Guardian Cryptic 28,591 by Anto

83 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,591 by Anto”

1. There are two copies of this blog.

2. Very pleasant double effort (Quiptic also) from Anto this morning. Lots of ticks including CRUFTS, TIME FLIES, ONLY, BOOK, ISOLDE, PONG and TIN MAN but there are others. Couldn’t parse CELEBS so thanks for that and a bit of a dodgy homophone in EFFECTS but overall this was a treat.

   Ta Anto & manehi

3. Good Monday morning fodder. Thanks Anto and manehi.

4. beery hiker, thanks – one of the duplicates has been returned to the drafts folder. Apologies if this disrupted anyone who was commenting on the other post.

5. Tricky for a Monday (this is not a criticism). I failed to parse BOOK or CELEBS, and I’d have got CARPE DIEM a lot sooner if it had been better worded: “you want to” is just confusingly included to make a smoother surface. On the other hand I enjoyed TIME FLIES, EFFECTS, SHEET MUSIC and CRUFTS (in spite of its rather gruesome surface).

6. EFFECTS may be a dodgy homophone, but FX is the standard abbreviation used for it in scripts.

7. There’s the makings of a political theme of some kind today – but then that’s always the way when we have a puzzle featuring loads of potentially derogatory terms. This was an enjoyable step up for a Monday with some definite head scratchers and smile raisers. CYNTHIA is a lovely anagram, as are DEMATERIALISE and SHEET MUSIC. I liked the pithy surfaces for ISOLDE, SHERPA, ONLY and the excellent FILL IN.

   On the downside, the clue for CARPE DIEM seems ungainly and, somehow, TOOL = machine doesn’t quite feel right.

   Thanks Anto and manehi

8. Favourites: EFFECTS, LABEL, TIME FLIES (loi).

   New for me: CRUFTS dog show in London (4ac).

   I did not parse: 25ac BOOK (def = Judges, for example).

   Thanks, both.

   I agree with gladys@6 re EFFECTS/FX. Film credits also use various forms of FX for the effects crew. I thought it was quite clever.

9. I enjoyed this: thank you Anto, and finished before the blog was published but had to work hard. Until I came here I had no idea why CRUFTS was correct or indeed if it was correct, although what else could it have been. I’m still not entirely convinced by it; any suggestions? But the nice early blog explained other parse problems I had; so many thanks manehi! My favourites were CELEBS now that manehi has explained it and SHEET MUSIC which I thought was a fine anagram. Off now to the village cemetery to take plastic flowers! Don’t ask!

10. Some very satisfying clues, but others that are awkward to parse. Some clues seem to be missing necessary words (e.g., 9a,) while others have undigestible superfluities (what is “one want to” doing in 13a?).

11. Gladys @6: thanks, I did not know that. Excellent clue

12. My picks:
    CELEBS, EFFECTS and BOOK.
    Thanks, Anto and manehi!

    essexboy may have something to say about the epenthetic ‘t’ in F-X (the comment @6 from gladys notwithstanding)!!! 🙂

13. SPanza@9, I am fine with manehi’s parsing of CRUFTS. I solved that clue without knowing about the dog show, and did a quick dictionary check to look up the word where I discovered Charles Cruft and the dog show he initiated. I think it was well-clued for a bit of (obscure?) UK GK that people like me would not know.

14. I thought this was really excellent – a bit tough for Monday, maybe, but such good clues. My favourites were CRUFTS for its wit and SHERPA for its clever disguise. Like others, I thought the F X in EFFECTS was somewhat dubious but clear once you saw it. Many thanks to Anto and manehi.

15. Some very tricksy clues for a Monday I thought as well. Liked CRUFTS very much once I had solved and parsed it. Last two in, hesitantly, were the interlocking SACKING and PONG, which I have to admit I had to refer to Manehi for an explanation. A proper challenge this morning…

16. re EFFECTS/FX, my online dictionary has an entry:
    FX | ?f??ks |
    plural noun
    sound or visual effects used in film, TV, or music: films which require actors rather than special FX.
    ORIGIN 1950s: from the pronunciation of the two letters forming the two syllables of effects.

