A fun crossword from Paul with a theme of capitals, and a nice thematic device…
… which is clues of the form, “Capital of Norway twice 14”. 14 is REBUILT so this is “Capital of Norway twice rebuilt”. This means to consider “the capital of Norway” in two ways to make the anagram fodder: OSLO, reading it literally, and N, reading it cryptically. 14/REUILT is then the anagram indicator, so you find an anagram of OSLON. Some of these clues have extra words from the clue included in the fodder, but this is the simplest example. You could argue this is an indirect anagram, but I don’t have any complaint with this because it’s a repeated device in the puzzle, and the central puzzle to solve here – and it’s just fun 🙂 It took a while for me to figure out, and was satisfying when the penny dropped.
Thanks, Paul, for a fun solve!
Across
9. Constitutional capital of Afghanistan twice (two) 14 (9)
WALKABOUT
(KABUL + A(fghanistan) TWO)*
Definition: “Constitutional” (as in “one’s morning constitutional”)
10. As some boats flew, though not originally (5)
OARED
[s]OARED = “flew, though not originally”
Definition: “As some boats”
11. Party checked (5)
PLAID
Double definition: “Party” (PLAID Cymru) and “checked” (PLAID is the US word for tartan)
12. Help out, or fail to help children’s author (2,4,3)
DO ONE’S BIT
“fail to [help out]” = DO O (do zero) + NESBIT = “children’s author”
Definition: “Help out”
13. Empire behind supporter (7)
OTTOMAN
Double definition: “Empire” and “behind supporter” (“behind” in the sense of “bottom”)
14. Capital of Lebanon twice bombed, returned to former glory? (7)
REBUILT
(BEIRUT L[ebanon])*
Definition: “returned to former glory?”
17. Capital of Norway twice 14 for birds (5)
LOONS
(OSLO + N[orway])*
Definition: “birds”
19. Sign letter for the auditor? (3)
CUE
CUE sounds like “Q”, a letter – the homophone indicator is “for the auditor?”
Definition: “sign”
20. Block hiding other blocks (5)
INGOT
Hidden answer: [hid]ING OT[her] – “blocks” here means “fills in”, I think, so you should read it like “[definition] that “hiding other” blocks]”
Definition: “Block”
21. Tango, then go for twist (7)
TWIDDLE
T = “Tango” (international phonetic alphabet) + WIDDLE = “go”
Definition: “twist”
22. Get hot man — capital! (7)
BAGHDAD
BAG = “Get” + H = “hot” + DAD = “man” (as in “old man”, I guess?)
Definition: “capital!”
24. One capital of France, twice 14, covering items (9)
PINAFORES
(ONE PARIS F[rance])*
Definition: “covering items” (“items that cover”)
26. Swollen stem: squash in retrospect (5)
TUBER
REBUT = “squash” reversed
Definition: “Swollen stem”
28. Capital of Latvia twice 14 sought prize (5)
GRAIL
(RIGA L[atvia])*
Definition: “sought prize” (a prize that is sought)
29. Briefly stir cream perhaps into strong coffee, creation of barista (4,5)
FLAT WHITE
WHI[sk] WHI[p] = “Briefly stir cream perhaps” in F = “strong” (as in “forte” in music) + LATTE = “coffee” (Thanks to everyone who corrected WHISK -> WHIP!)
Definition: “creation of barista”
Down
1. Reportedly, break up exchange (4)
SWAP
PAWS sounds like “pause” = “break”, reversed (“up”)
Definition: “exchange”
2. Able to bend, one held in place (6)
PLIANT
I = “one” in PLANT = “place”
Definition: “Able to bend”
3. One capital of Spain twice 14, arranged by chance (10)
RANDOMISED
(ONE MADRID S[pain])*
Definition: “arranged by chance”
4. Capital author (6)
LONDON
Double definition: “author” (Jack LONDON) and “Capital”
5. In the beginning, coat user shivering (2,6)
AT SOURCE
(COAT USER)*
Definition: “In the beginning”
6. Capital getting up in the morning (4)
ROME
Hidden reversed in [th]E MOR[ning]
Definition: “Capital”
7. Time capital of Germany twice 14, more than 23, roughly speaking? (8)
TREBLING
(T + BERLIN G[ermany])*
Definition: “more than [DUBLIN], rougly speaking” (DUBLIN sounds a bit like “doubling”)
8. Every second gone and rift opening underground (4)
ADIT
A[n]D [r]I[f]T – alternate letters (“Every second gone”)
Definition: “opening underground”
13. Anything to eat ends in small hole for small predator (5)
OWLET
OWT = “Anything” (a northern dialect word) around [smal]L [hol]E = “ends in small hole”
Definition: “small predator”
15. Capital I would secure to invest in coffee (10)
BRIDGETOWN
I’D = “I would” + GET = “secure” in BROWN = “coffee”
Definition: “Capital”
16. Conveyed Theodore Roosevelt’s letter opener? (5)
TOTED
You might open a letter to Theodore Roosevelt with “To Ted,”
Definition: “conveyed”
18. Eastern books on article in window (8)
ORIENTAL
NT (New Testament) = “books” + A = “article” in ORIEL = “window”
Definition: “Eastern”
19. Leave sign for musicians hosting upcoming meetings (5,3)
CLEAR OFF
CLEF = “sign for musicians” around FORA = “meetings” reversed (“upcoming”)
Definition: “Leave”
22. Again, relocate a US capital (6)
BISSAU
BIS = “Again” + (A US)*
Definition: “capital”
23. 14, build new capital (6)
DUBLIN
(BUILD N)* the anagram indicator is 14, since 14 is REBUILT
Definition: “capital”
24. Call for paper (4)
PAGE
Double definition: “Call” (as in “to page someone”) and “paper”
25. Considered material (4)
FELT
Double definition: “Considered” and “material”
27. Bird, tail by the ear? (4)
RHEA
Sounds like “rear”, which is a synonym of “tail”
Definition: “Bird”
One of the most enjoyable crosswords I’ve done in months.
