Guardian Cryptic 28,857 by Brendan

by

A tricky slow solve today, with favourites 20ac, 23ac, 14dn, and especially 2dn, 21dn and 25dn. Thanks to Brendan.

…there is the word VOWEL hidden in the middle row… and some Greek vowels OMEGA, ETA, IOTA… and DOT and UMLAUT (and COLON[ise]?) as diacritical symbols for modified vowel sounds… and the vowel ‘u’ sound of EWE… and the vowel-only EUOI… and SEQUOIAS with five vowels… and references to an absence of consonants in other clues. edit thanks to cryptor and Tomsdad in the comments: other five-vowel words MENDACIOUS, JALOUSIE, PIANO TUNER, EQUATION, and veracious in the clue for 16ac… and the five vowels replacing each other in BAD(egg) BED BID(den) BOD BUD

ACROSS
8 COLONISE
Food processor that is broken by small people (8)
definition: “people” as a verb meaning ‘occupy’, ‘inhabit’

COLON=”Food processor”, plus IE=id est=”that is” around S (small)
9 OMEGAS
Final letters backed wise work plan (6)
reversal/”backed” of: SAGE=”wise” + MO (modus operandi, way of working or “work plan”)
10 TABARD
Poet joins volunteers providing cover for knight (6)
BARD=”Poet” after TA (Territorial Army, “volunteers”)
12 TEARDROP
Sign of distress as fall follows sprint (8)
DROP=”fall” after TEAR=”sprint”
13 ETA
Greek letter in religious painting, not the consonant (3)
PI+ETA=”religious painting”, which is two Greek letters, with PI the consonant to be removed
14 BEDPAN
Possible need for invalid inferior writer switching contents (6)
BAD=”inferior” + PEN=”writer”, with their inner letters/”contents” switched around
16 VARICOSE
Unusually veracious, apart from one piece that’s bad for circulation (8)
anagram/”Unusually” of (veracious)*, minus one of its letters/pieces
17 DISAVOW
Deny having daughter’s ring put in a car? (7)
D IS=daughter is=”daughter’s” + O=”ring” inside A VW=a Volkswagen=”a car”
20 ELBOWED
Deployed joint force European commanded, holding weapon (7)
E (European) + LED=”commanded” around BOW=”weapon”
23 AT HOME TO
Willing to admit nothing after the atom disintegrated (2,4,2)
O=”nothing” after anagram/”disintegrated” of (the atom)*
24 UNSENT
Neither posted nor moved? (6)
double definition, =not posted, or =not moved (to emotion)
26 CWM
Valley’s width in metric unit (3)
W (width) in CM=centimetre=”metric unit”
27 SEQUOIAS
Second question in 30 — answer’s ‘trees‘ (8)
S (Second), plus Q (question) inside EUOI=”30″ down, plus A’S (answer’S)
edit thanks to Crispy to add the last S
28 LATEEN
A youth going on lake for sail (6)
definition: a triangular sail

A TEEN=”A youth” after L (lake)
31 BAD EGG
Nasty person curate had to endure? Not entirely (3,3)
a ‘curate’s egg’ is something that is a mix of good and bad, so “Not entirely” BAD
32 EQUATION
What’s old in phony antique? Solve that! (8)
O (old) in anagram/”phony” of (antique)*
DOWN
1 IOWA
State we hear spelt without consonants? (4)
IOWA is pronounced with only vowel sounds – not sure if there’s more to the wordplay

edit thanks to jillfc: spelling out IOWA as ‘I O double U A’ can be heard as only vowels
2 IOTA
Tiny bit in audiotape (4)
hidden in aud-IOTA-pe
3 BIDDEN
Ordered Democratic president outside (6)
D (Democratic) with BIDEN=”president” outside it
4 CENTAVO
Once a TV broadcast is ready, used in some countries (7)
in definition, “ready” meaning ‘cash’

anagram/”broadcast” of (Once a TV)*
5 MONAURAL
Like solo organ performance in audition (8)
definition: meaning ‘of a single ear’, so “Like solo organ”

and/or whole clue as definition, with “audition” meaning ‘hearing’

