Guardian Cryptic 29,125 by Brummie

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29125.

A surprising number of cryptic definitions for Brummie, but I cannot spot a theme.

ACROSS
1 DOCUDRAMA
It requires a truly consistent performance from its cast (9)
Cryptic definition, with ‘truly consistent’ to be read as consistent with the truth.
6 WRAP
Finish filming western with pop music (4)
A charade of W (‘western’) plus RAP (‘pop music’)
8 BROUHAHA
Book about our deceptive barrier causes fuss (8)
A charade of B (‘book’) plus ROU, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘our’ plus HAHA (‘deceptive barrier’ – see Wiki)
9 PULSAR
From casual perusal, telescope finally picked out a star (6)
An anagram (‘casual’) of ‘p[e]rusal’ minus the E (‘telescopE finlly picked out’).
10 BRUNCH
Food chain: bear comes first, though not invariably top (6)
A charade of BRU[i]N (‘bear’) minus the I (‘though not Invariably top’) plus CH (‘chain’).
11 SEASCAPE
Oil perhaps to be seen from ocean liner? (8)
Cryptic definition.
12 CAPLET
Dramatic family union abandoned? Here’s a pill! (6)
A subtraction: CAP[u]LET (‘dramatic family’, Romeo and Juliet) minus the U (‘union abandoned’).
15 DOORBELL
When depressed, you could find it helps to get over the threshold (8)
Another cryptic definition.
16 BOBBY PIN
Hairgrip made of copper with reverse catch (5,3)
A charade of BOBBY (policeman, ‘copper’) plus PIN, a reversal (‘reverse’) of ‘NIP (‘catch’).
19 TREPAN
Head driller and surrogate parent (6)
An anagram (‘surrogate’?) of ‘parent’.
21 MEDICARE
Iced preparation used in horse health scheme (8)
An envelope (‘used in’) of EDIC, an anagram (‘pr3eparation’ ‘preparation’) of ‘iced’ in MARE (‘horse’), for the health scheme for seniors and disabled in the USA, and universal in Australia.
22 THRASH
Hardline leader breaks up rubbish party (6)
An envelope (‘breaks up’) of H (‘Hardline leader’) in TRASH (‘rubbish’).
24 BIOPIC
Life of a celebrity that’s been shot (6)
Cryptic definition.
25 OVERSHOE
After a number of deliveries, he collects ball for Oxford defender? (8)
An envelope (‘collects’) of O (‘ball’) in OVERS (‘a number of deliveries’) plus ‘he’.
26 BEEP
Horn sound in live recording (4)
A charade of BE (‘live’) plus EP (‘recording’).
27 REDUNDANT
Suspect ranted about Brown being dismissed? (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of DUN (‘brown’) in REDANT, an anagram (‘suspect’) of ‘ranted’.
DOWN
1 DURER
Renaissance artist‘s Doctor Swallowing Midge (5)
An envelope (‘swallowing’) of URE (James, stage name ‘Midge’) in DR (‘doctor’).
2 CHUNNEL
Scrapped lunch to take north-eastern link to the continent (7)
An envelope (to take’) of NE (‘north-eastern’) in CHUNL, an anagram (‘scrapped’) of ‘lunch’.
3 DEATH
The end of the said potty is missing (5)
An anagram (‘potty’) of ‘the [s]a[i]d’ minus IS (‘is missing’), with the usual argument about whether or not a separate anagrind is needed for ‘is’; evidently, Brummie comes down here on the “not” side.
4 AMASSED
Same sad converts got together (7)
An anagram (‘converts’) of ‘same sad’.
5 ALPHASORT
A programmer’s A-Z? (9)
Cryptic definition; a sort into alphabetic order, particularly if computerised.
6 WOLF CUB
Young predator put away — copper goes by book (4,3)
A charade of WOLF (‘put away’ – eat heartily) plus CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus B (‘book’).
7 A CAPPELLA
Putting a lid on piano, celebrated vocalist demonstrates one way to sing (1,8)
A charade of ‘a’ plus CAP (‘lid’) plus P (musical notation, ‘piano’) plus ELLA (Fitzgerald, ‘celebrated vocalist’).
13 AFORETIME
Formerly, formerly (9)
An archaic word.
14 TAP-DANCER
Entertainer Chuck plus reindeer (3-6)
A charade of TAP (‘chuck’ – a chuck under the chin) plus DANCER (‘reindeer’, one of Rudolph’s companions).
17 BRITPOP
Music culture movement responsible for bad trip during dance (7)
An envelope (‘during’) of RITP, an anagram (‘bad’) of ‘trip’ in BOP (‘dance’).
18 NAEVOID
Avoid ‘en’ shaped like a birthmark (7)
An anagram (‘shaped’) of ‘avoid en’
20 EURASIA
Are in conflict with USA over one geographical area (7)
An envelope (‘over’) of I (‘one’) in EURASA, an anagram (‘in conflict with’) of ‘are’ plus ‘USA’.
22 TWEEN
In effect, we ensure bard’s in the middle (5)
A hidden answer in ‘effecT WE ENsure’. The aphetic form of between is used in Shakespeare, but is not particularly Shakespearean.
23 SCOOT
Seconds before bird’s sudden dash (5)
A charade of S (‘seconds’) plus COOT (‘bird’).

