Guardian 26,238 / Maskarade

I think this is the first time I’ve come up in the rotation to write the blog post about a big bank holiday puzzle, which is quite exciting. This was a themed puzzle from Maskarade…

The rubric at the start of this puzzle was:

Your starter for 10! Solutions to 11: 5, 36 down 3 28 across, 48 form a quotation from a work by an author born 100 years ago. Solutions to 10 other clues, not further defined, lead to the work and to nine characters appearing in it.

10 turned out to be UNDER MILK WOOD by Dylan Thomas, so “Your starter for [UNDER MILK WOOD]!” was a nice way of indicating that the opening lines of the drama are in the numbered clues given – in full that is:

To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black

… which had to be entered in the grid across those entries. There were also 10 clues without definition that turned out to be characters in the work. Our way into the theme was one of these, namly CHERRY OWEN.

Unfortunately, I felt that this theme didn’t work well for us – it was enjoyable solving the non-themed clues, but as soon as we discovered what the theme was (eventually by Googling “CHERRY OWEN”) and realised neither of us knew the work well enough for memory to be any help (I think I’ve only heard it once), it was just a matter of looking up the list of characters and the (admittedly famous) opening lines. I suppose this might have been more fun if you’re in the position of being able to remember some, but not all, of the characters from Under Milk Wood, so there’s some entertainment in that struggle. I suspect that many people’s experience would be like ours, however – work hard to get to to theme, and then… oh.

Across

11. See instructions
TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

12. Large lorry blocks topped vegetables (10)
ARTICHOKES
ARTIC = “Large lorry” + [c]HOKES = “blocks” “topped”
Definition: “vegetables”

** 13. A man of the soil is related to forecaster, on reflection (6,4)
ATTILA REES
ATTILA sounds like (“is related”) “a tiller” + SEER = “forecaster” reversed
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

14. Agent’s girl is in the syrup, sadly (7,3)
RUSSIAN SPY
SIAN’S = “girl is” in (SYRUP)*
Definition: “Agent”

** 16,41. Turkish governor dropped nothing at midday (6)
BEYNON
BEY = “Turkish governor” + NO[o]N = “midday” with “dropped nothing” – this was made particularly tough because of only having 2 checked letters out of 6; very harsh given that BEY is quite obscure
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

17. Pithy saying on garden feature (5)
GNOME
Double definition: “Pity saying” and “garden feature” (I don’t think “on” is a very good link word)

** 21,15. Ethical tautology of navigators? (6,7)
SINBAD SAILORS
SIN BAD = “Ethical tautology” (since “sin” is presumably bad) + SAILORS = “navigators?”
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

22. Quick drink with peevish playwright (6)
O’NEILL
ONE = “Quick drink” + ILL = “peevish”
Definition: “playwright”

25. Tony Blair’s son holds strong fibre from the continent (8)
EUROPEAN
EUAN = “Tony Blair’s son” around ROPE = “strong fibre”
Definition: “from the continent”

26. Angry dog on iceberg (7)
GROWLER
Double definition: “Angry dog” and “iceberg”

28. See instructions
TOWN

29. A great deal on offer? (4)
LOTS
Double definition (I guess?): “A great deal” and “on offer?” (presumably as in lots at an auction?)

30. Mad rush — mpg involved (3,4)
MRS PUGH
(RUSH MPG)*
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

33. 100% at the roast? (5,3)
THE WHOLE HOG
A sort of cryptic allusion to a hog roast, I suppose
Definition: “100%”

34. Bog rounds off gateway (6)
PORTAL
PORTAL[oo] = “Bog” with “rounds” (i.e. letters O) taken off
Definition: “gateway”

36. Note on alternate pairings in Kincardineshire, formerly (6)
MEARNS
ME = “Note” (of the solfège) + [p]A[i]R[i]N[g]S
Definition: “Kincardineshire, formerly” (The Mearns)

37. Christmas bird dressed for school (5)
CAPON
(We didn’t know capons were particularly associated with Christmas, but since they’re large chickens apparently they’re sometimes a turkey substitute.)
Double definition: “Christmas bird” and “dressed for school” (CAP ON)

** 42. Area with restricted entry, having decayed body in spectacles (6,4)
NOGOOD BOYO
NO-GO = “Area with restricted entry” followed by (BODY)* in OO = “spectacles”
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

** 45. Pure white slates (4,6)
LILY SMALLS
LILY = “Pure white” followed by SMALLS = “slates” (Chambers gives a noun sense of “small” as “a size of roofing slate, 12 x 8in”)
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

