Guardian Cryptic 29,128 by Picaroon

72 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,128 by Picaroon”

1. I noticed BISH a month or three ago so I can’t say it’s new now.
   I really enjoyed a lot of the answers and Everton get another mention but we haven’t had wingers for ages sadly.
   Thanks both

2. Tim @1 do you like the tea from Goodison Park

3. Oops should be team

4. Thanks Picaroon for a stellar crossword that revealed itself bit by bit in a most pleasant manner. My top picks were SPUTNIK, SEA MONSTER, IBSEN, EYEFUL, PITON, and LICHI. DIPSOS was new to me but easily discerned from the wordplay; it never ceases to amaze me the vast number of words and phrases Brits have for drunks or for intoxication in general. Thanks manehi for the blog.

5. Thanks, Picaroon for an excellent puzzle and manehi for yet another superb blog!
   Liked SOYBEAN (been here. Let’s hear from others what they hear!) SEA MONSTER (nicely stitched together), TSAR (A lovely ‘play’ful surface hiding ‘the terrible’), EYEFUL (I fully see the brilliance of a towering personality!) and PITON (Rock-solid. The TIP was good enough to crack…)!

6. thanks for the blog and the puzzle!

   I resisted GAP=clothes store for a long time, being imprinted by “The Gap” forever. but apparently wiki approves of just Gap.

7. Thanks Picaroon & manehi. As usual, an enjoyable solve, with an abundance of smiles.

   I couldn’t really get my head around JACK-IN-THE-BOX, despite being convinced it was correct, and coming here hasn’t helped much. I’d heard of a seamstress, but not a seamster, but I suppose there must always have been male ones. Never heard of BISH; Collins says it’s British slang; I had entered BASH, thinking it might be a blunder. (It was!) The clothes shop GAP eluded me. And LICHI is a spelling I may have encountered but didn’t remember; I was too busy trying to put a W into L-ONE, or even L-ACE.

   Now it’s over to Picaroon’s alter ego in the FT …

8. Thanks to Picaroon for the puzzle, which I got through eventually, and to Manehi for an excellent, very clear blog.
   I get the impression that Picaroon is one of those setters that is venerated, and we’re not allowed to criticise, but I found some of the clues a bit iffy.

9. Thanks Picaroon and manehi
   Lots of great clues. I laughed at IBSEN. Too many other favs to mention.
   I did think DEFAME was a bit unfair, though. Yes, Fed does occasionally set puzzles in the Guardian, but he is not a frequent contributor, so one would probably have to be a regular solver to have come across him.

10. Picaroon never fails to deliver superb puzzles, and this one provided a very pleasant start to my day. Thanks to Geoff Down Under for tipping me off that there is a Buccaneer puzzle in today’s FT. A double treat.

11. Picaroon on top form today, with some wittily disguised definitions, raising a smile when I spotted them.

    As usual, I go along with manehi’s favourites, with the addition of 1ac JACK-IN-THE-BOX, 19ac MITTERAND, 25ac LETHARGIC, 27ac ENTERPRISING, 2dn CHAPERON, and 16dn SEASONING.

    Crispy @8 – a number of contributors have acknowledged Picaroon as one of their favourite setters but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to identify the clues you found ‘iffy’.

    Thanks as ever to Picaroon and to manehi. Now for Buccaneer – a double treat indeed!

12. I got JACK-IN-THE-BOX straight away and thought”Here we Go£, but it was nearly a here we stop. I got another 6 or7 in the first pass and struggled thereafter. Last one in was BISH with me wondering about Bs and Hs. But I got there in the end. enjoyed the struggle and have too many likes to list.
    Thanks both

    Tony @4 DIPSO is short for dipsomaniac.

13. Nice to see Steffi at 17d – Her husband appears elsewhere today.

14. Great puzzle. JACK-IN-THE-BOX was a write-in from the enumeration and I managed most of the top half without much difficulty – apart from DIPSO, which was my LOI. The lower half I found rather trickier.

    Many good constructions with plausible surfaces; ‘cakes’ as an inclusion indicator is well chosen. Favourites for me were: SEA MONSTER, MITTERAND, LETHARGIC, SEASONING, PITON, LICHI.

    TUMESCENT really means ‘becoming swollen’, ‘swelling up’, with the inchoative (aka inceptive) ‘-scent’ ending; just as ‘senescent’ means ‘becoming old’. ‘Swollen’ would more properly be ‘tumid’ – but of course Chambers lists the meaning Picaroon has used.

    I agree with muffin @9 that DEFAME was a bit cliquey – I was Fed up with it.

    Many thanks to the Pirate and manehi

15. Did anyone else try SEAWEED, ingredient in miso soup, for the spoonerism in SOYBEAN? I could almost justify it.

    TSAR was mean. Not because I didn’t know the football player, but the misdirection in the definition and ‘rebounds’. Grateful for the headers though.

