A themed puzzle from Maskarade, although it was not a Bank Holiday weekend.
Maskarade’s puzzles rarely appear in the prize slot unless it’s one of his Easter or Christmas Bank Holiday specials, so I was pleasantly surprised to see his name on this puzzle. The theme was clearly advertised: One solution embraces 10 others, which lack further definition. Although this seemed a little daunting at first, it turned out that many of the normal clues were simple charades and anagrams, so there were plenty of crossers by the time it came to identify the theme. As it happened, 23 across (clearly signalled) yielded quite early on, and after that it was just a matter of keeping count of the Hebridean islands. In each case the wordplay was pretty unequivocal, so even though Timon and I didn’t know some of the islands, the research wasn’t too arduous.
My favourite clue was the & littish 15 down; my only quibble is with the wordplay at 13 across. Many of the surfaces display Maskarade’s characteristic concision. My thanks to Maskarade for the puzzle (and for the geographical education!).
| Across | ||
| 1 | STAGGER | Amaze old fellow swallowing bit of gristle (7) |
| G in STAGER. | ||
| 5 | THISTLE | Flower disturbs Lettish characters (7) |
| *LETTISH. Perhaps a nod to the theme? | ||
| 10 | EIGG | Some of the Baggies coming back (4) |
| Hidden and reversed in “the Baggies”. The first of our 10 themed answers. | ||
| 11 | PORTUGUESE | Language from rogue upset eccentric (10) |
| *(ROGUE UPSET). | ||
| 12 | AU PAIR | Golden couple’s young domestic worker (2,4) |
| A charade of AU (golden) and PAIR. | ||
| 13 | VOUCH FOR | Stand surety against posh church roof repairs (5,3) |
| V (against) U CH in *ROOF. I’m not sure that the wordplay adequately indicates that the anagram wraps around some of the other elements. | ||
| 14 | BENBECULA | Unfortunately, unable to include Tooting’s follower (9) |
| BEC in *UNABLE. An island, but one which is connected to both North and South Uist by road causeways. | ||
| 16 | TIREE | Initial investigation into family line (5) |
| I(investigation) in TREE. The most westerly of the Inner Hebrides. | ||
| 17 | ISLAY | Ain’t professional (5) |
| A simple charade of IS LAY (although the pronunciation of the island’s name is of course quite different). | ||
| 19 | SEVENTIES | Over half a dozen links of forty years ago (9) |
| SEVEN TIES. | ||
| 23 | HEBRIDES | Theme of Jews out West admitting identity (8) |
| ID in HEBRE(W)S. | ||
| 24 | IMBUED | I am nicked — no way — and charged (6) |
| I’M BU(ST)ED. | ||
| 26 | GENTLEFOLK | Well-bred people, quiet and not from the county (10) |
| GENTLE (quiet) (NOR)FOLK. | ||
| 27 | RHUM | Rich uniform covers (4) |
| The “covers” or outer letters of RicH UniforM. According to Wikipedia, the proper name is Rùm; the spelling Rhum was invented by a former owner, because he didn’t want to be known as the Laird of Rum! | ||
| 28 | ONE-STEP | Dance and workout teens arranged (3-4) |
| *TEENS in OP (work). You have to read “workout” as meaning ” some letters representing work outside the rest of the fodder”. | ||
| 29 | GYRATED | Turned off tragedy (7) |
| *TRAGEDY. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | TRIBUNE | Officer‘s platform (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 3 | GIGHA | Midnight in Georgia (5) |
| (N)IGH(T) in GA (abbreviation for the US State). | ||
| 4 | EMPIRIC | Clapton hugs politician and setter — a quack (7) |
| MP I in ERIC (Clapton). | ||
| 6 | HAUL UP | Call to account at university after reporting dining area (4,2) |
| UP (at university) after a homophone of HALL. | ||
| 7 | SOUTH UIST | Not at home and sadly is shut outside (5,4) |
| OUT (not at home) in *(IS SHUT). | ||
