Some general knowledge required to complete Picaroon's puzzle today.
This was a "slow burner" for me despite seeing 1ac immediately, even if the definition (left winger) could be the topic of some discussion in political circles, which may explain the question mark in the clue. The inclusion of RISHI also made me consider a political theme, given that is the current Chancellor of the Exchequer's forename, but I don't see anything else to back that up.
When I saw XHOSA, my next instinct was to think that the crossword may be a pangram, but it isn't, so if there's a theme or nina, it has passed me by.
There was a fair bit of general knowledge in the puzzle, but nothing very obscure to Brits (SKS, FRANK LAMPARD etc). YUCATAN and RISHI were other examples which required a bit of GK but not UK-centric, so fair game for non-Brit solvers too. I sometimes see comments on the Guardian crossword website complaining about British GK required to complete puzzles, but I don't think any setter or editor should apologise for this (the Guardian is a British paper, after all).
Thanks Picaroon.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SIR KEIR STARMER | Striker errs with aim, playing as left-winger? (3,4,7) |
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*(striker errs aim) [anag:playing] |
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| 8 | XHOSA | Vote backing a dominant African (5) |
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X ("vote") [backing] A SOH ("dominant" note) The Xhosa are an ethnic group in South Africa. |
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| 9 | SONGBOOK | Issue, with great caution, a collection of numbers (8) |
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SON ("issue") with G (great) + BOOK ("caution") |
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| 11 | HEAL-ALL | Prunella perhaps after entering awful place (4-3) |
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A LA (in the same way as, so "after" ) entering HELL ("awful place") |
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| 12 | RANCOUR | Voiced private resentment (7) |
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Homophone [voiced] of RANKER ("private") |
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| 13 | RISHI | Venerable Asian teacher returned greeting (5) |
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<=SIR ("teacher" returned) + HI ("greeting") A rishi is a Hindu saint. |
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| 15 | RECEPTION | Trick Democrat ousted by Republican Party (9) |
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(d>R)ECEPTION ("trick" with D (Democtrat) ousted by R (Republican)) |
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| 17 | POIGNANCY | Sad quality of cad squeezing round part of Lorraine (9) |
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PIG ("cad") squeezing" O ("round") + NANCY ("part of Lorraine") |
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| 20 | NATAL | A little shaken at almost touching the buttocks (5) |
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Hidden in [a little] "shakeN AT ALmost" "Touching" here is used in the sense of "referring to". |
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| 21 | SLENDER | Slight Shylock, following his lead (7) |
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LENDER ("Shylock", in The Merchant of Venice) following S(hylock) [his lead] |
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| 23 | CRANIUM | Cummings primarily a toxic element, not primarily a brainbox (7) |
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C(ummings) [primarily] + (u)RANIUM ("toxic element", not primarily] |
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| 25 | AMETHYST | Maintaining speed, a van in York street is purple (8) |
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METH ("speed") maintained by A + [van in, i.e. front of] Y(ork) + St. (street) |
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| 26 | PODIA | Support theatre work’s revolving stages (5) |
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<=(AID ("support") + OP (operation, so (operating) "theatre work")) [revolving] |
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| 27 | INCONVENIENCED | Perhaps spending a penny, old penny’s put out (14) |
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IN CONVENIENCE ("perhaps spending a penny") + D ("old penny") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SEX THERAPIST | Perhaps this expert’s a guide to improved relations (3,9) |
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*(this experts a) [anag:perhaps] |
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| 2 | RIOJA | Artisan periodically bottles one drink or another (5) |
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(a)R(t)I(s)A(n) [periodically] bottles OJ (orange juice, "one drink") |
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| 3 | EMANATION | Call up process to cut carbon emission (9) |
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<=NAME ("call" up) + A(c)TION ("process" with C (carbon) cut) |
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| 4 | RUSTLER | Dodgy stocktaker, one noisily thumbing through papers? (7) |
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Double definition, the first cryptic. |
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| 5 | TANTRIC | Like some mysticism spread in tract (7) |
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*(in tract) [anag:spread] |
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| 6 | ROBIN | Chirpy sort almost putting on ceremonial dress (5) |
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[almost] ROBIN(g) ("putting on ceremonial dress") |
