Guardian 25,594 – Puck
Posted by Uncle Yap on March 27th, 2012
This morning, as luck would have it, the area where my home is, suffered a power failure which was only restored at my 9am, two hours after the appearance of the puzzles. Apologies to the early birds … better late than never.
As for the puzzle from my favourite Irish setter, this one became obviously themed when the boob got bared. A quick look around my completed grid soon reveal so many linked words from that infamous incident in 2004. (clued words highlighted in the following account from Wikipedia )
Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson‘s breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for about half a second, in what was later referred to as a “wardrobe malfunction“.
Didn’t she looked a right tit? 
Thank you, Puck for this most entertaining puzzle.
Hold cursor over clue number to read a clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | See 23 | |
| 5 | ARCHAIC | Ins of CHA (half of cha-cha dance) + I (one) in *(CAR) |
| 9 | SAMBA | SAM (could be short for Samuel or Samantha) BA (Bachelor of Arts degree) |
| 10 | SUPER BOWL | SUPERB (magnificent) OWL (bird) |
| 11 | IDEALISTIC | Ins of ALI (boxer) S (last letter of shorts) in rev of CITE (quote) + DI (girl) |
| 12 | LAKE | dd a reddish pigment & excessive quantity of wine |
| 14 | See 17 | |
| 18 | CHANTICLEER | Acrostic for the name of the cock in the old fable of Reynard the Fox |
| 21 | AIDE | IDEA (thought) with last letter moved to front |
| 22 | MISJUDGING | *(MUGGINS DJ Is) |
| 25 | BROAD BEAN | Ins of O (hole) + A + *(BED) in BRAN (health food) |
| 26 | CABLE | CAB (Citizens’ Advice Bureau) LE (French for THE, definite article) |
| 27 | EYELETS | EY (rev of YE, archaic (answer to 5) form of the) + *(STEEL) |
| 28 | TUTORED | TU (French for you) TO + READ minus A (article) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | JUSTIN | The baby is just in |
| 2 | CAMBER | Camberwell in the Borough of Southwark minus WELL (not well, not healthy) |
| 3 | STABLEMATE | Ins of TABLE (set of data) in S (second) *(TEAM) |
| 4 | NOSES | ROSES (flowers) with N substituted for R |
| 5 | AMPLITUDE | *(DIET A PLUM) |
| 6 | CERT | ha |
| 7 | AROMATIC | INS of wOMAn in ARTIC (articulated lorry) |
| 8 | COLLEENS | Ins of LLEE (rev of EEL, fish + Left) in CON (against) S (Saturday, Sabbath) |
| 13 | SCAREDY-CAT | *(York C, caught in cricket tADCASTER) |
| 15 | LUCKINESS | PLUCKINESS (courage) minus P (power) |
| 16 | SCRABBLE | SC (special constable) RABBLE (unruly crowd) |
| 17,14 | WARDROBE MALFUNCTION | This superb clue is a kind of reversal whereby the answer is the cryptic element where WARDROBE is the anagram fodder and MALFUNCTION, the anagrind to yield BARED & ROW. It’s also an &lit, as pointed out by NeilW. My COD |
| 19 | TIMBER | Ins of MB (Bachelor of Medicine, doctor) in TIER (row) |
| 20 | AGREED | A Good REED (clarinet part) |
| 23,1A | JANET JACKSON | Ins of NET (catch) JACK (sailor) in JASON (mythical Greek as in leader of the Argonauts) |
| 24 | IDLE | Alternate letters from fInD cLuEs |
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
rha = reversed hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
March 27th, 2012 at 4:22 am
Thanks, UY. The penny of the theme only dropped late on for me but made what was already a great puzzle even better.
22 – you have an S too many in the fodder: IS has to be “cut.”
4 – I think you’re right about this but it doesn’t seem very satisfactory. Another possibility, equally unsatisfactory: N for new, thus “newly opened” plus plural of the river OSE (in Scotland.)
