Guardian Cryptic 28,717 by Qaos

74 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,717 by Qaos”

1. Completed correctly but entered ‘eyeleteer’ with a hopeful shrug. Completely missed the theme, as usual, and, despite endless repeats, I am not sufficiently familiar with ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’

2. I managed to find the theme (Qaos always has a theme) by taking all the first names I could see (Mary Annie Violet Harry George) and putting them to Professor Google. I was expecting some Enid Blyton gang but “It’s a Wonderful Life” came back.

3. thanks q and m! Completely missed the theme… (wrong time of the year maybe?)

4. Thank you Qaos and manehi.

   Not as tricky as some recently but I struggled with MASTIFF. The clue leads me to MAS+STIFF. I can’t see how “mother’s” drops the possessive and spent a long time googling TIFF to see if it could mean “tough” but to no avail.

   Also not so sure about “capital” meaning first letter when they aren’t capital letters, but I think I can just about see it.

   Missed the theme of course but at least I sensed there was one.

   Despite quibbles above, I enjoyed this.

5. Thanks Qaos and manehi. It needed a Google search to identify the theme: not one I would have spotted unaided. Liked the clues for HARRY, ENGAGING, LEAP YEARS, PHOEBUS. Didn’t know the gizmo was called an EYELETEER (I’d have guessed eyeletter, but the parsing said otherwise). Didn’t get GSOH, and OTTER is far from the first “fur” to come to mind.

6. There’s also George’s younger brother HARRY, and the BELL that means an angel has gained its wings.

7. Strewth! There’s a bloke down there with no STRIDES on.

   Thanks Paul Hogan for helping me to get 21a.

   I’m another theme-misser. Liked ENGAGING for the surface, also smiled at YOOF, and I think BELL works as a whole-clue definition, as well as being a dd. Not so keen on WORDLESS though; spent some time thinking about possible Morse code/WIRELESS connections.

   Thanks Q & m

8. Thanks both. Enjoyed that.

   Very minor quibble re 12a. Shouldn’t the ‘or’ in the clue be ‘and’ since we’re looking for multiple years?

   Also not convinced about Bailey = jester.

9. Thanks Qaos, well up to the usual standards of brain-mangling entertainment.

   And thanks manehi – I can’t believe I didn’t spot the theme, even though I remembered to look for one. How many times have I seen that film?

   Favourite clue was the neat temperature-change trick for HARRY.

   essexboy @7 – I don’t need to click on the link – exactly the same thing came instantly to mind on solving 21a. Almost certainly the first time I came across that particular Australianism.

10. Got the theme at the end as there were so many names on the completed grid.
    Favourites were HARRY for the temperature trick and ANGEL.
    Shirl @2 lists HARRY who was also a BAILEY character in the theme.
    The other theme word is BELL which rings when an angel has earned his wings.

11. Quite enjoyable, although the “theme” was wasted on me. Hadn’t heard of Bailey Jester and only found them through Google. “Yoof”?!

12. Apologies Andrew@6 for our crossing posts.

    essexboy@7 “Thanks Paul Hogan for helping me to get 21a.” No wukkers mate.

13. Enjoyed this though found it quite tough and failed to parse a few. Did not get the theme but then I have never watched the film – just seen a few extracts.

    Like manehi I liked SPEARMINT and ANGEL.

    Also liked RAN, PHOEBUS, ENGAGING

    Thanks Qaos and manehi

14. Enjoyable puzzle with some good constructions and surfaces, but some that are not up to Qaos’s usual high standards – in particular the clue for FORD is very weak, the surface for the unlikely EYELETEER (LOI) is nonsensical and I wasn’t a fan of the double defs. I did like HARRY, GOWER, STRAW MAN, ENGAGING and SAGAS.

    No theme leapt out for me – I was distracted by GEORGE GOWER, ANNIE Lennox and Dave STEWART 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

15. Enjoyed most of this today. I got through all but one clue fairly quickly.

    Like essexboy@7 I got rather hung up with morse code on 18ac, expecting this to be the ‘ess’ bit, but couldn’t make WORDL or WIREL into anything recognisable. Still, it kept the entertainment going for a bit longer!

