Alia provides the Tuesday puzzle.
I don’t time myself when solving puzzles, but if I did, I think this may have been one of my quickest ever solves. That doesn’t mean the puzzle was a bad one as it takes skill to make a puzzle as accessible as this one, and not every crossword needs be tortuously dfficult to be enjoyable. It may have been better as a Quiptic, though. There were some very obvious anagrams (SELF-EVIDENT, TERMINAL etc), but no CONTROVERSIAL clues.
Thanks Alia.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | PLEDGE |
Promise of place with slight advantage (6)
|
| Pl. (place) with EDGE (“slight advantage”) | ||
| 8 | CLARINET |
Recital changed to incorporate new instrument (8)
|
| *(recital) [anag:changed] to incorporate N (new) | ||
| 9 | STALLION |
Stable about to take on one horse (8)
|
| STALL (“stable”) + ON (“about”) to take on I (one) | ||
| 10 | ESTATE |
Group of houses close to off-licence, say (6)
|
| [close to] (off-licenc)E + STATE (“say”) | ||
| 11 | BEWILDER |
Act more recklessly and act in a perplexing manner (8)
|
| BE WILDER (“act more recklessly”) | ||
| 12 | AGREED |
A selfish desire? No argument there! (6)
|
| A + GREED (“selfish desire”) | ||
| 13 | SELF-EVIDENT |
Clear reorganisation of field events (4-7)
|
| *(field events) [anag:reorganisation] | ||
| 18 | TO BOOT |
Little kid suppresses surprising cry as well (2,4)
|
| TOT (“little kid”) suppresses BOO (“surprising cry”) | ||
| 20 | REACTION |
Backlash concerning director’s call? (8)
|
| RE (“concerning”) + ACTION (“director’s call?”) | ||
| 22 | SNATCH |
Weightlifting move is strenuous to begin with, of course! (6)
|
| S(trenuous) [to begin with] + NATCH (“of course”) | ||
| 23 | ICE LOLLY |
Reserve money for summer treat (3,5)
|
| ICE (“reserve”) + LOLLY (“money”) | ||
| 24 | TERMINAL |
Final destination of reconstructed tramline (8)
|
| *(tramline) [anag:reconstructed] | ||
| 25 | STAINS |
On regular occasions, situations lead to sticky spots (6)
|
| [on regular occasions] S(i)T(u)A(t)I(o)N(s) + [lead to] S(ticky) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLUTTER |
Disorderly mess left inside sailing boat (7)
|
| L (left) inside CUTTER (“sailing boat”) | ||
| 2 | ADELAIDE |
British singer accepting help somewhere in Australia (8)
|
| ADELE (“British singer”) accepting AID (“help”) | ||
| 3 | BEHIND |
The chap caught up in tough spot is running late (6)
|
| <=HE (“the chap”, caught up) in BIND (“tough spot”) | ||
| 4 | FACE CARD |
King or queen maybe meet comedian (4,4)
|
| FACE (“meet”) + CARD (“comedian”) | ||
| 5 | WINTER |
Somewhat fallow, interminably cold part of the year (6)
|
| Hidden in [somewhat] “falloW INTERminably” | ||
| 6 | WEATHER |
You and I are mostly bored by the rain and snow, perhaps (7)
|
| WE + AR(e) [mostly] bored by THE | ||
| 8 | CONTROVERSIAL |
Contentious character central to stories in horribly vile cartoons (13)
|
| [character central to] (sto)R(ies) in *(vile cartoons) [anag:horribly] | ||
| 14 | FETCHING |
Pretty fine engraved artwork (8)
|
| F (fine) + ETCHING (“engraved artwork”) | ||
| 15 | NATIONAL |
Citizen of North America – Latino, possibly (8)
|
| NA (North America) + *(latino) [anag:possibly] | ||
| 16 | COUNTER |
Token reply (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | GOSLING |
Bird taking off around small lake (7)
|
| GOING (“taking off”) around S (small) + L (lake) | ||
| 19 | ON TIME |
No item needing to be recycled promptly (2,4)
|
| *(no item) [anag:needing to be recycled] | ||
| 21 | AVERSE |
Reluctant amateur poet’s output? (6)
|
| A (amateur) + VERSE (“poet’s output”) |
A lovely little puzzle. Did the editor accidently swap this with the tortuous quiptic this week?
I did not need 255 to parse anything, but had to think about ‘natch’. I think i’ve heard it in comedy with wives of wealthy businessmen saying it.
Thanks Alia and loonapick.
Very plain sailing although two quite obvious answers TO BOOT and BEWILDER were not coming to mind for a slight pause in the answers flying in.
As with the first commenter only sNATCH for ‘of course’ I had to check. Natch is cider here in Bristol.
I don’t think an occasionally straightforward puzzle is bad though and some nice surfaces.
Enjoyed GOSLING and STALLION.
Thanks Alia and Loonapick
Possibly my first ever completely sequential solve. Assisted by what I can only assume was a very helpful grid?
