Guardian 29,347 / Brendan

78 comments on “Guardian 29,347 / Brendan”

1. I understood the Sherlock Holmes connection in WATSON, but thought there must have been something more to it. And I didn’t understand RESTED. I thought 17d was ambiguous, and I initially had IN VEIN.

   Otherwise plain sailing, and most enjoyable. PATIENTS was my favourite.

   Thanks Brendan & Eileen.

2. I don’t understand the first definition of RESTED either.

3. I am another who doesn’t get the first meaning of RESTED

4. I thought of Holmes on first quick read – but Watson just did not occur to me till much later! Agree with GdU on rested and in vain / in vein. But they are minor quibbles on a beautifully constructed themed crossword. Loved Crania

   Thanks Brendan and Eileen

5. Excellent. I especially liked the clue for ‘Watson’.

6. Very enjoyable. Like George@5 I particularly appreciated WATSON, my LOI. And, for once, a theme that not even I could miss! Thanks Eileen and Brendan.

7. Just a thought on ‘rested’: if one rests on ones laurels, it means that one makes no further efforts to improve at something.

8. GDU et al – actors often euphemistically describe themselves as “resting” when they are between jobs (ie unemployed).

   Smashing puzzle, fully after with Eileen’s assessment. Thanks, Brendan and Eileen.

9. I took “Continued without changing” as a literal description of resting – ongoing status without perturbation.
   How does one use the word “Rest” in “Rest In Peace”?
   It just seems strange as no-one needs to use the word in that way.

   The second meaning being an out-of-work actor, of course.

   Also, this was far easier than most Guardian crosswords. It was at my level.

10. I’d forgotten that bit of thespian euphemism, so rested was a shrug, and for some reason took ages to suss powder … ages since “need a powder and a nice lie down” was a thing I spose. O’wise pretty easy stitching, ta both.

11. Note to self – read comments more carefully before replying… it’s the first definition being queried. Doh!

    MCourtney and George Clements have explained it nicely.

12. Re RESTED

    In addition to suggestions above, Collins has ‘to remain without further attention or action: let the matter rest‘.

13. One more thought from me then I’ll shut up: re the “ambiguity” at 17d, IN VEIN is not an idiomatic phrase so wouldn’t be regarded as a valid solution.

14. Remarkably generous for Brendan, despite the grid, and was really on a par with a typical Quiptic. There is a Nina of AEDIA across the middle, something to do with moths, but I can’t see anything else apart from the obvious theme. My favourites were WATSON, the nicely hidden SANITISING and STETHOSCOPE. All done smoothly as would be expected.

    Ta Brian & Eileen.

15. Thanks Brendan (enjoyable puzzle) and Eileen (super blog).
    RESTED
    As Eileen@12 says: let the matter rest.

    WATSON
    One doubt please:
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is a full-motion video game released in 1991. : Wiki
    Was Sherlock referred to as a consultant in the original works?

    Top faves: FOETAL, STRESS and REFLEX.

16. And another appearance for DR NO after Monday’s Picaron.

17. I found this mostly very straightforward, though the last few entries took as long as the rest of the puzzle put together (GIF @10: POWDER was one of them).

    I went with MCourtney’s interpretation of RESTED @9.

    SANITISED is nicely hidden in a very natural surface. Other favourites were. BONESETTER, FOETAL, CRANIA and EXCISE. As Eileen remarked, clues don’t have to be difficult to be beautiful.

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen

18. KVa @15: Holmes’s clients certainly consulted him for a diagnosis of their problems. That’s surely analogous to what a medical consultant does, even if Conan Doyle (a medic himself, of course) never actually used the expression.

19. Favourite: BONESETTER.

    Thanks, both.

20. I found this very straightforward for Brendan.

    Scientifically, an object at rest is continuing unchanged, RESTED has a other meanings that back up the first definition.

    Thank you to Brendan and Eileen.

21. Though Sherlock H never actually said the exact words, “Elementary, my dear Watson” I did find this considerably more straightforward than usual for a Brendan puzzle, as Eileen has said. WATSON was actually one of my last two in, however, and the clue that has elicited the most discussion so far, RESTED, loi.
    I wonder if another esteemed Guardian setter, Philistine, has had a go at this in between his day job. Good fun as ever with Brendan in the wee small hours for me this morning…

22. Nice one. Favourite was CRANIA for the “outfit valuing intelligence”.

23. Agree this was at the easier end of Brendan’s canon but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless and with a lightness of touch that I don’t always associate with this setter. Top ticks for CRANIA, BONESETTER & SANITISING – has anyone seen a hidden using more than 6 words?

