Guardian 27,057 / Pan

by

Pan seems to have a regular place in the cryptic slot now, while still supplying Monday quiptics.

This is a well crafted puzzle with a good variety of clue types, presented with some smooth and witty surfaces. Nothing too taxing but an enjoyable end to the week – thank you, Pan.

Across

7 Fizzy gin and it does lead to organic decomposition (9)
DIGESTION
Anagram [fizzy] of GIN and IT DOES – a  great clue to start us off

8 Storyline involving international aviator (5)
PILOT
PLOT [storyline] round I [international]

9 Setter’s into dirty books to get first of six basic principles (9)
RUDIMENTS
I’M [setter’s] in RUDE [dirty] NT [books] + S[ix]

10 Fastener made by special workers on ship (5)
SCREW
S [special] CREW [workers on ship]

12 Series of steps looks hard to an audience (6)
STAIRS
Sounds like [to an audience] ‘stares’ [looks hard]

13 Piece in newspaper covering Steptoe & Son? (8)
FRAGMENT
RAGMEN [Steptoe and Son, for example] in FT [Financial Times – paper]

16 Terrible film about Newgate’s first jailer (7)
TURNKEY
TURKEY [terrible film] round N[ewgate]

19 Snap shut? (5,2)
CLOSE UP
Double definition, the first having a hyphen

22 Graph in Chapter 1 redrawn (3,5)
PIE CHART
Anagram [redrawn] of CHAPTER I

25 Doctor taking drug to poor lad in madhouse (6)
BEDLAM
BM [Bachelor of Medicine – which we’re more used to seeing as MB – doctor] round E [drug] + an anagram [poor] of LAD

27 Endless destitution is plain for all to see (5)
OVERT
[p]OVERT[y] [destitution]

28 Aircraft got diverted around Zimbabwean leader’s la-la land (6,3)
PLANET ZOG
PLANE [aircraft] + an anagram [diverted] of GOT round Z[imbabwean]

29 Attach an inner layer to navy fabric (5)
LINEN
LINE [attach an inner layer] + N [navy]

30 Soldier on exercise to reverse changes (9)
PERSEVERE
PE [exercise] + an anagram [changes] of REVERSE – I liked the misdirection

Down

1 Note added to unusual tune for dance (6)
MINUET
MI [note] + an anagram [unusual] of TUNE

2 Area embracing state’s belief system (8)
RELIGION
REGION [area] round LI [state? – I don’t understand this one]

3 Unkind people decapitated animals (6)
OTTERS
[r]OTTERS [unkind people]

4 Pope and priest working on disagreement (7)
PONTIFF
P [priest] + ON [working] + TIFF [disagreement]

5 Drama series set in computerless IT company! (6)
SITCOM
Hidden in computerlesS IT COMpany

6 Adolescent going to Post Office for illicit liquor (6)
POTEEN
PO [Post Office] + TEEN [adolescent]

11 Boy standing to welcome Hungary’s first writer (4)
DAHL
Reversal [standing] of LAD [boy] round H[ungary]

14 Woman in short uniform (3)
EVE
EVE[n] [uniform]

16 List drug written up as class A (3-3)
TIP TOP
TIP [list] + a reversal [written up] of POT [drug]

17 Sound of dry grass (3)
RYE
Sounds like ‘wry’ [dry]

18 Starts to eat dry and mouldy cheese (4)
EDAM
First letters of Eat Dry And Mouldy

20 Vet with ideas about drug (8)
SEDATIVE
Anagram [about] of VET and IDEAS

21 Lecturer tucked into hot cake (7)
STOLLEN
L [lecturer] in STOLEN [hot]

23 Six surrounding American in pub to no avail (2,4)
IN VAIN
VI [six] round A [American] in INN [pub]

24 Worry about Tory leader joining large organisation restricting free trade (6)
CARTEL
CARE [worry] round T[ory] + L [large]

25 Drive away with panini filling during celebration (6)
BANISH
[pa]NI[ni] in BASH [celebration]

26 Publicity about animal on ship (6)
ABOARD
AD [publicity] round BOAR [animal]

64 comments on “Guardian 27,057 / Pan”

  1. Thanks Pan and Eileen

    Enjoyable, with RUDIMENTS, CLOSE UP and PERSEVERE particular favourites.

    The clues for BEDLAM (you’ve missed out the E for “drug”, Eileen) and POTEEN had all the components for the solution present, but were a bit vague about the order in which they were to be combined.

  3. Thank you, Pan & Eileen. The blog expresses my thoughts to the letter – a very pleasant start to the day.

    [Have missed you this week , Eileen!]

  5. LI for Liechtenstein, praps? Given the straightforwardness of the rest of the wordplay, it’s a bit jarring.

  6. Super blog, as always, Eileen. Could LI in 3D possibly stand for low-intermediate (state), as in medical and other terminology?
    A very enjoyable puzzle and just about my level – thanks, Pan.

  7. I would say that both LI and BM needed some vague reverse indicator- but otherwise this was much better from Pan who has only recently progressed from Quiptic to Cryptic.

