Guardian Cryptic 28,579 by Pan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28579.

A tale of two halves: I started at the top, and found that I needed to keep my wits about me, particularly in the NE; then the bottom half posed no trouble.

ACROSS
1 DISTANCE
It’s prepared during social event in space (8)
An envelope (‘during’) of IST, an anagram (‘prepared”) of ‘its’ in DANCE (‘social event’).
5 IMPART
Setter’s role is to communicate (6)
A charade of I’M (‘setter’s’) plus PART (‘role’).
9 ANTELOPE
Ruminant and insect run away to get married (8)
Not the structure I expected on first reading. A charade of ANT (‘insect’) plus ELOPE (‘run away to get married’).
10 PRINCE
Royal runs off, allegedly (6)
Sounds something like (‘allegedly’) PRINTS (‘runs off’).
11 OFFERING
Sacrifice bad English jewellery (8)
A charade of OFF (‘bad’) plus E (‘English’) plus RING (‘jewellery’).
12 ENTRAP
Spouse detailed to return with catch (6)
PARTNE[r] (‘spouse’) minus its last letter (‘de-tailed’) and reversed (‘to return’).
14 CATHEDRALS
Assorted charts lead to places of worship (10)
An anagram (‘assorted’ – or perhaps ‘as sorted’) of ‘charts lead’.
18 FALSE TEETH
Butcher left these with a set of choppers (5,5)
An anagram (‘butcher’) of ‘left these’ plus ‘a’.
22 EXCISE
Cut out tax (6)
Double definition.
23 PLAY DOWN
Make light of not working after performance (4,4)
A charade of PLAY (‘performance’) plus DOWN (‘not working’).
24 DEACON
Clergyman keeping company with another (6)
An envelope (‘keeping’) of CO (‘company’) in DEAN (‘clergyman’).
25 DISASTER
New star dies in accident (8)
An anagram (‘new’) of ‘star dies’.
26 REEKED
Leftie eating endless leeks smelt awful (6)
An envelope (‘eating’) of ‘[r]eek[s]’ ‘[l]eek[s] minus both ends (‘endless’) in RED (‘leftie’).
27 HEATHROW
Passion leading to hot dispute in airport (8)
A charade of HEAT (‘passion’) plus H (‘hot’) plus ROW (‘dispute’).
DOWN
1 DRAGON
Monster depriving old horseman of oxygen (6)
DRAGO[o]N (‘old horseman’) minus one O (‘depriving … of oxygen’).
2 SET OFF
Leave the outskirts of Seville with upper-class twit (3,3)
A charade of SE (‘the outskirts of SevillE‘) plus TOFF (‘upper-class twit’).
3 ALLURE
Everyone at university about to appeal (6)
A charade of ALL (‘everyone’) plus U (‘university’) plus RE (‘about’).
4 COPENHAGEN
Capital trick involving hen being changed into paper leaf (10)
A double envelope (‘involving’ and ‘into’) of ENH, an anagram (‘being changed’) of ‘hen’ in PAGE (‘paper leaf’) in CON (‘trick’)
6 MARINADE
Prepared to go round a bottom­less piece of ice that’s steep (8)
An envelope (‘to go round’) of ‘a’ plus RIN[k] (‘piece of ice’) minus its last letter (‘bottomless’ in a down light) in MADE (‘prepared’). Quite devious, with not the first ‘piece of ice’ that comes to mind, and the definition ‘steep’ as a verb.
7 ABNORMAL
Newborn adopted by holy man rejected as strange (8)
An envelope (‘adopted by’) of BNOR, an anagram (‘new’-) of -‘born’ in AMAL, a reversal (‘rejected”) of LAMA (the one-l kind, ‘holy man”).
8 TRESPASS
Unlawful occupation of locked resort? (8)
An implied envelope of SPA (‘resort’) in TRESS (‘locked’) Would the wordplay have been better with the answer TRESPASSES?
13 CHATELAINE
Mistress in a chateau having friendly talk with girl (10)
A charade of CHAT (‘friendly talk’) plus ELAINE (‘girl’).
15 OFFENDER
Culprit placed old farthing on part of fireplace (8)
A charade of O (‘old’) plus F (‘farthing’) plus FENDER (‘part of fireplace’).
16 BLOCKADE
Instructed to include seal to prevent entry (8)
An envelope (‘to include’) of LOCK (‘seal’) in BADE (‘instructed’).
17 GEMSTONE
Gnome set out to find precious rock (8)
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘gnome set’.
19 TYRANT
Despot‘s extremely tetchy outburst (6)
A charade of TY (‘extremely TetchY‘) plus RANT (‘outburst’).
20 PORTER
One may carry drink (6)
Double definition.
21 ANDREW
Article represented a patron saint (6)
A charade of AN (indefinite ‘article’) plus DREW (‘represented’), for the ‘patron saint’ of Scotland.

