Guardian Cryptic 27,958 by Arachne

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27958.

Another sheer delight from Arachne – not too hard, but full of gems.

Across
1 SHACKLED Coupled in shed and ran off without top (8)
A charade of SHACK (‘shed’) plus [f]LED (‘ran off’) minus its first letter (‘without top’).
6 ASSISI Italian town, unaltered over centuries, at last beginning to industrialise (6)
A charade of ASSIS, an envelope (‘over’) of S (‘centurieS at last’) in AS IS (‘unaltered’); plus I (‘beginning to Industrialise’).
9 STUPID Gormless second mate with basic urges (6)
A charade of S (‘second’) plus TUP (‘mate’) plus ID (‘basic urges’).
10 SEA POWER In the main, might vegetable grower swap tips? (3,5)
PEA SOWER (‘vegetable grower’) with the first letters exchanged (‘swap tips’). Arachne does not call the manoeuvre a Spoonerism, with reason, since in this case the exchange works in spelling, not verbally.
11 ST ANDREWS Bears circling outskirts of remote west Scottish town (2,7) Extraneous underlining removed.
An envelope (‘circling’) of RE (‘outskirts of RemotE‘) plus W (‘west’) in STANDS (‘bears’ “I can’t stand things which hide’).
13 DERBY Order Byron to host local football match (5)
A hidden answer (‘to host’) in ‘orDER BYron’.
15 ACTION Operation to purge wings of dissenting groups (6)
A subtraction: [f]ACTION[s] (‘dissenting groups’) minus the outer letters (‘to purge wings’).
17 FOREGO Seeing that, I give up (6)
A charade of FOR (‘seeing that’) plus EGO (I’).
18 NIPPER Bring back badge for each child (6)
A charade of NIP, a reversal (‘bring back’) of PIN (‘badge’) plus PER (‘for each’).
19 LOOFAH Rebellious kid regularly hiding bath sponge (6)
A charade of LOOF, a reversal (‘rebellious’; as a reversal indicator, it might be better in a down light – uprising. In an across clue, it is more likely an anagrind, in this case for an indirect anagram) of FOOL (‘kid’) plus AH  (‘regularly hiding bAtH’ – i.e. the B and T are hidden). Of course, a biologist will claim that sponges and loofahs belong to different kingdoms, but their skeletons serve similar purposes, and are both called sponges.
21 HEART Spirit of our planet finally coming to the fore (5)
EARTH (‘our planet’) with the last letter moved to the front (‘finally coming to the fore’).
22 BRASSIERE Head of English in pursuit of more flashy underwear (9)
A charade of BRASSIER (‘more flashy’) plus E (‘head of English’).
25 CHOW MEIN Scoff when comic almost stumbles (4,4)
An anagram (‘stumbles’) of ‘when comi[c]’ minus the last letter (‘almost’). ‘Scoff’ as a noun, something to eat.
26 SINEWS Strong tissues with boring functions (6)
An envelope (‘boring’) of W (‘with’) in SINES (mathematical ‘functions’).
28 SPARKY Lively mole fed by animal sanctuary (6)
An envelope (‘fed by’) of ARK (Noah’s ‘animal sanctuary’) in SPY (‘mole’).
29 HOSTELRY Pub shortly working to conserve energy (8)
An envelope (‘to conserve’) of E (‘energy’) in HOSTLRY, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘shortly’.
Down
2, 27 HOT WAR Throw a wobbly, fighting with real weapons (3,3)
An anagram (‘wobbly’) of ‘throw a’.
3 CAPON Cockerel made man nervous at first (5)
A charade of CAPO (‘made man’ – a Mafia reference; although I think that they are not quite equivalent, a CAPO is – presumably – a ‘made man’, committed to the Mafia to the extent of murder, but not necessarily vice versa. Which is good enough for the clue) plus N (‘Nervous at first’). Of course, the cock-a-doodle-don’t.
4 LEDERHOSEN Shorts pound, shocking her donees (10)
A charade of L (‘pound’ Sterling) plus EDERHOSEN, an anagram (‘shocking’) of ‘her donees’.
5 DISOWN Turn your back on litter-dropper during row (6)
An envelope (‘during’) of SOW (‘litter-dropper’) in DIN (‘row’).
6 AJAX Drivers keeping jack by side in Holland (4)
A charade of AJA, an envelope (‘keeping’) of J (‘jack’) in AA (Automobile Association, ‘drivers’); plus X (multiplied ‘by’), for the Amsterdam soccer team.
7 STONE DEAF Hearing nothing whatsoever of firm beset by safe-crackers (5,4)
An envelope (‘beset by’) of TONED (‘firm’) in SEAF, an anagram (-‘crackers’) of ‘safe’.
8 STEPBROTHER Relative of rising favourites runs into trouble (11)
A charade of STEP, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light’) of PETS (‘favourites’) plus BROTHER, an envelope (‘into’) of R (‘runs’) in BOTHER (‘trouble’).
12 TRAINEESHIP Organising hen parties is endless learning opportunity (11)
An anagram (‘organising’) of ‘hen parties i[s]’ minus the last letter (‘endless’).
14 COLOSSUSES Titans of business defeat US Feds, ignoring the odds (10)
A charade of CO (‘company, ‘business’) plus LOSS (‘defeat’) plus ‘US’ plus ED (‘FEdS, ignoring the odds’).
16 TOP-DRAWER Aristocratic designer of blouses? (3-6)
Definition and literal interpretation.
20 WRENCH Former sailor and companion in tug (6)
A charade of WREN (a member of the WRNS, the one-time Women’s Royal Naval Service, ‘former sailor’) plus CH (‘Companion’ of Honour’).
23 INNIE Boozer with extremely impressive belly button (5)
A charade of INN (‘boozer’) plus IE (‘extremely ImpressivE‘), for a concave one such.
24 RELY Thoroughly heartless bank (4)
RE[al]LY (‘thoroughly’) minus its middle letters (‘heartless’).
27   See 2
completed grid

