Guardian Cryptic 28,369 by Brendan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28369.

An unusual idea from Brendan, which I found difficult to get into – particularly as I had the right half completed with nothing in the left, so that it was late in the day when I saw the trick, that the down answers are all paired, with halves exchanged. Of course, once seen, the pattern made for an easy finish.

ACROSS
7 CALIGULA
Emperor in cape others in Rome drag back inside (8)
An envelope (‘inside’) of GUL, a reversal (‘back’) of LUG (‘drag’) in C (‘cape’) plus ALIA (‘others in Rome’).
9 HERBAL
Like some remedies brother turned over, central to cure (6)
An envelope (‘central to’) of RB, a reversal (‘turned over’) of BR (‘brother’) in HEAL (‘cure’).
10 FETA
Cheese having fine character from its source (4)
A charade of F (‘fine’) plus ETA (‘character from its source’ – Greece, that is).
11 OPEN THE BOX
Repeat mistake of first woman in public television (4,3,3)
A charade of OPEN (‘public’) plus THE BOX (‘television’). The definition refers not to Eve, but Pandora.
12 WHILST
As starter for lunch, tucked into game at table (6)
An envelope (‘tucked into’) of L (‘starter for Lunch’) in WHIST (‘game at table’).
14 LOVELIER
Nothing right about fake news? That’s more than fair (8)
An envelope (‘about’) of LIE (‘fake news’) in LOVE (‘nothing’) plus R (‘right’).
15 PIGEON
What’s good in dish with pastry covering? (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of G (‘good’) in PIE (‘dish with pastry’) plus ON (‘covering’), with an extended definition.
17 BRUGES
Place in Europe British bunglers oddly forfeited (6)
A charade of BR (‘British’) plus UGES (‘bUnGlErS oddly forfeited’).
20 MONTREAL
Method learnt differently in North American city (8)
A charade of MO (modus operandi, ‘method’) plus NTREAL, an anagram (‘differently’) of ‘learnt’.
22 OBTAIN
Get in boat at sea (6)
An anagram (‘at sea’) of ‘in boat’.
23 DEPRESSANT
Impression about article by journalists being downer (10)
An envelope (‘about’) of PRESS (‘journalists’) plus A (indefinite ‘article’, with ‘by’ suggesting the order) in DENT (‘impression’).
24 MEMO
Person writing second message shortened by 60% (4)
A charade of ME (‘person writing’) plus MO (‘second’). The definition is an abbreviation (‘shortened by 60%’) of memorandum.
25 GAZEBO
Look — openers in batting order seen in pavilion (6)
A charade of GAZE (‘look’) plus BO (‘openers in Batting Order’).
26 EQUALITY
Peers enjoy it — also English upper classes once (8)
A charade of E (‘English’) plus QUALITY (‘upper classes once’ – “people of quality”).
DOWN
1 MATESHIP
Attachment from down under going astray in the mail, PS left out (8)
An anagram (‘going astray’) of ‘the mai[l] PS’ minus the L (‘left out’).
2 LIMA
Family internally raised capital (4)
‘fAMILy’ minus its outer letters (‘internally’) and reversed (‘raised’ in a down light).
3 RUN OUT
Become exhausted, so bring about dismissal (3,3)
Double definition.
4 SHOT OVER
Second US president, across time, was highly inaccurate in pursuing goal (4,4)
An envelope (‘across’) of T (‘time’) in S (‘second’) plus HOOVER (‘US president’).
5 GREEN LIGHT
Inexperienced and unimportant? Okay (5,5)
A charade of GREEN (‘inexperienced’) plus LIGHT (‘unimportant’).
6 DAY ONE
Beginning completed over a year (3,3)
An envelope (‘over’) of ‘a’ plus Y (‘year’) in DONE (‘completed’).
8 AGE-OLD
Energy put into singular achieve­ment in games — like the Olympics (3-3)
An envelope (‘put into’) of E (‘energy’) in A GOLD (‘singular achievement in games’).
13 LIGHT GREEN
Settle on location for putting lime, say (5,5)
A charade of LIGHT (aphetic for alight, ‘settle on’) plus GREEN (‘location for putting’).
16 OVERSHOT
75% of display in public was excessive (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of SHO[w] (‘display’) minus the last of the four letters (‘75% of’) in OVERT (‘public’).
18 SHIPMATE
Sailor using his head in final act on board (8)
A charade of S (‘his head’ i.e. first letter of ‘Sailor’) plus HIP (‘in’) plus MATE (‘final act on board’, chess).
19 OLD AGE
Hundreds initially fleeing icy enclosure in autumn, so to speak (3,3)
[c]OLD [c]AGE (‘icy enclosure’) minus CC (‘hundreds’).
21 ONE DAY
At unspecified time, not enough to raise capital? (3,3)
Puzzling: the best I can suggest is a reversal (‘to raise’ in a down light) of Y (which seems to be a non-standard IVR for Yemen) plus ADEN (its ‘capital’) plus O (zero, ‘not enough’). Better ideas are welcome.

