Guardian 29,497 / Ludwig

161 comments on “Guardian 29,497 / Ludwig”

1. Morning Eileen, 17D is “supportive” minus the up (winning)

2. I was excited to see a new setter and HUSH HUSH was a great start. But it was downhill all the way from there. Ludwig probably isn’t the first setter to have over-egged the pudding on their first outing and the others found their feet quickly e.g. Fed, Pangakapu, Harpo …

   Stokes is a unit that can be abbreviated to S

   Cheers E&L

3. 17d s(up)portive

4. Pretty much what bodycheetah @2 said, though, having spent most of the time thinking that it was on the wrong side of the line between clever and too-clever-by-half, I eventually warmed to it somewhat.
   Certainly there is a lot of ingenuity and imagination here and I shall be interested to see Ludwig’s next offering.
   Thanks, both.

5. For SMOCKS, S is an abbreviation of Stokes, a unit of kinematic viscosity.

6. Could Ludwig be David Mitchell?

   Thanks baerchen: I could not parse that one.
   I hate CD clues. 16D could equally well be SCHOOL BAG, and 28 is very complex in its word play, and unlikly to offer much clarity for resolving.
   Bery mush at home with the theme.

7. There is an article on the new series “Ludwig” in the Guardian today. The main character is a crossword setter / puzzle expert it seems.
   I’m reminded of the Sphinx puzzle which coincided with an episode of Inside No.9.

8. Many thanks, all – will amend the blog now.

9. Hi Jay @7

   Darn it – I haven’t had time to read my paper! I suspected as much, having seen that David Mitchell plays a puzzle-maker. 😉

10. Too many seemingly forced wordplays to make this completely enjoyable, but I appreciated the attempt at invention. I initially had School Bag instead of SCHOOL BUS which to me seems equally valid and therefore needs the crossers.

11. Looked forward to a new setter, and began well, but gave up after solving less than half. Ludwig goes into my “Don’t attempt” list.

12. This was tough, perhaps because I am not accustomed to this new setter’s (very wordy) clues 😉 Also, the theme was not a particularly easy one for me. It would have been well-chosen as a Saturday Prize puzzle.

    New for me: SAND DARTS, HEDERA, DENEB, ARA = altar; METONYMIC; SABBAT. I would normally assume that a setter uses the word DENEB only when nothing else could possibly fit but in this case I suppose they deliberately intended to include it? Humph 😉

    I did not parse 11ac, 13ac, 15ac, 6d, 9d, 17d – baerchen@1 and Thestath@3 so is it SUPPORTIVE (characteristic of fans) less UP (winning) with the def SPORTIVE = game?

    5ac Thanks bodycheetah@2 for stokes = S. I never heard of stokes= unit kinematic viscosity. I liked the derides = mocks bit of the clue.

    Thanks, both.

13. Even though I happen to be presently enjoying a short online course An Introduction To Astronomy: The Wonders Of The Universe, this wasn’t much of a stellar experience for me. Too many overwordy clues that had rather lost my interest by the time I arrived at the full-stop. Though other solvers will undoubtedly appreciate today’s puzzle more than I…

14. Proof positive that the appreciation of cryptic crosswords is a purely subjective matter. I have no doubt that a large number of people on here (particularly those who have a greater interest in and knowledge of space exploration than I can muster) will have found this enormous fun.
    But personally I found it probably the least enjoyable puzzle I have tackled since I can’t remember when. A complete contrast to yesterday’s Picaroon, which was the predictable pleasurable treat from one of my three or four favourite setters.
    This, on the other hand, seemed to me full of contrived and unnecessarily fussy cluing and more obscure solutions than seems entirely reasonable in a midweek puzzle. So, with only half the grid completed and realising that my overwhelming response to most answers was a big “So what?”, I resorted to the Reveal All function and was relieved I had not wasted any more time persevering.
    That in itself is unusual for me, as I usually battle on to the bitter end, and I don’t feel that it is in any way Ludwig’s fault. I am always open to new setters (recent successes: Dynamo in the Guardian and Solomon in the FT) and I hope to see him again with a puzzle more to my own taste. Thanks to him and to Eileen for the usual enjoyable blog.

15. I have no idea whether Ludwig is a new addition to the stable, a setter in disguise taking the opportunity of the new programme or whether it is another collaboration between Guardian and programme makers to satisfy a bet or challenge. I went through ups and downs during the solve, not sure whether I liked it, thinking maybe I did, concluding maybe I didn’t. Very curate’s egg. I think I’ll withhold judgement until seeing more of their work. If there is another from this setter, I would like to see some smoother/more meaningful surfaces.

    Thanks Ludwig and Eileen

16. DENEB, SAND-DARTS and SABBAT all new to me. Found it difficult to get on the right wavelength initially, with the east side holding out longest. I too initially entered SCHOOL BAG for 16d, until the crossers put me right. Liked INVIOLATE for the use of the quartet instrument, and I thought TENNYSON was clever. Be interesting to see if Ludwig is indeed a new setter to coincide with the TV programme. I didn’t recognise the style. Thanks Ludwig and Eileen.

17. I got there eventually. There seemed to be a lot of Never Heard Ofs and Just Vaguely Dredged Ups (both included in the clues or as the answer), not to mention some pretty convoluted parsing. Still, it is nice to get to the finish line. Thanks, Ludwig and Eileen.

18. Liked HUSH-HUSH, MENTAL BREAKDOWN (had to Google TALK DOWN landing), SCHOOL BUS (despite the solution not being unique) and SPORTIVE (with a question mark, it could be a CAD? Agree with michelle@12 on the def (game)).

    Thanks Ludwig for the lovely puzzle.
    Thanks Eileen for the excellent blog.

19. What a breath of fresh air!
    I look forward to more from Ludwig.

20. I’m another who warmed to this as I gradually got on the wave-length (sort of…). By no means a write-in (!), and had to reveal two. I thought the reference to Ara was a bit obscure (I doubt Auriga@19 would agree) , but probably my bias towards the northern skies. Anyway, I hope we see more of Ludwig. With thanks to both.

