The ‘ABC’ theme…
…of ArchBishops of Canterbury was surprisingly accessible for me, with more familiar names than I would have expected. Favourites were 10ac, 24ac, and 8dn. Thanks to Paul.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BECKET | ABC, gesture eloquent in the extreme (6) |
| =Thomas Becket [wiki] BECK=”gesture” plus the extreme letters of EloquenT |
||
| 4 | STOCKS | Capital punishment method once (6) |
| double definition – “Capital” in the sense of invested money | ||
| 9 | FAIR | Just light (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 10 | UNHAMPERED | Not prepared for a picnic to be free? (10) |
| second cryptic def of ‘without a picnic hamper’ | ||
| 11 | PAPYRI | Capital briefly storing pretty vacant old documents (6) |
| PARIs=”Capital briefly”, around PrettY | ||
| 12 | WILLIAMS | In decrees, I declare myself ABC (8) |
| =Rowan Williams [wiki] WILLS=”decrees”, with I AM=”I declare mysef” inside it |
||
| 13 | COIFFEURS | Cutters suffice, or otherwise (9) |
| =hairdressers (suffice or)* |
||
| 15 | LAUD | Praise ABC (4) |
| =William Laud [wiki] | ||
| 16 | COCK | Raise male (4) |
| double def: ‘cock’=”Raise” as in turn one’s head or ears upwards | ||
| 17 | AUGUSTINE | Summer in effect’s beginnings for ABC (9) |
| =Augustine of Canterbury [wiki] AUGUST=”Summer”, plus IN, plus Effect |
||
| 21 | LAW COURT | Where people tried to crawl drunkenly around middle of pub (3,5) |
| (to crawl)* around pUb | ||
| 22 | RIALTO | Voice carried beyond state bridge (6) |
| =bridge in Venice ALTO=”Voice” after Rhode Island=US “state” |
||
| 24 | IMPEACHING | Challenging in game, chip balls up? (10) |
| (in game chip)* – with “balls up”=’make a mess of’ as the anagrind | ||
| 25 | BABE | In crib, a beautiful young child (4) |
| hidden in criB A BEautiful | ||
| 26 | RAMSEY | ABC sure to injure back (6) |
| =Michael Ramsey [wiki] YES=okay, “sure”; plus MAR=”injure”; all reversed/”back” |
||
| 27 | STATUE | Figure everyone can see boarding express (6) |
| Universal=of a film, “everyone can see”; inside STATE=”express” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRAVADO | Revolutionary abroad embracing victory swagger (7) |
| (abroad)*, around Victory | ||
| 2 | CAREY | ABC, mind and body ultimately (5) |
| =George Carey [wiki] CARE=”mind” plus bodY |
||
| 3 | ERUDITE | Unfortunately, dieter’s eaten last of gateau, it’s learned (7) |
| (dieter)* around gateaU | ||
| 5 | TEMPLE | Church ABC (6) |
| Frederick Temple [wiki] or his son William Temple [wiki] | ||
| 6 | CREPITANT | Nectar: it’s spread around top of pork crackling (9) |
| =crackling, rattling, snapping (Nectar it)* around Pork |
||
| 7 | STEMMED | Held back — like flowering plants, perhaps? (7) |
| double def, the second slightly cryptic | ||
| 8 | SHOWER CURTAIN | Psycho’s screen exhibitionist meeting death shortly (6,7) |
| =reference to the famous film’s shower murder scene SHOWER=”exhibitionist” plus CURTAIN[s]=”death shortly” |
||
| 14 | FACE CREAM | Five notes on paper this soothing? (4,5) |
| I think this is F, A, C, E, C as five musical notes, plus REAM=”paper” | ||
| 16 | CRANMER | ABC, bird catching worm finally ending in despair (7) |
| =Thomas Cramner [wiki] CRANE=”bird” around worM, plus despaiR |
||
| 18 | UPRIGHT | Happy with Conservative post, perhaps? (7) |
| =an upright post used in building a structure UP=”Happy” plus RIGHT=”Conservative” |
||
| 19 | NOTABLE | Dignitary ill-equipped? (7) |
| NOT ABLE=”ill-equipped” | ||
| 20 | RUNCIE | ABC, old character touring Sark etc (6) |
| =Robert Runcie [wiki] RUNE=”old character” around Channel Islands=”Sark etc” |
||
| 23 | ABBOT | Father ABC (5) |
| George Abbot [wiki] | ||
Thanks both. I too was amazed that I didn’t have to search through a list of Archbishops of Canterbury to solve this. Needed you to parse FACE CREAM
Took a long time to realise what ABC was – CRANMER did it for me.
