Guardian Cryptic 28205 Nutmeg

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Thanks to Nutmeg for an enjoyable puzzle; some nice wordplay indicators. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

8. Leading lady’s retreat just after party goes west (8)

BALMORAL : MORAL(just/proper) placed after(after) reversal of(… goes west, in an across clue) LAB(abbrev. for “Labour”, as in the Labour Party).

Defn: …, the leading lady of the British monarchy, that is.

… not any run-of-the-mill holiday home.

9. Here Livingstone found father in main road, car being tailed (6)

AFRICA : FR(abbrev. for “Father”, a form of address for a priest) contained in(in) AI(A1, the longest numbered road in the UK, with the Roman numeral substitution) + “car” minus its last letter(being tailed/removed, as with the bottom of vegetable stalks).

Defn: …, Dr. David Livingstone, explorer of central Africa, that is.

10. Develop grand argument (4)

GROW : G(abbrev. for “grand”, as in a 1000 dollars) + ROW(an argument/a spat).

11. Child introduced to light music, part of suite? (4,6)

EASY CHAIRS : CH(abbrev. for “child”) contained in(introduced to) [EASY(light/not hard to understand, digest, etc.) + AIRS(music in the form of melodious songs)].

Defn: … of furniture.

12. Sew unlined articles together to form bandage (6)

SWATHE : “Sew” minus its inner letter(unlined/without a layer covering the inner surface, as with unlined garments) + A,THE(2 articles in grammar).

14. Routers created with British investment less likely to break down (8)

ROBUSTER : Anagram of(… created) ROUTERS containing(with … investment) B(abbrev. for “British”).

15. Our bosses reviewed corruption within faction (7)

EDITORS : Reversal of(reviewed) ROT(corruption/decay) contained in(within) SIDE(a faction/a group opposing other groups).

Defn: …, with setters using the self-referential possessive pronoun.

17. Former hamper missing in display (7)

EXHIBIT : EX-(prefix indicating “former”/once) + “inhibit”(to hamper/to restrict) minus(missing) “in“.

20. Galilean satellite first penetrating rings (8)

CALLISTO : IST(1st/abbrev. for “first”, with the Roman numeral substitution) contained in(penetrating) [CALL,O](2 rings, the first on the telephone, and the second the letter representing a circle/a ring).

Defn: A satellite/moon of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo Galilei.

22. Length initially taken off decorative chain (6)

ANKLET :   Anagram of(… off) [1st letter of(… initially) “Length” + TAKEN].

These had a practical purpose too:

…long before these non-decorative ones were invented:

23. Foremost dons moaned about contribution to online address (6,4)

DOMAIN NAME : MAIN(foremost/principal) contained in(dons/puts on covering) anagram of(… about) MOANED.

24. Sporting contest, though there’s nothing in it (4)

BOUT : BUT(though/however, as in “this is fine, but you can do better”) containing(there’s … in it) O(letter representing 0/nothing).

25. Colonel’s first to board plane, after troops decline (6)

REJECT : [1st letter of(…’s first) “Colonel” contained in(to board) JET(an airplane powered by, well, jet engines)] placed after(after) RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, troops in the British Army).

Defn: …/to not accept.

26. Doesn’t care for rebellious general Celts butchered (8)

NEGLECTS : Reversal of(rebellious) GEN(abbrev. for “General”, a rank in the military) + anagram of(… butchered) CELTS.

Down

1. US agent skirting shaft dropped litter (8)

FARROWED : FED(short for a US Federal agent, usually of the FBI) containing(skirting) ARROW(the body of which is the shaft).

Defn: …/gave birth to a litter of piglets.

2. Singular sound of cat getting bird (4)

SMEW : S(abbrev. for “singular”) + MEW(the sound made by a cat).

3. Abruptly stop talk of ransoms (6)

FREEZE : Homophone of(talk of) “frees”(ransoms/obtains the release of a captive by paying a, well, ransom).

4. Resolution almost lost in course of recovery (7)

CLOSURE : 1st 3 letters of(almost) “lost” contained in(in) CURE(a course, say, of medicine, to bring about the recovery from, say, an illness).

5. Strikers in this game come to blows (8)

MATCHBOX : MATCH(a sporting game) + BOX(to come to/to exchange blows with the fists).

Defn: The “this” that contains matches that are struck/strikers to ignite.

6. Bachelor scans second item from bakery (10)

BREADSTICK : B(abbrev. for “Bachelor”, as with university degrees) + READS(scans/looks over, say, a document) + TICK(a second/a very short period of time).

