Guardian 26,976 / Arachne

by

Teachers here are going back after the holidays for a Teacher Day and I no longer have to! 😉 And what better way to celebrate, than with a puzzle from Arachne?

This is risky talk, in view of recent correspondence, but I found this rather ‘easier’ than usual for Arachne – mainly, I think, because of the number of clues which required  us to use only the inside letters of a word, indicated in an ingenious variety of ways [content to leave, filling, innards, clearing banks, walls] or initial [23dn] or alternate [9ac] letters. Throughout the puzzle, we have the usual nifty devices and wonderfully witty surfaces, providing many a smile along the way.

Many thanks, Arachne, for the fun.

Across

1 Content to leave Essex cabbie with pint in bar (6)
EXCEPT
E[sse]X C[abbi]E [‘content’ having left] + PT [pint]

4 Polish revolutionary moving to West as chubby-cheeked child (6)
CHERUB
RUB [Polish] with CHE, the familiar revolutionary, moving to the left [west]

9 Regularly scrubbing toughened moulding (4)
OGEE
[t]O[u]G[h]E[n]E[d] – I think I learned this word from crosswords

10 One reportedly defames northern folk (10)
ICELANDERS
Sounds like [reportedly] I [one, as the Queen might say] + SLANDERS [defames]

11 Reviewing cannabis? Mine is excellent (6)
TIPTOP
Reversal [reviewing] of POT [cannabis] + PIT [mine]

12 Irresistible filling of tenth piece of cake (8)
ENTICING
[t]ENT[h] + ICING [piece of cake]

13 Achy shaking stopped by iodine, salt and kaolin (5,4)
CHINA CLAY
Anagram [shaking] of ACHY round [stopped by] I [iodine] + NaCl [sodium chloride – salt]

15 Record in field event reduced by a third (4)
DISC
DISC[us] [field event]

16 Argument about bathroom fittings (4)
TAPS
Reversal [about] of SPAT [argument]

17 It could be William Spooner’s cherished reputation (5,4)
FIRST NAME
‘Nursed fame’ – Spooner’s cherished reputation: as one who isn’t usually fond of  Spoonerisms, I liked this one!

21 Ridiculous ringtone is a gas! (8)
NITROGEN
Anagram [ridiculous] of RINGTONE

22 She doesn’t appear to eat innards of fowl (2-4)
NO-SHOW
NOSH [to eat] + [f]OW[l] – a typical Arachne clue!

24 Celebrities dropping litter at Ickworth House (10)
GLITTERATI
Well hidden in droppinG LITTER AT Ickworth

25 Obsequious Oscar is sly when abandoning ship (4)
OILY
O [Oscar – phonetic alphabet] + I[s s]LY [abandoning ss – ship]

26 Live on border (6)
RESIDE
RE [on] + SIDE [border]

27 Animal rights dividing supporters (6)
FERRET
RR [rights] in FEET [supporters]

 

Down

 
1 Language coming from artless earthlings (7)
ENGLISH
Anagram [coming from] E[art]HLINGS

2 Males in court case (5)
CHEST
HES [males] in CT [court]

3 Pair doctored photo of a Greek god (7)
PRIAPIC
Anagram [doctored] of PAIR + PIC [photo]

5 Scottish football team loves red suit (6)
HEARTS
Triple definition – the middle one as in ‘I “heart” New York’ on T-shirts

6 Disconcert discounter discounting small discount (9)
REDUCTION
Anagram [disconcert] of DI[s]COUNTER [discounting s – small]

7 Corbyn: “I struggle to be broodingly handsome” (7)
BYRONIC
Anagram [struggle] of CORBYN I – a brilliant surface and one of my favourite clues

8 Power outage, possible source of conflict (10,3)
GENERATION GAP
Cryptic definition: a power cut/outage could be a gap in generation

14 Complaint of writer about the British clearing banks (9)
NEPHRITIS
Reversal [about] of PEN [writer] + [t]H[e] [b]RITIS[h] [minus first and last letters – banks]

16 Elitist rifle range welcoming dilettante (7)
TRIFLER
Hidden in elitisT RIFLE Range

18 English teacher and students getting up when day breaks (7)
SUNRISE
Reversal [getting up] of E [English] SIR [teacher] + NUS [National Union of Students]

19 Low walls of national interest illuminated by night (7)
MOONLIT
MOO [low] + N[ationa]L I[nteres]T

20 Accepted a good vibrator (6)
AGREED
A G [good] REED [vibrator]

23 Trail of droppings leads to shamefaced Rupert Bear (5)
SPOOR
First letters [leads] of Shamefaced Rupert round [bear] POO [droppings] – brilliant  construction and surface and another favourite

48 comments on “Guardian 26,976 / Arachne”

  1. Thanks Arachne and Eileen

    Although I enjoyed this, and although Arachne never does a poor crossword, she was far from at her best in this one, I thought. To start with, it was very much easier than usual, and it was also surprisingly repetitive in clueing.

