Guardian Cryptic 28,881 by Picaroon

57 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,881 by Picaroon”

1. I usually find Picaroon’s challenging, but not enough to give up on, and I’m usually glad I stick with them. New to me today were PRIAPUS and SMOTHERED MATE. I was unaware of the pregnant meaning of IN THE CLUB, and we’re more likely here to call “insider dealing” “insider trading”. I’d have put “perhaps” at the end of the clue for 10a. I couldn’t fully parse 14a, as I didn’t twig that a Seat is a car. Also 2d required knowledge I don’t have. I got ENTREE but couldn’t parse it as I’d not heard of that English racecourse. But I had heard of the Tate gallery, and thought 1d was good fun.

   Thanks Picaroon & manehi.

2. Another finding this tough, but soluble, first one in was KISSINGER. I hadn’t realised PRIAPUS was a god, as a classical education was not on any curriculum I studied and I’m more familiar with the words derived from his accoutrements, so that one took a while.

   Thank you to Picaroon and manehi.

3. GeoffDownUnder @1 I’d call it insider trading too, it was my first thought and I’m English.

   Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool is where the Grand National is run.

   Smothered mate was new to me too.

4. As usual, lots of amusing clues here. My favourites were the surface for INTIMATE, the KISSING ER and the ‘Group on pull up north’ def for HUSKIES. Same as GDU @1, I had INSIDER “trading” first for 9d, but was rescued by the wordplay. Never heard of SMOTHERED MATE before, so again bunged in from wordplay as my last in. I thought the question mark at 10a was OK to indicate that this was a definition by example (I think!). As possibly implied by Shanne @2, it was surprising that there was no reference in the clue to the “accoutrements” of the ‘divine male’ at 21a.

   Thanks to Picaroon and manehi

5. Yep, some choppy waters with the Pirate… a few dnks, like that Seat made cars, or that smothered king was a thing (not helped by lazily bunging in insider trading at first). And some tds (too dim!), like sticking Jo in front of In the club, d”oh, and forgetting there are nine Muses. Wouldn’t normally associate being a ‘wag’ with The Ring (tho I spose the Rhine maidens do tease Alberich … ). And who was it thought Kissinger should instead be tried for war crimes (Hitchens …?). Lots of fun brain food, thx Pnm.

6. This all fell into place very nicely although it took a couple of passes for some to drop with the interlocking nho’s – ELECTRA COMPLEX and SMOTHERED MATE – the last ones in. Why does INSIDER DEALING feel strangely familiar? Oh yes, the Chancellor’s gambling mates …

   I really liked a couple of the witty definitions – for STAG NIGHT and HUSKIES. Other LOL moments included big berth, the misdirection in SORE, the deletion from AINTREE, the very neat NONET>TENON and the surface for SPAWNS. ROTUNDA made me smile – the Platonic ideal for this type of building is, of course, situated in Birmingham City Centre. There are others such as the Pantheon in Rome …

   Thanks Picaroon and manehi

7. [PM @6, there’s one here too, called the thermos flask, designed by an old mate of mrs ginf. What’s more it was built in ’64, the year before ‘Plato’s’ 🙂 ]

8. Add me to the nho smothered mate brigade, though it was eminently gettable from the clue. Enjoyable all round. Ta to Picaroon and Manehi.

9. I took a while trying to parse up the duff for IN THE CLUB but got there in the end. I liked SORE for the which, S or E, KISSINGER for the fact that ER is living on in crossword land and STAG NIGHT and HUSKIES for the definitions.

10. Way above my pay grade. Chapeau to those who completed this. Feeling a tad bruised!

11. For once I finished a Picaroon without too much trouble, or aids, finding this much easier than usual.

    I, too, was up the duff for a while.

    I wondered if there were any connections between the Greek characters appearing (Priapus, Electra, Muses) but I couldn’t find one.

