Guardian 29,557 / Fed

98 comments on “Guardian 29,557 / Fed”

1. Thanks Eileen – 3D terms (ends) of yoU and AardmaN plus nick (prison) minus PaRk (oddly overlooked) – lovely!

2. Lovely indeed – I knew it would be! Many thanks, Kelvassos.

3. Well done Kelvassos@1 – that UNISON clue was smart. I was completely defeated on that. Nice puzzle. Many thanks to Fed & Eileen.

4. Isn’t BICEPS one of those words like fish that is singular and plural?

   I couldn’t parse UNISON other than U you, half of NIck (disregarded) + SON Park the footballer. But I wasn’t convinced, so Kelvassos @1 looks to have it.

   Thank you to Eileen and Fed

5. Terms for “you” and “Aardman” = UN, Prison (Nick) with PR (Park oddly) overlooked = ISON for 3d.

   Too slow typing obvs.

6. I thought this was brilliant and was sorry to finish it. I was going to say so on the G site last night, but there was no comment box available and that still seems to be the situation this morning🤷‍♂️ So many ticks but favourites were DOORKNOB, SQUEEZE-BOX, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, EXPOSURE, APRES-SKI, TABERNACLE and LITERARY. I parsed UNISON as Kelvassos @1. Just loved it.

   Ta Fed & Eileen.

7. AlanC @6 – see General Discussion for comments on the Guardian site.

8. I thought this was going to be a pig, my first pass through yielding nothing until I reached 2D. However, that swiftly led to IFFY + GOLF CLUB – and then I was away.
   SQUEEZE BOX had me convinced it was a pangram; since I only lacked J V W at that point, CLOVEN was a write-in. How wrong I was!
   Over half were guess-first, parse-later – so I suppose I must just have been on Fed’s wavelength. Many thanks to him and to Eileen for the explanations

9. What Eileen said! Plus BOUNCY CASTLE, TABERNACLE and COSINESS. I suspect the latter has been done before but it is new to me. Does anyone know?

   I had no idea how to parse UNISON, thanks and well done to Kelvassos@1 for explaining – too hard for me but very clever now I understand it.

   Many thanks to Fed for a brilliant puzzle and to Eileen for the blog.

10. Thanks Kelvassos@1. That was my unparsed one as well and as Eileen predicted very clever: don’t think I’d ever have got there alone! I was also unsure about order for CLUB in 1d but no doubt someone else will enlighten! Elsewhere lots of fun. I thought “biggest part of” to denote the capital (big) A in Amtrak was rather good – I bet we’ll be seeing that ruse again. Thanks Fed and Eileen.

11. Thanks Shanne, most intriguing.

12. I’m another who couldn’t figure out the ISON bit of 3d – well done Kelvassos @1, what a clever clue. I also wasn’t sure about “order” = CLUB in 1d. Could an order of monks, say, be considered a CLUB?

    Lots of lovely clues with excellent misdirection – “Split” in 12a, “host” in 2d for example. Though I did think that “water” was a bit of a vague definition for BLACK SEA!

    Many thanks Fed and Eileen.

13. MattS @10. I too wondered about CLUB and then remembered seeing somewhere “The ancient order of the freemasons”. Bingo!

14. Pauline in Brum @9 – I would have included those but my list was getting rather long. And, of course, UNISON is now in the top spot!

15. Blaise @13 – of course! Many thanks.

16. Lovely – many beautiful unfoldings and disentanglings. Sometimes convoluted parsings leave wondering why I bothered but these clues left me with a warm glow of satisfaction from the way they fitted together so neatly.

    For “order” = “club” I thought of things like the Orange Order and many oddly named charitable groups (equivalent to our Lions Clubs and similar) you get in America (or, at least, see lampooned in TV shows) such as the Order of the Buffalo and the like.

    (I see I overlapped with Blaise in typing this)

    Many thanks to Fed and Eileen – a lovely start to the day.

17. Completed on my commute to the office, agreed that this was very enjoyable. As a newer solver there were several parsings that completely escaped me, but all of the clues felt fair and some fun surface readings. I think this was my first Fed main puzzle I’ve tackled. FOI was BLACK SEA, LOI was DOORKNOB (and only from the crossers – even reading the explanation here I can safely say I’d have never got that).

