Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,123 by Arachne (15 July 2023)

by

A first appearance from Arachne in quite a while, and a poignant preamble: ‘In memory of 5 (25 10), 1948-2023‘.

There have been a fair few sad announcements in ‘crossword-land’ recently, and it soon became clear that this puzzle was paying tribute to Margaret Irvine, aka Nutmeg, who sadly passed away recently.

Nutmeg was a fairly prolific Grauniad Cryptic setter, averaging around one puzzle a month in the past few years, with a reputation as a much cherished setter, maybe at the slightly gentler end of the scale – but she also set many devious barred/thematic puzzles for the Inquisitor series, and the Enigmatic Variations series, in which I had the pleasure of blogging at least six of her puzzles.

This must have been a labour of love for Arachne, to pay tribute to a dear friend and fellow female setter, and there are some nice touches – the PEERLESS incomparable lady ‘enthralling all’; the ‘evergreen’ MATRIARCHAL(?) ‘stellar setter’, writing ‘articulate solutions to clues for neophytes’; a ‘nice crossword compiler’; a ONE-OFF; clues like SPUN SILK, ‘full of witticisms’; and the ‘adept former schoolteacher’ in PAST MASTER, as I understand Margaret also helped out at a local primary school after her retirement.

There was also a bit of St Trinians-esque smuttery to raise an eyebrow and a bit of a smirk – a ‘chap in ladies’ underwear’ for CORSETIER; a ‘rude movie about tango and sex’, with a nod to ‘Last Tango in Paris’; and Julie ‘shedding her clothes’ to give the ULI of UNRULIEST.

 

I believe Nutmeg’s funeral was on Thursday 20 July, so yesterday as I write this up. RIP Nutmeg/Margaret, and thank-you to Arachne for this touching tribute.

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A PEERLESS Incomparable lady enthralling all at last (8)

PEER_ESS (lady) around (enthralling) L (last letter of alL)
5A NUTMEG Evergreen head girl (6)

NUT (head) + MEG (girl)
9A SPUN SILK Material of singular kind, full of witticisms (4,4)

S (singular) + ILK (kind), around (full of) PUNS (witticisms)
10A IRVINE Irish climber in Scottish town (6)

IR (Irish) + VINE (climbing plant)
12A MATRIARCHAL Mum hearing about cunning of much-respected women (11)

MA (mother) + TRI_AL (hearing) around ARCH (cunning)
15A SITAR Instrument making comeback in Bratislava (5)

reversed, hidden word in, i.e. coming back in, ‘bRATISlava
17A CORSETIER Chap in ladies’ underwear worried rectories (9)

anag, i.e. worried, of RECTORIES
18A EMOTIVITY Rude movie about tango and sex with variable capacity to inflame (9)

EMO_IV (anag, i.e. rude, of MOVIE) around T (tango, phonetic alphabet), plus IT (euphemism for s-e-x) + Y (variable, maths)
19A TUNIS First of two educational establishments in African capital (5)

T (first letter of Two) + UNIS (universities, educational establishments)
20A POSTORBITAL Spoilt brat naughtily hiding ring at back of socket (11)

POST_RBITAL (anag, i.e. naughty, of SPOILT BRAT) around (hiding) O (ring, circular letter)
24A AMAZON Surprise short leg, strapping female (6)

AMAZ(E) (surprise, short of a letter) + ON (cricket, leg side)
25A MARGARET Princess about to occupy most of Kent resort (8)

MARGA_T(E) (most of Kentish resort) around (occupied by) RE (about, regarding)
26A ONE-OFF Unique kind of switch conserving energy (3-3)

ON_OFF (type of switch) around (conserving) E (energy)
27A CONSISTS Bluff sibling starts to think story is made up (8)

CON (bluff, scam) + SIS (sister, sibling) + TS (starting letters of Think Story)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D PAST MASTER Adept former schoolteacher (4,6)

