Guardian Cryptic 28,650 by Anto

80 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,650 by Anto”

1. Yes some tricky bits. I threw MASTICATE in but expected a similar word as I didn’t equate to crunch.
   Thanks both

2. Thanks to Anto and manehi, I really enjoyed this. Particularly enjoyed 16 among many fine clues. 1D has come in for some criticism elsewhere, but I’ve seen it previously in crosswords and don’t object.

3. A pleasant and gentle start to the week but some thought still required. Thanks both.

   Just one thing I didn’t understand: whilst 19ac is obvious enough, why does Lecturer = L?

4. Not a breezy Monday by any stretch but that’s not a complaint as I thought there were many excellent clues including OBESE, STEWED, HAIKU (nice surface), IGNORANCE, SCARECROW (good anagram), and THERAPIST (wonderful surface and anagram). I was not able to parse LEGEND or PANDA and I didn’t see that PLUMP had two alternate parsings. Thanks to both.

5. Good Monday fare. Favourites were KNEES UP, MASTICATE, SCARECROW, GOTTFRIED, OEDIPUS and the double PLUMP.

   Ta Anto & manehi

6. I needed some thought to get my final two, SOLDIER ON and PASSIM. To me, the wordplay for SOLDIER ON would have made more sense if it had been ‘having disposed of appliance guzzling energy’ but we’ve had this argument before and to each his/her own I suppose. I can never remember what PASSIM means and I’m sure I will have forgotten the next time it appears.

   Penfold @3, the simple answer for”why does Lecturer = L?” is “It’s in Chambers”. Not very satisfactory I agree. Maybe it’s in common use in academia, a world I’m afraid I do not inhabit.

   Good for a Monday; not too hard but some not so obvious ones. Favourites were the double wordplay for PLUMP and the semi all-in-one LEG IRON.

   Thanks to Anto and manehi

7. Nice puzzle, good way to end the weekend.
   Earworm alert: one definition I’ve seen of PASSIM is Here, There and Everywhere.

8. A nice little diversion today. Plenty of smiles. Being on the other side of the planet I’d not heard of Dai, nor indeed Da for father.

9. Thanks for the explanation, WordPlodder, as to why Lecturer = L

   As you say, not very satisfactory, but at least I now know… only problem being, of course, will I remember it next time it crops up?

10. PANDA=godfather was delightful! thanks to manehi and anto.

11. Thanks to Anto and manehi. A likeable puzzle. Similar to Geoff@8, I hadn’t hear of DAI as a Welsh name (fodder for 18a DAILIES) so it was interesting to find when I looked it up that it is a derivation of David. However due to some Irish cousins, I had heard of DA, which helped with PANDA in 25d. All my favourites have been canvassed already – 28a OEDIPUS was my top choice though.
    [Interesting to see the times of some contributions from the northern hemisphere – Insomniacs Anonymous? – or are the times that appear beside each post erroneous? BTW, was 15² down earlier, as I had trouble getting on to re-read some of the recent blogs earlier today Australian time?]

12. [It’s now 4.51 p.m. here – or 16.48 – and the time stamp on my post says 6.47, which if you are ten hours behind – I think you are on winter time? – makes the UK time of my post correct and must mean that some folk were up in the early hours solving.]

13. I thought it was a write-in after the first five across clues but then I slowed up considerably. Some great clues as mentioned above PANDA and GOTTFRIED and SOLDIER ON.

    Thanks Anto and manehi

14. [JinA@12 – yes, sometimes a refuge from insomnia.]

15. Penfold @9 – It’ll sink in eventually. It did with me, which is why I finally remembered it today.

16. I thought the bird was a SNOWY rather than SNOW OWL but I may be wrong.
    Thanks to Anto and manehi

17. The most fun I’ve had from a Monday puzzle for a while. Unlike Geoff @8 and JinA, Dai is probably the first male Welsh name that comes to mind and I’d associate Da with many of the UK’s regional accents – Welsh, Irish and generally Northern. Tony S and AlanC between them have highlighted my favourites; PLUMP probably top dog though the godfather/PANDA trick is very clever.

