The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27440.
A rare excursion for Maskarade from the holiday specials, although I have blogged one of his nearly two years ago. Looking back at that, number 25827, I see that the Rosetta stone makes an appearance there as well. I found this one perhaps a bit harder than that, particularly in the parsing of 3D ROSETTE, 16D SPARSE (I did not know the store) and 18D NOTELET, but for the most part, it slipped in quite smoothly.
If I had been blogging yesterday’s Picaroon, I would have added this picture to 8A MISTRANSLATING:
| Across | ||
| 1, 9 | SUBORDINATE CLAUSES | Santa’s little helpers, grammatically? (11,7) |
| Choose your own description of this clue: my best shot is “Punning cryptic definition”. | ||
| 9 | See 1 | |
| 10 | FORAGES | Hunts, since heavens knows when (7) |
| FOR AGES (‘since heaven knows when’). | ||
| 11 | ARLINGTON | Woefully ignorant, left in cemetery (9) |
| An anagram (‘woefully’) of ‘ignorant’ plus L (‘left’), for the Virginia county, home to the US National Cemetery. | ||
| 12 | GUNGE | Device for spraying glue, extremely sticky stuff (5) |
| A charade of GUN (‘device for spraying’) plus GE (‘GluE extremely’). | ||
| 13 | RAIL | Bar bird (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 14 | METATARSAL | Bone meal covering various strata (10) |
| An envelope (‘covering’) of TATARS, an anagram (‘various’) of ‘strata’, in ‘meal’ | ||
| 16 | SPELLBOUND | Captivated, as J, U, M and P do (10) |
| SPELL BOUND. | ||
| 19 | BOSS | Bully makes withdrawn son cry (4) |
| A reversal (‘withdrawn’) of S (‘son’) plus SOB (‘cry’). | ||
| 21 | AFRIT | The devil of an early and influential 20 (5) |
| The SETTER (’20’) of crosswords was Alistair Ferguson Ritchie, who set under the pseudonym AFRIT, which is (loosely) a ‘devil’ in Middle Eastern lore. | ||
| 22 | ESTAMINET | Small cafe is in France by a motorway trap (9) |
| A charade of EST (‘is in France’) plus ‘a’ plus MI (M1, ‘motorway’) plus NET (‘trap’). | ||
| 24 | SWOONED | Dow Jones crashed — Jack taken away, having fainted (7) |
| An anagram (‘crashed’) of ‘Dow [J]ones’ minus the J (‘Jack taken away’). | ||
| 25 | LINKAGE | Hook-up on singular golf course, apparently taking time (7) |
| A charade of LINK (a ‘golf course’ – particularly one by the sea – is a links, which is originally a plural, but generally treated as singular; Maskarade is asking you to treat it as a plural, and take the ‘singular’) plus AGE (‘time’). | ||
| 26 | SACHERTORTE | Orchestrate mixture for rich chocolate cake (11) |
| Mit Schlagobers. An anagram (‘mixture’) of ‘orchestrate’. Named after its creator, Alfred Sacher, whose son Eduard improved on the recipe, and also founded the Hotel Sacher in Viennawhere large quantities of the dessert are consumed. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SMALL-TIME CROOKS | Mo Crosier’s accomplices? (5-4,6) |
| A charade of SMALL TIME (‘mo’, moment) plus CROOK’S (‘crosier’s’). | ||
| 2 | BISON | Shaggy character‘s encore taking place (5) |
| A charade of BIS (‘encore’ as an interjection) plus ON (‘taking place’). | ||
| 3 | ROSETTE | Prize stone cut with edge of blade (7) |
| A charade of ROSETT[a] (‘stone’) minus its last letter (‘cut’) plus E (‘edge of bladE‘). I was diverted for a while by rose-cut diamonds. | ||
| 4 | INFANTA | Popular drink for a royal daughter? (7) |
| A charade of IN (‘popular’) plus FANTA (proprietary ‘drink’). | ||
| 5 | AEROGRAM | Parlour games — plus/minus cryptic message (8) |
| An anagram (‘cryptic’) of ‘[p]ar[l]o[u]r game[s]’ less (‘minus’) ‘plus’. | ||
