Very tough going, with a quite a bit of checking and parsing after the fact. Favourites were 17ac, 26/6, 7dn, and 18/28. Thanks to Enigmatist for the workout. Edit: and congratulations to Enigmatist – thanks to crypticsue for pointing out that this is the 40th anniversary of John’s first Guardian puzzle.
…several solutions have similar meanings: PIPSQUEAK, UPSTART, YOUNG PRETENDER, NEW KID ON THE BLOCK, PARVENU, ARRIVISTE, WHIPPERSNAPPER
| Across | ||
| 1 | PLOUGH | Lakeside parking provided for stars … (6) |
| the PLOUGH is a constellation of “stars” LOUGH=loch or “Lake”, to the side of P (parking) |
||
| 4 | CANOPUS | … a great one is fit to work (7) |
| =the name of a bright star, or “…a great one”, linked back to “stars…” at the end of the clue for 1ac CAN=”is fit to” + OPUS=”work” |
||
| 9 | RATIONALE | Is it reasonable not to have a second pint? (9) |
| RATION ALE roughly equals “not to have a second pint?” | ||
| 10 | NO END | Busy, not initially having done very much (2,3) |
| “Busy” is the anagrind for (n done)*, with n being the initial of “not” | ||
| 11 | ELEGY | Editor’s leader on the reason for reciting poem (5) |
| Editor’s leading letter + LEG=”on” side of the field in cricket + Y as a homophone/”reciting” of ‘why’=”reason for” | ||
| 12 | PIPSQUEAK | Nobody but Spooner could give us the language of the wisecracker! (9) |
| =not anybody of significance Spoonerism of ‘Quip-Speak’=”the language of the wisecracker!” |
||
| 13 | UPSTART | Social climber puts about the stuff of the aesthete (7) |
| (puts)* + ART=”the stuff of the aesthete” | ||
| 15 | RWANDA | Country golf club admits women! (6) |
| R AND A=Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; around W (women) | ||
| 17 | JIGSAW | Cutter served in the US Army, 75% retired (6) |
| =a tool with a cutting blade 75% or 6/8 of the letters from WAS GI Joe=”served in the US army”; then reversed/”retired’ |
||
| 19 | AIRCREW | Flying team picked up crown prince, then bragged (7) |
| AIR=homophone/”picked up” of ‘heir’=”crown prince”; plus CREW=past tense of crow=”bragged” | ||
| 22 | LEASTWISE | However, American‘s the bluntest tool in the box? (9) |
| =US word for “However” LEAST WISE=metaphorically “the bluntest tool in the box?” |
||
| 24 | VIBES | Feelings about individual stay in power (5) |
| BE=”stay” in VIS=Latin for force, “power” | ||
| 26, 6 | YOUNG PRETENDER | Stuart guy prone to make flamboyant bid? (5,9) |
| =a name for Bonnie Prince Charlie [wiki] who laid claim to the British throne (guy prone)* with “make flamboyant” as anagrind; plus TENDER=”bid” |
||
| 27 | PEAT SMOKE | By-product of burning food injected to power donkey (4,5) |
| EATS=”food” put inside: P (power) + MOKE=”donkey” | ||
| 28 | See 18 | |
| 29, 2, 25 | NEW KID ON THE BLOCK | Novice winked nervously at auction (3,3,2,3,5) |
| (winked)* + ON THE BLOCK=”at auction” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARVENU | Nouveau riche location second to be struck off, substandard (7) |
| VENUe, with the second letter to “be” struck off; and placed in the grid below PAR=”substandard“ | ||
| 2 | See 29 | |
| 3 | GOODYEARS | Tyres we want him to win, we hear (9) |
| GOODY=the good guy, hero of the story=”we want him to win” + EARS=”we hear” | ||
| 4 | CREEPER | Slowly, stealthily I move here, peer coyly over walls (7) |
