The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27067.
A splendid puzzle which required close attention to the vagaries of grammar and meaning; Picaroon proves himself a master of the misleading.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SETTER | One gives a clue for dog (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 4 | POINTER | One gives a clue for dog (7) |
| Double vision. | ||
| 9 | COMMOTION | Millions invested in business proposition that’s a racket (9) |
| An envelope (‘invested in’) of M (‘millions’) in CO (‘business’) plus MOTION (‘proposition’). | ||
| 10 | TAROT | Card sharp gets in a round (5) |
| An envelope (‘gets in’) of O (‘a round’) in TART (‘sharp’). | ||
| 11 | OSTIA | Roman city captured by portrait, somehow, if a Turner? (5) |
| A hidden (‘captured by’) reversed (‘if a turner’) answer in ‘portrAIT SOmehow’. Ostia was the port of ancient Rome, now the archeological site Ostia Antica. | ||
| 12 | MOHS SCALE | Develop less macho view of hardness (4,5) |
| An anagram (‘develop’) of ‘less macho’. | ||
| 13 | SUBSIDY | Vehicle reversed by man taking car from Cary Grant (7) |
| A charade of SUB, ‘reversed’ from BUS (‘vehicle’) plus SID (‘man’) plus Y (‘taking car from [car]Y‘) | ||
| 15 | RANSOM | Extorted money and smuggled a bit out of Spain (6) |
| RAN SOM[e] (‘smuggled a bit’) minus the E (‘out of Spain’). In the definition, ‘extorted’ is adjectival. | ||
| 17 | GREENE | Novelist concerned with probing part of heritage (6) |
| An envelope (‘probing’) of RE (‘concerned with’) in GENE (‘part of heritage’). The best-known novelist of the name is Graham Greene. | ||
| 19 | DIGRAPH | A couple of letters or papers around chart (7) |
| A charade of DI, a reversal (‘around’) of ID (‘papers’) plus GRAPH (‘chart’). | ||
| 22 | BANDSTAND | Black bear’s caged along with platform to play on (9) |
| An envelope (‘caged’) of AND (letters 2-4 of the answer, ‘along with’) in B (‘black’) plus STAND (‘bear’, as in “I can’t stand things which hide”) | ||
| 24 | IMPEL | One Colombian article about military police force (5) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of MP (‘military police’) in I (‘one’) plus EL (“the” in Spanish, ‘Colombian article’). | ||
| 26 | TITHE | Birdman’s former duty (5) |
| A charade of TIT (‘bird’) plus HE (‘man’). | ||
| 27 | LOW-NECKED | See women getting drunk, showing cleavage (3-6) |
| A charade of LO (‘see’) plus W (‘women’) plus NECKED (‘drunk’. I Think I recall this coming up in a crossword not so long ago, and it has the idea of applying ones mouth to the neck of a bottle, rather that the intoxication which might well result.) | ||
| 28 | SHYSTER | Dodgy lawyer has uneasy rest after retiring (7) |
| A charade of SHY (‘retiring’) plus STER, an anagram (‘uneasy’) of ‘rest’. | ||
| 29 | STOREY | Eastern mines lie level (6) |
| An envelope (‘mines’) of E (‘Eastern’) in STORY (‘lie’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SECTORS | Kinky corsets in private and public? (7) |
| An anagram (‘kinky’) of ‘corsets’, with an allusive “definition”. | ||
| 2 | TEMPT | Invite right-winger to abandon disdain (5) |
| A subtraction: [con]TEMPT (‘distain’) minus (‘to abandon’) CON (Conservative, ‘right-winger’). | ||
| 3 | EVOCATIVE | Morse’s last case stirring up memories (9) |
| A charade of E (‘MorsE‘s last’) plus VOCATIVE (‘case’). | ||
| 4 | PUNCHER | Provider of hit joke on opening of French letter (7) |
| A charade of PUN (‘joke’) plus CHER (‘opening of French letter’). | ||
| 5 | ICTUS | Grimace when run’s abandoned, having stress in foot (5) |
| A subtraction: [r]ICTUS (‘grimace’) minus the R (‘when run’s abandoned’). | ||
| 6 | TARRAGONA | Sailor’s on river past an elevated Spanish port (9) |
| A charade of TAR (‘sailor’) plus R (‘river’) plus AGO (‘past’) plus NA, a reversal (‘elevated’ in a down light) of ‘an’. | ||
