The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27921.
Arachne started out in the Quiptic slot; this is definitely not a reversion to that level, and it is above the difficulty of a typical Monday cryptic. And, for my money, none the worse for that, though others may prefer a gentler start to the week. There are some lovely clues here, but, unusually for Arachne, a couple of things that I found doubtful – assuming that I am reading them correctly; the blog had to timeshare with Nadal vs. Medvedev, very possibly to its detriment.
| Across | ||
| 8 | CALMNESS | Unflappability of working-class men (8) |
| An anagram (‘working’) of ‘class men’. | ||
| 9 | TASTE | Sense of time wasted knowing no bounds (5) |
| A charade of T (‘time’) plus ‘[w]aste[d]’ minus its outer letters (‘knowing no bounds’). | ||
| 10 | USER | One exploits setters about to retire (4) |
| A charade of US (‘setters’) plus ER, a reversal (‘to retire’) of RE (‘about’). | ||
| 11 | SATELLITES | Met privileged groups carrying large revolvers (10) |
| A charade of SAT (‘met’ as of a committee) plus ELLITES, an envelope (‘carrying’) of L (‘large’) in ELITES (‘privileged groups’). | ||
| 12 | OODLES | Lots of powerless lackeys (6) |
| A subtraction: [p]OODLES (‘lackeys’) minus the P (‘powerless’). | ||
| 14 | ALERTING | Warning triangle is broken (8) |
| An anagram (‘broken’) of ‘triangle’. | ||
| 15 | ODYSSEY | Part of somebody’s Seychelles journey (7) |
| A hidden answer (‘part of’) in ‘somebODY’S SEYchelles’. | ||
| 17 | ETONIAN | Briefly anointed barbarous Boris Johnson? (7) |
| An anagram (‘barbarous’) of ‘anointe[d]’ minus its last letter (‘briefly’). Is the surface prophetic? | ||
| 20 | METRICAL | Male rewriting article using feet (8) |
| A charade of M (‘male’) plus ETRICAL, an anagram (‘rewriting’) of ‘article’. | ||
| 22 | PIERRE | French revolutionary losing clothes in US capital (6) |
| A subtraction: [robes]PIERRE (‘French revolutionary’) minus ROBES (‘losing clothes’), for the capital of South Dakota. | ||
| 23 | CONSPIRACY | Tory’s buccaneering plot (10) |
| A charade of CON’S (‘Tory’s’) plus PIRACY (‘buccaneering’). Another trenchant surface. | ||
| 24 | BUMP | Dull sound of rubbish piano (4) |
| A charade of BUM (‘rubbish’) plus P (‘piano’). | ||
| 25 | SPRIG | Little growth in season once November’s gone (5) |
| A subtraction: SPRI[n]G (‘season’) minus N (‘once November’s gone’; I cannot justify N by itself as an abbreviation for the month, so I wonder if the intent is that ‘once’ should indicate the single letter. I think that would still be dubious.)
