Guardian Cryptic 28,556 by Matilda

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28556.

Matilda, Empress of the Quiptic, shows again that she can produce an excellent Cryptic.

ACROSS
1, 5 NO HARD FEELINGS
Single forehand shot and scores are settled (2,4,8)
An anagram (‘shot’) of ‘single forehand’.
5
See 1
9 DEAD LIFT
This forced one to take the stairs, thus getting exercise (4,4)
Definition (from weightlifting) and literal interpretation.
10 RIDING
Cycling in Yorkshire? (6)
Double/cryptic definition; Yorkshire is divided into three ridings: North, West and East (and the City of York).
11 LONELY HEARTS
Singletons? (6,6)
Cryptic definition, sort of; in a card game such as bridge, one (lonely) heart in a hand would be a singleton.
13 SPAS
Resorts of times past (4)
A hidden answer (‘of’) in ‘timeS PASt’
14 TRAPPIST
Monk sounds drunk on gin (8)
‘Sounds’ like TRAP (‘gin’) PISSED (‘drunk’).
17 ESPALIER
Mushy peas served with pork pie, right for trainer (8)
A charade of ESPA, an anagram (‘mushy’) of ‘peas’ plus LIE (‘pork pie’, rhyming slang) plus R (‘right’), with a slightly cryptic definition: an espalier is a lattice on which a plant may be trained.
18 OVEN
15’s range (4)
A hidden answer in PrOVENcal, the answer to ’15’.
20 MAGNETIC POLE
Attractive European’s bearing? (8,4)
A charade of MAGNETIC (‘attractive’) plus POLE (‘European’), with a definition which merits the question mark.
23 RESCUE
Make secure? (6)
An anagram (‘make’) of ‘secure’, &lit. Very neat.
24 IRONCLAD
Inflexible, as if in Fife (8)
‘Fife’ is ‘if’ CLAD in Fe (chemical symbol, IRON). Thanks michelle @1 for the clarification.
25 WORE THIN
Their own pants became threadbare (4,4)
An anagram (‘pants’) of ‘their own’.
26 EULOGY
Stick around, admitting love by the end of fiery speech (6)
A charade of EULOG, an envelope (‘admitting’) of O (‘love’) in EULG, a reversal (‘around’) of GLUE (‘stick’); plus Y (‘the end of fierY‘).
DOWN
2, 22 OVERHANG
Projection, which could produce a headache with part exchange (8)
‘Exchange’ the two parts and you get HANGOVER (‘headache’).
3 ANDALUSIA
Dual Asian model somewhere in southern Europe … (9)
An anagram (‘model’) of ‘dual Asian’, for the region in the south of Spain.
4 DEIGNS
… lowers self for Europeans — just saying! (6)
Sounds like (‘just saying’) DANES (‘Europeans’).
5 FATAL ATTRACTION
Film of float at a tantric gathering (5,10)
An anagram (gathering’) of ‘float at a tantric’, for the 1987 film with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close.
6 EARTHMAN
What about cunning bloke? He’s no alien (8)
A charade of EARTH, an envelope (‘about’) of ART (‘cunning’) in EH? (‘what’);plus MAN (‘bloke’).
7
See 12
8 GONE TO SEED
Past one’s best, left to admit defeat on the radio (4,2,4)
Sounds like (‘on the radio’) GONE TO CEDE (‘left to admit defeat’).
12, 7 A PASSAGE TO INDIA
A father’s wise rewriting of an idiot’s novel (1,7,2,5)
A charade of ‘a’ plus PA’S (‘father’s’) plus SAGE (‘wise’) plus TO INDIA, an anagram (‘rewriting’) of ‘an idiot’.
15 PROVENCAL
Nice person demonstrated a little energy (9)
A charade of PROVEN (‘demonstrated’) plus CAL (calorie, ‘a little energy’); Nice being, of course, the southern French city.
16 FIFTIETH
2% of Hawaii, as a state (8)
Double definition; Hawaii was the fiftieth (and last so far) state admitted to the USA.
19 MOROSE
After a short time, moved up and down (6)
A charade of MO (‘a short time’) plus ROSE (‘moved up’). Very good.
21 NICHE
Special position of hotel in 15 location (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of H (‘hotel’) in NICE (’15 location’; unfortunate that the city is named in the clue for 15).
22
See 2

picture of the completed grid

79 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,556 by Matilda”

