Guardian 28,562 / Philistine

99 comments on “Guardian 28,562 / Philistine”

1. Agree with your assessment of IATROGENIC. New to me but was also aware of iatros from O Level Greek and knew “iatrophobia”.

2. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you Philistine.

   My favourite, apart from the two brilliant down flankers (and wasn’t it fabulous how 8dn even built on 1dn?), was APOLOGIA for the use of as. Might be a typical Philsitine device it was still great.

   And WANTON was another lovely clue.

   And thanks for the blog, Eileen

3. Brilliant.

   Not too difficult with excellent clueing and several smiles and laughs along the way.

   Loved 1D/8D, 14A (I had to look it up) and cakehole and yobbos both made me laugh.

   Thanks Philistine and Eileen.

4. Outstanding even by Philistine’s remarkable standards. 1d, 5/21d and 8d especially fine. As a hospital veteran (inmate not doc) I knew about 14a. If forced at gunpoint to quibble would wonder about two yours in 14a. But pure gold. Tks Phil and Eileen.

5. A nearly complete for me as I had apologis, assuming it was a variant of apologia. Since I use reveal when I am certain of an answer I failed to correct my own mistake.

6. Agree with comments so far. This wasn’t particularly difficult but excellent fun all the way through. Loved the two long dn clues which were very clever and the use of as in 2dn. 14ac was last one in because I’d never heard of it but the construction finally dawned after much pencil chewing.
   Thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

7. Excellent puzzle with great constructions and surfaces. The two long solutions flew in, as the device was also familiar to me (as Eileen might recall 🙂 ).

   Standout clue was the fantastic &lit for IATROGENIC (and I enjoyed the less self-critical reference to Philistine’s profession in RATIONAL, as Eileen noted). HIBACHI, Bundt and the over-dressed burger at 5, 21 – a lot of culinary activity here. Plus colloquialisms. What’s not to like?

   Many thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

8. Thanks Philistine and Eileen
   Classy clueing. I was puzzled by BATHTUB as I thought the tempororary accommodation was B A(nd) B, so was missing a T.
   Could he have avoided YOUR in clue and solution at 19, perhaps? “Here ones panniers…”?
   I had to Google Bundt, but it made an amusing clue.
   I saw immediately the anagram fodder for 26, but I couldn’t make anything of it until near the end.
   I agree totally about the marvellous 14a. I hope Philistine hasn’t ever been the cause!

9. Not a very regular solver of late. Enjoyed this but needed the blog for several explanations. The ‘as’ = 2 x a device always gets me! I’m still having some trouble understanding 8d THE BACK OF BEYOND. I put it in simply as an equivalent expression for 1d. Failing to see how D = back of ‘beyond’ ties in with the clue.

   Many thanks to Philistine and to Eileen for the blog.

10. Another couple of ticks fom me, not least because I was able to complete without internet assist.

11. [Oh, I forgot to mention. A few weeks ago a friend stayed overnight on his way from the south to a cottage in Northumberland. I asked him where it was. He replied “go to the middle of nowhere, and then turn left”]

12. Perhaps you thought it was too obvious to spell it out Eileen, but the way I understood 8d is that “The 1” is sufficient to refer to 1d (as there is no 1a), leaving the “d” to mean the last letter of BEYOND. So the “d” is not doing the dreaded double duty!

    A lovely puzzle. Many thanks both.

13. Fun puzzle! IATROGENIC was totally new to me and I have no Greek, so unfortunately there was a bit of guess-and-check to get the final order of the uncrossed letters. I’m relatively new to all of this, so the As device in APOLOGIA threw me – I got the word but couldn’t work out where that AA came from! I’ll know for next time.

    1d and 8d were brilliant, and I really enjoyed the neatness of 9ac, 24ac and 4d.

    Thanks Eileen and Philistine!

14. Thanks Philistine and Eileen. Agreed on all points – possibly not one for the purists, and relatively gentle for Philistine, but all great fun and very satisfying. 8d and 14a the obvious standout clues. I didn’t know IATROGENIC but worked it out and then looked it up for confirmation… seeing the definition brought a big smile to my face. CAKEHOLE also raised a laugh.

    ravenrider @5 – I also wrote in APOLOGIS initially, though I wasn’t convinced it was a real word… and then the penny dropped. Groans all round.

