Crossword roundup: how the fnese became a sneeze

A look back and forward in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic clues

The news in clues

Over at the Financial Times, Velia slipped in a clue on the last day of 2019 that would not be welcome in 2020:

8d/19d However, the conclusion of Brexit is in more doubt (6,8)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘however’ & last letter of (‘the conclusion to’) BREXIT, both inside (‘in’) synonym for ‘more’ ]
[ THOUGH & T, both inside SECONDS ]
[ definition: doubt ]

SECOND THOUGHTS? Which is Velia? A doomster or a gloomster? We will of course see no more of this kind of thing in this year of optimism and unanimity. Likewise with Monk …

12ac Johnson, perhaps through, cheats in speech on article (8)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘through’ & soundalike of (‘in speech’) synonym for ‘cheats’, both after (‘on’) a grammatical article ]
[ VIA & TRIX, both after A ]
[ definition: Johnson, perhaps ]

… while the ‘Johnson’ in the clue might prompt the solver to consider Boris, plagiarism etc, the real meaning – AVIATRIX – is Amy, Gypsy Moth etc.

And as usual, the year just gone is summarised in crossword form by Micawber in a typically droll puzzle.

Latter patter

In the quiptic – the Guardian’s puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry – Pan gives us a word with a curious history:

16d Always pleased to get close to large swampy area (9)
[ wordplay: synonyms for ‘always’ and ‘pleased’ + last letter of (‘close to’) LARGE ]
[ EVER + GLAD + E ]
[ definition: swampy area ]

In 1773, JWG de Brahm made a map of the Florida coast and decided to call one area River Glades; this was apparently then misread, the swamps being named Ever Glade and then the Everglades ever since.

Are misreadings ever anything other than delightful? We can never be 100% certain, but it seems that “tweed” (once a trade name!) was coined as a misunderstanding of the Scottish “twill” – and that it was a misreading of “misled” that spawned the too-seldom-seen verb meaning “to befuddle”, “mizzle”. My favourite is, naturally, the topical subject of our next challenge.

A certain bodily function was, in Old English, known as fnesing. For those of us childish enough to enjoy wilfully misinterpreting old-school ſs as fs, it is an absolute treat to picture “fnese” being misprinted as “ſnese” and thereby becoming the word we use today. Reader, how would you clue SNEEZE?

Crossword competition

Today being epiphany, it is still technically not annoying to discuss Christmassy matters. So, a heads up for those who missed it about the classic Araucaria puzzle we have added to the archives, and a reminder that our last challenge was CHRISTINGLE.

A fiddly entry to define, possibly, so I enjoyed such cryptic definitions as Zedible’s “Time for navel contemplation?” and Alberyalbery’s “Lighthearted pithy offering?”

The audacity award, as we’ve seen, can be bestowed for many reasons. This time, it’s shared by the elaborate architecture of Komornik’s “The Light of the World, symbolically harmonious for all to see: no harm represented in Hunt’s religious icon” and the risk taken by Notgethithatonharry in “Head of Police in Chile accepts radical festive offering” of incurring the fury of Copeland and Summers.

The runners-up are Porcia’s ecumenical “Festive Orange Order networking, on vacation with Irish Celt” and Catarella’s definition-borrowing “Most of the nice girls getting tanned bright orange”; the winner is Lizard’s lovely all-in-one “What involves nice lights and bit of ribbon?”

Kludos to Lizard; please leave entries for this fortnight’s competition and your picks from the broadsheet cryptics below. Also, I’m happy to reassure 10FootClaudicant both that the competitions are not a regular vehicle to crowdsource and plagiarise clues and that I know that this is not what he or she meant.

Clue of the fortnight

While some of the best puzzles appear at the end of the year, it can be easy to miss them. Recommendations very welcome below. The clue below comes from Brendan’s puzzle of just before Christmas …

29d/27ac Confuse no solvers about French author’s novel (4,3,6)
[ wordplay: anagram (‘confuse’) of NOSOLVERS, containing (‘about’) name of French author ]
[ SONLOVERS containing SAND ]
[ definition: novel ]

… but is not a spoiler for the theme. Not directly, anyway.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJuipMC0w86rm6xnk6e8tL%2FWqKmdZZKhvKh7kWlpaWealrtwfJVomquno6jEsL7DZqmorZ6ZwrF5x6iuZqyYmnqnusSsnGaalZiurrGMmmSsppWax6Y%3D