picture of the completed grid

83 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,125 by Brummie”

  1. Why, it’s Midge Ure again! I’d never heard of him until I came across him just the other day in another crossword. Must drop in and meet him next time I’m in the UK.

    I’m familiar with a bash for a party, but haven’t heard of a thrash. Collins tells me it’s a British thing.

    Never heard of NAEVOID, but the birthmarks were in two crosswords today.

    There were several I couldn’t parse: BROUHAHA, BRUNCH, DEATH, CAPLET & BEEP. Looking them up here elicited more groans than smiles.

    Thanks Brummie & PeterO.

  2. I didn’t see a theme either. When I had MEDICARE and BOBBY PIN, I thought there may be a theme of American terms, but no.

    I think SEASCAPE is a little more than a plain cryptic definition, if you take Oil to mean painting – it does seem to break into two parts.

    I’ve never really appreciated the value in the word ALPHASORT, since it just tells you the sorting is into alphabetical order (so just say that) but doesn’t tell you the algorithm, like Quicksort, Shellsort, Bubble sort and others do. Not a problem for the clue, though.

    I suspect some are going to find Midge in 1d unfamiliar, but I look at it like this. If you study the clue and conclude it’s probably DURER, but only if Midge Ure (or v.v.) is a person, then to verify that hypothesis is fair game (and what I did) and in my book does not count as DNF, but of course YMMV.

    Thanks B&P

  3. Thanks PeterO and Brummie. The parsing of 2d seems incomplete; should be NE (northeast) in CHUNL (*LUNCH, anagrind is “scrapped”)

  4. I had to make liberal use of an online crossword dictionary to get this one finished. and the parsing of 1 was completely opaque to me. Surely such a presentation needs a truthful script more than it does performances.

  5. I enjoyed this but found it quite hard to get going. I was helped by spotting there seems to be a theme of compound and portmanteau words – I can see at least fifteen, but I suspect more. Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

  6. Generally I enjoy Brummie but not this time. There were too many cryptic definitions and otherwise ho-hum clues. I did like OVERSHOE, BEEP, CHUNNEL, and WOLF CUB but I finally revealed TREPAN, ALPHASORT, and AFORETIME because I just got tired of this crossword. Thanks Brummie just the same and PeterO for the blog.

  7. This was difficult, but good fun, and it all came together in the end. Had not heard of Midge Ure, and I also didn’t see how tap could be chuck, but everything else added up.

    I would have written the blog with about three question marks for “surrogate” as an anagram indicator, not just one. That entry was my last one in, of course.

  9. I struggled with some of the cryptic defs, especially DOCUDRAMA and there were few other bits of parsing (eg TAP for ‘Chuck’) I had trouble with. Like DWO @2 and KVa @8, I parsed SEASCAPE as a double def with ‘Oil perhaps’ and ‘to be seen from ocean liner?’ as the two defs. I didn’t know ALPHASORT as a word, but “It’s in…”.

    I think Larry @5 might be on to something with the possible portmanteau/compound word theme.

