The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29932.
A gentle offering from Maskarade, with a good sprinkling of simple anagrams for less experienced solvers to get a foothold.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOWNING STREET |
Drewsteignton oddly with Whitehall address (7,6)
|
| An anagram (‘oddly’) of ‘Drewsteignton’. DOWNING STREET is a spur off the road Whitehall; in the definition ‘Whitehall’ is the surrounding area (or a metonym for the Government). Drewsteignton is a village in Devon. | ||
| 10 | OUTINGS |
I go nuts arranging day trips (7)
|
| An anagram (‘arranging’ – which would tend to make me think that the anagrist follows) of the preceding ‘I go nuts’. | ||
| 11 | NIAGARA |
Falls again, turning back with artist (7)
|
| A charade of NIAGA, a reversal (‘turning back’) of ‘again’, plus RA (‘artist’). | ||
| 12 | NIGHT |
The dark man on board, it’s said (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘it’s said’) KNIGHT (‘man on board’, chess). | ||
| 13 | SCINTILLA |
Very minor piece composed, it’s all in C (9)
|
| An anagram (‘composed’) of ‘it’s all in C’. | ||
| 14 | TONIC |
Heavyweight in charge of drink (5)
|
| A charade of TON (‘heavyweight’) plus IC (‘in charge’). | ||
| 16 | IN A SECOND |
Newly canonised, very quickly (2,1,6)
|
| An anagram (‘newly’) of ‘canonised’. | ||
| 18 | EGLANTINE |
For instance, worker in business producing plant (9)
|
| A charade of EG (‘for instance’) plus LANTINE, an envelope (‘in’) of ANT (‘worker’) in LINE (‘business’), for the sweetbriar rose. | ||
| 19 | FUDGE |
Ineffectual compromise that a confectioner provides (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | LISTENERS |
Old BBC magazine’s ears? (9)
|
| Double definition, if the apostrophe s is included in the first definition. | ||
| 23 | CARES |
Sweetheart in saloons worries (5)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of E (‘swEerheart’ i.e. the heart of sweet) in CARS (‘saloons’ – an unanounced indication by example). | ||
| 24 | CEDILLA |
Cover turned back in fancy lace – as seen in Façade (7)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of DIL, a reversal (‘turned back’) of LID (‘cover’) in CELA, an anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘lace’. A cedilla is the twiddly bit under the c in ‘Façade’ (and the capital F suggests the poems by Edith Sitwell set by William Walton). | ||
| 25 | SHANNON |
Quiet before long consumes northern river and sea area (7)
|
| A envelope (‘consumes’) of N (‘northern’) in SH (‘quiet’ as an imperative) plus ANON (‘before long’). | ||
| 26 | ARC DE TRIOMPHE |
French landmark damaged car he imported (3,2,8)
|
| An anagram (‘damaged’) of ‘car he imported’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OCTAGONAL |
Like a stop sign a lot can go out of shape (9)
|
| An anagram (‘out of shape’) of ‘a lot can go’. | ||
| 3 | NONET |
Group not heartless, embracing individual (5)
|
| An envelope (’embracong’) of ONE (‘individual’) in ‘n[o]t’ without its middle letter (‘heartless’). | ||
| 4 | NOSES |
Pries into one’s new suit first (5)
|
| A charade of NOSE, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘one’s’, plus S (‘Suit first’) | ||
| 5 | SYNDICATE |
Group supplying material to newspapers announces two girls (9)
|
| Sounds like (‘announces’) CINDY KATE (‘two girls’). | ||
| 6 | ROAST BEEF |
Criticise complaint at Sunday lunch (5,4)
|
| A charade of ROAST (‘criticise’) plus BEEF (‘complaint’). ‘at’ might be added to the definition. | ||
| 7 |
Communication of some parliamentary upset (5)
|
|
| A hidden (‘some’) reversed (‘upset’ in a down light) answer in ‘parLIAMEntary’. | ||
| 8 | ROUND THE CLOCK |
How hands move 24/7? (5,3,5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 9 | SALAD DRESSING |
South African boy making smoother mayonnaise (5,8)
|
| A charade of S (‘south’) plus A (‘African’) plus LAD (‘boy’) plus DRESSING (‘making smoother’). An indication by example. | ||
