My first ever Boatman blog, and a rare Saturday Prize slot outing for the jolly sailor…and we have a special instruction: ‘A dozen of a kind are missing from their clues’ wordplay.‘
By luck, as I scanned the clues for a first time, I had an almost immediate PDM – 21D caught my eye – a ‘ceremony’ is often a ‘rite’, and to create a script together could be to ‘co-write’, so that wordplay looks like it is missing a COW. This was soon followed by an APE in PAR_T making PARAPET at 19A, and I was on a roll!
I was then a bit flummoxed by the CAT in 16A CATHODE, as that was present in the wordplay, until I found the ‘unforeseen problem’ in a church at 27 (CAT)CH. So in the ‘box’ of the grid, we have a CAT that is in wordplay, and one that isn’t – all very Schrodingerian…
Once I had 25D S(PIG)OT and 6D CU(RAT)E in the bag, I started making a list of other 3-letter animals that might finish off the twelve. 26D MA(GNU)M and 18D (DOG)E soon obliged, although GNU wasn’t in my initial list of candidates!
And then I ground to a bit of a halt in the top left corner – I had most of the ‘normal’ clues done, so most of the remaining ones must be thematics, but I couldn’t see where the likes of HEN, RAM, FOX or EWE might go. Until the whole bastion of my confidence came crumbling down as the very foundations of my assumptions were turned to quicksand by the OTTER in 9A P(OTTER)IES….how could you do this to me, Boatman? I began to question the very meaning of existence, the roundness of the earth and, as the dyslexic agnostic once put it, whether there really is a DOG. (There is, it is at 18D…)
I got over it pretty quickly though, with the HARE producing dividends in 3D S(HARE)S, the hairy BEAR in the Van Dyke (BEAR)D at 29A. And then I stood in awe, like the Monty Python knights searching for the Holy Grail, when (CAMEL)OT appeared before me out of the mist at 4D!
Which all goes to prove the old maxim – that ASSUME makes and ASS out of U and ME. (Actually, ASS wasn’t in my candidate list either…)
My LOI was 12A ORDERS, and I’m still not convinced by my parsing – or indeed whether it is the right answer. I’m sure all will be revealed in the comments below.
Lots of fun, some interesting clues, and I learned a new word – W(ELK)IN – as well as an alternative spelling of DACHA. One might quibble that Camelot is more of a town than a city, or even just a castle and surrounds, but given that is is only legendary, who are we to say?
9A reminds me of a ‘Dad joke’ I used on a recent Cyclops blog (to a much smaller audience):
- What is a Chicken Tarka?
- It is like a Chicken Tikka, but a little ‘otter!
My thanks to Boatman for a fun diversion, and I hope all is clear below.
(I will be out golfing tomorrow morning , so will monitor comments, but may not be in a position to reply until mid-afternoon…I’m sure any queries or quibbles will have been answered and/or allayed by then anyway…)
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 7A | PAROCHIAL | Biographical novel with no big characters and limited in scope (9)
subtractive anagram, i.e. novel, of ( |
| 8A | MENUS | The cards show Boatman joining Murdoch title? On the contrary (5)
ME (Boatman, from his point of view) plus (joining) NUS (the Sun, Murdoch rag, reversed, or on the contrary) |
| 9A | PIES / P-OTTER-IES | Dishes from where dishes come from (9)
thematic – PIES can be dishes, or food for a meal [one of the twelve – OTTER] |
| 10A | SKEAN | Snake undergoing surgery by knife (5)
anag, i.e. undergoing surgery, of SNAKE |
| 12A | ORDERS | Types books? (6)
double defn? – types can be ORDERS, in classification; and to book e.g. a table in a restaurant, could loosely be to ORDER? [not sure here – the only alternative I had was BREEDS for types; but can’t make BREEDS = BOOKS work?…] |
| 13A | ORIENTED | Determined position of editor: wrong about nurse (8)
ORI_TED (anag, i.e. wrong, of EDITOR) around EN (Enrolled Nurse) |
| 16A | CATHODE | Familiar textile designer reportedly was obliged to pay source of charged material (7)
CATH (Catherine Kidston, textile designer, ‘Cath’ to her friends, and customers) + ODE (homophone, i.e. reportedly, ODE can sound like OWED, was obliged to pay) |
| 19A | PART / PAR-APE-T | Section of low wall (7)
thematic – a PART can be a section [one of the twelve – APE] |
