Guardian 28,993 – Pasquale

66 comments on “Guardian 28,993 – Pasquale”

1. So “She” is a novel by H Rider Haggard? Who’d’ve thunk it? At least by now I’ve assimilated that Oxford is a shoe.

   I only yesterday came across a clue that described time as the enemy, and here it is again today. Is this the start of a wave?

   Never heard of EIDOLON. Knew MAHOUT but couldn’t parse it. I’m not too keen on “lit” as an anagrind, but no doubt it’s in Chambers, so no further correspondence will be entered into.

   Otherwise everything fell into place smoothly and the experience was enjoyable. Thanks Pasquale & Andrew.

2. Defeated by LEGEND, but a thoroughly enjoyable solve. One minor point. The ex party leafer is Menzies (pronounced Ming, Scottish), so perhaps it needed some sort of indication. Thanks Pasquale and Andrew

3. GDU @1. I came across “She” somewhere else very recently, so I suspect it’s one to store for future reference.

4. Never knew about the Lib Dems leader, but I figured it might refer to Robert “Ming” Menzies, long-time leader of the Australian Liberals, or maybe Wang Ming, an early leader of the CCP. Either way, I knew that word element had to be MING.

5. That was fun. Clear cluing so not bunging words in from the definition and hoping I’d parse them later – and realising I’d forgotten when I read the blog. Didn’t know EIDOLON, but worked it out when I had most of the crossers and looked it up to check.

   It looked as if Love was meant to be the theme, but when the answers included LOLITA and NECK, plus ALIE VERA, it didn’t seem the most wholesome romance.

   Thank you to Pasquale and Andrew.

6. Enjoyable puzzle. Liked CHEESEBOARD, GYPSUM.

   New for me: EIDOLON; Ham = Noah’s second son.

   Never heard of Ming Campbell. Google told me that Wang Ming was senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party so that was good enough for me! [for 16d]

   I did not correctly parse 12d apart from CL and anagram of SADDLE. (I forgot about the YE bit).

   Thanks, both.

7. ‘Idol’ and EIDOLON are ‘doublets’ – basically the same word – does that detract from the clue?

   GUTTER was great. We see gangster AL so often as part of the wordplay that it took me a while to realise he was the solution!

   Thanks Pasquale, and Andrew, especially for sorting out the parsing of UNEDITED.

8. Fairly straightforward. EIDOLON new but easily gettable from wordplay and crossers. Thought using OUT in clue and answer of MAHOUT a bit dull. Liked FLASHINESS and LEGEND among others.
   GDU@1 I’m old enough that H Rider Haggard was thought exciting reading when I was young (probably mainly for boys slightly too old for Biggles) and I read She, though can’t remember the plot; but I do know it’s where the phrase “She who must be obeyed” as used by Rumpole of the Bailey comes from.
   Thanks both.

9. I’d agree with Andrew; this was reasonably gentle for a Pasquale with only the jorum, EIDOLON, requiring much head scratching. I suspected MING to be the Liberal Democrat though briefly entertained the idea of Ming the Merciless. Thing I learned today – having only ever encountered GYPSUM in processed form, I had no idea it’s originally colourless.

   Favourites today include PSALMIST, CONTRACTION, ENTANGLE, LEGEND, GUTTER, RECLINED, CLYDESDALE and UNEDITED.

   Thanks Pasquale and Andrew

10. All good.
    TILT was 17a EIDOLON – but I managed to get it from the wordplay (like Shanne@5, the old “solve and check). I ticked several including 9a LOLITA and 13d AL CAPONE. No idea who the actual MING alluded to was, but managed to get INCOMING at 16d (thought it was something to do with the Chinese Dynasty – although I also thought of Robert Menzies, past Australian Prime Minister, as mentioned by GregfromOz@4). Again agree with Greg@4 that ALOE VERA doesn’t seem quite the right plant for Valentine’s Day. But dear partner (who has been away sailing to Hobart, Tasmania, in the last couple of weeks) bought me some pretty gerberas along with milk and bread this morning!
    [Where are you based, GreginOz? I am on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.]
    Thank you Pasquale and Andrew for today’s enjoyment.