| 8 | LISMORE | 49 is enough, but … (7) |
| L (50) IS MORE. One of the closest of the Inner Hebrides islands to the mainland. | ||
| 9 | TRAVELLER’S JOY | Salesman getting small delight in plant (10,3) |
| TRAVELLER S(mall) JOY. | ||
| 15 | BLAIRITES | They weren’t Liberals it turns out, dropping left (9) |
| *(LIBERA(L)S IT). I think that this qualifies as an & lit clue (one where the definition and the wordplay are the same, although some may say that the first two words form no part of the wordplay). | ||
| 18 | SHEBEEN | Female has lived at moonshine outlet (7) |
| SHE BEEN (has lived). | ||
| 20 | ERISKAY | Father raised girl (7) |
| SIRE (rev), KAY (girl). The true Whisky Galore! island. | ||
| 21 | EXECUTE | Former City off-road vehicle to perform (7) |
| EX EC (City of London postcode) UTE (Australian slang for a utility vehicle which might be an off-road vehicle). | ||
| 22 | ADHERE | Head worried about getting stick (6) |
| *HEAD, RE. | ||
| 25 | BARRA | Block artist (5) |
| BAR RA. The final themed answer. | ||
*anagram
Thanks to Maskarade and bridgesong. I usually take a quick look at this setter’s prize puzzles and then do not rise to the challenge, but this time as noted many of the non-thematic clues were not daunting and I knew ISLAY and UIST from previous puzzles so HEBRIDES was the logical next step. I did parse BARRA and BENBECULA but, I confess, I resorted to an on-line list to flesh out several others. It took that assistance to get me through a Maskarade puzzle for the first time.
Thanks bridgesong. A lot of what I know about the Hebrides comes from this website – and when I amazed myself by figuring out BENBECULA and checking against fifteensquared there it was: Maskarade had it, and ISLAY too, in 26,537. As usual I did my utter best to avoid googling, limiting it to verifying the implausible likely answers eg GIGHA. The he-brides themselves have been used elsewhere more than once, eg Paul in 26,481.
Oh what a lovely puzzle! Like ACD@1, I did need to check a number of the islands; my way in was 8d LISMORE which then linked me to the Hebrides, so 23a then went in fairly quickly. (BTW a tangent – Lismore is also a town in northern NSW as well as the name of a brave little tug currently plying the Mooloolah River locally on the Sunshine Coast, evening out the bottom of the waterway for shipping). The rest of the puzzle took me a while but it was time well spent.
Yes I thought we may have had islands of Scotland in a themed puzzle once before, so thanks for confirming that, Molonglo@2 (and good on you for resisting the googling, and getting BENBECULA unaided!).
Other than the island clues, I really liked 29a GYRATED and 4d EMPIRIC.
Great blog, Bridgestone and lots of enjoyment, Maskarade, for which much thanks to both. I too am sometimes daunted when I see it’s a Maska puzzle so it was satisfying to get this one out.
JinA, I wholeheartedly agree – a magnificent puzzle. I had 10 ticks, including 8 of the islands. For a themed puzzle, the surfaces were exceptionally brilliant – a marvelous achievement, Maskerade. A special thank you for including at 17a the home of the most distinctive single malts in the world. Now wouldn’t that be a challenging theme – Scottish distilleries (e.g., No posh girl goes back to consume a fifth of whisky).
Thank you Maskerade and Bridgestone for the fun. Slainte.
Me @4 My apologies Bridgesong for muffing your moniker – I’ll blame JinA if she doesn’t mind.
[Humblest apologies for mistyping your name, bridgesong. Distracted – or else I’m losing the plot! JinA]
[We crossed, cellomaniac@6. I take full responsibility.]
This was fun. Brought back some happy memories. The prominence of travellers joy in the grid was a nice touch.
