(Thanks to Eileen and Gaufrid for finding out when this should be posted and scheduling it! There didn’t seem to be any way to tell online.) I found this a slightly disappointing puzzle, I’m afraid, though there was lots to enjoy too.
Some of the reasons I found it disappointing were:
- With the structurally thematic answers you couldn’t tell if you’d got the correct answer without crossing letters. In a couple of clues this could be really misleading – e.g. GENERATION X is way more common than X GENERATION, and obviously the anagram could lead to either. Fortunately we weren’t caught by that one, thanks to having crossing letters already in place, but we were caught out by putting in S-PHASE instead of S-SHAPE, for example.
- Unless I’m missing something, THE EXTERIOR shouldn’t be an answer in a crossword
- It isn’t obvious that IPAD fits the theme as described (it’s not “i Pad” or “i-Pad” – the pattern of all the other thematic clues – it’s “iPad”)
- The needlessly confusing rubric: “Thirty three solutions in total consist of two parts”. This is just weird – 26 of these were the thematic clues, leaving 7 others. Of these, some had the enumeration of each word indicated (e.g. NERVE GAS was (5,3)) and some had the total length indicated (e.g. MARITIME LAW (11)). Why some but not all?
- Some poor bits of cluing, e.g. W = “weak” when that’s the abbreviation in the answer too, “Frosty ground around N” – surely something other than just “N” could have been used?
As with many Guardian crosswords, I feel that all of this could have been fixed by better editing, but I suppose I’ve been grumbling about that for years… All that said, I did like the theme! It’s certainly clever to find one such word for each letter of the alphabet and squeezing them into the grid is impressive; it was also fun trying to think of what they might be. There are some very elegant clues here too.
The alphabetical list of thematic answers, if I’ve got them right, is:
- A ROADS
- B ROTUNDUM
- C-HORIZON
- D-DAY
- E-LEARNING
- F FACTOR
- G-AGENTS
- H-HOUR
- IPAD
- J CLOTH
- JOSEPH K
- L-DRIVER
- M-THEORY
- N-TYPE
- BIG O
- P-CELTIC
- Q BOAT
- R MONTHS
- S-SHAPE
- T-JUNCTION
- NON-U
- V-CHIP
- W-BOSON
- X GENERATION
- Y-FRONTS
- Z-PARTICLE
Across
1. First indications of Times Jumbo’s grace (9)
# T JUNCTION
T[imes] J[unction] + UNCTION = “grace”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a T JUNCTION as you might find in a road layout
6. Mid-April fly-by-nights take note (7)
# R MONTHS
[ap]R[il] = “Mid-April” followed by MOTHS = “fly-by-nights” around N = “note”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a new one to me: the months from September to April all have the letter R in them, and this is used as a mnemonic for the months in which oysters are in season, apparently!
12. Lady Day flower (7)
# L DRIVER
L = “Lady” (? I can’t find support for this in Chambers – maybe some other dictionary has it?) + D = “day” + RIVER = “flower”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a learner driver (presumably from the L-plate on the car)
13. From next Iron Age (11)
# X GENERATION
(NEXT IRON AGE)*
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – X GENERATION is a much less common variant of GENERATION X, but listed in Chambers
15. Worried mother starting to yawn (7)
# M-THEORY
(MOTHER Y)* – the Y in the anagram fodder is from Y[awn] = “starting to yawn”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – according to Chambers, M-theory is, “A variation of string theory that posits an eleven dimensional universe”
16. It’s very hard for us (5)
# H-HOUR
HH = “very hard” (an alternative way of writing 2H in the classification of pencil hardness) + OUR = “for us” (not sure this quite works – you can’t really substitute “for us” for “our” without reordering a sentence, I think, e.g. “they’re our mice pies” / “they’re mince pies for us”)
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – according to Chambers, H-hour is “the time fixed for beginning a military operation” from (“H for unnamed hour”)
17. Crude jokes involving level of acidity (7)
# JOSEPH K
(JOKES)* around PH = “level of acidity”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – JOSEPH K was the protagonist of Kafka’s “The Trial” (more commonly translisterated as Josef K, I think?)