PAST (former) + MASTER (teacher)
2D ERUCTATION Burp is routine act, unfortunately (10)

anag, i.e. unfortunately, of ROUTINE ACT
3D LASSI Northern girl picked up drink (5)

homophone, i.e. picked up – LASSIE (Scottish, or Northern, diminutive for girl) can sound like LASSI (Indian yoghurt/milk drink)
4D SOLAR ECLIPSE Evanescence of our stellar setter (5,7)

CD – our ‘stellar setter’ is the sun, which disappears, or evanesces, briefly during a SOLAR ECLIPSE

[…and obviously an indirect reference to the subject of the puzzle, another ‘stellar setter’!]
6D UNRULIEST Most disorderly disturbance stopped by Julie shedding clothes (9)

UNR_EST (disturbance) around (stopped by) ULI (jULIe, shedding outer letters, or clothes)
7D MOIL Nice crossword compiler left local spot (4)

MOI (me, the crossword compiler, in Nice, France!) + L (left)

[‘moil’ being dialect (and archaic), i.e. local, for a spot, or defilement]
8D GLEE Joy of genealogy regularly recalled (4)

regular, reversed, or recalled, letters of ‘gEnEaLoGy’
11D CHERRY TOMATO Actor to rhyme ‘dissolute’ and ‘fruit’ (6,6)

anag, i.e. dissolute, of ACTOR TO RHYME
13D SIGNATURES Abrupt Russian gent forged autographs (10)

anag, i.e. forged, of RUSSIA(N) (abrupt, or short of a letter) + GENT
14D PROSELYTES Writing articulate solutions to clues for neophytes (10)

PROSE (writing) + LYTES (homophone, i.e. articulate – LIGHTS, or clue solutions, sounds like LYTES)
16D RAINPROOF Watertight evidence proceeded to trap one at the top (9)

RA_N (proceeded) around (trapping) I (one), on top of PROOF (evidence)
21D BOGUS Cod can initially upset stomachs (5)

BOG (can, lavatory) + US (initial letters of Upset Stomachs)
22D SAGO Kind of pudding so unloved in the past (4)

S (SO, without O, so un-loved!) + AGO (in the past)
23D MACE 5’s covering ground (4)

Not quite so Cryptic Definition? The covering of a nutmeg (5A) can be ground to produce MACE!?

89 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,123 by Arachne (15 July 2023)”

  1. Great tribute and good fun all round. I looked at MOIL for ages trying to see the French connection as it were. MOIL new for me.
    Thanks both.

  2. I didn’t read the special instructions until almost finished, and when I put in NUTMEG, the penny finally dropped as I had read about her here recently. I thought 8 down GLEE was a particularly poignant clue for Margaret as she had a keen interest in Genealogy as written about in the Guardian “meet the setters”.

    A lovely puzzle, thanks MC for the blog.

  3. BOGUS was also a tribute to Nutmeg. She set under that name in concert with Arachne and Puck. There may be more.

    Good puzzle. I got defeated by MOIL, so thanks for explaining that, and thanks to Arachne for a a very nice tribute.

  4. Thanks mc_rapper76. A fitting tribute, enjoyable and not too hard. MOIL = spot and COD = bogus held me up at the last but I have to confess LOI was LASSI. I was fixated on lass being the girl and couldn’t account for the I.

  5. Thanks indeed to both.

    A nice surprise, if in sorry circumstances, to see an old favourite in action again. I thought SOLAR ECLIPSE was very poignant. TILT was that NUTMEG is evergreen.

  6. A most beautiful tribute. So many apt references. Nutmeg’s smooth and shiny surfaces were just like 9a SPUN SILK, as is the way Arachne has woven this special crossword for her much-loved setting colleague Margaret. She was an “incomparable lady”, “much-respected” and “adept” setter who wrote “articulate solutions to clues” – to me her crosswords will be “evergreen”. Thanks in abundance to Arachne (Sarah) for this masterpiece marking the “Evansescence of our stellar setter”, and to mc_rapper60 for a brilliant blog. (I am quite tearful as I write this, as I was when I lit a candle on Thursday night and recited a blessing from John O’Donohue for Nutmeg, coinciding with her farewell ceremonies in the UK.)

  7. The puzzle was a wonderful tribute (remarkably, published very quickly, not languishing in the editor’s inbox forever), as well as the kind words by mc_r and JinA.