    Thanks to PeterO and Brummie

  10. Good fun. I made the mistake of forgetting that “more haste, less speed” is a worthy admonition. Having written in the first three down clues, I had D, C and D as the first crossers in 1ac and immediately thought “deciduous” – and that the “…..consistent performance to its cast….: was a witty cryptic reference to the dependability of autumn’s leaves. Fortunately, as my pen was just kissing its paper, I wondered why “consistent” rather than “regular”, “repetitive” or “seasonal” were such the compiler’s intention; I withdrew both pen and notion….
    I don’t know if anyone else allowed “deciduous” to float through their mind as digressively….
    An excellent crossword though, for me, ALPHASORT was somewhat selcouth – I am clearly less learned than my fellow contributors here!

    I thought this was most enjoyable: BOBBY PIN was delightful and TWEEN twinkled. (I was unaware of the meaning for “tap” used here)

    Many thanks

  11. A DNF for me as I biffed TABLET at 12a for no good reason other than it fitted the definition “pill”. Now I’m very embarrassed as I only just read an entire review yesterday about a new Australian production of “Romeo and Juliet” by Bell Shakespeare.
    There were quite a few here I couldn’t parse so I am grateful that I had some company in that from earlier contributors. I did like 11a SEASCAPE for the misdirection regarding possible ocean pollution and 22d TWEEN for the bard’s hidden.
    Yes William F P@10, I also toyed with deciduous trees at 1a DOCUDRAMA; in the end I have to admit that I was someone else who found that clue a bit unsatisfactory.
    Thanks to Brummie for the challenge and PeterO for the blog, as well as Larry@5 for noting all those portmanteau words in this offering.

  13. I’m impressed that PeterO managed to provide the blog so early….Like others, I found this far from easy but I quite enjoyed the cryptic definitions. Favourites include BROUHAHA, CAPLET, OVERSHOE and BRITPOP. I’d never heard of ALPHASORT, and struggled with how to complete the answer. I’m also not sure about DOCUDRAMA, though it could only have been that. With thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  14. Completed correctly but with guesswork as far as ‘alphasort’ and tap equating to chuck were concerned. Also failed to parse ‘brunch’, which I thought was a bit of a stretch.

  15. Thanks Brummie and PeterO
    Brummie often irritates me with the looseness of his clueing, and there were example here – DOCUDRAMA and SEASCAPE, for example, but there were quite a lot of good clues to make up. Favourite BROUHAHA (lovely word, and unusual “barrier”).
    I toyed with TABLET before seeing the correct answer – not a word I’m familiar with; and also was baffled by “Chuck” for TAP. I also wondered if there should be 2 Ss in 23d, but I suppose “s” is an abbreviation for “seconds” as well.

  16. Struggled with ALPHASORT, because I couldn’t see the importance of programmer. Did anyone else go for SHOOT for 21d? Hoot – to give s.o. the bird, and shoot – dash off quickly?
    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO

  17. Where other than crosswords would you need to combine a knowledge of Renaissance art and 80s pop?

  18. Thanks to Brummie for a good challenge today. It was tricky but not because the solutions were overly obscure words. Having said that, how well known is Midge Ure? (GDU@1, Ultravox fans will tell you you need to go Vienna to find him! I’d add a link but I’m running late.)
    Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  20. An object lesson in how difficult it is to write a really good cryptic definition. I was disappointed when “Demerara” didn’t quite fit for 1ac. BRITPOP was my favourite, an oasis amongst a blur of portmanteau words.

  21. I disagree with anyone who thinks 5 is in any way reasonable. It’s not a word or a recognised contraction; it’s just the name of a function in the POSIX spec. Not fair game. At the very least, the clue should have included some wordplay for ‘SORT’.

  22. Yes Me@21. I was a programmer for 30 years, and never came across the term. The word is, however, in my 1998 edition of Chambers, so on that badis is not unreasonable.

  25. Another tricky puzzle from Brummie with some obscure words already covered by others. I liked BROUHAHA, PULSAR, SEASCAPE and CAPLET. There is a Nina of FARL across the middle which I would happily scoff at BRUNCH. Well-spotted Larry @5. PeterT @20: I smiled at your comment about BRITPOP. Slight typo in your explanation of MEDICARE, Peter.

    Ta Brummie & PeterO.

  26. BROUHAHA was the FOI as the haha surfaced from the tortured memory somehow, and isn’t it a great word. I thought I was on a roll, but things slowed up in the end and I ended up being slightly deflated. DOCUDRAMA?; “surrogate” as an anagrind?; BIOPIC? and a few more.