21. Spanish girl by Swiss city at parts of court (9)
BASELINES
INES = “Spanish girl” (“Ines” is a Spanish first name) after BASEL = “Swiss city”
Definition: “parts of court” (parts of a tennis court)
22. Decorations for naval personnel getting into a spot (9)
ADORNMENT
RN MEN (Royal Navy men) = “naval personnel” in A DOT = “a spot”
Definition: “Decorations”
24. Strengthening supports from trees are suggested (4)
FURS
Sounds like “firs” = “trees” – the homophone indicator is “are suggested”
Definition: “Strengthening supports” – quite obscure, I think: one definition of “fur” in Chambers is: “A strengthening piece nailed to a rafter (architecture)”
27. Where one’s only just late? (8)
MORTUARY
Cryptic definition: a joke on “late” meaning “dead”
28. Born, died unknown, bereft (5)
NEEDY
NÉE = “Born” + D = “died” + Y = “unknown”
Definition: “bereft”
30. Compilers initially clue it loosely as ‘dead skin’ (7)
CUTICLE
C[ompilers] = “Compilers initially” + (CLUE IT)*
Definition: “dead skin”
32. Henry leaving Erichplatz, troubled (9)
# Z PARTICLE
(ERICPLATZ) – the anagram fodder is “Erichplatz” without the H (the abbreviation for “Henry” – the SI unit of inductance)
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – Chambers defines “Z particle” as “a subatomic particle that mediates weak interaction”
33. Severely criticise leading rider with one horse (3,4)
RIP INTO
R[ider] = “leading rider” + I = “one” + PINTO = “horse”
Definition: “Severely criticise”
34. Son flees creepy-crawly returning, lower in bath again (5)
REDIP
[s]PIDER = “creep-crawly” reversed (returning), without S = “son”
Definition: “lower in bath again”
35. Sausage with nachos, as starter (8)
# C-HORIZON
CHORIZO = “Sausage” + N[achos] = “nachos, as starter”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – according to Chambers, the “C-horizon” is “the layer of soil above the bedrock, consisting mainly of weathered rock”
39. Platoon, out of condition, losing heart (4)
UNIT
UN[f]IT = “out of condition” without the middle letter
Definition: “Platoon”
40. Actor gets series, which may be pulled during run (9)
HAMSTRING
HAM = “Actor” + STRING = “series” (e.g. “a string of unfortunately events”)
Definition: “which may be pulled during run” – pulled hamstrings are a common athletic injury
43. Repeatedly went and persevered (9)
KEPT GOING
Double definition: “Repeatedly went” and “persevered”
46. In office, female is most like Mrs Beckham (7)
POSHEST
SHE = “female” in POST = “office”
Definition: “like Mrs Beckham” – Victoria Beckham, when she was in The Spice Girls, was commonly known as “Posh Spice”. I suppose that makes her poshest of that group?
47. Snake in secret surroundings (5)
# Q-BOAT
BOA = “Snake” in QT = “secret” – something that should be kept QT (“quiet”) should be kept secret
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – according to Chambers, a Q-boat is “A merchant vessel manned by navy personnel and with concealed guns, used to deceive and destroy submarines”
48. State loo (7)
# G-AGENTS
GA (state abbreviation for Georgia) = “State” + GENTS = “loo”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – according to Chambers, G-agents were “Highly effective poisonous gases developed by the Nazis for possible military use”
51. Sip seasoned mixer and get fat (11)
ADIPOSENESS
(SIP SEASONED)*
Definition: “fat”
52. Parkhead’s team (7)
# P-CELTIC
P[ark] = “Parkhead” + CELTIC = “team” (the football team) – a clever clue, since Parkhead is the area of Glasgow where Celtic’s ground is
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – Chambers explains that P-Celtic means relating to “those Celtic languages in which the sound /kw/ became /p/” (as opposed to Q-Celtic languages “in which it became /k/ (written c)”)
53. Bird getting stronger, gaining weight (7)
WAXWING
WAXING = “getting stronger” (commonly used about the moon – the opposite of waning in that context) around W = “weight”
Definition: “Bird”
54. Blooms from seed Lewis scattered (9)
EDELWEISS
(SEED LEWIS)*
Definition: “Blooms”
Down
2. Jubilate starting Mass in church (6)
# J CLOTH
J[ubilate] = “Jubilate starting” + LOT = “Mass” in CH = “church”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a J cloth is a distinctive blue and white cloth for cleaning (and cooking, as you see in MasterChef)
