The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29873.
Alia, a relatively new addition to the Guardian stable, professes an aim to the easier end of the spectrum, and follows that here. The Australian usage in 1D and the ‘jazz legend’ (a debatable definition) in 21A were new to me, but apart from that it was not too taxing, with basic wordplay wrapped in sensible surfaces.
There was an error message when I loaded the blog to fifteensquared, but I cannot see any problem with the result.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | DOMINEER |
Individual who’s busy protecting pit boss (8)
|
| An envelope (‘protecting’) of MINE (‘pit’) in DOER (‘individual who’s busy’). | ||
| 9 | CACHE |
Hoard of money for the auditor (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘for the auditor’) CASH (‘money’). | ||
| 10 | I SAY |
Blimey, it’s actually devoid of content (1,3)
|
| ‘It’S ActuallY‘ minus the interior letters (‘devoid of content’). | ||
| 11 | ON THE TABLE |
Place for playing poker maybe up for discussion (2,3,5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | FODDER |
More rum accompanying fine food (6)
|
| A charade of F (‘fine’) plus ODDER (‘more rum’). | ||
| 14 | ON CAMERA |
Ace Roman possibly captured, in a way (2,6)
|
| An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘ace Roman’. | ||
| 16 | ASUNDER |
In pieces, and sure to be rebuilt (7)
|
| An anagram (‘to be rebuilt’) of ‘and sure’. | ||
| 18 | LAPTOPS |
Track distance with the best computers (7)
|
| A charade of LAP (‘track distance’) plus TOPS (‘the best’). | ||
| 21 | OPERETTA |
Old jazz legend James covering a G&S work? (8)
|
| An envelope (‘covering’) of PER (‘a’) in O (‘old’) plus ETTA (‘jazz legend James’ – Etta James). The question mark is for the indication by example. | ||
| 23 | GOLFER |
Club owner about to strike back (6)
|
| A reversal (‘back’) of RE (‘about’) plus FLOG (‘strike’). | ||
| 24 | MALEFACTOR |
Delinquent fella with influence (10)
|
| A charade of MALE (‘fella’) plus FACTOR (‘influence’). | ||
| 26 | SOHO |
House in very central London neighbourhood (4)
|
| A charade of SO (‘very’) plus HO (‘house’); ‘in’ is misleading. | ||
| 27 | SLATE |
Criticise list of potential candidates (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 28 | TOILETRY |
Facecloth perhaps made from thin cotton sample (8)
|
| A charade of TOILE (‘thin cotton’) plus TRY (‘sample’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COP SHOPS |
Where you’ll see officers in the vicinity of Melbourne’s charity outlets? (3,5)
|
| A charade of C (circa, ‘in the vicinity of’) OP SHOPS (‘Melbourne’s charity outlets’ – an Australian and NZ term). | ||
| 2 | AIRY |
Well-ventilated farm building without windows in the middle (4)
|
| A subtraction: [d]AIRY (‘farm building’) minus the D (‘without winDows in the middle’). | ||
| 3 | RENOIR |
Gritty film genre led by extremely reputable artist (6)
|
| A charade of RE (‘extremely ReputablE‘) plus NOIR (‘gritty film genre’). | ||
| 4 | ORATION |
Important delivery definitely happening around 13:25, say (7)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of RATIO (’13:25 say’ – the numbers are arbitrary, and ratios are often expressed with a colon) in ON (‘definitely happening’). | ||
| 5 | ACME |
Top component from system carefully lifted up (4)
|
| A hidden (‘component from’) reversed (‘lifted up’ on a down light’) answer in ‘systEM CArefully’. | ||
| 6 | SCRAP METAL |
Smart place for recycling industrial waste? (5,5)
|
| An anagram (‘for recycling’) of ‘smart place’. | ||
| 7 | CELLAR |
Good location to store wine, merchant declared (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘declared’) SELLER (‘merchant’). | ||
| 13 | DONER KEBAB |
OK beer and terribly second-rate takeaway food (5,5)
|
| A charade of DONERKEBA, an anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘OK beer and’, plus B (‘ssecond-rate’). | ||
| 15 | CHA |
Drink some horchata (3)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘horCHAta’. Horchata is also a drink. | ||
| 17 | EAT |
Have energy and tenacity at the outset (3)
|
| First letters (‘at the outset’) of ‘Energy And Tenacity’. | ||
| 19 | PLETHORA |
God features in prayer a lot (8)
|
| An envelope (‘features in’) of THOR (‘god’) in PLEA (‘prayer’). | ||
| 20 | CANTATA |
Preserve later Bach choral piece? (7)
|
| A charade of CAN (‘preserve’) plus TATA (see you ‘later’). The question mark is for the indication by example. | ||
| 22 | PRAISE |
Wage increase follows partner’s first commendation (6)
|
| A charade of P (‘Partner’s first’) plus RAISE (‘wage increase’). | ||
| 23 | GERBIL |
Grey rabbit regularly pursued by large rodent (6)
|
| A charade of GERBI (‘GrEy RaBbI regularly’) plus L (‘large’). | ||
| 25 | ACER |
Tree – one alongside river (4)
|
| A charade of ACE (‘one’) plus R (‘river’). | ||
| 26 | SEER |
Forecaster ultimately predicts the same weather (4)
|
| Last letters (‘ultimately’) of ‘predictS thE samE weatheR‘. |
Thanks PeterO.
