A slow and steady solve for me – favourites 9ac, 19ac, 4dn, 6dn, and 25dn. Thanks to Vlad
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | OUT WITH IT |
Be smarter than winner? What do you think? (3,4,2)
|
| OUTWIT=”Be smarter than” + HIT=a success=”winner” | ||
| 10 | EQUIP |
Supply content for a French paper (5)
|
| L’ÉQUIPE is the name of a “French paper”, and EQUIP is contained in / is the “content for” this | ||
| 11 | TUNISIA |
Land fish — one is thrown back, having been caught (7)
|
| TUNA=”fish”, around both of: I=”one” plus IS reversed/”thrown back” | ||
| 12 | TORMENT |
Harrow teacher cycling to Thailand (7)
|
| definition: “Harrow” as a verb meaning ’cause distress to’
MENTOR=”teacher”, with some of the letters ‘cycling’ around in order, plus T (Thailand, IVR) |
||
| 13 | OBOE |
It’s played in honour of leader (4)
|
| OBE (Order of the British Empire, “honour”), with the leading letter of O-f inside/”in” | ||
| 14 | ON THE HOUSE |
Henry staying in York location for free (2,3,5)
|
| H (Henry, SI unit of inductance), in ON THE OUSE=”York location” – the Ouse is a river in Yorkshire | ||
| 15 | REFUSAL |
No bother mostly cutting through concrete (7)
|
| FUS-[s]=”bother mostly”, inside REAL=”concrete” | ||
| 17 | SMETANA |
Composer Zuckerberg’s baby born in South Africa (7)
|
| definition: Czech composer Bedrich Smetana [wiki]
META (Formerly Facebook, Inc., founded by Mark Zuckerberg), plus N (née, “born” [with the name of…]); all inside SA (South Africa) |
||
| 19 | EXTRA COVER |
Run, man, run! He may stop him (5,5)
|
| definition: a cricket fielding position, so one who will try to stop the batting team from scoring runs
EXTRA (a type of “Run” in cricket) + COVE=”man” + R (abbreviation for “run” in cricket) |
||
| 22 | STAY |
Wait for one tenor to join in (4)
|
| SAY=for example=”for one”, with T (tenor) inside | ||
| 23 | FISTFUL |
Duchess ultimately visits on and off — it’s enough for duke (7)
|
| definition: “duke” can be a noun meaning a fist, or a verb meaning to strike with a fist
[Duches]-S, inside FITFUL=”on and off” |
||
| 24 | IMPETUS |
Drive truck back surrounded by monkeys (7)
|
| UTE (Australian slang, ‘utility vehicle’ or “truck”), reversed/”back” and inside IMPS=”monkeys” | ||
| 26 | ROUTE |
Revealed in touching way (5)
|
| OUT=”Revealed”, in RE=concerning, about=”touching” | ||
| 27 | TEARS INTO |
Artist one criminal attacks violently (5,4)
|
| anagram/”criminal” of (Artist one)* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DO-IT-YOURSELFERS |
Homeworkers to Fred seriously touched (2-2-11)
|
| anagram/”touched” of (to Fred seriously)* | ||
| 2 | STAND-OFF |
Workers with new party in impasse (5-3)
|
| STAFF=”Workers”, with both N (new) + DO=”party” inside | ||
| 3 | BIAS |
Twice harbouring a prejudice (4)
|
| BIS (“Twice”, musical direction), around A | ||
| 4 | SHRAPNEL |
Small change affected her plans (8)
|
| definition: informal term for loose coins
anagram/”affected” of (her plans)* |
||
| 5 | STITCH |
Idiot in school’s a pain (6)
|
| TIT=”Idiot” in SCH (school) | ||
| 6 | SEARCH ME |
Don’t know location of London Bridge? Head for market close to here (6,2)
|
| SE (South East, “location of London”) + ARCH=”Bridge”, plus M-arket and her-E | ||
| 7 | BUREAU |
Game about having fancy man over desk (6)
|
| RU (Rugby Union, “game”), reversed/”about”, and with BEAU=”fancy man” going “over”/around it | ||
| 8 | APOTHECARYS SHOP |
Unpredictable psychopaths are gathering round former drug dealer (11,4)
|
| anagram/”Unpredictable” of (psychopaths are)*, around O=”round” | ||
| 16 | SNAFFLED |
Stole nuts from the bottom and left quickly (8)
|
| FANS=enthusiasts=”nuts” reversed/”from the bottom” + FLED=”left quickly” | ||
| 17 | SHERIDAN |
Playwright (female) at rock bottom after upset (8)
|
| definition: Richard Brinsley Sheridan [wiki]
SHE=”female” + NADIR=”rock bottom” reversed/”after upset” |
||
| 18 | ASTATINE |
At home in New York, perhaps (8)
|
| definition: “At” is the symbol for chemical element ASTATINE
IN=”home”, in A STATE=”New York, perhaps” |
||
| 20 | TISSUE |
Paper that’s made up of lies? (6)
|
| ‘a tissue of lies’ is a story that is false (or “made up”) | ||
| 21 | OF LATE |
Recently let down, having left Delaware for love (2,4)
|
| DE-FLATE=”let down” replacing DE (“Delaware”) with O=”love” | ||
| 25 | POSH |
Scary colleague in Shoreditch so psyched up (4)
|
| definition: ‘Posh Spice’ and ‘Scary Spice’ were colleagues in the Spice Girls [wiki]
hidden/”in” and reversed/”up”: Shoreditc-H SO P-syched |
I thought this must be an easier Vlad than usual – I finished it in around an hour – which is unheard of for me (did of course have some help from aids – and a few are not parsed).