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| 7 | ECONOMIST | Green train is not heading for Milton Keynes? (9) |
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ECO ("green") + *(is not m) [anag:train] where M is [heading for] M(ilton) Refers to John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) |
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| 10 | FRANKLAMPARD | Entering straight road, hit a coach in London (5,7) |
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LAMP ("hit") + A entering FRANK ("straight") + Rd. (road) Frank Lampard is the current coach of Chelsea FC. |
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| 14 | SPIDERMAN | Comic character pulled up shorts, covering skin (9) |
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[pulled up] <=NIPS ("shorts") covering DERMA ("skin") |
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| 16 | PINEAPPLE | Long drink contains very soft fruit (9) |
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PINE ("long") + ALE ("drink") contains PP (pianissimo, so "very soft") |
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| 18 | NUREYEV | Stand up and look at very good dancer (7) |
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<=RUN ("stand" (as in in an election), up) and EYE ("look at") + V (very) I think most people would say that Nureyev was better than "good" |
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| 19 | YUCATAN | The Chinese ready to eat domestic animal somewhere in Mexico (7) |
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YUAN ("Chinese ready" i.e. currency) to eat CAT ("domestic animal") |
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| 22 | DITTO | One on soft drinks during party gets the same again (5) |
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I (one) + TT (teetotal, so "on soft drinks") during DO ("party") |
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| 24 | INDIC | Perhaps like Bengali‘s reduced charge (5) |
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[reduced] INDIC(t) ("charge") |
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The top half went in reasonably quickly last night with SKS and SEX THERAPIST (great clue) first in, but I really struggled with the bottom half this morning. A lot of favourites including FRANK LAMPARD (maybe a tad unfair), SPIDERMAN, POIGNANCY, NUREYEV and INCONVENIENCED. Feel chuffed to have completed this one, the most difficult so far this week IMO. Thank you loonapick for explaining van in AMETHYST and Picaroon for the formidable challenge.
Got there in the end but it was slow going, partly because I did not know FRANK LAMPARD and could mot parse ut. Why is hit LAMP? And why is NIPS shorts? Otherwise the cluing was very fair and comprehensible. Many thanks to Picaroon for the puzzle and to loonapick for explaining.
Enjoyed this, particularly SLENDER, and ECONOMIST, RIOJA and DITTO for their surfaces. Spent ages trying to parse HEAL-ALL, wondering if there had been a misprint for panacea, until I looked it up. And a nice bit of misdirection with the coach…
Thanks Picaroon and Loonapick (Picaroonapick? 😀 )
Beobachterin @2: nips are shots/shorts of, say, whisky. And if you punch someone hard in the face (perhaps after a few too many shorts), you can be said to have lamped them.
This was a bit of a challenge. I’d not come across natal/buttocks before, only ever knew natal in the sense of birth. Didn’t we have a Yuan/yucatan clue last weekend? Thanks for clarification of some of my issues with parsing. I finally got amethyst, after spending a while believing ‘van’ must mean there was ‘ute’ in the answer somehow!
Very enjoyable. I had the I, E and M of SPIDERMAN and was convinced the answer was “epidermis” (skin) which held me up for a while. And I had to look up to check that unparsed AMETHYST was spelt with an E, before seeing that the parsing would have told me that.
Favourites were foi SEX THERAPIST, ECONOMIST, and FRANK LAMPARD (I agree with loonapick that UK-centric GK is perfectly OK in a UK crossword).
Thanks Picaroon and loonapick.
A few tricky ones, including FRANK LAMPARD which took a bit of time – like others, I suspect, I was looking for a place in London. Also got waylaid by pencilling in RIFFLER (unparsed) for RUSTLER until I saw the error of my ways. Many enjoyable clues, including POIGNANCY, SONGBOOK and SPIDERMAN. Many thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.
Hard work with considerable use of GK aids this morning. FOI was SIR KIER STARMER – COTD SEX THERAPIST and LOI FRANK LAMPARD because of football remains very obscure to this Brit.
I was also off searching for a clue wonderin with XHOSE and INDIC we might have languages but nothing doing…
Thanks Picaroom and loonapick!
Thanks Picaroon and Loonapick
Could ‘playing’ be both an anagrind and part of the definition? The ‘?’ would then indicate the solution as being an example of someone ‘playing as left-winger’.
Thought rancour/ranker, hmmm, ok by me..any regional differences? Have heard the Labour leader’s name many times, but needed help with Keir. Now I remember, yes Frank Lampard in the Eng XI, but at the time the mind’s ear couldn’t quite hear the ‘p’, so again a bit of guess and check. The adjective Indic wasn’t familiar, but logical. The (reversed) dominant for Xhosa was pretty neat. Prunella to me means Tim West’s missus, or maybe a spread (a la Nutella), so just did what it said. Enjoyable mental potter, thanks P and L.
For our Frank i had LAM for hit so I was a P short.Never heard f LAMP for hit but who am I to challenge such a cunning linguist?
In convenience = spending a penny?
Oh yes ditto copmus re lam[p]… shrug. VDS, convenience as euphemism for (public) loo, used to cost a penny coin.
