Thanks Crucible for a crossword, fairly gentle for the latter half of the week. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 All of us sniff a new career (5,4)
HUMAN RACE : HUM(a smell perceived by sniffing;a sniff, which in this case is unpleasant) + A + N(abbrev. for “new”) + RACE(to career;to move rapidly).
10 I love tackling journal’s final stage of development (5)
IMAGO : [ I + O(letter representing 0;love in tennis scores) ] containing(tackling) MAG(short for “magazine”;a journal).
Defn: … of an insect.
11 Agent of retribution, English, lying in state (7)
AVENGER : ENG(abbrev. for “English”) contained in(lying in) AVER(to state;to declare).
12 Former duck trap that is snaring mallard’s head (7)
ONETIME : O(letter representing 0;a duck in cricket, signifying 0 runs scored) + NET(a trap to ensnare something or someone) + IE(abbrev. for the Latin “id est”;that is) containing(snaring) 1st letter of(…’s head) “mallard“.
13 Educated girl eating a yogurt dish (5)
RAITA : RITA(the hairdresser, played by Julie Walters, in the film “Educating Rita”) containing(eating) A.
14 American ready to separate opposing sides in port (9)
ARCHANGEL : A(abbrev. for “American”) + [ CHANGE(money of lower denomination;ready) contained in(to separate) R,L(abbrevs. respectively, for “right” and “left”;opposing sides) ].
Defn: … in NW Russia.
16 Smiley’s group jams here in central London? (9,6)
CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS : Cryptic defn: Reference to John Le Carre’s creation, George Smiley and his group of British intelligence agents, nicknamed The Circus, headquartered in a building on the corner of this Central London traffic roundabout.
Or you could consider this a double definition, with “jams here” doing double duty?
19 Carpeted stable dam wrecked (9)
LAMBASTED : Anagram of(… wrecked) STABLE DAM.
Defn: Criticised severely.
21 Tin and aluminium locks here (5)
CANAL : CAN(a tin;a metallic container) + AL(chemical symbol for the element, aluminium).
Defn: …, that is, where there are locks for raising or lowering craft in waterways.
22 Note silence among ladies in bygone times (4,3)
LONG AGO : [ N(abbrev. for “note”) + GAG(to silence;to prevent from speaking) ] contained in(among) LOO(the toilet – the one for females is called “the Ladies”).
23 Journos, gathering in loose ends, raise them in anger (7)
HACKLES : HACKS(a not so complimentary word for news reporters;journalists;journos) containing(gathering in) 1st and last letters of(… ends) “loose“.
Defn: Figuratively, what one raises when one is angry, from the literal meaning of the raised hairs on an animal’s back when it is angry.
24 Centre Point’s fine old state (5)
FOCAL : F(abbrev. for “fine”) + O(abbrev. for “old”) + CAL(abbrev. for the US state, California).
25 Song by East End barman is going places fast (3,6)
AIR TRAVEL : AIR(a short melodious song) plus(by) last letter of(… End) “East” + RAVEL(Maurice, French music composer, or bar-man, cryptically)
Down
1 Articles about wearing suit in camp (10)
THEATRICAL : [ THE, A ](2 articles in English grammar) + [C(abbrev. for “circa”;about, when referring to specified periods of time) contained in(wearing) TRIAL(a suit in a court of law;a trial) ] .
Defn: Deliberately exaggerated in style.
2 Rule for each individual framed by one parent (8)
IMPERIUM : [ PER(for each, as in “average income per person”) + I(Roman numeral for “one”;an individual) ] contained in(framed by) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + MUM(an informal term for one’s female parent) ].
Defn: Absolute or supreme power held by, say, an emperor over his empire.
3 Puzzle‘s meaning can be decoded without a name (6)
ENIGMA : Anagram of(… can be decoded) “meaning” minus(without a) “n”(abbrev. for “name”).
4 Landowner doesn’t finish hideout (4)
LAIR : “laird”(a Scottish landowner) minus its last letter(doesn’t finish).
5 Decide moves after Woman’s Own’s first brave feat (6,4)
HEROIC DEED : Anagram of(… moves) DECIDE placed below(after, in a down clue) [ HER(feminine possessive pronoun;woman’s) + 1st letter of(…’s first) “Own” ].
6 Latin repetition not working for bookworms (8)
LITERATI : L(abbrev. for “Latin”) + “iteration”(repetition) minus(not) “on”(working, as with electrical appliances, say).
