A quick and pleasant solve – I particularly liked 9ac, 11ac, 28ac, 1dn, 4dn, and 16dn. Thanks to Vulcan.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WAGE WAR | Battle for pay rise? (4,3) |
| and a “Battle for [a] pay rise” might be called a ‘wage war’ | ||
| 5 | MEDICAL | Examination claimed to be in error (7) |
| (claimed)* | ||
| 9 | LIONESS | England footballer may go round with pride (7) |
| double definition: a nickname for a England footballer; and referring to a pride or group of lions | ||
| 10 | VETOING | Checking, having change of heart and banning (7) |
| VET[t]ING=”Checking” with its heart or central letter changing to an O | ||
| 11 | ELECTABLE | Like a good candidate? Let a celeb get involved (9) |
| (Let a celeb)* | ||
| 12 | TOAST | Like to feed toddler something for breakfast (5) |
| AS=”Like” inside TOT=”toddler” | ||
| 13 | TOGAS | Article among garments, Roman ones (5) |
| A=the indefinite “Article” inside TOGS=”garments” | ||
| 15 | RACKETEER | Person guilty of fraud as a tennis player? (9) |
| and a tennis player might be called a ‘racket-eer’ | ||
| 17 | DISPLAYED | Showed detectives acted (9) |
| DIs (Detective Inspectors) + PLAYED=”acted” | ||
| 19 | SLOOP | Places to swim found returning to vessel (5) |
| POOLS=”Places to swim” reversed/”returning” | ||
| 22 | SMART | Public transport’s turnaround is quick and efficient (5) |
| TRAM’S=”Public transport’s” reversed/”turnaround” | ||
| 23 | CONDUCTOR | Maestro no longer seen on the buses (9) |
| double definition: a “Maestro” conducting an orchestra; or a bus conductor | ||
| 25 | EXPLORE | Carefully examine page in old learning (7) |
| P (page) in EX=”old” + LORE=”learning” | ||
| 26 | MACHINE | Equipment to slice nice ham (7) |
| (nice ham)* | ||
| 27 | TROUSER | Appropriate clothing a little short (7) |
| TROUSER[s]=type of “clothing”, shortened by a letter | ||
| 28 | DEEPEST | At its most low, river a nuisance (7) |
| the river DEE + PEST=”nuisance” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WILDEST | Most angry antelope chasing bee away (7) |
| WILDE[bee]ST=”antelope”, minus the “bee” | ||
| 2 | GOOD EGG | Nice chap, one the curate didn’t encounter (4,3) |
| referring to ‘a curate’s egg’ which is something of mixed quality | ||
| 3 | WREST | Pull away with the others (5) |
| W (with) + \=”others” | ||
| 4 | RASPBERRY | One caned for rude noise? (9) |
| double definition: the fruit that grows on canes; and the noise of ‘blowing a raspberry’ | ||
| 5 | MOVIE | Forces doctor to struggle to get the picture (5) |
| MO (Medical Officer)=”[armed] Forces doctor”; plus VIE=”struggle” | ||
| 6 | DOTS THE I’S | Is exact in detailing changes to set dish (4,3,2) |
| not sure if the “Is” in the definition is a deliberate reference to letter I-s (to set dish)* |
||
| 7 | CLIMATE | General character that may be changing dangerously? (7) |
| double definition: one direct; one indirect | ||
| 8 | LIGHTER | Arsonist in boat (7) |
| double definition: someone who sets things alight; and a type of barge | ||
| 14 | SOLUTIONS | Thus, one in airport’s what you seek here (9) |
| =what you as the solver are seeking in the crossword SO=”Thus” + I=”one” in LUTON’S=”airport’s” |
||
| 16 | CODE-NAMED | Secretly entitled to extravagant dance demo (4-5) |
| =having a secret title or name (dance demo)* |
||
| 17 | DESCENT | Son admitted to proper nationality (7) |
| S (Son) inside DECENT=”proper” | ||
| 18 | SHAMPOO | Largely counterfeit toiletry (7) |
| SHAM=”counterfeit” makes up a large part of the whole word – not the clearest clue | ||
| 20 | OUTSIDE | Dismissed team not back in the pavilion? (7) |
| OUT=”Dismissed” e.g. in cricket + SIDE=”team” | ||
| 21 | PERFECT | Flawless French oddly cheeky to conceal (7) |
| odd letters from F[r]E[n]C[h] concealed in PERT=”cheeky” | ||
| 23 | CLEAR | Cycle around a bit: it’s cloudless (5) |
| a bit of / hidden inside: [Cy]CLE AR[ound] | ||
| 24 | UNCLE | Across the pond Sam is one of the family (5) |
| and referring to ‘Uncle Sam’ of the United States/”across the pond” | ||
Thanks both. 18d seems a bit weird. Is POO something to do with TOILETry?