17,14 – I think this is an &lit as well since you need the whole clue to get the definition.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:16 am
Thanks Uncle Yap for an excellent elucidation. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this setter’s style sometimes (here NOSES, CABLE, 7d, 8d etc) leaves me uneasy. This wasn’t hard to complete – and I did like the Jackson link, which I got from the J-T via the easy 22a anagram, and the superb owl.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:45 am
TY UY for the blog. Re 4d I had thought river for flower and there is a river ose – in Japan (there is usually a river somewhere of any plausible set of 3 letters), but roses is probably what he meant …
March 27th, 2012 at 9:15 am
I can’t help wondering whether 4d is an affectionate allusion to the clue in the Two Ronnies sketch about crosswords: “It’s red, it smells, and it’s often picked in the garden. Four letters: something O S E…”
March 27th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Blaise@4 – bingo – I am sure you are right!
March 27th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Thanks UY.
I initially thought this was going to be hard, but it yielded steadily.
I failed to spot the theme, partly because I had Judy Finnigan’s debacle in mind, and I didn’t know super bowl, JT etc connection with JJ. Had I known it would have improved the quality of the Xword immensely. Ah, well.
I am with UY on 4d; the other variations suggested seem to involve arcane knowledge. Despite living in Scotland, I have never heard of a river OSE , and I don’t recall the Two Ronnies sketch.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Thanks, UY.
Fine puzzle – we’ve started the week well.
I got 17,14 very quickly, but it was a long while before I realised that quite a few other answers referred to this famous incident. I spent a long time trying to justify CAMDEN for 2d. Couldn’t parse 4d satisfactorily (one reason why the NW was last bit for me) – ROSES/NOSES seems most likely.
My favourite clues were those with a particularly good surface: 26a, 28a, 5d, 6d, 15d, 16d. 17,14 is a clever &lit, and 23,1a is a very concise clue for a difficult name containing two Js. And of course the superb owl raised a smile.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Another one where I missed the theme. I can’t believe that was in 2004. I don’t know what all the fuss was about.
Thanks UY; it took me a long time to get LAKE and I didn’t know CHANTICLEER. WARDROBE MALFUNCTION was a very clever clue.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Thanks,Puck, for the fun and Uncle Yap for adding to the pleasure by filling the gaps.
Like Dave Ellison @ 6, I thought of Judy Finnegan, too but anyway,17/14 is superb!
26a leaped out at me as I have been reading The Nun’s Priest’s Tale recently.
Like Gervase @7, I enjoyed the superb owl.
Giovanna x
March 27th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Thanks all
I found this quite tricky and failed to finish it (‘lake’ 12ac).
I got the WM quite easily and the lady (JJ) but if I had known the name of the culprit I might have finished it.
I had problems parsing 11ac so thanks and I agree with your version of 4d.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Thanks to UY for the blog. You explained a couple where I had failed to parse.
I was unhappy with 4d: I could see putting N[ew] at the start but nothing in the clue said this should be done.
On 16d I spent some time trying an anamgram of CROWD – with no joy.
Eventually I got the right answer.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Many thanks for the blog. But can someone explain 17,14 again to me — but a bit more slowly?
March 27th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
I loved this!!
March 27th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
David, I see your problem. The truth is that this clue doesn’t quite work as intended but it’s not unusual for setters to “mix” their anagram fodder.
As I see it: Boob getting bared, with row ensuing?
“Boob getting” = anagrind; “bared” = fodder; “row” = fodder; “ensuing” = anagrind. Ideally this would give two anagrams in sequence but there you go. The whole clue defines the JJ debacle so it’s &lit but also: as UY points out, the solution is also a “reverse definition” of WARDROBE.
The alternative, which I don’t think works is: “Boob” = definition (ridiculously vague); “bared” with “row” = fodder; “ensuing” = anagrind.
I’m sure some will disagree but that’s my best shot!
March 27th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
DT@12 & NeilW@14. I agree, I don’t think it quite works – if it’s a clue to a reverse anagram IMO it doesn’t need and shouldn’t have any anagrinds – “Bare word debacle (8,11)” (a lousy surface) would be more accurate.
I imagine this clue was attempting a sporting (and amusing, whatever) effort at an &lit.
March 27th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Re 17,14 – I parsed this slightly differently, and I think it just about works as a ‘reverse’ clue:
Boob (MALFUNCTION i.e. anagrind)) [of the rest of the answer, i.e. WARDROBE] getting ‘bared’ with ‘row’ ensuing [ie this is the resulting anagram].
I’m not sure that ‘getting’ and ‘ensuing’ are both necessary – it would work (by this parsing) with just: Boob bared – row ensuing?