  1. Several excellent anagrams and clever, clear clues made this puzzle very enjoyable.

    Favourites: MAGNETIC POLE, A PASSAGE TO INDIA, OVERHANG, IRONCLAD, FIFTIETH.

    Thanks, both.

    * typo in the blog?
    24ac is IF clad in FE

  3. Thanks for the blog – very helpful! Especially, when it comes to clarifying ESPALIER (I had espadrilles shoes on my brain and convinced myself that espaliers were no doubt related…)

  4. Very nice puzzle (no pun intended), especially RESCUE.

    I don’t think PeterO quite does LONELY HEARTS justice – as well as the cards-related meaning, the meaning of an empty love life can work too.

  5. Very good. After about ten minutes of wondering “What on earth…?”, the most satisfying penny drop moment I’ve had in ages with my last in IRONCLAD. Almost as good was RESCUE, an excellent example of a “simple” &lit.

    Hold-ups along the way with DEAD LIFT and OVERHANG. I thought of LONELY HEARTS as people rather than cards too.

    Thanks to Matilda and PeterO

  6. Filled in ironclad but didn’t get it, thinking er, shipbuiding? D’oh. if in Fe is very neat. The rest is pretty cool too, thanks MnP.

  7. RESCUE was my LOI, without having seen the anagram, which is now blindingly obvious. @1 Michelle is quite correct that not only is ‘FIFE’ clad in iron (FE), but ‘as if in fife’, i.e. ‘IF’ is clad in ‘FE’.

    @2 Josh Rubin, this probably won’t be the last time you see ‘gin’ = ‘trap’.

    Thanks, Matilda and PeterO.

  8. I was reduced to alphabetical searching through the dictionary to find IRONCLAD then did not give myself a chance to parse it before coming here. I imagined it was a comment on the place or the instrument. Reality is much better. It took me as long as the rest of the puzzle combined!
    Anyway thank you Matilda for an excellent puzzle. Particularly enjoyed RESCUe for its succinctness. Thanks PeterO for timely blogging and pointing out FifE.

  9. This was a very fast solve for me, but very enjoyable. I was a DNF on one of last week’s offerings due to the dreaded combination of local knowledge in both definition and wordplay while several contributors complained it was too easy. I can understand complaining about a puzzle being straightforward, tedious, bland etc. But this shows that a fast solve can still require lateral thinking, head scratching and deliver those aha moments, without taking hours to complete. Thank you very much Matilda – more like this please. And thanks to PeterO. I didn’t need you today, but appreciate the effort that goes into blogging any puzzle.

  10. Agree with Dr Whatson @4 and Wordplodder @5. LONELY HEARTS is both. I had to look up the bridge reference. Liked the totality of the clue.

    Does anyone think there might be a mini theme going on? MAGNETIC POLE, FATAL ATTRACTION, EARTHMAN, IRONCLAD?

  11. This turned out to be a quick solve but as others have already said it was very enjoyable. I missed some of the subtler bits, eg ironclad and rescue whilst still getting the solutions. Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  12. Excellent crossword, which I finished quickly but with much enjoyment of the quality and variety of the clues.

    The long anagrams are splendid, with smooth surfaces. Special mention also for RESCUE and ‘as if in Fife’ but there really isn’t a duff clue in the puzzle.

    Many thanks to Matilda (she – or he, like Imogen?) and PeterO

  13. Most enjoyable, and only a mini theme for once.

    Didn’t know RIDING meant third. Learn interesting things through this pastime, doncha?

