It’s a while since I blogged a Qaos puzzle and so I was pleased to find him rounding off the week.
There’s always the added challenge of finding the theme in a Qaos puzzle. When I entered the central BIDIRECTIONAL, I thought that might be significant but it was more straightforward than that. Fairly early on, I spotted BAKER STREET, DEER STALKER, ELEMENTARY, DETECTIVE and a couple of references to doctors, then STUDY in SCARLET, SIGN of FOUR and there may be others, which I’ll leave you to point out.
There are some lovely clues, including the almost obligatory ‘mathematical’ one – a particularly fine example – at 24ac. My other favourites were 11ac SKATES, 22ac BAKERS, 1dn STALKER, 2dn ROBOT, 3dn EXCUSES, 6dn DETECTIVE, 18dn EMBRYOS and 20dn STANZA.
Many thanks to Qaos for a fun puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Cryptic setter one could describe as ‘easy’ (6)
STREET
An anagram (cryptic) of SETTER
4 Rich young man buying ordinary education (6)
LOADED
LAD (young man) round O (ordinary) plus ED (education)
9 Innocent spy boss infiltrates party (4)
LAMB
M (spy boss) in LAB(our) (party)
10 Author’s duty about the examination of youth (5-5)
CHILD STUDY
CHILD’S (author’s) + an anagram (about) of DUTY
11 During the weekend princess does rollerblading (6)
SKATES
S (Saturday) + S (Sunday) round KATE (princess)
12 Bug about to be eaten behind closed doors (2,6)
IN SECRET
INSECT (bug) round RE (about)
13 Declares being in favour of strong characters at the centre of Brussels (9)
PROFESSES
PRO (in favour of) + F (strong) + ESSES (characters in the centre of bruSSels)
15 Mark Twain finds eating spaghetti ends messily (4)
SIGN
An anagram (messily) of the last letters (ends) of twaiN findS eatinG spaghettI
16 Very happy to start with this? (4)
SOUP
SO (very) + UP (happy)
17 Alien creates artificial additional things (9)
ETCETERAS
ET (the familiar crossword alien) + an anagram (artificial) of CREATES
21 When reversing, some forgot Tesla frequently makes high pitch (8)
FALSETTO
A hidden reversal in forgOT TESLA Frequently
22 Doctor Who actors in outbreak, onset of salmonella (6)
BAKERS
A nifty lift and separate anagram (out) of BREAK + S[almonella) – Tom and Colin Baker both played the Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’
24 (11 – 5) ÷ 1,000? Have a go – it covers advanced or simple (10)
ELEMENTARY
ELE[v]EN (11 – 5) round (divided by) M + TRY (have a go) round A (advanced)
25 Does medical practitioner look inside after removing heart? (4)
DEER
E[y]E (look) minus the middle letter (heart) in DR (medical practitioner) – an old trick but still catches the unwary
26 State banquet is wasting content (6)
TISWAS
Hidden in banqueT IS WASting
Collins – ’tiswas: a state of anxiety, confusion or excitement’ and it was the name of a popular Saturday children’s TV programme, see here
27 A hundred put in Surrey prison gain height (6)
ASCEND
A + C (a hundred) in SEND (Surrey prison) – without much hope, I googled ‘send, prison’ – and found it
Down
1 Sun story about King’s brother – in conclusion, a criminal (7)
STALKER
S (sun) + TALE (story) round K (king) + [brothe]R – an amusing allusive surface
2 English batsman bowled down the middle by machine (5)
ROBOT
ROOT (English batsman) round B (bowled) – Qaos couldn’t possibly have known how topical this clue would be
3 Reasons old girlfriend swears Romeo’s dumped (7)
EXCUSES
EX (old girlfriend) + CU[r]SES (swears) minus r (Romeo)
5 Over 500,500 set off? Most peculiar (6)
ODDEST
O (over) D (500) + D (500) + an anagram (off) of SET
6 Policeman not working, giving up foxtrot for tango (9)
DETECTIVE
DE[f]ECTIVE (not working) with f (foxtrot – NATO alphabet) replaced by T (tango) ditto
