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.
I liked the allusive surface to KOMPROMAT and it’s nice to have one’s confidence restored after struggling yesterday
I was bemused for a long time wondering why FA = (nothing) before the penny dropped. Sweet F.A. I was nowhere near fart. NHO kompromat or samizdat, but the clues didn’t leave many alternatives.
Thanks for that, DerekTheSheep @18 – I think I was in the wrong frame of mind, too – frustrated at not being able to find the blog for the first Omnibus puzzle (in 2005, which is actually before 15² existed!) and rather irritated by the ongoing secrecy surrounding Omnibus’s identity – so that I didn’t always give credit where it was due. I’m a bit more awake now and glad that others have enjoyed it.
Many thanks, NeilH @6 for the reminder of the toolmaker Johnson joke,. 🙂
Finally a Friday puzzle I am on wavelength with. I do enjoy cold war history so a lot of the trickier words were in my vocabulary which made them write-ins once I spotted the theme.
Liked SMITH. Did Starmer ever mention his dad was a toolmaker?
Thanks Eileen and Omnibus whoever you may be.
NeilH@6: Thanks for the Starmer / Johnson joke, which I’d not heard before!
In Frisby-on-the-Wreake, TAIGA is pronounced “Cholmondeley”. Not a lot of people know that.
I wouldn’t call 4d ‘fairly clued’ – the spare letters could go anywhere! Nice crossword otherwise. Thanks both.
I don’t suppose Aristotle ever imagined he would one day be mixed up in those nerve jangling scenes of RUSSIAN ROULETTE in that film The Deer Hunter. This great anagram and its accompanying FAMOUS LAST WORDS really opened up the top half of the grid, and the other clues cascaded in fairly swiftly. However, progress dried up considerably in the nether regions, especially with those Russian terms, which I hadn’t come across before – KOMPROMAT and AGITPROP. Though GLASNOST I did know. Finally, SAMIZDAT could have been anything, with an N or a Y or possibly even an X posing instead of that untold number Z within the rest of the anagram for all I knew!
An at times strange offering, I thought, this morning, but with some very nice clues therein…
Thanks Omnibus and Eileen
I found this mostly straightforward, though I needed a wordsearch for nho KOMPROMAT (I did know the other russian terms). Favourite was GLASNOST.
I thought it would be up to me to point out the Will Carling quote, but I see that NeilH @6 has beaten me to it. (Carling was England rugby captain at the time, and referred to the men in charge of the RFU as “57 old farts in blazers” – not sure about the blazers part!)
Strangely uneven puzzle, as everyone has remarked, but not without charm. I particularly liked the long entries and the Soviet terms.
I hadn’t realised AGITPROP was a Russian word; I always assumed it was just a portmanteau of the English ‘agitation propaganda’. I did hunt unsuccessfully for PERESTROIKA – which would make a good anagrind, innit?
Gratias omnibus Eileenaeque
I forgot to ask – why is “good wishes” GRATS? Is it short (already shortened) “congrats”? I’ve never seen it, anyway.
Pretty good with a very obvious theme, but insert usual complaint about non-rhotic TAIGA. I think that makes 3 crosswords in a row that have done this.
Like Muffin, I hadn’t come across GRATS. I was thinking “Good wishes”, G/RATS, what kind of wishes are rats?
Thanks to Eileen for putting me right.
I had the same feeling about GRATS. It isn’t in either Collins or Chambers but googling threw up lots of instances, so I decided not to comment.
Muffin@28
Yes it is.
I hate it. But not as much as I hate ‘gratters’.
Yesterday it was cryptic from another universe,today a Russian theme,what holds in store next:Voodoo?
Thanks Showaddydadito @32
“Good wishes” isn’t really the same as “congratulations” anyway – the latter is more “well done”.
Having worked as a solicitor’s archivist, I dispute case=client. Any given client may present their lawyer with multiple cases. But as someone said recently, when a clue deals with an area familiar to you, it’s better not to insist upon the strict letter of the law.