| 6 | EGG AND SPOON RACE | To win this, avoid scrambling! (3,3,5,4) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 7 | ECLAIR | Ordered non-zero calorie confection (6) |
| An anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘cal[o]rie’ minus the O (‘non-zero’). | ||
| 8 | AS WELL | Amateur toff, too (2,4) |
| A charade of A (‘amateur’) plus SWELL (‘toff’). | ||
| 15 | PLATONIC | Lacking heat, French dish almost postponed (8) |
| A charade of PLAT (‘French dish’) plus ON IC[e] (‘postponed’) minus the last letter (‘almost’). | ||
| 16 | SPARSE | Thinly scattered food chain outside of Stevenage (6) |
| A charade of SPAR (‘food chain’, a cryptic definition for the retail group, known in the UK known primarily as convenoence stores) plus SE (‘outside of StevenagE‘). | ||
| 17 | OVERDUE | It’s my turn to bowl late (7) |
| OVER DUE (cricket reference, ‘it’s my turn to bowl’). | ||
| 18 | NOTELET | Short message about lengthy transmission husband dropped (7) |
| A reversal (‘about’) of TELET[h]ON (‘lengthy transmission’) minus the H (‘husband dropped’).That took me a while to parse. | ||
| 20 | SETTER | Could be Arachne‘s dog (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 23 | MANOR | Large building with staff and soldiers (5) |
| A charade of MAN (‘staff, verb) plus OR (‘soldiers’). | ||
Thank you for putting me out of my misery. I’d never have got Afrit in a hundred years.
I zoomed through this from the bottom up, but then got stuck near the top with the long 1a and 1d clues, which ended up being my favourites, particularly the SUBORDINATE CLAUSES. Spent far too long on ARLINGTON, after it only appeared recently at St. Elsewhere’s. Managed to remember AFRIT from previous puzzles, though being woefully ignorant, I didn’t know the setter of that name. Couldn’t see the parsing or ROSETTE, so thanks for the explanation. BOSS for ‘bully’? I don’t equate the two, either as a noun or verb.
Still, a good way to wind down at the end of a working week.
Thanks to Maskarade and to PeterO
Not my cup of tea at all. I knew Ximenes and Torquemada but had not come across Afrit. I needed help from Google to complete the crossword, and I prefer to avoid that unless I am tackling a Mephisto, or similar, where research is expected. However, I am glad that others enjoyed the puzzle, and I don’t expect a treat like Picaroon’s superb offering every day.
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO
Slow start, but quite a rapid finish when some letters were placed. I didn’t enjoy this as much as some this week, though I laughed at SUBORDINATE CLAUSES (after a false start when I found the “subsidiary” didn’t fit!)
A couple of similar quibbles: ARLINGTON isn’t a cemetery, it’s a place where a cemetery is situated; NOTELET isn’t a short message, it’s the card on which such a message might be written.
I expect everyone here will have seen Chambers’ definition of “eclair”…
I’m surprised that Afrit’s Injunction hasn’t been mentioned yet! https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2009/jul/06/crossword-editor-update
Thanks Peter. Feared a mindboggler from this setter but got one doable well within the lunch hour. Aids not needed except to check afterwards on Afrit and the chocolate cake. NOTELET last in only because I couldn’t parse it. Did like Santa’s liitle helpers.
No joy in the end – like Mike@1, I was stumped on what was my LOI – I missed 21a AFRIT (and because I solve on a print-out, I don’t have a check button, so I came here instead).
Didn’t get the TELETHON part of the parsing of 18d NOTELET.
Had not heard of 22a ESTAMINET, so for me, it was a biff from the wordplay.
Like WordPlodder@2, I liked SUBORDINATE CLAUSES at 1a9a.
