Guardian Cryptic 28,735 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28735.

Qaos enjoyable as ever, and with a theme (of course) which I found more obvious than some of his: J M Barrie and Peter Pan (both Barrie and Pan appear as part of answers, as is true for several other theme elements). I see Wendy Darling, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, the croc(odile), fairies, pirate, Tinker Bell, Neverland (and, if it is not stretching it too far, Peter can FLY, 5D) That means colouring about half the grid.

ACROSS
9 OFF-COLOUR
Ground flour? Of course, no longer sure — it’s faded (3-6)
An anagram (‘ground’) of ‘flour of co[urse]’ minus ‘sure’ OFF-COLOUR can have various meanings – mildly ill, slightly louche, but also faded.
10 RIOJA
In the Mirror, comic Brand plugs impression of wine (5)
A reversal (‘in the mirror’) of an envelope (‘plugs’) of JO (Josephine ‘Brand”) in AIR (‘impression’)
11 TIARA
Sailor steals one advanced piece of jewellery (5)
A charade of TIAR, an envelope (‘steals’) of I (‘one’) in TAR (‘sailor’); plus A (‘advanced’).
12 KEEP COUNT
How to maintain an accurate tally of fortified towers? (4,5)
A play on KEEP as part of a castle.
13 BARRIER
Brexit negotiator swaps note with Republican fence (7)
Michel BARNIER (French “Brexit negotiator’) with the N replaced by R (‘swaps note with Republican’).
14 FAIRIES
Elves are beautiful in elegant stripy tops (7)
A charade of FAIR (‘beautiful’) plus IES (‘In Elegant Stripy tops’)
17 LYCRA
Material carried by wobbly crate (5)
A hidden answer (‘carried by’) in ‘wobbLY CRAte’.
19 DAY
Time for an old political journalist (3)
Double definition; the journalist was Robin Day.
20 PETER
Lord installs square safe (5)
An envelope (‘installs’) of T (‘square’) in PEER (‘Lord’).
21 SUPPLER
More flexible to take Latin during meal (7)
An envelope (‘to take … during’) of L (‘Latin’) in SUPPER (‘meal’).
22 PIRATED
Penny’s annoyed by design originally being copied without permission (7)
A charade of P (‘penny’) plus IRATE (‘annoyed’) plus D (‘Design originally’).
24 BRAMBLING
Bishop walking and picking fruit (9)
A charade of B (‘bishop’) plus RAMBLING (‘walking’). The fruit being picked are probably blackberries.
26 LANDS
National enters 25 countries (5)
An envelope (‘enters’) of N (‘national’) in LADS (the answer to 25D is BOYS).
28 WENDY
Woman returns recent delivery with contents missing (5)
A charade of WEN, a reversal (‘returns’) of NEW (‘recent’) plus DY (‘DeliverY with contents missing’).
29 GUINEVERE
Queen always follows a half of stout with tablet (9)
A charade of GUIN[ness] (‘half of stout’) plus EVER (‘always’) plus E (‘tablet’).
DOWN
1 LOST
Missed final? Nothing replaces Arsenal’s crown (4)
LAST (‘final’) with the A (‘Arsenal’s crown’) replaced by O (‘nothing’).
2 AFFAIR
Business relationship (6)
Double definition.
3 TO CAP IT ALL
As a finish to hatter’s ambition? (2,3,2,3)
Double/cryptic definition.
4 HOOKER
King breaks nose, shirtless, of rugby player (6)
HOOTER (‘nose’, which may come as news to some in the US) minus the T (‘shirtless’) but with a K (‘king’)
5 GREENFLY
Novelist drops back knowing one’s a pest (8)
A charade of Graham GREEN[e] (‘novelist’) minus the last letter (‘drops back’) plus FLY (‘knowing’).
6 CROC
Short reptile in half of China (4)
‘Short’ as an abbreviation for crocodile, and half of CROC[kery] (‘china’).
7 POPULIST
Welsh football manager once hugged by Kitty as ‘a man of the people‘ (8)
An envelope (‘hugged by’) of PULIS (Tony, ‘Welsh football manager once’) in POT (‘kitty’).
8 PANT
Long to decorate? Not I! (4)
PAINT (‘decorate’) minus the I (‘not I’).
13 BELLS
Whisky calls? (5)
Double definition.
15 IN PARALLEL
Simultaneously elected soldier and three students taking English (2,8)
A charade of IN (‘elected’) plus PARA (‘soldier’) plus LLEL, an envelope (‘taking’) of E (‘English’) in LLL (‘three students’).
16 SHRED
A bit of her novel is set within Scotland’s borders (5)
An envelope (is set within’) of HRE, an anagram (‘novel’) of ‘her’ in SD (‘ScotlanD‘s borders’).
18 CAPTAINS
Pisa can’t be rebuilt by leaders (8)
An anagram (‘rebuilt’) of ‘Pisa can’t’.
19 DARLINGS
Discontented Japanese leave teas, wanting Eastern favourites (8)
DAR[jee]LINGS (‘teas’) minus (leave’) JE (‘discontented JapanesE‘) and also minus (‘wanting’) E (‘Eastern’).
22 PIGGIE
Soldiers go back-to-back during exercise, 1 out of 10? (6)
An envelope (‘during’) of IG plus GI (‘soldiers go back-to-back’) in PE (‘exercise’), for a toe (“This little piggie went to market …”)
23 TINKER
Naughty child can regularly keep reading (6)
A charade of TIN (‘can’) plus KE (‘regularly KeEp’) plus R (‘reading’, one of the three Rs).
24 BOWL
Blackbird’s dish? (4)
A charade of B (‘black-‘) plus OWL (-‘bird’).
25 BOYS
Young people cry when lifted up over your head (4)
An envelope (‘over’) of Y (‘Your head’) in BOS, a reversal (‘when lifted up’ in a down light) of SOB (‘cry’).
27 STEP
Walk dogs, perhaps in retirement (4)
A reversal (‘in retirement’) of PETS (‘dogs perhaps’).

