Guardian 27,893 – Brummie

by

Quite a quick solve for me today (with a few quibbles)…

…helped by spotting the theme about halfway through. It’s the poem The WALRUS and the CARPENTER from ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, where ‘the time has come … to talk of many things: Of SHOES — and SHIPS — and SEALING-WAX — Of CABBAGES — and KINGS — And why the SEA is BOILING HOT — And whether PIGS have WINGS.’. Cleverly done – thanks to Brummie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. KING’S Barking Shadow-boxing College (5)
Hidden (“boxed”) in barKING Shadow. Take your pick of the colleges of Cambridge and London universities. I don’t know if there’s any significance in the capitalisation of Barking and College in the clue
10. ASHKENAZI A Hebrew pronunciation of ‘Hankies out all over Arizona’ (9)
AZ in HANKIES* – as well as being one of a group of Jews, Ashkenazi is also “the pronunciation of Hebrew used by them”
11. AVOIDABLE A useless fit can be prevented (9)
A + VOID (useless) + ABLE (fit)
12. LOCKS Seals‘ hair (5)
Double definition
13. SANDBAG Unexpectedly attack son with net (7)
S AND BAG
15. DENTATE After Dante’s Inferno, the heartless Sawlike (7)
DANTE* + T[H]E. Again I don’t understand the capitalisation, and the surface doesn’t make much sense
17. OMANI Arabian piece, almost crude externally? (5)
MAN (piece, I chess etc) in OI[L] (crude)
20. WINGS Pop group‘s stage features (5)
Double definition
22. SAWMILL Workplace where deal may be cut (7)
Cryptic definition, deal being a type of timber
25. MAXIMUM Old lady after skirt top (7)
MAXI (skirt) + MUM (“old lady” is slang for mother). Pretty weak, as the name of the skirt comes directly from “maximum”
26. GULAG Camp wisecrack about ungainly legging tops (5)
First letters of Ungainly Legging in GAG
27. CARPENTER Ex-president recruits writer who could assemble a cabinet? (9)
PEN in [Jimmy] CARTER
30. MAUSOLEAN Alumnae so uneasy about grandiose tombs (9)
(ALUMNAE SO)* – rather unusual adjectival form of the more familiar “mausoleum”
31. SHIPS Schooners possibly get cool in two seconds (5)
HIP (fashionable, cool) in S+S
Down
1. SKUA A nation’s uplifting seabird (4)
Reverse of A UK’S
2. INSOMNIA An obstacle to successful retirement (8)
Cryptic definition – appropriate to me as I was solving the puzzle at 5am after a bout of it
3. USED Soused, but not very exhausted (4)
SOUSED less SO (very)
4. CABBAGES Steals out-of-date vegetables (8)
Double definition – it’s archaic slang or “cheats, steals or purloins”, etymologically unrelated to the vegetable
5. SHIELD Cast fitted round limb opening as protection (6)
L[imb] in SHIED (cast, threw)
6. SEALING WAX Letter possibly closed with this: ‘I saw Angel off with a kiss’ (7,3)
(I SAW ANGEL)* + X
7. FASCIA Mafia’s casually giving up mob chief for college board (6)
Anagram of MAFIAS with M replaced by C[ollege]
8. PIGS Scoffs: ‘Sanctimonious talk is empty!’ (4)
PI (sanctimonious) + G[a]S
13. SHOES Noisily scares off animals and trainers? (5)
Homophone of “shoos”
14. BOILING HOT Overheated, I say ‘Heather, both should swim outside’ (7,3)
I + LING (type of heather) in BOTH*
16. EPSOM Streep: someone’s heart races (5)
Central letters of streEP SOMEone
19. ADMIRING Finding attractive maid rude on telephone (8)
MAID* + RING (to telephone) – not quite a thematic word, but ‘”The night is fine,” the Walrus said. “Do you admire the view?”‘
21. NEMATOID Worm-like bends dominate (8)
DOMINATE* – another slightly unusual adjective, from “nematode”
23. WALRUS Ungainly creature observed holding page locator up (6)
Reverse of URL (web page locator) in SAW
24. LOCKET Small case — its contents alien? (6)
LOCK (a locket might contain a lock of hearI + E[xtra] T[errestrial]
26. GAME Halt contest (4)
Double definition – “halt” = “lame” as in “game leg”, often pronounced “game”
28. ELSE Otherwise lies in parallel sections (4)
Hidden in parallEL Sections
29,18. ROSS SEA Antarctic location — Diana needs drink! (4,3)
[Diana] ROSS (singer) + SEA (main)