  8. A big relief after a poor week on the grids. Speaking of which, the peculiarity of this one for me was the number of short answers. I leaves me wondering about word length. Why is it thst I can usually get long solutions with lots of words quite quickly, but nearly always stumble over 3-letter ones?

  9. copmus @7 – BM is not a reversal: it’s given in both Collins and Chambers. And I could go along with either of the suggestions for LI given by James and Julie.

  10. Thanks to Pan and Eileen.

    Solving this took longer than it should have. I tend to agree with muffin’s second comment about the separateness of the four quadrants, which may be why I was so slow.

    The SE held out for ages. I had not heard of 28a PLANET ZOG, but it was, in the end, obvious from the wordplay with “plane”, “got” diverted into an anagram, and the “z”. Now I look at the completed SE again, I can’t really see why completing it was so problematic.

  11. Have just had another look at 2d, having read the comments. Both Chambers & Wikipedia give LI as short for Long Island which, I think, isn’t a state. Wonder if there’s been some confusion with RI?

    I entered the answer without thinking twice, so no complaints to Pan from me if he or she was wrong!

  12. Thank you Pan and Eileen.

    A pleasant solve. PLANET ZOG was new to me. BM is in the COED for Bachelor of Medicine, and is the qualification given by Oxford and perhaps some other universities. LI, Long Island, is trying to be the 51st State, but nothing is official yet, Liechtenstein is probably a better bet…

  13. Thank you Pan and great blog Eileen.

    Enjoyable romp, but agree with comments about the grid. We are still unsure about LI for state. Liechtenstein gets our vote.

  15. Thank you Eileen, wasn’t sure about BM.

    Cookie @12 I wondered about this as I have a friend who lives on Long Island and she has always griped that they should secede from NY. Found this on Wiki:

    Long Island has made attempts in the past to secede from New York and become its own state. Mentions of Long Island secession range from 1896 to 2010. The proposed 51st state has also speculated the combination of Nassau and Suffolk counties into one county in order to reduce costs.

    Very pleased to say that this setter is honing his art – much more enjoyable than previous offerings IMHO.

    Nice weekend, all.

  20. @Cookie
    As a newbie setter myself, it’s obviously in my interest to cast as wide a net possible across various dictionaries, thesauruses, almanacs, gazettes, international internet domain names and even ISO 3166 (whatever on earth that is)for abbreviations and the like. However with my solver’s hat on, I think (with utmost respect, copyright D. Manley) that you are scraping the barrel there.

  24. A bit of googling reveals that US immigration uses LI for Liechtenstein and NATO uses LI for Liberia.

    Didn’t spoil the crossword for me, anyway.

  26. Yes this was pleasant and not too taxing, but then again not easy. Paradoxically I had to stare for quite a while at some clues that in retrospect were fairly straightforward.

    I thought PLANET ZOG was great. I had an idea that the expression came from Flash Gordon, but on checking I see that the planet in that was Mongo.

    Many thanks to Pan and Eileen.

  27. @baerchen

    I had never heard of ISO 3166, but according to the ISO website, “ISO 3166 is the International Standard for country codes and codes for their subdivisions”. I think that makes it an acceptable reference, don’t you?

  30. i have had many pleasant times in IL-I once popped into somewhere for lunch(in Chicago) and the George Shearing combo was playing.

  31. All pleasant enough and a little more difficult than Pan’s previous offerings, but I would personally prefer something more challenging on a Friday. I accept that we need some entry level puzzles, but new solvers are unlikely to find them unless there is more consistency about where they appear.

    Thanks to Pan and Eileen

  32. As a relatively new solver I enjoyed this one, though in the end 29a eluded me. Two minor points: I’m not convinced that a SITCOM can be defined as a “drama series” and I have always been under the impression that otters were mammals not animals. I do accept that I’m being a little pedantic here!

  35. Mammals are animals, as are fish, crickets and octopuses, even as you and I. A parrot can be both a bird and an animal, and an otter can be both a mammal and an animal — as can we.

  36. Thanks to Pan and Eileen.

    I too had trouble with the SE corner, thanks to the skilful misdirection in PERSEVERE. Apart from that a pleasant romp.

    I doubt there has been so much discussion about Lichtenstein since, em, well… I reckon Illinois was intended, but with a lapsus depriving us of a reverse indicator. Oh well, it could happen to a 4D.

    James@33: that’s charmingly impenetrable, and (I think) I agree.

  37. Thanks both,

    I enjoyed this. It was more difficult than some previous Pans and I didn’t find it noticeably easier than the average Guardian cryptic. Minuet was my LOI and it took a long time for the penny to drop that ‘MI’ was the note from the tonic sol fah, which I understand is very much out of fashion these days.

  38. We didn’t really know why LI was there, we guessed Lichtenstein, so suppose we’re with most!

    Enjoyed this v much, but a lot easier than we were expecting for a Friday…

    Incidentally, anyone know why ‘does’ is in italics in the paper?!?

