Guardian 28,744 – Brummie

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I found this quite easy for a Friday, with some rather obvious clues. A pleasant diversion, though: thanks to Brummie.

We have a theme of various cakes and puddings: I can see APPLE-PIE, various CAKEs: MADEIRA, UPSIDE DOWN, BANANA, MILK (new to me, but apparently there is such a thing as a milk cake) and SEED; as well as CRUMBLE and BAKED ALASKA.

 
Across
9 HOI POLLOI Hard, I say repeatedly, to secure voting for the rabble (3,6)
H[ard] + OI (I say!) twice around POLL (voting)
10 SHAKE To show fear, ruler cried out (5)
Homophone of Sheikh
11 APPLE-PIE It precedes order to make a perfect arrangement (5-3)
A barely-cryptic definition, referring to “apple-pie order”
12 SUNTANNED Star hit hard — browned off (9)
SUN (star) + TANNED
13 MADEIRA Island‘s prosperity assured by militant organisation (7)
MADE (prosperity assured) + IRA
14 CRUMBLE Speed of light and then boom and collapse (7)
C (speed of light) + RUMBLE (boom)
17 BAKED A knight stuck in base, feeling very hot (5)
A K[night] in BED – K for knight as in abbreviations such as KG = Knight of the Garter
20 SPLIT Narrow promontory around large city in the Balkans (5)
L in SPIT
21 GANGWAY Block on street possibly encloses new access for passengers (7)
N in GAG (block) + WAY
22 SIDEBAR Team ban that’s not part of the main article (7)
SIDE (team) + BAR (ban)
24 COLUMNIST Newspaper contributor, a stylite perhaps? (9)
Double definition: stylites were Christian ascetics who lived standing on top of a column (Greek: stylos) or pillar.
26 DANES Race to move centre of range to its top (5)
ANDES with the middle letter moved to the front
28 KRAAL Hutted village, one crossed over by bird going backwards (5)
A in reverse of LARK
29 ALLOWANCE A new local ground grant (9)
(A NEW LOCAL)*
Down
1 WHOA How to move a stop (4)
HOW* + A
2 LIMPID Relaxed, having one day clear (6)
LIMP (relaxed) + 1 D
3 ROSE WINDOW Cathedral feature mounted by bereft woman (name to be inserted)? (4,6)
ROSE (mounted) + N in WIDOW
4 ALASKA State of a city’s vehicle model (6)
A + LA’S (Los Angeles) + (Ford) KA
5 PINNACLE Crown sticks rebellious clan in wood (8)
CLAN* in PINE
6 ASIA When one gains independence as a very large area (4)
I in AS (when) + A
7 CANNIBAL Of whom it might be said: ‘You are what you eat’ (8)
Cryptic definition
8 PEND Hang cage over top of door (4)
PEN (cage) + D[oor]
13 MR BIG Crime boss, mob leader, ends up captured by fighter (2,3)
Last letters (“ends”) of moB leadeR, reversed, in MIG (fighter aircraft)
15 UPSIDE DOWN By contrast, the benefits associated with feathers turned right over (6,4)
UPSIDE (benefits, in contrast to downside) + DOWN (feathers)
16 ENTER Gripped by dysentery? Join the competition! (5)
Hidden in dysENTERy
18 KING LEAR Like gran’s rough play (4,4)
(LIKE GRAN)*
19 PHYSICAL Ship lay at sea to receive chief’s initial examination (8)
C[hief] in (SHIP LAY)*
22 SETTLE Make a home pay (6)
Double definition
23 BANANA Bleat about elderly relative (‘skinny thing‘) (6)
NAN (grandmother, elderly relative) in BAA
24 CAKE Maybe Dundee state wants King Edward’s head (4)
CA[lifornia] + K + E[dward]
25 MILK Married type’s exploit (4)
M + ILK (commonly, though incorrectly, used to mean “type”)
27 SEED Called out Grant’s descendants (4)
Homophone of “cede” (to grant)

95 comments on “Guardian 28,744 – Brummie”

  1. As Andrew says, a pleasant diversion. MILK goes with SHAKE too, of course, and there’s a BANANA SPLIT to add to the sugar rush. The CANNIBAL idea, has been seen already this week in the quiptic. I trust it’s not part of the theme!
    Thanks to Andrew and Brummie.

