Guardian Cryptic 27,898 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27898.

I seem to have been dealt a goodly share of Qaos’ puzzles, which suits me just fine; this one was particularly enjoyable. A couple of people on the Guardian blog had trouble with 22A, which suggests that the theme is not as glaringly obvious as it seemed to me. It is, of course, the Scottish play, with the title appropriately hidden. There are a few more answers which might be peripherally connected to the theme – take your pick.

Across
7 SACCHARIN It’s cold tea at home with sweetener (9)
A charade of SA (sex appeal, ‘it’) plus C (‘cold’) plus CHAR (‘tea’) plus IN (‘at home’).
8 THREE For starters in trigonometry, 100 radians equal 83? (5)
First letters (‘for starters’) of ‘Trigonometry’ plus Hundred (‘100’) plus ‘Radians’ plus ‘Equal’ plus Eight (‘8’). And, yes, the definition is there, hiding next to the question mark (it does not get underlined). Qaos finds yet another version of the wonky arithmetic clue.
9 RHYTHMICS ’80s duo rejects EU and beats science? (9)
[Eu]RHYTHMICS (’80s duo’  of Annie Lennox – note 23D – and David A Stewart) minus EU (‘rejects EU’).
10 ESSAY Try drugs, for example (5)
A charade of ES (ecstasy tablets, ‘drugs’) plus SAY (‘for example’).
12 MOSAIC Artwork made in two seconds by da Vinci, ignoring the odds (6)
A charade of MO plus S (‘two seconds’) plus AIC (‘dA vInCi, ignoring the odds’).
13 ENVISAGE Imagine seeing a criminal stealing Victoria’s crown (8)
An envelope (‘stealing’) of V (‘Victoria’s crown’) in ENISAGE, an anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘seeing a’. ‘stealing’ seems a strange envelope indicator, but the clue makes sense if read as “Taking V from ENVISAGE gives an anagram of ‘seeing a’ “.
14 BAD DEBT By chief of business’s tally, lousy bet leads to unrecoverable money (3,4)
A charade o’f B (‘chief of Business’) plus ADD (‘tally’) plus EBT, an anagram (‘lousy’) of ‘bet’.
17 TRAGEDY Heartless Tory stifles anger over daughter’s misfortune (7)
An envelope (‘stifles’) of RAGE (‘anger’) plus D (‘daughter’) in TY (‘heartless TorY‘).
20 PREDATOR Hunter reforms parrot-eating man (8)
An envelope (‘eating’) of ED (‘man’) in PRATOR, an anagram (‘reforms’) of ‘parrot’.
22 CASTLE Spy’s licence to eliminate civilians and corrupted leaders — 0-0, say (6)
An anagram (‘corrupted’) of SLTECA (‘Spy’s Licence To Eliminate Civilians And … leaders’), for the chess notation of a king’s side CASTLE (queen side is 0-0-0).
24 THANE Old noble in fancy hat and nice clothing (5)
A charade of THA, an anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘hat’ plus NE (‘NicE clothing’). Cordor Cawdor and all that.
25 FACE PAINT Cryptic fanatic holds record — child’s play? (4,5)
An envelope (‘holds’) of EP (‘record’) in FACAINT, an anagram (‘cryptic’) of ‘fanatic’.
26 URBAN They say you are second, not first, Man City (5)
A charade of U R, sounding like (‘they say’) ‘you are’ plus B (‘second’, in the alphabet or position, say) plus ‘[m]an’ minus the first letter (‘not first’).
27 QUOTATION Estimated cost of passage taken (9)
Double definition.
Down
1 PASHTO Page has to be translated into language (6)
A charade of P (‘page’) plus ASHTO, an anagram (‘be translated’) of ‘has to’. PASHTO is one of the official languages of Afghanistan, and is also spoken in parts of Pakistan.
2 SCOTLAND First sofa bed to arrive in country (8)
A charade of S (‘first Sofa’) plus COT (‘bed’) plus LAND (‘arrive’).
3 TARMAC Sailor’s on rising river runways (6)
A charade of TAR (‘sailor’) plus MAC, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of CAM (‘river’).
4 WITCHES Crones change direction from head to foot (7)
SWITCH (‘change’) plus E (‘direction’), with the initial S moved to the end (‘from head to foot’).
5 GHOSTS Play go, as this AI disregarded faint images (6)
An anagram (‘play’) of ‘go as th[i]s A’ minus the I (‘I disregarded’) ‘go [a]s th[i]s’ minus A and I (‘disregarding AI’).
6 DERANGED Indeed, called crazy (8)
An envelope (‘in’…) of RANG (‘called’) in …’deed’.
11 EVER First Lady supported by Republican at all times (4)
A charade of EVE (‘first lady’) plus R (‘Republican’).
15 AYRSHIRE Before end of race, Harry is moved lower (8)
A charade of AYRSHIR, an anagram (‘moved’) of ‘Harry is’; plus E (‘end of racE‘), for the breed of cattle.
16 BETH Woman‘s gamble on husband (4)
A charade of BET (‘gamble’) plus H (‘husband’).
18 GESTALTS Government’s latest reshuffle — start to see whole organised perceptions (8)
A charade of G (‘government’) plus ESTALT, an anagram (‘reshuffle’) of ‘latest’ plus S (‘start to See’).
19 DREAM UP Think of a rude MP unseated (5,2)
An anagram (‘unseated’) of ‘a rude MP’. Take your choice.
21 DUNCAN Boy‘s brown tin (6)
A charade of DUN (‘brown’) plus CAN (‘tin’).
22 CHEATS Gossip magazine, inside: ‘Extremely Careless Adulterers‘ (6)
An envelope (‘inside’) of HEAT (‘gossip magazine’) in CS (‘extremely CarelesS‘).
23 LENNOX Lewis gets disheartening little news on Oxford’s missing former president (6)
A charade of LE (‘disheartening LittlE‘) plus N N (‘news’ – two of them) plus ‘OX[ford]’ minus FORD (‘missing former president’, Gerald, of the USA), for LENNOX Lewis, former boxer. The surface suggests a lost Inspector Morse episode.
completed grid

