Guardian Cryptic 29,274 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29274.

Picaroon in top form, which is high indeed. Unless I am missing something, there is an error in 13A CROSSHAIRS, but that is akin to the pattern error in a Persian carpet.

ACROSS
1 CARD-CARRYING
Joker loving to snort line, very keen on a party? (4-8)
An envelope (‘to snort’) of RY (railway ‘line’) in CARD (‘joker’, with the question mark for the indication by example) plus CARING (‘living’ ‘loving‘); the ‘party’ is more political than diverting (at least in the cryptic reading).
9 RIVET
Parisian bank ultimately cut interest completely (5)
A charade of RIVE (‘Parisian bank’) plus T (‘ultimately cuT‘).
10 SAGE GREEN
French painter losing head about place for putting colour (4,5)
A charade of SAGE, which is [d]EGAS (‘French painter’) minus the first letter (‘losing head’) and reversed (‘about’) plus GREEN (‘place for putting’, golf).
11 PARSLEY
Herb Alpert undressed, say, when playing (7)
An anagram (‘when playing’) of ‘[A]lper[t]’ minus the outer letters (‘undressed’) plus ‘say’.
12 SURGEON
Press in numbers around important theatre figure (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of URGE (‘press’) in SON, a reversal (‘around’) of NOS (‘numbers’).
13 CROSSHAIRS
President’s touring Scottish island, a bit of a sight (10)
An envelope (‘touring’) of ROSS (‘Scottish island’? Ross is a region of Scotland, and there are islands named Ross elsewhere) in CHAIR’S (‘president’s’); the ‘sight’ being of a rifle.
15 EMIR
The Ancient Mariner, say, returns for Arabian big fish (4)
A reversal (‘returns’) of RIME (‘The Ancient Mariner’, a reference to the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), with ‘big fish’ being an important person.
18 BASK
Maybe enjoy the Sun‘s introduction to burning question (4)
A charade of B (‘introduction to Burning’) plus ASK (‘question’).
19 MICROPHONE
Note haircut with perfect means of increasing volume (10)
A charade of MI (‘note’ of the sol-fa) plus CROP (‘haircut’) plus HONE (‘perfect’, verb).
22 URANIUM
Game turned round: possibly I initially underestimated Man U (7)
A charade of UR, a reversal (‘turned round’) of RU (Rugby Union, ‘game’) plus ANIUM, an anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘I’ plus U (‘initially Underestimated’) plus ‘Man’; the definition, U, is the chemical symbol for uranium.
24 TIE CLIP
One may fix an Ascot sporting event, given 151 pence (3,4)
A charade of TIE (‘sporting event’) plus CLI (Roman numeral, ‘151’) plus P (‘pence’).
25 BAR MAGNET
Cockney’s hair dressing publication is an attractive item (3,6)
An envelope (‘dressing’) of MAG (magazine, ‘publication’) in BARNET (‘Cockney’s hair’, rhyming slang Barnet Fair – which is still held every September).
26 SUGAR
Company founder seen on the box for honey (5)
The wordplay is a reference to Alan Sugar; the definition, a term of endearment.
27 GREAT RED SPOT
Sky viewer may see this tip-top snooker feat, pocketing balls (5,3,4)
An envelope (‘pocketing’) of REDS (‘balls’) in GREAT POT (‘tip-top snooker feat’); the ‘sky viewer’ has a telescope trained on Jupiter
DOWN
1 CAVERNOUS
Head of Chinese State Intelligence is yawning (9)
A charade of C (‘head of Chinese’) plus AVER (‘state’) plus NOUS (‘intelligence’).
2 RUTHLESS
Devoid of mercy, like an incomplete Bible? (8)
Missing the Book of Ruth.
3 CUSHY
Not demanding retiring copper must take the lead (5)
A charade of CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus SHY (‘retiring’), with ‘must take the lead’ to indicate the order of the particles.
4 REGISTRAR
Record-holder is behind, checking heart on run (9)
An envelope (‘checking’) of GIST (‘heart’) plus R (‘run’) in REAR (‘behind’).
5 YOGURT
Turn up in Mongolian dwelling? One might be potted (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of OG, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of GO (‘turn’) in YURT (‘Mongolian dwelling’).
6 NIECE
She’s related new and extremely innovative chronicle (5)
A charade of N (‘new’) plus IECE (‘extremely InnovativE ChroniclE‘).
7 TROPIC
Some latitude over shot headed by right back (6)
A charade of TR, a reversal (‘back’) of RT (‘right’); plus O (‘over’) plus PIC (photograph, ‘shot’).
8 INANER
More fatuous, exclusive clothing article (6)
An envelope (‘clothing’) of A (indefinite ‘article’) in INNER (‘exclusive’).
14 ASIA MINOR
Turkey portion, like one given to a child (4,5)
A charade of AS (‘like’) plus I (‘one’) plus A MINOR (‘a child’), for the ‘Turkey portion’ beyond the Bosporus.
16 MOONLIGHT
Spooner’s N. American diving bird may glow in the dark (9)
A Spoonerism of LOON MIGHT (‘N. American diving bird may’).
17 SPEEDS UP
Top tennis player, holding soft drink, steps on it (6,2)
A charade of SPEED, an envelope (‘holding’) of P (piano, musically ‘soft’) in SEED (‘top tennis player’); plus SUP (‘drink’).
18 BLURBS
Promos for covers of rubbish Britpop band put first (6)
A charade of BLUR (‘Britpop band’) plus BS (‘rubbish’), with ‘put first’ to indicate the order of the particles.
20 EMPIRE
Something Britain had from legislator in Ireland (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of MP (‘legislator’) in EIRE (‘Ireland’).
21 PINATA
Beer tucked into by American adult, one smashed at parties (6)
A charade of PINAT, an envelope (‘tucked into’) of A (‘American’) in PINT (‘beer’); plus A (‘adult’), with a definition more decorous than it might at first appear.
23 AIRER
More beautiful female ditched a clothes horse (5)
A subtraction: [f]AIRER (‘more beautiful’) minus the F (‘female ditched’).
24 TOTED
Maybe the opening of a Sylvia Plath letter dragged awkwardly (5)
TO TED might be addressed to her husband Ted Hughes.

