Guardian Cryptic 27,659 by Tramp

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27659.

I’m rather rushed today, and am happy to complete the blog without too much trouble.

Across
1, 15 I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY  A number of us do clubs — Kylie with short hot pants (1,6,2,2,5)
An anagram (‘pants’) of ‘us do clubs Kylie’ plus ‘ho[t]’ minus its last letter (‘short’), for the song by Kylie Minogue.
5 SCRIBES Writes book splitting section with prayers (7)
An envelope (‘splitting’) of B (‘bool’ ‘book’) in S (‘section’) plus CRIES (‘prayers’).
9 PANED Puzzle not filled in and cryptic, having small squares (5)
An anagram (‘cryptic’) of PE (‘PuzzlE not filled in’) plus ‘and’.
10 BARCAROLE Song is simple: sing parts (9)
An envelope (‘parts’) of CAROL (‘sing’) in BARE (‘simple’).
11 CASTRATING Making ineffective players score (10)
A charade of CAST (‘players’) plus RATING (‘score’).
12 ETUI Case of Julia ignoring odd parts after film (4)
A charade of ET (‘film’) plus UI (‘jUlIa ignoring odd parts’).
14 TABLE TENNIS Olympian on drug for sport (5,6)
A charade of TABLET (‘drug’) plus ENNIS (that would be Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, ‘Olympian’).
18 BANANA SKINS Mad relatives start to see cause for embarrassment? They’re out of hand (6,5)
A charade of BANANAS (‘mad’) plus KIN (‘relatives’) plus S (‘start to See’). The elaborate definition makes reference to a hand of bananas.
21 NEED Born and died as Miss (4)
A charade of NEE (‘born’) plus D (‘died’).
22 ILLITERATE Large American volume by don that is unable to write (10)
An envelope (‘don’) of L (‘large’) plus LITER (‘American volume’) plus AT (‘by’) in IE (‘that is’).
25 OLIGARCHS Chaos: girl dancing for rich businessmen (9)
An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘chaos girl’.
26 DWEEB Geek to go on date with bachelor (5)
A charade of D (‘date’) plus WEE (‘go’) plus B (‘bachelor’).
27 SURGERY One pushing 60 is gutted outside treatment room (7)
An envelope (‘outside’) of URGER (‘one pushing’)  in SY (SixtY, ’60 is gutted’).
28 NORFOLK Broads here and not guys (7)
NOR FOLK (‘not guys’).
Down
1 IMPACT Apple computer over time to retain power for crash (6)
A charade of IMPAC, an envelope (‘to retain’) of P (‘power’) in I-MAC (‘apple computer’); plus T (‘time’).
2 HONEST Clean and polish stone (6)
A charade of HONE (‘polish’ – as yesterday) plus ST (‘stone’).
3 UNDERSTAND Get down, get up (10)
A charade of UNDER (‘down’) plus STAND (‘get up’).
4 DEBIT Charge from sex channel, turned over first (5)
A charade of DEB, a reversal (‘turned over’) of BED (‘channel’) plus IT (‘sex’), with ‘first’ indicating the order of the particles.
5 SERENGETI Tiger seen roaming the plain (9)
An anagram (‘roaming’) of ‘tiger seen’.
6 ROAN Horse went round circuit (4)
An envelope (’round’) of O (‘circuit’) in RAN (‘went’).
7 BOOSTING Encouraging singer after critical review? (8)
A charade of BOO (‘critical review?’) plus STING (‘singer’).
8 SEEDIEST Take out daughter — endless party is extremely sleazy (8)
A charade of SEE (‘take out’) plus D (‘daughter’) plus [f]IEST[a] (‘party’) minus both ends (‘endless’).
13 NEWSREADER Snow? Unusually answered with hesitation (10)
A charade of NEWSREAD, an anagram (‘unusually’) of ‘answered’; plus ER (‘hesitation’), for Jon Snow.
15   See 1 across
16 ABANDONS Scraps while group is playing inside (8)
An envelope (‘inside’) of BAND ON (‘group is playing’) in AS (‘while’).
17 INTERIOR Home and lay to rest with single men (8)
A charade of INTER (‘lay to rest’) plus I (‘single’) plus OR (‘men’).
19 MAKE DO Get along? Take home to cheat (4,2)
A charade of MAKE (‘take home’?) plus DO (‘cheat’).
20 REEBOK Drink up: right animal (6)
A charade of REEB, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of BEER (‘drink’), plus OK (‘right’). Chambers gives reebok or rhebok for the antelope.
23 IBSEN Complaint with space for writer (5)
A charade of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome, ‘complaint’) plus EN (‘space’).
24 CAKE Sweet thing in bar (4)
Double definition (cake of soap).
completed grid

