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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29185.
I seldom have much trouble with Qaos, perhaps because I have had so many of them to blog, but this must be the quickest solve of his puzzles for me. Further, the theme is so near home that it would be difficult to miss (but it takes CRAFTSMANSHIP to STRING them all together). Envelopes are not mentioned in the grid, but they sure get a work-out in the clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SETTERS |
My dogs (7)
|
| SETTER’S (‘my’). | ||
| 5 | CHARADE |
Tea that’s fizzy? It’s a ridiculous pretence (7)
|
| CHAR-ADE. CHAR (with or without the R) is ‘tea’, and an -ADE may be fizzy, so the question mark is definitely needed. | ||
| 10 | CLUE |
Republic occasionally rejected suggestion (4)
|
| Alternate letters (‘occasionally’) in reverse (‘rejected’) of ‘rEpUbLiC‘. | ||
| 11 | FIREDRAKES |
Anger with medic breaking imitations of old dragons (10)
|
| An envelope (‘breaking’) of IRE (‘anger’) plus DR (‘medic’) in FAKES (‘imitations’). | ||
| 12 | SPLEEN |
Organ observed outside playing Liszt preludes (6)
|
| An envelope (‘outside’) of PL (‘Playing Liszt preludes’) in SEEN (‘observed’). | ||
| 13 | FLEETEST |
National press once grasping English most swiftly? (8)
|
| An envelope (‘grasping’) of E (‘English’) in FLEET ST (‘national press once’ – and still the recognized metonym, even though the business has moved elsewhere). | ||
| 14 | GET ACROSS |
Thunberg annoyed after losing right to communicate (3,6)
|
| A charade of G[r]ETA (‘Thunberg’) minus the R (‘after losing right’) plus CROSS (‘annoyed’). | ||
| 16 | WORDS |
Discussion with daughter and son over gold (5)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of OR (heraldic, ‘gold’) in W (‘with’) plus D (‘daughter’) plus S (‘son’). | ||
| 17 | DAILY |
Eccentric lady buying Independent newspaper (5)
|
| An envelope (‘buying’) of I (‘Independent’) in DALY, an anagram (‘eccentric’) of ‘lady’. | ||
| 19 | TAKE A SEAT |
Invitation for Keats: a novel to devour (4,1,4)
|
| A charade of TAKEAS, an anagram (‘novel’) of ‘Keats a’; plus EAT (‘devour’). | ||
| 23 | G-STRINGS |
No one 20 calls for minimal underwear (1-7)
|
| A charade of G[i]ST (ESSENCE – ’20’) minus the I (‘no one’); plus RINGS (‘calls’). | ||
| 24 | SOLVER |
Sun’s against religious education being about you! (6)
|
| A charade of SOL (‘sun’) plus V (versus, ‘against’) plus ER, a reversal (‘being about’) of RE (‘religious education’). | ||
| 26 | DEFINITION |
Meaning to return number 1 metal? I’d accept iron (10)
|
| A reversal (‘to return’) of NO (‘number’) plus I (‘one’) plus TIN (‘metal’) plus IFED, an envelope (‘accept’) of FE (‘chemical symbol, ‘iron’) in ‘I’d’. | ||
| 27 | GRID |
Network held no protective clothing (4)
|
| GRI[ppe]D (‘held’) minus (‘no’) PPE (personal protective equipment, ‘protective clothing’). | ||
| 28 | AS USUAL |
Normal liberal Australia joins America travelling west (2,5)
|
| A reversal (‘travelling west’) of L (‘liberal’) plus AUS (‘Australia’) plus USA (‘America’). | ||
| 29 | LETTERS |
Landlord’s post (7)
|
| LETTER’S (‘landlord’s’ – pertaining to someone who lets). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ELLIPSE |
Oval tablet swallowed up by doctor, see (7)
|
| An envelope (‘swallowed’) of LLIP, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of PILL (‘tablet’) in ESE, an anagram (‘doctor’, as an imperative) of ‘see’. | ||
| 3 | THEME |
You once include Mike in subject (5)
|
| An envelope (‘include’) M (‘Mike’, NATO alphabet) in THEE (‘you once’). | ||
