The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29985.
My apologies for the late blog. I rely on an email reminder of my blogs, and have not been getting it for Monday puzzles; I thought I had corrected it, but apparently not. Anyway, stern stuff for a Monday, with a few quiblets, and some definitions which strike me as doubtful, or at least unusual.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | NICHE |
Boutique hotel in Provence? (5)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of H (‘hotel’) in NICE (‘in Provence’ – not a favourite constrution for some); the definition just abour works with ’boutique’ as an adjective. | ||
| 4 | GATEPOST |
Our secret repository tapes got interfered with (8)
|
| An anagram (‘interfered with’) of ‘ |
||
| 8 | MORE TO THE POINT |
At first, Harry Potter got embroiled with emotion of greater relevance (4,2,3,5)
|
| An anagram (‘gor embroiled’) of H (‘at first Harry’) plus ‘Potter’ plus ’emotion’. | ||
| 10 | NIHILIST |
Sceptic rogue exposed Philistine (8)
|
| An anagram (‘rogue’) of ‘[P]hilistin[e]’ minus his outer letters (‘exposed’). I would say that NIHILIST is stronger than the usual use of ‘sceptic’. | ||
| 11 | BO PEEP |
Smell and look of a shepherd (2,4)
|
| A charade of B.O. (body odour, ‘smell’) plus PEEP (‘look”) with, of course, ‘shepherd’ treated as gender-neutral. | ||
| 12 | LOST SHEEP |
Strays see plot unravel, keeping quiet (4,5)
|
| An envelope (‘keeping’) of SH (‘quiet’ as an imperative) in LOSTEEP, an anagram (‘unravel’) of ‘see plot’. | ||
| 15 | NACHO |
Snack shop unwrapped snack (5)
|
| ‘sNACk sHOp’ minus the outer letters of each word (‘unwrapped’). | ||
| 17 | TASER |
Team swears regularly? That’s a shocker! (5)
|
| Alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘TeAm SwEaRs’. | ||
| 18 | PROSECUTE |
Sue’s verse lacking charm, then? (9)
|
| A kind of definition by opposite: PROSE CUTE. | ||
| 19 | REMOTE |
Distant memory about author’s return (6)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of EM, a reversal (‘return’) of ME (‘author’ of this crosswor) in ROTE (‘memory’). | ||
| 21 | ANCESTOR |
Perhaps grandma to some extent dances to relax (8)
|
| A (well) hidden answer (‘to some extent’) in ‘dANCES TO Relax’. | ||
| 24 | KAKISTOCRACIES |
Poor governments giving Socrates a kick, I fancy (14)
|
| An anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘Socrates a kick I’. | ||
| 25 | STIGMATA |
Marks floral parts (8)
|
| Double definition; the Greek-style plural is unusual for the floral stigma. | ||
| 26 | TASKS |
Finally grant requests for jobs (5)
|
| A charade of T (‘finally granT‘) plus ASKS (‘requests’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NOMENCLATURE |
Undersign leaders of climate legislation in environment terminology (12)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of OMEN (-‘sign’) plus CL (‘leaders of Climate Legislation’), with ‘under’- confirming the order, in NATURE (‘environment’). | ||
| 2 | CIRRHOSIS |
Disease can be horrific if ignored by family member (9)
|
| A charade of CIRRHO, an anagram of ‘horr[if]ic’ minus IF (‘if ignored’) plus SIS (sister, ‘family member’). | ||
| 3 | EXTOL |
Wax lyrical about the previous bunch getting a comeback (5)
|
| A charade of EX (‘the previous’) plus TOL, a reversal (‘getting a comeback’) of LOT (‘bunch’). | ||
| 4 | GO TO SLEEP |
Conk out drunk, get up and use loo? Not us! (2,2,5)
|
| An anagram (‘drunk’) of ‘get [u]p’ plus ‘[u]se loo’ minus both U (‘not us’) | ||
| 5 | TEEN |
X÷e = 13-19 (4)
|
| An envelope (‘÷’ – divided by) of ‘e’ in TEN (‘X’ Roman numeral). A Qaotic clue, and none the worse for it. | ||
| 6 | PRONOUNCE |
You or me on vacation, creative and articulate (9)
|
| A charade of PRONOUN (‘you or me’) plus CE (‘on vacation CreativE‘). | ||