21. Interesting puzzle with some tortuous constructions. Nothing here that was unfamiliar to me, fortunately, apart from SAND DARTS (Vertex of Summer Triangle made DENEB a write-in for me – the largest and most distant of the brightest stars as seen from earth, and it is indeed blue. The other vertices are ALTA(I)R and Vega – pity the last was absent 🙂 ).

    I particularly liked INVIOLATE, TENNYSON, SCHOOL BUS and NEWTON.

    The Guardian app failed to give the name of the setter today, so I was wondering who it might be. The tie-in with the new TV series seems highly plausible.

    Thanks to Ludwig (whoever you are) and Eileen

22. I quite enjoyed this, being very familiar with the (obvious) theme since childhood. However not entirely convinced by the definition for SPORTIVE (game? maybe), and the part of speech for 6d (can you naturally substitute MENTAL BREAKDOWN for ‘cracking up’ in a sentence?). Nho HEDERA but managed to tease it out.

23. CRATER=boxer? S=Stokes? So SAND DARTS (jorum) are moths, are they? Hmf. I think I shall go and have a MENTAL BREAKDOWN.

    Definitely outside my comfort zone, but interesting.

24. Roz, are you Ludwig? Another who warmed to it after seeing that most were gettable, even if obscure GK for me. I liked SCHOOL BUS and NEWTON.

    Ta Ludwig & Eileen for deciphering everything.

25. I must have heard of Ara, a southern constellation – it was included by Ptolemy in the Almagest, but I didn’t recall it, so it wasn’t much help with ALTAR.

    On the other hand, anyone having a brief interest in constellations would know DENEB, which was also my first one in.

    A slight quibble with COMET: There are about ten times more comets that don’t circle the sun than those that do.

    I’m in the camp of a promising start with some original ideas, but hope any second appearance (if any) will have matured.

    Thanks Eileen and Ludvig

26. I knew Ara was a constellation, but had to look up what it meant – I don’t think I’d ever have got it from ALTA(i)R.

27. Had its moments but sandwiched between Eccles and Monk….what can I say
    Thanks Eileen

28. Dave Ellison @25. if those comets don’t ‘circle’ the sun what do they do?

29. As a beginner, I found this intimidating. I got HUSH HUSH straightaway but after that couldn’t find my way into most of the clues so I revealed lots of answers and worked out a few more with the help of crossers and definitions. Didn’t enjoy it much.

30. Jay@7, It could well be Sphinx/Steve Pemberton, as was suggested on the G site today by johnofoxford. . Sphinx has only appeared as a cryptic crossword setter with respect to Inside No9, and Taskmaster, and now possibly Ludwig, all TV programs with a revelation about a cryptic crossword. The setting style does seem similar.

31. I initially had VENUS for 7d, with Vulcan as the “mining engineer”. I still think this is a better answer.

32. Another voice to the view this must be linked to tonight’s tellybox programme as Steve Pemberton’s Sphinx was, because this felt a little contrived in the same way. Well beaten by some of the more “obscure” words!

33. Some awkward surfaces but also some lovely ones – in particular those for RED PLANET, ALEPHS, SAND-DARTS, SCHOOL BUS and HUSH-HUSH.
    Thanks to Ludwig and Eileen.

34. The combination of astronomical GK and chewy parsing made for a tricky but ultimately satisfying solve.
    Thank you (for the music) Ludwig and Eileen for helpful blog. I look forward to the drama this evening.

35. My initial thought was EARTH for 7d, with a fox or badger as the “mining engineer”, but it didn’t really work, so I had to wait for crossers.
    Agree with KVa@18: A ‘lovely puzzle’, but it seems we’re in a minority.
    Thanks L&E

36. Well I really enjoyed this one!

37. Interesting style; I’m guessing not a new setter.

    I was another SCHOOL bag at first. I liked SMOCKS, RED PLANET, REBUSES, and STATER.

    Thanks Ludwig (more to be revealed tonight on BBC1?) and Eileen.

38. I enjoyed the variation from the norm, even though I struggled at times. I, too, felt this was reminiscent of Sphinx.

39. TimC@28
    COMET
    They are ‘lost’?
    Escaped the solar system?

40. Enjoyed this puzzle, in spite of (or because of ) the convolutions!
    One of us has the GK for astronomy and between us muddled through, although some we just bunged in without full parsing…..it was mostly getting from definition and crossers and back parsing.
    But we like chewy, so no complaints if the puzzle is puzzling, that’s what we do it for
    Thank you Eileen and Ludwig whoever you are

41. I’d love to think it was David Mitchell! – perhaps assisted by his wife. 😉

    I’m looking forward to the series more than ever now that I’ve seen who else is to be in later episodes (Derek Jacobi, Felicity Kendall et al).

42. Enjoyed the theme which certainly helped but got bogged down in the east with 6 blanks. Tough with some parsing failures.
    Thanks both.

43. It is rather dispiriting to find so many contributors muttering about ‘obscurities’. Have you never looked up, wondered, and then looked up to find out? Too much light pollution, perhaps.

44. 😊👍🏼

45. Too much of a coincidence for me as Ludwig kicks off tonight with a crossword setter as the protagonist, so probably one of the existing team doing a special.

    I do hope that Mitchell is funnier in this one than in his last that I saw, i.e. funny at all.

46. I’m definitely one for the SCHOOL BUS today! A clue I very much enjoyed, by the way, though there was much astral to learn, all from post solve Googling, I hasten to add!
    I thought ALTAR was a touch unfair as both ways in relied on somewhat ungeneral knowledge….
    But overall, I wasn’t as unimpressed as others commenting here. Unusual to have so many unfamiliar entries but, in a way, this added to it’s quirkiness ….. I was intrigued by the whole thing
    I shall remain fence-sitting until (and if) Ludwig happens by again …. I’m sympathetic with Post Mark @ 15 and feel much the same
    But an interesting experience (I hazard an existing setter imvho – though possibly an inexperienced one?)
    And thanks to Ludwig – as well as to Eileen, of course

47. Neither Victoria Coren Mitchell or David Mitchell have said anything on Twitter/X about this puzzle, and they are reasonably active – posting publicity on things they are doing – not always on the right day though. Nor is Steve Pemberton, but he’s less active – only uses it to promote something. It has to be linked to the new TV show. Last Guardian Crossword blog was 2nd September, so I would have expected one now, it’s usually more regular than monthly (interspersing other blogs).

