Guardian 28,401 – Brummie

90 comments on “Guardian 28,401 – Brummie”

1. A few Buckminster Fuller-inspired domes dotted the hinterlands in the ’60s and ’70s, but I don’t think this form of carbon made it to my lexicon. Guessable though. Didn’t notice the circus acts at all, which is pretty dim. Also blithely bunged in air hose at 7ac until it needed correcting. Goal kick and oner were a bit wot, though seen the latter before. Quite fun in all, thanks both.

2. I don’t get the diver part in 7 across. Driver maybe?

3. I think you could add CLOWNS to your list, Andrew! I’m not claiming much credit for adding that suggestion to the theme!

   Andy @2: I imagine an air pump has some use for folk who go underwater though whether that is actually the name used by the diving community, I don’t know.

   I loved GOSLING, QUIPSTER, CYCLIST, GOAL KICK, ACQUIESCE, TURMERIC and the succinct but lovely GASP.

   Thanks Brummie and Andrew

4. PostMark @3 – thanks for pointing out the missing CLOWNS. I did mean to include them, honest: “(to keep us AMUSED)” was supposed to apply to them..

   Andy @2: I think the air pump is as used by divers in the old-style suits that have a permanent air line instead of portable tanks .

5. CYCLIST and GOAL KICK were probably my favourites.

   The WIRE conjured up images of Lester Freamon tapping into Avon Barksdale’s drug empire and SPITTOON took me back to hearing John Peel playing Chew Tobacco Rag by Billy Briggs.

   Thanks Brummie and Andrew

6. Relatively easy today but DNF! Not sure I’ve user the word ONER since £1 coins came in! (Annoyingly REM’s ‘All the Way to Reno’ is a favourite so I knew the US city.) Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

7. Thanks Brummie and Andrew
   My problems were in the SE, where I was held up by not thinking 17d could use HOME twice in the same sense; HATE and HIGH were thus last.
   Apart from that, lots of good clues. I managed not to see the theme, of course.
   FULLERENES discovered in 1985, by a team led by Harry Kroto (later knighted).

   [I’m constantly irritated by TV chefs – I’m looking at you, John Torode – who pronounce TURMERIC “toomeric”. Why?]

8. Spotted the theme about halfway through and so SWALLOWER and CYCLIST were write-ins. Favourites were TURMERIC and SPITTOON. FULLERENE just an educated guess. All good fun again.

   Ta Brummie & Andrew

9. [muffin @7 Delia Smith pronounces hummus ‘who-moose‘]

10. Andrew – slight omission with the last E in ACQUIESCE. Thanks for the blog.

11. muffin @7… similarly guilty.. I confess to chewmeric and having to think briefly about the first r …

12. (Is anyone going to mention Nigella’s pronunciation of ‘microwave’?)

13. does anyone else wonder how “about US city” instructs us to reverse Reno?

14. baerchen @13 ‘about’

15. [If we’re talking strange pronunciation by cookery presenters, surely Loyd Grossman must be up there?]

16. @Penfold, thanks, but you clearly didn’t understand my question

17. Great fun, but missed the theme! Too busy solving. Had ELDER for 14d, which seemed pretty good until HATE interfered with it. I remembered FULLERENE; didn’t connect ‘canned’ with HIGH, but it had to be right. Thought CLOWNS and GOAL KICK were particularly good. Many thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

18. Fun (like yesterday), nice theme (like yesterday), not as tough as this setter can be (like yesterday).

    My theme antennae started twitching because a lot of the ‘part twos’ (SWALLOWER, TAMER, EATER) aren’t words you normally see without their other halves.

    Poor Queen Vic, unAMUSED in perpetuity even though she didn’t say it, a bit like Marie Antoinette with her cake.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

19. baerchen @13 – About US city = RENO seems OK to me, but I’d never have got it without the crossers.

20. Fun crossword. Minor query re: 4 down (goal kick), Is C ever really used as an abbreviation for cocaine outside of crossword-land? I’ve heard ecstasy referred to as E, and heroin as H (in the movies etc), but not C for cocaine. Or is this a double-stretch via. the NATO alphabet (charlie). Or perhaps I’ve just led a sheltered life?