Much helped by getting 1d straightaway and quickly filling in the NW
Loved APOTHECARYS SHOP, and SEARCH ME made me smile/groan.
Also liked OUT WITH IT, ON THE HOUSE, FISTFUL, ROUTE, SHERIDAN, TISSUE – and POSH for the surface.
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Brilliant! Loved ASTATINE despite never having heard of it
Cheers V&M
Thank you manehi. Lucky you (not). This is such a minor thing but Do it yourselfers, never heard of. DIYERS maybe.
Liked REFUSAL, but that’s probably because I didn’t see the bigger picture.
Tough but superb. Similar favourites to Fiona Anne @1. ASTATINE loi after staring AT it for eons. Thanks for parsing TORMENT and OF LATE.
Ta Vlad & manehi
I share Fiona Anne’s favourites and the unusual experience of almost sailing through a Vlad puzzle. I was only held up by ASTATINE, where I got fixated of composing something out of Staten Island. (An Island in Staten???)
Presumably Vlad is implying the wonderful Borough Market next to London Bridge in SEARCH ME. Brilliant clue.
Typical Vlad, tough but fair. 13a very elegant. Thanks both.
Great puzzle as usual from Vlad
Thanks for parsing of SMETANA (SEARCH ME was no doddle to parse either)
Pretty much the same experience as everyone else. A good start to the day, so thanks to setter and blogger.
I could see that ASTATINE fitted, but had to wait a while for the teatray. EQUIP was obvious from the definition, but the name of a French newspaper seems too obscure. Otherwise, lots of fun.
Thanks Vlad and manehi.
Nice to have ASTATINE rather than Arsenic for a change. Other favourites were REFUSAL and COVER DRIVE.
Tough but enjoyable. My favourites were SEARCH ME, TORMENT, APOTHECARY’S SHOP, FISTFUL, EXTRA COVER, SNAFFLED.
I did not parse 9ac, 10ac, 20d.
New for me: SHRAPNEL = small change; ASTATINE.
Thanks, both.
[AlanC@6 – I agree that Borough market is wonderful – I used to eat and shop there often]
Interesting and clever, but not a successful morning. I knew how EQUIP must work for a long time, but couldn’t remember L’Equipe. Failed to parse OBOE, ON THE HOUSE (I thought about on t’house as it’s Yorkshire…)
Didn’t know enough about cricket to get EXTRA COVER, or enough about elements to spot ASTATINE. I just about identified UTE and SHRAPNEL, neither of which are in my usual vocabulary.
Brilliant puzzle!
As usual, manehi, I agree with all your favourites – but I had nearly three times as many ticks.
To highlight a few:
ASTATINE – because, for once, I spotted the device reasonably quickly
ON THE HOUSE, FISTFUL and EXTRA COVER, for making me smile
SHERIDAN, for ‘rock bottom’
OBOE, STAY and POSH – three little gems
SEARCH ME, for its allusion to Borough Market – like Alan C and michelle, I love it!
I could go on …
Huge thanks, thanks, as ever, to Vlad, for a super start to the day and to manehi for another fine blog.
