Guardian 25,078 / Rufus
Posted by Eileen on August 2nd, 2010
A typically straightforward Rufus, with the usual generous sprinkling of double and cryptic definitions and anagrams, with some nice touches. Nothing too controversial, I think.
Across
1 CROESUS: anagram of SOURCES: the wealthy king of Lydia whose disastrous Delphic response I mentioned last Wednesday.
2 SOURCES: anagram of CRUSOE’S
9 MANET: reversal of 10 a.m.
10 ABOUT TURN: cryptic definition
11 DETERGENTS: DETER [put off] GENTS [public conveniences: [something of a crossword cliché but a rather better clue than some I've seen].
12 HEIR: cryptic definition
14 VATICAN STATE: VAT [tax] I CAN STATE
18 ROLL IN THE HAY: anagram of HEALTHILY RON
21 COCK: double definition
22 GET THE SACK: cryptic definition, the ‘bag’ being the quantity of game taken in a shoot.
25 PASTORALE: ORAL [said] in PASTE [dough]. I wonder if anyone else spent time saying this word aloud, trying to hear a homophone?
26 UNTIE: reversal of IT in [j]UNE: a nicely constructed clue.
27 TINY TOT: double definition
28 ABYSSES: BY in ASSES [beasts of burden
Down
1 COMEDY: M[iddle] E[ast] in CODY [William] ‘Buffalo Bill’, the American soldier, bison hunter and showman
2 ORNATE: N[orth] in ORATE [hold forth]
3 SATURNALIA: anagram of Australian: ‘a period or occasion of wild revelry’, from the ancient Roman festival celebrated in December
4 STAKE: double definition
5 SHORT WAVE: anagram of OVER WHAT’S
6 UP TO: anagram of PUT + O [nothing
7 CAUSEWAY: CAUSE [reason] + WAY [method]
8 SENTRIES: S[outhern] + ENTRIES [gates]
13 ESTATE DUTY: double definition: in the UK, this is now called Inheritance Tax.
15 IN THE PAST: H[ospital] in anagram of PATIENTS: another nicely constructed clue.
16 CRACKPOT: CRACK + POT
17 CLOCKS IN: cryptic definition
19 MANTIS: cryptic definition: a tropical insect colloquially called the ‘praying mantis’, because it rests with the first pair of legs raised, as if in prayer.
20 SKIERS: R[ight] in SKIES [the heavens]: my instinct [should I ever need to use the word!] would have been to spell it SKYERS, to distinguish it from people who go on skis – and I’ve just seen that that is the first spelling given in Chambers. It’s not one of the better clues, I think.
23 THETA: HE in TT [Tourist Trophy - annual motorcycle race in the Isle of Man] + A
24 COLT: C[ommanding] O[fficer] + LT [lieutenant]
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Thanks Eileen (and Rufus)
An early comment since there’s a busy day ahead with visiting granddaughter.
Pretty straightforward pleasant Monday morning fare.
Like you I was ‘listening’ for homophones at first in 25a (nicely misleading).
Other enjoyable clues were 5a, 9, 11, 14, 5d, and 6.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:44 am
Thanks, Eileen. Gentle enough stuff from Rufus to ease us into the week, I thought. Some will have found it too easy, but for beginning and improving solvers it should be just right. There were some cliched clues – DETERGENTS, CRACKPOT, COCK for example, but of course they’re only cliches when you’ve seen them a few times.
I liked VATICAN STATE and HEIR. Certainly from a cricket point of view, I’d write SKIERS; fielding with skis on is tricky so I don’t think there would be a risk of confusion.
To answer your question at 25ac: yes.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:59 am
Thanks for the early blog, Eileen.
I very enloyable start to the week. Nicely crafted. I must say that I’ve never heard ‘balls hit high’ referred to as ‘skiers’, though.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Started well. Ground to a halt. Ground out the rest.
Last one in was 5d – I didn’t understand it. I do now, Thanks Eileen.
Had CRACKERS for 16d, before correcting it.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:09 am
I think Rufus also had in mind that a gamekeeper might also “get the sack” if there weren’t enough game available – for that reason, my favourite clue!
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hi Orange
Yes, I did mean to imply that, by calling it a cryptic definition.
We almost had a theme here, with 21,22 and 13dn [and if Mellors had been called Ron, rather than Oliver...!
]
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 am
Eileen, your knowledge of David Herbert Lawrence’s novels is impeccable, but your imagination is, a bit like Oliver Mellors perhaps, far too fertile this morning …
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:44 am
Dear dear. Just spotted the double anagram in 1 & 2a. Clever!
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 am
…1 & 5 across.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
I would have thought it was “clocks on” rather than “clocks in”, not that it makes much difference.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Hi Mark
I nearly said in the blog that I used the ‘cheat’ button to check the intended solution: Chambers gives both.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Eileen, can you not add 18 to your list of “themed” clues?!
btw, I didn’t explain myself too well, because I liked the 2 ways of reading 22, that if a bag is too small, use a sack (which gave me the answer), and then noticed the getting fired idea. Clever.
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Orange, we don’t seem to be on the same wavelength: I already have, to K’s D’s disgust!
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:42 pm
18? There is no 18a. Eileen has a 15a.
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
25 PASTORALE – Eileen’s “not a homphone” fooled me, until I looked at today’s Quiptic, 4dn. Hectence uses the same device – ORAL clued by “spoken of” instead of Rufus’s “said”.
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Myrvin
My mistake – corrected now.
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Were there a lot of anagrams in this? It seemed so, but then again Rufus is not shy of that clue-type! An okay solve, then!