Wrong capital, wrong idea: no wordplay, but a second cryptic definition; see cryptor @1.
22 OUTRUN
Escape from disastrous tour with global organisation (6)
A charade of OUTR, an anagram (‘disastrous’) of ‘tour’ plus UN (‘global organisation’).
24 MALI
So leaves person from one African country for another (4)
A subtraction: [s]]MALI [so]MALI (‘person from one African country’) minus SO (‘so leaves’).

 

picture of the grid

63 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,369 by Brendan”

  3. Pottered happily along and with about a half-dozen to go around the NW glanced at the G thread and was struck with a very large tea tray… write-ins thereafter. Amazing what can not notice, like those change-blindness experiments where subjects don’t see the gorilla on the pitch during a soccer match. Clever trick Brendan and ta PeterO.

  4. I was not on Brendan’s wavelength today and found it hard to get going on this puzzle. For me it was more difficullt than Saturday’s Prize. Last to fall was NE corner.
    Favourite: LIGHT GREEN, OLD AGE, WHILST (loi).
    Did not parse OVERSHOT, ONE DAY.
    Thanks, B+P.

    * I did not even notice the device/trick that he used with the paired answers.

  6. Splendid puzzle, very enjoyable, Brendan at his best. I spotted the ruse early on so that helped considerably.

    Brendan used a similar theme many years ago, wherein he had “mirror” down clues but they were anagrams of each other.

    Thanks PeterO and Brendan.

  7. Surprised to see Brendan on a Monday but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It was slow going at first but as soon as I saw the trick with DAY ONE and ONE DAY everything fell into place. A few clues had me scratching my head like OPEN THE BOX and EQUALITY so thanks PeterO for parsing. Favourites were AGE-OLD and LIGHT GREEN. Thanks Brendan.

  8. That was really fun and I did spot the trick (though not for LIMA MALI). PeterO, you have a second ] instead of O in the SOMALI subtraction. I could not parse everything so thanks to PeterO and to cryptor for help on MATESHIP, SHIPMATE and ONE DAY, and to Brendan for a great start to my birthday. (The Quiptic even has my name in it!)

  9. I have to say my experience was very much like your solve as described in the preamble, PeterO. I had a smattering in the NW, and had most of the bottom completed before I thought – “What if ‘Okay’ in 5d is GREEN LIGHT?” – “Wow, and I have LIGHT GREEN at 13d! Ah – now I see!!!” Well done to Dave Ellison@6 for spotting the trick earlier – and now that you mention it, Dave, I think I recall that other Brendan puzzle with the down clues of paired anagrams from some time back.
    I thought the mirroring effect made for a fun ending to this solve, even though even when I had finished, I was still unsure of clues like the afore-mentioned 21d ONE DAY (Thanks for spotting that one, cryptor@1!). I was very fond of 10a FETA and 20a MONTREAL, and most of the paired down solutions. I like Brendan’s puzzles very much and this one was no exception, so thanks to him and to PeterO for his invaluable assistance.

