Guardian Cryptic 28,706 by Imogen

by

Imogen's today's Guardian setter.

Well, that was fun.

This was one of those puzzles where you start gradually filling in answers, thinking you'll be there for a while, then before you know it you're down to a couple of clues and it's all over far too early. I loved the clue for MRS TIGGY WINKLE. Have to admit that I have never heard of RES GESTAE or TOBIT, but every day's a learning day!

Thanks, Imogen.

ACROSS
1 AVALANCHE
In hospital with curtain round after a bad fall (9)

H (hospital) with VALANCE ("curtain") round after A
6 SCAM
Turn computers into a dishonest business (4)

[turn] <=MACS ("computers")
10 VIGIL
Poet mislaying his third watch (5)

VI(r)GIL ("poet" mislaying his third (letter))
11 REPERTORY
Type of company stock (9)

Double definition
12 SATCHEL
Let cash fall out of bag (7)

*(let cash) [anag:fall out]
13 ANTHILL
Anyone at first, latest in long sequence sick in crowded tenement (7)

A(nyone) [at first] + NTH ("latest in long sequence") + ILL ("sick")
14 RED SKY AT NIGHT
Left TV programme, missing the forecast of good weather (3,3,2,5)

RED ("left") + (the) SKY AT NIGHT ("TV programme", missing THE)
17 VENUS’S FLY-TRAP
Following plant surveys, ordered this one? (6,3-4)

*(f plant surveys) [anag:ordered] where F = following
21 CURTSEY
Agreed to return after short dip (7)

<=YES ("agreed" to return) after CURT ("short")
22 AVIATOR
One in flight of birds finally falling to rook (7)

AVIA(n) ("of birds", finally falling) + TO + R (rook, in chess)
24 TRIMESTER
Examiner buttons lip for a term (9)

TESTER ("examiner") buttons RIM ("lip")
25 KEBAB
Skewer doll on back of truck for return (5)

<=(BABE ("doll") on [back of] (truc)K) [for return]
26 HIYA
Superior-sounding greeting (4)

Homophone [sounding] of HIGHER ("superior")
27 RES GESTAE
Sees great possibility in Roman exploits (3,6)

*(sees great) [anag:possibility]

Res gestate is Latin (hence the "Roman" in the clue) for "exploits", but can also mean the facts relevant and admissible in a legal case.
DOWN
1 ADVISORY
Warning notice: face cover finally mandatory (8)

AD ("notice") + VISOR ("face covering") + [finally] (mandator)Y
2 ANGST
Goes to the gallows, not the first time, in dread (5)

(h)ANGS ("goes to the gallows", not the first (letter)) + T (time)
3 ALL THE KING’S MEN
The body of male college mem­bers useless with scrambled egg (3,3,5,3)

Cryptic definition – ALL THE MEN of KING'S college (i.e ALL THE KING'S MEN), who were useless in putting together Humpty Dumpty (the "scrambled egg" after his fall)
4 COROLLA
Circular band nearly full of golden petals (7)

COLLA(r) ("circular band", nearly) full of OR ("golden" in heraldry)
5 EXPLAIN
Resolve to be complicated now? (7)

If something is "complicated now" it may have been plain once, hence EX-PLAIN
7 CHORISTER
Boy in church worried his rector (9)

*(his rector) [anag:worried]
8 MAYFLY
Prime minister’s surreptitious bug (6)

(Theresa) MAY ("prime minister") + FLY ("surreptitious")
9 MRSTIGGYWINKLE
Pop wants gradually to remove Thatcher at the beginning, that prickly character (3,5-6)

IGGY (Pop) wants WINKLE ("gradually to remove") with MRS T (Thatcher) at the beginning
15 DIVERSIFY
To extend my range as Duke, I write poetry (9)

D (Duke) + I + VERSIFY ("write poetry")
16 OPERABLE
Falstaff, say, with bulge not even ready for surgery (8)

OPERA ("Falstaff, say") with B(u)L(g)E [not even]
18 SHYSTER
Unscrupulous type locked in cells, hysterical (7)

Hidden [locked] in "cellS HYSTERical"
19 FIACRES
Old cabs provided reversed over a wide area (7)

<=IF ("provided", reversed] over ACRES ("a wide area")
20 SCOTCH
Taps closed, gas turned up for warming drink (6)

<=(C + H (cold and hot "taps") + TO ("closed") + CS (Gas)) [turned up]
23 TOBIT
Apocryphal story very much shortened (5)

TO BIT(s) ("very much" as in "I love you to bits", shortened)

77 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,706 by Imogen”

  1. I’d never heard of a fiacre or res gestae, and Tobit didn’t ring any bells, so the SE corner was tough. I’ve also never seen the possessive in Venus fly-trap either.

