Given the comments below the blog about providing the clues and the blank grid when the puzzle was only published in the paper edition, but not online, I have removed the links I put in the blog earlier. Yes, I know I am shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. I also know there is a comment providing a link to a blank grid, but that link doesn’t include the clues.
However, as the filled grid was published in the paper edition of the Guardian on 27th December right beside the blank grid and clues, I think it is reasonable to maintain the blog of the solution.
If you want to comment without scrolling through the details below, return to the Home Page click here
The preamble to the puzzle stated that:
Twenty-six across entries end in S and begin with A,B,C, through to X,Y,Z; both letters are omitted in the wordplay.
Twenty-six down entries begin with S and end in A,B,C through to X,Y,Z; both letters are likewise omitted in wordplay.
The remaining 10 across and 10 down clues are normal.
There was a lot going on in this puzzle. For me, some of the entries went in quite quickly, but others took a while to crack.
I maintained a record of which beginning or ending letters I found whilst solving. This helped at the end, especially when dealing with X and Y in the thematic Across entries. 30 across could be solved as both X-AXIS and Y-AXIS. The ambiguity was resolved by realising the poet at 37 across had to be YEATS rather than KEATS as we already had KANSAS for the K
Maskarade did very well to fit everything into the grid with only one duplicate of the E.…S thematic form in the across entries (ENACTS [19] and EXAMPLES [50]). The ambiguity here was resolved by the fact that every letter of EXAMPLES was used in the wordplay, while only NACT was referenced by the wordplay at 19 across.
I looked at ‘Streeting’ in the clue for 28 across for a while and was aware that the UK Labour politician with that surname has the forename WES. Eventually, the penny dropped that WES is a reversal [BACK] of STITCH [sew].
I thought the clues were very fair, had good surfaces and had clear wordplay, except for a couple I struggled with. No doubt I am missing something obvious in each case. I’m not sure about my parsing for the CHIS in SCHISM and the parsing of E-BUSINESS. I also have a query about SOHO (61 down) being a suburb of London; it strikes me that it is a central district rather than a suburb.
Congratulations to Maskarade getting all the thematic entries into the grid with only a few obscure words. New words for me were QUEYS [66 across], SKEP (7 down), INDITE (10 down) and SWARAJ (15 down).
The table below shows the location of the thematic Across entries in alphabetical order of their first letter and the thematic Down entries in alphabetical order of their final letter.
| Across | Down | ||
| Clue | Entry | Clue | Entry |
| 14 | AVENUES | 45 | SAGA |
| 70 | BARQUES | 12 | SAHIB |
| 31 | COMPASS | 8 | SPORADIC |
| 16 | DRESS | 35 | SUSPEND |
| 19 | ENACTS | 39 | SHIRLEY TEMPLE |
| 42 | FEZZES | 27 | SLIP OFF |
| 65 | GULES | 51 | SOWING |
| 66 | HOLSTEINS | 59 | STASH |
| 18 | INCUS | 33 | STOAI |
| 43 | JAMES | 15 | SWARAJ |
| 5 | KANSAS | 13 | SEEK |
| 9 | LIMES | 46 | SEPTENNIAL |
| 55 | MACERS | 17 | SCHISM |
| 69 | NEWELS | 52 | SEMILLON |
| 67 | OEDIPUS | 61 | SOHO |
| 36 | PUBLICISTS | 7 | SKEP |
| 68 | QUEYS | 63 | SADIQ |
| 49 | RULES | 34 | STEER |
| 22 | SEVEN DIALS | 53 | SERIES |
| 56 | THE ORKNEYS | 35 | SUBSIST |
| 1 | USELESS | 48 | SACRE BLEU |
| 24 | VOICES | 29 | SPIV |
| 44 | WEST INDIES | 61 | STOW |
| 30 | X-AXIS | 41 | STYX |
| 37 | YEATS | 58 | SLUSHY |
| 26 | ZEUS | 2 | SKETCHES BY BOZ |
The completed grid looks like this:
In the detailed table, the normal clues are highlighted with a yellow background.
Letters omitted in the wordplay are highlighted in fuchsia in the final line of each clue parsing.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot going on this puzzle, so apologies if any typos or rogue colouring remains in the blog.
