Today’s Guardian cryptic crossword, found here
I am covering for the regular blogger who is unavailable today and was quite pleased to see Imogen setting today’s puzzle.
It’s Imogen, so it tends to be more of a workout than in his Vulcan persona. There’s also one clue I had a fair bit of bother parsing.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | CELERIAC |
Root cause to lose heart: crumbly eclair (8)
|
| CE (from CausE to lose heart) + anagram of (ECLAIR)* with anagrind of crumbly for this root | ||
| 9 | OBLATE |
Associate of monastery is not quite spherical (6)
|
| double definition – the associate of a monastery is a lay associate living by the rules of the monastery, the shape is as described | ||
| 10 | QUIT |
Almost entirely set free (4)
|
| almost, but not QUITe
adding later: according to my Chambers, a long way down the definitions (among the obsolete usages), “to quit” is “to free” (verb) and as an adjective “quit” means “set free”. “Quite” is defined as: completely, wholly, entirely, … The wordplay is that “almost QUITE” = QUITe with the final letter removed. Obviously, the brevity that amused me at 2am is misplaced |
||
| 11 | COVENANTOR |
Leader of choir admits Baker, a sweary person (10)
|
| CANTOR (leader of choir) around OVEN (baker) – a covenant is an oath, something sworn. | ||
| 12 | TINGLE |
Thrill of subtle colour across lake (6)
|
| TINGE (subtle colour) around L (lake) | ||
| 14 | ALICANTE |
One tin and initially three beer bottles in Spanish resort (8)
|
| I CAN (one tin) and T (initially Three) ALE (beer) surrounds (bottles) | ||
| 15 | STARVE |
Give a hard look round very fast (6)
|
| STARE (give a hard look) around V (very) – although I’d quibble about STARVE and fast being equivalent – fasting seems more deliberate and starving tends to the involuntary | ||
| 17 | LEARNT |
Mastered Latin to gain respect at last (6)
|
| L (latin) + EARN (to gain) + T (respecT at last) | ||
| 20 | ACT THREE |
In middle of long play perhaps catheter failed (3,5)
|
| anagram of (CATHETER)* – many Shakespeare plays are in 5 acts – so act 3 would be the middle of the play | ||
| 22 | LOGGIA |
Speaking Italian today in the arcade (6)
|
| OGGI (Italian for today) in LA (Italian for the) – and no, I didn’t know the Italian either, I had to guess and check the answers to parse this | ||
| 23 | TWIN-BEDDED |
Incest took place in such a room? (4-6)
|
| cryptic definition – if twins bed each other they commit incest | ||
| 24 | WASP |
Buzzer has become loud? (4)
|
| if the WASP (buzzer) has become loud it WAS P (quiet) | ||
| 25 | TIN EAR |
Inability to recognise pitch in strip oddly missing close by (3,3)
|
| Charade of sTrIp (strip oddly missing) + NEAR (close by) – if someone has a TIN EAR they can neither recognise pitch or read the room. | ||
| 26 | MNEMONIC |
Richard Of York … for one was a jogger (8)
|
| Double definition – a MNEMONIC is a jogger, something to help remember something and Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain is a mnemonic to remember the colours of the rainbow. I’ve never found them much use as I have to remember the original colours ROY G BIV to work out the mnemonic – although I like My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VESUVIUS |
English vehicle, one with another about to block this, the height of danger in Italy (8)
|
| E SUV (English vehicle – sports utility vehicle) + I (one) with VUS (another about – SUV reversed) to give V E SUV I US | ||
| 2 | LEST |
Allowed to involve son in case (4)
|
| LET (allowed) around (to involve) S (son) – most often heard as “lest we forget” | ||
| 3 | CIRCLE |
The Fellowship of the Ring (6)
|
| double definition | ||
| 4 | DOWNSIZE |
Unhappy expressions of dejection said to reduce business (8)
|
| DOWN (unhappy) + SIZE (expressions of dejection “sighs” said – so a soundalike of “sighs” is SIZE) | ||
| 5 | LLANFAIR PG |
