The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27000.
I found this not to be quite as formidable as it looked on first pass. Indeed there is a good deal of subterfuge, but almost all of it resolves satisfactorily. For me, it was a very enjoyable outing, so many thanks to Picaroon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COCKTAIL STICK | Bird, dogs and parasite found in wood in Manhattan? (8,5) |
| A charade of COCK (‘bird’) plus TAILS (‘dogs’, verb, in the sense of follows) plus TICK (‘parasite’); a Manhattan being a drink, although the maraschino cherry with which it is often served generally has its own stalk, rather than a stick. | ||
| 10 | INITIAL | Early version of Latin 11 (7) |
| An anagram (‘version’) of ‘Latin’ plus II (’11’, treated as two ones separately). | ||
| 11 | UKELELE | Here fashion mag contains tab for stringed instrument (7) |
| An envelope (‘contains’) of E (‘tab’, an abbreviation for tablet, which makes a change from ‘drug’,) in UK (‘here’ if you happen to be in the UK; presumably Picaroon was when he wrote this) plus ELLE (‘fashion mag’). An alternate spelling of UKULELE. | ||
| 12 | NONCE | Unaffiliated to Welby for the present? (5) |
| NON-C.E. (not of the Church of England, ‘unaffiliated to Welby’, Justin Welby being the current Archbishop of Canterbury). | ||
| 13 | NICODEMUS | Pharisee‘s overcome problem in penning laws (9) |
| An envelope (‘penning’) of CODE (‘laws’) in NIMUS, a reversal (‘overcome’) of SUM (‘problem’) plus ‘in’. A very apt surface, given the general view of the Pharisees in the Gospels, more than this particular one who appears in the Gospel of John. | ||
| 14 | EMEND | Polish pieces accepted by top journalist (5) |
| An envelope (‘accepted by’) of MEN (‘pieces’ eg in chess) in ED (‘top journalist’). | ||
| 16 | HYPHENATE | Puff maintaining acceleration, then running round to put in a dash (9) |
| A double envelope (‘maintaining’ and ’round’) of A (‘acceleration’) in HENT, an anagram (‘running’) of ‘then’ in HYPE (‘puff’). | ||
| 18 | HARD-WIRED | Warder hid criminal unable to be changed (4-5) |
| An anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘warder hid’. | ||
| 19 | TRESS | Sarkozy’s very small — it’s a bit of a shock (5) |
| A charade of TRÈS (‘Sarkozy’s very’) plus S (‘small’), with a cryptic definition. | ||
| 20 | PALSGRAVE | Where china’s buried for German nobleman (9) |
| PAL’S GRAVE (‘where china’s buried’, china {plate} being rhyming slang for mate). | ||
| 23 | GET ON | It’s to put in information board (3,2) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of ‘to’ in GEN (‘information’). | ||
| 24 | OVERACT | Public scoffs a starter of cheese and ham (7) |
| An envelope (‘scoffs’) of ‘a’ plus C (‘starter of Cheese’) in OVERT (‘public’). | ||
| 25 | VENTURE | Opening game turned around by header from Eden Hazard (7) |
| A charade of VENT (‘opening’) plus UR, a reversal (‘turned around’) of RU (Rugby Union, ‘game’) plus E (‘header from Eden’). For the surface, Eden Hazard plays for Chelsea. | ||
| 26 | GENERAL STRIKE | Soldiers needing vehicle when everyone’s out (7,6) |
| A charade of GENERALS (‘soldiers’) plus TRIKE (tricycle, ‘vehicle’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ORIENTEER | Sportingly get around with nothing on entire bust? I’m not sure (9) |
| A charade of O (‘nothing’) plus RIENTE, an anagram (‘bust’) of ‘entire’ plus ER (‘I’m not sure’). | ||
| 3 | KNIFE | What’s taken up by chef in kitchen (5) |
| A hidden (‘what’s taken’) reversed (‘up’ in a down light) answer in ‘chEF IN Kitchen’, with an extended definition. | ||
| 4 | ALL IN | Tired no one out (3,2) |
