An excellent prize puzzle from Tramp: lots of amusingly misleading definitions and one stand-out brilliant clue for me. Thank you, Tramp!
(The stand-out clue for me was YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER – see below.) According to Tramp on Mastodon this puzzle was submitted in August 2018, which is quite a delay before publication!
I’m not sure about the parsing of TAHITI, but maybe one of you can help.
Across
1. Not interfering with workers on holiday (5-3)
HANDS OFF
HANDS = “workers” + OFF = “on holiday”
Definition: “Not interfering”
5. Releases clutch? Van on ‘give way’ reverses into sign (4,2)
LETS GO
G[ive] = the “Van” (i.e. front) of “give” + ST = “way” all reversed in LEO = “sign”
Definition: “Releases clutch?”
9. Fixing our price for dealer (8)
CROUPIER
(OUR PRICE)*
Definition: “dealer”
10. Bottom line for tailor (6)
PROFIT
PRO = “for” + FIT = “tailor” (I got a bit stuck here assuming that this was a cryptic definition for “inseam” or something similar!)
Definition: “Bottom line”
12. Tree is more healthy with its first cut (5)
OSIER
[r]OSIER = “more healthy with its first cut”
Definition: “Tree”
13. See! Mary Poppins essentially to get flying across Britain carrying one? (6,3)
CARPET BAG
C = “See!” + [m]AR[y] [pop]P[ins] = “Mary Poppins essentially” follwed by (GET)* around B = “Britain” around A = “one”
Definition: the whole clue! It’s a nice &lit, since Mary Poppins’s magic bag is a carpet bag
14, 24. eg Elaine Paige initially off with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber? (6,6,6)
YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER
(EG EP SIR ANDREW LLOYD)* – the E P in the anagram fodder is from “Elain Paige intially”. This is a pretty extraordinary clue – how on earth did Tramp spot that “Sir Andrew Lloyd” is a near anagram of the name of a spider, and that a spider is a “Webber”?
Definition: “Webber?” (i.e. one that makes webs)
18. Fan might get this seat in Stoke City’s original ground (6,6)
SEASON TICKET
(SEAT IN STOKE C)* – the C in the anagram fodder is from “City’s original” and “ground” is the anagram indicator
Definition: “Fan might get this”
21. Bush, First Lady and Republican, meeting young (9)
EVERGREEN
EVE = “First Lady” + R = “Republican” + GREEN = “young”
Definition: “Bush”
23. Pass a house that’s a state (5)
IDAHO
ID (identity document) = “Pass” + A + HO = “house”
Definition: “a state”
25. Put out fire with rake? That’s more unusual (8)
FREAKIER
(FIRE RAKE)*
Definition: “more unusual”
26. Drug injected in hand on joint (6)
REEFER
E = “Drug” in REFER = “hand on” (a doctor might refer / hand on a patient)
Definition: “joint” (as in cannabis)
27. Stunning men after love involved in affair (8)
FLOORING
O = “love” + OR (Other Ranks) = “men” in FLING = “affair”
Definition: “Stunning”
Down
1. Hard area, not primarily for bully (6)
HECTOR
H = “hard” + [s]ECTOR = “area, not primarily”
Definition: “bully”
2. Secluded retreat on border for incredible sex (6)
NOOKIE
NOOK = “Secluded retreat” + I[ncredibl]E = “border for incredible”
Definition: “sex”
3. One might fly US pro here to play (9)
SUPERHERO
(US PRO HERE)*
Definition: “One might fly”
4. What Macron might sign for protection? (6,6)
FRENCH LETTER
Double definition: “What Macron might sign” and “protection?”
6. Run to the first hole to secure eagle there? (5)
EYRIE
R = “Run” + I = “the first” all in EYE = “hole” – in other words, the structure is: “RI, EYE to secure”
Definition: “eagle there?”
7. Sun journalists covering over great lie on these pieces? (4,4)
SOFA BEDS
S = “Sun” + EDS = “journalists” around FAB = “great”
Definition: “lie on these pieces?”