| 4 | REFINER |
Perhaps Shell‘s about to get penalty, right? (7)
|
| A charade of RE (‘about’) plus FINE (‘penalty’) plus R (‘right’). | ||
| 6 | HIDDEN |
Cook did stuffing for chicken out of sight (6)
|
| An envelope (‘stuffing’) of IDD, an anagram (‘cook’ as an imperative) of ‘did’ in HEN (‘chicken’). | ||
| 7 | REACTIONS |
Responses to preparing nice roast (9)
|
| An anagram (‘preparing’) of ‘nice roast’. | ||
| 8 | DRESSED |
Tended to send back 75% of puddings after start of dinner (7)
|
| A charade of D (‘start of Dinner’) plus RESSED, a reversal (‘to send back’) of DESSER[ts] (‘75% of puddings’). | ||
| 9 | CRAFTSMANSHIP |
Skill of two vessels going around small island (13)
|
| An envelope (‘going around’) of S (‘small’) plus MAN (‘island’) in CRAFT plus SHIP (‘two vessels’). | ||
| 15 | ALLERGIES |
Dislikes balconies when end of rung is lowered (9)
|
| GALLERIES (‘balconies’) with the G moved (‘lowered’ in a down light) – but not all the way, of course. | ||
| 18 | ANSWERS |
Netflix initially promises to put acting first to get results (7)
|
| A charade of N (‘Netflix initially’) plus SWEARS (‘promises’) with the A moved to the front (‘to put acting first’). | ||
| 20 | ESSENCE |
Head back into church, uplifted by key spirit (7)
|
| An envelope (‘into’) of SSEN, a reversal (‘back’) of NESS (‘head’) in EC, a reversal (‘uplifted’) of CE (‘church’) plus E (‘key’). | ||
| 21 | ATELIER |
Studio exposed by ultimate lie, regrettably (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘exposed by’) in ‘ultimATE LIE Regrettably’.say | ||
| 22 | ANGINA |
Articles about drink causing disease (6)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of GIN (‘drink’) in AN plus A (‘articles’). I would say that ANGINA is a symptom rather than a disease or its cause. | ||
| 25 | LEGIT |
Lawful escape? (5)
|
| LEG IT (‘escape’). |
Hey, I got the theme today! Doesn’t often happen. And what better theme for a crossword than crosswords?
I enjoyed this puzzle more than many for quite a while — Goldilocks difficulty, no ultra-obscurities, no dodgy definitions nor requirements for knowledge of things specifically British, and deft wordplay resulting in lots of smiles and no groans. So thank you, Qaos, go to the top of the class. 🙂
Mind you, I’m certainly not averse to having my lexicon expanded (even if only temporarily!) by one or two each time, and hence I welcome FIREDRAKES.
If I had to have one quibble it would be that allergies and dislikes are not quite the same, but they’re pretty close, and if it facilitates a smoother surface then fair enough.
Thanks PeterO and Qaos, good one with lots to like.
I considered DAILY, STRING, ELLIPS(is) as theme words as well.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO! Spent a little time trying to work out if there might be a way for 21d to be ANAGRAM.
I think the thematic part of 14-16 may simply be CROSS WORD?
Also thanks PeterO for getting the blog up early enough for me to check it after once again managing to do Tuesday’s puzzle Monday night (here in the States)! I did wonder how I had gotten so high up in the comments….
Like PeterO, this was the FLEETEST I’ve ever solved a Qaos! And ever so enjoyable. Lovely theme for crossword nuts like us, so lots of ticks all over this grid. The only one that gave me pause was the unfamiliar (to me) FIREDRAKES at 11a, but I worked it out with the help of crossers, and Qaos’ AS USUAL impeccable word play.
Well done on going that one step further to spot CROSS WORD in 14/15a, Matt w@3 – icing on the cake!
