Guardian Cryptic 27,636 by Crucible

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27636.

Moderately difficult, but I did not like the preponderance of envelope clues. The theme is so obvious that even I could see it – musicals and other plays. Those that appear entire in the answers I have highlighted in the grid (well, the full title for 18D is MATILDA the Musical, but we will let that pass); beyond that there are a few mentions in the clues – including the wordplay of 1D – and several possible allusions e.g. 27A STARLIGHT Express, 10A JOSEPH and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, even 1D (again) HELLO Dolly, 23D SWEET Charity; 25A LIONISED I feel is an allusion too far, and 3D WEIGH for Anchors aWEIGH is musical but a film. Prokofiev’s opera The 6D GAMBLER may likewise be getting rather far afield (but it would allow 2D MACBETH to be included under the musical umbrella).

Across
1 HOMEWARDS Pilot who dreams where some pigeons are heading? (9)
An anagram (‘pilot’ – an unusual but, I think, defensible anagrind) of ‘who dreams’
6   See 24
8 ALACRITY Dispatch a group of ordinary people across Costa Rica (8)
An envelope (‘across’) of CR (‘Costa Rica’, IVR) in ‘a’ plus LAITY (‘group of ordinary people’).
9 ROMANY Traveller makes tracks round Arab state (6)
An envelope (’round’) of OMAN (‘Arab state’) in RY (railway, ‘tracks’).
10 JOSEPH Jack hopes to work for old carpenter (6)
A charade of J (‘jack’) plus OSEPH, an anagram (‘to work’) of ‘hopes’.
11 HAMILTON Washington’s sidekick nearly fools poet (8)
A charade of HA[s] (‘fools’) minus its last letter (‘nearly’) plus MILTON (‘poet’).
12 TETHYS Backing group snaffled your drink once! (6)
An envelope (‘snaffled’) of THY (‘your’) in TES, a reversal (‘backing’) of SET (‘group’ – despite the mathematical distinction), for the Ocean between Laurasia and Gondwana in Mesozoic times (252 to 66 million years ago or thereabouts).
15 SPHEROID Odds on 26 papers like the Globe (8)
A charade of SP (starting price, ‘odds’) plus HERO (’26’, the answer to 26A) plus ID (‘papers’)
16 SPECULUM Small old coin cracks desirable mirror (8)
A charade of S (‘small’) plus PECULUM, an envelope(‘cracks’) of ECU (‘old coin’) in PLUM (‘desirable’).
19 WICKED Wife killed nursing king’s evil (6)
An envelope (‘nursing’) of K (‘king’) in W (‘wife’) plus ICED (‘killed’).
21 SAMIZDAT Lapp cut stats about unknown secret publishing (8)
An envelope (‘about’) of Z (mathematical ‘unknown’) in SAMI (‘Lapp’) plus DAT[a] (‘stats’) minus its last letter (‘cut’).
22 GREASE Soprano cast agree about is fat (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of S (‘soprano’) in GREAE, an anagram (‘cast’) of ‘agree’.
24, 6 PAJAMA GAME Every year top performance pulls in crowd for musical (6,4)
An envelope (‘pulls in’) of JAM (‘crowd’) in PA (per annum, ‘every year’) plus A GAME (‘top performance’).
25 LIONISED Song about working is set on a pedestal (8)
An envelope (‘about’) of ON (‘working’) plus ‘is’ in LIED (‘song’).
26 HERO Star in Fiddler on the Roof (4)
A hidden answer in ‘tHE ROof’. ‘Fiddler on’ is just along for the ride. ZERO would be an even more unsatisfactory answer (and would not be of help for 15D).
27 STARLIGHT Sailor shrouded in faint glow at night (9)
An envelope (‘shrouded in’) of TAR (‘sailor’) in SLIGHT (‘faint’).
Down
1 HELLO I’m surprised leading couple quit play (5)
[ot]HELLO (‘play’) minus its first two letters (‘leading couple quit’).
2 MACBETH US subject accepts Queen’s Award for Drama (7)
An envelope (‘accepts’) of CBE (Commander of the British Empire, ‘Queen’s Award’) in MATH (mathematics, ‘US subject’).
3 WEIGH Lift rug running round European hotel (5)
A charade of WEIG, an envelope (‘running round’) of E (‘European’) in WIG (‘rug’); plus H (‘hotel’ radio code).
4 RHYTHMS Poems lack energy describing mother’s heart beats (7)
An envelope (‘describing’) of TH (‘moTHer’s heart’) in RHYM[e]S (‘poems’) minus the E (‘lacking energy’).
5 SCRIMSHAW Playwright collecting villain’s carving (9)
An envelope (‘collecting’) of CRIM’S (‘villain’s’ – Chambers gives CRIM as an abbreviation for criminal, noun) in SHAW (‘playwright’).
6 GAMBLER German thriller writer’s better (7)
A charade of G (‘German’) plus AMBLER (Eric, ‘thriller writer’).
7 MANDOLINE Crew perform on string instrument (9)
A charade of MAN (‘crew’, verb) plus DO (‘perform’) plus LINE (‘string’).
13 ESPLANADE Where to take in salty air and a sleep, possibly (9)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘and a sleep’.
14 SALAD DAYS Talks about a son and daughter’s early years (5,4)
An envelope (‘about’) of ‘a’ plus LAD (‘son’) plus D (‘daughter’) in SAYS (‘talks’).
17 CHICAGO Marx brother tours a grand city (7)
An envelope (‘tours’) of ‘a’ plus G (‘grand’) in CHICO (‘Marx brother’).
18 MATILDA Girl landed up in control of parents (7)
An envelope (‘in control of’) of TIL, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of LIT (‘landed’) in MA and DA (‘parents’).
20 CHEWING Revolutionary faction like some tobacco (7)
A charade of CHE (‘revolutionary’) plus WING (‘faction’).
22 GROWL Develop primarily loud threatening sound (5)
A charade of GROW (‘develop’) plus L (‘primarily Loud’).
23 SWEET Rising river swamps women’s course (5)
An envelope (‘swamps’) of W (‘women’) in SEET, a reversal (‘rising’ in a down light) of TEES (‘river’).
completed grid