8. Calls to limit working after reviewing company figures (8)
OCTAGONS
TAGS = “Calls” around ON = “working” all after CO = “company” reversed (“reviewing”)
Definition: “figures”
11. Kettle for this? Press on button (5,7)
CROWD CONTROL
CROWD = “Press” + CONTROL = “button”
Definition: “Kettle for this?” – this refers to the practice of “kettling” where the police cordon off parts of a protest or demonstration and don’t allow the protestors to leave
15. Idle one round after morning coffee (9)
AMERICANO
ERIC = “Idle” (referring to Eric Idle of Monty Python) + AN = “one” + O = “round” after AM = “morning”
Definition: “coffee”
16. One checks dipstick to get type of oil right (8)
ASSESSOR
ASS = “dipstick” + ESSO = “type of oil” + R = “right”
Definition: “One checks”
17. Serve here and support family (8)
BASELINE
BASE = “support” + LINE = “family”
Definition: “Serve here”
19. Up for dawn on island, here? (6)
TAHITI
I was stumped by the parsing for this one, but a colleague, Joe, from our work crossword club suggested it might be AT = “for” (? we don’t get this) reversed (“Up”) + HIT = “dawn on” + I = “Island”
Definition: “here?” in the context of the clue
20. Date wears dress for Tramp (6)
TOERAG
ERA = “Date” in TOG = “dress”
Definition: “Tramp”
22. Downed one German beer when drunk (5)
GREBE
G = “German” + (BEER)*
Definition: “Downed one”
Agree, mhl, can’t think where ‘for’ and ‘at’ are swappable (ask Joe on Monday … 🙂 ). And yes, the Andrew Lloyd Spider is amazing, it needed all crossers and was loi, with a loud groan that had my housemate asking after my health! As for the rest … bit of gambling, bit of sex, bit of footy … what’s not to love! Many tas Tramp and mhl.
Thanks mil. Tramp aka TOERAG? Hard to credit, but the dictionaries have it. Agree on the brilliant spider clue.
Just the right difficulty for a prize puzzle, I thought, with the usual amount of clever stuff from Tramp.
I learned from this that a CROUPIER is not just the person who manages the wheel and chips in roulette, but can deal, presumably in other games; had no idea. Haven’t seen the term FRENCH LETTER used for ages.
Somehow my subconscious manifested YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER from just a few crossers, even though I don’t remember ever hearing of the thing. Without it I don’t think I’d have got too far. Great clue.
Re: TAHITI. AT can equal “for” in: muffins at/for 5 pounds each. Must be very good muffins.
I liked BASELINE because that’s where I’m to be found most days of the week.
Tx.
Thanks mhl. The NW corner went in rapidly and I then ran into a brick wall which took much longer to surmount. Overall cleverly misleading is how I might define this one. Lacking local knowledge of the term ‘kettle’ held me up as did Eric Idle. I had to admire the ingenuity of 14,24 even if I’d never heard of the creature. Not sure about TAHITI either but I agree with Joe, at = for, dawn on = hit, is most likely even if it’s a bit too abstruse. Fell into the trap of Googling Stoke City’s original ground but didn’t find Victoria was a lot of help. Era = date caused some debate recently and I’m still not convinced but was at least prepared for TOERAG which might have been a bit unkind to the compiler and the travellers. You might need to account for O = over in 7d.
We were also puzzled by TAHITI, but what else could it be? The SPIDER was truly an extraordinary spot, mhl. LETS GO was also hard to parse. Theme: NOOKIE next to FRENCH LETTER? (LETS GO on SOFA BEDS… OK, I give up. Thanks, Tramp and mhl.
Yep that’ll be it, Dr Wh, gourmet muffins, well done.
Thanks both.
Yes Webber was great and TAHITI probable but unproven.
