Guardian 29,240 – Anto

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A characteristically mixed bag from Anto, including one faulty clue, one whose parsing I’m not sure about, and one that I can’t explain at all (and a couple of niggles). Over to you… Thanks to Anto for the puzzle.
Across
9 QUALIFIER Rider in elimination stage (9)
Double definition
10 REMUS Note total return for old city establishment figure (5)
RE (note, as in do re mi) + reverse of SUM. Remus and his twin brother Romulus were the legendary founders of Rome
11 ALERTED Informed that treadle is out of order (7)
TREADLE* – I originally had RELATED here
12 FABERGE Concierge baffled having piece returned for jeweller (7)
This seems to be meant as a reverse hidden: conciERGE BAFfled, but that would give FABEGRE
13 EASEL Support women dumped by deceitful type (5)
WEASEL less W
14 SPIT IT OUT Order to declare what to do with rotten food (4,2,3)
Double definition
16 ANIMATED CARTOON A nominated actor remade film without any actors! (8,7)
(A NOMINATED ACTORS)* – of course animated films usually have actors doing the voices, and the exclamation mark seems redundant
19 DOUBLE DIP Drop duck, seeing rude behaviour when serving hummus (6,3)
Not sure about this, but “drop” and “duck” can both mean “dip” (though the sense is almost the same in both cases). Would it be rude to “double dip” the hummus? Surely it would be more of a compliment
21 SWEDE Remove root from country vegetable (5)
SWEDE[N]
22 ANGUISH Suffering, but decline to drop head (7)
[L]ANGUISH
23 BE QUIET Vacated search to find this silent order? (2,5)
I can’t see this – something to do with QUEST? Thanks to Anna – a “vacated” SEARCH is SH, which means “be quiet”
24 MUNCH Plenty embrace new champ (5)
N in MUCH
25 SACRED COW Almost fire socialist bully, one that can’t be criticised (6,3)
SAC[K] (fire) + RED (socialist) + COW (to bully)
Down
1 SQUARE YARD Old fashioned garden in small area (6,4)
SQUARE (old-fashioned) + YARD (a garden, particularly in the US)
2 WATER-SKI Sort of at risk, we participate in sport (5-3)
(AT RISK WE)*
3 LINTEL Liberal has useful information showing support (6)
L + INTEL (intelligence, e.g. in a military context)
4 BIND Contract to dispose of diamonds (4)
BIN (dispose of) + D
5 TRAFFIC COP Company president going after trade with road authority! (7,3)
TRAFFIC (trade) + CO + P, and another unnecessary exclamation mark
6 CRABBIER Teacher stuck in unfinished physics lab becomes increasingly irritable (8)
RABBI (teacher) in CER[N]
7 EMBRYO Centres for homemade fabrics beyond development stage (6)
Central (ish) letters of homEMade faBRics beYOnd
8 ISLE Bali hosts oil trade terminals – it is what it is (4)
Last letters of balI hostS oiL tradE, and Bali is an isle
14 SPEED CHESS One needs to be a fast mover in this mating game (5,5)
Cryptic definition – [check-]mating is the object of chess
15 TINSELTOWN Hollywood won’t listen? It’s complicated (10)
(WON’T LISTEN)*
17 ALL NIGHT How we might sleep some day? Just the opposite (3,5)
The opposites of “some day” are ALL NIGHT
18 ONE-PIECE A queen on board in swimming costume? (3-5)
A queen is ONE PIECE on a chessboard
20 URGENT It’s important to show half your wage went missing (6)
Halves of yoUR waGE weNT
21 SEQUEL Look for healthy sounding outcome (6)
Homophone of “seek well”
22 ALMS Donations from altruism lately going up (4)
Hidden in reverse of altruiSM LAtely
23 BACH He scored heroin with Bianca occasionally (4)
Alternate letters of BiAnCa + H[eroin]

73 comments on “Guardian 29,240 – Anto”

  1. thanks Anto and Andrew! didn’t notice the reverse hidden mistakes in FABERGE nor the “central (ish)” EMBRYO letters.. but this didn’t detract from the overall experience — perhaps I’m an outlier but I like Anto’s style.