    I also wondered about the obvious space theme, unless it ties into tonight’s episode?

    Interesting puzzle, really glad not to blog it, but DENEB was also my first in, and I gradually built it all together.

    Thank you to Ludwig and Eileen.

    (Sorry Ken, I’ve done it again, cleared cookies and forgotten whether I’m signed in here as ShanneW or Shanne – I’ll correct it)

48. Corrected, hopefully

49. Dave Ellison@25: surely all comets “circle” the Sun at least once, by definition? Some will do so more than once (I wonder if I will live to see the return of Halley’s comet if I make it to 100, and can still see), and some will fly off never to return. I suppose there will be some rare (?) comets that crash into the Sun and never “circle” it as such.

50. Didn’t enjoy this, in part because deducing the answer so often led to words I had never heard of, compounded by finding the parsing opaque to the point of irritation. It might have mattered less if the surfaces had a bit more elegance but these seemed a bit clunky so about half way through I decided to abandon it and reveal all.

    Sparing myself the ordeal of finishing it was the most rewarding part of the experience, actually.

    I’m glad others enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me.

51. Thanks Ludwig and Eileen

    Just written a post on Independent which said that even though majority liked the setter the puzzle just didn’t work for me; opposite here. Quite a few regulars (not given to moaning without reason) didn’t like this – whereas I really enjoyed it.

    Re the astronomical terms – if setters can get away with obscure cricket terms then I think that more “universal” names and facts are quite acceptable

52. matthew newell@51: I tend to agree. I think (?) my general knowledge covers most subject areas, but sport (not just cricket) is a blank space. I just have no interest in any of it. We will all have such gaps, I’m sure. Well, except Stephen Fry perhaps… But these puzzles are a great opportunity to learn new things.

53. [Star names are a rich field for those of us who are interested in etymology. Many come from Arabic, including the two here: DENEB from Dhanab Al-Dajajah – ‘tail of the hen’ (it’s in Cygnus, the swan) and ALTAIR from Al-Nisr Al-Ta’ir – ‘the flying eagle’ (it’s in Aquila, the eagle)]

54. Not enjoyable

55. nuntus @49 – and earlier commenters on the matter:

    It is not for me to second guess him, but I wondered whether Dave Ellison’s original objection @25 was a semantic quibble about ‘circle’, as the orbit of comets is very far from being circular, which is why they reappear so infrequently and sometimes unpredictably. That point certainly occurred to me when I solved the clue.

56. A curious collection of clues, some almost write-ins others shall we say somewhat convoluted. I started with HUSH-HUSH, nearly fell down some BLACK HOLES before my last in – DENEB – which puzzled me greatly having no deep knowledge of anything until twigged ‘at the outset’. I think I might like this setter. Many thanks M’Lud and Eileen for brainwork. Enjoy what’s left of Wednesday.

57. Balfour@55: Perhaps…(?) I assumed that is why everyone is putting “circle” in quotes, though I’m not fussed by the fact that the clue does not…

58. The clear theme helped a bit. Without it, some of these were, to me, unfathomable. I quite often need to guess and check, then reverse engineer the explanation, but a lot of this puzzle was like that. Ludwig trying too hard maybe?

59. The astronomical theme was well within my comfort zone but I struggled with some of the devices, and indeed just bunged ALTAR without knowing about the constellation.

60. For me this was mostly annoying. I’d fill in an answer from the definition and maybe a crosser or two, and then stare at the scrambled eggs of the clue, thinking wha …?? I have heard of both Altair and Deneb, but I always thought the night time party was a witches’ sabbath, spelled like everybody else’s. And how does hole = problem?

    Thanks to Ludwig anyway and to Eileen unreservedly. Thanks, Eileen, for bringing light to darkness.

61. Valentine @60: if you’re in a hole, you have a problem.

62. Very eggy in the way PM@15 describes. The starry references were easy for me, words like SABBAT and HEDERA needed a dictionary check.

    SCHOOL BUSses are all over the States, but I don’t remember the term being used in the UK when I grew up there. So many American ideas have been imported over the years, that maybe this has too – can someone confirm, or is it just known from TV?

    In retrospect, I enjoyed reading the speculations in the comments about the setter maybe more than doing the puzzle.

63. Not enjoyable, I’m afraid. Lots of convolution, some of the indicators a bit of a stretch, some words unaccounted for, and clunky surfaces. The astronomical theme was, I felt, more hindrance to the setter than help to the solver.

    The consensus that this is a “tie-in” to a TV series that I have no interest in ever watching makes it even more irksome. That should not be an excuse to accept a lower standard of puzzle. I rather feel that the editor has let us down here more than the setter, whoever they might turn out to be.

    Disliked:
    5a – S for Stokes seems like rare GK (‘a unit of kinematic viscosity’, thanks TimC); surely there must be a more accessible way to indicate the single letter S?
    13a – NHO Ara the constellation, and web search was little help; did at least get the construction.
    14a – the phrase “meteoric for one” seems redundant, and “boxer” as definition a stretch.
    26a – Bit and Cut seem like very loose synonyms. (One can bite something without biting through it, for example; and I cannot think of an instance where one could substitute the other way, i.e. ‘cut’ for ‘bit’?).
    1d – what is “about” doing in the clue? It’s suggesting EH should go around DERA, but it isn’t. I realize it’s necessary for the surface, but it feels clumsy.
    6d – why is Belgium B and not BE?
    7d – is ME a common abbreviation for Mining Engineer? and most definitely not a circle, as others have pointed out, and hard to overlook given the specificity of the theme.
    9d – I’m sure it will turn out to be in Collins, but that’s all that can be said for it.

    Liked: 25a, and 28a for the definition which I vaguely recalled seeing, before but not the construction.

64. Just watched some of Ludwig on iPlayer.
    In the credits “Puzzle Consultant – Alan Connor”.
    What I’ve seen so far is rather good.

