Guardian 27,455 / Arachne

76 comments on “Guardian 27,455 / Arachne”

1. Thanks Arachne and Eileen

   Not Arachne at her best, I thought, but Arachne on an off day is till more entertaining than most. Worth doing if only for the wonderful revelation that HEY PRESTO is an anagram of “Tory sheep” (and SUPERSONIC of “percussion”). LOLL was another favourite for its misdirection.

   The Spooner clue fails my criterion for a good one of both phrases making sense (how would you flay a pear?). TRADITION was a good example of a “top-down only” solve.

   I didn’t see how SLUSHY worked, and I wondered about “store”=MINE in ERMINE.

   [I have stood on Nansen’s ship, the Fram. It was (still is?) on display in Oslo.]

2. A delight, as usual, from Arachne. My only minor quibble is the wording of the clue for 5d, which seems to require ‘houses’ rather than ‘house’. The problem could be avoided by putting ‘Would’ at the start of the clue. It’s not really for me to suggest changes to clues for such a superb setter, but I would, personally, substitute ‘expostulate’ for enquire, simply because it is such a lovely word and deserves to be used more often.

3. muffin@1: “mine of information” = store… Enjoyed this very much. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

4. The cocktail brought back some happy memories.
   Highly polished, as always.
   Thank you Arachne and Eileen.

5. Yes, lots to relish as always with Arachne: for me, particularly EYESIGHT, SUPERSONIC, DIRECT CURRENT and PACHYDERM. Great fun. Many thanks to A & E.

6. Little to add to what Eileen has already said.  Nicely constructed clues.  This felt easier than yesterday’s but that might just mean it was more up my street.  Also not a fan of spoonerisms especially when they’re homophones of spoonerisms.

   SLUSHY was my favourite and LOI.

   Thanks Arachne and Eileen

7. muffin @1 ‘mine of information’ was what came to my mind, too. Collins gives ‘a  lucrative source or abundant supply’ and Chambers ‘a rich source [fig].

8. George,
   I have a minor quibble with your minor quibble.
   Gentlemen enquiring: two words and as such THEY can HOUSE enamel.

9. I totally agree with Eileen about the delight on finding Arachne on duty today.  I loved the puzzle (and, as Eileen says, the surfaces were very good).  I thought this was possibly a bit easier than Arachne’s normal offering – though still providing plenty of challenges (at least, for me).

   So many thanks to Arachne (and to Eileen as well, of course, for the excellent blog).

10. Absolutely agree Eileen. I love an Arachne puzzle, and once again the surfaces were witty and smooth. Perhaps not as difficult as sometimes, but still great.

    My LOI was ENAMEL. I am rubbish at spotting hidden words, but Mr. Crossbar came to the rescue.

    Muffin@1 I thought SLUSHY worked perfectly well. Sentimental = slushy, lush=drunk, Y-fronts with their inside (front) out = YS and back to front gives us SY. Possibly my favourite. Haven’t we all got dressed in the dark at some time? (Though not Y-fronts in my case.)

    Thank you Arachne and Eileen.

11. What my friend Eileen said in her prologue

    Thank you to both ladies

12. il principe dell’oscurità @8 – the clue is ‘gentlemAn enquiring’ but your explanation works, taking the two words as ‘enquiring about’ [which is probably what you meant to say]. That’s how I read it.

13. Beautifully spun with the guile and grace of bedi himself. Gents who hasn’t had an inside out back to front y fronts moment.

    As ever thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

14. Thanks Martin and Eileen. I’m not entirely convinced, but I suppose it’s close enough.

    [The Fram Museum is still there. Worth a visit; the nearby Viking ship museum even more so.]

15. Crossbar @10

    I wasn’t criticising the clue for SLUSHY; just saying I didn’t parse it.

16. This was a first for me – all bar one clue solved from the wordplay rather than the definition or crossers. I see this as credit to Arachne for her accurate and concise clueing combined with elegant and delightful surfaces and subtle misdirection. It just goes to show how a puzzle doesn’t have to be difficult to be of top quality and thoroughly enjoyable. I could have ticked nearly every clue but will single out BESTOW as an example of a perfect clue and SUPERSONIC because who knew there was an anagram of percussion and that it could be clued so smoothly?
    The one clue where the wordplay eluded me was ENAMEL but with hindsight it’s obvious – another mark of a great clue.
    I know I’ve pretty much said what Eileen said but I felt like adding my 10 pen’th. Thanks to Arachne for a great start to the day and to Eileen for another great commentary.