picture of the completed grid

88 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,735 by Qaos”

  1. I enjoyed this – getting the theme helped with a good half dozen answers.

    I spent more time than necessary trying to find an anagram of CRATE for 17ac, and I was convinced the W in WENDY was from WOMAN, but the theme cleared this one up.

    Thanks PeterO and Qaos

  2. I fairly zoomed through this and only stopped to look for the theme when it was too late to be of help, but at least at that late stage I could see it, unlike on many other occasions. The GK for Barnier was too indirect for this expat: I had half a mind to Google each of A,B,C,D,E,F,N in place of each R in BARRIER, in turn, to confirm the answer, but life is too short.

    As a Gunners fan I found 1d LOST quite ironic – the surface seemed quite positive, or at least aspirational, while the answer reflected recent dismal results.

  3. Thanks Qaos for the amusement. I looked for the theme after I completed the grid and even I could see it. Favourites included WENDY, GUINEVERE, SHRED, DARLINGS, BOWL, and BOYS. I was stymied by HOOKER, not knowing that hooter meant nose and forgetting that hooker meant rugby player. Thanks PeterO for the early blog.

  4. Nice to have the theme without obvious direct hints in the clues. I’m hardly an expert but still managed to pick up most of the PETER PAN references. Everything parsed except for the ‘Welsh football manager once’ and I had to look up what a GREENFLY was after finishing; just your plain old aphid apparently.

    I liked the clue for LYCRA with its echo of middle-aged men on their bicycles in the said material.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

  6. Lov ed GUINEVERE. Dnk Welsh football manager so POPULIST took some getting. Didn’t spot the theme so thanks PeterO. Great crossword, thanks Qaos.

