Although I filled in this grid rather quickly, I (somewhat paradoxically) assess this set of clues overall as challenging and sophisticated. Nothing too exotic, but on clue after clue, I would write in an answer, then go back to puzzle out how I arrived at that solution. I would be interested to hear others’ experience.
I think I first encountered Kite in the Genius puzzles. If there is a nina or theme at play, I am not picking up on one. Update: See Biggles A@7 and Gladys@13. Thanks to Kite@26 & Kite@40 for checking in with more information about the puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DESK PAD |
One providing protection asked flighty daughter to house piano (4,3)
|
| {Anagram of (flighty) ASKED + D (daughter)} around (to house) P (piano) | ||
| 5 | WASTAGE |
Exhausting – used to be time to grow old (7)
|
| WAS (used to be) + T (time) + AGE (to grow old). Unless there is something else clever going on here, I am not sure that the solution and the definition quite align? The act of “exhausting” amounts to the “wastage” of something? | ||
| 9 | OFTEN |
Generally decimal? (5)
|
| OF TEN (decimally?), as in: having a base of ten | ||
| 10 | CHINAWARE |
Mate with unit showing cups, saucers etc (9)
|
| CHINA (mate) + W (with) + ARE (unit) | ||
| 11 | PAEDIATRIC |
Arranging one short city parade of children (10)
|
| Anagram of (arranging) {I (one) + CIT[Y] minus last letter (short) + PARADE} | ||
| 12 | SUIT |
Possibly clubs frantically use it to get rid of drug (4)
|
| Anagram of (frantically) (US[E] + IT) minus (to get rid of) E (drug) | ||
| 14 | CATEGORICAL |
Unqualified Gaelic actor sacked (11)
|
| Anagram of (sacked) GAELIC ACTOR | ||
| 18 | CATASTROPHE |
Musical without a pronounced award, it’s a tragedy (11)
|
| {CATS (musical) around (without) A} + homophone of (pronounced) TROPHY | ||
| 21 | FLAP |
State program briefly produces panic (4)
|
| FL (state) + AP[P] (program) minus last letter (briefly) | ||
| 22 | SARCOPHAGI |
A cargo ship transported coffins (10)
|
| Anagram of (transported) A CARGO SHIP | ||
| 25 | LOGROLLER |
American sportsman is extravagant gambler with record for trip (9)
|
| LOG (record for trip) + ROLLER (extravagant gambler). Update: See Montague1@2: That is probably the intended parsing. |
||
| 26 | POINT |
Somewhere to go before international show (5)
|
| PO (somewhere to go, i.e., a chamberpot) + INT. (international) | ||
| 27 | DRESDEN |
Padres denouncing constituents in European city (7)
|
| Hidden in (constituents in) [PA]DRES DEN[OUNCING] | ||
| 28 | BURGLAR |
He left citizen, protecting city thief (7)
|
| {BURG[HE]R (citizen) minus (left) HE} around (protecting) LA (city) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DROOPY |
Dwarf lacking energy caught backsliding or limp? (6)
|
| DOP[E]Y (dwarf) minus (lacking) E (energy) around (caught) OR inverted (backsliding) | ||
| 2 | SITTER |
20 topless after introduction to super model (6)
|
| First letter of (introduction to) S[UPER] + [L]ITTER ([solution to] 20[D]) minus first letter (topless) | ||
| 3 | PENCIL CASE |
Chest of drawers? (6,4)
|
| Cryptic definition, referring to the possible toolkit of a person who draws | ||
| 4 | DUCAT |
Old bread of French catholic lies on rug, unopened (5)
|
| DU (of [in] French) + C (Catholic) + [M]AT (rug) minus first letter (unopened) | ||
| 5 | WRITING UP |
Finishing PhD producing DNA-H? (7,2)
|
| Cryptically, “WRITING UP” amounts to inverting (up) HAND (writing), which produces DNA-H. I understand the idea of committing a doctoral thesis to paper, but is this a term of art in academia somewhere? Update: See KVa@3. |
||
| 6 | SCAN |
North American gas rising for inspection (4)
|
| {NA (North America) + CS (gas, i.e., 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile or tear gas)} all inverted (rising) | ||
| 7 | ACAPULCO |
Occupational employment after dropping into resort (8)
|
| Anagram of (employment) OCCUPA[TION]AL minus (after dropping) the letters in INTO | ||
| 8 | ERECTILE |
