The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28324.
I found this an excellent crossword. In a previous crossword, I noted Crucible’s penchant for envelopes, with varied indications to fit the surfaces. Crucible also likes themes; here the grid is littered with body parts, from SCALPS to TOOTSIE.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | OSTEOPATH | One manipulates very big writer back at hotel (9) |
| A charade of OS (‘very big’) plus TEOP, a reversal (‘back’) of POET (‘writer’) plus ‘at’ plus H (‘hotel’). | ||
| 10 | IMAGE | This writer’s mellow still (5) |
| A charade of I’M (‘this writer’s’) plus AGE (‘mellow’, as a verb); the definition is a photograph. | ||
| 11 | TOOTSIE | Revolutionary shoe is too tight to accommodate foot (7) |
| A hidden (‘to accommodate’) reversed (‘revolutionary’) answer in ‘shoE IS TOO Tight’. I would have defined TOOTSIE as a toe, but Chambers gives ‘foot’ also – and suggests the derivation as a childish version of the word foot. | ||
| 12 | OPTICAL | Choose independent state helping pupils work? (7) |
| A charade of OPT (‘choose’) plus I (‘independent’) plus CAL (California, ‘state’). | ||
| 13 | DRILL | Train monkey abandoned by staff (5) |
| A subtraction: [man]DRILL (African ‘monkey’) minus (‘abandoned by’) MAN (‘staff’, verb). | ||
| 14 | BIOETHICS | The dos and don’ts of cloning new bitches, about ten? (9) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of IO (‘ten’) n BETHICS, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘bitches’. | ||
| 16 | WHITE BLOOD CELLS | They fight invaders who libelled Scot after Reformation (5,5,5) |
| An anagram (‘after reformation’) of ‘who libelled scot’. | ||
| 19 | SPARE TYRE | Duplicate Mediterranean city corporation (5,4) |
| A charade of SPARE (‘duplicate’) plus TYRE (‘Mediterranean city’), for a generous stomach. | ||
| 21 | SEGUE | Not all of these guests proceed without a break (5) |
| A hidden answer (‘not all of’) in ‘theSE GUEsts’. | ||
| 22 | TOMBOLA | Cat left snake trapped? It’s fair game (7) |
| A charade of TOM (male ‘cat’) plus BOLA, an envelope (‘trapped’) of L (‘left’) in BOA (‘snake’). | ||
| 23 | UNARMED | Defenceless Unionist called about Republican (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of R (”Republican’) in U (‘Unionist’) plus NAMED (‘called’). | ||
| 24 | SPINE | Bottle first of port during function (5) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of P (‘first of Port’) in SINE (mathematical ‘function’), for ‘bottle’ in the sense of courage. | ||
| 25 | CAN-OPENER | Jailer‘s means of access to fast food? (3-6) |
| Double definition; a play on CAN as a prison. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOUTH DOWNS | Engineer shouts about broken range (5,5) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of DOWN (‘broken’) in SOUTHS, an aangram (‘engineer’) of ‘shouts’. | ||
| 2 | STROBILI | Chop up, stir and boil fruits of hops (8) |
| An anagram (‘chop up’) of ‘stir’ plus ‘boil’. A strobilus is a seed cone of some plants, such as pines, but in the case of the hop, it is not woody. Of course, ‘fruits of hops’ (plural of the plant hop) are called hops. As various other plants produce strobili, this clue has an unannounced indication by example (although the term cone is sometimes reserved for the woody ones, and hops are surely the best known of the remainder). | ||
| 3 | TONSIL | Personal matter of dubious value is not raised online (6) |
| A charade of TONSI, a reversal (‘raised’ in a down light) of ‘is not’ plus (‘on’-) L (-‘line’). | ||
| 4 | FACE | Meet following first-class service (4) |