60 comments on “Guardian 27,893 – Brummie”

  1. Not sure I’ve seen so many hidden words in a cryptic before! At least I got the theme, which made “walrus” and “carpenter” write-ins. No oysters though…perhaps they were all eaten.

    Clever work Brummie, to get so many theme words in, but it did lead to some oddities such as the surface of “dentate”, weird adjectival forms and the very ambiguous 8dn. I had “pish” (PI + S[peec]H) for a while. It needed the crossers! I didn’t understand “game” so thank you Andrew for that.

    Enjoyed the construction of “carpenter” – very tidy, “sawmill”, “omani”. “Ashkenazi” was a nifty anagram of the sort I like – not too convoluted with a letter from here, another deleted there. Good misdirection on “fascia”. On balance, lots to like here but I just felt the theme forced the setter’s hand a little.

  2. Thanks Brummie and Andrew. Nicely worked theme.

    In 14d, it’s OI + LING in BOTH*, ‘oi’ being the supposed Brummie pronunciation of ‘I’

  4. What a lovely theme …if only we had spotted it before Andrew pointed it out.
    Easier than yesterday and good fun even without the theme.
    Just not sure about BOILING HOT. Is it OI for ‘I say’?
    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  6. I found the theme only marginally helpful because I twigged embarrassingly late, but did notice a secondary connection to the poem, which may or may not have been intended.

    College and college; seals and sealing; locks and locket; saw, sawmill and sawlike (not to mention Mafia and insomnia from very recent puzzles). I’d chalk it all up to coincidence, except that the theme poem has lines like “The sea was wet as wet could be”, “If seven maids with seven mops, “A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk” and other repeats. So is Brummie a genius?

    Thanks.

  8. Missed the theme as ever, but pottered along, finishing with a slow NE and a dnf, bunging in pits at 8d (found an obscure connection online). So not a great effort but enjoyable-ish ntl. The redundant ‘all’ in 10ac had me foxed until I ignored it, cabbage for steal was a dnk but yes there it was in Collins, and I even took a while remembering hip for cool, d’oh. See how the neurons go tomorrow. Thanks A and B.

  9. Like Hedgehog@4 I missed the theme! And had no idea about the second meaning of CABBAGES. But a lovely puzzle, much enjoyed. Thanks to B & A.

  11. Oh yes copmus, the lovely Vladimir… the late Mrs ginf was at a little supper with him after a recital years ago, said he tucked his napkin into his collar and hoed in with gusto.

  12. Totally off topic, but not off-theme, I have stuck in my head a Monty Python version of this which goes:
    “The walrus and the carpenter were walking hand-in-hand,
    ‘If only’, said the carpenter, ‘the law would understand'”

    I’m sure someone out there in the minefield of useless information that is the crossword elite can help pinpoint it more closely. Perhaps?

  13. Excellent puzzle and very enjoyable to solve this.

    My favourites were MAXIMUM, SKUA, LOCK, KINGS, USED (loi)

    Unable to parse GAME, I discovered there is a board game called Halt so I thought that was the parsing!

    I also could not parse CABBAGES.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    I did not pick up on the theme at all.

  14. Missed the theme entirely (I must admit I forgot to look for one!) – but most upsetting for a lover of literature like me. I am still claiming/blaming jet lag.