Thanks Maska and PeterO.
Sorry not to to acknowledge contributions in between. Because of slow typing (and also watching a trivia show called “Think Tank” at the same time), I slipped from 3. to 7. on the leaderboard.
Pls explain re Chamber’s definition of ECLAIR, muffin@4. I don’t have a copy of Chambers. [Thought briefly that there might be a minor chocolate (cake/pastry) theme with 26a SACHERTORTE and 7d ECLAIR but that was another dry gully.]
Hi Julie
It’s one of Chambers’ “easter egg” definitions (i.e. hidden jokes)
A cake, long in shape but short in duration,with cream filling and usu chocolate icing
I really liked 1a and 1d which were my LOI after some head scratching.
I didn’t get AFRIT, of whom I’d never heard. I had a quick and careless scan through my smaller Chambers but missed the little devil. I still do the paper versions of the crossword which I find much more enjoyable, and somehow using the check button online or Googling feels like cheating.
The rest went in easily, and I’m afraid I was a little underwhelmed. I was looking for more of a challenge, especially now there is no Kakuro on a Friday.
BTW I do like the way that ORCHESTRA and its near relative ORCHESTRATE provide such differing anagrams in CARTHORSE and SACHERTORTE.
Thanks to Maskarade (hope we see you at Easter) and PeterO for the explanation.
Had to be AFRIT but never heard of him as a setter-google confirmed.
Not a big fan but better than his bank Holiday extravaganzas.
Preferred Phi and Wanderer.
Like others, couldn’t get AFRIT and I couldn’t parse AEROGRAM; but I enjoyed this much more than Maskarade’s alphabetical puzzles, of which I’m not fond. Favourites were the long anagrams and ARLINGTON (despite muffin’s reservations) and PLATONIC. Many thanks to M & P.
How exciting. Owing to newly established paper delivery on my day off, I am able to comment before everyone else has gone to bed. Finished without any need to resort to reference aids. So smug.
An hour of work rather than the 3 plus that yesterday’s took.
Does anyone else think that this site is in danger of encouraging setters to become more and more obscure just to satisfy us. We are a self selecting group of crossword obsessives. A tiny proportion of the population. I believe that many people wishing to get into crosswords are likely to be put off by not being able to do more than a handful of clues on 4 days a week. Many of the weekday puzzles are now harder than Saturday’s prize. My call is for some of you to stop carping about some puzzles being ‘too easy’ and not up to usual difficulty’. The daily puzzles shouldn’t be there just to satisfy the experts.
Rant over
When I saw the setter’s name, I immediately thought of the Bank Holiday specials which I normally avoid, but I’m really glad I decided to solve today’s cryptic as it was a lot of fun, especially 1/9
I did know the Afrit as a devil and had a vague memory of it being a setter’s alias too.
Thanks to Maskarade for the fun and PeterO for the explanations
And TC@14 – no I don’t – setters will always produce crosswords of differing difficulty levels and I wouldn’t think they’d particularly base this on comments on a crossword blog.
Although Afrit is regarded as a founding father by the crossword-setting fraternity, Tc@14 does well to remind us that what is general knowledge to us may be very obscure to the world at large.
His First Law of cryptic setting as mentioned by Old Tom@5 is from the preface to his Armchair Crosswords – still available from the Crossword Centre http://www.crossword.org.uk/
A mixed bag with quite a lot of easy clues I thought. LOsI were notelet which I couldn’t parse , and afrit. I went through the mental alphabet and settled on arret , but I don’t know what that means or if it even exists. Tried again with rit ending and came up with afrit which i vaguely remembered as afraid which seemed closer to the devil. So a lucky finish. 1 , 9a a cracker, and i liked metatarsal, having broken one once.
muffin @4
As often, your line of argument follows the outline: A means B (true), therefore it cannot mean C (ain’t necessarily so). Here, you identify Arlington as the county (as I did in the blog, feeling that the wider audience might not be familiar with it), but I think that to most Americans, and beyond, the primary meaning of ARLINGTON is the cemetery. Similarly, since you bring up Chambers, the first definition of NOTELET is “A short annotation or letter”.