21. Penfold @5, spittoon reminded me of Toelreadora don’t spit on the floora etc, but where did you find that track…

22. …Toreadora…

23. Thanks Andrew, and Brummie for an enjoyable crossword. Spotted theme early, but somehow managed to miss STILT WALKER off it, which would certainly have helped solve STILT.

    [muffin @7 Not on the cook theme, but the “oo” sound reminded me of why in Scotland do they pronounce Worcester “Wooster”? English people, of course, say “Wuster”, and it can’t surely be that Scottish use “oo” for the “u”?]

24. [gif @21 John Peel played it on his radio show, in the 1980s, but the actual recording dates back to 1951.]

25. This was hard to get started on. Did most of it but gave up on 5d and 8ac as I ran out of steam.

    DId not spot the theme.

    New for me: FULLERENE, GOAL KICK, STILT (bird), SWORD Beach (thanks, google), LION = (Lion or British Lion) a member of a touring international rugby union team representing the British Isles; CANNED = high / drunk.

    I did not parse: STEWARDS, WENT.

    Thanks, Brummie and Andrew.

26. AMUSED. Charles Greville was a clerk to the Privy Council in Victoria’s reign and kept a (non-political) diary.

    This is is from an entry dated 18 October 1843 when he attended a Council at Windsor; “I was obliged to go down with my crutches, and to crave the Queen’s permission to go into her presence upon them, which Lord Wharncliffe did for me. She was exceedingly gracious, and the Prince very civil. She seemed considerably amused to see me come in on my crutches, and both she and the Prince said some civil things to me, and I flatter myself I contrived to sidle out, so as not to turn my back on Her Majesty, with no inconsiderable dexterity.”

27. Very much enjoyed the puzzle today, although was stuck for far too long on SWORD and STILT, even though I was certain they had to start with ‘s’. Re Delia and Hummus – don’t forget that Delia has spent a lot of time in Norfolk, where we have our own take on pronunciation of that sound. The most notable example of that is the ‘eau’ ending on french loan words, gâteau being pronounced ‘gatoo’.

    Thanks to all for the comments and especially to Brummie and Andrew.

28. I also missed STILT WALKER because I assumed the WALKER was on the HIGH WIRE. Apart from that, two of my first in were SWORD, LION and FIRE so I found the theme early on. Never met FULLERENE before, failed to parse STEWARDS, and like Andrew I thought HOME HELP was a bit feeble. The note was always a ONCER round my way, but it couldn’t be anything else.

29. @drofle, comment 19
    The clue reads “Note about US city”. If the answer was RENO, I’d understand it…note = oner, about (reversed) = RENO. But my point is: how can “about US city” possibly be an instruction to reverse RENO? Specifically, if the word “about” is placed before the item to be reversed then I can’t make sense of it. I wondered if anyone else had the same issue. I got the answer easily enough – does that meant the clue is OK?

30. ONER was the only word that would fit the crossers, but I couldn’t parse it.
    @23 in Scottish English there is no contrast between the vowel of FOOT and that of GOOSE, making Worcester rhyme with booster, look with Luke, and so on. See my magnum opus Accents of English.

31. Found this one hard. Managed to get the clues on the diagonal from SW to NE then struggled – particularly in the NW. Did get the theme quite early and that helped.

    Particularly liked CLOWNS (I like it when a word is both fodder and anagram indicator though I don’t always spot it). AMUSED reminded me of the Dr Who episode where Billie Piper tries to get Queen Victoria to say the phrase.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

32. …or the loud PA announcement of STEWARDS Enquiry! at the racecourse halting my premature dash to the bookies to collect my winnings. Didn’t as usual spot the theme, but this slipped in nicely. AMUSED raised a smile.

33. baerchen @29: I understand what you’re saying about ONER, but aren’t these kinds of reversals common? I’m not a great one for analysing the do’s and don’ts of setting, but tend to think more or less anything is fair play if you can work your way to the answer. And what about “About turn!”, which means “Turn around”?