picture of the completed grid

98 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,274 by Picaroon”

  1. Thank you Peter O. I’m glad it’s you blogging today, not only because of your expert blog, but because as you’re up early (or late) depending on where people are on this planet. Thank you for putting me, and the crossword, to bed with your explanation of the wordplay for SUGAR. Not surprised, a football club, and a takeoff of an American show involving someone who should remain nameless. However I see from your link, that Mr Sugar also appeared in the Celebrity Apprentice. Australia. Does Picaroon imagine his solvers watch that stuff?

  2. And I’m just as ignorant of Mr Sugar’s founding of Amstrad. (Sorry, left it too long to edit my clue, but grateful for the extra 2 minutes. Will remember next time. Thanks Admin).

  3. I liked the misdirection with Sky viewer, with Sky capitalised at the front, in GREAT RED SPOT. Pleased to say I didn’t fall for it and had a fair idea of what I was looking for, but didn’t know enough about Jupiter or snooker to solve that without a lot of guessing as to what words would work there, and then checking.

  4. A lot of fun, no surprise. Some tricky wordplay that took a minute to see, e.g. BLURBS, SPEEDS UP, but all fair. Talking of fAIR (23d), its always amused me that a word can mean both very nice and only somewhat good. I nearly said quite good, but quite is another such word.

    A lot of great surfaces here. I particularly liked CAVERNOUS.

    Our blogger pointed out a possible problem with CROSSHAIRS; I didn’t notice that, assuming the setter knew an island I didn’t know, but was wondering about a different aspect of the clue. I know that corporations can have positions of president and chairman (of the board). These are different positions, that may or may not be occupied by the same person. Is there a context where president and chair(person) mean the same thing? Probably, but I just can’t think of one.

