Qaos has set this morning’s Guardian puzzle.
I like solving Qaos puzzles, because there’s always something quirky, normally to do with numbers (as in VULTURE to CULTURE). A theme also began to develop once I solved the clue for DYLAN but unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the man, so there are probably Bob Dylan songs I’m missing. I’ve highlighted TAMBOURINE MAN, BLOWING in the WIND, TIMES They Are a-CHANGING, Tangled Up in BLUE and the generic SONGS and DYLAN himself, but I’m probably missing more. My clue of the day, probably of the month was the aforementioned CULTURE, and my LOI was SONGS.
Thanks, Qaos.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLOWING |
Spoiling old woman wearing jewellery (7)
|
| O (old) + W (woman) wearing BLING (“jewellery”) | ||
| 5 | BATTERY |
Modern cricketer gets final boundary of series (7)
|
| BATTER (“modern” word for batsman, so “cricketer”) gets [final] (boundar)Y | ||
| 10 | MANN |
Novelist in a state penning article (4)
|
| MN (Minnesota, so “a state”) penning AN (“article”)
Refers to Thomas Mann, German Nobel Prize winning author. |
||
| 11 | TAMBOURINE |
Playing tuba in Rome with another instrument (10)
|
| *(tuba in rome) [anag:playing] | ||
| 12 | CASSIS |
Cold musician’s unlimited drink (6)
|
| C (cold) + (b)ASSIS(t) (“musician”) [unlimited] | ||
| 13 | ON THE AIR |
Live report of where Prince William’s crown might be? (2,3,3)
|
| Homoophone/pun/aural wordplay [report] of ON THE HEIR (“where Prince Williams crown might be”) | ||
| 14 | GEOGRAPHY |
Subject’s alter ego ‘Gary’ seen outside pub (9)
|
| *(ago gary) [anag:alter] seen outside PH (public house, so “pub”) | ||
| 16 | SONGS |
Relatives stealing £1,000 records … (5)
|
| SONS (“relatives”) stealing G (grand, so £1,000) | ||
| 17 | TIMES |
… by backing group holding note (5)
|
| [backing] <=(SET (“group”) holding MI (“note”)) | ||
| 19 | CONSTRUCT |
Make president replace politician with court after tricks (9)
|
| TRU(mp) replacing MP (Member of Parliament, so “politician” with Ct. (court) after CONS (“tricks”), so CONS-TRU(Ct) | ||
| 23 | CHANGING |
Reforming c-capital punishment (8)
|
| C + HANGING (“capital punishment”) | ||
| 24 | PEDDLE |
Sell bicycle part to the audience (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [to the audience] of PEDAL (“bicycle part”) | ||
| 26 | BLUE CHEESE |
Low church, perhaps York, returned English food (4,6)
|
| BLUE (“low”) + Ch. (church) + <=SEE (diocese, so “perhaps York”, returned) + E (English) | ||
| 27 | LAUD |
Praise God for all to hear (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [for all to hear] of LORD (“God”) | ||
| 28 | PROTEST |
Demonstrate in favour of cricket’s longest format (7)
|
| PRO (“in favour of”) + TEST (“cricket’s longest format”) | ||
| 29 | COUNTER |
Oppose noble queen (7)
|
| COUNT (“noble”) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, so “queen”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LEAFAGE |
General hides a cigarette in vegetation (7)
|
| (General) Robert E LEE hides A FAG (“a cigarette”) | ||
| 3 | WINDS |
Snakes and ladders board in Fiji now ends being flipped (5)
|
| <=(ladderS boarD iN fijI noW, ends, being flipped) | ||
| 4 | NATASHA |
Woman’s brown back has a fracture (7)
|
| <=TAN (“brown”, back) + *(has a) [anag:fracture] | ||
| 6 | ADOPTS |
Chooses a pet with no tail, a bit tame in afterthought (6)
|
| A DO(g) (“a pet” with no tail) + [a bit] T(ame) in PS (postscript, so “afterthought”) | ||
| 7 | THREE-FOUR |
Elizabeth Reef – our secret signature (5-4)
|
| Hidden in [secret] “elizabeTH REEF OUR“ | ||
| 8 | RANKING |
Managed royal position (7)
|
| RAN (“managed”) + KING (“royal”) | ||
| 9 | SMOOTH-TONGUED |
