The puzzle mayu be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28959.
I spent quite a while desperately searching for a way in, finally coming up with 21A THEODORE. With that foothold, my progress was slow but steady. When I blogged Vlad’s previous crossword 28945 just two weeks ago, I said that it was easier than some of his previous ones, but this one reverts to the old style. The references here to US politics (if politics is the right word) are enough to constitute a theme.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DRUMS |
Top cop covers up weird tattoos (5)
|
| An envelope (‘covers up’) of RUM (‘weird’) in DS (Detective Superintendent, ‘top cop’). | ||
| 4 | SEDITION |
Incitement to treason by politicians ultimately? Correct — one charged (8)
|
| A charade of S (‘politicianS ultimately’) plus EDIT (‘correct’) plus ION (‘one charged’). | ||
| 8 | STIR YOUR STUMPS |
Move to settle up Stormy’s suit – that’s about right (4,4,6)
|
| An envelope (‘that’s about’) of R (‘right’) in STIYOURSTUMPS, an anagram (‘to settle’) of ‘up Stormy’s suit’. | ||
| 10 | GASLIGHT |
Manipulate mind of blonde by talk (8)
|
| A charade of GAS (‘talk’) plus LIGHT (‘blonde’), with Ingrid Bergman making for an extended definition. | ||
| 11 | HINDI |
Outsiders removed from noisy party – language! (5)
|
| SHINDIG (‘noisy party’) minus the outer letters (‘outsiders removed’). | ||
| 12 | EZRA POUND |
Writer‘s book not a lot of money (4,5)
|
| A charade of EZRA (‘book’ of the Old Testament) plus POUND (‘not a lot of money’ at current exchange rates). | ||
| 15 | REACH |
Make break — not Bingham’s first (5)
|
| A subtraction: [b]REACH (‘break’) minus the B (‘not Bingham’s first’). The surface is possibly a reference to Richard John Bingham, the infamous Lord Lucan. | ||
| 17 | BIDEN |
Parisian right about director — 24 didn’t want him (5)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of D (‘director’) in BIEN (‘Parisian right’). | ||
| 18 | DRAGGED ON |
Gerard’s visit to mother-in-law lasted too long! (7,2)
|
| An envelope of GED (an abbreviation for the name ‘Gerard’) in DRAGON (‘mother-in-law’). | ||
| 19 | BLOKE |
Fellow with empty pockets swapping sides (5)
|
| BROKE (‘with empty pockets’) with the R replaced by L (‘swapping sides’). | ||
| 21 | THEODORE |
At a certain place accepting incitement to action in name of ex-president (8)
|
| An envelope (‘accepting’) of O, DO (‘incitement to action’) in THERE (‘at a certain place’), for THEODORE Roosevelt. | ||
| 24 | CAPITOL RIOTERS |
Licit operators in action? Not at all! (7,7)
|
| An anagram (‘in action’) of ‘licit operators’. | ||
| 25 | LOUSED UP |
Look spent and ruined (6,2)
|
| A charade of LO (‘look’) plus USED UP (‘spent’). | ||
| 26 | STAIN |
Foul dictator has lost out (5)
|
| A subtraction: STA[l]IN (‘dictator’) minus the L (‘lost out’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DESIGNER BABY |
New arrival carefully selected — ‘doubtful breeding’, say British involved (8,4)
|
| An envelope (‘Involved’) of B (‘British’) in DESIGNER ABY, an anagram (‘doubtful’) of ‘breeding say’. | ||
| 2 | UNINSURED |
With no prospect of compensation, totally loveless marriage turned bitter (9)
|
| UNI[o]N S[o]URED (‘marriage turned bitter’) minus both Os (‘totally loveless’). | ||
| 3 | STYLI |
Smart though not quiet — they’re in the groove (5)
|
| A subtraction: STYLI[sh] (‘smart’) minus SH (‘not quiet’), with reference to vinyl records. | ||
| 4 | SLUSH FUND |
Is topless, rich and amusing (duke kept back money for immoral purposes) (5,4)
|
| A charade of S (‘iS topless’) plus LUSH (‘rich’) plus FUN (‘amusing’) plus D (‘duke’). | ||
| 5 | DOSE |