| 7 | ROTTEN | Reportedly, any abstemious soldiers must get promoted in rank (6) |
| A reversal (‘must get promoted’ in a down light) of NE (try saying the letters, ‘reportedly, any’) plus TT (‘abstemious’) plus OR (‘soldiers’). | ||
| 8 | DISMAY | Talk rudely to leader, creating alarm (6) |
| A charade of DIS (or diss, ‘talk rudely’) plus MAY (Theresa, British Prime Minister, ‘leader’). | ||
| 14 | BARONETCY | Position of aristo having high tea with Corbyn (9) |
| An anagram (‘high’) of ‘tea’ plus ‘Corbyn’. Intriguing surface. | ||
| 16 | NEGLIGENT | Two lots of Eng Lit works to be slapdash (9) |
| An anagram (‘works’) of ENG ENG (‘two lots of Eng’) plus ‘lit’. | ||
| 18 | E-TAILER | Current associate’s holding back merchant (1-6) |
| An envelope (‘holding’) of I (‘current’, as in V=IR) in ETALER, a reversal (‘back’) of RELATE (‘associate’, verb, although I would have thought that “relate to” corresponds to “associate with”). | ||
| 19 | DO DOWN | Democratic Party bores have to cheat (2,4) |
| An envelope (‘bores’) of DO (the start of the answer’s second word, ‘party’) in D (‘Democratic’) plus OWN (‘have’). | ||
| 20 | HOLIDAY | Break cover, following duck through grass (7) |
| An envelope (‘through’) of O (‘duck’) plus LID (‘cover’), with ‘following’ indicating the order of the particles, in HAY (‘grass’). | ||
| 21 | ABATES | American Psycho becomes less violent (6) |
| A charade of A (‘America’) plus BATES (Norman, played by Anthony Perkins in the Hitchcock film). | ||
| 23 | SHEET | One’s in bed with female from another planet? (5) |
| A charade of SHE (‘female’) plus ET (‘from another planet’). Perhaps ET was female? | ||
| 25 | POKER | Rod Laver’s back following nudge (5) |
| A charade of POKE (‘nudge’) plus R (‘LaveR‘s back’). | ||
Re 27: I thought it referred to getting the grog down one’s neck (internally).
I’ve not enjoyed Picaroon previously but this puzzle was a change – lots of devious wordplay but just accessible enough to provide me the toeholds I needed to complete it.
ABATES was my favourite but there were many others that made me smile.
At first I thought RANSOM was a mistake (present tense instead of past) but I see what PeterO means about the definition being adjectival – very sneaky!
Thanks to the two Ps.
Founder this harder than usual for Picaroon but no less enjoyable for that. Lots of clever misdirection leading to lots of “doh” moments! Had no problem with 27ac – saw “drunk” as the past tense of drink.
Thank you Picaroon & PeterO.
Tough but fair! I was held up by entering ohms scale at 12. Didn’t know what it was but seemed to work. Once i got 4 and 8d the answer had to be mohs.
Digraph and ictus were new to me but again the clues were fair.
I liked 28.
Great stuff – real slow burner for me but I got there in the end.
I agree with Flavia @#1 – in 27a “necked” means drunk as in consumed – not as in intoxicated. To neck a glass of beer means to drink it. Collins has that as #25.
Many thanks to Picaroon and PO.
Firm but fair. MOHS SCALE and ICTUS welcome additions to my vocab. I’ve never been a fan of the 26A style of clue but as I’ve finally parsed one I may have to reconsider. Many thanks Picaroon & Radler
While I was in Collins I looked up ICTUS. I didn’t know either of the given meanings – one of which is the one needed here.
The meaning I was familiar with is that when a conductor (in music) swishes his arms around in time with the music the ictus is the point which actually suggests the beat.
Nowadays with orchestras they nearly all seem to conduct ahead of the beat – which makes me feel seasick.
Thank you Picaroon and PeterO.
Hard going for me, but enjoyable. I, too, like Rewolf @4, was tempted to enter ohms scale at 12, but then MOHS SCALE came to my mind since we had it recently (Cryptic 26,943 July 22nd, IMOGEN).