Give us more Paul.
My way in to solving 14a was via WALKABOUT.
Favourites: OWLET, CLEAR OFF, OARED, ROME (loi)
New: widdle = urinate/go; ADIT = a horizontal passage leading into a mine for the purposes of access or drainage.
Did not parse FLAT WHITE.
Thanks, Paul and mhl
I enjoyed this one too, and yes it took awhile before the penny dropped.
I had 29 across as Whip and not Whisk, but it all leads to the same.
When I finally understood what was happening here with GRAIL, I thought this was so clever! One of the best.
Thanks Paul and mhl
Thanks to mhl for the very thorough, timely and (on my brief persual) accurate blog. I hope others will agree with you that Paul’s central device “is just fun”! I have seen it suggested elsewhere (I think in a blog of an Independent crossword around Christmas time) that there is no actual Ximenean bar on indirect anagrams, only that if this practice were to be indulged, it must be fair.
I think Paul has been fair here, in that the capitals were none of them obscure; that the capitals theme was as plain as the nose on your face (not you, mhl, just generally); and that the anagramised words were also all regular words. Some pre-deadline comments on yesterday’s cryptic (around #73ff, from memory) suggested that some found this device a bridge too far. I found it “just fun”!
Favourite bit of “fun”: TREBLING and DUBLIN…
Thanks mhl. I found this hard. I don’t remember ever staring for so long at a blank grid waiting for the first answer to reveal itself though looking back on it now there is nothing at all unreasonable. I must have been fixated on the theme of capitals and it took me too long to understand it. My way in was 23d which led to the meaning of 14. As soon as I saw 29a my first thought was the correct one but couldn’t possibly see why and dismissed it. It became my LOI.
Thank to Paul and mhl. Too tough for me. For a while I had an empty grid but during the week I did fill it. I finally got REBUILT and some of my guesses turned out to be accurate (e.g., RHEA), but FLAT WHITE and several others defeated me or were not parsed (e,g, WALKABOUT, PINAFORES).
Really enjoyed this. Super puzzle with a fun device that I’ve never seen before.
Let’s hope Beirut can indeed be rebuilt.
I too had whi[p] in flatte as per Ant @3. Yes a fun solve, in which if I remember it was loons and grail that led me to rebuilt and then onwards. And so I say again, Paul is endlessly inventive and a consumate entertainer. Many thanks to him and to mhl.
I thought this was great. Clues on the whole neither too difficult nor too easy, but with a fun thematic device to slow you down until you figure it out.
Sounds like I had a similar experience to some other solvers. Two passes through the entire crossword and I had nothing! Then I got a couple of the non-theme clues which gave me heart, and I was then fortunate enough to see how the key clue at 14a REBUILT could be derived from a mix of the letters of Beirut plus L. After that the “Capitals” pagers of Bradford’s Blue Book of Lists got a workout over a couple of days. I finally solved the last clues that were holding out in the SW several days after my first entries. So while it was tough, I thought it was well worth the perseverance. My favourites in the end was 1d SWAP for its simplicity and 15d for the young of my favourite critter. Glad to read the proper parse for 12a, DO ONE’S BIT, as I thought the fodder was something to do with Lorna Doone, but now I realise that was a book title from my youth, and not an author! I think the only time I have ever met teh word ADIT (8d) is in crosswords! Many thanks to Paul and mhl.
