Maskarade’s traditional Bank Holiday weekend giant puzzle – but one of the less complicated versions.
The preamble says: The wordplay of 29 clues lack a theme word to reach the required solution. These theme words are all of a kind and some appear more than once. The theme words to be added are all birds: some very familiar, some I’d vaguely heard of, some I had to guess. Perhaps Maskarade is providing amusement for the bank-holiday birdwatchers who have dutifully stayed at home rather than compromising social distancing in popular outdoor locations.
There are some unfamiliar words (especially among the thematic birds), a few clues where the construction is a bit unusual, and a few rather offbeat anagram indicators. But that’s all standard in these special weekend puzzles, when we’re (presumably) expected to have more time and be willing to work a little harder to get to the answers, so the setter has a bit of licence. I had to resort to dictionaries and reference material to get some of the answers, following the “make up a word that looks right and then see if it exists” method; but there were still enough straightforward clues to get started, and enough fun along the way to keep going. Thanks to Maskarade for the challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters. Theme words (names of birds, not included in the clue text except for a few identified as “thematic” or similar) are shown in GREEN.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FUMIGATORY | Plant covering grand acres for purifying smoke (10) |
| FUMITORY (Fumitory, plant of the genus Fumaria) containing (covering) G (abbreviation for grand, especially in its slang meaning of £1000) + A (abbreviation for acres). | ||
| 6 | OFF ONE’S GUARD | Duffers and a goon parading without due attention (3,4,5) |
| Anagram (parading, in the sense of moving around?) of DUFFERS + A GOON. | ||
| 14 | RECITAL | Solo performance Claire Taylor initially organised (7) |
| Anagram (organised) of CLAIRE + initial letter of T[aylor].
Recital: concert by a solo singer or instrumentalist. I think the surface refers to a former England cricketer; there are other people with this name, but Maskarade is known for setting cricket-themed puzzles elsewhere. |
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| 15 | SCOOTER | Theme word carrying egg on two wheels (7) |
| SCOTER (a type of duck) containing O (zero = duck in cricket scoring).
Two-wheeled vehicle, either motorised or foot-propelled. |
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| 16 | TEAGLES | Lines that are baited for catching twitchers outside! (7) |
| Outside letters of T[witcher]S, with EAGLE inserted.
Dialect word for a baited line used to catch birds. |
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| 17 | UNOWNED | A Parisian had not admitted (7) |
| UN (indefinite article in French, so “a” Parisian) + OWNED (had).
Owned = admitted = acknowledged, so unowned = not admitted. |
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| 18 | SAKER | Thematic old cannon (5) |
| Double definition: SAKER is a type of falcon, or a type of cannon used in the 16th and 17th centuries (which Wikipedia tells me was named after the bird). | ||
| 19 | ARRHENIUS | Swedish chemist with an equation arrived before one with us (9) |
| ARR (abbreviation for arrived, in flight / railway timetables) before I (one in Roman numerals) + US, with HEN inserted.
Swedish physical chemist who developed an equation for the relationship between temperature and the speed of chemical reactions. |
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| 20 | TWA | Scottish couple could have taken flight thus (3) |
| Definition and cryptic definition: Scots word for “two” (couple), or the abbreviated name of Trans World Airlines (now part of American Airlines), with whom you could have taken a flight between 1930 and 2001. | ||
| 21 | TALK OF THE TOWN | A lot know the Financial Times can be the source of idle gossip (4,2,3,4) |
| Anagram (. . . can be the source of) A LOT KNOW THE FT. | ||
| 23 | ISSUE | Children, a bone of contention (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 25 | GEHENNA | Hell! That’s cheek! (7) |
| GENA (the area below an insect’s eyes, corresponding to the cheek in humans), with HEN inserted.
Old Testament word loosely translated as hell or “the place of the dead”. |
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| 26 | GARETH | Daughter aggrieved, holding chap back (6) |
| Hidden answer, reversed (holding . . . back) in [daug]HTER AG[grieved].
Man’s name, in a rare clue where the definition isn’t quite at the start or the end; a more standard construction would be “Chap held back by . . .”, but that would make for awkward grammar in the rest of the clue. |
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| 27 | TRAJAN | Columnist painting around start of year (6) |
| ART (painting) reversed (around), then JAN (short for January, first month of the year).
As in “man with a column named after him”: the Roman emperor Trajan, commemorated by Trajan’s Column in Rome. |
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| 31 | OPEN | Nothing to start (4) |
| O (zero = nothing) + PEN (a female swan). | ||
| 33 | COLONY | Currency unknown to ethnic group abroad (6) |
| COLON (colón, the currency of Costa Rica or the former currency of El Salvador) + Y (mathematical symbol for an unknown number). | ||
| 34 | THREE VERSES | Short hymn may just consist of these characters from south Herts (5,6) |
| Anagram (characters from?) S[outh] HERTS (abbreviation for the county of Hertfordshire), with REEVE (the female form of ruff, which is a species of sandpiper; a guess-and-look-up sort of bird) inserted.
