This week’s 11 x 11 crossword from the Guardian, intended to teach cryptic crosswords, found here
This week we have the 8th Quick Cryptic from Ludwig, who appeared as the Ludwig TV series did – and at the time was a collaboration between Alan Connor (Everyman) and John Henderson (Enigmatist), but according to the Guardian Crossword blog is a pseudonym used by several setters. Ludwig has set cryptic puzzles too. Today we have anagrams and acrostics with all the letters given, the other clues are double definitions and Cockney – which we have met once before, as part of the “voice” category, back in Quick Cryptic 42..
The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times.
This blog continues to develop in response to suggestions. We hide the answers and the wordplay descriptions (parsing) too. To find the solution click on “Answer” and to find how the word play works, click on “Parsing” which will reveal the hidden information. You can choose to reveal everything using the “Expand All” button. If you have partially revealed the page, refreshing it will clear that, and allow you to expand all. The definition is in bold and underlined, the indicator is in red.
For additional help click here
There is a summary of the tricks used in the first six months here and a Guardian Crossword blog called the ultimate beginner’s guide has tips which may be useful for some solvers
For abbreviations and clue tips click here
Fifteen Squared uses several abbreviations and jargon tricks, there’s a full list here, of which I’ve used the following in this blog:
- underlining the definition in the clue – this is either at the beginning or end of the clue
- indicators are in red.
- CAPITALS to indicate which bits are part of the answer, e.g. Get A Good joke for the example.
- anagram – letters being used shown in brackets (SENATOR)* for the clue below to give TREASON.
- anagrind – anagram indicator – in the case below it is “arranged”
- charades – the description below only gives the example of words being added together, but charades can be more complicated, adding abbreviations or single letters to another word. Examples previously used in this series are: Son ridicules loose overgarments (6) S (son) + MOCKS (ridicules), Get rid of dead pine (5) D(dead) + ITCH (pine) – D ITCH, and early on DR (doctor) + IVE (I have) to give DRIVE.
- soundalike – shown using quotation marks, so “Wilde” in the example below
- CAD or clue as definition– where the whole clue gives the definition, sometimes called an &lit. These are rare.
- DBE or definition by example – e.g. where a dog might be clued as a setter – often using a question mark, maybe, possibly or e.g. to show that this is an example rather than a definition.
- surface – the meaning from reading the clue – so often cryptic clues use an English that could only be found in a cryptic crossword, but a smooth surface is a clue that has a meaning in English, which can be pointed or misleading.
TODAY’S TRICKS – from the crossword site – because the clues have moved on from the clue descriptions below, I am now adding more to the descriptions hidden above. Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these:
- Anagram An anagram of the answer and a hint that there’s an anagram
‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON - Acrostic The first letters of the answer
‘Initially get a good joke (3)’ gives GAG - Double definition Both halves are definitions!