    I liked 2d INSOMNIA despite the fact that it was also in Monday’s puzzle. 16d EPSOM and 29d/18a ROSS SEA were other clues I enjoyed.

    Thanks to Andrew for revealing the theme (d’oh!) and elucidating some of the parsing. I had fun even without seeing the theme: gratitude to Brummie, whose puzzles I always appreciate.

    [Lovely memory re the late Mrs gif’s encounter 10a ASHKENAZI, gif@11.] [Sorry this post took ages as I received a phone call mid-sentence.]

  16. Dr. WhatsOn @6:  My my…it might be you who is the genius.  Cleverly spotted, surely no coincidence?

    I, on the other hand, needed Andrew’s jolt to spot the theme at all!

    Very nicely done, Brummie, many thanks.

    Nice week, all.

  17. A quick solve for us too – or nearly so as we missed PIGS. We even spotted the theme at the end which led to a reappraisal of the puzzle as initially I thought it was a bit weak with some contrived clues and solutions.
    I’m probably alone in having a tick against CABBAGES which my rag trade background meant I was familiar with – cabbage being the extra garments that factories made from materials left over once an order had been completed.
    Thanks to Brummie for giving more than meets the eye at first (as always) and to Andrew for the blog.

  21. As Walrus was my last laboured one in, completely missed the excellent theme. Had to be Game for 26d, but didn’t know it as Halt, and for a while imagined Scumbag instead of Sandbag as perhaps an obscure term for an unexpected attack, so Insomnia took a while. Liked 27ac and thought Epsom was very cleverly clued and tucked away.

  22. Great crossword.  My favourite was 14d BOILING HOT, and my reading was that “I say!” = “oi!”, as in an interjection to attract someone’s attention.

    Many thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  23. A great crossword – I spotted the theme too – although I have to ask what is it with all the crossword setters these days who appear to be  suffering from 2d while writing clues about 1d or the birds found in reverse there?

    Thanks to Brummie for the fun and Andrew for the blog

  24. Ditto me WhiteKing and trenodia, granddad was a tailor, but cabbage did I hear? Nicht, must have got lost on the way.

  25. [gif@15 – thank you for remembering that detail regarding my time o.s. The Stones’ concert was actually in New Jersey – I had to travel via the Lincoln Tunnel etc. It took me three hours to get back to Brooklyn after the concert! It was all worth it. Mick is still busting the moves. His new heart valve held out, thankfully. The band was great both musically and in terms of entertainment. The popular request song for which I voted was featured – “She’s a Rainbow” – from 1967. The gig was almost as good as the only other performance I have witnessed, in Brisbane in 1973!]

  26. Thank you to Brummie and Andrew.

    I completely missed the theme despite having recited the poem just a few days ago while on holiday in Orkney, after seeing a photograph of a walrus which had turned up in North Ronaldsay. I vaguely remember that the carpenter was Tenniel’s suggestion for the poem.

    Lots of 1dns in Orkney.

  27. Marienkaefer @26 From what I heard Tenniel had Carroll change the line “walking hand-in-hand” to “walking close at hand” because he drew the walrus with flippers so the former would not work. I don’t know if he supplied the carpenter too.

  29. Thank you Brummie and Andrew.

    A lovely puzzle – wonder if 3d refers to the oysters,” soused” (in vinegar, verse 13) USED?

  30. Surely I can’t be the only one who tried to parse 4d as CABBS around (out of) AGE and was stumped? I didn’t know the second definition.

    I always forget to look for a theme.

    TheZed @12 – this seems familiar. I thought it might be Milligan, but was unable to find it in the books I have of his.

     

  31. Lin @30 I did something similar, looking for a word like “cabbadges” meaning “steals” (losing the D for date). Sometimes the answer is simpler than we expect, ey?

  32. I think that “cabbage” for “steal” comes from Cockney rhyming slang “cabbage patch” for “snatch”.  Apologies if someone has already suggested this.