    Ear-worm? How about the SPIN DOCTORS

    Cheers B&E

24. WATSON
    Thanks Gervase@18. Elementary, maybe! Education never ends…
    (I was wondering if there was a connection with the video game I quoted.
    Probably not).

25. Nice one bodycheetah, first time I’ve actually paid attention to the lyrics rather than the toon.

26. KVa @15 and Gervase @18: when Holmes first explains to Watson what he does in “A Study in Scarlet”, he says “I’m a consulting detective”.

    Enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks Brendan and Eileen.

27. WATSON
    Lord Jim@25
    Thanks.

28. Lord Jim @25: So he did! Thanks for that.

29. Re resting in the entertainment business. I’ve been an actor since 1980, and even when I began it was a phrase largely associated with earlier generations – the fifties certainly, maybe the sixties. People my age still recognise it with rueful fondness, but I suspect most younger performers only come across it in Nöel Coward revivals or crosswords.

30. [And while Eileen is of course quite correct that Watson is introduced as John, in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” he mysteriously becomes “James”. People have come up with ingenious theories to try to explain this away, but it was just that Conan Doyle never bothered to check the details of previous stories, giving rise to many inconsistencies.]

31. Very strange, I’m pretty sure I posted about 20 minutes ago and saw my comments on here, and now no sign of it, but maybe I didn’t click the right button. Said then that Sherlock H never said the exact words: “Elementary, my dear Watson”, but as Eileen and others have already said this was fairly straightforward for a Brendan puzzle, though my penultimate one in was in fact WATSON, and loi in the much discussed RESTED. Also made the comment that I was wondering whether another esteemed Guardian Cryptic setter, Philistine, has had a go at this in between his day job…

32. …oh, and nothing to do with today’s puzzle, I know Tramp usually comes on here to add his own comments when it is one of his puzzles being discussed that day. He often says that the Cryptic in front of us was one he compiled some time in the past. So my question is, does the Crossword Editor sit on a large backlog of contributed puzzles before deciding which one should feature that day. And do compilers get paid when one of their contributions gets accepted or when it gets published…?

33. Some of these were easier than I’d expect from Brendan, and if there is anything more subtle than the medical theme going on, I missed it. I enjoyed the missing comma in the definition for PATIENTS (those not well, treated), the well hidden SANITISING, and the renowned healer. I thought of BANKRUPT first for the disastrous debt and BLOODLETTER for the old healer, but one didn’t parse and the other didn’t fit, so eventually I found the right answers.

    I see I’m not alone in finding IN VAIN ambiguous – I often have trouble with that sort of clue, perhaps because I’m used to adding imaginary punctuation to clues, and this one can be read both ways if you put your mind to it, though as Widdersbel@13 says, “in vein” is not a common phrase.

34. That was fun and very enjoyable. STETHOSCOPE, PATIENT, BENIGN and CRANIA were particular favourites.

    Thanks Brendan & Eileen

35. This was an enjoyable Everyman-ish level but better crafted. The Grauniad is so inconsistent – fun Monday, disaster with Yank yesterday.
    Anyway, thanks both.

36. What Eileen said

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen

37. Good to have a medical theme as a change.

    Brendan’s usual mastery at fitting in so many themed entries without obscurities. I liked the cd for WATSON, the definition for PATIENTS, and the well-hidden SANITISING.

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen.

38. Alastair@34. “Inconsistency” is a great part of the fun for me with Guardian crosswords, never knowing what each day will bring, that frisson when you find a favourite setter’s name or a puzzle you enjoy. And if it’s one that doesn’t please, you go oh well, someone will like it, and there’ll be others for me another day. There is such a variety of styles of Guardian setters. We’re very fortunate. Consistency to me is something that could be compiled with AI, monochrome, no pizzaz .

39. paddymelon @37 – well said! 🙂

40. A bit odd that theatre appeared in a clue and an answer
    And extra time is usually ET or another T added to a word that already has one and CHESS hasn’t
    I wouldnt normally mention such trivia but I hold Brendan in high esteem so……

41. Thank you Brendan & Eileen, for the medicinal fun.
    I especially liked the apt anagram for RETINA, the retrospective SANITISING, the ‘tax cut’ and the definition for PATIENTS.

42. Really enjoyed working out all the medical vocab but never got Watson as I was not looking for a name in an otherwise completely word-based grid.
    Obviously I should have remembered that when all possible explanations have been eliminated only the impossible remains…

43. Nice puzzle, super blog. The grid fill is quite remarkable. Not quite 100% themed but it is getting pretty close and that is no mean achievement. The theme is not one I particularly warm to but it is very well executed and, like several others, I had WATSON as my biggest tick.

