Guardian 28,468 – Philistine

76 comments on “Guardian 28,468 – Philistine”

1. Congratulations to drofle for beating Philistine by a couple of days. 😉

2. I had exactly the same thought as essexboy @1. Made 18ac a write in!
   At first pass I thought this was going to be a struggle but then it all fell into place rather quickly. Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

3. A quick and very enjoyable crossword today, thanks to Andrew for parsing NEHRU which I just couldn’t unpick. I liked RAINCOAT for bringing to mind Peter Falk as Columbo.

   Thanks essexboy @1, I was certain someone had suggested that clue in the comments recently! Nice one drofle!

   Cheers Philistine and Andrew.

4. That was enjoyable, though I’m slightly annoyed with myself for not seeing the lift-and-separate in 8, 14.
   The anagram indicator in 26a is a delight (unless you’re a horse).
   Thanks to Philistine and Andrew.

5. Thanks, Philistine and Andrew. Andrew, just to point out that ROUBLE in 20A has t be singular, as the S is required for the anagram of POTTS.

   And, yes, well and uncannily anticipated, drofle.

6. Thanks Philistine and Andrew!

   Nehru: Was thinking of another possibility.

   ‘Nu’ was another past PM (Burma- U NU)
   +’her’ unfashionable= Nehru (jacket).

7. Fun. DNK Jonathan Sumption but assumed there was a judge by that name. Liked the word play in 1ac and 3d. Ta to Philistine and Andrew

8. Nickname: Old Nick explains it well Andrew! Thanks.

9. Intriguing how great minds think alike: not only did drofle anticipate Philistine’s clue but so did Methuselah in the Independent on Sunday in April – After coupling with another, tech billionaire stretches. Clearly one, other or both wealthy men are getting too much publicity these days. (And I know drofle doesn’t do the IOS so it is certainly coincidental clue conception and construction.)

   Nice to achieve a full solve this morning despite a couple of tricky/unparsed solutions: nho Lord Sumption or the French phrase and Chet Baker only rang a vague bell. Pleased to spot the NEHRU device though wondered whether some indication we weren’t looking for a Brit might have been welcomed. I particularly enjoyed the two where the definition elements were so well hidden: ‘silence’ for NOT ANOTHER WORD and ‘initially’ for AT FIRST BLUSH. Very neat. And I loved the dbe in MISQUOTATION. But I’ll give COTD to CLAY PIGEON as I think it gave me the greatest pleasure to assemble.

   Thanks Philistine and Andrew

10. Thanks Philistine and Andrew
    For a long time I was looking at a grid with just CHESTNUT entered; then I got CHERUB, and things flowed from there (though 3 or 4 unparsed).
    Favourite MISQUOTATION.
    Well anticipated, drofle – I wonder what the lead-time on puzzles is, and thus whether Philistine could have seen it?

11. [btw, Andrew, blog is currently “Uncategorized”]

12. Started slowly with only 1d in place but strangely sped up with only a couple of helpers.

    For those who don’t know Jonathan Sumption, ex Barrister, ex Supreme Court Judge, he’s been described as ‘the cleverest man in Britain with a brain the size of a planet and fees to match…’ It was he who defended Alistair Campbell at the Hutton inquiry. He is not universally (in fact, at all) popular even in his own circles – he put a huge number of noses in the legal profession out-of-joint when he became the youngest Supreme Court judge but even more so when he delayed taking up the appointment to finish working on the Boris Berezovsky/Roman Abramovich case reputedly for fees in excess of £5m.

    Thanks to Philistine and Andrew!

13. I thought this was a delightful offering from Philistine. Sometimes I just appreciate being able to solve a puzzle without looking anything up, as was the case today: though not looking anything up meant I missed the full parse for a couple of clues. For instance, like a couple of other commenters above, I hadn’t heard of the Supreme Court judge, so I didn’t understand RESUMPTION at 13d. My fave was ELONGATES at 18a, with a nod to drofle on Monday. Thanks to Andrew and Philistine.