‘Search scrub (5)’ gives SCOUR - Cockney Remove an ‘h’ sound for the answer
‘In Bow, hirsute and jaunty (4)’ gives AIRY’ from hAIRY
| ACROSS | Click on “Answer” to see the solutions | |
| 1 |
Aquatic mammal’s less cold in Poplar (5)
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AnswerOTTER |
ParsingCockney (in Poplar) of hOTTER (less cold) – Poplar is in the East End of London, where Cockney is spoken (and is still one of areas where Cockneys are to be found) |
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| 4 |
Ospreys have mauled you, taking faces? Dear me! (2,2)
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AnswerOH MY |
Parsingacrostic (taking faces) of Ospreys Have Mauled You – taking faces is a new indicator for an acrostic, but does give the instruction. |
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| 6 |
Cockney’s coiffure made neater? It’s digitally altered (10)
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AnswerAIRBRUSHED |
ParsingCockney of hAIR (coiffure) + BRUSHED (made neater) to give the photo manipulation technique (digital alteration). hAIR is a regular Cockney in crosswords, along with Barnet (the Cockney Rhyming Slang from Barnet Fair) – and that’s one I’ve heard in real life as someone who’s worked in the few remaining areas where Cockney is still spoken. |
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| 7 |
Apple festivity (4)
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AnswerGALA |
Parsingdouble definition for this apple variety and this sort of festivity (not pronounced the same way) |
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| 9 |
Salted up areas by river mouths (6)
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AnswerDELTAS |
Parsinganagram of (SALTED)* with an anagrind of “up”. as in excited. Up is a common anagram indicator in full-fat cryptic crosswords as usefully ambiguous (it could mean a reversal in a down clue) or sneak past without notice. |
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| 10 |
Horrible danger in Eden? (6)
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AnswerGARDEN |
Parsinganagram of (DANGER)* with an anagrind of “horrible”, and a question mark to indicate a DBE (definition by example) as Eden is one example of a GARDEN. |
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| 13 |
Wheels in Albert Square? My mistake (4)
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AnswerOOPS |
ParsingCockney (in Albert Square?) of hOOPS (wheels) – and a question mark as Albert Square in Walford is the imaginary location of EastEnders, the BBC soap. There’s also an attempt to mislead as wheels are cars in the London dialect. |
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| 15 |
Cab hovered awkwardly in location near the White Cliffs (5,5)
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AnswerDOVER BEACH |
Parsinganagram of (CAB HOVERED)* with anagrind of “awkwardly” for one of several locations near the White Cliffs of Dover – the phrase refers to a poem by Matthew Arnold. |
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| 17 |
Tolerate one that may be grizzly (4)
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AnswerBEAR |
Parsingdouble definition the first a verb meaning to tolerate, and the second referring to one of these. That phrasing is chosen because it could refer to a grizzly child. |
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| 18 |
Reckons intros from Hammond organ lack danceable swing (5)
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AnswerHOLDS |
Parsingacrostic (intros from) Hammond Organ Lack Danceable Swing with a surface referring to 40s dances. Someone who has strong opinions reckons/holds they are right |
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DOWN
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| 1 | Originally of use, I’m joining appeals board, that’s spooky (5) |
AnswerOUIJA |
Parsingacrostic (originally) of Of Use I‘m Joining Appeals – for the board used in seances – and this is worth remembering for the full fat cryptics, where it’s often clued as meaning yes in French and German. |
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| 2 |
Take a breather, at first – then see the bill! (3)
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AnswerTAB |
Parsingacrostic (at first) of Take A Breather for the sort of bill run up behind a bar or in a hotel |
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| 3 |
Plump for a few drinks (5)
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AnswerROUND |
Parsingdouble definition the first describing a piece of fruit or cushion, the second the sort of expense building up a TAB from the previous clue. |
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| 4 |
Desdemona’s husband’s game (7)
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AnswerOTHELLO |
Parsingdouble definition the first describing characters from the Shakespeare play, the second this game. |
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| 5 |
Fancifully aimed for TV, newspapers etc (5)
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AnswerMEDIA |
Parsinganagram of (AIMED)* with anagrind of “fancifully”. |
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| 8 |
East Ender’s to relinquish Hampshire town (7)
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AnswerANDOVER |
ParsingCockney (East Ender’s to) hANDOVER (relinquish) for this Hampshire town. |
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| 11 |
Confuse a deadbeat dad lacking empathy principally (5)
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AnswerADDLE |
Parsingacrostic (principally) of A Deadbeat Dad Lacking Empathy for a word for confusion, now the main meaning, but used to mean eggs going off (and still how I’d use the word) |
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| 12 |
Thorn changed direction (5)
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AnswerNORTH |
Parsinganagram of (THORN)* with anagrind of “changed”. |
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| 14 |
Chooses what to play guitar with (5)
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AnswerPICKS |
Parsingdouble definition one a verb for choosing, the second these tools in American English or these in English English. (I’d call the first a plectrum, I own a few). |
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| 16 |
In Bow, despicable character, slippery type (3)
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AnswerEEL |
ParsingCockney (in Bow) of hEEL (despicable character). To be a true Cockney, traditionally someone had to have been born within the sound of Bow Bells – which becomes complicated as there are at least two churches which could be the source of the bells – St Mary’s Cheapside in the City of London and not far from St Paul’s, and Bow Church, now isolated in the middle of the All, in the area of Bow in the East End of London. |
Quite an enjoyable one today.Did take time with one or two but I won’t disclose which ones lest to get unsolicited “advice”,”taunts”from trolls,smart alecs etc.Thanks Shanne and Ludwig.
