Guardian 29,681 – Philistine

68 comments on “Guardian 29,681 – Philistine”

1. Thank you – couldn’t parse THUS although now it has been explained I don’t know why I couldn’t see it. That’s so often how it is.

   Nice puzzle. Liked I KID YOU NOT very much.

2. On my first pass of the across clues I only managed a couple, but the down clues revealed themselves more straightforwardly. An enjoyable solve; I particularly liked 14 ac for its funny simplicity. Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

3. I thought that was fantastic. Amusing to see I KID YOU NOT in both the Quick and the Cryptic today. There were so many ticks for me…lots of nice tricks and it really hit the sweet spot.

   Thank you Philistine and Andrew.

4. Fun and varied from Philistine. I was a little surprised by “barbarian” as an anagrind but it fitted with the grist so well I thought it deserved a pass (and more). A bit of overlap of “hi-tech” and “nanotech” made the former a bit of a write-in. Many clues to love here, though – I was pleased to spot the reverse clue, thought “france” a great spot and the shorter answers were nicely done.

   Many thanks Philistine, and Andrew.

5. I liked EPIC POEM, GO TO BED and BOOMERANG. Perhaps one or two too many where I solved from definition and parsed later.

6. Thanks Philistine and Andrew
   I didn’t parse THUS or 16a; the latter puzzled me as I’ve always heard “Tom, Dick, OR Harry”.
   Favourite HI-TECH.

7. COTD: T, D AND H.
   Also liked GO TO BED and BANANA REPUBLIC.
   THUS
   Nearly an indirect anagram? ‘Change of heart’ is normally used to indicate the central letter(s) being replaced with some other letters. Here it’s used to indicate a reversal of the central letters. Hope it’s fine.

   Thanks Philistine and Andrew..

8. There are few crossword pleasures better than seeing Philistine’s name atop a puzzle. A lovely solve – one only has to consider the two clues at 14 to realise how lucky we are to be so entertained

9. Had 16a TOM, DICK AND HARRY as just “Anyone” — [Mens sana in thingummy doodah]

10. ICEBERGS my pick for the def, surface and indicator. Great find for the fodder, beer and cigs.
    Really liked the surface and reverse anagram. WRONG DIRECTION.

11. Lovely puzzle!

    Nearly got caught by the As trick in I KID YOU NOT but remembered just in time. Other ticks for CASHEW NUT, GO TO BED, EPIC POEM, FRANCE, NANOTECH, BAKING SODA and BOOMERANG. (I thought someone by now would have quoted the Scotsman in the baker’s shop: ‘ Is that a doughnut or a meringue?’ ‘No, you’re right – it’s a doughnut’.)

    Many thanks to Philistine for a lot of fun and to Andrew for the blog.

12. Frankie G @9 Agree – otherwise KID is doing the dreaded double duty

13. I always thought the expression was TOM, DICK, OR HARRY, but whatevs.

14. muffin@6 – I agree; TOM DICK AND HARRY grated but, knowing English isn’t Philistine’s first language, reclaimed my equanimity…and calmly carried on!

15. Agree, William @8, the two 14s are gems. I’ve always said doodad for thingummy, whereas doodah is kind of scat, as in Zippety doodah, or De camptown ladies sing this song, doodah doodah. Hey ho, whatevs, all fun, thanks Philistine and Andrew.

16. Chambers gives TOM, DICK AND HARRY as the correct version.

17. Andy in Durham
    That doesn’t make sense. When you refer to “any Tom, Dick, or Harry” you are speaking about one person, not three!

18. I’ve seen both OR and AND for TDH in different contexts.

    Loved today’s. My favourite kind of puzzle, one that seems like it’s going to be tough and yields easily and beautifully. Fave clues BAKING SODA and WRONG DIRECTION, laughed at BOOMERANG. Top stuff, feeling great.

19. PJ@1: you aren’t the only one who couldn’t see why THUS was THUS, and I didn’t get round to parsing TOM DICK AND HARRY, and thought it was DOODADS until the penny dropped.

    Favourites “Conan the” barbarian and FRANCE (both lovely spots), WRONG DIRECTION, ICEBERGS, GORY – I could add more…

    Yes, I’ve seen both AND and OR for TDH: I don’t think one is more correct than the other.

