The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29468.
I found that this fell in more easily that some of Pangakupu’s offerings, helped by swift entry of the long 1D PARACHUTE JUMPER and 8D A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Even the Maori stood out – PUKAPUKA emblazoned across the top, which apparently has one meaning of a letter, with RETA at the bottom as a synonym (I am not sure of the Maori attitude to reduplication). Then of course there is 13A HAKA in the middle, but that has been adopted into English. So, in all, smooth sailing but none the less enjoyable.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | ANNUALISE |
Line sauna roughly and make like winter? (9)
|
| An anagram (‘roughly’) of ‘line sauna’, with a rather odd definition: to annualise is to express e.g. an interest rate as it would be for a whole year; I suppose the idea here is that if you ‘make like winter’, you are encompassing a calendar year. | ||
| 10 | PRIMP |
Dress up puritanical Priest (5)
|
| A charade of PRIM (‘puritanical’) plus P (‘Priest’). | ||
| 11 | APROPOS |
Relevant article in support of stance being curtailed (7)
|
| A charade of A (indefinite ‘article’) plus PRO (‘in support of’) plus POS[e] (‘stance’) minus its last letter (‘curtailed’). | ||
| 12 | OBOISTS |
More than one player is captivated by redesigned boots (7)
|
| An envelope (‘captivated by’) of ‘is’ in OBOTS, an anagram (‘redesigned’) of ‘boots’. | ||
| 13 | HAKA |
Sporting challenge has advertised keen attitude at first (4)
|
| First letters (‘at first’) of ‘Has Advertised Keen Attitude’, with perhaps an extended definition. By Pangakupu and one for our other New Zealand followers. | ||
| 14 | PARAMNESIA |
Outcast ditching husband – possibly means to block that, failing to recall meaningful things (10)
|
| An envelope (‘to block that’) of AMNES, an anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘means’ in PARIA[h] (‘outcast’) minus the H (‘ditching husband’); I’m sure that PARAMNESIA is a word, but I cannot think what it means. | ||
| 16 | TONNAGE |
Worry boarding attitude will do for ship’s capacity (7)
|
| An envelope (‘boarding’) of NAG (‘worry’, verb certainly, noun possibly) in TONE (‘attitude’). | ||
| 17 | CORACLE |
Firm line taken aboard competition boat (7)
|
| A charade of CO (company, ‘firm’) plus RACLE, an envelope (‘aboard’) of L (‘line’) in RACE (‘competition’). | ||
| 19 | JACKANAPES |
Kid sailor with answer about parrot (10)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of APE (‘parrot’) in JACK (‘sailor’) plus ANS (‘answer’). | ||
| 22 | OTTO |
Old Emperor and old King leaving cave (4)
|
| A subtraction: [gr]OTTO (‘cave’) minus GR (‘old King leaving’, GR being Georgius Rex, King George). | ||
| 24 | MURRAIN |
A lot of fog and wet weather leading to cattle disease (7)
|
| A charade of MUR[k] (‘fog’) minus the last letter (‘a lot of’) plus RAIN (‘weather’). | ||
| 25 | IN A SPIN |
A small detective seen in pub, confused (2,1,4)
|
| An envelope (‘seen in’) of ‘a’ plus S (‘small’) plus PI (Private Investigator, ‘detective’) in INN (‘pub’). | ||
| 26 | EXTRA |
Surplus, no longer a soldier? Tense inside (5)
|
| An envelope (‘inside’) of T (‘tense’) in EX (‘no longer’) RA (‘a soldier’, after a person’s name, indicating a member of the Royal Artillary); or EX-RA can be treated as a unit (‘no longer a soldier’). | ||
| 27 | CHOU EN-LAI |
What’s dear in France? Alien cooking (top Chinese) (4,2-3)
|
| A charade of CHOU (‘dear in France’; cabbage is an affectionate name less common in English, but I recall an episode of The Crown in which Queen Elizabeth lets on that Prince Philip used it of her) plus ENLAI, an anagram (‘cooking’) of ‘alien’; Chou was at one time Premier of the People’s Republic of China, and this is one of various attempts to render his name. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PARACHUTE JUMPER |
