Guardian Cryptic 29,596 by Arachne

86 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,596 by Arachne”

1. Excellent, thanks Arachne. I liked CHINCHILLA in particular.

   Guessed NOOB – I wonder how it is pronounced.

   Thanks PeterO also for two or three parsings that escaped me.

2. The first across clue being one of the chewier ones was a bit disconcerting, even though I have read Lord of the Rings and know about barrow-wights. ‘Noob’ is in my understanding rather more derogatory and general than ‘apprentice’, but that would hardly be the first time a cryptic compiler had played fast and loose with supposed synonyms. I interpreted the ‘Sounds like’ of 18d to only apply to ‘vital’, given how different the ‘o’ sounds in LOVER and OVER are. Thanks Arachne and PeterO.

3. Thanks PeterO. Lucky you and lucky us to have the delight of witty, and clever but kind Arachne this morning. I was thrilled to see her name today, when otherwise I’m in total media blackout, which is probably a bit easier for me than yourself Peter.
   Agree with Mac089@2 about the homophone only applying to KEE (key/vital) then LOVER flame).

   Lots of laughs. Favs CHARISMA FOI and MASSEUSE LOI.

   Was held up with DRYDEN as I had the crosser Y in third position and got stuck on the idea of ”sty” for the squalid room, but s-t-y-?-t-t isn’t a poet. Tried envelopes (without). Finally hit on dry and the parsing, which opened up the SE. If I knew me poets better I may have twigged just seeing poet and the y, as I’m sure my illustrious co-solvers here would have done.

4. It wasn’t a cart, it was a mound! [Seen one somewhere, York maybe?]. Yes, the spider lady is ever a pleasure. That rubber trick isn’t new but still it took a bit to click. And I thought maybe the shave could make chin chiller 🙂 . Either way, lovely Monday puzzle, many tas to A and P.

5. Thanks Arachne for a most pleasant Monday surprise, the perfect blend of gentle and brilliant. My favourites included HASSLE, VIEW, EDAMAME, CHARISMA, FIENDS, LAUGHTER, KEEL OVER, and DEARTH but, really, there were no ‘bad’ clues. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

6. For edamame I just put the bits together like she said. [It was a nho for me, but not for my sis and b-i-l who are over from London. Smartsrse foodies 🙂 ]

7. gif@6. It gave me a kick to get EDAMAME, once I could see that legume and lentil would neither fit nor parse. I just happen to have dried, roasted snackpacks and cans in the cupboard. Maybe it’s more an east coast than west coast thing?

8. Sarah is one of my favorite setters and, as expected, I loved this puzzle. What a wonderful start to the week.

9. Nah pdm, it’s just me becoming a grumpy old bleep closing off from the world …

10. {gif@9. Gotcha. You should try them. Yummy and versatile, and dare I say ”healthy” as well.)

11. A very satisfying challenge from Arachne which slowly came together. Some beautiful clues – witty and misleading and, as always, ADEPTLY set. Hard to choose favourites but I’ll go for MASSEUSE and CHINCHILLA for the wit, EDAMAME and IMPISHNESS for the construction, and CHARISMA for the mental image. I agree with MAC089 @2 re KEEL OVER.

    Many thanks to PeterO and to Arachne. A great start to the week although tough for a Monday.

12. Cracking puzzle with which to start the week. Flawless. Lovely succinct cluing, wit and creativity in abundance. Some lovely and some amusing images conjured up by the neat surfaces. What’s not to like? MORIBUND,COMPREHEND, MISTRUST, CHINCHILLA, CHARISMA, LAUGHTER and the beautiful DEARTH are my faves.

    Thanks Arachne and PeterO

13. Exactly what Pauline in Brum and PostMark said. What a delight!

    Many thanks to Arachne – lovely to see you! – and to lucky PeterO.

14. Dave Ellison@1 NOOB, alternative for newbie/newboy. Pronunciation as in American English and some dialects of British English, ie without the yod or /j/ or ”y” sound in ”new”.