For those who would like an awful pun to grouch about, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld version of 4d is to take a forbidden document and make illegal copies which are the same-as-dat…
The Russian terms I didn’t remember were KOMPROMAT and AGITPROP (funny clue) but an interesting theme. I liked the definition of RUSSIAN ROULETTE; also UNDERGO and FART. Nice to know that Musashi Miyamoto was a real person. Didn’t like the slangy GRATS. This does feel like a collaboration, but I don’t suppose we will ever find out.
gladys@35: As one who also gets annoyed at misuse of technical language in my sphere (physics) I find there is often the excuse that words have other uses outside that sphere. So if a setter equated “force” with “momentum” or “power” I would have to recall that, when used in a general sense they can all mean “impetus”. However, if a setter gave “joule” as a unit of power instead of energy it would be just plain wrong – there is no general sense for that.
In the case of “case” and “client” then, the excuse would have to be that there is a setting outside the solicitor’s office where the metonymy would be acceptable. Perhaps a doctor in private practice? Or “consulting detective” a la Holmes…”An interesting case came to the door of 221B this morning…”
My father-in-law, a solicitor, always used to comment that “Only solicitors, hair dressers and prostitutes have clients. Everyone else has customers.”
The doctor’s client (though in the UK they would probably be referred to as a patient in a surgery: do US doctors have paying “clients” in their “offices”?) may have a case of shingles as well as a case of bunions – so they would indeed be “a sad case”.
I very much enjoyed this; I remember some of the other Ominbi causing dissension and it looks like this one has too, but I’m on the positive side here! UNEMPHATIC, GRADIENTS, and ANYWAY the highlights for me. I suppose the “to — or from” is a way of echoing that anyway means it can go in any direction; strictly speaking perhaps a NY way would be in the Big Apple, but even more strictly speaking a road to or from New York City will often be in New York state so NY would be justified by that.
I’ve heard “‘grats” a lot (not necessarily directed at me), it might be more American and/or informal.
JackOfFewTrades@37: The private detective was the context I thought of for “case” = “client,” though more a noir PI than Mr. Holmes. [As a philosopher, the technical complaint I remember was when Job was defined as a stoic.]
Thanks Omnibus, whoever you may be this time, and Eileen!
I think Omnibus may live on the route to, or from, Clapham
[JoFT & gladys: My simple explanation of the difference to confused speakers of Romance languages (where client(e) is the all-purpose term) is that customers receive products but clients receive services. That more or less justifies case = client, though it’s an over-simplification. I do get slightly irritated by train companies referring to me as a customer rather than a passenger – it sounds unnecessarily mercenary and only serves to remind me how much I have had to fork out for the privilege of travelling with them]
Kompromat and samizdat were vaguely familiar, agitprop much more so — in his youth in the ’30s ginf senior acted in agitprop plays with a local leftist art group. Interesting quirky puzzle, thx to all concerned.
[matt w@39: When I lived in the US my choice of roads to NYC included I95 and the Merritt Parkway, both of which were in Connecticut for the most part of the journey. I wonder if the setter had more in mind things like the A4 here in the UK which is variously called the “London Road” and “Bath Road” at points along its length between those two cities? Or, indeed, Oxford Street in London. I have no problem with the idea that something called “New York Way” would go to/from NYC rather than be in it.]
thanks E and O! great blog and great comments above. I too wondered about an anniversary and learnt that “My Generation” was released on 5 Dec 1965. At that age, I wasn’t particularly concerned about the Soviets.
I’ve seen grats used in online conversations in two meanings, one the congratulations discussed above, the other being a thank you which I thought must be short for gratitude
For once I saw the theme and am of an age to remember the Soviet-era terms, I enjoyed the range of clue difficulties, so this was quite my samovar of tea.
I enjoyed this, it was right in my wheelhouse in terms of difficulty. I had all the required GK other than TAIGA which I had to confirm with an internet search.
