Chifonie provides our Monday morning wake-up call: enough to get the brain working, but nothing too taxing.
A slow start for me, with nothing entered until I got to 17a, but after that it all gradually fell into place. I puzzled over some of the parsings for a while, before finally recognising some old friends: see as in bishop’s region, and stage = leg. I particularly enjoyed the &lit in 22a, the misdirection in 29a (especially next to 28a), and the neat surface of 1d. Thanks to Chifonie.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EMPLOY | Earl to mark device for use (6) |
| E[arl] + M[ark] + PLOY (device). | ||
| 4 | DEPOSIT | Settlement is rejected in warehouse (7) |
| IS reversed (rejected) in DEPOT. | ||
| 9 | AT ONE TIME | Make good porridge together (2,3,4) |
| ATONE (make good = pay for one’s error) + TIME (porridge = time = slang for a prison term). | ||
| 10 | ANGEL | Backer provides a new stage, after reflection (5) |
| A N[ew] + LEG (stage, as in first leg of a journey) reversed (after reflection). Angel = financial backer. | ||
| 11 | POSER | Problem of knotted ropes (5) |
| Anagram (knotted) of ROPES. | ||
| 12 | DOMINICAN | Holy man from a Caribbean island (9) |
| Double definition: someone from the Dominican religious order, or from the island of Dominica. | ||
| 13 | EXACTLY | See about wrong move with precision (7) |
| ELY (see = a bishop’s area of responsibility) around X (used to mark a wrong answer) + ACT (move). | ||
| 15 | RANDOM | Chance controlled Benedictine monk (6) |
| RAN (controlled, as in ran a business) + DOM (title given to some Benedictine monks). | ||
| 17 | ETUDES | Alien used criminal in studies (6) |
| ET (the crossword compiler’s favourite alien) + anagram (criminal) of USED. Etude = study = a musical composition typically intended for practice on a particular technical skill. | ||
| 19 | ARTISAN | Sinatra upset technician (7) |
| Anagram (upset) of SINATRA. | ||
| 22 | ADULTERER | Married man who later rued arrangement (9) |
| Anagram (arrangement) of LATER RUED, and a rather neat &lit (clue-as-definition). | ||
| 24 | RABBI | Religious leader‘s endless chatter (5) |
| RABBIT (Cockney rhyming slang: rabbit and pork = talk), with the last letter missing (endless). | ||
| 26 | SEDAN | Means of transport for Home Counties judoka (5) |
| SE (South East = Home Counties of England) + DAN (rank in martial arts). | ||
| 27 | PORTFOLIO | Briefcase left with page (9) |
| PORT (left in nautical terms) + FOLIO (a page or sheet of paper, though it can also mean paper folded into a book). | ||
| 28 | ANDANTE | Joiner takes money up front quite slowly (7) |
| AND (grammatically a conjunction = joiner) + ANTE (initial stake = money up front). Musical term meaning “walking pace”, hence fairly slow. | ||
| 29 | STARVE | Look round very fast (6) |
| STARE (look) around V. Fast = abstain from food. Top marks to Chifonie for the misdirection caused by putting this clue next to “quite slowly”. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXAMPLE | Formerly stout model (7) |
| EX (prefix meaning formerly) + AMPLE (a polite way of saying fat?). | ||
| 2 | PLOTS | Copper gets tons of conspiracies (5) |
| PS (police sergeant = copper) containing LOT (tons = slang for a large amount).
CORRECTION: P = penny = copper (as in copper coin) + LOTS. |
||
| 3 | OVERRATED | Ended trade organisation that’s made too much of (9) |
| OVER (finished = ended) + anagram (organisation) of TRADE. | ||
| 4 | DREAMER | Visionary head of department gets rotary tool (7) |
| D[epartment] + REAMER (rotary cutting tool). | ||
| 5 | PLAIN | Left in agony? That’s evident! (5) |
| L in PAIN. | ||
| 6 | SAGACIOUS | Weaken a club with debts? That’s wise? (9) |
| SAG (become weak) + A C (abbreviation for Clubs in card games) + plural of IOU (debt). | ||
| 7 | TALONS | Claws back pounds, advanced in huge quantities (6) |
| L (pounds sterling, usually written as £) + A (advanced, as in A-level exams), reversed (back), in TONS (= lots, as in 2d). | ||
| 8 | TIDDLY | Drunken groom consumed a lot of litres (6) |
| TIDY (groom, as a verb) containing D (Roman numeral for 500 = a lot) + L (litres). | ||
| 14 | ASTOUNDED | Shocked when a good man’s ’arrassed (9) |
| A ST (a saint = a good man) + HOUNDED (harrassed) with the initial H dropped. | ||
| 16 | NET PROFIT | Capture supporting position? That’s the bottom line (3,6) |
| NET (capture) + PRO (supporting = in favour of) + FIT (position, as a verb). | ||
| 18 | SCRAPIE | Waste material that is in beastly disorder (7) |
| SCRAP (waste material) + IE (id est = that is). A disease of sheep and goats, related to BSE in cows. | ||
| 19 | AURORA | Visual display of yellow in the atmosphere (6) |
| OR (heraldic term for gold or yellow) in AURA (atmosphere). | ||
| 20 | NOISOME | Disgusting row about old man (7) |
| NOISE (row) around O (old) M (man). | ||
| 21 | NAUSEA | Aversion is new treatment in Alcoholics Anonymous (6) |
| N (new) + USE (as a noun = treatment) in AA. | ||
| 23 | TENON | Joint‘s connective tissue died away (5) |
| TENDON with D (died) taken away. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortise_and_tenon | ||
| 25 | BALER | Farm equipment used to get booze into Britain (5) |
| ALE (booze) inserted into BR (Britain). | ||
I thought this was quite a nice puzzle. Not too demanding for a Monday morning but not quite a walkover either.