Dr M. Z 2 @1. I’m sorry you’ve received unwelcome responses and glad to see you here today. I think there also should be a request (in addition to refraining from posting solving times or saying how “easy” the solve was) to be be mindful not to lecture. It’s something that happens on the regular cryptic blogs too.
Some posters are more didactic in style, and some make (wrong) assumptions about what people know or want to know, if anything at all. No doubt I’ve done that too at times, but it’s something I try to be mindful of.
So, I’ll take the chance and fess up where I stumbled today. Didn”t know the Poplar area of London where Cockney is spoken, or the Albert Square reference.
Haven’t had much exposure to Shakespeare, so Desdemona and OTHELLO aren’t readily linked in my mind. Double defs can be difficult if the wordplay doesn’t mean much and the definition is so broad, like “game”.
Favourite was GALA as I like 2 word double defs which, when put together, mean something else again.
Thankyou Shanne for your comprehensive blog. Interested to learn that the two meanings of GALA are pronounced differently in the UK. They’re homophones for me.
Similar to pm@2, I did not understand the references to Poplar or Albert Square. Bow comes up regularly and I have even been to one of the churches! Different GALA pronunciations was news to me too.
I ticked GARDEN, and ROUND.
Thanks Ludwig and Shanne
I also pronounce Gala the same no matter how it’s used (GAH-luh). Apparently there are several different recognised pronunciations, including even “GAY-luh” though I can’t say I’ve heard it used.
I don’t pronounce ‘oops (hoops with the h dropped) and oops the same though!
Never heard “heel” to mean despicable character.
Great QC puzzle from Ludwig. Have to say my original thought was that it was straightforward but now reading the comments above I recall that I too struggle on my Shakespeare, wasn’t sure about why reckons=holds, dived in with wrong answer of airsprayed and that if you don’t know your East End you could be in difficulties. Nonetheless very enjoyable.
As ever, I’ve done a talkthrough video which is available at … https://youtu.be/kqPALmI61cc … tips and tactics on how to solve.
Thanks to Shanne for the comprehensive blog as always and to Ludwig for the puzzle
It’s the north-south pronunciation of a – so in the south, class is gl-ah-ss, in the north, so Durham, it’s gl-a-ss with a short a. So my headmaster who came from the north of England called the school fête a g-ay-lah, us soft southerners in the school called those events and the apples g-ah-luh. (I’d write cl-ar-ss, but many southerners are non-rhotic, whereas I’ve got some rhoticity from living in the West Country.)
Dylan N@4. Thankyou for reminding me about OOPS and (H)OOPS. Definitely not the same pronunciation +/- h. I couldn’t work that out. Í had the wheels as being the O’s, but then I was stuck with the PS. There are visual clues, text only, but Cockney clues are soundalikes, whatever they are spelt like.
As someone who currently speaks MLE (Multicultural
modernLondon English*), OOPS and (h)oops sound alike to me, but it’s probably the vowel sounds in this area. But it’s one of the hazards of setting clues that rely on the sounding out of words, accents vary the vowels so widely that there are pitfalls.I’ve worked across the East End of London, saw students in Bethnal Green, Bow, Poplar, Roman Road, Custom House, been in and out of the homes there. It’s very variable. But I’ve also lived in Sunderland, and the Durham Gala is a big thing in that area. whereas I don’t remember those shows called galas in the south of England, – there they are carnivals, fetes or other vocabulary, so I hear that said in a northern accent.
* corrected – see below
Enjoyed the cockney clues. 13a was my last one in as I was thinking of cars so I fell for the misdirection for a while. Very good surface readings overall, I felt. I’m originally from the North of England and I never noticed ‘gala’ being pronounced that differently. Thanks Ludwig and Shanne.
