The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29857.
Pangakupu continues to produce inventive and amusing clues, with the now well-known Maori Nna in the grid. Here we have in row 8 HOA – friend – and in row 10 KOIORA – life. This is his 42nd. Cryptic,and the reference is to the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PALACE |
Step out of line going behind a bishop’s residence (6)
|
| An envelope (‘out of’) of ‘a’ plus L (‘line’), with ‘going behind’ indicting the order of these two elements, in PACE (‘step’). | ||
| 4 | SPECIE |
Change that is following description of requirements (6)
|
| A charade of SPEC (‘description of requirements’) plus I.E. (‘that is’); ‘change’ as small change, coins. | ||
| 9 | ATOM |
Source of cash containing nothing? A tiny amount (4)
|
| An envelope (‘containing’) of O (‘nothing’) in ATM (Automated Teller Machine, ‘source of cash’). | ||
| 10 | TUNING FORK |
One car’s last away from two junctions – take note from this (6,4)
|
| TU[r]NING and FORK (‘two junctions’) minus an R (‘one caR‘s last away’). | ||
| 11 | TATTOO |
Military display that’s equally rubbish? (6)
|
| TAT TOO. | ||
| 12 | MANTEGNA |
Bloke, uncommon gent, foremost in art? (8)
|
| A charade of MAN (‘bloke’) plus TEGN, an anagram (‘uncommon’) of ‘gent’, plus A (‘foremost in Art’),; with an &lit definition for Joe Mantegna, the American actor. | ||
| 13 | ELUCIDATE |
Clarify cryptic clue I’d put away (9)
|
| A charade of ELUC, an anagram (‘cryptic’) of ‘clue’ plus ‘I’d’ plus ATE (‘put away’). | ||
| 15 | IDLY |
Clearly losing verses about Italy without much effort (4)
|
| A subtraction: [viv]IDLY (‘clearly’) minus VIV, an envelope (‘about’) of I (‘Italy’) in VV (‘verses’). | ||
| 16 | SKOL |
Hail beauty, without one love recalled (4)
|
| A reversal (‘recalled’) of LO[o]KS (‘beauty’) minus an O (‘without one love’). | ||
| 17 | SPEARMINT |
Southern fruit not used for flavouring (9)
|
| A charade of S (‘southern’) plus PEAR (‘fruit’) plus MINT (‘not used’ in philately). | ||
| 21 | LAUSANNE |
European city with way to keep America neutralised at outset (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to keep’) of USA (‘America’) plus N (‘Neutralised at outset’) in LANE (‘way’). | ||
| 22 | MERINO |
Sheep farmer not distant in ring (6)
|
| A charade of ‘[far]mer’ minus FAR (‘not distant’) plus ‘in’ plus O (‘ring’). | ||
| 24 | REPERTOIRE |
Report unbridled passion about English pieces to be played? (10)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of E (‘English’) in REPRTO (or RPERTO), an anagram (‘unbridled’) of ‘report’ plus IRE (‘passion’) | ||
| 25 | PLEA |
Excuse to jump quietly to the front (4)
|
| LEAP (‘jump’) with the P moved to the head (‘quietly to the front’). | ||
| 26 | SUTURE |
Stitch up second person in France, certain to accept that (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to accept that’) of TU (‘second person in France’; French for you, singular and intimate) in SURE (‘certain’). | ||
| 27 | STOLEN |
Snatched look in practice area when coming round (6)
|
| A reversal (‘when coming round’) of an envelope (‘in’) of LO (‘look’) in NETS (‘practice area’, cricket). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PITFALL |
Unexpected difficulty in autumn match at the outset (7)
|
