows reserve scorer on rink (3,5)

ICE SKATE : SKATE(the ray fish) placed after(follows) ICE(reserve;standoffishness).

Defn: Thing that marks;scores the skating rink ice.

18 Short division? Sign on staff (4)

CLEF : “cleft”(a division;a rift) minus its last letter of(Short …).

Defn: … in musical notation.

20 In which kinky pair agree on hosting male? (4,8)

OPEN MARRIAGE : Anagram of(kinky) PAIR AGREE ON containing(hosting) M(abbrev. for “male”).

23 Sage, I’m sorry to say, comes back around six (6)

SALVIA : Reversal of(…, comes back) ALAS(an expression of sorrow;”woe is me!”) containing(around) VI(Roman numeral for six).

Defn: …, the plant.

24 Getting warm neckwear and dark clothing? (8)

NIGHTIES : NIGH(close to something being sought;getting warm) + TIES(neckwear).

Defn: …, or clothing normally worn at night or in the dark

25 Old person from Riga features odious 21 (8)

VILLETTE : * LETT(an old term for a person from Riga, Latvia) contained in(in) VILE(odious).

Defn: Novel;answer to 21 down written by 5 down.

26 Dominate high-scoring draw without central pairing (6)

THRALL : “three all”(a high score, perhaps, for a drawn sporting match, say, of football, compared to a goalless draw) minus its central 2 letters(without central pairing).

Down

2 Python stands up during panel discussion (4)

IDLE : Reversal of(stands up) and hidden in(during) “panel discussion “.

Answer: Eric, one of the (Monty) Pythons.

3 Leave Jules’s special teacher at home (9)

GOVERNESS : * GO(to leave) + VERNE(Jules, the writer)‘S + S(abbrev. for “special”).

4 Dope and crack for those in estates? (6)

GENTRY : GEN(dope;information) plus(and) TRY(a crack at;an attempt at, say, solving).

5 Writer‘s sweet Breton confection (9,6)

CHARLOTTE BRONTE : * CHARLOTTE(a sweet;a dessert) + anagram of(… confection) BRETON.

6 Brief affair involving English over old saloon (8)

MAGNETTE : “matter”(an affair;the subject of concern) minus its last letter(Brief …) containing(involving) reversal of(… over, in a down clue) ENG(abbrev. for “English”).

Defn: … car made by MG.

7 Tax cut oddly reduced working in London area (5)

ACTON : * “Tax cut” minus its 1st, 3rd and 5th letters(oddly reduced) + ON(working, said of a electrical appliance, say).

8 Someone staring over edge, touching the end (4,6)

GRIM REAPER : * GAPER(someone staring) containing(over) [ RIM(the edge) + RE(with reference to;touching on) ].

12 A cargo ship transported old boxes (10)

SARCOPHAGI : Anagram of(… transported) A CARGO SHIP.

15 Radical old queen hides bust somewhere in Kent (9)

ROCHESTER : * R(abbrev. for “radical” in chemistry) + O(abbrev. for “old”) + ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina, the Queen) containing(hides) CHEST(the bust).

16 Viewer’s complaint about diplomacy engaging Arab (8)

CATARACT : CA(abbrev. for “circa”;about, in reference to specified years) + TACT(diplomacy) containing(engaging) AR(abbrev. for “Arab”).

19 Did school put rubbish outside that’s foul? (6)

TAUGHT : * TAT(rubbish;nonsence) containing(put … outside) UGH!(expression indicating something is foul).

21 Book half a month online (5)

NOVEL : * The 1st 4 letters of(half) “November”(a month) placed above(on, in a down clue) L(abbrev. for “line”).

22 Call law graduate up about drug (4)

BELL : * Reversal of(… up) LL.B(post-nominals for a law graduate) containing(about) E(abbrev. for “ecstasy”, the drug).

(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)

39 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26864 Crucible”

  1. Thanks to scchue and to Crucible for an enjoyable work-out.
    20ac is particularly topical, and made me wonder about the possibility of constructing a super-injunction-busting hidden themed crossword.

  3. Thanks scchua and Crucible.

    The MG Magnette was a fine car until it was homogenised into badge engineered Austin clone in the late 50’s.

  4. I found this quite difficult although once I realised the theme it did help quite a bit, eg with ROCHESTER – I knew the character in Jane Eyre but not the town in Kent!

    New words for me were FIZGIG, MAGNETTE.

    My favourite was SALVIA.

    Thanks scchua and Crucible.

  6. Thanks to Crucible and scchua. Several terms were new to me (FIZGIG, MAGNETTE, SALVIA) and I needed help parsing THRALL, but the Bronte motif helped me get VILLETTE, ROCHESTER, and BELL (and a few weeks ago I saw the HD Live version of the National Theatre’s Jane Eyre. Both that show and this puzzle were very enjoyable.

  7. Thanks Crucible & scchua.

    Alan @5, yes I didn’t realise that the Queen could be upstaged by CB.

    Having got JANE early on, I was on the lookout for Eyre but it didn’t appear.

    I liked the kinky pair hosting male.