  3. The parsing for DANES eluded me. Guessed at KRAAL which I have never heard of. Otherwise, as Andrew says, quite gentle for a Friday. Thanks Andrew and Brummie.

  4. Had a Baked (or Bombe) Alaska once as boy, thought the flames were fun. As was this puzzle, a nice gentle potter. Ta both.
    [Not a great sweet fan … favourite taste as a kid was from wiping out with bread the gutter roung the griller after steak-cooking.. yumamy!]

  6. Very gentle indeed for a Friday. Theme helped with ALASKA and like Norbrewer @1, I also linked MILK to SHAKE and BANANA to SPLIT. I was expecting to see Kipling to go with MR (BIG). Nice bit of fun.

    Ta Brummie & Andrew

  7. Only dry bikkies and cheese for me tonight. Not too hard for a Friday and the theme helped. Didn’t know what a ‘stylite’ was, so something learnt along with MILK CAKE. Agree with KVa @5 that ‘By contrast’ at 15d seems superfluous, but maybe there’s more to it.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  8. I’m sorry, Andrew, but I can’t see the problem with ‘ilk in 25ac. All definitions I can find include ‘type’.

  9. Not a write-in for me by any means but for once I managed to parse everything, however I totally missed the end game because I didn’t connect the dots for the theme, so I can’t really give myself too big a pat on the back. It was good to open the blog to reveal the “sweet” theme Andrew detailed and Norbrewer@1 added to – for me, themes are often the icing on the cake in the Guardian puzzles, whereas puzzles from publications like The Times don’t allow that sort of variation in approach. Many thanks to Brummie for an enjoyable chllenge and to Andrew for the bonus element.

  10. I was not surprised to discover a theme; as I was completing this, I felt Brummie had chosen some difficult words with which to populate the grid. COLUMNIST, HOI POLLOI, MR BIG, KRAAL and ROSE WINDOW are, none of them, easy to work with. That said, he was kind to us with the clueing today and this was possibly the most accessible puzzle of the week. Like WordPlodder @7, I’ve learned what a stylite was (is?) and I’m sure that will be helpful. (Some very odd ways that some folk chose to honour their Maker!)

    Norbrewer @8: someone else may have addressed your point by the time I hit Post and I know ‘ilk’ has been discussed before. I think both viewpoints are correct. Andrew is surely referring to the original Scottish phrase ‘of that ilk’ which, strictly, applies to either a location or a family (which in the days of the Clans were, of course, much the same thing). Easy to see how it could extend its meaning to refer to ‘type’ or ‘sort’ and, yes, the dictionaries do now identify that as a straightforward definition of ‘ilk’. It’s in Chambers as ‘Type, kind’ as a noun without qualification (and, oddly, as an adjective (Scot). I can’t imagine it being used that way.) So I think both you and Andrew are right.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  12. Fairly gentle for me but still nice.
    I can’t see why banana=skinny thing. Probably a metaphor I haven’t come across.
    Abbreviations that are never used on their own such as K in K.G. always feel to me a little dubious in crosswords, but they are used enough in that I can’t quibble over it. Where does it stop though. R=radio or D=direction because they appear in RDF? (An obscure and obsolete abbreviation, I admit, but probably still found in dictionaries).

  14. Chambers has “ilk n type,kind.”
    I only remember SPLIT because of the football team Hajduk Split. Does the “skinny thing” in BANANA just refer to a thing with a skin or have I missed something? If I’ve not, it seems a rather broad definition.
    Plenty of MILK puddings as Chris @2 says including Rice, Semolina and Sago.
    There is a P-A-N for cooking in row 7 which may be coincidental
    Favourite was WHOA.

  15. Nice to see “hoi polloi” being used correctly, though I can’t remember when I last saw anybody use the phrase, correctly or incorrectly.

  16. Thanks Brummie, that was fun. No problems apart from a brief flirtation with SUNBURNED for 12a. The theme was evident, too, so by the time I got BAKED I was actively looking for ALASKA.
    I enjoyed WHOA, HOI POLLOI and CRUMBLE, and I agree that “by contrast” seems unnecessary.