  2. I confidently entered RELATED for 11a, until it became obvious that 2d wasn’t going to work. Tried hard but failed to work out why CER is an unfinished physics lab (6d). “BR” isn’t the centre of “fabrics” (7d). The clue would have worked just as well with “fabric”, singular.

    And yes, the clue for FABERGE is faulty.

    I was unable to parse BE QUIET & DOUBLE DIP, but all else was tickety boo and enjoyable.

  4. Thanks Andrew. I also think EMBRYO is iffy, because as you say, the letters are central-ish, not the centre. Change FABRICS to FABRIC and it works.

    Thanks Anto, despite the grumbles

  7. Tough and enjoyable.

    I did not parse 6d and did not see the error in 12ac as it was obviously supposed to be FABERGE.

    19ac both drop and duck = dip -> double dip (ie 2x DIP) which is a faux pas with food, and especially dangerous in the time of covid or even flu etc.

    Thanks, both.

  8. Like Anna@3 I parsed BE QUIET as ‘Sh’ – vacated search. Like Andrew I had RELATED at first for 11a which rather held up the NW corner. Shame about the problems for FABERGE and EMBRYO (though I didn’t notice the latter, I confess). I think DOUBLE DIP refers to re-dipping a half-eaten bit of pitta bread, but not the happiest of wordplays, I agree. Perhaps the edit was a little hurried. Found this tougher than I normally expect from Anto. Thanks to Andrew and Anto.

  9. Perhaps you double dip when you dunk your bread, bite off the end, then dip the same bread again. Your saliva is then in the dip. So it’s rude behaviour.

  10. And yes, I agree with Anna @3 on vacated S[earc]H -> SH = be quiet.

    Further on double-dipping food = to put something such as a piece of bread or a vegetable into a shared sauce after you have already eaten part of it. Also not polite when eating with chopsticks to pick up a piece of food with your chopsticks, drop it back to the main plate of shared food and take another piece instead.

  11. Yes, 2 obvious errors in FABERGE and EMBRYO. BE QUIET is obvious when Anna @2 has explained it and is quite a clever clue.
    I parsed DOUBLE DIP as Drop = double (as in Whisky except a double is a bit more than a drop) and Dip = duck. If you haven’t heard about double dipping being “rude behaviour” Andrew, you obviously haven’t seen this Seinfeld clip

  13. A bit of a contrast to yesterday. It is satisfying to complete this quickly but very few delicious surprises to savour today. (And nothing wrong with that! Variety is one of the joys of the G cryptic.) I missed the error with Faberge and wasn’t sure why sequel was outcome. The former implies following on from something else which outcome doesn’t.
    Re double dip, I can’t see drop = double at all. (Andrew, I understand that in some parts it’s considered rude to put your part-eaten crudite back in the dip for a second helping! There’s also a ruder use of double dip but you’ll need an urban dictionary for that!)
    Thanks Anto and Andrew.

  15. Thanks for a crossword that I was able to finish and even more thanks for those who sorted out the parsing. And special thanks to TimC @11 for the Seinfeld clip on double dipping!

  16. I enjoyed this and didn’t spot the error in 12a

    Favourites included: CRABBIER, REMUS, LINTEL

    Thanks Anto and Andrew

  17. I found this much quicker than yesterday, but I didn’t notice the error in FABERGE, and had concluded that for EMBRYO to work there was a typo, and fabric not fabrics was meant.

    I looked at ALERTED and thought there’s more than one possible anagram from treadle, I’ll wait for crossers before bending my brain on that one, so that one didn’t bother me, and I parsed BE QUIET as Anna @3 and DOUBLE DIP as numerous people above, knowing double dipping as putting half eaten food back into a shared dip and not good.

    We do have yards equalling gardens in the UK, think of those streets shown at the beginning of the film of Billy Elliot, which showed all the backyards of those houses.

    I also like Anto – he uses different devices which makes me think differently.

    Thank you to Anto and Andrew for the blog.

