The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29916.
Perhaps there are a few things here (such as the wordplay for 24A AGENCY) that the setter would not try when wearing his Vulcan hat, but I completed this puzzle in good time, so it cannot have been too involved. There is no shortage of wit here, epitomised by my favourite 11D QUESTION MARK.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GO EASY ON |
Don’t be cruel to old comedian, simple at heart (2,4,2)
|
| An envelope (‘at heart’) of EASY (‘simple’) in GOON (‘old comedian’, a reference to The Goon Show). | ||
| 5 | SCOTER |
Duck as light motorcycle loses one wheel? (6)
|
| A subtraction: SCO[o]TER (‘light motorcycle’) minus an O (‘losing one wheel’; your choice of which one). | ||
| 9 | SLOPE OFF |
Leave secretly, ramp unavailable (5,3)
|
| A charade of SLOPE (‘ramp’) plus OFF (‘unavailable’). | ||
| 10 | ARGUED |
Contended resistance stops suffering from malaria (6)
|
| An envelope (‘stops’) of R (‘resistance’) in AGUED (‘suffering from malaria’). This clue became distinctly easier when I read ‘contended’ rather than contented. | ||
| 12 | ERUPT |
Go up: temperature perfect for returning (5)
|
| A reversal (‘for returning’) of T (‘temperature’) plus PURE (‘perfect’). | ||
| 13 | CRUSTACEA |
Great area on Earth’s exterior in which woodlice are found (9)
|
| A charade of CRUST (‘Earth’s exterior’) plus ACE (‘great’) plus A (‘area’), with ‘on’ giving the order of the particles in the across light. | ||
| 14 | ENT-HUSIASTIC |
Intuit a chess blunder, making up for it (12)
|
| An anagram (‘blunder’) of ‘intuit a chess’. | ||
| 18 | FUNERAL RITES |
Resentful air spoiled farewell observances (7,5)
|
| An anagram (‘spoiled’) of ‘resentful air’. | ||
| 21 | EUCLIDEAN |
Such mathematics left audience floundering (9)
|
| An anargam (‘floundering’) of L (‘left) plus ‘audience’. | ||
| 23 | DREAD |
Be terrified of judge’s pronouncement (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘pronouncement’) DREDD (‘Judge’ DREDD is a fictional character who first appeared in a comic magazine). | ||
| 24 | AGENCY |
Homeland Security for one get on closing clubs in E Coast city (6)
|
| A charade of AGE (‘get on’) plus NCY, an envelope (‘in’) of C (‘clubs’) in NY (New York, ‘E Coast city’). In the surface, is ‘get’ as a plural wrong? | ||
| 25 | VALENCIA |
In depresssed area knight spies city (8)
|
| A charade of VALE (‘depressed area’) plus N (‘knight’, chess) plus CIA (‘spies’). | ||
| 26 | LOSERS |
They are beaten less, or flogged (6)
|
| An anagram (‘flogged’) of ‘less or’. | ||
| 27 | SKITTLES |
Game that looks easy for beginners in brief sketches (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of TLE (‘That Looks Easy for beginners’ – ‘for’ does not sit happily here) in SKITS (‘brief sketches’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GUSHER |
Effusive person’s good conduct (6)
|
| A charade of G (‘good’) plus USHER (‘conduct’, verb). | ||
| 2 | EXODUS |
The Great Escape – film and book (6)
|
| Triple definition, although they are closely related: the flight of the Israelites from Egypt, the film based on the book by Leon Uris (involving a ship of the name), and that book or the book of the Torah and Bible. | ||
| 3 | SWEETENER |
Inducement to include small number in series (9)
|
| An envelope (‘to include’) of WEE (‘small’) plus TEN (‘number’) in SER (abbreviation, ‘series’). | ||
| 4 | OFFICE HOLDER |
Apparently warming up, beginning to harry senior minister (6,6)
|
| A charade of OFF ICE (‘apparently warming up’) plus H (‘beginning to Harry’) plus OLDER (‘senior’). | ||
| 6 | CARAT |
Weight of stone accepted in shopping basket (5)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of A (‘accepted’) in CART (‘shopping backet’). The ‘stone’ is of the precious kind. | ||
| 7 | TRUNCATE |
Honest admitting name, sort of burglar in dock (8)
|
| An envelope (‘admitting’) of N (‘name’) plus CAT (‘sort of burglar’) in TRUE (‘honest’). | ||
| 8 | RIDDANCE |
It’s good this getting shot of a pest (8)
|
| A cryptic reference to the expression “good riddance”. | ||
| 11 | QUESTION MARK |
Doubt the gospel? (8,4)
|
| A charade of QUESTION (‘doubt’) plus MARK (‘gospel’). | ||
| 15 | AMENDMENT |
What noon means to some people: time correction (9)
|
| A charade of A.M. END (‘what noon means’) plus MEN (‘some people’) plus T (‘time’). | ||
| 16 | AFTER ALL |
Coming in last, contrary to expectations (5,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 17 | SNICKERS |
Batters liable to be caught in the bar (8)
|
| Double definition; the first is a cricket reference, a SNICK being an accidental shot off the edge of a bat, and the second a brand name for a chocolate bar. | ||
| 19 | PENCIL |
Drawer twice the size of another (6)
|
| I think this just says that PENCIL has 6 letters, and PEN has 3, I would like to extend this to involve C being twice L in Roman numerals, but that would leave I hanging. | ||
| 20 | IDEALS |
Highest standards of ladies’ dancing (6)
|
| An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘ladies’. | ||
| 22 | INCUR |
Suffer, beyond medical help, disabled (5)
|
| A subtraction: INCUR[able] (‘beyond medical help’ – though palliative care may well be seen as medical help) minus ABLE (‘dis-abled’). |
Yeah was looking at involving C=2L or maybe M=2D for 19d, but I think it’s simply as you day, Peter. Dnk the comicbook judge ref, but otherwise nothing too obscure from Im, who can be scholarly at times. Good fun, thx both.
