The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27576.
That cannot have been too difficult, as I got through it in good time, even though I do not feel at my brightest – the hot, humid weather is quite sapping. Still, there are some splendid clues, and plenty of banana skins to slip on if you look the wrong way for a moment.
| Across | ||
| 7 | RADIATION | Help turned into helping waves (9) |
| An envelope (‘into’) of DIA, a reversal (‘turned’) of AID (‘help’) in RATION (‘helping’). | ||
| 8 | SOUND | Channel something heard well (5) |
| Triple definition. | ||
| 9 | EMOTIONAL | A moonlit romance ultimately makes one thus (9) |
| An anagram (‘makes one’) of ‘a moonlit’ plus E (‘romancE ultimately’), with an extended definition. | ||
| 10 | BIDET | Declared 48 hours before D-day, what makes privates presentable (5) |
| Sounds like (‘declared’) B-day (whimsically, ’48 hours before D-day’). | ||
| 12 | ADRIFT | Going nowhere in commercial break (6) |
| A charade of AD (‘commercial’) plus RIFT (‘break’). | ||
| 13 | CROUTONS | Those against accepting defeat are in the soup (8) |
| An envelope (‘accepting’) of ROUT (‘defeat’) in CONS (‘those against’), with a descriptive “definition”. | ||
| 14 | BAYLEAF | Some Laurel and Hardy finally in a fable that’s been rewritten (3,4) |
| An anagram (‘that’s been rewritten’) of Y (‘HardY finally’) plus ‘a fable’. | ||
| 17 | SEATTLE | Decide about a city in the US (7) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of ‘a’ in SETTLE (‘decide’). | ||
| 20 | COCKATOO | The next sound as well is a bird (8) |
| A charade of COCKA, ‘sound’ing like the answer to the ‘next’ clue; plus TOO (‘as well’). | ||
| 22 | COCKER | Small dog locker with doubled top (6) |
| ‘Locker’ with the ‘top’ L (Roman numeral 50) replaced by C (Roman numeral 100). Simple but effective. | ||
| 24 | HASTE | Start off continent expedition (5) |
| A subtraction: [c]HASTE (‘continent’) minus the first letter (‘start off’). | ||
| 25 | ESTABLISH | What covers essay by learner is found (9) |
| An envelope (‘covers’) of STAB (‘essay’) plus L (‘learner’) plus ‘is’ in EH? (‘What’?). | ||
| 26 | WINCE | Flinch from overflow in cesspit (5) |
| A hidden answer in ‘overfloW IN CEsspit’. | ||
| 27 | POSSESSED | Had search party status evaluated externally (9) |
| A charade of POSSE (‘search party’) plus SSED (‘StatuS EvaluateD externally’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FARMED | Cultivated member ate out (6) |
| An envelope (‘out’) of ARM (‘member’) in FED (‘ate’). | ||
| 2 | MISTRIAL | Poor hearing, when one is in the wind (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘one’) in MISTRAL (‘the wind’). | ||
| 3 | UTMOST | All-out extremely tight sumo wrestling (6) |
| An anagram (‘wrestling’) of TT (‘extremely TighT‘) plus ‘sumo’. | ||
| 4 | TOBACCO | Leaves to set up taxi firm (7) |
| A charade of ‘to’ plus BAC, a reversl (‘set up’ in a down light) of CAB (‘taxi’) plus CO (Company, ‘firm’). | ||
| 5 | SOVIET | Then compete and start to turn red (6) |
| A charade of SO (‘then’) plus VIE (‘compete’) plus T (‘start to Turn’). | ||
| 6 | INTERNAL | Fiendish foxtrot gives way to tango from within (8) |
| INFERNAL (‘fiendish’) with the F replaced by T (‘foxtrot gives way to tango’, radio alphabet). | ||
| 11 | See 16 | |
| 15 | AROMATIC | A dreamer with no name is fragrant (8) |
| A ROMA[n]TIC (‘a dreamer’) minus the N (‘with no name’). | ||
| 16, 11 | ANTIDOTE | Fancy diet not a cure (8) |
| An anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘diet not a’. | ||
