Guardian 28,640 – Boatman

by

A tricky puzzle from Boatman today, though maybe not reaching the level of one self-describing answer.

There’s an obvious theme of punctuation marks, found in many of the clues and some of the answers. Thanks to Boatman.

 
Across
7 SUBSIST To survive on regular contrib­utions, it’s problematic (7)
SUBS (subscriptions, regular contrib­utions) + ITS*
8 DIPTERA Flies in the face of danger, one party’s leader: that’s final, period (7)
First letter of Danger + 1 + P[arty] + last letter of thaT + ERA
9 FLEE Sound of insect or fly (4)
Homophone of “flea”
10 LAYING OUT Harvest disease leads to making one unconscious (6,3)
LAY IN (to harvest) + GOUT
12 BRIBE The corrupt accept this: to live, cut by ridicule (5)
RIB (to ridicule) in BE (live)
13 UNIVERSE Everything under the sun I ever recollected (8)
(SUN I EVER)* – I suppose the definition could be “Everything under the sun”, but then “sun” is doing double duty. As I’ve parsed it, “under the” is redundant (maybe justifiable as linking words)
15 BACKSLASH Mark a clue that does this for golf (9)
A clue for golf might be that it BACKS LASH, i.e. reverses “flog”
17 CHOU Greens on cycling: ‘That hurts!’ (4)
A cycling of OUCH – chou is French for cabbage
18 ADORABLE Boatman involved in terrible ordeal, but winning (8)
AB (sailor, boatman) in ORDEAL*
20 RILKE German poet translating King Lear, removing an entry for Goneril (5)
Anagram of KING LEAR less AN and G[oneril]. Rilke was born in Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary, but he wrote in German
21 DIACRITIC Some say terrible judge gives mark for changing letters (9)
Homophone of “dire” + CRITIC
22 NASH American poet‘s name with no apostrophe S, hyphenated originally (4)
First letters of No Apostrophe S Hyphenated – the poet is (I presume) Ogden Nash
24 HAMMOCK You might sling one inverted comma in covers of hardback (7)
Reverse of COMMA in H[ardbac]K
25 VERSION Very corrupt senior type (7)
V + SENIOR*
Down
1 FULL STOP Chubby seal. (4,4)
FULL (chubby) + STOP (to seal), with the definition cunningly concealed as an actual full stop, which would not normally be used at the end of a clue
2 ASTERISK Star in hurry loses hour by chance (8)
HASTE less H + RISK
3 ISOLDE Heroine, tragic victim of hubris? Old enough to see through this (6)
Hidden in hubrIS OLD Enough
4 FIENDISH Might this describe Boatman: finished with work? (8)
FINISHED*
5 STROKE It might be oblique note to follow Mark, perhaps: ringing endorsement (6)
OK (endorsement) in ST (Saint, e.g. Mark) + RE (note, as in do-re-mi)
6 ERST Substitute neither first nor last at first (4)
I guess this is undERSTudy less the outer letters, though calling them “first and last” is a bit of a stretch. I know ERST as a word for “once, formerly”, but Chambers says it can also mean “at first”. It’s basically a superlative of “ere”, so “before-est”. See comments: the intended parsing is probably ERSATZ less A and D. Quite a coincidence that my version (sort of ) works, though
11 YOU NAME IT There’s no end to early morning link-up — whatever you want! (3,4,2)
YOUN[g] (early) + AM + reverse of TIE
12 BOARD Catch drivers’ panel ignoring punctuation (5)
DASHBOARD less DASH (punctuation mark) – as in boarding an enemy ship, perhaps?
14 SCORE Mark is cross, twice (5)
A cross twice could be XX = 20 = score
16 SUBTRACT Find difference at the bottom of writing (8)
SUB (under, at the bottom of) TRACT (writing)
17 COLONISE Mark is England’s first to settle (8)
COLON (mark) + IS + E[ngland]
19 REALMS States ‘authentic’ writing (6)
REAL + MS (manuscript)
20 RACKET Row of crop marks (6)
A “cropping” of BRACKETS (punctuation marks)
21 DEAF Impervious to argument about half of deaths, full stop! (4)
Not sure about this – half of DEAths + F[ull]? See comments: the F is “full’s top”. Why “about half” though?