3. New Avengers providing lethal weapon (5,3)
NERVE GAS
(AVENGERS)*
Definition: “lethal weapon”
4. Man of note who works at the pub (8)
TAVERNER
Someone who works at a tavern might be a “taverner”
Definition: “Man of note”, referring to the composer John Taverner
5. Fine artist makes gumbo (4)
OKRA
OK = “Fine” + RA = “artist”
Definition: “gumbo” – I normally think of gumbo as a stew, but the first definition in Chambers is: “Okra or its mucilaginous pods”
7. Caesar’s big ice cream (6)
MAGNUM
Double definition: “Caesar’s big” (i.e. the Latin for “big”) and “ice cream” referring to the Magnum brand of choc ice on a stick 🙂
8. Coming from Euston on Underground (4)
# NON-U
Hidden in [Eusto]N ON U[nderground]
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – referring to “U” and “non-U” words and phrases, made famous in Nancy Mitford’s Noblesse Oblige, particularly the essay “U and Non-U — An Essay in Sociological Linguistics” by Alan S. C. Ross. (It’s about distinctions in language used by the aristocracy (“U” or “Upper-class”) and the rest of society (“non-U”) – e.g. “napkins” (U) or “serviettes” (non-U)
9. Supporter held up during time at Dover and Folkestone, say (8)
HARBOURS
BRA = “Supporter” reversed (“held up”) in HOURS = “time”
Definition: “Dover and Folkestone, say”
10. Pupils of equal ability disturbed master (6)
STREAM
(MASTER)*
Definition: “Pupils of equal ability” (a stream in school)
11. Cash advance securing cold and hot water in Scotland (6)
LOCHAN
LOAN = “Cash advance” around C = “cold” + H = “hot”
Definition: “water in Scotland”
14. Roughly tie ox right there, outside (3,8)
THE EXTERIOR
(TIE OX R THERE)*
Definition: “outside” – it seems very weak to include THE in this solution, presumably only because of the difficulty of including all the thematic clues in the grid otherwise?
18. Ebbinghof’s not odd (4)
# BIG-O
The even (not odd) letters of Ebbinghof
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – BIG-O notation is used in computer science to indicate the complexity of an algorithm
19. Unknown tot turning up (4)
# D-DAY
Y = “Unknown” + ADD = “tot”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – D-Day refers to the Normany Landings in WWII.
20. Stentorian player (7)
# F-FACTOR
FF (“fortissimo”) = “Stentorian” + ACTOR = “player”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – from Googling, I think this is probably either referring to a diet or a conversion factor in radiology
21. Note plump buttock outside (9)
# B-ROTUNDUM
ROTUND = “plump” in BUM = “buttock”
Definition: [thematic clue that also includes a definition: “Note”] – an archaic way of referring to B flat in music
23. Troubling, in general (9)
# E-LEARNING
(IN GENERAL)
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – online learning
25. When to form a union, learning, we hear, of rule in the main (11)
MARITIME LAW
MARRY TIME LORE (“When to form a union” + “learning”) sounds like MARITIME LAW
Definition: “rule in the main” (“the main” as in “the sea”)
26. Bigwig entering Switzerland? On the contrary (5)
# V-CHIP
CH = “Switzerland” in VIP = “Bigwig”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – I vaguely remember the controversy about the V-chip from when I was younger – Chambers defines it as “a computer chip installed in a television receiver to control its use, esp to limit use by young viewers”
27. Short time in Germany to experience first Greek appetiser (4)
MEZE
MEZ = “Short time in Germany” – the timezone that Germany uses (the German for CET, essentially): it stands for Mitteleuropäische Zeit; followed by E[xperience] = “experience first”
Definition: “Greek appetiser”
28. Some twenty performers (5)
# N-TYPE
Hidden in “[some twe]NTY PE[rformers]”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a type of semi-conductor (the other kind being P-type)
29. Frosty ground around N (7)
# Y-FRONTS
(FROSTY)* around N
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – a type of underpants
31. Thomas’s Hill plant (4)
FERN
FERN + “Thomas’s Hill” referring to Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas
Definition: “plant”
35. Anglican books of little value? (4)
CENT
CE = “Anglican” + NT (New Testament) = “books”
Definition: “of little value?”
