Guardian Cryptic 28,587 by Enigmatist

142 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,587 by Enigmatist”

1. oh well, not entirely my cup of tea but less impenetrable to me than some previous Enigmatist offerings.

   Good to have different setters and all that.

   Thanks loonapick & enigmatist

2. I don’t think OVERARCH is a feature of a colonnade…

3. TP @2

   Fair point – I’m not 100% sure of the parsing

4. Sorry, that was a bit blunt. I was trying to be the first comment! It’s a wonder Stevie got in before me … anyway, I don’t associate the concept of an arch with a colonnade as I regard them as being squared-off but I am probably wrong. Thanks as ever to S & B!

5. That was hard – first time I’ve tried one of Enigmatist’s puzzles. Lots of use of crossers and word finder to get answers and still couldn’t parse or understand some. Above me.

   Of those I did manage to get liked ADRENALINE JUNCKIE, WOLFRAM, MONTEVERDI, SQUARE MEAL, MAKE HAY

   Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick

6. About my usual for an Enigmatist – five answers unparsed and a very long time spent trying to work out the rest. Some consolation that the grid was eventually filled correctly anyway.

   Waiting now for a Nimrod or Io which often follow soon after.

   Thanks to loonapick for explaining what was beyond me and to Enigmatist

7. Was about to ask to ask why Kentish Town = SHEERNESS but the penny just dropped.

8. Oooops – Meant ADRENALIN JUNKIE – can’t spell when I type too quickly.

9. If we’re allowed to imagine some extra punctuation, ‘when-rejecting spicy snacks’ could be SAMOS.

   Otoh not sure about ALL ABOARD. I defer to Gervase and other Italian experts, but surely alla = to the?

   Thanks E and L

10. [Btw congrats to Pino on a homophonic namecheck!]

11. Thanks loonapick.
    I originally entered “stitched up” at 12dn with the definition in the clue being “did” – I still think that’s a better answer unless there’s a subtlety we’re missing.
    Otherwise a good workout from Enigmatist.

12. I finished (and without aids)! My third Enigmatist ever.

    Isn’t RETSINA a kind of &lit, too?

    I am sure we have had the Browning version of MARCH PAST before, but a quick search revealed nothing.

    Thanks to Enigmatist and loonapick

13. In 17d I assume the “transitional” part refers to the element tungsten, a transition metal in the 6th row of the periodic table, symbol W from the German WOLFRAM.

14. loonapick @3. I share TP @2’s misgiving about the meaning of OVERARCH, and can see that your parsing appears to be tentative. I stared at this for a while before ‘getting it’ (I think). In 11A SEARCHER, the four flanking letters form SEER and the middle four letters form ARCH. Therefore, the visionary SEER is located ‘over’ ARCH. If this is what you meant in your parsing, sorry for not following your train of thought.

15. I am actually supposed to be preparing a blog for another place but when I saw that we had the rare treat of an Enigmatist crossword, I had to do that first. Fortunately for me it was friendly for an Enigmatist with lots to enjoy.

    I particularly liked 16/18 – funny the things you remember from childhood – and the all-in-one 19d

    Thanks to Enigmatist for the rare and unexpected treat and loonapick for the blog.

16. Great puzzle – as others have said, not so impenetrable as some by Enigmatist. I thought ADRENALIN JUNKIE was brilliant, and also ticked SALAD CREAM and AS THE CASE MAY BE. Got a bit confused by putting in ABRIDGED EDITION, and had to be rescued by checking the crossers for OVERARCH. Many thanks to E & l.

17. Wolfgang /tungsten is a Transitional metal.

18. Agreed, eb@9, it’d have to be Italish to work, where la board = directors… 🙂

19. Tough puzzle, made harder for me by the GK required. I got online help for Samos/Epicurus, Sheerness, UK island Lewis and Harris etc.

    Other new words for me: WOLFRAM = tungsten or its ore = a hard steel-grey metal of the transition series; RICK = strain (for 20ac).

    I guessed a lot of answers but I could not parse many of them:
    16ac – apart from being part of one island in the UK (thanks, google). Lamb Chop = Shari Lewis? I gave up on the GK required for HARRIS/Orville because I was not all that interested.
    25ac – def = work, in short
    27ac def = parade
    2d def = title
    12d (not very cd?)
    14d def = get on – and still do not get this – in Italian, alla = to the, not just ‘to’.
    22d def = grape

    Favourites: WANTONLY, SQUARE MEAL, LONGSTOP, AS THE CASE MAY BE (loi).

    Thanks, both.

    I realise now that I also had not parsed 6ac.

