Guardian Cryptic 27,832 by Arachne

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Arachne at her witty best this morning.

I enjoyed this puzzle – just the  right mix of straightforward and challenging clues, with some humour and wit thrown in for good measure.  I put ticks against 22ac, 16dn, 21dn and 24dn, but most of the clues were excellent.  I don’t remember having any quibbles while solving, so there probably weren’t any.

Thanks Arachne.

Across
9 LEASE Let learner driver move gradually (5)
  L (learner) + EASE (“move gradually”)
10 CONGRUITY Engineer crying out for agreement (9)
  *(crying out)
11 BEER HALLS Boozers pick up rubbish, according to Spooner (4,5)
  HEAR (“pick up”) + BALLS (“rubbish’) given the Spooner treatment
12 AFTER Looking for more nuts, first off (5)
  (d)AFTER (“more nuts” first off)
13 GNOCCHI Italian food, craft gin and endless chocs (7)
  *(gin choc)  where CHOC is [endless] CHOC(s)
15 NEBULAS Clouds of particles and gas obscure bus lane (7)
  *(bus lane)
17 WIDEN Make broader jam-makers retreat (5)
  WI (Womens Insitute, so “jam-malers”) + DEN (“retreat”)
18, 31 GAS MAINS For instance, millions in profits for energy suppliers (3,5)
  AS (“for instance”) + M (millions) in GAINS (“profits”)
20 ABHOR Hate a Danish physicist after change of heart (5)
  A (Niels) B(oh>HO)R (“Danish physicist” with his heart (ie central letters) changed)
22 Y FRONTS Tackle coverage of unknown weather features (1-6)
  Y (‘unknown” in maths) + FRONTS (“weather features”)
25 NASCENT Beginning new push to the summit (7)
  N (new) + ASCENT (“push to the summit”)
26 DEMUR Wayward emu regularly hiding object (5)
  Hidden in “waywarD EMU Regularly”
27 LOSE HEART Jockey let a horse give up (4,5)
  *(let a horse)
30 EXTEMPORE Unguardedly messages one back, opening spontaneously (9)
  (t)EXT(s) (unguardedly “messages”) + <=ME (“one” back) + PORE (“opening”)
31   See 18
 
Down
1 SLAB Small sailor pursuing large hunk (4)
  S (small) + AB (able-bodied “seaman”) pursuing L (large)
2 CASELOAD Perhaps doctor’s responsibility is to examine piles? (8)
  CASE (“to examine”) + LOAD (“piles”)
3 MESH Mediocre housing officers finally get engaged (4)
  MEH (“mediocre”) housing (officer)S [finally]
4 SCULLING Shy guards gather briefly, having a row (8)
  SLING (“shy”) guards CUL(l) (“gather” briefly)
5 UNISON Time to leave African capital, working in harmony (6)
  (t)UNIS (African capital, with T (time) left) + ON (“working”)
6 DREAMBOATS Cook modest Arab dishes (10)
  *(modest arab)
7 LINTEL Some jovial intellectuals beam (6)
  Hidden in [some] “joviaL INTELlectuals”
8 AYER Philosopher regularly ignoring Mary Beard (4)
  [regularly ignoring] (m)A(r)Y(b)E(a)R(d)

Refers to A.J. Ayer (1910-1989)
13 GAWKY Clumsy wit upset discontented killjoy (5)
  <=WAG (“wit” upset) + [discontented] K(illjo)Y
14 CONUNDRUMS Fellow convent dweller is involved in tattoos and riddles (10)
  CO-NUN (“fellow convent dweller”) + DRUMS (“is involved in tattoos”)
16 SPRAT Tail of famous clownfish (5)
  [tail of] (famou)S + PRAT (“clown”)
19 SINISTER Most Greek wine is revolting and evil (8)
  (<=RETSIN(a) (most “Greek wine”) + IS) [revolting, ie up]
21 HIERATIC Priestly dictator’s loftier loft (8)
  Homophone of [dictator’s] HIGHER ATTIC (“loftier loft”)
23 REMOTE Small and extremely radioactive speck of dust (6)
  [extremely] R(adioactiv)E + MOTE (“speck of dust”)
24 SALOON Local tinned potatoes in Delhi? (6)
  ALOO (“potatoes in Delhi”) in Sn (chemical element for “tin”) so ALOO is in TIN = “tinned“
26 DIED Five ducks plunged into water and perished (4)
  V (five) ducks from DI(v)ED (“plunged into water”)
28 HEMP Cannabis and ecstasy in prison (4)
  E (ecstasy) in HMP (Her Majesty’s “Prison”)
29 TUSK Donald, president of America, wearing turtleneck inside out (4)
  US (“America”) wearing T(urtlenec)K with its inside out

