Thank you to Jack. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Obey guards united by lives changed by force (12)
COMPULSIVELY : COMPLY(to obey/to act in accordance with a wish or command) containing(guards) [ U(abbrev. for “united”) + anagram of(… changed) LIVES ].
Defn: …/by an irresistible urge.
8. Told story about wine bottles (7)
RELATED : Reversal of(… about) TALE(a story/fiction) contained in(… bottles) RED(short for “red wine”).
9. This author will say almost everybody is wrong (7)
ILLEGAL : I’LL(this author – using the self-referential pronoun – will) + EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example/say) + last letter deleted from(almost) “all”(everybody).
11. Learner failing to finish book bothered facilitator (7)
ENABLER : Anagram of(… bothered) [ “Learner” minus its last letter(failing to finish) + B(abbrev. for “book”) ].
12. Conspicuous–looking daggers (7)
GLARING : Double defn: 1st: …/very obvious, as in “a … mistake”); and 2nd: …/staring fiercely.
13. Choose course of graduate lectures (5)
ELECT : Hidden in(course of) “graduate lectures“.
14. Step up to change side associated with undesirable elements (9)
INCLEMENT : “increment”(a step up/an increase) with its “r”(abbrev. for “right”) changed to “l”(abbrev. for “left”)(to change side).
Defn: …/refering to unpleasant weather.
16. Relatively unimportant half? (5,4)
SMALL BEER : How you might describe a “half”/a half pint of beer.
19. Generous bribe failing to retain All Blacks (5)
NOBLE : “nobble”(to bribe/to influence by underhand means) minus one, not all, of its “b”(abbrev. for “black”)(failing to retain All Blacks).
21. What helps forge work of Nobel laureate? (7)
BELLOWS/BELLOW’S : Double defn: 1st: A device for blowing air into a fire at a forge, say, a blacksmith’s workshop; and 2nd: Of/belonging to Saul …, Nobel Prize winner/laureate for Literature in 1976.
23. Ambiguous rule can get broken (7)
UNCLEAR : Anagram of(… can get broken) RULE CAN.
24. Stud may enter this noble order of chivalry (7)
EARLOBE : EARL(a British nobleman) + OBE(abbrev. for “Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”, an order of chivalry/an honour conferred on individuals for their contributions in specific fields).
Defn: …, ie. a part of one’s ear.
25. Clash with dog chewing end of lead (7)
COLLIDE : COLLIE(a breed of sheepdog originally from Scotland) containing(chewing) last letter of(end of) “lead“.
26. C for Communist? (4-2-6)
LEFT-OF-CENTRE : 1st letter of(LEFT-OF) “CENTRE” = “C“.
Down
1. Local criminal regularly goes for artwork (7)
COLLAGE : Anagram of(… criminal) LOCAL + 1st and 3rd letters of(regularly) “goes“.
2. Sailor‘s fate depending on ship’s officer (7)
MATELOT : LOT(one’s fate/destiny) placed below(depending on/controlled by?) MATE(an officer on a merchant ship reporting to the master).
3. Highlight one name in several foreign articles (9)
UNDERLINE : [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + N(abbrev. for “name”) ] contained in(in) UN,DER,LE(articles in, respectively, French, German and French grammar).
4. Support for member of cast (5)
SLING : Double defn: 1st: …, in this case, an injured arm; and 2nd: …/to fling.
5. Very unfortunate time of life for Hamlet (7)
VILLAGE : V(abbrev. for “very”) + ILL(unfortunate/unfavourable, as in “the ill effects of …”) + AGE(time of life/measure of the length of time one has lived).
Well misdirected by the tragic Shakespearean Prince.
6. Green energy originally extracted from explosive fuel (7)
LIGNITE : 1st letters, respectively, of(… originally) “Green energy” deleted from(extracted from) “gelignite”(a high explosive).