    Thanks manehi and Picaroon

12. Like Geoff@1, I was glad I persevered with this one. I always solve in clue order on the first pass, and I got to 20d SPAWNS before I had anything solved. But I love that feeling that ensues as the clues gradually yield and the mounting sense of satisfaction as the grid slowly fills. Here I had all of the left hand side completed before I really got anywhere on the right. Several of my favourites coincide with manehi’s and those already discussed by previous posters. I still needed manehi’s blog to understand fully some of the parsing. I did know that PRIAPUS (21a) was a Greek god – and in fact I really liked those three Greek references linked by DaveE@11. As I have only a passing acquaintance with chess, 17a SMOTHERED MATE was an unfamiliar term, though it reminded me of “smother love”. Thanks a million for a good day, Picaroon, and a helpful blog, manehi.

13. Worth it just for HUSKIES.
    Didn’t know SMOTHERED MATE.
    Tried to put “up the duff” in 1a at first.
    And I see we have ER appearing as “head of state once” now.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi.

14. This was an interesting struggle in which I almost gave up several times but was really glad I didn’t.

    I wonder why Picaroon added the unnecessary Sadko to the LA SCALA clue? Doesn’t seem to add anything imho.

    Enjoyed learning about the chess move and another INSIDER TRADING here.

    Excellent puzzle with (blessedly) no theme. Or if there is, I missed it.

    Many thanks both.

15. Crossbar @13: re ER, I thought the same. Have we had a CR yet?

16. Boy this was tough! First pass yielded 1ac and 4dn and then a long blank. I nearly gave up at that point but persistence paid off to reveal a superb set of clues. I luckily got In the Club and Insider Dealing ahead of their alternatives which helped. Smothered Mate is a particularly specific bit of GK but was gettable. Like earlier posters I loved P’s clever definitions. Thanks to him and manehi.

17. Superb – I have nothing to add, except thanks, as ever, to Picaroon and manehi.

18. Another excellent crossword from Picaroon. I too went for insider trading and had never heard of 17a

    Thanks very much to both Picaroon and manehi

19. The unknown ELECTRA COMPLEX, plus putting TRADING instead of DEALING in 9d, meant problems with the equally unfamiliar SMOTHERED MATE, so a defeat today, but a very enjoyable one. Failed to parse ENTREE and IN THE CLUB, too. Loved the HUSKIES on the pull up north and the uncomfortable shoe.

20. GeoffDownUnder@1, grantinfreo@5 Pretty sure Paul’s car offering last week included the Seat? Nice one today though – plenty of working backwards from reasonably easy answers! No idea where I dragged up smothered mate from…it certainly wasn’t from any knowledge of chess.

21. Fell into the trap of trying to solve SMOTHERED MATE and INSIDER DEALING from the def. Bad mistake, especially when they intersect. Another ”trading” here, and no hope with chess.

    Crossbar@13. l liked HUSKIES too. I’ve got a thing about all things Arctic and Antarctic (on my bucket list) and used to watch the Iditarod every year on TV until I read how cruel it can be. Beautiful dogs. Our neighbours had one which came over to cool off in our fish pond in summer.

    William@14. I was a bit perplexed by LA SCALA’s interior as well. Finally settled on Picaroon giving an extra nudge to the definition of “this building” being an opera house where either Salome or Sadko may be on the programme, although there were other pointers with ”notes” and ”opening”.

22. I found this tricky but great fun, with some cleverly cryptic definitions and ingenious constructions to give great surface readings.

    Like most of us, SMOTHERED MATE was new to me, but everything else was familiar and all parseable – eventually.

    Favourites were IN THE CLUB (beautiful clue), STAG NIGHT (great def), ELECTRA COMPLEX (I always enjoy clues whose solution is anagrist + anagrind) and HUSKIES (another great def).

    Many thanks to S&B

23. Typical Picaroon. Absolutely brilliant. Hard to get started then slowly and satisfyingly unfolded. A good mixture of General Knowledge required plus attention to the cunning wordplay. Always a great week when Nutmeg and Picaroon both appear.

24. paddymelon @21: yes, the extra opera reference was probably Picaroon being uncharacteristically helpful!