Shot by nasty piece of work over drugs (4)
|
| A charade of DOS, a reversal (‘over’) of SOD (‘nasty piece of work’) plus E (‘drugs’). | ||
| 6 | TRUTH DRUG |
Woman doctor has to pull out — might this prevent misrepresentation? (5,4)
|
| An envelope (‘has … out’) of RUTH (‘woman’) plus DR (‘doctor’) in TUG (‘pull’). | ||
| 7 | ORPIN |
Partly uprooted catnip, roses and stonecrop (5)
|
| A hidden (‘partly’) reversed (‘uprooted’) answer in ‘catNIP ROses’. | ||
| 9 | WITHIN REASON |
In war one’s hit easily going over the top? No (6,6)
|
| An anagram (‘easily’) of ‘in war ones hit’. | ||
| 13 | PANDEMICS |
Take fright over US politician’s suggestions initially for Covid etc (9)
|
| A charade of PANDEMIC, an envelope (‘over’) of DEM (Democrat, ‘US politician’) in PANIC (‘take fright’); plus S (‘Suggestions initially’). | ||
| 14 | DEATH TRAP |
Cut up nurses worried that it’s life-threatening (5,4)
|
| An envelope (‘nurses’) of ATHT, an anagram (‘worried’) of ‘that’ in DERAP, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of PARED (‘cut’). | ||
| 16 | ANDROMEDA |
Robot (the writer’s out for himself) on a Sky feature (9)
|
| A charade of ANDROMED, which is ANDROID (‘robot’) with the I replaced by ME (‘the writer’s out for himself’); plus ‘a’, for the constellation or the galaxy wthin it. | ||
| 20 | OTAGO |
Back-to-back in South Island location (5)
|
| A charade of OT, a reversal (the first ‘back’) of ‘to’ plus AGO (the second ‘back’), for a region in the South Island of New Zealand. | ||
| 22 | OBOES |
English tenor enthralled by sailor’s instruments (5)
|
| An envelope (‘enthralled by’) of BOE (Alfie, ‘English tenor’) in OS (Ordinary Seaman, ‘sailor’). | ||
| 23 | ROOD |
Cross closer to turn (4)
|
| A reversal (‘to turn’) of DOOR (‘closer’). |
Tough but fair and enjoyable.
Thanks V+P.
After half an hour I’d solved two clues, so I abandoned ship. I should have known; I’ve never clicked with Vlad. Too many clues are wordy, complex, convoluted even. I’m aware that many enjoy such challenges; I don’t. So I choofed off (Aussie slang?) over to Leonidas at the FT, where I had a much more satisfying experience.
Very tough, but I got there in the end. I couldn’t parse DEA TH TRAP and nho ORPIN but it seemed the only combination of letters to make a reasonable looking word, Nho Alfie Boe either, but what else could it have been inside that poor sailor?
Thanks for the crossword Vlad and PeterO for the enlightenment!
Yep, it’s taken all morning, pecking slowly away while watching the cricket. Looking back, nothing too diabolical; ‘reach’ for ‘make’ is a bit oblique but not new; the I/me swap in Adromeda a bit slippery, and there some nicely embedded defs, short ones like ‘move’ and ‘make’, long ones like in 1 and 2d (and agree that designing babies is ‘doubtful breeding’!). Very enjoyable, thanks Vlad and Peter.
Hard work. I also stared at the grid for what seemed like ages until I saw SEDITION. Eventually managed to finish though with a few unknowns – never heard of STIR YOUR STUMPS, didn’t know the ‘English tenor’ at 22d and I’d forgotten ORPIN. I also missed the Ingrid Bergman association with GASLIGHT; good spot. I don’t get why E is ‘drugs’, rather than just “drug”, at 5d, unless it’s for the surface. Favourite was the ME for I device in ANDROMEDA.
It’s been 364 days since the violence instigated by the CAPITOL RIOTERS. Let’s hope there’s no repeat tomorrow.
Thanks to Vlad and PeterO
The Antipodeans clearly had no problem with the NZ location, but despite having been there I bunged unparsed OSAKA as an island location. Annoying end to an otherwise excellent challenge. Thanks Vlad and Peter O.