Standard to have a piece of clothing under sloping channel – one aspires to a soft landing (9,6)
|
| A charade of PAR (‘standard’) plus ‘a’ plus CHUTE (‘sloping` channel’) plus JUMPER (‘piece of clothing’). | ||
| 2 | UNBROKEN |
Nun moved to go around without money, without respite (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to go around’) of BROKE (‘without money’) in UNN, a anagram (‘moved’) of ‘nun’. | ||
| 3 | KAPPA |
Greek character, one in Kipling swallowing up pages (5)
|
| An envelope (‘swallowing up’) of PP (‘pages’) in KAA (‘one in Kipling’; a giant snake in The Jungle Book). | ||
| 4 | AIRSPACE |
Tells everyone about speed where planes fly (8)
|
| A charade of AIRS (‘tells everyone about’) plus PACE (‘speed’). | ||
| 5 | PELOTA |
School body retaining chess expert for game (6)
|
| An envelope (‘retaining’) of ELO (Arpad Emmerich Elo, ‘chess expert’ and originator of the Elo rating system for adjudging chess masters) in PTA (Parent-Teacher Association, ‘school body’). | ||
| 6 | UP-COUNTRY |
Posh joke over attempt to secure senior officer further inland (2-7)
|
| An envelope (‘to secure’) CO (Commanding Officer, ‘senior officer’) in U (‘posh’) plus PUN (‘joke’) plus (‘over’ – redundant, but it marks the position of the following in a down light) TRY (‘attempt’). | ||
| 7 | KISSES |
King and unmarried girls – here’s some amorous activity (6)
|
| A charade of K (‘king’ e.g. chess notation) plus [m]ISSES (‘girls’) minus the M (‘unmarried’). | ||
| 8 | A PASSAGE TO INDIA |
Posit Asia agenda presented in novel form here? (1,7,2,5)
|
| An anagram (‘presented in novel form’) of ‘posit Asia agenda’, with an extended definition (if ‘here’ is included in the anagrind, an &lit), for the novel by E M Forster. | ||
| 15 | PANAMA HAT |
Articles about bloke turning up in excellent headgear (6,3)
|
| A double envelope (‘about’ and ‘in’) of NAM, a reversal (‘turning up’ in a down light) of MAN (‘bloke’) in A A (‘articles’) in PHAT (‘excellent’). | ||
| 17 | CREDITOR |
Someone expecting payback about social media user dismissing a Democrat (8)
|
| A charade of C (circa, ‘about’) plus RED[d]ITOR (‘social media user’ of Reddit) minus a D (‘dismissing a Democrat’). | ||
| 18 | CATAPULT |
A strike blocking fashionable project (8)
|
| An envelope (‘blocking’) of ‘a’ plus TAP (‘strike’) in CULT (‘fashionable’). | ||
| 20 | CURATE |
Minister’s signal to collar scoundrel (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to collar’) of RAT (‘scoundrel’) in CUE (‘signal’). | ||
| 21 | ARNICA |
Fine to leave continent having seized new medicinal plant (6)
|
| A[f]RICA (‘continent’) minus the F (‘fine to leave’) with an inserted N (‘having seized new’). | ||
| 23 | PAYEE |
Indication of agreement accepted by potential energy recipient (5)
|
| An envelope (‘accepted by’) of AYE (‘indication of agreement’) in PE (‘potential energy’).
|
Nice puzzle and blog, thanks. I still don’t understand annualise, I had it as a possibility at the very start and could only bung it in with a shrug at the end in the hope that the blog would tell me!
Yes, I thought this was somewhat easier than usual. I would never have parsed PELOTA, so thanks for that, and a few others, PeterO.
Never heard of PHAT.
Thanks Pangakupu, too
Enjoyed the solve today, but no clues in particular stood out.
Talking of standing out, the ninas were pretty easy to spot today (I mentioned how to recognize them on an earlier occasion). However, I tend to find Pangakupu’s ninas a little bit wanting if they don’t relate to, say, a theme in the puzzle or something about the day of publication. Cryptics are all about double meanings and cross references and such, so I feel there is a lost opportunity here. Sorry, didn’t mean to come off all negative, I always enjoy looking for them, but that happens after puzzle completion, since they don’t help with the solving itself.