7. Wanting courage primarily to stop fright (6)

SCARCE : 1st letter of(… primarily) “courage” contained in(to stop) SCARE(a fright).

13. It’s a little naughty and teases (10)

TITILLATES : Anagram of(… naughty) IT’S A LITTLE.

Defn: …/provokes someone’s interest or excitement.

16. Consider acquiring inverted nose ring (8)

RESONATE : RATE(to consider/to regard as having a specified quality, as in “we rate him the best of the lot”) containing(acquiring) reversal of(inverted, in a down clue) NOSE.

Defn: To …/to produce a deep strong sound.

18. Where unionised actors met prejudice? (8)

INEQUITY : [IN EQUITY](actors could have met in Equity, the British trade union for actors, performers, and other creative workers).

19. Old Indian currency note turned up, praise be (7)

HOSANNA : Reversal of(…. turned up, in a down clue) [ANNA(a former currency unit in the monetary system of British India) + SOH(syllable representing one of the notes in the sol-fa musical scale)].

Defn: An expression of praise/praise be!

21. Ultimate height of a river that amazes me (6)

APOGEE : A + PO(the Italian river) + GEE!(an expression I utter when something amazes me).

Defn: …/a climax.

22. Exact payment for archdeacon to get old clothes (6)

AVENGE : VEN(abbrev. for “Venerable”, a title for an archdeacon in the Anglican Church) contained in(… clothes) AGE(to get old/to mature).

Defn: …, usually by inflicting harm, in return for a wrong done to oneself or another.

24. Root crop and pulse picked up (4)

BEET : Homophone of(… picked up) “beat”(a pulse/a rhythmic sound, such as the pulsation of the heart).

57 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28205 Nutmeg”

  2. Absolutely superb!  Nutmeg does it again.  We had three delicious challenges at the back end of last week but I think this is my favourite for some time.  I went back over every clue once the grid was completed and I don’t think I found a single superfluous word.  Absolutely everything was accounted for and everything played its part.  Some lovely wordplay – “to get old clothes” in AVENGE, “foremost dons moaned about” in DOMAIN NAME – and some delightfully phrased definitions for AFRICA, BALMORAL and my favourite of the day, FARROWED.  I’m never certain about making the claim but TITILLATES is surely a perfect &lit?

    The only slightly raised eyebrow came with equating ‘frees’ with ‘ransoms’, though I grant that paying a ransom should result in freedom.  But it’s barely a quiblet.  I loathe ROBUSTER as a word but that’s not Nutmeg’s fault.

    The Po did not come to my assistance yesterday (indeed, I’m still smarting at the total hash up I made of ritornello!) so great joy inserting it into APOGEE which was a lovely clue.  Final ticks for the elegant CALLISTO and the pithy but perfect EXHIBIT.

    Thanks Nutmeg and scchua.

  3. Thanks Nutmeg and scchua

    Not difficult, but lots of fun. Too many good ones to mention them all, but I will recognise the misdirection in ANKLET – it was obviously a word for “decorative” with the first L removed; also TITILLATES and RESONATE were standouts.

    I confess that I Googled ADAICA to see if it had Livingstone connections!

  4. Thanks scchua. I liked this one. Favourites were 1a BALMORAL (that one took me a while as I was sure the leading lady would be from the film world), 5d MATCHBOX and 13d TITILLATES (I liked the Marilyn Monroe pic that you put with that word, schuua – it is a word that seems to have a bit of an old-fashioned ring to it these days!). Nutmeg’s wordplay is always so helpful, and that’s how I worked out the unfamiliar 2d SMEW and the component part of 19d HOSANNA.

    Many thanks to Nutmeg for a testing but enjoyable workout today.

  5. Thanks Nutmeg and scchua for a very enjoyable solve!   Love the fact that “Router” along with Domain Name appears in there for us IETF-ers!

  6. [Crossed against the previous three posts – sorry for the seeming lack of acknowledgement, colleagues.]

  8. I thought this was an easier than usual Nutmeg with lots to like and all parsed. My favourites were TITILLATES and CALLISTO for their slick surfaces. I thought the definition “Here Livingstone found…” was a bit clunky in order to achieve the overall cogent surface.  Overall an enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks Nutmeg and Scchua

  9. Auriga @7: well spotted!  I looked for ninas and acrostics (it’s the kind of grid that invites a nina) but didn’t think to look for a pangram.  Normally a J or a Z sets me wondering but, perhaps because the solutions flowed so smoothly, I didn’t register them.

  10. Had great fun with this. Almost nothing on the first sweep, but the excellent MATCHBOX and EXHIBIT got me going. And travelling steadily in a clockwise direction I was eventually held up again by the NW corner until the penny dropped with the even more excellent BALMORAL. Thanks very much Nutmeg and Scchua..