World’s best pinot noir from central Otago, and yes a pretty cute clue.
Certainly a challenge this morning. Got 1a straight away and then that was it for the across clues, though I suspected ‘THEODORE’ for 21 but couldn’t immediately see why. Then got 2 and 3 and 13 and 16 and finally got going. The wordplay in 18 should surely be qualified these days to acknowledge the stereotype. Anyway, a sense of achievement to finish today, so thanks to Vlad and to PeterO for his usual excellent blog.
The “Bingham” in the clue for REACH (15a) is a reference to former World Snooker Champion Stuart Bingham.
Thanks to Vlad & PeterO.
DESIGNER BABY, which was my first one in, is the sort of thing that lifts your spirits for the rest of the day – a quite brilliant clue. I also thought WITHIN REASON and OTAGO were especially fine.
For my money, 12a is a bit weak, though I accept that EZRA POUND is horrible to clue.
I’m grateful to PeterO for pointing out that a DS can be a Detective Superintendent as well as a Detective Sergeant (who certainly wouldn’t be “top”). And for explaining DRAGGED ON. Though like Tomsdad @8, I’m not a fan of mother-in-law = dragon, especially as Vlad could have gone in for a bit of perfectly legitimate mischief with “Gerard’s (with Vlad I wouldn’t expect “little Gerard’s”) visit to Deborah Meaden lasted…”
Apart from that, my one real cavil about a quite excellent puzzle is 24a. If, and only if, you put it alongside 17a, you can sort of get a definition. Standing alone, while the revelation that the CAPITOL RIOTERS are an anagram as well as an antonym of LICIT OPERATORS is a delight, I do question whether the clue is really fair.
Thanks to Vlad for an entertaining and challenging start to the day and to PeterO for, as Tomsdad correctly says, his usual excellent blog.
So much to enjoy here – I thought UNINSURED was lovely. Got fixated on back-to-back = k so OTAGO was LOI and rather fine also
I actually found this quite straightforward but I think that’s largely down to spotting a lot of the definitions and back-parsing
Ginf@4 how about Warners was able to make/reach 200 before collapsing with cramp 🙂
Cheers P&V
Not easy but at least I got there (still stuck on yesterday’s Anto!)
Thought the ‘woman doctor’ in TRUTH DRUG was Dr Ruth, but then there’s no indicator for getting from ‘Dr Ruth’ to ‘Ruth Dr’, so PeterO’s parsing works better.
BIEN for ‘Parisian right’ was tricky. I can think of a few situations where you could translate ‘bien’ as ‘right’:
– Je n’ai rien trouvé de bien = I couldn’t find anything right/suitable
– Distinguer le bien du mal = tell good from bad / right from wrong
– Bien, on y va = OK/right, let’s go
…but it would be about tenth on my list of possible translations, and I think that’s a bit beyond the familiarity with French it’s reasonable to expect in an English-language crossword.
“O, do!” in THEODORE was brilliant, and many of the surfaces very apposite for the almost-anniversary, especially SEDITION. (And judging by the pictures, some of the CAPITOL RIOTERS had some very “weird tattoos”!) More strange goings-on at the Capitol today I see, but hopefully not as deadly. Thanks V & P.
[Yep, brilliant knock but it was 38° and the poor lad, now a 36yo, was knackered]
[Sorry, meant to address that to you, cheetah @11]
I found this unusually straightforward for a Vlad. Like Bodycheeta@11, I got many answers from definitions/crossers, and post-parsed.
Favourites DESIGNER BABY, CAPITOL RIOTERS, GASLIGHT.
The dragon=mother-in-law equivalence was a little surprising in the Grauniad, but it doesn’t bother me – it’s only a crossword, and like it or not, the two expressions have been used as synonyms often enough.
Never heard of Boe, but OBOES couldn’t be anything else.
essexboy@12, my French is pretty basic, but I knew bien=good/well, and good can mean right in English, so I assumed it could in French too (and it can, as you point out).
In 15a REACH, “make break” made me think of snooker, and Stuart Bingham is a leading snooker player; but Lord Lucan works too.
