The holiday season for regular bloggers gives me a chance to blog a Guardian puzzle for the first time in seven years
Paul is a prolific setter whose work features in many national dailies.
There was a clear theme today that was indicated by the gateway clue at 15 across. Whether the august fashion designers referenced in the clues and the grid would consider themselves mere DRESSERs is debatable, but the description is perfectly valid in crossword land.
It’s fair to say that fashion design is not my specialist subject but I had at least heard of all the designers referenced.
I got the theme form one of the cross referenced clues rather than from the gateway clue itself when CARDIGAN was an obvious answer to 20 across. Working backwards gave me CARDIN and the theme became apparent. GIVENCHY then became clear at 14 across.
It was a day for names as it was not just fashion designers in the grid. We also had an American comedian (SILVERS), a Scottish engineer (WATT) and an English poet (MOTION).
There were two entries defined by ‘still’, the definition for POLAROID being well hidden in the clue..
The liqueur GALLIANO was new to me, but Google displayed the drink before the fashion designer, so it must be well known to many.
I liked the clue for COQ AU VIN with its many constituent parts. A good example of Paul’s sports [WORDPLAY] skills.
It took a while for the penny to drop on the Scottish version of the queen.
Overall an entertaining puzzle.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 8 | Liqueur in 15 (8) |
GALLIANO (Liquore GALLIANO L’Autentico, known more commonly as GALLIANO, is a sweet herbal liqueur, created in 1896 by Italian distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, Tuscany and named after Giuseppe GALLIANO, an Italian officer of the Royal Italian Army of the First Italo-Ethiopian War) GALLIANO |
GALLIANO (reference John GALLIANO [born 1960], Gibraltar-born British fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across], who was the head designer of French fashion companies Givenchy, Christian Dior, and his own label John GALLIANO. At present, GALLIANO is the creative director of Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela) double definition |
| 9 | Round window beginning to open in European city (6) |
O (round shaped letter) + PORT (PORThole [window]) + O (first letter of [beginning to] OPEN) O PORT O |
OPORTO (city in Portugal; European city) |
| 10 | Friend friendly, though not originally (4) |
PALLY (friendly) excluding (not) the first letter (originally) P ALLY |
ALLY (friend) |
| 11 | Jersey, say, female 15 put on chap, unfinished (4,6) |
F (female) + ARMANI (reference Giorgio ARMANI [born 1934], Italian fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across] who founded his fashion house in 1975) + MALE (cap) excluding the final letter (unfinished) E F ARM ANI MAL |
FARM ANIMAL (A Jersey is a breed of cow, so is a example of a FARM ANIMAL) |
| 12 | One in form again after tossing over sausage (6) |
I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (in) RENEW (form again) reversed (after tossing over) W (I) ENER< |
WIENER (short for WIENERwurst, a small smoked beef, pork or veal sausage) |
| 14 | 15 presented with an award before day’s end (8) |
GIVEN (presented with) + CH (Companion of Honour; award) + Y (last letter of [end] DAY) GIVEN CH Y |
GIVENCHY (Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de GIVENCHY [1927 – 2018] was a French fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across] who founded the house of GIVENCHY in 1952 |
| 15 | Furniture item fool perhaps shortened to get round corner, finally (7) |
DESSERT (a fool is a type of DESSERT) excluding the final letter (shortened) T containing (to get round) R (last letter of [finally] CORNER) D (R) ESSER |
DRESSER (kitchen sideboard; furniture item) – also a term that could be loosely applied to a fashion designer |
| 17 | All over the place, drunk, empty bottles (7) |
UNKEMPT (hidden word [bottles] in DRUNK EMPTY) UNKEMPT |
UNKEMPT (dishevelled; sloppy; all over the place) |
| 20 | Garment: gear regularly kept in 15 (8) |
GA (letters 1 and 3 [regularly] of GEAR) contained in (kept in) CARDIN (reference Pierre CARDIN [born 1922], French fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across]) CARDI (GA) N |
CARDIGAN (garment) |
| 22 | Wine has run out for curry dish (6) |