7. Current bishop upset believers incapable of rehabilitation? (12)
IRREVERSIBLE : I(symbol for electric current in physics) + RR(abbrev. for “Right Reverend”, title given to a bishop) + anagram of(upset) BELIEVERS.
10. Sunny day warmed up around middle of afternoon (12)
LIGHTHEARTED : LIGHT(daylight/day) + HEATED(warmed up) containing(around) middle letter of(middle of) “afternoon“.
Defn: …, describing a person who is cheery and bright.
15. Snubbed couple getting put up by relative is a sore point (9)
CARBUNCLE : Reversal of(… getting put up) “brace”(a pair/couple of something) minus its last letter(Snubbed …) + UNCLE(a relative).
Defn: …/a red, swollen and painful cluster of boils.
17. Great shot capturing Los Angeles as a whole (2,5)
AT LARGE : Anagram of(… shot) GREAT containing(capturing) LA(abbrev. for “Los Angeles”).
Defn: …/in general.
18. Take care of appearance away from home (4,3)
LOOK OUT : LOOK(appearance/how someone or something appears) + OUT(away from home/not in).
Defn: …/beware.
19. Pet allowed to get small collar? (7)
NECKLET : NECK(to pet/to engage in kissing and cuddling) + LET(allowed/given permission).
20. Shortcut favoured by busy workers? (7)
BEELINE : Cryptic defn: The route that could be the most used by busy workers/bees.
22. Author keeps first of his books here? (5)
SHELF : SELF(author/writer refering to his or her identity) containing(keeps) 1st letter of(first of) “his“.
Thank you to Jack for another enjoyable crossword, although I do have to ask what the L is going on ? 😉
Thanks also to Scchua
Thanks Jack and scchua
In 22 I think the reference is to the author Will Self.
Good puzzle. Favourites were 12a, 14a, 5d and 15d. NHO small beer, and wasn’t sure whether “work” fitted into the first or second half of the clue for 21a. Thanks scchua and Jack.
I don’t think I’ve seen too many by this setter and it took me a few minutes to get into the zone. After that, however, things went fairly smoothly. Agree with Simon S@2, the author is Will Self. And I’m not convinced that AT LARGE is synonymous with “in general”. Largely, perhaps…
Thanks to Jack and scchua.
This was surprisingly easy for a Friday! The G thread people thought it was wonderful but I was slightly underwhelmed. Imposter syndrome perhaps, as I DNF yesterday. Thanks both.
Well spotted, crypticsue! I, of course, had missed it but I was very chuffed at having been able to solve the puzzle.
I have fourteen tick, so obviously too many to list.
Many thanks, Jack, for a most enjoyable end to the week and to scccha foe the blog.
I did this in two shifts. I was getting slower and slower, so took a break, after which it fell into place more readily. Hadn’t heard of Saul Bellow, nor MATELOT, which my dictionary says is better known in Britain.
Quite enjoyable with quite a few smiles. Thanks Jack & scchua.
14a is ambiguous surely. The L/R is in an unchecked cell, so could be either.
Enjoyable puzzle with a good range of clue devices. I particularly liked ILLEGAL, VILLAGE, LIGHTHEARTED and SHELF – all good constructions with splendidly coherent surfaces.
I wasn’t sure that ‘by force’ was quite synonymous with COMPULSIVELY, but it’s near enough. The clue for UNCLEAR is a nice construction, although ‘gets broken’ would fit the wordplay better but ruin the surface – ‘get broken’ can be read as an imperative but is awkwardly placed. However, this is a very minor quibble in an excellent crossword.
Thanks to S&B
A more general comment from me. Who else thinks that the Guardian crosswords are getting easier? It’s not consistent, some remain intractable, but it is my strong impression that difficult offerings are becoming fewer and further between, and I wonder whether this is a deliberate policy.
(Before anyone asks, it definitely isn’t that I’m getting better at them. I plateaued decades ago…)
I agree that the SELF is most likely Will. Crypticsue @1: Well spotted. A most unusual theme!
