Thanks to Brendan for the cruciverbal challenge this week.
This was a puzzle that honours some of the legends of the crossword world. There are a number of well-known and important setters, mainly from the past, hidden in the grid.
The ones I spotted, and have highlighted in the grid are:
TORQUEMADA – Edward Powys Mather [1882 – 1939] – the first setter of the Observer barred puzzle series that continues to this day. TORQUEMADA set the first puzzle in the series in 1926.
XIMENES – Derrick Somerset Macnutt [1902 – 1971] – the second setter of that series. XIMENES took over from TORQUEMADA in 1939 and continued setting until his death. His final puzzle was published in 1972. Macnutt also wrote the important book ‘Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword’, first published in 1956.
AZED – Jonathan Crowther [born 1942] – the third and current setter of the series. His 2,750th puzzle is due soon. it will be 2,747 this coming Sunday (16th February 2025).
In addition to these three setters, we have:
ARAUCARIA – John Galbraith Graham [1921 – 2103] – a prolific setter of blocked puzzles, particularly in the Guardian.
AFRIT – Alastair Ferguson Ritchie [1890 -1954] – AFRIT was head of the Cathedral School at Wells Cathedral. He set many very difficult puzzles in the Listener series.
APEX – Eric Chalkley MBE [1917 – 2006] – while many setters have a background in the classics, the church or teaching, Chalkley worked as a carpenter and set puzzles in many publications.
CUSTOS – not located in a straight line in the grid, so his inclusion might be a slight coincidence, but I doubt it – Alec Robins [1917 – 1998]. CUSTOS was another prolific setter. He also wrote an important book on the art of cryptic crosswords entitled ‘Teach Yourself Crosswords’, first published around 1975.
Finally we have INQUISITORIAL down the centre column. This could be serving a number of purposes. Firstly, the names TORQUEMADA, XIMENES and AZED are derived from individuals prominent in the Spanish Inquisition [1478 – 1834]. AZED is the reverse of Deza. Secondly, crosswords in general can be seen as INQUISITORIAL, and thirdly, the ‘INQUISITOR‘ is a current series of barred crosswords in the i newspaper.
I have only scratched the surface of the talents and achievements of the setters mentioned above. There is a great deal of material about all of them on the web and in books and newspapers.
Turning to the puzzle itself. I enjoyed it, but I wondered a bit about the definition of ENCORED in 7 down. I dithered between a definition of ‘piece played more’ or just ‘played more’. I went for ‘played more’ on the grounds that encores tend to involve music or songs that have not been played earlier in the show, rather than just a repeat of the final piece.
The wordplay in many clues was quite intricate in places. I prefer this type of cluing to cryptic definitions, but I am sure other solvers will take a different view. The cluing for ESCUDOS was quite clever where Brendan spotted you could get from US CODES to ESCUDOS simply by re-arranging the vowels while leaving the positioning of the consonants unchanged.
