Guardian Cryptic 28,689 by Nutmeg

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28689.

It just seemed all envelopes, varyingly presented, but in all required a lot of thought. A fine puzzle.

ACROSS
1 WOOD NYMPH
Classical maiden tripping over down with unknown speed (4,5)
A charade of WOODN, an anagram (‘tripping’) of O (‘Over’) plus ‘down’; plus Y (mathematical ‘unknown’) plus MPH (‘speed’).
6 MIST
Broadcast overlooked film (4)
Sounds like (‘broadcast’) MISSED (‘overlooked’).
8 METEORIC
Rapid measuring system Zeno introduced, oddly abandoned (8)
An envelope (‘introduced’) of EO (‘ZEnO … oddly abandoned’) in METRIC (‘measuring system’).
9 RED FOX
Spooner’s US agent stuns night-time prowler (3,3)
A Spoonerism of FED (‘US agent’) plus ROCKS (‘stuns’).
10 SKINNY
Eatery within media company short of meat (6)
An envelope (‘within’) of INN (‘eatery’) in SKY (‘media company’).
11 EXORCIST
Expert wished good riddance? (8)
Cryptic definition.
12 ENCAMP
Member behind review of spots to stay under canvas (6)
A charade of ENCA, a reversal (‘review’) of ACNE (‘spots’) plus MP (‘Member’ of Parliament).
15 HAIL MARY
Latin graduate admitted to dodgy translation of prayer (4,4)
An envelope (‘admitted to’) of L (‘Latin’) plus MA (‘graduate’) in HAIRY (‘dodgy’), the prayer being “Ave Maria”.
16 LUSTROUS
Glittering range of surplus trousers (8)
A hidden answer (‘range’?) in ‘sirpLUS TROUSers’).
19 MELODY
I’m surprised to receive back payment for strain (6)
An envelope (‘to receive’) of ELOD, a reversal (‘back’) of DOLE (‘payment’) in MY (‘I’m surprised’).
21 WHINNIED
Pooh, investing first of his old pennies, made a nicker (8)
An envelope (‘investing’) of H (‘first of His’) in WINNIE (the ‘Pooh’) plus D (‘old pennies’).
22 SATRAP
Revolutionary role as local ruler (6)
A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of PART (‘role’) plus ‘as’.
24 MINGLE
Fraternise during swimming lessons (6)
A hidden answer (‘during’) in ‘swimMING LEssons’.
25 BIND OVER
Place legal restrictions on container port (4,4)
A charade of BIN (‘container’) plus DOVER (‘port’).
26 BRAT
Kid runs into club (4)
An envelope (‘into’) of R (‘runs’) in BAT (‘club’).
27 THREW A FIT
Wrangling with father, husband lost and went berserk (5,1,3)
An anagram (‘wrangling’) of ‘wit[h] father’ minus an H (‘husband lost’).
DOWN
1 WRECK
Demolition site where we play gets reported (5)
Sounds like (‘gets reported’) REC (‘site where we play’).
2 OCEANIA
Stone chucked by a canoeist hit islands in the Pacific (7)
An anagram (‘hit’) of ‘a canoei[st]’ minus ST (‘stone chucked’).
3 NERDY
Obsessive leading lady departs in state (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of ER (‘leading lady’ – the Queen) plus D (‘departs’) in NY (‘state’).
4 MACBETH
Anguished king‘s US subject accepting award (7)
An envelope (‘accepting’) of CBE (Commander of the British Empire, ‘award’) in MATH (‘US subject’, rendered as maths in the UK).
5 HARMONIUM
Drone blocked by extension on current instrument (9)
An envelope (‘blocked by’) of ARM (‘extension’) plus ‘on’ plus I (‘current’) in HUM (‘drone’).
6 MODICUM
Little bit of poetry mother’s penning (7)
An envelope (‘penning’) of ODIC (‘of poetry’) in MUM (‘mother’).
7 SPONSORED
Subsidised do with no press involved (9)
An anagram (‘involved’) of ‘do’ plus ‘no press’.
13 NAUGHTIER
Smuttier note increasingly snooty beginner dropped (9)
A charade of N (‘note’) plus [h]AUGHTIER (‘increasingly snooty’) minus the first letter (‘beginner dropped’).
14 PROMINENT
Leading setter’s charges immediately reduced (9)
An envelope (‘charges’) of MINE (‘setter’s’) in PRONT[o] (‘immediately’) minus the last letter (‘reduced’).
17 TONIGHT
Infant clothing at hand after sunset? (7)
An envelope (‘clothing’) of NIGH (‘at hand’) in TOT (‘infant’).
18 SIDEBAR
Team attending pub strip in window (7)
A charade of SIDE (‘team’) plus BAR (‘pub’).
20 LETS OFF
Tenancies cancelled, excuses being made (4,3)
A definition and literal interpretation.
22 SINEW
Weight plummeting in pig’s fibrous tissue (5)
SWINE (‘pig’) with the W moved to the end (‘weight plummeting’).
23 AVERT
Turn away 50% of travellers in distress (5)
An anagram (‘in distress’) of TRAVE (‘50% of TRAVEllers’).