65. I thought it best that I do not comment but I will just agree with Jacob@63 and add that Altair is NOT a blue-green star , it is A7 , white with perhaps a hint of blue .
    I really hope that this is not the Guardian indulging one of the BBC nepo babies, they should just set for their public school magazines.

66. I started this off late last night and returned to it this afternoon to complete which I now have. I found some of the clues to be too verbose and others ‘failed’ by having an obscurity defined obscurely which I dislike, e.g ALTAR. Had to resort to word search and guess/check rather too often. That said there were some genuine pearls here too, so more of those please Ludwig and a warm welcome to the Setters circle.
    I had a rummage around to see if I could find if someone was credited with setting the TV clues, but all can see is that it was created and written by Mark Brotherhood.
    Micro spoiler alert…for those who like to binge on things, all 6 episodes are available right now on i-player. Use the search option to find Ludwig they will be revealed.

    Thanks very much Ludwig and also to Eileen with a working computer.

67. Thanks both and while an amount of entertainment was offered it was a case of ‘sooner you nor me, Eileen’ – (not that it would/could ever be me). It does seem that the link to TV programmes tends to up the obscurity level.

    I thought SCHOOL BUS was quite a high point (perihelion or some such?) but I chuckled at METONYMIC, thinking of muffin’s many battles over the years and without whom I would not have this word to hand.

    Were I a crossword editor ACADEME would not have made it through – take the strange ‘unit’=’ace’, then get from ‘created’ to ‘made’ which we then ‘cycle’ (which in my book is a form of anagram so we are in the area of indirect anagrams) and finally combine these elements to get the answer from an oblique definition (University types – really?). That Eileen managed to reverse-engineer this and others (TENNYSON, NOVAE, STATER, I could go on..) is a source of yet more admiration for that esteemed lady.

    But for me it was a case of ‘Per ardua ad asterisks’.

    [Taffy@66: Thanks for your help with ‘steam radio’ the other day]

68. Goodness – this one divided the crowd, from loving it to hating it!
    It was too hard for me, with about a third unsolved.
    BUT, I was one of those who loved it. At first, I was fed up of the convoluted surfaces (like 10a). But I warmed to the whole thing, with having to tease out the clues, bit by bit, often to a word I didn’t know. And I found the theme fun.

69. Valentine @60

    Sabbat is how I’ve seen the witches’ gathering spelled to separate it from the Sunday observation. Sabbat is given in Chambers as an alternative spelling specifically for the witches’ meeting.

    A hole is a problem in English English – digging oneself a hole – also in Chambers described as a difficult situation or a scrape (also very English English)

70. [Roz @65, thanks for this. I looked for Blue-Green star on Google and found that there are no green stars and even blue-green is unlikely. However it seems in binary pairs, the light can appear to be blue with a tinge of green at times. At least that is what I could make from the various articles found.

    “Noticeably absent from this palette is green stars, even though the human eye is most sensitive to green light. Instead, a pair of double stars with different-coloured components interact in such a way they may give the impression that one of the stars is green or bluish green.”]

71. Such a grind, with so many obscurities and wordy clues, it was a relief to reveal the last few clues and get on with life.

72. [Taffy @70 most stars appear white to the naked eye , some are red and a few orange/yellow . Very few blue stars , Rigel in Orion is the other main visible blue one . The blue stars are large and very hot , use up their fuel very quickly so do not last long.
    Most stars emit across the visible spectrum , if they peak in the green all other colours are visible so they look white. Very hot stars emit mainly UV and some blue so appear blue. Cool stars mainly IR and some red/orange .
    Violet is missing ? this is mainly due to the human eye , not very sensitive to violet , this is why the sky seems blue . ]

73. If you don’t have school buses in the UK, how do the children get to school?

    Jacob@63 “about” in 1d is a reversal indicator; EH – > HE.

74. Dr WhatsOn @62 I grew up in rural Lincolnshire a long time ago and we definitely used school buses there.
    I’m afraid that I agree with a number of others here. I’m not a fan of obscure solutions clued in such convoluted ways. Not much fun to be had.

75. Not my cup of tea I’m afraid. Thanks Eileen for sterling service in unpicking most of this one.

76. We do have school buses in the UK. Where I live the public transport network doesn’t support the school catchment area, so those students get a school bus, specifically booked for them. Everyone else takes public transport / transit.

    In cities with good transport networks, no we don’t have school buses, school kids get bus passes to travel in public transit. Where I grew up there weren’t any buses so we had school buses for practically everyone who wasn’t in walking distance from school. (There are precisely 0 buses now, when I lived there, there were three buses a week, to and from local markets.)

    Sorry , crossed with Deadhead

77. [Roz @72, thank you so much for taking the time to explain in detail. Seems that Bluish-White star is more correct in this case]

78. Jacob @ 63 B is the IVR code for Belgium.

79. Really enjoyed the challenge of a new setter, and loved the theme, but did come up short. I’m fine with that – I’d rather enjoy it and fail than solve something samey and dull.

    Jacob @63 re 26a – bit and cut are perfectly fine. as synonyms. Have you ever cut your finger? Do you still have all of it? A blade can bite into something and cut into it. Paper cuts rarely sever.

    And in 7D – if something “circles” something else it doesn’t actually have to do it in a circle – it just has to go around it. The verb is much looser than the noun.

80. A few points…
    CRATER
    Collins
    To crate=to pack or place in a crate
    crater and crateful are given as derived nouns.
    boxer is one who puts (something) in a box
    boxer=CRATER seems fine.

    COMET
    I circle the sun:
    Doesn’t ‘circle’ here mean ‘to go around’ rather than ‘to go around in
    a perfectly circular orbit’?

    ORBIT
    Collins under ‘bite’
    If an object bites into a surface, it presses hard against it or cuts into it
    There may even be some wire or nylon biting into the flesh.
    The car’s tires bit loudly on the rutted snow in the street.

    MarkN@79
    Sorry. We crossed.

