Today’s regular blogger is on holiday so I’ve had the fun of tackling Pan this morning.
There’s an obvious mistake in the enumeration of 11a (see notes below), which held me up for a while, but otherwise this was all good: sometimes a little tricky, but all fair, and well-constructed surfaces. I won’t attempt to pick a favourite because there are too many candidates. Thanks to Pan.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 1 | See 9 | |
| 5 | ARCHAISM | Dated term for 22 is retained in America (8) |
| ARCH (see 22d), then IS in AM (short for America, for example N. Am. when referring to the whole landmass and not just the USA). | ||
| 9, 1 | PREGNANT PAUSES | Prince ruling with father exploits awkward silences (8,6) |
| P (Prince) + REGNANT (ruling) + PA (father) + USES (exploits). | ||
| 10 | ABRUPT | Rude sailor visiting priest during period of sexual excitement (6) |
| AB (able seaman), then P (priest) within RUT (animal mating season). “Visiting” is just there for the surface I think. | ||
| 11 | ROBERT DE NIRO | Reincarnated editor reborn as actor (12) |
| Anagram (reincarnated) of EDITOR REBORN. Of course this isn’t a 12-letter word, and the enumeration should be (6,2,4) – I puzzled over it for a while, and judging by the comments on the Guardian site I’m not alone, but with a few crossers the answer became obvious. | ||
| 13 | SHOE | Wild horse runs out into part of 21 (4) |
| Anagram (wild) of HORSE without the R (runs). 21d is BRAKE, and a brake shoe is part of the drum brake system on a car wheel. | ||
| 14 | EINSTEIN | One German scientist contracted to meet another one and another (8) |
| EIN (German for “one”) + S[cientis]T (contracted) + another EIN. Semi-&lit: EINSTEIN was of course a German scientist. | ||
| 17 | RUSTLING | Girl nuts about stealing cattle (8) |
| Anagram (about = scattered) of GIRL NUTS. | ||
| 18 | IRON | Seaweed turned into household implement (4) |
| NORI (Japanese edible seaweed), reversed (turned). | ||
| 20 | LIMBO DANCING | Lad combining moves in display of agility (5,7) |
| Anagram (moves) of LAD COMBINING. | ||
| 23 | PINATA | Fresh paint applied to a container for toys and sweets (6) |
| Anagram (fresh) of PAINT + A. It’s a Spanish word so it’s Piñata: a decorative container of sweets and toys, broken open as part of a celebration. | ||
| 24 | RUSHMORE | Romeo with American mobile home crossing river to get to mountain in the Black Hills of Dakota (8) |
| R (Romeo in the radio alphabet) + US + anagram (mobile) of HOME containing (crossing) R (river). Mount Rushmore is the mountain with memorial sculptures of past US presidents. | ||
| 25 | ETHEREAL | Delicate embroidery originally attached to leather pants (8) |
| E[mbroidery] (originally = first letter) and an anagram (pants = terrible) of LEATHER. Lovely surface! | ||
| 26 | SCYTHE | Farmer’s tool chest broken with donkey’s foot (6) |
| Anagram (broken) of CHEST, with the last letter (foot) of [donke]Y. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | AURA | Restaurant preserves distinctive character (4) |
| Hidden answer (. . . preserves) in [rest]AURA[nt]. | ||
| 3 | SUGAR BEET | Vegetable in barge converted into fat (5,4) |
| Anagram (converted) of BARGE, inserted into SUET (animal fat used in baking). | ||
| 4 | SHABBY | Shameful attempt to steal answer books (6) |
| SHY (an attempt or a throw: not a common usage, except perhaps in coconut shy), containing (to steal) A (answer) + B B (book x 2). Shabby = slang for unfair / unreasonable. | ||
| 5 | ATTORNEY GENERAL | Enlarge on treaty rewritten by legal official (8,7) |
| Anagram (rewritten) of ENLARGE ON TREATY. | ||
| 6 | CLADDING | Cold fellow carrying lamp heading off to get good outer layer (8) |
| C (cold) + [a]LADDIN (fellow carrying a magic lamp, from the Middle Eastern folk tale) with the first letter (heading) removed, then G (good). | ||
| 7 | APRON | Ophelia prone to hog part of stage (5) |
| Hidden answer (. . . to hog) in [opheli]A PRON[e]. The area of a theatre stage in front of the arch and/or curtains. | ||
| 8 | SUPERVISOR | Delightful guest has no Italian vermouth for inspector (10) |
| SUPER (delightful = very good) + VIS[it]OR (guest) without IT (short for Italian vermouth, as in the cocktail “gin and it”). | ||
| 12 | CHAUVINIST | Staunchly patriotic companion gets gold, plus French wine first (10) |
| CH (Companion of Honour) + AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold) + VIN (French for wine) + 1ST (first). Chauvinist originally meant patriotic to the point of disdain for all other countries, but now it’s probably more often seen in the phrase “male chauvinist” for one who disdains women. I’m not going to mention any current world leaders that spring to mind. | ||
| 15 | THINGUMMY | Can containing hot and sticky what-d’you-call-it (9) |
| TIN (can) containing H (hot) + GUMMY (sticky). Thingummy = what-d’you-call-it = term for something whose name the speaker doesn’t know or can’t remember. | ||
| 16 | BIRDCAGE | Accommodation for Swift in prison? About time! (8) |
| BIRD (a prison sentence) + C (circa = about) + AGE (time). Though a swift is perhaps not the sort of bird likely to be accommodated in a cage. | ||
| 19 | MISSUS | Winner of American beauty pageant getting partner (6) |
| MISS US (as opposed to Miss Great Britain or Miss World, for example); missus = Mrs = wife. | ||
| 21 | BRAKE | Device for stopping movement of barrel on slope (5) |
| B (allegedly an abbreviation for barrel, though perhaps not in everyday usage: I seem to recall we’ve discussed this on Fifteensquared before) + RAKE (slope, as in raked seating in a concert hall). | ||
| 22 | ARCH | Principal ingredient of regular charcoal (4) |
| Hidden answer (ingredient) in [regul]AR CH[arcoal]. Principal as in arch-enemy. | ||
Very enjoyable puzzle. My favourites were PREGNANT PAUSES, SUPERVISOR, CHAUVINIST, BIRDCAGE, CLADDING.