    Yes Me @21 “it’s not a word”?, but it’s in C………

  27. Liked MEDICARE (loi).

    I did not parse 1ac, 10ac.

    New for me: NAEVOID, CHUNNEL, ALPHASORT; CHUCK = tap.

    Thanks, both.

    I agree with DrWhatson@2 re SEASCAPE = oil painting

  29. Thanks to Larry@5 for elucidating the theme. Did anyone else try ERSTWHILE for 13D ? I think it is as fair a definition as AFORETIME, and also fits with two of the crossers.

  31. manhattan@30
    Refer PeterO’s explanation of ‘chuck’ with the phrase ‘a chuck under the chin’.
    Some dictionaries call it ‘a pat’-we can settle for a TAP. Fair, I guess.

  32. Had ‘hoot’ as definition of ‘bird’, quite reasonbaly giving SHOOT I thought. Caught out by lack of IT knowledge as well. That might be why I found some definitions a bit dodgy!
    Thanks both.

  33. Re Chuck = Tap. Chambers (2016) has “chuck 2 vt…. to stroke or tap lightly under the chin. n a gentle stroke or tap under the ching….”

  34. From Wiktionary:
    ‘blend – A word or name that combines two words, typically starting with the start of one word and ending with the end of another, such as smog (from smoke and fog) or Wiktionary (from wiki and dictionary). Many blends are portmanteaus.’
    ‘portmanteau – A blend that combines meanings.’
    Apart from the more obvious blend words: TWEEN is not only…
    ‘Contraction – ‘tween – Contraction of between.’ – as used by Shakespearre
    but also…
    ‘TWEEN – Blend of teen +? between in the sense of “between childhood and adolescence”
    Noun – tween (plural tweens) – A child, especially a girl, in the age range between middle childhood and adolescence, normally between eight and thirteen years of age. ‘

  35. And CAP[u]LET was a clever Shakespearean clue for ‘Blend of capsule +? tablet
    A smooth-coated tablet (pill, as in medicine) shaped like a capsule, used as a tamper-resistant alternative to a capsule, or an easy-to-swallow alternative to regular tablets.’

  36. Some nice clues, though I’d never heard of ALPHASORT and like Yes Me @21 could have done with some wordplay for the SORT bit.

    Shakespeare does indeed use TWEEN, as in King Lear:

    Gloucester’s bastard son
    Was kinder to his father than my daughters
    Got tween the lawful sheets

    but I think “bard” was probably meant to indicate “poet” generally.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO. (I think it would be helpful if the blog set out how the cryptic definitions work in case anyone had missed them: eg “depressed” refers to pushing the DOORBELL in, and “shot” means “filmed” in BIOPIC.)

  38. I managed most of this without too much difficulty but the last few entries held me up for quite a while. If I had spotted the portmanteau theme it might have helped, but a desultory glance near the end failed to reveal it. LOI ALPHASORT, which was new to me, and rather weakly clued, as others have remarked – the ALPHA stood out, but not the last part. I’m sure I’ve never seen the word NAEVOID (no space for a Scot?) either, but I knew ‘naevus’ so this wasn’t a problem.

    Rather a lot of cryptic definitions, but they all work well (though it isn’t actually the DOORBELL itself that you depress). I agree that SEASCAPE is a (rather good) double definition. My favourites were BROUHAHA (great word) and A CAPPELLA for an excellent surface.

    Thanks to S&B

  39. I thought several clues were pretty poor, including DOCUDRAMA, the definition of which could mean virtually anything. I also think ALPHASORT isn’t reasonable. I’ve been in IT for 40 years and didn’t know it, and it’s not in my Chambers. Also DNK CHUCK in that sense, though it’s apparently legitimate. CAPLET and BROUHAHA were good.

  40. I absolutely agree about DOCUDRAMA & ALPHASORT. And I would like American terms to be indicated as such – it’s a crossword in a British paper. BOBBY PIN, MEDICARE, TRASH…

  41. I shot too early on “shoot” and had to google things once I worked out it must be “alpha-something”. By my standards, this is still a finish… eventually.

    In defence of Midge Ure’s celebrity status; he co-wrote “Do they know it;s Christmas” which is played every year, is one of the best selling pop singles of all time and kick-started the 80’s charity record phenomnon.
    So he isn’t just a Joe Dolce wannabe.