| No | Detail | Letter |
| Across | ||
| 1 | Tennis star lacking all purpose (7)
USELESS (not answering any good purpose) SELES (reference Monica SELES (born 1973), a Serbian–American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women’s Tennis Association for 178 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 three times; tennis star) U SELES S |
U |
| 5 | State answer not specified by adult (6)
KANSAS (American State) A (answer) + NS (not specified) + A (adult) K A NS A S |
K |
| 9 | Film set regularly reveals boundary fortification of Roman Empire (5)
LIMES (a boundary or boundary fortification, especially of the Roman Empire) IME (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of fIlM sEt) L IME S |
L |
| 14 | Old match in lines of trees (7)
AVENUES (double rows [lines] of trees) VENUE (obsolete [old] term for a bout or a match) A VENUE S |
A |
| 15 | Worker at dock in depot, holding first wife and daughter (9)
STEVEDORE (a person who loads and unloads shipping vessels; a worker at a dock) STORE (depot) containing (holding) (EVE [a biblical reference to EVE, the wife of Adam, the first man] + D (daughter]) ST (EVE D) ORE |
|
| 16 | Sapper’s ceremonial garb (5)
DRESS (ceremonial garb) RE’S (Royal Engineer’s; sapper’s) D RES S |
D |
| 18 | Anvil Chorus starting during middle of June, needing backing (5)
INCUS (one of the small bones in the middle ear articulated with the malleus and the stapes, so called because it is considered to resemble an anvil in shape; anvil) (C [first letter of [starting] Chorus] contained in [during] UN (central letters of [middle of] jUNe]) all reversed I (N (C) U)< S |
I |
| 19 | Puts into practice and can’t change (6)
ENACTS (performs; puts into practice) Anagram of (change) CAN’T E NACT* S |
E |
| 20 | Streeting’s needlework? (10)
BACKSTITCH (in needlework, a STITCH in which the needle enters behind [BACK], and comes out in front of the end of the previous stitch) When WES (reference WES Streeting [born 1973], currently Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom) is reversed (BACK) it becomes SEW (STITCH), so WES is a cryptic representation of BACK STITCH BACK STITCH |
|
| 22 | Still laid back in Covent Garden food market (5,5)
SEVEN DIALS (SEVEN DIALS Food Market is located in London’s Covent Garden area) EVEN (still) + LAID reversed (back) S EVEN DIAL< S |
S |
| 24 | About ten church rumours (6)
VOICES (rumours) IO (characters which, when written together, resemble the number 10) reversed (about) + CE (Church [of England]) V OI< CE S |
V |
| 26 | God from Europe (4)
ZEUS (ancient Greek God) EU (European; from Europe) Z (EU) S |
Z |
| 28 | Stock Exchange having party in Home Counties (2,6)
LA BOURSE (name of the French Stock Exchange) LABOUR (reference the LABOUR Party, the current political party of Government in the United Kingdom) + SE (South East, location of the Home Counties of England) LA BOUR SE |
|
| 30 | The A-Team’s graphic element (1-4)
X-AXIS (the horizontal axis of a standard plane graph; an element of a graph) A + XI (Roman numeral for eleven, the number of players in many sports’ teams) X A–XI S |
X |
| 31 | Range of OS map revised (7)
COMPASS (range) Anagram of (revised) (OS [Ordnance Survey, the National Mapping Agency of the United Kingdom] + MAP) C OMPAS* S |
C |
| 36 | PR folk for old British car manufacturer and chemical company in the States before time (10)
PUBLICISTS (Public Relations [PR] staff [folks]) ([BL {British Leyland, an former [old] British car manufacturer} + ICI {Imperial Chemical Industries, a former British chemical company}] contained in [in] US [United States; the States]) + T (time) P U (BL ICI) S T S |
P |
| 37 | Poet regularly seen in 19 (5)
YEATS (reference William Butler YEATS [1865 – 1939], Irish poet) EAT (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of EnAcTs [the entry at 19 across]) Y EAT S |
Y |
| 38 | Place that is popular as a sun resort (6)
NASSAU (capital city of the Bahamas, a popular place for holidays in the sun) Anagram of (resort) AS A SUN NASSAU* |
|
| 42 | Tarbooshes seen in small book at front and back (6)
FEZZES (tarbooshes, hats worn by Muslim men) EZ (abbreviation for small] the Old Testament Book of EZra) + EZ (abbreviation for small] the Old Testament Book of EZra) reversed (back) F EZ ZE< S |
F |
| 43 | French soul of record-breaking English bowler Anderson … (5)
JAMES (reference JAMES Anderson [born 1982], English cricketer who holds the record for the most Test wickets taken by a fast bowler [704 wickets]) ÂME (French word for ‘soul’) J AME S |
J |
| 44 | … denies it affected cricket team (4,6)
WEST INDIES (cricket team) Anagram of (affected) DENIES IT W (EST INDIE*) S |
W |
| 47 | Thus customary for injured escort to abandon assault course (2,5)