    Tim@2 – the way I parsed OVERARCH refers to the clue for 11ac which is arch in seer / or SEER over ARCH. I think that is what loonapick is saying in the blog also.

    essexboy@9
    I agree with you: in Italian, ‘alla’ = ‘to the’ / ‘a’ on its own means ‘to’

20. All’s also means according to

21. Alla, not all’s

22. Took ages, this, and that’s with a bit of guess and check too, not used to this setter. But looking back nothing’s all that mysterious, tho the Browning ref went over my head the ventriloquists were unheard of. Should have worked out Sheerness, as erne is a cw standard [ntm the great Scandi noir series], but I revealed it, even after all crossers were in, grrr. Want only and p in ot were pretty cute and, going by previous blogs, most would agree with the surface of 19d [I’m sure there must be quality vintages, but the stuff we travellers drank in the ’60s was for cleaning shoes]. Thanks E and L.

23. That was rather tough. My favourite was 14,15. My first pass produced almost no solutions, but then I got this one and it (very) gradually opened up the rest.

    Like others, I had several unparsed. As a 56 year old Englishman, I had heard of Orville but didn’t know the ventriloquist, and Lamb Chop was a complete blank. Neither did I know that Lewis and Harris was a single island.

    12 did seem rather weak, especially compared to the rest.

24. This felt tough and yet others are saying this was a gentle Enigmatist!! I got there in the end and loonapick has enlightened me on quite a few. I didn’t help myself by bunging in Adrenalin Seeker but eventually realised my error. I was confused by 23/24dn but now see it’s quite clever. Thanks E for the tough start to the day.

25. Ta Auriga@13, I did wonder…. 50-odd years since Chem 101 …

26. New meaning to 20a for me, I thought it meant poor downtrodden sidekick with cunning plans.

27. Let down by my poor spelling yet again (‘Adrenelin’), but a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle.

28. A BRIDGE D(i)VERSION

    I read this as A BRIDGE ADVERSION

    with A (one) left

29. DuncT@11, use a pattern then stitch for off-the-rack, measure then stitch for bespoke…?

30. A fun puzzle – thanks Enigmatist! And thanks, loonapick.

    I read 12d as a double definition: using DO = to be adequate (just) = to MEASURE UP. Though I may well be missing something!

31. Is 12d supposed to be a double definition: “bespoke” and “what a tailor did” could both be ‘measured up’

32. 14D:
    Can this be something like this?
    A LA=As (not quite, I know). A la said-alla

33. I’m with Encota @30 – ‘That’ll do’.

    And with DE @ 12 and grantinfreo @22 re RETSINA – as far as I’m concerned it’s definitely &lit.

    With Dave @12 also re MARCH PAST. (I liked your ‘Browning Version’, Dave.)

    JerryG @24 – ‘gentle Enigmatist’ does not mean ‘not tough’!

    Most enjoyable – many thanks to Enigmatist and loonapick.

34. I think that maybe 14d can be like this:
    example in Italian: Lui ha detto a la board = He said to the board.

    so, ‘as Fellini said’ (in Italian) to the directors = to the board = a la board

    ‘Quickly, get on!’ = ALL ABOARD

35. My first Enigmatist! Yay! I didn’t think I would finish before starting my day hike but the tube and train journey to Witley helped me finish it off.

    Agree with much of what loonapick and michelle@21 (again 🙂 ) said.

    I had the benefit of recently being in Scotland visiting Shuna with my friend from… Lewis 😀

    LOI: ABRIDGED VERSION – the clue was too tortured for me but the crossers reduced the options. But BARONET was inspired even though it, like several others, left me initially stupefied.

    Some will be pleased to hear, it will be all quiet from me today – until possibly the end of the day.

    Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick for explaining many answers to me.

36. OVERARCH:
    Loonapick’s parsing seems fine for the SEER over ARCH bit. An architectural feature? Just like some of you have said, I could not find the link too between overarch and colonnade.

    Is overarch used as a noun?

37. Great puzzle requiring a wide range of GK to parse successfully. Favourites were ADRENALIN JUNKIE (though I would spell the hormone with E at the end), AS THE CASE MAY BE and of course ‘tungsten’ at 17d.

    essexboy @9 et al: I parsed 14d with ‘as’ = ALLA (ie ‘in the style of’) and the ‘to’ as simply a linker.

    Thanks to JH and loonapick

38. I loved BARONET and PINOT
    I’m glad it wansnt near meal time as the combination of SALAD CREAM (“to eat?) and RETSINA revealed the wicked side of this setter
    I sort of wrote LEWIS AND HARRIS in automatically but did my homework a bit later
    OVER ARCH was LOI (check button needed) -very nice
    Thanks JH and loon

39. I really enjoy puzzles like this one. A meaty mid-week work-out for the brain.
    BARONET was a technical masterpiece and my favourite.

40. Thanks loonapick, I had no idea of the Browning ref and BALDRICK was a guess from crossers, agree with your grumbles and those above, but found this surprisingly accessible compared to my two previous Enigmatists (although I was still googling a fair bit).
    However lots of clever, witty and devious clues: eg nearly fell into a MAIDSTONE trap – but isn’t SHEERNESS technically a Town of Kent rather than a Kentish Town?
    I hope Eileen isn’t too put-off by 19d, my favourites were PINOT and WOLFRAM, thanks Enigmatist!

41. Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick
    I thought RETSINA was &lit too – it couldn’t be much nastier! I also liked 25a and 2d.
    I knew that Epicurus came from SAMOS, and also that it had something to do with “samosa”, but couldn’t make the clue work either.
    17d should have had an indication of a non-English word; as others have said, it’s “tungsten” in English (though an ore is wolframite).
    I’ve been to Harris (and Lewis, briefly). They are joined by a narrow neck of land at Tarbet. Lovely place – wonderful beaches, though the sea is a bit cold!

42. [Sorry to be contrarian Dave E, ginf and Eileen, but I enjoy a drop of RETSINA with my souvlaki, particularly if consumed somewhere like SAMOS]

43. muffin @41: WOLFRAM is no less English than ‘tungsten’ (Swedish ‘tung sten’ = ‘heavy stone’) and the names used to be interchangeable. Although tungsten has now won the contest, the chemical symbol is W.

44. DuncT@11, Encota@30 & others!

    ‘Will do’ is ‘will suffice’, but do we say, ‘it did’ in the same sense in past tense?

    What did tailor do? He/she ‘measured up’ in a sense that he/she ‘took measurements’.

    Loonapick considers (I assume) it as ‘tailor made (did)’ and so says hardly cryptic for tailor-made.

    Can’t see it as a dd as tailor could have done something else too.

    Not making sense? Or has it all been said already?
    Ok. Quite some fun here anyway!

45. Kurukveera@36, I had to look up colonnade to know exactly what it was, then stared at SEARCHER long enough to see that it could be alternatively clued as SEER containing/over ARCH, then assumed that OVERARCH is some typical architectural feature of colonnades. But having googled images of colonnades they hardly ever seem to feature arches, and having looked up OVERARCH in my usual online dictionary it is only defined as a (transitive) verb, so I am now firmly in the quibblers’ camp, hopefully someone armed with an authoritative source can clear this one up as the worddplay is so good it deserves a sound definition!

46. Gervase @37, re ALLA – ingenious! (As in ‘alla casalinga’?) But I do wonder if that’s the parsing intended by Enigmatist. It would require a command of the subtleties of a foreign language far beyond what’s normally asked of an (English) cryptic solver.

47. Toughie but goodie for me with SEARCHER LOI.

    I’m with grantinfreo re RETSINA. Travelling there in the 60s was convinced I’d been given a corked one. The waiter tasted it and pronounced it particularly good!

    Fine blog, loonapick, many thanks both.

48. A LA and ALLA mean the same (in the manner of/in the style of)?

    A LA (Fellini) said (to indicate a homophone) seems to work better than ALLA.

    My two bits!*

    *One bit I knew already and one picked up from this blog 🙂

49. Gazzh@45
    I agree. Let’s wait for someone to come up with the link between overarch and colonnade.

50. Kurukveera @48: Yes, they mean the same thing, but ‘a la’ is French and the corresponding expression in Italian is ALLA (as Federico F would say). I would have thought (muffin @46) that this was reasonably familiar from Italian
    restaurant menus (‘spaghetti ALLA bolognese’, though this isn’t actually Italian!) – no more esoteric than the birthplace of Greek philosophers, Browning poetry or the names of ventriloquists.

51. I concur with loonapick’s assessment of this Enigmatist offering.
    I had absolutely no idea what the ‘transitional’ was all about: science GK fail.
    I got a bit irritated by the number of glitches in the setting: the ‘alla’, the bizarre OVERARCH/se-arch-er clue, the lame anagrind ‘thrills’, the stretched GK of Orville and Lamb Chop, the poor CD at MEASURED UP, et al.
    But I really liked Martyn@28’s version of A BRIDGE [a]DVERSION: I think that works properly and is very clever.

52. Oh! Yea! A la carte is French. I stand corrected. Thanks, Gervase.
    Alla works fine then. No homophone there.

53. Never seen a crossword from this setter before and I have to admit that I was totally bamboozled by the whole thing.
    Thanks for the hints.

54. Thanks Enigmatist & loonapick.
    So much to savour here, even RETSINA a glass of which, like
    Gervase@42, I might enjoy with a SQUARE MEAL on SAMOS.

    I too thought of ‘a bridge aversion’ but there’s a D left over
    BARONET 🙂

55. Gervase: yep, alla bolognese etc is familiar from menus, but the idea that the ‘alla’ could be equivalent to ‘as’ is a step beyond. And would an Italian really think of ‘alla bolognese’ as ‘as a Bolognese woman might do it’, or (as I’ve always assumed) ‘in the Bolognese style’? – in the latter case the ‘as’ equivalence doesn’t really work.