81. Well I quite enjoyed that though I did need the blog for a couple of explanations: 28a TENNYSON (got it from the perennial ‘Linesman’ + crossers), and 5a SMOCKS (did not know the SI unit). I take the criticism re 7dn COMET, but such imprecision creeps into almost every crossword both as regards technical terms but (imo) everyday words too. I suppose it all goes to support the words of Julius Caesar: De gustibus non disputandum est. Or maybe in the context of crosswords: De (what one finds difficult) non disputandum est (maybe Eileen can give a more erudite rendition :-))

    Many thanks to Ludwig and to Eileen for usual top quality blog. And just to use up my entire knowledge of Latin: Felix est non aliis qui videtur, sed sibi.

82. If the editor is tuning in, I think that some of the indicators used in this puzzle by Ludwig are verging on the unfair. Solvers (I am one) shouldn’t be expected to have to download the latest Collins app or buy the 73rd revision of Chambers to be up to speed with the enormous array of single and double letter abbreviations theoretically available to setters (I am also one of those). If the setter is to use “obscure” vocab (no problem with that insofar as I’m concerned, Don has been doing it in the G since the old Kaiser died) then s/he really ought to use unambiguously clear wordplay.
    Well done Eileen for blogging this puzzle, and thanks to Ludwig for the time taken to compile it.

83. If Everyman, Alan Connor, the puzzle consultant to the TV series of the same name as the setter are one and the same, I’m sure notice will be taken.

84. I revealed three, which feels like quite an achievement given the comments over at the G. I got about halfway through it this morning, and then came back to it periodically, managing to fill a few more in each time: it was only taking that approach that prevented this from being a probably frustrating slog.

    Some of the clues were nice, playful and quickly parsable. Much of it really wasn’t any of that, in my experience.

    Now to read how everyone else got on.

85. Thank Eileen, a Herculean effort today! And I appreciate the news about this series which had passed me by, I will set the recorder. I found myself eventually enjoying this but probably only because i happened to have enough time today to keep plugging away to the bitter end. Re: comets, I am happy that a non-circular orbit can still mean “circling” = generally going around, and the Collins definition is ” a body that goes around the sun” so I think that gets Ludwig off the hook, though I would have preferred something like “It circles the sun bed occupied by Ludwig” say. Dr WhatsOn@62 I do not recall the term SCHOOL BUS either though grew up in a town where we all walked to school, maybe out in the countryside there was such a vehicle to tour the villages and hoover up the urchins. Altair familiar from their collapsing currency, I though DENEB was a desert but must have confused it with Negev, meant STATER took awhile. Anyway on reflection I enjoyed this tussle, thanks Ludwig, and here’s an earworm that most of you will like even less than the puzzle. EDIT sorry for duplication in the time it took to look up how to do the link, thanks muffin for that!

86. Like Jacob@63 and Roz@65, I find Alan Connor’s penchant for allowing the Guardian crossword to be used as part of the promotional campaign for non-Guardian broadcasts very tiresome.
    However, I was blissfully in-the-dark when I started this one – and absolutely loved it!!
    I wouldn’t claim to have any specialist astronomical knowledge, yet the theme helped with quite a few (although I did spend some time trying to make “Taikonaut” work in 25A, as it fitted with crossers for a while).
    I also was delighted to encounter my first two genuine Jorums!
    (Or should that be Jori?)
    Having arrived at DENEB and SAND DARTS, I stared at each, in turn, doubtfully, then looked them up – et voìla!
    And on an Eileen-blog day, too. What larks, Pip. Thank you Eileen for all the other explanations today.
    Whoever Ludwig is, I enjoyed our first encounter – and look forward to the next.

87. Oh and if anyone can enlighten me – I’m still none the wiser as to the connection between SMOCKS = SHIFTS.

88. Well, despite this being a tough one, I saw at once a kindred spirit in Ludwig so I persevered: LOI was SPORTIVE which raised an eyebrow – OK it is a sort of ‘game’.

    The astronomical clues were easier for me, I suppose, than some on here. But I got held up, oddly enough, due to my printer running low on toner: it printed “Vertex” in 10a as “vortex” – that held me up needlessly! (memo: must replace cartridge soon!) Of course I know the Summer Triangle and the goodies to be found within using a small telescope, especially the Ring Nebula (M57) and the Dumbbell (M27). Sadly, light pollution is making stargazing that much harder for many!

    SABBAT isn’t often spelt that way but it’s actually closer to the original Hebrew: the Hebrew letter ‘tav’ (ת‎) is normally pronounced ‘t’ (or ‘s’ in Ashkenazi dialect), not ‘th’. And of course we have another Hebrew letter in ALEPH.

    I liked SCHOOL BUS – very clever misdirection! HEDERA I had to look up but then I remembered, it’s just ivy in Latin. We have a lot of it in our garden. Also SAND DARTS was new to me. Likes also for MENTAL BREAKDOWN, NEWTON, NOVAE, REBUSES, HUSH-HUSH.

    Thanks to Ludwig (a warm welcome if he’s new here – sorry to see the odd carping comment) and Eileen for persevering!

89. Scraggs @87 – SHIFT and SMOCK are both terms for a sort of loose dress or petticoat.

90. I got about half way with this one and struggled even with that much. Some of the clueing seemed rather clunky and some of the solutions were a long way outside my GK, even though the theme was obvious quite early on and is in an area of interest. I shall follow our new setter’s career with considerable interest, as probably no-one ever said.

91. Just another voice on the positive side of the fence. Lots to enjoy here. Parsed most but missed “ground-to-air”, which with hindsight is cool.
    If I could set better I might be in a position to criticise so well done Ludwig!

92. Thank you Eileen, Baerchen for the one which puzzled her and me, and Ludwig. And to the latter, welcome to the Glasgow Empire. I can think of several whose first published efforts were less tidy than this (self included – and by a long way) and to me it was both enjoyable, being on a theme I love, and witty. I can’t approve of defining an adjective by an adverb (8) and I know that some people find mental health references offensive, so would try not to use them. However, I loved the SCHOOL BUS, INVIOLATE, and liked NEWTON and that naughty mining engineer hogging the lounger in COMET. Good to be reminded that meteors fall, not rise, also. I hope you will be back before 2062 (see nuntius @49 – but I seem to remember that in 1986 H’s C was pretty much invisible anyway).