34. [Trenodia @ 16: re the sometimes painful necessity of observing Court etiquette when infirmity made it difficult: even Henry VIII could be understanding:

    Henry, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord of Ireland.  “To all manor our subjects, as well of the spiritual pre-eminence and dignities, as of the temporal auctority, these our Letters hearing and seeing, and to every of them greeting.  Whereas, we be credibly informed, that our trusty and well-beloved subject Walter Copinger is so diseased in his head that without his great danger he cannot be conveniently discovered of the same:  In consideration whereof, we have by these presents, licensed him to use and wear his Bonet upon his said head, as well in our presence as elsewhere, at his liberty.  Whereof we will and command you and every of you to permit and suffer him so to do, without any your challenge, disturbance, or interruption to the contrary, as ye and every of you tender our pleasure.  Given under our signet, at our manor of Greenwych, the 24th day of October, in the fourth year of our reigne.  Henry R.”]

35. Thanks Andrew. Why is your blog listed as 28,304 not 28,401?

36. [JerryG @6: I can’t find the original source, but I’m always reminded of the 1989 joke “Q: Why is Margaret Thatcher like a pound coin? A: She’s thick, brassy, and she thinks she’s a sovereign.” Probably hasn’t aged that well but still makes me laugh.

    Penfold @9: My pronounciation of Houmous belies my ancestry – it comes out as khumus with the Russian “X” sound (a near throat-cleaning gargle) at the start.

    PostMark@15: He’s known as Gross Lloydman in this house.]

    Hang out the flags! I got the theme before I finished it! 3/4 of that went in very quickly but ground to a halt in the NW until AIRPUMP fell.

    COTD has to be SPITTOON due to the surface; a snorttle.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew!

37. @baerchen – I completely agree with you, and in fact put in RENO as my answer for 6 convinced that it had to be that way around (I didn’t have either of the crossers in place at that stage), so was annoyed that it was wrong.

38. As it’s a Brummie I was looking for a theme and got it very early on with SWORD and SWALLOWER in on my first pass and this helped in looking for the pairs to TAMER and others. I didn’t parse STERWARDS and had an unparsed and incorrect STINT for STILT, as I’d put WALKER with HIGH WIRE. Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle and Andrew for putting me straight.

39. A rare event for me – like MaidenBartok @36 I spotted the theme before finishing the puzzle and, even rarer, it actually helped me (I looked for SWALLOWER after spotting SWORD).

    FULLERENEs, though predicted earlier by theoretical calculations, were first identified in the early 1980s, which is ‘recent’ only to geologists and old buffers like ourselves, Andrew! Thanks for the excellent blog and to Brummie for the entertainment.

40. [MB @36: I’m a food lover and passable home chef so Masterchef is still a favourite. I have shamelessly adopted the nickname invented by a pal who noted that John Torrode’s often half-closed eyes could lead you to believe he was under the influence whilst Greg Wallace was involved in trouble on the football terraces as a teenager: hence, “Druggie and Thuggie”. Not, of course, that I’m casting aspersions. 😀 ]

41. I found this pretty straightforward but needed reassurance with the crossers in some cases eg HOME HELP and I didn’t know TRICK was round of cards. I couldn’t parse GASP – I started with GAS(TRO) but couldn’t explain the P. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

42. I did spot the theme but unfortunately only after finishing, so no help there then. Good setting to get in all the circus words, and an enjoyable solve.

    I liked SWALLOWER, CYCLIST, TURMERIC and GASP. Baerchen @29, Mitz @37; I agree that the clue could easily give Reno. However, as drofle @33 pointed out, “About turn!” is an instruction to turn around, so I think it can lead as well to ONER (?)

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

43. orcwood @35 : well spotted. I’d been checking when we last had a Brummie, so I had a tab open with puzzle 28,384. Now corrected.

44. Thanks for the blog. Missed the theme as usual , I should slow down sometimes. I don’t really like to say this but are some of our setters deliberately making their crosswords easier ? It seems at least two weeks since we had a real challenge.

