Guardian Cryptic 29,202 by Nutmeg and Arachne

80 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,202 by Nutmeg and Arachne”

1. I am not one of those solvers who decries any clue that is cricket-related – there is room for everything in cryptics – but when, oh when, will I recognise ‘on’ = LEG? Beats me every time! As it did in my one unparsed solution, ROOTLE, today. Otherwise, a delightful and elegant puzzle as always it is when either of these ladies’ names appears. CONCLAVE, ENIGMA, GREEDY, PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH, RECEIPT and TROCHEE were my favourites today.

   Thanks Arachne, Nutmeg of course and loonapick

2. Kept trying to fit SPONDEE in 20d until crossers ruled it out.

   Couldn’t fill in anything on the first run through in the top half (it looked hard), but once started I thought there were some easy answers; but, as so often, the squeeze came toward the end, with AGRI (the checker seemed to accept this), only to find now it was UGLI.

   I am with Postmark regarding “on”.

   Thanks all, today

3. I liked it, despite the reminders of the cricketing disaster, yesterday.
   Loved the Harry Potter’s eye anagram.
   Felt it was too hard for a Monday. But that might just be me after the cricketing disaster, yesterday.
   Still don’t understand 15 Down.

4. A fine example of what I like about Guardian crosswords.

   It’s good to find surfaces which make sense and are often humorous. A pleasing medley of devices which raised the difficulty from the usual easier start of the week.

   MCourtney @4 I saw to level as in to level / direct an accusation against someone.

   Many thanks Nutmeg, Arachne and loonapick

5. Solved SPIRIT, part way through the solve, and thought that was an image conjured up to put me off whisky.

   Lots of satisfying clues.

   Thank you to Ariadne, Nutmeg and loonapick.

6. Can someone please explain rootle/grub? I can find nothing.

   That was my only “Huh?”. Everything else was good fun, thanks all.

7. GDU@7
   ROOTLE
   I think ‘grub’ in this sense:
   to dig up the surface of…

8. Thanks to loonapick for unravelling the parsings that eluded me. Wonderful to see the bylines of the late and very lamented Nutmeg and Arachne again.

9. Wondered how level=direct, but thanks Larry @5, that works. Vaguely remember coming across ugli the fruit, somewhere. In 5a, thought the m was intercepted by anagrist, but whatevs. Nice that the Spice Lady is still lingering, thanks to both ladies and to loonapick.

10. Lots to like here as it makes compiling a crossword seem elegantly easy when I know it’s not.
    I enjoyed ROOTLE because it’s a great word, and I seem to have ingrained into my thick brain that on = leg. VETOES was good in not having the usual abbreviation for ‘five’ but my favourite has to be STEREOTYPE for the great anagram and the link with Harry.
    I parsed CHARCOAL differently as a double definition “artist may use this daily/fuel”, but it’s much better with char=daily.
    My only unparsed one was the LUNCH, so thanks loonapick, Nutmeg and Arachne.

11. Thank you, KVa, a meaning of “grub” I’ve never heard of.

12. GDU @7 pigs rootle around when given paddocks, unearthing grubs and other succulent delights.

13. Rootling is what you do when looking for something in a large handbag… not quite grubbing, but hey ho.

14. Sadly, this is the last time that these ladies’ names will appear together, as Arachne told us in a comment on the blog of the previous puzzle (29,142) that she completed for her friend Nutmeg.

    These two consummate setters shared, as well as a close friendship, a mischievous sense of humour and a constant commitment to meticulous honing of clues and attention to meaningful and often witty surfaces. ‘Wit’ and ‘elegance’ were words which so often appeared in blogs and comments of their puzzles – as in loonapick’s introduction today.

    As ever, I had ticks galore but I’ll just highlight 9ac CONCLAVE (I loved the PRIVY COUNCIL), 12ac STEREOTYPE, 13ac EMETIC, 16ac UNRAISED, 22ac OPEN, for the apt reference to ornithologist Bill Oddie, 20dn TROCHEE, as a change from iamb and dactyl and 23dn, for an original clue to the much- loved ERATO.