| A charade of PIT (‘match’, as in “pit your wits”) plus FALL (‘autumn’) | ||
| 2 | LIMIT |
Extreme source of loving? That’s me! (5)
|
| A charade of L (‘source of Loving’) plus I’M IT (‘that’s me’). | ||
| 3 | CAT FOOD |
Fish will encompass article frequently upheld … as this? (3,4)
|
| An envelope (‘will encompass’) of A (indefinite ‘article’) plus TFO, a reversal (‘upheld’ in a down light) of OFT (‘frequently’) in COD (‘fish’); with an extended definition. | ||
| 5 | PENANG |
A note kept in seventh enclosure in part of Malaysia (6)
|
| An envelope (‘kept in’) of ‘a’ plus N (‘note’) in PEN G (‘seventh enclosure’, starting with PEN A). | ||
| 6 | COFFERDAM |
Underwater work environment? Department supporting bid to block river (9)
|
| An envelope (‘to block’) of OFFER (‘bid’) plus D (‘department’, with ‘supporting’ in a down light indicating the order of the particles) in CAM (‘river’, perhaps the one flowing through Cambridge). | ||
| 7 | ERRANCY |
Old Queen number in risqué setting? It’s going wrong (7)
|
| A charade of ER (‘old Queen’) plus RANCY, an envelope (‘in … setting’) of N (‘number’) in RACY (‘risqué’). | ||
| 8 | ONOMATOPOETIC |
‘Coo’ and ‘moo’ with patient working out may be considered thus? (13)
|
| An anagram (‘working out’) of ‘coo’ plus ‘moo’ plus ‘patient’. with an extended definition. | ||
| 14 | CHOOSIEST |
So over getting upset amidst dubious ethics, becoming selective in the extreme (9)
|
| An envelope (‘amidst’) of OOS, a reversal (‘getting upset’ in a down light) of ‘so’ plus O (‘over’) in CHIEST, an anagram (‘dubious’) of ‘ethics’. | ||
| 16 | SKATERS |
Forerunner of reggae insufficiently succinct for ice dancers? (7)
|
| A charade of SKA (‘forerunner of reggae’) plus TERS[e] (‘succinct’) minus its last letter (‘insufficiently’). An indication by example. | ||
| 18 | ARMREST |
Police action limiting my support for member (7)
|
| An envelope (‘limiting’) of M (‘my’, at least in the contraction “not guilty, m’lud” which is in Chambers) in ARREST (‘police action’). | ||
| 19 | NANKEEN |
Knight’s article penetrating cloth (7)
|
| A charade of N (‘knight’, chess notation) plus AN (indefinite ‘article’) plus KEEN (‘penetrating’ as in “a keen wind”). | ||
| 20 | INSTAR |
Ant, sir, represented insect form (6)
|
| An anagram (‘re-presented’) of ‘ant sir’. | ||
| 23 | REPEL |
Unpleasant look climbing round top of peak? Turn back (5)
|
| An envelope (’round’) of P (‘top of Peak’) in REEL, a reversal (‘climbing’ in a down light) of LEER (‘unpleasant look’). |
Nice puzzle.
I thought up INSTAR and then had to look it up to see what it was.
I think 12a makes more sense as an &lit. if the MANTEGNA concerned is Andrea, the Italian Renaissance painter.
Ao Tukupu means the Universe. A lovely crossword though the spelling of 8 down was a challenge.
Nho either the actor or the artist, cofferdam was a total jorum, and dnk that 8d could have a -poetic ending. Always a new thing or two, thanks P and P.
All done except SKOL.
Never heard of it except as a nasty foreign beer substitute. I couldn’t actually find any definition of it which equated to “hail”, but thus crumbleth the cookie.
Enjoyed all the rest.
I liked SPEARMINT and REPERTOIRE.
Thanks to Pangapuku and PeterO.
Thanks P & P. Just to add the right-column nina: KATOA = “everything”.
… meant to include errancy — anyone seen it before?