15. As it happens, I knew the word IATROGENIC (fortunately, though it isn’t part of my everyday vocabulary and it took me a while to unravel the clue). The Greek ‘iatro’ element is more familiar at the end rather than the beginning of words, though disguised by the position of the stress: psychiatry (mind doctoring), podiatry (foot doctoring).

16. Thanks, Lord Jim @12 for explaining 8dn better than I did. 😉

17. Fun puzzle, a quick one to solve.

    Favourites: MIDDLE OF NOWHERE; APOLOGIA, WANTON; FROCK.

    New for me: CAKEHOLE and Bundt for 17d; HIBACHI portable cooking apparatus; HUMBER BRIDGE (easily solvable from the anagram).

    I failed 14ac. I had guessed at SAPROGENIC but could not parse it. It was a new word for me, as is IATROGENIC.

    Thanks, both.

18. Gervase @15 – I hadn’t made that link. Helpful, thanks!

19. Me neither, but it’s obvious now you mention it – thanks Gervase.

20. Lord Jim @12 that’s how I read 8D wordplay. Brilliant.

21. I agree this was a super puzzle, for all the reasons others have given. Top of my list of great clues was IATROGENIC, a wonderful &lit and a word I did know.

    Very well done, Philistine, and thanks to Eileen.

22. Adding to the chorus of approval, I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially 1 and 8dn and 14ac. And CAKEHOLE!

    BTW Eileen the ‘blur’ definition of 15dn is missing an underline. Thank you for excellent blog as always, and thanks to Philistine for a cracking crossword.

23. Blown away by 14A IATROGENIC, a word I knew but the whole clue, and coming from a surgeon, what wonderful humour.

24. I agree with all the praise for this. Has there been a change of policy on brand names? They seem to appear more often these days. (HIBACHI for example)

25. What a delight!
    I didn’t know Bundt and was too lazy to Google it; but there was much to enjoy here. Yes, the brilliant &lit for IATROGENIC (and that for HARMONY was pretty good too); the concisely inventive 1d and 8d, the latter building on the former, as yesyes@2 observes; a clever APOLOGIA. But really, I don’t think there’s a single weak clue in here. A brilliant piece of work.
    Thanks to Eileen for the blog and to Philistine for a masterly puzzle.

26. I wonder if Philistine deliberately clued APOLOGIA and IATROGENIC in the same puzzle. This crossie keeps on giving.

27. Thanks, Conrad @22 – corrected now.

    Petert @24 – according to Collins, HIBACHI isn’t a brand name: ‘a portable brazier for heating and cooking food (from Japanese, from hi fire + bachi bowl)’ – Chambers gives an almost identical definition. I’m not sure there was ever a policy – we’ve certainly seen a lot of them lately but I’ve no objection.

28. Really clever stuff. Enjoyable without being clever-clever, look-at-me sort of clever. Sure, the tricksy devices are there, like as = aa, but you don’t end the puzzle thinking you’ve been bashed over the head with obscurities. And this in a puzzle with IATROGENIC and HIBACHI! How does he do it?

29. Petert @ 24 – WIkipedia suggests hibachi is a generic name for small charcoal grills in the SU at least, and I’ve heard the term used generically here too (my parents had one for camping, many years ago, and it certainly wasn’t branded as we were skint!)

    Found this puzzle curious because it seemed hard to get a way in at first glance but then once one clue went in they just kept coming. I share everyone’s praise for 14a – a new word to me, but the surface was superb.

30. Yes, another great crossword.

    I forgot (again) the as = AA trick; no doubt Sil will choke on his porridge about this. I had no problem with IATROGENIC, which was one of my ticks along with ON YOUR BIKE and PARTYGOER. I’m not sure what the spanner was doing in the surface of HUMBER BRIDGE – it didn’t seem to have much connection to the burger preparation unless I’m missing something. As I’ve said before, I was told by a very experienced setter not to use double wordplay in clues (WANTON) – but I suppose the ‘rules’ are there to be broken.

    Petert @24; I’m not sure that HIBACHI is a brand name; are you thinking of Hitachi? Originally hailing from Japan, hibachi grills deliver high-quality barbecue in a preciously compact form. The term translates to “fire bowl”.

    Thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

31. Fairly easy but very good. I hadn’t fully parsed WANTON or B-OF-B, both of which I now think are excellent.
    I vaguely knew IATROGENIC as a class of disease but didn’t know/remember it meant “doctor-induced”, which makes this also a great clue.
    My tiny quibbles are that I’m not sure ROOST and “sit” are quite synonymous; and the initial-letter clues for HUMBER BRIDGE and HIBACHI were a bit long-winded. But still one of the best recent crosswords.
    Robi@30 – “spanner” is the definition, as pointed out by Eileen – the bridge spans the Humber.
    Thanks Philistine and Eileen.