25. Rarely have I experienced so many “Well, it has to be ….., but I don’t see why? ..Oh! I get it” moments. Brilliant!

26. As others have said, this was a challenge but very rewarding. Managed it with help from PinCam, and we once had a SEAT, a Spanish VW (we’ve now switched to SKODA which is also a VW these days). Had to look up the chess mate. NW corner held out the longest, not sure why as they turned out OK. Thanks Picaroon and manehi

27. Wow, this was some challenge this morning! Didn’t help myself with my not clearly thought through Lassies instead of the excellent HUSKIES at 18d and having bunged in Trading instead of DEALING to go with the INSIDER at 9d. Last two in the interlocking ABLE and ENTREE. Memories of early chess games as a teenager helped with the splendid SMOTHERED MATE. And I once played a painfully wooden Orestes in Sophocles ELECTRA at college, so that helped with unravelling the treacle anagram at 3d. For a while with STAG NIGHT and my mistaken Lassies in place I thought we might be in for a tour of the northern night clubs. Thought NAIEVETE the most devious of all the clues in an excellent work out for my grey matter today. Many thanks Picaroon and Manehi…

28. Brilliant!

29. I know we usually omit the accents on foreign words especially in crosswords but I noticed that entrée and naiveté do actually mesh together in this case. I wonder if that was deliberate.

30. After the first pass, I had two clues solved and then slowly pieced together the rest. Some fine clues, but, like William @14 I thought the Sadko in 4 was unnecessary, and to my mind, misleading.

    I liked MINUTIA for the wordplay, TENSE and HUSKIES for the definitions, NAIVETE and TAKE A BACK SEAT for the surfaces.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi.

31. Short of time today and not on setter’s wavelength. Solved 9 clues and gave up.

    Thanks, both.

32. Terrific stuff! Just the right level of difficulty, but all fairly clued and yielded steadily.

    Top marks to INSIDER DEALING

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi

33. This was tough but really good. The highlight for me was the treacle / ELECTRA anagram. Has this been done before? Picaroon does seem to have a bit of a penchant for this lady. A quick search shows her in:

    “Register egg being eaten by tragic figure, along with large bap (9,4)” (28,750)

    “Tragic figure‘s return followed by artist (7)” (28,714)

    “20 lady‘s plump for a queen giving a twirl (7)” (27,601) (The answer to 20d was TRAGIC)

    “Kind of complex skill star almost elevated (7)” (Independent 11,031 as Rodriquez)

    Many thanks Picaroon and manehi.

34. Mostly challenging but soluble. I still don’t get “ABLE” for sharp, though.

35. Lord Jim @33: Perhaps the Pirate has a thing about Sophocles, Euripides, O’Neill and others – although ELECTRA has a very useful collection of letters in a helpful order. Mum Clytemnestra is much less generous! 🙂

36. Agreed. Marvellous. Lovely when everything gradually reveals itself. Such beautifully constructed clues. Unlike yesterday which defeated me.
    Many thanks

37. Probably a coincidence rather than a misdirection, but KISSINGER was also head of State (Department).

38. Thanks Picaroon. I found this much more difficult than the pirate’s recent offerings as Rodriguez and Buccaneer and I ended up revealing INSIDER DEALING and the clever HUSKIES. As usual there were many excellent clues including STAG NIGHT, PRIAPUS (my clue of the week), SORE, ELECTRA COMPLEX, and WAGNERIAN. My parsing gaps were numerous; thanks manehi for the blog.

39. Thanks for the parsing, manehi. I couldn’t figure out TENSE, NAIVETE, WAGNERIAN (I didn’t see “wag”), INSIDER DEALING (didn’t know “banged up”), didn’t know SMOTHERED MATE. I did know IN THE CLUB, but I’ve no idea where it comes from.

    Seems to me we’ve had a number of “something OR something” clues lately.

    paddymelon@21 You might want to look into the Yukon Quest, an Iditarod-like race that’s much less cruel.

    Great fun. I had to use the check button a lot more than usual, but fair do’s.

    Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.

    PinCam@26 What’s PinCam? Is it connected to your handle?

40. Jacob@34 somebody who is very able could be described as being sharp-witted or just sharp.
    Fun crossword. Thanks both.

41. Thanks manehi especially for explaining the white Russian and the chess term.
    I think the wordplay was more devious than many recent Picaroon puzzles but always fair (though I wonder if “or Sadko” was a ‘note to self’ to plump for one or the other, that didn’t get edited out) and as usual very witty.
    Thanks PostMark for solidarity regading the wrong example chosen for 19d – grantinfreo I can’t find the one you refer to, most Australian rotundas on google images are octagonal bandstands!
    TENSE my favourite narrowly, thanks Picaroon.