    Thank you, Arachne, for another labour of love and loonapick, for the sensitive blog.

15. Shanne @6, it’s ok if the drool in your whiskey is your own.

    Geoff Down Under @7, the ‘root’ (haha) of the word ROOTLE is probably “root” which can have a slightly different meaning in Oz. I can remember arriving on these shores and saying “I’ll go and have a root in my suitcase for it” and then wondered why everyone was laughing! 😉

16. I agree with Larry @5

    A lovely treat for a Monday morning

    Thanks to Nutmeg, Arachne and Loonapick

17. I agree with Larry and Eileen. I liked VETOES. NORSE seems to be one of those languages which you only come across as Old; or is there a Modern Norse?

18. Just what you’d expect from Nutmeg and Arachne: witty clues and good surfaces. Sad to hear from Eileen that this is probably the last one we’ll see.
    I probably wouldn’t have parsed ROOTLE if we hadn’t had almost exactly the same trick (on=leg, shortened) in Vlad’s Friday puzzle. It stumped me then, so it was fresh in my memory. I thought 11a might be ROOD or RUDE (bad tempered sounds like cross) for some time, but left it blank as I couldn’t account for the greengrocer – and of course it wasn’t either. Didn’t know there was such a word as UNRAISED, but obviously there is.

19. What Larry said @5. PLOUGHMANS LUNCH, ROOTLE, RECEIPT, STEREOTYPES and CHARCOAL were delightful. I also noticed the Privy, Eileen @15 and can imagine the two illustrious ladies smirking at that one.

    Ta Nutmeg, Arachne & loonapick.

20. I found this unattributed comment, which made me smile. ‘Privy dates back hundreds of years and derives from the phrase private place. Despite some persistent myths, the privy council does not take its name from when King Henry VIII would hold meetings in his toilet. Although he did do that, in true Henry style!’

21. Stuck in ROOTLE, but spent some time figuring out why the -LE should be there. Piers PLOUGHMAN was one of the first stories I ever read as a small boy. And once ate roasted AGOUTI a long time ago in Guyana. So several distant echoes brought forth by this delightful Monday offering. Though dashing in Geysers instead of reading the clue properly and having GEEZERS at 5d in place did hold me up in the NW corner at the end…

22. Thank you, Larry @5 (or 4).
    That makes sense.

23. Thanks setters and blogger. A wonderfully witty puzzle, which I enjoyed a lot.

24. How wonderful it would be for all of us when we near the end of our lives, to have such a faithful friend as Nutmeg had in Arachne. And we are the ongoing beneficiaries.
    My heart was quite sad as I worked through this puzzle. What do they say – “We shall not see the likes of her again”. Nutmeg (Margaret) was such a terrific setter.
    I was also sorry to finish this grid, as it was a characteristically enjoyable solve throughout.
    I needed you for 2d though loonapick, as I couldn’t parse PLOUGHMAN”S LUNCH even though I knew it was right. (An unfamiliar story for me.)
    I could have ticked every clue for the enjoyment they gave me, though some special favourites are in line with those cited by previous contributors.
    Thank you to Arachne for keeping Nutmeg alive in our thoughts and in our hearts, and for reminding us of the special bonds we form with those clever minds who set these challenges for us.

25. Another fine tribute to Nutmeg with Arachne’s wonderful style.

    I particularly liked ROOTLE and UGLI for their definitions, the good anagrams for STEREOTYPE and MY LIPS ARE SEALED, and the surface for PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH.

    Hopefully, we’ll continue to see Arachne’s ‘wit and elegance’ (to quote Eileen @14) in the near future.

    Thanks Nutmeg/Arachne and loonapick.

26. I wholeheartedly endorse Eileen’s comments@14.

27. Agree with all the above. Sad, poignant but great fun to solve. Thanks loonapick for immaculate parsing (as compared to my bung in and hope!). We will miss Nutmeg all the more now. I might look for her earliest puzzles in the back catalogue, as I came to cryptic crosswords only when I retired.

