The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29753.
There is some good stuff here, but my overall impression is a sense of strain to be different (such as doubtful anagrinds), which did not make for me a fully satisfying solve.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | STATUS QUO |
So, Tutu’s Q&A challenged how things are (6,3)
|
| An anagram (‘challenged’) of ‘so Tutu’s QA’. | ||
| 8 | ICING |
Writing ‘Happy Birthday’ or something else that’s sweet (5)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 10 | URETHRA |
Having disrobed, Bea Arthur lit wee pipe (7)
|
| An anagram (‘lit’) of ‘Arthur’ plus ‘[B]e[a]’ mimus its outer letters (‘having disrobed’). | ||
| 11 | EAT INTO |
Start to consume last of fine Rioja (Spanish red) (3,4)
|
| A charade of E A (‘last of finE RiojA‘) plus TINTO (‘Spanish red’ wine made from Garnacha grapes). | ||
| 12 | DUBS |
Confers great honour upon what foreign actor does (4)
|
| Double definition: the first, the conferral of a knighthood, the second a reference to the changing of a film’s language. | ||
| 13 | FIBRE OPTIC |
Lie about where the booze is stored: that’ll get the message across (5-5)
|
| A charade of FIB (‘lie’) plus RE (‘about’) plus OPTIC (‘where the booze is stored’ – it is a device for dispensing a shot of spirits. I suppose the idea is that the optic stores the shot waiting to be dispensed). | ||
| 15 | NEWSMEN |
Quiche Eaters Society included Amol Rajan etc? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘included’) of S (‘society’) in NEW MEN (‘quiche eaters’ – a oblique reference to men embracing their feminine side, symbolised by quiche as a supposedly feminine food). | ||
| 16 | STOPGAP |
A little diaphanous top, gaping: that’ll do now (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘a little’) in ‘diaphanouS TOP GAPing’. | ||
| 18 | BUBBLE WRAP |
Protective material later found to be explosive? (6,4)
|
| I suppose this refers to the popping of used wrap. | ||
| 21 | ZETA |
Lead character in Zorba? (4)
|
| Zorba the Greek would spell his name with a leading Z, ZETA in Greek. | ||
| 23 | AIR TAXI |
‘Aviatrix’, very cancelled, needing replacement – but what’s she piloting? (3,4)
|
| An anagram (‘needing replacement’) of ‘a[v]iartix’ minus th V (‘very cancelled’). | ||
| 24 | CANONIC |
Regular characters in Jamaican On Ice (7)
|
| A hiddne answer in ‘JamaiCAN ON ICe’. | ||
| 25 | DONNA |
Italian madam said something like ‘sheesh’ (5)
|
| Sounds like DONNER (und Blitzen – thunder and lightning), a mild oath like ‘sheesh’. | ||
| 26 | BOTTOMS UP |
Fluid words to live by, bold in retrospect: ‘Let’s drink!’ (7,2)
|
| A reversal (‘in retrospect’) of PUS (‘fluid’) plus MOTTO (‘words to live by’) plus B (‘bold’) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TAKE A BOW |
Pâtissiers’ moral conduct, as expressed by the Reverend: bravo! (4,1,3)
|
| The Reverend must be William Archibald Spooner, and the spoonerism is BAKER TOW; BAKER for ‘pâtissiers’ is fine, but how do we get from ‘moral conduct’ to TOW? All I can think of is to change the pronunciation to give TOE, as in toe the line. | ||
| 2 | BUSHY |
Unkempt, like a US president on two separate occasions? (5)
|
| A reference to US presidents George H W Bush and his son George W Bush. | ||
| 3 | EQUATION |
Part of the problem: workshop inquorate without rector (8)
|
| An anagram (‘workshop’) of ‘inquo[r]ate’ minus the R (‘without rector’). ‘Inquorate’ means lacking the number for a quorum. | ||
| 4 | COHEIR |
One who’ll have to share is strangely heroic (6)
|
| An anagram (‘strangely’) of ‘heroic’. | ||
| 5 | VIRTUOSOS |
Against welcoming riotous rowdy musicians (9)
|
| An envelope (‘welcoming’) of IRTUOSO, an anagram (‘rowdy’) of ‘riotous’ in VS (versus, ‘against’). | ||
| 6 | LINNET |
Singer allowed in pub? Quite the reverse (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of INN (‘pub’) in LET (‘allowed’) | ||
| 7 | SOUNDING BOARD |
One listening to ideas yawning audibly? (8,5)
|
| Soundds like (‘audibly’) SOUNDING BORED (‘yawning’). | ||
| 9 | GOOD COP BAD COP |