7 Saw one in Glasgow filling sink (6)
SAYING : YIN(“one”, referring to someone or something in Scottish, and hence Glaswegian, slang) contained in(filling) SAG(to sink;to bulge downwards).
Defn: …, or proverb.
..a Glaswegian nicknamed The Big Yin.
8 Innocent, maybe: a thousand and eleven fled Pompeii (4)
POPE : [ M(Roman numeral for “a thousand”) plus(and) II(2 x Roman numerals for “1”;11;eleven) ] deleted from(fled) “Pompeii“.
Defn: The title of a number of Catholic leaders who were named “Innocent”.
14 Extra maths problem starts to annoy lazybones (10)
ADDITIONAL : ADDITION(a type of maths problem) + 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “annoy lazybones“.
15 Not how Ko-Ko operates, lacking spirit (10)
LISTLESSLY : LIST-LESS(without a list, contrary to;not how Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado operates, declaring in his aria:
“…
I’ve got a little list–I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed–who never would be missed!
…”)
+ -LY(suffix forming adverbs from adjectives).
Defn: … as an adverbial phrase.
17 Clear fingerprint impressed into actual tablet (8)
READABLE : DAB(slang for a “fingerprint”) contained in(impressed into) REAL(actual;authentic) + E(slang for Ecstasy, the drug, that usually comes in the form of a tablet).
18 College on lookout to host large assembly (8)
CONCLAVE : C(abbrev. for “college”) + ON + CAVE(a guard or lookout, as in “keep cave”) containing(to host) L(abbrev. for “large”).
20 State capital needs a good deal to secure province (6)
MUNICH : MUCH(a good deal;plenty) containing(to secure) NI(abbrev. for the province of Northern Ireland).
Defn: Capital of the state of Bavaria, Germany.
21 Clubs and diamonds run out for consul (6)
CICERO : C(abbrev. for the suit of clubs, in card games) plus(and) ICE(slang for the precious stones, diamonds) + RO(abbrev. for “run out”, in cricket scores).
Defn: Name of a consul;one of the chief magistrates in Ancient Rome.
22 Port given permission to entertain foreign leader (4)
LEFT : LET(given permission to do something) containing(to entertain) 1st letter of(… leader) “foreign“.
Defn: … as an antonym of “starboard”.
23 Ambassador and bishop’s address in 20 (4)
HERR : HE(abbrev. for “His Excellency”, title for an ambassador) plus(and) RR(abbrev. for The “Right Reverend”, title for a bishop).
Defn: A term of address for a man from Munich(answer to 20 down).
Yes, very gentle indeed – bit of a write-in to start with. Favourites were LONG AGO, HEROIC DEED and POPE. Never heard of Ko-Ko, so 15d was a bit of a mystery. Thanks to C & s.
We?l, I got there, but not my idea of easy. Smiley and Ko-Ko aren’t familiar to me and quite a lot of guess the answer from the letters and parse from there. An enjoyable puzzle and great blog but easy – not for me.
Northern Ireland is not a province, comprising as it does 6 of the 9 counties of the province of Ulster
Thanks Crucible and scchua
The previous two posters illustrate exactly what I was going to say – very easy if you have the requisite general knowledge. I did, so it was over in no time, but I imagine that it might be a bit more impenetrable if you didn’t know Smiley’s HQ, Ko-Ko’s list, Rita’s education etc. Not sure if this makes it a bad puzzle.
Favourite was AIR TRAVEL for the “East End” misdirection.
Thanks both. I was a little puzzled by 16a, as the place Smiley’s group work is the Cambridge Circus in central Lodon, so where is the other definition? I wondered if the setter was confusing the real-life Cambridge (University) spies with Le Carré’s fictional ones. But maybe the idea of a pop group “jamming” is the other definition, as you suggest.
Many thanks to Crucible and Schua.
On the Guardian site, they’re saying there’s a theme, but I can’t see one … can anyone shed light?
Thank you to Crucible and scchua.
When I saw the setter, I thought I would be in for quite a struggle, but it all fell into place relatively quickly. Perhaps the beautiful spring sunshine got my brain well warmed up.
Ko-Ko is frequently, if not always, brought up to date with contemporary additions to the list. Perhaps there is a version referring to setters who some commenters on this forum think bend the rules too much. Not today: fair cluing and nice surfaces, and I loved the reference to the Big Yin.
[Marienkaefer @7
I think that the actor playing Ko-Ko is expected to add his own candidates to the basic list.]
