Guardian 29,676 / Fed

64 comments on “Guardian 29,676 / Fed”

1. I think 7,9 is an anagram of BASINGSTOKE H[e] P[o]P[s]? And 1d is WHITE (wine) + L + I all starting before E for European. A bit convoluted. Must admit I found this quite tricky in parts, but also a lot of fun – thanks Fed and Eileen

2. 1d: European = E; wine = WHITE; lake = L; Independent = I .. WHITE L+I before E

3. Two I’s in paintbrush??

4. Always pleased to see this setter and it didn’t disappoint. I ticked a lot with my favourites being PAINTBRUSH, PLAQUE, REVISED VERSION, PARK LANE, TODGER, QUICHE LORRAINE, ABSTRUSE and OSTRACISED but I could add the rest probably as I couldn’t see a dud amongst them. Fabulous puzzle. EILEEN, hope you don’t mind but a couple of small typos in your GO INTO DETAIL and REVISED VERSION in your preamble.

   Ta Fed & Eileen.

5. MOH @1 – Blow me – as simple as that! Many thanks.
   Arpee @3, thanks: careless typo.

6. Eileen @5, yes simple except that the grammar of the surface is pretty misleading given that word cluing the final letter starts the clue and it’s tempting to see “starts” as indicating the initials of lake and Independent, rather than signalling that “wine lake independent” starts the solution… as I said, this seems pretty convoluted to me!

7. Also tool needs underlined in TODGER.

8. FrankieG @2: so “starts” is doing double duty, or is I a recognised term for independent?

9. 20a: Park Lane is also next to Mayfair in real life.

10. MOH @6 – My ‘simple’ was referring to 7,9.

    As for 1dn, (FrankieG as well), I did get as far as that but I couldn’t justify the convoluted order!

11. A bit tough but worth it for REVISED VERSION, although I think something similar has been done before.

12. Wonderful challenge from Fed. My favorites were OSTRACISED and IMMACULATE. BEDSIT was a new word for me. Thanks Eileen, great blog!

13. I found this really difficult to start: TRUNCATE FOI, but then nothing until the second run through four hours later. Even then it was a slow, but pleasant progress.

    Thanks Eileen (8, 19 should be INTO not ONTO, and anagram fodder needed in QUICHE LORRAINE); and thanks Fed

14. Thanks AlanC @7 and DE @ 13 – more sheer careless transposing.

    I’ll amend the blog now, in view of all the above – many thanks.

15. This was fun and challenging, though I needed Eileen to parse PAINTBRUSH and a couple of early birds to sort out WHITE LIE – I could see the bits but couldn’t work out how to get them assembled in the right order.
    And a curious thing to learn from it – I was aware of the Revised Standard Version, but not the REVISED VERSION, which apparently was a late-19th century revision of the King James Bible.
    Thanks to all.

16. Cryptics have helped me get over the sin of ignorance so that Revised Version was easy. Not so easy were the back-parsings after entering shopping basket (didn’t bother) and white lie (couldn’t see it). And I’m curious that people haven’t heard of todger (several on the G thread too); I’d hsve thought it was pretty common argot. Lots to enjoy, cheers Fed and Eileen.
    PS I’ve been doing the FT by clicking the little pen and paper icon — it’s disappeared … pay wall?

17. AlanC @7 – are you Scottish by any chance? That “needs ….ed” always wrong-foots me!

18. Justigator@8
    WHITE LIE
    is I a recognised term for independent?
    Yes. It is.

    abraxas@17
    Out of academic interest: What would you say? ‘It needs underlining’?

19. When i was a child in the 60s, my father, a Pastor, taught me to do cryptic crosswords. The RV was used a lot more in church back then, and he showed me the version/over sin anagram

20. Very good indeed. I wasn’t keen on Fed’s early efforts, but now he’s one of the best IMO – don’t know whether he’s improved, I’m on his wavelength, or a bit of both.
    Only got a few short ones to start (AT IT, WAIF, WEAR) but the rest gradually fell into place.
    TODGER is one of my favourites but my last one in as I wasn’t sure it could really be that, and needed Eileen’s help for parsing – do those who object to ‘boobs’, ‘tits’ etc also dislike this for similar reasons?
    Thanks to Fed and Eileen.

21. abraxas @17: Irish but close enough.

22. Justigator@8: Yep I=Independent is a pretty standard crosswordism. Commonly seen in political circles where C = conservative, L=labour and I= independent for labeling of candidates, mps etc. Shall we see R=reform soon?

    I thought this was beautifully done – the surfaces were smooth and some of them (“notice jam setting” and “river don”) were about as perfect as a clue gets in terms of appearing to be a normal statement. The grammar got a little convoluted at times but I felt it was done in a way to undermine my expectations and once I parsed the clue properly everything was fine – just not how I read it at first (or second, or third…).