67 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,958 by Arachne”

  1. INNIE and HOT WAR new to me. Started out quite rapidly, with STUPID and St Andrews – living only 10 miles from there.

    I liked your clue for CAPON, PeterO. Thanks for the blog and to Arachne for the lovely crossword

     

  2. Two wrong; having lots to do today, hurriedly bunged in an inparsed sea tower at 10ac (vaguely thinking ‘another term for water spout, maybe’) and ‘very’ at 24d (heartless vestry, where church valuables are?). D’oh to both, but never mind. Neat offering from Arachne as ever. Innie for belly button was new, as was scoff as noun. Thanks A and P.

  3. Yes sparkling with gems as you say, PeterO. My heart still leaps up when I see it’s an Arachne to solve.

    I thought 25a CHOW MEIN was CHOW DOWN for a very long time – and it made it very tricky indeed to try to fit in anything that made sense at 24d. So that was when I realised my folly and rethought that delicious (!) anagram of “when comic()”. My stumbling block was that I couldn’t see “Scoff” as a noun but I can understand it now. I didn’t really get the CAPO part of CAPON at 3d so thanks for the help (and the smile, PeterO) – at least I knew what a CAPON is from a previous puzzle! Then 24d RELY fell into place as my LOI.

    Triple ticks for 6a ASSISI, site of my favourite overseas pilgrimage ever. Please God it never industrialises, the old town at least. I also loved 9a STUPID (which reminded me of me sticking to CHOW DOWN for so long), 28a SPARKY (“animal sanctuary” was a fab clue for ARK!), 7d STONE DEAF and 16d TOP DRAWER.

    This solve made my day and gave me lots of those endorphins that come with PDMs. Huge gratitude to Arachne. The blog also made very enjoyable reading, so thank you to our Long Island friend, PeterO. [My son just texted that he had been for an afternoon surf to Rockaway Beach which made me think of you, not so far away from there, Peter.]

     

  4. [We crossed, gif@2, or I would have acknowledged you concerning problems with 24d and “scoff”. Unlike you and Dave, I had heard of both innies (and outies) in reference to belly buttons.]

  5. I also missed a couple (AJAX and FOREGO), but as usual with Arachne, no complaints after revealing either. Thanks to her for a carefully crafted puzzle and to PeterO for the blog.

  9. Thanks Arachne and PeterO

    Sorry to dissent, but I didn’t think this was up to Arachne’s usual standard. Rather clumsy in places (“her donees”?, “hen parties is endless”?).

    FOREGO/FORGO is another case where a useful distinction seems to have disappeared. Isn’t that aggravating?

    Sorry, LOOFAH is just wrong, not only biologically but also functionally. A sponge’s overriding characteristic is absorbency; a loofah isn’t absorbent at all. It is used for gentle exfoliating rather than washing.

    SEA POWER was favourite.

  11. I’m with Muffin@9 – I was expecting a bit more fun that I got

    the poor old LOOFAH seems to be either crossword word of the fortnight or crossword pedant’s chance to comment.  I’m just happy that the 22a isn’t defined as a ‘supporter’

    Thanks to Arachne and PeterO

  12. I love using my newly acquired Chambers Revised 13th Edition, which I just visited in response to subsequent posts (not that I want to be dictionary-driven in terms of my solving).