28. A wonderfully enjoyable puzzle. The Harry Potter anagram was my favourite; a real laugh out loud moment. Thank you to Ariadne, Nutmeg and loonapick. And I was moved by the elegant eulogies from Eileen@14 and Julie@24

29. Top ticks for TRANSACTS, ROOTLE for the double cricket reference and UNRAISED which I finally got after failing to convince myself that UNARISED really was a word

    NHO the ploughman but I do recall enjoying the 1983 movie

    Cheers L&N&A

30. Beautiful start to the week. I echo Eileen’s comments and selections @14. Although the PLOUGHMANS LUNCH of bread, cheese and beer has probably been around since the time of Piers Plowman, the term itself dates only from the 1950s when it was coined by the Cheese Bureau (why didn’t they call themselves the Cheese Board?)

    Many thanks to both setters (settresses? 🙂 ) and loonapick

31. [wasn’t sure if the marketing origin of the ploughman’s lunch was an urban myth but it does seem to have been invented by an ad agency https://www.pongcheese.co.uk/blog/a-history-of-the-ploughmans-lunch/%5D

32. Nothing to add as regards the praise. This was a fine puzzle, though a DNF for me because of UGLI (I didn’t know the fruit is a cross).

    Did anyone else have trouble with the Print button? I had to resort to the (inferior) PDF version to get a hard copy of this.

33. Lovely to see a little more Nutmeg. Thank you, Arachne.
    I’m surprised so many people found it tricky. For me, it’s ideal Monday material: faultless clues, and practically a write-in.
    From John Betjemen’s Banana Blush: “…while I go upstairs and rootle for another saftey pin.”

    [Department of intersting coincidences: I’ve just re-read England Their England, and noticed that two of the participants in the famous cricket match are named Root and livingstone.]

34. I found this pretty easy to start with, being very pleased with myself for getting TROCHEE from two crossers and only spotting the wordplay afterwards, but after solving about half I slowed down a lot, and it took me ages to finish as my brain froze over in the unaccustomed cold weather. Plenty of elegance and wit to celebrate, as others have mentioned, especially the little bit of toilet humour at 9a, as Eileen has highlighted @14.

    Tim C@15. Chambers has ROOTLE deriving from a different root, “earlier wroot” as they have it. This came from Old English wrotan, a snout, so was specific for pigs wrooting (or perhaps wrootling?) in the ground for stuff to eat, rather than in handbags, as grantinfreo@13 apparently does.

    I was reminded recently of the concert in the Royal Albert Hall given by George Harrison’s friends exactly one year after he died. Ravi Shankar said, “I strongly feel that George is here. How can he not be here, when all of us who loved him so much have assembled to sing and play music for him. I’m sure he’s here.” Perhaps something similar happens when we solve Nutmeg’s final crossword.

    Thanks to Arachne for being Nutmeg’s friend, and loonapick for the super blog.

35. Tough for a Monday. Small moan about sport GK but otherwise good.
    Thanks

36. sheffield hatter @34

    Thank you for the Ravi Shankar anecdote – a lovely thought.

37. Don’t know if poc @ 32 is still around, but the print button wasn’t working for me either.
    I took a ‘screen shot’ (I think that’s what it’s called) using the scissors in the tools bar.
    You can then copy that onto a new page in Word and size it as you want. Much better than the PD version, which, as you say, is inferior.
    It’s also useful for those occasional crosswords, like the Bank-holiday puzzles, which don’t appear in the normal format.

    It’s even more unlikely that Petert @ 17 will be around, but I suppose the nearest to Modern Norse would be Icelandic and Faroese. If you compare them with the modern Norwegians, Danish, Swedish, you would be amazed at how conservative Icelandic is.

38. The zone was Goldilocks and the puzzle itself Gold.

    Glad to see a change from iamb(ic).

    Thanks all.

39. A sad session, with this being the final farewell to Nutmeg (and welcome to Arachne’s return).

    I got the PLOUGHMAN but couldn’t figure the LaUNCH.

    Rhoticism schmoticism. I have never heard “geyser” pronounced like GEEZER. It’s “gye-zer” for the shpritz and gee-zer for the alte kocker.

