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Jack is today's Guardian complier.
As I am doing this before a commute, I don't have time to check, but this may be the first time I have blogged a puzzle by Jack. It was a steady, pleasant solve helped by the across solutions on the left side of the grid beginning with the letter L (for left) and those on the right ending in R (right).
Thanks Jack (and apologies for the brief blog)
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LENGTHY |
Prolonged start of hibernation gently refreshed bears (7)
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*(gently) [anag:refreshed] bears [start of] H(ibernation) |
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| 5 | SPOONER |
He was a lopper of sweaters! (7)
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The Reverend SPOONER famously mixed up the first letter of words, so he was a SWAPPER OF LETTERS, or in his words "a lopper of sweaters" |
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| 10 | LOSE |
Clubs not taking part in the end get beaten (4)
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C (clubs) not taking part in (c)LOSE ("the end") |
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| 11 | SPIN DOCTOR |
Could this influencer create corrupt hoax? (4,6)
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If you SPIN "DOCTOR", you get ROT ("corrupt") COD ("hoax") |
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| 12 | LISTED |
Detailed part of brutalist edifice (6)
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Hidden in [part of] "bruaLIST EDifice" |
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| 13 | EDUCATOR |
Trainer‘s work assignment could be regularly returned (8)
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[returned] <=(ROTA ("work assignment" + C(o)U(l)D (b)E [regularly]) |
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| 14 | LANDSCAPE |
Lake with small peninsula is wider than it is deep (9)
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L (lake) + AND ("with") + S (small) + CAPE ("peninsula") |
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| 16 | SATYR |
Horny guy, for example, runs round middle of brothel (5)
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SAY ("for example") + R (runs, in cricket) round [middle of] (bro)T(hel) |
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| 17 | LEANT |
12 days of fasting announced (5)
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Homophone [announced] of LENT ("days of fasting") The 12 in the clue refrs to 12 across (LISTED) |
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| 19 | DISHONOUR |
Stigma attached to boring hunk related to us (9)
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ON ('attached to") boring DISH ("hunk") + OUR ("belonging to us") |
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| 23 | LIGAMENT |
What connects wise men from the east during religious observance? (8)
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<=MAGI ("wise men", from the east) during LENT ("religious obeservance) |
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| 24 | MORTAR |
Vessel from which missiles are launched (6)
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Double definition |
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| 26 | LOOK DOWN ON |
Despise blue watch straps (4,4,2)
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LOOK ON ("watch") straps DOWN ("blue") |
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| 27 | SEAR |
Brand behind cycling (4)
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ARSE ("behind") cycling becomes SE-AR |
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| 28 | LEGENDS |
Famous people‘s feet? (7)
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"feet" are at the END of LEGS, so are LEG-ENDS |
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| 29 | ADMIRER |
Abuse married lover (7)
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*(married) [anag:abuse] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | EXOTICA |
Endless announcement in paper mostly reveals unusual things (7)
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[endless] (n)OTIC(e) ("announcement") in EXA(m) ("paper", mostly) |
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| 3 | GUEST |
Person who stops corporation circumventing employees’ case (5)
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GUT ("corporation") circumventing E(mployee)S [case] |
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| 4 | HASIDIC |
I hid almost all cash flows relating to religious community (7)
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*(i had cas) [anag:flows] where CAS is [almost all] CAS(h) |
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| 6 | PODIUM |
Where one might speak with ill-will under pressure (6)
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ODIUM ("ill-will") under P (pressure) |
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| 7 | ONCE AGAIN |
Ocean waves perhaps get bigger afresh (4,5)
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*(ocean) [anag:waves] + GAIN ("perhaps get bigger") |
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| 8 | ECONOMY |
Saving money in a way protects company (7)
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*(money) [anag:in a way] protects Co. (company) |
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| 9 | SIDE-SPLITTING |
Camp squealing is really funny (4-9)
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SIDE ("camp") + SPLITTING ("squealing") I wasn't sure that 'splitting" and "squealing" were syninymous, but upon checking Chambers, I discovered that "splitting" can mean "informing (upon)", so the clue is fine, |
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| 15 | DONT ASK ME |
I have no idea what could ultimately make son upset (4,3,2)
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*(t d make son) [anag:upset] where T D is (wha)T (coul)D [ultimately] |
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| 18 | EPISODE |
Incident record is of daily events, primarily (7)
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EP (extended play "record") IS + O(f) D(aily) E(vents) [primarily] |
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| 20 | HOMINID |
Perhaps man arriving without jacket concealed trousers (7)
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HID ("concealed") trousers (c)OMIN(g) [without jacket] |
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| 21 | UNAWARE |
Ignorant of Stubbs’s pottery work? (7)
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UNA (Stubbs) + WARE ("pottery work") For non-Brits, Una Stibbs was a British actress who appeared as Mrs Hudson in Sherlock. |
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| 22 | SECOND |
Temporarily transfer back subordinate (6)
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Triple definition |
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| 25 | RISHI |
Wise man of people degrading leader (5)
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(i)RISH ("people") degrading its leader (I) could become RISH(I) |
Enjoyed this. Thanks for clear, early blog. 4D *(i had cas) -> *(i hid cas)
Camilla@1 – thanks for spotting the typo – in a rush this morning.