| 18 | TICKLISH | Credit slip uncovered: don’t say a word — it’s sensitive (8) |
| A charade of TICK (‘credit’) plus LI (‘sLIp uncovered’) plus SH (‘don’t say a word’). | ||
| 19 | MONSOON | Sun now, then rain (7) |
| ‘Sun[day] now’, MON[day] SOON. MONSOON is generally associated with the Indian rainy season, but there are wet and dry monsoons, according to the prevailing wind, so the definition is extended. | ||
| 21 | KITSCH | 18 not 51, may be vulgar (6) |
| An anagram (‘may be’) of TICK[li]SH (’18’ – the answer to 18D) minus LI (Roman numeral, ’51’). | ||
| 22 | COARSE | Harsh lectures to the audience (6) |
| Sounds like (‘to the audience’) COURSE (‘lectures’). | ||
| 23 | EASIER | Evenly and softly to begin with, that’s right: not so hard (6) |
| A charade of E A S (‘Evenly And Softly to begin with’) plus I.E. (id est, ‘that’s’) plus R (‘right’). | ||
Thanks PeterO and Philistine.
Brilliant. Thanks for parsing COCKER and COCKATOO.
Silly chargehand here parsed 10a as ‘bid’ (declared) and ‘e.t.’ (‘estimated time’ as 48 hours before D-day)… And as soon as I wrote it in the tray hit my sun-frazzled bonce with a sound that could be heard all over the world.
Many thanks.
Silly gladys got both COCKER and COCKATOO (too), and never spotted the connection. Sparkling stuff from Philistine – loved the soup, the moonlit romance, Laurel and Hardy, and D-Day (ouch) among many others. Thanks Philistine and thanks PeterO for sorting out the awkward ESTABLISH.
I don’t get bidet unless it’s being pronounced bydet which it isn’t . ? And I don’t like monsoon as a clue. Otherwise ok but strained in places
Well PeterO and Chargehound it’s not hot downunder but my synapses are none the better for it; a dnf for me as I couldn’t get bidet and had ‘consisted’ for ‘possessed’ even though it doesn’t parse. And I couldn’t parse cockatoo or cocker (which is a neat clue). Oh well…
Did get a chuckle with monsoon, also pretty neat, but overall a bit of a grind, much harder than Paul’s prize on Saturday.
Thanks Philistine for the challenge and PeterO for the explanations.
Sorry, Chargehand (def not my day!)
@rewolf The day before D-day might be C-day, so the one before that – 48 hours before D-day – could be thought of a B-day. That help?
Oh i see. That’s terrible! Thanks
As is often the case I had more reservations before I came here and saw (was shown) the light. I did a Chargehand and Gladys with 10, 20&22. I also had ?s by 12 as I see ADRIFT as not knowing where you’re going rather than going nowhere and HASTE as I can’t make a sentence where I can substitute EXPEDITION for it – no doubt I’ll soon be enlightened.
I liked the triple definition (although I only saw 2) of SOUND, the misleading definitions of MISTRIAL and SOVIET and the serendipity (or brilliant editorial decision) of 6d following on from yesterday’s NATO alphabet.
Many thanks to Philistine for the puzzle and PeterO for the enlightenment, and with apologies in advance for not referencing posts made whilst I’ve been typing this!
Expedite – to do quickly, hence expedition is haste
Really enjoyed this. Not fiendishly hard but still testing. 8ac was very clever, I thought.
Moved through it quite quickly until the last four or five. Then had to scratch my head. I only got “adrift” by using a cheating device; finding out which words could fit those crossers. “Bidet” was the last one in. 48 hours before D-Day in military planning use is D-2 and that didn’t dawn on me as “B” for far too long.
A clever, witty puzzle. Thanks very much to Philistine and to Peter O for your parsing.