    The only detraction (for me) was that the Special Instructions gave me a write-in of three answers before even looking at the clues, but I don’t suppose it could have been done any other way.

    I was able to figure out MOIL from the wordplay, but needed to look up the definition to confirm.

    Thanks all

  8. A fitting tribute to a treasured setter. Thanks, Arachne. It was satisfying to read the smooth surfaces and resolve challenging wordplay.
    My only fail was MOIL, which I could parse but can’t see why it is a ‘local spot’. I found The Moil of Kintyre and Castle Moil but don’t see either as ‘local’. I wondered if it could be a spot as in a mole or beauty spot, but can find nothing to support that. Can anyone help, please?

    Thanks, mc_rapper67 for a timely and clear blog.

  10. Thanks, Arachne and mc_rapper67!
    A great tribute to NUTMEG. A wonderful puzzle in all.
    And what a befitting blog!

    23D is CASE
    NUTMEG’s covering. Ground (reason/argument).

  11. Great puzzle by a great setter, about another great setter. I loved the fact that they hung out together at e.g. Times dos. I felt really privileged when I met them at one.

    Thanks Arachne (for this and for the consistently brilliant puzzles), thanks Nutmeg for the consistently brilliant puzzles, RIP, and thanks mc for the blog.

  12. me@10
    Sorry. I checked the answer just now (earlier I posted it from my notes).
    It’s MACE.
    Rosella2@9
    What was that word? cl…!!!

  13. What paul b @11 said, “Great puzzle by a great setter, about another great setter.” That says it all.

  14. Echo rapper, JinA, Dr Wh and others, great tribute to the much loved Megster. And do please spin us some more, Arachne!

  15. [KVa @ 12: Sorry, I can’t seem to find the word having any meaning in the sense I meant it. It’s just always something we used to mean something like a dimwit or someone who makes a silly mistake. “He felt such a clux for getting the wrong answer in the test.” Something like that. Probably a hangover from the high school jargon that one picks up that seems to stick. If I could edit the entry and change it I would probably use dimwit because I really don’t like the word stupid! In my experience one would never call someone else a clux, so it was something a little self-derogatory.

    But I see on Google that it has other meanings, none of which reflect my intention in the slightest.]

  16. Rosella2@15
    After I made a mistake, I wanted to say, “I am feeling such a clux”. Yea. In the very sense you meant@9).’
    My humour crashlanding. Call it ‘attempted humour’! 😀

  17. I can only echo what has been written so far. Not only was it a lovely tribute, but there were so many lovely clues with Arachne’s typically brilliant surfaces. So many favourites this week.

    I would also like to thank Eileen for leading me to this puzzle (by posting in the FT blog last week)

    Thanks Arachne and thanks for the blog mc_rapper67

  19. Tim C @18: Very likely, but I’ve only used the word orally before and perhaps something got lost in translation! I’ve always been a clux/klutz at spelling! 😉

    KVa@16: You a clux or a klutz, even? Never!

  22. Indeed, a lovely tribute. MOIL was my LOI and I only got it by thinking through the various possibilities offered by M_I_ and discovering that MOIL was actually a word. Then I realised immediately how the wordplay worked and felt I’d been slow on the uptake. Really, though, a very nice (small ‘n’) puzzle, with some emotive surfaces – and some amusing ones! Thanks Arachne and mc_rapper67.

  24. Like everyone else I really enjoyed this and thought it a lovely tribute.

    Like lots of others I didn’t get MOIL. Never heard of it.

    Thanks Arachne and mc

  25. What everyone else said – a sublime puzzle that’s a fitting and moving tribute. Thanks, Arachne and mc.

    Rosella2 @8 – local indicates that it is regional dialect (as your two examples demonstrate) and isn’t part of the definition as such.

  26. Can only agree with what everyone else has already said so articulately. Thanks for a wonderful puzzle, Arachne, with an equally wonderful blog mc_r.
    And, of course, thanks to Nutmeg for all her puzzles over the years.

