Guardian 29,382 – Fed

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Fed’s puzzles are always good fun, and this was no exception. I found it mostly straightforward, though with the occasional tricky parsing and (I think) one small error. Thanks to Fed.
Across
7 SAFE SEAT Boring type of car – those who have one are certain to stay in the house (4,4)
SAFE (boring) + SEAT (Spanish car brand), with “the house” being the House of Commons
9 CAESAR Emperor penguins are rarely especially active taking just seconds at sea (6)
Anagram of the second letters of pEnguins aRe rArely eSpecially aCtive tAking
10 BLUE Adult whistled in audition (4)
Homophone of “blew”
11 IRON MAIDEN Rock band’s smooth cover of Madonna single, Sanctuary (4,6)
IRON (to smoothe [clothes]) + M[adonn]A + I (single) + DEN (sanctuary)
12 CHISEL Place of worship is replacing a power tool (6)
CHAPEL with IS replacing A P[ower]
14 OUTSMART Best ways to leave market (8)
OUTS (ways to leave) + MART
15 PRAISE Case of proper ladies men regularly getting compliment (6)
P[rope]R + alternate letters of lAdIeS mEn
17 WREATH Means to honour dead from the war somehow (6)
(THE WAR)*
20 NOSEDIVE Express understands seedy nightspot’s sudden decline (8)
Homophone of “knows” + DIVE (a seedy nightspot)
22 DWELLS Lives happily in the middle of Pudsey (6)
WELL (happily) in [pu]DS[ey]
23 DETERMINER Discourage explosive reaction initially following clincher (10)
DETER (discourage) + MINE (explosive) + R[eaction]
24 LAMB Young animal’s mother back inside pound (4)
Reverse of MA in LB
25 STRAIT Street artist’s with it and sound (6)
ST + RA (artist) + IT
26 SEDITION Small issue causing insubordination (8)
S + EDITION
Down
1 TALL SHIP Craft lie making Tory cool (4,4)
TALL STORY (lie) with TORY replaced by HIP (fashionable, cool)
2 MERE Nice parent’s bit of bedtime reading (4)
Hidden in bedtiME REading – it’s the French for mother, so as heard in the city of Nice
3 DENIAL Refusal of nurse to wear ring (6)
EN (Enrolled Nurse) in DIAL (to ring on the telephone)
4 SCIMITAR I’m upset with racist getting weapon (8)
(IM RACIST)*
5 MEDIUM‑WAVE Type of radio produced by psychic with sway (6-4)
MEDIUM (psychic) + WAVE (to sway)
6 CAREER Calling about register – ignoring main point (6)
CA (circa, about) + REGISTER less GIST (main point)
8 TOOK ON Employed and also working under king (4,2)
TOO (also) + K + ON (working)
13 SIAMESE CAT Feline’s naughty, as eats mice (7,3)
(AS EATS MICE)*
16 STIGMATA Marks and Spencer’s opening times assuming it’s glossy magazine’s accurate for starters – ace (8)
S[pencer] + first letters of It’s Glossy Magazine’s Accurate in T T, plus A[ce]
18 HALF-MOON Fraction low on tip of nose like Dumbledore’s glasses? (4-4)
HALF (fraction) + MOO (to low) + N[ose]
19 TENNIS Game and ultimately Margaret Thatcher maybe losing lead (6)
Last letter of margareT + [D]ENNIS. Unfortunately Mrs Thatcher’s husband spelt his name with a single N
21 OMERTA Retiring at 18 occasionally fears breaking mob rule? (6)
Alternate letters of fEaRs in reverse of AT MO[on]
22 DERIDE Mock German article English papers mis-ordered (6)
DER (German definite article) + E and ID (papers) with the two parts the wrong way round
24 LATE Departed and the others returned (4)
Reverse of ET AL (“and the others”)

99 comments on “Guardian 29,382 – Fed”

  1. Still trying to read the clue for 1d to get the answer, though it is obvious how the clue is meant to work. Otherwise still trying to get on Fed’s wavelength, so not as straightforward for me as it was for Andrew. Liked 11, 20 and 21. Thanks Fed and Andrew.

