I made a slow start on this, and a not much faster finish. Thanks to Harpo for the challenge.
I might have been a bit quicker if I’d noticed the ingenious grid-fill, where Harpo has included two sets of four anagrams, arranged symmetrically:
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | ACTORS | What may appear in Cats or otherwise (6) Anagram of CATS OR, &lit – actors may appear in the musical Cats, and elsewhere |
||||||
| 4 | ASTATIC | Unstable, like French director Charlie (7) AS (Jacques) TATI + C (Charlie in the NATO alphabet) – not a word I remember coming across, but the meaning is clear, as is the clueing |
||||||
| 9 | DING-A-LING | In the USA, fool quaint girl eating wraps (4-1-4) GAL (a “quaint” version of girl) in DINING. Chambers describes this as an “informal” word for a fool, not specifically an American usage |
||||||
| 10 | BORIS | Weep about tax officials once backing previous PM? (5) Reverse of IR (Inland Revenue) in SOB |
||||||
| 11 | NOOKS | Corners Poles over permissible charges (5) O[ver] OK (permissible) “charging” N and S |
||||||
| 12 | CARBONADO | Company introducing ‘wild boar and rum’ stew (9) BOAR* + AND* in CO |
||||||
| 13 | EN GARDE | Get ready to fence unconfined hens by pruned planted area (2,5) [h]EN[s] + GARDE[n] |
||||||
| 15 | DIMPLE | Obscure hints of poor lexicography, the last thing you’d get from Susie Dent (6) DIM (obscure) + first letters of Poor Lexicography + last letter of susiE |
||||||
| 17 | LAPDOG | He’s easily manipulated my friend from the East (6) Reverse of GOD (my, as an exclamation) + PAL |
||||||
| 19 | DERANGE | Disturb arrangement of extremely diverse set of manufacturer’s products (7) D[ivers]E + RANGE(manufacturer’s products) |
||||||
| 22 | APARTMENT | In pieces, blokes beginning to trash flat (9) APART + MEN + T[rash] |
||||||
| 24 | OPTED | Chose part in reference book (5) PT (part) in OED (Oxford English Dictionary) |
||||||
| 26 | TUNIS | Large casks containing No.1 in imported port (5) I[mported] in TUNS |
||||||
| 27 | ALLCOMERS | Everyone who wants to participate calls me or mobile (9) (CALL ME OR)* – apparently it’s correct to spell this as a single word, but I always find it odd |
||||||
| 28 | OUTRAGE | Loss of power punctuated with Republican indignation (7) R[epublican] in OUTAGE |
||||||
| 29 | CO-STAR | Some Democrat-Socialist revolutionary, one who shares the bill? (2-4) hidden in reverse of democRAT-SOCialist |
||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | ANDANTE | Gutted American poet is moderately slow in bars (7) A[merica]N + DANTE – the bars are the musical kind |
||||||
| 2 | TANGO | Dance beat introduces energy (5) TAN (to beat) + GO |
||||||
| 3 | REASSURED | Liberal US readers relieved of worries (9) (US READERS)* |
||||||
| 4 | ANGERED | Irritated, imperilled, avoiding death (7) ENDANGERED less END |
||||||
| 5 | TABOO | Bill ducks ban (5) TAB (bill) + O O (zeros, “ducks” in cricket) |
||||||
| 6 | TARPAULIN | Jolly missionary wearing sailor’s hat (9) TAR (sailor, jolly, though the latter usually means a marine) + PAUL (St Paul, missionary) + IN (wearing) |
||||||
| 7 | CASTOR | Heavenly twin of Conservative US-born viscountess (6) C + ASTOR (Nancy, Lady Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the UK parliament) |
||||||
| 8 | MISCUE | Slip up when going to pot? (6) Cryptic definition, referring to snooker |
||||||
| 14 | GO AGAINST | Oppose best-ever sports player securing wins (2,7) GAINS (wins) in GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) |
||||||
| 16 | MARCO POLO | Traveller’s old stuff picked up with car (5,4) Reverse of O[ld] CRAM + POLO (Volkswagen car) |
||||||
| 18 | GRENADE | Pineapple order placed around late afternoon, finally (7) Last letters of latE afternooN in GRADE (to order). Pineapple is slang for a grenade |
||||||
| 19 | DOTTLE | Too much charging faulty LED burnt plug (6) OTT (over the top, too much) in LED* – it’s “a plug, esp. of tobacco left at the bottom of a pipe”, hence the “burnt” |
||||||
| 20 | END USER | Recipient tolerates having a pair exchanged (3,4) ENDURES with the R and S swapped |
||||||
| 21 | CASTRO | Former president oil company snubbed (6) CASTRO[L] |
||||||
| 23 | TESLA | Car manufacturer put up plan, saving skin (5) Reverse of SET (put) + [p]LA[n] |
||||||
| 25 | TWEET | Sentimental, tense, brief communication (5) TWEE + T[ense] |
||||||
DIMPLE is a classic. 🙂
For once I spotted the device of cyclically symmetric anagrams which helped in the final fill.
And who knew there was a word for what’s left over in a pipe after smoking?