I’m not aware of any particular significance of three-verse hymns (and I’ve sung a lot of hymns in my time), but some hymns are quite long – so I suppose three verses is a short one, or possibly a longer one cut down to meet time constraints. |
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| 36 | BEURRE BLANC | Rubble crane cleared out – such sauce! (6,5) |
| Anagram (cleared out?) of RUBBLE CRANE.
Literally “white butter” – a French hot sauce containing butter with wine and/or vinegar. |
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| 38 | TIN CAN | Single or double container! (3,3) |
| I’m not quite sure how to classify this – cryptic double definition perhaps? Both TIN and CAN mean a metal food container, which can also be called a TIN CAN (tin referring to the metal it’s supposedly made from, though it’s actually steel with a tin or plastic lining; or it might even be aluminium). | ||
| 39 | JADE | Stone, almost black, with one diamond inside (4) |
| JE[t] (black; almost = without last letter), with A (one) + D (abbreviation for diamond) inside. | ||
| 41 | PASTIS | Afterthought about one drink or another (6) |
| PS (postscript = afterthought) containing (about) ASTI (short for Asti Spumante = an Italian wine = a drink).
Pastis = French anise-flavoured spirit = another drink. |
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| 42 | PENURY | Want odd characters removed from Surrey (6) |
| PEN (a female swan) + [s]U[r]R[e]Y, with the odd-numbered characters removed.
Want (as a noun) = penury = poverty. |
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| 43 | BO-PEEPS | Aussie’s quick looks at man friends (2-5) |
| BOS (plural of bo, US slang term used to address a male friend), with PEEP (US name for a type of sandpiper) inserted. Edit: some have pointed out this might be BO (man = term of address between men) and PEEPS (from people = slang for “friends” as a term of address, as in “hello peeps”), with no bird reference. Either way I think it’s a bit contrived.
Australian term for what the rest of us would probably just call a “peep” = a quick look. I thought this was tricky – one of my last few in. |
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| 48 | ENEMA | Crew in hospital department returned for medical procedure (5) |
| MEN (crew) in A + E (A&E = Accident and Emergency hospital department), all reversed (returned). | ||
| 49 | MINOR AILMENTS | When ill, would they necessitate being a few secs imprisoned at home? (5,8) |
| MOMENTS (a few secs) containing (imprisoning) IN (at home), with RAIL (a species of birds mostly found in wetlands) inserted.
I think this is intended as a clue-as-definition, although it doesn’t quite work for me; the first five or six words don’t contribute to the wordplay, but I can’t make them into a noun phrase that could be the definition. I tried MOS (plural of mo = moment, to go with “secs”) but then couldn’t find anything to get MENT from. If anyone can do better, please let me know. |
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| 50 | SIR | Knight’s title from skier, regularly (3) |
| Alternate letters (regularly) of S[k]I[e]R. | ||
| 51 | PIMPERNEL | Literary hero’s skin problem never finishes (9) |
| PIMPL[e] (skin problem; never finishes = last letter omitted), with ERNE (a sea eagle) inserted.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, hero of a series of early 20th century novels (originating from a stage play) by Baroness Orczy. |
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| 53 | BLAIR | Major conqueror suggesting harsh sound (5) |
| Homophone (suggesting) of BLARE (harsh sound).
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who defeated John Major in the 1997 general election. |
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| 54 | TEA LEAF | Petty criminal exposed as Fagin, initially (3,4) |
| TEAL (a species of duck) + initial letters of E[xposed] A[s] F[agin].
Tea leaf = Cockney rhyming slang for thief = petty criminal. |
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| 55 | AUDITOR | At first, Alex Tudor and I worried accountant (7) |
| First letter of A[lex], then an anagram (worried) of TUDOR + I.
The surface appears to refer to another cricketer (see 14a). |
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| 56 | HOT MEAL | Frenchman at the Ritz, perhaps, consumes a hearty breakfast? (3,4) |
| M (short for Monsieur = Frenchman) in HOTEL (at the Ritz, perhaps), containing (consuming) A.
A hearty breakfast might be a “full English”, which counts as a hot meal, but our setter has helpfully provided a question mark because it’s quite possible to eat a hearty breakfast of cold food. |
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| 57 | TRIVIAL | Frivolous quartet in sheepdog competition (7) |
| IV (Roman numerals for four = quartet) in TRIAL (a sheepdog competition). | ||
| 58 | MALORY TOWERS | One-time cutters outside girls’ boarding school (6,6) |
| A (one) + T (time), with MOWERS (grass cutters) outside, with LORY (a type of parrot) inserted.
Fictional girls’ boarding school created by Enid Blyton. |
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| 59 | HOUSELEEKS | Husband’s comic squeals once said to have guarded against lightning strikes (10) |
| H (abbreviation for husband) + EEKS (eek = interjection representing a comical squeal), with OUSEL (name for various species of thrush, including the Eurasian blackbird) inserted.
