Guardian 27,536 / Arachne

86 comments on “Guardian 27,536 / Arachne”

1. Unlike Vulcan on Monday, with LARVA and PEACOCK, which incidentally nobody else seemed to bother about, I was delighted to see the ‘?’ at the end of 6a to indicate definition by example.

2. Thanks Arachne and Eileen

   Well, it was Arachne, so it was fun, but it would have made a good Monday puzzle (or even a Quiptic, apart from the GK BARROW and HOBBES, and a couple of more complicated constructions).

   Favourite was CONJUROR, but there were lots of other smiles too.

   I didn’t fully parse BANQUET, and you’re right, Eileen – I don’t like it much (specifically “earl” for E). I toyed with BANQUO from the Scottish play, but then saw the QUET bit and left BAN unparsed.

3. Thanks Eileen – I liked BANQUET too, even though it took a while for the penny to drop.

   PUPA at 6 is almost a repeat of the recent peacock/larva device, isn’t it?

4. Back to agreeing with Eileen again (don’t know what went wrong the other day 😉 )

   A lovely Friday treat – such fun that because it wasn’t as tricky as some Arachne crosswords, I actually made myself slow down to properly enjoy the wordplay

   Thanks to Arachne for the fun and to Lucky Eileen for the explanations

5. Like a pearl necklace.

6. I was thinking it was time for Arachne, and along she came.

   Perhaps we could call the device in 15 a zip, as it engages every other letter/tooth at the overlap.

   I enjoyed the puzzle and the blog. Thanks to A&E.

7. As you say Eileen, 15a is a new device [?], a tribute to Arachne and to the infinite generativity of language (hail Chomsky–he used it to debunk Behaviorism).

   I’d forgotten Clyde’s surname but it had to be Barrow. And 14d’s surface was fun and 20d was pretty neat.

   All in all an enjoyable canter.

   Thanks Arachne and Eileen

8. Thank you, Eileen, I thought this was a gem.  A great example of how elegant cluing makes our hobby such a treat.  Not difficult, but so what?

   I singled out BARROW, PUPA, & WEEKNIGHT as the pick of the crop.

   Many thanks, spider lady.

   Nice weekend, all.

9. Like muffin I thought it was rather Mondayish, but wonderful nonetheless. My favourites were SCALLYWAG, PUPA, EMULSION, PORKIES, VENOM . . . (I’ll stop there). Many thanks to A & E (whose help can always be relied on!).

10. Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen.  BARROW was my favourite, but didn’t like BANQUET much.

11. Sorry to enter pedant mode but I believe “Paisley” pattern (design) has little to do with Scotland’s largest (Not a city) town. The DESIGN is of Persian origin:

    “From roughly 1800 to 1850, the weavers of the town of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland, became the foremost producers of Paisley shawls”

    As paisley pattern could be woven or printed into and onto many textiles, is it not a little inaccurate of Arachne to refer to it as a “cloth”? Although perhaps his “?” Gets him off the hook.

    I’m done now. Thanks for a great crossword. Getting the hang of it with practise.

12. HER “?”!!! Apologies.

13. Well said William! It’s not the difficulty, it’s the ingenuity, fun and smiles that count. I stopped putting stars against clues when I realised they all deserved one but when the penny dropped on Clyde I grinned from ear to ear and put it right up there with Tramp’s “Bribe Johnny Cash”. (My favourite clue so far in 2018)

14. A lovely gentle solve

15. Shramore @11 – Collins: ‘paisley; 1. a pattern of small curving shapes with intricate detailing; 2. a soft fine wool fabric traditionally printed with this pattern’.

     

16. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen. As others have said a very enjoyable and steady solve. Given how quickly I solved, it it probably is not Arachne at her toughest, but still with plenty to think about. I liked Barrow, Hobbes and banquet and thanks again to Arachne and Eileen.

17. Perhaps I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but I didn’t think it was TOO gentle – a good mix of easy clues giving the crossers for some more challenging ones.

    I did like most of it, though couldn’t parse the BAN part of 20d and didn’t like it after reading Eileen’s explanation – though I did like the QUET bit, so that made up for it. Also wasn’t thinking of Bonnie and Clyde – I though it might be something to do with Glasgow…

    Not sure how our Aussie friends coped with the British meaning of “thong”, or how well known “porkies” is outside these isles?