| 22A | ARPEGGIO | Notes sequence of moves in opera about horse, opening in Italy (8)
ARPE_O (anag, i.e. moves, of OPERA) around GG (geegee, horse) + I (opening letter of Italy) |
| 25A | SALAMI | Use calf, ham: emit skinless sausage (6)
middle letters, i.e. with skin removed, of ‘uSe cALf hAm eMIt’ |
| 27A | CH / CAT-CH | Unforeseen problem for church (5)
thematic – CH, church [one of the twelve – CAT] |
| 28A | ARBITRAGE | Profits from imperfect markets are about: boast about it (9)
AR_E around (about) B_RAG (boast), itself around IT |
| 29A | D / BEAR-D | Daughter of Vandyke, perhaps (5)
thematic – D, daughter [one of the twelve – BEAR] |
| 30A | ATROCIOUS | Riotous Assembly follows a constable’s initial induction: it’s shocking (9)
A plus (followed by) TRO_IOUS (anag, i.e. assembly, of RIOTOUS), around (introducing) C (initial letter of Constable) |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | LABOUR | Threaten to take on Boatman: it’s hard work (6)
L_OUR (threaten) around (taking on) AB (Able Bodied Seaman, sailor, ‘boat man’!) |
| 2D | FORTIETH | When they say life begins: key to their confusion (8)
F (key, music) + ORTIETH (anag, i.e. confusion, of TO THEIR) |
| 3D | SS / S-HARE-S | Some pay dividends on board (6)
thematic – SS, steam ship, so what is between the esses is ‘on board’ [one of the twelve – HARE] |
| 4D | OT / CAMEL-OT | Return to city of legend (7)
thematic – OT = TO, returned [one of the twelve – CAMEL] |
| 5D | WIN / W-ELK-IN | Conquest of the heavens (6)
thematic – W_IN, conquest [one of the twelve – ELK] |
| 6D | CUR / CU-RAT-E | Prompt service assistant (6)
thematic – CU_E, prompt, reminder [one of the twelve – RAT] |
| 11D | LIMA | From a place in Africa, cycling to a place in South America (4)
MALI, a place in Africa, cycling two letters = LIMA, a city in Peru, South America |
| 14D | TOP | See 17 (3)
see 17D |
| 15D | DAT(CHA) | & 16 Country house, somewhat dilapidated, at Chatham (6)
hidden word, i.e. somewhat, in ‘dilapidateD AT CHAtham’ |
| 16D | CHA | See 15 (3)
see 15D |
| 17D | TIP(TOP) | & 14 A1 vessel? Mine capsized (6)
POT (vessel) + PIT (mine), all capsized = TIPTOP! |
| 18D | E / DOG-E | End of empire for former head of state (4)
thematic – E, end letter of empirE [one of the twelve – DOG] |
| 20D | ALLERGIC | Liable to get reaction from each and every other merry grinch (8)
ALL (each) + ERGIC (every other letter from ‘mErRy GrInCh’) |
| 21D | RITE / CO-W-RITE | Work together to create script for ceremony (2-5)
thematic – RITE, ceremony [one of the twelve – COW] |
| 23D | READER | You are upset over climbing rose? (6)
REA (anag, i.e. upset, of ARE) + DER (red, or rose-coloured, climbing, or reversed) |
| 24D | ENCORE | Election: Colombo regime all losing heart again (6)
outer letters, i.e. losing hearts, of ‘ElectioN ColombO RegimE’ |
| 25D | SOT / S-PIG-OT | One drinks too much from tap (6)
thematic – S_OT, one who drinks too much [one of the twelve – PIG] |
| 26D | MAM / MA-GNU-M | The antithesis of a son of a gun (6)
thematic – MA_M, mother, antithesis of a son [one of the twelve – GNU] |
I thought this was perfect! Hard enough to require a few sittings, but not totally impenetrable. The special instructions gave me pause, not so much because the theme was initially unknown but because you didn’t know which clues were doable without it. However, just plugging away uncovered a couple that needed an animal to complete, which resolved the theme. It was still a matter of try-as-you-go to figure out the remaining themed clues, and keep a count. But a lot of fun.
The blog was fun reading too – tx mcr. I had the same rationale for ORDERS.
[Too bad the Guardian can’t find the extra resources (and nerve) to add a new feature to the puzzle management code for puzzles with twists like this one, to help users if they are travelling, say, and don’t have a printer handy. In this case a checkbox next to each clue might be helpful. Alphabetical jigsaws especially could benefit from some extra widgets. For other puzzles maybe a scratchpad of some sort. Holiday jumbo puzzles always seem to need something (they don’t even have the capacity to render the jumbos interactively!). I can guess why – it’s the old mantra “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, and the current code works, mostly. I’d offer to do it myself, but they probably can’t afford to fly me in.]
