Brummie fills the Thursday slot today.
I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this puzzle nearly so much as the last one [with a theme of children’s television] from Brummie that I blogged. I fear that that may be because I have failed to find a theme [and this setter usually has one] which might have made it more interesting. I’m prepared [and hoping] to be proved wrong.
Thanks, Brummie,
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Tinkered with the tune before record’s initial release (8)
UNTETHER
Anagram [tinkered with] THE TUNE + R[ecord’s]
11 Recidivist supporter gains second cap (10)
BACKSLIDER
BACKER [supporter] round S [second] LID [cap]
12 Saracen suspected accommodating count (6)
CENSUS
Contained in saraCEN SUSpected
14 Tourist destination resort on rocks (8)
SORRENTO
Anagram [rocks] of RESORT ON
16 As a substitute for lane round top of field (2,3,2)
BY WAY OF
BYWAY [lane] + O [round] + F[ield]
18 Weight thrown about, feeling irritated, tense (7)
TWITCHY
A reversal of WT [weight] + ITCHY [feeling irritated]
21 Hawk, parrot, cuckoo, incorporating origins of European dove? (8)
PREDATOR
Anagram [cuckoo] of PARROT + E[uropean] D[ove]
23 Car cut into bird (6)
JALOPY
LOP [cut] in JAY [bird]
24 Complying with the standard electricity supply point in public transport? (10)
MAINSTREAM
MAINS [electricity supply] + E [compass point] in TRAM [public transport]
26, 10 Lapdog or mongrel that scores several points (4,4)
DROP GOAL
Anagram [mongrel] of LAPDOG OR
28 Could be do’s mid-point reached (4,4)
HALF DONE
‘do’ is half of DONE
Down
1 Foreign novel left in university wings – not fair (8)
UNLOVELY
Anagram [foreign] of NOVEL + L [left] in U[niversit]Y
3 Supreme, timeless ancient city (6)
THEBES
THE BES[t] [supreme, minus t – timeless] – take your pick of the ancient city: there’s one in Greece and another in Egypt
4 Dire rep players “like concrete blocks” (7)
PRECAST
Anagram [dire] of REP + CAST [players]
5 He hits you, you’re smitten! (4)
EROS
Cryptic definition – hit by Eros’ arrow, you’d be smitten – in love
6 Concerned with teeth, after front teeth half removed by accident (10)
INCIDENTAL
INCI[sors] [front teeth half removed] + DENTAL [concerned with teeth] – it’s a pity that accident and INCIDENTAL come from the same Latin root
7 In that place, there’s no earth hazard (6)
THREAT
TH[e]REAT [in that place] minus e [earth]
13 Liable to be called “rank, heartless youth” (8,2)
STANDING BY
STANDING [rank] + B[o]Y [heartless youth]
15, 27 In colder surroundings, bum turns a certain colour (3,5)
RAW UMBER
Anagram [turns] of BUM in RAWER [colder]
19 Stylish establishment that may need to be replaced (3,5)
HIP JOINT
HIP [stylish] + JOINT [establishment]
20 Reached rocky area of France (7)
ARDÈCHE
Anagram [rocky] of REACHED
22 A sign there’s work on the way (4,2)
ROAD UP
Cryptic definition
23 Mix-up when modest Jack replaces Henry (6)
JUMBLE
[h]UMBLE [modest, with the h [Henry] replaced by J [Jack]
25, 17, 2 Dismiss spring and end happily (4,3,4)
TURN OUT WELL
TURN OUT [dismiss] WELL [spring]
26, 9 Establishment offering eg stock handling experience (4,5)
DUDE RANCH
Cryptic definition, playing on the meaning of ‘stock’
Thanks Eileen and Brummie.
I couldn’t see a theme either.
7d I casually thought the answer was THEREAT, but dismissed it as there were too many “theres” in the clue. It turned out to be my LOI, as a consequence.
RED for RAW UMBER held me back, too
I’d never heard of DUDE RANCH – googling it was a surprise, so many hotels around here on a google map calling themselves DUDE RANCH
Thanks Brummie and Eileen
Yes, not a lot of fun. I don’t see how BY WAY OF means “as a substitute for”. The CD for EROS was like Rufus on a bad day!
21 a real delight! Many other most enjoyable clues too.