I really enjoyed this, lots of laughs.
I did know Etta (James) in OPERETTA, (she sang in several genres, including jazz). Was a wake-up to PER for A, which we’ve had a few times recently.
I wish I hadn’t revealed my LOI PLETHORA. Tried to insert chins or noses in something. Nice misdirection as to the def (well, for me anyway). (I just went back over that and AI is using my comment. That’s really scary! Pity anyone who looks up PLETHORA and gets my failed attempt.)
FACECLOTH is a word which has many synonyms across the continents. Flannel, washer, washcloth, washrag etc.
This Aussie got {C)OP SHOPS but, while readily solvable, CACHE/CASH isn’t a homophone for us. So you win some, and lose some, just like the cricket. 🙂
Never heard of Etta James, and I was unaware that op-shops are an Antipodean speciality — apparently they originated in Melbourne. I found Alia’s last puzzle annoying in that it required an abundance of UK knowledge, and I enjoyed that there were none this time.
ORATION was the only one whose wordplay was beyond me. All up, very enjoyable.
ORATION beyond me too, unfortunately. Great clue. Also liked RENOIR. Not so keen on MALEFACTOR. Thanks for the blog and puzzle.
@paddymelon ‘win some lose some’?! Not in Oz we don’t.
Anyway, nice mix of clues today. 4d parsing took a long time but my cotd when the lightbulb went on.
Thanks to both.
GDU #2. It’s a British crossword! ‘”annoying”? UKGK is to be expected! It might take me a bit longer than the Brits but I learn lots of interesting things along the way.
ETTA James wasn’t the problem – eventually, once I had got _PIRATES out of my brain (for the G&S work, and the crossers I had at the time). No problem with [C]OP SHOP either, though I did wonder why it was specifically Melbournian. I’m with pdm@1 on CASH/CACHE (don’t mention the cricket, pdm!). 😉 I took SOHO to be H in Soo (drawn out ‘very’) because of the ‘in’ problem you point out, PeterO – to whom, and to Alia, thanks.
Comment #7
The cute COP SHOP is also a UK term, which as ex-plod, I have often used, and not just peculiar to OZ/NZ. There were a few write-ins with some generous anagrams like SCRAP METAL and the amusing DONER KEBABS. My favourite was the clever ORATION and I also enjoyed LAPTOPS, GOLFER, the biblical MALEFACTOR, and PLETHORA. There is a jazz viol musician called James Peretta which would fit, although I doubt he is a legend, like the great Etta.
Ta Alia & PeterO.
Oh I see, OP SHOP is the OZ/NZ term in question. Ta Peter, I missed that.
Good one to do during the ads while streaming David Mitchell in Ludwig — quirky and fun. Know of Etta James but not to recall before coming here. Nothing else arcane, and a super neat surface for plethora, thanks Alia and Peter.
Paddymelon@5, I enjoy a few too, but when they’re too abundant I reserve the right to be annoyed.
Others have argued that although these are British crosswords, they’re in an international publication.