As Flavia @1 points out, November for N is an entry in the NATO alphabet that I had forgotten. I note that another is one, for one. I must remember that. |
||
| 26 | INHUMANE | Stupid bears smell beastly (8) |
| An envelope (‘bears’) of HUM (‘smell’) in INANE (‘stupid’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PASSWORD | Old men perhaps foil security measure (8) |
| A charade of PAS (plural of pa, ‘old men’) plus SWORD (‘perhaps foil’). | ||
| 2 | AMUR | First of advance military units reach river on the Russian-Chinese border (4) |
| ‘First’ letters of ‘Advance Military Units Reach’. The use of singular ‘first’ is suspect, particularly with the verb; how about “The leaders of advance … “. | ||
| 3 | VERSUS | Against poetry being recited (6) |
| Sounds (approximately) (‘being recited’) like VERSES (‘poetry’) | ||
| 4 | ASHTRAY | Wrong to assume husband butts in here (7) |
| An envelope (‘to assume’) of H (‘husband’) in ASTRAY (‘wrong’). | ||
| 5 | STILLEST | Most inactive and poorly during Second International (8) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of ILL (‘poorly’) in S (‘second’) plus TEST (‘international’). | ||
| 6 | ASSISTANCE | Help idiot start to improve posture (10) |
| A charade of ASS (‘idiot’) plus I (‘start to Improve’) plus STANCE (‘posture’). | ||
| 7 | DEMEAN | Lower status of French ace (6) |
| A charade of DE (‘of French’) plus MEAN (‘ace’, which is generally commendatory, but I suppose that it can signify the lowest). As in the quote from Tommy given by Trovatore @2, it is the other way round: MEAN can be complimentary. | ||
| 13 | LAST RESORT | When all else fails, option Carry On Cleethorpes? (4,6) |
| A charade of LAST (‘carry on’) plus RESORT (‘Cleethorpes?’ – the question mark to signify the indication by example). | ||
| 16 | ETCHINGS | Gets excited over detailed porcelain plates (8) |
| An envelope (‘over’) of CHIN[a] (‘porcelain’) minus its last letter (‘detailed’) in ETGS, an anagram (‘excited’) of ‘gets’. | ||
| 18 | ACRIMONY | Bitterness of American crook, regularly missing bounty (8) |
| A charade of A (‘American’) plus CRIM (‘crook’; the abbreviation of criminal is in Chambers, but I have not come across it before) plus ONY (‘regularly missing bOuNtY’) | ||
| 19 | ALKALIS | Content to leave alcohol, rising QC consumes a lime and soda? (7) |
| A charade of AL (‘content to leave AlcohoL‘) plus KALIS, an envelope (‘consumes’) of ‘a’ in KLIS, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of SILK (‘QC’, informally). Excellent clue. | ||
| 21 | EGOISM | Selfishness perhaps is in order (6) |
| A charade of EG (‘perhaps’) plus OISM, an envelope (‘in’) of ‘is’ in OM (‘Order’ of Merit). | ||
| 22 | PSYCHE | Tipsy Chechens, full of spirit (6) |
| A hidden answer (‘full of’) in ‘tiPSY CHEchens’. | ||
| 24 | BUMS | Girls losing useful devices in coach seats (4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of M[aids] (‘girls’) minus AIDS (‘losing useful devices’) in BUS (‘coach’). | ||
Re 25: November represents N in the NATO alphabet.
N = November, NATO alphabet.
Ace = MEAN, as in “… sure plays a mean pinball”.
I didn’t have a problem with “crim” for criminal/crook in 18d – it is often used here to describe a lawbreaker or shady character. I also thought “First of” was fine as an indicator of what to do for AMUR at 3d. Hadn’t heard of Cleethorpe, but LAST RESORT at 13d made sense for the definition.
Too many goodies to list, but 22a PIERRE and 23a CONSPIRACY were both terrific. I also agree with your assessment of 19d ALKALIS as an excellent clue, PeterO.
There was surface after surface here that flowed as smoothly as silk. I think Arachne is just brilliant!
Thanks to her and PeterO for a great puzzle and blog. Personally I like a challenging Monday puzzle but hope it doesn’t deter any newbies from this most fascinating of hobbies.
[PS Love your exemplar quote regarding Ace/MEAN @2, Trovatore!]
[PPS Anna in Finland, if you read this, thank you for your response in your post on the Paul Prize on the weekend. Glad you got to see that remark I made a while back. Happy to hear of your holiday break.]
Julie @3:
“I didn’t have a problem with “crim” …”
Me either. Couldn’t see anything crook about it!
Agree with JinA, lovely job from the ever-succinct Arachne. Bit stiffer than usual but the better for it imo. And I couldn’t see the bus in bums, d’oh, so one unparsed. Thanks both.
A super start to my day. after a weekend brightened by a Picaroon Prize puzzle.
Things can only get worse, back to Brexit.