11. [PM @9 – is there a FLASH theme? 🙂 ]

12. I certainly didn’t think this was ‘quite gentle’, so it was a slow, steady solve for me. I thought CHEESEBOARD, GYPSUM, MAHOUT, CLYDESDALE and AL CAPONE were very good. EIDOLON was new. Shows the versatility of the setter to produce such different levels of difficulty.

    Ta Pasquale & Andrew.

13. [Sorry, it was Shanne@5 who suggested that ALOE VERA might not be indicative of a wholesome, or indeed passionate, romance!]

14. Nice to see Pasquale in both Quiptic and cryptic mode this week: I enjoyed both. A big clang as the penny dropped for CHEESEBOARD, which was one answer that came all in one go. I kept getting bits – the IST of PSALMIST, VERA (Dame VERA, the Forces Sweetheart?), CART (but what sort?), UN????ED… I liked FLASHINESS, GYPSUM, MAHOUT.

    I just about remembered EIDOLON from The Name of the Rose, in which the meaning of this word plays an important role (though I think the word there is in Latin: I didn’t know it was also valid in English).

    Thanks Pasquale and Andrew.

15. There was a film entitled ALOE VERA, so maybe it is romantic.
    https://www.afrocritik.com/aloe-vera-review-peter-sedufias-fantasy-drama/

16. Some real old crossword favourites here today: AL CAPONE, ASTI, Oxford = SHOE, novel = SHE, the enemy = TIME…

    Crispy @2, his proper name was Menzies but it was often spelt Ming, so I think it’s ok. Steve Bell used to portray him as Ming the Merciless!

    To me the wordplay of 4d doesn’t really seem to indicate that FLOG as well as TRAC(k) needs to be reversed, but maybe that’s just me.

    Thanks Pasquale and Andrew.

17. I agree with JinA – all good.

    I had ticks for RECTORY, EIDOLON, MAHOUT (I disagree with beaulieu @8 – I liked the ‘turned out to be’), FLASHINESS, RECLINED, CLYDESDALE and AL CAPONE.
    And, of course, I was chuffed at the support for my home town at 18ac.

    essexboy @7 – at first I had the same thought as you re EIDOLON but decided that it was rather clever, with a neat construction and good surface.

    I may be misremembering but I thought we had ‘She’ just the other day? It’s certainly been doing the rounds for as long as I’ve been doing cryptic crosswords.

    Thanks to Pasquale and Andrew.

18. Maybe Pasquale was just being global with his “party leader” clue, encompassing UK, Australian and Chinese solvers. My first thought was “Ming The Merciless” (so you were correct in a way PostMark @9) aka Robert Menzies who I believe is still Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister. He was proud of his Scottish heritage which is where the Mingies pronunciation of his name comes from.
    My only struggle today was RECLINED.

19. I enjoyed this.

    At first pass through, I thought it was going to be a toughie, but it all slotted in steadily but quite quickly. Thanks Pasquale. And thanks Andrew for providing the parsing of a couple that evaded me: ASTI(r) & MING

    I was going to have a chunter about GYPSUM not being colourless until I read Postmark @9, so I too have learnt something today.

20. Eileen @17… not only today with 18a, but also last week’s Maskarade with “Cop leaves secret police bewildered in county town (9)”

21. Elegant offering from The Don this morning.

    On the easier side of his arc but the NW corner holding out to the last as, like Lord Jim, I failed to spot that both parts had to be reversed.

    Many thanks, both.

22. PS In fact I think Menzies was pronounced “Mingis”, so the shortened form is correctly spelt Ming.

23. TimC @20: what a belting anagram that was.

24. Thanks for the reminder, Tim C. 😉 (I didn’t comment on that puzzle.)

25. Al Capone was a protagonist in the St Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929.

    EIDOLON was completely new to me.

    Thank you Pasquale and Andrew.