46. Awfully coy about German chap, not seen before backsliding (6,4)
CHERRY OWEN
(COY)* around HERR = “German chap” followed by NEW = “not seen before” reversed
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

48. See instructions
STARLESS AND BIBLE-BLACK

Down

1. Helpless giggling of us in sack (3,4)
FOU RIRE
OUR = “of us” in FIRE = “sack”
Definition: “Helpless giggling”

2. Still one in the Skoda range (4)
YETI
YET = “Still” + I = “one”
Definition: “in the Skoda range” – apparently the Yeti is an SUV made by Skoda…

3. See instructions
NIGHT IN THE SMALL

5. See instructions
IT IS SPRING

6,20. Sea’s engulfed everyone winning — even these folk! (10)
MEDALLISTS
MED’S = “Sea’s” around ALL 1ST = “everyone winning”
Definition: “even these folk!”

7. Old cowman — new adherent (8)
NEATHERD
(ADHERENT)*
Definition: “Old cowman”

8,40. Western part of ancient kingdom and its northern part (5,5)
WILLY NILLY
I guess that “part of ancient kingdom” and the later “part” refer to ILLYRIA, but since it’s only “part”, we get W[estern] ILLLY + N[orthern] ILLY
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

9. Ravish 34 (8)
ENTRANCE
Double definition: “Ravish” and “[PORTAL]”

10. “Deadly” Kent and England bowler has a drink (5,4,4)
UNDER MILK WOOD
Derek UNDERWOOD was a Kent and England bowler, nicknamed “Deadly” – “has a drink” indicates UNDERWOOD is around MILK
Definition: omitted, but referrred to in the rubric – this is the theme of the puzzle

18. Contents of Norbert’s up river (4)
EBRO
Some of the “contents” of “Norbert” is ORBE, which is reversed (“up”) to give Ebro
Definition: “river”

19. Governing body troubled bandleader from Ohio (5,2,8)
BOARD OF ALDERMEN
(BANDLEADER FROM O)* This annoys me – I can’t find support for “O” on its own being an abbreviation for Ohio, so I assume this is a mistake. (It’s annoying because it made us fruitlessly waste time looking for other ways to decompose the clue rather than as an anagram because the fodder didn’t fit.)
Definition: “Governing body”

23. Car drivers showing order in roundabout at 1:20? (13)
AUTOMOBILISTS
A nice clue: OM = “order” (Order of Merit) in (ABOUT)* (from “roundabout”) + 1 LISTS = “1:20” (the answer to 20 is LISTS)
Definition: Car drivers

24. Workers removing top of Y-fronts (4)
ANTS
[p]ANTS = “Y-fronts” with the top removed
Definition: Workers

27. Sounds from 47? No! (4)
LOWS
(OWLS)*
Definition: the whole clue: LOWS would come from cows rather than OWLS

28. Venetian artist with link to river? See! (7)
TIEPOLO
TIE = “link” + PO = “river” + LO = “See!”
Definition: “Venetian artist”

31,4. State out loud which relatives (4,7)
UTAH WATKINS
UTAH = “State” + WAT sounds like “what” or “which” + KINS = “relatives” (although “kin” is already plural, I haven’t come across “kins” before…)
Definition: [themed answer, a character in Under Milk Wood]

32. Love! 43 15 appear under German carriages (6,4)
HANSOM CABS
O = “Love!” + MC = “[EMCEE]” + ABS = “[SAILORS]” all under HANS = “German”
Definition: “carriages”

35. Where to joust traditionally without a lion, maybe (4,4)
TILT YARD
An anagram of TRADITIONALLY without A LION, (TRDITALY)*
Definition: “Where to joust”

36. See instructions
MOONLESS

38. Acquires new besom in Cyprus (5,2)
COMES BY
(BESOM)* in CY = “Cyprus”
Definition: “Acquires”

39. Playwright showing that 1 + 1 is company (7)
IONESCO
I + ONE’S = “1 + 1 is” followed by CO = “company”
Definition: “Playwright”

43. 1,100 for the presenter (5)
EMCEE
1,100 in Roman numerals is MC – I think I’d like some indication in this clue that it should be the phonetically spelled version of those letters, although at least it’s easy to solve regardless
Definition: the presenter (MC or Master of Ceremonies, sometimes spelled out like this)

44. Mulling over dropping marks during employment? (5)
USING
MUSING = “Mulling over” without M = “marks”
Definition: “during employment?” (although there’s a question mark, this still doesn’t seem right to me – surely that would be “in use” rather than “using” – is there another way to make this definition work?)