*anagram

72 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,832 by Arachne”

  1. I totally agree with the preamble at the top of this blog. There’s something very clean and unambiguous about Arachne’s setting which means that if I’m unsure about an answer it’s usually because I’ve got it wrong. I was dithering as to the exact plural of nebula, but it appears that “nebulas” and “nebulae” are both acceptable. I particularly liked 29d for its misdirection.

    Thanks to Arachne and loonapick.

  2. Lovely puzzle! 24D and 26D were favourites. Had to google to get the definition for 29D.

    Thanks Arachne and loonapick!

  3. Thanks Arachne and Loonapick.
    I don’t understand Gather=Cull. I would have thought it had to be a selective gathering to be a cull? Struggled with Mediocre=Meh too. Is this just ‘yoof’ speak for not liking?

  4. Thanks Arachne and loonapick

    A DNF for me, as I had HIERARCH at 21d (though I did think that “dictator” had to be doing double duty – I should have known that Arachne wouldn’t do that). No idea about the parsings of WIDEN and SCULLING, and I agree with Eric that “gather” for CULL doesn’t seem right.

    Favourite was Y-FRONTS.

  5. Lots of fun here, especially the funny, smooth-as-silk surfaces. Too many “likes” to list them, but I cannot believe “died” took me so long even when I was sure it had to be the answer. Lovely misdirections (the wayward emu had me counting off every 2nd and 3rd letter) and I also enjoyed the Danish physicist (whichever member of the Bohr family was intended…)

    Thanks Arachne, and loonapick for the blog.

  6. As the preamble quite rightly says, Arachne at her best with too many favourites to list, although I did laugh the most at the tackle coverage in 22a

    Thanks to her and Loonapick

  7. Pretty much what crypticsue said. I also laughed at 2dn and admired the little gems at 8 and 26dn.

    [Totally agree about RETSINA being revolting.]

    Many thanks to both.

     

  8. Plenty of laughs, and boundless admiration for Arachne’s surfaces as usual. Favourites were DREAMBOAT, SCULLING and SALOON. Many thanks to A & l.

  9. Great Arachne as always. Ta loonapick for final parsing of 4d, 17a and 24d, which were entered as ‘nearly there’ guesses. Missed anagram of bus lane in 15 (‘obscure’?), which led to nebules, which is there in the dictionaries (esp. with respect to particle clouds). D’oh. Jam-makers, would they like to be so referred? But one to stored away for next time. Thanks Arachne – my resident doctor was pleased not to have engage with the piles!

  11. I concur with all the plaudits here. The only thing that spoilt it slightly for me was 30a which I’m still struggling with (the EM bit). Otherwise a ‘perfect’ crossword for me.

     

  12. Retsina is an acquired taste, and really requires sunshine and heat.  When I was a travel courier in Greece, I used to consume large quantities at meal-times, because none of the customers wanted their share.

  14. I failed to parse the GK 20a Danish physicist (never heard of him), 30a, and also SCULLING although I did think it had something to do with CULL.

    My favourite was SALOON.

    Thansk Arachne and blogger.

  15. Fantastic crossword. Favourite clues DEEAMBOATS and Y-FRONTS. I also liked DEMUR because I was so set on interpetting “regularly” as a typically Arachnid alternate letters clue that I didn’t see it for ages.

    Thanks to Arachne and Loonapick

  16. Got thoroughly tied up in knots about whether 15 across should be nebulae or nebulas, so sprat was last one in…

  17. A satisfying puzzle in the main with some neat twists and wit.  I liked Y-FRONTS and TUSK most of all.  I didn’t understand DIED, SALOON or EXTEMPORE, but I can see now there is nothing wrong with them.  HIERATIC was new to me, but the clue made it possible to get even with only one letter (in my grid) to start me off.

