An entertaining assortment of clues from Gurney today.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WHIPPERSNAPPER |
One hitting photographer, young and cocky (14)
|
| Cryptic definition, with WHIPPER (one hitting) + SNAPPER (photographer). This feels a little unconventional, but I parsed it this way to avoid a noun/adjective mismatch. But see FrankieG@8. |
||
| 10 | RERUN |
Err badly having Greek character back for second performance (5)
|
| Anagram of (badly) ERR + NU (Greek character) reversed (back) | ||
| 11 | CLUBHOUSE |
Where players meet audience after bash (9)
|
| CLUB (bash) + HOUSE (audience) | ||
| 12 | GNOCCHI |
Pasta almost gone somehow, initially causing concern — hotel intervenes (7)
|
| Anagram of (somehow) GON[E] minus last letter (almost) + first letters of (initially) C[AUSING] C[ONCERN] H[OTEL] I[NTERVENES] | ||
| 13 | STEEPLE |
Expensive, the Parisian church feature (7)
|
| STEEP (expensive) + LE (the, Parisian, i.e., in French) | ||
| 14 | NAIRA |
Northern tune originally arranged for money (5)
|
| N (Northern) + AIR (tune) + first letter of (originally) A[RRANGED], i.e., Nigeria’s currency | ||
| 16 | APPLICANT |
Captain flexible about place? Hopeful (9)
|
| Anagram of (flexible) CAPTAIN around (about) PL (place) | ||
| 19 | COMPLIANT |
Following rules, slight switch in protest (9)
|
| COMPLAINT (protest), with a “slight switch” of the A and I swapping places | ||
| 20 | SET-UP |
With no introduction, use sheep in arrangement (3-2)
|
| [U]SE minus first letter (with no introduction) + TUP (sheep) | ||
| 22 | INVITEE |
Home at six with type of shirt for guest (7)
|
| IN (home) + VI (six) + TEE (type of shirt) | ||
| 25 | OBSERVE |
Pay special attention to former pupil — wait (7)
|
| OB (former pupil) + SERVE (wait) | ||
| 27 | POSTERIOR |
Behind advertisement, one not half poor (9)
|
| POSTER (advertisement) + I (one) + [PO]OR minus the first two letters (not half) | ||
| 28 | LATTE |
Drink after hours, entertaining time (5)
|
| LATE (after hours) around (entertaining) T (time) | ||
| 29 | READ THE RIOT ACT |
Acid retort, hate, sadly — make dissatisifaction clear (4,3,4,3)
|
| Anagram of (sadly) ACID RETORT HATE. Note minor typo in the clue which does not affect parsing. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HARMONIUM |
A minor hum — faulty instrument (9)
|
| Anagram of (faulty) A MINOR HUM | ||
| 3 | PUNIC |
Joke I caught referring to Carthage (5)
|
| PUN (joke) + I + C (caught) | ||
| 4 | ENCHILADA |
Eat this perhaps in exotic hacienda surrrounding lake? (9)
|
| Anagram of (exotic) HACIENDA around (surrounding) L (lake). Note minor typo in the clue which does not affect parsing. | ||
| 5 | SHUTS |
Quiet — quite so on regular basis, stops trading maybe (5)
|
| SH (quiet) + alternate letters of (on regular basis) [Q]U[I]T[E] S[O] | ||
| 6 | ATHLETICS |
Sports title with cash involved (9)
|
| Anagram of (involved) TITLE + CASH | ||
| 7 | PLUMP |
Best part to begin with, ample (5)
|
| PLUM (best) + first letter of (to begin with) P[ART] | ||
| 8 | RE-ELECT |
Think female put out by English being put in office again (2-5)
|
| RE[F]LECT (think) with F (female) substituted with (put out by) E (English) | ||
| 9 | OREGON |
State mineral used up (almost) (6)
|
| ORE (mineral) + GON[E] (used up) minus last letter (almost) | ||
| 15 | ALLOTMENT |
Quite a few intended, we hear, to create growth area (9)
|
| Homophones of (we hear) A LOT (quite a few) + MEANT (intended) | ||
| 17 | POTPOURRI |
Trophy in France for Rhode Island collection? (9)
|
| POT (trophy) + POUR (for, in France, i.e., in French) + RI (Rhode Island) | ||
| 18 | ANTARCTIC |
Pole here using tactic, ran amok (9)
|
| Anagram of (amok) TACTIC RAN | ||
| 19 | CLIPPER |
Ship, one moving quickly (7)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | PREFER |
Favour quiet whistleblower, hero at heart (6)
|
| P (quiet) + REF (whistleblower) + inside letters of (at heart) [H]ER[O] | ||
| 23 | VISTA |
Elvis, talented (just a bit!). That’s nice to see (5)
|
| Hidden in (just a bit) [EL]VIS TA[LENTED] | ||
| 24 | ELITE |
Best fare, ultimately low in calories (5)
|
| Last letter of (ultimately) [FAR]E + LITE (low in calories) | ||
| 26 | SPLIT |
Leave dessert (5)
|
| Double definition |
I agree with your parsing of 1a, Cineraria, but for me, the definition is just ‘young and cocky’.
