Omnibus rounds off the weekday puzzles.
There’s still a mystery surrounding the identity of Omnibus. As PeterO said in his blog of 29,514 in October 2024, a previous Omnibus puzzle (which I’ve been unable to find) was announced as ‘a compilation of clues submitted by Guardian readers.’ A further puzzle appeared on December 6th, exactly a year ago, with no further information.
This does have the flavour of a compilation, with a mix of very straightforward clues 10ac, 11ac, 13ac, 25ac and some chewier ones. There is an obvious Russian theme, with several Russian words, a couple of which needed Google (but fairly clued) but I haven’t been able to link it together successfully. I liked 9ac UPPER-CASE, 12ac UNDERGO, 19ac UNEMPHATIC, 1dn RUSSIAN ROULETTE, 18dn GLASNOST and (especially) 23dn SMITH but I was left feeling rather less than satisfied by the puzzle as a whole – my fault, I’m sure, rather than that of the setter(s).
Thanks to Omnibus, whoever you are.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 Increase each client’s capital (5-4)
UPPER-CASE
UP (increase, as a verb) + PER (each) + CASE (client)
10 Odd airline’s dance (5)
RUMBA
RUM (odd) + BA (British Airways)
11 What Musashi Miyamoto eats? (7
SASHIMI
Contained in muSASHI MIyamoto
12 Suffer in German and therefore in Latin (7)
UNDERGO
UND (‘and’ in German) + ERGO (‘therefore’ in Latin)
13 Reeves’ assistant, say, screwed up idea (4)
AIDE
An anagram (screwed up) of IDEA – reference to Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer
14 Cheats with every second bullet boring outraged readers (10)
ADULTERERS
Alternate letters of bUlLeT in an anagram (outraged) of READERS
16 Publish in haste, lacking wherewithal to make papyrus (4,3)
RUSH OUT
You could not make papyrus if you were out of rushes
17 Commonwealth partner opposed to fruit being cut short twice (7)
ANTIGUA
ANTI (opposed to) GUA[va] (fruit, minus its last two letters – cut twice)
19 Modest fare returned to pub – followed by a spasm (10)
UNEMPHATIC
A reversal (returned) of MENU (fare) + PH (public house) + A TIC (a spasm)
22 Nothing emptied restaurant like an old club chairman in a blazer? (4)
FART
FA (nothing) + R[estauran]T – reference to ‘old fart’ – Chambers: ‘(derogatory or facetious) a staid or curmudgeonly old person’
24 Poetry in motion has new disorder (7)
ENTROPY
An anagram (in motion) of POETRY + N (new)
25 Pepper setter, protected by horse (7)
PIMENTO
ME (setter) in PINTO (horse)
26 Such as Shere Khan heard here? (5)
TAIGA
Sounds something like ‘tiger’ (such as Shere Khan)
27 Paid off bill, including cut for joint (9)
AMORTISED
AD (bill) round MORTISE (cut for joint)
Down
1 Aristotle unsure about game best unplayed (7,8)
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
An anagram (about) of ARISTOTLE UNSURE
2 Turns sanctimonious bugger in backward glance (8)
EPISODES
PI SOD (sanctimonious bugger) in a reversal (backward) of SEE (glance)
3 One slips during trial of lag (5)
TRAIL
TRIAL, with the I dropped one place
4 Illegally issued amidst a revolution involving untold number (8)
SAMIZDAT
An anagram (revolution) of AMIDST A round Z (untold number)
5 Making lax use of it (6)
SEXUAL
An anagram (making) of LAX USE
6 Those with degrees dine out, inspired by good wishes (9)
GRADIENTS
An anagram (out) of DINE in GRATS (good wishes)
7 Become apparent in last of coffee blend (6)
EMERGE
[coffe]E + MERGE (blend)
8 Signal most recent conversation – pronouncement while playing 1? (6,4,5)
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
FAMOUS (signal) + LAST WORDS (most recent conversation)
15 Source of pressure for Putin running amok includes wild romp before start of talks (9)
KOMPROMAT
An anagram (running) of AMOK round an anagram (wild) of ROMP + T[alks]
17 Kremlin-style (dis)information might keep a wrong ‘un up? (8)
AGITPROP
A GIT PROP might keep a wrong ‘un up
18 Such transparency is not made with glass (8)
GLASNOST
An anagram (made, again) of NOT GLASS
20 Require leads to end now; the act is looming (6)
ENTAIL
Initial letters of End Now The Act Is Looming
21 Still a road to – or from – the Big Apple (6)
ANYWAY
A NY (New York – the Big Apple) WAY
23 ‘I could be a toolmaker’ – Starmer’s first lie on the radio (5)
SMITH
S[tarmer] + MITH (sounds like – on the radio – ‘myth’ {lie}) – see here
Well, I enjoyed that. Even I could spot the theme (which did help with a couple of solutions) though I’m none the wiser as to whether it’s intended to mark a significant anniversary. Yes, definitely a wide range of cluing styles on display as Eileen says, but I didn’t mind that at all, if anything the opposite. Thanks both/all.
