Guardian Cryptic 28,747 by Qaos

58 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,747 by Qaos”

1. Is the second ghost theme Rutherford and Kinematics? I kept looking for more connections there and completely missed the Jules Verne theme.

2. I should add I enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks Qaos and manehi.

3. I knew there must be a theme but just couldn’t see it. Probably braindead after some very tricky parsing.

4. All very fair and I don’t think I have even the quibbliest of quiblets. I needed a bit of help with the check button before 15d and 27 clicked, but liked both when I got them, especially 27. I would have probably have got there in the end but if I don’t complete it early on a work day it nags at me. I think I even parsed everything.
   Thanks Qaos and Manehi.

5. Saw THE SEA and thought of Iris Murdoch – but that went nowhere. Missed the Verne theme completely.

6. Thanks manehi and Qaos. I found this rather trickier than the last Qaos outing of a couple of weeks ago but it all fell into place nicely in the end. Very satisfying, lots of splendid clueing. Likewise I only spotted the theme after completing.

7. Very well sorted out, manehi, thank you.

   Not very happy with being asked to find abroad from current.

   Also, in what sense does sand = polish? Perhaps the dictionary has it, don’t have one to hand today. Always thought of sanding as running down prior to polishing.

   Loved INVENTORS & SEA

   Many thanks both.

8. …rubbing grrr

9. There’s also NED LAND, the Canadian whaler. NED’s hiding in column 10, LAND in SCOTLAND (or ISLAND). Ned and Professor Aronnax escape by means of the submarine’s SKIFF at the end of the book.

   Thoroughly enjoyed this, nice to see VERNE again after Around the World in Eighty Days quite recently. Thanks Qaos and manehi.

10. Your favourites, manehi. There is no 27dn, but 8dn DISMALLY was my favourite too. 🙂

    Found it all a bit hard and laboured, and of course didn’t see the Verne theme, even though I knew there’d be one. Got there in the end. I’m not fond of those bitty clues like MYSTERIOUS, and was trying to make that “enigmatic” because of Elgar. But I find I do like Spoonerisms, so a tick for MOLEHILL.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

11. Good stuff – some tricky clues but all fair. Liked DISCRETIONAL in particular. Forgot to look for the theme even though Q signalled it. Many thanks to Q & m.

12. Tough puzzle. Guessed a few answers and could not parse them: 27ac; 1d (unless it was abroad-> ABROAD but I could work out why); 23d.

    Liked ISLAND, RICH, DISMALLY.

    New: physicist Ernest Rutherford; KINEMATICS.

    I did not see what the theme was unless it was 20,000 Leagues under the Sea – a book I have never read so that is far as I got with the theme.

    Thanks, both.

13. I didnt find the clues too tricky but liked them.
    But after the straightforward theme in Wiglaf this was a tad nebulous for me
    Thanks Q and manehi

14. I feel guilty when compilers go to the trouble of embedding a clever theme and I miss it entirely. Happens all the time …

    Nevertheless I found this very enjoyable and the right level of difficulty. It filled perfectly the 45 minutes while I waited for my car to get new tyres fitted.

    I’m scratching my head over aboard/current though.

15. Make that abroad/current.

16. Felt that moving=abroad, and that ‘current on ship’ could be read as ‘present on ship’ ie aboard

17. Despite downloading the book last week the theme completely passed me by but that didn’t detract from a very enjoyable solve. Double-ticks for COLLEAGUE, DISCRETIONAL and ISLAND
    T’all

18. Liked INCITED, ABOARD, LOSER and ISLAND.
    ABOARD is particularly brilliant.

    Thanks, Qaos and manehi!

19. Re abroad = current

    There are abroad in the world today two tacit answers to the perennial question, “What is the meaning of life ?

    Sort of close-enough-ish?

20. essexboy@19

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    sorta kinda close-enough-ish, but a bit round-about-ish

    ‘a rumour is abroad that she has resigned’

    Curious to know those two tacit answers.

21. Yes, I missed the theme completely, too. I really enjoyed it anyway. I couldn’t see how abroad=current, but it had to be ABOARD whatever, and now it’s been pointed out here I see it works OK. Lots of really good clueing here, imho: some great surfaces, good range and variety of devices, no dodgy single-letter abbreviations, a good dollop of wit. Lovely.

22. I don’t feel guilty, GDU @14, but I do feel a bit dim, especially when it’s a well known one. I had a brief look post-solve … no lightbulb. Good puzzle ntl, ta Q and m.

23. I think 2d is a double definition: “top darts” (at the top of the board, as our blogger says) and “score” (an old word for twenty).

    Good fun, though I wasn’t quite awake enough to see the theme. Thanks Q and M.

24. For 3d, I had ghosT themE elgaR (ultimately) for the TER bit.

25. Very enjoyable, missed theme but not sure it would have helped. Why is RICH a synonym for STRONG?? Thanks Q and m

26. Highly enjoyable puzzle from Qaos. For once, I was on the lookout for a theme, but failed DISMALLY (great clue) to find one 🙁

    I had no problem with ‘current’ = ABROAD, in the sense of ‘all around at present’. (It is one of the meanings listed in Chambers…).

