Guardian Cryptic 27,617 by Qaos

60 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,617 by Qaos”

1. Don’t forget THE BOOK?

2. 33% in 4d is sloppy, since it’s not precise, and what are crosswords about if not precision? But enjoyable, as always with Qaos – thanks also to early-posting Teacow.

3. It’s a rare occasion for me to be able to post near the beginning, rather than the end, of the comments section.  What a great, fun puzzle from Qaos!  I loved the ghost theme — and I am anything but an ardent consumer of the HHGTTG books, TV series, or movie (or is it movies?), having only passing familiarity with the subject.  But, Qaos being Qaos, I went looking for the theme after the grid was complete, and managed to spot most of the terms highlighted by Teacow, which I guess I must have acquired over the years through “cultural osmosis”, since I haven’t read/viewed the actual stories.

   I thought that Qaos did a bang-up job [in case that is an American idiom, I want to “translate” that I thought he did very, very well] with the quality of the clueing in this puzzle — I can’t remember any of his puzzles surpassing it in terms of surface readability, clever wordplay, satisfying PDMs, etc.  I had tick-marks beside many clues, including DEEP and DON’T (both of which, especially the latter, had funny, almost Paul-esque surfaces), GUNPOINT, EARTH, THRIVE, PANIC, and my co-CotDs, THOUGHT and BY THE BOOK.

   Many thanks to Qaos and Teacow and (mostly in anticipation) the other commenters.

4. Can’t believe that the theme passed me by, talk about dense, thick and blind; embarrassing!

   Stared at the last three in the NW thinking “groma, nah, no way is that a word”, but there it was! After which guide and gunpoint fell in.

   Took a of unpicking (the theme would have helped!) but thoroughly enjoyable. Pan as anagrind was, um, innovatively placed; if you forgive the looseness of outside cover for shoe, 1d was neat; I thought 17d could do with a ? at the end, and in 23d ‘for’ would be better than ‘on’, but miniscule quibbles in a beaut puzzle.

   Thanks Qaos and Teacow.

5. Good fun and the second “Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” theme in a few weeks. Very much like DaveMc @3, I’m not a big fan, but I’ve seen most of the original TV series, so it wasn’t too difficult to spot most of the thematic clues.

   I liked THOUGHT and the ‘Democrat president’ who wasn’t a Democrat. GROMA seemed unlikely to me as well but I bunged it in anyway (admittedly not too difficult) et voilà. Clever people, those Romans.

   Thanks to Qaos and Teacow.

    

    

6. GROMA and FETCH OFF were new to me. Didn’t spot the theme but I rarely do unless they slap me in the face. I do wonder why editors let compilers get away with sloppy clues like 8ac.

7. Great puzzle. I spotted the theme after DON’T PANIC, which helped with about half of the theme words. I wonder how Qaos would have clued Zaphod Beeblebrox, had he been included (or should that be they because of the two heads?)

    

   Thanks Qaos and Teacow.

8. I thought for a little while we were looking for film directors as I stated with Ford, Hitch and Tarantino.  Then the dulcet tones of the wonderful Peter Jones whispered in my head…  Lovely, thank you.

9. 42.

10. For completeness’ sake, 18 ac is (A + CAM) “over” then the anagram.

11. Forgot to look for the theme (and yes I know Qaos always has a theme!!!!) so it is a definite d’oh from me – and I could add more adjectives to your list, grantinfreo@4, but I certainly am feeling the red-faced part. I have also done a 3D crossword this year with the same theme, so still can’t believe I missed it.

    Like DaveMc@3 I really liked 15a DONT and 21a BY THE BOOK. Had not heard of TA as “volunteers” or if it has occurred before it didn’t stick – but 11d could only be TARANTINO. Agree with Frankie the cat @6 about those other “newies” 12d GROMA and 17d FETCH OFF. I wasn’t helped by putting in FARFELLE at 18d (FE for “iron” on the outside of A River and FELL for “over” – even though I couldn’t fit the “pan” part, at the time, it all made sense to me). Then I got a few other crossers and had a rethink and saw it was the much more obvious MACARONI. Also missed the parse for BEER at 21d which was clever. The ARTHUR clue (19d) was fun too.