Needed a bit of help over the line at the very end. And I started so well … Another fine set of constructions from Jack but, boy, he makes my head spin. All fairly clued but some of those constructions were very well hidden. And the cute device which I didn’t spot – even though I’d noticed the TOR’s of SPIN DOCTOR and EDUCATOR coming next to each other.
LENGTHY, SATYR, LOOKS DOWN ON, SEAR, GUEST ECONOMY, HOMINID and UNAWARE were my favourites amongst many other super clues. Along, of course, with the amusing SPOONER.
Thanks Jack and loonapick
I found this one very difficult to get into.
Splitting/squealing seems odd to me, despite Chambers’ imprimatur. I wasn’t sure whether it was LOOK DOWN ON or AT. I learnt today that cod can mean hoax.
Very funny. SIDE-SPLITTING with the Ls on the LHS and Rs on the RHS. I was preoccupied with looking up RISHI and the division in Conservative politics that I missed the obvious.
and
Prompted by G-thread, looked for theme, saw nada … dim! And didn’t get the spun rot cod, nor remember Una Stubbs, a bit surprising given her tv cv. In 9d, camp and side take different prepositions, but you avoid them in, e.g., ” … it depends which camp/side you choose …”. Nice puzzle, thanks Jack and Loonapick.
I miss-parsed legends as footers which I found unsatisfactory (and am sure have seen the correct passing before). Thanks both.
Completely missed the L’s and R’s, and couldn’t parse EDUCATOR and LOOK DOWN ON, but found this an enjoyable and varied puzzle. Some very neat clues in there, possibly my favourites being SPOONER, LANDSCAPE, LEANT and RISHI – as paddymelon @6 observes, a sadly topical surface.
The crisp 6d reminded me of the old line about Sir Humphry Davy, that he “…had the odium/ Of discovering sodium”. And the camp squealing in the very clever 9d called to mind Barbara Windsor in Carry On Camping.
Thanks, both.
Thanks Jack and loonapick
I enjoyed this – some interesting and different clueing. The SE took longer than all the rest. Loved the surface in LENGTHY.
I wasn’t keen on the clue for SPIN DOCTOR. I thought it was just the same definition twice. loonapick’s parsing is more complex, but is rather “ghostly”.
I agree PostMark@3, this made my head spin, although I did like SPOONER’s lopper of sweaters and the nice ADMIRER as an anagram of married.
Didn’t parse SPIN DOCTOR or EXOTICA so thanks muchly loonapick.
Now are we going to hear from all the ‘homophone’ whingers who are going to complain that they pronounce LEGEND without a hard ‘G’.
Great crossword and I spotted the L and R ‘theme’
It isn’t often I’d say this, but I loved the Spooner clue
Thanks to Jack and Loonapick
I can’t believe I missed the Ls and Rs.
We certainly used SPLIT for “snitch”, “squeal”, “grass”, etc. in the dim and distant past.
Parsing is all solid if sometimes not at all obvious. COD was SPOONER.
I look forward to more from Jack.
Thanks to loonapick for the blog.
Tim C @13
LEGENDS isn’t intended as a homophone clue. The second definition is, as loonapick has it, LEG ENDS.