17. 24A.  I have been solving the Guardian crossword for the last few years – cryptic, quiptic and others – and enjoying them immensely.  Ditto for over 30 years with the crossword in The Hindu where I have come across PERCUSSION/SUPERSONIC quite a few times. This helped me get the first answer in today’s cryptic and sail through the rest.  Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen.  I live in Chennai, India.

18. Sorry muffin@15. I misunderstood you.

19. Thank you, Eileen and Arachne; a masterclass in crossword setting.

    The surfaces are simply beautiful.

    This is not the spider-lady at her most venomous but this is nonetheless a delight.

    Far too many ticks to list but my best-in-class goes to the magnificent weighty wife at 7d.

    Brava, Arachne.

20. The two words (Gentleman enquiring) about (reversed) house paint.
    Sorry, I put it clumsily.

21. …I forgot to add that I felt ashamed to have known so little of Fridtjof Nansen the explorer at 20d.  On looking him up, I find he’s a prince among men.  Well worth a look https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridtjof_Nansen

22. Very enjoyable puzzle.

    My favourites were PLAY FAIR and ATLAS.

    Thanks Eileen and Arachne.

23. il principe dell’oscurità @20 – I’m getting confused now – yes, that’s the way I read it!

    William @21 – I gave that link in the blog, 😉

24. muffin @1
    At 21a, would you prefer ‘Act honourably or Spooner could whip a couple of horses.’
    Just askin, and thanks for the comments on my previous posting.

25. Yes George. Arachne’s Spooner clues usually do make sense either way round (in contrast to Paul’s on the whole).

26. Has anyone any objection about the use of recurrent for reversal? They seem to me quite incompatible.  Made me struggle on the Gibraltar clue. For the rest very enjoyable.

27. mynollo @26 – I nearly commented in the blog on the aptness of ‘recurrent’ as a reversal indicator – it literally means ‘running back, in the opposite direction’. I’m surprised we don’t see it more often.

28. Lovely crossword as ever from the spider lady.

    Thanks Eileen, I’m glad we all now agree on the ‘house’ in 5d; Arachne always treats the ‘hiding’ words as a plural as I know from previous discussions.

    I didn’t know NANSEN but he went in easily. By coincidence, the word in last week’s Sunday Times clue writing competition was percussion, so some there had spotted the SUPERSONIC anagram. I took far too long to solve WEIGHTY – a truly massive wife! I especially liked the Tory sheep.

29. This was more like it. I love Arachne’s precision. Yesterday I paused too often to think, I suppose that must be the answer. And thanks Eileen for the blog.

30. Supersonic!

31. mynollo @26 no objections but ‘recurrent’ did throw me off for a while as I searched for repetition, I looked it up and it has the specific meaning of reversing in a medical context.

    I think the discussion about 5d illustrates the virtues of a good surface, ‘horses for courses’ but personally I find Arachne’s puzzles offer far more than some of the more functional setters.

32. Eileen @23:  So sorry, I missed that!

33. I have to agree with Eileen. Excellent crossword. 24 and 25 were my last ones in – and my favourites. Loll – lol! Thanks Arachne and Eileen

34. I started this just after midnight, with severe misgivings about the wisdom starting an Arachne at that time of night and not being able to sleep until I’d finished it. But my concerns were unfounded – it all went in very smoothly and easily (unlike, for, me, yesterday’s unexpectedly sticky Monday offering from Nutmeg), but was no less enjoyable for that.

    Many thanks to Arachne and to Eileen.

35. Any one else try LI L E for 25ac?

    Thanks Eileen and arachne

36. I’m with Eileen on this. Another beauty from the webmistress

37. Thank you Arachne and Eileen for a superb crossword and blog respectively. Very surprised muffin @1 at your negativity as I’m with Eileen, that this was high class in every respect. As for the Spoonerism, if it is transparent enough for us all to get it, why the agst

38. That should of course be angst?

39. I wondered whether SUPERSONIC had ever come from percussion before – a bit like CARTHORSE coming from orchestra – and if it’s regular enough in The Hindu (thanks, VDS Prasad @17) then I can’t imagine it’s not happened here as well. Anyone know?