| 15 | CANCELLED |
Revoked, when intoxicated in prison room? Quite the opposite (9)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of CELL (‘prison room’) in CANED (‘intoxicated’; I am familiar with canned in this sense, but it seems that CANED is another of the many words and expressions wiith this meaning). | ||
| 16 | ITINERANT |
I can go on about English drifter (9)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of E (‘English’) in ITINRANT, a charade of ‘I’ plus TIN (‘can’) plus RANT (‘go on’). | ||
| 17 | OLD FRENCH |
Vieux? (3,6)
|
| Cryptic definition, sort of. | ||
| 21 | SEDER |
Meal for Passover some organised erroneously (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘organiSED ERroneously’. | ||
| 22 | SUSHI |
Delicacy from his US cooking (5)
|
| An anagram (‘cooking’) of ‘his US’. | ||
| 23 | CHARM |
Goldfinches in a group delight (5)
|
| Double definition, the first being the collective noun. |
Nice puzzle, nothing too contrived or obscure.
I will mention one curious thing, though. While vieux is OLD FRENCH, it isn’t Old French. Old French for “old” is “viel” (see here).
Tx.
Caned? Another to add to the very long list of synonyms for “intoxicated”. Do we need any more?
Unsurprisingly, I’d not heard of the old BBC magazine, but it couldn’t have been anything else.
I learnt a new collective noun. And I’d never heard of SEDER till I looked it up. Of the UK-specific clues, DOWNING STREET was easy, SHANNON less so, but the wordplay was straightforward.
A plesant solve with plenty of smiles, thanks Maskarade.
Thanks PeterO. I thought the anagrist and answer for1 across was a great find. I imagine it’s been done before (but couldn’t find it on 15sq search). I bet the locals know it. (I live in a town spelt with half the letters of the alphabet, none of them repeated, and all of the vowels included, but I bet apart from me and the person I stole that fact from, no one else probably knows.)
I was intrigued and looked up Drewsteignton and found it was recorded in the Domesday Book. Is Maskarade telling us something about Downing Street?
My favourite was SCINTILLA for its musicality. SYNDICATE induced a gruckle. (groan/chuckle) Near enough but good enough (not in my dialect though).
Liked DOWNING STREET, SCINTILLA and ITINERANT.
OLD FRENCH: Agree with the blogger (not quite cryptic).
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
Good question, pdm @3. [As it happens, I knew about Drewsteignton as we have friends who live there].
Nice gentle puzzle, ta both.
[Oh and another old mate lived a couple of stops further up from yours ….]
@2 Geoff that made me laugh. There is an excellent skit by the comedian Michael McIntyre where he says the same thing
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O597Bs6LZ7U
Good one, Rats.
I used to think that our longest lists of euphemisms belonged to toilets and sex, but I might think again. 🙂
[gif @6 Let us know if you’re ever coming this way.]
A pb for me.
SEDER unknown, but easily solved.
Thanks M and P
[Ta much pdm, love to but travelling days sadly over]
The four outside ones went straight in, so I knew from the off that it was a gentler Maskarade, and very enjoyable it was too.
I always rather enjoyed the dear old Listener magazine. [The BBC’s in-house one is – or was, it may well have bitten the dust too – Ariel (after Prospero & Ariel, though many folk understandably misspelled it with a second A), and the two in-house wines – which surely no longer exist! – were Tontine and Sans Fil: Auntie and Wireless.]
SEDER and CHARM were new to me; I like the latter, but doubt I’ll get much chance to use it…
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO
Certainly one of the most gentle offerings from the Guardian for a while. Even the two words I didn’t know went straight in. Only my poor French caused me any trouble.
