Guardian Cryptic 28,559 by Maskarade

89 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,559 by Maskarade”

1. This one was fun. I particularly liked the long ones top, bottom and left, AGAIN, PEER GROUP, ELEGANT, PROMO, GYMSLIP and GOES TO POT (although “user” generally implies harder drugs to me). A vague memory of the Pommy obsession with MEERKATS made me look to see if they had names – this will be tough for non-Poms, I guess. The unknown 20a had to be ELEMI or emeli – luckily I guessed the right one. I parsed IGNORAMUS as [S]ignora + mus[t] = has to – which did leave ‘tickle’ as a puzzle. Thanks, Maskarade and manehi.

2. Nice, straightforward, pleasant solve this morning. Haven’t come across a TURNSTONE in a while, or a TRAPPIST MONK, for that matter…

3. A nice straightforward but fun end to the week. Didn’t know that a sidecar was a cocktail but otherwise this was plain sailing. Thanks M & M.

4. Some good surfaces and constructions here – I liked the anagrams, especially 1ac and 1dn, but my COD was ARTICHOKE.

   Rufus clued TRAPPIST some years ago as ‘He keeps mum in order’ – rather better I think, but it shows that certain words prompt certain devices.

   Rather an Anglocentric puzzle, I thought. Nothing wrong with that, but I’d be interested to see how the non-Brits get on with it. I groaned at those infernal suricates at 9ac. Why don’t they have South African accents?

   Thanks to S&B

5. TassieTim @1: I parsed IGNORAMUS as s(IGNORA) + (MUS)s, which does allow for ‘tickle’, after a fashion, but manehi’s explanation is better.

6. Nice puzzle! As an Italian resident, though, I have to take issue with the spelling on 25ac, which of course should be LINGUINE.

7. Thanks Maskarade and manehi. This was rather a contrast to yesterday, to put it mildly. Simples, you might say.

   TassieTim @1 – same experience for me on 20a, but ELEMI always seemed more likely.

   Wasn’t familiar with TURNSTONE either, though I live by the coast and have probably seen them. The clue was eminently gettable.

8. For those who don’t know this, the JERUSALEM In JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (which is a sunflower, not an artichoke) has nothing to do with the place. It is a corruption of “girasole” (as in “turning to the sun”).

9. Needed some online help for the GK such as Aleksandr Orlov and Sergei (meerkats) for 9ac but now I recall having seen TV ads with meerkats somewhere in my travels. Solved NW corner last.

   I liked: PADDINGTON BEAR, OUTLIER, IGNORAMUS (loi).

   New: ELEMI; TURNSTONE.

   Thanks, both.

   * I parsed IGNORAMUS in the same way as manehi

10. LJ @6 – I didn’t notice that, but good point. I expect the “it’s in Chambers” defence applies.

11. Lots to enjoy, but 4d and 18d don’t sit well enough in my brain. Fourth of the July wouldn’t work for Y. First of the girls for G, I don’t get. And 18d is missing an anagrind or a question mark, no?

12. Quite straightforward for a Friday, certainly easier than yesterday.

    Slowed myself up by trying rigatoni for the pasta, thinking rig for cook.

    ELEMI was new but as TT@1 says it was that or email.

    I thought 1A could be considered an &lit, if you think of Paddington as apt reading material?

    Thanks Maskarade and manehi

13. Gervase@1 Suricate, that’s a good word I’ll remember for the next time. Of course they don’t talk with SA accents, they speak Africaans in their natural surroundings. However these Suricates were actually kidnapped at birth and raised amongst exiled Russian aristocracy.

14. LG @9: Solving this on a train from Alessandria to Torino Porta Nuova, I should have spotted that myself, but I must have had my English head on!

15. widdersbel @10 – no doubt! And I expect most English-speakers are as or more familiar with this spelling; it just sits uneasily with me.

    As others have said, TURNSTONE and ELEMI were new for me too, but gettable. Thanks M&M!

16. Blah @12 – I certainly do think of Paddington as apt reading material. Excellent books. Would also recommend Monsieur Pamplemousse for the grown-ups.