That leaves ADDIS ABABA, where I am drawn to the conclusion that Brendan was cluing ADDIS ADABA as that is only way I can see how ‘poor backward’ [BAD reversed to DAB] can work.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Equator in turmoil after expulsion of a revolutionary force (6)
TORQUE (a force or system of forces causing or tending to cause rotation or torsion; revolutionary force) Anagram of (in turmoil) of EQUATOR excluding (after expulsion of) A TORQUE* |
| 4 | First person embraced by the writer, so-called Frenchwoman (6)
MADAME (form of address for a French woman) ADAM (first person on Earth according to the Bible) contained in (embraced by) ME (the writer) M (ADAM) E |
| 9 | Jump over ice to cast out line (4)
AXEL (in ice-skating, a jump from one skate to the other, incorporating one and a half or [double AXEL] two and a half turns in the air; jump over ice) AXE (dispense with; cast out) + L (line) AXE L |
| 10 | Moving communication (10)
CONVEYANCE (the act of carrying [moving]) CONVEYANCE (a legal document that transfers property before a house move for instance [a moving communication]) double definition Alternatively just a cryptic definition CONVEYANCE |
| 11 | Come to light, say, about Brendan getting sent back (6)
EMERGE (come into view; come to light) (E.G. [for example; say] + RE [with reference to; about] + ME (Brendan is the setter of the puzzle) all reversed (getting sent back) (EM ER GE)< |
| 12 | Perhaps bangers scared us, exploding (4,4)
USED CARS (some USED CARS could be described as bangers [decrepit old cars]) Anagram of (exploding) SCARED US USED CARS* |
| 13 | Weed as opposed to marijuana, we hear (9)
KNOTGRASS (name of a common weed) KNOTGRASS (sounds like [we hear] NOT [as opposed to] GRASS [slang term for marijuana]) KNOTGRASS |
| 15 | Centre of Kalahari Desert is this (4)
ARID (dry and barren as is the centre of the Kalahari desert) ARID (middle letters of [centre of] KALAHARI DESERT) – &Lit clue ARID |
| 16 | Read and sift, removing odd bits? (4)
EDIT (to correct and improve ready for publication, which could be an interpretation of the whole clue) EDIT (as mentioned above, the whole clue is a cryptic definition of EDIT) – &Lit clue EDIT Afternote: As the comments from solvers say, there is clear wordplay, that I forgot to put in the blog, as follows: EDIT (ED [letters 2 and 4 {removing odd bits 1 and 3} of READ] + IT [letters 2 and 4 {removing odd bits 1 and 3} of SIFT]) ED IT |
| 17 | Deductions from second and first parts of book (9)
STOPPAGES (deductions from pay, possibly because of strike action) S (second) + TOP (first) + PAGES (parts of a book) S TOP PAGES |
| 21 | In reform of racism, it’s an old weapon (8)
SCIMITAR (an old short, single-edged, curved sword [weapon]) IT contained in (in) an anagram of (reformed) RACISM SCIM (IT) AR* |
| 22 | Practice passed on from circus to movies (6)
CUSTOM (tradition; practice passed on from generation to generation) CUSTOM (hidden word in [from] CIRCUS TO MOVIES) CUSTOM |
| 24 | State also is connected with a poor backward area in capital (5,5)
ADDIS ABABA (Capital city of Ethiopia) ADD (say in addition; state also) + IS + A + BAB (I suspect the setter has mispelled the city as ADDIS ADABA to get DAB [reverse of bad {poor}]) + A (area) ADD IS A BAB< A |
| 25 | What goes into glass for raising in toast, initially (4)
FRIT (the mixed materials for making glass, pottery glazes, etc – a word used in this context in one of Robson Green’s travelogues around the North of England on BBC 2 earlier this week) FRIT (first letters [initially] of each of FOR, RAISING, IN and TOAST) FRIT |
| 26 | Kind of grape in county cut by extreme characters (6)
SHIRAZ (variety of grape) SHIRE (county) excluding the final letter (cut) E + A and Z (first and last [extreme] letters of the alphabet) SHIR A Z |
| 27 | Inventor’s lack of pretension? Just the opposite (6)
EDISON (reference Thomas EDISON [1847 – 1931], American engineer who claimed he never actually invented anything, but just improved original inventions made by others) (NO [lack of] SIDE [pretension]) all reversed (just the opposite) (EDIS ON)< |
| Down | |
| 1 | Often resented officials, including current fare collectors (7)
