Guardian Cryptic 29,321 by Kite

80 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,321 by Kite”

1. Straightforward with some nice devices and well-constructed anagrams. I thought there might be something going on with BICENTENARY, RIOT, SENSATION and SHOW TRIAL but couldn’t find anything for 200 yrs ago today. I also thought there was a bit of a nautical theme, loonapick, with REACH, MARINER, CONTAINER, GANGWAYS, CEDARWOOD (good for shipbuilding), ANGLER, BERG and the fodder for GRADUATION (my favourite clue). Over reasonably quickly but most enjoyable.

   Ta Kite & loonapick

2. Parsing of SLEDGED & FORESTS was beyond me. Everything else good fun, thanks Kite & Loonapick.

3. Today is the 200th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI.

4. I was also unsure about MAST = bar but it does fit in with a nautical theme. Thx Shirley @4: that would make sense.

5. I psrsed HEADMASTER the same way as you, loonapick. Couldn’t see any other way. I suppose ‘a diving header’ gives the excuse.

   Obviously, Kite was trying to make this a Monday level puzzle, which must constrain style.

   Thanks to Kite and loonapick.

6. Shirley has it right – several surfaces allude to the theme: I think all the names in the DREAM clue are lifeboats, for example, and ‘saving lives at sea’ in SLEDGED is a phrase associated with the RNLI.

7. Just watching a clip on Sky News about the history of the RNLI. Sorry, I meant to type, Shirley @3.

8. Thanks Kite and loonapick
   Some rather dodgy clues here, mostly explained by the theme. The surface for DREAM doesn’t make sense and the definition is strange, as is that for MINION. The clue for MARINER puts the inserted R in the wrong place. MAST in 13d must be “bar”, but I can’t imagine anyone calling it that.
   I did like FORESTS.

9. I realised part way through that this was celebrating the BICENTENARY of the RNLI as it was announced on the radio news, not that it helped. I didn’t find this that chewy, but we don’t see Kite often, so it takes a bit to get on their wavelength and word use.

   The names of lifeboat models are in the surface of DREAM. And Poole is the RNLI headquarters.

   Thank you to loonapick and Kite.

10. There is a Nina of RNLI in the 6th row across.

11. Whilst themes are very clever; I think I prefer a solid well clued crossword without a theme to a laxer clued puzzle with a theme. The sacrifices to fit in with the theme distract too much and only (for me at least) provide a brief smile when the theme is explained here at 15^2.

    But thanks Kite and loonapick.

12. Fairly straightforward once I had corrected ‘curling’ to ‘cycling’ at 5a.

13. Many, many RNLI references in the clues: a charity for saving mariners’, seamen’s and tourists’ lives at sea with lifeboats (some of the various classes are listed in 23d) crewed by volunteers: their headquarters are in Poole… etc. etc.

    Apart from trying to make the revolutionary sport be CURLING, and missing the substitution in ECONOMICAL, no problems this morning. Some nice anagrams, and I liked how 25a referred to the clue at 2d, but 26a didn’t refer to 3d at all. Maybe that’s what the ellipses were there for: additional misdirection.

    (Sorry Shanne: I see we crossed)

14. Well spotted, AlanC @10.

    14ac was my first one in and, having watched yesterday’s BBC ‘Songs of Praise’, celebrating the BICENTENARY, I was immediately alerted to a possible theme, which turned out to be exploited very ably in many of the clues – it’s worth looking back over all of them.

    I won’t go through all of my ticks but my top favourites were 10ac SENSATION, 6dn CHAP and 7dn IRISHMAN – all great surfaces – and I enjoyed the wordplay of 25ac THEREFORE.

    (I’ve been overtaken: I realise I could just have said ‘What gladys said’!)

    Thank you Kite, for a worthy tribute (it’s a scandal that the RNLI is a charity) and thanks to loonapick for the blog.

15. Eileen, if the RNLI had been a department of government, it would have been privatised years ago and would now be as efficient and well regarded as Thames Water

16. Hmmm… what Matthew said @11, really.

    Dnk that meaning of MINION, must confess. Thought the clue for DREAM was perhaps the weakest.

    Thanks, Kite, for trying to mark the BICENTENARY.