picture of the completed grid

93 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,579 by Pan”

  1. Enjoyable, quick solve. Solved NW corner last.

    I lIked: DEACON, ENTRAP.

    I could not parse 10ac. Defeated by a homophone!

    Thanks, both.

  3. After struggling with Buccaneer in the Saturday FT and Tees in the Sunday Indy, Pan provided a much needed Monday romp. Despite its relative ease I found it to be a top-notch crossword with smooth, readable surfaces. I thought ENTRAP and ABNORMAL were superb. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
    [Ilan Caron @2: You might have found a theme. DISASTER could be part of it.]

  4. An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to PeterO for the parsing of marinade, which I could not see, but which was my favourite once explained.
    Thanks to P & P.

  5. Like Tony Santucci @3, I too have struggled recently, so I welcomend a quick easy Monday morning solve. Thanks Pan and PeterO

  6. Unlike Michelle, I found the top half of this really hard, and it wasn’t for me a quick solve.

    Thanks PeterO for the explanation of COPENHAGEN: I was trying to fit an anagram of CAPITAL HEN for ages, until I realised my error.

    Thanks Pan, too, for a challenge this week.

  7. Thanks for explaining RIN(K) in MARINADE. I could only think of RIN(G), but was unhappy with a ring being a piece of ice, even if it was a diamond ring.

  8. Always nice to see a Pan on a Monday as it suggests there might be the odd trick up the sleeve (though themes are reasonably unusual for a Monday, I think? Hard not wonder at Ilan Caron’s spot @2)

    I was delighted with ABNORMAL and the device employed and agree with Tony Santucci and michelle that ENTRAP deserves a mention too. And, like PeterO, I was impressed by MARINADE (and I fall for the steep/soak trick every time it comes up!)

    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  9. Thanks Pan and PeterO!

    I recall there was a discussion a couple of months ago as to whether PRINTS is a homophone of PRINCE.

    ‘sounds something like’ is an interesting way to parse…

  10. I had a similar experience to PeterO bottom almost full, top sparse and the NE corner held out until MARINADE and ABNORMAL (two delightfully misleading clues) dropped. Also a fan of ENTRAP.

    LOI was PRINCE it fitted but took a while to parse, and I’m not keen on allegedly as a homophone indicator.

    Good start to the week,with a few harder but not impossible ones to spice it up.

    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  11. Looking at the anagram for disaster reminded me that “disaster” means “evil star”, stemming from the belief that the heavens presaged events, both good and bad.

  12. Thanks Pan and Peter O.

    I agree with the concerns exressed about 10ac. ‘Allegedly’ does not strike me as a reasonable indicator of a homophone, and the more I think about it, the less convinced I am.

  13. Nice surfaces. I found the NW corner a bit impenetrable to start with, so started in the south and quickly worked my way up. Thanks to Pan and PeterO.

  14. A game of two halves with the bottom going in really quickly but the top proving more challenging especially the NE. Ilan Caron @2 has definitely spotted something. 10ac 21dn unlikely to be seen at 27ac too soon.! Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  16. Ian @ 15
    Good point!
    Now I see that Chambers has MARINADE as both noun and verb, but I think that the verb is more commonly MARINATE

  19. Thanks Pan and PeterO

    I think ‘allegedly’ as cue for a homophone can just about be justified if it’s seen as a synonym for ‘it’s said’. Stretchy, though.

