Guardian 27,631 – Qaos

71 comments on “Guardian 27,631 – Qaos”

1. Hello Andrew, 28a + 6d fives ‘Daily Mail’.

2. Sorry, that should read ‘gives’, and I think that the ‘Daily’ attaches to the Mail more comfortably than to the Telegraph.

3. Thanks Andrew for HIREE and I didnt know of a METRO title although I’ve just read a book with a station heading each chapter. Called Paris Echo. I liked.

   And thanks Qaos.

4. Thanks Qaos – very enjoyable, faultless setting, just the right amount of obscurity – and a theme to boot (now I’ve learned at last that Qaos=theme) which adds a little frisson when I belatedly notice I’ve unearthed another instance. Ta for the blog too, Andrew.

5. Thanks Qaos and Andrew. Really enjoyed this, after initial trepidation on seeing the various number and single letter components in several clues. In 5d, if HIREE is correct, there are too many E’s in the answer. Perhaps HIRE is also acceptable?

6. I”m glad to see you don’t consider the Sun a newspaper…

7. Thanks Qaos and Andrew

   I had too many question marks against answers for me to enjoy it all that much. 21a gives SWANSSEA (as you have in the blog, Andrew). In 2d “without difficulty” is “easy” or “easily” depending on the part of speech, but not “ease”. I see what he is getting at with VETS, but it doesn’t quite work for me.

   I did like REPTATION as I was able to work out a new word for me from the wordplay. Other favourites were THEATRE, EVENING, and EXOTIC.

   Too many unparsed to list. I didn’t see the theme, of course!

8. I had a real blast with this offering from Qaos, especially once the penny dropped about its theme!!! It took me ages to see (couldn’t see the wood for the trees as usual). Quite early on, I had 10a ACUTE (the French accent!), 17a METRO, as well as 4d GAUCHE – so thought – oh – a French connection!!!! But that was a dry gully, and I progressed steadiily thorough the solve without any more brainwaves. With about three-quarters of the grid filled, I actually had all the theme words except for 7d, and just hadn’t put them together until I filled in 22a EXPRESS straight after 28a DAILY, and like a bolt from the blue I saw all the references, making GUARDIAN (with its – to me – gobbledygook* surface) an immediate write-in. How embarrassing that I had 11 other theme words and yet GUARDIAN was the last to fall into place!
   Other than the theme solutions, I liked 26a ICONS, 8d VETS and 22d ESCAPE.

   Meanwhile, 29a REPTATION was new to me too, so that was a guess from the crossers and wordplay; ACYL at 25d was unfamiliar and I have never heard of *Guardiola the football manager. OTOH, I thought “HIRE” was okay as a noun in 5d THIRTEEN and sounded like a US usage I had encountered before.

   Warm thanks to Qaos for a clever puzzle and to Andrew for a great blog.

9. I see you have “with ease” as “without difficulty”, Andrew, but this means the “with” in the clue is doing double duty.

10. P.S. Does Bayern in the clue for 7d GUARDIAN have any meaning other than providing the “N”?

11. [Sorry, muffin@7, we crossed, or I would have commented on some of the content of your post. However, ’nuff said already.]

12. muffin @9. There is no ‘with’ in the clue, except as part of the word ‘without’. The ‘with’ in Andrew’s explanation simply serves to link the two cryptic components.

13. Very sluggish brain today; finished ok with the help of the easies–acute, react, theatre, express, etc.–but lots unparsed: 19a (1=star??), 24a (stuck on IC=99, d’oh), dnk that a reptile reptates, couldn’t switch between the different applications of ‘without’ and ‘with’ in 2d (d’oh again), dnk the footy coach so Guardian was a biff, and have ‘slow!’ next to LOI trades in.

    Phew, so no write in, easies notwithstanding.

    Thanks Qaos for the workout and Andrew for the blog.

    PS loved the surface of 23a; reminded me of the old warning: Never say “Ciao” to a Chinaman!

14. Greensward @12

    I was referring to the “with” in “without” – a “lift and separate”. Without (!) the “with”, my first point stands – “without difficulty” isn’t “ease”, it’s “easy” or “easily”.

15. I totally forgot to say that mine was a DNF, as I had PAUL (as in Saint) for 6d – perfectly reasonable answer, if less cryptic than MAIL.

16. Thanks for a great blog, Andrew and Qaos for a most enjoyable puzzle.

    I spotted the theme about halfway through, which helped. I loved the ‘mathematical’ clues, especially the clever TIMES.

    I desperately want this to work but I’m afraid I’m still struggling with THIRTEEN. I parsed it as Andrew did but, like Greensward @5, found I had an extra E. I can’t find HIRE [as Greensward suggests] in this American sense in Chambers [nor HIREE for that matter but I found it online].