For once I even noticed the theme in time for it to be helpful. I was optimistic that SAMIZDAT would show up, and there it was, my LOI.
[JackOfFewTrade@39–at least those are in New York State for at least part of the way! The roads to/from NYC that go through the Holland Tunnel and George Washington Bridge are entirely in New Jersey. Don’t think anyone was tempted by ANJWAY though.]
I just checked Wikipedia’s “on this day” for today and it says that in 1965 The “glasnost meeting” took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country. Which accounts for the theme.
Like others it seems, had a vague feeling that there was something peculiar about this puzzle, but nothing really serious.
I do like attempts to make clues politically relevant if simultaneously conforming to the rules of cryptics. However, in the clue for AIDE, Reeves is irrelevant, construction-wise, so it was a little unsatisfying.
Dr What’sOn @49 – Reeves is not irrelevant if, as someone pointed out above, you think of Vic Reeves, who appeared, so we’re told, with Ade Edmondson. Like you and our blogger, I thought of the irrelevant Rachel, but the setter may have put one across us there. That said, I’m afraid this puzzle and I didn’t click, and, having seen these Russian words, I’m not at all surprised.
Further to comments above, I’ve found it an eye-opener (not to mention a hair-raiser!) on occasions when a journalist has reported on a subject I know about, to learn how inaccurate they nearly always are. Maybe setters should be allowed the same sort of latitude.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Had to Google amortised, kompromat and didn’t know famous could mean signal but otherwise straightforward. Thanks
Gladys@35 Jack Of Few Trades@37 Social workers have cases and each case is a client – though terminology varies (the admin team has service users for clients)
BigNorm @50
Although Vic Reeves and Ade Edmondson obviously knew each other, they didn’t appear together very often. Vic’s usual partner was Bob Mortimer, while Ade’s was Rik Mayall.
An enjoyable workout. Pretty much at my limit there.
[ Bullhassocks@51: It’s not just the general press, either. Quite a while back, I used to subscribe to the New Scientist (being then a moderately new scientist myself). One issue had, as one of its major pieces, something authored by someone I knew pretty well – we’d never worked together, as our fields were related but different, but we enjoyed meeting up at the occasional conference and having a few beers together. It was on his main research field, where he was being to make quite a name for himself. The article was garbage, in places saying the complete opposite of what I knew to be his findings and interpretations. I met him again at a conference a bit later. He was livid about it. The NS’s editors had re-written what he’d wrote, utterly mangling it, but still kept his name on it in the printed article.
I cancelled my subscription. ]
[DTS @56
I gave up my NS subscription too, to some extent because of their refusal to use standard IUPAC nomenclature for compounds. It’s only been around for about 50+ years, after all!
I confess that I have recently resubscribed, tempted by a half-price Black Friday offer, though….]
I got through in the end and enjoyed most of it. I have not seen grats on its own before (congrats more normal)
[ re Omnibus… I expect that many, if not most, of those here will have encountered the celebration of the London Omnibus by Flanders & Swann : but if not (and even if you have, why not have a few minutes of unadulterated nostalgia?):
“A Transport of Delight”
]
Wot no perestroika? At least they didn’t put in Putin (or putain as we pronounce it chez nous)
Groaned at yet another outing for PI but paradoxically thought the IT in SEXUAL was deftly done
Top marx for SMITH & FART
I’ll be deploying a severe Paddington stare for anyone using the word “grats” in my vicinity
Cheers E&O
I am ridiculously late to the forum today, but a funny thing happened on my way hereto. It has therefore been an unexpectedly stressful and disrupted day. Grazing now through the comments, I have very little to contribute, except perhaps to say with bodycheetah immediately above that I might have to kill anyone using ‘grats’ in my vicinity and that I am surprised at how many had not heard of KOMPROMAT. I have read numerous articles over the last few years speculating that Putin has KOMPROMAT on Trump in the form of surveillance footage of certain activities in a Moscow hotel room (see also the Steele report). It was AGITPROP that held me up. Roll on Saturday …
I was surprised that AGITPROP wasn’t English. It used to figure often in The Big Issue and similar.
gla!dys #36. Very funny, and apt, the pun. same-as-dat for SAMIZDAT.