Thank you Pan and Quirister.
Thanks Pan and Quirister
I enjoyed this a lot. FOI was the lovely PREGNANT PAUSES. Other favourites standing out were the &littish LIMBO DANCING, and MISS US.
So many decades since Chubby Checker but it’s amazing what sticks! Not an instant write-in, in fact arch and the SE were FOsI, then the rest unfolded. Archaism was scholarly for a Monday. Thanks P&Q.
Lots of fun – “pregnant pauses” deserves a round of applause, not silence! I had “hose” for the brake part which held up” chauvinism” for a while. It fits all apart from the “wild” bit. Lots of great surfaces and too many ticks to mention – many thanks Pan, and thank you Quirister for the detailed blog.
C’mon Guardian, hot on the heels of ‘sarply’ in the prize, we now have robertdeniro.
Thanks Quirister for overall commenting, parses straightforward today. Isn’t it time Einstein was retired? So many other worthy scientists that could find a place – does one refer to poster-scientists?
10a v. cheeky, and quite complementary to 20a ! 23a good for a somewhat newish word in the anglosphere, that had me looking for a sort of tin for some time. Three hiddens in the down clues generous. 26a goodish, but could have been a better anagram if the ‘y’ had been a bit more hidden.
Thanks Pan, look forward to next offering.
11 didnt bother me enumerating the letter counts would make it a giveaway mote suitable for the Quiptic. And seeing that we expect mistakes with the current state of editing ion the Graun…..A compromise would be to say 3 words as in barred puzzles.
All that aside, I thought this was a very entertaininf piuzzle.
Thanks Pan and Quirister.
Meatier than the normal Monday fare but all the more enjoyable for it.
Shame about 11a but managed to get it.
Took a little while to tune in and then it all fell into place very quickly. Einstein seemed familiar, as did Miss US. But a neat and enjoyable Monday puzzle.
I thought this was a bit of a curate’s egg. I enjoyed MISSUS and LIMBO DANCING. The incorrect enumeration of 11a was a momentary pain – but since the answer was clearly an anagram of “editor reborn”, it was easily solved and therefore didn’t irritate too much. I’ve never been to Dakota and so had no idea that that’s where Rushmore is, but again, the crossers made this obvious. I’m not sure the word “vermouth” is necessary in 8 down: IT can also be “italian, and “gin and it” is a term I’ve never encountered (despite having downed more than my fair share of gins over the years).
Many thanks to Quirister for introducing me to nori (the only seaweed I know is kelp); I’d guessed iron but couldn’t parse it.
As for AM meaning “America”: I’ve now grown used to seemingly-random initials being acceptable as signifiers for words, merely because some dictionary somewhere has that initial listed, no matter how obscure the usage. It used to annoy the beejezus out of me, but I’m working through my issues on the matter. Or at least I was. But c’mon: AM for America? Seriously?
Thanks to Pan, and Quirister for the fine explanations
Well done to those who worked out the correct enumeration for 11ac and solved the clue. I did not. On Monday the crossword is traditionally easy, so 6,2,4 would have been in keeping with this tradition.
I’ve just seen the presumably correct parsing of EINSTEIN but I had taken it as EIN + STEIN (which could refer to a number of scientists of that name).
I don’t like the ST for contraction of scientist.
Wellbeck @9: I recall a debate on the various possibilities for America a year or so ago (someone my be able to dig it up)
There was ‘A’ , ‘US’, ‘AM’ and I think a couple more.
Hello Pedro – I wasn’t aware of that discussion, but its existence doesn’t surprise me. I shall simply mentally add AM to my list of seemingly-random abbreviations that can be brought to bear in parsing…..
Thought 20 across was a splendid clue, it reads so smoothly. Long time ago since I attempted this sinuous activity!
