A gentle but elegant puzzle to ease into Christmas week. Thanks to Alia, and best wishes of the season to all.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | TABLE | Furniture ultimately not fit for the task (5) [no]T + ABLE (fit for the task) |
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| 4 | GREATEST | Best sources of general revision before each exam (8) G[eneral] R[evision] + EA[ch] TEST |
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| 8 | BREATHING SPACE | Drunk escaping the bar for some downtime (9,5) (ESCAPING THE BAR)* |
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| 10 | SPILLAGE | Stuff leaking from small sack (8) S + PILLAGE (to sack) |
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| 11 | PRESTO | Quick pasta sauce containing last bit of pepper (6) [peppe]R in PESTO |
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| 12 | ADHESIVES | Stickers have sides removed (9) (HAVE SIDES)* |
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| 15 | WAFTS | Drifts west after following the shoreline at first (5) First letters of West After Following The Shoreline |
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| 17 | INDIA | I broadcast using code (5) The letter I is represented by India in the NATO alphabet, which is a kind of code, used in radio communication, hence “broadcast” |
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| 18 | REMBRANDT | New term describing trademark artist (9) BRAND in TERM* |
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| 19 | NOSHED | No storage unit had food (6) NO + SHED |
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| 21 | GARDENIA | Shrub in one area on cultivated plot (8) GARDEN + I + A |
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| 24 | CAPITALISATION | Advantageous transformation – feature of AI? (14) Double definition: to capitalise on something is to make an advantageous transformation, and the letters in AI are capitalised |
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| 25 | PROROGUE | Put off expert rascal (8) PRO (expert) + ROGUE |
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| 26 | HEROD | Mob surrounding old, nasty king (5) O in HERD |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | TUBE STATIONS | Underground sites of TV channels (4,8) TUBE (TV) + STATIONS (channels) – the London Underground is known as the Tube |
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| 2 | BLEMISHED | Flawed Lib Dems he transformed (9) (LIB DEMS HE)* |
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| 3 | EXTOL | Praise one-time tax cut (5) EX (one-time) + TOL[l] |
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| 4 | GOING-OVER | Examining some farrago in government (5,4) Hidden on farraGO IN GOVERnment |
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| 5 | ERGO | Monster rising up thus (4) Reverse of OGRE |
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| 6 | TOP-DRAWER | Excellent place people often store underwear? (3-6) Underwear is often stored in a TOP DRAWER |
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| 7 | SOCKS | Belts and items of footwear (5) Double definition |
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| 9 | HOUSE-TRAINED | Instructed not to do business internally? (5-7) Cryptic defintion |
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| 13 | STATELIER | Increasingly grand position beset by utter anarchy at its core (9) LIE (position, e.g. of a golf ball on the course) in STATE (utter) + the core of [ana]R[chy] |
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| 14 | SUMMARISE | Briefly outline a certain, pronounced issue (9) Homophone of “some” (a certain, as in “a certain person”) + ARISE (issue) |
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| 16 | FINANCIER | One who likes embracing popular moneymaker? (9) IN (popular) in FANCIER |
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| 20 | STAIR | Flight from Bari, at sunset, heading north (5) Hidden in reverse of baRI AT Sunset. Singular “stair” for a flight of stairs is a rather old-fashioned usage |
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| 22 | DEATH | The end of poverty right away (5) DEARTH less R |
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| 23 | SANG | Was a rat seen in Los Angeles? (4) Hidden in loS ANGeles; “was a rat” in the sense of betraying e.g. one’s criminal accomplices, or “singing” to the police |
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Good fun. Top ticks for DEATH, INDIA & CAPITALISATION which took me an age to spot
Cheers A&A
Lovely puzzle with wonderful surfaces.
Favourites: PRESTO, TATELIER (loi).
Quite enjoyable, with no weird obscurities.
I failed to parse SUMMARISE & STATELIER.
The clue for ERGO was ambiguous, and solving awaited the crossers.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen “removed” as an anagrind. But I guess these days anything can be one?
Familiar with “nosh” as a noun, but not as a verb.
I wonder what research was used to determine the preferred storage for socks? 🙂
I concur with bodycheetah@1 on all points.
A nice little crossword for my middle-of-the-night cup of tea.
Happy Monday everybody!
A fairly gentle puzzle but great as always. Alia’s been a great addition to the Guardian stable.
Spent as long on CAPITALISATION as the rest of the puzzle combined.
Thanks Alia and Andrew
An excellent start to the week, but I didn’t like ‘removed’ as an anagrind.