As I posted on t’other site, the only theme i could see was naff clues-I think you need 10 for theme and he probably filled the quota. Shame really as i used to like Brummie
Thanks Eileen for being so diplomatic.
Muffin @3 – google gives e.g. “I can’t help it shouted Tom, by way of apology.
Thanks for the helpful blog Eileen. I found this a bit of a grind, with several rather thin clues e.g. road up. But surface-wise a rather better Brummie than usual I thought.
15, 27 a reversal of bum gives mub. umb must be an anagram of bum.
Thanks B & E.
Thanks to both.
I found this a much more satisfactory solve than the last two days but, in fairness, I was in airline lounges doing them, and that is not conducive to great solving. Today all I had to contend with is the humid conditions on the roof terrace in Singapore.
Found one or two cases where I finished up thinking “it can’t be that “ and it was. Didn’t like ROAD UP but that may be because it isn’t a term in common use down home. I also looked sideways at the reversal of BUM which wasn’t the way I read it, as has already been commented.
Still. I did finish in one sitting so travel must be helpful.
Thanks, Jam @8 – a careless slip, which I’ll amend now. [I nearly commented that there were rather more anagrams than I’d have liked- and this makes another.]
Nearly all done over a leisurely latte but then took far too long over half done and and dude. Does the ‘stock’ in 26/9 allude to both cattle and brokers (dudes)? Anyway I welcomed the ease after yesterday’s Imogen which took ages, liberal use of wiki notwithstanding.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen (I loved your disquisition on modals, might vs may etc., some time ago).
Not the most thrilling puzzle, but I did like TWITCHY, JALOPY and MAINSTREAM. Many thanks to B & E.
Eileen @9 My pleasure. Turns isn’t the greatest anagram indicator, is it? And I think the definition part of the clue is pretty weak. Mind you I have been trying (and have so far failed) to concoct a better clue for the colour.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
My favourite was 3d THEBES.
Thanks Eileen. I thought 3d and 7d were both unsatisfactory in the same way: THEBES isn’t “timeless”, because there’s still a T there, and there is an E[arth] in THREAT.
I don’t think ROAD UP (“road surface being repaired” – Chambers) is ever used on warning signs these days, but “up” is sometimes used as an anagram indicator, which I usually justify as relating to this phrase.
Thank you Brummie for a pleasant puzzle and Eileen for anotherl high quality blog.
In 15,27 I thought ‘turns’ indicated that ‘bum’ rotated giving UMB.
Hi Andrew @14 – I quite agree about 3d and 7d and almost commented but decided against it, because there were so many clues that I thought were weak for one reason or another that I thought it must just me today.
Re ‘up’ as an anagram indicator; I’ve always thought of it as ‘in an excited state; in revolt’ [Chambers] or, as in Collins, something troubled [‘What’s up?] or strange[ ‘something’s up’] – yours is another suggestion and I think they all work.
it seems to have been a bit of a Marmite puzzle. I’m glad some people enjoyed it – and rather relieved that no one has found a theme. [Yet.]
Once again I’m agreeing with Eileen.
Thank you to her and Brummie
I thought it was me, busy day, a bit obtuse. But I thought, overall, not as much enjoyment as previous Brummies. I liked the three clues already cited by drofle@11, plus 14a SORRENTO and 19d HIP JOINT. I also liked PREDATOR 21d, as mentioned by ponticello@4. Have not heard of ROAD UP 22d so that one was a guess.
Thanks to Brummie and Eileen.
All you people criticising the setter for “weak” clues. How many newspapers do your crosswords appear in?
Thanks to Brummie and Eileen. Like some others I found this a bit of a grind but eventually gettable. I had to come here for the parsing of precast (which I should have seen) and did not particularly like road up. That said I liked backslider and mainstream and still a nice challenge. Thanks again to Brummie and Eileen.
Another DNF for this novice. I found it pretty tough. Backslider slid in (I’ll get my coat) very early on but, alas, it was a false dawn. I enjoyed getting precast, untether and Thebes.
Thanks to Brummie and Eileen.
What an enjoyable crossword that was.
E. Foster@19. Thank you for your grounding comment. It reminded me that I am not a setter’s bootlace. When I step back from the up close detail of solving these Guardian puzzles, I think, I couldn’t even begin to devise such grids, nor the individual clues that comprise them.
