An enjoyable mix of clues, with several that I found quite tricky to parse. My favourites were 16ac, 19ac, 25ac, and 8dn. Thanks to Pasquale.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SOLITUDE |
Concern with one about to leave – leaving partner in this? (8)
|
| definition: leaving one’s partner might leave them in SOLITUDE
SOL-[I C]-ITUDE=”Concern”, with I=”one” and C (circa, “about”) removed (“to leave”) |
||
| 5 | GELATO |
Attempt to convey story about something refreshingly sweet? (6)
|
| GO=”Attempt”, around/containing (to convey) TALE=”story” reversed/”about” | ||
| 9 | ANAMNESIS |
Odd man is sane, as shown in medical record (9)
|
| definition: anamnesis is the process of collecting a patient’s medical history
anagram/”Odd” of (man is sane)* |
||
| 11 | DRUSE |
Trick by five hundred members of religious sect (5)
|
| definition: Druse or Druze are members of a religious sect [wiki]
RUSE=”Trick” by D=”five hundred” in Roman numerals |
||
| 12 | BREAKING NEWS |
The latest answer involves this action in a river (8,4)
|
| the word “AnsweR” is nswe in AR
NSWE is “this action”: BREAKING NEWS i.e. making an anagram of (news)* A R=”a river” as R is short for “river” |
||
| 15 | HOAX |
House with a sign of something wrong that fraudster perpetrates? (4)
|
| HO (House) + A (from surface) + X (cross symbol e.g. when marking a student’s work, “sign of something wrong” | ||
| 16 | MAKE AMENDS |
Sad men could do this to atone (4,6)
|
| we could MAKE AMENDS (i.e. “do this”) by using “Sad men” as anagram fodder to make the word ‘amends’ | ||
| 18 | ANTITHESES |
Social worker is embracing these opposite types (10)
|
| ANT=”Social worker”; plus IS (from surface) around THESE (from surface) | ||
| 19 | GLAM |
Alluring sparkle exuding energy (4)
|
| GL-[e]-AM=”sparkle” minus ‘e’ for “energy” | ||
| 21 | FRONTIERSMEN |
Finer monster upsetting chaps living on the edge? (12)
|
| anagram/”upsetting” of (Finer monster)* | ||
| 24 | EDITH |
Woman to change husband (5)
|
| EDIT=”change” + H (husband) | ||
| 25 | TREATABLE |
Nasty tear at front of furniture item that can be repaired? (9)
|
| anagram/”Nasty” of (tear)*; in front of TABLE=”furniture item” | ||
| 26 | DIGEST |
Review with snide remark is not British (6)
|
| DIG=”snide remark” (e.g. to take a dig at someone) + EST=”is” in French or in Latin (“not British”) | ||
| 27 | ASPERSED |
Somehow sad, blue inside, being defamed (8)
|
| anagram/”Somehow” of (sad)*, with PERSE (a dark “blue” colour) inside | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SEAL |
Secure underwater line (4)
|
| for definition, e.g. to seal/secure a deal
L for “line”, after/’under” SEA=”water” |
||
| 2 | LOAM |
Article buried by burrower endlessly turning up in soil (4)
|
| A (indefinite “Article”); buried inside MOL-[e]=”burrower endlessly”, reversed (“turning up”) | ||
| 3 | TENURE |
University gone round by number about to get secure position (6)
|
| U (University) inside (i.e. the following elements have “gone round” it): TEN=”number” + RE=”about” | ||
| 4 | DISPARAGEMENT |
Running down daughter, is dad with anger unkind, wasting a bit of time? (13)
|
| D (daughter) + IS (from surface) + PA=”dad” + RAGE=”anger”, plus ME-[a]-N=”unkind” removing/”wasting” the letter “a” (from surface); plus T=first letter/”bit” of t-[ime] | ||
| 6 | ENDOGAMY |
Finish with love, having spirited sort of marriage (8)
|
| definition: marrying within a group
END=”Finish” + O=zero score in tennis=”love” + GAMY=”spirited” |
||
| 7 | ACUTE ANGLE |
A cunning viewpoint that maths teacher may explain (5,5)
|
| definition: a part of geometry, covered in maths lessons
A (from surface) + CUTE=clever=”cunning” + ANGLE=”viewpoint” |
||
| 8 | OPEN SESAME |
Old writer’s English unchanged, words having magical effect (4,6)
|
| O (Old) + PEN’S=”writer’s” + E (English) + SAME=”unchanged” | ||
| 10 | SPINELESSNESS |
Lack of courage that is evident in wormy types (13)
|
| spinelessness could also refer to a lack of a literal spine in worms | ||
| 13 | WHEATFIELD |
Agricultural land to flourish, absorbing warmth with minimum of frost (10)
|
| WIELD=brandish=”flourish”; around HEAT=”warmth” + the minimum or smallest part of F-[rost] | ||
| 14 | CARTOONING |
Activity of artist, showing concern about Newcastle? (10)