    Thanks Anto and manehi

18. Julie In Australia @12. The UK is currently 11 hours behind us in Oz. I’ve only noticed it because the Grauniad crossword only appears at 11 am in our summer and 9 am in our winter (12 midnight UK time). 10 hours is the non-daylight saving difference. Maybe the time stamp here disregards daylight saving.

    I also had problems with this site this morning. The home page threw up a message asking if I wanted to execute or save a 0 byte application file.

19. Definitely chewier than usual for a Monday. PANDA raised a chuckle as did LEG IRON. For LEG IRON I think it’s the entire clue as definition. Otherwise the definition is more than just a bit loose.

    Thanks Anto and manehi

20. I thought Anto pretty well fulfilled the traditional brief of giving us a reasonably gentle start to the week.
    A few clues felt a bit iffy. The surface reading in 27a really doesn’t make a lot of sense; surely the big white bird is a SNOWY OWL; and in 16d the iron is guzzling the energy, not the other way round. But none of those get in the way of solving the puzzle; and Anto comes up with some neat ideas.
    OSTRACISE and SCARECROW are instances where anagrams work beautifully.
    LEG IRON is surely an “&lit”, where all of the clue is the definition and all of the clue is the wordplay, and it works very nicely.
    BOO HOO is ingenious. And the wordplay for DAILIES is apt for a country where Leveson has been kicked into the long grass.
    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

21. Liked GOTTFRIED, PLUMP, OEDIPUS.
    New SNOW OWL (but I have heard of Snowy Owls); STEWED = drunk.

    Thanks, both.

22. Nice puzzle, thanks to Anto and manehi.
    But why does ‘ate’ mean ‘worried’?

23. Like others, I enjoyed this a lot.
    SinCam @22 – ‘ate’ = worried e.g. “He was really concerned about his daughter, and it ate him all day.” (maybe not the greatest of examples, but you get the drift).

24. [JinA @12: I usually sleep well but at 3.30 am I was wide awake, so indeed, Auriga @14, this was a refuge and an enjoyable one at that. Not feeling so chirpy now tho 🙂 ]

25. NeilH@20
    Snow Owl is one of the Birds in the ARK nintendo, game
    Snow Owl is also a New Earth character as are Scare Crow, Naomi, Passim, Panda, Hitman and Off Spring (DC database) Gottfried is a Marvel character. Maybe a theme.
    Enjoyable puzzle thanks to Anto and manehi

26. MASTICATE means “chew”, not the same as “crunch” in my book, so that was my LOI. I did like many of the others, though only entered SNOW OWL after a good deal of hesitation.

27. SNOW OWL is fine according to the SOED, in that it is a US “thing”. That said, it’s not in the 10th print edition of M-W’s, but it is in M-W’s online version.

28. In the real world, the bird is a Snowy Owl: if cluing invented creatures in games is legitimate, we’d better start learning the names of all those Pokemon.

29. This one contained too many awkward glitches for my liking: I wasn’t impressed by the SNOW(y) OWL, the double wordplay in PLUMP (where ‘and’ rather than ‘with’ in the clue would have fixed the problem), ‘crunch’ != MASTICATE, clunky LEG-IRON (is it an &lit or just a very poor definition?), the egregious Chambersism of L for ‘lecturer’ (and similarly ‘ate’=’worried’ which we all know is nonsense — see drofle@23 — except when deployed by crossword setters), the “energy guzzling appliance” which should surely have been
    “energy-guzzling appliance”, the looseness of ‘tough’=SO THERE.
    A real grumpy start to a grey, drizzly Monday here in Devon. Sorry.

30. Cliveinfrance@25: Really? Oh, wow. That is too much of a coincidence, so it must be a theme from Anto. Uuuurggghh. OK – so that explains some of the infelicities.

31. Pserve_p2
    I don’t think it is a theme more a coincidence, there are thousands of characters and I can not link these ones.
    Gladys@28 fully agree as Snow Owl is a small part

32. I often feel that Anto’s quiptics are too hard for that slot, so was surprised that this Cryptic was so straightforward. Enjoyable enough puzzle, although I do agree with pserve_p2’s points @29

    Haven’t tried the quiptic yet – wonder if it’s far harder….

