Guardian 28,700 – Qaos

88 comments on “Guardian 28,700 – Qaos”

1. I looked and looked, but couldn’t get the theme as I don’t know anything about TP.

   I thought this started out very easy, but the last few didn’t exactly jump out at me (DUMPSTER, WORLD POWER).

   No “numeric” clue today.

   Thanks Andrew and Qaos

2. I love Pratchett, but I spent as much time looking for the theme (it is Qaos) both during and after solving as I did solving it – all to no avail. Terry had an early (juvinalia) book called The CARPET People, There is a Discworld novel LORDS AND LADIES – that’s all I can add off the top of my head.
   I thought LIGHTS was weak, but there was plenty of good stuff to make up for it. Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.

3. Quick solve and I had the same two last ones is as Dave Ellison @1.

   Thanks Qaos and Andrew

4. For once, I spotted the theme and, being a fan, enjoyed it. Though it appeared rather late and nearly misled: for 2d, I had L-G— which surely had to be LUGGAGE! But wasn’t. Lots of lovely constructions, deceits and smiles scattered across the grid: ASTRONAUT, of course, is out of this world, along with SANS SERIF (despite war reference), RECEPTIONIST, TURTLES, FANTASTIC, DUMPSTER, PRINCE and STAYED.

   I do share our blogger’s quiblet with WINDY and, whilst it’s an even smaller one, with UNCARPETED. I thought ‘dead actress’ was a bit of a brutal definition of LAUREN BACALL but it makes sense for the surface. ‘First Macbeth’ for M may raise the odd eyebrow but I see it sufficiently frequently that it’s not that big an issue for me.

   Thanks Qaos and Andrew

5. I thought that Qaos had mellowed, but now that the theme has been revealed, I’m awed by its complexity clued by relatively accessible clues. Didn’t know Terry Pratchett, but after a bit of surfing, I wish I did. A true polymath, with a sense of humour to boot. Sad how such a great mind was afflicted by a disease of the mind.

   My favourite was TURTLES (without knowing that Terry Pratchett had a turtle named after him), the most original single letter clue I’ve seen.

   Thank you to Qaos, and to Andrew.

6. Straightforward solve but no idea about the theme and like Dave Ellison @1, I also noticed the lack of numeric clue. I liked PRINCE, REFLECTS and DUMPSTER.

   Ta Qaos & Andrew

7. PostMark@ 4: I had the same thought about LAUREN BACALL but thankfully you have made me re-examine the surface.

8. [Had to laugh. TP has Australian connections, an honorary doctorate and a perpetual scholarship in his name at the University of South Australia. His comment on his book The Last Continent : “This is not a book about Australia. No, it’s about somewhere entirely different which happens to be, here and there, a bit… Australian. Still… no worries, right?”
   No wuzzas mate!]

9. Fairly quick and easy solve as Andrew says.
   For once, I didn’t really care that I hadn’t got the theme, especially after Brendan’s tour de force yesterday. The name is familiar but I don’t care really.
   Thankfully Lauren BACALL is described as “dead”, not late, passed away, no longer with us or shuffled off this mortal coil.
   Favourites were ASTRONAUT for a great &lit and FANTASTIC for a good surface and nostalgia for when I thought Fanta was something good to drink.

10. AlanC @ 7: resting actress? unavailable actress?

    An afterthought: it’s a sign of the times that Andrew thought it worthwhile reminding us (“for our younger viewers …”) that Hamlet was a brand of cigar. Those ads are still firmly fixed in my mind along with the Hovis cobbled street and Leonard Rossiter’s Cinzano spillages.

11. paddymelon@8, surely you mean no wukkers!!

12. Missed the theme, wondering if it may have something to do with various forms of energy. Wrong of course.

    Perhaps not seeing the theme didn’t help but I found this a bit harder than usual from Qaos. I had no idea about GIGA(R) for ‘Hamlet’ and also couldn’t see how ‘Weather’ = WINDY. I liked the not immediately obvious ‘Type’ and ‘Skip American’ defs at 10a and 17d.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

13. Easiest Qaos ever. I was looking for the theme and I’m a huge Pratchett fan, but I just couldn’t see it!
    Thanks to Q&A.