Briefly village’s terrible rainfall drowning paying guest (8,2)
|
| Anagram (terrible) of (RAINFALL)* over (drowning – in a down clue) PG (paying guest) – for this village in Wales. It’s a long time since I’ve seen PG for paying guest, reading books set a while ago. | ||
| 6 | UTMOST |
Oust team’s wingers for new formation: that’s the limit! (6)
|
| Anagram (for new formation) of (OUST TM)* where TM are TeaM’s wingers – the outside letters, the wingers of TeaM | ||
| 8 | CAVEAT |
Roughly check about a reservation (6)
|
| CA (roughly – from the Latin CircA) + VET (check) around A (from the clue) | ||
| 13 | GOALTENDER |
Custodian, energetic type, hiding key on purpose (10)
|
| GOER (energetic type) around (hiding) ALT (key) + (on) END (purpose) – for the name of a goalkeeper, particularly in ice hockey, apparently | ||
| 16 | VERTEBRA |
Green supporter pens joke, ultimately one of several in column (8)
|
| VERT (green – in heraldry and French) + BRA (supporter) around (pens) E (jokE ultimately – last letter of jokE). The column is the spinal column. | ||
| 18 | TRIASSIC |
Racist is doddery, of an age with the dinosaurs (8)
|
| anagram (doddery) of (RACIST IS)* for a great surface here | ||
| 19 | BELDAM |
Beautiful-sounding woman and mother? A malicious old one (6)
|
| BEL (beautiful-sounding woman – sounds like “belle”) + DAM (mother – in breeding, e.g. used in horse breeding) | ||
| 21 | COWRIE |
Owner of shell company with no time to be author (6)
|
| CO (company) + WRItE (write – to be author – with no time T) | ||
| 22 | LADDER |
Left snake for its opposite (6)
|
| L (left) + ADDER (snake) – ladders are the opposite of snakes in the board game Snakes and Ladders | ||
| 24 | WHOA |
Global medical body comes to a halt (4)
|
| WHO (global medical body – World Health Organisation) + (comes to) A (from the clue) – for the word used to halt horses |
I agree with Shanne, this was certainly a workout – I had to use a wordsearch a couple of times.
I also had a little trouble with LOGGIA, but for completely different reasons. The Italian wasn’t a problem (I used to be somewhat conversational in it), but it took me a few moments to figure out to translate the “the”. LOGGIA was not the first thing I thought of when seeing “arcade”, but of course it is a good match. “Speaking” seemed unnecessary (for the wordplay), but harmless.
In QUIT, I was not quite (sorry) sure whether the definition was “free” or “set free”, but went for it anyway.
Tx I&S
Enjoyable puzzle, though somewhat tough. Thanks Imogen.
Excellent blog. Thanks Shanne.
QUIT
The def is ‘set free’, I think. Otherwise, ‘set’ is redundant.
LOGGIA
Jorum squared.
VESUVIUS
‘to block’ also can function like ‘to line’ in two ways (from outside and from inside)?
Liked TWIN-BEDDED and VERTEBRA.
I’ve visited that Welsh village, and, like most tourists, have a photo of its unabridged 58-letter name on the wall of the railway station. That said, there’s no way I could have solved that clue, and so resorted to revealing it. Indeed there were a few too many obscurities in this puzzle for my liking, but the 80% that I managed I enjoyed.
I also needed Word Wizard for two or three clues. It was very difficult indeed, with a few unparsed, but there seemed a point at which I got on the setter’s wavelength and several answers fell into place quite quickly.
I chose the wrong day to be in a hurry! I knew the village, but wasn’t aware of the abbreviation for it, or for paying guest for that matter. I may have got there in the end, in retrospect the anagrind was clear enough…but I didn’t. I got LOGGIA purely based on my Italian. Another word LEARNT.
Thanks Imogen and Shanne
I know this is horribly off topic, sorry, but I have just posted in the chat for yesterday’s Brummie puzzle a Macbeth link for every clue. As I’m late posting it nobody will ever read it unless I jump forward to today… but it does take me this long to finish a puzzle!