… and thanks Vlad and PeterO
That was a tough one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I finished it with much grinding of teeth, and, having done so, I feel smugly smart, which is a nice set-up for the day. Thanks all round.
Thanks, Vlad & PeterO. Unlike you, I found this easier going than the one from a couple of weeks ago – though that’s not saying much, and this was still very tricky in places. CAPITOL RIOTERS took a lot of playing around with the letters to turn them into something that looked like real words, but an appreciative penny drop when it came. Also share the love for THEODORE – amusing.
Got there, with a vague idea throughout that there was some kind of US presidential theme going on. Though not much help to me. One or two could almost be inserted on the definition alone, as with UNINSURED. How often the short lettered instruments turn out to be OBOES, though thought Boe rather obscure as a component. Couldn’t quite parse SEDITION. Last one in the unprepossessing ROOD. Thanks Vlad and PeterO
Normally I find Vlad’s oeuvres fiendishly difficult, so I’m feeling enormously chuffed at breezing through this. Which, natch, must mean that Vlad was being kinder than usual…
Getting the four long anagrams straight off helped, the brilliant CAPITOL RIOTERS being the first – and suddenly I noticed today’s date. After that, BIDEN was a write-in, which is just as well: though bien can indeed sometimes be used instead of bon, I think this is the first time I’ve had to think of a french synonym! There was nothing amusing about Jan 6th events, but nevertheless I smiled at the misdirection in 21A and the theme meant SEDITION was a CFE (crossed fingers entry) as was REACH.
In fact, there were lots that I couldn’t completely parse, so a big warm appreciative hug to PeterO for all the explanations, and hearty thanks to Vlad for being gentle with me.
…OTAGO my favourite today…
I always find Vlad too complex and convoluted for my poor little brain, so I tend to just hit reveal and just see how many I can parse (today it was about two-thirds).
UNINSURED is a perfect example of why I struggle. If any of you came up with ‘union soured’ from ‘marriage turned bitter’ then I doff my cap to you.
Several DNKs: STIR YOUR STUMPS, ORPIN, STONECROP, OTAGO, ALFIE BOE
CAPITOL RIOTERS was very clever.
Are we happy with ‘dragon’ for mother-in-law? Feels a bit 1970s.
Tremendous! As others have said, very hard work, but the chewier the better for me. Some really clever clues, including DEATH TRAP and TRUTH DRUG; couldn’t parse OBOES as hadn’t heard of the tenor, nor DRAGGED ON.
Many thanks to V & P.
It was tough for me to get started on this. FOI was 21ac but I did not fully parse it – I guess it was something like ODO in THERE. Still not sure why O, DO = incitement to action. Thanks essexboy@12 for explaining it.
Failed 20d OTAGO – never heard of it even though I am an Antipodean.
I did not parse 5d; 18ac (never heard of any man called GED, nor dragon for MIL).
New: Alfie BOE = tenor (for 22d); ORPIN = stonecrop; STIR YOUR STUMP.
Liked ANDROMEDA, UNINSURED, BROKE.
Thanks, both.
Steve69 @22 – I got UNINSURED from the definition then reverse-parsed it by working out where I had to insert the Os to make a phrase meaning “marriage turned bitter”. Sometimes it’s the only way! But that’s one of the things that makes cryptic crosswords great – you have two stabs at getting the right answer, and as long as you can unravel both parts of the clue, one should always confirm the other. Yes, the parsing is fiendishly tricky, but once you spot it, you just *know* it’s right.
Widdersbel @25 Absolutely – solving via the definition and then (eventually) thinking ‘Aha! *That’s* how it works!’ is indeed one of the great joys of a cryptic. It’s just for me, with Vlad’s puzzles, the proportion of clues where I can do that is far too small for my tastes. Not a criticism of Vlad, I just really struggle to get on his wavelength – more than any other Guardian setter, I think.
I found this awfully difficult.
I needed all the help I could get to finish this, or indeed start it in the first place (a third reading got me 1a as first clue solved) including both Bradford and Chambers, both of which failed on occasion.