15. Another solver pleased to see Arachne this morning.

    MORIBUND took me far too long with my familiarity with Bulbarrow (Hardy mentions it), but the definition of “crumbling” didn’t immediately equate. Paddymelon @3 I did see the Y on my second pass and thought DRYDEN. And I am familiar with EDAMAME beans, even ate them a couple of times over the weekend. I’ve used NOOB, to colleagues, asking them to play nice with the NOOB or newbie.

    Thank you to PeterO and Arachne.

16. I agree with Paddymelon@3 over the parsing of KEEL OVER as a homophone of key plus ‘LOVER’. Never heard the word NOOB before and I only entered it after the crossers were in place. Ashamed to say that MORIBUND was my LOI. Quite inventive to clue KARAOKE. Arak isn’t the first strong drink that comes to mind and I tried to fit ‘rum’ in at first.
    Otherwise, nothing to add to the previous comments about the excellence of the puzzle and how good it is to see Arachne once again. Thanks to her and to PeterO for the blog.

17. A lovely Arachne to brighten up a grey Monday. I got stuck in the sty like paddymelon@3 (DEN is so often clued as “retreat” that it’s hard to spot it in a different disguise – and we had another “retreat” today). Others that took their time to appear were MASSEUSE, MORIBUND (oh, that sort of barrow…) and MUSCLE (oh, that sort of trap…) The dancing pharmacist and the chilly chin made me smile – and I agree about KEEL OVER.

18. I usually do not do the Guardian puzzle through the week, but I noticed today’s setter was one of my favourites, so I gave it a go

    It was a wonderful puzzle, as hoped. Honestly, I do not have much to add to what those before me have written beyond I thought KARAOKE was just brilliant and I sighed when I saw more rhyming slang in 6dn

    Thanks Arachne and PeterO

19. I suspect the doubts about ‘NOOB’ are generational? It seems to me this version has lost its sting, and has become the generally accepted affectionate / self-effacing term for an absolute beginner.

20. Such a pleasure to read Arachne’s beautifully crafted clues. Like PeterO, I admire her artistry and wit.

    Favourites: CHARISMA, FIENDS, EDAMAME (I love eating them too!), MISTRUST, MASSEUSE, MUSCLE (loi).

    re 18d I agree with others above that the homophone only applies to KEE = key and then add LOVER = flame.

    Thanks, both.

21. As usual I’m totally gobsmacked by Arachne’s superb surfaces. Without exception today, if they didn’t have the number before and the enumeration after you wouldn’t recognise them as crossword clues.
    Failed to parse MUSCLE… I was laughing so much at the chin chiller that I didn’t twig “escaping trap”. Never seen that trick before…

22. Thanks Arachne and Peter

    Great puzzle. Harder than most Mondays; lots of clues had a little extra twist or leap. Very satisfying.

23. With this compiler, every clue is like a miniature portrait by Hilliard: small and elegant, and yet so accurate.
    Another masterful work of art from Arachne.

    I doff my cap, Arachne & PeterO

24. Martyn @18 – THE READY or the readies is not Cockney Rhyming Slang – it comes from the money that is ready or available, so the payee doesn’t have to go to the bank to use it. A phrase used when someone wants to be paid in cash, to avoid recording the earnings, or to ask If someone can pay this. If you want the CRS, that’s Nelsons, from Nelson Eddy.

25. Simply brilliant clueing and terrific surfaces as usual – LOLs included KARAOKE, MASSEUSE and CHINCHILLA. Many thanks to A & P.

26. I spent far too much time trying to convince myself that 1D was an anagram of ‘a certain’. What a boneheaded indeed!

27. Thanks Arachne and PeterO
    Though it was a lovely surprise to see Arachne, I thought she was a bit looser in places than usual. “Blanket” for MASS and “bears” for HAS were both a bit of a stretch. “Escaping trap” is a left-field sounds like indicator!
    I agree with pdm’s parsing of KEEL OVER – OVER and LOVER are pronounced very differently.
    Favourites MORIBUND and AT THE READY.

28. I agree with others about the pleasant surprise on a day with little to be glad about (cf paddymelon@3). It’s always a great gift to have an Arachne to solve. I was reminded profoundly today of how much I admire her setting style! I particularly liked the afore-mentioned 11a COMPREHEND, 17a KARAOKE (great visuals!), 22a DRYDEN, 23a CHINCHILLA, 5d CHARISMA (more great visuals!) and 18d KEEL OVER. Another favourite was 10a MEOW. But I’m not sure why I need to name those clues when it was all such a pleasure to solve.
    Many thanks to PeterO and Arachne.