    The way I looked at 1d is that the escalations of Gibraltar and issue have to take place separately rather than together, otherwise you’d have TIMEBIG; ie, the escalations recur.

    Much more fun than yesterday and indeed would have been better as a Monday offering than was Nutmeg’s.

40. S.Panza @37

    I feel sure that you’ve seen me much more negative than mine @1! I didn’t get as much humour as Eileen and others obviously did, though I loved the three I mentioned.

    As with Eileen, I don’t like Spooner clues in general – I think they are often lazy – but a really sparkling one when both phrases work can be justified. Here’s one from a Puck puzzle earlier this year:

    Pub to which Spooner’s working girl retired (5,4)

41. I agree that Puck’s is great and I love Spoonerism anyway, but what is wrong with today’s. You can flay a pear, i.e. strip the skin off it, and yes, it is a homophone, but so is Boar’s Head.
    I have seen you more negative, but I’m not sure I have ever seen you completely positive! I want to put a smiley face here but I don’t know how!!

42. Thanks to Arachne for a nice challenge and Eileen for clarifying some parsing (could not quite see big time and ermine). Started off like a house on fire, with this with lots in after first couple of passes, then ground to a halt, with the last few taking longer than the rest of the puzzle. Got held up by ogle even though I knew it must be the answer. Then the penny dropped and had a doh moment with ego (I am a retired psychologist). SE was the last bit in for me and like others really liked supersonic. Thanks again to Arachne and Eileen.

43. [S.Panza @41

    Colon then close bracket 🙂 ]

44. Thank you Arachne for a lovely puzzle and Eileen for a super blog (especially for the reminder of Nansen’s other achievements  and  for the  Denis Healey anecdote).

    The clue for DIRECT CURRENT fooled me for quite a while as did the parsing of PLACES.  Merc clothing was new to me.

45. Very enjoyable puzzle, as is usually the case with Arachne.  We have had the discussion about hidden word phrasing before.  I tend to think of the fodder as a phrase (singular) rather than a group of words/letters (plural), so prefer the singular verb.  In this case, it’s quite nice that the answer can also be a verb, so we could have “Gentleman enquiring about houses to paint”.  I rather like that the surface now implies the gentleman is a professional painter rather than an enthusiastic DIYer 🙂 . Setter’s choice as to the phrasing, of course, and the clue as written works fine.

    Lots of fun.

    Thanks, Arachne and Eileen.

46. Great fun. Many favorite clues, with SUPERSONIC being at the tippy top. SLUSHY was my LOI, mostly because I’m not familiar with that word meaning sentimental. Otherwise I found that surface hilarious, and enjoyed the wordplay once I’d finally hit upon the correct answer. I note that this clue used LUSH in its typical meaning as the drinker, not the drink. Still, I have to say, this puzzle (like the setter and blogger) was definitely my jorum of lush!
    Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen and the other commenters.

47. Lovely as usual from Arachne, proving that a puzzle doesn’t have to be hard to be brilliant.

    I agree with the reservations about the Spoonerism. But I’d add that my main beef here is that it makes for a weak surface. What does peeling fruit have to do with honor?

48. Mr Penney @47, academics are often hopeless at tasks like peeling fruit, I remember a friend of ours on the first morning of her honeymoon sitting at the breakfast table worrying why her husband did not eat – he was waiting for her to take the top off his boiled egg…

49. S Panze @41: I’m with you in loving Spoonerisms. The only thing that makes me groan whenever I see one is the prospect of all the negative comments it will inevitably garner. Even when people like the given clue they can’t resist telling the world how they, “don’t normally like Spoonerisms.”

    Muffin @1 & 40: I don’t understand your insistence that the phrase formed by a Spoonerism has to make sense. One of the joys of the affliction in real life is that it produces humorous, often nonsensical, words or phases. Moreover, given the near impossibility of disguising Spoonerism clues, why impose further restrictions on their construction? For me, if the surface is good and the definition is fair anything in the wordplay should be fair game, provided any homophones don’t rely on a strong regional accent.

    Anyway, I really enjoyed this puzzle as I almost always do with this setter.

    Thanks to all.