  11. Robuster a bit clunky for the impeccably smooth spice lady, but yes a quiblet, quiblettino even. Didn’t parse l+taken*, dim! And haven’t seen farrow for ages. Anyone else get a Moody Blues earworm from Dr Livingstone? And yes I thought of you Mark re a Po gee (nice word, apogee..does it have an antonym..can hear a faint bell). Lovely solve, thanks Nutmeg, and great blog and pics as ever scchua.

  12. Thanks for theblog, scchua.

    Mark @2 sums up all my feelings for this excellent puzzle (including a dislike of ‘robuster’) – and I can’t think of anything to add, so my thanks to him, too.

    And, of course, huge thanks to Nutmeg for the fun – just perfect.

  18. Nutmeg always delivers impeccable and satisfying puzzles and this was no exception. Was going to quibble that 22ac ANKLET needed more wordplay to get the L inside the rest of the fodder but on reflection using ‘off’ for both parts worked fine. Thanks Nutmeg and Scchua. And I love that a smew is a type of smee – thank you Hovis @1!

  20. grantinfreo@11 and Eileen@12, I’m in the Alice camp here with curiouser and robuster. The comparative and superlatives are gradually being eroded by the periphrastic forms. I prefer the old-fashioneder style.

  22. Another stonking good puzzle from Nutmeg!

    I particularly liked MATCHBOX, BALMORAL and DOMAIN NAME.

    Thanks Nutmeg for the fun and to scchua for a good blog.

  24. Fairly easy to get going and a steady solve except for the NW; had to do an online word search for 2d SMEW, which was new to me (MEOW did not work). FREEZE was last in. So technically a dnf. Otherwise plenty of clever clues, not overly difficult and enjoyable.

    Thanks Nutmeg for the fun scchua for the parsing.

  27. Re 20ac (Callisto) Galilee is a part of Northern Israel with a famous “sea”. Galilei, on the other hand, is Galileo’s other name.

    Many thanks to scchua and to Nutmeg for a delightful solve. Enough head-scratching over misleading directions and definitions to make me wonder if I was any good at this crossword business, but enough help to get there in the end. Another one looking to take the “l” off in “anklet” and even with the answer in the parsing took horribly long.

  29. A lovely pangram that was guessed at early on with FREEZE then MATCHBOX (cracking clue) going in. A nice steady solve left me at the SW corner, 21d being LOI with me trying to get a Z in it somehow. Had to check the grid above to realise I’d used it already, then I could use Mark’s favourite river to finish it off.
    Gosh, I really like Nutmeg’s puzzles!
    Thanks to Scchua for the great blog, as ever.

  30. I feel an immediate warm glow of anticipation on seeing the ever-reliable Nutmeg’s name above a grid, and as usual this was a pleasure to solve. Favourites are the astronomical CALLISTO and APOGEE, the bucolic FARROWED, plus EXHIBIT, MATCHBOX (although I’ve a feeling that I’ve seen it clued the same way in the distant past) and best of all the exquisite BALMORAL and TITILLATES. I usually spot pangrams quite early, but totally missed today’s until Auriga pointed it out. I must be getting old.

  31. [Hovis @ 1] I’ve seen a Smew or two, both in life and n my bird books, but have only seen the archaic version, Smee, in crosswords. Good challenge today and I agree that ROBUSTER doesn’t feel like a real word.

     

  32. Copland smith @31. I was going by Chambers where smee is not listed as archaic but refers to various ducks including the smew, pochard, wigeon and pintail. Hence a smew is a type of smee. Made me laugh anyway.

  33. Spotting the possibility of a pangram early gave me a nudge

    Interesting as the other puzzle I dd today had exactly half a pangram and a nina to advertise the fact.
    Thanks scchua and Nutmeg

  35. Didn’t see the pangram, but I never think to look.  A very nice puzzle overall, but a couple of points:

    When I first got SWATHE, my feeling was that there was some smoke-and-mirrors action going on, where a great surface was hiding the fact that “unlined” doesn’t quite work.  After all, if you go by the definition scchua provided, the lining would be e.g. the 2nd and 4th letters of a 5-letter word.  So I was interested to come here this morning to see whether the bandage being sewn was part of the emperor’s new clothes.  Apparently, nobody else sees the disparity, so I must be wrong.

    Elsewhere, I was intrigued to see Mark@2 thought TITILLATES was an &lit., but I can’t see the wordplay action of “teases”, since “naughty” does the anagramming.