    Also, if you look at crew lists of movies, for example a Star Wars film, you will see various FX crew – including visual FX, creature FX, FX animator, Ghost VFX, Base FX and so on.

    FX = effects is not a “pure” homophone, but it has been common usage for many decades.

17. Delightful crossword. For me it was impenetrable save for 4 or 5 clues to start with, but with a bit more effort it all fell into place. Just as I like them (although I am happy for them to resist till after lunch).

    One quibble that others may be able to help me with. Why is PONG Raised Stink?

18. I wonder whether Anto might have been better clueing 18d without the homophone, given that, as has been pointed out, FX and effects can be equated in film world. The movie/TV community appear far happier with the dodgy homophone than the cruciverbalists – but what do they know about language??!! Both my sons are at university in cities where film crews are currently at work: in visits to them over the last couple of weeks, we actually parked behind vans from the same special effects company. Imaginatively called SFX.

19. Moth @17: I, too, wondered about that. I resolved it by viewing ‘raised” as an adjective: the PONG is the stink that has been raised

20. Just for the the record Michelle @8, Crufts is now held at the NEC in Birmingham, since 1991. Before that it used to be in Earls Court in London. It’s a big deal for dog breeders world wide. The BBC stopped televising it some years ago because of concerns that the Kennel Club wasn’t doing enough to stop over-breeding of dogs which was detrimental to their health. It is however now shown on, I think, Channel 4.

    Anyway, I thought that was slightly harder than the usual Monday offering. I don’t think I’m on the same wavelength as Anto. Couldn’t parse CELEBS, or EFFECTS. Still filled it all in, in the end.

    Thanks Anto and manehi.

21. Agree a bit tougher than usual but some lovely clues including: ISOLDE, CRUFTS, TIME FLIES, LABEL

    Also did not parse BOOK (seems obvious now) or EFFECTS

    Thanks Anto and manehi

    (and off to the quiptic)

22. Agree with most of the above – harder than usual for a Monday, some nice clues, some superfluous wording especially for CARPE DIEM (“one want to”). Favourites DEMATERIALISE, RETARD and SPENT FORCE.
    PostMark@7 – I too wasn’t sure about TOOL=machine, but I think it works if they are verbs, especially in the case of crafts such as engraving.
    Thanks both.

23. A very enjoyable offering from Anto (and I look forward to completing his Quiptic later). Much has been said about the homophone on 18D (Effects /FX), but nothing about the homophone in 1A, which I find worse. However I prounounce CELL & EBBS, it does not come out as CELEBS. I suspect homophones are always going to be amongst the more controversial of clues. Thanks to Anto for his double offering today and to Manehi for the blog.

24. Definitely harder than a usual Monday, but nothing to complain about. Delightful anagrams for SHEET MUSIC and ACROSTIC.

    Thanks Anto and Manehi

25. Surprised its taken till Moth @17 to raise(d) PONG. I think this is clearly an error that is not accounted for by PM’s suggestion @19.

    Enjoyed this but slowed down by a couple of innovative parsings, eg CRUFTS

26. beaulieu @ 22: Tools split broadly into hand tools and machine tools, so it works as nouns too. I mused whether the definition for ‘tool’ was ‘machine to make’, which tightens it, I think.

27. Kurukveera @12: I’ve made a resolution not to annoy people with excessive phonetics, but it’s tough today. 😉 EFFECTS → FX is actually elision rather than epenthesis – but I agree with PM @18 that it would be fine as a non-homophone.

    But I also agree with Larry @23 that CELEBS doesn’t work. The first E is a /ə/ (schwa), unlike the /ɛ/ in ‘sell’.

    That said I thought the puzzle as a whole was very enjoyable, TIME FLIES and the triple FILL IN especially so. Thanks Anto and manehi.