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen

44. Nice to see a name check and so many plaudits in the comments (although Brendan avoided my rather elementary pun).

    Enjoyed the puzzle too!

45. Thanks both.
    I was thoroughly confused by RESTED, all clear now, thanks.
    Even I could see the theme.
    Too many good clues to list…

46. Apparently, people in the UK aren’t particularly familiar with this Watson, also in later years a medical assistant.

47. Very nice puzzle, blog and assorted comments. I am surprised that no one else has challenged licence = patent in 10A. Despite what what can be found on the interwebs, they are not the same. A patent is a legal document conferring rights of ownership and protection to an invention, while a license allows use of an item, invention, etc. without conferring any ownership rights.

48. Very enjoyable – unlike yesterday’s – and proof that a themed crossword doesn’t have to include convoluted surfaces nor tortuous parsing.
    But then, Brendan is an extremely skilled setter.
    Not all was plain sailing: POWDER took ages, and CHESTS was one of my last in, although, looking back, I can’t understand why.
    FOETAL and BONESETTER were fun, IN VEIN and WATSON made me grin – the latter had me wracking my brains for synonyms for medical personnel, until the answer hit me like a brick.
    Nice one, Brendan! And a spiffing blog – as ever – from Eileen.

49. paddymelon@37 – how true!

50. Though not his toughest, I agree, still Brummie at his beautiful best and, unlike Monday’s offering, there were a few clues that exercised my brain (the main reason, of several, that I do these things). I like my puzzles to ….. well, puzzle! Hence my isolated frustration with the “Picaron” (even though Picaroon is a personal favourite)

    Many thanks, both and all

51. Lovely xword!
    What I don’t get is tents=oxygen-supplying equipment.
    I parsed it as a dd

52. “Rested” was the only clue that fell flat for me, with “theatre” in the clue appearing in the answer elsewhere, and not being familiar with the actor’s term. But a fun treat with a nice range of clue types. Was hoping that “placebo” would show up the answers, but either way I feel better after completing this puzzle.

53. Viodelin @50

    Re 2dn – see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_tent
    Chambers gives ‘tent’ by itself with this meaning.

54. Loi 9a WATSON – A Study in Scarlet
    Thanks B&E

55. Good fun, albeit over too soon.

    LOI and favorite was 9A which drew a smile when the penny dropped.

56. RETINA and DIETETIC were my successes.

    Complete and abject failure otherwise.

    I’m clearly doing something wrong.

57. Steffen@55
    Amoeba suggested some puzzles to you. If it’s not intrusive, may I ask you if you tried them?

58. I too couldn’t make sense of RESTED – I wrote in PASSED but that didn’t fit with POWDER. So just that one clue meant a DNF for me.

    Not come across BONESETTER – I assume that’s a word for someone who fixes broken bones. But for some reason I couldn’t help recalling this amusing clip from The Singing Detective. Enjoy! 🙂

    Have to say, WATSON took me a while – but much liked once I sussed it!

    And a plus for SANITISING – ‘hiding’ such long words, whether forwards or backwards, is quite an art! Also TIME for the irony! With FOETAL – excelllent def., took me a while to spot ‘bit by bit’ as an anagrind but I suppose it works.

    Thanks to Brendan – I hope this doesn’t mean you’re in need of some of the thematic items! – and Eileen.

59. Correction, I now see that FOETAL isn’t an anagram but OF reversed followed by LATE reversed. Clever!

    [When I was a kid we had a family doctor who really was named DR WATSON. But he didn’t have an ace detective to look after…]

60. Phil McHale@46
    PATIENTS
    PATENT
    If we set aside the legal definitions of licence and PATENT and look
    at their other meanings, they both seem to mean ‘privilege’, in a way.
    Does that work?

61. Another puzzle that was a joy to solve this week. Thanks to Brendan and Eileen and for all the comments about RESTED. I thought it meant a pause in the proceedings, e.g. I rest my case. I guess you must have to be of a certain age to know about oxygen TENTS.

62. [Dr WhatsOn@45: Watson helps the medics, and when the police have a major case to solve, they call on HOLMES for help.]

63. Interesting that so many found WATSON to be one of the trickier clues in the puzzle. I spotted it immediately. But that’s the way with single cryptic definition clues – there is only one way to approach them, and either you see it or you don’t. Rufus was famous for them. They were very clever and I often found them maddeningly intractable.