| A charade of F (‘following’) plus ACE (tennis, ‘first class service’). | ||
| 5 | CHROMOSOME | Handed down item old medics wrapped in shiny stuff (10) |
| An envelope (‘wrapped in’) of O (‘old’) plus MOS (‘medics’) in CHROME (‘shine stuff’). | ||
| 6 | DIETETIC | Parliament to mention rises based on consumption (8) |
| A charade of DIET (‘Parliament’ as in the Diet of Worms) plus ETIC, a reversal (‘rises’) of CITE (‘mention’). | ||
| 7 | TAI CHI | Start to train first person in Berlin in excellent exercises (3,3) |
| A charade of T (‘start to Train’) plus AICHI, an envelope (‘the second ‘in’) of ICH (German I, ‘first person in Berlin’) in AI (that is, A1, ‘excellent’). | ||
| 8 | HEEL | The Spanish ambassador heads list (4) |
| A charade of HE (His or Her Excellency, ‘ambassador’) plus EL (‘the Spanish’), with ‘heads’ giving the order of the particles. | ||
| 14 | BELLY-DANCE | Seductive performance led by clean comic (5-5) |
| An anagram (‘comic’) of ‘led by clean’. | ||
| 15 | SUSPENDERS | They hold up supper regularly during breaks (10) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of SPE (‘SuPpEr regularly’) in SUNDERS (‘breaks’). | ||
| 17 | EYEHOLES | Spain agreed to host entire broadcast for private viewers (8) |
| An envelope (‘to host’) of HOLE, sounding like (‘broadcast’) WHOLE (‘entire’) in E (‘Spain’ IVR) plus YES (‘agreed’). | ||
| 18 | LIGAMENT | Joint holder‘s fast time running round a school (8) |
| An envelope (‘running round’) of I (‘a’) plus GAM (‘school’ of whales) in LENT (‘fast time’). | ||
| 20 | ARMPIT | Hairy place where weapons may be hidden? (6) |
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 21 | SCALPS | South Carolina mounts western trophies (6) |
| A charade of SC (‘South Carolina’) plus ALPS (‘mounts’). | ||
| 22 | TUSK | Big canine, last of eight by Welsh river (4) |
| A charade of T (‘last of eighT‘) plus USK (‘Welsh river’); ‘canine’ as a tooth. | ||
| 23 | ULNA | Stubbs preserved large bone from horse’s leg (4) |
| An envelope (‘preserved’) of L (‘large’) in UNA (‘Stubbs’, actress – Mrs. Hudson in Sherlock). The bone is not only in horses, but the reference is intended to mislead the unwary into thinking of George Stubbs, noted for his paintings of horses. | ||
Much to enjoy in this puzzle, which for me comes amidst a rather dreary drought. Many clues to be wrestled with and relished, and it’s always nice to be (almost) defeated by a ‘mere’ anagram (WHITE BLOOD CELLS). Very few write-ins on first pass, then suddenly it flowed. BIOETHICS and CHROMOSOME were among the outstanding clues – and I suspect there may be a theme somewhere, but I’m usually oblivious to them. LOI was HEEL, these little guys are often my downfall. Thanks setter, for a very pleasant hour.
That took ages, but yes enjoyable. The last few in the NW took as long as the rest, including the hidden tootsie and the rather odd tonsil (are they still “of dubious value” medically, or is there something else going on?). Also worried about some unknown engineer before waking up to South Downs…how many times has engineer been an anagrind, d’oh! Good one Crucible, thanks PeterO and seasonal good wishes to all.
Masterly misdirection-personal matter had me thinking BO
And then having T?O???E looked like TROCHEE for foot with CHE as revolutionary but TROT also could be revolutionary. So it was sort of down to what fitted together with an attempt at parsing.
The final hurdle of a fairly tough steeplechase. 3d is a great clue-is it an original-anyone?
One of the best I have seen from Duggie. Thanks you kindly.Thanks also to peter O for the blog.