  2. Thanks Fed and Andrew
    I didn’t parse TALL SHIP (apart from HIP), CAREER, or OMERTA, and I still don’t understand the last one – what happens to the HALF in 18?
    Favourite STIGMATA.

  3. So that’s why I couldn’t parse TENNIS!

    When I was working for property developers, they had Denis Thatcher open some new building. He was asked what he’d like as refreshments. Gin came the answer. The Director’s PA went back to check because she wasn’t convinced she should be providing gin at 10am, to have it confirmed! And Private Eye’s Dear Bill too.

    Chewy to do in places, but all in and parsed except for TENNIS and CAREER, but deletion clues are tough.

    Thank you Andrew and Fed.

  4. muffin@2 half moon becomes MO<, which becomes the start of OMERTA. The rest comes from fEaR and AT from the clue.

  5. I could not parse 9ac; 1d apart from HIP=cool.

    Thanks, both.

    muffin@2 – for 21d OMERTA, the reversed MO bit is HALF of the word MO[ON] (the answer to 18)

  6. An enjoyable puzzle and a lovely blog! Thanks Fed and Andrew!
    Top faves: SAFE SEAT, TALL SHIP and OMERTA.

  7. Thanks for explaining OMERTA: even after reading the blog I missed the cross-reference to HALF MOON.

  9. A satisfying puzzle as always from Fed. My impression is that replacement clues like CHISEL and TALL SHIP are less common in Guardian puzzles but tend to appear more often in other publications – is that others’ experience?

    Andrew (and Admin): this blog is currently “Uncategorised”, so people looking for it on the Guardian page won’t find it.

    Thanks both.

  10. Nice puzzle. I parsed Tennis as I have a blind spot for whether double or single letters . Loved Tall Ship. Only half parsed Caesar – but as it was last-in came here instead of banging head against wall.

    Thanks Fed and Andrew

  11. I didn’t remember how the name of the husband of “the Immaculate Misconception” was spelled so TENNIS went in easily. A slow and steady solve with favourites TALL SHIP for the clever substitution and CAREER for the “main point” removal. I’m getting to like Fed a lot.

  12. Is the French word MERE (meaning mother) present in English dictionaries? MERE is of course also an English word with various meanings, none of which are hinted at in the clue.

  13. TENNIS
    Like others have said, not knowing that he was DENIS helped. 🙂

    MERE
    gladys@12
    I agree that it’s a bit unusual that the solution is a French word.

  15. The mental equivalent of those stretches I’m supposed to do every morning – slightly uncomfortable at times, but a satisfying workout in the end.

    Many thanks, F & A

  16. gladys @12, there are 4 definitions of MERE in Chambers 2016, none of which are the French word for mother. As someone for whom the only person more surprised than me that I passed French ‘O’ level (that shows how old I am) was my French teacher, I don’t actually mind a few foreign words that aren’t in an English dictionary. That’s especially true with the very useful ‘Nice’ indicator. It was cleverly capitalised at the start of the clue.

  17. Raised eyebrow at DENNIS but it had to be that parse. Shame. I’m another who was left with -A-L SHIP for 1d and could find no way of justifying SAIL SHIP, even if that is an actual term which I don’t think it is. SAFE SEAT and CAESAR my faves today with WREATH as COTD.

    Thanks Fed and Andrew

  18. On Sunday the Quiptic was described by someone as being “for newborns” which is rather missing the point of that puzzle, so I’ll refrain from saying several of these clues were too contrived! I could not parse 1d or 6d. I assumed that the “maybe” in 19d was to excuse the homophone.

  19. I’m always delighted to see Fed. I found this deceptively simple in places leading me to over-think clues like IRON MAIDEN – provider of today’s ear-worm from Wheatus and Teenage Dirtbag

    Top ticks for TALL STORY, CAESAR & OMERTA

    Cheers F&A

  20. The parsing of TALL SHIP escaped me too. Last one in was BLUE, which has so many different meanings for such an innocuous looking small word. SAFE SEAT also took a while, and I wasn’t aided by the presence of Tory in a nearby clue, as apparently there’s little to connect them in the near future.
    And all this recent discussion about difficulty levels on certain days of the week, with Paul being thrown into the ring yesterday. Was there ever a Guardian Cryptic prospectus that stated that Monday’s lessons were for newcomers, and that gradually things got harder as the week continued, with prizes given out on the Saturday for the brighter pupils.
    Anyway, greatly enjoyed the Fed challenge this morning…though I thought CAESAR required quite a bit of manoeuvering, rather like being involved in a game of Scrabble.