64. A bit like OakvilleReader @60, I took RESTED to equate with “the prosecution rested their case” in that they would continue without change during the trial.

65. bodycheetah@22 – SANITISING was a fine 10-letter 6-word hidden reverse “campaiGN IS IT IN A Sense”
    Fed beats it with this 12-letter 6-worder here: “Announcing retrospective – assiGN IT A GLUM OR Pessimistic segment (12)”

66. Pretty straightforward, was welcome after yesterday’s DNF…couldn’t parse “rested” but feel I have a better understanding of it now. Liked the construction of “BEDSHEET”.
    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen

67. Thanks as always to Eileen, and everyone else.
    Can someone provide text and verse for the principle that a solution word should not appear in another clue?
    Licence = patent? Apparently not in legalese, but fine in dictionaries. A crossword constructor, or editor, cannot be expected to be master of technical language in all areas. I will be raising an example when a puzzle currently in the works appears.
    I don’t spend much time thinking about level of difficulty, leaving that to the editor and the Monday to Saturday gradient.

68. Agree this was easier than Brendan can be, though I was one of those defeated by WATSON (not that there’s anything wrong with the clue). As Gervase@62 points out, sometimes they’re not hard – you just can’t see ‘em. Lots to like here, as usual, but my faves were SANITISING (a great example of the genre), the fine dd for EXCISE, and the delightfully clued TIME.

69. Thanks for dropping in, Brian @66 – always appreciated, as you know.

    I was rather puzzled by the comments about ‘theatre’ being in a different clue. I thought it was rather neat to have three different meanings within the grid.
    I was with KVa @59 re PATENT.

    (And I’m afraid I’m still not understanding the problem with RESTED.)

70. Alastair@39 Well said regarding yesterday’s Yank! Real marmite puzzle: to me pretty well unsolvable. Now with Mr Greer back today with a nice puzzle although not his hardest restored my faith in our setters!

71. As did Eileen@68, I liked the multiple meanings of theatre in this puzzle. And as Brian asked @66, who makes up these rules?

    Unlike many other commenters, I do not care about the degree of difficulty of a puzzle, except when it goes so far beyond my solving ability as to make it unenjoyable. If the surfaces are good and the clues are clever (like this and all of Brendan’s puzzles), then it is fun and worth doing, whether harder or easier than some arbitrary standard of difficulty.

    Particularly with Brendan, half the pleasure is in appreciating the fun that he had filling the grid.

    This was a serendipitous day – Brendan here with a Philistine-like theme, and Goliath (Philistine) in the FT. What a delight.

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen for the witty Wednesday workout.

72. I must start by saying Brendan is one of my favourite setters. Today, however I am feeling Eeyorish about his crossword: some were very easy, and others not to my taste despite other commentators praising them. I disliked WATSON; it is too vague a definition for me, falling at the lower end of the Rufusian spectrum of CDs. Also vague were the definitions for stents and powders – when was the last time medicine came in powder form? Brings back childhood memories of Miss Shattock’s worm powders – don’t ask!

    Thanks Eileen and Brendan

73. I suppose the issue is that if one of the solutions is a word that already appears in the clues it can provide a trigger or short cut to the answer.
    The use of “theatre’ in the RESTED clue here was nicely misleading , however, given its non-themed meaning.
    Very enjoyable puzzle and blog from two of my favourites

74. Re Lord Jim @29, in Scotland and in Ireland ‘John’ is sometimes a formal forename that may never be used. The name that is used might be ‘Jack’ (as for JFK and myself). ‘King James 1’ is known in France as ‘Jacques 1’. Might it be the case (sic) that for Conan Doyle it was not inconsistent for Watson to be both ‘John’ and ‘James’?

75. Excellent puzzle but didn’t like RESTED!

76. Thanks Brendan. Got to this late but wanted to register my delight with this crossword — favs were STETHOSCOPE, STRESS, EXCISE, and REFLEX. Thanks Eileen for the blog.

77. Eilen @68: if I’ve read your minor query correctly, I guess the problem with RESTED has been its immediate connotation of a completion rather than a continuation?
    A dnf for me on WATSON – grr. I liked the construction of FOETAL
    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

78. A day or two behind I know but I just wanted to say that I found this delightful from start to finish. Some petty quibbles above I thought. Grateful always for a well-set playful puzzle with a good level of challenge and many smiles along the way. Thanks and well done to Brendan, and of course to Eileen for the positive and (as always) helpful blog and further contributions to the unfolding discussion.

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