Took me a while to parse ANDANTE.
Some definitions that were not immediately obvious. Technician/artisan (19 ac); aversion/nausea (21 dn); position/fit (16 dn). All OK, though.
Some dodgy initials? OM for old man (20 dn); P for copper (2 dn); A for advanced (7 dn). Nice that copper wasn’t Cu for once, but are these recognised initials? I mean, I know that PC is police constable, but does that mean that P on its own is police/copper? To me it’s phosphorous.
I liked STARVE, specially as, coming after ANDANTE I was looking for a musical term.
Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister, to whom ‘welcome’.
Thanks Chifonie and Quirister (and welcome, too!)
Generally good, with favourites ANDANTE and STARVE.
Not keen on “aversion” for NAUSEA. “A lot” for D in TIDDLY doesn’t seem quite fair.
I forgot to say that there were a few chestnuts here. ELY, Sinatra/artisan, and ADULTERER.
I agree with the sentiments so far expressed – not too easy, lots of good methods used, lovely misdirection. Also some things new to me though gettable were “dom” and “dan” used in this way so well done for fitting those in. I shared Anna’s concern over some of the definitions, with “artisan” and “aversion” being the weakest for me. But those aside, I liked lots of these. “atone” for “at one”, “exactly” and 22A &lit. “andante” and “starve” were both slow to come but worth the wait. Lots more ticks but enough to say thank you Chifonie and Quirister.
Re “DL” for “a lot of litres” – I had concerns too and read it as DL ie dekalitres/decalitres ie 10l which is certainly quite a few if not a lot. (Deca as opposed to deci, D not d. As in “10 cards is one dekacards”…)
Surely copper refers to a penny. So it’s P + LOTS.
Anna@1
I took P to mean copper in the money sense.
Thanks to s & b.
I agree with Jason about PLOTS, and thezed’s suggestion of “decalitres” is fairer than “5oo litres”, I think.
Agree with Anna@1 re abbreviations, though presumed that p is simply pence and hence copper, and not a policeman at all. (The last S is part of lots in my version). Thanks to C and Q
Last ones in NAUSEA and AURORA which between them took me as long as the rest of the puzzle for reasons known only to my sluggish synapses.
I too imagined and ran with DL standing for Decalitre (10 litres). Incorrectly as it emerges, apparently dkl with dl only being a decilitre (one tenth), so D for ‘a lot’ my only slight grumble.
Thanks Chifonie and Quirister
Jason, Rullytully, Muffin, Parky: yes, I think you’re all correct about the penny in 2d. I’ve corrected the blog – thank you.
Doh! Yes, of course, P is for penny/copper. Why didn’t I see that?
Thanks Jason@5, Rullytully@6 and Parky@8 for pointing it out.
Gentle start for the week. As language evolves, good to see examples of new usages such as 10a angel. Thanks C & Q
I had the Roman D for 500 in mind, not thinking of decalitres, and raised a fleeting eyebrow. Settlement for what settles ditto, a bit curly but also quite neat. Nice Monday stroll with, as muffin says, a few chestnuts, including et alien. Took a minute to see which bit of aurora was yellow. Welcome Quirister (agree 22a raised a smile) and ta Chifonie.
Nothing to add to points made above, includng thanks to both – apart from noting how rare it is to have no H in the completed grid. Only precedent since I started noticing these things in January is (I think) another Chifonie, Jan 25. Nor is there an H in today’s Quick crossword. For what it’s worth.
Haven’t come across Quirister as a blogger before. If I’ve missed you; apologies; otherwise welcome and thanks.
Nearly a write-in but enough to get the bonce working.
Ticks at AT ONE TIME, STARVE, & TENON for their nice surfaces.
Anna @1: I think it’s the juxtaposition of the abbreviations which rankles slightly. Nothing wrong with O for old, or M for man, but OM for old man made me look twice.
Nice week, all.
William and others, thanks for the welcome. I’ve been a blogger on the Independent / Everyman puzzles for the past few months, but I don’t usually do the Guardian; I’m just filling in today because the scheduled blogger is busy. It’s good to meet a few more of you.
@12 ANGEL in this sense is not exactly new. The OED records it from as long ago as 1891. Chinoz, your comment is a good example of what is known among linguists as the recency illusion.
Thanks, Chifonie and Quirister.