Count me among the chorus singing praise for this crossword. Capitals are within everyone’s grasp and they added a fun element that too often is missing in puzzles. Thanks Paul, and mhl for the blog.
I’m another who likes my cream WHIpped!
I enjoyed this, as I did Paul’s yesterday – but to elaborate on sheffield hatter’s thoughts @5, I think both suffer from the same problem. If you strike lucky (i.e. with yesterday’s, have the relevant GK; and here, stumble on the correct version of the indirect anagram) then the rest of the puzzle is almost too straightforward. If you don’t, it’s frustrating to the point of impossible.
(I think Simon S made a similar point on yesterday’s blog.)
Enough moaning; I loved the behind supporter, ‘do nothing Nesbit’ and the Dear Ted letter.
Thanks Paul and mhl.
I got the trick of the capitals twice early on and most of my first entries were of that type (starting with REBUILT – which helped in the others – and LOONS). Mind, my LoI was also a capital – the unknown BISSAU. I was convinced one of my crossers was wrong – either FLAT to give an unparsed BOSTON, or BAGHDAD, to give a partially unparsed NASSAU. The latter was my route into the right answer, though not through having any idea what BIS meant – DuckDuckGo of BASSAU led me to it. Is that cheating? Not in my book. Otherwise, some very nice other clues along the way – the nod to E. Nesbit, ORIENTAL, the DUBLIN/TREBLING pair. But I wonder – is AT COURSE a thing? Thanks, Paul and mhl.
Yes fun. Another here who on first pass was stumped but after the pdm, things fell into place readily. And another here who WHIps their cream. BISSAU LOI as fixated on Boston and Bismarck before thinking further afield. Dnk BRIDGETOWN as capital of Barbados, a nice piece of GK for pub quiz night. Thanks to Paul and mhl
Ohhh, me @14. Read the blog more carefully. AT SOURCE, not AT COURSE (which isn’t a thing…).
Yep, great and neat. Like JinA and others, a blank on the first sweep, then the Beirut key. With the theme unlocked, seven capitals fell out one after another. Ticks for the Nesbit clue, and the barista one.
I think 9ac, WALKABOUT was the one that got me in. I didn’t know BRIDGETOWN (15dn) but built it from the wordplay and confirmed with Go ogle
Indirect anagrams where there’s no ambiguity in the intended fodder are fine, even by Ximenan lights. I agree with Essexboy’s analysis @13, though: this puzzle was very hard until you twigged the device and after that, rather easy (at least, to to fill in all the ‘double capital’ answers.
@mhl, in 12ac, “fail to [help out]” should be “fail to help”, shouldn’t it?
13ac “behind supporter” is classic Paul
Not totally convinced by the cryptic grammar in 20ac. Isn’t something the wrong way round?
Like Ant@3 and others, in 29ac, I thought of the cream as being WHIpped, rather than WHIsked. That way you only have to lose the usual one letter (p) from the end to fulfill “briefly”
TassieTim @16, I was also scratching my head over AT COURSE for 5dn, and was very relieved when I realised what the actual answer was; LOI.
Lots of fun doing this.
Splendid stuff from Paul, although – like most others, it seems – it took me a while to get into it. (Nothing from a first pass through the across clues, then the simple anagram for AT SOURCE – and the initial ‘R’ that supplied leading to REBUILT, and the penny dropped). It actually never occurred to me that these were indirect anagrams, and I think Sheffield Hatter @ 5 has it right: the capitals used indirectly were all immediately obvious, so it wasn’t an issue. BRIDGETOWN and BISSAU (my LOI) were rather less obvious capitals. And I groaned at both TWIDDLED and TREBLING, but for different reasons, and liked the conciseness of OTTOMAN’s clue. Tony Collman @18, I didn’t think 20ac worked either, and I couldn’t see ‘do o’ for do nothing so failed to parse 12ac – thanks for the explanation, mhl.
And thanks to Paul; this one really was fun.
Terrific puzzle. I love the ‘aha’ moment when the penny drops on the structure of the device. LOONS was that moment for me which convinced me of the rightness of an unparsed OWLET. Note to self:remember northern dialect words. New words for me were ADIT and the BIS of Bissau. Thanks Paul and mhl.
To my amazement, from long ago piano lessons, I remembered BIS so was able to parse BISSAU.
Liked the capital device once I got it and like others did not think of it an an indirect anagram. Never heard of ADIT. Will add it to my crossword language list. Thought OARED was a strange word.
Liked TUBER, BRIDGETOWN, TWIDDLE
Couldn’t parse several so thanks to mhl. But like Tony Collman@18 and KeithS @19 still don’t really get INGOT. Thought the DO O in DO ONES BIT was clever – I got NESBIT but couldn’t see how the rest parsed.
