Thanks to Philistine for an enjoyable puzzle – and apologies for a late and slightly hurried blog, it’s been a hectic morning. I haven’t been able to fully work out 8dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 5 | CARDIAC SURGEON |
Medic’s poor score with Guardian crossword debut (7,7)
|
| anagram/”poor” of (score Guardian c), with the first letter/debut of c-[rossword] | ||
| 5 | CARDIAC SURGEON |
See 1
|
| 9 | AESOP |
A model turned storyteller (5)
|
| definition refers to Aesop’s Fables
A (from surface), plus POSE=to “model” reversed/”turned” |
||
| 10 | ASPIRATES |
Being criminals sucks (9)
|
| AS PIRATES=being pirates=”being criminals” | ||
| 11 | PERFORMERS |
Each prior show to begin with cast (10)
|
| PER=”Each” + FORMER=”prior” + beginning of S-[how] | ||
| 12 | ONER |
Single move divorce city’s backing (4)
|
| definition: a single action
RENO=US city known as a place to get a divorce=”divorce city” reversed/”backing” |
||
| 14 | EXONERATION |
Old individual helping to get acquittal (11)
|
| EX=”Old” + ONE=”individual” + RATION=a serving or “helping” of something | ||
| 18 | SHOPLIFTERS |
They possibly pilfer hot stores, removing content (11)
|
| anagram/”possibly” of (pilfer hot ss)*, including s-[tore]-s with inner letters (“content”) removed | ||
| 21 | AMOK |
Feel reasonably well or berserk (4)
|
| AM OK, as in ‘I am OK’ = ‘I feel reasonably well’ | ||
| 22 | UNPLEASANT |
Nasty and perhaps guilty, wearing fake suntan (10)
|
| PLEA=”perhaps guilty” referring to a guilty plea in court; inside anagram/”fake” of (suntan)* | ||
| 25 | GESTURING |
Teaching the students at last, mathematician is using body language (9)
|
| “last” letters of [Teachin]-G [th]-E [student]-S; plus (Alan) TURING=”mathematician” | ||
| 26 | CUBA LIBRE |
See 24 Down
|
| 27 | TILLAGE |
Farm work up to maturity (7)
|
| TILL=”up to” + AGE=”maturity” | ||
| 28 | TURN RED |
Look embarrassed seeing nurse regularly in motion (4,3)
|
| regular letters from N-[u]-R-[s]-E, inside TURD=”motion” as in an evacuation of the bowels | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CRAPPY |
Express unhappiness about programme that’s trashy (6)
|
| CRY=”Express unhappiness”, around APP (e.g. on a smartphone)=”programme” | ||
| 2 | ROSARY |
Awfully sorry to have pocketed a chaplet (6)
|
| definition: a rosary is a type of chaplet (prayers using prayer beads)
anagram/”Awfully” of (sorry)*, around/pocketing the letter A (from the surface) |
||
| 3 | IMPROPERLY |
Poorly writer’s in favour of vague reply (10)
|
| I’M=I am=this writer is=”writer’s” + PRO=”in favour of” + anagram/”vague” of (reply)* | ||
| 4, 15 | CHARM OFFENSIVE |
Clue for March: one in seven desperately trying to make friends and influence people (5,9)
|
| CHARM OFF=”Clue for March”, because OFF is an anagram indicator, and (charm)* would give MARCH
…plus I=”one” in anagram/”desperately” of (seven)* |
||
| 5 | SUPERSEDE |
Replace McEnroe in broadcast? (9)
|
| sounds like (in broadcast): ‘super seed’
in a tennis tournament, a ‘seed’ is a highly ranked player, so John McEnroe (who has held the No.1 ranking) might have been a ‘super seed’ |
||
| 6 | RARE |
Almost raw and red (4)
|
| definition referring to meat served rare
almost all letters from RA-[w] and from RE-[d] |
||
| 7 | EATING IN |
Not going to a restaurant with inane git misbehaving (6,2)
|
| anagram/”misbehaving” of (inane git)* | ||
| 8 | NOSE RING |
Wedding band for a shilling in Northern poor regions (4,4)
|
| N (Northern) plus anagram/”poor” of (regions)*
not sure about the rest of the clue / definition… |
||
| 13 | FATS WALLER |
Pianist playing ‘Waterfalls’ (4,6)
|
| definition: an American jazz pianist