29. I agree with muffin re the slightly loose synonyms, but forgave them for the elegance of the surfaces everywhere.

    Many thanks, Spider Lady, and PeterO for explaining NOOB. (Pronounced as boob or newt, I wonder?)

30. I worked in IT in the 90s. Our new recruits were known as Newbies. Never heard it shortened before.

    BTW they all ended up in the desks in the middle of the office. This became known as Newbie Island

31. A joyful start to a grey Monday!

    Re “the ready”, as Shanne@24 says, it is not Cockney. It is, however, famously used in The Importance of Being Earnest, where Lane explains to Algernon that cucumbers could not be had at the market “Not even for ready money” – as opposed to buying on credit I suppose.

    Many thanks to Arachne and to PeterO

32. Thought this superb in every way, particularly the many Impish misdirections. Last two to furrow my brow were the Rubber at 20ac and the Retreat at 21d. Perfect start to a brand new week for me…

33. I got Dryden accidentally by trying to put rye (alcohol) in the middle of something unknown; the “ry” bit then gave me a nudge to recognise the poet before realising it wouldn’t parse. Pure luck, but I’ll take it. There ought to be a word for solving clues that way.
    I gave up with 2 left, but after I revealed Keel Over, but that then gave me Karaoke.
    Other than that I can only echo most of the comments above.

34. Brilliant. There’s a kind of double-bluff in MORIBUND. The surface makes you read the barrow as a burial mound, so you immediately think it must be the other sort of barrow.

35. A wonderful surprise for a wet and grey Monday in Rome (yes, they have them here as well!).

    All of the usual inventive clueing and sparkling surfaces that we expect from Arachne. I have no complaints about the synonyms: ‘bears’ for HAS is unremarkable, if unexpected, and blanket’ = MASS when the nouns are used attributively – ‘blanket/mass coverage’. It is rare to see a novel homophone indicator – ‘escaping trap’ is masterful (mistressful? 🙂 ).

    NOOB was new to me (unlike ‘newbie’), although it seemed the obvious solution, and I had to use the check button to confirm it.

    All my favourites have already been flagged up – it would take too long to list them.

    Many thanks to Sarah and PeterO

36. Quite a few NHO both in the answers and part-answers. If Arachne is going to show up more, I’m definitely going to have to figure out her cleverness, since I found a lot of this very chewy (but equally, I think, not really too much for a Monday once I did figure it out)

    To add to the NOOB discussion (pronounced as written, I’d say), as a millenial I’ve always considered it to be a far more derogatory word than ‘apprentice’ or even ‘newbie’. To me it has connotations of “you don’t belong in this space/deserve a voice”, whereas ‘newbie’ just means what it says. But that’s probably just a generational thing

37. Although eminently gettable, a NOOB need not be an apprentice, since the latter implies a relationship with a master and the former does not. It’s simply an abbreviation of the slang ‘newbie’. As to the rest of the puzzle, very enjoyable.

38. Re NOOB, the spelling suggests a pronunciation without a jod, ie to rhyme with ‘boob’ rather than the British pronunciation of ‘tube’ – hence probably American in origin?

39. SamW@36. I also see NOOB as derogatory and not as Drdubosc@19 suggests that it’s an affectionate/self-effacing term. I doubt that NOOBs would refer to themselves as NOOBs, but I don’t know, I’m retired. It’s a term that’s applied to them by others, surely?

40. Gervase@38. NOOB, as I suggested @14.

41. Arachne on Monday morning… a perfect start to the week.
    Thank you !

42. NOOB: Wiktionary: noun: (Internet slang, chiefly derogatory) A newb or newbie; refers to the idea that someone is new to a game, concept, or idea; implying a lack of experience.

43. NOOB:
    From Wikipedia;
    The etymology of the term is uncertain. It may derive from “newie”, which is attested in U.S. and Australian sources of the 1850s, meaning a neophyte in a place or situation; alternatively, it may derive from the British public school slang “new boy” or “new blood”, which is attributed to the same era and was applied to a schoolboy in his first term.