    Thanks, P&P

  5. I also liked Joker up front in CARD-CARRYING which put paid to my question, but isn’t that an example of a card? No, it’s a joker.
    Lots of good clues with plenty of humour, especially when read in the context of the surface.
    Favs CAVERNOUS, URANIUM, BLURBS, EMPIRE, BAR MAGNET, TOTED

  7. CROSSHAIRS (A wild thought)
    Ross Island, officially known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, is an island of the Andaman Islands (India).
    Ross island was named after marine surveyor, Daniel Ross. He was of Scottish descent.
    Does this island then become a Scottish island?

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO!

  9. i feel terrible that i’m alone in not knowing the french word for shore or riverbank.
    and it’s not like duolingo didn’t (repeatedly) warn me!

  10. Dr.WhatsOn@4
    Collins has this entry for ‘president’:
    ‘a person who presides over an assembly, meeting, etc’
    That’s CHAIR. Right?

  11. There were a few doozies in this, but not so many that intersecting clues couldn’t be relied upon to help. I needed a good deal of help with GREAT RED SPOT, being neither an astronomer nor snooker aficionado. The Britpop band and the Scottish island took a bit of research. There’s a list of several people in Wikipedia surnamed Sugar, and I assumed the Brit was the one. I’m surprised that I remembered barnet/hair. My knowledge of things British continues to expand. (Hey, we haven’t had any rivers for a while!)

    Having completed 10a & 12a, I knew that the third and fifth letters of 5d were G and R, so surely the Mongolian dwelling had to be a ger, yes? No. The Russians, and all the people in former Russian territories, such as Kyrgyzstan, call them yurts, but they’re definitely gers in Mongolia. Either Picaroon didn’t know this, or perhaps (more likely), I fell into his trap.

    Very enjoyable, thanks Picaroon, and PeterO for the blog.

  14. Yes, KVa @8. Twas what I was saying, or attempting to say. isn’t that an example of a card? No, it’s a joker. (lower case)

  15. Thanks Picaroon. There was a bit of general knowledge I lacked to fully appreciate this crossword but my ability to guess answers from the crossers served me well. Except for 12a and 13a I completed this with EMIR, URANIUM, BAR MAGNET, ASIA MINOR, EMPIRE, and PINATA being my top picks. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  16. I could only find Little Ross Island as well.
    [There is a big Ross Island in the Ross Sea, in Antarctica (NZ territory),
    named after a British Naval Officer, James Clark Ross, of the former British Empire who set off looking for the south magnetic pole.
    Nothing about being Scottish though.

  20. Great witty surfaces and misdirection as usual from this setter. “Herb Alpert” in 11a,”soft drink” in 17d – whether or not we choose to call this sort of thing “lift-and-separate” (see Saturday’s discussion / argument), Picaroon is the master of it.

    Many thanks both.

  22. [KVa @7, the Chandra Bose I know is Jagadish, a scientist who scandalised The Royal Society by demonstrating that stressing metal produces a recovery curve like stimulating nerves does]

  26. grantinfreo@22
    That was another Bose.
    CROSSHAIRS
    Coming back to the ‘Scottish island’, couldn’t think any better. PeterO may be right that it’s an error.

  27. GinF @24: yes, that’s how I parsed it and pretty sure our blogger did, too. Just the underlining an issue, I think.

    The Pirate continues as my favourite setter. Lively misdirection and hidden defs everywhere.

    BASK was my favourite.

  28. Tim C@13 is correct, there is a Ross Island not far from Campbeltown and CROSSHAIRS is absolutely fine.

    This offering from Picaroon pretty much hit the sweet spot of difficulty for me, demanding full concentration for the better part of an hour but never so inaccessible as to be discouraging. I thought the misdirection in URANIUM was spectacular, spent far too long staring at PIÑATA and (appropriately) needed all the crossers for the aforementioned CROSSHAIRS. Thouroughly enjoyable.
    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  30. Good puzzle as usual from this setter. PINATA a new word for me. Favourites include ASIA MINOR, BLURBS, GREAT RED SPOT.
    I’m entirely unconvinced by attempts above to justify Ross as a Scottish island – it seems clear to me that it’s a (not too serious) mistake by the setter.
    Thanks Peter O and Picaroon.