  17. PostMark @10: I know that “ilka” in Scots is an adjective meaning “every” – could this be the “ilk” Chambers is thinking of?

  18. ravenrider @15 – I had assumed that the classical reference was an allusion to our famously scholarly Dear Leader, and when I saw 10a I thought there was going to be a theme.
    There was, of course, just not the one I was anticipating (neither DUFF not Spotted DICK making an appearance).
    Good fun for a Friday morning, though I would have been happier with the “move to its top” in DANES had it been a down clue. But thank you both.

  19. A lot of write-ins early on and I felt a bit disappointed by that, but things got trickier and I missed the theme of course. Like ALASKA, WHOA, MILK and DANES. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  20. gladys @17: well, so it is! Never came across that before. And I see there is a phrase – ilkaday – meaning every day but Sunday. How lovely!

    ravenrider @12: it’s a good point you make. My test solver picked me up on a couple of occasions for making that kind of slip (WP separated into the two letters when neither of them work standalone and I think I did the same with C for Companion as in CH). I recently encountered a puzzle using Highness to indicate a single H which was guilty of the same error. But K is OK (excuse pun). It’s in Chambers as a standalone for Kilo and does get used on its own: ‘he weighs 100 kilo’

  21. And there was I thinking we’d managed a whole week without a theme. 😉 I missed it, of course, but it didn’t detract from the clues so I’m happy.

    I rather like “skinny thing” for the BANANA. It made me smile. Banana skin is a common metaphor, after all.

    I didn’t realise there were lots of stylite COLUMNISTs. I’d heard of St Simon Stylitis, though. Should have known he’d have followers.

    Enjoyable and not too taxing. Only really paused a bit with DANES and SEED. I wondered if Cary had anything to do with the latter.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  23. Enjoyed this, romping home without a thought of a theme.

    Taking up PostMark’s points @10, I had The feeling that the trickier words like KRAAL, MR BIG, HOI POLLOI etc were the only possibilities once he’d filled in the theme words.

    Plenty of nice cluing, but not keen on skinny thing to define a banana even though the word play was fairly obvious.

    Enjoyable end to a fine week of crosswords.

    Many thanks, both.

  24. I never heard it called “milk cake”, but the Latin American pastel tres leches (three milks cake) is delicious!

    I still don’t get 6d (ASIA) — does independence become “I”? Why?

    Otherwise a very enjoyable puzzle.

  25. Fun stuff – I got the theme with one to go… but sadly my LOI was nothing to do with the theme, so I got no benefit!

    No problem with ILK, and have gone back and forth on ‘skinny thing’, eventually deciding that its wit outweighs its iffiness.

    NHO KRAAL, and as it’s not a common word, I found the wordplay ambiguous (could easily have been KRAIL).

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  26. That was fun, surprisingly accessible for a Friday Brummie, starting with HOI POLLOI as a write in. Not that the rest was that easy, but all done and dusted in 25 minutes. COLUMNIST made me smile as I knew Simon the Stylite had followers, although I needed some crossers to be reminded of their existence. I also wondered about sunburned before getting to SUNTANNED. Some nice anagrams.

    Thank you to Brummie and Andrew.

  27. I never like it when people say crosswords are easy but that was a piece of cake. Apparently CANNIBAL cake is a thing.

  32. A delicious crossword. I thought “a skinny thing” was funny. I thought of “cannibal sandwiches” before seeing the theme was specifically cakes, which almost-but-not-quite included pinnacle upside-down cake!

  34. And, to give Brummie his just desserts, I suppose you could serve a milkshake after the main course?

  35. I assumed MILK was supposed to go with SHAKE rather than CAKE (though it could do double duty: we have both apple pie and apple crumble and apple cake too.

  36. I’m afraid I felt rather short-changed by this. Too many write-ins (I knew of St Simeon Stylites, so that clue posed no challenge) and bizarre surface readings – and I failed to spot the theme 🙁 .