AS USUAL (customary) Anagram of (inured) ASSAULT COURSE excluding (to abandon) the letters in ESCORT AS USUAL* |
|
| 49 | Rubber in Aussie sport (5)
RULES (reference the sport of Australian RULES Football, which can be abbreviated to RULES) ULE (crude rubber from a Central American tree of the same name) R ULE S |
R |
| 50 | Specimens, previous lots at Sotheby’s initially (8)
EXAMPLES (specimens) EX (former; previous) + AMPLE (plentiful; lots) + S (first letter of [initially] Sotheby’s) EX AMPLE S Note that as all parts of the entry are covered by the wordplay this is NOT the E….S thematic entry) |
|
| 54 | Lose penny from pocket – that’s painful (4)
OUCH (Expression of pain) pOUCH (pocket) excluding (lose) P (penny) OUCH |
|
| 55 | Carefree Scottish ushers (6)
MACERS (in Scotland, ushers in law courts) Anagram of (free) CARE M ACER* S |
M |
| 56 | Henry East OK about archipelago’s outdated name (3,7)
THE ORKNEYS (An old [outdated] name for what local people now describe as Orkney or the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off Scotland’s northernmost coast) Anagram of (about) HENRY and E [East) and OK T (HE ORKNEY*) S |
T |
| 60 | Starry-eyed – could be italicised (10)
IDEALISTIC (unrealistically aiming for perfection; starry-eyed) Anagram of (could be) ITALICISED IDEALISTIC* |
|
| 62 | Bless worker catching bestseller (6)
ANOINT (bless) ANT (worker) containing (catching) NO I (number one [best seller]) A (NO I) NT |
|
| 63 | Hard work has diligent student collecting First in English (5)
SWEAT (hard work) SWAT (alternative spelling of SWOT [person who studies hard; diligent student]) containing (collecting) E (initial letter of [first in] English) SW (E) AT |
|
| 65 | Mixed blue – not black – and red (5)
GULES (a red colour in heraldry) Anagram of (mixed) bLUE excluding (not) B (black) G ULE* S |
G |
| 66 | Cattle wandering on islet (9)
HOLSTEINS (an alternative name for Friesian cattle) Anagram of (wandering) ON ISLET H OLSTEIN* S |
H |
| 67 | Incestuous son sends in Paul now and again (7)
OEDIPUS (a king of Thebes who solved the Sphinx’s riddle and unwittingly killed his father and married his mother; incestuous son EDIPU (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 [now and again] of sEnDs In PaUl) O EDIPU S |
O |
| 68 | Scottish heifers making about-turn (5)
QUEYS (Scottish word for heifers) UEY (Australian term for a U-turn; about-turn) Q UEY S |
Q |
| 69 | Surrey town lost fifty columns (6)
NEWELS (upright columns around which the steps of a circular staircase wind) EWELl (town in Surrey) excluding the final L (Roman numeral for fifty) N EWEL S |
N |
| 70 | The sound of one boat – or more than one (7)
BARQUES (more than one ship [boats] of small-size, square-sterned, without headrails) ARQUE (sounds like [the sound of] ARK [{one} boat]) B ARQUE S |
B |
| Down | ||
| 2 | Book on sailing boat – could be boy’s novel? (8,2,3)
SKETCHES BY BOZ (a collection of short pieces by Charles Dickens [1812 – 1870], initially published in magazines, but also published as a book in 1836) KETCH (sailing boat) + an anagram of (novel) BE BOY’S S KETCH (ES BY BO*) Z |
Z |
| 3 | Praises ground in St John’s Wood on the radio (5)
LAUDS (praises) LAUDS (sounds like [on the radio] LORDS [cricket ground in St John’s Wood, London]) LAUDS |
|
| 4 | Temporarily prevent you and me writing (7)
SUSPEND (temporarily prevent access to) US [you and me] + PEN [writing] S US PEN D |
D |
| 6 | Sailor with last name changed to seafarer (4,6)
ABEL TASMAN (reference ABEL TASMAN [1603 – 1659], Dutch seafarer who was the first European to reach New Zealand) AB (able seaman) + an anagram of (changed) LAST NAME AB EL TASMAN* |
|
| 7 | Wickerwork basket from outskirts of Kingussie (4)
SKEP (a large round basket of wickerwork or straw) KE (first and last letters of [outskirts of] KingussiE S KE P |
P |
| 8 | Quiet radio broadcast now and again (8)
SPORADIC (occurring now and again) P (piano; quiet) + an anagram of (broadcast) RADIO S P ORADI* C |
C |
| 10 | Write Times’ leader which is to appear in different paper (6)
INDITE (compose or write) T (first letter of [leader] Times) contained in (to appear in) INDIE (informal term for the Independent newspaper; different paper to The Times) INDI (T) E |
|
| 11 | Strange secrets about the French female with voting rights (9)
ELECTRESS (a female with the right to vote) Anagram of (strange) SECRETS containing (about) LE (one of the forms of ‘the’ in French) E (LE) CTRESS* |
|
| 12 | Foreign master accepted greeting (5)
SAHIB (a form of address used in India to people of rank and, during the period of British rule, to Europeans; master) A (accepted) + HI (a greeting) S A HI B |
B |
| 13 | Try to find a couple from Spain (4)
SEEK (try to find) E (International Vehicle Registration for Spain) + E (International Vehicle Registration for Spain) giving a couple [of vehicles] from Spain S E E K |
