Guardian 29,310 / Brendan

111 comments on “Guardian 29,310 / Brendan”

1. Thanks Brendan and Elieen!

   NEWNESS
   Points, three of them (3 points)=N E S in
   All (all 4 points) N E W S

2. LUNCHEON
   CAD?

3. After I had at the very start impetuously bunged in Cricket instead of FLUTTER then realized the NW corner was becoming hard to crack, found this a remarkably smooth solve for a Brendan puzzle…

4. As usual, just what Eileen wrote.

5. That was fun, after a start where very little went in on the first pass, once I got started it all flowed in. I even spotted the theme, but I own the book.

   Thank you to Eileen and Brendan.

6. I wondered, if NESS is a geographical point, whether N, E and W gave three of them in all. I prefer KVa’s explanation. Thanks Brendan and Eileen. I’m feeling good at having finished a Brendan.

7. Slow but satisfying solve for me. I’m not normally a great fan of what my solving friends and I call ‘spaghetti puzzles’ – where clues refer to each other. However I was quite taken with this one.
   (Is there a ‘correct’ way of describing a ‘spaghetti puzzle’?)
   Thanks to Brendan and Eileen

8. I took 28a as NE+W+NESS, but KVa’s parsing is more accurate.
   Ta Brendan & Eileen

9. Some great but very tough cluing. Even after theme emerged it was not an easy fill-in. I was hoping there was more to parsing of Tasso

   Thanks Setter and Blogger

10. I take a perverse delight in solving the spaghetti clues in the wrong order. I guessed apostrophe from the crossers and definition, and that certainly made it a lot easier to get the others.

    Probably fair to say that Lynne Truss was on a bit of a CRUSADE

    Top ticks for GALLIVANTS, CAROUSER & ABASHED

    Cheers E&B

11. Enjoyable puzzle today – thanks Brendan and Eileen for the blog.

    I was held up in the SE after entering WINGS for 25d, which I only managed to fix after hitting the check button.

12. Matthew Newell@9
    TASSO
    I was looking for a better explanation too. Couldn’t think of one.
    After reading Eileen’s blog, I feel the parsing is all right.
    Of course, someone may still come up with a better explanation.

13. Slow start, then a steady solve until LUNCHEON, which took me ages to see.
    Thanks to Eileen and KVa for the parsing and to Brendan for another gem.

14. Thanks all round: to KVa for explaining 28; to Eileen for posting so early and explaining 3; is the TASSO explanation here the right one? I think yes, when ass/stupid is used as a vocative. Perhaps BG will confirm later.
    I absolutely loved this. The book is brilliant (and necessary). Brendan’s clueing is on top form here I think. ABASHED, TRUSS, SNOOKERED, SEMICOLON and all the cross-references. Magic. There may be trouble about EPHESUS: Greek foundation but these days in what we are to call Türkiye. But we still call e.g. Bath a Roman city, so it’s OK? There were gasps and Ah!s throughout the solving process. Thanks yet again for top-class entertainment to the Pearl of Portland.

15. Thanks both. I did overlook the meaning of bat having convinced myself it was a typo for bet so am pleased to be put right on that point. I also arrived at newness as Marcooz@8 , agree Kvas is better.

16. Great puzzle highlighting one of my favourite publications about punctuation. I liked the extra (probably unintentional) reference to 6,25d BUTTERFLIES in 1a FLUTTER, given that I love calling them “FLUTTER BYS” when my little granddaughter spots one. All my favourites other than the punctuation clues have already been mentioned. Thanks very much to both Brendan and Eileen.

17. Thankfully, no typos spotted (as yet) as I’m about to go out now for the day and shan’t be able to amend the blog until early evening.

18. What a beauty! Nice work, Brendan.

19. Just one letter off – I had FLITTER for 1a, thinking it to be a not so clever double definition, with possible reference to the dialect term “flittermouse” for “bat”.

