The Guardian’s current Sunday cryptic crossword found here
I hope I’ve parsed everything here, but there were one or two where I’ve said “I suspect” or “I think” as I wasn’t 100% sure my parsing is right.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLISTER |
Sore second rate celebrity (7)
|
| double definition come charade – the sore is a BLISTER, the second-rate celebrity is a B-LISTER | ||
| 5 | PARSNIP |
Standard way to cut vegetable (7)
|
| charade of PAR (standard – score for a hole on a golf course) + SNIP (to cut) | ||
| 9 | FUDGE |
Avoid making something explicit or sweet (5)
|
| double definition – politicians are good at FUDGing answers to questions when interviewed, and FUDGE is a very sweet sweet | ||
| 10 | WORD COUNT |
Amount written about matter on news (4,5)
|
| charade – of COUNT (to matter) on (gives word order, so it comes after) WORD (news – have you heard the WORD/news) – I think, it was my last one to parse as I’m not convinced | ||
| 11 | ARCHETYPES |
Models spy cheater getting messy (10)
|
| anagram of (SPY CHEATER)* with an anagrind of “getting messy” | ||
| 12 | RYE |
English town that makes whiskey for America (3)
|
| double definition – for this town in England, originally one of the Cinque Ports and the whiskey sung about by Don McLean in American Pie. | ||
| 14 | FRIDGE MAGNET |
Gifted German fabricated cooler decoration (6,6)
|
| anagram of (GIFTED GERMAN)* with an anagram indicator (anagrind) of “fabricated” | ||
| 18 | ONE FOUR SEVEN |
Points achieved from All Black clearance (3,4,5)
|
| cryptic definition – it’s the maximum break in snooker, which is achieved by clearing a red ball, then the black until the 15 reds are cleared, followed by the colours in order. The black is returned to the table each time it is potted. Balls potted in snooker score 1 for a red and 7 for a black, plus 2 for yellow, 3 for green, 4 for brown, 5 for blue and 6 for pink, so that score is made up of 15 x 8 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7. | ||
| 21 | GOT |
Obtained heroin from old German (3)
|
| deletion of H (heroin) from GOTh (old German) | ||
| 22 | MISCELLANY |
Slam nicely arranged assortment (10)
|
| anagram of (SLAM NICELY)* with anagrind of “arranged” | ||
| 25 | NEOLOGISM |
Coinage may prompt solvers to say ‘never heard of it’ (9)
|
| I suspect that this is a cryptic definition – because a NEOLOGISM is a newly formed word, so a coinage that may not have been heard before by solvers. | ||
| 26 | GOUDA |
Leave tundra regularly to find cheese (5)
|
| GO (leave) + alternate letters of tUnDrA (regularly) to get the Dutch cheese. | ||
| 27 | STEPSON |
Crushes relative (7)
|
| another charade come double definition – the relative is a STEPSON, an insect is crushed by STEPS ON | ||
| 28 | ON TREND |
In central Bonn district, French cider is fashionable (2,5)
|
| middles of words (in central) bONn disTRict frENch ciDer | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BAFTAS |
Starts to bitch about failure to achieve such awards (6)
|
| acrostic (starts to) Bitch About Failure To Achieve Such for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards | ||
| 2 | INDUCE |
Hot Italian leader? Bring it on! (6)
|
| charade of IN (hot) DUCE (Italian leader) with a question mark because it’s a DBE (definition by example) – Il Duce (the duke) was a title given to Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945) | ||
| 3 | THE YEAR DOT |
Heated Tory upset from first moment (3,4,3)
|
| anagram of (HEATED TORY)* with anagrind of “upset” | ||
| 4 | ROWDY |
Fourth line has yankee being disorderly (5)
|
| charade of ROW D (fourth line – the first line is ROW A, and etc) + Y (yankee from the NATO phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 5 | PERSEVERE |
Stick with training run that’s very tough (9)
|
| charade of PE (training – physical exercise) + R (run from cricket) + SEVERE (very tough) | ||
| 6 | RACY |
Something written up in birthday card is risque (4)
|
| reverse hidden (something written up – in a down clue) in birthdaY CARd < | ||
| 7 | NEUTRINO |
Note ruin that’s been rebuilt – it’s very very small (8)
|
| anagram of (NOTE RUIN)* with anagrind of “that’s been rebuilt” for one of the subatomic particles | ||