Crucible doesn’t come high on my list of favourite setters but, on this occasion, after a similarly slow start to that experienced by rodshaw, things began to fall into place and I share PeterO’s enjoyment of a clever puzzle. WHITE BLOOD CELLS was first in – helped by the enumeration at first and then spotting the anagram and that really helped to unlock the bottom of the grid. Like gif, the NW was last to fall. I did need help for STROBILI which is a dnk (and probably soon to be forgotten). I also led myself up a short garden path by initially entering a largely unparsed TROTSKY for TOOTSIE.
I thought BIOETHICS was clever, having initially wondered what instruction was being conveyed to me by clone. I also enjoyed the cunning CHROMOSOME, the witty SPARE TYRE and, for once, remembered GAM as a school of whales so was able to parse LIGAMENT.
I was pleased to work out TAI CHI – though it reminded me of attempting A Level German which I eventually dropped due to not enjoying the literature half of the course which seemed to be little more than wading through the rather obscure “Hauptmann von Kopenick” which is written in German but often using the Berlin dialect (here’s a link to the true story on which it was based: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Voigt). If I recall one thing from that painful experience, it’s that “Berliners” say “ick” instead of “ich”. One of those occasions when too much knowledge can mislead!
Thanks Crucible and PeterO
Lovely puzzle – like rodshaw and PostMark, it took some time. Great misdirection, lots to enjoy. Many thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
A slow start but then I discovered WHITE BLOOD CELLS and it flowed, only to slow up again right at the end.
I didn’t know ‘gam’ for a school of whales so I had to guess 18dn from the crossers and the theme. Thanks PeterO.
Spent ages on 11ac putting in trotsky and trot and che and anagramatising ISTOO around FT in a desperate attempt to discover the footwear equivalent of sans culottes or descaminados before I realised it was staring me in the face. I HATE those clues.
Great fun, Crucible, Many thanks.
WHITE BLOOD CELLS went straight in and remained my favourite clue. I also liked CHROMOSOME, BIOETHICS, CAN-OPENER and TOOTSIE. I also had TROTSKY for a while PostMark@4. Excellent workout. Ta Crucible & PeterO
That took quite a while. Two sessions with a break for breakfast. Helped greatly by getting WHITE BLOOD CELLS in the white stripe across the middle.
Thanks Crucible and PeterO
I pursued the same misdirections as others, but also sorted the correct routes eventually. Did not know ‘strobili’ but decided that it was the most likely construction from the very fair clue.
Super puzzle. Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
A good workout indeed. I found I had the East completed with little on the West. Like for others, WHITE BLOOD CELLS went in first – so many crossers is a great help, and it gave an indication of the theme, which also helped. TOOTSIES has always been toes for me. Lots of nice clues: too many to enumerate, but BIOETHICS was great, as was TONSIL and ARMPIT. PeterO, surely ‘western’ is part of the definition for SCALPS? If it weren’t for all those Westerns we watched as kids, I doubt we would know about scalping. Thanks, PeterO and Crucible.
Good spot TassieTim. I watched The Searchers yesterday and the hideous practice still make my TOOTSIES curl.
TootsieTim @10: I’m with you in including ‘western’ in the definition for SCALPS and hadn’t noticed its omission in the blog. Otherwise it’s not accounted for. I suspect Westerns are nowadays viewed as politically incorrect, along with references to scalping, but they did, as you say, feature strongly in the childhood TV schedules for many of us.
[minor piece of irrelevant info prompted by thinking on the subject of Westerns: John Wayne, who epitomised the genre for me, only died on screen once (The Sands of Iwo Jima if I recall correctly. And even then he still steered a bulldozer into a fuel storage tank, thus helping to win the battle)]
Didn’t we have an anatomical/medical theme just recently?
Anyway I enjoyed this, same favourites as others.
