The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28816.
Enigmatist: a word to strike fear in any blogger whose turn comes up. My difficulties were compounded by working on an iPad which would randomly erase half-written comments – and then the battery went flat when I was not expecting it. Anyhow, I struggled through, giving up only on 12A VEGAN.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MOTHER HUBBARD |
To feed starving mutt, this woman’s focus — there’s nothing from table (6,7)
|
| A charade of MOT, which is ‘mutt’ with the internal letters replaced by O (nothing inside – i.e. ‘starving’) plus HER (‘this woman’s’) plus HUB (‘focus’) plus B[o]ARD (‘table’) minus the O (‘there’s nothing from’). Complicated, but I prefer this to treating MOTHER as ‘this woman’. The clue is then an &lit.
As James @29, to whom thanks, points out, the O in MOT is the one taken from B[o]ARD at the other end of the clue. Waste not, want not. |
||
| 10 | ROADMAN |
Notice accepted by Italian who has work on the way? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘accepted by’) of AD (‘notice’) in ROMAN (‘Italian’). | ||
| 11 | TRIVIAL |
One entering time that’s competitive — not this? (7)
|
| A envelope (‘entering’) of I (‘one’) in T (‘time’) plus RIVAL (‘that’s competitive’). | ||
| 12 | VEGAN |
I’ve strict diet for one apparently leading pack? (5)
|
| Over to you: I toyed with I’VE GANG, but I cannot quite make it work.
Thanks Flavia @1; it is an implied envelope (which I ought to have seen, having blogged a similar one in the Imogen last week) of EG (‘for one’) IN VAN (‘apparently leading pack’). I think that is much preferable to the second thoughts of Flavia @2, with ‘pack’ as the envelope indicator, which has syntax problems (the adjectival ‘leading’ and ‘pack’ itself). Curiously, the correct parsing came to me out of nowhere at an ungodly hour this morning. |
||
| 13 | SEA SHANTY |
The air crew produces witness caught by shed (3,6)
|
| A charade of SEA, sounding like (‘caught’) SEE (‘witness’) plus SHANTY (hovel, ‘shed’). For the definition, try putting ‘that’ after ‘air’. | ||
| 14 | NOTER |
Queen ruled out Observer? (5)
|
| NOT ER (‘Queen ruled out’). | ||
| 16 | TASMAN SEA |
An afternoon brew, when chap’s opening the drink down under (6,3)
|
| An envelope (‘opening’) of AS (‘when’) plus MAN”S (‘chap’s’) in TEA (‘an afternoon brew’). | ||
| 18 | OPPOSITES |
Work like ‘The Raven’? Put in ‘Always’ and ‘Nevermore’, say (9)
|
| A charade of OP (‘work’) plus POSITES, an envelope (‘in’) of SIT (‘put’) in POE’S (‘like The Raven’ – a reference to Edgar Allen Poe’s poem) | ||
| 19 | DRIED |
Trained soldiers repeatedly left deserts arid (5)
|
| A subtraction: DRI[ll]ED (‘trained soldiers’, verb) minus LL (‘repeatedly left deserts”). | ||
| 20 | TABOURETS |
You shouldn’t have eg Yankees bagging our seats (9)
|
| An envelope (‘bagging’) of ‘our’ in TA (thank you, ‘you shouldn’t have’) plus BETS (‘eg Yankees’ – an elaborate multiple bet in horse racing). | ||
| 23 | ESTRO |
Sort of inspiration needed to fill guest rooms (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘needed to fill’) in ‘guEST ROoms’. A jorum for me: the inspiration is poetic. | ||
| 24 | GERTCHA |
Gather ‘frisky’ college dons do one! (7)
|
| An envelope (‘dons’) of C (‘college’) in GERTHA, an anagram (‘frisky’) of ‘gather’. ‘Do one’ as a command to get lost. | ||
| 25 | AIR RAGE |
Doing one’s nut up? (3,4)
|
| Cryptic definition, to describe abuse of flight crews (or perhaps by them). | ||
| 26 | TOPSY-TURVYDOM |
Mess duty — my troops ordered to keep volume at a minimum (5-8)
|
| An envelope (‘to keep’) of V (‘Volume at a minimum’) in TOPSYTURYDOM, an anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘duty my troops’ | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ORANGE TIP |
Fiddle operating, I may have a flutter (6,3)
|
| An anagram (‘fiddle’) of ‘operating’, for this butterfly. | ||
| 3, 15 | HUMAN RESOURCES |
Secure hours at work including staff here? (5,9)
|
| An envelope (‘including’) of MAN (‘staff’, verb) in HURESOURCES, an anagram (‘at work’) of ‘secure hours’. A notable &lit. | ||
| 4 | RINGS |
Gymnastic exercise gives a person a buzz (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 5 | ULTRAISMS |
Extreme beliefs upset moralist — nothing’s left between us (9)
|
| An envelope (‘between’) of LTRAISM, an anagram (‘upset’) of ‘m[o]ralist’ minus the O (‘nothing’s left’) in ‘us’. | ||
| 6, 23 | BRIGHT AND EARLY |
Prohibition restricting entitlement a lot at sunrise? (6,3,5)
|
| A charade of BRIGHTAN, an envelope (‘restricting’) of RIGHT (‘entitlement’) in BAN (‘prohibition’); plus DEARLY (‘a lot’). | ||
| 7 | REIGN |
62.5% turn back on time as Queen (5)
|
| The first five of the 8 letters (‘62.5%’) of REIGN[ore] (‘turn back on’). I am not convinced that I have it right, but I cannot see anything better.
