I am covering for someone who’s away and did wonder what I’d get for a Friday cover …
… the Guardian crosswords often get tougher as the week goes on, so I wasn’t surprised to find this one the chewiest of the week so far, for me. With Pasquale it’s often the new to me words, usually soluble from the cluing, that cause the hold ups, especially blogging when I actually have to look them up to explain the clues, rather than rely on the Fifteen Squared blogger doing it for me.
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | CAFTAN |
Container housing a paper garment (6)
|
| Insertion of A (from the clue) + FT (paper – Financial Times) into CAN (container) | ||
| 6 | HASHEESH |
Has she exploded, having swallowed explosive drug? (8)
|
| Anagram (exploded) HAS SHE)* around HE (high explosive – it’s in Chambers as an abbreviation). | ||
| 9, 19 | RONALD REAGAN |
One beating old age – ran twice! (6,6)
|
| Anagram (one beating) (OLD AGE RAN RAN)* for the ex-movie actor who ran for President in 1976 and lost against Gerald Ford, but succeeded in becoming the 40th incumbent from 1981-9, and a clue as definition. | ||
| 10 | SAMPHIRE |
Plant physics unit in e.g. Dorset (8)
|
| insertion of AMP (physics unit) into SHIRE (Dorset is one of the old shire counties – appears as Dorsetshire on old maps) for a plant found on salt marshes | ||
| 11 | ANSWERPHONE |
Useful home device when a person is out (11)
|
| – and a correction see below – it’s another clue as definition as it also includes the anagram (is out) of (WHEN A PERSON)* plus cryptic definition – for something that’s becoming part of history now we all have mobile phones and that many don’t bother with landlines at home (especially when all the answerphone recorded was telemarketing and spam before I gave up on my landline). | ||
| 15 | ITERANT |
Repeating liturgy, first to last, with a part of the Bible (7)
|
| RITE (liturgy) with first to last gives ITER + A (from the clue) + NT (part of the Bible – the New Testament) – and ITERANT is one of the options of adjectives from the verb “to iterate” (which I know from maths – the iteration method). The adjective could also be “iterative”. | ||
| 17 | INTERNE |
As orderly patients may be dealt with, said US medical student (7)
|
| soundalike of “in turn” (how orderly patients may be dealt with) This spelling is in Chambers in brackets under the better known INTERN as “also N.Am” | ||
| 18 | HORSE AROUND |
Behave frivolously, ditching what could be hard and onerous (5,6)
|
| anagram of (what could be) (HARD + ONEROUS) – but then I can’t account for the “ditching” unless it’s intended as the anagrind? | ||
| 22 | HEGELIAN |
The fellow surprisingly genial as a philosopher (8)
|
| HE (the fellow) + anagram (surprisingly) of (GENIAL)* for the thinking of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | ||
| 23 | LAMBDA |
Brazilian dance seeing off a Greek character (6)
|
| deletion of A (seeing off A) from LAMBADA (the Brazilian dance) | ||
| 24 | MASTERLY |
Skilful mum unsmilingly disposing of last of children (8)
|
| MA (mum) + STERnLY (unsmilingly – N where N is the last [letter] of childreN) | ||
| 25 | MASSIF |
Some rock in church service, followed by a poem (6)
|
| charade of MASS (church service) + IF (the Kipling poem) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MALLEE |
Fellow hugging the Parisian tree (6)
|
| insertion of LE (the Parisian) into MALE (fellow) for a form of Australian tree habit, usually the Eucalypt that forms multistemmed growth (for my LOI and for which I used a word finder with the crossers, definitely new to me) | ||
| 2 | PARAGONITE |
Mineral from Spanish region found in mine, bottom of mine (10)
|
| insertion of ARAGON (Spanish region) found in PIT (mine) + E (bottom of minE) for this mineral – another new word but fairly clued. | ||
| 3 | SHIPMENT |
Goods trendy chaps dumped in street (8)
|
| insertion of HIP (trendy) MEN (chaps) in ST (street) | ||
| 4 | CARYATID |