50. Terrific, if pretty easy, crossword. This would be an ideal puzzle to show someone how to do cryptic. Clever, varied and no obscure words or phrases you wouldn’t know.

51. Unusually easy for Arachne, but none the worse for that. SLUSHY was last in by some distance. Loved the Tory sheep.

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

52. Enjoyable puzzle today. I didn’t know ounce = cat, so a new one for me. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

53. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen. Great fun. Nothing to add, other than the “hey” in HEY PRESTO was new to me.

54. Lovely Arachne, a joy from start to finish.

    Many thanks Eileen.

55. A spring-like day, and the delightful Arachne/Eileen combination to go with it.

    I wasn’t going to comment, since others have made all those I would have, but having just read the Chancellor’s Spring Statement (for work, not pleasure) I have to report that he may have solved 1ac, since he said “I, meanwhile, am at my most positively Tigger-like.

    Is “ounce” ever used other than in Crosswordland?

56. I liked this. I like Spoonerisms, and it’s nice to see (B)OUNCE which I have known since finding it in an encyclopedia when I was a child!
    Thanks Arachne.

57. Lovely! Lots of brilliant clues, of which I’d single out HEY PRESTO, PACHYDERM and CAPRICE (my FOI).

    I was beaten by ENAMEL (I seemigly have a blind spot for hidden words), EYESIGHT, PLACES, TOPICAL and NANSEN (which I find both a bit obscure and lacking in helpful crossers) but still left feeling delighted. Whatever it is Arachne does (and I can’t put my finger on it) it makes for a great puzzle.

    Thanks also to Eileen for the blog.

58. Thanks Arachne and Eileen

    Re the belief that Spoonerisms (which I generally do like) should be vaild in both directions, I disagree. One of the Rev Spooner’s is alleged to have been “You have hissed all my mystery lectures and will leave by the next town drain.” I doubt the phrase ‘town drain’ has ever been used elsewhere, but it makes grammatical sense. In my view that lets most clues/solutions of that sort off the hook.

59. Not by any means up to Arachne’s at her toughest – I reckon this web was spun to entrap a midge rather than a hornet – but enjoyable nonetheless.  No real gripes – I did wonder about the wordplay for BIG TIME thinking that “recurrent” referred to both GIB and EMIT – in which case the words are in the wrong order – but Eileen has set me right on that – the word “escalating” being part of the wordplay when I thought it was part of the definition.

    It’s a shame, perhaps, that PLACES appears as a solution and also in the 23d clue – especially as I tackled one immediately after the other.  Slight blemish.  But made up for by the definition of ATLAS as “places book” being brilliant!

    Unknown for me was RUSTY NAIL: an easy write-in but I then had to look it up.  Sounds vile!  Not for me, thank you! 🙂

    And finally, I came within a whisker of writing in MAWSON instead of NANSEN.  How many others slipped up there?  It’s curious that two celebrated A[nta]rctic explorers both fit the crossers perfectly.  But I realised that (a) MAWSON doesn’t quite fit the wordplay, and also (b) he never explored the Arctic – he confined his activities to the Southern Hemisphere.

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

60. Simon S @58

    Yes, I agree that the Reverend Spooner himself didn’t make sense in both directions (the first I heard of was “Kinkering congs their titles take”), but I think that it’s a much cleverer clue if it does work in both directions.

61. …and funnier!

62. Really enjoyed this puzzle, not least for leading me to Fridtjof Nansen!
    Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

63. muffin @60 — I can’t begin to imagine a kinkering cong, but I can easily picture a shoving leopard!

    Eileen Doesn’t your parsing make 11a work out to BIIKIN?  How do you explain the placement of the two I’s?

    2d Even if Aunt Georgia lacks a uterus, there’s no reason for her to remain a maiden!

    13a I remember the dead sheep when it was in the news — thanks for the memory, Eileen.

64. Valentine @63

    Might your shoving leopard be an ounce? (I think that an ounce is a snow leopard, but I might be wrong)

65. Concur with all positive comments. A delightful solve. Really taken with the imaginative and various indicators for first and last letters: coat stolen; out of bounds; inside out – all of which flow with the surfaces (and cleverly misdirect).
    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

66. Hi Valentine @63

    Re 11ac: hmm – I did wonder about whether to comment on this: I know folk have problems with ‘on’, other than in a down clue – but I don’t, seeing it as  ‘added on’, so I read it as KIN on [following] I [island].