33. re. ate=worried: I think this oddity stems from the following usage: “Hey, what’s eating you? You’ve been so prickly all day.” which might plausibly be addressed to someone who is worried, anxious, nervous, etc. This may have spawned the back-formation ‘eat’=’worry’ and thence the past tense ‘ate’=’worried’. It’s such a lame justification, though, IMHO.

34. An L-plate is is used on a motor vehicle to indicate a learner (inexperienced) driver.
    Thank you Anto and manehi, very enjoyable.

35. Ignore my post @ 34. Senior moment!

36. I thought this was a really good Monday puzzle, possibly towards the harder end of difficulty for the start of the week. “Sic passim” is a welcome new addition to my Latin vocabulary. Worried certainly isn’t a synonym for ate but is, surely, well established as an indicator.

    Thank you, both.

37. Yes, a bit more chewy than some Monday crossies, but enjoyable.

    I liked KINETIC and OEDIPUS. I could only find SNOW OWL in Merriam-Webster, although it is in the OED with a hyphen, so I guess it’s OK. Personally, I don’t like double wordplay, which I think just confuses the clue. A ‘that’ wouldn’t have gone amiss for the clue for PANDA. I agree with pserve_p2 @29 that energy-guzzling would have worked.

    Thanks Anto and manehi.

38. As LEG-IRON is not an ‘all-in-one’ then we have to say the definition is insufficient. With PANDA too, the definition for me ought to be a noun. Re ATE, it’s used as in ‘it ATE/ WORRIED her’.

39. “Eating” = “worrying” is exemplified by the film title “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. Admittedly if you wanted to put it in the past tense you’d be likely to say “What was eating…” rather than “What ate…”. But setters are allowed a more inventive use of language – no one in real life would call a river a flower, or a composer a barman. If “eating” can mean “worrying” then I don’t see any problem with ATE meaning “worried” for the purposes of a crossword.

    Thanks Anto and manehi.

40. I can just about reconcile ATE with ‘WORRIED – I think I’d be more likely to use ‘ate at’ than just ‘ate’, but I can imagine its usage. MASTICATE for CRUNCH was a slight stretch.

    But overall an enjoyable puzzle. Having the same setter produce both the Quiptic and the Cryptic possibly focuses the mind and is more reliable than relying on the editor to monitor the difficulty level, as I thought these were both pitched about right. Perhaps we’ll see more of this in 2022?

    Thanks Anto and manehi.

41. I was another staring at the possibility of SNOW OWL rather than the Snowy Owl that I’m familiar with for quite a while. Wasn’t at all sure whether it should have been Up or SO THERE, so L-PLATES and LEGEND were the last two in. Liked SCARECROW and OEDIPUS. Not too complex a puzzle as is the way on a Monday…

42. Thanks for the blog, some clever clues here and only minor quibbles, much better than a typical Monday. I will second ( or third…) the praise for SCARECROW, OEDIPUS and GOTTFRIED.
    PANDA would have been even better if it started with just Father.

43. Enjoyable puzzle, I finished it before going to sleep last night. I often need to finish it in the morning when my misconceptions have faded.

    I couldn’t get THERAPIST for the longest time because I took “top end” to be the top of “End,” rather than the end of “toP.”

    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

44. Enjoyable puzzle, I finished it before going to sleep last night. I often need to finish it in the morning when my misconceptions have faded.

    I couldn’t get THERAPIST for the longest time because I took “top end” to be the top of “End,” rather than the end of “toP.”

    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

45. Ooops — didn’t mean to post twice. I leaned on the Post button for a good while while nothing happened, and then too much did.

46. 1d, SNOW OWL? It’s a SNOWY OWL. Rare winter visitor to northern Scotland.

