Guardian Cryptic 27,461 by Qaos

by

A quicker solve than usual for a Qaos…

…unusually for me, the ghost theme became apparent early and allowed for some guessing first and parsing later.

The ‘Carry On…’ film series [wiki] include: Constable, Cabby, Cleo[patra], Behind, Teacher, Nurse, Screaming, Henry, Matron, Abroad, Dick, and Columbus

Favourites were 8ac and 17dn – thanks, Qaos.

Across
7 CONSTABLE Officer with prisoner not changing (9)
CON[vict]=”prisoner” + STABLE=”not changing”
8 CABBY Driver annoyed Miss Right (5)
C[r]ABBY=”annoyed”, missing out on r[ight]
9 CLEOPATRA Queen caught pole dancing at Royal Academy (9)
C[aught] in cricket; plus (pole)*; plus AT R[oyal] A[cademy]
10 ARGON Judge rejected patter as “gas” (5)
[j]ARGON=”patter”, with J[udge] rejected
12 BEHIND Husband’s at home, tucked in bed — it’s late (6)
H[usband] plus IN=”at home”; all inside BED
13 SERENADE Irate Dane resigned, partly over song (8)
Hidden reversed/”partly over” in [Irat]E DANE RES[igned]
16 CYANIDE At first, you can die horribly from this? (7)
(y[ou] can die)*
19 TEACHER Drink with singer and guide (7)
TEA=”Drink” plus CHER=”singer”
22, 25 CLERICAL COLLAR  Priestly symbol worn by 1 down? (8,6)
a COLLIE might wear a collar
25   See 22
27 NURSE Greek character regularly rushed treat (5)
NURSE=”treat” as a verb
NU=character in the Greek alphabet; plus regular letters from R[u]S[h]E[d]
28 SCREAMING Crying out to put elite in jail? Not half! (9)
CREAM=”elite” in SING [Sing]=half a jail [wiki]
29 HENRY Royal unit involved with charge? (5)
double definition: =the name of many Kings; =the unit of measurement for electrical inductance
30 SERIOUSLY Really not joking (9)
double definition
Down
1 COLLIE Dog runs away from miner (6)
COLLIE[r]=”miner”, with r[uns] taken away
2 ESTONIAN European playing tennis, holds ball to win ace (8)
(tennis)* around O=”ball and A[ce]
3 HAZARD Firm covers up unknown American threat (6)
HARD=”Firm” around: Z=maths variable=”unknown” plus A[merican]
4 FLORIST Shopkeeper first out? Look inside (7)
(first)*, with LO=”Look!’ inside
5 MATRON Fellow drank up endless port and married woman (6)
MAN=”Fellow” around reversal/”up” of [p]ORT
6 ABROAD A liberal in the field (6)
A plus BROAD=”liberal”
11 FREE Charge without rupee? (4)
FEE=”Charge” around R[upee]
14 ASH Tree house, like on top (3)
H[ouse] with AS=”like” on top
15 EAR Trim facial hair to get attention (3)
=as in ‘to have someone’s ear’
[b]EAR[d]=”facial hair” with the edges trimmed off
16 CIC Trump, perhaps, 2 clubs over 1 (1,1,1)
=C[ommander] I[n] C[hief]=Donald “Trump”
C[lub] and C[lub] around I=”1″
17 ALE Drink made from malted barley’s common ingredients? (3)
A, L, and E are the common letters in [m]AL[t]E[d] and [b]A[r]LE[y]
18 DICK 50011001000 deciphered by Private Eye (4)
D=”500″ in Roman numerals, plus I=”1″, plus C=”100″ in Roman numerals, plus K[ilo]=”1000″
20 COLUMBUS Explorer‘s post: “Lost new vehicle” (8)
COLUM[n]=”post”, losing n[ew]; plus BUS=”vehicle”
21 ELECTED In English court, in Leeds, mostly (7)
=chosen to be “In”
E[nglish], plus CT=”court” in LEED[s]
23 LOUDER More flamboyant Formula One driver, it is said (6)
homophone of Niki ‘Lauda’ [wiki]
24 ROSARY Sorry, a criminal makes up prayers (6)
(sorry a)*
25 CREDIT Review covers up journalist’s reputation (6)
CRIT[icism]=”Review” around ED[itor]=”journalist”
26 ANNALS Chronicles of Narnia’s leader Aslan are fantastic (6)
(N[arnia] Aslan)*

50 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,461 by Qaos”

  2. Enjoyed this puzzle. I had a feeling there was a ghost theme, but didn’t quite spot it. Hardly ever do. *sighs*

    It went in fairly easily, but slowed down a little towards the end. LOI was HENRY.

    Pleased with myself that I spotted the hidden SERENADE more quickly than usual.

    Favourites were 8a, 10a, 1d, 15d, 21d.