17. Nice mix of innovation – PLAIN CLOTHES, PADDINGTON BEAR and pub quiz-style GK

    Personally I was just relieved not to have arrange the answers jigsaw style!

18. LINGUINI is indeed listed in Chambers, but it isn’t authentic Italian. The word ‘linguino’ exists, but rather than a type of pasta it is the act of rolling one’s tongue round one’s lips. Not to be confused with the more commonly found ‘linguaccio’, which is sticking out one’s tongue as a rude gesture.

19. LG@9, Gervase@14, I did enter LINGUINE without proving the anagram until EVENING came along. LOI was TURNSTONE.
    Relatively easy for Maskerade, to whom thanks as also to manehi.

20. magumboots @11 I think that “rock” is the anagram indicator in 18d

21. Lovely anagram for PADDINGTON BEAR. Like Blah I took the whole thing as a kind of &lit, since it is delightfully ‘apt’ that the ‘reading Bond created’ is an anagram of READING, BOND, and APT.

    OVERSEE was nice too, especially for those with an etymological bent. The word ‘bishop’ comes from the Greek επίσκοπος – επί = upon/over, σκοπός = watcher – hence episcopal, episcopate etc.

    However a DNF for me as I got distracted by EMELI Sandé.

    Thanks Maskarade and manehi, and Gervase for the supplementary tongue info.

22. I don’t even tackle Maskarade’s Bank Holiday puzzles because I have rarely made much headway with them, but when he sets simpler cryptics they are a delight. This one was quick to solve for me, but thoroughly enjoyable.

23. Shirl @20 – that wouldn’t work, since isolated is an adjective and outlier is a noun. The definition is “isolated rock”. The anagram indicator is “from” – as in the solution comes from these letters (albeit indirectly!)

24. I was another with a topless lady Italian mussing the numbskull’s hair, maybe because I think of the men as Signore. I also wondered whether Emeli Sande could have been named after a resin – the songs definitely stick in your head. Thanks, both.

25. Time was, you saw Maskarade’s name at the top of a Bank Holiday puzzle and you took a deep breath and made a very large pot of very strong coffee. But you recognised that behind the gratuitous difficulty there was an immensely skilled setter.
    Today we have the immensely skilful setter without the gratuitous difficulty. And the result is, for my money, one of the most enjoyable puzzles for ages, demonstrating that you don’t need it to be tough for it to be fun.
    Even ELEMI, the one obscure word in the whole grid, is presented with three checked letters out of five and very clear wordplay. (I suppose, as others have observed, MEERKATS will be obscure if you aren’t familiar with the tedious adverts – hat tip to Gervase@4 for the “infernal suricates” line – and TURNSTONE if you have never gone birdwatching)
    I could almost put ticks against the majority of the clues; but special mention for PADDINGTON BEAR (an excellent anagram/&lit), NATURAL, PLAIN CLOTHES (another fine anagram/&lit), IGNORAMUS, ARTICHOKE (a delightful misdirection as it’s nothing to do with what ought to be the National Anthem) and CARPE DIEM.
    Thanks to Maskarade for a very enjoyable puzzle and to manehi for the blog.

26. BTW, LINGUINI – surely “it’s in Chambers” is exactly on point. This is a crossword puzzle in English. The English usage is LINGUINI.
    If BRUSSELS appeared in a crossword, you wouldn’t complain on the basis that the “correct” spelling was BRUSSEL or BRUXELLES, would you?

27. I enjoyed this. The name Maskarade usually inspires well, if not dread, at least a degree of apprehension anyway, but this wasn’t too difficult. I didn’t know the names of the MEERKATS, but was able to solve from the wordplay. PADDINGTON BEAR was my favourite.

    Apologies if someone has raised this above and I’ve missed it, but according to Wikipedia, TRAPPIST MONK(S) don’t take a vow of silence (ie ‘keep(s) Mum) but do speak when necessary. However “Speech that leads to unkind amusement or laughter is considered evil and is forbidden”. I think they’re more famous these days for making beer eg Westmalle Trappist Tripel; potent (9.5%!) but good.