  20. I’m glad I’m not the only one to have been a little troubled by 10a – both is PRINCE really a homophone of PRINTS? and is ‘allegedly’ really a homophone indicator?
    Ilan Caron @2 has set a mildly enjoyable hare running – not just PRINCE ANDREW OFFENDER but DISTANCE, ENTRAP, PLAY DOWN, DISASTER, REEKED, ALLURE, ABNORMAL, TRESPASS, BLOCKADED… Though presumably “Air Miles Andy” wouldn’t fly out of anywhere as hoi-polloid as HEATHROW.
    Thanks both.

  21. Thanks Pan and PeterO
    I concur with the general opinion that the NE was much harder than the rest. ABNORMAL was (eventually!) my favourite.

  24. NeilH. Now you’ve pointed it out, I can’t unsee it. CHATELAINE also with royal associations… I’m only here because I forgot about “de-tailed” again and “lock”=hair again.

  25. A jolly Monday morning romp. Thanks Pan and thanks, PeterO for explaining the parsing of MARINADE.

    Like a few others, the prince/prints jarrred with me and, like Dave @6, I spent way too long trying to force an anagram of CAPITAL HEN meaning that was LOI.

    There is, I think, a minor typo in the parsing above – it’s the leeks that are endless rather than leeks.

  28. @Petert 🙂
    Given the setter’s role to communicate, the NE does impart an image of the 10ac in a bit of a pickle, locked up between traps.
    Thanks Pan & PeterO

  29. Good start to the week, and thanks to Ilan Caron @2 for pointing out the theme.

    One of the Chambers synonyms of allegedly is reportedly, so I guess it sort of works as a homophone indicator with a hint of doubtful. I was another to find the NE the last to yield. I liked ENTRAP and MARINADE.

    Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  31. I also found the bottom half went in quickly – then I slowed down and the NE took a while.

    My favourite was REEKED – I think it is a lovely word. Also liked ANTELOPE, CHATELAINE, OFFENDER

    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  33. I filled in the NE first so it could not have been that tricky. Very enjoyable if fairly easy start to the week. Favourite was PRINCE ‘cos I love a dodgy homophone! Theme? What theme? No really is there a theme?
    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  34. Like many, slowed down a little by the NE, but very enjoyable overall.

    Struggling to see (or rather hear) why anyone has a problem with the PRINTS / PRINCE homophone – they sound exactly the same to me!

  37. As Rafish @30 points out, somewhat obliquely, PRINCE as a homophone for ‘prints’ is as old as the hills. And I don’t understand the problem some seem to have with ‘allegedly’ as a homophone indicator either.

    Thanks to Pan and to PeterO, and to Ilan Caron for pointing out the themelet.

  39. Thanks Pan and PeterO. I thought this was superb – pitched just right for a Monday morning, with lots of clever but easily digestible wordplay and lovely smooth surfaces throughout. Too many good ones to pick a favourite. I’ve not looked at the Quiptic yet for comparison, but this would have made an almost perfect Quiptic in my view.

    In all the discussion about the dodginess of the homophone, people are overlooking how neat “runs off” is as a misleading/cryptic definition. I thought that was a fine clue.

  40. Same experience for me as others. All straightforward fun but detained in the NE.

    MARINADE was my COTD. PRINCE just doesn’t work for me.

    Contrary to my usual Monday grumpiness, I actually needed this today.

    Thanks to Pan and PeterO

  41. I had no issue with the homophone itself (to me they sound almost identical) just the indicator, but SimonS@19 and Robi@29 have persuaded me to change my mind.

    I think you’re right Widdersbel@39, if one ignores any quibble with the homophone and/or indicator it’s a very neat clue.

    Very well done! Petert@22

  42. Shot myself in the foot twice – must have been in a quite unnecessary Monday rush – putting IMPART into 10ac, and dashing in SET Out instead of OFF. So not quite a romp for me, but an enjoyable solve nonetheless, with the same not too serious reservations about a silent/missing “t” when trying out the homophone of PRINCE…

  43. TOFF does not mean upper-class twit. It means someone upper-class. You might think everyone upper-class is a twit but that doesn’t make the definition any more correct.