Oed.com isn’t allowing me to log in with my Hackney library card this morning, so all I can see for 14a PARAMNESIA is: ‘1888– paramnesia, n.
Memory that is unreal, illusory, or distorted; spec. the phenomenon of déjà vu; an instance of this. Also: loss of memory for the meaning of words…’
and then it trails off, as if it’s forgotten what it was doing…
No entry, but 5 quotations for 27a CHOU EN-LAI, dated between 1955 and 1978…
…and CHOU, on its own is ‘1706– chou, n.
A small round cake of pastry filled with cream or fruit, etc. Hence chou(x) paste, chou pastry, a very light egg-enriched pastry.’
Premium Oxford Dictionaries is working for me, and that includes foreign languages. In French the entry for CHOU is extensive: ‘
chou pl choux Pronunciation: /ʃu/ Translation of chou in English:
adjective invariable (personne) sweet – elle est chou avec son chapeau = she looks so sweet in her hat
masculine noun 1 (légume) cabbage – soupe aux choux = cabbage soup …
3 (personne aimable) dear – ferme la porte tu seras un chou = be a dear and close the door’
There’re lots of Compounds and Idioms, too. And all free for UK library-goers.
For paramnesia, C2016 has
1. A memory disorder in which words are remembered but not their proper meaning
2. The condition of believing that one remembers events and circumstances which have not previously occurred
A few bits of dnk, the game, the chess bloke, and that form of amnesia, but no real hold-up. Haven’t seen Mao’s old comrade Chou in a long time. Nice puzzle, ta PnP.
Easier cluing than I usually expect from Pangakupu, but some unfamiliar GK and vocabulary. Thanks PeterO for explaining why ELO = a chess expert (no idea). Also mystified by ANNUALISE (bunged and shrugged as the likeliest result of the anagram) and PARAMNESIA was new. Is the slang PHAT=excellent new, old, regional, music-related or what? Unknown to me, anyway.
I presume this is the “old emperor OTTO” – I had him as the Roman OTHO until I took a closer look at the clue.
I liked JACKANAPES and MURRAIN and ARNICA, the confused detective in the pub and the King kissing the misses.
Thanks Peter O. Yes reduplication is a thing in Māori. Not going to add a link here because the ones I’ve found are either very academic, or from Reddit, funnily enough. (I had not heard the term Redditor, in the clue for CREDITOR.}
What intrigued me is why P clued HAKA so simply (first letters), and in football terms, but then that’s where most people would know it from, but I think the extended definition reading, as you mention, is the extra significance.
Dr. WhatsOn@3. Pangakupu has said on one of these blogs that his ninas don’t necessarily, or possibly ever, have a connection to the crossword. From memory, it’s just something that gives him a starting point to work with. A little Easter egg hunt for the rest of us, which we can join in if we feel like it.
FrankieG@4. The N gram has PARAMNESIA flatlining since about 1800.
PANAMA HAT was interesting, as I did not know phat, but that’s all that was left for the envelope, so fairly clued..
Favourite CHOU EN-LAI for the surface, wordplay, and def top Chinese.
Neat gag @14, PeterO. (Just in case nobody else acknowledges your subtle demonstration of the definition.)
I managed to get through this one with a bit of bash and grind. Had to treat some clues as just find a synonym for the first or last words. I think that i am about 20 years too young to know some of the cluing or answers. Nice try with phat for the younger solvers, but even that word is 20 years out of date. Small gripe..i believe that cult is the opposite to fashionable. Cult film etc being not picked up by the fashionable mainstream. Ta to setter and blogger.
Looks like I am travelling a path already well-worn this morning. Can’t quite make sense of ANNUALISE, PARAMNESIA is new to me and nho the chess expert. CHOU EN-LAI rang only the faintest of bells and I doubt I could have told you who he was just from the name; it didn’t help that I couldn’t get ‘cher’ out of my mind for the French dear. Even I could spot likely Maori words in the Nina but they mean nothing to me; I know they are important to the setter and to other Maori solvers.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO
I had to rely a lot on wordplay to solve this one and was a bit surprised when it turned out that I’d got everything right.
