Guardian Cryptic 28990 Brendan

by

Thank you to Brrendan. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

The theme is cardinals and ordinals, found in clues and solutions.

Across

8. Church dignitary that’s opposed to 15 (8)

CARDINAL : Double defn: 1st: Leading … in the Roman Catholic Church, nominated by the Pope; and 2nd: A number denoting quantity(1, 2, 3, etc.) as opposed to an “ordinal”(answer to 15 across).

9. A selfish desire to get something done! (6)

AGREED! : A + GREED(selfish desire).

Defn: Said …/the okay to proceed doing something.

10. Be inclined to write things in order (4)

LIST : Double defn: 1st: …/leaning to one side; and 2nd: To record a number of connected items in some sort of order, eg. alphabetically.

11. Name a small number after one in ultrashort time (10)

NANOSECOND : N(abbrev. for “name”) + A + NO.(abbrev. for/small “number”) + SECOND(after one/describing that which comes after one item/the first).

Defn: … viz. 1/1,000,000,000 of a second.

12. Take wicket, then settle down in ground in final season (6)

WINTER : W(abbrev. for “wicket”, in cricket scores) + plus(then) INTER(to settle down/bury in the ground).

Defn: Traditionally, the last of the four seasons.

14. Kind of yarn in the reply after exchange of a couple of letters (5-3)

THREE-PLY : THE REPLY after its “r” and first “e” exchanging positions(after exchange of a couple of letters).

Defn: … with 3 interwoven strands.

15. Service guide available from Ford in album (7)

ORDINAL : Hidden in(available from) “Ford in album “.

Defn: …/book used in religious services, such as ordinations, say.

17. Fourth book nurse composed about doctor (7)

NUMBERS : Anagram of(… composed) NURSE containing(about) MB(abbrev. for Medicinae Baccalaureus, post-nominal letters for a doctor).

Defn: … of the Hebrew Bible.

20. Number that’s loud also heard (5-3)

FORTY-TWO : Homophone of(… heard) [“forte”(describing music that is played loudly) + “too”(also/in addition) ].

An almost-homophone for the first part?

22. Second coffee and third piece of tart (6)

LATTER : LATTE(or “coffee latte”/a coffee drink of espresso and steamed milk) plus(and) 3rd letter of(third piece of) “tart“.

Defn: … of two items aforementioned.

23. As for No 10 being reformed, PM starts with these (10)

AFTERNOONS : Anagram of(… being reformed) [AS FOR NO + TEN(10) ].

Defn: The times during a day denoted “p.m.” start with the afternoons, and continue into night until 12 midnight.

24. Continue as ultimate model for Oxford, say (4)

LAST : Triple defn: 1st: …/to carry on and on; 2nd: …/final; and 3rd: A shoemaker’s model for shaping or repairing a shoe such as/say, an Oxford.

25. Shut up and take notice — this group’s bigger than ABBA (6)

PENTAD : PENT(shut up/confined) plus(and take) AD(short for “advertisement”, a notice promoting a product or service, say.

Defn: A group of five items, bigger than ABBA, the Swedish pop group of four.

26. Guy taking bronze from place to field (5,3)

THIRD MAN : Double defn: 1st: The guy/man winning/taking the bronze medal for finishing third in a contest, say; and 2nd: ../a fielding position in a cricket field.

Down

1. In bar, I’m with a female that’s upset close friend (8)

FAMILIAR : Reversal of(… that’s upset) [ RAIL(a fixed bar from which one can hang, say, towels or curtains) + I’M + plus(with) A + F(abbrev. for “female”) ].

2. Second of three equal parts in premeditated corrective action (4)

EDIT : Second of “prem”,”edit”,”ated”(“premeditated” split into 3 equal parts).

3. Private penning article that’s comparatively silly (6)

INANER : INNER(private/not expressed) containing(penning) A(article in grammar).

4. Among which ours comes third, but isn’t included in seven, musically (7)

PLANETS : Cryptic defn: Reference to the seven-movement orchestral suite by Holst, with the movements named after the planets in the solar system, but not the third planet, our earth.