anagram/”playing” of (Waterfalls)* |
||
| 15 | CHARM OFFENSIVE |
See 4
|
| 16 | ESCARGOT |
Is in France consuming load – this? (8)
|
| definition: escargot/snails are consumed in France
EST=”Is” in French, around CARGO=”load’ |
||
| 17 | COLOSSAL |
Massive waste in fossil fuel (8)
|
| LOSS=”waste” in COAL=”fossil fuel” | ||
| 19 | BARBER |
Criticism oddly not heard for Figaro? (6)
|
| definition: Figaro is the name of the Barber of Seville in Rossini’s opera
BARB=”Criticism”, plus [h]-E-[a]-R-[d] without its odd letters |
||
| 20 | ATTEND |
On board boat, ten days – be there! (6)
|
| hidden inside (On board): [bo]-AT TEN D-[ays] | ||
| 23 | LEGIT |
Go straight (5)
|
| or to LEG IT=to rush, to go | ||
| 24, 26 | CUBA LIBRE |
Cocktail – one drunk by a clubber dancing (4,5)
|
| I=”one” inside anagram/”dancing” of (a clubber)* |
I think a NOSE RING relates to jewellery worn at Asian weddings. Another fabulous offering without a dud in sight. CARDIAC SURGEON is as good as it gets and I also liked SHOPLIFTERS, AMOK, GESTURING, TURN RED, CHARM OFFENSIVE, SUPERCEDE, FATS WALLER, ESCARGOT and COLOSSAL. Bravo.
Ta Philistine & manehi.
Friendlier than the average Philistine, I thought – though I was equally perplexed by Nose Ring.
The Owl and the Pussycat buy a nose ring from a pig, for one shilling, which they use to get married with. “Dear Pig, are you willing / To sell, for one shilling / Your ring? Said the piggy, I will.”
8d O pig are you willing to sell for one shilling, your ring?
Owl and pussycat
8dn a reference to the owl and the pussycat. O pig are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring, said the piggy I will.
Thanks Philistine and manehi
I didn’t understand the definition for NOSE RING either. Otherwise, great fun, Favourites AM OK, UNPLEASANT, and GESTURING.
A pity he didn’t use a more current tennis player at 5d. Alcaraz would have worked, as he also has 7 letters, but I suppose the potential anagram would have looked less likely.
I first saw the LEG IT joke in a Alex cartoon. Scroll down to 7th May 1993 to see it.
NOSE RING put me in mind of the The Owl and the Pussycat, who, finding themselves in need of a wedding ring, purchase the nose ring of a pig. I have no I idea if that was the intended allusion:
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
…
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
Well done mrpenny @3 et al.
Muffin @6: I had that thought about SUPERSEDE too. But the other thing is that for the surface reading of the clue, McEnroe is now notably a broadcaster–he’s been calling tennis matches at this point for longer than he spent playing them.
Why is my crossword today No. 29920 by Harpo? (Printed version)
Thanks to the people who explained nose ring.
I took supersede to be a reference to McEnroe’s old nickname of Supermac.
very very good crossword – and gold star to @ # 3 Mr Penney.
tx manehi
A nice challenge, with just right mixture of more and less chewy clues for me. NOSE RING was neat – I did work that one out after puzzling over it for a bit.
TURN RED made me snort!
I think we’ve had WATERFALLS/FATS WALLER in a puzzle fairly recently? It still took me a while to get though: I was trying to find a classical pianist.
Good stuff, Philistine and manehi.
Muffin#6, mrpenney#9, I wondered if McEnroe was chosen for the overtones of his nickname, in the UK at least – superbrat.
The paper has an old puzzle from weeks ago 29920 by Harpo. Thought it was familiar after two or three clues. Solution to “yesterday’s” shows no. 29919. How can that happen?
McEnroe was probably chosen for his ‘superrbrat’ nickname.
Dom @10 missed your earlier post making the same point. Everyone else must solve online.
