Guardian 27,605 / Nutmeg

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A welcome appearance from Nutmeg this Tuesday morning.

 

 

There’s a distinct parliamentary flavour in the long answers [and perhaps elsewhere] in today’s puzzle.

In my 17dn to the last Nutmeg puzzle that I blogged, I called it ‘a gem of a puzzle from Nutmeg, sparkling with her customary wit and elegance’. I could happily repeat that today. Thank you, Nutmeg – it was a joy to solve.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Retiring age soared, say, in regime such as ours? (7,5)
WELFARE STATE
A reversal [retiring] of ERA [age] FLEW [soared] + STATE [say] – a brilliant surface, which might raise some wry smiles

9 Public transport attendants (5)
TRAIN
Double definition

10 Royal college’s head leaving for US university (9)
PRINCETON
PRINCE [royal] + [e]TON [college] minus its first letter [head]

11, 12  Eg arm borne by soldiers, those taking a back seat? (7,7)
PRIVATE MEMBERS
PRIVATES [soldiers] round MEMBER [eg arm]

13 Benefits from changing motel’s menu? (10)
EMOLUMENTS
An anagram [changing] of MOTEL’S MENU

15 Wife boarding vessel to find man on board (4)
PAWN
W [wife] in PAN [vessel]

18 Discarded spades held here? (4)
SHED
Double definition

19 Small and large states backing chosen type of power (10)
ELECTRICAL
RI [Rhode Island, the smallest US state] + CAL [the largest – in population – US state] after [backing] ELECT [chosen]

22, 24 Here you can make your mark cutting post (7,7)
POLLING STATION
POLLING [cutting] + STATION [post]

25 Dungeon built to keep unclothed criminal (9)
OUBLIETTE
An anagram [criminal] of BUILT TO [k]EE[p]

26 Stupendous fish (5)
BRILL
Double definition

27 Constituency in the Borders? (8,4)
MARGINAL SEAT
Cryptic definition

Down

1 A few overcome by river current, like a bore? (9)
WEARISOME
SOME [a few] after [overcome by] WEAR [river] + I [current] – lovely play on ‘bore’

2 Row involving an elevated US taxonomist (8)
LINNAEUS
LINE [row] round a reversal [elevated] of AN + US

3 Fruit with marked skin peeled (5)
APPLE
[d]APPLE[d] [with marked skin]

4 Could this disheartened fan create magnificent cryptic? (9)
ENIGMATIC
A subtractive anagram: ‘This’ [ENIGMATIC] + F[a]N [disheartened] is an anagram [could create] of ‘magnificent’

5 Future volume slashed by firm (2,4)
TO COME
CO [firm] in TOME [volume]

6 Appeal lifted one particular sort of levy (5)
TITHE
A reversal [lifted] of IT [appeal] + THE [definite article – one particular]

7 Plain stage exercises (6)
STEPPE
STEP [stage] + PE [exercises]

8 Agreement primarily sought within marriage (6)
UNISON
S[ought] in UNION [marriage]

14 We learn the lesson, ultimately keeping land free from prejudice (9)
ENLIGHTEN
Last letters [ultimately] of wE learN thE lessoN round LIGHT [land]

16 Curator from Bow to call on one moving north (9)
ARCHIVIST
ARCH [bow] + VISIT [to call on] with the second I moving up [north]

17 A rebel MP’s stirring opening words (8)
PREAMBLE
An anagram [stirring] of A REBEL MP

18 Drink dispenser on ship at sea (6)
SIPHON
An anagram [at sea] of ON SHIP

20 Desolate portrait painter holds on (6)
LONELY
LELY [Sir Peter, 17th century Court portrait painter] round ON

21 Arranging fruit, receiving nothing in return (6)
FIXING
FIG [fruit] round a reversal [in return] of NIX [nothing] – this was my first thought but, when I came to write the blog, I realised that FILING also fits, in both definition and wordplay [Chambers: ‘file – to arrange in an orderly fashion’ and NIL = nothing] so I checked online and FIXING is the solution given

23 Star billing featuring this group in the ascendant (5)
LIBRA
A hidden reversal [in the ascendant] in stAR BILling – unusually, the definition is in the middle

24 Surreptitiously move bag (5)
STEAL
Double definition

76 comments on “Guardian 27,605 / Nutmeg”

  1. I went for ‘filing’, reflecting, no doubt, my former career as a pen pusher. Otherwise, another delight from Nutmeg.

  3. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen.  A very entertaining puzzle.  I particularly liked 15a PAWN and 1d WEARISOME for their cleverly misleading surfaces.

    I was another FILING at 21d and I prefer it!