March 27th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
But who cares anyway? It’s clever, it’s funny, and most of us solved it without any difficulty. What is this – the Spanish Inquisition?
March 27th, 2012 at 3:56 pm
@Gervase I didn’t intend to invoke the Spanish Inquisition. Just a comfy chair.
March 27th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
I don’t disagree with any of the above sentiments – I just think it’s a very interesting clue that probably defies parsing – as Gervase says, it’s more a question of intuition and not trying too hard to find a Ximenean explanation. However, it deserves close examination as it is, after all, the cornerstone of the whole crossword.
I don’t recall Puck putting in an appearance on these pages, unfortunately.
March 27th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Thanks to Uncle Yap for the blog, and to others for your comments.
Two clues seem to have got some of you guessing:
4dn: I simply meant ROSES with N for R, as per the blog. ‘Newly’ is kind of doing double duty, with the new opening letter being N=new.
17,14: Gervase@16 explains my thinking fairly well, with one possible anagram (malfunction) of WARDROBE being BARED/ROW, ie ‘bared, with row ensuing’. I did myself consider using the shortened version suggested by Gervase, but decided against in order to conceal the anagram a little, and for a slightly better surface reading, Maybe a tad unfair, on reflection.
I do agree with Gervase@17 too, in that I think that sometimes there is a danger of trying to parse a slightly libertarian clue in such depth that the fun intended gets lost in the detail. On the other hand, as a solver myself, I do realise that there can also be a need to understand how and why a clue works before one can rest easily with a solution perhaps arrived at through a certain amount of guesswork, intuition and/or cross-checking letters.
PS Thanks to NeilW for his comment@19, which I have just read before posting, I do pop in here from time to time, and always read the blog and comments.
March 27th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Woops! Thanks, Puck, and my apologies for saying I didn’t remember you dropping by in the past. I must say… what perfect timing!
March 27th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Thanks Uncle Yap and Puck
Took a while to solve this one and even after getting WARDROBE MALFUNCTION, I hadn’t a clue why.
Very nice puzzle however.
March 27th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Thanks UY and Puck
I only got to look at this enjoyable puzzle this afternoon. It is very good to get Puck’s comments.
The theme went past me but the clues were all solvable without – the mark of a good themed puzzle for me.
I missed the parsing of ‘noses’ as I was keen to get on and thought it must be about newly opened wine bottles! This might have been a nice change for ‘flowers’.
My quick take on wardrobe malfunction was that malfunction was both the anagram indicator and part of the answer.
I ticked several as I went along 10a, 12a,27a, 8d, 13d!, and 17,14!.
March 27th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Thanks to both UY and Puck.
I enjoyed this, but as I didn’t realise Justin Timberlake was the perpetrator of the malfunction I was held up in the NW corner through having put Johnny (-come-lately) for 1d, which didn’t help at all!
Once I’d twigged what 9a had to be, the rest came easily.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Cosafina, I’m curious to know: how did 9ac help you?
March 27th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Johnny doesn’t contain an ‘S’.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Thanks for the elucidations UY – especially on 11a.
Great fun, Puck. I just `peeked in` at midnight and was happily intrigued until half one – my personal acid-test of a successful crossword – “just too good to leave.”
Loved 18 – a favourite word of mine and first in. Good to read you here, too. Thank you.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Great cheeky xword thanks Puck and UY probably the best concealed theme ever ( unlike Janets notorious nipple ).
March 27th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Challenging xword. Lake was extremely difficult if you didn’t spot the Justin Timberlake link as I’m afraid to say we didn’t.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:07 am
Just to give you a clue as to why this one left me cold, am I to presume Ms Jackson is related to Michael? And who on earth is this Justin character? Complete mystery to me!
March 28th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Only had a chance to look at this one today – and even though it only took a short time to do, it is a puzzle that had a number of clues that I didn’t parse properly – and got CAMBER wrong with CAMDEN
. Needed help with 11a, 26a (doh), 2d and 7d.
Only twigged to the theme whilst I was working on the last clue LAKE … and don’t think that I would have worked it out if I hadn’t seen the JUSTIN TIMBER bit. Brilliantly disguised theme and a good variety of very clever and devious clueing.
Well done Puck – and thanks UY for setting me straight with some of the “how did I get it, again!”