14. [Thanks for the interesting backstory on the judge, MB@12]

15. Excellent crossword from Philistine which occupied a pleasant half hour before my walk to the station. Thanks to our blogger for parsing BURY THE HATCHET (I couldn’t find the jazz player, but coincidentally I was listening to Ted Heath’s ‘Opus One’ just yesterday afternoon to give my new speakers a work-out – which they passed); and also to our blogger and S Krishna@6 for two possible parsings of NEHRU, neither of which I could see.

16. muffin @ 10

    At the graun crossword gathering in Brighton a few years back, Hugh Stephenson told us that puzzles were scheduled a couple of weeks in advance.

17. [Thanks Simon]

18. S Krishna @6 U Nu, the first Prime Minister of Burma. Who knew? You knew, so thanks for sharing.

    [Maybe drofle’s powers could be profitably applied to the runners and riders at Royal Ascot next week?]

    An enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks drofle, Philistine and Andrew

19. Excellent crossword. I got all the answers, but not all the parsings, so many thanks to Andrew as well as to the setter.

20. [Tea chest brought the bush base to mind. There’s a pic of The Quarrymen with one, with a couple of semiquavers on the front]

21. To essexboy, JerryG, Conrad and others: as you can imagine I was chuffed and surprised to see 18a, and presumed that either Philistine had looked at the blog to Vulcan’s Monday puzzle, or that great minds think alike. Seeing Simon S’s comment @16, it must be the latter.

    I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle as well. Not too taxing, a lot of anagrams; liked MISQUOTATION, CLAY PIGEON, NEHRU, HIGH ALTAR; couldn’t parse the BURY part of BURY THE HATCHET.

    Many thanks to Philistine and to Andrew.

22. Rather worried to see how many people thought this was a gentle Philistine: it took me quite a while and I didn’t manage to get it all parsed, but had a lot of fun trying. In the end the failures depended on lack of GK: I didn’t know CHET Baker, but then I missed the lift-and-separate on 8d anyway so I’m not complaining. Didn’t know Jonathan SUMPTION either. Favourites CLAY PIGEON, MISQUOTATION, THIRTIETH and ELONGATES, which I haven’t seen before. Probably a case of parallel evolution, or great minds think alike, or something.

23. I’m pleased to join the above chorus. And what a refreshing puzzle after yesterday’s ……. well, decorum demands NOT ANOTHER WORD (my LOI) on that topic – and perhaps we should just BURY THE HATCHET.
    Many memorable clues (ELONGATES, CLAY PIGEON, NICKNAME, GUNSMITH, HIGH ALTAR etc) – & not a single MISQUOTATION in sight.
    Many thanks Philistine for one of the more sparkling puzzles of the year.

24. A delightful offering, as Julie in Australia said.

    I have far too many ticks to list but they’ve all been mentioned above, I think.

    I’d never heard of Chet Baker, so couldn’t fully parse BURY THE HATCHET – but enjoyed working out the rest of the clue.

    Like Conrad @3, I immediately thought of Columbo 7,23

    Many thanks to Philistine for the usual fun and to Andrew for another great blog.

25. Oops – I somehow highlighted the wrong bit in the link!

26. Took a while and like yesterday (and Andrew) got some at first from the description but unlike yesterday managed to parse most.

    Favourite was NOT ANOTHER WORD. Also liked NICKNAME, TROUBLE SPOT, HIGH ALTER

    And thanks to Roz in another blog, I remembered that *constant* can be PI so got CLAY PIGEON

    Thanks Philistine and Andrew

27. This grid filled fluently, but failed to see both LaSes, being a bit dim, hence didn’t properly parse Nehru or the bury bit of the hatchet (given the origin, why not tomahawk? … probly doesn’t quite roll off the tongue). Always thought 12ac was Latin, non plus, but c’est la gallic shrug. Re 1ac and drofle’s prescience, 4d brings to mind ‘Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well’; anyone (eg The Rev) ever used that misquote? Agree w NeilH @4 re 26ac … delightfully aptly equine anagrind. All good fun, ta P and A.

28. Thanks Andrew, also S Krishna and MaidenBartok for some extra flavour. I didn’t like EASES – why is the “to” there and as “troduces” doesn’t seem to be a word I don’t think it is fair game for the lift and separation. Or have I misunderstood again? But as I miraculously did understand everything else and thought there were some real gems as mentioned above I am happy to overlook it, thanks Philistine. Oh, just one more thing – loved the surface of RAINCOAT.