14. I only divined a vague space theme (ASTRONAUT, PERSEID), but as others have said things was a quick and enjoyable solve. DIS for ‘hell’ is new to me.

    I share the minor quibbles about WINDY, UNCARPETED, and a larger one about ‘First Macbeth’. It might be seen often, and I’m not the strictest with these things – but there must be an element of prescriptivism in crosswords, and there’s not really a justification for this one.

15. Sorry for the immediate contradiction, WP@12. Your comment hadn’t appeared. What we call “wavelength”, I suppose.

16. Enjoyed spotting the theme, being a huge TP fan. I thought this was fairly straightforward and agree with quibbles re WINDY and that LIGHTS was lacklustre. I did like SANS SERIF and DUMPSTER. I did need the blog to understand MAGIC, although the Hamlet ads have come up on this site before, I had completely forgotten that. Thanks To Qaos and to Andrew

17. I’m a Discworld fan, but missed the theme completely. Otherwise… what PostMark said.
    Perhaps these days you are only allowed to call female thespians actresses if you note that they are now dead and therefore cannot be offended by not being called actors? Qaos is being unusually helpful by letting us know we need to look for a candidate from the past, but it does feel rather unkind.

18. Very Mondayish puzzle without any of the trademark Qaotic alphanumeric clues – replaced instead with a sprinkling of trade names. I was able to race through this, with only the SE quadrant slowing me down a bit. The theme passed me by, of course, although I am dimly aware of Pratchett’s fictional universe.

    I agree that ‘weather’, a noun, is not a good definition for WINDY, an adjective, and ‘Macbeth at first’ would have been a more felicitous wording.

    I did like the ‘trunks almost all removed’, ‘bearing’ as a cardinal point rather than a container or positional indicator, and the use of ‘discontented’.

    Thanks to S&B

19. Another day, another theme. I was sufficiently awake to remember that as it was Qaos there had to be one, but like you WordPlodder @12 I thought it was to do with energy sources, as we had COAL, WINDy, NATURAL GAS, all something to POWER the LIGHTS. All pretty straightforward, and no Terry Pratchett knowledge required, so I can’t really grumble about the theme.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

20. Didn’t care for the dead actress , required for the surface or otherwise, and share misgivings about WINDY.

    Really dislike clueing M as first Macbeth. Always makes me wince.

    No theme of course although my kids devoured TP when young.

    Felt the theme forced this crossword into a bit of a quiptic but a pleasant solve nonetheless.

    Many thanks both.

21. …this site does of things with italics sometimes…

    italics fixed in previous comment – A

22. [gladys @17: Not all female thesps object to being called actresses, indeed it is perhaps the one occupation where a feminine form is justifiable – male roles are normally played by men and female ones by women, certainly in narturalistic performances. And those that do object never refuse a ‘Best Actress’ Oscar! The logical corollary would be to have unisex ‘Best Actor’ awards. But I agree that ‘former’ rather than ‘dead’ would have been a more tasteful wording]

23. Never read TP so missed theme. Would it have helped?
    How is “him” a def for PRINCE?

24. Found this hard but got there in the end. Didn’t get the theme, only my eldest read TP in our house.
    But what about ‘what’s the weather today?’ ‘Windy’ surely that’s OK?
    ‘Him’ just means someone not discontented, surely.
    Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

25. Thanks Andrew though I found this tougher than you – I had no problem with WINDY (same ‘logic’ as SinCam@24) but thought “material” for CEMENT was a bit vague and hence my LOI, also the “to” in 16D really threw me.
    Theme only got upon completion, happy memories of the early Discworld novels (and even a Spectrum computer game!) years ago, any recommendations on his later titles happily received.
    Would “screen siren, late” have been a kinder definition for 18A that kept the surface somewhat intact?
    Anyway I enjoyed this so thanks Qaos.
    PS Alistair@23 I think with these you have to refer to the whole surface of the clue as a definition, although it’s not quite&Lit as the last 3 words are not wordplay as such – no doubt wiser heads will confirm/deny.