  31. What a nice idea a PIÑATA is! Life-long learning. Thank you Peter O and Picaroon. Loved the misdirections, as ever with Picaroon.

  32. I agree wholeheartedly with Rats @29 – 22ac goes into my little book of classic clues, too.
    I also liked 15ac EMIR – reminiscent of Crucible’s classic, which I’ve cited more than once before: ‘He wrote ‘The Ancient Mariner’ (6)’.

    Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  33. Yes, there are Scottish islands called Ross, but they all seem to be fairly small and obscure. I bet most of us started off thinking of the Ross in Ross and Cromarty, which isn’t an island – and maybe Picaroon did too? I needed all the crossers for CROSSHAIRS.

    Not the hardest Picaroon I’ve ever seen, (though you did need to know all about the face of Jupiter and the home life of Sylvia Plath, and rather more French than usual) but very enjoyable to solve, with some neatly disguised defs and some funny surfaces: I liked the glow-in-the-dark waterbird and Herb Alpert playing undressed, and GREAT RED SPOT – though I’m very pleased that snooker so far has not disappeared behind one of Sky’s paywalls.

  34. What, no Rosemary or Thyme? Also a fan of URANIUM, (although not Man U) as well as SAGE GREEN, PARSLEY, CROSSHAIRS, BAR MAGNET, GREAT RED SPOT and CAVERNOUS. Slight typo Peter, in your explanation for 1ac, ‘living’ rather than ‘loving’. Superb crossword.

    Ta Picaroon & PeterO.

  35. Great puzzle with some splendid charades and surfaces to match.

    Favourites: RIVET, PARSLEY (a classic lift-and-separate), URANIUM, CAVERNOUS, BAR MAGNET and especially the clever little TOTED.

    PIÑATA was my LOI – I spent far too long trying to shoehorn ALE in there somewhere.

    ROSS = island puzzled me as well.

    Thanks to the Pirate and PeterO

  36. Perhaps the expectation of knowing some French is a British thing for those of us of a certain age, where French was the first (and, often, only) foreign language we were exposed to in school. These days it’s more likely to be Spanish.

    However, we have so many French expressions in our language that I think it is de rigeur to be au fait with terms like “rive gauche“, even if we have not always considered what the exact translation is.

  37. Peter, you’ve also underlined Sylvia in TOTED, which I presume was not intended. Also liked the juxtaposition of REGISTRAR and SURGEON.

  38. I was pleased to discover that the GREAT RED SPOT was a thing and, like others, loved URANIUM. I got the EMIR backwards at first.

  39. Thanks to Picaroon – this puzzle was just the right mix of challenge and pleasure. Lots of ticks – with 19a MICROPHONE the only one of my many not mentioned so far (I think).
    I’m not sure why I had a slight sense of déjà vu with a couple (e.g. 2d RUTHLESS and 20d EMPIRE).
    Thanks PeterO for the thorough and interesting blog.

  40. Not sure a microphone is a means of increasing volume. It captures and translates sound into an electrical signal for recording/amplification etc.

  42. Lovely stuff, although, for a Wigan supporter, understimating Man U was a bit too cruelly topical. It took me ages to sort out BAR MAGNET because I remembered that there used to be a boy’s publication called The Magnet and wasted time on google trying to find out if there was something called an ‘air magnet.