| Hidden/’walled inside’ and reversed/”over”, in: “heRE PEER Coyly” | ||
| 5 | N AND Q | Initially, our series where you may question Vishy sacrificing a queen (1,3,1) |
| The initials of the Guardian’s column, Notes and Queries [Guardian website] Vishy ANAND the former world chess champion [wiki], losing an A; and plus Q (queen) |
||
| 6 | See 26 | |
| 7 | SUDOKU | Puzzling form on the upturn, United knocked us out (6) |
| reversal/”on the upturn” of U (United) + KO’D US=”knocked us out” | ||
| 8 | CARPET | Covering threes, when having a bet (6) |
| CARPET=betting term meaning odds of three to one | ||
| 14 | SPIRACULA | Page is upset about bloody count not opening vents (9) |
| =breathing holes or orifices P (Page) with IS reversed/”upset” around it; plus DRACULA=”bloody count” without its opening letter |
||
| 16 | ARRIVISTE | Top tip for real trivia nuts, including son heading for Eggheads — he’s aiming high (9) |
| (R trivia S)* + heading/first letter of Eggheads “nuts” is the anagrind, with fodder: Real + trivia + S (son) |
||
| 18, 28 | WHIPPERSNAPPER | Wife in a photograph with a young rascal (14) |
| W (wife) + HIP=”in”=trendy + PER=”a” + SNAP=”photograph” + PER=”a” as in ‘an apple a day’ | ||
| 19 | AGE GAP | Such as divides old man and young woman, endlessly arising (3,3) |
| E.G.=”Such as”, dividing a reversal/”arising” of: PA=”old man” + GAL=”young woman, endlessly” | ||
| 20 | WEST END | Players’ practice over, hitched round London’s theatreland (4,3) |
| NETS=cricket “Players’ practice”, reversed/”over”; and with WED=”hitched” around | ||
| 21 | LLOYD’S | List issuer, sly old crook (6) |
| referring to Lloyd’s List [wiki] (sly old)* |
||
| 23 | TOG UP | Perhaps procured dress very smartly (3,2) |
| TOG UP=crossword instructions to reverse TOG; giving GOT=”Perhaps procured” | ||
| 25 | See 29 | |
Thanks manehi, and Enigmatist.
Parsing of several clues made clear, thanks. I did see the ‘theme’ ……
N and Q, no way I could figure that one out. A good puzzle overall, and satisfying, even if one couldn’t get everything.
Great puzzle and blog.Nice mini theme. Not easy of course but well worth the effort
Thanks E and manehi
This was hard, but helped by a couple of things. Moke=donkey and per=a had shown up here in the last two weeks, so were top of mind, more or less.
The other aid was the theme, which uncharacteristically for me, not only did I get it at all, but after my very first entry (arriviste). No way could that and nouveau riche be a coincidence. Then it was a matter of thinking of synonyms and finding homes for them. If the grid had any 8-letter slots we might have had newcomer too.
Thanks Enigmatist and Manehi.
I found this puzzle to be more difficult than most of the recent Prize puzzles.
I solved but could not parse 24a, 5d, 8d, 11a, 3d, 1d.
New words for me were SPIRACULA + LOUGH= lake.
My favourite was PIPSQUEAK.
I did not notice the theme.
Thanks Enigmatist and Manehi.
Understood the def for 5D once the Q slotted in from the Spooner clue — but couldn’t figure out the wordplay — thanks for the explanation (my knowledge of chess champions sort of stops at Kasparov…)
Forty years ago today, a fifteen year old setter called Enigmatist had his first Guardian cryptic crossword published in the newspaper. The theme of today’s crossword relates to the anniversary.