Thanks Andrew.
I failed to see the two sets of anagrams.
Susie Dent will be well known to British people as she is the dictionary corner of Countdown.
Thanks also Harpo
Brilliant stuff. Needed to have spotted the device as I had not heard of Lady Astor. Didn’t spot the second quartet of anagrams though.
Liked TUNIS, DIMPLE and EN GARDE.
Thanks Harpo and Andrew.
Countdown
( I meant to edit my previous but the edit doesn’t seem to have the link mechanism)
Although the puzzle was reasonably straightforward, the added extras were a joy with the four corners using the same letters, as Philistine did two weeks ago. But to get ANGERED, EN GARDE, DERANGE and GRENADE in the centre was remarkable. Struggled to work out the definition of TARPAULIN, although I had the constituents. My favourites were EN GARDE, MISCUE, DOTTLE (who knew indeed Tim C @1, certainly not me), DIMPLE and MARCO POLO. Wonderful achievement.
Ta Harpo & Andrew.
Clever grid. Quite a straightforward solve apart from having to look up the tobacco plug and the sailor’s hat and needing the pdm to appreciate why there are two anagrinds in the clue for CARBONADO.
Seeing the ‘tax officials once’ made me reflect on the similar ‘volunteers once’: some setters/editors are happy to use those old abbreviations without qualification, others aren’t. I do wish the authorities would consult with cruciverbalists before they go renaming useful organisations, places etc! (I recall including the National Indoor Arena in a puzzle for the three-letter NIA combo and then discovering it had been renamed the considerably-less-useful Utilita Arena.)
Thanks Harpo and Andrew
There’s also a symmetry with the four words TANGO, TABOO, TESLA and TWEET beginning with T.
Towards the end of the solve, having finally spotted the ingenious four-anagrams trick, I confidently entered ENRAGED for 4d – and was then enraged to find that it was actually ANGERED.
ASTATIC was new though not difficult, and I haven’t seen DOTTLE for years.
Jollies are Marines, and Jolly Jack Tars are a thing, but I didn’t recognise either jolly=TAR or TARPAULIN = sailor’s hat. Also failed to parse NOOKS. I liked MISCUE, EN GARDE and the surface for DIMPLE . Thanks Harpo and Andrew.
Nice puzzle. Carbonado is not a stew, though. Carbonade is a stew; carbonado is seared meat.
In my comment on the last Harpo puzzle I said that it ought to give me confidence to try a Monk – and this time I’m determined! (Time will tell.)
Thanks to Philistine’s puzzle, as noted by AlanC @5, still quite fresh in my mind, I almost immediately saw the trick in the four corners, hinted at in 11ac and the others came quite soon afterwards. Not claiming any genius status: it was as if Harpo was gently leading me by the hand – a most enjoyable experience – with other delightful clues along the way.
I had ticks for 10ac BORIS, 28ac OUTRAGE (largely because when I read reports of an outage I almost invariably read it as outrage) 1dn ANDANTE, 6dn TARPAULIN (I tried hard to fit RM in), 16dn MARCO POLO and 15dn DIMPLE – a classic, as Tim C said @1. (Susie Dent does have a DIMPLE. 😉 )
Many thanks to Harpo for a splendid puzzle and to Andrew for a blog to match. (That’s set me up for a visit to the dentist.)
I knew DOTTLE – my father used to smoke a pipe, and there were comments made about making sure the dottles were disposed of away from children in my hearing.
There’s such a thing as a CARBONADO criolla – an Argetinian beef stew – apparently.
I spotted the outer anagrams, but not the inner. A lovely puzzle, thank you to Andrew and Harpo (I keep wanting to type Monk there).
Very satisfying. Thanks Harpo. Haven’t heard the word DOTTLE for years; hardly anyone smokes a pipe now. Missed the symmetry.
And thanks to Andrew.
Nice spot with NOOKS Eileen @10, good luck at the dentist.
Eileen – I like Monk’s puzzles in the FT – do them regularly now.
Spotting early the anagrams in the corners and, later, the other four helped a lot, however I didn’t get the fool, MISCUE and TARPAULIN. Nice overall. Thanks Harpo and Andrew
Lovely puzzle, and of course I failed to spot the anagram quartets until after completion.
DIMPLE is a joy!
I also like that Castor is a CO-STAR to Pollux, and surely TESLA & TWEET musk be related?
Thanks to Harpo and Andrew
New to me were ASTATIC, CARBONADO, and DOTTLE, although readily constructed. I raised an eyebrow at “IN” for “wearing” – is that a common device? – and “GOD” for “my”. I would use the latter for an expression of surprise, the former for dismay, so to me they are not really interchangeable.
And as usual I completely missed the clever devices, both inner and outer.
Thank you Harpo and Andrew.
Ace @17
She looks good in/wearing a little black dress.
I didn’t like the singular ‘what’ cluing the plural ACTORS, nor ‘jolly’=TAR (I’ve always considered marines to be soldiers rather than sailors, and so not tars).
Shanne@11: Chambers has “2. carbonado (also carbonnade or carbonade) a beef stew made with beer'”.