20. Am I the only one who thought in DOODAHS that “turning almost dark” was (e)DAHS, and couldn’t work out where the extra ‘O’ was coming from?

21. muffin@17
    I know it doesn’t. I had also always said ‘or’, so queried it at first. However, Chambers clearly gives ‘and’ as the correct version.

22. Philistine again proves that a puzzle does not have to be tricky, to receive high praise. All my ticks already mentioned so won’t bother. I agree with FrankieG @9 about KID and thought Conan the Barbarian was genius.

    Ta Philistine & Andrew.

23. T, D & H
    Chambers gives both options (and/or).
    Collins ditto. Gives two examples of usage:
    Every Tom, Dick and Harry
    Any Tom, Dick or Harry

    Should the def have been everyone? 🙂

24. [Frankie @9, quod erat doodah …]

25. oed.com: “TOM, n. … P.1.b. 1730– Tom, Dick, and (also or) Harry: used to refer to any average men, taken at random; ordinary people generally; anyone at all.”
    [Citing and 1730, 2003; or 1864, 1906] — {I learnt it as a Geordie joke: “A meringue or apple pie?” “Yer reet: apple pie.”}

26. Eileen @11
    As a Scot my usual reaction to homophones is to grumble ‘it disnae’. From time to time this would include an expletive and I have been known to comment here or btl in the Guardian. Today I smiled in appreciation.

27. Thought the clue for I KID YOU NOT worth the entrance money on its own. Last two in DRAWERS and SLALOM. And the mention of Beowulf always reminds me of the line at the end where he dies: ” He sighed out the wind of life” or a translation to that effect. Still sends shivers down my spine. Many thanks Philistine and Andrew…

28. No reference to the day job, for once, unless I’m missing something. Always lots of fun with Philistine and others have highlighted the masterful examples (though must add my praise for FRANCE). I can’t see the reason for any excitement over TOM, DICK AND HARRY. The phrase with the AND can stand for ‘anyone’, as in ‘every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks they know the answer’. Thanks to Philistine and Andrew.

29. Agree, Balladeer @19 and Tomsdad @28, the and/or is a context thing. Tomsdad has an ‘and’ example, an ‘or’ one might be She’s not going to marry just any Tom, Dick or Harry.

30. Tomsdad@28. I didn’t see Philistine’s day job clues either, except maybe, with a bit of medical humour, the 23s GORY, GO TO BED. 🙂

31. …Balladeer @18, sorry …

32. Lovely and so precisely clued that no pencil was required. Top ticks for NANOTECH, WRONG DIRECTION & THUS

    [Feliks @26 maybe you can help me out – a Scots friend once told me a joke with the punchline “Bing sings but Walt disnae” – but I’ve never been able to remember the joke – just the punchline!]

    Cheers P&A

33. Beautiful puzzle!
    Favourites:
    FRANCE for ‘appellation contrôlée’ and the extended def, I KID YOU NOT for the As, WRONG DIRECTION for the reverse anagram, BOOMERANG for humour, BAKING SODA and CASHEW NUT for construction and surface, NANOTECH for potential misdirection. And many more.
    Thank you Philistine for the enjoyment and Andrew for such clear explanations.

34. 10/10 from me. Best one in the Guardian for a while. Some great surfaces and enjoyable working through it even if some of the wordplay was tricky. SLALOM took some unravelling, probably as I kept wanting to put a G in but wasn’t giving up with one to go.

    Tricky but was able to make steady progress with not too many dry spells. Just how I like it.

    Glad to have got WRONG DIRECTION quickly. I always struggle with those reverse clues.

    Really hard to pick a favourite in this PAPERBACK, DOODAH and BAKING SODA come to mind but others worth a mention.

35. Andy in Durham@21: My Chambers has Tom, Dick And/Or Harry. Personally I’m inclined to agree with Muffin et al as the OR version is the only one I’ve ever heard.

    Not too keen on Barbarian as an anagrind but I liked the rest of the puzzle.

36. Having said that, the inclusive ‘and’ seems to require ‘every’ while the ‘or’ takes ‘any’ which is part of today’s ‘anyone’. Hmm. I’m now going to retire to a large glass of Shiraz.

