Guardian 26,386 by Chifonie

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26386.

After yesterday’s high jinks from Tramp, a fairly sedate offering from Chifonie, with simple clue structures, but not without enough misdirections to hold the interest.

completed grid
Across
1 CANAPES
Primate tucks into preserves and small eats (7)
An envelope (‘tucks into’) of APE (‘primate’) in CANS (‘preserves’).
5 SEAWARD
Kent gets a regulatory area facing offshore (7)
A charade of SE (south-east, ‘Kent’, roughly speaking) plus ‘a’ plus WARD (‘regulatory area’).
9 OTTER
Carnivore decapitated craftsman (5)
[p]OTTER (‘craftsman’) minus its first letter (‘decapitated’).
10 GERMINATE
Shoot queen’s minister in entrance (9)
An envelope (‘in’) of ER (‘queen’) plus MIN (‘minister’) in GATE (‘entrance’)
11 CONCERTINA
Harmony in a musical instrument (10)
A charade of CONCERT (‘harmony’) plus ‘in a’.
12 STEP
Tramp‘s caresses rejected (4)
A reversal (‘rejected’) of PETS (‘caresses’).
14 SLAVE DRIVER
Drool when taking trip for taskmaster (5,6)
An envelope (‘when taking’) of DRIVE (‘trip’) in SLAVER (‘drool’).
18 PROVOCATION
Spin doctor calling for incitement (11)
A charade of PRO (Public Relations Officer, ‘spin doctor’) plus VOCATION (‘calling’).
21 SHAM
Pretence produces endless embarrassment (4)
SHAM[e] (’embarrassment’) without its last letter (‘endless’).
22 ADAM’S APPLE
First man to market keeps very quiet, getting a lump in the throat (5,5)
An envelope (‘keeps’) of PP (pianissimo, ‘very quiet’) in ADAM (‘first man’) plus SALE (‘market’).
25 ABSTAINER
Rechabite cooked bairn’s tea (9)
An anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘bairns tea’. The Rechabites were a Biblical clan descended from Rechab through Jehonadab, who forbad his descendants to drink wine; more recently, the name has been appropriated by some abolitionists.
26 DOUSE
Plunge into Dutch river (5)
A charade of D (‘Dutch’) plus OUSE (‘river’).
27 ENSURED
Made certain when monarch’s followed around (7)
An envelope (‘around’) of R (‘monarch’) in ENSUED (‘followed’).
28 LANTERN
Light lunch initially before the service (7)
A charade of L (‘Lunch initially’) plus ANTE (‘before’) plus RN (‘Royal Navy, ‘the service’).
Down
1 CROUCH
Bend down to king in Chesterfield (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of R (Rex, ‘king’) in COUCH (‘Chesterfield’).
2 NATANT
Nathaniel retains sunburn when floating (6)
An envelope (‘retains’) of TAN (‘sunburn’) in NAT (‘Nathaniel’).
3 PERVERSION
Kinkiness for every type (10)
A charade of PER (‘for every’) plus VERSION (‘type’).
4 SIGHT
Complain over time of show (5)
A charade of SIGH (‘complain’) plus T (‘time’).
5 SERENGETI
Tiger seen frolicking in animal sanctuary (9)
An anagram (‘frolicking’) of ‘tiger seen’.
6 AVID
Help to keep Victor keen (4)
An envelope (‘to keep’) of V (‘Victor’) in AID (‘help’).
7 ADAPTIVE
Doctor paid a vet to be compliant (8)
An anagram (‘doctor’) of ‘paid a vet’.
8 DEER PARK
Duty leader always to leave car in animal sanctuary (4,4)
A charade of D (‘Duty leader’) plus E’ER (‘always’) plus PARK (‘leave car’).
13 IRON MAIDEN
Possibly die in Roman instrument of torture (4,6)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘die in Roman’.
15 ABANDONED
Boycott achieved during commercial is very wicked (9)
An envelope (‘during’) of BAN (‘boyott’) plus DONE (‘ahieved’) in AD (‘commerial’).
16 APOSTATE
Dissenter beaten to a paste (8)
An anagram (‘beaten’) of ‘to a paste’.
17 MOLASSES
Doctor the girls’ syrup (8)
A charade of MO (‘doctor’) plus LASSES (‘the girls’).
19 SPRUCE
Trim a tree (6)
Double definition (‘trim’ as an adjective’).
20 SEVERN
Lop off pole in river (6)
A charade of SEVER (‘lop off’)  plus N (norht ‘pole’).
23 MOREL
Extra large fungus (5)
A charade of MORE (‘extra’) plus L (‘large’).

Morel

24 FAIR
The food sounds OK (4)
A homophone (‘sounds’) of FARE (‘the food’).

31 comments on “Guardian 26,386 by Chifonie”

  1. Thanks, PeterO. Every time I see Chifonie’s puzzles, I’m reminded just how good Orlando’s are: same simple elegance but… a lot harder.

  4. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO
    Very quick, despite a slip – I assumed “in river” in 20d meant the pole was “in the river”, so I thought that DEE would be around something like “rod”. Actually, what is the “in” doing in the clue?
    “Sigh” = “complain” isn’t very close in my book.
    I do dislike clues like 9a. It’s obvious that the answer will be a carnivore missing the first letter to give a craftsman, or vice versa, but both key words are so loose that it is impossible to be confident of an solution without the crossing letters.