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 5 | LAUNCH PAD | Where you take off home after a filling repast (6,3) |
| A charade of LAUNCH, an envelope (‘filling’) of ‘a’ in LUNCH (‘repast’) plus PAD (‘home’). | ||
| 6 | TRENDIEST | Passes through river cooler than the others (9) |
| An envelope (‘through’) of DIES (‘passes’) in TRENT. Once again, my first thought for the river was TEST, but at least than pointed me in the right direction. | ||
| 7 | CREAM | Worry, dropping a maiden’s cosmetic (5) |
| Tricky: ‘dropping’ does not indicate leaving out, but, in a down light, moving downwards; so it is CARE, with the A moved to the end, plus M (‘maiden’ in cricket). | ||
| 8 | WINNIE THE POOH | Bear with lodging that is hot and hope for change (6,3,4) |
| A charade of W (‘with’) plus INN (‘lodging’) plus IE (‘that is’) plus THEPOOH, an anagram (‘for change’) of ‘hot’ plus ‘hope’. | ||
| 9 | MEISTERSINGER | Retiring seems doubtful for old German performer (13) |
| An anagram (‘doubtful’) of ‘retiring seems’. | ||
| 15 | DOWNGRADE | Move from A to B and awkwardly drag blue English cases (9) |
| An envelope (‘cases’) of GRAD, an anagram (‘awkwardly’) of ‘drag’ in DOWN (‘blue’) plus E (‘English’). | ||
| 16 | HERBAL TEA | Latvian present’s wrapped, a decoction (6,3) |
| A charade of HERBALTE, an envelope (‘wrapped’) of BALT (‘Latvian’ – undeclared indication by example) in HERE (‘present’) plus ‘a’. | ||
| 17 | AWESTRUCK | Bedazzled throng following One Direction (9) |
| A charade of A (‘one’) plus WEST (‘direction’) plus RUCK (‘throng’). | ||
| 21 | LIEGE | Story’s engrossing for one lord (5) |
| An envelope (‘engrossing’) of EG (‘for one’) in LIE (‘story’). | ||
| 22 | ELVIS | The king‘s mischievous horse bolts (5) |
| ELVIS[h] (‘mischievous’) minus the H (‘horse bolts’). | ||
| 23 | GONER | It’s left and right and it’s all over for him (5) |
| A charade of GONE (‘left’) plus R (‘right’). | ||
I found this puzzle difficult. I failed to solve 19a, and I solved but could not parse 11a, 16a, 21d, 20a, 26a.
New word for me was PALSGRAVE.
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon
Spelling mistake UKELELE should be UKULELE
Thank you for the blog, PeterO. As you say this, though not too easy, was by no means the struggle I thought it would be at first. Some lovely surfaces, clever misdirection and plenty of fun – my idea of a good crossword.
Thanks very much Picaroon.
Alan@2: I thought so too at first, but Chambers gives it as an alternative spelling.
Yes Alan Clare@2; I thought 11a UKULELE was misspelt too, but my Macquarie Dictionary gives this one UKELELE as an optional spelling. I had this the other way around in the Pan puzzle of 15 September, and was embarrassed at the time, as I needed the second “u” as a crosser: now I find that there is more than one way of being right!
I found this hard too, Michelle@1. 20a PALSGRAVE was also unknown to me, but I know this useage of china as mate/pal from previous crosswords, so decoded it rather than solved it using the crossers, then found it among the words for aristocrats in my trusty old Thesaurus. I also guessed 12a NONCE and then found it in the dictionary; thought it sounded vaguely Shakespearean? Had never heard of any Welsby except for Marcus a TV Doctor, so had to come here for the parsing. Those two were my LOIs, only guessed at really from the cross letters. They were only solved because I got 6d WINNIE THE POOH after an agonisingly long time, it being my third-last one in.
Similarly have never heard of 25a EDEN HAZARD the footballer, which was probably good actually as I saw the misdirection and straight away realised the definition was probably “hazard”.