  18. Thank you Andrew (and michelle and JerryG for the dip erudition – for me, serving hummus in any circumstances would be a faux pas). Apart from the obvious need of a new clue and an improvement – I suggest CAMBRICS – which is really a test-solver/editor issue – I find the SH > QUIET one interesting. A ‘definition’ part which suggests rather than defines or exemplifies is something it’s nice to get away with, though one’s minder might not allow it usually. Other things will occupy people’s attention – at least until a correction appears – but I wanted to say how much I enjoyed (as usual) Anto’s wit and originality. I hope he won’t be discouraged: he’s a real talent.

  19. I too didn’t spot the errors until afterwards, in the case of FABERGE I got it from the crossers and was fine with that, thinking (rightly) I’d get the parsing from this place. I can appreciate the comments being made about the issues with a couple of the clues but in today’s case I was happy just to have found my way to the answers to those regardless. I think it’s part of my solving process which needs tightening up a bit, but most days are school days, shall we say…

  20. Another solver here who didn’t notice the error.
    I liked it, so thanks to Anto.
    My favourites were 13a EASEL, 25a SACRED COWS, 5d TRAFFIC COP, 14d SPEED CHESS, 15d TINSELTOWN and 23d BACH. So lots to like.
    Thanks also to Andrew for the blog.

  21. [ By the way, here’s a useful trick to avoid the deadly dangers of double dipping without wasting whatever you’re using to scoop up the dollops of hummus (we tend to use baby breadsticks, crisps, carrots cut fine lengthways, thin celery stalks, or, the ultimate delight, sticks cut from peeled broccoli stalks — just try it). Dip it in, bite off the loaded end, and then reverse the remaining piece before grabbing another helping. Of course, make sure your fingers are clean…]

  22. Very enjoyable despite the unfortunate error in 12a. Favourite was BACH for the brilliant surface.

    I considered RELATED for 11a, but I don’t think it would work because you relate a story not a person, so it’s not equivalent to “informed”.

    Many thanks both. (Andrew, this blog is not on the Guardian page for some reason.)

  24. I suppose you could argue that for FABERGE only a piece of “concierge baffled” is returned, but I think it’s more likely to be an error. It took me a while to get ru for Ur out of my head for REMUS, which became my favourite clue.

  25. Wasn’t bothered by EMBRYO – if I take some cake from the centre of a Swiss roll it doesn’t have to be exactly the middle

    Ticks for REMUS, CRABBIER and DOUBLE DIP

    Cheers A&A

  26. At a first read through I thought this was going to give me more of a struggle than proved the case. That said, I spent quite a lot of time on the last two to go in: DOUBLE DIP and ALL NIGHT. I share some of the doubts on the former, though I think it just about works. I liked SACRED COW, EASEL and ONE-PIECE. With thanks to Anto and Andrew.

  27. Walter @23 – the “surface” or “surface reading” is what a clue says in a literal sense. The “cryptic reading” is what it really means, the hints to the answer to the puzzle.

  28. I remember “double dipping” from an episode of Seinfield, in which George appals the guests at a wake by doing this.

    I continue to be unimpressed by Anto. The FABERGE clue was clearly wrong, I didn’t like the “centralish” EMBRYO, the clue for ALERTED could easily have had “warned” rather than “informed” to remove the ambiguity, and animations do have actors.

  29. I also started with RELATED for 11a – with the Quick crossword, of course, you always need to hesitate and check crossers, because so many of the clues have multiple possibilities, but it’s unusual in a Cryptic. It’s one of the reasons I like them: when you’ve got it, you usually know you’ve got it!

    I noticed the hiccup in FABERGE but not EMBRYO. Just realised that I hadn’t parsed BE QUIET – thanks, Anna, it’s actually a good clue. Like Komornik@18, I enjoy Anto’s style. Favourites BACH and TINSELTOWN.

    walter@23: the surface is what the clue appears to say, so that the surface of the BACH clue seems to be asking for the name of a man who took drugs with somebody named Bianca. Some setters (Arachne is one) have a talent for making the surface reading tell amusing stories; others (Paul) less so.