K |
| 15 | Independence for Austria after fighting (6)
SWARAJ (an Indian term meaning self-government, or Independence) WAR (fighting) + A (International Vehicle Registration for Austria) S WAR A J |
J |
| 17 | Heartless young lad’s breakaway group (6)
SCHISM (a breakaway group formed from a breach of unity in an organisation) I’m not sure about the wordplay here, so I can only suggest CHrIS (a young lad’s name excluding the central letter [heartless] R) S CHIS M |
M |
| 21 | Helped Australian live with a bad day (7)
AVAILED (was of value or service to; helped) A (Australian) + an anagram of (bad) LIVE and A + D (day) A VAILE* D |
|
| 23 | Specific trade involving PSV in a German boat (1-8)
E-BUSINESS (a business that undertakes operations through the internet; a specific trade – that doesn’t sound like a complete match of ideas. I wonder if an E-BUSINESS refers to a specific transaction in a wider set of transactions) (BUS [Public Service Vehicle {PSV}] contained in [in] EINE [one of the German forms of ‘a’]) + SS (steamship; boat) E (BUS) INE SS |
|
| 25 | God‘s painful rear (4)
EROS (Greek god of love) SORE (painful) reversed or up (rear; down entry) EROS< |
|
| 27 | Hiding inside, Philip often to remove e.g. jacket (4,3)
SLIP OFF (quickly take off or remove something, such as a jacket) LIP OF (hidden phrase in [hiding inside] phiLIP OFten) S LIP OF F |
F |
| 29 | Dubious character is constant (4)
SPIV (someone who makes money by dubious means) PI (mathematical constant ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) S PI V |
V |
| 32 | Could be one from 5 showing Spooner’s electric scheme (9)
PLAINSMAN (the American State of KANSAS [entry at 5 across] has many PLAINS. So an inhabitant of that State could be described as a PLAINSMAN) Reverend Spooner would pronounce PLAINSMAN as MAINS PLAN [an electric scheme] PLAINSMAN |
|
| 33 | Breakfast item twice cut in covered colonnades (5)
STOAI (one of the forms of the plural of STOA [a covered colonnade]) TOAst (a breakfast item with the last letter cut twice to form TOAs and then TOA) S TOA I |
I |
| 34 | Follow a course to heart of sixteenth (5)
STEER (control the course of; follow a course) TEE (central three letters of [heart of] sixTEEnth S TEE R |
R |
| 35 | Remain around Bissau without authority at first (7)
SUBSIST (remain) Anagram of (around [?]) BISSaU excluding (without) A (initial letter of [at first] Authority) S UBSIS* T |
T |
| 39 | Prelim they left out for US actress and diplomat (7,6)
SHIRLEY TEMPLE (reference SHIRLEY TEMPLE [1928 – 2014], American child star, actress and later a diplomat) Anagram of (out) PRELIM THEY and L (left) S HIRLEY TEMPL* E |
E |
| 40 | Socialite and flirt going topless for composer (7)
DEBUSSY (reference Claude DEBUSSY [1862 – 1918], French composer) DEB (DEButante [socialite]) + hUSSY (flirt) excluding the first letter H (going topless) DEB USSY |
|
| 41 | River in extremes of territory (4)
STYX (in Greek mythology, the River STYX represents the boundary between the living world and the underworld [HADES]) TY (outer letters of [extremes of] TerritorY S TY X |
X |
| 45 | A German epic (4)
SAGA (epic) A + G (German) S A G A |
A |
| 46 | Tape 9 rolling every 84 months (10)
SEPTENNIAL (happening every seventh year [every 84 months]) Anagram of (rolling) TAPE and NINE [9] S EPTENNIA L |
L |
| 48 | Farming measure with French wheat: my goodness (5,4)
SACRE BLEU (French expression of surprise or ‘My goodness’) ACRE (measure of land; farming measure) + BLÉ (French for ‘wheat’) S ACRE BLE U |
U |
| 51 | Scattering oats first and separate chaff. Not now! (6)
SOWING (scattering) O (initial letter of [first] Oats) + WINnow (separate chaff from) excluding (not) NOW S O WIN G |
G |
| 52 | Grape press in game (8)
SEMILLON (a grape variety grown worldwide, used to produce various wines) MILL (grind or press) contained in (in) E O (a mid-18th century gambling game depending on a ball falling into slots marked E or O) S E (MILL) O N |
N |
| 53 | Lake in sequence (6)
SERIES (sequence) ERIE (reference lake ERIE, one of the Great Lakes on the United States/ Canada border) S ERIE S |
S |
| 57 | Pop star‘s new tiara, with gold inlay (4,3)
RITA ORA (reference the British pop singer RITA ORA [born 1990]) Anagram of (new) TIARA containing (with … inlay) OR (gold tincture in heraldry) RITA (OR) A* |
|
| 58 | Excellent drinking bout in wintry surroundings (6)
SLUSHY (descriptive of wintry surroundings) LUSH (luxuriant; excellent) or LUSH (a drinking bout) S LUSH Y |
Y |
| 59 | Strauss regularly makes 64 (5)
STASH (store; STOW [entry at 64 down]) TAS (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of sTrAuSs) S TAS H |
H |
| 61 | Offered help for starters in London suburb (4)
