Guardian Cryptic 29,215 by Fed

116 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,215 by Fed”

1. Well, unlike our esteemed blogger, I didn’t spot the pangram (I rarely look), so took ages to solve the _a_e. Maybe that’ll teach me!

   The rest went in pretty readily, including ENABLER since we’ve been primed for it by recent puzzles. I never figured out the wordplay of ENDEAR, maybe because, as mentioned, this dropped an hour later than normal (in US). A fun Fed, all told.

   Thanks F&P

2. Thanks, Fed and PeterO!
   Liked the blogger’s subtle humour in the COMPLIMENT returned.

   ENABLER
   The prime location clue is at a prime slot (2d). Yet, possibly not that prime
   considering that the trick is well-advertised now and the solvers are
   well-primed to deconstruct such clues by picking out from a composite set
   of clues.

   Top faves: ABUNDANTLY (a deep surface, a lot to like about) and ENDEAR.

3. Fed’s prime trick stumped me a week or two ago, but I wasn’t going to let it do so again. My only hiccups this time were not knowing Drug Enforcement Administration or National Theatre.

   Otherwise plain sailing with an abundance of smiles. Thanks Fed & PeterO.

4. Thanks Fed, that was enjoyable. My top picks were SESSION, BLOTTO, and COUNT ON. I spotted the pangram but I didn’t need it for any of the solutions. I had a few parsing gaps like ENDEAR and the ICH in PASTICHE so thanks PeterO for explaining.

5. Thank you Peter O. So glad to see you, as I was thinking I was going to have to wait an extra hour, since Sunday, or maybe a whole extra day, to have some of my questions resolved.
   ENDEAR is the one I needed you for. I was thoroughly led astray by the 2 drug-hunting Feds. He must have had a great chuckle to himself while cluing that.
   Like GDU@3, I was alert to ”Fed’s prime trick”.

   Liked PASTICHE. While I know some German, that was a liability, as there were a few words in the clue that could have been indicated by Hamburger/German. The clue was sehr komisch.

   FAZE was good. I can’t imagine anyone objecting to that homophone. (I said it, koz that’s what it iz.)
   COMPLIMENTs to Setter and Blogger and Solvers All.

6. I admit I had to wrestle with the definition really of ABUNDANTLY, the wordplay of which I was happy to retro-parse. I took it to be as used in the phrase that politicians love to say, ad nauseam, “Let me make this abundantly clear.”

   I found the wordplay for QUICK-TEMPERED pretty AMUSING. Two of my picks today, along with STUMP.

7. I couldn’t seem to get on Fed’s wavelength today and struggled with a lot of the parsing, so was glad for this early blog where all was revealed – thanks to PeterO. I needed help with the “prime locations” in 2d ENABLER, as I’d already forgotten that trick from a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t get the “Hamburger” reference for the “ICH” part of PASTICHE in 23a, so I only got that one from the definition and the crossers. COUNT ON at 20d was a guess as I didn’t get either COUPON or the reference to the National Theatre NT). FAZE at 10a took me forever to see (or hear!). All in all, not my finest hour, though at least I didn’t let the clever 17a STUMP me, and I felt chuffed at the COMPLIMENT in 26a. Thanks for the work-out, Fed.

8. I don’t think 26a applied to me, I struggled a bit. I hadn’t seen the prime trick before, I was thinking that the word would start with P, bút I had the first E, until I realised that it didn’t say ALL prime positions.

9. The number 1 isn’t prime nicbach @8, if that’s what you meant.

10. The dreaded -A-E held me up at the end until I idly wondered whether we were in pangram territory – and discovered we were nearly there. Somehow I hadn’t really clocked the J from JIVED and that tends to be the letter that triggers the pangram possibility for me. I have encountered – and failed to spot – the phase/FAZE homophone before; must do better. I suspect, given what we are told about wait-for-publication times and the editor’s control over running order, that Fed did not submit two ‘prime’ devices in successive weeks.

    ENDEAR was my favourite today for the cunning substitution; I can see why the device for ABUNDANTLY would have appealed – it leads to a less smooth surface though. Other ticks went to VERBOSE (that anagram is so naturally phrased), UPPITY (again for the naturalness of the phrasing), SWEAT, QUICK TEMPERED and COUNT ON.

