Guardian 29,106 – Carpathian

78 comments on “Guardian 29,106 – Carpathian”

1. Breezed through this and the quiptic today, and had a jolly good time doing so. My meagre general knowledge didn’t extend to Theo Walcott, Dora the Explorer nor Camus, but they were found pretty quickly thanks to the world wide web.

   Thanks Carpathian and Andrew.

2. Very much a write-in for me, though I confess I had to Google Walcott. A bit obscure that one, though it wasn’t hard to work out. I tend to think of Camus as a novelist rather than a philosopher (existentialism), though he was both of course, and more. With thanks to Carpathian and Andrew.

3. Just a couple of queries.
   1 ac seems the wrong way round to me. Girls with good suggests lassesg.
   24 ac – why does header’s = dive’s?
   Thanks to Carpathian and Andrew

4. I wondered about header/dive, but Collins says one meaning of “header” is “a headlong fall or dive”.

5. @3Crispy 14ac not 24ac Could it be a diving header (football again)

6. And I guess it could be argued that “with” doesn’t imply any particular order.

7. Crispy@3: I did a double take on 1a too but, as GDU says, ‘with’ is bidirectional.

   In a good way, absolutely Monday morning fare with a smooth cruise through the clues. I did spend longer than I should on LOI, OCCASION, but that was just Monday morning woolly-headedness. Yes, Walcott needed a quick search of the memory banks but he was somewhat of a sensation when he arrived on the scene. As a UK solver, I wouldn’t put him, Dora or Camus into the obscurity camp.

   Thanks Carpathian and Andrew

8. Thanks all for answering my queries.

9. Nuntius@2 I believe Camus disliked being categorised as an existentialist. Anarchism and Absurdism were more his style.
   Crispy@3 One doesn’t hear “Taking a header” much nowadays outside the footballing context but when I was young it would crop up as a description for falling headfirst into something. Felt slightly archaic and public schoolish even then.
   I agree with Andrew that this was a quiptic, really. Thanks to him and Carpathian

10. Thanks, Carpathian and Andrew!
    Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog!

11. Can’t really agree with “elegant”, Andrew. Over very quickly but clues like, Toiletry item old and young explorer found in pit make little sense to me.

    Perhaps I got out of the bed the wrong side today.

12. Nice gentle start to the week. As a football fan, 8dn was a write-in but I did wonder how well known Theo Walcott would be to others especially overseas. Dora the Explorer was familiar from the kids cartoon (Swiper, no swiping!) and the lovely Stackridge tune. Thanks to Carpathian and Andrew.

13. Nice easy start to the week.
    Here’s some Camus quotations, there are some great philosophies for enhanced existence in there :

    https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/957894.Albert_Camus

    Thank you Carpathian and Andrew.

14. My problem with 8d was equating theorising with guessing. The former is much more disciplined than the latter (though it didn’t intefere with getting the answer). Nevertheless, I agree that this was good Monday fare. Thanks, Carpathian and Andrew.

15. No problem with 1ac. I saw Theo Walcott play for Southampton when he was only 16 and thought wow! As quick as this puzzle, but very pleasant.

    Ta Carpathian & Andrew.

16. Favourite: SUMAC.

    New for me: QUAD = all-terrain vehicle; Theo Walcott, English football player (for 8d); DORA the explorer (in 15ac).

    I could not parse 14ac – I incorrectly thought that QUARTER was the measurement so I was left with HEADS for the dives bit -> HEADER = a headlong fall or dive is new for me.

    Thanks, both.

17. Walcott for me is the late great Clyde, so I had to google Theo

18. Shouldn’t Guardian cryptics be more challenging than this? It’s true that even the most feeble clues can require a few head-scratching moments, but this is sadly devoid of the wit and sophistication shown by the better practitioners. Still, the Aussies seem to like them simple, so there’s a Monday crowd to lap them up.

19. I’d like to pretend that Derek was the Walcott that I first thought of. Famous Theo’s are a bit short on the ground.

20. Breezed through this but did try to squeeze Derek Walcott (Nobel Prize for Literature) into 8 down, not being across English footballers.