TITHE, EVOCATIVE and PUNCHER were my favourites.
Tremendous puzzle – hard work but worth it. Favourites were SUBSIDY, HOLIDAY, EVOCATIVE (I spent ages trying to remember Morse’s first name. thinking the answer was ‘e’ plus an anagram of ‘memories’) and PUNCHER. Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
I still can’t parse 4d despite the above. Why is ‘CHER’ clued as opening of French letter?
I can see it as closing of FrenCH lettER, but am otherwise baffled.
Brian @ 10 – I puzzled over this for a while, then realised that a French letter would start (e.g.) “Cher M. Pompidou, . . . “
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
Difficult to get started but then slowly yielded.
As a variant, I put in MOSH SCALE at first (who is Mosh?)
Very enjoyable, I thought PUNCHER had a great clue.
Just remebered, we also had DIGRAPH recently, Cryptic 26,995 Sept 21st, Tramp.
See women getting drunk….
LO+W+necked(DRUNK-pp of drink)-getting merely refers to adding the word for drunk/drank as opposed to”getting drunk”
Pickers doesnt make mistakes. He’s a philosopher
A really good offering, this, lots to admire all the way through. 5d delayed me for a long time, and thanks to PeterO for the assistance with parsing 18. I could see that had to be the answer but you know how it is…
PeterO made me smile with Double Vision for 4 ac 🙂
Except for the NE corner, I really enjoyed the challenge of this puzzle, which I couldn’t let go of once I had started. There were so many good clues, with some tricks here and there to savour along the way.
I thought at first that 1a and 4a were going to be ‘reverse’ clues, where the answer is a possible wordplay for ‘dog’, but fortunately they were nothing like as contrived as that, and it was fun to find the two different answers to the same clue.
I had to stop with three to go: 5d ICTUS, 10a TAROT and 7d ROTTEN. Frustratingly, I just couldn’t dig ICTUS (which I actually knew) out of the depths of my memory. I had to get ICTUS before I could get TAROT, and likewise TAROT before ROTTEN, which I thought was the only weak clue in the whole puzzle.
My compliments to Picaroon for an almost perfect crossword and to PeterO for a blog that explained everything.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
A tough one for me, managed to complete with some hep from the checker but had a list of 15 that I could not parse so thanks Peter for the enlightenment.
Regular readers will know that Picaroon is one of my favourite setters, and this one was as good as ever. Liked TITHE, TEMPT, DISMAY, BARONETCY and ABATES but could equally have mentioned many more. E-TAILER was last in and least familiar…
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO
Mohs scale was a distant memory for me but again with all the crossers in it couldn’t be anything else. Last in was rotten which we should have got much sooner. Thanks to everyone.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. I took a while before getting the “necked” in LOW-NECKED and needed help parsing PUNCHER (I missed the Cher-dear-letter) and E-TAILER, but found a lot to enjoy here.
brian @10
Sorry to confuse you over CHER in 4D. When writing the blog, I did wonder if an explanation would be useful; it looks as if it would.
JollySwagman @5
Re 27A: the point you attribute to Flavia seems to be the point I was making in the blog.
Thanks to Picaroon for a challenging and inventive puzzle and to PeterO for an exemplary blog. I was particularly pleased to see an explanation for “necked’ at 27ac. I have learned from crosswords that “neck” = drink but had no idea why. I see from some responses that your version may not be universal but at least I now have some understanding. There are several other modern U.K. slang terms which often go by unexplained. “Pants” meaning something like rubbish, “kit” for equipment and “fit’ meaning attractive are a few which come to mind. These new meanings for existing words have not travelled and amplify the old adage of “nations divided by a common language”. I am happy to encounter them in crosswords but they are perplexing when occurring in conversation or e.g. film dialogue.
An absolute joy this morning. Many thanks to Picaroon for a splendid test and to PeterO for subsequent elucidation.
1a and 4a: superb. I wonder how many others, on immediate first glance, wondered if the repetition was a typo before spotting the differing word lengths.
I liked TAROT, RANSOM, LOW-NECKED (where I’d seen the ‘drunk’ =’necked’ connection), TEMPT, BARONETCY (for the irony of the anagram) and ABATES.