But I think Arlington is the name of the cemetery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_National_Cemetery
P.S. I was surprised to see Maskarade’s name on the puzzle too. I enjoyed it. Thanks to him (?) and PeterO.
PeterO @18
I’m sure that the inhabitants of Arlington County wouldn’t be too happy at being described as living in a cemetery! Using “Arlington” to describe the cemetery is rather like using “London” to describe the Tate Gallery…
btw my godmother had friends in Arlington whom she visited regularly. She never mentioned the cemetery.
What a great clue for SUBORDINATE CLAUSES! I didn’t get it until nearly the end because I couldn’t get BISON, not knowing the (musical) meaning of BIS.
I thought this was very enjoyable although I didn’t know the cake. I’m surprised that crossword enthusiasts haven’t heard of Afrit’s injunction as given by Old Tom @5.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO.
Thanks ! I managed to get most of these apart from 4 or 5 which eluded me.
I don’t understand a couple of the answers: 13a bird – rail ? 23d or = soldiers ? Can somebody explain please ?
salsaman @24
It’s unfortunate that Pierre wasn’t blogging this, or you would have had a picture of a water rail.
OR – other ranks – is common in crosswords.
All pretty straightforward and quite entertaining, particularly the longer ones, though had I not come across AFRIT before this would have seemed a little unfair.
Thanks to Maskarade and Eileen
Thanks Maskarade and PeterO. Loved the subordinate clauses. I can’t see any problem using Arlington to refer to the cemetery, it’s like using Cambridge to refer to the university. (And another example of a synecdoche I think.)
salsaman @24
The bird is just that; OR is a reasonably standard abbreviation for Other Ranks, and is quite often clued as ‘soldiers’.
DuncT @27
Or London to refer to the Tate Gallery?
It’s the other way round to synedoche – the whole is identifying the part, rather than the part the whole (as in Eileen’s example when it came up previously, wheels standing for car).
muffin @29
Yet again, the spurious “A means B, therefore it cannot mean C”: synecdoche – try Chambers, OED, Wikipedia etc. – is the part for the whole or vice versa. Where have you come across the term London to refer to the Tate Gallery?
I was surprised when 9 clues went in on my first pass – not what I was expecting with Maskerade as the setter. Like others I thought 1,9 was outstanding along with 1d. I’d a vague recollection of AFRIT but failed to parse 19, 2d, 5d. I wondered if there was going to be a theme with 26, 7 and 22, but 2 and a half clues doesn’t seem enough! Arlington is fine with me – we are in xwordland. Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO for explaining the ones I didn’t.
PeterO @30
Yes, you’re right this time.
DuncT reminded me of a line from Vicious. Derek Jacobi says “I went to Cambridge”; Ian McKellen replies “Yes, for dinner!”
Following on from the amusing Picachne thread yesterday how about Aracharoon? It’s a pity Picachne isn’t a word – setters could have great fun clueing it :-).
I should have included an apology @32
Muffin, the cemetery is called Arlington…and so is the county, and so is the town. It’ll always be clear from context which you mean. “JFK is buried in Arlington,” vs. “My cousin lives in Arlington.” To any American not from the DC area, though, the cemetery springs to mind first.
Incidentally, the cemetery was originally a plantation owned by the Lees, lastly and most notably Robert E. It was occupied by Federal troops early in the war, and was transformed into a cemetery for Union dead partly as a form of poetic justice.
Regarding the crossword, this had a lot of delights, and then AFRIT came along, for which I had no hope. There were a few others that were BIFD as well.
I found this quite hard but very satisfying to solve. Particularly enjoyed SUBORDINATE CLAUSES, SACHERTORTE and NOTELET. Cluing AFRIT as a double definition seems a bit mean as it relies on two fairly obscure pieces of GK.