    Thanks to Qaos and Teacow. Great blog and great comments so far; well done to those who did so well with the theme.

12. Thanks for a great blog, Teacow.

    My experience of the theme is pretty much the same as DaveMc’s @3 – but this one didn’t take much spotting – and I pretty much agree with his comments about the puzzle.

    Lots of fun – many thanks to Qaos for a great start to the day.

13. Thanks Qaos and Teacow

    Needless to say, I didn’t see the theme. As I’ve said before, once I’ve written in a solution, I forget it, so I don’t link different solutions together.

    Despite that, I found this unusually easy for a Qaos, though FETCH OFF isn’t an expression I know. Similar experience to others over GROMA (LOI).

    Favourite was THRIVE.

    I don’t think either definition for PROJECTS is all that close.

14. P.S. I agree with quenbarrow about “33%” in 4d. I do think this sort of clue is lazy, but Qaos seems to like them.

15. Re quenbarrow@2 (and muffin@14): “precision”?  Surely cryptic crosswords are about wit, wordplay, free association of ideas, creativity, fun, learning and exploring, breaking through bafflement and bewilderment into a clear blue sky and sunny horizon, etc?  I think Ximenes is a bit of a killjoy and if I wanted precision I’d be doing boring factual crosswords or, worse still, sudoko.  Most of us twig that 33% is often used to denote a third and we tolerate the inaccuracy unless we are doing arithmetic.  If there is a dodgy clue today it is the superfluous “in a stew” for 17d – that is only there for the sake of a surface and the admittedly rather awkward clue could have worked without it.

16. Hurrah! Finally got a theme before coming here. Not until completing this enjoyable offering though.

17. Thanks both. I wasn’t happy with the anagram indicators “pan” (18 ac) and “races” (19d)

    [I missed the theme completely – this is embarrassing as I worked on the TV version nearly 38 years ago!)

18. Well said TerriBlislow. And I guess the conclusion is given by copmus (@9)

19. A third of orange is a bit lazy but forgiven against all the other attributes you list, TerriB, including the ‘etc’, e.g. a bit of cheek and naughtiness, dark humour, political allusion, scholarliness, and etc again.

20. [Think I have missed something (Shirl@17 made me go back). While I thought “races” was okay as an anagrind, I really don’t see how “pan” can be one. Can anyone help this koala of little brain?]

21. Well i got there without the theme, except for gunpoint which defeated me

22. HHGTTG is part of the zeitgeist but I feel a bit better for Shirl’s reminder that it was 4 decades ago!

23. Thanks Qaos, good setting to fit in all the theme words. I saw the theme at the end, firstly linking FORD PREFECT and GALAXY, and then wondering what TARANTINO had to do with it all.

    Yes, 8 seems to lack an indicator, and what on earth is: Pasta made by a river over iron pan? 

    Thanks Teacow, FETCH OFF is not a phrase I know, and seems to be unknown to dictionaries, apart from Chambers. GROMA was bunged in but I guess gyoma wouldn’t have been any better. I thought of rigatoni at first, which could have given ghoti – I’ve just found that this is a ‘creative respelling’ (or homophone) of fish, using gh as in tough, o as in women, and ti as in nation; clever, eh? Anyway, a good, entertaining crossword.

24. 8 is an embedded answer

25. “Fetch off” means summat quite naughty here in the grim North (of England)

26. JiA@20 – I read it as pan in the verbal form, as in “pan a film” i.e. criticise – or tear to pieces (which then becomes an anagrind).

    BTW TA does come up quite often for “volunteers”. In the UK the Territorial Army is the part-time/voluntary adjunct to our full-time standing army. Also disparagingly known as the SAS (Saturday And Sunday) boys.

27. I enjoyed this despite having lots of quibbles , the missing indicator in 8a, the extremely vague definition in 12d (accepting the additional hints in the wordplay), the redundant/misleading ‘again’ in 13,  the definitions in 16d and 24. pan as a past tense anagrind in 18…..