[Post Mark @4: many thanks for the memories of German A level (and sorry it was so painful for you!) Yes, in principle you’re right about the ik/ich line:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uerdingen_line#/media/File:Ik-ich-Isogloss_-_Uerdinger_Lien.svg
It separates Low German (Platt) to the north from High German to the south – or rather separatED, because Low German dialects have been an increasingly endangered species for some time.
But there’s another complication:
‘Berlin and Brandenburg originally lay in the Low German language area. Through immigration to Berlin from (then) Central German-speaking regions like Silesia and Saxony, the city’s Low German dialect has been strongly influenced by Central German, so that it evolved from a Low German into a Central German (High German) variant, which then spread from Berlin to the surrounding areas of Brandenburg.’ (wiki)
The upshot is that you’ll hardly find anyone in Berlin or the surrounding areas these days who says ‘ik’ – so Crucible can breathe easy! 😉 ]
Thank you C & P
Tootsie is slang for foot in the Midlands. And Donnie is slang for hand, presumably derived from the French ‘donnez’- to give ?
essexboy @13: as so often, I am in awe of either the general knowledge of contributors to this site or their willingness and ability to rapidly research a topic! The play I studied was written in 1931: Germany has experienced the odd bit of change since then so I’m not surprised the linguistics have developed. Thanks for the link.
Well that made me think! Some clever obfuscation going on, with SOUTH DOWNS and TOOTSIE taking the longest. Had to look up the latter to confirm it can be used for toes and feet.
Hanover Jane @14: Growing up around Nottingham, “Donnie” always referred to Doncaster.
Wasn’t there an excellent SPARE TYRE clue involving Hadrian some time back? Perhaps someone can recall it.
Cracking stuff this morning, many thanks Crucible & PeterO for the excellent blog.
PostMark @12
Even in westerns the Duke ended up on Boot Hill. He dies on screen in both The Cowboys and The Shootist. He’s dead in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance although it’s never clear how he died. He also dies on screen in The Alamo.
Super puzzle.
Like others, I ended up stuck in the top left corner and, like copmus, I was sure T?O???E must be TROCHEE. There’d been so much clever misdirection all the way through that I both laughed and groaned when the answer turned out to be the more obvious foot.
I have ticks all over the place, so will just pick out OSTEOPATH, WHITE BLOOD CELLS (superb surface), DIETETIC (ditto) and LIGAMENT. I also really liked SPARE TYRE, reminding me of the Rufus classic that I’ve quoted more than once: ‘Gluttons may have one; Alexander the Great didn’t’.
Huge thanks to Crucible – I loved it – and thanks to PeterO for the blog.
After the two reasonably straightforward ones earlier this week, that was at a different level! Much to love – COTD has to be SPARE TYRE although TAI CHI must be up there as well. Quite a few DNKs – STROBILI and ULNA for example, but the very good cluing let them fit straight in. Anagram at 16a was joyous.
Many thanks Crucible and PeterO!
William @16 – I hadn’t seen your comment. I don’t remember a Hadrian clue.
Re 18dn, as a newcomer to Guardian puzzles after solving The Times for many years I note there is another difference I am going to have to remember, that ‘a’ in a clue can be ‘i’ in an answer. The Times doesn’t permit this. The Sunday Times does apparently according to its editor, but I don’t recall seeing it.
This was a tough one getting started but became easier as more and more checkers arrived.
Jolly fun puzzle with some excellent clueing. For me too, TOOTSIES are toes.
jackkt@21: Oh, I hadn’t noticed that one — and I’m not sure I understand how ‘I’ = ‘a’. Can anyone explain for me?
Nice one Crucible and thanks PeterO.
When my second one in was STROBILI I feared that the vocabulary was going to be more than usually esoteric, but the puzzle yielded steadily. SOUTH DOWNS took a while to emerge (great clue) and I was another TROTSKYite before I saw the error of my ways. So FACE was LOI for me – as many of us comment, these little ones are often recalcitrant, particularly when the initial letter isn’t a crosser.