(And, as if that were not enough, now for Rosa Klebb in the FT. 🙂 )
Apologies for the perhaps over-effusive ‘thanks’.
I thought of Borough Market, too and took a while to solve the search bit of SEARCH ME, with a clanging pdm. ASTATINE took longer than it should. Didn’t parse OF LATE or EQUIP as didn’t know L’Équipe. Agree with the tough but fair.
Thank you to Vlad and manehi.
Not much to other than that was brilliant. Couldn’t fathom how POSH worked, but couldn’t see what else would fit. Like all great clues, it’s obvious once you see it!
I agree that SEARCH ME was the stand-out clue. Such a smooth surface which then has to be read, counterintuitively, as “Don’t know / location of London / Bridge / Head for market / close to here”. I think it might make it into my personal hall of fame.
paddymelon @3, “do it yourselfer” is in Chambers.
Many thanks Vlad and manehi.
AlanC@6: SEARCH ME: Yes, great clue. And it had to be about Borough Market,
Tim C@11: ASTATINE: Yes, it’s one of those clues where the capital A of “At” is hiding in plain sight by being first in the clue.
Of late ?we’ve had Man Ray clued like this. The blogger missed it, but lots of us here spotted it.
As you say, the same device can be used for Arsenic, with “As” .
Eileen@14 says it all!
Excellent puzzle.
And the Rosa Klebb in the FT is Brilliant, too! 🙂
Not forgetting Phi in the I.
If there’s anyone here who still doesn’t know, the FT’s Rosa Klebb is the Guardian’s Arachne. You can find the puzzle here https://www.ft.com/content/73f645d1-b3d2-408d-af6c-3c09e386926c
… and yes, it is, unsurprisingly, brilliant.
These clues with elements appear periodically, as it were.
Petert@22 🙂
Remembered ute from a previous crossword. Loved APOTHECARYS SHOP, ASTATINE and FISTFUL ( that one came up in the special Maskarade at Christmas ).
Agree with the fan club for Borough Market – discovered romanesco there and experienced some trendy eating.
Have taken photos of and around the SMETANA statue in Prague and, in memory, I’m posting an earworm with the Ma Vlast melodic theme which comes to mind very easily
https://youtu.be/Sdx0WQ5SwpY
Not significantly to do with the crossword but it combines a few bits and pieces. David Elleray STAYed as a HARROW TEACHER ( POSH SCHool that ) for decades and decades. He also STAYed a Premier League referee for years, was often accused of BIAS, got into a FISTFUL of STAND-OFFS and TORMENTed the players with his penalty REFUSALs and LATE decisions.
Thank you Vlad and manehi.
I found this extremely tough. ASTATINE new to me but a quite brilliant clue, I think. And while I feel that cricketing references appear too frequently, EXTRA COVER was cleverer than most. Thanks, as usual.
Petert@22:
I was thinking some evil setter might cross-reference all the two-letter words in Scrabble against the Periodic Table and produce clues beginning with say:
“Be” for Beryllium.
Beware of any clue like this.
A tough challenge as usual for Vlad – favourites were ASTATINE, ON THE HOUSE, and SHOP.
I did wonder whether there was a composer called SMETABA, but had never come across just N for ‘born’, and had never heard of the composer in any case.
Thanks Vlad and manehi
I just checked the archives here and found this:
Guardian Cryptic 27,498 by Qaos – May 2, 2018 – blogged coincidentally by manehi. Do you remember it?
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27498
I’ll say no more.
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Excellent offering from Vlad, combining ingenious constructions with plausible and amusing surfaces.
Too many great clues to list, but this chemist has to admit shamefully that his LOI was the wonderful ASTATINE 🙂 (Arsenic and helium are the elements most often subjected to this device, but there are several other possibilities: Be, O, Al, In, I, Mo spring to mind, but others could be possible with a lift-and-separate – Co, for example).
Thanks to Jim and manehi
[I circle overhead, low down?]
APOTHECARYS SHOP was delightful, DO IT YOURSELFERS slightly less so (does anybody actually say “do it yourself”? DIY, surely?) but that’s just a quibblet.
A lovely puzzle – and I now have the glorious Ma Vlast swimming around in my head..
Thanks Vlad & manehi
Gervase@29:
As a chemist, you might find the puzzle @28 amusing. 🙂
[Better with the enumeration: I circle overhead, low down? (7)]
[one of a group of chemical elements that includes chlorine, fluorine, and iodine]
Great crossword! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Certainly not Vlad’s toughest challenge.