Thanks Flavia @8: it is REIGN[ite] – which I looked at and rejected – a clear case of tunnel vision, when I could not get past the other meaning of ‘turn back on’. |
||
| 8 | CRAVEN COTTAGE |
Ground chicken pie, of sorts? (6,7)
|
| A charade of CRAVEN (cowardly, ‘chicken’) plus COTTAGE (‘pie, of sorts’), for Fulham’s football ground. | ||
| 9 | PLAY HARD TO GET |
Pretend not to care about stage work that’s pretty incomprehensible (4,4,2,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 15 |
See 3
|
|
| 16 | TO THE LAST |
Lifelong shoemaker, so devoted? (2,3,4)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 17 | SAINT-MALO |
Something to excite a fan of necking bad French port (5-4)
|
| A charade of SA (sex appeal, ‘something to excite’) plus INTMALO, an envelope (‘necking’) of MAL (‘bad’) in INTO (‘a fan of’). MAL as a prefix is English, leaving ‘French’ for the definition; or MAL as French for ‘bad’. | ||
| 21 | BURRO |
Donkey women pulled out of hole (5)
|
| A subtraction: BURRO[w] (‘hole’) minus W (‘women pulled out’). | ||
| 22 | STAIR |
Movement to adopt the first step (5)
|
| An envelope (‘to adopt’) of A (‘the first’) in STIR (‘movement’). | ||
| 23 |
See 6
|
|
12A is EG ‘for one’ in (the) VAN = ‘apparently leading pack’
On second thoughts, maybe it’s just ‘apparently leading’, and ‘pack’ indicates the insertion?
Thank you Peter O. Kudos for your parsing and for your early blog. I can go and have a nap now and recover.
There was some UKGK which foiled me on the LHS. That’s okay, I expect that.
But does Enigmatist also expect us to have knowledge of betting on horse races, in an already obscure word? TABOURETS
Looked up Yankee and I’m none the wiser. Way beyond my maths ability.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/betting/racing/what-is-a-yankee-bet-and-how-does-it-work/
Can anyone explain the etymology for ‘do one’ meaning ‘get lost’? It was hard enough to find GERTCHA which seems to be a concatenation of “Get out of it you $@*&%” where “get out of it you” becomes contracted to “gertcha”.[5]
thanks PeterO! very helpful. i too am struggling with parsing REIGN – I would have expected “re-ign[ore]” to have been clued as “turn back on again”
And another thing, I was struck by the letters in rows 4, 8 and 12, uncommonly frequent occurrences of letters in ”anagram”. If I haven’t got mixed up in my scribblings and crossings-out, there are 2 anagrams of anagram and a GG, and there is a nag in each anagram. Maybe it’s time to put this/me to bed?
REIGN – internal deletion? redesign, reassign? Not convinced of them either.
Surely REIGN is REIGN(ite).
Yeay, Flavia@8. Thank you!
Yep, definitely need a lie down, pdm @3. And needed a bit of guess and check, eg for gertcha and tabourets (I did remember that a Yankee was a bet, but only after). Well, it’s a Friday, bit of a slog does no harm, ta PnE.
Vegan feels like it wants to be just “… for one packing lead”
Flavia@2 and gif@11. Agree that ‘pack’ is the insertion indicator, and my guess is that ‘apparently’ is a cryptic indicator, ‘in the lead’, ie in van.
[Can’t wait for the northern hemisphere to wake up. Hope everyone’s okay.]
Came here to parse a few and am relieved to find it wasn’t just me couldn’t parse REIGN or VEGAN.
Thank you to PeterO and Enigmatist, plus Flavia.
Blimey this was a hard one to tackle at 6.30am!
That was tough, as expected with Enigmatist. Lots of NHOs in answers and wordplay – TABOURETS, ORANGETIP, GERTCHA, CRAVEN COTTAGE, Yankees (bets). I got there without revealing anything but lots of Word Search and Google. But VEGAN and REIGN went in on first pass – no obscurities there.
Couldn’t be bothered with that level (ie. the vocabulary) every day but satisfying to tease out the impenetrable occasionally.
REIGN i took to be REIGN(ITE) – turn (oven for eg) back on
VEGAN i took to be of Vega, or Alpha Lyrae – Alpha being the leader of a pack
apols if this has been offered
i also thought “Work like the Raven, put in…” was actually “POSIT” inside an anagram of POES, but whatevs 🙂
I could not solve a single clue on my first pass and being short of time today I decided to come here to read the blog instead of attempting the puzzle. Leaves me more time to enjoy wandering about in Paris 🙂
Thank you to PeterO and Enigmatist, plus Flavia.
HI
This is my first ever post as I just had to congratulate PeterO on this amazing blog. Todays crossword had the most ever clues that I worked out an answer but couldn’t fully parse. I liked loads of them especially vegan and craven cottage. Also thanks to Flavia@1 for the vegan explanation.