37. poc@35 you are probably using a more recent edition than me. I’m using the 1990 edition which is almost an antique by now. It only gives the ‘and’ option.

38. I’m in agreement with KVa@23

    I’m equally familiar with ‘EVERY Tom, Dick AND Harry’ and ‘ANY Tom, Dick OR Harry’.

    Thanks to Philistine for a highly enjoyable workout and to Andrew for a very helpful blog.

39. As usual, all the amateur lexicographers know better than the ones who do it as an occupation all the time.

40. I am absolutely CLUELESS on how to solve this grid! I managed to solve only Hippo,Grope and Iceberg,and I’m no stranger to crosswords.Is this only meant for the elitist or some secret society-esque club,who possess some exclusive knowledge to solve this poser???

41. bodycheetah@32

    It’s not really worth remembering but…

    What’s the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney? Bing sings and Walt disnae.

42. Re me @36, sorry KVa @23, kudos, you’d made the point an hour before, i shouldve read …

43. No wonder I couldn’t parse DOODADS. Never heard the doodah version, either. All the rest was good, even if I seem to have been slower than many of you. Thanks, Philistine and Andrew.

44. A very pleasant solve. I liked the good charade for PAPERBACK, the reverse clue for WRONG DIRECTION, the good anagram for APOLOGETIC, and the definition for BAKING SODA. I got caught, yet again, by the As in I KID YOU NOT. As the dictionaries say, BANANA REPUBLIC is a derogatory term but it doesn’t seem to have upset anyone (yet).

    Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

45. Enjoyable but no pushover as it took me a while to solve and parse several of these. But overall it was a puzzle that sparkled for me. Agree with top notch examples of great clues already cited above. 20d SLALOM was my last one in, after I stared at the crossers for what seemed like ages. Time to GO TO BED here (my favourite at 23a). Many thanks to Philistine for the smiles and the “ahas”, and to Andrew for the blog.

46. I started slowly but finished at a canter. Lots to like here, and some very smooth surfaces, notably 1D and 17D. I liked Conan the Barbarian.

    Thank you Philistine and Andrew.

47. Great puzzle, I always relish a Philistine.
    I’ve always heard & used TOM, DICK AND HARRY, and DOO[-]DAH. Regional variations, I guess.
    I loved the parse of I KID YOU NOT once I saw it – it was obviously that but took me a long time to spot how it worked.
    Needed this blog for the end of BANANA REPUBLIC – I had RE using the ‘on’ so I was trying to explain why LIC could be ‘antique’!
    Thank you P & A.

48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtQFEmPJ6Uk

    TDH from Dylan Thomas

49. Regarding TDH: I don’t think it matters if a dictionary chooses only one as the canonical expression: they don’t always give the plurals of common nouns because they know you know how to add S. The clue is, imo, unfortunately wrong, as several posters above have indicated.

    Interestingly, in Samoan they use 4 names instead of 3, and for emphasis increase it to 6. “Ou te le mafai ona fai lena mea mo Pai ma Lafai, Tui ma Seve, mo Pili ma Mo’o” is how you might say “I can’t do that for every Tom, Dick and Harry. (Teach Yourself Samoan, 1970 impression, p.101)

50. As soon as I saw Tom Dick and Harry my mind went straight to the book of that name by Talbot Baines Reed, author of a set of school stories like ”The Fifth Form at St Dominic’s” which I devoured as a lad. Shows my age I guess. Not mentioned in the wikipedia discussion of the phrase but still available on kindle. Anyway, I’m in the ‘and’ camp.

51. To me TDH immediately recalls Ann Miller as Bianca in Kiss me Kate. She is dancing with TD and H but singing ‘Any TD or H’ since she has to choose which one to marry. Thanks both.

52. Thanks for the blog , very neat set of clues but no fission for once .
    DOODAHS could have used SHADO itself , our secret defence against the UFOs .
    The Beezer had “Pop , Dick and Harry ” on the back page , clearly a play on the saying .