47. Hooters for Wales, even! (4)
OWLS
The even letters from [f]O[r] W[a]L[e]S
Definition: “Hooters”

35 comments on “Guardian 26,238 / Maskarade”

  1. it was just a matter of looking up the list of characters and the (admittedly famous) opening lines.

    My experience was almost the same. A puzzle unsolvable for most unless they have internet access which sort of defeats the object really.

    Thanks for the blog mhl.

  2. Thanks mhl. I agree with you and with sidey and shared your reservations on a number of the clues. I do think though that BEY and PASHA have ample crossword precedent as terms for ‘Turkish governor’.

  3. Thanks to mhl for the blog. You solved several where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    When I looked at the rubric my first thought was University Challenge but I could not see how this fitted so I ignored it. Later on, once I had found the theme, I came back here and groaned – it was handed (more or less) on a plate!
    [I am reminded of an Araucaria holiday special where there were two grids but not the same as each other. The rubric said “You may wonder why these grids are mirror images” (my italics). After I had solved some clues and deduced ALICE I remembered that ‘looking glass’ is an old term for mirror!]

    Once I had found the theme I got a list of characters and tried to fit them in. 14a had lengths 7,3 so that was obviously Captain Cat but no joy 🙁

    45a had me baffled. I have a Chambers but failed to use it here. Silly me!

  4. Thanks – I really needed those explanations but Atilla should be spelled Attila for it to fit with neatherd.

  5. Many thanks, mhl

    I quickly discovered that DYLAN THOMAS was the theme and, knowing next to nowt about him, I quickly abandoned the puzzle.

    It made me realise how much I miss Araucaria!

  6. Thanks mhl. I solved quite a few of the non-themed clues, in more than one session, then gave up. Not enjoyable, in my book.

  7. Well this took a while.

    When I finally realised that this was Dylan Thomas and Under Milk Wood I was determined not to use Google. In the day I was quite an authority on Dylan as I wrote a long thesis on the author and his work as a school project. Consequently the solve was protracted.

    It took several days to drag up the quote having remembered the first line immediately. I was internally listening to Richard Burton’s 1954 voice beginning the play but he was hard to persuade to get past the first line.

    I listed off the characters I remembered easily: Captain Cat, Rosie Probert, Polly Garter, Myfanwy Price, Nogood Boyo, Mr Mog Edwards, Lord Cut Glass, Dai Bread. Only one of them in the puzzle!

    I finally got there on Tuesday but this was an enjoyable solve with some of the non themed clues being very good.

    A nice puzzle for me at Easter. However I realise that I will probably be in the minority, as ever, in that most people wont have the knowledge of Under Milk Wood to solve this unaided. This would, I fear, reduce a lot of the puzzle to a Google exercise!

    Thanks to mhl

  8. For me the main problem here was the lack of any real clue or enumeration for the quotation, which I don’t think was entirely fair. I found it possible, although difficult, to work out the characters without resorting to internet sources, but I eventually gave up on parts of the quotation.

    On O for Ohio, it’s in Chambers but seems to me to be a somewhat obsolete or at least non-standard abbreviation.

  9. Thanks Maskarade and mhl
    I made things hard for myself at the start by just reading the first part of the preamble, dashing off to find suitable authors (Laurie Lee was the only plausible alternative), then forgetting to read the rest (about the characters), so tried and failed to fit in quotations from the famous poems. However 10d was a write-in, so put me back on track.
    I could remember some of the characters but (as mentioned above) mostly ones who didn’t appear in the crossword; hence I too had to rely on Wikipedia. Because of the large number of entries that came directly from this, completion was disappointingly rapid.

  10. mhl – 13ac is ATTILA REES, not “Atilla Rees”.

    At 10dn I knew the “Deadly” Kent and England bowler as soon as I saw the clue so UNDER MILK WOOD was a write-in and I had the theme. I realised that I probably only knew some of the characters through previous crosswords but I still tried to solve it without recourse to aids. I got halfway through the puzzle before that didn’t seem like such a good idea after all, and I decided that I was never going to get the quotation without the enumeration. Once I’d got the quotation via Google, together with the UMW characters that I hadn’t been able to solve, I was able to finish the puzzle reasonable easily, but it made for an unsatisfying solve overall. FOU RIRE was my LOI when I decided to trust the wordplay.

  11. Re Sidey @ 1 – “unless you have the internet” … ???

    I have a copy of the book ! I looked at it ! That way, rather than just look at a list of characters, I was able to get some pleasure from skimming through and remembering the work, and remembering a great stage production I saw once.

