The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26931.
An easyish solve, shot through with references to Edward Lear’s poem The Owl and the Pussycat. The man himself appears top right, and in the diagram I have also highlighted the direct quotes; if I had added the oblique references, there would not have been much left unhighlighted (not to mention a few references in the clues themselves). There is a SPOONful, but wot no runcible? A delightful puzzle, in which the theme, for all its pervasiveness, does not strike me as forced. Thank you, Brendan.
| Across | ||
| 9 | COURTSHIP | Romantic activity in vessel — after love, in short (9) |
| A charade of COURT, an envelope (‘in’) of O (‘love’) in CURT (‘short’); plus SHIP (‘vessel’) | ||
| 10 | INURE | Toughen up concerning cut by university (5) |
| An envelope (‘cut by’) of U (‘university’) in IN RE (legal parlance, ‘concerning’). | ||
| 11 | MINCE | Setter’s devouring cold chop (5) |
| An envelope (‘devouring’) of C (‘cold’) in MINE (‘setter’s’). | ||
| 12 | PROFESSOR | Person in chair varying poses for painter, ultimately (9) |
| a charade of PROFESSO, an anagram (‘varying’) of ‘poses for’, plus R (‘painteR, ultimately’). | ||
| 13 | PLEADER | Advocate adding page in front of article (7) |
| A charade of P (‘page’) plus LEADER (‘article’). | ||
| 14 | FIANCES | Third withdrawn from funds for men committed to partnerships (7) |
| A subtraction: FI[n]ANCES (‘funds’) minus its third letter (‘third withdrawn’). | ||
| 17 | UNPIN | Release princess initially trapped in loveless marriage (5) |
| An envelope (‘trapped in’) of P (‘Princess initially’) in UNI[o]N (‘marriage’) minus the O (‘loveless’). | ||
| 19 | OWL | Start from birds in general, one in particular (3) |
| [f]OWL (‘birds in general’) minus its first letter (‘start from’). | ||
| 20 | TITLE | Right for which Muhammad Ali often fought (5) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 21 | DEAREST | Requiring maximum amount of cash, honey (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 22 | THOUGHT | Did brain operation, albeit with limited time (7) |
| A charade of THOUGH (‘albeit’) plus T (‘limited time’). | ||
| 24 | BAROMETER | Indicator of change, sign mostly displayed in centre of trade (9) |
| An envelope (‘displayed in centre of’) of OME[n] (‘sign, mostly’) in BARTER (‘trade’). | ||
| 26 | ONION | Bulb lit repeatedly, consuming current (5) |
| An envelope (‘consuming’) of I (‘current’) in ON ON (‘lit, repeatedly’). | ||
| 28 | ADEPT | Master in one section of school, briefly (5) |
| A charade of A (‘one’) plus DEPT (department, ‘section of school, briefly’). | ||
| 29 | INELEGANT | Crude line agent gets changed (9) |
| An anagram (‘gets changed’) of ‘line agent’. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCAM | Swindle as rascal, extracting last penny (4) |
| A subtraction: SCAM[p] (‘rascal’) minus the final P (‘extracting last penny’). | ||
| 2 | QUINCE | 20% of large delivery to church is fruit (6) |
| A charade of QUIN (one of quintuplets, ‘20% of large delivery’) plus CE (‘church’ of England). | ||
| 3 | ATTENDANCE | Number present hours before midnight take steps (10) |
| A charade of AT TEN (‘hours before midnight’; I have a vague memory of a similar loose indication not so long ago) plus DANCE (‘take steps’). (It did not take much digging to track down the recent occurence to https://www.fifteensquared.net/2016/02/24/guardian-26815-philistine/.) | ||
| 4 | SHAPER | Person who forms original phrase (6) |
| An anagram (‘original’) of ‘phrase’. | ||
| 5 | SPOONFUL | Dose of liquid medicine quickly containing onset of pretty bad flu (8) |
| A charade of SPOON, an envelope (‘containing’) of P (‘onset of Pretty’) in SOON (‘quickly’); plus FUL, an anagram (‘bad’) of ‘flu’. | ||
| 6, 13, 27 | FIVE POUND NOTE | Fellow and I have hit, fame and some money (4,5,4) |
| A charade of F (‘fellow’) plus I’VE (‘I have’) plus POUND (‘hit’) plus NOTE (‘fame’). | ||
| 7 | PUSSYCAT | Power cuts, say, agitated queen, for example (8) |
| A charade of P (‘power’) plus USSYCAT, an anagram (‘agitated’) of ‘cuts, say’. | ||
| 8 | LEAR | King Edward (4) |
| Double definition: Shakespeare’s King Lear, and the nonsense versifier Edward Lear. | ||
| 13 | See 6 | |
| 15 | ASTRONOMER | Monroe’s art excited one looking up to stars (10) |
| An anagram (‘excited’) of ‘Monroe’s art’. | ||
| 16 | SWEET | Dish eaten with spoon, darling (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 18 | PEA GREEN | Like vegetable or fruit, not quite raw (3,5) |
| A charade of PEA[r] (‘fruit, not quite’), plus GREEN (‘raw’). | ||
| 19 | OUTSTRIP | Excel as runner, not in football gear (8) |
| A charade of OUT (‘not in’) plus STRIP (‘football gear’). | ||
| 22 | TURKEY | Land in Asia, mainly, as occasional flier (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 23 | GUITAR | What’s instrumental in 9? Half of this publication’s about it (6) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of ‘it’ in GUAR[dian] (‘half of this publication’). | ||
| 24 | BOAT | In which you may find gravy or salt (4) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 25 | MATE | Carry out final check for officer (4) |
| Double definition, the first referring to chess, the second to a ship. | ||
| 27 | See 6 | |
Finally, Friday brings success!