45. Robi/drofle…it doesn’t say about turn, does it? Anyway, I’ll attempt to move on, thanks

46. As long time supporter of Chester FC, and follower of non league football ‘result of failure to score’ doesn’t necessarily define goal kick. I have witnessed many a shot on goal result in a throw-in.

47. I took 15A to refer to the social organisation Lions International.

48. [PostMark @40: I used to be an avid MasterChef viewer in the Grossman/Rhodes days but I’ve found the whole compeititve nature of these shows has become quite hackneyed and wearing (other than OnlyConnect). I do miss the very un-PC Keith Floyd though and not just for the theme music… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuT5KUA7iaY

    I have a friend who is the spitting image of John Torrode though and also very-much the epicure…]

49. Thanks Andrew, I didn’t manage to unravel parsing of STEWARDS. Steady progress was encouraging, and like a few of you I had a rare success with the theme, which was very useful with some shorter entries. But not in the SE and I eventually remembered to think very literally about ham to get my LOI as that def of “canned” is not familiar to me.
    As a very occasional SCUBA diver I struggled with AIR PUMP (how my tanks get filled is a happy mystery) but Wikipedia has a nice entry on their use (slightly alt name) for the copper helmeted variety. Fingers crossed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diver%27s_pump
    Liked CYCLIST and TURMERIC but just pipped by WALKER which inspires me to dig through some records later, thanks Brummie.

50. pedrox @20: Having not led a sheltered life on both sides of the pond, I too haven’t ever come across ‘coke’ ‘toot’ ‘charlie’ etc, referred to as ‘C’, but it is listed as such in Chambers

51. [MB @48: a total aside – a reflection on an aspect of celebrity. I once crossed a road in London at traffic lights and John Torrode pulled up on a bicycle. I recognised him, we made eye contact, I guess I half smiled … and I was surprised that he didn’t respond. I mean, you’d acknowledge an acquaintance on a street wouldn’t you? And then the blindingly obvious struck me that he doesn’t know me from Adam so why should he? It’s a totally one way acquaintance of course.

    I agree with your observation on the formulaic nature but enjoy the foodie bits enough to still thoroughly enjoy.
    Especially Professional]

52. Another one too busy solving to look for a theme, and like grant@1 was perfectly satisfied with air hose in 7a until it clashed with AMUSED which was more certain. Talking of which, don’t forget the other quote from Victoria and Albert: “We are not a museum. Or are we?”

53. baerchan @29. I totally agree with you (like Mitz @37). I also had RENO (tentatively) in until the crossers ruled it out, and never thought to reverse it – the clue as written doesn’t tell you to do that. Not ever having heard the word ‘oner’ for a note didn’t help – even though I did an alphabet trawl and considered that (non)word.

54. (MaidenBartok@48, wasn’t Waltzinblack, not Peaches, Floyds theme music?)

55. Totally missed the theme. I’m really good at that.

    Andrew, I think you meant (throw, shy) in the parsing of GOSLING.

    I knew about Stewards of the Chase from a decades-long diet of Dick Francis.

    Never having heard of FULLERENE I googled it and was enchanted.

    In STILT, “tilt” = “keel over.” But it doesn’t — you can tilt without keeling over, though you can’t keel over without tilting.

    Thanks, Brummie and Andrew.

    A goal kick is one that fails to make a goal? (Huhh…?)

56. Valentine @55. Chambers seems to agree with you. Keel over means to turn fully over so that the keel is uppermost. It looks like there’s been a confusion between keel and heel, in the same way as careen has been confused with career. In fact, careen is a better synonym for tilt.

57. [The Stanchion@46 – thank you for reminding me, an absent but nonetheless long-suffering Villa fan, of the time Earl Barrett let fly from somewhere around the penalty spot, with the result as you describe. I learn from Wikipedia that he had spent some time on loan with you, which must explain it!]

58. Valentine @55: I think that’s a genuine query from you re goal kick? If a shot at goal misses the goal, play is restarted by a goal kick whereby the goalkeeper places the ball in his area and then lets fly. Apologies if your question was ironic.