MARSALA (sweet, fortified wine) excluding (has … out) R (run) MASALA |
MASALA (any of various mixtures of ground spices used in Indian cookery or a dish using this; curry dish) |
| 23 | US medal Jack stuck on old US comedian (6,4) |
SILVERS (reference Phil SILVERS [1911 – 1985], American comedian and actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sergeant Ernest Bilko) + TAR (sailor; Jack TAR) SILVER S TAR |
SILVER STAR (United States Armed Forces’s third-highest personal decoration for valour in combat) |
| 24 / 2 | Lead lost in fencing, is that my sport? (8) |
SWORDPLAY (fencing) excluding [lost] the first letter [lead] S WORDPLAY |
WORD[PLAY] (Crossword setters, such as Paul [my] use WORDPLAY as the cryptic element of clues) |
| 25 | 15′s artery leaving heart (6) |
CHANNEL (artery) excluding (leaving) the central letter (heart) N CHANEL |
CHANEL (reference Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" CHANEL [1883 – 1971] was a French fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across]) |
| 26 | Winger gets it on target, surprisingly (5,3) |
Anagram of (surprisingly) TARGET + IT GREAT T* IT |
GREAT TIT (bird; winger) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Old European line for 15 (8) |
GAUL (inhabitant of ancient France; old European) + TIER (row; line) GAUL TIER |
GAULTIER (reference Jean-Paul GAULTIER [born 1952], a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across], who, in 1982, founded his eponymous fashion label) |
| 2 | See 24 across | See 24 across | [WORD]PLAY |
| 3 | Brick dropped on head of raging foreman (6) |
GAFFE (blunder; drop a brick) + R (first letter of [head of] RAGING) GAFFE R |
GAFFER (overseer; foreman) |
| 4 | Pen capturing the Guardian’s spirit (7) |
CAGE (pen) containing (capturing) OUR (The Guardian’s) C (OUR) AGE |
COURAGE (spirit) |
| 5 | Mint carrying starter of quality, a kind of light dish (3,2,3) |
COIN (mint) containing (carrying) (Q [first letter of [starter of] QUALITY] + A + UV [ultraviolet, a type of light]) CO (Q A UV) IN |
COQ AU VIN (dish of chicken cooked in red wine, with onions, herbs and garlic) |
| 6 | Still without a Poet Laureate? (10) |
MOTION (reference Andrew MOTION [born 1952], English poet who was the United Kingdom Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009) + LESS (without) MOTION LESS |
MOTIONLESS (not moving; still) |
| 7 | Brief assault with hard stick (6) |
ATTACK (assault) excluding the final letter (brief) K + H (hard, when describing pencil lead) ATTAC H |
ATTACH (adhere; stick) |
| 13 | Love essentially is ending, unfortunately, sinking very fast (10) |
Anagram of (unfortunately) OV (central letters of [essentially] LOVE and IS ENDING NOSEDIVING* |
NOSEDIVING (plunging headlong; sinking very fast) |
| 16 | Bully lingered in ring, once (9) |
Anagram of (bully) LINGERED ENGIRDLE* |
ENGIRDLE (old fashioned [once] word meaning to encircle or put a ring round) |
| 18 | 15 with a cut sent up, still (8) |
(DIOR ][reference Christian DIOR [1905 – 1957], a French fashion designer [DRESSER, 15 across], best known as the founder of one of the world’s top fashion houses, also called Christian DIOR) + A + LOP [cut]) all reversed (sent up; down clue) (POL A ROID)< |
POLAROID (still photograph taken with a camera of the same name) |
| 19 | Two legs acting? (2,5) |
ON (the leg side in cricket) + STAGE (a leg of a rally or race) giving two legs ON STAGE |
ON STAGE (acting) |
| 21 | A gentle land (6) |
A + LIGHT (gentle) A LIGHT |
ALIGHT (land) |
| 22 | Dealer in fine textiles, Queen impressed by a Scottish version of herself? (6) |
ER (Elizabeth Regina ; queen) contained in (impressed by) MCER (i.e. queen, as before [ER] preceded by the Scottish abbreviation MC [sometimes MAC] indicating membership of a clan shown by the second part of the name [also considered to mean ‘son of’]) M (ER) CER |
MERCER (dealer in fine textiles) |
| 24 | Reportedly, I didn’t catch that old mechanical engineer (4) |
WATT (sounds like [reportedly] WHAT [word used when asking someone to repeat what they said; I didn’t catch that) WATT |
WATT (reference James WATT [1736 – 1819], [old] Scottish mechanical engineer) |
Thanks Paul and duncanshiell
A very clever puzzle, but I didn’t find it very satisfying. I got the theme from POLAROID. Not knowing the names of many other “dressers”, I simply Googled a list and saw where I could fit which in. I thought the ARMANI reference was the cleverest.