    I can’t see that the clue for CHERUB works. The “polish” is “moving to the west”, but the revolutionary isn’t, and the word order in the clue could only apply “to the west” to all of it, or just the revolutionary.

    5d would have been better as “Familiar Scottish football club…” as their correct name is “Heart of Midlothian”.

    Favourites were the same as yours, Eileen – BYRONIC and SPOOR.

  2. I too found this easier than usual for Arachne, but no less enjoyable for that. Many lovely surfaces causing a few chuckles – notably 7 & 23d!

    Thank you Arachne & Eileen.

  3. Likewise easy for an Arachne but lost of fun. Was it that much easier or are we just getting used to her regular tricks; no trademark female in place of expected male default though.

    My favourite clue was 7d – esp for including “struggle”.

    Don’t see your problem with CHERUB Muffin:

    I read it as: RUB with (CHE, moving to the left)

    Thanks S&B

  4. JS @3
    Of course – for some reason I thought that the “polish” needed to be reversed, but it doesn’t, of course.

  5. Thank you, Eileen, and congratulations on your new-found freedom. Nice feeling.

    I’ve not done well with this setter in the past and crept forward, peering round corners suspiciously, like someone expecting a bucket of cold water at any second. However I suddenly realised I was finished and still dry!

    I ticked BYRONIC, the wonderful anagram of NITROGEN, & NEPHRITIS. (Loved the clearing banks gag).

    I thought the alliteration in the CHERUB clue led too readily to the answer, and I got all excited when I thought the setter had mis-spelt POOH until I saw the clever construction in the blog.

    Easier? Yes, probably, but a lot of fun.

    Many thanks, Arachne.

    Nice week, all.

  7. Well I don’t mind easier, and this was still Arachne. My one slight query is with 3D, unless ‘of’ means ‘attribute of’ Pan.

  8. Well I don’t mind easier, and this was still Arachne. My one slight query is with 3D, unless ‘of’ means ‘attribute of’ Pan.

  10. Surely a riposte to all those letter writers who have been moaning about the difficulty of Guardian crosswords? An ace setter who they fear they can’t ‘do’, in approachable mood, but with one silky surface after another. My tick list includes EXCEPT, TIPTOP and SPOOR.

    ENTICING had me going as well – I was convinced the ENT was at the end.

    [And Eileen, I remember my last day of teaching, some decades ago. First thing I did was book a September holiday. Such fun.]

  11. Finished this quite quickly (for me) but with one or two not fully explained, so many thanks to Eileen for the blog. There were some very amusing clues, eg 7d and 23d.

    I did think the definition in 8d could have been a bit more precise. “Possible source of conflict” covers a huge range of possibilities.

  12. I’m sure it was too easy for some but I was happy to finish – almost. 14d beat me as I didn’t figure out clearing banks. Thanks to Arachne for some lovely clues – my favourites were also BYRONIC and SPOOR – and once again to Eileen for a lovely clear post. My solving has improved no end since I found fifteensquared.

  13. I’ve been out since shortly after posting the blog.

    Not quite ‘newfound’ freedom, William @5: I retired a decade ago – but I still relish the feeling each year! And, Trailman, that’s exactly what we did!

    Harhop @8 [and 9]
    PRIAPIC: ‘of or pertaining to Priapus’. hence ‘of a Greek god’.

    JS @3: ‘ no trademark female in place of expected male default though.’
    What about 22ac? That’s what I meant by ‘a typical Arachne clue’. 😉

  14. Thank you Arachne and Eileen.

    Another piece of cake, just right for those still struggling with, or suffering after, the Bank “Holiday” Crossword. OGEE was a new word for me, but easily gettable from the clue. FIRST NAME, NO-SHOW, HEARTS, BYRONIC and SPOOR were great.

  15. Eileen @13 – you’re right – I must have sailed right past that one.

    Re the joy of *not* doing something – eg teaching.

    A soldier could see that his pal’s boots were causing him pain every day and asked:”Why don’t you go to the quartermaster’s store and swap them for a pair that fit.” The other replied:”It’s like this. We’re stuck out here in the stinking heat. There are no pubs, no cinemas, no girls, the food’s awful [etc etc]… The only pleasure I get in a whole day is when I take these boots off.”

  18. muffin@1. I read in CHERUB, admittedly in hindsight, not the usual moving to west, ie reversal (of all in this case, grammatically) but ‘polish’ then ‘revolutionary’ before it, ie to the left of polish. An alternative and more deceptive indicator for a ‘contrarily’ clue?
    So many good clues. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

  19. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

    With over 30 years of teaching in universities (in Oz and elsewhere)I am not familiar with the teacher day (holiday?) that you speak of. Not your problem, of course but mine.