I assume Jack is also Serpent/Basilisk. He often used to have crosswords where the black squares contain several instances of a letter (L here). Which appears in every solution. Thanks Crypticsue for spotting this, which I missed.
Hovis @12
Jack is indeed Serpent/Basilisk, which is why I was chuffed!
Some very deft wordplay to enjoy here – especially the All Blacks trick
My last three in were my faves – probably not a coincidence – LEFT OF CENTRE, NOBBLE, & INCLEMENT although I did originally biff in increment which kind of works. sort of
Cheers J&S
Rather barrelled my way through this, unfamiliar with Jack’s style. Liked LIGNITE. Last few in LIGHTHEARTED, NOBLE and GLARING, finally, with a bit of a shrug, no more. Many thanks Jack and Scchua for the entertainment this morning. (Just been looking at an 1881 Census page with College misspelt as COLLAGE by the enumerator…)
Good crossword with Jack’s precise cluing.
I liked the C-communist, the nobbled NOBLE, and the surfaces for EARLOBE and CARBUNCLE.
Thanks Jack and scchua.
Scchua: your explanation of 26a LEFT-OF-CENTRE is just too cryptic for me, I’m afraid. I cannot see how the solution comes from that clue. Could anyone spell it out for me in baby steps? (I biffed it, of course.)
…Gervase@11…I thought the writer was referring to Will SELF too…
… and thanks to cs@1 for the theme.
ps@17; it’s the leftmost letter of Centre.
It didn’t help that I biffed BEEHIVE for BEELINE and couldn’t work out the wordplay.
Clever crossword and theme (which I missed). I wonder if ambiguity with 14 was deliberate, to be resolved by the theme? There were some lovely novel clues which U found quite refreshing and not too difficult. Thanks Jack and scchua
Contrarian @ 8 I don’t think so
The natural split of the clue between wordplay and definition is “ Step up to change side // associated with undesirable elements”.
For ‘increment’ to be the solution that split would need to be “ Step up to // change side associated with undesirable elements”.
Occam’s razor…
Sorry, don’t know where that U came from instead of I
Robi@20: Aha! OK, OK. Thank you.
I agree with the previous commenter (Charles@4) that AT LARGE doesn’t seem to me to mean the same as “in general”. But there were some most enjoyable clues to be had here: the post-Brexit UNDERLINE was a cutie.
pserve_p2 @17. For some reason, although I sussed what the clue was about, I bunged in WEST-of-centre and only saw my mistake when I did a check all.
Anyone else have BEEHIVE (a haircut) for 20d? I agree that BEELINE is better.
Blaise@26: Hmmmm.. is “west-of-centre” an idiomatic phrase? I see it works for the wordplay, but I wouldn’t think it means “communist”.
Contrarian@14 : the theme resolves the ambiguity – I failed to see it, so got that wrong.
Or as Robi said@20, the Leftmost Letter of the Leftist.
So many good cLues, and thanks to crypticsue@1, for the revELation.
Only quibLet I have is, how many peopLe these days, apart from cryptic soLvers, know RR for Bishop in IRREVERSIBLE?
UNDERLINE is very good., but again it’s in the domain of a cLassicaL education.
Lighthearted LOI.
Yeah TimC@21 and poc@27. But I knew that a BEEHIVE wasn’t a short cut in hairstyling terms.
Yes, I had BEEHIVE. Only just noticed after reading this that it was wrong. It works though, doesn’t it? It’s a cut, but perhaps not short?
Paddymelon, we crossed.