| 8 | PATIENTS |
Sick types tucking tie into trousers (8)
|
| insertion (tucking … into) of TIE (from the clue) into PANTS (trousers) – and an attempt to mislead here as “trousers” is often used as an insertion indicator | ||
| 13 | TAKE FLIGHT |
Travel like fugitives? (4,6)
|
| another cryptic definition with a question mark to indicate that | ||
| 15 | DARWINIAN |
Concerning evolution of a wind / rain formation (9)
|
| anagram of (A WIND / RAIN)* with an anagrind of “formation” – and here evolution is also often used as an anagram indicator to misdirect (adding the A into the anagram fodder later) | ||
| 16 | LODGINGS |
Deposits required to get somewhere to live (8)
|
| double definition – to LODGE something can also mean to put something in a safe place (one of several definitions) | ||
| 17 | TEN TO ONE |
Countdown starting at 12.50? (3,2,3)
|
| double definition – with a question mark as it’s a bit quirky – normally countdowns are from ten to zero | ||
| 19 | CANUTE |
Old king appealing to have article suppressed (6)
|
| insertion of AN (article) inserted into (suppressed) CUTE (appealing) – for one spelling of the Danish king of England from 1016, now often spelled Cnut. | ||
| 20 | BY HAND |
Times worker not using machinery (2,4)
|
| charade of BY (times – to times by) + HAND (worker) | ||
| 23 | CAMEO |
Business leader receives a million for brief appearance (5)
|
| insertion – CEO (business leader – chief executive officer) around (receives) A (from the clue) + M (million) | ||
| 24 | FOPS |
Extravagant dressers finally off to pop-up shops (4)
|
| final letters (finally) of ofF tO pop-uP shopS |
I didn’t parse WORD COUNT (and if Shanne’s parsing is correct, it’s not my favourite clue), and knowing nothing about snooker or Mussolini resulted in my inability to parse two other clues. Everything else was tickety-boo.
I thought “avoid making something explicit” referred to the tendency to use that word as a euphemism for a more, well, explicit swearword! Other I was think of that word as implying “deceptively manipulating”, particularly with regard to numbers. But I guess it can also be used with the meaning to “avoid making explicit”.
Comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one not 100% sure about the inner workings of a couple of clues (particularly 25A).
Excellent blog. Thanks Shanne.
Nice puzzle. Thanks Anto.
WORD COUNT
I think the def is ‘Amount written about’.
matter=COUNT & news=WORD (as mentioned in the blog)
NEOLOGISM
I agree with the blogger. If there’s more to it, I don’t see it.
TEN TO ONE: The idea is nice. ‘starting at’ doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
A minor point Shanne, the anagram in 15 is of “A Wind Rain” (you’re a letter short).
I thought this was bang on for a Quiptic, and agreed with all that’s been said about parsing so far.
Thanks to Anto & Shanne.
Quite smooth this week.I couldn’t parse 10A,18A(I know very little about snooker)and 25A,I never knew coinage would be a neologism,I’ve come across it.Thanks Shanne and Anto.
Very enjoyable puzzle.
Favourites: ROWDY, PARSNIP, GOT, INDUCE, STEPSON.
I could not parse 18ac (loi), I simply guessed the answer from the crossers. Clearly I know zilch about snooker! I was also unsure about 10ac.
I was fine with 25ac as a neologism is a newly coined word or expression, or perhaps the definition is the whole clue?
I too am glad I am not the only one mystified by clues in a puzzle for inexperienced solvers. I had the same problems as everyone else. I also wondered how we were supposed to know 18 is ONE FOUR SEVEN rather than the conventional one hundred and forty seven.
Otherwise, some nice surfaces. I ticked STEPSON, PARSNIP, and PERSEVERE
Thanks Anto and Shanne
I just looked it up,apparently the word coinage could also mean a newly-minted word,so 25A,I believe is a double-definition.
I know this is not reasonable…but I don’t like clues that you can’t solve without very specific (and to me esoteric) knowledge. Why would I know about snooker? It’s a fairly niche interest.
Martyn@7. I also wondered why ONE FOUR SEVEN as opposed to the conventional expression of 147, so I asked friend Google and ONE FOUR SEVEN is used by those who play the game. I suppose if you know one you know both.