picture of the completed grid

61 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,689 by Nutmeg”

  1. A lot of smiles when the pennies (a lot of them) eventually dropped (mine, not Pooh’s).

    One challenge was to figure out whether 11a should end with T, M or E. I chose the T, but am still not convinced – isn’t an EXORCIST supposed to get rid of the bad, not the good? Looked at another way, if it’s the standard meaning of “good riddance”, it’s not really cryptic, is it? I must be missing something obvious. Thanks.

  2. Not easy, only a few acrosses on first pass, only mist in the upper half which remained nearly empty till later. Quite a few lazy bungs too, not getting, e.g., the reverse acne, the ER+D in NY or the mine in pront[o]. Good puzzle, ta N and P.

  3. Quite hard. Same thoughts about EXORCIST as Dr. WhatsOn @1; someone will presumably put us right. Thanks for explaining the ‘translation of’ bit of 15a. METEORIC and WHINNIED also took a while; I can’t remember having seen either in a crossword before.

    Satisfying puzzle to complete. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO

  4. I found EXORCIST/M not very convincing for similar reasons to Dr WhatsOn@1 and because I would have thought that more than wishing was involved. NERDY had me struggling for ages before I worked out who the leading lady was. I enjoyed SINEW.

  5. I struggled to parse METEORIC because I convinced myself that MET was indicated by the “introduced” part of the clue, and got stuck. Thanks PeterO for the explanation, which I really should have seen.

  6. I liked a lot of this and WHINNIED is just delightful in concept and execution. I also ticked MELODY for definition, THREW A FIT for surface and MACBETH for misdirection.

    OCEANIA made me smile: the very first clue I ever tried to construct in a puzzle, a few weeks ago, was Indian Ocean and it involved a canoe – of course.

    I’m slightly struggling with equating LETS OFF and ‘excuses being made’ and hope others can explain. I feel the excuses are the responsibility of one party, the letting off the responsibility of the other. Probably my bad.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

  7. PostMark @6 I found LETS OFF uncomfortable as well. Perhaps ‘excuses’ on its own is the def and it is ‘being made’ by the cryptically cancelled tenancies?

  8. Pretty good crossword on the whole. Favourites THREW A FIT and WHINNIED. Had partly-parsed NERVY for 3d, and didn’t parse PROMINENT. Wasn’t keen on EXORCISM – agree with Dr WhatsOn@1.
    I took the clue for LETS OFF the same way as Salad@7.
    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.

  10. A pretty useless effort from me this morning – brain not working at all.
    Couldn’t parse NERDY apart from the state (ER=leading lady?) nor SINEW (I got this by guessing it was S…W from SOW, but it wasn’t: it was one of those wretched sliding-letter clues I can never do). Or PROMINENT. Or WHINNIED. On many, I saw part of it like the MUM in MODICUM or the HUM in HARMONIUM, then guessed the word and parsed it later (or often didn’t). So I did not enjoy this – and the definition of EXORCIST is too cryptic for me.