I started well with Mother Hubbard, although I couldn’t parse “Mot”, then went downhill fast. All a bit much for me. On the one hand, too many obscurities or strange derivations (gertcha, tabourets,estro,ultraisms, topsyturvydom) and tricky parsings (often in the same clues.) On the other hand, I didn’t help myself by not getting clues I liked in retrospect like the very nice Craven Cottage.
Well done to all those who could entangle this, and especially PeterO who had extra pressure.
I’m with the ‘EG’ (for one) in the ‘VAN’ (apparently leading) for 12 and REIGN(ite) for 7. I found this very tricky with lots of complicated parses, GERTCHA was new to me, and I’d never heard of ‘AIR RAGE’, but I suppose it’s an equivalent to road rage. Thanks to PeterO and Engimatist.
Thanks PeterO and Enigmatist.
Properly chewy but very satisfying to solve.
Vegan I parsed slightly differently taking ‘apparently leading the pack’ = seen in the van.
Welcome Flinthead@20.
Thanks Enigmatist and PeterO
Very tough! For some time I only had TO THE LAST. I nearly threw it aside when an extensive wordsearch turned up TABOURETS, but I struggled through to the end, though with several unparsed.
Favourite CRAVEN COTTAGE.
Ouch. That was tough. Far too many not parsed (I count 11 question marks). One was VEGAN although I did have eg in van but wasn’t completely happy, I originally had Reignite for REIGN but didn’t quite get ‘turn back on’ and then toyed with Re-ignore (not convinced) but ozofriendly @17 is convincing with the oven reference.
This one needed a few hours after solving just to parse everything properly, so kudos to PeterO for a great blog and others above. My brain hurts and it’s probably time to get on the turps.
Favourites were CRAVEN COTTAGE and PLAY HARD TO GET
Ticks for BRIGHT AND EARLY, SEA SHANTY and of course GERTCHA
Would love to see what Enigmatist could come up with when not trying quite so hard to be “difficult”
… of course, ‘for one apparently leading the pack’ = [put] eg in [the] van, congrats to all who saw it, it looks obvious now, d’oh …
Thanks PeterO, Enigmatist
I took 1a slightly differently to account for the ‘to feed’ which is otherwise left hanging:
To feed [MT (starving mutt) HER HUB (this woman’s focus)] take the O from B[o]ARD
The usual Heineken experience, most refreshing
Thanks for the blog, a proper brilliant crossword at last , Such a shame we see Enigmatist so rarely, I wonder why ? Perhaps actually trying to write proper clues is too revolutionary, maybe he should concentrate on themes , ninas , pangrams and “surfaces ” .
[ … a pure beer in a wicked world… ]
Thanks to Enigmatist and PeterO
Hardly any on the first pass.
When I first looked at 7d my first thought was REIGN but had no idea how to parse it so I was no confident enough to enter it. After reading PerterO’s parsing of it the penny dropped and I thought REIGN(ite). So I think Flavia@8 has it right.
[I have provided links to articles by David Astle before but I think this one will be of particular interest to solvers of Guardian Cryptics, especially those who are happy to see the demise of BoJo ]
About 62.5% completed and eventually gave up. Way above my pay grade today but congrats to all those who persisted. Roz @30: I’m glad you’re satisfied at last. Kevin @32: thanks for that, great read.
Ta Enigmatist & PeterO especially for the marvellous blog.
I guessed this one would please Roz. Easier to count the ones I got than the ones I didn’t, though I did see REIGN(ite) and the EG-in-VAN for VEGAN. Liked CRAVEN COTTAGE and PLAY HARD TO GET, AIR RAGE (all you need to do is put the missing comma into “doing one’s nut, up”). But the list of unknowns and defeats is too long to bore you with).
Peter, the name Enigmatist strikes fear in the hearts of solvers as well (at least me). I had to resort to some guessing and checking to help me on my way. Several answers were unfamiliar – TABOURETS, ESTRO, ULTRAISMS, ORANGE TIP, TOPSEY-TURVEYDOM (don’t think I’ve heard it with the DOM on the end).
Favourites were the two long ones down the sides. And there were some very clever misleading definitions, eg “The air crew produces” for SEA SHANTY.
Does the surface of 25a actually mean anything (“Doing one’s nut up”)?
Many thanks Enigmatist and PeterO.
I just love Enigmatist’s puzzles. I solved this correctly but don’t claim to have parsed everything.
I’ve missed the get-togethers organised in York by Enigmatist and Jane so it was good to, at least, tackle one of his challenging puzzles.
Thanks AlanC@33 , you could still find a music “theme” ? , and you still had all day to work on this , your brain processing the clues while you walk around the golf course.
Actually I really liked the Vlad and Imogen last week, spot the common theme.
Whew! Thanks everyone, esp Engimatist, PeterO and Flavia!
I have looked high and low, found it, and subsequently forgotten again. Remind me please what is a jorum?
In spite of heaping imprecations on Enigmatist’s head, we were delighted to have something to get our teeth into .
Like many others, had to come to 225 to parse VEGAN, REIGN, and the MOT in MOTHER HUBBARD.