26. I like Gazzh’s alternative for 18a. In fact I’m not sure you even need the ‘late’ – ‘screen siren’ by itself is a phrase that helpfully directs us to the right era, and for some random bachelor to think of phoning Lauren Bacall (or her ilk) would probably be a sign that he wasn’t totally compos mentis at the time. Thanks Q & A.

27. Never heard of DIS for HELL but a quick google enlightened me…

    “In Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, the City of Dis encompasses the sixth through the ninth circles of Hell. The most serious sins are punished here, in lower Hell. Dis is extremely hot, and contains areas more closely resembling the common modern conception of Hell than the upper levels.”

    Every day a school day 🙂

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew

28. Felt a bit like a Monday. The exception was DUMPSTER, which was neat.

    Completely oblivious to the theme, as I know nothing about TP.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew

29. Never read any TP so had no idea of the theme, but as with all the best themes that didn’t matter when it came to solving the clues. Other than not knowing DIS as part of hell out was all very straight forward, it must have been the easiest puzzle that QAOS had set us.

30. For once I got the theme immediately, thanks to Colours and Magic going in, and being a huge Pratchett fan. For those haven’t yet read anything by one of this country’s finest ever authors…. you should! (gets off soapbox). Really enjoyed this, and rattled through it quite quickly, with the theme helping only slightly.

31. I usually miss themes but at least this time I have an excuse: I’ve never read any TP novels.

    Boyinabeerglass@27 – thanks: I was unaware of HELL=DIS and why.

    I hope normal service (ie the trademark numeric clue) resumes next time.

    Thanks Qaos for an enjoyable puzzle and Andrew.

32. Being Qaos, I looked for a theme but didn’t find it. As others have said, it wasn’t necessary for the solve.

    I know that Qaos has argued that ‘first X’ can mean the first letter, using some arithmetical argument, but I don’t buy it. In the clue, it would have been easy to just put ‘Macbeth at first’ instead.

    Enjoyable solve; I particularly liked COLOURS, SANS SERIF and DUMPSTER, where the ‘Skip American’ was nicely misleading.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

33. Ian@30 – our messages crossed. If I start a series of books, I generally read the set. Given the number of Discworld novels, I’ve been hesitant to begin. Which TP novel would you recommend if you had to recommend just one that combines “good” writing with compelling storytelling?

34. Thanks for the blog, missed the theme of course and very glad for once.
    Hamlet always makes me think of cigar because of the adverts.
    The PERSEID shower is always disappointing here because the sky never really goes dark, they should be good in Australia and New Zealand.

35. I thought the use of ‘bearing’ in ELEPHANT was clever – it certainly beat me. I love/hate when the bloggers’ parsing reveals something that I should have seen.
    ‘Dead’ does seem a bit harsh as a filter word for LAUREN BACALL but I refer (pulls out lengthy manuscript) to many pleas to move on from glitterati whose lustre has waned (with the effluxion of considerable time) and it was a help to know that we were not required to conjure a more recent supernova.
    As to ‘actress’ a young lady of my acquaintance recently won “Best Actor” in a theatre festival and it meant rather more to her than an alternative (but there was no alternative) “Best Actress”.

    Thanks to Qaos (I never see the theme sorry) and to Andrew for an enlightening blog.

36. For anybody like me wondering about the turtle named after TP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psephophorus

37. Lovely puzzle, enjoyed this, though took a while to work out loi PERSEID, and then had to look it up to check that I had successfully completed things…

38. Jim@14, Boyinabeerglass@27, Harpospeaks@29, pdp11@31 I recommend you keep DIS in your memory banks. It’s one of those very handy 3 or 4 letter words loved by setters, which are rarely met in real life. [I must admit I usually forget it, and try putting in Nidd, which is something totally different and only occurs in Mornington Crescent. Fans of ISIHAC will know what I mean. I know, nothing to do with this crossword.]