    I went through nearly all the across clues before I found one I could solve. After that it yielded slowly.

    For 10a I spent a long time wondering why my S before the L was being rejected.

    I did not get the spoonerism in 17a. The spoonerisms on Lovatts https://lovattspuzzles.com/online-puzzles-competitions/daily-cryptic-crossword/ are much more obvious but I am not saying that is a good thing. I am merely pointing out another online source of cryptic crosswords.

    I was going to ask if anyone could explain how Byronic could mean broodingly handsome but google has come to the rescue.

    Goodnight all, 10pm here

  20. Thanks to Arachne and Eileen. CHINA CLAY was new to me (though clear from the clues) but like Eileen I was familiar with OGEE from previous puzzles (perhaps non-cryptic ones). I too am not fond of Spoonerisms but did enjoy FIRST NAME-nursed fame, and I missed the third meaning of HEARTS (though I’m familiar with the T-shirt). Yes, a bit easier than usual for this setter, but great fun..

  21. Lots of lovely clues, thanks Arachne, and to Eileen for the super blog.

    I loved Corbyn looking all BYRONIC and the trail of droppings.

    Eileen, was 18 written especially for you even if I think you taught classics (and English?)

  22. Hi Robi @21

    Yes, I smiled at 18: quite appropriate – although I was never called SIR. 😉 [For the record, my degree was in Classics but it dropped from the [state school] curriculum fairly soon after I returned to teaching, after having children, and so I spent more years teaching English [and some History] than anything else.]

  23. All very pleasant as one would expect from Arachne, if a little easy by her standards.

    Thanks to Arachne and Eileen

  24. I thought this grid seemed very familiar. The same one was used by both Rufus and Pan (in the Quiptic) yesterday and by Paul in the prize puzzle whose solution appeared in the paper yesterday.

    As Yogi Berra said, “It’s deja vu all over again!”

  25. I could not parse NUS in 14d and OGEE was new for me as well as HEARTS = football team (I am not a soccer/football fan, obviously).

    My favourite was ENGLISH.

    Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

  26. Jolly Swagman @15 & Eileen. Haha, lovely story. You put me in mind of a quote from Paolo Coelho (who might be Saouth American but I’m not sure.)

    “La seule utilitĂŠ rĂŠelle de la cravate, c’est qu’on la retire sitĂ´t rentrĂŠ chez soi, pour se donner l’impression d’ĂŞtre libĂŠrĂŠ de quelque chose, mais on ne sait pas de quoi”

  27. Thanks Eileen and Arachne.

    First time I have completed one of her puzzled. Like SPOOR and PRIAPIC gave me a rise too!

  28. Many thanks Arachne and Eileen. This puzzle gave us a lot of smiles but 6d was out favourite. We’re surprised nobody else has commented on that one.

    Eileen – I retired 2 years ago and I thank the day every morning. Celebrate life.

  29. This puzzle proves that crosswords don’t have to be hard to be brilliant.

    SPOOR had me laughing out loud, with many smiles and chuckles elsewhere.

    Yesterday was my first day of class; my students seemed more sullen than usual.

  31. Thanks both. An enjoyable interlude between struggles with the prize.

    When it said ‘[photo]’ in explaining the solution to 3, I half expected a web link to something illustrating the answer, but it was not so.

  33. I thought this easier than usual for Arachne but I finally finished Maskerade’s puzzle this morning before starting this, and that may have affected my thinking. Rather a nice puzzle though and I particularly liked BYRONIC which was my FOI. NITROGEN was good too. All in all, a pleasant solve for a sunny afternoon.
    Thanks Arachne.

  34. As others have said, surprisingly easy for an Arachne puzzle, but lots of wonderful surfaces as always. I bet the next one will be more challenging. Loved GLITTERATI, FIRST NAME, SPOOR and BYRONIC. Many thanks to Arachne and Eileen.

  35. Thanks Eileen and Arachne – very enjoable, and I also found it easier.

    SPOOR – I always thought this was a trail of droppings.In looking it up, I see it can be just a trail of a scent, but also a trail of droppings, so a very nice clue (and a bit more needs underlining in the definition?)

  36. Thanks all
    This setter usually holds me up longer than this one but the compensation was some delightful clues,
    12, 17 across and 6 down but especially the ingenious 1 across

  37. Thanks Eileen and Arachne,
    This was my first completion of a non-Monday cryptic so it must have been easy – but I’m still very pleased anyway. I needed to come here to find how to parse a few of the clues … I could not believe that GLITTERATI had been right there in plain sight – very well hidden! The only real difficulty I had was at first entering SPAT instead of TAPS as I was not sure which word to reverse.