59. [JerrG @54: He used both – I think Waltzinblack was the intro and Peaches the outro or possibly in later series].

60. After two good days, a return to normal. Did about half, revealed all, and could parse very few.
    Ta for the heads up, Andrew.

61. Thanks Brummie, I ticked many favourites — HATE, FREEBIE, CYCLIST, AMUSED, TIE-DYE, and GASP. I didn’t look for a theme so I lost out on that bit of fun. Like others I was baffled by ONER. GOSLING eluded me, the “sling” portion being mysterious. I don’t get how SPITTOON is cryptic. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

62. A failure for me, on that pesky little 1d which I had as ‘Mine’. It’s a secret device, and one might wish to assert ownership of said object by indignantly calling “(It’s) MINE!”. So there.

    It was nice, Andrew, that you were led to the correct solution through the theme. Had I known there was a theme, I might have got there too!

63. Thanks both,
    And let ‘s not forget William Walker was the diver who saved Winchester Cathedral.

64. PostMark @58 Thank you, I was genuinely baffled.

65. Roz @44 – I think you may be right about puzzles getting easier. I enjoyed today’s a lot, but there were quite a few write-ins or ones that didn’t require too much head-scratching. It sounds as though you and I like toughies (and I know you can polish off a Carte Blanche Azed whilst brushing your teeth), but of course not everyone does.

66. Trailman @62. Ingenious justification!

    There was a theme?

67. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pound note referred to as a ONER (actually, it’s quite some time since I’ve seen one), but it seems to make sense, by analogy with “fiver” and “tenner”. I associate “oncer” more with a one-line joke.

68. Well, spittoons were for chewing tobacco; the chest was not involved. So we’re not in agreement with those who liked that clue.
    Liked the simple charm of GOSLING.

69. drofle@65 I do not mind easy crosswords if they are well clued like this one. When I was learning cryptics it was nice to finish the occasional grid so I understand the need for some that are easier. I just think the balance is wrong at the moment, the Guardian should aim for two easy , two medium and two hard each week. People learning cryptics need to try harder crosswords as well or they will not improve.
    The Azed took nearly two hours this week and I had to use Chambers which I usually try to avoid.

70. baerchen @ 13: My Chambers has “about” meaning “In the opposite direction”, so that’s pretty clear. If you’re just concerned about the order of the words, then “About turn” literally means – “turn to the opposite direction” (as does “About face”). So why not “About Reno”?

    As to the crossword, I always struggle with Brummie – just not on their wavelength at all. I enjoy the crosswords (often with hindsight), but find them tougher than perhaps I should. This was the same, but I’m happy to say I got there in the end.

71. muffin @69. I remember the Daily Express, in the days when it was a newspaper, used to give a ‘crisp oncer’ as a prize for something or other. ONCER yes. ONER definitely no.

72. MarkN @ 70

    TURN and FACE are verbs in the examples you cite, with ABOUT giving the direction. RENO isn’t a verb.

73. An off day for me. I can see that it should have been easy, but it wasn’t. After the discussion about “taking” recently, I tried to justify TANG for 17 across. Dancing no love is TANG no O and it’s something one is taken by. Then I tried to convince myself that any self-respecting monastery would have ELDERS in the refectory for 14 down, then I had ST(reet) breaking into awkWARD Situation, but couldn’t see where the E came from to make STEWARDS. I am still not convinced by ONER, either for the definition or the wordplay, but I am always pleased to see a crossword staple used in a different way, so I liked GASP.

74. Simon S @ 72: I don’t see the problem. I’m used to “about” coming before a word to indicate that the opposite direction is intended. It’s the same as something like “backward flip”, “inverted comma” or “upside-down cake”.

    Chambers also has “About Ship” as an example, FWIW (to turn a ship to face the other way).

75. Whimsically, if the good ship Reno were in danger of becoming stuck in the Suez Canal, “doing an about-Reno” might be a good idea.