Grilling technique in which heat regularly turned up? (4,3,3,3)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 14 | SMELL A RAT |
Have doubts and cover entirety of ‘Bad’ spa town that’s upwardly mobile (5,1,3)
|
| A reversal (‘that’s upwardly mobile’ in a down light) of TAR (‘cover’) plus ALL (‘entirety’) plus EMS (‘Bad spa town’ – Bad Ems in Germany). | ||
| 16 | STACCATO |
This may put you on edge: small Tex-Mex pancake stuffed with inappropriate meat (8)
|
| An envelope (‘stuffed with’) of CAT (‘inappropriate meat’) in S (‘small’) plus TACO (‘Tex-Mex pancake’). | ||
| 17 | GREENISH |
Somewhat naive, like softening Net Zero targets (8)
|
| ‘Net Zero’ refers to the reduction of grenhouse gas emissions to a level which balances sinks, and if such targets are softened, the results would be only GREENISH. | ||
| 19 | BARONS |
I’m surprised to be in large buildings supplying financiers (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to be in’) of O (‘I’m surprised’) in BARNS (‘large buildings’). | ||
| 20 | WHITBY |
Welsh struck by Yorkshire seaside town (6)
|
| A charade of W (‘Welsh’) plus HIT (‘struck’) plus ‘by’. | ||
| 22 | ANJOU |
One day in Paris, scratching rear that’s pear-shaped (5)
|
| A charade of AN (‘one’) plus JOU[r] (‘day in Paris’) minus its last letter (‘scratching rear’). The ANJOU is indeed pear-shaped, because it is a pear. |
Thanks for the blog. I enjoyed this crossword. For 25 down, I think ‘sheesh’ is a reference to a shis/doner kebab.
Sorry, 25 across.
Yes, agreed with Niall about the kebab, but not about enjoying this.
Some doubtful definitions: EQUATION is part of the solution rather than the problem? And I can’t see 1d either.
Thanks PeterO and Ludwig
I never know what to expect from Ludwig. Sometimes great fun, other times impenetrable. I only three quarters finished today before I revealed the rest, resulting in a “Huh?” list of nine. SOUNDING BOARD brought a smile.
Perhaps the spoonerism in 1d is BAKER TAO? I usually hear TAO pronounced with a D sound, but Merriam-Webster at least has the “tau” pronunciation as a variant.
FIBRE OPTIC
store
Chambers has ‘to furnish or supply’ among other meanings.
‘booze is supplied’ from an optic works?
TAKE A BOW
BAKER TAO (Chambers gives tow as one of the pronunciations)?
Edit: Agree with Rimapappa@5. I took quite some time
to type my post.
GOOD COP BAD COP
The ‘heat’ in the sense of police/COP turns up regularly in good COP bad COP.
Is that all or is there more to it?
Thanks Ludwig and PeterO.
Pangram!
I found this a bit of a mixed bag.
I liked SOUNDING BOARD and BOTTOMS UP, and URETHRA was cute.
NEWSMEN took a bit of pondering, but I never did figure out the “sheesh” (DONNA).
No problems with ANJOU, but where the clue calls it pear-shaped, which it is by definition, M-W calls the pear egg-shaped, which I found strangely approximate for a dictionary definition.
I think there may be some disagreements about whether to call a taco a pancake. Google the question and you get a resounding No. Interestingly, there is a thing called a pancake taco (I just found out), but apparently it is as much a taco as a koala bear is a bear.
FIBRE-OPTIC looks like it’s the wrong part of speech, but the wording in the clue is allusive so it may be ok.
In BARONS, the O looks like it’s missing an H.
Fortunately spotted the tao, the kebab and the pear; surprised by ‘workshop’ as an anagrind – a new one on me; have never encountered BARONS as financiers and needed a reveal which then allowed me to complete LOI, BUBBLE WRAP.
Thanks both
Trying too hard (or straining to be different as PeterO says) was my impression as well which resulted in a number of question marks.
I did smile at the definition for URETHRA.
I still don’t understand why STACCATO is “what may put you on edge”.
Tao in TAKE A BOW (pronounced Bao) seemed OK to me given Chambers has Tao = “the way to be followed, right or proper conduct”.
Would never have got NEWSMEN from the clueing, and TAKE A BOW was pretty much a guess. Those aside, I enjoyed working my way through this.