    Nice to have Anna’s linguistic insights — thank you, Anna.

    Nose = talent? The first is about perception, the second is about performance.

    LOVED Harry Potter’s lift and separate. My favorite clue, I think.

    Thanks to Nutmeg, Arachne and loonapick.

40. Valentine@39. I accept that you have never heard “geyser” pronounced like GEEZER. However, Chambers gives three possible pronunciations for the first vowel sound in geyser: gay, gee or guy. One of these is identical to the initial vowel sound in GEEZER.

41. We have a lot of wild boar here who rootle incessantly in our garden.
    Enjoyed this puzzle and finished on the day! Thank you all for the blog.

42. Anna@37: yes, I’m aware of the screenshot option as a fallback. Shouldn’t be necessary if the powers-that-be are on the ball, but maybe they’ll fix it by tomorrow. We can but hope.

43. A very classy crossword from two ineffably classy setters – thank you very much, Arachne, for allowing us one more encounter with Nutmeg. I agree with every word from Eileen @14.
    Thanks also to Loonapick for the blog.
    As for the observations of GDU @ 7 & TimC @15 on “root”: I was once on a touring hol in Spain with a bunch of Australians, and at one point there was a discussion as to whether the group should go see a bullfight. My partner & I said we’d prefer not to, as we’d be spending our time rooting for the bull. There was a moment’s silence from our fellow-travellers, followed by the comment: “you Poms certainly have an odd way of showing your support…”

44. Thanks all for a sentimental entertainment, not without some chuckles.

    Is that meaning of ‘root’ confined to Australia? I’m aware of it of course but surely it must give rise to endless chortles, as in Tim C@15’s case (and Wellbeck@43). Could one innocently ask for the ‘best route between here and Adelaide’ and get the expected direction? (Poor Joe Root must have a rough time down below.)

45. SH @40: Merriam-Webster (the standard American dictionary) gives:

    gey·?ser ?g?-z?r British also ?g?-z?, for sense 1 and usually for sense 2 ?g?-z?

    So Valentine hasn’t heard geyser pronounced like geezer (or, also dropping the R, like Giza) because she’s American. Same here. But we had the geyser-geezer homophone a couple months ago, so I wasn’t surprised this time.

    One could quibble that trans and gender-fluid aren’t synonyms, and I know some trans folk who might do so. But they’re in the same ballpark, so it’s good enough for a crossword.

46. SinCam@27 and anyone else interested:
    I tracked down and solved Nutmeg’s Cryptic debut from ten years ago. Here are the puzzle and blog:
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26058
    https://www.fifteensquared.net/2013/09/20/guardian-cryptic-26058-nutmeg/
    If features a clue where she introduced herself: “25a In final stage Nutmeg (female) caught up (8)”
    The clue could work as a goodbye, too. Ave atque vale, Nutmeg.

47. Well, heck. 15^2 choked on both macrons and schwas, making that whole quotation pointless.

48. A very fine set of clues, full of humour, and succinctly accurate.

    Thank you all concerned

49. So much to like today: two wonderful setters; a fine blog (I couldn’t understand ‘told’ in the clue for PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH, but do now); and many generous comments – particularly Eileen@14, Julie in Australia@24, and sheffield hatter@34. Thanks to all. My favourite clue, and LOI, was 11a, for UGLI.

50. An unmissable puzzle – and not just because it was so well crafted. Thanks to Arachne for completing this for our enjoyment and appreciation, and thanks to loonapick for the blog.

51. “Settled down at last from Bootle,
    Alice whispered, “Just a min,
    While I pop upstairs and rootle
    For another safety pin”
    John Betjeman
    “The Flight from Bootle” first lines

    Lovely to come across this word again after knowing the poem using it for years

52. Great work by Arachne to complete the puzzle and to do it in a way reflective of Nutmeg’s style. Excellent result, which, despite a quick start, proved more challenging as I went on. Couple of new words and a couple of difficult parsings all made for a lovely solve. Thanks to loonapick for the excellent blog.