Sand dune got moved – plausible? (6-7)
|
| SMOOTH (“sand”) + *(dune got) [anag:moved] | ||
| 15 | GREEN BELT |
Sing loudly following party in open area outside town (5,4)
|
| BELT (“sing loudly”) following GREEN (party) | ||
| 18 | INHALER |
During chaotic reign, no good prince becomes smoker? (7)
|
| (Prince) HAL [during] *(rein) [anag:chaotic] where REIN is REI(g)N with no G (good) | ||
| 20 | SUPREMO |
Boss to drink more rum (7)
|
| SUP (“to drink”) + *(more) [anag:rum] | ||
| 21 | CULTURE |
Growth of bird has head increase by a factor of 20 (7)
|
| (v)ULTURE (“bird”) has head (its first letter) increase by a factor of 20 (so V (5) becomes C (100)), hence (C)ULTURE | ||
| 22 | LIGHTS |
Matches 50 and 88? Pointless at first (6)
|
| L (50, in Roman numerals) + (e)IGHTS (“88”, pointless, (i.e missing E (east, a compass point) at first) | ||
| 25 | DYLAN |
Welshman taking part in Normandy landings (5)
|
| Hidden in [taking part in] “normanDY LANdings” |
Surely a missed opportunity to clue nubile as “tangled up in blue” 🙂
Good fun and a theme even I couldn’t miss despite owning only one Dylan album
Cheers L&D
Great stuff from Qaos and after a few failed attempts I actually spotted the theme for this one. Bob Dylan’s involvement with the COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST movement I would have included in the theme. Although he personally hated that association.
Liked BLOWING and SONGS
Thanks Loonapick and Qaos
Great theme (I’m a big fan!). I’d suggest there’s a link between PROTEST SONGS, another label he came to disclaim.
Thanks Qaos and Loonapick
No quibbles nor “Huh?”s, and I even got the theme! So a good result.
Also being a fan, I spotted the theme early with BLOWING and WIND and it helped to solve MANN. I also included COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST SONGS and I like Bodycheetah’s suggestion @1. I certainly wouldn’t describe his vocals as SMOOTH-TONGUED though.
Ta Qaos & loonapick.
Enjoyably tangled up with a nice theme (and a nod to the other, Welsh, DYLAN) and lots of pennies dropping. Loud clangs for TIMES, CULTURE and ADOPTS. Some stretchy equivalences: last in BATTERY gave me trouble both in not knowing that batter was a particularly “modern” word for a cricketer and in equating battery=series. Other stretches were records=SONGS and spoiling=BLOWING.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick.
…Also the female singer DYLAN’s first name is NATASHA (Woods).
Thanks loonapick. I have my own little protest about your blog on BATTERY. As the clue says, ”cricketer”, of any gender, not just ”batsman”. Liked your likes about the ”mathematical clues” which even I got today.
With Staticman1 #2. COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST SONGS also themesters.
The only clue I thought unfair was MANN, which state? I do know the authors Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann both of whom were social critics. Perhaps if I’d got the theme earlier it might have given me a nudge, towards Tambourine Man.
Enjoyable puzzle. I saw the theme of Bob Dylan songs after I completed the grid, including my favourite ‘Tangled Up in BLUE’.
Favourite: CULTURE, LIGHTS, TIMES.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick
A DNF – I wrote in unparsed WAIN @10, FIVER @17, and FIGHTS @22. No theme, of course. “Spoiling” for BLOWING is a bit loose.
I was quite pleased to guess in advance what was going to happen for CULTURE>
I wondered if the central column SMOOTH-TONGUED might be thematic, or if it was Qaos’ little joke. Smooth-tongued DYLAN may have been but smooth-toned he definitely wasn’t.
muffin #10. What about spoiling/blowing an opportunity, or a project, or even a meal?