Some neat anagrams in this as well.
Thanks PeterO and Maskarade
Not difficult, but all very nicely done. Especially liked NIGHT, CHARM and the lovely anagram spots for SCINTILLA and IN A SECOND.
Gentle offering, enjoyed SYNDICATE, SCINTILLA and CEDILLA. I’m ambivalent about OLD FRENCH.
Ta Maskarade & PeterO.
Way too gentle for my taste – I’m very much in favour of easier crosswords to help those starting out in solving but I find Maskarade’s clues are typically easily solvable without having to understand the cryptic component of the clue. This, for me, makes the exercise far less enjoyable.
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO
Sorry, this was genuinely a complete write-in – easier than Saturday’s Quick Cryptic.
Quite liked CARES for “sweetheart”.
I do admire a setter who can regularly produce puzzles at both ends of the difficulty spectrum.
In the CANCELLED clue, I wonder why Maskarade didn’t simply opt for “punished” instead of the obscure “intoxicated”. For me it would improve the prison surface.
Many thanks, both.
I never thought I’d say this but I found this very easy, almost a write-in. The only answer that I had a bit of an issue with was OLD FRENCH which I thought a bit weak. Nho seder but it went straight in. I’m also not a fan of obscure collective nouns such as CHARM. Like others my favourite answer was DOWNING STREET. Very clever.
Ticked SYNDICATE for reminding me of Alan Connor’s classic PATELLA clue (& book)
In defence of VIEUX it’s the only clue I’m still thinking about an hour later. What’s next? Nein = no German…
Cheers P&M
So many NONETS over the past two years! Between The Guardian and The FT they’d combine into an orchestra’s worth.
Definitely at the easier end of the spectrum as I finished it before I finished my cup of coffee. Thanks to P & M.
[Martin @22: So you’d be saying “No, No, Nonet”?…]
[Bodycheetah@21 “I don’t know French? (2,2,4,3)” “How to win? A Spaniard hasn’t a clue (2,2,2)” “Sceap hund (3,7,8)”…too many ridiculous possiblities]
Well constructed puzzle that really belonged on Monday. Splendid anagrams, but my favourite was the beautifully surfaced SCINTILLA.
SUSHI might just about be appropriate for Chinese New Year, but Mardi Gras is too early for a SEDER.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO
[JoFT @24: Sceap hund is beautiful 🙂 ]
Just for anyone who doesn’t already know, Maskarade masquerades as Doc in The Spectator whose puzzles we’ve recently started blogging.
Well worth a look.
PhilB @20
I would have thought that “a charm of goldfinches” was one of the better known collective nouns.
CHARMs of goldfinches happen, unlike parliaments of owls – they are usually solitary. There are a couple of rough corners full of teasels round here, which are often full of goldfinches in autumn and winter, and there was a charm on the buddleia outside the kitchen window recently. There’s also Charm on, Goldfinch from The Lost Words.
It wasn’t easier than the Quick Cryptic, honestly.
Thank you to PeterO and Maskarade
Very enjoyable and definitely would have fitted in as a Sunday Quiptic. I consider myself in the improver bracket so this was a great grid for me as I found yesterday’s Vulcan a bit of a challenge. I really liked OLD FRENCH and EGLANTINE, CEDILLA and SCINTILLA were also good. Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
More of a Quiptic than last week’s Quiptic was. Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
I failed to parse ITINERANT – the can=tin thing always passes me by – but otherwise everything went in beautifully, fully parsed. My sense of achievement is slightly dampened by the knowledge that many others found it easy, or a ‘write-in’ even. I found it a pleasure anyway, especially after staring blankly at the Vulcan cryptic yesterday.
Straightforward but enjoyable. I liked the good anagrams for DOWNING STREET, SCINTILLA and IN A SECOND. I also liked SYNDICATE, which, the same as bc @21, reminded me of patella.