|
| CARING=”concern” around TOON=nickname for Newcastle | ||
| 17 | STITCHES |
Fibrous products obtained from sewers? (8)
|
| cryptic definition: stitches are produced using fibre by those who sew (sew-ers)
surface can mislead if “sewers” is read as in sewerage |
||
| 20 | SEETHE |
What river rises, producing foam? (6)
|
| EH=exclamation of surprise=”What”; plus TEES=name of a “river”; all reversed upwards/”rises” | ||
| 22 | IBIS |
Bird – one beginning to breed on island (4)
|
| I=”one” + beginning of B-[reed] + IS (short for island) | ||
| 23 | VEND |
Trade very limited? Then pack up (4)
|
| “very” shortened/limited to V, plus END=”pack up” |
Good fun. Top ticks for CARTOONING, MAKE AMENDS & the elusive anagram for FRONTIERSMEN
Cheers M&P
A lovely mix of approachable and baffling which gave enough crossers to unfold slowly and with great satisfaction. Pasquale does like his reverse anagrams/clues (“breaking news”, “make amends”) and they are pleasing once spotted.
I always enjoy a clue like “tenure” where there is a hint of the answer within the wordplay – in this case “university” gets you thinking along the right lines even though it is really only there to supply a letter “u”.
Thanks manehi and Pasquale.
Enjoyable puzzle, quite tricky in parts. I could not parse:
12ac (oh wow, that’s tricky, thanks for the parsing, manehi)
27ac apart from PER SE in anagram of SAD (never heard of perse blue)
3d – I guessed it was something like that but did not get there!
14d apart from TOON (?) in CARING (did not know that TOON=nickname for Newcastle).
Favourites: DISPARAGEMENT, OPEN SESAME, DIGEST.
New for me: AMAMNESIS.
Took a while to crack the parsing of BREAKING NEWS but once it became clear I very nearly applauded.
This was at precisely my medium solver’s ability level and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
Perse meaning a dark blue colour was new to me, as was ANAMNESIS, but the latter was easily gettable from the fodder. Apart from that I agree with JOFT@2 that is was very approachable. Going through the across clues first as I usually do produced only TREATABLE, but the down clues yielded more easily and the crossers then led to the across solutions. Liked 7 as a reminder of my first job, SOLITUDE, LOAM and FRONTIERSMEN. Thanks to Pasquale and manehi.
One of those that I thought might defeat me, then it all gradually fell into place. I enjoyed CARTOONING when I got it but feel there must be something more to STITCHES than a slightly clunky cd.
Thanks to Pasquale and manehi
Great stuff from Pasquale.
Unfortunately, I got the anagram for the unheard of ANAMNESIS wrong in what was a mixture of hard and more straightforward clues.
Liked MAKES AMENDS and BREAKING NEWS which both got a “huh? Oh I see” from me.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi
The first proper challenge this week, I really enjoyed this last night and went to sleep raving about BREAKING NEWS, certainly apposite for the last few days. MAKE AMENDS, FRONTIERSMEN and CARTOONING weren’t half bad either, although ‘ TOON’ might be a bit obscure.
Ta Pasquale & manehi.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi
ANAMNESIS needed an anagram solver and a Google. I didn’t parse BREAKING NEWS and hadn’t heard of PERSE blue either.
I agree with Doofs @6 that the clue for STITCHES seems a bit weak. Is there more to it?
Otherwise surprisingly straightforward for a Pasquale.
Doofs @6: I thought STITCHES might be referring to holding fibrous body tissue together, although my medical knowledge is minimal.
There’s a trend in the sewing community to call themselves sewists for obvious reasons.
Another who looked up PERSE – it’s apparently the Saxon name for Persian blue, the stuff from shells that’s been traded here forever.
Thank you to manehi and Pasquale
I liked all the clues that others have picked out and I am another who wondered about STITCHES.
Nho TOON=Newcastle so 14d defeated me.
As a retired hospital medic, I can say that ANAMNESIS is not a term I have ever used or heard used in the last 50 years!
I don’t seem to be able to print the Guardian cryptic off like l used to do. Any hints, please?
I don’t seem to be able to print the Guardian cryptic off like l used to do. Any hints, please?