Column has one Scottish flower put up in club maybe (8)
|
| Insertion of I TAY (one Scottish flower – the Tay is a Scottish river) < (put up – reversed in a down clue) in CARD (club maybe) | ||
| 5 | FINISHED |
Ruined female occupying one outbuilding (8)
|
| charade of F (female) IN (occupying) I (one) SHED (outbuilding) | ||
| 7 | EOIN |
Irishman taking a very long time to cross island (4)
|
| Insertion in EON (very long time) with (to cross) I (island) for the Irish man’s name | ||
| 8 |
See 16
|
|
| 12 | PATERNALLY |
Model wasting time with friend acting as old man (10)
|
| charade of PATtERN (model wasting time – so losing a T) + ALLY (friend) | ||
| 13 | ARQUEBUS |
Ancient weapon with which a Scottish detective protects Queen (8)
|
| insertion of QU (queen) in A (from the clue) REBUS (Scottish detective – series from Ian Rankin) for what was an early gun, apparently, another jorum for me. | ||
| 14 | RED DWARF |
Star about to confront theologian, fighting fellow (3,5)
|
| charade of RE (about) DD (theologian – Doctor of Divinity) + WAR (fighting) + F (fellow) | ||
| 16, 8 | ACHILLES HEEL |
Sick, beset by pains, the chap with little energy left showing fatal weakness (8,4)
|
| insertion of ILL (sick) surrounded (beset by) ACHES (pains) + charade of HE (chap) + E (abbreviation for Energy) + L (left) | ||
| 19 |
See 9 Across
|
|
| 20 | CHUM |
One companion and another having hesitation (4)
|
| charade of CH (another [companion] Companion of Honour) + (having) UM (hesitation) | ||
| 21 | EGIS |
English and American soldiers providing protection in Washington (4)
|
| charade of E (English) + GIS (American soldiers) for a variant spelling (marked here as American – from Washington) of AEGIS, from the Greek meaning a shield or protection. It’s in Chambers – as the same as aegis. |
ANSWERPHONE
Also…(When a person)* is out*
Liked RONALD REAGAN
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne.
ANSWERPHONE – anagram (is out) of WHEN A PERSON
Crossed with KVa
Goodness me, there were a lot of men and mates kicking around in this puzzle – fellows, chaps, chums, companions, pals, friends… Everything very clearly laid out, though, making this one of the quicker solves of the week for me. Only MALLEE and PARAGONITE needed confirmation of their existence in the dictionary. I agree that ANSWERPHONE is somewhat of an anachronism these days. I was surprised by ‘ditching’ too – given the setter’s strict adherence to the ‘rules’, it does feel a)superfluous and b) not really much of an anagrind.
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne
HORSE AROUND
I agree with Shanne that ‘ditching’ is the anagram indicator.
Only that I feel it is a reverse anagram ditching (in the sense of crashing, I think)
what (HORSE AROUND) could be ‘hard and onerous’.
Three dodgy spellings in one puzzle? HASHEESH I can just about accept as an uncommon transliteration, but INTERNE and EGIS clued simply as Americanisms? They’re archaic US spellings even then.
OK – corrected ANSWERPHONE – hopefully, not sure how many other corrections I can face putting through the way the site is bugging out this morning.
I have to pop in to praise the clues for RONALD REAGAN and ANSWERPHONE. Both exquisite.
Thanks, Pasquale & Shanne.
Thanks Pasquale and Shanee
FOI INTERNE, despite never having seen it spelled like that. MALLEE and PARAGONITE also jorums (jora?). I didn’t spot the anagram for ANSWERPHONE, and thought it was just a not very cryptic definition.
I agree that the Americanisms grated a bit.
Favourites FINISHED and ARQUEBUS.
These Database Errors are making the site nearly unusable!
9/19 Reagan did not run for the presidency in 1976 – he tried to be nominated but was defeated for the nomination by Ford – also a Republican. Carter won the election. His two runs were 1980 and 1984,
I could not parse 11ac, 15ac.
New for me: EOIN; EGIS (this spelling looks so weird); INTERNE; PARAGONITE.
I agree with muffin@8 that the Americanisms grated a bit.