Congratulations to the (ever) Young Enigmatist on your Ruby Anniversary x x
Whew, chewy, took a few hours, but enjoyable. Lots of dnks along the way: that spelling of loch, the Ancient bit of St Andrews, vis for power, the chess bloke, and a carpet bet. All gettable however, as per good cluing. Looked pretty impenetrable down to tree smoke (ditto Dr W, the moke helped), then the new kid, and it started to open up. Took ages to clock the eg in age gap, d’oh for such a regular, and to behead Dracula, and to stop thinking obscure classic and get Lloyds. Great workout, thanks E and M.
Oh no! Just checked through properly and found my error at 3d, an unparsed glorybags (slang for spare tyres round one’s middle). So a dnf after all. Oh well, see what the morrow brings.
Thanks for that piece of cw lore crypticsue. And well done Enjgmatist, at 15! New kid indeed, or prodigy, rather.
re me@7, meant peat smoke not tree smoke…
Great stuff, JH! Loved the deception and inventive wordplay, as ever: e.g. ‘second to be struck off’, ‘we hear’=EARS, ‘75% retired’, ‘substandard’ etc. And of course the ‘a’ for PER in ‘Wife in a photograph with a young rascal’ – sometimes you can wait for one for ages, then two come along at once 😉
And I’d no idea of the 40 years of which CS speaks – you must be too young for that, surely!
A superb puzzle!
Thanks E – and congrats on anniversary. I probably did some of yrs from decades ago when the xword in the Guardian Weekly (on india paper, and before all this web thingie) was a pleasure regularly anticipated, and often took a few days to finish.
Today’s happily shared with Ms_Ch on the sofa. Liked quip speak, and would have spent a long time looking for creeper until Ms observed. Sly old crook also nice misdirect. Found 23d back to front – ‘got up’ perhaps is fine, but then there is no indication to link it to smart dress?
Note recent mokes and a’s, and also Tamar. Did this latter come before or after the diary entry on rivers? What is the time line for xwords, between submission and appearance? Carry on the good work!
Happy 40th to the thinking man’s crossword setter.
And he got the Freedom of Classic FM too!!
Yes, congratulations on the anniversary which I celebrated by (almost) completing, unlike most of the Toughie offerings where I consider it a victory if I get past the 50% mark 🙂
Had them all parsed too with the exception of the chess player.
Thanks to our blogger too.
Very slow to get going on this one. JIGSAW got me started and the bottom half slowly filled up. Much slower on the top half.
The puzzle really made me think, which is no bad thing. After all , we moan when the puzzle’s too easy! But there were several answers which I couldn’t fully parse: ELEGY, SUDOKU, CARPET.
I’m not sure that the spoonerism really works in 12 ac. Is it pip + squeak (which I think it is, and in which case the spoonerism doesn’t work) or pips+ queak (in which case it’s OK)?
I had to google the chess player and N AND Q!
Ticks for JIGSAW and TOG UP.
Thanks to Enigmatist and manehi.
A very worthy anniversary (40th – as indicated by Crypticsue and Tilsit erlier – also by the latter in “another place”) puzzle. Never miss. I follow this setter around the various titles.
At least 40 more years – just like this please. Don’t worry about the themes and ninas etc. Very clever but they go right over my head usually – just keep on banging out those amazing clues.
Forget about retirement. The best setters die in harness. It’s a tradition. I’m talking about the real cryptic guys – in the mould of Araucaria. You owe it to the cruciverbal world. Honourable exception for Rufus – he was a law unto himself.
Shame we only now get about 4 of these a year – here on the Guardian – which can lay claim to having originally promoted the style. I hope there’s not pressure on the crossie editor to dumb down in line with the rest of (what remains of) the paper.
And thanks to manehi for the early post. Not wishing to brag but I filled all the holes – just a couple not fully parsed – for which much thanks for the explanation.
BTW – in fairness – weren’t those recent puzzles by Vlad and Picaroon marvellous too. Comparison is odious – but they were up there too.
Yes, very tough as is usual with Enigmatist. Thank you manehi for admitting to checking and parsing after the fact – it makes me feel less guilty about doing the same. I did still need your explanations for a few.