28. I liked the anagrams for ACROSTIC, TIME FLIES and SHEET MUSIC and the surfaces of RETARD and PRECEDENT.

    I had the same query as Moth @17 re PONG but I resolved it for myself in the same way as PostMark @19.

    For me, the puzzle was let down by the clue for CARPE DIEM – potentially such a good one.

    Thanks to Anto for the puzzle and manehi for the blog.

29. [eb @27: but how on earth are you going to annoy people if you don’t employ excessive (XSive?) phonetix? 😀 ]

30. Thanks Anto & manehi.
    Lovely anagrams (especially ‘made realities’)& good variety.
    A clear message to those IN DENIAL at COP26 to seize the day: tempus fugit.
    And there’s a whiff of the radioactive fallout should they fail.

31. wynsum @30

    Well said! – and I hadn’t spotted the neat symmetrical link between 13 and 17ac – thanks for that.

32. Thanks Anto and manehi. My solving experience was much the same as Moth @17 (though I like to get the crossword out of the way first thing, before I start work, otherwise it’s just there in the back of my mind, distracting me for the rest of the day). A couple of quibbles as others have mentioned, but lots more to praise than to criticise.

    Tool=machine is absolutely fine by me, either as noun or verb. Both words can be defined very broadly, though we tend to use them narrowly.

    Already looking forward to my second dose of Anto later…

33. Thanks manehi, I didn’t understand the wordplay of CELEBS and needed all the crossers, nor did I spot the to-me trick, very nice.

    Lots of fun and some clever devices as usual from Anto, same quibble on C.D. which slowed me down, “…made exhortation to do…” would work better with extended definition I think, but no problem with pong.

    Enjoyed EFFECTS because it reminded me of the F/X films that I enjoyed many years ago, I wonder if they have stood the test of time? Thanks Anto.

34. I though this was a fine puzzle and have to thank Anto for the double entertainment on Sunday evening (although Hugh was presumably the one who made it happen).

    The only question I had coming here was whether the wordplay grammar for IN DENIAL was quite right. The blog doesn’t really clear it up. Is “during” giving us both the IN and the “inside”, or what?

35. Certainly harder than the usual Monday, but an enjoyable challenge with a good variety of devices. The only one I don’t fully get is CARPE DIEM. Do the words “one want to” serve any purpose in the cryptic reading, or are they just there for the surface?

    Many thanks Anto and manehi.

36. [ Crossbar@20
    My dictionary had said that “In 1886 [Charlles Cruft] initiated the first dog show in London. The Crufts dog shows are now held annually.” I had not googled more info, so I appreciate the update. I am not a dog lover, so I had never heard of it. I am more of a cat person 🙂 ]

37. Dr WhatsOn@34, thank you for reminding me that IN DENIAL also confused me. I can’t quite get it to work unless “In deal” is equated to “trade”, with “during” allowing us to insert the NI, but am not happy with the former (ie can’t think of an equivalence example).
    If we separate During = IN and trade = DEAL we need to get the NI inside the latter somehow but I don’t see how, plus the “position” is superfluous.
    And I can’t get it to work as one of those reverse parsing clues either, nor by using “position” to get the first “IN” from the NI of Unit.
    Maybe lunch will help me to spot it.
    Lord Jim@35 yes I think the grumbling about that clue is because three words purely for surface reading is considered too many.

38. [PM @29: don’t worry, there must be fifty ways to peeve a poster (or bother a blogger) 😉

    Just say ‘homophone’, Joan
    Indirect anagram, Pam
    Give that def a stretch, Gretch
    And see them sparks fly

    Not another ‘pants’, Lance
    Too much GK, Ray
    Never seen in Oz, Boz
    And by the way I think you’ve underlined the wrong bit for the definition… ]

39. [That is a very well spent hour and twenty eb @38! Love it. 😀 ]

40. I haven’t quite finished this one yet so will come back in the (Oz) morning, but just wanted to know if anyone else had what seemed like a cast iron certainty for 11 across until the crossers told a different, and far simpler, story?