Showadiddydadito @4…
get a dictionary….
skoal or skol
interjection
1. Hail!
2. A friendly exclamation in salutation before drinking, etc
ORIGIN: ON skāl; Norw skaal a bowl, Swed skå; cf scale2,3
Thanks PeterO for your elucidation, especially the m’ in ARMREST. I couldn’t get past the idea that ”limiting” might be doing double duty, but that was my errancy (another one I struggled with).
Well-spotted Coloradan #5.
I’m also in the Andrea camp for the art guy and also learned two new words, cofferdam and instar. Lovely crossword, Ninas and all. Thanks setter and blogger.
GIF at 3 and 6. Me too.
…@6, 10, yeah it’s sort of logical, like current -> currency, but semantically a bit weird…
Enjoyable treatment for insomnia.
Couldn’t finish for lack of SKOL. Never would have equated it to hail but I’m sure I’ll find it in the dic.
GinF @11: can’t imagine ever wanting to say “ERRANCY” without sounding pompous.
William@12. Tim C gives the dictionary definition of SKOL/hail @7
Is KOTANGA a car radio aerial?
copster@14. 😃. Or even on old TVs.
Down here it’s another name for the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
My faves: TUNING FORK, MANTEGNA, CAT FOOD, ARMREST and INSTAR.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO.
Regarding the nina for Number 42. I had a manager who often said 42 when we were struggling with a decision.
I wasn’t familiar with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, except as something on the old wireless to send me to sleep.
Apparently Douglas Adams said that 42 didn’t mean anything when he chose it, although all sorts of theorists and a computer tried to figure it out.
KOIORA, AO TUKUPU, KATOA is Life, the Universe and Everything. Brush up your knowledge of things 43 now.
Faintly heard of Joe Mantegna, but I meant the artist. Still remember a display of his work, carefully managed to preserve some very old paintings.
I’m not usually that bothered about the Maori Nina, but I’m impressed that Pangakupu managed to get all of 42 into this crossword without compromising the quality of the clues.
I don’t think I’d have heard of Andrea Mantegna if I didn’t live just down the road from Hampton Court, which has a gallery dedicated to him. Definitely never heard of Joe!
Like grantinfreo@3 that spelling of ONOMATOPOE(T)IC was new to me, and although I knew COFFERDAM I thought it was 2 words: I’m sure they are backed by suitable authorities and I got them both so I’m not complaining. But I was defeated by LAUSANNE, and couldn’t see why M=my in the middle of ARMREST. Favourite today was TUNING FORK.
I found this very tricky, especially the top half – perhaps I was not on this setter’s wavelength but I have heard of the artist Mantegna 🙂
I could not parse 15ac or 10ac apart from FORK = junction.
New for me: INSTAR; ONOMATOPOETIC (I am familiar with onomatopoeic); ERRANCY (but easily guessed as the answer to 7d); SPECIE = coins/change.
Thanks Pankakupu and PeterO
Mantegna was a very innovative artist. See here, for instance.
A DNF for me – I revealed SKOL too.
I liked ONOMATOPOETIC for the extended definition. I didn’t like “my” for M in ARMREST, but accept that there is some justification for it.
Very enjoyable fun last night and looking for 42, I was pleased to spot the 3 Ninas as listed by the setter above. I thought I might be looking for 42nd Street but this was much more interesting .
Joe’s a great character actor but I also plumped for Andrea MANTEGNA. Same jorums as grantinfreo @3 and my favourites were TUNING FORK, TATTOO, ELUCIDATE, IDLY, ARMREST and the excellent ONOMATOPOETIC.
I can’t even begin to think what 43 will be?
Ta Pangakupu & PeterO.
I found myself on Pangakupu’s wavelength today and was working my way merrily through the clues until I came to a grinding halt with SKOL! Ah well, can’t win them all!
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO.
The definition for COFFERDAM isn’t quite right. Yes, the work area would be underwater if the cofferdam were not there, but the point of the cofferdam is that the water it surrounds is pumped out, so the work area is (relatively) dry.
muffin @24
I think you could call a submarine an “underwater work environment” even though it’s (hopefully) not full of water.