32. Loved IATROGENIC and HARMONY. HIBACHI was new to me, but easily derived.
    The As fooled me (again).
    Thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

33. Most enjoyable. Had never heard of ‘Bundt’ but CAKEHOLE seemed to fit, likewise HIBACHI. I knew IATROGENIC but couldn’t bring the word to mind, though once I saw the anagram fodder it seemed to work itself out. A brilliant variety of devices but nothing impenetrable.

    Many thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

34. Ben+T @29 and Robi @30 – sorry, but please see my comment @27. 😉

35. Really enjoyed this from start to finish. Echoing others’ experiences, I learned a new word IATROGENIC (14a) and a new UK place name in 5d21d HUMBER BRIDGE. I was reminded of Jackson Browne, the Eagles and visiting the small town in 2019 when I solved 16a FLATBED.
    Well, I’m a standing on a corner
    In Winslow, Arizona
    And such a fine sight to see
    It’s a girl, my lord
    In a flatbed Ford
    Slowin’ down to take a look at me
    It’s all been said, so I just wanted to add my thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

36. Gem of a crossword – loved learning about IATROGENIC.

    I had no problem with ROOST = sit (inasmuch as birds can sit at all).

    Who was the politician who exhorted people to get on their bike and look for work? Was it Mr Tebbitt?

37. Best puzzle for ages and my favourite setter too! So clever. Didn’t get WANTON though. Thanks Philistine & Eileen.

38. Hi William @36 – yes, it was. See here

39. beaulieu @31; thanks, but I realised that spanner was the definition. My comment related to the surface of the clue – what does a spanner have to do with preparation of a burger?

    Eileen @34 – I was still typing when your @27 appeared.

40. Perhaps this is what Philistine had in mind …

41. Brilliant, but 14a gave a few alternatives to those of us not familiar with greek/medical matters, so internet use was essential to completing the anagram. Consequently, 99/100 from me!

42. Excellent crossword setting!

43. What with atrial fibrillation and IATROGENIC this had to be Philistine at his surgical best, taking some time away from his day job. Deft precision with all these delightful clues. And it’s been a long time since I told someone to shut their CAKEHOLE, but it made me smile to see it reappear here…

44. Found this quite tricky and needed a fair bit of help – though once I got an answer I was usually able to parse it (and wonder why I hadn’t got it without help).

    Got caught out by the two a’s again.

    Haven’t seen the device in 1d and 8d before.

    I have a lovely wooden HIBACHI which I brought back from Japan. It is quite large and rectangular made from a beautifully grained piece of wood and the cooking / charcoal insert is made of copper. It also has small drawers at one end to store implements.

    Thanks Philistine and Eileen

45. Many thanks, Robi @40 – brilliant!

46. This has to be today’s earworm…

47. Two new words, and one of them, HIBACHI, went straight in despite my ignorance.
    Loved the pairing of 1d & 8d
    … and a spanner with a FLATBED scanner!
    Thanks Philistine & Eileen

48. Hugely enjoyable & a great variety of devices. Many faves but 1d & 8d splendidly High Definitions. Many thanks Philistine & Eileen.

49. A very enjoyable puzzle from Philistine. Great to see the word IATROGENIC in the grid, I was a practicing Nurse when this term was popularise. Lots of table talk re parsing of the ‘two brilliant flankers’ Thx YesYes@2
    Thanks also to Eileen for her blog.

50. Robi @39 – I’m with you on 5/21 – the surface felt a bit laborious to me, and the spanner is so incongruous as to be a bit of a giveaway (especially as I last saw spanner=bridge only two days ago in the Indy). I can only imagine Philistine wanted us to imagine a burger so elaborate it required tools to assemble. It’s all good fun though, so I’m not complaining.

51. Eileen @ 38 – yes, sorry – we crossed as I was (nominally) at work and slyly typing slowly during a meeting!

52. Eileen@38 your link wanted me to agree to geolocation and “some processing of personal data” (or words to that effect) so I forbore.

    But thank you for as ever a delightful blog.

    I knew iatrogenic but couldn’t get it till I had some crossers and tried another from the anagram fodder (shame on me!). I used to write digests of medical and psychiatric articles and proably learned the word then.