Flowering succulent plants, traditionally grown on house roofs as a supposed protection against fire and lightning. |
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| Down | ||
| 1 | FORTUITY | Number in chance (8) |
| FORTY (a number), with TUI (a New Zealand honeyeater bird) inserted. | ||
| 2 | MICROWAVE | Oven overturned in Geneva? Impossible! (9) |
| Reversed hidden answer (overturned in) [gen]EVA IM[possible], with CROW inserted. The wordplay was hard to find; hidden answers are normally a complete word or phrase, but this one doesn’t mean anything until you’ve reversed it and then inserted the additional letters. | ||
| 3 | GET KNOTTED | Surprise comment about races – note a dismissive one (3,7) |
| GEE (a comment expressing surprise) about (containing) TT (time trial = races), then D (a note in the musical scale), with KNOT (a wading bird) inserted.
“A dismissive one” is referring back to “comment”; “get knotted” is a somewhat impolite way of saying “go away!”. |
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| 4 | TILED | Arranged windows on a screen with a glazed look (5) |
| Definition and cryptic-ish definition, I think. Tile (verb) = arrange windows on a computer screen like tiles on a wall; real tiles are often glazed (shiny), though the surface is trying to make us think of a glazed (blank or unresponsive) facial expression. But these aren’t really two definitions because the first is derived from the second. | ||
| 5 | REST STOP | Train spotters’ lay-by? (4,4) |
| Anagram (train, as a verb = work, or force to go in a particular direction, for example climbing plants on a trellis) of SPOTTERS.
Rest stop = lay-by = area off a main road where drivers and their passengers can take a break. |
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| 7 | FUTURE EVENT | It will happen with odd bits of fruit and nut getting chewed (6,5) |
| Odd-numbered letters of F[r]U[i]T, then an anagram (getting chewed) of NUT, with REEVE (already spotted in 34a) inserted. | ||
| 8 | OAR | Row outside actors’ room, for starters (3) |
| Initial letters (for starters) of O[utside] A[ctors’] R[oom].
Oar, as a verb = to row a boat. |
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| 9 | ENTER ON or ENTERON | Begin on canal – Kennet – year-round, regularly (5,2; 7) |
| Alternate letters (regularly) from [k]E[n]N[e]T [y]E[a]R[-r]O[u]N[d].
At first I thought the double enumeration was a mistake, and couldn’t see what “canal” was doing in the clue (apart from helping with the surface – it refers to the Kennet and Avon Canal in southern England). But eventually the penny dropped: there are two definitions, using the same letters with a different enumeration. ENTER ON = begin; ENTERON = alimentary canal = digestive system. |
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| 10 | GRAVEN IMAGES | Idols from Russian fighter climbing a long time (6,6) |
| MIG (MiG = Russian aircraft manufacturers, or a military plane made by them), reversed (climbing = upwards in a down clue), then AGES (a long time), with RAVEN inserted. | ||
| 11 | ADLAI | Pound fine imposed on Bill Stevenson (5) |
| L (abbreviation for pound sterling, from the Latin libra) + AI (A1 = very good = fine), added to (imposed on) AD (advertisement = bill).
Adlai Stevenson, former vice-president of the US under Grover Cleveland – or perhaps one of his descendants with the same name. Edit: as a few commenters have pointed out, this most likely refers to Adlai Stevenson II, presidential candidate in the 1950s. |
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| 12 | DESISTED | Sits around indeed – put a stop to it! (8) |
| Anagram (around) of SITS, inserted into DEED (you need to separate in-deed).
Desisted = stopped doing something = put (past tense) a stop to it. |
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| 13 | TOOK IT EASY | Rested, as well as finishing relay (4,2,4) |
| TOO (as well = in addition) + AS + finishing letter of [rela]Y, with KITE (a bird of prey) inserted. | ||
| 19 | ANOTHER ONE | There’s more making a quaver! (7,3) |
| A NOTE (in the musical sense, of which a quaver is an example), with HERON inserted. | ||
| 22 | LONDON BUS | Strange sound on British Leyland Routemaster (6,3) |
| Anagram (strange) of SOUND ON BL, where BL = short for British Leyland = former vehicle manufacturer.
Routemaster: the iconic red London bus, or a newer design that eventually replaced it. |
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| 24 | SWANSEA | City scored, equalising Agüero’s headers (7) |
| First letters (headers) of S[cored] E[qualising] A[güero], with SWAN preceding it.
Swansea = city in South Wales. Its football team is Swansea City, but the surface refers to the Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero. |
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| 27 | THE SALOON | Undue haste at part of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion (3,6) |
| Anagram (undue?) of HASTE, with LOON (aquatic bird, also known as a diver) added. | ||
| 28 | HOBBY | Thematic early bicycle or horse (5) |
| Triple definition: HOBBY = a type of small falcon, an early version of the bicycle without pedals, or a child’s toy with a horse’s head for play riding. | ||
| 29 | SOLAR PANEL | All a person ordered for energy supplier (5,5) |
| Anagram (ordered) of ALL A PERSON. | ||
| 30 | ASPEN | Leading Alpine skiers here? (5) |
| Leading letters of A[lpine] S[kiers], with PEN (already spotted in 31a) added.