Today is Spooner’s birthday, born in 1844.
Bappy hirthday
Thanks Ludwig and PeterO
Against the general opinion, I have enjoyed Ludwig’s crosswords, but I thought that this one was very poor. I have quibbles against twelve clues. I won’t go through them all, but standout worst is STACCATO – weird definition and very dubious wordplay.
Also, it’s a bit of a stretch to make “workshop”, a noun, into an anagram indicator, which would generally be a verb or an adjective.
I have to disagree about the use of workshop as an anagrind – having sat in a fair few writers’ groups where stuff gets workshopped, ie torn to pieces by the other participants, it seems to me eminently appropriate!
And, despite a few stretchy bits here and there – STACCATO for one, although it did bring to mind the soundtrack to Psycho – I enjoyed this more than I’d expected. Thanks to Ludwig and PeterO, as ever.
Nothing ‘Tex-Mex’ about a taco, the quintessential Mexican food, though pancake is probably an adequate description. I was bemused by TAKE A BOW until I realised it’s a Spoonerism, though I don’t think TAO can be intended as Taoism isn’t about morality. Still bemused then! Unless it’s another inaccuracy?
I loved this. I thought it was clever and funny and involved lateral thinking. New men for quiche eaters lol! Couldn’t parse it all eg the “bow” in 1 down so thanks for the clear blog. Thanks for the info Jay @12!
Mixed feelings about this, as others have said. And 7d is a much better candidate for spoonerising than TAKE A BOW. Thanks, Ludwig and PeterO.
Totally agree with SueB @17. New men and Tao are why I came here, because I got the answers but really could not see why. So thanks to Ludwig (I rarely bother to look at who has created except to be aware if they use themselves in a clue or two – Boatman especially! – so don’t have favourites or bugbears) and PeterO.
I’m another who found too much that was dubious here which distracted me from the several very good clues.
Re “workshop” – I have heard it used as a verb, as in “let’s workshop this”. I’m not advocating for that use, just saying it happens…
I’m with RedRodney@16 on Daoism. I’m afraid it’s one of those cases where the dictionary gets it wrong but can be used to justify the answer. Then again, summing up a complex philosophy in a single line is a thankless task – and the fundamental text of the philosophy does start with the very idea that it cannot be defined! The more you know, the less help it is.
I wasn’t convinced by “barons” = “financiers”. An oil baron is a magnate who owns or runs the business, not someone involved in financing it. It’s like calling a shopkeeper a banker. Also not sold on “optics” as booze stores or a taco being a Tex-Mex pancake.
Some good ideas but it really needed someone to say “nah, that doesn’t work” to a few of them.
I quite like Ludwig’s ‘squint and think’ approach in general. It is quite fun and a bit different. I think that it went a bit far this time. ‘new men’ from ‘quiche eaters’ seems a bit of a long shot, for example. I also don’t see how GOOD COP BAD GOOD and BUBBLE WRAP are cryptic definitions, but perhaps I am slow.
What I do admire is the way the grid is used to ensure that the clues that require an inspired guess have crossers from more precisely clued answers.
Thank you PeterO and Ludwig
Jay@12 Let’s all glaze our arses to the Reverend today. (Apologies to the rhotics)
🙂
Pretty much what SueB said @17. Quirky but fun mostly. Aren’t crosswords a simple diversion designed to get you thinking in an oblique way after all?
Still don’t quite see how STACCATO should put one on edge, however.
Many thanks, both.
Managed to fill in the left hand side of the grid, but ground to a halt with the right hand side. Had to reveal STACCATO, CANONIC (never spotted it) and GREENISH ultimately. Too many unparsed today. Brightened up when I solved WHITBY with a cottage holiday overlooking the town booked for the last week in August. Some busy early birds on here this morning, I see, as well as that LINNET…
I agree with moh@15 about workshop and, philosophical imprecision aside, The Way of the Baker made me smile. I started off with a few doubts, but, in the end, it’s only STACCATO that doesn’t quite seem right.
I’m in the mixed bag and Trying too hard (or straining to be different as PeterO says) camp.
New for me: WHITBY = seaside town; ANJOU pear.
I could not parse 14d.