    But:

    a LOOFAH is a hard, rough sponge says Chambers

    FOREGO seems to be a variant of “forgo” these days

    “donees” seems perfectly acceptable for those who receive donations – and I am used to the feminine possessive in Arachne’s puzzles

    I think that “organising hens parties IS an endless learning opportunity” (mostly about the sort of bad behaviour that could eventuate when women are encouraged to drink too much)

    Just saying.

    JinA (in contention for presidency of the Arachne fan club)

  13. [We crossed, Bingybing@10 re FOREGO/FORGO.]

    [Sorry some people didn’t like it as much as I did. That’s all good. Not having to look anything up (except to check that my answer AJAX had something to do with Amsterdam) made my engagement with this puzzle very enjoyable.]

  14. Bingybing @10
    I’m sorry if my foregoing comment rankled with you. The fact is that I forgo the use of dictionaries, or other aids, in tackling daily puzzles, using them only for barred puzzles or others where a specific dictionary is recommended.
    I admit that I probably would not have solved 17a regardless of the issue of spelling as I just did not think of the word either way: I put it down to a senior moment.

  15. A fairly quick solve, though DNF because of FOREGO (I still don’t understand it).

    As to CAPON, two things:

    1) Capon and cockerel are not synonymous. A cockerel is merely a young cock. A capon is a castrated cock (or any age)

    2) A “made man” as followers of The Sopranos will know, is a sworn member of a Mafia group. Only the head of the group is a capo.

  17. Hmm. Back from busy day to find lots of fun flack. I’m still mostly pro. The surface of 4d: neat but not meaningful; that of 12d is coherently cryptic and fun, nothing wrong with it. As for forego, I think I’d have spelled ‘give up’ thus anyway, tho perhaps more from ignorance than erudition.

  18. Couldn’t get FOREGO but loved the puzzle, especially ASSISI and STONE DEAF. I’m also very much in the pro faction!

  19. I can’t see how anyone would fail to enjoy a crossword with SOW as litter-dropper! Other great clues for ASSISI, SINEWS, CAPON, STONE DEAF, TOP-DRAWER.

    I didn’t know INNIE (or outie); obviously not enough navel-gazing these days.

    Thanks Arachne and PeterO.

  20. And there’s more. Having a bit of street Italian but not being a Soprano watcher, I took capo on trust for made man. As for loofah, it’s a ‘nudge in the direction of’ clue, to borrow from a recent blogger, as sponge the verb is about having a ‘sponge down’, which is what you use a loofah for.

  21. I am with Flavia on this, though I hate even to appear disloyal to Arachne, who is brilliant. Webster’s online even makes the point emphatically, and there is a difference between the fore-  prefix and the for- one, which usually carries a sort of ablative meaning. However, Arachne is perfectly entitled to use it, since Chambers is happy… Interesting to learn about INNIE and the CAPO part of CAPON (which can be clued as cockerel because it used to be one?) Agree with Julie in Aus about hen (and stag) parties: for me, as usual, the men started the bad stuff, and the women thought imitation was the way to underline equality…

  23. Thanks to Arachne and PeterO. One query. Is ‘realy’ an accepted spelling? I assumed the parsing of ‘rely’ was ‘really’ less it’s middle two letters.

  26. gif @ 17

    Re 4D, in the clue ‘short’ is a verb. If someone gives out money after shorting (betting against) the pound, it could well be that some of the recipients are shocked.

  28. Ah yes, thanks Simon S, that gives it some coherence (finance, options, futures, etc, quite beyond my ken).

  30. Arachne sets such high standards that perhaps we expect too much.  But, I find some of the pedantic quibbles a bit false.  Surely nobody could honestly say that they could not answer CAPON because strictly that is a castrated cock, or LOOFAH because it is not everyone’s idea of a sponge. I enjoyed this mightily and like JinA I could complete it without aids.  Favourites were RELY and STONE DEAF.

  31. Typical Arachne solve for me. Very little at first but gradually unpacked with perseverance. Last ones for me were innie and forego (a bit of trial and error until I got something that parsed in some way). Favourites for me sparky, sinews and disown. Thanks to Arachne for an enjoyable challenge and PeterO for the blog.

  32. I usually enjoy doing Arachne’s puzzles, but found this one disappointing. Sorry, Arachne. Will still look forward to future offerings.