Extended definition: Aspen is a city in Colorado known for its ski resort. |
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| 32 | EMULATE | Rival injured 35’s theme word (7) |
| Anagram (injured) of TEAL (the answer to 35d), with EMU (Australian flightless bird) preceding it.
Emulate = rival (as a verb) in the sense of “match up to”, for example trying to emulate another’s success. |
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| 35 | WRITE A LETTER | Rain oddly permeating comparatively soaked pen (5,1,6) |
| Odd-numbered letters of R[a]I[n], inserted into (permeating) WETTER (comparatively soaked), with TEAL (already spotted in 54a) inserted.
Pen, as a verb = write; I think it’s a bit of a stretch to make it mean “write a letter”, though. |
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| 37 | CONTRIBUTOR | One may write articles about non-electric Citroën turbo (11) |
| Anagram (about) of CITRO[ë]N TURBO, without the E (electric).
Contributor = one who writes articles for a newspaper or magazine. |
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| 38 | TERMINATES | Finishes turning over earth around outskirts of Exeter (10) |
| SETT (earth = underground home of an animal such as a badger), reversed (turning over), around (containing) the outer letters of E[xete]R, with MINA (variant spelling of myna or mynah, an Asian relative of the starling) inserted. | ||
| 40 | GEISHA GIRL | Oriental entertainer getting leg over, accepting two roubles (6,4) |
| LEG reversed (over), containing (accepting) II (two in Roman numerals) + R (currency symbol for roubles, if you’re not writing in Cyrillic), with SHAG (bird from the cormorant family) inserted. Of course both the surface and the bird have entirely innocent meanings, but I’m sure Maskarade was amused by the juxtaposition. | ||
| 44 | PASSERINE | Mushy peas – thematically? (9) |
| Anagram (mushy) of PEAS, with SERIN (a type of finch) inserted.
Passerine = a “perching bird”: one of the major divisions of bird species. |
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| 45 | KEEP CALM | Rats abandoning infested marketplaces – don’t panic! (4,4) |
| Anagram (infested?) of M[ar]KE[t]PLACE[s] – that is, MARKETPLACES without the letters of RATS. | ||
| 46 | AMARILLO | City on Route 66, where French husband appears in either half of sitcom (8) |
| MARI (French for husband) inserted into ALLO (either half of the British sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo!). | ||
| 47 | TRUFFLES | Let’s mix chocolate confections (8) |
| Anagram (mix) of LET’S, containing RUFF (we’ve already spotted his mate in 34a and 7d). | ||
| 49 | MINARET | Tower and half of one (7) |
| Half of [tur]RET, so half of a tower, with MINA (already spotted in 38d) inserted. | ||
| 52 | MODEL | Exemplary display (5) |
| Double definition: as in “a model student”, or as in “to model clothes” (on the catwalk). | ||
| 54 | TITUS | Groan across the pond (5) |
| US (United States = “across the pond” because this is a UK crossword; only the British would take understatement to the extent of calling the Atlantic Ocean a pond), with TIT preceding it.
The definition refers to the title character in Mervyn Peake’s novel Titus Groan, the first in the Gormenghast series. |
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| 56 | HOW | A question of method (3) |
| Double definition: the question “How?”, or “method” as in “the how and why” = the method by which something is achieved and the reasons for it. Though of course these really mean the same thing. |
Thanks Maskarade for a fun challenge and Quirister for a great and thorough explanation.
As the son of a keen birdwatcher, (with pretty near zero talent for id-ing birds myself), I felt pretty chuffed (pun intended!) to get pretty much all those birds without having to look them up. Apart from the obscure ‘SAKER’ and ‘TUI’. There were some great hides (another birding ref) in there, I think the OUSEL in the HOUSELEEKS or maybe the HERON in the ANOTHER ONE were my faves.
TBH, while loving the theme, I do wonder was it necessary to have so many ? The rubric mentions 29 clues, but my spreadsheet (link here if you are interested) shows there are 32 birds hidden in 32 distinct clues but only 26 unique birds – i.e. PEN, HEN, REEVE and TEAL all appear at least twice. Not sure these repeats really added to the fun. And the variance to the rubric is frustrating as one hopes to keep a count and therefore know towards the end when to stop looking for specials.
Apart from the hidden ‘heron’ and ‘ousel’ the trick with the TEAL at 35D and the EMU at 32D was brilliant (even though I agree the surface of 35D was maybe a bit lacking).
The ‘SHAG’ in GEISHA GIRL is of course a bit Paul-ine, not wanting to be politically correct or anything, but geisha girl doesn’t seem a great choice of phrase, and certainly doesn’t seem to match ‘oriental entertainer’ as a definition. But a superb surface and great hide.
This would be a dnf for me by usual standards (even my lax ones) as I had to bash the dictionary somewhat to tease out TEAGLES (pretty obscure def!) and GEHENNA (an obscure def though I knew it, but did not know GENA for cheek, so a nice new nugget of knowledge).