Several visits to dictionary corner to confirm the jorums but other than that fairly straightforward. I do feel Pasquale has gone off the boil a bit recently with too much reliance on uncommon spellings / Americanisms etc.
Ticks for SAMPHIRE, ITERANT & EOIN
Cheers S&P
[I sometimes wonder if Cloudflare protects websites from hackers by blocking everyone 🙂 ]
I enjoy Pasquale puzzles, especially the cultural/historical references. Got there with some checks and guesses, didn’t parse all. Favourites ACHILLES HEEL, CARYATID, ARQUEBUS, RONALD REAGAN, HEGELIAN (which I thought referred to a philosopher who is a follower of Hegel). Didn’t see the anagram in ANSWERPHONE and thought it a non-cryptic clue 🙁 Thanks Pasquale and Shanne!
Thanks for those valuable insights, Shanne. Like PostMark @3, I noticed the numerous ‘fellows’ and wondered if a theme might be emerging. There were a similar number of nationalities too: eg, Spanish; Parisian; Greek; Scottish (x2); Irishman; English; American etc but again, maybe not enough for a true theme.
Quite a work out for me. My art and history should be better so I probably find Pasquale harder than others but only the unheard of CARYATID needed a check in the dictionary.
Was sceptical INTERNE was spelt with an E at the end but it was the only thing that worked. CAFTAN and EGIS also not I usually spell them.
Clear favourite today in RONALD REAGAN
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne for stepping in.
I thought that I was really going to struggle with this one and had to work my way up from the easier bottom. Like PM@3, I did notice the blokishness of quite a few clues. The same jorums as others have mentioned but as always with Pasquale, you have to do what it says on the tin, especially ARQUEBUS and the obscure loi, CARYATID. I thought RONALD REAGAN and ANSWERPHONE were marvellous.
Ta Pasquale & well filled in Shanne.
Struggled to parse CARYATID as I couldn’t get past seeing Ayr reversed inside as the Scottish flower put up.
Not over keen on ditching as an anagrind, but all’s fair in love, war, and crosswords.
I’ve probably missed the discussion, but is there anything that can be done about these pesky database errors?
Caryatids were female forms holding up stones, arches etc. There’s a famous Rodin statue of one it was too much for.]
Everyone will have a different list of jorums in a puzzle like this: mine were ITERANT, MALLEE and PARAGONITE. But it was the heavy dose of variant spellings (CAFTAN, EGIS, INTERNE, HASHEESH) that I found irritating, though I’m sure they are all legitimate. I liked RONALD REAGAN and (now that I see the anagram) ANSWERPHONE. Like one or two others this week, I missed the wordplay in what appeared to be a not very cryptic definition.
So, khayyam @5, how do Americans spell aegis?
[William @16 The discussion about Database Errors has been and remains ongoing on Site Feedback. Look for it there. I have had to fight my way past five of the blighters just to post this comment.]
Grant @19, just like that.
Layman@12 It’s probably most used in the phrase Hegelian dialectic.
Michelle @ 10 My username may give a clue why Eoin wasn’t new to me, and it’s my clue of the year. 😀
AlanC @15 – I know CARYATID from the south and north elevations of St Pancras New Church – not sure why – probably a geocache.
I keep notes of anagram indicators – Pasquale has used ditched before. No one else has.
As an Australian, I may not know the significance of shire counties but I certainly know a MALLEE (gum) when I see it. Grateful for the odd Antipodean clue to keep us interested. It grows in drier conditions and is quite tough. Hence the expression ‘fit as a Mallee bull’.
I hadn’t realised the significance of Washington in EGIS – just thought it was an alternative spelling.
I enjoyed this puzzle, learning new words PARAGONITE and ARQUEBUS and the half-remembered CARYATID, all well clued, as others have said.
Favourites RONALD REAGAN, ANSWERPHONE, ITERANT.
Thanks to Pasquale for the puzzle and to Shanne for stepping in with the informative blog.