Like others I thought AGITPROP was an English portmanteau and was interested to learn it came from the Soviet Communist Party’s Agitation and Propaganda Department (Agitatsionno-Propagandistskiy Otdel, or Agitpropbyuro)
I spent some time being misdirected by bugger in the clue for EPISODES, thinking it can’t just be a simple synonym, as in sod. I believe they both originally derive from buggery, sodomy. I didn’t think that even in the Guardian bugger would appear in a crossword in the familiar, but less vulgar sense, as used today.
So, I was looking for something more cryptic in bugger, a clue for a listening/surveillance device, eg ”tap”, which would have fitted the (dis)information theme. But it seems instead it fitted with another grouping, maybe by the same co?setter who clued FART, and SEXUAL. They seemed very blokey to me. FART like an old club chairman in a blazer. Not an image that came to my mind. Eileen has given the Chambers entry: ‘(derogatory or facetious) a staid or curmudgeonly old person’ . I note that’s not gendered, but I haven’t heard of anyone calling a curmudgeonly old woman an old fart. (Maybe because I’m hard of hearing and can’t lipread as I’m walking out the door. 🙂 ) I did like the joke though in the surface, very clever.
PI = sanctimonious? 68 y-o Brit here and I’ve never heard that in my puff.
Iain@64; PI, short for pious, is very outdated (public) schoolboy slang : Billy Bunter sort of era. Long extinct in the wild, it now lives on in the small protective environment of crossword puzzles.
I am wondering if Arachne had anything to do with this as she taught Russian at Uni
I’ll do some digging. But FART sounded like a Cyclops clue
Iain @64 and DerekTheSheep @65 – last time pi came up, I checked, and it’s in Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers books, which are currently a CBBC series, so you may not win the outdated argument. It’s part of my vocabulary, not just from the books but also from my mother using it.
Thank you for the puzzle and blog Omnibus and Eileen.
Shanne @67, Mallory Towers, huh? I didn’t get beyond the XXX of Adventure books. I couldn’t see pious or sanctimonious escaping the character’s lips, somehow. Unless the lashings of ginger beer were laced with something else.
“Grats” is supposedly American, and so am I, but I’ve never heard the thing over here.
When my brother was little (age 4-6, say), the next door neighbors put an extra knob on their back door at little-kid height so he could drop in. They marked it “o o f” for “ornery ol’ fart.”
The word KOMPROMAT came up in a Guardian Opinion Piece on 5 Dec 25.
Didn’t Ivor Cutler have a piece called “Grats For Tea”?
No, hang on. That was “Gruts”…
Cheers all.
Late to the game with this one because of extra time spent (in vain) on yesterday’s Vlad. Managed to tease out everything with the help of the mini-theme, except 4d SAMIZDAT. I was on to the word play, and tried every permutation of letters involving N, X, and Y…but not Z — grrr! DNF
To those more experienced than I, is there any way of knowing which spelling of 26a is being sought without waiting for the crosses? (I was just seeing the theme, and should have realised it would be TAIGA, but entered TIGER which threw me for a bit)
Enjoyed this, although there were 3 or 4 I could see the answer but not the rationale. Ever grateful for the blog, so I now know PI. Had only ever heard MORTISE and had no idea it had an E!
Zeppalino@73, I don’t know which of us is more experienced, but I don’t see any way to derive the correct spelling (TAIGA or TAYGA) from the soundalike clue alone — you do need the crosser to confirm it. The former, though, does seem to be more common
Enjoyed this one. I’m not brilliant at them and always takes me time.
Incidentally the commenters on the Guardian site referred to the setter as ‘Fed’ if that means anything.