Guardian Cryptic 28,376 by Matilda

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28376.

Matilda has honed her (if that is the right pronoun) skills on well-received Quiptics, and here produces a puzzle in a similar vein – not difficult, but with elegantly turned clues.

ACROSS
1, 5 STEPHEN HAWKING
Late professor‘s nephew as knight errant (7,7)
An anagram (‘errant’) of ‘nephew as knight’.
5
See 1
10 STUN
Shock as tabloid pinches Telegraph leader (4)
An envelope (‘pinches’) of T (‘Telegraph leader’) in SUN (UK ‘tabloid’).
11 A SOFT TOUCH
Patsy forced to fast? Finishes off Limoncello, Cointreau, cognac and Scotch (1,4,5)
A charade of ASOFTT, an anagram (‘forced’) of ‘to fast’, plus OUCH (‘finished off LimoncellO, CointreaU cognaC and ScotcH‘.
12 FLY-TIP
Feel empty, needing compassion over dump (3-3)
A charade of FL (‘FeeL empty’) plus YTIP, a reversal (‘over’) of PITY (‘compassion’). Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste.
13 SMARTING
Irritated seeing rat outside shopping centre (8)
An envelope (‘seeing … outside’) of MART (‘shopping centre’) in SING (‘rat’, verb).
14 CROSS-EYED
Not seeing straight when angry, I’d say (5-4)
A charade of CROSS (‘angry’) plus EYED, sounding like (‘say’) ‘I’d’.
16 ME TOO
Emotion not in order for this movement (2,3)
An anagram (‘order’) of ’emot[i]o[n]’ minus I and N (‘not in’).
17 CROOK
Criminal humanoid turned fine (5)
A charade of CRO, a reversal (‘turned’) of ORC (‘humanoid’, Tolkien) plus OK (‘fine’).
19 IN ECSTASY
Insect, say, flying over the moon (2,7)
An anagram (‘flying’) of ‘insect say’.
23 INSTINCT
Tintin’s struggling with Haddock’s sixth sense (8)
An anagram (‘struggling’) of ‘Tintins’ plus C (‘HaddoCk’s sixth’). Captain Haddock is a character in The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé.
24 REGRET
Rue de Pierre Gretzky (6)
A hidden answer in ‘pierRE GRETzky’.
26 IN FINE FORM
Very well, dish out punishment covered by brief (2,4,4)
An envelope (‘covered by’) of FINE (‘dish out punishment’) in INFORM (‘brief’).
27 LILY
Savage flower (4)
Double definition, more or less: Lily Savage is the drag persona of entertainer Paul O’Grady.
28 BOWLING
It hurts to wear jewellery in this game (7)
An envelope (‘to wear’) of OW (‘it hurts’) in BLING (‘jewellery’).
29 PLAYERS
Note about covering musicians (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of LAYER (‘covering’) in PS (‘note’).
DOWN
2 TITULAR
Honorary Tory leader implicated in kinky ritual (7)
An envelope (‘implicated in’) of T (‘Tory leader’) in TIULAR, an anagram (‘kinky’) of ‘ritual’.
3 PINOT
Point out a winemaker (5)
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘point’, for a family of grape varietals from which wine is made.
4 EXAMPLE
Illustration no longer sufficient? (7)
A charade of EX (‘no longer’) plus AMPLE (‘sufficient’).
6 ASTRAY
Last, but not first, swimmer is off course (6)
A charade of ‘[l]ast’ minus its first letter (‘but not first’), plus RAY (‘swimmer’).
7 KNOTTIEST
Kittens to play — getting most tangled (9)
An anagram (‘play’) of ‘kittens to’.
8 NO CAN DO
Impossible bottle party? (2,3,2)
A BYOB party might require no cans – just bottles.
9 CONSTERNATION
At first, cinemagoer natters rudely during tear-jerker, causing dismay (13)
A charade of C (‘at first, Cinemagoer’) plus ONSTERNATION, an envelope (‘during’) of STERNAT, an anagram (‘rudely’) of ‘natters’ in ONION (‘tear-jerker’).
15 SHOW TRIAL
Initially terrified, Warhol is being treated for poor hearing (4,5)
An anagram (‘being treated’) of T, (‘initially Terrified’) plus ‘Warhol is’, with a cryptic definition.
18 RUN INTO
Encounter with Mac could become unromantic (3,4)
An anagram (‘could become’) of RUN INTO plus ‘Mac’ is ‘unromantic’.
20 CARAMEL
Sweet is almost entirely à la crème pudding (7)
An anagram (‘pudding’!) of ‘à la crèm[e]’ minus the last letter (‘almost entirely’).
21 STEALER
Thief working separately without pay (7)
An anagram (‘working’) of ‘se[pa]ratel[y]’ minus the letters of PAY (‘without pay’).
22 INTERN
Junior doctor for Bury and Wigan at last (6)
A charade of INTER (‘bury’) plus N (‘WigaN at last’).
25 GULLY
Ditch solving Sudoku — all real silly in the end (5)
Last letters (‘in the end’) of ‘solvinG sudokU alL reaL sillY’.