39. Jim @14 (and others including our blogger): “minor quibbles about WINDY, UNCARPETED, and a larger one about ‘First Macbeth’”. WINDY could be the answer to the question “what’s the weather like today?”; I really don’t see the problem with ‘bare boards’ for UNCARPETED and inserting ‘with’ as Andrew proposed, would ruin the surface; in my opinion ‘first Macbeth’ is quite clear and reads more smoothly than the “correct” ‘first of Macbeth’ that setters such as Paul would use – and why is ‘first Macbeth’ wrong but ‘Macbeth at first’ (Robi @32) right? My only quibble was the definition in 19d: just ‘him’ as Andrew has underlined really doesn’t work to define PRINCE: I see the definition as ‘discontented…not like him!’, which is somewhat original, to say the least.

    Never having read any TP, the theme obviously passed me by, but fortunately it was not needed to complete what turned out to be (for me, at least) a quicker solve than most Mondays.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

40. Thanks Qaos and Andrew. Despite being theme-blind and not a fan of Pratchett (some nice ideas but mostly terrible writing), even I spotted the theme today – it was DISC that first tipped me off (the wording of the clue put DISCWORLD in my mind) and then ELEPHANT and TURTLES… and not being a TP fan didn’t spoil my enjoyment of a fun crossword.

41. …and for those who find themselves distressed by ‘dead actress’, there’s a contemporary clip from ABC News on YouTube from 2014 headlined Lauren Bacall Dead at 89. If they weren’t squeamish about using the word in a headline, why should Qaos be expected to avoid it in a crossword clue?

42. sh @39 – In plain English, “first Macbeth” simply doesn’t mean “the first letter of Macbeth”. For me, “first Macbeth” was enough of a hint for the purposes of solving the clue, but to someone less experienced in the ways of cryptic crosswords, it might be harder to spot what is required, hence it might be regarded as slightly unfair.

43. PDP11 @33… for someone wanting to try TP, I’d probably avoid the first two books in the series, I think he was only just getting into his stride with those, and also avoid the latter ones, where I personally believe the quality was beginning to tail off (latterly probably due to his failing health of course). Mort is the one I normally recommend as a great introduction, but you probably can’t go wrong with any of the discworld novels after the first two and before the later ones.

44. Despite being a Pratchett fan I completely missed the theme! Very enjoyable all the same, thanks to Qaos and to Andrew for enlightening me.

    Mort was my introduction to Pratchett many years ago and still holds up in my view. I’d also recommend Guards! Guards! as the starting point for the excellent City Watch / Vimes series of books.

    Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic have plenty to enjoy, but I concur with Ian – they’re scattershot parodies of fantasy novels and don’t quite have the incisive wit that Pterry became known for.

45. I don’t blame myself for totally missing the theme, since I’ve read only one of the Discworld novels (Going Postal), and that years ago, and don’t remember any of the words Andrew has capitalized from it. Good thing Andrew knew more than I did!

    It took me a while to remember that “skip” was the British word for a DUMPSTER.

    WORLD POWER and WINDY were my last in this morning. I got all the rest last night. Even themeless it was lots of fun. Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.

46. widdersbel @42. I might have been tempted to agree with you, except that the clue is actually quite easy, so the use of ‘first Macbeth’ (by this setter in particular) can be seen as a way of demonstrating that this method of indicating an initial letter can indeed be fair to any solver. Although it is not a usage in plain English, as you say, in the context of the clue it is quite obvious what it means.

47. As with many others, a quickish solve and a little surprised with Macbeth and dead.

    I spent quite a while looking for the theme, unsuccessfully. I’ve read a few TP books, but not the specific ones referenced, so don’t feel so bad about that. What *was* EMBARRASSing, though, was to see this morning that DISC and WORLD are nicely lined up in the grid.