5. Nigerian university admitting French or German woman (8)

HAUSFRAU : HAUSA(a member of an ethnic group to be found in Nigeria) + U(abbrev. for “university”) containing(admitting) FR(abbrev. for “French”).

Defn: …/housewife.

6. A couple of flyers that striker uses when dispatching deliveries (7,3)

CRICKET BAT : CRICKET,BAT(two flying animals/flyers).

Defn: That which the striker/batsman in cricket uses when dispatching/hitting away deliveries from the bowler.

7. Unprincipled about runs in first season (6)

VERNAL : VENAL(unprincipled/corrupt) containing(about) R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores).

Defn: …/in spring, traditionally the first of the 4 seasons.

13. Two days before Ides of March, say, unluckily positioned? (10)

THIRTEENTH : Double defn: The 13th, two days before the 15th day of the month, an example/say, being the Ides of March, and 2nd: The position/order in a series that is considered unlucky.

16. Dine out after start of play -— one of fifteen occupying a certain table (8)

ACTINIDE : Anagram of(… out) DINE placed below(after, in a down clue) ACT I(the start of a play/Act 1, with the Roman numeral substitution).

Defn: One of the series of 15 radioactive metallic chemical elements in the Periodic Table.

18. Mistreated those trapped by informer — that keeps resistance under control (8)

RHEOSTAT : Anagram of(Mistreated) THOSE contained in(trapped by) RAT(an informer/a betrayer).

Defn: An instrument that, by controlling/varying the resistance of an electrical circuit varies/controls the current flowing through it.

19. Leave game after three, we hear (2,5)

GO FORTH : GO(a Japanese board game) + homophone of(…, we hear) “fourth”(describing that which comes after three items/the “third”)

21. Not acting, arrange an evening out (6)

OFFSET : [OFF SET](not performing in a movie set/not acting).

Defn: …/to put in place something with an opposite effect to counteract/to even out the effect of some other thing.

22. Young woman having cool drink on 4th of June (6)

LASSIE : LASSI(a drink made with yogurt and water, from India) placed above(on, in a down clue) 4th letter of(4th of) “June“.

24. What, historically, Martha became, following double first (4)

LADY : Cryptic defn: Reference to Martha, who became the first First Lady of the USA after marrying the first President, George Washington.

80 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28990 Brendan”

  1. Good fun. Couldn’t parse LADY, liked PENTAD, PLANETS and RHEOSTAT in particular. HAUSFRAU a bit of a write-in, which helped me to get going. Thanks to B & s.

  2. LADY was LOI. A hit and hope I’m afraid. A touch too complex for my small brain. Otherwise a rather fun and chewy solve.

  3. Very informative blog Scchua, and Brendan was numero uno! I’m off to try another one of his from back in time …

  4. Is your opening line a comment on the chilly weather, scchua?

    Lovely Brendan puzzle: what a treat for a Friday. The theme became apparent fairly early on and unravelled delightfully with so many references to numbers. And, if you are going to clue a straight out random number, FORTY TWO is a lovely one to pick. Even if it’s not the answer to everything.

    Favourites include LIST, WINTER, ORDINAL, LATTER, LAST, FAMILIAR, HAUSFRAU, ACTINIDE (a Jorum!) and GO FORTH. All very clever – and I could have ticked more. Only unparsed clue was LOI, LADY, as I dnk the historical reference.

    Thanks Brendan and scchua

  5. Cue homophone discussions! Searched in vain for a “Hitchhikers” theme after FORTY TWO. Maybe one coming after will have a bigger brain. Thanks Brendan and scchua.

  6. Pleased to see that THIRD MAN is still a fielding position in the crossword – the nervously woke BBC commentators only say “third” these days.

  7. Thanks Brendan and scchua
    Even I saw the theme. Mostly straightforward, though I didn’t parse FAMILIAR and had no idea about LADY.
    AGREED for “to get something done” seems a bit of a stretch.
    I thought the W in WINTER was “take wicket” as it would be on a score sheet; otherwise the “Take” has no function.
    Martha in 24d suggested this to me, but EXTINCT wouldn’t fit.