    Loved the two side ones. Thanks Philistine too.

53. I’m joining in all the praise for this. Fairly gentle solve but with plenty of originality along the way.

    APOLOGIA was my favourite, with PARTYGOER and ON YOUR BIKE close behind.

    Thanks to Philistine and Eileen

54. The best moment for me was definitely as=a-a. Had no problem with IATROGENIC, but was momentarily puzzled by the topological part of Bundt until I reread the “found in” in the clue. Great clue, great puzzle.

55. My favourite setter on top form and my favourite blogger on top form, what more can I ask for! It has mostly been said so I will settle down for my siesta before going off to choir practice. The obvious great clues have all been noted but can I put in a shout for STUB as the clue of the day.
    Thanks all and abrazos!

56. Hi Valentine @52 – oh dear, I’m very sorry about that!
    I’ve been looking for an alternative but all the many references are very out of date – that one (2017) was one of the most recent. The best I can do is the Wikipedia article – look under ‘1979 government’.

57. Thanks Eileen as I didn’t spot the “as” and that brought a big groan and smile, also Gervase@15 for that GK – when solving I had to google to make sure I had the right permutation but the meaning was hiding in almost-plain sight all along – always good to get aha moments from the blog as well as the crossword!
    Robi@30 as far as that surface is concerned I thought the spanner added a little comedy value – you can get pretty much anything on a burger these days so why not chuck a spanner on there with all the other fancy ingredients? (I still can’t forgive the Australians for putting beetroot on theirs!)
    Enjoyed everything as mentioned above especially another Britpop surface and for such a great word, thanks Philistine.

58. Sorry – I forgot the link!

59. Thanks Philistine — excellent crossword but I expected it would be. I saw IATROGENIC very quickly after decades of hospital work but I didn’t know CAKEHOLE for mouth, being more familiar with piehole. Loved 1d but didn’t understand 8d until I read the blog. Favourites included HARMONY, IMPROMPTU, and YOBBOS, all with wonderful surfaces. Thanks Eileen for your helpful blog.

60. Thanks to Philistine and Eileen (the “two pieces of wordplay” for WANTON had me confused).

    Great fun as has been said. I have fallen foul of a “woke” friend (no offence intended (although it will doubtless be taken)) for referring to somewhere as the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (apparently it is home to some or many). My analysis that “therefore nowhere is the middle of nowhere” was dismissed out of hand (there was a hand gesture involved).

    Tilt today was IATROGENIC – how, as an occasional hypochondriac (never better as you ask), did I miss that all my life? It led me to various definitions one of which reminded me of the hoary old joke about someone waking up after an operation to receive good and bad news: the bad news is that the wrong leg has been amputated; the good news is that the other leg is getting better.

61. 14a was such a lovely clue: I could see how it worked, and what the result had to mean – but I just didn’t know the word. Had to Google Bundt too, and didn’t spot the WAN half of the WANTON wordplay.

    Funnily enough while I was solving MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, my initial thought was BACK OF BEYOND – no, doesn’t fit the enumeration – would be fun to clue that as “D” …. aha, that’s how 1d works, it’s the middle of nowHere… now, what about 8d… BOOM.

    Lots of other favourites: IMPROMPTU, BATHTUB, FLATBED, RATIONAL, CAKEHOLE.

62. Thanks for the blog. I think The Mamas and the Papas can speak for me today.

63. Roz, I can clearly recall The Mamas and the Papas singing about Monday (‘can’t trust that day’), but I cannot call to mind their view of Tuesdays (unless it is covered implicitly in ‘every other day of the week is fine’).

64. Alphalpha @60 – you were right to be confused by 7d as it does not have a valid construction. There is no separator for the two pieces of wordplay to indicate alternatives, so it clues WANTONWANTON. Also surprised that no-one has queried where the THE has gone for MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in 1d, leaving an incomplete phrase.
    Would also quibble with the claim that 14a IATROGENIC is an &lit, as an originating effect would be primary and not ultimate.
    Nothing to detract from the excellence of the puzzle, but as these are the sort of thing that would result in certain setters being skewered, they ought to be mentioned here.

65. Well, I started with ON YOUR BIKE, YOBBOS, HUMBER BRIDGE and CAKEHOLE and wondered when the fun might stop. It never did.
    I got 8d quite early on, but I was not far from finishing when I realised what 1d must be. (I’m one that was not put out by the omission of THE).
    This was indeed a classy puzzle with inventive and clear clueing.
    Many thanks to Philistine and Eileen.