Great blog PeterO, and a super fun puzzle for which I’m very grateful to Qaos.
[I see you were in the same boat as me re FIREDRAKES, Geoff@1.
Wanted to add that I appreciated that explanation of GRID at 27a, PeterO, which I saw but couldn’t parse – I feel silly now as PPE became such a well known abbreviation during the worst of COVID.]
[No Maths calculations involved today which was unusual for a Qaos puzzle.]
[Unless you count taking 75% off DESSERTS to arrive at 8d DRESSED.]
MY MY. A delight from beginning to end. I liked the placement of SETTERS and LETTERS on the grid
As well as ilippu’s selections@2 for inclusion in the themesters,
I read rows 7 and 9 in their entirety as a kind of double invitation to do what we love to do.
I think G-STRING was intentional. Guardian STRING. Made me laugh.
Nice job by Qaos and, yes, I spotted the theme including the almost central placing of CROSS WORD. Like illipu, I took ELLIPSE, DAILY and STRING as cruciverbal terms and did wonder about LEGIT though that is a tad tangential. Either Qaos or PeterO is also being modest: I think CRAFTSMANSHIP is at least an honorary member of the theme.
CHARADE, FLEETEST, GET ACROSS, TAKE A SEAT, GRID, HIDDEN, ANSWERS and LEGIT all earned big ticks today. Some ALLERGIES are considerably more than dislikes but I see Chambers has it down as informal – not the def I would have first thought of but it’s a glorious spot.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
PeterO. Thank you for attaching the grid to your clear and interesting blog, and for your extra effort with the highlighting.
paddymelon@9
I like your take on G-STRING.
Now it reveals more.
However minimal, Qaos covered it well.
Yes. PM@10 CRAFTSMANSHIP is essential.
KVa @12. 🙂
Thanks Peter for the explanation of GRID AND G-STRING. I could not parse either, spending time on the latter trying to figure out whether 20% is the goods and services tax rate in the UK, and isn’t it called VAT there anyway?
Maybe AS USUAL could also be considered a theme answer for we devotees.
Marvellous! What a fine setter?
Many thanks, both.
Theme: I didn’t see the light 😉
A sight easier for me than Vulcan’s offering yesterday!
Thanks P&Q.
Great stuff. No need to add SPLEEN to the theme words today. I wondered why Qaos avoided using LIGHT for LEGIT, which makes me think that LEGIT is also thematic.
For about the first time in my life, I actually spotted a theme going on, which in turn enabled me to get GRID. “Protective clothing” always suggests “PPE”, a result of having got so cross so often at so many Ministers’ mates having coined it by offering to supply the stuff.
Good point Petert @19 – LIGHT instead of LEGIT would have fitted the theme better.
I didn’t know ATELIER but Qaos had kindly followed the precept “unfamiliar word – clear wordplay”.
Too many neatly constructed clues to single out favourites.
A most pleasant start to the morning. Thank you Qaos and PeterO
How about rows 7,9,11 GET ACROSS WORDS DAILY TAKE A SEAT G-STRINGS SOLVER?
Blaise@17. 🙂 Cross-eyed?
Very enjoyable puzzle with many favourites: FIREDRAKES, DEFINITION, GRID, SOLVER, CHARADE, GET ACROSS. I also enjoyed constructing CRAFTSMANSHIP & FLEETEST.
For once, I remembered to look for a theme when I finished – and found it 🙂
Thanks, both.
Ths was lovely, and I’m with the others who foumd this their fastest Qaos.
My only gripe was with ALLERGIES, as I permanently carry Epipens and anti-histamines to keep my offspring breathing, I don’t equate them to dislikes and that informal usage js dangerous, because restaurants and cafés often don’t take allergies seriously, with fatal consequences.
Thank you to PeterO and Qaos
Great puzzle, quick and fun, thanks Qaos and PeterO
FIREDRAKES and DEFINITION both nice clues, I thought. Couldn’t parse GRID but put it in anyway.