36. Emperor’s essential oil (4)
OTTO
Double definition: Emperor and “essential oil” – Chambers gives “otto” as an alternative spelling of “attar” – a fragrant essential oil
37. Man’s surroundings (8)
IRISH SEA
Cryptic definition: “Man” here is The Isle of Man
38. Swimmer always put in extra length (8)
MORAY EEL
AYE = “always” in MORE = “extra” + L = “length”
Definition: “Swimmer”
39. Trouble undoing steel nut (8)
UNSETTLE
(STEEL NUT)*
Definition: “Trouble”
41. Common US women get a new start (6)
# A ROADS
BROADS = “Common US women” with a new first letter
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue]
42. Wandering Pharisees’ ire not accepted (6)
# S-SHAPE
(PHA S ES)*
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – annoyingly we put in S-phase here (one of the stages of mitosis)
44. Weak seaman spoken of (6)
# W-BOSON
W = “weak” (a disappointing bit of cluing, since it seems W is only an abbreviation for “weak” in the context of particle physics, which is the sense in which it’s used the answer too) + BOSON sounds like “bosun” (well, approximately) or “seaman spoken of”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – Chambers says “a W particle or W boson is a hypothetical positively or negatively charged subatomic particle of large mass responsible in theory for weak interaction between particles)
45. Supplies troughs of sweet-smelling flowers (6)
STOCKS
Triple definition: “Supplies”, “troughs” and “sweet-smelling flowers”
49. Poor reception for Sussex and England fast bowler (4)
SNOW
Double definition: “Poor reception” referring to white noise on a TV with poor reception and “Sussex and England fast bowler” (John Snow)
50. Letters from TripAdvisor (4)
# IPAD
Hidden in “[tr]IPAD[visor]”
Definition: [omitted: thematic clue] – I think “iPad” has always been written as one word, so I don’t think this really fits the theme
Thanks mhl and Maskarade for a splendid challenge. Extra tricky since the answers to half of the 26 special clues were outside my knowledge: half of those could be worked out but the rest (like P-CELTIC) were truly arcane. Last in B-ROTUNDUM was alone (erroneously so?) among the twenty-six to have a distracting definition, as well. Wrapped up in time for Christmas fortunately.
I was very happy to have finished this just a couple of days ago, having been pecking away at it in spare moments since the day of publication. ADIPOSENESS last to fall, mostly because I also had P-PHASE rather than S-SHAPE. Glad to know I wasn’t alone (nor in being confused by the enumerations!)
Happy new year!
Thanks mhl.It took me some time to finish this and I got there without a lot of satisfaction, mainly because I had to make too much reference to Google. At least 12 of the theme clues were completely unknown to me and even with the crossing letters in place it became hard work. I have to acknowledge the ingenuity in the construction of the grid and the challenge of the theme but I just didn’t enjoy it.
And, I think, it’s a pangram.
Thanks to Maskarade and mhl. I enjoyed this puzzle because of its mix of easy clues to get you started and the harder ones. I liked the ambiguity of the single letter clues which meant you had to find them all before being certain about assigning the letters. This simply added to the challenge. I also started with GENERATION X and S-PHASE. I see the point regarding IPAD but when I solved it I immediately added to my list of alphabetical answers. I wondered about the comment “Thirty-three solutions consist of two parts.” but when I re-read it towards the end I realised I had two more two-part solutions to go which helped me to complete the puzzle. It took a few sessions and some of the solutions I hadn’t heard of but I got great pleasure from doing it.
I am in awe of Maskarade’s ingenious setting but I was defeated by this special puzzle after completing only about half of it. Many of the “one letter” type answers were unfamiliar to me. Congratulations to those who cracked it, but when I was using too many reference sources it started to feel a bit like pulling teeth and I gave up.
Nevertheless, thanks to Maskarade for the satisfaction of the ones I did get – each one felt like a little achievement in itself – and for setting such a clever puzzle. I liked 9d HARBOURS and 37d IRISH SEA, and of the themed clues, 29d Y-FRONTS. Thanks to manehi for a very thorough explanatory blog and for cracking the obscure words and parsing everything.