What a lovely friendly enjoyable Monday crossword – apart from 18d where, like our blogger and Shirl, I wasn’t quite sure where the last three letters of the solution featured in the wordplay
Thanks to Vulcan and to manehi
I remember years ago there were a couple of puppets Basil Brush (fox) and Fred Barker (dog) who appeared regularly on TV. Basil Brush had a weakness for terrible jokes, to the extent that his catch phrase was “Boom! Boom!”
I am pretty certain that on one occasion Barker was bemoaning being washed with shampoo, offering Brush the opportunity to respond that he’d prefer to roll in real poo (boom! boom!)
So yes, POO is being used in the literal sense of TOILETry. Had it appeared in a grid by Paul, whose delightful schoolboy humour is as much fun as his wordplay, we probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
An enjoyable Monday morninger. Thanks to Vulcan and to maneho
What crypticsue@2 said. I had the same ticks as manehi except for 28a – I went for 27a. I had a query against 5d as to where “forces” came in – but the blog clears that up. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.
Ah basil brush! A childhood favourite of mine. Many thanks for the reminder. I’m unconvinced by the TOILET/POO connection though. A job for Ockham’s razor maybe? Thanks Manehi and Vulcan for brightening up a grey, wet day here in Thailand
I said to myself out loud in confusion, “where does poo come from?”
Does ‘descent’ really equal ‘nationality’?
When I saw antelope in one of the clues, I *really* hoped it was going to refer to elk.
A breeze. Two reverse words. SHAMPOO could definitely have been improved on.
Thanks Vulcan and manehi
I was confused by the POO too, and also didn’t parse PERFECT. My favourite was MEDICAL – I’m surprised that I haven’t come across that anagram before.
For the POO to come from “toiletry”, the latter would have to be doing double duty, as it’s also the definition for SHAMPOO.
Simple and enjoyable Monday fare. I wonder whether non Brits will be familiar with the use of trouser as a verb.
Thanks Vulcan and Manehi.
I’m interested in Muffin’s comment. Is double duty a no-no in cryptics? Is there a rule book or is this just convention
Yes I think we inherited it, Nitsuj, but it has dated somewhat. Oh of course, a ‘forces doctor’ is an MO, silly me; and well done Vulcan for fooling me. And thanks Manehi.
A pleasant and mostly gentle crossword, probably easier than Matilda’s Quiptic today (much recommended). Good to see an uncontentious antelope at 1d. (We haven’t had my favourite, okapi, for a while – isn’t it due for a reappearance?)
I think manehi’s parsing of 18d is correct – it’s just that the word SHAMPOO consists “largely” of SHAM. The POO is not specifically clued. I recently acquired a copy of Afrit’s Armchair Crosswords, first published 1949, and the puzzles in there contain various clues where the whole answer is not specifically clued, for example “Mediterranean islanders who always end up with rows (8)” for CYPRIOTS. Perhaps Vulcan was attempting a retro style clue.
Thanks Vulcan and manehi.
Thank you, manehi, enjoyed this.
Excellent use of entitled in CODE NAMED.
Bodycheetah @5: I’m familiar with the concept behind Occam’s Razor…”the simplest hypothesis is probably the correct one, etc”, but can you suggest why “razor”? Been plaguing me for years.
Favourite today SOLUTIONS.
Many thanks, Vulcan, nice week, all.
William @14: I think the “razor” is to suggest the cutting away of unnecessary parts.
Fairly straightforward, although I got a bit stuck on the SW corner with the clues for DESCENT and SHAMPOO a bit vague, I thought.
Thanks Vulcan and manehi.