  11. Umm…
    Didn’t get NERDY and feel I should have done.
    While I guess an EXORCIST gets rid of something by the power of good, I recall Ximenes saying something to the effect that when the solver had cracked the clue s/he should be confident that the answer was the right one, and however clever the clue may be it leaves an uncomfortable feeling of EXORCIST?/EXORCISE?/EXORCISM?
    Against which…
    The wordplay for LETS OFF is clever, and having thought for ages “But it should be LET OFFS”) I’m sure that the answer to the definition is as Salad @7 suggests. “A excuses B”. “A lets B off” (i.e. “A lets off B”). It works, and the fact that the solver’s brain insists that excuses is a plural noun rather than a verb is the cleverness of the clue.
    OCEANIA neatly wasted a good deal of time as I tried to chuck “stone” rather than “st” from “canoeist”. Clever.
    WOOD NYMPH, RED FOX, HAIL MARY, LUSTROUS (I found that “hiding in plain sight” clue remarkably difficult to spot), MELODY, PROMINENT and above all WHINNIED are delightful.
    Thanks to Nutmeg and Loonapick (and PeterO, who appears to have blogged this puzzle as well this morning)

  13. Crossbar @12 – Chambers gives as the second definition for nicker “to neigh or snigger – esp Scottish or N Eng)”

  14. So what on earth happened this morning?
    There was also a blog by Loonapick (to which my comment @ 11 was appended) which, so far as I could see, had the same parsings but different wording, so obviously our two dedicated bloggers had laboured independently.
    Thanks both, anyhow.

  15. Salad @7 & NeilH @11: I think you’ve got it. And I do like it. I’m quite keen on the occasional diversion from the definition-at-beginning-or-end convention. ‘being made’ can certainly read as referring back to the definition, excuses. If it had been worded ‘Tenancies cancelled, making excuses’ we wouldn’t have had the problem but the clue would have been easy, it’s less grammatically correct, the surface is less elegant and it misses that rare opportunity to fairly clue the definition in the middle.

  16. I think there is a mistake either in the editing or in the typesetting.
    Surely, an “expert wished good riddance” parsed as EXORCISM.
    Otherwise it should be “expert wishING good riddance = EXORCIST

  17. Thanks NeilH @13. I only have the Concise Chambers to hand at the moment, and that only has “pound sterling” for nicker.

    I really enjoyed the crossword, though it wasn’t my finest hour. Bunged in EXORCISm without giving it much thought, and didn’t see mine in PROMINENT (durh!) though I could see PRONTo. The hidden answers MINGLE, and especially LUSTROUS, made me smile. I often just don’t notice these hidden ones at all, until I remind myself to look for them. Still all the blanks were filled in, and only 1 letter wrong. 🙂

    Many thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

  18. It’s a grim morning, but a fine puzzle, as PeterO said. MELODY was, well, melodious, but my favourite was 6dn for reminding me of my father’s regular mock admonition: ‘Kindly temper your hilarity with a MODICUM of reserve’.

    I too parsed LETS OFF like Salad @7, with the definition (‘excuses’) in the middle of the clue, and ‘being made’ as the connecting phrase between wordplay and def. (I see PostMark has now added his endorsement 🙂 )

    Logically I think it works fine – it’s a bit like James’s suggestion last year of ‘Eggs delicious on toast’.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.

  21. I can’t see it as anything other than EXORCIST, so no quibble with that. Some delightful clues like WOOD NYMPH, PROMINENT and LETS OFF. Worked out WHINNIED without understanding the meaning, so thanks Epeolater @9 for explaining that.

    Ta Nutmeg & PeterO

  22. I had forgotten nicker = whinnie. Imogen had it in Feb3 2021, where I commented it was new to me.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

  23. Difficult, I thought – with concerns about all those mentioned above. I’m not sure how “range” indicates an inclusion, either, for LUSTROUS. As NeilH @11 says, a good clue is one where, when you enter it, you can see that it has to be correct – for too many of these, that wasn’t the case for me. Some of the others raised a smile – just not enough of them. Thanks, Nutmeg and blogger (who seems to be PeterO at the moment).