    Thanks to Maskarade and manehi

28. Some nice cluing, the odd smile, but I’m left with a 45 minute hole in my schedule for today. Might have to look out the Bluth in the Independent from earlier this week…

29. NeilH @26: I’m not sure that’s right. A quick check of British supermarket offerings shows that their own brand little tongues are listed as ‘linguine’, and not just the imported Italian ones.

    Still, it’s in Chambers, so we just have to shrug and go back to munching our paninis.

30. Good Friday fun and not too difficult.
    Favourites were 1A, 7D and 19D. DNK 17A or 20A.
    Is ‘numskull’ just a typo or an alternative spelling I wasn’t aware of?

31. I am reminded of the time in an Italian railway station when I was faced with the conundrum of a choice between signore and signori (if that’s right, I still don’t know much Italian and it was, um, nearly 40 years ago)

32. A very enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked PADDINGTON BEAR and I’M ALL RIGHT JACK.

    On the linguine/linguini issue, like my similarly-named co-commenter @6 and 15 (I’m not lovable) I think I’ve only ever seen the former either in Italy or the UK. But it’s not just Chambers that has both versions, Collins does as well. And a site called WikiDiff has this helpful comment:

    As nouns the difference between linguine and linguini is that linguine is ribbons of pasta, cut from a sheet, not as wide as tagliatelle while linguini is ribbons of pasta, cut from a sheet, not as wide as tagliatelle.

    (I’m not sure if this is a joke.)

    Many thanks Maskarade and manehi.

33. Nice gentle challenge today, made easier by the generous clues for ELEMI and TURNSTONE. My favourites were PLAIN CLOTHES (spent many years in those) and the funny IM ALL RIGHT JACK.

    Ta M & M

34. I enjoyed this – not difficult and some clever clues. My favourites were the anagrams PADDINGTON BEAR, PLAIN CLOTHES and ARTICHOKE, along with TRAPPIST MONK.

    Thanks to Maskarade and manehi.

35. Highly entertaining crossword; I particularly liked PADDINGTON BEAR (&lit, I think), PLAIN CLOTHES and CARPE DIEM.

    A bit of a shame that ‘first of the’ really indicates a T. Re the OUTLIER clue at 18D, I was surprised to see that my Chambers’ Crossword Dictionary gives ‘from’ as an anagrind, although it’s not in the list at the front of the book, which I normally rely on.

    Thanks Maskarade and manehi.

36. Finished rather quickly for a Friday puzzle, but no complaints, except “What do I do for the rest of the morning?” Thanks M and M. (That sounds rather sweet).

37. magumboots @11. First of the girls for G, I don’t get. I don’t see why Maskarade went for this strange construction when ‘Girl with simply tailored tunic’ would have been both accurate and succinct.

    My only gripe would be that I had a 50% chance of getting ELEMI wrong, as I had never heard of that tree, and from other comments it looks like not many others have either. That aside, this was a pleasant diversion which, as someone else said, leaves me with a 45 minute gap in my day.

    Thanks to Maskarade and menehi.

38. As soon as I saw it was Maskarade I thought I wouldn’t have a chance, but helped by the two long anagrams (1a and 1d) and the Jack and Jill clue I got about half way through quite quickly – then slowed down. But I got there in the end although ELEMI was a guess – never heard of it.

    Really enjoyed it too – favourites the same as manehi plus EVENING

    Thanks Maskarade (first time I’ve attempted one of your puzzles) and manehi

39. NeilH@25 articulates substantially my own feelings about today’s offering from Maskerade. I didn’t spot the etymological precision in the clue for OVERSEE = [Gk] ‘epi’+’scop’ but it’s yet more evidence of the setter’s sparkle.
    Super!

40. (Thanks to essexboy@21 for the episcopal insight.)

41. Thanks to Maskarade for a very enjoyable Friday puzzle.
    Liked PADDINGTON BEAR, IGNORAMUS and ARTICHOKE all guaranteed to bring a smile to your face
    Thanks also to manehi for the blog.