53. It was difficult to fully enjoy this Monday crossword because the sadness of Nutmeg’s passing was foremost in my mind. Of course the clues were excellent including SPIRIT (ironic that that’s the 1st answer in this collaboration), UGLI, STEREOTYPE, EMETIC, TRANSACTS, and ERATO. (The latter represents the succint readable clues that I love from these two setters.) I had to reveal TROCHEE, ROOTLE, and CONCLAVE, all beyond my knowledge base. Thanks to all.

54. Anna@17 Thanks for the Modern Norse. I wonder if island communities are generally more conservative linguistically?

55. Always a pleasure to see either/both of these setters. A top class outing, with some tricky vocab for a Monday. I had ticks for almost everything, but especially enjoyed the fine surface of GENDARME and the clever reversal for EMETIC.

56. As is so often the case, I agree with everything Eileen said @14.

    16a proves you can put un- before an awful lot of words to make technically valid new words, but who has ever used “unraised” in a real-life sentence? My wife has baked her own bread for years, but has never described the dough as unraised when the prooving has not been sufficient.

    I hope I’m right in interpreting Eileen’s comment that we will not see Arachne & Nutmeg’s names together again does not mean we will not see Arachne as sole setter again.

    Thanks to both for this one.

57. Quite right, monkeypuzzler: the relevant part of Arachne’s comment on the previous puzzle is
    “For the last year of her life Nutmeg was too ill to work, but she was determined that her remaining unpublished puzzles should see the light of day and so passed them to me for checking and completion. I very much didn’t want my name on these puzzles, as the credit rightfully belonged to her; this was fine whilst Margaret was alive, but apparently the Guardian can’t publish work under the name of a deceased person alone so mine had to be appended to this one (and will have to be to the next, which will be her last).”

58. Monkeypuzzler @56: what about an unraised question?

59. I don’t post often, but today’s crossword was such a delight that I decided to speak today.
    Lovely smooth surfaces, which makes a huge difference for me. And I managed to finish, but not too quickly – yep to the Goldilocks zone ?. Great variety of clues. Perfect!
    As for the brilliant Harry Potter clue – so amusing, so smooth – my favourite clue today. Arh, wait – my favourite clue for the year!

60. So, Harry as yet another anagram indicator to add to the growing list. Any other possible forenames/surnames that might fit the Bill…? I’m probably sounding too facetious. It was indeed a wonderful clue, Veronica@59

61. PLOUGHMANS LUNCH is impossible to parse if, like me, you’ve never heard of Piers Plowman. A bit obscure for a Monday.

62. Ronald @60: Two names that come to mind that might indicate an anagram are “Rocky” and “Stormy”. Clues using these might look like this: Rocky Marciano for pasta (8) and Stormy Daniels abnegations (7)

63. Enjoyable puzzle.

    New for me: BLUE PENCIL; TROCHEE.

    I did not parse 2d.

    Thanks, all and I loved Eileen’s comments @14 and @57.

64. Tony Santucci@62: Top notch – have you been saving them up? If these are just off the top of your head I’d love to see the crossword you would set.

65. A late contribution, I have been making my will. I started this first but changed to the QUIPTIC TO GIVE MY BRAIN A BREAK AND THEN HAD TO GO OUT, sorry pressed caps lock, anyway came back and finished. I had heard of PIers Plowman, but it was abook lying about when I was young. I cannot remember ever reading it. But I googled it and came across the journalist, with whom I am also vaguely familiar and even though I got the LUNCH bit early on, it took ages for TOLD to register. It was adown clue and I don’t see them as I do across clues But no excuses.
    Beautiful puzzle, a great pity it is Nutmeg’s last, but Arachne has honoured her memory in completing these puzzles, so we must thank them both and loonapick s well.
    Goodbye, god bless

66. The only reason I know anything at all about cricket is to help me complete the occasional cryptic crossword clue. Jesus, I wish they just wouldn’t bother.

67. Alphalpha @64: Thanks for the compliment. I came up with those two clues off the top of my head but I did use an anagram maker to complete them. I do have a list of clues I periodically coin but fitting them into a grid is where the challenge lies.

