Guardian Cryptic 28,250 by Pan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28250.

A fine puzzle, I would say a notch more difficult than many Monday offerings, but none the worse for that.

ACROSS
1 EPITOME Brief extract from impressive unfinished book (7)
A charade of EPI[c] (‘impressive’) minus its last letter (‘unfinished’) plus TOME (‘book’).
5 NIT-PICK Find fault with round metal tool (3-4)
A charade of NIT, a reversal (’round’) of TIN (‘metal’); plus PICK (‘tool’).
10 FRET Motif retraced around part of stringed instrument (4)
A hidden answer in ‘motiF RETraced’.
11 SEAMSTRESS Master’s translated letter for hands-on worker (10)
A charade of SEAMSTR, an anagram (‘translated’) of ‘master’s’ plus ESS (‘letter’ S).
12 GEMINI Soldier carrying artist’s sign (6)
An envelope (‘carrying’) of EMIN (Tracey, ‘artist’) in GI (‘soldier’).
13 DRAGOMAN Old Ottoman guide, a bore, going to a sultanate in Arabia (8)
A charade of DRAG (‘bore’) plus OMAN (‘sultanate in Arabia’).
14 CUBBYHOLE Spooner’s other half meeting old king in confined space (9)
A Spoonerism of HUBBY (‘other half’) COLE (‘old king’).
16 CADDY Carry clubs in small container (5)
Double definition.
17 FATWA Overweight women given a death sentence (5)
A charade of FAT (‘overweight’) plus W (‘women’) plus ‘a’. A fatwa is in origin an official order issued by a Muslim religious leader, but, after Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, it has essentially taken on the definition given in the clue; perhaps, to be strictly precise, a question mark might have been appended to the clue to announce an indication by example.
19 ANALGESIA Pain relief for north American with broken leg detained in the Far East (9)
An envelope (‘detained’) of N (‘north’) plus A (‘American’) plus LGE, an anagram (‘broken’) of ‘leg’ in ASIA (‘the Far East’).
23 FAREWELL Food fit for leave-taking? (8)
A charade of FARE (‘food’) plus WELL (‘fit’).
24 BORSCH Soup recipe secured by painter (6)
An envelope (‘secured by’) of R (‘recipe’, an abbreviation deriving principally from medical prescriptions) in BOSCH (Hieronymus, ‘painter’). The soup, as transliterated from the Russian, has various spellings; I would have added a T at the end.
26 ON THE WAGON TT (travelling by truck?) (2,3,5)
Definition (‘TT’ for abstaining from alcohol) and literal interpretation
27 BABY Infant born before sailor gets by in the end (4)
A charade of B (‘born’) plus AB (able-bodied ‘sailor’) plus Y (‘bY in the end’).
28 STATUTE Condition endlessly applied to limits of the law (7)
A charade of STATU[s] (‘condition’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) plus TE (‘limits of ThE‘).
29 ENGLISH Shingle broken up for old printing type (7)
An anagram (‘broken up’) of ‘shingle’. The ‘printing type’ is Old English.
DOWN
2 PARVENU Newcomer‘s music upset audience finally leaving concert hall, say (7)
A charade of PAR, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of RAP (‘music’) plus VENU[e] (‘concert hall, say’) minus an E (‘audiencE finally leaving’).
3 TUTSI Source of thread in suit woven for someone from central Africa? (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of T (‘source of Thread’) in TUSI, an anafgram (‘woven’) of ‘suit’.
4 MESSIAH Champion footballer visiting a hospital (7)
A charade of MESSI (Lionel Andrés, ‘footballer’) plus ‘a’ plus H (‘hospital’).
6 INSTAL Points in short typeface set up ready for use (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of NS (north and south, ‘points’) in ITAL[ic] (‘typeface’) minus the final two letters (‘short’)
7 PERFORATE Puncture found after rope breaks (9)
An anagram (‘breaks’) of ‘after rope’.
8 CUSTARD Eccentric person eating only skimmed milk-based sauce (7)
An envelope (‘eating’) of [j]UST (‘only’) minus its first letter (‘skimmed’) in CARD (‘eccentric person’).
9 DADDY-LONG-LEGS Sly dog dangled bananas for insect (5-4-4)
An anagram (‘bananas’) of ‘sly dog dangled’. Daddy-long-legs is a name given to various critters, including the crane fly, which is an insect. There are also variations on the 5-4-4 format.
15 BOWLER HAT Cricketer initially happy about the headgear (6,3)
A charade of BOWLER (‘cricketer’) plus HAT (‘initially Happy About The’).
18 AGAINST Touching stove isn’t funny! (7)
A charade of AGA (‘stove’) plus INST, an anagram (‘funny’) of ‘isn’t’.
20 LEBANON Country where bell sounds rise before long (7)
A charade of LEB, a reversal (‘rise’ in a down light) of BEL (‘bell sounds’) plus ANON (‘before long’).
21 INCUBUS Popular copper to transport unwelcome nocturnal visitor (7)
A charadde of IN (‘popular’) plus CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus BUS (‘transport’).
22 PEEWIT Dump serving as nest for tiny bird ascending (6)
A rare clue in which the definition does not appear at either end. A reversal (‘ascending’ in a down light) of an envelope (‘serving as nest for’) WEE (‘tiny’) in TIP (‘dump’).
25 REBEL Insurgent put base of bomb in rock (5)
A envelope (‘put … in’) of B (‘base of bomB‘ – or should it be the other B?) in REEL (‘rock’).