20. There is always going to be a lot more to a Brendan puzzle than you first thought, and I at least never fully get to the bottom of one. This started slowly, until I realised that I had EATS, SHOOTS, LEAVES and TRUSS (and not very much else) and then there were a few minutes of feverish activity as all the cross-referenced punctuation fell into place. Then a steady solve of what was left – but I never did spot the second DOUBLE MEANING theme.

    Didn’t get bat=FLUTTER, or why the LUNCHEON is invariably costly; didn’t know there was a HARVARD comma as well as the OXFORD one. I just assumed they were equivalent prestigious universities. As for NEWNESS, I thought for a while it was made of three different points… but when on closer inspection it wasn’t, I gave up. I think KVa@1 is right.

    Some intricate cross-referencing here, with COMMA the outstanding example. I liked the little Roman square in GALLIVANTS and the pairing with IVAN. As a fan, it’s nice to see SNOOKERED.

21. Very nice and took me a while to tease out. Bunged TASSO as I couldn’t parse it and still don’t understand Eileen’s explanation. If that is indeed correct, it lets down the rest of the puzzle in my opinion. ‘Stupid’ as a noun is stupid.

22. Komornik @14 – I argued with bits of Eats, Shoots and Leaves when I read it, it’s very prescriptive about style, some of which doesn’t need to be quite so rigidly described, especially as language changes I preferred the parody, which I also own.

    I hate rigid style guides with a passion, having stopped writing anonymous mystery reviews because they were ruthlessly edited by an American before publication. American matters because usage does vary. That editing often distorted my meaning and some I found unnecessarily fussy and old-fashioned: when I used the singular they to refer to a companion, it was replaced with he, erroneously. I did query this; the answer was the singular they was an abomination never to be used, which still applied when referring to companions who use non-gendered pronouns.

    I suspect TASSO is a straightforward clue because he might not be well-known in some circles

23. @10 Bodycheetah, sometimes I’m forced to do that, when the compiler (usually Paul) makes the root clue too hard to crack, and I need to go backwards from at least one reference to get it.

24. ShanneW@22: using the singular they (which I am gradually learning to do where appropriate) does still jar a bit. It’s a pity that there wasn’t a less confusing choice for a non-gendered pronoun, but all the other candidates (xe and so on) are even uglier.
    I sympathise with your editing issues: my fellow editor of the church magazine has rigid views on the maximum permitted length of sentences, and mine frequently get chopped up.

25. Having no idea of the book, I was on the lookout for more butterflies, as intimated in the first clue as well as in the key 18 across. Could this be a third mini-theme?

    A very enjoying puzzle, which put a smile on my face 🙂

26. Have I missed it, but what about the butterfly theme? Comma, monarch, Oxford blue, cabbage white, etc?

27. Lovely crossword and lovely blog. Thank you Brendan and Eileen.
    And as well as COMMA and BUTTERFLIES FLUTTER among the solutions, hiding among the clues are insects and monarch, and cabbage white flits – it’s not easy catching.

28. Eileen@17
    LOL!
    Also, no one said anything about 5A being &lit (ABASHED).

29. Very clever interlinked themes as always from Brendan.

    I got TASSO but didn’t understand it because I thought “Start of tribute” was T. But Eileen’s parsing is surely correct. poc @21: “stupid” as a noun as in the t-shirt “I’m with stupid”? And I liked “invariably costly meal” for LUNCH, very good. But I’m still a bit unclear what the definition is for LUNCHEON as a whole – is it an &lit (KVa @2)? If so, why exactly?

    I agree with ShanneW @22 in not being keen on Lynne TRUSS‘s book. David Crystal was so annoyed by it that he wrote an entire book in response, “The Fight for English”, which I highly recommend.

    Many thanks Brendan and Eileen.

30. … another example of “stupid” as a noun:

    Frank Zappa and the Mothers
    Were at the best place around
    But some stupid with a flare gun
    Burned the place to the ground

31. [gladys @24 – I wouldn’t be quite so irritated about the insistence that the singular they should never be used if the OED didn’t trace its use back to 1375, and in the linked article suggests not only that the correction to the plural they comes from erroneous 18th century grammarians, but singular usage has been formally accepted for 25 years by some dictionaries, if not continuously.]