I’d quibble over GNOCCHI being defined as pasta as it consists mostly of potato.
This was a light and breezy entertainment, I thought, no real favouite, just a good set of clues, nice surfaces and fun to solve.
Thanks to Gurney and Cineraria.
Diane@1: WHIPPERSNAPPER is a noun, and “young and cocky” are adjectives. In my book, these do not quite align as definition/solution, thus my note.
Thanks Gurney. I enjoyed this gentle crossword with STEEPLE, COMPLIANT, PUNIC, ENCHILADA, and ALLOTMENT earning special recognition. There seemed to be a large number of anagrams which always makes solving more straightforward. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
[Diane @1: GNOCCHI is ‘pasta’ in Italian households. It’s the shape that gives it its name. Most commonly it’s just potato and flour but it can be ricotta and flour or even just semolina and water.]
I do see your point, Cineraria. I think I just dashed through the grid so I didn’t really notice the disconnect. Your definition works fine for a young Sean Penn!
Tony @2,
I’ll defer to your Italian heritage! It’s just that most pasta being made of durum wheat and gnocchi of potato (flour), semolina etc, I find the textures of the two very different.
After staring at Paul’s in the Guardian for half an hour and only having solved one clue, it was nice to turn to Gurney so I could restore my faith in myself. A very pleasant solve; NAIRA was the only unknown.
Diane and Tony said most of what I intended. Thanks Tony for the guidance on GNOCCHI. I too am happy to follow your advice, and it will be interesting to hear what the dictionary police have to say, as my dictionary defines “pasta” as “a type of dough made of durum wheat ……”. It also says “Marijuana”, which is a new one on me.
My list of favourites was also strongly aligned with Tony@3. Additionally I ticked READ THE RIOT ACT and INVITEE. NAIRA was what I believe is referred to as a jorum for me.
Thanks Gurney for a nice puzzle and for helping GDU restore faith in himself, and thanks Cineraria for the great blog.
14A was unknown to me.
2D: I confidently wrote in “harmonica” without bothering to read the clue carefully. Mea culpa!
Thanks Cineraria and all who contributed.
[WHIPPERSNAPPER “Also rarely applied to a thing. ,,, attributive
1742 A Parcel of Whipper-snapper Sparks. H. Fielding, Joseph Andrews vol. II. iv. vi. 210″]
A nice brisk solve, although I would share others’ reservations about GNOCCHI =PASTA and shouldn’t POTPOURRI be two words or at least be hyphenated?
Beak @ 9 Take your pick: the OED has it hyphenated, Chambers app & Collins online as a single word.
Thanks Gurney and Cineraria
12ac: Collins 2023 p 834 gives “gnocchi pl n dumplings made of pieces of semolina pasta, or sometimes potato, used to garnish soup or served alone with sauce”.
17dn: Collins p 1564 gives potpourri as a single word only, not as two words or hyphenated.
Note: I do not regard dictionaries as infallible, but, as a matter of principle, I will always take what is in the dictionary over the unsupported word of a commenter, and, as a matter of practical necessity, I do not expect setters to overrule standard dictionaries.
Pelham Barton @11: Collins online has the following:
Gnocchi are a type of pasta consisting of small round balls made from flour and sometimes potato.
Tony@12: Thanks for that. It is interesting how Collins online gives definitions in the form of complete sentences. I was quoting the printed edition, hence the page number.
Frankie G @8: is that from OED? I did wonder if there was an adjectival sense of WHIPPERSNAPPER – it seems unlikely but plenty of nouns could be used as adjectives and I would not be surprised if they then did not make it into the dictionaries.
PB@11 Collins online has:
potpourri
(poʊpʊriː IPA Pronunciation Guide ) also pot-pourri also pot pourri
Word forms: potpourris
Chambers online has just potpourri
Tony@12 and PB @ 13 As far as the Collins online reference to “gnocchi” is concerned, the words quoted by Tony are not actually those used in the Collins definition of the word – you need to scroll down for that, to find the words quoted by PB@11. My experience in devising clues is that it is not safe to rely just on the introductory words given under a heading in Collins online – it is always necessary to look at what appears in the definitions, and to be aware of any differences between the British English and American English meanings given there. I’m not sure why Collins includes the introductory words – perhaps it is to give an informal sense of the word used in the context of a sentence?