    In the 1960s and 1970s, the term “newbie” had a limited usage among U.S. troops in the Vietnam War as a slang term for a new man in a unit.

44. Being married to a pharmacist, CHARISMA made me chuckle, along with CHINCHILLA. I couldn’t parse MUSCLE but now I think it’s brilliant. Same parsing of KEEL OVER as paddymelon @3. Sheer delight at the mastery displayed here.

    Ta Arachne & PeterO.

45. Impishly inventive and enjoyable. I struggled with HASSLE, exactly the type of clue I find tricky, even with all the crossers (not helped by them not including the first letter); even after finding the solution, the relationship of “has” and “bears” was a bit tenuous though not unfair. So many of the other clues were delightful, amusing, and with excellent surfaces.

46. Like paddymelon @3, I’m having a media-blackout day, keep my head well down (bent double like old beggars under sacks) so I headed straight for Menu then Crosswords – and couldn’t believe my luck! It’s always a pleasure to see Arachne’s name, and it appears so rarely these days. The usual witty, pithy and elegant clues, my own faves being DEARTH, CHINCHILLA and the naked dancing pharmacist.
    Interesting to see NOOB being described as a generational thing: when I first started work (a long time ago on a planet far far away) all us newcomers were called that – and any beginners’ mistakes were called Noob-boobs.
    Many thanks to Arachne for making me happy on an otherwise grim day, and PeterO.

47. I got the HAS = ‘bears’ part of HASSLE, the second part escaped me but I had enough to fill it in. Lovely stuff though, I found this a good start to the week.

48. paddymelon passim: Sorry to repeat what you already said about NOOB. It must be American because of the missing yod, irrespective of where ‘newbie’ originated

49. 14a MI+STRUS+T – PeterO, you forgot to cycle the ex-PM: TRUSS > RUSST > USSTR > SSTRU > STRUS
    [I know it’s quicker the other way round, but I didn’t want us to blink and miss it. Great surface. What are the chances of that happening?]

50. My Millennial offspring doesn’t see NOOB as offensive, and nor do I. My “play nice with the n00b” would be a shot across the bows of those ragging the newbie and a flag to said n00b they’re being spun a story. I’m more familiar with seeing it written n00b

51. ravenrider @33. “There ought to be a word for solving clues that way”. There is… serendipity: the faculty of making fortunate or beneficial discoveries by accident (definition from Chambers).

52. As a NOOB to this – can someone please explain the link between Head = NESS in 13d? I solved it but more by guesswork than logic. Managed to get most although even though I had MOUND I couldn’t think of an appropriate bone so MORIBUND escaped me. Challenging enough, but fun. Thanks.

53. A minor quibble on 6: in my experience it’s “the readies” rather than “the ready” that is slang for cash. It wasn’t enough to throw me off though, and overall it was a clever and enjoyable puzzle, with a few NHOs that I was nevertheless able to deduce. Thanks Arachne & PeterO.

54. MuddyThinking@52: Ness as a place name means a cape, headland or promontory. You see it most often in crosswords and then in places with a norse link (the word has Viking etymology) hence Caithness, Skegness.

    So head = ness and cape = ness are very useful for setters as “ness” is such a common word ending. Worth storing away for future puzzles.

55. JackofFewTrades@54: that’s very helpful, thanks. I’m slowly building my mental library of such pointers. (Great username by the way!)

56. Re: noob/n00b – it’s particularly used (often pejoratively) in online gamer circles:
    How is noob/n00b used? Use Cases & Examples
    The condescending slang term noob, n00b is derived from the slang term newbie that was used to describe soldiers in the Vietnam War. Used especially in video games by experienced players who are frustrated with unskilled players, this insult may also apply to anyone who is naive or foolish in their actions.

    Examples of how your teen might use the slang term noob/n00b:

    -Why is that player not moving?
    -its some dam noob

    -I can’t get the controller to work right.
    -wtf n00b

57. Dave Ellison @1 ‘noob’ is pronounced just the way it is written, the ‘oo’ making the same sound as words like ‘doom’. It comes from the typical American pronunciation of ‘new’ as ‘noo’ (rhymes with ‘moo’)

58. I enjoyed most of this with ticks in particular for CHINCHILLA and 5D’s dancing naked pharmacist and a loud groan for KEEL OVER.