Great puzzle, as expected. With a couple of consecutive ONEs showing up in the first few acrosses, I wondered if there was a theme brewing, but no. It might be a good theme subject for someone, sometime, though.
I’m another who didn’t spot the NOSE RING reference, but it hardly held me up. Agree with the comments on McEnroe.
Tx.
My copy of the Guardian today has the crossword number 29920 by Harpo. Tuesday 3 February 2026
Same here. Definitely Harpo!
Thank you, Manehi, for parsing of 4,15 and 20d, which latter I was completely blind to ;(
Thank you mrpenney@3 for that explanation.
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”
…
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
I guess I was meant to waste time trying to find an anagram of MCENROE IN – either replace or broadcast could be the anagrind, or the def. A splendidly misleading clue for which a different super-seed wouldn’t do unless they also had 7 letters.
Very enjoyable: favourites EATING IN for a funny surface, ESCARGOT, LEG IT and of course CARDIAC SURGEON for the man himself. One or two rather indefinite definitions – “they” or “this”, it didn’t hold me up. Didn’t know chaplet=ROSARY.
Since I can only access the Guardian online, was happily unaware of the print error…
I tried to anagram “McEnroe in” for a while, before supersede emerged as the answer with the help of the crossers. Otherwise not too taxing. Especially like “CHARM OFFENSIVE”. Thanks Philistine and Manehi.
New for me: chaplet = ROSARY, CUBA LIBRE cocktail.
I couldn’t parse 12ac or 28ac and I wondered about 8d why is nose ring a wedding band – thanks mpenney@3 for explaining it.
Gladys@22 A near-simultaneous post! Glad I had company in my futile attempt to anagram “McEnroe in”.
An excellent crossword, I thought, though I needed the parsing for 1/6 across. I had CARD for ‘score’ (as in golf, I think) then IAC = a ‘crossword debut’ but couldn’t see where the SURGEON came in. Thanks for the blog, manehi.
As Alan C at #1, I had ‘supercede’ rather than ‘supersede’. Since some dictionaries include ‘supercede’ as a word whose ‘meaning’ is ‘a common misspelling of ‘supersede”, did I complete today’s crossword or not?
To those who tried to anagram MCENROEIN, that’s why I picked Alcaraz as a modern alternative – also 7 letters.
Another with a print version … but a bonus … I did get to read the entire comments section by looking for it on fifteensquared 😊.
Harpo’s 29920 appeared on February 3rd – and it’s now March 3rd. If it’s the same puzzle, there’s a blog for it on that date.
Great stuff from Philistine which went in surprisingly smoothly this morning.
Great clues as always from this setter but SHOPLIFTERS a clear winner today.
Another who wasted time trying to anagram ‘McEnroe in’. Was a bit unsure about SUPERSEDE until the checking letters were in. Aren’t all seeds super players by definition though?
Thanks Philistine and Manehi
Thanks to Harpo for a great puzzle today.
Jack@27 I’ve also seen “alright” defined in a dictionary as an unaccepted spelling of “all right”. My English teacher taught me that alright is alwrong. I don’t think misspellings should be included in a reputable dictionary at all, but maybe that’s just me.
This wasn’t difficult but I NHO FATS WALLER and had to guess him from the crossers by varying the letter order. I felt a Paulish vibe a little… Thanks Philistine and manehi, and mrpenney et al for the Owl and the Pussycat explanation!
I’m another with an old crossword from 3rd February in my newspaper for 3rd March. So I had to do this one on my phone, which told me it took me 35 minutes to complete it.
Luckily I know how to spell SUPERSEDE. That was one of my last few in, which probably took about a quarter of my solving time. RARE was another one – a tricky clue for a vegan to solve – and ASPIRATES, as it took me ages to dredge up the proper word for ‘sucks’!
Thanks to Philistine and manehi.
Excellent puzzle. Especially liked AMOK, ASPIRATES, LEGIT, RARE fitting wordplay into a very concise definition, and the &lits and long anagrams were very nicely done too. Thanks Philistine and manehi!
Spent a little while trying to figure out whether TOUPAGE was some kind of farm before working it out.
