Guardian 27,807 / Arachne

57 comments on “Guardian 27,807 / Arachne”

1. Didn’t parse the homophone of NOAH although biffed the clue with the crossers, so TVM for the blog – always a pleasure to see you as the  blogger. As you say an entertaining puzzle with smooth surfaces.

2. Delightful, as always.

3. Ah, my face lifts at seeing Arachne as compiler, because there will always delightful clues to make you smile. Today’s no exception!

   3d – isn’t it entertaining, indeed, and so bold! Ditto, issue in 6a, so worlds apart. 5d a clue also for the times. And ‘old piece of computer equipment’, nearly thought about valves (tubes for Nth Am readers) in the early behemoths.

   Thanks Eileen for gloss on Noah – had twigged the paternity but didn’t find connection to woman of wisdom. It turns out, though, that a imagined account from Ham’s mum has just appeared in North America. Coincidence?! (https://www.philly.com/arts/books/naamah-sarah-blake-noah-bible-shakespeare-co-philadelphia-20190409.html)

   Thanks Arachne for a bright start to the week!

4. My tea-tray moment (appropriately) came trying to parse CHARITY. I’d totally forgotten that CHA could also be spelt with a final R. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

5. Thanks for the interesting article, chinoz.

6. A Monday treat that was unexpected; I was going to get on and do some ‘stuff’ but when I saw Arachne’s name I had to solve it.

   The usual entertaining, high-quality puzzle; I didn’t know SKIRL but it was relatively easy to put together from the clue. I didn’t parse NOAH, so thanks to Eileen for that.

   Many ticks including INSIDE JOB, DOG PADDLE (more usually doggy paddle, I think), UNIT, BUSTIER, DERMATITIS (very well hidden), CONUNDRUM and the folk in the rag trade.

   Thanks to Arachne and Eileen for a good start to the week.

7. A nice treat – I agree with previous comments and our Lucky Blogger

   Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

8. My favourites were SCREWBALL, INSIDE JOB.

   I failed to solve Noah + SKIRL.

   Thanks Arachne and Eileen

9. Eh she makes it look so easy!

   And thanks Eileen.

10. Thanks to Eileen and Arachne

    A perfect crossword to make addicts of neophytes – there is such satisfaction to be had from the wit and clever use of language.

    The hidden DERMATITIS is a gem, both for the def and the clever concealment.

    I at first thought 2d was something of a snub for Bobby Ball (this being a British newspaper), but of course it was a clever Arachneism to not use COMEDIENNE.

    BTW AC for air conditioning is in my Collins.

11. Thanks, Dansar – as I said the other day, my Collins is about fifteen years old [my Guardian Prize]. I really should buy a new one!

12. … AC = air conditioning is also in Chambers

13. I also really liked this offering from Arachne which was more difficult than I have encountered on some other Mondays. IMHO, the best ones (a couple have already been mentioned) were 15a DO-OR-DIE, 19a BUSTIER, 28a POST-NATAL, 4d JUDDERY, 14d CONUNDRUM, 16d DRIVER ANT and 19d BODEGAS. It took me ages to see UNIT for 12a, my LOI. I liked the misdirection of “Ham” in 20a. Many thanks to two articulate women of wisdom –  Arachne for the web she wove for us today, and Eileen for three adept consecutive blogs.

14. Monday morning. The sun has come out. And it is Arachne blogged by Eileen.

    I knew it was a gem when the first one in was the – a bit & littish? – sprog. Ham producer was perfect. Dermatitis was a tour de force. And not a dud clue elsewhere.

15. Hi Robi ’12 – so it is! I missed the capitalised first entry [and I can’t see why air conditioning is there, because it isn’t capitalised in the list – grrr].

16. 20A does not work if one comes from Belfast. Also, surely bear and breed are different? Thanks to setter and blogger.