Thanks to Brendan and PeterO!!! The blog appeared early, PeterO; you sure were quick!
The theme was fun – although prior to doing the puzzle I didn’t know Edward Lear wrote this old favourite rhyme! I had heard of him more as a writer of limericks, although clever rhyming was clearly his stock in trade.
Favourites were 19a OWL, 21a DEAREST and 24a BAROMETER; once I had some of the SW I saw PEA GREEN at 18d, then made the link with the OWL, my PDM, and then got 7d PUSSYCAT easily. The themed words seemed to slot in sweetly after that!
Despite having success in the SW early, I took forever to get the LOIs (or should that be LOsI?) – 28a ADEPT and 25d METE.
Agree PeterO, there were more candidates for the theme, especially COURTSHIP and the one you mentioned, SPOONful.
I still don’t know what a RUNCIBLE spoon is…will google.
Oh – we had a set of Splayds when I was growing up. Funny word Splayd…looks like a misspelling.
Thanks Brendan and PeterO
At last a theme comes to my aid – when I spotted it, I changed a hesitant BEAR at 8dn to LEAR!
Great fun, though not difficult; PUSSYCAT was my favourite.
I think COURTSHIP could well be highlighted too, Peter, as Julie suggests.
Great fun. Nice to have a chuckle in the morning.Thanks Breedon.
Thanks, PeterO – you clearly enjoyed this!
By a lucky chance, my first three entries were OWL, INELEGANT, QUINCE, so I knew where we going, immediately confirmed by the fourth, LEAR. This made the rest of the solve a delightful romp – I was wondering all the time, like Peter, if ‘runcible’ would appear. [It is alluded to in the clue to 16dn as well as SPOONFUL.]
Favourite clue was 2dn – it made me laugh and I liked the way it crossed with MINCE.
I had 20ac as a double definition.
muffin @4 Peter has highlighted only words that occur in the poem – as he says, practically every solution is some kind of allusion.
I profess not to like nonsense verse but I’ve had a soft spot for this one since I heard it read, quite movingly, I thought, on ‘poetry please’. Many thanks to Brendan for a gem of a puzzle.
‘Poetry please’.
Thanks Brendan and PeterO.
My first two were MINCE and ONION, so I thought we were on to a recipe for cottage pie, or similar. QUINCE then clouded the issue, but OWL put me on the right track.
Delightful.
Thanks to Brendan for a fun puzzle for a Friday, and to Peter O for the blog, including the helpful grid with highlights.
I am embarrassed to confess that I didn’t spot the theme until PeterO pointed it out, perhaps because LEAR was one of my LOIs, having got hung up on a potato reference, but even then the penny failed to drop!
One very small amplification of the blog: in the clue for 24d, i read “salt” not as a reference to the stuff you put on the table, but to someone who goes to sea in a BOAT.
Thanks both.
Two treats on the trot. I liked the allusion to ‘fowl’, which is also in the poem, in 19ac.
I echo Mac Ruaraidh Ghais @9 for all three of his paragraphs. I’ve become much more proficient recently in theme-spotting but this one entirely passed me by; I’ve a perfectly reasonable knowledge of Lear and the poem, my father having treasured a Lear anthology when I was young, but the dots in my brain simply failed to connect. And the salt in the BOAT was to me a sailor too.
I can find Brendan quite challenging but as solves go this was quite straightforward. Nothing really held me up until ADEPT at the end – I was online for a change so needed the check button to convince myself. I only knew the word as an adjective, so that’s another hole in my knowledge filled, at least until the next time.
[Julie in Australia @3: we still have a set of Splayds, bought in Australia in 1970. Useful all-in-one pieces of cutlery!]
Has anyone else noticed that in the last couple of days or so the same word/answer occurred in both the Quick and the Cryptic crosswords? Today it was “Onion”, the other day “Gelignite”. Is there something sinister happening here…!
I thoroughly enjoyed this, but am embarassed to have missed the theme. For Trailman @11, I took the definition as ‘Master in’ and therefore was OK to keep adept as an adjective
Mrs H
In my defence of having been too dumb for the theme, I had thought I’d spotted that it was ‘Love’. With courtship, fiancés, dearest, sweet, pleader and managed to trowel in guitar and pussycat. With that I didn’t do the brain work to look for anything else.