32. Also a treat to see you blogging this brilliant puzzle, Eileen

33. Those commas? Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no, depending on how you want to nudge the readers’ attention.

34. That was a satisfying, if tricky, solve. I appreciated KVa@1’s parsing of NEWNESS, thank you for that.

    For some reason, I parsed “tribute” as “toast” in 3d, so the start of tribute was TO around ASS for stupid. Probably incorrect, but it got me the answer. I also noticed that the initial letters of “Start of tribute around stupid” are an anagram of TASSO. Likely just a coincidence.

    Regardless, I enjoyed that puzzle immensely. I have a few books by Lynn Truss on my bookshelf and my smile grew as I saw the theme emerging.

    Thank you Brendan and Eileen.

35. ShanneW@22: I agree with you that being prescriptive for the sake of it is not good. However, Truss’s book begins from the situation depicted in the title (and the cover!), where shoddy punctuation creates an entirely different meaning. I am not against innovation in language at all (or creative ambiguity): the problem is that so much stuff put out on all kinds of media and by corporations is just froth, meaning virtually nothing at all. Streamers are better.
    Gladys@24: seeing our pronouns come from a mixture of origins, there should be room for a new one for a non-gendered singular. I would vote for any of the ze/de/xe/sie etc. possibilities instead of ‘they’ as singular, which for a generation or so at least will create what sounds like a nonsense. Or… English is so rich and wonderful precisely because it has never had an Académie or equivalent to ‘manage’ it: however, unlike with planet management which is still in the thrall of ‘market forces’, a bit of consensual grabbing-by-scruff-of-own-neck from time to time generally solves these problems: give it ten years.

36. Great puzzle for Tuesday and thanks to KVa@1 for NEWNESS. Last one in was VERANDAHS, obvious enough but I just couldn’t see it!!

37. Lord Jim@29
    LUNCHEON
    I suspected that it was a CAD but wasn’t sure. Maybe it’s a humorous extended def.
    The picture is hazy to me. Let’s hear what others have to say.

    Komornik@35
    Loved your post.

38. Disaster with only 5 answered. I hate this sort of circular cross-referencing. Disappointed that Brendan is moving into Paul’s elitist territory.
    I despair that the Grauniad is getting too hard for the average solver.

39. Wonderful stuff from Brendon this morning.

    Apologies if this is an old chestnut, but I’ve only recently come across this case of an unfortunate missing comma. Seen on the wall towards the rear of a retirement home; “Residents refuse to be put in the bins.”

40. Thanks to Brendan and Eileen
    With the crossers in, I also put FLITTER for 1a; like Roger earlier I was thinking of “flittermouse”. When I checked and saw it was FLUTTER, I thought “bat” was a misprint for “bet”!
    I always use the Oxford comma unless the last two are actually a pair – Darby and Joan, for example. It was therefore a favourite, as was SNOOKERED (also a semi &lit?)

41. I agree with StellaHeath@25, Vic@26, Clyde@27 about an additional butterfly or insect theme in the puzzle that interweaves with the other clues and themes eg COMMA, OXFORD, FLUTTER, monarch etc.
    I thought this was a brilliant, delightful puzzle. My favourite clue was COMMA.

    NEWNESS – I parsed as did Kva@1, three points in all points.
    TASSO – I agree with Eileen.

    I learnt a few things today, about the OXFORD and HARVARD COMMA, and the poet TASSO who, incidentally, set his long epic poem in the First CRUSADE.

    Thank you Brendan and Eileen for the great puzzle and blog.

42. KVa @37: yes, I think I’ve been overthinking it. The definition is indeed the whole clue, with the humorous suggestion that LUNCHEON (a posh version of lunch) is likely to be not only expensive but lengthy. I think it’s a great clue now!