Thanks Pangakup and PeterO
Some pretty obscure stuff here. I’ve never heard ANNUALISE, and, according to Chambers, the definition given is wrong. “One in Kipling” is loose for KAA. “A lot of fog” for MUR equally so. A could go on. You may gather I didn’t enjoy this much!
Lots of jorums for me today, but when I trusted the wordplay I solved it, surprisingly fast.
I looked up Elo to parse PELOTA, as my last one in, and CHOU EN-LAI, which Google wanted to spell as Zhou. I haven’t heard Phat for a while, but it used to be all over surfing gear 20 odd years ago.
Thank you to Pangakupu and PeterO.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO
I also enjoy this Setter and the understanding that any theme / Nina will be incidental and in Maori means I can safely ignore.
Definitely on the more approachable end of the spectrum with two 15 letter entry points.
Much the same as others re the GK this morning.
One query, does PRIMP really mean dress up? Travelling without dictionary today so can’t look it up, but I always thought it meant titivating the hair, make up etc.
One of those strange experiences last night, where it all just seemed to fall in quite quickly. Dr WhatsOn @3: the top Nina did help as I saw PUKA and the unfinished UKA. I loved the clue and word JACKANAPES but my favourite was CHOU EN-LAI. ANNUALISÉ was also a head scratch.
Ta Pangakupu & PeterO.
Very nice puzzle, thanks Pangakupu and PeterO for the ever-inestimable blog, esp elucidation of ELO. Like everyone else, am still a bit boggled by the def for ANNUALISE
Another nice solve, and the NINA did help me get PELOTA more quickly than I might have! Husband had to help me with CHOU EN-LAI as I had no memory of him despite my great age. PARAMNESIAC perhaps? Thanks Pangakupu and Peter O.
Oh and yes, William, you can primp a shop window for example.
Surely the idea for ANNUALISE is simply that it can be taken to mean “make something annual”, as winter is?
Lord Jim@23. That’s how I interpreted ANNUALISE.
This is the first occasion on which I was able to remember U = POSH, so that’s a small but notable achievement for me.
Otherwise, a few new/unknowns (5, 14, 24, 27) which I got with a mixture of help and guesswork. I note that there were several clues which I got but missed some of the parsing, having read the blog. A mixed bag, but that’s not meant in a negative way, it was nice to be stretched a bit.
I didn’t finish this but it was fun. Some lovely never heard words PARAMNESIA some unheard people ELO but best of all I knew CHOU EN LEI from his getting high on all the tea in China and wondered if a few other prog lovers were earwormed by this. Thanks Peter and Panga
LordJim@23, I think that answers the problem of the def for ANNUALISE. It had me puzzled as well.
Good fun despite not fully parsing a few ie the ELO, PHAT and REDITOR components. Thanks for explanations.
Favourites were CHOU EN-LAI and A PASSAGE TO INDIA.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO
Quite tough but mostly enjoyable.
New for me: MURRAIN; PHAT = excellent (for 15d); PARAMNESIA; PELOTA and ELO rating system = chess expert (for 5d).
9ac – I was unsure about why annualise = make like winter.
I did not parse 22ac.
Like PeterO, I have heard/read that Prince Philip used to call his wife ‘cabbage’ which is a sweet play on words/translation from French chou -> cabbage. Mon petit chou is a way of saying sweetheart/dear/love. Chou, poupée, mignon, chéri, amour can also be used as poppet = dear. I enjoyed this clue 🙂
Thanks, both.
William @19: you are right with your def for PRIMP, as is the setter. Chambers gives definitions:
primp /primp/
intransitive verb
To dress in a fussy or affected manner
To preen, titivate
transitive verb
To tidy, smarten or titivate (oneself or one’s hair, outfit, etc)
Enjoyed this despite some of the quibbles mentioned above.
I saw Puka Puka, which is apparently part of the Disappointment Islands, and was then appropriately disappointed to find that Reta Reta isn’t.
Not to worry.
Thank you to setter and blogger.
This Nina arose from the five-letter entries with three unchecked letters, of which I don’t entirely approve. So I gave them some extra letters to cross-check.
Frequently the inspiration for the Nina is the number of the puzzle in my submissions – no. 33 was gridded this very evening and you might want to watch out for something with that many rpm in a puzzle in the forthcoming months.