Thank you, PeterO, and Enigmatist
My first thought on seeing the name on this puzzle was, ‘Thank Goodness it’s not yesterday’ (when I was down to blog). I agree entirely with PeterO’s opening words: it was good to be able to settle down to the solve without the responsibility!
I did manage to finish but, like Derek Redmond at the Barcelona Olympics, I needed a bit of help to cross the line. There was much to enjoy along the way: I particularly liked MOTHER HUBBARD, SEA SHANTY, TASMAN SEA (my first one in, which raised a smile), TABOURETS, HUMAN RESOURCES and CRAVEN COTTAGE.
Many thanks to Enigmatist for a worthy and ultimately satisfying challenge and and to PeterO for a superb blog. (And to kevin @32 for the article)
Kristi @38 – re jorum: I once, in a blog, remarked how satisfying it is to construct an unlikely sounding word from the wordplay, look it up and find that it does exist, as happened to me with JORUM that day. Another commenter recalled her mother’s delight at just such an experience and said that she would think of such words as JORUMS in future. Others took up the ball and ran with it and you know the rest – but it wasn’t actually my suggestion! (Maybe it should be in the FAQs?)
Nice to see E for a start(in the G that is)
Also great to be reminded of Fulham and Chas and Dave (in their case “when Tottenham Hotspur couldnt get one in”
And many thanks to Peter O (and of course JH)
Its been a long while!
One more thought-Chas and Dave could have spelled it SOVREIGN which would give another parse
And 62.5% reminds me of Qaos
Topsyturveydom (as I thought it was spelt) was an operetta by WS Gilbert. Otherwise not a word I knew. I didn’t know that butterfly, though the clue made it straightforward. GERTCHA, ESTRO were also new to me. 25a makes no sense to me as a clue. The word sea comes in the puzzle twice, which I find inelegant. As for TABOURET, not being a betting man, I still have no idea what a Yankee is. Surely that’s too obscure. Thankyou Flavia for showing a parsing for REIGN.Thanks to all who have helped parse this rather impenetrable puzzle. For all its difficulties I liked CRAVEN COTTAGE, SEA SHANTY, BURRO very much.
AIR RAGE is a fairly common term for people having an outburst of anger when flying, as suggested it probably stems from road rage. Doing one’s nut driving ? would be road rage.
I have seen UP commonly used in crosswords to mean in the air, flying etc.
As Gladys suggests an imaginary comma or breath would help.
Doing one’s nut , up.? Losing your temper whilst flying.
https://gsarchive.net/bab_ballads/html/my_dream.html
Topsyturvydom. Appropriate, these days.
YANKEE is just one up from a treble. A four horse selection for an accumulator plus associated doubles and trebles.
Good to see this sort of thing on a Friday, though perhaps as this is so ridiculously difficult, certain days in the year are reserved for this often unparsable and seldom-seen compiler.
Doing one’s nut up presumably refers to tightening a bolt or similar. That was one I could fathom.
Just finished at 10:45am, having started at 6:30 and worked off and on. When I saw the name, this is what I expected, and I really enjoyed my morning, especially as I am recovering from an op. There were two I didn’t parse (11a 7d) but once explained, you realise you should have seen that. OK, I wouldn’t want a XW like this every day, but we don’t see him very often and should be grateful for his visit. Thanks John.
After taking half an hour to get three in, gave up and revealed the rest.
4 DNKs (ROADMAN, TABOURETS, ESTRO, ORANGE TIP), 4 where the meaning was obvious enough but I’ve never come across them in that form (NOTER, AIR RAGE, TOPSY-TURVYDOM, ULTRAISMS) and I couldn’t parse about a third of them!
1A: ‘Starving mutt’ = MOT seems a huge stretch to me, unless I’m missing something. Surely ‘starving’ can’t be directing us to remove the inner letters *and* put an O in there?
Never see SA = sex appeal before!
I know what a Yankee is though – sign of a misspent youth, obviously!
Steve@50 you need to read the whole clue as one for 1A see James @ 29.
To feed ….MT HER HUB there is nothing (O) from table. The O pops in and leaves BARD, genius.
Well, that was a toughie. I think it’s the first time I’ve succeeded in finishing an Enigmatist creation – but much of the parsing completely defeated me. In fact, I’ve never written “huh??” beside so many clues….
As a Londoner born and bred (born within the sahnd of Bow Bells, which makes me a proper Cockney) I did wonder how GERTCHA would seem to those outside Blighty, especially since I’m not at all sure how G that particular snippet of K is. But then to me, TABOURETS is the plural of stool in French, so everyone’s GK clearly differs…
At least 16D and 9D made me smile.
Thanks to Enigmatist for exercising parts of my brain that don’t get out much – and gobsmacked admiration and awe to PeterO for the blog.
Pleased with myself for getting most of this. Didn’t know the football ground and hadn’t heard of ESTRO but bunged it in anyway. Absolutely hated GERTCHA, a horrible word which I am glad never to have come across before, and with a definition that makes no sense.