    Spent ages thinking of mountains in Provence until OVEN finally dawned.

    The anagrams were all fun and the clueing impeccable, many thanks, Matilda and PeterO for an excellent blog.

  14. pdm @10 – you’ve reminded me of experiments we used to do at school with MAGNETS and IRON FEELINGS.

    I agree with PeterO that the definition in 20ac (‘bearing?’) more than merits its question mark, but I am so drawn to the attractive Pole idea that resistance is futile. (And nice to continue last week’s Polish tribute theme.)

    All the rest was irresistible too, thanks M & P.

    [Gervase @12 – I think there’s a rumour that Matilda is Mrs Philistine?]

  15. I agree with so many of you that IRONCLAD is a wonderful clue and RESCUE comes close, and Michelle @1 A PASSAGE TO INDIA too, but let’s hear it for EULOGY.

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO

  17. One further thought on ESPALIER, always thought this was a beastly thing to do to a living plant. They always look tortured to me.

  18. Apologies for my lack of originality but I’m yet another weighing in with praise for IRONCLAD, the standout clue in this top notch verbal ratatouille. With RESCUE as a very cunning second best. And I’m in agreement about the additional element of LONELY HEARTS. Pure pleasure from start to finish.

    eb @14: 😀

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO

  19. So no one minds NICE being part of a clue signalling Provence and also a building block for NICHE
    A decent editor would sort that out.
    You get fussy after Picaroon, Vlad, Tramp etc

  20. Thanks Matilda and PeterO. I struggled with IRONCLAD because I’m not familiar with that definition (tend to think of it more as “guaranteed”, as in an ironclad promise), but it’s a clever clue. RESCUE is very neat indeed. I liked the misdirection of “Nice person” but it does rather spoil 21d.

    Dr WhatsOn @4 – I assumed PeterO simply thought the other meaning of lonely hearts was too obvious to be worth mentioning in the blog.

  22. I have to dash out any minute now, so many thanks to all who have expressed my appreciation of this delightful puzzle in their different ways – I’m sorry i haven’t time to do it justice.

    Many thanks to Matilda for a lovely star to the day and to PeterO for the blog.

  23. Thanks PeterO and agree with the praise for this fantastic crossword – not the first time I have been impressed by Matilda’s output.
    copmus@19 are you objecting to the clue for PROVENCAL on the grounds that Nice isn’t really in Provence (that was my possible quibble and I would be glad of some official clarification!) or that the word Nice appears in the wordplay for NICHE? If the latter, surely the fact that Matilda uses the clue ref and not the word itself is sufficient disguise – we see this quite often in other crosswords don’t we?
    widdersbel@21 yes I struggled with OVEN which you can’t really get until you have Provencal so that is a little unfair I reckon.
    Anyway the jorum of ESPALIER, big pdm of IRONCLAD, and so much more to savour, thanks Matilda.

  24. Not so quick for me as for some, with a few holding out quite a while. I eventually entered my LBOI – IRONCLAD – with no idea of the (extrememly clever) parsing and finally (after trying all the Europeans I could muster, including the Danes) realised I was looking at 4d the wrong way around. I am also in the “magnetic pole is not a bearing” camp, but I did – reluctantly – enter it. Thanks, Matilda and PeterO.

  26. A super puzzle, and I add my appreciation of 24a especially.
    I think that Eileen @22 meant to say ‘start to the day’ but ‘star’ perhaps describes the setter today.

  27. Gazzh@23 Nice is in the department of Alpes-Maritimes, but there is a larger administrative region called Provence-Alpes-Cote d’azure, which includes (among others) the departments of Provence and Alpes-Maritimes.

  28. Gazzh @23/ Blah 27: there’s quite a good historical summary here.

    Initially a semi-autonomous part of the ancient County of Provence […]

    In 1388, the citizens of Nice decided to hand over the city and its surrounding areas to the count of Savoy. Within Savoy, the region was initially named Terres neuves de Provence. The region received the name County of Nice around 1500, after its integration into the Piedmontese state.