That was slow going – but most enjoyable.
PostMark @ 4
I didn’t enjoy the literature part of A-level language courses, either. So you have my sympathies. It was many years later that I started to enjoy actually studying literature.
essexboy @ 13
People spoke quite platt in Lübeck when I worked there, but that was a long time ago.
I used to visit the DDR a lot in the old days – some of the dialect you heard was quite difficult to understand !!
Anyway, back to the puzzle. I didn’t know the meaning of gam and had to google STROBOLI. So I suppose I cheated.
Thanks Crucible.
TUSK is also a large wild dog https://www.tusk.org/species/wild-dog/
I found this difficult, but fair. A big thank-you to all the setters, bloggers and contributors who have helped to keep our brains spiked up during a difficult year.
[Feliks @17: I think my comment at 15 applies! I have to confess my comment is a recollection of something I was told in a pub quiz many years ago and only prompted by thinking of John Wayne for the first time in many years. A useful snippet no longer!]
Thanks PeterO fro your blog and particularly for the parsing of 18dn (and I note Jackkt@21 and pserve@23 comments also). I prefer my take on what the I stands for in 18d – even though it is most likely wrong. I took it to mean “running” (thus explaining the use of that word which would otherwise be superfluous as “round” would be sufficient); and by that I mean the I could represent current – in respect of the “on” symbol on on-off switches of electrical items.
[bodycheetah @26: And my favourite Fleetwood Mac track…]
I would have been happy with just the ‘Personal matter of dubious value’ for TONSIL and the ‘Handed down item’ for CHROMOSOME but the rest was excellent too. As a bonus, good to have STROBILI to add to the vocabulary.
A big thanks to Crucible for a real pre-Christmas treat and to PeterO
[PS Welcome to jackkt from Times for the Times]
I don’t think Crucible wants beginners to complete his puzzle!
He completely threw me off the scent with Stubbs and horse – George rather Una Stubbs even after I got the answer.
L for online after I spotted Tonsil fitted the grid, and included “is not” reversed.
So offline would mean remove an L ?
E for Spain? In my case unfamiliarity breeds contempt, sorry Crucible. And thanks Peter for the education. What does IVR mean?
I like the Stubbs misdirection, and 9a and 16a gave me a lot of satisfaction.
In 18d, perhaps ‘a’=’one’=’I’ (Roman numeral) ?
Good fun, same favourites as others. STROBILI was somewhere in the recesses of my memory. “Hops” as used in brewing are actually the female flowers rather than the fruit of the plant, but I think the term “strobilus” applies to both. I’m another who had TROTSKY at 11a – I had unparsed NAVY=service at 4d to confirm it. My final click on “Check all” at the end showed my errors by which time I couldn’t be bothered to think again, so a dnf.
bodycheetah@26 – I think TUSK is simply the name of the conservation organisation, rather than of the African Wild Dog which is among the species featured on their website.
Thanks Crucible and PeterO.
Found this challenging, particularly the NE corner, with the chewy clues for IMAGE and HEEL. Not sure how much chewing a TUSK manages, but it was LOI for me.
I think 20d is a bit more than a literal interpretation (for example a gun in an underarm holster); it suggests a PIT (in the ground) where ARMs (weapons) might be buried to hide them.
A fun solve; thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
akaRebornBeginner@32 – agreed this was quite difficult, especially for a beginner. But I don’t think any of the wordplay was unfair, and indeed it was mostly pretty typical of cryptic crosswords. The difficulty came from clever misdirection and well-disguised definitions.
In TONSIL, “online” is to be read as “on” i.e. above in a down clue, plus “line” abbreviated to “L” which is a standard abbreviation e.g. when referring to a poem.