  7. Didn’t do very well on the necessary GK here: failed to spot Michael Barnier and never heard of Tony Pulis (in fact, having concluded that 7d must depend on knowing such a person, I revealed it.) The theme helped towards the end with GUINEVERE, though I missed PAN and BARRIE – well done QAOS for getting just about everything in!

  8. Found this straightforward without spotting the theme until I’d finished, though held up a bit in the SE corner with 22 and 23 (where the theme would have helped). I’d forgotten that Tony Pulis once managed Wales, but the crossers made the answer obvious. I was happy enough with BRAMBLING though only the bird is in my edition of Chambers. One google search online does show it as synonymous with blackberrying. Enjoyed it anyway. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  9. Theme, what theme? And now I feel dumb. Too busy trying to parse DARLINGS (duh, not as if I don’t drink enough of the stuff) and POPULIST (looked up Pulis to confirm he existed when I’d solved it as my last in), so even as a Brit with most of the GK, I’d have to be really interested in football to know that titbit.

    I too spent a while trying to parse WENDY using W for woman until the PDM.

  10. My 1998 Chambers has bramble as “vi to gather blackberries” just before the bird as part of the definition. I’d read brambling as blackberrying unless it was obvious it referred to the bird.

    And thank you to PeterO and Qaos.

  11. Thanks PeterO and Qaos. I found this a bit tougher than some of his recent efforts but on the flip side I did spot the theme quite early – as you say, PeterO, one of the more obvious ones. And that did help me get TINKER and DARLINGS. All very enjoyable. The Queen with her half of Guinness was the most amusing mental picture I took away from this.

    Tomsdad @8 – I don’t think he has managed Wales but he is Welsh (which I didn’t know, but guessed). I spent far too long trying to make Toshack or Hughes fit the slot somehow.

  12. Aaaargh! Missed the theme completely. I found it mostly straightforward until the NE corner for some reason. Had pencilled in KEEP SCORE, which didn’t help. Hadn’t heard of Pulis the manager; liked GUINEVERE, WENDY and GREENFLY. Thanks to Q & P.

  13. gladys/Tomsdad/Shanne

    Lexico also has ‘bramble’ as a verb; if you click on ‘More example sentences’ you get ‘Brambling always makes me feel somewhat like the prince in Sleeping Beauty, fighting through the thorns to reach the prize’, which is taken from here.

    Also on the non-bird bird front, nice to be reminded of Robin DAY. Thanks Q & P.

  14. Thank you drofle@12 for helping me feel less stupid in not spotting the theme and also starting with keep score. I also had to top it all at 3 dn for a while so this took me longer than it should. Still, it was enjoyable with a relatively easy start but plenty to challenge the old brain cells Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  15. Hugely enjoyable today. As ever, I was oblivious to the theme, even after completion. Favourites included Barriers, Fairies, Guinivere and Shred. Thanks Qaos and thanks Peter for highlighting the links.

  16. Growing up in Yorkshire, we always said ‘brambling’ for ‘picking blackberries’. Never realised it wasn’t as well known a term as I thought.

  17. Yes, it was easy enough to guess what the intended meaning of BRAMBLING was: I’ve just never seen or heard it in real life.

  18. All good stuff! My only query would be is it okay to spell the singular piggy in its plural form? (I bet it’s probably fine, just something I haven’t seen before)

  19. As a serial theme-misser, this reaches new heights of dimness. Oh dear, must learn to look whilst solving.

    Lovely clues throughout, though.

    Only slight gripe was being expected to know an obscure Welsh football manager.

    Not heard the expression BRAMBLING before but will now use it – lovely word.
    Many thanks both.

  20. Perdrix @18 – I also wondered about that spelling of PIGGIE but it is in Chambers as an alternative. I also wonder about the definition ‘one out of ten’, we do have ten toes but the rhyme only refers to five piggies.

    A fun crossword. Thanks Qaos and PeterO [quite appropriate it should be you to blog this one, given your name!]