Not sure if there’s another reading of wordplay here
6 MENDACIOUS
Comedians disturbed about upper-class lying (10)
anagram/”disturbed” of (Comedians)*, around U=”upper-class”
7 JALOUSIE
In heartless prison, I lowered blind (8)
definition: a window blind

JAIL-h-OUSE=”prison”, minus the ‘h’ for “heart”, and with the letter I lowered a few places
11 BUD
Start to grow capital, having got rid of a pest (3)
BUD-a-pest=”capital” city
14 BOD
Delivery info initially upset person (3)
DOB (Date of Birth, “Delivery [of a baby] info initially”), reversed/”upset”
15 PIANO TUNER
Pitch checker‘s routine nap disturbed (5,5)
anagram/”disturbed” of (routine nap)*
18 IN THE RAW
Wear thin, possibly becoming bare (2,3,3)
anagram/”possibly” of (Wear thin)*
19 OPENINGS
Holes launches (8)
double definition
21 DOT
What I must have, but not in that case (3)
a letter ‘i’ must have a dot, when not (as “that” one in the clue) in upper case
22 FOCSLES
Sections of vessels with three parts removed (7)
a spelling of ‘FO-re-C-a-S-t-LES’ with three parts of the longer word removed
24 UMLAUT
What’s German city got that Irish quarter hasn’t? (6)
the German city Münster has an UMLAUT, unlike the Irish province Munster
25 EWE
Female contributing to the website we’ve viewed regularly (3)
hidden at regular intervals in th-E WE-bsit-E WE-ve vi-EWE-d
29 TUTU
Dance costume pronounced excessively dated (4)
homophone/”pronounced” of ‘too-too’, a “dated” expression meaning “excessively”
30 EUOI
Frenzied expression as English promise to pay up (4)
E (English), plus reversal/”up” of IOU=”promise to pay”

70 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,857 by Brendan”

  1. Not only SEQUOIAS with the five vowels, but also PIANO_TUNER, MENDACIOUS, JALOUSIE and EQUATION. In the clue for 16a there is VERACIOUS (also contains all five vowels). 26a contains no vowels at all!

  2. Thanks for the explanation of 24d, manehi. I’d forgotten about Münster. I found this tricky to get started as well. And of course, I missed the VOWEL hidden in the middle. I did notice BAD, BUD, BOD and BED, but not sure if that is related to the vowel theme. I wasn’t entirely convinced by 30d though, but I see it’s in Chambers. Must bone up on Bacchic frenzies. Thanks to Brendan and to manehi for the blog.

  4. Very clever and lots of fun. Couldn’t parse UMLAUT, and didn’t really cotton on the vowels theme – I’m nina- and theme-blind. Many thanks to B & m.

  6. Bravo Brendan: a theme and a half!
    [I should have spotted the city and quarter of the UMLAUT clue because one of my favourite short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers is The Learned Adventure of the Dragon’s Head, in which Lord Peter Wimsey and his nephew Gerald help find “Old Cut-throat” Conyers’ “treasure which I have buried in Munster”, as he says in his will. Of course it’s neither one nor the other…}

  7. Too many reveals, with some ‘huh?’ Clues along the way. Incidentally, I think 27A should end plus A’S (answer’s) to get Sequoias – you’re an S short. Thanks for the blog. Going for lie down in a dark room now.

  9. I’m afraid I cheated my way through a lot of this. Guess I wasn’t in the mood so didn’t give it the attention it deserves. I could see something clever was going on with vowels etc. I feel like shouting EUOI but don’t know how to pronounce it and I haven’t been doing anything involving Bacchus

    Thanks Brendan and manehi for explaining it.

  10. Don’t remember this jealousie, but a great behaviour term, like (bathroom) vanity, and others no doubt. Not too fussed about themes but sorry to miss this one, a ripper, far cooler than colons and bed pans! Cheers Bnm.

  13. FACETIOUS -has all the vowels in the right order
    Great puzzle great blog-missed VOWEL in middle
    My LOI was DOT as I thought it could be DAT(IVE)-fond memories of DAT machines
    I’ve seen JALOUSIE more in French books-great clue
    Thanks Brendan and manehi

  14. Most of the way through this I had the feeling, in the words of Bob Dylan, that “Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr Jim?” By the end I could see hints of what it was all about but not the whole thing. And I didn’t notice VOWEL in the middle. So huge thanks to manehi, cryptor and Tomsdad for spelling it out.