Favourites were UNKEMPT and MOTIONLESS.
Many houses in the 70s had a bottle of Galliano iin case anyone asked for a Harvey Wallbanger. We still have ours!
Thanks Duncanshiell, seven years ago was before my 225 time but welcome back. Yes, the ga in Cardin was the key for me too, after quite a bit of scratching about. Some nice misdirections like fool and bully, a few groans like Motion less and ER in McER, and blasts from the past, for me at least, like Phil Silvers (Gunsmoke and Dragnet era, if not earlier). Gaffe r and [s]wordplay were fun. All good, no real trouble, theme notwithstanding, thanks Paul.
By the end this was more fun than I thought it was going to be. I got “dresser” as about the only solution in my first pass of the across clues and then, knowing nothing of the field, also googled a list of fashion designers. Without that, I suspect I’d miss dinner tonight and still be staring at the grid. Some GK is well outside my field and my top fashion houses are Thames Hospice and British Heart Foundation.
But in the end there were many good clues with some excellent misdirection, clever charades and anagrams and the odd slightly smutty surface. I’m not sold on “what” being a homophone of “Watt” but then I do tend to pronounce “wh” quite distinctly from “w”, especially so as not to sound as though I am saying “wot?”.
many thanks Paul, and Duncan for the detailed and elaborate blog.
muffin@1 seems like your guests had good taste !
Muffin @ 1 Still trying to get the cap unstuck or using it as a candleholder? In my memory it was always accompanied by a bottle of something else, now I’m stuck wondering what it was?
Couldn’t get into the crossword today, nothing wrong with it (and plenty that seems very right) so it must be me.
Thanks to Paul and especially duncanshiell.
[… Berliner is another capital city sausage; Mrs ginf, something of a linguist, always enjoyed the joke that JFK, by adding the ‘ein’ in ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’, was being a bit of a silly sausage…]
Robert @5
No, there’s still about 3 inches in the bottom. It has been standing in sunlight on a windowsill, so it has faded a bit!
GinF @6 – “doughnut”, I think
Muffin @ 7 It often seemed to be out on show, I don’t think many people had a cupboard big enough to take it!
Not my cup of tea at all. A shame because I look forward to JH’s puzzles
I enjoyed the theme. I needed help from google for Phil Silvers, Silver Star medal, James Wyatt, and Andrew Motion – all of which I was less familiar with than fashion designers.
My favourites were FARM ANIMAL, DRESSER, MERCER, POLAROID.
I solved GIVENCHY before DRESSER, so I worked backwards to the keyword for the theme.
Thank you duncanshiell and Paul.
Some very good surfaces today, e.g. those for GREAT TIT, GAFFER, UNKEMPT, GIVENCHY. I was familiar with most of the designers (except Galliano) and was lucky enough to get the gateway clue very early, which helped. I filled in MERCER without knowing the term – I guessed it was another proper name. Favourite today was the poignant NOSEDIVING.
Paul on top form, IMHO. Thanks to him and to duncanshiell for the superbly comprehensive blog.
Overall I enjoyed this, but it was slow going. Fashion not really my thing these days. It was a typical Paul solve, very little at first but then with patience it all began to unpack. Last one was Polaroid with a groan. I did like wordplay and silver star, and thanks to Paul for the challenge and duncanshiell for the blog.