  28. I worked out MOIL from the wordplay (MOI + L) but couldn’t find that definition of that word anywhere I looked, online or otherwise.

  29. Thanks for all the comments so far…some lovely tributes and reminiscences.

    KVa at 23…yes…I realised just now…I’m out spoiling a long walk this morning…will rectify later…
    And I should have indicated MOIL as dialect…my LOI and needed a look-up too…

  30. Simon@28
    Wiktionary has this entry:
    moil
    A spot; a defilement.
    1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh:
    You’d suppose
    A finished generation, dead of plague,
    Swept outward from their graves into the sun,
    The moil of death upon them.

  32. A beautiful tribute from one of Nutmeg’s dearest friends, with whom she shared such skill and delight in crosswords.

    mcr in the blog and Julie in Australia @6 have picked out the many descriptions of and references to Nutmeg, so adeptly woven into the puzzle, which gives a flavour of Margaret’s own crosswords. It’s almost as if Sarah and Margaret collaborated on this one, as they did with Puck on the BOGUS offerings. I can imagine the tears that accompanied the compilation but I can also imagine their giggling together over the chap in ladies’ underwear, the rude movie about tango and sex and Julie shedding her clothes.

    A mark of both setters is the meticulous honing of the construction and surfaces of their clues. In this puzzle, I particularly admired the indicators ‘dissolute’ in 11dn, ‘abrupt’ in 13dn, and ‘articulate’ in 14dn.

    I think there are probably references that have been missed but I treasure the thought that Margaret shared my school-dinner revulsion of the abominable SAGO – another brilliant clue.

    Huge thanks to Sarah for the puzzle – Margaret would have loved it – and Mike for the blog, which is a sensitive and fitting complement. This is one to keep.

  33. What a lovely tribute to our dear Nutmeg whose regular puzzles were so popular here. Arachne, you’ve done her so proud (as we told you at the funeral on Thursday too)

    As with so many others, MOIL was my sticking point and it’s not the first time I’ve missed the Nice device grrr.

    Thanks for an excellent blog, mc.

  34. Thanks to both, Arachne and mc_rapper. Luckily I had just seen a tribute to Nutmeg in 15squ, so the reference in the preamble was clear (as with Rufus a few weeks ago, though with him I was baffled until I heard a tribute on the radio). So I picked up her names, but there were more other references than I noticed.
    I worked out MOIL from the clue (whenever the first word is ‘Nice’, one looks for something French), but had to hunt for the evidence, and like KVa@30 found the Aurora Leigh quote. It seems to be a damp spot (mouillé, moist in French), but is not in my Shorter Oxford or Websters at all with this meaning, and Chambers calls it (as a noun) dialect and archaic.

  35. Everything about this puzzle was a delight, other than the reason for its being. Rare to encounter Arachne but I was not surprised to find her as the setter of this gentle polished tribute. The blog is just as good – thanks MC. Yes, MOIL was a NHO and LOI to boot and I will confess the parse came after I had checked whether the word existed: as Ed says just above, it’s not the first time I’ve missed the Nice device. All very sad and very splendid.

  36. Firstly, I was so pleased to see that Arachne had set this puzzle. I hope that she will set more often from now on. I have really missed her wonderful clueing. This was a wonderful homage to a fabulous setter. Luckily I guessed the theme quickly when looking at 5 and 25/10 ac even though I didn’t know those were Nutmeg’s dates.

    Favourites: UNRULIEST, SAGO.

    7d I understood how to parse it but I was not sure how MOIL = local spot. Thanks to KVa@30 for explaining.

    23d I understood that mace is nutmeg’s covering but did not understand the ground bit.

    Thanks, both.

  38. This was a poignant tribute to Nutmeg. As a puzzle in its own right it was mostly very good, but IMO had some flaws. I’m in the ‘didn’t get, and NHO MOIL’ club but now I think it’s an excellent clue, as also were MATRIARCHAL, CORSETIER and indeed most of the others.
    At first I didn’t notice the Special instructions and was making slow progress, but once I spotted them, 3 clues became write-ins as noted by Dr. WhatsOn@7 – much better not to have identified specific answers. Minor quibbles: something that is rainproof isn’t usually watertight; and the covering of a nutmeg is MACE – ground is superfluous and then the clue is hardly cryptic at all.
    Thanks Arachne and mc_rapper.