David S
Agree with WhiteKing@9 on nearly everything but re ADRIFT isn’t going nowhere basically the same as going somewhere without knowing where?
Many thanks to Philistine and PeterO.
Like grantinfreo@5, I don’t have the weather to blame, but this was still a bit of a slog for me.
Once I finally finished … after coming back to it several times and thinking it was impossible … I did a review, and have to say I liked the triple definition for 8a SOUND (as you did, WK@9), 13a CROUTONS in the soup, 17a SEATTLE (one of my favourite US cities), the repetition in 20a COCKATOO and 22a COCKER, 2d MISTRIAL (and its connection to the other wind, MONSOON at 19d), and 15d AROMATIC. So, in sum, quite a lot to like! And as also mentioned in your post, Gladys@3, the moonlit romance got a tick, and in fact I think that 9a EMOTIONAL was my COTD.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO.
PS That 10a B-DAY, BIDET clue, I only saw because I objected to some cluing a while ago about BUS A, BUS B etc… At least on this occasion, D-Day was a real reference…and the 48 hours before, being B-Day, does make sense to me. I do like a clever homophone.
I love B DAY.Every home should have one.
Ours does, copmus, and I still didn’t get it!
Struggled with 10 across too, a bit too fiendish for me, therefore loi…
Sorry but do not get the parsing for MONSOON at all very poor clue IMO
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO. I’m another who found this puzzle a challenge though I did eventually get through, though I did not parse BIDET, my LOI.
Thank you Philistine and PeterO.
I found this very hard, but fun – just managed to finish, but not to completely parse all. Too worn out and hot to comment further (it is going to be 35° here near Geneva by Saturday).
This setter is one of the best and this was a fine crossword, which I really enjoyed. Thank you Philistine. 19d was a terrific clue; one of the best for a while, and it brought a big smile when I got it, 20 and 22 went in easily enough but I needed PeterO to confirm that the unusual word play was as I thought: many thanks for that PeterO. Yesterday Paul today Philistine my cup runneth over. I wonder what we will get tomorrow.
Cookie @20: here in southern Spain my car parked in dappled shade registered 117 in old money on Monday. We own a cave-house so it is lovely to escape the afternoon sun by taking the proverbial siesta in a cave. As a bonus the WiFi works in the caves as well, so the crossword and Test Match Special are both on tap!!
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO. Most of this went in quite readily, but the the last few seemed to take ages, and a DNF for me because I could not get bidet (just could not get my head around the clue). I also could not parse cockatoo. However still very enjoyable and liked monsoon, soviet and haste. Thanks again to Philistine and PeterO.
Cookie@20, as our mate Lars said in Stockholm in an earlier heatwave back in ’02, “Soon there will be palm trees.” He was joking but serious.
Lots to like here. COCKER and COCKATOO were fun, as was the doubly-tricksy clue for HASTE (I hadn’t heard that definition of continent). No complaints from me for B-Day, and I think MONSOON was actually my favourite of the lot. It might not fit into one of the standard/usual clue types, but to me at least it made sense and raised a smile, and you can’t ask for more than that.
Thanks to PeterO and Philistine
I enjoyed this – all pretty straightforward apart from a couple of the 5-letter lights where a perimeter nina would have helped with the unhelpful grid. HASTE was last in – liked that one, BAY LEAF and MONSOON.
Thanks to Philistine and PeterO
Triple definitions, as in 8a, appear to be even rarer around here than &lits, about one for every three. For a talk I gave a few years ago, I did some counting, and while by far the majority of clues in my sample were definition+indication, about 10% were cryptic definition and 1% &lits. While on the subject, SOUND was a td with a totally different clue, in a Nutmeg Quiptic in January.
I really loved this puzzle, and had to stop ticking clues as they were nearly all getting one.
Despite that I did struggle and it was a dnf with exactly the same problems as grantinfreo @5 (snap!). And it’s neither hot nor humid here. Just very pleasant.