At first I thought the theme might be limited to farm animals, but even after I disabused myself of that notion, I still found this puzzle difficult to complete.
Given “a dozen of a kind are missing”, after I’d got a few (rat, dog, pig) I thought we might have been in Chinese calendar territory (including cow=ox, hare=rabbit, ape=monkey and cat=tiger), but it all fell in a big heap with elk, camel, otter etc. Ah well. A very pleasant outing nonetheless.
What Cineraria @2 wrote
Thanks Boatmsn and thanks mc_rapper67 for a brilliant blog
Tough for me but so worth it. I found NE corner especially hard, it gave way on my 4th/5th sitting? (lost count), SKEAN. and WELKIN being new to me. And I wasted a lot of time trying to make TAROT fit the 8a ‘cards’ clue – desperately hoping Times Online could go backwards with TAR = Boatman. Brilliant puzzle, agree with others it’s perfect Prize standard (took me all week on and off), all the more satisfying when it eventually came good. Thank you Boatman, and mc_rapper67 for excellent passing and graphics!
Most enjoyable.
My first thought for 12a was BREEDS (types), parsed as B (book) + S with a reversal of DEER (unclued). It was only when I had 12 other thematics that I went back and changed the entry to ORDERS.
“No B,I,G characters” in 7A to me suggests removal of these characters however many times they appear, but here we have to leave one of the I’s in place. No ‘biggy’.
Thanks to Boatman and mc_rapper.
I managed to miss the special instructions,so at least 12 of the parsings puzzled me.
Thanks for filling me in.
Read the special instructions a bit late and that wasted some time. Tough one on the whole but very enjoyable.
Great blog.
Thanks both.
Thanks, mc. I enjoyed following your journey of discovery through this equally enjoyable puzzle. I took a different route, wandering rather lost through the across close until I came to BEAR-D, at which point light began to dawn, soon confirmed by S-HARE-S and CU-RAT-E. Even getting the theme didn’t make the overall solve all that easy though. I did like P-OTTER-IES and CAMEL-OT (and the Monty Python flashbacks). I do remember the brief period when digital audiotapes were a thing, but did anyone else find the nicely hidden DAT/CHA a slightly unnatural split? I found I needed to keep a careful count of themed answers – I wondered who the indebted Cath in CATHODE was, but somehow didn’t register the ‘cat’ part, so that didn’t confuse my count. Many thanks to Boatman, and again to mc_rapper.
L3i: 12a ORDERS 🙁 (two iffy definitions) — 10a SKEAN 🙂 (in Irish it’s scian) — 5d WELKIN 😐 (nho, needed OneLook.com,) 🙂 (a tilt).
Thanks B&MCR
[Earworm for 15a: Pluto Shervington[1950-2024]’s DAT (1976, a No. 6 UK hit) – ‘Sell I a pound o DAT ting dere!’]
Oh dear. I had the textile designer as ‘H’ from ‘H&M’ stores (never having heard of the designer Catherine Kidston, let alone be familiar enough to call her CATH), so thought CATHODE was just a repeat of CAT. Otherwise, I stumbled on the theme fairly quickly at the same point as the blogger with CO-WRITE. CURATE took a while to see and WELKIN was vaguely familiar from somewhere, but I didn’t know the meaning of the word. I had the same parsing of ORDERS as well.
Thanks to Boatman and mc_rapper.
Thanks for a great blog, POTTERIES first for me of course so I did not get distracted by 3 letter or farm animals etc.
We have the classic double Boatman for MENUS and LABOUR .
ORDERS I thought book a taxi works best .
DATCHA , I have not seen this spelling in any translations but it was hidden so very fair.
Has anyone heard of the textile designer ? The fault may be with me but CATHODE was just use the definition and shrug for once.
I hadn’t Roz @14 but that’s understandable given my 17,000 km distance. I had to resort to googly to confirm. Even so there were a few Aussie ‘Cath’ textile designers in the results before the intended one. I just shrugged. I’d be interested to know how familiar her name is with UK solvers.
[Dacha/Datcha is in C2016 which I know you consider an inferior version]
Certainly not me, Roz. I also thought it odd that he went for 17/14 rather than the numerical order 14/17.
Tim@15 I have seen dacha many times in Russian novels but never datcha , the setter has cover and the clue was very fair .