I had to come back to this several times before finally getting it completed. I did however get that amazing anagram early on, thinking a Webber might be a SPIDER and that might fit with the I from BASELINE, which was one of the few I’d got at that point. After that, a long think about the fodder, and out came an insect I’d never heard of before (helped by the ‘L’ from Macron’s correspondence). Indeed, how did Tramp think of that? From there, it was slow but satisfying progress although at the end I thought I was going to be forced to a word finder for O-I-R. Finally ‘rosier’ came to mind, and Chambers confirmed that an OSIER was a thing. Finally, there were EYRIE and TAHITI, neither of which I could parse but which both had to be right. Thanks mhl for explaining the first, and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one confused by the ‘TA’ in the latter. Thanks, Tramp.
I read the clue for TAHITI as for< + dawn on + island, too. Took a while to work out, but I beloeve at/for a price is right.
In 10ac, someone could, for example, fit/tailor a suit.
Thanks for the blog, I initially thought this was going to be too easy but it toughened up very nicely. CARPET BAG and YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER are superb, the great lie in SOFA BEDS is very misleading likewise ASSESSOR .
I love clues like EYRIE and TAHITI, I cannot see any issue with the explanation for this.
TOERAG and tog having their spell in the limelight at the moment.
Just right for a weekend workout, which I nagged away at through most of a wet Saturday.
I found myself looking for ever-more unlikely spiders, having put in CRUSH CONTROL for the kettling. It works – ‘press on’ can mean crush. But got there in the end.
Like others, I couldn’t parse TAHITI or EYRIE to my satisfaction, but couldn’t see any alternatives.
The Webber/Spider was actually my FOI, and I had to explain to my whole family how clever Tramp had been, but they don’t really understand cryptics, so it was a bit of a lost cause!!
I concur with Tahiti, For = AT, reversed with to dawn on = HIT and I for island.
Favourite was Carpet Bag, and last in was Hector.
I started this last week and only got halfway through it at the time. I picked it back up last night and the rest gradually fell (or was crowbarred) into place. The SPIDER anagram was a late entry for me… I missed the significance of ‘Webber’ until I had a few crossers. And I haven’t actually heard of the spider in question so I needed more crossers and Google to confirm its existence. But what a great clue!
Some lovely misdirection elsewhere too, like the cheeky Sun journalists / lies, and the non-eponymous Tramp.
So a tough second half but all the more satisfying to finally complete it.
Great work both
Got off to a flyer with this but Tramp soon clipped my wings
Had to check the YGS was actually a thing
I guess if you went to a tailor you might expect to get a PRO FIT?
Cheers T&M
Thanks Tramp and mhl
That’s how I parsed TAHITI too, but I don’t think it’s a good clue. Also, shouldn’t it be “borders” in 2d? Otherwise a fine puzzle.
Some etymologies of TOERAG (from the Arab TOUAREG) might make it a dubious inclusion, but they’re probably incorrect.
Must agree with mhl that the Andrew Lloyd Spider clue was extraordinarily clever. I remarked at the time to anyone who would listen (yes, Ant, hard going in some cases) that these amazing setter peeps must just view every single word or phrase with their cryptic heads on. Really, they’re a breed apart, and I give thanks for that. Super fun, Tramp, and a great blog too.
Like Dr WhatsOn @ 3 I got the spider answer early from just a few crosses which was a great help.
I often try and do the long clues first to get me started (doesn’t always work). I was pretty sure it was an anagram but couldn’t work it out or indeed decide on the anagram fodder. However after getting the three crosses for the first word and thinking “must be yellow” for some reason I thought spider and got the answer – and deduced the anagram fodder. Great clue.
Also liked FLOORING, SUPERHERO, CARPETBAG (which I guessed straight away and then parsed).
Took me quite a while and like others bunged in TAHITI without getting it but I enjoyed it.
Thanks Tramp and mhl
Not a criticism, but the prize crosswords seem to be getting tougher. Or is it me getting dimmer? Thanks Tramp and mhl.
trishincharente @ 16
I went to a “How to solve cryptic crosswords” workshop led by John Halpern i.e. Paul organised by the Guardian some years ago.
I remember we started with anagrams and he could just reel off anagrams of loads of random words. It was amazing. And as we went through the different types of clues it was clear he did look at words in a different way from me – with, as you say, his cryptic head on.