Thanks to Philistine for a great workout and PeterO for the explanations.
Late to the party today – I’ve been out on a lovely walk, followed by an excellent pub lunch – so everything I’d want to say about this delightful puzzle has been said.
I’ll just echo the first sentence of Crossbar’s comment @28.
Many thanks, as ever, to Philistine and to PeterO for a great blog.
I don’t normally think about the surfaces, but this one had really smooth ones. On my first read I didn’t think I was getting anywhere. False trail when I put CONSOMME for 13a. FOI was 10a, LOI 24a. Thanks to the two p’s, setter and blogger.
I wasn’t going to comment but feel compelled to side with Eileen above and others who found this a delight. Parsing those in which the answer was apparent from the definition can be a grind, but today there was so much inventiveness and humour, that I was disappointed when I realised it was all over. BIDET, MONSOON, COCKER and then COCKATOO were my favourites.
Thank you to Philistine and PeterO.
Thanks Philistine and PeterO
Lovely. So much to like. Favourites were BIDET, BAY LEAF and (sorry, some previous posters!) MONSOON.
All parsed except ESTABLISH.
[btw Cookie, you will be relieved to hear that I was on the winning side this morning without having to resort to tee rage! (see yesterday)]
Thanks to Philistine for the challenge and to PeterO, in particular for COCKATOO and COCKER.
I found this quite hard and it took a few visits. Fortunately the rain has returned here and I can apply myself to the long list of chores I have on the long finger and which could much more easily and pleasantly have been done during the recent heatwave. So in between drain-unclogging and garden-furniture-repair, patio-weeding and gutter-inspecting my foi was BIDET which I loved, but it did set the tone for the level of difficulty, and finally did not twig HASTE so a dnf on that basis. No complaints however and MONSOON tickled me, soaked as I am, but many ticks.
Now to take down the ceiling on the landing.
[Muffin@33
Congrats. I had an attack of tee rage a while back and played very well for 14 holes. Then the person who was annoying me went in and it all came apart.]
I would summarize this puzzle, in 10 words or or less, as fun, fun, fun, funny, fun, funny, funny, and brilliant. I knew it would be a good’un the moment I got my FOI, MISTRIAL (“poor hearing” – ha ha!). My LOI — which I stared at for a good while before the laugh-out-loud PDM — was BIDET, which immediately rose up to be my CotD, or perhaps shared that podium with MONSOON. I also really enjoyed SOUND, UTMOST, EMOTIONAL, ADRIFT, BAY LEAF, the COCKATOO/COCKER combo …
Many thanks to Philistine and PeterO and the other commenters.
Excellent puzzle, with only one slight complaint – the definition part of BIDET.
I thought MONSOON was brilliant and also liked COCKER and COCKATOO.
It’s been about 30 degrees again in Helsinki today and am wilting. Coming to Britain on my annual visit at the weekend and am hoping it’s cooler …
13A is an absolutely brilliant surface, well done Philistine.
PS – I loved BIDET
[Forty-odd years ago, my three-year old son, having been baby-sat by a friend who was having a new bathroom installed, had misheard this as ‘speedy’, so when we next encountered one, he proudly announced: ‘I know what this is – it’s a speedy, because, when you turn it on, the water comes up esso [ever so] quickly’.
I know we all have treasured family mondegreens. 😉 ]
I forgot to mention; we used to have some NY friends-of-friends who used to visit them in North Yorkshire. They could never get to grips with the town Settle, and always referred to it as “Seattle”.
(Reminded as one of the friends visited us today.)
No doubt this was clever but a bit too clever for me. I struggled with quite a lot of it and there were some guesses. I didn’t parse ESTABLISH or MONSOON. Loved SOVIET and TOBACCO.
Thanks Philistine
Anna @ 37: depending on exactly where you’re visiting, temperatures are forecast to be mid>high twenties, so not a lot different from Helsinki…
[muffin @33, yes, I am relieved, but hope it was not very hot on the golf course.]