picture of the completed grid

88 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,376 by Matilda”

  2. A Quiptic-like puzzle. I enjoyed the humour in many of the surfaces.
    Favourites: NO CAN DO, CONSTERNATION, TITULAR, REGRET, BOWLING, RUN INTO, ME TOO (loi).

    27ac – I thought it might refer to Tiger Lily (from Peter Pan story) but was not happy about it. I have never heard of Paul O’Grady / Lily Savage.

    Thanks, Matilda and Peter.

  3. Very enjoyable with many favourites — A SOFT TOUCH, CROSS-EYED, TITULAR ( great surface), EXAMPLE, and CONSTERNATION. Thanks Peter for parsing — I was baffled by RUN INTO. Thanks Matilda.

  4. Hadn’t heard of a fly-tip. Biffed consternation without looking for the onion, and ditto the ps in players…just lazy. Good quick puzzle (the Quiptic took longer). Thanks both.

  5. I think I’d call this one “pleasant”. I liked the misdirection of “poor hearing” in SHOW TRIAL.

    The only minor gripelet I had was that SMARTING means hurting, not irritated. Very, very, acutely irritated, maybe, but not plain irritated.

  6. Very pleasant indeed, and quite Quiptic-like. Like Michelle @2 NHO Lily Savage, but a search confirmed it. And like the good doctor @5, loved ‘poor hearing’. Thanks, Matilda and PeterO.

  7. Clearly the Graun has decided to provide us with a little extra challenge for our amusement. First solve all the puzzles in a given week, or perhaps month (Quiptics, Mondays, other weekdays, ‘Prizes’); then re-assign them to their correct slots. 😉

    Thanks Matilda and Peter

  8. As for essexboy @7, this seemed like Groundhog Day for me – Monday all over again. But a neat puzzle, no doubt, particularly the STEPHEN HAWKING anagram, CONSTERNATION and NO CAN DO. Many thanks to M & P.

  9. Nice to see the acid tongued Lily Savage get a mention, the hilarious drag alter ego of Paul O’Grady. I remember her doing a wine tasting on This Morning once, and pretending to get drunker and drunker as the item progressed. And she came up with the only reason she kept in touch with her sister….because you never know when you might need a kidney.

    Thanks to Matilda for a pleasant start to the day, and to PeterO for the early blog.

  10. Why do people keep talking about the Quiptic? It is not published in the newspaper, so it doesn’t sit alongside the Cryptic. There is no rule that readers cannot hope for a crossword that would be suitable for the online Quiptic slot. And the correspondence that regularly pops up on the Letters page suggests that this is a popular aspiration, even if not one shared by contributors to this website.
    This was a lovely accompaniment to a good read.

  11. A lot of fun. Nothing irritated me so I am not smarting… Bearing in mind it is not the compiler’s brief exclusively to satisfy we pedants at (sorry, ‘contributors to’) 225, I would say it was a perfect crossword, in my case nicely filling the gap between bringing the tea up to bed and getting up for work (oh, ok; making the second cup …)

  12. Not too difficult, but I still enjoyed it. Loved ‘knight errant’ for the STEPHEN HAWKING anagram. Thought there might have been a game of cricket breaking out down at the bottom, with PLAYERS, BOWLING, GULLY and IN FINE FORM.

    [Lots of songs: Pictures of LILY, CROSS EYED Mary, Take the Skinheads BOWLING and the CONSTERNATION in Mayfair from Tom Robinson’s ‘Up Against the Wall’.

    And I’ve got a black belt in NoCanDo.]

    Thanks to Matilda and PeterO.

  13. When I say it is ‘a Quiptic-like puzzle’ I do not mean to criticise the setter. It is simply a type of personal shorthand for saying that I found it quite easy, in the style of a Quiptic. It is the job of the editor not the setter to allocate which puzzles go into the Cryptic or Quiptic slots. If anything, my feedback on that count is intended for the Guardian crosswords editor, not anyone else.