  33. Brilliant surfaces, many brought a smile, a couple even a laugh. Another lovely puzzle from Arachne. And not a single clue so convoluted it needed explanation from the Blogger. Thanks S and B.

  35. Komornik @21, the COED gives FOREGO as an alternative spelling for forgo.

    Thank you Arachne, I really enjoyed the puzzle, and PeterO for a helpful blog

  37. I found this very enjoyable and don’t understand why some didn’t, but it’s good that everyone’s different. Thanks A & P.

  38. I’m firmly in the school of having loved this.  There were so many great clues that I can’t really list them all, but just to mention a few: 5d DISOWN for the litter-dropper, 10a SEA POWER for the clever way the definition (“In the main, might”) fits into the surface, and 7d STONE DEAF for the safe-crackers.

    I agree with SPanza @30 and beery hiker @36 that some of the criticism here is pedantic and undeserved.  As others have pointed out,  there is dictionary support for FOREGO (17a) as an alternative spelling for “forgo” and for LOOFAH (19a) “used as a hard rough sponge” (Chambers).  We could argue all day about whether dictionaries should be descriptive or prescriptive (see the continuing debate on the blog for last Friday’s Puck), but inclusion of a usage in a reputable dictionary is surely as good a way as any of deciding whether it’s ok in a crossword.

  40. Another great puzzle in my book. Like Robi and Lord Jim I thought 5d was brilliant – I’ve not come across “sow” as a “litter-dropper” before, but it’s probably been used before hence the lack of comments. It was a dnf for me as I didn’t get the much discussed FOREGO (and which seems fine to me) and I had an unparsed LEVY (bank) for 24d. I thought the clueing was elegant and concise throughout with only two clues (6a & 7d) going into two lines in my printout.
    Many thanks to Arachne and PeterO for a blog to match the puzzle.

  41. Thanks both,

    This was good fun with some beautifully  constructed clues. I thought 29a stood out for clever misdirection. The citations in OED seem to suggest that ‘forego’ has such a long history that it pre-dates the distinction from ‘forgo’, which may well have been an invention of C19 grammarians. A TILT. OTOH, it seems neither Chambers nor OED can quite bring themselves to describe a loofah as a sponge, merely something ‘used as a sponge’. If I use a table knife as a screwdriver, does that make it a screwdriver? It was only when I had all the crossers that I could bring myself to enter ‘loofah’ in the grid.

  43. I’m with Muffin on this – and not for the first time- in that I didn’t think this as good an Arachne as usual. Not a bad puzzle by any means but I found myself seeing answers which I had trouble parsing- CAP ON or getting answers from wordplay when I’ve never heard of the word- INNIE. I did like SEA POWER and TOP DRAWER however.
    Thanks Arachne.

  44. I thought this was Arachne on top form. I also think the nit-picks are not justified. A CAPON can still be a cockerel, even if it’s a castrated one. A capo is a made man, so can be clued as such (though not the other way round). This is part of the familiar definition-by-example debate.
    Thanks to PeterO and the spider lady.

  46. jeceris@45

    In the sense of “because”, e.g. I was dejected, for/seeing that Sarah had already decide to marry Brian.

  48. @45

    It’s easy to believe that Edinburgh is an important city for (seeing that) it is the capital of Scotland.

  49. I looked at 11a and immediately thought, “Surely there’s not a Scottish town called St. Rewands,” and then took an embarrassingly long time to see the actual answer.

  50. A well-crafted crossword as expected. As with others who have commented, ‘innie’ and ‘scoff’ (in that sense) were new to me, but both clues were gettable (CHOW MEIN only with difficulty because it took some time for me to see the anagram).
    I would never write FOREGO to mean ‘forgo’, but Arachne is allowed to do so, and I realised easily enough (given all the crossers) what was meant.
    Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.

  51. I was in the DNE (did not enjoy) camp, although cannot really say why.

    Though I do just wish compilers would FORGO the temptation to be top and tailing little words not in the clue eg. (F)LED) that could have any number of heads/tails It seems a cheat somehow, and detracts so much from the pleasure of solving a clue, while not adding to one’s admiration of the ingenuity of the setter at all.

    Thought this was Arachne not at her best sparkle, even though there were some nice clues, but many thanks to her and PeterO and already looking forward to her next puzzle.

  52. I’m really surprised that people have justified loofah=sponge, because

    a) a loofah isn’t a sponge (it would be rather like equating a whale with a fish, though even more extreme – not even the same kingdom)

    b) it’s not remotely like a sponge – the only similarity is that they could both be used in a bath

    Surely “it’s in Chambers” can’t be a guarantee that it’s correct?