This puzzle was about 80% enjoyable, 20% obscurities and “unusual” spellings crowbarred into the grid, including HASHEESH, SAMFIRE, MALLEE, PARAGONITE, EGIS, and the frankly desperate INTERNE. I don’t know in which US the latter two are alternate spellings, but it isn’t the one I’ve lived in for the last thirty years.
I knew ARQUEBUS but recognize it was unfamiliar to many, and EOIN was new to me but probably not others.
Grantinfreo @19 They spell it Aegis. The United States Navy has an entire class of destroyers called Aegis, not Egis. Similarly Interne is not an Americanism, it’s merely archaic.
As I’ve said before, “it’s in Chambers” is not, IMO, adequate justification for an answer (or a single letter abbreviation). It might be considered necessary, but should not be considered sufficient.
American here. Can state that I’ve only very, very rarely seen aegis spelled EGIS, and never, ever, even once, seen INTERNE instead of intern. “It’s in Chambers” does not make it true…
So Ace@27 what would you consider adequate justification?
Similar jora and gratings to most, and also looking for some real use for ditching.
I first noted the matiness (mateyness?) of the clues with the three fellows. For a novice setter one might say that is bad style, but Pasquale is far from that, so it must be intentional. If not exactly a theme, then maybe just something to keep him amused while setting.
Fave was RONALD REAGAN.
I vaguely remembered that there was such a creature as a mallee-fowl – a bird with interesting habits which I think I once saw on a David Attenborough documentary – but I didn’t know there was also a MALLEE tree for it to inhabit.
Given the number of words I hadn’t previously encountered – EGIS, MALLEE, EOIN, ARQUEBUS and PARAGONITE (that last apparently unknown to my spellcheck too), plus words spelled in a way I hadn’t previously encountered – CAFTAN, HASHEESH and INTERNE (which spellchump also dislikes!) it’s a miracle I actually completed this!
I liked the surface for LAMBDA and CHUM was neat.
I agree with Ace and mrpenney about “it’s in Chambers”, and with Muffin about the blasted database error notifications.
Many thanks Shanne and Pasquale
I see there a few grumbles so far – but I absolutely loved this! Not the hardest of the week for me … given that I finished it! (Unusual for me.)
There were several words (or spellings) that I hadn’t heard of. I loved it because each and every one of these could be deduced from the clue. To me, that’s brilliant setting: so thanks to Pasquale, and to the blog for confirming.
Maybe not entirely accurate, but special mention for RONALD REAGAN, which took me ages to get – and made me smile. Also, however dated, ANSWERPHONE for a clever clue.
I see there a few grumbles so far – but I absolutely loved this! Not the hardest of the week for me … given that I finished it! (Unusual for me.)
There were several words (or spellings) that I hadn’t heard of. I loved it because each and every one of these could be deduced from the clue. To me, that’s brilliant setting: so thanks to Pasquale, and to the blog for confirming.
Maybe not entirely accurate, but special mention for RONALD REAGAN, which took me ages to get – and made me smile. Also, however dated, ANSWERPHONE for a clever clue.
(Why is there an error messsge most of the time on fifteensquared?)
Sorry for duplication! Struggling with that error message!
Given the number of ‘blokey’ clues, I wondered if there was something going on with PATERNALLY in a prominent position in column 7.
There was a mum in MASTERLY, but on re-reading the clue I find it quite ghoulish, a mother unsmilingly disposing of the last of her children.
Surprised when MALLEE came to me as I was looking for European trees. I live on a block of land some of which can’t be built on due to its ‘environmental zoning’, protecting a stand of Blue Mountains mallee. It’s pretty scrubby-looking but it deserves to be preserved, although my former neighbour, a policeman, destroyed all of his, and got away with it.
Veronica @34
Why are there all these errors mesages? Short answer – KenMac, the administrator, doesn’t know!
See Site Feedback (under “Share your thoughts” on the menu bar) for more on this problem.
Re the gremlins on 15 squared. Admin/kenmac is endeavouring to fix the problem but is a bit hampered as he’s on holidays, as he’s posted on Site Feedback.
We’re very fortunate to have the opportunity to play here thanks to him and others, and our bloggers, all volunteers. We’ll just need to be a little patient.