    Thanks Fed and PeterO

11. All done and dusted, but didn’t parse COUNT ON, which considering how much I’ve seen at the NT is shameful.

    Thank you to PeterO and Fed.

12. Like others, the deadly _A_E held me up at the last. A word search revealed 246 possible entries! Wish I’d spotted the pangram, it might have helped. In the end, Don Manley’s excellent book yielded FAZE as a synonym for ‘put off’.

    Thanks, PeterO, for unravelling ENDEAR, would never have got there.

    The prime locations ploy made me think of The Who and their Won’t be fooled again number.

    Enjoyable solve, thanks Fed.

13. Thanks Fed and PeterO
    I too struggled to see “really” for ABUNDANTLY, and had never heard of DEA; I think that makes 6d borderline unfair for British solvers.
    The surface of 7d doesn’t make a lot of sense. At an early stage I tried to find an anagram of “rib friend”.
    I too raised an eyebrow at “Bill”= ACT.
    Favourite JIVED.

14. Coupla lego bits in the cqba category, like subtract er er, and replace able by dea. The hamburger, otoh, habe ich geliebt. Thanks P and F.

15. BONE CHINA (read the surface as)
    Perhaps rib (tease in a friendly way) (the) friend providing fine dishes?

16. Thanks KVa – rib as a verb makes a bit more sense.

17. Top ticks for ABUNDANTLY, PASTICHE & ENDEAR

    Today’s ear-worm courtesy of STUMP with Charlton Heston – possibly the only rock song with frog backing vocals?

    Cheers P&F

18. muffin @13: it would be interesting to see a listing of other countries’ agencies and see how many achieve recognition elsewhere. We’ve all heard of the CIA and the FBI; I’d have expected the DEA to come pretty high in the listing after those two. You don’t have to watch many US dramas before encountering it.

19. I usually find Fed tediously difficult, but I did manage to finish this one, so either it was a bit easier or I’m getting used to him. (Though if I hadn’t accidentally revealed FAZE, I don’t think I’d have got it, pangram or no pangram.) Haven’t met the drug-hunting Feds before. I liked the COMPLIMENT.

    Would one of our resident mathematicians care to explain why 1 is not a prime number? I’m wise to Fed’s “prime” trick now, but it probably shouldn’t be used too often or it will get as predictable as Everyman’s “primarily” clue.

20. After solving answers with letters Z,J,Q,V,K etc I started (for once) to suspect this might be a pangram.

    I solved 2d with help from google to check what the prime numbers are 🙂

    Favourites: PASTCIHE, COUNT ON, ABUNDANTLY (loi).

    Thanks, both.

21. Gladys @19: just the definition, really…a whole number greater than 1 that cannot be exactly divided by any whole number other than itself and 1

22. 12a. Once again, M standing for ‘Money’. Can anyone give an example of this outside crosswordland?

23. Noticed the pangram towards the end which gave me FAZE. I think humorous rather than hilarious would have been better for AMUSING. As Roz pointed out recently, it is difficult to see how Fed can get around his trademark prime device, without actually using the word itself. My favourites were ABUNDANTLY, BONE CHINA, SPLURGE, CREDULITY and COUNT ON.

    Ta Fed & PeterO.

24. A very good crossword marred, in my opinion, by the misuse of ‘act’ for ‘bill’ and ‘press out’ for ‘extrude’.

25. I was a bit bored by this but the sniff of a pangram inspired a finish.
    Quite liked BONE CHINA

26. Can somebody explain the pangram to me, and it’s relevance to FAZE (which I found a lot easier than some, apparently – possibly because confusing between faze and phase seems commonplace online, so the near-homophone popped right into my head)? Is it simply that the letter Z had not yet been used and therefore must appear?

27. Maybe because I am fond of homophones I wasn’t troubled by FAZE (I think perhaps the biggest difficulty with it is that a lot of people spell that sense of the word PHASE, which Chambers does appear to regard as acceptable).
    Having been primed (see what I predictably did there) about Fed’s favourite device in 2d I wasn’t troubled by it, but gladys @19 is of course right that it shouldn’t be used too often.
    I rather liked “Fed” in 6d not meaning I or ME.
    George @24 is of course strictly right about bill = act in 22d but the Bill of Rights is an Act, and this is crossword country. Chambers gives EXTRUDE = force or urge out and I’m not going to lose sleep over the substitution of press.
    Didn’t spot the pangram, but personally they bore me stiff.
    Unlike some, I found this one right in the Goldilocks zone; enough chewy clues to be a pleasant challenge first thing, but nothing too gratuitously obscure. Thanks, both.