TAXIMEN (taxi drivers; people who take fares from their passengers) TAXMEN (officials who are often resented for doing their job) containing (including) I (electric current) TAX (I) MEN |
| 2 | Rugby sides separated by English person in charge (5)
RULER (person in charge) RU (Rugby [Union]) + (L [left] and R [right], sides, containing [separated by] E [English]) RU L (E) R) |
| 3 | It’s hard to understand man taking pawns with a rook (7)
UNCLEAR (hard to understand) UNCLE (slang term for pawnbroker [one takes pawns]) + A + R [rook, in chess notation) UNCLE A R |
| 5 | Top points made by primates about second part of Bible (6)
APEXES (summits; top points) APES (primates) containing (about) EX (EXodus, the second book of the Old Testament [part of the Bible]) AP (EX) ES |
| 6 | Broadcast a copper and a leading artist climbing tree (9)
ARAUCARIA (tree of the monkey puzzle genus) (AIR [broadcast] + A + CU [chemical symbol for copper]) + A + RA [member of Royal Academy of Arts; leading artist]) all reversed (climbing; down entry) (AR A UC A RIA)< |
| 7 | Key part in final piece played more (7)
ENCORED (played additional items; played more) CORE (a key part) contained in (in) END (final piece) Alternatively, ‘piece’ may go with the definition, but at most concerts or gigs I have been to, the ENCORE consists of pieces or songs not played earlier) EN (CORE) D |
| 8 | Popular with French who take exam including one severe questioning style (13)
INQUISITORIAL (a severe questioning style) IN + QUI (french for ‘who’) + SIT (take [an exam]) + (ORAL [a type of exam] containing [including] I [Roman numeral for one]) IN QUI SIT OR (I) AL |
| 14 | Head out of court and run into seven officers in Rome (9)
TRIUMVIRI (In ancient Rome, three men in the same office or government; each of three sharing supreme power) ATRIUM (court) excluding [out of] the first letter [head] A + (R contained in [into] VII [Roman numerals for 7]) TRIUM VI (R) I |
| 16 | Rearrange vowels in US codes to get money changed in Europe (7)
ESCUDOS (former unit currency of Portugal, now changed to the Euro) The vowels in US CODES are in the order U, O, E. If you rearrange them to the order E, U, O and leave the consonants unchanged you get ESCUDOS ESCUDOS |
| 18 | Duck that dives in river caught with difficulty (7)
POCHARD (red-headed diving-duck) PO (river in Italy) + C (caught) + HARD (with difficulty) PO C HARD |
| 19 | Effect of continued abrasion, or is one out of order? (7)
EROSION (an effect of continued abrasion) Anagram of (out of order) OR IS ONE EROSION* |
| 20 | Classes located in faculty set up (6)
STRATA (classes) (AT [located in] + ARTS [many Universities have a Faculty of ARTS]) all reversed (set up; down entry) (STRA TA)< |
| 23 | Seating, thus, not entirely secure (5)
SOFAS (seating) SO (thus) + FAST (fixed; secure) excluding the final letter (not entirely) T SO FAS |
I’m wondering if ADDIS ADABA is an administrative area, as opposed to the capital, but it seems that its not ABABA, if you check on the Guardian crossword page for that puzzle, unless its an error?
Also EDIT is found by the taking the odd letters of each word, rEaD and sIfT.
Had time and patience on Saturday to enjoy the delightful wordplay in the puzzle. Hope someone can clarify 24a. Thank you for the patient and thorough explanations, Duncansheill
24 across was a sheer blunder. My apologies.
Anyone interested in my political views can check them out now at georgebriangreer.substack.com
Trump’s new theme tune? (7,6)
And thanks to duncanshiell for excellent analysis — especially for younger solvers.
Thanks duncanshiell. Agree with Antonknee @2. I got there without recognising more than a couple of the setters and had to wait until now to understand the rest. I’m a little taken aback if the name of a capital city can casually be changed just to suit wordplay, I researched it as much as I could but found no justification for the incorrect spelling. I hope it was a simple error but surely this should have been picked up before publication.
Agree with Biggles @6 that the error should have been spotted by Alan Connor. He has one job…
Other than that, I enjoyed the puzzle as I always do with Brendan.
