The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29716.
I was late with this blog, and then when it was done fifteensquared was playing up. It seems to have got over its troubles n0w. A very gentle start to the week, provided you get past the rather dated references (but famous in their times), particularly 1A GARFIELD SOBERS, 1D GEORGE FORMBY and 19D TYPHOON.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GARFIELD SOBERS |
Seabirds and golfer harassed former WI captain (8,6)
|
| An anagram (‘harassed’) of ‘seabrds’ plus ‘golfer’. ‘WI’ for West Indies (cricket team), not Women’s Institute. | ||
| 8 | OUGHT |
Should mean the end of most of the dry season (5)
|
| A subtraction: [dr]OUGHT (‘dry season’) minus the first two letters (‘the end of most of’ – at best an awkward indication). | ||
| 9 | CANNIBAL |
Man-eater with writer in cut (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of NIB (‘writer’) in CANAL (‘cut’). | ||
| 11 | GALLEON |
Kitchen unfinished on 1588 vessel (7)
|
| A charade of GALLE[y] (‘kitchen’) minus its last letter (‘unfinished’) plus ‘on’. ‘1588’ in particular for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. | ||
| 12 | ABRIDGE |
Cut short a game with partners from all quarters (7)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus BRIDGE (‘game with partners from all quarters’ – a reference to the standard identification of the players as NS and EW). | ||
| 13 | FATWA |
Oil hostilities cut short by mufti’s decree (5)
|
| A charade of FAT (‘oil’ – oil is a liquid form of fat, although the latter word is more often used when it is solid or semisolid at room temperatures) plus WA[r] (‘hostilities’) minus its last letter (‘cut short’). | ||
| 15 | EN PASSANT |
Chess move, by the way (2,7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | REPENTANT |
Contrite traveller coming in, dropping a bit of rubbish (9)
|
| A charade of REP (‘traveller’ salesman) plus ENT[r]ANT (‘coming in’ – adjectival) minus the R (‘dropping a bit of Rubbish’). | ||
| 20 | MELEE |
Scrap of shelter after half-time (5)
|
| A charace of ME (‘half-tiME‘) plus LEE (‘shelter’). | ||
| 21 | BEACHED |
Broke right away, left high and dry (7)
|
| A subtraction: B[r]EACHED (‘broke’) minus the R (‘right away’). | ||
| 23 | PREMIER |
Short debut in top league (7)
|
| A subtraction: PREMIER[e] (‘debut’) minus its last letter (‘short’). | ||
| 25 | PALMETTO |
Metal pot cooked state tree (8)
|
| An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘metal pot’. Many palmettos are low-growing, but some are definite trees, including Sabal palmetto, which makes |
||
| 26 | ISSUE |
Children: a bone of contention (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | MANDARIN ORANGE |
Fruit from Romanian garden (8,6)
|
| An anagram (‘from’) of ‘Romanian garden’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GEORGE FORMBY |
Prince with class next to Lamp-post singer (6,6)
|
| That’s going back a bit. A charade of GEORGE (‘Prince’. We have one now, second in line to the throne) plus FORM (”class’) plus BY (‘next to’), for the singer of “Leaning on a Lamp-post”, which he first performed in the 1937 film Feather your Nest. | ||
| 2 | REGAL |
Drink up at the King’s (5)
|
| A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of LAGER (‘drink’). | ||
| 3 | IN THE MAIN |
Sailing Spanish waters, generally (2,3,4)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation; ‘Spanish’ as reference to the Spanish Main. | ||
| 4 | LICENCE |
Freedom that’s tolerated – or excess (7)
|
| Triple definition. | ||
| 5 | SUN LAMP |
Tanner wastes Palm Sunday taking 24 hours off (3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘wastes’) of ‘Palm Sun[day]’ minus DAY (‘taking 24 hours off’). | ||
| 6 | BRIAR |
Pipe valley running through Britain (5)
|
| An envelope (‘running through’) of RIA (‘valley’) in BR (‘Britain’). | ||
| 7 | ROALD DAHL |
Author making way round lake with boy turning up holding hands, at first (5,4)
|
| A charade of ROALD, an envelope (’round’) of L (‘lake’) in ROAD (‘way’); plus DAHL, another envelope (‘holding’) of H (‘Hands at first’) in DAL, a reversal (‘turning up’ in a down light) of LAD (‘boy’). | ||