17. BUSTIER defined as “having bigger assets” surprises me, especially from Arachne.  It feels offensive to me.

    Char = tea? Rhotic or non-rhotic, I don’t think I’ve seen the word with an R before.  I also got stuck for a while because I kept trying to subtract “d” from something.  Not living with actual British currency, I experience the old an new notation as equally relevant.  When I first visited the UK in the 70’s, I was crushed that shillings and pence were gone, and I never got to use them!

    AC is common for air conditioning in the US, though I don’t think referring to Miami as a resort is.  The British seem to think so, though, I’ve seen it defined as such before.  It’s a big and not particularly affluent city, though certainly it has some beaches.

    SPAY was my LOI too, for the reasons you give, Eileen, except that I got stuck on “endlessly.”  Absurd of me, since I already had the S.  I’ll confess I had to reveal it.

18. As you say, Eileen, lots to enjoy. I like it when setters manage to break longer words or phrases like LANDOWNERS and DRIVER ANT into non-obvious pairs: LAN+DOWNERS and DRIVE+RANT. Charades that use the obvious break make weak clues, but those like today’s are non-trivial and great fun.
    Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

19. Thanks Arachne for a super crossie and Eileen for the usual helpful blog.  I agree Robi @6 and indeed I spent ages looking at DOG PADDLE because it just did not sound correct.  That was the only stumble, however, in a thoroughly delightful solve.

20. Valentine @17: On the other hand, I (in London)  have spelt it as CHAR all my life, and had problems adjusting to the near-universal CHA of crosswordese.

    Arachne is always a pleasure – not sure if my favourite was the ham producer or the hide problem – probably DERMATITIS for both the definition and the cunning concealment.

21. Maybe trickier than usual for a Monday, but very enjoyable.  I agree with others that 3d DERMATITIS was excellent.

    A small quibble about 5d.  No doubt many bigoted people are rabid (in the figurative sense of “raging”), but “rabid” and “bigoted” don’t mean the same.  My grandmother was bigoted but I wouldn’t have described her as rabid.

22. [Valentine@17. I chose not to be offended by BUSTIER, though I had that slight niggling thought that if the clue had been from a male setter, would I have liked it? So I get the unease you felt. All my life people have been telling me I take life too seriously, and my partner tells me that I am now starting to lose my sense of humour. So I am making an effort to lighten up.]

23. [Sorry to be so off topic, but I returned far too late to the Nutmeg blog on Thursday 25 April (Anzac Day) to thank Cookie and kevin for their posts. Thank you both for honouring those of us in the Antipodes. I found the horses one especially poignant. I know that it broke some Aussie soldiers’ hearts to have to shoot or leave behind their faithful equine companions.]

24. Anne @16 – that argument has rumbled along here for years. Shed even made up a clue for us, based on our discussions: ‘Tenor in drunken choir fought for fort? Not in this accent! (6)’  and we used to have a commenter – a lovely man who came to a couple of S and Bs, sadly no longer with us – who came from Belfast and used Rhotician as a pseudonym here.
    I think I can just about equate breed and bear.

    Valentine @17 – both cha and char are in the dictionaries and I found this earlier this morning, when I was looking things up. I thought BUSTIER might raise an eyebrow or two: I decided to leave it and wait  [but, JinA @22, losing a sense of humour – You??].

    Lord Jim @21 – I initially had the same thoughts as you about ‘rabid’ but I found ‘fanatical’ in both Collins and Chambers and thought it just squeezed in, with the clever anagram of DOG BITE.

25. Great fun. Can we have Arachne every Monday? AND Eileen! 1 and 11 across my favourites. I’ve always called the stroke doggy paddle so struggled with 10 across. Driver ant new to me. Great clue though. Thanks both!

26. A top class puzzle, but a little tricky by Monday standards. NOAH took me ages to see and was last in, but it was worth it.