    As I mentioned above, I enjoyed this puzzle, especially the humour in many of the surfaces.

  14. Smiled at TITULAR and FLY-TIP. Clever anagram for STEPHEN HAWKING and SHOW TRIAL was the pick of the bunch. Quick, pleasant solve.

    Ta Matilda & PeterO

  16. Quite quirky from Matilda this morning and very enjoyable as a result. I spotted the subtraction anagrams, which I often don’t, which was a plus (credit where it’s due – someone on the G site dryly observed “Matilda nearly thought of some anagrams” which made me smile.)

    michelle and Tony S have highlighted my favourites, particularly ME TOO and, as Tony noted the great surface for TITULAR. I liked FLY TIP too even if it’s one of my absolute pet hates.

    [Penfold @12: I guess a pun was due. Doh! ]

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO

  17. Some nice surfaces as others have said. I too liked show trial for the misleading definition, and I was held up by “fly tip” because tip was obvious but I took dump to be just dump=tip as part of the wordplay.

    Stephen Hawking was a classic example for me of an anagram that is made easier by a shortage of vowels.

  18. Dantheman @9: thanks for the “kidney” reminder, so refreshing in this PC world.

    This puzzle is a reminder that clues don’t have to be impenetrable or tortuous to be enjoyable. (Still feeling a little bruised from last week.)

    Many thanks, both.

  19. Another lovely puzzle this week.

    Struggled a bit on the SW otherwise not too bad.

    Favourites: FLY-TIP, RUN INTO, CROSS-EYED, ASTRAY and ME TOO (loi)

    Thanks to Matilda and PeterO

  20. Tim Phillips @11: “Bearing in mind it is not the compiler’s brief exclusively to satisfy we pedants . . .” Surely “us pedants”, since you’re talking about pedantry!

  21. Enjoyable, not too difficult, some very neat surfaces (Patsy finishing off every drink in sight; the kinky Tory ), some delightful misdirections (I, too, enjoyed SHOW TRIAL).
    I am entirely with William @18 – a good crossword doesn’t need to be mind-bending.
    Thanks to Matilda and PeterO

  22. Thanks Matilda and PeterO
    Yes, a delightful puzzle, if easy. I loved the STEPHEN HAWKING anagram, and NO CAN DO.

  23. Thanks PeterO and I hope everyone who grumbled about Soup/Enigmatist last week has had a go at this to put a smile on their face as it did mine, although i concur with Tim@1 that it was sadly over too soon. Also I am sure i have seen NO CAN DO clued very similarly before, anyone else? But so many clever additive, subtractive anagrams and amusing/gently misleading surfaces that picking my favourite today is tricky, will plump for A SOFT TOUCH as I first thought of AbFab Patsy necking some abominable cocktail – thanks Matilda.

  26. A very enjoyable puzzle in which my answers flowed neatly on from each other around the grid until it was completed. 22 minutes is probably my pb for a Guardian puzzle so far.

  27. Some might think Matilda a soft touch because she doesn’t leave you smarting and cross eyed but I thought her in fine form . Not the knottiest of puzzles but caused no consternation. A pleasure to run into, sweet as a caramel and left me in ecstasy.
    Yes?
    Me too

  28. Nice quick solve but missed 17a entirely not being a Tolkien fan at all (hate that type of goblin-related writing…).

    As with PostMark @16 I was able to spot the removal anagrams very easily so there were quite a few that dropped in that would normally have stumped me and for that I say thanks to Matilda and PeterO!

    [PostMark @16, Penfold @24 and bodycheetah at 25: Those puns were not that sensei-tional really…]

  29. Yes, the STEPHEN HAWKING anagram was great, and the surface, “Late professor’s nephew as knight errant”, had a nice Narnia-ish feel to it. But nearly all the surfaces were smooth and entertaining.

    A very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  31. Thought this was a delight from start to finish. Helpful but clever anagram for our Cambridge genius at the top led the way in. Loved the clue for REGRET. Last one in CROOK. Never mind that it didn’t take too long to complete this morning…

  33. As soon as I read ‘Late professor’ I thought of STEPHEN HAWKING, so that was a great start. About 10 anagrams made this a smooth solve. I enjoyed it and particularly liked SHOW TRIAL, REGRET and CONSTERNATION. I wondered a bit about PS being a note but I suppose it depends on the length of it.

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  34. I, too, relished the excellent surfaces of this none-too-tricky puzzle. It was a touch anagram heavy, but then the clever backwards anagram clue for RUN INTO had to be applauded.
    Like Ronald@31 I thought the Rue de Pierre Gretzky was an absolute cracker!