  21. I had difficulty getting into this, and even guessing the answer, the parsing for 6 was a complete mystery.

  22. Very enjoyable range of tricks. Always pleased to see Fed.
    Some complicated parsing eg CAESAR.
    Did anyone else initially enter STRAIN rather than STRAIT at 25a?

    Thanks to F & A.

  23. Lord Jim @9 – I do the Guardian puzzle every day (it’s my paper), regardless of the setter, and pick and choose from the Indy and FT, according to my favourites and what I have time for. Your observation about replacement clues is interesting – not something I’d noticed but I’ll watch out for it. I just know that I really enjoy them – and also those like CAESAR today, that take some manoeuvring, as ronald says @20.
    Other favourites were IRON MAIDEN, CAREER, STIGMATA and TENNIS (like Tim C, I didn’t remember Denis’ spelling, so no hold-up there).

    Thanks to Fed and Andrew.

  24. I hadn’t managed to parse TALL SHIP or CAREER. Now they are explained, both are great clues. I need to keep in mind subtractions and replacements. Lots of other devious clues, favourite until now was OMERTÀ.
    Thanks Fed and Andrew

  25. Thanks, Andrew, good catch on dear old Denis. Never have it a second thought.

    Took ages to find SAFE SEAT, and had to resort to trawling through car manufacturers in the Crossword Dictionary.

    Failed to parse TALL SHIP but now rather admire the clue.

    Embarrassingly, never having seen any of the wizard stuff, had to Google an image of the headmaster to get HALF MOON!

  26. Eileen @23: I think it might have been Telegraph or Times puzzles in which I’ve noticed a higher frequency of replacement clues. (I don’t buy those papers but I do sometimes get books of their crosswords to take on holiday and so on.)

  28. Slight pause over the ‘Denis’ issue, but the solution was pretty obvious so I just bunged it in. A tricky but enjoyable puzzle.

  29. I always enjoy a Fed puzzle! My favourite was 19 down – despite the hiccup. Very clever using one name which is actually referring to two people. Top marks!

  30. I really liked IRON MAIDEN. Well, I did in my era, but the Madonna Sanctuary was a find, Fed.

  31. ronald @20 – yes, it’s been stated recently that the Monday puzzle in the Guardian is easier – here in the Guardian Crossword blog announcing the new Quick Cryptic, dated 6 April 2024, chatting about where to go after getting somewhere with the easier crosswords:

    “Since there’s an unofficial tradition here that the Monday puzzle is not going to take up too much of the start of your week, or leave you with a frustratingly unfinished grid, it’s a matter, perhaps, of working your way further and further through the crosswording week.”

  32. Gladys@12: ‘Nice’ as the first word of a clue is a very common indicator of French, so I think it’s fair.

    I liked this but failed on 23a, being misled by ‘following’ into looking at ‘Discourage’ as the definition.

  33. Perhaps a coincidence, but there is also a street artist called STRA, which is why I put in those letters, not seeing ST + RA.

  34. I agree with everything Andrew said and, although all the answers went in from the definitions, I could not parse CAESAR, CAREER and STIGMATA. Thanks Fed and Andrew.

  35. TimC@16
    MERE (refer to my post@13)
    I have come across Nice as a French word indicator umpteen times and
    no questioning that device. It’s generally encountered in wordplay.
    I am not sure that I have come across a French word as a solution to
    a clue. Once someone gives an example, I will realise how forgetful
    I am progressively becoming.