42. I don’t comment much these days but hats off to Maskarade for one of my favourites for ages. It sure beats having to check the spelling of all the Valkyries. PADDINGTON BEAR an absolute treat.
    Just scurried to the kitchen to check my flattish pasta. Tesco and de Cecco both linguine. Not many puzzles can get you to do that.

43. A lovely day for classy anagrams especially the aforementioned 1a, 1d and choir trip.
    Thanks Maskarade & manehi

44. I’m surprised at the comments about ELEMI. It’s a bit of a chestnut, and appeared 3 times in daily G-I-FT puzzles in 2020.

45. Thanks to all for your comments. Great to be part of a polite informative on-line community. IMHO the comment of the day was… “Gervase@1 Suricate, that’s a good word I’ll remember for the next time. Of course they don’t talk with SA accents, they speak Africaans in their natural surroundings. However these Suricates were actually kidnapped at birth and raised amongst exiled Russian aristocracy.”

46. A lovely crossword with beautifully written clues. Over quite quickly.

    Thanks to Maskarade and a manehi.

    (This is a lovely programme about 10dns. They definitely talk: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tpzb)

47. Sorry manehi “a manehi” sounds rather rude.

48. Simon S @44: Indeed, and, outside a barred puzzle, a likely sign that the setter has painted themselves into a corner…

49. Simon S @44. I don’t know about chestnut, but ELEMI was in Tramp in October 2019, where another tree appeared in the wordplay. Other Guardian appearances were 2013 or earlier, according to the search of this site I did just now – can’t find it in 2020. I’ll certainly make a point of remembering it for next time, though!

50. A slightly strange solving experience this morning, coming as it did with a sense of deja vu. Quite a few solutions seem to have occurred in other puzzles in sufficiently recent times as to ring a bell. PADDINGTON, TRAPPIST, AGAIN, PEER (GROUP), ARTICHOKE, TURNSTONE… Statistically, not that surprising of course but it just made for an odd feeling. Didn’t detract from the pleasure of the challenge, though. As others have said, Maskerade doing a ‘normal’ puzzle is a joy. I’m afraid I’m one of those who tend to give the BH specials a pass.

    Thanks Maskerade and manehi

51. thanks to the Ms! excellent blog and puzzle. Like a couple of others, I decided our Italian was a signora and she wants to mus[s] some hair. But I tend to agree with the much better [s]ignor,amus[e]=tickle parsing.

    Russian meerkats were a step too far – I just assumed if I typed in the names in the search bar something would pop out.

52. Thanks to Maskarade amd manehi. I really liked the afore-mentioned by others 27a I’M ALL RIGHT JACK.

53. Thanks both,
    1a is my nomination for clue of the year. It’s such an elegant ‘and lit’.

54. This was a lot of fun, a lot of clues were if not exactly puns then, well, smile-generating anyway.

    I was a bit confused by the rock part of the OUTLIER clue, but I see now the word has a second sense. I just knew that anything isolated could be called that.

    As a US resident I did not know the MEERKAT reference, but from the clue it could only be that answer. Google then went and explained it to me so I could sleep soundly. So in conclusion, I would say the clue is fair enough for those abroad, but it might not pass the test of time even for UK residents.

55. [Ilan Caron @51 Agreed. The range of the meerkat doesn’t extend to the Russian plains. A steppe too far.]

56. Not seen a Maskarade puzzle before, so this was a serious DNF.
    Many of the clues I solved, I could not parse, so looking forward to some clarification.
    Thanks both.

57. NeilH @26: Yep totally! Think I said something similar in a follow-up comment, but would point out that Oxford at least (don’t have Chambers in front of me) suggests LINGUINE as the primary use in English too, and with foreign words I feel like the tendency should be towards matching. But, I realise this is a crossword not a text I’m editing; just flying the flag (that isn’t mine) for accurate representation of Italian food.

58. LovableJim: Chambers gives both, with the I-ending first. It explains that they are plurals of linguino and linguina, diminutives of lingua (tongue). Are there two diminutives: one male, one female?

59. Sh@58 An instance of inbuilt sexism in language is how much more common a Signorina is than a Signorino, but gendered pasta is new to me.