Quite an enjoyable crossword: thanks, Crucible.
Thanks also to scchua for helping explain several parsings, particularly for 7d SAYING: had no idea about the Glaswegian bit, though I knew that “saw” is often a misdirection for adage, proverb or saying. Still cannot see where the definition is in the clue for 14a ARCHANGEL, which was another guess from the crossers.
Favourites were 23a HACKLES, 8d POPE (agree, drofle@1), and 15d LISTLESSLY (as a compulsive list-maker myself, I relate closely to the song “I’ve got a little list” from “The Mikado”.)
Shirl @5
I you want to see the second definition for 16a, try driving round Cambridge Circus! The traffic is awful…
Judygs@6, I thought at one stage that there might be a religious theme: pope, bishop and then archangel. But it was really too minor to become a theme, although I may have missed something?
muffin@10 last time there Cambridge(without the circus) was awful for traffic too.
Early finish for me this time and not over-taxing. I sympathise with those not familiar with the le Carré/Smiley genre, seeing as I can’t make anything other than a CD out of CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS (point of info: the real MI6 has never occupied premises at CC).
I reckon that LISTLESSLY also assumes a bit of GK. Though surely there can be few who haven’t at some time heard one of G&S’s best-known numbers!
I’m wondering whether the clue for LONG AGO needs a ‘definition-by-example’ indicator? After all, being of the opposite persuasion, I’ve visited many LOOs in my lifetime, but very rarely set foot in a LADIES 😮 !
Perhaps worth pointing out that Educating Rita was a stage play some years before it got made into a movie! I remember going to see it in London, back in the early years.
Many thanks to Crucible and scchua
Judygs @7 – the theme is Robert Harris novels. There’s IMPERIUM, MUNICH, ENIGMA, ARCHANGEL, CICERO, CONCLAVE and POMPEII (clue for 8d), possibly others. I’ve never read any of them so it’s not my comfort zone and didn’t spot them until finishing the others.
Thanks to blogger and setter for a pleasant and fun solve.
Even Sschua had to go into contortions to make sniff into hum. Couldn’t be anything else but still.
Surely readies is more than change?
Other than these quibbles (which may anyway be unjustified) I thought this was very fine. For the record, not an easy solve for me.
JinA @9 ARCHANGEL is a port in NW Russia on the White Sea. I think it is normally transliterated as Archangelsk.
ClaireS @14 – well spotted! I could kick myself, especially seeing as I’ve read Pompeii and Enigma! I’ve also read several other of his works which don’t seem to appear here: Fatherland, The Ghost, An Officer and a Spy (perhaps that last leads us obliquely to Smiley?).
Thank you Julie in Australia @11, AND to ClaireS @14 for putting me out of my misery! I’ve never read any RH novels either, but I’m told they’re impressive.
I’m currently reading Le Carré’s latest so CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS was a write-in. I also remember Koko’s list, but I would imagine being rather less pleased with myself had I not known these. The former in particular has no other indication useful to anyone not familiar with London traffic. Despite having read all of Robert Harris’ oeuvre I missed the theme as usual.
However 24a just seems wrong. FOCAL is an adjective yet the clue indicates a noun.
Well spotted ClaireS @14.
The Cicero trilogy is particularly good: written as if by his secretary, who was a slave.
poc@19 – it is not “plain wrong”, you are. The definition is ‘centre point’s’, not ‘centre point’
@Julieinaus – I’m genuinely puzzled as to what you thought “port” was doing in the clue for ARCHANGEL if you didn’t relaise it was a port?
‘realise’ sorry
bingybing@21: I didn’t say it was “plain wrong” but that it “seemed wrong”. I get it now.
bingybing – just thick I guess. Thought of “port” as signalling an “L” at the end of the word and did not connect with a totally unfamiliar geographical place name…apologies to scchua for skim-reading and not seeing three key words “in NW Russia” in your blog.
Thanks both,
An easy solve although I was held up at the end by having ‘focus’ in 24. I’m not fond of ‘focal’ = ‘centre points’s’. The centre point (of a circle) is the focus and the natural equivalent of ‘centre point’s’ is ‘focus’s’. I suppose it is possible to say something like ‘The centre point’s location’ and ‘The focal location’ to mean the same thing, but I wouldn’t. Can anyone come up with anything more idiomatic? Continuing to be a bit pernickety, the circle is a special case of a conic section with one or more foci and ‘focal’ is used in relation to all of these, so wouldn’t a DBE indicator be appropriate?