76. Simon S @ 72: Also – “about turn” is listed in Chambers as a noun, so I’m thinking the “turn” part is also a noun. It’s not an order to turn around, it’s an order to do an “about turn”. I’m thinking it’s more like a “half-turn” where you’re doing half of a noun, not half of a verb (which makes no sense).

77. Roz @69 – why do people need to improve? There will be plenty of people who treat the crossword as part of their daily newspaper and just want a pleasant diversion for a few minutes after finishing their read. A heavily underrepresented constituency on this website, but one far more likely to write letters of complaint to the editor if the crossword is not suitable for this recreation (as has recently been the case).

78. MB @48 and JG @54, it’s eons since Floyd but yes, always a bit wicked and always with a glass or five. Mind you, the Two Fat Ladies, equally deliciously non-pc, thought he wasn’t really a cook. I hope they’re all hanging out around the big Aga in the sky.

79. I too am of the RENO/couldn’t parse camp. When the crossers ruled it out, I tried the whole do, re, mi business ‘about’ US to try and conjure up an imaginary city. A pound note was simply a quid in my day, was aware of a oncer, not the oner although given that fivers and tenners are still in common usage, not beyond. Note to self, rule out your confirmation bias. Found a list of waders and my ‘prefered’ bird, snipe was there, but not stilt. Was going to see what the hell a nipe was later but stewards was so obvious it had to go. Managed to drag up stilt myself. Good fun, I even managed fullerene. Missed the theme as didn’t go looking and would not have helped ONER.

80. Etiquette failure. My sincere thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

81. Snap, Gervase @39! I got the theme before I finished (not a common event) and it helped. Like you, I immediately looked for SWALLOWER after getting SWORD.

82. Thanks to Andrew and Brummie ! Fairly straightforward with the odd bit of thought and clue-juggling to determine where the definition lay. Hadn’t come across FULLERENE before so needed Chambers for that. Sadly I forgot about Brummie and themes, so I didn’t look for one. No issues here with the clue for 8d, but I wholeheartedly agree the word should be ONCER not ONER !

83. Taffy @79 (&80 😉 ): you mention STILT as a wading bird and I realise I missed that in Andrew’s blog (and, I discover, michelle’s post @25). I have to confess a bird never crossed my mind. I simply thought of affixing stilts to enable wading through water. Which may sound impractical but was, apparently, once common practice in the Fens.

84. Forgot to look for the theme too and it would have helped with SWORD, which I’d forgotten as a beach, and HIGH. I tried OUST at 23 (S in OUT (outlet minus let)), but couldn’t make sense of the definition.
    The Stanchion@46: Thought you might have pointed out that shots off the woodwork result in stuff other than GOALKICKs 😉 .
    I think of ONERs as conkers – unadulterated ones, as opposed to those baked in vinegar for a week, which became much smaller but could make it to twentiers or more!
    Thanks, Brum and Andrew. Good puzzle.

85. Postmark @83. Serendipity indeed. Strange how an image of a Fenman, aka stilt-walker pops into your head and the clue is solved tangentially. Usually (as with my Snipe and Reno – the RE part semi-satisfying my initial parse of ‘about’), my leaps of faith are usually down unconnected rabbit holes and cause mayhem with the crossers.

86. [Claim to fame: the European Black-winged Stilt isn’t uncommon, but a few years ago the New Zealand Black Stilt was down to about 100 wild birds, and we saw 8 of them!]

87. [The Stanchion@46 Gazzh@57 Being a Villa fan too I thought I’d have a quick look and simply googled “youtube football shot on goal goes for a throw in”. First up, Emile Heskey (playing for Villa) v Man Utd. Quite the thing it is as well.]

88. [PostMark @40: It’s just popped back into my head – the original studio for the Masterchef was in the dining hall of my old Halls of Residence, Finsbury and Heyworth Halls, Bastwick Street near the Barbican…

    They’ve moved to purpose-built studios now though.]

89. pianola@68 Can’t get GOSLING. I see the GO (attempt) but how is “by shy” a SLING?

90. MorroBayMoe @89: “shy” and “sling” can both mean “throw” (as in “coconut shy” for the former), with “by” just meaning “next to”.

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