  43. JinA @39
    I had the same thought re EMPIRE – from Qaos’ puzzle a couple of weeks ago: ‘Britain had one politician detained by Ireland (6)’.
    ‘Great minds …’ (Qaos and Picaroon, I mean. 😉 )

  44. Julie in Australia @ 39. I am sure we had RUTHLESS quite recently.

    Enjoyed this though did not get TROPIC or PINATA

    Favourites included. SAGE GREEN, EMIR, CARD-CARRYING, ASIA MINOR

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  45. I parsed URANIUM slightly differently, with RU reversed and then AN = if/possibly (“if ifs and ans were pots and pans … “), I and initals of underestimated & Man. Failed on CROSSHAIRS due to the Island controversy documented above. Pleased to learn that the Red Spot is Great. Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  46. Great puzzle, but I never heard of the rifle sights, and my hardback copy of Chambers gives it as two separate words. Ah well, can’t win them all. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  47. I struggled to parse 22a to my shame as I have a degree in chemistry. However I was led down the garden path a bit when I discovered via google there was a game called Pokemon Uranium.

  48. Thanks for the blog, I liked ASIA MINOR for the hidden capital at the front , I found the U of URANIUM far too obvious. The GREAT RED SPOT is shrinking but still has a diameter larger than the Earth .
    SimpleS @40 I partially agree for MICROPHONE , it is simply a transducer but it does allow the signal to then be amplified, so “means of increasing volume” just about applies.

  49. Another super crossword, he never seems to disappoint.

    I like a lot of Picaroon’s left-field definitions, including URANIUM, TIE-CLIP and the place for putting. I also liked the surfaces for TROPIC and SURGEON. I did wonder about Ross, but the Loch Lomond isles lets Picaroon off the hook, I guess.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  50. The clue for element 92 has a nice lift-and-separate of Man U, but of course nobody is ever fooled by that, as Roz pointed out yesterday 🙂

  51. I too looked for Rosemary and Thyme, or perhaps Scarborough.
    But Herb Alpert was ‘a taste of honey’.
    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  53. Thanks both and a lot of ticks for clues already cited. Picaroon is nowadays the setter I most like to see.

    The appearance of PINATA in a Times crossword a while back led to some quite heated exchanges about its fairness – there was a view that it was an obscurity too far (I did not share, nor could I understand, that view but then I have had pinatas in my life).

  54. I have never experienced a PIÑATA personally, but I know about the custom. However they may be less familiar to the more insular disgusteds of Tunbridge Wells who complained to the Times

  55. I don’t understand what “for covers” is doing in 18D. The clue seems to function perfectly well – or perhaps even better – without it? I got there, unsatisfied, in the end but spent a lot of time trying to do something with the outer letters of “rubbish”.

    Can anybody enlighten me?

  58. Pinatas have only become a Thing fairly recently in the UK. Like other US imports such as school prom dances and American-style Halloween, they probably entered our consciousness via all those high-school based TV programmes. But these days you can buy ready-made ones in Tescos, so I don’t think they count as Foreign Obscurities any more.

  59. Jacob @55. I think it’s because a blurb is specifically a promo printed on a book cover. “a publisher’s commendatory description of a book, usually printed on the jacket”

  60. I found this tougher than Paul yesterday. The top half was fine but the bottom half took me some time. Somewhat thrown by CROSSHAIRS as I could only think of Ross as an island in the far south, but it could only be that. That said, there was much to enjoy here. I loved BIG RED SPOT, BAR MAGNET, EMIR and URANIUM. With thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  61. Thanks all,
    The typo in 1A CARD-CARRYING and the errant underlining in 18D BLURBS and 24D TOTED have been corrected.

  63. What a lovely puzzle. I got there ok but only after somehow managing to solve CROSSHAIRS for completely the wrong reasons, having had in my mind a miss-spelt Hebridean isle of “Hariss” and a non-existent senior company board member, the CRO, so thank you for putting me right!

  64. Always interesting to see what others think about the puzzles. For instance, Nuntius @60 saying that he / she found this harder than yesterday’s Paul. For me it was the other way round.

    Loved the Herb Alpert clue!