This puzzle was a bit peculiar, by which I mean DRESSER which was less a gateway and more sneaking out the back door after the party is over. I was reminded of the situation in mathematics where you know a+b=15, say, and you have to find 2a+2b, and you realize you can do it without solving for a and b (a somewhat analogous situation occurs in solving the harder sudokus, btw). I spent all evening trying to squeeze “fashion designer” into 7 letters.
Thanks both,
A good puzzle but solving it was a bit like pulling teeth – quite a struggle at times. I gave up and revealed two which are obvious in retrospect, so the loud noises are me hitting myself on the head with a tea tray.
I was stuck until I eventually twigged to the other sense of DRESSER and then all went in steadily. I liked the ‘is that my sport?’ def for WORDPLAY and the ‘Scottish version of herself’ MC ER at 22d.
I wonder how many people these days less than say about 30 know what a POLAROID is?
Thanks to Paul and Duncan
I usually enjoy Paul’s challenges but not so much this one. A nugatory theme if ever there was one: OK sour grapes, I know nothing about fashion or fashion houses, and am not the least bit interested. Still there were some fun clues outside the theme which brought a smile, so all was not lost.
Does anyone else have the same gripe as me about answers like 24a,2; I know it clearly states 8 letters but I always forget and try to make the answer (4,4) I think setters should only split a clue if the answer is also split. Anyone else agree. No, oh well, I must make a note to try harder in future!
Many thanks Paul and duncanshiell for a very comprehensive blog.
Surprisingly I knew all of the themers, but it took me ages to see the theme at all. An entertaining challenge
Thanks to Paul and Duncan
Took me a while to get dresser, and twig the theme, and just as long to complete it afterwards. I did get there in the end though, and had heard of all the dressers, so perhaps that helped. Tough, but fun. Favourite clue was for Wordplay. Cheers Paul & duncanshiell for a couple of parsings I missed.
SPanza@16 I think it’s a rule that where something is clued as so many letters spread across two lights then each component must be a word in its own right, which gives some extra information.
My experience was that of beery hiker@17. ARMANI was my first one.
Thanks Paul and Duncanshiell
I meant to see the theme word – I had the theme of fashion, but just couldn’t get DRESSERS till late on
I enjoyed that. Had Dresser early, but still had to work for all the themed designers.
Particularly liked the Scottish queen!
Tyngewick @ 19, thanks for that which I did not know, I will just have to be a bit more astute in future!
This would have been a super puzzle if fashion wasn’t perhaps my second least favourite subject ever (after musicals). I did know all the answers in retrospect, but it’s the kind of GK that simply will not spring to mind when I’m trying to solve because I have zero interest in it. (I can drag all sorts of arcane, long-forgotten knowledge out of my silly brain if I care even remotely about it, but if I couldn’t give a fig I’m lost). Still, a fun one to cheat my way through, and then parse afterwards – some properly great clues.
I think I only got ALLY on my first pass. A bit of work got the SE going and UNKEMPT (well hidden) gave POLAROID which gave Dior and the theme then CARDIGAN GIVENCHY and CHANEL before Mrs W got DRESSER. Having inhabited the fashion world in a previous life it was nice to have an opportunity to show off :-). FARM ANIMAL was my favourite clue and I thought it was another excellent puzzle from Paul who is climbing back up my rankings – thanks to him and Duncanshiell for the comprehensive guest blog.
I got DRESSER first — easy peasy, I thought — then spent a long time trying to think of bits of furniture that would the other relevant clues. Duh.
Well, this might not sound possible, but I completed the puzzle couturiers or fashion houses or whatever ‘n all. But Dresser was very last one in, just didn’t seem to quite fit the bill somehow…
Robert @5 vodka and orange juice to make a Harvey Wallbanger
Robert @5
I wonder if you were thinking of Sambuca – another drink trendy at the same period. You were supposed to float a coffee bean in it and set it on fire!
With reference to a Harvey Warbanger, Wiki is clear that Galliano is a constituent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Wallbanger. PS I seem to recall that a Berliner is also a tea cake. Any thoughts?