But I finished it, so thank you Vlad, and thanks PeterO for the parsing as like others I bunged some in and parsed (or not) afterwards.
(And Otago wines are indeed delicious, though becoming increasingly expensive over here)
I liked this very much, particularly enjoying Vlad’s craftsmanship in the clues to phrases. Nobody here has yet mentioned the unusual grid. It doesn’t appear to be one on the Guardian’s list, being closest to those known as M01 and M42, but different from both.
How did you all find this? On the website I only have Anto 1208 which is clearly next week’s Quiptic.
Togs @30 Something does seem to have gone a little awry. Today’s cryptic is here:
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28959
Yes, I agree that, in 15 ac, Lord Lucan and Stuart Bingham work equally well. Lord Lucan made a break to get away from the crime scene while Stuart makes breaks at the snooker table. Although a snooker fan, it was Lord Lucan I thought of first; perhaps it’s because a docudrama has just finished on British TV about John Stonehouse – a politician who faked his own death in 1974 in Miami and then sneaked to Oz. The Oz detectives thought at first he was Lord Lucan and kept asking him to drop his trousers ! ( Lord Lucan having a large thigh scar ).
Have seen Alfie Boe three times ( good value ) and have even met him – a very charming chappie and extremely funny !
Thank you Vlad and PeterO
Thanks Vlad and PeterO
I too found this very difficult, and quite a few took much longer to parse than enter (I never did parse UNISURED). This meant that there was a shortage of my favourite type of, which you build up to the answer from the parsing. Satisfied to have finished it, but I didn’t really enjoy the process.
I had heard of Alfie Boe, but surely he is not well known enough for the clue to be fair?
grantinfreo@7 World’s most affordable good pinot-back in the day you could nab the odd grand cru for a steal-but you could also be disappointed with a DRC. I went there in late 90s I think-I knew about Martinborough but they were just starting up in Otago-great place
Oh the puzzle-after staring for some time I got STYLI then a few others and as it was Vlad I plodded on
Great puzzle-thanks for blog-now I know the English tenor
Loved CAPITOL RIOTERS and BIDEN
Simply brilliant! Quite tough, but steadily got through it, with many lightbulb moments.
So many great clues esp the exquisite wording of 21a and 24a, and OTAGO, DOOR and ANDROMEDA.
Like others I think the mother-in-law = dragon has had its day and should be retired unless qualified in some way.
Thanks Vlad and PeterO
A little tough but not impenetrable, in the end the only one that defeated me was ORPIN. Hadn’t heard the phrase STIR YOUR STUMPS but by the time I had enough crossers it couldn’t have been anything else, and it makes idiomatic sense. Didn’t parse UNINSURED and although it’s very clever, as a ‘guess the synonym then do something to it’ clue I found a bit of a stretch. As a daily French speaker I agree with eb@12 that BIEN meaning ‘right’ might have been a tad beyond most people’s French knowledge but it was still hopefully gettable. Agree on DRAGON being a bit of a dated/inappropriate slur these days.
Many thanks both
Can anyone explain reference to “24” in 17a please? If it is the number of states won by Trump in 2020, surely that was 25 (plus a congressional district)?
I finished this, but in more than double the time I took for yesterday’s Anto, which I romped through. This was a slog, with a slow start getting a foothold, in common with others and only finding OTAGO, my LOI, after a word search for all the crossers – first time I’ve done that for a while. CAPITOL RIOTERS was a great anagram, but cluing BIDEN with that use of BIEN was challenging.
Thanks to PeterO and Vlad.
I took forever trying this, but alas had to reveal STIR YOUR STUMPS (nho) and like oofyprosser @6, I bunged in an unparsed OSAKA having fixated on the K in back to back. Having served 35 yrs in the Met, I have never heard any officer referred to as a DS, except a Detective Sergeant. The abbreviation for Detective Superintendent is DSU. Pleased to nearly get there and loved DESIGNER BABY, CAPITOL RIOTERS, REACH and ANDROMEDA.
IanSW @37
It refers to clue 24 – the Capitol rioters definitely didn’t want Biden!
And thanks PeterO & Vlad. Ingrid Bergman was a lovely spot.