17. Some pretty weak clues here – HEADMASTER being the principal example 🙂

    Ticks for GRADUATION, EMBROIDERED for the randy rodents, and DETRITUS just because I like the word

    I’d like to try an un-themed Kite to see if the clue quality is improved

    Cheers L&K

18. @William@16 at least after D-REAM things could only get better

19. [NeilH@15: As a Government department, it would be understaffed and underfunded – if it hadn’t already been privatised.]

20. Tough puzzle. I did not see the theme.

    I could not parse 11ac, 12ac, 27ac, 2d apart from RE A.

    New for me: MARINER = lifeboat.

    I agree with loonapicks’s parsing of 13d MAST = bar in HEADER = dive.

    Thanks, both.

21. Thank you Kite for drawing our attention to the RNLI bicentenary, and loonapick for blog (I needed help with parsing of 11 & 13).
    I liked the sliding on iceBERG conjunction.
    Am I right in thinking support for the RNLI often involves the sale of EMBROIDERED items?
    I think 6d might allude to the RNLI’s origins on the Isle of Man as well as its present base in Poole.

22. And the RNLI headquarters are in Poole – see 6 down. I once lasted less than 20 seconds in the lifeboat simulator there. But what a wonderful example of a non government organisation.

23. Some awkward parsing but on the whole I liked it more than the usual Vulcan. Perhaps an overuse of anagrams and initial letter clues, but that’s to be expected on a Monday.

24. 7d IRISHMAN – The RNLI covers the !rish Republic and the IOM as well as the UK.
    First called National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck – NIPLS. Then RNIPLS.

25. Good Monday fare. Failed to parse HEADMASTER but otherwise fine.
    Thanks both.

26. As others have already said, the RNLI is much better off staying as a charity. I recall one member of it saying that they would hate to be anything else. An excellent charity to donate to, though. Thanks to setter and blogger today, of course.

27. I thought this was fine for a Monday, but I did get the theme early on (as a long-time supporter of the RNLI and recipient of much printed matter therefrom). Pace other commenters, I thought DREAM was pretty nifty.
    [Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that many of the UK lifeboats are actually private charities and not affiliated to the RNLI.]
    Thanks Kite and loonapick.

28. Michelle@20 Mariner is defined as ‘person on a lifeboat?’ not just lifeboat

29. Ok solve, thanks both, but had no idea of the theme. Somewhat like our Surf Lifesaving associations, providing an essential service precariously funded by donation, fundraising drives, corporate sponsorship and government.

30. Not the most elegant of crosswords, but an enjoyable Monday puzzle I thought, and I loved all the RNLI references having spotted the theme almost immediately for once.

31. Hooray for the RNLI and many thanks for the crossword and the blog. Shouldn’t 16 down be anagram of “duster it” without “is”?

32. Rather lumpy puzzle with a very worthwhile theme, but which gave rise to some odd constructions and surfaces.

    I particularly liked the anagram clues for IRISHMAN and CEDARWOOD.

    Thanks to S&B

33. Thanks loonapick for the blog and the feedback. I would normally put theme words in the grid but because this was a Monday I didn’t want to use too many difficult words. That might explain (although not excuse) one or two clunky clues. I thought that the combination of BICENTENARY and the RNLI NINA above it might alert solvers to the theme but of course RNLI might not mean much to some of our overseas solvers. It is, of course, a splendid UK charity with lifeboats manned by volunteers.

34. This was mostly Mondayish for me, though there were a few that were harder to crack. I liked OBSOLETE, MINION and BERG. Alban Berg has featured in more than one puzzle in the last year and I remember leaving a comment about how he died aged 50 in 1935 of blood poisoning. He had developed a furuncle after a bite from an insect. He was too poor to consult a doctor. That said, at that time doctors were probably still killing more people than they cured, and antibiotics still a few years away. With thanks to Kite and loonapick.

35. A welcome change for a Monday! And a very fine tribute to the RNLI. (I’m with Eileen that it’s a scandal that such a service is run by charity and volunteers, but our thanks to them all.)