  36. I’ve found DENNIS Thatcher’s Birth Certificate details here: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=LWUC%2FvKN24eJe1pbURyBmg&scan=1
    It was spelt with two Ns, so Fed is off the hook: ‘Births Jun 1915 (>99%)
    Surname, First name(s), Mother, District, __Vol, Page
    Thatcher, Dennis, ____ Bird, __Lewisham, 1d, 2009, Scan available – click to view, Postem available – click to view
    Postems for this entry: 11/08/2012 This appears to be the husband of Margaret Thatcher, but he may have normally spelled his name with a single “n”.’

  38. Good fun to solve; I managed to get some of the parsings after the event.

    I liked the definition for SAFE SEAT, the good anagram for SIAMESE TWIN, and the wordplays for PRAISE, TALL SHIP, CAREER, and NOSEDIVE.

    Thanks Fed and Andrew.

  39. KVa @35… Times Cryptic 27626 “Nice parent? Pure and simple (4)”. Less cryptic are LA Times crossword 21 May 2022 “Nice parent” and NY Times 6 Nov 2021 “Whom to call Maman (4)”. No doubt others, but I agree it’s rare.

  40. KVa@37
    If you look at the original scan, it says “Births registered in April, May and June 1915”.

  41. Tim C@39
    Thanks.
    Judge@40
    Thanks.
    There must be N reasons why he chose to do that later. Numerology?
    A number thing!

  42. Thanks for the blog, enjoyable with many good clues. TALL SHIP a neat construction, MERE cleverly hides the capital N at the front, CAREER has excellent use of register and gist instead of just using outer letters , OMERTA a good use of cross-linking for once.
    Only dud for me was STIGMATA , once a clue gets on to the fourth line it is time to start again.

  43. 11 across were local when I was at school. Knew several guys who were in it at various times. Always amazed they made it so big!

  44. I remember “in the old days” thumping my way through those enormous BMD register books at the Family Record Centre, looking for in the past details about members of my family. Before they came digitised. April, May, June entries were always referred to as being in the June register. Similarly March, September and December referred to the other grouped together months in a particular physical register.

  45. I think there’s more going on here: IRON MAIDEN, had a song called Sanctuary, with very graphic art work of a corpse of Margaret Thatcher. And Madonna, had a single, Sanctuary. She is supposed to have quoted Walt Whitman. It goes on,.
    It all seems very serious and sombre, even macabre. I’ll leave that to others. I’m just happy to have solved Fed today, which I enjoyed, with some help from Andrew with TALL SHIPS.

  46. I enjoyed this one. Thanks to Fed and Andrew, and to other contributors for the discussion.
    [Tim C@11, I hadn’t heard the term “The Immaculate Misconception” for Maggie Thatcher before – thank you for that! And agree with you @16 about the occasional French word. Sorry Robi@38, I know it was just a typo so I’m not having a go, but I had to smile at you putting SIAMESE TWIN for 13d, as I couldn’t recall any SIAMESE TWINs in my grid, then I realised you meant the mice-eating clue.]

  47. [ Ronald@20 , Guardian policy for crosswords, like the puzzles themselves, is more one of conventions than rules. In my 30 years there has never been a policy of increasing difficulty throughout the week. Under John Perkin the policy was 2 “easy” puzzles , 2 medium and 2 to challenge the seasoned solver.
    One “easy” usually on Monday the other often on Thursday, The “hard” puzzles typically Wednesday and Saturday. Of course this was not followed every week although the Monday tradition was pretty consistent.
    These days we tend to only get medium puzzles, perhaps 1 easy puzzle a week , never any hard puzzles. ]

  48. [Ronald@44. Interestingly BMD down here is Births Deaths and Marriages. Never thought about that sequence of events before.]

  50. bodycheetah@19 – 😉 – another great earworm and another favourite of mine. Never too late to learn I should have been singing “Keds“…

  52. [ PDM@48 , local newspapers used to have many pages of “Classifieds” . A lot of BMD usually called Hatched, Matched and Dispatched. ]

  53. Thanks TimC@39, KvA@35 and others: I was just curious to know whether a 100% French answer with no English definition was regarded as legitimate in a UK crossword: it’s clearly OK, if unusual, so I have no problem with it.

    (Yes, STIGMATA did ramble on a bit, didn’t it.)