Fun puzzle and apparently a sweet theme. Candies I quickly noticed are Snickers, Skittles, Gusher, Quest and of course Sweet in 3D. Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
Lots of fun, with plenty of smiles. I didn’t know ague could be a verb, and had never heard of judge Dredd.
Was temporarily thrown, looking for a clever reason for the triple-S in 25a
Was temporarily thrown, looking for a clever reason for the triple-S in 25a.
Thanks to setter and PeterO
Favourite: QUESTION MARK.
I did not parse 13ac, 27ac, 8d, 15d apart from MEN T, and 19d.
Thanks PeterO. My favourite clue was also QUESTION MARK. It’s just a little thing, One little underline under the Question Mark as definition.
Thanks PeterO. Had a bit of difficulty parsing 10ac, 24ac, and 19d. I still think PENCIL a bit weak and, like PeterO, didn’t like singular get in 24ac. Otherwise straightforward. Favourite clue QUESTION MARK.
My Top faves include SCOTER, QUESTION MARK and INCUR.
SKITTLES
Agree with the blogger on ‘for beginners’
Thanks PeterO and Imogen.
For 12A I had EXULT which fits both the definition and wordplay reasonably well.
Really enjoyed this offering from Imogen, didn’t go in quickly but there weren’t long waits between answers and it slowly revealed itself. Not helped by an incorrect SLIDE OFF which I think fits the clue.
Pencilled in PENCIL once the C was checked. I had same logic as the blogger but wasn’t fully convinced.
Liked DREAD (I do like crosswords invoking my childhood memories) EXODUS, QUESTION MARK and VALENCIA.
Thanks Imogen and PeterO
My joint favourites were QUESTION MARK and INCUR. I had no problem with ‘get on’ for age nor ‘for beginners’ as starting letters in SKITTLES. SHOTER was the only unfamiliar word.
Ta Imogen & PeterO.
Super puzzle. I didn’t have any problem with ‘get on’ as a plural form of the verb in the surface for AGENCY. Yes, there’s only one Homeland Security (which is more than enough, frankly) but I think it can be treated as an implied plural, as in ‘the police are investigating…’ or ‘ICE are murdering innocent civilians’.
My faves QUESTION MARK, INCUR and SCOTER. Many thanks to I & P.
moh @13: well argued, I agree.
Jay @2, I have only heard of SNICKERS and SKITTLES in the UK, but you may be on to something there.
I really wasn’t expecting my niche knowledge of cricket shots and chocolate bars to combine and become so useful. But then 17d popped up. However, took a while over the duck at 5ac. Generally enjoyed this, though couldn’t parse PENCIL, TRUNCATE or CARAT. So many thanks for explaining those, Peter O. Last one today in was VALENCIA…
Elegant puzzle with some clever constructions . I liked the misleading use of phrases in the surfaces: ‘good conduct’, ‘making up for it’, ‘senior minister’, ‘time correction’. Beautiful anagram for EUCLIDEAN, and I agree with the plaudits for QUESTION MARK.
I had no problem with the plural verb in the clue for AGENCY, but this usage, as exemplified by moh @13, is an idiomatic feature of British English and not used by all speakers elsewhere – hence the queries.
Thanks to Imogen and PeterO
A fair number were guess-first parse-later, but for me that’s par for the course with Imogen.
Thank you for the blog, PeterO, especially for SNICKERS, a wild guess. (What I know about cricket could be written on a postage stamp, with room beside to add the Lord’s Prayer.)