As usual with Picaroon, lots of clues that are hard to parse but oh so rewarding when the penny drops (27A outstanding in this respect). I thought 1D was just a great cryptic definition and didn’t even notice the anagram, so thanks loonapick for pointing it out.
VDS Prasad @12: A “convenience” is a toilet.
“To spend a penny” is to urinate. From the days when using a public toilet cost 1 (pre-Decimalisation) penny.
[Whenever I hear “public convenience” I’m reminded of the most extraordinary one I’ve ever visited (on the Isle of Bute). Also the only one I know where ladies can pay to go to the gents…]
Great blog, loonapick – thanks especially for the van in York – doh!
I have ticks all over the place – far too many to list, so I’ll just mention the double ones; SIR KEIR STARMER, SEX THERAPIST and ECONOMIST.
Ang Almond @5 – as loonapick says, NATAL means ‘referring to the buttocks’ (nates). I learned that from crosswords and it comes up fairly frequently, so it’s worth filing away.
Many thanks to Picaroon for a most enjoyable challenge. Now for Eccles in the Indy – it’s a good day!
Another treat from Picaroon. Like others, I really enjoyed the surface of the clue for 23a.
Picaroon in fine form. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hadn’t ever thought they would see 1a and 1d together in a crossword.
Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick
Clues are like buses. I’ll say no more as one of them was from Saturday’s offering.
Very slow start then all fell into place. NHO the coach. “Party” misdirected me for a long time.
Thanks P&L.
A great puzzle, as we have come to expect from Picaroon. Some lovely surfaces, too.
Failed on FRANK LAMPARD, though – never heard of him.
Thanks Picaroon and loonapick.
Some great clues here. I particularly liked 1d SEX THERAPIST (very neat) and 7d ECONOMIST. Couldn’t parse 25a AMETHYST, but “van in York” – of course!
4d reminded me of the cowboy who goes into a saloon wearing a brown paper hat, brown paper shirt, brown paper trousers and brown paper boots. The sheriff arrests him for rustling.
Many thanks Picaroon and loonapick.
[A G-threader said, re 1ac, What? Him? Reminds me of my old dad saying (about one of ours) “Him? Not without a transfusion!”]
No sooner have we been introduced to the concept of a homoiophone (yesterday’s discussion #53), than we have one with ranker/rancour as highlighted by gif @10. LAMP must be a Britishism – no quibbles whatsoever from me about that.
Ang Almond @5: I wouldn’t have been able to solve YUCATAN had I not seen it recently but I don’t think we’re supposed to discuss it yet. 😀
which took a bit of time to get @7: (phew – that’s a long pseudonym to type) – I also started with an unparsed ‘riffler’ before crossers came to my aid. I think RUSTLER is a super clue with a delightfully misleading definition.
Many of my favourites have already been mentioned including COTD, SEX THERAPIST. All four long ones deserved ticks, I agree with Conrad on DITTO and RIOJA (I recall considerable debate about the use of OJ for orange juice a while ago but it seems to have entered the collective lexicon), I have to admit to a smile at CRANIUM and there was great pleasure in assembling the elements of AMETHYST and that clever use of van. Finally, ECONOMIST for the potential misdirect. How many of us saw ‘ecologist’ and then struggled to understand the Milton Keynes reference?
Thanks to Picaroonapick (lovely suggestion which I many not be able to use again for a while)
Always enjoy a Picaroon, and they invariably seem to be slow burners for me too. I clocked FFANK LAMPARD pretty early and when SEX THERAPIST and SIR KEIR STARMER slid in then the crossers were enough help.
RUSTLER was one of my favourites, along with CRANIUM, even if Cummings is just too easy target material. Technically a DNF because I spelled it NURIYEV rather than NUREYEV, but it’s all transliteration from Cyrillic anyway, so I’m giving myself that as a freebie.
Really enjoyable, starting with the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek 1ac.
HEAL-ALL was a bit of a journey; like grantinfreo @10 I started off thinking of Sybil Fawlty, then hedge-sparrows, then I think three cross-references in Chambers led me to all-heal.
I shall treasure the idea of Barnard Castle Man being primarily toxic and not primarily a brainbox for some time.
Lampard (he played for a London club, didn’t he? Fulham, was it?) was famously one of the targets of Joey Barton’s brilliant remark about footballing autobiographies in the wake of England’s less than stellar performance in the 2006 World Cup: ‘We got beat in the quarter-finals. I played like shit. Here’s my book.’