    Nevertheless, it passed the (short) time pleasantly, and did like LIMPID, MR BIG and HOI POLLOI. ravenrider @15: in what way is HOI POLLOI being used correctly? The usual mistake is to say THE hoi polloi, which is tautological because ‘hoi’ is the Greek definite article – but that’s irrelevant in the clue.

    Thanks to S&B

  37. I enjoyed that tho’ didn’t spot the theme (how could I miss it?)

    Liked WHOA, KRALL, HOI POLLOI – and CANNIBAL made me laugh

    Also never heard of a stylite and thought “by contrast” unnecessary

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  38. The reference to stylites reminded me of the film Simon of the Desert (dir. Luis Bunuel). Hard to imagine a whole film about someone standing on a pillar in the desert.

  39. Enjoyable but, after thinking “look for a theme” most of the way through the acrosses, I saw SIDEBAR and COLUMNIST and thought “Aha! newspapers/journalism” and promptly forgot it. Never did get back to looking for one. Liked those two, plus HOI POLLOI (a phrase I do use, ravenrider @15), GANGWAY, UPSIDE DOWN. Thanks, Brummie and Andrew.

  40. I thought this was largely straightforward but I didn’t quite complete the SE corner largely because I completely failed to see recognise banana as ‘skinny thing.’ So Im glad to see I wasn’t the only one!! As usual I completely failed to spot the theme. Thanks to B and A.

  41. Doesn’t “by contrast” in 15 down (various@various) just indicate that the synonym for “the benefits” has a closely corresponding negative as in ‘downside/upside’? It reduces the options for what is indicated which is always a plus in my book.

  42. Andrew isn’t it MILK SHAKE and BANANA SPLIT? Not exactly puddings or cakes but delicious treats from childhood!
    Thanks Brummie and Andrew for some light Friday fun!

  45. Did not notice the theme until I had completed the puzzle.

    Liked BANANA, MILK.

    I did not parse 26ac (apart from DANES = race of people); or 11ac (it precedes order?)
    Also, A+LA+SKA = car model – oh, I see I parsed it wrong. Also never heard of KA car model.

    Thanks, both.

  46. Shoogled @44 it’s AS(when) + I(ndependence) + A(one) = “very large area”

    I is in Chambers as an abbreviation of Independence

  47. PostMark @20: ravenrider isn’t talking about KG for kilogram but KG for Knight of the Garter, as mentioned by Andrew in the blog at 17a. But I think Brummie is ok here because Chambers does give K as an abbreviation for knight (although Collins for example does not).

    Calgal @24: both Chambers and Collins have I for independence (as well as for independent.)

    I think the general principle is that if a dictionary includes a single letter (on its own) as an abbreviation for a word then it’s ok, even if that abbreviation wouldn’t in practice be used on its own.

  48. Thx to Brummie, what’s not to love about a pudding theme. Lovely clues and some tricky homophones Thx also to Andrew for blog.

  49. Piece of cake…Nice, comfy end to the week for me. Nice after yesterday’s mauling.
    The theme helped with 4d, as I had already solved 17a, BAKED, at this point even I had spotted the theme.
    I am with MILK SHAKE as one of the theme, not a cake, of course, but could quality as a ‘sweet’, li,e BAKED ALASKA.
    Thanks both, now for the blog…

  50. Re. K=’knight’ as in KG: now, several years after switching from The Times to The Grauniad cryptics, I no longer bristle when this feature crops up in a Grauniad puzzle. But the comments above have reminded me that I still think it’s a flaccid and crude device.
    A=affective (SAD), asked (FAQ), as (ASAP) etc.
    B=before (BCE), business (MBA), bitch (SOB) etc.
    C=compulsive (OCD), central (CPU), care (ICU), etc.
    … and so on ad nauseam. Pick a word, any word, and we can probably find it as a component of an abbreviated or acronymed phrase, so it seems to me to be a poor way of clueing letters in the wordplay.
    But then other people aren’t fussed, but get bothered about ilk=type.
    Anyway, I rather enjoyed this straightforward solve. Thank you, Brummie and Andrew.