  8. OFFSET and LADY are still a bit beyond cryptic for me even after the blog.
    I got the numbers stuff.
    Favourite was AFTERNOONS for the misdirection of PM. Nice to see the blog refer to 12 midnight rather than 12am or 12pm which of course don’t exist (despite the insistence of the idiot microsoft and others).

  9. Liked NANOSECOND, FORTY-TWO, LAST, OFFSET and LADY.
    Sure ‘forty-forte’ will be discussed.

    Thanks, Brendan and scchua!

  10. Penny’s finally dropped for the definition of 21D, after staring at it for ages. “Arrange an evening out” needs to be read as “cause things to become more even”.

  11. Most enjoyable puzzle from Brendan, which I found rather easier than usual.

    I particularly liked HAUSFRAU, PENTAD and the ingenious clues for EDIT and LADY.

    Slight correction to scchua’s parsing for AGREED: ‘greed’ is ‘selfish desire to get something’ and the definition is Done!

    Thanks to S&B

  12. Liked CRICKET BAT, AFTERNOONS, RHEOSTAT.

    I could not parse 21ac (I got stuck on off = not acting); 26ac; 24d (never heard of Martha Washington) and I needed help from google re 4th book of bible (17ac); the date of the Ides of March; The Planets by Holst.

    20ac homophone for forte seems wrong to me as it would be ‘fortay’ not forty. Do people actually pronounce forte as forty? I’m usually fine with a wide range of homophones (that others find iffy) but this one is just plain wrong for me!

    New for me: ACTINIDE; PENTAD.

    Thanks, both.

  13. I’m with PostMark @4 for the most part- I’d add PLANETS, EDIT and PENTAD and several more to his favourites – but I admit to googling ‘Lady Martha’ in order to parse 24dn – didn’t spot the significance of ‘double first’ – but did discover an impressive line-up of Lady Marthas, including this one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Martha_Bruce
    who died just a couple of weeks ago, aged 101.

    Many thanks, as always, to Brendan for the fun and thanks to scchua for the blog.

  14. A cracking puzzle this morning with an easy to spot theme.
    A couple cricket references so there will be some annoyance from the ” cricket is just an insect ” commentators.
    I noticed that both the highly analysed number 42 ( Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ) and the considered unluckiest number, as an ordinal, THIRTEENTH were both featuring and that 3, one of my favourite numbers turned up as both cardinal and ordinal.
    Could join the homophone police today as recently someone remarked that they hadn’t been very active of late. Forté and FORTY don’t sound too alike to me.
    I liked 4 down, PLANETS, ( clueing included 7 another of my favourite numbers ) for the need to do a little lateral thinking. I’ve walked over the top of Gustav Holst; he’s interred in Chichester Cathedral.
    Thank you Brendan and scchua.

  16. I thought that the definition part for AGREED was just DONE! while GREED was “selfish desire to get something”. Heigh-ho…

  17. I think that is probably my most satisfying solve ever, when I thought my number was going to be up along with cricket references. A real grind but pleased to wheedle out words like ACTINIDE, RHEOSTAT and HAUSFRAU (nho of Nigerian reference). I’m sure it will be a a delight for Roz to solve. My favourite was PLANETS for the pdm. I thought LADY was a tad unfair but couldn’t be anything else. Very, very tough but equally rewarding.

    Ta Brendan & scchua for the lovely blog.

  18. And I was another who anticipated a Hitchhiker’s theme after FORTY-TWO. By the way, I once decided that the ultimate question about “life, the universe and everything” to which it’s the answer is “Why is there always one odd sock?”

  19. Love a Brendan, been doing his back archive. Raised the same eyebrow as muffin at agreed, but had no idea who Lady Martha was. And yes of course thought HHG at 42. Enjoyed, ta Brendan and scchua.

  20. Agree with Gervase @11 also. Flea @14: Holst lived at one time in Mortlake, SW London in a house overlooking the Thames, which must have a been inspirational as a composer.

  23. Really enjoyed this one so many thanks to Brendan. I learned quite a few new things today, for instance like michelle@12 New for me: ACTINIDE; PENTAD.. I had some similar experiences to others as reported in the comments already e.g. re LADY Martha in 24d, the theme etc. Though thanks to a previous crossword (the memory grows dim) I “got” the Holst reference in 4d PLANETS. Favourite clue today was 9a AGREED which I solved as Gervase@11 and blaise@16 have suggested. As always I am indebted to scchua for his usual thorough and interesting blog.