 

image of grid

77 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,250 by Pan”

  1. I would have spelled INSTAL with another L as well as BORSCH with a T, but both were clear from the clue, as was the unknown (to me) DRAGOMAN. I thought that there might have been a typo in the clue for PEEWIT (‘ascending bird’ would be better than ‘bird ascending’). All that aside, an enjoyable solve. Thanks to Pan and PeterO.

  2. We North Carolinians (where I live, too) are quick off the draw! I agree about “peewit” as somewhat against the rules of the game. “Instal” is British English… But this was fun: thanks to all!

  4. Definitely borscht with a t; in our household it was tomato-based, a summer dish taken cold, a bit like a gazpacho, and delicious. Not sure I’ve met epitome meaning other than ‘example par excellence’ …always learning! Agree that, strictly, not all fatwas call for death. Didn’t think of card for eccentric person, so custard was a bung and shrug. Enjoyable Monday fare, thanks to Peter and Pan.

  6. Not bad for a Monday. Got started with that easy anagram (DADDY-LONG-LEGS) and finished with CADDY (ha-ha), while I actually cassé la demi-heure – a pleasant and rare event so early in the week. And whereas I’ve had my fill of old Willie-Archie’s supposed sayings – having thought I’d groaned my way through all of them – I actually guffawed at CUBBYHOLE. I always enjoy predicting what the parsing-police will jump all over, but nothing came to mind this time, but I’m sure they’ll be out in force. Can’t wait to see …….

  8. Is Latin a typeface? I suppose it is, distinguished from Gothic. INSTAL is definitely how I would spell it, but I see that the spellcheck here does not like it. I was stuck on the parsing of STATUTE as I had stat(e) instead of statu(s) and therefore could not account for the u. And I agree with the query about the clue for PEEWIT, not least because the bird is not backwards. A fun Monday morning workout overall. Many thanks to PererO for explaining and to Pan for setting.

  9. A pleasingly-swift solve, which is a lovely way to start the week. I’m another who’d never heard of a DRAGOMAN, but the clue made it clear. I started out wondering if the tiny bird might be a wren – and getting a W as a crosser added to this – but PEEWIT is a delightful answer. And a delightful bird, too.
    I enjoyed INCUBUS, grinned at MESSIAH and GEMINI – and my clue of the day is PARVENU.
    Thanks to PeterO for help completing the parsing of INSTAL, and thanks to Pan for the entertainment.

  10. I really enjoyed this one. Getting DADDY LONG LEGS opened up a lot of it for me.

    DRAGOMAN was new to me (lovely word) as was the spelling of INSTAL. PEEWIT left me a bit worried I’d gotten it wrong as the definition wasn’t at the end. CUBBYHOLE was a treat.

    Thanks to both! Hope all have a great week.

  11. I think the early posters have just about said it all! Slightly worried INSTAL had two Ls and and the order of the last two words in the clue for PEEWIT. I realise now I hadn’t parsed STATUTE properly either also being hung up on State rather than status.
    Enjoyed GEMINI and slightly miffed it took me so long to see FRET having been misled by the redundant around in the clue.
    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  12. I love a good NIT-PICK (otherwise why would I be here?)

    Big ticks for AGAINST and CUSTARD (also appropriate, as I’ve always been against custard).

    And now for the NIT-PICKs:

    I don’t think PEEWIT works, which is a shame because it was a nice idea.