I agree with Charles @10. So many clues in this one, for example, construct the desired word in segments, using familiar conventions – rather than showing the wit and bravura flourishes of (say) a Paul. And I don’t really trust a setter who thinks “at large” means “as a whole”…
Not sure how I got to the end of this one, but managed in the end. Liked several, especially ILLEGAL, CARBUNCLE, COLLAGE and BEELINE. I found the surface of some to be a bit clunky e.g. All Blacks rather than both blacks is an unnatural way to describe two ‘b’s, but it works in crosswordland I suppose. And not sure what 1A clue was about. Does AT LARGE mean ‘as a whole’? I think of it as meaning out and about, unconstrained. But perhaps I am just in a nit-picking mood today. Thanks Jack and scchua.
[Charles @10: You may be right, though these things are very subjective, and I’m sure it isn’t a deliberate policy. Certainly I find fewer Guardian puzzles these days that take me more than one session to solve, apart from the odd recalcitrant clue. However, I’m not sure that we reach a plateau in our solving ability. The rate of improvement slows down, certainly, but I think we continue to get better as long as all the neurones are still firing. I’ve always found Jack/Serpent/Basilisk puzzles to be difficult (although these days I rarely tackle other than Guardian crosswords) but this one fell out quite easily for me. Am I getting better, or is Jason C getting softer? 🙂 ]
[Not that I ever had a beehive. Eek. Complete with lacquer. And who knows what hiding in there? Just a couple of years before me. I came in with the ”Let it all hang down” hippie era, and haven’t got over it yet. They say that women hang on to the hairstyle they had at the time of their happiest memories.]
Re: AT LARGE = “a a whole” – it’s in Chambers – “In full”
“All Blacks rather than both blacks is an unnatural way to describe two ‘b’s” – yes – it’s misdirection!
Chambers:
at large
1 At liberty
2 At random
3 In general
4 In full
5 Representing the whole area, not a division (US)
‘At liberty’ may be the most common usage of the phrase, but it isn’t the only one.
paddymelon @10 – anyone involved in churches in any way knows RR or Rt Rev for bishop, along with some other arcane terms. I think RR before B usually as I’ve done more church work than chess playing – sn actual paying job for a while.
I found that surprisingly quick for a Serpent/Basilisk too.
Thank you to Jack and sschua.
Thanks Jack for a tough run out today, and scchua for the excellent blog. Shattered to hear that the Cryptic is getting easier as I’ve been on a terrific run for the last 3 weeks or so and thought my skills were improving!
Very entertaining even without spotting all the Ls. Plenty of ticks, but I think my favourite was VILLAGE for the brilliant “Very unfortunate time of life for Hamlet”.
[Slightly off-topic, but I was just musing on our setter’s name and on Valentine’s comment the other day about how “buster” usually appears in the vocative singular. “Jack” is used in a similar way in a lot of American songs:
Well if you ever plan to motor west
Jack, take my way, it’s the highway that’s the best
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack,
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Go back Jack, do it again
Hit the road, Jack...]
BEELINE
Etymology (Wiktionary)
From bee +? line, due to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course, originally an Americanism.
If you look at the origin, the clue’s crypticity index drops substantially!
Funny world this puzzloponglosphere!
Great puzzle but i dived the wrong way in 14.
I like to see Will Self appear in these(or John Self from “Money”)
Thanks J and sschua
Having not quite found the setter’s wavelength on previous occasions, this is my favourite Jack so far. I had a worryingly blank grid after the first pass through but those crossers were enough to set me on my way to a smooth and complete solve. I thought the surfaces were excellent on the whole and the cluing was pithily done. RELATED, GLARING, SMALL BEER, NOBLE, COLLIDE, VILLAGE (a refreshing treatment of a crossword chestnut), CARBUNCLE, NECKLET and SHELF were my favourites.
Thanks Jack and scchua
I tried to work Will Self into ILLEGAL (This writer Will, say) so it was nice to get to SHELF.
Tough and enjoyable.
Favourites: LEFT-OF-CENTRE, VILLAGE.
New for me: LIGNITE, NOBBLE = bribe (19ac).
Thanks, both.
If I had spotted the ubiquitous “L” I would have saved myself some time by not bunging in STAGE for 4d.