I marvel at PeterO for producing such a detailed analysis of this very difficult crossword. There were some truly excellent clues, but as has been mentioned, some very obscure ones. I finished but I don’t know how I did it, and was left with a good number of unparsed answers, so well done PeterO.
A brilliant crossword! I agree with Roz @30 that it’s such a shame we see Enigmatist so rarely. I remember his first puzzle in the Guardian when he was 16!
So much to like but especial praise for PLAY HARD TO GET, SAINT-MALO, BRIGHT AND EARLY and GERTCHA.
More please!
Thanks Enigmatist and PeterO
I expect a toughie from Enigmatist but couldn’t enjoy this one. Some dodgy stretches in the clues, and I was undone by a confident START for 22d. Consequently after a long struggle with the anagram was forced to give up on 26a. Pity. Thanks anyway Enigmatist and commiserations to our blogger who must be punchy by now!
Another excellent puzzle even though there were several words I did not know and had to guess from the clueing. And others that I couldn’t parse. Like some on the Guardian website, glad it wasn’t a Prize puzzle as I’d have to wait a week to find the answers! Maybe Paul tomorrow though?
Thank you Enigmatist and PeterO
Although the name Enigmatist (and those of his alter egos) strike fear in both blogger and solver, he does set a great crossword, it is just a same we see them so rarely, apart from alternate Fridays in the DT’s Toughie
Thanks very much to Enigmatist for the fun and to PeterO for the blog
Very pleased with myself when I got MOTHER HUBBARD and CRAVEN COTTAGE early on, thinking I had the grid at my mercy, but this was Enigmatist after all, and my smugness soon evaporated as I struggled to parse some of these, and also to find solutions like TABOURETS, ULTRAISMS, GERTCHA, TOPSY-TURVYDOM (though a clear anagram), and ESTRO (though clearly hidden) none of which rolled smoothly off the Ronald production line. Then thwarted at the very last by AIR RAGE, which I just couldn’t see even though 5 of the 7 letters were already in place.
This setter is someone who always rewards a second or even a third visit to the puzzle if things seem slow and sticky. Heavy duty challenge, I thought, today, greatly enjoyed by me…
Success!!
I solved 16d, which, I think is the first Enigmatist clue I have ever solved.
Looking forward to the blog.
Thanks both.
Above my pay grade, that. I only managed half a dozen and after a lot of staring decided that a better use of this as part of my cryptic education was to come here and see what I missed. Enigmatist is new to me and seems to operate on a wavelength I have yet to tune into! Some obscure words but in most instances the clues are clear enough once you see the notes, so I think the problem is with my decoding and not the setter’s encoding.
It’s curiously satisfying to be stumped like this – it means there are more difficult puzzles than I can progress towards, and that not all setters are alike…! It certainly keeps things interesting…
Have a lovely weekend all.
Phew! A really hard slog, but rewarded in the end with a correctly filled grid, even if I couldn’t parse 1a and 2d and had never heard of ESTRO, GERTCHA or the ‘Yankee’ bet. We don’t give times here, but I’ll own up to this taking nearly two and a half hours, so hardly a boast!
Thanks to PeterO for such a great job in working everything out and to Enigmatist
P.S. Do we still have Nimrod and Io to look forward to in the future as well?
Roz @51 Ah, thanks!
I’m a bit surprised that so many are unfamiliar with orange-tip butterflies (see PeterO’s link). They’re quite common in the UK. Only the males have the orange tips.
Couldn’t parse TRIVIAL, DRIED or ORANGE TIP (never heard of the butterfly) and the betting Yankees were new to me, Yankee though I am.
Like many non-UK folks, I’ve also never heard of CRAVEN COTTAGE or GERTCHA or ULTRAISMS.
ESTRO was probably a jorum for all of us. I now know it’s an Italian word for “inspiration.” Looking for more information, I googled “estro derivation” and found “estro derivation in dogs.” The mind reels.
Thanks for the explanation of AIR RAGE. I had imagined it as a version for pilots of road rage, a terrifying thought.
17d I’d go with the English prefix. “Mal” isn’t French for “bad,” it’s French for “badly.” French for bad is “mauvais.”
In 22d, can “stir” be a noun?
This was really hard. My FOI was BURRO. Progress was slow to zero, and I had a lot of check buttoning to do this morning. But thanks to Enigmatist and awed bows to PeterO.
Clever challenge from Enigmatist, as we would expect. I didn’t find this as tricky as I expected because of the friendly grid, though the parsing followed the entry at some distance in several places.
For me, BRIGHT AND EARLY was the best of many good clues.
This will be my last post as I am becoming increasingly irritated by Roz’s dismissive comments and the site no longer gives me the unalloyed pleasure it used to.
Best wishes to all and thanks to John and PeterO
A real stinker but what one expects from Mr H. Nice to see him in action so soon after the passing of Shed the other week (one of the four Biggles). Great blog: must have been really mind-stretching.
Rather harsh on Roz Gervase: I think that the comments are just meant to be helpful, and sometimes ironic. No-one in their right mind would think that John Henderson cannot write clues. If Roz doesn’t like pangrams, themes and ninas, that’s surely an opinion that may be aired. I’m not sure about the reference to ‘surfaces’ I think that most solvers appreciate clues that make some literal sense rather than a collection of barely connected words that amount to what has been called a ‘That’ll do clue’.