  42. Yes, the number of cds made this more difficult than it should have been – and some unknown words for me; ALPHASORT and BOBBY PIN.

    I thought that the whole point of a DOCUDRAMA was that it wasn’t necessarily consistent with the truth; the clue is in the name ‘drama’. Midge Ure may have been difficult for some but at least the Midge was capitalised to indicate it was a proper noun. I liked PULSAR for the casual perusal, CAPLET for the family union, and OVERSHOE for the wordplay.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

  43. PS, I don’t think a second anagrind is necessary in the clue for DEATH because a possible solution to an anagram of ‘the said’ is DEATHIS. If the anagram is indicated before a subtraction, in my book it only needs the one indicator (however, at least one crossword editor disagrees!). Conversely, if the subtraction came first, then an anagrind for ‘is’ would have been required.

  44. A bit more of a challenge than yesterday! Held up a bit by the theatrical family and not seeing the Bruin. Great fun.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  45. verbose @3
    I have no idea what happened to 2D CHUNNEL (clue as well as blog) – it was correct in my original text, now restored.

  47. I suppose ALPHASORT is a generic term, whereas a programmer would use a specific one, as Dr.WhatsOn suggests @2

  48. Would probably have taken a while to remember the American BOBBY PIN if it had not featured as an answer on Radio 4 quiz ‘The Third Degree’ yesterday.

  50. ALPHASORT is in Chambers and Wiktionary and in the puzzle because it’s another blend word – ‘Blend of alphabet +? sort’
    I worked in IT and I’ve never heard of it either.

  51. Thanks to Brummie for an enjoyable puzzle with lots of clever clues including CAPLET; BIOPIC and OVERSHOE.
    Thanks to PeterO for the blog.

    [Thanks to Hugh Stephenson re his obituary for Margaret Irvine aka NUTMEG published in the Guardian 6/7/23].

  53. BIOPIC is prone to being mispronounced to rhyme with myopic.
    I’ve never been MIZLED that way myself, though.

  54. Thanks for the blog, very good puzzle with a few head scratches. Well done Larry@5, I have just circled 15 now I have seen your idea. Tablet led me astray for a bit, I was putting U in each space and tabUlet led me to the correct answer.
    A PULSAR is a rotating neutron star , remnant from a supernova explosion , less than2.5 solar masses. Very dense and nearly a black hole. As it rotates the magnetic field causes emission of radio waves from the poles. If they cross the Earth we get regular rapid pulses. Discovered by Jocelyn Bell during her doctorate, she did not get a Nobel Prize, I wonder why?

  55. [AlanC@25 your Number 1 yesterday is noted , now 25-16 , very Pythagorean.
    BROUHAHA is in Elephant Talk by King Crimson. ]

  56. [Roz @54
    I had a few supervisions with Anthony Hewish. He seemed a pleasant chap, so I doubt that he was the reason for the missing Nobel Prize.
    At least it wasn’t that spurious “why didn’t Rosalind Franklin get a Nobel” question!]

  57. Thanks both.

    I never heard of ALPHASORT either. I have to learn to take time with Brummie – it will inevitably reveal itself and to rush is to deprive myself of the pleasure (but there were enough oddball words here – ALPHASORT, AFORETIME, NAEVOID – to ensure that I wasn’t going to complete no matter the time given).

    I can’t see SEASCAPE as being anything more than a not very cryptic definition.

    [PeterO: hate to do it but your parsing of OVERSHOE (while it’s all there) doesn’t quite gel – you need to get the ‘O’ into ‘he’. Forgive impertinence please.]

  58. Thanks both,
    Another person beaten by ‘alphasort’. Not in Chambers or OED afaics. Moreover there is a part of speech mismatch. A-Z is presumably pronounced ‘A to Z’. How is that replaceable with ‘alphasort’. Would a rubric warning of solutions not in recognised dictionaries be appropriate?

  59. Alphalpha @57
    It has been mentioned earlier that an oil (painting) might be a seascape, but it’s loose, as there is no reason why a seascape should be an oil, or an oil a seascape – “perhaps” is being made to work hard!

    Tyngewick @58
    I think there isn’t a part of speech mismatch; an ALPHASORT sorts a file in order from A to Z.