There were some really nice touches here. I particularly liked the ellipsis between 1a and 4a not being there just for the surface, and “we hear” in 3d meaning EARS rather than indicating a homophone. YOUNG PRETENDER at 26,6 was brilliant. (A semi &lit?)
Thank you Enigmatist and many congratulations on the anniversary.
Sounds like Spooner wants rob an insect!
Congratulations and best wishes John.
I managed to complete the puzzle without cheating, but I failed to parse some.
If only my charitable nature would allow my best wishes to extend to hoping that Arsenal finish above Spurs in the Premiership, but there are limits – even after Tottenham win the Champions’ League.
Congratulations to Enigmatist on his 40th anniversary and thanks to Manehi for his excellent blog. I actually managed to finish this with copious checking and could not parse a good few.
Felt quite proud to have completed it.
A good puzzle all round.
Phew!
Unfinished, missed out on PIPSQUEAK due to entering what seemed to me at the time a pretty reasonable PATENT for 8d. Patent being both a leather coating/covering of plastic or lacquer and a bet made with three selections.
Hard work but satisfied I nearly made it!
Thanks and congratulations to the setter and thanks too to Manehi for the explanations.
I’m afraid I usually find Enigmatist way beyond my comfort zone. Today’s anniversary puzzle no exception. DNF!
well that was tough. my excuse for the late entry is that I’ve been baking and cooking all morning between clues (letting bread rise and cook works beautifully around a crossword!)
I got very little at first, but as with all superbly-clued crosswords things that made no sense at all slowly crept into view and finally gave up their secrets. Mostly. Not totally sold on some of the word order etc in the way the instructions act on odd bits of the clue, but I feel happy at being so well deceived for so long. Happy anniversary young tyro.
Thanks for the excellent blog, manehi – rather you than me. 😉
Well, when I saw the setter’s name, I knew it was going to be tough going – and it was. When I got stuck, I did what many of us do and went off and did something else and, when I returned, [most of] the rest fell into place.
Having seen the setter’s name, I suspected we might be in for a different theme today but didn’t realise that the date had another significance for him. Many congratulations, John – and many thanks for the workout.
Congrats John who is also a very nice man!
Above my pay grade but my computer and I eventually solved it, and I managed to parse most, if not all. Luckily, I did know Vishy Anand but still failed on N AND Q until I got PIPSQUEAK.
I particularly liked the ellipses of PLOUGH and CANOPUS, the reason for reciting, WHIPPERSNAPPER, PARVENU and SPIRACULA.
Congratulations on the anniversary John. A lovely puzzle, but a pretty difficult one to solve. Here’s to the next 40 years!
Thanks to Enigmatist and manehi
Oh, wow, 40 years! Congratulations, Enigmatist!
I enjoyed reading the interview here
if the link thing I tried to insert above does not work, the URL is
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2011/oct/13/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-enigmatist
Thanks to Emigmatist for a very tough workout and congratulations on your anniversary. Many thanks also to manehi for compensating for my parsing inadequacies. I thought yesterday’s was tough be this took it up another level. After first couple of passes the only one I had was Lloyds. However, eventually got into the bottom half but the top half, particularly the NW was even more tricky. Lots of guess and then parse and lots of doh moments for me, particularly with the last one in which was rationale. As someone who lives very close to a top racecourse carpet came quite readily however. Favourites today were jigsaw, goodyears and rationale. A fitting end to a great week of puzzles and thanks again to Enigmatist and manehi.
SPIRACULA was new to me, but gettable, and it looks like a word. R AND A and N AND Q were not gettable unless you had the rather recherche GK
I associate GI Joe with World War II and Tommy Atkins with World War I, but I may be off in both cases. ,, ,
I have no idea what I did to make the lines start at the wrong end of the space or how to make it stop I’ll give up before it gets worse..