55 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,636 by Crucible”

  1. Congratulations to PeterO and others who solve this. I made a real schemozzle of it.

    Finding an entry point was difficult but I thought the dominoes would fall after I saw 9a ROMANY and then got several others in the NE. But I came to a standstill in the SW despite getting 24/6a PAJAMA GAME quite early. I did pick up on the theme once I had a few other musicals like 11a HAMILTON, 22a GREASE and 18d MATILDA. However I couldn’t see how 2d MACBETH 2d really fitted and even though I thought of DOLLY to complete 1d HELLO, I thought it would have been included in the puzzle rather than just as half a themed solution. I didn’t get 12a TETHYS or 21a SAMIZDAT – both were totally unfamiliar – and also didn’t see the hidden HERO in 26a (the last is very embarrassing). So I gave up, thus the puzzle was ultimately an epic fail for me.

    Not complaining, Crucible just got the better of me today. At least it keeps me ever so ‘umble.

    Thanks to both the setter and the blogger.

  2. P.S. I question marked the anagrind “Pilot” in 1a HOMEWARDS, and am still not sure how it works, so I am curious about your thinking when you said it was “defensible”, PeterO. (Thanks, JinA)

  4. Yes JinA, how the synapses mesh on a given day with any of the setters is a bit of a lottery I find. For me today was a good one, chewed through this pretty easy. Bit of luck involved too; happened to hear about the Sami people on the ABC yesterday, which made samizdat gettable [fwiw, if was about how they’re given a voice to the Scandi parliaments, which our Tories won’t hear of, of course].

