Guardian 26,467 / Nutmeg

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I see that in the preamble to my last blog of a Nutmeg puzzle I referred to the elegance of the clues, the silky smoothness of the surfaces and the lightness of touch. Here’s more of the same. Favourite clues from a nicely varied set: 11, 14 and 18ac and 6, 13 and 19dn.

Many thanks to Nutmeg for a most enjoyable puzzle.

[It had struck me that there were several sports references, as in yesterday’s puzzle, but nothing really to constitute a theme, so I wasn’t going to mention it. On the point of posting, the bottom row caught my eye, with its association with 19dn and 9ac [?] but I can’t really see what’s going on. I await enlightenment!]

Across

8 Police raids in a remote part of Italy (8)
SARDINIA
Anagram [police] of RAIDS IN A

9 Half-hearted Mercian, say, rejected 18 as a rule (2,3)
OF AGE
Reversal [rejected] of EG [say] + OF[f]A [the ‘half-hearted’ 8th century king of Mercia who built the Dyke

10 Heart of problem granny? (4)
KNOT
Double definition – I remember the heart of the problem in learning how to tie a reef knot was trying to avoid ending up with a ‘granny’

11 Prosthetic limb worn by gangster causes unnecessary panic (5,5)
FALSE ALARM
FALSE ARM [prosthetic limb] round [worn by] AL [Capone, the familiar crossword gangster]

12 Report of man kidnapping head of state (6)
CAESAR
Sounds like [report of] ‘seizer’ [man kidnapping]

14 Prayer involving a couple of bishops — one left in a huff (8)
CRABBILY
CRY [prayer] round A BB [a couple of bishops] + I [one] + L [left]

16 Definition: brief romp in metropolis (7)
CLARITY
LAR[k] [brief romp] in CITY [metropolis] – nice definition!

18 Pat kindly heading off to catch theologian’s lecture (7)
ADDRESS
[c]ARESS [pat kindly] round [to catch] DD [Doctor of Divinity – theologian]

21 Take part, bagging large total (8)
COMPLETE
COMPETE [take part] round L [large]

23 Function in East after costs reduced by 40% (6)
COSINE
IN E [in East] after 60% of COS[ts]

24 Heavy plant banker’s loaded in the van (10)
PILEDRIVER
RIVER [banker] after [in the van] PILED [loaded]

26 Intrepid orator’s dismissed during play (4)
BOLD
Sounds like [orator’s] bowled [dismissed in cricket]

27 Artist in island sent back formal headdress (5)
TIARA
Reversal [sent back] of RA in AIT [island]

28 Boots, perhaps, in revolutionary films (8)
CHEMISTS
CHE [revolutionary – another crossword hero] + MISTS [films] – we had Boots the Chemists from Arachne very recently

Down

1 Outcome of trip for Gunners? It could cause postponement of match (8)
RAINFALL
A trip for the Gunners could be expressed as RA [Royal Artillery] IN FALL – lovely clue

2 Selection of scattered items put together (4)
EDIT
Hidden in scatterED ITems

3,17,25 Last order from hero often misrepresented on course (3,3,3,4)
ONE FOR THE ROAD
Anagram [misrepresented] of HERO OFTEN + ROAD [course]

4 One way to secure former standing within group (7)
PADLOCK
Reversal [standing] of OLD [former] in PACK [group]

5,15,23 Underhand elem­ents of golf and soccer (4-3-6)
HOLE-AND-CORNER
HOLE [element of golf] AND CORNER [element of soccer]

6 Ribaldry exchanged between opponents? They are certainly up for it (5,5)
EARLY BIRDS
Anagram [exchanged] of RIBALDRY in E [East] and S [South] – bridge opponents

7 Flier‘s to be in France, put in place (6)
PETREL
ÊTRE [to be in France] in PL [place]

13 From which you could get lamp recast? (5,5)
SCRAP METAL
Anagram of LAMP RECAST – &lit, I think

19 Wrinkles up, vanity half gone? It’s a hazard of old age (8)
SENILITY
Reversal [up] of LINES [wrinkles] +[van]ITY

20 Court proceedings need this periodic overhaul (7)
SERVICE
Double / cryptic definition, court proceedings referring to tennis – after Rufus’  ‘repeated mistakes by servicemen’ for DOUBLE FAULTS yesterday

22 Drug, one chewed and swallowed after surgery (6)
OPIATE
OP [surgery] + I [one] + ATE [chewed and swallowed]

26 Financial security essential for cricketer (4)
BAIL
Double definition

40 comments on “Guardian 26,467 / Nutmeg”

  1. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen. Bit of a Mondayish feel to this – and (pedants’ corner), 26D BAIL: bails are not essential to enable cricket to be played. They can be dispensed with if the wind is so strong they keep blowing off. And of course there must be thousands of games of rough cricket played without them.

  2. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen

    I failed to solve 9a, 10a, 4d and needed help to parse 26a & 24a.