At first I thought this was going to be easier than it was as I got off to a flying start, then slowed down.
I got a bit tangled up in my parsing of 1d but was just about on the right track!
New for me: GOALTENDER; mnemonic “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” for 26ac; OBLATE (both definitions); LLANFAIR PG (loi).
Favourites: LADDER, WASP.
I finished the puzzle, but doing so required ample use of Professor Google. I had never heard of the Welch town so that was a welcome bit of new knowledge. Hard work, but I am glad I persevered. Thanks Imogen and a big thank you to Shanne for an excellent blog.
The first third of the answers flew in, but then I ground to a crawl, finished off with a few tools, as others have said.
Either way, QUIT doesn’t seem quite right for either “free” or “set free”.
Thanks Imogen and Shanne
A very good crossword apart from 19d which is a poor clue and a nasty definition. Misogyny is alive and well in this corner of The Guardian! And as long as it has some literary history it will have its defenders.
I still have the giant postcard I sent home from 5d in the late Sixties with a picture of its whole 58 letters displayed at the railway station. But faced with a two letter word ending in G, didn’t have the wit to solve the clue. Didn’t think 23 across quite worked, a bit iffy, I thought. Imogen too crafty for me this morning, but enjoyed solving the clues I did manage…
QUIT
Collins online
adjective
7. (usually predicative; foll by of)
free (from); released (from)
he was quit of all responsibility for their safety
Champers App
adjective
1. set free
On the question of the MNEMONIC, which completely defeated me today, with the suggestionn it gave me of a runner for jogger rather than having my memory shaken up by the word, I do remember as students we used to write very silly examples of 26 ac at the end of letters to our boyfriends/girlfriends at the time, such as BURMA, which represented Be Undressed Ready (for) My Arrival…
I thought that was tough, but fair. LOI was the Welsh village, which required a lot of use of the Check button. I remembered “oblate” due to the earth being an oblate spheroid, and seeing the signs of a local Catholic “Oblate Fathers” mission.
MNEMONIC was a great clue. I have a particularly long one for American presidents, and a number of shorter ones for the planets, royal houses and wives of Henry VIII!
Thanks Shanne for stepping in, and Imogen for the workout.
I thought twin bedded was poor taste.
Today was the hardest struggle I’ve had to finish an Imogen puzzle. For a while I thought my recent concussion from a cycling accident had affected my mental ability, so it’s reassuring to see that I wasn’t alone finding this tough. My lack of Italian made LOGGIA a difficult ask and I rejected GOALTENDER for a long time. As a Welsh resident kicked myself for not getting Llanfair PG sooner, but didn’t think of PG for paying guest. Thanks very much to Imogen for the workout and to Shanne for the excellent blog.
I had the bottom half filled in quickly last night but then came to a shuddering halt. Fresh eyes this morning aided me in finishing what was a very tough puzzle. I really enjoyed TWIN-BEDDED, MNEMONIC, VESUVIUS, DOWNSIZE and GOALTENDER. LOGGIA was a guess and check, without having the required Italian. The Welsh village came from the obvious anagrind.
Ta Imogen and Shanne for the excellent blog.
I gave battle in vain for a lot of this and had to resort to the dark arts of the word finder. And then I misspelled MNEMONIC. If only there was some method of remembering the order of the letters.
Phew. Got there, but not without a fair bit of Googling & wordsearching.
Thanks KVa @12, I was struggling to make quit = free.
Unlike others, I rather liked TWIN-BEDDED.
Many thanks for stepping in, Shannon.
I have never heard of a GOALTENDER and suspect it’s american (?).
So Imogen loses a mark for that.
BUT …
She gains 2 marks for LLANFAIR PG. Da iawn hi!
There used to be a presenter on Radio Cymru, whose name I can’t remember now, but he would always refer to the place as Llangfair PG tips.
I don’t understand the QUIT explanation at all.
Shanne! Grrr!