Thanks Pasquale for a fun crossword with a couple of reverse anagrams which I always love and some learning:
Had to look up ANAMNENSIS – never heard of it – but a straight-forward solve. Also never heard of perse in AS(PERSE)D.
Indebted to manehi for the parse on this one as well as SOLITUDE. Thanks for this and all the rest of your work.
I needed this blog to parse breaking news. Too clever for me. It didn’t help that all the letters of “answer” are in the solution, leaving me with the letters “beking”, which did not make sense. I managed to parse the other inverse anagram though (make amends). Like others, I had not heard of perse for the colour blue, and googling just gave me “per se”. Thanks Pasquale for a lovely puzzle and manehi for helping to parse those I could’t
I feel sure we’re missing something with STITCHES. The Don is very unlikely to produce a clue that at first site appears weak. Hopefully he’ll drop in to explain.
I found this very enjoyable. The clues for SEAL and VEND were nice and neat.
My thanks to Pasquale, and to manehi for the blog.
But – in the clue for FRONTIERSMEN (21 across) – can anyone tell me why Pasquale chose the word “upsetting” rather than “upset”? Would “upset” have worked just as well, or is there a reason why “upsetting” is better? Sorry if I’m being dim …
Tim/Bat @15/16 – add /print to the url e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29928/print
I’m always of the opinion that trying to solve a clue that requires a forename for Woman (or Man, if that happened to occur) is ever so slightly unfair. Though EDITH was nicely clued on this occasion. Thought the clue for DIGEST was a bit cheeky. Maybe too much nitpicking on my part, for I did enjoy this Pasquale puzzle. One of the more obscure words that the setter always seems to include a few of, ENDOGAMY, was my last one in today…
Good fun for a medium ability solver like me with all answers gettable. Nho perse or anamnesis. I’m another one who kept looking for a cleverer answer than STITCHES. BREAKING NEWS was too hard for me to parse – thanks manehi.
Not as many obscurities as sometimes with Pasquale, although I DNK ENDOGAMY, ANAMNESIS and perse. I liked the reverse/inverse clues for BREAKING NEWS and MAKE AMENDS, and I thought the clue for SEAL was very neat. I also liked the novel way of cluing EST in DIGEST.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Tim/Bat @15/16: another solution to your printing problem is to click on ‘PDF version’ (above the puzzle) and print the result.
A slow but steady solve for me. I tip my hat to those of you who parsed BREAKING NEWS, which was above my pay grade.
I just asked my wife, a retired GP, about ANAMNESIS. She had never heard it either!
Classic cluing as usual from Pasquale, and a fairly small number of unfamiliar words by his standards, with only PERSE blue and ANAMNESIS unknown but readily guessable. I enjoyed MAKE AMENDS but couldn’t get to the bottom of the clever BREAKING NEWS – though I did sort out the fiddly DISPARAGEMENT. There are far too many possibilities for clues of the “woman’s name” type – but my mum’s name was EDITH so that came readily to mind.
Reading SEETHE backwards, made me think Pasquale could have done something with “the 80s”
ANAMNESIS is definitely a crossword word. Like AMANUENSIS (which I thought it might be for a nanosecond). You could get the latter to write the former.
Thanks Pasquale for an impeccably clued crossword with my favourites being GELATO, MAKE AMENDS, EDITH, TREATABLE, ACUTE ANGLE, and OPEN SESAME. I had no hope of parsing BREAKING NEWS and I nho of ‘perse’ as ‘blue’ but I assumed as much. Thanks manehi for the blog.
A good challenge that needed a few goes with breaks in between to refresh the synapses.
Had to resort to MoreWords to see what would fit the crossers for ANAMNESIS; it was either that or look up each variant using the leftover anagram fodder, or bung-in-and-check; so possibly the least-cheating option.
I did get BREAKING NEWS, but after the event – I saw that it would fit the definition and the crossers I then had, then that was was a reverse anagram, if that’s the expression, of nswe, and then how that fitted into “answer”; so a slow dawning rather than a flash of inspiration.
I couldn’t see anything more in STITCHES than manehi or bloggers above; whatever subtlety there is here is too subtle for me!
I’m always a sucker for a nice long built-up charade, so a tick from me for DISPARAGEMENT: I also liked the neat assembly of ANTITHESIS.
Thanks Pasquale & manehi.
me@31 “ANTITHESES” !
Thanks both,
According to OED, a ‘stitch’ can also mean a shock of sheaves of wheat set up in a field to dry. When corn was cut the reaper (human or mechanical) would tie it into sheaves and then the sheaves were stood up against each other in a tent shape oriented North South so that the morning and afternoon sun would dry the sheaves. The sheaves so placed are called a shock or stook or stitch. I did some stooking sheaves in Lincolnshire when I were a lad. It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done.
