This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
This week’s puzzle is the 8th puzzle by Dice, 9th including a paper only special. Dice has included a theme or nina in all her previous crosswords, this one is a pangram – a puzzle where every letter of the alphabet is included. Today we have anagrams and acrostics with all the letters present, plus charades and insertions where the words come from the solvers general and cryptic knowledge. I am still part way through a summary of the tricks and crosswordese from probably the first two years, but today isn’t quite two years since the first puzzle came out, which was 6 April 2024. So in those two years we have covered 105 puzzles (2 years).
The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times.
This blog developed in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too. To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.
For additional help click here
There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers
For abbreviations and clue tips click here
Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:
- underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
- indicators are in red.
- CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. haVE ALtered for the example.
- anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
- anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
- soundalike – is indicated by “Wilde” – so in the example, Oscar “Wilde”, the playwright and author, is indicating the soundalike WILD.
- charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
- reversals – the reversal element of a clue is indicated by < – so in the example clue below, VieTNAm <.
- CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
- DBE or definition by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
- surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.
TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:
- Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON - Charade Combination of synonyms/abbrevs
‘Qualify to get drink for ID (8)’ gives PASSPORT (pass + port)
– the same explanation from week 1 – see more above - Acrostic First letters of answer
‘Initially Get A Good joke (3)’ gives GAG. - Insertion One thing inside another makes answer
‘In favour of republican entering Post Office (3)’ gives PRO (in favour of)
R (republican) inserted into (entering) PO (Post Office from maps)
| ACROSS | Click on “Answer” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Maiden, kind mother, name father of the illegitimate? (7)
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AnswerMILKMAN |
Parsingcharade of M (maiden – from cricket) + ILK (kind) + MA (mother) + N (name) – ILK is heard in “more of that kind/ilk”. There’s an old trope, both in the UK (which still gets some daily milk deliveries) and the US, that the milkman used to visit bored housewives stuck at home after the man of the house left for work and fathered a number of children. |
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| 5 |
Pan across faces of winning Olympic karatekas (3)
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AnswerWOK |
Parsingacrostic (faces of) from Winnning Olympic Karatekas for this sort of pan. The “across” here is to make the surface make sense. One of the bloggers highlights any unnecessary words in a clue as not being helpful, but I like my surfaces to make sense. In passing, karatekas practice karate. |
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| 7 |
Workers in southern Welsh river (5)
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AnswerSTAFF |
Parsingcharade of S (southern) + TAFF (Welsh river). |
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| 8 |
Bear taking heads off tourists exploring Denver – dopey yokels! (5)
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AnswerTEDDY |
Parsingacrostic (taking heads off) of Tourists Exploring Denver Dopey Yokels. |
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| 9 |
Persuaded fish to eat chop (6)
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AnswerCOAXED |
Parsinginsertion (to eat) – COD (fish) around (to eat) AXE (chop) – so an insertion of AXE into COD – insertions don’t have to be letters as in the example above. AXE and chop can be matched in a sentence if both are used as verbs – even if the chop in the clue surface is a noun. |
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| 10 |
Starts to recover, eating Saturday’s takeaway leftovers (4)
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AnswerREST |
Parsingacrostic (starts to) of Recover Eating Saturday’s Takeway with an evocative surface. |
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| 13 |
Idle amateur gains zero (4)
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AnswerLAZY |
Parsinginsertion (gains)- LAY (amateur) with Z (zero) inserted. LAY is crossword shorthand for amateur as lay members of church teams are unpaid volunteers, compared with the paid ministers or priests, but, within the Church of England, all the lay readers and other lay ministers I know have undergone years of training – and usually that training has been part of same training undertaken by the ministers – who themselves are not always paid or are paid in kind (house for duty). Z for zero is in the fourth list of abbreviations listed in my version of the Big Red Book (BRB – Chambers dictionary). Z for Zero was going to the title of the last Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone mystery. |
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| 15 |
Peer at dancing parrot (6)
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AnswerREPEAT |
Parsinganagram of (PEER AT)* with an anagrind of “dancing” – with another evocative surface – it’s years since I’ve seen one, but dancing parrots used to be a street entertainment – and checking, it’s because I’m not on Tiktok, lots of dancing cockatoos on there. |
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| 18 |
Veto Japanese over instrument (5)
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AnswerBANJO |