91 comments on “Guardian 28,640 – Boatman”

  1. Boatman beat me with CHOU. This hurt! I felt it was a little unfair. The definition ‘Greens’ with no reference to the fact that this is a word from French? Surely there should have been some indication.

    I also failed with ERST and now I see the parsing I share Andrew’s reservations.

    I got DEAF from the definition but I still don’t see the parsing.

    Nevertheless, many thanks Boatman and Andrew

  3. Thanks Andrew – was also unsure about ERST. Perhaps ERSATZ minus A and Z, first and last of the alphabet?

    I think for DEA-F the F is “full stop”->’full’s top’.

  4. I got there eventually, but like you, unhappy with ERST, and I thought 21was weak. It felt a little too contrived in places. Thanks for clear explanations, Happy New Year!

  5. I agree with Jason @2 that ERST is ERSATZ (‘Substitute’) without the first and last letters, A and Z.

    I like the punctuation marks as clues and enjoyed this. Not quite as hard as I expected it was going to be, though I can’t help with DEAF either. CHOU was my unconfident last one in.

    Thanks to Andrew and Boatman

  7. ERST I think comes from ERSATZ (a substitute) minus A and Z (first and last letters).
    I had to smile at FULL STOP as I was only thinking this week about how to clue a punctuation mark. This sort of clue I’ve found a fair bit in David Astle on Fridays in the SMH/Age.

  9. Very tough puzzle. I was not on the setter’s wavelength today.

    New DIPTERA.

    I did not parse 10ac, 15/16ac, 20ac, 6d, 14d, 21d. Also 4d why is Boatman fiendish? I still don’t understand this one.

    Thanks, both.

  12. I saw the punctuation and the keys, and had enough French and German, although I think they should have been ‘marked’.
    Whenever I see ‘substitute’ in a cryptic I go for ersatz, first and last 🙂
    Quibbles/queries:
    DIACRITIC (liked the homophone although others won’t) changes the sound, not the ‘letters’.
    (B)RACKET(S). I would usually think that cropping is chopping off at the end, but I suppose with computer applications you can reduce anything in any direction.

  16. Agree roughtrade@14. Board a ship ( or a train). Not necessarily enemy. Good pickup, given your moniker. 🙂

  19. I feel like I’ve done a few rounds in the ring after this one. Toughest for a while and was DEAFeated by DEAF and wERSTed by ERST. A nice theme, though (at one point, I wondered if there was a double theme with NASH and RILKE).

    It does remind me of a riddle of sorts from my childhood – and the days of coal fires:
    If the BMT put: if the B. which translated as If the grate be empty, put coal on. If the grate be full, stop.

    Thanks Boatman and Andrew

  20. Fiddly stuff this, especially the Lego-like DIPTERA and STROKE. I liked FIENDISH, RACKET and HAMMOCK.
    Failed to parse BACK SLASH (clever) or BOARD: derived DEAF as Andrew did, and eventually spotted the full’s top – these Playtex clues are getting sneakier and sneakier. Of the two foreign interlopers, I found CHOU but didn’t get ERST at all – obviously the middle of something, but finding UNDERSTUDY was beyond me, and I didn’t see the ERSATZ one at all. I’m sure they will both be In Chambers and therefore criticism is forbidden, but some indication of a non-English solution would have been nice.

    Re 9a: according to Ogden NASH,
    Adam
    Had ’em.

  22. Thanks Boatman and Andrew
    A DNF (no ERST) and several unparsed. I was quite pleased to see FULL STOP early on, but when I read the clue for 21d, I thought it must be wrong. Some other examples of words appearing in both clues and solutions too.
    No idea what “under the” contributes to 13a, but “sun” can’t be doing double duty as nearly all the universe isn’t “under the sun”!
    I did like HAMMOCK and FIENDISH.