  33. Delightful puzzle whose theme I as usual totally missed.  So what else is new?  Thanks Brummie for an excellent puzzle and a dandy choice of theme.  And thanks to Andrew.

    CARPENTER @27 — carpenters don’t build cabinets, cabinetmakers do.  Different set of skills, different set of tools, although there’s no reason a person couldn’t have both.

  34. All fairly straightforward, though that definition of cabbage was unfamiliar to me, and I missed the theme

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  35. I parsed Oi! in BOILING HOT the same way as Hedgehog@4 and Lord Jim @22. I prefer it to the Brummie OI which Greensward proposes as it leaves Say unparsed. And yes Lin @30, I too went for CABBS. doh.

    Lovely puzzle and a great theme today, even though I spotted it once finished. Damn! Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

     

  36. AllyGally @35: on looking up “oi” in Chambers, I see it has “interj used to attract attention etc [Imit]”.  But imitative of what?  I assumed it was a cockneyish version of “hoy” which itself is presumably a variant of “ahoy”.

  37. Geoff@32 – nice idea, but the dictionaries disagree with you, though they’re not sure of the etymology. The OED has citations from the 18th century, predating rhyming slang, which seems to have originated around 1840.

  38. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    No theme for me, though I did do it in three short sessions, so had forgotten the early ones by the time I got to the later ones.

    I tried something with “best before” dates for the CABBAGES – didn’t quite work, though.

    It was a bit, er, ungainly, to have “ungainly” in two clues!

  39. I don’t know if anyone else had this usage, but in our family dummying the throw in French cricket was called “cabbaging”. It was frowned upon!

  40. Very impressive from Brummie to get the theme so well covered and great parsing from Andrew- thanks both.

    For me the theme was one I couldn’t quite put my finger on until I came here. I refreshed my memory of the poem and realised how clever the crossword was.

    Clues of the day were SANDBAG, BOILING HOT and CARPENTER.

    Agree with the quibbles on a couple of surfaces. Also agree with Geoff@32 that Cabbage Patch would have been a good Cockney Rhyming slang for Snatch. The late great Ronnie Barker would have fitted it into his sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij5mw_eqKuc

  41. I was themeless as usual, but it was still a fun challenge.  Once the theme is pointed out, I’m even more ADMIRING. Not aware of the other CABBAGE meaning, and like others I got as far as date means AGE, and CABBS must mean the rest of it.  I went for “Oi” as a punky version of “I say”, but if Brummie is a Brummie, then that is how Brummies would say I. Thanks to both.

  42. Nice puzzle but not my finest hour. I didn’t get the theme and failed on 8dn – I had a rather naff RIBS, which sort of fits the definition- so the theme would have helped! FOI was ASHKENAZI and LOI was $HIPS- both lovely clues.
    Both clever and enjoyable.
    Thanks Brummie.

  43. 1961Blanchflower @41 et al … Brummies don’t say “Oi” for “I”. That’s the Black Country pronunciation. No more conjecture necessary.

  44. CABBAGE for steal appears to derive from Middle French cabas and was first used in 1663. Cockney rhyming slang appears to have started in the early 19th century so pehaps this is a case of reverse engineering. My 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue has this definition so perhaps grantinfreo’s grandfather was keeping quiet.

    CABBAGE. Cloth, stuff, or silk purloined by taylors from their employers, which they deposit in a place called HELL, or their EYE: from the first, when taxed, with their knavery, they equivocally swear, that if they have taken any, they wish they may find it in HELL; or, alluding to the second, protest, that what they have over and above is not more than they could put in their EYE.

  45. JamesM@45 in 27,892 answered your query late.

    Andrew your blog for 24d has an error. Didn’t like the clue….hair=lock is too close to the answer.

    Failed to spot the theme, probably suffering from 2d as usual. PIGS was tough, biffed in PITS so a dnf.