Great puzzle with a good variety of ingenious clues and some wonderful surfaces – LENGTHY is a gem. I spotted the Nina about halfway through, which helped with the completion and made the solve more straightforward for me than for most crosswords by this clever setter.
I also enjoyed ECONOMY (nice lift-and-separate), EDUCATOR, LANDSCAPE, GUEST, DONT ASK ME, HOMINID, UNAWARE – a long list.
Parse fail with EXOTICA – too many truncations to spot.
The spun ‘rot cod’ reminded me of Rottcodd – a character from Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast.
Thanks to S&B
I’m not sure that a MORTAR (24A) fires missiles, but rather bombs?
Otherwise a fun solve. Thank you Jack for the puzzle and loonapick for the parsing of 2D and 11A
Puzzled over how the horse painter fitted into 21d, until the actress/dancer came to mind!
I really enjoyed this and even saw the Nina – once I’d finished!
Thanks to paddymelon @6 for highlighting the significance of SIDESPLITTING – the icing on the cake.
Like crypticsue, it’s very seldom that I ‘love’ Spoonerisms but this was a great one, – up there with the classic ‘bird watching / word botching’, which I believe started life on ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ – I’d be glad of confirmation, because I haven’t been able to find it.
Once again, too many ticks to list them all. (Shirl @19 – Snap!)
Many thanks to Jack for a super puzzle and to loonapick for a blog to match.
Entirely missed the Nina! At least I didn’t especially need it – an enjoyable solve throughout. The parsing of RISHI took a moment to come to me. Didn’t at all parse the very clever SPIN DOCTOR; I now realise I was vaguely thinking of a mis-spelled Enver Hoxha, who wasn’t a doctor in any case.
ECONOMY, SPOONER, and LENGTHY were the picks for me.
Thanks both.
Shirl @19: I also toyed with George and Imogen until the initial U enlightened me.
Thankyou Loonapick for clearing up LEANT for me and revealing the cryptic element in RISHI. This was a very clever puzzle and I certainly completely missed the L and R in the across clues.
A lovely puzzle – I was late to spot the L and R thing but it helped just enough. A few old jokes, a few new ones – bit like a wedding speech in a way! Lots to like, lots of misdirection and invention – parts of this were like solving the Wall in “only connect” – you could see three different ways to connect parts of the clue with a word that could be an anagrind also perhaps being something else.
My only slight complaint is when a double definition really isn’t. Mortar, from the Latin mortarium, means a vessel in which things are pounded. The weapon was named for its resemblance to a mortar (which is how I remember it’s the mortar Baba Yaga rides in and the pestle she uses to push herself along, or, more prosaically, it’s the mortar I put the spices in). I was hesitant to write in the answer because the two were essentially the same.
I completely missed the theme, which is par for the course with me.
I dredged up Una Stubbs after mulling over “George” for a while, but had no idea where I had of her from. Thanks for the reminder. I got DON’T ASK ME, but couldn’t parse it until your explanation.
I wonder if SPOONER could be the first SPIN DOCTOR, given his academic career.
Thanks Jack for an excellent puzzle, and loonapick for the enlightenment.
I thought that ‘sampan’ was a very clever answer for 24a: sadly it was wrong, but I corrected it in the end. A very enjoyable crossword for me.
Yes, I know it’s not a ‘homophone’ clue muffin @16. I just thought that the ‘homophone’ nutters would weigh in with their inanities.
Failed to solve 10ac LOSE and I did not parse 11ac, 2d, 25d the ‘of people degrading’ bit.
Favourites: LENGTHY, SPOONER.
New for me: actress Una Stubbs but I enjoyed her in the Sherlock TV series (2010-2017).
Thanks, both.
First time in thousands of crosswords I have spotted a theme early enough for it to be a help
Absolutely one after my own heart: loved it. Didn’t see the L/R until late on, but it wasn’t necessary help anyway. The SPOONER and Una jokes were lovely; SPIN DOCTOR was a most enjoyable reverse solve; all the others nice too, with some devious definitions and great hiding of wordplay. Exemplary. To reply to Jacob #18, a missile can be anything which is thrown out, doesn’t have to be a self-propelled nasty explosive thing.