  30. One or two less than precise definitions I thought, but on the whole I liked this. In particular FABERGE, ANGUISH and TINSELTOWN. Last two in the interlocking QUALIFIER and SQUARE. The letter Q does hurry the solving along, even if it took me so long. There seem to have been some good long “backwards” hidden words recently, too. And thanks Anto and Andrew (more repetitively hidden words there, ha!)

  31. As an occasional setter (Gollum on MyCrossword and 1Across) I am aware of how difficult it can be, and am reluctant to pile into a setter whose work I don’t like. Komornik @18 is right to note the risk of discouraging people. But I am afraid this morning’s offering from Anto, while containing some excellently imaginative stuff (SPIT IT OUT, BE QUIET, CRABBIER; the amusing surface for BACH), struck me as downright sloppy in places. I got off on the wrong foot by confidently putting in RELATED for 11a; and as poc @28 points out, the ambiguity could so easily have been removed. The clue for FABERGÉ simply doesn’t work. Pace Gladys @29, it’s not a hiccup; it is simply an unsound clue. DOUBLE DIP is also inaccurate; the admittedly rude double-dip isn’t behaviour you display when serving hummus, it’s behaviour you display when you are served it. Contract (as opposed to contract with) as a definition for BIND is pushing it a bit, IMO. The clue for EMBRYO is clever, indeed until I noticed the “fabrics” blooper it was one of my favourites, but it is spoiled by the unnecessary “s” which means that what you’re taking from the word simply isn’t the centre. Sorry, Bodycheetah @25 – either something is the centre or it isn’t.
    Thanks for most of it, though, Anto; and thank you Andrew for the calm and thoughtful blog.

  32. I much preferred this puzzle to the last couple of days, notwithstanding the unfortunate typo, but that was at least was obvious from crossers.

    No clues that hinged on knowing the nickname of a Carry On character or a linguistic trope that hasn’t been employed since the 1600s or anything like that; all very gettable and understandable once solved.

  33. I enjoyed this with a variety of clever devices and also amusing images like ONE PIECE and BACH. I missed the mistake in FABERGE but wasn’t bothered by EMBRYO. The NW corner was last to go in, but fell quickly after getting SQUARE YARD. ANIMATED CARTOON is a great spot despite the detractors. I couldn’t parse CRABBIER, DOUBLE DIP or BE QUIET, so thanks to Anna@3. Great to be reminded of a classic George moment @11, TimC.

    Ta Anto & Andrew.

  34. Enjoyed this despite RELATED false start. Relief after yesterday’s toughie. Maybe if we had a schedule of setters, I could arrange to be too busy for the crossword when certain setters are due.

  35. NeilH @ 31 While I think many of your observations are sound, I don’t think that double dip is inaccurate: per the clue it’s behaviour you see when serving hummus to an ill-mannered guest.

  36. I can understand solvers missing the FABERGE problem – I did, as did a number of others here, and presumably the editor and any test solver(s) – but the setter had to figure out the construction, so that’s a bit baffling. As for EMBRYO, well, who knows? Also, as pointed out, drop and DOUBLE can both refer to a quantity of e.g. scotch, but one is minimizing and the other is maximizing the request.

    Other than that, a nice puzzle.

  37. Following Blaise@21 a similar technique is used with chopsticks if you are using them for both eating and taking food from a shared dish. Put one end in your mouth, reverse your grip to use the other end for taking food to put on your plate. Very quick today but since I didn’t get to the crossword until late in the evening I was very grateful for that. Thanks Anto and Andrew.

  38. NeilH @31 so if I’m in the centre of London does that mean I’m in an exact geographic location or perhaps a less well-defined area somewhere around the middle?

    I think “when serving” can describe the occasion as well as the act of serving hummus

  40. I enjoyed this puzzle, though couldn’t parse some answers eg the physics lab. Thank you Anna@3 for explaining BE QUIET. Great clue! I had noticed the problem in FABERGE but thought, as Pepert@24 posted, it could mean one piece of the word is ‘returned’ ie the R or the G. But now agree that is probably a bit clumsy. Still learning. Thanks Anto and Andrew

  41. Good, entertaining crossword.

    No doubt the clue for FABERGE is a mistake but, although I spotted it, it did not prevent me from finding the solution. As others have pointed out, the clue for EMBRYO could have just had fabric without too much of a detriment to the surface. I liked the good anagram for ANIMATED CARTOON, the surface for SWEDE, and the wordplay for CRABBIER.