    LICHI also tricky. A bit like GDU@7, my first attempt, was – – WI- .. Came up with KIWIS, wondering what was the large fruit called a KIS? As others have said, I know LICHI by its other name LYCHEE.

    Liked PITON. EYEFUL, enough said, or leave well alone.

16. I loved ‘Charon’ for ‘ferry operator’ — I doggedly tried to make CalMac work.

17. … but (Crispy@8) I did think defining INFRA as ‘later on’ was well iffy.

18. SPUTNIK 1 and SPUTNIK 2
    Went to bed with the Asian flu…

    Well, that fairly accurately dates my primary school days to 1957, when it was current in our playground (and my mum, my dad and I all had the Asian flu simultaneously).

19. An outstanding crossword full of smoothly ingenious clueing. The most consistently appealing of the Guardian’s current setters which, considering the depth of the competition, is high praise. Thanks to Picaroon and Manehi.

20. This was the more difficult of today’s two piratical crosswords but equally enjoyable

    Bish always takes me back to reading Anthony Buckeridge’s Jennings books as Jennings was always making a bit of a bish of things

    Many thanks to Picaroon and Manehi

21. Enjoyed this. The top half went swimmingly. I liked JACK IN THE BOX, and CHAPERON (more commonly seen in its feminine form with an E on the end, and it took me ages to remember the ferryman’s name). But the bottom half took much longer with some tricky parsing (LETHARGIC for one, and I spent time trying to make LICHI be KIWIS). DIPSOS defeated me completely.

    I’m no football fan, but Brentford are my local team so I know about Ivan Toney (not that I actually needed to). I agree with muffin@9 that being asked to know setter=FED is a bit unfair. BISH is old public school slang, I think – I just about remembered it from girls’ school fiction in my youth.

22. Tough but fair. Too many favs to mention. NHO BISH but it is in Ch… Also DNK sauce as a synonym for booze. And I think a dipsomaniac is someone who likes their drink rather than actually craves it ie not quite a full blown alcoholic. Well, I would say that, wouldn’t I?
    Thanks Picaroon and Manehi

23. Iffy clues, in my opinion:
    INFRA
    BISH
    EYEFUL
    SEASONING
    DEFAME

24. Christopher Marlowe on Helen of Troy in The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus:
    “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships | And burnt the topless towers of ILIUM?”

25. Thanks manehi for the “radio engineer”, i got very lucky with a guess at ILIUM (purely as there used to be a Lloyd’s syndicate ILLIUM and it sounded plausible for each definition, confirmed with google) and BISH from wordplay/crossers, don’t remember the word despite having being an avid Jennings fan so thanks for that note crypticsue. I asked myself whether a SOMMELIER is a waiter but I suppose he has to hang around while you plough through 90 pages desperately searching for something you can afford so fair enough. Favourite LICHI for tricky wordplay and a new spelling but crystal clear in the end, and plenty more v good of course, thanks Picaroon.

26. SOYBEAN (&boy seen) and EYEFUL (& Eiffel)
    Looks like these are two sets of genuine homophones going by the absence of adverse comments so far…

27. Tough and enjoyable. Top half was easier for me.

    New for me: LICHI (as in new spelling of lychee, and I liked the clue a lot); PITON.

    Thanks, both.

28. I was another who, bashed in BASH, my only BISH today. Appropriate, I suppose. At least I dragged ILIUM out of somewhere!

    Loved the ferry operator and Wilhelm I.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi

29. muffin@9
    DEFAME
    Arrived at DEFAME first and then parsed it. Though FED was turning the other way, I didn’t have any problem recognizing him.
    Your point is fair though.

30. paddymelon@15
    SOYBEAN
    Curious to know what the Spooneristic counterpart of SEAWEED was!

31. Crispy@23 On the other hand 1 down was a bit more than “iffy”. I echo Eileen’s favourites.

32. KVa
    WEE (child/boy) SEED (dialect seen?)???

33. I loved this, though it has taken me much of the morning..on and off. The only one I couldn’t get was BISH. So near but so far. I especially liked EYEFUL, SEASONING, and MITTERRAND (I recently read an excellent bio by Philip Short). Am not sure why Crispy@23 thinks the first two are “iffy”. In a crowded field I think Picaroon may be my favourite setter. With thanks to manehi for the blog.

34. Excellent although I must admit to never having heard the term BISH?

35. muffin@32
    Didn’t know ‘WEE’ meant child. Thanks.
    ‘SEED’ is more interesting. Possibly a dialect. Or that’s why paddymelon says ‘could almost justify’.

36. [I’m not being entirely serious, but I have heard “a wee” as short for a wee thing. “Seed” is quite common in some dialects – Devon, for example. “I seed him yesterday”]

37. Crispy@23
    EYEFUL
    iffy because you don’t think EYEFUL and Eiffel sound alike?
    Or due to some other reason?