  26. I down reminds me of my disappointment as a child when I was finally allowed to play at the WRECK only to discover it was just a playground. I don’t think EXORCIST works, but he rest was a nice challenge.

  27. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
    I’m not convinced by EXORCIST/M/E either. I didn’t parse NERDY – I was trying to explain ERD rather than ER D – or PROMINENT, where I was trying to work (im)MINENT is.
    Favourite METEORIC and BIND OVER.

  28. Slow progress, with bottom half yielding quite smartly, but top half more resistant. Didn’t find this quite as enjoyable as usual for a Nutmeg puzzle. Finally gave up with the interlocking SKINNY and WRECK still unsolved. Not a very impressive effort from me today, I’m afraid. Too many envelopes to dream up and then do something fiddly with. Couldn’t make up my mind to applaud WHINNIED or not. Wrong side of bed this morning, got out of…

  29. As others say above there were just one or two slightly uncomfortable ones, and more envelopes than WH Smith, but it’s still a Nutmeg and therefore pretty much sweet as a nut. And yes I really hope you like my jokes as much as I like Nutmeg!

  30. A few too many clumsy surface readings (e.g 13D) for my liking but otherwise an enjoyable challenge. Favourites TONIGHT and WHINNIED. Thanks Peter O and Nutmeg.

  31. I had the same reservations about LETS OFF and EXORCIST as some others.

    I don’t understand 1a. Is PeterO’s parsing complete/correct?

  32. 6ac reminds me of being in Germany & failing to land a piece of paper in a nearby waste paper bin. I said, loudly & cheerfully “Missed!”, to be greeted by surprised & slightly shocked expressions from the German speakers around me. “MIST” is the German for “dung”, or more colloquially “Sh*t”.

    Thanks, Nutmeg & PeterO

  33. Re 29d, I also agree with salad@7 et al that excuses (verb) is the definition and ‘being made’ tells you that’s what you get by following the wordplay.
    I thought 11a was just a (not very) cryptic definition.
    Enjoyed this. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.

  35. GrannyJ @32: same thought exactly 🙂

    poc/muffin, re 1ac: It’s the very mildest kind of indirect anagram. You have to see ‘O’ as an abbreviation for ‘over’ (as in cricket scores, although it usually stands for ‘overs’ on the scoreboard), then feed the O into the anagram fodder, as PeterO indicates in the blog. I think most people here would be OK with it (even Roz, I believe) but I gave it a Roz-ian frown.

  38. Lovely puzzle, the two hiddens completely diddled me.
    To a hunter, one might wish ‘good hunting’. So to an exorcist, one would wish ‘good riddance’, because he is ridding. That works for me, but I agree that it’s perhaps a little too puzzling. It has to be exorcist, not -m or -e because expert is the subject of the clue.
    Thanks Nutmeg, PeterO

  40. A lovely puzzle from Nutmeg, as always full of amusement (and often laughs). I pondered a lot about the Pooh clue, but have been watching the Heartland horsey series, for which the subtitles often say ‘nicker’, so eventually the penny dropped. Also loved METEORIC, MACBETH and PROMINENT. Great stuff. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.

  41. I wasted a lot of time trying to make the “nicker” into some kind of thief, although I have seen the horsy meaning.

  42. Lovely stuff, bang in the Goldilocks zone for me – challenging enough to keep me busy for a while but all nicely falling into place eventually. LUSTROUS was my favourite today – lovely surface image. Thanks Nutmeg. And thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    Crossbar @17 – if you’re online, I find Collins (free!) is always worth checking – it includes this definition of nicker.

  43. I think James @38 is spot on about how we know it’s T rather than M or E at the end of 11a, the clue that has been exercising so many here today.

    Thanks to GrannyJ @32 for the German anecdote. Mist is one of those “false friends” one meets in foreign languages, like Gift, the German word for poison.

    Like muffin @27 I misled myself with (im)MINENT and so solved but failed to parse 14d. I surprised myself by solving the Spoonerism without breaking sweat, but held myself up by not being able to think of MY for ‘I’m surprised’ to envelop ELOD – I’d got AH or OH, but neither of those was ever going to make a word meaning ‘strain’!