Parsingcharade of BAN (veto) + J (Japan – IVR plates) + O (over – from cricket). Abbreviations from IVR (International Vehicle Registration) plates are regularly used in crosswords if we haven’t covered them before, so another vocabulary to learn. |
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| 19 |
Contaminated organ produces gas (5)
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AnswerARGON |
Parsinganagram of (ORGAN)* with an anagrind of “contaminated” for one of the noble gases. |
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| 20 |
Shaft leaders of Reddit and Yahoo (3)
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AnswerRAY |
Parsingacrostic (leaders of) Reddit And Yahoo – for the definition, think of a shaft of light. Andthe surface conjures up some of the legal cases challenging social media algorithms. |
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| 21 |
Blue jerk lives in the sea (7)
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AnswerAQUATIC |
Parsingcharade of AQUA (blue) + TIC (jerk) |
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DOWN
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| 1 |
US claim works such as Les Mis (7)
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AnswerMUSICAL |
Parsinganagram of (US CLAIM)* with an anagrind of “works” – where Les Mis is the usual abbreviation for Les Misérables. |
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| 2 |
A mall let loose animal (5)
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AnswerLLAMA |
Parsinganagram of (A MALL)* with an anagrind of “let loose”. |
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| 3 |
Resentful male, one very loud journalist (6)
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AnswerMIFFED |
Parsingcharade of M (male) + I (one – in Roman numerals) + FF (very loud – musical notation) + ED (journalist) – all of these are standard crossword abbreviations. |
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| 4 |
Observe Occupational Therapist in northeast (4)
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AnswerNOTE |
Parsinginsertion (in) of OT (occupational therapist) in NE (northeast). |
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| 5 |
West side golf club (5)
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AnswerWEDGE |
Parsingcharade of W (west) + EDGE (side) for this golf club. |
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| 6 |
Important European in Kentucky (3)
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AnswerKEY |
Parsinginsertion (in) of E (European) into KY (Kentucky – standard state abbreviation). E for European turns up all the time in crosswords as do the US states and their abbreviations. |
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| 11 |
Enormous cast act in it (7)
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AnswerTITANIC |
Parsinganagram of (ACT IN IT)* with an anagrind of “cast”. The cast in the clue suggests actors in a play, but can also mean to throw something – a dice, seeds, and demonstrates the art of a good surface, where the indicators are chosen to work with the rest of the clue to make a meaningful surface. Here the surface suggests one of those Biblical blockbusters with a huge cast. |
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| 12 |
Characters first appearing in Deadpool elicit jumpiness and very unnerving feeling it’s happened before? (4,2)
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AnswerDEJA VU |
Parsingacrostic (characters first appearing in) Deadpool Elicit Jumpiness And Very Unnerving – and the length of the clue suggests an acrostic. |
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| 14 |
Beginners in Zumba inevitably notice growing youthful and full of vitality (5)
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AnswerZINGY |
Parsingacrostic (beginners in) of Zumba Inevitably Notice Growing Youthful the surface reads as a good advertisement for Zumba. |
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| 16 |
The GI organised rowing team? (5)
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AnswerEIGHT |
Parsinganagram of (THE GI)* with an anagrind of “organised”. GI turns up in crosswords as American soldier, standing for General Infantry man. And we’ve got another appearance of the only rowing team seen in crosswords – although there are others. |
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| 17 |
Drink a sod drunk (4)
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AnswerSODA |
Parsinganagram of (A SOD)* with an anagrind of “drunk” – I suspect the sod in the surface here is an epiphet for an unpleasant person. |
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| 18 |
British Rail incorporating a saloon? (3)
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AnswerBAR |
Parsinginsertion (incorporating) of A (from the clue) into BR (British Rail). Saloon is one of those words that are used a lot in cryptic crosswords as it can mean a number of things – a car, a room for relaxation in a house or elsewhere. |
New for me: milkman father of the illegitimate (for 1ac). It doesn’t really make sense to me to say those babies/children are illegitimate – surely (if they existed at all) they would simply be absorbed into the family as the kids of the woman’s husband. Or is it supposed to be some sort of joke?
michelle@1 yes, it is a joke though not current as hardly anyone has a milkman anymore. I couldn’t parse 1a as I couldn’t account for ILK but I see it now. Thanks, Shanne.
Our milkman (or woman?) delivers at 2 in the morning when we’re all home and asleep – unlikely to provide an opportunity for shenanigans.
I enjoyed that, thank you Dice and Shanne.
Interestingly, I really struggled with the across clues at first pass, but the downs yielded more for me, and then I got to 14D ZINGY and three thoughts flashed before my eyes: it’s a pangram, it’s going to include every letter, it’s got to have an X somewhere. Gotta have an X, gorra have an X, IT’S GOT TO HAVE AN ah, yes, X as in AXE as in COAXED thank you.