43. Loved this, another tour de force. And no doubt DOUBLE MEANING, in addition to the seven double definitions, references the pitfalls of COMMA absence/misuse.
    I also like the sub-theme of BUTTERFLIES with ‘COMMA’, ‘cabbage white’, ‘monarch’ & ‘blue’
    And I love that the clue for LUNCHEON has ‘extended’ and ‘definit(e)’!
    Thanks Brendan & Eileen

44. Lechien@34. The initial letters of ‘Start of tribute around stupid’ being an anagram of TASSO would not be a coincidence, it would be part of the clue. However I don’t know what the device would be as there is no obvious indicator. Does anyone else know how to explain this?

45. A proper Tuesday Treat – Brendan, a double theme and Lucky Eileen doing the blog – what more could you want?

    Thanks to both

46. I’m hoping I don’t mispunctuate. Another remarkable puzzle from Brian. Lechien @34, well-spotted but without an indicator, SueM @48, maybe it is just a coincidence. One can never tell with this ingenious setter. Superb blog and two themes for the price of one. Favourites were ABASHED and OVULATE

    Ta Brendan & Eileen.

47. Never heard of ‘spaghetti puzzles’ before – thanks stevethepirate@7. I am also not a fan, and this crossword has not converted me, but I found it a satisfying solve after a slow start, not least because I was very much helped by – perhaps for the first time ever – spotting the theme. Is VAR a usual shortening of variety? I don’t recall seeing it anywhere. Thanks Eileen and Brendan.

48. Absolutely splendid puzzle which I did over three separate sessions due to work commitments. A joy to return to it on each occasion and to tease out a little bit more. I enjoyed the several layers of theming and a very nice pdm when solving LEAVES and, briefly, wondering why panda had been picked. And very nice to be able to solve GALLIVANT from IVAN – given that I was making no progress with it from the clue. SNOOKERED was delightfully done – I’d agree with muffin @40 that it is CAD/semi&lit. Otherwise I am in total agreement with Eileen’s list of faves.

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen

49. The usual incredible mastery of setting from Brendan that I found incredibly hard to unravel.

    Like Arossignol @11, I tried wings at first for 25. Even after latching on to the punctuation theme, I found it was difficult to finish the SE corner, not having heard of the HARVARD COMMA. I particularly liked the bat in the clue for FLUTTER, the extended definition for ABASHED, the ‘game before final pass forward’ in SEMICOLON. I also liked the rowdy drunk for CAROUSER with no anagram in sight, and the ‘small Roman square’ in GALLIVANTS.

    Thanks Brendan for the masochistic enjoyment and Eileen for the clear explanations.

50. paul @ 47 “Var.” per the OED “freq. abbreviation of VARIETY”

51. paul @47
    Yes, in botany. I have just been reading about a fern called Cystopteris alpina var. huteri.

52. I was very much on Brendan’s wave-length this morning. The only one I couldn’t get was NEWNESS, though I kick myself now…. Komornik@14: I think Ephesus as a “Greek city” is fine even though its ruins are in present day Turkey, as it’s only meaningful to refer to it as a [former] Greek city .. Great fun. With thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

53. me @40
    …though I would probably include the Oxford comma before another “and”. For example:
    Bill, Ted, and Darby and Joan.
    Ididn’t know it was also a Harvard comma. That makes that clue even better.

54. Another masterpiece from my favourite daily setter, albeit a slightly flawed masterpiece. My foi was WINGS at 25. Rare to find a “cook” in Brendan’s work.

    I’m surprised people write about his puzzles being hard. To me, the accuracy and economy of his clueing makes him one of the most straightforward of current setters, while the wit and ingenuity often make me grin. The construction of his diagrams is breathtaking.

    I have a great fondness for Lynne Truss, since her column in the Listener used to face the crossword page when I was one of the Listener setters in the late 1980s.

55. Didn’t know the COMMA butterfly, so looked it up to verify before entering. Discovered it’s of the genus Polygonia, which sounds so made up. Well all such names are made up of course, but this one sounds like a bit of a spoof – or possibly grist for a future cryptic clue.

    I hadn’t heard of the HARVARD comma, so I thought the clue was trying to compare (what is often thought of as) the best university in the US with the second best in the UK. I’ll go now.