SOHO (a central district of London – I wouldn’t call it a suburb) O H (initial letters [starters] of each of Offered and Help) S O H O |
O |
| 63 | London Mayor at start of Christian era (5)
SADIQ (reference Sir SADIQ Khan [born 1970], Mayor of London since 2016) AD [Anno Domini]; in the Year of our Lord + I (Roman numeral for one) (together, AD I represent the first year of the calendar based on the Christian era) S AD I Q |
D |
| 64 | To have room for store (4)
STOW (to have room for) or STOW (store) – double definition TO (Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary gives TO as a synonym of ‘for’ and Chambers defines both ‘for’ and ‘to’ as ‘in the direction of’) S TO W |
W |
Thanks duncanshiell for making it possible for all of us to join in. Wishing you good health and returns of your kindness in the coming year.
(I’ve just woken up to find your post, and still at the cold solving stage. Maskarade seems quite accessible and a pleasure, so far.)
One clue that really stuck with me was 20A “Streeting’s needlework?”. That one made me stop, smile, and then reread it once the answer became clear. It’s a great example of how the puzzle manages to be playful while still doing real cryptic work, especially given the letter omissions you’re juggling throughout the grid. More of that kind of surface would be a treat.
Avi
-Crossword.guru
I made an interactive grid for myself which anyone is welcome to use…
https://crossword.info/jono/Maskarade_Christmas_2025
Enjoyed the puzzle, many thanks to Maskarade!
I thought with Jumbo puzzles the blog did not appear for a week after the puzzle was published. I prefer it that way.
Thank you Jay#3.
Fiona @ 4
The jumbo today is not a prize puzzle. The solution was printed in the paper today, upside down beside the actual puzzle, so it seems reasonable to me to publish the blog fairly quickly. Only the introduction to the blog will be visible at the top level of the fifteensquared website. It will be mid afternoon UK time before I will be able to publish the blog.
duncanshiell @6
I didn’t say it was a prize.
I don’t know why the answers were printed in the paper today – I didn’t notice and would have preferred not to have that pointed out.
It used to be that the answers to Jumbo puzzles were printed a week after the publication and as I said I preferred that. I liked having a week to mull over the puzzle and then read the blog and join in the discussion.
And please don’t say that I don’t have to look at the blog till later – I am well aware of that.
I have looked forward to the Christmas crossword for more than 20 years, and was really sorry when it didn’t show up on the Saturday before Christmas. The editor has not given a reason, as far as I know, but clearly asked us to support the Guardian by buying a printed copy. My husband and I bought one copy each. We were keen to support the Guardian and hope to see a Christmas crossword next year. So, I was disappointed to see fifteensquared undermining them by publishing the crossword online.
Thanks duncanshiell.
Thanks Maskarade, excellent setting, as always.
Enjoyed this…worth the wait, and the troubles to get hold of it!
Aicul @8
I am a supporter of the Guardian (ie. I pay a voluntary subscription), and currently abroad, which means I couldn’t buy a print copy even if I wanted to.
To say I was frustrated by the decision to restrict the Xmas special Maskarade to the print edition is something of an understatement, and I very grateful that Fifteensquared (duncanshiell and particularly Jay) have proactively made the crossword available. I don’t consider this is undermining the Gron at all.
I also think that the Guardian crossword department have completely lost the plot if they think it is appropriate to publish the Xmas special after Xmas, and then publish the answers just 24h later. They clearly don’t appreciate the enjoyment pondering over one of Maskarade’s specials for a week (or longer!) over Christmas has given many of us over so many years.
If I was Maskarade, having spent ages on what must be an incredibly challenging gridfill, I’d be pretty disappointed with their treatment of my efforts.
I have a UK library card that gives me free access to the Pressreader app that in turn gives me free daily newspapers including the Guardian. This meant I was able to screenshot the Maskerade. Yes this doesn’t fill the Guardian’s coffers but is a legitimate way of viewing the paper without buying it not that I ever do given the current state of the world…
Piano Man@11, my library card does something similar but through BorrowBox. I believe that the various publications/book authors available through these facilities are paid in some way, similar to the lending rights royalties in libraries. I don’t suppose it’s a huge amount, but it is something.