Even Homer nods. I had question marks for the parsing of 24a on my written record and the correct spelling so I blundered too. That’s what I like about the Prize puzzle anyway – that you can’t check or reveal. Missed the theme. I am familiar with some of the names esp Auracauria and Ximenes but I have only a little more than three years experience with cryptics so my history is vague. Maybe I should look into it. Thanks duncan for a comprehensive blog as always and Brendan for an enjoyable and entertaining puzzle.
Oh dear I missed the theme even though I was struck by the reference to ARAUCARIA at 6d. I looked for a pangram and ninas but missed the rest of the clever references entirely. Despite this failing on my part, I still thought it was a really great puzzle. It was gracious of Brendan to come onto the forum early to proffer his apology.
I loved 4a MADAME, 3d UNCLEAR, the aforementioned 6d and 14d TRIUMVIRI.
Thanks to Brendan for the enjoyment and to duncanshiell for the thorough and interesting blog.
My faves: The &lit EDIT (Antonknee @2 has furnished the missing explanation), EDISON, TRIUMVIRI and SOFAS.
Thanks Brendan and duncan.
[“Trouble at t’ mill” (saw Michael Palin’s original handwritten script in the British Library last week). ]
A more helpful clue: Trump’s new theme tune, a jazz classic — as recently performed in the Oval Office (7,6)
Thanks for the blog, I put in ADDIS ADABA thinking it must be the proper name, fortunately I never send these off. These things will happen and good of Brendan to clear things up .
I really enjoyed this , TORQUE MADA my favourite setter , I only noticed the three Observer setters , should have got A FRIT ( Ximenes gives credit to Afrit for many crossword setting techniques and conventions ) . FRIT a term I know from pottery but assume it is the same for glass. UNCLEAR is beautifully done and TRIUMVIRI , ESCUDOS close behind but many more fine clues.
EDISON an example of an anadrome, I only learned this term on the same day in the Guardian Quiz.
I came here to check up on the Guardian website’s insistence that only ADDIS ADABA is acceptable – I wonder how many entries will be considered eligible for the Prize if they have to leap the hurdle of putting in an incorrectly spelled answer because it matches the wordplay? (“Computer says no…”)
I’ve never tried to enter, but wouldn’t have been in contention anyway because E_C_R_D remained stubbornly blank – and of course I missed all the classic setters apart from ARAUCARIA because I was too busy looking for the pangram that didn’t happen.
I suffer from an unfortunate delusion that I can do crosswords, so thanks to duncanshiell for the blog, and to Brendan for being far too clever for me, as usual.
Found this difficult and didn’t quite finish in the SE
Liked: SNODGRASS, INQUISITORIAL, ARAUCARIA, SHIRAZ, ESCUDOS
Thanks Brendan and duncanshiell
Thanks Brendan & duncanshiell. BG @12: “Muskrat Ramble”. Boy, did he ramble!
I really liked EDISON, and realised I hadn’t heard anyone say “no side” for many years.
ESCUDOS was clever.
I noticed ARAUCARIA but did not pick up any of the others.
Thank you duncanshiell for the splendid commentary.
Brian Greer@4&12 – Muskrat Ramble? {Edit: beaten by Coloradan@16. I should’ve refreshed. Again.}
Enjoyable puzzle.
New for me: POCHARD duck (this was also a favourite clue).
I could not parse 24ac ADDIS ABABA.
Like Woody@17, I noticed ARAUCARIA but did not pick up any of the others.
Thanks Brendan and Duncan
Lovely crossword – I even spotted some of the theme. Loved the solvers and the setters blog both!
I had in ADDIS ABABA and couldn’t parse it, looked up “bab”, “abab” and “Baba” to see if they meant poor or poor area.
I liked ESCUDOS (thought of the Vowel Movement round on House of Games) and so many others. Saw ARAUCARIA and did vaguely look for a theme but didn’t see it. I’d forgotten about AFRIT, never knew about Apex. Another solver looking for the pangram.
Thank you to Duncan and Brendan.
In our submission of the crossword, I carefully crafted the 7th letter of 24ac to look like it could be either a B or a D!