Like Matthew @29 I saw the way the wind was blowing (from L to R) early enough to be useful.
I enjoyed the UNA clue – wasn’t Ms Stubbs mentioned in the discussion here when those letters were rather unfairly clued by just ‘girl’ a couple of weeks ago? I think the clue hints that “Una ware” might be a word for her pottery, a bit like Delft ware, for example.
And the Spoonerism was good too.
Thanks to Jack and loonapick.
Oops, that link went wrong. Try this: Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
Delftware
Grrr. Delft ware.
sheffield hatter @31 – that’s how I read UNA WARE.
I didn’t spot the Left and Right. Clever stuff and it reminded me of a David Astle crossword where the left hand side answers all started with ‘p’s, except in that case it was flagged by one of the long answers which was “All quiet on the western front”.
sheffield hatter @31, This is the Una discussion you are thinking of.
Doh, I looked for the NINA that often occurs with Jack/Serpent in the inner reaches of the puzzle and completely missed the SIDE-SPLITTING!
Very enjoyable puzzle with characteristic flair. I enjoyed the hibernating bears in LENGTHY, the SPOONERism, the cheeky anagram of married to give ADMIRER [must have been done many times before, but I failed to see it at the beginning], the good definition for GUEST, the ‘money in a way’ in ECONOMY, and the trousered but jacketless HOMINID. I failed to spot the ‘rot cod’ – another good clue.
Thanks Jack for a super puzzle and loonapick for the exemplary blog.
Lopper of Sweaters indeed
Tremendous stuff
Tim@36. Yes, well spotted! Exactly two weeks ago (just a lucky guess). I think SwissSteve@41 started the ball rolling, and if I recall correctly he mentioned a couple of days later when a clue said just ‘girl’ that he was unable to make UNA fit this time. 🙂
I did spot the L & R trick early enough for it to help. I thought this was a superb puzzle with ticks everywhere. My favourites were EXOTICA, DON’T ASK ME, SPOONER, LANDSCAPE and SPIN DOCTOR. Couldn’t parse RISHI, even though I’m Irish.
Ta Jack & loonapick.
I thought this was excellent. Really tricky in places, especially the SE. Sadly, Una Stubbs is no longer with us, but I wonder if she knew of her crossword infamy…My default is still to think first of paintings of horses..But I suppose that’s the point. With thanks to Jack and loonapick.
Thanks for the blog, great puzzle that nearly lasted the perfect time, I will not list clues, just HOMINID as an example of outstanding wordplay. People from the Potteries call everything “ware” so UNA WARE would be very typical.
Missed the L/R but I only care about the clues.
AlanC gets a double mention for 25D.
This was again for me a puzzle where I rather relied on the definitions to make progress. The South East corner last to yield with yet another five letter “wise man” ending in the letter i to figure out. And SATYR makes another appearance. Not being au fait with these religious groups, wasn’t sure whether it might be Sahidic or HASIDIC until I had an H crosser in place, as Googling threw them both up. A good variety of challenging clues, I thought today. Should I mention the appearance of Brand at 27ac, and that resolution took a while to uncover, too. Perhaps not…
RISH! – I don’t like my !rish nationality being recycled into a very far from “wise man” – it’s “degrading”
By coincidence this was the second Jack puzzle I completed today, having finished off a recent Genius of his this morning (no. 241, absolutely outstanding) and I must say he’s becoming one of my favourite setters. I missed the L and R thing despite the SIDES being SPLIT 🙂
SPOONER was CotD, followed by honorable mentions for LEGENDS, LOOK DOWN ON, SEAR, UNAWARE and HOMINID.
Many thanks both!
why is “rishi” wise man?
Eileen@20:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Humphrey_Lyttelton
‘An interviewer had researched Lyttelton’s other interests and asked him about “orthinology” (sic). Lyttelton said that he kept a straight face and answered the question but 24 hours later thought of what he should have replied: “Oh, you mean word-botching”.’
Trev @46
See here.