In case anyone needs cheering up… [ Should have got BUBBLE WRAP straight away, as it cropped up in real life just last week. Helping my son’s family doing the packing and the cleaning for a move to a different house, they were running out of the stuff. I slogged my way to the local DIY store and picked up a big roll. On the way back I got a phone call “Can you get some more wrapping tape too.” That would have involved more of a walk than I fancied, but luckily I picked some up in the supermarket near their place. Walked in and said “Anyone fancy a drink? I’ve got bubbly and scotch…” ]
I enjoyed this. I think the idea for STACCATO is that it’s the sort of music in a film that signals threat or danger, as in Psycho.
Many thanks Ludwig and PeterO.
[michelle @27
Where are you from? Whitby is famous as the port from which Captain Cook voyaged. It also has a Dracula connection (Jonathan Harker landed there?), so has a Goth festival.]
Loved it. But then I rarely quibble about the daily feast of wit and ingenuity that is bestowed upon us. These crosswords are a public good. Plus, when it is a relatively new setter (especially the ones that come from another “industry” and have a ready-made fame and reputation in that milieu) I always think about my own very feeble and failed attempts at setting. It is a damned hard thing to do. If sometimes the effort shows then so what? Time for fellow-feeling, surely? Every single cryptic crossword is designed to have us scratch our heads and, as SueB @17 and William@24 said, make us think differently. I agree it is daunting to be initially wrong-footed (as I was numerous times today) but it is joyous to struggle through and see the light. Thanks, Ludwig and thanks to you, PeterO.
I found this mostly laboured and unsatisfactory. A vaguely-clued Spoonerism that only kind of works if one assumes a non-rhotic pronunciation is not my cup of tea, An optic is for delivering booze rather than storing it, another dubious homophone with DONNA, etc. etc. Disappointed with this as I’ve enjoyed Ludwig in the past.
Mostly write-ins for me, but with some real head scratchers e.g. NEWSMEN; but I liked it. I think FIBRE OPTIC was my favourite. With thanks to Ludwig and PeterO.
I quite liked EAT INTO, FIBRE OPTIC & the misdirection in CANONIC
Other than that, there was nothing to lift this setter out of the relegation zone
At least LINNET prompted a listen to HMHB’s “For what is Chatteris…” from their seminal Achtung Bono album
Cheers P&L
Blaise@28😄
TerriBlislow @31, I couldn’t agree more
Re. DONNA — I think the clue intends us to see ‘doner kebab’ like ‘sheesh kebab’.
Oh sorry, Niall@1! I missed yours.
@31 – it was Dracula who landed at Whitby – JH was dead by then …
[Thanks prospero @39. I wasn’t sure.]
prospero@39: I agree re Dracula landing at Whitby, but in the book I think Harker kills Dracula, and lives to tell the tale (?)
TerriBlislow@31: Yes, many commenters over the years on this site have put forward that idea that unless one has something good to write about the crossword then one should not write anything. But then this discussion site, set up as a space for an exchange of views and ideas about the crosswords, would quickly become very dull — a vacuous daily repeat of thanks and plaudits for the setter and the blogger.
Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, Bruce Feirstein 1982.
I think ICING is actually a clever double definition.
Quite enjoyed this. Thanks both.
… well, OK, it would serve just as a reference for the solutions (where the blogger is able to unravel the solution and parsing). I grant you that.
I’m with Sue@17, William@24 and Terri@31 in feeling lucky to have clever and witty people to spice up my morning coffee each day, and I’m relaxed about a few clues that don’t quite chime. I came here to unpick the TOW/TAO/DAO Spoonerism and thanks to Rimapappa@5 and others for that. Nice to remember Feirsteins book and being a 1980s New Man while the Real Men were deciding whether to go for a donner or a sheesh.
Thanks PeterO and Ludwig. I actually enjoyed quite a lot of this puzzle, but some of the clues were stretchy at best. DONNA a bit of an eyeroller but I really like it. Niall@1 definitely correct in his kebab parsing. EAT INTO, ZETA, AIR TAXI, SOUNDING BOARD and VIRTUOSOS all get ticks.
OTOH, some clues seem to be intentionally weak to amp up the difficulty for the sake of it. BAKER DAO doesn’t work as a spoonerism. A TACO as a Tex-Mex pancake? A quiche eater is a NEW MAN? Bad Ems not incorrect but pretty obscure. Most of the cryptic definitions get a bit of a shrug. GOOD COP BAD COP doesn’t seem all there at all.
Also re 20d, can you just cut any nationality/language down to it’s initial letter? W is Welsh? On the basis that something like the Welsh Rugby Union is the WRU?
