Guardian 29,539 – Qaos

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I found this rather harder than usual for a Qaos puzzle. It all worked out in the end, but there are some quite involved parsings. Thanks to Qaos.

Today’s theme is types of lettuce, including BUTTER HEAD, LITTLE GEM, ICEBERG, LOOSE LEAF, OAK, COS (from eCOSphere), and probably some others. As usual some of the theme words are only parts of answers, with COS being a rather extreme example.

 
Across
1 BUTTERS Deliver dollar to complete start of betting spreads (7)
B[etting] + UTTER (deliver) + S ($, dollar sign)
5 LOBBIED Campaigned for B. Dole surprisingly winning twice (7)
BI (twice) in (B DOLE)*
9 SPIED Discovered hot curry initially taken away (5)
SPICED (hot) less C[urry]
10 ECOSPHERE Where life is in scope, evolving at this location (9)
SCOPE* + HERE (at this location)
11 OIL PRESSES Devices for extracting bit of dirt from old clothes around 49p (3,7)
IL (49 in Roman numerals, though probably incorrectly) + P in O DRESSES less D[irt]
12 GEMS Stones heretics from the uprising – ends in revolution (4)
Last letters of hereticS froM thE uprisinG, reversed (“in revolution”)
14 DOUBLE DAGGER Old debugger working to pick up a mark of reference (6,6)
A in (OLD DEBUGGER)* – the double dagger is the symbol “‡”, indicating a footnote
18 GROUND EFFECT Aerodynamic feature of crushed possession? (6,6)
GROUND (crushed) + EFFECT (possession, as in “personal effects”)
21 OAKS Trees with 80% of leaves in water … (4)
The last 80% of SOAKS (leaves in water)
22 PERCENTAGE … leaf hiding off centre is cut (10)
CENTRE* in PAGE (leaf)
25 ATTRACTOR It pulls vehicle at first (9)
AT + TRACTOR
26 ENDED Inclined to oust leader over … (5)
[t]ENDED
27 TODDLER … tiny thing – ‘I quit to protect love child’ (7)
TIDDLER (tiny thing) with I replaced by O (love)
28 LITTLER Shorter drunk dictator not welcome (7)
LIT (drunk) + HITLER less HI (welcome)
Down
1 BOSTON Cry about time working in US city (6)
Reverse of SOB + T + ON (working)
2 TRIFLE Small amount of pudding (6)
Double definition
3 EIDERDOWNS Crosswords need to entertain one in covers? (10)
I in (WORDS NEED)*, with a lift-and-separate
4 STEMS Checks upset London police infiltrating Nazi organisation (5)
Reverse of MET (Metropolitan Police) in SS (Nazi organisation)
5 LOOSE-LEAF Ladies and gents feel excited buying afternoon tea? (5-4)
LOOS (Ladies’ and Gents’) + A[fternoon] in FEEL*
6 BOPS Dances to hits (4)
Double definition
7 ICEBERGS I see small bird climbing cold masses (8)
I C (see) + reverse of S GREBE
8 DRESSERS They help actors turning up anxious, not tense, over reading (8)
R (reading, as in the Three Rs) in reversed of STRESSED less T[ense]
13 MALCONTENT Unhappy with China stealing Liberal party books (10)
L + CON (Conservatove party) in MATE (China – rhyming slang “China plate”) + NT (New testament, books)
15 BEEFEATER One striking to cover rising cost of guard (9)
Reverse of FEE in BEATER
16 IGNORANT Lacking education, ran into trouble pinching £1,000 (8)
G (grand, £1000) in (RAN INTO)*
17 ROCKETED Played loud music including note belted (8)
TE (seventh note of the scale) in ROCKED (played loud music)
19 SANDAL Extract from trees and also wood (6)
Hidden in treeS AND ALso
20 HEADER Footballing connection written on document (6)
Double definition
23 CORAL Pink and black stuff right in the middle (5)
R in COAL
24 CALL Ring everyone after 1:00 having colon removed (4)
If you remove the colon from 1:00 you get 100, or C in Roman numerals; then add ALL (everyone)

65 comments on “Guardian 29,539 – Qaos”

  2. Thanks both.
    Boston lettuce is another name for Butterhead, it seems.
    I spent a long time playing with ‘despondent’ for 13, because of Spode china. Saw the light in the end.

