Guardian Cryptic 27,146 by Qaos

by

Qaos…

as usual has a ghost theme in the solutions: [a] CLOCK/WORK ORANGE; FULL METAL JACKET; EYES WIDE SHUT; SPARTACUS and [the] SHINING are all films directed by Stanley Kubrick – could LIVE have been [STRANGE]LOVE?

The clues themselves weren’t too difficult, with a couple of quibbles. Favourites were 18ac, 2dn and 17dn. Thanks, Qaos

Across
7 SHINING Excellent polishing (7)
double definition
8 BETRAYS Extremely sorry! Garfunkel’s retiring after live shows (7)
the extremes of S[orr]Y, plus ART Garfunkel the singer [wiki], all reversed/”retiring” and after BE=”live”
9 STYE Utter hovel gives rise to complaint (4)
Homophone/”Utter” of ‘sty’=”hovel”
10 RESIDENTS Rulers abolish parking for locals (9)
[p]RESIDENTS=”Rulers”, minus p[arking]
12 CLOCK 1005001001000 — see? (5)
definition of CLOCK=notice, register=”see”
C=100, L=50, O=0, C=100, K[ilo]=1000; where the Cs and the L are Roman numerals
13 ALIMENTS Food and fruit devoured by workers (8)
LIME=”fruit” inside ANTS=”workers”
15 WIDE Extra roomy (4)
double definition: the first refers to a cricket “Extra” run for a delivery that goes wide
16 METAL Bone found in food is mostly hard (5)
T[-bone] in MEAL=”food”
17 WORK Argument about final bank job (4)
ROW=”Argument”, reversed/”about”; plus final letter of [ban]K
18 ELECTRIC How to make Astley an MP? Sounds exciting (8)
Sounds like ‘elect Rick’=”make Astley an MP”, referring to the pop singer [wiki]
20 JONAH Doctor John — a bringer of bad luck? (5)
(John a)*
21 ANALGESIC Lasagne’s gone off, I see — get some medicine (9)
(Lasagne)*; plus I, plus C=”see”
22 FULL If you refill petrol, ends thus? (4)
the ends of [I]F [yo]U [refil]L [petro]L
24 STRANGE Divorced naked eccentric (7)
[e]STRANGE[d]=”Divorced”, ‘naked’ or without its covering outer letters
25 DEPRIVE Transport over extra pizza toppings for takeaway? (7)
=take / away
DRIVE=”Transport”, around the toppings of E[xtra] P[izza]
Down
1 SHUT Bar Sweden’s building (4)
S[weden] plus HUT=”building”
2 ENVELOPE 11 fighting over 17 across case (8)
(eleven)*, around OP[us]=WORK=”17 across”
3 ANORAK 20 down or across, knight or a king (6)
=JACKET=”20 down”
A[cross], plus [k]N[ight] OR A K[ing], using chess abbreviations
4 HEAD GIRL Glad her form adopt upright school role (4,4)
(Glad her)*, around I=”upright” as in the letter written as a vertical line?
5 ORANGE No mountains are this colour (6)
O=zero=”No”; plus RANGE=”mountains”
6 EYES Look up end of dictionary inside with these (4)
SEE=”Look”, reversed/”up”; with the end of [dictionar]Y inside
11 SPARTACUS Gladiator‘s about to catch up with you and I (9)
Edit thanks to NeilW: S, plus all of: CA=c[irc]a=”about”, plus TRAPS=”to catch”[?]; all reversed/”up”; then plus US=”you and I” – not ‘you and me’?
12 CHILL After removing hat and Eros’s coat, Greek hero gets cold (5)
[A]CHILL[es]=”Greek hero”; removing the top letter/”hat” and the coat of E[ro]S
14 TORCH Light displayed in fort or chapel (5)
hidden in [for]T OR CH[apel]
16 MORTGAGE Loan money or get swindled over silver (8)
M[oney]; plus OR; plus (get)* around AG=chemiclal symbol for “silver”
17 WIND FARM Discover heat to exchange leads in energy plant (4,4)
FIND WARM=”Discover heat”, exchanging their leads F for W
19 CRAVAT Cameron initially produced Avatar without a tie (6)
C[ameron]; plus (Avatar)* minus one a
20 JACKET Sleeve made from card and elephant skin (6)
JACK=a playing “card”; plus E[lephan]T
21 ACTS Book about cats? (4)
=a book of the Bible
(cats)*
23 LIVE Story about Venezuela’s capital on right now (4)
LIE=”Story” around the capital letter of V[enezuela]

64 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,146 by Qaos”

  1. Thanks manehi and Qaos.
    Enjoyable…theme escaped even though there was a sense something was going on…
    Liked 3d, 19d, and 20d.