Usual Ludwig fare. Some very straightforward with some completely out there. Not heard of STACCATO. I was firmly in the ‘not pancakes’ camp but Chambers has the definition ‘ In Mexican cooking, a very thin rolled pancake with a meat filling, usu fried crisp’ so suppose I can’t complain. You certainly shouldn’t be filling them with cat though, there’s no argument there.
Liked SOUNDING BOARD and the CD for GOOD COP BAD COP.
Thanks Ludwig and PeterO
I have another issue with 1D beyond the dubious spoonerism. Isn’t the apostrophe in “Patissiers'” in the wrong place? If the spoonerism is the singular “Baker” then surely it should be “Patissier’s”? (And it can’t be some stretch like “patissiers” for “the bakers” as in “I’m going to the bakers for a loaf of bread”, because that would be “patisserie”.)
Regardless of what English dictionaries might say, a taco is not a pancake.
The round flat thing that resembles a pancake is a tortilla; a taco is a dish made with a tortilla (as are many other Mexican dishes) and some kind of filling, most commonly ground beef. Even then, a tortilla is a pancake in shape only*. It is more akin to an unleavened flatbread, pressed by hand or machine into shape, not poured like a pancake.
In addition, there is an actual food called a Mexican pancake, first cousin to an American pancake, that is made from batter.
So 16D in my opinion is not merely dubious, but wrong.
—-
*Some will argue, I am sure, that “pancake” can be used to describe purely the shape of something; I would counter that one does so only outside the context of food, where the word is far more specific.
Word around the kitchen table is that this is not one to write home about. It’s a triumph of style over substance explained by the pursuit of the PANGRAM (thanks to daja57 @ 7 for spotting it – I had completely missed it). Thanks to Ludwig; and to PeterO for the excellent blog.
Quirky but quite enjoyable, although I didn’t understand some of the references.
I liked the wordplays in FIBRE-OPTIC and VIRTUOSOS, the surface for ANJOU, the SOUNDING BOARD yawn, and GOOD COP BAD COP, which I thought was a good cd. I was surprised at the workshop anagrind but I see from comments above that it can used as a verb.
Thanks Ludwig and PeterO.
STATUS QUO was my first one in: pangram alert! The 8+ Scrabble™ letters all went in early though, so it didn’t make much difference.
Like others, the TOW and the NEWSMEN were among the hardest to parse, also SMELL A RAT for me, whereas DONNA and GOOD COP BAD COP were among the write-ins. I enjoyed this because the lateral thinking level was high. I noticed some of the issues that I knew would be raised – and a couple that haven’t been yet – but I enjoyed it.
Thanks Ludwig and PeterO
I was happy with TAO as I was blissfully unaware of any pronunciation issues. After some doubts, I made peace with the anagrinds – especially after realising that “workshop” can be a verb as mentioned – and I’m sure I’ve seen worse! I notice that BUBBLE WRAP was an answer in the Quick yesterday – there were mutterings as the clue “Poppy packer” seemed to be verging on the cryptic side and actually it is quite similar to today’s clue. I have noticed several times that a solution from the Quick appears in the Cryptic the next day – I wonder whether this is more than coincidence? Thanks to Ludwig and PeterO.
I fail to understand why quiche eaters are considered to be new men. I used to eat quiche regularly in my teens until I became dairy intolerant. I never thought of myself as a new man.
Why is Cat inappropriate meat? I imagine it would be quite tasty
All the tacos I’ve had have been crisp and folded into a U shape.
Ed @54
I have never (knowingly) eaten cat, but as a general rule the meat of carnivores tastes pretty unpleasant to us.
Me @55
Although see Curry Mallet in The meaning of Liff….
Is ZETA in fact a double definition, Catherine Zeta Jones being the lead in several films?
muffin@55 – Bacon is rather nice; I haven’t your experience with other carnivores (beef, lamb and even rabbit have purely herbivorous input!) – which have you eaten to justify your generalisation?
I differed from blog in following ways:-
9ac – ‘heat’ is another word for COP which “regularly turned up” in answer
25ac – I was thinking of ‘doner’ and ‘shish(?)’ kebabs as the connection
1dn – I had Tao (Buddhism) for “moral conduct”
I see that (some) others agree…
TerriBlislow@31 makes a wise comment; I would strongly advise Ludwig to take note
It was only on due reflection that I also thought this was actually rather good (and nice to be a little different)
Many thanks to Ludwig and PeterO
William F P @58
I didn’t know that pigs were habitually carnivores!