    I only got APRES SKI thanks to the LINCOLN crosser – having never skiied (skied? skiid?!) in my life I only had a vague recollection of that being a term for… something. Apparently it’s drinks and chatter after a day on the slopes?

    Parsings I struggled with include ASH for ‘remains’ and COSINES for ‘functions’. Trigonometry was far and away the thing I struggled with most in school, SOHCAHTOA being the source of many frustrated childhood tears!

    I enjoyed the ‘broadcast’ misdirection in CEREAL, I went in expecting an anagram and though I realised early on it couldn’t be, it stumped me for a while. I also liked BICEPS (the name isn’t plural, the Latin is biceps brachii) – BIC for ‘writers’ is a new one to me, but I have by now learnt ‘records’ can be LP or EP.

    I feel like SASH keeps popping up in answers and clues lately, but maybe that’s just my imagination.

    Thanks very much Eileen for the blog, and Fed for the fun puzzle to keep my mind off the office day ahead.

18. JOFT @16: I also thought of the Orange Order, which was ever so present during my childhood, I even marched with my grandfather. I’m sure Eileen will remember it well from her time in NI.

19. You can ski in powder, so I think the snow/cocaine reference irrelevant. I suppose it adds another dimension, but I wonder if F ed intended it.
    It took me ages to finish the last three and I failed to parse UNISON past the UN part. I just had a blast of COVID, so maybe it’s affected my brain as well as my lungs.
    Thanks both.

20. AlanC @18

    Yes – hence my ‘Of course!’ @15. (Doh!)

21. This one on my wavelength, lots to like. Many thanks to Eileen & Kelvassos for parsing.

22. I don’t know if it’s just me but SQUEEZE seems a bit non-PC for this day and age.

23. I was so impressed by Fed’s effort that for once I worked out in advance a spoiler-free comment for the Guardian site. Only to be frustrated; I guess the comment moderators are supporting the strike. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here it is…
    After staring helplessly for several minutes, I suddenly clicked on to Fed’s wavelength. The rest was delightful! Such slick surfaces (7,…), amusing misdirections (23,…), and artful anagrams (I won’t spoil). But I think 3D (LOI) was the star. Not just for the clever construction but also because it reminded me of one of my favourite Aardman films. Dare I propose: Alarm — The Wrong Trousers on! (5)

24. Wonderful offering from Fed as usual. Only came here to see the parsing of LOI unison. Now back to my trade union day job with…yes, you guessed it…3 down!!

25. Liked A LINCOLN, ARITHMETIC, UNISON, A-SKI and ASSEMBLY.

    Thanks Fed and Eileen.

26. A couple of knotty clues (I got UNISON without the parsing) but that’s in no way to fault it, this was a great puzzle.

27. Fun crozzie although I felt CLUB for order a bit of a strain.

    BREATH and EXPOSURE both merited ticks for their lovely surfaces.

    Thanks to Kelvassos @1 for sorting out my Wrong Trousers in UNISON.

28. Very nice and managed to complete it, but couldn’t parse UNISON. I’m afraid I don’t buy the equivalence of CLUB and ‘order’, and didn’t like ‘A’ in 18d being clued as the biggest part of Amtrak, but everything else was very smooth.

29. A delightful puzzle where I admired the (polished) surface of DOORKNOB and the hidden definition of ARITHMETIC. I was another who got tied up with footballers in UNISON.

30. Life is goodish. I struggled on Fed’s last outing but this fell into place beautifully. Maybe I’m tuning in. Thanks all.

31. A very enjoyable FED: slightly disappointed that it failed the pangram by two letters, but that’s neither here nor there. Enjoyed DOORKNOB, CLOVEN, ‘RITHMETIC and BOUNCY CASTLE. White powder may be a synonym for “snow” in the cocaine sense, but powder is also a type of snow in the skiing sense, so the clue works either way. Clever cryptic def.

    I couldn’t parse UNISON either – I see it’s getting lots of admiration, as fiddly complicated clues that are too hard for me always do. I missed the American volume in LITERARY, and I’m not convinced that club=order. Thanks Fed and Eileen.

