Things got off to a bad start when I went to the Guardian site and saw that “this crossword is not yet available” (as it’s still saying as I write this at 9.20am). Fortunately it didn’t take too much detective work to track down the PDF version, and it was soon obvious that this puzzle has the unusual feature that several of the entries occur in more than one clue. In fact there’s a chain: 25,15/15,10/10,18/18,7/7,21/21,29. Understandably the online version can’t cope with this kind of thing; less understandably, surely someone must have known in advance that this would be a problem, so that the website could have said this and given a link to the PDF, rather than just an error message.
Anyway, the difficulties of finding the puzzle were soon replaced by difficulty in solving it: I was staring at an almost empty grid for quite a while (and painfully aware that there was no cheat button to get me out of trouble), but eventually it started to yield, with the chained answers giving plenty of help once I’d got a couple of them and twigged on to the idea. Looking back at the clues there seems to be nothing much that’s particularly complex, so I think the difficulty is a tribute to the setter’s ability to conceal their structure in plain sight. Thanks to Imogen for a tough but satisfying challenge.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SPECKLE | Spot golfer about to receive kiss (7) PECK in reverse of [Ernie] ELS |
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| 5. | FLY-PAST | Run over airy tribute (3-4) FLY (run) + PAST (over) |
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| 10,18. | GROUNDBREAKING | Pioneering way to make dog run? (14) You can make “dog run” by BREAKING (taking an anagram of) GROUND |
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| 11. | RUFFIANS | Hoods and collars worn by Scot (8) IAN in RUFFS |
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| 12. | GOA | State proposal that’s acceptable to audience (3) Homophone of “goer” (as in “it’s a goer”, describing an acceptable suggestion) |
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| 13. | KINDLE | Light reader (6) Double definition |
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| 14. | VOLATILE | Oval-shaped ceramic not lasting long (8) OVAL* + TILE |
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| 15,10. | UNDERGROUND | Tube not sufficiently fine? (11) Something (e.g. flour) that is UNDER GROUND (i.e. not ground enough) might not be fine |
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| 16. | SNAKEBITE | Drink — don’t go straight to snack (9) SNAKE (move sinuously, not straight) + BITE (snack) |
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| 19. | STILLROOM | Not where housekeeper stores the fizzy drinks? (9) Cryptic definition (rather a let-down compared to the general standard of the puzzle) |
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| 21,29. | BLANK CHEQUE | Complete freedom to ignore what may be drawn (5,6) BLANK (ignore) + CHEQUE (which may be drawn) |
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| 24. | COUCHANT | Holding head up, lying with pained expression in slang (8) OUCH in CANT. Couchant is a heraldic term, meaing “lying down with the head up” |
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| 26. | EEYORE | Friend to bear every journey with constant interruptions (6) Alternate letters of EvErY jOuRnEy, and Eeyore was a friend to Pooh Bear |
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| 27. | AGA | Muslim official, a polytheist at heart (3) [p]AGA[n] |
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| 28. | PLUMBING | Fruit and wine store getting good trade (8) PLUM + BIN + G |
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| 29. | CHEQUE | Charlie for one, say, with 7 (6) This refers homophonically to Checkpoint Charlie, the former crossing point between East and West Berlin. There doesn’t seem to be a definition, but as the answer is also included in 21,29 I’ll let Imogen off. |
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| 30. | SPLODGE | In small house, parking is a bit of a mess (7) P in S LODGE |
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| 31. | ON PAPER | In theory, propane is explosive (2,5) PROPANE* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2. | PERMIAN | Each person is fitted with one in old age (7) PER (each) + I in MAN. The Permian is a geological age, covering about 250-300 million years ago. |
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| 3. | COUP D’OEIL | Police do wrong to arrest unionist, is the general view (4,5) U in (POLICE DO)*. Chambers defines this as “a general view at a glance” |
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| 4. | LEDGER | From shelf, take book (6) LEDGE (shelf) + R (take, as used in prescriptions, from Latin Recipe) |
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| 6. | LIFELIKE | Realistic opportunity to keep playing — my Facebook response? (8) LIFE (an opportunity to keep playing, in video games ,etc) + LIKE (as done in Facebook and elsewhere to approve of something) |
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| 7,21. | POINT-BLANK | Being blunt after misuse no bit can bore into piece of wood (5-5) (NO BIT)* in PLANK |
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| 8. | SINGLET | Top missing, letter’s incomplete (7) Hidden in misSING LETter |
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| 9. | CRAVEN COTTAGE | Fearful sort of hospital, 10 (6,7) CRAVEN (fearful) + COTTAGE (hospital), for the ground of Fulham football club |
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| 17. | BALLYMENA | Wretched folk acquire a place in Ireland (9) BALLY MEN + A |
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| 18,7. | BREAKING POINT | Rendering pencil unusable, that’s when one loses it (8,5) Breaking a pencil’s point would make it unusable |
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| 20. | TROLLOP | Turn over in half a bikini? Bad girl! (7) ROLL in TOP |
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| 22. | NURTURE | After fighting, you finally return to rear (7) ([yo]U RETURN)* |
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| 23. | BEACON | Shining example of slogan encouraging more criminals? (6) Te slogan is “BE A CON” |
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| 25,15. | COMPOUNDER | Order grinder attached to front of cement mixer (10) C[ement] + OM (Order of Merit) + POUNDER (grinder) |
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Thanks for a great blog, Andrew.