[It reminds me of Phil DeFreitas, England cricketer, on tour in New Zealand, being disappointed that he couldn’t have a bacon sandwich for breakfast
“What” he said “a country with 8 million sheep and you can’t do me a bacon sandwich?”]
[muffin@60,55 – They’re omnivores (and their swill may include meat) – I’m sure you know this! I didn’t mention, or imply “habitually”
In any case, you haven’t answered my question; which carnivores have you eaten to justify your generalisation? I really would like to know
Thank you]
Writing ‘Happy Birthday’ or something else that’s sweet (5)
I parsed this as
“Happy birthday or something else” as
I SING
Writing it down as ICING
with a definition of “that’s sweet”
Though I could put the ‘something else’ on the other side of the definition
William F P
I was once given dog meat as a test. It tasted extremely “high” – a bit like an overhung hare I once had.
STACCATO is Italian for ‘detached’ but even this seems a bit of a stretch for ‘on edge’
OPTIC is technically the clear glass part that allows you to see that a full measure is present before serving
Though it does double duty in common parlance for a bottle on the wall with an optic valve attached
I think that passes the “where booze stored’ test
[muffin – and, of course, like you I’m referring to meat not fish! 😇]
[Me @63
Come to think of it, when I was in SA I was also given crocodile (massive brai – lots of different meats, some possibly endangered. I think impala was the best). Though it was a little fishy, it wasn’t unpleasant.
Apart from sharks and halibut, most of the fish we eat aren’t principally carnivores either.]
The TACO thing, and several of the comments here, lead to the conclusion once again that the British are just hopeless when it comes to Mexican food. Jacob @49 has it mostly right, except the part about ground beef: that’s American, truly Tex-Mex. In Mexico, and in Mexican restaurants north of the Rio Grande that are doing it right, tacos usually have more interesting meat than that. Try the barbacoa (beef that’s been slow-roasted, traditionally in a pit but usually these days in a smoker) or the al pastor (roast pork) or the carnitas (also roast pork but very different) or the cochinita pibil (suckling pig) or the chicken tinga or the grilled whitefish or the…
There was a taqueria near where I lived before I got married that offered lengue (beef tongue) which I was never brave enough to try.
Anyway, an authentic Mexican taco does NOT have the u-shaped crispy tortilla. Flat, soft, flexible tortillas made of corn masa are the order of the day–usually two of them per taco so they don’t fall apart while you’re eating them. You fold the taco yourself before eating it, typucally.
Also woth noting that the lettuce and tomato you see on gringo tacos isn’t terribly authentic either. Cilantro (coriander) and onion is the default topping, though of course there’s room for creativity, as a taco is kind of a blank canvas.
MrP @68
Interesting. We would call what you describe a fajita, but that probably means something totally different as well!
I took this one on, because it’s another Ludwig.
No sour grapes, I completed it; but it’s not very good.
More Craptic than Cryptic.
But, hey…he’s getting the posts, and making a name for himself. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
I eat cheese, though it gives me indigestion.
But…..I keep eating it.
For what it’s worth, I come down on the double-definition side for 8ac: “Writing ‘Happy Birthday’ or something else”, and “that’s sweet.”
The kebab explanation for 25ac sounds a bit far-fetched to me. If it is indeed true that “donner” is a mild oath (I can’t find dictionary support for this, but I didn’t look too hard), then I like that better.
Re 19dn: In modern English I think we would spell the expression of surprise “Oh” rather than “O”, with the latter used only for apostrophizing. But no doubt that hasn’t always been true, and I assume dictionary support can be found.
I’m still puzzled by “inappropriate meat” for CAT and the spoonerism in 1dn.
[The former makes me think of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, who notes that all the cats in the vicinity of one of her pie-making rivals have disappeared. Sweeney Todd also helped me remember that LINNETs are known for their singing. (“Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird, teach me how to sing.”)]
Ace@48
Like you I saw this as plural patissiers’ so don’t like ‘Baker’.
So my spoonerism is ‘Bake a Tao’
Patissiers’ conduct is ‘ bake’ and it becomes moral with the Tao since Tao can refer to the way or path as well as the entire entity.
Hats off to Ludwig for introducing in 16d a wholly new and infinitely adaptable Crossword concept – a definition which has nothing whatever to do with the answer.
Too many doubtful definitions for me. Why would ‘staccato’ put you on edge? (Not sure I like cat for inappropriate meat either.) Is baron a synonym for financier? Not quite.