    […]

    Since 1860, the county has been largely coterminous with the arrondissement of Nice, one of two arrondissements of the Alpes-Maritimes, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Nevertheless, the term County of Nice (Countea de Nissa in Niçard dialect) continues in use today to identify the territory as a distinct cultural and historical region, particularly to distinguish it from neighbouring Provence.

    I think Matilda gets away with it 😉 ]

  29. Blah@27 thanks for responding although I’m not sure if you agree with me or are setting out an argument along the lines of “Cardiff is in Wales which is part of the legal jurisdiction of England&Wales so Cardiff is in England”? But I will hopefully pre-empt any thread derailment on this minor point by not coming back here for a few hours so hopefully by then all will be clear or forgotten!
    William@13 i didn’t know that either until now as it had never occurred to me to look it up, thanks.

  31. OK I broke my promise but to thank essexboy@28 once again for RIDING to the rescue! I hadn’t gone back that far and only had Nice and its surrounds as a distinct region to Provence. I will call off the hounds and dismantle the gin trap – sorry for doubting you Matilda!

  34. Yes, essexboy @14. IRON FiiiiLINGS was another one. One of my earliest memories of primary school, along with sprouting seeds on blotting paper, and vegetable green ink in ink wells, and a slate. True)

  35. Thanks Matilda and PeterO

    Gazzh @ 23: I think the objection is that ‘Nice person’ clues ‘Provençal’, which then uses ‘Provençal location’ to clue ‘Nice’. It’s a bit circular, I think.

  36. [Gazzh, Blah & essexboy: Further to the East Saxon lad’s useful comments at 28, could I add that the Contea di Nizza finally became a (semi-detached) part of Provence in 1860, after the defeat of Austria by the combined forces of France and Piedmont-Sardinia. Austria ceded Lombardy to France, which was then transferred to Piedmont-Sardinia in a swap with Savoy and the County of Nice.

    This was part of a secret deal which had been made by Cavour and Napoleon III. But it incensed Garibaldi, who was himself Nizzese/Niçois, and prompted him to launch the expedition to capture the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The result was that within a few years practically all of Italy had been unified, and not just the north, which had been the original intention of the Piedmontese.]

  37. Yes, another very enjoyable crossword with some super clues (and referring to yesterday’s comments, no theme that I can see).

    I particularly liked TRAPPIST, WORE THIN, OVERHANG and PROVENCAL. The tiniest of quibbles – if RIDING is a dd, it would be better as: Cycling that’s in Yorkshire. However, if it was meant to be a cd or &lit, then it’s fine.

    Thanks to Matilda for the fun, and to PeterO for putting it all in order.

  39. [Gervase @36: Thanks, I knew our self-confessed Italophile would have some interesting light to shed! There was a plebiscite in Nice in 1860, but it may have been more à la Poutine than à la Trudeau.]

  41. Not too difficult (other than IRONCLAD which I had to reveal – very clever) but a very enjoyable one indeed.

    As a non-bridge player, I was struggling to understand the praise for 11, but I get it now!

  42. Copmus@19 (Re)cycling in Provence is not as good as cycling in Yorkshire? I’m happy to forgive one infelicity for the sake of the many great clues others have mentioned.

  43. Hear, hear! to pretty much all the appreciative comments, with the truly extraordinary clueing of IRONCLAD way beyond the powers of my feeble brain this morning…

  44. A very fast solve for me, like others today. This seemed like the Monday style substitute after yesterday’s humdinger.

    The anagrams came together quickly and I had only drunk half my cup of tea by the time I got to LOI IRONCLAD, which I agree is the star clue.

    Thanks Matilda and PeterO

  46. Thx to Matilda for an enjoyable puzzle and to PeterO for the blog.
    Favourites were the popular Ironclad, Provencal and Fiftieth.