  44. Rafish@30 – and it was precisely that memory of repeated visits to Boots that made me smile at 10ac and forgive the “not quite a homophone”.

    But, is PRINTS a homophone of the German PRINZ? And dont most people pronounce PRINTS and PRINCE like PRINZ? Not sure if I have ebver heard the “T” in PRINTS made so emphatic as to make an audible difference, but do please correct me if there is a region in the English speaking world where this occurs.

    Lovely Monday morning crossword, some clues very Monday-ish but a few more toothsome. Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  47. Couldn’t see the dodgy homophone of a rather tenuous definition in PRINCE.
    I must be missing something as nobody else has complained, but since when has TRESS=locked? Lock, certainly.

    I had the “piece of ice” as RINK rather than RING.

  48. Thanks both,
    Not only does OED have marinade as a verb, it has steep as a noun. Works either way.

    Rafish @30: That came to my mind too, but somehow ‘prints’ as a noun is a better homonym for ‘prince’ than ‘prints’ as a verb, for me. The ‘ts’ seems more prominent in the verb form.

  49. gladys @ 47: as the SPA is ‘wearing’ the TRESS, it could be said to be LOCKED. Cf a rasta wearing dreadlocks who is ergo dreadlocked.

  51. Alastair @46: I have to say all 4 of those rhyme for me (I’m from NE England but have lived in Wales for 15 years so definitely not RP!)

  52. Thanks for the blog, my least favourite grid of all and it still turned out to be the best bit of the whole puzzle.

  53. gladys @47 – I sometimes think sticking a question mark on dodgy wordplay is a bit like using your hazard lights when parking on double yellow lines – it doesn’t make it acceptable, and you are effectively admitting that you know it’s wrong. I don’t mind it here though. The clue is breaking the rules in a playful way. I liked it.

  54. gladys @ 47: I took “locked resort” as a resort being protected by a lock. So, swap lock for tress and put spa inside it.

    I really enjoyed this. Ta S & B

  55. Bingy @43 – probably strictly correct, but TOFF is certainly derogatory so really not too much of a stretch … and fits better with the theme

  57. Deep Thought @45

    Many thanks for your link to the article on ‘epenthesis’, which referred me to this paragraph on the ‘Prince-prints merger’, which in turn led me to this fascinating blog post by John Wells, sometimes of this parish.

    He points out that the ‘epenthetic plosive’ (the ‘t’ sound) never gets inserted when the ‘n’ and the ‘s’ sounds belong to different syllables, eg in inside/uncertain/consider.

    This prompts a reflection by one contributor (‘mallamb’, 4 posts from the bottom) that his pronunciation of PRINCE may vary according to the word that follows. Prince Charles always sounds like ‘prints’, but Prince Andrew may be realised as ‘prin sandrew’. The Princess Royal may not get a ‘t’ inserted, but Princeton certainly does.

  58. Re: toff
    Mchael Quinion’s article here https://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-tuf2.htm suggests the word derived from ‘tuft’ – slang for a titled undergraduate at Oxbridge. As many of these seemed to be more interested in socialising than their studies, they would fit very well into the stereotype of ‘upper class twit of the year’ invented by Monty Python.

  61. Penfold @25
    Now collected.
    Simon S @49
    Your example of dreadlockS would seem to echo my question in the blog (which I might have expresses less obliquely), that ‘locked’ might better indicate the plural IN TRESSES.

  64. essexboy@57, and I have thought, though not necessarily vey deeply.

    For me. “Prince Andrew” and “Prince Charles” are both Prints ( with a “t” – “print sandrew, prints charles”)

    “Princess Anne” is Prinssess (no t) – but this fits with the idea that the “T” is never inserted between two distinct syllables. And similarly, “Princeton” has only one “T” – it is not “PRINTSTON” 🙂

  65. Typical Monday fare, but very enjoyable clues. I always like it when we have complete sentences that make stand-alone sense!
    One minor nit to pick – the “to” in 3 d. seems a tad misleading. Wouldn’t “about” or “is about” have been better than “about to” perhaps?
    Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  68. JiP@65 I don’t wish to be rude but I’m not sure you can have it both ways the ‘about to appeal’ at the end makes the while clue a nicely misleading surface that makes sense as a standalone sentence. I tried substituting your suggestions and the whole clue sounded somewhat stilted to me.