29. Sorry – HIGH ALTAR

30. Great fun. A couple went in unparsed, but this didn’t detract from the pleasure.

    Same favourites as rodshaw @23 listed (some great and unusual anagrinds, and ‘anti-mosquito’ is beautiful as anagrist) plus RAINCOAT for its flavour of Peter Falk.

    Many thanks to Philistine and Andrew.

31. Cracker! Many thanks, Philistine.

    I, too, thought of the billionaires gag for ELONGATES when it was first clued a few days ago.

    There are some belters here, with NOT ANOTHER WORD taking Best In Show for me with MISQUOTATION a close runner-up. What a cracking anagram?

    OBOIST (loi) was nicely hidden, I thought.

    Lovely stuff, more please.

32. [The last bit of 8,14 brought to mind that other Chet, Atkins … did he write that classic Angie, which was a must for good pickers, Jansch, Renbourn et al, to play?]

33. ginf @27 – you were always right. The French say nec plus ultra (which btw is a good translation of la crème de la crème, which the French hardly ever say).

34. [GinF @32
    It was Dav(e)y Graham, a British guitarist. All aspiring guitarists (including me) played it!]

35. With due respect to another poster I couldn’t help thinking of this song by Chet Baker Witthy Philistine rather than funny Valentine for the puzzle.

36. gif / muffin

    Davey Graham’s tune was Anji.

    Angie was the Rolling Stones.

37. Gaz@28 I had the same thought regarding EASES but settled on “helps to” as the definition rather than just “helps”

    Great crossword – I drew a blank on the first couple and figured it would be a tough so went for a sequential solve and ended up with 23 done after the first pass. Parsing BURY THE HATCHET took as long as the whole puzzle and I’ll confess to using my calculator to get the 0.0333

38. Loved this puzzle and Andrew’s parsing help, but most of all I really enjoyed reading these comments, so thank you all very much! [ especially on such a grey Thursday here in Cambridge with bad omens of a third wave…]

39. [Simon @36
    It depended on who recorded it. Bert Jansch called it “Angie”. See here. ]

40. Gazzh @28/ bodycheetah @37, re EASES.

    I was bothered by the ‘to’, too. Eventually I saw it not as a lift-and-separate, but an ‘extended definition’ type clue. Helps = EASES (eg help/ease the pain), but also the word ‘eases’ helps, i.e. contributes towards, the composition of the phrase ‘introduce a session’.

41. [essexboy @33: en français « ne plus ultra », I believe.]

42. Fun puzzle
    Favourites: ELONGATES, NOT ANOTHER WORD, MISQUOTATION, THIRTIETH (loi)

43. Thanks eb@33 … nec plus, well I never …

    Thanks muffin @34, now you say it I did know the name Davy Graham, but only via happening to hear a folky (a Brit called John, known as Otto) play Anji, for which spelling thanks Simon S @36 (googling “Jansch playing Angie” yields 15 clips, three with Anji, one Angi, the rest the uncorrected Angie. Hey ho)

44. [Forgot my [ ], sorry ed]

45. [Hi GrannyJ @41, have a look at this page on wordreference.com . I’ve never come across ne plus ultra in French, but nec plus ultra (taken from the Latin, naturellement) is very common.]

46. Thanks Philistine for a lovely puzzle today, even though a lack of sleep made it slow going for me, and thanks Andrew for unpicking the bits I couldn’t fathom. I completely missed the “lift and separate” in 8dn, so was scratching my head over BURY. Groansome but fun. I know others don’t like this kind of thing but I think it’s fine.

    I know there are also mixed feelings over the importance of the surface, but for me a good surface reading is part of what makes a cryptic crossword enjoyable, and there were some especially lovely ones today – 26ac, 6dn both made me laugh, among lots of other well constructed clues.

    Not entirely satisfied with 19dn but I think essexboy @40 has sussed it with the extended definition “helps to”.