  39. MACE – “5’s covering ground”
    Nutmeg has covering ground – the ground is covering Nutmeg.

  40. A wonderful tribute. The comments from paul b @11 and Eileen @32, and others, match my thoughts on this crossword exactly. The only thing different is that I never got to meet Nutmeg at the George after a Times’ Setters Lunch which I would have loved to do.

    Thanks to all concerned.

  41. FrankieG@39
    Thanks.
    That’s a very good surface (I didn’t notice this aspect). Quite a fitting last clue.

  42. KVa@39 – MACE was my loi – it seemed to be, and also works as “barely cryptic” GK – mace is the outer shell of nutmeg and can be ground up to make the spice.

  43. KVa@31. “Enjoy your walk!” I think that mc meant that he was playing golf – a good walk spoilt. 🙂

    beaulieu@38. MACE may be used to describe the outer layer of a nutmeg, but it is almost exclusively used for the spice made by grinding this layer, so ‘ground’ is not in the least superfluous.

    MOIL is in Chambers as a spot or defilement, marked as both dialect and archaic. No wonder so few of us managed to solve this one.

    Thanks to Arachne and mc_rapper.

    And thanks to Nutmeg too.

  44. A lovely tribute to our Nutmeg, thank you very much Arachne.

    Thank you mc-rapper67 for the blog, MOIL stumped me…

  45. sh@43 – I think ground mace is sold as ‘Ground Mace’, and I have certainly seen it sold in its unground state (I believe it can be used in pickling mixtures etc, along with other whole spices). As I said, it was a minor quibble.

  46. Meant KVa@41 – Talking to myself again. I’m such a klutz.
    SOLAR ECLIPSE – “Evanescence of our stellar setter” – such a brilliant valedictory clue.
    Thanks Arachne & mc_rapper67
    RIP Nutmeg.

  47. sheffield hatter@43
    All my experience with cryptic crosswords didn’t help catch on to that humour! 🙂
    Thanks.

  48. FrankieG@39
    I had CASE instead of MACE and was confident it was right. Saw the right solution this morning and also learnt what MACE meant (in the context).

    SOLAR ECLIPSE: I agree. A superb clue.

  50. What a wonderful tribute to Nutmeg – I’ve always been pleased to see her name at the top of the crossword. I had no idea she had passed away so I didn’t have the 3 write-ins that others have reported. Indeed NUTMEG itself was one of my last – I had no idea it is an evergreen plant which made that trickier. Didn’t get MACE or MOIL (more ignorance of nutmeg, plus general ignorance).
    Thanks to mc rapper fir the clear explanations as always. Though I’m still stumped on 14D – if someone could help me understand why “solutions to clues” provides “lights” I would be most grateful.

  52. Why is it called ‘light’?
    I think it should be something like ‘let there be light’.
    Or someone will tell us soon!

  53. It was a treat to see Arachne’s name at the top, and a fitting tribute to Nutmeg – both in my favourite setters’ list.

    I thought CORSETIER, ERUCTATION and CHERRY TOMATO were great anagrams, SPUN SILK and EMOTIVITY for the surfaces, and the articulate solutions in PROSELYTES.

    Thanks Arachne and mcr.

  55. On MACE, I think that the cross-reference to 5a NUTMEG, without which the clue (however straightforward) cannot be solved, introduces a sufficient level of crypsis for the purposes.

    As to ‘lights’: as I understand it the little squares that make up a crossword are technically (in printers’ speakage?) called hunches and those into which the solution may be entered are called ‘lights’. (I may have this completely “Arfacese (5,5,4)” but it’s something like that.)

  56. Consternation! Robi@54 crossed with a more authoritative explanation. And as I pressed ‘Post Comment’ it flashed upon my inward eye that it’s ‘unches’ not ‘hunches. Hapologies hall.

  59. What could be more fitting? A tribute to the Spice Girl from the Spider Woman. Lots of typical Arachne humour mixed with the Nutmeg references.