| 10 | GENTLE BREEZE |
It doesn’t come as much of a blow (6,6)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 14 | TOP BANANA |
Best of the bunch? (3,6)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 16 | SOMMELIER |
He may recommend Veuve Cliquot at river to one in ambush? (9)
|
| A charade of SOMME (‘river’ in France, remembered for the WW1 battle) plus LIER (‘one in ambush’). | ||
| 18 | AUDITOR |
Accountant with car on hilltop (7)
|
| A charade of AUDI (‘car’) plus TOR (‘hilltop’). | ||
| 19 | TYPHOON |
Whirlwind Frank? (7)
|
| Double definition, the second being a reference to Frank “Typhoon” Tyson, regarded as the fastest fast bowler in cricket. | ||
| 22 | HUMID |
Damp smell I detect at first (5)
|
| A charade of HUM (‘smell’) plus ‘I’ plus D (‘Detect at first’). | ||
| 24 | IBSEN |
Dramatist featured in Swinburne’s biography, on reflection (5)
|
| A hidden (‘featured in’) reversed (‘on reflection’) answer in ‘SwinburNE’S BIography’. |
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO
Frank Tyson had a total of 17 Test Match caps in the 50s, so might be regarded as being a bit, obscure, though, as PeterO says, he was thought to be one of the fastest bowlers ever (very difficult to compare without speed sensors, but he was one of only 4 bowlers to pitch a ball that then went into the sightscreen without bouncing again – Jeff Thompson was one of the others).
Very nice Monday fare indeed from Maskarade.
With the Golfer part of the anagram fodder for Gary Sobers, I read somewhere that he could also play a round of golf as a left-hander with a handicap of only one. But he could also manage it playing right-handed, to a handicap of about eight. Ambidextrous, a remarkable man. So glad I saw him once playing cricket in the flesh at The Oval, Kennington in the 1960’s…
No idea who the Typhoon referred to, so bunged it. Sobers is one the very few cricketers I know, even though I initially thought the clue referred to the Womens Institute..
I had not heard of either of the cricketers or the singer–I put TYPHOON in from the other definition, looked up the list of WI captains, and revealed Mr. FORMBY. So all in all, not my cup of general-knowledge tea.
It’s South Carolina, not North, that’s the PALMETTO State.
Thank you PeterO. My history isn’t good enough to remember 1588 and I thought it was merely being overly specific.
I didn’t like the names at all. 1a and 19 I have never heard of, despite having a passing interest in the (modern) game, and I needed 1a to complete the NE corner. They seemed far too specific knowledge to include in an ordinary crossword. 1d I know well enough, and perhaps passes for ordinary UKGK, but the clue was poor. If you’ve heard of him, then “lamp-post singer” makes it a write in with only a cursory glance needed at the rest of the clue to check that it fits, and if you haven’t heard of him you’ll be floundering like I was with 1a.
I’m not a cricket fan, but surely Sobers is one of its most famous players.
I didn’t find the cricketing Tyson, so I though Frank might be a reference to Typhoon Frank, but maybe that’s just as obscure.
Thanks Maskarade. Because I hadn’t heard of 1a, 1d, or 19d this was a big DNF for me. And while I liked the anagram for MANDARIN ORANGE I felt ‘from’ as an anagram indicator was a stretch. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
This was a 10, as in GENTLE BREEZE rather than full marks. That said, I liked it. I had no trouble with 1a and 1d, although, like Remus @5 says, if you’ve heard of GEORGE FORMBY it’s a write-in, if you haven’t well good luck. I’d heard of Frank Tyson but wouldn’t have known his nickname; a clue with a whirlwind in it didn’t make this a big leap of faith though. I knew EN PASSANT from chess rather than ever having heard it used in an Anglophone setting for anything else. On reflection, I didn’t parse the MAIN of IN THE MAIN, but then, I didn’t have to. I feel like writing this has taken longer than it did to solve the puzzle!