    Like PeterO I thought FATWA merited a question mark for definition by example, and the same could be said for Far East = ASIA.  Conversely I can’t see what the question mark is doing in TUTSI.

    Is EPITOME really a brief extract?  It can be a synopsis, or a representative example, or the embodiment of something, but none of those are quite the same.

    Add to that the unusual spellings of INSTAL and BORSCH, and I’d hesitate to put this puzzle in front of a new solver to show them how it’s done.

    Nevertheless a fun solve, thanks Pan and PeterO.

  14. Not sure I’m a fan of the PEEWIT device and wondered whether it was a typo.  It’s not met with much approval on the Guardian site.  Shame.  The rest of this went down reasonably smoothly – though the first pass actually revealed surprisingly little.  Like Andy @7, I had LATIN as the typeface but must confess I didn’t check that it actually is one.

    Dr WhatsOn @3: isn’t ‘around’ serving as the indicator of the hidden word?  ‘Motif retraced’ is around the answer ‘fret’ which is defined by the remaining words in the clue.

    Rodshaw and Wellbeck, between them, have highlighted most of my favourites today – and CUBBYHOLE is outrageous but certainly raised a smile.  I’d add STATUTE and BOWLER HAT both of which signalled the letters required to complete the answer rather cleverly.

    Keeping the musical references short, whilst it’s hardly surprising there’s a rock band called INCUBUS, an Australian indie band rejoice in the name of CUSTARD!

    Thanks Pan and PeterO for the blog

  16. DaveinNCarolina and grantinfreo, you should worry, my wife is Polish so in our house the soup is barszcz

     

  17. Apparently, according to Chambers, the letter S is spelt ES not ESS. Interestingly, this (correct) spelling is used elsewhere today.

  18. Can an ornithologist tell me if peewit is close enough to a lark for “ascending” to serve a double purpose?

  19. Thanks Pan and PeterO

    I found this quite hard, and for some reason didn’t particularly enjoy it. 9a reminded me of the controversial pub-quiz question “how many legs does a daddy-long-legs have?” – controversial because quite a few people refer to the harvestman as a daddy-long-legs, and it has 8.

    I agree that the clue for PEEWIT isn’t just “definition not at the end”, it’s wrong, as the “ascending” is applied to the wrong part. As DaveInC said @1, “ascending bird” would work.

  20. I liked 5a NIT-PICK, 19a ANALGESIC, 23a FAREWELL, 26a ON THE WAGON, 9d DADDY-LONG-LEGS, and 15d BOWLER HAT. I wasn’t fussed on 14a because of what was in my opinion a clunky surface. I had a few problems with fully parsing 2d PARVENU and 22d PEEWIT, a clue much discussed already. Many thanks to Pan and PeterO.

    [Mark@14: Custard headed up by Dave McCormack, is a great Australian band whose live gigs I have loved whenever I have seen them – still sad that live music gigs have been so few and far between this year due to COVID.]

  21. [P.S. I liked the reminded of Hieronymous Bosch in BORSCH at 24a – mostly because I am a bit of a fan of Lee Child’s books – certainly not high art, though! I thought it was a beetroot soup?]

  22. [“I wasn’t fussed on 14a” – i was referring to CUBBYHOLE – sorry to those who might have had to scroll back to see the clue to which I am referring.]

  23. Carolyn @ 18 – peewits (or lapwings, as ornithologists would probably call them), are noted aerial acrobats that swoop and pirouette in spectacular fashion, especially in the Spring.  But they are not like the skylark in regularly singing while ascending to a great height, so I don’t think a peewit would ever be defined as an ascending bird, for crossword purposes.

  25. essexboy@12: Chambers has EPITOME as a brief extract, so I learned something new today.

    I agree with most of the NIT-PICKS, especially re BORSCH, FATWA and PEEWIT, and would add one of my own: “italic” is not a typeface but a font. Helvetica, Bodoni, Arial etc. are typefaces. Roman, italic, smallcaps and so on are fonts (also ‘founts’).

  26. [grantinfreo @4 Agree on the spelling of BORSCHT but tomato and cold are both very, very wrong for me!  My grandmother used to make a mean borscht with beetroot, potatoes, onions, peppers and garlic.   We would sometimes have “posh” borshct which included massive hunks of beef.  Being Russian, her view was that anything from Eastern Europe (she was from the Cuacasus) was “namby-pamby” and would benefit from extra garlic which she used to chew raw whilst smoking Black Russians].