Another defeated by SKOL but no complaints, I know it as a toast as well as a nasty lager from yesteryear. Great crossword with impressive Nina’s, thanks both P’s
simonc @25
Yes, but what has that got to do with COFFERDAM?
A slow, steady and very enjoyable solve, although I needed a couple of searches and didn’t get SKOL right first time. NHO COFFERDAM or MINT in philately; couldn’t parse IDLY. Liked TUNING FORK, REPERTOIRE, MANTEGNA (surely Andrea!), TATTOO, CAT FOOD, PENANG, ONOMATOPOETIC. Thanks Pangakupu for the puzzle and for popping in (and for the heads up!), and PeterO for the blog
Once I’d patiently worked it out, the rhyming ‘moo’ and ‘coo’ in 8d made for my poetic COTD.
Thanks to Pangakupu and PeterO
Scant knowledge of lagers initially defeated me!
Enjoyable
Many thanks
[Of all the suggestions I’ve ever heard as to THAT ultimate question my favourite is “Why is there always one odd sock?”]
It’s always a pleasure when the setter takes the trouble to comment here – and I’m relieved to know I was thinking of the correct Mantegna. (Mind you, I’d never heard of the actor.). A fine renaissance artist, but hardly a household name, surely?
The sophisticated Maori details will always be beyond me, but other than that I do seem to be getting onto this setter’s wavelength. SPEARMINT, MERINO, SKATERS and PLEA were actually write-ins, the first I’ve ever managed with him, so I’m feeling dead chuffed.
I know SKOL as something cheerfully shouted in bierkellers – so just guessed it meant cheers/hail.
TUNING FORK was fun too – but I started out thinking the car was Ford, with its last letter away….then couldn’t make sense of the K. Until the truth hit me.
“Pen G” was a bit sneaky, though.
Many thanks Pangakupu and PeterO.
There was rather too much latitude in the semantics here for my liking. Dubious equivalences, in my opinion, are SKOL=hail, PLEA=excuse, M=my, PIT=match and the CAT FOOD definition.
But I liked that the more recondite words in the solutions were fairly clued (INSTAR, SPECIE, MANTEGNA, ONOMATOPOETIC).
Thanks to Pangakupu and PeterO for setting and blogging.
Whizzed through with stronger coffee than usual but failed to get skol even with the s and o. Don’t you just hate that? Thanks for puzzle and parsing.
Quite a few write-ins, then down to the serious work. I can never spell ONOMAT…. beyond that stage without a dictionary, so i was pleased to work out a version that fitted the anagram fodder and the grid; CotD for me. LAUSANNE was next to last in – the crossing S had me fixated on ST for “way” – and then INSTAR which I needed to look up, not having even O-level biology to my name. The clueing for ARMREST had a hint of Private Eye’s scurrilous Cyclops.
Good stuff, Pangakupu, whose Ninas always escape me; and thanks PeterO for the blog.
SKOL!
Speaking of 42-ness. Way back in the day, I met Douglas Adams when he came to talk to the Cambridge University Science Fiction Society. It was just after, i think, the radio play had had its first airing. There were about a dozen of us in the audience, and I seem to remember we took Doug to the pub afterwards. A very nice man.
A bit later, several of the CUSFS crew went to the opening night of the HHGTTG stage play. First time I’d seen laser effects on stage (the teleporter to the Vogon spaceship).
I still have some of the C90s taped off that initial radio series kicking about somewhere.. “First editions” of some kind, maybe.
(Apologies for the lengthy and only tangentially related digression!)