  23. Thanks Andrew for plenty of parsing elements eg that pesky F (and unsurprisingly I have no idea why “about” half either), I think this was definitely at the FIENDISH end of the scale but am delighted to have got there despite needing some thesaurus and dictionary help on the way – and a neat German symmetry in that RILKE was my first (but no idea why I have heard of him and luckily didn’t realise he wasn’t really German at all) and ERST my last (I have only ever seen ERSTwhile used in English though). Muffin@22 I totally missed that confusion in 13A, well spotted, my only grumbles were minor: SUB for “at the bottom of”, and the duplication of YOU in clue and solution of 11D which spoilt a very good clue a little. Top Marks for RILKE and for a satisfying challenge, thanks Boatman.

  24. I usually steer clear of Boatman’s but glad I persevered this time and got it all out minus a few. In 18a, why is adorable winning? And in 10a why is harvest “lay in”?

  25. Several parsing failures here and I failed completely on ERST.

    ‘Full stop’ for full’s top is clever – not a simple lift-and-separate because it requires transfer of a letter from one word to another.

    Congratulations to Boatman for using the ‘some say’ formulation to avoid complaints from rhotacists (NB paddymelon @12).

    Thanks to S&B

  26. I definitely didn’t dash this one off. I came to a full stop more than once and needed every device under the sun to finally fill the grid. Nice to be reminded of RILKE.

  27. I’m not sure there’s any setter that could describe themselves as fiendish in a puzzle without looking silly. At that point I’d already been put off by several clues whose English doesn’t quite work: eg. in ‘Row of crop marks’ for RACKET, presumably ‘of’ means ‘made from’, in which case it should be ‘cropped marks’, not an instruction. For BACKSLASH ‘.. a clue that does this for golf’ points to the clue itself, whereas ‘backs lash’ describes the action of the clue. LAYING OUT is transitive, but defined by a phrase already containing an object. How does ‘to see through this’ work for ISOLDE, when the connection between ‘heroine, tragic victim’ and ‘to see through’ is broken by the intervening words? Plus a few baffling devices, such as that for ERST and DEAF. Not my cup of tea.

  29. [ …I think my favourite comment on the punctuation article was from BaronOchs:
    “I’m giving up drinking for a month.
    With punctuation it’s more like how I feel:
    I’m giving up. Drinking for a month.” ]

  30. TimC @11
    no, I was not joking @9

    4d – Does Boatman mean that he made a fiendish puzzle? It seems a bit weird to me. Is it a joke?

  31. Commenters above have enumerated the iffinesses which tainted the enjoyment I gained from this puzzle. I found the tortuous clues to be quite biffable: OUCH, BACKSLASH and DEAF were all easily guessed from the definition (and theme).

  32. Thanks for the blog and all the others this year, just brilliant, Boatman at his very best, so many clever clues and so original.
    The full stop in 23D is Gossard then Playtex which is pretty rare.
    I wish we could have Boatman more often.

  34. Quite enjoyed this one, maybe just because it was a rare occasion that even I could see the theme! ERST is new for me – I got neither the answer nor the parsing, though now I see the connection with ‘erstwhile’. Didn’t know CHOU was a vegetable, only a pastry, so it took me a while to put it in even though I thought it was a possibility from the wordplay. Having read the definition now, I think I’d rather have the éclair version.

    Thanks Boatman and Andrew!

  35. Geoff Down Under@24 – nothing to do with the Ashes – think eg of a winning/adorable smile on the face of a cherubic infant requesting more ice cream.
    I think “Lay in” means to gather up and store, ie to harvest – someone with good dictionary access may confirm. It’s not a common usage in my world.

  37. I got done by the brilliant misdirection of 8.
    I’m trying to think of the geezer in Proust who was naff at golf-didnt he say “je suis dans les choux” Octave I thinkl
    One of the best Boatie’s for a while. I loved LAY IN GOUT-Back Slash
    and leading with the chin in 1/23 inviting us to write ROLY POL:Y or BULL FROG
    But only in pencil as the crossers and the general theme took over
    Also liked (DASH)BOARD
    Thanks Captain-and Andrew

  39. 6d Substitute neither first nor last at first (4)

    I think you are all making this one too difficult.
    I saw it as, effectively,
    Substitute “any two words” nor last at first (4)
    So drop “neith” and “fir” from neither and first and you get erst?????