Completed in the early hours, but too many were solved through the definition and then the parsing came retrospectively. Rather than Phat (new one for me), this felt somewhat Flat. But did like CORACLE and CATAPULT…
Think Pukapuka is an nz tree.
I wrongly assumed that annualise had some kind of horticultural meaning. The way to turn a tender perennial into an annual is to make like winter. A pleasant solve.
That was an enjoyable solve. Everything fell into place quite neatly. I assumed ANNUALISE was a playful definition rather than literal. Winter happens annually, so if you make something like winter then you ANNUAL-ISE it, but maybe not.
The puzzle was a nice mix of old and new, with A PASSAGE TO INDIA, but also including PHAT and RED[D]ITOR – a change from the usual social media of X or something to do with Meta.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO!
I also found this on the easy side for this setter. CHOU EN-LAI is one of a handful of twentieth century Chinese politicians whose names I have no trouble in recalling. I was listening to Adams’ Nixon in China just a few days ago. PS Shouldn’t it be “farther inland” (rather than “further”); or am I missing something? With thanks to both.
Pangakupu@31. Thanks for dropping in. I look forward to your thirty-third.
PeterO in the blog: “I’m sure that PARAMNESIA is a word, but I cannot think what it means.”
Hahaha! Nice.
Many thanks to Pangakupu for the puzzle and to PeterO for the blog.
nuntius@36: are you based in the US/Canada? As I understand it, AmE prefers ‘farther’ where BrE uses ‘further’.
paddymelon @37, shouldn’t that be thirty three and a third. 🙂
Alec @12 and pserve_p2 @38 (who I think hasn’t seen Alec’s comment), that’s why I (@8) had to go and look it up in C2016. 🙂
I shall try to overcome my 14a to remember ELO, PHAT & CHOU.
Enjoyable and I luck-boxed my way to the end with a combination of crossers and wordplay, although PELOTA I only got after looking up “chess expert” and a distant link appeared. I was desperately trying to get GM in there! I liked the appearance of Reddit, and I chuckled heartily at “phat” in PANAMA HAT. My favourite, however, was OTTO which I thought was a masterful clue!
Thanks both!
Quite enjoyable for a Thursday solve. Did not notice the Maori, despite sharing a hemisphere with the Kiwis.
And a thanks both from me.
The most enjoyable to date from P for me with PARAMNESIA getting the jorum-of-the-year award. For me a JACKANAPES is someone who acts the fool (with the implication that there’s not much acting involved) so I don’t quite get the definition ‘kid’. OBOISTS got the longest of many ticks. The first 4 on my new scale which is to say I enjoyed it all the way and didn’t begrudge any of the time I gave to it.
I always have trouble getting on this setter’s wavelength – and all the Maori references will forever be beyond me, alas.
I certainly didn’t find this easier than previous creations. Hoo boy did I need the blog today!
I guessed PELOTA and ANNUALISE from the crossers: I’d heard of the game but couldn’t parse it, and hadn’t the foggiest idea how “winter” connected to the other.
14A clearly ended in NESIA – so I’m afraid I just looked up various possibilities for the first 5 letters.
I also had to hunt around to find a contender for the cattle disease: a word that probably ended in “rain”, and I crossed my fingers when putting in M-U-R.
At least this northern hemisphere ignoramus had heard of HAKA.
On the plus-side, ARNICA was neat, and I liked CHOU EN-LAI: I’m another who’d always spelled it Zhou, but the french endearment indicated a different anglicised version.
So thank you Pangakupu for reminding me of my intellectual failings, and heartfelt thanks to Peter O.
judygs@39: No, I’m English and live in London. I’ve since read a long entry on further/farther in Fowler’s Modern English Usage. Traditionally, “farther” is correct if there is a physical distance, whether implied or not. That said, it seems to be one of those cases where the distiction has been eroded over time. I still think it sounds wrong to use “further” in this context, but I suspect I’m in a minority. As you indicate, this may not be the case in the US and Canada. Am not sure what Chambers says. I keep meaning to buy a copy. However, it’s clear from the Web that some people would feel strongly (in a way that only pedants can) that “farther” is the correct word here.