Thanks Arachne and Petero I thought alkalis was a superb clue
I’m with the ‘lovely job from Arachne’ crowd – I actually liked the way she’d made this ‘Monday-ish’ as we all know how she can up the difficulty level when required. Thanks to her and PeterO
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t parse 24D. Otherwise, a very fun start to the day, and the smoothest Arachne in quite a while.
I could not parse EGOISM, LAST RESORT, BUMS.
BUMP = dull sound? why?
My favourites were PIERRE, ACRIMONY, CONSPIRACY, ALKALIS.
Thanks Peter and Arachne.
michelle: If you hear a bump in the next room its usually a dull sound.
What Julie in Australia @3 [except I have heard of Cleethorpes!] and crypticsue @10 said.
Many thanks, Arachne and PeterO.
Michelle @12 – BUMP: ‘dull thud or other noise from an impact or collision’ [Collins]; ‘to strike with a dull sound’ [Chambers].
Sheer class.
Thanks Arachne and PeterO
Yes, quite hard for a Monday. My favourites were CALMNESS, ETONIAN, METRICAL, and CONSPIRACY.
I didn’t see “met” for SAT in 11, or “ace for MEAN in 7d. BUMS went in from definition only.
Just back in Blighty after 8 months working in the Windies. My country has become a right-wing banana Republic, it’s pissing down outside and the lovely pub down the road closed because of a fire yesterday! Thank heavens for her spiderness – elegance personified.
Thanks, PeterO, lovely crossword unnecessarily complicated by blundering in with AVERSE instead of VERSUS at 3d.
Ticks in the same places as muffin.
Always a delight to see the spider’s n-de-p at the top of a crossword.
Nice week, all.
‘The council met’/’The council sat.’
I’ll join the chorus – a super puzzle. I did the top half first and thought CALMNESS, TASTE, PASSWORD and ASHTRAY were brilliant clues.
I made it hard for myself by entering PASSPORT instead of PASSWORD. PASSPORT actually works, but the correct answer is a better fit for the clue. It was the easier hidden word ODYSSEY that put me right.
I too failed to parse BUMS properly.
I’ve been too busy for weekday crosswords lately, and it’s nice to come back to this.
Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.
Yes a lovely puzzle. But anyone else slightly disappointed at the two closely interlinked BUMs? Couldn’t one of those answers be BOMB instead? Maybe just me…
A nice puzzle. I particularly liked “Carry on Cleethorpes” at 13d.
Like some others I couldn’t parse 24d. “Girls losing useful devices” seems a convoluted way to indicate M!
(CynicCure – thanks for the image of two closely interlinked bums.)
Many thanks Arachne and PeterO.
JinA, grantinfreo, Eileen and CynicCure have said it for me. Excellent stuff – thanks to Arachne and PeterO.
Excellent puzzle; thanks Arachne.
I ticked ASHTRAY and ALKALIS and what a great Boris clue for ETONIAN. I failed to parse BUMS, so thanks to PeterO. I tried T(l)OUCH(e) for 9A, which sort of works.
Mostly all been said by now and not much more to add here. Lovely puzzle but held up in the SE with bums (which went in unparsed). Another fan of alkalis and Pierre, and thanks to Arachne for brightening up my Monday after the test and PeterO for making up for my parsing inadequacy.
Eileen @ 4
thank you for explaining BUMP = dull sound
As always with our spider lady. Brilliant. Now raining and windy,lost the test and not feeling too good. But this brightened up my day
Great stuff – gentler than most Arachnes but still quite challenging for a Monday.
Thanks to Arachne and PeterO
Great stuff. Thanks to s and b. I think 17a could be my coty. The briefer the anointing, the better!
8a was pretty neat, too.