Good spot Hovis@16 , I did not notice this, a rare case where the clue number order does not matter.
nho the textile designer in full let alone in familiar mode – but that’s my bad. Likewise WELKIN: I am a fan of holding onto older words but I struggle somewhat to see what the point is of ‘welkin’ and when/why one would ever use it! I didn’t ever get CAMELOT – identifying a castle defined as a city from the word ‘to’ was beyond me. I do enjoy Boatman’s quirkiness and there will generally be a few clues I look back upon with huge smiles as well as a few I consider to be outrageous/unfair. I don’t think I could cope with doing his puzzles much more regularly than they currently appear, though.
Thanks both
Cath Kidston is fairly well known to us in the UK, even out-of-fashion old men like me. I was puzzled by ‘Familiar’, but I suppose it just indicates her name being shortened – in fact, she is always marketed as simply ‘Cath’. Her business collapsed eventually, but her name as a brand continues, selling rather feminine floral designs. If those of you abroad were in the dark, I in turn had to think hard about MAM in 26d, a US usage in my view – in the UK she is ‘Mum’.
A skean-dhu is known to the Scots, as the ‘traditional’ (ie, invented in the 19th century) Highland dress item, a knife tucked into a man’s long socks, worn with a kilt. I believe it is still legal to wear it, despite bans on knives in public.
WELKIN is a poetic use. The carol ‘Hark the herald angels …’ was originally written as ‘Hark how all the welkin rings …’, but that got quickly changed.
I agree, this was about the right degree of difficulty, with a theme which became clear fairly quickly. I also went for ‘breeds’ at 12a, puzzled about parsing it, but ORDERS is clearly right, as The Guardian website now shows. Thanks, Boatman and mc_r.
This was lovely! Boatman is one of my favourite setters so although I’m not a fan of special instructions I was looking forward to this and it didn’t disappoint. My general knowledge wasn’t up to the to the van dykean BEARD so I thought it was a bit rough to have so little clue and no helpful crossers to suggest a suitable animal (which is what helped me out with WELKIN, a word I knew existed, but didn’t know the meaning of). On the other hand I had little trouble with Cath Kidston – perhaps this is a rare instance of a clue that uses general knowledge that’s more common among women than men? Cath Kidston is known for chintzy florals and her stuff was all over the place a couple of years ago. I can’t stand it myself but for a while it was hard to miss.
sjshart @19, mam is listed in Chambers 2016 as dialect for mother with no US indication. I can remember in my youth saying “me mam” for “my mother”. Surely the US version is “mom”.
Brilliant and I usually give special instruction crosswords a swerve. Glad I did this one
Early theme guesses were types of rabbit (HARE) and playwrights (POTTER)
Cheers B&M
A dnf for me even though I saw the theme pretty soon – combination of not being on wavelength, lack of time and general laziness. Add me to the list for whom WELKIN was new (like Tomsdad@12 I vaguely knew the word but not its meaning), and the spelling of DATCHA unfamiliar.
I did get CATHODE though wasn’t sure who the designer was, but now realise I’d heard of Cath Kidston because she had a now-closed chain of shops selling her designs. edit – due to slow typing, I see I’m not alone in being familiar with the name
Thanks both
Thanks mc and Boatman. I twigged the meaning of the special instructions reasonably early, so found this generally enjoyable. Beyond being animals, they’re all mammals, if I’m not mistaken. The WELKIN AND SKEAN obscurities smacked of desperation though.
The entry point for me was the Vandyke BEAR-D, which gave me an idea of what the “kind” might be, and fortuitously saved me from various elephant traps (farm animals, Chinese zodiac, three letter words) that others fell into. Even so, it took several sessions over the weekend to get it finished. Kudos to those like nicbach who managed to put it together without the instructions!
Like Adrian@5 I was sure the cards must be TAROT for a long time. ARBITRAGE was new, I thought life began at FORTY, and I thought SKEAN was spelt with a G and DATCHA without the T, but all those are my fault, not Boatman’s.
I did realise that Cath must be Cath Kidston (TM), but wondered how familiar she was outside the UK – and the multitude of things she produces in her trademark flowery prints are aimed at the female half of the population (though not to my taste).
Thanks to Boatman for a frustrating but eventually satisfying workout, and mc_rapper67 for an enjoyable blog. I await an opportunity to try out the Chicken Tarka joke.
sjshart @19 I didn’t give much thought to the qualifier in 16ac. and now that you mention it I’m glad I didn’t, because although I’m sure your interpretation is correct I might have been tempted to read it as implying the surname or ‘family name’ (the preferred term if one wishes to acknowledge that the Chinese put the family name first, according to my Australian partner).