28. gladys @19, it wasn’t always the case in the past that 1 wasn’t seen as a prime number. It’s really a matter of definition, and in the end convenience. 1 wasn’t always considered to be a number in fact. The mathematical view of the primality of 1 changed mid last century to its not being prime. The accepted definition is “a natural number greater than one that is not the product of two smaller natural numbers”.

29. Jacob @26: A pangram means that all the letters of the alphabet are used in the grid. If you’ve spotted that and realised that you haven’t got a Z yet, it makes filling in the last solution easier!

30. Paradoxically COMPLIMENT was the clue I wasn’t very good at solving. It’s a nice change to be able to praise Fed for a VERBOSE clue.

31. I don’t see what the problem is with EXTRUDE=press out. I’ve seen plenty of extrusions in my past engineering career wher material had been forced through a die under pressure, hence pressed out. Just like piping icing on a cake.

32. Gladys @19
    As William @21 points out, it is a matter of the definition of a prime, but it might be added that the reason behind that definition is that 1 has properties all of its own (stemming from the fact that 1 times whatever equals whatever) which mean that it does not sit comfortably with the primes. Hence mathematicians prefer to make a three-way division of the positive integers (primes, composites, and 1) rather than a two-way.

33. Thanks William@21 and Tim C@28. I know what primes are, but not being a mathematician, I haven’t had the official definition with the crucial words “greater than 1” dinned into my memory, and have no idea why it’s more convenient for 1 not to be prime – but I’ll try to remember that that’s the way it is, if only to solve any more of those Fed clues when they appear.

34. Thanks also PeterO@32: we crossed.

35. Thank you PeterO@32 and William@21. I was at primary school mid last century, and learnt that 1 is a prime number – obviously going out of date even then. Heigh ho.
    I found this puzzle tricky: got a start with the anagrams and spotted the pangram after getting FAZE. After that, JIVED was obvious but I didn’t parse it as I was trying to spin the record – LP or EP or even DVD. Thanks to Fed and PeterO.

36. Neil@27 and TimC@31. On reflection I would have edited out my objection to ‘extrusion’ for the reasons you have given but you can’t edit on this site. Mea culpa.

37. Good fun. I found this relatively straightforward for a Fed puzzle. A lot of total and partial anagrams helped. My last two were JIVED, which alerted me to the pangram, which in turn gave LOI FAZE.

    The substitution clues are clever and I liked STUMP, VERBOSE and PASTICHE, though I’m not sure about ‘mix’ as a definition. In music, a pastiche was a work made up by recycling various pieces originally composed for other purposes; Bach did this frequently. Nowadays it usually refers to a work produced in the style of another artist.

    ACT for ‘bill’ is a bit naughty, and the odd spelling of ‘chancey’ stopped this from being obvious. Having been caught out recently by the ‘prime location’ device, I am now primed for it, so ENABLER was a write-in. Please stop using it! 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

38. PeterO@32 & TimC@28: the best reason for excluding 1 is to ensure that the prime factorisation of every greater integer is unique.

39. My only complaints are with some definitions. Pastiche means parody to me, and petulant means sulky not quick-tempered. My husband accepted uppity but again for me that means showing off, rather than out of control.
    But I finished largely due to the anagrams and I didn’t clock the pangram, like some other solvers it’s not really interesting to me.
    Thanks everyone.

40. Thanks for the blog , pretty good overall, BLOTTO very neat, JIVED is simple but very effective, ENDEAR and COUNT ON use clever substitutions . ENABLER is impressive to go up to 17 again but the clue may as well have big red flashing lights telling us what to do.
    I am not sure if I care less about pangrams or Ninas .

41. [ AlanC grabbing a prime slot @23 , your recent domination of the charts is noted, you are the new Abba , perhaps you should steal their manager. Alas you had three in a row and this is your THIRD offence. The rules clearly state your score returns to zero plus a penalty of 25 points. The score is now 36 v -25 , if you want to take square roots it can be 6 v 5i .]