47. Expectation makes such a difference. I enjoyed this much more than the Quiptic because I was expecting it to be harder. [A SNOW OWL is any bird that looks like an owl but isn’t one. “that’s SNOW OWL”]

48. I used to be like pserve_p2 @29: “… ‘ate’=’worried’ which we all know is nonsense” but now I’m more chilled out and tend to agree with Lord Jim @39: “If “eating” can mean “worrying” then I don’t see any problem with ATE meaning “worried” for the purposes of a crossword. ”

    This was a pretty good crossword, I thought, and despite a little brain fade about three-quarters in, I eventually finished with a rattle after completing a killer sudoku. (A little distraction often helps, but in recent weeks my disrupted sleep has led to concrete in my head. I see others have used insomnia to their advantage – Auriga @14 – perhaps I should give it a try!)

    MASTICATE was my last one in, but not because of ‘crunch’, which I think is fine, if you are chewing something crunchy; it was the distraction of ‘credit crunch’ that held me up. I like the clue for LEG IRON, whether it’s &lit or all in one or clue as definition – it works. Likewise PANDA – ok, so ‘may be facing extinction’ is not a noun or even a noun clause, but it works! (I know some purists don’t like justifications for clues like this, but I find it works for me. 🙂 )

    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

49. Valentine @43 & 44: glad to see I’m not the only one who struggled with ‘top end’. That was my PDM today.

    Amusing to see that quite a few of us are affected by insomniac cruciverbalism. I often find I’m starting at 5ish – which won’t be early for those who fit in a morning swim, I know – but I’ll admit to the occasional 3am.

50. re #48 well, just for the sake of balance, I’d like to say that it doesn’t work (and not just ‘for me’ but for sticklers in general) because the part of speech for the definition is incorrect. It’s so incredibly easy to fix too, without wrecking the idea for the clue.

    Perhaps the most frequently occurring incorrect definition of this sort that appears in the Grauniad is ‘in London’ used to define e.g. a borough such as Newham, or Tower Hamlets. Sloppy.

51. Enjoyable puzzle, difficulty parsing a few, and lots of favourites 15ac, 4ac, 28ac, 3dn, 18dn, 20dn, and 25dn. Agree with Michelle @21 about 1dn. [Plenty of Snowy Owls at my local Small Breeds Farm Park and Owl Centre. Who are famed for having one of the most comprehensive collections of owls in Europe.]
    Thx to Anto and to manehi

52. Nice monday. I couldn’t parse NAOMI, having got stuck on the idea of middle of Panama, being “NAM” wearing a halo for NAOM, so I couldn’t find the I. Panda was marred by the fact that happily China announced just last year that pandas are no longer endangered.

53. Thanks Anto and manehi.

    I’ve encountered “worried” = “ate” many times and have always reconciled it with the picture of a dog worrying a sheep, but the explanations offered here make much more sense.

    BOO HOO and KNEES UP got ticks from me (I got them from the sheep).

    Roz@42: You’ve lost me – just “Father” for PANDA?

54. Alphalpha @53 Father=PA = P and A , an old Azed trick.

55. I agree with what’s been written about “ate” = “worried”, as to me “What’s eating you?” means “What’s causing you concern?”, therefore “what’s worrying you?”

    As a birder of many years, I would suggest dictionary compilers should check with the birdwatching community whether SNOW OWL is a bird. I’m sure they’ll always be told no, it’s a SNOWY OWL!

56. A fraction harder than the Quiptic for me, but no great alarms. I’m another that pulled a face at seeing SNOW OWL without its tail.

    As a relative newcomer to the blog, can I ask if having a rhyming pair is a usual thing (STEWED and CREWED today), or just for Everyman?

57. The “fried” in “Gottfried” is pronounced “freed” not “fried” so “electrocuted” is not a good alternative ; and no way does “masticate” equate to “chew”.

58. [Roz @42 nice catch, I didn’t spot that possibility ‘p’ and ‘a’ is a lovely way to clue father for panda, perhaps a tad difficult for a Monday Grauniad though?]

59. WhiteDevil@56 the rhyming pair is an Everyman trademark, does not occur usually in the Guardian, probably just by chance today.
    David @57 the pronunciation does not matter in word play unless it is meant to be a homophone. So got fried with a t in gives the correct spelling and that is all that matters.