I was also held up on ADLAI (which seems a very dated reference though I can just about rem hearing of him — I think he is Kennedy era rather than Cleveland?) because of having OFF ONES GOURD for 6A for a long while. It is only 1 vowel off the actual anagram and suggested itself straightaway to me for ‘ without due attention’ — make of that what you will.
Lovely theme, great clues, a bit overlong is my only quibble, and it would be nice to have the rubric match the puzzle (unless my s/sheet is hopelessly wrong of course!).
Thanks again Maskarade and Quirister.
Thanks Quirister and Maskarade. A diverting puzzle.
For 43 I figured PEEPS as friends – and had 29 birds elsewhere.
Hmm. looking more closely through Quirister’s green highlighted birds, I realise I missed the PEEP (another obscure bird at least if you are in Europe). I just wrote that in after finding it was a AUS/NZ slang.
So the list (here) grows to 33 hidden birds of which 27 are distinct.
Quirister — thanks for confirming those cricket refs are likely intentional — I had spotted them and did wonder. I think Alex Tudor made 99 (or close — just short of a 100?) on his maiden test match, possibly even as a night watchman. Maybe I am imagining all that.
Had to come back to this several times during the week and still whiffed on four answers. Not helped by entering an unparsed HORSESHOES at 59a. (In my defense, it did fit the definition.) Had no chance with GET KNOTTED, knowing neither the phrase nor the bird. No complaints, though, as it occupied several pleasant hours. Thanks to Maskarade and to Quirister for the thorough blog.
Epee Sharkey @1, I think your list overcounts. The instructions state that the wordplay of 29 clues “lacks a theme word to reach the required solution.” The clue for HOBBY, for example, is complete as written and doesn’t require the insertion of a missing bird. I parsed BO-PEEPS as did Gonzo @2, so my list includes exactly 29 clues.
I’m thinking Epee@1,3 is not counting the right things. There are indeed 29 instances where a bird is not mentioned in the clue but has to be manufactured out of thin air. Others, which are indicated by “theme” or “thematic”, do not count towards this total.
I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot about people’s journeys through this avian maze, which I loved btw, but what I’d really like to know if you’re willing to share is whether you developed any particular strategy. Did you precompile, even in your head, a list of short bird names? Did you use 29 in any meaningful way? For my part, I kept count along the way just to bias my thinking to or away from inserting birds. Also, how did you break in to the theme – for me it was ARRHENIUS sans crossers.
Dr. W@4, I got PENURY early but wasn’t thinking birds until ARRHENIUS provided the aha moment. From there I simply did as you did, keeping count of missing birds.
Meant to ask before: I’m still in the dark about why TITUS = groan. Can someone enlighten me?
Oops, that’s Dr. W@5.
Yes, ARRHENIUS first themer for me, then OPEN and PENURY, at which point it could have been female birds.
Counting did help judge the likelihood of the last few being special.
For me the trick with bird names emerged from GRAVEN IMAGeS. But even getting that I still struggled for some days before the parsing of some answers revealed the hidden bird. But I failed in the NW as I was so convinced by CONCERT for 14a. Putting oncer (one off performance) inside CT giving performance. But sadly not correct! plus INFERNO for hell at 25a. But good fun for the week. Thanks Maskerade for the challenge and Quirister for filling my knowledge gaps.
I usually really enjoy Maskarade’s extended puzzles, and this wasn’t an exception, but it didn’t exactly play to my strengths. I usually reckon I have a reasonably general knowledge, with some glaring gaps, particularly plants, but Maskarade has now shown me I’m not very good on birds either. It didn’t help that my first solve of a specific ‘thematic’ clue was HOBBY, which had me waste a lot of time trying to fit stamp collecting and its siblings into the clues.
Finally, I got GRAVEN IMAGES, like CanberraGirl @ 9, and that was a bird even I couldn’t miss. I then took far longer than I’d imagined slowly filling in the rest, with a lot of turning to a dictionary with a “Oh, so that’s a bird. Well, what do you know?”. Erne, knot, sarin, reeve, mina (spelled that way) saker, etc. SAKER in particular, was an obscure bird clued with a – to me – equally obscure weapon, and the only way to get that was the sort of dictionary bashing described by Quirister, although in this case there weren’t many plausible options. At least I did know Titus Groan, even though I’ve not read it.
As always, I’m really impressed by what Maskarade can do, particularly with the birds split across words in phrases like FUTURE EVENT, and I particularly liked the contorted route to EMULATE. I was also impressed that Maskarade knew my weakness and managed to include plants I didn’t know, like HOUSELEEKS and Fumitory. My LOI, embarrassingly, was the fairly straightforward GARETH, but I had undercounted the birds and was still trying to squeeze in one more. All in all, I’m amazed I finished this.
Thanks, Maskarade, once more, and thanks Quirister for some of the parsing I missed, like GET KNOTTED and SCOOTER (which I couldn’t parse because I thought the bird was a Coot – one of the few I thought I knew!)