32. Excellent. I was another who was unable to parse ‘Unison’ but
    entered it on trust.

33. nicbach @19 and gladys @31 – I did see the clever double meaning of ‘white powder’, which is why the clue got a tick. I’m pretty sure Fed did intend it – I should have spelled it out more clearly.

34. Mostly enjoyable puzzle.

    1d – I did not understand why club = order, and I could not parse 3d apart from the AN bit = end letters of yoU & aardmaN. Never heard of the people mentioned in this clue but that wasn’t necessary for solving it anyway.

    Favourites: PLANET, ASSEMBLY.

    Thanks, both.

35. Nice one. Previous Fed puzzles I have found rather a slog, containing a lot of lengthy clues with contorted parsings to accommodate names of celebrities. This one I found more straightforward – the ingenious constructions are still there but with more concision. However, like most of us, I failed to parse UNISON (bravo Kelvassos) – a most Procrustean clue 🙂

    Some great surfaces here. I’ll second Eileen’s pick of the clues, plus COSINESS (which may not be an original construction but I haven’t seen it before).

    BICEPS is certainly a singular noun, but its plural can be variously ‘biceps’, the cumbersome ‘bicepses’ or the baroque ‘bicipites’. I think Fed is off the hook here (though whether by design or luck I cannot say!).

    Thanks to Fed and Eileen

36. Didn’t get the parse for 3d UNISON either but really enjoyed the rest of it.
    Lots of big ticks as this one unfolded, but my favourites have already been canvassed by Eileen and previous posters.
    Thanks Fed and Eileen.

37. Always happy to see Fed, and as usual we were on the same wavelength. Enjoyable all the way though. KNOB = ‘hit on the counter’ got a laugh. I did run aground at 3d/11a, having bunged in UKULELE-BOX which I had convinced myself was a real instrument and seemed to fit the crossers!

    Thanks Fed and Eileen

38. Joining the biffed-in UNISON club but otherwise this was a good solve. DOORKNOB my personal fave.

39. Hugely enjoyable puzzle but over a bit too quickly. Is it just me, but I found Fed really difficult when he first appeared, but lately a lot more straightforward? Don’t know whether he is going easier on us or if it is that he has a slightly different sort of style which is on my wavelength now I have become used to it. Either way, his offerings are invariably excellent.

40. Most comments seem to be in unison.

    Squeezebox was my last one in, despite there being two of them almost within arms length of where I am now sat, and a further two elsewhere in the house.

    I wanted to say it’s a family of instruments not an instrument, but on reflection since “they were playing a squeezebox” is a valid sentence, my comment would be considered bellow the belt.

41. Re 22d BICEPS, remember that muscles can also be a singular noun when referring to the upper arm. Ask someone to show you their muscles and the likelihood is that they will raise an arm, crook the elbow and strain.

42. After my first pass through the across clues I was ready to throw in the towel, but then I somehow clicked into Fed’s wavelength and the remainder was satisfactorily challenging. Favorite was 15A.

    Like many others I failed to parse UNISON, and after seeing the explanation I don’t feel too bad about it!

    Thanks Fed and Eileen.

43. I agree 3D was a bit of a foxer. Had to look for a long long time until that penny dropped. Nice one.

    As for BICEPS, I support Eileen’s singular. The muscle has two ‘heads’ so BI-CEPS (two-headed in Latin). As for TRICEPS, well. I’d say the plural is probably something like BICEPSES or BICEPITES.

    Thanks E and Fed.

44. Gervase@35, thanks for the interesting information about BICEPS. I’d vote (like Shanne@4) for the plural of biceps being biceps. I wonder whether …cepses and …cipites were made up by Victorian anatomists with ‘little Latin and less Greek’ but an urge to baffle their students? I’m sure you’ll know better than me but I understood biceps to be one of those cod Latin/Greek hybrids, with Latin “bi” grafted onto a short form of the Greek cephales (heads). Similarly we also have two triceps (one in each arm) and a quadriceps in each thigh.

45. Re BICEPS: the point I was making in the blog was that the definition in the clue was ‘muscles‘.

    Biceps, bicipitis is a classical (not cod!) Latin adjective, two-headed – from bi (two) caput, capitis (head) and so the ‘correct’ plural is ‘bicipites’. Bicepses is bizarre!