Thanks to Paul for the fun and to mhl for the helpful blog
What fun, even though I didn’t finish, defeated by 22d BISSAU. Like Canberra Girl@20, LOONS unlocked the door for me, and sorting out the other 14s was not too difficult but most enjoyable. Finding the key was a classic penny-drop moment.
Essexboy@13, I too was a whipper at29a, although I don’t like cream in my coffee. Nevertheless, FLAT WHITE was still my favourite clue, for its brilliant surface.
Thanks Paul for this super crossword, and lucky mhl for the excellent blog.
I remember, years ago, on a visit to Rome in what seems like a completely different existence now, seeing a performance of Turandot in the open air at the Baths of Caracalla. After Nessun Dorma finished, to our surprise there was what sounded like an outbreak of hissing from the audience, and then the tenor sang it again. We eventually realised they were all shouting ‘BIS!’ Even remembering that, BISSAU still took a while to come to mind.
“Hmmm. Capital of Lebanon could be Beirut but more likely to be an L”. But the penny didn’t drop, so we moved on. “Randomised” unlocked it for us.
A very enjoyable puzzle, not least because there seemed the right number of capitals. Enough to make unlocking the device worthwhile but not so many that the puzzle was dominated by write-ins.
Never getting 14a made this pointless.
Enjoyable one, thanks Paul and mhl. I now understand OTTOMAN, as something which supports one’s behind; I tried to parse it by looking for one of the several terms for that part of the body, but I was being a bit of an ass.
PLAID is not just a US term for tartan. It is used in the UK, and particularly Scotland, being an old Gaelic word – though whether pronounced ‘played’ or ‘plad’ is open to debate.
Tony@18, I had no problem with 20a. The phrase ‘hiding other’ blocks the word which means ‘block’.
Yes, I enjoyed this. Capitals are much more up my street than yesterday’s ‘author”.
WALKABOUT and RANDOMISED got me started. Liked the widdle in TWIDDLE, the owt in OWLET and jetting off to BRIDGETOWN with Captain Tobias Wilcox of Coconut Airways. Woh! I’m going to Barbados 🙂
Thanks Paul and mhl
A fun puzzle, but I fell at the last hurdle. I failed to parse 1d which left a choice between swap or swop.
I absolutely loved this. Best and cleverest crossword for me so far this year. Huge thanks to Paul, for the fun and entertainment and the pure delight of the penny drop moment, and to mhl for the excellent blog.
Ingenious as ever, Paul delivered a classic puzzle.
Like michelle @2, it was WALKABOOUT that let me in. I then noticed that there was an extra letter in the several capitals that I already had, and then the cryptic use of “capital” completed the device.
Great fun.
Thanks mhl and well done Paul!
This was Capital from Paul!
I do love when a theme requires a little penny to drop in order to get a foothold and this was right up my street with a themed device. For me, it all went in pretty smoothly with some lovely trademark minor irreverences with OTTOMAN and TWIDDLE both raising smiles.
Thanks mhl for the nice blog, mhl and to Paul for another great crossword. Feels like it’s been a good week – for crosswords of course.
An excellent thematic idea, very well executed. It’s a good thing that the Guardian allows a pervasive theme like this, riddled with indirect anagrams, and with the keyword REBUILT itself clued in the same thematic way (albeit without referring to itself to indicate the anagram!).
I felt early on that this would end up as either a completed grid or an almost empty one. It was OTTOMAN that helped me to get RANDOMISED, from which I worked out REBUILT, and the rest followed.
My favourite was FLAT WHITE, which I parsed properly only after I had filled the grid. A brilliant clue. (I too used WHIP rather than WHISK.)
Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Thanks Paul and mhl
I thought the theme was fair. I knew BIS, but still needed a wordsearch for BISSAU; I solved all the rest without help.
One point – wasn’t Theodore Roosevelt know as Teddy rather than Ted? (Hence “teddy bears”).
I have corrected WHISK -> WHIP now, which is clearly correct – not sure why I didn’t see that.
I’m another one mainly in the LOON (S) camp for my way in. First cuppa last Saturday morning delivered no more than half a dozen non-themed solutions and inspiration came, as so often, when distracted. I might have woken the rest of the family with my whoop as the kettle boiled for the second coffee and it was a dash back upstairs to start the pleasurable task of deciphering the rest. I’m sure there are some neuroscientists out there: does the brain process things in sequence or in parallel? I suspect the latter but I’m generally only conscious of processing in sequence and yet LOONS/Oslo/Norway and REBUILT/Beirut/Lebanon resolved in one glorious simultaneous Eureka moment.