  54. Paddymelon@48, not at all sure why those rites of passage should be arranged in any particular order, represented as BMD or BDM. Sometimes people search in the wrong place initially for a birth that, let’s say, occurs in late December 2002. But it may not get registered by the parents until January 2003. Several weeks leeway are allowed for this. The registration would therefore appear in the March 2003 volume…

  55. [Roz @47 – you can’t have read my post @31 – Alan Connor stated that there’s “an unofficial tradition here that the Monday puzzle is not going to take up too much of the start of your week, or leave you with a frustratingly unfinished grid,” in his crossword blog on the Guardian site, dated 6 April 2024. He goes on to suggest that the crosswords may get more difficult as the week progresses. ]

  56. [ Sorry Shanne I never click on links and I try and avoid Alan Connor as much as possible although it gets increasingly difficult ]

  57. I’m a bit uneasy with emperor = Caesar. In such an unusually parsed clue, the questionable definition made this tricky for a pedant like me!

  58. An enjoyable solve even though the parsing of the clues with deletions eluded me. I must remember that trick for next time.

    I was also defeated by the parsing of 23A, other than the terminal R. I spent far too long trying to do something with DET as in det cord before giving up and coming here.

    Thank you Fred and Andrew

  59. AlexW. Although Julius was not emperor, Augustus and the other 10 Caesars were, and the word gave rise to Kaiser in Germany and Czar in Russia, so probably fair enough

  60. Julie in Australia@46, Tim C@11, paddymelon@45,

    I might be overthinking this, but there may be something even more going on. Margaret Thatcher as noted was sometimes referred to as the Immaculate Misconception. The Immaculate Conception refers to the doctrine of the birth of Mary without original sin (not, as many mistakenly believe, the virgin birth of Jesus). And another name for Mary is the Madonna.

    Coincidence?

  61. Thanks for the blog, Andrew.

    I haven’t got time to read all the comments today, but I thought I’d pop in and apologise for the DENNIS oversight. It’s been so long since I encountered a single N Denis that it didn’t even occur to me to check.

  63. I really enjoyed this one, even though I failed completely on TALL SHIP.
    My favourite was CAREER, which I thought was clever. But also loved STIGMATA and IRON MAIDEN (but then the group were a favourite back in the day).
    Nice smooth clues as well.
    (Totally missed the Denis issue, so thanks to FrankieG@36 for making me feel better about that!)

  65. DENNIS – by now “Denis” – married two Margarets: the first, known as Margot, when he was 26; the second, known as TINA, when he was 36: ‘
    Surname__First name(s)___Spouse____District__Vol _Page
    Thatcher_____Denis_____Kempson____Barnet__3a__2774 – Scan available – click to view – Marriages Mar 1942 (>99%)
    THATCHER__Denis_____ROBERTS__Finsbury_5c___947 – Scan available – click to view – Marriages Dec 1951 (>99%) – Postem available – click to view’
    Here’s the Thatcher/Roberts’ Marriage Certificate details: https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=BQqiMlGIEhWleI5MMKIzoA&scan=1
    The Postem says: ’05/04/2014 Very likely the marriage of Margaret and Denis Thatcher.’
    KVa@37: The ‘>99%’ means independently transcribed twice identically’.

  67. [Sorry to interrupt but I’m trying to find 15² blog for Picaroon Prize 28,967 of 14th January 2023. Try as I may, I can’t locate it …. does it even exist, I wonder ……?
    I repeat my apology, but this seems the most likely way of getting a helpful response …. since I’m stumped and need ‘community’ help. Many thanks!]

  68. Enjoyable but mainly straightforward as Andrew says. I like the substitution clues that gave us TALL SHIP and CHISEL. Similarly the subtraction clue that gave us CAREER.

    Fave was SIAMESE CAT for the anagram.

    Thanks Fed and Andrew

  69. I can’t find Den(n)is’s Death Certificate (2003) because FreeBMD is running about 30 years behind the times.
    But you can see ‘Stateswoman (retired)’ Margaret’s (2013) here.
    Thanks F&A

  72. Not being a fan of either Margaret or Denis (or any Tory, TALL or otherwise) I missed the misspelling of his name, and actually had the clue down as a favourite for cleverly using separate bits of both Margaret and Thatcher to produce the solution.