46. Found this a very smooth solve today apart from loi (the “foxer”, will file that away for future use occasional@43) UNISON which made little sense to me apart from the definition within. So thanks for the clarity Eileen, and for an excellent challenge Fed…

47. ravenrider @40 – In the immortal words of The Who, ‘Mama’s got a SQUEEZEBOX, Papa doesn’t sleep at night’. Better, however, not to go too far into what is intended …

48. Very enjoyable although over far too quickly – maybe I was on Fed’s wavelength. The two that gave me pause were GOLF CLUB (still not sure of how order = club) and UNISON, which turns out to be the clue of the day!

    Also liked EXPOSURE and BOUNCY CASTLE

    thanks Fed and Eileen

49. Thanks Kelvassos for parsing unison otherwise straightforward and enjoyable.

50. Glad to hear lots were stumped by UNISON. This seemed easier than most by Fed, so that was the only one I had trouble with. I still don’t have the Guardian comments this morning.

51. Thanks Eileen@45. Latin was never my strong point – good to be set straight. Now here’s a thought: if I say I’m doing pull-ups “to strengthen my biceps muscles” am I using biceps as an adnominal? Every day’s a school day.

52. MattS @51
    🙂
    This has been one of those (too frequent) days when I’ve wished that I hadn’t made the comment in the first place!

53. Thanks both,

    A delightful and orginal crossword.

    Biceps: my cantankerous old SOED doesn’t give a plural for ‘biceps’, but by analogy with ‘forceps’, the plural would be the same as the singular.

54. Is anybody else intrigued as to why UNISON foxed so many (including me) yet no-one (also including me) thinks it’s at all iffy, once explained?

55. I’m very much with Eileen (and lots of others) about BICEPS being only one muscle. Same as triceps and quadriceps. But alas, common usage in English these days strenuously maintains that the s at the end must denote a plural, so it’s very common to see the HORRIFIC singular “bicep”. Ugh! Therefore I think Fed in his excellent puzzle is only reflecting common (incorrect) usage

56. MattS @51: Are pull-ups good for strengthening the adnominal muscles? 🙂

57. Eileen @45: as you say in the blog, “the biceps is only one muscle”. Fair enough, but what would you say if you wanted to refer to more than one of them? Surely not “bicipites” which I don’t think anyone would try to claim is a word in English.

    Collins says: “biceps, n, pl -ceps.” If the same word is both the singular and plural version then the clue is correct. 🙂

58. Lord Jim @57 – point taken. (I don’t think I ever have wanted to – please see me @52 😉 )

59. So “on the counter” means reversed? Howzat?

    I’ve never seen a bouncy castle and had assumed it was something English people in books set up for children, but apparently it was invented over here! I must not know the right people.

    Thanks, Fed and Eileen.

60. Valentine @59 – I thought this was a quite common indicator but I saw it queried here just the other day.
    Collins – ‘counter: in a contrary direction or manner’
    Chambers – ‘counter: the opposite way’

61. Surely CLUB is a biscuit.

62. Oh, and if BICEPS is ‘two-headed’ from capital, capitulation, why isn’t it BICAPS?
    I did A-level Latin in 1966, when it was still widely spoken.

63. Capitis not capitulation. Pesky spellchuckers.

64. Or is it auto-corrosion?

65. Definitely my quickest Fed solve, and lots quicker than Vulcan two days ago (on “gentle Monday?”). But if his definition for UNISON had not been so straightforward there would have been plenty of complaints, and not just from me I reckon.

    Also, CLUB in 1d had to be correct, but ‘order’ is a very strange way to clue it. Neither the Orangemen nor the Freemasons spring to mind as clubs.

    I don’t see any problem with ‘partner’ for SQUEEZE, as someone has suggested. Dated, perhaps – but when has that ever been a problem in crosswords? Favourite was ARITHMETIC – ‘R whimsically” – for the forehead slapping moment when, with all crossers in place, the penny finally dropped with a clang onto the tea tray.

    Thanks to Fed and Eileen.