I agree with all the positive comments but I would add that I thought ROUTE was beautifully simple in its clue construction.
Thanks Vlad and manehi
Gervase @29 I’m currently watching MOEEN ALI bowling – his name is (almost) made up of the elements you mentioned. Coincidence?
Also not sure I’d have got EXTRA COVER if I hadn’t been watching the cricket at the time 🙂
[FrankieG @34: Yes, indeed – and a quick perusal of the Qaos puzzle shows that he used a lot of them – but more than one in a crossword rather gives the game away!]
A bit of a struggle to finish this with the RHS holding out the longest.
I got caught (again) by the At trick; it was nicely misleading in At home. I liked REFUSAL with the ‘no bother’, FISTFUL dukes and duchesses, STAND-OFF for the surface, and SEARCH ME for the clever extended definition.
Thanks Vlad and manehi.
Far too many unparsed, hopeful insertions that relied on spotting a possible definition within the clue to say I truly enjoyed the struggle today. Wondered about STAY for some while, then left with 4 crossers in place for 18d, a word I’d simply not come across before. Plaudits for the two long down anagrams of course, but this was a bridge too far – just…
A difficult solve, but a very rewarding impalement. LOI and maybe my favourite was ASTATINE. Finally A-level chemistry is of some use.
Ute is one of those words that only ever seems to crop up in crosswords.
I recall EXTRA COVER many years ago being clued as something like “Additional insurance for where careless drivers may be caught” which I enjoyed so much it’s stuck in my memory.
SMETANA was a clever bloke; he knew which side his bride was bartered.
Thanks Eileen for the reference to Arachne. Miss her so much in the Grauni. Had no idea she was still setting. Will go and get the paper just to experience her brilliance! Pl someone (Hugh) get her back in our paper
Quizzy Bob @40 🙂 – thanks for happy memories of dancing in ‘The Battered Bride’, as we called it, at university https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_5UJo9Iy5Q
Cedric @41 – if you can’t use the link I gave, I think you’ll consider £3.50 (I’ve just looked it up) well spent.
Thanks manehi, i think your straight equivalence of Hit=winner beats my thought that a winner is an example (hence the ?) of a tennis stroke/hit, and I had confused myself over Bi = twice without the ‘s’, despite having seen Bis a few times. Echo all the plaudits for this. Amoeba@27 I did briefly think the same re 17A but then realised I had learned that composer recently – from Picaroon G29967 21st Jan in fact. While Borough Market is indeed a haven for foodies, 6d reminded me to add the Market Porter to the itinerary of my next trip to the great cesspit, thanks Vlad. And thanks Eileen for the ft tip!
Following Eileen@21 and 42, for anyone wanting a real Arachne binge, she sets in this week’s Spectator as well (as La Jerezana). It costs more than £3.50, but you do get more clues – plus the rest of the magazine (much of may not feel like an attraction for a regular Guardian reader, but it takes all sorts……And the Arts/Book reviews are often interesting and usually well-informed.)
Tough but fair. Proud of the ones I got and parsed, had a lot of help from Bradford for the rest. Favs similar to others except the element – I must try to remember these especially at the start of a clue. Thanks V and m
[Gervase@37: Yes, that was the verdict at the time. But I found it a fun solve and read the blog from 5 years ago.]
Qaos himself said: “What would Sherlock make of today’s puzzle? Marmite!”
mintyquoted that week’s Only Connect Final which, coincidentally, also used the device:
In low melting point alloys. As a poison. Be present in Emerald. He is very light.
muffinposted a link to Tom Lehrer – The Elements – Live in Copenhagen in 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM
The subtitles go a bit awry at about 1:28. – “…can rodeo McClure coca-cola”.
DaveMc posted a clue that was never solved, because everybody had moved on to the next day’s blog:
“G.D. and bother! Set back 1-0, in the glue (10) – (…one of my tippy-top most favorite numbers in all of numberdom.)”
Maybe someone can solve it now. Sounds mathematical to me.
If anyone’s interested the puzzle link is @28 and the blog is here:
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2018/05/02/guardian-cryptic-27498-by-qaos/
Beware. You might find your past selves in there.
Sagittarius@44 – a tip for you & anyone else – The Spectator online lets you register for 3 articles a month free. That way you don’t have to read anything but 3 crosswords. There are prizes of £30 & 2x£20, so you might even make money out of it!