  18. Can’t imagine never having heard of Neils Bohr, michelle, but it just shows how diverse life journeys are; one person’s gen ken is another’s Que? As above, a beaut spiderweb, hardly a quibblet, and surfaces neat. Slowish to nut out extempore, 2nd loi, and dnk potato aloo despite having had it betimes. Ta Arachne as ever and Loonapick for the unpicking.

  21. I always seem to get them in the end, but I just don’t like Spoonerism clues, regardless of the setter. I usually inwardly groan when I see them, and move on – there’s something unsatisfying about having to have crossers every time. Must be just the way my brain works, or doesn’t.

  23. I loved this one. My favourite was probably ALOO in Sn. I enjoyed every clue, which was a rare treat. My only gripe was my own old-fashionedness – I’d have preferred NEBULAE & CONUNDRA. Many thanks to loonapick and the spideress.

  24. My favourite setter. Always loads of clever surfaces – don’t know how she keeps up such a high standard.

    And ‘tackle coverage’ is a work of genius!,

  25. Brilliant – loved every minute.

    Other words of four letters that can be put after ‘s’ to make fish:

    Hark
    Kate
    Melt
    Nook

    Might come in useful later, you never know!

  27. A very good puzzle. LOI extempore. COD Y Fronts. Loved 24d and 29d. Jam makers threw me for a while. Retsina is a drink not to be savoured, but slugged down quickly, just like raki and ouzo. Thanks to setter and bloggers.

  28. Thanks both,

    As others have said a very elegant crossword.

    A quiblet: Does ‘remote’ mean ‘small’? Both Chambers and Collins have it, but only in the context of ‘remote chance’ = ‘small (or slight or faint) chance’. This is pretty much a fixed phrase and I can’t immediately think of other phrases where I’d use ‘remote’ to mean ‘small’. It is analogous to extracting one letter from an initialism and using it on its own, which is frequently objected to.

    There is a scene in Father Ted where Ted is trying to explain to Dougal that a toy cow appears the same size as some real cows because the toy cow is ‘small’ but the real cows are ‘far away’. The clue seems to perpetrate the same misunderstanding.

    What do other people think?

  29. Pedro @26 – one as in “one does take tea” refers to yourself or “me”.
    Eric @3 – meh – look up mediocre.com for the daily deal.

  30. Tick, tick, tick – on and on. Almost the only one I didn’t tick was EXTEMPORE because I didn’t parse it and even now it seems a little more convoluted than the rest – but that’s probably sour grapes. Like others DIED took ages before I figured out why. Who else tried to make something out of NEDIW and traffic jams before the WI pd’d? HIERATIC was new to me and clued perfectly. All hail Arachne and thanks to lucky loonapick.

  31. Ah, OK Roberto, thanks. Still, in that sense shouldn’t it equate to ‘I’ rather than ‘ME’?

     

     

     

  34. Tyngewick@28. Right. It seems what you are saying is that just because A B = C B, it doesn’t automatically follow that A = C. Think of White House vis-a-vis President’s House. We know language is not logical, so what it boils down to is how much latitude should setters be given. To me, it’s all a matter of how likely the singleton phrase is to come to mind. I think “remote chance” is common enough, but you could argue it’s the thin end of the wedge.

  35. Many thanks to Arachne and Loonapick.

    Nothing to add in praise of this delightful and witty solve, with some great misdirection.

    copland smith @23 – I think it was Eric Partridge who wrote that “English plurals are much to be preferred”, so I am with Arachne here.

  37. Another great crossword.

    I particularly liked TUSK, DIED, Y-FRONTS and SCLULLING. A slight niggle about SALOON = local, which seems to be an Americanism according to the dictionaries (a saloon bar is not a local.)

    Thanks Arachne and loonapick.

  38. Thanks Arachne and loonapick

    Robi @ 37: I don’t think that’s quite right. It’s probably not so much the case these days, but formerly when you went into your local you turned one way for the public bar, and the other for the saloon bar. So if you always drank in the latter you’d probably still say “I’m going down the pub”.

