The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28878.
A fine crossword, despite a couple of quibbles; however, I wonder what was made of it by those who rely on a gentle start to the week.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STUCK TO ONES GUNS |
Insisted on personal pieces, initially at a loss (5,2,4,4)
|
| A charade of STUCK (‘at a loss’) plus TO (‘on’) plus ONES GUNS (‘personal pieces’), with ‘initially’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 9 | FATTISH |
Rather greasy seafood with a dry stuffing (7)
|
| An envelope (‘with … stuffing’) of ‘a’ plus TT (teetotal, ‘dry’) in FISH (‘seafood’). | ||
| 10 | COURANT |
A knight in royal household running for herald (7)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus N (‘knight’, chess notation) in COURT (‘royal household’); in the definition, a ‘herald’ is someone who knows about heraldry. | ||
| 11 | WAY |
Nature trail (3)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | THE GUARDIAN |
We dig and unearth a potty (3,8)
|
| An anagram (‘potty’) of ‘dig’ plus ‘unearth a’. | ||
| 13 | TOURNAMENT |
Hero on overseas trip books event for players (10)
|
| A charade of TOUR (‘overseas trip’; ‘overseas’ seems redundant, although it is a French word as well as English. Perhaps Nutmeg had the Grand Tour in mind) plus NAME (‘hero’?) plus NT (New Testament, ‘books’) | ||
| 15 | VERB |
Kind of word sent round in brief note (4)
|
| A reversal (‘sent round’) of BREV[e] (‘note’) minus its last letter (‘brief’). | ||
| 18 | ROAD |
Path commentator’s travelled up (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘commentator’s’) RODE (‘travelled up’ i.e. on a horse). | ||
| 20 | FRUSTRATED |
Dissatisfied fellow delivered a lecture on corruption (10)
|
| A charade of F (‘fellow’) plus RUST (‘corruption’) plus RATED (‘delivered a lecture’). | ||
| 23 | CAPITALISTS |
Advanced tips on better information technology for businessmen (11)
|
| A charade of CAP (‘better’, verb) plus IT (‘information technology’) plus A (‘advanced’) plus LISTS (‘tips’, leans). | ||
| 25 | TOE |
Part of boot from West? (3)
|
| TO E (‘from West’). | ||
| 26 | AZALEAS |
Plants unknown in drained area beside meadows (7)
|
| An envelope (in’) of Z (mathematical ‘unknown’) in AA (‘drained AreA‘) plus (‘beside’) LEAS (‘meadows’). | ||
| 27 | PRE-EMPT |
Anticipate Macron’s ready to accommodate English politician (3-4)
|
| An envelope (‘to accommodate’) of E (‘English’) plus MP (‘politician’) in PRET (‘Macron’s ready’). | ||
| 28 | MILITARY ATTACHE |
Investigator’s prime article that may upset diplomatic aide (8,7)
|
| An anagram (‘upset’) of I (‘Investigator’s prime’) plus ‘article that may’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOFT WATER |
Worst fate potentially encountered in bath? (4,5)
|
| An anagram (‘potentially’) of ‘worst fate’. | ||
| 2 | UP TO YOU |
First 20 letters broadcast not my choice? (2,2,3)
|
| Sounds like (‘broadcast’) UP TO U (‘first 20 letters’ of the alphabet). | ||
| 3 | KNITTING |
Ulster Times introduced to man on board craft (8)
|
| An envelope (‘introduced to’) of NI (‘Ulster’; as usual, Northern Ireland is only loosely equivalent, in that Ulster is in the north of the island Ireland, but it is too useful for crossword setters to give it up) plus T T (‘times’) in KING (‘man on board’, chess). | ||
| 4 | OCHRE |
Drag, shifting old pigment (5)
|
| CHORE (‘drag’) with the O moved (‘shifting old’). | ||
| 5 | NOCTURNES |
Audibly criticise acts providing night music (9)
|
| Sounds like (‘audibly’) KNOCK TURNS (‘criticise acts’). | ||
| 6 | SQUARE |
Decent honest Conservative? (6)
|
| Triple definition, although rather close to each other. | ||
| 7 | UNALIKE |
Contrasting articles from Paris and London on ‘love in moderation’ (7)
|