     

     

     

    I’m still struggling with THIRTEEN. I parsed it as Andrew did, but found, like Greensward @5, that I had an extra E. I can’t find HIRE in that American sense in Chambers [nor HIREE for that matter but I found it online].

17. My apologies for the duplication – not sure what happened there.

18. I liked this. Spotting the theme early was a help in a couple of places and the answers went in steadily. I was another for whom REPTATION was a new word, but the wordplay made it pretty obvious.

    Thanks to Qaos and Eileen.

19. Sorry, that should have been Qaos and Andrew.

20. Julie in Australia @10. No, it just provides the N – but it’s a nudge towards Pep Guardiola, as he was previously manager of German league team Bayern Munich (often just referred to as “Bayern”).

21. As I read 2d, the second ‘with’ is implied; so without difficulty=with ease, then the second with switches application and instructs us to add ease to PL the spun record.

22. I parsed THIRTEEN as TEN around HIRE, which itself is around T (Tory leader). In the US, a new employee is a new ‘hire’.

23. copmus@3, it’s been a while but I seem to remember that Metro was a giveaway in London (gossip, what’s on around town), usually glanced at and left on the Tube.

24. Nice one Qaos and a fine blog from Andrew. Once again I didn’t spot the theme even when I’d dredged up the Iliad to get indy/daily – no helicopter vision I suppose.

    JinA Pep previously managed Bayern Munich so a clever digression.

25. Great puzzle, but how could I miss the theme?? I give up – I never spot them. Favourites were EVENING and ICELANDIC. Thanks to Q & A.

26. Thanks Qaos; I thought the theme was clearly TELEGRAPHed. Good setting to put in 12 themed entries, including the SUN.

    Thanks Andrew; somehow I missed the total reversal of METRO, I thought it just gave the M, doh!

    My last paper to go in was the GUARDIAN, despite being a subscriber.

    I liked the semi-&lit THEATRE, although I took far too long thinking of where plays are performed.

27. Thank you Qaos for a challenging puzzle and Andrew for a super blog.

    Great fun, especially Blaise’s comment @6! The COED supports Median @22 giving “hire N. Amer. a recently recruited  employee.”

28. Thanks to Qaos and Andrew. I started off like a house on fire with this, but quickly came to a halt. I then found the rest of it quite tough going until I spotted the theme. I had no trouble with Metro (free on many buses round here) but interestingly Guardian was last themed clue in. I got in a muddle in the SW by carelessly putting in trades up for 18, which meant this was the last to yield. I did like car alarms, Icelandic and what I thought ti be the very clever Sun. Thanks again to Qaos and Andrew.

29. Thanks to Cookie for finding that North American definition of ‘hire’ in the COED, and to Median pointing it out before that.  Neither Chambers nor Collins recognises that ‘N. Amer.’ usage.

    I thought the crossword was a wonderful construction around many themed names.  The theme became evident quite early on – an unusual experience for me.  (And I’m surprised you didn’t see it sooner, JinA @8.)  The clues I liked best were the ones with the symbols in – both mathematical and musical – as they were right up my street.

    In 8d VETS I only really understood the ‘old warhorses’ bit.  With -E-S I thought Qaos might have put NEWS there, but he chose not to!  I didn’t fill in either 25d ACYL or 29a REPTATION because I’ve never come across those words, although the clues left no doubt.

    Many thanks to both Qaos and Andrew.

30. Enjoyed this, but struggled! Can somebody enlighten me to the meaning of the “surface” of a clue, please?

31. I really enjoyed this and (fanfare) I saw the theme which helped with GUARDIAN and to confirm MAIL. I bet Qaos tried hard to get MIRROR in as all the other dailies make it. I liked the variety of clue types including the trademark mathematical ones. I had no problem with any of the wordplay and in addition to those already mentioned I had TRADES IN double ticked because the wordplay meant I was looking for a noun synonym rather than a verb – very neat. Like most REPTATION was a TILT and I didn’t get the semitone part of TIMES. Many thanks to Qaos, Andrew and all contributors.

32. Thanks both,

    Note to self: write out 100 times ‘It’s a Qaos; there’s probably a theme’.

33. Belfry boy @30. As I understand it, the surface is how a clue reads as a normal sentence with sensible meaning in its own right, rather than just the wordplay for the solution. Is it witty? Does it make sense?

34. Thanks, Crossbar. I expect l’ll get there in the end!

35. All fairly straightforward, helped by a theme that became apparent pretty early. REPTATION was new to me too.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

36. Hooray hoorah!  Qaos rules!!  Great fun with today’s ghost theme, although it took me until I had only about three answers left before I finally spotted it.  Up to that time, I had been (feebly) wondering about a possible math or science-related theme (with words like REPTATION, ACYL, TIMES, SINE and STANDARD).  Once I saw the actual theme, it was glaringly obvious, and I wondered how I managed not to see it sooner — the epitome of a TTM (as opposed to a PDM), as discussed previously in this forum.