60. sh @58: Italian diminutives (and they’re very fond of them) generally follow the gender of the base noun. So ‘lingua’ gives linguina. (Not so augmentatives in ‘-one’ which are more often masculine irrespectively). Linguino has a different meaning (see my comment @18. I don’t know how this came about – will check in an Italian etymological dictionary when I get back to base.

61. SH @58 Interesting – as Chambers is the authority for these things I cede! (For now. I shall take this up with them…) I do think it’s misleading to say that it’s a plural of linguino – as Gervase notes, this has a different meaning. Although the plural of linguino would be linguini, I suspect in the context of using it in English it is just a corruption to make it match the normal pronunciation. We seem to find it hard to put the eh sound on the end so default it to rhyme with Martini.

    Certainly it’s long been a bugbear of Italians that we say and spell it this way, which suggests it doesn’t have a proper basis in the language! But you never know – regional variations for naming pasta shapes are not unheard of…

62. I liked this. I had not heard of the MEERKATS in question, didn’t know ELEMI, and hadn’t heard of the bird; I’M ALL RIGHT JACK isn’t a common idiom over here either. But the puzzle was clued fairly enough that I finished it anyway, which is a sign of careful construction.

    One of our two “mere cats” decided to assist with today’s solve, by the way. Not sure how much help he was.

63. Slightly tangentially to our pasta gender discussion I have tried hard to get my Italian friends to remember that ‘spaghetti’ in English is a singular uncountable noun. In Italian it is the masculine plural of ‘spaghetto’, the diminutive of the masculine ‘spago’ (string) and in Italy the spaghetti ARE done (al dente of course).

64. Loved this one. Paddington Bear especially so, and also Evening. Thanks S & B. It’s a rare treat for me to do a Maskarade that doesn’t involve me screenshotting the online puzzle (because they don’t work online), then scribbling over it in Photoshop (no working printer). Always enjoyable though.

65. Isn’t “bond” doing double duty in PADDINGTON BEAR?

    I’d never heard of Mo Farah, turnstones (interesting wikipedia article) or of course the Meerkat ad campaign. I have met ELEMI, but only on this site.

    Thanks for parsing IGNORAMUS, manehi.

    ARTICHOKE was my favorite, as with many others.

    Thanks to Maskarade and manehi for a pleasant morning.

66. I don’t care how much of a chestnut ELEMI is said to be: like numerous others here it was new to me. I suspect it’s one of those useful words that fits inconvenient crossers so it will go in the etui for future reference (and then I in my turn can complain about people who don’t know it).

    I don’t do Bank Holiday jigsaws, so I don’t often have to deal with Maskarade, but I really liked this one, particularly PADDINGTON BEAR (which I took to be an &lit), PLAIN CLOTHES, CARPE DIEM, GYMSLIP, ARTICHOKE, TRAPPIST MONK.

67. Valentine@65 it’s an &lit (and a particularly good one imo), so every word is doing double duty.

68. It was barely 12.30 a.m. when, unable to sleep, I gave in and did this crossword. At that stage, there were only two comments on the G’s own thread below the puzzle. The first was from ‘copmus’, who I assume is the same copmus who is sometimes seen loitering in these parts, and read simply ‘Oh dear!’. From this I inferred that s/he was less enchanted with this puzzle than most of the contributors on here seem to have been, and I had hopes that copmus would come on here during the day and expand on ‘Oh dear!’.

69. SC @ 68

    copmus is a he

70. Simon S @68. The ‘-us’ led me to suspect so, but Latin suffixes are not invariable signifiers in these degenerate times and I did not therefore want to presume – thus my use of the slash in ‘s/he’.

71. SC@70 A word ending in ‘us is not necessarily a second declension masculine Latin noun. Manus (“hand”) is a fourth declension noun and is feminine. “Mus” is a third declension noun meaning “mouse,” and its gender is given as “common.” Omnibus is a Latin word in which the -bus is not a masculine ending but a case marker (there isn’t a feminine omniba). Octopus is a Greek word in which -pus mean “foot.” Copmus is not a Latin word at all, as far as I can find, so its gender isn’t determined by Latin rules.