Thanks Shanne and to Dice for a chewy in places QC. I was really held up with the NW corner – 1a, 3d, 7a and 9a. Then sussed ILK for kind and TAFF for the river and the others fell into place. 3d was my last one in. Enjoyable challenge for the QC and good charades practice.
Thanks Shanne and Dice. Great puzzle this week. Favourite clue MILKMAN, although I needed all the crossers before the penny dropped. Reminded me of Ernie! Didn’t spot the pangram.
I guessed 1a, but needed to have it explained.
Got 21a from the crosses easily, but had no idea how to parse it (is that synonym common??)
Also 3d, I gave never come across that notation before, but I’ll remember it 😉
As ever, thank you!!
HumbleTim@6 I thought of Ernie too!
OT
In the one-time email you now send, what is the point of asking people to check the spam folder? The act of reading the reminder defeats the purpose of the reminder itself 😀
/OT
Yes, an excellent little puzzle Dice, but surely too hard for the slot? I thought some of the charades were very chewy. I bunged in bongo for 18a and wondered why it was “bon” instead or “ban” and then why I had two blank squares when I pressed “check all”
Andrea @9 – when we tested this new feature, all of us who tested this with alternative e-mail accounts commented that the email went to our spam folders, even if we didn’t know where the spam folders were on that account.
and @7 – do you mean TIC? – it’s one of those words that comes up a lot in crosswords, means an involuntry movement or jerk, depending on which part of the body is demonstrating the tic. I do try to explain at least some of the concepts and words, but not everything and not necessarily things I’ve explained before. (But I’m not sure I’ve explained tic – I’m checking now)
A sticky one indeed! Thanks DICE. Shanne I am learning SO much through your blog!! I’d never heard of a pangram so that was new, didn’t know KY was the abbreviation for Kentucky, or that there was a golf club called a wedge. I am beginning to pick up on cricket terms and music ones too; but today I had to guess MILKMAN, although maybe it’s a term now best left to stay in the past??
Although I got the right answer for 1a – I totally missed ilk meaning kind and thought milk as in milk maid(en), then km = kind mother. No wonder I thought the answer was a bit convoluted! What a twit! Thanks so much Shanne for your brilliant explanations. Thanks to Dice too of course – was good fun!
I thought it was quite tricky in a good way. Thank you for the excellent blog which explained the answers I’d guessed without quite knowing why!
@11, Shanne.
I mean in the email itself, not on here. 😉
“Thanks for commenting on the site.
Before your comment can appear, please verify your email by clicking the link below:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/…
Thanks! *Don’t forget to check your spam/junk folder*”
I agree the surfaces were very smooth, my favourite being WOK. MIFFED made me laugh, and I only twigged the use of ILK in MILKMAN after reading Shane’s blog. And only parsed it due to crossers.
Thanks Dice & Shanne.
I also thought this was a bit chewier than usual, but all doable. Staff my LOI, and had to look up if Taff is a river in Wales (whcich I found out it is indeed). As usual, I missed the pangram… Thanks, Dice and Shanne
Thank you, Shanne. I learn so much from your blog. I guessed 1a, but still needed an explanation. I googled out the golf club and the river to check my guesses, but MILKMAN remained a mystery to me. Also information for TITANIC was new to me.
And thanks Dice for this enjoyable QC.
This was great, thank you. I decided to have a crack at cryptics for the first time over Easter and this is the first one I’ve managed to finish without help. Clearly pitched at the right level 👍🏻
Reading this after really helped consolidate the logic.
COAXED took me ages though!
I dropped in here 15 minutes ago, because I am always interested to see how a QC tests the thresholds of newer solvers. I find it helpful to have a sense of where those thresholds are drawn. Here I would just add the frivolous comment that the old trope of the horny and fecund MILKMAN is riffed on in an episode of ‘Father Ted’ called, I think, ‘Speed 3’, where the milkman responsible for a rash of strange births on Craggy Island is called Pat Mustard.
I enjoyed that. MILKMAN was tricky, and was my LOI, but I really liked miffed!
Plain sailing but had to complete my round and come back to MILKMAN. Great clue which gave me a chuckle.
Thanks Dice and Shanne
Milkman got me too, reminded me of the new mum I met in a maternity ward who merrily proclaimed her baby was a blue eyed redhead, just like his dad, the milkman
…of course she was married to a milkman