I got ICTUS from the wordplay but had never heard of it and had wondered about ‘iambs’ when I first saw the clue and had the initial I. Not sure I like E-TAILER which I find an ugly construction.
Two favourites, though: I’m with so many others in loving PUNCHER and SECTORS, whilst fairly obvious, brought a smile to my face.
Congratulations, Mark – and especially for getting ICTUS from the wordplay. (That’s the one that stopped me from finishing today.)
Conversely I knew ICTUS, and should have remembered it, but not ‘rictus’, which I had vaguely heard of but thought was more a grin than a grimace.
One needs a bit of knowledge, and not lose it as one gets older(!), in order to complete the best crosswords.
Thanks Alan B @25: I may have got ICTUS but I haven’t confessed to never having heard of Moh’s Scale or Digraph, both of which I had to look up!
Re your last line: I also look at and occasionally comment on the Big Dave Telegraph review – a very friendly site. A huge debate yesterday regarding a clue that required awareness of [Gertrude] Jekyll with a division between those who felt it was unfair for a setter to rely upon a broad general knowledge on the part of solvers and those who felt either a) the first camp should’ve known or b) that it’s not a problem if you have to do a bit of research.
Personally, I have no problem with supplementing my store of general knowledge with Google: there’s no point not being able to complete a puzzle because you don’t know the Bulgarian currency or the names of all the Great Lakes. I don’t see too much problem in checking definitions or synonyms either. I only feel I’m relying upon electronic assistance if I use an anagram solver or missing letter filler – so try to avoid them except as an utterly last resort. And I tend to come onto a site such as this only after I’ve finished the puzzle.
I struggled a bit- well, more than a bit- with this even though everything
was properly clued. There’s something about the puzzles of this setter
that doesn’t connect with me. I usually complete them but with less enjoyment
than others do. Still, I liked ABATES,TITHE,SHYSTER and LOW NECKED. I didn’t
have a problem with NECKED = drunk and I’m rather surprised that some of yo
did. I was less happy with DISMAY- DIS should be DISS for the clue to work.
Anyway,thanks Picaroon.
Mark @26
You make many excellent points – which you can take as meaning that I agree with everything you say! I like the opportunity to add to my store of knowledge, and as a regular I often say so on this site when I have met an unfamiliar word or two. And I also don’t mind looking things up if I have to (although I usually try to solve all or most of a crossword away from all reference sources).
I always finish (or, rarely, decide to stop) before coming here to read the blog. By the same token, I would get no joy from revealing answers on the Guardian site.
Peter Aspinwall@27: as I’m travelling right now, I can’t access my trusty Chambers but the online dictionaries I’ve consulted seem happy to use dis/diss as alternative spellings. Funnily enough, I’m not sure I’ve actually seen it written down but always assumed it was the one ‘s’ version as an abbreviation of ‘disrespect’ (or, presumably, any other disparaging term beginning with dis!)
Peter snd Mark
I’m sure I’ve seen both ‘dis’ and ‘diss’, and the Big Red Book [the Chambers print edition] allows both. When you see ‘dissed’ in the past tense it looks like it ought to be ‘diss’ in the present, but I think we have to say either is ok.
I think DIS is ok for talk rudely. I think it’s short for “disrespect” so to dis May is to talk rudely to her.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
I left this about 2/3 done when I went out this morning – it was still about 2/3 done after 3/4 hour of looking at it when I got back. Tough but fair, and lots of fun.
I was feeling pleased with mysely as I finished this crossword quickly and without any problems. I then embarked on today’s Times crossword – one of three used in the Grand Final. After an hour, I still have quite a few missing answers.
I really liked BARONETCY and NEGLIGENT (with the repeated ENGs).
MOHS SCALE, ICTUS, and NECK for drink were new to me.
drofle @9 — Morse’s first name is Endeavour.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. Good puzzle, good blog.
Mark@30. Actually, I’m not sure that I’ve seen diss/dis written down either. The online dictionaries would seem to support you- but “dis” still looks wrong to me!
Let’s not fall out though!
Thankyou for the help with parsing Peter O. I did enjoy Picaroon’s misleading with grammar,both of the clue components and the wordplay instructions to position them, doubly mind-bending. My first one is was TARRAGONA which I had never heard of, but very fair,and DIGRAPH and ICTUS and MOHS SCALE which I knew. Then there were others that were far more accessible but more challenging to solve, yet seem so straightforward, once you get them!