    Thanks A&A

  42. Thanks for the blog, really good overall despite the two glitches , Anto keeps getting better but does need a good test solver. EMBRYO is easily fixed as noted by Geoff@2 it could even be a misprint, FABERGE needs a new clue. DOUBLE DIP is fine for both parts.
    CER(N) is a bit more than a physics lab but it is a concise way to give the letters. BE QUIET is a very neat idea.

  43. I have the American take on “double dip.” When I saw what it meant I imagined a corn chip dipping into salsa or guacamole rather than a bit of pit(t)a bread, though the clue does mention hummus.

    Lord Jim@22 I couldn’t find the blog on the Guardian page either. But after blog for the last Prize not appearing for some days I tried googling “fifteensquared guardian” and 29240. That did the job, though I don’t know why I had to.

    Had a good time. Thanks Anto and Andrew.

  44. I’m with Michelle @7 on the ‘drop’ + ‘duck’ = double dip.
    An enjoyable puzzle, though a DNF for me (as almost always!). Was stumped by QUALIFIER and SQUARE YARD. I also failed to notice the error in FABERGE and was another RELATED initially. Favourite was BE QUIET.
    Thanks to Anto and Andrew.

  45. Thought this was the weakest crossword we’ve had for quite some time. Won’t bother repeating what several others have said, but suffice to say that I fully concur with Neil @31. I also disliked having so many CDs, probably my least favourite sort of clue.

    All was in stark contrast to Paul’s superbly-crafted offering yesterday.

  46. The mystery of why this doesn’t appear on the Guardian page is probably related to the fact that the puzzle is “uncategorized” (see the front page listing of blogs).

  47. Today’s puzzle seems to be a bit divisive. I really enjoyed it despite solving it a bit too quickly, lacking only the parsing of 6D (and like many others, missing the error in 12A). It was a welcome relief after my struggles with Paul yesterday. I see that others here had exactly the opposite experience.

    Oh well. Horses for courses.

  50. For me .. a good mid-week recovery from yesterday’s jazz-listening, ballet-watching, sherry-drinking ordeal.
    I thought the “having piece returned” covered the problem people seem to have with 12a.
    Thought sequel=outcome a stretch as noted by others.
    Barely noticed the extra `s` on fabrics.
    Got stuck in 1d because my mind is too metric.

  52. ” Having piece returned” does not help FABERGE . As said in the blog it refers to a piece of Conciergebaffled being returned giving FABEGRE . It would need to be “Having piece returned but not all the piece ” . The clue needs rewriting.

  53. Thanks Anto, I really enjoyed this despite the FABERGE glitch and the EMBRYO typo. (Shouldn’t the editor have caught the latter?) In any event I had many favourites including REMUS, MUNCH, SACRED COW, URGENT, BACH (for its misleading surface), BE QUIET (for its original device), ANIMATED CARTOON, and TINSELTOWN, the latter two for their anagrams and surfaces. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

  54. I didn’t notice the flaws in either of the two faulty clues. I also confidently entered RELATED for 11ac. Personally, I’m in the camp that doesn’t regard this sort of ambiguity as a flaw in a clue (as long as the crossers resolve it).

    I’m probably alone in this, but I don’t like the construction in 20dn. As Andrew says in his parsing, we are meant to take halves of the various words, which different from half.

    [And as long as I’m here, an irrelevant story brought to mind by 13ac. At university, I had a friend who was often called by the unfortunate nickname Weasel. Someone asked his girlfriend, “Why do they call your boyfriend Weasel?” Being a person with no patience for stupid questions, she looked at the asker with withering contempt and said, “Because he looks like a weasel.”]

  55. Enjoyable solve after yesterday’s slog.

    No problem with DOUBLE DIP, definitely a part of common vernacular. Although agree with NeilH @31 that “eating” would have been better than “serving”.

    Didn’t spot the two errors, and as many have said above, have absolutely no problem with ambiguity in an answer as a flaw in the clue provided the crossers will clear it up.