I guessed GOOD EGG but hadn’t heard of a curate’s egg. Also I was trying to parse TROUSER in a way that made “a short” a little version of “a trouser”, as if they’re the imaginary singular forms of shorts/trousers. Loved the definition for CODE-NAMED (although I’d have thought it was a common enough compound word to drop the hyphen, as per the GSG.) Thanks Vulcan and Manehi.
I also questioned the clues for SHAMPOO and DESCENT (and I don’t buy the explanation of NeilH @3 for the former), but in both cases a crosser or two made the answer obvious, so perhaps “no harm, no foul.” Otherwise well set by Vulcan and well explained by manehi, so thanks to both. I had question marks by “forces” in 5d and “entitled” in 16d, but after reading the blog I see that both were really clever.
Thank you Manehi and Vulcan, I enjoyed this very much. Dot the Is I thought was extremely elegant.
Thank you too NielH for Basil. I have often thought of Basil’s line “Look what you’ve done !” when thinking about Westminster.
The classic conker sketch is 8 mins into this 1976 clip with Mr.Roy and Tinker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsF3HpyKGoA
Thank you Vulcan and manehi
I thought there were some really elegant and witty clues.
The phrase “curate’s egg” has always intrigued me. Although it has come to mean a mixture of good and bad, the original joke – in a Punch cartoon which copied a cartoon in a magazine called Judy (thank you, Wikipedia) – is that the egg could only be completely bad. Presumably it is referring to the state of the Church of England. I think Vulcan’s clue works even better with the original interpretation.
Lord Jim @15 – that has always been my understanding of Occam’s razor.
Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.
An enjoyable Monday romp – I do enjoy the reassurance that the occasional romp offers along with the respite from more arduous wrestling. But I made a mess of it, not even noticing that the revealed RACKETEER did not equate to the expected “receiver” – obviously not quite awake yet – and ploughed on to completion only to came here and receive a forearm smash to my unwarranted smugness.
SHAMPOO reminded me of this, a bit dated now in these more purse-lipped times but it still makes me laugh.
thanks manehi and Vulcan
Every time I see the word ‘antelope’ in a clue, it makes me chuckle.
My favourite was EXPLORE.
New for me was Lioness football team, and I could not parse 18a SHAM/POO.
Is there a fine line between the apparently unacceptable ‘double-duty’ and the perfectly acceptable &lit? Presumably revolving around one applying to part of the solution and the other applying to the whole? And it must be a very sharp Occam’s razor to apply it to a three word clue.
The “resolution” to the dilemma that dantheman@23 is suggesting is that you either find a dividing line between definition and wordplay (sometimes called the indication) or there is none. The problem of double-duty falls right out of this analysis. For 18d, the clue doesn’t work properly, even if you allow double-duty, imo.
Also, I agree that DESCENT is problematic. I think it relates to race not country (i.e. is determined by your parents, not where you’re born).
Also unimpressed by 17d and 18d. But I did like the gender equality implicit in 9a.
Nice straightforward puzzle and one of Vulcan’s best. I parsed SHAMPOO as NeilH@3 and I don’t see anything wrong with it. DESCENT is a bit iffy though. I liked MEDICAL and RACKETEER.
Thanks Vulcan.
il principe dell’oscurità @19: Wonderful! My kids so loved Basil Brush. Thanks for the memory.
Lord Jim @15: Yes, that sounds right. Many thanks.
The Guardian setters are winding us up with these Monday antelopes, aren’t they?
Boffo: I hope so. Goodness knows, we deserve it!
Thanks to Vulcan and Manehi. I, like some others, think that ‘toiletry’ is doing double duty in 1d giving us a very Paul-ish (or even Pauline) clue. I thought SOLUTIONS was rather cute too.
18d not 1d !!!!!
Nitsuj@10 As a non-Brit I only recently learned about TROUSER as a verb and that knowledge came from another cryptic puzzle and its blog. Today I learned “curate’s egg.” Thanks Manehi for that, and thanks to Vulcan for a pleasant Monday; count me as one who liked DESCENT.
How or why anyone is seeking to explain or justify what is quite patently an error at 18d is beyond me. In what universe can it possibly be averred that POO is a ‘toiletry’, even if one were to allow it doing double duty?
Tony@32. Same for me about the usage of TROUSER! It was the only logical thing that fitted in and after much Googling I found this: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/trouser_2. Does say it’s British!
And my favo(u)rite was Solutions.