  47. Really enjoyable puzzle.
    There were several bits which I couldn’t get first time, but returning to the puzzle they all fell into place, the last being the superb IRONCLAD.
    I don’t think there’s a single iffy one in here, and some excellent anagrams, ingenious clues and attractive surfaces.
    Other particular favourites NO HARD FEELINGS, DEAD LIFT (another one, like IRONCLAD, that I looked at for ages before exclaiming Of course!! The classic Aha! moment), TRAPPIST (one of the things Ximenes got resoundingly wrong, IMHO, is when he declared that rude words had no place in crosswords), WORE THIN (I like “pants” as an anagram indicator. Indeed, “Pants!” generally has much to commend it. I have a happy memory of sitting as a county court judge many years ago as a pleasant young woman said with heavy emphasis “I am instructed to submit that…” I duly found for her opponent. She held the door open for him to leave, and turned to me and said “You will have noted, sir, that I said ‘I am instructed to submit that…’ That is because I know as well as you do that the submission is pants”. She beamed and departed. Made my day).
    Thanks to Matilda and to PeterO

  48. Thanks to Matilda and PeterO.

    All very enjoyable as has been said. I needed help to parse IRONCLAD and was delighted with the vicarious pdm. I thought there would be some debate about EARTHMAN, which my spell-check at least doesn’t recognise – is it a real word, as in occurring in dictionaries?

    Matilda is sharpening her skills (claws?) with every outing.

  49. NeilH @47 – lovely story! But I can’t help feeling “pants” is becoming somewhat hackneyed as an anagram indicator. I’m sure it’s not so very long ago that it felt original, but it is now overused (just search the site archive to see what I mean – I’ve found four instances this month alone*), which dents its cryptic value somewhat. At least in this case it fits smoothly into the surface reading, which isn’t always the case.

    *plus one instance of pants=lingerie and one instance of pants=bad

  50. No problem with RIDING except that when I saw it was a “Yorkshire” clue I wasted ages trying to find a word beginning with T…

    This started off very quickly and finished with some persistent gaps: DEIGNS, IRONCLAD (of course) EULOGY. All worth the trouble, and some great surfaces too. Favourite I think was EARTHMAN. Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  51. copmus @19. I tend to agree with you (and with PeterO) that having Nice in the clue for 15 and in the answer for 21 (which links to 15) is a little cumbersome. Gazzh @23: maybe OVEN is a little unfair, but I thought it was cleverly done, whereas NIC(H)E was a little clumsy.

    No one has mentioned DEAD LIFT, which appears as “Did you mean: deadlift ” when Googled, so should be (8) rather than (4,4), or (4-4) according to Chambers, but this and Nice are minor gripes in what was otherwise a brilliant crossword. Like others I was blown away by IRONCLAD, SINGLETONS and RESCUE, but I want to give a special mention to the homophones TRAP(PIST), GONE TO (CEDE) and DEIGNS. No arguments there!

    And I would like to echo PeterO’s praise for MOROSE – nicely done!

    Many thanks to Matilda for some splendid entertainment.

  55. Thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed this. I will just note 26Ac which I really liked and has not had much praise.
    Do not like being a spoilsport but the FIFE trick has been used before by Azed , slightly different as I recall – in this is fine – which is actually slightly better.

  56. A bit late commenting, but I just have to vote for 17a ESPALIER as my favourite, for the brilliant “mushy peas served with pork pie” (food of the gods by the way).

  57. EULOGY, IRONCLAD and ESPALIER are indisputably in contention for COTW. Brilliant stuff. Not being au fait with Bridge terminology, I missed the cleverness of LONELY HEARTS, and the apparent repetition in PROVENÇAL, OVEN, Nice and NICHE seemed a bit eggy, but I had lots of other ticks in what was overall a very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Matilda and PeterO.