Foremost in art? Bit part player in a few notably the Godfather & Three amigos. I had the artist Mantegna in mind eventually…
I found this a mixture of relatively easy and very tricky clues. Learned several new words (cofferdam, instar, ono…) and needed this site for a few parsings (the m for my, the turning junction – I had T as the junction and couldn’t parse uning -, and did not know nets as a practive area, not being familiar wirh cricket). I missed the 42 connection. As with many others, skol was one of my last ones; kept thinking of shot as hail, but couldn’t work outhow that would work. Overall a very satisfactory puzzle. Thanks, Pangakupu and PeterO
A somewhat strange story of symmetrical success and failure for me today. The NW and the SE quarters slipped in very nicely, thank you, but the NE and the SW almost totally defeated me. Realised this would have been more than challenging for the likes of me once I had reluctantly resorted to the Reveal button.
I struggled with this but got there in the end. I managed at last to realise that my could be m’.
I liked TUNING FORK, IDLY, MERINO, LIMIT, COFFERDAM, ONOMATOPOEIA, and ARMREST. I didn’t like CAT FOOD because, like pserve @33 I couldn’t see a proper definition; maybe someone can explain it to me – I realise fish can be CAT FOOD but I don’t see the extended definition. It was clever fitting in the NINAs but no help for solving unless you are a local.
Thanks Pangakupu and PeterO.
NHO INSTAR, MANTEGNA (either one), or PENANG, but was able to get there with the confirmation of internet search.
Otherwise, I had the requisite GK. SKOL came readily to mind having lived briefly in Scandinavia.
I took the Mantegna reference to be the artist (not heard of the other one); as indicated by Pangakupu above. The National Gallery in London has a few examples of his work, including The Agony in the Garden (my favourite)…. I’m another who was defeated by SKOL. I managed to get everything else, though had to check on some of the parsings. With thanks to Pangakupu and PeterO.
Not on the wavelength at all. And, having worked through our blogger’s post – for which thanks, as ever – not surprised at all. Another day tomorrow …
Thanks, Pangakapu, and what an impressive string of Maori ninas to make up 42! And thanks for the help, PeterO, I needed it.
Failed on REPERTOIRE as I was trying to force Eli Katoa into the Nina (after searching for KATOA online. Hadn’t heard of him before, but the poor man is in the news after a serious sports injury.) I also struggled to spell ONOMATOP___ correctly, but smiled at CATFOOD. Many thank to setter and blogger
Pangakupu @18
Thanks for dropping by. I’m not quite sure what happened with 2A MANTEGNA; I had the artist in mind when I first solved it, but on checking it seems that references to him somehow landed squarely in my blind spot, and I picked up on the actor.
I had the same experience as ronald@39: NE and SE fell into place easily but NE and SW were much harder, requiring some reveals, which largely turned out to be my lack of vocabulary (and hence checkers). And that made me realize that I’m not a big fan of grids such as this, which split the puzzle up into various mini ones.
CAT FOOD was my favourite clue. The answer, worked out from the wordplay and the O checker, made me laugh because of its unexpected banality in a P crossword, but my instant thought was the same as Robi@40’s. A rescan made me see that you need to read it as “fish will include item frequently taken to be ___” (noting that cats will be fed some but not all types of fish), or possibly even “fish will include item frequently held up (above food bowl) in the form of ___”. Works either way I think, with a bit of leniency, and makes the whole thing an amusing semi-&lit.
Second fave was ARMREST. I didn’t parse the M other than via an unlikely double-duty of “limiting”, but I think its great (and had me initially pondering jock straps and the like!)
TUNING FORK was one of my failures; I went the same route as DutchGirl@38. I still don’t understand what part the “One” plays there, though I love the idea.
Thanks both
[slackdad @26 Don’t assume that SKOL lager is a thing of yesteryear. Just this morning I was in Iceland picking up some Gregg’s sausage rolls and spotted cans of the stuff on my way to the checkout.]
Thanks P and P. Great stuff. AP@47: I think the “one” refers to the fact that only one R is to be removed from TURNING FORK.
Tx MikeC@49, that makes sense.
Why was “underwater work environment” followed by a question mark when the solution literally was an underwater work environment?