26. Typically solidly clued puzzle from Pasquale, delicately flavoured with chestnuts, with the customary couple of rarer words. EIDOLON was somewhere in the memory bank; I agree with essexboy @7 that ‘idol’ is rather uncomfortably close to the solution in both form and etymology, but as Eileen @17 notes this is excused by a good surface – and the word is an uncommon one. (How close do doublets have to be to compromise a clue? ‘Wheel’ and ‘cycle’ are cognates, but nobody would take exception to the use of one to define the other 🙂 ).

    MAHOUT is the sort of word that comes to mind after a few chota pegs on the verandah.

    CLYDESDALE was my favourite today.

    Thanks to S&B

27. Lovely stuff by Don Giovanni, and blog by Andrew. Thanks.
    Pitched about right for a Tuesday.
    Confused by MING, being a kid at heart, I immediately thought of Ming the Merciless from He-Man! I had forgotten about the former 100 metre British record holder.
    17a and 23a were unknowns, always get a few witn Pasquale, but easily gettable (horrible word) from the wordplay.
    20d has had a recent outing.

28. Another nice puzzle from the Don – EIDOLON was a fine example of cluing an unusual answer. Only MAHOUT had me chuntering, as it involved some less-common Biblical knowledge in a less-common word, but a quick trip to Wikipedia was enough.

    Thanks Pasquale and Andrew.

29. It took two cups of coffee for me to remember Ming Campbell and the sons of Noah. I could remember Japheth, but was fairly sure that couldn’t be incorporated into the wordplay. I must be distracted by all the love in the air, because I found this quite difficult.

30. Quite a challenge for me today although I got there in the end. But I needed help with the parsing. Fav and FOI was GOLFCART and it was downhill from then on. But I knew SHE the novel having once read all of Rider Haggard, and I knew Ham as one of Noah’s sons, and the Valentine’s Day Massace. Thanks to both

31. Well, on first pass I didn’t have a single clue filled in. Even wondered whether 21d could be a reversal of Wolf (at the door) as an enemy, giving Flow for Issue. But of course EMIT much more precise. First one in was eventually HOWDAH, and from my elevated view on my elephant’s back things became much clearer. Left side went in first, NE corner last to yield. Had to look up EIDOLON, and was rather sniffy about the Red Leicester CHEESEBOARD. Last one in was RECLINED with all sorts of political references and terms complicating things. Enjoyed the challenge, glad I got there in the end…

32. Well well, so our own party leader, and longest serving PM, as per GfOz, JinA and Tim C above, was called Ming because of a Scottishism, and not via a tag from, e.g., The Merciless. A factoid I’m pleased to know. [Bob Hawke, asked what he thought of Ming’s record in office, said It was far too long!]

33. Thanks Pasquale and Andrew
    I saw EMIT as the puzzle was printing off, so, contrary to my usual process, I worked up and out from the SW corner. (There was a local cheap computer firm called TIME COMPUTERS some time ago. When it went bust, some of the workers tried to resurrect it as EMIT COMPUTERS.)
    I found it fairly straightforward, in fact, though fun. I had a problem with 4d until I realised I was trying to solve the 1d clue!
    I’m a bit puzzled why he bothered to include “colourless” in 4a at all. If you didn’t know the mineral, it wouldn’t make it any easier. Did anyone find a coloured mineral that would also work? I don’t think there is one.

34. Otoh, though I did know that Rumpole’s missus came from She, it didn’t surface today, so ta for the reminder beaulieu @8.

35. May I commend LordJim’s (@22) explanation of how Ming = Menzies.
    And I was a little disappointed that The Don used the ‘false god’=idol in the wordplay for EIDOLON, since the solution is so close in etymology (from the Greek for ‘form/shape’).
    Otherwise I really enjoyed the subtler shades of wordplay in this one, avoiding a swathe of full-on anagrammed solutions.

36. I have never read She, but the 1965 film is burned in my memory. Ayesha, played by Ursula Andress, walks into the blue flame and rapidly ages and then crumbles to dust. Once seen, never forgotten. …Anyway, a really enjoyable puzzle. I struggled a bit with the NE, but not impossibly difficult. With thanks to both.