I’m looking forward to the blog for this one, because I seem to have filled the grid and be missing one of X or Y for the special across clues!
Oh, I’m a silly boy and I used K twice. A very fine crossword, somewhat marred by having no prize attached and having its solution printed alongside it.
I too support the Guardian with a monthly donation but was disappointed with the timing of this one. I’ve always enjoyed a little ‘quiet time’ later on Christmas Day, settling down with a wee dram and the jumbo crossword. Alas, not this year. Strange decision.
I suggest that all of us who support the Guardian financially register our dissatisfaction with the Guardian directly. I don’t suppose the actual crossword editor necessarily has much influence. It must be whoever decides the layout of the whole newspaper.
I’ve already sent my whinge to the Graun.
tidza8 @ 10 I totally agree with all your comments. As a Guardian subscriber, I feel let down by how they’ve treated Maskarade this year.
Thanks to Ducanshiell for making this available – and for holding off the answers – so I can avoid seeing them.
tidza8@10 Couldn’t agree more. One of our Christmas traditions for many years. This is just not the same
Thanks for the excellent blog, Duncan. I had similar doubts about SCHISM. My parsing was CH(ild)IS, with ‘young lad’s’ rendered as “child is”, but this involves omitting a ‘heart’ of three letters. I prefer your version, but given the high standard of the rest of the wordplay, it’s a shame that Maskarade couldn’t improve this one.
I needed quite a bit of dictionary help, trying SKED and QUOYS before being put right by Chambers. (I justified YOU backwards as U turning.)
Oh, the third optional plural of STOA! The original spelling of SWOT (SWAT, which apparently derived from SWEAT, so a circularity).
SWARAJ? Wow!
Overall, an enjoyable crossword, which required a methodical approach, but not as difficult as previous jumbos.
Thanks to Maskarade and Duncan.
I’m disappointed with the way the Guardian has mucked about with the crossword this Christmas – I remember doing Araucaria’s offerings as a family activity over the holiday period, back in the days when we were able to get together – what’s the point of publishing a Christmas crossword after Christmas?
Thank you Maskarade for an excellent puzzle, and Duncanshiell for the splendid blog. That was a task and a half to complete in a short time. 👏
Mr Womble @19
But he hasn’t held off the answers
Disappointed with the Guardian and the blogger
and by the way I am subscriber to the Guardian – the paper version which I get every day
Fiona@23. I share your frustration. But I don’t think your argument should be with Duncan, who has done a marvellous piece of work with the blog. Comments that are not to do with the solutions or the parsing of the clues should be posted in General Discussion, I would have thought. (I get the Guardian on subscription every day, too. But I have family members who like to do the special crosswords and have been inconvenienced, so I do understand where you’re coming from.)
Tidza @10
I entirely agree that the crossword department needs attention, for a while now. Not to publish the Christmas Crossword in time, and not even provide an explanation as to what happened, is a clear indication that they don’t appreciate how much we enjoy it. Perhaps there aren’t enough of us, and so in the grand scheme of things, they perceive that it does not matter. We cannot know, because they haven’t provided an explantion as far as I know. I think that the suggestion from Crossbar @16 is excellent. We should complain.
If you are worried about the answers being available in less than 24 hours, it’s worse than you think. The answers came with the crossword.
I sympathise with your difficulty, being abroad, but perhaps a friend could have sent you the crossword privately? In any case, I have no problem with anybody who took advantage of the crossword being made available here. It is fifteensquared, as an “institution”, that I still thinkg shouldn’t have gone against the “wishes” of the publisher.
Let’s hope it’s all better next year!
I enjoyed the blog very much, as we didn’t quite manage to explain 20A and 23C. We should have got 23C, but 20A is very hard. Thanks so much for the explanation.
sheffield hatter @ 21
I think your suggestion of ‘chILD is’ removing the central letters ILD is sensible for the wordplay in SCHISM. Maskarade takes three letters as the ‘heart of’ sixTEEnth in the wordplay for sTEEr at 34 down, so taking the three letters ILD as the ‘heart’ of chILD is (young lad’s) would just be a similar type of wordplay.
Fiona@ various
I think the 225 policy is to publish a blog as soon as the solutions are published if a blogger is available.
I’m sorry but I don’t get the comments about not publishing the blog even though the answers were actually published alongside the puzzle. Just don’t visit the blog until you’ve finished or are ready to join the conversation. I do other crosswords which are discussed on The Crossword Help Forum but I know not to go there until I’ve done as much as I can, in case of spoilers. Thanks for the blog, Duncan.