Took me an age to see ARLINGTON despite recognising the fodder immediately. P.S. Isn’t this an example of metonymy rather than synecdoche.
PPS Is there actually a famous person called Mo Crosier? Can’t find him (her?) on Google. If not, the clue seems a bit hohum.
Thanks, Maskarade and PeterO
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO for clarifying some of the parsing. Started off quite well with this, but then ground to a halt. Today was a déjà vu experience for me in spite of enjoying the puzzle. Failed by two last Friday to spoil a perfect week and failed by two today to also spoil a perfect week. Like many others I failed on Afrit and I also messed up on 19a by putting in sobs after tossing up between that and boss. Hey ho there is always next week. Thanks again to Maskarade and PeterO.
Quite enjoyed this. I had to look up AFRIT. The setter is clearly before my time and I’d never heard of the demon. Annoyingly, I discovered that I hadn’t done 19ac before coming here so I can’t claim to have solved it. The rest went in quite quickly sometimes before the parsing. ARLINGTON went in without a qualm and I loved SUBORDINATE CLAUSES.
Thanks Maskarade.
muffin@29 – check the definition of synecdoche – it includes “or vice-versa” – one of those words that’s it’s own antonym.
The Tate example is different – the cemetery is called Arlington National Cemetery, and similarly it’s Cambridge University, but the gallery is not called the London Gallery (or even the London Tate Gallery).
Agha – I see PeterO already said all that – apologies and thanks!
I see above that some of the commenters don’t care for the holiday and/or alphabetical puzzles. I for one enjoy them a lot, and am still working through some books of Araucarias puzzles, normal, alphabetical and all sorts of other variants. Heartily recommend them to others of a similar mind.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO – I really enjoyed this, and was cheered on my sickbed as it was an easier Friday than usual.
phitonelly @36 – I think the parsing got missed off on 1d: Small-time = mo (as in half a mo) and crosier is a bishop’s crook. I confess I nearly looked to see if there was someone famous called Mo Crosier till it clicked.
I didn’t get Afrit (I was speculating on a ‘half-remembered’ Azrut or similar) … but have obviously added it to my vocab on both counts (setter, devil). I’m astonished that people don’t seem pleased to learn something new, so they’ll know it for another time. Do people genuinely only want stuff they already know?
A delightful puzzle! Thanks.
Hi DuncT
Yes, you were right about synedoche – my misunderstanding.
I take your point about London Tate. How about London standing for the London Eye, though?
Did you read my “Vicious” example? (a programme that I hated, in fact, but that line was used in trailers.)
Apologies to PeterO – the parsing of 1d is there, and I missed it because of the line spacing.
Crossbar @41 – I’m with you on this. I really enjoy the alphabetical jigsaw crosswords too.
I must have a weird mind. Got SUBORDINATE CLAUSES at once. Must be the “Beano” influence- or all those Christmas Cracker jokes. I have to admit I could not sus NOTELET. A jolly work-out and many thanks to Maskerade and PeterO.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO. Count me in as one who avoids this setter’s holiday offerings as beyond me, though like Crossbar@41 I’ve done plenty of Araucaria examples both in the books mentioned and the archive. I did know AFRIT as spirit (though not in this spelling) so assumed that he was also a setter. I’ve come across NOTELET recently (though maybe not in the Guardian) and am pleased when I can handle a cricket reference (OVERDUE). To reinforce mrpenney@35, I lived in Arlington, Va for a year but still think first of the Arlington cemetery, not the city, when I hear a reference.
With my usual late start on a Friday, I didn’t expect to finish, but finish I did, with SPELLBOUND / PLATONIC last in. I’ve posted here before saying I’ve got long clues from the enumeration, but not this time! I did like the SUBORDINATE CLAUSES though.
@Muffin, with apologies to everyone else for adding to a fatuous argument:
1) Wembley Stadium is a stadium, in Wembley, which is a place. Perhaps you would object to Wembley being a solution with stadium being the definition. If not, perhaps you will accept that a place name can stand for something located there.