  3. Thanks Andrew.

    I searched and searched for a theme, and despite noting ICEBERG was a lettuce, I failed to find the theme.

    LOI was TRIFLE, so obvious now , but difficult for me to spot.

    Pleasant solve, thanks Qaos

  5. I found this rather difficult but got there in the end. I knew there had to be a theme but I didn’t get it. I’m not sure it would have helped TBH. My favourites were the linked OAKS and PERCENTAGE, MALCONTENT, LOOSE-LEAF and DOUBLE DAGGER. Many thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  7. Thanks Qaos and Andrew,
    A wonderful puzzle! Neat, clever clueing and lovely surfaces. Took me ages to see the lift and separate for EIDERDOWNS. Didn’t spot the theme, but delightful to see it now. Thank you!

  8. Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

    I didn’t see the theme but still a great crossword – I seem to remember finding last Qaos pretty tough but this one was solved more smoothly. Some perfect surfaces.

  9. Beaten by SPIED despite having all the crossers; just did not connect it with that sense of discover. Neither did I spot all the lettuces though I had clocked ICEBERG. That said, the only two others I might have spotted would have been LITTLE GEM and (maybe) COS.

    EIDERDOWNS and OAKS my faves today. I’m not entirely sure how HEADER works – the two defs feel like different parts of speech but that’s probably me.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew

  10. Tricky and enjoyable. I could not see a theme unless it was types of lettuce – butterhead, looseleaf, coral, little gem, oakleaf, stem, iceberg.

    I did not parse 24d – oh that’s very clever!

    New for me: DOUBLE DAGGER, GROUND EFFECT.

    Favourites: MALCONTENT, PERCENTAGE, CORAL, LITTLER (loi).

  11. Found the right side easier than the left this morning. Spent a long time trying to fit ‘pal’ for ‘china’ into 13, until the crossers revealed the answer. I don’t remember seeing GROUND EFFECT before, but got there in the end (had EFFECT fairly quickly but needed the ‘G’ to see the first word). Didn’t see the theme until alerted by comments on the Guardian page. Liked LOOSE-LEAF and DOUBLE-DAGGER and ECOSPHERE. Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  12. Needed all crossers for double dagger, ages since I last saw that expression. Otherwise a pretty smoothl weave, nothing too fiendish, although cut for percentage was a nice oblique. Didn’t bother looking for the theme. Thanks Q & A.

  13. ilan caron @1, Rocket doesn’t qualify as a lettuce, it only qualifies as a weed. Rocket and weedkiller are a great combination.

  14. Excellent crossword. I failed to see the theme (I was looking for varieties of tea) and missed the clever parsing for ‘eiderdowns’, but it was a breath of fresh air after yesterday.

  15. I found this tricky but very enjoyable. I was often misdirected by the word play and was held up in the NW.
    I saw the theme only afterwards, alerted by a comment on the G thread. Thanks pdm.
    The ICEBERG 🥬 was quite topical in 2022. Maybe the inspiration for this puzzle?
    GROUND EFFECT was new to me. I did not parse MALCONTENT or see the significance of the : in CALL.
    Favourites were EIDERDOWNS, LOOSE-LEAF, the connected OAKS and PERCENTAGE.
    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  16. I don’t see how malcontent=unhappy (should be malcontented?) or rocketed=belted. Rocketed can mean reprimanded but that doesn’t fit belted either.

    I’ve never head of butterhead or oak lettuce, and loose leaf lettuce isn’t a type of lettuce, just a description of how it is sold, as far as I know, so I stood little change of seeing the theme, though I did note how often leaf appeared.