Thanks all.
Rather a strange mix today from Maskarade. Some barely cryptic/quiptic and some either real or, at least relative, obscurities. OUGHT is a most peculiarly worded clue; ‘1588 vessel’ is a rather clumsy and unnecessarily specific definition; EN PASSANT is surely very same-sidey and simply the same thing in two languages; the surface of PALMETTO is meaningless; ‘from’ is a rather sad anagram indicator in MANDARIN ORANGE; SUN LAMP is another very odd anagram with SUN staying the same, ‘wastes’ not working properly as an anagrind and as for ‘Sunday taking 24 hours off = SUN’ … And then ‘at river to one in ambush’ is such an awkward way of constructing a very odd surface for SOMMELIER. This setter is capable of far better cluing than this.
Apart from that, I enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks both
Here’s to the brief memory of Griselda Forbes, 1956-68 bowls captain of Bunging-in-the-Fields WI.
At least Garfield Sobers was the only other plausible name. TYPHOON the cricketer also a NHO.
Apart from that, balanced clueing for a Monday.
Thanks for the blog , pretty fair for a Monday and a very helpful grid with lots of first letters .
I bow to nobody in my disdain for cricket but even I know about Sir Garfield Sobers , the greatest player of his time and a major black role model , plus my grandfather bowled him once when he was playing for Longton .
Well, it had to be either Typhoon or Tornado, so never having heard of Mr. Tyson wasn’t as big a problem as it might have been. On the other hand, GARFIELD SOBERS’ perfect all-sixes over happened in Swansea during the time I was at university there, so I do know about him. We also needed to know about chess (I have never met EN PASSANT in any other context), and bridge, so a full house of classic crossword sports today. I agree with PostMark that SUN LAMP is a bit clumsy, but otherwise no complaints.
This was a nice diversion. Pretty straightforward.
I liked tanner for SUN LAMP and TOP BANANA.
I often used to flick through my dad’s old 1950 Wisden so (having been born in1968) am more familiar with cricketers of that era than I decently should be.
As a cricket fan, I was overjoyed to start with Sir Gary, and when I saw TYPHOON I thought we would have a theme. Sadly not.
I agree that a lot of the clues were write-ins, with the parsing coming a long way second.
As PostMark @9 commented, this was indeed a strange mix of clues.
1D had to be dear old George (the only other lamppost singer I could think of being Lili Marlene) but he’s really going back a bit.
Mind you, 1588 is even further back (I bunged GALLEON in with crossed fingers and came here for a full explanation).
19D had to be TYPHOON from the crossers – but the connection to a chap called Frank was beyond me, I’m afraid.
My first thought for 1A was Women’s Institute, but I thought it unlikely they’d have “captains”, so I Duck-Duck-Went West Indies cricketers instead.
16D was yet another half-parsed guess; “at river to one in ambush” seemed a tad clunky – though I could see the reference to the Somme.
Then again, looking at my notes, I had 10 write-ins – so I must have been on the correct wavelength at times.
Thank you PeterO for all the invaluable explanations, and Maskarade for the challenge.
Rich@10…now, that did make me laugh, very funny….
OUGHT
Should=OUGHT to.
Mean–>cryptic grammar ok?
WP: What PeterO said.
Liked CANNIBAL, REPENTANT and SOMMELIER.
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
I actually managed to complete this (with a bit of cheating!). I was lucky as being a Cricket fan I had heard of Garfield Sobers, although I’d never heard of Frank Tyson (a bit too obscure for a Monday?).
I could see that 1d was going to be George something, but didn’t think of Formby. I’d heard of him, of course, but didn’t know about the lamp post record!
Again a lot of these clues were guesses based on definition and crossers, but I guess that’s the way of things.
I knew of En Passant from chess, but did not know of it’s literal translation.
All in all I found this easier than yesterday’s Quiptic. But maybe that’s just me.