Very enjoyable – thanks Paul and manehi
Thanks Paul and manehi
Not a lot of fun. I got the theme from CAREY and also knew most of them, though I needed a list for TEMPLE and ABBOT.
Some metal salts – lead(II) nitrate, for example – crackle as they decompose when heated. This is called “decrepitation” – a word that chemistry students never forget, so CREPITANT was easy!
Favourite was LAW COURT.
Pedants’ corner: RIALTO isn’t a bride; it’s the market area of Venice. It is linked to the St. Mark’s side of the Grand Canal by the Rialto Bridge (which is a bridge!)
I forgot to say that I thought “Five notes” for FACEC was a bit feeble.
Of course RIALTO isn’t a bride! What I meant was, it isn’t a bridge either…
Thanks, Paul and Manehi. I enjoyed this.
My way in was LAUD, confirmed by RUNCIE. Fortunately, I recognised the rest.
Paul on a Tuesday again! But this was not as difficult as I initially feared. I was pleasantly surprised to find I knew all the archbishops except Abbot, for which I had to resort to the Wikipedia list. (And I also now see that there were two Temples.)
I don’t quite understand why it’s “beginnings” rather than “beginning” in 17a.
I really liked “Not prepared for a picnic” = UNHAMPERED!
The second crossword today where a bit of ‘local knowledge’ helped –
Thank you to Paul for a nice Tuesday level crossword and to Manehi for the explanations
I had no idea what ABC meant until I finally twigged to BECKET. In the end only one wrong – I’d never heard of LAUD and I thought ‘hand’ was more likely.
Hardest was FACE CREAM. Favourites were the ‘Not prepared for a picnic’ wordplay and ‘Psycho’s screen’ def.
A bit frustrating initially, but good fun in the end.
Thanks to Paul and manehi
Woohoo. First cryptic I have completed without resorting to online aids. Well I did spot the theme and used an Excel sheet sorted by length of word. I even parsed them all, except 27, so, thanks Manehi and thanks Paul
I was surprised not to find ALPHABET among the ABC answers, among all the archiepiscopal ones… that would have been a nice bit of misleading, analogous to Spooner turning out to indicate not a Spoonerism but a ladle or whatever – didn’t that appear recently? I agree with muffin @4 about the five notes, but enjoyed it overall, as usual with Paul; thanks to him and to Manehi.
I agree with Wordplodder@9. Thanks Paul and manehi.
I thought it was about different styles of alphabet so was slow to twig to ABC as a reference to Archbishops. I got it when I thought about runes as alphabetical characters (I think?) and therefore got RUNCIE 20d. BECKET at 1a followed quickly. I only knew two others – 12a WILLIAMS, and 16d CRANMER. I needed the Wikipedia list to find and confirm the others.
I agree about SHOWER CURTAIN – it was a favourite for me too, and linked us back to Qaos’ puzzle from last Thursday. I also liked 21a LAW COURT for the scene I imagined.
For me, 6d CREPITANT was an unfamiliar word and only gettable for me from the crossers, with a dictionary check to confirm it. I had an unparsed FACE CLOTH for a while for 14d.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
Thank you to manehi and Paul. I surprised myself by clocking what ABC was with my third entry (Carey). It made me wonder if this has been used as a device before.
Some lovely non-episcopal clues too: 10ac and 8dn.
I looked up the list of ABCs afterwards. There are some wonderful names, especially among the Anglo-Saxon ones: Tatwine (later canonised), Eadsige and Sigeric the Serious for example.
As others have alluded to it’s surprising what you wouldn’t recall but do recognise post-solve. However a dnf for me; had to rush out, got impatient and looked up the list to get Williams, which then made ‘stemmed’ obvious. Pity; a bit more time would have yielded stemmed and the the name.
Ditto to JinA re crepitant; one of those like corruscate and crepuscular that I’ll always have to look up to verify.
Good fun even so, thanks Paul and Manehi.
RUNCIE was my way in. Aurigina is good on historical ABs of C.
Can’t see the objection to “five notes”, especially as FACE is the mnemonic for the spaces in the treble stave.
Forgive me is this has already been asked (I’ve been away): has anyone else found the anagram helper blanks letters already in the grid? I’ve gone back to paper.
ABC theme made this xword easy. Would have been more challenging if christian names of the ABCs were used.
With Carey, Williams and Temple, I thought they were actors at first (probably saw them all at the ABC cinema once). Finally twigged when Becket and Runcie appeared.