    So I take issue on 24a but the rest of this puzzle was a joy to besolve.

    Has anyone else noticed the massive infestations of DADDY LONG LEGS (my FOI) this year?

    I have to say that this puzzle was SO well clued that 4d dropped in for me, a non-football lover.

    Thank you for Pan and PeterO for a class start to the week!

  27. Thanks Pan and PeterO

    poc @ 25: you must have a version of Chambers different from the app I use, which has

    1. A typical example
    2. A personification
    3. An abridgement or short summary of anything, eg a book
    4. A short or concentrated expression of something

    To me, an abridgement or short summary is what it says, but an extract is a continuous piece. ‘Brief abstract’ would have worked.

  28. Some nice elements… But alas, too many quibbles (along w/too many Britishisms) for me to fully enjoy. E.g. BORSCH, INSTAL, PEEWIT, DADDY LONG LEGS. I think the latter at least should have a ?; for many it’s an arachnid (either spider or harvestman) rather than insect.

    Nods to our blogger/setter/commenters!

  30. I started rather slowly with this, but once I got going it was satisfying to finish.

    Another NIT-PICK is that OMAN is in both clue and answer for DRAGOMAN. I don’t think ‘around’ in the clue for FRET works in that position, and I agree with all the other posts above that ‘ascending’ is in the wrong position.

    I quite liked some of the simpler clues, like those for CADDY and FAREWELL.

    Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  32. Since we are explicitly invited to nit-pick, I’d like to suggest ‘sound rises’ in 20d instead of ‘sounds rise’.

    And I agree with other comments saying 22d is wrong. No problem with INSTAL or BORSCH.

    An enjoyable Monday crossie. Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  33. Hmm. I found the clues to be much more widely varying in difficulty than other Guardian offerings. Compare the clue for ENGLISH (which as an anagram of shingle has appeared many times, I believe), to say PARVENU (where one has to guess two words, rap and venue, and then perform wordplay on them).

    Somehow this discrepancy didn’t set me on the correct wavelength….yeah, I am just making excuses for not finishing in my allotted hour 😀

  35. Robi @30: I’m intrigued as to why 3 experienced posters, now, have had an issue with ‘around’ in the clue for FRET.  I was hoping Dr WhatsOn might have popped back in and Munromad crossed with me whilst I was querying the former’s post.  I read ‘around’ as I might have read the word ‘contains’ or ‘surrounds’.  The first two words are around the answer – well, the string of letters that comprises the first two words is around the answer – and everything from ‘part of’ onwards is the definition.  ‘Around’, itself, has to be there to indicate which device is being used – the hidden word.  I’m not sure I see an obvious alternative to what Pan has done whilst keeping the device and the definition.

  36. Mark@35 I’ve popped.  You have to give a fellow time for a full night’s sleep (I’m in the US)!  This is being terribly nitpicky, but that meaning of around causes a phrase to be around part of itself, which sounds like something requiring a contortionist.  Admittedly my first reading had the hiding operation coming from “part of”, which is clearly now part of the definition, but around doesn’t quite do it, imo.

  37. Agreed, crane fly is more common for Brits, but cellar spider seems recognized too (nhm.ac.uk, naturespot.org.uk, srs.britishspiders.org.ok). Sounds like in Australia it’s generally a cellar spider; in Canada and US it can be cellar spider or harvestman (I’m from Michigan where it’s usually the latter; now live near San Francisco where it’s usually the former).

  38. Dr W @36: thanks for popping – and apologies for cutting you so little slack!  Our US contributors do occasionally confuse me by posting at either ends of (my) day.  Especially with an early blog as we get with Peter O.

    I think I see what you mean about a phrase being around part of itself – but don’t actually see a problem with that.  It’s probably part of existentialist philosophy – can a whole embrace a part of a whole?  I am around my stomach, imo, even though it is an integral part of me.  Anyway, thanks for the elucidation.  Suspect we may not agree on this one – but it is minor as you say.

  39. Re DADDY-LONG-LEGS, I can’t see what is wrong with this (too British?) as this is a British-produced crossword. All are welcome to do the puzzle (and I enjoy reading comments from all over the globe) but we pay for it!

  40. After managing to get all but two of yesterday’s Everyman (but will go back to then at some point to see if I can get them before we get the answers next week), I was feeling quite good about my progress. Back to earth with a bump. Eventually got all but one of them but a lot of use of the check button and dictionaries – and needed the blog to parse a couple. And I spell install with 2 LLs – is one L really the British spelling?