50 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,898 by Qaos”

  4. I didn’t pick up on the theme, but I enjoyed it anyway.

    My favourites were BAD DEBT, URBAN, QUOTATION, THREE.

    I needed help from google for Lennox Lewis and HEAT magazine – never heard of either of them before.

    I failed to solve CASTLE – I had no idea about the ‘0-0, say’.

    Thanks Peter and Qaos.

  5. “Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
    “No.”
    “Oh. Well, is THIS a dagger …”
    ISIRTA again.

  6. Remembered post-solve that Qaos does themes and there it was. Would’ve helped a bit to wake up sooner, eg with Duncan. Is tea sometimes cha, as against char for eg daily, cleaner etc? Like michelle@4, dnk the boxer or the gossip mag, but no bother. Nice puzzle with a bit of chew, thanks PeterO and thanks Qaos (Qaos is one of my favourite films, based on four Pirandello stories).

  7. I liked the theme even though I only picked it up at the end. Seeing 23d, I had initially wondered about a (EU)RHYTHMICS theme.  I had a vague memory of ‘0-0’ having something to do with chess, but CASTLE really went in more from the crossers.

    Favourite was the surface and wordplay for THREE. I learnt that GESTALTS is a word – I had always thought GESTALT was both singular and plural. I think I’ll stick with the singular.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

     

  8. Thanks Dr Whatson@1-I missed BANQUO even after spotting MACBETH.

    I parsed THREE and it was confirmed furtner when the theme was revealed with WITCHES.

    I was held up in the SE(not by GESTALTS which was clearly clued) but I was slow getting FACE PAINT.

    Lewis for me ios Hamilton  or the Morse chap but I saw LENNOX from the OXford bit and also LENNOX is a minor character in Macbeth

    and Annie is Scottish. I didnt parse CASTLE but I recognised the chess notation-…and CASTLE is a sort of a spy in Graham Green’s the Human Factor.Dluble avent in fact.

    So thanks for puzzle, Qaos amnd for blog, Peter O-I liked the way it all fitted together.

  9. 7 comments before 7am speaks to this being a little easier than most Qaos puzzles, or possibly that people are getting more on his wavelength. I was happy to see the return of some of the madcap numerical clues, and thought 0-0 was brilliant. “83” requiring a bit of lift-and-separate was cunning too. Lots of fairly simple anagrams made this quite straightforward, and the theme helped to confirm “urban”, which I had thought of but didn’t parse at first. Once I knew it was right (when Banquo’s ghost came in) I found the parsing.

    BTW PeterO in 24a it’s “Cawdor” not “cordor”. Many thanks for the beautifully illustrated grid, and thank you Qaos.

  11. Well spotted Dr. WhatsOn @ 1. Wasn’t it Banquo who had a DREAM about the “three weird sisters”?

    Thanks to Qaos and PaterO.

  13. John @10 – Nearly, but not quite:

    What three things does drink especially provoke? – Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine.

     

  14. … another dnk was Welsh the Scottish author of Trainspotting, and 22ac had me immediately going Oh what’s that German bloke’s name, the famous one who did intricate woodcuts etc? Only recognised post-solve, terrible at recall sometimes…

  15. Thanks PeterO and Qaos.

     

    I enjoyed this, spotted the theme quite early which helped with a couple of clues.