48. Thanks both,
    [Having had the degree of Bachelor of Fluencing of the Unseen University conferred on me by Sir Terry in person, I should have been mortified if I hadn’t got the theme. Another good starting point for reading would be Wyrd Sisters, the first of the witches novels.]

49. I love a bit of Pratchett, but only got the theme after completing the puzzle due to the splitting of the names, and the plurals of certain words.

    I’d echo the idea that if you haven’t read him, you should really consider giving him a go. It’s fantasy (which I understand some people shy away from (which I find odd because I don’t tend to read much that is set in the real world – I live there – I get plenty of it already), but it’s also strongly character driven, and frequently incredibly funny, and often very wise.

50. [pdp @31: I’m going to break with the advice you’ve been given with regards to TP. I’d agree that he gets into his stride in later books and he certainly does take the opportunity to make reference to some fantasy genre classics in those first two books but they are worth looking at. And, if you normally like to read a series, there would be sense and satisfaction in starting at the beginning. More to the point, in those first two books TP introduced concepts and dynamics that operate in his universe, as well as characters who will reappear in later novels. Some of the pseudo science is delightful and there is pleasure in seeing it develop through the series. They’re light reads and don’t take long: I’d start at the beginning, knowing it’s going to get even better. ]

51. sheffield hatter @49: I completely agree with your point about the need to extend the definition of PRINCE in 19d, only I assumed it was “commonplace – not like him!”

52. Thanks Qaos, I enjoyed this but was clueless about the theme. Favourites were the &lit ASTRONAUT, the anagrams in RECEPTIONIST and EMBARRASS, and PRINCE. I thought “bygone” would have been better than “dead” for LAUREN BACALL. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

53. Thanks for the blog, and ta to Q, another enjoyable puzzle.

    “Strata”, an early TP, is fun, if only for the planetary engineers being carpeted for burying a dino fossil holding a titanium placard saying “stop nuclear testing now” or whatever …

54. Ian@43, Volante@44, Tyngewick@48, pm@50 – many thanks for the recommendations. A world of discovery awaits me 🙂

    Crossbar @38 – DIS now noted in my eNotebook.

55. Rather like an Everyman puzzle for me, with all the attendant awkwardnesses. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy all that much of it.

    I really thought 18 down’s definition a little uncalled-for.

56. Didn’t see theme and assumed would be a series of rock albums or similar. Bit annoyed now as I read COLOUR of MAGIC and another one.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

57. the last plantagenet @55. “I really thought 18 down’s definition a little uncalled-for.” In which crossword? Perhaps you meant 18a in this one, in which case, do you object to ‘dead’ or to ‘actress’? Both seem to be accurate and apposite.

58. Ah yes sheffield hatter, it is of course 18 across I meant to refer to:

    Neural defect has bachelor telephone dead actress

    I must say I didn’t much care for the anagrind in this one, regardless of anything else, as it seems to be a noun. I think you are pulling my leg, or attempting to, when you ask if I object to ‘actress’, as you know quite well what I don’t like. Unless we are both mistaken, and Qaos means that Bacall was utterly useless, which doesn’t seem to sit well either.

59. New: Hamlet cigar brand for 9ac.

    Thanks, both.

    Did not see the theme – I have not read the novels of Terry Pratchett but recently I was in Rowberrow, Somerset where he lived 1970-1993.

60. TLP @58. I am quite sure that Qaos didn’t mean to imply that Lauren Bacall was useless as an actor, just as much as I didn’t think that you objected to the term ‘actress’. I just can’t see what is wrong with using the word ‘dead’ about someone who is, in all honesty, dead. I’m really not getting at you, because several people have raised the same objection (see mine @41, several hours before you made your own thoughts known), and maybe I am pulling your leg. But you put it out there to be pulled, so perhaps we share the blame.

    I enjoyed a number of Lauren Bacall’s film performances, and she gave the impression of being an intelligent as well as talented person. If there is an afterlife, I hope she is enjoying this discussion. I’d like to think that she would.