    JinA @25, hope Jagger isn’t pushing it too soon, I had a valve replacement done a year ago and it took quite some time to get back to normal.

    Thanks Brummie and bloggers for a fun solve.

  46. Thanks both,
    Did this on the ferry back from France. Muffin@?: My family shared the usage of ‘cabbage’. And only in French cricket. I hadn’t noticed before that’skua’ is ‘auks’ backwards.

  47. Beautiful puzzle. I spotted the theme late on but had to read the poem to get all the references. Very clever. At one point (SAWMILL to be exact), I thought the theme might be “expressways”, but that would be somewhat niche, to say the least.
    I thought EPSOM was brilliant, even though the definition is a little vague.
    Lots of fun. Thanks, Brum and Andrew.

  48. Great crossword, great blog so thanks both. Can someone suggest a way of getting rid of the Cookies box which does not go when I press Accept. It is often parked over the comments box so preventing me from putting in my tuppence worth?

  49. SPanza @48

    Regarding your comment about the cookies box, I assume you are using a mobile device. If so, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select ‘desktop’ view. Click ‘accept’ in the cookies box then scroll down again and revert to ‘mobile’ view.

  50. A very rnjoyable offering! Got the theme so were confident about CABBAGES and BOILING HOT even though not convincingly parsed. Got PIGS with right parsing before realising it was a theme answer. And looking forward to working NEMATOID and MAUSOLEAN into casual conversation. Many thanks to setter and blogger.

  51. Tyngewick @46

    Interesting that we weren’t the only family to use “cabbaging” in that sense. I wonder what the common origin is? No-one still around to ask in my family, I’m afraid.

  52. Thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks to Brummie, and to Andrew for the blog.

    I confidently entered ‘pits’ at 8d {pi=sanctminious + t(alki)s} even though I couldn’t make it fit the definition.

    Completely missed the excellent theme, as usual. Ho-hum.

    TheZed @12: if I remember correctly it’s from the Monty Python ‘Papperbok’, and is one of a set of supposed first drafts of famous poems.

     

     

  53. Almost totally off-comment:

    I was out on a lovely walk, followed up by an excellent pub lunch, so didn’t comment earlier.

    All I’d want to say about this lovely puzzle [many thanks, Brummie and Andrew] has been said but 10ac struck the same chords for me as for copmus and grantinfreo [to whom many thanks for the lovely story].

    It reminded me that, back in 2014/15, when a Cambridge S and B was being mooted, there was a potential clash for me, having already booked a season ticket for another Ashkenazy concert in our De Montfort Hall, where the Philharmonia Orchestra has a residency [and I’m proud to say that our local university has conferred an Honorary Doctorate on ‘the lovely Vladimir’  – an absolute joy to watch, while listening] – a really tough choice but, fortunately, the S and B was confirmed for the week later. 😉

  56. Great puzzle – Thanks Brummie and Andrew.  Surely in 29,18 you intended + SEA (drink) rather than main … not that it matters.  I missed the theme of course – maybe it was Canadian that we didn’t grow up with Alice, or maybe I’m too young at mid-fifties? Dr. Seuss was huge in our house!

  57. Gaufrid, very many thanks it worked perfectly. I will have no excuse for not commenting from now on.

  58. Off topic I am afraid, but Eileen I remember a lovely moment in the De Montfort hall when Sir John Barbirolli was conducting the Halle in Beethoven’s 9th, when he became so enthusiastic that his baton flew out of his hand and ended in the audience. It was handed back at the end of the movement. Wonderful University memories of a great City.

  60. Thanks Andrew for the blog, which helped me to elucidate some of the parsings (eg cabbages). I did enjoy spotting the theme (which got me pigs) though a couple of the clues were a little weak; on the other hand some were very good. Have been somewhat busy- so have only just got around to finishing this, hence the late post.
    Thanks to Brummie for the fun and reminding me of one of my favourite poems.

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