    Internet, schminternet.

  12. My first was Mrs Pugh and so twigged that it was Under Milk Wood. Since it was more than 40 years since hearing it, it needed Google to get the quote and other characters. Then it was a reasonable exercise to get the remaining clues. Thanks mhl for the constructions for 23,34 and 35 which I could not parse.

  13. I really enjoyed this. I got a couple of the themed entries early on but didn’t guess their source. I avoided he temptation to Google and eventually got the Dylan Thomas theme by guessing ‘bible black’ in the bottom right corner. I had long forgotten the little I knew about Under Milk Wood but for some reason that phrase is still clear in my mind.

    It took a few days to solve, and in the end I had to give in and look up the last two names which I couldn’t even guess at. For an Easter weekend puzzle I would much rather have one that takes all weekend than one that is over in an hour or two. If it is on a theme that I don’t know well then all the better, I get to learn something new. I realise that most people won’t want this, and before I get shot down in flames, it is just my own preference; I’m not suggesting this is the ‘correct’ opinion or that anyone else should think the same.

    Thanks mhl and thanks Maskarade for a super puzzle.

  14. Thanks to Maskarade and to mhl.

    Once I saw the “author born 100 years ago” bit, I cheated by googling authors born in 1914. I picked Dylan Thomas as the most likely choice, remembered Under Milk Wood which fit the clueing very well, and then – like many others – had to resort to looking up the list of characters.

    Like Chas @3, I assumed the 7,3 was Captain Cat, and consequently got held up quite a bit before the crosses forced a rethink!

  15. Mum and I solved everything except 1d. There were many clues we enjoyed, such as PORTAL and CAPON. We weren’t sure on a few parsings e.g. WILLY NILLY so thanks mhi. GROWLER was one that we had to check definitions for using Google as we didn’t know it was an iceberg and likewise YETI as we weren’t familiar with the car.

    Before we started the crossword rather than turning to the Internet we spent a fun 30 minutes with a book on English Literature, guessing who was born in 1914 (many of our guesses turned out to be born in 1903/4). We found and discounted Laurie Lee as not having a sufficiently well known quotation or characters. On discovering Dylan Thomas was a possibility we found our way in. My Mum remembered that she had the CD with Richard Burton as the Narrator and a list of the characters, many of whom my Mum recalled, but part way through solving we played it anyway. It was inspiring! I remember Araucaria Prizes involved research in various books, road maps of the UK, the Atlas etc and this was a similar experience for us. Thank you very much Maskerade for an enjoyable two day solve.

  16. Good setting and some nice clues but not very enjoyable.

    Thanks mhl; I didn’t know anything about Under Milk Wood so had to rely on Google to provide the answers. After about 75% I abandoned it but then later decided to grind out to the finish. I had a full grid but lacked any real satisfaction. Obviously more enjoyable for the literati perhaps although even those with some knowledge of the book seem to have been stumped. I will probably remember ATTILA REES as this one caused a bit of a smile.

  17. Respect to all of you who got through this, by whatever means, but this was just too obscure for me and, I suggest, anyone with no particular love of literature (and hence no desire to wade through references just for the sake of a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ pastime).

    Many of the non-themed clues were also very obscure so in a weekend packed with gardening and DIY and daylight until 8pm this was almost literally a non-starter.

    Nevertheless I admire Maskarade for the setting and mhl for the solving. I’m sure I would have had a good go if I had been on a desert island surrounded by reference books (and an unlimited supply of red wine…)

  18. i looked forward to Maskarade in the way i looked forward to ARAUCARIA. His cluing is immaculate and even knowing the theme , having a list of characters in front of me it still took some considerable time to complete the grid. I was not impressed though with an unclued quotation and am still trying to fathom the references to the non characters clues, but I hope Maskerade continues to do these puzzles and perhaps throw in an alphabetical one for good measure.

  19. We enjoyed this, despite getting the theme fairly early and only having a hazy memory of it. Wikipedia was our friend, but it brought back some recollections of the play. Even having filled in the characters, there was still plenty to do and so kept us pleasantly diverted over the break.

  20. Like you, MHL (and maybe others, Cherry Owen was my way in, but I nearly came a cropper by convincing myself that the relevant quote was the one which ends ‘fishing boat bobbing sea’. This would have fit nicely across the bottom (48 across)and is the quote I best remember from doing this at school years ago.