    Great fun, so many thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

18. This was just lovely. I loved WEEKNIGHT and THRONG gave a Paul level of sniggering here at the surface.

    It does pose the question of what I’ll use to distract me in the pub this afternoon though…

19. Eileen, you need I for “one” in the parsing of PORKIES.  (It was my LOI because I was stuck on MI as “one thousand and one.”

20. I solved it, so it can’t be too tough. But I needed to come here to undersand a few parsings. I’m in the ‘didn’t like’ BANQUET camp but I have to say I thought it was a lovely way to end the week.

    Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen. Top job both.

21. Thank you Arachne and Eileen.

    A lovely puzzle.  The clue for EMULSION was very inventive, a super device. I was nearly caught out by “a future monarch” but a recent puzzle came to mind.

22. Thanks Arachne, Eileen

    Friday night a weeknight?

23. James @22

    I know what you mean, but Friday is a weekday, so Friday is a weeknight. Would you classify Sunday night as a weeknight, then?

24. WEEKNIGHT will not catch the Australians out, it will make up for the PORKIES.

25. Trismegistus @17:  Glasgow is not irrelevant because of an &lit echo. The Barrows / Barrowland / Barras was a a notoriously rough market near the Clyde, where many a pub brawl spilled over.

26. Thanks, Valentine @ 19 – sorted now.

27. @Trismegistus. We Aussies  know all sorts of thongs and porkies.

    Like gsolphotog I had so many ticks too I stopped counting.

    Wonderful to have my favourite setter on a Friday, with such an excellent puzzle.

28. I thought this puzzle was easy for Arachne, with fairly obvious anagrams (ADROITLY, BISMUTH, and simple assembly charades (WEE + KNIGHT, SOFA + R, CLOT + H).  Some were ingenious, though — I liked PORKIES once I got the device, and BANQUET, VENICE and VENOM. And the wordplay ws fun — the puzzle just filled up a bit too fast.

    I’ve always spelled it SCALAWAG.  Google tells me both spellings are used.

29. Lovely puzzle many thanks Arachne

    liked many, including OFTTIMES, DOUBLE UP, ITCH, WEEKNIGHT, BISMUTH and many more. I think Venom is my favourite

    Many thanks Eileen

30. Good entertaining crossword to wake up my holiday brain. I couldn’t see the parsing of BANQUET at first.

    Arachne’s trademark dig at the government in GO THROUGH. My favourite was VENOM.

    Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

31. A very enjoyable puzzle! My favourites were 1a, 22d, 20a

    Thank you Arachne and Eileen

32. Over all too soon, and I thought it easier than usual for Arachne,but most enjoyable all the same. Everything has been said really but I did like PORKIES, and nice to see a namecheck for the greatest British political philosopher: Thomas HOBBES.
    Thanks Arachne.

33. Straightforward but beautifully crafted.

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

34. It’s all been said. Ticks galore and lots of fun. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

35. A lovely puzzle, although perhaps because the setter is such a favourite, a trifle over-hyped here.  However, I did think the cryptic devise for EMULSION was quite brilliant and novel and I agree with Auriga that ‘zip’ is a good way of describing it.  Unless you are a bit stuffy I reckon BANQUET is absolutely fine as well.  Many thanks to Arachne and to Eileen for the blog.

36. A lovely puzzle, although perhaps because the setter is such a favourite, a trifle over-hyped here.  However, I did think the cryptic devise for EMULSION was quite brilliant and novel and I agree with Auriga that ‘zip’ is a good way of describing it.  Unless you are a bit stuffy I reckon BANQUET is absolutely fine as well.  Many thanks to Arachne for the puzzle and to Eileen for the blog.

37. Sorry for the near repeated comments.  I’m not sure how that happened.

38. Ah, Arachne – not only clever, witty and concise, but flexible too: capable of constructing puzzles of all levels of difficulty, and all enjoyable.

39. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen. Nothing to add. Great fun.

40. The Spiderwoman in non-scary mode today – beautifully clued. My quickest ever Arachne completion, but none the less enjoyable for that.
    For once I parsed everything all by my little self, so could read Eileen’s immaculate blog purely for enjoyment rather than needing to seek enlightenment.
    Thanks to both.

41. Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen. A lovely puzzle. Took me far too long to get 22a. I had constructed the answer but for some reason was pronouncing it to myself as ven-ee-cheh (so at least I got the country right).

42. Unusually for us we did this the day it was published. Just come here to say thank you Arachne and Eileen.

43. An excellent puzzle.  I liked both PUPA and EMULSION very much – also BANQUET, DOUBLE UP, VENOM and GO WITHOUT.

    Like NNI @1, I noticed and appreciated the ‘?’ used to indicate a definition by example.  My view is that if an example is used to define an answer it must be indicated (not necessarily by a ‘?’), but the tendency not to do so is increasing, I feel, and although I notice it when that happens I’ve stopped pointing it out.

    Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

44. Me @42
    Sorry, I meant GO THROUGH, not GO WITHOUT (which was my first thought for that answer when all I had was a blank grid).

45. Valentine @28: SCALLYWAG: yes, I think it has been spelled the other way in another crossword very recently….

46. All good fun, with the customary sweet surfaces.  I liked BARROW and BISMUTH the best.  I wonder if for PUPA “Young setter a future monarch??” would be acceptable to indicate the two DBEs?  Talking of DBE, it took me a while to understand the Friday one, despite the answer being obvious once the crossers were in.

    Thanks, A&E.  No major traumas today.

47. Chuckles throughout. Many thanks!

    The ingenious beanfeast “split-to-parse” has become regular fare recently. After all, setters mess with punctuation all the time, and a space is just a very basic form of punctuation, is it not? Compound words are just another thing for we beleaguered solvers to be wary of.

48. Toneyvr and others

    Just to clarify, it wasn’t the “split-to-parse” that I didn’t like – in fact, I rather like those – it was “earl” giving the E for deletion. E for Earl isn’t in my Chambers, and I don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere else.

49. muffin @48 – I’m really surprised that you haven’t met E = Earl. My impression is that it crops up frequently.  It’s in Collins and my [12th edition] Chambers as the first entry.

50. That’s odd, Eileen. In my Chambers (which I’ve sometimes suspected is fake, as I can’t find an edition number, though publication is 1999) the first E entry is all about the letter E and the musical note; the second starts East, Ecstasy and various other things not including “earl”; the third the medieval Roman numeral 250 (I confess that I didn’t know that); and the last e the base of natural logs.

    I’ve really not come across it anywhere else either 🙂

51. Alan B @42 or @43, not sure because I don’t see the numbers. Thank you for responding to my comment about definition by example. I thought I was just being ignored, and I would probably have never commented again.

52. was slowed up trying for the BISMUTH anagram, for some reason thinking that it was a Paul clue. Probably for the best that it wasn’t . . .

53. NNI
    And thank you for your response.
    I usually post late-ish and always read the blog and comments before I do.
    What you said about the DBE device piqued my interest. Setters sometimes forget to indicate it, and it’s those that take care with their clues generally (like Arachne, and I could name others) that I like the most.

54. Thanks Arachne and Eileen. I really enjoyed this. In my printed version there is extra space at the start of the clue for 2d. No big problem – but did anyone else spend time wondering if this was yet another ingenious device?

55. Me @50

    I meant to add that it seems unlikely that E for Earl has evolved since 1999 – the title has been around for rather longer than that!

56. muffin @50 – the 12th edition of Chambers was published in 2011 but my point really was that I was surprised that you, as a daily solver / commenter, had not met that abbreviation before.

    NNI @51 – I’m distressed at the thought that we might have lost you – and AlanB @43: I thought I’d covered that point in the blog.

57. Hi MikeC @54 – because I was  blogging, I had to use the online version before my paper was delivered, so wasn’t aware of the extra space – it doesn’t appear to have been significant, does it?

58. [Out of curiosity, could anyone give me a link to an example of E being used to stand for Earl? (except in crosswords, of course!)]

59. Eileen @56 or thereabouts. I never read your blog so I didn’t see that you had already covered my point. I had my comment all ready to copy and paste and waited for your blog to appear. I commented on the lack of DBE in Monday’s Vulcan and the response was that no’one agreed with me and 1 person (@beaulieu) thought the clue was ok.