    Guessed there was probably a theme, given the prevalence of proper names, but it means nothing to me.

    Thanks to Qaos an manehi.

16. Loved this, found it quite tricky and failed to get the theme, but 18d made me laugh out loud when I finally got it.
    Not sure about 23a either.
    Thanks Qaos and manehi for parsing, especially 16d, 22d and 23d which I guessed but could not parse.

17. Like Essex Boy at 7, I’m indebted to Paul Hogan for introducing me to STRIDES – although I’d always assumed the word was a hoganism and didn’t really exist.
    You’ll be telling me next that budgie-smugglers are a real thing…
    As for the theme: I love that film and have seen it oodles of times. Without manehi’s help, however, I wouldn’t have spotted it in a million years. Hey ho.
    Great crossword though! Thank you Qaos and manehi

18. Despite my age and the annual repeats, I’ve managed to miss seeing the film every time – not deliberately, as James Stewart has always been a favourite of mine.

    I really enjoyed the solve but it was tantalising – all those names had to be significant – so, when I’d finished, I went to Qaos’ website (as I usually do, when I remember) and found “Hope you have a wonderful time solving my latest Guardian crossword”, so did as Shirl did and googled the names plus ‘wonderful’ – and there it was. (I really must watch it next Christmas.)

    My favourites were SPEARMINT, HARRY (clever), STEWART, GOWER (my son used to deliver his newspaper), ANGEL, GSOH and BAILEY. YOOF made me laugh. I agree with essexboy re BELL.

    Many thanks to Qaos for a lot of fun and to manehi for a great blog.

19. Not a write-in for me as I needed some help from Google for GK such as GSOH, Beds = Bedfordshire, racing driver Jackie Stewart, etc.

    Liked BILLY GOAT, HARRY, POTTER, FORD, SPEARMINT.

    New for me: PHOEBUS, YOOF, EYELETEER, GSOH.

    Did not parse 1d (only got as far as anagram of thongs less nt); 23d BAILEY apart from def = court [have never heard of the comedian Bill BAILEY].

    Thanks, both.

    * Did not pick up on the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life as I have never seen this 1946 movie.

20. Well, Qaos sneaked that theme past me good and proper. Maybe if CLARENCE had been there… I love that film, in which there is so much truth and so many memorable lines – “Why do we have to have so many children?” LASSOing the moon is a thematic not mentioned above. And FALLS is perfectly pukka, though I neither solved it nor saw it once solved. So an emphatic score-line of at least Q2, K0.

21. No idea about the theme. Happy to get GOWER the cricketer. Not disappointed. The crossie was eminently solvable without knowing the rest. Glad I came here though before looking up BAILEY et al.

    Agree MattwillD@4 with your reading of MASTIFF.

    [I didn’t know STRIDES was an Australianism.. For a change I didn’t have to check UK equivalents.
    We also have ‘daks’ which I’ve just discovered was a brand name and later became a generic term for trousers.]

22. Meanwhile I was distracted by 11a HARRY 22d POTTER and found some relevant references to GEORGE and ANNIE Weasley and MARY Cattermole, and something to do with a Flying FORD Anglia as well as Prof. PHOEBUS Penrose from the Ministry of Magic. I am not very familiar with the JK Rowling series and actually prefer her W. Galbraith Cormoran Strikes, so I just thought I was missing some of the other thematic mentions. (I also found WARTS reversed in 5d STRAW MAN though I couldn’t see the HOG part!). so I came here only to find how wildly off track I was. Never mind, I loved lots of the clues especially 13a STEWART (another WART there!), 21a STRIDES (reminded me so much of my dear old Dad), 26a SNIFF, 3d GREY-HAIRED, 18d WORDLESS and 19d RESTORED. Thanks to Qaos and manehi, also to others who spotted the actual theme and all the links.

23. Another one for whom the theme sailed over my head, but I’ve never seen the film either. Came here to check the parsing of FALLS, for which trips = falls, but I couldn’t see the rest. POTTER made sense, slowly. I’ve used eyelet tools and eyelets, never seen them called EYELETEERs.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi for a fun steady solve.