  18. I found this very hard as a beginner. After revealing 1a and 5a to give me a start as I was stuck, I got TRIFLE and BOPS (I quite like double definitions) then saw EIDERDOWNS, ICEBERGS, IGNORANT and TODDLER from the definitions, with no idea at all of the parsing. I gave up after that as I don’t find it fun to guess answers without knowing why they are correct. After reading the blog, I can see the reasoning but some of it is just too tortuous for my liking – 11a and 13d especially!
    Thanks for the explanations, Andrew.

  21. On the easier side and most enjoyable. I was thinking the theme might have something to do with the Boston Tea Party as all words were mentioned but that sank without trace. Like Dave Ellison @3, I clocked ICEBERG as a lettuce, but dismissed that as an unlikely theme. I certainly wouldn’t have spotted the others apart from COS. The connected OAKS and PERCENTAGE were brilliant.

    Ta Qaos & Andrew.

  22. Took a while to get going with only minor success in NE corner on first pass. I’m not a fan of “bit of” or similar to mean first letter of, but it seems to be accepted practice. OAKS was a work of genius IMHO. And, as always, the theme passed me by.

  23. Good fun from Qaos as usual, but got waylaid by putting in TIDDLY (toad-in-the-hole etc, apparently) for pudding instead of TRIFLE. Thanks to Q & A. (ho ho)

  24. Like Dave Ellison and AlanC, I noted ICEBERG (and COS) as being lettuces but, apart from LITTLE GEM, I don’t know enough to have spotted the rest. About halfway through the solve, I sneaked a look at Qaos’ website, where he usually gives a hint to his current theme and found ‘You have a fighting chance to solve my latest Guardian crossword’, which, of course, was no help at all. Later, I discovered / remembered that his previous one had been ‘Dad’s Army’ – serves me right.

    There was lots else to enjoy, particularly DOUBLE DAGGER, the linked OAKS PERCENTAGE, EIDERDOWNS, MALCONTENT and CALL.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  25. I found this quite tricky but liked OAKS. [It’s a shame that Roz seems to have left us after the “decorum” debacle.]

  27. Comment #27 and still no-one’s mentioned Liz Truss?! Probably for the best. I missed this theme, but I don’t miss her. Thank you Qaos and Andrew!

  28. Missed the theme of course, but got everything except MALCONTENT. Not very convinced by A=afternoon, and S=dollar, though I suppose the latter has been used before (the actual origin of the $ symbol is disputed).

  29. Manny@26 I think it’s just the setter creating a ‘surface’ over two clues instead of one, so misdirecting the solver.

  30. I found this trickier than usual, with the NW quadrant taking a long time to disentangle. Perhaps if TRIFLE has come to me earlier it might have fallen out more easily.

    SPIED, OAKS, PERCENTAGE and the clever EIDERDOWNS were my highlights.

    No theme for me, of course (rocket is definitely not lettuce but could be included if the theme were more broadly salad leaves).

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew

  31. Adrian@27, I referred to Iceberg lettuce and 2022 at comment#15. Maybe this was too indirect to be picked up as referring to Liz Truss’s short reign in 2022.

  32. Lettuce as a theme is much better than my thoughts. I’d had it as a COP29 theme, ICEBERGS (melting), LOBBIES (petrochemical companies), ECOSPHERE, OIL presses, PERCENTAGE (of atmospheric CO2). It felt a bit strained.

  34. PostMark #9: I struggled with this. too, finally justifying it with “a football connection” being defined as a HEADER.

    My dad was a keen rugby follower and was very scathing of football, describing it as “the only game played with the outside of the head!”

  35. Bit of a mixed bag (tossed salad?) for me. Some nice clues, others only parsed after bunging in the only thing that fitted, and a couple even then too elaborate for me. I congratulate those of you who are skilled enough to solve some of these!

    One complaint: 1A, S for ‘dollars’? I’m sure “it’s in Chambers”, but still unsatisfactory.