I enjoyed this in general, as have I all Pangakupu’s recent offerings, but feel rather cheated by 14ac. Paramnesia is an unfamiliar word (even for someone who has worked in neurology), which would be fair enough if it was well clued; but the definition gives no inking of the specific meaning of paramnesia which distinguishes it from common or garden amnesia (I’m not sure how I would have done it but the pet hate phrase “my truth” might have been involved!). The other dodgy definition, annualise, was at least linked to a clear anagram which meant it couldn’t be anything else. Ok, humph over, and much else to like here, so thanks P.
Hi all, new here (thanks to the Guardian Quick Cryptic!). As such, sorry for the rookie question: in 6 Down, why does U signify “posh”?
nuntius@46 Mm … my old Chambers (7th edition) says under entry for ‘farther’: “Same as ‘further’, etc., and sometimes preferred where the notion of distance is more prominent.” No mention of US English, though I’ve found online support for AmE preference, and American editions of my (originally BrE) ELT books made that distinction and changed ‘further’ to ‘farther’ accordingly.
Thank judygs @49. Well, given this is a British puzzle I don’t think anyone could say it’s wrong. I’ve just looked at Simon Heffer’s Simply English. He is the pedant’s pedant, but doesn’t cover this one (as far as I can see). However, he does say that Americans are often more precise on grammatical matters than we are on this side of the pond.
Fidget @48
Welcome to the Far Side. This is one that you should tuck away for further reference. U (for upper class) and its counterpart non-U concern the differences, principally in vocabulary, between the posh and the would-be posh. The term arose in linguistic circles, but was popularised in a published essay by Nancy Mitford.
nuntius@50 😊 I might just start to use ‘farther’ where appropriate!
PS nuntius@50 The Guardian style guide:
farther or further?
farther and farthest are the comparative and superlative of far as in distance (eg farther away, the farthest point north): “a few miles farther, and we will reach the farthest point”.
further and furthest are the comparative and superlative of far as in degree (eg further discussion, the candidate furthest to the left)
😊😊
Judygs @53…Interesting…thanks!
MattS@47
The clue to 14A PARAMNESIA does include the mildly cryptic ‘meaningful’, which is why I went with my chosen definition, rather than the (more common use among neurologists?) inability to distinguish between real and fantasy memories.
I know a jorum is a punchbowl but what is its meaning in a crossword context?
PeterO @51 – many thanks! Hopefully that sticks in the memory.
Beaten by CHOU EN LAI today, who I had never heard of. And despite having lived in France for 2 years a while ago, I did not think of CHOU = dear, maybe because I only spoke to my English wife in English, even there. Otherwise, I found that the Nina helped me complete the SE, which is highly unusual for me.
Oh yes, and I got fixated on ANODE for 23d for far too long. NOD obviously works, but a bit of a stretch for the rest of it. Found the SE quite stretching in general, which only made the puzzle more fun.
[15d PANAMA HAT – “phat, adj 1963– a. Of a person, esp. a woman: sexy, attractive. b. Esp. of music: excellent, admirable; fashionable, ‘cool’.”
(61 years out of date.)]
When I saw PUKA PUKA and RETA RETA, my guess was that these are actual words from the HAKA – or at least from one version of it – but that’s only a guess.
Several not-too-familiar words here: I think the best way to define ANNUALISE is as “make to happen once a year”. Like winter, which comes once a year. Hence, Christmas is ANNUALISED, and so is the FA Cup – but the Olympics are not.
PARAMNESIA as a version of AMNESIA looks like a made-up word – but PARA is often placed in front of medical terms so I reckon it’s kosher.
Other rather uncommon words here – but I managed to eke them out – JACKANAPES, MURRAIN, OTTO (as an emperor – I tried NERO first), PELOTA, ARNICA. Liked the two long ones PARACHUTE JUMPER and A PASSAGE TO INDIA. I’m old enough that CHOU EN-LAI was familiar to me – though the preferred Pinyin romanisation of his name is ‘Zhou Enlai’ – just as Mao Tse-Tung has become ‘Mao Zedong’ and Peking is now Beijing.
Thanks to Panga and Peter.