  24. Judging from the comments to date, it seems that this was fortuitously in my cruciverbal Goldilocks zone. Am I the only one who was familiar with ACTINIDE (write-in for this chemist 🙂 ), RHEOSTAT, PENTAD, Hausa and Martha Washington? It had to happen sometime….

  25. Started off well but swiftly ground to a halt. I really wasn’t on the wavelength at all and ended up having to reveal a few and get some parsing help here. A good learning exercise.

    Thanks Brendan and scchua

  27. Gervase @24
    Yes, I saw RHEOSTAT as the puzzle was printing off, and ACTINIDE was no problem either. I’m surprised how many solvers seem to have managed to avoid studying any chemistry!

  28. Thanks, Brendan & scchua. Agree with everyone else – this was a very satisfying puzzle to solve.

    blaise @18 – Surely the question is “How many for tea?”

    Gervase @24 – I’m vaguely familiar with the word ACTINIDE but couldn’t have told you precisely what it means, and wouldn’t have known before today that there are 15 of them. But it was clued precisely enough that I could still solve it despite my ignorance!

  29. Some original clues here (EDIT was fun), but not as difficult as Brendan can be. I know next to nothing about RHEOSTATS or ACTINIDES but followed the instructions and there they were. Didn’t know the order of service meaning of ORDINAL either, and the evening-out bit of OFFSET has only just dawned on me (like michelle@12, got fixed on off=not acting).
    After I got PENTAD I wondered if it was some kind of technical 5-line rhyme scheme that was bigger than the 4-line ABBA… Talk about over thinking things!

    Liked PLANETS, THREE-PLY and the double-first LADY.

  30. michelle@12
    Only after reading your comment on OFFSET, I went back to check what scchua said in the blog (overlooked it earlier somehow). Till then I was convinced about my parsing:
    OFF-not acting, SET-arrange (as in ‘set a table’), OFFSET (noun)-an evening out (a balancing out).
    Now I know scchua’s parsing is superior.

  31. I’m surprised that nobody has raised an eyebrow at “Hausfrau” – surely not a word you would ever use in English and not even a very familiar German word even if you could guess the translation either way easily enough. Frau on it’s own seems fair though.
    I still can’t see offset in the sense of evened out though. Quite the opposite, if something is offset it makes it less even with whatever it is offset from. The wordplay is clear enough so maybe it’s near enough.
    I was tempted to quibble about cardinal being opposed to ordinal but opposed could mean placed alongside so doesn’t necessarily mean the more obvious sense of negation.

  33. PS: I’m sorry to say that I learned about Hausas from reading my uncle’s Sanders of the River books as a child: there was usually a platoon of Hausa troops available to help subdue any restless natives. Unreadably racist to my older self, but they were written between 1911 and 1920.

  34. Enjoyed this and managed to get all the references, though I didn’t twig the ‘double first’ hint for Martha Washington.

    As one who regularly complains about ‘homophones’ I didn’t think the 42 was worth objecting to. I’m mostly upset by those relying on non-rhotic pronunciation, of which this is not an example.

  35. Who said Sunday School was a waste of time? I had to sing “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers” to get the thematic clue, and from then on the theme helped. Forte-forty? What the deuce are the homophone police concerned about today?

  36. Gervase @24, another who studied Chemistry here, so ACTINIDES and RHEOSTAT weren’t problems. I did know Martha Washington, but didn’t bring her to mind to solve the LADY clue. The rest was great fun and in my Goldilocks zone too.

    I had to dig, but I knew I’d read it somewhere: according to this Independent article:
    “Cambridge astronomers have found that 42 is the value of an essential scientific constant – one which determines the age of the universe.”
    (also called the Hubble constant)

    Thank you to scchua and Brendan.