Thanks to blogger and setter. Very hard for Mr K and me. A DNF (ORDERS, WELKIN, BEARD, SKEAN) and a couple non-parsed. Now of course SKEAN so obvious … Thought Familiar refered to the cat so then stuck with a designer called H!. Heard of Kidson but never by just her first name. DATCHA our first in but puzzled by DAT. Thought both halves of a split had to stand alone? And laughing now reading blog for PARAPET as missed Ape and had shrugged at Pet being on of the 12 with Para being a section. Doh!
sjshart@19: Mam belongs to Wales and various English dialects – it’s Mom that makes all those American apple pies.
(though I had a go at fitting MUM into MAGNUM)
Defeated by the vandyke but otherwise loved this prize. Thanks Boatman and mc_rapper67 for great blog
A very enjoyable solve, with the theme seemingly impossible at first but revealing itself sooner than expected. It’s good to see Boatman’s effort being applauded so generously by commenters so far.
The suggestion that WELKIN and SKEAN were the result of desperation on the part of the setter seems a little below the belt. The former being a theme word (for ELK) suggests that, on the contrary, it was well planned and executed.
Thanks to Boatman and to our blogger for the entertaining description of his solving process, and especially for the very good Dad joke😂.
This was made harder by the special instructions not appearing on the version I do, the app on an iPad. So although completed there were several answers either inserted with a shrug (PARAPET), not entered (POTTERIES) although clearly correct, or omitted for lack of conviction (BEARD, ?Mary). Only yesterday did it occur to me to look at the web version — we pass the paper copy on to a friend so it wasn’t available to consult — and find the rubric, which was less of a PDM than the jackpot on a fruit machine. Finished but another BREED here. I thought ARBITRAGE was super.
Thank you blogger and setter.
Boatman + Special instructions usually means “don’t bother” for me, but I did have a look and got BEARD @29 and then HITCH @27. I couldn’t see any link between bear and hit, so gave up.
muffin @32… in that case don’t have a go at my upcoming (non-Guardian) one in January.
Boatman has the skill of setting crosswords that can make the solver feel clever, rather than just admiring the art of the compiler. Lovely crossword and great blog.
Great crossword, great blog, many thanks.
Many thanks Boatman and mc_rapper67 for the great blog. I enjoyed solving this and am content with the bits I didn’t parse properly.
Thinking there were two thematic cats, I went looking for a textile designer sounding like hode. Maybe an Aussie one called Hoad? Like joleroi @27, I had PARA and the dubious PET.
But all much enjoyed.
[A pie stall at a local farmer’s market actually used to sell Tarka pies, like the steak but….]
Many thanks mc_rapper67. I very much enjoyed your description of your solving journey.
I thought I was looking for three letter pets to begin with but soon abandoned that idea having solved POTTERIES. It’s nice to see my birthplace get a mention.
As Gladys@19 says, mam is used in Wales, but also Manchester and Liverpool to my knowledge. Since living in Brum, I’ve discovered that mom is used in the Black Country as well as the USA.
Thanks to Boatman for a perfect Prize offering. Took me a good few attempts but it was all fairly clued.
[FrankieG@11, I’d not heard DAT before and was surprised to learn what it was….]
A tough but enjoyable crossword. My thanks to Boatman and to mc-rapper for the amusing blog. I was beaten by 28 across and 26 down. Can someone explain why Mam is the antithesis of son. I thought antithesis meant opposite so could only think of d (daughter) and the closest I got was Modose as an obscure gun. Sadly not to be. Thanks
Very satisfying solve. Team solved over the week with my son. We ran into a cul-de-sac with 7A… APHORICAL, which would work well if it it was the adjective from APHORISM rather than a non word. Thank boatman… great bonding fun.
In WW2, manufacturers Westland built a high-altitude fighter called the WELKIN to counter a perceived threat from modified Ju88s which never materialised, so it never went into production.
I had “potteries” (without recourse to any aquatic mammals) on the basis of
potteries = dishes (or vases, etc etc) made of clay, which the dictionary seems
to sanction.
Clearly I am very out of fashion , I wear my mother’s clothes from the 60s and the only labels I know are Mary Quant and Biba . The students call it vintage , I call it hand-me-downs .
Didn’t make much headway. I don’t like special instructions. I interpreted these to mean that the definitions were missing. I failed to rethink this even after wondering about POTTERIES. If I had written this in, then something might have clicked. Made for a frustrating week.
I thought the textile designer very obscure, and more so as we need a shortened first name, but otherwise this was fairly clued and enjoyable.
26d MA(GNU)M: I would always refer to my mother as “Mam” or “Me Mammy“.