37. Fairly gentle as others have said. I agree with Lord Jim @16 that quite a few old chestnuts made an appearance. Arguably there’s three in 20d alone!

    I did like CLYDESDALE for the surface and construction.

    Thanks Pasquale and Andrew

38. Nuntius @36: Likewise. I have no idea why my parents let me watch it when it was shown on television – it might still been the 60’s I think. Not only the finale but also a segment in which a group of slaves were hurled into a volcanic fissure. Such things as a child’s nightmares could be composed of … and, subsequently, they were!

39. Late to start today but I found this relatively straightforward, apart from EIDOLON.

    I did LOL a bit over LOLITA and appreciated the cluing for LEGEND wasn’t the old LEG END. I liked ‘left pinching Conservative policy’ in RECLINED, and the wobbly saddle of a CLYDESDALE.

    Thanks Pasquale and Andrew.

40. PostMark@38: Indeed. It was presented very much as a Saturday or Sunday afternoon adventure film for all the family, I think….Similar to King Solomon’s Mines (1950, and a remake in 1985): another film of the book by H.Rider Haggard. Ursula Andress is still with us. Eighty seven years young next month.

41. On seeing 3d, I was reminded of that famous James Bond scene in Goldfinger, I think, where 007 was lying on a table with a laser making its way up between his legs. He was RECLINED, but hardly relaxed.

42. Ronald @31, you did really well to complete with howdah as your FOI – considering it wasn’t the answer!
    I have misgivings about Leicester as a cheese – it’s surely always called red Leicester. I know there’s a QM, but it’s not as if Leicester is ever used (without the “red”) as shorthand for a specific type of cheese, like Cheddar or Stilton or Wensleydale. And natural gypsum may be slightly tinted.
    Eidolon new to me, but fairly clued.
    Thanks to A & P.

43. This was wonderful.

    EIDOLON most commonly refers to ‘ghost’ in Ancient Greek – thus in Homer and Attic tragedy. It also means something akin to ‘shade’ in its other sense of ‘image’. Only in biblical Greek did come to refer to idol/god so I think the clue like the others is watertight.

44. Thanks Pasquale for a not-so-gentle but perfectly reasonable crossword. EIDOLON, MAHOUT, and MING were new for me but did not really cause any problems because I couldn’t see any alternatives. I thought there were many excellent clues including LOLITA, PSALMIST(GDU @1: “lit” is an obvious anagrind — think “drunk,” “high,” or “wasted”), GUTTER, FLASHINESS, and CLYDESDALE. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

45. mp @ 42 If I’m in a specialist cheese shop I’m quite likely to say “I’ll have 300g of the Leicester”.

46. Wikipedia: It used to be called Leicestershire Cheese but came to be called Red Leicester. This was to distinguish it from “White Leicester,” which was made to a national wartime recipe in the 1940s due to rationing.
    White Fox cheese is a handcrafted, aged White Leicester cheese, available in Waitrose and ASDA.

47. Monkeypuzzler@42…oh my gosh, some kind of word association blip there, referencing the seat atop the elephant rather than the sitter thereupon. I assure you I did insert MAHOUT otherwise I would certainly have not got very far with this today!

48. Thanks for the blog , CLYDESDALE was put together neatly . I was surprised that out was in the clue for MAHOUT and flog ( rising) for GOLF CART.

49. I know where “She” was used recently but I can’t say because we are not allowed to discuss prize puzzles.

    She became Ayesha, a novel I finished re-reading a week or two ago.

    For what it is worth, my old chemistry teacher knew Rider Haggard, coming from the same village.

    She-who-must-be-obeyed was a doll in Haggard’s nursery!

50. I initially had HOME-HELP at 22a, which seemed a good fit for the wordplay (‘servant’=the help?), but nowhere near the definition, so quickly Tippexed.

    Was held up by the top left corner, and by EIDOLON, which I finally got by separating ‘image’ from ‘false god’, but on checking the dictionary after writing it in, I share the doubts of essexboy @7 about the way this clue was written. It’s not just about the words being cognates, as Gervase @26 says: it’s about them being virtually the same! Is it ok to mislead by having one word (in its original Greek form) as the solution and another (derived from the same word via Latin) in the wordplay? Perhaps it is.