  38. A tough but satisfying solve here. Theme whistled over my head as per. A few NHO words but fairly clued. I thought EDIT was very clever although I needed both crossers before the penny dropped. I didn’t parse the ‘arrange an evening out’ string in OFFSET but now think it’s marvellous in its misdirection. I confess I resorted to a little light bung-and-checking in the final stretch but kicked myself as I should have been more patient and worked them out without such hints.

    Cheers both.

  39. Well I started OK then collapsed under the misleading and to me impenetrable clues. I saw there must be a theme, but was it numbers or cricket? Never spotted cardinals and ordinals as I only got the latter really late – when I resorted to checking my guesses in the online version, the layout of the clue made it much easier to see it! But as I had no idea that other answers were ordinals or cardinals, that still escaped me – surely they are all just NUMBERS, my first one in?
    Thanks for the parsing, scchua, I would never have managed ACTINIDES or RHEOSTAT without this blog!
    And thanks Brendan, as Fiona Anne said, a good learning exercise.

  40. ravenrider @31: HAUSFRAU is used in English (which is why it is listed in dictionaries) as a disparaging term for a meek little woman whose horizons are limited to the purely domestic. Not an expression I would dare to use myself!

  41. Thought I wouldn’t finish but got there with some googling and a couple of checks – ACTINIDES/RHEOSTAT, so cheated slightly but was satisfied. Very enjoyable. I saw both parsings of OFFSET, couldn’t decide which was the intended. Took all the crossers to get HAUSFRAU, and needed the blog’s help for parsing that and others. PLANETS and LADY were great when the penny dropped. Thanks to Brendan and scchua.

  42. With reference to the homophone problem which some earlier contributors perceive in FORTY-TWO, it is my sense that, if you are referring to an individual’s particularly strong aptitude, you identify their ‘fortay’, where the word carries an implicit acute accent on the final-e, but if you are referring to the musical direction derived from Italian, your say ‘forty’. Who has ever used the term, ‘pianofortay’?

  44. S’s c @42 (great placing of your post!): I for one would always say pianofortay and fortay, but then I have difficulty in not pronouncing the surname of the literary sisters as Brontay, though all the evidence suggests they actually said Bronty 🙂

  46. Good grid filling as ever from Brendan, and an enjoyable solve.

    I got a bit stuck on the NW until CARDINAL appeared and unlocked ORDINAL, although I missed it was hidden. I DNK Hausa, Lassi and PENTAD. I liked CRICKET BAT and RHEOSTAT for the surfaces (whenever I see informer, it’s invariably rat), and OFFSET for the evening out.

    Thanks Brendan and scchua.

  47. Can’t see this explicitly noted anywhere, maybe everyone finds it too obvious to need stating. Martha Washington was not just the FIRST LADY, she was the FIRST FIRST LADY. Hence the double first.

  49. Thanks, Brendan and scchua. Great stuff. I failed on 24d – I thought rather ingeniously. Somewhere I found a connection between Martha and Leda. Clearly correct: double first= LED +A. Well, maybe not!

  51. A few obscurities got me stuck. Didn’t know about Hausa, lassi, pentad or the Hebrew bible, and I’d forgotten that Oxford was a shoe. My knowledge of American history isn’t sufficient to have known Martha — although I have visited Martha’s Vineyard, quite possibly the same one? I was expecting a noun for 1d and usually regard FAMILIAR as an adjective, but no doubt if I were to dig deep enough I’d find that it can be a noun.

    Smiles greatly outnumbered groans, so a thumbs up to Brendan.

  52. I’m with Spooner’s @44. Can’t ever imagine my saying pianoforty or “play that more forty”!

    Pure delight even though LADY & PENTAD were both bung and shrug.

    Tiniest quiblet…a RHEOSTAT doesn’t strictly keep résistance under control, it uses resistance to control a circuit.

    Many thanks, both.

  54. GdU @51
    “Familiar” as a noun is probably most familiar in the expression “a witch’s familiar” – usually a black cat.
    btw the Martha I linked to @7 was the last Passenger Pigeon.