Tony Santucci: would you be so kind as to record the reaction when you get the chance to inform your mother/grandmother that what they’ve been patiently making and serving for decades might not be pasta 🤣
Most enjoyable. We thought 2dn a bit &lit-ish in that a faulty harmonium might emit a hum.
Thanks, Gurney and Cineraria.
PM@16 – very funny suggestion. Tony, you could try quoting the OED at them.
Rudolf @15: I rechecked Collins; when I entered GNOCCHI I got the definition (under ‘definitions’, not under ‘summary’) that I quoted in my post @12. Could there be different online versions of Collins? In any event I think Gurney is on solid ground with his definition.
PostMark @16: Neither my mother nor my grandmothers are around anymore to ask. I suspect they would have looked at me with a puzzled look and said “what are you talking about, just eat!”
[Tony @19: I feared that was a possible answer but it was a nice thought. I do hope you didn’t mind the quip 🙂]
Re Collins: the definition quoted by Tony S @12 is from Collins COBUILD dictionary, which is an “English learner’s” dictionary, which explains the style of the definition. The definitions PB refers to @11 are from Collins English Dictionary.
When you search for a word at Collinsdictionary.com, you will get both sets of definitions, as well as definitions from American dictionaries for which the publishers hold copyright. The COBUILD definitions are usually listed first, which is why those are the ones most often cited here (scrolling is too much like hard work, isn’t it?). Anyone quoting definitions from Collins online needs to pay careful attention to which definition they are quoting!
Anyway, it didn’t occur to me when solving that there was a problem with gnocchi=pasta. Yes, in everyday English, pasta means things like spaghetti and macaroni and excludes things like gnocchi, but it has a broader meaning in Italian cookery.
All this discussion about the meaning of 12a GNOCCHI in Italy and elsewhere, and not a peep about 26a LATTE. ☺️
In addition to what FrankieG@8 said, young can also be a noun and adjective, so with two noun/adjectives I think the grammar of 1a WHIPPERSNAPPER is OK.
It was my favourite clue.
Thanks G&C (gnocchi and cannoli) for the tasty fun.
Tony@19 I was just about to respond about the Collins COBUILD point when I saw that Widdersbel had got in first. English Learners dictionaries are not approved sources for crossword definitions. The principal dictionary approved by the editor for FT puzzles is Chambers, but the Collins Dictionary (complete and unabridged version) and the one volume Oxford dictionaries (the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and the Oxford Dictionary of English) are also regarded as authorities.
I don’t think you will find any support for defining “gnocchi” as “pasta” in any of the main dictionaries. Chambers has “small dumplings made from flour, semolina or potatoes, usually served with a sauce”. Oxford has “small dumplings made ftrom potato, semolina or flour”. I also consulted Merriam-Webster and Webster’s to see if there was a US variation, but the first has “dumplings usually made of semolina and served with sauce”, and the second has “dumplings made of flour, semolina, or potatoes, boiled or baked and served with grated cheese or a sauce”.
Rudolf@23; If you are counting the printed complete and unabridged Collins Engish Dictionary latest (14th) edition as one of the main dictionaries, that is the one from which I was quoting in comment 11, and I think that does support the definition required in 12 across.
Widdersbel @21, Rudolf @23: Thanks for explaining the various versions of Collins. Whenever I write clues I always use the Chambers Dictionary app but occasionally use Collins for synonyms and check them against the Chambers thesaurus. I still don’t have an issue with Gurney using ‘pasta’ as a definition although ‘dumplings’ would have been more technically accurate.
PostMark @20: Don’t mind quips at all!
Many thanks, Cineraria, for the excellent blog and thanks also to all who commented.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful discussion on the definition of gnocchi. It cheered up an otherwise dull train journey home.
Didn’t mean to touch off such a convoluted discussion on pasta! In any case, I’ll side with Tony’s nonna and her suspected response of “mangia’!
I should have remembered that pasta is really a dough or paste of various ingredients kneaded (impastare) into myriad shapes and cooked in water and left it that.
As for ‘latte’ (Cellomaniac @22), I’ve grumbled in the past at latte for coffee but since it is clued here merely as ‘drink’ – as milk is – I let it go)! True, ‘latte’ is heard everywhere these days but it still just means milk.
28ac: The Italian word latte just means “milk”, but this is an English language crossword, so in my view it is the meaning of latte as an English word that counts. We have, using the latest print editions of each dictionary:
Collins 2023 p 1111 “coffee made with hot milk”;
Chambers 2016 p 865 “espresso coffee with frothed hot milk”;
ODE 2010 p 998 “a drink made by adding a shot of espresso coffee to a glass or cup of frothy steamed milk”.
Take your pick from these, but “drink” is clearly a valid definition in any case.