    Thanks Kite and loonapick

36. Thanks Kite and loonapick. For TE as a note, are we talking solfège? In which case, rather than the major 7th TI, we have the minor 7th TE, which is fine and normal and perfect for a movie called “the sound of blues music”, or am I missing something? To me, heading and diving are two (distinct) reasons I don’t watch it. Liked Irishman.

37. There’s nothing wrong with HEADER – Chambers gives “a dive head foremost”. Some might take exception to the implication that all Dubliners and teachers are men.

38. I think ‘clunky’ is a very appropriate observation loonapick.

39. From my youth I remember Blue Peter raising money for the RNLI, and boats being named in honor of the collaboration.

    I completely missed the theme, as usual, other than a suspicion that something nautical was going on.

    One quibble: my dictionary has the meaning of “minion” as “favorite” notated as obsolete.

40. Totally missed the theme, as usual. but impressed by it now. I am familiar with the RNLI, though with all the concern for overseas solvers it might be kind to spell out the acronym, so I will — It’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution. I didn’t know that it was based in Poole, though a friend and I spent six weeks there in the 80’s waiting for the wind to be favorable for a crossing to France. Got to like Poole a lot.

    I had curling too.

    I thought this puzzle was okay, not deserving of disparagement except for a few clues.

    Thanks to Kite and loonapick.

41. Thanks Kite. For once I got the theme, a great occasion to celebrate. I enjoyed solving the puzzle.

42. Thanks Kite and loonapick

    Jacob @ 39

    Chambers has

    “minion /minˈyən/
    noun
    1. A darling, a favourite, esp of a prince
    2. A flatterer
    3. A servile dependant
    4. An old type size, approx 7-point, between nonpareil and brevier, giving about 101/2 lines to the inch (printing)
    ORIGIN: Fr mignon, mignonne”

    The OED is similar.

43. If I were a pedant (?!?) I’d point out(to FrankieG@24) that RNLI also serves the Channel Isles (outside the UK), supports drowning prevention projects in a number of other countries and is actively engaged in global drowning prevention initiatives via UN, WHO etc. Also (to grantinfreo@29) RNLI receives no funding from government (nor would it want to). A wonderful organisation with strong ethical principles.

44. Agree with most comments here, a very clunky/lumpy crossword with several weak clues shoehorned in to fit the theme. Really disliked HEADER for DIVE, the two are quite different… as are MAST and BAR. Thanks to Loonapick et al for the various explanations, including the Nina, which I’d missed.

45. Having had the theme pointed out – I never look for them and seldom see them – I’ll tip my hat to Kite for marking the RNLI’s birthday. Sadly, the puzzle itself was, as others have said, clunky and generally unsatisfying.

46. Still being fairly new to the daily cryptics, that was my first Kite puzzle and I found it quite approachable. I enjoyed the wordplay of THEREFORE and the clue for GRADUATION. As usual, I’d failed to spot the theme. I was aware that it must be something vaguely nautical with coastguards, lifeboats, MARINERs and whatnot, but it wasn’t until I came here it all made sense.

    Thanks to Kite and loonapick as well as the always-enlightening commentary from everyone else.

47. Thanks Kite. I had never heard of the RNLI so the theme was lost on me. I now see why GRADUATION contained ‘coastguard leaving shore’ when ‘guard’ alone would have worked and made the clue less wordy. My favourites were FORESTS, THEREFORE, and IRISHMAN. I failed with HEADMASTER. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

48. HoagyM @44
    I’ve heard people say “he took a header into the swimming pool”, meaning “he dived in”.

49. Not trawling through all the comments, someone has probably pointed out by now that the “vague nautical”is a precise bicentenary.

50. The alleged clunkiness was both deliberate and appropriate in this homage to a fantastic organisation.
    Many thanks to Kite for the fine tribute and to loonapick for some tricky parsing

51. A good example of why it’s always worth coming onto this site. I failed to spot the intended theme, and as such found some of the clues (e.g. DREAM) extremely odd. Now all is revealed, I’m much happier with the puzzle. IRISHMAN and DETRITUS were my favourites.

52. Very enjoyable and a 3rd completed crossword on the trot which is unheard of.
    A couple of parsings to check.
    Thanks both.