  56. Never quite felt in control of this, even after a rather hopeful insertion of FAMILIAR (I’m rather more, well, familiar with this being a term for a witch’s cat or other creature) helped considerably with the NW corner which I completed first. Not entirely happy with striker being used in a cricketing context in 6d. Thought HAUSFRAU a little hard to arrive at, Nigerian knowledge essential. RHEOSTAT dredged up from O Level General Science days.
    Bunged in Appendix at 16ac and this of course complicated things in the SW corner. Liked THIRD MAN and THREE PLY. Ultimately defeated by nho’s PENTAD and ACTINIDE. And it took a long while to fathom out the interlocking LAST and LADY, all those Oxford meanings tricky to recollect.
    Well worth the effort, though…

  57. Fun puzzle from the on-form Brendan. The numbers theme helped make it easier than his usual.

    Favourite was AGREED once the penny dropped (Gervase @11, blaise @16, both spot on).

    Also thanks to David @47 for explaining the double first for Lady. I admit I bunged in the answer without really thinking but I now see it’s quite neat.

    Thanks Brendan and scchua

  58. Lovely puzzle. I thought ABBA must be the rhyming scheme, couldn’t think what the connection with the group could be. Thanks Brendan and scchua.

  59. scchua 10a LIST is a verb, so the definition is “lean,” not “leaning.” And thanks for parsing OFFSET and WINTER — I was wondering if taking a wicket could be winning.

    There’s a cricket position called “third man”? What’s next?

    Thanks for explaining LADY and “first first”. Martha Washington didn’t marry the first President, though, she married someone who became the first president later.

    Gervase@24 I was familiar with all those things. Every American schoolchild hears of Martha Washington, though I didn’t make the first-first connection until scchua put me wise.

    muffin@7 Thanks for the link to Martha. I knew of her, but the article told me all sorts of new things. It also led me on a wander to articles about marsupials, extinct and otherwise — the thylocine, the quoll, the water opossum. And an article about whiskers (vibrissae) that told me how complex they are.

    Spooner’s catflap@42 I do the opposite. The musical direction forte has no implied acute accent, since Italian doesn’t use them, but is pronounced fortay by musicians I know, including in musical words of Italian origin such as ‘pianoforte.” But the aptitude sense (“It’s not my forte”) is pronounced “fort,” according to both the Compact OED and the American Heritage Dictionary.

    Thanks as ever to Brendan and scchua .

  60. My heart sank seeing Brendan this morning as I find his clues utterly meaningless. My shortcoming as the Guardian site found it easy,.
    Four completes or near completes this week , so a good week.
    Odd how one setter’s wavelength is unfathomable.
    Thanks both.

  61. HYD @60
    I’m glad to see that you’re persevering with Brendan and I hope you manage to tune in before too long – it’s well worth it, honestly. 😉

  62. Thanks scchua for explaining 24d and 21d, just couldn’t get past the surface reading of the latter, despite an “offset clause” being an important part of every contract i look at! Hoofit@60, hard to describe but with Brendan I usually get the feeling that he is playing with phrasing of clues more than other setters, which means I can have no idea where to start in solving a clue and yet after a few breaks and revisits somehow they click and seem obvious in retrospect, 4d a great example today and 21d too now you have explained it scchua. Loved this, thanks Brendan.

  63. HAUSFRAU defeated me. Nice to see the theme for a change and seasons and cricket featuring. Had to feel sorry for the solver yesterday applauding SHORTSTOP as a change from cricket.
    Thanks both

  64. Re the pronunciation of forte, I’m reminded of the old Latin gag –

    Caesar adsum iam forte
    Brutus aderat
    Caesar sic in omnibus
    Brutus sic inat

  65. Widdersbel @64 – This was our schoolgirl version:
    Caesar adsum jam forte
    Passus sum sed Antoni
    Caesar sic in omnibus
    Brutus sic in at

  66. I’m late to the party today as this required several visits to get to the end. Even then I had only pencilled in the 2 24’s as I wasn’t certain about the parsing. Thanks to scchua ( and posters) for the explanations. I agree with most earlier contributors that this was a great end to the week so many thanks to Brendan for really stretching this aging brain.
    2 final thoughts.
    Not surprised that many solvers are also Hitchhikers fans.
    Can we agree that compilers are allowed a certain amount of leeway with homophones? They all seem to take it so I’m not sure there’s much point in quibbling every time they do. I mean did anyone leave 20ac blank because Forte-two made no sense? (Just asking!)