…in fact I got 24 from 17!
I had the totally opposite experience to Geoff Down Under @2. I saw that it was Leonidas, one of my favourite setters, in the FT and, having the whole morning free, for the first time in ages, decided, unusually, to start off with that, rather than the Guardian. A good move, as it turned out. I approached Vlad in a very relaxed and satisfied frame of mind, well prepared for the tussle ahead.
I find myself in wholehearted agreement – ‘totally brilliant’ – with Ark Lark @35: ‘exquisite wording’ in so many clues, in fact. As well as his favourites, I loved DESIGNER BABY, UNINSURED, SLUSH MONEY, WIHIN REASON and PANDEMICS.
I also have to agree with AL about DRAGGED ON – I’m a mother-in-law several times over myself! And, like michelle, I’ve never heard of any man called GED. But I won’t let that spoil an otherwise superb puzzle.
Many thanks to Vlad and PeterO.
I’ve known two Gerards who were always called “Ged”. Now that I think about, I’ve never met a Gerard who wasn’t called Ged!
I know a couple of Geds, Eileen, and I assumed Gerard Ford was in Vlad’s mind in line with the US political theme.
…of course he was a Gerald, oops.
[In The Wizard of Earthsea, the wizard Sparrowhawk’s real name was Ged, though that’s not relevant to the clue.]
I needed a lot of help to finish this. I was convinced the Stormy Daniels clue had to end in TRUMPS. Torn between administration and frustration with myself.
I found this hard & had to check a lot of letters. I’m a reasonably fluent French speaker, and like essexboy @12, didn’t think BIEN was the obvious synonym for RIGHT, but it had to be BIDEN , once I (eventually) got the rioters in 24a.
As another mother-in-law, I completely agree with Michelle @24, Eileen @43, and others, and I’ve never heard GED used as a short form of GERARD. There again, I don’t know anyone called GERARD….
I got nowhere with this but I’d still like to register annoyance with French right = bien. Wrong!
I thought the third of eb’s translations of bien was fair enough.
I have a brother (not mother 😀 )-in-law known as GED, but he’s a Gerald. I don’t think I know any Gerards. This was the only clue I didn’t parse. Favourite UNINSURED.
Quite difficult to get started, but worth it and very enjoyable apart from the tedious mother-in-law/DRAGON equivalence. Thanks Vlad and PeterO.
Thanks Steve69@31. Now for an afternoon solve.
One for the expert solvers that I eventually ground out.
I always get a bit dispirited/annoyed when there is a long expression I’ve never heard of. Does anyone these days actually use STIR YOUR STUMPS? I did, however, admire WITHIN REASON as a good anagram, BLOKE where the fellow with empty pockets was a good ‘un. I also liked the CAPITOL RIOTERS and the DESIGNER BABY,
Thanks Vlad and PeterO (especially for the parsing of DRAGGED ON).
Kormornik@29, I also noted the non-standard grid. In fact it is just two blocked cells different from m42 which would required extending 11a and 19a by one cell. Plenty of options for 19a (e.g. BLOKES, BROKER etc) but 11a would become ?H?N?I were nothing really fits. So I think this is a case of needs must (and I doubt many would have noticed).
Like several others I was dissatisfied with “BIEN” for “right”, but only BIDEN fit with 24A. I suspect that the better one knows French, the less one agrees with that clue.
Overall a tough slog with two left entirely unsolved and several others unparsed.
Vlad has climbed the hit parade of favourite setters over the while so I knew that, even after getting to the down clues with no return, a bit of pondering would bear fruit. Sadly a confident reveal of ‘PINTO’ turned out to be the nho ORPIN and a subsequent ‘ABETS’ turned out to be OBOES (wha? how?) and that set the tone for the exercise – a dnf straight off and I wasn’t going to get far without some reveals.
Nonetheless I was left eventually with much admiration for the finesse of the setter (ANDROMEDA was a high point among those I did solve) and the usual realisation that I would never make a blogger. Eyes downcast, hats off to both and a shuffling rearward withdrawal.
(Now to check out the Xmas Maskerade – I got all bar one so a little self-hug to restore self-esteem is in order.)
