The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28885.
I think this might have been Brummie’s entry in the “write a Monday crossword” stakes. As such, it succeeds very well. Brummie often includes a theme, but I do not see anything here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MODICUM |
Mother hosting police ball is upset? Just a bit (7)
|
| An envelope (‘hosting’) of ODIC, a reversal (‘is upset’) of CID (‘police’) plus O (‘ball’) in MUM (‘mother’). | ||
| 5 | TOWARDS |
Approaching a road in roughly two seconds (7)
|
| AN envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus RD (‘road’) in TOW, an anagram (‘roughly’) of ‘two’ plus S (‘seconds’). | ||
| 9 | GAMER |
Who’s keen to play Partridge Queen? (5)
|
| A charade of GAME (‘partridge’ – with the question mark appended to indicate the example) plus R (Regina, ‘Queen’). | ||
| 10 | PART-TIMER |
Casual member wants back pay (4-5)
|
| A charade of PART (‘member’ of the cast) plus TIMER, a reversal (‘back’) of REMIT (‘pay’). | ||
| 11 | BOGGED DOWN |
Slough has one trapped, progress hampered? (6,4)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation, depending on the identification of BOG as ‘slough’. | ||
| 12 |
See 6
|
|
| 14 | ABSTRACT NOUN |
Failure, for example, of NBC broadcast with astronaut (8,4)
|
| An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘NBC’ plus ‘astronaut’. | ||
| 18 | NERVE-RACKING |
Harrowing neck torture (5-7)
|
| A charae of NERVE (‘neck’, effrontery) plus RACKING (‘torture’). | ||
| 21 |
See 6
|
|
| 22 | DETACHABLE |
Beach merging with delta may be cut off (10)
|
| An anagram (‘merging with’) of ‘beach’ plus ‘delta’. | ||
| 25 | MAIN ISSUE |
Sea child’s most important problem? (4,5)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 26 | NEATH |
Poet’s lower than ‘the man sadly emasculated’ (5)
|
| An anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘the [m]an’ minus the M (’emasculated’). | ||
| 27 | PINCHED |
Under arrest and looking haggard (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | TREADLE |
Machine operator altered shift (7)
|
| An anagram (‘shift’) of ‘altered’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MUGABE |
Face Lincoln as a former leader (6)
|
| A charade of MUG (‘face’) plus ABE (‘Lincoln’), for Robert MUGABE, the Zimbabwean Prime Minister and then President. | ||
| 2 | DAMAGE |
Mother, get on ruin! (6)
|
| A charade of DAM (‘mother’) plus AGE (‘get on’). | ||
| 3 | CORNED BEEF |
Hackneyed stuff by journalist with complaint — probably canned (6,4)
|
| A charade of CORN (‘hackneyed stuff’) plus ED (‘journalist’) plus BEEF (‘complaint’), with a descriptive ‘definition”. | ||
| 4 | MOPED |
Transport was miserable (5)
|
| Double definition (with different pronunciations). | ||
| 5 | THROWBACK |
‘Reversion‘ cast and support (9)
|
| A charade of THROW (‘cast’) plus BACK (‘support’). | ||
| 6, 12, 21, 24 | WITH HEAD HELD HIGH |
Proudly accompanying the ambassador on a date, kept getting excited? (4,4,4,4)
|
| A charade of WITH (‘accompanying’) plus HE (His or Her Excellency, ‘the ambassador’) plus ‘a’ plus D (‘date’) plus HELD (‘kept’) plus HIGH (‘excited’). | ||
| 7 | RUMBELOW |
Drink downstairs? Nonsense, according to a shanty singer (8)
|
| A charade of RUM (‘drink’) plus BELOW (‘downstairs’). Definition in Chambers: RUMBELOW A meaningless refrain occuring in old sea-songs. | ||
| 8 | STRIDENT |
Screeching of small missile (8)
|
| A charade of S (‘small’) plus TRIDENT (‘missile’). | ||
| 13 | STONEHENGE |
Misspelt the Genoese name for an eastern monument (10)
|
| An anagram (‘misspelt’) of ‘the Genoese’ with one E replaced by N (‘name for an eastern’). | ||
| 15 | TRAVERSED |
Crossed a playwright with a paper figure (9)
|
| A charade of TRAVERS (Ben, ‘a playwright’ of farces such as A Cuckoo in the Nest and Thark) plus ED (‘a paper figure’ -which makes a change from ‘journalist’). | ||
| 16 | ON THE MAP |
East Hampton otherwise now known as famous (2,3,3)
|
| An anagram (‘otherwise’) of E (‘east’) plus ‘Hampton’. Is ‘now known as’ part of the definition, or just filler? | ||
| 17 | TRILLION |
That’s an awful lot of birdsong on island first (8)
|
| A charade of TRILL (‘birdsong’) plus I (‘island’) plus ‘on’. | ||
| 19 | ABOARD |
Ace management team on a ship (6)
|
| A charade of A (‘ace’) plus BOARD (‘management team’). | ||
| 20 | TECHIE |
Nerdy expert element of Aztec hierarchy (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘element of’) in ‘AzTEC HIErarchy’. | ||
| 23 | ALERT |
Vigilant prince consort ditches bishop (5)
|
| A subtraction: AL[b]ERT (‘Prince Consort’ – should be capitalised – Queen Victoria’s husband) minus the B (‘ditches bishop’). | ||
| 24 |
See 6
|
|
Nice puzzle, the only real difficulties I had were those of my own making, like trying to equate GAM with partridge.