Whoops!!! Sorry – thanks to mhl for the blog – my bad.
Agree with others that it was a shame this puzzle contained clues that apparently contradicted the instructions in the preamble – e.g. 14d letter count was given as (3, 8) rather than (11) and the clue for 21d included the definition (“note”). The puzzle was hard enough as it was, it didn’t need unintentional(?) errors to further confuse the issue!
To clarify: why did the clues for the two-word solutions at 33a, 3d & 14d indicate the individual word lengths, whereas the clues for the two-word solutions at 43a, 25d, 37d & 38d not do so? This inconsistency caused me more trouble than the themed words themselves.
Yuk! Threw this away about 3/4 the way through. Where was a checker/editor? As mhl says, IPad does not fit the theme, B ROTUNDUM has a definition despite the instructions to the contrary, the last part of the instructions is as clear as mud and, reading the blog, is frankly ridiculous. Altogether dreadful in my opinion. Ok, very clever but the theme was stretched beyond breaking point in many answers.
Thanks to mhl.
Like others I found this a bit of a curate’s egg. Close to brilliance. Surely a little bit of editing effort could have made the rubric and the clue word counts easier to understand.
I fell “victim” to putting in the entirely reasonable GEN X and numerous crossing clues then took way longer than should have, very nearly gave up on point of discovering X GEN. like others I was puzzled by the definition for B ROT but went with it..
That said I did enjoy the general feel and the challenge. The non specified word count was theoretically a great device IRISH SEA and MARITIME LAW were super clues made more challenging by this device.
Ironically my LOI was the entirely conventional FURS because it took a while to get motivated to hunt through Chambers.
Overall an excellent entertainment that could with a little effort been truly great.
Thanks Maskarade for all your setting genius and mhl for explaining it all
I agree with comments above – there were some really good clues but the whole thing became a chore to finish. Particularly we got stuck where there were 2 possible answers ..had s-boat (outside of secret) or q-boat (outside of quiet).
Thanks for the final explanations above though finishing it seems a long time ago now!
Thanks Maskarade and mhl
Very clever, but not a lot of fun. I too was confused by the rubric.
Mmm, slipstream @4 – I think it has to be a pangram as all of the alphabet appears as single letters….
Oh, and I particularly disliked H-HOUR – V-HOUR is a much better answer to the clue. I’ve been using pencils for over 60 years, and I’ve never seen one labelled HH!
I quite enjoyed this puzzle, though I agree that the instructions could have been clearer. As Hovis @10 says, B ROTUNDUM does have a definition, though the instructions state that it shouldn’t.
Also held up by considering S-PHASE. Worked out ADIPOSENESS from the clue but was unable to find the word in any reference source.
Failed to get SNOW.
Thanks to Maskarade and to mhl.
muffin@14
I have often seen HH on pencils.
I liked the thematic concept and didn’t find this the slog that some others did, despite getting stuck on the bottom right-hand corner for quite a while. It seems quite reasonable to me to need a dictionary and other references for a puzzle designed to last for a holiday period. I rather appreciated the definition for the obscure B-ROTUNDUM, even if it was inconsistent.
I do agree that the business regarding enumeration of multi-word answers was silly, and the instructions confusing. The preambles for IQ and Listener puzzles are carefully worded as a result of setter and editor working together. You’ve got to wonder if the editor even looked at this one!
For a holiday, I love a puzzle that requires time digging around in the reference books (real or virtual). The enumeration issue obviously arose because if word count had been given it would have straightaway identified clues as not being themed ones. Shame for the purists that a couple of enumerations were provided, but not sure I would have been able to finish without this additional help. Not that I did finish, being of the age for which there can only be GENERATION X.
45D: What sense of “stocks” can mean “troughs”? Or is there a sense of “troughs” that I don’t know about?
Although I can well appreciate the setter’s ingenuity and skill in devising a puzzle based on this tricky theme, I regret that I did not enjoy the experience of solving it. My reasons for that coincide largely with what others have pointed out about apparent inconsistencies and errors which, in my view, should have been eliminated prior to publication, but I was also dismayed by the presence of triple “unches”. Surely these are not meant to appear in blocked cryptics, even where puzzles are themed? Also, I could not find any reference to B-ROTUNDUM in any of the standard dictionaries, although I did locate it somewhere on the web. I wonder if this puzzle was test solved.