PS. Solved it, SKOL LOI, ARMREST favourite. Thanks, thanks and thanks in advance.
Looking at the interstices, I could see so many potential Maori words that I couldn’t decide which were valid (thanks for the various explanations above!).
Had to laugh when I saw CAT FOOD (despite surface being a bit off) and CHOOSIEST. When I was a kid we had a family cat who was definitely the CHOOSIEST pet around. We tried various CAT FOODs on him including one branded ‘CHOOSY’ and he wouldn’t touch most of them – I guess he had an eye (or nose) for which were the most expensive!
Had to look up MANTEGNA but I agree it should be referring to the Renaissance artist. And SKOL was a guess but similar enough to SKOAL which I had heard of.
Likes for TUNING FORK, ATOM, IDLY, REPERTOIRE, SUTURE, COFFERDAM, NANKEEN, SKATERS and others.
Thanks to PK and Peter.
Pangakupu @18: I don’t get much joy from crosswords – satisfaction, yes, but elation is never quite there. Until this one – I like it so much. Thank you. My father was from Palmerston North, so I will pretend to have some sort of cultural kinship, if that’s OK. I have never been to PN, and from what I’ve heard about it, I don’t really want to.
[Have just read the comments on the Guardian site: a lot of whining there. Good -Thursday should be a challenge. There are always 2 options if one can’t complete a crossword: (1) get better at doing them – practice is a huge part of solving; (2) moan about ‘unfairness’. Their loss.]
A B+ effort with a setter I usually struggle with (amongst others).
I had to reveal a couple in the SW corner, INSTAR (NHO) and LAUSANNE, mainly because I had run out of steam.
A few NHO’s that would not be out of place on the brilliant Call My Bluff, currently being repeated on the BBC, every one a gem.
Thanks both.
I really enjoyed this crossword, thank you.
[To add to the asides about HHGTTG, I used to live in the same village (very small town) as Douglas Adams’ mother. She lived in a cottage in the orchard garden of what had been her family home, further up the hill, because her view in the original cottage had been completely ruined by a block of flats that appeared in front of it out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever and when she investigated, the plans were in a filing cabinet in a basement in the council planning offices in the next town over. She’s at least part of the reason, if not the reason, we all get asked to comment on planning permissions that might affect us. She really had a bee in her bonnet about it and campaigned to get the law changed so people were kept informed and planning decisions were made public. This was the 1990s, so after Douglas Adams had moved to the States, well after the books had come out – and I’m another one who heard the original series as they came out on Radio 4, as a student, and recognised that rant from the beginning of HHGTTG.]
Thank you to Pangakupu and PeterO
[I was another lucky enough to catch on to the original late night radio broadcasts of HHGTTG. Douglas Adams (a great friend of Richard Dawkins) was a great writer; as well as his SF, I recommend “Last chance to see”.
I think I have said elsewhere that I have him to thank for me getting my favourite Dylan album. In the second Dirk Gently story he described our house, and he bet that somewhere there would be every Dylan album up to “Blood on the tracks”. I thought “I don’t have that one”……….!]
[Shanne@56 – thanks for that! “Beware of the Leopard”! Muffin@57 – Yes, “Last Chance to See” is a very good read; thanks for reminding me of it..]
Thanks PeterO and Pangakupu and enjoyed the Adams stories. I had STOP for 16a thanks to Imogen POOTS, in the sense of hailing a cab, never mind!
Similar to ronald@39 and AP@47 I solved the NW and very little else. Tough one
TimC @7
Thank you for your kind helpful comment.
Who would have thought of using a dictionary?
Read my post carefully.
I had looked in several dictionaries, including collins merriam-webster and others.
All spoke of the use of skol as a drinking salutation, but, as I think I said, none of them offered “hail” as an equivalent.
For M = my in armrest, I took it as the m in the now popular OMG (oh my god)