  2. Thanks, manehi. As you say, relatively easy clues for Qaos but still fun. I only clicked on the theme late on when it wasn’t much use to finish the puzzle.

    As you underlined, the definition is “Gladiator”: I assumed the initial S of SPARTACUS came from the ‘S at the end of gladiator.

  3. I enjoyed this although I missed seeing the theme and I gave up on solving 22a, 25a and 23d.

    Thanks manehi and Qaos.

  4. Thanks manehi and Qaos for my favourite puzzle in many weeks. Lots of inventive clues and at just the right difficulty level for me. 3, 12 and 18 were among my favourites.

    I spotted the movie references (also Avatar and [James] Cameron) but didn’t see that so many of them were by Kubrick.

  5. As I remember Qaos is usually quite tricky. This definitely wasn’t, but was enjoyable nonetheless. Favourites were CLOCK, STRANGE, JONAH and CHILL. Many thanks to Qaos and manhei.

  6. Unlike NeilW, I found the theme to be of great help finishing, because I didn’t twig SHUT and SHINING until I had seen the Kubrick references.
    Great stuff, thanks to Qaos and manehi

  7. Thought this was fun but reasonably straight-forward. Of couse, the theme eluded me! At least we can now say, “I am 11 down”!

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi

  9. Theme not up my alley so I missed it completely. Thanks for parsing STRANGE which escaped me. I enjoyed this (perhaps because it was easier than Qaos usually is) especially CLOCK, ORANGE and JONAH.

  10. Yes, 11d grated with I…

    Otherwise, fun – I especially liked 12d, a very satisfying sound of a penny dropping after I’d identified the correct hero (I couldn’t get Hercules to work, no matter how hard I tried!)

  12. Presumably, rather than assuming Qaos’s knowledge of English is deficient, we should credit the ‘I’ in 11d to a reference to ‘I’m Spartacus’. It’s like an extra def, innit?

  13. @12 James: “you and I” clues “WE” rather than “US”. Either way, it seems a bit clumsy for the sake of an extra little joke…

  15. Thanks Qaos and manehi.

    Not quite as Qaotic as some before, and I missed the theme of course.

    Like others, I was not particularly enamoured by upright = I, and wondered why the clue didn’t have ‘adopts,’ which would have read better, upright thought.

    Good setting to get in all the theme words and an enjoyable solve. ENVELOPE was my last one in as at the beginning I was trying to put SPARTACUS in or on something! I liked MORTGAGE.

  16. An inventive and enjoyable puzzle. As with Robi @15 ENVELOPE was my LOI and it wasn’t until after I had entered it that I was able to parse it. I liked METAL and ELECTRIC both of which made me smile. Thanks to Qaos and manehi

  17. Thanks to Qaos and manehi. This one may have been easier than usual for this setter, but I still had trouble. I did not know WIDE as a cricket term or connect “upright” to I or spot “utter” as a homophone indicator (and, as usual, missed the theme), but I did eventually struggle through.

  18. Only spotted the theme after finishing, so didn’t help in solving. Looked for a reference to ‘2001’ but couldn’t see one. Like a few others, ENVELOPE was my last in. Favourite was ELECTRIC though I spent too long fruitlessly trying to fit in ‘Thea’!

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi.

  19. If I’d spotted the theme I’d have inked rather than pencilled SHINING and got finished a bit quicker. And I too was trying to work something about SPARTACUS into what turned out to be ENVELOPE.

    One perennial gripe: I will always tut when I encounter “IC” clued as “I see”. Oh well…

    Thanks, Qaos (and manehi)!

  20. Thanks both. Came here for the parsing of the missing “s” in 11 (thanks NeilW@2) and discovered that there was a theme!
    Doh!

  21. Thank you Qaos and manehi.

    I did not spot the theme, but enjoyed the puzzle. ENVELOPE fooled me and I failed to parse it, a good clue, as were those for CLOCK, ANORAK and CHILL.

  22. Thanks manehi, and Qaos for a very enjoyable crossword.

    Unlike Trismegistus @10, I did manage to make Hercules work at 12d and put in “cruel”, an anagram of the remaining letters, only realising the mistake after discovering the theme and searching for WIDE.