Even if the alleged amusing sequel turned out to be an urban myth. Barton was eventually selected to play for England and sat down at the England team dinner table. Lampard got up, not even prepared to share the same eating space as a man who disrespected him so. Sadly, Barton apparently did not say “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to eat your dinner, you fat ****”.
Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick
I thought that LAMP for hit was an australianism ??
Thanks Picaroon and loonapick
Lovely puzzle, though an odd one for me. First pass yielded only SLENDER and PINEAPPLE, but after a few more went in it all became very much easier.
Favourites CRANIUM, and ECONMIST for the nicely hidden definition.
Nup, unknown, by me anyway..
.. replying to Anna..
NeilH @26, great anecdote. FL played for Chelsea where he is now the coach. I used to watch Joey Barton at QPR (for my sins) and he was always ‘lamping’ the opposition. One of the funniest football interviews Ive heard is when he moved to France to play and he suddenly adopted a Clouseau type accent. Well worth a listen on Utube.
Yup, definitely one for the native solvers, with many Britishisms/UK-GK (at least a dozen)… knew some, but some new; plus a handful of obscurisms. All told, tough going… got close but a solid DNF (and a few DNPs). As a plant nerd, HEAL-ALL was a write in… the head scratching it caused some must approximate what I felt on several other clues! Still, enjoyed the workout, and learned some things for future outings 🙂
Thx to our setter, blogger, and commenters…
grantinfreo @ 29 and 30
Ah, thanks, perhaps I got the wrong end of the stick somewhere.
Felt as though I was rather flying by the seat of my pants at times here, with the last two in the interlocking INDIC and PODIA. The Labour leader was a welcome anagram to get things started off, and nice to see the Chelsea manager getting a look in, though I’m not particularly suggesting I’m a fan of either man. L something M for 10d did have me wondering for a short while whether Lambeth might be the London reference…
I ran out of time to complete this puzzle today, so I gave up with 6 clues of bottom half unsolved (17, 21, 25, 27 ac and 14, 18d)
Liked SEX THERAPIST, ECONOMIST
Guessed XHOSA (new word for me) and did not parse it apart from X = vote
Also new: Frank Lampard (thanks, google – never heard of this man), and LAMP = hit
Did not parse INDIC or (my unsolved) 25a.
Thanks, B+S
OddOtter @32
I didn;t have a problem with HEAL ALL, but we know it as Self Heal.
Good, precise cluing so very enjoyable.
I solved the top half first and got a bit bogged down below. I particularly liked INCONVENIENCED, EMANATION and ECONOMIST.
gif @10; Postmark @24; as I have said before, go to the pronunciations at Collins online. No homophone is likely to be acceptable to all people from different regions.
Thanks Picaroon and loonapick.
PS lamp is in Chambers as slang.
Anna, re lamp=hit: lexico has it as not just British, but specifically Northern English. Didn’t find in Chambers at all (wonder what the traditionalists think, or perhaps there’s a ref in another ed.?), but Chambers *did* offer this delightful Scottish “lamp” defn: “To run wild, to scamper; to go jauntily, stride along”. Seems ripe with possibilities for use by setters: possible anagrind, synonym for sport, and so on 🙂
Thank you, grantinfreo and MaidenBartok for explaining convenience.
Robi, we crossed… Wasn’t in the Chambers I consulted… which ed. did you check?
muffin: self-heal and heal-all are both widely used names, and listed in most refs. This species (Prunella vulgaris) is circumpolar, found here and there throughout the northern hemisphere. In CA we have two varieties (only subtly different and still the same species), one considered native, the other introduced fr/Europe, likely brought by settlers for supposed medicinal properties (don’t recall if it actually has any, though as a member of the mint family it’s possible).
Robi @37: I think you might have missed my point (particularly if you didn’t see yesterday’s discussion. essexboy introduced the concept of homoiousios (at about 6pm UK) as a solution to the sounds identical/sounds close issue). I have always stayed away from homophone arguments here – they bother me less than some others – and I wasn’t getting involved today other than to suggest it was a perfect opportunity to apply the concept.
Backing up PostMark, yesterday’s discussion began w/ my query re a word meaning “sounds *sorta* like”. Essexboy artfully obliged, creating “homoiophone” on the fly, complete w/very believable Greek derivation. So while some might quibble re rancour/ranker as homophones, they’re definitely homoiophones!
Postmark @42; I didn’t mean to be critical; just using the opportunity to suggest people check pronunciations in dictionaries rather than relying on their own accents.
OddOtter; I use an online complete version of Chambers in WordWeb Pro (which makes searching very easy), but it is the third definition in the Revised 13th Edition.
Robi @44: no criticism taken – but I do still wonder if you’ve missed my point…
Thanks Picaroon and loonapick.