    I’m not entirely happy with ‘has’ for ‘bears’ in 25A, it seems to me that the latter is a lot more specific. However, it’s a minor quibble for a Monday morning.

59. I’ll echo that it was great to see Arachne’s name at the start of a grey day here in the UK.

    Nice to see and forget the ex-PM cycling on a motorway – did she get a ticket? Other great surfaces for HASSLE, CHARISMA and IMPISHNESS, and most, if not all, had pleasing surfaces. I also loved the homophones in KEEL OVER (as per MACO89 @2) and for MUSCLE, where ‘escaping trap’ was sublime.

    Thanks Arachne and PeterO.

60. My only complaint is FIEND for addict. It is a long time since William Randolf Hurst died or Orson Wellse’s ridiculous Touch of Evil. I solved it very quickly, but really?
    Otherwise it was up to Arachne’s usual standard and I loved it.

61. nicbach @60; you’ll have to argue then with Chambers and Collins, which both equate FIEND with addict. Chambers:
    A devil
    A person driven by the most intense wickedness or hate
    An addict
    A devotee
    Collins:
    An evil spirit; demon; devil
    A person who is extremely wicked, esp in being very cruel or brutal
    informal
    A person who is intensely interested in or fond of something: a fresh-air fiend; he is a fiend for cards
    An addict: a drug fiend
    (informal) A mischievous or spiteful person, esp a child

62. My last to be parsed was DRYDEN, which didn’t work as a charade because the pieces are in the wrong order. It’s a cryptic definition, isn’t it? A gin joint with no gin: a dry den. Very clever. MORIBUND and MUSCLE/mussel were also reluctant to give themselves up and made for enjoyable challenges.

    Thanks to so many people for the instructions on how to pronounce NOOB, but I can guarantee it will never escape my trap. 😃

    Thanks to Arachne and PeterO for a pleasant distraction on this gloomy Trumpday.

63. Nicbach@60. I’m sure I remember FIEND being used in The Wire, but as that’s almost 20 years ago now, perhaps we can consign it to the dustbin of history. 😜

    Seriously though, are former usages verboten here in crosswordland? I don’t think so.

64. What a beautifully constructed puzzle with so many smooth surfaces. I think ARAK was the only NHO for me but that was clear when I saw the OKE part. Started in the NW and worked clockwise, as folks said 1ac was one of the chewier ones and I didn’t look at MEOW until I had the NE left–ironically because my cat is curled up next to me and I was thinking about how I needed to finish reasonably quickly so I can get to the pet food store for the kittens. 22ac I tried to make it RYE in DEN, saw it didn’t work, and then realized the parsing. “Escaping the trap” was a nice homophone indicator.

    re: the general discussion, the zoomers I know use NOOB for each other reasonably affectionately, but it’s definitely an affectionate insult.

    [Nicbach@60, sheffield hatter@63: There’s also the “gangsta” verse of Ice Ice Baby (“Shay with the gauge, Vanilla with the 9”) which ends “Police on the scene, you know what I mean? They passed me up, confronted all the dope fiends,” marking the first time when a “gangsta” verse ended with the rapper being rescued by the cops. More credibly, in “Don’t Believe the Hype” Chuck D raps “I’m not an addict, fiending for static.” But those are even older than The Wire.]

65. Suitably Mondayish but with so much wit and superb surfaces. Loved MASSEUSE and CHINCHILLA

    Thanks Arachne and PeterO

66. Brilliant – this spider tickles and bites, and weaves the smoothest threads, thank you both!

67. A bit late, but I just want to join in the totally deserved applause for this crossword. So many short, sharp and witty clues! MUSCLE my favourite – what an achievement to come up with a new variant on ‘sounds-like’ – but I loved the misdirection in AT THE READY.

68. Ace@57 and many others, thanks for the pronunciation of NOOB. I wasn’t really thinking of the OO so much as the B, so was it NOO B as already in newbie, or just noob, without the ie bit; that is, was is just an alternative spelling. Guess that has been answered.