56. Finished Enigmatist before 11am. Phew. He must be getting soft; 19d would settle nicely into a Quiptic.
    So, it would really help to know about ancient Greece, transition metals, Victorian poetry, long-gone kids’ TV, mediaeval armour and a host of other stuff. I don’t, mostly, but I appreciate not being talked down to.
    And a pretty nifty bit of grid-filling too, with the split 14-letter answers and the paired down clues.

57. wynsum@54: ah! but if you see ‘adversion’ as a synonym of ‘aversion’ (etymologically derived, like ‘adverse’ weather conditions) then you get your D, and moreover the idea that this ‘bridge adversion’ is a reason we can’t cross the river works better.

58. me@57: …. hmmmm … except that I am struggling to find a legitimate dictionary entry for ADVERSION. What a shame. It looked like a neat bit of wordplay.

59. Found this a bit frustrating to be honest. Got them all in eventually (with some use of the check button I must confess), but couldn’t parse several.

    Still, learned a few things: knew Keith Harris, but had never heard of Lamb Chop / Shari Lewis. Didn’t know the Browning poem or wolfram either and van = in the front was new to me too.

    I agree with those suggesting that the clue for 6 doesn’t really work.

    And apologies for my dimness, but could someone explain how PINOT works please?

60. @Steve69, 59: I was lost totally for PINOT until coming here! But now I see it. Look at the spelling of OPT – its ‘P’ in ‘O T’.

    I found this whole experience quite upsetting – mostly due to my own failures but also agree with the quibbles around ALLA and colonnades. Thanks anyway to Loonapick and Enigmatist!

61. *it’s. That’s how upset I am.

62. There doesn’t seem to have been much comment about AS THE CASE MAY BE, which I thought was brilliant. (Because apart from the anagram, obviously the case could actually be a sea chest!)

    Many thanks Enigmatist and loonapick.

63. 12 MEASURED UP As bespoke tailor did? (8,2)
    My parsing of this is that the tailor literally “measured up” but also met the requirements of the job so metaphorically “measured up”.

    I thought, loonapick, you identified the shortcomings of the the puzzle precisely and you certainly measured up to the task.

64. Martyn@28 and pserve_p2@58 – the online OED describes “adversion” as rare, with the most recent quote from US 1922 — meaning is, alas, “attention” or “reference to”.

    What a shame – the clue deserves a better dictionary…

65. Well I thought this was terrific! Very many thanks Enigmatist. Also needed, like others, help from loonapick so again many thanks. For me the stand out clue was MAKE HAY (sorry Eileen and muffin I know you are not fans). I also liked AS THE CASE MAY BE terrific and I chuckled at SQUARE MEAL.
    Yes it was a bit tough but why not? As for RETSINA I have to say I find the wine pretty awful, but I reckon at the right time and in the right place I could learn to like it!!

66. essexboy @55: I simply plumped for a parsing that worked for me. We’ll just have to ask JH was he was playing at!

    [I don’t think an Italian would worry about the precise connotation of ‘alla bolognese’, just as English speakers don’t immediately bring to mind the significance of ‘breakfast’. I suspect it is a calque of the French ‘a la’, which is an abbreviation of ‘a la mode de’. The most direct translations of the French ‘mode’ would be the masculine nouns ‘stile’ or ‘modo’. It is used with feminine forms of adjectives (bistecca alla fiorentina) but also with very masculine nouns (bistecca alla Bismarck)]

67. Shari Lewis was an American ventriloquist. I remember her (and Lamb Chop) very well from my childhood over here, although apparently she did appear on some British shows as well.

68. Hi SPanza @65

    Just for the record: I know I’ve often said that my heart sinks when I see the word Spooner in a clue – largely because it can be just a lazy way of cluing, simply swapping the initial letters of two phrases when one or neither of them is a meaningful expression in its own right. I’ve seen some excellent ones and I usually comment when I do. Today’s made sense, I thought.

69. After last week’s relentless mauling, I was beginning to fear I was losing my touch and today’s puzzle did nothing to dispel my unease. I’m not sure if I should be proud or not that LEWIS AND HARRIS was my F(and for a while only)OI but from there on it was another almighty struggle as gaps in more useful GK and expert misdirection conspired to disrupt my flow. Thanks nevertheless to Enigmatist for the challenge and to loonapick for explaining the otherwise impenetrable.

70. I foolishly started this soon after it was published, and was so gripped by it that I completed it a little after 3 a.m.

    I really enjoyed AS THE CASE MAY BE, ADRENALIN JUNKIE and MONTEVERDI. I had to check SAMOS and struggled with the parsing. WOLFRAM was a nice change from arty general knowledge such as MARCH PAST which I failed to parse. OVER ARCH seems poor to me, and the parsing of PINOT evaded me, so the SE corner was rather hit and hope.