This was a very enjoyable solve so many many thanks Arachne. But as others have attested it was by no means plain sailing so I needed all the help that PeterO gave in his excellent blog for a number of parsings: so thank you. In fact it was a DNF because I just could not see VERSUS, no foul mind, it was a very good clue and I kicked myself when I gave up and revealed the answer. My favourites among many great clues were OODLES, ETONIAN and best of all ASHTRAY, which must rank along with Paul’s ANAGRAM in the prize as a candidate for clue of the year!
Superb. COD OODLES.
Thanks both,
Some very fine clues in this one.
I too was put off by the two ‘bums’.
As a Lincolnshire lad, who spent many a cold afternoon with the rain lashing down in Cleethorpes, I take 13d down to be a wholly justified slur on that town.
Arachne is one of my favourite setters: I always approach her puzzles knowing they will be fun, elegant, fair and completable; today’s was all that, and ideal for a Monday.
I didn’t really know AMUR, or that PIERRE was a US capital (though losing his Robes was brilliant), so that’s two new pieces of knowledge for which I am grateful.
Favourites out of many were ‘lime and soda’, and the anagram of ‘class men’. I have had more than enough of the barbarous “Spaffer” Johnson lately, but it was a clever anagram for ETONIAN.
Thanks for a fine puzzle, exemplary blog and the usual selection of thoughtful comments.
[Wiki tells me that the Amur (which I hadn’t heard of either) is the tenth-longest river in the world. It possibly translates as “Black Dragon River”.]
Pretty much what Muffin said. I do think BUMS is the weakest clue I’ve seen from Arachne. Still the rest was pretty good.
Thanks Arachne.
QC = silk: new Britishism learned today; I googled it and got the explanation!
Lots to enjoy here, with INHUMANE a favourite. We couldn’t parse BUMS – saw the BUS, not the M(AIDS). Hopefully (sorry JR-M: ‘it is to be hoped’) the clue for ETONIAN will prove to have been prescient. Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.
The one I pencilled in but couldn’t justify was DEMEAN until Mrs B pointed out that “mean” like “wicked” can mean (sorry!) exactly the opposite. I then remembered an American friend explaining:
“If you say someone’s mean, it’s an insult.
If you call him a mo!!!therf!!!er, then it’s a really bad insult.
But if you say ‘That’s one mean mo!!!therf!!!er!’ then it’s a compliment!”
Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.
Yes very enjoyable, if for me somewhat marred by the Russian doll BUMS. ALKALIS superb and lovely surfaces throughout.
As per most of the other contributors’ favourite clues mentioned. Superb surfaces throughout and loved the bit of commentary (?) on our latest PM in 17a. Also struggled with the parsing of BUMS and ACRIMONY where I think CRIM is a bit of an import here unlike US and Aus as pointed out by Julie so did not spring to mind but made sense.
Thanks to PeterO for the expert parsing and to Arachne for another really well-judged puzzle: praise much deserved.
And PeterO… what a match. You did well to multi-task with that going on. What a star Rafa is to come through that: pure gladiator. Money must be firmly on him to catch up with Federer in Paris.
As an arch fan of Rosa Klebb but only an occasional solver of Arachne, I am glad I came across this puzzle. I loved “Carry On Cleethorpes” and, like many of us it seems, was unable to interpret the wordplay for BUMS.
19d Alkali: But lime is acidic
Derek @43
Lime as in quicklime or slaked lime is an alkali – as distinct from the fruit of the same name which is acidic. In the surface of the clue we are misdirected to the fruit in ‘lime in soda’.
This was a difficult one – partly because of some poor definitions. Eg 16d usually an “etching” is a print produced by an etched plate – it’s not the plate itself. And I’m not too keen on N as an abbreviation of November. Where will it end – abbreviating any noun to its first letter? Other clues were a delight though such as 12a oodles!
I should have posted my overall appreciation of a fine puzzle from Arachne and great parsing above. Maybe I’ll do better with her next challenge.
Gordon @45
Among the definitions for ‘plate’ in Chambers: an engraved piece of metal for printing from; an impression printed from it
and for ETCHING : the act or art of etching or engraving; the impression from an etched plate