Brummie sometimes has strange surfaces in his clues. Today, he seemed to me to be addressing that issue. I quite liked this, as a result. MAINSTREAM, UNTETHER, SORRENTO, PREDATOR and RAW UMBER (I tried RED UMBER too) were very good.
On Andrew’s point, it seems OK to me to delete only one T to give THEBES (and one E for THREAT). Solver’s choice as to which. I thought the cryptic definitions DUDE RANCH and EROS were a little too uncryptic, but ROAD UP’s quite good, even though I don’t remember when I last saw that sign.
JALOPY’s a nice word. Collins online says “origin unknown”. Anyone have any ideas where it comes from?
Good fun. Thanks, Brum and Eileen.
[Not having a go at anyone in that last comment. I really enjoy the back and forth discussions that occur on this forum. I think all of us who contribute like the parry and thrust that characterises our engagement with each day’s challenge.]
So nobody else found a theme either – that makes me feel better. All pretty straightforward, but the last couple of days were a hard act to follow.
Thanks to Brummie and Eileen
phitonelly @24
“JALOPY’s a nice word. Collins online says “origin unknown”. Anyone have any ideas where it comes from?”
Chambers and the ODE also have “origin unknown”, or words to that effect. A web search led me to the Online Etymology Dictionary which has:
jalopy (n.)
“battered old automobile,” 1924 (early variants include jaloupy, jaloppi, gillopy), of unknown origin; perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico, where many U.S. used cars supposedly were sent (see jalapeno).
Thanks to Brummie and Eileen. I’m another who welcomed this puzzle after the challenge yesterday – and if there had been a theme I likely would have missed it. ROAD UP, RAW UMBER, and ARDECHE were new to me (though gettable from the clues) but DUDE RANCH was familiar.
[To revisit an item from yesterday, I had trouble with “para” as part of PARALLEL not because of the abbreviation for “paragraph” but because (as I should have explained) of the clue “a few lines.” I enjoy the comments here from those I term “sticklers” who, given their expertise in a given subject, pinpoint various questionable links or definitions in areas where I know little. I, for one, have done a lot of writing and, at times, have had to evaluate the writing of others. “A few lines” for me can be prose or a comment but, in my world, a paragraph should be a unit of thought. End of sermon.]
Gaufrid @27
I see Wikipedia also has this explanation. For some reason, I thought it was of Hindi derivation, similar to pukka etc, but apparently it’s US slang, not Indian. Now I know. Thanks!
Jalopy
Michael Quinion gives, as usual, an entertaining account on WORLD WIDE WORDS
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jal1.htm
I quite liked the puzzle, but the real joy in today’s Guardian for cruciverbalists is a lovely story to which for complicated reasons I can’t provide a direct link,but you can search it under Boy From Mumbai….Crossword King. I hope you enjoy it as much I did.
Delfini @31 – Crossword King
Recently I said how much I was enjoying Brummie’s puzzles but this was a bit of a disappointment. We all have our off days I suppose. Incidentally, I don’t see what is wrong with finding a puzzle weak and saying so. Whether the critic could do better is neither here nor there. I don’t suppose I could make a chair but I’m quite capable of judging if someone else’s effort is any good or not.
Anyway I can’t see a theme either!
Thanks Brummie.
I’ve been out since lunch time, so have had to catch up on the comments.
E. Foster @19 – welcome, if you’re a new commenter – I don’t recognise your name but my apologies if you’re not. My response might have been that you don’t have to be an actor to be a theatre critic, nor a footballer to be a football commentator – but I find that Peter Aspinwall has just squeezed in before me.
JinA @23, you’re absolutely right, of course – I could never dream of being a setter [nor would I want to – I enjoy solving too much!]. My remarks in my preamble [which I struggled with and took longer than the blog: I try to adopt the Thumper principle] and subsequently were really expressing my disappointment that Brummie seemed to be having an off day [or it could easily have been me]. I usually really enjoy his puzzles – I’m relieved that some others felt the same.
I loved road up. When I was a wee boy my Dad would moan about Dundee’s High St as, “Bloody road’s up again”.