Last one in after much headscratching was PLETHORA. Although this felt fairly gentile, I did need help with the exact parsing of all of these – COP SHOPS, OPERETTA, SOHO, AIRY and ORATION. So many thanks PeterO…
I enjoyed ORATION and ASUNDER, failed to parse COP SHOPS (I guess not many of us Brits will know OP SHOPS), had to infer a James ETTA although E. J. does vaguely ring a bell, and was baffled by the apparently incorrect clue for SOHO. PLETHORA would have been my favourite were it not for the fact that there seems to be a redundant ‘a’ in the surface; unlike myriad, plethora can surely only be “a plethora”, in which case the definition has to be simply “lot”.
And who knew that TOILETRies include implements as well as preparations! I’m not entirely convinced that they do, though Collins online suggests they might in British but not American English. I don’t imagine I’ll be losing sleep over it.
Off to listen to some Etta. Thanks both
Thanks Alia and PeterO
Three or four unparsed – COP SHOPS and ORATIONS included.
I think the “in” in the clue for SOHO is more than misleading, Peter – it’s wrong. It puts the components the wrong way round.
Favourites the misleading anagram for SCRAP METAL, and LOI GOLFER.
Interesting to note that ‘acme’ and ‘laptop(s)’ occur in the cryptic and the quick today.
They were perhaps write-ins in both, but it’s the sort of coincidence I hope the editor would try to avoid.
I really appreciated ‘orations’: great example of misdirection.
Thanks to A & P
Great stuff from Alia.
Didn’t know OP SHOPS for Australian charity shops but it didn’t slow me down.
Only trouble was the OPERATTA and CANTATA which took quite a bit of thinking. I’m sure both were straight in for those more musically minded though.
Liked FODDER, LAPTOPS and GOLFER
Thanks Alia and PeterO
I did wonder why “Bach” was needed in the clue for CANTATA – he wasn’t the only composer to write them!
For those wondering, OP SHOP = opportunity shop, shortened in the usual Aussie way.
CASH/CACHE sounds the same to this 40 year adopted Aussie @1 & @6. Please don’t tell me it’s f$%^&*n Rhotic. How ironic is Aussies complaining about pronunciation especially given the works of Professor Lauder.
“Strine is almost always spoken very slowly with the mouth almost closed (to keep the flies out) and with a roll-your-own cigarette dangling from one corner of the mouth.”
I’ve just put the Egg Nishner on in my Gloria Soame.
TassieTim: but why does opportunity = charity?
I liked GOLFER and ORATION but I can’t get SOHO to work.
Do people say simply ‘later’ to mean ‘Tata’ (20D)? Are we so pressed for time that we can’t even manage ‘C U later’?
simonc @22
Sorry, they do, though “laters” is probably more common.
I agree that 26ac SOHO is misleading.
It took me a while to parse 1d (C + OP SHOPS) and I’m from Melbourne! Also, I had never much thought about how I pronounce CACHE but I guess I’m with paddymleon in pronouncing it or most often hearing it as ‘kaysh’. Tbh I never need to use this word except as ‘clearing the cache’ on a computer and I don’t think I ever heard it in Australia as sounding like ‘clearing the cash’ but I might not remember correctly.
Favourites: OPERETTA, GOLFER, ORATION, I SAY.
I can only see the clue for SOHO parsing properly as a CD for ‘Soho House’ the group of clubs originating in Soho but that wouldn’t be up to the standard of the other clues.
An emphatic “very” in informal messaging is sometimes lengthened to “soo”, which could make more sense of SOHO. Just a suggestion!
wrt SOHO, would work if the clue read: “House on very….” – so being generous I decided that “in” and “on” are can be synonyms.
My take on SOHO would be that, for example, ‘a house in London’ would be ‘a London house’, and, hence, ‘a house in very’ would be ‘a So ho.’. Works for me.
Justigator@20. They are ‘op shops’ because you have the opportunity to find a bargain
I’m familiar with ETTA James from US crosswords, where she pops up a lot. SOHO is more than misleading, it’s badly constructed, though I guessed it all the same. Completely flummoxed by the parsing of 1d, though the solution was fairly obvious.
AP@13: I (British) would not class a facecloth as a TOILETRY, so it took a little while to convince me that it was right. I had heard of op shops. I also knew Etta James, but failed to spot her because of that wretched a=PER which trips me up every time.
Favourites ASUNDER, SCRAP METAL, PLETHORA, SEER (no need for an Egg Nishner here: it’s pouring with rain. Again.)
[TimC @19
I think I’ve worked out Gloria Soame, but Egg Nisher is baffling me. Could you translate, please?]