    With regard to the anagrind, ‘defect’ acts as a noun in the surface, but can also be seen as a verb when applied to the anagrist. Also a ‘defect’ in the presentation of ‘neural’ would also work.

61. For potential TP readers, I’m not the biggest TP fan, but Soul Music gave me one of those embarrassing moments of laughing out loud on a packed commuter train. And Mort is enjoyable.

62. [Unforgettably, Bacall was also pottymouthed, specifically in To Have & Have Not: “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put you lips together and blow.”]

63. I cannot claim to have completed this, because I did not know y’all call a DUMPSTER a skip. Today I learned. [DUMPSTER is a former trademark that has undergone genericide (like thermos and aspirin), by the way.]

    And I didn’t spot the theme. I’ve read a couple of Pratchett’s novels, but not terribly recently, so there really was no hope there.

64. As Andrew said, a simple and quick solve. As it was Qaos I was looking for the theme from the off. I did suspect TP and Discworld but I didn’t know enough about the subject to be at all sure – my son is the one for Discworld, not me.

    I’d even forgotten the TURTLE, but I was happier to be old enough to remember “Happiness is a cigar called HAMLET. ” Thanks to Andrew and to Qaos.

65. [thanks for the recommendations for further reading and also mrpenney for a hitherto unknown brand metonym or whatever the official term is.]

66. Knew nothing about the theme, but that did not spoil a very enjoyable crossword.
    I thought the definition for LAUREN BACALL was a bit strong. Maybe a ‘Hollywood actress’ rather than ‘dead’. I didn’t realise that it was PC to refer to ‘actresses’ any more anyway.
    Thanks both.

67. [Thanks everyone I missed in my previous message about TP recommendations. I recently read The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin, which is full of imaginative ideas. I’m currently reading short stories by Ted Chiang (the film Arrival is based on one of his short stories). Next stop TP. Another reason to thank Q for today’s puzzle 🙂 ]

68. Widdersbel @42 (& Sheffield hatter) – I consider myself very much “less experienced in the ways of cryptic crosswords” but “first Macbeth” made perfect sense to me… certainly seems better than the alternative “Macbeth at first” that has been proffered elsewhere.

69. Late to comment, but the Pratchett book I have re-read most is Feet of Clay – philosophy and whodunnit in one.
    Thanks Andrew and Qaos.

70. SH @ #60, if you wish to confer a grammar upon the surface, you join, unfortunately, the terribly long list of those who fail to understand the package of cryptic instructions that constitutes most clues. There are exceptions, such as cds and &lits of course, but surely the distinction is simple enough.

71. Would those who dislike first Macbeth be happy with Macbeth first? I certainly don’t think Macbeth at first is an improvement.

    Though many clues were quite straightforward, I took a long time to see

72. tlp @70, if you wish to object to the comment by SH @70, perhaps you could take the trouble to read it carefully. Surely the meaning is simple enough.

73. [pdp@ various, if you do pop back I may as well add my advice for Terry Pratchett. Find the last ever work he wrote, go to the very last word in the book and read everything onwards from there. ]

74. OK, I’m in America. I loved the LAUREN BACALL because it was the first one I solved. (What kind of cancel culture is it to not say she’s dead? As soon as I solved it, it was confirmation that I had the right answer. If you’ve died, your dead. Sorry if that’s an uncomfortable truth.)
    To me the only Unfair Clue was the Hamlet Cigar one. This is now an international site, and you should at least be able to do a web search to get a hint to the answer. Even my English-born-and-bred husband never heard of them.
    So thank you, Andrew, for giving the background. As an American, I expect each puzzle to have challenging clues and some Englishisms (I was quite pleased to spot a Cockney rhyming clue recently!)
    And thank you, Qaos for the rest of the puzzle. PS also enjoyed REFLECTS.

75. [Roz@73 Ouch! Are there any fantasy or SF books you would recommend?]