I spoiled it/blew it.
There’s another Dylan reference in 10ac as he grew up in Minnesota (MN).
paddymelon @12
I’m sure that’s what was intended, but it’s loose,as I said.
Never have my thoughts been so well summarised by the blogger’s intro.
I loved this – theme and all.
Favourites:14ac GEOGRAPHY, 19ac CONSTRUCT, 23ac CHANGING, 26ac BLUE CHEESE, 3dn WINDS, 18dn INHALER and the wonderful 21dn CULTURE.
Many thanks to Qaos and loonapick. (A double treat today: now for Goliath in the FT.)
Paddymelon @8 – in loonapick’s defence, the clue says “modern cricketer”. Until 2021(fairly recent in the long history of cricket), the laws referred to a batsman and batsmen. In 2021, quite rightly the laws were changed to refer to a batter and batters.
paddymelon @11: that was what I was trying to imply @5 but your description is better. I hope my reference @7 counters your gender bias complaint 😉
paddymelon@8 – I support your polite protest. It is actually an important point. We cannot continue with gender-specific terms in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is both illogical and unfair to assume male dominance in all walks of life. It is usually very easy to find a neutral and perfectly acceptable alternative noun and/or descriptor. I also liked your offering @12 re BLOWING. Otherwise, BLOWING is pretty familiar (to me anyway) as a synonym for spoiling. We used to say cans of food that had bulged because of spoiled contents were “blown”. And how about “fly blown” for food contaminated by infestations? Thoroughly enjoyed today’s crossword and even got the theme, for once. Thank yous to the setter and the blogger.
TB @19 – To (hopefully) clarify my point, the modern term (as used by the laws of the game, and commentators) is batters. Loonapick is, as far as I can see, simply stating that long overdue correction to the terminology.
Been looking at Dylan song titles. 2 dollars and 99 cents. Qaos would have had fun with that.
Saw the theme very early (TAMBOURINE + SONGS + CHANGING gave it away), which helped, particularly with TIMES. And surely SUPREMO is thematic. Crispy@17 is correct: the change from batsman/batswoman to BATTER is modern (and long overdue). Thanks, Qaos and loonapick.
Had to reveal Mann, and am embarrassed to say I was completely befuddled by the parsing of culture/vulture, but still very enjoyable so many thanks to bith Chaos and loonapick
Even I spotted the theme this time. Found this much gentler than Qaos can sometimes be. Took a while to get MANN, and also the last three letter word in ON THE AIR, where on finally filling it in didn’t quite realise that the AIR part referenced Heir rather than Hair. As the future King doesn’t seem to me to have much of that left on the crown of his head. If you see what I mean…
So many people to respond to, sorry I missed some, and agree with Alan C and Crispy (of course 🙂 )
Thanks PaulD #13 for the MN, Minnesota, in MANN. That makes that clue so much more meaningful.
Rejoice with me, for this is my first ever theme spot! So lucky to have seen TAMBOURINE & MANN early.
Love Bodycheetah’s suggestion @1.
Many thanks, both.
ronald #24. 🙂 My thoughts too about the crowned hairless heir.
13ac brought a huge smile.
I got the theme for once and then spent too long trying to find connections for the unthemed clues. Like others CULTURE was my favourite. Nice suggestion Bodycheetah.
Missed the theme as usual, and the ‘sound-alike’ at 27a isn’t for some of us, but generally I liked it, though I was mystified by the ‘modern’ in 5a.
Couldn’t understand the def in 7d until the penny dropped that it’s a time signature. Perhaps the blog should reflect this?
Good puzzle, relatively accessible for Qaos (I thought). No theme for me, I’m afraid, but I almost never look for them or even register them in passing. I’ll go with michelle’s favourites: CULTURE, LIGHTS, TIMES.