42. I forgot to look for a pangram, so the LOI, FAZE, took a while to see.

    ABUNDANTLY was clever but the surface was weird. I did like the surface for STUMP and the wordplays for PASTICHE, BLOTTO and JIVED. I didn’t get caught again by the prime trick; AlanC @23: Synonyms for prime numbers include “irreducible number,” “unfactorable number,” and “indivisible number” according to the Web.

    Thanks Fed and PeterO for the parsing of ENDEAR (I did know DEA, but didn’t see it with the clever use of Fed).

43. Three classic clichés – friend, journalist and corporation – but these puzzles would be impossible without such conventions. If you’ve ever whiled away time on codewords, JIVEd and FAZE are regulars.
    Thanks both

44. Robi@42 the web is wrong unless you have extra restrictions involving the natural numbers .
    For example the prime number 5 = ( 2 + i ) ( 2 – i ) it is reducible, factorable and divisible.

45. Robi@42 the web is wrong unless you have extra restrictions involving the natural numbers .
    For example the prime number 5 = ( 2 + i ) ( 2 – i ) it is reducible, factorable and divisible .

46. I’m with NeilH @27 regarding pangrams, which I never dream of looking for (although I suppose I did get my comeuppance, today as FAZE was my last one in – and still I didn’t see it).
    I’m grateful to him, too, for reminding me again of the Bill of Rights: bill = act always grates with me.

    I’m with SinCam @39 re PETULANT, which to me suggests sullenness or sulkiness (‘mardy’ where I live – and I’ve been amused just now to find ‘petulant’ as a definition in Chambers).

    It was only last month that I was mightily chuffed to work out (eventually) Fed’s clue for IREFUL in the puzzle that I was blogging, which I thought was just brilliant, only to be told that Fed (among others) had used the trick before and just seeing the word ‘prime’ in a clue gave the game away. This is the second time that he’s used it since then and I think this is a real pity: it’s perhaps due for a rest, until it can be brought out again for the delight of newer solvers who haven’t seen it before – or older ones who might have forgotten it.

    I did enjoy the puzzle, though, my favourites being 11ac ABUNDANTLY, for the construction – not the surface), 16ac JIVED, 17ac STUMP, for the apt ‘lift and separate), 8dn SPLURGE, for the surface and because I like the word and 15dn DEMO TAPES, again for the surface.

    Thanks to Fed and PeterO.

47. Roz @44/45 Looks like it was doubly wrong then; I bow to your superior knowledge.

48. [ Roz @41: 😉 ]

49. Determined to start by solving 1ac, but as that took awhile I realised I was in for a long SESSION with this Fed Puzzle. So it proved, as I mistakenly had Short instead of QUICK TEMPERED for a while, and was even wondering whether Insecure or even Sinecure was somehow what was wanted at 13ac, prompted by Risky and Office in the wording of the clue. Ah, well, no. Found myself rather irritated by the longevity and lack of smoothness in the clueing of 13ac, and even when I put ABUNDANTLY in had little idea how it parsed. Another hold up was my TEA Shop version instead of ROOM, and Pastille instead of the extremely subtle and clever PASTICHE. Loved EMACIATED, but generally found this tough. Lots to AppLAUD, though, a fine work out.

50. Is a tea room a restaurant? I would expect to get dinner in a restaurant, and tea rooms are shut by dinner time.

51. …oh, and the Prime Numbers coming up at 2d today so soon after Brendan’s take on it yesterday – was it? – did actually help me with ENABLER, though numbers are not really my thing…

52. A bit surprised to see that I was the only one to get stonewalled in the SE by confidently entering TOUT for 27ac.

    JIVED clued me in to the pangram which got me to QUICK-TEMPERED and then the Z for FAZE, whereupon I sounded out every “-AZE” word in my head without realizing that there weren’t any Fs in the grid yet. Couple I needed the blog for parsing, BLOTTO and COUNT ON (and I wondered if there was something beyond the CD for COMPLIMENT). Thanks Fed and PeterO!

    RoddyMac@22: when economists talk about the money supply they use various measures like M1, M2, etc. Don’t know if that counts.

53. Thanks Peter and thanks all.

    I’m in broad agreement with folks that the Prime Locations device appears overused. I have used it once in the Indy, once in the Telegraph and 3 times here in the Guardian – but the puzzles were written some time apart and I never would have expected them to appear in the paper as close to one another as they have. But that’s as much a lesson for me to take note of as anything.