    Fortunately, I saw the light eventually and it was a reasonably easy solve. I agree, though, that it wasn’t particularly challenging as it was necessary to resort to aids (unless you knew the work inside out, which I don’t). Tried in vain to find the cassette copy of UMW which is somewhere in the house, and had to resort to Google. I don’t like doing that, it’s too much of a cop out I feel. I much prefer, as George above mentions, ferreting things out from a variety of reference books – leads to lots more serendipitous distractions.

    But thanks, Maskarade. I look forward to your next. And thanks MHL for confirming the few I was a bit unsure of

  21. Keith says:
    “Internet, schminternet”

    ==

    I always wondered what Jewish Man City fans were supposed to say, when Schmeichel missed a save.

  22. Surely SINBAD is a truism, not a tautology.

    I had a similar solving experience to most and could not have completed it without Googling (surely the generic “Searchengining” or “Searchengineering” is preferable?), but I enjoyed the process anyway. I ended up with everything solved except the thematic ones — the sole exception being Mrs Pugh, the only possible anagram, but she didn’t ring any bells. As most of the other thematic names were so whimsical, they could not have been guessed without Wikipedia or a vivid recollection of UMW. It might have been a bit too easy and boring if I’d had the latter. All in all, I think it was a very successful challenge.

  23. Thanks mhl and Maskarade

    Like several others I enjoyably solved a fair proportion of the puzzle until the theme and some of the characters became clear. Having got this far and realising I could go no further without extra aids, I gave it up.

  24. (surely the generic “Searchengining” or “Searchengineering” is preferable?)

    Or “searching”, “searching online” if the context isn’t clear.

    Me, I Startpage.com

  25. Not having much literary knowledge, my experience was the same as others, particularly Tim @18 . Having answers with no clues seems like a contradiction to the idea of a crossword, so a large part of it would have been hopeless without the internet but was trivial with it. Some of the partial clues would have been unsolvable without the theme, so I can see no alternative to finding the answers and then trying to work out why they are correct. If anyone worked out Willy Nilly from the wordplay alone, I am in awe!
    Mrs Pugh was my way in too, since a two-word anagram with one vowel has limited possibilities. The rest then fell in to place by the end of Saturday.

  26. I had mixed feelings about this one – I was away in Scotland so had limited access to any reference material. We managed about half of it unaided on the Saturday – including the “… small town starless and bible black” part of the long quote and we guessed a few plausible character names from the wordplay (I knew that King Crimson borrowed the title “Starless and Bible Black” from Under Milk Wood but I wasn’t familiar with the full introduction or any of the character names).

    None of us could remember any more, so when the wifi at the hotel started working on the Sunday, we looked up the quotation and a list of characters and most of the rest dropped out fairly easily (though we didn’t see medallists and I forgot to look at that again). I think it was an entertaining and fair challenge for a holiday weekend but not one that could be solved unaided except by an expert on the play.

    Thanks to mhl and Maskarade

  27. Thanks to everyone for the comments – I’ve fixed the misspelling of ATTILA now, sorry for the delay in doing that, due to travelling for work at the moment…

  28. Is it possible that in 19 down the words “(band)leader from” are doing double duty as anagram fodder and indicating that it’s the “leader from Ohio” i.e. its first letter, that needs to be added to the fodder?

  29. Hi mhl
    I didn’t see your comment regarding 19dn until Vin added his @30. O as an abbreviation for Ohio is in Chambers (12th Ed) and COED.

  30. Gaufrid: strange, I consulted Chambers at the time and didn’t find Ohio under O – I must have just missed it. (Or maybe I have an older edition – I’m in Santiago and my copy of Chambers is in London so I can’t check at the moment!)

    It seems to be a very odd abbreviation nonetheless, since obviously you can’t distinguish 50 states with 26 letters of the alphabet… I wonder if there’s some special context (e.g. it’s a letter in an alternative phonetic alphabet or something?)

  31. (Occasional contributor and long-time follower of the site.) Just wanted to say thank you to mhl and all other posters, plus the setters. I agree with the comments that this needed too much checking on Google to be truly enjoyable. Mostly solved online after the penny dropped while I was sitting in a park here in Istanbul!

  32. From Mary
    I thought some clues were brilliant though I would like a puzzle with equally clever clues but which does not require specialist knowledge. I used to do these puzzles on long train journeys as it was easy to take the puzzle cut out of the paper. But not any more as I don’t wish to carry Google equipment , and half a dozen ref books when travelling!!

    By the way, what does LOI mean (Andy B )?

  33. Mary: LOI means “last one in” – it’s used a lot more on “Times for the Times”, which inspired Fifteensquared.

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