    Generally a very sound puzzle with no quibbles, and fun while it lasted.
    Many thanks to Fed (speaking of TENNIS, my favourite player) and Andrew.

  73. [Frankie G @ 70,71 – Bless you, and well done! In the past, when I’ve found misnumbering, and mentioned it here, Gaufrid has corrected … and made that known, with his thanks. I may check in later, and if Admin haven’t picked this up, possibly do as you suggest
    Thanks again….]

  74. Thanks Fed, I enjoyed this with CHISEL, PRAISE, LAMB, SEDITION, MERE, CAREER, and SIAMESE CAT being my favourites. I revealed SAFE SEAT (I’m sure safe=boring has dictionary support but I think it’s a stretch) and I couldn’t parse TENNIS, not knowing Thatcher’s name. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

  75. Brilliant. Lots of lovely layered misdirection. Faves were the little ‘uns: LAMB, BLUE, STRAIT, and especially WREATH, I like a poetic surface. Thanks to all.

  76. a last thought: since a MERE is ‘a small pond or pool of standing water’, when someone says, ‘Nice pond!’ I can now respond with, ‘A mere mere, I assure you.’
    I’ll get my coat.

  77. Thanks, nearly there…does SAFE = BORING?
    Defeated by the unknown OMERTA, and the parsing of 1d escaped me, thanks for the illumination.
    CAREER defeated me too, the type of clue I never seem to solve.
    Thank heavens for this after yesterday.
    Thanks both.

  78. James @62: since no one else is answering you, allow me to be the one to congratulate you on your proofreading skills. Yes, the apostrophe is in error…although Roz @42 does suggest that there are just too many words in the clue altogether, with or without the spurious punctuation.

  79. HYD@77 much as I am reluctant to mention it, a footballer releasing the ball may choose the safe/boring option. I can also think of two other clear examples which I will not mention here.

  80. Thanks Roz @79…having been told by Mrs. Hoofit several times that I am ‘boring’ if I don’t get blind drunk at the family BBQ’s. I shall now tell her that I am ‘safe’.

  81. Totally enjoyed this (TENNIS notwithstanding…). Fed is one of my favorite setters – nobody has smoother surfaces.

  83. Hoof it & Roz,
    Safe and boring can often be interchangeable but this seems a case of the Red/London bus phenomenon to me. Not that this bothered me when solving the clue.
    Good puzzle. I’m sure there must be other Dennis Thatchers out there to get Fed off the hook. Maybe not so famous. But this is the Guardian, not Horse and Hound, so fair dos 🙂.

  84. Conrad@33. I would guess that the street artist calling themself STRA is probably a cruciverbalist! 🙂

    AlexW@57. Chambers has CAESAR: ‘absolute monarch, autocrat’ so I don’t see why you would have a problem with ’emperor’.

    Tony@74 & Hoofit@77: I can’t find dictionary or thesaurus support for ‘boring’=SAFE, so will antonyms do instead? How about ‘boring’ →exciting→dangerous→SAFE. Yeah, I know – still a bit of a stretch.

    I struggled for a long time to see the substitution of HIP for ‘Tory’, even though I’d clicked to the other substitutions quite readily. Pleased to have got there in the end.

    Favourite was ’18’= half of MO(ON)!

    Thanks to Fed and Andrew.

  85. As I remember, “Caesar” was just the surname of the first few – it became a title later.

    “How’s your boyfriend?” “Safe” “Boring, then?”

  86. No doubt the superfluous ‘n’ was dropped to save ink…. “It begins at home Denis…”

    Lord Jim@9; Eileen@23: ‘Replacement clues’ – at least we now have a term to apply to these chappies. I find them tedious and, without wishing to offer offense, a lazy option for a setter. That being said I have noticed (dismayedly) a certain frequency in Times xies, but I don’t recall ever choking on one in the Sunday Times prize (which was more or less my gateway to the larger family of cryptics).

    ludosmoll@76: haha v good.