[People who were not aware of footballer Frank Lampard, may have heard of his father. He was a footballer called Frank Lampard.
For anyone who is not familiar with Spiderman, there’s lots of information available on the Web.]
[Penfold @47: Yes there is. I’ve read it before but none of it has stuck.]
I agree with loonapick that one can’t complain about Briticisms and Britain-specific general knowledge.in a British paper, but I want to note that there are more here than the ones he mentions. SIR KEIR STARMER, of course. Ranker= enlisted man and RANCOUR so spelled. “Sir” = teacher. Both “spending a penny” and (public) convenience.
And, arguably, putting on ceremonial dress = ROBING
I would have included prunella and HEAL-ALL but for OddOtter informing me that it does grow on this side the Atlantic.
But at least there were no puns requiring a non-rhotic pronunciation, which are often my downfall.
Robi: Thx re Chambers. I’m viewing a late 1970s ed. (fr/India no less, though content presumably matches UK printings); your digital version is no doubt more recent/complete. Still, lexico indicates early 19th century origins for lamp=hit, so unclear why it wouldn’t be in earlier Chambers too.
Isn’t it easier to spell pun than homoiophone?
I like the way that SIR KEIR STARMER gets the football-related clue and FRANK LAMPARD gets the London one. No RANCOUR about homophones for me.
In any case, RANCOUR and RANKER are perfect homophones, according to standard dictionaries. Unless someone is using a self-invented pronunciation for the former, the whole discussion about “homoiophones” is beside the point here.
Two classics in a row, Qaos and Picaroon, I’m in heaven. Yes, I too was looking for a bit of Lambeth until the penny dropped.
[Now let’s get the Lampards straight. Two Franks, father and son. The clue undoubtedly references the younger who is the current coach of a west London team called Chelsea. As they regularly play in European competition, his name will be widely familiar to those who follow the sport, so not just British GK. He played for Chelsea too, but started his career with West Ham, for whom his dad had played several hundred games. Senior was later a coach at West Ham too, assistant to Harry Redknapp. Alas when the club sacked them both, Junior moved his boots across the capital, and the mighty Irons lost one of the best talents its famous Academy had ever produced.]
OddOtter and Robi
Thanks for the info on LAMP. Live and learn, eh?
[Trailman @54 – I’m not a follower of football at-all but MasterBela is. On a holiday some years ago in France (she is a native French speaker) we were watching some match with said person in with the French commentary where his name is pronounced “FraaaaaaaaanK Lamparrrrrr” (long “a” sound, very hard “Keh, rolled “rrrr”). Everytime I see his name I hear it this way in my head.]
I suppose that Frank Lampard clue may be a bigger problem for someone doing this crossword from the Archive in a few years time. Frank will have to do remarkably well at Chelsea if he is to survive much longer than his many predecessors. I hope he manages it.
I concur this was a very satisfying solve (mostly), with (as robi @37 says) good, precise cluing.
Brilliant anagram of SEX THERAPIST
Felt like tough going for me today, but satisfying when I got there. Couldn’t parse RANCOUR – no problem with the homophone, just didn’t connect “ranker” and “private” – so thanks for that. Surprised no one has yet pointed out that 14D should be (6-3) not (9), as he’s Spider-Man (as far as I can think of, he’s the only hyphenated superhero, with others going either for compounds (eg Batman, Superman) or two separate words (eg Iron Man, Wonder Woman)).
Defeated by SPIDERMAN (grabbed the clue by the wrong end, as did beaulieu @6, but never saw the error) and SONGBOOK (couldn’t see book = caution), but no complaints. UK-centric clues are fine in a UK crossword, and I did remember SKS from a previous puzzle, though I had to work out FRANK LAMPARD from crossers and wordplay. (At one point with a few crossers in, I wondered if there was a British train called the GRAND LIMITED.) Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.
[Hoping the clue for 15a does not foreshadow actual events.]
Well, maybe unique in this company, I got FRANK LAMPARD from a few crossers alone [although I live in the US, I do watch a lot of football, mostly PL], and it took me a moment to see that the clue actually indicated him. It didn’t help that there was no confirmation of lamp=hit in any dictionary I checked, including online Chambers. So maybe in retrospect that was more unfair than the footballing knowledge.
When I read “Milton Keynes” (my eyes rested on it before I read the clue as a whole) I thought “some setter should use that as a misdirection for JM Keynes”. I was a bit taken aback when I actually solved the clue.
So altogether a rather strange but not disappointing experience today.
Thanks both,
Like DiC @60, I wondered about the train. I got to Mr L via ‘hit a coach’ = ‘lam PA’, but agree the parsing must be right. OED speculates ‘lamp’ comes from ‘lam’ which has a common root with ‘lame’.