    Peter Storch@66 I’m afraid not- look at the comment from Michelle@16 answering Ian@15

  70. DeepThought @64 – interesting. I do put a T in ‘princess’, and in ‘answer’, but never in ‘consider’. And Princeton for me is PRINTSTON. I think I’m right in saying that we have at least one regular contributor here (mrpenney?) who is a Princeton graduate, and PeterO and Valentine don’t live that far away (at least from this distance!). I wonder how they say it?

  71. Like others the NE corner fell last. Thanks for the explanation of MARINADE, nicely misleading clue. I suppose a RINK is a ‘piece of ice’.
    I took a punt at ALLEGED as a homophone indicator. I have spent the last 5 minutes saying PRINTS/PRINCE, still can’t make up my mind.
    7d was very clever.
    Funny to have all the complex clues boxed off in one small quadrant.
    Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  72. Both PeterO and I , both East Coasters, live closer to Prints-ton than mrpenney, who’s a good thousand miles and more away in Chicago. (That may all look the same from your side the pond.) I for one say Princeton without the inserted T.

    But I find myself also thinking of numbers. I think I say eight-teen and ninet-teen, unlike my cousins down under who often say eigh-teen and four-teen, which sounds overly abrupt to me.

    And thank you Pan and PeterO for a pleasant breakfast distraction.

  73. [Thanks Valentine @72. For me 13, 14, 18 are /θɜːtiːn/, /fɔːti&#720n/, and /eɪtiːn/. Sorry for the abruption!]

  75. Re PRINCE/PRINTS . I pronounce them differently. It’s not the influence of the written text on perception of pronunciation which often triggers debates about homophones. I was about to explain, from my uni days, way back when, studying acoustic and auditory phonetics, but then I thought someone must have done a study on that. … shoreenuff ….

    https://pages.ucsd.edu/~colavin/epenthesis_comps_1.pdf

    In short, the differences or similarities between PRINCE/PRINTS, MINCE/MINTS etc are demonstrable using spectograms, vary between dialects, and are affected by whether the words are spoken in isolation or embedded in a sentence.

    Gotta establish some cred on this site with all the physicists and mathematicians we seem to have. That’s another story. An interesting study on the occupations of crack cryptic solvers was posted on 15sq a couple of years ago.

    Then we’ve got Roz who’s a polymath and taught me something both about stars and Arabic!

  76. I’m usually on the pedants’ side with homophones, but I confess that I would have to try verry very hard to pronounce PRINCE and PRINTS differently.

  77. [Valentine and essexboy@72-74. I’m from downunder and my pronunciation of the ‘teen’ numbers is as per essexboy’s phonetic transcription.
    That’s interesting Valentine that the Australian pronunciation sounds ‘abrupt’ to you. No offence taken of course. Genuinely interested.
    I once used a method for teaching English as a second language to a mixed class of adult migrants here which used those kinds of perceptions from non native speakers to help learners approximate the target language. Australians often sounded ‘lazy’ to them. We took it one step further and used biofeedback, encouraging them to relax, and other techniques borrowed from teaching oral language to the deaf.]

  78. [Thanks muffin@76. Where are you from,? Just interested. Can you feel it in your mouth, without looking at the text, even if you can’t hear it?]

  79. Of course that is the theme as there is no SWEAT in any of the answers.
    Thanks to Pan and PeterO for the entertainment.

  80. [paddymelon @78
    Born and brought up in North Devon, live in East Lancashire – so obviously my accent is rhotic! If I tried really hard I could just about voice the T in PRINTS, but almost always I wouldn’t.]