Anyone else remember the BBC sitcom (1968-71), written by Hugh Leonard and starring Milo O’Shea as Benjamin “Bunjy” Kennefick?
Anna Manahan played his Mammy, a precursor of Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted (and of pale imitation Mrs Brown’s Boys).
[We called our budgie “Bunji” (not knowing how to spell it), and knew a priest whose surname was KeneFECK.]
I do know Cath Kidston’s fabrics, but I dressmake, so have come across them (not actually used them, I prefer simpler designs).
Fail because I went down the BREEDS route instead of ORDERS, not sure why I didn’t parse MAGNUM properly to realise that I had to use ORDERS, not BREEDS, because I was dithering between the two words and the wrong’un was my last one in. I did know WELKIN from Hark how all the welkin rings, the original first line to Hark! the herald angels sing, almost certainly as part of a pondering on the words.
Thank you to mc_rapper and Brummie.
Impressive grid-fill from Boatman. I got frustrated at the beginning but eventually the mist cleared and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t know either CATH Kidston or WELKIN.
I particularly liked the clues for POTTERIES and FORTIETH.
Thanks Boatman for the challenge and mcr for a great blog.
joleroi @ 21
I too wondered whether DAT @ 15d was a word. Dat = that as in Who dat dere? isn’t in my Chambers, which only has it as an acronym for Digital Audio Tape. Torquemada often split words into parts which aren’t words on their own but I don’t like it
My way in was DOGE @ 18d by which time, as, like many others, I attempt the clues in the order they appear in the paper, I was on the point of giving up..
I knew WELKIN and googled to find where from. I still don’t know that but I do now know that there is a Wetherspoons in Liverpool called The Welkin.
Thanks to Boatman and mc_rapper67
Again another setter’s self referential clue, even though the moniker is not in the clues. But very perceptively blogged by mc_rapper67, viz, 8 across “from his point of view”. Not from the solver’s point of view. If someone insists on being illeistic with me, I reply “you…..”
The habit is cliquey, incorrect and clunky. Are setters trying to get brand recognition?
Arjay@50: Boatman has a long-established habit of including “Boatman” in his clues. Usually one refers to himself as I or ME or SETTER, and another translates to a word for somebody connected to boats – which is why I (and others) kept trying to fit TAR into the MENUS clue when it should have been ME: the “sailor” one was the AB in LABOUR. It may well be cliquey, but he’s been doing it for years, and I doubt if he’s going to stop any time soon.
I don’t mind self-referential clues: it’s the ones that expect you to know the names of all the other setters that annoy me.
10a SKEAN – In Irish the dhu in a skean-dhu would be dubh – Are the knives black, I wondered?
Wikipedia spells it Sgian-dubh, and explains that the black means ‘hidden’.
Thanks for the great blog. As the iPhone app did not show the special instructions I was baffled by some of the parsings until I checked the online version. A DNF as i had Enters for 12A – which seemed plausible to me.
Very frustratingly the Guardian App didn’t show the special instruction. And I gave this one up after a handful of clues.
I was held up for a good long time by plunking in RAMPART rather than PARAPET. I guess a rampart isn’t a low wall, but I missed that detail. But I was so sure of it! I was finally set straight by ALLERGIC.
I did once write this clue:
Hooves, horns, etc., are used for defense? (8)
Anyway, other than that, I found this great fun, and perfect for the prize slot–chewy enough to take most of the morning, but not so completely byzantine that I ever despaired.
gladys @51: I think you make an excellent point. Surely, in a context where the setter’s name is visibly associated with the puzzle, it is OK to use self-referential clues. I have read comments from posters here who appear to do puzzles without knowing who set them. I’m not sure how but whatever standard settings I use seem to give me the name. Whether or not a solver is forgiving about references to other setters is another matter. I feel it would be a shame if we lost the ability for setters to gently self-mock, to find some humour or to mislead by using their pseudonyms. And Boatman’s traditional double reference is well known.
A bonus Boatman! Am currently halfway through his “second 50” book, so was a nice surprise to see his name against this week’s prize, and I especially like such puzzles, with their associated “special instructions”. Found this one pretty tough, but got there in the end.
Thanks to Boatman and to mc_rapper67 , hope the golf went well!
Wow – what a busy morning! Thanks for all the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated, as usual. (HoagyM at #57 – the golf didn’t go particularly well and was a bit damp, but it was 4 hours of fresh air and conversation and a beer afterwards – what not to like!)
Far too many topics and threads to respond to individually, but this seems to have been generally well received, if a bit chewy, and deserving of a Prize slot.