Oh, look. When I posted my comment, the lines of type moved over to begin at the left end, in the normal way. To mystified fellow posters I’ll say that I did something (???) that made all the lines begin at the right and moved toward the left as I typed.
Excruciating! We all must be masochists to enjoy being tortured by this John Henderson, the life and live wire of any party. Wow, 40 years on and still going strong … not related to the other Johnny further north? You are a customer. Thank you Enigmatist; and also Manehi – I do not envy you the blogging task today which you performed extremely well.
Hooray! After taking a real pasting from our esteemed setter in his last couple of outings (as Nimrod) I eventually managed to (eventually) finish this. A few unparsed such as CARPET and N AND Q, which I never would have worked out, though I was annoyed to miss the parsing of ELEGY and WEST END. I was put off by the full stop, rather than comma, shown in the clue for 10a (2.3), or am I missing something?
Where do you start for favourites but the Spoonerism, RATIONALE and JIGSAW will do.
A very big thanks and congrats to Enigmatist for his anniversary and to manehi for explaining everything so clearly.
Very tough going and the NE defeated me. Plus I needed the blog for the parsings of a few. But very enjoyable nonetheless. I was stupidly happy when I worked out some of the clues (such as PEAT SMOKE) and I almost gave a round of applause for below PAR. Bravo!
40 years? A fine innings that. Many thanks and a nod of celebration to Enigmatist and thanks to manehi for the blog.
Congratulations, John, on your 40 years. And congratulations, manehi, for explaining all the machinations. I filled the grid correctly, but often didn’t know why. And my online version had (2.3) for 10 across, and I wasted time wondering about the importance of the full stop. I should have assumed it was just another misprint.
Fab puzzle. Took forever. Made me feel like all the theme words at once. But plough probably best describes my struggle! And that’s after many moons of puzzling. Congrats Enigmatist. And thanks Manehi for some profound and much-needed parsing.
Grids with a cross in the middle (the ones that we see very often in the FT) usually provide us with ‘easier’ crosswords.
This wasn’t one of them. It took me about two hours to get it all right. ‘Me’ should read as ‘me and my dictionaries’.
In the end, there were still 6 clues that I couldn’t sufficiently parse, although only 2 of those (1d, 3d) really stumped me. Both magnificent, actually, once I saw what happened (after reading the blog).
We all love Arachne, Nutmeg, Picaroon and Vlad (well, I do) et al, but Enigmatist is a category on his own, isn’t he?
Congratulations, John, surely a milestone!
Gosh, where was I 40 years ago …. ?
Thanks for all that was, all that is and for, hopefully, all that will come!
[of course, many thanks to you too, manehi]
It was a good difficult crossword, but I agree with one of the comments above,’ Pipsqueak’ is not a proper spoonerism of ‘quip speak.’ It would be a spoonerism of ‘quips peak,’ but that was not what the clue suggested
Literally and metaphorically bruised !
Having broken my fall on some very slippery
granite with my ribs last night, this Batman
woke up to the prospect of an inevitable
further bruising from The Riddler.
Thank you Manehi (sterling work) and
congratulations to Enigmatist. This was
fine way to celebrate. I’m already looking
forward to my next bruising.
I can’t highlight a favourite clue because I
loved all of it.
I’m a bit late to the party, but more congratulations to Enigmatist and thanks to manehi. I vaguely remember the occasion of Enigmatist’s first puzzle and the fact of his age being published. My thought – then and now – was ‘Wow!’
Although it was tough, I thought this was easier than some of E’s puzzles. I’ve given up on quite a few of his over the years, but I actually finished this one without assistance. Of course I needed help with some of the parsing, but less than on some occasions.
Will Enigmatist still be setting and will I still be solving in another 40 years? Barring a medical revolution, the latter is extremely unlikely! 🙂
Definitely a test – feel pleased to have finished (3 sessions required) but failed all of the parsing . Happy anniversary and many thanks for a superb puzzle. Thanks also to manehi for the necessary explanations.