    Thanks QAOS and Manehi. Nice start to the day.

  3. Thanks Qaos and manehi

    I loved COLUMBUS and liked SERENADE. I got thoroughly stuck in the NE and revelaed CABB; this became another favourite.

    Not keen on “over” in16d

    I particularly didn’t like 16,19. A collie doesn’t wear a clerical collar; a cleric wears a dog collar. Even as a joke, it isn’t very good, as you don’t need to solve 1d – the clue includes “dog”.

  4. Almost felt like a quiptic in places. As Manehi points out, a HENRY is a unit of inductance not of charge. That would be a coulomb.

  6. Not a very good puzzle for me. Full of awkward clueing and a reminder of the generally brilliant level of puzzles that we have recently been lucky to enjoy. Couldn’t get Henry so failed by one.

  7. Thanks manehi for a great blog and Qaos for a fun start to the day.

    My favourites were CABBY, ALE [clever] and ELECTED – and the pole-dancing queen!

  8. Thanks manehi, shamefully, I needed your blog for (J)ARGON.

    Frankie the cat @4:  You beat me to it.  Seems such a glaring slip, I wonder if I’m missing something?

    Took ages over BEHIND as I was looking for a synonym for bed not ‘bed’ itself.  Most un-Guardian.

    LOI ABROAD as I don’t equate liberal  with  broad but I suppose it’s fair enough.

    Love the idea of a queen caught pole dancing!  Great fun.  And CRABBY took ages but is a fine clue.

    Enjoyable stuff from QAOS but I felt generally his style was cramped by a fairly pointless theme.  Themes always seems more to do with the setter’s ego than anything else.

    Many thanks to both, nice week, all.

  10. Muffin @5:  Apologies re HENRY, crossing.  See your point but inductance is still not charge is it?  More to do with a circuit’s resistance to change of current flow, I’d have said.

  13. Loads of fun. Had to deep Google 29a. Loved the image of her Madge pole dancing at the RA – visualised a Steve Bell cartoon tassels and all!
    Thanks to Q and M.

  15. Qaos warned us on Twitter that this might be found saucy, and so it proved.  A fun romp all round.  Many thanks S&B.

  17. I enjoyed this and even spotted the theme (which is unusual – I almost always miss it!) which made things simpler (although, as others have commented, this was a bit easier than normal for Qaos). I agree with others that 29a is awkward, though, like muffin@5, I was prepared to accept it. On the other hand, would . .

    Royal unit involved with conductor?

    . . have been a bit better whilst not too clunky? The only clue I was genuinely unhappy with was that for 22,25, and I completely agree with the point made by muffin@3 (A collie doesn’t wear a clerical collar; a cleric wears a dog collar). I wondered about something like . .

    Priestly symbol colloquially worn by 1 down?

    . . in that a clerical collar colloquially is a dog collar, but am not convinced.

    However this did not spoil the puzzle for me; so many thanks to Qaos for the enjoyable workout (and manehi for the, as always, excellent blog).

     

  18. Thanks to Qaos and manehi. I too found this puzzle easier than anticipated from this setter though still a challenge. HENRY was my LOI (I did not know the electrical connection) and did not know Lauda for LAUDER (but assumed there was such a driver). I did get JARGON but it took longer than it should have because with “judge” in crosswordland I automatically think “ref” and not J. Not knowing “Carry On” I had no access to the theme. Still, enjoyable.

  19. Thanks Qaos; roared away at first with all the three letter words and the rest in the middle. Slowed down then and got a bit stuck in the NE corner. LOI was CABBY, which I liked after the PDM.

    Thanks manehi; I got CLERICAL COLLAR before I solved COLLIE, although I haven’t seen many of them wearing CLERICAL COLLARs. I missed the theme entirely. William @8, IMHO compiling is always easier with a theme to start the grid. Otherwise, one has a random selection of words to use.

    Enjoyable crossword, I also liked the pole dancing queen among others.

  21. Gave up on Henry despite knowing it and having taught it!  Not associated with charge but with current. I did think of charge in the electrical sense it didn’t get me there.

  22. A Henry can be expressed as kg.m2/C2 or kilogram metre squared per coulomb squared (no superscripts available!), so “involved” just about gets Qaos off the hook.

    I have come to accept crosswordland’s looseness in homophones and anything scientific.

  23. I liked 19a TEACHER (natch), 1d COLLIE as we used to own a Border Collie, 23d LOUDER/Lauda, and 24d ROSARY. Yes, Eileen@7, the visual of the pole dancing Queen at 9a certainly raised a smile (even better with BlueCanary@13’s addition of some accessories!). Like some others I missed 29a HENRY – can’t recall having heard of it in relation to electricity, so the wordplay just didn’t click. Technically then a DNF/something new I learned today…Also I must confess to missing the theme. (Can anyone clarify why it is called a “ghost theme” and not just a theme?) Thanks to Qaos and manehi.