    New words for me were PILEDRIVER & HOLE AND CORNER

  3. Thanks, Eileen. I spent as long afterwards as the puzzle had taken, chasing the ELDERLY but, like you, couldn’t see where they were going! Perhaps this is an occasion when a Nina is not intended?

  5. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen

    If you want an extremely tenuous (accidental?) Nina that links to elderly, senility etc, column 5 reads I AIL DR.

    OK, I’ll get mi coat!

  6. My second puzzle of the day and again, a very good technical composition. Nutmeg was not up to the mark IIRC the last time out, but today she (I think) is back to form. Very good piece.

    So hedgehoggy is not one of the ‘moaners’ today! Well not so far anyway.

  7. Glad it’s not just me, NeilW. I didn’t want to delay the blog by investigating further, since I spotted it so late. Thanks for the suggestion, Simon. I don’t think I actually *want* any such Nina – it’s too close to home. 🙁

    [I did mean to add how satisfying it is when composite answers appear as in the symmetrical 3,17,25 and 5,15,23 and not dotted all over the puzzle.]

  8. Thank you Eileen – needed your parsing of PILEDRIVER.

    I spotted the bottom row early but having since crawled all over this grid I can’t spot anything else. Surely this can’t be chance?

    Nice week all.

  9. As Nutmeg has previous in the Nina dept., I also had a long look at the puzzle, having seen “elderly” more or less immediately. The central column reads “hears” upside down and the central row is an anagram of “heads” (or indeed shade or Hades, now I come to think of it). Column 1 suggests an alliance between South Korea and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Not sure any of this makes me any wiser.
    Had to cheat on 12a, very annoying.
    thanks to Eileen and to Nutmeg

  10. Thanks, Eileen.

    Fun puzzle, with some imaginative constructions and surfaces. I was briefly misled into thinking that ‘scattered’ in 2d and ‘recast’ in 13d were both anagrinds; good examples of Nutmeg’s skill at writing succinct clues with smooth surfaces incorporating ambiguous words.

    I’m not entirely convinced by ‘police’ as an anagram indicator, though it does give a good surface for 8a.

    Favourites were FALSE ALARM (smile here), PILEDRIVER (splendid clue), RAINFALL, PADLOCK, EARLY BIRDS, SCRAP METAL.

  11. Must be the weather or more likely 19d but I struggled. A very good range of clue types with few DDs, however how does ‘police’ work as an anagram indicator ? Nutmeg seems to use it purely to polish the surface.

  12. @10 and 11, re “police” as an anagrind……I thought this was a bit rum as well; I’ve recently bought Chambers 12th. ed. which has a central section dedicated to various crossword indicators, including a list of 200+ anagrinds. Sure enough, police is in it, though I’ve no idea why

  13. I did wonder about ‘police’ but then thought of it as ‘control’. Chambers has ‘to put or keep in order’, which works for me.

  14. Thank you Nutmeg and Eileen

    I needed help with parsing OF AGE and PILEDRIVER.

    Favourites were RAINFALL, SENILITY and SERVICE.

    At first I thought there was going to be a theme of BIRDS, with KNOT and PETREL…
    I also spotted the word on the bottom line and tied it in with 9a and 19d; if it is a theme perhaps
    EARLY BIRDS goes with it, and, in reply to NeilW @3, SCRAP IRON?
    Simon S @5 has pointed out I AIL DR in column 5, and in the last column there is MY SEDS, hopefully just a FALSE ALARM.

  16. Eileen @13: That may well be the explanation for the use of ‘police’ as an anagrind, but it still doesn’t satisfy me. ‘Police’ can be interpreted (just about) as ‘put in order’, but the ‘order’ here is ‘civil calm’ and not ‘sequence’. So it only works through a different meaning of a synonymous phrase, which seems a bit tenuous.

  17. Yes, that was one that caught my eye too, and having checked the entries I agree with Gervase. A minor point however in a good showing today.

  18. Thanks Nutmeg & Eileen.

    I found this a bit of a struggle. Although I filled in the LHS, the RHS took at least twice as long. Thanks for the parsing of BOLD and OF AGE. Small point but you’ve got an extra ‘A’ in 18 – see I do read the blog. 🙂

  19. Never ever heard of HOLE-AND-CORNER so that needed checking. CAESAR completely threw me, convinced, simple soul that I am, that I had to put an S (head of state) into something mannish. Like baerchen @9, a little cheat was in order.

  21. After yesterday I may get into trouble for mentioning elderly, but despite searching, I can’t add any more to that either – the grid did suggest the possibility of a longer nina. Enjoyed this a lot – just the right level of challenge to last most of the lunch break without any major showstoppers. Last in was PADLOCK after CRABBILY. Liked OF AGE, FALSE ALARM and SERVICE.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Eileen.