    Copmus, please enlighten us — where does your name come from?
    Rumpus is an English word with no Latin ancestry.

72. Thanks to s & b. An excellent puzzle – a magnum o-pus?

73. Oh, please,Valentine – I have a degree in Classical Languages as well as in English Literature. Don’t patronise me on Latin suffixes.

74. copmus’s name is a blend of part of his surname with part of his profession as a musician.

75. Thanks for the blog, 1AC was a very well crafted &Lit and 1D not far behind as a clue.
    ELEMI used to be very common along with cousins ICENI and LORELEI but not so frequent these days.
    [ Fiona Anne – crossword speak of the day is RANGE = AGA , this week we also had OVEN which is slightly less common ]

76. Valentine didn’t know about SC’s credentials (neither did I, although I’d guessed the Eng Lit part) and I’m sure did not intend to patronise. SC obviously wasn’t in need of enlightenment, but a post on this forum reaches a wider audience than the primary addressee, and I would be confident that many visitors to this site have found/will find her comment interesting and informative.

77. Sorry – I was more prickly than was called for., not for the first time in the later hours of the commenting day, I confess. Put it down to lack of sleep.

78. Isn’t the self-centred expression “I’m alright Jack” ?. Not ALL RIGHT. ?

79. GreginSyd @78 – alright is “an alternative, less acceptable, spelling of all right, much used in informal contexts,” says Chambers. The film with Peter Sellers, Ian Carmichael etc is I’m All Right Jack.

80. What a week this has been. Yesterday’s “normal” fare aside, an excellent set of puzzles that draw one into the game of solving. I could see that 1a was an anagram but so many letters for two possible words that I decided to try that rule of starting down at the bottom/right. The Jack and Jill jumped out and it really was a fun fill from bottom up. It wasn’t a perfect solve as the wader and resin needed a bit of google and checking, but I solve to my own standards currently and am very content.
    I hope SC and Valentine can bury the hatchet fast and find friendship in their love of the classics.
    Peace folks. I’ve seen the crossword wars. It’s not nice.

81. essexboy@76 Thank you for defending my post better than I could have. I didn’t mean to patronize or put SC down, just to play with various ways a word can end in -us. I thought I was being amusing (I can be wrong there, of course.)
    And SC@ 77, thank you too.

82. Thanks Simon S. The user name is in fact how our invoices used to start.
    The “oh dear” was a comment on how quickly this went in when the setter’s previous Wagnerian puzzle kept me enthralled for some time.
    I normally expect something more prickly on a Friday. This was very nicely clued but more suitable for a Monday.
    This week Brendan stole the show on Monday-my favourite of the week

83. Having got the crossers, I carelessly bunged in ‘seducer’ as the cocktail at 12ac. It’s a great name for a cocktail, but is, I see, a particularly ghastly combination of Irish cream, coffee and melon liqueur. Ugh.
    Of course, SIDECAR is a better-known drink, and fits the clue.

84. Valentine@81, I found your post very interesting and amusing, I always like to learn about languages which is my weakest area. As SC@77 says , we can sometimes be a bit ratty for other reasons, I am as guilty as anyone.
    Well done MrEssexboy @76 , you are a model of diplomacy.

85. Ditto Roz, although I did Latin at school I am far from a classicist, and found Valentine’s dissertation interesting and informative.

    Well said EB!

    Lastly having suffered insomnia myself in the past, I do hope you get a good night soon SC, it can be a terrible affliction.

86. A quick start on this SAturday morning. Looked up EMELI to start with, but hey-ho.

87. As someone who has to work hard at cryptic crosswords (it’s now 10pm on Saturday and I’ve just finished this crossword from Friday) I absolutely LOVED this one. What a great setter. Every clue made sense and was what I would call “fair”. Thank you!

88. This was unusually straightforward – more of a Monday – with the 4 long solutions on the edges leading to a quick solve for me. Only ELEMI was nee but easily derived.
    Thanks M and M

89. nee? ..should have been knee obvs ?

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