| A charade of UN A (‘articles from Paris and London’) plus LIKE (‘love in moderation’). | ||
| 8 | SET ON |
Determined to attack (3,2)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 14 | MORALISER |
Preacher‘s spoken, boring Scrooge (9)
|
| An envelope (‘boring’) of ORAL (‘spoken’) in MISER (‘Scrooge’). | ||
| 16 | BED SETTEE |
Convertible seating poorly tested within working group (3,6)
|
| An envelope (‘within’) of EDSETT, an anagram (‘poorly’) of ‘tested’ in BEE (‘working group’). | ||
| 17 | CRESCENT |
Regularly curved track? (8)
|
| A charade of CRE (‘regularly CuRvEd’) plus SCENT (‘track’), with an &lit definition. | ||
| 19 | ASPRAWL |
Regal killer has right implement lying around (7)
|
| A charade of ASP (‘regal killer’, following the popular legend – and Shakespeare – that Cleopatra died by allowing an asp to bite her) plus R (‘right’) plus AWL (‘instrument’). | ||
| 21 | TOTEMIC |
Venerable revolutionary I satisfied in bed (7)
|
| A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of an envelope (‘in’) of I MET (‘I satisfied’) in COT (‘bed’) | ||
| 22 | STREET |
Sturdy plant blocking stone path (6)
|
| An envelope (‘blocking’) of TREE (‘sturdy plant’) in ST (‘stone’, 14 pounds). | ||
| 23 | CHASM |
Rent such as minister retains (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘retains’) in ‘suCH AS Minister’. | ||
| 24 | SEPIA |
Tint of marine coats particularly intense at first (5)
|
| An envelope (‘coats’) of PI (‘Particularly Intense at first’) in SEA (‘marine’). |
The Monday Guardian puzzles have been rather challenging of late.
The crossword set by Soup last month put to rest the notion that Monday crosswords are necessarily gentle. I found this Monday offering by Nutmeg to be a stiffer challenge than others she has set later in the week. I resorted to the check button on a few occasions but overall I enjoyed this because I always enjoy Nutmeg. I ticked the &lit CRESCENT, THE GUARDIAN, and TOTEMIC as my top choices. Thanks to Nutmeg and to PeterO for the early blog.
Quite enjoyable, nothing too taxing. I’d have thought “fatty” would be a more common synonym for “rather greasy”. I guess “fattish” could describe someone who’s a bit overweight but not by much? “Rated” is “delivered a lecture”? Well, sort of, I suppose. I couldn’t parse 19d. And I wasn’t aware that a knowledge of French was required for 27a (although I did get there in the end). I didn’t fully parse 1a till I came here, and it elictied more of a groan than a smile.
Tough for a Monday. WAY, ROAD, STREET, SQUARE, and CRESCENT. I can’t spot any more.
Definitely harder than expected today. I usually do the Monday Cryptic at the same time as the Quiptic, and there was a clear difference today.
I wouldn’t call a CRESCENT a “regularly curved track” in a million years, but good &lits are so hard to do the setter should be given latitude, and besides, the question-mark makes it all ok.
Had exactly the same thoughts about TOUR(nament) as PeterO.
Have never used, maybe never heard the phrase BED SETTEE, but know instead “sofa bed”. Is it a regional thing, does anybody know?
Thank you Peter O. I didn’t know about the ”attitude” in heraldry, in which ”courant” means running.
I wondered if ”potentially” was doing double duty in SOFT WATER, particularly with the question mark.
We have hard water here. After Brendan’s prize gig with the fates and the furies I nearly looked up which was the “worst fate”. I would imagine that soft water is the best for the bath, cleanses more readily and makes it more sudsy.
Bunged MILITARY ATTACHE in from crossers and def. Cleverly disguised anagram, despite the anagrind ”upset”.
In attempting to backparse all I could see was the ”ache” at the end. The grammar was superbly misleading. Well, I didn’t see it, anyway.