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  65. Great puzzle. I too had Harris as the island but couldn’t make anything of the rest. I concluded there must be a Ross Island in Scotland, though I’ve never heard of it (and evidence in earlier comments seems to suggest otherwise).

    BAR MAGNET and URANIUM were wonderful.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  66. [gladys @58: Beautifully phrased post 🙂 But re Halloween, it used not to be a big deal in England, being so close to 5 November, but was always celebrated more exuberantly in Scotland, where the Guy Fawkes bash was less of a thing, despite it commemorating the lucky escape of James VI & I]

  69. A bit on the tough side but managed to finish. One thing that is becoming a cliché is “game” for RU, then reversed. Whatever happened to “ancient city”?

  70. For some reason I struggled with this? I finished it in the end and really enjoyed it; a good week so far…
    Alastair@69 – what did happen to Ur?

  71. I biffed in CROSSHAIRS without stopping to consider whether or not ROSS was an island. Sometimes it pays not to overthink these things. Enjoyable puzzle as always. The Herb Alpert clue is very neat. Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.

    Blaise @55 – yes, exactly that. My first job was in book publishing and I had to write a lot of blurbs. I always found it funny that this slangy term was the correct word used among professionals. “Apparently an arbitrary formation” says the OED.

  72. Thanks to Picaroon for a Tuesday challenge with some great definitions and wonderful surfaces. Thanks also to PeterO for the blog especially with with parsing of 22 across
    My Favourites:
    2down RUTHLESS
    22across URANIUM
    24down TOTED

  74. Some great clues today, with URANIUM playing the heavy metal music in my ears, as Metallica do. The word BLURB is a funny sounding one, almost as if the words of praise have somehow been dolloped on the back cover of a book. Particularly liked CARD-CARRYING…like some of those more officious refs on the soccer field.

  75. manhattan @70 – fell into decline from around 530BC due to “drought, changing river patterns, and the silting of the outlet to the Persian Gulf” according to Wikipedia.

  76. Alastair @69 – as an amateur setter I’m quite partial to cluing the fragment ‘UR’ as ‘half-hour’ 🙂

  77. PARSLEY, URANIUM, TOTED & RUTHLESS were brilliant!
    I enjoyed them so much that I completely forgive the technical error about microphones, for SimpleS @40 is correct: a mic captures the original sound, but it’s an amplifier which increases the volume. All the way up to 11….
    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  79. I wouldn’t dream of forcing myself to watch The Apprentice but I knew Alan Sugar because he was a guest once on Graham Norton – one of the UK’s (and Ireland’s) greatest ambassadors to the world!

  80. That would be difficult to solve “in the wild”, Bodycheetah!

    Incidentally, Harris isn’t “an” island either – Harris and Lewis are joined. There is a very narrow neck at Tarbert that would be the obvious dividing point, but in fact Harris includes the mountainous southern part of the northern island as well.

  81. What a treat to have Paul and Picaroon to start the week. Some lovely clues here. My favourite was also URANIUM, even though it was one of a few I missed. Nothing wrong with MIRCROPHONE as a means of increasing volume, being the device we use for that exact purpose. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

  82. [Gazzh @67: for those of us of a generation that preceded electronica, the Sound of the Loon was the running gag in Howard Hawks’ seminal screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby. It wasn’t a loon at all! It was a leopard cub]

  83. Paul @81
    Actually, no. A microphone converts sound signals into electrical signals; these can then be fed to amplifier, which does the increasing. The increased signals can then be fed to a loudspeaker, from which the sound emerges at increased volume.

  85. Just to clarify, I have no problem with the explanations of electronic amplification. My point re MICROPHONE is that there is nothing wrong with the clue. A microphone is a human interface to an amplifier, thus providing a means for increasing volume. One can look at it as a microphone providing the means and an amplifier doing the work.

  86. I look forward to pedantically correcting people who say “there are more here than I thought would be. Can you get me a microphone so they can all hear me?”.