Like Michelle@6 I got it from crossers, took a guess, and consulted the Oracle for confirmation.
What was misleading to this Antipodean was All Black making me think about the NZ rugby team, but I took a pot shot that it was the game on the other green surface.
PS:Double-definition sort of or leaning towards cryptic as Shanne put it.
Agree with KVa@3 as to the parsing for WORD COUNT.
Another very enjoyable quiptic from Anto (never thought I’d say this!) Know nothing about snooker but guessed the answer from the crossers; NHO THE YEAR DOT but it was the only thing that fit. I’m sure Shanne’s parsing of WORD COUNT is correct although I imagined that some online news articles indicate word count below the title (though it’s probably silly of me). I initially put RE (real estate) AGENTS to 16d…
NEOLOGISM seems to me not very cryptic. Liked INDUCE, ROWDY, TEN TO ONE and PERSEVERE (great surface to think of when exercising). Thanks Anto and Shanne!
Re TEN TO ONE I think “starting at” does have meaning as the countdown only goes from 10 to 1 and then we have lift-off, or not.
Paddymelon@10 – pot shot, very good 😊.
ONE FOUR SEVEN was the only one I couldn’t parse, being misdirected to rugby by the All Black(s). I would never have got there with snooker.
Thanks Shanne for the elucidation and the lovely clear blog.
And thanks Anto for a very nice puzzle.
Lodge is another way to say deposit money in the bank. Lodge a cheque, lodge some cash e.g.
RTC @9: I have found that once you dive into the world of cryptic crosswords there will be many examples of clues whose answer requires some very specific and arcane piece of GK. A good setter though, will guide you to the solution either through word play or with hints on what to search for to get there. Of course what is obscure to one person might be obvious to another depending on their personal database of knowledge! Over time I’ve learned to welcome these clues as usually I learn something new and interesting. All that said, I didn’t like ONE FOUR SEVEN much. I got it from all the crossers but was still baffled by what it meant until I came here. The clue gave me no “handle” to use to hang a useful google search on.
Nice crossword though I really struggled in the SW corner. Thanks to Anto, and Shanne for the great blog.
Thanks Anto and Shanne! I think this was pretty quiptic so long as you’re from the British Isles, with RYE and CANUTE being nice historical references. Snooker definitely in this category, its World Championship gets very good coverage from the BBC every year and the finals have drawn TV audiences over several millions!
I furrow my brow slightly at LODGINGS (I suspected a cd maybe) and NEOLOGISM but ROWDY, WORD COUNT, FRIDGE MAGNET and GOUDA were all highlights for me.
Another who knows nothing about snooker but I found the answer anyway. Very enjoyable and well-judged for a Quiptic, I thought.
For those muttering about snooker, I included that much detail about the break because I’ve seen, for example, yellow and two clueing each other before now, so it’s worth being aware of the scoring. I have played on both full sized and more often pool sized tables, and have taught snooker to the lads who came to after school youthwork – a few who’d got very good at pool.
If you’re going to continue solving more complicated cryptic crosswords, you’ll find you end up researching all sorts of esoteric words and knowledge to complete them, especially themed puzzles.
A few that I needed to come to this site for to get the parsings, but that didn’t stop it being an enjoyable puzzle. ‘BY=TIMES’ (20d) was far too subtle for me, but perhaps it would be useful to try and remember it for future use.
NHO that meaning of LODGE before, so it wasn’t until I got enough crossers that I felt confident putting the answer in.
scraggs @21 – a 4 by 4 piece of wood, is a 4″ x 4″ hefty weapon in the wrong hands. If I multiply six by eight, the instruction can be expressed as 6 x 8 or 6 times 8 or 6 by 8. In cryptic puzzles, by / x / times are all interchangeable.
@22 Shanne – I did get it as soon as I read your original explanation in the blog, and have used the same wording myself: it’s more that I couldn’t make that leap from the clueing beforehand. But yes your further examples (and my thanks for adding them) might help me to keep it in mind.
I really liked the clue for BY HAND. The surface was deceptively simple but brilliant, especially with Times being capitalised at the beginning. It’s worth a re-read.