Whether it is similarly customary to refer to the cemetery by ‘Arlington’ I do not know, but it is a matter of custom not of principle. Custom can only be proved by evidence, not argument. If you are an authority (I think having a godmother with friends who have been there is rather weak authority) on the use of the name Arlington, fair enough. However, your London counter-examples are not evidence on the use of Arlington. You are illustrating the nature of your objection (which I think everyone understood straight away) but not supporting it.
2) Suppose it is not customary to refer to the cemetery as simply ‘Arlington’. In that case, there is a separate question as to whether cemetery is a sufficient definition. If there are principles involved there, they’re only crossword principles, which are not really very principled at all. The evidence is that most people thought it OK.
James @48
If you said “so-and-so is buried at Arlington” you would logically have to add “at the National Cemetery” in order to rule out the possibility of him having been interred in someone’s garden…
Re Arlington: from this side of the pond I’ve only heard of the cemetery and didn’t know there was a county of that name.
I’m another Maskarade avoider as I find his “bank holiday” puzzles mind numbingly boring.
However I found this to be pleasant enough if not a little too easy for a Friday! (Well withon the half-hour!!)
Surely the Arlington/Cemetery issue would have been resolved with a question mark.
Shame on those “more experienced” solvers who hadn’t heard of Afrit. 😉
lurkio @51
First sensible suggestion on ARLINGTON (I include all mine in the criticism!). Yes, a question mark would have made the clue perfectly acceptable, as it would have been “definition by example”.
I enjoyed the original and imaginative clues for the three long phrases at 1/9a, 1d and 6d. The other long answer SACHERTORTE was decidedly conventional by comparison.
I was impressed with the variety of clues in this puzzle, although I failed to parse BISON and NOTELET properly. Both BISON and SPELLBOUND were somewhat quirky: ‘shaggy character’ is not how I would define (or indicate) a bison, and SPELLBOUND is both a riddle and a reverse clue, but I have no complaints about either of these.
I took too long over ARLINGTON, thinking only of a kind of cemetery and not the name of one. I have followed the debate on this page, and the main reason I thought the answer was failrly indicated is that it is a National Cemetery.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO.
lurkio @51, muffin @52
‘Definition by example’ (or DBE) doesn’t really apply here. For this to be a DBE the example has to be in the clue and the thing it is an example of is the answer. So if Arlington is in the clue as an example of a cemetery or a county, the clue should have a question mark and the answer would be ‘cemetery’ or ‘county’.
Quite a lot of fun from Maska – I looked at SUBORDINATE CLAUSES for a while thinking, the grammar ain’t right – but what the hell! 🙂
Went astray for a while on the EGG AND SPOON RACE – must have dropped the EGG…. I was convinced it had to be EGG AND BACON something-or-other but I couldn’t figure out the “something-or-other” bit. Anyway got to the finishing line, EGG still in SPOON, eventually. Brings back fond memories of primary school sports days, back in the 1950s! I suspect cheating was rife even back then, and this was long before the advent of superglue…
As to AFRIT, yes after quite a bit of grey-matter searching, the name rang a bell – a true giant amongst setters! Few solvers will have had a chance to tackle one of his puzzles ‘live’ though – he died in 1954.
Finally a word about SACHERTORTE and a splendid third (almost) anagram of CARTHORSE – if you admit the extra TE! Yes I have sampled the cake – and I have to say, speaking for myself, I think it a bit over-rated. There are plenty of other Kuchen to try out in Vienna – mostly a bit less costly (although everything in Vienna is expensive)! But if you’re watching calories – beware! 😮
Thanks to Maskarade for a rare treat, and Peter.
I enjoyed this, especially 1a9,16a, and 1d of which I think Rufus would have been proud.
Thanks to Maskarade and Peter O. I didn’t parse 3d, 5d, or16d.
I think that “a toff” = AS WELL has been used fairly recently in these parts.