Datapoint: I have never heard of Sir Keir, but I have certainly heard of Frank Lampard. The Premier League definitely rates here, and I remember him from his playing days. [I hadn’t heard he started coaching at Chelsea until the U.S. sports press started drooling over Christian Pulisic (the latest in our long line of Saviors of US Soccer).]
PS My first thought for 10d, just looking at the light and with one crosser, was ‘green-line bus’. I quite like that, but it would have required a different enumeration.
[mrpenney @63
Our next Prime Minister, with any luck – unless, that is, BoJo is pushed out before the next election!]
[Dr. WhatsOn @61 and mrpenney @63 In 2015/16, Frank Lampard played for New York City in MLS.]
Re LAMP, I recall a latter-day Araucaria puzzle where he used ‘hit America’ to clue LAMPEDUSA.
XHOSA As far as I know, the fifth note in the diatonic scale is called “sol,” not “soh.”
Anyone else try “hide” or “pelt” for the skin in what eventually turned out to be SPIDERMAN? He is in comics, but isn’t comical, which was also misdirectful.
Didn’t we have a crossword recently where a London bus had a two-word name? I’ve searched for it, but to no avail (where’s beery hiker when you need him?) I thought it might be 10d as the London coach, but no.
Fine puzzle, thank you Picaroon, and thank you also loonapick for the blog.
Although many solutions were guess-first, parse-later, I still really enjoyed it when light finally dawned. RUSTLER and INCONVENIENCED both made me grin and were delicious clues.
I’m another who started out thinking 10D must have something to do with “Lambeth” – till that last D put me straight. SEX THERAPIST and POIGNANCY were pretty clever, too.
Thanks to Picaroon for the challenge – and to Loonapick for help with INDIC and that pesky van in AMETHYST…
I was most definitely not on the same wavelength as Picaroon. Xhosa was easy from the first letter, but I found many clues hard to get into. The oddest was FRANK LAMPARD which popped into my head with only L and M already entered. I entered and checked it for fun, never thinking it would come up as Correct. Then I could make nothing of the parsing (I am completely disillusioned with high level football so had no idea he had gone into management).
Overall too much of a battle to understand Picaroon’s convoluted thought processes for much enjoyment. Not that there’s anything wrong with convoluted thought processes, as long as they overlap with mine!
Valentine @68: Depends. In fixed tonic solfege where Doh is always C, then the dominant is Sol. In moveable solfege where Doh is the tonic, the dominant 5th is called Soh. “Moveable Doh” is what we tend to use in the UK. Not that (in my experience) is is used that much.
What a tough, tough toughie this turned out to be, where the homophone RANCOUR was, just for a change, one of the easiest. (Chambers has a schwa in the second syllable, and although my paper edition doesn’t give the pronunciation, Collins online gives the same for RANKER.)
I could only find a reference to great valerian when I checked HEAL-ALL in Chambers (it is listed under ALLHEAL), and it’s only when looking up Prunella (sore throat and its curing herb) that I get anywhere close to confirmation of the clue as a whole. And this wasn’t even the toughest solve.
Slight could lead to SLANDER as an alternative to the correct SLENDER (I guess this has probably been used in a clue before now); IODIC also fits at 24d, but I couldn’t get the rest of the clue to work after detaching I’s (=’of iodine’??); couldn’t remember how STARMER spells his first name, and was almost misled by the outsourcing company that used to work for Sheffield City Council – KIER; was looking at LAMBETH as a possible before the name of the former West Ham United and Chelsea player leapt out at me; ‘York street’ said GATE to me for a long time, and van=UTE has been used before, but a long, long time trying to get somewhere with this idea was ultimately fruitless.
Hey, it’s a good thing I’m retired and confined to the home except for essential outings to the shops. 🙂
Like boffo @25 I struggled to remember how to spell NUREYEV but the clue helped! (I remember the racehorse of the same name: like the great Nijinsky he was a son of the hugely influention stallion Northern Dancer, grandsire of Galileo.)
blaise @14. “…but oh so rewarding when the penny drops (27A outstanding in this respect).” Relieving as well as rewarding, I reckon.
Thanks Picaroon for blowing away some cobwebs today.
‘Lamping’ also Lamp as in catching rabbits but common parlance to hit
“Lamp” is and was a commonly used expression in my part of SE Lancashire. I got lamped on numerous occasions as a youngster ; by the local bobby, my dad (not often but well) and by a cast of giants over the few years that it took me to realise I was never going to be much good at Rugby League.