Thanks to Philistine and manehi.
The clue for NOSE RING was lovely, as well explained by mrpenney@3 and others.
SHOPLIFTERS was great too.
But, for 5down, I plumped for SUPERCEDE (on the model of INTERCEDE) instead of SUPERSEDE. With apologies to Jack@27, I felt I had to be strict and class that as a fail.
To Layman@34 and anyone else unlucky enough not to know the music of Fats Waller, I’d recommend “I’m going to sit write down and write myself a letter” – and hope it makes you smile.
Found this pretty much the perfect solve today. Beguiled into having a first go at it just after midnight struck and loved this setter’s self introduction at 1,5 ac. But only managed to fill in half the grid then before my eyelids began to close. Came back to it in the cold light of day, when I suddenly saw CHARM OFFENSIVE. And then things fell quite quickly and satisfyingly into place, with last two in SUPERSEDE and SHOPLIFTERS.
Many thanks Philistine and Manehi…
A tip to remember the spelling of SUPERSEDE is that it derives from “to sit above”, so the “sit” bit (from Latin sedere) gives S, as in sedentary, sedan chair, etc.
Thank you, muffin@39! That’s one sorted – but dozens more to go!
Am I the only person to have today’s printed edition of the Guardian showing Cryptic Crossword no 29920 set by Harpo (alongside the solution to no 29919)?
This previously appeared exactly a month ago on Feb 3rd. Groundhog day, maybe? An attempt to raise the difficulty level by providing an unrelated set of clues? Or do I have a rare and invaluable artefact?
I chose some of these to mull over on the way back to sleep at 3am but I misread Pasquale setting so didn’t catch the right tone.
Initial misdirection in CHARM OFFENSIVE (HAPPY – one in seven!) seen off later by CARDIAC and then realising who the setter was!
We always had to write a big S/S over superseded documents back in the 00s which is how I remember the spelling.
A very pleasant solve. I liked the good anagrams for CARDIAC SURGEON and SHOPLIFTERS, the clubber with his CUBA LIBRE, and the Paulian TURN RED.
Thanks Philistine and manehi.
Buddy #41. I had the same Harpo crossword No. 29920 in my print edition. Presumably all the comments about the Philistine puzzle are from those who have completed it online?
buddy @41
They got the date right anyway, if not the month!
I take the paper but do the puzzle on a printout so that I’m not hogging it, so it was quite a surprise when I got to look at the pink bit and found the Harpo puzzle.
There may be more to 13d than meets the eye. My brother is a pianist and when I mentioned this clue to him he told me that Fats Waller often played a type of Hammond organ with so-called ‘waterfall’ keyboards, in which the edges are rounded rather than sharp to permit rapid movement from one to the other.
I wonder if Philistine is aware of this.
Buddy#41 no but you may be the only one not to have read the thread before posting 😉
Hadrian#47 Also guilty as charged but no official word for the two different puzzles on the same day.
Thanks a bunch Guardian , a great way to insult your loyal readers who buy the paper every day spending over £1000 a year .
One of those days when the brain was in second gear. I found this harder than last Saturday’s prize.
After a successful few days it felt back to square one.
Lots of clever clues, I feel the pain of those who did the paper version. Guardian by name, Grauniad by nature.
Good to hear from Roz…
Thanks both.
Another super puzzle from Philistine. I did wonder if a “turd” is the product of a motion rather than a motion in itself. Favourite SHOPLIFTERS.
Mandarin@51. With all the current uproar about water companies venting raw sewage I’m reminded of the old joke that you don’t swim in the sea, you just go through the motions…
The best ever t’Grauniad, print version, misprint. A whole Crossword🤣.
Bardyman @53
Do you remember the first two Ludwig puzzles (I think). A few weeks apart, they had identical grids and solutions, but completely different clues. Of course, that was deliberate.
Mandarin#51- i think it refers to both. The BoneyM song line “Show me your motion sha la la la” used to make me laugh as a kid.
My paper printed a Harpo number 29,920 today. Help! What is happening?
