Guardian 24536 / Rufus
Posted by mhl on November 3rd, 2008
A very good start to the week, with lots of clues that made me smile. I think my particular favourites here were two of the three musical ones: 16 across and 25 down.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ARMOURY | OUR in ARMY |
| 5. | ECLIPSE | CLIPS in EE = “the middle of Greece” |
| 10. | EVIL | BE = “live” reversed |
| 11. | UP A GUM TREE | Double definition; “Where a koala may be” and “in trouble”. I hadn’t heard this expression before, but it’s quite guessable and Google confirms that it means “in difficulties” |
| 12. | LOADED | Double definition |
| 13. | ENCROACH | (CHANCE OR)* |
| 14. | DISAPPEAR | DI = “Female” + SAPPER around A – if something will “pass” it will “disappear” |
| 16. | CELLO | CELL + O = “circle”. I love “large scale fiddle” for ’cello |
| 17. | BLOCK | Double definition |
| 19. | DRUMSTICK | (TRIMS DUCK)* with “Butcher” as a nice anagram indicator |
| 23. | GRIMACED | MACE in GRID: the clue should be read “in GRID: MACE” |
| 24. | NATURE | An excellent cryptic definition, alluding to Mother Nature and someone’s type being their character or nature |
| 26. | SCRATCHING | Another nice cryptic definition |
| 27. | MOVE | Double definition |
| 28. | PLAYPEN | PLAY + PEN = “writer”; playpens have barred sides |
| 29. | ASTOUND | (TO US AND)* with “collapse” as the anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 2. | RAVIOLI | A hidden answer; ravioli might be a pasta course |
| 3. | OGLED | (OLD E.G.)* |
| 4. | ROUND UP |  |
| 6. | CRUNCH | Double definition |
| 7. | INTROVERT | ROVER in IN TT |
| 8. | STENCIL | (CLIENT’S)* |
| 9. | TAKES A PRIDE IN | Double definition, “Receives statisfaction from” and “providing a lion reserve?” |
| 15. | ACCOMPANY | AC + COMPANY |
| 18. | LYRICAL | Cryptic definition |
| 20. | MANAGES | MAN = “player” + AGES |
| 21. | CARAVAN | CAR and VAN joined by A |
| 22. | ICICLE | Cryptic definition |
| 25. | TEMPO | Excellent cryptic definition – the tempo is the time at which one should take a song (an “air”) |
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am
Mhl,
Re 4D, I think stock is a reference to live stock e.g ’rounding up cattle’.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
A lovely straightforward puzzle, with some very clever anagrams [ENCROACH, DRUMSTICK, ASTOUND, STENCIL] all with excellent surface readings. I also liked 23ac, GRIMACED and 27ac, MOVE.
As you say, mhl, a very good start to the week. Thanks for the blog and thanks also to Rufus.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Rufus again has produced beautiful wording for all clues. Another gentle start for the weak, like me.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I liked this crossword, managed to finish it with no complications.
I liked 16a. cell-o. Plus all very good and easy going on newbies.
Nice one.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Just a pleasure to do as so often with Rufus. It’s the elegance of clues like 29ac that give me so much enjoyment.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Some really great clues today – ‘large-scale fiddle’ being my favourite bit of wordplay. 19ac also made me smile when I finally saw the solution – after much head scratching caused by thinking ‘butcher’ was the definition…
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Great crossword. One problem – 13ac: isn’t encroach an intransitive verb and introduce a transitive one?
November 4th, 2008 at 2:49 am
re 7 – Sorry guys, did this crossword on the way to a concert in Birmingham (I play 16ac-answer, and I gave a lift to a 2dn-clue), I was driving so 2dn clue dictated the clues and I misheard intrude as introduce…