    There are, I think, plenty of devices that once you’re on to them – become effectively write ins. “First/last of all” for example. I’m sure there are weeks when we all encounter “first of all” a bit too often and don’t really bat an eyelid. If the surface is appealing I think it’s just seen as offering the solver an easy way in – a foothold in the grid.

    Perhaps the prime thing rankles more because it feels like it’s hard for some but has been busted by those who’ve seen it before rather than a helpful in for all.

    I’m not trying to persuade anyone that it shouldn’t rankle btw – as I say, I share the view that I’ve overused it of late.

    SinCam @39 pastiche may mean parody to you – and I agree that it is largely used in that way – but the first definition in Chambers is ‘a jumble’ and the second is ‘a pot pourri’ so I can’t see that ‘mix’ is unfair. And words having more than one meaning is, on some level, the meat and drink of crosswords.

    Similarly, I think Petulant/quick tempered is fair in the way I hear the word used out in the wild. Yes, someone who is petulant might well be regarded as sulky but I think of a petulant person as someone liable to tantrum on a short fuse also. As for ‘uppity’ – well I’ve never heard it used in the sense of a show off, only in the hard-to-control way.

    Cheers

54. Trev@50 dinner is a meal in the middle of the day and most tea rooms are open then.

55. [ AlanC@ 48 , how do you say “nul points ” in Spanish ? ]

56. I had daze for the stage at 10a until the very end when I realised I missed an F.
    Still think dais / daze works.
    But this was a very fun crossword. And the prime thing makes me feel very clever which doesn’t happen very often and is nice.
    Thanks, Fed.

57. Liked the Hamburger and ENDEAR but failed on FAZE for obvious reason. Seems we have added prime numbers now to other easier clues though not yet ODD numbers haha.

58. MCourtney @56 a) thank you b) I can’t imagine the level of outrage if I’d used DAIS/DAZE as a homophone!

59. Roddymac @20-something: no one’s answered your question yet, so: M for money (specifically the overall money supply) is a common variable in macroeconomics equations. I haven’t had to think about that kind of economics since my last econ class in college, so I can’t give specific examples–I’ve forgotten almost literally all the econ I learned.

    I’ve also occasionally heard, slangily and probably as a reference to that, some people saying they “need some capital M” to indicate that they’re going to the ATM.

60. Roz @ 54. Where I live it is lunch at about midday and dinner is always in the evening. Just as some up north call the evening meal tea! Here tea is a cuppa plus a bun or cake about 4 o’Clock .
    Part of life’s rich regional variations which I think are part of our heritage. As to the crossword I still find Fed over complicated. Much appreciated the blog

61. Fed @53
    Thank you for your feedback. I can certainly understand if you feel frustrated that the ingenious device in 2D ENABLER is marred by apparent overuse (September 14, October 17 and today) through timing beyond your control.
    I heartily agree that the existence of different meanings or shades of meaning is the lifeblood of cryptic crosswords, and it is all to easy to give precedence to one’s personal take on a word over the variation of its use by others (cf Roz @54). Of course, a setter need only pick one meaning, which may or may not coincide with his or her usual use of a word.

62. I used to come here a lot, mostly to enjoy the camaraderie and be amused at the banter, as well as for the occasional bit of enlightenment.
    Sadly though, all I now see is an inordinate amount of petty grandstanding and pseudo-pedantic nit-pickery. It’s all extremely dispiriting, and likely quite off-putting to those new to solving.
    Anyone would think that the setting of crosswords is a ‘proper job’ instead of being generously done and mainly for the love of it.*
    Perhaps my Nan was right when she said, “if you can say nothing nice, say nothing.”
    My profound thanks, as always, to site admin, bloggers and setters.
    *see, as an example, http://www.londonfreelance.org/feesguide/print.php?section=Crosswords

63. Cedric @60 our MiddleSprog has lived in the South for a few years, when she visits she sometimes says lunch ( meaning dinner ) or dinner ( meaning tea ) . Her siblings tease her mercilessly and call her a posh Southern softie .

64. mrpenney@59: This has reminded me of an equation I learned in the 1970s: MV=PT. The Fischer equation so beloved of the Thatcherite monetarists. A good part of UK manufacturing was wiped at as a result of targeting certain money supply figures (though in truth it was a little more complicated than that..). The idea behind this was something of a failure (inflation falling even as the money supply increased) and Nigel Lawson (an early supporter of the theory) quietly dropped the targets in one of his budgets.