And the solution to 29919………
My experience was similar to ronald@38. Didn’t get much on the first pass. Then out for errands. Then the rest of the puzzle tumbled in fairly quick succession on the bus ride home. Amazing how that happens not infrequently with crosswords. They can go from opaque to obvious in the blink of an eye
Really enjoyed this puzzle. I misspelled 5a SUPERSEDE (as did AlanC@1 and others — well done SH@35!), so I take it as a dnf (also like gladys@22 and others I spent far too long on “McEnroe in” as anagrist). Favourites 1/5 CARDIAC SURGEON (Neat to have “Guardian” as anagrist), 10a ASPIRATES (funny surface), 18a SHOPLIFTERS (great anagram and spectacular CAD), 21a AMOK (loi), 22a UNPLEASANT (political surface?). All the others were great, too, although I was also mystified by the definition of 8d NOSE RING — thanks mrpenney@3 and Phil@5 for clearing it up
I started to do the puzzle in the paper this morning, and after a few clues a feeling of deja vu came stealing over me, and then the penny dropped (not in the normal good crossword way) that this was a repeat. So I ended up doing today’s Philistine on my phone, which is a much less satisfying experience than solving on paper.
I pay for The Guardian by just going round the corner to my local shop every morning and purchasing the actual paper. Roz @49, as you point out, this now adds up to over £1000 a year. I do like to look at the website as well, where I am constantly bombarded with messages asking me to donate and trying to guilt-trip me by telling me how many articles I have read. Obviously there is no option for me to reply and point out that I do in fact pay much more for the paper than the maximum recommended donation.
Lord Jim@59 I agree with you about the guilt-tripping on the website. I pay monthly to read The Guardian on my iPad and, as you say, there is no provision for people to point out that they already pay for the paper. It’s very annoying.
Amma @60 – log in – I get reminders to top up my payments please, but not to pay – and if I get nagged to pay, I’ve been logged out for some reason. I am another e-subscriber to the Guardian, and I am logged in on my laptop and have the Guardian paper app on my phone.
Thanks Philistine for an excellent crossword. CARDIAC SURGEON alone made this worthwhile. Thanks manehi for the blog.
As I hadn’t done 29,920 by Harpo 24 (non-Sun)days go I didn’t twig till coming online just now to enjoy the 15squared blog. I was a bit dismayed at first to realise how few print edition contributors there were, but a good number added comments later. Amusing but a little unsatisfying. Thanks all. I’d love to contribute more, but am usually so late in even looking at the crossword that nearly everyone has moved on to tomorrow.
I looked at yesterday’s comments this morning where James Bowman#83 had kindly pointed out that the paper version was a repeat otherwise I might well not have remembered that I had already solved it and wouldn’t have realised until I came here. It made me realise how much I prefer the paper version because it’s easier to handle and also because there are no ads. When the Guardian finally followed The Times and included an online subscription with the paper one I hoped I might be spared the ads with the Quiptic but I wasn’t. I should have remembered that I could do as muffin does and print it.
Leek Lass#63
I think you’ll find that the early contributors are mainly from countries where midnight in the UK, when the online version becomes available, is a more sociable hour for solving crossords.
Lord Jim @ 59 You do know you can get the paper for ~£740 pa via a subscription? You get a book of tokens which you can lodge with your newsagents and pick up your paper version from them. You also get free access to all the apps and online stuff like archives
muffin@39 If a sedan chair is the kind you sit in, what’s the other kind?
Dave@68 ,can you pay cash for a subscription and not provide any of your details ? I suspect not .
I do not mind paying for my paper but I do expect a new crossword each day .
This is not the first time – February 13th 2024 a Paul puzzle was repeated ,
A replacement online is no use at all for me .
Thanks Dave @68, I had previously considered a subscription but was not keen for similar reasons to Roz’s. Maybe I’ll have another think about it.
Lord Jim at multiple places – you can turn off the guilt tripping “articles read” – there’s an option somewhere. I did this myself, prior to paying $AUD10 per month (because it is chump change for my favourite cryptics).
But, with further thought, that is about 5 pounds, so … 60 quid per annum? Quite the discount on a grand…
Thanks Pino #63. Much is explained. I’ll keep dropping in now and then. 🙂