| 7 | SINGE |
Some fires, in general, burn (5)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘fireS IN GEneral’. | ||
| 9 | OPTOMETRISTS |
Those with charts choose to hide book? Stirs trouble (12)
|
| A charade of OPTOMET, an envelope (‘to hide’) of TOME (‘book’) in OPT (‘choose’); plus RISTS an anagram (‘trouble’) of ‘stirs’. | ||
| 13 | SURE THING |
Of course their guns misfired (4,5)
|
| An anagram (‘misfired’) of ‘their guns’. | ||
| 14 | PHOENICIA |
Desperately, I phone agency in old Lebanon (9)
|
| A charade of PHOENI, an anagram (‘esperately’) of ‘I phone’; plus CIA (‘agency’). | ||
| 16 | COUNTRIES |
Nations, My Lord, rise in revolution (9)
|
| A charade of COUNT (‘My Lord’ – mildly stretchy) plus RIES, an anagram (‘in revolution’ – equally unexpected) of ‘rise’. | ||
| 20 | MEANT |
Cruel treatment essentially deliberate (5)
|
| A charade of MEAN (‘cruel’) plus T (‘treaTment essentially’). | ||
| 22 | EXACT |
Precise demand (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 23 | ETNA |
This erupts frequently in Vietnam (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘in’) in ‘ViETNAm’. |
I found this tricky for a Monday. 5D defeated me, but after seeing the explanation, I don’t feel too bad about that.
Thank you Philistine and PeterO.
Now I’ve been introduced to the word Kakistocracy I realise how much I have needed it.
I liked this puzzle a lot, and it didn’t take too long at all. The satisfying OPTOMETRISTS was my last one in.
I spotted what PROSECUTE had to be pretty quickly, despite not having fully parsed it. I still haven’t. This is a new one on me, PeterO. How would we know this was “kind of definition by opposite”? Is that a thing?
PROSE CUTE—>POEM not CUTE then—>verse lacking charm then?
Like Jacob@1, I found this difficult. I revealed NICHE which I couldn’t figure out at all and the parsing of GO TO SLEEP and NOMENCLATURE in particular completely stumped me. I very much liked TEEN though. Plenty to enjoy, I think.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
KAKISTOCRACIES new to me too, but I could think of some after I looked up what it meant.
I had 3 or 4 different attempts to parse REMOTE, but none quite worked. Thanks for the correct one.
Favourite GATEPOST, and it was nice to see the LOST SHEEP following BO PEEP!
Me too with the KAKISTOCRACIES, even if it was an anagram. The GATEPOST was another I struggled to be OK with the definition. PRONOUNCE and PROSECUTE felt like a bit of a pair. NOMENCLATURE runs off the tongue rather nicely, too. And I’m very glad that BO PEEP is not that far away in the grid from stumbling over her LOST SHEEP…
Enjoyable mix of straightforward and more challenging clues. LOI 21a ANCESTOR took much longer than it should have. Many fine clues, especially 11a BO PEEP (“Smell and look”), 2d CIRRHOSIS (surface), 13d SURE THING (ditto)
1a NICHE, yes the definition works for me as an adjective. Our local independent cinema has a jingle that describes it as “unique, boutique”
4d GO TO SLEEP, finally caught the “us” trick, for the first time
Thanks both
Martin @3
18A PROSECUTE. If you were to think that PROSE is CUTE you might also find ‘verse lacking charm’. If 5D TEEN is reminiscent of Qaos, this is a device occasionally used by Paul; whether you consider that “a thing” might depend on your view of Paul.
I did 4 fifths of this really quickly and down to my own idiocy in putting wrong letters in 4a got stuck. Once I realised my error it was quick to finish off. Nice crossword.
I suppose GATEPOST only makes sense if you are familiar with the expression (in which I’ve never seen why the gatepost should be in on the secret).
Slight typo in this one, PeterO – the fodder includes “tapes” rather than “taped”.