Never heard of NECKLET but guessed ok. Had INCREMENT which seems jest as valid to me.
Thanks both
Gervase@36 Yes, it’s all very subjective and there are of course occasions when I struggle with something that others find to be a breeze. But like you, I’m finding fewer and fewer of the Graun’s offerings take more than one session to solve, and more and more that last no longer than a coffee. Paul and Picaroon seem to maintain a fairly consistent (and in the former case, consistently picaresque) level but I some of the other familiar faces seem to have decided to give us a break.
Charles @10 and others interested, I have put my thoughts on General Discussion regarding Guardian difficulty.
Thanks for the blog, really good puzzle, I missed the L theme , think it has been used in the FT before. VILLAGE and NOBEL very good. Hamlet is in the FT today, not a spoiler, he is not a village there.
Roz@51 Thanks, good idea.
Spotted the unusual ‘L’ theme at the very end, so no use while solving.
Three top ticks VILLAGE, CARBUNCLE, EARLOBE.
Thanks to Jack for a wonderfully elegant and fun puzzle, thanks also to scchua for the blog.
I still have NO idea what’s meant by the ‘L’ theme but as one who rarely, if ever, spots a theme I’m not too concerned.
KateE@55 Every solution has at least one letter L in it.
KateE@53 The L “theme” is just that every single answer contains the letter L. I didn’t spot it.
Thank you for a pleasant evening, Jack and scchua. (And for the pictures, scchua.)
Paul, Tutukaka@22 – Yes, of course it has to be INCLEMENT because of the Ls theme. WeLL done!
I left that square blank until right at the end and just guessed – right, luckily.
And WeLL done crypticsue@1 for getting the theme in the first place, and in the first place, too!
Why the ‘ell? – Why the ‘ell not?
There are 8 black L shapes in the grid.
No inner Nina this time?
WeLL done Roz@59!
I did not notice myself first, only after reading Sue@1 and I am sure it has been done in the FT .
Prepositional phrase – AT LARGE
1 (idiomatic) – On the loose; roaming freely; not confined.
2 (obsolete) In full, fully.
3 In general; as a whole.
4 (US, politics, of an election) Having an electorate across multiple districts.
KVa@43 re BEELINE – there’s a longer phrase elsewhere today that means much the same, involving a different creature.
Thought – as others – of Will SELF, but didn’t need to. scchua’s parse is equally valid.
4d SLING “Support for member of cast”
thought there might be an extended def involving a plaster cast?
Paul @22: interesting thought, and if so quite brilliant.
Lots of enjoyable surfaces here. Embarrassed that I failed to solve 10D even with all the crossers in place. Otherwise lots of ufn.
Well done crypticsue and Roz for the l spots. Like some others, I returned to this, this afternoon after a dismal start this morning and fairly flew through it after getting COMPULSIVELY. Amazing how a new pair of eyes work. All my favourites already mentioned – I thought VILLAGE was brilliant.
Ta Jack & scchua.
[Lord Jim@42 – “Take me right back to the track, Jack!”]
Thanks Jack for a splendid crossword. Jack (and his alter egos) remain at the top of my favourite setters’ list and this puzzle reinforces my view. I looked for a nina but I missed the presence of L’s in every answer. Oh well … I ticked many clues including RELATED, ILLEGAL (my clue of the week), INCLEMENT, BELLOWS, UNDERLINE, CARBUNCLE, and SHELF. Thanks scchua for the illustrated blog.
Thank you AlanC but I am not taking the credit, I acknowledge academic priority.
You make a good point about a break , maybe the brain keeps working on it or you stop going down the same blind alleys when you look again .
I always thought it was Saul Below until today, maybe Adrian Belew misled me.