I thought BOGGED DOWN’s attempted pun Slough=bog was a little awkward, but there was a question-mark so ok.
PeterO asks if “now known as” is filler, but I think that ON THE MAP is usually used when someone/thing has just arrived (there), so the phrase does belong with the definition.
Tx.
Thanks Brummie for an enjoyable crossword with ticks going to PART-TIMER, ABSTRACT NOUN, MAIN ISSUE, MUGABE, and ABOARD. For some reason I initially found this difficult but suddenly everything fell into place. Thank PeterO for the blog and parsing STONEHENGE — I didn’t see the “n” for “e” switch.
[By the way Monday’s Indy crossword by Filbert is a gem.]
I only got about two thirds of the way through then got rather stuck and went to Neo’s in the FT (which I finished). There were a few in this one that I probably would never have got, so I think I abandoned ship at the right moment.
Thank you Peter O. I love it when you blog and sort out my blanks for me before (my) bed-time.
Needed your help for ALERT and BOGGED DOWN, however am none the wiser on the slough.
Have been everywhere, including John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the Slough of Despond.
Dr.WhatsOn @1. I don’t get the pun. Is it BOG(ged)DOWN?
Regarding possible themes, there are few directions/locations. DOWN, NEATH, BACK, TOWARDS, ON THE MAP, BELOW, HIGH
Interesting that the crossword doesn’t seem to have an example of the prominent ABSTRACT NOUN
My first attempt at looking for connections was MODICUM and WITH HEAD HELD HIGH.
“With”, the letter ”h” being moved up (head held high) could give you WHIT (modicum). No? I thought that was very clever.
There’s also the nautical MAIN ISSUE, HEAD, RUMBELOW.
Very gluey brain this morning, staring dumbly at what are pretty standard tricks, like the abstract noun, the poet’s ‘neath, and the main issue. Plodded along, got it done, no great joy, better mood on the morrow perhaps. Thx BnP.
Brighter note, rumbelow reminded me of dear old Rambling Syd Rumpo, always a joy 🙂
Not quite in the “Monday crossword” class for me but not as difficult as Brummie can be. I was expecting a theme but couldn’t find anything; maybe paddymelon @5 is right about the directions/locations.
I’m probably overcomplicating things, but I still don’t really get BOGGED DOWN, specifically the ‘has one trapped’ bit . I liked TREADLE, which reminded me of the old Singer sewing machines.
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO
Another here who didn’t really get BOGGED DOWN. Otherwise no real problems. I did like MUGABE and STONEHENGE for the letter substitution.
RUMBELOW is a rum word indeed yet felt strangely familiar; indeed Google reminds me it was an electrical retailer once bigger than Currys or Dixons. [Coincidental snip re gif’s comment @7: the chain was originally called Fred Dawes until they purchased a smaller chain called Sidney Rumbelows at which point they adopted the name]
I didn’t find this Mondayish at all. Indeed, I’d gone quite a long way through the clues before ON THE MAP gave me my first easy way in. I ended up with the bottom half largely complete before making much progress with the top. I was briefly thrown by NEATH – I wondered whether ‘poet’s lower’ might have been referring to NEAT as in cattle – it’s that weird syndrome the results in solvers seeing lower and thinking cow instead of lower down, seeing lock and thinking hair instead of security, etc etc etc. MAIN ISSUE probably my favourite for the literal interpretation which felt rather poetic.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
I can see BOGGED DOWN as a literal definition, but I can’t really get my head round NEATH being an anagram of ‘The Man’ with ’emasculated’ meaning remove a letter (M in this case) from the fodder. The answer was obvious with the crossers, though. I agree this was easy for Brummie, though it took the down clues to give me crossers to complete the majority of the across clues. Thanks to PeterO for the blog and to Brummie for the puzzle.