I must be missing something as I still don’t understand how LIER could be ‘one in ambush’
WearyB @19
I didn’t like that either, but I suppose a LIER is “someone lying in wait”, e.g. for an ambush.
As others have commented, a straightforward and slightly clunky solve.
Checking up on PALMETTO, which was a NHO, I see it is also called GARFIELD’S TREE. Surely not a coincidence. Is there a West Indian theme here, with their most famous cricketer, gentle breezes, palm trees, beach, galleon, the Spanish Main, perhaps even typhoon?
Perhaps Maskarade will pop in and let us know.
Thanks to him for the fun, and PeterO for the blog.
I agree with Roz @11 regarding Garfield Sobers. I never watch or listen to cricket and mostly take no interest in it at all, but I do recognise his name. The first Garfield that comes to my mind is a certain cartoon character.
As for those who have never heard of George Formby, it does at least explain the recent rise from obscurity of the ukulele.
Frank is the name of a TYPHOON to hit the Philippines in 2006. So this clue manages to be both a cryptic and a non-cryptic at the same time!
I agree with PM@9 regarding 1588. I first tried the name of Sir Francis Drake’s ship that year, named Revenge (right number of letters, but that’s all that was right about it).
I’ve just dug out the old 1950 Wisden (further to my earlier entry @13) and see that Frank (Typhoon) Tyson played for the Army in the summer of 1949, well before his county career began. He would have been a 19 year old National Service man at the time, and was one of the very few members of the “other ranks” playing in a side otherwise made up of officers.
DP @21 – Maskarade (Tom Johnson) almost certainly won’t be popping in, because I know he got seriously hacked off a while back by some of the gratuitously negative and unconstructive comment that appears on here on occasion.
So I won’t be offending a setter for whom I have a lot of respect by saying that I think this was not one of his best; I did in fact know of “Typhoon” Tyson, but I was only 3 when he was playing. I think as a bit of GK that is pushing it a bit.
As others have said, some of the clues are a bit clunky. But the reason why we notice that, really, is that generally Maskarade is such a skilled setter.
Thanks to him and to PeterO for persevering to give us the blog.
This must be my fastest solve ever: age on my side, I suspect. I needed fifteensqared to tell me how I ‘d solved 19d, however.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO.
,,,should add a word of thanks to Duncan for holding the fort earlier.
Nice start to the week. I know SOBERS through crosswords. I think setters like him as he has a surname that has alternate meanings and they all love cricket. I have never come across his first name though which took some teasing out.
Frank ‘TYPHOON’ Tyson was completely new to me. Relied on the definition for that. Thankfully I knew FORMBY as my dad was a fan.
Favourite today FATWA
Thanks PeterO and Maskarade.
Some very good Monday content. Although I’m not keen on some stretchy parsing to get to REPENTANT and SOMMELIER. BRIAR and TYPHOON were correct guesses but both new to me. Big cricket fan, but references to two very dated players is crossing the style line in my book. It’s one thing when the defence for a clue is ‘well my Chambers has it as the sixth definition as Australian slang’; ‘it’s in my 50s copy of Wisden’ I don’t find defensible.
Surely 22d should be sound rather than smell to give the word hum?
Tachi @29
“Hum” is used for something strong-smelling, not generally pleasantly.
[For anyone unfamiliar with RIA as “valley”, it actually has a more technical meaning. It’s an inundated river valley, similar in principle to a fjord, though the original valley for a fjord was glacier rather than river cut.
There are several rias in the southwest of England. The Fowey valley is a good example.]
Muffin@1. I’ve only seen Frank Tyson in old newsreel clips, and a game on TV when he was at the end of his career. I think he had a sling action very like Jeff Thompson. I don’t remember anyone referring to him as ‘Typhoon’, though. This clue mystified me. I’m 70, how old is Maskarade?
Tachi@29: in 22d, HUM is old slang for extreme body odour, often used by crossword setters, who without exception – it seems – went to public school (for non-UK, that’s private school) or were brought up reading Jennings books. 😉
I guess Maskarade is fulfilling the Monday brief, of getting newish solvers used to the techniques and language of crosswords. And as Roz has suggested @11, if a total non-cricket fan can get SOBERS, anyone can. Or needs to get used to it.