    Just one note: as far as I can see, the duo Eurythmics had no “h” between the “r” and “y”, so the clue does not quite work

  16. Super puzzle. As an Eng. Lit. bod I’m ashamed to say that I missed the theme until reminded that there was bound to be one. I did not fully parse 22a, but assumed that it must be something to do with castling in chess: as I have said before, two things I loathe are chess and card games, which means I sometimes struggle with clues referring to either chess or bridge.

  17. Thanks Qaos and PeterO

    This all went easily until I got to the SE, which was more like drawing teeth (which reminds me, unfortunately, of what I am doing this afternoon). I saw the definition for CASTLE, but not the wordplay.

    I did see the theme, which helped me with THANE.

    Favourite was AYRSHIRE.

    [btw PeterO, it’s CAWDOR. Nice place to visit – the castle is of a much later period, but the woods are some of the most attractive I’ve seen.]

  19. One minor quibble (in an otherwise excellent puzzle): the group spells its name as EURYTHMICS – there is no H after the first R.

  21. Muffin @18 no problem – and hope all goes well this afternoon. If it’s anything like my most recent experience of the dentist’s chair, then you have little to dread. They seem to have improved enormously in recent years, and now I fear the hygienist more than the dentist!

    One of the hallmarks of Qaos clues seems to be a tendency towards cleverness and incorporating a neat idea, even if it is at the expense of strict accuracy in the clue, or verbosity. I can see that “urban” is a long clue for a short word, but I am sure it was because he saw the possibilities of using “Man City” and the rest followed from that. Likewise the “da vinci” code – the structure is not quite right as the “made in”. I love the way the different setters have such distinct personalities and styles, and that they are not edited down to a bland homogeneity, like a dreich day on the Scottish moors. Sure, it leads to a few problems, but I’d rather that than the alternative. Not that we shouldn’t point out problems – helps keep us all sharp!

  23. Was on the look out for a theme so got it quickly …then missed MAC and BETH taken together, and the brilliant BANQUO (Well spotted Dr.@1).
    Thank you for a great crossword, Qaos, and PeterO for the blog and grid.

  24. Naturally I loved the Scots tragedy theme!!! [Eileen is away in the Yorkshire Dales so not sure if she will see this one: like me, she loves a clever literature-related grid – and this was right up our street! “A good teacher never loses her class” and all that!]

    I also had not heard of 23d LENNOX Lewis, but fortunately by the SE I had twigged the theme, just had to google to confirm. Having studied the play with countless secondary school students, LENNOX was the only possibility here. The crosslink with Annie Lennox and the EuRHYTHMICS (Sp!) at 9a and SCOTTISH at 2d was well spotted, copmus@8 – I am convinced it was deliberate…

    Similar experience to others re the CASTLE clue at 22a, but the guess from the crossers and the match with the theme made it the only logical answer.

    Gratitude to Qaos and to PeterO. Terrific puzzle and blog, and thanks to all posters for your engaging responses. What fun!

  25. Good x-word, thanks Q and PeterO. Didn’t get 26a urban, as ‘they say’ didn’t translate for me into SMS-speak. Rest all good, and took on faith that there is such a gossip mag as ‘Heat’. Ghastly!

    Liked also the way in which Q didn’t actually name the play, in the split of the word across two words.

  26. Far removed from child’s play, perhaps, but closer to the solution, Lady M promises to “gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt” as she goes to paint them with Duncan’s blood.

  28. Enjoyed this. Spotted the theme early, which helped with a couple of clues. Didn’t know Lewis the boxer but got Lennox from the clue. Once I’d worked out castle (needed the crossers) assume 0-0 was chess notation, confirmed here. Thanks Dr WhatsOn for pointing out Banquo.
    I also liked the how the Scottish play is named only indirectly, although I thought that convention applied only in the theatre.
    I am reminded of a favourite albeit probably very tired joke: http://www.cartoonstock.com/o/out_damned_spot.asp

    Thanks Q and PeterO

  29. Very enjoyable with the theme spotted early on – although I failed to see both the split MACBETH and BANQUO – neat. I didn’t get the definition on CASTLE. I tried for a time to get WHAM into 9a somehow – the H meant a W at the beginning was quite likely. One of the qualities of crossword solving must be the ability to ditch an idea when it doesn’t work – but once they’re in my head it is much harder to do than say. I also liked the trademark THREE and wholeheartedly agree with TheZed about the variety of styles. I like both ends of the Ximenean spectrum.
    Many thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  31. Small mistake in the parsing for 5dn

    Should be…

    An anagram (‘play’) of ‘go [a]s th[i]s’ minus the A+I (‘AI disregarded’).