56. I was worried when apostrophe turned up but I think it was a lot easier than his last one.

57. Got there slowly and uncertainly. Thank you Brendan for the puzzle and Eileen for several parsings.

58. i don’t understand KVa’s parsing of NEWNESS. Can somebody help?

    The subtheme reveal is reversed — a DOUBLE MEANING refers to one word or phrase that means two things, while a “double definition” is two words or phrases that mean one thing.

    [IVAN the Terrible always reminds me of a friend who used to refer to her boyfriend’s grandmother as “Serafina the Terrible.” Brings pictures to the mind…]

    I was misled by the “costly” in the LUNCHEON clue. I was thinking that lunch is anything somebody eats in the middle of the day, while LUNCHEON is more pretentious and probably more expensive.

    Brendan and Eileen, thanks ever so …

59. Valentine@58 – KVa@1’s parsing is that three of the compass points (N, E and S) are inserted into all of the compass points (N, E, W and the final S) giving NEW NES S

60. “Equivalent prestigious universities”?? Gladys@20 – oh dear me no. (Insert commas and colons to taste.)

61. Difficult for me today. For some reason I struggle with the setters with the ‘normal’ names (Brenda, Paul) 😀 Something about their style means I just can’t find a way into the clues. Of course when I read the blog everything generally makes sense. More practise required!

    Couple of questions, though. Why is TO ‘found at the beginning of a tribute’ (3d)? And why is ON ‘forward’ (15d)? Possibly just crossword conventions I’ve not seen before.

    Thanks to Brendan for the workout and Eileen for casting light on the shadows, as always!

62. Of late I’ve taken to using the OXFORD COMMA, on the grounds that, if it’s not good enough for Thérèse Coffey, it’s plenty good enough for me.
    Here’s The Guardian‘s Hannah Jane Parkinson – The NHS is falling apart but fear not: Thérèse Coffey is fixing it, one Oxford comma at a time – pointing out:
    ‘This sentence, for example:
    “At the government’s circus-themed party, I struck up a conversation with the clowns, Suella Braverman and Nadine Dorries,”
    which does not have an Oxford comma, has a different meaning to:
    “At the government’s circus-themed party, I struck up a conversation with the clowns, Suella Braverman, and Nadine Dorries.”

63. bp @ 61

    3D: the inference is that a tribute will start ‘To [the subject]”

    15D: “Drive on” (for instance) is telling a cabby or similar to keep going, ie forwards, after a delay.

64. The Truss theme, which I saw early, was a great help in solving clues, sometimes in an unconventional order, which was as well given my difficulty in parsing several of the answers. I tend to enjoy using extra clues, not directly present in the numbered clues. All in all, fairly challenging but not dispiriting, indeed rather enjoyable.

65. “To Brendan, thanks for being a fine crossword setter, ranked amongst the best”

    billypudcock@61I think this is what they mean by TO being found at the beginning of a tribute. I thought the initial letter idea was an alternative, but doesn’t quite pan out; probably Brendan used that as an “extra” interest for the clue.

    FrankieG @62 has an extra comma crept in?

    I would also like to pay tribute to Eileen for being a fine blogger, ranked amongst the best. No TO at the start of that!

66. ABASHED was a great clue/solution. Brendan on top form today.

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen

67. I don’t understand the 2nd definition of LEATHER – ‘kid, for example’ in 2d (first def is obvious).

    Likewise with 25d, first definition is obvious, no idea of 2nd – FLIES – ‘theatre part’.

68. There was another brilliant piece of double meaning. If one is at Oxford University and represent the college in sports you are forever known as being an Oxford Blue. Applies to cricket, rowing,rugby,etc. Absolutely brilliant crossword from Mr G. Eileen your lucky day to handle a masterpiece.

69. Thanks Brendan, for not cluing TRUSS with “ex-PM” – so many to choose from – blink and you’ll miss one, and Eileen for the blog.

70. I understood the “kid, for example” to be kid leather or kidskin scraggs@67

    FLIES, as far as I know, refers to the rigging system used in a theatre to change backgrounds and allow props – or people – to fly in.