[I was a complete newbie unlike some of the attendees and it was the first time I had tried to learn about cryptic crosswords. It was a day-long workshop and by lunch time my head was totally full. The afternoon was a bit of a blur. I did try a few puzzles after that but it wasn’t until the first lockdown that I dragged out my notes and, with the help of this site, really got started.]
Thoroughly enjoyable outing from Tramp in The Prize slot which, for once, I clearly recall enjoying a week ago with that most beautiful of clues for the creepy-crawly falling about half way through. It is just lovely when a setter is able to use a reference to something/someone real in that way.
Favourites included LET’S GO, SEASON TICKET, FREAKIER, SUPERHERO, CROWD CONTROL and TOERAG. (muffin @15: as someone (Roz?) recently pointed out, TOERAG has been having its day in the sun with several appearances of late. I put it into a grid (now discarded) for a recent Rookie Corner submission and was careful to check that it was not offensive. All the etymologies I consulted referred to the practice of foot-bandaging in the absence of shoes and none to the dubious nomadic connection. Tramp has been unfairly accused before of insensitive cluing: it was not correct then and would not be correct here.)
Thanks Tramp and mhl
[Fiona Anne@19
That sounds amazing. How great to be introduced to Crosswordland by a maestro!
I think we all have our cryptic heads on when actually doing the crossword, but then I just get on with my linear life and forget all about it. But I imagine for setters they never let up from their wonky take on life! Intriguing.]
I couldn’t see where the “O” came from in your breakdown of “SOFA BEDS”, but its the “over” (cricket) isn’t it?
Wow, PostMark@20.. You’ve done your homework! I’m with you, sans shoes and foot-bandaging.
Thanks, all. CARPET BAG and YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER were superb as a musical tandem. A tough challenge but got there … though TAHITI unparsed.
A bit of a shame (for different reasons) to see TOERAG and ESSO. But guess this is just a great mental puzzle. Many thanks, Tramp.
Thanks mhl for the super blog and kind words.
I’ve used for = at several times and I’ll continue to do so. As I’ve said before, they sell for/at £2.
As mhl said. I wrote this puzzle in August 2018.
A couple of people have asked me how I came up with the clue for the spider. There is no magic. For a Grand Prix-themed puzzle which I once wrote, I used (Mark) Webber as a definition for Spiderman. I thought it might be good to do something similar with Lloyd Webber; his name isn’t hyphenated, which many people don’t realise. So, I searched Google for spiders containing the letters of LLOYD. When I found YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER, and knocked out the letters LLOYD, I was amazed to see that ANDREW was also in there; I was even more surprised to find that so was SIR. I was left with EGEP. I thought of Elaine Paige, but, I don’t really like “eg” in anagram fodder. It’s a pity the remaining letters didn’t form a word, but, I was still pleased with it. I think it’s good that the answer isn’t easily searchable as it’s not in any online dictionaries that I could find. I think I tried “going out” as an anagram indicator but settled for “off”, for parsimony. I put it in a puzzle, asked Jim to check it, made some changes and sent it off.
Hugh mentioned to me that he had about ten puzzles of mine in the bank, but, I was sure it was 13: it turns out three puzzles had gone missing when he had some IT issues. I’m glad this got published as I think it’s decent. I would like to thank Hugh for taking a chance on me when every other editor ignored my puzzles.
I hope that is of some interest. Thanks for the comments.
Neil
Tramp @25: thanks for dropping in and explaining the serendipity moment. Isn’t it lovely when that happens? And congratulations on sticking to your newfound resolution to interact more often with the blog! The equanimity with which you report the possible loss of three puzzles is remarkable: I’d have been steaming! But then I do assume you kept your own copies. And, as you say, you’ve gotta cut a bit of slack for the editor who gave you the break.
Postmark@20 : TOERAG is certainly in familiar use in Uxbridge. A former unlamented Prime Minister was referred to as ‘ that filthy piece of toerag’ by one of his elderly constituents in a memorable vox pop interview.
YELLOW stood out for me in the anagrist, but I almost wrote in DANGER for the middle word of the Webber, realising just in time that I needed to anagramise it a bit more. Found myself largely on the setter’s wavelength, which is quite a contrast to some of my recent attempts.