Anna @20, Chambers has…
quite1 (Spenser quight)
adverb
1. Completely, wholly, entirely…
so almost entirely is quit(e) and quit is to set free.
Lurkio @10, it’s a word in the dictionary with a definition. Get over it.
I have reservations about 10a, as do others. EIther the ‘set’ is redundant, or the definition is very loose. I had to reveal 23a and hated it. I did get LOGGIA but thought the construction faulty. The Italian indicator implies it’s for ‘today’ or for ‘today in the’, but in fact it’s neither, and ‘speaking’ doesn’t seem to serve any purpose.
I’ve changed the entry for QUIT at 10a – and added in Chambers justifications.
Anna@20 – the blog says that GOALTENDER is used for ice hockey. And Imogen is male.
Reading the wikipedia entry for LLANFAIR PG (the second longest placename worldwide) I can’t help wondering if Imogen’s setting Pangakupu a challenge…
Shanne@24: ‘He is quit of it’ meaning ‘ he is set free of it’ makes sense.
22a – Given ‘in’ is used in Italian I think Speaking Italian is applied to ‘today in the’, giving ‘oggi in la’ which is then solved while still ‘speaking Italian’. This is not how I solved the clue!
I found this pretty tough; in addition to my NHOs I wasn’t on Imogen’s wavelength for synonyms.
Well that was a fun workout… I’m coming to like these challenging but mostly tractable mid-week puzzles, after almost a year of getting to grips with cryptics properly. With a clean sweep so far this week, today I got all but four clues – and I’ll happily take that, given that a number of regulars here seem to have found this tough.
I got the nho LOGGIA via the wordplay [“Speaking in Italian, ‘today’ inside ‘the’ “] – seems fine to me – but I confess to having received just a smidgen of help from Google to “remind” me exactly of OGGI. (It was highly likely to be a cognate of hoy and hui from Spanish and French respectively, and I knew that the “y” sound comes from clusters involving G in Italian; but I don’t have much vocabulary in that language beyond the common assimilations.)
I finally managed LLANFAIR PG unaided after the checkers gave the surprising G and supported the anagrind, though it still took a bit of head scratching. I couldn’t quite see the full parse of QUIT but the answer seemed vaguely right. It still seems vaguely right.
I failed on the nhos BELDAM and COVENANTOR (never came up with OVEN nor CANTOR even with checkers, but was indeed looking for a legal witness or guarantor); and hence, alas missing the V checker, I also missed CAVEAT.
Faves were MNEMONIC, WASP and ALICANTE, the simple and elegant CIRCLE and WHOA, and the lovely VESUVIUS (my Last of the Ones In; I spent ages wandering amongst Alps and leaning towers). I also smirked at TWIN-BEDDED – but that one was never going to be to everyone’s taste.
Thanks both
I QUIT my job that I hated. I was set free.
Favourite: LADDER
I speak some Italian, so LOGGIA wasn’t a problem, but it seems increasingly that we have to speak several languages to solve Guardian puzzles. There was one recently that requited both Spanish and German!
Great crossword. Couldn’t get BELDAM, which is a good clue, but it’s a bit weird to have one Chamberiffic clue (dam being quite obscure in its own right) in an otherwise quite accessible puzzle. Like a threepenny bit in a Christmas pudding.
Goaltender? Termite Utd striker: “is the goal tender?”
Tried to post that at 8 this morning but for some reason it wouldn’t load.
Yup commenting was broken for everyone for about 24 hours
Far too many obscurities for me! Wasted an hour finding that out BAH!
@35 – couldn’t agree more.
The local St. David’s Society set up a booth one year at the Festival of Nations in St. Paul, Minnesota, designed to look like a train station. We volunteers had to rattle off the name (without the helpful PG abbreviation) to the amusement of the visitors.
Struggled with this one, completing about a third. Of the ones I solved my favourites were 18d TRIASSIC and 22d LADDER
13a, yes, GOALTENDER is the term used in ice hockey, so really a Canadian term
I agree that 23a is in rather poor taste. Is TWIN-BEDDED even a real word?