Got the theme after a dozen clues. Finished about a third of it. Too many obscure words sapped the fun out of it so I gave up and went out. An obscure word for Hell, comprised of an obscure word for insect’s cheeks and a word that isn’t given. No thanks. Not my bag. Bah humbug. Now to this week’s …
My first theme answer was WRITE A LETTER, so I thought the theme would be colors or waterfowl, but soon realized it was just birds. I still cannot find “TEAGLES” used in that sense (although surely someone will point me to Chambers–*sigh*), so I am flagging that as ultra-obscure. I guessed TEASLES or TEAZLES, which kind of fits the “catching twitchers” part of the clue, but which otherwise does not parse at all or fit the theme. I usually find Maskarades to be a contrived slog that I come nowhere near finishing, but I managed all of this quite enjoyably except for the aforementioned 16A.
Not my finest hour – or in this case, several hours. I had only finished the bottom half by yesterday, with some entries only partially parsed. At that stage, I only a few clues completed in the top half, and I figured I had run out of steam for the puzzle and elected to come here today to read about it instead. I did see the birds in some of the clues – starting with TEAL in 35d WRITE A LETTER – enough to gather that birds constituted the theme. I would have liked to have the satisfaction of finishing, but it was hard work to get as far as I did. I thought as there had already been a lot of obscure words, that would continue to be the case in the top half. The blog indicates that I was right.
Thanks to Maskarade and Quirister. I certainly admire all solvers who saw it through to the end.
[Meant to say “starting with TEAL in 35d WRITE A LETTER, like Cineraria@12.]
One of the easier holiday specials, obviously still tricky due to the obscure words. I spent far too long trying to parse a different Swedish chemist BERZELIUS who matched the last four crossers but once that was sorted out the last two (ANOTHER ONE and GARETH) fell quickly. Like others the counting confused me a little – my initial list contained 32 burds and I missed the possible one in BO-PEEPS. An enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks to Maskarade and Quirister.
Agree with beery hiker: one of the gentled Maskarades, to whom though a big thanks for a fine puzzle. Some of the real esoterica held me up a bit, like the ‘man friends’ in BO-PEEPS. I also missed the anagram on the LONDON BUS.
Birds not burds. Fat-fingered typing on the phone.
Indeed a fine puzzle of the Goldilocks level for me. Loved the theme with a few new birds (TUI, SAKAR for me), some reminded of birds I’d forgotten and enjoyed the mixture of solutions and, in hindsight (thanks Quirister for pointing out) the clever/personal cricket reference.
Many thanks Maskarade and Quirister for a thorough blog.
I agree with many of the comments above. I was a little bamboozled at the counting and towards the end thought I had all 29 but my last two, TEAGLES and BO-PEEPS also contained birds according to the blog.
Dr W @ 4: first clue in was the themed TEA Leaf and I just tried to count birds. I had no issue with repeats as they were clearly pointed out. Some people take a lot of pleasing!
A few clues were not in my knowledge base and I had a similar experience to Julie in A with the top/bottom split and was fortunate to be able to call on my dad to help fill in a few gaps. ADLAI was a particular stand out new one.
A dnf – I lost interest by Tuesday with NW unfinished. Bodge@11 sums it up nicely. Dr.WhatsOn@5; no strategy, no list, just kept tabs to influence my thinking. TEALEAF was my entry to the theme. I second JinA@13; kudos for finishing to those with more skill and patience than me. Thanks both.
Epee@1, the Adlai Stevenson those old enough will remember is the one defeated twice by Eisenhower in the presidential elections in the 1950s, immediately before JFK’s time. And @3, Alex Tudor made 99 not out as a night watchman, but was prevented from getting 100 as England won the match, thanks to runs from his Surrey teammate Graham Thorpe, for which Thorpe was criticised. I think Tudor’s score is the record for an England night watchman, unless someone knows better.
Thanks for a comprehensive blog of a challenging puzzle, Quirister. Just as well it wasn’t my turn, as Timon and I didn’t manage to complete the puzzle in two sessions, and the last few clues only got done towards the end of the week. Like KeithS at 10 GARETH was our last one; I thought it was an exceptionally well-disguised hidden reversal, but no doubt others will have seen it immediately. The NW corner in general proved hard to crack. I can’t now recall which bird provided our entry to the theme.
Got a few early on which encouraged me to persevere with this.
What I am really annoyed about is that there are clues that have birds inserted in the rest of the clue where there is no insertion indicator. Eg Hell! That’s cheek!. How the hell is anyone supposed to get this?
I do not understand why no-one else seems bothered or critical about this.
Got a lot further that usual with this setter but would have done better if rules were followed. (should I say tongue cheek instead of tongue in cheek?)
I was pleased to get within two clues of finishing this. Chapeau to anyone who got TEAGLES and GEHENNA without aids, or even with aids, I guess; and to those commenting above whose first answer including a bird was ARRHENIUS (I’m looking at you, Gonzo, and you, Dave in NC, and you, Dr WO), of whom I had never heard (though I got there in the end and then looked him up). I had trouble counting the birds, as I had mistakenly included HOBBY (my first bird clue) and SAKER in my list of 29 instances. Had to revise when I needed a hen for the Swede, but didn’t realise I also needed an obscure peep for BO-PEEPS, which I only got from the crossers and enumeration before checking the Aussie slang online – never did work out the wordplay for that one.