I could not parse 13ac apart from guessing OO = wheels? I never heard of Albert Square and never watched Eastenders, I suppose that I should have googled it.
I never knew of the game Othello except here in cryptic crosswordland. Probably I googled it sometime in the past for an answer in a previous puzzle. I wonder if the game is still popular now.
I agree with the suggestions in the first paragraph of paddymelon@2.
Knowing Cockney dialect helped this week! Unusually I got most stuck on anagrams – 9A and 10A. 1D was fun.
michelle @10 – I’m not going to agree with paddymelon’s comment about not explaining @2, because having been caught up in the comments around the Philistine crossword earlier this week, I did go back later and try to explain ionic bonding. And why I don’t agree is because it’s very easy to be patronising as I have no idea how much anyone who doesn’t know something knows on the topic, so to make a decent fist of explanation, I ended up explaining from quite a low base, trying to make sure my explanation was comprehensible.
In other situations, blogging this crossword, I do try to go through highlighting anything I don’t think will translate internationally without some help, and regularly I haven’t explained enough and go back and add more information later.
No-one has to read the explanations if they have already been exposed to the topic being discussed.
Shanne @8 I think MLE is Multicultural London English. It seems to have spread quite a lot wider than London, to my ears.
Deebster @13 – yes, you’re right – I didn’t check as I posted that. I picked it up working in multicultural educational settings and it works in surrounding areas.
I loved the Cockney clues! I knew Poplar from Call the Midwife and have enough knowledge of Eastenders to get Albert Square. Being a 70s and 80s kid I knew Othello due to Kids from Fame TV show. Leroy, a fabulous dancer, played Othello. No Shakespeare or geography facts required, just popular culture 😀
Wild Child @5 – I wondered about referencing Call the Midwife – I haven’t seen the show, but I have read the books, and we built a Geocaching Adventure Lab around of the places you can still see around All Saints, Chrisp Street Market and Limehouse. Nonnatus House exists – it’s just not what it’s really called, but it’s in Poplar.
Next time, perhaps a warning UK solvers only?
Shanne@12. I don’t think Dr MZ’s comment was referring to you, and I certainly wasn’t. It’s a general reminder for all contributors.
It must be very difficult pitching this blog for newbies, not knowing what the shared knowledge base is, and trying to cover all bases. Your work is appreciated as you can see from the comments.
I found this much smoother than last year, though 1a wasn’t the easiest starting point. I didn’t know where Poplar was and only got it from process of elimination that it wasn’t any of the other clue types – if I’d come across this in a Full Fat, I’d have struggled.
Thanks to Ludwig for a great start to Saturday and to Shanne for the usual enlightening blog!
Great crossword today – loved the cockney ones ( although I was stuck on oops for a while – wheels is cars for me!). I was fascinated by the different pronunciations of gala. As a SE englander I’d never heard gaylah.
And just to continue the discussion about explanations – I’m always interested in the ideas and points made here. I’ve learnt a lot and enjoy a peeping through a window into your lives. So thank you Shanne and others.
Geoff Down Under @17 – no point saying that here – Alan Connor, crossword editor of the Guardian, never reads the blog or the Guardian comments and won’t get the message.
If you’re familiar with the Call the Midwife oeuvre, Poplar and Bow feature as being part of the East End community the nuns cover with their midwifery services – and that show has been exported to the USA and Australia and is also on Netflix on demand. EastEnders is shown on PBS in the US, and exported to Australia, among other countries, but as daytime TV.
Myself @19: I meant “last week” of course!
Did anyone else struggle to accept ‘airbrushed’ (a physical technique) for something ‘digitally altered’? I wonder if this is a regional usage? (I’m from the US Midwest)
Loved this one. Many thanks to Ludwig and of course Shanne
Yay! First one ever finished, 73 later. I did use an anagram solver for two, I’ll try harder next time.
Well done Maz @25!