For me, Qaos and Maskarade have in common that I like them as a person (as far as I know them, of course), that they know who I am and that therefore I find it rather difficult to criticise their output.
To be honest, I have given up solving Maskarade’s festive Jumbos as I find them too much hard work with quite a lot of obscurities. No doubt that his puzzles are clever and multi-layered but they’re just not really my cup of tea. In 15×15 format, however, things are much better. I generally like Gozo (Maskarade’s alter ego in the FT) and today’s crossword was certainly not a disappointment.
Lots of nice clues and not difficult at all, we thought.
The much-discussed ARLINGTON we had just two days ago in the Indy (Tees), also defined as ‘cemetery’ – meaning this was almost a write-in. Funny that I haven’t seen the ‘orchestrate’ anagram before, a good one. My last one in was 1d, thought that Mo Crosier was perhaps a real person.
I’m with beeryhiker who said that AFRIT was a bit unfair. That said, I’d heard of the setter but my solving partner was completely in the dark (while another solver, a few yards away from our cafe table, came up with ‘Amrat’ ….).
Today was another crossword in which the name of a fellow setter appeared (20d, Arachne – as far as I know she doesn’t have a dog). Another? Yes, another. It depends on which puzzles you do but it happened quite a lot the last couple of months. Not just the omnipresent Shed, also Paul, Pasquale, Serpent, to name three. I find it too much work to give evidence of this but I’m pretty sure it is like that. It’s not criticism, just an observation.
The only clue that I really didn’t like was the one for AEROGRAM. It was clear how it worked but saying ‘plus/minus’ when you mean ‘minus plus’ feels a bit odd. I know the expression is of course ‘plus minus’ but still.
Many thanks to Maskarade for some good fun & PeterO for the blog.
Alan B @54
I think that’s 2 consecutive days now tat you’ve steted your opinion on DBE and the the question mark.
So I’ll come up with a new clue type which think will satisfy my interpretion and Eileen’s. It’s RBE. (Relationship By Example).
i.e. It doesn’t matter whether the “example” is the definition or the clue as the “?” merely indicates the relationship between the two. Synecdoche works both ways so why can’t DBE?
Coming to this page very late today because of a busy day at work. I enjoyed the puzzle, especially the long answers at 1d, 6d, 1ac/9ac and 26ac, but I think for me the COTD was SPELLBOUND.
I grew up two towns away from Arlington, Massachusetts (where it is predominantly pronounced AAH-lington), and for the last few decades I have lived within 20 miles of Arlington, Virginia. To echo mrpenney @35, ARLINGTON as a single word referring to Arlington National Cemetery is used all the time here in the US (including by those who live here in the DC area), and its meaning is always clear from the context.
Many thanks to Maskarade, PeterO and the other commenters. Have a nice weekend, all.
I am a long-time lurker who is commenting for the first time. Being from across the pond (in Canada), and not being an early riser, by the time I have attempted the crossword everyone has already supplied their comments.
I enjoyed today’s puzzle, and especially enjoyed researching my LOI, Afrit. I love how my GK expands, not only from the puzzle, but especially from the responses on fifteen squared. However, I have to say that Picaroon’s puzzle yesterday was the best I have seen in a long time. I am a big fan of smooth and witty surfaces, which to me are far more important that the degree of difficulty of the clues. In that spirit, my favourite today was Santa’s little helpers.
Oops – I clearly haven’t assimilated the etiquette yet. Many thanks to Maskerade and PeterO for an enjoyable evening’s exercise.
Welcome, cellomaniac!!
Indeed, welcome cellomaniac @60. Hope we see you again soon.
And thank you DaveMc @59 for your Arlington comment. Let’s hope it’s laid that topic to rest.
lurkio @58
It was the cryptic convention of using a question mark for a ‘definitiion by example’ that I was stating on both occasions – not my opinion – but thank you anyway for taking the trouble to read and comment on what I said. I applaud your idea and hope it gets aired again.