    I had to read it several times to see that interpretation but hindsight after guessing the answer was essential to me. I admit “nor last” is a bit obscure in my solution? But it puts us off the scent when present with “neither” which maybe makes it a funny clue?

  40. I took the definition in 21d as “impervious to the argument about”, thus getting rid of the otherwise redundant “about”.
    If the “full stop” lift-separate-glue-back-together device becomes common I might need a new brain.
    FULL = CHUBBY is a stretch to far for me. And I agree with others that CHOU wasn’t fair. As was calling RILKE a German poet; defining NASH as “English poet” would have been rightly complained about.

  41. [ Gazzh@35 how dare you type more slowly than me ?
    MrPostMark@36 – My cups runneth over, a puzzle that just kept on giving. ]

  42. Well done Andrew, lots of clever clues explained brilliantly.

    I am amused with your solution

    8 DIPTERA Flies in the face of danger, one party’s leader: that’s final, period (7)
    First letter of Danger + 1 + P[arty] + last letter of thaT + ERA

    I got it with a guess/check and thought “period” was the literal clue, and a Diptera must be a “full stop” or “period” , ressembling my misspelling of diphthong (dipthong) which was my starting point :0)

    My ignorance of the diptera and diphthong words did not help.
    Thanks to you and Boatman for a quality puzzle and solve.

  43. Apologies to Roz @32, but I thought this far from Boatman’s best – I normally love his puzzles but this was disappointing. I’d started a comment earlier but abandoned it as too curmudgeonly after I think six or so ‘objective’ or ‘technical’ grumbles (ie not simply thinking a clue clunky, but actually ‘incorrect’) But despite the quibbles, still an enjoyable challenge and some great clues too, just a shame there were so many ‘iffy’ ones. Thanks Boatman and Andrew.

  44. I don’t mind being beaten/misdirected by clever clues, but if that happens, I like the eventual parsings, when revealed, to be in some way satisfying. I did manage to finish this puzzle, admittedly doing letter reveals occasionally, but I didn’t understand several of the answers, and even after reading the explanations here, felt underwhelmed. (CHOU, BACKSLASH and ERST are examples of this.) But thank you anyway, Boatman. There were some enjoyable, clever clues among the foggy ones!

  45. Thanks, Andrew and all. To those who enjoyed today’s outing – glad you did! and to those who were less keen – I can reveal that the next will be a lot more straightforward. Some themes lead naturally to simple clues, and others seem to demand something more tortuous. When that happens, I don’t fight the puzzle too hard, as part of the fun of setting is the discovery of each puzzle’s essence.

    yesyes @1 and others – With hindsight, “French greens …” would have been kinder, though I suspect that that would have tipped the clue from being very hard to being rather easy.

    Jason @2 and others – Yes, it’s ERSATZ-A&Z – like most constructions that involve subtraction, this one felt much more obvious in the setting than it did in the solving.

    Manehi @3 (followed by others) – You win this week’s special commendation for being the first to spot the outrage in 21 Dn. I always watch carefully for reactions of either extreme to lift-&-separate clues, and this one seems to have been more contentious than most (there were three in my last outing, and no-one commented on any of them) – as Gervase @25 says, you not only have to insert a word break but also to recombine the parts (and insert punctuation!) and that makes it a lot more difficult to spot.

    Roughtrade @14 and others – Yes, I was thinking of catching a train or bus, but Andrew’s guess is quite convincing too. Curiously, neither is a perfect synonym (you board a ship in order to catch the enemy and you catch a train by boarding it) and I did wonder for a while whether the clue was entirely fair because of that.

    Blaise @28 – Thank you for that link – I do like a good coincidence, and this isn’t the first time that one of my puzzles has a day after a relevant event in the real world.