BRIDGETOWN wasn’t as hard to crack as it could have been and alerted me to the possibility of less obvious capitals. BISSAU needed a Google check once crossers and the wordplay for the second half prompted a tentative solution. Like sjshart @26, re 20 ac, I didn’t read the second ‘blocks’ as ‘fills in’: rather, I felt there was an assumed/unwritten ‘in’ at the end of the clue so INGOT is blocked in by ‘hiding other’.
I’m another fan of DO ONES BIT – how clever to spot the author lurking – and the delightful OTTOMAN. OWLET is brilliant – as for CanberraGirl at 20, it led me toward the initial LOONS and I loved the appearance of ‘owt’. TREBLING is splendidly cheeky and probably gets my COTD for that. Another reference to coats; those of us who regularly get ours will be thinking Paul has a message for us.
Thanks Paul and mhl
Great puzzle from Paul. I could see that 14a was the key, so focussed around that until I got it.
Thanks for the blog, mhl. I couldn’t parse OWLET or CLEAR OFF.
Yes, an enjoyable crossword. Took me about half an hour to get more than a few disconnected non-themers, but DUBLIN was the key for me, after which most of the related clues were easy to resolve. No problems with the necessary GK.
Thanks to Paul and mhl
When I say DUBLIN was the key – that was made TREBLING obvious, which gave away the central device.
[I suspect very few – if any – of us are connected other than via this site and pseudonyms but does anyone know what’s happened to OddOtter? Did he announce a temporary departure in a post I missed? It doesn’t seem in character for him to be lurking, but no comment for some time… If you’re there, my friend, I hope all is well 😀 ]
Yep, nice puzzle. Took me a few hours to work out the trick.
A few easy clues to get me started – PLAID, AT SOURCE, ORIENTAL. And of course the typical Paulian TWIDDLE. Then I thought RANDOMISED, as the first of the ‘capital’ clues, must be correct and then it all fell into place.
Ticks for TWIDDLE, SWAP, OWLET, CLEAR OFF.
Most enjoyable.
Thanks to Paul and to mhl.
Super puzzle and super blog – huge thanks to Paul and mhl.
Superb stuff. Many thanks, Paul. Great to be reminded by 7D and 23D of the Oldham, Dublin, Altrincham joke with two florins. But what was the final town said when pocketing the coins? Bury ’em?
Ditto what most people said – most enjoyable and left me wanting more.
[PostMark @39 see last comments re said person in Guardian and Everyman. This is not a social media site (I hope)]
[Mark@39. I’m glad you posted that, I’ve been wondering too. I really appreciate his/her input. Do pop in Other if you see this.]
Crosswords with a theme concerning the construction of the solutions, rather than semantic linking, are rare outside barred puzzles. I’m often impressed by the ingenuity of thematic puzzles rather than delighted by the solving of them.
However this was sheer pleasure as well as very clever. Doubly thematic, with capitals and construction. Like others, LOONS and WALKABOUT led me to REBUILT and the rest fell out easily. I have no problem with indirect anagrams where the anagram fodder (anagrist) is completely unambiguous, as it was here.
Amongst the non-thematics, DO ONES BIT is splendid, and I concur with PostMark and others that OTTOMAN and OWLET are outstanding.
Bravo Paul and lucky mhl to land the blogslot
‘Theodore Roosevelt’s letter opener’ reminded me of Bunthorne’s famous ‘Amundsen’s forwarding address?’
…for which the enumeration is (4)
I loved the aha moment when it fell into place. Great puzzle and blog. Postmark@35 I wonder if anybody has ever researched the psychology of crossword solving? Penfold @ 27. Thanks for today’s earworm. It just reminds me of all the sunny places I won’t be going to, though.
I wrote: ‘Difficult, clever use of capitals on my copy’, which just about sums up this entertaining crossword.
I was another who got into things via WALKABOUT. I couldn’t quite parse FLAT WHITE, although I saw the latte.
Thanks Paul and mhl.
Pedro @43: [PostMark @39 see last comments re said person in Guardian and Everyman. This is not a social media site (I hope)] I can’t make sense of your first comment – sorry. ‘last comments’ where? and by whom? ‘Guardian’ could mean many pages and I’ve checked the most recent Everyman. As for your second comment, are you ticking me off for wondering about the absence of a contributor I enjoy? It’s not a social media site but I did think it was a bit of a community.
Petert@48: They have https://theconversation.com/study-reveals-what-it-takes-to-become-a-cryptic-crossword-expert-and-its-more-than-just-practice-64508
Petert @48: just found this, which I have put aside to read properly, but looks fascinating (if rather weighty!) And focused on British style crosswords too. Enjoy!