    Didn’t parse CRABBIER as I completely forgot about Cern, or BE QUIET but they went in from the crossers.

    Thanks Anto and Andrew

  56. As usual with Anto crosswords I found some of the clues very good but others either wrong or unsatisfactory. I’ve tried to warm to the style but, unfortunately, haven’t managed to do so. I am pleased that other solvers find more enjoyment, and I know that I would be a hopeless setter myself.

  57. Living in California, I get to do my Guardian crosswords in two passes. First late in the evening before bed and then in the morning when I’m more alert and ready to tackle the harder clues. This puzzle only took me the first pass, so yay! On the other hand, I really struggled with EMBRYO for the reasons above, and at that time of the night thought I must be getting really tired if I wasn’t seeing it correctly. Thanks though Anto, and thanks Andrew.

    Now back to yesterday’s Paul which remains unfinished.

  58. I enjoy Anto’s style and generally find his puzzles to be at the right level (perhaps even on the slightly easier side). However, definitely a lot of sloppiness here I’m afraid (as NeilH @31 points out). Using “fabric” in place of “fabrics” would have been a simple fix and 12 ac. was just carelessness; no obvious way to get it to work. I don’t have that big a problem with 11 ac. – if anything, I thought it was a clever distraction! Like many here I too confidently stuck in RELATED but it became clear that wouldn’t work and in hindsight, the correct alternative actually makes more sense!
    Thanks, Andrew and Anto.
    P.S. Whys isn’t there a direct link to this blog from https://www.fifteensquared.net/category/guardian/???

  59. I mostly came here to see if any Ind else had Manny for 24a at first, so thanks redrodney@51 !

    Thanks also Anto and Andrew

  60. It’s all been said really. I share some of the ambivalent feelings towards Anto. As well as the errors, the SWEDE clue is really rather cheesy since the vegetable is named after the country. I did like the DOUBLE DIP idea (read as Andrew did – two DIP synonyms) because of the surface. Ditto the SearcH idea and the longer anagrams for TINSELTOWN and ANIMATED CARTOON.
    Since the pandemic, I have become addicted to SPEED CHESS, so enjoyed that clue too.
    Thanks, Anto and Andrew.

  61. Hello all. I can’t claim to have yet read the above but have just posted this under the puzzle:

    Hello all. The blame for the egg lies with someone you might not expect to have a hand in today’s puzzle: me (Alan Connor/Everyman). I’ve edited this and some other recent puzzles in Hugh’s stead, I uploaded the wrong version and then was unfortunately away from computers all day. Apologies especially to Anto.

  63. Peter T @24: I too started with Ur…and then went to Sumer…assuming that “old city” was part of the wordplay and that “establishment figure” standing alone was the definition for REMUS. This would have been fine if the clue had not included the words “Note taken”, since without them the clue would simply have been an instruction to spell Sumer backwards.

    Did anyone else find “A nominated actor” to be disappointingly unconvoluted anagram fodder?

  66. CHN@64. Thanks. While it’s ‘just’ an anagram as opposed to the cleverer, but flawed, original, I’m impressed that Anto came up quickly with a quirky funny surface. Sometimes less is best. Only 5 words. I like it.

  67. Oh dear. Alan Connor/Everyman has fessed up on the Guardian site to his error while standing in as Editor for the error in 12 and uploading the wrong version.

  69. I wonder now who wrote the new clue for 12? Alan Connor or Anto? Has the amusing touch of both of them. Either way, glad it’s been re-solved. 🙂

  70. And I now have egg on face for missing Alan’s post@61. Thankyou Alan. Things happen. Good on you for your mea culpa and for standing in for the Editor on top of your own workload writing your column and compiling and everything else.

  71. What a nice new clue for FABERGE! I agree with paddymelon. We all make mistakes. Having the right procedures and structures in place should – and perhaps after this, more likely will catch them. Looking forward to more from you, Anto.

  73. (technically I had all but 7.5 left as I’d worked out that mating game was CHESS but I got caught up in thinking the first word was RAPID and my stupid brain wouldn’t let me think of anything else)

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