Cheers L&A
Good fun, nothing too taxing. Nice to see a clue for ESTATE that’s not a car for a change (we don’t often use it this way). Haven’t heard of an ICE LOLLY — we’d probably call it an icy pole. And lolly/money is unfamiliar, althought Collins says it’s slang in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Bodycheetah @3: I think you’re doing yourself a disservice, I’d have said the opposite about the grid…I was thanking my lucky stars this grid had not been used by one of our less accessible setters.
I’m not as good as Bodycheetah and always find something to hold me up, however briefly. For example, today, I toyed with the wrong definition for UNCONTROVERSIAL and thought the clue for BEWILDERED was a different type.
As a result, I have a threshold time that I can’t remember ever dipping under. Today I was within seconds of it, a couple of minutes quicker than Sunday. I don’t mind the focus switching from completion to completion time. I’m not retired and a chewy weekday Paul can hinder work a little.
I hope newer solvers get satisfaction and confidence from today’s puzzle.
Thanks Alia and loonapick
PS. I don’t time myself. The Guardian app tells you how long you took.
Martin@6, that’s a good reason not to get the app.
Well, I like the rest of The Guardian Geoff so it’s non-negotiable. What I don’t like is The Times’ app where the crossword has a ticking clock. That’s unpleasant.
Thanks loonapick. Concur with your intro, though tbe days of the week don’t seem to matter much any more.
Surfaces telling an interesting and entertaing story, accessible wordplay. BE WILDER my pick.
Comment #10
Thanks Alia and loonapick
Another good puzzle from this newish setter. I’m surprised I haven’t seen the nice “field events” anagram before.
paddymelon@9 BEWILDER was our favourite too
Crackers #1. NATCH. I’m surprised where you heard that, wives of wealthy business men in a comedy.
My memory, although I’ve got no evidence for it, is (mostly) men’s use of the word, on a “lower social scale”, but known in my milieu.
GDU #4. I’m intrigued as to how often our vocabulary differs. LOLLY for money well-known to me. Maybe I got it from TV when I was younger, for the few years when there was a TV in the family home.
Lovely puzzle with beautifully crafted surface readings. So much nicer than gobbledygook that would never be found anywhere except as a cryptic crossword clue! Thank you, Alia.
18ac was my loi.
I couldn’t parse 6d.
BEWILDER was my loi and like others also my favourite and STAINS was nicely done. Gentle and enjoyable with only a slight quibble about the repetition of ‘on’ in STALLION.
Ta Alia & loonapick.
Comment #16
I agree with you, loonapick, this wasn’t a fiendishly difficult crossword – but it does demonstrate, rather well, that a crossword that isn’t full of tortuous parsing and word-salad clues can be enormously satisfying.
Alia is rapidly becoming one of my favourite setters. I share Michelle @14’s appreciation of the host of beautiful, smooth surfaces – some of which were so natural that they misled me at first, which is part of the appeal of a good clue.
I hadn’t previously encountered the TERMINAL, SELF-EVIDENT, ON TIME anagrams, but they were so neat that I can’t believe they haven’t been used before.
Amid a host of happy ticks, BEHIND and BEWILDER were my faves.
Many thanks Alia and loonapick.
PS. Crackers @1: I use “natch” all the time (soooo much quicker to type than its synonyms) and I’m certainly not the wife of a wealthy businessman. I suspect I’m more akin to PaddyM’s “lower social scale” folk…
Comment #18
Bodycheetah@3: what people find unhelpful about grids varies. Some complain regularly if there are too many clues with more unchecked than checked lights. I never notice that, but I do notice “two-halves” or “four-quarters” grids (like today’s) where completing one area provides very little help with other parts of the puzzle.
Anyway, this wasn’t a puzzle where the clues themselves were unhelpful, so it went in steadily and enjoyably from some nice smooth surfaces. Thanks Alia and loonapick.
PS: Martin @6: you don’t need the app to do Guardian crosswords online, and if it insists on timing me (something of huge unimportance as far as I’m concerned) then I’ll keep right on avoiding it.
What Wellbeck said @17.
Some grids provide the solver with strings of lights along the north and west edges which help by giving us a load of first letters for subsequent clues: today’s was not such a grid and seemed therefore a little more tricky. But the accessible clueing from Alia compensated for that.
Like Michelle@14 I appreciated the setter’s attention to surfaces. The surfaces for the summer treat and the reluctant poet were really nice, I thought.
I also enjoy a good nit-pick, so I did harrumph at BEWILDER=”act in a perplexing manner”; these are surely not equivalent — “Our beloved puppy was bewildering all afternoon” [????] or “I wish you’d stop bewildering like that!” [????]
Not sure I’ve ever seen such a complete set of lovely, smooth and natural surfaces. My favourites were the clues for CLARINET and GOSLING, but they were all good.
Many thanks to Alia for the crossword and to loonapick for the blog.
This was very satisfying.
It was a challenge to me, but doable. I’m not very bright.
But the satisfaction on solving Face Card, Fetching and Gosling was pure pleasure.
And Adele, a reference from this Millennium, is a welcome relief from the usual general knowledge.