I appreciate the need for gender neutral terms, it’s just a pity that ‘batter’ is such an ugly word for a batsperson. [It’s also a pity that the Old English word ‘mann’, which originally meant ‘human being’, now has also become the standard term for a male person, and the specific word for a male, ‘wer’ now only survives in expressions like ‘werewolf’]
Thanks to Qaos and loonapick
Completed and yet again completely missed the theme. I also missed the RP homophone of lord/laud. I was thinking of the Latin laude which I was taught as loud-ay so all would hear.
Thanks both.
“Stretches” aren’t wrong equivalences, just not the first or even the tenth thing you would think of, though records are not necessarily SONGS or vice versa. THREE-FOUR=signature was another one – like poc@30, it took me ages to think why that might be true, and I was wondering if it might be some unheard-of newfangled thing like the incomprehensible six-seven before the baton finally dropped.
With BLOWING and WINDS my first two in, the theme rather leapt out at me. I think my favourite was a non-themer, SMOOTH-TONGUED, for the very clever use of “sand dune”.
A couple of queries/quibbles. In 1a, is W really a standard abbreviation for “woman” (rather than “women”)? In 5a, does “final boundary” really mean Y?
Thanks Qaos and loonapick.
Sorry to be a pedant but there’s a typo in 14 – an a instead of an e
Thanks for the blog – it’s always nice to have a few teaming mysteries explained!
Once I saw TAMBOURINE I thought of DYLAN but it didn’t help much with the solve, which was entertaining. I liked the alter ego in GEOGRAPHY, the BLUE CHEESE in York, the well-hidden 3-4, the plausible sand dune for SMOOTH-TONGUED, the prince being an INHALER and having a crown ON THE AIR (I was another who mistook this for ‘AIR), and the 50 and 88 LIGHTS.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick.
Thanks for the blog , a bit disappointed there was no Subterranean Homesick Blues .
CULTURE very neat and CONSTRUCT was put together well .
THREE-FOUR the time signature for The Times They Are a-Changin’ .
Snow on the Lancashire Riviera today after 15C at the weekend .
Many really fine and fun clues. I even saw the Bob Dylan theme, a first for me with Qaos, with 25d DYLAN itself my top clue of the day (“taking part in Normandy landings” — superb). Other favourites 11a TAMBOURINE (“tuba in Rome” anagram), 13a ON THE AIR (soundalike produced a laugh), 14 GEOGRAPHY (“alter ego” etc), 17a TIMES (“by”, with misdirecting ellipses), 9d SMOOTH-TONGUED (“Sand dune got moved”), 15d GREEN BELT (“Sing loudly”), 18d INHALER (funny surface, and intricate wordplay)
27a LAUD, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a non-rhotic soundalike. Hoping for another long gap
FOI 2d LEAFAGE somehow leapt out at me even though it was unfamiliar
TILT: 5a BATTER is a modern cricket term, in place of batsman/batswoman
Just to clarify, 7d THREE-FOUR is a time signature — three quarter-notes (crochets) per bar (as poc@30…and Roz@37)
Protase @31: in the world of baseball, it’s always been batter, and cricket snobs have always looked down on us baseball people for that. Anyway, now that you find you need the word…you’re welcome. And I disagree–I find it a much more straightforward word than batsperson (who by the way sounds rather eccentric).
Batter and Fisher are outlawed in my house.
No, we do NOT need non-gendered words. What’s wrong with batsman, batswoman, fisherman, fisherwoman?
Fisher is OK as an abbreviation (attached to pearl-, for example) of if you’re a bird (king- for example).
I would be most insulted if I were to be referred to as an ‘actor’ too.
Comment #41
I was pleased to get the theme, though it dawned on me only after I’d completely finished the puzzle.
I think Qaos is becoming my favourite setter.
There were some very nice clues, especially of the charade type that I enjoy, with smooth surfaces.
Top ticks for: BLUE CHEESE, CONSTRUCT, ON THE AIR and GEOGRAPHY.
Thanks, loonapick for sorting out the parsing of CASSIS, which escaped me, and the blog generally, and Qaos for enjoyable breakfast entertainment.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick
Anna @ 40 Presumably you also object to ‘fielder’?