21. Found the bottom half of this much more chewy than the top. Many thanks for the entertainment this fresher, weatherwise, Monday morning Carpathian and Andrew….

22. ….great memories of the mighty three W’s on the cricket field, Weekes and Worrell the other two great West Indians, and the not so great memory of Theo Walcott not quite ever making it as an Arsenal legend, somehow…

23. Two near-pangrams (both lacking the Z) on the same day!

24. “Who the heck is Theo Walcott?” I thought. Googling the name revealed that he is a footballer, which explains it. Pretty straightforward otherwise.

25. “Still, the Aussies seem to like them simple” No, this Aussie at least just gets irritated by being expected to know obscure English sports player names.

26. Like others, I spent too long trying to wrangle DEREK for ‘Walcott’.

    Wasn’t CAMUS also a footballer?

27. Good puzzle squarely in the Monday tradition. I agree with William @11 that some of the surfaces are a bit rough round the edges, but not so much as to detract from the enjoyment of a fairly rapid solve.

    I had no problem recalling Camus or Walcott, but Dora the Explorer was a complete unknown – she must have flourished in the gap between sons and grandchildren 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

28. More or less a write-in. Oddly I knew Theo Walcott because of a reference in my puppy training book. Not quite tough enough even on a Monday.

29. Oscar @18. I suspect others, possibly less experienced than yourself, are glad of the occasional easier example such as this one. Just goes to show you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Also, I thought the dig at the Aussies was uncalled for.

30. Smashing puzzle. Thanks to the ever reliable Carpathian and the equally consistent Andrew.

    ragged @26 – yes, to be specific he was a pretty decent goalkeeper. He famously said: “Everything I know most surely about morality and duty, I owe to football.”

    Gervase @27 – my son was the perfect age to be a fan of Dora the Explorer in his early years, so that was no problem for me.

31. Crispy @29 – while the Ashes are on, it’s open season on Aussies. 😉

32. Enjoyable, just right for a Monday. Even the fish referred to a commonplace one!

33. Is there anything here that would be out of place in the Quiptic? I had to check DIVE/HEADER but that was about it

    There’s the faintest hint of a link between THEO Walcott and CAMUS which some of Arsenal’s more pretentious fans used to put on their replica shirts

    Cheers A&C

34. Don’t know if this is typical of this setter, but even by Monday standards it is too simple. No ‘aha’ moments whatsoever.

35. Theo Walcott is the wonderful Southampton forward.

    Who will be playing in the Championship next season 🙁

    Was this daily easier than the Quiptic? Nearly, if not actually. Grauniad seems to be having trouble getting Mondays right, but I liked this one.

36. 8d: So Jerseyjoering isn’t a word? Shame.

37. Well said, Widders @31. Thought Oscar’s comment a bit off-hand to our pals down-under.

38. Thanks to Carpathian for a puzzle that suited my laid-back Monday. I didn’t know who Theo Walcott was but still managed to get 8d THEORISE via the wordplay. I always take it on board that if I choose to do a UK puzzle I will find some UK-centric clues – par for the course. Always learning new things and even if there are unfamiliar references it’s still all worth it for the quality of the Guardian puzzles.
    Sorry to be over-sensitive but I was quite hurt by the condescension (re Aussie solvers) in the post from Oscar@18. But even more I felt for the setter whose work was disparaged here. As I see it, any crossword on this site that can provide a gentle entree to new solvers or constitute an easier run for other Monday solvers is to be applauded rather than put down.
    Favourite was my LOI: HEADQUARTERS at 14a.
    Thanks very much to Andrew for the blog.

39. Julie in Australia@38: I’m not Australian, but I agree that Oscar@18’s comments are a bit below the belt. One of the things I like about this blog is that contributors nearly always demontrate good manners, grace, and a positive spirit.

40. Julie in Australia @38 – Quite agree, Julie. Like you, I felt the patronising comments about Aussies and the simplicity of the puzzle unnecessary. It’s a common trait of crosswords that while many experts are keen to give advice to idiots like me, a very small few are too far up their own arses.