  21. I must have been out of the country too long as I had to google ‘Pulis’ and ‘Brexit negotiator’ after getting them from the definitions and crossers. I do remember using Brambles and Blackberries as synonymous from 40 years ago (Lancashire) and used to make Elderberry and Bramble wine from my Brambling walks. Chambers 2014 has “bramble n the blackberry bush…… vi to gather blackberries” gladys @5 and others.
    Otherwise it didn’t help that I didn’t spell PARALLEL properly which made getting GUINEVERE more difficult than it should have been, or initially inserting Keep Notes for KEEP COUNT and Stead (Christina) for SHRED.
    Totally unaware of the theme until I came here (naturally.

  22. As I live in Jimmy Murphy’s old house, I was keen to work him into 7 down, but it wasn’t to be. I wondered about TOC(k)AP IT ALL as another thematic solution, but maybe not.

  23. I had never heard of Peter meaning safe. Piggie? Never seen that spelling in the singular. Tony Pulis is surely a bit too obscure for non-football fans. Nevertheless a very enjoyable crossword with a theme which even I detected halfway through: and unusually having done so it helped considerably. Enjoyable.

  24. Elves and fairies don’t seem the same thing to me, but that’s probably a Tolkien influence. I would like to think that in modern usage they are now different things, but that’s hard to judge. They certainly used to be the same, and in Tolkien’s earliest writings fairies were a subdivision of elves.
    Of course, medieval elves and fairies were very different to Victorian ones.

  25. Enjoyed the puzzle but didn’t think to look for a theme, proving that knowledge of Peter Pan was not needed to complete the job. Now that I see the theme, I think that it is very well handled.

  26. I solved the whole puzzle (despite obscurities like 13a and 7d) without realising what the theme was, which I managed afterward.

    @revbob , Peter for safe crops up from time to time in Guardian crosswords.

  27. Can’t see what all the fuss is about … blackberry bushes are also commonly known as brambles, and it’s no great stretch of the imagination to derive brambling from blackberrying …

  28. Much of this went in quite easily, and seeing the theme reasonably early (fairies? pirates?) helped later on. I wanted 19a to be PAN before I got the crossers, but it wouldn’t parse at all. I missed the PANt that was there, though. POPULIST was so obviously right for 7d from the definition that I just assumed there was an obscure soccer person around somewhere. No problem with BRAMBLING, though. We had KEEP TRACK pencilled in for a while. Thanks, Qaos and PeterO.

  30. Liked Guinevere growing from a half of stout (first choice when out at a pub, rarely these days). But does it relate to Barrie? If so, I’ll have to read more properly 😉 .

  32. Thanks Qaos and PeterO
    Even I saw the theme. I didn’t parse WENDY – theme heped here – and only saw the POT part of POPULIST, shrugged and thought that there must have been a Welsh manager with the unlikely name PULIS.

  34. Very enjoyable.
    Even I could get the theme, though I spent too long looking for Smew, but the theme itself was a help.
    I read somewhere that JM Barrie left the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.
    Thanks both…

  39. A very pleasant crossword despite the theme (I never liked Peter Pan, but I didn’t notice or look for a theme anyway!).

    The clue for 14 was one of several amusing moments, though I prefer Tolkien’s later descriptions of elves to his sillier ones; in The Hobbit, the elves are introduced as rather foolish creatures, but The Lord of the Rings portrays them very differently, and Smith of Wootton Major in yet another way.

  41. Shoogled @40 it’s just an old word for safe – see Chambers. I’d memorise it for future use – it’s very popular with setters

  42. For me, not a satisfactory puzzle, I’m afraid. Too many contrived clues, but I seem to be in a minority.

  43. Good fun as ever from Qaos.

    I did spot the theme, although not all the entries. The theme helped with DARLINGS, which I liked, together with TO CAP IT ALL and PIGGIE.

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  44. Dr WhatsOn@2, Google is pretty good these days: just putting in BARRIER and Brexit is autocorrected to Barnier 🙂

    But yes, Barnier was unknown to this non UK person as well.