  26. [Rick@25, Many thanks for that link. I really appreciated understanding what is meant by a ghost theme, which does not need to be spotted in order to solve. As a bonus, I certainly warmed to the “real person” behind the pseudonym “Qaos” as I read the article.]

  27. [JinA@26: You’re most welcome!  As far as I’m concerned, this is what this site is for – sharing views and explanations.  I too warmed to Qaos when I read the article – possibly that fact that I am also a mathematician had something to do with it!]

  28. Thanks to Qaos and manehi. I found this a mixed bag with some quite straightforward clues and a few I had difficulty in penetrating. The last half a dozen took longer than the rest put together. Got held up to the NE and finally in the SW. My first DNF for a while, because like some others failed on Henry. Not spotting the theme (should have looked for one) did not help. Nonetheless still an enjoyable challenge and thanks again to Qaos and manehi.

  29. The device used for ALE is new to me – ingenious!   Not being of a scientific turn of mind I didn’t know HENRY and ended up cheating it.  I could see how CABBY must work for ages before I actually got it, and of course I missed the theme.

  30. Nice puzzle, Qaos, and I’ve just read your interview with Alan Connor from 2012 on crossword-blog.  Thanks for the blog, manehi.

    I’ve heard of the Carry On films, but have never seen any, so the theme totally passed me by.

    How is “ort” and endless port?  It’s lost its beginning, not its end.

  31. Heartened to report a full solve after yesterday’s poor performance. Admittedly I was substantially aided by the theme, without which I doubt I’d have gotten CABBY or ABROAD (my LOIs). Couldn’t parse ARGON or SERENADE (tripped up by a hidden word again!) so many thanks to manehi for that and to Qaos for a fun puzzle. Favourite of the day would be ALE.

  34. I was sure there must be a theme – was about to put it away in frustration, then I thought to myself: CABBY?  Unusual spelling.  CLEOPATRA?  CONSTABLE? MATRON?  Aha – NURSE! the screens, quick!

    So I was able to “stop messin’ about” and finish off fairly quickly after that.  Just as well, because HENRY is not a “unit of charge”.  Leastways, it can only loosely be described as a “unit involved with charge”.  I didn’t do Physics for nothing!  Anyway, I’d never have got HENRY without the theme.

    I got stuck on FREE – looked OK but weird definition and even more impenetrable wordplay.  Oh well – if it wasn’t URGE it had to be FREE I suppose – so a write-in.  Now I’ve seen the parsing with its (sort of) &lit, it’s clearer.  I thought the correct abbreviation for Rupee is Rp, but maybe not…

    All right – for pedants – neither of my above quotes actually come from the Carry On series – I checked.  One comes from the Goons, the other from Round the Horne.  But they give the right idea! 🙂

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi.  And I’m chuffed that – for once – I got the theme before I came here 🙂

  35. I wasn’t looking for a theme, I never suspected one while solving, and of course I never a saw it!  A pity, because it would have helped with some of the simple clues that I always find difficult (CDs, DDs and two-part charades).  On my 2-minute/20-minute rule, I left a few answers blank, but I could and should have got MATRON – it was a decent cryptic clue that I should have thought about a bit more.

    I didn’t enjoy this as much as other Qaos puzzles that I have tackled, but I liked some clues very much: CLEOPATRA, BEHIND, COLLIE, ELECTED and COLUMBUS.

    Thanks to Qaos and manehi.

  37. About 80% of this was really easy and then I came to a halt. CABBY, HENRY and MATRON I couldn’t get- and,of course I didn’t get the theme but you can see that,can’t you? I’ve seen most of the films as well.
    Not a good day!
    Thanks Qaos.

  38. Lots to enjoy here and like others much of it went in after a bit of applied thought and I was left with CABBY, ARGON, HENRY, HAZARD and CIC which Mrs W’s fresh mind soon polished off, although ARGON remained unparsed – I was another fixated on ref and didn’t see the obvious J for judge. I liked CLEOPATRA for its imagery and have CABBY as my cotd. And I spotted the theme!!!
    Sometimes vague knowledge is good – I had a distant recollection of a HENRY as some sort of measurement to do with electricity so that was good enough for me.
    Many thanks to Qaos, manehi and all contributors – coming to the blog late has the advantage of being able to see all the threads of ideas.

  39. Thanks to Manehi and Qaos. As usual I failed to spot the theme despite looking for it from the start ! I think 18d was my favourite clue, there have been a few of these lately so I fell in straight away. Another truly vile grid though, effectively dividing the crossword into four mini-puzzles….. which I will use as my excuse for being unable to break into the NE corner !