How many non-Londoners have heard of Cambridge Circus as a traffic hotspot?
Thanks to Crucible and scchua. Like a couple of others I did not find this that easy. For me there was quite a bit of guess and parse later and completely missed the theme. The top half went in pretty readily, but for some reason the bottom half took much longer. I also got held up by convincing myself at one point that 20d must be Monaco (having all the crossers). It was only when I got 23d that the penny dropped. That said still an enjoyable solve with lots of nice clues.thanks again to Crucible and scchua.
Thanks scchua and Crucible.
As a Scot, I’d say ‘yin’ was dialect rather than slang. I appreciate this is pedantic, but if all pedantry were removed from the comments here, there’d be a lot fewer of them. 🙂
Not too challenging rather than easy for me and have others have said one’s GK would influence how easily the answers came to mind. I knew 16a from the novels but didn’t think it a great cryptic clue; I got 15d from the definition and crossers and needed Mrs W to explain the G&S reference; and 14a was a solve then parse.
I thought it was a real mixed bag with 1d being what I call a “technical” clue where the wordplay is contrived just to break the word into bits and others like RAITA which seemed almost trivial – but I guess you had to know about Rita.
Like others I ticked AIR TRAVEL and also singled out HUMAN RACE, HACKLES (another nice coincidental reference – to the current BBC v Cliff Richards case) and POPE. Loi was READABLE which also deserves a tick.
AlanB – thanks for your comment on dnfing y’day – I tried to reply but the website wasn’t responding.
Well done to those who saw the theme – I’d seen the Guardian blog comment but still hadn’t a clue.
Thanks to Crucible and scchua.
I see this was another theme that went over my head – I did see a few Roman things but don’t know Harris’s works well enough to get any further than that. Ko-Ko was also unfamiliar, but on the whole this one was quite a straightforward solve.
Thanks to Crucible and scchua
25a Song by the North Country barman is going places fast?
And thank you, Crucible and scchua. For once I got every single answer without any buttons. Enjoyed the puzzle, totally missed the theme.
Re RAITA, I think having the GK about Educating Rita is only necessary in order to explain the seemingly superfluous “Educated”. Without that word, it could have been any girl’s name – “Rita” as much as any other. Indeed that’s how it worked for me, at first. I wrote in RAITA (I’m pretty keen on all sorts of Indian cuisine!). Then I started wondering about what “educated” was doing there. Then it clicked…
Perhaps others thought along the same lines?
Thanks to Crucible and scchua. I’m usually an erratic guess-and-parse solver, but, for whatever reason, I got through this puzzle in (for me) record time. My only pause was for the yin in SAYING. Much fun. As a yearly visitor to London I am aware of the traffic at Cambridge Circus (as a pedestrian, not a driver). As to Educating Rita, I saw the original stage production in the early 1980s and also the more recent revival with the late Tim Pigott-Smith.
Sexism alert – 13a. It is almost exclusively the case that women rather than girls who undertake university studies, and one of the main points of Educating Rita was that Rita was older than the usual university student. Dodgy clue for the Guardian crossword.
Loved the Mikado clue:very witty.
The highest compliment I can pay it is that, after seven hours in the theatre, I felt exhilarated rather than exhausted.
Thanks, scchua.
Late to the party today – I had to go out before the blog was posted.
What a lovely puzzle! CICERO and IMPERIUM leaped out at me, with a welcome reminder of seeing the RSC’s brilliant 7-hour production in Stratford last year. [We saw it in two separate sessions but the critics saw it in one day – and the Guardian’s Michael Billington said in this review ‘The highest compliment I can pay it is that, after seven hours in the theatre, I felt exhilarated rather than exhausted.’] it was certainly one of the best theatrical experiences I’ve ever had.
Only a few weeks ago, I saw our local G and S Society’s production of ‘The Mikado’, which never fails to please. Ko-Ko had a nicely topical ‘little list’ but I won’t reproduce it for fear of copyright infringement.
And of course I loved ‘Educating Rita’ – so the GK was right up my street today [as it so often is with this setter].
Apart from the theme, I was tickled by the East End barman and the state capital – eventually, after trying to parse MONACO, which fitted all the crossers.
Many thanks to Crucible – for once, I don’t have to say, ‘for brightening up another dull morning’: it’s allegedly 31 degrees here – phew!