FrankieG @58: and just guessed – right, luckily. Don’t you mean just guessed – left, luckily? 😉
AlanC @68: The technique of switching it off and switching it on again often works with brains as well as computer equipment
For NECKLET – “Pet” = NECK -“No petting” signs – only ever in public swimming pools, as far as I can remember
Roz and Gervase, that makes sense.
PostMark@73 – Nice one! 🙂
i especially liked 12a GLARING where you had to “lift-and-separate” “Conspicuous–looking” by removing the hyphen
and then perform the exact opposite – what should we call it? – “lower-and-combine” – by putting “looking” and “daggers” together to make “looking daggers”
Also the repunctuation of BELLOW’S.
Thanks J&s
Shanne @40, not quite anyone involved in churches. Not so many Non-conformist bishops.
I wonder if anyone else put ALLCOCK for 9ac? It didn’t half slow up the northeast
Yes, yes – Louisa May Allcot. Honestly!
Thought this was a really good. Liked NOBLE and UNDERLINE especially. Having returned to solving in January after a ten year break, the Graun puzzles feel easier to me than they did back then. I don’t think they’ve trended easier during this year though.
Nice one, Jason.
I was another who had STAGE for 4 at first, before ILLEGAL and GLARING sorted that out. Also tried out an unparsed IRREDEEMABLE before seeing the light.
Of course, missed the theme. Does this mean it’s Jack’s 50th puzzle in the Graun??
Thanks, Jack and scchua, especially for the pictures accompanying the blog. I still miss the photo contest (even though I rarely spotted the connections!)
Only the fourth puzzle from Jack I think, maybe the L has another meaning. I am glad we now have this setter in the Guardian .
Thanks both and I enjoyed that.
I’m casting back through old Arachnes at the moment (insomnia) and I thought this was up there with her high standards. I’ll be looking out for Jack again.
I think VILLAGE gave me the best pdm but I wish I’d stuck with the parsing of LIGNITE (thanks sschua) which might have beaten it.
Air-tight clue grammar and strong surfaces: what’s not to like? I wonder if this was Jack’s fiftieth Guardian puzzle? I also wonder if (inter alia) FifteenSquared should invoke a “three gripes and you’re out” policy for bloggers who (seemingly increasingly) post whinges that are trivially and/or solidly rebutted using common sources?
Thanks Jack and scchua
I’m disagreeing with most of the previous posters in thinking there were some unfair clues here. SELF for author is a bit obscure (though that’s how I parsed it); equating “communist” with LEFT OF CENTRE is pretty contentious, I would have thought – the vast majority of people who would consider themselves “left of centre” aren’t communists; capitalising Hamlet is also dodgy.
On the other hand, there were lots of amusing clues too.
ES @ 56
No, it’s his fourth
But he has used this grid before, for an L-themed puzzle in the Indy, if I remember aright.
ES @ 86, not 56 – late-night-finger-trouble syndrome strikes…
@16 Small beer is made from the ‘second running’ of water through the mash, after the first extraction. This results in a wort with lower sugar content and consequently beer with a low alcohol content. And the metaphor.
Thanks to Jack for a very enjoyable puzzle which had just enough challenge for me (reminding me yet again that the perception of levels of difficulty depends on a whole lot of factors), and to scchua for an interesting and helpful blog. I appreciated reading here about the use of the letter L both in the solutions and the grid construction. Glad I came on (even though i’m so late to the party) as I hadn’t spotted those clever aspects of this puzzle.
Found it, December 7th 2022 , Basilisk in the FT, same trick with the L in the answers and the grid.
Many thanks to scchua for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time solve the puzzle and leave a comment.
I too thought this an L of a crossword (didn’t spot that unlike clever crypticsue), tackled late on a Friday evening. Thanks Jack and scchua for the blog – I needed it for the parsing of CARBuncle.
muffin@87: I never thought of Will Self in solving SHELF – I took ‘author’ to be self-referential so no GK needed for me (just as well!).
Thanks Jack for dropping by@93.
Roz@92. Your research abilities has come to the fore again.