I found this easier than yesterday’s Vulcan which hopefully indicates the man-flu is over.
I parsed BOGGED DOWN as a DD with a slightly punny first def
I liked the use of the common anagram indicator ALTERED as the fodder and MODICUM is a lovely word
Cheers P&B
Solid, themeless (I think) puzzle but with a few bung & shrugs is GinF would say.
Wasted time trying to equate GAM to partridge, and couldn’t see part = member for some reason.
Not keen on BOGGED DOWN, seems a little uncryptic.
Many thanks both.
For some reason I had difficulty getting started, but the answers then fell at a steady rate.
PostMark @10: I enjoyed your crossworder’s syndrome, I expect many of us live with it. I knew a batsman once who was bowled by an infuriatingly innocent ball that he was convinced had spin on it but which carried straight on and removed his middle stump.
Tomsdad@11: M = male ….. = man.
Satisfies me, anyway.
That was an enjoyable and fair challenge. I agree with PeterO and others that BOGGED DOWN is a bit thin, but that’s the nearest thing to a criticism. Particularly liked ABSTRACT NOUN, NEATH (I, too, started off thinking of neats as things that low, but then it clicked – I think “emasculated” as an indicator for removing an M is rather clever), STONEHENGE (very smooth surface giving a brilliant misdirection).
Learn something time – I had always assumed that harrowing was spelt nerve-wracking, but apparently NERVE-RACKING is the “correct” spelling. Neat clue (in a non-cow-related way), anyhow.
Apparently RUMBELOWS never made a profit during the 20+ years of its existence. Something else that the dot.com entrepreneurs didn’t actually invent.
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO
Same experience as PostMark @10. ON THE MAP was my way in and then completed bottom half reasonably quickly but ground to a halt at the top. However after MODICUM and TOWARDS it all flowed again. I liked CORNED BEEF, ABSTRACT NOUN and TRAVERSED. I thought BOGGED DOWN was fine.
Ta Brummie & PeterO.
Similarly to PM@10, the bottom half was almost complete before the top half had much in. There were a few clues, like 8dn, where I somehow thought the answer was going to be harder than it was. Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
(Rumblelows reminded me of the days when we used to rent TV’s on a monthly basis.)
I thought ABSTRACT NOUN was a great anagram (as were DETACHABLE and TREADLE (like Bodycheetah, I enjoyed the slightly misleading ‘altered shift’) but, given its prominent position, I was disappointed (like paddymelon @4?) that it didn’t lead to a theme.
Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle and PeterO for the blog
… and I agree with NeilH re the cleverness of NEATH.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
NeilH @17
“Wracking ones brain” always irritates me when I see it, as the reference is to the torture device the rack.
We wanted PLATH for the poet at 26a, though we couldn’t see how to parse it. Mind you, when STONEHENGE fell and NEATH became obvious, we couldn’t parse that either. Otherwise, pretty good. Thanks, Brummie and PeterO.
I went down the same false trails as some others with NEAT(h)S and GAM. I even looked up “gam” in Chambers and wondered if Partridge could also be vulgar slang for what the dictionary told me gam was also slang for. NEATH was my favourite, too.
Like several others I was looking at pretty empty grid after the first pass. Unlike everyone else, NEATH was my first in, followed by ON THE MAP, the rest of the bottom half, followed by the top half. Steady satisfying solve, with me trying to think of well-known shanty singers, until I had enough crossers to see RUMBELOW was a straightforward charade.
I solved this about in about the same time as Carpathian’s Quiptic yesterday and Vulcan’s Cryptic 10 minutes faster.
Thank you PeterO and Brummie.
Unlike some contributors I enjoyed this greatly and actually laughed out loud at Bogged Down. Thanks Brummie for making my day.
Odd and rather subjective to describe this as Monday-ish! That wasn’t my experience, nor that of some others preceding me… Nothing on the first pass until I hit ON THE MAP which slowly opened up that corner and then the whole bottom half, which was generally much easier than the top for me. I failed to parse NEATH (and had PLATH in for a while) and add me to the list of those who thought GAM was a word for partridge (to pick up on PostMark’s crossworder’s syndrome above, I guess we’re conditioned to initially read all mentioned of ‘queen’ as ER…)
I got but didn’t parse TRAVERSED for not knowing the playwright and I was about to ask why ED is a ‘paper figure’ but the penny dropped as I was typing! I presume necessity was the mother of invention there, as ‘journalist’ was used in CORNED BEEF.