Able to get firm to return pick broken by ground (8)
|
| ELITE (pick) inverted (to return) around (broken by) REC (ground) | ||
| 13 | GREEN PAPER |
Fruit technically accepted for record in preliminary report (5,5)
|
| GREEN P[EP]PER (fruit, technically) with A (accepted) substituted for EP (record) | ||
| 15 | TARPAULIN |
Boatman, compiler at home making cover (9)
|
| TAR (boatman) + PAUL (compiler [of cryptic crosswords]) + IN (at home) | ||
| 16 | SCUFFLED |
Fought Bob, collecting belt (8)
|
| SLED (bob) around (collecting) CUFF (belt) | ||
| 17 | STRANGLE |
Way to not start argument, hold back! (8)
|
| ST (way) + [W]RANGLE (argument) minus first letter (not to start) | ||
| 19 | FACIAL |
Sort of recognition that spies are hidden by British river (6)
|
| CIA (spies) inside (are hidden by) FAL (British river) | ||
| 20 | LITTER |
Refuse less significant liberal, once dismissed (6)
|
| LITT[L]ER (less significant) minus (dismissed) L (liberal), with “once” indicating that only one of the “L’s” is removed. | ||
| 23 | CAROB |
Top of observatory blocking energy source for tree (5)
|
| First letter of (top of) O[BSERVATORY] inside (blocking) CARB (energy source) | ||
| 24 | FOOD |
Clipped dog of revolutionary gets something to eat (4)
|
| {DO[G] minus last letter (clipped) + OF} all inverted (revolutionary) |
WASTAGE
If we say that someone is wasted, that person is tired/exhausted.
Exhausting in this sense is WASTAGE?
OFTEN
The ‘decimal’ rather than ‘decimally’ looks fine to me. The solution is an adverb but the wordplay is
an adjective. That is fine, I guess.
Thanks Kite and Cineraria!
Loved several clues. Top faves: POINT, DROOPY, WRITING UP, ERECTILE, GREEN PAPER and LITTER.
Re 25A: Isn’t an “extravagant gambler” a HIGH ROLLER? If so, I then read the clue as replacing LOG (“record”) for HIGH (“trip”)…
WRITING UP
Found this online (while awaiting someone knowledgeable to explain it better):
At 36 months, a formal monitoring point must be completed to ensure that your research is progressing and can be completed within the expected timescales. At this point, you will be expected to demonstrate that you are on track to complete all your experimental work, and you should have a timetable of your remaining work to be completed to meet the expected thesis submission deadline. You should have also completed a minimum period of registration at the College – this is normally 36 months from the initial date of your registration.
Once approved by your department, you can move into Writing Up period of your PhD programme and you will be expected to submit your thesis for examination within 12 months.
KVa@3 I think it depends on University and maybe School within the University. I did mine start to finish in 3 years, some people take 7 or more years. One factor is whether your advisor wants to keep you as slave labour, and hence will be reluctant to concede you’ve done enough to be finished.
Thanks Cineraria. My experience was much like yours, the words went in but the explanations took rather more time. I made it harder than necessary by putting in ‘washing up’ for 5d and waiting for the reason to emerge later. Still not very happy with exhausting=wastage. Not easy but satisfying to insert LOI FACIAL.
Thanks Dr. WhatsOn@4 for the info. I just looked up ‘writing up’ in the context of PhD. I have no knowledge on the subject.
Biggles A@5
To waste is to tire/exhaust.
WASTAGE and exhausting as nouns are equivalent in this context.
It may or may not have been intended but CAT appears several times in the answers and a nina. It could also precede a few other answers.
KVa @6. I understand but still am not happy. It might have been better if the first word in the clue had simply been ‘exhaust’, even at the risk to the surface .
And further to Biggles A@7, Kite actually commented on the Guardian blog last weekend, and gave a nudge. I found that surprising as there hadn’t been much time for people to notice themselves and it was a live Prize.