Thank you Paul and I concur with manehi’s favourites.
Oh, and after getting 16a I was looking for HITCH somewhere.
Had over half the puzzle solved before I twigged it….
Thank you Paul and manehi.
I was foxed by ABC for a while since LAUD, TEMPLE and ABBOT did not suggest archbishops to me, but after entering RUNCIE, last in, I checked a list.
AUGUSTINE was the first, might this account for Lord Jim’s query @7 re ‘beginnings’ in 17a?
Like others TEMPLE and LAUD had me scratching my head for an ABC connection and then BECKET went in and I consulted my personal wiki (Mrs W) who confirmed they were all ABCs so we went looking for the rest which meant most of them were solved through GK then parse, so not so satisfying – in my view.
I’m sorry to gainsay you@3 muffin but this chemistry student had forgotten decrepitation, and although there was something vaguely familiar CREPITANT I’d class it as a TILT.
Favourites were UNHAMPERED (2nd to loi) LAW COURT (for the surface) STATUE (‘cos I didn’t parse the U) and SHOWER CURTAIN (loi).
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
Very enjoyable. Always happy when I see it’s a Paul, and I’m rarely disappointed. Foi was 9ac but only because it’s homonym was popularly the loi yesterday.
Thanks to Paul and manehi. I got Cranmer early on (I knew him from Act 5 of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII), so Williams, Becket, and Laud followed and the clues helped me get the rest with a few Google checks. ABBOT was my LOI.
1a was an early one in, and I first I wondered if the theme was Archbishops or playwrights – but it was the wrong spelling for playwrights, so that was settled easily enough. I needed the list to confirm a few (was there really an ABC called Laud?) and after that it became rather boring – “Cranmer must be in here somewhere – ah, there he is!” But like Marienkaefer @ 14, I enjoyed discovering the old Anglo-Saxon names, especially Sigeric the Serious. It’s a pity Paul couldn’t work Sigeric in….
But as did others, I liked 10a and 8d – and also 6d. I didn’t know the form crepitant, but I did know crepitations so it was gettable. You do not want your doctor to find crepitations on your lungs. Fortunately mine went away of their own accord.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
What Eileen said. Actually I saw LAUD as a straight clue but again RUNCIE gave me the thumbs up followed by BECKET, RAMSEYetc etc
A bit of pre and post “reformation” here. Didnt particularly need google here as I thought the clues worked.
But I did for Enigmatist on Saturday-I’m a virgin on Daphne books but I am arranging a liaison.
‘ABC’ was mystifying at first, and I wasn’t sure if it always meant the same thing. First in was SHOWER CURTAIN, followed by UNHAMPERED and a couple of other long ones, and I soon needed to break the code. CAREY and LAUD seemed likely answers to those two clues, and the penny dropped with LAUD.
The puzzle became almost a write-in from that point, unfortunately, as I knew all the names except ABBOT. I guessed CREPITANT from ‘decrepitation’.
I was impressed with the way the ten theme names (five across and five down) were incorporated into this grid.
Thanks to Paul and Manehi.
Does anyone else think it might be an inappropriate time to publish a theme like this that includes this 2d? Or am I being over-sensitive?
I finished this but with a googled list, so, for me, this was not much fun. I am amazed and impressed that so many of you knew all these Archbishops. muffin @ if the RIALTO Bridge is a bridge (you wrote it), what can, even a pedant find wrong with the clue. Auriga @16 I entirely agree, in fact F-A-C-E are the notes, in English, of the spaces in the treble clef of the SOLFA scale. Any music or ex music student would immediately recognise this, so, for me, not feeble at all. My favourite was UNHAMPERED about which I am still chortling. Oh OK I did get some fun. Many thanks Paul and manehi!!
All quite entertaining – CAREY was the one that gave the theme away for me, but I had to check some of the less familiar ones (TEMPLE, ABBOT and RAMSEY) – RUNCIE was the first one I remember properly.
Thanks to Paul and manehi
Sorry muffin, that should read muffin @ 3
S Panza @28
No, the Rialto isn’t a bridge. The Rialto Bridge is a bridge that let’s you cross the canal to the Rialto. Calling the Rialto a bridge would be rather like saying that the Channel Tunnel is France…
Thanks both,
Quick but enjoyably witty. I liked the anagrind in 24a, but why the question mark at the end?
…or, rather, France is the Channel Tunnel.
muffin @ 31 Mea culpa, I take your point, although I am dubious about your analogy. But it would be like calling Battersea Bridge, Battersea which, of course, it isn’t.