38. muffin@36
    Noted. Thanks.

39. Thanks for the blog, pretty good overall, I liked CHARON in 2D , SEAMSTER in 13AC , LIFT-OFF was very neat . DEFAME gets a severe Paddington stare. A few clues had far too many words.

40. I’m always enthused when I see the puzzle is by Picaroon, my favourite setter. This one was great, if tricky. Wonderful misdirection as ever. Favourites were CHAPERON, JIFFY BAG and SEASONING. Many thanks to P & m.

41. Took a while and had to come here to get “new input” in sputnik. Sometimes you just don’t see it. Thanks both.

42. Vaguely recalled some song where some singer sings CHAPTER ONE instead of CHAPERONE. Tracked it down here:
    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/love-letters-mark-steyn/
    ‘Bonus Gershwin story: Years ago, Sarah Vaughan recorded a very minor Gershwin song, “Aren’t You Kind Of Glad We Did?”, which includes the lines:
    “Socially, I’ll be an outcast | Obviously, we dined alone | On my good name there will be doubt cast | With never a sign of any CHAPERONE…”
    Miss Vaughan, sight-reading without her glasses perhaps, sang “With never a sign of any CHAPTER ONE”, which not only doesn’t rhyme but makes no sense whatsoever. Yet in a roomful of producers, engineers, conductor and orchestra, not one person said “What the hell are you on about?” Decades later, it’s still there on the record.’ (The offending bit is at 2:28 – in case you’re in a hurry).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHe5-86DxJE
    And I didn’t see any [j]IFFY clues anywhere. Thanks P&m

43. Funny how the mind works. I looked at 1a and had no idea about it, so wondered if I could get any of the crossers to help. I got ONION which was fairly straightforward, and just from that O and the enumeration the answer leapt out at me.

    A really enjoyable puzzle as usual from Picaroon who is brilliant at producing witty and misleading surfaces. Favourites were SEA MONSTER, LIFT OFF and LICHI as well as the aforementioned JACK-IN-THE-BOX.

    (MITTERRAND made me think that someone should write a soundalike clue for him somehow involving a taxi driver leaving the…)

    Many thanks Picaroon and manehi.

44. [… “What a careless taxi driver might leave, it’s said, for ex-president (10)”]

45. Iffy clues:
    BISH – yet another obscurity
    INFRA – other than the term INFRA DIG, an obscurity
    EYEFUL – 1) It’s pronounced EYE-FUL, and the Parisian Tower is not pronounced like that (don’t even get me started on the French Pronunciation); 2) Somewhat of a strange choice of engineer- perhaps an indication of nationality
    As I said, these are my opinions. Others are available.

46. INFRA is also a legal term referring to something to be settled later.

    This went well for me for a Friday, but I still needed a few parsings explained, notably BISH which is very clever once seen. Thank you Picaroon and manehi.

47. Didn’t we have BISH in another puzzle quite recently, or have I dreamt it? I can’t find it in the archive, however….

48. Gervase @47 – if we didn’t, I had the same dream as you. I even remember comments about Jennings.

49. Crispy@45: You are right in that French natives would not pronounce Eiffel as EYEFUL..but English English speakers, and I assume Americans and Australians, most certainly would, and do. The French have not only a different pronunciation but a different spelling for, say, London. So I think this is fair…

50. BISHoprics from Pasquale about a month ago. BISH in the wordplay.

51. Gervase – re BISH:
    See your comment @15 – and Shanne @17 here:
    https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/06/21/guardian-cryptic-29102-by-pasquale/
    (Sees what’s wrong — nothing right in illustrations (10))

52. Apologies for the crossing, Roz.

53. Great fun, thanks, Picaroon. I completely agree with your assessment, manehi – “tough and enjoyable” – thanks for the blog.

    Roz @50/Eileen @51 – You beat me to it. I was pretty sure it was Pasquale and was just about to post the same link.

54. Thanks Roz, Eileen and Widdersbel. I had scanned quickly for the word as a solution, rather than part of the wordplay.

55. Two halves. Las night I got almost all of the top half and almost none of the bottom. It didn’t help that on first pass I put “typo” where BISH ought to be.

    Couldn’t parse MITTERRAND, GRAFFITI, BUCKLE, DEFAME (forgot about Fed) or STRAFE.

    Didn’t think of “cig” in 25a (LETHARGIC), and couldn’t com

    e up with a word ending in “gaf.”

    27 a makes me think of the pun from Pirates of Penzance “When the enterprising burglar’s not a-burgling.”

    SEAMSTER isn’t necessarily male, it could be just generic, like “songster.”

    Nuntius@49 Would anybody not hear errors in “The Eyeful Tower is an eiffel”? One second syllable is pronounced “full” and gets a good deal of stress, the other is pronouced “f’l” and gets none.