  35. Fun with lovely surfaces, I do enjoy Matilda. FLY-TIP was a new term for me and I assumed that there is a person called LILY Savage. Favs similar to others. Thanks M and P.

  36. Another elegant puzzle which I would have enjoyed more if it had been next Monday’s as I was hoping for more of a challenge to follow on from yesterday’s Vulcan. This is a reflection on my expectations and the editor’s choices not Matilda’s setting. RUN INTO was my cotd with ticks for NO CAN DO, SHOW TRIAL and the neat hidden REGRET. CROOK was also my loi Ronald@31.
    Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  40. Thanks for the heads up on 21d, I could not parse it and it was my LOI.
    Mind you, spelling ‘ecstacy’ with ‘-sy’ at the end did not help…
    Super crossword, Matilda is my favourite setter as the puzzles are achievable (for me).

  42. A plethora of anagrams and near-anagrams made this a very easy solve, but there was plenty to enjoy along the way. ‘Impossible bottle party’ was a favourite, and as others have said, the ‘poor hearing’ was outstanding. After solving, I Googled ‘Rue de Pierre Gretzky’, but the only references were to this puzzle…

    Many thanks to Matilda and to PeterO for an immaculate blog.

  43. Shaping up to be a more straightforward week than last week. I’m not complaining, with yesterday and today being excellent examples of how to set a puzzle of less difficulty. SHOW TRIAL my clue of the day.

    There are some very lucky people who don’t know what FLY-TIP means. They should come out my way, alas.

  44. What sh@42 said including, spookily, the Google experience looking for Pierre – it’s a matter of REGRET that he doesn’t exist. Great clue.

  45. Smooth, gently amusing, fine surfaces. Not all obvious to me but not, thank goodness, a hotchpotch of obscure synonyms of unusual meanings of words in different context to the surface leading to an obsolete or recherché solution.

  46. Morning all! Thanks for the lovely comments. Gladys @ 39 is correct but I won’t get into a flap that only one solver has spotted it …

  49. The original of the “No can do” clue was by Taupi. It was simply “No can do(6,5) A bit before my time, but I think he still has some puzzles in the Guardian’s archive. See John Henderson’s (aka Nimrod etc) obituary of this remarkable setter, which mentions the clue as a favourite:

  55. Newbie back again … the last week was dispiriting to say the least. However yesterday and today have raised spirits once more. I actually laughed out loud at TITULAR!

  57. Not ashamed to say the hidden theme flew over my head, despite having checked the parsing to make sure I hadn’t missed a hint at ROOK and TERN in both clues afterwards!

    1a got this off to a great start, and I’d add to the above comments noting that it’s another example from Matilda of how the difficulty of a crossword isn’t necessarily linked to the entertainment or satisfaction it gives. Rue de Pierre Gretzky my favourite, just for the “aha!” moment.

  60. Thanks Matilda and PeterO. As usual, the theme passed me by. What I thought was an ingenious, fun puzzle with a good smattering of aha moments now looks much more impressive. Quite an achievement to get in so many thematic references, without resorting to obscure words or clues. Excellent!

  61. Really enjoyed this, partly because I actually finished it with no external help, a rare achievement for me. And I am in awe that such an elegant puzzle could also contain a ghost theme. My favourite clue was INSTINCT, with its clever surface – brought back happy memories of Tintin and Captain Haddock…. And Rue de Pierre Gretsky was superb!
    Thanks to Matilda and PeterO.

  62. Is “bowling” a game? It’s a feature of a game, and also something you do in a bowling alley that I would describe as a sport but not a game, though I can’t say why.

    This puzzle had 11 words I could write in without any crossers, higher than I prefer. I find it fascinating when an impossible-looking puzzle builds up from just an initial one or two write-ins. But I have to agree that some of these clues are charming.

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  63. They are probably unintentional, but there are 2 more birds with right-angle bends in them – TOUCAN in 11a/8d, and a Scottish pigeon (DOO) in 8d/16a. (Of course I didn’t spot the theme at all when solving.)

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  64. Valentine @62. I refer you to Britannica: “Bowling, also called tenpins, game in which a heavy ball is rolled down a long, narrow lane toward a group of objects known as pins, the aim being to knock down more pins than an opponent.”

  66. Thanks both,
    Lovely puzzle. I thought briefly about a bird theme but didn’t follow it through. 26a also works if you omit the last three words. Very well (def) inform (dish as in nark) out(side) fine (punishment).