    Thanks to S&B

27. PS I agree with Quirister @23 that TWENTY is a DD

28. SinCam@25 One could make a forceful remark about something, and get the response “That’s a bit RICH coming from you!”

29. Sincam@25, think of something with a rich/strong flavour perhaps?

30. I also managed to spot the theme (partially) after finishing.

    The cryptic grammar in 1a seemed a bit odd to me – can “moves Mars it” mean that “Mars it” moves? But on reflection perhaps it’s saying that (the word) ARTEMIS moves “Mars it” (and) blocks E, so ok (I think). But in 11a, I’m not convinced that “bonnet” can mean “first letter” – maybe just about if it had been the first letter of the car, ie (F)ORD, but it’s not.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

31. Hovis @24 – good spot on the TER. I parsed it the same way as manehi, but your take is more satisfying.

32. For those who don’t mind using a dictionary to find out what words mean the BRB has “abroad adv in or to a foreign country;…….; current;…”
    That was the only clue that gave me pause for thought, although not for the meaning of abroad/current but for the order of the wordplay.
    Otherwise I didn’t find it as tricky as others seem to have done, despite missing the theme completely until I came here.
    Favourites were DOLPHIN when I finally worked it out and ISLAND although I did wonder whether the definition should have been “No man” (is an island) until the penny dropped.

33. Practically what pserve_p2 @21 said – lovely puzzle indeed.

    The Spoonerism is one of the best I’ve seen.

    I parsed MYSTERIOUS as manehi did but I like Hovis’ version @24 – and I agree with Quirister @23 re SCORE.

    Many thanks to Qaos, as ever, for the fun and to manehi for a fine blog.

34. Well, it’s Qaos, so there’s a theme. I noticed 20,000 but still failed to see it, doh!

    My picks were DISCRETIONAL, for the slipped disc, DOLPHIN for the ‘no good holding’ surface, CAMBODIAN for the river snake, and MOLEHILL for a good Spooner’s.

    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

35. Curiously, I found this straightforward. Clean clueing and good surfaces. So many good clues — and I found I got so many from the wordplay, including the spoonerism, which was nicely done.

    Chambers has ABROAD = CURRENT (seventh entry). One arcane clue out of thirty is a good hit ratio for me. Job well done, Qaos!

    Despite knowing Qaos’ offerings are themed, I rarely spot them, including this one!

    Thanks Qaos for the fine puzzle and manehi.

36. Thanks manehi and nice highlighting – I only spotted the theme when switching from phone to paper over half way through, and it didn’t help at all but nor did it intrude, which makes it perfectly judged for me. I found this tricky too but very satisfying as it gradually unravelled.
    Thanks everyone for clarification of “abroad”.
    My tiniest of gripes is that “Darts” in 2d is unnecessary and actually worsens the clue, as “score” = 20 but “Top darts” does not, whereas in the world of darts (which does not need to be explicitly stated, just as we do not mention cricket each time it is used) 20 = Top, and “Top score” is a nice succinct dd.
    Anyway I thought this had a lot of misdirection and good variation in devices used, many highlights from the short 12A to the long18A, thanks Qaos.

37. Found this tricky (especially SEA and the latter part of MYSTERIOUS) but enjoyable, despite one or two well-I-suppose-so equivalences like abroad=current. I didn’t look for the theme until the end, when I saw MYSTERIOUS ISLAND but didn’t initially connect it with Jules Verne (was it an Enid Blyton?) until TWENTY THOUSAND dropped the penny. Needed the crossers to be sure which way round CAIN/CANE worked.

    Favourites INVENTORS, THOUSAND, DISMALLY, MOLEHILL, ISLAND. And surely there must be a DOLPHIN somewhere in 20,000 Leagues?

38. I thought that TWENTY was both double definition and clue as definition, which was clever, though I like Gazzh’s idea too. One of my favourite Qaos puzzles, with a theme that enhanced rather than distorted.

39. Enjoyable puzzle. I liked everybody’s favorites. Completely missed the theme, even though I looked for one. Thanks, Qaos and manehi.

40. Held up slightly by being convinced THOUSAND ISLAND dressing was part of the theme…

41. Thanks Qaos for the amusement with DISCRETIONAL, INVERNESS, DISMALLY, and ISLAND being favourites. I couldn’t solve DOLPHIN or RICH and couldn’t parse ABOARD. Thanks manehi for the blog and revealing the theme which escaped me.

42. Totally missed the theme but good fun. Favourite was MYSTERIOUS

    Ta both

43. For me, this was one of those where after getting about halfway I hit a complete brick wall but after a few hours break I returned and finished the rest fairly quickly. It never ceases to amaze me how you can read something completely differently after an intermission. A tough puzzle but nothing too obscure. Theme, what theme? Doh!!
    Thanks Qaos and manehi.