Maskarade’s Christmas crossword in the FT (under his Gozo pseudonym) was much more enjoyable.
@20 There are lots of double unches in the grid but I’m blowed if I can see any triples. What am I missing?
I enjoyed this puzzle very much indeed though I’ve been waiting patiently for this blog for the one Clue I didn’t manage to solve – 24a, furs. I’ve never heard of that as a support. And I query your explanation of 18d – never heard of that either but surely everyone of a certain age knows that the Big O is, or was, the late, great Roy Orbison?
Sorry, I was relying on memory (I posted the completed puzzle off before Xmas). I have now looked again at the grid on the Guardian website and realise that I should have said that I recall being concerned about the presence of double unches in answers where fewer than half the letters were checkable, and where they were clustered together, as they are on both sides of this puzzle. I do not think this is good practice, as it is not fair on the solver.
I share many of the quibbles others have raised, and I agree that solving was a bit of a slog. I was unfamiliar with half the theme entries, which turned this into a Googlathon, and as a member (towards the younger edge) of Gen X, I must say I’ve never heard X Gen.
As I am an American, BIG O naturally brought to mind Oscar Robertson, though I doubt that’s the definition Maskarade had in mind.
Thanks to Maskarade and mhl. Too much for me I am afraid. I got about half way through and then decided to put in down and come back to it. I did come back a couple of times, but did not get much further. There was too much I did not know and given the nature of the brief many were difficult to work out from the wording. That said I am not complaining it was a holiday special and it should be challenging and well done to those who cracked it. Thanks again to Maskarade for the challenge and mhl for the comprehensive blog which has clearly added to my knowledge base.
I thought this would take me a while, but it took me much longer than even I expected. I found it was very hard to think of answers where you knew there might be an extra letter fore or aft. And some of the themed answers were pretty obscure, although a lot were some form of general knowledge, and I suppose obscure just means something I personally have never heard of. (I did know W-boson, but I’ve never heard it pronounced like any sort of seaman.) So it was hard enough without the confusion about enumeration, and the ones that held me up right at the end were the intersecting Maritime Law (11) and Kept Going (9). I ended up in awe of the puzzle construction – an amazing job, Maskerade! – but felt it had been made less fun than it might have been by the few shaky bits people have been pointing out – even including confusion about when I should be looking for the blog. Great work with the blog, mhl – that can’t have been an easy one to write..
@RichardCV22 “B rotuntdum [or round B]” is in Chambers, so I’m OK with that 🙂
Lots of people have commented on the inclusion of “Note” in that clue; my only comment on that is that it does seem to be that “not further defined” as used in many crosswords conventionally means “usually not further defined”. (I think the reasoning is that a clue might have multiple definition parts, and perhaps you’re just missing out one of them.) However, this convention does annoy me – why don’t rubrics for such puzzles just say “which may not be further defined” instead? It’s still a simple instruction and would only be fair to solvers who aren’t aware of that odd phrasing.
I agree with the tenor of many posts here – this puzzle was in dire need of editing. The enumeration inconsistency and the presence of the definition for B ROTUNDUM should have been rectified prior to publication.
I also had trouble equating “troughs” with STOCKS. Possibly, “stock” is short for stock trough, but I can’t find any convincing evidence. The other definition I really didn’t like was “fat” in 51. ADIPOSENESS is a tendency to store fat, not fat itself.
I had a problem finishing it because I had both X GENERATION and X FACTOR at one point (without noticing the duplication) and was desperately trying to find an F-???? in the STOCKS light. It was satisfying to finally complete it however.
Thanks anyway, Maskarade, and mhl for the blog.
VinnyD@19 and phitonelly@28
Definition 34 of “stock” in Chambers is “a box or trough”. I don’t see “adiposeness” in any of Chambers, the ODE or Collins dictionaries but all of them list “adiposity”.
RichardCV22@29
Thanks for the “stock” reference. I confess I rely on free online dictionaries. I found a number of entries for ADIPOSENESS via OneLook.