41. gladys @5
    Your slip over 13A is interesting: “you want to do it now” could be a more or less equivalent way of saying CARPE DIEM, but in the actual clue ‘one want to’ is simply excess baggage, cryptically.
    Dr. WhatsOn @34 and Gazzh @37
    In the clue for 21A, the word ‘position’ is odd. I suspect the intention is reverse parsing, that the position of NI in the answer is IN DEAL. I cannot quite decide whether this is clever or clumsy.

42. Thanks to Anto and manehi.

    Very enjoyable offering from Anto and a good workout on a Monday. Favourites were ACROSTIC and SPENT FORCE. I had many of the quibbles raised in the hereinbefore but I seem to have a more forgiving nature than many (but then I don’t possess the erudition which would lead e.g. to question marks over the pronunciation of CELEBS and EFFECTS). The one residual pebble in my moccasin is the use of “sound out” as a homophone indicator for CELEBS which I didn’t recognise as such, leading to some eyebrow gymnastics.

43. [michelle @36. I used to be a cat person, but am now more a dog person. Started when we got a puppy for daughter who is strongly allergic to cats]. Crufts is a big thing over here, and there is also a non-pedigree version called Scruffts. You now know more than you ever wanted to about dogs. 😉 There is a much more low key annual event for cats – The Supreme Cat Show. ]

44. Thanks for parsing BOOK, manehi. It seems so obvious now.

    Never having heard of a cruft, I googled it and found it’s “badly designed, unnecessarily complicated, or unwanted code or software.” Of course, cats would have nothing to do with such stuff! Then I found out that the Crufts dog show began in 1891 with “2500 dogs and almost 2500 entries.” What were the other 500, cats?

    Moth@17, PostMark@19 and Pedro@25. It’s not the pong that’s raised/reversed (though it’s an across clue), it’s the GOP containing N.

    Alphalpha@32 Suppose you were told that somebody was going to say either “cell ebbs” or “celebs” and you were to decide which. I bet you’d have no trouble at all. The rhythms are quite different. That’s essexboy’s point.

45. Ooops, I meant Alphalpha@42.

46. Valentine @44: not so sure I agree with you, although it’s ingenious. It would put the definition in the middle which is unusual at the very least but, more crucially, it leaves ‘back’ without a purpose. As you point out, it’s an across clue so back is a more likely reversal indicator than raised.

47. [Crossbar@43
    haha, your post made me laugh – about knowing more than I want about dogs! And yes, I have noticed how much Brits love their dogs. I think Brits are world-famous for that. It was proven again recently with the big news story of the evacuation of dogs from Kabul.

    I will gladly look up The Supreme Cat Show 🙂 ]

48. This was harder for me than last Monday’s but it all fell into place. I liked BASTARD, ONLY and ISOLDE, which I got without parsing but smiled when I worked out how it parsed. There were some fine anagrams too.

    Thanks A & M (clear and terse) .

49. Good start to the week with some creative cluing.

    I don’t really see the problem with IN DENIAL, as manehi says in the blog it’s just NI’s position in IN DEAL, which is ‘during trade’. I liked CRUFTS, SHERPA, ISOLDE, SACKING and KINSHIP. I didn’t notice the TO ME united, which was a clever idea. The clue for PONG may be a little faulty but it didn’t detract from the accurate wordplay. It’s always such a temptation with a word like ‘stink’ to use a known phrase such as ‘raised stink’, although in this case it was somewhat misleading.

    Thanks Anto and manehi.

50. I hesitate to raise any more stink about CELEBS, but to_me it sounds just like CELL EBBS – see here.

51. It’s interesting what constitutes GK nowadays.

    Although the two Bible references are familiar to me, I wonder how many people under, say, 50 would know this. Does anybody apart from the diminishing few study the Bible any more?

    FX is familiar to film, esp SF, fans.

    CRUFTS is very British.

52. Robi @50, I suppose it depends how you pronounce CELL. This link suggests it is pronounced differently to the start of CELEB.