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
I’m sorry to find in the (minority) camp of “rather too easy for a weekday crossword”. It would have been a splendid Quiptic, but when it’s all done and dusted in less then the time it takes to drink the accompanying mug of coffee, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.
That’s not to say there weren’t some neat clues – quite a few made me smile (CEDILLA and SCINTILLA for example), but with no more chewy bits to give the mind a bit of a workout, I felt a bit underwhelmed.
Hey ho… I see there are many for whom it hit the sweet spot, so that’s all good.
Thanks both!
Am inclined to agree with the too easy camp – I don’t do the other lesser crosswords, but this was notably the easiest Guardian cryptic I’ve ever done. Both from the clues and the absence of obscurity in the solutions. Hats off, however, to Maskerade for the range of difficulty he is able to master.
btw – It is weakish, but “Vieux” is the correct clue for OLD FRENCH. For the clue “VIEL” the solution would have to be OLD OLD FRENCH.
The Listener crossword (quite a challenge) was famous, and still exists in the Times every Saturday.
I hardly ever do a weekday crossword.
We’re having our windows replaced so thought I’d sit down with this one to keep me occupied most of the day, as I can’t get on with much else.
I enjoyed it enormously, but now I need to find something else to do!
After a few entries I started wondering if there had been an editorial blunder. The date at the head says ‘Mon 16 Feb 2026’.
Probably my fastest ever completion, faster than a quiptic. Not complaining as Monday’s should be gentle.
Thanks both.
Geoff Down Under@2: CANED as a synonym for intoxicated is new to me as well. I am familiar with CANNED, though, and that was enough to suggest the solution if I got rid of the extra N.
My first two in were OCTAGONAL and NONET, so for once I had my eyes peeled for a numeric theme. ROUND THE CLOCK for 12 and DOWNING STREET for 10 only fed into my delusion, but it was not to be today.
Gentle is the right word! A very pleasant solve, thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
That was easy enough; the only difficulty was the parsing of CHARM (I suspected some sort of a collective noun though) and, embarrassingly, my misspelling of SYNDICATE. Thanks Maskarade and PeterO
Personally I found this very encouraging as I’ve struggled rather more than I like with some recent offerings. Thanks Maskarade and PeterO.
[Incidentally, Drewsteignton is where you will find Castle Drogo. A fascinating place, well worth a visit.
The NT site doesn’t give much information about its history. Try Wiki instead:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Drogo
]
The dumbing down bug is now becoming an epidemic it would seem
Probably the easiest ‘Cryptic’ crossword in the Guardian I’ve ever done. 7 minutes
I’m surprised at how many have never heard of a SEDER. (“Why is this night different from all other nights”?) I guess exposure to Judaism varies more than I would have expected.
I don’t see what the issue is with OLD FRENCH; the clue seemed clever to me.
That was a nice relief after my struggles yesterday. Lots of smooth surfaces. My favorite was 24A CEDILLA.
My only niggle is the obscure collective noun at 23D. It was obvious from the clue that if one did not know it, one merely had to google (other search engines are available) for the word in question, which does not make for a particularly satisfying solve.
And frankly, most supposed collective nouns are utterly bogus and appear nowhere but crosswords and trivia quizzes. Other than murder of crows and parliament of owls, which are moderately amusing, “flock” will satisfy for birds. Similarly, “herd” for grazing animals, etc.
Like others have said a very gentle solve. Certainly makes a change from some of Tom’s offerings. Still enjoyed doing it.
mrpenney @47: Having Jewish friends, SEDER was a write-in for me. I’m not sure why Jewish culture is more familiar in the USA – perhaps because of the origins of so many Americans in the entertainment industry – but it is also evidenced by the large number of Yiddish words which are more commonly used on your side of the pond.
Thanks maskarade and PeterO.
Very enjoyable
I am in a different camp on “caned” = intoxicated, in that it’s actually a word I’ve heard used this way in real life this century. Unlike say “lit” which I’m not sure anyone has used this side of WWII. So bring on modern phrases for drunk and lose the old ones I say!