  10. Happy birthday to Beobachterin – and we crossed – otherwise I would have acknowledged some similarities in our comments.

  12. There’s always something interesting going on in a Brendan puzzle. This was very clever. I managed to notice that some symmetrically placed answers were reversals of each other, but only right near the end did I twig that it was all the down clues.

    It also took me a little while to twig that “highly inaccurate” in 4d meant not just very inaccurate, but inaccurate in being too high. Very good.

    Many thanks Brendan and PeterO. (And thanks to cryptor @1 for explaining 21d.)

  13. I struggled for a while till I noticed the “trick” with the down clues. Though I didn’t fully realise till 1/21 that they were straightforward reversals and not mere anagrams – d’oh!
    Also, 12a (LOI) entered as SHALOT with absolutely no justification.
    All-in-all, good fun.

  14. Wow! I really struggled with this, and almost gave up with only about 5 solutions. Very clever of Brendan. Got there in the end but couldn’t parse a few (MATESHIP, SHIPMATE, ONE DAY). Thanks to B & P.

  15. Oh yes! Another brilliant crossword from Brendan who has become my favourite setter (now that Arachne appears to have retired). He keeps coming up with interesting themes/devices without repeating himself. What’s more, the quality of his clues is not affected by the constraints he imposes on himself.

    Last one in was 11a OPEN THE BOX, as I was stuck on overt = public so was looking for over-the-something, but nothing worked.

    Like PeterO (thanks for the excellent blog), I needed help with the parsing of 21d ONE DAY, so thanks cryptor@1 for that.

  16. JinA @9: Where GREEN LIGHT was your Eureka moment, mine was coming up with the improbable MATESHIP and realising how ‘attachment down under’ might be interpreted and, at the same time, twigging the reversal of SHIPMATE. SHOT OVER was my write in, as a result, followed by AGE OLD, being the last two verticals remaining at the time.

    Chapeau to cryptor @1 for a clever spot. For a while, I struggled to like OPEN THE BOX but then read the definition in a different light and it’s fine. I really liked HERBAL for its construction but I think COTD is LIGHT GREEN – I nearly always miss the putting/golfing connection and this one was so well disguised. A joy to crack.

    Thanks Brendan and PeterO. Happy Birthday Beo @8.

  17. Lovely puzzle!

    I won’t repeat all of the plaudits above but I’d just like to say I admired the clever links in 7ac (Emperor / Rome) and 10ac (Greek / cheese).

    And I thought the surface of 17ac (BRUGES) was – alas – superb.

    Many thanks to Brendan for brightening up a dull day and to PeterO for the blog.

  18. I was lucky to get two mirror clues early on so had a head start on the downs. PIGEON was LOI, I find extended definitions tricky. Great fun. Thanks Brendan. Thanks PeterO for the parsings I failed to see!

  19. Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t parse ONE DAY!

    Beautiful as ever from Brendan, but I agree with michelle @4 that this was trickier than Saturday’s ‘Prize’. In fact I think it was tougher than any of Brendan’s recent puzzles that have been allocated to the Saturday slot. I gather the setter has no say over which day his/her puzzles appear. Possibly the editor thought the reversal trick in the down clues made today’s easier – but if several experienced solvers on this forum either didn’t twig, or only did so late in the day, what hope for the beginner? If ‘easy Monday’ is being abandoned (which is the impression I’ve got several times since the New Year) I think that’s a shame.

    None of that is a criticism of Brendan; many thanks to him and PeterO.

    [Happy Birthday Beobachterin! – do you have illustrious military forebears?]