    That said, I was lazy parsing, coming here without thinking too much about a couple of biffs: Hamilton, spheroid; and had never heard of Tethys, tho guessed it was an ocean or sea because we’ve had that ‘drink’ recently.

    Ta Crucuble for the workout and PeterO for explaining it all.

  6. Thanks for info on TETHYS my googling only got me an old goddess with oceanic connections.And the once  ould also apply to YOUR=THY as well as drink(sea).

    Picaroon a tough act to follow but this was pretty damn fine.

     

    Thanks Peter and Crucible.

  7. Thanks Crucible and PeterO

    “The theme is so obvious…” – not to me! I finished it very quickly, in fact, but didn’t parse HAMILTON or see where A GAME came from (and I don’t follow your explanation, PeterO). “Pilot” was an odd anagram indicator,as you say, but OK for me too; however I didn’t like the “Fiddler on” in26a.

    Favourites were SPHEROID and TETHYS.

  8. Thanks Crucible, for an enjoyable crossword, and PeterO for the blog.

     

    Once I got started, I found most of the bottom half went in quickly, but then ground to a hard crawl with the NW quarter. RHYTHMS was a struggle, but so obvious now.

     

    I carelessly dismissed MACBETH as MAC + BETH (slang for American + Queen), but I now see how wrong that is.

  10. Thanks PeterO; the theme must have been obvious as you say, because even I spotted it (I seem to rememeber “SPECULUM! – the Musical” too, but maybe that was just a bad day at the orifice.) Thanks to Crucible for a fine puzzle.

  11. Bullhassocks, a joke my Uncle Harry was fond of; in the interest of decency I won’t say what his medical specialty was.

  13. Very enjoyable – hard work, but managed to finish. My favourites were HOMEWARDS, TETHYS, SPECULUM and ESPLANADE. Didn’t spot the theme of course!!

  14. Surely “Joseph” (and note a reference to the dreamer at 1ac) and “Starlight” (Express) are refs to Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals?

  16. Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    I met the same snags as others: I did know TETHYS as the Titan goddess but not as the Mesozoic ocean  [I just took her as a personification] but I failed on SAMIZDAT, as I didn’t know the Lapp or the publishing. I didn’t query ‘pilot’ – I’m not sure how I justified it but it just felt right, somehow.

    I loved the way Crucible handled the theme, with a mixture of overt references and more ghostly ones, particularly SALAD DAYS and JOSEPH, for both of which I have an extraordinary affection:  SALAD DAYS was still new enough in my student days at Bristol, where it originated, to have a particular resonance for me and my friends and we saw it in the West End, bought the record, played it to within an inch of its life and soon knew it all by heart. Years later, I played the small part of Timothy’s mum in our parish production. I saw the first production of the modern form of JOSEPH in the early 70s in Leicester, before it transferred to the West End – and I still  have the original vinyl of that, too. Over the years, we have performed that several times, too, once with three generations of my family together. Huge thanks, Crucible for a lovely start to a sunny day  – I shall be singing one or the other all day [and even maybe – ‘Oh, look at me!’ – dancing, too 😉 ].

  17. Isn’t it funny, Eileen @16 ? — SAMIZDAT was my first one in. I struggled after that, but eventually finished, though I couldn’t parse 11ac or 12ac (knew the goddess, not the ocean). Thanks, Crucible and PeterO.

  18. [Eileen@16, I really enjoyed your post. Thank you for sharing the associations the theme evoked for you as you danced down Memory Lane.]

  21. Thanks Crucible; good setting to get all the theme words/phrases in.

    Thanks PeterO; especially for parsing MACBETH, which I didn’t see. This had too much GK for my taste, although I did see the theme, which helped with a few of the later answers. I thought pilot was OK, in the sense of try out. I thought ‘Fiddler on’ was a bit silly, just to force in another reference. I’m not sure what the ‘is’ does in 22a, which seems to me to produce an ugly surface. I liked the ESPLANADE, zzz …

  22. Didn’t see the theme, but it wouldn’t have helped. PAJAMA took ages because of the American spelling.

    Thanks to PeterO for explaining some of the convoluted parsing and to Crucible for the challenge.

