Crossword roundup: rishis, kahunas and other nabobs | Crosswords

In the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to an interview with him or her, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.

The news in clues

You can usually rely on Knut for a timely reference …

27a I want a new progressive country (6)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘new’) IWANTA ]
[ definition: progressive country ]

… and the re-election of the Democratic Progressive party makes this clue for TAIWAN as topical as it gets. And for nose-to-tail topicality, you need only turn to the Financial Times at the close of each month for the dedicated News Puzzle. The current current puzzle, so to speak, kicks off with this clue …

1a Heads of Boeing upset door got ejected, terrifying economy class (6)
[ wordplay: initial letters (‘heads’) of BOEING UPSET DOOR GOT EJECTED TERRIFYING ]
[ definition: economy class ]

… for BUDGET and the whole puzzle demonstrates that its setter, Julius, is a perfect match for the News Puzzle, as Julius is also Knut.

Latter patter

What a journey for a reverent Hawaiian word. Once upon a time, it denoted a priest. As in Philistine’s clue …

23a A hunk messed around with a wiseman (6)
[ wordplay: anagram (‘messed around’) of AHUNK + A (‘a’) ]
[ definition: wiseman ]

… it might mean a wiseman, or a wise man – like the RISHI we met last time. After Americans started spending time on the islands for surfing, a kahuna – especially a big kahuna – was a god of surfing, and in time generally a person of some eminence or other.

But then? Well, here’s an example from these pages last month:

When push came to shove, it could be argued that ultimately it was Jürgen Klopp’s men who had the big kahunas.

It seems to happen more in the sports pages; perhaps there’s an influence of the Spanish “cojones”. The subject of our next challenge is likewise associated with Hawaiian shirts and leis, though the name itself appears to be from Polynesia.

In the origin story, a Tahitian called Carrie took a sip of a newly invented cocktail and declared “maita’i roa ae!” (“out of this world – the best!”). (This tale takes place in California so if it is true, it is just a coincidence that the Hawaiian language imported a very similar phrase of delight.)

Reader, how would you clue MAI TAI?

Cluing competition

Thanks for your clues for TROLLEY PROBLEM, and TonyCollman gets the audacity award for the reverse-clue “Moral dilemma: tell Roy?”

It’s a lot of letters, of course, and perhaps not a coincidence that many of your fine clues went down the cryptic/double definition route. The runners-up are Porcia’s grimly topical “Boris’s handle on issue: act decisively to minimise harm, or let the bodies pile high?” and JasCanis’s shopper-sympathetic “Ethical dilemma like a wonky wheel, perhaps?”; the winner is the delightfully misleading “Scenario where one is on track to potentially increase savings?”.

Kudos to Dcusch; please leave entries for the current competition – and especially non-print finds and picks that I may have missed from the broadsheet cryptics – in the comments.

Clue from elsewhere of the fortnight

It’s impossible not to read, for a long time, the first word of this as an adjective:

17d Light rubber and aluminium device extending PC performance (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘aluminium’ + term for ‘device extending PC performance’ ]
[ AL + ADD-IN ]

Bravo, Times setter, for concealing for so long that the light rubber we are looking for is named ALADDIN.

The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book by Alan Connor, which is partly but not predominantly cryptic, can be ordered from the Guardian Bookshop