71. Thanks Simon@63 and Dave@65 for clarifying. Interestingly Dave might have inadvertently proven the point while trying not to: “I would also like to pay tribute TO Eileen” 😀

    Scraggs@67
    I didn’t get these either but Google helped out.
    Kid LEATHER is a type of leather (hence the “for example”) in the clue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidskin
    The FLIES in the theatre are the rigging for hoisting scenery and actors about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_system

72. Thanks, Lechien@70 and billypudcock@71.

    I’d got the clues in the grid, but not the full parsing.

73. I’m afraid I don’t understand Eileen’s remark in the explanation for 3dn: “see a link in the Wikipedia entry with 29ac”. I can’t work out what this refers to at all.

    I greatly enjoyed this puzzle. I understand that some people don’t like too much interlinking of clues, but in this case I thought the whole structure was ingenious, and unraveling it enhanced the solving experience.

    My only complaint is that I don’t see how 11ac is cryptic. If you make the substitution for 18, you get “Mark similar to comma, but higher” which is surely not cryptic at all (not even a cd, as there doesn’t seem to be a misleading surface reading). I didn’t think that the interlinking alone was sufficient to make a clue cryptic.

74. Thanks both,
    It was a quick solve once I spotted the theme, until I was held up by luncheon at the very end.
    [Truss’s title is a shorter version of a slogan painted on a Bedford truck by the New Zealand guide on our trip across the desert of N Kenya.
    ‘The kiwi eats roots shoots and leaves’ which itself reminded of my father’s story that, when they had horses, the Cavalry’s slogan was ‘Love and ride away’, but then they were mechanised and it changed to ‘Screw and bolt’. I’ll fetch an outer garment.]

75. I very much like the term spaghetti crossword!
    It took me ages to solve the essential spaghetti clues, so everything was slow to start with and I nearly gave up … when suddenly it all fell into place.
    I missed the eats shoots theme, but the butterfly theme was helpful – because it gave me FLUTTER (as in flutter-bys).
    Failed to parse the o of TASSO, though it now seems obvious, ah well.
    Enjoyable – partly because I was super proud to finish it 🙂

76. For TRUSS, I couldn`t think beyond the medical usage – as was considered very amusing by The Goodies a few years ago. As such, I couldn`t see where ARMS fitted in.
    Very entertaining and enlightening comments today, so a big Thank You to Brendan, Eileen, and all posters.

77. An excellent puzzle on a theme which I didn’t twig until I got SHOOTS (having already got EATS and LEAVES). I enjoyed reading Lynne Truss’s entertaining book a few years ago, but (referring to comments by Lord Jim @29 and Shanne @22) I have to say that I am more likely to re-read David’s Crystal’s works when I get the leisure time.

    I loved the inventiveness evident in the clues, and their variety and economy. I had to look up TASSO, and then had a bit of trouble parsing it, but Eileen’s explanation is surely the intended one.

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

78. Ted @73 – the Wiki link I gave for 3dn gives the information given by SueM48 @41 re Tasso’s epic poem about the CRUSADE (29c)
    Re tribute ‘to’: I was thinking of Keats’ ode ‘To Autumn’ or Shelley’s ‘To a skylark’. I learned about the Harvard comma from my link re the Oxford comma.

79. Wellcidered@76: are you sure you should be trying to fit your arms into a truss?

80. Great fun so thanks to both setter and blogger (and while it may be taken as read that we are all thusly grateful, civility costs nothing).

    Now I had always thought that my COMMA in the previous sentence would be an OXFORD COMMA; I am wrong it seems and wishing I could be numbered with every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

    Ted@73: Eileen has kindly provided us with a link to a Wikipedia article about TASSO and she is directing our attention to a connection/link outlined in that article with the first ‘CRUSADE’ (as spotted by SueM48@41). I see what you mean about APOSTROPHE but my feeling is that the cross-link introduces a sufficient level of crypsis.

81. PM@79: Haha! Is that an &lit question?

82. To go back to my previous one, O’HENRY was a sheer blunder based on flawed memory of reading him 65 years ago + my failure to check. Some definitions of “Scandinavian” are broad enough to include “Finn”. I read “Eats, shoots and leaves” after composing the two puzzles, but, of course, knew about it.