47. A nicely constructed and pleasantly speedy solve, which I needed after yesterday.

    Favourite was MISQUOTATION

    Thanks to Philistine and Andrew

48. Plenty of write-ins, from the non-cryptic THIRTIETH via ROUGH and OBOIST to the predictable (or predicted?) ELONGATES, but there were still some chewy ones to finish off, and the whole process was immensely enjoyable, so many thanks to Philistine, and to Andrew for another immaculate blog.

49. Thanks, Philistine, for a puzzle I could finish last night with great pleasure. And thanks Andrew for straightening out my thinking here and there.

    What’s cryptic about UGLIER? The ugli fruit is named that because it’s ugly.

    ngaiolaurenson@7 You impress me. Looked at 11d and gave up parsing — it never occurred to me that something as odd-looking as SUMPTION could be somebody’s name.

    Why are we saying that NE PLUS ULTRA is French? The French may use the phrase, but it’s Latin (and thanks for the link, essexboy @33.)

    petert@35 Chet Baker recorded “My Funny Valentine,” but he didn’t write it. It comes from a Rogers and Hart musical called “Babes in Arms,” and Valentine is the male romantic interest, whose girlfriend sings him the song in question.

50. Thanks both,
    A positive pleasure to solve. My only pause was 2d. Is ‘chasing’ usual in a down clue when indicating a charade?

51. Thanks to Philistine for an enjoyable puzzle and Andrew for the blog! I missed the parsing of “bury” and DNK “Sumption” but that was easy to figure out once I had the rest of the puzzle. Thought that “roubles” might work if we took “pott’s fracture” to mean “the fracture of pott.” 2d, 4d, 6d, 9a, were favorites for me.

52. It’s always satisfying seeing Philistine as the setter and this crossword did not disappoint. THIRTIETH, the oft mentioned ELONGATES, and CLAY PIGEON were favourites. I had some difficulties with parsing (NOT ANOTHER WORD, BURY THE HATCHET) so thanks Andrew for the blog.

53. Thanks bodycheetah@37, essexboy@40, valiant efforts both but I am still uneasy. Partly perhaps because I see the “to” in phrases like “helps to smooth the passage” as being redundant anyway, maybe that is just me being incorrect/colloquial. So I would be happier with a clue saying “Helps incite a session” for example. Anyway I will stop thinking about the c. one 17A of clues that I didn’t find spot on, and belatedly congratulate drofle now that I have seen that post, remarkable!

54. This was one of those rare solving sessions I didn’t want to end. Loved the puzzle.

    Despite the usual 2-week plan (thanks ss@16), Hugh is allowed to change his mind, you know, and move things up if the circumstances demand it. Newspapers are known to print things on very short notice! Just a thought.

55. MB @12 and Valentine @49

    Lord Sumption gave the Reith lectures in 2019 – that’s how I remembered him though I only listened to parts of them.

56. I was impressed to think that Jonathan Sumption, author of a number of history books including a multi-volume history of the Hundred Years War, had become part of our common general knowledge – but it seems he hasn’t anyway.

    0.033, even recurring, is only an approximation to one-thirtieth. As my old maths teacher would have said, “good enough for an engineer!” Or perhaps a cruciverbalist. But not a mathematician – or a pedant.

57. matt w @51. “roubles” might work if we took “pott’s fracture” to mean “the fracture of pott.” Yes, that would work better in the grammar of the surface: ‘money invested’ has us thinking of dollars, pounds, roubles rather than dollar, pound, rouble.

    [BTW, I’ve responded to your post on yesterday’s thread about the meaning of “wadr”. Thanks.]

58. Gorgeous stuff. It’s always a joy to see Philistine’s name on the puzzle. Shame he doesn’t do Fridays or, better still, Saturdays to show regular occupants how stylishly and wittily it can be done. Top fave misquotation.

59. [hatter @57 & matt w @51: thanks to the first for alerting me to today’s additional posts on the Puck blog and to the second for explaining the abbreviation]

60. Peter Groves @56: with all due respect to your old maths teacher, 0.033 recurring (meaning as clarified by me in the blog) is precisely equal to 1/30, in the same way that 0.3… is equal to 1/3 and 0.999… is equal to 1.