  40. Hi LilSho @39

    I think the italics make the surface more readable – and wittier, too. [I solved the puzzle in the paper but I’ve just looked and the italics are in the online version, too.]

  41. I agree with Lancsolver that a sitcom is not a drama series in the accepted sense, any more than a graph is a piechart.
    I don’t like the indiscriminate use of initial letters as abbreviations, as in P for “priest”, L for “lecturer”, and in my book a rotter is a bit more than”unkind”.
    But I did like MINUET and FRAGMENT.
    Thanks Eileen and Pan.

  42. LilSho: I think it’s just for the emphasis. The surface reads more naturally if you stress the word “does”.

  44. Thanks to Pan and Eileen. Nothing much to add. I too liked the misdirection in PERSEVERE, wondered about LI as state, and was slowed down by PLANET ZOG. Easy perhaps but very enjoyable. I may become a Pan fan.

  47. I wonder if Pan did mean IL, Illinois, if the two components of the answer to 2d were embracing they would most probably be facing in opposite directions…

  48. I came to this very late so I haven’t much to contribute except to say that I found this a very gentle solve, and it both suited my mood and filledthe time I had available to solve it.
    I liked STOLLEN and PLANET ZOG.
    Thanks Pan.

  49. Getting to this a day late my time having had a hectic Friday. Unlike others, I was slowed down by NW not SE but don’t know why – once in, all looked straightforward. Regarding degrees of difficulty I often find myself at odds with general consensus anyway, e.g. struggling on Wednesdays and speeding on Fridays. Maybe newbies like me are held up by clues that others have seen (several times) before? Anyway, thanks Pan and Eileen – really like your clear blogs. Last thing – where is L accepted as abbreviation for lecturer?

  50. Hi Gillian @49

    I’m quite glad you raised that. Ever since I found this site, L = Lecturer has seemed to be received wisdom, so I think I’ve lazily accepted it, but have now, finally, looked it up and – of course – it’s in Chambers [but it doesn’t give the context]. Good to hear from you, anyway. 😉

  51. I agree with beery@31. Were it a Thursday I’d be pulling my hair out (again!).
    A pie chart is not a graph – a big error I thought.
    Thanks to B and S.

  53. At last, a Friday crossword that doesn’t take all evening to do.

    I like a crossword, but have so much more to do with my life. If it takes more than an hour or two, I start to lose interest. Of the five weekday crosswords this week, I think I managed to solve 2 and most of 2 more. That’s a good week. If you make them any trickier, I’ll go and write some code, play a computer game (chess?), watch a video or read a book. Hey, I might even talk to my wife. 🙂

    As I said, “I like a crossword” but like everything else in life … in moderation.

    So, thanks for the solutions and explanations. (I was most amused that someone thought that an otter was a mammal but not an animal. If it isn’t an animal, what is it? A tree? Linnaeus must be rolling in his grave.)

  54. amalthaea is have you been inspired by Auriga for your choice of name? Amalthaea was the goat that Auriga was holding, the one that suckled Zeus.

  55. Questions about whether a mammal is an animal always reminds me of 20 questions. Would you classify an otter as animal, vegetable or mineral?

  58. muffin @57, I remembered it was your pet hate, I wonder where people place fish and insects etc. in that “classification”
    (I am stuck inside with bronchitis, such a bore…).

  59. Sorry to hear that, Cookie – get well soon.

    I expect that people who recognise that birds are animals will probably get fish and insects right too!

  60. [I have come to that conclusion, but in the nursery children come to think of “animals” as four legged creatures – you might just as well gripe about people not calling trees “vegetables”, a losing battle, muffin.]

  61. [cookie@52 It seems you are correct. As a mathematician, I have always considered graphs and pie charts to be different ways of presenting data – so definitely not the same. Having now consulted Chambers I note the lexicographers have a looser way of looking at some things. So apologies to Pan and well done, cookie!]

  62. I think the LI area in 2dn is a Chinese unit of measurement, about 7 sq yards (differently defined at different times according to Wikipedia). Not sure where that memory came from, probably somewhere in Pearl Buck or Lu Xun or Chinese history as an area of a farm or field or city.

    Love the blog. I’ve been a regular reader for about 3 years but haven’t felt the need to comment before, as I usually do the cryptic in the print Guardian Weekly so am well behind the game. And usually all has been said by the time I get to it. But now I have the premium app with, they’re much easier to do close to publication.

    Thanks to all bloggers and commenters for all the parsing and technical assistance!

  63. Hi Stephen B @16

    Welcome to the site – three years is a long time to have been lurking! Please comment again soon.

    [I did find – in Wikipedia – a Chinese measure of length, rather than area, I think, but I think region has to = area. I’m not entirely satisfied with this, but, failing input from setter or editor, I’m inclined to go, with others, with Liechenstein.]

  64. Ah yes, I see what you mean. To big a gap between solving the clue and reading the blog, and not checking the clue properly. So Lichtenstein or Lithuania it is!

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