I enjoyed that. I was rather apprehensive when I saw the setter and the instructions, but then I saw EIGG almost immediately, and then my only problems were a) I couldn’t remember which group of Scottish islands these were all in and b) I can’t spell HEBRIDES and thought none of the possible options would fit in 23 across. Fortunately, my wife has a better grasp of both geography and spelling than I have. All very nicely, and even kindly, clued, so thanks to Maskerade and bridgesong – although for once, I didn’t need any parsings explained (I did need an atlas to check some of my deduced island names at the end, though).
Thanks both.
Very pleasant, and very elegant, but I wouldn’t have minded more of a challenge, being Scots and knowing all the themed names, and having visited all except R(h)um and Lismore.
For some reason it took me a while to get TIREE, and while EMPIRIC was clearly correct, I had to check the ‘quack’ meaning.
As a non-Brit, the theme was difficult for me but I was able to get help from a full list of the islands in wikipedia.
New for me was the plant, Travellers Joy (as well as most of the Hebrides islands).
My favourites were 8d, 29a, 17a, 16a (loi).
I was not completely sure how to parse 26a – oh I see, I never thought of Norfolk.
Thank you Maskarade and bridgesong
I saw Maskarade’s name and nearly gave up as I’ve never been able to penetrate his puzzles before. But, like others, it turned out to be a pleasant and not too difficult solve. My only hesitation was at 7 where for the second word I was wavering between UIST and SIUT, both of which looked vaguely Gaelic to me. Luckily I guessed the right answer and confirmed on Google. Thanks to Bridgesong and Maskarade.
Thanks Maskarade and bridgesong
More than a touch of deja vu here? I got SOUTH UIST and LISMORE quickly, which pointed me in the right direction, but not accurately enough as I was under the mistaken impression that Lismore was in Ireland; HEBRIDES ws thus rather late in. I’d never heard of GIGHA, so spent some time trying to find an island called GINGA; this also led to me attempt to find a hidden island in West Bromich Albion! (the “baggies”).
[Incidentally, a little known fact is that when Flora MacDonald rowed Bonnie Price Charlie “over the sea to Skye”, it wasn’t from mainland Scotland, but from BENBECULA; he was making his way south through the island chain after having been refused sanctuary in Stornoway on Lewis.]
I’m afraid this was another dull offering from Maskarade.
The undefined “ten”‘s identity were soon revealed even without solving 23A. Then it was just a dull trudge looking for the culprits!
Also we had dodgy cluing in 1A and 26A for instance.
I agree with Muffin about the repeat of a recent theme. (Well done Ed!)
Me @13
Actually, there are several Lismores in Ireland, but they aren’t islands…
I thought the previous island puzzle was a Bank Holiday Maskarade, but I’ve not been able to find it. Any offers?
Here’s an example, but it’s not the one I was thinking of
I think the puzzle in question was a prize (possibly even a Bank Holiday) and featured Scottish Islands. (not just Hebrides)
Here we are
Being geographically challenged didn’t spoil the fun of discovery, after taking the leap and jumping in to Maskarade, something which usually fills me with trepidation. Not Bank Holiday, so maybe there was a chance. Learned a lot about the Hebrides.
When doing a search on the clue for BENBECULA, I found that Maskarade used this Easter 2015 (not muffin’s link)
Correction, the clue for Benbecula was in muffin’s island link.
And thanks bridgesong for the parsing in 26A Nor folk (which is an island off NSW)
Well this was the first time I’ve completed a Maskarade puzzle, so that’s got to be good. I learned the names of a few islands, and that “tribune” can mean platform. (Whether I’ll remember any of it is another matter.)
Coincidentally we also had TRAVELLER’S JOY in the following puzzle, Chifonie on Monday. In that case “traveller’s joy” was the definition, the answer being OLD MAN’S BEARD.
Thank you Maskarade and bridgesong.
A most enjoyable crossword with THISTLE, TRAVELLER’S JOY and SHEBEEN adding to the HEBRIDES theme. GIGHA was my first in, it looked so odd that I googled and then suspected that the theme was probably islands off Scotland.