  9. Thank you Crucible and scchua.

    I feel let down by this puzzle. What is ACTON BELL doing there? Just chance? Charlotte’s pen name was Currer Bell, Anne’s was Acton Bell. Also FIZGIG made me suspicious, and I made the same silly mistake of googling as I did yesterday, and came up with this from the Guardian, minx.

    Sorry.

  10. Thanks scchua and Crucible.

    Alan @5 yes I spent sometime trying to see what the solutions had to do with the queen’s birthday. I don’t suppose anybody else tried CHOCOLATE ORANGE for five down. Made me laugh when I got the correct answer.

    For those of us who still do this using the printed paper, the positioning has improved, but it is still not ideal.

  11. A really interesting crossword let down by 6dn which was obscure in both the clueing and the definition in my eyes. Thanks to the setter and to the blogger.

  12. The other mistake I made was not connecting IDLE with Monty Python. I am dabbling with the python programming language at the moment IDLE in that context is Integrated DeveLopment Environment. Thought that was an unlikely connection for a Guardian crossword.

  13. Cookie@9-thanks for the Acton Bell-wordplay was enough for grid fill but theme connection required a bit of GK.

    I finally twigged 6 using wordplay and check button-wordplay and crossers lead me to correct answer.

    Googled-PDM and ah I remember but dont remember it being spelt like that.

    But I didnt remember- I was thinking of the MG midget-which makes my MGF look good.

    Again-RIP Otterden

  14. Entertaining and challenging – failed on MAGNETTE – the car was before my time – according to Wikipedia they stopped making them 8 years before I was born. The theme was pretty obvious and helped with VILLETTE. FIZGIG was vaguely familiar but I have no idea why. Liked RURAL DEANERY adn OPEN MARRIAGE.

    Thanks to Crucible and scchua

  15. Thanks sschua and Crucible.

    Yes, I was another. My heart sank when I saw the “anniversary” and couldn’t face solving a Queen themed one. But once I started I very much enjoyed it.

    Shouldn’t RURAL DEANERY be starred, too, possibly?

  16. Struggled but got there, and having got here I now feel guilty. All that effort at putting in a theme wasted as I didn’t realise it until reading the blog. Still, this is not a new feeling for me!

  17. Did us in for a while…we didn’t even get the theme after solving 5D…!!! Some to add: wasn’t the ‘mad woman in the attic’ dressed in her nightie?! Also perhaps 20A – he was still married when he proposed to Jane; 3D GOVERNESS and 14A TUTORIAL – there are several chapters dedicated to her schooling…ok, I’ll stop now!! Great puzzle, even if we didn’t get the theme until very near the end…also confused by another ‘anniversary’ today which we looked for for ages (saw ‘queen’ in 15D & was convinced!!)

    Has anyone else noticed a few link ups with the Quick into the Cryptic?? (We do Quick to get warmed up, even though they’re very different) & yday we had LIVERY as an answer in both; today we had a few crossovers too…prob just me!!!

    Brilliant puzzle – thanks Crucible & Scchua; really enjoyed this one!

    And another big up to Gordon (Otterden) – going to miss his puzzles loads…

  18. Forgot to say: LOI was 6D: found that v difficult…although we’d decided ‘saloon’ was ‘MG’ so that was quite funny!!!

  19. Thanks Crucible and scchua

    Too much word-searching required for this to be much fun. The worst was MAGNETTE, which needed One Look (Chambers online didn’t find it), then Google to see what it meant. The clue itself was pretty impenetrable. I was also baffled by the parsing of SLOVENIA and GRIM REAPER.

    I’ve never come across THRALL as a verb. Chambers gives it as vt., but I can’t construct a sentence in which it seems to make sense. Any offers?

    I’m not convinced by R = “radical”. Chambers doesn’t give it. R is commonly used in organic chemistry, but to mean “the rest of the molecule, not relevant at the moment”.

    I liked TUTORIAL and OPEN MARRIAGE.

  20. I was excited to get 6d as CHARLOTTE BRONTE is one of my favourite authors; and I did like solving and seeing all the aforementioned links, including those less obvious ones from LilSho above. However I was very disappointed not to finish the whole grid, as I had to come here to learn what 1a was – FIZGIG – and also 6d MAGNETTE – both unfamiliar words to me, so I didn’t have a hope. Also could not for the life of me arrive at 19d THRALL despite having the crossers. I quite liked the link to the “saucy minx” article, Cookie, although was not really convinced. Thanks to Crucible and Scchua.
    BTW Thank you for all the Irish fun yesterday with the Paul – and yes Oscar Wilde’s statue was the “fag on the crag”, not “shag” – thanks for the correction and the many hilarious additions along the same lines.

  21. PS Sorry it was Westdale I needed to thank specifically for the Wilde statue reference yesterday.

  22. Julie in Australia @20, I noticed later that GOTHIC (used to describe CHARLOTTE BRONTE) and GRIM REAPER were also in the article; I think Crucible must have read it.

  23. Thanks scchua and Crucible. I enjoyed this, even though I have never read Jane Eyre or CB’s other works. So I must have absorbed all that Rochester, Villette, Bell business etc by some kind of literary osmosis.