  68. An excellent puzzle. Pennies dropping everywhere. But did anybody apart from scchua parse 24D LADY?
    What a brilliant clue, but insoluble for me. So no tea tray. Shame.
    Even with the help of Google you have to type “Martha washi” before she jumps to the top of the list as “former FLOTUS”.
    As an H2G2(.com) fan, I was sorry to discover that the Hubble Constant is no longer estimated at FORTY-TWO. Shame.
    “In March, July, October, May
    The Ides are on the 15th day”
    Trust Brutus to pick one of the months when the Ides aren’t on the THIRTEENTH. Shame.
    I AGREE with all those who AGREED that the definition of AGREED is Done!
    And I agree with Eileen@13 who agreed with PostMark for the MostPark – I mean most part.
    Collins pronounces FORTE & PIANOFORTE as “AY”, but allows FORT/FORTAY for Americans.
    For a laugh just ask it to pronounce FORTEPIANO.
    All this talk of pianos and NUMBERS and FORTY-TWO and TEA FOR TWO brought to mind Victor Borge’s inflationary language where he would add 1 to everything so that: “You’re just too wonderful for words” becomes “You’re just three twoderful five words”.

  70. Eileen @61 and Gazzh @62 – thanks for your words. I shall persevere, I’m like Robert The Bruce’s pet spider.
    Gazzh hits the nail…Brendan’s clues are just a bit to abstruse for my level.

  71. After a week away – can a retired person be on holiday? – when my days included drinking more beer than the government thinks is wise, I find that a day of relative sobriety is conducive to a smooth and rapid solve of one of Brendan’s tours de force, despite the distractions of the train journey home.

    I must admit to a little touch of schadenfreude when I read how tough some of you found this. It partly makes up for my earlier feelings of inadequacy this week – a sort of ‘evening out’?

    Thanks to Brendan and scchua.

  72. Thanks Brendan for your customary craftsmanship and scchua for your excellent blog. I found this very satisfying as I usually do with this setter. THREE-PLY was my favourite among many. HYD @60: I get the wavelength thing but for some reason I’ve always been on Brendan’s long before I could solve many other setters. Keep at it. Eileen @61has it right — it’s well worth it.

  73. Very pleased to say that I made it through this week, completing every one, with no going outside and with complete parsing. Guess I’m in the Cool Guys Club.

  74. Gervase @11: Thank you! Thank you! Now I get it.

    KVa @30: Thank you as well! sschua’s parsing is simpler but yours allowed me to grasp the solution – and to see how clever it was!

  75. Hello all – long time reader, first time commenter here. Really enjoyed this one, and thanks to scchua for the excellent blog which as always helped me figure out the ones I didn’t quite get!

    I parsed LAST slightly differently: I got the L from ‘ultimate model’ and A ST from ‘Oxford, say’ – Oxford Street is an example of A STREET/ST. But the triple definition is much neater!

    Just one tiny point about an otherwise superb blog: Go is a Chinese game, rather than Japanese, I believe?

  76. Quite right, TomC (and welcome to the comments!), or at least, Wikipedia agrees: “The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.”

    I like your inventive parsing of LAST, but I think ‘ultimate model’=L would be frowned upon by most solvers, in the same way that ‘first model’=M would be. Some setters use ‘model ultimately’ or some such.

  77. Thanks sheffield hatter @76 – had a feeling my parsing didn’t quite add up, but that third definition of ‘last’ was a new one on me so I was clutching at straws a bit!

  78. Brilliant! I had meant to click on the quiptic after being away from the crosswords for a while, and after a run through the clues only yielded a couple of answers I thought that it was a markedly tougher-than-usual quiptic. However, even after spotting my mistake, Brendan’s clues had sucked me in and I stuck at last night and this morning. Thanks Schuua for pointing out which Martha had become a LADY, and for parsing the wonderful OFFSET, my favourite. Thanks Brendan for the addictive puzzle.

  80. Tomc@75 Go is taken from the japanese name for a game that is very popular in Japan, China and Korea. I think the game originated in China, but the first European accounts are from travellers to Japan.

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