I’m so glad that others were unfamiliar with “road up”, I cannot ever recall seeing the sign in Canada or the States (and I’m not certain that there was ever a warning sign for road construction in Tanzania). I liked liable to be called as a definition because, now that I live in Texas, I’m much more concerned with liability than likelihood.
I enjoyed this puzzle. Re 16 across I read the definition as as, as in ‘by way of an explanation’ being equivalent to ‘as an explanation’; a byway being ‘a substitute for lane’
Thanks.
P.A. @33: Well said! I think you’ve said all I had in mind. Except …
I’ve never seen a sign saying ROAD UP either nor heard of DUDE RANCH.
Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
I really enjoyed this. But then I find (have I said this too often? Am I becoming a bore?) themed crosswords less than enjoyable because they seem to put the setter in a bit of a corner which usually means somewhat impenetrable cluing, with a lot of biffing-and-then-parsing from me. Any one of these clues could have been solved cold i.e. without the aid of crossers and the surfaces were elegant throughout, employing a nice range of legerdemain. As a result I had the experience I require from a crossword and it hatched slowly and satisfactorily. That being said, I still have no idea what a DUDE RANCH is; not inclined to google it either since, never having met it, I don’t expect to do so in the future.
Alphalpha @39
There’a an entertaining Billy Crystal film called City Slickers that is based on (or starts in) a “dude ranch”.
I am a little surprised that ROAD UP is not better known. As a variant, I once saw (in New Jersey, I think), a sign “Prepare to meet thy roadmaker”.
Definitely a below par effort from Brummie and also of course the editor! One weak clue may be forgiven but this is littered with them.
I assume E Foster @19 never complains about a meal in a restaurant for fear of the “Could you do any better?” riposte. (Perhaps he/she is Brummie’s parent 😉 )
lurkio @42
Just about the worst criticism of a restaurant that I could think of is “I could have cooked this better”…
I’m in the “Brummie not at his best” camp, although some clues like PREDATOR and others mentioned above were excellent there were many that weren’t. My take is that if the resolutely positive Eileen is struggling to find much to shout about then it’s probably not a great puzzle. That said many people seemed to have enjoyed it which is the beauty of solving crosswords – it’s entirely down to the individual and what anyone else thinks is neither here nor there. Thank goodness we don’t all like the same things. Thanks Brummie and Eileen.
[What a truly delightful story about the Crossword King! Many thanks to Delfini@31 and Cookie@32.]
[Thank you, Eileen, for your further post@34. Your inclusive and thoughtful approach to your blogs is always appreciated.]
I’m with EFoster. I don’t think that the ‘restaurant response’ is valid, because you’d (I assume) be paying good money for your meal whereas, unless you’re buying a Graun, you’re probably getting this for nothing.
I loved it, but then I’m on a roll this week: four finishes since Monday. Roll on Saturday’s prize . . .
Oh, and thanks Eileen
This “you’re getting it for nowt means you can’t complain” is nonsense.
The fact is that one wants to do the puzzles online one hasn’t a viable choice. Nobody is going to pay the online subscription just to do the crossword. If one wants to read the paper online that’s different matter. However most people don’t want to read the tosh that the Guardian laughingly describe as journalism. I certainly don’t.
So until the Guardian reintroduce the Crossword Subscription option one has every right to complain. I happily paid this for many years until it was scrapped.
[lurkio@49, I have paid a Guardian subscription for two years. I think it’s only fair as I print off and try to solve the cryptic most days. And I try to see the positives in each puzzle I tackle. I agree entirely with what WK says @44. It is true that as solvers we are different in the ways in which we perceive things. I really appreciate it though when participants explain the reasons for their criticisms and opinions with respect and courtesy. To me, complaining is very different from critiquing, the latter being more constructive.]
Saved (with Imogen’s puzzle) for today. Perhaps it’s just my mood but found this week’s offerings uninspiring – quite unusual.
However, unlike some others I actually thought both ROAD UP and BY WAY OF rather neat.
Many thanks to Brummie – and Eileen of course.
Finished this in 48 hours so quite pleased with ourselves ( though getting the prize for last entry again). Is there any way we can find out if someone posts after us? Liked “backslider” lots and really enjoyed predator. We find that, once We get started, we can usually solve most of a Brummie quite quickly which gives us hope.
But how on earth do people find time to complete the crossword by 1000? We never have the paper by then!
Thanks for the blog, Eileen!