7 Worthless information describing love produces resentment (7)
DUDGEON
DUD (worthless) + GEN (information) round O (love)
8 Boil rice and it’s jiggling back and forth (13)
BIDIRECTIONAL
An anagram (jiggling) of BOIL RICE AND IT
14 Golfers making mess of our rough (9)
FOURSOME
An anagram (rough) of MESS OF OUR
16 Red Ferrari maybe left in place (7)
SCARLET
CAR (Ferrari, maybe) + L (left) in SET (place)
18 50% of them: brothers containing male chromosome? (7)
EMBRYOS
[th]EM (50%) + BROS (brothers) round Y (male chromosome) – not quite &lit but highly allusive
19 Clue for a simpleton? (7)
AIRHEAD
Double definition: A is the initial letter (head) of Air
20 Lines of workers rise up to capture extremists separately (6)
STANZA
A reversal (rise up) of ANTS (workers) round A and Z (extremists) separately
23 Royal man for example, lifting anchor (5)
KEDGE
K (king – royal) + ED (man) + a reversal (lifting) of EG (for example) – a new word for me
Good gentle fun, and I only noticed the Sherlock theme after completing. I liked CHILD STUDY (Conan Doyle would have fitted nicely), PROFESSES, ETCETERAS, ELEMENTARY, TISWAS (reminded me of the children TV series in the 70s), STANZA and the numbers of course. I found it reasonably easy but a lovely end to the week. S missing on your FOURSOMES, Eileen.
Ta Qaos & Eileen.
Got the theme about with only about 20% to go but it did help with one of my favourites – BAKERS. Also liked SIGN – hopefully another step on the road to acceptance for indirect anagrams
Only knew TISWAS from the TV show
Cheers E&Q
Missed the theme. LOI was TISWAS – the word seems to have fallen out of use. KEDGE I learned from Arthur Ransome some decades ago.
Thoroughly good crossword.
Thanks to Qaos and Eileen.
Fell into place quite quickly for once. I also liked SIGN and nice to see princess updated from DI to KATE. Very enjoyable. Thanks to Qaos and Eileen
Thanks Qaos and Eileen
I didn’t realise that TISWAS had a meaning other than the supposed acronym from the TV show.
Slightly unfortunate that “our” appears unchanged in FOURSOMES.
No theme for me, of course.
I’m guessing that ‘getting into a bit of a tizz’ comes from TISWAS.
I knew KEDGE from sailing can even visualise one. Solved this in the wee small hours not sleeping and forgot to look for a theme, which I’m kicking myself for as I read the books years ago and have wandered lots of London on themed geocaches around both the series and the books
AlanC all the dictionaries place TISWAS in the 1960s, before the TV show in the 1970s. I hear it in a Dorset accent from my childhood.
Thank you Eileen and Qaos
Kicking myself for falling for the old does trick for far too long. Enjoyable puzzle.
I saw DEER STALKER so looked for hats, then TISWAS and looked for Children’s TV. Doh!
Which reminds me, I liked the ‘clue for a’.
I also liked the robotic centurion (congrats to him!), EMBRYOS and the foxtrot / tango switcheroo.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen
Did anyone else notice 22,1: BAKERS STREET? All that’s missing is the b.
When my son told me they had a new flat in a road that I already knew I asked him what number. He replied “221” So naturally I asked “Building B?” He replied “How did you guess?” And there are at least 4 bakers’ shops in the street.
After the very recent discussion on here with Tramp’s latest about setters’ puzzles sitting sometimes for months or even years in the crossword editor’s intray, when foi 2d ROBOT this morning with Root the cricketer involved and having just become England’s most prolific Test runmaker, I imagined this Qaos offering to be hot off the presses.