44. I like themes, but I’m wondering if today’s helped anyone get any clues (it didn’t help me because I missed it completely, despite looking), or even if it was the setter’s intent.

45. Gladys @ there may be, but there certainly is a UK Naval establishment called DOLPHIN to the bottom of which sank HMS Artemis, a submarine.
    Rutherford worked on sonar for submarines, or their detection, or both in the first war, as a company called INDRA does now. Knowing Qaos, we’ve probably missed more references.
    Super stuff, thanks to Q and M.

46. Very enjoyable. Thanks Qaos and Manehi. Despite initially expecting a theme I also missed it. Now you’ve alerted me though, isn’t that Nemo himself (in both books referenced, I believe) lurking backwards at 9a?

47. Remembering to look for a theme, I constructed one that I assumed was something beyond my ken: two inventors named Rutherford and Rich, colleagues from Inverness, Scotland, whose field was kinematics. No? Verne would have been much easier.

48. I had the same experience as JerryG@43. Blank wall until a return some time later and then skipped through it. Some fine clues as noted by many but for me Qaos uses too many indirect subtractions (FUNDER (founder), KINEMATICS (schematics), RICH (Richard), RUTHERFORD (truth) (and SKIFF from ‘stiff’ to stretch the point)) for my comfort. Not that I seek comfort in a crossword but this particular device is one that I find unfair, requiring a level of clairvoyance that I don’t possess.

    But thanks to both anyway.

    Rooftrouser@46: Nemo was well spotted by our esteemed blogger.

49. I saw the theme at the very end, after everything was all filled in. I might have seen it earlier if THOUSAND hadn’t been my LOI. Anyway, count me as another for whom the theme wasn’t a solving aid today.

    This may be the first time I’ve done a puzzle–cryptic or American-style, for that matter–where the language’s most common word, THE, appears as a stand-alone entry. This proposition is Google-proof, though, so it’ll have to go unproven. It’s certainly the first time I can recall.

50. I should mention my one quibble with the puzzle: deposing Reagan to mean drop RON from an anagram is edging a bit too close to indirect-anagram territory for my taste.

51. mrpenney@50: Agreed. But with SEA at least everything is there in front of you. You don’t have to conjure a disembodied Reagan from mid-air to get the ‘Ron’.

    By comparison in the examples I quoted we are required by some mental legerdemain to produce ‘founder’ (pioneer), ‘schematics’ (diagrams), ‘Richard’ (man) and ‘truth’ (reality) and then manipulate them in accordance with cryptic instructions: (surrenders ring), (omit school), (not ‘ard) and ((bonnet’s missing)). It’s an established device and I seem to be alone in this forum in finding it unfair. I hate to say it (because I’ve enjoyed many Qaos puzzles and it’s not directed at him rather at setters in general) but this is an easy device for the setter to invoke in order to crank up the difficulty.

52. Mrpenney@50 yes it took me a while to remember that Ronald could be Ron, for some reason I think of him as Ronnie, but at least the letters to be removed are in order so no need for a second anagrind which would really have complicated things.
    Alphalpha@51 don’t quite think it unfair but certainly sympathise as I find those ones v tough too, in fact RICH was my last after I had written down all the _I_H words I could think of and stared at them until the penny dropped and my first guess proved right. 13d made harder for me as neither schematics nor the solution are words I use too often.

53. Very happy with myself that I managed to solve all of this, out of range of any internet connection on the journey on a long bendy train from Cambridge to Brighton today. Last two in were DOLPHIN, which I felt sure it simply had to be with the “pod” reference, though I couldn’t for the life of me parse it – and the Spoonerism of MOLEHILL. Thought this very tough in places and as usual was too beset with the solving to notice the theme as usual. Like JerryG@43, I put this down, defeated, and gazed at the passing scenes through those train windows then came back to it and began to solve a little more. Great stuff from Qaos…

54. re: 12A The president was never, to my knowledge, “Ron”.
    However, his son, Ron Reagan, has an ad (PSA) for the Freedom From Religion Foundation that ends: “I’m Ron Reagan, life-long atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.” Does that count as “corrupt”?

55. Whew, this was rather harder than I usually find Qaos to be. I only really twigged the theme after completion when I read the hint in Qaos’s own blog. Like il principle @45 I also had a recollection of ARTEMIS being a submarine, and on checking found that it sank at HMS DOLPHIN. Also, to stretch the point one step further, HMS Artemis was built in SCOTLAND. Thanks to Qaos and to Manehi !

56. That theme completely passed me by. Such a TTM when I opened the blog.

57. There was a campaign song when Reagan was running for president which included “do run Ron Ron, a do run Ron”, so there is a bit of provenance

58. Re 2d, I’m pretty sure that Qaos has ‘score’ doing double duty, possibly because he knows how much it annoys some who comment here! So the complete parsing is a double definition, as has been said, but the definitions are ‘top darts score’ and just ‘score’, with the query at the end a sign that he knows he’s been a naughty boy. 🙂

Comments are closed.