Guardian Cryptic 28,890 by Carpathian

55 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,890 by Carpathian”

1. Starting to get used to Carpathian, and his pangrams: three in a row now, I think. Hope he becomes a more regular member of the team

2. I fancy he might be a she, Quen. 🙂

3. A nice Goldilocks puzzle, good fun and no sticky moments — apart from MOT.

4. Was trying to put double ell in something for 20d, always forget borders are beds (despite their ubiquity in suburbia!). But yes, pleasant par-ish Monday, thanks Cnm.

5. I enjoyed this a lot, found it a nice way to wind down the weekend.

   I thought it interesting that there were two pairs of not-quite synonyms, namely free/exonerate and thrash/pulverise where technically the specific actions might be different but the end results are the same. Informally, of course, the pairs can be used interchangeably.

6. Thanks Carpathian for a pleasant start to the week. Top choices included JACKASS, FRICASSEE, and WOMANISER. I needed a word finder for SURVEYS and couldn’t parse the MOT of MOTH-EATEN but otherwise it was smooth sailing. Thanks manehi for the blog.

7. Deffo a Monday puzzle but none the worse for that with succinct cluing throughout.

   Favourites included FRICASSEE, PULVERISE, WOMANISER, DIFFIDENT and CHARMLESS.

   (TonyS @6: I was about to comment that someone on the G thread had the same need to consult a word finder as you … 😀 )

   Thanks Carpathian and manehi

8. Slormgorm@2. Thank you – I should have checked, should not have made that lazy assumption. Apologies to Ms Godfrey, and thanks to her for the high-quality puzzle, and to manehi for the blog.
   https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2021/jun/07/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-carpathian-victoria-godfrey

9. I’m really happy I managed to finish this considering how much I didn’t know or couldn’t parse: MOT = annual check, CON as a verb, defaced meaning to remove the first letter, U for posh, BORDERS meaning flowerbeds RUCK as slang for fight, and more. A great workout for this beginner, but everything was fun and fair. Cheers Carpathian and manehi!

10. Pretty straightforward, although I got momentarily held up wondering why a spectre might be a sign of authority. LOI was 28a because ‘purvey’ for ‘supply’ isn’t part of my readily accessible vocabulary, so I had to just try in my head each possible letter in the 2nd position, and only got one synonym for ‘views’. Thanks Carpathian and manehi.

11. Liked it a lot, though I didn’t spot the pangram, quenbarrow@1. My LOI, 17d AEROSPACE, took me ages to get. I think I am now used to MOTs (in <OTH-EATEN, 18a) from UK crosswords. Like Nick@9, I didn't know "RUCK" for a fight in 14d AWE-STRUCK, but otherwise, all good. Thanks to Carpathian and manehi.

12. Thanks manehi – I googled a “Juliet Jice” regarding a cool drink – doh!

    MAC089 @ 10 Another spectre here, something to do with an authority in Bond films, I thought? – doh!

    Thanks Carpathian

13. I found this a satisfying solve as I parsed it all and spotted the pangram in time to convince me of CRAZE – I’d got as far as ‘C + word meaning to destroy’ on the first read through but nothing immediately came to mind. Then, coming back to work on the final south-west corner, there was a pdm of ‘oh, there’s the z’.

    I normally find it really difficult to see those clues where I find another word then remove the first letter to make a new word meaning something completely different, so spotting both SURVEYS, one of my last in, and purveys was very satisfying. Rather more irritating that p is so far through the alphabet as I did it by mentally trying every letter.

    Thank you to manehi and Carpathian.

14. Carpathian has the Quiptic as well today. I found this much easier, I had to use a word finder for FRICASSEE and the NE corner took a little pondering all told. I did not notice that it was a pangram and I do not think it would have helped if I had.
    Thanks both

15. Re FUSION = melting, that is actually the original derivation of the word. We got it via the French, but it goes back to Latin fusus, past participle of the verb fundo (pour/melt). Cognate with foundry and fondue.

    CHARMLESS, on the other hand, puts me in mind of Mackay, the “charmless Celtic nerk”. Charm also goes back to Latin (carmen), but nerk doesn’t.

    Good fun, thanks C & m

16. Thanks Carpathian for a nice start to the week. I found plenty of straightforward clues to give me crossers across the grid and then had to work at a dozen or so which were more head scratching. 5ac was my favourite. I had the J from the start but couldn’t think of another word for a boarding card! Loved it when the 1p finally dropped.
    Thanks for the blog manehi.