That’s a better example, S Panza!
I saw a rather disappointing programme about Venice on BBC4 last night (Part 2 of “Italy’s invisible cities”). One titbit of information was that the architect of the Rialto Bridge was called da Ponte (before he built it!)
Did you know that there are only three permanent bridges (not counting occasional pontoon bridges) along the whole length of the Grand Canal?
Tyngewick @32, I think the question mark’s there because someone’s weighing up whether to chip a ball (in golf or football) in various hypothetical circumstances, hence the plural balls.
Thanks for that muffin I did not know about only three bridges nor da Ponte. Interesting facts, Rialto City California is apparently called the ‘Bridge City’ and has a depiction of the ‘bridge’ on its seal. It is a bit late now, but they should have read the exchanges here before they designed it.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
I can’t say that I really enjoyed this; maybe I’m being too literal but I can’t find ABC = Archbishop of Canterbury in dictionaries. I’ve certainly never heard of LAUD.
I don’t understand the discussion about RIALTO. ‘Bridge’ in the clue is a category name in which names of bridges like RIALTO, Severn, Humber etc. belong, so this seems to me to be perfectly fair.
I beg your pardon, Robi, but you are missing the point. Calling the Rialto a “bridge” would be like calling “Westminster” a “bridge”.
This was, for me, a great example of a setter’s creating a puzzle loaded with GK references, yet solvable even by those (like me) having almost no such GK. I didn’t manage to crack the riddle of what ABC stood for — I wondered about this and this and this (one of the major US broadcast TV networks) and even this!! — until I had solved a good many of the clues that *lacked* ABC, but 2d with its last 2 crossers in pretty clearly suggested the name CARE+Y, and then, assuming that was correct, 1ac had to be BECKET, and that is when the lightbulb went on about what ABC must mean. ABs of C (or ABs of anywhere else, for that matter) are not in my wheelhouse, and I think BECKET was the only one in this puzzle whose name (specifically in connection with being the ABC) was known to me. But once I knew I was looking for surnames, all of the other ABC clues went in smoothly based on Paul’s clueing alone. [Having said that, after the grid was complete I did take an enjoyable whirl through the Wikipedia list of ABCs to spot the names of hose who were in the puzzle and to pick up a few TILTs along the way.] CotD for me was SHOWER CURTAIN, with UNHAMPERED a close second for its amusing PDM.
Many thanks to Paul and manehi and the other setters.
Hi muffin; this is probably a bit of a sterile discussion but @3 you call it ‘the Rialto Bridge,’ and yes, Westminster is the name of a bridge, like Humber, Severn etc. As far as I am aware the setting protocol is that one can use a category name like ‘bridge’ to describe members of that category. If you look up ‘Bridge’ in, say, the Chambers Crossword Dictionary, you’ll find Rialto along with all the others.
DaveMc @40
Please limit the number of links that you include in a comment to 2. If there are 3 or more links the comment is placed in a moderation queue because spam comments often include a large number of links. In this instance I was able to approve your comment within a couple of minutes. However, had you posted it half an hour later I would not have seen/approved it for several hours and posting it after 9pm UK time would have meant that it wouldn’t have appeared until about 10 hours later.
Hi again, robi
I can see that we’re not going to agree on this! I can agree to let it drop, though 🙂
Gaufrid @42 –
OK, got it. I did not know that (making it an important TILT!). Sorry to have exceeded the limit. I will take care not to do so again. Thanks for explaining the rule (and for everything else you do to make this such a great forum).
I’d never heard of many of the ABCs, but I managed to sort them out from the wordplay and the crossers, so I was pretty pleased with myself in the end.
I think that “beginnings” in 17a must be a mistake. I’d like to say it was done for the surface, but the surface doesn’t make sense anyway.
I thought that the five notes in 14d must be FA + C + E + C+ RE, but that left AM as a paper, so it doesn’t work. Too bad, as I think that the “five notes” wordplay is more interesting with a mixture of different sorts of notes.
I am someone who is not really interested in any form of religion (but wouldn’t go as far as Boris Johnson telling the world how stupid certain aspects of it are – to each their own after all).
And therefore, ABC long puzzled me, even if my FOI was CAREY (2d), purely from construction. After finding RUNCIE (20d), again purely from construction, I thought we might be in for people’s names. The penny dropped quite late after my solving partner suggested ArchBishops of Canterbury. Apart from Rowan Williams, I didn’t know any of them. Clearly a crossword in the GK category for non-Brits like me. But I’m fine with it.