That rather long preamble out of the way, really enjoyed this, though wood for the trees yet again – never noticed the theme. Couldn’t parse SIGN or the fiendishly mathematical ELEMENTARY, SOUP very tasty and liked DEER a lot. KEDGE a new one. Many thanks Qaos for the entertainment and Eileen for the clarity this morning…
thanks Q and E!
I hardly think this was gentle – even having spotted the theme it wasn’t particularly helpful when it came to interpreting a few – e.g. BAKERS (while the wp became clear) is definitely a “specialist” topic. Didn’t know about SEND, Surrey. And TISWAS twas a mystery until wikied.
Ah, Eileen, have now read your comment about Root, so maybe I’m completely wrong with my theory@11…
I think so, ronald @13. Qaos is good but … 😉
AlanC @6 because I remember getting into a bit of a tizz and you’re in a tiswas from my childhood and watched Tiswas later, I bothered to look up dates. According to the OED:
tizz – first record 1953 in the writing of B Boland
tiswas – first record 1960 in the writing of M Cecil – assumption is that it’s a variant on tizz
And Tiswas the TV show ran from 1974 to 1982 – with a back acronym – I was a student for the latter part of that and it was late night Friday after the pub watching.
KEDGE and Send prison needed looking up for me. TISWAS I had heard of but had no clue of the meaning until I checked, and as usual I completely forgot to check for a theme – give me a few more hundred Qaos puzzles and maybe I’ll start to remember!
Thanks Eileen for parsing DEER for me, I also wasn’t convinced of my KED parsing (but I was also thinking of that as “lifted” too which meant parsing DEK for some time!). Also parsed AIRHEAD as a simple reverse definition, which felt weak – “clue for a” is clearly far better.
Favourite was ELEMENTARY, and I’m very impressed with how many themed answers made it into the grid!
Thanks Qaos and Eileen.
Shanne @15: thanks for the interesting gen.
I remembered TISWAS quite late in the process of solving from my mother’s using it – being ‘all of a tiswas’ (which then, as AlanC @6 says, turned into tizz or tizzy). I was rather proud of solving and parsing the mathematical clue for probably the first time ever; and for once the theme helped.
Lovely crossword, thanks to Qaos and Eileen.
Kicking myself for missing the themed DEER STALKER. I wonder if Qaos hoped to include PROFESSOR (Moriarty) at 13a and couldn’t quite manage it? I did wonder if BIDIRECTIONAL might be significant, but apparently not.
A TISWAS was definitely a known thing in our house well before the TV programme (and before its first official cited use in 1960), though until then I had never attempted to spell it and would probably have come up with something phonetic like tizwoz.
I only know HMP Send (successor to the more famous Holloway) because it happens to be on a route I often used to drive: I suspect many won’t.
A tiny omission at 10ac: CHILD’S (author’s) otherwise the S is unaccounted for.
jackkt @20 – thank you, yes, I suppose I should have included the ‘s after ‘author’. I will do it now.
Nice spot Blaise @10. 🙂
I wasn’t able to parse ELEMENTARY, being misdirected to try to solve the problem, to no avail. Thank you for the explanation, Eileen. For me it’s now the COTD.
Also thanks for the parsing of AIRHEAD.
I thought this was a lovely puzzle, enhanced by the theme – those are the 10 themed clues I identified as well. Interesting point, blaise@10 about 22 1 BAKERs.
New for me, TISWAS, KEDGE, SEND prison.
I also like SIGN, SOUP, DEER, BAKERS, STANZA.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen.
DNF, I gave up in SW corner – failed to solve 22ac, 25ac, 19d, 23d and also forgot to solve 20d. Could not see a theme.
I did not parse 13ac apart from PRO = in favour of.
Favourite: ELEMENTARY (parsed after solving).
New for me: TISWAS = a state of anxiety, SEND prison in Surrey (for 27ac); CHILD-STUDY.
Thanks, both.