I, too, didn’t like the singular “get” in 24A. I wasn’t wild about the clumsy wording for 8D either.
However I did enjoy AMENDMENT, and QUESTION MARK was a little beauty.
Thank you Imogen
Thanks Imogen and PeterO
I thought 21a would begin with L, then the anagram for AUDIENCE. Including the L in the fodder is a little indirect.
Of course, I didn’t like “in” in 25a.
Why does AFTER ALL mean “contrary to expectations? I wojuld have thought it’s closer to “as expected”.
Favourites AMENDMENT and LOI INCUR.
EUCLIDEAN is the neatest anagram I’ve seen for a while. Fun crossword but I was caught out by SNICKERS, trying to fit Marathon.
Thanks both.
I think the SKITTLES clue is fine. The grammar is a lot less tortuous than some we have seen recently. Took a while to see SNICKERS (I yield to none in my ignorance of cricket). I even toyed with KNOCKERS for bit, but as the setter isn’t Paul decided not to pursue it.
PENCIL doesn’t seem to make any sense other than being twice as long as ‘pen’. Weird.
14a and 11d have well-hidden definitions, particularly the latter. Very good.
Lots of fun. Not sure when this was written but given recent events on the Ashes tour SNICKERS made me laugh. INCUR, ? and OFFICE HOLDER the pick of a fine bunch for me
muffin@19 according to Chambers (henceforth ATC) AFTER ALL can also mean “in spite of everything”
Cheers I&P
I didn’t have a problem with ‘get on’, but I can’t work out what ‘closing’ is doing in 24a – unless it’s a redundant juxtaposition indicator to make the surface work. But wouldn’t ‘opening centre’ work better than ‘closing clubs’?
Yes, I really did like QUESTION MARK, which eluded me for a good time. Although I don’t much like trade names in crosswords, I thought that SNICKERS was pretty neat too.
2d is cryptic if I’m being kind, perhaps.
All in all I thought that parts of this were Vulcan-like, but others quite tough.
Thanks one and all.
I agree that QUESTION MARK was good. Also ticks for several others, including SCOTER for the great image in the surface, and FUNERAL RITES and EUCLIDEAN for the clever anagrams.
I think AFTER ALL can be used in the context of everyone thinking it’s going to be A, then changing their minds to B, then it turns out to be A after all. That seems to fit ok with “contrary to expectations”.
Like Numerophile @22 I don’t understand “closing” in AGENCY.
Thanks to Imogen and PeterO.
For 24, Chambers has ‘closing’ as a synonym for ‘enclosing’, which is how I read it.
JuanDango: ah yes, that makes sense, thank you.
Muffin@18 Agree with LordJi @24 on Afrer All
After all that, it turned out to be something else
Easy start with scoter my FOI (even though a jorum), but then the puzzle stalled and I needed some help from checking letters to finish it. Like others, I was puzzled by the “closing” in AGENCY, but JuanDango@25 may be right and it may indicate enclosing. Though “in” would have sufficed, but does not work for the surface reading. How about “opening clubs” instead? I see Numerophile@22 proposed something similar. Thanks Imogen and PeterO
ENTHUSIASTIC had me diving down the rabbit hole to find out if there was a hitherto unknown term for a blunder in chess. And there was: it’s “blunder”. Nice misdirection.
DropBear @27
“After all, it was what we expected”?
I was hoping for a little further enlightenment re PENCIL, but it seems that I have the same problem as PeterO, i.e. a spare “I”.
Also, SNICKERS? MARATHON surely!
Like muffin@18, I was delayed by expecting that EUCLIDEAN would be L(eft)+(audience)*, and I was also disappointed to find that PENCIL didn’t include a device of the M=2×D or C=2×L kind.
Certainly more difficult than Vulcan, but some easy clues. I liked the CRUSTACEA being found over a great area of Earth’s surface, the good anagram for ENTHUSIASTIC, the AGENCY closing clubs in NY, the AMENDMENT to the time of noon, the batsman’s SNICKERS, and INCUR being disabled. I though ‘OFF ICE’ being warming up was a bit of a stretch.
Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
I’m with Me Aphid@4, I spent quite a lot of time parsing 25A as “synonym for depressed with an extra s” with an N inserted followed by an A for area before the crossers made the answer clear.
I justified PENCIL as another being “one” “fifty” thus IL – doubling the fifty to C, but it felt very stretched. I’m not much more comfortable with the alternative suggestion, double the length of another would seem fairer there. They both work, but not as precise as some of the other clues.
Agency was my LOI, I think I got hung up on needing to find an E from E Coast and failed to see the wood for the trees for quite some time.
Too late to edit above, can I check whether everyone else is seeing 25A with “depresssed” (sic) in the online version? Peter O’s excellent blog (thanks) has it spelt correctly and only one other person has commented.