    Thanks to Pasquale and Andrew.

51. Dave Ellison @49: Interesting…and of course, many of us will recall Rumpole of the Bailey’s many references to his wife Hilda as “she who must be obeyed”…!

52. Like Penfold @19 I was initially settling in for a toughie but about a third of the way in the pieces fell into place. CHEESEBOARD and CLYDESDALE favourites. Like most I didn’t know EIDOLON but that made it all the more gratifying to parse!

53. Thanks Eileen, I knew Eidolon the word from the 80s computer game,but turns out that had nothing to do with its real meaning, liked the clue but then essexboy and others point out the possible flaw, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Enjoyed the collective memories of She and other films featuring gruesome death too. Thanks Pasquale for more solid entertainment.

54. Re 23a MAHOUT, I agree with Eileen @17 – there was sufficient misdirection in the phrase “turned out to be” to make the use of OUT in both the clue and solution to be not only acceptable but clever.

    My TILTs today were Ming Campbell &/or Ming=Menzies (16d), and EIDOLON@17d, both the word itself and its cognation/cognativeness/congnativity/cognativation with IDOL.

    Thanks all for the fun and education.

    P.S., it was nice to see a rare comment from Penfold, whose humorous contributions have been missed of late.

55. Perhaps the Guardian is just moving towards a system where they just print the answers and we write them in, dispense with the clues altogether . Very radical.

56. [Cellomaniac @54 – by my reckoning there are, or were, at least two Penfolds (see here and here). Not sure if Penfold @19 today is Ur-Penfold (he of the outrageous puns, not to mention the legendary Penfold-Spassky greasy spoon encounter) or Neo-Penfold, or possibly Trito-Penfold, but good to see him anyway!]

57. I spell HOMEMADE as all one word without the hyphen. Is that an Americanism? I agree with Tony Santucci @44 vs Geoff Down Under @1: “lit” meaning drunk is absolutely acceptable. But is that an Americanism too? Somewhere I picked up the impression that Santucci is on this side of the Atlantic. Plus kudos to Flea @25 for reminding us of that special place that St Valentine’s Day occupies in the heart of AL CAPONE.

58. [me @56, not Spassky, it was of course Bobby Fischer v Penfold]

59. essexboy@56, I think you must be right. Penfold@19 today doesn’t seem to resemble the beloved Penfold of old. Indeed, the Bobby Fischer line is a classic.

60. [I’m sure today’s Penfold is beloved in his own way 🙂 Re the Penfold of old, the “Fischer for condiments” was indeed on impressive form, but it was a good day for the other punsters too. Let’s not forget AlanC: “Did he pick up the cheque, mate?” ]

61. Andrew Tyndall @57: Yes, I’m on your side of the Atlantic. “Lit up like a Christmas tree” is a common way to describe an intoxicated individual.

62. “Lit up” is certainly one of the numberless synonyms for drunk. Not so sure about “lit” on its own.

63. Just a bit grumpy about HOME MADE being clued as Crude In Style. In my experience homemade things are often more stylish, and better made than commercial items.

64. AndrewTyndall@57: Re HOMEMADE:
    Collins regards HOME-MADE as British, HOMEMADE as American.
    Surprisingly The Guardian and Observer style guide recommends no hyphen.

65. Very late to this so wouldn’t normally bother commenting but in case anyone is still reading and interested to know the reason the old Scottish name Menzies is pronounced Mingis, it’s because the “z” was originally the old yogh character, which was a form of the letter g. So there you go.

    Thanks for another fine puzzle, Pasquale, and Andrew for the blog.

66. Moth@63 I agree but then thought of the possible urban myth of busy career women (and men, as this is the Guardian) buying nice little cakes or mince pies from Waitrose etc and knocking them about a bit to give them that authentic home-made (style guide be d*mned!) look before presenting them to friends or packing them off to school with the kids.
    Widdersbel@65 I always appreciate extra background so thank you.

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