Thanks to Tramp – and for dropping in – and to mhl.
Thanks, Tramp, I agree this was a very decent one indeed, so I’m glad it wasn’t lost forever. And thanks for the glimpse behind the curtain at the setting process.
YELLOW GARDEN SPIDER is superb, but I thought SEASON TICKET was equally brilliant for the perfectly apposite surface. And plenty of other excellent clues here as others have already mentioned.
And thanks to mhl for the blog, of course.
Crispy @18 – it feels right to me that the Saturday puzzle should be harder than the midweek ones. There have been a couple lately that were over all too quickly but also some that I’ve found too hard to be really enjoyable. This one was the perfect level for me – challenging enough to keep me busy for an hour or so, but all perfectly solvable in the end.
I think TOERAG was often used by Dennis Waterman in various roles, agree with MrPostMark @20 that it seems to come from the practice of tramps, pretty sure Orwell used it in the original sense.
I have seen AT=FOR quite often , maybe Azed, as well as the excellent suggestion from DrW @3 it is also used for time of arrival.
” There will be a bonus Particle Physics lecture tomorrow on CPT invariance,
be there AT/FOR 6am to guarantee a seat. “
Widdersbel @29. I agree with you. Until about a month ago, the prize puzzles had been a bit too easy – for me at least. The prize puzzles should be a challenge.
Thanks Tramp for a lovely puzzle and your illuminating comments. I got off to a good start completing about half of the grid including the Webber clue quickly, but then getting stuck. REEFER, TOERAG, and LETS GO took an age to drop, and BASELINE, an excellent and very fair clue , completely defeated me.
Many thanks to mhl for the excellent blog and the many parsings that were beyond me.
When I saw NOOKIE and FRENCH LETTER I wondered whether we’d got the Private Eye crossword by mistake – but there weren’t any more. I worked out YELLOW and SPIDER, Googled the yellow-backed spider (alternative name for the same creature), and didn’t realise my mistake until the crossers from SOFA BEDS and OCTAGONS wouldn’t work.
Yes, I looked up Stoke City’s history too…
Crispy and Widdersbel, the Saturday puzzle has been a “prize” again since January so in that sense maybe it should be harder . The prizes have been rubbish for a long time so I never send it off, it used to be a lovely Collins dictionary .
Also I suspect most people have more time at the weekend, I certainly do.
Traditionally it was certainly very hard, Araucaria could be very tough at times, Bunthorne and Fidelio truly fearsome, Enigmatist and Paul for light relief.
Roz@34. Enigmatist? Light relief? Oh well different strokes for different courses.
Thanks Tramp and mhl. Like some others here, I finished but came here for the parsing of EYRIE and TAHITI. Crispy @18, I think we are safe. We can’t all be getting dimmer at the same time so it must be the crosswords getting harder, surely?
I was not entirely serious but there was a time when you would be glad to see his name compared to other Saturday setters. I have spent whole weeks on Bunthorne puzzles and got nowhere.
As is often the case with Tramp there were a few synonyms that I wasn’t entiirely happy with but accepted would pass with a push as my mother-in-law would say – eye for hole, tags for calls, and date for era. 21a had a lovely surface but if it hadn’t been for that the definition could have been tree or perennial.
I started looking in the wrong place for 24a. For no particular reason I thought of webber as a duck and it was only when I had written the probable anagram fodder out and crossed off the crossers, which I can rarely be bothered/think of it as a bit of a failure to need to do, that SPIDER stood out.
Quite a lot of ‘ah’ moments which is a good thing.
Thanks to Tramp and mhl.
I think the use of ‘at’ = ‘for’ has been fully justified by now, by Tramp himself as well as by others, but I can’t resist quoting the line from the wonderful ‘The Building’ (= hospital) by Philip Larkin. First line of second verse:
“There are paperbacks, and tea at so much a cup”.
Like so many, I loved the Webber clue; made a note, shared it, etc. Many thanks to Tramp, also to mhl.