An enjoyable workout all in all, so thanks both.
Liked ABSTRACT NOUN, RUMBELOW (a new word for me).
New: playwright Ben Travers (for 15d).
I did not parse 11ac; PART in 10ac.
Thanks, both.
Rob T @27: I suspect there is only a modest number of setters or solvers around today who have not equated Queen with ER for the entirety of their cruciverbal lives. It’s going to be a hard connection to ‘unlearn’.
[I was going to post a link to RUMBELOW in the Helston Furry Dance song “Hal-an-Tow”, but on checking the lyrics I found that this was “rumble O”. Perhaps the derivation?]
I wracked my brains trying to think of a playwright beginning with a ‘T’ — and failed. I’ve never heard of Ben Travers. But I biffed the solution anyway. Yes, the bog and slough clue was very limp: I think Brummie got a little bogged down.
I agree with PeterO on the Monday-ish feel. A lot of the clues were really straightforward, standard charade constructions, using familiar semantic links: mug=face, mum=mother, Abe=Lincoln, nerve=neck, drink+downstairs=rum+below, main=sea, issue=child, throw=cast, back=support, et al.
I enjoyed this one.
Lots of nice clues here. I always like it when I get the answer purely from the wordplay – my more normal process is some mixture of getting part of the wordplay, guessing the answer from the definition, then working out the rest of the wordplay. So it was satisfying in 1d for example to think “Face = MUG, Lincoln = ABE, ah, MUGABE!” (And it was a good surface.)
PostMark @10: I totally agree. I commented the other day that whenever I see “low” I think “moo”, so in 26a I too was initially looking for a poetic word for a cow. Just as most of us are probably taken by surprise when a flower actually is a flower rather a river.
Many thanks Brummie and PeterO.
I’m surprised that many of us found this rather tricky, as it all fell out straightforwardly for me – except that my LOI was STONEHENGE, as on my smartphone the lines between the squares seemed to indicate an enumeration of (3,4,3), which made for a most unlikely name. D’oh – but a great clue.
Other favourites, as for Eileen, were ABSTRACT NOUN, NEATH (Brummie could have defined this as a place name, but I’m glad he didn’t) and TREADLE (‘altered’ as anagrist rather than anagrind).
No theme, pleasingly 🙂
Thanks to S&B
Must be even dimmer than usual today but still don’t get Bogged Down. Bog+(owned*)+g?. Can’t be right?
Lord Jim @32: And when ‘wicked’ indicates ‘evil’ rather than ‘candle’ 🙂
[Am non-prizing this week. Nice to meet some new names.] Like others I was broken down in the NW corner and then slowed down by a failure to parse GAMER. But the neat MODICUM and wonderful MUGABE got me out of the mire. I think BOGGED DOWN is more or less a double definition. Not sure the question mark is really needed.
For once, a new word (to me) cropped up in conversation the other week. So I’m on the lookout for SWAGE. The homophone of RACK and WRACK I could live without.
Many thanks Brummie and PeterO.
I didn’t find this easy at all, sorry to say. But I did get there eventually. As with at least a couple others, the bottom half was easier for me than the top. And I’m another who said (about my LOI), “Huh–I guess a gam is a partridge somewhere?”
The problem with BOGGED DOWN is that the idiom literally refers to getting stuck in boggy ground, so it’s not cryptic unless you’re one of those people who doesn’t think about the idioms you use.
My guess is that we’ve all been BOGGED DOWN in plenty of circumstances, but never in an actual bog, (the source of the idiom). Then you have Slough both as a town (where the traffic is bad, maybe) and a synonym of bog. Put all those ingredients together and stir and you get … a clue that almost works (but should have).
Pleased with myself until the preamble noted ‘a Monday puzzle’, but it didn’t dent my pride for too long, certainly easier than yesterday.
Just struggled to see where the second ‘N’ and from In STONEHENGE.
Thanks both.
Dr. WhatsOn, I have been literally bogged down. My lasting regret is that my walking companion failed to record my waist-deep predicament before helping me to get out.
I found this hard, with the same progression from ON THE MAP then largely south to north as described two or three times above.
Yes, with Monkey @40, I’ve been literally bogged down – there are lots of peat bogs on the Pennine Way, However, I was glad my companion didn’t take a picture as I preferred to be pulled out first, a large backpack wasn’t helping me get out.