I enjoyed working on this puzzle, but wish I had known in advance how obscure 16 & 25 were, as I must have spent an hour on those two clues alone, which I had zero chance of getting. On the other hand, I was pleased with myself for recovering SAKER from a previously unsuspected memory slot, and FUMITORY from another nearby. TIN CAN raised a smile, so thanks to Maskarade for the (mostly) enjoyable solve, and Quirister for the all-encompassing blog.
Another in the Bodge, JinA and Wiggers camp…got the bird trick while doing about a third, put it aside and didn’t go back. Ah well, next bank holiday maybe..
This took a long time, and only partly because of its size. There were some tricky clues. Like Gonzo, DaveinNCarolina and others, I counted exactly 29 birds, without PEEP and also without COOT (in SCOOTER), HOBBY and FUM (which I counted at first but should not have).
I needed help with BO-PEEPS, and it was only with that nudge that I was able to solve GEISHA GIRL and then, finally, HOUSELEEKS.
Thanks to Maskarade and Quirister.
Well, I had counted 33, but now it’s 34. Maskererade’s rubric tends to be imprecise IMHO, but his compilation efforts are admirable, for which many thanks. My first one in was Arrhenius. After that, solving method was fairly random, but with crossers often helping, such that little blocks of solutions materialised across the grid.
Quiristor: your detailed blog more than matches the puzzle’s detail; many thanks.
Thanks for all the comments.
Epee sharkey @1, sjshart @20: I think you’re right about Adlai Stevenson. I knew the name but not the man, and picked the wrong option when looking him up. Blog updated.
Gonzo @2, DaveinNC @4: I wasn’t happy with my parsing of Bo-Peeps, so thanks for providing an alternative – almost as obscure as mine but I think your version is more likely. Blog updated.
DaveinNC @6: Groan represents “someone with the name Groan”, in this case the character Titus Groan who is the title character of a novel (and a main character in the series of novels). So the clue just asks you to take his other name. I guess if you know the novel it’s obvious enough, but if you don’t it’s too obscure.
Pedro @22: As nametab @26 suggests, Maskarade’s instructions are somewhat ambiguous. You’ve (quite reasonably) interpreted them as “there’s a theme word missing from the wordplay”, which would suggest that insertion indicators were needed. I think he intended (and most of us inferred) “work out the given wordplay and then add a theme word”, without specifying exactly where to add it; it might be at the start, or at the end, or in the middle.
I also agree with Bodge@11. And why is it assumed that one has more time on a bank holiday than any other weekend? Personally I was out enjoying the world (though that is probably easier for us country folk). At least this time I wasn’t immediately put off by an obscure preamble. In the end I got all but 2 and it took me all week of grabbing spare moments to do so. More slog than fun. As these “specials” so often are.
An early one was GRAVEN IMAGES, so I got the theme early on. I enjoyed this, although my brain was a bit frazzled by the end of Saturday when I completed it.
I thought I had 29 but realise that I counted PASSERINE as one without seeing SERIN – I hadn’t parsed that one properly.
Quite a tour-de-force for the setter, thanks Maskerade and Quirister for the mammoth blog.
sjshart @20 – thanks for the Alex Tudor insight. I could rem the 99 but being deprived of a maiden ton by your team mate needlessly scoring winning runs … hurts. I think Claire Taylor is the correct answer to the question “Who is the first player to captain a senior England team to a Cricket World Cup since the 1970s”?
Dr W @5 I thought it might be something like that. Still not sure though… 5 of the ‘bird containing’ solutions use ‘theme’ or a variant in the clue (SCOOTER, SAKER, HOBBY, PASSERINE, EMULATE) – taking all of those out would get back to 28 birds. It also seems that a bird is conjured ‘out of thin air’ (like this phrase!) at least for EMUlate and pasSERINe, or are you saying the presence of the ‘theme’ indicator means there is no conjuring. Yes, thinking aloud, maybe that is so.
I agree with Gonzo @2 — I got to BO PEEPS the same way, hence missing the hidden-in-plain sight bird. I wonder if this one is even intended? Also missed the COOT in sCOOTer. Still no rEGRETs for me!
Thanks Quiristet and Maskerade. I think 44d might be causing confusion in the counting as it contains both a reference to the theme in its definition and has a missing bird. There are exactly 29 solutions that need a bird added (the whole bird and nothing but the bird as Pierre would say).
Not much joy in this one for me. The clueing seemed imprecise and the constructions and surfaces clunky. Like others I also found the inconsistent usage of the theme words, when inserted, a bit annoying. Maybe it’s just a matter of individual wavelength- I’ve never quite clicked with this setter. It would bother me less if he didn’t have a lock on the bank holiday specials, which I really used to look forward to.
Quirister @27: Thank you for coming back and clearing up a few points. Much appreciated.