Liked UNALIKE for the surface and the misdirection. Was on the lookout for the articles, but ”love in moderation”, made me laugh when I twigged as to what end was the def. ASPRAWL also had me looking for the def.
The stories in TOTEMIC and PRE-EMPT and THE GUARDIAN were entertaining. TOE tickled me as well.
Well you get lions rampant, and courant is running, but I still didn’t properly click the “for herald” bit … dim! Nice to have a Monday Meg tho, albeit chewier than ‘easy’. Even with crossers, asprawl, loi, needed check-help to get the p before sleepy brain woke up … dim again. Now off to do the quiptic for a rest! Ta PnN.
Ditto Dr. Wh @3 re sofa bed, nho Meg’s version … [Norman Gunston used to say Come and have a seat on the night’n’day 🙂 ]
… @5, sorry
Surely the first twenty letters are A to T? That would make 2 down ‘Up To T’
Yep, agree with the ‘chewier’ comments though this was not Nutmeg on all cylinders. A toned down version for a Monday. But not by a lot. I liked COURANT, VERB, MILITARY ATTACHE, NOCTURNES, TOTEMIC and CHASM. Like Dr W @5, I make little connection between railway track and crescent so 17d didn’t really work for me.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
Dr. WhatsOn@5. I’d never heard of a BED SETTEE either and know it as a ”sofa bed”. Interesting the functionality is reversed. Also the language origins, ”sofa” coming from Turkish and Arabic, those benches all covered in lovely cushions, as does ”divan”, (the word in my youth), but through a more interesting route. I wasn’t even going to look it up, thinking, like you, that it was just a regional variation, but your question and the etymology got me intrigued.
A very enjoyable start to the week. Last in and favourite was ASPRAWL.
Some quibbles, though. Like Crispy @10, I thought 2d was a bit off. I’d say “up to” usually means “up to and including” (if someone asked you to count up to ten, would you stop at nine?) so “first 21 letters broadcast” would have been better, IMO. Name=hero at 13a gave me pause, too.
As for calling NI “Ulster” (or, for that matter, “the Province”), that is certainly annoying, and is deprecated by the Guardian style guide. But people have been doing it for 101 years, so I don’t suppose it’s going to go away.
Dr. Whatson @5 – I have heard the term BED-SETTEE (Chambers gives it a hyphen), but not, I think, for many years.
I found this, the Quiptic and the Everyman on the chewier end this week (and the Prize I solved in a good Quiptic or Everyman time), so I agree with the opening comments. I rarely find Nutmeg quick and easy, satisfying to solve as beautifully clued, but it always takes me a while to twist my brain into the right wavelength, and this was no exception.
BED SETTEE was one of those that went in on first read through, as that is often how they are advertised. I also entered PRE-EMPT in that first run: even if I wasn’t trying to improve my French with Duolingo, the ubiquity of Prêt-à-Manger on the High Street means that’s a familiar word.
Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.
I think BED SETTEE is what sofa beds were called before the term sofa bed was coined. I remember it, but like Miche@14, not recently.
Kicking myself (appropriately) for failing to parse TOE.
Well done NNI @4 for spotting the themette.
I raised an eyebrow at the equivalence of ‘on’ = ‘TO’ in STUCK TO ONE’S GUNS, but then thought of putting one’s hand to the plough, shoulder to the wheel, pedal to the metal, and phasers to stun.
Crispy/Miche – if people say “up to and including”, wouldn’t that suggest that it’s possible to go up to but not including? As in, “I was OK all the way up to the last clue, then got stuck”.
Agree with Geoff DU @3, greasy is fatty not fat, so rather greasy would be fatty-ish not fattish, just as rather easy is easy-ish not easish.
pdm @6, the TOE tickled me too.
Plenty of clues to enjoy, but I’m one of those who would regret the disappearance of ‘easy Monday’. Thanks N & P
Essexboy @17. In which case, the last clue isn’t included with the ones you’re okay with.
I agree with Shanne @15. The Graun must have muddled up today’s Nutmeg with Saturday’s Maskerade!
Re 3 across: ‘courant’ along with terms such as rampant, guardant and couchant are used to describe the poses of beasts when a herald who is a member of the College of Arms is blazoning a shield.