Descent?????
Not in your 1dn dreams.
An enjoyable quickie from Vulcan, thanks to him and manehi for a helpful blog.
And thank you to previous contributors for reminders of Basil Brush, and especially Tom Lehrer.
At the risk of over-youtube-ing the pudding, I thought I would add my twopenn’orth, particularly for our non-UK solver friends who may be unaware of the rich cultural heritage associated with LUTON airport…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEjIlZsuTg
Loved this as I greatly enjoy the reassurance of a completion early in the week. Thank you.In 20ac I thought the clue could have lived without the word ‘not’,but maybe the question mark makes it ok.
Dick Johns @37
If the side were “back in the pavilion” they wouldn’t be “outside”.
Stumped by indecent descent, shoddy shampoo, and the dnk abstruse trouser all in the same corner, plus trams flew my internal coop of public transport… So had to cheat to finish… Poo!
Fun anyway – thanks y’all 🙂
I am a bit reluctant to expand on the curate’s egg but it looks as if a few people don’t know the origin. It dates from a very old cartoon showing a rather nervous curate having breakfast with a bishop in the latter’ palace. The bishop is peering at the egg on the curate’s plate
“I fear you have a bad egg there, Jenkins”.
The curate, not wishing to offend his mighty host, replies
“Oh no, my lord. It is good in parts”
Rather easier on the whole than today’s quiptic, I thought. I guess if “pooing” equals “toiletry” (i.e. an activity done on/in a toilet), then sham-pooing is fake toiletry, and largely that becomes SHAMPOO. I confess though that that is a back-justification, and I put the answer in on the basis on what fitted the crossers and seemed to be in the right parish, without digging too deep at the time. I was fooled again by “appropriate”, taken as “taken” rather than “the right thing”. Not very convinced by DESCENT for nationality, thought it might be noted that it is the title of the UK’s caving & potholing magazine, and a very decent read for aficionados of the darkness below.
I was too busy to do this puzzle yesterday so only got to have a look at it this morning Aussie time. As suggested by others above, I had a question mark against TROUSER at 27a and a smiley face above “antelope” in 1d. Like alphalpha@21, I was brought undone by “unwarranted smugness” when I entered confidently VETTED at 10a without bothering to parse it fully. Tempting fate and all that, as I felt very self-congratulatory about completing a puzzle without any cross-checking with reference sources. So in the end a dnf – that’ll teach me!
My foi 14a TOGAS was fun and I did get RACKETEER at 15a, which was corny but did raise a smile. I liked 4d RASPBERRY but it appears I had company with not understanding the POO part of the much-discussed 18d SHAMPOO.
[I also ticked 7d CLIMATE in the light of a very good current affairs show on Australian television last night which explored how ordinary people can cope better with climate change, but how we sorely need government policy to give us direction, vision and leadership. This followed very soon after an item on the news during which a conservative politician said that “renewables are the dole bludgers of the energy world”. Sigh!]
Appreciation to Vulcan for the puzzle and manehi for the blog.
Like others, I felt SHAMPOO needed some indication in the clue for the POO bit. I was fine with DESCENT. I did not understand TROUSER either so thanks for the explanations in the comments! My other question was the shift from VETTED to VETOED, as there seemed no indication that the replacement ‘heart letter’ must be O. However, I cannot find another letter that would make a word, so that is probably the reason it is left unspecified. Thank you both! On to today’s Nutmeg now.
Did this Tuesday morning. I wrote in ‘receiver’ for the tennis player (15ac), and thought Vulcan had slipped up on ‘i before e, except after c’.
Also put ‘gallery’ anagram of ‘largely’ for toiletry.
17d daft.
Me daft too….
Being a novice at cryptic s I was very pleased at getting 14 down very quickly, obviously an anagram of ‘airports’ plus ‘i’ which gives apriorist. This – in my mind – fitted perfectly with the philosophical question of thus and what we are seeking. Shame it ruined all the across clues!!
Whee! The first Guardian cryptic I have solved in one go! On to the Tuesday puzzle….
I don\’t think I\’ve ever come across \’pert\’ with the meaning of \’cheeky\’ or \’saucy\’ except in crosswords (or the dictionary). \”Ooh, don\’t be so pert!\” \”He\’s a pert one!\” Never.