This puzzle has turned out to be even cleverer than I thought it was: I hadn’t even noticed the clues at 29ac and 18,7, because I’d already got the answers from other clues.
A real tour de force from Imogen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a bit of a struggle to get going and I did it literally in four stages: bottom right, top left, bottom left then 9dn, which opened up the top right – with a few rests in between each!
[A bit of a hold-up at 30ac, where I was trying to do something with [C]OTTAGE / [mess of] [P]OTTAGE – so I was quite amused then to find COTTAGE in 9dn.]
Many thanks to Imogen for a most enjoyable work-out.
Thanks Andrew. The bloggers on the Guardian site helped me to get the PDF version, and it was well worth it. After a smooth start, helped by the linked clues, I got nicely bogged on the left side. In the end I sought help (from TEAS) for 28A, then kicked myself. SPLODGE was last in – I’d kept thinking of ‘pottage’ with its mess link. Excellent, Imogen.
waiting for this to appear, I went back to the Genius where I managed to scrape over the finish line- initial hunch on the theme proved correct.The genius refers to the setting!Great fun.
Then to Imogen- took a while to adjust after Enigmatist but got there in the end.last but not least was 26. But I dont think I was alone in admiring 9.Thanks Mr Imogen.
Thats 2 Tuesdays in a row with a prob for the Guardian but no complaints.
Actually 17 is Northern Ireland but thats maybe being a bit fussy
Found it through the ‘other place’ . Got going through 19ac and then worked my way round. Didn’t need the crossed clues – indeed didn’t notice that I hadn’t looked at them until I read the blog.
Very enjoyable as usual. Favourite was 26ac.
Thx
Northern Ireland is in (the island of) Ireland, copmus!
Completed all but 3d, which is three words, IMHO
Thanks for the blog Andrew. For the life of me I couldn’t see the R = “Take” in Ledger.
Stillroom does seem rather weak in an otherwise excellent puzzle. As a Fulham supporter I am mortified that 9 took me ages to work out.
Very fun puzzle indeed (has this concept been done before? I’ve never seen it). Normally, I don’t like clues like 25,15, where the word is split non-etymologically, but I think that Imogen gets away with it here – especially since the word fits the theme perfectly. Interestingly, the start and end of the chain gives a phrase as well: “COMPO CHEQUE” (tabloid speak for a compensation payout). I wonder if this was intentional, or just a coincidence.
Schroduck @ 9
I don’t know Imogen’s background, but when I worked at a builders merchant in Cheshire in the 80s & 90s, COMPO was a slang term for cement, which I thought linked neatly with the clue.
Thanks, Andrew.
One meaning of “coup doeil” is the ability of a commander to see at a glance the strength or weakness of a military position. Hence the view of a general.
Or is this too far out?
Thanks Imogen, good fun, although tough without a ‘Check’ button.
Thanks Andrew; I’ve sometimes used words twice in puzzles but haven’t made a long chain, like here.
Some great clues; favourites for EEYORE and BLANK CHEQUE.
Enjoyed this a lot – no problems with the paper version, but like Andrew it took me a while to get going, and it lasted just long enough to use up the last of my lunch break, with COUCHANT and KINDLE the last two in. Failed to parse NURTURE – fighting as anagrind didn’t occur to me but should have. Liked GROUNDBREAKING, CRAVEN COTTAGE and BALLYMENA.
Thanks to Imogen and Andrew
Thanks, Andrew.
Great puzzle. Like others, I found this impenetrable to start with, but once I got the hang of it it yielded steadily, though not rapidly. NW quadrant was last to be cracked – I spent far to long thinking that ‘kiss’ = x in 1a.
Lots of well constructed clues; EEYORE was my favourite.
Wasn’t the STILLROOM the responsibility of the butler, not the housekeeper?
This is one seriously classy crossword. Congratulations to Imogen for first filling the grid so ingeniously then coming up with a series of worthy clues. Almost too many to mention, but EEYORE has to be up there with the best ever.
UNDERGROUND was my first in, with the distinct advantage of being on the appropriate train at the time. However it took a quick pub stop, the return journey and back home before BLANK CHEQUE materialised. I’d been through so many blanks meanwhile! Talk about hiding in plain sight …
Very good fun though, in the absence of a usable printer, I had to solve the clues without being able to enter them in a grid. For some reason it took me ages to see the ‘singlet’ at 8d.