Well, obviously I noticed ARAUCARIA, but I failed to notice the others. I even looked up John Graham’s dates to see if I was missing something – looks like a few brain cells!
I liked the surface of the clue for USED CARS, the separated rugby sides for RULER, the chess player who was UNCLEAR, the key part in final piece for ENCORED, and the seven officers in the TRIUMVIRI.
Thanks Brendan for the puzzle and mea culpa, and to DS for a fine blog.
Stormy weather?
[{These} Foolish Things ({5},7,6)]
An excellent puzzle – thoroughly enjoyed. I started with INQUISITORIAL, USED CARS and SCIMITAR, and those entries made a good foundation for the rest. I couldn’t fail to notice ARAUCARIA in this context, and I really should have spotted TORQUEMADA and XIMENES – but I didn’t. An interesting theme, very neatly incorporated.
Thanks to Brendan and Duncan.
Like several others, I spotted ARAUCARIA (of course) but failed to see the other classic setters. I was even saying to myself “There’s always something going on with a Brendan puzzle – what is it?”, but I just drew a blank. It seems so obvious now!
Many thanks to Brendan for an excellent and clever puzzle (in retrospect) and duncanshiell for explaining it all.
Kept me occupied on and off for much of the week, so I was happy enough except for 24ac which I flagged correctly as an error. Thanks duncanshiell and Brendan for confirmation. Crafty workaround indeed, Nigel@22. I liked AXEL, EMERGE and KNOTGRASS amongst others and I enjoyed the tussle with the elements of 8d. I rarely think to look for themes, so the setter’s extra effort is usually wasted on me, and on others, looking at earlier entries above.
I suffer from the same delusion as gladys @14, but plod on regardless – and although I spotted a connection between ARAUCARIA and INQUISITORIAL, the rest of the theme sailed serenely over my head. For me, the appearance of various Xs Zs and Qs merely had me thinking a pangram was in the offing…
FRIT, in that sense, was a jorum: I only knew it as a synonym for lily-livered.
CUSTOM and TRIUMVIRI were neat, and UNCLEAR was masterful.
Like others, the parsing of 24A confused me – so many thanks to Brendan for clearing that up and for an awesome crossword, and salaams to duncanshiell for an excellent blog
Thanks Brendan and duncanshiel. Completed it fairly quickly, but only because I didn’t worrry about not being able to parse ADDIS ABABA!
Enjoyed this a lot, thank you Brendan! An idea: why doesn’t the editor have a small group of volunteers to proof-solve crosswords? Kudos for them (sworn to secrecy of course) and I’m sure there would be more than enough coming forward from this site alone. (PS Another Adrian has emerged in the past fortnight so I’ve gone imperial ☺️)
Hadrian @ 31 Most setters already have test solvers
Thanks to Brendan for another excellent set of clues / solutions (bar one), and to DS for the blog.
FRIT is also a slang term for scared. Thatcher used it in PMQs.
Many thanks to Brendan and duncanshiell. A really enjoyable solve and a very educational blog. I thought ESCUDOS, EDISON and UNCLEAR were outstanding. KNOTGRASS made me smile, but it wouldn’t if we had it.
I spotted a couple of setters in addition to ARAUCARIA, but by no means all. Some of the ones I didn’t know don’t seem to be in the archive sadly.
[Brian @4 and 12, it was thoughtful of you to apologise but the ed must be responding too…. P.S. I do hope you tell us which tune you had in mind.]
Thanks Brendan for a good Prize. My dive into the British crosswords was after the run of the setters highlighted in the grid so the beauty of the construction was lost on me. Still I enjoyed this with clues like USED CARS, FRIT, UNCLEAR, APEXES, and EROSION. Thanks duncanshiell for the excellent blog.
Pauline@34 and Tony@35 , Custos was still setting for the Guardian plus Everyman in the 1990s so may be in the archives. An expert setter of accessible puzzles , taught me a lot when I was a beginner.