  24. This took me rather longer than I think it should have done,although I spent quite a long time trying to solve OF AGE and ended up putting it in anyway so thanks Eileen. I can’t say I like it much though. I didn’t see the “theme” but one who is in his footage I try to avoid references to old age,senility etc.
    Quite a lot to enjoy here however.
    Thanks Nutmeg

  25. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen
    Late to this one today. I’m not convinced about “police” as an anagram indicator either, and I’ve only heard “hole-in-the-corner” rather than “hole-and-corner”.
    CAESAR is not a homophone of “seizer” for me!

  26. I’ve seen “police” used in a “to put in order” sense–not often, though. Back when I was a Boy Scout, whenever we broke camp, we “policed the campground,” which meant carefully removing litter, thoroughly extinguishing campfires, and generally restoring (to the extent possible) the status quo ante. Similarly, some say you police your station after you’re done cooking in a large kitchen.

  27. Thanks Eileen and Nutmeg

    A clever puzzle as others have said. I didn’t like the definition in 12a very much but the clue did interestingly mislead me for a time. My favourite was probably 9a.

    I missed the possible theme but one might add ‘b(l—y) old’ from my own occasional self-perceptions of it.

  28. Oh, and I should mention that I spent far too long trying to load various rivers into the middle of various words meaning “van” (to my credit, I did consider “van” in either the vehicular or military sense).

    Incidentally–I know it’s a crossword convention, but “banker” for “river” is really stupid–no one actually uses the word that way. I can just about put up with “flower,” because if someone says “flower” with a long O, what else is it going to mean? But “banker” for me is a step too far.

  29. It’s funny that if you assume, for example, that a head of state is male, all hell breaks loose – but if you assume that a kidnapper is male, nobody turns a hair!

    Didn’t anyone else think it odd that the ‘seizer’ in 12 had to be specified as a ‘man’.   Really offensive to us masculists! 😉

    Enjoyed the crossword, though I found it quite challenging today for some reason.

    Thanks both.

  30. Limeni @29

    I know that your reponse was tongue in cheek – and thank you for the smile – but what a can of worms!

    It seems that all agent nouns are assumed to be masculine. At least, that’s how it seemed in one of Arachne’s early puzzles when she somehow – I can’t remember how and it would take too long to find out – clued ‘driver’ as feminine and, as you say, all hell broke loose [in the customarily gentle way here, of course]. Since then, we have become used to Arachne defying the gender stereotypes at every opportunity – and all power to her elbow!

  31. Yes, I was being entirely playful, as you suggest; and it was with Arachne’s entertaining (and as you say, admirable) one-woman war against assumptions vaguely in mind.

    But for sure let’s leave those worms in the can. 🙂

  32. Many thanks for the blog, Eileen, and to Nutmeg for a fun and challenging puzzle. As a lawyer (apologies!) I wondered whether 20d was a reference to proceedings in (civil) law courts, where service is also required — I missed entirely the tennis reference which I see works just as well.

  33. Hi Giudice @32

    I don’t think you need to apologise [here] for being a lawyer. 😉

    But I’m wondering if you are the fairly new solver who corresponded with me last week as del Giudice? My sincere apologies if not – but it seemed rather a coincidence – and if so, it’s best to stick to one pseudonym, to avoid confusion

    Certainly, as you say, court proceedings involve service, which is what makes the surface so delightfully smooth, and then the tennis allusion provides the cryptic element – which makes another excellent clue.

    [My easiest captcha ever: ? x one = 1]

  34. Hi Eileen, yes that’s me – sorry I’ll stick to this pseudonym from now on!

    Mine a bit more challenging: 9 – ? = 5!

  35. According to Crossword Solver there are some 34,000 eight letter words, so the probability of an eight letter word appearing at random in the bottom line is about one in six million.

    Thanks, Eileen and Nutmeg

  36. Hi Giudice

    It’s good to hear from you – thanks for the confirmation. [Just to clarify: bloggers receive emails of comments on their blogs but Friday’s wasn’t my blog, so I couldn’t confirm,]

    As I said before, please keep commenting. 😉

    Latest captcha: 1 – one = ?

    Oo-er! – a bit too much for this ELDERLY blogger but I’ll do my best

  37. Dave @35 – I can’t be bothered to check the calculation, but I hope you aren’t assuming that all letters appear with equal frequency. Certain letters are probably disproportionately likely to appear at the end of a word too, so the figures for the S and E sides may be different to those for N and W..

  38. beery hiker – yes, I am, it was just the crudest calculation one could do to get some feel for the problem. What you say is quite correct, and I have no doubt someone will have looked at this sort of thing already. My feeling is, it will still be unlikely it is not deliberate – perhaps Nutmeg could confirm it for us?

  40. Thanks Nutmeg and Eileen

    Didn’t get to this one until today … and didn’t find it as easy as some of you did. HOLE-AND-CORNER was a new term. Failed to parse CHEMISTS except for knowing about Boots was a chain of them from knowing ghat , so thanks for that.

    Spotted ELDERLY along the bottom and HEARS going up one of the columns – but nothing beyond that.

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