Hi Peter. Thanks for replying so quickly and for the blog and all your good work in general.
Yes, I’m definitely a Paul fan. Now you mention it, I’ve been quite comfortable with him using a similar device, it somehow felt more oblique here.
Lots of good clues. I was fine with the Qaotic one and agree with your verdict on it.
Thanks also @KVa.
Thanks Philistine for a very good crossword as expected. My favourites included BO PEEP, ANCESTOR, CIRRHOSIS, GO TO SLEEP, the very clever TEEN, and PRONOUNCE. I thought NIHILIST was too strong for ‘sceptic’ but Collins lists ‘nihilism’ and ‘scepticism’ as synonyms so I won’t complain. It was the one clue, however, that I failed to parse. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Thanks to Peter for the blog. Hope the alarm call will reach you next time!
I was on Philistine’s wavelength today, with GATEPOST raising a smile for ‘our secret repository’, and KAKISTOCRACIES being discovered in a cloudy memory cell. (Is this what the US President would use instead of “sh1t holes” if he wasn’t such a jerk?)
I thought we were in for a theme when BO PEEP and LOST SHEEP were my first two in. PROSE CUTE was my favourite – sorry, Martin@3, I just seem to click with this setter, whereas Vulcan on Mondays is very often beyond me!
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Muffin @11: You can say anything to a ‘gatepost’ and your words will go no further. It’s along the lines of ‘if the walls could talk …’
Bloomin’ hard for us. Thank you Philistine for challenge (10a unusual use of setter fodder) and Peter O for explanations for those we just bunged in. Not helped by being under the weather so PRODECUTE took a ridiculously long time to go in. OPTOMETRIST last in with a look up having cycled through all others with charts we could think of and missing the obvious. Admired the tricksy undersign in 1d and liked BO PEEP and TEEN a lot which we got quickly but completely failed to spot that 21a a lurker. Doh. Having had grandchildren all weekend and thus feeling very present I think we need a ‘great” in front to be ancestral (although feeling very ancient just now).
Favourites: GATEPOST, GO TO SLEEP, TEEN (loi).
New for me: KAKISTOCRACIES.
I could not parse 18ac apart from def=Sue. I still don’t really understand it but I don’t need to!
It’s not often being an American yields an advantage in solving a cryptic, but we’re all too familiar with Kakistocracy over here.
I really don’t think that if prose is cute then verse lacks charm. It’s not at all logical. Otherwise enjoyed this puzzle even though tough for a Monday.
Re 1a NICHE — as a resident of Nice my eyebrow jumped at equating it to “Provence?” … the exact definition of “Provence” is variable dependent on the context and time period but the historic county of Provence specifically excluded Comté de Nice. There is a contemporary administrative region called “Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur” but Nice is very much in the “Côte d’Azur” part of that designation.
I appreciate that I am probably in a pedantic minority for pointing that out, but I decided to do it anyway!
After that, a good entertaining puzzle. Unlike other solvers I got KAKISTOCRACIES pretty quickly, which possibly means I read too much about politics…
Thanks both!
😂 EdK @18
muffin @11
4A GATEPOST. Just a suspicion: perhaps the phrase is a bowdlerized version of “between you, me and the bedpost”.
Thanks PeterO @22 – that sounds more likely!
That was a Friday puzzle on a Monday, so no good for a thicko like me.
Thanks both.
PeterO @22 and muffin @23 – I always imagine it refers to gossip over the garden gate – I can picture the scene
I read 18ac as ‘verse lacking’ = PROSE then ‘charm’ = CUTE.
A very good crossword – and how have I lived so long without knowing 24ac?
Thanks both
Great puzzle, less straightforward than the usual Monday fare. Too many good clues to list, but I did like all the more unusually constructed ones.
KAKISTOCRACIES are governments by bad people (we know who you are) rather than just ‘poor governments’, though these may well be the result.
[Further to Rob T’s comment at 20, the Comté de Nice had been part of the Kingdom of Piedmont Sardinia, and Garibaldi – himself a Niçard – was incensed at its handover to France in return from help in prising Lombardy from the Austrians during the Italian Risorgimento]
Thanks to P(hilistin)e and PeterO