BigglesA@8
WASTAGE
I get your point. Thanks.
Your comment@7: You may well be right on CAT.
Re WASTAGE, a noun, Chambers lists exhausting only as an adjective, as does Collins.
I am another who found the answers easier to solve than fully parse
Thanks Kite and Cineraria
I never remember the ARE, so useful to setters.
Besides the Nina and the answers actually containing a CAT, we have cat LITTER, FOOD, SITTER and FLAP for pet owners, plus CAT SCAN, BURGLAR and possibly SUIT. I wish I’d seen it at the time: it would have helped with FLAP which I failed to complete.
The definition of WRITING UP tallies with the experience of a friend who recently completed a PHD as a mature student.
11a PAEDIATRIC doesn’t mean “of children”. It means ‘dealing with or specializing in the medical or surgical care of children.’
(just as geriatric doesn’t mean “of old people”)
oed.com has exhausting as a noun: ‘The action of exhaust v. in its various senses; an instance of this. Also attributive…
1764 The populousness of the kingdom still increaseth, notwithstanding its great exhaustings by wars, and plagues. R. Burn, History of Poor Laws 153′
L2i: 5d WRITING UP – 🙁 and 10a CHINA+W+ARE – 🙂
Hmmm, this blog was not my best. Thanks for the very helpful comments.
Found this tricky and DNF a few in the NW and SE
BURGLAR, PENCIL CASE, SCUFFLED, CAROB, GREEN PAPER
Thanks Kite and Cineraria
I agree with Fiona @16 above, tricky and often obscure, a DNF too!
Thanks for the blog, it was great , often on here we have additions as people contribute but the blog itself is the foundation. Often pure research can continue indefinitely , at some stage I have to say to my students – Write it up now.
I really enjoyed this, I thought the clues were very neat and clever. ACAPULCO flowed very nicely, ERECTILE used return very well, GREEN PAPER a neat substitution, LITTER very precise for the the one L , many more …
Two quibbles, PAEDIATRIC earned a severe Paddington stare , TARPAULIN has a setter’s name in the wordplay, this just puts off newer solvers.
I failed to get ACAPULCO, so this was DNF for me. Now I see it, I suspect ‘resort’ is a second anagrind, so making the clue an anagram &lit.
Also failed on PENCIL CASE, having treated ‘drawers’ as underwear and concluding it must be ‘pantie case’, even though I wondered if there is such a thing.
Thanks, BigglesA27 and Gladys@13, for pointing out the cat theme, which eluded me. I did wonder if putting DROOPY and ERECTILE opposite one another might lead to a theme, but remembered this is a respectable Guardian crossword, not a Private Eye one!
Thanks also to Kite and Cineraria, whose blog explained a few issues, as others have said.
I had a similar experience to Cineraria of knowing what the answer was and taking ages to parse it so I could enter it.
Not sure if I spotted the theme at the time, it’s been a long week since I solved this on Saturday
Thank you to Kite and Cineraria.
I was initially stumped by LOGROLLER, a) because the definition ”American sportsman” was so w-i-d-e, and b) the substitution was a bit tricky, but got it and parsed it ok. I would object to the definition ”sportsman” though. One of the sites I looked up said women have been competing since the 1930s.
[Roz@18. Write it up now. I once had a supervisor in a policy unit where I was required to write reports. To encourage me to just stop and write it up, she said to me something like: The world won’t stop for you to take a photograph of it. That’s stayed with me, and I’ve passed it on to others.
Speaking of photographs of the world. Vale William Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, one of the first humans to orbit the moon, who took that incredible Earthrise photo, and has died at 90 piloting a vintage single-engined plane. What a life!]
Thanks for the blog – certainly needed it to parse some of these and cheat on ‘FLAP’ to unlock the rest of the SW corner. I’m glad I did because I was able to enjoy the excellent hidden DRESDEN.
Thanks Kite for a tough challenge!
[ PDM @ 21 I will remember that but students would happily photograph their scribblings rather than a formal write-up.
I have just been reading about Bill Anders, he was still flying solo at 90 , incredible.