Thanks for the blog, very good puzzle and nice to solve so many clues just using wordplay .
Fidget@48 , always worth trying harder puzzles , even if you do not get many you still learn things. On Monday the DYNAMO puzzle was pretty friendly and the blog will still be on here.
Always ask questions , no need to apologise , people on here are very kind and eager to help, we all remember being beginners.
Just be careful with AlanC , he is head of the Special Branch so watch your step. He has been known to arrest people for misusing apostrophe’s .
[ Frankie @59 , PHAT was definitely student slang in the 90s , generally meaning cool or excellent , often applied to music ]
Sue @56
Jorum has made it to the FAQ section; you already have the link at the top of the page.
Roz 62 – yup, generally in the phrase “phat beats”.
But why would anybody think that because the first recorded usuage being 61 years ago mean it’s out of date? By that criterion every word in the puzzle would be out of date!
Hi Fidget @45
I’m glad you raised the “posh means U” question. It’s one I have known about for ages, but seeing it again today I was pondering whether it is still really valid anywhere but in crossword-land!
My mum and dad introduced me to crosswords many years ago, and they were both fans of the Mitford sisters (I suppose, the Kardashians of their day), so I just accepted the usage when they told me about it. Does anyone else still use it? Is there any other way of expressing the letter U cryptically?
Nice puzzle today from Pangakupu, and thanks to visiting this site regularly, I was on the lookout for a Nina with a southern hemisphere flavour. I spotted the fearsome Maori HAKA (though a solution isn’t really a Nina; still, worth watching a HAKA video for anyone who hasn’t seen it), then PUKA PUKA, which was confirmed by google, and RETA RETA which wasn’t.
CHOU made a welcome change from “cher” for the French dear. I wondered if PAYEE and CREDITOR would herald a theme, but apparently not.
Thanks to the 2 Ps (resisted temptation to apostrophise it after Roz’ warning above)
Goujeers@64 , I think it is more that words go out of fashion rather than out of date. I say groovy just to annoy the students.
{Roz @66
I have never stopped saying “groovy” since the 60s. Back then it was said in a desperate attempt to fit in with the hip crowd; now I am part of the replacement hip crowd, it is said more in an attempt to irk the grandchildren.}
Re “annualise” – here in the States, come October, my sprinkler guy appears and says it’s time to “annualise your sprinkler system”, by which he means “winterise” i.e. drain all the pipes, etc. so that they don’t freeze. Of course, all of these terms are spelled with a Z!
[ Very good Danny@67 , I am defiantly old-fashioned with the students. I deliberately pretend not to to understand any of the modern slang that they use . ]
I had to work very hard to get anywhere – which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Did not finish, with one unsolved and two not parsed (yep, ANNUALISE was one), but I was very proud of getting that far.
Really loved PARACHUTE JUMPER for the construction and definition. PARAMNESIA was fun to work out.
Thanks for blog, and to Pangakupu for commenting.
Dave@68 that may be the answer, perhaps similar usage in NZ ? I have never heard the term in the UK except in finance.
Got there! I’m especially pleased with ARNICA – I think it’s the first time I’ve spotted a letter replacement indicator. There’s been a lot of talk this week about dabblers and whether or not this type of blog is of value to the setters. I used to dabble (at Uni – never inhaled) and sometimes got halfway through a puzzle but without necessarily fully understanding the conventions or parsings. It has only in the last year that I’ve delved deeper and any/all improvement is entirely thanks to the Guardian crossword blogs (especially the Quick Cryptic explainer), Pat Cousins on YouTube, all these heroic Fifteen Squared bloggers, and all of you who contribute in these comments, especially the person who posted this link maybe 6 months or so ago:
Gegs (9,4)* – A Cryptic History
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y22r#:~:text=James%20Peak%2C%20and%20his%20mate,fiendish%20and%20fearsome%20of%20puzzles.
[Ricardo @72
It’s neater when posting a long link to use the “link” button above the comment box. Copy the URL of the desired link, highlight a word (or phrase) in your intended post, click on the “link” button, paste the copied URL into the box, then “OK” it. (Simpler than it sounds in this explanation 🙂 ]
Very fair, very clever and loved the ninas (ashamed not to have spotted). A couple of slightly clunky ‘oh,ok’s (14ac, 1d) but more than enough ‘aha!’s (12ac, 8d etc). Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO!