    Thankis to Picaroon and manehi.

56. Pdm @15, kinda liked wee seed as Spooner’s child. [Had a student who made miso soup, katsuobushi dashi… exsquisite!]

57. Valentine @55
    I think a lot of people – though not careful ennunciaters – would pronouncew the second syllable of both eyeful and Eiffel as a schwa.

58. I don’t know about Crispy’s list of “iffy clues”, I was a bit iffy myself today. I had very little besides the obvious ILIUM in the bottom half for ages, but all of the top half except EYEFUL. I wasn’t sure about the pun indicator: ‘for the radio’. Usually we see ‘on the radio’, ie there’s a bit of static or poor reception which makes us mis-hear, but ‘for’ seems to imply it’s been deliberately mispronounced.

    For 18a I was looking for HASH to be the answer, with the changes indicating BASH as a starting point? But when 18d began with B I couldn’t disengage enough from my first thoughts to see B-IS-H so a dnf for me.

    At one early stage I was looking at SHACK as a possible for ‘shanty’ which made that one harder to get my head around when 27a quite clearly didn’t end in a K! Who needs a setter when I can mislead myself so effortlessly.

    Thanks to Picaroon anyway, and thanks to manehi for some very well explained parsing.

59. muffin@57 No doubt there are such people; I’m speaking for the rest of us.

60. Lichi is often pronounced leechee in the US.

61. The word EYEFUL is more likely to be pronounced with a short U sound in the second syllable, whereas Eiffel is almost always followed by Tower, meaning that the vowel sound in “fel” is unstressed and therefore a schwa, as muffin said @57. (Obviously the French way of saying Eiffel is not relevant here.)

    I would say that Eiffel is a pretty close rhyme with rifle, in fact, but the punning EYEFUL is irresistable – isn’t there a joke about someone looking up at the Eiffel Tower when a passing pigeon gave him an eyeful? 🙂

62. I also was one of those not familiar with BISH and guessed BASH at first. I am surprised that nobody else made the mistake of guessing POINT instead of PITON. I took “around” as an indicator that the word would be an anagram of “no tip” and thought POINT made sense (not being familiar with the word PITON).
    I nevertheless enjoyed this and thanks to Picaroon and manehi.

63. Worworcrossol @2 3 well yes the clue’s in the name. In my rush to be first last night I forgot to say how much I enjoyed the Ivan Toney clue. Lots.

64. As others have said, this was a real game-of-two-halves with a Monday feel at the top, and much spicier below.

    Really good stuff from Picaroon, though.

    My tiny quibblette: it is necessary for the surface, but “upright character joining navy” wins the world record for obscurest way of clueing “in” for me!

    Thanks to manehi also.

65. PS Tim@1 – you have no wingers, but plenty of whingers 😉

    Sorry, couldn’t resist. Greetings from the other side of Stanley Park!

66. Fun(?) fact – DEC defined a jiffy as 1/60s in the US and 1/50s in Europe, for those of their computers that had clocks that used mains frequency as the time source. (The DEC10 was an example.)

67. I’m American and have never heard CAPITOL used as a synonym for legisture.

68. That’s exactly what I was thinking about SEAWEED (for SOYBEAN) muffin@32,36, KVa@35 and gif@56.
    I’m with sheffield hatter@61 (LOL), and crispy and Valentine about the pronunciation of EYEFUL.

69. Found the last two in LYCHI and PITON devilishly difficult to finally arrive at. But some lovely clues that rewarded my very late to the party appearance yesterday/today, LETHARGIC and MITTERRAND to name but two…now what has Paul to offer today, catching up with the rest of you solvers gradually.

70. My views on pun clues:

    1. The solution to the clue should be obviously correct once parsed. The solver should have no doubt that this was what the setter intended. (This applies to all clues, not just pun clues.)

    2. Both sides of the pun should have reasonable readings in which the stress pattern and the stressed syllables agree.

    2a. The unstressed syllables in those readings need not match exactly. In any case, I think most people tend not to be aware of exactly how they vocalise any particular unstressed syllable unless they’ve paid specific attention to it. We can think we pronounce something a certain way, but often we overlay our knowledge of the spelling onto what we hear ourselves saying, and then do not hear ourselves accurately. We overlay because that’s what our brains do.

    3. A little bit of mischief adds to, rather than subtracts from, my pleasure. A twinkle in the eye, or ear, of the setter brings a smile to my face and puts a spring in my step.

71. Thx to Picaroon [Second on my list of favourite setters] for a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle.
    LOI was Eyeful, which was a bit of a struggle but got there in the end.
    Thanks to manehi for the blog

72. From a CSE student’s research paper years ago: The people of Paris were amazed that, wherever they were in the city, they could see Monsieur Eiffel’s latest erection.

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