  53. I am in the camp of enjoyed this. Lots of clues to like. Favourite was possibly DISOWN, for the litter-dropper. I enjoyed a solve that did not require looking stuff up – I even knew that Ajax was a Dutch soccer team – had humour, interesting surfaces and was do-able over breakfast.

    I am always intrigued when I visit this site at all the discussion regarding nuances and distinctions in meaning that I have either accepted in the spirit of fun or simply not realised- eg loofah vs sponge. It is interesting to see also how the English language changes over time – for example the word ‘aggravating’ originally meant making worse but has now come to mean irritating, the latter meaning being listed in my Chambers as (inf). Dictionaries reflect current usage- I am in the descriptive not prescriptive camp, although being of a somewhat pedantic nature, I can find this irritating. Nevertheless, I have unthinkingly equated loofah and sponge because they are both used in the bath and shower, but now I am informed of their true distinction in meaning, although I don’t think it will stop me using them interchangeably, at least not in crossword-land.

    Thanks to Arachne for the fun, PeterO for the blog and to all the other participants in the discussion above.

  54. FORGO and FOREGO are quite different words and to confuse them is a schoolboy howler. Nobody should ever quote Chambers as an authority as it seems to be merely a compendium of found usages, however illiterate – hence its popularity for Scrabble players for whom scoring points is more important than correct English. Harrumph!

  56. muffin @53: I have learned from doing crosswords that apes are monkeys (see comments on Hectence’s Quiptic 1039) and that “cladistically, there is no such thing as a fish” (your own comment @10 on that puzzle).  Looking into this further, I find out that humans (being tetrapods) are actually fish – see the Wikipedia article on “Fish”:  “Tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well”.

    Compared with this, I am happy with a loofah being a sponge.

  58. Crossbencher @ 55

    Whether one likes it or not, dictionaries record usage. One’s prejudices against such usage are immaterial. They exist, and are probably acceptable to more who use them than to those who think they are incorrect.

  59. Very enjoyable puzzle.

    My favourites were TOP DRAWER, SPARKY, DISOWN, AND SEA POWER!

    Thank you Arachne and Peter.

  60. I always write forego to mean that I am not taking up a possible offer; I had never come across it to mean precede, so have learned something from the comments! I could not parse it though. Innie was new to me, and I had never come across capo. Despite living in the other Scottish archiepiscopal city I too took an embarrassingly long time to see St Andrews (and in the blog ‘outskirts’ is highlighted as a definition). I really enjoyed this though! Thank you to Arachne and to Peter O for this.

  62. Loved this. Sparky was my favourite probably, for the lovely surface as much as the wordplay.

    This comment thread is infuriating. The important thing for me about a crossword clue is – once you’ve got the answer are you sure it’s right – and in the case of loofah and capon for example, I’m pretty sure that everyone whinging about them was sure they had it right regardless. “Loofah = sponge” might not be technically correct, but if you’re aware of the existence of both the logical leap required to see them as equivalent is very small.

    Unless you failed to get the answer, because you really couldn’t make that mental connection then you are part of the reason it’s a valid answer – the setter knew you’d get it. You can rail against it all you like, but you got the answer from the clue provided.

  65. MarkN @62

    You make it very clear what you enjoy and what you expect from crossword clues and presumably from crosswords as a whole.  My point of view happens to be the complete opposite of yours!  I appreciate most of all clear, precise and clever clues, whether I succeed in solving them in my available time or not, and what I dislike most is the expoerience of solving, or not solving, a clue that is vague or wrong.  From time time to time I get the answer in spite of the clue, but I get no joy from that, even though I’ve become quite good at it!

    My satisfaction with any crossword comes partly from solving it and partly from appreciating afterwards the good clues, whether solved or not, as I have indicated already.

    But I dislike pedantry too, and I tend not to start down that road or join it if it’s there, even though I might be a pedant at heart!  I think the (old?) distinction between ‘forego’ and ‘forgo’ is worth making and preserving, and I disagree with Arachne, but the main de facto reference source for these puzzles (the BRB) says that the former is an alternative spelling of the latter, and I make no objection.

  66. SPanza @64, there you go – but what would muffin say? In Egypt, where I lived for seven years, some of the loofahs were very soft when wet and quite absorbent.

  67. Thanks to PeterO and Arachne

    Excellent as always.

    My Chambers lists FOR = BECAUSE/SEEING THAT as archaic whereas I’d say it is a little dated perhaps, but still in fairly frequent use.

    “Cockerel” may not be the perfect synonym for “capon”, but the prime alternative would have the clue reading a little, well, you know…

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