Guardian 27,695/ Pasquale

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It’s Pasquale’s turn to entertain us on another gloomy morning.

 

My first half-dozen or so answers went in quite readily and provided an entry to less familiar – or unknown – words, where Pasquale followed his own convention of straightforward cluing to lead to the answer – with the possible exception of 1dn. There are some particularly apt and witty surfaces, making for an enjoyable solve. Thank you, Pasquale.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Band to undress, ultimate in disgrace (6)
STRIPE
STRIP [undress] + [disgrac]E

4 Big story about the same big health problem (8)
EPIDEMIC
EPIC [big story] round IDEM [the same]

9 A king brought by seaman to a port (5)
OSAKA
AK [a king] by OS [Ordinary Seaman] + A – my first thought was AKABA [it works perfectly] until crossers ruled it out

10 Bishop needing to phone wife maybe to prove a point (5,4)
BRING HOME
B [bishop] + RING [phone] + HOME [where his wife might be]

11 Conversation sure to be rambling after party (9)
DISCOURSE
DISCO [party] + an anagram [rambling] of SURE – clever, because ‘rambling’ is an epithet often applied to ‘discourse’

12 Material provided by poet rejected (5)
TOILE
A reversal [rejected] of ELIOT  [poet – a variation on the old chestnut of TS ELIOT being an anagram of TOILETS]

13 Fie, ban diesel! Unlikely not to  be done away with (12)
INDEFEASIBLE
An anagram [unlikely] of FIE BAN DIESEL

17 One worker in East going after fish oil (12)
BRILLIANTINE
I ANT [one worker] + IN E [in East] after BRILL [fish]

20 Bird left on far side of river (5)
OUSEL
L [left] after [on far side of] OUSE [river]

21 Huge seat falling apart outside old lodge (9)
GATEHOUSE
An anagram [falling apart] of HUGE SEAT round O [old]

23 Possible clue to ’erod being a sinner (9)
WRONGDOER
A reverse anagram [wrong] of ‘EROD, with a seasonal reference

24 What’s worn by everyone going round is plain (5)
LLANO
A reversal [going round] of ON ALL [worn by everyone] – I learned this word for a South American plain from crosswords

25 Struggled, being weak at first, then was first after break (8)
WRESTLED
W[eak] + LED [was first] after REST [break]

26 Given map instructions, drove off (6)
ROUTED
Double definition, with different pronunciations [this side of the pond, at least]

Down

1 Mediterranean vessel traversing small lake is poetic (8)
SPONDAIC
SAIC [‘a  vessel like a ketch, used in the E. Mediterranean’: Chambers] round POND [small lake]: I was surprised to find this unlikely-sounding word for a boat but I knew SPONDAIC [though I would question the definition: a spondee is a metrical foot composed of two long syllables – but I don’t think that makes it ‘poetic’]

2 Where transport cafe is, notices one that’s journeyed around (8)
ROADSIDE
RODE [journeyed] round ADS I [notices one]

3 Philosopher with old books having mountain to climb (5)
PLATO
A reversal [to climb] of OT [Old Testament – old books] + ALP [mountain]

5 Quiet merriment is organised around 1 May? (5,8)
PRIME MINISTER
P [quiet] + an anagram [organised of MERRIMENT IS round I [1]: surely no Prime Minister has provided richer pickings for compilers? – this was a clever new slant

6 Ailing, I’d start to take new drug (9)
DIGITALIN
An anagram [new] of AILING I’D T[o]

7 Indigenous people rebel endlessly under Communist dictator (6)
MAORIS
RIS[e] [rebel endlessly] under MAO [Communist dictator]

8 Sharp Conservative has something to gain advantage (6)
CLEVER
C [Conservative] + LEVER [something to gain advantage]

10 Bird from cage, loose, struggling under farm building (8,5)
BARNACLE GOOSE
An anagram [struggling] of CAGE LOOSE under BARN [farm building]

14 Hot glow of anger in experience with BA? (9)
FIRELIGHT
IRE [anger] in FLIGHT [experience with British Airways?]

15 One’s featuring in play with no hint of eloquence being required? (8)
FIGURANT
An anagram [in play] of FEATURING, minus e[loquence] – Chambers gives only ‘a ballet dancer, one of those who form a background for the solo dancer’ but I also found it as ‘a supernumerary actor who has little or nothing to say’, so the &littish surface is rather clever – my top favourite, I think