The only word I got without crossers was SEDITION. Had to build everything else from that. I think it’s the first time I’ve had only one word to go on with.
Anybody else try to work “droit” into 17a for “French right”?
I’d never have parsed UNINSURED or DEATH TRAP or OTAGO, though I biffed them in, so thanks, Peter, and thanks for parsing DRAGGED ON. I didn’t know Ged for Gerald or dragon for mother-in-law. May I point out that there are no jokes about or insulting names for fathers-in-law?
ORPIN was a jorum for me as well as apparently for others.
Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.
Leave this to the experts, not for the likes of me.
Thanks both.
I did initially write in SEDUM (the genus of stonecrops) at 7d, thinking “I’ll parse that later”. It was eventually corrected by SEDITION. A drawback of having too much general knowledge!
Jay @55
BHINDI is quite well known by frequenters of curry houses. It’s the Indian name for okra (ladies’ fingers).
Jay@55 ( didn’t our joint school teach “were nothing really fits”=”where nothing really fits?” … only joking; I admire your work” )
Changi is the airport at Singapore + a district + a beach where, within a restaurant, I once chose my own “supper to be served” while it was still swimming in a fish tank.
Tough! My favourites were UNINSURED and DESIGNER BABY. LOI OBOES. Thanks Peter O for parsing SEDITION (which I would not have got without the theme) and LOUSED UP (which I thought was a loose double definition). Disappointed to see dragon/ mother-in-law, a sexist equivalence I thought had been buried long ago. But thanks Vlad for all the other clues!
Glad to see I’m not the only Guardian reader who thought ‘dragon’ for ‘mother-in-law’ was a bit off. Provided additional misdirection (as if it were needed) for ‘mind of blonde’ though …
Way above my pay grade. I lost the will to live reading the blog! Note to self “Ignore all future Vlad puzzles” Pity cos I found his last one more accessible. Glad there were folk out there who enjoyed it; I suspect you were in the minority
An excellent puzzle that really made me think – in the sense that I had to work out more answers from the clues than those I could guess and parse afterwards. The two most difficult clues were DOSE and OBOES. I thought EZRA POUND (clued as EZRA + POUND) was relatively weak in such a good puzzle, ‘pound’ being a unit rather than an amount (whereas ‘a pound’ or ‘one pound’ could fairly be called ‘not a lot of money’).
Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.
Don’t like Vlad at the best of times but one look at this and I didn’t bother with any of them. And very annoyed that he defines DS as a top cop – it’s the normal abbreviation for a detective sergeant, who is only one rank above constable, so hardly a top cop. In the force, the abbreviation for detective superintendent is Det Supt, to avoid confusion
Thanks for the blog, super puzzle, should have been a Saturday , perhaps we can hope for an Enigmatist.
BLOKE is very neat, UNINSURED is so precise with the totally loveless ,ANDROMEDA is brilliant , unlike the actual constellation. Not heard of ORPIN but the clue was very fair for a tricky part of the grid. Like Muffin I know it as sedum , nice bit of violet late in the year.
I can see why many thought this was not worth wrestling with after an initial read, but tend to agree with the more positive comments; all fair and well-clued and pretty accessible. One of those where were you read the blog and wonder what held you up so much?
I did raise an eyebrow at Mother-in-law to Dragon, though. Is it still 1979?
Thanks to Vlad and PeterO
Wow! I managed all but OTAGO and STIR YOUR STUMPS (neither of which I was familiar with).
Took me about an hour of staring this morning (with only DESIGNER BABY in) and then occasional pokes through the day and an intense half an hour or so just now, but all in all I’m delighted to have done so well as it was a hard one (but fair!).
Many thanks to Vlad for the mental workout, and to PeterO for the blog.
~ Matt
Paul #63.
Loused up isn’t a double definition.
Also I’m really nonplussed by the mother-in-law / Dragon. This was a phrase most of us here have known most of our lives. Applying that knowledge to a crossword puzzle doesn’t mean we approve of its continued use in common parlance.