OED has “lamp” to hit going back to 1805, possibly derived from “lam” to beat soundly, first citation 1595. I’ve heard both lamming and lamping in various parts of the UK.
As a non-Brit I was never going to complete this crossword, especially with clues like 1a and 10d; I’m not complaining, however, as I can’t even count the number of US States that are either parts of clues or answers in these puzzles — all’s fair in crosswordland (except bad grammar apparently.)
I thought SLENDER was brilliant as well as SEX THERAPIST, YUCATAN, and DITTO. Thanks to both.
All this talk of coming across buttocks, spending a penny and cunning linguists has frankly sickened me, so I put my foot through my computer screen and sent Picaroon the bill.
Managed to complete this, but as an American, I had to Google up “labor party leaders” and Google up coaches for each of the London based soccer teams – luckily got the answer on my second search (Arsenal was my first!) to fill in the blank spaces. I’ve heard of Lampard I’ve but never heard of SKS. Also could not parse 8 ac. and 27 ac. (my last one in) until I saw the explanation here. NATAL in the sense used here, and LAMP=”hit” were new to me too. Very mixed feelings overall about this puzzle…nice to fill everything in correctly but annoying when I can’t fully explain how/why!
Thanks loonapick.
Posting late today. COTD INCONVENIENCED. Loved the link Blaise@16
[There are Victorian loos in Manchester and Birmingham which have been converted to pubs – and probably in other cities too. You certainly have to spend more than a penny for a round though. To add another mnemonic from my youth to yesterday’s list – Mother Very Easily Made Jam Sandwiches Using No Peanuts… not sure if Peanuts is still with us though…]
Apologies – forgot to thank loonapick and picaroon
Does it say more about Britain’s place in the world or about the American news media that educated Americans have never heard of the Leader of the Opposition?
[Pauline in Brum :my very energetic mother just swam under north pier]
How does ready = currency, money? Ready cash = money, but ready does mean cash. Sea port = Harbour, but sea doesn’t mean harbour or port.
It’s READIES – ask Del Boy!!!
Too late to comment much but just wanted to say how lucky we have been this week with Carpathian, Philistine and Picaroon coming one after another, and with each setter on top form. This picaroon was harder for me but just slipped into my allotted time slot. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Many thanks Picaroon, loonapick and all the posters
Don @ 83. I take your point but tell me it stopped you getting the correct result?!!
[Petert @81 Maybe it says more about the Leader of the Opposition. Jay in Pittsburgh may like to know that Sir Keir is an Arsenal supporter.]
[Miss Venus eats Ma’s jam served under no pretences]
Firstly, thanks, as ever, to Loonapick for so deftly unpicking my “convoluted thought processes” / cryptic clues. To be honest, I don’t really get the whole pangram thing. As I think Tramp once said, it’s easy to do and it’s been done a lot.
I really enjoyed the Joey Barton stories on this thread. I have a vague memory of having got Joey Barton into a Guardian clue once, but maybe that’s just a fanciful invention. Still, who needs evidence these days?
I agree with those saying that Frank Lampard can’t really be called an “obscure Britishism”. Research (well, Googling) suggests that the Premier League is shown in 188 of the world’s 193 countries. (Granted, it probably is an obscure reference in North Korea or Turkmenistan.) Plus, Frank is a bit of a cunning linguist himself (an A grade in GCSE Latin, I’m told), so he might appreciate the cruciverbal mention (although I suspect he’s more of a Telegraph man).
Anyway, I hope he and Sir K. rubbing shoulders wasn’t too much of a stretch. Because of setting quite a lot for the Times as well, I especially enjoy the freedom in the Guardian to reference living people in answers.
Best wishes to all.
I learned about “nates” for the buttocks from finding them in crosswords, but hadn’t met the adjective until now. Didn’t know about Nancy or prunella either. I was rather daunted to find my first ones in were RISHI, NATAL and XHOSA, and wondered what else Picaroon had up his sleeve…but the rest wasn’t that bad.
Anyway, I enjoyed the stocktaker and Shylock and INCONVENIENCED. Thanks Loonapick for sorting out AMETHYST, and finding the missing bit of INDIC(T) which escaped me.
What are these maternal mnemonics supposed to recall? I seem to recall one in which she just served us nine pizzas, but I don’t remember in aid of what.
PS, another one here who thought slight=slander not slight=slender at first. And I loved the long drink full of very soft fruit.
[PostMark and OddOtter, thanks for your product promotion work on my behalf! It may not have been needed on this occasion (thanks John Wells @53) but its day will surely come.]
[crypticsue @19: the thought may have occurred to Bridget Jones.