  46. Thank you Boatman@45 , some of us would prefer puzzles like this or even harder. We get far too many straightforward puzzles in the Guardian these days.

  47. Roz @46 – Heh heh … Well, I like a mixture, but I’m very glad that there’s still a good contingent of those who enjoy the extra challenge (and have time for it, to be fair to those who would if they did)!

  49. Boardman living up to his name @4dn. An engaging but difficult solve with several clues unparsed. Spotted the punctuation theme early on which was helpful. Thanks to Boardman for the workout and Andrew for parsing the ones I couldn’t.

  50. [On CHOU, I always wondered what mental picture Francophones had when reading the name of the former Chinese head of state Chou-en-lai!]

  51. BACKS LASH is a clue that “does this for golf” What does it do for golf?

    Roz@32 I get the Playtex, but what’s with Gossard?

    Boatman — thanks for the puzzle, I got most of it without aids. Andrew, thanks for help with the rest of it.

  52. I loved this puzzle. The obvious theme helped immensely. The construction overall and the numerous misdirections made this top quality for me.

    Certainly not FIENDISH by any means, but that clue and answer works well for me.

    As for the double-duty of sun in 13a, I also am completely on Boatman’s side. I’m the context of the clue it obviously works, whether single or double duty.

    ERST was my LOI, and I agree the minus A and Z parsing works best.

    Very enjoyable, thanks Boatman – your comments are welcome and no need to be too defensive; some folk want a challenge – and thanks to Andrew for the blog

  54. Valentine @ 51 Playtex from the 70s lift and separate, Gossard Wonderbra from the 90s did the opposite.
    For “full stop” we need to push the words together – fullstop – this is Gossard , then we separate fulls top – this is Playtex.
    Lash= flog for backs lash.

  55. [Enjoyed the rapertee from Roz @32 PostMark @36 and Roz@41 Fifteensquared is definitely the blog that just keep giving :)]

  57. [Football Fan @56: very witty – three times over, assuming the apostrophe is part of the joke. A Freudian post if it was’nt 😉 ]

  58. PostMark @53 Hi – If you mean yesterday’s Guardian – then No. Learnt about the article from blaise @28 after posting my comment. 🙂

  61. Thanks both,
    [Why is a Woderbra like a sheepdog? Because it rounds things up and points them in the right direction.]

  62. [Sorry I did not mean YOU were correcting, I meant the name Boatman had been corrected by that thing that people complain about ]

  63. [Tyngewick @61: if I may be excused a tad of coarseness, also because, if you lose control of it, you’re in danger of appearing a right tit!

    I’ve posted far too much today so shall stop now but, thinking of dogs out of control, will sign off with a link to the famous Fenton clip which, if anyone hasn’t seen it before, is worth a glance.]

  65. Kept coming back to this, trying to chip away at it bit by agonising bit. One of my poorest DNF for some considerable time. At one point I was lining up a selection of German poets with 5 letters in length for 20ac. Still needed this blog to explain RILKE. My least enjoyable and least satisfactory solve for some considerable time. Period…

  66. Got there in the end, but only after Miss Crossbar supplied the initial momentum. On reflection, it was rather enjoyable, despite my dislike of themed crosswords as a rule. Are we going to have a theme EVERY day this week?

    My favourite is ERST, now I’ve seen the ersatz parsing. Thanks all. Clever. I think ersatz is one of those foreign words which is now used often enough in English to not require an indicator. Not so sure about CHOU though.

    DIPTERA took us far too long, despite knowing the word. I always find these letter by letter solutions a bit laborious.

    Thanks Boatman for the fun, and Andrew for the blog.

  67. Despite thoroughly enjoying clues like BRIBE, NASH, YOU NAME IT, and BOARD I found much of this to be a slog. I failed with DIPTERA, CHOU, ISOLDE, ERST, and FIENDISH though I may have solved the latter if I hadn’t thrown in the towel when my patience ran out. Thanks Andrew for doing a tough job today and to Boatman for the crossword and visiting the blog.