Yes, many thanks to Duncan for taking the trouble to put the blog together, and I agree with Aoxomoxoa @28.
It was bizarre to show the solution on the same page of the print edition – we just taped a piece of paper over to hide it.
We agreed with the blog about the more questionable parsings – except that we settled on QUOYS instead of QUEYS (apparently both alternatives exist) being unfamiliar with UEY as a word.
I was ready to buy a print copy of the guardian on Saturday 20th, but didn’t because there was no jumbo. I found out too late that one was published on Saturday 27th, and now I don’t know if it’s still possible to buy one. With £5 to spend, can anyone tell me how I can access this crossword? Thanks.
Thanks Duncan. I don’t see any problem with publishing the blog as it is not a prize crossword. As with any other day I don’t come to the blog until I’ve finished or got as far as I can to seek clarification of clues.
What is more of an issue is printing the answers in the paper alongside the puzzle. Like someone above I covered it to remove the temptation.
And what is wrong with giving a bonus to those of us who fork out for a print edition of the paper?
We were very pleased to see a Maskarade holiday jumbo in our Saturday paper. Somewhat later than expected but all the more welcome after beginning to think it was not going to appear. We have evolved a whole separate process to deal with Maskarade specials. This involves printing off at least three copies of the grid: one each plus a spare for when we inevitably mess up and have to start again. So thank you 15 squared for making these resources available.
We thought this was gentler than normal, no having to fit in solutions jigsaw style etc, but a delightful solve nevertheless. We finished this on the same day that we started it, a first for a jumbo. Normally we will have stubborn gaps several days later, which don’t always get resolved.
Five not parsed to our satisfaction: Avenues, Fezzes, Macers, Schism and Slushy, so have come here for enlightenment
Many thanks to Maskarade and Duncan, and to everyone else who travels with this small community
It’s a bit late to mention it now (I never look at 15^2 until I’ve finished or given up), but the crossword was freely available in the “Guardian Editions” app on Saturday. I hadn’t heard of this app until someone in the Guardian comments mentioned it, but it seems useful (and official?). I thought I’d mention it in case others find it helpful in future.
I haven’t read most of the comments or solution yet.
I’ve seen a couple of comments saying that it’s wrong to provide links if the Guardian chose to only do a print version. That’s reasonable but I’m not happy with the Guardian because I have chosen to pay an online subscription to them. Buying a paper copy feels like paying twice, on top of creating a pile of paper that will just get thrown away apart from a corner of one page.
Fabulous crossword. Had a great Sunday solving it.
Really enjoyable crossword. Had a great Sunday solving it.
Swirly@33 you are right, it was in the Guardian Editions app.. I missed that.
Anyway, very happy to have done this one other than getting 18a wrong.. we guessed INCAS from the wordplay and couldn’t spot a definition. Thanks for the correct explanation for this one in the blog.
I don’t think anyone has called out 32d PLAINSMAN as a very enjoyable clue…
The explanation in the blog for 20a is very clever! We thought that 20a was explained by Wes Streeting being Secretary of State for Health and Social Care… surgeons are part of health care, and they sometimes stitch up people’s backs!! But I’m sure duncanshiell is correct… thanks for the detailed blog!
Heartfelt thanks to FS in general, and to duncanshiell & Jay in particular, for enabling those of us online subscribers who live outside UK to access this crossword.
Mindful of the hot water Roz kept getting into whenever she spoke her mind, I shall bite my tongue regarding my view of whichever Guardian figure was responsible for this year’s “situation”. FWIW, given that the newspaper makes a point of not putting its news copy behind a paywall thereby keeping its news free & accessible to all, denying access to all those who have paid for an online subscription makes no sense at all. (And, for that matter, sticking the solution of a seasonal special in the same day’s print edition is equally daft.)
The fault lies entirely with the Guardian and certainly not with FS and so I, too, have followed earlier commenters in emailing a complaint to the paper. (I confidently expect to receive, at best, a cut-&-paste sorry-not-sorry response. It’s what they usually do, anyway.)
As for the puzzle itself, our household got everything except GULES: we had all the crossers, but despite some hefty and inspired online hunting, failed to find anything that would fit. Them’s the breaks. Still, this being SW France, we’re comforting ourselves as best we can with bûches and Cremant de Limoux. We’re raising a glass to maskarade, duncan & jay – and to all the rest of you as well!
Wellbeck@39, see swirly@33 – are you able to use the “Guardian Editions” app? All the hardcopy Guardian issues seem to be on that.
Thanks to Maskerade and Duncan for a great explanation, this is one of the best crosswords for some time taking slowly over three days, it is a shame that many comments are critical of timing and availability of answers rather than praising the crossword.