Another excellent puzzle from Anto, with lots of helpful surfaces and anagrams. I’ve seen the 147 device before so no problem with the obvious misdirection. NEOLOGISM was tricky but my favourite clue for the ambivalent coinage. Nice blog as well. ‘How am I expected to know?’….well you do or you don’t, crosswords are for everyone.
Ta Anto & Shanne.
Really enjoyed this, and huge thanks to Shanne for the clear blog. Feeling dopey for not getting the parsing for the start of ROWDY – appreciate that.
Also struggled with parsing WORD COUNT, so glad to see I wasn’t the only one!
Struggled with a few of those but an enjoyable puzzle nonetheless.
Hastily writing “Mass Media” in for 10a didn’t help!
You know what you happen to know, and snooker is less well known outside the UK (but then so is cricket…) Solvers are asked to be familar with the rules and terms of many sports, but a certain class bias remains from the earliest days of crosswords: middle class pastimes like bridge, golf, tennis, cricket and rugby all figure largely: snooker and darts and to a lesser extent football do not. Anyway, snooker is not an undiscovered country to me so I enjoyed ONE FOUR SEVEN (always referred to thus in commentary). Thanks Anto for another good Quiptic.
Thank you Anto, I really enjoyed this one (which I thought was set just right for a quiptic), and thank you Shanne for the excellent, illuminating explanations – a real pleasure to read.
I was delighted by 25A, NEOLOGISM, from “Coinage may prompt solvers to say ‘never heard of it’ (9)” – very unusually for me, the moment I read the clue I knew I knew the word, and then I just had to wait the usual moment for that word to come clearly into mind. “Coinage”, as in ‘to coin a phrase’ or ‘coin a word’, meaning to come up with a new phrase or a new word, is a “new word”; and of course if it’s a new word then no one’s ever heard of it. So it’s a word that means a “new word”, i.e., a “neologism”. I love it!
Thanks Shanne and Anto
I rather liked ONE FOUR SEVEN.
Is a STEPSON a relation? I suppose it depends on how you define relation.
Thanks Shanne. I thought TEN TO ONE was a bit weak!
A small point but I believe it to be double-definition-cum-charade, with the ‘cum’ being the Latin word meaning ‘with’. Makes more sense than ‘come’!
Usually we seem to bemoan Anto’s Quiptics as being too hard but this one seemed right on the money level-wise. Thanks Anto and Shanne.
I’ve come across lodgements with Irish banks, meaning deposits, so I assumed lodgings must mean something similar. Found this slightly more of a challenge than some quiptics but most enjoyable.
Thanks Shanne and Anto
Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but to me this puzzle was full of Anto’s worst tendencies, which have been largely in check for some time.
“About” has no role in the cryptic reading of 10ac. I admit to not knowing anything about snooker, but even after reading the explanation here and this wikipedia page I still can’t make sense of 18ac. NEOLOGISM strikes me as an NAACD (a not-at-all cryptic definition): I can’t see what the misleading surface is supposed to be.
By the way, as an American I was under the impression that you lot thought pants and trousers were two different things (although they’re perfectly good synonyms for us on this side of the Atlantic).
James @31 – I did know it was definition-cum-charade – but I decided to anglicise the Latin, rather than confuse with a word known otherwise in English. I thought the Latin could unnecessarily distract.
Ted @34, I beg to differ regarding 10ac – “about” tells us that it’s not matter on news, but news (word) on matter (count). I agree that 18ac will be obscure if you’re not familiar with snooker (along with 95% of the global population, which is fair enough) but it does make sense. I also thought NEOLOGISM was a pretty weak clue, if I’m honest. But yes, even we Brits are aware of the different meanings of “pants” across the pond, at least to the point where they can clue each other in a cryptic crossword.
What makes the clue for ONE FOUR SEVEN so misleading is that it appears to be referring to rugby – points, All Blacks, clearance – but makes perfect sense for snooker too.
After digging, apparently 500 million people worldwide watch snooker and it’s played in 90 countries, not just the UK – it’s very popular in China. (That’s 6% of the world population actively watch snooker, but I’m not a watcher, and am aware.) Ronnie O’Sullivan scored a double maximum break on 16 August in the semi-finals of the Saudi Arabia masters and has just pulled out of the Wuhan Open (China) for health reasons. Jackson Page was the first person to achieve a double maximum break in a match in April this year.
gladys@28, your comment “less well known outside the UK (but then so is cricket…)” caught my eye. Methinks we are just as cricket-mad in Australia as you in the UK, perhaps even more so. The Indians love tha game too, of course. When I visited India in 2009, as soon as we mentioned to anyone that we were Australian the response was invariably “Ricky Ponting!” For the record, I find watching cricket akin to watching paint dry, but on our India trip I soon became almost embarrassed to admit it.