  23. Thank you Crucible and PeterO.

    I thought HOMEWARDS might refer to Look Homeward, Angel, but the musical is just named Angel.

    TETHYS was long forgotten by me, as was SCRIMSHAW, and SAMIZDAT was unknown.  The clue for WICKED fooled me into trying to find other names for scrofula, but struma would not parse…

    I liked the clue and anagram for ESPLANADE!

  24. Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.

    Not for me, another themed crossword where the theming imperative necessitates over-complexities e.g. SAMIZDAT and TETHYS. But worth the exercise for the excellent RHYTHMS and ALACRITY. No McIver moment here, but by no means a waste of time so much thanks.

  25. GinF @9

    Thanks. Yes, I saw about 20 minutes later that A was the letter and not the indefinite article, but I was out by then!

  26. ALACRITY was in the Quick today, so it was made easy to solve when it turned up in the Cryptic as well. Shouldn’t this be avoided? I solved all except HAMILTON, because I was too clever for my own good – I thought “Washington’s sidekick nearly” was HOMI(E), because a homie is an American fellow gang member. Duh.

  27. Thanks to Crucuible and PeterO. I generally found this tough going in spite of identifying the theme. I am afraid musicals are not really my forte, and a DNF for me. Mostly ground through it though but eventually got bogged down in the SW. Eventually got speculum, Tethys and samizdat (all new words to me) but came a cropper with 24, 6. I dismissed pyjama game because of the crossers, and was unaware of the American spelling (doh). However, I did like alacrity, weigh and hello. After the age it took me to get going, glad at least to get within one clue of a completion, and thanks again to Crucuible and PeterO.

  28. I didn’t know Sami, but with hindsight I can see it’s related to Finland’s international code “SF” which I believe is “Suomi Finland”

  29. Too hastily entering Pyjama instead of Panama, without checking how the musical was spelt, meant I was a long time scratching my head over the SW corner. Tough for a Crucible puzzle I thought…

  30. The theme was so obvious that I totally missed it.

    I missed Odds = SP, a new one on me (though it shouldn’t be after so many years of reading Dick Francis).  I thought of TETHYS as somebody from Greek mythology, but had never heard of the ocean — it was an interesting discovery.  I’d never heard of Laurasia, either, though I had of Gondwanaland.

    This was a hard one for me — I had ten blanks left this morning, solved some of them and had to use buttons a little to fill the last few.  SAMIZDAT was a word I associated with Soviet rule but had no idea what it meant.

    That said, thanks to Crucible for the puzzle, PeterO for the helpful blog and Eileen for the musical reminiscences.

     

  32. This was fun, although I too failed for several reasons, the main one being SAMIZDAT plus Lapp (in its clue!). SAMIZDAT was not in my vocabulary. It is presumably used in more modern situations than 17th century Russia, which my dictionary gives as its origin. In addition, I still find it difficult to associate Z with ‘unknown’ in crossword clues. My mathematical training was to use x, then y, then z as the unknowns. So X is ‘unknown’, but Z rarely, especially in back-of-the-envelope calculations.

    My regular reading is science news, so the TETHYS sea was readily known to me because it appears in articles on research into geological history. Yes – everyone has a different background of knowledge.

    Many thanks Crucible and PeterO.

  33. Thanks to Crucible and PeterO. I knew the term SAMIZDAT but not how to spell it (and Sami was new to me) and I guessed at the TETHYS-drink connection, but elsewhere I knew most of the musicals, though not SALAD DAYS, a phrase I associate with Shakespeare’s Cleopatra when describing her youthful affair with Caesar: “My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood.”