[have you heard the bird is the word]
I’d just like to cast a vote in favour of this puzzle, clearly not everyone liked it. We finished (just) by the end of Bank Holiday Monday, so no complaints about standard of difficulty. Yes, we had to check a few obscure words, but that’s par for the course; it’s always good to learn something new.
One disappointment, I confidently wrote in DRAKE for 18a, congratulating myself on remembering an old cannon that was also a bird -eventually having to cross it out when it wouldn’t fit with crossers. How odd that there should be <b>two</b> valid answers for this clue!
I had the usual experience with this Maskarade puzzle in that I approached it with trepidation rather than keen anticipation, but as soon as I got into it (and I twigged the theme quite early on), I was hooked and had to get to the end, which I did this time without any major grid-filling blunder. ARRHENIUS was also one of my earlier entries and I can only conclude, looking at the comments, that a lot of other solvers are chemists too. By the way, congratulations to Beery Hiker on knowing more than one Swedish chemist!
Most clues are fairly straightforward although not necessarily easy to solve. I agree that there are certainly some obscurities, like GENA and SAKER, but I expect to have to use reference works when doing these specials. I enjoyed TALK OF THE TOWN the best.
I stupidly threw my printout away, but I remember counting the clues after completion and getting the 29 required, so was satisfied. My method for the solve was somewhat disorderly: after getting the theme (from PENURY, I think), I simply looked out for likely theme clues and carried on without bothering to count or list them as I went along. I found it interesting that 32 (EMULATE) is written as a spoiler, in that it identifies 35 as a themed clue.
Cineraria @12, I sympathise with your TEAGLE woes. I found it in what appears to be a Scrabble players help book called Super Sixes, here.
Thanks, Maskarade for a diverting puzzle and Quirister for the blog, particularly for the explanation of “canal” in 9, which I never did rationalise.
Felt quite pleased with myself for finishing this and parsing all except the RET in MINARET in spite of not knowing the bird or the answer in several cases. Best example was 19a which I got from the wordplay, not having heard of the chemist or his equation. Only unfair one was SAKER for which there were 36 or possibly more solutions with no indication which was correct in the clue.
Thanks to Maskarade and Quirister.
Many thanks to both for the effort, especially Quirister for the interpretation. Your TINCAN was my TEAPOT which held me up for days. But, an enjoyable, longer, time than usual and that is fine
Currently the tuis are holding an avian tinder session round the property and that is pleasantly melodious.
Enjoyed this as I usually do with Maskarade’s bank holiday offerings. It kept me busy until late Sunday night when I finally flagged and succumbed to the odd reveal. FOI was TEA LEAF which meant I “got” the theme straight away – a big help. Pleased to see the references to Alex Tudor and Claire Taylor, more please ! Oh, and I counted 29 theme words as per the rubric. I did this by not including any answer where the word “themed” or “thematic” appeared in the clue. Finally, re. HOBBY – did anyone think of Subbuteo like I did ? Thanks to Quirister and to Maskarade
I am very much troubled by the breach of convention in 26 ac and am surprised that it has aroused so no protest.
If the definition can be hidden in the middle and not at either end, parsing will be much much harder
I completed about a fifth before I realised that I was wasting my time. The only way to be able to answer the themed clues was by working out what the definition was then coming up with something that matched the definition and the number count and then seeing if there was a bird somewhere in that. This meant that it was not possible to work out an answer that was a word you did not know simply by using the wordplay.
Then again, I am one of those who never use any outside assistance as I consider that using that means that the crossword is no longer cryptic and the whole exercise just becomes one of doing whatever is necessary to ensure all the boxes are filled in with the right letters. Did anyone really complete this without using the Internet, dictionaries etc ?
Re #39, not sure there is a convention that definition must be at start or end, though it usually is.
I’d say the ‘convention’ of the definition starting or finishing a clue is more of a cast-iron rule. I think it’s just about forgivable in 26a as you can almost read ‘chap back’ as the definition, but yes, if this rule was routinely broken, it would make solving nigh-on impossible.
Re #40, totally agree and that is the primary reason why I didn’t find this very enjoyable. It was a bit if a slog from start to finish, and I had to use “electronic aids” to get to the end, and several went in unparsed, one of which I see from the above I got wrong. Aside from that, I detest the use of americanisms or any “not proper English” words in crosswords, so unsurprisingly the “Bo Peeps” one was one I completely failed to parse, and which I think was an awful clue.
Loved this. Kept me busy the week. GARETH my LOI too … but I didn’t feel the least bit aggrieved! Used some aids. Parsed all but the RET of MINARET. Then noticed I’d not parsed 20a for which I had THA not TWA. HOUSELEEKS among many favourites. Super job, Maskarade. Properly mind-bending.
After swearing I wouldn’t do another Maskarade I foolishly started and was suckered in! As someone said earlier, more slog than fun. I admire Maskarade’s talents, but can’t enjoy the challenge. Thanks anyway.
(K)not happy with 3d. A TT is a single event and not ‘races’. Really frustrating puzzle this one – If you don’t know the birds you are literally ‘stuffed’.