Pino: as is sometimes the case with posters, they doubt my synonyms, but often they haven’t bothered to check the dictionaries. Admittedly, I do sometimes use a stretched synonym if I think it’s warranted, but, most of the time they’re supported by the dictionaries: I spend a lot of time weighing these synonyms up. For the ones you cite: Collins supports tags = names; Chambers supports eye = hole (as in eye of a needle) and era = an important date. In fact, in the submitted version of this puzzle, I used “an important date” in the clue, which was lifted straight out of the dictionary. Thanks for your comment.
Neil
An excellent puzzle, the most memorable clue (a week later) being the SPIDER. I solved it given a few crossers, and I can remember thinking ‘incredible, but true’. The other memorable one was SEASON TICKET. I liked ‘dawn on’ for HIT in TAHITI, but I failed at the time to see how TA got there. (All is clear now.)
Many thanks to setter, blogger and commenters.
Thanks mhl, agree that this was a wonderful rewarding challenge.
Like Roz, I had the temporal sense of for/at but for some reason thought of restaurant table bookings rather than particle physics lectures.
Thanks Tramp for great clues (the lovely GREBE deserves a mention too) and for answering mhl’s question which I would have asked too – the use of Elaine Page was especially inspired!
[PS Graham @36 and Crispy@18 I must have got dimmer since last saturday as I still have about half a dozen to do on Thursday’s Picaroon.]
Great puzzle. I was pleased to complete it before Friday. Many ingeniously devious clues, but all logical and many enjoyable in retrospect. I needed to read the blog entries above to understand the usages of VAN in 5ac and AT for FOR in 19d TAHITI. I was pleased to work out YELLOW DANGER SPIDER as the solution for the WEBBER anagram, and then to find the correct answer on checking it with Google. I groaned when I got GREBE. DOWNED indeed! Lots of other nice clues as highlighted by others above.
Queenbarrow @39 , what a lovely example.
Gazzh@42 , Particle Physics is food for the soul , restaurants can’t compete.
Tramp@40
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were wrong or not backed up by dictionaries, just that these are unusual synonyms with which I personally was not familiar. That said, tags= calls raises another topic on which I have commented before. I only have Chambers, which was recommended for solving the Guardian crossword in the dark ages when I was choosing my first dictionary, and I’m not so much of a crossword buff that I’m going to buy a Collins for the rare occasions on which they differ. I don’t feel that strongly that I won’t attempt and enjoy solving setters who use Collins.
The Collins app is quite good. I can’t remember how much it costs.
Postmark@20 et al, Collins, whilst only actually defining TOERAG as “British slang: a contemptible or despicable person”, also gives:
“Word origin
C20: originally, a beggar, tramp: from the pieces of rag they wrapped round their feet”
so you’re sort of right and wrong at the same time.
Thanks Tramp for a great crossword and for your active participation in the blog. I was another who couldn’t parse TAHITI but it makes sense now. I also didn’t know that a condom was a FRENCH LETTER and confirming that definition led to some interesting reading. I liked many clues including PROFIT, NOOKIE, OCTAGONS, ASSESSOR, and GREBE. As others have said TOERAG has been making the rounds; in other recent crosswords MARCO POLO keeps appearing. I often wonder why certain answers have such runs. It can’t be coincidence. Thanks mhl for the blog.
Roz & Gazzh, I don’t agree that ‘at’ and ‘for’ mean the same thing in your lecture/restaurant examples. ‘At’ specifies the time to arrive, while ‘for’ suggests arrival before the nominated time. (Be there for eight = be there by eight). Anyway it’s academic, as it’s the ‘price per’ meaning which was intended, as understood by me, mhl and others and confirmed by Tramp
Pino@45, Collins online, comprising entries from Collin’s learners’ dictionary and American dictionaries as well as the main English dictionary, doesn’t cost a penny to consult.