The element Astatine gained it’s name because it is so ASTATIC. it is the rarest naturally occurring element on earth, only forming as a breakdown product of other radio-active elements, but then each astatine atom only survives for a few hours before itself breaking down.
I was not on Harpo’s wavelength today and was easily distracted to do other things instead of focussing on this puzzle. I gave up on 18d and 17ac and I did not see the two sets of four anagrams
Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 15ac, 24ac, 23d.
Favourite: APARTMENT.
New for me: ASTATIC, CARBONADO, DOTTLE, POLO = car, TARPAULIN = sailor’s hat.
poc @19, re ACTORS, it’s a CAD as the blog specifies, so the definition is “what may appear in Cats or otherwise” so ACTORS seems to me to be a valid answer to that.
For ACTORS, the natural word to use would be “who” rather than “what” – but that would give the game away completely.
Good setting to fit in the quadruplets but I missed them! Chuck Berry’s DING-A-LING was definitely not a fool. I liked (not personally) BORIS, the simple DIMPLE with a superb surface, the well-hidden CO-STAR, and GO AGAINST the sports star. I DNK ASTATIC and DOTTLE.
Thanks Harpo and Andrew.
I also completely missed both sets of anagrams. I’ve never heard of castrol.
A tarpaulin is a hat? I thought it was a sheet-like covering.
Did anybody else try CARTER as the former president? Or try to include “rum” in the anagram for CARBONADO? Actually, it was the anagrind and “and” was part of the anagram fodder.
Thanks to Harpo and Andrew.
When was the Philistine puzzle that used this anagram device? I can’t find it.
Missed the corners, but did notice the larger than normal number of Os as crossers. Probably not intended, just a side-effect of the grid construction.
9th Sept Valentine.
Valentine @25; me too for Carter and rum.
I agree with all the praise for DIMPLE, a great clue. Though I always have slight reservations about “hints of” (or similar) to indicate first letters. I know it’s a long-standing crossword convention, but as Brian Greer (Brendan) says in his book How To Do The Times Crossword, “The convention found in some other crosswords that ‘bit of’, or similar expressions, points to the first letter of a word has always struck me as illogical. I see no strong reason why ‘bit of cheese’ is C rather than H, E or S — or indeed HE.” But still a great clue!
The symmetrical anagrams were very clever. Many thanks Harpo and Andrew.
I learned DOTTLE from the writings of S. J. Perelman, a writer with whom the original Harpo would have been very familar.
https://ia800200.us.archive.org/5/items/bestofsjperelma00pere/bestofsjperelma00pere.pdf
@Lord Jim, I tend to agree with you (and Brendan) about first letter indicators. I’m reminded of Everyman’s “a drop of Drambuie” in his clue for RICE PUDDING.
Given the demise of Twitter, I did wonder if the definition for TWEET should more accurately be expressed as “brief communication once”.
Tim C@22: The use of ‘what’ to refer to several people looks to me like bad English. I agree with Gladys@23.
Very pleased to get to the end, which for me was MISCUE, and thus my favourite clue. I learned that ALLCOMERS can be a single word (although I see it underlined in red dots as I type this), that DOTTLE is the last bit of tobacco in a pipe, and that ANDANTE is moderately slow music. Thanks Harpo and Andrew.
@various Attentive readers of Sherlock Holmes should certainly have got 19d:
“his before-breakfast pipe… was composed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece”.
(The Engineer’s Thumb)
I started quickly, thought this would be a write in, then even more quickly punished for my hubris.
Ended up finishing this ANDANTE, OUTRAGED and ANGERED.
But a very elegant puzzle with some brilliant and head-smacking misdirection – thank you Harpo and Andrew!
Gave up with five to go. 8d I thought of MISCUE, but couldn’t parse it. 15a DIMPLE, defeated by “hints of poor lexicography”. 19d DOTTLE nho. I just didn’t see the other two, 11a NOOKS, 6d TARPAULIN. I did see the two sets of anagrams, though!
17a LAPDOG, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen GOD = “my”
27a ALLCOMERS, I guess it can be one word, like “newcomers”
4d ASTATIC, luckily I re-watched TATI’s “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday” just two days ago, so he was fresh in my mind. After you watch one of his films you see the world differently
21d CASTRO, at first I had LINTON — there does seem to be an oil company of that name. And it’s a British company, so I thought it was a sure thing!
I thought 7d should be Pollux as it was Heavenly twin of … until of course it didn’t fit.
I found this at the bottom of my pile of incomplete Guardians, with half a dozen still to solve. A good night’s sleep meant that they fell relatively quickly, though I seem to always struggle with this setter. Seeing the anagrams in the NOOKS, I was able to confirm that the ex-president was not Carter, but I didn’t remember Castrol until after I’d filled in Fidel.
TARPAULIN was my last one in. I agree with Gladys@8 that ‘jolly’ for TAR is either an error or a bit too much of a stretch.
Eileen saying she habitually reads outage as OUTRAGE rang a bell – I always misread shopfitters in a similar fashion.
Belated thanks to Harpo and Andrew.