The clue for BLAIRITES would usually be classified as a semi &lit.
Re 13a, I thought the anagram indicator “repairs” applied to all of the fodder, not just to ROOF. That’s a bit hard to read from the clue, but it avoids the need for a missing “wrap-around” as you suggest.
I enjoyed this one – wouldn’t claim to know the geography but had come across most of the island names at some point. TIREE defeated me though (from other comments I see I’m not alone), so I’ll admit I resorted to a map when that was the last one to go in.
Particularly liked 11a for three consecutive words that could be anagram indicators!
Quirister @24: your reading of 13a may be what Maskarade intended, but if so it would be severely frowned on by most in the crossword community. As is often remarked, there is no agreed set of rules for cryptic crosswords, just conventions that have grown up. But one of the most widely accepted of those conventions is that indirect anagrams are an absolute no-no.
I found this pretty easy. Not least because we’ve had this theme before and it can’t be that long ago. Once I got BENBECULA, from the very straightforward clue, I was away. I got GIGHA from clue and I did have to look this up to confirm it was an island. I might have had some trouble with TRAVELLERS JOY but we’ve already had it this week so that went straight in. The one delay was with RHUM which I only knew as RUM so I thought it was a mistake. Incidentally, thanks to Bridgesong for the explanation and for the excellent blog.
Thanks Maskarade.
Thanks to Maskarade and Bridgesong.
When I saw the setter I thought I was in for a mighty struggle, but to my surprise Gigha went in almost immediately, and memories of family holidays in the 23ac helped me race through the rest. Didn’t need to Mull over many of the clues at all.
I did a little search on HEBRIDES. Most recently Rufus used the he-brides charade in 26,981 and, somewhat less elegantly I thought, Neo in FT 15,242. I seem to remember Anax mentioning using it once but not sure where, but there was an anecdote centring on it. (Anax in the house?). Most interesting perhaps was 26a in FT 15,587, where GOZO clued HEBRIDES as “Jews out west admitting identity”!
I think 13a, VOUCH FOR is an anagram of V (against) + U (posh) + CH (church) + ROOF. As Lord Jim says, this is technically an indirect anagram and Ximenists will not like it, but I found it very straightforward because those are all well-known indicators for one or two letters and this is nothing like, e.g.”think of a ten-letter word meaning ‘bad luck’, then rearrange the letters to make a word meaning ‘complaint'”. (There is not necessarily any solution to that imaginary example, btw, before anyone wastes time on it). Some Ximeneans (I think of Dutch, for example) will accept abbreviations as part of an anagram as long as the required letters are on the page, so you could use ‘Elizabeth Regina’ to indicate ER in fodder, but not ‘queen’.
@lurkio
What’s “dodgy”about 1a and 26a?
Tony @28
lurkio probably didn’t like “bit of gristle” to give G – I wasn’t too keen on it myself. I didn’t see anything wrong with 26, though; he might have been questioning “not” = NOR (to be removed), but that was OK by me.
Btw, I also did the Chifonie puzzle which clued OLD MANS BEARD using “travellers’ joy” as def (and in 15^2 comments wrongly mentioned I had recognised it from May’s Genius).
@muffin,
I thought “bit of [word]” to indicate the first letter of [word] was pretty standard.
It wasn’t “not” for , but “and not”, which is exactly what ‘nor’ means.
muffin @29
I agree with you about the ‘bit of gristle’ in 1A, but in 26A NOR means ‘and not’, as clued (although the blog doesn’t indicate this).
Sorry Tony – we crossed.
Correction
It wasn’t “not” for NOR (to be removed), but “and not”, which is exactly what ‘nor’ means.
I used chevron brackets in the comment which caused it not to appear
Yes, I wasn’t complaining about 26,as I said.