  34. Pretty tough in places, perhaps because the themers made the rest of the grid difficult to fill. All quite entertaining, despite a theme I know little about

    Thanks to Crucible and PeterO

  35. Quite challenging for me.  I was aware of the general theatrical theme but missed quite a few of the references.  Having solved STARLIGHT, I was on the lookout for EXPRESS, one of the musicals I was aware of.  I’m a bit surprised Crucible didn’t include it at 2d.  The crossers could be adjusted to accommodate it.

    I liked “pilot” as an anagrind (meaning steer or direct) and I enjoyed the Fiddler on the Roof clue, even though Fiddler is not needed.  I think, in this case, the appropriate surface justifies the little extra padding.  I also quite like the possibility of having Zero (Mostel) as an answer – thanks for pointing that out, Peter.

    I tend to agree that a little more GK than usual was needed for the solve (e.g. Sami, Ambler) but I enjoyed my TILTs – TETHYS, SAMIZDAT among others.

    Great fun.  Thanks, Crucible and PeterO

  36. Thanks to Crucible and Petero.
    LOI WEIGH – I got the wig/e/h but could not put them together. I struggled also to find LAITY for ALACRITY – I do the quick crossword to unwind before going home. SAMIZDAT niggled because I knew it but could not bring it to mind.
    For reference someone who ‘brings their ‘A’ game’ is playing at their best.

  37. Quite enjoyed this and even remembered the spelling of pajama from seeing the film. The list of musical references should include Wicked.

  38. So the theme was obvious was it? Not to me,mate- and I found the whole thing extremely difficult! I thought 21ac was SAMIZDAT but had no confidence in it until I had the crossers- I’d forgotten the SAMI. On the first pass I had HERO and CHICAGO and that was it. It took some time before they were joined by any others- and don’t start me on TETHYS.I will probably remember forever that it’s a Mesozoic ocean and I bet it doesn’t come up again.
    A bit too hard to be enjoyable but –
    Thanks Crucible

  39. I’ve only ever seen “mandolin” and the musical is THE Pajama Game. Laity = ordinary people. How condescending is that?
    I agree with those who think that themed puzzles often mitigate against good setting practice.

  40. No one miffed by ECU being described as a coin? From wiki: “As the ECU was only an electronic unit of account and not a full currency, it did not have any official coins or notes… countries and organisations like the European Parliament made commemorative and mock-up coins…”.

    DNF – too tough for me. But much to admire and learn from.

    Thanks to Crucible and PeterO.

  41. Phew. Missed Hamilton, bit of GK i perhaps should have known but didn’t, and I couldn’t decide PANAMA HAVANA CANADA BANANA Game, and i would never have thought to spell PAJAMA, and didn’t know the musical anyway.

    I don’t remember how i got TETHYS and SAMIZDAT, but i did miraculously end up with them in the grid. never heard of either. to me the latter falls in the dodgy category of using an obscurity to clue an obscurity, though that is always a dangerous thing to say. Just because I’ve never heard of SAMI or SAMIZDAT doesn’t have to mean they are obscure.

    I liked STARLIGHT. more my kind of clue. And I appreciated JOSEPH.

    Many thanks Crucible and PeterO

  42. Thanks Crucible and PeterO

    Jeceris @ 39: mandoline is a common spelling for the kitchen slicing instrument. The ‘string’ that appears before it is part of the wordplay that also contributes to a very neat piece of misdirection.

  43. Like many I failed with SAMIZDAT but trudged slowly through the rest. I concur with those questioning “pilot” as an anagrind.
    I’d say it’s barely acceptable to clue ECU as an old coin as it was an accounting unit and never existed as hard currency, although according to wikipedia some countries issued commemorative coins .

  44. Keyser @40 The European Currency Unit may not be a coin, but the écu of France was, and a golden one at that.  I have a feeling that when the rest of the EC caught on that France had proposed its own medieval coin as their future currency, they switched the name to Euro.

  45. You can see a picture of the earliest version of the coin if you google “ecu coin”.  From that I learned that the name means shield, as in “escudo” (Portugal’s old currency) or “escutcheon.”