Thanks to both Maskerade and mhl. I agree with all of mhl’s comments. I found it really hard work, but nevertheless enjoyable. I was totally confused by the last instruction when I saw that 3 clues were labelled as having two parts. Like others I suffered from initially having S-PHASE and GENERATION-X. I also had V-AGENTS (Va – Virginia) instead of G-AGENTS (no-one else has mentioned this ambiguity?) which ultimately made me unable to get V-CHIP. MARITIME LAW and IRISH SEA both defeated me, but having been illuminated I now think they are both brilliant!
Not much to add. I think I agree with every quibble mentioned above. There was an element of sloppiness here which is not usually the case with this setter. X GENERATION I found particularly annoying, even though the crossers indicated the answer the setter intended. FUR was LOI and was another indicated by the crossers. I note the parsing but it seems weak to me.
Not one of Maskarade’s best.
But thanks to him anyway. It filled a couple of afternoons!
.
Thanks to MHL and Maskarade ! I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I usually do with Maskarade’s bank holiday offerings, and finished it before Christmas. Yes there was the occasional inconsistency and editing failure, but I’ve come to expect those so no worries. I also expect to have to Google widely ! The only head-scratcher for me was the reference to deliberate mis-enumerations in the rubric. Araucaria remains the master of succinct and unambiguous rubrics !
I enjoyed the puzzle over the Christmas holiday despite the confusing instructions over the eight two-word answers, and one or two far-too-obscure solutions. B-Rotundum? W-Bosun? The last of those prevented me from completing the puzzle by two clues. I thought I had solved 44 Down – “Weak seaman spoken of” with the seemingly perfectly acceptable ABUSED (AB and USED). Rendered 53 across impossible.
As did many others I enjoyed a lot of this but had problems with others. As usual with an alphabetical puzzle there were answers that I had to check with wikipedia which I can square with my conscience so long as I am checking, not fishing. I was left with 38d not solved and a missing H answer. It turns out that I had V HOUR at 16 across and so had two V solutions. ADIPOSENESS reminded me of “Aunty Mary was morose/and her views on life were bitter./For she was so adipose/ no ordinary seat would fit her./I would think that you’ld be glum/If you’ld been born with Auntie’s sitter.
Thanks mhl, you have a typo in your parsing of T-JUNCTION though.
A DNF for me for reasons others have mentioned (and my own deficiencies of course, but the enumeration issue didn’t help). But an impressive effort from Maskarade nevertheless.
Collins has ‘sex appeal’ for F-FACTOR, which is less obscure perhaps.
I got to the end on Christmas Eve, so felt it was about the right difficulty for a holiday special, but I agreed with many of the comments above. Also feel S-SHAPE is weak – almost any letter could go with SHAPE. And while I can just remember John Snow from 50 years ago, that was a bit obscure for those younger than me – surely some reference to the family of broadcasters would have been better for SNOW. But good for Maskarade in attempting this, even if it did not work completely.
Me@35
I meant to add my thanks to Maskarade and mhl. This must have been a brute to blog with many of the single letters not having a crosser and several having an alternative possible answer until you worked out that a particular letter must be the answer to make up the alphabet.
Similar experience to most others above for me – very enjoyable and kept me going for some time, dipping in and out all week.
Same quibbles about the editing – the enumeration inconsistency was a clear miss and 29d feels like it was accidentally left in a draft status? (how about ‘Frosty ground around start of November’?!)
Pleased to learn a new phrase here in double unches, and yes Neil Reynolds I also just assumed the Big O was Roy Orbison!
Did anyone else settle on OLEA for 36dn? As in the essence of napOLEAn, and the genus of the Olive plant? This along with the mis-directed numeration rendered 43ac ungettable for me, and therefore a dnf. But as I rarely finish other than the occasional Monday or perhaps a Qaos (always expect a theme) I was happy to get as far as I did, albeit not until Jan 1. As an inveterate lurker may I wish Happy New Year to all regular contributors and bloggers whose posts have made my re-acquaintance with the Guardian crossword after a decades-long hiatus an easier process than it would otherwise have been. Thanks to Maskerade and mhl.
RichardCV22@29, thanks.
hoforo@40: napOLEAn? Perhaps Napoleon Bonaparte spelt his name differently in another universe! Seriously, though, a contained answer should always be visible in the clue’s letters. It’s too much of a stretch to go from emperor to napoleon in a containment clue. (In much the same way you wouldn’t expect an anagram of napoleon from a clue with emperor in it.)