  2. The non-egg-unscambling men were a chuckle, but the Iggy Pop bit of 9d went over my head. A couple of insecurities, as per with Imogen-the-erudite. Ages since I saw a fiacre, tho phaetons and broughams sometimes turn up. Pottered along quite happily through this, thanks both.

  5. I too had never heard of a FIACRE or seen the ‘s in VENUS’S FLY TRAP (but Chambers gives it as an alternative spelling). No great issues with TOBIT or RES GESTAE, but I suppose being a churchgoing retired lawyer has to have some compensations.
    Gas = CS seemed a bit iffy, but reminded me of the time when the British Government (after using the stuff on Civil Rights protesters in Northern Ireland, or whatever) insisted on calling it “CS smoke” so that they could insist that they weren’t using poison gas, dear me no. (We live in more straightforward times. Nowadays, TPTB would just look you in the eye and lie about it).
    Apart from that, this was a delight, especially ANTHILL, RED SKY AT NIGHT, AVIATOR, ALL THE KING’S MEN, EXPLAIN, and MRS TIGGY-WINKLE.
    Thanks to Imogen and loonapick.

  7. I’m another one who’s never seen or heard that version of Venus’ flytrap. Why is closed = to in 20d?

  8. Andy @6 madman @7 have you never heard somebody say something like “pull the door to, please”? It’s a little obscure maybe and I would have thought it meant nearly closed, but it works for me.

  9. Andy @7, madman @8; Chambers gives to = “In or into a required or fixed position, contact, closed or fastened condition”

  11. RES GESTAE was new for me as was FIACRES (I kept trying HANSOMS to no avail). TOBIT wasn’t a problem (as neither would Judith, Maccabees, Bel And The Dragon be). It pays to know your Apocrypha. I had to check VENUS’S in Chambers (doncha love a dictionary for confirmation 🙂 ).
    I had to come here for the wordplay for ANTHILL, as for some reason I just couldn’t figure out nth.
    Favourite was CURTSEY.
    Now shut t’door. Aye, pull it to.

  13. Ashamed to say I got COROLLA from the car.

    I’m indebted to Richard Osman for HIYA – I remember him saying once on Pointless that he’d been asked why he never said ‘lower’.

    FIACRES reminded me of my customary mode of transport whenever I’m in Vienna. 🙂

    Thanks Imogen for a tough workout, and loonapick for the helpful blog.

  14. Oh, and nice to see James Newell Osterberg Junior make an appearance in MRS TIGGY WINKLE. He’s even older than me.

  15. Lots of brilliant clues. I had to rely on loonapick for parsing TOBIT, SCOTCH and AVIATOR but now I see them I can appreicate them. Favourites = ANTHILL and KEBAB and ADVISORY and, of course, MRS TIGGYWINKLE.

    Thanks loonapick and Imogen

  16. I had to reveal the Latin phrase- I could see the anagram fodder but had no chance to solve it. My father’s old 78 of Jean Sablon helped with FIACRE. I assumed that the extra S in 17a was a mistake until I came here.

  17. I couldn’t parse ANTHILL, and I didn’t understand NTH until the penny suddenly dropped (confused by the capital letters): it would normally be the nth term in a sequence.

    Thanks Imogen and loonapick, though I didn’t enjoy this as much as others have.

  18. I didn’t know RES GESTAE, but it was possible to guess much of it: I had –S -E—E. Being a Latin word, I assumed it ended AE, and the only three letter word ending in S I could remember was RES (thing), which led to RES TESGAE – not the answer!

  19. I found this difficult. Maybe it’s COVID brain fog. FIACRE made me think of Madame Bovary more than Vienna.

  20. Went in in the end but all a bit learned for this dullard.

    Still don’t understand the Iggy reference. Anyone?

    Loved the king’s horses.

    Many thanks both.

  22. Also found this difficult and had not heard of some of the answers – same ones as mentioned above by others. Needed help parsing a few too.