I don’t think it’s referring to our PM…
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rishi
Jack the Giant Killer! I got RISHI quite quickly, having remembered a former pupil and a discussion on the meaning of names. (I always start in the SE). LOI 20d, still don’t get the parsing, but no other word fitted the crossers. I don’t think knowledge of UNA necessarily denotes great age, but rather perhaps a Sherlock viewer, in which she was marvellous. And PLEASE could someone explain “tea-tray” to me? (as used by a couple of Grauniad commentators today). Thanks.
ronald @43: The various sects of HASIDIC Jews tend to live close to their own synagogues and are not widely dispersed, so it is not surprising that you are unfamiliar with Hasidim unless you live near Stamford Hill in North London or Broughton in Manchester, where they are conspicuous by their characteristic dress.
Defeated by bottom (arse?) right. Spotting the theme would have helped, but didn’t know RISHI anyway. Excellent. Thanks both.
Spotted the R/L thing as I entered my final answer LEGENDS!
Split = squeal = inform on was common usage when I was a schoolboy (ie about 50 years ago). Haven’t heard it used that way since.
Thanks Jack and loonapick
Thanks to Jack for what seemed to be an impenetrable puzzle, but which was greatly helped once we spotted the clever Nina, left and right. A tough but enjoyable challenge.
Ticks for:
SPINDOCTOR
SATYR
HOMINID
RISHI
SEAR
LEGENDS
Thanks also to loonapick for the blog.
This was a good puzzle, Jack manages to hide the workings very well.
Being an ex-pat, I only remember Una Stubbs from Till Death US Do Part in the 60’s. Yet I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.
I’m not sure at all that despise means LOOK DOWN ON. See this clip from the Frost Report with John Cleese and the two Ronnies.
Very many thanks, FrankieG @47 😉
Unable to get on Jack’s wavelength. Gave up
Mimi Bwcyd@51. “…could someone explain “tea-tray” to me?” It’s that loud clang that you hear when you finally realise what the clue you’ve been puzzling over for 30 minutes means. Some people apparently feel it necessary to pick up an actual tea tray and hit themselves over the head with it, but I think figurative is better. Also known as the penny drop moment (or pdm), which is the same thing but considerably quieter.
I enjoyed this, though there was a lot on the right side I didn’t get until this morning with a dollop of check button, and I never saw the L-R device — very neat!
loonapick, thanks for parsing SEAR, SPIN DOCTOR, EXOTICA and DON’T ASK ME.
Thanks to Jack and loonapick.
Had forgotten that Jack and Serpent are one and the same. Explains a lot. Top puzzle!
After a night in A&E with my first, and hopefully last, bout of kidney stones this was quite a struggle but after a few coffees and a doze it all fell into place
SPOONER bought some much needed relief
Cheers L&J
Had a couple of reservations about this but the LOI, SPOONER, outweighs them all. What a delightful clue.
Too many ‘Huh?’s for this to be enjoyable. Liked SPOONER, didn’t like SPIN DOCTOR, SEAR or EDUCATOR. Thanks for the blog
Those of us who are Serpent fans know to look for a nina every time and it appears that works with Jack as well. I spotted 4 L’s in the NW and that aided me in completing the SW. When I got my first R on the opposite side I promptly filled in all the rest. Despite this help I still needed outside assistance to complete the SE corner. I thought this was an excellent crossword with LENGTHY, SPOONER, LANDSCAPE, LOOK DOWN ON, LEGENDS, HASIDIC, ONCE AGAIN, ECONOMY, and DONT ASK ME my top picks. Thanks to both.
Nice one, Jack. And nice blog while in hurry-up mode, loonapick.
I liked 14a, the printing page position clue. (In visual art, are all portraits vertical, and are all landscapes horizontal?) Other ticks were for the great Roonerspism at 5a, the clever triple definition of 22a SECOND, and the nice surface of 28a LEGEND.
sh@58 and Mimi@51, I’ve always thought of penny-drop and tea-tray moments as slightly different things (apart from the sonic difference). For me a PDM occurs when, after struggling with a clue, the answer suddenly comes to you and you happily write it in, saying “of course, you dummy”. The TTM occurs when you finally give up on a clue and you have reluctantly accepted a DNF (did not finish), and when you see the solution in the blog you say “of course you dummy” and hit yourself over the head with the tea tray.