Pleased with myself to have successfully completed this this morning. After quite a struggle.
Last one in the triple definition SQUARE. My O Level French helped with UNALIKE and PRE-EMPT, and I suppose with COURANT, though there were vague memories of when I’d looked up stuff in the past re awards of coats of arms. Both 3-letter solutions caused me to pause for a while even with all but the middle vowel to insert. Thanks Nutmeg, for providing more of a challenge than normal for a Monday…
…though I wasn’t quite ASPRAWL-ed on my sofa while solving this…
Great puzzle (but took forever to get going). LOI for me was THE GUARDIAN, having convinced myself that ‘We dig’ must be ‘THE NUM….’ Loved TOTEMIC, PRE-EMPT and KNITTING in particular. Thanks as always to Nutmeg, and to PeterO.
The feeling of walking into a plate glass door comes to mind! How nice to have a chewy challenge on a Monday. And such a fun one at that. Thanks both.
Definitely a bit chewy for a Monday, but enjoyable nonetheless. TOTEMIC, THE GUARDIAN, and KNITTING were my favourites. UP TO YOU took me far too long; I really wanted the first letter to be an A…
Miche@13, I also wasn’t sure about name/hero, so resorted to Chambers. Name = hero there. Hero =! name, but hero = celebrity, and celebrity = name, of course. Still feels a bit loose, but enough justification for me to overcome my concern.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.
Yes, tougher than usual and I needed a couple of parses from here. It was nice to see PRE-EMPT instead of the awful jargon Proact(ive) for once.
I don’t know about BED SETTEE but I know it as Sofa bed like paddymelon @12 so I suspect it’s more an English term. I’m fairly sure I remember them being called Put You Ups in my younger days.
I did like THE GUARDIAN for the potty, UP TO YOU (despite Miche’s @13 objection – can’t “up to” mean up to but not including), KNITTING, OCHRE for the shifting O and the &lit CRESCENT.
Tough gig. NNI @4: I spotted your themette as well and had the M1 motorway at the start of MILITARY as an extra. SQUARE held out longest for some strange reason. Thanks for explaining COURANT.
Ta Nutmeg & PeterO
I think if I wanted to say unambiguously that I liked all of this crossword, I would say I enjoyed this right up to the last clue, rather than just up to the last clue, because that might mean I didn’t enjoy the last clue. I assumed CRESCENT was some kind of astronomical track, but I think it is a kind of motor racing track.
Miche@13: I too raised an eyebrow at Ulster=NI (it often has distinct sectarian connotations around here), but I doubt it will cut much ice with setters.
Slightly tougher than standard Monday fare, and all the better for it. Odd kinda theme with the various addresses but nothing more (as far as I could see).
ASPRAWL took me longer than it should have done.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
As you say, Peter O, a fine puzzle – and a very fine blog might I add. Though I could question your assertion in the parsing of SQUARE that ‘honest’ and ‘Conservative’ are “rather close to each other”!!
Many thanks, Nutmeg (long may positive discrimination be absent on Mondays! There’s always the quiptic/Everyman…..?)
crispy@10
I took it that “not my” indicated that the letters m and y are to be excluded from the alphabet before counting. Then up to U is indeed 20.
I though maybe the SOFT WATER was a reference to the Roman Bath Spa in Somerset but apparently their water is actually hard with significant levels of sodium, calcium and sulphate ions. So I did a u-turn on that theory
Nutmeg’s one of the only setters that I do in pencil – not sure why – just often don’t feel 100% confident of answers like FATTISH and SET ON, even when it really can’t be anything else
Cheers N&P
I’ve never come across bee = working group. Is it related to a “spelling bee”.
Harder than usual for a Monday, easier than usual for a Nutmeg. Thanks both
RR@34 Yes, and sewing bee
Neill97 @32 – “not my” is part of the definition “Not my choice”, so unfortunately that doesn’t work, not to mention it would have made it a really bizarre clue.
Not so much chewy as some have said; more like spicy from Nutmeg: nothing grated, and some tasty clues.
ASPRAWL was my favourite, for “regal killer”. COURANT was my only question mark as heraldry is a bit of a blind spot.