53. Thanks for the blog, I thought this was great , I had just read about the RNLI in a Guardian feature and it is a very worthy theme. ECONOMICAL and EMBROIDERED have neat, clever wordplay . I too was CURLING until I put in the Downs. ANGLER had a stray full stop in the middle which was puzzling for a while.

    HEADER=dive is a standard term in tombstoning. Well it was 30 years ago when I was young and foolish.

54. [Roz @53: Generally I dislike the trend of ‘verbing’ nouns but ‘tombstoning’ amuses me so much that I’ll probably write a clue for it some day.]

55. Completed the puzzle and got the theme – almost a double first! Didn’t parse everything, guessed 1ac so thanks for the blog and thank you Kite for a great themed puzzle

56. Tony@54 I do not like to promote it because it is dangerous, but fun when you are young and there no way I was going to be outdared by the boys.

57. The main thing I took from this is that I’ve never considered a headmaster to be a teacher particularly. I mean – I guess they must have been, but in all the schools I went to I never once saw the headmaster actually teach.

58. [MarkN @57 – the HEADMASTER at my school taught us maths in my ‘O’-level year – very effectively too, as far as I was concerned. Maybe in those days (1960s) the admin. duties of a headteacher were less onerous than they are today – what with OFSTED &co…]

    I completed this but missed the theme and the nina. I’m intrigued that the Grauniad editor (Hugh? – or Alan? – depending on when) arranged to get this one out on the exact date of the BICENTENARY (isn’t that a noun and thus inconsistent with the gerundal phrase “happening very infrequently”?)

    Anyway (please forgive my ego-trip) – my main fit of pique is because my own Doctor-Who-themer, in the Indy recently, only appeared three months after the anniversary – as some on 225 pointed out. Yes I know Mike H has a lot on his hands…

    My favourite here is ECONOMICAL. I’m a fan of these cryptic substitutions of one letter for another. Never mind the clunky surface – we’re no stranger to those.

    Thanks to Kite and loonapick.

59. muffin@8. “The clue for MARINER puts the inserted R in the wrong place”.
    In what way? The R is inside MAIN and ER as clued.

60. jeceris @59
    Premier and queen welcoming right person on a lifeboat? (7)
    To me, that gives MAIN ERR – for MARINER the R is in MAIN alone.

61. An entertainment so thanks both.

    muffin@60: To me Premier and queen=MAIN concatenated with ER so the ‘R’ can go wheresoever we like – although I do see what you mean: ambiguity should be avoided. Perhaps there is a case for the Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) or Harvard (or is it Yale?) comma thusly: ‘Premier and queen, welcoming right ….?

    Laccaria@58: I can understand why those matryoshkas are popular with setters. If I were a setter I would use them too. As a solver I can only say I find them unimpressive. No offence (seriously, not just to tee up an offensive offering) but I think they have to be the easiest type of clue to construct.

62. Hoagy @44, muffin @48: I think that ‘header’ for ‘dive’ is a purely Pommy thing. I don’t think I have ever heard it in Oz. I’m one who completely missed the theme – or even a vague nautical sense. Thanks, Kite and Pierre

63. 5a – CURLING
    11a – ECOLOGICAL

    Great start…

    I managed to solve 14a and 18a.

    22a remains a mystery to me I’m afraid.

64. Steffen@: 22a – You’re probably as well off, but the blog expresses the (and it is complicated) parsing perfectly.

65. Been slowly getting better at the Quiptics after starting cryptic crosswords a few months ago, recently started to get into the “proper” Cryptics and usually managing about half of them, if that. Today I managed to find a groove (despite not getting all the parsings) and only needed one left. My wife looked over my shoulder and within 2 seconds said “a mini is a car, so I reckon it’s MINION”. I’m going to tell myself I never would have got it without her help – hopefully my first fully unaided solve is just around the corner!

    Favourites GRADUATION and THEREFORE.

    Thanks Kite and loonapick

66. If you like looking for themes, as I do, enjoy. If you don’t and you can’t be bothered, why be so disrespectful. This was particularly well put together, despite the odd clunky clue as acknowledged by the setter.
    Keep going Sam @65, you’ll get there.

67. I enjoyed much of this – and loved the theme.
    DETRITUS was my favourite and raised a smile but I though there were many other elegeant clues.
    I have to agree with AlanC @66 reading the blog I was shocked by some people’s dismissiveness.