  40. Tyngewick@28

    As long as there’s at least one example of the two words being synonymous, that’s enough.  The fact that the phrase “remote chance” gives such an example in this case justifies its use by setters, as far as I’m concerned.

  41. Typically polished puzzle by Arachne.  I liked the ducks clue very much, ditto the weather features one.  I’ve developed a bit of an aversion to imperative anagrinds, so for DREAMBOATS, I’d have preferred “Modest Arab cooked dishes”.  But that’s just me.  Still liked the clue.

    Thanks, Arachne and loonapick

  42. Found this one quite tough and had to look up quite a few things that others have obviously found relatively straightforward.   Not to worry, I very much enjoyed working through it and am hopefully learning all the time.

    Top answers for me were the tackle coverage and the Arab dishes.

    Thanks to Spiderwoman and to loonapick for the blog.

  43. Simon S @38; that was my point. I don’t think you would say: “I’m going down to the saloon” unless you were in a cowboy film – it’s small beer anyway.

  44. Thanks to Arachne and loonapick.

    Ah bliss – I’ve been gadding about so much that I haven’t been able to tune in for a while and what a treat this was to return to. It hasn’t quite all been said so I’m applauding BEER HALLS if no one else is – gave me a semi-explosive snicker. The surface for SLAB paints an hilarious picture (oh all right, a hilar…) as does the badly attired dignitary in TUSK. Great fun.

  45. A Spoonerism hasn’t made me laugh for some time but 11ac did. A good puzzle of course but I did struggle a bit in the NW. SLAB and MESH were LOI. Liked Y FRONTS.
    Thanks Arachne.

  46. Tyngewick@28.  Think of it as “the chances of that happening are pretty remote” – hence, small

  47. Thanks to Arachne and loonapick. I needed help parsing SALOON and EXTEMPORE but much enjoyed this puzzle.

  48. Dr Whatson @21

    Although I used not to like clues that use spoonerisms, I do now, but only if the spoonerised phrase is a sensible one – or, failing that, a witty one.  The spoonerism for BEER HALLS meets that requirement rather well, in my view – doubly so, you might say.

    I’m not sure what you meant by ‘having to have crossers every time’ in relation to a spoonerism clue.  I know they help to solve a spoonerism clue, but they help to solve every clue, and more than most solvers I need all the crossers I can get in order to complete a crossword.  (That’s the way my brain works.)

  49. Thanks to loonapick and Arachne

    Good fun, very nice,very smooth, no complaints, but, just out of curiosity, are there any examples of:

    AS = FOR INSTANCE

    LOAD = PILES

    ONE = ME is supported in my Chambers, but, a little oddly, only in the dictionary section.

  52. Dansar @49 … not quite an equivalence but “A LOAD” = “PILES” when discussing how much of something you might have. Probably explains the question mark to request the clue be treated with a small does of generosity.

  53. Alan B @48 – I totally agree: my heart usually sinks at the sight of ‘Spooner[ism]’ which, in the hands of some setters, means just a meaningless combination of words, often with dodgy transpositions and, to my mind, examples of lazy cluing. Two or three [Arachne, of course, included] can be relied on to come up with sensible phrases, along with, as here, meaningful, witty surfaces.

  54. Thanks to the people who have taken the trouble to reply to my thoughts. I think ‘small chance’ and ‘remote chance’ are qualifying different meanings of ‘chance’. In the first case, ‘chance’ is a measure of probability – a number between 0 and 1. In the second case, ‘chance’ is an event that may or may not occur as in, say, ‘You’ve had your chance’.

    Dr. WhatsOn @34 You have my meaning and I agree it’s a matter of degree. Your example is a good one. I take it you wouldn’t be happy with ‘white’ being used to clue ‘president’s’. I wouldn’t. Where A B = C B, I’d prefer it to be true for several instances of B before allowing A to clue C. We’ve had this discussion with initials before, as I’ve mentioned

    phitonelly @40 As I don’t think small chance and remote chance are really synonymous then it wouldn’t work for me. Would you really allow any two words to be matched if they could be paired with a single other word to mean roughly the same thing? Eg would you say ‘lawn’ and ‘motor’ are the same thing because they can both precede ‘mower’ and give rise to the same image? Or ‘white’ to clue ‘president’s’ in Dr. WhatsOn’s example?