93. Laccaria @89 – thank you 🙂 Never heard of that meaning of SHIFT before.

94. To be fair, we’re the ones who have made the connection: there is no reference to the programme in the puzzle. It is nothing like the Sphinx ones.

95. I doubt if any comets go around the sun in a circle. Some will have elliptical orbits, like Halley’s Comet and return after a number of years. Others will have parabolic orbits, meaning that they come from afar and are deflected by the Sun and are never seen again.

    Mirriam-Webster has IIRC the archaic definition “the path of a celestial object” which fits every case.

96. Well I suppose it has to be Alan Connor setting this then, if he is the show’s puzzle consultant. I’m not a big fan of his Everymen really, and this one didn’t do much to refloat my boat. I’m more intrigued by the theme however, as I’m now expecting it to have some relevance to the series.

97. [ Taffy@83 you may be right , it does have the Everyman clumsiness . I hope you are wrong though, editors should not publish their own puzzles . ]

98. Is this the future? An AI generated crossword…

99. Eileen deserves a medal and a lie down in a darkened room for this one

100. baerchen @ 82: I do agree that reliance on single letter abbreviations is not good – especially for new solvers – but then it’s always worth having a punt at them. I mean, I guess the G in your post stands for Guardian, but I doubt it’s in Collins or Chambers… 😉

     Also, didn’t spot the minor controversy about School Bus first time. I’m in my fifties and took a school bus every day for several years back in the eighties, so not an issue here. (Grammar school boy – had to go to the next town, but I think they’re common in rural communities to ship villagers to towns).

101. I really liked this. I could feel the brain neurons being dragged down unfamiliar pathways. As somebody said earlier – it was a breath of fresh air.

102. In fact, this exact puzzle features three minutes and five seconds into the first episode.

103. Not good. Not quite as poor as the Sphinx effort but equally unenjoyable.

104. The debate about the setter and TV programme is interesting. We can but wait. I’m afraid I found this a real slog in places. I was probably on the wrong wavelength today. Heartfelt thanks to Eileen and to the other contributers for shedding some light. Hopefully I’ll do better tomorrow 😎

105. [Conrad @102, Good spot! Opens his Astronomy books before sketching out the grid, with PESTLES and RINGS seen in the glimpse we’re allowed. Good enough for me.]

106. This reminds me of Fed’s first of offering : far too complicated. But in my opinion Fed has improved over time. This “new” setter will no no doubt get less Marmity! Unless it’s a one off for the tv programme. I found some of the cluing very complicated although some were quite good e.g. hush hush. Thanks Eileen for your valiant blog: much appreciated.

107. [What follows is a very whimsical comment on the subject of SCHOOL BUS. I too had to catch one every day, because at age 11 our Primary class were sent to four different Secondary schools depending on academic attainment: the tip-top Grammar, the not-quite tip-top Grammar, the OK Grammar, and the local Junior Secondary (Scottish for Secondary Modern) for those deemed to be duffers. So for six years, five days a week, we caught a bus which was not laid on free by the local educational authority, but for which we had to pay. On Mondays we had to buy a ten-journey cardboard ticket from the conductress and have it punched on each journey on Tuesdays though Fridays. The bus company clearly regarded us as a low priority because it used to send out its oldest and skankiest buses, and the conductress was, more often than not, a woman of an embittered disposition whose personal hygiene problems could be detected from one end of the upper deck to the other. Ah, the 1960s …]

108. What a sad day for the Guardian , such a poorly set puzzle just to promote the editor’s media career .

109. Don’t hurry back.

110. I am inclined to agree, Roz. I solved this in my customary cryptic hour between 3 and 4 am. but found it a pretty dismal experience. Now knowing about its tie-in with an incipient BBC series, it seems even more dismal. I have not really understood those on this forum who have greeted it with enthusiasm and looked forward to more of the same.

111. How bizarre – re my question @87 – that I’ve just read a passage in a novel I’m reading that describes someone wearing a ‘simple cotton shift’.

112. Afraid so Marty. It will have access to every dictionary ever printed, and no concept of how most people talk. Stater? Stokes=S, New ton = opposite of old fashioned., Crater = someone who puts things in crates, Ara=Altar, etc, etc.
     I’m off to buy all the compendiums of Times Jumbo Crosswords I can, and avoid ones like this when I spot them.

113. Very disappointed, all round.

114. Enjoyed seeing one of the clues from this puzzle, and a book on astronomy featuring prominently shortly into the episode of the TV prog.

     Enjoying the prog.

115. He should stick to the Everyman, but even those have gone right downhill.

116. Well that certainly generated some comments. The post counter has clocked over a hundred. Well done Ludwig. I quite enjoyed it.

117. [Neil @95 – there are a few comets with nearly circular orbits. According to Wiki, the one closest to having a circular orbit is a creature called “P/2020 MK4” (make of that what you will) with an eccentricity of 0.02 – barely more than the Earth’s orbit at 0.016. It’s one of a group of comets and asteroids known as ‘centaurs’ that orbit the sun outside Jupiter’s orbit. It never comes near Earth and is so faint that even the largest telescopes can barely pick it out.]

118. What is a jorum?

119. I think some people ought to rethink how they talk and think about crosswords and the people who set them. Guardian/Observer solvers get 360ish puzzles a year, all either for free or for less than the price of a coffee. A tiny minority of these are set by setters not previously seen in the paper and an even tinier minority of those (maybe once a year) might have some sort of tie-in to a TV show, not because the setter and editor are out to annoy people, but because it occurs to them that some people might get some joy out of solving a crossword in the morning and then seeing it on TV a few hours later. This sort of tie-in certainly pleases me, partly because it’s nice for the hermetically sealed off state of crosswordland to make contact with the rest of the world (actually it was a previous puzzle like this which first got me into crosswords). And from the comments I clearly wasn’t alone in enjoying the puzzle on its own merits either.

     The worst thing that’s happened here is that some people have had to put up with solving a single crossword that doesn’t meet their particular standards/tastes, and people are entitled to criticise style/precision etc, but I think some commenters have gone well beyond that and been unreasonably rude and contemptuous to people who are just trying to entertain.