    Re Aunt Georgia: I know – I realised the moment I’d posted –  trying to be too clever and hoped nobody noticed. 🙁

67. I did enjoy the crossword and the comments therefrom.  Many thanks one and all. Enjoy your evening/rest of the day/and so on wherever you may live.  ‘Med venlig hilsen’, as we say in this part of West Jutland.

68. Yes, a masterclass from “the spider lady” though disappointingly towards the easier end of her spectrum.

    Before I saw HEY PRESTO I came up with SHE POETRY which might possibly have been an Arachne answer for “magic words”. (the crossword did lack her characteristic feminist dig at all us male chauvinists 😉 )

     

     

69. An excellent crossword.  Anything else I say would be repetitious.  End of.

    Many thanks to both Arachne and Eileen.

70. Indeed a lovely puzzle which made clear (at least to us) that an easy Arachne is more enjoyable than a difficult Nutmeg [who, I hasten to say, is very good].

    The only clue I found under par was 18d as there is too much overlap in the answer (‘topical’) and the definition (‘local’).

    Clever use of two reversal indicators in 1d, you don’t see that very often.

    As Alan B @69 said: …. End of.

    That said, I would like to come back to the singular/plural discussion (‘house’ in 5d).

    Some months ago Arachne did the same thing (as Robi rightly said) and also on that occasion it was questioned by a number of solvers. Dutch was one of them and I mention his name because we continued the discussion off-Fifteensquared. In the end, we asked Anax what he thought of it. He made clear that the convention is that the fodder should be seen as a whole and that the indicator therefore ideally should be singular. As one can see, I use the word ideally, because the use of a plural indicator is acceptable too (for the reason il principe dell’oscurità gave).  I also asked Picaroon a couple of months ago the same question and he gave more or less the same answer as Anax. While I find it an interesting thing from a cryptic grammar point of view, any future discussions on this matter can be buried in advance. Singular is ‘better’ but plural is acceptable if e.g. the surface needs it.

    Thanks Eileen & Arachne.

71. Oddly, the online version had a different clue for 1d. [Queen, perhaps, holding half of stout for sister]. The answer is beguine. An earlier version, or a later one perhaps? It was good fun either way, with lots of smiles. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

72. Lovely stuff, fun throughout, and not too tricky. In fact, the only problems were of my own making, because I cannot, it appears, spell 10ac. Is 17ac really a drink? Yes it is. Who knew? Well, Arachne of course.

     

     

73. Coming late to the party, I did wonder for a while, before I got 6dn, if there was a cocktail called LUSTY RAIN.  If there isn’t, there ought to be.

74. Many thanks to Eileen for the superb blog, and to all contributors for comments.

    re the singular/plural issue raised by Sil @70: if the container is a single word then of course the verb must be singular too (eg “vegetation contains rubbish” for TAT), but if the fodder is made up of two or more words then those words are plural in number and therefore, to my mind, a plural verb (as in 5dn) is not just valid but logical. Others may, and do, see this differently!

    re 11ac, I follow the Times convention on the use of ‘on’:

    “Use of ‘on’: in an Across charade-style clue “on” always means ‘to the right of’ and in a Down clue ‘above'” (Times Setters’ Guide)

    Toodles!

    Arachne

75. Thank you for adding your two-penn’orth Arachne.

    I’ve always understood the ‘on’ convention to work that way, but I’ve also seen it used the wrong way in across clues quite often, and no-one here ever seems to notice.

    I find the singular/plural debate enormously interesting. I had seen this topic debated here before – where I came to it firmly in the “fodder is singular regardless of word count” camp – but I was persuaded enough by the alternative viewpoint to accept it as valid. But I must admit it does make it harder for me to spot hidden answer clues – a type I often struggle to spot anyway.

76. Great puzzle.

    Thrilled that people loved 24a so much, but I thought it seemed familiar, and a quick look at Big Dave’s website shows that the Supersonic/ Percussion anagram has occurred in one direction or the other fully 8 times in the Telegraph alone over the last 7 years. And I don’t do the Telegraph! Which makes it a bit of a Carthorse, I’d say.

    So my personal favourite was 27a – ‘wearing Y-fronts inside out and back to front’ was absolute genius.

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