[Peter @48
On that subject (the psychology of crossword solving), some-one has indeed done some thorough and interesting research. It is a subject close to my heart! Drs Kathryn Friendlander and Philip Fine at the University of Buckingham produced their first report in 2016 and further reports in 2018 and 2020.
I’m not too sure how to include a link these days, but if you google ‘University of Buckingham psychology crossword solving’ you will get there. I have all three reports, and the first two I know are in the public domain, and free, and the third one probably is too.]
Alan B@53 and Petert @48: great minds. The 2016 study you’ve mentioned is the one I’ve put a link to @52.
[PostMark @52
Just to say that your link gives Petert a link to the first of the three reports I mentioned. It is definitely the one to read first!]
[Postmark &50: I meant the last comments made by the person and the responses to them in 225. One in Guardian Cryptic (re grass skirts) and another in Everyman a few weeks ago. These might indicate why he/she has retired.
As for ticking off, well more a word of concern. Despite the posting weeks ago kindly raised by Gaufrid in general discussion , and the conclusions about what is OK on the site, certain posts seem to be getting longer and longer and less relevant to the crossword just completed. To my mind, brevity is the soul of wit.
[In my comment @53, the name Friendlander should read Friedlander, which (annoyingly) is what I typed. To PostMark and Petert: sorry for the repetition!]
Pedro @ 43 & 56
I feel I have to react to your comments.
You say that 225 is not a social media site ‘I hope’. Well, I agree that social media sites are, in the main, to be avoided like the plague. I have absolutely no presence on any such site, except for one Russian site, and that is only to allow me to practise the language I am learning. (Difficult to meet Russians face-to-face at the moment with the pandemic raging). On that Russian site, most of what people write is rubbish and I ignore it. So I ‘sort of’ agree with your basic sentiment.
BUT. 225 is a place where intelligent and interesting people come together. (OK OK, I don’t include myself !! ). And we are all human beings with emotions. It’s normal that we should want to talk with similar-minded people. I feel that 225 could have a social-media-type forum in addition to the strictly crossword blogs and General Discussion groups.
Perhaps I feel this more, as I am ‘old, retired and lonely’ !!
[Pedro @56: thank you. I’m guessing you must be referring to the little spat at the end of https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/01/01/guardian-cryptic-28331-brendan/ I guess I was happy with balancing the occasional post on cultural sensitivity with the broader contributions but, as we both know, different strokes for different folks. I, for one, hope his soap box isn’t permanently packed away.]
Mark @39 & Pedro @56. Here’s a link to the “grass skirts” (starting @81, I think).
For once, I quickly spotted that “twice” could refer to the two readings of “capital of”, so REBUILT came early. Then I was unsure whether the same device was being used in the clues referring to 14, which kept me on my toes.
I liked the Capital theme not being restricted to rebuilt clues, and BRIDGETOWN came to mind via cricket, though I had to check that it’s a capital.
It took me all day (from midnight to almost midnight!) on and off, but I was never stuck for too long, so this was a very satisfying solution. I would have been a little unhappy with the slightly unclear clue for INGOT had it not been a hidden word, so obviously correct once I had looked at the dictionary definition.
[Mark @59 – I see you found it for yourself! I’m with you on “balancing”. I can see that Pedro had strong feelings about this, and to be fair I thought that OddOtter had gone on for too long and at great length about GRASS SKIRTS, but there are ways of dealing with this that do not involve being gratuitously rude to other contributors to this site.
Anna @58. I am sure there are many here who *do* include you among the “intelligent and interesting people (who) come together” to discuss the crossword and, when permitted, the tangential thoughts that arise from it. In the long post by Gaufrid (mentioned by Pedro @56), I am pretty sure he acknowledged the benefit some (many?) in this community on the Guardian cryptic gained from this social contact in a time when we are largely cut off from normal human interactions. Those who don’t like the thread being bulked up by posts that are “less relevant to the crossword just completed” can surely skip them quite easily.]
Re: 20a ‘Block hidING OTher blocks’ – I thought of blocks in the sense of stuck in a traffic jam.
Thank you Anna, PM and SH for your reasonable comments. I won’t prolong this and appreciate this site is a useful outlet at these times. Anna’s suggestion of a separate forum would solve the social aspect but then you would have to decide which one of 3 to post on hmmm.
Btw, do do appreciate the occasional wit and puns posted by a small group of you as long as they are brief. I do tend to skip long posts (essays even ha ha) so probably miss a few.