    The term “new hire” for a new employee is, indeed, common business usage here in the U.S.  (And the organization’s next objective after hiring that person is to “onboard” him or her efficiently — ha ha ha!!)

    Favorite clues today included ACUTE, EVENING, TIMES and METRO, with the latter two being my co-CotDs: TIMES for its brilliant wordplay, and METRO for having only slightly less fabulous wordplay, but making up for it by immediately evoking this most excellent earworm, which I hope to enjoy throughout my workday today.

    Many thanks to Qaos and Andrew and the other commenters.

37. DNF (quite) and couldn’t parse them all but very enjoyable, with some brilliant clues. And I got the theme early, which helped. Special kudos for 17a, with The Jam and nods to two of their hits (Beat Surrender and Going Underground). I’m not sure I agree with Indy – I’ve only ever heard it shortened to Indy 500. But a minor quibble.

    Also, I know I’m being thick but can someone clue me in to how STUDIES = CONS in 26? Thanks.

    Great stuff both Qaos and Andrew.

38. Surprised no one has mentioned the brilliant surface of 17a. Two references to songs by the Jam. Beat Surrender and Going Underground.

39. Pete Loyley @38 – See Keyser @37!

    Thanks to you both for pointing out that Qaos cleverly worked two songs by The Jam (not just the one that I linked @36), in that great clue!

    Also, Keyser, you will find “study” as one of the listed definitions of the word “con” in most dictionaries, I think … but it is one of those (many) words that is probably used far less in Real World parlance than it is in Crosswordland, where it seems to appear “con”-stantly (no surprise, given the number of words that have “con” in them).  If you see “study” in a clue, there’s a very high likelihood that that is indicating either “con” or “den” (referring to the room in a house) in the solution. Just one of those things that should be added to every solver’s toolkit!

40. I don’t see the issue with “without difficulty” meaning that you place “ease” in the grid. If you solve the clue piecemeal you spin “LP” to get “PL” and replace “without difficulty” with “with ease”. Then you have “PL with EASE”. PLEASE.

41. DaveMc @39 – thank you! And apologies that I missed your earworm!

42. Btw Belfryboy @34 in my opinion Arachne’s surfaces are some of the best, though I’m sure others will have different favourites.

    That said, I do enjoy Qaos a lot. So thanks to him and Andrew for today’s offering.

43. I got the theme quite early in the proceedings which is unusual for me. I always forget which setters usually do them.As usual there were a couple I didn’t know- REPTATION and ACYL but I see I’m not alone. I didn’t parse THIRTEEN but it had to be right.
    Thanks Qaos.

44. muffin @7: the SWANSEA clue seems okay to me since “Bird’s” means “Bird has” in the cryptic reading.

45. In 13 shouldn’t there be some marker (eg ?) to show that B to C is just one example of a semitone?

46. Need to quibble… I agree that SWANSEA was not well clued, even though I knew easily what it was supposed to be. Really, even as it’s parsed here, the clue gives SWANSSEA. If the clue doesn’t give the **exact** answer, it probably should not be used.

47. glenn @46: In that case there’s a problem with the parsing because the clue as worded is fully in accordance with Ximenean principles. If you’re not prepared to accept a perfectly legitimate linking device such as this, I dread to think how many other clue-writing techniques you’d want to delete from the playbook.

48. leroyjean @45

    Strictly speaking I think you’re right about a missing indicator for the semitone interval.  Insted of having a ‘?’ at the end, the clue could have read “E.g. B to C …”.

    I usually spot missing DBE (definition-by-example) indicators, but I missed this one.  But because I thought the clue was wittily succinct as it is, and because I’m not the editor, I would prefer simply to accept the clue this time, having enjoyed it.

49. glenn @46: That device is used so many times you must be quibbling on a very regular basis. Seriously – that must be used at least several times a month in the Guardian alone, let alone elsewhere.

50. A masterful crossword. I found the maths ones very tricky (I always do). I, too, was wondering about a french theme and it wasn’t until my Man City supporting partner explained the two Pep references in 7D that the truth dawned on me. My faves were Icelandic, Times, Reptation (not a word one comes across too often) and the truly priceless Jam wordplay in Metro. Many thanks to Andrew and all hail the peerless Qaos!!

51. Non-UK solver here… Can anybody enlighten me as to how “DAILY” = “CLEANER”? Is this a brand name..?

52. A “daily” is a cleaning lady – the daily help around the house. No-one can afford one every day, of course, except the very wealthy, so it’s a word used a bit adrift of it’s proper meaning.

53. That makes sense. Wound up getting this one more from the theme than the clue but I guess it’s the result that counts.