  47. Very tough despite seeing the theme quite early. I kept going and got there in the end with SAMIZDAT being loi for me too. I thought there was some excellent misdirection – surely most of us set off trying to work REP into 9a; and my cotd MACBETH for the US subject with its pdm once I wrote it out. And ESPLANADE was a great surface and anagram. All in all much to enjoy with some learning to boot – TETHYS. Many thanks to Crucible, PeterO and everyone for their thoughts and stories.

  48. Thanks Simon S. I did see “string” as part of the wordplay for LINE, but items used in the kitchen are utensils not instruments, and in any case I would also spell the slicer without the ‘e’.

  49. Jeceris @48

    Chambers gives mandolin or mandoline as alternatives in either sense,

    Julie in Australia @1 & 2

    If 2D MACBETH is intended as a “musical” it would be as Verdi’s opera – otherwise, there is material enough elsewhere for the theme. In 1A, I thought of ‘pilot’ in the sense given by robert @19.

  50. I’m always interested to see when people have the complete opposite reaction as I do… I didn’t enjoy this at all, and I have played most of the musicals themed. MANDOLINE was one of the first in, but the irregular (i.e. bogus) spelling put me off on the rest of it. Once I got the gist of the theme and the odd/rare words, I fully lost interest. HAs  for fools? I guess I get that one, but… blah. 🙁

    However, as I said, I see here that many people enjoyed it, so there that is.

  51. I enjoyed this without seeing the theme at all.    Was never much into musicals, but this absence of knowledge did not delay solving much, I think, so all very fair.     Favourite clue, STARLIGHT.     Thanks Crucible and blogger.

  52. We enjoyed it too, and did see the theme (though not liking musicals at all).

    We had a ‘musical’ theme not so long ago, I seem to remember.

    Anyway, for us this was a DNF because of the SW corner where Tethys, Pajama and Samizdat formed an unfortunate trio.

    We did everything right except Samizdat (being familiar with Sami but not brave enough to go for z).

    I think my favourite clue was HELLO, nice definition.

    Many thanks to PeterO and Crucible.

     

  53. I enjoyed this puzzle, but in retrospect, only about 60% as much as I really should have.  It seems that I have been dashing from pillar to post all day long, on one thing or another, and I never found (or created) enough of a period of calm focus to see beyond the one or two clues I was trying to work out here and there, spread across the entire day, to appreciate the puzzle as a whole.  So I missed that there was a theme afoot — even though I recall noticing at the time of solving several of the individual answers that they were titles of musicals (D’oh!).  Also, ESPLANADE, a word I have known well since childhood (being originally from the Boston area, where “The Esplanade” is a famous park and concert venue on the Charles River), eluded me all day long, and was my next-to-LOI — a real TTM once I finally saw it.  Having said all of that, I did have tick marks for several of the clues, including the revolutionary faction (the “CHE WING” – haha!), WEIGH, RHYTHMS, MACBETH, and (CotD for me) HOMEWARDS.  TETHYS was a bare guess based on the parsing, which I had to Google to confirm, and SAMIZDAT, my LOI, was totally unfamiliar to me (and I had to resort to Google to see if either SAMIXDAT or SAMIYDAT or SAMIZDAT could really be a Thing).

    Many thanks to Crucible for a very fine puzzle, and to PeterO and the other commenters for filling in all the parts I failed to appreciate while solving!

  54. If Joseph can be part of the Musicals list minus his Technicolour Dreamcoat , I submit Sweet for Charity’s sake and Express my support for Starlight.   Anchors Aweigh!

  55. I only just got round to doing this so comments are to Peter and Crucible who presumably would still get this.

    I really enjoyed this despite the obscurity of some words.

    Without going into detail I did have to come here to parse a few.

    Well done and thanks to both of you.

    PS. I had no issue with ‘pilot’ and applaud its use in the context.

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