Cellomaniac@65. I see what you mean, but I usually give myself a good kicking when I have given up on something that I should have got. It’s a lot easier than having to search for the tea tray every time.
Rishi? Wise?
Can anyone help with camp = SIDE?
Timely juxtaposition of arse with Brand I think.
Thanks both
I found this one hard to do- needed to do a fair bit of peeking- seeing the theme of L/R helped and I got lots of them merely from the definitions and crossers and had to work out the parsing later eg the look down on. Would never have got RISHI – read the wiki linked in the comments. My general knowledge is growing! ?
they’re in the same camp = they’re on the same side
masha @67
see mine @48
Missed the theme at first as my FOI was BARREL (which I think fits better) not MORTAR.
TTT@68 Camp and side both refer to people in partisan groups.
Cellomaniac@65 when plotting graphs you need to choose landscape or portrait to fit the best scale.
Tim@ 68 ther are two football camps on Merseyside , Liverpool and Tranmere, which side are you on ?
sh@66, yes, but the tea tray makes a much better sound, and there’s no risk of jamming your toe. I often do the puzzle over a cuppa, so the tray is usually handy.
Great blog (cf LISTED) and oh yes what fun (copmus@38).
Surprised that no-one critiqued SEAR as an indirect anagram so apparently everyone knows that a ‘cycling’ is not considered an anagram. No more than might a spoonerism be I suppose.
SPOONER is a lopsweater of a clue.
(Which reminds me: I have a lottery ticket – must put that portrait of the Rev Spooner through the doshwisher.)
(Roz@72: I hesitate to correct your maths but isn’t that (aren’t that (those?)?) three camps?)
[Alphalpha @75 – I suspect that Roz doesn’t appreciate toffees…]
cellomaniac@65 and Roz@72 A distinction perhaps more familiar to many of us is with computer printers, who ask us to decide whether we want the copy printed with landscape or portrait orientation.
Thanks loonapick as i didn’t get the SPIN DOCTOR parsing (despite spotting the curator of the carvings like Gervase) nor RISHI (had a horrible thought it was another triple def/wp). Also appreciate Robi linking the core column to the wings (which i did spot) and Auriga and Arklark for confirming real world split=squeal – I wondered if it might rely on crime fiction from a particular time and/or place. This was superb, thanks Jack. [And thanks Alphalpha for a ‘genuine’ Spinneroosm.]
1a – I am not sure how BEARS fits in to the clue.
11a – I can’t understand why the definition is not at the start or end of the clue; is that not supposed to happen?
17a – I was trying to get XII (12) into an answer.
19a – where does BORING come in?
I could go on with more questions but Christmas is coming.
I managed to solve LISTED, SATYR and ECONOMY.
Steffen@9
BEARS hard to read this; strip away the verbiage and it reads “H LENGTY bears”
11a In almost all clues definitions are at the start or end, with the occasional exception as here
BORING a bit like BEARS. ON gets inserted into DISH__OUR.
Well done for solving SATYR; that for me was one of the hardest
I used something called WORD WIZARD and google for satyr, so it was a cheat, really.
Steffen @79,
1a – Bears (in the sense of to carry) is a containment indicator, so the anagram of ‘gently’ bears (carries) the letter ‘h’
11a – it’s true most of the time but on rare occasions you can get a definition in the middle.
17a – it’s always useful when numbers appear to not only check Roman numerals but also references to other clues.
19a – Boring is an insertion indicator. ON (attached to) ‘bores’ DISH (hunk) and OUR (related to us).
hth
Hey Steffen, cryptics are a study of flexibility and convention. I know that sounds very knowing, so I must admit I’m no whizz at them, which doesn’t make them impossible to enjoy. Just to explain your points then:1a) bears as in carries, with the verb coming at the end German style. 11a) There’s no rule about that written or unwritten. 17a) So, look out for self-referential clues in future. Numbers of other clues, or the setter’s name. You did better than me anyway. 19a) I too had to recall that it means “passing through”, so the “boring” item must appear to the right of the “bored” item. Convention, see? As you say, Christmas is coming. Take heart, I cheated on ECONOMY.
Gazzh@78: ‘Spinneroosm’ – love it!
muffin@76: Actually my bad: I misread! Apologies Roz.