    Could we maybe have been given some indication of which letter was missing in the anagram for 16a?

    But many thanks Brendan, very clever as always.

  15. Close, but no cigar.
    Too many unparsed to be enjoyable, looking forward to the enlightenment.
    Thanks both.

  17. As much as I enjoy Brendan, I had to reveal MONAURAL, JALOUSIE and FOCSLES. All very clever but like others, just not in the mood for the complicated clues.

    Ta Brendan and congrats to manehi for untangling the weeds.

  18. Thank you manehi and of course Brendan. Must confess I had missed the nina bits. I am so glad that Brendan exists. I have one bone to pick with him, however: well done for CWM, but what about BYD – sadly not in Chambers – or something that is, to illustrate the wronged sixth vowel? I did a tour of Germany in my head but missed Münster – silly me – and also the hint to the UMLAUT in the COLONise, which of course is cleverly in the opposite orientation.

  19. I thought this was fantastic, an absolute tour de force from Brendan. Tough and slow going – nearly a full hour to complete – but hugely satisfying and lots of fun to gradually whittle away. Some big smiles along the way – “delivery info” is great. Bravo, Brendan.

    And thanks for the excellent blog too, manehi

  20. There had to be something going on – it is a Brendan – but it took me a long time to spot it. My favourite has to be the multiple sheep in 25d

    Thanks very much to Brendan for entertaining me on a very rare rainy morning and to manehi for the blog

  21. Kudos manehi.

    Brendan has such a sense of fun with language. Tickled to see CWM which looks like it doesn’t have a vowel, but does in its pronunciation, and the 5 distinctive /b vowel d/ s.

    Re: IOWA . I think that ‘we hear spelt without consonants’ may be just highlighting that ”w” in English is not a consonant, but a semi-vowel.

    Liked the triple EWE.

  22. Excellent blog explaining a particularly devious puzzle. I completed the puzzle with the help of several checks but didn’t spot the word vowel across the middle giving away the theme. Lots of brilliant clues cwm, elbowed, sequoias to name three. I still don’t like 30d.

  23. I liked COLONISE for the food processor, and ELBOWED for the joint force but found much of the rest a bit of a plod. But I completely missed the theme, even with the Greek letters.

    Thanks Brendan and manehi (for the enlightenment)

  24. Please forgive a long-time lurker for butting in, but I think you spell IOWA I – O – double U – A.
    Wonderful puzzle – thanks to Brendan and Manehi.

  26. Not sure I’d have got UMLAUT if I hadn’t spent last night looking for a hotel in Münster 🙂

    Ticks for SEQUOIA, ELBOWED, JALOUSIE and many more but overall a B+ as I found the theme a wee bit irksome

    Cheers all

  27. Didn’t know JALOUSIE and EUOI and had to guess a few others eg UMLAUT as misled by “quarter”. Didn’t get FOCSLE as I thought it was never written like that. Tough.
    Thanks Brendan and Manehi

  30. Aha! Yes — well spotted, jillfc@25. That’s very clever. As was the whole of this puzzle, IMO.
    I really wanted it to be a pangram and with just 7d and 9a as my last unsolved clues I tried very, very hard to make “final letters backed” into a ZY somehow (zygote, tizzy, enzyme, etc.)
    The three EWEs (three Us: thank you paddymelon@28) were absolutely spiffing. What larks!

  31. Ran out of time, gave up on NE corner – I failed to solve 9ac, 20ac, 5d.

    Liked BED PAN.

    I did not parse 13ac, 24d, 24ac.

    New EUOI (exclamation of Bacchic frenzy); LATEEN; CWM; JALOUSIE.

    Thanks, both.

    * I missed seeing the theme.

  32. Far beyond me today, and despite playing Scrabble I’d never heard EUOI. Happy I managed to solve about half but spent far too long on it really!o

  34. Thanks, manehi. I couldn’t figure out how to include George Russell, who wrote under the pseudonym AE. In “Ulysses”, Stephen Dedalus borrowed some money from him, and sent him a note “A E I O U”.