  36. I’m glad that Andrew also thought this was a bit trickier than many Qaos puzzles.

    I failed to parse LITTLER thinking the drunk was a LIT-LER, and then got my knickers in a twist. I didn’t see the theme but that didn’t spoil the enjoyment. I liked BUTTERS, OAKS, PERCENTAGE, EIDERDOWNS, LOOSE-LEAF, and BEEFEATER.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew.

  37. I’m feeling progressively de-skilled in terms of my solving abilities, as the week has gone on. I struggled with this and ended up revealing many on the left side of the grid, while a number of those I did get were unparsed. Not an enjoyable one for me, today.

  38. With Qaos I wait till I reach a temporary impasse before looking for the theme, but today I finished in one fell swoop. It wasn’t hard to find at that point.
    EIDERDOWNS very clever.
    If one wants to quibble (I don’t), rock music is only loud if you turn the volume up. Personally, I turn it all the way up to 11. (Sequel coming out late spring or early summer 2025.)

  39. SueM48 @15: I was wondering what had inspired Qaos to make lettuces the theme, so I am glad for your insight. But it seems a bit old now – given recent events, wouldn’t different types of orange be more topical?

  40. My experience was very much the same as Gervase @30, TRIFLE going in very late with a groan. I simply don’t know enough about lettuce to have stood a chance with the theme.

  41. [Dr. WhatsOn @38: great news and thanks for the heads up, but I cannot see how they can top the original One of my all time favourite spoofs].

  42. Began this in the early hours, but had to come back to it this afternoon. Managed to hopefully insert a few without quite understanding why they were correct. Step forward BUTTERS, SPIED, OIL PRESSES and ROCKETED. MALCONTENT I was able to retroparse. Thought PERCENTAGE the pick of the clues today. Loi was the slightly clumsy (for me) LITTLER, all I could think about afterwards was the present teenage darts sensation with that surname. Step forward also Luke L, who certainly never throws a clumsy arrer. Never noticed the lettuces…

  43. Enjoyed this a lot (missed the theme though; thought it might have something to do with mining with EXTRACTOR and OIL PRESSES and the use of COAL). “leaves in water” for SOAKS especially tickled me, had to bung this first and then figure it out.
    I did wind up having to use a wordfinder for PERCENTAGE after failing to work out what the wordplay could be.

    Thanks Qaos and Andrew!

    Manny@26–as Adrian@29 said, it’s just a way of connecting the “surfaces.” In fact I think it’s usually the rule that when clues are joined with ellipses like that, it’s just a way to take two clues in the form of sentence fragments and make it a complete sentence, and for solving purposes you can ignore the connection. Though occasionally they throw in one where the connection does matter, to keep us on our toes!

  44. Postmark@9 The two definitions can be different parts of speech as long as the answer is a word that works as two parts of speech.

    I’ve never heard of butterhead lettuce, but butter lettuce is the Western US name for what we call Boston lettuce in the east. Arugula is what we call rocket, and I’m quite fond of it. A small amount added to a salad makes a nice taste.

    Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.

  45. Like Matthew Newell@8 and some others, I remember the last Qaos as being particularly difficult, so this was a welcome return to accessibility as far as I’m concerned. Just right for a train journey, where intermittent concentration isn’t too detrimental.

    Mark@9. A couple of others have had a go at your doubts about HEADER, so here are my thoughts. I saw ‘football connection’ as being the contact between head and ball, so the whole clue can be read as [what is a] football connection [and what is] written [at the top of a] document.

    Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.

  46. [Valentine @44: From Wikipedia:
    “Arugula” (/əˈruːɡələ/), the common name now widespread in the United States and Canada, entered American English from a nonstandard dialect of Italian. The standard Italian word is “rucola”. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first known appearance of “arugula” in American English to a 1960 article in The New York Times by food editor and prolific cookbook writer, Craig Claiborne

    The ‘nonstandard dialect’ is probably from the south of Italy, reflecting the origin of most Italian immigrants to the US. Southern dialects perhaps also explain US ‘zucchini’ and ‘lasagna’, rather than the standard Italian ‘zucchine’ and ‘lasagne’.]