6dn, “Decent honest Conservative” raised a laugh, albeit a bitter one.
Thanks to both.
Yes, try as I might, I couldn’t shoe-horn CONTRADICTION IN TERMS into the grid at 6d 🙂
I agree with Auriga@19. The Prize was tediously easy, so Nutmeg’s definitelybelonged there.
Tough but thoroughly enjoyable. If only all setters were as good as Nutmeg.
Thanks bodycheetah @39 for expressIng my feelings so well.
Bodycheetah@39 😀
re. 2d, I am reminded of the episode of The Thick of It when they accidentally publish unverified crime stats.
Nicola Murray: Like you asked, we published the crime figures from 2004 up to the last quarter.
Steve Fleming: Yes, up to the last quarter but not up to and INCLUDING the last quarter, you dozy mare!
Nicola: ‘Up to’ includes the thing you’re going up to. Right? If you say count up to 20, it means count up to and include the number 20!
Steve: The events leading up to the Second World War do not include the Second World War!
Nicola: We haven’t got time for a semantic argument about this.
Thanks for the blog, I think a well set friendly puzzle on a Monday is a good tradition and very helpful for newer solvers, and we were all in that position at some stage.
I am not criticising the setter but this would have been a good Wednesday puzzle or even a Saturday as some have noted.
ASPRAWL and TOTEMIC were very neat, a lot of well hidden anagrams throughout the clues ( unlike a certain Saturday puzzle } .
Only just got round to tackling this . Very much enjoyed most, thanks to Nutmeg & PeterO for blog. Niggles were “first 20 letters” is surely UP TO T, not U and TOTEMIC (=Venerable? )
Tough puzzle.
I failed to solve 20ac, 17d.
I did not parse 1ac, 15ac, 25ac, 24d
Liked PRE-EMPT.
Thanks, both.
I think “up to you” is perfectly fine. Yes, I was stuck on A to T for a while, because that felt natural, but when I got the answer it didn’t bother me. Imagine a set of crossword clues with letters instead of numbers beside them – A to Z. “I solved them all until I got up to U”.
Without the “and including” clause it’s ambiguous, and therefore, fair game. If I asked you to count up to 10, I would expect you to count the ten definitely. You’d probably start at one, but you could start at zero or minus thirteen and you’d still be correct.
Good puzzle, but yeah, trickier than a Monday usually is.
I share Roz’s view (@45) that Monday Cryptics should be on the easier side. Over the last few months many people have complained that the Quiptic was harder than the Cryptic. I wonder if the editor has put harder Cryptics on Mondays in order to counter this complaint. In my view the complaints were spurious and should be ignored – if both are easy what difference does it make that one is easier than the other?
Re 2d UP TO YOU, of course the clue could lead you to either U or T, but the choice of U seems obvious for the solution, so I don’t see a problem here.
In any event, I enjoyed this one, as I do all of Nutmeg’s contributions. The short clue and answer @25 was my favourite. Thanks, Nutmeg and PeterO.
[ P.S. Thanks to the commenters who compared this one to the ‘easy’ Saturday Prize. I normally skip Maskerade’s puzzles – too hard for me – so now I’ll go back and give that one a go. ]
Keith Thomas @46
UP TO, without qualification, is ambiguous; if you think that UP TO T leads to a suitable answer to the clue, your interpretation may be the right one.
Chambers has for totem: something “regarded, often venerated”; Collins similarly.
I look forward to Everyman and Mondays as I can usually complete them. I don’t know how long easier Monday has been the case but it would be a shame to lose it.
[I thought (at least) one of the clues in Saturday’s Maskerade was a doozie…..!]
cellomaniac @49, if I say the Quiptic is harder than the Cryptic, my point isn’t that the Cryptic is too easy, but the Quiptic is not fulfilling its description of a cryptic crossword for beginners or people in a hurry. Today, I found the Quiptic about the same level as this, and together with others, queried the difficulty of the Quiptic.
@Shanne 43. Now I’m confused. Are you saying the Quiptic was too easy or the Cryptic was too easy? Or vice-versa?