42. Valentine@39 I assumed PinCam is SinCam’s partner.

43. I was lucky that I knew SMOTHERED MATE, which came quite early. Without it I doubt that I would have got as far as I did. In the end I left only TENON and TENSE unsolved, but I really should have devoted more time to TENSE, after which TENON would have quickly followed.

    ELECTRA COMPLEX was new to me, making the second word far from obvious, but the crossers made it straightforward eventually.

    This was a quality crossword with some cracking clues. Thanks to Picaroon, and to manehi for clearing up a couple of parsing queries.

44. Very glad others found this tough too. Woke up with man-flu and thought my brains had disappeared overnight

45. Great fun!
    Faves were ELECTRA COMPLEX, STAG NIGHT, HUSKIES and SMOTHERED MATE, with which I’m familiar, as it happened to me online just recently.
    I was going to complain about TENON, which I parsed as TEN + ON (about). I even wondered if Mnemosyne counted as number ten! Completely missed the obvious, of course. Doh!
    Thanks, Picaroon and manehi, for this lunchtime’s entertainment.

46. I stopped ticking my favourites when I got to ten, all of which have been mentioned by others. (I am not a Ring fan, but I did like 24a WAGNERIAN.) My experience was similar to several others – only two solved on first passing, but then the fun began.

    So obviously I disagree with Hermano@43, whose comment I found interesting as he explained so clearly why he thought the puzzle was bad.

    Thanks P&M for the fun (and some necessary explanations), and PM for the rotunda comment.

47. I used to play chess to a fairly decent level, but it was Yorkshire Lass, not an aficionado of the great game, who spotted SMOTHERED MATE. A phrase which I suspect is now used only in rather old-fashioned primers. The most common smothered mate ends Qg8+, Rg8, Nf7++.

    Otherwise we thought this was really hard, and it took two sittings: YL going into ‘You know what . . .’ mode after a first largely unproductive hour.

    Thanks to setter and blogger: Vlad or Philistine tomorrow no doubt!

48. cello @47: 🤣 An exemplary display of brotherly spirit.

    AidanN @29 : nicely spotted, I’m sure Picaroon would have been aware of the entrée/naïveté cross. If only insïder were like Motörhead or Mötley Crüe.

    I know how annoying it is when you’ve really struggled over a puzzle, and then someone comes along and says how they finished it while waiting for the kettle to boil, so…. thanks P & M, lovely cuppa.

    [I made a Pin(hole)Cam when I was a (younger) boy. It’s one of those things adults tell you to do, and then they never quite work the way they say they should. See also telephones made out of two tin cans and a piece of string.]

49. [Gazza @41, google Mount Eliza apartments and scroll to the aerial thumbnail, river in the background … ]

50. Sorry, Gazzh (bleeping autocheck ..)

51. If anyone’s still around…

    I believe smothered mate is still the recognised term. Here’s a nice example from this year’s Wijk aan Zee Challengers tournament.

52. Amused by my nearly there but also extremely wrong parsing of Tenon as being Ten (guessed at the number of muses) followed by on (about, as in a sermon on-).

53. Did no one else think there might have been a theme? In the club, intimate, priapus, stag night, spawns, mate, kissing(er). Even the huskies (my loi) were ‘on the pull’.

54. phitonelly @52
    Thanks for that example of smothered mate, which is a good one because it actually occurred. It was good of the loser to play the forced move just before the smothered mate was delivered, so that the winning move would appear on the score sheet and therefore on the record. Most often, when any kind of checkmate is threatened, and there is no escape, the loser resigns the game immediately, and ‘Resigns’ goes on the record.

55. Alan B,
    Yes, indeed. She was very sporting. A beautiful game.

56. Very difficult. This Texan had to concede with 2d & 12a unsolved. 12a revealed as minutia seems overly contrived to me. This is the point where to me a setter’s effort is no longer art but insider dealing.

57. Thank you, through this website we can learn many things.

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