Thanks Alia and Andrew
Most enjoyable, with ticks at CAPITALISATION, SPILLAGE, and my favourite, SOCKS.
Happy Christmas, everyone.
Thanks Alia and Andrew
Easy, but very enjoyable. I loved SPILLAGE for the misleading “sack”, and HOUSE-TRAINED.
Very nice Monday puzzle – apart from CAPITALISATION: what an intimidating bunch of crossers to be left staring at -A-I-A-I-A-I-N. Thank goodness for the N to break the sequence!
I am enjoying Alia’s puzzles – very nice surfaces concealing very simple devices on the whole. All very elegantly done.
Thanks both
As you say, Andrew, gentle but elegant. (Two qualities I aim for, in myself. Generally fail with the second.)
Like Geoff @3, I couldn’t completely parse STATELIER & SUMMARISE, so thanks for the help there. For ages I was convinced 26A was Horde – anagram of Herod – till the penny, eventually, dropped.
DEATH was neat. HOUSE-TRAINED made me grin.
Thank you Alia & Andrew.
Held up at the very end by SANG – hidden in plain sight – STATELIER and CAPITALISATION, even with nearly all the crossers in place…
Think of ‘removed’ as re-moved – moved again. It makes sense as an anagrind then.
Like Wellbeck @10, I had Horde for HEROD until I solved the amusing HOUSE-TRAINED. Another, who took as long as the rest of the puzzle to get CAPITALISATION. Always pleased to see the setter’s name especially on Monday morning.
Ta Alia & Andrew for all your selfless work in 2025.
I also wondered if AFT in WAFTS could be short for After, but I couldn’t find any archaic link, so now I know.
Now I’m thinking of Rolf Harris thanks to “summarise”! Merry Christmas one and all
He went to my school, AS @15, and then returned to give a concert. A bit before my year, so I’ll have to ponder … I’m guessing something soundalike-ish in one if his lyrics…
Will there be a Guardian Christmas special mega-grid this year?
Another one having problems with CAPITALISATION. Everything else went in smoothly and steadily, till I was halted at the last fence. Up and down the alphabet, looking at it straight on, sideways and upside down ; have another coffee; try to stare it down… Nope. Resorted to morewords in shameful defeat. A DNF!
Nothing wrong with the clue. Fair and above board. I think maybe a change of gear was needed that I couldn’t achieve. Ho hum.
Enjoyed TOP DRAWER and HOUSE TRAINED in particular.
Thanks Alia and Andrew.
[grantinfreo@16, is RH’s name as deeply besmirched down under as it is in the. UK ? His many and deeply nasty offences were, I think, mostly in the UK, so perhaps not? ]
Before I saw it didn’t fit, I was thinking that the AI term might be HALLUCINATION. For those who don’t follow the field, this is a term for AI mistakes much beloved by the press and is becoming well-known by the public, but is not liked by AI researchers since it is not accurate. Many researchers prefer B*LLSH*T.
Dr. @20: I had the same thought until the crossers disabused me. I groaned once I saw it. Very clever misdirection.
Of course, for those of a more veterinary bent, AI is Artificial Insemination…
17a defeated me, I read far too much into the clue…trying to find various ‘codes’
Really REALLY distracted by my 24A crossers being -A-I-A-I-A-I- –
Enjoyably Monday-ish, and I look forward to more from Alia. I too struggled with CAP…N, but it was a very satisfying LOI. TTS&B, and Christmas / New Year Greetings to all on 225, a site I very much appreciate.
Tank @23
Me too – I nearly commented on this earlier!
Among a commentariat not immune (ahem!) to various pedantries and purisms, am I going to be the only participant to suggest that ERGO does not mean ‘thus’? ERGO = therefore = ‘for that reason’; thus = ‘in this way’. It is a distinction to which I have always adhered in my own writing (and speaking).and one that I urged on my students in theirs.
Sun arise…
LOI CAPITALISATION and problems with parsing SUMMARISE and STATELIER, like for some others. Jorums PROROGUE and WAFTS. A great puzzle, thanks Alia and Andrew!
Dr. Whatson@20: likewise. It may have been the siren call of hallucination that stood in the way of my seeing the light. Not to mention mixing my metaphors…
Layman @28
Do you not remember BoJo trying to PROROGUE (what an appropriate description for him!) Parliament in 2019? Probably the first time a lot of us had heard the word.
Muffin@30: unfortunately (or fortunately) not, as I’m not British…
Balfour@26 I thought the same about ERGO; it doesn’t mean ‘thus’. But I responded with my usual ‘oh well’ as getting a right answer is still the most important thing to me when attempting these crosswords.