I usually either solve interactively on the Grauniad website, or download the PDF from there and work on it on paper or on my iPad. Either way, any special instructions usually appear on both. It seems crazy that other ways of accessing the puzzle don’t include them. I would suggest e-mails to the Grauniad crossword editor to try and get them to be more consistent.
Frankie G at #11 – yes, I have the vinyl 7-inch single of ‘Dat‘ – bought in the early 80s, copied to MP3 in the 90s, and in my ‘Favourites’ playlist, so it pops up every now and then. And it earwormed me all morning – thanks!
I was aware of Cath Kidson from UK high-streets – I’ve been dragged round them a few times – wasn’t aware they had gone bust.
I was more familiar with skean-dhu (or its various spellings), but Chambers has ‘skean’ as a stand-alone word for a knife.
Joffee@54
Although I have the Guardian App and read articles on it when l don’t have the paper, I find that the crossword on the app is very poor. Like Mc-r I use the guardian website for crosswords. Go to http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords
As you have the app you should be able to sign in and avoid further requests for payment.
Gladys@51 – thanks for a response to me@50.Just because you and I know what is going on doesn’t mean that it is within crossword etiquette. The moniker is not part of the clue.
Thanks, MC & all – I’ve just arrived back in Sussex after a long day of travelling from Devon, so I won’t say more for now than that I’m glad you enjoyed this one. Depending on how the day goes, I may drop back in again tomorrow with more detailed observations …
PostMark@56 – I think you are skating on thin ice. “in a context where the setter’s name is visibly associated with the puzzle” is I think tantamount to saying that it is not part of the clue. And “Boatman’s traditional double reference is well known” – to a limited circle of solvers perhaps.
I now notice who the setter is because I regularly do the crossword – less regular solvers have a legitimate beef. The moniker is not part of the clue.
Arjay @62 – the setter as me and/or their name has been used in the Quick Cryptic crosswords, the introductory puzzles for new solvers. I think it’s fair for the setter of the puzzle.
Arjay @ 62 “And “Boatman’s traditional double reference is well known” – to a limited circle of solvers perhaps.”
Or to anyone who has been doing Boatman’s puzzles regularly in the sixteen years he’s been setting them.
Loved this last weekend. First “special instruction” puzzle I’ve ever done and it was a joy. Hard enough to get the cells wriggling, but tractable and fair.
I initially spotted PIG, RAT and DOG, so was briefly convinced I was looking for the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. But OTTER disabused me of that notion.
Thanks Boatman for a really satisfying puzzle, and MCR for the blog
Shane and Simon S @63 and @64 – habit is no defence. Moreover, and this is a matter of personal preference, the construction and surface of the self referential clues are often contrived and stilted. There are other ways for a setter to phrase a clue to include the “me” or “I” or “I’m” or “I’am” that the setter wants to suggest to the solver without needing to parse the setter’s own moniker.
Arjay@66 and previous posts. Your observations about Boatman’s use of his pen name in the clues do not strike me as legitimate in terms of whether such clues are fair or not. As far as I know, no one has made any similar complaints, and Boatman’s quirky habit of aiming to do one clue of each type (‘Boatman’=AB, TAR, etc, or simply equivalent to ‘setter’) in every puzzle is often commented on favourably here.
Recalling the palaeontology option I did at school: in those days the basic taxonomical hierarchy was Kingdom-Phylum-Class-ORDER-Family-Genus-Species. So ORDER as a grouping can indeed represent a type of plant/animal/whatever. Of course there were only two kingdoms in those days (or three if you count animal/vegetable/mineral 🙂 ). Things have got a lot more complicated since then!
I felt a bit intimidated on first delving into this: Boatman is never a picnic and ‘special instructions’ to boot! But I quickly spotted POTTERIES and realised the ‘twelve of a kind’ might be animals – or even mammals, as it turned out.
One error: at 23d I wrote REARED instead of READER but couldn’t quite parse it. I was wondering if REA was ‘one of the twelve’ but (a) it’s a bird, and (b) I think it’s usually spelt RHEA.
My other sticking points were:
1. MAGNUM – yes I liked the GNU (“♫…spelt G-N-U – the g-nicest piece of g-nature in the zoo!…♫”) but couldn’t quite equate MAM with “antithesis of son”. Oh well – that’s Boatman all over!
2. DATCHA. Is DAT a word, and isn’t there some rule that the two halves of a split word have to be complete words in themselves? And I’ve usually seen it spelt DACHA. I guess it all depends on how you Romanise the Cyrillic “Ч”. Boatman again!
Had to look up WELKIN: seems to have several meanings.