17. (Essexboy@15, I presume that’s a Porridge reference? How do you remember that quote after so many years?)

18. [JerryG @17, it was either that or the Smiths, and I prefer Porridge 😉 ]

19. Always enjoy a Carpathian, though I’m another who had trouble digging “purveys” from the recesses of the vocab banks. I also blithely wrote in SPECTRE… was mildly surprised when I finished to be told I had some letters wrong, but quickly realised my mistake.

    Particularly liked the simpler clues for their elegant neatness – INGOT, DRAMA, NIGHT etc.

    Thanks for the blog, manehi.

20. essexboy @18 – CHARMLESS makes me think of Half Man Half Biscuit’s Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled) – undoubtedly the funniest song ever written about the apocalypse.

21. Having just got my jumpers out for autumn I can assure you that MOTH EATEN is a sign of moths rather than wear!

    Ticks for JACKASS, AWE-STRUCK & OINTMENTS

    I’m a bit surprised that Carpathian didn’t provide something a bit chewier than her regular quiptic fare – this wouldn’t have felt out-of-place in that slot

    Pleasant enough though. Cheers C&M

22. W@20 now that’s my kind of cancel culture 🙂

23. Very enjoyable. Another who twigged pangram to get the Z. Liked CHARMLESS, MOTH-EATEN, AWE-STRUCK and WOMANISER. Great start to a dour wet Monday,

    Ta Carpathian & manehi.

24. [essexboy: Did Clement and LaFrenais invent “nerk” for Porridge, or did it already exist? I admire the way they manage to convey the effect of the omnipresent swearing in a prison setting while never defiling a pre-watershed comedy with any of the actual words.

25. Apparently the OED quotes Goon show scripts for nerk gladys @24 which would predate Porridge.
    A pleasant outing today with Carpathian. I did like SURVEYS and AEROSPACE.

26. What a shame jackass had four crossers including the j. Deserved to hold out on me for much longer! Excellent clue.

27. Found this most agreeable throughout, though couldn’t quite parse the loi AEROSPACE, so many thanks Manehi and Carpathian. Liked SURVEYS, SQUALID, PULVERISE among many more…

28. [Thanks also to quenbarrow@8 for the link to the interview with Carpathian – I really enjoyed it. I have done some of her puzzles in the Indy too (as Vigo). Wonderful to have younger setters coming through.]

29. …having moths literally flying out of an old jacket I pulled out of the depths of my wardrobe to attend a smart day at the races prompted me to get a nice new one very recently…

30. [W @20, thanks, I knew the Half Man Half Biscuit drought couldn’t last. Takes me back to lockdown days when every day on 15² was an HMHB day. (Where’s MaidenBartok, btw?) My nomination for funniest apocalypse song would still have to be Tom Lehrer’s We Will All Go Together When We Go.]

    [gladys/Tim C @24/25 – wiki seems to think ‘nerk’ was a new coinage, but I wouldn’t entirely trust it on this]

31. Well I actually finished this in record time with no recourse to the check button. Very happy. And delighted to learn that Carpathian is Victoria Godfrey. And she produced the Quiptic today! Must try the VIGO in the Indy…
    [MOT stands for Ministry of Transport, which no longer exists]

32. I wondered if Carpathian had anyone in mind as she set a puzzle involving an UNGALLANT, CHARMLESS, WOMANISER, JACKASS ? Nice puzzle

33. I bunged in SCREENS instead of SURVEYS, but couldn’t parse it. Now I see why.

34. A very pleasant Monday stroll. A pangram with two playing cards.

    I haven’t seen that nice anagram for PULVERISE before (or have forgotten it) and I liked EXONERATE for the construction and surface.

    Two quibblets: LIPPED for ‘kissed’? To me it means having a lip (a description of a container) rather than using one (or two) but I haven’t checked the dictionaries. And in the NATO alphabet J is Juliett, with two t’s, to avoid its being mispronounced as Zhuliay 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

35. MACO89@10, that word for supplies has stuck at the back of my brain since I saw a grocery van in Mangotsfield, Bristol, decades ago with the following legend “Purveyors of Spam to the Gentry”. Once seen, never forgotten.

36. Pretty Monday-ish, though more challenging than the quiptic, as it should be. I seemed to have a higher-than-usual quotient of clues I got from definitions/crossers without fully parsing the wordplay, yet when I came here to see what I’d missed, almost all of them* checked out so cleanly that I wondered why I hadn’t seen them at the time. A sign of good setting, I think.