Alan B @32: I accept that the blog doesn’t make it absolutely clear that NOR is indicated by “and not” in the clue; that was my omission, but it was what I understood the clue to mean.
I agree with you and Tony that “bit of gristle” for G is unexceptional. Azed often uses this device, so I can’t see how it can be said to be non-Ximenean.
AlanB,
We seem to agree on so many things in general, I’m surprised to find you don’t like “bit of gristle”. I thought it was a well-established convention, and surely not too adventurous for the Guardian? Personally, I think “bit of [word]” also works for any (small) number of introductory letters, but I think many hold that it must be only the first.
Btw, some will also not like “initial investigation” for I (16a). I’m not that keen on it myself, but don’t complain.
Tony
I just think ‘bit of gristle’ is loose, just because it doesn’t indicate how much that ‘bit’ is. I don’t take issue with the setter’s judgement on this, though, because he is in good company on this sort of cryptic device – it’s just not what I would do (and I would get panned for it in some quarters if I tried it!).
bridgesong
I apologize for my curtness. You didn’t actually highlight what part of the clue was the fodder for NOR, so I shouldn’t have implied that you failed to indicate it correctly.
Tony @37
“Initial investigation” for I is a lot more precise than “a bit of gristle” for G.
muffin
Concerning crosswords with Scottish islands in them: I also remember a Guardian puzzle by Paul, from at least a year ago I would guess, in which several answers were names of Scottish islands, and the indication in every case was ‘I’. Solvers had to discover that fact for themselves. Obviously in the surface reading of a clue ‘I’ could mean anything (like the first person singular pronoun, for example), but in every case, to the best of my recollection, it actually indicated a Scottish island, and it was a very enjoyable puzzle.
@Muffin,
It’s more precise, but grammatically incorrect. Many editors would have no truck with it. As I say it doesn’t bother me much — I knew what he meant.
Alan,
Yes it is a bit loose. Perhaps that’s why it’s conventionally only thought fair if it refers to just the first letter. Full disclosure: I’m currently working on a puzzle of my own which uses this device and similar more than once! The respected Ximenean who is editing it has not made a murmur on that particular count, I’m happy to say.
Tony
Excellent – I hope your effort goes to completion in the same murmurless manner.
Re the ‘indirect anagram’ – Azed uses abbreviations and simple single-letter definitions as part of anagrams. This isn’t anything unusual even in Ximenean circles.
Last week we had As a sight to see in Paris, accept line ‘Seine’s fantastic’? Not I (11, 2 words)
anagram (fantastic) of ACCEPT L (line) and SEiNE missing I
@Peedee,
That conforms with the “letters must be visible” principle I mentioned (L is in the word ‘line’). For a more contentious example, here’s one I wrote for a prize crossword (as Sphinx, in the British Go Journal), which attracted the comment (from the winner, ironically) “I don’t much like indirect anagrams, as in …”:
Seeing the Queen, perhaps makes efforts (8)
(SEEING + ER)*
I wrote to Peter Biddlecombe, editor of the Sunday Times puzzle, whose cluing competition I take part in, about it and he wrote (in the context of tge comp):
“I’m not troubled by familiar single-letter abbreviations used indirectly, but prefer it when there’s only one used. (The) Queen=ER is borderline – obviously 2 rather than 1, but equally familiar. The honest truth in the contest is that if everything else worked and the surface reading was entertaining, I might well allow it.”
[Alan,
Thanks! There have been a number of changes since it was first submitted but I think(!) I’ve just completed the final edits and it could be up on alberichcrosswords.com possibly by the end of next week. Tony / Whynot]
Thanks to Masquerade and Bridgesong. Late to the party today after being at Old Trafford for the cricket. I think everything that could be said has been said, but I would add this was a bit like the race course puzzle we had last week. It was simply a case of getting the theme and then filling the rest in. That said still enjoyable and always a treat to solve a Masquerade puzzle (usually fail). Thanks again to Masquerade and bridgesong.