Music played legato flows nicely and relaxes you, music played STACCATO sounds jerky and puts you on edge. The clue as a whole is a bit cumbersome and the cat meat is a weird flight of whimsy – I’ve been trying to think of a synonym for inappropriate with the middle letters CAT, but failing, so I think we are eating tibbles here – but the definition is fine.
The thing I like least here is actually ‘lit’ as an anagram indicator in 10A. Yes it used to be slang for drunk in the 1940s but it now only appears fossilised in crosswords so it would be better off retired.
I thought a taco was a President….
I quite liked this crossword, first Ludwig I’ve managed to complete,
Took the kebab link for 25a
Should 4d be hyphenated?
What is Tao ? (Don’t tell me it’s a taco with no filling)
Thx Ludwig and PeterO for the explanations
FWIW, in the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine, the bad cop regularly turns up the heat on the suspect.
Definitely some definitions I didn’t fully understand, like STOPGAP, but STACCATO definitely isn’t one of them. It’s a bit of a fluffy definition, sure, but as others have said those shrill pieces of music in Psycho and Jaws absolutely put people on edge. Not quite sure why people here seem so put off by this one?
First time solving a Ludwig, and while I didn’t finish it I still had fun, which is the main thing.
Digger@76 – lit=drunk. Slang usages don’t retire; they just take sabbaticals. Lit was in use in Essex when I was growing up in the 60s-70s then went away, but today it is occasionally used and understood in my local in Yorkshire. It seems a pretty good anagrind given its scope for misleading us solvers.
It occurred to me that to use “workshop” as an anagram indicator requires the distasteful procedure of verbing a noun….
😉
TerrisBlislow@31 et al – well said! I wasn’t entirely convinced by STACCATO, and failed on NEWSMAN, but I knew what I was looking for, because I remembered ‘Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche’. Lots of fun, thank you Ludwig, and to PeterO for the blog. (DONNA is def shish kebab.)
PS re 25A … though doner and shish kebabs aren’t the same thing …
I rather enjoyed this. I like a bit of lateral thinking in addition to the more mechanical, charade-type clues. Thought BAKE A TAO was clever, had no problem with STACCATO, was pleased when DONNA clicked. The definition I most “smelt a rat” about was “regular” for CANONIC. Regular is certainly not the 1st synonym that comes to mind here. But overall, an excellent effort.
I was always preferred playing the good cop; being bad cop was too tiring and usually not particularly successful with more experienced miscreants. Very interesting set of clues with EAT INTO, FIBRE OPTIC, STACCATO and SOUNDING BOARD being my favourites. Like Lord Jim @29, I immediately thought of the wonderful music in Psycho. BARONS was a bit of a dud though.
Ta Ludwig & PeterO.
Apologies moh @15, I missed your Psycho reference on first read through, just come of the golf course and feeling tired and emotional.
Another one coming with gratitude. Thanks Ludwig, and PeterO. And thanks particularly 17 @ SueB and 31 @ TerriBlislow.
Comments on this blog are a delight for the variety of the human condition they reveal. What some people find easy others find incomprehensible, what some find upsetting others find straightforward etc. and I enjoy the anecdotes the clues suggest.
Some of these clues were real groaners but as a lifetime purveyor of Dad jokes I can hardly complain.
I think CAT as inappropriate meat is really funny (I was trying to anagram MEAT for ages, of course).
I had to reveal DONNA and enjoyed groaning while kicking myself. I am definitely in the Kebab school of thought here.
Workshop as an anagrind worked instantly for me.
I see Ludwig as being full of wit at various altitudes and enjoy the crosswords for that, whereas with others I admire their dry precision. I enjoy spotting what I like about crosswords!
[Re tacos and pancakes: I ordered moo shu something at a Chinese restaurant once, and it was served with what were clearly Mexican flour tortillas rather than the usual moo shu pancakes. Personally, I’d be fine with calling a tortilla a pancake, but not a taco, as the latter refers to the whole package, filling and all.]
The print version of this has ‘Have doubts and criticise…’ for 14d. So I was completely unable to parse this one.
Am I the only person on here who does the crossword in the paper?
[No worries, AlanC @86 – this has turned into a veeeery looooong thread, golf or no golf!]
I enjoyed this, some of the more lateral definitions kept me thinking. I share the feeling that “cat” was a bit dubious, but apart from that I had a lot of fun.
I got BARONS from the term “Wall-Street barons”, which I am sure I have heard on the news or on left-leaning podcasts.