  40. The main problem with themed puzzles is the extent to which the comments are clogged up with tedious declarations of “I spotted the theme” or “I did not spot the theme”. Perhaps there should be a voting button whenever a themed puzzle makes an appearance.  I spotted the theme.

  41. JohnB @39

    I know what you mean about the grid, although I held back from commenting on its ‘unfriendly’ nature.  As well as the puzzle having so few interconnecting points, there were no fewer than 12 solutions that had fewer than half of its letters checked by crossing words.  The point is, I think, that an unfriendly grid like this is not in itself a hindrance to solving – only if the setter doesn’t pitch his clues appropriately where there is a reduced opportunity for the solver to get crossing letters.  The clues in the NE corner might be judged on this basis, although I can’t say much myself about them because I consciously decided not to spend too much time on them!

  42. Van Winkle @40

    Re ‘spotting the theme’: I might be the one that offended the most, as I wrote the most words on it, so I apologise.

    However, in my case, spotting the theme, or not, was relevant to my solving experience, because I woud have completed this crossword if I had sussed it!

  43. I always look forward to Qaos’s puzzles with his ghost themes, but I think this may have been my third consecutive puzzle of his for which I was completely stumped as to the theme.  I stared at the completed grid for quite some time, but was unable to come up with even a shred of a connection among the answers.  Like other commenters above, I also struggled with my last two entries, CABBY and especially HENRY, which eluded me for hours as I came back to it from time to time during the work day.

    Still, I enjoyed this, as always.

    Alan B @35, I laughed when I saw your mention of your “2-minute/20-minute rule”.  Laughed at me, not at you.  My rule (if you want to call it that) is somewhere between your rule and “Never give in — never, never, never”.  A lot closer to the latter.  For just the latest example, I walked around for nearly four days, from Friday a.m. through Monday afternoon with a print-out of Tramp’s puzzle from Friday in my shirt pocket, because I was still trying to solve my last three (which by Monday a.m. I had winnowed down to one final entry, which turned out to be SHIN BONE).

    Many thanks to Qaos and manehi and the other commenters.

  44. DaveMc @43

    I always enjoy reading your comments, and obviously Id like to respond to the above.  I admire your dedication to the task of completing a crossword.  I remember when I used to be like that – or nearly so (I think I would gracefully give up sooner than you would!).

    I must have mellowed with age.  I’m now happy to put down a crossword when I have finished enjoying it, and I don’t mind if I have left it incomplete.  Most often I complete them, but I’ve had a few DNFs this year so far.  I’m not fond of DD clues (and other ‘simple’ types of clue) that are too broad or too vague, and I don’t mind leaving those unsolved.

  45. Mostly easy for a Qaos (who is never the hardest of the bunch, though).

    However, we got stuck in the NE – and got around it just in the nick of time. The much admired CABBY is bad cryptic language, isn’t it?  ‘Annoyed miss right’? An example of the surface taking over from precision.

    In 14d, H is surely not ‘house’ [no dictionary to confirm]. I think Qaos wants us to place ‘as’ of ‘top of house’.

    We looked for the inevitable ghost theme but gave up after a minute or so. There’s quite a few professions in the grid, too.

    Fine crossword, if not always precise enough to my taste – should do more Times crosswords, then?

    Clue of the Day by a mile 9ac.  Hoskins would be proud of that one!

    Thanks manehi & Qaos.

     

  46. Sil @ 45

    I share the misgiving about H for house. It’s been suggested that the Ordnance Survey flag PH for Public House might justify it, but I can’t find support for PH in my dictionaries either.

  47. Enjoyable, and not too taxing. Did I spot the ghost theme? No I did not, but then again I rarely do. My LOI was 29ac and a bit of a guess to be honest, which wouldn’t have been if I’d spotted what was going on. Perhaps if I’d been struggling I might have gone looking for clues elsewhere, but I wasn’t, so didn’t.

  48. Re CLERICAL COLLAR and COLLIE

    I mused that the referback to COLLIE gives the obvious COLLAR which a dog wears. The “priestly symbol” is then obviously a CLERICAL COLLAR. But the collar of COLLIE is CE which is certainly clerical isn’t?

    In the end I decided I was overthinking it but even so perhaps that was Qaos’s intention?

  49. I failed on CABBY and HENRY, having run out of time when I did this at lunchtime. I share earlier commenters misgivings about a collie wearing a clerical collar. It would be fine if the answer had been « dog collar ».
    I found one online site claiming H for house, but there were no examples given. For 14, perhaps Qaos could have gone for « Tree like 29 ». Might have garnered a little less flak for HENRY.
    Thanks, Q&M
    PS my iPad keyboard seems to have gone all French on me.

  50. Lurkio@48
    Didn’t see your comment before posting. That’s an interesting idea (the Collie collar, that is). I’m tempted to buy it!

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