  52. pserve_p2 @50. I think the rule is what Lord Jim @47 said, and I quote “I think the general principle is that if a dictionary includes a single letter (on its own) as an abbreviation for a word then it’s ok, even if that abbreviation wouldn’t in practice be used on its own.”
    I don’t think some of your examples qualify. That would be carrying things too far.

  53. MILK SHAKE and BANANA SPLIT are familiar from my youth in Queensland climes. I liked the ‘skinny thing’. Made me laugh. Here comes the bride etc. The first treats I sought out when I’d been overseas and came back were those two.

    KRAAL was familiar from my primary school geography book, the one with all the different colours for nations of the former British Empire. (Sorry Brits for the ‘former’, but you still have allies in Queensland. ) Can still remember the black and white sketch.

    Have only ever had BAKED ALASKA in a restaurant. Loved the theatre. But the gas guns they have these days as torches leave me cold 🙂

    I don’t understand why ‘we’ keep on talking about this crossword or that as being too easy or difficult for a Friday, or a Monday, or a Sunday, or any day ….. (cue earworm). I understand the history of crosswords getting more difficult over the week, but I’m happy with whatever’s served up. Brummie’s crossword was an enjoyable ‘surprise’ 🙂

  54. Body Bodycheetah @46 I also parsed it so, would be curious to know how “INDEPENDENCE” = “I”?

  55. paddymelon@53 No need for apologies.I don’t think all Brits are regretting the demise of the Empire.

  57. This all slipped in fairly swiftly and pleasantly enough. Wasn’t entirely sure how COLUMNIST worked, surprised to discover it wasn’t a cryptic poser. Thought the grid very helpful today…

  58. Good fun, but I must say I hadn’t noticed the theme till I came here. Now my mouth’s watering.

  60. HoofItYouDonkey @54. There will be some who decry this, but I can remember the Rhodesian “unilateral declaration of independence” being referred to as UDI.

    I don’t understand all the kerfuffle about ‘knight’=K. Quite apart from KG (and others) and references to politicians or civil servants expecting a K (ok, that’s strictly a knighthood, I guess, but surely it’s near enough?), I’ve just reached the big red book down from its shelf and, guess what:

    *IT’S IN CHAMBERS* 🙂

    KRAAL was quite easy for me, as I remember coming across it as a child when reading Arthur Ransome’s Secret Water, one of his Swallows and Amazons adventures.

    Quite a pleasant change for me to find a Brummie relatively easy, as I’ve struggled for the last year or two with this setter. Was there a theme? 🙂

  61. I had no problem with any of the issues discussed above – except for KRAAL: it’s a word I’ve NHO and, like Jim@25 I wondered about KRAIL (and even KUANA before I had all the crossers).
    Very enjoyable. Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  62. Started late and didn’t see the theme but enjoyable enough anyway.

    I was flummoxed by the clue for DANES because the centre of range is N and I couldn’t see how it moved, doh! I’m another who thinks that if an abbreviation is in dictionaries (particularly Chambers) it’s fair game.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  63. Crossbar@50: I have heard K used in civil service slang, describing someone being upped from CMG to KCMG as ‘getting his K’ – though that would presumably stand for ‘knighthood’ – not to be found in any list of abbreviations, and definitely to be avoided by a setter for any other audience.

  64. Re ILK: I was perhaps being a little provocative in calling the “type” meaning “incorrect”, as it’s so well established now as to make objection to it a lost cause (and an example of the etymological fallacy). The original meaning is “same”, and it’s used in Scottish clan titles such as MacDonald of that ilk, which (presumably) was misinterpreted as meaning “of that kind”.

  65. Seems to me that the SEED/CEDE homophone pair has appeared recently, maybe even twice.

    Danes are a race?

    Didn’t know Ford KA.

    Apparently “one” = A and “independence” = I in ASIA. It’s disconcerting.

    Even cannibals can’t eat themselves.

    Thanks, Brummie and Andrew, for a pleasant diversion.

  66. Sheffield Hatter @60 Yes, IDI…
    Interesting observation about KRAAL and where you first came across it. For me, the word appeared in Prester John, by John Buchan and was committed to memory for some reason.