There are many ways to enjoy a crossword, having the answers available is one especially for new solvers who may give up if they have to wait a week. Some solvers only enjoy parsing so why deny easily available solutions. All crossword answers are available on the daily cryptic and quiptic, just press reveal,
Prize and Everyman answers are easily obtained on Dan Word, and many other sires.
Simply don’t look at the answers or the blog until you are finished and don’t deny other solvers their enjoyment
[Wellbeck@39, envy you as have run out of Cremant due to the farmers blockages, where are you in France, we have moved from 66 to 64]
[Crossbar @40: I did check in that app but didn’t see the crossword – although by then I’d already downloaded it from Jay’s link. If this silly situation occurs again, I’ll give that app a more thorough look. Thanks for the tip!]
[Clive @41: I know 66 well, for my parents had a house in a village called Corbère.
Sorry to hear about your dearth of fizz! We’re in 82 where, even though the farmers around nearby Agen are a formidable bunch, there’s still plenty of Cremant and Blaquette in our local Intermarché, plus champers, bien sûr. Bonne année, malgré tout!]
[it’s worth a good rummage Wellbeck@42. Back issues are in the Previous tab, and go back to the beginning of October. I was also surprised to find the Observer there.]
Thanks Maskarade, I thought this was a great Jumbo – solvable, but taking enough time to spread over a few days. Glad I didn’t notice the solution was right below or I might have cheated.
Thanks Duncanshiell especially for the parse of 20 across – fun but a bit arcane! Had to spend some time checking through the solutions to reconcile to the rubric – for a couple of ambiguous solutions – e.g. KEATS became YEATS and to confirm X-AXIS vs Y-AXIS; and STOAI for the more usual STOAS or, indeed STOAE (which I presume is a use of a Latin plural for Greek word). Anyway just great fun. I do share others bafflement at not publishing this as prize crossword on Christmas Eve. My other quibble is with the Guardian as the size of the crossword in the paper for an old guy, even with good glasses means I have to scan and enlarge it – will relay to the Guardian directly.
Lots to enjoy but since when did Stow mean have room for? – not in my Chambers
I was going to leave our comment until next Monday in protest at the debacle caused by the various editorial decisions, but appreciate that it would hardly (or never) be read – the fate of some of our belated blogs! Suffice it to say that the crossword was yet another tour de force by Maskarade, scrupulously blogged by duncanshiell. We thoroughly enjoyed the solve despite the temptations afforded by the available solutions, (we did not even see the ones printed on the same page!) we wholeheartedly agree with most of the comments made and truly hope that lessons will be learnt, not least that many solvers are creatures of habit and feel that our parade should not be rained upon!
Croc @ 45
‘have room for’ as a definition is shown under the first headword for stow in the printed 11th and 12th editions of Chambers. It is also shown in the two apps I have that hold Chambers, one of which predates the 11th edition, and the other which is based on the latest edition.
I’d be interested to know how many people read this very late posting.
HUGE THANKS to both the setter and blogger. The efforts of both of you are very much appreciated.
To other commentators: I felt the negative comments about the blogger were really unfair and unwarranted.
I, and I know many others, greatly appreciate the voluntary time and effort that ALL bloggers put in.
WynnD @ 48
Thanks for the kind words.
It’s likely though that I will be the only person to know you have posted, as bloggers get an e-mail whenever there is a post on their blog. Other people would have to have a good reason to come to a week-old blog now to see your post.
It was a fun puzzle and useful to have it all explained to me. As ever bits of general knowledge I didn’t know. I really don’t understand why it wasn’t published the weekend before Christmas to make it a fun Christmas activity. I’ve only just given up on it now after doing various things since Christmas and so on (hence my late comment).
Alan Connor made a strange comment on bluesky suggesting publishing the crossword online would have broken the website https://bsky.app/profile/alanconnor.bsky.social/post/3maq6cwnulc24 which is either very naive or disingenuous.
Hope print-walling crosswords like this isn’t a regular thing. It happened in August didn’t it?
A belated comment because I’ve only just found the blog.
Primarily, many, many thanks to Duncanshiell for his assiduous and staggeringly prompt production of a comprehensive blog that not only provides all the parsing, but tabulates the two sets of intermediate ‘S’-related answers in such an accessible way (and just as I had laid out mine, so could rapidly cross-check).
Thanks also, of course to Maskarade, for another tour-de-force.
In line with many comments about the shambolic, obscure management of the puzzle’s production – I too say shame on the Guardian.
Similarly, I feel that Maskarade has been treated in a cavalier fashion by them.
Otherwise, an equally belated Happy New Year to all.
Like others who pay for the online version I felt cheated here. Umpteen emails to the Guardian and misleading (to downright unhelpful) replies – and I eventually was able to take a screenshot off my phone and enlarge it. Great crossword and great blog, thank you. Just finished today!