    Thanks to Nutmeg for the entertainment and PeterO and others for the elucidation.

  44. PM @6 – the more time you spend writing crossword clues, the more you have to get used to that kind of thing happening. My last effort included this clue:
    Drama award accepted by American for solving problems (7)

    Sometimes words just break down naturally in a way that many setters will spot independently. I’ve come to realise that true originality is very rare in cryptic crosswords, but as long as you don’t directly and deliberately plagiarise clues, it’s all good.

  45. Managed to get the bottom half but struggled with the top. However it gradually dropped into place, which for me is a fine puzzle.

    James @38 explains EXORCIST perfectly.

    Excuses = LETS OFF so I have no issue with that either

    My fave was METEORIC

    thanks Nutmeg and PeterO (esp for parsing PROMINENT)

  46. widdersbel@42 I was just being lazy. I have the full Chambers, but it was in another room. The full one has the requisite definition nicker and 2 other obscure ones. It still feels like cheating to me to look up on line if I can find something in a “real” book of reference. Ridiculous, I know, especially as I’ve worked in IT all my life.

  47. A puzzle of two halves not just because of a 56 miles round trip in between. Bottom half went in reasonably well but the top half had to await our return and was stubborn to the end. Thx to Nutmeg for an enjoyable challenge. Favourites are METEORIC, REDFOX, HAILMARY and WHINNIED. New word for me but not for ShropshireLad was SATRAP.
    Thx to Nutmeg and PeterO.

  48. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.

    I have to admit that I approached the forum today rather brimming with whatever the opposite of bonhomie is and then a funny thing happened – each of my niggles was pointed up by contributors and, one by one, excused by others. So I can continue my day with a lighter step. Thanks all. A great crossword which I couldn’t enjoy – my bad.

  49. James@38 (and sh@43) you happen to be right in your conclusion, but I don’t think the logic stands. The whole point of good cryptics is to muddy the waters so what appears to be the “subject” or any other property really is after analysis not so. That’s why riddance=exorcism is a co-equal contender (at the outset), and you have to delve into the wordplay to see what’s actually going on. Here, though, there doesn’t appear to be any wordplay.

  50. Didn’t get LETS OFF as excuses (verb) until now and WHINNIED….? Unfortunately I must blame myself for allowing Chambers to remain on its shelf, typing into address bar was lazy.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

  51. Dr W @49. That’s my complaint – and many other people’s – about cryptic definitions, with zero wordplay, as this clue is. If the apparent subject really wasn’t the subject, there’d be some (justified) grumbling for sure. Your alternative with ‘riddance’ as possible subject would leave ‘expert wished good’ as an unlikely cryptic element!

  53. Nutmeg has always been been a step too far for me, and today was no exception.
    For some reason the wordplay just does not compute.
    Looking forward to going through the parsing.
    Thanks both.

  58. Muffin@52a
    I think you’re right but I don’t think just replacing “wished” is enough. An exorcist is an expert at getting rid of evil spirits. He or she does more than just wish or bid them to make a welcome departure. To me Nutmeg’s definitions are occasionally stretched in this way but I’m clearly in the minority here.

  59. Piano @58. It’s the people who have employed the EXORCIST who have ‘wished’ that the ‘riddance’ (sc. ridding) of the evil spirits will go/has gone well. Yes, the definition is stretched, as you say, but that’s in the nature of cryptic definitions.

  60. Nutmeg is a setter I always relish, and although I really liked a lot of this, I think she is at her best when the surfaces seem less contrived.

  61. A late comment that no one will see, but I agree (mostly) with Dr. WhatsOn@1 re 11a EXORCIST/M/E. IU think E can be eliminated based on the grammar and definition, but the definition could be either “expert” = exorcist, or “good riddance” = exorcism. The latter would be clearer if “expert” and “wished” were hyphenated, but I would argue that the hyphen is not required in a cryptic clue. (Needless to say, I entered EXORCISM.)

    Thanks for the vigorous workout, Nutmeg, and for the help with the cooling down, PeterO.

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