24. Thanks manehi, I couldn’t see why WARTS meant skills, d’oh! Also thought there must have been a famous old jester called BAILEY as, without knowing the theme (I know i should probably watch the film one Christmas!) that was a big guess – so I think that one is a little weak.
    Cyniccure@8 I thought the same as you at first but now am reconciled: Q: Which were your favourite Leap Years? (asked nobody ever) A: Perhaps 2020 or 2000. Grammatically a bit dodgy maybe but “and” would ruin the surface I think.
    On the other hand I think “drinking” works better grammatically in 13A and preserves the surface.
    MattWillD@4 if you think of Mother’s = Mother HAS, not IS, then it works. And I think you have to think of capital in its sense of being the head of something (like a totem pole) – that one took me a long time, very sneaky. (POTTER also held me up ages even after getting the excellent HARRY.)
    Gervase@14 yes I wonder if Roz would endorse “made in space-time, reportedly” as an alternative?
    Despite the above I found this one really ENGAGING, thanks Qaos.

25. Komornik @20 – I suspect nothing short of “Zuzu’s petals” would have given it away for me.

    (And I’m welling up just writing it down.)

26. I enjoyed this a lot – despite having never seen the film. Not really sure ‘jester’ = ‘comedian’ = ‘any comedian’, but hey ho.

    I had HONEY (badger) rather than HARRY for a while, which didn’t help. NHO EYELETEER, but perfectly gettable.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

27. JinA @22: you’ve made me laugh! What a wild goose chase but, having followed around said waterfowl on plenty of occasions myself, I can only sympathise. It has just enough ‘themed’ entries to make you sure you’re onto something. Many others appear to have had similar experience to me – lots of names that looked as if they belong together but no real sense of how to link them. I’ve seen the movie years ago but, tbh, couldn’t name a character from it. I wondered about monarchs when GEORGE, HARRY and MARY STEWART all appeared but that’s as close as I got.

    Some real gems, imo, with GSOH coming in at the top. BILLY GOAT was a write-in from Connolly but raised a big smile and ENGAGING – not totally dissimilar to GSOH – was my third fave. I’m more familiar with used car ads than dating apps (sad sign of age!) but both seemed to reflect the tone of their respective publications.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi

28. Gosh that was a struggle. I thought I’d managed to parse some of my guessed answers, but thanks to manehl I realise I missed some. Grr! 22d in particular… Memo – always read clues CAREFULLY.
    On 14a MASTIFF, I put on my headphones and checked the pronunciation of “tiff” in Collins online – to my surprise, it is “tough”. But OED Brit. is clearly “tiff” as it jolly well should be. Their US is, I would say, “tough”ish. There’s no homophone indication, so forget it…
    Thanks to Qaos for the workout

29. Found this an uneven solve. Strangely had no problems with solving and parsing all the across clues, but ended up with slight question marks for some of the down ones: WORDLESS, POTTER, BAILEY and YOOF. Thought ENGAGING rather clumsy, but liked ANGEL. And clueless about the theme as usual. But perhaps clueless is the wrong term to use here…

30. For once I actually looked for a theme (royalty? Angel Falls?) but still missed it. Just don’t know the film that well. It was fun though, so thank you Qaos and manehi.

31. Good crossword, although like JIN @22 I assumed the theme was HARRY POTTER, not being particularly au fait with the characters.

    I liked HARRY, although I didn’t parse it at the time, SEA MONSTER – good surface, and RESTORED with its two wines.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

32. Thanks Qaos & manehi. A lot of fun, and then a wild-goose / red herring chase to no avail until I came here.
    Cricketers GOWER & Alec STEWART (or MARY novelist), monarchs, HARRY POTTER, vehicles BED FORD (van) & BUS, musicals …
    I liked ANGEL for its apt newspaper definition.
    To add to the theme, f-RAN-k’s central position might suggest Capra?
    Not sure I understand POTTER – is it that he’s eleven years old in the first book?