  88. Enjoyed this. Thanks Fed and Blogger. Also enjoyed comments about levels of difficultly made by various people as I asked about it yesterday in a comment that was a bit late to be noticed. 21d new to me and unlikely to be useful in life but just in case I have it.

  89. All went well here except the slip-up with DENIS/DENNIS (as already mentioned in blog) – plus I wasn’t too happy with SAFE SEAT for three reasons: (1) is any seat on at least one side of the Commons ‘safe’ in the current political turmoil? (2) ‘House’ in that sense should have a capital H – which would be an obvious giveaway, and (3) I don’t really equate ‘safe’ with ‘boring’ (perhaps the fact that I spent most of my working life in the ‘safety’ industry might prejudice me…)

    A big tick for some others though: I’m keen on substitution clues. CHISEL hits the spot (once I realised that A P[ower] was being replaced and we weren’t talking of a ‘power tool’ – nice misdirection there! The other clue of this type, TALL SHIP – also very clever. Ticks too for CAESAR (surface makes some sense as the penguins spent a lot of time out on the ice); IRON MAIDEN (didn’t know of the band but an obvious guess); NOSEDIVE; CAREER; HALF-MOON; STIGMATA.

    OMERTA was a new word to me but the wordplay was clear – 18 = HALF-MOON = MO was pretty obvious.

    Another point: is MERE (or more correctly MÈRE) really admissable? – as a French word not in common English usage? Just asking…

    Thanks to Fed and Andrew.

  90. Pianoman@88 further thoughts on your post yesterday . Prize puzzles used to be designated , mainly Araucaria who had a contract with the Guardian for a certain number of puzzles per month. Also Bunthorne was told to set for Saturday , it used to be the hardest puzzle of the week. Paul and Enigmatist would get a few.
    Now it seems completely random with some being Monday standard. I suspect setters are not asked to set a “Saturday” puzzle, except occasional themes with a specific date for an anniversary etc.

  91. sheffield hatter @84: From Collins under synonyms for ‘safe’:
    (adjective) in the sense of boring
    Rock `n’ roll has become so commercialised and safe.

  95. Tim@39
    in “Nice parent? Pure and simple (4)” the answer is the English definition, with wordplay in “Nice parent” indicated by the question mark, so not a dd and therefore not a French word. i.e. legit.
    The issue with Fed’s clue is that either it’s double wordplay to give an undefined English word, which is weird, or a cryptic definition of a French word, with attendant wordplay, which seems unfair.

  96. Thanks Fed and Andrew

    As someone who isn’t a long term solver or a purist, I am sometimes surprised by what people question and what they give a pass to. It seems that we are saying that using a well known (but not assimilated into British) foriegn word as part of a clue is fair, but having the same word as the complete answer is unfair? I mean, I can see the logic, although I’m not totally convinced …

  97. oed.com has these as borrowings from French:
    mère n, 7.: ‘1862–Used as postmodifier: designating the elder of two women of the same name, esp. a mother as distinct from her daughter or daughters. Cf. père n. 2.
    1862 All you say about poor Marie Leiningen Mère interests me. Queen Victoria, Letter 12 November in Dearest Mama (1968) 130′
    père n. 2.: ‘1802– Used after a surname to distinguish a father from a son or sons of that name; senior. Cf. fils n.1
    2003 The early musical inventiveness and skill that was to lead Strauss père to global success. Scotland on Sunday (Nexis) 18 May 7′
    fils n.1: ‘1817–Used after a surname to distinguish a son from a father of the same name; junior. Cf. père n. 2.
    2000 Bush fils is trying to stake his claim on the appealing side of Texas mythology. U.S. News & World Report 15 May 14/1′
    Filles, on the other hand, can only be de chambre or de joie, apparemtly.

  98. “apparently” or jeune fille n & a. ‘Esp. in French-speaking contexts: a young girl. Also occasionally as predicative adj.: characteristic of a young girl or ingénue.’

  99. I’m a day late on crosswords this week, having been travelling, but I just wanted to say thanks to Fed for tremendous fun, thanks to Andrew for parsing what I could not (CAREER) and thanks to everyone for a hugely enjoyable blog. And I agree with Stuart@96 re MERE.

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