  32. No idea how I could have missed so obvious a theme! Still, I was just pleased to actually finish a Qaos, albeit I needed Peter O for some of the parsing (for example I could not see how SA = IT). The chess notation was new to me – I was busy trying homophones such as ‘nil-nil’ ‘oh-oh’ etc! One or two less satisfying clues but overall a bit of a treat.

    Thanks to both Qaos and to PeterO.

  33. An enjoyable crossword with a fairly obvious ghost theme. I am glad to see that the problem with RHYTHMICS has now been corrected in the online version – Dave @15 is quite right that the band’s name was missing the first h, but there is an argument that the band misspelt their own name!

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

     

     

  34. Afternoon all. Many thanks for all the comments, PeterO for the comprehensive blog and to the editor for fixing my faux pas in 9 ac so quickly. I blame Annie and Dave for misspelling their band name :-).

    I’m glad this lift-and-separate variant of my numerical clues was solvable.

    Best wishes,

    Qaos

  35. Qaor @34

    Thanks for dropping by.  Obviously, I had not even noticed the variant spelling. For the record, the clue to 9A now reads:

    ’80s duo rejects EU over hydrogen and beats science? (9)

    For a quick fix, that reads remarkably well!

    TheZed @ and muffin @17

    OK Cawdor it is. Moral: even when you think you know something, it is wise to check before blogging.

    Hesh @31

    Thanks for correcting that aberration.

  37. Roberto @36 I took it as an adjective – we could talk about an urban or city lad for example. Having said that, city is a type of urban rather than a straight synonym.

  39. Very cleverly constructed crossword today Qaos and spot on re TheZed@? (Numbers don’t appear on the mobile version which is often annoying) about distinct personalities of setters.

    Like Keyser Soze@?, I didn’t parse SA in SACCHARIN but it was a d’oh moment when the parsing was completed by PeterO – I’ve seen this a few times now so should have been wise.

  40. Regarding city and URBAN I think there’s enough of an overlap, even if they aren’t synonymous.
    A very enjoyable puzzle from Qaos. As usual I hadn’t spotted the theme until about half way through, but then some happy memories of studying the Scottish Play for English A Level were revived. It did help with CASTLE, DUNCAN and THANE too. I found the play’s title hiding, but missed BANQUO despite looking for him!
    I’m not 100% sure about WITCHES as the direction changed from head to foot feels like it’s S, leaving E unaccounted for.
    Thanks to both Qaos and PeterO.

  41. 1961 @40 I had the same misgiving about WITCHES. The clue doesn’t quite work as you pointed out. But the answer is clear enough to allow a little stretch.

  42. 1961Blanchflower @ 40 & Roberto @ 41

    WITCHES is an astute piece of Qaos two-stage misdirection

    As per the blog, it’s SWITCH [change] followed by E(ast) [direction], with the initial S then dropping to the foot of the solution.

  43. Aha, I fell for the old switch/WITCHES switcheroo, or direction misdirection. Still, not as devious as yesterday’s spelling of Robertdeniro which held me up for ages!

  44. Ed the Ball @39 – try switching on the ”desktop site”. Thanks for a fun crossword and explanations

  45. We totally missed the theme – yet again! Yorkshire Lass had the same mini-quibble about The Eurythmics spelling as did David Ellison @15. Didn’t properly parse SACCHARINE, missing the ‘it’ = SA. And to a chess player O-O on a scoresheet is always read as CASTLES or CASTLED, never the bare word. (Nice to get up there with the hard-core pedants). A very enjoyable test, thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  47. Late to the party.  The happy-or-sad (depending on your preferences) part about themes is that if you catch on early, they make the puzzle easier, and that happened here.  I spotted it about a third of the way through (when SCOTLAND and TRAGEDY went in one right after the other, and oh look, I already had GHOSTS and WITCHES.)  But then I have taught Macbeth a few times.

    I’ve wondered how long it would take someone to clue “castle” using OO (or, even sneakier, vice versa).

  48. A DNF for me. I always struggle with pop music clues so 9a was beyond me though it must have been very easy for those familiar with the group. You wouldn’t have realised that “beats” was part of the definition unless you already knew the answer. I didn’t get 8a either though I might have done on a good day. I worked out that 83 is a prime number so there must be something funny going on but got no further, put off in part by not knowing enough about radians to realise that you didn’t need to know what they are to solve the clue.
    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

  49. Actually, ‘beats science’ suggested cardiology, but too long of course. Thanks Qaos, and PeterO for the blog and the parsing of CASTLE, which I was too impatient to figure out. I parsed PASHTO with ‘to be translated’ as the anagrind, and TO as synonymous with ‘into’, otherwise the cryptic grammar is poor.

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