33. Wynsum@32 – The 11 refers to the answer to clue 11A, which is HARRY.

34. Thanks Larry@33. Doh! Of course 🙂

35. What would we do without Hollywood? Never-ending stories about the Oscars as well!

36. Loved the film but didnt notice the refs
    I was unfamiliar with the anag of GOSH
    So nicely blogged

37. I think there’s a bit more to 18 than the fact that there are no words in the clue. There’s an ellipsis mark, ellipsis being “the omission of one or more words in a sentence, which would be needed to complete the grammatical construction or fully to express the sense” (OED).
    So “…” means that there is a WORD LESS than would be expected (or more than one WORD LESS).

38. Like several others I saw all the names, thought there must be a theme and so put them in google. Never seen the film.
    For some reason I’d always thought GSOH was quite dated slang but according to Ngram it’s mainly become popular since the 1990s.

39. Like pm@27, for me, for a while, the theme looked like it might be royalty, but I saw a few more: GEORGE, MARY, BILLY(William), ANNIE (Anne), HARRY (Harold, and possibly Henry) and STEWART. That’s quite a lot for a miss! Still, very nice puzzle.

40. I had a vast number of hmms with this one: 10 across, that’s for i.e., 11 H for C substitution unfair, 12 nounal indicator and the use of midfield, 13 plural usage for the container, 19 indirect and dbe, 21 didn’t like steal much as a containerind, 22 what is the to doing, 24 Billy dbe and the second use of go with that meaning, 28 plural usage with get; in the downs, 1 is not a word, 3 Grey is dbe, plus use of a=1 where the i is also present, 4 unfair punctuation, 5 about in that position, 7 boot for the last letter, 15 is scary a good anagrind, 16 around in that position, 18 nonsensical, 19 didn’t like takes much, 22 unfair construction with 11p, 23 & 24 not exactly narrowing down the field of jesters and inventors, 27 not a homophone clue.

    Bumpy ride on a Tuesday for me.

41. Goodness tlp @40: I’m sure you’ve had beefs with more clues than there are in the actual puzzle 😉

42. Unfair puzzle, I thought, from my Texas perspective. GSOH is just uncommon and its use legitimizes any arcane acronym. I did get that THONGS w/o N was a possible path to the answer, but lost after that.

    23D was another loser. One would guess BAILEY only if you spotted the theme. Otherwise comedian reference weak.

    7D ENGAGING was very clever and amusing.

    For fans of the movie, don’t forget LASSO as George promised Mary he would lasso the moon.

    I didn’t spot the theme, but will try to remember this peculiarity of Qaos puzzles.

43. Thanks Qaos for the fun. I enjoyed the compact clues like FORD, ANNIE, ANGEL, SNIFF, MARY, and BELL. I was another who thought the theme might be HARRY POTTER related but that led nowhere. Thanks manehi for the blog.

44. I think we must give Qaos a pass at least for the 11p moment @ 22d, as this is the sort of thing that crops up in the Grauniad all the time, in the style of the in-deeds and other things that their solving community has become prepared to accept. I have a feeling TLP said as much in a recent post, so not sure why he’s sticking the stiletto in here. Maybe he couldn’t get Qaos for dbe on that one?

45. Bit of a weird one this, and I missed the theme. I’m not sure quite why, but it just felt like an uncomfortable experience, with nothing slotting into place as it sometimes can. A battle to the death. Anyway enough said, weird one.

46. Indeed, PostMark @41. Our fellow-traveller, tlp, seems to have chosen the wrong nom de guerre; instead he should be Diogenes, as I feel sure he sleeps in a tub and goes around during the hours of daylight with a lamp seeking to no avail to find an honest clue.

47. the last plantaganet@40 I disagree with a couple of your quibbles (which does not mean that I agree with the rest, though I see your point on a few). 19a F – RAN – K from Sinatra may be dbe but is indicated as such by the question mark, and if it is indirect then so what – my list of known Sinatras runs to two, how about yours? 3d Grey from Earl is surely not a dbe – the other way round would be.
    Tom_I@37 that is a fine observation, thank you as I did wonder why the ellipsis was needed at all.