Also Did not know of MEISTERSINGER, but I know Meister is a German word and had enough cross letters to work it out.
I liked 1a COCKTAIL STICK and 26a GENERAL STRIKE, although “when everyone’s out” sounded vaguely familiar as the clue for the latter.
Thanks very much to Picaroon for stretching my brain and to PeterO for the helpful explanations.
Sorry JuneG@4; our responses crossed.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
Similar experience to you Peter – first pass only yielded HARD WIRED, LAUNCH PAD and MEISTERSINGER (the anagram “leapt off the page”!), so I thought that I was in for a struggle, but in fact it all went smoothly enough after that.
I raised an eyebrow at the spelling of UKELELE, particularly after we had complimented a setter for getting it right recently, but as you say, it is given as an alternative in Chambers. I couldn’t see how “tab” gave the E, though.
Favourite was the wonderfully misleading GET ON.
Thanks, PeterO.
Another lovely puzzle from Picaroon. As usual, I have ticks all over the place – but I must just mention the double ones: the wonderful 1ac, the amusing 19ac and 17dn, the brilliant 3dn and the masterly 9dn. As always, the clues are well worth revisiting for the excellent misdirecting story-telling surfaces.
Many thanks to Picaroon, as ever – I loved it.
Excellent puzzle, excellent blog. Thank you , Picaroon and PeterO. Forgive me for being pedantic, but the correct word for a different choice is ALTERNATIVE.’ Alternate ‘ , which is increasingly being used erroneously, has another meaning entirely.( Blog of 11a).
Thanks for the blog.
I parsed 7d as c(a)re+ a + m(aiden).
Re ukelele/ukulele on googling there was apparently a crossword ruck in 2003 http://spellingtrouble.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/ukulele-or-ukelele.html
Tab as short for tablet used to be used for LSD in my youth e.g. “I scored a tab of acid, man.” Not being down with the kids nowadays I didn’t know it had been extended to Ecstasy tablets hence ‘E’ but it seems logical. Far out puzzle, dude.
Andy @10
I initially thought that for 7d too, but it doesn’t work, as it needs the “a” in the clue to be doing “double-duty” – in effect the clue would be saying “take the A out of CARE” and “put an A before the M for maiden”.
muffin @13 – thanks, yes you are quite correct, should have looked more carefully.
Great puzzle again from a master of surfaces.The “bona fide” spelling of uke is not a fun one to clue so the alternate spelling seems the norm in puzzles.
Nice blog too.
Yes, a great puzzle. It took me a long time to get going. COCKTAIL STICK, ELVIS and PALSGRAVE were my favourites. Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
Thank you Picaroon and PeterO.
I, too, took fright at first, but soon got underway with ALL IN leading to NICODEMUS. So many good clues, I especially liked those for NONCE, EMEND, HYPHENATE, PALSGRAVE, KNIFE, MEISTERSINGER and TRESS!
Thanks both. Great stuff, only the “e=tab” in 11a eluded me in my innocence
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
I took ages to get started. I thought the old German might have been Messerschmitt such was my original desperation but of course it didn’t parse. Another old German had to be guessed from the wordplay
Jamie Oliver seems to think that you put a black cherry on a COCKTAIL STICK for a Manhattan – brilliant clue!
Rather deep one.. loved 1a.. but some of the word plays/charades are rather too tedious and messy IMHO..
Just realised, this is the Guardian Cryptic Crossword number 27,000!
I missed NICODEMUS and didn’t see the parsing for CREAM, so many thanks PeterO for the enlightenment.
Plenty to like here: NONCE (12a), HARD WIRED (18a), KNIFE (3d), LAUNCH PAD – after a filling repast (5d), ELVIS (22d) and GONER (23d) and more
PALSGRAVE and MEISTERSINGER were new for me – a German culture lesson today.
I was familiar with this spelling of UKELELE
Many thanks Picaroon
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. I did not know Eden Hazard but “hazard” was sufficient to get VENTURE, ORIENTEER was new to me as was “ruck” for “throng” in AWESTRUCK, but the clues were cleverly done. Very enjoyable.