Hey ho, fun nontheless
Mrs H
Fun and easier than usual for a Friday, though I too failed to spot the theme. But then I invariably do. One query: why is pea green ‘like vegetable’? Thanks to Brendan and PeterO
Lovely solve – thanks Brendan and PeterO! Somehow I missed the theme until I checked on here…
Can anyone explain the reference to 9 in 23d? Are guitars particularly associated with courtship?
Coxy
They are in the theme one one:
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
Thanks Brendan, PeterO & Edward Lear.
For once, I did spot the theme, which helped no end in putting in a few answers near the beginning.
Coxy @17; I think it’s just the reference in the poem: ‘And sang to a small guitar.’
Thanks to Brendan and PeterO. I needed help parsing QUINCE but otherwise sailed through this one. Great fun.
How could I have missed this theme?! In my defence, LEAR was one of my last entries, or even I might have spotted it. Like MrsH @15, though, I did think that “love” might be an intentional theme. At least I proved that it could be very enjoyable without seeing that, but I did appreciate it even more after I read the blog (once I stopped kicking myself). Favourites included QUINCE, THOUGHT, GUITAR and PUSSYCAT.
Thanks, Brendan and PeterO.
Xjpotter @16
Isn’t it just that the colour PEA GREEN is so named because it is like the colour of (some) peas, thus ““like vegetable”?
Thank you Brendan and PeterO.
That was a lovely solve. It reminded me of one of my sons, who was born in Egypt, confusing a cat with an owl when visiting England as a child, Egyptian cats look quite different to English ones. One can see that the Owl and the Pussy-cat could be attracted to each other.
I have just been reading about Edward Lear, I did not know that he was an illustrator of birds comparable with Gould and Audubon, and also a notable landscape painter.
Fairly straightforward but as always from Brendan a work of art with some lovely clues. Spotted the theme quite late but it did help with LEAR and PUSSYCAT…
Thanks to Brendan and PeterO
When pea green went in, we knew where we were going. Adept last in. Great fun for a Friday. Thanks Brendan and Peter.
Thank you Brendan and Peter0. A lovely puzzle, even though I missed the theme, despite knowing the poem well.
I found myself wondering how it would translate: as a German speaker I could get as far as the lovely “Mietzekatz” for pussycat. I found that it has been translated into over 100 languages – https://teachingnonsenseinschools.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/the-owl-and-the-pussycat-poem-in-translation-over-100-world-languages/ and that there is an Owl and the Pussycat Day on 12 May.
Apologies if this is irrelevant to the blog.
Nice puzzle which became even nicer when I spotted the theme-which was quite late in the proceedings. LEAR didn’t yield until I’d nearly finished, and when the next one in was PEA GREEN I could hardly miss it. I’m ashamed to say that I puzzled over MATE(LOI) for quite a long time before I saw it. Brendan seldom disappoints and didn’t today!
Thank you Brendan and Peter O. A lovely way to end the week. Only problem didn’t engage brain properly for 8 down and put spud because of King Edward then spotted the theme. Hope tomorrow’s prize is easier than last weekend still haven’t finished.
Thanks Brendan and Peter O
I missed the possibility of ‘in re’ in 10 ac. I assumed the ‘up’ in ‘toughen up’ was not simply redundant and parsed the answer as ‘in’ (‘up’ as in ‘the ball was up’ in squash) and ‘re’ (concerning) divided by ‘u’. This sense of up is given in Chambers if I read it right.
jenny @22. That’s what I assumed, but it’s not very good is it? Shouldn’t there be a sense that we’re looking for a colour. The one weakness for me in an otherwise strong puzzle.
Thanks PeterO and Brendan.
I raced through this so quickly that I didn’t spot the theme till I finished with 29ac.
I’m still not convinced about the reference to “9” in 23dn but that in no way detracts from the fun of completing this light-touch puzzle.
So pleased I decided to do last Friday’s puzzle.
I have not enjoyed a puzzle so much in a long time, mainly because while clever, the clues were solvable without too much juggling with possibilities.
After getting SPOONFUL I played the Cream track as it was on my mind. Then came along 18D in my grid and ‘click’.
Thank you Brendan for brightening my day albeit a week late. Thanks to PeterO too for some clarifications (eg I didn’t spot the PEA(R).
I still don’t quite get it – why is “pussycat” = “queen, for example”?
csrster @33
A queen is an adult female cat.
Well, well. Live and learn.
Thanks!
Thanks Brendan and PeterO
An enjoyable solve and I was another who embarrassingly didn’t pick up on the theme totally – although the “Owl and the Pussycat” thought did pass through when I got 19a. I certainly didn’t join the dots to the what are now obvious parts of that poem.
May not have been the hardest puzzle ever set, but there were a lot of clues that one did have to nut through … and then go ‘aha’.
Didn’t get around to properly parsing COURTSHIP and was only in my last pass through that I was able to change a not wholly satisfactory AGENT (going with ‘the gents’ could be a part of school – but could be a part o many other different things as well) at 28a to the more correct ADEPT. It was my last one in … and my last one to correctly get in.