  21. [‘OPEN THE BOX’/’Take the money’ takes me back to Michael Miles on Take Your Pick! with the Yes-No Interlude.

    Beobachterin @8 congratulations on having your birthday observed with your name up in lights in the Quiptic.]

    Thanks to Brendan, PeterO and cryptor @1 for sussing out ONE DAY.

  22. With gaZebo and eQuality I suspected this might turn out to be a pangram, which suggested either boX at the end of 11A or eVe for the ‘first woman’ (I disremembered the kinship with Pandora so got the right answer but failed to fully parse). In the end, no J or K but an even more stunning bit of setting. Thanks Brendan and PeterO.

  23. My favourite setter as well and this was a joy. I noticed the trick early, so perhaps my only quibble is that it made it much easier to complete. However what a great feat of agility. OPEN THE BOX reminded me of the old quiz show ‘Take Your Pick’, originally hosted by Michael Miles in the 50s on public television? (ITV). Well done Crypto @1. Ta Brendan & PeterO.

  25. [Beobachterin @8: Snap, my fellow Aquarian! Enjoy (if one can at the moment…)]

    Found this very hard going and got to LIMA/MALI as my last-pair-in when the penny finally dropped (obviously being a year older today than I was yesterday is slowing me down!).

    Clever, clever puzzle. Well done Brendan and thanks PeterO!

  26. I found this to be hard going, a seemingly endless procession of charades and envelopes. It was clever, certainly, but a bit of variety would have been more enjoyable. Or perhaps that’s just me.

  27. Thanks Brendan and PeterO
    This was a nightmare for me – not on Brendan’s wavelength at all. It didn’t help that I didn’t spot the trick until I had nearly finished, though it did give me MATESHIP, which would otherwise have been incomprehensible. Even with the grid complete, there were still eight where I couldn’t see the parsing. All very clever, though.

  28. A very clever Brendan creation in making the ‘theme’ quite opaque until the end. He really is among the very best.

    SHOT OVER/OVERSHOT cracked it for me, ahortly followed by LIGHT GREEN/GREEN LIGHT.

    Nice change of pace for a Monday.

  29. Full marks for the creation of the witty idea, but only a ‘B’ for some of the clueing which I found a bit of a grind.

    Probably just me but I had far too many “‘spose’ answers to make it satisfying.

    Hey-ho, I still love this lark where after all these years a setter provides something novel.

    Bravo, Brendan.

  32. A struggle for me too. I did notice the trick having got RUNOUT/OUTRUN (with the already entered LIMA/MALI providing a check), and it did help with filling in some crossers on the ones I didn’t have. Even so, it was hard work. I couldn’t parse too many of the answers even when I had them. Thanks for the help here, PeterO. Eileen @17 – quite agree about the BRUGES surface. And thanks for an intereting approach, Brendan.

  33. Birthdays aside ( I’m sure there are many), I really enjoyed this and shame it ended so soon.

    Could not get my head round 21d so thanks for that Cryptor @1

  34. It was LIMA/MALI that opened this up for me as I’d rejected GREEN LIGHT and LIGHT GREEN as I thought “he wouldn’t have two solutions with the same words” – and I was right – he didn’t have 2, he had 12! The across clues were more of a challenge with PIGEON my loi and WHILST was my cod for the definition – always tricky for me when innocent words like AS have a starring role. Many thanks to Brendan for the puzzle and PeterO for the blog.

  35. Clever setting that I found very difficult to get into. I thought some of the definitions were a bit strained. I can only find ‘shoot over’ as an obsolete form of overshoot, or (Oxford): ‘Shoot game over (an estate or other area of countryside).’ I take Lord Jim’s explanation of highly @12, but it still seems to me a bit like putting ‘red car’ in a puzzle.

    I had solved ‘GREEN LIGHT’ and then ignored at first the ‘GREEN’ to do with putting in 13D, doh.

    I think I need a walk before attempting the Quiptic, if it’s supposedly more difficult than this (gf @5).