E for Spain refers to the International Vehicle Registration (IVR) country code as displayed by motor vehicles taken outside their country of registration. Use of these codes is common in crosswords (D=Germany, CH=Switzerland, etc., etc)
Hanover Jane @14: my Brummie wife confirms that tootsies can mean either feet or toes for her. And when I asked what donnies were, she came straight out with hands (and, unprompted, the donnez explanation). To think I have been living with this woman for over 40 years and never picked up on this!
bodycheetah@26
I think you’ve misunderstood. Tusk is a conservation organisation. The link you’ve given is for a description of the African wild dog on their website.
Lyssian @39 mea culpa – how about TuskTheDog? With over 70,000 followers I think we can agree he’s pretty big https://www.instagram.com/tuskthedog/?hl=en
I thought I was on Crucible’s wavelength today, as everything was going in very smoothly, even the previously unknown STROBILI, as there was really only one way the fodder would fit the crossers. And although I remembered the Berlinerisch pronunciation of ICH from schooldays, I assumed that Crucible didn’t and refrained from trying to make IK fit. Enjoyed ARMPIT and SOUTH DOWNS (once the penny had dropped), and even spotted the theme, for what it was worth, and UNA Stubbs.
Then I came to a halt with two left to go, one of which was a possible TROTSKY, which I didn’t write in as it clearly didn’t fit with the wordplay. And I couldn’t see FACE either, so after a bit of a struggle I gave up. I would never have got TOOTSIE in a million years, so congratulations to those of you who did.
jackkt @21 and pserve_p2 @23: As I understand it, the letter I = number 1 (as in Roman numerals) = a (i.e. a single item). So I = a.
A DNF, but lots to enjoy – especially 9A, 16A, 21D, 5D and 14A (although the latter eluded me). Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.
Another TROTSKY here for 11a: a revolutionary fitting the three crossers I had… And yes, TOOTSIE is a toe in my part of the world. Liked BIOETHICS and SPARE TYRE, and didn’t know STROBILI or GAM. Hard work, but fun.
Incidentally, good definition for SUSPENDERS, which skilfully avoids the fact that what suspenders hold up is different in different parts of the world.
I feel so much better for coming here, after a slow solve. Seems like I stumbled into the same traps as many others, especially in the NW. Tried trochee and Trotsky before TOOTSIE, which had to be wrong cos it’s a toe not a foot. Looked long and hard for an engineer whose name was given by an envelope of howls (for shouts) around an anagram of range. Yes I really did look up Hogan Rewls – if you’re out there Hogan please tell me I was justified!
Got the theme, helped a bit eg in confirming FACE.
Excellent puzzle, thanks Crucible and PeterO (did you get a big snow on Long Island, Peter?)
On first pass last night, the only word I got was HEEL. Everything grew slowly from that till I couldn’t fill in the NW, which I couldn’t fill in till I had access to the check button and Google, which I needed for the hop fruit. Loved CHROMOSOMES!
copmus@3 and Eileen @18 I tried TROCHEE too, though I didn’t think of your revolutionaries. To me “tootsie” does mean foot, not toe — is that American?
The hideous practice of scalping was not a Native American tradition as commonly thought, but was introduced by the English and the Dutch.
The TOOTSIE/TROCHEE/TROTSKY discussion has brought to the fore the fact there are two camps: those who are happy to enter solutions unparsed and those who aren’t. I’m firmly in the latter category, since I believe it makes me a better solver to wrestle them down myself, and I don’t mind if it extends the solving time a bit for great puzzles like this one. I can also imagine the crossers-that-might-be when tackling the neighbours.
OK, let’s hear the other side.
Many thanks beaulieu @ 37 for taking the time to respond.
I looked up IVR and got Interactive Voice Response (IVR) so I was off-track again thinking about ‘sounds’ which is common in Guardian clues.
Heel and list? I could understand ‘reel’ and ‘list’ better.I’m missing something on the meaning of one of them? Heads over heels? I think it is Peter’s blog that is throwing me, ( HE and EL are clear ans is HEEL rather than ELHE) , as much as the clue itself. His or Her Excellency is a new trick for this old dog. Cheers.