    Atlanta Dave @46. Your phrase isn’t one I’d be likely to say because it is applying ‘remote’ to a measure of probability.

  55. Tyngewick @54

    I was about to begin my comment by saying, ‘For example, ‘I haven’t the remotest idea what your problem is…’ and  decided to check in Collins before doing so and found, for ‘remote: ‘slight or faint, esp in not the remotest idea’!

     

     

  56. Van Winkle @ 52

    Thanks, I see that, and while solving I hadn’t the slightest doubt that they were equivalent. But on revisiting the clues – as I do with a crossword I have enjoyed – I found that I couldn’t think of an exact equivalence, and thought that others might. Perhaps it is as you say – the question mark is there because there isn’t one.

  57. On  REMOTE = SMALL

    Arachne recognises the tenuous connection I think, and makes the clue simple accordingly.

    I have  heard people say TINY and INFINITESIMAL in place of REMOTE, but unless we are to accept CAT IN HELL’S (and many others) as a synonym for REMOTE, they don’t really cut it.

  58. One small quibble (which I’ve seen in crosswords before).  Am I the only musician here to point out that UNISON is not at all the same as HARMONY (5d)?  One means everyone is singing or playing the same note, the other means they’re singing or playing different notes that sound good together.  I know that both words can be used metaphorically in the sense of “agreement” or something like that, but it always annoys me when they’re equated.  Despite that, a great puzzle – thanks Arachne and loonapick.

  59. Superb crossword Arachne, well spun indeed. Thanks to Loonapick for the parsing. CULL was my quibblette too but loved the definition part of that clue. Also fell into the trap of putting Nebulae without proper thought.

    Some real wit employed here. Much appreciated.

  60. Quirister @58

    I’m another ‘musician’ (who plays music and knows quite a lot about the subject).  Making unison mean harmony or vice versa jars with me too, and I would never equate them in this way.  The setter has dictionary backing for her clue, though, as both words have an extended meaning of ‘agreement’ in a general (not a musical) sense.

  61. Mostly been said already – a lovely crossword, thanks S&B.
    In defence of CULL, I’d suggest “ We have culled a few gems from our archives for your entertainment” a la Denis Norden. Chambers has it as the first meaning.

  64. Always a joy to solve an Arachne. Thanks to her and to Loonapick for the blog. Agree with favourites mentioned- 22a made me chuckle and I also liked saloon and died in particular.

  65. Quirister @ 58 is absolutely right, of course: for a choral musician particularly, ‘unison’ and ‘harmony’ are exact opposites: when explaining to a choir how you want the hymns sung, you have to go through each verse, choosing either unison or harmony. The former means that everyone sings the tune (good for the first verse, as it helps anyone in the congregation for whom it is unfamiliar, and for the last verse as it gives more power), and the latter means that all four divisions of the choir sing their own parts – sopranos, altos, tenors and basses (which sounds better, stops the singers getting bored, and avoids complaints from the basses, for whom a high tune is much more of an effort than their own lower part). But Alan B is correct of course about the extended definition excusing Arachne. The Spider has produced one of the most brilliant crosswords we have seen in a long time, IMHO. What fabulous surfaces!

  66. phitonelly @39: thanks for the link, I’m wiser now. I always thought the phrase “one does take tea” quoted by Roberto was an affectation rather than correct speech.

    Also thanks to Dansar @49.

    Another item to add to the education I’ve gained from the Guardian Crossword over the years.

  71. An excellent puzzle. I thought BATH TOWEL and UNTWIST were the best of some very good clues. I knew DOR-BEETLE but not GAMBADO. I couldn’t parse SCAPA FLOW or RESPECTED properly, but all is now clear.
    Thanks to Nutmeg and Loonapick.

  72. My apologies for posting my comment @71 on the wrong page. It belongs to the following day’s Nutmeg, and Andrew is the one I must thank for the blog.

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