16 See this place with car (8)
HEREFORD
HERE [this place] + FORD [car] – a welcome change from Ely

18 Show deference? Gosh, what a childish creature! (3-3)
BOW-WOW
BOW [show deference] + WOW [gosh]

19 A Barchester clergyman not on the level (6)
ASLOPE
A SLOPE: Obadiah Slope is a clergyman in Trollope’s ‘Barchester Towers’ – another allusive surface

22 Expression of surprise from place lacking redemption and love (5)
HELLO
HELL [place lacking redemption] + O [love]

42 comments on “Guardian 27,695/ Pasquale”

  1. Thanks Pasqaule and Eileen

    Yes, a mixture of relatively easy ones and ones that n eeded wordsearches! Favourite was FIRELIGHT.

    I had AKABA to start with as well (I even checked that it is a valid alternative spelling of AQABA). I bunged in KOW-TOW unparsed for BOW-WOW too (the correct answer is another favourite).

    I’m surprised that you made no comment on the casual sexism in BRING HOME, Eileen!

    I thought the clue for WRONGDOER was lazy, as ‘erod isn’t a real word.

  2. Thanks Pasqaule and Eileen; I agree re cleverness of definition being wound into wordplay for 15d.  Muffin: ‘Erod is not  a real word – it is therefore doubly “wrong”….  Good point re the Bishop though – at least for now – before long we may well have a female bishop ringing her wife,  Mind you, we could all be dead by then

  3. Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and thanks Eileen for clearing up some queries. In 6d I read it as ‘first to Take’

  5. Trouble is that there was only one crosser to worry about in AKABA- so i bunged in SPANDRIL for 1d[-seemed obscure enough for the Don and I didnt expect something as mainstream as OSAKA.

    I really liked the ‘erod clue- I liked most of it , especially Barchester-great books and TV series.

    Took ages deciding on ROUTED which narrowed it down for 15d

     

    Thanks to Don and Eileen

  6. All bar one for me. Couldn’t figure figurant. I too entered Akaba until pond dawned on me for spondaic which I vaguely remembered, though couldn’t tell you what it means. Other anagrams made the unknown indefeasible and digitalin guessable. Fairly tough going.

  8. Muffin @1 Isn’t it a bit rich to assume through ‘casual sexual prejudice’ that someone with a wife must be a man and then to call it out as ‘casual sexism’?

    Loved this crossword although a DNF for me as I didn’t know the vessel or the poetry, favourite was probably wrongdoer for it’s excellent misdirection, many thanks to Pasquale and Eileen.

  9. Yes muffin, raised an eyebrow at the ‘ ‘er indoors’ flavour of 10a, but at least it was qualified by a ‘maybe’. Defeated by figurant today; didn’t suss the anagram (d’oh) so couldn’t even guess. Our blokes having skittled the five Indian tailenders before lunch, I had plenty of time to stare at it; no pdm. Needed help too with spondiac, word vaguely familiar, dnk saic the boat but yes there it was in the old SOED. Boats are like fish: hundreds of ’em. Enjoyed remembering the sadly late Rickman’s wonderfully oily Slope (terrific series). Nice one from the Don and thanks Eileen.

  11. Thanks Brian.

    It crossed my mind but still didn’t work for me as I see ROUT as an offensive rather than than repelling as in driving off.  Guess I will have to accept it as that though.

     

  12. TerriBlislow@2, I’m not at all au fait but I’m sure we have women bishops here in Oz; don’t know if any of them have wives, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

  13. @2 TerriBlislow I can’t say if they own phones or have a place to call home but there are already female Bishops openly in same sex marriages, not many though as being a lesbian still seems to more troubling to people than being a gay man!

  14. Neither as fun nor as fiendish (aside from FIGURANT) as the Don can be but an excellent puzzle. Plenty of obscurities all eminently gettable. Tend to agree re poetic and erod but surely some licence can be allowed

    I really liked the straightforward BRILLIANTINE.

    GinF I couldn’t understand why the Indians didn’t replace Ashwin with a like for like or even the left arm leggie. Still a good victory and the boy Lyon must currently be the best offie in world cricket

    Thanks to Pasquale and Eileen.

  15. As one who insists that Revs are not always vicars or clergyMEN ( I have lectured all my crossword editors and corrected a few Church Times puzzles as an editor myself!) I grant that ‘spouse’ would havbenn better than ‘wife’. I iamgine Libby Lane might phone up her husband for example. That said, the clue is perfectly sound because it ends with a question-mark, suggesting other possibilities!