48. I was clueless about the theme (same mistake as our blogger). All I could see were cricketers GOWER, STEWART, BELL, BAILEY

    I tend to agree with lady gewgaw @45

    Not that difficult but an odd solve.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi

49. I thought Bailey referred to Jester Bailey, the musician.

50. Jester could be referring to the character played by American comedian, Laura Bailey, in The Mighty Nein.

51. Really enjoyed this. Sometimes I don’t bother finishing a crossword if I need to be doing other things, but I got close with this one, so stuck at the tougher ones, and they were nicely rewarding.

    As a videogamer of a certain age 18D worked really well. Often older games would have characters who were speechless display a speech balloon with “…”. Genuinely, some of the best “dialogue” I’ve seen in videogames has been “…” (And that’s not a dig at the quality of writing in videogames. Most of it is indeed pretty poor, but there are a few good’uns, and a well placed “…” and a forlorn facial expression can say more than words ever could.)

52. I spotted the theme for once but miffed I didn’t look at 11 for POTTER which defeated me. RESTORED also connected to theme as they restored the crumbling house.

    Thanks both

53. thank you for explaining 22d. I should have looked at 11ac.

54. Gazzh@24

    Thank you. Not convinced by “Mother has” as a construct but it’s better than anything I came up with.

55. It must be that, however, as the possessive seems a bit wrong. The confusion arises as the next part of the wordplay starts with an S.

56. Widdersbel @25: I agree with you. It is quite a handkerchief-intensive film: the clinching moment for me is when Clarence answers George’s remark about his brother’s war heroism. As a believer in goodness (despite what 49 other people may think) I just hope that every generation contains enough people who get to see that film, and realise that we cannot know whether our good actions are ‘wasted’ (I say they never are) or not.

57. Good theme. I missed it despite looking for it and having familiarity with the film, which I found quite disturbing the first time I saw it (found it all too convincing until the angel arrives). Nothing much to add, except a really strange parsing of GEORGE that I manufactured: EGGS eating good = EGs, then turned up = GE OR GE. The “OR” doesn’t really work, but I was too invested in the idea by then to give up! Easy when manehi explains it 🙂 .
    Faves: HARRY (loved the cold to hot idea) and ENGAGING (nice used car ad surface).
    Thanks, Q & M

58. MattWillD @54: Gazzh’s interpretation is the right one, I think. It’s a device which pops up quite frequently and used to irritate me a lot, but I have now become numb to it!

    The reason it jars with me is that ‘s is a contraction of both ‘has’ and ‘is’, and out of context is always the latter. ‘Steve’s a pig!’ would normally be interpreted as ‘Steve IS a pig’ and not ‘Steve HAS a pig’. The same problem doesn’t arise with other persons of the verb: ‘I’m’ can’t be confused with ‘I’ve’.

    I’m surprised tlp @40 didn’t pick up on this! 🙂

59. Gervase @ 58 (with tongue firmly in my cheek)

    It’s context-dependent:

    Agree about “Steve’s a pig”, but “I part-own a pig whereas Steve’s a pig of his own” works fine.

60. Simon S @59: Exactly. The problem is that the device is used in clues without the contextual clue to the correct interpretation.

61. I solved half, but most were guesses that I either did or didn’t manage to parse later. Strides struck me as weak because if you know the slang for Australian trousers (which happily I did), the cryptic part of the clue is unnecessary. Which is a pity becsuse I could have solved thst one.

62. Totally gave up on this one. Too long out of the dating game to have ever seen GSOH, which has many other meanings, including:
    Good Salary, Own Home
    Got Syphilis On Holiday
    … mixed feelings on whether I’d pick one!

    For 18D, I put in ELLIPSIS, which totally messed up all the crossers.

63. That was very enjoyable – all the more so because I didn’t see tlp@40’s nits. STEWART, POTTER and LEAP YEAR were crackers and all fair in my eyes.

    I could see lots of names but didn’t have the nous to do what Shirl@2 did. Eventually, I concluded it was a HARRY POTTER theme because I’ve not read the books.

    eb@7 – 🙂 thanks for the link: I’d forgotten that ad and reference.

    GSOH – in the Olden Days, before t’internet dating, people would place ads in newspapers. Almost inevitably, their ideal partner was required to have a GSOH. I had wondered if that had always been the case. Perhaps it was unused until one day someone asked for a GSOH and, if you omitted it, it would appear that a good sense of humour was either optional or not required in a future partner? Curiously, NSOH didn’t take off.