    But there were some lovely clues including: VIRGIL, ANTHILL (made me laugh), RED SKY AT NIGHT, OPERABLE, diversify

    Thanks Imogen and loonapick

  23. Lots to like about this, even the unknown Latin 27ac and the unusual, for me, spelling of the carnivorous plant at 17 ac were fairly clued with anagrams. Needed Loonapick’s explanation for the parsing of AVALANCHE, AVIATOR, and SCOTCH. Both CURTSEY and KEBAB made me smile. My 96 year old Mum is the only person I know who still uses the expression SHYSTER as a term of exasperation with someone’s behaviour. Last one in was ANTHILL, needed Loonapick for the parsing of that one too!

  26. Tough puzzle which I was sure I would not be able to solve, but I presevered.

    Liked DIVERSIFY, ANGST (loi).

    Did not parse 20d.

    New for me: FIACRES, RES GESTAE, TOBIT, MRS TIGGY-WINKLE; WINKLE = extract or obtain something with difficulty (for 9d); TV programme THE SKY AT NIGHT (for 14ac).

    Thanks, both.

  27. Struggled a bit with this, and had to do a few checks before I hit the right combination of vowels for TOBIT, though it does ring a bell now. Also needed loonapick to get the WINKLE bit of the hog. Same reservation as others for VENUSS. Looks really wrong. And why particularly warming for SCOTCH. Why not just drink?

    Apart from that, really rather enjoyed it. Thanks Imogen and loonapick.

  29. Thanks Imogen, that was fun. And thanks loonapick, I needed help with SCOTCH – or rather I need a scotch.

    SATCHEL reminded me I’d recently tried to shoehorn it into a grid where ‘sachet’ was the solution. Can’t remember which crossword.

    I liked CURTSEY for it economy, and OPERABLE for the image.

    In 2d, I imagine it would be dreadful having to go to the gallows a second time.

  30. My solving experience was similar to our blogger’s. FIACRES and RES GESTAE (TILTs) last to go in, the latter through a small (and mostly forgotten, it’s been a long time since school) knowledge of Latin. Did not parse SCOTCH, though now I see why ‘to’ is closed, but did not know CS. And I am another who has never seen a possessive on the plant. Nonetheless lots to like. I did enjoy the humor esp liking CURTSEY, EXPLAIN and KEBAB. Thanks to Imogen and loonapick

  31. [LOL wynsum@29, reminds me of that old joke about the Irishman, and the Englishman and the Scotsman …. it’s okay, I’m of Irish stock 🙂 ]

  32. PS I did have a quibble though: I woukd have thought OPERABLE means able to be operated on or fixable by surgery rather than ready for surgery.

  33. After mentally sighing at Imogen’s name, I started quite quickly, although the TOBIT/RES GESTAE crossers were a bit of a nightmare.

    Surely the hyphen in 17 is in the wrong place or redundant; Collins give VENUS’S-FLYTRAP but Chambers and the ODE have no hyphen. I have always seen VENUS FLYTRAP before. There seemed to be a lot of A words, most of which I liked: AVALANCHE and ANGST for the surfaces, AVIATOR for the misleading ‘flight of birds’, ADVISORY for the topicality (it’s still recommended to keep wearing masks in enclosed areas), and ALL THE KING’S MEN for the ‘scrambled eggs’.

    Thanks Imogen and loonapick for unscrambling MRS TIGGY-WINKLE

  34. Ooh, quite hard, nothing on first read through, but on second I suddenly thought of Mrs Tiggy Winkle, from which I got kebab, and then thought there might be a theme when I put in Fable for the aprocryphal story ha ha! So I kept looking for other characters from stories, and was rather disappointed that there were no more! Obviously I eventually realised my error, and slowly got the others until Tobit and Res Gestae, for which I owe thanks to Bradford.
    But I still couldn’t parse loads of them so thank you loonapick and fellow bloggers for the explanations, and thanks to Imogen for the mental workout!

  35. Those who have done classics at some time in the past mig htremember the RES GESTAE DIVI AUGUSTI, The achievements of the divine Augustus.

    See:

  37. Laughed out loud at the parsing of MRS TIGGY-WINKLE, and thought it was a tremendous puzzle. Like others I struggled with RES GESTAE and TOBIT. Many thanks to Imogen and loonapick.

  38. Thanks for the blog , I can just agree with Drofle@37 above. To get Thatcher and Iggy Pop in the same clue is quite an achievement.
    [ For anyone interested, MrPostMark who often writes essays here has produced his own puzzle, the link is on General Discussion @ 10. Highly recommended , Gladys you will love it ]

  39. Nice one. Great variety of vocabulary – from nursery rhymes and Beatrix Potter to Latinisms and horse-drawn conveyances.