    Liked GEMINI, INCUBUS, PARVENUE and CUBBYHOLE made me laugh.

    Now off to try the quiptic which the Guardian blog says is even harder.

    Thanks to Pan and PeterO

     

  41. Personally I don’t mind the slightly harder than usual Monday fare, but it might have miffed some newer solvers. I was disappointed though by some of the looseness – I’m with my county compatriot Essex boy @12, as modified by poc @25, on this.
    INSTAL was LOI, as I blithely assumed US English would have been indicated in a UK crossword, only to find it’s given as a variant in my Chambers. Interestingly, the next entry gives the part-payment as instalment in the UK but installment in the US.

  43. Robi @31 thanks for the explanation.  When I hear “daddy long legs” i picture what I now know is called a harvestman over t’other side.  When I hear “crane fly” I don’t picture anything, though the picture in google does look like something I’ve seen.  I’ve never heard of a harvestman or a cellar spider (even though I’ve lived in San Francisco.)  Shirl@39, we may have different ideas of what a daddy-long-legs looks like, but we’re all agreed it’s an insect, which is all the definition it got, so I don’t think there’s  problem.

    Dave and others: I think INSTAL is the British spelling, and with that in mind I popped it right in.  I also think BORSCH is an alternate spelling I’ve seen somewhere, though I also spell it with a T.

    Custard, on the other hand, is an example not of British word usage or speling but cooking culture: liquid custard is unknown over here.

    I didn’t like the PEEWIT setup either.

  44. Oh, and I forgot to say — I enjoyed the puzzle, which I agree is easier than today’s Quiptic, though that doesn’t make it easy.  Thank you to both Pan and PeterO.

  46. Valentine @43: Custard as British cooking culture – the Japanese contribute sushi and sashimi to the global smorgasbord; the Indians their spices; the Italians their pasta and tiramisu; the French – well, most things haute cuisine.  And we bring custard to the party!

  48. Like some other commenters, I found this harder than the average Monday, and at one stage I had nothing whatever in the NE while the rest of the grid was completely filled. Not sure that has ever happened to me before. Never did get INSTAL, the surface appearing to me like a kaleidoscope of misdirectional wordplay and potential definitions (which apparently don’t now have to be at the start or end of the clue!), constantly shifting and giving new possibilities every time I looked at it. How much credit for this goes to Pan’s cleverness, and how much to my density (denseness?), I cannot say.

    I won’t contribute to the discussion of around in 10a, but I thought that visiting in 4d was unfairly misleading:I took it at first to be an inclusion indicator. A pity that the clue for PEEWIT doesn’t quite come off, and the alternative proposed by Dave in NC @1 is more accurate but less evocative.

    Thanks to Pan and PeterO both.

  49. Peter Aylmer @41: no idea who you are.  Could be anyone.  Could even be an established poster popping in under a new name….

    Trailman @42: Ah!

  50. Shirl, my point is simply that defn/answer in 9D are rather lax to me. Insects include millions of species, with crane flies a tiny subset… and then (even in the UK) not all daddy long legs are crane flies or even insects. I feel this laxity, warrants an indicator of some kind. Just my opinion, of course, and others will expess their own… after all, that’s what this blog is for :

  52. How about “TIP (dump) serving as a nest for WEE (tiny) “is a” bird “when” ascending, where the when applies to TIP. Sorry, I can’t change the font on my tablet to make this clearer!

  53. Lots to like for me. The sly dog dangling bananas has had me smiling all day. Everything went in very quickly until I found myself staring at a nearly blank NE corner. Had to give up on instal and messiah. But otherwise too many good ones to mention. Had almost forgotten Tracy Emin. Is she still famous? And thank you MaidenBartok for the wonderful description of your grandmother. Love it!

  54. A great start to the week. Favourites were DADDY-LONG-LEGS and CUBBYHOLE which worked for me as a Spoonerism. Couldn’t parse CUSTARD but agree it’s a fair clue, but sad it is the epitome of Brit cuisine i.e. school dinners ?. Many thanks to Pan and PeterO. Trail man- I shall never tell. Off to try the Quiptic. Happy Monday one and all.

  56. me @43 How could I say we’re all agreed a daddy-long-legs is an insect?  Nobody with eight legs is an insect.  Arachnid, may the record show I meant to say.