66. Van Winkle @64: “There is no separator for the two pieces of wordplay to indicate alternatives, so it clues WANTONWANTON.” This was exactly the objection raised by monkey (@98) when, on August 31st, Brendan similarly did a double-wordplay clue for MORAG (or MORAGMORAG, as monkey asserted). I’m afraid I really do not see the problem, but I am disgracefully libertarian in such matters. I enjoyed both of these two-clues-in-one. I was reminded of some of those 10CC songs where you felt you were being given two songs in one, as if Godley and Creme had so many that they had to double-team them to get them all into the public domain.

67. VW @64. “…an originating effect would be primary and not ultimate”. I see what you mean, but I think you are being too literal: I think ‘ultimately’ needs to be read as “when we come down to it”, or “at the end of the day”, in the cryptic part of the clue. Yes, it means “at the end of” when referring to the last letter of medic, but it reads differently in the cryptic version, and I don’t see how you can legitimately see it as other than an &lit.

68. Spooner’s catflap @66. [Glad you were writing about one of VW’s complaints while I was writing about the other!] Couldn’t agree more. If we can have a single definition (usually cryptic, but often barely so) and a double and a triple (have we had a quadruple? – I think we may have), why can’t we have double (or triple) wordplay? Alphalpha @ 60 was confused but didn’t say the clue was impossible to solve; I was momentarily nonplussed, but – Hey! – isn’t that why we do crossword puzzles? I was *puzzled* by the double wordplay, but when the penny dropped I was happy/pleased.

69. Was away looking up dictionaries (don’t want to start a quibble about thesauri/thesauruses) to reply to Van Winkle@64 about ‘ultimately’,
    In the meantime sheffield hatter has got to the heart of the matter @ 67.

    I also respectfully disagree VW about a missing THE in 1 down. The clue doesn’t have an article before ‘remote location’. Not needed in the answer.

70. Spooner’s catflap, sheffield hatter and paddymelon – thank you all: you’ve saved me a lot of bother. 😉

71. Eileen Ben+t and Robi. Pardon my misconception of HIBACHI. It just sounds so much like a made-up word. It’s nice to know that it’s real Japanese.

72. Excellent. Just pitched at about my level. Not done a Philistine before, so great fun. 1d and 8d were very clever, as was 9a.
    Many thanks both.

73. I remember seeing 8d many years ago clued as “Dnoyeb?”.

74. Lyssian@73: My favourite clue for many years was: Toment (8). But these would not pass a Ximenean
    x-amination.

75. It may be a coincidence but I noticed that DOC and all of the letters in Philistine’s real surname and most of his first name are in lines 1 and 3.
    Not strictly a nina but DOC just stood out and I saw the rest.
    I started out thinking that APOLOGIA and IATROGENIC may be deliberate choices and was looking for a hidden message.
    Some of the other answers also look like a ‘conversation’ with unknown persons. CHEERIO, ON YOUR BIKE, (shut your) CAKEHOLE. and the contrasting WANTON, and RATIONAL in the same vertical line.
    Tempted to anagram all of the letters in all of the odd lines, but I may be suffering lockdown fever.
    Very grateful to this good doctor who provides such a wonderful distraction.

76. SH@68, I seem to recall a clue from many years ago (at least 10 probably nearer 15) with 5 parts, I can’t remember the setter or the exact clue but it was predicated on anagrams of coins, such as icons, sonic etc.

    There may have been a charade element too but I’m afraid I really can’t recall any more than that.

    Anyone else able to help?

77. [I meant all of his first name and most of his surname. Lockdown insomnia.]

78. Blah @ 76 Orlando 30/8/2012

79. Was going to give up as a non-starter but yobbos jumped out and the rest followed. Couldn’t parse the remote locations.

    Thanks both.

80. Well done Roz @78! How did you manage to find that? If it helps anyone else who wants to look it up, it’s 25,728. (And 13d in the same puzzle caught my eye – brilliant!)

81. Thank you Lord Jim , I could claim it was my prodigious memory or my famous IT skills but was actually my crossword diary.

82. Thanks Roz, pen and paper beats technology once again! Also thanks LJ for the number it did made it easier to find.

    So going through it there’s a charade, an anagram, another charade with insertion, a hidden answer, and the definition. Did I miss anything?