I think that Philistine is at his best when he leaves out his occasional trans-Libertarian clues. As he did today.
That said, we couldn’t finish this crossword (on paper, so no way to have one or more letters revealed) as we didn’t have a clue how to look at 10ac.
Now that clue may be a clever one (and in hindsight it surely is) but I’m not sure that having only two unremarkable crossers (?I?E?) was helpful. I don’t think it was a great example of how to fill a grid as a setter. I am a bad loser? Perhaps, and so hats off to those who came up with the right solution!
Otherwise a lovely crossword which was not really hard, we thought.
Many thanks to PeterO & Philistine.
Pleasant puzzle, as ever, from a favourite setter – Philistine is, for me at least, invariably “quibble-free” as this was.
Agree with beery – at least with his first six words! The one clue which gave pause was ADRIFT, which was lovely. BIDET a write-in (where else, in a cryptic crossword, could “48 hours before D-day” be pointing us, particularly with the “declared” there too? I think it helps, ironically, to be blind to surfaces – at least initially), but made up for by witty definition. My favourites were the prial of 20, 22 and 24ac (COCKATOO, COCKER and HASTE).
Many thanks, both and all.
BIDET and HASTE were the only clues I didn’t enjoy in an excellent crossword. (Sil makes a good point concerning ‘unremarkable crossers’ in BIDET that applies also to HASTE.) I found that with many clues – a higher proportion than normal – I could rely on the skilful wordplay to get me the answer before confirming it from the definition.
I could list many favourite clues, but at this late hour I can say (yet again!) that it’s all been said.
Honestly…I’m thinking of giving up… 20A I’ll never get. Never. I mean I got 22A but I’m not linking the two, albeit thanks to this site I get the parsing. Thank you Peter.
19D I still don’t understand let alone have a chance of getting. I suspect I need to get a different newspaper, the cryptics here must be for the afficianado only.
I’m a 50y old bloke with an oxbridge degree and 2 professional qualifications but I must be very dumb given this apparently ‘can’t be too difficult’
*waves white flag*
Thanks for all the help, this site is very useful but I’m not getting there
Stuart @47
You and I are not the only ones who failed to understand 20a COCKATOO. I got the TOO all right, and with the crossing letters I was confident that COCKATOO was the answer, and I was happy to leave it to see if anyone managed to parse it. On seeing the explanation I would call ‘the next sound’ both a devious and a weak indication of COCKA, from COCKER in the ‘next’ clue. This is one of those rare, rule-stretching clues that add a bit of fun and would not be allowed by other editors. As an amateur setter, I wouldn’t dare submit this clue, but the reception here from solvers in general was not at all bad.
19d MONSOON comes from the whimsical time sequence ‘Sun now, Mon soon’, with ‘then’ indicating ‘Mon soon’ (I think). For me, this works much better than COCKATOO, and I regard it as a clever piece of language play for a cryptic crossword, and gettable from ‘rain’, the crossers and a second or third reading of the clue.
Not all setters have Philistine’s style. I wonder for how long you have been doing Guardian cryptics. I’ve done crosswords for too many years to count, but I started the Guardian only in 2014 (I think), and it took me a while to get used to these crosswords generally and some setters in particular.
Thanks Alan. I’ve only been doing them ‘seriously’ for maybe 3 or 4 years. Historically I would’ve done a few clues with friends or had a go at a ‘Rufus’ on my own.
The 2 clues from yesterday were just the final straw I think…I guess I see that occasionally chucking in something different and tricksy is fun for people who knock these off every day with ease…i think the thing that I’ve really discovered over the last 2 or 3 years that stops me being good at the tougher cluers is the multitude of abbreviations and archaic / short form words that either I don’t know or which persist primarily in crossword-land. I think actually the clues I enjoy least are the ones where a 7 letter word has been split into 4 or 5 abbreviations.