I am pleased to say I spotted the theme. Lots of lovely clues. My favourites were ELEMENTARY, ETCETERAS and BAKERS. Blaise@10, I’d not noticed 22,1 which has enhanced my appreciation of this puzzle. TISWAS brought back fond memories and made me think of Roobarb and Custard another favourite of my misspent youth. Many thanks to Eileen, especially for clarification of why weekend = SS, I’d not seen that before. Like STP @8 I fell for the DOES trick for the umpteenth time. All great fun. Thank you Qaos. Have a lovely SS everyone 😎.
Good fun. I only spotted the theme near the end. I initially wondered if it might be something to do with John STALKER, but that idea didn’t go anywhere.
Well spotted, blaise @10. (Apparently Doctor Watson came home to 221B Baker Street one day and found Holmes painting the front door yellow. He asked why, and Holmes replied “It’s a lemon entry, my dear Watson.”)
Many thanks Qaos and Eileen.
26a TISWAS (1974-81) – (a 50th (Golden) anniversary)
Lord Jim @26: go to the back of the class😉
Eileen, Shanne @15, gladys@19, AlanC @6 et al
None of my dictionaries have tiswas. My 2008 Concise OED however has tizzy defined in almost exactly the same words as Eileen quoted from Collins for tiswas, and says it was 1930s slang, originally US. The logical conclusion is that tiswas is derived from tizzy, not vice versa. Perhaps somebody could check the OED for citations for tizzy.
The definition for embryos seemed to be missing, unless it is just the allusion that half of embryos are male and so have a y chromosome? It didn’t quite work for me, though at least the wordplay was clear.
ravenrider@29, that’s what I thought and I notice Eileen hasn’t underlined the definition. I’d be interested to know what others think…
ravenrider @29 – I don’t understand this at all:
Shanne @7 says ‘all the dictionaries place TISWAS in the 1960s’ but my Chambers has (only)
‘ tiswas or tizwas: a tizzy, flap, state of excitement, commotion [Ety unknown; connected with tizzy, tizz].’
My Collins has (only)
’tiswas: a state of anxiety, confusion or excitement’
I only have a pretty old SOED, which doesn’t have it at all.
Re EMBRYOS: I didn’t know what to underline for the definition but the allusion I was referring to is the same as your interpretation. Perhaps it doesn’t quite work!
I think EMBRYOS is an &lit, that is the whole clue is both wordplay and definition (taking “brothers” in a rather loose sense to mean males). An excellent clue.
@2 bodycheetah “hopefully another step on the road to acceptance for indirect anagrams”
What? Why?
Lord Jim @32 – as I think you know, I’m often diffident about defining a clue as &lit, hence my non-committal entry in the blog. 😉
It’s Qaos, there will be a theme, and I did spot it at the end, although I missed the novel names.
I liked PROFESSES with the strong characters in Brussels, the well-hidden FALSETTO, the mathematical ELEMENTARY, the wordplay of STALKER and STANZA, and the reverse clue for AIRHEAD. As Eileen said the definition for EMBRYOS is allusive as a CAD (clue as definition).
Thanks Qaos and Eileen.
Raven @29 to confirm Eileen @31’s comment, I Googled TISWAS and found results from Merriam-Webster and Collins immediately and kept searching for the OED, but they all gave the 1960s, and the OED gave a reference to a writer – I do remember hearing it in my childhood – and Dorset accent is how I hear it in my head, not Midlands.
The OED entry says:
“tiswas is perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: tizz n.”
And the OED dates tizz to the 1950s, as evidenced in writing, but I can’t link to too many links in a post without it going to moderation and I’m not giving ken or Eileen the work.
From watching Victoria Coren in Balderdash and Piffle, trying to get entries for words in the OED verified, they won’t accept a date unless they can evidence it, so it may well have been said earlier, but it’s not written down until those dates. If you can find an earlier reference, the OED will accept it and change their entry.
Eileen @31, Shanne @36
My 2008 Concise OED doesn’t have tiswas or tizz, but it does have tizzy, which it says originates from the 1930s.