A pity Versace is missing.LOI GALLIANO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner Yes, this seems to support the tea cake version. I wonder if a Berliner sausage is only known as such outside of Germany?
Muffin @ 29 Thank you, it was Sambuca, Just looked it up and the makers extended the Galliano range to include Sambuca and Amaretto in the same oversized bottles.
Beardydaly @ 28 Thanks but I was trying to remember what was sat out with the Galliano in so many homes I visited then (more ergonomically packaged tipples being out of view).
Thanks to Paul and duncanshiell.
I had a spookily similar experience to that of WhiteKing@25. And continued á la Ronald@27 ending up with an unparsed DRESSER. Thanks be for UNKEMPT and POLAROID. FARM ANIMAL was a(n) lol. And MERCER meant a DNF, but a TILT and another chuckle provided by the excellent clarity of duncanshiell.
Robert@33 It was always Amaretto for me – on ice cream (nearly put icecream, that wouldn’t do but reminds me SPanza@16 that I made the same plea about split words some time back but didn’t even notice today that WORDPLAY was split so it seems possible to get over this problem…) with toasted almonds mmmmm………
For once I spotted the theme but this led me to try to force HERMES into 22d
26ac seems familiar. Does Paul have an attraction to tits?
Jovis @ one above this: If so, he is not alone in his predilections
‘Coq au Vin’ was always known as ‘chicken in the lorry’ in my family…. I’ll get my coat…
Porthole or portal could be reasonably described as Windows, but Port is not short for either. Sorry, but is stretching language to suit his own purpose. Let’s stick to reasonable possibilities.
Antony – I too am uncomfortable with “port’ equating to ‘window’. Unlike Paul.
My experience as beery, though surprisingly twigged the theme early.
I found it rather overchestnutty for Paul (ALLY, WORDPLAY, GAFFER, MASALA, ON STAGE, ALIGHT, WATT?) though some were presented in an original way. Not the most stimulating Paul – but he sets a high bar!
I enjoyed POLAROID (I believe they’re still used today in situations where an immediate photoidentity is required without a, digital or other, record).
Many thanks, both and all.
Antony @40
William F P @41
Chambers Dictionary has eight separate entries for port. At the third entry, one of the definitions is ‘a porthole or its cover’
If a definition is in a well known dictionary (Chambers, Collins, Oxford Dictionary of English, for example), then setters will take advantage of it.
I got most of it but didn’t get 15ac and thought I was looking for perfumes rather than designers. Wouldn’t really have helped me much though.
As usual started late and only got half way before eyes began to close. Finished slowly this pm in the pub. Barman asked me how my day was going and I said “not badly as England are doing quite well”. He asked who they were playing????
I had heard of the dressers though would never have described them as such. They provide the clothes for dressers to put on their employers, don’t they?
Muffin@29 I remember when it was fashionable to put a coffee bean in Sambuca and set light to it. I thought that that would burn the alcohol off and rather missed the point.
22d. Didn’t parse this. To me a Scottish version of the Queen would be McGR, GR being her father. Spent too long trying to fit in “ainsel” or ” hersel”.
Thanks to Paul and duncanshiell
Pino @ 44
“Celebrities” are often described as being ‘dressed by’ such-and-such designer/couturier, so I think it works.
Interesting that Duncanshiel got “cardigan” first, that was my last one in! Meanwhile others got “dresser” as the first clue, and were then up and running on the theme. I had about a third of the grid completed before the first of the themed clues went in (Armani), so I found this took an age to get going and (like a few others on here have said) the theme was a bit unsatisfactory as you had to get one of the themed answers first to be able to work back to find out what the key answer was. Also had to reveal one – is port (as opposed to porthole) a fair synonym for window? And yes, I also had one of those tall bottles of Galliano, back in the day ?
Yes, Duncan, I had also seen that in my Chambers; I carefully didn’t say it was wrong, just that I was “uncomfortable” with it, and that Paul doesn’t usually make me feel that way. I think your reply was better suited to your other addressee, But many thanks for taking the trouble to respond – and nice to see one of your beautifully comprehensive blogs over here (I think I grew used to them with your Indy blogs. Thanks again.