I’m sorry that Gervase feels it necessary to withdraw from posting as I have usually appreciated the comments.
What GC@68 says. Not all contributions need be read. If thine eye offends thee – look elsewhere.
Thanks both.
Not for me for many of the reasons mentioned by others. When it’s all spelled out by PeterO it kind of seems justified but the only tumulus in an otherwise flat landscape was PLAY HARD TO GET which was a LOL. Mustn’t grumble – I always enjoy Enigmatist’s holiday offerings. Just too hard for me – I’m still struggling to see how anyone (well any version of me anyway) could get to MOTHER HUBBARD from the clue.
I almost solved and parsed this and feel slightly annoyed with myself for giving up on parsing MOTHER HUBBARD when I was half way there. I may not agree with Roz’s views about surfaces and “easy” puzzles, but I defend her right to express them. There is at least one more annoyingly dismissive poster on here.
As Hopper’s photojournalist once said of Brando’s colonel, ‘he’s a genius you know’.
Wow! I enjoy the chewy ones, but this was looking indigestible. Nevertheless I persevered after a long break, and got there in the end with a few unparsed. Great puzzle! Visit us again soon, Enigmatist! Thanks to E & P.
TOPSY-TURVYDOM immediately said Gilbert to me, and thanks to revbob @44 and travellingran @46, I now know why. The operetta, with music – by no, Alfred Cellier – now lost, was based on the Bab Ballad.
Valentine @66
Do poets take estrogen? Evidently I have been too long in the US. 17D: There are various ways that ‘bad’ can be equated with the French MAL; the latter can be an adjective under some circumstances (wictionary quotes “bon an, mal an” – good year, bad year); in English ‘bad’ can be an adverb (I got it bad, and that ain’t good), or for that matter nouns, English or French, although the equivalence might be strained. 22D: yes, STIR can be a noun “After adding sugar to your tea, give it a stir”.
Criminy, and there’s me thinking that Roz was deploying that thing we call wit up the thread there.
Proper clue-writers, like Enigmatist, she said, should instead concentrate on themes, Ninas, pangrams and (making unfair) surfaces. At least that’s what I read, and grin I did.
Long may all posters express, or vent, their opinions at 225.
I think the definition for VEGAN is probably meant to be “I’ve a strict diet” rather than just “strict diet”
paul b @72: that’s a nice reference …
This was so much more difficult than the normal daily puzzles — it seems it should be in one of those weekend slots where you have a week to mull it over.
I was able to get a couple on my first pass, which trapped me into spending too much time struggling before giving up. (didn’t make it TO THE LAST!)
Thank you PeterO for the blog. Hope you get hazard pay for this one!
Like others, I did see Roz @ #30, finding her remarks both refreshing and amusing. Perhaps her like is in a way ‘woke’, that is, fed up with the slop dished out, albeit from time to time, in the dailies, and prepared to lobby for change.
I’ve looked back at Roz’s post. I don’t share her disdain for “surfaces””, but I don’t think there was anything to take offence at. I do hope that Gervase reconsiders – I always value his contributions. The fact that we often agree is, of course, irrelevant 🙂
Like Eileen@40, this was a Derek Redmond for me too (another Eileen crossword neologism to join JORUM?). Perhaps, I found this more enjoyable after completing than whilst.
It’s a shame we don’t get more Enigmatist puzzles. I wonder if some of the difficulty (for some of us) is that we don’t get to practice with his style of clueing. I found, Picaroon, for example, difficult until I did a few of them. And although they’re not always easy, they’re certainly more doable for me now.
copmus@42 mentioned Chas and Dave and here’s a link to their song, Gertcha.
[Gervase@66 – I suspect something was lost in translation. Roz’s aversion to exclamation marks and emjoji may hide her deadpan humour. When it comes to solving ability, Roz is an outlier and some of her comments reflect that — just as my comments reflect the relative novice that I am. However, Roz has always been encouraging and helpful — and if you read her comments in that context, you may interpret them differently. I’ve enjoyed your contributions and hope you continue commenting here.]
Thanks PeterO and Flavia for the help with parsing and Enigmatist.
I rarely post here these days, but do read the blogs and comments. Roz is often didactic, in several senses of the word, but the blogs would be poorer without her comments. The same applies to you Gervase. Please reconsider your position as I for one value your contributions.
Gervase, when Roz intended to quit 15² a couple of years ago (I think), I asked her to reconsider, and I would like to do the same in your case. I always enjoy reading both your comments and agreeing or disagreeing with you both as the case may be.
[Thanks PeterO for the blog. Enigmatist/Io is on my no-fly list but I like reading about his crosswords for the amusement I find in the comments. I like solvers expressing their honest, unvarnished opinions even if they come across as statements of fact. In that light I always look forward to what Roz has to say.]
Wow! That was the most difficult crossword I have attempted in ages. I’m not complaining, mind you, as I did finish it without revealing any answers. I find it a tad unsatisfactory that there were several answers I failed to parse. Thanks, Enigmatist, and award yourself a shiny, PeterO, for the explanations that eluded me.