Andrew Sceats@90: I do it in the paper too, and I do it in the evening, which is why I am a latecomer here. I wondered whether indicating TAR (RAT<) by 'criticise' had something to do with tarring with the same brush, but that was a bit of a stretch. I don't think tar = cover is up to much either. Tar as a verb is defined as to smear/cover specifically with tar, not to cover with anything else or in a more general sense.
Hector @94 I agree with you about TAR.
I confess I groaned a little when I saw Ludwig’s name, but this time I was quite on his wavelength. Having got STATUS QUO as my FOI, I started looking for a pangram, and wasn’t disappointed. I agree with those who are dubious about STACCATO; I’ve never thought of it as meaning “on edge”.
Thanks Ludwig and Peter O.
I found the puzzle easy to finish but found it tough to understand a few of the word plays. There was nothing I really disliked and I loved 10A (urethra) and 16D (Staccato). Calling cat inappropriate meat made me laugh out loud.
Another paper solver here who agrees with Hector.
I didn’t like STACCATO either. It is an instruction to play short notes separated by silence and can be used in slow, quiet passages as well as more dramatic ones. If memory serves, I wouldn’t say the Psycho music, though played with a strong attack, was STACCATO.
I parsed “sheesh” as shish/şiş so had DONER as the answer for a while, I think ‘worplay as homophone for cryptic definition’ seems more a natural sequence. Are doner and shish alike, would a steak sandwich be likened to a burger patty?
I thought the wordplay for ANJOU was neat but the definition was weak and ‘pear-shaped’ didn’t add any complexity or misdirection.
I got NEWSMEN via the wordplay and in general I think it’s better not having people as a definition in an age where one can easily not be exposed to names that fall outside one’s personal interests.
Non-rhotic speaker but usually a hard A so got TAKE A BOW from definition only.
For me, Ems is better known for a certain war-provoking telegram than for being a spa.
When I was a student (and God was a boy) it was said that a local restaurant had resorted to using cat meat in their chicken curry when myxamatosis stopped them using rabbit.
Jenny Cant @73
If you think it is “bake a tao”, could you give me the recipe? There is a discussion of singular/plural noun adjuncts in Wikipedia.
Ted @72
For 25A DONNA: it is hardly holy writ, but there is a reference to an oath in Wikipedia. I am a little surprised at the strength of opinion for the kebab route, which seems to me to have several problems. There are many ways to mangle words borrowed from other languages, but at least sticking close to the original, the first vowels of DONNA and döner are different; likewise shish and sheesh. Also, the link that both are associated with kebab is quite tenuous – as judygs @83 admits, they are not the same thing. All that does not rule out the possibility that that is Ludwig’s intent, but I think it makes it unlikely.
Having learned recently that Ludwig is a combination of everyman and enigmatist, Staticman@47 makes perfect sense: “Some very straightforward with some completely out there.”
I enjoyed a lot of this, and spotted the potential pangram quite early, but couldn’t quite bring myself to grind through the last few, and definitely had a few that bunged in unparsed.
No quiblets, I found this much like many other cryptic crosswords. That is, very much like a cryptic crossword.
Cheers all.
Delibes Pizzicato from Sylvia and Strauss pizzicato polka don’t put me on edge.
Theme from Jaws does and is not staccato
PeterO @102 – anyone disputing the kebab parsing of DONNA has clearly not experienced traditional British late Friday night cuisine, where the appropriation of exotic dishes and accompanying refinement of pronuciations have left our city streets lined with kebab shops, selling two primary types … donner and sheesh. Both spoken of without any need for knowledge of Turkish. Typical menu here.
PeterO@102
But the clue to 25A is *something like* ‘sheesh’
Van Winkle@106
That menu is hilarious 🙂
A crossword with an enjoyable difference. Ludwig had me chuckling out loud, at times; the way Paul always manages to do. I enjoyed the ‘stranger’ clues, and I really enjoyed seeking the reasons why.
Thanks Ludwig – what a name!
PeterO @102 – I would bet my house and pension that the intent is kebabs 😁
Struggled with this and only got halfway. Didn’t help that I had 4d COHIRE instead of COHEIR
I enjoyed 12a DUBS. Also 18a BUBBLE WRAP, although I didn’t solve it. Mrs Mig loves to collect it and pop it, so “explosive” indeed!
9d GCBC brought to mind the popular bilingual Canadian flick “Bon Cop, Bad Cop” — not a bad comedy, if anyone wants to look it up
Blaise @28. LOL Brilliant!