  68. Boatman @45, you gave me a right old struggle, but with a little assistance and without complete understanding (until 225 enlightened me), I completed the puzzle, to my considerable satisfaction. I liked 4, when the penny finally dropped with only two more clues to go!

  70. Belated thanks to Boatman for joining in, and for an entertaining and imaginative puzzle.

    Interesting to read how others found this. Apart from 6d, which escaped me completely, I managed to fill the grid fairly quickly. I can see how those who like to solve each clue independently would find this puzzle harder than average. But my approach is to solve clues from the crossers and identification of the definition. The construction usually helps, and my mental process is to find a synthesis of all the indications, but sometimes it is ‘find the solution first, parse later’. And if I occasionally fail to parse a clue or two – tant pis.

  71. Thanks Boatman and Andrew. Most(ly) enjoyable. Failed to parse BACKSLASH and ERST – kicking myself for not seeing ERSATZ, which is one of my favourite words, but I was too busy looking for something like ‘understudy’ (though I didn’t find that either). On the other hand, I did spot what was going on with ‘full’s top’ so not too shabby.

  72. Well I enjoyed this, even if 6d took forever to drop and I couldn’t parse 21d (but get it now). Thanks Boatman and Andrew.

  73. Great! Like Roz and some others I like a really tough puzzle and this definitely was one. Couldn’t parse a couple and wasn’t sure about ERST, but very satisfying to just about get there in the end. Favourites were DIACRITIC, FIENDISH and ADORABLE. Thanks to Boatman for the puzzle and for dropping in, and to Andrew.

  74. I always like a Boatman, and no exception here. Didn’t get 4d, 12d, 14d and 21d without external help though. Shouldn’t we expect all the Betwixtmas cryptics to be more challenging?

    Thanks to setter and blogger …

  75. ArkLark @52 – I agree Boatman doesn’t need to be too defensive, but he’s wise to gauge his audience’s opinions – there’s a balance to be struck between giving people a challenge and putting them off (note a few comments of the “I normally avoid Boatman…” kind).

    Personally, I always enjoy Boatman and agree with Roz that we don’t see enough of him – seeing his name this morning was a splendid birthday treat for me!

    Gervase @70 – very much my own approach, and I won’t hear a word against it – after all, clues are not meant to stand in isolation, the whole point of crosswords being that the solutions are meshed together. I’m quite happy to get the solution first from the definition and/or checking letters, then reverse engineer the wordplay for confirmation. And if sometimes I can’t unravel the wordplay… well, that’s what fifteensquared is for. And very grateful I am to our esteemed bloggers, who are all much more capable solvers than me.

  78. Perhaps someone has pointed this out already, but surely the definition part of 21d is ‘impervious to argument about’, which clears up Andrew’s reservation. Thanks to Andrew and Boatman.

  79. I’d be delighted to be proved wrong but if anyone can provide an example of erst used in the sense of “at first” in the 20th or 21st century (and not in the form of a borrowing from German) I will eat my bobble hat. A clue too teutonic for me!

  80. Well that was a tortuous slog. Some dropped out quite pleasantly whilst others like ERST and co proved too clever by three quarters and needed all the aids I could muster.
    So I’ll be in the ‘Skip Boatman’ camp for a while I suspect.
    I find Brendan far smoother, but agree there should be puzzles for all abilities so more a comment on my limitations than the setter’s artistry.
    Thanks to Boatman and Andrew.

  82. Good call Morpheus@79. Having just checked the golden source of what is allowed, Chambers, Erstwhile is mentioned, Erst is most emphatically not. Also underlined here as a spelling mistake.
    I’ve seen some arch obscurities defended in this manner, “It’s in Chambers therefore I cede my right to whine”. Does not being in Chambers (as the exact word, not part of another) count as a yellow/red card offence?

  83. Taffy @82 my Chambers is from 1993 so a little old, but does give ERST – at first, formerly – as the main entry, and then erstwhile as a supplementary. This is fine for .me and it was a brilliant clue.
    Please do not skip Boatman, it is fine not to finish , I used to learn far more by failing on Bunthorne than finishing a Rufus.
    As for “smooth surfaces ” since no one will read this I am safe to say I find this an insult to a setter rather than a compliment. The setter is our enemy and should try to defeat us.