@chargehand 64 – or both or neither? Still confused. I thought the Quiptic didn’t fulfil the definitions the Grauniad suggested. And the Cryptic, as pleasant a solve as it was, albeit tool less time than the the other. Best wishes.
@55 ‘took’ not ‘tool’. Apologies.
Courant, in heraldry, signifying a running animal with all four paws raised.
I don’t see why we have to have Ulster = NI just because it’s useful to setters. Any other inaccuracies by setters are jumped on.
Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO
Maybe Ulster is northern Ireland rather than Northern Ireland?
Capital letters in the Guardian crossword are, as a general rule, best ignored
The entertainment for me today included (a novelty) printing this puzzle (new printer) (watching to see if I could solve any clue as the puzzle emerged) (no). There is certainly greater satisfaction in completing with pen(cil) in hand. ROAD was favourite because it kicked off phase 2 when I had ground to a halt. I also liked UNALIKE.
Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO
Chargehand @54 – I solve on the app so I know times. This week the Prize Crossword took me 17 minutes. Now I do complete the Quiptic or Everyman in sub-20 minutes often enough to not find that unexpected, but not usually the Prize. I expect to solve the Everyman or Quiptic in under 30 minutes normally, and most cryptics in 30-45 minutes. Today’s Quiptic took me more than 45 minutes. I thought it was too hard for that slot, as did many others, I wouldn’t have quibbled if the same crossword had turned up as a Cryptic.
I don’t normally give times because it can be off-putting, but if I’m saying the Quiptic took me longer than the Cryptic, it’s usually because the Quiptic took me more than 30 mins and the Cryptic noticeably less, which feels thw wrong way round.
It might be best for all setters in future to avoid Ulster = NI, whether Northern Ireland or northern Ireland, otherwise they could be accused of the typical British ignorance and insensitivity, as explained by the article on page 4 of today’s Guardian Journal section.
Enjoyable, thanks both.
A Crescent as a road is a ‘regularly curved track’ I think.
This blog probably wasnt up when I turned in yesterday.
So I would like to add a tick or three
Nutmeg always welcome chez moi.
I agree with Crispy in the ‘up to’ debate. And what does ‘up to’ mean in phrases like ‘guaranteed for up to 10 years’? Is it guaranteed for 10 years or for some unspecified period up to 10?
And btw, if you count up to 100, you start at one, not at zero, which is why the century began in 2001 and not 2000! IMHO!
Thanks PeterO and Nutmeg. I really hope Monday’s aren’t all going to be this hard. It’s nice to have one a week I feel I’m going to finish.
Yes i also thought this was tough. I only got about three clues out yesterday and had to return to it today (our time) to make headway. For a while today, I had the top half solved but nothing in the bottom half. I did get a lot of satisfaction from eventually filling the whole grid and I have certainly enjoyed coming here to read others’ thoughts. Thanks PeterO and of course Nutmeg.
I gave up after an hour which yielded five solutions – not on Nutmeg’s wavelength at all yesterday, lol !
I had parsed 18a as sounding like “rowed”, which I felt was rather niche! So thanks for the explanation – bicycle or horse riding sounds much more likely!
On the bed-settee vs sofa bed debate, my feeling is that it’s largely based on what you see as being the primary function of the item. When I’ve heard people referring to bed-settees it was often in a bedsit where you have very little space and your bed can fold down into a seating space if anyone comes round to visit. “Sofa bed” always sounds a bit more posh to me, and I’d use that if someone had a piece of furniture that was mainly for sitting on, with occasional use as a bed for guests.
Thank you PeterO as I couldn’t get my head around 1A wordplay at all, and only understood the F of 20a. Commiserations to those wanting a gentler Monday ride, this hadn’t got any easier by Tuesday evening, but enjoyed scrutinising the wordplay more closely than sometimes required by this setter, with some fine surfaces as usual.
I think use of sofa vs settee probably tells you something about someone but I’m not sure what – the Google Ngram is clear that sofa is in the ascendancy except for the 1920s when settee ran it close.
Thanks Nutmeg.
Is nobody troubled by chasm as def for rent in 23d? I see it synonym list but are they really interchangeable?