    I am still confused as to why in 4e, “shirtless” meant to take the T out of HOOTER…

  46. Shoogled @40, Chambers 2014 has “peter3 n a safe; a prison cell; the penis; a till (Aust); the witness box (Aust) peterman n a safe-blower

    Interestingly on this site of cockney rhyming slang it has “Peter Pan” to refer to “Can (Prison or Wall Safe)”. An extra connection with the theme.

  47. Lots of fun. The theme definitely helped me get FAIRIES and DARLINGS. Reasonably obscure managers, Revie and Pulis already this week, I shall be looking out tomorrow…

    Ta Qaos & PeterO

  48. In Scotland we always called blackberry bushes brambles and we called the berries brambles too and regularly went out picking brambles to eat. I hadn’t heard of blackberries till I came down south.

    I think I heard that it is the same in the north of England?

  50. Fiona Anne @48.49, see my post @21. We’ve had Yorkshire (Hovis @16), Lancashire (me when I lived there) and now Scotland (you) so it may be a Northern thing although Mr C doesn’t indicate that it’s a dialect form.

  51. This was short but very sweet. With Qaos there is of course always a theme, and searching for it adds to the fun. The only answer it helped me with was DARLINGS though, because with all the crossers in place it did jump out of the grid before I had looked at the clue. Darjeeling being my tea of choice, I’m sure I would have solved it soon enough without theme-related help.

    RIOJA being my wine of choice, I tried to get it to fit in with the theme (as something to help PETER and the LOST BOYS cope with the rigours of life in NEVER LAND), but couldn’t quite make it stick.

    As a football fan, I was pleased to see the far-from-obscure Tony PULIS turn up. His rudimentary approach wouldn’t go down well at my club, nor that of Dr. WhatsOn @2, but he’s a proper old school football person, and a gift for setters trying to clue POPULIST! It may be tricky for those who don’t like football, but crosswords cover a wide range of GK, and some stuff you know, some you don’t. Clues frequently for example require me to know more about religion than I would like to, as an atheist, and you don’t catch me moaning about it (well you do admittedly – as in this case – but my point stands).

    Great stuff Quas, and thanks to PeterO for a useful blog and attractively coloured grid.

  52. What an enjoyable puzzle on a theme that I love. Finally picked up the theme after solving Wendy, Peter, pirated, croc, barrier, lost boys. Loved seeing so many Peter Pan-related words in the puzzle (also Tinker Bell, Neverland, Darlings, Captain Hook, fairies, Pan).

    Liked PIGGIE, TINKER, KEEP COUNT, IN PARALLEL.

    Did not parse 10ac (never heard of the comic Jo Brand).

    New: political journalist Robin DAY for 19ac (thanks, google); HOOKER = rugby player (but I was looking to see where I could put Hook); Tony PULIS (football manager)

    Thanks, both.

  53. Really enjoyed that today – spotted the theme very early on and so spent quite a while thinking the central 19a must be PAN. Knowing the theme didn’t help with any of the solutions, and it was only afterwards I realised quite how many refernces there were. The parsing that I needed help with today was PETER – so that’s a new term learned! Big thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  54. 1961 Blanchflower I met Tony Pulis in the Exec Lounge at the Den when he was Middlesbrough manager scouting a player, not one of ours. He had time for all the fans who wanted selfies etc. Good to talk to about football, though as you say, his style would not go down well at WHL.

  55. As with drofle@12 I had KEEP Score in more firmly, and that meant the NE corner was last to yield once I’d realised the error of my ways. Thought most of these clues were very similar in construction today, envelopes of often single letters. Thought Tony PULIS might be rather obscure a personage for some. As usual too dim to spot the theme, even though I have just read Kevin Telfer’s affectionate account of J.M.Barrie’s passion for another 11 a side sport, cricket. “Peter Pan’s First XI”. Which at times included A.A.Milne, P.G.Wodehouse, Jerome K.Jerome, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Perhaps we should enlist a few current authors to bolster the present England cricket XI…any suggestions?