53. To Dr. WhatsOn @ 49

    Thank you so much for your interesting comment. Something told me to look in today.
    I have got that very book (1975 version) on my shelf and am admiring it as I write. It is a fund of interesting material and complements my Maori excellently.
    Made my day. Great.

54. Thanks Philistine for superb crossword. I found some of this tricky; I used a bit of outside help to solve the nho GAY GORDONS; I couldn’t parse DAWN, not knowing Dawn French; and I guessed NANOTECH from the definition, not seeing that ‘barbarian’ could indicate an anagram. (I guess if ‘criminal’ is acceptable then ‘barbarian’ would be as well.) I had lots of ticks including PAPERBACK, GO TO BED, WRONG DIRECTION, APOLOGETIC, FRANCE (COTD), BAKING SODA, and GORY. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

55. Same here, MikeB@51. I’d say if Cole Porter uses the OR version that makes it canonical.

56. Solved and parsed. Wasn’t it good! Tom Dick and Harry makes me think of Charles Bronson squeaking along the tunnels on a trolley in The Great Escape.

    Baking soda was a beauty, but there were so many. THUS was LOI; with confidence on this occasion. Thanks all.

57. To quote the Goon Show (from memory, so forgive paraphrasing), Harry Secombe questioning Wallace Greenslade (I think):

    “What’s your name?”
    “Avery T Deacon-Harry”
    “What’s the T for?”
    “Tom”
    “I see! Avery Tom Deacon-Harry!”

58. Relieved to see Philistine’s name and he did not disappoint. This was excellent, not his hardest, with some nice ideas and misdirections. FRANCE was marvellous. I had no problem with TD&H, though I use it with the “and” to mean everyone rather than anyone. I’m sure we’ve seen the (very funny) BOOMERANG device fairly recently.

59. Super puzzle, perfect difficulty level, excellent wordplays, and some interesting definitions.
    Failed to parse THUS, so thanks as usual for this forum.
    Good stuff, Phil & Andrew.
    Enjoyed the posts, too.

60. This was an excellent puzzle for a Connecticut lunchtime solve, just hard enough to take up the hour, but no harder. My FOI was wrong, as I confidently put in gallop – is an Alp a sporting achievement? Maybe, but not in this case. I nearly got stuck at the end in the NE, biffing doodad, but then checking the wordplay. Thus was my LOI, and I did parse it!

61. I was another trying to parse DOODADS at 12a, until the light went on behind me and I saw my shadow.

    Philistine never disappoints, always delights. 22d DAWN was cleverly concise, 14d BAKING SODA had a devilishly deceptive definition, and my clue of the day, 3d FRANCE had a simply superb surface. (And 15d GAY GORDONS was also amiably alliterative.)

    16a (TDH) was a good clue, too, but the best parts were the Goons quote from PhilJ@57 and the Kiss Me Kate link from Coloradan@55.

    Thanks to all, this site always adds plenty of pleasure to the playful puzzles.

62. Cole Porter used “or”:

    I’m a maid who would marry
    And would take with no qualm
    Any Tom, Dick, or Harry,
    Any Harry, Dick, or Tom.
    I’m a maid mad to marry
    And would take double-quick
    Any Tom, Dick, or Harry,
    Any Tom, Harry, or Dick.

    That’s the first thing that comes to mind for me for this expression. I agree with those who say that both the “and” and “or” expressions exist. The “and” form is perhaps more precisely defined as “everyone” rather than “anyone”, but I find that to be a forgivable level of imprecision.

63. “Every” makes sense with either “and” or “or”, but “any” only with “or”.

64. Dylan Thomas in Under Milk Wood:
    Tom, Dick, and Harry were three fine men….

65. Once again we had to sleep on this one.
    Wouldn’t ‘Everyone’s kid…’ have helped the and/or dichotomy in 16A?
    Many thanks P&A.

66. Loved this, first non Monday everyman or quiptic I’ve solved fully with no help. Barbarian can be an adjective meaning wild so it being an anagram indicator seems fair to me.

67. Eddie @30 – well done, gives a buzz!
    Our view is that pretty much any word can be an anagram indicator. 🤯

68. One of my occasional completions. Great set of clues. BOOMERANG was funny

    6a Yes, “Barbarian” is an odd anagrind, but completely irresistible in the circumstance

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