I agree with those of you who are of the opinion that this was an excellent puzzle. I did what George@16 did and solved it by looking at the PDF on the screen, and by a strange coincidence SINGLET was also the last answer I got. I found the NE quadrant in general harder than the rest of the puzzle.
A struggle, but a satisfying one. I do like clues like these which are actually clever, rather than just saying “ooh look at me showing off”.
I fared better with this than Imogen’s last puzzle. PERMIAN was the last one in-the word PORTION wouldn’t go away even though it didn’t make any sense at all. But both clever and satisfying.
Thanks Imogen.
As noted by others, ‘hiding in plain sight’ captures Imogen’s clues perfectly. She is excellent, with clues so good that 19a doesn’t quite seem in keeping – but, that’s praising with faint damn really.
Couldn’t solve 2d, and have been reminded (again) that r denotes recipe.
Thanks to Andrew.
Great puzzle, although it took a lot of head-scratching. I somehow guessed that ‘Friend to bear’ meant a pal of Pooh, but couldn’t work either Piglet or Wol into the answer! Eventually saw EEYORE.
Many thanks to Imogen and Andrew.
I also enjoyed this.
I spent a long time looking for another BALLY after entering BALLYMENA when I realised that BLANK CANVAS wouldn’t fit!!!! Well it can also be drawn!
Like others on here I completed the SE corner first and worked out from there.
LOI was 3D.
Thanks to Andrew and Imogen
This is a puzzle that rewards (and sustains) my crossword addiction! Fun and quality of a high level. Imogen knows what he’s doing and, it seems, is mindful of the solver. I think it took longer to get going than to travel! And several clues were ticked (10ac, 9dn and – my COD – 26ac).
And Brendan(nto) also enjoyed it! A rare accolade?!
A great blog though I disagree about 29; to me, “Charlie for one” is the definition (and perhaps Permian is “in old age” rather than “old age”?)
“Stillroom” is only relatively weak (in some puzzles, it would pass without comment) which highlights the quality of clueing.
If all this weren’t enough, there were more than a few elegant surfaces (and not a clunk to be heard!)
Heartfelt thanks to Imogen.
Thanks to Andrew.
Have I missed something about the mysterious Imogen – copmus @3 “Mr” and William @23 “he’s” both allude to maleness but I don’t remember seeing any previous reference here to his/her identity…
I didn’t feel the need to comment on this crossword yesterday.
Everything’s already been said.
A fantastic achievement by one of the Guardian’s new regulars (I still have doubts whether this is really the same Imogen as years and years ago).
I had to think of this puzzle again when I re-read Eileen’s post (“I hadn’t even noticed the clues at 29ac and 18,7, because I’d already got the answers from other clues”) and the one by Robi (“I’ve sometimes used words twice in puzzles but haven’t made a long chain, like here”).
There are six clues in a chain, starting with COMPOUNDING (my A) and ending with BLANK CHEQUE (my F). Also the second part of my F is clued separately (my F2).
I suspect, Robi, that in your puzzles you had something like AB and BC and that’s it then.
Here, and I have never seen that before, three (!) clues are strictly speaking superfluous: B (UNDERGROUND), D (BREAKING POINT) and either F (BLANK CHEQUE) or F2 (CHEQUE).
When solving a crossword we always tick off clues that we found.
After finishing the puzzle, 29ac was still unticked …..
Schroduck mentioned that COMPO CHEQUE had a meaning but it would have been really something if Imogen could have linked F to A (in that order), perhaps by extending the chain.
But, wow, what a sensational crossword.
Simply sensational? Do I hear Alan Hansen?
Beery Hiker –
Good question. According to fifteensquared’s list of compilers, Imogen is a new setter; there is no information about her/him. I’d naturally assumed Imogen was female, but recall previous blogs referred to ‘him’ as a her. Surprised, I naturally remembered this. I am now having second thoughts – have I perpetuated another’s myth? ‘Sinteresting?!
Of course, I mean – referred to ‘her’ as a him!
William F P @26/27 – thanks for that. I was curious because Imogen is becoming one of the setters I look forward to most and I don’t think she/he has ever commented here. There was some speculation after the first (or second if we count 2003) one appeared, and I thought there could have been something on the Guardian site, which I don’t follow as closely as this one.
Thanks Imogen and Andrew
Quite a brilliant puzzle – originally shelved after taking a while to actually get a copy and the initial pass presented nothing.
Was well worth coming back to three weeks on!! The solve fell in two halves for me – firstly the RHS and then painstakingly the LHS, with SPLODGE and PERMIAN the last two in.
Really innovative theme and some sharp clues, including the special EEYORE and the clever LIFELIKE. New words for me included COUCHANT, COUP D’OEIL and CRAVEN COTTAGE.
Late, but certainly no less enjoyable for being so!!