Eoink @35
SSS in the paper, and (still) in the online version.
Started slowly on the first pass, but a second pass was sufficient to complete everything. SCOTER was new to me, but the wordplay and crossers finally got me there, despite spending several minutes initially trying to do something with “moped”.
Eoink @35: I see it too, although I missed it at the time.
Thanks both. I wondered if I had a cache of something that had changed.
I took “closing” in 24a to mean that “clubs in E Coast city” provides the closing part of the answer.
It turns out that ENTHUSIASTIC is also an anagram of unchastities, which, in a sort of Cyclopsian manner probably works too.
Thanks for the blog , bit of a Spock puzzle but a few interesting clues .
Good to see a reference to KPR .
As a lifelong motorcyclist, I winced mildly at a scooter being defined as a “light motorcycle” – any remaining Mods or Rockers would give that idea short shift – but it’s a nice clue for the cute little SCOTER, so it was only a small twitch.
CotD and nearly my LOI was QUESTION MARK; elegantly deceptive.
I still think of SNICKERS bars as being Marathons, but I got it eventually.
2000AD was more or less required reading in my student years, so DREAD, while slow to surface, eventually came to mind. I guess Joe Dredd would be coming up for his pension now. Definitely not a “light motorcycle” rider…
Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
Enjoyed this, found it a bit half Vulcan half Imogen. Favourites INCUR and the Araucarian QUESTION MARK.
DREAD took me longer than it should have. Old Stoney Face himself, JUDGE DREDD is still going strong in 2000ad, the galaxy’s greatest comic.
[Roz @41: please 1ac on the 26ac, 16d I’m eternally 14ac but I 23ac the 13ac at the end of the season]
A late entry to the AFTER ALL debate, but the usage that comes to mind for me is, “We didn’t go to the shops after all”, which fits the definition perfectly.
A number of easy ones to start with, and then much tougher ones that fell throughout the day. Solved all but 17d SNICKERS — I figured it was some cricket term I’d never heard of, so I guessed KNOCKERS (“Batters”?). Entered 23a DREAD thinking it couldn’t be right, but it was!
Several favourites, especially the ignored 1d GUSHER (“good conduct”), and widely praised 11d QUESTION MARK (nicely hidden)
25a VALENCIA the clue still has “depresssed” online. I guess it’s true the editor doesn’t read the comments!
[AlanC@45 I hope you’re not also a Toronto Maple Leafs fan] 🙂
A great puzzle, and thanks for the blog. ENTHUSIASTIC was one of my last in, because I just couldn’t see how it meant “making up for it.” So daft sometimes, or is it just lazy-mindedness, or maybe just beaten by a clever clue…
good overall! thanks Imogen and PeterO.
a real problem with clueing SLOPE OFF in that uninspired way is it could easily be SLIDE (or SLIP) OUT. 1a runs the same kind of risk, as perhaps SOFT could work instead of EASY.
AFTER ALL definition is dubious and ENTHUSIASTIC does not really equal ‘up for it’, but that was a good anagram.
not a fan of uncryptic 2d and 8d.
however, on the whole, good solutions, good clues, mostly fun and gettable, like CRUSTACEA and SCOTER to name two.
there weren’t too many cop-out abbreviations (just ‘series’ and ‘accepted’?)
I really liked elegant and inventive INCUR (incurable, disabled) and lovely FUNERAL RITES (resentful air).
thanks again, nice crossword
As others have said this was an enjoyable crossword. SE PENCIL and
VALENCIA took a while—don’t like the explanation of PENCIL but can’t find a better one, agree that “opening clubs” would have made more sense, though like Bear of little brain @39 I decided it must just mean the closing part of the answer. LOIs were ERUPT and EXODUS, though we liked EXODUS. Agree with mr_bez@46: that usage of AFTER ALL is the common one for us.
Loved 11d QUESTION MARK, not happy with 8d (or 19d), which felt thin. Thanks Imogen and PeterO.
I think you have forgotten to indicate the definition for INCUR Peter. It is of course ‘suffer’.
Not happy with the clue for PENCIL, Imogen. We like the challenge but we also would like to have the satisfaction of knowing for certain when we have cracked it. We can all see PEN as another drawer (usually referred to as writer or enclosure) but it leaves CIL hanging. It would be appreciated if you would confirm PeterOs parsing.
Thanks very much anyway to both PeterO and Imogen.
I’m also very grateful for the parsing of ENTHUSIASTIC. I could see the anagram but my reading of the definition was a bit off. I thought it was ‘making up for it’ which didn’t seem quite right. Then when I saw your parse PeterO it made a lot more sense. Thanks very much.
iStan @51
Omission corrected. Thanks for pointing it out.