  17. Thanks to Eileen and Pasquale

    I had “Spondric” as a guess as I new neither SAIC nor SPONDAIC. I don’t object to the occasional use of obscure (to me) words as I enjoy learning new ones. I would like the definition to be a little more rigorous though – it would appear that SPONDAIC = POETCIC as much as SYNTAX = PROSE, but I am happy to be corrected!

    No question mark in my paper @ 10a although “maybe” does the same job.

  19. Hi BlueCanary, yes the boys call him Goat (greatest of all time [of offies]). He hated it at first, so of course the boys redoubled; he’s getting used to it. [Apols to the relevance monitor].

  20. Tough in places e.g. the NW (SPONDAIC at 1d etc), 15d FIGURANT, and the “Barchester” reference in 19d ASLOPE. Still thought it was fair, as the wordplay was pretty spot-on, though obviously I still needed you for some parsing, Eileen.

    Is BRILLIANTINE 17a similar to Brylcream, which I recall my Dad using?

    I liked 4a EPIDEMIC, 12a TOILE, 3d PLATO and 22d HALLO. My favourites though, were 14d FIRESIDE (as for muffin@1) and the brilliant (!)  misdirection “1 May” as fodder for PRIME MINISTER at 5d.

  21. Like Eileen I had trouble with 1d as I’d just said to MrsW “it will be a word we don’t know, but he always clues unusual words fairly (like FIGURANT and LLANO)” – and then he goes and dredges up SAIC! I also had AKABA as I was surprised to see OS as the seaman as it was already in the clue – sailor would have worked better for me. Other than these quibbles there were lots of ticks with WRONGDOER and PRIME MINISTER my favourites.
    Thanks to Pasquale/Bradman for the puzzle and blog contribution and to Eileen for the excellent blog – I needed the parsing of ROADSIDE clearing up.

  22. Thanks to Pasquale and Eileen. A funny sort of solve for me, but no real surprises here. Mostly went in very readily, but the last few took longer than the rest of the puzzle put together. Last ones were in both the the NW and SE (hence no surprises). Last ones spondaic, Osaka, llano and figurant and needed Eileen’s help for the parsing of 1d. Favourites for me are bow wow and firelight and thanks again ti Pasquale and Eileen.

  23. SAIC, FIGURANT and INDEFEASIBLE unknown, otherwise no difficulties – those last 3 taking half as long again as the rest of the puzzle. PRIME MINISTER my favourite.Thanks Pasquale and Eileen.

  24. Julie @20

    To answer your question about Brilliantine – yes, it was the same kind of product as Brylcreem and even predates it.

  25. FIGURANT caused me more trouble than the rest and was last in. I thought of AKABA too but wouldn’t have dared write it in without checking it, as I was aware that it is not the modern spelling…

    Thanks to Pasquale and Eileen

  26. I couldn’t make 10a BRING HOME work at first — RING is “phone” but HOME isn’t “wife maybe”.  But it does work if it’s B + RING HOME taken together.  In other words, there shouldn’t be a plus sign between the two words.  Does that make sense, Eileen?

    I think the assumption isn’t that anybody with a wife is a man, but rather that whatever gender you are, your wife can be reached at home.

    Does anybody still use brilliantine or is it just in books?  And we had Brylcreem in the US too — “a little dab’ll do ya.”

  27. I knew caique as a mediterranean sailing boat but had never heard of saic. Are they alternative spellings of the same thing? I agree that the idea that spondaic has anything to do with poetry is debatable. It is as Eileen says simply a disyllabic word with two long stressed syllables. (True, the final word in a Latin hexameter line as any fule kno.)

  28. Hi Oleg @27 – I’d heard of caique, too, but I don’t think it’s the same thing. Chambers gives saick and saique as variants for saic.

    Re SPONDAIC: I didn’t want to get too technical but it can also mean, specifically, a Latin hexameter having a spondee, rather than the usual  dactyl, as its fifth as well as sixth foot. I’m sorry, I can’t think of any examples just now!