[Anna @40, see my comment @39; so I conclude that your household also bans baseball entirely?]
Anna @40. As far as the laws of the game are concerned, batter covers all eventualities
Enjoyed this. Got THREE-FOURths of this last night, with the SW quadrant totally blank and the rest filled in. Filled it in this morning without the use of the check button, because when any online program was turned on the computer wouldn’t stop playing a news program from yesterday. I’ve finally shut the audio down, but I do hope later to figure out how to get it back without that everlasting hanger-on.
CULTURE/vulture was a super clue. (Paddymelon, you mentioned “mathematical clues.” Was there another?) CONSTRUCT was super too.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick.
Great theme, well I am a fan.
mrpenney@44
Heavens yes. Baseball is not a recognised sport in my world.
Crispy@45. ” As far as the laws of the game are concerned, batter covers all eventualities”
Also in Scottish fast-food shops.
There was a theme? Passed me by.
But 10a is one of those clues I can’t stand.How many states? How many authors in the long history of writing?
Cheese created by simple twist of fate (4)
No prizes for guessing what my only Dylan album is 🙂
[bodycheetah @51
In the second Dirk Gently book, he describes going in to a house that sounded identical to ours. He thought “I bet there’s every Dylan album up to Blood on the tracks somewhere here”. I thought “I haven’t got that one”, so soon rectified the omission and it rapidly became my favourite.]
Lord Jim@34: I too wondered about ‘w’=’woman’. Chambers doesn’t give it and I don’t recall seeing it crosswords before now.
Derek @49. 😂
Pretty well perfect for me in terms of difficulty. I finished it after exactly the right amount of time, in two sittings.
CULTURE: totally agree – clue of the day. I’ve finally got used to this type of trick, but that doesn’t detract from how good it is. Similarly, I really enjoyed LIGHTS.
Bodycheetah@1 that would have been my COD! Enjoyable crossword and for once I got the theme. Thank you Qaos and Loonapick.
Great puzzle. I saw the theme emerging, but wonder if it’s the more general COUNTER CULTURE rather than just DYLAN, so I included Thomas MANN and MA CASS (Elliot) in there too.
Lots of fun to solve.
Thanks, Qaos and loonapick.
Thanks Qaos, I found that quite enjoyable, both the clues and the theme. My top picks were TAMBOURINE, BLUE CHEESE, COUNTER, and CULTURE. I missed BATTERY, thrown off by ‘modern’. (I assumed cricketers were always ‘batters’). I also liked SMOOTHED-TONGUED and ‘sand’ in the wordplay brought to mind David Bowie’s ‘Song for Bob Dylan’ with the lyric, ‘voice like sand and glue’. [BTW, Bryan Ferry has an excellent record, ‘Dylanesque’, which covers 11 Dylan songs.] Thanks loonapick for the blog.
I came late to the crossword today, so not much to add. I enjoyed it, as ever with Qaos.
I know some regulars here sigh when we rhotic speakers grump at a dodgy homophone, but wouldn’t 27a LAUD have been cleverer and funnier if it had read “praise God for some to hear?”
“Sing loudly” for BELT at 15d reminded me of Harry Secombe’s description of his own singing: “Not so much bel canto as can belto.”
Thanks Qaos and loonapick! For me personally this was a perfect level of difficulty—I had to stretch my brain and scratch my head, but in the end got to the solve without succumbing to the temptation to google or check. My LOI and favorite, as I share with others, was VULTURE. Lots more to like: BLUE CHEESE, CONSTRUCT and THREE FOUR in particular for me. I got LAUD despite the homophone not working to my American ear, but I needed loonapick’s help to parse CASSIS—I was stuck on assist/Assisi.
Tony@58 what a brilliant quote , has to be our evening listening now , my second favourite Bowie album , the incredible Quicksand , Rick Wakeman on piano , so much else ….
Miche@59 another great quote but we do not have any Harry Secombe albums .
[Roz @61: Hunky Dory’s right up there with Heroes and Scary Monsters in my book.]