71. Grrrrr. One=A gets me every time (though to be honest I didn’t check the parsing of ADRENALIN JUNKIE carefully enough to notice that it wasn’t One=I). Thanks for explaining to a non chemist why WOLFRAM is transitional. I thought the correct spelling was BALDRIC and BALDRICK was just the character, but I’m clearly wrong.

    This must have been an easier Enigmatist than usual, because I finished it, though like others I can’t make the clues for ALL ABOARD or SAMOS work, and the whole SEARCHER/OVERARCH business was just too contrived for words. I did know about the ventriloquists, but it’s quite a GK stretch.

    However, I enjoyed lots, like LONGS TO P, MARCH PAST, BARONET, MONTEVERDI, RETSINA and P IN OT.

72. Eileen @68; yes you do, as does muffin. And you both expect both phrases to make sense, although I do not think the Reverent was much bothered!

73. Here’s Lamb Chop.

    I won’t inflict Orville on you.

74. Brilliant! A breath of fresh air and ingenuity from Enigmatist.

    Some marvellous clues- MONTEVERDI, AS THE CASE MAY BE, ABRIDGED VERSION, BARONET, RETSINA all clever and witty.

    I had no problem with 12d – as in “he’ll do” = he measures up, so it’s cryptic for me.

    Sheer delight! Thanks Enigmatist

75. gladys @ 71 Thank you for reminding me how much I chuckled at LONGSTOP when it finally sank in!

76. A rare but enjoyable visit from Enigmatist.

    For those wanting arched colonnades …

    Instead of the obvious (thanks loonapick) I was thinking that opt was point out, doh! I liked ELBOW ROOM, ADRENALIN JUNKIE, LONG STOP and OVERARCH. Adrenaline is the older spelling but has largely been replaced in scientific literature by ADRENALIN (the pervasive influence of US science).

    Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick.

77. Thanks To Enigmatist and loonapick.

    Recent postings (about e.g. the popularity of English crosswords in India) serve to dispel the notion that cryptics are endangered by lack of interest from a younger generation. But LEWIS AND HARRIS required a level of obscure and ancient (even to me) general knowledge which cannot help the cause and I am at a loss to defend it.

    Nonetheless I enjoyed the puzzle immensely (as many did it seems), even getting a chuckle from SQUARE MEAL and RETSINA. And WOLFRAM was news – now to introduce it into a conversation…..

    Last word: ADRENALIN JUNKIE was brilliant.

78. pserve_p2 @ 58. For what it’s worth “adversion” according to OED is an obsolete word for perception or attention.

79. LovableJim @60 Ah, I got there eventually, thank you!

80. Robi @76 – to me, those are not colonnades.

81. What Spanza @65 said. I loved it! Thanks to both.

82. [Hoofit @53 – you’d know this setter as Elgar!]

83. trishincharente @ 81 I’m honoured!!

84. [me @41
    I’ve just checked – it’s Tarbert, not Tarbet, on the neck. In fact, Harris includes the mountainous land north of the neck; Lewis is regarded as the much flatter land north of the mountains.]
    Gervase @50
    Not me! In fact, I’m fairly competent at speaking Italian – much more so than my schoolboy French.
    Also @43 – taught chemistry for 30+ years, and the only times I ever said “wolfram” was when I was explaining its symbol!
    Steve69 @59
    “Van” for front derives from “vanguard”, originally the part of a moving army at the front.

85. I think that’s the first time RETSINA brought a smile to my face. Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick.

86. Alphalpha @77, I don’t quite get the problem with LEWIS AND HARRIS. It’s a real place in Scotland, people are living there right now (and may well be solving this crossword) , and it’s got a bigger population than SHEERNESS. Not so recondite surely?

87. SOED has overarch: n. an arching over, an arch overhead
    which I think counts as getting off on a technicality

88. muffin @84: Sorry! It was essexboy to whom I was replying. What do you think of my parsing of ALL ABOARD?

89. [Trailman @86
    I suspect that Alphalpha is complaining about the ventriloquists!]

90. Gervase @88
    The literal translation of “alla” is “at the”, but it could extend to “in the manner of”.

91. Thanks for the blog, very thorough and accurate. This was right up my street, even lasted my journey home time almost to the second.
    Agree with Lord JIm @62 that AS THE CASE MAY BE was the outstanding clue.
    LEWIS AND HARRIS plays a minor role in the CROW ROAD , the late Iain Banks is the main source of my Scottish geography knowledge.

92. Thanks Enigmatist and loonapick. This was… challenging. I had a good laugh at SQUARE MEAL and RETSINA, among others – and when the crossword is this entertaining, it goes a long way to making up for the odd solecism.

    Despite being a younger solver (ie still the right side of 50 – just), I do remember Lamb Chop, though I couldn’t have told you the name of the person who had her hand up the sheep’s backside. I’ve tried to forget Keith Harris and Orville over the years but failed… but at least that proved enough knowledge to direct me towards the correct solution.