Alan B @64
Thank you for your reply and support.
Having read my original comment I notice that perhaps it could be fread as mildly critical of “your opinion”. This was not the intention so my apologies.
This topic is of course a “can of worms”. How many times do we hear the question “Can you give me a sentence in which the definition and the answer can be used interchangeably?”. This of course is only possible when the answer is synonym of the definition.
lurkio @65
I didn’t see your earlier post as critical of mine, but it was fair comment anyway. Thank you for the tone of your latest comment.
This can be a tricky topic, and sometimes setters ‘get it wrong’ – or take liberties. Generally, it is unfair for a setter to give an example of something and not indicate that it is an example of something. It doesn’t have to be a question mark: ‘could be Arachne’ is a perfect example in this crossword of a DBE without a ‘?’.
A straight definition can be a synonym or a class or type of the thing being defined, as in a dictionary. RAIL in this crossword is an example of both: a synonym (‘bar’) and a class or type (‘bird’). It is only synonyms, as you say, that can be used interchangeably in a sentence.
There is plenty of scope, of course, for a setters to give only an indication, not an exact definition, of the answer, and that of course is one of the ways in which they cause us so much delight and frustration!
That just leaves the synecdoche! Good luck.
Thanks to Maskarade and PeterO ! It was indeed a surprise to see Maskarade’s name on a “normal”, i.e. daily, puzzle and I prepared for a battle only to be pleasantly surprised by how smoothly it all went in – with the aid of some Googling, I will freely admit. I’m now looking forward to the next bank holiday offering which, unlike some of us it seems, I actually enjoy pitting my wits against.
This is slightly off-topic I know, but can anyone remember when we last had a puzzle (apart from bank holiday puzzles) with any form of “special instructions” ? They used to be a regular albeit occasional feature in the Guardian, but lately they seem to have disappeared along with alphabetical jigsaws.
While I’m at it, a supplementary question – which setter was it who used to create an occasional puzzle consisting entirely of hidden anagrams ? Was that Custos ? It was some while ago, 1970s or 1980s I think
I have a copy of the Penguin Book of Guardian Crosswords published in 1980 in which there is one hidden anagram puzzle by Altair, followed by a puzzle by Apex with an introduction and a few pages later an Aruacaria puzzle with an intro. Later on in the collection there is a Misprints puzzle by Custos with an introduction. Having looked through this book once again I see that there are puzzles by Lavengro. Does anyone know anything about this compiler, even his name? I have researched to no avail.
Thanks for the comments about my puzzle in yesterday’s puzzle. Glad some have learnt of AFRIT.
Lavengro was a pseudonym taken from “The scholar gypsy” by George Borrow. I really enjoyed his puzzles, but I’m afraid that I don’t know anything more about him.
Maskarade @68,
Oh yes, it could equally have been Altair who provided the “hidden anagrams” puzzles – thank you for setting my memory straight ! It was all a long time ago now, back in the days when the appearance of the name Bunthorne used to terrify us younger (as I was then!) solvers. I can vaguely remember Lavengro’s name occasionally appearing, but I’m ashamed to say I know nothing more about the compiler than that.
For some strange reason I have come across AFRIT – also sometime spelled AFREET – before, but I honestly can’t recall how or where. Salman Rushdie’s novels, possibly ?
Lavengro is Romany for ‘tongue master’, ie one who can speak other languages. Similarly ‘sapengro’, a name given to Burrow as a child by the Romanys, means snake charmer
I don’t suppose anyone will read this – but thanks to TC at 14. We love reading the blog but it always takes us ages to do the crosswords, especially as we only start at lunchtime. Particularly enjoyed Santa’s helpers, the egg & spoon & small time crooks. Gave up with Afrit & favourite probably is spellbound – lots of groans when we got this.
Wombles @72
Welcome – I think you are new, at least to my corner of the blog. Even if no-one else reads your comment, you can be sure that I, as blogger, see it.