66. Alec@61 et seq. There is an edit function beneath your contribution, which gives you four minutes from time of posting to correct infelicities and auto-curflumptions. Though your panic stricken sequence had high amusement value. 😆

67. I’m another who wondered about CLUB and ORDER. I think that Blaise and Jack of Few Trades have the correct interpretation. And I completely failed to parse UNISON, but now that I see it I like it.

68. Loved it. In one of Wallace and Gromit there was a poster or newspaper title about the CEREAL KILLER.

69. A much more approachable Fed today.
    Very enjoyable hour spent.
    Looking forward to reading the blog.
    Thanks Eileen for the usual super set of hints and Fed for the challenge.

70. Thanks Fed for an excellent crossword. Fed/Bluth is on my ‘must do’ list and this puzzle only reinforces this. DOORKNOB alone with its silky surface made this worthwhile. I also ticked EXPOSURE, LITERARY, and BICEPS but every clue was good. I couldn’t fully parse a few (including UNISON) but that didn’t spoil the fun. Thanks Eileen as always.

    [Balfour @40: Hilarious! I first heard the term SQUEEZE BOX via the Who but somehow missed the double entendre.]

    [MattS @51, Gervase @56: Chin-ups are best to strengthen the BICEPS, pull-ups best for triceps & back muscles, and either done with legs raised at a 90° angle will target the abdominal muscles. I guess all of the above will help the ‘adnominal muscles’!]

71. Wellbeck@8: I found myself hoping that it was a (p)anagram – just missing the (j) from IFFY. Alas, it (w)as not to be.

72. I suppose Harry Potter’s Order of the Phoenix is a club of sorts, in that both are voluntary associations, but it only just works.

73. I struggled to see the equivalence of club & order for a while, but twigged eventually! I see there is some controversy over this, but in the mobile version of Chambers thesaurus ‘order’ is the seventh entry under ‘club’.

74. [Gosh, Tony S @70, you must have been innocent back then. It is in my pantheon of hilariously filthy songs that somehow got past the BBC censors and was given airtime and even featured on Top of the Pops. Others include ‘Like a Prayer’ by Madonna and ‘Bend It’ by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch. It always reminds me of a sketch by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, in which Cook interviews R&B singer ‘Bo Dudley’ about his hit song, ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’. It may be on YouTube somewhere.]

75. I also noted the lack of the usual comments section in the Graun and wondered if it was some devious ruse – albeit one that would have been wasted on print solvers. I was looking for a related theme or Nina along the lines of “you don’t say” or “no comment” et cetera…

76. Don’t know why people have a problem with CLUB = ORDER. 3D defeated me (guessed it but couldn’t parse it), really clever, thanks Kelvassos @1 🙂

77. [Balfour @74: My radar for such things was quite underdeveloped back then; now it runs non-stop!]

78. Another lunch time solve here in Connecticut – I had to come to the blog to see the parsing of unison, my LOI and the obvious answer. Every else was understood. Yes, order is kind of a US thing, often parodied – the more grandiose the name, the more humble the members. Let’s give three cheers for the Honorable Order of Water Buffaloes!

79. 10FC @75 no ruse I’m afraid, Guardian journalists are on strike over the sale of The Observer, no one to moderate. I found this difficult but excellent, thank you Fed (and Eileen, especially for the Classics scholarship)

80. 10FC @75 no ruse I’m afraid, Guardian journalists are on strike over the sale of The Observer, no one to moderate. I found this difficult but excellent, thank you Fed (and Eileen, especially for the Classics scholarship)

81. Thanks for all the comments.

    On blogging days, just before posting, I usually hop over to the Guardian site – just to see how the puzzle’s gone down there, since I know there will be no spoilers – and was puzzled to find none, so thanks for the explanation.

    Really relieved to see that UNISON (now top of my podium) foxed so many others!

    Enough said about BICEPS – see me and others passim. (I just wish that Fed had defined it as ‘muscle’ – or that I had just kept quiet!)

    Like Aidan @76, I can’t see a problem now with club = order: I was immediately convinced by Blaise @ 13, followed by AlanC @18 and thought no more of it.