  35. I didn’t notice the central VOWEL, or the 5-vowel words, so although aware something was going on, didn’t really get the theme, so thanks manehi for elucidation, and Brendan. Misread clue to 13a as ‘constant’ which made no difference. W is a vowel in the Welsh alphabet, so 26a isn’t without any.

  37. Would exclamations of Bacchic frenzy be sent on the big white telephone I was going to point out that w is a vowel in Welsh ( as well as consonant ), but peterM@35 beat me to it. So where is Y, also a vowel in Welsh and frequently used as one, if not acknowledged, in English?

  38. Like others, I only solved less than half, then threw in the towel when my brain started to hurt. Brendan remains in my “bad” list. I take my hat off to those who completed it.

  39. After LATEEN and FO’C’SLE, I was looking for a nautical theme, which put me off when the LAUNCH in19d turned out not to be a ship’s lighter or other small boat….

    So thanks to manehi, and the other commentators, for explaining it all.

    And to Brendan for a challenging workout.

  40. Thanks Brendan and manehi

    I had assumed that the absence of Y in the solutions was another of Brendan’s slynesses.

  42. Good to see the troops gathering round to push the cause of Y. It can be a semi-consonant (G’day y’all) but it is very often pure vowel: rhythm, syzygy, gybe, hymn, jynx, dysphoria, mystery, tryst, symphony, trigonometry.

  43. My printer wouldn’t cooperate last evening so I solved this on my phone —- it was way too easy to guess an answer and then check it. I ended up revealing a few toward the end but overall I enjoyed this because it’s Brendan. Thanks to both.

  46. Thanks for the blog , I am somewhat averse to puzzles where the theme overwhelms the quality of the clues but we have a range of setters and a range of solvers and most people seem happy and I will be happy when we get Vlad or Enigmatist so fair enough.
    I really liked ELBOWED, JALOUSIE and the novel DOT.
    Overall it is all a bit “Nice Video, Shame About the Song ” .

  47. Never, ever, come across EUOI as er, anything at all before. Obviously I could work out the answer (E + IOU reversed) but no, just no.

  48. I’m pretty new to cryptics, and have been gawking at the extra level of nina-nuance … but the double-U, triple-EWE is the icing on the cake. That’s just awesome.

  49. I bunged in EVE at 25d quite early on, and meant to return to figure out the parsing, as there was clearly something else going on, but I had to put this one down and pick it up so many times that I completely forgot.

    Missed V O W E L, of course, and as for BAD (egg), BED (pan), BID(den), BOD and BUD, it was all a bridge too far for me. I did enjoy the appearance of a Welsh vowel in 26a, and I-O-double U-A was clever. Last one in for me was FOreCaStLES – probably because I’ve always thought of the abbreviated version as being FOCSL, but I see that Chambers disagrees with me.

    Thanks to Brendan for reminding me of my limitations (again), and to manehi, especially for the parsing of JALOUSIE, which was an easy enough solve but I wouldn’t have thought of JAIL(h)OUSE so I’m glad I just bunged it in!

  51. Thanks both. Possible different parse for BOD – delivery, COD, initially ‘up-set’, C becomes B? Well, we tried!

  53. 30d. Many years ago Euripdes’ “The Bacchae” was a set book when I sat Greek A level and it’s surprising how often I’m reminded of it when solving crosswords.
    7d. I failed this one. I’ve come across the word but couldn’t have told you what it meant and doubt very much that anyone got it from the wordplay alone.
    I wouldn’t go so far as to claim to have spotted the theme but it would have been hard not to see that there was something linguistic going on and it helped a bit.
    Thanks to Brendan and manehi

  55. Pino@53 I did not cold solve JALOUSIE when I first looked at the Downs on their own . When i used the grid later we clearly needed a 9 letter word for prison and the only one that would work was jail(h)ouse , move the I to get the vaguely recalled blind.
    I did have help from letters but I would not have got it WITHOUT the word play.

  56. Well I had the most gaps in this one than I have had for ages. Top right between CENTAVO & VARICOSE (exclusively) entirely blank. I got UMLAUT from crossers, and was looking for a German city and something Irish with and without, but didn’t remember Munster. Put Eve instead of EWE, but was not happy about it. Missed the theme entirely.