  85. I like Boatman, not least from having attended one of his classes (which I recommend ). It took me ages to get on his wavelength this time, only seeing RACKET in the small hours. And, amusingly, I saw it in a different way to Andrew – the victim of a scam, or racket, is frequently referred to as a “mark”; a successful racket is going to involve harvesting the “crop” from as many “marks” as possible. Yes, I concede Andrew’s parsing is less deviously contrived, but this is Boatman…
    3 down felt a bit “padded”, though I suppose it isn’t really; 11 down was unfortunate because it had “you” both in clue and answer.
    I started out feeling that ERST was a bit naughty – shouldn’t we have an indication that it’s the German for “first”, bla, bla – but then of course there is the Chambers definition of it as “at first”, and I realised that Boatman was actually being very precise in his cluing.
    As he was in 1, 23 where it took me ages to notice the full stop lurking there significantly.
    Other especial upvotes DIPTERA, LAYING OUT, DIACRITIC (as I have suggested elsewhere, rather as with Spoonerisms, the more outrageous a homophone, often the better), ASTERISK, FIENDISH (come on, michelle @30, he obviously clued that one with a twinkle in his eye), STROKE, BEARD.
    And as I’m even later into the fray than you are, Roz @83, I say in friendship that you are twice wrong and once right. Wrong in that I have read your comment; wrong in that you go too far, IMHO, in saying that the setter is our enemy and should try to defeat us – s/he should try to make us work jolly hard for the solution, which is different; but you are absolutely right in saying that Boatman, like Bunthorne of fond memory, is one of the setters it’s really worth getting to grips with. I have a happy memory of spending a Bank Holiday weekend chez in-laws (who only did the Telegraph crosser, something I’ve always seen as being for those who find the Guardian too difficult) about 45 years ago, wrestling with a Bunthorne. The sense of triumph when I completed a Bunthorne puzzle for the first time was really worth working for.
    Grateful thanks to Boatman (even though he probably won’t now see this) and to Andrew.

  87. Well, I enjoyed this even though it was hard work. Strike that, insert “because it was hard work”. Thanks to Boatman for the challenge and for dropping in.

    I had ROCKET at 20d – could be a row with your boss, it’s a crop and it could be (but isn’t!) a slang term for an exclamation mark; obviously the correct answer is better (pace James @27).

    Special prize for NeilH @85 for longest ever link from this website.

    Red card for Gervase @70 for not indicating that “tant pis” is French. 🙂

    And finally, applause for Football Fan @56 for the innovative use of an apostrophe to indicate sarcasm.

    …nearly forgot: thanks Andrew for the blog.

  89. Roz@83 and Simon S@84.
    Maybe I’ve been using the wrong Chambers all along in that case! Mine is the Crossword Dictionary 4th Edition 2015. Evidently from the same school as the 1 Hour Dry Cleaners who tell you to come back in a week.
    Roz@83 I’m sorry if my frustration at labouring for over 4 hours to get to the end sounded like an attack on the setter, I did say the fault lay with me rather than the artist. I will persevere. Thank you for the encouragement as always, very much appreciated.

  90. Roz @83 – I’m not entirely sure I’ve understood your comment, but surely smooth surfaces are one of the ways a setter can deceive us: the more plausible the surface reading, the harder it is to detect where the wordplay is happening. All the better if the join between wordplay and definition can be seamlessly disguised (as here in 8a: “Flies in the face of danger…”). So to suggest it’s an insult to the setter to say their surfaces are smooth strikes me as a little odd… But maybe I’ve misunderstood your comment?

    Boatman @77 – thank you! And hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see your next one.

  91. Well I am late to this because I spent two days on it! Ultimately too difficult for me (I only got half way) but satisfying to get some nevertheless. Some answers, now I see them, seem so obvious. Others I never would have got. ERST and some others are a step too far for me.

    I am glad some Guardian puzzles are easier because I don’t have time for these! Thank you to Boatman for the headache…

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