    As manehi said, very odd that LOVE wasn’t inserted at 23d to complete the set.

  23. I got most of it last night, had a few left in the NW and SE corners. As usual, the theme completely escaped me.

    I liked CLOCK and ENVELOPE.

    Yhsnks, Qaos and manehi.

  24. IBM and ATMs, etc., could justify M = Machine. IMF could justify M = Monetary, but whence cometh M = Money? I don’t presume to challenge; I’d just like to know.

  26. All fairly straightforward, even if the theme eluded me until several minutes after completing the grid.

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi

  27. Sasquatch @ 24: M0, M1, M2, M3 etc are used as shorthand for different measures of the money supply.

  29. Afternoon all! Many thanks for all the comments and to manehi for the excellent blog.

    The original solution for 23d was changed due to a clash. Since the full title needed a word from 20ac, it wasn’t the best of themed entries anyway.

    11d was deliberately “I” as an allusion to the film’s most famous scene. My mistake was to miss out a “?” at the end of the clue to indicate this. Words/phrases are there to lead to solutions, not necessarily be exact synonyms, so it’s not a huge stretch to go from “you and I” to US. I wouldn’t bend these sorts of rules for every clue, but the odd one doesn’t hurt.

    I did try and fit 2001 into one of the clues, but each attempt felt a bit forced. I could have done with some of Tramp’s skills at this type of clueing.

    Best wishes,

    Qaos.

  30. Steady rather than rapid progress resulted in an enjoyable solve with the NW corner needing Mrs W to come in and polish it off – ENVELOPE was our LOI as well. I didn’t spot the theme until I came here – and I also needed to see the parsing for 10a, although quite why I didn’t see it before is beyond me. I do like well written short clues and they often turn out to be the hardest to solve for me so 7a, 15a and 21d got a smiley, along with 2d for its use of 11 as anagram fodder rather than anything to do with Spartacus and 9a for utter as a homonym indicator. Thank you Qaos and manehi.

  32. I didn’t spot the theme even though I’ve seen all the films and rather like Mr K. Despite this, I enjoyed the puzzle with ENVELOPE being a favourite. The tricksy BETRAYS was LOI.
    Thanks Qaos.

  33. Not too difficult for a Thursday. Last in was wide for which I missed the cricket reference. And me a Yorkshireman. Shame on me.

  34. Cookie @ 28 – Yes, 2nd puzzle is very odd. It says it’s dated 1933, but there are modern words in it so it definitely wasn’t composed then.

  36. Thanks Qaos and manehi

    Lots of good misdirection, particularly the ones apparently referring to other clues that turned out not to be! I missed the theme, of course, though I have the excuse of not having seen any of the films. I found the NW a bit of a struggle.

    Favourites were ANORAK and JONAH.

    I didn’t like “upright” for “I” either. Though I worked out what was happening in 12a, I tried to work in a D for the “500”; I think that it’s cheating a bit to mix an a “0”, as the Romans didn’t have one.

  38. A very late start for me today but it was well worth the effort. Not the hardest of solves but inventive throughout – 2d ENVELOPE the pick of the bunch but there were many others. And that’s despite not seeing the theme.

  39. Cookie – Yes, I got a sense that there was but I haven’t tried to get to the bottom of it yet . . .

  40. Easier than I expect from for Qaos but, as usual, I missed the theme. I had a few quibbles (“money” = M? “divorced” = estranged? “upright” = I? “you and I”?) but nothing which spoiled my enjoyment. Favourites included CLOCK, ENVELOPE and WIND FARM. It was nice to see Spoonerism wordplay clued without mention of the Reverend’s name for a change.

    Thanks, Qaos and manehi.

  42. I’m not sure if or where I might post a comment about the Hectence puzzle which suddenly appeared as a cryptic. It was a very fine Quiptic IMHO. The date is the date amongst other things of the Reichtag fire, but I can find no allusion to this or any other theme in the answers, but then I almost always miss the themes even when they are blindingly obvious. If anyone out there has any ideas I’d be fascinated to hear them. Sorry if this is inappropriate but I had nowhere else to go!

  43. Re. Quiptic 905, I suspect that particular answer is just coincidence. Because dates and times are not usually stored in a computer in a form we would recognise as a date, sometimes a single-digit error can produce a ridiculous date very different to the intended one. I think a disc or programming glitch caused the system to think that puzzle should have been posted on that 1933 date and so should already be available online. Computer systems cannot apply common sense. Why the system thought it was a Cryptic, not a Quiptic, I have no idea.