    Great anagram clues and special mention for the nudge-nudginess of CORSETIER, EMOTIVITY and UNRULIEST. But my favourite was the small but perfectly formed &lit SAGO.

    RIP Nutmeg

    [Klutz or schlemiel? These Yiddish words are used much more in the USA than the UK]

    Thanks to Arachne (hope to see you again soon in the Guardian) and mc_r

  60. Like others, I managed to construct MOIL, which I knew was a word from the phrase “toiling and moiling”, but could not find any definition as a “spot”. I haven’t ever seen EMOTIVITY in the wild, but wasn’t surprised to find it existed.

    Never mind, this was a lovely tribute from one great setter to another, even if the Special Instructions immediately gave away a couple of useful answers. CORSETIER and ERUCTATION and the unloved SAGO (“frogspawn” at my school) made me laugh, and SOLAR ECLIPSE was so appropriate…

    Thank you, Arachne. I hope we’ll be seeing you in the Guardian again, on a happier occasion. Meanwhile, a Rosa Klebb Alert has me haring over to the FT for my fix.

  62. I too entered MOIL from the parsing, but could not find that particular meaning , so thankyou Kva and Elizabeth Barret Browning, I have always enjoyed her poetry more than her husband’s.
    Lots to love and a fitting tribute to a setter I looked forward to seeing, but my favourite was the unloved pudding.
    Thanks for puzzle and blog.

  63. Great to see Arachne back here. Loads of trademark stellar surfaces, of which that for EMOTIVITY is my favourite for its brilliant allusion to the film.
    Farewell, Nutmeg. I always enjoyed your puzzles for the wit and fairness. Condolences to all her family and friends. She’ll be much missed.
    Thanks, mc and Arachne.

  64. I’m sure I’m being dense as even with the explanation I still don’t understand MOIL! What is “local” doing in the clue?

    I’m also embarrassed not to have found MOI, having lived for a while in Nice, France.

  66. Simon S@61: Quite right@56.

    (Since I’m here again that enumeration (see my thin-witted crossword clue @55) should have been (4,5,4)).

    Coat? Yes that is mine, thank you. Oh…

  68. Strange thing are done in the midnight sun
    By the men who moil for gold.
    (Robert Service, The Cremation of Sam McGee)

    Delightful puzzle, thanks and welcome back o Arachne and thanks to mc_rapper67.

  70. crypticsue@65 Thank you very, all much clear now.

    At least I wasn’t alone in being defeated by moil, even if I was alone in being defeated by the explanation of moil!

  71. A superb tribute. Like everyone else I hope we’ll see more from Arachne in future, and I’m glad there are so many old Nutmeg puzzles in the archive I haven’t solved yet.

    There was mention on Fifteensquared of another obituary and tribute in the New Statesman (where Nutmeg was MACE) but I don’t think it’s appeared. Does anyone know anything else?

  73. Nothing to add about the puzzle–it was wonderful, and we can hope that Arachne’s return is not a ONE-OFF, though the appearance of that entry makes me fear so.

    [For those above playing around with Yiddish loan words: klutziness is usually more physical than mental ineptitude. “I’m such a klutz” is something you might say when you drop your groceries while trying to unlock the front gate, and they spill all over the pavement. Not that I’ve ever done that….la la la]

  74. Solving crosswords is great fun and it is so enhanced by the bloggers and contributors on 15squared. I’ve been travelling for the last week so my crosswording time has been limited, but had the pleasure of this crossword last Saturday when I was in England and like many others was defeated by MOIL which now seems painfully obvious. I am so grateful to 15squared which had provided me with the background so I could properly enter into the wonderful spirit of this crossword, celebrating the life of Nutmeg.

  75. Charlie@71, thanks for the reminder of Nutmeg’s other alias, to accompany the BOGUS collective.
    Like everyone else here, I thought this was a splendid tribute to a much-loved setter. LOI was MOIL (of course) by a long way, but the obscurity of the word was entirely justified by the surface and the cryptic construction.