    And even with my D in chemistry GCSE, I knew that Wolfram and tungsten were the same thing, and that it’s a transition element – though I couldn’t tell you what a transition element is, or what makes tungsten a transition element, except for it being in that general area of the periodic table. I’ve learned more about the periodic table from watching Pointless than I ever learned at school.

    GazzH @40 – being off the mainland, Sheerness is probably neither, strictly speaking. It’s in a world of its own (and if you’ve ever been there, you’ll know what I mean).

    Eileen @68 – I’m 100% with you on Spoonerism clues. They’re often terrible. This one was fine though.

93. [The Lewis trilogy, by Peter May, are excellent detective stories, set (as the title implies) mainly on Lewis.]

94. I have to leave new, so some of my points may have already been made.

    I got LEWIS AND HARRIS (you have HARRIS AND LEWIS in the intro, loonapick) but LONG STOP, like most cricketing terms, was beyond me. Also, I think “longs to” means “badly wants to,” not “badly wants.”

    Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop were on Captain Kangaroo, an American children’s TV show. I could never understand why you’d give your beloved lamb a name that said “You’re gonna be meat.”

    SALAD CREAM is another British expression some non-UK solvers may not know. At least in the US, dunno about the Commonwealth.

    Thanks to Enigmatist and loonapick.

95. [muffin @89, ah yes! My hackles rise too quickly when I think that someone might consider a place that happens to be a long way from London, as too obscure for a puzzle.]

96. Trailman @95 – well said!

    I can’t remember the details – can anyone help? – not very long ago, I heard / read of an elderly Scottish lady who, when asked what it was like living in such a remote place / island (?) replied, ‘Remote from where?’.

97. V@94 I don’t blame you for not getting LONG STOP I’ve been watching cricket for over 30 years and never heard it used

98. Bodycheetah @97
    It’s a rarely used position, generally only needed when the wicketkeeper is incompetent!

99. Very glad I persisted with this, on a long train journey back from the West Country. Without any outside aid from the internet. Kept coming back it, and one of the very last ones in was ADRENALIN JUNKIE which I hadn’t realised was a very neat anagram up till then. Took me a while to fathom out SEARCHER, and last one in was MAKE HAY. An excellent, challenging puzzle today, I thought…

100. Eileen@96 there may be various versions of this story, The one I know is Donald Dewar ( died about 2000? ) asking a lady from Uig . This is very topically on the Lewis part of Lewis and Harris, it is where the famous chess pieces were found.

101. muffin et al, LONGSTOP is making a bit of a comeback because with modern white ball cricket, the ramp shot (Dilshan scoop} can only be combatted by having a fielder near the boundary behind the wicket keeper.

102. I wasted some time researching the wrong Browning (Elizabeth Barrett). However I did discover that Liz wrote poetry from the age of eleven. Enigmatist submitted his first crossword for publication (to The Telegraph) also at the age of eleven. It was suggested that he try again in 10 years time.

103. [SPanza @101
     Some odd new positions are coming into use. In a game at the World Cup recently, a fielder was placed about half-way to the boundary, directly behing the bowler’s umpire. He had difficulty seein the ball past the umpire, but did take a stunning catch, ruled out I think as the ball had just touched the ground.]

104. Thanks, Roz @100 – that sounds likely (but I do think I’ve heard it (again?) recently).

105. Roz @ 91 – I can’t share your view that AS THE CASE MAY BE was an outstanding clue, because it was simply too darn easy to crack. Unlike the ‘across clues in order’ solvers, I go straight away for clues with complex enumerations which often disclose themselves simply by enumeration+ definition. Here, it was obvious that the second ‘perhaps’ had to be ‘MAYBE’ as (3,2), that the third ‘perhaps’ must be the overall definition, leaving he first ‘perhaps’ as an anagrind. Even at 2.30 in the morning, therefore, during an innings break in the first World Series game, this was a gimme and I was off. I preferred the several clues which later more seriously jeopardised my attention to the baseball.

106. [muffin @103 yes I saw that. I enjoy one day and T20 but for me at 74 there is nothing like a red (preferably Duke) ball 5 day game starting with an umbrella field and a really fast bowler maybe Jofra Archer or Michael Holding trying to outwit an Alistair Cook, and later looking forward to the wiles of Warne or Murali. I will take any type of cricket but I do hope those days are not yet consigned to history! My 5 grandchildren have, of course, just disowned me!!]

107. I’d never heard of Wolfram meaning Tungsten. I wondered if the *something transitional* might be a werewolf with wolfram being a name meaning werewolf even if I had never heard of it – well they do transition….

108. Bodycheetah@97 and others: it looks as though my unfamiliarity with cricket may actually have helped with LONGSTOP, as I was too ignorant to know it was rare!

109. Ouch! Thanks loonapick for parsing several I failed to. I missed both PINOT and BARONET, but now they’re explained I like both a lot.
     Of the ones I could parse myself, ALL ABOARD might be the favorite.