Azed still going strong at 82 and always worth the effort .
I do not know about Apex.
The other three long in the past. Afrit means demon and he was a fearsome setter and invented many types of special puzzle. Torquemada very difficult and very different to modern cryptics . Someone kindly printed some off for me and I use them for long invigilations . Some say his legendary ” Knock Knock” puzzle was the first theme.
Thanks Duncan and Brendan ! Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle which kept me occupied on and off for the weekend, as a Prize puzzle should. Although I saw TORQUEMADA and ARAUCARIA I forgot that Torquemada was a crossword setter outwith The Guardian so I failed to spot the others. Also after seeing INQUISITORIAL I was far too busy looking for Cardinal Fang, the Comfy Chair and so on. My bad !
JohnB at 37. Thanks for the reminder of the unexpected. And, to a couple of people, Muskrat Ramble was indeed what I had in mind.
[Many thanks Ros. Much appreciated l. I’m afraid Custos is not in the archives but there are plenty of others to try… I think my solving skills need to improve before trying Azed because a lot of the solutions are words unknown to me.]
[Brian @38 😎.]
[Pauline in Brum@39: I did try a few Azeds last year: lots of the answers will always be words you don’t know: you’ll spend a long time testing theories about what 5d might be against Google and the dictionary (or I did anyway) and I don’t think I ever did finish one. It’s an interesting challenge, but took up too much time to become a regular thing for me.]
Roz@36
You’re right about Torquemada’s difficulty. I was given a copy of The Cain’s Jawbone Book of Crosswords with 112 of his puzzles the Christmas before last. It may still be in my local Oxfam bookshop. He was once told by his editor that there had only been two correct entries for the previous week’s puzzle and replied that in that case he would have to make them more difficult. As you say, the style is very different. There is very little wordplay of the sort we are used to, with no indication of how many letters in an answer, non-cryptic definitions of obscure words, answers split between clues without the elements being words on their own, and plain literary references that you either know or don’t. I suppose I could have got further with the help of Google but that’s not what I do crosswords for.
A late comment as I was unable to get to a PC yesterday. Thanks to Brendan for extending my GK with both ‘side’ and ‘uncle’; neither usage familiar to me hence I had those clues un-parsed. Thanks to Duncan for pointing out all the setter references; they make the puzzle even better than I’d realised. I was just pleased to get it all filled in!
Pino , I am glad that you have tried them as well , all the things you mention are the reasons I like them so much , also some entries backwards just because it was the only way they would fit. Have yoe seen the “Knock Knock” puzzle ? The clue for Euripides is my all time favourite.
Cain’s Jawbone was a murder mystery “novel” of the 1930s , pages provided separate and in a random order. The task was to put all the pages in the correct order .
Roz@43
I didn’t get as far as the “Knock Knock” puzzle. Does your favourite relate to the “Euripides trousers?” “Yes, Eumenides?” joke?
I read somewhere that only 3 people claim to have solved “Cain’s Jawbone”. Sounds a bit like reading “Finnegan’s Wake”.
To PIno @ 44. “Finnegans Wake” (see Brendan’s puzzle on apostrophes).
Thanks Brendan and duncanshiell for the excellent puzzle and blog, and Brian for dropping in.
I was happy to spot 6 of the themesters, mostly before my time in the cryptic world, but learned from 15 squared.
CONVEYANCE I read the communication part of the DD/CD as this, which I found on Onelook:
noun: (archaic) A manner of conveying one’s thoughts, a style of communication.
Brendan@45
I half remembered that but I was too lazy to check.
Pino@44, it involves trousers and a Knock Knock joke but not Eumenides . I can’t explain fully without the long preamble to the puzzle , it would take me ages to type and the sea is calling to me.
Can INQUISITORIAL be a noun as the clue seems to require? I can’t seem to find dictionary support for this.
I didn’t know the slang term SIDE, and FRIT and POCHARD were both jorums for me.
Too bad about the error in 24ac, but these things happen.