    Many thanks Fed – that was a highly enjoyable puzzle. And thank you Eileen as always!

23. Found this a bit of a slow burner, and really struggled to comprehend the parsing of some of the long ones – PAINTBRUSH, SHOPPING TROLLEY, QUICK MARCH, QUICHE LORRAINE and IMMACULATE. Quite a few, then, so many thanks as ever, Eileen. And also wondered about the Jam part of the triple definition at 2d. Last one in was the TODGER which I have only recently come across in a TV advert for an aid to enhancement that recites a long list of terms for the male organ concerned. REVISED VERSION my cotd, too…

24. ronald @23 – jam and spot can both mean an awkward or difficult situation.

25. Thanks Eileen. I hope you’ve managed to catch up on some well-earned rest. I can’t remember now, but for some reason I happened upon the Alan Connor article on Fed this morning before the crossword was up. A pleasant surprise to see Fed here, one of his best I thought. Unfortunately I can’t access the link in the article to what might be the best bit, as I’m not in the UK.

    I liked the misdirection of ”power tool” in the clue for TODGER, but solved that from wordplay and did know the answer from way back. I remember reading somewhere that Harry Sussex used the word not so long ago in Spare.

    Really enjoyed this. Took me ages to spot the triple definition in SPOT. I thought the central column and row were pretty good. GOING INTO DETAIL and REVISED VERSION. Remembered PARK LANE and MAYFAIR from the Monopoly Board.

26. Eileen, ah yes, of course. Plain as day now!

27. paddymelon @25 – it’s a real pity that you can’t access the programme: it’s actually worth paying for, if that were possible. It’s very, very clever, as you would guess from Dave’s crosswords – and quite hilarious!

28. I wondered about the 3 Q’s, in PLAQUE, QUICK MARCH, and QUICHE LORRAINE. A bit unusual, and at first I started looking for a pangram, or two.

    Probably a coincidence but there was a system (now discredited in places) for teaching literacy to children called 3 Cueing. This is from AI, but it says it more succinctly than in other places:
    The 3-cueing system in reading instruction focuses on using three types of cues – semantic (meaning), syntactic (structure), and graphophonic (letters and sounds) – to help students decode and comprehend words. This approach, developed by Ken Goodman and Frank Smith in the 1960s, suggests that readers can “guess” words by using these cues to predict what word might be on the page. .. I thought it pretty well sums up what we do as solvers.

29. Great puzzle! Really chewy and fun, and hard to parse in places. Loved PLAQUE in particular. Many thanks to Fed and Eileen.

30. [Eileen@27. I don’t think I can even pay for it. Some things just aren’t accessible outside of a certain region. 🙁

31. pm @30 – I know: that’s why I said, ‘If it were possible’. 😉

32. Defeated by Dave’s TODGER. I don’t suppose Jane was amused either.
    I put TEDDER, thinking that “power tool” might be the definition. Parsed the rest though so not feeling too bad.
    Thanks Fed and Eileen

33. It took me a long time to separate the power from the tool in TODGER, even though I know Fed likes a “fission” clue. Great puzzle, though I missed the trademark popular culture references.

34. Great to have Fed back with, as Eileen said, a clever, witty and headscratcher crossword.

    Thanks to Fed and Lucky Eileen

35. Eileen – the wrong half of the clue in 10A is underlined.

36. Have just been watching Dave Gorman’s rant about Jane – it’s utterly hilarious! (Apologies to paddymelon @30 for rubbing salt in the wound…)

37. Always witty and with some fun trademark devices, Fed is ever likely to amuse. And amuse me he did. SHOPPING BASKET was fun to assemble – though I had my suspicions with the def right from the start. Both PAINTBRUSH and PARK LANE had witty surfaces as well as neat constructions. OSTRACISED, BEDSIT and THEORY make up the rest of my podium.

    Thanks Fed and Eileen

38. Thanks, TJ @35 – amended now.

39. Glad to see Fed back which was a great tonic for yesterday’s difficult one.

    Couldn’t parse TODGER but guessed Mr Gorman had to include something for Jane.

    Liked: BEDSIT and REVISED VERSION

    Thanks Fed and Eileen

40. No celebrity inspired clue today which I always think of as a Fed/Django/Bluth hallmark.

41. Yes, a very entertaining solve.

    I loved the surface of the clue for PAINTBRUSH, knowing of Picasso’s affairs, the reverse clue for REVISED VERSION, the humour for TODGER, IMMACULATE where I was tripped up for a short time by Emulate instead of SImulate, the WHITE LIE with lots of misdirections, and QUICK MARCH for the substitution.

    It looks like I need to check out Dave’s show.

    Thanks Fed and Eileen.