120. I found this very difficult but very clever, I’ve only just completed it having been piecemeal solving it on and off all day; LOI SMOCKS. One thing that bothered me – how can “most assuredly” = “securest”? Can a “most *adverb*” become a superlative adjective? Question for Eileen who’s probably, and deservedly, well asleep by now. Thank you to her and to Ludwig.

121. [Just for fun: all about smocks and shifts

     From historical novels I remember the idea that a man marrying a bride with little or no dowry “would have to take her in her shift” – very much frowned upon in the days when marrying money was a recognised method of making your way up the social ladder.]

122. Charm @119 couldn’t agree more. We must allow room to try out new ideas. I didn’t finish but I learned some new words and enjoyed piecing together the parsing. Thanks Ludwig and Eileen

123. Just commenting because I am surprised how negative many people are being about this crossword. It was creative and surprising and taught me stuff. It was tricky but not that tricky. I honestly don’t know what most of the negative comments about, it’s all just “oh dear”, “not my cup of tea”, “not for me”, but not much substantive criticism.

     This just tells me it was different than what you expected and maybe you don’t like surprises.

124. Stokes is a unit for kinematic viscosity in the CGS system, where its abbreviation is St. It’s not an SI unit. In the Système International d’Unités, the abbreviation S stands for Siemens (unit of conductivity).

125. [erk @124. Hoist by his own petard! Thank you.
     “The SI unit of the kinematic viscosity is m2/s. Other units are: 1 St (Stoke) = 1 cm2/s = 10−4 m2/s. 1 cSt (centiStoke) = 1 mm2/s = 10−6m2/s.”
     That said, MOCKS led one to the obvious answer I guess.]

126. It was tricky, and some of the parsing was complicated (which I’m not good at). The theme certainly contained one or two things I didn’t know (nothing new), but it wasnt that obscure. I have done harder crosswords that I enjoyed less. If this was really a new setter instead of a TV tie-in, I’d think they were worth a second try. I wonder who “Ludwig” really was, and whether “he” will ever appear again?

127. [gladys @126. Previous posters, including myself have discovered the following. Alan Conner is credited as the Puzzle Consultant for the series. At 3’05, having opened a book on Astronomy and marked out his grid, we get a fleeting glimpse at the filled in grid, with both PESTLES and RINGS clearly visible. That the ‘new’ setter chose the name Ludwig which matches the TV programs’ title and that the puzzle appears on the day of the first episode can’t be a coincidence and as the editor, he can slide it into the appropriate slot. Not so much ‘smoke’ as a roaring inferno. Admittedly, he may have outsourced the creation of the puzzle as the advisor, but I doubt he’d pass up on the opportunity]

128. [erk @24, things must have changed in the last 50 plus years since I did a PhD in lubrication, when S was universally used for the Stokes unit.]

129. Didn’t have time to leave a comment yesterday, but I managed to complete the puzzle without aids despite not understanding all the parsing. It was certainly a stiff challenge, but I, for one, enjoyed it.
     Well done Eileen with the blog.

130. I did not like this puzzle, for a variety of reasons – obscure wordplay conjoined with obscure definitions/solutions, clunky surfaces, and a theme I don’t know much about adding to the obscurity – so I disagree with Charm@119’s assessment of this crossword. But I agree with his/her defense of the setter and editor. If on one day out of 365 in a year Alan Connor chooses to advertise a new TV program with a tie-in crossword, is that something for us to get our knickers in a twist about? My only complaint is that we in Canada don’t have access to the program, at least not until or unless it appears on Britbox, so the connection is lost on us.

     AlanC@24, I too wondered if Ludwig might be Roz until I saw her comment at 65. Will she ever forgive us for that thought?

131. Cellomaniac@130 I would be a terrible setter and that is the issue here . There are many fine setters who would like to be published in the Guardian , Julius in the FT for example , and I am sure there are many others . Younger setters maybe even female setters . The editor decides, a position of power . They should never publish any puzzle except on merit . If this is by the editor or one of his media chums then it is misuse of his position .
     I cannot reply further , time to swim and very busy day.

132. Very late to this as we sleep on the puzzle before giving in (on two). Our parse for 9D used ET reversed as the astronaut, which works almost as well…
     Thanks Eileen and Ludwig.

133. Charm@119 – well said! But I think we have to accept that any negative comments on a crossword are bound to happen, and likely to entail some personal criticism of the setter. Don’t I know it – I’ve been there! I suppose I found yesterday’s puzzle easier than some did, because of my grounding in amateur astronomy – until recently I was a keen astro-imager (here is my effort at the Dumbbell, which lies within the Summer Triangle)

     I haven’t yet watched the TV programme but I’ll find time to do so today, hopefully. Then I’ll see if there’s any link to the crossword.

134. Very late to the party – possibly far too late – but I wonder if the setter is John Finnemore? Long time friend and writing partner of David Mitchell, the first recorded solver of the original Cain’s Jawbone and author of a fiendish sequel, “The Researcher’s First Murder”. Cryptic crossword setting would very much be in his wheelhouse.

135. I watched part of the first episode of Ludwig last night but stopped after about 25 minutes as I did not like it. I noticed that the main character had some astronomy books and other reference books in the room where he was setting a puzzle – this was very early on in the episode. Btw I am not recommending the TV show, it’s just not my cup of tea.

136. Michelle@135: The same. Charm@119: I agree.

137. PS Laccaria@133: Great image..

138. I wonder if the motivation is to bring more people to crosswords? And linking the crosswords to popular TV programmes is another way of doing that? It is linked to Ludwig, the new vehicle for David Mitchell and he’s pretty mainstream. (Also Steve Pemberton on Taskmaster and as part of Number 9, which is where we’ve had these crosswords before.) Not sure how much the geeky character of Ludwig will help, but who knows?

     John Finnemore has set for the LIstener, from googling – I suspect as Emu.

139. I get a lot of my general knowledge from pub quizzes and crosswords, so I find it hard to dislike a crossword that’s filled with opportunities to learn, it’s peculiar to me to see so much criticism of an opportunity to broaden ones horizons.

140. Speaking of petards, Taffy @125, if you want to be pedantic, the unit is a stokes, after George Stokes. It does not have a singular “stoke”.