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:51 pm
1a & 5a: Andy’s anagrams lists:-
courses
croesus
scouser
sources
sucrose
Could have had a field day.
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Thanks Eileen. A typical rapid but enjoyable Rufus solve.
As a runner I am used to TT for “time trial” which got me there albeit by a different path.
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Eileen at no 13 – not disgust at all, just jealousy that I didn’t think of it first! Just been re-reading Sons and Lovers, so your original comment raised a smile.
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Thanks for the blog Eileen
I didn’t like VATICAN STATE, even though Vatican City was/is one of the papal states
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Clue 11ac reads: Cleaners put off by public conveniences (10)
Just one question:
Wouldn’t it have worked even if it were ‘public convenience’?
I can’t imagine such a facility having the sign GENT on the door.
August 2nd, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Rishi
Amusingly, a public convenience operated by Camden Council in Lincoln’s Inn Fields sports a sign reading GENTLEMENS.
August 2nd, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I think Rufus has been solving too many of Paul’s puzzles.
A reference to another clue, a lavatorial reference, a sexual reference, deary me. Had to smile.
August 2nd, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Hi Rishi & Rog
I suspect there may be short, if not caught-short, forms of ‘gentlemen’ and ‘gentlemen’s’ naughtily lurking about in ‘the Gents’.
I wonder if we are almost back in anode’s/anodes territory again. The Camden sign would be more or less OK with an apostrophe before the ‘s’.
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
It`s usually possible to complete a Rufus puzzle without hesitation (with the exception of his usual “sting in the tail” clue). Not today, though. I stumbled over quite a few, over-hastily entering not-quite-right answers before coming up against PASTORALE, which I was so convinced was a homophone (for PASTA) that my puzzle remains uncompleted in Rufus`s honour. Well done Rufus…may we both live to fight again another Monday!
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:40 pm
RE Gents. Chambers definitely has ‘gents’ as the plural of gent; and gents’ for the “public lavatory”.
So gents use the toilets for men as ladies use those for women. But the conveniences are the gents’ and the ladies’ respectively.
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:45 pm
… But the OED has gents, without the apostrophe. And ladies too.
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Thanks Myrvin.
I think we’re dealing with a colloquialism whose true home is in everyday spoken language without authoritative written conventions – plus the fact that the state of the apostrophe is in tatters! However, a brief stroll through the history of that wayward symbol (from C16/17 in English) suggests that it was ever thus, apart from some Victorian efforts to impose a bit of discipline upon it.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Thanks Eileen,
I thought this was a marvellous puzzle from Rufus who doesn’t always get the credit he deserves. Yes, it was on the easy side but there are always two or three clues which stump me. Took me a while to see CAUSEWAY and HEIR and I failed to get MANTIS.
Rufus is definitely the master of the smooth surface and even though most answers are relatively easy to get, the clue structures are often brilliant. Let’s see his detractors emulate his clue writing ability.
Among loads of smooth surfaces, my favourites were ABOUT TURN which made me smile, SATURNALIA and IN THE PAST which was just brilliant.
This puzzle showed Rufus in top form. Thanks for the entertainment.
August 2nd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Monday stuff.
Enjoyable tho’
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
I liked this – particularly 11a, 14a, 26a 3d, 13d 16d
enjoyable
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Thanks Eileen.
I really enjoyed this puzzle.Not difficult but with some lovely clues and not one dodgy cryptic definition!
I like your “Chatterley” idea,it hadn’t occured to me but does give a nice extra dimension to the puzzle.
17 down is one of those rare clues where 2 (slightly different)answers are both correct – I’d entered CLOCKS ON.
Favourite clues 9 across and the excellent 22 across.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Was grateful for many easy clues after the debacle of Saturday’s puzzle which is still rebuking me from the kitchen table. But today fell short on stake and heir. A cheer for one clue not mentioned so far I don’t think – the droll 27a.
PS – am pleased to have found this excellent website.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Monday stuff? Yes, of course [it's Monday].
Easy? Yes, I think so.
And everything else [well, a lot of what I think] has been said by Davy (# 30).
My PinC always says that Rufus is very good at using the English language to full advantage [or something like that].
I think she’s right.
A clue like 15d [of which Davy says it is 'just brilliant'] is indeed just brilliant.
Easy, I know, but every word is in the right place and well-chosen, including the very appropriate anagrind.
Another winner was GET THE SACK [said the one that hates cd's
].
There were weak clues, too [like 17d or 19d], but more than enough to compensate these [apart from the ones already mentioned, e.g. 9ac, 5d].
Only a pity about 1ac+5ac.
It calls for an ellipsis, but it isn’t there.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the comments.
I admit to having got rather lost after Rishi’s comment#22, querying the plural: I think signs do usually say ‘[Public] Conveniences’ and I believe [never having entered therein] that GENTS [sic] does / do provide more than one facility.
The discussion re the apostrophe is something of a red herring, surely?
Many thanks, Rufus, for providing perhaps more enjoyment than was intended!
August 3rd, 2010 at 9:08 am
Hi Eileen
.
I missed your late comment last night. While the length of my comment on apostrophes may be unwarranted, I am not sure it is a ‘red herring’. Myrvin’s explorations of Chambers and OED and my own instinct (that the ‘loo’ may be silent as in ‘gents’) still suggest otherwise. Of course it doesn’t alter the answer, and one doesn’t always have time to think about such things
Hi Scarpia
I personally went for clocks ‘in’ because it’s more faithful to ‘entrances’. See also the published solution.
August 4th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Was I the only one who became so fixated on 14ac starting CAPITAL that it took me forever to get the (really rather obvious) VATICAN?