76. [Calgal @74: Just in case the Hamlet cigar lights up again, here’s a 9 minute journey through what was (before the tobacco advertising ban) a UK cultural phenomenon. Most people list ‘Pink Shiny Dome’ (at 4:55) and ‘Photobooth’ (at 5:30) among their favourites. ‘Launderette’ (0:32) from 1968 may have been the inspiration for the famous Levi’s ad in the 80s. I confess to being a bit shocked that your hubby hadn’t come across them – but perhaps I’m just showing my age.]

77. Monkey @71 if you’re still there; no, Macbeth first would not be an improvement – to me that just means put a word for Macbeth first. Afrit’s injuction said: ‘I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean.’ The idea of ‘say what I mean’ is that clues should strive to be unambiguous in their wordplay. I hate to think that a setter is going to use ‘First lady’ to mean L when to most people it might indicate Eve, FLOTUS etc, or just put a word meaning lady first in the answer.

78. Robi – I was interested to read your earlier point (@32) about Qaos having a justification for it – at least it shows he’s mindful of the issue and not just being sloppy. I’d love to know what his argument is, though I don’t know that I’d be convinced – it’s not immediately clear in plain English, which is the litmus test for me.

    That said, I’m not bothered by it anyway – as I said earlier, it was enough of a hint for me to solve the clue, and ultimately that’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned. And Penfold @68 says that even less experienced solvers can crack it, so it’s all good – and probably not worth such forensic analysis.

    The general principle of Afrit’s injunction is a good one though. It’s all about giving solvers a fair crack of the whip. As Qaos himself said on Twitter yesterday, the setter always aims to “lose gracefully”. He’s not after having solvers tear their hair out in frustration, but to give them an entertaining challenge. I think he ticked that box with this crossword, which was very enjoyable.

79. [MrEssexboy @76 , I will watch this once someone else is home so I do not get stuck in an endless loop. Never seen Launderette , I hope Pink Shiny Dome is the man losing his wig in the restaurant, vague allusions to Casablanca. The Levis advert is my favourite of all ]

80. [ Pdp @75 I will put something on General Discussion, other people may respond with other views so you will get a range ]

81. [Roz @79 – yes, Pink Shiny Dome is the restaurant one, there’s also Carwash and Venus de Milo in the collection. And here’s another 50 seconds of stonewashed guilty pleasure.]

82. Robi @77, surely part of the point of a cryptic puzzle is that words and grammar can have more than one meaning?

83. [EB@81 seen them now , brilliant, Never seen the first two and the last two must have been for the cinema.
    The Levis ad was my favourite just for the Marvin Gaye of course. ]

84. essexboy@76 — Thanks for the link! Very funny, and yes some of those would have aired before he left the UK in 1979! My favorites were ROBOT and WALL.

85. Got the theme(s) immediately since I’m and infrequent solver and my mother (Posterntoo) pointed me to the puzzle and said to solve 6d first. I do think the other mini-theme is justifiable and those who saw it and not the main shouldn’t be embarrassed.
    She also instructed me to come here to enlighten that 18a is on-theme! I had to look for it in the wiki, but sure enough. In Going Postal Adora Belle says to Moist “You know how to pray, don’t you? You just put your hands together — and hope.” It’s a riff on Bacall’s whistle line.
    I was led astray for a bit trying to find the Ladies to go with 7d to no avail.
    Thanks Qaos! This is even more of a treat than an American themed puzzle 🙂 Very enjoyable and even easy enough for me to muddle through.

86. Oh! And I ought to have said in my previous comment that the mini-theme is on theme as TP worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board.

87. Ha! SteelyTinLid @85/86

    You found not only a crossword you could solve alone but one in which your expertise exceeds the rest of us.

    I still remember meeting you in London, with Qaos and others. I remember how you got your name too. Perhaps the crossword bug has got you too now.

88. Brigster @87
    Hello!
    I remember our meet up very fondly. Hopefully not the last!
    If I had more time I’d love to do the puzzle every day but it takes me so long it doesn’t happen often enough. Perhaps one day I’ll get more practice in and it can become a habit. Do love to solve with Mom when we visit though.
    Much love from across the pond!

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