Guardian 24,459 – Chifonie
Posted by Uncle Yap on August 5th, 2008
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Quite an enjoyable and easy puzzle somewhat spoiled by two possible errors (9A & 25D)
Across
1 PIMPLE Ins of MP (military police or redcap) in PILE (stately home; although Chambers has “tall building”)
4 DRESDEN Dres (s) den (retreat) fine decorated china made in Saxony (Royal Saxon porcelain factory established at Meissen, 1710
9 LACERATED Cha of LACE (fabric) RATED (valued)
10 SPLIT Ins of P (pennies or coppers) in SLIT (lance) To split is to chop (definitely not shop) so I reckon there has been a typo
11 DONNE sound like “done” (finished)
12 PORBEAGLE Cha of P (pressure) OR beagle (hound)
13 NITRITE N (knight) I (iodine) trite (hackneyed or common)
15 TOMATO Ins of MAT in TOO
17 SNITCH Ins of NIT in SCH
19 SINE DIE sine (ratio or relationship of opposite over hypotenuse) die (come to an end) indefinitely adjourned
22 ELEMENTAL *(meet neil a)
24 ON CUE Ins of CU in ONE
26 NAIVE Ins of I (interest) in NAVE, body of the church)
27 INANIMATE *(maintain e)
28 SPECTRE *(respect)
29 BEAT IT be a tit
Down
1 PALADIN Ins of LAD in PAIN
2 MACON MA (Master of Arts, scholar) C (caught) ON (I am on shorts as I do not wish to have to visit the loo every so often)
3 LARCENIST *(Neil’s cart)
4 DIDEROT Formulaic cha Denis Diderot (1713–1784) was a French philosopher and writer.
5 ENSUE ensu (R) e
6 DELIGHTED Ins of light (luminary) in DEED (performance)
7 NETHER ha
8 STAPLE Ins of P (prince) in STALE (flat)
14 TANGERINE Ins of anger (passion) in TIN (can) E (Egyptian)
16 MANDOLINE Man (staff) do line (complete score)
18 HOTLINE *(in hotel)
19 SULTAN sultan (a)
20 EVEREST simple cha for the highest peak on Earth
21 KEYNES Key (leading) NES (rev sen) John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) was a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory as well as on many governments’ fiscal policies.
23 EVENT E (Ethiopian leader) vent (opening)
25 CHART C (for catch???) Hart (a male deer) I wonder whether this is yet another typo. C in cricket scoring stands for ‘caught’. Chambers does not support extending this abbreviation to ‘catch’
August 5th, 2008 at 8:55 am
10a Could this be intended as ‘to split on someone’, i.e to inform on, or snitch? You ‘shop’ the person in that case.
August 5th, 2008 at 8:58 am
You just beat me to it, Octofem. That’s the way I took it.
August 5th, 2008 at 9:34 am
PS Although that’s the way I took it, I wasn’t happy with it, since ‘split’ needs to be followed by ‘on’ to mean ‘shop’. I share Uncle Yap’s reservations about 25dn, too.
19ac: the phrase ‘sine die’ is almost always used after ‘postpone’ or ‘adjourn’ and simply means ‘indefinitely’ [literally 'without a day'] and so ‘and put off’ in the clue is redundant.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Why doesn’t Uncle Yap like 9A? I thought it was quite clever
August 5th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Shirley – I guess he meant 10a…
August 5th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
2dn: I don’t get it. MA=scholar; C=caught; MACON=wine. Fine. But why is ON ‘drinking’?
August 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
2dn: I do get it now. ‘drinking wine’ is ON wine. Is this an &lit?
August 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Muck, it must be as in “he was on his second glass of wine.”
August 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Sorry, I replied before I saw your second post!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
For my taste, rather too many words indicating single letters – earl=e, interest=i, Egyptian=e. These don’t seem to me to be genuine abbreviations.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Henri, you’ve taken the words right out of my mouth (well, keyboard). I can find no dictionary justification for I = interest, E = Egyptian or C = catch, though Chambers does give E as an abbreviation for Earl. I feel far more cheated by false abbreviations than things like Gateshead = G which, though a bit iffy, can at least be justified in a way. One wonders how closely the editor looked at this puzzle.