Very clever! I particularly like the beautifully constructed &lit at 3d and the humor and misdirection of 19a. Didn’t manage to parse 7d.
If I wanted to be especially pedantic, I could complain that a dash and a hyphen are two different punctuation marks, but I would never do such a thing, and there’s probably dictionary support out there somewhere for the usage.
Probably because I’ve read too much Tolkien, I had trouble seeing “elvish” as “mischievous”, but the dictionaries back it up.
I’ve always spelt UKELELE that way and was surprised to find the other spelling in a recent Prize: on that occasion I was told that both variants are valid.
Thanks for sorting out CREAM, TRESS and ELVIS for me.
Tricky one. Pleased with myself for getting 8d and 1a quickly but too many loose threads dangling off them – and hamstrung by assuming the usual spelling of ukulele rather than the ‘crossword version’.
Had never heard of 13a, 14a, 20a, 9d and not come across that meaning of 12a before either.
fell for quite a bit of misdirection, too, e.g. in 17d was wrestling with a possible anagram (indicated by ‘bedazzled’) of throng+one or similar that would mean direction – becoming distracted by it not quite being ‘geonorth’!
Mostly fairly straightforward by Picaroon’s exacting standards, but as always there was plenty to enjoy. VENTURE was my favourite, his second inventive use of the Belgian – see also:
Picaroon 26177: New ref took latitude, playing advantage for Eden Hazard (4,2,9)
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO
I found this quite tricky, but there were some excellent clues. I particularly liked 25a: yet another clever use of Eden Hazard, who has become very popular with setters. (My favourite was also by Picaroon, puzzle 26,177, when “Eden Hazard” was the definition and the answer was TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.)
Re 22d: in what context is H a standard abbreviation for horse? My (rather elderly) Chambers gives hydrogen, henry, hydrant, hospital, hard, Hungary, hecto-, hour, height and Planck’s constant, but not horse.
JimS @27 — Both H and horse are slang expressions for heroin.
Maysie @9. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What really annoys me about people mixing up “alternate” and “alternative” is that if the distinction becomes totally blurred then there aren’t really any alternatives for alternate.
12a doesn’t appear to work. “For the nonce” does not mean “for the present”, although “for the nonce” does. Nor does it mean “the present” if one claims the “for” as a linking word. I am taking the question mark as indicating the whimsicality of the Welsby reference rather identifying a dubious usage.
This opportunity for pedantry is the cherry on the top of an excellent cake.
A nice level of challenge for me – a bit tricky in places but nothing too taxing except that I parsed CREAM in the same way as Andy @10, and didn’t notice the double-duty for A until reading muffin @12. I don’t know how I dug up NICODEMUS, though, and I had to check that he really was a Pharisee. I didn’t like “cosmetic” as the definition for CREAM – most cosmetics aren’t creams and most creams aren’t cosmetics. That’s a minor niggle, though, and didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the puzzle.
Favourites included KNIFE, MEISTERSINGER and AWESTRUCK.
Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.
Thanks Ted @28. I also struggled with “tab” for E in 11a, so I obviously need to brush up on my street terms for drugs!
beery hiker @26: you just beat me to it with your reference to the earlier Picaroon. It was a great clue.
Van Winkle @30
I am not sure what you meant, but I’m fairly sure it was not what you actually wrote. Chambers give for NONCE occasion, moment, time being, (and the OED similarly) so ‘present’ seems close enough for me for me.
Another well-crafted puzzle of the sort I now expect from Picaroon, although I had a bit more trouble with this one, having to guess more of the answers than I would normally.
I didn’t know ‘palsgrave’ (20a), or the meaning of ‘nonce’ used in 12a, but like all the clues these were fair and gettable. Also, I had to come here for some street knowledge that I lacked when trying to parse a couple of clues: H for ‘horse’ (heroin) and E for ‘tab’. The only clue I would query at all is 7d CREAM, as jennyk has commented @31.