61. Peter Groves @56: What Andrew @ 60. As for ‘good enough for an engineer’ I have a mathematician friend who constantly argues that the square-root of -1 is i whereas us engineers know it to be j just proving that mathematicians are always going on about i, i, i…

62. Thoroughly enjoyable.
    Thank you Philistine and Andrew.

63. What a delight. What I most like about Philistine is that he places great emphasis on the “play” in wordplay. I stopped ticking favourites when I realized I was ticking everything.

    Thanks also to Andrew for the excellent blog, which I needed for Lord Sumption and the lift and separate for BURY at 8d.

64. [ MaidenBartok@61. What did i ( or j ) say to pi ? And vice versa. ]

65. Loved ELONGATES.
    Peter@56 0.0333333 … is exactly 1/30, just as 0.333333 … is exactly 1/3. There is no approximation involved.

    What annoyed me at first was that I read it as 0.033033033 … and got a very boring fraction. But I was so pleased to see a recurring decimal in a crossword that I forgave Philistine. Thank you.

66. Hypatia @65. If I recall correctly, the recurring number should be indicated by a dot on top, so your 033 recurring would require a dot over all three digits. In the decimal for a THIRTIETH, of course, there should just be one dot: on the final 3. The most interesting fractions as decimals are sevenths, where the digits 142857 recur for any fraction with 7 as denominator – with different starting points, obv. Some people might say that “most interesting fractions” is an oxymoron. I would say wadr that they are wrong.

67. There’s too much for me to read here, I’m afraid, but I get the distinct impression that I am in harmony with the general mood in saying what a great puzzle this was – with a good range of inventive clues and a remarkable set of interlocking long words and phrases.
    ELONGATES came as a surprise, not having seen this rather appropriate juxtaposition before. I was chuffed to get 12a pretty quickly, being dimly familiar with the phrase ne plus ultra, and but not having seen it for a long time.
    Thanks to Philistine and Andrew.

68. Sheffield@66 I agree with you that the most interesting fractions are sevenths. I seem to remember thirteenth are fun too but it has been a while since I looked properly … prime denominators are all quite interesting I think.

69. Finished before 20:00 so must have been in good form or it was easy! I didn’t find it easy. I don’t think anyone else has commented that “sent to the knacker’s yard” seems a bit verbose for “anagram”.

70. [sheffield hatter @66: at school we were taught to put a dot over a single recurring digit in a decimal expansion but to use a continuous line over a repeating sequence of digits such as the seventh, i am in complete agreement as to its magnificence as a decimal expansion. ]

71. I failed to spot most of the lift and separates. I think “helps to” as a synonym of EASES is a bit of a stretch as I can’t see how to substitute one for the other in context. The clue’s surface wouldn’t be harmed by simply omitting the “to” and the lift and separate would then work better in the cryptic reading.
    I’m also struggling to rationalise “architecture” as an anagrind.
    But I think this was a fine puzzle overall. I particularly liked the OBOIST clue, very neat surface.
    Thanks, Phil and Andrew

72. 4d is brilliant.

73. [essexboy @45 re me @41: many apologies – I never knew that! Un mauvais point pour moi!!]

74. [GrannyJ @73: no need for apologies! The word nec does look very strange in French, and is only used in quotations from Latin (apparently it comes from neque). There’s an interesting forum discussion here on WR (which site I heartily recommend, by the way) including an explanation of the origin of the expression – the legendary inscription on the Pillars of Hercules which guarded the Straits of Gibraltar, warning sailors to venture no further.

    The other place you might come across ‘nec’ in France is on the coat of arms of the city of Paris: Fluctuat nec mergitur, meaning ‘[She] is tossed [by the waves] but does not sink’. If you’re familiar with the songs of Georges Brassens, you might have heard ‘Les copains d’abord’, where he uses the phrase at the beginning of the second verse – ironically, of course, as always with Brassens, to describe the little boat beloved by him and his band of copains.]

75. [Thanks, essexboy @ 74, for directing me to that forum – just the sort of linguistic discussion I enjoy! I didn’t know the Georges Brassens song, so thanks for that link, too!]

76. ELONGATES was easy for me because the word appeared in crossword last week, and as I looked at it I saw the two elements and spent a while playing with possible clues for it – perhaps Philistine did, too.

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