83. Far too clever for me. Got six clues (maybe seven, but I felt sure EPHESUS was in Turkey, so discarded that one) in twenty minutes and threw the towel in. Life’s just too short.

84. Fun. And very unusual, in that it contained a theme that I not only noticed but also found helpful. NEWNESS a highlight, I thought.

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

85. Great puzzle; great blog. Thanks

86. I echo crypticsue @35. Wonderful puzzle and blog. I also echo the recommendations for the wonderful David Crystal, whose books are based on solid research as well as being enjoyable reads. Lynn is less annoying than the other famous L Truss but I’m no fan of her fatuous book.

87. I have taken to doing the Guardian puzzle during lunch, which is nearly dinner time in the UK, so I am posting late.
    I found the puzzle quite amusing, although it seems like I didn’t get half the theme. Leather and flutter had me stuck for a while, until I saw the correct sense of kid, and then they went right in. Not a hard puzzle, and relatively few cross-references compared to Paul.

88. Goujeers@54: a ‘cook’? Please explain – it’s not a term I’m familiar with.

89. Terrific puzzle! Took me until well after luncheon to finish. For those looking for an unlikely TRIBUTE to the Oxford Comma, see the so-named song by Vampire Weekend…

90. I always find Brendan testing, don’t know why, may be my inability to spot themes. Didn’t think this was his hardest, but pleased to complete it as my last one of his was a DNF. A brilliantly worked puzzle with many many lovely clues, I thought NEWNESS and LUNCHEON were the standouts of a fine bunch.

    [My wife studied under David Crystal, and she would always scream at the TV / radio in profound exasperation whenever Lynn Truss appeared.]

91. Thanks, Eileen @78! I failed to notice that there was a link. I looked for one in the body of your explanation, but somehow failed to notice that there was one in the actual answer itself. Sorry to bother you.

92. Was it TheresaCoffey who was infuriated by the Oxford Comma? Let’s carry on, sprinkling them , everywhere.
    I didn’t think there was a Harvard comma; surely Harvard is just the American equivalent of Oxford University?
    Always enjoy Brendan’s spaghetti puzzles.

93. Chardonneret@92: no, there is a Harvard comma, as mentioned in some earlier posts (Google it), and Harvard’s home town of Cambridge MA suggests which institution would be its natural counterpart in England……

94. alphalpha @88: Alec Robins (formerly Custos in the Guardian, Zander in the Listener) in Teach Yourself Crosswords (reissued as the ABC of Crosswords) suggested borrowing the term “cook” from chess puzzles, where it is used for a correct answer that was not the one intended.

95. A real tour de force from Brendan today, a great theme and so well executed… wonderful stuff! A big thanks to Eileen is due for clarifying some of the points that had gone over my head… e.g. I hadn’t previously come across HE for Ambassador.

96. Oh, and… respect to LordJim @30 who, in amongst all the references to Lynne Truss, David Crystal et al, brings in another arbiter of grammatical precision, none other than the legendary Deep Purple!

97. Goujeers@94: I understand. I am sure that it works in chess puzzles but for crosswords it’s a bit, erm, unliterary(?) imho. Has it caught on do you think?

    In the spirit of marienkaepfer’s coining of ‘jorum’ I offer ‘resawn’ for an answer that meets all the requirements of the clue, but is yet wrong. Next please…..

98. Finally back home, later than expected, after a very wet and often obstructed drive home on the M1 from Yorkshire.

    Many thanks for all the helpful comments – I intended to go through them in detail but it’s been a long day. I did manage a quick response on the way @78 re ‘tribute to’ and the Harvard comma.

    [I just really wanted to express my thanks to Alphalpha @ 97 for confirming, as I have been trying to do for years, that it was actually marienkaepfer (not me) who coined ‘jorum’. 😉 ]

99. Setters do try to avoid cooks, and do when they can but it’s hard to do. “WINGS” is a particularly fine example.

    As always, thanks to Eileen and others.