Shanne @24: as you can see from my comment @10, I shared your raised eyebrow at ALLERGIES. In the strict sense, it is questionable but Chambers, helpfully, has definition 4: Antipathy, dislike or repugnance (informal). ‘I think I’m allergic to winter’ sort of thing. Which deffo lets Qaos off any hook imho.
What a lovely idea! – makes you wonder why no one’s done it before. (I’m afraid someone might tell me they have – and that I blogged it. 😉 )
I’ve nothing much to add to comments above, which I’ve enjoyed reading.
Qaos usually gives a witty hint for his theme on his website. Today it was
‘It’s all there in black and white.’ Bravo!
Many thanks to Qaos for a lot of fun and to PeterO for the blog.
Eileen@28
Your opening line: LOL.
Qaos’ hint: Lovely!
This somehow didn’t feel like a normal Qaos puzzle, thought it smooth and eminently gettable throughout. However, I did need PeterO to explain how GRID was put together. Loi was SOLVER bizarrely, with all the references to the battlefield of the setting then solving of a crossword taking a high profile today…
A very entertaining puzzle, though I slightly spoiled it by carelessly entering FIREDRAPES for 11a, thinking it might be a word for old dragons (FIRE = anger, DR = medic, imitations = APES? – yes I know it doesn’t really work).
I suppose LIGHT would have fitted the theme better at 25d but I really liked the clue for LEGIT which brought a smile.
For once “My” (in 1a) wasn’t COR!
Many thanks Qaos and PeterO.
A very enjoyable and rather quick solve. I started with the long one, fortunately guessing …SMANSHIP and needing only to think of another vessel. Like others, I solved but didn’t understand GRID. It took me a while to get the theme, but when I did get it I had to admire how well so many thematic items have been accommodated without spoiling the puzzle at all.
Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.
A bit of a breeze for Qaos but what a beautiful piece of setting. Nothing to add to all the raves above. I was hoping for a hidden Nina but no luck although there was almost a TILT up in the third column.
Ta Qaos & PeterO.
I agree entirely with Geoff@1 in his assessment of this puzzle. I would add that I, too, thought ALLERGIES=dislike to be rather iffy — and I see that, like most iffinesses, it derives from that d*mned Chambers. I’m not entirely convinced about DRESSED=”tend (to)” either, but hey! it’s a Guardian crossword.
pserve_p2@34: dress/tend to a wound is what came to mind.
Oh, and do we think that the long, axial CRAFTSMANSHIP is Qaos’s little self-congratulatory nod?
PostMark@35: yes, I see what you mean — but a substitution frame will sound fine even with words which are only very loosely related semantically, e.g. “they prepared supper”/”they served supper”. Is “serve” therefore a definition of “prepare”?
I noticed quite a lot of crossword related words, including CROSS, WORD and THEME, but, as usual, it never occured to me to look for a theme. Like Roz, I’m not sure I’m a fan of them anyway, but unlike her I don’t spot them unless they are announced in the clues.
I enjoyed this with LEGIT and FLEETEST being my favourites. I’m glad Qaos didn’t use LIGHT.
I solved G-STRINGS bsfore ESSENCE from rings=calls and 1-7 meaning to go back to the GST, but forgot and needed PeterO to explain GRID,
Thanks both.
Wow!! A crossword I nearly completed on my own (FIREDRAKES eluded me even with crossers – I was stuck on FURY for anger). Usually I start and my wife finishes them. And like others a theme I spotted half way through which helped me get ANSWERS. This was a relief after yesterday’s supposedly, though it wasn’t, simple start to the week.
MANY THANKS to all involved – that is ALL setters and ALL bloggers. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by this infrequent commentator, though regular reader.
Well, I seem to have taken a little longer than most – I put it down to having my first cold in about ten years. That’ll learn me not to take a train to Edinburgh.
Thanks PeteO and Qaos. I think ACROSS and CROSS both work, ACROSS taken separately and the other with answers run together.