In one sense the famous photo is a sort of fake , it was actually taken with the Earth “sideways” as they orbitted and it came into view, turn it through 90 degrees to look like the Earth rising above the surface , still a fantastic image. ]
LOGROLLER
paddymelon@21
Agree with you. Why not sportsperson?
I follow women’s cricket to a good extent. I see some commentators struggling to
say batter (they say batsman and quickly correct themselves to batter).
I think in baseball, it has always been batter/hitter for both genders.
Someone may correct me.
I feel I should have noticed the CATs but I didn’t. As always, memory is a tad hazy after a week but I don’t recall any particular issue with this solid puzzle. I understand the criticism of including a compiler’s name but this is the Guardian and it must be quite hard to be a G solver and be unaware of Paul. I liked the link with Boatman in that clue – though new solvers have a tad more justification for being unfamiliar with that name.
I thought the anagrams for both SARCOPHAGI and CATEGORICAL were superb, GREEN PAPER made me laugh out loud and at least I now know what a LOG ROLLER is.
Thanks Kite and Cineraria
Many thanks to Cineraria for a good blog and for all the comments from posters. The Chambers Thesaurus gives this example for wastage: wastage of scarce natural resources: squandering, loss, exhausting, draining, frittering away, dissipation.
Most of my crosswords do have a theme and here CATs were evident in 3 answers and a couple of NINAs, as well as making phrases when inserted before 7 solutions. I did write up my Ph D some time ago and have an interest in DNA as may be surmised from 5D.
Tough puzzle. Many answers were guessable but I was unable to parse 10ac (the WARE bit), 11ac, 4d, 8d, 13d, 17d.
New for me: PO = chamber pot (for 26ac); LOGROLLER; Doofy dog (for 24d); CS=the chemical element caesium.
Favourite: WRITING UP.
Thanks, both.
Kite @26, I was surprised to find DNA-H is actually a thing (3 strands as opposed to 2 I think). I also didn’t have a second thought about WRITING UP which I did after leaving Uni and getting a job.
I enjoyed this. There are some clever clues, particularly 5d, 9a and the DROOPY ERECTILE pair. A couple of minor quibbles – I’m generally relaxed about puns/aural wordplay/homophones but if using “pronounced” as the indicator, it should probably be closer than “trophy” and the end of “catastrophe”. Also, “du” is French for “of the”, not just “of”. I missed the cat theme, but reading about it has increased my appreciation of the puzzle. Thanks Kite and Cineraria.
This puzzle made me smile. Some brilliant clues though I struggled to parse quite a number. I loved the DROOPY and ERECTILE end-supports to the top line.
Sadly, I had FLOPPY rather than DROOPY, justifying this by taking the questionmark as indicating a Kite-invented eighth dwarf called Floppy. The rest of the clue I parsed as a triple definition: floppy = lacking energy = limp = caught backsliding in the Fosbury Flop sense! Understandably, I never quite managed to parse FUSE PAD, which was my attempt at 1a.
Many thanks, Kite. Some wonderful clue constructions. And I loved the concise clueing of OFTEN and PENCIL CASE.
[Roz@23. Thank you for the enlightenment of the photo. Serendipity. He died at 90 and the image needed to be rotated 90 degrees.]
18a CATASTROPHE – Both the solution and the surface look like a critique of the 2019 film version of Cats:
It won lots of TROPHiEs – a Dorian for ‘Campiest Flick of the Year’, and six Razzies including a double nomination in the category
‘Worst Screen Combo’ , where ‘Jason Derulo and his CGI-neutered “bulge”‘ lost out to ‘Any two half-feline/half-human hairballs’.
And 1d DROOPY is a dog.
Being of an older generation I parsed 21a as FLA=state and P = program briefly.
DNF. I was defeated by WRITING UP as I convinced myself that HANDING UP (rather than ‘handing in’) was a thing in some institutions, thus blocking the NE corner. In my defence I submit (!) that my PhD was nearly 50 years ago.
This was tough but very satisfying.
I thought PENCIL CASE was a tad weak and, as others have already pointed out, PAEDIATRIC isn’t quite the right word – but these quibbles were washed aside by the delight arising from POINT, GREEN PAPER, BURGLAR, TARPAULIN – and the well-hidden DRESDEN.