  29. Ah the joy of restored central heating and a very enjoyable puzzle. I sometimes have trouble with Pasquale but but this went with a swing.At least it did until the SE corner where FIGURANT and ROUTED caused me some delay; I’ve never heard of the former and the latter was a guess. I took SAIC on trust and it fitted with POND I parsed 10ac as Valentine did. I liked ASLOPE but I don’t think I’d have got it if I hadn’t read any TROLLOPE.
    Lots of fun.
    Thanks Pasquale.

  30. The toughest two for me were FIGURANT and LLANO – with SPONDIAC slowing me down a bit, partly because I, too, had AKABA originally. And yes, I then went and bunged in SPANDRIL, figuring that all Pasquale’s creations have a smattering of decidedly obscure solutions. It took a good long while to disinter the true answers – but it gave me something to do whilst waiting for inspiration to strike regarding the south-east corner. At least i knew my Barchester, and PRIME MINISTER, DISCOURSE and WRONGDOER raised a smile. Nice one, Pasquale! Thanks also to Eileen – for explaining the parsing to those of my answers that were, frankly, nothing more than inspired guesses.

  31. Can anyone explain to me the Hereford answer, how its related to See and why its noted as a welcome change to Ely? Apologies if this is obvious, I’m a cryptic newbie. Many thanks

  32. Hi and welcome, Gareth

    “See” is also the region governed by a cathedral, and loosely the city where the cathedral is is. “Ely” for “see” is a crossword chestnut; Hereford is new, to me at least.

  33. Thanks, muffin.

    Welcome, Gareth. HEREFORD is more often clued as a breed of cattle, so that’s worth filing away, too.

  34. lnitially wrote KOW-TOW and DIGITALIs then corrected them later. FOI 11a. Only failed to get FIGURANT. Thanks Giovanni for this puzzle.

  35. Julie@20,

    Yes Brilliantine was the same kind of product as Brylcreem, although if I remember correctly it was a liquid rather than a cream. They were both equally revolting to a young wannabe hippy. Coincidentally I recall my father finally ceased using Brylcreem after 30+ years when my stepmother informed him that his choices were to stop using it or to wash the pillowslips himself in future……

  36. @26 Valentine The people calling foul on sexism based on the ‘man goes to work, woman stays at home’ stereotype must have discounted the possibility of a same sex marriage – it’s hardly sexist if the clue is read as portraying a working woman as well as one who happens to be at home at the time.

    You are right about the parsing (‘ring home’ read as one instruction) and yes, Brilliantine still features in most trendy hair care ranges here.

  37. Robert @36 and Valentine @26 – I interpreted 10A the same as you and had no problem with it.  Brilliantine was completely to me since, with my tragically glabrous pate, I have no need for it.

  38. Thanks to Pasquale and Eileen. I did not have trouble with OSAKA, but like Johninterred@23 struggled with saic (I did know SPONDAIC), FIGURANT and INDEFEASIBLE.

  39. Thanks Eileen and Pasquale. Generally a good puzzle but I’m less than impressed by the 1d/Osaka/Akaba nexus. As Eileen says the across answers are equally valid, and the down wordplay/answer are quite obscure.

  41. This was a toughie for me.  I enjoyed much of the puzzle, especially BARNACLE GOOSE, PRIME MINISTER, HEREFORD and BOW-WOW, but I pretty well ground to a halt trying to get FIGURANT (kicking myself for not seeing the wordplay) and SPONDAIC, the latter being made only more difficult my my conviction that 9ac was AKABA (which of course reminded me of this).  Also, ASLOPE was BIFD, since I have very little knowledge of Trollope and his works, and I did not realize while solving that Barchester was a fictional city.  So there was a good deal of mid-solve as well as post-solve Googling, but multiple TILTs as a result, for which I am appreciative as ever.

    I enjoyed Eileen’s comment about the the way in which compilers have benefited from the name of the current PM.  I was thinking much the same thing after solving 5dn, and wondering if there had been any prior PM even somewhat comparable in this regard.  It would have been before my time as a solver of UK cryptic puzzles, but it occurred to me that there might have also been some good (albeit not as great as with May) clueing possibilities for compilers when the PM was Major.  Our current — at least still as of this moment — US president also has a crossword-suitable name (of which multiple GC compilers have made clever use), which I guess proves the saying that it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

    Many thanks to Pasquale and Eileen and the other commenters.

  42. 17A reminded me of my schooldays when we used to plaster our hair with a green greasy mixture called Yardley’s Brilliantine. Wonder whether it is still being produced. Japan came along with a substitute called Tanco. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be (sigh)

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