[Muffin@32 – I found this ]
I think Hovis’s compound noun reading of SOHO must be right, but it still feels a bit of a stretch.
Gah, my bad on the SOHO clue I’m afraid. I misread the spelling as HO in SO, but that’s clearly wrong. Apologies.
Thanks for all the comments so far.
A
[Thanks DuncT @33]
Lots of neat clues. Thanks
A pleasant coffee time puzzle from Alia.
21 had me wondering who James Peretta was. Thanks Peter O for the elucidation.
I just thought that I’d repost this comment from Cyclops, Private Eye’s setter:
“There’s a new Private Eye crossword coming out later this week, of course. The usual Cyclops offering, but this one has a much appreciated input from a fellow setter – none other than the esteemed Guardian regular, Tramp (and Jambazi of the Independent, of course). I’d like to thank him in particular for the mini-theme idea and his clue to the long 3-word answer.
Well, that’s a bit of a teaser for you there: I hope it will whet the appetites of regular Eye solvers here and maybe even tempt other fifteensquared users to have a go.”
Alia @35 I think you’re ok there, I parsed it the same way as Hovis @28
I loved CANTATA.
Thanks
hi Alia@35
Thanks for dropping in. Easy error to make – when I tried to parse SOHO that is what I was thinking too (HO in SO) followed by …. huh?
I love your puzzles, hopefully you will create them more often 🙂
DNF – a couple in the SE eluded me.
I allowed SOHO to be H for house in SOO – the modern way of emphasising ‘so’, as in “that is soooo nice”
Thanks Alia for owning up.
Later!
Late start today..All done eventually, with some head-scratching over the last half dozen or so.
Had to come here (thanks, PeterO!) for parsing of :
OPERETTA. Even after bunging in the latter, I didn’t spot the jazz connection, thinking must be some obscure vibes player called Jimmy Perett or similar in O..A. Doh!
COPSHOPS (a bit of an Australian revenge for all those English rivers etc.?)- I should have consulted Mrs TheSheep, who spent a year in Darwin and tells me, now i ask, of getting stuff at the Salvo’s Opshop.
I thought that SOHO might have been meant to be H in SOO as in “OMG I was SOO upset when Julie went off with Gordon”. But no – thanks Alia for dropping by and explaining, and for the fun puzzle.
Ticks for me were RENOIR and PLETHORA.
[Showaddydadito@42 and Prospector@38 – beat me to it! I was rather long in typing my post on this misbehaving tablet.]
Nho OP SHOPS, and was puzzled by SOHO, but otherwise enjoyed the puzzle.
Had no idea anyone pronounced cash and cache differently – you never know what you are going to learn here!
I completed this, but had never heard of Etta (jazz isn’t my thing) or op shops. And in my world nobody has ever said just “later” to mean “tata” – it’s always “see you later”. Still, thanks to setter and blogger, as always.
Much the same experience as other commenters, except that I appear to be the only person never to have heard of ACER. I really should get outside more often.
Quite straightforward, but I didn’t parse COP SHOPS or ORATIONS. I had forgotten about ops shops, as I haven’t been in Oz or NZ for a good 15 years. Like Gladys, I wouldn’t have described a facecloth as a TOILETRY, but it’s hardly my area of expertise. I’ll pick out DOMINEER and SEER as faves, LOI was CANTATA.
Thanks Alia and PeterO
Ace @47
You probably know Acers – they are (Japanese, often) maples.
Thanks Alia for the lovely puzzle and for coming on and clarifying that SOHO was an error. We all make them! Lots to like in this one, with ORATION, GOLFER and OPERETTA my favourites. Thanks PeterO for the blog and especially the enlightenment regarding op-shops.
Good attention to surfaces. Enough of a challenge to take me a couple of sessions. Hard to pick out favourites. A great set of well-crafted, entertaining clues, the error in 26a SOHO notwithstanding
[ TimC@19 -muffin@32: After muttering “Egg Nisher… Egg Nisher.. Egg Nisher..” in a cod-Australian accent to myself in hope that the penny would drop, I’ve finally spotted the additional “n”. Ha! Stay cool, guys. ]
muffin@49 Here in New England there are probably Japanese maples , here and there, bought at a nursery as an ornamental tree, but indigenous maples outnumber them by zillions. They’re our native forest cover. It was the indigenous tribes of the Northeast who taught the ignorant Europeans about maple sugar, along with any number of other things.