Geoff Down Under @2
You might be in trouble with RoI solvers describing “(River)Shannon” as a “UK specific clue”🤣
Enjoyed today, but it took less time than a pint, of Dark Star, to take down.
Thanks both
I think the trouble with OLD FRENCH is that in effect there is only word play and not a definition. Vieux is old in French but is not old French. I liked CEDILLA. One of those when the penny suddenly dropped.
Geoff Down Under#2
You might be in trouble with RoI solvers describing “(River)Shannon” as a “UK clue”🤣
Enjoyed today, but it took less time than a pint, of Dark Star, to take down.
Thanks both
mrpenney @47 – I’m also surprised how little SEDER was recognised – in the Christian tradition the last supper on Maundy Thursday is usually interpreted as a Seder or its forerunner; there was a trend a few years back for celebrating a Seder on Maundy Thursday as part of the Lenten/Easter tradition, usually when Passover and Easter don’t coincide.
Enjoyable stroll from Maskarade. Liked 10a OUTINGS (misdirection using “nuts” as anagrist rather than grind), 13a SCINTILLA (nice surface, anagram, and word), 16a IN A SECOND (“canonised” anagram), 7d EMAIL (neat discovery)
23a CARES, was trying valiantly to justify BARES before getting the first crosser, and the penny dropped
3d there’s the old reliable NONET again (as noted by Martin@22). They seem to be much more common in crosswords than in the real world!
4d NOSES, is “suit first” for S a problem? Should it be “suit’s first”?
My first solve after a week away on holiday, so I was grateful for a “gentle” solve – and for once I’m not criticising either those who use that as a term of derision, nor the setter’s intention. I do take issue with the likes of Ace@48 who criticise a clue if it is easily solved by Googling when your own general knowledge is inadequate. Look for the mote in your own eye, Ace.
I didn’t immediately recall SEDER, but with the D from CEDILLA it was suddenly there in my mind. If we resort to Google (other search engines are available) we become dumber. I aim to solve with what’s in front of me – the clues and the grid, and what’s in my mind. If I use Google, I feel diminished. If I use my memory, I feel emboldened.
Thanks to Maskarade for an enjoyable solve, and to PeterO for the blog.
Very enjoyable, and a rare addition to my very slowly growing list of soled and parsed.
Thanks to PeterO and M.
sheffield hatter@57: “If we resort to Google… etc.”; well, up to a point, Lord Copper. If it’s not there at all in your memory, it can’t be dredged out, no matter how hard you cudgel your brains. If I’m really stuck, having gone up and down the alphabet several times, gone away and come back again, looked at it upside down and sideways, I might resort to one of the “what words fit these crossers” sites (in my case worewords.com). Then I have a choice of possibilities and I can think again about what fits the clue. If that works, yes, I feel I’ve cheated a bit; but on the other hand I’ve learnt something new (or sometimes something that was bleedin’ obvious all along, in which case I’ve learnt a new way of feeling a a bit stupid).
It is, after all, only a game…
We don’t understand the unnecessary “Quite the Opposite” in the Cancelled clue.
JK @60
It’s because the “prison room” is inside the “intoxicated”, not the other way round.
Well yes it was easier but I enjoyed it. As PDM @3 said the anagram at 1ac was a great find.
When I first decided I wanted to learn how to do cryptic crosswords I went to a one-day class/seminar at the Guardian. John Halpern was giving it. As a total newbie I was brain-dead by lunch time.
I do remember being amazed at how quickly he could list off anagrams of different words.
Rats@7, thanks for the Michael McIntyre clip. I shall remember “I’m carparked” the next time I need a ride home.
And thanks Shanne@28 for the charming reminder of Robert Macfarlane’s wonderful book of Lost Words.
Re 3d NONET, Bohuslav Martinu composed a beautiful one, well worth a listen.