Petert @48, PostMark @52 and Alan B@53
Re the University of Buckingham research: some of us here actually took part in this, at one of our Sloggers and Betters gatherings – see here
It seems a long time since we were able to have such a gathering and, in that time, we have had a host of new contributors. It would be really good to meet them and to be able to put faces to names. I’m entirely in agreement with Anna’s last paragraph (and last sentence!). Many of us here have made a number of good friends over the years, in meetings at Derby, Birmingham, Manchester, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Nottingham, York and Leicester. I do hope that it won’t be too long until we can meet up again. (Most of us don’t talk exclusively about crosswords. 😉 )
This was my first stab at a prize and I failed dismally. However as was hinted at yesterday, if you get the device, then it was reasonably straightforward. I did get a few non-device clues but got totally frustrated by my lack of imagination.
I do remember the OddOtter incident and I did think to myself, I doubt that we will see posts from him/her again, which is a shame. Ta Paul and mhi for unraveling the mystery.
Me @65 – I should, of course, have included London in the list: that’s where it all started!
sjshart @26
[Just for info: in Welsh the word PLAID (party) is pronounced PLYED.]
I enjoyed this and it all unravelled too quickly once the pdm arrived via LOONS. So a similar experience to many. Thanks to Paul and mhl.
On RHEA and OTTOMAN we have “behind”, “bottom” and “rear” as synonyms for – well, what? It strikes me that these are all euphemisms and as such are ambiguous but any unambiguous synonyms I can think of are considered vulgar. “Nates” has turned up a few times in the recent past – is it a word that needs resurrection to cover a gap in vocabulary? Apologies to those who may be offended but is a Paul…
…. and Sheffield! (I hope that’s all.)
Surely comments about irrelevant comments are themselves irrelevant to the current crossword and should therefore be posted in the general section. As should this one 🙂
Thanks mhl and Paul, really enjoyed this one and, unusually for me and a Paul, finished it in one sitting – helped by an early REBUILT. Posting late as I just spent half an hour down the GRASS SKIRTS rabbit hole. I think the joy and the value of this site lie in my being able to chose to do that or not because we all have the freedom to have discussions like that. Compared to the blood baths of Twitter and Facebook posts here are far politer and far better evidenced.
sjshart@26 (and/or SH@63)
“The phrase ‘hiding other’ blocks the word which means ‘block’.”
I’m not sure in what sense you (and Paul, presumably) are using the word “blocks”, highlight in bold. Can you use it in a sentence from the real world with the same sense?
Penfold@27
Thanks for reminding of that great pop tune. I’d completely forgotten the ‘Captain’s announcement’. Well, it was a few years ago!
Howard March@28
Unfortunately, the wordplay doesn’t work for SWOP, does it?
No-one has picked up on my point that Thedore Roosevelt’s nickname was Teddy, not Ted….
Great puzzle (once I’d worked out how to deal with the ‘capitals’ theme).
Re grass skirts etc: I think this is tricky as crosswords clues aren’t known for their political correctness. It rarely concerns me if they stray into somewhat dubious territory, but of course some people feel otherwise. Because of this difference in views, it seems that OddOtter has stopped commenting in Fifteensquared, which is a pity.
muffin ’74
No – and I wanted to say that one wouldn’t open a letter to him with ‘To’, even if it were (but I didn’t want to whinge about a puzzle that I thought so good, otherwise).
[Eileen @76
I looked up the story about the origin of “teddy bears”. I knew about Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear that his hunting party had captured, but didn’t realise that he was pleased with the marketing opportunity that the first bear makers saw, and fully allowed (I was going to say “sanctioned”, but that might have been ambiguous!) the use of his nickname.]
muffin @74
That seems to be a minor blemish, as the person in question was known as Teddy. But perhaps you could say that ‘To Teddy’ begins with ‘To Ted’ (?).
Alan B
Paul could have chosen someone who was known as “Ted” – Heath, for example.
muffin, re Ted(dy): Maybe the question mark is sufficient to cover a little stretchiness (?) I think we’re so used to the equivalence of John = Johnny, Rod = Roddy, Jim = Jimmy, Ann(e) = Annie etc that it almost slips by unnoticed (as unfortunately did your original question 😉 )
No doubt if T.R. had been a TMS commentator he would have been christened Tedders (or possibly Roosters).
[Tony @73, many thanks for the video. I was particularly tickled by the signpost at about 3:00, which suggests that Mark and Pain are co-located, and that Italy is some way to the north of Finland!]
muffin@79: Fair point. For all that I think most people who have to suffer a diminutive version of their name will inevitably find it further diminished: Jimmy to Jim, Charlie to Chas, Andy to… well you know what I mean.
[Anybody re Coconut Airways – “something” palm trees, but what?]
essexboy and Alphalpha
I take your points, but “Teddy” Roosevelt must be by far the most well-known nickname ever, because of the bears!