I guessed LOGROLLER from the crossers – figuring it might be some kind of lumberjacks’ contest.
Needless to say, I didn’t spot any of the cats.
The blog, therefore, was really helpful – thanks Cineraria.
Nice one Kite!
Sorry to come so late to the blog. Just to say thank you to Kite for a chewy but fair Cryptic. The 🐈 theme was brilliant but alas I didn’t spot it … Thank you too cineraria for a good blog and to all the above contributors who helped with the theme, parsing etc. LOG ROLLER was a NHO but fairly clued. It looks like a dangerous sport. Hard to pick favourites, but ACAPULCO, DROOPY and ERECTILE were all brilliant. In case you drop in again Kite, thanks again and are you based in the US?
Wellbeck @36: you are not the only one to consider the lumberjacks idea. I imagined them on waterborne logs for some reason! A Canadian version of It’s A Knockout?
Good puzzle and blog … interesting that there is an alternative concept of logrolling, contrasting with the sport’s sense: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logrolling
Writing up: that iis why I did after my research for a Ph.D. … and what I have expected my students to do since then
Fair cop about PAEDIATRIC, I should have known better. Something like: ‘I react and paid after organisation of children’s treatment’ (with a bit of polishing) might have been an improvement. I accept that ‘du’ in French normally means ‘of the’ but someone on the Web suggested that ‘Les Fleurs du Mal’ is usually translated as ‘The Flowers of Evil.’ I’m not a language expert but maybe that covers the point. BTW I’m based in the UK.
Many of my answers were very lightly pencilled in for this one. There seemed to be a lot that I just wasn’t confident about, although in the end they were all right, and I finally managed to parse all except WRITING UP (but I knew that was right, because I’ve done it). I think that’s the sort of experience others have described. I only wish that just this once I’d spotted the theme – that would have given me rather more confidence in the answers. Thanks Kite, thanks Cineraria.
Surely this puzzle appeared last week ? Is the physical copy of the paper one week behind ? Today is June 8th. Prize Crossword number 29,404 set by Philistine . Twice recently I’ve printed off the crossword only to find I’d already done it . The links on the Guardian crossword page are misleading.
Pauline@37. Noon on a Saturday is not late; at least, not late for me. In fact, that was approximately the time I started on the final eight clues, all in the bottom half of the grid, that I had got stuck on last weekend. I think BURGLAR and then CAROB got me restarted, and then FLAP helped with SCUFFLED, having previously been unable to parse a putative SCRAPPED. (CRAP inside SPED? I don’t think so.)
I was too busy struggling with the remaining clues to look for themes or ninas. If I’d somehow had access to pdm’s comment @21 last Sunday I could have just taken a photo of the incomplete grid and sent it in, rotated through 90 degrees. (I may have misinterpreted the advice.)
Thanks to Kite and Cineraria.
NS@42: The Prize solution appears one week after the puzzle is published.
C@44 Thank you. All the days run into one ! I still think the Guardian site is misleading though . The obvious link doesn’t go to today’s crossword.
Tough, but enjoyable for the tricks that were new to me eg “accepted for record” and “record for trip”.
Thanks to High Flyer and Dusty Miller.
I found this very difficult and failed to finish – but I whizzed through today’s (June 8th.) offering with ease. Very odd. I spotted WRITING UP, which I never finished for my own doctorate, but couldn’t parse it. Took me a while even with Cineraria’s help. And how on earth did I miss DRESDEN?? Obviously not my day. But thanks to Setter and Blogger.
Meandme@47. Please try not to comment on a current puzzle that has not been blogged yet. Even if your comment is apparently harmless, it could encourage others to reply.
Thanks.
Relieved just now on checking the blog to confirm that my completed puzzle was correct. I needed the blog to explain a few of the answers and the hidden CAT theme, so good work all involved.
Kite@40: many (all?) abstract nouns in French require a definite article e.g. death=la mort, evil =le mal. So “of evil”=”du mal” where du is the contraction of de + le.
[I’m not sure whether “contraction” is the correct linguistic terminology, I’d be happy if anyone can confirm or correct.]