All the rest was great, once I’d sussed the mammals theme. Liked ARPEGGIO, ATROCIOUS, BEARD, PAROCHIAL, MENUS, ORIENTED – and others.
Thanks to Boatman and mc_R.
I might add that, unlike others, the concept of the Chinese horoscope didn’t occur to me – but that was because the first animal I spotted was OTTER. Also ‘snake’ is in one of the clues and Boatman wouldn’t have included a hidden thematic word in a clue.
Incidentally, SNAKE -> SKEAN seems a rather weak anagram (Boatman himself said in his course that fodder and solution shouldn’t start with the same letter) but then SKEAN is a rare word – I’ve only ever heard of it in “Skean Dhu”. And no – sorry – I’ve never worn a kilt!
Arjay: I’m not sure what the basis is for your ideas about what is “incorrect” (comment 50) or what is “within crossword etiquette” (comment 60), but that most Ximenean of setters, Pasquale (Don Manley) is happy to use self-referential clues, as in “Soon Pasquale’s turning up as Pasquale? (6)” for ANONYM.
Laccaria @ 68
DAT is an acronym for Digital Audio Tape, a format which emerged in the 1980s.
It has dictionary support, so is fair game for the setter.
[I actually still own a DAT machine, though it doesn’t get used very often.]
Very entertaining so much gratitude to both. I’m a Boatman fan (although I am not a nice girl) so was able to rely on form for reassurance that all would be well, and so it was. I spent a lot of a very rainy Sunday in Weymouth distracting myself with this puzzle and was glad of it. But a dnf because of READER which now seems inexcusable.
I think of the clues as a conversation between setter and solver so using the setter’s name is fair game , I always like to see the classic double Boatman , very rarely we get a single or a triple . As a new solver once I would always look at the name first , see Bunthorne and curse .
I do not like the Guardian habit of using other setter’s names in wordplay just referenced by “setter” , we had Arachne and Paul recently. I know that newer and occasional solvers are really put off by this.
Tim C and others – I like your idea of using the Chinese zodiac animals, but the theme would have run out of steam quickly once I started looking for words containing HORSE, DRAGON and MONKEY – at any rate, words that would be more interesting than SAWHORSE, SNAPDRAGON and so on. As for ROOSTER, I’d have been stuck with the unappealing ROOSTERFISH.
Laccaria @69 – I agree! SNAKE/SKEAN is a very easy anagram, but I felt that the clue had to be particularly straightforward in this case, since the dagger would be of borderline familiarity to most people and its spelling even less so. My other option was “Sneak about with a dagger”, which would have been more satisfying as an anagram indication, but at the cost of using “with” as link-word, which I knew wouldn’t be popular.
Simon S @71 – Indeed! I have a box of unreleased recordings of poets on DAT tapes, which I make occasional efforts to transfer to CD for the benefit of the small number of people who are interested in such things, but the only people who I know with DAT machines are people who own broken DAT machines.
Gosh, this was hard for me. I got the animal theme but gave up after about 3/4 done. I wouldn’t have got WELKIN in a million years. Proud to have got CATHODE but I do think that was a difficult one. For some, I am now kicking myself. Thanks to Boatman and rapper for helping me out.
Boatman@74-DATs were great in their day but where the hell do you get them fixed?
Good bunch of critters I thought ,kicking of with BEAR(D)
Thanks
Thanks for the further comments – especially Boatman for popping in a couple of times…
I don’t think I ever had a DAT machine, but I have several C90 ‘mix-tape’ cassettes from the ’80s lying around – with nothing to play them on!
Re. the ‘Arjay v. various’ discussions, I think we can take it as read that there is a spectrum of opinion on setters’ use of self-referential (and other-setter-referential) clues. I don’t think anyone needs to be right or wrong here – it is all a matter of opinion and preference, which in time can lead to a choice not to do puzzles set by certain setters, if you don’t like their style.
I personally don’t mind it/am fairly used to it: Cyclops does it quite often in the Private Eye puzzle; Alan Connor/Everyman always includes at least one as part of his ‘formula’/checklist of clue types; I am solving a barred/thematic puzzle at the moment that has one.
You pay your money – or not, with the Grauniad, as it still free – and you make your choice…
The mention of Bunthorne and discussion of self-referential clues brings to mind my favourite: Does Jesus want Bunthorne in exchange for an old car? (7)
My parsing for 9A initially was double definition, since dishes are also POTTERIES and so are the places where they are made. But then I saw OTTER and wondered if it was indeed what Boatman intended. Comments welcome!
Overall an enjoyable puzzle (once you crack the theme)!