Good fun. As usual I missed the theme. BASKERVILLE would have been too much of a giveaway… Only two of the novels and none of the short stories seem to be referenced, as far as I can tell.
Nice to see a trademark alphanumeric clue for ELEMENTARY (which was autological for me 🙂 ). I didn’t know KEDGE (small portion of a breakfast dish?), though the clue led me there.
Favourites as for Robi @35, plus my COD – EMBRYOS, which is definitely a CAD.
Conan Doyle never refers specifically to Holmes wearing a DEERSTALKER, though the descriptions of his headgear when travelling out of London are consistent with this. But the contemporary illustrators put one on his head every time he left 221B (bravo blaise @10), which Sir Arthur would never have intended.
Like gladys, I knew the word TISWAS long before the TV show.
Thanks to Qaos and Eileen
I’m not sure why I’m searching this but the OED online entry for tizzy dates it to 1804
Shanne @39
Although that link says there is only one meaning, if you look at the bottom under nearby entries there is a second entry dated to 1935.
Another spot which, sort of, confirms my subconscious feeling that 7D also fitted the theme. I finally remembered that it featured in one of the Keats and Chapman stories by Myles na gCopaleen (aka Flann O’Brien):
“Keats once bought a small pub in London and one day he was visited by Dr Watson [who] came late in the evening accompanied by a friend and the pair of them took to hard drinking in the back snug. When closing time came, Keats shouted out the usual slogans of urgent valediction such as ‘Time now please!’, ‘Time gents!’, ‘Fresh air now gents!’, and ‘Come on now all together!’ But Dr Watson and his friend took no notice. Eventually Keats put his head into the snug and roared ‘Come on now gents, have yez no Holmes to go to!’
The two topers then left in that lofty vehicle, high DUDGEON.”
With my “pseudo-name” I could hardly miss the theme – too bad I was too busy solving clues to look for it until it was too late. A lot of fun, anyway, loved ELEMENTARY.
Can anyone explain where the ‘s in King’s in 1d went? It doesn’t seem to be doing any of the usual things. Tx.
blaise@10 – Brilliant spot!! I wouldn’t have noticed in a month of Sundays…. As with Pauline@25 – it raises my level of appreciation
Re: EMBRYOS – I would say this is a brilliant “&lit” though I share Eileen’s diffidence since the whole clue serves as a rather opaque definition
As always with Qaos, a very enjoyable solve even if, as others have also suggested, gentle for a Friday
Many thanks to Qaos (and Eileen, of course)
Dr WhatsOn @42: I rationalised the apostrophe S as a contraction of ‘has’. A device much deprecated by me, and redundant for the wordplay, but necessary for the surface reading.
blaise @10 – my apologies for not having acknowledged your great spot!
Dr WhatsOn @42 – I’m entirely with Gervase re the ‘s in 1dn.
Very late today so just noting my appreciation for both puzzle and blog. I did spot the theme but not the delightful device identified by blaise@10.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen
I completely missed the theme, as usual, but for once it did not detract from the puzzle. As for many others, NHO 26A (other than the TV show), 23D, or 10A.
I didn’t know the author Lee Child–all I could think of was Julia Child, who did after all begin her fame by writing a cookbook, though no one would describe her primarily as an author. Anyway, she worked fine here.
I also didn’t know the Dr. Who actors, or the anchor–cheated on the latter, but managed to work out the former. I only saw the theme at the very end; if I’d looked earlier, I might have gotten BAKERS much sooner.
ravenrider et al, passim: Wiktionary suggests that TISWAS may have originated in RAF slang, as a portmanteau of ‘it is was’. There’s a reference to Partridge, but the link isn’t working.
Shanne @15. Your late nights must have been REALLY late. TISWAS was a Saturday morning kid’s programme. A late night version (called OTT) came later.