65. Fed @53 – I agree with you on all points, particularly the one about words having more than one meaning. And I really didn’t mind seeing the prime device again so soon. As with Everyman’s primarily clues, the pleasure in solving clues like this tends to come more from enjoying an amusing/clever surface reading rather than the challenge in solving them – and admiring the ingenuity and skill of the setter in the construction of them.

    Thanks, Fed and PeterO.

66. Strictly for Martians only!!

67. Which is the drunker? Blotto, stinko, legless, rat-arsed, steaming, pie-eyed, incapacitated or tiddly?

68. So, breakfast dinner and tea, or breakfast lunch and dinner, or (high, sort of) tea as in late afternoonses; where were you born, where did you school … ?

69. [It’s quite straightforward – dinner is the main meal of the day; it’s just that some people eat this at lunchtime…]

70. [And what about supper? Either a substantial evening meal less formal than ‘dinner’ or a light snack before bedtime, depending on your culture 🙂 ]

71. Country supper or kitchen supper are frightfully posh, ask David Cameron.

72. Alec@67 I would say that tiddly or tipsy is the least drunk and the current favourite term for most is mortal.

73. [Roz @55: I think it’s póg mo thóin]

74. Alec @67: my favourite Irish term is stocious. Widdersbel @65: totally agree with your sentiment.

75. [ AlanC@73 , it does not look very Spanish to me ? Languages not my strong point but I smell a rat, I will take advice later ]

76. [Alec @67: When I began solving British crosswords I was struck by the numerous and colourful ways to say “drunk”. After spending a weekend in Newcastle I began to see the reason why so many synonyms exist.]

77. Roz@72. Agreed, both terms mean “very mildly inebriate” to me. Further along/down the scale you probably have to add “totally” before the drunker terms to suggest utter inebriation?

78. Fed @58. I bet you can 🙂

79. I didn’t spot the pangram, although I did spot Fed’s prime number device. Could not parse ENDEAR, so thanks for explaining that Peter.

80. Yes Kate@77 , totally always seems to be in there , mortal used to be an intensifier but now stands alone.

81. The whole lunch/dinner/tea/supper thing is one of those things life is too short to bother with – no one is ever going to agree (it’s like regional names for bread rolls – step away from the conversation, because no one will give an inch).

    The fact that many people will have a roast dinner for their Sunday lunch tells you everything you need to know.

    Lovel puzzle from Fed again – thanks to him and PeterO for the blog.

82. Got stuck on 10a so stepped away from the crossword and did something else for a while. The very second that I put my hand out to pick up the paper, the word FAZE came into my mind. (I never look for pangrams. Would I have solved it any quicker if I did? We’ll never know.)

    I failed to parse TEA ROOM, as I had never seen MOOT used to mean ‘dispute’ (as a verb it’s usually propose, in my experience), but it’s in Chambers so I won’t indulge in any petty grandstanding (Mimi Bwcyd@62). 🙂

    Thanks to Fed and PeterO.

83. SH
    “The point is moot” is one of those opposite double meanings., like “sanction”.

84. muffin – I think it’s different in US than UK, isn’t it? In US it means that the point being raised is academic so let’s not argue about it; in UK it means open to discussion. So, yes – kinda the opposite in the same way that sanction means both allow and forbid.

    And the verb is mostly used differently from the adjective. Or maybe my experience is just less all-embracing than I thought. I like the idea of a Moot Hall, though: a place for discussion of things that either matter or don’t matter.

    Otherwise known as a Pub.

85. SH
    I think “moot” is used both ways in English English.
    “Cleave” is another example.

86. Muffin @85 Contranyms?

    Roz @63 wait til she starts saying luncheon 🙂

    We were invited for kitchen supper recently – frankly I was baffled but it turned out just to be dinner

87. Chambers: moot adj debatable; moot point an undecided or disputed point.

    Collins (US). Definition of?’moot’ (adjective) If a subject or question is moot, it has no practical importance.

    Perhaps the difference is that if a subject is moot in the American sense, in the UK we would still argue about it. 🙂

    (Maybe my Chambers is not as up to date as the online Collins, as I have also seen online dictionaries saying the US usage can be applied in the UK, but I think they’ve probably been watching too many US-made courtroom dramas.)