  56. Enjoyable puzzle, but as a football fan I did also raise an eyebrow at PULIS. A name very well known to football fans, but not exactly at the Alex Ferguson level of recognition for those who are not. For me though, I think a clue is OK if it is possible to get it one way or another, i.e. you still have a hope in hell if you lack the necessary niche GK. In this case, it is relatively simple to get the solution from the definition and crossers, then take away POT and google PULIS and there you are. I have been through a similar process with obscure classical composers in the past and I think it is all fine, and I tend to just be thankful to have slightly expanded my repository of slightly useless information.

  57. I’m afraid I side with NNW @42 on this one – several of the clues are not up to Qaos’s usual seamless standard. And I missed the alphanumerics.

    Unusually, I spotted the theme quite quickly, which didn’t help my humour – I loathe the Edwardian mawkishness of this work of Barrie in its various manifestations, with its insufferable protagonist (who ought to be on hormone replacement therapy). Even as a small boy, when taken to the stage play, I longed to shout NO! when Peter breaks the fourth wall and asks the audience if they believe in fairies!

    Nevertheless I did get some enjoyment from this – especially the clues for FAIRIES, WENDY and GUINEVERE.

    Thanks to S&B

  58. Don Revie yesterday, Tony Pulis today! What’s going on? Just because one knows them (I did- I’m male, I’m in my 60s, I follow football, I’ve always lived in the UK), doesn’t mean they’re not obscure. It’s difficult to encourage my 32 yo daughter to persist at cryptics when this sort of thing pops up.

    Otherwise, brief but enjoyable. Thanks Qaos and PeterO

  59. Thanks to Qaos for a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle , we also got the Peter Pan theme early enough to make a difference. Ticks for GUINEVERE, PIGGIE, IN PARALLEL.
    Thx also PeterO for highlighting theme answers in blog.

  60. essexboy@38 Please remind me what JORUM means in Crossword Land.
    I did find out once but have forgotten. Googling only tells me it’s a large drinking vessel. Thanks

  61. This was good fun. I spotted the theme about three quarters of the way through and it helped with the bottom right corner.

    Katherine @60: “jorum” in this context refers to the situation where you figure out a possible but unlikely-sounding answer to a clue, think “Can there be such a word?”, look it up and there it is! It was coined by Eileen when this happened to her when the answer was indeed JORUM.

    Many thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  62. Never heard of Barnier or thought of Adriana’s clever Google trick, so just biffed in BARRIER and let it go. Never heard of Robin DAY or PULIS either. (I tried to fit something in CAT for Kitty, got nowhere with that.)

    I completely missed the theme, even though I’ve learned to look for one when it’s Qaos. Thanks, Qaos, for a clever puzzle, and PeterO for the enlightenment. And thanks essexboy for the brambling link.

  63. [HoofItYouDonkey@54, you have the perfect user name to discuss “Pulisball”!
    Still, it’s nice to read that he was as good to meet as you describe.]

  64. [TimC @46: Thanks a million for the link to the Cockney rhyming slang site. I began doing British crosswords about 4 years ago and I find rhyming slang to be one of the most intriguing aspects of this endeavour.]

  66. [Katherine/Lord Jim:
    Thanks Lord Jim @61 for explaining – yes, that was exactly my experience with SMEW a few years ago. The clue seemed to want me to find a 4-letter word for ‘diver’ by ‘cycling’ the letters of a word for ‘stable area’. I eventually twigged that the diver might be a bird, and that the ‘stable area’ might be the horsey kind. In which case mews → ewsm? wsme?? smew??? And there it was. 🙂 ]

  68. Late to the party as always. I agree with Fiona Anne @48. Growing up in Morayshire, the fruit was brambles.

  69. Adriana@44 I am familiar with that trick but (obviously) didn’t try it this time. I just gave it a go and it didn’t work. This is not entirely surprising since Google builds models of its users and responds to their inputs in accordance. Just as we don’t all see the same news on social media, so we are not all auto-corrected the same way, for better or for worse.