I couldn’t parse 23d and also 15d (the CANED = intoxicated bit).
New for me: The Listener (BBC magazine).
I’m really surprised how many people hadn’t heard a charm of goldfinches. I thought it would be considerably better known than, say, a parliament of owls or a murder of crows.
Quite often goldfinches are the commonest birds on our feeders. They go for sunflower seeds rather than the recommended niger, and they are dedicated – where the tits do a smash and grab, the goldfinches stay there for minutes at a time.
[Muffin @64, it’s similar round here – the various tits are quite tentative, unless you get a bunch of blue tits, who can be pretty pushy, but then a dozen (I should say a charm of) goldfinches come along and hoover up all the sunflower seeds and no one else can get a look in.
I’ve always thought (which doesn’t mean I think I’m right) that a charm could be applied to any group of finches, not just the red, black and gold ones. On reflection, I realise I heard this from my Yr 8 (or the equivalent at the time – first year of secondary school) English teacher, one Colonel Finch. He used to delight in telling us about his war-time exploits in Sudan, one of which involved him having to have a metal plate inserted in the back of his head. Other than that I don’t think he taught us much that was very useful, but I’ve always remembered the “charm of finches”.]
Thanks both.
A collective term for those who find fault with our setters (‘too easy’, ‘too hard’ (but today uniformly ‘too easy’)) might be a ‘grid’ of cross downers. It won’t catch on….
Enjoyed this as a relative newbie — one of the few I’ve been able to fully solve. Appreciate that for more experienced hands it may not have been chewy enough, but a good confidence boost for us lesser mortals.
Derek@58. Of course. I’ve often been in that situation. But I know from experience that sometimes a little nudge will prompt something that I thought I didn’t know to come to the surface. The person who felt that they “had to Google [to get CHARM] which does not make for a particularly satisfying solve” makes it seem as though they think it’s Maskarade’s fault. We all have a choice in this situation. It’s not usually the setter’s fault if you make one that you’re not happy with.
When I said that this was a write-in, the only clue that I had to think twice on was SYNDICATE. I think I would pronounce it CINDY KATE as a verb, but as a noun I think most would pronounce it SINDI CUTT (with the vowel in the last syllable a schwa).
paddymelon @ 3. Is it Faulconbridge by any chance
[PDM @3
I live near a small town called Barnoldswick. This claims to be:
a) the longest place name in England that doesn’t repeat a letter
b) the largest settlement in England that doesn’t have an A road
c) Stanley’s crumpet factory that the rain that falls on one side of the pitched roof ends up in the Irish Sea; on the other side in the North Sea (it’s not still there!)
I can’t confirm that any of these are true.]
I’m sorry if I am asking a silly question here; maybe I’m missing the obvious in the explanation.
Where does ‘E’ come from in 23a CARES?
Steffen @72 Sweetheart implies the heart of the word sweet, i.e. E. This and very similar devices pop up regularly
thecronester#29
Yesterday’s Vulcan had more difficult clues but the grid itself was what is called “friendly” with long words across the top and down the left hand side giving lots of first letters and a considerable overlap between the quarters. I’m not one who normally notices these things.
muffin#71
Do the locals still call it “Barlick”? I had a schoolfriend from there many years ago. His father worked for Rolls Royce.
SH@68: yes indeed. To some extent it’s a game you are playing against yourself. If you break or bend your own rules on how much outside assistance you use, you only have yourself to blame.
@Muffin
Buckfastleigh
Buslingthorpe and
Bricklehampton
All beat Bar’lick.
Strange that they all begin with B.
Pino @74
Yes
Major @76
Good research!
Really enjoyed this. As a newbie, a good mix of clues. Good fun and do-able.
I can thoroughly recommend the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton (a community owned pub). I spent a very pleasant couple of hours there last year.
Thank you Doofs
I’m a few days behind but have to come here to say how thrilled I am that my tiny village is mentioned in 1 across!