    I knew TOBIT but I don’t recall having met RES GESTAE before. However, I worked it out from the crossers and my residual O Level Latin.

    I’m another who didn’t expect the genitive of VENUS, but it was clear that it had to be.

    A lot of good clues, but my favourite was ANTHILL. I’m surprised the parsing has proved so elusive. Perhaps the expression ‘nth’ is less familiar than I thought – the Italian equivalent ‘ennesimo’ is used by everyone, not just mathematicians!

    Thanks to S&B

  40. Crossbar @ 27

    I think people frequently offer a scotch saying it is “something to warm you up” and it is sometimes referred to as a fiery drink – also people describe feeling warmth spread through them as they drink it.

    Can’t confirm if it does as, despite being Scottish, don’t like the stuff.

  42. 13a: Why is nth the “latest in [a] long sequence”?

    N or n
    noun
    […]
    2. An indefinite number, esp in a series (mathematics), often (informal) implicitly a large number

    to the nth
    1. To any power
    2. Hence (informal) to an unlimited degree

    [Chambers]

    It seems to me that any item in a sequence can be the nth.

  43. Fiona Anne @40 Is scotch particularly good at this? I suppose it’s what goes in a hot toddy. I was trying to get hot chocolate or mulled wine in there 🙂

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned that we have here both our female PMs, MAY and MRS T. Is there any significance to this?

  44. Crossbar @ 40

    [I have no idea if scotch is any better than any other spirit at this.

    The only spirit I ever drink is vodka in a Bloody Mary on a very hot summer’s day and given that the vodka has been in the freezer and ice cubes are added to the drink it is not warming. It is lovely though.]

  45. Crossbar@43

    Female PM’s MAY & THATCHER

    we also have SCAM, ANGST and SHYSTER…I see a theme 😉

  46. Miche@ 42 the Nth term is actually usually the defining general term for a type of sequence .
    For example 1 3 5 ………… ( 2n +1 ) ……….
    When terms are added to form a series we often require the sum to the Nth term . For example for the sum of squares of positive integers – Sum = n(n +1) (2n + 1 )/6 . Here n would be the last term we are summing to.

  50. Thanks both,
    Rox @46. I take ‘nth’ to be the general term in a series. Mostly in maths series have an infinite number of terms so there is no last term. Agreed that capital ‘N’ can be used to represent the last term in a series, but then we should have a capital ‘N’ in the middle of ‘aNthill’.

  51. Late to the party today and not much to add other than my thanks to both setter and blogger. Don’t want to be writing essays … 😉

    PS. Struggled a bit today; with the nho’s already mentioned and a few definitions I didn’t see. SHYSTER beautifully hidden, HIYA lol and AVIATOR COTD.

  53. [Roz @38: you are very kind. There are faults of which I am now aware but I’m still pleased you enjoyed.]

  54. Tyngewick@50 I did not mean that n or N is actually the last term, it is just the symbol used if we are just summing to the nth term. n then becomes the last term in that particular sum . The clue is okay but would be better with series instead of sequence.

  55. Thanks Imogen and loonapick
    I had too many unparsed to enjoy this, though I liked 3d. FOI was 26a, but HIGH rather than HIYA, which works if, as always recommended, you ignore the punctuation. I tried to justify DIVERSING for 15d, but eventually decided it must be wrong.
    I was sure that 17a would start with F, as including it in the anagram makes it strictly an indirect one, though fairly easy to spot.
    I had come across TOBIT – didn’t he wander around accompanied by an angel?

  56. [ PM@53 every crossword has faults, I will mention a few things next week after people have had a chance to do it. ]

  57. Initially this looked daunting but steadily fell into place. TOBIT was LOI and nho.

    So much to admire in the clueing – MRS TIGGY-WINKLE, EXPLAIN, DIVERSIFY, CURTSEY and AVIATOR.

    The Latin phrase popped into my head somehow, which helped a lot.

    Never seen the possessive for that plant before.

    Are CHORISTERS always boys now? Just a thought.