  76. It took little more than a glance to guess the theme, a delightful tribute to sadly departed Nutmeg and a delightful return of Arachne after so long! Let’s hope this is the first of many re-appearances. We have all missed her brilliance!

    Some tough words, and like others I was stumped by the definition of MOIL – but with the wordplay it was a straightforward write-in, so no complaints!

    CORSETIER raised a laugh, to say the least! I’ll have to give that one an uptick for the misleading definition. Mind you, how many ladies (or men?) actually wear the said garment these days?

    SAGO was an interesting one. Some years ago our son, who’d recently returned from a trip to Papua New Guinea, where the sago palm is one of the staple food sources, asked us to help him procure some sago beads in order to prepare a recipe that he’d picked up. In the UK this proved difficult – in the end he had to settle for tapioca which, although similar in appearance and texture, comes from a totally unrelated plant, the cassava.

    But the search did indeed put me in mind of the ghastly ‘frogspawn’ puddings of the 1950s. At least what our son eventually came up with wasn’t quite so bad!

    Many thanks to Arachne and McM.

  77. Charlie@71: It was our pleasure, Ginger Tom and I, to meet fellow solvers and a few setters at Margaret’s funeral last Thursday. It was lovely to hear stories about her life from her close friends. Our claim to fame is winning Margarets 100th published cryptic crossword and first prize slot on July 22nd, 2019. I believe that a tribute to Margaret, by Anorak, will be published in The New Statesman on Thursday July 27th.

    Thank you Arachne for a wonderful tribute to your dear friend Margaret and mc for the blog.

  79. [I must be alone in having enjoyed sago and tapioca puddings. Nowadays, as a vegan and avoiding sugar, I would say no thank you to such milk puddings, but back then I thought the general “frogspawn – yeeeuch” attitude was childish. Though to be fair, we were all children.]

  80. Well, it was clear from the start what this was about, and it turned out to be a fitting tribute to the great lady as well as a wonderfully crafted puzzle in its own right. It was good too to see Arachne back with a quality puzzle in the Prize slot – it was a pleasure to solve.

    Many thanks to setter and blogger.

  82. Thanks mc_rapper for a blog doing justice to the fine puzzle and subject. KVa I prefer your answer CASE as to me it is at least cryptic Vs pure GK though I wasn’t aware of Nutmeg’s other pseudonym. thanks all above for the extra depth on Nutmeg and of course to Arachne for spinning the silk.

  83. Many thanks to mc_rapper76 for the excellent blog and to all for kind comments. (And sorry about MOIL but I just had to have “Nice setter” in there, because that’s what Margaret was, in more ways than one)

    This was a tough puzzle to compile. The first draft was heavy with grief, but then I started hearing Margaret’s inimitable voice telling me off for being so miserable. Her spirit then sat with me throughout the compiling process, giving advice and making suggestions, so although we didn’t work on the puzzle together before she died (I was in denial, even though she was clear-eyed) it still feels like a joint effort to me.

    The sun came out for Nutmeg’s funeral on Thursday, as did some brilliant Fifteensquared people, which would have pleased her immensely. She would also have been thrilled that England were running rings round the Aussies in an Ashes Test just a couple of miles away.

    RIP Margaret, my lovely friend. You will be so missed.

    Arachne/Sarah

  85. Thanks again, for the continuing comments – too many to respond to individually, but it seems that this was well received, and struck a lovely chord with many of Nutmeg’s solvers.

    And special thanks to Sarah/Arachne at #83 – for your kind words on the blog, and for giving us some insight into the setting process. I guessed in the blog that this had been a labour of love for you, and your post above bears testament to that.

    Yes, MOIL was a sticking point for many, but I don’t think anyone begrudges you for that!

    (and thank you for taking 9 years off my moniker – I feel younger already!)

  87. A final (?) comment on MOIL. I missed the wordplay and wrote in MAIR – also a pretty obscure word, but MArgaret IRvine would have known it, so I left it there.

  89. Frankie, thanks for the links. I had a go at the puzzle but , annoyingly, gave up on 25ac, which meant I failed also to get 23dn (until I’d seen the answer to 25).

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