  58. Roz @55: Steve commented on 26ac just before you – I expect your posts crossed. I’m afraid I rather tend to his opinion…

    The word IRONCLAD screams out for a device such as used by Azed and Matilda, which doesn’t lessen its appeal. It is difficult with short words to find a construction which nobody has ever used before. I smiled at TRAPPIST because I used the very same construction in the first puzzle I ever attempted to set – some time in the late 70s!

  59. Gervase @58 & Steve @54. I think the latter’s “bitty” criticism may seem justified if you look at the way PeterO has set out the parsing in his blog – and I don’t mean that as a criticism! (It’s very thorough as usual, to avoid ambiguity.)

    The way I solved it was: ‘admitting love’= it’s got an O in it; ‘by the end of fiery’= looks like it ends in Y; ‘stick around’= let’s try GLUE reversed. With the L from 15d it all suddenly came together. OK, it may look “bitty”, but to my mind that means it’s well constructed and, once solved, incontrovertibly the correct answer. As Roz says @55, likeable and praiseworthy.

  60. Excellent, excellent thrice excellent.
    IRONCLAD was COTW for me, lots of very good anagrams too.
    Ta for blog and tip my hat to Matilda

  61. essexboy @36

    > but it may have been more à la Poutine than à la Trudeau

    Shouldn’t that be au Poutine and au Trudeau 😉

  62. Sheffield hatter @ 59 + Gervase @ 58 , it shows we all have our own preferences. Personally I like clues where I do not need to read the definition, so better if it is at the end of the clue. I solved EULOGY before I had got to SPEECH.
    Even more differences, RESCUE was my least favourite clue, weak definition and really do not like MAKE to form an anagram. Minor quibble though, this was a lovely puzzle.

  63. Sheffield hatter and Roz: my quibble with 26ac (too minor to have commented on unless prompted) was not with the construction but with the surface, which I found less polished than the others in this fine crossword.

  64. Tossing my love of IRONCLAD into the mix as well, although I would never have been able to parse it. FIFTIETH was great too.

  65. [Hi Anne @61 – you would think so, wouldn’t you? However in this case à la is understood as an abbreviated way of saying à la façon de / à la mode de, so it works equally with he’s and she’s. Think also of la Toussaint and la Saint-Jean, where you have to think of it as la fête de…

    Wordreference.com gives the example “Il jure beaucoup quand il est en colère, à la Gordon Ramsay”, and this discussion page concludes that à la Tintin, à la Tommy Cooper and à la Kenny Everett are all fine, but à la Petit Prince sounds a bit odd. 😉 ]

  68. [Alphalpha : …and au fait, au naturel. Which reminds me… I wonder if you’re familiar with a motto much used in the French navy? It translates as ‘To the water! This is the hour!’]

  73. Don’t suppose anyone will get as far as to read this but I thought this was splendid. I moan on most days at the sloppy wording and long-winded clues used by some Guardian setters but this passed all my criteria. Thanks to Matilda and PeterO. Lots of penny drop moments, finishing with IRONCLAD. Congratulations!

  75. { Yes much better, it is a really neat clue but Nice usually works better at the start where the capital N misleads for nice , your suggestions work well here as not too obviously French, will think about it more when I am not sleepy. Azed crossword still has a monthly prize, have to send in the grid plus a specified clue . ]

  76. [EB I could have used Nancy to indicate both French and feminine but thought I’d get in trouble after the recent milksop clue

    Roz how about Ham, Angers, and Tours the last could also be an anagrind]

  78. Thanks, Michelle@1, for explaining IRONCLAD, the only answer I couldn’t parse. Thanks, too, Matilda for the enjoyable experience.

  79. As usual as a Guardian Weekly reader I’m a week behind the daily, but I just wanted to say that it came as a great joy to find a cryptic that had such good surfaces and was full of wit, reminiscent of good old Araucaria. Very few of the Guardian cryptics have such elegance these days. Congratulations and thanks to Matilda. More please.

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