  36. Confession time: I checked to see whether an imew was a bird, before twigging the obvious.

    This was a seriously good crossword, never yielding easily, but always letting the solver have a fair shot. Yes, I would prefer that ROBUSTER wasn’t a word, but it is, so it’s legit for Nutmeg to use it. And BALMORAL and EASY CHAIRS were sheer class.

  38. At last I’ve finished one in time to comment. All very satisfying with no queries to solve via the blog. I did however check that ROBUSTER existed as I have never heard it used. Loved BALMORAL and CALLISTO and many more. Thanks Nutmeg and scchua.

  39. It took me a while to get started, but I got there in the end – and what a beauty! And a pangram, to boot. Once I’d got INEQUITY, REJECT and ANKLET I was pretty sure about the pangram – so, for once, it helped enormously, especially with FREEZE and AVENGE. Some lovely misdirections, and BALMORAL was delicious.
    I’d never heard of a Smew but, from Scchua’s pic, they look adorable. Thanks to Nutmeg and Scchua – and also to Hovis for the best giggle of the day: the observation that a Smew is a Smee!

  41. Penfold @40 (and certain others): While I go up to Yorkshire, and there avenge your plight.  My first HMHB reference (listened to them whilst cooking supper last night).

    Dr WhatsOn @35: in my defence, I did say I’m never certain which is why I generally prefer to say &littish, perching myself safely in the fence!

  42. Another one who really enjoyed this but perhaps I have more than a quiblet (@2Mark) with ransom and frees. I expect I’m missing something. Surely the freeing comes later.

    Many thanks Nutmeg and scchua.

  45. An excellent crossword, of which Mark @2 has articulated for me the general experience I had as well as the points most appreciated during the solve and afterwards.
    Ransom meaning free was an unexpected TILT, which the dictionary confirms.
    Many thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.

  47. I see that I crossed with xjpotter and Robi on the subject of ransom meaning free. Chambers doesn’t actually say free; instead it says ‘to pay, demand or accept ransom for’. Of these options, ‘pay ransom for’ is the relevant one. (On payment of the ransom you ‘free’ the captive.)

  48. Lovely stuff. I can safely say I only know the word SMEW from crosswords Brummie having used it back in April

    Musical inspiration today from indie funsters EDITORS

    Ah well, back to the somewhat more prosaic joys of AWS Amplify

    Cheers all

  49. A stellar crossword — I’m always impressed with how readable Nutmeg’s surfaces are without containing extraneous verbiage. I ticked many clues, favorites being EXHIBIT, BOUT, REJECT, and APOGEE. Thanks Scchua for the illustrated blog and helping me understand FREEZE and HOSANNA.

  50. Nothing to quibble about here. Held up by SMEW and APOGEE- sounds like a firm of solicitors!.Didn’t like ROBUSTER but nothing wrong with it.
    Workmanlike as usual.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  51. No complaints, but I didn’t even get halfway before conceding defeat and revealing 3 or 4 to get me going again. I just didn’t click.

  52. Interesting that Phil J found this hard. I find I am often not on Nutmeg’s wavelength so I found this hard. Either that or the heat is pickling my brain. I did finish in the end and managed to parse everything so I feel pleased with myself. I did try to find if there was somewhere called Apaica for 9ac before seeing the obvious. I thought the CALLISTO clue superb with the two rings.
    Than is scchua and Nutmeg- I will get on your wavelength eventually!

  53. Surprisingly easy for a Thursday puzzle from Nutmeg, but lots of lovely surfaces. Favs were BREADSTICK, REJECT, FARROWED…

    Thanks!

  54. 23@ I started in the wrong direction, thinking of Swinburne’s “Thou has conquered, O pale Galilean, the world has grown grey from thy breath” which I only heard of shortly after the Secretary of State for Transport introduced the breathalyser when I was in a meeting where the MD of Pimms told us “Thou has conquered, O Barbara Castle, I have turned the thing green from my breath” and had to explain the reference.
    Thanks to Nutmeg snd scchua.

  55. Very late in the day – but just to endorse what Mark@2 and then Eileen@12 and AlanB further down said – superb from Nutmeg and thanks to scchua.

  57. Enjoyed this as far as I got … maybe 40%… thanks Scchua for the blog.. Can I ask, is ‘unlined’ a common trick for ‘take the inside letters’? It doesn’t quite work for me, it’s not as intuitive as say ‘vacated‘ … maybe the way my brain works … Albeit the same ineffective brain that was trying to find a word meaning exact payment with ‘od’ (old clothes) in the middle of a word I have never heard of for archdeacon …

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