Thanks PeterO and Enigmatist. As others have said, very tough. Though I “got there” in the end, there were several I couldn’t parse. Well worth persevering. Outstanding setting and blogging!
Definitely not my cup of tea 🙁
All I can say is “PeterO – you are a genius!”
Gervase @66 – deciding to stop engaging in any particular forum is perfectly fine behaviour; namechecking a reason for doing so, perhaps less so.
Roz is the only reason I come on here. I know I’m always going to smile no matter what she says, objectionable or not. Poor show Gervase.
Looking for a tough one and this was it. Some new words and a fair number of guesses. I struggled to get going but got there in the end with a couple of reveals.
Fave was Craven Cottage.
Thanks PeterO and Enigmatist.
CRAVEN COTTAGE, although my favourite, would have been even better if Enigmatist had managed to contrive to make the “anagram fodder” for “ground” 13 letters rather than 12!
me @90
Could he have sneaked through “pies” instead of “pie”, pehaps?
I agree with Roz @30 about too many themes. I don’t usually notice the ninas and pangrams, but I really enjoy a good concise, surface.
I’m very rarely on the same wavelength as Enigmatist and this was no exception so I cheated my way way through it. I find his clues very wordy, but that’s just me.
Also I think that it’s fine for us dedicated followers of crossword to have these meaty ones, but a daily newspaper has to cater for many more people who just have an occasional dabble, and one like this can be very off-putting.
Anyway, thanks Enigmatist for taxing my brain, and PeterO for the explanations.
Strewth, that was a struggle.
Still don’t understand how GERTCHA is defined as “do one”.
This feels like one of those harrowing films which have a great impact on the viewer but which one would not want to watch again!
Brilliant blog PeterO, many thanks to you both.
Well that was the cruciverbal equivalent of a cold shower – I felt better once it was over. I’m guessing it was one of Mr E’s easier efforts as I actually managed to complete it. Some fun clues too like TOPSY TURVEYDOM. Thanks Peter and Enigmatist.
I don’t post here very often nowadays, but when I do pop in I usually look to see what Roz has commented. As Eileen puts it, she is definitely an ‘outlier’ in terms of solving ability, and in the past she has (for my money at least) been rather too critical of some of the puzzles. But that has been more than compensated for by her comments in general. Many dishes (and websites) are improved by adding a dash of spice!
drofle @95 “As Eileen puts it, she is definitely an ‘outlier’ …”
I did not make this comment; please see pdp11 @80.
@William 93
“To do one” short form of “To do a runner” ie leave quickly. As a command it means “go away!”
“Gertcha” is a contraction (well not really contracted much) of Get you.. or get your…. Again the actual important bit of the phrase is lost but is along the lines of get you gone or get yourself out of here etc.
About as tough as they come! The infuriating thing is, earlier this evening I was browsing a ‘butterflies’ website – but that didn’t stop ORANGE TIP taking ages to twig. And again: next week I’ll be visiting SAINT MALO, but it just wouldn’t come without some ‘help’. Words like TABOURETS, ESTRO and GERTCHA completely unknown – just had to pencil in. NOTER also held me up for ages.
And the mis-parsings! I got MOTHER HUBBARD and TRIVIAL completely wrong, and wasn’t sure about OPPOSITES (though I did spot the Edgar Allan reference).
I’m a fan of Enigmatist/Elgar/Nimrod/etc/John Henderson, I look forward to his rare appearances – but this one was rather beyond me.
Thanks anyway to John for the challenge, and Peter for unscrambling…
Thanks PeterO that must’ve been a tough assignment. I wasted far too much of today on a crossword which in retrospect is way out of my abilities. I wish such puzzles came with a ‘difficulty level’ so I could give up quicker rather than spend the day thinking I was having a slow/off day. I will never try an Enigmatist again, as long as I remember today.
A fun, challenging and satisfying puzzle. I understand all the parsings now except why TEA is clue as “an afternoon brew”. Afternoon meal, yes, but personally I drink tea all day long.
I agree with those wanting more of Enigmatist. I for one could use the practice.
Thanks, E & P
I would like to add that I enjoy Roz’s comments. She is often helpful and encouraging to people who admit they’re novices. And occasionally offers helpful tips, like a recent one to the effect that sometimes you have to stubbornly keep at it until when you’re stuck. (She stated it more succinctly).
Well this was a real struggle. With my morning tea I managed only one solution. Worried away at it all day, getting a few here and there, with a lot of Aha! moments. Put in ESTRO, but could not find a suitable definition in Google – I will have a look at everyone else’s comments later to (I’m sure) be enlightened. Last night, I still hadn’t got TABOURETS – a new word for me. Waited until this morning to see if inspiration would strike, but no. 🙁 I had worked out TA, and thought OUR must be in there, but then got distracted by wondering if the NY Yankees were known as the Blues. I do know a Yankee is a Bet, so no excuse!
But on the whole, very satisfying.
Eileen@97 – Apologies for the misattribution.
OK, I have now read the comments, and am still no wiser about ESTRO. Thank you Valentine@65 for mentioning it is Italian, and thank you Peter O for saying it’s poetic (and for the rest of the blog – as others have said you are a hero).
But if anyone is still reading, and has any more information about ESTRO, I would be grateful.