  7. Yes, a good one. On the first pass I only got six solutions but the rest yielded steadily. And I spotted the theme! My favourite was ENIGMATIC which was, er, magnificent. I didn’t know Lely the portrait painter but he had to be involved in 19.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  10. Me too for filing, and couldn’t work out why tithe should be the answer to 6 down. Loi was 14 down, had all the crossers in place, but very little instant enlightenment as to what this final piece in the jigsaw might be…

  13. Thanks both. NIL is British English and NIX is American slang. The Grauniad is a British newspaper.
    Yours
    Disgusted
    Tunbridge Wells

  15. Yet another FILING and, disagreeing with cholecyst @2, I think it fits the theme better …

    Thank you Nutmeg for a most enjoyable puzzle and Eileen for a very helpful blog.

  16. I was a FILING too, but now it’s been brought to my attention (thank you Eileen) I prefer FIXING just because the FIX/NIX thing reminded me of this.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  17. Thank you Nutmeg, very enjoyable. Almost got away without using a dictionary, but I had to look up OUBLIETTE. Favourites are PAWN, UNISON, and ENIGMATIC. And I too had FILING.

    and thank you Eileen as always

  18. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen

    FILING for me too – I also prefer NIL to NIX in a British paper. Otherwise great as usual.

    Thanks for the parsing of ENLIGHTEN, Eileen – I’d only got the LIGHT bit.

  19. Thanks Eileen. At risk of having my head shot off I will put it over the parapet and admit that I’m in the FIXING camp. I just had that word in mind as a synonym of ‘arranging’ and I’d not have first thought of ‘filing’ as a possible alternative; then ‘NIX’ seemed to fit, though I’m no great fan of US slang either.

    Ta to Nutmeg for the fun solve.

  20. Thanks Nutmeg for a spicy puzzle.

    Thanks Eileen; I forgot OUBLIETTE! FILING seems to be the obvious answer and works well. Shirl @13; according to my ODE, the American nix is the verb, not the noun. I was thinking of a cockney curator for a while until the PDM.

    I always think SIPHON looks wrong; I prefer the SYPHON spelling.

  21. Yet another FILING . . . I found this hard to get into, but as is always the case with Nutmeg, it was a great puzzle. My favourites were WELFARE STATE, MARGINAL SEAT and ARCHIVIST. Many thanks to N & E.

  22. Bullhassocks @19, Brexit began officially with Britain formally FILING Article 50,  and now the government has had to employ many more people to cope with the FILING of the resulting bumf.

  25. I’m a member of the FILING club too – probably because I should have been doing some instead of this most enjoyable crossword

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen

  26. Add me to the FILING list; a pity the L or X wasn’t a crosser.
    Thank you Nutmeg and Eileen.
    If El Inglés drops in, thank you. I’ve finally looked up KEDGEREE after putting
    it in countless crosswords. It sounds delicious. Where did you eat it?

  27. [il principe @26

    Kedgeree is usually a breakfast dish. It’s a bit of a faff to make (especially early in the morning!) so recently I’ve only had it when I was staying in a posh hotel (which doesn’t happen very often…)]

  28. JinA and our other Aussie solvers (and Auriga) should like 23d LIBRA. The sun is in the ASCENDANT for them when it crosses the first point of Libra – their vernal equinox.
    Clever clue.

  29. Muffin, you’re making me nostalgic and hungry ! You remind me of
    an occasion when I got out of my tent, smuggled myself into the
    Glenridding hotel, where a friend was staying, via the basement,
    and breakfasted on brown bread and butter, kippers and two perfectly
    poached eggs while looking out over Ullswater !
    This is a tricky dish to find here in Sardinia.

  30. I did like 23d LIBRA a lot – thanks il principe@28.
    Loved the whole puzzle in fact. One of those when I was part of the way through the Down clues before I had any solutions. All the better for it being a challenge to get started. I liked that electoral/political mini-theme.
    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  31. Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen. Enjoyable puzzle but gues what? Another filing here. I considered fixing first, but decided filing was the more likely. 2d and 25a were new also to me. I liked welfare state and overall an enjoyable solve, plus I learned a couple of new things. Thanks again to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  32. I’m another FILING, WHICH WAS MY LOI. Top half went in quickly, then slowed down on the bottom half.
    [ilprincipe: just recently returned from my first holiday in Sardinia – most enjoyable]

  33. A good mix of clue types with a nice level of challenge that made it entertaining throughout. My ticks have all been mentioned, and my loi was MARGINAL SEAT – I got stuck looking for something WEST. Definitely FILING.
    Thanks for the great blog as always Eileen and ditto for the puzzle Nutmeg.

  34. It’s rare to find a genuinely ambiguous answer, but irritating one it happens. It was one of my last ones in and I got it via the wordplay by fitting nil in. “Nil” must be far more widely used than “Nix”?

    Otherwise, far too many that were obvious when I knew the answer – a sign of a good crossword! Brill my favourite, I think.