     I was taken down by a lot of GK I didn’t have in this one. I knew Lewis but not Harris, baldrick sounds vaguely familiar now that I see it, Wolfram I was able to infer but couldn’t have told you why it’s transitional, the Browning poem is new to me, and cricket terminology is a complete black hole in my knowledge.

110. Thanks James@87, good enough for me, although I can’t think of too many arches that aren’t overhead – those on our feet perhaps!
     [And thanks Muffin@93, I spent a few very enjoyable days on Lewis a few years ago, so will look those out.]

111. essexboy @46. It would require a command of the subtleties of a foreign language. I was familiar with ALLA from having enjoyed Sibelius’s Karelia Suite as a boy. The third part is labelled “alla marcia“, i.e. in march time, or “as a march” – which links nicely with 27a!

     I know there have been a lot of posts below this blog, but having read them all I am a little surprised at people joining later saying that such-and-such clue does not work for them, despite the parsing having been explained or justified a number of times. I am fairly happy with all the parsing now, with the possible exception of Kentish Town, with SHEERNESS being just on the wrong side of the border (‘Kentish’ being applied only to the west of the Medway), but I think that’s forgivable.

     I had just the right amount of general knowledge for this one, and even got the Spoonerism relatively painlessly, so I suppose I agree with the verdict of “relatively easy for Enigmatist”, even though it rather diminishes my sense of achievement!

     Thanks to Enigmatist and loonapick.

112. sheffield hatter@111 I think widdersbel@92 makes an important point on SHEERNESS – [I have never been there, but once shared a house with a man of Sheppey/Sheppeyish man, a very talented musician who took me through a few Oasis tracks pointing out how often and how blatantly they had ripped off the Beatles – I was never so much of a fan after that].

113. When I saw it was Enigmatist I didn’t bother at first and went to the FT but they had Monk who can be worse (or better if you enjoy torture) so I thought I’d give it a shot. Even though I made liberal use of the check button I managed to squeeze some enjoyment from this. I thought AS THE CASE MAY BE, ADRENELIN JUNKIE, BARONET, and WANTONLY were brilliant; I got RETSINA (an apt anagram of nastier) easily because it made an appearance in a recent crossword similarly clued. Thanks to both.

114. A lot of discussion on the GK today, and rightly so, but I want to bring up a wordplay issue, in fact the same one that I mentioned yesterday (me@3). There I pointed out that “interminable” does not mean the same as “remove the last letter”, but they both correspond to “without ending”. Today we have (SHEERNESS) “surveyed by” supposedly meaning “under”. Again it works by an indirection, “overlooked by”. I’m not saying it’s inappropriate – it’s a kind of nested cryptic – but I don’t like it much myself, and think it merits a bit of discussion. Anyone?

115. Spooner’s catflap @105: it’s obviously a bit subjective as to which clues are one’s favourites, and you clearly prefer those which require a lot of work to crack them – fair enough. But I stand by my view @62. Yes, the enumeration made this a bit easier than many of the clues today, but for me the joy was in marvelling at the cleverness of it after getting the answer. Firstly, how each “possibly” performs a different function in the cryptic reading: the first as anagram indicator, the second for MAY BE, and the third as the definition. And then there’s the extra layer that as well as the main definition (“possibly”, as underlined by loonapick), the clue is also as it were a shadow &lit (because the case could be a sea chest). In my opinion, stunning.

116. Half term events with the G/Daughter so happy to take the prize for being the LOI
     Good start, slowed down in the middle and greatly helped by crossers. So many favourites including BARONET, ADRENALIN JUNKIE, SQUARE MEAL and imho AS THE CASE MAY BE was brilliant. Thanks to Enigmatist and loonapick.

117. Isn’t it OK to note that you were baffled by a bit of tricky parsing at the time, even when it has subsequently been explained here?

118. Lord Jim @115. Fair point. It is perhaps telling that, in commenting, I mistakenly substituted ‘perhaps’ for ‘possibly’. I had clearly been thinking of the Doris Day song, ‘Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps’. Maybe I would have liked the clue more if it had referenced the song… But another GK issue would have ensued.

119. I liked the 17d most wolfram and the transitional element,. This crossword is truly an education!

120. Had to take three goes at this today, but completed my first (I think) Enigmatist. I did have to refer to Chambers and wiki/Google a few times too but I’m claiming a win.

     I must admit I don’t agree with some of the quibbles above, although new to me a quick google revealed several recipes for a sweet or spicy Tamil snack (possibly favoured by epicures?) called SOMAS a perfect ‘rejection’ of SAMOS.

     Colonnades may be more common with entablatures, but there’s no reason arches couldn’t be used instead. (Thanks Robi@76).Think of the nave or cloisters of almost every cathedral you’ve ever visited and just google images of arched colonnades and ignore the shopping links.

     Many thanks Enigmatist and loonapick.