  87. Muffin@80 : Harris, were it to be counted as an island, almost has the right letters for the solution; but strangely enough the other part of the island, Lewis, does have a ROSS connection, as until the traditional counties were abolished in the 1970s it formed part of the county of Ross and Cromarty.

    Not suggesting that this is what Picaroon had in mind – I think this was simply a mistake, albeit a rather surprising one given how often Scottish islands feature in crosswordland.

  89. I’m a big fan of Picaroon, but I’m afraid this wasn’t Pickers at his best, in my estimation. A DNF.

    My grumbles are CARD-CARRYING: I appreciate that the ? is probably meant to show that ‘Joker’ is a DBE, but for me it’s too far separated; and PINATA which I didn’t get: never heard of it. (I think if I’d been alerted to the correct spelling PIÑATA with the tilde, I might have got there). I was trying to fit IPA (a kind of beer) into the word.

    Also I’m a bit dubious about SUGAR = Honey. Quite apart from their obvious difference, they are chemically distinct, with the glucose and fructose bonded in sucrose=sugar but not in honey. Another synonym would be preferable.

    But apart from these gripes, some good clues. I liked URANIUM (should be wise to these 1- and 2-letter defs of chemical elements by now: how often have we had I=Iodine, O=Oxygen, and As=Arsenic!). Also ticks for TOTED, ASIA MINOR (just a bit too late to be a seasonal misdirection!), SURGEON (though the ‘other’ meaning of theatre is seen often enough these days), PARSLEY (another good misdirection), and RIVET.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Peter.

  91. One of those puzzles where I read the clues with increasing bafflement until eventually AIRER and BLURBS gave me a way in, and it all gradually revealed itself from there. Didn’t know PINATA though and had to reveal it. Definite favourite was the GREAT RED SPOT, having just about managed to observe that Jovian feature from my back garden via a cheapish telescope. The rings of Saturn are more of a “wow!” moment IMHO. Thanks to PeterO and the peerless Picaroon.

  92. Everyone loved TOTED, but I struggled with it only because in American English “tote” can’t mean “drag” — it has to mean “carry”. Never heard of Alan Sugar, but it was the only possibility given the crossers. Laccaria @89, it’s not an equality of sweeteners, but of sweeties. Sugar = honey = darling = …

  93. Laccaria, I had the same raised eyebrow as you (if you see what I mean) but paddymelon earlier put me right: joker is an example of a playing card but also a synonym for a person who has a fondness for pranks etc – He’s a bit of a card- I can think of some less kind alternatives! So that one is good too, I reckon.

  94. Although it was far from easy, Picaroon is more on my wavelength than Paul as I finished this one. My favourites were CARD CARRYING and ASIA MINOR. I think UR the old city is used more than Rugby Union when those letters are required in a puzzle. RUTHLESS appeared twice last year so it was FOI for me. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  95. Widdersbel@71 – for BLURB My OED (2006 – old enough to vote) has ‘ORIGIN early 20th cent.: coined by the American humorist Gelett Burgess.’
    oed.com has, as you say, ‘Apparently an arbitrary formation.’ but also ‘See note at definition.’
    ‘Said to have been originated in 1907 by Gelett Burgess in a comic book jacket embellished with a drawing of a pulchritudinous young lady whom he facetiously dubbed Miss Blinda (sic) Blurb. (D.A.) See Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 329.’ [The D.A. stands for Dictionary of Americanisms, I think.]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelett_Burgess#/media/File:Blurbing.jpg has Belinda Blurbing in 1906. He was a bit of a joker.

  96. TassieTim@86
    I expect that the microphone requester is hoping that it is connected to a PA system – it won’t do him much good if it isn’t!

  97. Zero solutions for me. I found this very tough. Struggling to understand the clear explanations.

    When do people get better at these?!

  98. Steffen@97 This was far from a straightforward puzzle a la Vulcan and others, so don’t be disheartened ! It depends on how often one attempts cryptic crosswords, but I’d say the first three or four years are the hardest.

Comments are closed.