Thanks to our new blogger, Quirister. I liked 22a ADULTERER as well, and I also ticked 29a STARVE, 3d OVERRATED and 21d NAUSEA.
I agree that the use of ELY for “See” in 13a and IOUs for “debts” in 6d are becoming par for the course for some of the community who have been doing these cryptics for a while, but am hoping that new solvers are assisted by the familiarity these afford.
Many thanks to Chifonie.
.. which relates, John Wells@17, to the primacy and recency effects found in early cog psych.
Very quick solve which I suppose is right for a Monday but 29a stood out as a contender to be in the top ten in the course of the week. We ll see!
Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister (nice to have you on board). Not a lot more to add, nothing too easy and nothing overly difficult. All unpacked quite steadily, but another who took a while to parse andante. I liked aurora and starve and thanks again to Chifonie and Quirister.
…grantinfreo@19 as a retired cog psych I must have discussed those effects (and their different manifestations) ad nauseum (don’t miss them).
It looks like Chifonie was actually trying to help solvers along. The DOM in 15a and DOMINICA in 12a are cognate; in 17a ETUDES and studies are also cognate, almost the same word!
22a (ADULTERER) is not an &lit. because the wordplay does not cover the entire clue – some people call these semi-&lits.
Thanks.
… nevertheless, PetHay, an endlessly fascinating question, all the way back to Lashley’s search for the engram (not to mention Mnemosyne!); to wit, in xwordland, amygdala and hippocampus etc turn up from time to time. Hey ho, mustn’t bang on.
My favourite was ADULTERER.
I failed to solve 29a STARVE and could not parse 7d, 9a, 20d.
New for me was SCARPIE.
Thanks Chfonie and Quirister
Took a few minutes to get going, but saw SAGACIOUS and the rest seemed to slot home. Failed to parse AURORA completely as didn’t know the “yellow” rconnection but all fair. Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister.
I decided a word must exist at 6d because the etymology was right and the obvious alternative didn’t fit the wordplay. “Sapacious”, derived from sapient, seemed much more plausible than “sag=weaken”.
Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister. An enjoyable outing on a Monday.
Failed to get AT ONE TIME, due to my ignorance of “porridge” in that context. Otherwise a pleasant and not too difficult solve. SCRAPIE was new to me, but from the wordplay it couldn’t be anything else. I agree with others about ADULTERER and STARVE. Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister.
I wasn’t too keen on OM for old man in 20d either, but GOM is quite common for Grand Old Man (often applied to Gladstone). Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister.
Loved this. Beautiful misdirections. Didn’t parse EXACTLY fully because I’m sufficiently new to these to have not seen ELY = SEE before (or if I have, I’ve forgotten – entirely possible!). ETUDES and ANDANTE were new to me but the cluing allowed me to get (then check).
Thanks to Chifonie and Quirister.
I came to this late for reasons to tedious to recount. A pretty easy puzzle stuffed full of chestnuts and a couple of clues which appeared dodgy as others have pointed out. The one I had most trouble with was AT ONE TIME which I guessed but,of course, this was one such chestnut with TIME =porridge.
Fancy my not seeing that!
Thanks Chifonie.
Thanks to Quirister and Chifonie. Mostly straightforward with some interesting parsings, as has already been said. Am I the only one not happy with “together” as a definition for AT ONE TIME ?? I spent some while trying to make AT ONE WITH fit tbe crossers but couldn’t think what that had to do with porridge.
grantinfreo@23 apologies if it sounded that I was being disparaging about the effects, I was merely indicating that I do not regret no longer having to work for a living. I still retain a keen interest in memory research, and, if my memory serves me correctly (and it does not always) there was a Paul (I think) prize puzzle not long ago in which the theme was names of brain structures. Best wishes all.
JohnB @32: I agree it’s slightly loose, but if you think along the lines of together = at the same time = at one time, it works. For me, at least. An example, from Gilbert and Sullivan Trial By Jury: “In the reign of James the Second, / It was generally reckoned / As a very serious crime / To marry two wives at one time.”
Thank you chiffonie and quirister.
Oh dear, after many years of dipping into the Guardian crossword, I have finally lost heart. All of those initial letters. Starting with 1ac E for Earl and m for mark. The entire puzzle is riddled with them. I know it is a convention but it is so contrary to my taste that it is the FT for me from now on.
I count 13 in a 29 clue puzzle.
A gentle start to the week. The parsing of 2d defeated me, and I thought the NW corner as a whole was perhaps more difficult overall, but the rest went in without too much ado.
I thought this was an excellent puzzle that I found more of a challenge than many seem to have done. Many thanks to Chifonie and to Quirister as Guardian guest blogger.
Almost a full day late. Surprised no one mentioned that DOMINICAN can refer to residents of two *different* Caribbean nations, so that it’s practically a triple definition. In the US, Dominican is way more likely to mean “from the Spanish-speaking half of Hispaniola” than it is to mean “from Dominica.” An outsized fraction of pro baseball players are from the Dominican, and New York City in particular has a large Dominican (D.R.) community.