And surely the Slough of Despond is using a metaphorical bog to describe that feeling of being sucked down emotionally.
All I got last night was two words. This morning, staring at the great blank space, I thought of MUM (I’d been stuck on MA) and CID, and MODICUM got me started. After that it was a steady progress downward from that and TOWARDS, unlike the upward trending of other commenters.
DETACHABLE doesn’t equal “may be cut off.” They’re grammatically different.
I know quite a lot of sea shanties, and not one of them contains RUMBELOW. The only song I know that contains it has the chorus “Hal and Tow, jolly rumbelow, We were up long before the day-o, To welcome in the summer, to welcome in the May-o, For summer is a-coming in And winter’s gone away-o.” Hardly a sea song.
Added after reading comments — hardly a RUMBELOW either, apparently it’s Rumble-O. Oh well. It still isn’t a sea shanty.
Lord Jim@32 That’s usually my process too.
Thanks, Brummie and PeterO. Don’t care what they say, I liked it.
Competent apart from 11, which apart from its obvious definition I do not understand.
The clue at 10a is perfectly gettable but I really don’t think part-timer and casual are synonyms. They certainly aren’t legally and to use them as such colloquially seems rather dismissive.
Nice puzzle though. Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Much the same as others, South to North.
I wonder if BOGGED DOWN is supposed to be a triple definition – Slough has one, trapped, progress hampered? I liked STONEHENGE because of the misleading Eastern monument.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
… but ‘Slough has one’ is BOG, not BOGGED DOWN.
… although I suppose a slough could be a BOGGED DOWN [as in South or North Down].
This brought back various memories of renting our TV from Rumbelows and sewing with a TREADLE sewing machine (which in fact I still own and use). No, I’ve never met RUMBELOW in a sea shanty, but it does point you in the general direction of the right kind of lyrics. Surprised it’s in the dictionary though.
I didn’t find this Mondayish: it took until ON THE MAP to find my first entry. Last in was the NEATH/STONEHENGE pair, because I couldn’t work out how to get the correct fodder.
Straightforward enough, other than the unfamiliar definition of rumbelow.
Having performed in MIKADO several times, RUMBELOW was quite familiar from the men’s chorus contribution to the Wandering Minstrel song. G&S help us out once again!
the last plantagenet @43
I’m sorry that you find yourself incompetent.
[ (…much later…) William @15, I think there’s a name for that ball that comes straight on, an ‘arm ball’ or ‘slider’ or some such…]
Thanks for the blog, I really enjoyed this, a lot of clever clues and many definitions at the end so not needed.
Edward@44 I took PART -TIMER in a different sense to employment. I have casual swimmers who always seem to be keen when the weather is nice but have excuses in February.
For TECHIE I thought we were not meant to refer to the geeks as nerds, or is it the other way round ?
Roz @53 – as TECHIE, myself, I am comfortable with either.
I agree that this was Mondayish. 1a and 1d went in immediately which is usually a sign.
Favourite was RUMBELOW for the definition.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Another GAMmer here: we are so used to ER for queen after all these years!
I was pleased to see ‘a paper figure’ for ED in 15dn, instead of the ubiquitous ‘journalist’. Then I noticed 3dn, complete with the ubiquitous ‘journalist’. Ah well.
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
Concerning PART for “member”: I took it to be a body part, as an arm or a leg, rather than a thespian one. No harm done, either way.
GDU@3, I hope you remembered Prince Albert today.
Roz@53. Here we have a tech support company that does house calls, they’re called Geeks2you (sp?).
A late entry, as I failed to finish (didn’t get ABSTRACT NOUN, NERVE-RACKING (another person who thought it needed a W – now I know better!) and TRAVERSED. Thank you Peter O.
But in reference to muffin@32, we had a cat who gave birth on May Day, after we had been out Morris Dancing and singing the Hal & Tow song. So the first three kittens were called Hal, To(by) and Rumbelow. Hal & To were rehomed (Toby kept his kitten name though) but Rumbelow stayed with us and lived to the grand old age of 21.
Sorry, should have been muffin@30
@52grantinfreo: If you can find it, watch Shane Warne to Ian Bell in the 1st Ashes Test of 2005. He bowls two massive legspinners that pitch on the stumps and spin prodigiously, which Bell leaves, then the third ball goes straight on and hits Bell in front of all three.
A bit two paced this one, I flew through the first two thirds, then hit a real wall before revisiting it the day after cleared away the cobwebs. RUMBELOW was new to me, although I remember the electrical store, and like some others I thought NERVE-RACKING had an extra W.