60. Thanks Blah@58 , Azed often uses this idea for a word containing “and” .

61. Roz @42: or ‘Fathers’ as in Pa n’ Da as in Surf n’ Turf perhaps?

62. Even better AlanC, very original.

63. Ha, never been accused of that before

64. Have not really heard “da” except When the Boat Comes In . Is it North East ?

65. DM @ 57

    ‘Masticate’ may or may not equate to ‘crunch’, but it most certainly equates to ‘chew’.

66. Petert @ 47 Excellent!

67. Roz @64: PM covered it @17. I certainly referred to my father as ‘da’ in NI, although he didn’t particularly like it.

68. Roz @64 North West too I think, as in the Liverpool Lullaby famously performed by Cilla Black. Google has the lyrics as either da or dad depending what the source is, but in her version I hear da.

69. More widespread then, perhaps came to Liverpool from NI.

70. Da for “father” was common in South Wales.

71. AlanC@61 you beat me to it, my wordier version: “Modern parents no longer so rare?” Thanks manehi, and Anto for another inventive crossword although I was disappointed you didn’t define SCARECROW as “outstanding in its field”. Also remarkable spot CliveinFrance@25.

72. Roz@54: Ah. Aha. Very good.

73. Roz @64 (and others PASSIM) re DA for ‘father’: I thought I remembered Da from Alan Garner’s The Owl Service, which is set in (I think) central Wales, but it’s a long time since I read it. (A very powerful but painful book to have to contemplate reading again.)

    More recently I came across this about Joe Simpson, the climber, who is a Sheffield man who refers to his parents as Ma and Da, but I’m not sure what their backgrounds were (and it’s a bit obscure because of army and boarding school). I haven’t heard it used in Sheffield, but I’ve only been here for 24 years. 🙂

74. Interesting byplay about “sticklers” earlier in the comments. I suspect most of us are sticklers when it comes to correct and effective use of language in everyday speech and writing. But we then divide when it comes to wordplay in cryptic crosswords. Some insist on accurate definitions and correct grammar, while others place more emphasis on the “play”. I wonder if there is some relation between that and the divide between those who like smooth and witty surfaces and those who care more for the technical construction of the puzzle in the clues. Of course, this isn’t an either/or situation; most of us are somewhere on a continuum.

    Personally I lean towards the surfaces, and tend to be more libertarian about grammar and precision of definitions, except when the setter is playing fast and loose with one of my pet peeves – then I can stickle with the best of them.

    I enjoyed this puzzle, and its twin in the Quiptic. Thanks Anto and manehi for the fun.

75. David Mansell@57 – I agree with you on masticate, but there’s nothing in 14D to imply a homophone, and so the pronunciation isn’t relevant.

76. As I attempt the across clues first and had no crossers when I came to 24a I was trying to find a definition for PUTIN. Would have made a change from Trump.
    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

77. #74 cellomaniac why not demand ‘smooth and witty surfaces’ laid over a well-executed ‘technical construction’? It is actually possible to have both!

78. paul b@77:

    Yes, in the best of all possible worlds that would be ideal. But “demand”? Setters are not perfect, and they have differing strengths. Some setters are better at surfaces, some are better at constructions. My comment suggested that those different strengths appeal to different solvers.

    I would not demand of a setter “Give me smooth and witty surfaces laid over well-executed technical construction”, or don’t give me anything. And I don’t expect every clue to meet that high standard equally.

    I think we should be grateful for the efforts of our wonderful setters, and not hold them to a standard that they are not going to meet every time on every clue. If you demand perfection, you will be disappointed.

79. @Penfold, L is commonly used as an abbreviation for the title Lecturer in academic institutions’ staff lists with SL = Senior Lecturer, PL = Principal Lecturer

80. #78 cellomaniac, okay, well don’t demand it then. You could hope for it, for example.

    I thought I was being slightly facetious there, as you get what you get as opposed to get what you might prefer to get, but hey. Now it’s Tuesday.

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