Thanks to Aria and PeterO.
Good puzzle, elevated by a lot of very pleasing surfaces. I couldn’t parse COP SHOP (op shop being unfamiliar) or OPERETTA (because I always forget the a=per thing) so I was grateful for the generous definitions. Favourites SCRAP METAL and ASUNDER.
Valentine @53
Very true, but I was thinking more about English gardens, where most of the Acers will be of the small, decorative, Japanese kind.
Re 21ac. When I saw ‘ jazz legend ‘ I thought Harry J, Bob J, Jim Hall, Jimmy Rushing? It was only when I got OPERETTA I saw who was meant. She’s not in my Big Blue Book ( The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz). She is in the R&B and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame.
I parsed SOHO rather like Showaddydadito@42 (lateral thinking, eh?) Liked MALEFACTOR (unlike some) and RENOIR. I know one can’t have their cake and EAT it, too, so that raised an eyebrow – though of course the clue is fair. Thanks Alia and PeterO!
I forgot to mentuon that I, too, googled variations on James Perett. Nho Etta James.
[I’m a great fan of Etta James but agree with Zoot@56 that if she’s legendary it’s not as a jazz singer, but as a soul/R&B balladeer, with just a soupçon of jazz thrown in. For my money, this is her best.]
A lovely crossword with some very nice surfaces – we particularly liked 20d CANTATA, 18a ASUNDER and 19d PLETHORA. We raced through the top half but found the bottom half quite difficult to get into. I also looked up jazz musicians called Perett, and found someone called Perrett, which nearly worked, before I was reminded of Etta. We didn’t notice the SOHO issue – thanks for dropping in to clear it up Alia, and thanks to PeterO for the blog
I also had an error message when I uploaded my blog for Saturday’s Guardian Prize puzzle. I reported it to Ken but it seems to have loaded ok.
Thanks both. I thought ORATION was a candidate for clue of the year, mainly thanks to a (rare these days) tea-tray moment. I parse SOHO as Showaddydadito@42 did, and never blinked.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Alia.
It’s the editor’s job to spot small mistakes 😉
[Alphalpha@62 – “tea tray moment”? New to me. Can you please enlighten me? Ta!
Valentine @53 and Muffin @55: Here in the UK we also have Field Maples and Sycamore in the wild and in parks, though they’re nowhere near as spectacular in the autumn as the North American ones.
Glad to see it wasn’t just me who was put out by Etta James being described as a jazz singer!
DerekTheSheep@64: A tea tray moment is when an answer, when and however it arrives (but usually after a considerable hiatus), makes you want to do this.
SOHO should been ‘House on very central London square’.. Sorted..
Enjoyed this a lot, thank you Alia! When it comes to pedantry I hope 225 is a safe enough space to note that Gilbert, Sullivan and D’Oyly Carte all referred to the works as Comic Operas, they didn’t like the term OPERETTA which was too associated with Offenbach etc (nothing wrong with Offenbach but it’s a different genre). And thanks PeterO for parsing COP SHOPS.
Putting my hand up as another Aussie who was unaware OP SHOPS is an AU/NZ term and so was thoroughly confused by Melbourne being in the clue. Fun fact to learn in an overall quite enjoyable cryptic, ty to both Alia & PeterO!
Oh and Ace@47, you’re not alone in having never heard of an Acer tree and I have been known to venture outside on occasion! 😜
We found this fairly straightforward (Caz thought H in SOO for SOHO), and were pleased when Baz parsed ORATION. Caz spotted Etta James at once but ACER was LOI. Thanks Alia and PeterO.
We found this fairly straightforward (Caz thought H in SOO for SOHO), and were pleased when Baz parsed ORATION. Caz spotted Etta James at once but ACER was LOI. Thanks Alia and PeterO.
I just assumed that there was some jazz great called James Perett…
Thanks Alia for a puzzle with quite a variety of difficulty in the clues.
[Apologies for the missing square brackets on my earlier post.]
Cheers all.
As Melbourne born and bred, I seem to recall that ‘oppy shop’ became the generic term because one of the early chains (1960s? Salvation Army?) were ‘opportunity shops’ – with the double sense of giving opportunities for bargains and opportunities in life to the people they helped. But I did a double take when I saw the clue – surely not?! But then I’ve been away a long time! And I’m in the ‘kaysh’ camp. 🙂