  35. Bear of little brain:
    Or, Orsetto di poco cervello; I often use your soubriquet to describe myself.
    Very glad you liked Sardegna.

  37. That was a whole lot of fun. The SE corner took a while to unlock but it all fell into place eventually. I’m not at the stage yet where I can readily comment on the relative talents of the setters but, even to me, Nutmeg seems to be somewhat of a star. FIXING came quite easily – maybe that’s due to a childhood where Elvis was played constantly and the line “Bugsy turned to Shifty and he said, ‘Nix nix’ ” made an impact. 11,12a & 2d were favourites. 16d was LOI.

    Top job, both Nutmeg and Eileen.

  38. This was definitely easier than most of Nutmeg’s recent puzzles, but no complaints from me as it is still a very fine crossword.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  39. Can someone enlighten a newbie what Loi means – clearly last solved but why?
    I enjoyed this and am unconcerned about FILING or FIXING.

  40. Delightful puzzle, as usual from Nutmeg and great blog as usual from Eileen.

    19a Rhode Island is the smallest state by area but has a larger population than seven other states, many of the quite large. including Montana, both Dakotas, Wyoming and the geographically largest state, Alaska.  That state and Texas both have more area than California.

    I had FILING for 21d.  Yank though I am, FIXING/NIX never occurred to me.  In fact, it was a British bookseller who said on learning where I was from “I’ve always wanted to meet a Connecticut Yankee!”  It hadn’t occurred to me til then that I was one.

    Connecticut’s nickname is “the Nutmeg State,” from the probably apocryphal story that carpetbaggers sold wooden nutmegs to the ignorant Southerners as one of many ways of exploiting them after the Civil War.  It always seemed to me that fake nutmegs would be so much work to carve that the profit wouldn’t be worth the trouble/  But somewhere I read that it may have been the way you have to grate nutmegs to use them, which would have made them look like wood to the uninformed.

     

    Is “cryptic” doing double duty in 4d as definition and the reverse solving indicator?

  41. Folamour @39 — LOI stands for “Last one in,” and is different for all and mildly interesting to see what stumped others of u.

  42. Loi – actually it must be LOI or LoI. It expands to Last one (clue) in or last one entered by the solver/writer.

  44. Thank you all for your comments, which as usual are appreciated, and Eileen for her generous blog.

    I can only apologise for 21d, which I agree should not be ambiguous, but we’re all fallible and I just hadn’t spotted the alternative answer, which is probably the one that more readily springs to mind from the wordplay. Please mentally award yourself full marks (and black marks to me) if you went for the alternative. I’ll try not to slip up again – easier said than done….

  46. Already crossword setters have many things to check to ensure that their puzzle is free from errors. To check and ensure if a clue as written has an alternative, equally acceptable answer is too hard on them. I am sure occurrence of this kind of a duplicate answer is rare. We should understand and excuse the setter. In chess problems we have ‘cook’. Shall we coin a word for the duplicate solution to a crossword clue?

  47. Rishi @46

    I’ve heard it referred to as a “double”.

    Thanks for popping in, Nutmeg _ I, for one, forgive you!

  48. muffin @ 47

    Thanks.

    We accept FIXING as the compiler’s answer and solvers who put in FILING can congratulate themselves on discovering ‘double’.

  50. Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

    I don’t usually do the weekday Guardian’s puzzles, saving my grey cells for Sunday’s “Azed”, but this was a treat. Several answers were not too hard to write in but then the clue was worth picking apart for its elegance (1 across was especially satisfying.)

    P.S. FILING was my choice though that was because I didn’t spot the equally logical alternative. Every clue in a top-class puzzle is always worth a second look.

  51. Thank you to everyone answering my question re LOI and of course Eileen and Nutmeg. I now feel honour bound to give mine which was FILING (didn’t see FIXING at all). And I can’t remember when I last had kedgeree but probably had it unconventionally as a slight supper.

  53. I was able to get several answers quickly because I’m certain I’ve solved this puzzle before. WELFARE STATE, TITHE, OUBLIETTE and BRILL were all memorable because of the difficulty I had with them the first time through.  Am I just psychic or do they sometimes rerun puzzles?

  55. Well, I had FIXING but I think this was because my first thought was MIXING which couldn’t be right. I got the theme too which is a bit of a turnup, although, given the political nature of the beast I certainly should have got it. I liked OUBLIETTE.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  56. FILING for me as well. Agreed, however, that both solutions work for “arranging” Is NIX not used principally as a verb?

  58. Greetings from America today… I ALSO had FILING, so add me to the ever-growing list.

    Tho I solved it all in decent time, I was wondering if someone could let me know why “I” means current (for 1D). I always try to make note of any British-isms that I will need another day.

    But my American-ness was actually helpful to me today, esp. with PRINCETON and ELECTRICAL 🙂 🙂

  61. Hi glenn @58,

    “I” for current isn’t a Britishism, it’s a physics thing, probably most familiar in the equation V=IR.