I enjoyed the person lying in ambush being offered champagne!
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO.
[SH @31
YouTube has several examples. See here for one.]
Hatter @31; the nickname was sufficiently notorious that Tyson called his memoir “A Typhoon called Tyson”.
While I don’t know precisely how old Maskarade is, there was a piece about him in the Grauniad 11 years ago in which he said that if he wasn’t a crossword setter he would be fully retired. Late 70s would therefore be my guess.
A very pleasant Monday puzzle, though I would agree with the quibble that the “Lamp-post singer” was a real giveaway (if you happen to know George Formby). It reminded me that back in the 70s, Punch used to run their Caption Competition in which they would publish an old cartoon without its original caption, and invite readers to submit a new one. One that sticks in my mind was a cartoon from the 40s which depicted Stalin standing on a theatre stage in front of the safety curtain (which was supposed to represent the Iron Curtain) addressing the audience. The winning new caption was “… in a little number entitled ‘Lenin on a Lamp-post’.”
(Whenever my wife says that she’s off to the WI, I take the opportunity to say “You’re going to the West Indies? Did I make ya?”. Never fails to raise a sigh.)
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
Strong work Rich @10 😄
Lord Jim’s right about the typhoon that hit the Philippines. Good idea for a theme by DP @21 although I don’t think typhoons are Caribbean phenomena.
Martin @35
I think that typhoons and hurricanes are the same type of meteorological phenomenon, but separated geographically.
Yes that’s it Muffin.
SH @31 Not every total non-cricket fan has a grandfather who bowled cricket’s greatest ever all-rounder. Roz must have heard the story dozens of times. My granddaughter (and everyone of my acquaintance) would have if I’d done it.
Neil@33. Thanks for the info. “Typhoon” is used in that newsreel from 1955 that Muffin linked to. But “Frank”? It was “Typhoon Tyson” wasn’t it?
I remember reading about that Ashes series in Australia; there was a report in an old newspaper that had been used to line a cupboard at my grandparents’ house when they moved in – about 1963.
I heard a story about the lad who borrowed the cricket ball that his father had bowled Len Hutton with, but it got hit for six and was lost. He was distraught when he confessed it his mother, but she said “it’s OK, he has another dozen in his wardrobe”.
(I may not have repeated that quite accurately.)
MANDARIN ORANGE was a nice spot. Thought Frank might have been Bruno, but he was hardly a TYPHOON and never heard the name Tyson apart from Mike. Nice GENTLE BREEZE today.
Ta Maskarade & PeterO.
Zoot@38 it was well before I was born , mid 60s I think but I have heard the story many times . Only club cricket , Longton v Norton . No idea why Sir Garfield was playing but I am sure it is true . The number of people who have told me – I saw your Grandad bowl Gary Sobers ….
It must have been a record crowd .
And thanks to AlanC@41 I once again have the answer to everything .
Apparently Sobers played for Norton in the North Staffordshire League from 1964. An interview on independent television news on this link.
Roz @42 Lots of WI (and other) test players played as club professionals in league cricket, especially in Lancashire where they were made welcome. Some stayed after retirement.
[Zoot @45
My wife and I went to watch Rishton against Haslingden when our daughter was a babe in arms. Rishton had Michael Holding as the pro, Haslingden Andy Roberts. Holding didn’t do a lot with the ball, but scored a rapid 70-odd, including a six that came straight at me, holding the baby. I made one of the best decisions ever in my life, and stepped out of the way rather than going for the catch!]
A lovely Monday puzzle. I’m only 73 yet I knew all the references, so if I can do it….. But I admit I can be a bit of a cricket saddo, even if I was far worse when I was younger. Thanks to PeterO and Maskarade.