88. AlanC @74 – ‘stocious’ is also common in western Scotland, and I wonder therefore if it is more common in NI than in the Republic. Of other Scottish words for stocious, I recommend ‘blootered’, which I have always imagined to be a corruption of ‘obliterated’, but I may be wrong.

89. I think if I heard “it’s a moot point” I would think that it had been decided, and not thus worth discussing. SH indicates that this is the US usage. I’d bee interested by other inputs!

90. Half an hour to get 28 of these, and a further half hour of blank staring to get FAZE. Really must learn look for pangrams etc. Favourites were ABUNDANTLY and ENDEAR, where I hadn’t spotted that Fed was the setter so his deception was lost on me! (My dad is obsessed with US crime shows so Feds always = cops in my brain.)

91. [There’s a lovely bit in one of Stuart Maconie’s autobiographies where a London colleague invites him round for “supper” and he’s confused because to a Wiganer this means “cheese on toast in front of Match of the Day”. There’s no right or wrong answer to this stuff. I am half northern half southern so I never have dinner – it’s lunch at midday and tea in the evening.]

92. Actually perhaps the best example of the meal confusion is school days. You either took a packed lunch in, or you had a school dinner served by dinner ladies. There are no lunch ladies. There are no packed dinners.

    (It’s like the thing with the Royal Mail collecting from postboxes, and the US Post Office delivering to mail boxes. You stop trying to make sense of it.)

93. Balfour @88: funnily enough I thought of blootered at first. I’m from Belfast, so not sure about the ROI actually.

94. Thanks Matt W @52 and mrpenney @59. Setters could find a less esoteric way of indicating M. I only knew it because it crops up here from time to time.

95. muffin @89: here in the deep south of the world, I would understand ‘a moot point’ to mean one open to discussion. The first thing I thought of when I got to the parsing was that, I believe, law schools at university engage in ‘moots’ where students stage mock court cases – definitely argument there.

96. Guardian article about why moot is moot:

    Gosh, I love the word moot. It’s delicious. Moot!

97. As a relative newcomer to the site, I have a different view to Mimi Bwcyd@62 and find it among the nicer places on the web, with lots of interesting knowledge shared generously. e.g. Bravo! Roz@44

98. Late ( after catching up on the Brendan bookends) thanks PeterO, enjoyed this as usual from Fed and while the prime device may have become familiar thanks to the chance distribution of a couple of puzzles, I thought it worked very well with the surface here and hope to see it again. I tried hard to get MISCHUNG to fit for 23a – it is German for mixture, and an anagram of IS MUSH plus a C and a G which I couldn’t justify. Liked TEA ROOM as it reminded me of a big misunderstanding with an American colleague over MOOT, divided by a common language again, so thanks for the link MarkN, also enjoyed scratching my head over ENDEAR and others, thanks Fed. PS re FAZE (my last in, luckily I had used exactly that word earlier in the day but still had to look up how to spell it) how does anyone KNOW it has to be a pangram?

99. Gazzh @99; someone here first proffered the advice that when you see a J in the grid, it’s time to start thinking about pangrams.

100. Incidentally, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic states (something like) all integers can be written as the product of prime numbers and that this is unique (up to order). If 1 were prime, this wouldn’t hold as you could always have an additional 1 in the product so it wouldn’t be unique.

     Neil

101. bodycheetah @ 86 – also referred to, quite nicely, as Janus words; I’ve an impressively long list I keep somewhere – with some lovely (and sometimes surprising) examples ….. I think I may have reproduced (some) of it here on occasion, though probably not since I was a daily poster some years ago now!

102. Prime numbers in 2 down? Whatever next: Fibonacci?

103. [paul@97 – I take a different view and concur instead with Mimi Bwcyd@62 who makes an excellent (albeit rare) contribution imo. Incidentally the point made @47 is well known by anyone who’s studied additional maths at ‘O’ level, or early in the first year of ‘A’ level, but it strikes me as serving no purpose than to (a) muddy the waters for those who don’t know it already or (b) for “petty grandstanding” as mimi states; after all, bringing in the complex field is of no help if wishing to clarify to solvers what a prime number is, as they are most certainly NOT factorisable (by definition!) in the common understanding of that word’s meaning – as well as the everyday meaning of what a number is, without the obfuscation of introducing the imaginary number. I cannot see what purpose it serves other than to seduce such as your goodself!]