  70. Interesting how usage varies. I’ve always known the plants as brambles, but the fruits are blackberries….

  71. [I suppose I might have been influenced by playing cards with my mother. She always called the club suit “blackberries”!]

  72. Tony@64, TimC @46
    Sorry to disappoint you but most of that site is just rhyming words, nor Cockney Rhyming, Anneka Rice? Andy McCab? Others are just local London slang nothing to do with the Cockney area of London.

  73. [Waiting for Sheffield Hatter to turn up so that I can share with him a wish TO CAP IT ALL this season with promotion]

  74. I get annoyed when every slang term gets termed cockney, there are many ares on London with their own slang and hundreds elsewhere in the UK and overseas.

    This is a very good Guardian article on cockney slang. There was usually a reason for the expression, not just a rhyme, living in East London for many years I would just use these in everyday conversation.

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/09/guide-to-cockney-rhyming-slang

    This is the best listing I have seen

    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Cockney_rhyming_slang

  75. On second thoughts, despite the fruit being brambles, we would never have gone “brambling”. It sounds too effete for what was often an arduous expedition with the bushes often being inaccessible, overgrown and well-protected with thorns. The resulting bramble jelly made by my mother was a real delicacy. Nowadays, I probably use “blackberries” more often because that’s what Sainsburys sells.

  76. Trying to interest my son in cryptics, so we can share them over a pint occasionally, I’m afraid that all these initialisms in one puzzle make me look a bit of oddball in his eyes.

    While most can grasp that p = penny, R is one of the 3, and K might be a chess-related(?) abbreviation of ‘king’, etc., he asks me:
    why does B necessarily = bishop (chess again?), A = advanced (A-level?), N = note, R = republican, L = latin, N = national, E = Eastern, B = black.

    Does no one agree that without prior knowledge of setters’ tricks, too many of these out-of-context single letters might negate the sophistication of the puzzle’s excellent clues?

  77. Couldn’t parse POPULIST. Completely forgot that TP had managed the team.
    Good puzzle & with a theme even I could spot though missed NEVERLAND
    Thanks all.

  78. Very fun clues. Finally made out all but 5D and 7D.
    Favorites include LOST and IN PARALLEL.

    Yes, PeterO, I didn’t know hooter = nose, but couldn’t figure out how the N in honker became an O! Thanks for your beautifully clear parsings.

  80. Well I aced the puzzle but missed the theme. All I could see was Captain Darling, but couldn’t see any other Blackadder refs.

  81. Just want to say that despite only coming to this the day after (thus I’ve missed the party), I do hope that my note of thanks for a terrific puzzle is still read by Qaos. I loved the theme! Also appreciation to PeterO for the explanations for my unparsed solutions involving Jo Brand, Michael Barnier, Robin Day and Tony Pulis, all unfamiliar names.

  82. TO CAP IT ALL – As a finish to hatter’s ambition? (2,3,2,3)

    I took this one to mean to put an end cap on something i.e to finish. Hatter = “cap” and Ambition = “I tall”

  83. Thanks PeterO; for what it’s worth, not only did I spot the theme for once, having got WENDY and BOYS early doors, but also knew of Pulis, despite zero interest in, and scant knowledge of, football. The sport so pervasive in British culture, you can’t help but pick up some gk, just by being generally aware.

  84. [Thanks AndrewTyndall @73 for your kind thought regarding CAP IT ALL. That would indeed be a “capital” end to the season! 🙂 ]

  86. How on earth is FLY=knowing? I’ve searched several dictionaries for both words and neither appears to be a definition for the other.

  87. Found it on dictionary.com of all places. But it’s not in the online version of Cambridge or Merriam-Webster.

  88. PH @87
    Chambers, after a long screed on fly as verb and noun: adj. (sl) knowing, surreptitious or sly etc.

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