    Another one who had FILING.  It didn’t occur to me to check the online solution.  I liked the surface for OUBLIETTE very much.

    Nice puzzle.  Thanks, Nutmeg and Eileen.

  63. glen @58, the abbreviation I for current comes from the French phrase intensité de courant, current intensity, which  is usually referred to simply as current.

  64. Robi @24, that is unbelievable, but I see it is so in my COED and Collins, of course it is gravity that makes a SIPHON work, not atmospheric pressure – I was waiting for muffin to comment …

  67. In my experience (as a lifelong US resident), NIX never means “nothing”. It can be an interjection meaning “No,”  as in the Elvis song Keyser mentions, or it can be a verb meaning roughly “to deny”. My Chambers gives “nothing” as the first definition, without suggesting that it’s North American, and then gives the interjection meaning as specifically North American slang.

    So the authors of Chambers do think that the “nothing” meaning exists but don’t think it’s North American. Is it possible that it’s just very old-fashioned slang, so that no one here is willing to lay claim to it?

  68. Precision clueing as ever. Ticks for PRIVATE MEMBERS (delightful definition), ELECTRICAL, OUBLIETTE, TO COME, ENLIGHTEN and LIBRA. It’s been a while since I recall ticking so many clues in one puzzle. And my favourite was the quite beautiful ENIGMATIC.
    And (some of) her surfaces are sublime.

    (FILING went in without a second thought – how dangerously single minded of me. There must be a lesson there?!)

    Many thanks, Nutmeg, for another brilliant crossword and to Eileen for her generous contribution.

  69. To follow up on my own comment, here are the OED citations for the “nothing” meaning:

     

    1781 G. Parker View Society & Manners II. 81 He..would stand no Hook and Snivey, or Nix the Buffer.
    1789 G. Parker Life’s Painter xiv. 126 It won’t do I say, to stand here for nicks—all hearers and no buyers—what, will none of you drop your loose kelter?
    1789 G. Parker Life’s Painter xv. 143 How they have brought a German word into cant I know not, but nicks means nothing in the cant language.
    1824 J. Badcock Boxiana IV. 444 Men who can be backed for large stakes do seldom fight for nix (comically called love).
    1858 A. Mayhew Paved with Gold iii. i Do you see all this land?..the grandfather of this here Lord Southwark got it for ‘nix’.
    1890 W. C. Russell Ocean Trag. ii She has been exhorting me to choose a companion.., but it would have to be you or nix.
    1912 G. Frankau One of Us (1918) v. 45 How, one by one, each frenzied Wall Street member, As Steels or Unions wilted down to nixes, Forsoote the Banks of Finance for the Styx’s.
    1929 A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 14 If I pull down fifty bucks a week it’s not for nix.
    1949 M. McLuhan Let. 30 Apr. (1987) 213 How he has bulldozed and four-flushed on just exactly nix in his mit.
    1984 S. Bellow Him with his Foot in his Mouth 38 All that he had was for the new family; for the old family, nix.

    Below and McLuhan are American, so I guess I’m wrong to say that this usage isn’t ours.

  71. Finally making it back here to 15^2 for the first time in a good two weeks or so. I was traveling all last week through yesterday, and still have several puzzles to catch up on, but I thought I would skip ahead and do this one in order to have a chance to come here (even if it is late in the day at this point). What an enjoyable puzzle (and blog) to come back to! I failed to spot the theme, but I enjoyed the many fine clues and nice PDMs provided by Nutmeg.

    Count me among the many American commenters who had FILING. I know “nix” only as a verb. Thanks to Ted@67 and 69 for the research on the noun usage meaning “nothing”. Following up on the comment from Valentine @40, Rhode Island is the smallest US state by area, but it has the longest name of any US state: the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

    I enjoyed EMOLUMENTS because of its current topicality — it is another clause of the US Constitution that You Know Who has violated.

    Many thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen and other commenters.

  72. Cookie @64

    Just seen your comment. I think that there is more to it than just gravity – obviously it is gravity that makes the water fall out of the open end of the tube, but I suspect that the crucial bit of getting it over the “hump” is more to do with intermolecular forces.

  73. muffin @72, probably, one has to pull the water filled part of the tube very quickly over the hump to get the siphon going.

  74. Please can someone explain to me why, in 19A, ELECT = chosen? I would have thought it would have to be ELECTED or SELECT? Thanks

  75. Eric @74 ELECT can also be an adjective, as in ‘President-elect’, or, in ‘The Mikado’,  ‘Daughter-in-law-elect’.

  76. I enjoyed this one, but was puzzled when the iPad app didn’t congratulate me when I entered the last letter even though I was 100% sure of my solutions. I had FILING.

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