68. Thanks loonapick, TROCHEE was my last in too (think “clasps” is a new hidden indicator for me, had me fooled plus not knowing the def didn’t help), and thanks Larry@4 as I couldn’t equate level/direct either. Thought as Gladys@18 re ROOD until I had to look up a medieval Piers to get the Plowman. Felt good about spotting the short LEG this time, and enjoyed all round, thanks Arachne and Nutmeg. [Tony@62 agree those are the start of a fine crossword and you should let us know if you go the whole hog!]

69. Tony Santucci@62, have been out and about, but back now…so bravo! with those two…

70. Thanks all for these lovely comments, not least Eileen @14 and subsequently, and many affectionate others. Valentine @39, nose is so very much “flair” in French that I was thrilled when my partner got it out of nowhere. I join Frankie @46 in saying Ave atque Vale to Nutmeg, with thanks for keeping her so vivid and beloved in our minds.

71. Many thanks, loonapick, for the great blog and to all for lovely comments. It’s so hard to believe that we will never again have the pleasure of solving a Nutmeg puzzle, and I’m honestly a bit lost for words. Thank you, dear Margaret, for your peerless brilliance. Rest well.

    Arachne

72. Crazily difficult for me on the first day of the week. I managed STEREOTYPE.

    9a – LAV/ladies? Is this cockney slang?

    14a – MAN/staff? I’m lost.

    23a – I entered BILL

    8d – how do you know to omit the final ‘s’ from the clue?

    My offer to pay someone to teach/tutor me increases by the day.

73. Steffen @ 72

    Lav is short for lavatory, as in ladies and gents

    To man a ship is to provide it with staff, so to staff it

    Smiles briefly is smile(s) i.e. stopping short

74. Steffen@72 – happy to tutor you, but would require no payment

75. 74. How can this be done?

76. Arachne@71,

    Like everyone else here, I had always enjoyed Nutmeg’s puzzles, but I noticed over the last while that I was enjoying them even more. I thought that, like a fine wine, she was just getting better with age. Then, when we got the sad news, and found out about your role in continuing her legacy, the penny dropped. What could be better than a Nutmeg and Arachne collaboration, even if the circumstances were so unfortunate.

    Thank you for your kindness, generosity and unique talent. Now, when I tackle your own puzzles, I’ll always have your friendship with Margaret in the back of my mind, as an added dollop of warmth and delight.

77. Too hard for me, but when I saw the parsings here, I realize how I was delightfully tricked, or perhaps misdirected! I wonder how many people give up, only to find the solution was right there, staring them in the face! Obvious in hindsight. Loved the Harry Potter clue, which I didn’t get but made me laugh. My mother used to do the TImes crossword every day; I think she would’ve marveled at the shared experience here, a community denied her pre-internet generation of solvers. She said she had a feel for each setter, and some she enjoyed more than others, but their identities remained opaque, and the solutions were never explained. A mysterious gift delivered every day.

78. Thought I was doing well after a slow start, but the NE quadrant was a major fail. Mostly enjoyable puzzle, but…
    Words unknown to me (and likely to remain that way): ROOTLE, UGLI.
    CHAR = “daily”? I don’t get it. Etymologically, it means “chore” or “task” or “job of work”.
    NOSE = flair? Sorry, no.
    I know two pronunciations for “geyser”, neither of which is much like GEEZER.
    Shame on me for not figuring out GENDARME and AGOUTIS.

79. ThemTates @78
    CHAR is short for (e.g.) charlady, as pointed out in the blog, i.e. a daily help, or just a ‘daily’.

80. Alan B @79, yes I saw the explanation — but “charlady” doesn’t mean “daily help”, it just means help. I still couldn’t figure out where the “daily” part comes from. The missing piece of the explanation was that “daily” and “char” are both UK slang for the cleaning lady. The former is the part that’s new to me.

    Interestingly, Chambers has the former, but not the latter — it only lists CHAR in the cleaning sense as a verb. As a noun, the only sense given is “tea” (for the obligatory non-rhoticism).

Comments are closed.