  68. HoofItYouDonkey @66. Yes, KRAAL is an unusually constructed word, so once met it is hard to forget. I’m pretty sure I had (at the age of 10 or 11) never previously come across a word with a double A, which happens in Dutch/Afrikans but not in English. Unless we include aargh*, which I’d almost certainly have seen in Dan Dare or Roy Lichtenstein.

    *It’s in Chambers!

  69. King Cake is very popular in Catalonia around epiphany, (Gallette de Rois or Coca de Rei) we also have an abundance of milk cakes, (tortas de leche, gateaux au lait,) and Pinnacle Cake is a popular dessert vodka here
    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  70. [sheffield hatter @68: A more familiar ‘aa’ word is probably ‘aardvark’ (which you may have encountered even at the tender age of 11) – also from Afrikaans (double a!) of course. The digraph is also a feature of Finnish, where all long vowels are represented by double letters (where are you, Anna?) and used to be used in Danish to represent the ‘aw’ vowel, now shown by A with a circle above]

  71. Thanks Brummie for an amusing crossword. I didn’t look for a theme so I didn’t find one. I liked SIDEBAR, WHOA, PHYSICAL, and MILK. I have no problem with “ilk” as “type” but it always sounds (to my ears) more appropriate when describing something negative (criminals and their ilk) rather than something positive (humanitarians and their ilk).
    Thanks Andrew for the blog.

  72. [Gervase@70 “Aardvark” translates as “earth-pig,” the ‘-vark” part related to “pork.” There is also an “aardwolf” in Africa, also Afrikaans.]

  73. One more for the sugary edibles theme, whether or not the setter was aware: MR. BIG is a brand of chocolate bar marketed by Cadbury in Canada. “So big they call him Mister.” Size, alas, isn’t everything…

  74. peterM@63 I’ve heard that slang use for K / knighthood too, probably in a TV drama. K for knight is in my Chambers (2014), but not K for knighthood.

  75. Crossbar @74 & peterM @63. Yes, “someone being upped from CMG to KCMG as ‘getting his K’” but I’m not sure this implies the K “would presumably stand for ‘knighthood’”. In context it just means putting K in front of CMG to make KCMG!

    But on the other hand, what does K in KCMG stand for – surely it stands for knight!

  80. All has been said and I pop in merely to applaud CANNIBAL – I’ll use that; very funny.

    Thanks both.

  81. Roughtrade @78 I think the objection to “I” = “Independence in UKIP is that it is not an abbreviation in it’s own right. For example, in UKIP, would “P” = “Party” be acceptable? No…

  83. Thanks to @Lord Jim @47 and everyone else for the discussion of “I” for independence. BTW, I’ve done a little research discovered it’s used in Physiotherapy independent of random acronyms.

    I also found an on-line site for Chambers (which includes K for “chess knight” — that would be confusing!)

    [I recently heard this joke: What is the holiday celebrated in the most countries around the world? Independence Day!]

  86. HoofIt @81: as pointed out by bodycheetah @46 and me @47, according to Chambers and Collins, I for independence is in fact an abbreviation in its own right.

  90. phitonelly @88 yes I really liked the clue. Any other way I can see to parse it makes the ‘one’ and ‘as’ superfluous, which I suspect Brummie (or editor) wouldn’t be happy with.

  91. Not sure if anyone’s still around but in 15 I took “By contrast” to be the first part of a triple def.

  92. I appreciate everyone’s positivity on this blog so I hate to be negative. I absolutely hate it when a clue is clearly indicating a plural yet the answer is singular. Very unfair and poor clueing. CEDE/SEED is such an example.

  93. Fred @92 – glad you like the positivity!

    This is from the Magnificat:

    He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.
    He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.
    He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel:
    As he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

    OK the language is old-fashioned (it’s the 1662 Prayer Book) but no more so than Shakespeare, who has been known to make an appearance in crosswords every now and then 😉 . And ‘seed’ here = ‘descendants’ (plural).

  94. Apple pie
    seed cake
    banana split
    apple crumble
    baked Alaska
    Madeira cake
    I’m late to the party , a busy weekend .

  95. Yes also partying all week bookended by 2 wins.
    Enjoyed this one on plane and just now see why BANANA is skinny!

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