  81. [ muffin@80. I’m no expert in your accent. For me it’s about where the tongue is, and a slight interruption between the /n/ and the /s/, and a few other things. But that’s a small quibble in comparison to the frequent exclusion of rhotic speakers in cryptic crossword homophones. Sympathies! ]

  83. [Lovely stuff, pdm @75 – all 44 pages of it! (I think I could have predicted one sentence in the conclusion: “Future research […] will need to determine whether…” 😉 )

    Like you I found it interesting that Valentine thought the Aussie/UK pronunciation of the ‘teen’ numbers sounds abrupt. To me, the US ‘double t’ in the middle of those words sounds a bit staccato and ‘uptight’ – I’m sure that’s pure prejudice on my part!]

  84. [essexboy @83
    I was very puzzled by Valentine’s comment – only eight teen has the double T. Fourteen, for example, is surely four-teen?

  85. [muffin @84 – the dictionaries (at least some of them) give divergent US and UK pronunciations for thirteen, fourteen, eighteen, with the American variant ‘doubling’ the length of the /t/ sound. It’s not that obtrusive – it just sounds like a more definite ‘break’ in the middle – but clearly Valentine notices the lack of it when it isn’t there. My guess is that perception may be heightened when there is no ‘r’ sound in 13 and 14– in which case she may well be less discombobulated by your rendition than by mine or paddymelon’s!]

  86. [essexboy@83. Yeah, it was a good read, eh? I searched on spectogram and prince/prints. The regional variations were an interesting find considering the discussion here. Gotta laugh at myself though. I meant to say studies in acoustic and articulatory phonetics. An inarticulate linguist, me. ]

  87. [pdm – nice to have a sizeable dollop of linguistics/phonetics in the discussion today. (Sorry to anybody who was bored stiff!) No doubt tomorrow the physicists/chemists will be back to restore some balance.]

  88. I have no wish to sound at all nationalistic – I am anything but, and in any case, I live half a world away – HOWEVER, it must be recognised that The G is a British based newspapers and its crosswords, therefore, are also British based. Those of us who live far away are aware of that and accept that the spelling may differ from our own. I would argue that the same rule should apply to the sounds that are referenced. There is a standard accent, amongst a myriad of others, in modern British English: RP or Received Pronunciation. Like it or loathe it, it exists and is the established norm. It matters not a jot that you don’t speak like that, nor your teenage son, nor your ancient granny, nor your uncle on Tristan da Cunha. To insist that a homophonic clue must hold good for every single variety of spoken English means that not one of them will ever be legitimate. I find these phonetic arguments interesting, but only because I happen to be fascinated by accents. I really don’t think they should be used as yet another casus belli or a reason to have a bit of a whinge.

  89. [Not whingeing Girt By Sea @88. I’m with you. I totally accept that it’s a British crossword and RP is the go. Actually I think Antipodeans are lucky because there’s an extra challenge and fun. I think today’s comments were meant to be playful, from people who are also fascinated by accents.
    There’s the equivalent of RP in many languages. In Ozland, we have so few regional variations, despite Sydney to Perth being as far as Moscow is from London (from my unreliable memory).
    My experience in Germany when I had a car accident was an unexpected turn. I was a ‘speaker’ of Hochdeutsch but the neurologist, who was the one to authorise my discharge, assessed my brain function by interviewing me in in Schwabisch! Luckily I’d spent a bit of time there. I also found it fascinating both in Germany and in the UK, where you can travel only a few miles yet encounter a different dialect, even a different language. ]

  90. Given all the discussion about PRINCE – that was LOI as I originally had ORALLY – (ROYAL R)* with definition “allegedly”. Then had problems with the crossers and needed TRESPASS.

    Doh – writing it down it wasn’t an anagram!

  91. Not to mention – @2 IlanCaron and @20 NeilH – the clues in the clues: monster, upper-class twit, appeal [legal] and mistress. Allegedly. Great crossword, thank you Pan (and PeterO)

  92. Blah @68: Yeah, I tend to agree with you.
    Just seems like there should be a better surface – I kept thinking of “allure” = “to appeal” and it doesn’t seem quite right…

  93. JiP, It’s the old argument about surface vs fairness and potentially wordplay-redundant linking words to make a surface read like a sentence. Personally I enjoy surfaces (especially if a little risqué or rude), so am willing to accept a little looseness in them from time to time. Others hate it, horses for courses.

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