I would like to make a couple of remarks about two clues (16ac and 17ac).
Today the excellent Knut had in the Indy “Raise the standard, boy! (4)” giving us JACK. That would be a perfectly all right solution to 16ac, too. I only changed it because of knowing no bird with 5 letters, starting with a J. We also concluded that the actual answer is more Paulian than ‘Jack’.
Lord Jim @7 made a comment about ‘beginnings’ in 17ac. That’s indeed wrong, should be ‘beginning’ (both for the surface and the construction). Probably, just a typo but strange that no-one else seemed to be bothered. The other thing I don’t like about this clue is equating ‘Summer’ to ‘August’.
Altogether, a ‘different’ crossword from Paul. I do not share Robi‘s ‘objection’ to the fact that ABC is not in the dictionaries meaning ‘Archbishop of Canterbury’. It’s just an added cryptic element, deliberately thrown in by Paul.
Many thanks to manehi & Paul.
Er…ABC means archbishops of Canterbury? Really? Archbishop for starters is ONE word! Not Arch Bishop. I am finding Paul increasingly obscure and not half as clever as he used to be. Shame. I thought he was the heir apparent to Araucaria (whom I miss daily), but on recent offerings…..
I loved this. One of the most enjoyable puzzles for a while. CAREY finally gave me the theme although I stared at it having got it, but when I saw BECKET it became obvious. The only ABC I didn’t know was ABBOT which is odd for an atheistic Marxist like me. CRAMNER was LOI because I originally had JACK for 16ac. Liked PAPYRI.
Thanks Paul.
I quite enjoyed this puzzle. I did have to resort to a list since Becket and Cranmer are the only two ABCs I could name. I remembered Carey after the fact thanks to his rampant homophobia. The biggest difficulty I had was with UPRIGHT which, of course, made it my favorite.
As to the curious debate, I am happy with the clue as it stands.
Auriga@16: The online anagram tool was also broken for me, but a software upgrade overnight seems to have fixed it.
Though this was one of Paul’s more straightforward puzzles, it was still “eloquent in the extreme” so I have to disagree with Managra. Each to his own I guess, but Paul is unquestionably a titan of Crosswordland – for me at any rate. It is precisely his continued creativity and ability to surprise that means he remains a joy, just as the great John Graham. This may have been a little pedestrian, or unchallenging, for some of us but others no doubt found it pleasantly puzzling and improving.
Thought SHOWER CURTAIN quite nice (wondered if we’ve met something similar before? The whole thing felt a bit déjà-vuish….spooky) and particularly enjoyed LAW COURT.
Many thanks to Paul and manehi
Managra and William F P: I’ve always thought of Paul as being “son of Araucaria”, without, I admit, being able to put my finger on exactly why.
muffin, if you think of “Golden Gate” what comes to mind?
I’m still lost – can someone explain the U in STATUE in more detail?
2 tanners @54 –
See manehi’s explanation in the blog, and this.
Cookie @53
The Golden Gate is a strait in California. It has a bridge over it, called the Golden Gate Bridge.
..though those two are actually in the same place, which is not the case for the Rialto and the Rialto Bridge.
Not interested in the theme, but I suppose in the cryptic world, it’s equally valid to other themes, eg composers, writers’ works, football players etc. It was the devious and nonsensical ABC that irked me. Not a fair game.
DaveMc@55
Thanks for the link, much appreciated, I needed that to solve my confusion. I read the blog, scratched my head, looked up Universal Films, etc. We don’t have that same classification here, (we use G – General Exhibition), so I’ll store that away for the future.
When I had Temple and Williams in I began to think that maybe the theme was a film one…
muffin @56 & 57, agreed, but I am sure that people around the world think of ‘bridge’ when they see Rialto or Golden Gate. Incidentally, when I hear Battersea I think of ‘power station’, that dates me…
Could someone explain why a TILT is, please?
What
Gasmanjack @63, “thing I learnt today”
2 tanners @59 –
Not sure if you’re still checking back here for responses to your post. I am (like you, perhaps??) from the US, so G is the rating that I know from personal experience also. U is one of those little bits of overseas solver knowledge acquired only by repeatedly tackling these puzzles from the UK and frequenting the blogs here on 15^2.
Cookie @53:
Obviously not a fan of Ansel Adams
Phil @66, thank you for that, I will look up more of his photography – my father, a bridging engineer, passed through San Francisco on his way home to NZ in 1930 and visited the proposed site for the bridge and the people involved in the design.