    S Panza @42
    It is likely that the puzzle will soon be removed from the Guardian site and reposted in the correct category next Monday. If so, this site will probably blog it then, as usual.

  45. jennyk @ 40

    M for money has been an economists’ abbreviation for money for decades, with M0, M1, M2 etc being varying definitions of the money supply within an economy. I forget the detail, but one was simply notes & coins in circulation, one included bank deposits, and so on.

    hth

  46. Thanks to Qaos and manehi.
    I particularly liked the surfaces, especially compared with yesterday’s Tramp.

  50. I got the Reichtag Fire reference to FIREWORK DISPLAY, but is that all? Someone on the Guardian puzzle website says “Cheapskate tip of the day. The calendars for 1933 and 2017 are the same.”

    I’m still none the wiser.

  53. Thanks to @29 Qaos for joining us! Sure, the odd breaking of the (strict) rules doesn’t harm – as long as it’s odd. And it didn’t throw me – I still got it. Just that I hear too many people in real life ending their e-mails with “Please reply to Hilary* or I” and it grates – I didn’t like it 🙁

    As for grammar lessons (@14 James), I wasn’t trying to be didactic, more expounding the reasons why I thought the clue was less than elegant.

    ___________________________________________________
    * Deliberate choice of gender-ambivalent first name

  54. S Panza @ 52: Me neither. I didn’t exactly have a sleepless night, but I would like to know what’s going on!

  55. Queen Elizabeth II gave the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill its royal assent shortly before 11:00 a.m. on Thursday March 16, meaning that May now has the legal authority to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty at a time of her choosing.

  56. Thank you Cookie I’m sure that is relevant. But why a quiptic dated 27th February 1933. I must be being inordinately thick but I still can’t see this at all clearly. If you can accommodate us a bit further I would be most obliged!!

  58. Cookie or anyone else who can give a reason why puzzle 905 appeared when it did …

    Is it the apparent date of the puzzle which is relevant? The date on which it was posted? Neither?

    Today’s comment by a staffer on the puzzle’s page suggests it was not posted intentionally.

  59. jennyk @58, the puzzle seemed to have been posted at midday, an hour after the Queen had signed. The Reichstag Fire is a powerful political metaphor used whenever citizens and/or politicians feel threatened by executive overreach.

  60. Thanks, Cookie in particular, jennyk, and my partner in thickness drofle. So, we have a choice between a delicious conspiracy and a cock-up!! Last time I was this confused Philistine came to my rescue by dashing my hope that the prize had NSEW at its heart. Any hope that a member of the Guardian editorial team will rescue us this time? I rather doubt it.

  61. Ah, I don’t think that event has the same resonance as a political metaphor in the UK, even for those of us who know about it. I certainly don’t remember seeing it used in that way to any significant extent in political commentary here.

  62. manehi@0 – How very peculiar. The only mark I’d made on the paper version of this puzzle after solving at lights out last night was the comment, by way of praise, “How to produce a quibble-free crossword”! And now I’ve read your preamble and others’ comments – how very peculiar!
    Though, sadly, an unusually easy Qaos, particularly for a Thursday, I thought it perfectly constructed and pleasant to solve. Thank you to our gifted Qaos….and to manehi for his continued exemplary, and generous, input to fifteen squared.

    [others will disagree but, for me, the most enjoyment in solving came from Mr Tramp this week. I think I’m in a minority but I’ll sacrifice a great surface for a good head scratcher most days of the week; and a crossword of write-ins, no matter how elegant or witty the surfaces, leaves me cold. I enjoyed this Qaos as it had some of the best of each of these elements. Clues I really enjoyed were CLOCK and ELECTRIC.]

  63. S Panza @60, it cannot be a cock-up, the person who posted Hectence’s puzzle deliberately inserted the Reichstag Fire date – jennyk @61, does the ‘UK’ still exist, you seem to be living in cloud cuckoo land.

  64. Cookie @63, that’s just an assumption on your part. I posted an alternative possible explanation. Neither of us know for certain.

    This is getting off topic for this particular blog. Someone will blog the actual puzzle soon (or if not, on Monday at the latest). I think any continuing discussion would be more appropriate there. We might even know more about who posted it and why by then.

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