Thanks PeterO, I knew Bingham the potter but not the rotter, and failed to parse the second half of 2d. My other triumphs, quiblets and temporary failures are already recounted above, so I will just note that my online dictionary has ORPINE (but very kind to clue it as a hidden word), also the number of plausible words in the fodder for 24a, and ask where anyone has seen L = Lost in the wild as I can’t think of anything. Great challenge, thanks Vlad.
Gazzh @71
Sports results – W, L, D (win, loss, draw)?
TC @71
Paul said that he mistakenly thought it was a DD, not that it was, I think.
Muffin@73 thanks yes doh! As a Villa fan that should be burned into my brain.
Ps I think this might be the first time I have seen “YOUR” rather than the more ‘formal’ ONES in a solution.
I understand your pain, Gazzh!
Hi Gazzh @ 74, I initially had the same thought re ‘your’ as being the default in this kind of clue but i remember my father using this expression as an imperative, so it came quite naturally to me – in fact, I can’t think of it being used in any other way.
This was too hard even for the anagram solver I go to when I need to cheat. Neither it nor I could see CAPITOL RIOTERS even though I knew that was the theme. There were several I couldn’t parse even when I was sure I had the right answer. Ged? People are really called that? But I love OTAGO and THEODORE now that it’s been explained to me.
Both “settle” and “easily” are highly implausible instructions to make an anagram. [For those of us of a certain generation, “brigadier” comes to mind for Gerard. It’s odd how that particular nag sticks in the brain]
Andrew Tyndall @78
I remember the horse (one of the greatest ever), but the name is even older; he was the hero of a number of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Thanks to Peter O for the blog and to others for their comments,
Apologies for DS.
TC@71 Thanks, I quite agree. And lots of more important things to get annoyed about, surely.
I couldn’t get to the end. Guessed ORPIN , well it was in the clue backwards. Alfie Boe…heard the name but ….did see the snooker reference so not all bad.
Thanks both
My sporting family came up with Gerard (Ged) Stokes , former rugby league player ( NZ and Workington) and father of Ben.
Gazzh@72 it is the use of W you should be unfamiliar with , not L .
Eileen@76 that is a very good point re the imperative as I was thinking of phrases like “strut ones/your stuff”, Roz@82 at least we managed a D this week ( and thanks for recent skygazing tips, mostly scuppered by the usual cloudy skies here but we did see a few planets last week).
Very Laboured American Diversion
I hesitated a long time over OBOES, as I disdain the use of Google. But after the penny finally dropped with regard to WITHIN REASON (appropriately as I was dropping off to sleep), I just assumed there’s an ‘English tenor’ called BOE and bunged-and-shrugged.
As with ‘Parisian right’=BIEN, it can be hard for the setter to determine what is a reasonable amount of knowledge to expect solvers to have, but shouldn’t that be something for a test-solver or, dare one suggest, an editor to spot? (Similarly the mistake with DS, which Vlad has graciously apologised for.)
Unlike most others I thought ‘mother-in’law’=DRAGON was excellent – it’s a joke, so I laughed.
I had to work quite hard to finish this but it was (mostly) rewarding. Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.
muffin @47. Vlad could have used ‘wizard’ (as in A Wizard of Earthsea) to clue the GED part of 18a. As I recall from reading the books (Ursula Le Guin is one of my favourite authors), it was pronounced with a hard G, which fits better in DRAGGED than the soft G of Gerrard. And it’s no more obscure than BOE or ORPIN.
Ridiculously late to be posting but work commitments and oversleeping this morning meant I made no progress on this since having to put it aside at 7 am yesterday. I just picked up with it now and am commenting as, in addition to the blogger, I understood the setter might also be alerted to late comments. Mainly to say UNINSURED is one of my clues of the year. (As in last 12 months, rather than 2023 which would be damning with faint praise 😉 ) Plenty of other super clues commented on above but that one, and the device employed, really tickled me.
Thanks Vlad and Peter O
Well I know we are weeks behind you experts, but we have finally finished it. So proud of ourselves … phew that was tough!! Also got sidetracked by putting in OSAKA.
Thanks to Vlad and Peter O … and all those who comment on here, because without your help we would never have got past being beginners. Is there a collective noun for a group of expert crossword solvers?