Thanks Enigmatist and manehi. Solved either side of the lovely Sorolla exhibition at the National Gallery. Saw lots of connected clues but not the theme. Is “leastwise” one of them?
Even later. Finished at 8.30 pm with parsing of WHIPPER-SNAPPER still to be explained (a=per twice!) Gruesome fun.
I still object to “Page is upset about” in SPIRACULA clue when you mean “is upset about page” though that isn’t possible. Guardian rules don’t match Azed.
Nonetheless tanks and congratulations to Enigmatist and manehi.
I found this too tough to call it enjoyable whilst solving but there is plenty to appreciate after coming here and seeing what I failed to solve and parse. Maybe after another 40 years of solving I’ll be able to breeze through an Enigmatist puzzle – congratulations to him on his ruby anniversary and thanks for this offering, and even more so to manehi for filling in the many gaps in my effort.
Wasn’t going to comment but,as I had to come here for some parsing, I thought I would. This was hard although not as hard as some by Enigmatist.I got about half of them in before the rot set in and I got the theme pretty much right away. I only got N and Q because I finally sussed CANOPUS and I gave up on JIGSAW.
Enjoyed this more than I’ve made it sound.
Thanks Enigmatist.
Thanks manehi and Enigmatist. A real struggle but well worth the effort. 40 years – that’s amazing.
Thanks Manehi and Enigmatist – and congratulations too.
Ellipses across the top not just misleading for a change, wow!
BTW copland @33 – Sophie ex Chorlton says hello.
Beyond me and felt it was too obscure in places but it appears I’m in the minority.
Me too Eric
What Eric says.
It was actually about 40 years ago that I and the only other person I knew who did cryptics, spent a week trying to finish an Enigmatist. If I remember correctly that is when I learnt the phrase Honi soit qui mal y pense.
I know that this not the done thing, but I have solved and parsed all today’s Guardian Prize except 2 down, which I’m pretty sure is a place-name unknown to me – it’s certainly not in WordWizard. Would anyone give me a hand? (I don’t send them off.)
Don’t bother – immediately after I posted the above, it came to me!
I was going to leave this puzzle for lack of time, but on seeing its significance I made time to try it this morning. It was great, regardless of its significance!
Many excellent clues – JIGSAW tops my six ticked favourites. N AND Q was my first in, but I had to look it up. (I’ve never heard of it, but I see it’s in the Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations, which made my guess correct.) I had more learning to do with ‘crew’ (=crowed), CARPET and SPIRACULA.
I thought ‘quipspeak’ was ok as a spoonerism for PIPSQUEAK.
GOODYEARS was tough, and my last in – ‘we hear’ was a great misdirection.
Congratulations to Enigmatist, and thanks to Manehi for taking on the task of blogging this puzzle.
Thanks to manehi and Enigmatist
N and Q was my last in – never heard of it or Vishy, and only entered it as the least implausible answer once all the crossers were in place.
I enjoyed the picture drawn of the cast of TOWIE having reserved spaces at their local retail monstrosity.
Some very good stuff here but one or two a bit iffy I thought, and one or two I still don’t really get:
LEASTWISE = HOWEVER anyone?
What is the definition @9a?
17a I’ve seen before (or something very much like it, perhaps in a previous Enigmatist)
11a RECITED or ON RECITAL perhaps, but not RECITING
26,6 TO MAKE FLAMBOYANT referring backwards?
Dansar @52
I see that you have a few unanswered questions.
I would simply refer you to Manehi’s blog to answer your questions on 22a LEASTWISE, 9a RATIONALE and 11a ELEGY.
As for 26,6, I put that down to setter’s licence – it is quite common for cryptic indications to appear on the ‘other’ or ‘wrong’ side of the material to be worked on. (I’m liberal enough to expect this from time to time.)
I have never been really sure what LEASTWISE, an Americanism, means. When I have heard it used in films I always thought we would say ‘at least’ in British English, but ‘however’ is not that different, and I accepted it.