@38 Shanne – I think you have to be careful with sports participation statistics as sports federations are always pushing the numbers up because “being widespread” is a criteria for being in the Olympics. For example American football is apparently played in 89 countries! And so the LA 2028 Olympics will have flag American football.
But snooker really is a UK-centric sport with a recent influx of Chinese players. About 90% of the top 100 players in the world are from the UK and China with a few other countries scattered around the world making up the other 10%. Back in the 80s, as I recall, there was Cliff Thorburn and Bill Werbenuik (Canadians) and Eddie Charlton (an Aussie) to represent overseas!
Not that I’m knocking 1-4-7 as an answer – it seems a reasonable piece of GK to me.
I cannot help thinking a cryptic definition is not very appropriate for a clue about a game unfamiliar to so many people.
I knew ‘one four seven’ from Chas and Dave’s ‘Snooker Loopy’ which has been stuck in my head ever since.
You go red, black, red, black, red, black….
It’s all been said. I come from a country where most of the sports we follow are baffling to the British, so the fact that the reverse is true is no longer even surprising to me. There was a puzzle last week where one answer (THREE POINTER) was a very basic concept in basketball (an Olympic sport since decades before I was born!) and it was hilarious how many people were complaining.
Anyway, I’ve made an effort to learn cricket, and I appreciate rugby, but snooker may be a bridge too far for me.
@43 “a bridge too far” … very good.
Reminds me, I have seen SPIDER clued in puzzles on a couple of occasions e.g. “It may appear when sportsman needs a rest (6)” and “A rest for Ronnie O’Sullivan? (6)”. So those who think 147 is obscure would have no chance with those
Shanne @35 – is there any precedent for using cum not come? Wouldn’t the English be ‘and’ or ‘with’? Online neither Cambridge nor M-Webster has a prepositional form for come (save in “come the summer we will be rich”).
Pity the residents of Chorlton-cum-Hardy!
James @45 – you all knew what I meant – and I didn’t mean “with”, I meant a clue that could either be described as a double definition or a charade or a bit of both.
This level of nit-picking is what puts me off blogging. In the UK, to get these blogs out early, we’re either staying up until well past midnight at this time of year to solve the puzzle and then blog it, or getting up ridiculously early. We get the puzzles at the same time as everyone else. And in the wee small hours, I’m trying to get the blogs out in a way that’s understandable, not checking every single word in the dictionary to ensure that every jot and tittle is correct. If you want that level of blog, you’re not getting it to midday.
Shanne@46 I much appreciate your work as others have said. Another great one from Anto – always makes you think in interesting ways.
Where I live the crossword comes out at 4.00pm this time of year, wh is way more convenient for an ‘early’ solve … .
Shanne @46 – my apologies! I absolutely never expected nor wanted you to consider it an attack against you!
If there be one place for pedantry in the English language I thought it surely a crossword blog, but my renewed apologies to you as obviously my enthusiasm for pedantry in this case was misplaced. I appreciate the work you do very much.
I am most contrite.
Thanks for the blog and all the explanations. I only sat down to do the puzzle about 30 mins ago and finished it all very quickly. Either I’m getting better at these, or it was a very easy one.
I only started trying cryptic puzzles after my father died. He was a big fan of cryptics, and also a keen snooker player, so would have had no trouble with the one answer I didn’t understand.
This was difficult for me. Having read the blog, I can see why I didn ‘t u derstand some of the clues. Although I had to reveal quite a few, I still enjoyed the puzzle very much. Thank you.
I thought ONE FOUR SEVEN was exceptionally clever – although I appreciate you might have to have a modicum of snooker knowledge.
The bottom left beat me – I couldn’t get LODGINGS or NEOLOGISM. Enjoyable otherwise!
Like many others I struggled towards ONE FOUR SEVEN without having the crucial piece of GK. Thanks Anto and Shanne.