Last night I got most of the northeast half (dividing the puzzle diagonally) and almost none of the southwest half. Like (I think) every other commenter here, I’d never heard of ANAMNESIS or PERSE blue.
Thanks, Pasquale and manehi.
Good fun – quality puzzle. I failed on ANAMNESIS (wrong anagram) and ENDOGAMY (wrong last letter). I thought bird should have been left out in the IBIS clue to give us a true &lit, a rare opportunity. Surely with TENURE, the wordplay had to include flower, the URE being one of the 4 or 5 standard crossword rivers 😉 .
Thanks, manehi and Pazza.
phitonelly@35: Let’s hear it for those standard crossword rivers / “flowers”; Dee, Exe, Tees, Po, Ure.. any more? Tyne & Trent, maybe , but rather rarer.
DTS @ 36. Ouse
DTS @36
Cam?
Surely the “toon” in 14d is the way someone from Newcastle or surrounding area would pronounce “town” rather than a nickname for the town/city itself? Wouldn’t the question mark at the end of the clue justify that?
Thankyou Tyngewick #33 for the “shock of sheaves” definition of a STITCH. Stitches would certainly be “fibrous products”. Along with the question mark and Pasquale being the setter, you’d have to be right. Your first hand experience is greatly valued. 🙂
Wiltshire solver #39. Agree with you. That’s how I parsed CARTOONING.
Wiltshire solver @39
It’s more precise than that. “Toon” is indeed how the locals pronounce it, but it has become its nickname. For instance, Newcastle United supporters are know as “The Toon Army”.
Well, that just seemed a little too clever for its own good
muffin #42 I’ll take your word for it. 🙂
Well, that just seemed a little too clever for its own good, or at least to make it enjoyable.
DerekTheSheep @36, Crispy @37 and muffin @38
Clyde?
No, you’re right. But I’ve come across Tay, Fal and Ob before. And of course, Don.
Clyde @46
Yes, I have seen Ob – an underservably underrated river!
paddymelon@44 I can confirm what muffin @42 said.
Using DRUSE for DRUZE seems a bit of a cheap trick. Never seen it spelt like that before.
(Yeah thanks Zoot #48. My smiley emoji was meant to be a joke at my expense, and acknowledging muffin’s explanation.)
[Clyde@46: Don. Of course. Likewise muffin@38 with Cam. I once dived into the Cam sometime after midnight after an heroic drinking session in Queens’. It was December. This was, as I very quickly found, a bloody stupid thing to do. Still, that which does not kill us…]
Hadn’t heard of TOON as a nickname for Newcastle so couldn’t fully parse CARTOONING although I did spot the insertion into CARING.
With DIGEST I parsed it as a charade of DIG + EST (Eastern Standard Time) a non-British time zone. However can see that ‘in’ = ‘est’ in a non-British language works better.
VEND eluded me for quite a while. The ‘up’ in the clue made it look like a reversal. Pleased that I got it in the end.
Nice one Pasquale and thanks manehi.
pm@50 Sorry, didn’t spot the emoji.
Thanks Pasquale and manehi.
Very much enjoyed albeit a DNF due to 12a. I was ok on the more straightforward reverse clue of 16, but the need to take the an and r away from answer to get the reverse fodder was one step too many for my brain.
On 17d I did wonder if the “fibrous products” might be something to do with exercise related “stitches”, but maybe it’s more likely it’s a simple single cryptic play
As one who made and used antibodies during my work as a microbiologist, i remember the term ‘anamnestic response’ as an enhanced antibody production due to prior exposure to an antigen. In other words immunological memory, the basis for vaccination.
Ran out of time and patience, so dnf. Top half (on the diagonal) went in fairly readily, having dredged 9a ANAMNESIS from somewhere in the depths, and following the instructions for 6d ENDOGAMY. Bottom half extremely recalcitrant, moving very slowly. Eventually made some progress when I finally looked up the long-suspected 27 ASPERSED (as well as PERSE) and found it was correct. My guesses at 15a HOAX (HACK) and 26a DIGEST (DANISH) were both wrong. 14d CARTOONING, not a chance
Some tricky vocabulary and parsing – thank you manehi for clarifying a few of them for me. Perplexed by 2d LOAM having misread “borrower”. Favourites 5a GELATO (for the tasty treat), 24a EDITH (great surface), 25a TREATABLE (ditto), 4d DISPARAGEMENT (quite a construction). Enjoyed the two “reverse” clues, 12a BREAKING NEWS and 16a MAKE AMENDS