Thank you Alan B
I had read the blog and all the comments in case my reservations had been covered. I had also had a look in a couple of on-line American dictionaries in case my take on LEASTWISE (which is in accord with yours is “at least”), might be a little narrow. I found no justification for broadening its sense, and so remain mystified as to how it can be synonymous with HOWEVER.
I feel I must emphasise that I would prefer to be put right, and that the setter is correct, which is why I invited anyone to give me an example.
I still can’t see that IS IT REASONABLE is a definition for RATIONALE
I have no problem with constructions which require the solver to insert their own pauses etc. to change the reading of a clue such as 14d. I know some object but I don’t – boundaries need pushing occasionally and Enigmatist has been pushing for longer than most.
But none of that yoda-like reading can render 11a and 26,6 valid as far as I can see.
Chambers defines LEASTWISE as at least; however (used to tone down a preceding statement). Webster (a US dictionary) gives the example leastwise you have a job, and that’s more than some folks can say, and “however” can be substituted with no change in meaning.
I took “Is it reasonable” to mean “can it be reasoned” rather than the more obvious “is it sensible” – and with the former you have a definition of RATIONALE (which is the product of reasoning).
I interpreted 11 across as “the reason” = WHY (as in “I don’t know the reason/I don’t know why they didn’t turn up) and “for reciting” to mean “to be recited”, indicating you need a homophone of WHY.
I do agree that “to make flamboyant” is not the most elegant anagram indicator I’ve ever seen.
Hope this helps.
Re 9a:
Barnard (p137) gives the “rule”: “The rational key must not be inconsistent with the grammatical inflections of the light” – but immediately goes on to give an example which does not conform – namely:
Dead! Dead! Dead! (4) for DODO (ie ditto ditto)
and adds that it is :”a legitimate clue to a noun for the rational key is clearly allusive”
Other theorists have used the term “definition” in place of “rational key”.
This is obviously sloppy or at least requires that in its crossword use that term needs to have a different meaning from its everyday one.
“Pet” is not a definition for “dog” – but it could be a rational key.
Another good justification for a clue is: The answer just hits you in the face. Perhaps Barnard meant “allusive” to include that.
cruciverbophile@55
Yes it does thanks. If it’s there he is entitled to use it. Funnily enough Websters was one of the dictionaries I consulted before commenting but I read that same phrase as an example of why they are not synonyms. I had to insert a but to make it work – but at least.
9a I read the same way as you – CAN IT BE REASONED, but wasn’t sure (and I’m still not), whether that is the intended definition element of the clue with a cryptic/humourous reference to RATION/ALE as wordplay, or whether whole clue was meant as a cryptic/humourous def. I think the source of my confusion is that IT CAN BE REASONED is a BETTER def.
My problem with 11a is that the only way I can read it (and I try to allow the setter as much latitude as possible) is that the homophone required is of POEM.
I hesitated to comment on 26,6 originally because it so nearly a truly brilliant &lit, but sadly I just can’t make it work. For me, once FLAMBOYANT is directed towards BID to help the surface, no amount of cryptic reading can refer it back to GUY PRONE.
A less picturesque clue might have read: STUART GUY PRONE ON BOAT
Just in case the setter ever reads this – I’ve recently been through your back catalogue in the Guardian and it’s top class, fiendish stuff, however this one was quite gentle, leastwise, I think so.
@dansar #57 re 11a.
The wordplay is:
Editor’s leader on the reason for reciting
Editor’s leader: E
on: LEG
the reason for reciting: why (for reciting) = Y
Cancatenate the components thus derived.
By this setter’s standards it’s a gimme – especially with the easy logical key or “definition” as woolly-minded people call it.
Obviously poem is not a definition for elegy (although it may be part of one) – nor is it a synonym.
——————————————————————
You seem to be trying to find fault where it doesn’t exist.