    Thanks Kite for the entertainment and Pierre for the enlightening parsing.

68. I agree with AlanC @ 66 , you might also like the FT puzzle from yesterday , easy to find I expect.
    I see in the blog that the clue for ANGLER has a comma in the middle. In the paper it is a full stop. Clearly a misprint but did hold me up because I am always so suspicious of punctuation in clues.

69. I was a competitive curler in my youth, and am still very active in the sport, but it never occurred to me as a solution for 5a – CYCLING was one of my first ones in.

    I share AlanC and Roz’s view of this puzzle. Not knowing RNLI, the theme eluded me so I found it a bit trickier than some Monday cryptics, but I thought it was well-constructed with lots of good clues. I especially liked the two long anagrams at 14 and 16 – the dilapidated cowshed and the racy rodents.

    Thanks Kite for the fun and Pierre for the blog.

70. AlanC @66 – it would be helpful if you could you be more specific about where the disrespect is. Posters have commented legitimately that this was a theme that got in the way of a smooth solve, and clunkiness has been acknowledged. The solve was also not particularly rewarding, as even a self-confessed theme fanatic didn’t manage to spot it (first entry in the blog). A perfectly decent crossword, but certainly one that a good number of people would find less than perfect.

71. “Clunky” appears 9 times (now 10) in this blog, but I didn’t find it so. I think Kite is getting a raw deal. Agree with Roz@53&68 and AlanC@66.
    Didn’t even notice the “.” instead of “,” in 20d ANGLER, – it’s in the online version, too – because a capital letter didn’t follow it.
    Thanks K&P

72. Steffen@63 – 22a “Coastguard leaving shore confused at no one returning for ceremony (10)”
    1. “Coastguard”: Start with … COASTGUARD
    2. “leaving shore”: (leaving=omitting; shore=COAST) … COASTGUARD minus COAST equals GUARD
    3. “confused”: anagram indicator, so ‘mix it up and make it nice’ … GUARD becomes GRADU
    4. “at”: stick on an AT … GRADU plus AT becomes GRADUAT
    5a.” no one”: (no = NO; one = I in Roman numerals) … gives NOI
    5b. “returning”: reversal indicator, so reverse it … NOI becomes ION
    5c. …and add it on to what we’ve already got … GRADUAT plus ION becomes GRADUATION
    6. “for”: and the result is …
    7. “ceremony”: … the definition, in red and underlined by Pierre, of which a GRADUATION is an example.

73. Well done FrankieG. More patience than me.

74. I wonder if Steffen will ever see it.

75. Steffen’s difficulties with GRADUATION bring to light how difficult it is to fully explain some clues in a blog without it becoming very long and overly detailed.

    I half heartedly suggested a few months back that I would be willing to do an interactive online solve using Zoom.

    The idea would be that I would guide anyone who was interested through solving a Guardian puzzle.

    I know there are some YouTube videos that show people solving puzzles, but this would be different in that it would be interactive, and I would try to do as little prodding as possible.

    It would be aimed at beginners or people who have been solving for a while but can’t quite get the hang of it.

    Would there be any interest in such a thing?

    Of course, this would be free, and could be quite interesting as a social event.

76. 14a BICENTENARY – For “happening” as a noun we need The Happening(1967), The Supremes’ tenth US number 1 single, (UK number 6). the last one issued by the group under that name. Between this and Reflections the group’s billing changed to Diana Ross &…’
    Here they are, singing live on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 7, 1967.

77. Ever so sorry, Loonapick@75. for getting your name wrong @72. Wish I could edit it. (If you can, please feel free…) Your idea sounds like a good ‘un. 🙂

78. Can someone please explain ECONOMICAL to me? Is the assertion that “professed” = NOMINAL? Seriously?

79. So, at what point does an obsolete meaning become anathema? MINION = “favourite” is not a usage anyone living has ever employed, nor even anything that more than a handful of living people have read in historical fiction. That seems sufficient to disqualify it, to me.

80. Minion as darling/pet is the first definition in Chambers 93 and no indicaton of obsolete or archaic, I still use it in this sense .
    Nominal=professed in the sense of so-called or alleged.

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