  38. Regarding William’s comment at 26, Paolo Coelho is Brazilian – I heartily recommend Juan Arias’ biography, “Paulo Coelho: Confessions of a Pilgrim”

  39. I too enjoyed this today. Thank you Arachne and Eileen.I was also a teacher and a Headteacher for 25 years. However retirement is sheer bliss. I feel so sorry for teachers today and especially the children and young people as the current curriculum doesn’t address the needs of all pupils and should do.

  40. An enjoyable puzzle with a lot of clever clues. A slightly-easier-than-usual Arachne seems to be a good level to give me a satisfying challenge. I originally put “spat” instead of TAPS, and GLITTERATI fooled me until I had enough crossers to suggest where “litter” might fit, but then it was obvious.

    My favourites were REDUCTION, BYRONIC (for the mental image of Corbyn trying to look “broodingly handsome”) and NITROGEN.

    Thanks, Arachne and Eileen.

  41. Yes, it was an easyish Arachne crossword.
    That said, I think our beloved setter’s puzzles haven’t been that difficult anyway since she came back from a spell of absence.
    Before that break her crosswords used to be more challenging – however, that is only my perception and perhaps not true at all.

    In the light of a recent discussion about the level of Guardian crosswords, I can only say: this one was perfect.
    Nobody – except perhaps the ones that are really at point 0 – can say that this puzzle wasn’t doable.
    At the same time there was enough Sex (20d) Drugs (11ac) and Rock & Roll (really?) to please the die-hard fans.

    On the downside, I have to say that I do not like ambiguous clues like 16ac, even if it points more in the direction of TAPS than ‘spat.
    I am also not sure whether 10ac is really a good example of a homophone clue.
    But hey!

    Thanks Eileen & Arachne.

  42. Re #41, I think TAPS is the only possibility really as “about bathroom fittings” does not look as if it leads to reversal, to me anyway.
    Can’t see too much wrong with ICELANDERS homophone either but think I understand the point that is being made as it is maybe seen as very slightly indirect.

  43. Thanks Arachne and Eileen.

    I was following with great interest the “I Haven’t A Clue” blog (elsewhere on this site) today but found time to start the crossword this evening. It was not that difficult but fun to solve, and I agree with what Eileen and others have said about the nice surfaces.

    matrixmania @37
    Yes, 16a could be either TAPS or SPAT, the actual solution being determined by either of the crossers. Sil also mentioned this. The clue does indeed read better with TAPS as the answer, but SPAT is also valid and therefore equally likely. This sort of dual solution, decided only by crossers, is quite common now. I believe some solvers hark back to the days of unique solutions, and rules without exceptions, but I’m ok with modern crosswords like today’s.

  44. nmsindy (and maybe others), are you sure that the second part of Icelanders is pronounced just like ‘slanders’?
    Perhaps, the Queen does ….

  45. Loved it all, Arachne’s puzzle, Eileen’s blog, comments on the forum. Lots of fun and wit.
    (Thanks to teachers past and present for comments, which as a teacher who thought she was retired and has returned part-time to the chalkface – although it’s now a whiteboard – resonated a lot with my experience. Looking forward to getting those army boots off again in the next year or so and enjoying again the blissful freedom of having a good go at the daily crossword at my leisure.)

  46. Sil @44

    As often, it depends where you live: Chambers gives both pronunciations of SLANDER – I was perfectly happy. Having seen ISLANDER[s] clued similarly so many times, I was just glad of a new slant.

    Re 16ac. I agree with nmsindy @42: I entered TAPS without a second thought, as being the obvious answer. I don’t think it’s relevant here but I’m with Alan Browne re crossers: it’s crosswords we’re solving!

    All the best, in the meantime, Julie in Australia! 😉

    And so to bed…

  47. I agree this was a lovely puzzle. Definitely easier than most previous Arachnes, though I wonder whether my judgment of what constitutes easiness has been skewed by the weekend’s prolonged grappling with Maskarade.

    I was scuppered by putting in SPAT and not being clever enough to think of the reversal.

    Having just stepped down from a long spell as Chairman of Governors at a lovely but challenging school, I can share, at one remove, the reactions of teachers on this blog!

  48. Thanks Arachne and Eileen

    Agree with the comment with regard to the change in the style of puzzle that Arachne has set after her reappearance from a break. Also agree that there has seemed to be more use of similar devices around single letters which has tended to make her a little more predictable than previously.

    Notwithstanding it is still enjoyable entertainment to complete her puzzles.

    My last few in were ones that have been discussed above – NEPHRITIS (with the cute ‘British clearing banks’), SPOOR (particularly in deciding whether it was OOPS or POO that was a part of the wordplay) and TAPS (where I’d mucked around with C and H for far too long until seeing that it was a reversal).

Comments are closed.