Tony @46
[I guessed it was Alberich. I’ll look out for the puzzle – well, Whynot?]
It’s always interesting to visit this site, and I don’t often comment. But it’s even more interesting (for me) when there’s a themed puzzle that I have had some insight into. I know something about both Hebridean islands and British racecourses, so I have had a couple of “easy” solves this week.
This one I solved (too quickly) on the train up to Scotland – I was hoping for a four hour torture session, to last me the journey, but my knowledge of the Hebrides helped me to finish it sooner than I had hoped. If I had not had the requisite knowledge, I would have kept on plugging away at it over the weekend (and half of the week) until I had solved it.
Using the word play and any crossing letters, rather than extraneous aids such as Google or an atlas.
Other solvers seem to have a less vigorous regime:
“… I resorted to an on-line list to flesh out several others.”
“…my wife has a better grasp of both geography and spelling than I have.”
“…this was a bit like the race course puzzle we had last week. It was simply a case of getting the theme and then filling the rest in.”
“I was wavering between UIST and SIUT… I guessed the right answer and confirmed on Google”
Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t go on a message board to proclaim my mastery of a crossword puzzle if I had resorted to Google, an on-line list or someone with better spelling or knowledge to help me. I would simply keep my failure to myself and resolve to try harder another time.
OK, it’s just me then.
Great to have a puzzle published on Alberich’s website, Tony.
After having read the discussion on potential indirect anagrams, I had to think of Alberich (or Klingsor in another place) being a super-convinced Ximenean but also a setter whose anagram clues are more often than not ‘indirect’ (in the sense of using one letter abbreviations, like G for ‘good’). I am OK with it, as long as the abbreviations are ‘standard’ or obvious.
And this crossword? Typical Gozo but this time in The Guardian.
Enjoyable but with a theme that for some will be a gift while for others a slog.
Sheffield Hatter @49
I think I have a similar attitude to yours when it comes to solving crosswords using one’s own resources. In 2018, by way of a happily self-inflicted challenge, I’m doing exactly that, but where I differ is that if a crossword is good and interesting enough to hold my attention, but I can’t complete it without using book or online aids, I just as happily ‘cheat’ and find what I couldn’t get. I don’t often do this, I’m pleased to say, but I did look up a list of Scottish islands to finish this puzzle. As it was several days ago, I’ve forgotten which islands’ names came this way.
@Sheffield Hatter
I don’t think people comment here to proclaim their mastery, but (at least in part) to describe their solving experience. Part of that might be that they couldn’t complete without resort to printed or online resources. As a matter of interest, if you’re unable to complete a puzzle (say, because you don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish islands), do you just leave it uncompleted?
@Sil
[Thanks, but still slightly premature as it hasn’t yet been cleared for publication.]
In fact, I first referred (anonymously) to Alberich (aka Klingsor) in regard to the “‘bit of’ = first letter of” device, which Lord Jim deprecated (apparently), supported by Muffin and, to a lesser extent, by AlanB. You don’t express a view on that point, and we regulars know you as rather unforgiving of non-Ximenean cluing (although, as PeeDee points out, Azed, Ximenes’ successor, uses it).
I definitely expected you to condemn “initial investigation” for I.
@Sil
Btw, thanks for pointing out that Maskerade and GOZO are the same person, which I hadn’t realised, and which puts in a different light Maskerade’s re-use of GOZO’s clue, as mentioned in my first comment.
Correction:
Muffin and AlanB have exactly the same attitude to “bit of gristle” for G: “not keen” on it.
@Tony #52
Yep. If I’ve got an idea from the wordplay, I’ll check it by looking in an atlas or dictionary, or even online. But if I then find that my interpretation of the wordplay is wrong and my potential answer does not exist, I’ll just leave the light unfilled.
It’s just that I don’t get any satisfaction from “completing” the crossword by “cheating”, so I don’t do it. I’m not having a go at those who do – I’m just saying that’s what I do.