    Thank you manehi for the blog. I really needed it today.

    Ah well, today is another puzzle…

  57. I had another stab this morning and almost finished but revealed last one – IOWA (doh!).

    Uncharacteristically, I did spot VOWEL and saw there was something vowely going on with the preponderance of vowels.

    I thought this tough but fair overall: Brendan always is, which is why I always attempt his puzzles. The theme didn’t get in the way of the clueing for me.

    I am, however, puzzled by Brian Greer@52’s explanation. Although easy to get (and confirm with 27a) I too have never seen EUOI. And it’s not in Chambers. I’m missing something very obvious. Is the “second question in 30”, “Is there such a word as EUOI ?!”.

  59. As previously threatened, Brendan finally disappearing up his own fundament. There is certainly a place for this sort of entertainment, as evidenced by the handful of joyful comments, but not in a crossword published in a daily newspaper.

  60. Thanks manehi for parsing ETA and the second meanings of UNSENT and TOO-TOO.
    I was aligned with Lord Jim so thanks again cryptor, Tomsdad and jillfc for further enlightenment on the vowels. Though I have been solving them on and off for decades, until today it had never occurred to me that EQUATION has all the vowels (I did spot the SEQUOIA).
    And thanks Brendan/Brian@52 overall for another fantastic puzzle, and especially for the reference to clue 30 in 27a which enabled me to correctly interpret the “up” of 30d (and without which I would have considered it unfair).

  61. Van Winkle @ 59. Your statement is self-contradictory since the joyful comments you acknowledge are responses in a blog devoted to a crossword published in a daily newspaper. I submit my puzzles to the Guardian, and the editor’s decision is final. Before you go back to sleep, you can kiss my fundament.

  63. An excellent puzzle, varied and tricky.

    EUOI appears in one of C S Lewis’s Narnia books, slightly surprisingly in a Bacchanalian context!

  64. Brian Greer @61 – not in the slightest self-contradictory. My comment is for those of us who buy the newspaper and who hope for a little entertainment when we have done with reading it. Approachability over contrivance is my preference for my £2.50. Perhaps the editor has research that shows that online solvers with no other involvement with the newspaper now predominate, but otherwise I think we should expect some effort to maximise the accessibility for the casual solver.

  65. First week back at school so it’s taken me till now to finish. I thought it was a brilliant crossword even though I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere on a number of occasions. Only had a quick look at the comments so not sure if it’s been covered but 4 of the 5 vowels are sort of represented (eta, iota, omega and ewe). Just couldn’t find an alpha or an eh.

    Thank you to the setter and the blogger.

  66. Van Winkle @ 64. I read this blog for feedback (which I take seriously) and for the interesting comments. Very, very occasionally I am angered by a post to the point of snapping back.
    I have registered that the crossword was too difficult for your personal taste, but there are less offensive ways of saying that.

  67. Brian G @61 – Nice!
    (Quite apart from its reflective resonance as a rejoinder, your final sentence could aptly do duty on all sorts of occasions!)

  68. Rather late to posting. Loved this crossword and liked the theme. I can understand people not liking themed crosswords when it leads to odd clueing and might help with many of the solutions, but this sort of theme just seems to add to the joy of a lovely puzzle in its own right. I guess the theme did help me with my LOI (jalousie). But I think I’d have got there anyhow. Big thanks to Brendan.

  69. This was one of those puzzles I mostly completed first time through. But then I had to put it down and revisit it multiple times to finish. I’m proud to have finished as it was difficult. Van Winkle was out of line with the tone of his criticism. Sometimes puzzles come across as overly contrived, but what is a setter but another word for contriver! The skill to create such a puzzle is impressive. Thanks, Brendan.

    BTW. I am a paper and pen solver so I am not tempted to reveal. We Texans are tough.

  70. My wife and I also solve on paper and really enjoyed this one. Lots of fun moments, even at the same time as it being very hard, and neither of us had heard of EUOI, JALOUSIE or LATEEN. Had a great time with the double-you and triple-ewe as well as sneaky definitions like “ready” and “deployed joint force”, and just delightful stuff like “capital having got rid of a pest”. Needed to come here for some of the explanations though! Many thanks for the fun puzzle.

Comments are closed.