Well done for completing it Ricardo@72. I was also a dabbler in my teens and early 20s, and then stopped for too many years to mention. It’s a lovely feeling when a puzzle slots into place for you.
Ricardo @72: Thusly: Gegs (9,4)* – A Cryptic History
I’ve never heard of Pat Cousins – off for a merry romp on YouTube…
Roz @69,
that’s low key disrespectful 😉 .
I like PeterO’s suggestion of 8 as an &lit. Would have been great as simply “Posit Asia agenda in novel form”.
Lots to like. Thanks, P & P.
PS I always thought PHAT was an acronym for Pretty Hot and Tempting. This may be an urban legend.
Muffin @73 – Just like https://youtu.be/Y4c4zkMl8Ro?si=kDGNWw5_Gammb_UG?
Not exactly, Ricardo – just like that.
😁 Do you think it’s because I’m using an Android tablet ?
No idea – I’ve never used one!
Did you highlight a word then click on the underlined “link” above the comment box?
I got confused by CHOU = DEAR. I always thought CHER = DEAR.
I found the West much easier than the East.
Thanks both.
“Mon petit chou” is a phrase that’s strangely familiar to me – from Poirot, perhaps? Any suggestions?
Ka pai ehoa!
muffin@86: ‘Allo ‘allo?
But seriously – JACKANAPES=’kid’?
Alphetc @ 85
From Chambers
jackanapes /jakˈə-nāps/
noun
1. A cocky, impudent fellow
2. A cheeky child
3. An ape or monkey (archaic)
Whether one agrees with the dictionary or not, the setter is off the hook.
Must be being a bit dim, but why in 8d is the word ‘here’ the definition? This seems to be several people’s favourite clue so I know I’m missing something! Thanks
Tom @87 – here ? means in this place , i.e. the clue itself . A Passage To India is a novel where an Asian agenda is described. The clue loosely defines the answer as well as giving the wordplay .
[@59 I just meant to indicate that PHAT (1963) is not a recent neologism included “for the younger solvers”, and already “20 years out of date“,
but celebrated a 60th (Diamond) anniversary, last year, like Dr Who, and might be even older than we all (including me) might think.]
Now that oed.com is behaving itself, I can see the citations (various acronyms are suggested) for ‘PHAT: slang (originally U.S., esp. among African Americans). 1963– a. Of a person, esp. a woman: sexy, attractive. b. Esp. of music: excellent, admirable; fashionable, ‘cool’. Particularly associated with hip-hop subculture.
1963 Negro argot… Mellow, phat, stone, boss. General adjectives of approval. Time 2 August 14
1974 This teacher, however, was a ‘phat tip’.. [Note] My informants tell me that the letters in ‘phat’ stand for ‘pussy’, ‘hips’, ‘ass’, and ‘tits’ or a ‘pretty hole at all time’. H. L. Foster, Ribbin’, Jivin’, & Playin’ Dozens ii. 52
1992 They’re just really distinctive—a London crew with a really phat funk sound. Face December 68
2000 For..Barry Bonds it’s Song 2 by Blur. Phat! (Pretty Hot and Tempting.) Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic edition) 18 November
… and Etymology: Summary Probably a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: fat adj.
Probably a respelling of fat adj.; compare the similar use of large adj. etc., as terms of approbation.
Notes The explanations of the term as an acronym given in quots. 1974 and 2000 are likely to be later rationalizations.
Pukapuka is in the Cook Islands
Annualise is chronic
First time I’ve completed a Thursday in a *very* long time.
I’m not convinced by ‘chess expert’ for ELO in PELOTA. I think it’s pretty obscure, I was thinking ‘GM’ or ‘IM’ (or, later, just ‘M’). ‘Chess rating’ would still have worked and been fairer.
(Highest ELO 1710 about 30 years ago, currently about 1370)
Doubt anyone will see this so late in the day but I had ‘annualise’ as the process of making a plant like (i.e. live through the) winter… caveat: I’m not a gardener! (Apologies if this has been mentioned – I read through most of the comments and couldn’t see a similar parsing).