Oh, and I love Roz’s comments. It’s clear she’s a much better solver than me, and also has some strong opinions about what she does and doesn’t like in a crossword, but why shouldn’t she? I don’t think she implies we should all agree with her, and sometimes just posts to say she’s not going to say anything (which means she didn’t like it, but doesn’t want to upset those of us who did). I find that much more acceptable than baldly stating ‘poor/weak crossword’ as I have sometimes seen, which just seems rude to me.
So Gervase, do reconsider. We can be a broad church here, and I don’t like to think anyone feels excluded.
Moth @105: like everybody else, I’d never heard of ESTRO, but it’s in Collins online as “poetic inspiration”.
The ever-helpful wiktionary has it as an Italian word, meaning (1) inspiration, (2) gift/bent, (3) oestrus/rut. The last meaning throws light on PeterO’s estrogen/oestrogen query @74. The etymology goes back to Latin oestrus/Greek οιστρος ( = vehement desire/frenzy, literally ‘gadfly’). If oestrus can be the fly, its bite/sting, or a state of passion or frenzy such as might be induced by a bite/sting, then oestro-gen is ‘producer of passion’ (!)
Cedric @67: Yes: sad that we only have two ‘Biggles’ remaining. I don’t suppose the team could ever have been revived anyway following the passing of the mighty Araucaria.
Or could it? Could four Johns get together again? QAOS and CHIFONIE: I’m looking at you!
At least PAUL and ENIGMATIST are keeping up the good work individually.
Oops! I just checked, John Dawson (CHIFONIE) passed away two years go. I had forgotten. Apologies.
Finally got to the end with a little help. Like Moth@105 I am puzzled by ESTRO. I wrote it in fairly quickly thinking it was one of the muses, but now see that I was thinking of Erato.
Favourite was CRAVEN COTTAGE. LOI was AIR RAGE. Thanks Peter O for the outstanding blog, and thanks John H for the brain food, even if not all of it was to my taste.
Moth@105 and Paul@108 Try googling “estro meaning” rather than just “estro” and it comes up with some dictionary definitions as “poetic inspiration”. I had the same trouble as you at first.
SOED has estro as inspiration or impulse, from Italian, from the Latin oestrus, meaning frenzy
Thank you Crossbar and James. Note to self… always try adding ‘meaning’ to a jorum search.
Saturday late afternoon and I’ve just finished it.
What a puzzle!
Thanks Enigmatist.
I had to say this was mostly incomprehensible to me – I only got two then gave up and revealed the rest, and still couldn’t parse most of them. Broke my streak of completed Guardian dailies! Thanks for the blog
As ever, the lanterne rouge of commentators. Got two in one hour then got swept up by the broom wagon. I think I have completed an Enigmatist before now and even done a couple of Azeds, but this one had me stumped. Well done to all those solved it. Apologies for the mixed sporting metaphors. Blimey, Boatman on a Monday.
I am glad I missed this on Friday, it would have ruined my weekend at the Blue Dot Festival.
I am sorry Gervase that I am so annoying, it is just my nature and I can’t help it. Perhaps seeing my name in bright blue above each post could help you to avoid reading them.
Thanks to many people from George to Moth for being so understanding and forgiving of all my faults.
Calgal @102. When it comes to perseverence, I think I’ve got a claim for a record with this one. I didn’t start it until Sunday afternoon, because of other things to do, and I was then on holiday (cycling and camping). But I took my Friday’s Guardian with me and attempted a clue from time to time. My best session was getting about eight or 10 while sitting in a pub Tuesday lunchtime. A group of Tory party members on another table were loudly discussing their vote. One of them said “But I still like Boris”, which brought on a restrained bout of RAGE which should have helped me get 25a (eventually my last one in), but in the end I had to look up synonyms for “do one’s nut” this morning.
As no one will be reading this, I’ll share a little solving story. I brought some midge bites back with me from my camping trip, and they must have half-woken me up at about 4am today. I found myself in a half-dream thinking about 26a, and eventually the (very wrong) TOORA-LOO-RYE-AYE (from the lyrics of Come on Eileen) turned into the (absolutely spot-on) TOPSY-TURVYDOM. True story.
phitonelly @101. “Afternoon Tea” is the title of a song by The Kinks. This has no real relevance to the clue, just that it’s an existing phrase.
Thanks to Enigmatist for a great crossword, and PeterO for an outstanding blog.
sheffield hatter@117, I think I took even longer on this one than you – started last Saturday, finished (all bar one) today. I normally do only the Friday puzzle, starting Saturday and then taking it slowly and intermittently (hence I’ve never contributed to these threads before, even though I read them with great pleasure and benefit). If I haven’t finished by Tuesday I tend to give up at that point. But this puzzle was so intriguing, for all its extreme difficulty, that I just kept going. Every clue solved felt like a mountain peak attained. Never did get GERTCHA (and I still don’t understand how the clue defines it) but my LOI was the beautiful CRAVEN COTTAGE, so a satisfying ending.
I knew ESTRO from the Vivaldi concertos, l’estro armonico, though I’d never thought of it as an English word.
Thank you Enigmatist for a strangely pleasurable week.