    Thanks Brendan for the mind bending and PeterO for the explanations.

  36. An ingenious crossword for a Monday. I saw the device early on and it undoubtedly helped with several solutions. Beginners often look to Mondays for an easy start – I wonder how they got on?

  37. Didn’t get the GREEN LIGHT at all with this today, not on Brendan’s wavelength. But obviously a very cleverly constructed puzzle.

  38. When I got OVERSHOT and SHOT OVER, I thought some of the contributors to the blog will complain about having two similar answers. Then when I got the next pair… How very clever and enjoyable . However I didn’t spot the MALI LIMA pair. I also couldn’t parse 21d and I hadn’t realised Pandora was the first woman of her kind so thanks to PeterO and cryptor for explanations and to Brendan for something different.

  39. Thanks both,
    The ingenious device made a hard puzzle much easier. A pity about ‘press’ in clue and answer in 23, but otherwise a tour de force.

  40. I’m surprised so many people found this difficult. I saw MALI and LIMA then RUN OUT and OUTRUN at first sight. Knowing Brendan’s style, that had it cracked. The rest was typical Brendan: straightforward clues easily solved because of their perfect fairness and accuracy, and a grid of breathtakingly brilliant construction. So often just when you think he surely can’t produce a cleverer diagram, he does even better the following one.

  41. Feeling distinctly obtuse today, after struggling with the Quiptic, I failed to spot that the reversal applied to all the down clues, even though the MALI/LIMA connection has been used elsewhere quite recently. I have a disturbing picture in my head now of Michael Miles’ face as strange contestant Pandora Opens the Box and releases evil into the world.

  42. It’s funny how different people notice different things. Before solving much at all, I noticed the surprising number of (3,3) enumerations, which was my way in to the way in.

  43. Lots of lovely wordplay but I do feel Brendan seems to lose interest when it comes to the definitions. Or maybe it’s an attempt to inject some difficulty?

  44. I saw the split reversal device in time for it to be helpful in finishing the LHS, which left me with 12 and 15, for which I could only think of the obviously incorrect CHALET and POGROM! It took a few minutes to get my brain back into gear for the final push. (Both clues are quite elusive, and I found the crossers unhelpful too.)

    A very enjoyable and, for me, quite challenging solve. (If the Quiptic is harder, as some have suggested, I’ll be very surprised.)

    Eileen @17. Thanks for calling my attention to the surface of 17a, which I had skilfully ignored in order to solve the clue!

  45. I had a similar problem to yours, Peter, with the top mostly filled and the bottom mostly empty. LIGHT GREEN, when I finally caught on to it, called attention to GREEN LIGHT, and I began to see the pattern, though not at first that it was all the down answers. Switching MALI helped, since I couldn’t think of a capital other than Riga that fit _I_A, and the check button wouldn’t accept that.

    It’s true that the mirror trick made the second half of solving fly by, but by me that was a worthwhile trade for the delightful trick itself.

    I visited Bruges some 30 years ago and found it lovely. What has happened to it since?

    Happy birthday, Beobachterin and MaidenBartok! Beo, your name is Charlotte?

    Thanks Brendan and PeterO for an enjoyable evening and morning.

  46. As no one has asked the question, can anyone explain what the word “Repeat” is doing in 11a? I thought she only opened the box/jar once.
    For that clue, I spent ages trying to parse Open the Box and Over the Top and to think of an alternative, but eventually got there.
    Thanks to Brendan for another fine puzzle – always a pleasure to see his name; and to PeterO for the explanations, especially the “obvious” (but not to me, today) hip in Shipmate. Another one on which I spent a lot of time (an anagram of his?; pate meaning head? etc) and eventually gave up.