Favourites were TITHE, BARONETCY and SHEET.
I like Peter O’s comment that ET could have been female, which I take as an elaboration of Picaroon’s humour. Of course the adjective extraterrestrial is gender neutral.
In 9 across, are there enough Ms in the clue? Surely ‘millions’ (plural) implies two Ms which means the clue has three Ms in it, and the answer has only two.
Alastair@37: I think the way it works is that M can be used for millions, e.g. 3M people is literally three millions, even though we may say ‘three million’.
PO @22 – I was attempting to amplify – not contradict – although I think the etymology might concern pouring the booze down one’s throat (ie neck) rather than anything to do with the neck of the bottle.
Necking meaning smooching probably predates it – not sure where that takes us.
Thanks, drofie (#38). You must be right, of course, but I still have my doubts. As you say, 3M would mean ‘three million’. Still, it was one of the few clues I DID manage to parse so it can’t have been that bad…
Peter Aspinwall @35: Of course we won’t fall out. I wasn’t dissing you 🙂
I was going to ask how “bores”is an envelope indicator at 19d but I guess it equals “bores into” though in that case I would have expected Democrat = D and “have” = OWN to be next to each other if DO = Party is going to bore into them.
Not happy about SID = man in 13a though obviously VIC, PIP, and TIM wouldn’t fit.Never heard of E-TAILER before and like others hope not to again.
On the whole a challenging puzzle and helpful blog for which thanks to Picaroon and PeterO
I would have to complain about 1 and 4 across. 1 is right, but 4 is wrong, as a pointer is of itself a clue. So a pointer doesn’t ‘give’ a clue, it IS one. ‘Clue for dog’ would have been better, trying to make it like the clue at 1 was the error.
green earrings @43, 4ac is IMHO all right.
‘To point’ means ‘to indicate’ or ‘to hint’, so someone who is giving a clue can be called a ‘pointer’ (although no-one does).
The couple 1ac/4ac reminded me instantly of a fabulous Donk puzzle in the Independent way back in early 2014 – the 9th of January of that year, to be precise.
This setter (in the Guardian known as Screw) had in all the acrosses couples of identical clues with different solutions.
Today’s crossword was once more confirmation of how good Picaroon is.
Reading all the posts above, my eye caught Alan B’s comment @17 in which he thought ROTTEN (7d) was the weakest of the bunch.
I actually found the inclusion of NE for ‘any’ rather novel and therefore a big plus for our beloved setter.
Speaking of Alan B, in 21d Picaroon could have gone for A[lan] BATES.
I think I would have but, yes, it is absolutely fine as it is.
Finally, I have to admit that we couldn’t find ICTUS (5d) although we thought that it might be it [bells ringing].
Never heard of ‘rictus’, so that wasn’t really helpful.
Many thanks PeterO.
I got stuck on e-tailer. Never heard of it. Could only get as far as e-mailer which didn’t work. Favourites tarot and rotten when penny dropped. As you said Petero, a master of misdirection
Sil @44
Very interesting comments – thank you. POINTER troubled me too, for the reason green earrings gave, but I think you have explained it satisfactorily.
As for ICTUS, I wondered at first if it might have been unfair. Having obscure or unfamiliar words in both the definition and the wordplay, when no other help is given, is unfair in my book, but I don’t believe the setter thought both words were unfamiliar, and I was careful not to make that an excuse for not getting it.
The great thing about MOHS SCALE, by the way, was that it was gettable even if you didn’t know it – and I see that it was unfamiliar to some solvers.
I’ve looked at ROTTEN again, and I’m happy with my earlier comment!
drofl @11
Doh!
Many Thanks 🙂
A female from another planet could be a she-ET.
My main error was ESCORTS for 1d, which led to E?T??? for 1a, for which I guessed ESTRUS, which would indeed give a clue to a dog!
A small quibble about a fine puzzle I didn’t get much of:
Wouldn’t 19d be better clued as ” Democratic party bores allow swindle” or “Democratic party bores admit swindle” since own is “have”, not “have to” ? Also I don’t know if d for democratic is o.k. Perhaps it should be
“Democrat party” , a sneering Republican coinage.