  69. Feeling very proud of myself because I managed this without help from google and wordfinders : )
    I think I parsed everything except CROOK – thanks for that one PeterO.

    Mention of a ‘ghost theme’ had me looking for spooks and phantoms. Thanks to Cookie @48 and Lord Jim @51, the penny started to drop. Another term to add to my growing crossword vocabulary : )

  70. Ideal level for me. I had almost finished by 9.15am when I had to go out. I was held up by being unfamiliar with SHOW TRIAL and ORC. Totally missed the theme as usual. Thanks to Matilda and PeterO

  71. I’ve very much enjoyed Matilda’s introduction to the Cryptics, but I have to say I didn’t think this was her on top form, although SHOW TRIAL was very nice.

    I find it odd that her last outing contained very few – if any – anagrams, but this one was loaded with them. Feels a bit lopsided to me.

    Thanks Peter.

  72. Lovely. A great Matilda crossword with hidden birds as a bonus. I would have finished a lot quicker, if I hadn’t spent so long trying to justify how C3PO became CRO for CROOK, having gone formthe wrong kind of humanoid in the wrong blockbuster.

  73. The ghost theme takes it to another level – it’s a pity I didn’t see it before posting earlier. Great stuff Matilda – when are we going to “meet the setter”?

  74. Late to the party today but I just had to add my praise for this lovely puzzle. The theme had totally passed me by – well done, Cookie – so I’m glad I didn’t comment earlier.

    Matilda has been providing Cryptic puzzles for almost a year now – this is her seventh. I blogged her most recent one – I commented, ‘The clues are well-crafted, with smooth and witty surfaces and apt definitions’ – all in evidence today, along with some beautiful anagrams, as Tim @1 said.

    I had ticks for 1ac STEPHEN HAWKING, a real classic, plus 12ac FLY-TIP, 24 REGRET, 28ac BOWLING, 18dn RUN INTO and two for the wonderful 9dn CONSTERNATION (super surface – loved the tear-jerker!

    Many thanks to Matilda (like WhiteKing, I’d love to meet you 😉 ) and to PeterO for the blog

  75. Extra pleasure coming back to the theme once you know it’s there. If we’re allowing right angle bends (and I’m pretty sure Matilda is, because more than one cannot be coincidence) – I’ve just spotted a little STINT hiding away…

  77. Thank you Herb @49/50, another setter who led an interesting life! And thanks for the theme elucidation everyone, despite being a bird lover it had of course flown way over my head.

  80. Seemed quite anagram heavy to ME TOO. Theme very nicely done. My only REGRET is that I didn’t see it!
    One more bird – a kinky CROW. Oh, and something for the EGRET to eat (TUNA).
    Great fun! Thanks, Matilda and Peter.

  81. Just came back to see the theme, which pitches it to a different level. I would also add STRAY birds to cover all the individual entries. Well done Cookie and Matilda.

  82. The SHOW TRIAL clue is an example of why I so dislike CDs. Lots of setters would have just had something like ‘Show trial?’ and left it at that, but Matilda doesn’t. With the wordplay there it’s so much more rounded.

    Lots of really nice clues.

  83. I always like Matilda’s puzzles fun and neat. Good on you girl! Show trial had me fooled for a while.

  84. I’m late getting around to this puzzle, but I thought I’d add a quick comment for the record about ORC. The word is certainly inextricably linked to Tolkien at this point, but he didn’t invent it: according to the OED, it goes back to the 17th century (with its meaning as an ogre-like creature — there’s a separate OED listing for the meaning of a large sea creature).

    Thanks to Matilda for a very enjoyable puzzle!

  85. Thanks for that note Ted, that would explain how Orcs have popped up in all sorts of fantasy/roleplaying settings whereas the Tolkien estate has ensured Hobbits (definitely his invention, as was Balrog, not sure about others) are pretty much confined to Middle Earth.

  87. Like Barrie, I read the Guardian Weekly (despite living in the UK), so have come late to this puzzle. I wanted to say what a happy experience it was to find a puzzle with elegant and sensible surfaces to the clues, at last. It seems to me that over the past few years this has become increasingly uncommon. Instead we are expected to wrestle with clues that have little or no surface sense to them, and are often simply mind-bendingly complicated manipulations yielding little satisfaction at their solution. Thank you Matilda – maybe Araucaria will stop turning in his noble grave.

  88. Yes, I am another Weekly reader and come late to this site, but I’d like to add my endorsement of the comment at #87 – and I still remember the delight of nearly every clue os Araucaria; never easy but always satisfying

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