121. I quite enjoyed this. Did it over 2 beers with a friend, as such it is a much more accessible puzzle than the typical Elgar Friday telegraph toughies that I blog.

     I particularly liked the penny drop for OVERARCH, as well as ADRENALINE JUNKIE, and AS THE CASE MAY BE.

     Many thanks enigmatist and loonapick

122. I also enjoyed the opinion of RETSINA, though personally, I quite enjoy it. Tastes better in Greece.

123. 120 comments & counting shows just how highly Mr H is regarded. I hadn’t realised he sets as Enigmatist here as am only used to being utterly bamboozled by him as Elgar on alternate Fridays in the Telegraph Toughie slot. A correct & completed grid of his for only the second ever time albeit with a fair amount of bung ins. As Crypticsue rightly said a rare bit of benevolence but still mighty tough for the likes of me. ADRENALIN JUNKIE & PINOT my top 2
     Thanks loonapick for the explanations & to Enigmatist

124. Loved it. Audacity and smiles means all else forgiven.

     Except Kylie is the only true Queen of Pop. Can’t forgive that 🙂

125. What is the record number of posts for a weekday Guardian crossword? Does anyone know?

126. [SPanza @125: 125 😉 ]

127. might be 126 …?

128. or 128

129. I think the Enigmatist/Soup tribute puzzle for Araucaria nearly reached 200.

130. arcade = joined series of arches
     collonade = joined series of columns with flat lintels on top (called entablature, think of the word table).

131. DrW @114 I quite like the indirect instructions but, they have to be crafted with care and I think SHEERNESS was maybe a bit too loose as survey doesn’t really mean overlook as per the blog and none of its definitions in Chambers lend themselves to this clue’s wordplay very well.

132. I didn’t know Cher was the Goddess of pop or is that just Enigmatist’s view?
     Didn’t parse PINOT but enjoyed it.
     Thanks loonapick & Enigmatist.

133. [sh @111 – Sorry, I’ve been out and appear to have missed a few million posts, but thanks for the Sibelius!]

134. late tim @132 – see here. (I didn’t know that, either.)

135. DrWhatsOn@114
     Not much to discuss about “surveyed” @8, I think. You’re right. The female eagles are above the station entrance and thus in a position from which they could survey it but that’s not to say they did. I don’t complain about this sort of clue, which I get the feeling is becoming more common, because it seems a lost cause.

136. Dr. WhatsOn @114 & bodycheetah @131. I didn’t see any problem with ‘surveyed’ meaning to be looking down upon because of being in a superior position, which is the original meaning of the word in Old French, equivalent to oversee in English. I thought I remembered something from the bible or a hymn to back this up, but can’t find it online. And Pino – in a position from which they could survey it but that’s not to say they did – if the eagles above the station entrance are not looking down on it, then what on earth *are* they doing up there? 🙂

     I’m aware that I appear to be taking criticism of Enigmatist’s clues a bit too personally, but I felt in tune with today’s setter, enjoyed the challenge and completed it with a warm glow of satisfaction, and now people seem to be queuing up to tell us that the crossword was full of faults. Perhaps I need to go and lie down.

137. Loved it. No complaints from me. Tough but fair. Only came on well after the event to offer warm thanks to Enigmatist for what I thought was a great puzzle.

138. I maintained my record of only ever having fully completed one Enigmatist puzzle. Definitely the modern-day Bunthorne !! I would never have arrived at BALDRICK (for example) no matter how many days I gave myself or which aids I resorted to. Nevertheless, many thanks to Enigmatist for stretching the brain and especially to Loonapick for the parsings.

139. sheffield hatter @ 136, I think you almost had in mind “When I survey the wondrous cross”, a hymn by Isaac Watts.

140. Sh@136, Monkey@139
     I don’t think I explained myself very well. In a way Monkey explained it better. Most people surveying the wondrous cross would do so from underneath or at eye level so, in my view, survey is a poor clue for “above”.
     I don’t think the crossword was “full of faults” but I didn’t much like 6a and 25a (who ever heard of “a bridge diversion?”). On the other hand I did like 2d and a few others. I think the problem is that I and most (?) others expect with trepidation something different from Enigmatist and this wasn’t. I for one don’t object.

141. Pino @140, as it happens I’m quite happy with “a bridge diversion”. I’m not sure whether I have seen this usage in real life, but I would know exactly what was meant – much more so than “road ahead closed” which I always expect to refer to the road I’m on, but typically refers to a side road ahead.

     A sign on a footpath saying “bridge diversion” would be more informative than the correct “footpath diversion”, even though it is not the bridge that is diverted but a diversion associated with the bridge.

142. Even though I grew up in England, after 30 years in Australia I had completely forgotten the expression SALAD CREAM and had the first part with no idea what the second could be. I did find the clues I could solve extremely satisfying though. Didn’t understand the parsing of PINOT but now it’s been explained it’s probably my favourite clue.

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