41. Good Monday start to the week.

    Mostly went in fast and then got a bit stuck in the bottom half; like PM @7, my LOI was OCCASION. I liked ELIMINATE for the misleading cream and HEADQUARTERS, where I started to think it was neuro- something.

    Thanks Carpathian and Andrew.

42. I’m another who saw Walcott and thought of Derek, but some online digging put me straight. Theorising is, of course, rather less vague than guessing, but it’s close enough for a crossword. I didn’t know SUMAC were spicy fruits but that was clearly the answer (thank you Widdersbel for reminding me of the Camus quotation!) and BARRACUDA and CRUSTACEAN made me grin.
    Thanks to Andrew for the blog and Carpathian for an enjoyable start to my week

43. JinA @38: I was hoping the comment was Ashes type tongue in cheek but if not he should be shown the first 3 lettered acronym on the 2nd line.

44. Like Wellbeck, I don’t think of SUMAC as spicy. Here in the Northeastern US, it’s a common plant, and the fruits are not at all spicy, just very sour. Is there some variety I don’t know about that is spicy?

45. Isn’t it “spicy fruits” because the SUMAC fruit is used to make the spice?

46. I have absolute zero interest in football. Any clue with a player’s name is meaningless

47. Iroquois@44: I think of sumac as a spice to use in cooking, even though it has a sour aspect; so in that sense it is “spicy”
    Nuntius@39: you expressed what I was thinking about the tenor of this site, thank you.
    I am another who didn’t know the footballer, but guessed there was a well known Theo Walcott- UK footballers are not an area of interest for me.

48. Theo Walcott showed himself to be a gentleman when he didnt wildly celebrate after scoring against his old club Arsenal
    I may have tasted Camus cognac once in Oran.

49. …hear, hear, HoofitYouDonkey@40…re the up their own arses bit. And vaguely on the Arse(nal) theme with Theo W, I thought it quite extraordinary that arguably their greatest manager was an Arsene Wenger – with a man called Mancini managing Man City for a while during his tenure. Possible fodder for a future soccer themed Cryptic…well, perhaps not, then.

50. Very straightforward, probably should have been saved for a future Quiptic but hey, I’m not complaining about a gentle start to the week. Although I had a stupidly long blind spot for my LOI, HEADQUARTERS, which is obvious in hindsight. I know little about football but young THEO had infiltrated my mind’s defences so that one was a write-in.

    Thanks both

51. Thanks to those explaining about SUMAC as a spice–here we use it to make a refreshing lemonade-like drink, so I wasn’t thinking of the dried, ground-up version, not at all common over here.

52. TT@18 Many people think that a theory is an unsupported guess. In conversation I even use it that way myself — “I have a theory about birthday cake,” which means I have some sort of impression I don’t expect to be grounded in reality. The problem comes when it’s applied to science, especially in “Evolution is only a theory,” said by people who have no idea how scientists use the word.

    Enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks to Carpathian and Andrew.

53. Thanks Carpathian. What started as a write-in for me ended with several clues (14, 22, 15) being a challenge. I got there in the end but I spent nearly as much time on this as I spent on Saturday’s gentle prize. My top picks were TOTALLY, DEODORANT, LISTLESS, and BETRAY. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

54. If you don’t like football, why comment. Nobody gives two hoots.

55. Quick and lively, with a few favourites including BETRAY (I was fooled into looking for the other kind of shop) and LOI HEADQUARTERS (header was new to me). NHO SUMAC but with the crossers it was easy to spot the French philosopher/ goalkeeper. Thanks Carpathian and Andrew. ps wasn’t Oscar the grouch in Sesame Street?

56. AlanC @54 – It’s not enough to just not like football. Everyone must know they don’t like football. It’s a badge some people wear to display that they think it’s beneath them.

    Nice Monday solve – the sort I’d have loved back when I was starting out.

57. I had heard of Theo Walcott–but only because he’s appeared in these pages before. I’m another who thought of Derek first, but by then I had enough in there that he obviously didn’t fit. Maybe (say) Theo van Gogh, Vincent’s brother, might have been fairer to those from abroad and those with disdain for sportsball, but I see no reason why the setters should have to pander to either of those audiences.

