Clues by Paul and Grid by etc
Theme: Gustav Holst (born 21st September 1874) and The Planets (premiered 29th September 1918)
The winner of the September puzzle is Heather Haigh of Oxfordshire.
Review of the September 2024 3D crossword
For the second month in a row, we were treated to a Seven Dials grid (thank you to ‘etc’), which not only creates space for more clues (49) than usual, but also, since those clues were not in alphabetical order, adds a level of challenge for the solver.
Moreover, the Seven Dials grid allows for deeper exploitation of a theme, and this was certainly the case here. Gustav Holst and the Planets theme emerged early in the solving process, thanks in no small measure to Graham Fox’s photograph. What a brilliant contribution he has made to the calendar over the years and we express our deep gratitude to him.
All seven planets were clued along with appropriate epithets — the only one of the latter I could not detect was for Mercury, the Winged Messenger, but this did not affect completing the grid, so I am looking forward to reading the solution notes.
I was introduced to the Planets Suite at primary school by an enlightened teacher in the days when the curriculum was not constrained by a fixation with subordinating connectives. One of the most fulfilling aspects of 3D crosswords is the incentive to explore themes more widely. Who knew, for example, that guitarist Tony Iommi reworked the opening passage of Mars on the first track of the seminal album Black Sabbath in 1970? Gustav Holst as hard rock pioneer — fascinating.
Paul is a prolific and prominent Guardian setter who also sets puzzles in the Financial Times, the Telegraph, the Times and elsewhere as Mara, Mudd, Punk and Dada. Back in 2011, the Guardian Crossword Blog editor said: “I think of Paul’s as one of the cheekier crosswords — sometimes risqué, bang-up-to-date with its references and often splutter-out-loud funny.” It is remarkable that he has sustained these qualities throughout the last two decades.
Any puzzle from Paul promises a feast of inventive and humorous clueing, and this offering was no exception. In particular, he is a master of brevity: of the 48 written clues, well over half (30) are of six words or fewer. That is quite a feat. Favourite clues were: “Bar in Slough failing to close” (MARS), “Metal that’s loaded with loaded metal” (MERCURY), “Partner of quiet wizard at gym?” (PEACE), “Car’s big end?” (BUMPER). Many of the clues elicited a smile of acknowledgment of the setter’s skill from this reviewer and there were some splendid examples of cryptic definitions: “Eau de Cologne” for RHEIN, “Mailer” referring to Postman Pat in Clue 45, “Dish for bachelors?” for (BABA) GANOUSH, “This one’s on the house” for TILER.
Altogether, then, to sum up this excellent puzzle, look no further than clues 39 and 46: “Humour, a creative technique” and “Fun really covers it”. Thank you, Paul.
KM
Grid solution
Visual clue
A mirror image of a map of Texas is superimposed on a very distorted grim reaper, giving:
TX< in (DEATH)* = THAXTED
Clues and explanations
Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.
| Day | Solution | Direction, Clue, Count | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TAPET | 1di One of those up against the wall cheers favourite (5) | TA + PETA piece of tapestry (Spenserian) |
| 2 | SEVERAL | 2d Girl in trade ultimately going AWOL, a handful (7) | VERA in SEL[l] |
| 3 | BUMPER | 3di Car’s big end? (6) | CD of a daring type -BUMPER is the end of a car, and BUMPER means “big” |
| 4 | GUSTAV HOLST* | 4AC,38AC Unclued (6,5) | Composer of The Planets |
| 5 | GANOUSH | 4d A mug that’s unmarried has nosh to prepare — dish for bachelors? (7) | A[m]UGNOSH* (without m = married), goes with BABA (bachelors) |
| 6 | JAPE | 5di Joke from ninja, perhaps (4) | Hidden in ninJA PErhaps |
| 7 | JUPITER* | 5C All but one of decision makers accepting conclusion in evidence given by underworld giant (7) | JURy around PIT (underworld) evidencE – Jupiter being in astronomical terms a “gas giant” 4th movement: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity |
| 8 | URSA | 6d-4 Major and Minor your said bears? (4) | hidden in yoUR SAid, double meaning of “bears” ref. constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor |
| 9 | SPIV | 7di Big guns brought over for shark (4) | VIPs rev. |
| 10 | IT GIRLS | 8d Bow etc with knotted string I left, but no name (2,5) | STRInG I L*, the likes of Clara Bow |
| 11 | OLD AGE* | 9C,19AC Killer eventually, 31 say plied with ale? (3,3) | Implies anag of GOD ALE 5th movement: Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age |
| 12 | PLANETS* | 10d Cruciverbalist in the end with outstanding surfaces, those within the system? (7) | T in PLANES The Planets: suite by Gustav Holst |
| 13 | CATLIKE | 11di One stopping tackle, remarkably agile (7) | I in TACKLE* |
| 14 | TILER | 12di Falling over drunk again? This one’s on the house! (5) | RELIT rev. |
| 15 | LILLE | 13di French city went down with the plague when stripped back (5) | [f]ELL IL[l] rev |