Gentle and elegant indeed. Thanks.
How is capitalization advantageous transformation? How is dearth poverty?
But I think “removed” works as an anagrind if you spell it “re-moved.”
Thanks for the puzzle, Alia and Andrew.
Valentine@34 I also parsed removed as re-moved.
A poverty of [xyz] would be a dearth or absence
Valentine @34: I think that a more archaic meaning of dearth is famine, of which poverty is a synonym. To capitalise on something is to use it to one’s advantage – but I can’t see where transformation comes in, either.
Failed miserably on Capitalisation, and, agreeing with Layman @36, I cannot see that ‘transformation’ is actually part of its definition
I thought INDIA was I, broadcast (definition) and IN DIA (using DIA, software – computer code). Maybe not the setter’s intention.
I tried BOOTS at first for 7d but SOCKS was obviously better. I liked BREATHING SPACE and HOUSE-TRAINED very much.
Three hidden words in the downs seemed a bit excessive.
Fun puzzle, well written. Thanks, Alia and Andrew.
Lovely smooth puzzle. Loved CAPITALISATION and HOUSE TRAINED, and NOSHED made us laugh. Thanks Alia and Andrew.
Thanks both,
Another here who failed on Capitalisation and who can’t see what transformation has to do with it. Even in Accounting, C just means to treat something as a fixed asset and to depreciate over a number of years..No transformation or advantage necessarily involved.
Thanks Alia for a nicely written crossword full of succinct, readable surfaces. Favourites included SPILLAGE, INDIA, REMBRANDT, EXTOL, & SANG. My one stumble was SUMMARISE. I needed all the crossers to guess 24a. Thanks Andrew for the blog.
[DTS @18, many hours later, sorry. Yes, we locals were saddened to learn that RH was a predator like the vile Savile. I was just wondering why “summarise” reminded AS @15 of him. AS has responded “sun arise…” @27, which I presume refers to a RH lyric ….]
Good to see some company here. I was also defeated by 24a CAPITALISATION, and also thought the crossers AI AI AI were significant, but I guess they weren’t. Not really taken with the clue, but ah well
Otherwise a lot of great clues, surfaces, and PDMs throughout
I was not defeated by CAPITALISATION, but, like Bodycheetah @1, I took an age over it. I also took my time over STATELIER and, annoyingly, INDIA.
We were offered a BREATHING SPACE by Tramp just over 3 weeks ago.
I liked REMBRANDT, SPILLAGE and the mix and match TUBE STATIONS.
Thanks Alia and Andrew.
grantinfreo @42 Sun Arise is a song accompanied by the wobble board and didgeridoo. The video has lots of pictures of the Australian outback, sadly I couldn’t find a version that didn’t include RH.
Thank you to Alia for an entertaining puzzle and Andrew for the blog.
A truly amazing number of solvers failed to get, or took an age over 24a. (I’m in the first category.) Doesn’t this suggest that the clue is a bit more difficult than the rest?
And yet still people categorise it as gentle, fair and enjoyable. I would call it inconsistent, with too many clues just rolling over and allowing us to tickle their tummy, and two or three being ferocious beasts.
I did enjoy WAFTS, STATELIER and HEROD, the latter for tempting us to write in HORDE with a shrug but producing a nice tea-tray moment when the penny dropped.
Thanks to Alia and Andrew
[grantinfreo@42, Shanne@45: there was a time, or it felt like it to me, when if a children’s / light entertainer of the 60s or 70s was in the news, one was relieved to find that it wasn’t because of “historic” sex offences against minors. And now we have all the Epstein files stuff. It does make one despair.]
Argh, without thinking I used the US spelling of SUMMARIZE and CAPITALIZATION, otherwise a fun challenge. INDIA parsing completely eluded me, d’oh.
Thanks Alia, for some distinctly crunchy croûtons in an otherwise quite smooth soup.
INDIA was very cleverly hidden in plain sight, I thought.
Cheers all.
First Monday Cryptic I’ve tried in quite a while. And managed to complete during one afternoon sitting, so pleased with that. Very enjoyable puzzle from Alia.
Thanks Alia, and Andrew for the blog explanations.
Thank you for the puzzle and for the explanations. I feel very p.eased I have graduated here from the quiptic.
Tyngewick @40, if you capitalise debt into shares then maybe there is a transformation and indeed an advantage?
Mostly though I’m capitalising on my previous success with the Quick Cryptics to move to Monday.
Though this had some very easy clues it had some real stinkers that I would never have got!
Great fun.24..across last one in. Loved 1 down.
Merry Christmas