[Alphalpha @82: back to da palm trees (I think)
…and even Audrey fforbes-Hamilton occasionally got reduced to Aud!]
muffin@: But…
[Alphalpha @82 Back to the palm trees]
Penfold@: Really? I can’t hear that at all – thanks.
Sorry to be a pain but you still don’t open a letter with ‘To’! (It’s ‘Dear’.)
A @85 that has properly cheered me up. Love the name guessing scene (be aware the clip contains strong language and drug references)
Eileen @88, To Sir With Love ? Surely, sensu lato, a ‘love letter straight to your heart’ 😉
Eileen@88: “To whom it may concern”? And as per essexboy@80 there is a question mark asking for forgiveness. (I see essexboy has another possibility.)
Been out to get my injection so I am late in thanking Postmark, Gervase, Alan B for their responses to my question about research. Fascinating stuff. I now want someone to scan a solver’s brain when they are doing a crossword to see which areas light up.
Petert @92 – may I reiterate the first part of my response @65, which might interest some folk here?
… and even the second – I so miss these contacts!
[Glad to hear you’ve had your injection. ]
[Another vaccination – that’s 2 down]
Gervase@51, PM@52 and AlanB@53: Thanks for the links to the research on crossword solving, fascinating.
[The only assumption you can make about what people posting here have in common is that they have attempted the puzzle. If you bring up politics, you are probably making somebody’s blood boil. I do crosswords to get away from things that make my blood boil.]
[Alphaalpha @94: I hope that Petert’s vax was 2d cos that would make it very bendy indeed…
Petert @92: Congrats. We are 1/2 of one-more closer to getting through this nightmare. Keep safe.]
[Me @97: GRRR s/was/wasn’t/]
Started trying the guardian cryptics a few months ago as something to do on wfh tea breaks, delighted that this was the first I’ve been able to complete without heading over here to cheat. There were quite a few I couldn’t parse and pieced together from the cross letters, so thank you for the excellent explanations mhl!
I was held up for ages by the fact that I had convinced myself that the capital of Lebanon was Tripoli. I failed to get a few others — all entirely my fault — but I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle nonetheless.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered the word “widdle”, but given that it was Paul it wasn’t hard to work out what was going on.
Thanks mhl, I couldn’t parse FLAT WHITE (partly because over here if you ask for a LATTE you would just get milk) and had completely forgotten about E NESBIT so didn’t understand why that one had to be right either. Nor did I know that BIS = again but couldn’t really be anything else (sometimes see eg 16bis on piste maps but I think it means something else there, maybe “up to” in the sense of a short linking piste?). Agree with Eileen@88 that “To” would be see as part of the address rather than the salutation opening the letter, but as I enjoyed so many other clues (and was delighted to get TWIDDLE purely on the basis that this was a Paul crossword, as per Ted@100) I am not going to moan excessively. OWLET brought back happy memories of spotting a pygmy owlet once, a very odd looking bird indeed for someone who had no previous idea of its existence, so this just pips the DUBLIN/TREBLING pair for my star prize, thanks Paul.
Gazzh @101, not sure you’ll see this, but I was interested by your BIS question.
Bis (pronounced ‘beess’) is very common in France, where it’s used to mean:
(a) ‘Encore!’ (they don’t shout ‘encore’)
(b) J’habite au 16 bis = I live at 16A
(c) ‘alternative’, eg itinéraire bis = detour/alternative route
All three uses go back to the Latin bis ( = twice)
It’s use (c) which you’ll find on ski maps. I didn’t realise it had found its way into German-speaking areas (where it risks confusion with German ‘bis’ = up to/until) but looking at this forum (scroll about half-way down) it seems like it’s international usage.
[Thanks essexboy, that makes sense and I may well remember it from some francophone or italian resorts where I did most of my early skiing – maybe i have never seen it east of the Röstigraben, will look out on any future trips. And i will have to remember not to shout “encore” if attending a concert in the Romande, i have definitely made that mistake before without realising it, although my wife has trained me to say “C’est comme ca” rather than “C’est la vie” when required.]
essexboy @102
I saw somewhere that “BIS” for what we would call “holiday route” derived from “bison fute” – “wily bison”!
Thanks muffin @104, I’d forgotten Bison Futé. I wonder if the French Government came up with the name as a deliberate play on words? (since the concept of ‘XYZ bis’ meaning ‘an alternative XYZ’ must have pre-dated the 70s, and applies to a lot of other things besides routes)
essexboy@105,
Bison Futé:
“Symbolized by a little Native American, Bison Futé is a creation of the Centre National d’Information Routière, the French traffic information service which reports on travel conditions nationwide, particularly during holiday periods when traffic is heaviest”