    Never heard of ‘fetch off’ and a quick google search suggests that nor have many other people, I didn’t have any issues with 33% as a third though!

    Thanks to Qaos and Teacow.

28. p.s. And isn’t it the DEL (Department for Employment and Learning) these days?

29. Thanks Judy @24; I realise FORAGER is embedded but that still needs an indicator and the QM doesn’t really help IMHO.

30. … and for those without the BRB, it gives: to bring out of danger or difficulty; to make away with (Shakesp) for FETCH OFF; so, now you know.

31. Thank you Qaos and Teacow.

    The theme came to me when I was trying to get the answer to 12a, my last in – I know nothing about it but seem to remember my late husband reading the book to our sons.

    ‘pan’ as an anagrind brought panning for gold to mind, the little river near us at the foot of the Jura Mountains is quite productive and was exploited in a small way until recently.

32. Wonderful puzzle – how did I miss the theme? Pathetic!! Messed up PROJECTS (had PROTESTS and couldn’t parse). Loved GALAXY and THRIVE in particular. Many thanks to Qaos and Teacow.

33. As ever with Qaos, this was a pleasant solve. I cottoned onto the theme about 3/4 of the way through–too late to make much of a difference in the solving. I read the books as a teenager–that’d be in the 80s and 90s, for those of you interested in calculating my age.

    Wasn’t the spaceship shaped like a SHOE? I think that’s the only other theme entry that hasn’t been mentioned yet…but then the 80s and 90s were a relatively long time ago, so I can’t be sure.

34. Completed this whilst watching Essex destroy Works. On the lookout for a theme and saw don’t panic and thought Dad’s Army. Then Ford dropped in and it all became clear.

    Agree about pan as an anagrind unless it’s panning for gold – swirling around?

    Thanks to Qaos for a fun time and teacow for the super blog

35. Isn’t there a computer called Deep Thought?

36. I enjoyed this very much and was happy to spot the theme for a change. Agree that a few of the clues are a bit weak. A third and 33 percent for example. And I agree – I’ve made the complaint myself in the past – that 33 percent won’t do as a third. It just isn’t a third. Many thanks to Qaos and Teacow for helping me pass a pleasant hour at JFK terminal 4 waiting for the morning flight home.

37. Sorry. I see Deep Thought already caught. Should pay more attention.

38. Thanks to Qaos and Teacow. Loved this and got the theme early (dent and ford amongst the first). Last one in gunpoint, which for some reason I could not see for ages. Too many good clues to pick out any in particular, except possibly by the book. Thanks again to Qaos and Teacow.

39. Xjpotter @36, you forget the tiny gap between the R and a of orange …

40. Brilliant.  Really enjoyed this.

    And yes the SHOE is I think related (the foot warriors section).  Also the first series was broadcast in 1978 – which make it “50 years ago” – although not to the date.  “Troubled by depression” hints at Marvin, perhaps?

41. In the radio series there’s a post-apocalyptic planet that has suffered the SHOE Event Horizon, an economic collapse due to all the shops in the world becoming shoe shops. (Ford and Arthur also get trapped IN THE PAST at one point, but I don’t think that’s unambiguous enough to be a themer.)

    Loved this one. Hadn’t heard of FETCH OFF but inferred it from the wordplay. Had to look up GROMA after guessing. Probably my fastest solve for a Guardian cryptic ever, due to loving the source material.

42. Thanks to Qaos and Teacow. GROMA my LOI was new to me as was the abbreviation DE, but FETCH OFF was familiar and I was surprised to find TA unfamiliar to some  (I thought it was a basic item in crossword-land along with RE, RA, OR, GI, etc.).

43. [Sorry for this tangential question

    BlueCanary @34

    How are you watching the cricket? It’s listed in my Radio Times as being on SkyCricket, but they are showing highlights of the T20, with no county cricket on the listings]

44. Hi Muffin sat at fine leg in breezy Chelmsford doing the crosser on my mobile fat fingers and all. Early lunch so we are off for a first pint

45. [Thanks BlueCanary. I was disappointed that Sky aren’t making good their promise.