TheFishmonger @23 – the airbrushing tools I’d use now are GIMP (as the freeware version of Photoshop) for digital manipulation. Yes, it was originally one of many tools used by the early photographers, but these days it’s really hobbyists use film and develop their own pictures. Mostly it’s digital photography and cameras.
Enjoyed this, though on my continent, “East Ender” doesn’t quite ring a bell! But I felt there’s a third, tighter, reference in GALA, The New York Met Gala, where New York is the Big Apple.
Watched the Ludwig series a week ago. The pseudonym claimed a mastery in clueing that matched the eponym’s musical genius.
On that note, this quick cryptic is perhaps like Für Elise in the East End?
Thanks both
Enjoyed this one – found it easier than the last few for me personally. Favourite clue was EEL.
I really enjoy these Saturday Quick Cryptic crosswords. Trying to look for more at this level, or just slightly harder.
Mesnilman @29 – if you click on the “additional help” section in the blog, there’s a link to a post built after the first 6 months of this crossword, with suggestions of other puzzles to move on to.
Hooray! Finished this in relatively short time without having to “cheat” at all.
I’m a newbie.
Thanks Ludwig, that was very enjoyable. And especially thanks to Shanne – it’s so hard knowing exactly how to pitch things when you’re blogging, as paddymelon @18 points out. But with the QC – a great innovation by the G, which is really helping to broaden the cryptic community, and is served brilliantly by your excellent blogs – it’s surely fair to assume that new/less experienced solvers will appreciate as full an explanation as possible. I take a similar approach when I blog the Everyman, even though I know many of the solvers won’t require that level of help, partly because I’m aware that it’s a UK-based puzzle and many of our regulars might not always be familiar with some of the GK that people living here might take for granted. But it’s impossible sometimes to guess what is general knowledge and what is arcane. Of course no one wants to come across as patronising or a smartarse – and you absolutely never do – but I guess our job is to hand-hold those who want it and hope that those who don’t will take it in the spirit in which it’s meant. So thank you!
Aw, thank you miserableoldhack @32
Frank @31 – well done! it’s a good feeling, isn’t it?
I found this one difficult to get going but 11D got me going and then managed it all. I found the Cockney clues funny (thanks Ludwig) and was unsure if I got 1D right until the crossing words fitted. I really appreciate the information on parsing Shanne because I often get the answer but sometimes unsure about the explanation which I have come to realise is essential if you want to move on to more difficult crosswords.
Great puzzle. I took a while thinking of Poplar the tree until I read through the clue types. My London geography is poor. Got stuck on Othello as I’ve never heard of the game and am poor on Shakespeare, s I had to resort to google. Still, I like a crossword that increases my knowledge as well as taxing my brain.
Thanks Shanne and Ludwig.
Ahh, had no idea Othello was a game. Good, fun, crossword. Thanks Ludwig and Shanne.
An enjoyable and good confidence booster after last week. Like Frank @31 finished this in a relatively short time and in one go. Enjoyed the cockney clues, starting each one with an h and deleting it once i had solved it. Many thanks.
This the first time I’ve completed the Quick Cryptic without any hints or reveals. Rattled through it pretty quickly as well.
Could I finally be getting the hang of these? Or was this one a lot easier than usual? Sadly I think it’s the latter, but I’ll take it anyway 🙂
Further to Shanne’s response @26 to TheFishmonger @23 i would add that the vocabulary for digital editing techniques borrows a variety of terms from the physical methods they replaced e.g. ‘cut and paste’, burning in’ etc.
I enjoyed the use of ‘horrible’ in 10A as the anagrind to transform ‘danger’ into ‘garden’, It seems like a subtle psychological misdirection!
I loved this one. I’ve never got so many so quickly (although not all the way to the end yet : – /), a massive confidence boost for a newbie who started with this series and has only done these. I still tripped up with 9a though. Yet another anagram indicator to learn!
Thank you so much!
Loved this one but am baffled about the different pronunciations of gala aside. Lots of village gala days in the north of Scotland pronounced exactly the same as the apple!