I thought 1a COCKTAIL STICK, 19a TRESS, 24a OVERACT and 17d AWESTRUCK were the best of some very good clues.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
Thanks both.
A very well-crafted puzzle. I had to resort to a wild card search for 2 and 14 and was about to do the same for 22, when the answer became obvious. Funny how often that happens.
PeterO – no me @30 did not make sense. The first “for the nonce” should have read just “nonce”. It probably still won’t make sense, but my point is that this particular sense of nonce only survives as an integral part of the phrase “for the nonce” meaning “for the present” and not as a word meaning “present”. Even if you accept the reduction, the clue asks for “the present” so the solution would at least have to be “the nonce”. When to stop this doubtful pedantry? No time like nonce. 😉
I found this quite tricky but very good. I wasn’t familiar with the alternative UKELELE even though I parsed it correctly, but the OED gives it as kosher. My LOI was PALSGRAVE which was brilliant and I liked TRESS and NONCE- can’t see why some had a problem with the latter
Took me much longer than it should have but the puzzle was most enjoyable.
Thanks Picaroon.
A crossword that once more showed why Picaroon is one of the very best.
But, despite the opinions of many of you above, I found it at the easier side of his spectrum.
I never wrote UKELELE as UKULELE so no problem for me.
And MEISTERSINGER?
Richard Wagner, boys and girls!
Alberich territory.
Since nobody mentioned it, a bit naughty of our beloved setter to decapitalise ‘king’ in 22d.
Elvis really was ‘the King’ – well, not for me, but you know what I mean (I hope).
PALSGRAVE (20ac) wasn’t too much of an issue for this solver as ‘we’ have a similar word in Dutch.
Funny enough, there’s often a T after the L. And therefore I wasn’t fully confident at first.
The construction, however, did put any doubt aside.
The word is probably an anglification of the German word ‘Pfalzgraf’ (which, mind you, is pronounced as ‘pfaltsgraaf’).
Oh, while 16ac is a nice clue a hyphen isn’t the same as a dash, they say.
Good crossword!!
Two exclamation marks!!!.
Oh, three ….
Sil @38, PALSGRAVE is from the Dutch, the COED gives Dutch paltsgrave from palts ‘palatinate’ + grave ‘count’.
A very enjoyable puzzle from the “Pirate”
I disagree with the pedantry regarding “nonce” = “present”
My reading of the SOED does indeed suggest that “nonce” means present but ONLY when used in the phrase “for the nonce”
nonce n?ns ? noun1. ME.
1 Purpose, reason, intention. Now only in for the nonce, (a) (obsolete exc. dial.) for the particular purpose; on purpose; expressly; (b) poet. arch. indeed, verily; also used as a virtually meaningless metrical tag. ME.
2 Occasion. Now only in for the nonce, for the present occasion, for the time being; temporarily. l16.
A stunning puzzle – and great fun too. (I agree with Sil in that I might have enjoyed it even more had it been a little more challenging – but not everyone has my decades of experience ….. and it’s only Tuesday!)
Thankee, Picaroony!
Also to Peter, whose blog is a paragon as ever.
How pleasant for BNTO @40 to agree with me, even if he doesn’t realise it. The clue doesn’t ask for “present” but “the present”, to which the answer would at best be “the nonce”. Check out the OED. It’s like using “be” to clue “lie” because “let it be” and “let it lie” both mean the same thing.
Oh you Brits and your rhyming slang… I had no chance on 20a 🙂 I found this a very enjoyable challenge and, like many, thought there was a mistake in 7d. Great misdirection on that one!
I got quite close on this one – needed a fifteensquared injection of E and some help with KE1 (Costello being KE2.) And my Americanness handicapped me on VENTURE though in retrospect I should have seen the VENT and figured it out.
I was hoping to find a hidden theme or Easter Egg in this milestone number 27K, seems like there wasn’t or else it was missed all around.
Thanks to the responsible parties for a great blog & puzzle!