I hesitated to put Einstein in because it is well known that he worked for the Swiss patent office, so I always thought he was Swiss. It turns out to be complicated; he was born German, but was stateless from the age of 17, became Swiss, but then moved to Berlin.
Well done, Pan and Quirister. An enjoyable puzzle and thorough explanations in the blog. All favourites already mentioned. A good Monday.
My 19d often complains that anything is used for abbreviations and I have to point put that they are (at least usually) justified by being in a ‘dictionary somewhere’ as you say Wellbeck. Still annoying though often useful for the surfaces I suppose.
Pan Am airline would surely be a well enough recognised abbreviation of AM = America. What other countries are abbreviated as two letters? Wellbeck was pointing out It for Italian would’ve been ok.
Meadian @ 18: Pan Am was short for Pan American Airlines
Fun and a good intro to the week. Re the enumeration issue, interestingly, American style crosswords (as in eg NY Times) do not give letter counts and no indication re number of words. However I do prefer the established UK tradition.
I liked PREGNANT PAUSES, CLADDING and LIMBO DANCING.
Thanks to Pan and to Quirister
Chinoz @ 5. You can no more retire Albert Einstein than you could Wm. Shakespeare or J S Bach! That kind of greatness is for ever.
Several seem to have liked MISSUS, and it does seem logical, but there is a mistake there. The pageant and winner are both known as Miss USA. There is also a Miss America, and there is a lesser-known event called Miss US International, I just discovered by googling, but there appears to be no such thing as Miss US. (Nor Miss Am, for that matter!)
I wanted TRASHY to work at 4d. It didn’t, but by good fortune it came in handy in another of today’s puzzles.
I liked this Pan a lot btw. Not at all a write in. Nice and chewy. And thanks Quirister.
I’ve finally twigged that 11 is a bit of a dig at the editing of Graun puzzles. :”editor reborn”.
Nice to be reminded of “Gin & It” (Gin and sweet Italian vermouth – usually Rosso), which now makes me crave the much dryer Gin & French (where the Italian vermouth is replaced by French Vermouth – usually Noilly Prat).
Phil J Shouldn’t that be Gin & Fr?
copmus@24 ….totally agree, whoever he is needs to be sarply re-ignited.
Sorry, it should have been reincarnated, but the printer’s imp version works just as well 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed today’s crossword and was somewhat glad that De Niro was Grauniated as I would hardly have needed anagram fodder at all to solve. As it was, it took me longer than it should have to realise the mistake.
Loved many surfaces today including ABRUPT THINGUMMY which I technically did not get because I spelt it with an A.
Pedro@11: What’s not to like about Scientist contracted to ST? I just took it as simple letter play so in that sense cannot object to the clueing. I didn’t see it as a da (dodgy abbreviation) this time.
Thanks Pan and Quirister for getting the week off to a great start.
copmus@24: good point. Think you could well be right there.
Re. 21d, I think B is perfectly legitimate as an abbreviation of barrel in a petroleum context.
Thanks to Pan and Quirister.
I found this tough for a Monday, and not just because of the 11ac holdup.
Properly enumerated it would have been almost too easy however. I like the Azed approach: “12, 3 words”.
I learnt several things today- the State Mt RUSHMORE is in,PINATA is a Spanish sweet container and NORI is a sort of seaweed. Who said crosswords were a pointless activity! Actually I liked this a lot. Indeed, it could’ve been a perfect Monday puzzle if it hadn’t been for ROBERT DE NIRO. Oddly enough AURA was LOI.
I liked PREGNANT PAUSES and SHOE.
Thanks Pan.
Chinoz @5: in American English, which absorbs (for obvious reasons) Spanish loan words fairly readily, PINATA isn’t all that new. My Webster’s attests to uses in English from 1868. It’s reached the point where it’s more often seen without the tilde, which means that it’s gone native. It’s seen in metaphorical uses too: for example, sports writers sometimes refer to baseball pitchers who are having a bad day as being “whacked around like a pinata.”
And as for Am for America or American, it’s common enough to pass. N. Am., Pan Am, Trans Am, Am Fam, etc.
Of course (me @34), part of the reason we use “pinata” so regularly is that probably every American under the age of 60 has had the experience of making (and then destroying) a pinata as an elementary-school art project. They’re also a common sight at kids’ birthday parties–this was even true in the practically all-Gringo corner of Indiana where I grew up. I mean, they’re perfect for a certain age group: destruction rewarded with candy.
Enjoyable puzzle, I came up a few short … never heard of ‘it’ for Italian vermouth and if anyone asked for it in a bar in the last 40 years I’m imagining mostly blank looks from the barman!
I’m always a bit surprised at what attracts debate as contentious here and what doesn’t – Am for America looks ok to me but gets plenty debate … b for barrel is new and looks pretty niche to me (only known to people in a particular industry and crossword solvers) but largely gets a pass? As a relative Newbie to this game the expectation that you know loads of obscure abbreviations is the one continuing frustration and I tend to prefer puzzles that don’t rely on them.
Thanks Pan and Quirister