64. We enjoyed this. We also had honey instead of Harry which caused some head scratching.
    And I thought an eyeleteer was the person wielding the eyelet machine, as in musketeer.
    How wrong I was!

65. [The other day, my four-year-old great-niece started a question with “In the Olden Days,…” and it took me a while to work out she was referring to when she one, ie three years ago!]

66. Excellent (again). Even though I have seen the film countless times, I still shed a tear, “sentimental old fool”, my wife says.
    Can someone enlighten a terminally stupid person how ‘perhaps 11’ = POTTER?
    I’m not sure I really get 18d, either.
    Thanks both, looking forward to reading the blog with a smug face after a rare completed puzzle.

67. @26 Jim & @64 Scotblok: yes…the honey bear and the honey badger made for a clever misdirection, didn’t they?

68. @66 Hoof It You Donkey: Larry solved the conundrum in @33 (it puzzled me too)

69. AndrewTyndall @68, thanks. Luckily gettable from the wordplay. Makes a change from a clue relating to snooker.

70. Like Calgal @62 I was unable to solve GSOH. I agree with tlp that this is not a word, but to some extent I’m kicking myself because I had the wordplay, but couldn’t make a word out of (t)HO(n)GS except HOGS, which of course didn’t fit with the crossers! Or the definition, unless it’s a very strange dating site.

    I would pick a fight with tlp about 24a ‘Connolly’ being a definition by example. It seems more like a hint to me, in the same way that ‘Earl’ hints at GREY, and is therefore fair. But still difficult.

    I stared at the almost finished grid for hours, but still didn’t spot the theme. Probably haven’t watched that James Stewart movie since my daughters were of pre-school age. (Hint: last century.)

    Thanks to Qaos for the tussle, and manehi for the elucidation.

71. Well it was a good crossword. Qaos and his themes – tsk; certainly displays a GreatSOH. I thought SPEARMINT was a superb clue – surface, wordplay and definition all set out beautifully.

    Harry Bailey was a well-known comedian back in the day (but I can find no video) to the extent that “acting the Harry Bailey” is still a term for playing the fool in certain areas.

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi.

72. As always I come here late, so my plea probably won’t be seen by many. But to all those who comment that they haven’t seen the film, honestly you really should. It is an all time great masterpiece. It’s shown every Christmas, but worth watching any time of the year. I would suggest right now. Anyone who cried in 2008 when as taxpayers we all dipped in to save the struggling banks will probably cry again! I’ll spoil no more. Don’t be fooled by “feel good” descriptions though: it’s dark, with a hateful villain who would feel right at home today.

    Knowing Qaos I was looking for a theme, and when the unusual grid revealed those three short words in the same column, BEDS FALLS FORD, it was a Wonderful moment. The theme didn’t help with solving, but added to the fun. I feel sympathy for non-British solvers who don’t know the jester BILL BAILEY, but he is very funny, and The Guardian is a British paper. And we Brits do know about American films!

    EYELETEER was new but made sense HARRY was a clever trick (certainly not unfair as the minority view has it.

    Thanks to both, and watch that film as soon as you can.

73. Just finished reading this blog, so PostMark@41 and Spooner’s catflap@46 probably won’t see this.

    I enjoy reading tlp’s comments. Clearly he gets more pleasure from finding fault than he does from solving. This one, @40, was a gem – complaints about 21 out of 33 clues, his best score ever. It reminds me of my time in academia, where the principal hobby for many is lamenting the incompetence and stupidity of others (especially those of us on the administrative side of the institution).

    It would be an interesting challenge for a setter to construct a puzzle that tlp could score 100% on.

74. Theme sailed totally over my head, and I had a proper Finlayson moment with POTTER which was a DNF. Plenty of DNPs as well, but I don’t begrudge them.

    For BAILEY I was thinking of Bailey Junior from Martin Chuzzlewit, who is certainly a card, if not a jester per se. Which is ridiculously esoteric since I love Bill Bailey on QI!

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