Thank you Tramp, for a splendid challenge. I hope you can take some delight in the path you sent me down: seeing that YELLOW was from either “Andrew Lloyd” or “Lloyd Webber,” and having one crosser, I entered YELLOW first, then looked up Elaine Paige (nho), and thought, hmmm . . . maybe it’s YELLOW HAIRED SINGER (!). This would have needed some fodder substitutions, which of course I never found. But that did lead me to SPIDER, and after discounting yellow backed, yellow banded, finally found the correct anagram fodder, and thought GARDEN more likely than RANGED or DANGER. Which was confirmed by a web (haha) search – all in all an enjoyable ramble. Cheers!
Also with only the “a” for a crosser, I entered EASTER for the dawn/island clue, which almost parsed, I thought, until other crossers ruled it out. I’m another who had TAHITI but didn’t know why, other than the final “i.”
Appreciated learning the terms “kettle” and FRENCH LETTER (terrific euphemism!). Thanks to mhl for the helpful blog.
Onelook.com searches many dictionaries at once for you, and has the advantage of allowing wildcards, if you want to use them. Collins is one of those dictionaries, but Chambers isn’t; for that use chambers.co.uk/search.
Someone at 15^2 should categorise this as ‘Guardian’ …
Tony@49 maybe we can discuss over dinner, table’s booked for 8:30. Maybe not everyone would interchange for and at in that example but I would. Roz@44, I agree and recall enjoying (eventually, it took a while to sink in) a course on “symmetries and groups in quantum physics” ( but not as good as graph theory, sorry) but diminishing grey cells these days mean that my soul can only snack on crosswords. Yehudi@51 I enjoyed reading about your meandering route to success which was even more tortuous than my own.
My clue for 4ac: Propriétaire?
I’m here all week.
lady gewgaw@55: Nice one
Gazzh@54: I was thinking of something like: dinner at my place, 8.00 for 8.30 (= come any time after 8.00. We eat at 8.30). In your example, ‘at’ would mean something different: I booked a table for 8.30 at 3pm. (I made the booking at 3pm. We eat at 8.30pm).
[Re FRENCH LETTER, I remember the first time I heard this. I was about eight, when I overheard my dad explaining to my (much) older brother that the reason he (my dad) had so many brothers and sisters was that his dad wouldn’t use a French letter. I was baffled, but couldn’t ask, because I wasn’t supposed to be listening!]
[ Gazzh@54 by graph theory I presume you mean Cayley theory or Ramsey theory, the trouble is you cannot show the axioms are self-consistent or even complete so I am unable to accept any of the proofs. ]
Perfect – some clever stuff. With Tramp’s off-centre definitions and relevant surfaces, I think Neil is very modest…… (maybe not one of his very best, but one of his best. And that says a great deal!)
Thanks to Tramp and mhl
[With all this talk of FRENCH LETTER, I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that the French for this is capote anglaise, so both nations think of it as “something foreign”.]
Very tough puzzle. I failed to solve 19D*, 20D*, 27AC.
Liked REEFER, FREAKIER.
I could not parse
8d apart from rev of CO
15d apart from SM = morning
Thanks, both.
* I parsed 7d as O FAB in S EDS
About half the states in the US have indigenous names. I assumed that any state name that wasn’t recognizably English, Spanish or French was indigenous, and that’s mostly true. My state, Connecticut, for instance, has an Algonquian name meaning “land on the long tidal river,” which it certainly is. You’d think Idaho would be one of those too, but actually, the name was made up by a shyster who pulled off all sorts of scams. He originally proposed it as a name for another new territory in the West, but when people pointed out that the name wasn’t findable in any Native language everybody gave up and called it Colorado instead.
KeithS@8 Spiders aren’t insects, though both are arthropods. Spiders are arachnids, which have eight legs and two body sections, while insects have six legs and three body sections (head, thorax and abdomen).
Enjoyed the lively discussion. Thanks all, and especially Tramp and mhl.
Found it. George Orwell – Down and Out in Paris and London.
….they all washed their faces and feet, and the horrid greasy little clouts known as TOE-RAGS which they bind round their toes.
Penguin 1989 edition . ISBN 0 – 14 – 018230 – 6
Tony @ 57 you phone a restaurant to book , they are very busy , the owner says – if you can be here AT/FOR 6 I can give you a table, neither implies being there earlier.