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

27. It’s all been said in the blog and comments – another superb puzzle from Arachne. I agree with JinA that BUSTIER would have prompted more comment if it had been a male setter – but are we in danger of taking things too far? It is a crossword puzzle and not an editorial piece! I thought DERMATITIS was brilliant for the definition and didn’t realise it was a hidden word until I came here – I thought it was some anagram in couldn’t figure out which just shows what a great clue it was and how dense I can be. It was a dnf as I used wordsearch to get SKIRL. For those who want more of Arachne see Saturday’s FT prize – it kept us occupied on and off over the weekend. Many thanks to her and Eileen.

28. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen. A bit of a shock to the system for a Monday, but still very enjoyable. Most went in quite readily but for some reason I had quite a lot of trouble getting the short clues. Last ones for me were skirl, Noah, spay and last of all with no confidence driver ant. All my favourites have already been mentioned and thanks again to Arachne and Eileen.

29. Everything you want from an Arachne. Great fun. I savoured every clue, but faile on Noah and skirl.

    Many thanks and thanks also to Eileen, for a marathon blogging session.

30. Another wonderful web of intrigue from the spider lady.

    Ticks all over the place with INSIDE JOB & DRIVER ANT taking joint pride of place for me.

    I wonder, can we all agree that homophones will very rarely work everywhere in the UK, let alone the world?  If we could all accept this, we could avoid going over it every time.

    Many thanks, Eileen, for the excellent blog as usual.

    Nice week, all.

     

31. Just a bit of pedantry from me to Eileen. No acute accent I the painter Degas ( often mispronounced day ga). The “de” part is like in “nom de plume”. So the painter is pronounced “deux ga”.

32. Many thanks, PeeDiddy: that’s my thing learned today.

33. One of Arachne’s best, as noted above, and yes, a bit tough for a Monday, but well worth the effort. As one indication of the quality of the cluing, I never had to stop after putting a word in to wonder if it was the intended answer. I failed on SKIRL and MIAMI (not used to thinking of it as a resort). Also new to me were cod = kid, char = tea, and tup = mate, but those went in thanks to crossers. On the other hand, unlike some other commenters, I’m used to seeing the stroke referred to as a dog paddle and ac as an abbreviation for air conditioning. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

34. Defeated, as so often the case, by the non-rhotic homophone.  But I’ve long ago made my peace with that device.  I’m sure if I wrote homophone clues for my dialect, they’d raise some eyebrows for y’all too.

    I also didn’t know “doddle” for picnic or the word JUDDERY, both of which sound quite British to me.  But those clues were straightforward enough that they couldn’t be anything else.

     

35. Also in agreement that Miami is in no sense a resort.  It attracts large numbers of tourists, of course, but “resort” to me implies that the city is primarily geared towards the tourist trade.  Miami is too big and economically and culturally diverse of a city for that.  “Port” would be a fairer definition if you don’t want to go with “city.”

36. What a great crossword – chewable and satisfying. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

    I ‘ve heard ‘nervous nellies’ but I wouldn’t have thought of desperate.

    As for 19a, only a woman could say that, as in, only a scotsperson can crack jokes about the Scots.

    Miami is not a resort per se, but Miami Beach is.

    .

     

37. To add to Freddie@ 36, Miami Beach is incorporated as a separate city.

    Miami has cropped up before when Miami beach would be more accurate (e.g.Picaroon Guardian 26608), so Arachne is in good company.

38. Thanks Eileen and Arachne. Fun puzzle.

    @36 Freddie: My comment at Gdn site on 19a, saying:

    “On 19a, while I see the humor, and it is on my likes-list, wondered if a male setter had clued it with exactly the same words, would he be criticised?” elicited no response.

    Paul had indeed clued it differently earlier this year #27716

    BUSTIER
    Top row of vehicles? (7)

39. Bit harder than usual for a Monday but rather a good puzzle nonetheless. I puzzled for ages over SPAY and SKIER but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with either of them. I got NOAH from the reference to Ham rather than the soundalike and surely we’ve got better things to do than be offended by BUSTIER?
    Thanks Arachne.