53. On the question of homophones, is there a rule about how close they must be?

    If I say CELL EBBS quickly, it’s almost CELEBS, which is good enough?

    There is a name for when a word ending in a consonant “joins” the next word starting with a vowel. It’s when you’re consciously trying to keep the two words apart that the sounds differ. Try saying cell ebbs back and forth quickly and ask someone if they can make out what you’re saying.

    Similarly FX is EFF EXS – again not EFFECTS but close enough even if you’re unaware of FX being used in the film industry or don’t read film credits.

54. Thanks to Anto and to Pierre – needed the blog to fully understand 1a CELEBS and 7 SACKING.

    As some others have also said, 13 CARPE DIEM did not quite work for me due to the extraneous ‘one want to’. Re 15 PONG, I just took ‘raised’ to mean a rather weak synonym for ‘create’.

55. I also came here hoping someone would have explained IN DENIAL. The clue might work better if “indeNInial” were a word meaning trade, as IN DENIAL would then describe where NI has to go in order to make that word. It would be pretty mind-bending if the clue were trying to tell us that NI goes IN “DEAL” to make its own solution, and in any case it doesn’t go IN “DEAL”, it goes IN “IN DEAL”! As far as I can see the clue gets us to NI and IN DEAL but doesn’t say how they go together. I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle, though – hence my rather laboured attempt to try to understand my one bug bear. Thanks to the setter and blogger

56. When I posted in a bit of a rush @35 I somehow failed to notice that several people had made the same comment about CARPE DIEM. Apologies. I agree with PeterO @41 that “you” instead of “one” would have worked.

    But it seems a shame to focus on that one clue. Overall I thought this was an excellent puzzle. TIME FLIES and KINSHIP had great surfaces (the latter having a bit of a dig at the royal family?). And ISOLDE was really good, though I wondered if it might have been done before. The nearest I can find offhand is “Irish leader disposed of drug for operatic heroine (6)” (Chifonie, 28,046). Anto actually clued it before in the Quiptic 912 as “Tragic heroine features in this old epic (6)” which is also very good.

57. Hi Lord Jim @56 – I knew I’d seen it more than once before and I do love a ‘Search’ challenge!

    Arachne 26,735: Arachne broke drugs law – she took love potion (6)

    Bonxie 26,613: Drug dealer’s confession to operatic lady (6)

    Picaroon 26,452: Confession of ex-dealer and opera lover? (6)

58. As nearly all have agreed, this was challenging for a Monday but all the more enjoyable for that IMO. I needed help with parsing BOOK and RETARD so thanks to manehi. I can’t get very exercised about homophones. If it’s near enough, bung it in I say. Thanks Anton – very nice work out.

59. Dodgy homophones aside I enjoyed this tougher-than-usual Monday crossword. I never got CELEBS, CRUFTS, or SACKING but all else worked itself out eventually. Favourites included TIME FLIES, ISOLDE, DEMATERIALISE (nice compact surface for a 13 letter word), and TIN MAN. Thanks manehi for parsing, I couldn’t figure out IN DENIAL. Thanks Anto for the fun.
    [essexboy @38: thanks for the S & G earworm.]

60. Thanks for the blog, a lot of good clues here and a few dodgy ones already covered.
    Nice to see TOME from TO ME , this is Gossard not Playtex, the rare opposite of the lift and separate clue. Please do NOT feel the need to provide any links on this.

61. For me at least, CELL EBBS and CELEBS are 99% homophonic and that’s certainly good enough.

    (Was very careful to check auto-spell on that one … )

62. Roz @60: this is Gossard not Playtex. Course it is!

63. [ MrPostMark @ 62 – Playtex cross-your-heart bra, lifts and separates. Massive advertising campaign in the 1970s mainly on TV. Gossard Wonderbra, massive advertising campaign in the 1990s , mainly posters ” Hello Boys ” Eve Herz …. cannot quite remember her full name. ]

64. [ Roz: I recall only too well but felt that, since homophones are the order of the day… 😉 And it was Eva Herzigova. ]

65. [Never tried to squeeze into a Gossard course-it, but can imagine that after a while Eve does indeed Herz]

66. Relative newcomer so please be gentle. Is KIEV strictly an ACROSTIC? I thought, and the online dictionary bears me out, that the definition of an acrostic is a word formed from the first letter of each line of a passage.