Helen Fielding denies it… but then she would, wouldn’t she? ]
[Valentine @90: these days she’ll just have to serve us nine. The pizza’s been demoted to a dwarf pizza.]
Many thanks P & L.
[I’ve visited the fabulous conveniences on the Isle of Bute too, Blaise – can highly recommend the experience!]
Splendid, splendid.
What’s so good about clues like 7dn and 10dn is that the surface reading points at transport and the answer has nothing to do with it.
The best, though, was 1dn. Well, that’s what my solving partner said.
I thought 16dn’s PINEAPPLE was brilliant too.
I am surprised that, as far as I can see, no-one made a remark about G = ‘great’ in 9ac.
Of course, the surface needs it and, yes, we’ve discussed it 243 times before (if I remember well).
As in GB etc, but then N for ‘Nations’ or K for ‘Kingdom’ would also be fine.
Don’t worry, I will still have a great night’s sleep but I didn’t expect it from this particular setter.
All in all, lovely crossword (I’m sure, we all agree).
Many thanks to Loonapick for the blog & Picaroon for another one of his masterstrokes.
Sil @94. Good to hear your thoughts on this puzzle. “Splendid, splendid.” Indeed.
I tend to have the fondest memories of clues that caused me the most difficulty – as long as that difficulty was the result of the setter’s brilliance and not my stupidity! Having solved 1d, 7d and 16d quite quickly I tend to see their weaknesses rather than their elegance. SEX THERAPIST was very close to the definition, although the anagram was clever; ECONOMIST was clearly signalled by green=ECO and then Keynes; ‘very soft’ and ‘fruit’ in a nine letter word almost screamed PINEAPPLE.
Whereas 10d, as you say, seemed to be about transport and was nothing of the sort. Just as 25a seemed, as I said @72, to be pointing towards something that on closer inspection wasn’t even there.
I’m not sure what your point is about G=great, N=nations, etc. Are you saying that taking the N in UN or the G in GB does not make these legit, if used on their own? I guess you are. Perhaps I have seen or even participated in some of the 243 occasions this has come up! I think perhaps Picaroon may have been led into using G=great by the presence of GB in the middle of SONGBOOK, but realising that this would leave him with the awkward OOK, decided to just go with the G after all, and ‘great caution’ does make a very neat surface. I don’t see any harm in it.
sheffield hatter @95, G = ’great’ is just not supported by any dictionary.
And I am sure Picaroon will know this – I guess he was just not being able to resist ‘great / caution’ [which I totally understand if that is the case].
However, for me, it’s another case of the surface taking over from what the dictionaries tell me.
Very often (168 times out of 243 times) it’s Simon S who defends unusual abbreviations.
L for ‘long’. G for ‘girl’, even B for ‘boy’.
Most of the time he has a point but, be aware, these are standalone abbreviations.
If you think G = ‘great’ is fine as being part of GB, then you should accept K = ‘kingdom’ and N = ‘nations’ too, in my opinion.
I obviously don’t but it didn’t spoil anything in this wonderful crossword!!! [three exclamation marks]
Oh what a delightful, truly exuberant puzzle, Picaroon – I’m still smiling, hours afterwards. Many thanks – and thanks to Loonapick, too.
A shamelessly nerdy quibble on “spending à penny” at old UK public loos, à propos of the glorious “Inconvenienced”: only ladies had to cough up (presumably the euphemism originated in regard to them), since gentlemen who only needed to – er – spend a penny could do so for free.
“Natal” was new to me as the adjective from “nates” . Made me wonder: Does the old playground tradition of bumping (UK) and spanking (US) a birthday boy or girl on the bottom for the appropriate number of times originate in an obscure, long-forgotten pun on “natal” day (uncommon, but used by Gilbert in Pirates of Penzance)?
Over-enthusiasm (or malice) by the four limb-graspers bumping you could be pretty hard on the coccyx (now there’s a word for setters), I recall.
[Constable Melton @97: COCCYX appeared as recently as last month in this offering from Paul.
Interesting idea about the origin of bumping the poor victim’s nates on their natal day. No mention of it in this Wiki piece, which doesn’t say anything about why it’s done. Speculation here is that “the practice is believed to date back to the first ‘birthday bump’ a child ever receives — from a doctor or nurse — when they are spanked to get their blood moving and incite their first cry”.]
[Valentine@90 – order of planets from the sun outwards but, as essexboy says, the P has been demoted.]
Petert @81: A little of both, possibly? I swear to god, I have NEVER seen a reference to this guy in the mainstream media here; the only British politician they talk about is Boris J! Anyway, thanks to Penfold @86 I now know he’s an Arsenal fan (I also learned not long ago that they are called “Gunners!”)