141. Roz @97, it’s standard at the Telegraph and Times for the editor to set occasional crosswords. Telegraph editor Chris Lancaster has also set many Listener puzzles as Samuel, as well as Enigmatic Variations and Inquisitors. The late Richard Rogan at the Times was a compiler there before he became editor, and had also set Listener puzzles as Aragon and for the Indy of course as Bannsider. (Admittedly both were more experienced than Alan Connor was when he was handed the Guardian job.)

     The Times is currently advertising for a new permanent crossword editor, and part of the long job description is to compile occasional cryptic puzzles for the paper.

142. The two brightest stars in the constellation Ara are Alpha Arae which is blue white and Beta Arae, a red giant.
     Couldn’t solve some, but enjoyed this puzzle more than most!
     Thanks

143. Ampersand @134 – John Finnemore does set crosswords! He sets for the Listener under the pseudonym Emu. I’ve never attempted one so can’t comment further but I’ve heard they are very difficult!

     Michael R @141 – and of course Eimi used to appear regularly in the Indy.

     Even before I read that Alan Connor was involved in the series, I thought this showed a few hallmarks of Everyman’s style – including a “primarily” clue for DENEB. He’s obviously ramped up the difficulty level for this one though. As well as appearing in the programme, bits of the puzzle are glimpsed in the opening credits. The character’s interest in Beethoven is also revealed as the reason for his pseudonym.

     Despite a few minor reservations, I found this an enjoyable challenge overall and managed to solve and parse everything – even the couple of unfamiliar words, which is a sign that the clues must work even if some aren’t quite perfect. Thanks for the fun, Ludwig! And of course, thanks to Eileen for the blog – well done for persevering!

144. I really liked this one. Interesting and in some cases unusual word play, and an opportunity to learn some new stuff.

     Every day’s a school day. (Living in rural Suffolk I went on the school bus to Sudbury.)

145. cellomaniac@130 At least in the US, you can get the series online at BBC IPlayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0022wvz/ludwig, link supplied by Eileen.

146. For the record, I thought that this was inventive, and I enjoyed most of it. I also enjoyed the TV programme.
     My daughter who, as you might remember, is learning, said to me “this is a great crossword – I saw the theme!”. She completed more than half, which is better than average for her.

147. Charm @119, well said! I don’t think that you should fault the setter about S=Stokes, even if it is wrong, as it appears in Chambers. Setters are not necessarily scientists.

148. Bid@118: Late in the (following) day but click here for ‘jorum’.

149. I didn’t have time yesterday, and started late this morning, with three unfinished when I went out. All three fell quickly on my return. I’m far from being a proficient solver, and often struggle with puzzles that people here skate through, but after a slow start when it was hard to see through the surfaces, I got on pretty steadily.

     I’m astonished at some of the criticism here. Mostly basic stuff. S= stokes is in Chambers, as is ME for mining or mechanical engineer. I’m sure that someone like Paul has used ‘boxer’ for CRATER and no one said a dicky bird. I knew Altair (though not its supposed colour) because of the Guardian setter of that name, though didn’t write in ALTAR until I had all the crossers. I knew DENEB, and all the other astronomical stuff was pretty ordinary, wasn’t it? COMET, RINGS, ORBIT?

     Thanks to muffin for banging on so often about metonymy, which helped me to get 1a without breaking sweat. 😀

     Favourite was PESTLES, with choices to make between D and P for ‘pence’, and choice of definitions at either end of the clue, meaning it could have ended in either D or S. Clever clue.

     Thanks to Ludwig, whoever you are, and to Eileen as always.

150. SH (and Alphalpha?)
     Yes, I had no difficulty with METONYMIC!

151. Just watched the first episode of ‘Ludwig’ and thought it was pretty good: I get the impression that David Mitchell’s character is meant to be somewhat ‘on the (ASD) spectrum’ – am I right? Anyway – to those who gave up half way through – you need to watch episode 1 to the end to get the real gist and twist to it. I won’t give away too much by way of a spoiler – except to say that it reminded me of a celebrated Hancock’s Half-hour episode of many years back (that’s a cryptic allusion in itself!).

     I couldn’t see if the crossword which briefly flashed up on the screen right at the beginning, was the same as yesterday’s Grauniad. But others say it was. Perhaps I should replay that bit with mouse-on-pause-button…

152. I got the impression that the writer had done it for a bet , see who could sell the most implausible story possible to the BBC .

153. Neil @ 95 – given that an ellipse is a projection of a circle, every comet with a C3 < 0 goes around the sun in a circle from somewhere.

154. [Auriga @140. I’m afraid I have to blame our American cousins for this as that quote was lifted from the internet. Indeed Collins has both Stoke and Centistoke listed as American English variants. Apologies.]

155. Alphalpha@148 thank you. A mystery solved and a useful word for a something.which happens to me quite often!

156. I lasted 23 minutes with the first Ludwig episode.

157. In response to Laccaria (no. 151), yes, the crossword that is briefly displayed on screen at the start of episode 1 of Ludwig is the Cryptic crossword No 29,497 from Wednesday. In fact, David Mitchell writes up two answers from it at the start as well.

158. Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many comments about a single puzzle before. I’m in the thumbs up category even though I couldn’t parse all. I don’t think the astronomical knowledge required was over taxing, and if solutions require a little research that’s all to the good, I think. Thanks Ludwig and Eileen.

159. [ Valentine@145, when I click on the link I get a message that says “BBCiPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s a rights issue.” Maybe they think that Canada, unlike the US, isn’t a big enough market to be bothered with. I love a lot of UK programs, but I’m limited to what I can get on Britbox, Acorn, PBS, and DVD rentals. ]

160. I can’t resist adding to the long list of comments! I thought this was difficult and I wasn’t too enamoured with the flakey indicators and difficult parsings making obscure words. I love unknown words but I would prefer clear clues! I got 5 away from completion and I don’t think I’d have finished it alone.

     However I agree with Charm. It’s just another crossword which suits some and not others.

161. I’ll put this here too – late, but the blog was only published yesterday – Ludwig is a collaboration between Alan Connor and John Henderson / Enigmatist.

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