    I also saw some names that definitely qualify as old hands now 🙂

83. [HoofItYouDonkey @72: If you enjoyed Philistine be sure to keep an eye out for his FT alter-ego Goliath. Those crosswords are definitely worthwhile.]

84. I remember noting down in my own little book of classic clues many years ago these two :
    A remote site H ? (The middle of nowhere)
    A remote site D ? (The back of beyond)
    I didn’t make a note of which setter it was….maybe a younger Philistine ?

85. What an excellent crossword ! Not difficult, but so many delights revealed themselves in the solving. I completed the whole thing while listening to “Hail To The Thief” through headphones – perhaps I should use Radiohead as my muse more often. So many favourites – MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, ON YOUR BIKE, IATROGENIC, CAKEHOLE to mention just a few. Topped off by the genius of “fibrillation” as an anagrind ! Julie@35, so good to see another fan of the amazing Jackson Browne on here too ! We here have a local version of your quoted vers (with profuse apologies to JB) :-

    Well I’m standing on a corner in Winslow Buckinghamshire
    It’s such a fine sight to see
    Mr Blobby’s daughter
    In a clapped-out Corsa
    Slowing down to give the finger to me

    On that note, thanks to Eileen and to Philistine, and goodnight !

86. Tony Santucci @83 thanks, will do

87. Old Man @84

    I have found this Philistine puzzle blog, where I made pretty much the same comment on those two clues as I did this morning. They were widely praised today, as they were then – which goes to show that it’s well worth recycling good clues from time to time, for the sake of newer solvers.

88. Thanks for the link, Eileen @ 87

    Looking at the comment(er)s it’s interesting to see some who are still around, and some once-regular names which have disappeared.

89. Completion nicely fitted into my blood donation session this p.m. so not too hard. Could derive new words but missed subtlety of 1d and the “as” as just put the obvious answers in.
    Thanks Paul and Eileen

90. Brilliant puzzle! My first one in was HUMBER BRIDGE – needless to say I had to consult Uncle Google for confirmation since I’d never heard of Humber on this side of the pond. And I had to wait for Eileen’s explanations to parse 19 ac and 8 dn. Seems like “on your bike” is a British expression? I’ve never heard this before…
    Thanks, Philistine and Eileen.

91. You are welcome Blah @82 , fortunately it was the only the second year I looked at and I only really record things of interest.

    For this one , the issue with recycled clues is that some of us remember them all and two long words down each side make it far too easy, so we have Monday, Monday playing in our heads all the way through on a Tuesday. Very few will read this and I have tried not to spoil the fun of the blog.

92. Points @64 not disproven. Spooner’s catflap @66 – Brendan inserted a very clear separator between his two bits of wordplay on 31 August to show they were alternatives, so this is not a comparable example. sheffield hatter @67 – literalism is usually this site’s primary interest. paddymelon@69 – the quibble was that the solution is not a complete phrase without its THE; not that the cryptic content excused its omission. And my overarching point still stands … that some setters get an unjustifiably rough ride on this site.

93. Van Winkle @92 (ref:#64). “…these are the sort of thing that would result in certain setters being skewered“. No doubt you are right that “some setters get an unjustifiably rough ride on this site.” It doesn’t follow that the points you raised @64 have not been disproven. And giving Philistine an unjustifiably rough ride does not even things out, in my view.

94. Not sure how legitimate complaints about use of double word play without an indicator that that is what it is and inclusion of incomplete phrases as solutions would constitute a “rough ride”. They do have yet to be disproven rather than respectfully disagreed with. I was thinking more of the exaggerration of minor faults as evidence of overall badness that the Monday setters seem to attract.

95. I’m working through different Guardian crosswords. I typically stick to doing just Picaroon but I’m looking at other options as Picaroon’s aren’t published that often. Is Philistine considered an easy crossword? This was pretty much a pen-in for me.

96. Rats @95
    In case you look in again. Philistine is generally regarded as one of the Guardian’s harder compilers. This one was considerably easier than usual.
    Try Nutmeg or, if she ever appears again, Arachne.

97. Hi Rats @95 – I agree with muffin

    Did you know that Picaroon also sets for the Independent (as Rodriguez) and the FT (as Buccaneer – see today’s blog) so, luckily, he does appear quite often?

98. Really good puzzle; looks like I was alone in not getting the parsing of WANTON, though the answer itself was clear enough.

99. Thanks for the replies. I’ll check out the other crosswords

Comments are closed.