Appalled by 17a ETCETERAS. It started off as a perfectly respectable two word Latin phrase, appearing in e.g. the immortal bard:
‘1597 Ah that she were..An open Et cætera, thou a poprin Peare. W. Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet ii. i. 38′
Then, over the years it lost its capital “E” and ligature “æ“; someone decided to hyphenate it; someone else decided the hyphen should disappear.
Then yet another someone else decided to pluralise a Latin plural by adding an “s” at the end. Until this:
‘… 2.d. 1817– plural only: Things usually included under the phrase etcetera; usual additions, extras, ‘sundries’’
It’s even a verb ‘3. 1867– As v. (cf. 2b*).’, with an appropriate quote: ‘1867 I am etcetera’d if I stand it. H. Kingsley, Silcote lxi’
*’2.b. 1597– As substitute for a suppressed substantive, generally a coarse or indelicate one. spec. (plural), trousers.’
– i.e. in the Shakespeare quote, it’s a stand-in for “arse”, and in the Kingsley one, for a naughty verb.]
Thank you Frankie G @51. I agree completely and couldn’t have put it better.
I saw KEDGE straight away. All those hours with Forester and O’Brian not wasted then.
Even the most cricket averse must have heard of Joe Root this week.
Zoot @53: here in America, cricket might as well be tiddlywinks. I’m atypical; I have from time to time made an effort to take an interest in that sport, so I’d heard of Joe Root. But I doubt many of my compatriots can say the same.
[Baseball countries and cricket countries have almost zero overlap; the only country where both are played at anything like a high level is Australia, which has never met a sport it didn’t like. But even there, baseball has a pretty small niche.]
Gervase @38, the deerstalker hat was part of the costume worn by William Gillette in his 1899 Broadway play “Sherlock Holmes”. He also had Holmes smoke a curved briar pipe because it was easier to act with than a straight pipe. The play was wildly successful, and Gillette’s look became _the_ iconic Sherlock Holmes look. It was also Gillette who introduced the phrase “elementary, my dear fellow” into the canon. Gillette did do a silent film version of the play in 1916, which was rediscovered and restored about ten years ago.
[And yes, as a tangent to my tangent, I acknowledge that cricket has a growing niche here in the US, but that’s still overwhelmingly among recent South Asian emigrees.]
[MAC089 @33 since you ask 🙂 We’re often asked to find a synonym and cycle it, reverse it, move letters forward and back, remove one or more letters etc. It seems a bit arbitrary to exclude anagramming it from the list of allowable actions. I know I’m in a small minority on this but hey ho]
blaise@10 – great spot!
It’s a shame the puzzle solver didn’t live at 225 Baker Street, but I guess 13×17 is just fine
I found tiswas in Pascal Treguer’s wordhistories with a reference back to 1938 for the agitated sense. I have no idea of the provenance of this site, but it is certainly extensive.
Thanks Qaos for a very enjoyable puzzle and Eileen for the blog
[AI google, which google now presents without asking, said: The word “tiswas” is a noun that was first used in the 1960s. It may be a variation of another word, and its etymologies include the word “tizz”. The word “tiswas” may also come from the Apache word tesgüino, which may come from the Nahuatl word tecuīni, meaning “for one’s heart to pound” or “for a pot to flare up”.]
Had to look up TISWAS but had a guess that it was a variant of TIZZY – which indeed it seems to be.
The rest was fine; took a long time over CHILD STUDY – never heard of any author named CHILD or CHILDS – though I did wonder if it was meant to be the far better-known [Erskine] CHILDERS with the “ER” somehow gone astray.
I guessed at the theme as soon as I saw ELEMENTARY (Yes Holmes really does utter that word – in The Crooked Man – though never followed by “my dear Watson”). It would have been great if Qaos could have squeezed words like HOUND, VALLEY, FEAR in there somewhere – but I know from experience how hard it is to fit all the thematic words you want, into the grid.
I thought EMBRYOS lacked a definition – as an &lit it doesn’t quite cut it for me. Perhaps the word “kids” at the beginning of the clue?