60. Great Friday fun, winding up what has been a very enjoyable week of puzzles.  Many favorites, including WEEKNIGHT, BANQUET (my LOI), THRONG, VENOM, and EMULSION, with my co-CotDs being the two shortest ones, ITCH and PUPA.

    Arachne is typically an impeccable cluer, and today’s puzzle followed that pattern also, but her clue for ATONEMENT today seemed to me to be just a bit “peccable”.  *AS* ONE is a natural, correct and easy synonym for “united”, but I am not readily thinking of an instance in which one might say *AT* ONE for this purpose instead.  Does anyone (if anyone is still reading this) have any examples to share?

    I enjoyed the clued/unclued DBE discussion from several commenters above (NNI, Alan B, and phitonelly) with regard to PUPA and also WEEKNIGHT, but isn’t “Paint” as the definition of EMULSION also DBE?

    Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen and the other commenters.  Have a nice weekend, all.  Happy Father’s day to those in the US (and elsewhere?) celebrating it this weekend.

61. Eileen @56

    Yes, indeed you had covered the point about the DBE in 6a PUPA, and I meant to say ‘as blogged’ in my reposnse to NNI, but I didn’t have my wits about me while using a small screen.  Sorry to you and NNI also about misnumbering my own comment (easily done on a smartphone).  As you say about the clue, Eileen: neatly done.

62. NNI @59, Eileen @56 –

    I also omitted to mention that Eileen discussed the double DBE in PUPA in her blog.  Sorry ’bout that.

63. A liitle too easy for me to be that entertaining. At least I can watch the footie earlier than planned.

    It amazes that the Ed chose ( 😉 ) this for a Friday. Surely a quiptic or Monday slot was more suitable.

    Muffin, The OED has E for Earl with example quotes ranging from 1598 to 2016 (no interevening century is without a quote) How have you missed this 😉

64. DaveMc @60

    I don’t think that you and I are at one one that point 🙂

65. “on that point”

    lurkio

    I don’t have the OED. I’ve just gone to look at my SOED (in a different room) – it just has EM as Earl Marshal.

66. Well, Muffin @58, Earl Cameron (actor) might have used use E. Cameron at some time in his life- does that count?

67. 🙂 Freddy

68. Copmus @5, I don’t like pearl necklaces (nor the kind of people wearing them).

    But I do like Arachne!

    As others said, this was relatively easy but since I retired from work, Friday isn’t much different from Monday. And let’s not forget, most Saturday prize crosswords are also not the hardest in the world.

    I have seen the idea of 15d’s EMULSION before but I don’t think I’ve seen it executed so well as it was here.

    One could wait for what happens in 26ac (ITCH), a Philistinian device Arachne uses in nearly every puzzle but what goes on in 20d was a surprise to me.

    Also Philistinian but I do not remember Arachne doing it before. Although, perhaps, she did – my memory’s pretty good but I’m not an archivist. By the way, those ‘complaining’ about this ‘device’ (I’m not one of those, as long as the puzzle’s not full of it) should also have a re-think about 5d in which zero-hour had to be split.

    While BISMUTH (17d) is an easy enough anagram clue (and certainly after having the H in place), it was also a ‘good’ anagram in a sense that solvers could look for something ending in (I)UM.

    I am with S Panza @36 that Arachne is sometimes over-hyped at this site (winning the game already before having appeared on the pitch) but, my oh my, she is good.

    Thanks E & S.

69. I’m not seeing where the dislike of BANQUET comes from.

    E for Earl? It’s right there in Chambers, and seems at least as reasonable as many abbreviations at which we don’t bat an eye.

    The lift-and-separate for “beanfeast”? A perfectly well-established device in Guardian puzzles.

    I thought it was a fine clue, although most of my love in this puzzle is reserved for the incomparable elegance of 22d.

70. muffin @64 –

    Thanks for your example.  It still sounds a bit “off” to me.  Of course, it very well could be that I am the one who is “off”.  Wouldn’t be the first time (and I’m sure it won’t be the last).