  61. Very surprised to be the first to mention this, but Brummie – in his Cyclops guise – used the 27 across clue, basically word for word, in his Private Eye crossword a couple of issues ago (3d in that one). Seems a touch careless! Still one of my favourite setters, though.

  62. Alphalpha @57
    As I said in the blog, ‘collects’ indicates the envelope. Perhaps I could have avoided confusing you by phrasing the parsing as “An envelope of O in OVERSHE, a charade of OVERS plus ‘he’.” or even “A charade of OVERS plus an envelope …”.

  63. I’d say that Midge Ure is very well known. I’ve heard of him and I try to avoid pop music like the plague!
    Never heard of ALPHASORT or CAPLET, so DNF.

  64. 10a Never thought of “bruin.” I was working on “bear” = “put up with.” Never thought of CAPLET either, not sure I knew the word.

    22a THRASH = party?

    Never heard of Midge Ure. Midge was the name of my first cat when I was four or so.

    Never heard of ALPHASORT either.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

  65. muffin @59: I think you are over complicating the clue! SEASCAPE can mean either a painting of a marine scene (oil perhaps) or the view from a ship (to be seen from ocean liner). ‘Oil’ can mean ‘oil painting’, as here – the ‘perhaps’ is because other artistic media are available, ie definition by example. No heavy lifting required, and with a surface alluding to oceanic pollution.

  66. Thanks PeterO, especially for the note on chuck = tap which was new to me, as was NAEVOID although the obvious contender once all crossers appeared. My only grumble was the definition of 10a – i am no fan of BRUNCH (see Lemmy’s autobiography for a summary dismissal of the very concept) and it features very low down my list of synonyms for food – though I did like the tricky wordplay. Also liked CAPLET; SCOOT; THRASH and BRITPOP in the same puzzle; and copper used two ways, thanks Brummie.

  68. I am an ex-programmer who knew the word ALPHASORT but didn’t remember. Thought SEASCAPE and DOCUDRAMA a tad flimsy and surrogate an doubtful anagram indicator.
    However plenty of good stuff.
    Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  69. Agree with those who thought SEASCAPE a fine dd. CHUNNEL is a good clue, though I work on Channel Tunnel related matters and strongly dislike seeing this contraction ever used! Like others, not keen on DOCUDRAMA but overall thanks to Brummie for a fair and diverting puzzle.

  70. Too many loose and iffy definitions for me today for this Brummie offering to be considerrd
    enjoyable. Just didn’t know ALPHASORT, so a dnf. Had bunged in DOCUDRAMA with a bit of a shrug early on, the same could be said for BIOPIC…a bit of a harrumphing day all round with the rain pouring down outside during my holiday week in the Lake District.

  71. muffin @65: Not at all. The construction is syntactically equivalent to ‘Watercolour perhaps….’ No double duty whatsoever, but I have come round to the view that it is a clever extended single cryptic definition.

  74. I’ll jadd my name to those with 30-40+ years of experience in programming/IT/Comput[er/ing] Science who’ve never heard of ALPHASORT.

  75. Sagittarius @29: yes, I tried ERSTWHILE first, then some crossers resisted, so I found AFORESAID to be a yet cleverer solution, until another crosser resisted, so I settled for the third best solution, which turned out to be the correct one.

  78. I don’t know if I’m too late tonight. My usual plea for guidance.

    I have 4d, 7d and the first half of 25a.

    Is this hard today?

    I cannot see a way into any other clues.

  79. Steffen @78: to assist with the remainder of 25A, the number of deliveries must be at least twelve.

  81. Sound advice from Arjay@80. Clunky is a good word, and would have gone down well in this grid.

    I got as far as ALPHAS_O_T before giving up. There’s not so much a theme as a leitmotif of obscure and made up words clued very loosely in the expectation that solvers will be familiar enough with the solutions to not need much in the way of a clue.

    I find a crumb of comfort in that the IT contingent were largely unaware of ALPHASORT. It would have been a dnf for me anyway, as I had TABLET (Here’s a pill!) and couldn’t find the reserves to go back and look for a different word where the insertion of a U would work.

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  82. Not one of the most satisfying puzzles, in my opinion. If “surrogate” is an acceptable anagrind, it’s hard to imagine a word that wouldn’t be.

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