Sorry to disappoint Eileen@28: I have no idea how to check if its been done before.
Well that was over before I sipped my tea. A fun if brief diversion. I thought ALLERGIES was great.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO
I always enjoy a Qaos puzzle, and this was no exception. The theme certainly helped with a few later entries.
I liked the topical REFINER, [let’s hope these fossil fuel companies are made to pay some windfall taxes instead of avoiding them], the CHAR-ADE, the FLEET ST press, the surface for TAKE A SEAT, the ‘no one 20’ in G-STRINGS, and the wordplay for ANSWERS. I thought the ‘Sun’s against religious education’ was a bit weird but Chambers says that sun can mean: ‘literary a person or thing regarded as a source of glory, inspiration, etc.’ so maybe it’s OK. I failed to parse GRID, wondering why ‘grind’ was something to do with protective or clothing, doh.
Thanks Qaos and PeterO.
PM@35, you may well be right. I assumed it was related to the traditional tailor’s question, “on which side does the gentleman dress?”
GRID was last in for me. Having not spotted a theme – doh – I needed to parse it before entering in the – erm – grid.
I did fail to parse G-STRINGS as the answer was clear but the parsing anything but, so thanks to PeterO for that.
Thanks also to Qaos for an enjoyable but, as others have noted, a much easier solve than usual.
Robi@42
SOLVER
Sun could be one Mr. Sun (as in Sun Yang) or Ms. Sun (as in Sun Ling).
Or the British tabloid ‘The Sun’…
I am lost with the explanation of 20d.
What is the connection between ESSENCE & 20?
Thanks for the blog, GRIppeD was a nice idea and G-STRINGS was clever, that is as positive as I can be .
Steffen@46 , Clue 20 has answer ESSENCE , ESSENCE=GIST , No one 20 = G(i)ST = GST
{ AlanC@33 , your Number 1 yesterday is noted, it is now 32-8 , on a logarithmic scale it is 5-3 . ]
Steffen @46. The words ‘no one’ are used by Qaos to indicate that GIST has had the number 1 taken out of it. The equivalence between number 1 and letter I is frequently used in crosswordland.
I think this is a particularly tricky bit of parsing, as I mentioned @44. We have to think of a word that is a synonym for the answer to 20d, then take a letter out of it. If the enumeration (1-7) hadn’t made the answer fairly obvious, this would have been a little unfair, I think.
Did all but 2 and parsed all but 3 of those inside 30 mins, so not too difficult today. I’m still not sure about ‘dress’ = ‘tend’. Is it supposed to be used in the tailor’s sense of ‘dress to the left/right’? I don’t think it quite works if that’s the intent.
A smooth ride from Qaos – but where is all his numerical play today? Apart from perhaps 23 and 26, not a sniff of it. Never mind. At least this was an easy theme to suss, what with SETTERS, CHARADE and CLUE being early entries.
Should ESSENCE be included with the themers? Often used to designate the middle letter(s) of a word – also in the form “essentially”.
When I saw G-STRINGS I said to myself “shucks!”. I’d been planning to put that exact phrase (in the singular) in a grid I’m working on at the moment – but I couldn’t fit it in. Ah well, at least I don’t have to plagiarise Qaos’s excellent clue! And when I’ve done with my w-i-p, I’m hoping for an Indy slot some time… (apologies for the self-promotion)
Faves? Perhaps that, G-STRINGS, also GET ACROSS for splendid surface, also the misdirection, I spent quite a while looking for anagrams of ‘Thunberg’.
Thanks to Qaos and Peter.
Should have added, GRID also a fave – very clever wordplay.
Unlike most solvers, I had a hard time with this last night. This morning, though, the missing half (!) worked its way into place.
I do always remember now to look for a theme in a Qaos puzzle, but I don’t look very hard, because too often the theme is the greatest hits of some rock band or characters in some film. But this time even I spotted it once I remembered to look. (After I’d filled in the grid, so it wasn’t any help.)