| 16 | EULER | 14di Mathematician, someone needed when stuck, say? (5) | hom. of “oiler” |
| 17 | NEPTUNE* | 15AC Liquid put in river, being associated with water (7) | PTU* in NENE 7th movement: Neptune, the Mystic |
| 18 | VENUS* | 16C Peach with spots, stone finally removed (5) | VENUeS – “Peach” being slang for a beautiful female 2nd movement: Venus, the Bringer of Peace |
| 19 | ELATE | 17di Lift inoperative, ultimately yet to arrive (5) | E + LATE |
| 20 | URANUS* | 18di World leader in Ulysses — did as Grant did? (6) | U + RAN US 6th movement: Uranus, the Magician |
| 21 | AGAIN | 19di Muslim official elected for a second term? (5) | AGA + IN |
| 22 | PAGE | 20AC Buttons, say, one side (4) | Double def – Pantomime character BUTTONS |
| 23 | PEACE* | 21di Partner of quiet wizard at gym? (5) | P.E. ACE 2nd movement: Venus, the Bringer of Peace |
| 24 | PENNI | 22di Old monetary unit, past(?) one (5) | PENNe + I Former Finnish monetary unit: 1/100 of a markka |
| 25 | OUNCE | 23di 11di measure? (5) | Double def |
| 26 | ANNEX | 24di Add the tenth queen? (5) | imaginary monarch ANNE X |
| 27 | QUINCE | 25di Fruity playwright’s playwright? (6) | ref. A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which Quince “writes” and directs the Mechanicals’ wonderful play |
| 28 | MERCURY* | 26C Metal that’s loaded, with loaded metal! (7) | CU in MERRY 3rd movement: Mercury, the Winged Messenger |
| 29 | EYEFUL | 27di Vision European engineer picked up? (6) | hom. of (Gustave) Eiffel in Br pronunciation |
| 30 | CHEKA | 28di Force king into short fleece (5) | K in CHEA[t], Former Russian secret police |
| 31 | SATURN* | 29AC Turner positioned vessel (6) | SAT + URN 5th movement: Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age |
| 32 | WHERRY | 30di Question about trip in boat (6) | WHY around ERR |
| 33 | WAR* | 30C Killer, bloody in the mirror? (3) | RAW rev. 1st movement: Mars, the Bringer of War |
| 34 | RHEIN | 31di Control required to import hot eau de Cologne? (5) | H in REIN |
| 35 | AZTEC | 32di Ancient figure, as modern science’s dictated? (5) | hom. as + tech |
| 36 | SATAY | 33di Malaysian dish perhaps stuffed with those apricots for starters (5) | T[hose] A[pricots] in SAY |
| 37 | NOTCH | 34di Nick, anything but place of sanctuary? (5) | NOT CH[urch] |
| 38 | LATHE | 35di Turner in tizzy, briefly (5) | LATHE[r] |
| 39 | TEMPERA | 36up Humour, a creative technique (7) | TEMPER + A |
| 40 | OUSEL | 37di Bird in river and lake (5) | OUSE + L |
| 41 | MYSTIC* | 39di Strange girl second to speak? (6) | hom. of Miss + tick 7th movement: Neptune, the Mystic |
| 42 | MARS* | 39C Bar in Slough failing to close (4) | MARS[h] – coincidentally Mars UK based in Slough 1st movement: Mars, the Bringer of War |
| 43 | ANY | 40up-3 Article unknown, no matter which (3) | AN + Y |
| 44 | RISKY | 41di Dangerous US state broadcaster (5) | RI + SKY |
| 45 | JESTS | 42di Mailer’s cat fed last of breakfast, capers (5) | Postman Pat’s cat = Jess JES(T)S |
| 46 | JOLLITY* | 42C Fun really covers it (7) | JOLLY containing IT 4th movement: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity |
| 47 | OCTUPLE | 43up Couplet operated upon — four times for this? (7) | COUPLET* |
| 48 | LYSENKO | 44up Ukrainian composer taking pace from Leon Trotsky when dancing (7) | (LEON [trot]SKY)* |
| 49 | THAXTED* | 45up Tune that’s wrong inspired by journalist over there? (7) | X in THAT ED Hymn tune for I Vow to Thee, My Country from Jupiter movement |
| Required | MAGICIAN | Anagram of pink cells (8) | 6th movement: Uranus, the Magician |
Solvers’ comments
Very educational – some words I never knew before. [RE]
Splendid puzzle constructed by Paul from my grid. [NI]
Very enjoyable with much thematic material. Spent more time on this one than usual, due to words that were new to me, but I couldn’t put it down until completed!🤯 Thank you👌 [MN]
Good fun — many thanks. [TH]
We got the theme straightaway, which helped hugely. We found epithets for every planet except Mercury in the solutions. Wondered if “Mailer” in day 45’s clue was a nod to the Winged Messenger. Delighted with the groaner of a homophone for day 29. We have two question marks for which we look forward to the solution. We’re sure day 15 is LILLE but have no parsing. For day 24, given the crossing letters, our best shot is PENNI but again we’ve no idea of the wordplay. An enjoyable solve and a nice celebration of the anniversaries. Thanks Paul and etc. [CW]
A very clever September offering from Paul and etc. I was not very familiar with the subject matter for the anniversaries as I know very little about orchestral music, although I have met Gustav Holst and The Planets suite in previous Guardian cryptics I’ve done. It was great to see how all the names of the planets were able to be fitted into this grid. The visual layout was quite apt as the circles looked a little like the planets spinning in space. There was some delightful misdirection in several of the clues and I really enjoyed solving this puzzle. Thank you to etc for the design of the grid and to Paul for some stellar (!) clues. [JA]