[Re the gremlins on 15 squared, Admin/KenMac has said on Site Feedback that he’s working on it but is a bit hampered at the moment as he’s on holidays.
We’re very fortunate to have the opportunity to play here thanks to him and others, and our bloggers, all volunteers. We’ll just need to be a little patient.]
[Oops. Pardon my duplication and crossing muffin. Thought I’d lost my post as I’d done several times today before I got into the habit of copying and pasting. Slipped up this time.]
[paddymelon @40
As TimC taught me, no wuckers! I’ve done that too.]
Wow, this was a struggle. Every guess I made seemed to be one letter too short or one letter too long (like HASHISH, INTERN, AEGIS, MAPLE). Almost gave up after 1/3 completed, but then 12 PATERNALLY fell, and the rest tumbled fairly readily, although I slowed toward the end, and my loi 1d MALLEE took a long time, as did my second-last 10a SAPPHIRE. Wait, what? No, it’s SAMPHIRE, meaning I missed the completion by one letter, ending my weekday streak at my personal best of nine. There does seem to be a “Sapphire Showers” shrub, though, so it was possible
Although I no longer have a physical ANSWERPHONE, I still have a landline and no cell
13 ARQUEBUS made me think of “Blunderbuss”, and wondering if the terms are related
The Arquebus features in G&S’ Yeoman of the Guard.
Meryll: Hark! What was that, sir?
Fairfax: Why, an arquebus, fired from the wharf, unless I much mistake.
My parents were enthusiastic amateur G&S players and I recall trying to sleep as they belted out things like this.
After two tough days this was refreshing. Finished by 5pm, not midnight. What do I do now?
Actually thanks to Pasquale, whose crosswords are always challenging but doable.
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne
Surprised that folk thought CARYATID obscure.
They’ve been supporting a temple on the Acropolis for a couple of thousand years, apart from the one looted by Elgin (and the current ones are replicas, the originals being protected in a museum).
Thanks Ronald Reagan loi.
Simon S @45
Do you know the statue(s) I linked to @17?
Enjoyed this tricky puzzle. A few oddities but nothing unfair, in my view. Favourites ANSWERPHONE and RONALD REAGAN, both excellent. Bon weekend to all.
I agree the alternative spellings were irritating because there’s such flimsy evidence outside of the hallowed halls of the BRB, but I enjoyed learning (however temporarily) the new words.
The ditching debate is interesting. As a synonym of abandoning, which I’ve seen as an anagrind before, I think it’s ok. The other quibble is that the clue has 2 functioning anagrinds making it harder to parse. But still entirely gettable.
I’m enjoying Pasquale more these days.
Thanks to him and to Shanne for stepping up to the plate.
muffin @ 47 I didn’t but I do now
Shanne @23: I know the beautiful church to which you refer. I will never forget CARYATID or geocache ever again 🤣
muffin@37, paddymelon@38: thank you, nice to understand it a bit more.
The parsing of caryatid defeated me because I found the wrong Scottish river (Ayr) in it.
I liked this week’s Friday very much, many new words and quite a few I parsed correctly to my surprise. But my ABSOLUTE favourite, calling out to me was HEGELIAN!
Thanks Pasquale and Shanne
Suddenly this word ‘jorum’ appears and gets used the whole way through. Is this some sort of new crossword land slang?
Lloyd @55 – jorum is discussed in the FAQs – but its coinage in crosswords is a new word to us that we’ve worked out from the parsing. It’s much wider than this site – there was an article in one of the Australian newspapers a couple of years ago, linked on the site, citing the wrong person in the original exchange as coining it.
Thanks Shanne @56 – I’d never seen it before and suddenly it seemed to be in every other comment!
In general, we Americans often replace AE and OE with just E (“fetus”, “hemoglobin”), so I guess it’s plausible that we’d write EGIS instead of AEGIS, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in the wild. Google NGram viewer suggests that it was the more common spelling back in the early 19th century — when both spellings were extremely rare.
I have a vague memory of seeing INTERNE before, but not recently. Google says that this one had a longer run of popularity in the US but essentially never occurs these days.