40. A great start to the week!  I couldn’t parse ADIEU or NOAH. RADON was easily my favorite, followed by DERMATITIS and BUSTIER.

    I recently mentioned on this blog that I think English speakers are a bit too quick to separate compound words, and NEWSAGENTS is the exception that makes the rule. It looks completely wrong to me.

    Finally, I have to agree with my fellow US solvers. I love Miami for its unique character but I consider it to be less ‘resort’ and more ‘traffic jam with great Cuban food.’

41. illipu @38

    It’s a grey/gray area – are we any less accountable for chuckling at her joke, rather than his joke, about a woman’s body?

    You may have heard of Russell Peters, a Canadian-born East Indian comedian who uses his ethnicity to justify some outrageously racist jokes about East Indians, and as a result, is hugely successful. Are we (whites) racist by laughing with him, and how much less so than if we had cracked the same jokes ourselves?

42. BlueDot@40 ‘traffic jam with great Cuban food.’  made me chuckle – is the jam because everyone is trying to get to the drive ins?

43. Re 1D:  Knew it had to be Ibsen, but I didn’t get Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  On the other hand, I’m glad I didn’t get Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

44. Freddie you are so correct. My wife of 49 years is Grenadian. Of course I would never never attempt to use the N word. But my wonderful 94 years young Mother-in-law uses it all the time to great comic effect and emphasis. I can’t really rationalise this but I just have to sign and let it go!!

45. SIGH of course

46. Freddie@41
    Agree with you. I am not white but a man. I am averse to pushing PC to extremes. Just highlighting the double-standards that exist.

47. PS Freddie, Russell Peters is great fun and completely irreverent!!

48. Brilliant, l’ve had a ball today not to mention the ft one on Sat by her alter ego Rosa Klebb. COD BUSTIER & NOAH.

49. SPAY was my last one in too but for a different reason. I thought ‘Talks’ endlessly could be ‘alks’, ‘around’ would make it SALK, the inventor of the polio vaccine…

50. As the customary guardian of snowflake morals for this website, I can declare 19a inoffensive. Those of us who are not women might be surprised to learn that female breasts are an asset to child-rearing and not just valued by men as something to stare at.  Offense is thus only taken if you read the situation from the perspective of the Carry On crowd and you have fallen for the wily trap.

51. As a new (as of this morning) grandfather I especially liked 28 across – I plan to play with a tot a lot.

    Other favourites in a flawless puzzle were INSIDE JOB (once Eileen explained the parsing), DO-OR-DIE and LANDOWNERS, and I do not apologise for laughing out loud at BUSTIER.

    Thanks Arachne and Eileen for the fun.

52. I’m being thick but can someone spell out NOAH for me even more simply. I get ‘knower’ as wise person but why specifically a woman or is it just making a point that it often says man when it should say person??

53. Just came to praise a great puzzle, and understand why I didn’t get SPAY and SKIRL.

    Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

54. Eric @52 – Arachne is playing with your mind. Why not a woman? Would you have been similarly puzzled if the clue had restrictively said “man”? If so, you pass the test.

55. Thanks for your answer Van Winkle. Yes I would have been similarly puzzled. If that’s the reason I think it spoils the clue and it’s sad he/she feels the need to make the point. It makes the surface less elegant IMHO. Hey ho

56. Yeah that was great. And, as Eileen says, well worth poring over on completion to re-enjoy the surfaces. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

57. [I’ve learnt something about our commenters. How sad to hear of rhotician’s passing, a very regular contributor here; Paul B liked to call him Betty, among other names! RIP rhotician. (Also learnt that Van Winkle may be American – from his spelling of ‘offense).]

    Nice puzzle – which I’d missed. I tend to ignore Mondays, but may have to look in future. Luckily someone mentioned it in (tomorrow’s?) thread. I actually found it perfect Monday fare. I ticked DERMATITIS.
    Many thanks, both and all.

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