71. I agree with muffin as regards E for earl, even though he is better baked the I am …

72. Surely I’m softer, Cookie!

    I suppose I ought to update my Chambers, but, as I said earlier, it’s surprising that E = earl wasn’t in my 1999 edition if it’s a well-known abbreviation. I’m struggling to think of a context in which it wold be used…

73. Muffin @72 — a guess, which I can’t easily check: E for earl could be found in “Who’s Who” and/or “Burke’s Peerage” (among other volumes that no Guardian reader would admit to owning0.

     

74. @DaveMc
    Re emulsion
    While paint is an example of an emulsion, emulsion is also an example of paint – any more like that, I wonder?

75. James @74 –  Thanks for your post!  It sent me at last to the dictionary, which is probably where I should have started.  Emulsion as a single word meaning emulsion paint is, from what I can see (based on finding it in Chambers and Collins but not in US dictionaries), a term used in the UK and possibly other parts of the English speaking world, but not here in the US.

    I’m struggling to come up with any other . . . er, examples, of words where A is an example of B, but B is also an example of A.  The only thing I could come up with in 2 minutes is: a golfer is an example of a player, and Player is an example of a golfer.  (ha ha)

    Speaking of dictionaries: muffin @64, I did not find “at one” in online Chambers, but I did find it in online Collins, defined as “in a state of agreement or harmony”.

76. DaveMc@75 and James@74 – nice.  I remember from having linguist friends as an undergraduate that one task they were set fairly early on was to find a circular definition in the Shorter Oxford dictionary … can’t remember good examples though coz it’s lo these 50 years.  I always associate it in my mind with pre-med students having to find a statistical error in a published medical paper.  Both surprisingly easy.

77. Getting a post in – completed in under 24 hours! Muffin @3 – some of us need a more straightforward puzzle from time to time – and I would add that we love Arachne as alawys feel her clues are fair, entertaining and have lovely surfaces. Particularly liked EMULSION – and I had two goes at WEEKNIGHT as I didn’t get it the first time round. We just have to remember that even finishing the crossword in under a day from getting it is an achievement ( and our crossword comes when We return with the shopping, so we never start before 12 noon).

78. Wombles @77

    Yes, I understand your point. However, on the whole the puzzles in the Guardian do tend to get harder during the week, though recently (this week’s included), the Prize seems to have been getting easier. My point was that this charming puzzle was as at least as easy as Vulcan’s ersatz Rufus last Monday.

79. Muffin – thanks for the response & nice to hear from you. We follow you on the blog but our late posts are usually too late for anyone to notice. The blog is really helpful and entertaining – I only feel that, because we post so late, we don’t get to join in. Eileen’s tip is to give up earlier (hard when one of you is a completer-finisher and we necver really start till noon). We also do the Everyman and can usually solve tht fairly quickly, but part of the problem is also how much time we have to do the crossword. I appreciate that lots of people might find an ” easy” Friday not a sufficient challenge, but the occasional simpler one gives us a massive boost when we get it done and keeps us going. I then feel we’ll grit our teeth when the next Vlad comes our way ( probably next Friday). We keep trying so we should (eventually) improve.
    Looking forward to your next comments – either with this or next Friday’s crossword

80. Wombles @79

    Well done – do keep at it! Practice (and this site) does hone the solving abilities…

81. btw I”m really sorry if that sounded patronising – that really wasn’t the intention…

82. Hi Wombles @79

    “Eileen’s tip is to give up earlier…”

    Did I really say that?

83. I enjoyed it all, including 20d, which did get me wondering about the reason for the earl leaving the beanfeast. Apparently last seen kneeling outside the bathroom door: Girl with the Earl Peering.

84. Eileen @82 – tried to reply last night but the post got eaten…. I think your gist was, “don’t be too hard on yourselves and feel you have to finsih before posting” , which was good advice even though we haven’t taken it…

85. Cowering in the shade of a Spanish balcony, puffing like a grampus in the heat, I have to stir myself – albeit well late – to admire VENOM.

    Would it be unreasonable to ask contributors to spell out the answer to the clue referred to (as in “VENOM” rather than “22d”) thereby saving one the exhaustion of switching back and forth between their contribution and the crossword?  Sorry, but this heat, irritation, liquids please…..

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

86. As a newbie, many thanks to Eileen for such clear explanations. I understood everything once you showed me the way. I must keep practicing.

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