  47. Not sure I liked the references to Hitler and the SS in today’s offering. Nothing actually wrong with them, of course, but they just left a slightly unpleasant after-taste. I didn’t see the theme (I seldom do, and I never look for one), but I’m glad it wasn’t around dictatorships, murderous organisations or similar. With that reservation, a good puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  49. [Petert@25. Agree. It’s a shame that Roz seems to have left us after the “decorum” debacle. Very said if that’s the case. She was a great contributor to 15 squared. Someone here probably knows how to contact her in the real world. I hope they do and tell her she’s missed and encourage her to return. ]

  51. trish@50, petert & pm – Apropos Roz’s absence, I posted this late on Monday’s thread in response to another contributor, probably too late for most to see. As you will see, there is precedent for this, and so she may return in due course:

    ‘It is not the first time Roz has disappeared after being rebuked over her comments (in this case on Ludwig). On Saturday May 1st 2021, Peedee, blogging the previous Saturday’s Prize, lost his rag with her over some injudicious potential spoilers about that day’s puzzle and about her complaints of easiness in the previous week’s. Peedee swore never again to blog a Guardian Prize, while Roz swore never again to comment on a Guardian cryptic. One of those resolutions proved more durable than the other.’

  53. Thanks Qaos. I got to this late and I missed the theme as well as a few answers but I found it worthwhile nonetheless. Top picks include OAKS, ATTRACTOR, BOSTON, LOOSE-LEAF, MALCONTENT, and IGNORANT. I agree with Andrew that this was trickier than usual — thanks for the blog.

  54. Spotted the theme after entering ICEBERG and ROCKETED – this dovetailed nicely with the hint in Qaos’s blog, viz. “Something to get your teeth into” – but like Eileen said earlier in this thread, that was of no help because I don’t know anything about lettuces ! Agree some of the parsing was hard work, but I got there in the end. Thanks to Andrew and to Qaos.

  56. Mark@48. Glad it made you smile! It’s just the way I see the clue working. 😃

    [Others re what caused Kenmac to demand an apology. We don’t know what was said as the relevant post was suppressed awaiting approval. On the Site Feedback sub-forum an apology was demanded but appears not to have been forthcoming.]

  58. Took two days to complete this one. Some lovely clues – BOSTON, ATTRACTED, BEEFEATER, HEADER and EIDERDOWNS were among my favourites. Too many example of my bug-bear (I know others have different views), using a single letter to donate a word e.g. a for afternoon, l for liberal, t for both time and tense and more. Mostly commonly known and I am sure all are in the dictionary somewhere, but it is still a device that I prefer to see used sparingly. Thanks for the fun QAOS and thanks for parsing OAKS and the rest of the very clear blog Andrew.

  59. [Balfour@51. Your post gave me some hope, but sheffield hatter@56 and a trip to the Site Feedback has disheartened me. I hope someone can help mend the fences.

  60. I had a different parsing for BUTTERS. I took UTTER to mean ‘complete’. Then B & S were ‘delivered’ to it. But this does not explain why B is at the beginning.

  61. Thank you Andrew for pointing me lettuceward. I enjoyed especially the bottom half of this one a lot: some lovely clue construction there I thought. Nice one, Qaos!

  62. [Some of us may have considered many of Roz’s comments rather self-puffing and perhaps a touch too arrogant for 15² (and coming from me, that’s saying something!), but self-isolation is not a discomfort I’d wish on anyone ….]

  63. Moth@60. I read it as utter is deliver meaning to say or speak, and to complete is the order of the parts, ie following the b from the start of betting.

  65. May I join the chorus wishing for Roz’s return. My take on the controversy: acerbic wit may not always be decorous but is (or should be) always welcome.

    My wife has no interest in cryptic crosswords, but when I share Roz’s comments with her she says “I want to meet that woman”.

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