Re his interest in cricket (he was/is? a setter for the Cricketer), this is from Tom Johnson’s (Maskerade’s) interview for Meet the Setter from 11 years back. ( I for one loved the Gary Sobers clue if only because the Gary/Garfield threw me so it was a nice’aha’):
Q. “I imagine that setting for the Cricketer – formerly known as the Wisden Cricketer – might allow a setter to plunge deep into sometimes abstruse cricketing lore – is that the case?”
A. “Many younger readers attempt the puzzles, I have been told, so I aim to remain fair to them. I make a point of keeping the principal cricketing references in each puzzle as contemporary or as well-known as possible. Only once have the demands of the cross-checking letters meant that I have resorted to a recherché reference: a Yorkshire batsman of the 1890s!
My clues are always as precise and as clear as possible with details of the county and/or country a cricketer played for in the definition of his name. So “Botham” would not be clued just as “all-rounder”, but as “Somerset and England all-rounder”. And all the solutions in each puzzle which are not cricket-orientated must have clues which include a cricketer reference.
One quirky aspect of all my puzzles so far is that the name of a Warwickshire cricketer has appeared in each, preferably as a solution rather than in a clue.”
I found the lower half easier to solve and I struggled with the top half.
I was unsure how to parse 8ac and 19d.
New for me: RIA = valley, and BRIAR = pipe, and George Formby and his lamp post song. I know more 1930s Hollywood movies than British ones because when I was growing up in Australia they used to show old Hollywood movies on TV late at night – but I don’t think I ever saw any British films from the 1930s.
“From” for an anagram indicator seems abit… bleh.
While on holiday on the Norfolk Broads wth my parents in the 50s we saw 1d on his motor cruiser, the Lady Beryl, named after his wife. Dad wondered if this was meant as a hint to the king. If it was he didn’t take it.
Quite a nice Monday puzzle. One or two bits of parsing I wasn’t 100% about, so thanks for the blog and puzzle.
Incidentally, where has picaroon got to? Seems like we haven’t had one for an age.
Khayyam@52- Picaroon became crossword editor at The Telegraph, he’s not allowed to set for The Guardian while there. I bet he’ll be back in time. Surely there’s only so much Telegraph someone of his calibre can stomach
First time in years that I’ve had zero ticks for a crossword. Maybe if this had been published fifty years ago it might have worked better?
Cheers P&M
I nice pleasant write-in, almost. Wikipedia helped to justify TYPHOON. But my glance through the list of US State trees did not reveal PALMETTO as being one. Only after seeing here it is said tree of both FL and SC, I checked again, and it is listed in Wikipedia as the Sabal Pine, doh!
Didn’t know Frank Tyson and thought the reference was to Typhoon Fengshen, which seemed a bit bleak for a cryptic. Glad to see it was actually just cricket (as it so often is!). Can thank my grandparents insistence on passing on their music tastes for getting Mr FORMBY
Hadrian@53. But if you’re the Editor, wherever that is, it may be preferable to being subject to another Editor?
Hadrian@48. Thank you for the link to Maskarade on Meet the Setter. I’ll be on the lookout for Warwickshire cricketers in Maskarade’s puzzles from now on.
Cricket is not part of my culture, but I managed to complete it with the help of Google and Wikipedia.
It appears that I am the only person who knew the “by the way” meaning of EN PASSANT and didn’t know the chess meaning. I also didn’t know Frank Tyson but remembered TYPHOON Frank. GK isn’t general, it is specific to each individual solver, and should be labelled SK (or GI for general ignorance, as QI calls it).
Super chuffed, finished it!! (I did have a little help on Sobers and Formby, but I’m not counting that against my achievement!)
If only the Quiptic were reliably at this standard. Nice to have over half the clues after the second time through them.
Last one in, Gentle Breeze; and the crossing letters are mostly ‘e’ so they didn’t help too much!
Thanks to you both!
All completed and parsed. This was a lot of fun, with some great surfaces
So now we have to know all the West Indian cricket players as well as the British ones? Sheesh!
19d I was considering TORNADO, TWISTER, and TOPSPIN (whirl wind) before settling on TYPHOON. I, too, figured it was a reference to Typhoon Frank in 2008