    * Exception: I thought cluing TEN as ‘card’ was somewhat… open. Subjective of course, but I would consider ‘ace’, ‘king’, ‘queen’ and ‘jack’ fair game for that clue, the numbers 2-10 less so…

    Thanks both!

37. Gervase @34 – Cleopatra’s hand was one that kings have lipped and trembled kissing.

38. essexboy @37: Thanks for the enlightenment. I should have guessed it was the Swan of Avon who twisted the word, but Tony & Cleo is unfortunately beyond my purview 🙂

39. (Yes, eb@30, I do hope MaidenBartok is busy rather than cronk …)

40. Like Julie @28, I’d missed the interview with Carpathian, so thanks to quenbarrow for the link.

    As others have said, this was a perfect Monday puzzle, and today’s Quiptic is excellent, too – but, nicbach @14 and SinCam @31, it’s by Matilda (Velia in the FT), not Carpathian.

    Many thanks to Carpathian and manehi.

41. A very nice puzzle indeed. I’m another who struggles with clues like SURVEYS, although the pangram saved me – it’s the only Y in the grid, so once I’d spotted that, it fell in nicely.

    Thanks Carpathian and manehi.

42. essexboy @30, this script of the Goon show which uses the word twice predates both Porridge and Wiki. 🙂

43. Good start to the week with Carpathian’s precise cluing.

    I know she often uses pangrams but I didn’t need that knowledge for completion of the puzzle. I thought the clue for JACKASS was splendid with the misleading ‘boarding cards’. I also enjoyed BLEAKER for the surface, CHARMLESS for the church with no branches, and SURVEYS, my LOI, for the ‘purveys’ for supplies.

    Thanks Carpathian and manehi.

44. I did not parse 17d.

    Thanks, both.

45. [Thanks Tim C @42 – caveat wikilector!]

46. Very enjoyable and steady solve. Thanks Carpathian. I especially liked the anagram for PULVERISE (more seasoned hands may have seen it before I suppose). Am intrigued by PeterT@32’s possible discovery of a theme. Thanks for the blog manehi.

47. Thanks for the blog, very neat clues and just right for this slot, reminded of old Everyman when I was learning.
    To follow MrEssexboy @15 FUSION to mean melting is very old usage but it does survive in the Latent Heat of Fusion which is the energy required to change state from solid to liquid.
    I wonder if the modern usage started after nuclear fusion was discovered ?

48. Paul @46 I have seen PULVERISE/REPULSIve before , pretty sure it was Paul but a while ago so worth a repeat, I will check later.

49. Thanks Carpathian (my favourite Quiptic setter) and manehi
    Sound puzzle. I don’t think I’ve seen the RESPECT/SCEPTRE(/SPECTRE) anagrams before – I liked it.

50. Roz @47 – etymonline is usually good; I know you like to avoid the link-clicking rabbit-hole, so I’ll summarise:

    In the sense of ‘act of melting by heat’, FUSION is attested in English from the 1550s onwards.

    The meaning of ‘union or blending of different things; state of being united or blended’ was first recorded 1776. Used in 1800s, especially of politics. In early 1900s, used in psychology, then for atoms. Nuclear physics sense first recorded 1947. Musical sense, esp. jazz, from 1972.

    My guess is that the gastronomic sense followed and was modelled on the musical meaning.

51. Thanks MrEssexboy@50, very interesting. I am sure Hans Bethe used the term in the 1930s but he wrote his papers in German and I have only read translations.

52. Carpathian is rapidly becoming one of my favourite setters, and she didn’t disappoint this morning.
    Particular favourites JACKASS, MOTH EATEN, UNGALLANT, JUICE, but really not a weak clue in sight.
    Thanks, both.

53. Carpathian and Matilda today, two of the best compilers of “approachable” cryptics, made for a most enjoyable Monday. And then the blog led me to the HMHB and Tom Lehrer songs, as well as the Pythonesque grocery van, which only added to the fun. (And yes, I too miss the always lively comments from MaidenBartok.)

    Thanks all.

54. KateE@35
    Many years ago while driving along the Old Brompton Road we were cut up by a van with the legend, “J Edwards, purveyor of family humour” on the side. It was being driven by the man himself. There were (still are?) tax advantages from using personal transport as an advertisement.

55. Paul @ 46 the PULVERISE/REPULSIVE anagram was used by Paul, June 6 2014.
    I also found slightly earlier use by Gordius and Orlando .

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