Likes for STANZA, FOURSOMES, LOADED, PROFESSES, DEER – as well as Qaos’s trademark ‘numerical’ ELEMENTARY (my FOI). [Having in mind the recent sensational Test result in Pakistan, I wonder whether “1,000 for 5 gained by team” would ever make it as plausible wordplay!]
Thanks to Qaos and Eileen.
Thanks for the blog , happy to miss the theme, the clues were not spoilt.
The better clues at the bottom , STANZA is very precise , ELEMENTARY very neat and also satisfies Bodmas the Bear . EMBRYOS a super & Lit and I am very strict on these .
The Y chromosome is there to explain things to the other 45 chromosomes , especially when the 45 know far more about a topic than the Y .
PROFESSES might be thematic too, in case anyone missed that – an allusion to the learned Professor James Moriarty, the “Napoleon of Crime”.
Gervase@44, Eileen@45, yes I get it; you have to read it as (story about King)’s. Tx.
Laccaria @60: Lee CHILD is the author of the very popular Jack Reacher thrillers – I am sure he is much better known to the general population than Erskine Childers. There are often complaints that there are not enough references to recent popular culture. Qaos has given us one here.
Got there in the end without aids, but I neither looked for nor noticed the theme. Rather tough, but also very good and enjoyable.
Gervase@64. It’s cool – it’s OK – but I’m afraid I’ve never heard of him. And my regular complaint is that there are too many references to recent popular culture – sorry!
I guess it’s a case of ‘old v. young’ – or as the French put it: “si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait!” – with me firmly in the vieillesse bracket!
Late to the party… Kicking myself for not picking out the theme. Sherlock Holmes devotee since my teenage years’ – read and re-read, films, radio adaptations – Carleton Hobbs, Michael Williams as Doctor Watson. Films – Basil Rathbone and on and on. But it was a super puzzle but not ‘ELEMENTARY’ for me it seems. Many thanks Eileen for the erudite blog and Qaos for a splendid puzzle.
Thanks Qaos. Lots of favourite clues including STREET, SIGN, SOUP, FALSETTO, FOURSOMES, and AIRHEAD. I knew there would be a theme but my GK of Sherlock Holmes is too sparse to have seen much of it. Thanks Eileen for the blog and for parsing DEER; I wrote it in (it’s a bit of a chestnut by now) but ran out patience trying to parse it.
Thanks Eileen. As a statesider, TISWAS was strictly a jorum for me (thought it might have some Indian association since it recalls Naipaul’s Biswas). I join those awed by Qaos’s cryptoarithmetic brilliance at 24.
Laccaria @66: I think I am of a similar vintage to your good self. I only know of Lee Child because I have often seen stacks of his paperbacks in bookshops. I have never read one. I also know that a couple have been made into films starring Tom Cruise – which I have not seen either 🙂
My usual opening gambit….are there any anagrams?
I cannot see anything over the course of this morning and evening?
Hi Steffen
1a anagram
15a slightly contrived anagram
17a partial anagram
8d anagram
14d anagram
Thank you.
I can get 14d now.
I cannot find words to make 13 letters in 8d.
I’ve got another 20 mins before I reveal everything and find out.
Yes, some nice clues, and no, I didn’t spot the theme, but too many obscure references and parsing à la Paul.
Stefan @73: I guess your time is up now. The first four words in the clue – ‘Boil rice and it’ – make 13 letters.
@73 – how do you know to ignore the “s”?
I don’t know if it is the way I am reading the explanation, but AIRHEAD makes no sense to me at all.; “CLUE FOR A”?
@61 Roz, some of us, though not enough to be sure, are lovely and respectful, as I’m sure some of your XY students will attest 😊. Especially to people with quarks named after them.
Brilliant crossword, didn’t consciously spot the theme but who knows what my subconscious was thinking. Thank you 🙏Qaos and Eileen!
Stefen @76: A is the first letter of the word ‘air’ therefore it is the ‘head of air’ or AIRHEAD. Sometimes you have to separate compound words and look at each independently.