Thanks to Qaos and PeterO who I hope came through the passing hurricane okay.
I seem to be alone in not liking 18 down much. I can’t remember ever seeing a as an abbreviation for acting (even at work). So not being aware of the abbreviation I took a while to put this as the answer (!). Otherwise an enjoyable solve with some “different” clueing. Particularly liked 1 and 29 across, but did we need two of these?
I think Qaos missed a trick by not using a pair of ELLIPSEs between two consecutive clues. 6, 7, & 8 down (all about food) seem ripe for it.
No homophone or Spoonerism either.
Claret @54 – it’s not an abbreviation, that A is acting first – so the first letter of acting.
Sorry Shanne @56 but I don’t think that’s right. As the blog says, the A (which is signalled by acting – sorry Claret @54, too!) is ‘first’ i.e. moved to the front of the word. It’s an abbreviation Chambers lists but I don’t know where it would be used – it feels as if it might be part of a job title? Other dictionaries give other abbreviations including Act. and actg.
[PostMark @57 and others
FWIW, I think A = ‘acting’ does come from a rank or job title. When I worked with the Police in 2010, two of my colleagues were A/Insp Smith and T/Insp Jones (or whatever their names were). They were an Acting Inspector and a Temporary Inspector.]
[Roz @48: the latter sounds a wee bit better].
Lots to like here. NHO 11A. And as usual I missed the “obvious” theme.
Delightful and a rare completed grid.
I even spotted the theme, which helped for 24a.
Top dog was 5a, though I needed a nudge from the the Guardian website.
Thanks for the hints.
Thanks Qaos for a quick but enjoyable solve. FIREDRAKES was new to me and I couldn’t fully parse G-STRINGS but all else slipped in easily. Add me to the list who missed seeing numerical clues — I figured they were as certain as Qaos having a theme. My top picks were SETTERS, GRID, ANSWERS, and LEGIT. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Lots of fun. The ELLIPSE clue is typical of Qaos’ non-traditional approach. Still makes me a bit uncomfortable, but certainly gets to the answer when you accept the style.
Dave Ellison @40 – hope you didn’t take this now infamous train journey!
I also really enjoyed FIREDRAKES (new to me). Presumably these are the male dragons, with Fireducks being the dragonesses?
Thanks, Q and Peter.
On the one hand I too was surprised that Qaos didn’t use “LIGHT” for the answer to 25d LEGIT; on the other hand, I loved the brilliant brevity of the clue as written, so thanks Qaos for making that choice.
I must be so glad to be out from under the pandemic that I couldn’t see PPE for protective clothing in 27a NETWORK. I also got 23a G-STRING from the definition and enumeration but couldn’t see the parsing of GST, so thanks PeterO for the explanations.
I concur with AlanB@32 – Qaos didn’t allow the theme to affect the quality of the clues, so I can’t agree with Roz’s objection to this themed puzzle.
I never spot themes! This puzzle was no exception.
[phitonelly@63 No, thankfully, we were travelling from Leuchars to Edinburgh. However, my son has suffered a similar nightmare journey going from Windermere to Euston, a couple of year’s ago]
Thanks both and a nice idea.
Long Time Lurker@50 et al: I think you can ‘tend’ rhubarb by ‘dressing’ it with (ahem) manure. (I prefer mine with custard.)
Long Time Lurker@50 et al: agree with Alphalpha @67, the sense of “dress” intended is OED sense II, “To make ready or right; to set in order.” It took me a while to twig to that.
Didn’t get the theme, and that meant I didn’t get SOLVER. FIREDRAKES was a delight though. DEFINITION was very clever, too.
@63 phitonelly: ‘drake’ is an old word for ‘dragon’, from the Latin ‘draco’ and German ‘drachen’.
The ELLIPSE clue doesn’t work. It’s effectively saying “PILL swallowed up by rearrange SEE” which is not valid English. I don’t think it’s a matter of style, it’s simply incorrect.