Apologies for the superfluous sentence at the beginning – I ‘stored’ it there to copy and paste. 😉
[Thanks goodness for that, Eileen – I thought that you might have just undergone a protracted operation!]
Although CAMBRIDGE CIRCUS was my first in, as I am familiar with both contexts (London and Smiley), I wasn’t impressed with the clue. The rest of the crossword was ok, though, except perhaps that having worked out HEROIC DEED from the wordplay I didn’t know it was a recognised or established phrase. I liked HUMAN RACE and AIR TRAVEL.
[WhiteKing, thanks. I ‘m honoured that you wanted to respond to my comment yesterday but could not do so!]
Thanks to Crucible, and to scchua for a clear, illustrated blog.
I’ve never seen anything by G and S and I have no intention of doing so. I knew the “little list” number but who sang it,and from which show,was a mystery.Thus, LISTLESSLY came rather late in the proceedings. Good clue though. I’ve read virtually all of the Robert Harris novels which made up the theme but I still didn’t get it. Most annoying!
Still, rather a good puzzle overall. I did like AIR TRAVEL but MUNICH was a bit desperate. Indeed, I only got it after having got HERR.
Thanks Crucible.
I tried to make “lassi” into an educated girl, but couldn’t wrench it hard enough. Anybody else? Eventually after the H in HUMAN RACE got me to try THE for the first of the articles and get THEATRICAL, the R clued me in to RAITA.
Laccaria @34
That’s how RAITA came to me also. First the answer, then A inside RITA, then ‘educated’ for the luxury (not the necessity) of additional confirmation of the answer.
Van Winkle@36 – given our previous exchange I hope you accept this 🙂 for your sexist “alert” comment in the spirit in which it is intended.
AlanB@41 – thank you. I’ve posted my comment in response to yours on yesterday’s Pasquale.
Thanks for the screenshot from Educating Rita! Now that I know that Julie Walters and Michael Caine are in it, I have to watch it. I think because if the “ITA”, in my mind I’ve always conflated “Educating Rita” with “Lolita”, which I have no desire to read or watch. For this same reason, I never would have caught the sexism noted by Van Winkle@36 since I always assumed Rita was super young.
I dont even understand what v W@36 is trying to say. Is it a joke?
Anyway, I cant believe its nearly 35 years since I saw the film.
pex @48 – although my comment was not entirely stony-hearted, it was not particularly a joke. Many of the people on this site are supporters of fastidious use of language and will appreciate the difference between a “girl” and a “woman”. A smaller number will see the blurring of the terms in particular contexts as problematic (and the clue had one of these contexts). It’s a hard life being politically correct, but this is the Guardian we are talking about.
pex@48 – my interpretation of VW’s comment at 36 is that casually referring to women as girls is old fashioned unconscious sexism in that one would not describe a man undertaking a degree course at a mature age as a boy. Given the theme of the play/film, of women breaking sexist barriers, and in a progressive paper such as the Guardian, this could be seen as dodgy. It isn’t Harvey Weinstein-level wickedness, but this stuff matters to a lot of people, myself included.
As with other solvers posting above, the references to “girl” and “yogurt” did initially send me in the direction of lassi before crossers gave up RAITA.
Fun puzzle overall and an exemplary blog with added photos: thanks scchua.
Van Winkle @49 – our posts more or less crossed, so I hope you didn’t mind me explaining your earlier comment even as you were doing so yourself!
Political correctness is a provocative issue for some (though I don’t know how many Daily Heil readers do the Guardian crossword), but I’m in favour, and I don’t find it makes for a hard life: the positives (empathy and consideration for others, being mindful of the impact of what one says and does, being open to having one’s actions and attitudes questioned) outweigh perceived negatives which as often as not take the form of straw man stereotypes invented or exaggerated in order to undermine the principle.
Apologies for going off track: good crossword/blog anyway!
Thanks to Blanchflower and Van W for explaining. It never occurred to me that calling a woman a girl (or a girl a woman) could be sexist.
Most of the mature women I know, actually like being called girls (collectively) but I can see that in this day & age some might take offence.
I was amused with a P.E. cartoon I saw recently where next to the valentine cards rack in a shop there was a rack of cards saying ‘sorry for the unwanted attention’. The bloke says “perhaps I’d better get one of each”
GK required also for Cicero = consul though it’s been used before.
Typical politician’s arrogance “O lucky Rome, born with me as cosul” ?
Thanks to Chifonie and scchua
Whoops.Thanks to Crucible