104. Fed – I enjoyed this crossword though, for myself, if I must choose between deriving enjoyment from the puzzling itself or savouring a good surface then I’d rather the tricksy than the poetic. Of course, one can have both – as with Araucaria and, indeed, all setters to a greater or less extent…. I think this chimes with an earlier forecast I’ve made for you to become, in time, one of the greats (and saviour of our world!)

     But a pleasant solve. I’m one of those who has relished the smartness of the prime number ploy – and would hate it being put out to grass. From what I’ve gleaned from 15² over the years, and friends who do a daily cryptic, I’d imagine I’m one of those who solves most puzzles swiftly and rarely needs the explanations so selflessly provided by our bloggers, in spite of which (or perhaps because of which) I still initially read “prime” to indicate first letters so that when its meaning was twigged (for the third time in as many weeks?) so did a smile ensue! By all means, give it a break – but please don’t put it into retirement!

     (Should I now look out for “perfectly” positioned ingredients at, say, the 1st, 6th and 28th or “squarely” situated at the 1st, 4th, 9th and 16th?! Somehow, I doubt it!! But the prime ploy: I’ve only seen it recently (from just you possibly?) and I thought it a stonker! Please don’t hesitate to use it again; so long as you use “prime” to indicate the first letter a few times meanwhile, it will still elicit a smile. Perhaps it could become part of your trademark – even an “in” joke?!

     Anyway, many thanks again, young Mr G, for the welcome, and worthwhile, diversion

105. AlanC@93, Balfour@88 – fluthered, langered, langers, locked. Fluther’d appears in The !rish Rover. Elephant’s and Schindler’s also popular.

106. William @103 every prime number has an infinite number of factors , even restricting the factors to the real number line , or even more restrictive to just positive rationals.
     5 = 5/2 X 2 = 5/3 X 3 = 5/4 X 4 = ………
     That is why you need to be very precise with the definition of prime and this definition cannot be replaced by single words like irreducible, unfactorable or indivisible.
     If you think they are not factorisable perhaps you should revisit your O level maths.

107. The clue Mountain petunias in prime locations (4) in FT 14277 (3/4/2013) is the first occurrence in my own database of the ‘prime’ device, which possibly first saw the light of day — vaguely recalling solvers’ comments at the time — many years before that in a Monk barred puzzle for the old Indie (Saturday) Magazine. It looks as though I’ve deployed it 11 times in c20 years!

108. Correction to previous post: I’ve just found my “Prime parts of iconoclasm are fashionable (4)”, from Times 23102 (8/10/2005) 😉

109. Hello, still learning all the crossword conventions and gradually getting better! Why does corporation = tum, please?

     I spotted the prime device as I’ve been doing these crosswords for a few months now and it was lovely to be able to say “ah ha” and be able to write it in and give myself a pat on the back!
     Thanks Fed and PeterO

110. Late to the party, but I was hoping to find some other helpless soul who had WAVE for 10a. Seems I’m alone. Struggled in the NE corner until I swapped QUICK for my original SHORT in 9d.

111. Quiet Ears @109: Corporation is slang for a paunch or belly. Tum is a shortened form of tummy, slang for stomach. It crops up on regular basis in British cryptics.

112. Roz@106 Thanks for another truism but I would have thought it a very odd take to denote the position of letters in a string of word(s) by anything other than everyday whole numbers, i.e. integers or, in language you may prefer to use, the Counting Numbers (or positive Natural Numbers). To explain here, in terms other than those graspable by non-mathematicians (or even by an early 19th century inchoate ‘modern’ number theorist) would seem at best unnecessary and at worst confusing. Though, of course, I may be wrong! ?

113. Monk @ 107, 108 – oh my goodness! My sincere apologies – I feel terrible since I’ve always admired your skills and enjoyed your wonderful crosswords (I used to look forward to you as a real favourite when I had the time to solve the Indy daily) yet I honestly only recall seeing the artful “prime positioning” ploy recently! I should have realised that someone will have used it before, and someone with a creative wit to boot. My sincere apologies, Mr K, and thank you for popping in to enlighten…

114. Thanks Tony @101. Had never come across corporation being slang for belly/paunch. Is it connected to “corpulent?”

115. Tony @111 sorry not 101!

116. QuietEars @114: Yes, it seems to be related to corpulence. I hadn’t come across this use until I started doing British crosswords.

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