Got there in the end.
FURS loi, as I can’t have checked Chambers thoroughly enough first time.
I’m pretty sure F-FACTOR means ‘fuckability factor’ and I (somewhere) found a definition of ‘fanciability factor’, which seems to be a euphemistic form of the same.
Re THE EXTERIOR, I don’t think ‘exterior’ exists as a noun without the definite article, does it?
Also wrote GENERATION X till the crossers clashed.
I believe eg ‘Smith, LJ’ means Lady Justice Smith (cf Lord Justice Smith). Perhaps that’s why L=lady?
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen translations of The Trial which use ‘Joseph’, the standard English form.
I found ADIPOSENESS in Wiktionary, after constructing it from wp.
Isn’t bum = buttocks (pl)?
Didn’t know MEZ. Biffed MEZE.
I’ll repeat what I posted on general discussions.
Yet another tedious slot from Maskarade. Why does the Ed persevere with this dull setter? I finally got there but again felt I had wasted time better spent on something more entertaining.
Also interesting to see that others are coming round to the idea that an editor who actually edited would be a bonus.
Thanks Maskarade and mhl
I fought my way through this, but Maskarade is a setter I admire for his setting ingenuity than enjoy for the solve.
A couple of points:
12A: Chambers has LD as the abbreviation for Lady Day, so the clue is referring to the religious occasion, not Billie Holiday
16A: Those mince pies are ours / for us.
Agree with Hovis@10, and likewise abandoned the crossword. All the points made by mhl are valid and could apply to any of Maskrade’s shoddy efforts, all of which seem designed to please him rather than the solver, and all of which contain errors of some description. This one went in the bin at X Generation, a phrase used by absolutely nobody.
Finished about 80% of it. I have just now looked up the answers for the remainder. I got ‘The Exterior’ but thought that it was an error that it was clued as one word. I had failed to realise that the last instruction (33 solutions in total consist of two parts), meant that some clues were falsely indicated to have one word answers. I accept that it is the compiler’s right to be so devious as to provide clues with false numbering but I am not impressed. Two of the answers which I failed to get were false 2-word clues which I would normally have classed as excellent if the numbering had been correct. Some of the others were obscure within the accepted boundaries of the Christmas crossword.
So, well done to those to managed to complete it. I remain irritated by Maskarade’s false numbering. Not clever. I might not bother to do any more by Maskarade
I’d just like to point out that the John B directly above ain’t me !
Thanks to mhl for your comments – I agree with your and others’ comments on how much better this would have been with just a bit of editing. I also concur with the challenge to the word ‘adiposeness’ which appears to me a word invented by someone who failed to spot the perfectly adequate ‘adiposity’ existed already. Generation X having to be transposed was another irritant in what was otherwise a fun puzzle but very frustrating at times.
Alex@44,
Surely one reason the editor persists with Maskarade has to be a lack of other candidates putting themselves forward for the traditional Bank Holiday puzzles ? These seem to be a specialty for Tom Johnson unless I’m misreading him – and if you look at the who’s who on this site you’ll see he’s kept fairly busy by all his other commitments, so that we rarely see a Maskarade “225” puzzle in the Guardian (I can only recall two.)
Personally I’m quite happy, I expect the bank holiday puzzles to be a bit of a GK test – if I want a large, conventional puzzle I try the Times Jumbo. However I agree it might be rather fun if, for example, Brummie could be persuaded to adopt his Cyclops persona and create an Easter Prize Puzzle for us. I’m not sure the clues would go down that well with a majority of the readership though !
@Sandman
https://www.coorpacademy.com/en/online-course/deciphering-the-x-generation-and-millennials/
You can find other examples, too, if you look.
@CWT
Onelook.com lists 14 (mostly, if not all, online) dictionaries, including one medical dictionary with entries for ‘adiposenessness’. It happens that new words come into use which are simply different (usually simpler) forms from the same root as existing words.
@JohnB
Maybe one of those so scathing about Maskerade’s efforts can produce a better one for us, eh?
@the other JohnB
How do we know it’s not him that’s not you?
Anyone remember the big holiday Araucarias of yore? The fun, the delight, the feeling that he *wanted* you to finish and to enjoy the process. Never easy but always joyful. I miss him.