Thank you.
Is Embryos a Faberge Egg or a Curates? That is the question! I think close to the former. The puzzle was enjoyable — though tough.
@73 read it as ‘it is jiggling’
T’was entertaining. Thanks both. (And, Eileen, I really appreciate your taking the trouble to spell out your favourites (eg: 3dn EXCUSES) rather than leaving it to the profanum vulgus to scroll BIDIRECTIONAL-ly to discover the favourable dispositions of our esteemed bloggers.
bodycheetah@57: Indirect anagrams: as you point out we are often asked (Gollum-like) to ‘guess what I have in my pockets’ and then shuffle the deck in some way. I have expounded (punted?) on this before: these Babushkas make it easy for the setter while requiring a level of clairvoyance on my part whereof I rarely enjoy the plumbing. I always award a demerit for these offerings.
And I suspect that setters are self-regulating in this area, in that the indirect anagram would license ineptitude. (There are setters amongst us iinm….)
[I composed this last evening but was distracted at the crucial moment of posting so now I’m late to the fray]
SIGN is not an indirect anagram , the letters are in the clue so it did not receive a severe Paddington stare . Anagrams very different to other processes , cycling etc , because the possibilities are factorial so grow rapidly.
Got the theme very early on, which helped. Enjoyable workout, no problem with SIGN, and thanks to Eileen for the parsing of AIRHEAD, which had eluded me.
I couldn’t parse AIRHEAD. I guessed it from ‘simpleton’ but the rest completely eluded me.
Thanks Eileen for the explanation.
I have to say I am not keen on this one. I thought it was the clues that were cryptic not the answers.
Eileen — at this hour no one will read this but you, but I am just back from my 80th birthday party and want to thank you for the warm and welcoming blog I’ve just finished reading.
Valentine @ 86
I read it. But then, I often get a couple of days behind in my crosswords. I hope you had a happy birthday.
Valentine @86
Well, I didn’t read it ‘at this hour ‘(!) but I’ve just seen it. – thank you.
I hope you had a wonderful birthday – and many happy returns (though I remember you (or one of your compatriots) once explaining that this has a rather different meaning for you. 🙂
A lovely birthday, with dinner for seven at a nearby Balkan restaurant we took a chance on.
As far as I know, Americans don’t use the expression “many happy returns” at all, though I know it from books. If it has a different meaning somewhere in the US, I haven’t met it. But one English friend last night did wirh me many happy returns.
I always thought ‘many happy returns’ meant ‘the same to you, only moreso’. For that reason I always reserved it for use on my birthday in answer to the usual ‘happy birthday’ (in the hope of raising a chortle you understand). But I’ve learnt that it just doesn’t work at any level…
Still, Valentine, these landmarks between prime numbers have to be acknowledged so best wishes and see you in three years time when you are back in your prime.
Alphalpha – I seem to have misremembered.
After some research, I found this:
“Alphalpha
July 21, 2018 at 04:17
Biggles A@2
The “withdrawal” is reTIre, TI being the “heart” which when rendered “half-heartedly” is reTre and +AD.
I always thought MANY HAPPY RETURNS was what you said to someone who said e.g Happy Christmas and so forth.”
So it was you and not Valentine – and I seem to have taken you as speaking for all your fellow-Americans. Apologies all round. 😉
Fair play to your memory Eileen – I had an idea the phrase had been my chosen topic before but could not possibly have cross-referenced to six years ago. (I’m not sure where I gave the impression of being American – strictly between ourselves I am not. (But I do keep late hours.))
In case anyone sees this, I had thought “many happy returns” was what you said along with “happy birthday” to mean “have lots more of ’em.”
Actually, I prefer Owl’s spelling of “happy birthday,” which as I recall goes something like HIPY PAPY BTHUTHD THUTHDY THUTHDA. I often think it but don’t say it when I hear “happy birthday.” Come to think of it, I probably can’t pronounce it.