42. this setter tries too hard to be clever in my opinion

43. Thanks for the blog ,good to see all four double entries neatly lined up in the grid . SHOPPING BASKET a great start , PLAQUE a very neat substitution ( this was once a Mr Burns joke ) , IMMACULATE simply describes the clue .
    Not so keen on OSTRACISED , I know a letter is moved but racist is in the clue and the answer nearly .
    Alan @42 , I often tell my students to try very hard to be clever .

44. [Quick question about yesterday. I know it’s a bit irregular, but everyone is here now. Yesterday, spanking was equated with new, but in the phrase “spanking new”, the new means new and spanking means very. So is it wrong, or can stand-alone spanking mean new? Or is the “might” in the clue a get-out-of-jail-free card? Tx!]

45. This was such good fun…

    But I had the same difficulty parsing SHOPPING BASKET as our distinguished blogger (not helped by E, O and S being the same alternate letters in STOKE as in HE POPS; uncanny coincidence or intentionally evil misdirection?!)

    But I thoroughly enjoyed the solve. I don’t know if I’m in a particularly good mood – two days in a row I’ve had my kind of puzzle. Luvverly….

    And many thanks to both and all

46. Good one although I thought the clueing for WHITE LIE was poor.

47. Dr.WhatsOn@44
    {INNUENDO: Valid point. Should we consider ‘as might be spanking’ instead of just ‘spanking’ to arrive at new (eventually NU)?}

48. Dr. WhatsOn@44 , I would agree with KVa@47 , the “as might be” is there for a reason .

    [ AlanC@4 , Sprog3 is visiting KPR on Saturday , I have told him to wear his oldest shoes and burn them when he gets home . ]

49. For completeness, I’ll note a trivial typo in the explanation for 22ac: “D[iggin]G” should be “D[rillin]G”, of course.

50. Thank you, Ted @49 – will amend now.

51. This was quite a struggle. Partly because substitutions tend to blindside me. I tried a Times crossword yesterday and this was much harder (I know Dave sets there too). All solved though. Thanks Fed and Eileen.

52. Although a Scotsman I’ve never heard 22a before. To me it is ‘tadger’.

53. [AlanC@7/21, abraxas@17: I was struck by that locution on hearing it from a native of western Pennsylvania, apparently one of its hotspots in the US. Yale did an in-depth study where they point out that it is indeed of Scottish/Northern Irish origin.]

54. At 17.37, it’s finally hit me the meaning of “tool” Fed is referring to. I’ve led a sheltered life.

55. [Coloradan @53: thanks, that was a fascinating read, as I am indeed from Northern Ireland. Well I never.

    Roz @48: 😁 he must be so excited. ]

56. This was fairly tough and I wasn’t sure if 22a really should be TODGER (my LOI: the only word that would fit)! Ah well – it’s the Grauniad – I can imagine the ruckus if that word had been sent to the editor of a certain rival publication! So TODGER it is. I’m not so keen on ‘hides’ as a substitution indicator – I’d rather have ‘replaces’ or ‘swaps out’.

    PARK LANE was good but I think ‘Jumbo’ should be capitalised – it would make the surface better too.

    Lots of ‘likes’ here: IMMACULATE and REVISED VERSION (is it coincidence that we have a sort of religious mini-theme – bearing in mind the recent event?). Also SHOPPING BASKET (I got the fodder right, first go); QUICK MARCH; WHITE LIE; PLAQUE; QUICHE LORRAINE. To name but a few.

    I think Picasso had a lot more than one PAINTBRUSH!

    Thanks to Fed and Eileen.

57. [ AlanC , he was glad that they had such an easy game but now it does not matter apparently . I suppose his season ticket will be more expensive again , never mind , we always get it for his birthday , it is an ideal present . ]

58. [Thanks Roz & KVa]

59. Thanks Eileen, thanks all.

60. SPOT and WEAR especially clever, tough and enjoyable puzzle, thanks Fed, and Eileen

61. @52 Chip

    It a willy surely!

62. @ Alan C 55

    So it was.

63. [Re: the link to the Dave Gorman show:

    Poor old Jane! 🙂 This is a useful reminder to to keep feedback constructive when posting comments on this site and to always consider the feelings of others.

    I’d like to also voice my enthusiastic praise for Fed/Dave Gorman’s crosswords. I’ve completed every one of his Guardian puzzles since they started appearing and have been a fan from the beginning. Fed’s style is a bit different but I’ve appreciated the learning curve and always found the clues fair and cleverly constructed. They have raised many a smile and I always look forward to the next puzzle.]

64. Only defeated by 22a TODGER. I did look up the term, but couldn’t believe that that would be the answer, so didn’t enter it. Kicked myself when I revealed

    Liked 24a “River Don” for WEAR. The Don River flows through Toronto

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