    Cookie – well spotted (Tanya Gold’s piece). I’m sure you’re right – Crucible must have read the article, there are just too many coincidences.

  24. Hadn’t heard of FITZGIG, but guessed it must be right; loved GENTRY, CATARACT, SARCOPHAGI and RURAL DEANERY. Nice little touch from the republican Grauniad to ignore HM’s 90th and do Charlotte Bronte instead. Many thanks to Crucible and scchua.

  26. I enjoyed this and the blog which I needed was especially comprehensive, so thanks to both Crucible and scchua!!
    But copmus @13; what do you mean, has he dies??

  28. muffin @27 Thanks for the link!! How sad I had no idea!! Many here did not seem to enjoy his puzzles, and he did not seem to be among those who could do no wrong!! But I was a fan and I will miss his contributions!!

  29. I started reading the clues at 1pm and was just in time to hear Martha Kearney announce the appropriate anniversary so 5 down was a doddle. I can’t say the rest of the puzzle was though. I’d never heard of FIZGIG- lovely word- MAGNETTE or SALVIA but I managed to get the rest albeit with a little help from the check button. Incidentally I REALLY wanted 1 ac to be MINNIE but I couldn’t make it work.
    Quite a workout!
    Thanks Crucible.

  30. Loved many of these,such as grim reaper and sarcophagi.
    Think thrall as a verb is suspect but then ‘there ain’t no noun that can’t be verbed’.
    Julie-oz, you are welcome….still no message numbers on mobile on this website so I can’t reference in the proper manner:-(

  32. Thanks Crucible and scchua

    Isn’t 20 a full &lit (or extended definition, if you prefer), as otherwise ‘PAIR AGREE’ is doing double duty?

  33. I found this tough even after I spotted the theme. FIZGIG and MAGNETTE were new to me, as was THRALL as a transitive verb. Like Cookie, I am puzzled by the inclusion of ACTON. I thought at first that perhaps all the sisters’ pseudonyms might be included, but it was soon clear that wasn’t the explanation. There shouldn’t be any confusion as to which BELL was CHARLOTTE as they kept their own initials.

    Thanks, Crucible and scchua.

  34. LilSho@17

    I know what you mean. I don’t usually do the Quick crossword but a cursory glance at a recent offering showed that the first clue had to be BALLAD OF READING GAOL. This was followed rapidly by Paul’s Wildean crossword and I know he sets a lot of the quickies…

    Clever crossword today but missed JANE – extremely tortuous parsing but I probably should have got it from the Bronte theme.

    THRALL was also problematic as I always regarded this as a noun.

  35. I loved this puzzle, which I solved in the absence of any help, electronic or otherwise. It was an interesting and rewarding challenge. I was left with –I–G–G at 1A. I guessed FINGIG, realising it could be FIZGIG – I’ve never heard of either.

    I failed to spot the theme, which I should have got from CHARLOTTE BRONTE and ROCHESTER. The only anniversary I was aware of today was the other one.

    I particularly liked the neat, tricksy definitions in the clues: ‘Nice’ for the place in France, ‘staff’ in the musical sense, ‘getting warm’ for ‘nigh’ and five others that I listed when I had finished.

    Thanks to Crucible for a great crossword and to scchua for the blog.

  36. I found this difficult and gave up with quite about 6 blanks left. I got all the Bronte ones but didn’t realise it was her anniversary so was still looking for royal connection in the remaining clues, thinking there must be a double theme. Consequently I spent a fair bit of time trying to find out if there was such a thing as a royal deanery before I caved in and looked up the answers here.

  37. In 25 years of software development I’ve never seen an IDE called an IDLE but with hindsight it could explain some peoples productivity 😉

  38. Thanks scchua and Crucible.

    It took a while before I spotted the theme by getting VILLETTE at 25ac – which then opened 5dn, 15dn and 13ac.

    But it still took a lot of work to finish off the last few – FIZGIG (what a great word) yielded quickly from the wordplay but it took a lot of thinking, re-thinking and research to get MAGNETTE with the last two TAUGHT and THRALL.

    A good workout and very enjoyable so thanks again.

  39. Thanks Crucible and scchua

    Certainly found this puzzle on the tougher side and it took quite a long elapsed time (~3 weeks) to finish off – mainly due to not being able to find THRALL as a verb – in fact finally twigged to the THR[EE] ALL first and then refocused the efforts to find it.

    Needed a Crossword Solver to find MAGNETTE, a car that I’d not heard of and a wordplay that I needed to come here to find out about. This along with a couple of the new terms for me (with very gettable wordplays)- FIZGIG and SALVIA – kept me on my toes.

    Knew enough about CB a) to see the theme early on and b) to help settle on the related VILLETTE, ROCHESTER, JANE, ACTON BELL (even though that was her sister), etc. clues. Ignorance and lack of evidence in the papers 3-4 months on eliminated the Queen’s birthday as a theme contender.

    Funny how we’e all different – IDLE as a (Monty) Python was my first entry.

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