  57. Nice puzzle! I managed INSTAL and BORSCH despite the spelling differences, but I was beaten by PEEWIT, though – still not convinced about the parsing…

    Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  58. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of crosswords, the PEEWIT answer threw me. It’s good to see I was not alone, so I’ll pick myself and get back in the game tomorrow.

  59. Valentine @56

    As I said earlier, even in the UK some mean cranefly by “dadday long legs” (insect), and some – the minority, I think – mean harvestman (arachnid). That’s why it was always a controversial quiz question.

  60. Re the ongoing disputation of the use of insect to clue DADDY LONG LEGS. Chambers has “a word loosely used for a small invertebrate creature, esp one with a body divided into sections”, so it really doesn’t matter if it’s a crane fly or a harvestman spider, and the number of legs is irrelevant.

    Instead, can we talk about artist to clue EMIN, or music to clue RAP?

  62. muffin – with respect – did you read the definition in Chambers? The first definition in the dictionary is “loosely used for a small invertebrate”. OK, scientifically a harvestman is an arachnid, but in the world of words (including crosswords) it is entirely legitimate to refer to it as an insect.

  64. I’ll try to avoid being rude, SH, but an arachnid is not an insect! It doesn’t matter, though, as most of us over here refer to a cranefly as “daddy-long-legs”.

  65. @Julie in Australia- as it’s nitpicking day don’t you mean Michael Connelly not Lee Child (author of the Bosch novels).?

    And can I agree with all those who didn’t like definition for Peewit – only ‘tiny’ was ascending- not the bird

  66. muffin – I didn’t say that an arachnid was an insect, I simply quoted the authority of Chambers to show that it was ok (if loose) to refer to an arachnid as an insect. In real life I would be careful not to refer to an archnid as an insect, but in crosswordland Chambers says it’s ok.

  67. SH

    Another instance of Chambers just being wrong. I do wish that the dictionary would indicate “incorrect” more often. Does it include “whale” as “large fish”? Need I mention “epiceentre”?

  68. muffin –  I think they’re just reflecting English as it is used. I cringe every time I hear epicentre used incorrectly, or see criteria/phenomena/bacteria treated as singular nouns. And don’t get me started on uninterested/disinterested. But the dictionaries show that this is the way that the words are being used.

  70. Muffin & hatter: what an object lesson for us all in how to disagree, get slightly tetchy, find common ground and close the evening as friends. Chapeau!

  72. @Carolyn Murphy, a peewit is a lapwing pretty far from a lark. It is more a wader and found on the ground than on the wing like the lark. How about Raised dump serving as a nest for little bird? Raised indicating the reversal and bird can just be on its own.

  73. Glad to see everything circle back to end on a civil note! For my part I didn’t/wouldn’t say the clue is wrong, just loose (corroborated by debate here), and lack of an indicator (“?” or otherwise) detracted from my own personal enjoyment of the puzzle… but then I tend to more Ximenean tastes re defns in clues.

  74. [Dear Onion Woman@65, What you said wasn’t a nitpick – I was simply wrong. Mea culpa. How could I confuse Harry Bosch with Jack Reacher? I think I am losing the plot, so to speak.

    Dear Shirl@ I agree entirely that when those of us who live in other countires solve British puzzles that British references are par for the course, but I was just a tiny bit hurt when you said that people in the UK pay for the puzzle. I am a faithful subscriber to “The Guardian” even though my major interaction with the publication is the daily crossword. Not a complaint, as subscribing just for the pleasure the cryptic gives me is worth every cent.]

  76. For me, a daddy-long-legs is definitely an arachnid (specifically, this one). As far as I know, the crane fly doesn’t have this nickname where I live. I assumed that cluing it as “insect” was a (minor, not worth worrying about) error on Pan’s part, but I see that I was wrong.

    I also wondered about the clue for PEEWIT, but it was quite gettable, and I think for me it’s the sort of thing where giving the setter a bit more latitude makes our pastime more fun.

     

  77. Came here after doing the Quiptic with low expectations after comments in the Quiptic’s thread but enjoyed this (although I tend to struggle with clues that require you to remove some letters from a clued word, of which there were several here eg 2d, 6d, 8d,…)

    19d drew a smile as it reminded me of a great moment in the hospital-based comedy Scrubs. In a throwaway comment we hear Dr. Turk advising an elderly patient “It’s pronounced ANN-algesic not AY-nalgesic – the pills go in your mouth.”

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