100. Thank you Eileen for your great blog and to Brian/Brendan for your excellent puzzle and for dropping in.

     I spent way too long holding on to bamboo for what pandas eat. Then when that didn’t work, tried to come up with a word with p and a. LEAVES, so simple! And so clever, doesn’t finish
     .
     I saw the butterfly theme. Like others, flutter byes came to mind, and was looking for a Spoonerism.
     Not knowing about the Truss book, I initially thought the other theme was a risqué joke which I was familiar with. Surprising i didn’t know Truss’s work as David Crystal was one of our primary sources when I was studying and teaching English as a foreign language in London in the 70s and he came and delivered a seminar.

     I don’t think anyone has mentioned it, but I don’t understand why the husband is ABASHED. It doesn’t say who found him in what bed, or are we supposed to read between the lines and assume that was his reaction?

101. Thank you, Brian, for dropping in – much appreciated, as always.

102. paddymelon @100 – I mentioned the other day the downside of the three-minute delay opportunity on comments, as I’ve been caught out again, while you were posting your comment.
     I think I interpreted ABASHED as you did. 😉

103. Someone said (apologies, but I’m not reading all 100+ comments again) that Brendan had made the clue for TASSO easy because it’s an obscure poet. To me it was the other way round! Someone else (again, apologies) described ASS=’stupid’ as a verb used in the vocative. I just didn’t get it, though the answer was clear enough.

     Not spotting nouns, adjectives and verbs wearing each other’s clothes seems to have become a bit of a weakness for me. Must try to remember that…

     What was it again?

     Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

104. I’m rather pleased that the TRUSS here (my FOI as it happens) is Lynne of that ilk, rather than her inept (lactuciform?) namesake (who shall be nameless 🙂 )… Yes, EATS SHOOTS and LEAVES was a clear giveaway.

     I found this very tough and needed some help – I should have heard of TASSO but the name wasn’t in my grey cells. And I couldn’t quite equate FLUTTER with bat – I was wondering whether ‘bat’ is slang for placing a bet but that’s a red herring. Interestingly, as some have already hinted at, the old word for BUTTERFLY was FLUTTERBY – an instance of a spoonerism that actually made it into the language.

     Another one that I took ages to parse was LUNCHEON – “there’s no such thing as a free…” took a whole to click…

     I didn’t know of FLIES as a theatre part (thanks for explanation) but assumed it wasn’t something likely to penetrate the other sort of ‘theatre’ (at least I hope not!).

     But on the whole good fun to finally complete – I think all the themed words deserve a special tick.

     Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

105. Many thanks to Brendan and Eileen. Favourite setter and blogger in one day – lucky me!

106. 104 Laccaria @104 Flutterby is not the original form of “butterfly,” but a more modern spoonerism, since flutter by is in fact what it does. Google says the word comes from “butter” + “fly”, possibly because they were supposed once to steal butter.

107. [Komorník@14 – How is Brendan “the Pearl of Portland”? 😕 ]

108. Probably too late to comment but is pale always white in crossword speak? I have a pale blue sweater.

109. FrankieG Brendan lives in Oregon

110. Thanks, Valentine@109 – so he’s an expat ex-Pat, then.

111. It’s fun to catch up (I was almost two weeks behind as trying to organise/settle in a new home) when you know you’ve a Brendan awaiting. Over 100 comments only became common with the pandemic; but we’re back to knowing it follows the best puzzles

     It’s interesting to note how often, when I think to myself “this should be framed” that it’s a Brendan!

     I’m amazed by your generosity, Eileen. To produce such a perfect, and comprehensive, blog first thing in the morning – and for such a densely rich Brendan creation ….. well, it’s above and beyond (and the rest!) I salute your commitment and kindness – and brilliance

     BTW As, surprisingly, only one commenter noted (KVa, I think) ABASHED is a perfect &lit (I imagine this was intentionally avoided in blog, for fear of unwanted discussion?!)

     It goes without saying that this was a very enjoyable solve

     Many thanks all …..

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