  47. anotherAndrew @46. “Repeat mistake of first woman” needs to be read in its entirety, because if the clue read merely ‘mistake of first woman’ it would require the answer TO HAVE OPENED THE BOX, or OPENING THE BOX. So the function of ‘repeat’ is to match the sense of the clue to the sense of the answer: the setter invites you to imagine repeating Pandora’s mistake. If you repeat it, you will OPEN THE BOX.

  48. anotherAndrew @46

    Interesting question.

    I think “repeat” improves the clue because it makes the definition match up with the solution parts-of-speech/tense-wise.

    Pandora OPENED THE BOX, her mistake was OPENING THE BOX, but if you or I were to repeat her mistake we would OPEN THE BOX.

    Of course at a more philosophical level one could debate whether re-opening the box would still be a mistake. Evil has already escaped into the world; keeping the lid sealed now is arguably no more virtuous than locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. 😉

  51. tony+smith @50 – Agreed – I gave up on this after 5 answers. Too many “guess the word” clues (game at table = whist? Why not rummy, or chess, or indeed any other 5-letter table game?).
    Hopefully Tuesday is now the new Monday…

  54. Having had surprisingly little trouble with the Quiptic, which I found a bit tricky but gettable, I was about a quarter of the way through Brendan’s offering when I came to a complete and possibly terminal halt. I then had a quick look at the opening words of the blog here (for which many thanks), fortunately not looking at any of the answers.

    From then on, it was fairly quick, great fun, and still not easy. I made full use of the symmetry provided by the “trick”, filling in the top half letters provided by bottom half crossers and vice versa, and that method repeatedly gave me enough to solve the quite difficult clues. Unusual and satisfying. But I wish I had worked it out for myself!

  55. Ingenous work from the Irish setter.

    I have a slight gripe that once the trick was spotted (straight away with LIMA and MALI) six clues were straight write ins, which seems a tad generous. But I appreciate such a thought is somewhat curmudgeonly. 🙂

  57. Thank you for all the birthday wishes and apologies for the late reply: it’s been a busy day and evening. Yes I am a Charlotte, Valentine @45, and funnily enough essexboy @20 I do have one illustrious military forbear, though not mentioned in today’s crossword. I hope you had a good day, Maiden Bartok!

  59. Thanks PeterO and Brendan.

    A neat crossword, too tough for me and too tough for a Monday I fear – there will be plenty of people out there who only do the Monday and who won’t be happy I’m guessing!

    Whilst I can see the elegance of the paired clues thing, it sometimes (as here) introduces a ‘feast or famine’ element to the puzzle … if you don’t see it you’re stuck looking at some tough clues; once you see it, it’s ‘almost’ a write in ..

  60. For once I got the trick early on after LIMA/MALI and OUTRUN/RUNOUT. Helped me solve the other down clues in pairs, though didn’t enter ONEDAY until it had to be the answer. I couldn’t decide between OVER THE TOP or OPEN THE BOX, until I checked the Pandora myth and saw she was the first mortal woman. An extremely misogynist story. LOI was PIGEON.

  61. I wrestled for a while with ALII for 7a, a more natural way of saying ‘others’ in Latin, since ALIA really means ‘other things’ (as in ‘inter alia’).

    A fun challenge for a Monday otherwise.

  62. Agree with tony s and smot above. This one almost made me want to give up crosswords and on life, but I suspect it was meant for the Premier rather than the Conference League. Certainly not what I had been accustomed to as a gentle start to the week.

  63. Thank you PeterO for explaining ALIA (I got as far as AL as in Et al) in Caligula, the HIP of Shipmate (very clever) plus cryptor@1, sheffieldhatter@47 and essexboy@48 for other details that eluded me. Got the trick quite early via same route as TassieTim@32 which helped enormously but this was still no walkover as OLD AGE, Shot over +vv took a long time to spot. Plenty to enjoy as usual as per Eileen@17 though my top clue was MATESHIP which I think hit the news a while back in Oz thanks to a populist leader at the time. Thanks Brendan for another good workout.

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