Good fun and I was pleased to recall (eventually) all the Russian terms but it did have the feel of a mix of styles with a couple of clues having a bit of additional verbiage for colour (the club chairman in a blazer, with a ruddy face, going on at length about himself…I exaggerate), the road “to – or from -“. I don’t mind that as I like good surfaces and they did not interfere with the solve the way a misplaced joining word can.
For those unfamiliar, Musashi Miyamoto (written the traditional way i.e. surname first) was a famous Japanese swordsman and something of an artist of the 17th century, most famously author of the sword-fighting book Go Rin No Sho, the “Book of Five Rings”.
Thanks to setter(s) and Eileen.
Vlad yesterday, then the the editor put in Omnibus today. A Russian theme to the end of the week for sure. Thanks Omnibus and Eileen.
Eileen, the original Omnibus puzzle was 23,545 on 29 August 2005. It had its origins in Sandy Balfour’s X-Philes column in the Guardian and was compiled from clues submitted by readers. (As discussed in our comments on Omnibus 29,514 last year.)
Liked AMORTISED and ANYWAY.
Thanks Omnibus and Eileen.
Gentle fun, even though the underlying theme isn’t.
I don’t mind having some easy ones like TRAIL as a balance to rather fine stuff like RUSSIAN ROULETTE.
22a is hilarious, with the subtext of what a FART might do in a crowded restaurant. Courtesy of Will Carling (remember him?) I still think of the England men’s rugby team as Old Fartonians.
Further sources of mild amusement include the fact that once again we have a grid with four unch-heavy lights, and the virtual certainty that at some point during the day there will be a post from someone complaining that in Little Snodsbury on the Wold TAIGA sounds nothing like TIGER.
Impressive research by Eileen uncovering the website giving the background to SMITH, though that website omits the best reference, from Starmer’s conference speech of 2021: “My dad was a toolmaker, although in a way, so was Boris Johnson’s”.
Thanks to Omnibus and Eileen.
NeilH@6 – never heard that wisecrack from Starmer. Deep bliss. Some crackers in today’s crossie. Some easy peasy ones. Odd mix – but that does happen sometimes and is not necessarily proof of a cabal or a patchwork job. Had the benefit of my better half’s knowledge of some USSR terminology. He (the better half) is veteran Chairman of our village cricket club but does not possess a blazer. He enjoyed the joke though. Thanks all round.
Terri@7 – Yes, it’s a shame that Starmer seems to have lost the sense of humour when he became PM. Possibly preferable in some ways to Johnson, with whom all that remained was what passed for a sense of humour.
An enjoyable puzzle from the mystery setters, some clues challenging, others more straightforward.
Thank you Eileen for some of the parsings. eg I missed Signal = FAMOUS.
I agree with all of your likes. I was misdirected by UPPER CASE for quite a while.
Regarding the Russian theme, I discovered that on 5 December 1965 the first spontaneous protest in Russia after WW2 was held in Pushkin Square, and became known as Glasnost Meeting or Rally. So probably commemorating an anniversary probably known by few in the West.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost_meeting
Thanks, Lord Jim@4 – I do remember that conversation about the much-missed X-philes – but I’ve tied myself completely in knots. I’ve been reading comments about the first Omnibus puzzle all this time as referring to a puzzle in 2025, which, of course, made no sense at all!
Many thanks, SueM @9 – you had more success than I did!
Apologies for being picky Eileen, but in RUMBA, BA isn’t an old airline, at least I hope not as I’m flying with them to the UK next year.
More misreading, I’m afraid, Tim C @11 – ‘old’ for ‘odd’! Next time, I’ll go to Specsavers. 😉
I’ll amend the blog immediately.
New for me: Shere Khan = tiger character in Kipling’s Jungle Book (26ac).
I couldn’t parse 17d and 6d apart from anagram of DINE.
Favourites: UPPER-CASE, FAMOUS LAST WORDS.
Like others, I found this enjoyable and with an unusually extreme mix of difficulties. To be picky, isn’t there a T missing on 15d from start of talks?
Thanks, FJ @14 – fixed now.
For 13ac, the comedian Vic Reeves sometimes performed with Ade (aide) Edmondson
Fortuitously Putin was speechifying on Sky TV in the background, so RUSSIAN ROULETTE was my foi. I didn’t know SAMIZDAT or KOMPROMAT, which were as Eileen says, fairly clued. I liked UPPER-CASE, ADULTERERS, FART, SEXUAL, FAMOUS LAST WORDS (thx for pointing out Signal which I missed) and the excellent SMITH.
Ta Omnibus & Eileen.
Like Eileen, I found this one slightly unsatisfying and rather hard to get on the setter’s wavelength. Not surprising if there wasn’t a single setter! I didn’t very much like FART on putting it in: it seemed rather a long and less than specific plain description: but Eileen’s description of the correct (and clear now I see it ) parsing has changed my mind. The long downers, 1 and 8, were very good.
But still … not entirely my bowl of borscht. Probably I was just in the wrong mood, as on reflection there’s a lot of good stuff here.