Very clever, fitting in the planets and their attributes according to Holst. I really must listen to the relevant Prom on BBC sounds. Thanks to Paul and etc for a most entertaining puzzle. [RS]
This was a very good, well-clued example of a torus-based puzzle, and it was based on a theme that was right up my street. Well done, Paul and etc. [AB]
After my narrow fail in August, I was keen to polish off September in quick time and hey presto I did. Familiarity with an early-grasped theme helped. Nice to see a shoutout for Thaxted, not far from me, where Holst lived for many years (and finished The Planets). [PA]
Nice subject fitting in all the theme. [SB]
Out of this world. [RP]
Loved this! The theme is a favourite of mine, thank you etc. Very cunning and amusing clues, as expected from the hand of Paul. Thank you. [JT]
Enjoyable! [JS]
Interesting theme. Nicely challenging. Never heard of CHEKA or THAXTED, didn’t know spelling of RHEIN, had to look up LYSENKO but it all adds to the general knowledge. With thanks to Paul et al. [JC]
Thought it was proper tough to start with but it slowly gave way. Thanks to Paul for a little education as always, enjoyed it very much. [SC]
This was so enjoyable to solve, just the right level to provide a challenge without wondering how the solution works. Well done Paul etc! [SF]
You could always rely on Paul: I enjoyed that. [DR]
Took a bit of head scratching but I enjoy that for the ultimate pdm. [PD]
Marvellous! An elegantly constructed grid. [DB]
A truly planetary achievement from Paul and etc. It was delightful to spot not just the planets themselves, but also their attributes among the answers. [SB]
This was a tough one, slowly pieced together over multiple sessions. [J&JH]
This is my second go, still pre-Hints & Tips, replacing chera on day 30 with cheka – I’m not convinced it is a better answer! Fingers crossed anyway. A very enjoyable puzzle, hard to get into at first because the clues were not given alphabetically, and I threw myself off the scent by guessing PLAYERS as the core down clue! Phase two, I suddenly spotted Saturn – good clue – so all I had to do was check the two dates – bingo – and then went backwards looking to see where the thematic material fitted in and just checking that those clues more or less made sense! Was the bizarre choice of word on day 24 some sort of pointer in the direction of ‘winged’, otherwise missing, as the attribute of Mercury? Thaxted is surely the tune, but I don’t see how to deduce it from either the verbal or the picture clue. Similar difficulty with Lille (‘le’ + ‘ill’ but how does it work?) Several excellent and witty clues though – days 13,16,17,20,23, and I loved the double take on ‘bears’ on day 8. Despite that verbosity, the arrival of Hints & Tips prompts me to add a PS – intrigued that the previously-mentioned problem clues were ignored by the tippers, but aghast at the gobbledygook advanced in explanation of day 24!! Neither of the explanations put forward make it anything like acceptable as a clue; also perturbed by day 41 – the closest I got to understanding that was to think that ‘strange’ was represented by ‘My!’ as an exclamation. [EF]
Great. I hope I have entered it correctly. [RG]
At one level straightforward: theme clear from a few answers but some planets took a while! Last in were the clever PE ace and the awful EYEFUL. [DM]
Theme close to the forefront of my mind already thanks to Friday’s FT crossword, which was helpful. Very clever gridding and clueing, bravo! [JG]
A lovely puzzle, harder than some as the clues were not in alphabetical order. Getting the theme did not mean a sudden rush of answers could be filled in. So a lovely challenge that kept me amused for quite a while – thanks to Paul. [GW]
Loved the theme but needed the hints and tips this month! Thank you. [HH]
Another hard one for me. However I enjoyed the theme and the usual mix of new words. I especially liked clue 42 with Mars as the answer. Apart from Mars being a shortened form of marsh for Slough, Slough the town is where Mars bars have been made for 90 years! [MP]
A bit of a struggle, with a number of clues still needing explanation. Picture is TX back in death, almost? [MJ]
Really enjoyed this one – great clues and theme. Found it challenging but doable – the best sort. Thanks to all. [BS]
A great theme, and a characteristically clever and elegant puzzle from one of my favourite setters. I love Paul’s witty surface imagery, which is always part of his magician-like misdirection! Thank you, Paul, etc. [MS]
A lovely puzzle commemorating one of Cheltenham’s famous sons and a beautiful suite of music. I really enjoyed it. [JB]
Wow – pretty mind-bending stuff! A tough challenge – very satisfying to (eventually) finish… [MC]
One of the most interesting and stimulating sets of solvers’ comments for ages – a sure sign of an engaging and challenging puzzle. But I don’t think Day 39 can be called a double def: the def is ‘creative technique’ and the cryptic reading is TEMPER + A.