Trailman @46. If enough of us Google HOGAN REWLS, is there a chance that he (or she) will begin to exist?
Quirister @36
Yes, that was the literal interpretation that I had in mind. Perhaps I should have added a little explanation.
TassieTim @10 et al
The definition of 21D has been extended.
akaRebornBeginner @32
Yes, ‘offline’ could indicate the removal of an L – keep it in mind, but do not bank on it.
pserve_p2 @23
I agree with peterM @33 and drofle @42 that the connection is via I for numerical one, but I feel that the link is more likely the similarity of the symbols, rather than through the Roman numeral – witness 14A BIOETHICS, where IO comes from ‘ten’ (as I discovered after failing to find an anagram of N bitches X). Incidentally, I wonder if (taking up the idea of TerriBlislow @29) I and O on switches are intended to indicate binary one and zero. But …
TerriBlislow @29
… although it is an interesting idea, I do not think it fits well in 18D. ‘Running’ for I is something of a stretch (not that all setters are averse to the occasional bit of elastic), and it appears at the wrong place in the wordplay. ‘Running around’ instead of just ‘around’ might offend the considerable number who feel that clues should be as brief as possible, but it improves the surface without doing any other damage to the wordplay.
akaRebornBeginner @49. Heel and list are both synonymous with lean (as verbs). Often used to describe the motion of sailing vessels.
aRB@49
Both heel and list can mean tilt.
[Over here a Tootsie Roll is a small candy – though it’s vaguely toe-like shape makes me wonder how it got it’s name]
akaRebornBeginner@49 – Heel and list can both mean (e.g. of a sailing ship) “lean to one side”. I don’t think they are exact synonyms, since (to me at least) “heel” suggests being pushed sideways by the wind, while “list” suggests a permanent tilt, usually due to unbalanced loading of cargo etc. But arguably there are few exact synonyms in English – there are usually subtle differences in meaning. A significant fraction of the discussions here are about whether an answer is or is not close enough in meaning to its definition to be valid.
I am ashamed to say that I started to write ARSENAL for ARMPIT before I realised that it was the wrong number of letters.
Valentine @47
[The Island was on the edge of the storm, and the falls varied from place to place. It was not easy to tell, because high winds caused a lot of drifting, but in Ronkonkoma we had six inches, give or take – definitely serious, but not unmanageable.]
PostMark @12: Yup, 21d crossed a line for me… thought it truly awful, and walked away fr/the puzzle right there. Personally, expect so much better from setters/editors. But clearly I’m in the minority here (and if past is any indicator, will no doubt hear at least a few howls of protest if not outright scorn)… c’est la vie.
Healthy Holidays to all, and peace be with you.
I was enjoying the puzzle much more before tripping up on TOOTSIE, which is always a toe and never a foot to me. I’m also not a big fan of the I for A switch in LIGAMENT, although it’s not unreasonable. I would have preferred another way to indicate I, e.g. Joint holder‘s fast time running round independent school.
I suppose the ? in refers to the “jailer” part of the DD because it’s a whimsical interpretation. It seems a bit unnecessary. And I also tried out Hogan Rewls, the now famous engineer. Faves were FACE, TONSIL, CHROMOSOME and BIOETHICS.
SEGUE was one of those words which amazed me when I first saw it written down. I read it in my mind as “Seg” and couldn’t make sense of the context at all for a few moments. One lives and learns.
Thanks, Crucible and PeterO.
Weather update: we had quite a bit of snow (6-7″) here in Chester County, PA, Valentine @47.
OddOtter @58 and PostMark @12
Despite what we ‘learned’ from western movies (pre1970 at least) American colonial governments paid bounties for the killing of Native Americans. A scalp was taken as proof. As they also used divide and rule tactics this was not only paid to settlers but also to favoured tribes. This practice was established by the British and continued post-independence. It’s debatable whether this was the introduction of the practice to North America but the vast majority of scalps were taken by or on behalf of the invader.