    I think the Australians who post here all seem like wonderful people. And while I am not one of them, I do like the tradition of easy Monday, and I thought this puzzle was good clean fun.

58. And I’ll say this: sporting celebrities past and present make frequent appearances in American crosswords, with no one much objecting. (American-style crosswords do have the advantage that every letter is checked, so if they require you to know someone you haven’t heard of, just solve the clues around it and you’ll get there. I usually have to do this for the TV actors that appear.)

59. Let’s give Oscar@18 the benefit of the doubt and assume that his comment was an attempt at humour, that unfortunately came across as supercilious snarkiness. Hopefully he will learn from this, and future comments will show some wit and sophistication.

    Thanks Carpathian and Andrew for the gentle Monday morning fun.

60. Thanks for the blog, good clear wordplay and suitable for a Monday , I would have loved this when I was learning cryptics. Good to see DORA make it into the cryptic world, I liked BETRAY , short, sharp and clever with shop.
    I think headers are just from the world of diving, I used to go tombstoning in my foolish youth and headers were far more dangerous.
    Camus never made it into the Philosophy World Cup Final or the drinking song .
    The Guardian used to advertise Philosophy Football T-shirts and I am sure some had Camus quotes.

61. As for football itself, it is so far beneath me that I will not dignify it with a comment expressing how much I dislike it.

62. Ow that’s the Roz I love and admire 🙂

63. In the back of the net, Roz @61!

64. I trust that you mean the water-polo net MrPostMark?
    AlanC@62 I will say one good thing about football, it does not invade Radio 4 all day for days on end.

65. Mustn’t drag out the debate triggered by Oscar@18, whose post I thought infelicitous, rather than condescending. Wasn’t he just instancing Oz friends as one section of the (majority) lundiphile brigade which our finger-drumming Did-it-all-while-pulling-my-underpants-on fellow-solvers find so unpardonable tolerant of all less demanding puzzles (which are all I, for one, can usually manage to crack)
    The opposite, positive attitude to a puzzle well within her solving skills was exemplified in Julie In Australia’s characteristically astute and gracious post @38.
    She and other Oz friends will have noted the sympathy other posters have expressed for the – I think – unintentionally caused hurt.
    Probably more venial than Ollie Robinson at Edgbaston, anyway.
    Sorry – droned on more than I meant to

66. Apology 1: unpardonably (para 1).
    Apology 2: while droning, forgot to thank Carpathian (delightful puzzle) and Andrew limpid exegesis). Much appreciated.

67. Just for the record, this overseas solver had no problem with Walcott. Loved the puzzle.

68. Roz @64, given your predilection for early morning encounters with the Irish Sea, I was thinking shrimping net …

69. CM@65 / 66. I’ve never tried doing the crossword while putting on my underpants. I have enough trouble typing as it is, and with A & E waiting times as they are, I’m not about to try it. The puzzles should come in a variety of difficulties through the week, and there’ll be days when it’s done in a blink, others when it’s left half finished. As they say on quiz shows, the questions are only easy if you know the answers.

70. Just the job for a beginner like me. Very enjoyable – thanks Carpathian and Andrew. Thought the philosopher was the answer at 4dn and couldn’t get Satre out of my head but got there in the end. Also thanks to Julie @38 and Hoofit @’40. Want to reassure Julia that most Guardian readers aren’t rude, arrogant and pretenscious.

71. Crispy@69 and CM@65, have you invented a new party game? Culotted Cruciverbal Contortions?

72. Cellomaniac@71. I’ll keep an eye on YouTube!

73. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much doing a crossword. DEODORANT was my favourite.

74. Roz @64: another reason for not listening to radio bore – touché

75. Jorge Ramon @ 36 has beaten me to suggest the most famous Walcott. I’m not very interested in football, golf, cricket or even boxing but I have picked up useful snippets along the way that help in solving crosswords if nothing else.

76. Was blank when I saw this morning but then flew through this evening. Thought there were plenty of cute surfaces and misdirections.

77. A perfect Monday solve for us. Thanks Carpathian and Andrew

78. Anyone who thinks Aussies like it simple has never attempted DA on a Friday in the SMH/Age

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