67. I just think a clue like 25Ac needs a name in contrast to lift and separate.

68. Roz – absolutely agree. Dunk and squish?

69. Steve @66 you are quite correct , the clue for KIEV is really a “primarily ” always used by Everyman once week. I suppose ACROSTIC was too good to miss for an anagram.

70. MrEssexboy @68 I just call it Gossard.

71. Robi@50 your sound link is not how I would pronounce “cell ebb.” Try saying “Will the cell ebb today?” (I know, it makes no sense.) You’ll have a spondee instead of an iamb, if that makes sense. they are verse rhythms: a spondee goes “thump thump,” while an iamb goes “k’ching.”
    “Cell” and “ebb” will have equal stress. “Cell” will have its full vowel, while “celeb” sounds more like ‘s’leb.”

    Anybody else start with KINGDOM rather than KINSHIP?

72. Valentine@71. Yes, I did.
    Agree also about the different stresses on cell ebb and celeb.
    And as for FX – well I pronounce it eeffects, and sound the T.

73. More of a diversion than the standard Monday.

    Loved TIME FLIES

    Thanks Anto and manehi

74. myself@40
    Looking at my own original answer to 11a in the cold non-light of the small hours, I realise that (in my haste to reverse engineer the fodder to produce CHARON) I had conjured up an A where there should have been an E. An object lesson in the dangers of smug self-congratulation!

75. essexboy @38. Very good. Especially like “pants, Lance”: reminds me of my former cycling hero, now anti-hero.

    PeterO @41 the word ‘position’ is odd & Robi @49 it’s just NI’s position in IN DEAL, which is ‘during trade’. I agree ‘position’ is the instruction to put NI inside DEAL, but the word IN is doing double duty. As George @55 says, it goes IN “IN DEAL”!

    It seems to me there was quite a bit of looseness about the clues today, which I normally don’t mind, but I can see how people expecting an “easy Monday” will have a problem with the additional challenge.

    Thanks to Anto and manehi.

76. [sh @75: unfortunately ‘pants, Lance’ ≠ CLEAN!]

77. Enjoyed this although I had bunged in an unparsed RETIRE instead of RETARD. So DNF. Also need blog to see To-me was a combination! Glad to see chatter around PONG and IN DENIAL but overall no complaints, quite the reverse. now the UK has ‘fallen back ‘ we are 11 hours out of sync and it’s hard to be part of this blogging community in a timely manner. Thanks Anto and manehi.

78. pdp11@51
    I know what you mean, but millions still study the Bible.
    (btw, I began computing with VAX & DEC etc – that’s word of the year & Ant’s partner these days, I suppose)
    Thanks to A&M

79. nametab@78 – I assume the millions are around the world? A Google search returns 854K attending CofE in 2019, down from just over 1M in 2009. That was far fewer than I imagined. Of course, other churches are available and not all Christians go to church.

    Haha – yes VAX is word of the year. I’ve been pleasantly surprised how many people were aware of the PDP-11, VAX and DEC – all from an era that now seems a very long long time ago.

80. I had managed to convince myself that “complete” was filling, as in a complete meal, and that “brief” meant to leave off the last letter! Ah well.

81. I could get past “retire” for 5down as a time for finally slowing down and playing golf!

82. matt @80 – I was another one with a short filling (and at almost the same moment as you last night, but I only saw the blog this morning). And 22A was our LOI as well.

83. Could parse neither CELEBS nor CRUFTS but otherwise ok. Preferred the puzzle to his Quiptic – not sure there was much in it in terms of difficulty between the two.
    Thanks all.

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