Here we go – a perfectly reasonable clue politicised yet again. Pathetic
[PeterO @57 We got 15 inches in Hartford, further north than you and further inland. At least that was my measurement after I dug the front sidewalk free.]
I don’t think it’s pathetic even though I didn’t share OddOtter’s reaction.
How might we feel if a clue included a ‘light-hearted’ reference to the removal of gold teeth from Holocaust victims?
One upside from the clue: I’ve learnt something I didn’t know about the way the facts about ‘scalping’ have been distorted.
PeterO@56
So did I, but I wasn’t going to be the first to admit it!
[I respect OddOtter’s right to his opinion @58, but I’m with essexboy here. The human race has done some pretty disgusting things to others, and to animals, plants and the environment, come to that. Are all of these to be made taboo? In which case I’ll kick off with Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the horrendous goings on in the reign of Henry VIII – torture, political murders, misogyny, religious persecution – what was she thinking of? Etc, etc…]
I think OddOtter’s point is not that we should never mention or describe barbaric behavior, but that we shouldn’t allude to it lightly, as in essexboy’s hypothetical example.
Feliks @60 – Thanks for adding this information, which I did know and wondered whether to say @10, but at the time thought it better to be brief (especially in an early comment). Yet another example of invaders wrongly calling the invaded “savages”.
Re: WordPlodder@31
Thank you for your welcome. I’m enjoying my excursion into the world of Guardian crosswords although my main crossword activity is elsewhere. I’ve been doing the Sunday Everyman for years and always visit this forum to read about it, but I’ve rarely had anything to contribute.
https://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=heel&title
produced def1 below plus
heel2 verb (heeled, heeling) 1 intrans (often heel over) said of a vessel: to lean over to one side; to list. 2 to cause (a vessel) to tilt.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon hieldan to slope.
heel3 verb (heeled, heeling) (usually heel something in) to temporarily cover (the roots of a plant) with soil to keep them moist.
https://chambers.co.uk/search/?xref=21C19160&query=heel%3CSUP%3E1%3C/SUP%3E&title=21st
Thank you Peter , sheffieldhatter and rullytully @51, @52 and @53
The two searches produce very difference replies (though the hex string was not mine on my first search- it was produced in the google link).
Chambers was recommended for Ximenes back in the 70’s so I hooked mine out and found defn 2 – then managed to find it online via link 1 page.
My thanks to those responding w/understanding, even if their reactions differed. Valentine highlights my main issue (aside fr/usually disliking violent imagery in puzzles). Such topics aren’t taboo… I think it expressly important we DO remember them, but w/appopriate & truthful context. To me 29d, apparently relying on problematic imagery from cinema without context or message, only perpetuates stereotypes of indigenous peoples, who have been oppressed thru prejudice (and far worse) for centuries. My nation repeatedly displaced/demonized native peoples (though appropriating place names was ok, e.g I’m from Pontiac, Michigan)… it’s a long rd, coming to terms with that; breaking stereotypes is one step.
21d, not 29d… my bad
Re 1d, I sheepishly confess to overlooking the renowned engineer Hogan Rewls, having fixated on his lesser-known colleague Hogen Rawls, whose pioneering work on cantilevered tootsiebridges has gone sadly unrecognized.
OddOtter @70. I do see where you’re coming from on this. I was wrong to use the word taboo. But if setters get howled down when words like this appear, then it will reduce the chances of at least one more person (like essexboy @63) doing a bit of research and discovering that the taking of scalps was something that was started by the European invaders (which I already knew).
On a lighter note, I hope that Cellomaniac’s post @72 is the last time I have to look at the word TOOTSIE. I’m just off to look up Hogen Rawls. We could start a Wikipedia page: unknown bridge engineers.