69. Later than usual to this one today; it’s a holiday here and it’s 5°F/-15°C out, so the perfect conditions for sleeping late! Also perfect conditions for doing crosswords over a cup of coffee. This one hit the spot–thanks as always to Arachne.

    Coincidentally (spoiler alert) today’s New York Times crossword has the clue “Novices, slangily” and I had an N. I confidently entered NOOBS, but it turned out they wanted the alternative spelling NEWBS.

    I agree that n00b is usually derogatory; the zeros are because it originated in the peculiar subculture of online gaming. It is slowly getting less so, though, and also slowly getting more common with regular Os instead (noob).

70. When I saw the setter’s name this morning, I decided to put the puzzle away and save it as a treat for the homeward commute. I wasn’t disappointed, a joy from start to finish.

    [NOOB was an early entry for me. I was taught the term recently by my 12 year old daughter. Although I should really know better, I now use the term liberally to refer to the revolving cast of hacks that I have to deal with daily in another government department.]

71. What a delight to have an Arachne to solve on an otherwise depressing day for me here in the US. Thanks to Arachne and PeterO.

72. What a pleasure to see Arachne’s name at the top of the puzzle. I found this harder than others of hers, but I got there in the end.

    I particularly loved the unexpected homophone indicator in 3dn (MUSCLE), one of the last clues I solved.

    I’d never heard of “arak”.

73. Thanks both and a bullseye 4 on the scale.

    It’s nice to see Arachne relaxing a little and taking some Paul/Boatman licence such as for ‘interminable’ in MASSEUSE (and (perhaps) ‘blanket’ for that matter), ‘bears’ in HASSLE and the general makeup of BONEHEAD.

    (michelle@20: I must try some of those EDAMAME beans…).

74. EDAMAME beans are baby soya beans with a posh name.

75. The first time I had edamame, they were served in the pod (they had been roasted with a spice of some sort on them). No one told me you weren’t supposed to eat the pods; the expectation was that you popped it into your mouth and sort of sucked the beans out. After about five minutes of relentless chewing, I eventually figured that out on my own!

    Simon @74: not posh, Japanese. They’re the ones who came up with the idea, so they’re entitled to name it. It’s like umami, the fifth taste: if it had been discovered by an English-speaking scientist, we’d call it “meaty.”

76. [Simon S@74: When you say ‘baby’ do you mean small (as in a dwarf variety?) or immature perhaps?]

    From a setter’s point of view I surmise that the ENDEMAME is very good for the vowels.

77. If we cannot have Picaroon, there’s no better substitute than Arachne to bring on from the bench.

78. @77m, agreed completely.

    I found this tricky and needed e-help to finish. CHINCHILLA was a good clue. A bit amusing to see all the chat about NOOB. Generational as others have pointed out. 🙂

79. A @ 76 young, ergo small

80. I have the sad news that Puck aka Paul Facey-Hunter died this evening. He was a close friend of mine for 50 years and a really talented guy.

81. Oh, terribly sad news of Puck, Max. And so sorry for the loss of your good friend.

82. Thoroughly delicious puzzle. Did take me two days in bits and starts around life in general but I really enjoyed it! I thought of NEWB but didn’t get to NOOB. I think Arachne/Sarah is a brilliant setter, I look out for her Rosa Klebb too. Thank you setter and blogger

83. Well, having (for once) sailed through this week’s Quiptic and Everyman, I came to a great shuddering halt with this one. Got about a third of the way and stopped in frustration😕 Will try again next week.

84. I’m a bit late getting round to this, but I thought this was fabulous. Possibly a bit chewy for a Monday, but well worth persisting with – everything was there to be found.
    And 23 made me laugh out loud – not many things do that nowadays. Cheers for that.

85. I’m even later, but only just spotted that it was Arachne. Nice one. A bit of a condescending blog though.

86. Beautiful puzzle, but tough for a Monday. Completed the Right side but not the Left

    Solved 3d MUSCLE, but couldn’t parse it, searching for an anagram of MOLLUSC with subtractions and substitutions

    AlanD@85, confused by your comment. I see nothing but respect and admiration in the blog, and a perfect description of the puzzle

    Max Harris@80, condolences re Puck. Another loss for the crossword community

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