    (I guess if your cleaning lady is actually a cleaning gentleman then what you’ve got is a “daily, male”..?)

54. KSE: I believe it is simply another term for a char (usually but not necessarily a woman) who comes in every week day to clean one’s house or apartment. In practice, of course, many people have a cleaner who comes in only once or twice a week. The term is perhaps not heard as often as it used to be, no doubt for that reason.

55. Qaos is really good at this kind of grid filling, isn’t he?

    But why is D = ‘down’ in 18d (….!)?

    Many thanks to Andrew & Qaos.

56. Sil @55

    Is that a recursive question?

57. [Re comments 36 and ff from Dave Mc, Keyser and Pete Loyley: re The Jam: my summation of this puzzle ended up being “Now ‘That’s Entertainment!’”. So the next morning, that has become my earworm – and not a bad one at that!]

58. Sil @55

    Ignoring (if I may) muffin’s idea that yours was a recursive question, I simply thought that D = down is like A = across, as in crosswords.  Shame it isn’t in Chambers, though.

59. muffin @56, I was just surprised that no-one queried this use of “d”, not even Andrew himself.

    Yes, I do use it frequently to indicate ‘down’ (as in a ‘down’ clue), although many others use “dn”.

    But me (and others) using it, doesn’t mean that it is – strictly speaking – right.

    There is no dictionary to support it.

    Don’t worry, not a big issue for me, though.

60. Sil@55

    Of course your question is recursive. Surely it is perverse to use an abbreviation in the question which questions its use?

    Which solver of more than ten puzzles would not recognize the reference “12d”?

    However if you must be pedantic how about this from the OED in its entry for “d”

    c. Particle Physics. [See note s.v. S n.1 15 ] d is the symbol of the down quark (see down adj. 7).
    1964 Physics I. 74 There is a triplet t of fermion fields corresponding to three spin 1/ 2 quarks: the isotopic doublet u and d, with charges 2/ 3 and ?1/ 3 respectively, and the isotopic singlet s, with charge ?1/ 3.
    1981 D. H. Perkins in J. H. Mulvey Nature of Matter iv. 77 The proton is (uud) and the neutron (ddu).
    1983 Sci. Amer. July 106/1 An alternative is for the b to emit a Z0, transforming the b into an s or a d.
    

61. Not sure who voted Leave? Was it me or was it you?

62. I don’t get your explanation of Indy, Andrew. I had the answer but couldn’t parse it. Why ‘windy’ for ‘wild’?

63. Long time lurker, first time poster moved to contribute partly because I enjoyed this one a lot – especially 13d and 8d. But mainly here to raise a query about 13a, THEATRE. I have an alternative parsing – more complex, slightly dubious, and using Occam’s razor therefore probably not the right one. But I feel I have to share…

    No [definition by example, a kind of theatre] te: new heart put in here [heart* put in TE]

    I know that splitting words like this is frowned upon by some but it does happen from time to time and I for one am happy to see it…

    Anyone with me?

64. Alex @60: thanks for the reminder about up & down quarks

    Sil @ 61: lol

    @62: Wild is often referred to in talking about weather: wild and windy

65. Hi Beaver, and welcome to the mad house!

    You’re right about the splitting of a word into its component parts (the so-called ‘lift and separate’ device) being contentious, but I too have no problem with it (anything that taxes the old grey matter a bit more suits me.) However, as far as I know, it’s only ever used in the cryptic element of the clue. I’ve never seen it used to give the definition. Nice bit of deduction though!

66. Beaver@63: I dont quite follow you but I will say that I only got THEATRE because it fitted (LOI). Then I was trying to parse it by using the HERE. Then it dawned on me.

67. Greensward @65:Thank you for the welcome.

    How about this one – 26A at http://www.fifteensquared.net/2018/03/22/guardian-cryptic-27463-by-philistine/ … exactly the same device of having the definition as part of a word? I’ve a feeling I’ve seen it more recently, too, but can’t immediately substantiate that thought.

68. Thanks for that, Beaver, I stand corrected. Clearly ‘the old grey matter’ doesn’t function as well as I thought it did. It’s an age thing, you know.

69. Beaver @63: Your parsing is ingenious but takes unfairness to a whole new level. Can you honestly say you’d enjoy solving a crossword full of clues like that?

70. Gofirstmate @69: Not sure about enjoying such a crossword, though I might feel a bit smug if I actually completed such a beast. Except, of course, that if this clue construction were really common it wouldn’t be nearly so interesting – it’s the rarity that makes it.

71. Great crossword. Interested to see how others parsed VETS; because of warhorse’s double meaning, I took it as a cryptic definition, double definition and &lit all rolled into one – a tremendous clue! MAIL very nice too. Many thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

    [Greensward is making a common mistake. Splitting words is not the same as ‘lift and separate’.]

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