  5. P.S. A site search shows that this is the fifth SERENGETI in the Guardian crossword this year, and the sixth within a twelve-month period. At least the clues were fairly distinct from each other.

  7. Yes I like the simple elegance of this puzzle. I wasn’t sure about D for Dutch in 26a; is D not normally German?

    I had ACCORDIAN for 11a. A shame it didn’t fit on length or the crossing letters!

    Thank you PeterO, especially for 27a which some reason I failed to parse. Also our setter; what would we do without you all?

  8. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO

    Typical elegant and not too difficult clues which was just what I was looking for today …

    Took a little while to see what was going on with LANTERN and SEAWARD (kept opting for the man’s name rather than the county for some reason.

    Very enjoyable.

  9. Good morning, everyone, and thank you PeterO.

    Reading Chifonie’s clueing is rather like taking a step back to a former age of crosswords. I recall most clues used to read like this. No implied criticism, just a little on the dry side for my taste.

    I assume ABANDONED has some other meaning other than ‘left’ or ‘reckless’. I wasn’t aware of one meaning ‘very wicked’. Abandoned woman, perhaps?

    Thank you, Chifonie.

  10. Morning all, and thanks, Chifonie, for not being too hard on a busy morning.
    In 24, how are we meant to decide between FAIR and FARE without the crosser?

  11. Thanks both, just about the right level for me this morning.

    Roger @10, I had the checker in first so that didn’t occur to me, but I had a similar problem with OTTER – not clear if it’s the craftsman or the carnivore that’s to lose its head.

    NATANT was new to me; my first thought was naiant, the heraldic term for swimming. Not sure if natant is heraldic too, but I’m assuming they have similar roots.

  12. With you on that, Roger@10, and the previous quibbles re otter, but given that the sun is shining here, who cares!
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  13. John @ 11 – your comment reminds me of WH Auden’s review of Leslie Marchand’s monumental biography of Byron, in which he gently chided the American for his use of expressions such as ‘his natatorial skill’ (used to describe the fabled swim across the Hellespont).

  14. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO, really enjoyed the puzzle and blog.

    Among others liked GERMINATE and ABSTAINER.
    I had no trouble with 24d, now I am having more of a problem trying to see what is, if there is, than in solving the clue!

  16. 9a brings to mind the now-defunct Wannock Gardens, near Eastbourne in Sussex, scene of many childhood visits as my grandmother lived nearby. One of its attractions was an old well filled with water, with a sign attached saying: “Turn the handle to see the famous ‘water otter’!”

    When you turned the handle, there emerged from the water a bashed-up old kettle on the end of a rope.

  17. Something of a breeze after yesterday’s puzzle with NATANT the only word I had to look up. Restful!

  18. Roderick @16. That reminded me of Drusillas Park near Alfriston. I went to school in Eastbourne and visited it several time in the 1950’s. See on the Web that it still exists and still has otters.

  20. Nothing wrong with this one, except that it had to follow Paul and Tramp (not to mention Picaroon and Puck), so it inevitably felt a bit vanilla. Last in was PROVOCATION. I was briefly diverted by thinking about whether Chesterfield has any other claims to fame other than the twisted spire and being Tony Benn’s seat for a while.

    Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO

  21. Straightforward indeed, with just a little delay in the NW owing to unfamiliarity with NATANT and aforementioned uncertainty over whether the beast or the craftsman gets the chop.

  24. Thanks all
    Rather dull and too easy especially for a Thursday (John Halpern claimed the harder as the week progresses on J. Long show).
    Last in ‘germinate’.

  25. I’ve just recalled that one of my all time favourite clues was for ‘deer park’ (see 8 down).
    It was the type of clue which works only in the written form and the excess of fours plus roam (Anagram) leads to much misdirection . Can anyone remember who set “Does roam here also”?

  26. I’m new to all this and my brain isn’t warped yet, no problem with 9a or 24a…
    9a quite clear, the “carnivore decapitated the craftsman”.
    24a quite clear, “the fare sounds OK” answer FAIR,
    you might say “the prices sound fair”, but “not the food sounds fair”.

    Now my brain is addled having to search for the complications raised

    Thanks again Chifonie.

  27. I know it’s very late but didn’t get started until midnight . This was just what I needed at the end of a bad day. I just love variety of puzzles and that’s what we get with the Guardian that’s why I’m still here after at least 40 years. Liked Crouch and misdirection in my opinion of concertina.Sorry I may not be as erudite as many of you but these crosswords keep me sane. Thank you Chifonie and Peter Our. Love morels by the way.

  30. Tom @31 – nice try, but I think you’re thinking of Lichfield, which has a lot more claims to fame e.g. being the capital of Mercia. I now my comment was a throwaway aside, but if you know a place like Chesterfield you also know that there aren’t many facts about it that could legitamately be regarded as common knowledge, so Chesterfield->furniture becomes the first thought not the second.

    I hope I’m not being counted as a disparager, after all I did start my comment with “Nothing wrong with this”.

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