Quite right. Explanation corrected.
Thanks.
Many thanks for such an interesting set of comments. It’s very gratifying that so many seem to have enjoyed the puzzle.
One or two detailed responses:
[JA]: Spot on! I wanted the seven dials grid to represent the planets orbiting the central axis.
[CW]: Nice idea of Mailer as a nod to the missing epithet Winged Messenger. In truth, I just ran out of space to include Magician or Winged Messenger and didn’t feel I could ask for both as Easter eggs. It has also been pointed out that that Messenger could have been used as part of the clue for Page (I didn’t spot this possibility), but Paul’s pantomime clue is very elegant.
[EF]: The other clues you mention (Cheka, Thaxted and Lille) were all under consideration for hints, but didn’t make the final cut. Deciding the clues for which we should offer hints is more alchemy than science. I allow free rein to my colleagues to pick a few clues that appeal to them and then I try to finish off by trying to focus on any that have unusual words and/or clue structure or are likely to be found difficult. In this I am assisted by receiving a list of clues that have been wrong or omitted in early submissions. This month, the list steered me towards Tapet, Quince and Aztec rather than Cheka, Thaxted and Lille (Penni was always going to get a hint).
Regarding Cheka, I had not noticed Chera as a word, largely because it does not appear in the standard dictionaries (Chambers, Collins, ODE). If we had clued Chera, then we would have indicated that OneLook dictionary would need to be consulted (in the same way that we indicated Collins for Penni since that does not appear in Chambers).
Finally, I’m sorry about Penni. Any clue with a question mark enclosed in parentheses is likely to involve a bit of sharp practice. My hint was a last-minute attempt to understand the clue (which had baffled me), but I think Paul’s official explanation of Penn(e) representing a form of Past(a) is very clever (though not to everyone’s taste). Penni is a pretty obscure word and it might be fair to ask why I didn’t extend it to a six letter word like Pencil. The answer is aesthetic: this would have meant increasing the gap between two consecutive layers, which would have adversely affected the flow of the down/up entries.
One final observation: the property of the grid I mentioned in the Hints & Tips is that the completed grid is a pangram – every letter of the alphabet appears.
This wasn’t part of my original plan. I produced a first grid without this property, but then noticed that with Thaxted, Gustav Holst and all the planets, most of the letters were already there. Bumper, Quince, Eyeful and Aztec were the only changes I needed to make, to include B, Q, F and Z, respectively.
Thank you everyone for comments. I see that the brilliant Nick (etc) has dealt with everything, so I’ll just make some random remarks.
PENNI – yes, past[a] is right: John Halpern did offer to change it, thinking he might have gone too far, but I thought it was (though too hard for me) exemplary Pauline inventiveness. Wordplay by analogy – fair? Discussion welcome, always remembering we are not (and don’t pretend to be) The Times!
Pangrams. I think I remember in the 90s noticing that the Middlesbrough squad shown on the screen in Match of the Day was a pangram (Franck Queudrue, Christian Ziege and Juninho helped a lot).
Planets: interesting to see how the great tune from Jupiter has enjoyed an afterlife, not only as the well-known patriotic hymn, but in the rugby world. Mars was the first piece I was aware of that was 5 in a bar – no coincidence of course with the unsettling feeling it produces: what a powerful piece. Those who have tried to sing Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms will of course be aware of the “exhilarating” experience of singing 7 in a bar, very fast, IN HEBREW.
Two exotic grids in a row, and two puzzles in a year based on “classical” music, may have been a strain to some – it’s just the way the grids come in! Which reminds me: October is nearly November, so it’s time to get inspired and think about what grid YOU would like to see in the Calendar for 2026. Go on, have a go!