82. Pauline in Brum @9 and Gervase @35: I too wondered whether the COSINESS device had been used before and found these similar precedents:

    Paul in Guardian 29,002:
    Confidentially intimate feeling in functions with Boris, ultimately (8)

    Araucaria in Guardian 25,213:
    Triangle functions on point of intimacy (8)

    But I give the nod to the present example for its elegant surface and misdirecting “initially”. Very enjoyable solve overall. Thanks Fed and Eileen!

83. Valentine@59, sorry this reply is a bit late. From your comment I guess you are in USA and I don’t know if this is used in American games, but “on the counter” is used in football or rugby when a defending team gets the ball away from the attackers (perhaps after intercepting a “cross from the right” wing) then rapidly reverses the direction of play to attack at the other end. So it’s a very apt reversal indicator and gives the clue a beautiful surface reading.

84. Great puzzle, my favourite Fed to date. Lots of lovely clues, as previously mentioned. Fed seems to be honing his setting skills and becoming a fan favourite!

    Thanks to Fed and Eileen.

85. MattS @83: I read the great surface of DOORKNOB as pertaining to boxing — handling (blocking or evading) a right cross (a boxing punch) and then counterpunching.

86. I must be the only one who could parse the ISON in 3d, but couldn’t deal with the UN.
    Thanks to all.

87. I’m with DrWhatsOn@54. UNISON was nearly universally biffed, yet is getting high praise. I have always been bemused by the “now I understand the parsing, it has become my favorite clue” reaction. IMHO, if a clue is so convoluted very few can unravel the parsing, then it remains a ‘too-clever-by-half’ clue to me, even when the parsing is explained.
    That said, I enjoyed the rest of this (even order=club seemed fine to me). Thanks, Fed and Eileen.

88. Excellent puzzle. Favourite was PLANET.

89. Thanks Eileen and thanks all.
    I’m surprised to see people querying ORDER/CLUB.

    Chambers offers:

    Order: a body modelled on a knightly order, to which members are admitted as an honour
    Club: an association of persons for social, political, athletic or other ends

    It doesn’t seem at all controversial to me to describe, say, the Grand Order of Water Rats as a club of sorts.

90. TonyS@85 agreed, that works as well.

91. Adrian at 80.

    Thank you for that. I knew of this as a thing, I didn’t put the two together. I feel slightly grubby for not knowing in a way, like I’ve somehow dipped an ignorant toe beyond a picket line.

    Big love and respect to the guardians of the Observer.

92. Funny about the comments here regarding a particular clue, given Picaroon’s theme today. Can’t comment there as same story as yesterday, i.e. no comments. But I did notice that Guardian USA and Guardian Australia are not involved in the strike, so we’ve had a lot of news from there and here today.

93. Balfour @47 Tony Santucci @70 I’m not a fan of The Who, but I came across a version of that song by John Kirkpatrick and Chris Parkinson. John Kirkpatrick is the patron saint of squeezebox players and Chris Parkinson is another wizard on them, so naturally it was played on a pair of them.

94. Coloradan@82 many thanks for resolving my query. The Paul example typically sounds ruder than it proves to be 😎

95. It’s not just the US that goes in for grandiose titles. Not having heard of these water buffaloes I googled them (they’re from the Flinstones) and also found the Royal
    Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, based in Harrogate!

96. Tim@87. Totally agree. The wordplay should be intended to be helpful, not subverted to fit an idea for the surface that the setter thought might be amusing or misleading.

    Fed@89. I don’t think anyone said that ‘order’=CLUB was wrong, just very hard to see. I make a point of not using a dictionary to solve a clue – I’ll check a solution after solving occasionally but not in this case. Clubs can usually be joined by signing a form and paying a fee, or by becoming pregnant, but membership of an order is an honour. Quite a difference, in my opinion. Difficult, not wrong. 🙂

97. Valentine @95

    I’m reminded that my landlord when I was at university was a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes – I never found out (or asked!) what they did.

98. Eileen @97. No need to ask – clearly they were members of a club, doing what club members do. And I mean that both seriously and ironically. I have seen many signs outside obscure buildings which said RAOB, and they were much the same as those saying Club & Institute Union, but I never thought of them as being equivalent. Again, not a criticism of the setter, but a reason why many of us found this clue difficult.

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