    Thanks Imogen for a tremendous puzzle and to loonapick for the blog

  58. NeilH @5,Ark lark @57
    With plants and birds it is always good to look at Latin names rather than English.
    The plant was originally named Venus’s Flytrap in 1768. The first time it became Venus Flytrap was in 1930 in US. The Latin name Dionaea muscipula means “of Aphrodite flytrap”, the Greek goddess was changed to the Roman goddess so the original name is more correct.
    There is no hyphen in either name. Muscipula can also be translated as Mousetrap.
    Thanks to Wikipedia for info,
    Thanks to Imogen for great puzzle and Loonapick for explanation blog.

  59. [Cliveinfrance
    “Latin name” is a pet peeve; please say “scientific name” (or “scientific binomial”). The derivation of scientific names is often not Latin.]

  60. A good compiler but there were for me one or two sins.

    27 across is an anagram of a Latin phrase that is hardly in everyday use, so really unfair I thought; Pop in 9 down is unindicated dbe, and also very unfair, especially as the context is no help at all; and the likes of FIACRES and TOBIT have no place, again IMO, in a daily puzzle. Aside from that, as they say!

  61. Very enjoyable and decent progress made today.
    Struggled with the obscurities as usual, and MRS TIGGY-WINKLE was an excellent, and unsolved clue.
    The curtain in 1a eluded me, I thought a VALANCE was something that went on a bed.
    Great to be enjoying Cheltenham again.
    Many thanks to Imogen and Loonapick…

  62. Didn’t do very well here. I worked out RES GESTAE from the anagram, but had no idea what it was. I found this which is all as clear as mud…

    Couldn’t parse MRS TIGGYWINKLE at all, or the CS gas, or the NTH in the middle of ANTHILL. I wasted ages trying to make the circular band CORONA instead of COLLAR, but I did finally remember COROLLA from the parts of a flower lesson at school. I just had HIGH (hi!) instead of HIYA.

    Liked VIGIL, ALL THE KINGS MEN, CURTSEY. And Crossbar@25 Thanks for Le Fiacre, which I also remember from God knows where. Hop-la!

  63. gladys @62
    One could argue that HIGH (which I had) is a better answer, as it’s a homophone for all of us, whereas HIYA/HIGHER isn’t for a substantial proportion of the population.

  64. Tough today for me, but most enjoyable.
    Anyone try KLATCH for 20 (CH closing TALK turned up)? Turns out it’s a gathering for drinks rather than the drink itself, but surprisingly close. CURTSEY eventually sorted me out.
    I see nth in 13 in a less mathematical way. If writing out a sequence, you might describe the members as 1st, 2nd, 3rd… nth. So nth is necessarily the last because you’d never write 1st, 2nd, 3rd… nth… 58th, 59th etc.
    Lots of fun. Felt themish (adages, fables?), but apparently there’s none.
    Thanks, Imogen and loonapick.

  65. Didn’t know the Latin and had HIGH first like a lot of others I think. Thought VENUSS a bit wobbly but enjoyed the whole.
    Thanks both

  67. I also went for HIGH and DIVERSING in the SW corner. I had to check more than the usual number of answers – in fact I wound up having a brain reset in the middle and thoroughly enjoyed the shuteye.
    Thanks for the explanations Loonapick as I needed them today. In the end I did enjoy the entertainment Imogen.

  69. Jimmy @68
    Because it’s an example of a plant…
    For various reasons, I don’t think it’s a good clue.

  72. Alphalpha
    I assume you get the “to bit(s)” part. Tobit is a book in the Apocrypha of the Bible (i.e. the parts that are even more dubious than the rest!)

  74. muffin @55 and tlp @60 more or less sum up my reactions. Fortunately, I lived in Oxfordshire for a while, so I knew HIYA (ubiquitous there, never heard here).

  75. [ Roz@38, many thanks for drawing attention to PostMark’s puzzle on My Crossword. (See PostMark@10 on General Discussion for the link to the puzzle.) I don’t look at General Discussion as often as I should, so I am grateful for the mention on the main blog page. If his puzzle is as engaging as his comments on this blog, it will be worth the effort. I look forward to trying this crossword tomorrow, and I will be interested in your reaction to it in due course. ]

  77. Took me a long time to complete but just kept plugging away, such is the satisfaction of cryptic crosswords. @phitonelly, I also had KLATCH for 20D, which I thought was a nicer solution than SCOTCH, but suspected it was wrong, finally confirmed by CURTSEY but needed to come here for the parsing, likewise for TOBIT.

    First time for me to post here, but been using this site for a little while, grateful for the comments and discussion, nice sense of community ?

Comments are closed.