I loved the anagram of “psychopaths are” into APOTHECARY SHOP.
Once agaiin I fall for the chemical symbol trick in ASTATINE. I also loved “No” as the definition for REFUSAL — I enjoy these sneaky two-letter ones.
Never heard of l’EQUIPE.
manehi, thanks for parsing TORMENT, OBOE, ON THE HOUSE, ROUTE, STAND-OFF, search me (I liked the lift-and-separate of “London Bridge”) and POSH (don’t know any of the other Spice Girls).
Did anyone else go for “impulse” for IMPETUS?
Robi@38 Come all you young dukies and duchesses
Heed and mark well what I say
Be sure all is yours that you toucheses
Or you’ll end up in Botany Bay.
Thanks to Vlad, manehi and Eileen for the links.
FrankieG@46: The answer to DaveMc’s clue seems to be GADOLINIUM. It was comment number 64 in that day’s blog, same as the element’s atomic number.
Thanks Manehi for quite a few parsings that escaped me such as BIAS (bis is new to me) and POSH (not a Spice Girls fan, but they are famous enough for this to be fair I think). ROUTE was one of my favourites, as well as the others mentioned so far. Thanks Vlad.
Quizzy_Bob@49:
Well Done! So DaveMc would have had to wait until 63 comments were up before posting, and hope that nobody else clicked the button just before him?
That takes real dedication! Unfortunately nobody noticed because everybody had moved on to the next day’s blog.
I’m glad I could play some small part in solving his clue, albeit five years late. It’s a nice clue.
Also for you: The notable ping-pong player was not able to play because there was no table.
Displaying my ignorance here! Is there a rule for when final Fs become Vs? I had in mind do-it-yourselvers. As in rooves, hooves, calves, etc. Am I very old-fashioned? Misguided? Wrong?
Really enjoyed this XW. Thanks all.
James @52: Unfortunately all rules in English have exceptions! Calf → calves, but proof → proofs. There’s a useful summary here.
Hoof can actually go either way, as can dwarf and elf. Rooves is quite rare, roofs much more common.
But the main point here is: F isn’t the final consonant in do-it-yourselfers! (As all the rhotic speakers here will tell you 😉 )
[P.S. Perhaps you were thinking that noun ‘self’ → verb ‘selve’, by analogy with grief → grieve and half → halve?
But the construction with do-it-your-selfer is not verb + -er, but noun + -er, eg a proponent of Little England is a Little Englander.]
All cryptics require it to some extent, but this puzzle more than most required you to turn off your automatic parsing circuitry and consider each word or sequence of words in isolation. A lot of very fine challenges here, took quite a few sittings to get it all.
Yes, a beautiful puzzle with some superbly worded clues. Those for ROUTE, OBOE and ASTATINE were my picks.
I was puzzled about N for born, but according to Collins, it’s short for NATUS, which is the Latin participle. I guess it’s used in genealogy. Also wasn’t sure about TORMENT for harrow, which I thought meant scare, but once again Collins put me right.
Great start to the weekend!
Thanks, V and m
Great puzzle, Vlad. Best of the week. Thank you! (Thought ‘EQUIP’ was un peu cheeky though..)
I’d heard of these senses of ‘loon’ and ‘bead’ but not ‘nun’. ‘Loon’ appears in what is surely the most incomprehensible Scots song ever recorded, namely the following:-https://youtu.be/ig_hEe4TVU4
I’ll try the link again
I’m having difficulty getting the YouTube link to work but just look up ‘Ah’m e chiel (sae dinna fash)’ by ‘TheChielMeister’ on YouTube.
Essexboy@54 Is someone who fills/makes shelves a shelfer or a shelver?
esexboy@54 And even the case of verb + -er isn’t consistent. Somebody who build a roof isn’t a roover.
I got the link to work, but I couldn’t understand the piece Too broad for me, though I did spot the Scotch egg. But I do know “dinna fash,” I learned it in Portugal. My father rented a villa there for six months, and we met the lady who managed all the rentals. She’d been doing this job for years, but still didn’t speak a word of Portuguese, so instead of the Portuguese “Nao faz mal” (pronounced “now fash mal”), meaning “no problem,” she’d say “Dinna fash yersel.'”
Me@61 But I suppose that’s via a verb to shelve.
[Petert, yes I agree with you answer to yourselve 😉
But I did find “another bottom shelfer today!”