    You must be very pleased!]

46. Don’t think “pan” is an anagrind in 18a – it’s an instruction to cycle IRON to become RONI in the sense of panning a camera. Still not very elegant.

47. I didn’t see the theme until coming here and seeing TEACOW’s opening comment. I turned back to the puzzle and it was obvious what it was. I used to love HITCHHIKERS but it was on so often and in so many versions that I find it unbearable. The feature film that was made was truly awful. Anyway, sO had to look up GROMA and,I may be being dense,but I don’t understand FETCH OFF. I got the wordplay but what on Earth does it mean?
    Thanks Qaos.

48. Hornbeam, I make it 40 years since 1978!

49. Great fun.  One of my favourite book series as a kid.  I remember petunias featuring in the first but don’t remember where geraniums appear.

    I was hoping there was a more clever parse to FORAGER, but it doesn’t appear so.  At a stretch, you could have looking doing double duty so that the hidden word is indicated by in g for a geranium, but as I say, that’s a real stretch.  I liked THOUGHT, IN THE PAST and PREFECT very much.  I believe it was DON’T PANIC that led me to the theme.

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Qaos and thanks, Teacow, for the blog.

50. Great fun.  I would have been impressed to see Slartibartfast (or Phartiphukborlz) make it in somewhere 😉

51. Very enjoyable. But even after a quick internet search, I still have no idea what “fetch off” means.

52. I must have had an off day as I found this hard work – and ended up with a dnf as I didn’t get GUNPOINT. Also I didn’t see the hidden FORAGER (although Mrs W did) so am happy to join those disgruntled with this clue. FETCH OFF is a TILT I’d have been happy never to come across and of course GROMA was unknown. I had ticks as well and was particularly pleased that I remembered IC for “I see” for the first time so PANIC was my personal cotd. I also failed to parse EARTH and missed the theme so all in all not a great effort – tomorrow’s another day. Thanks to Qaos and Teacow for filling in the gaps.

53. I remember Time Team demonstrating how the Romans surveyed, using a GROMA. I didn’t remember the name, though.

54. woodbine @51 – I put “fetch off” in quotes in the Google search box, and this old book came up on the second page of search results, indicating that “fetch off”, meaning “rescue” appears in Coriolanus and All’s Well that Ends Well.  (See also Robi @30.)

    But those are pretty old references.  Judging by all of the comments on 17d, it looks to me like fetch [off] isn’t going to happen.

55. FETCH OFF was unfamiliar to me and last in. Enjoyed the theme and remember it well – mostly from the BBC TV version. Would have liked to solve this on paper but I’m away walking this week.

    Thanks to Qaos and Teacow

56. I couldn’t find the Time Team example, but I did find this.

57. I didn’t enjoy the SW corner as much as the rest of the puzzle, except for the excellent BEER at 21d, which I thought was an excellent clue.  I enjoyed the theme, though, when it hit me with Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent.  All in all, a remarkable execution of the theme.

    Van Winkle @46
    According to Chambers, ‘pan’ can mean to’cook and serve in a pan’, and I think ‘cook and serve’ just about makes it as an anagram indicator – which was a query I had as well.  Not elegant, as you say, but it can be made to work.

58. I really enjoyed this but was annoyed by 33% being used when “a third” was actually meant. I noticed recently in a Grauniad article that a columnist had written “…over a third of people, in fact 31%…” Maybe the Grauniad needs to provide some basic mathematics training for its journalists.

59. Thanks Teacow and Qaos, enjoyable puzzle and blog.

    For those commenting on the books and movies you really should listen to the original radio series.  It was written for the radio and that is where it shines best.

    Charles remembers recording programmes witha cassette recorder plugged in to a timer socket.

60. I like Cookie’s perhaps half serious justification of 33 percent. Works for me. I change my mind.

Comments are closed.