Valentine’s non-roover reminds me of a line (from Mash??) “It’s a mover and a groover and it ain’t by Herbert Hoover.”]
essexboy@64 So a top shelfer is a rude magazine, while a top shelver makes really good storage furniture.
Would someone please explain how it is that COVE=”man”? Thanks.
Splendid puzzle – not the hardest Vlad ever but challenging enough and lots of fun. Thanks, Vlad and manehi.
Savornin – OED says it’s originally thieves’ cant
[essexboy et al passim: There’s an apparent randomness in the standard plurals of nouns ending in -f. Hooves but roofs, loaves but oafs, sheaves but chiefs. Presumably there is an explanation….]
N for nee/born isn’t in Chambers nor Collins on-line: am I just being nit-picky?
Soory, for clarification 17 ac SMETANA…
Hi Savornin@66, I had the same question. I’ve never heard of this before but online Collins has…
COVE
old-fashioned, slang, British and Australian
a fellow; chap
Good challenge today, thanks Vlad and manehi for the blog which I needed for EXTRA COVER obvs and OF LATE
Hi Savornin at 66, I had the same question. I’ve never heard of this before but online Collins has…
COVE
old-fashioned, slang, British and Australian
a fellow; chap
Good challenge today, thanks Vlad and manehi for the blog which I needed for EXTRA COVER obvs and OF LATE
Extraordinarily entertaining – thank you, Vlad!
Many thanks to manehi for a fine blog and to others for their comments.
Oh! Thank you Vlad. And manehi of course.
Nice to see Astatine and Henry for H meaningfully.
Fave has to be 18d ASTATINE despite it being my second-to-LOI. Chemical elements are so often fiendish but a delight when you finally spot them! There aren’t many for which the chemical symbol lends itself easily to misdirection in a cryptic clue: As (arsenic), O (oxygen), I (iodine), He (helium), and In (indium) are well-known examples. I’m minded to try and work “Pa” (protactinium) into a clue sometime – has anyone ever pulled that one off?
And the surface for 18d has to be one of the best I’ve seen for some time.
Altogether well up to Vlad’s usual standard. I couldn’t parse IMPETUS but once I saw the blog, I seem to recall UTE having cropped up before now. I think all cruciverbalists need to have a reasonable grounding in Aussie terminology – it would help a lot!
Thanks to the Impaler and to manehi for explaining it.
essexboy@64 39p for a packet of crisps? You guys got it easy. They’re 99 cents over here. And what flavors! Scampi, charcoal steak chimichurri, chicken tikka masala — we get sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar or barbecue.
Petert@65 I think a top shelver doesn’t manufacture what’s on the shelf but is really fast at loading things onto shelves.
Savonin@66 “Cove” for “man” is very old slang — the earliest usage in my Compact OED is 1587. Shakespeare would have heard it — “thieves’ cant,” as Widdersbel says, like rhyming slang later, intended to be incomprehensible to law-abiding folk. “Cove” has persisted for centuries, unlike “mort” for “woman,” of similar vintage, which is long gone.
[Valentine/Petert – I think I could qualify as a top shelver, as I have a natural talent for procrastination.
Valentine @77, your post prompted me to delve more deeply into the bag of Frazzles. The Instagram link @64 is from 2017, and unhelpfully doesn’t give any indication of the weight of the pack – but I suspect it’s one of those mini-packs you find, placed strategically to tempt shoppers as they queue for the checkout. You can still get packs for 39p or thereabouts online, but the weight might have been reduced (now 34g each).
And then there’s the flavour question. One reviewer of the standard-sized pack on my usual supermarket website (108g for £1.35) was moved to write in rueful vein: “I remember these when they first came out… However, time has taken its toll… Oh Smiths, what have you done?”]
Ed The Ball @71: Thanks for that! Not sure how I missed that as I generally check with Collins.
essexboy@78 Your snacks are way cheaper than ours. £1.35 for six packs compared to $1.29 for one 2-ounce one! (And oh, the contortions I went through to get the pound sign!)
A little late to comment on this one, which I found with only a few answers scattered over the RHS, buried in a pile of recycling. EQUIP was among my first in, with POSH Spice not far behind, but I couldn’t get 1d, which blocked the LHS almost completely. It took me a further hour to finish it this morning. FISTFUL opened things up eventually and it felt like a great achievement to complete the grid.
Belated thanks to Vlad and manehi (managed to avoid calling you Mannheim this time!)