49 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,659 by Tramp”

  2. Thin pickings at first, FOI etui, though a dnk, next Ibsen, then the SE and steadily on, finishing in the NE, except for 8d which I got sick of staring at and cheated, so dnf, don’t quite know why, it wasn’t that hard; laziness mostly.

    Slow to get paned, d’oh, Barcarole (an occasional regular), oligarchs despite its topicality (Chelski etc), and roan, another d’oh. And wondered about interior for home.

    Enjoyed the wrestle, thanks Tramp and PeterO.

  4. @2: interior decorator = home decorator??

    BTW: as ever with Mr Walker, I enjoyed the slight bit of schoolboy smut.

  6. Tricky to get into, but once some of the longer answers went in, the ‘friendliness’ of the grid helped a lot. Some unusual, though perfectly valid synonyms: ‘cries’/’prayers’, ‘tablet’/’drug’, ‘bed’/’channel’ and ‘interior’/’home’ (Grant @2.) Got a bit stuck towards the end on 8d, which I thought must end in ‘issy’, and 17d, where I assumed ‘home’ implied ‘in’, ‘single’ gave ‘s’ as the last letter, and the definition was ‘men’. Couldn’t have been more wrong.

    ps Grant @2 ‘an occasional regular’ – nice oxymoron!

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO, and for a very testing puzzle, Tramp. Tough, but fair.

  7. Thanks PeterO, and Tramp for a lot of ingenuity: eg Kylie! I thought 24 was a bit weak – ‘cane’ seemed to fit (sugar cane, or candy cane for ‘sweet thing’, also a kind of stick or bar?); CAKE didn’t seem much better as a solution, but it’s probably just me.

  8. Enjoyed this.

    Lots of old chestnuts: though

    “film”=ET in 12a ETUI (which I only knew from way back when as it was always in the Quick crosswords I did many many moons ago, when it was invariably clued “needle case”

    “to go” = WEE in 26a DWEEB

    “men”= OR in 17d INTERIOR

    I have encountered Snow = NEWSREADER (13d) before in The Guardian cryptics and I even know he is Jon Snow somehow, though I wouldn’t know him if I fell over him. And Yay: I had heard of the NORFOLK Broads too, and I think other participants on a previous 15² forum (muffin?) tried to help me work out in which crime novel they featured. Meanwhile lovely to have “our Kylie” the singing budgie starring in 1a 15d I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY.

    24d CAKE took me a long time to see…those darned four letter words! 11a CASTRATING was my favourite.

    I liked your explanation for “Take” = MAKE in 19d, RogerGS@3.

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO.

  9. Another great Tramp crossword – I particularly liked 12a – it made a change from the usual clues for this old friend of the crossword solver

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

  11. Embarrassed (well sort of) to admit that Kylie’s song didn’t enter my mind while solving 1,15; terribly dense at some kinds of connection. Right now the familiar number is of course an earworm, hey ho.

  12. Jon Snow seems to be quite a regular visitor – his most recent appearance was a couple of weeks ago in a Brummie puzzle.

    A very enjoyable puzzle from Tramp, though I agree with Bullhassocks that 24d was a bit weak. The ?A?E pattern notoriously has a huge number of possible solutions, so a double definition clue can be very hard to solve, especially as here where the two definitions are quite similar.

     

  13. I knew it wasnt  a Mars bar (not with Tramp)-for some reason the clue “bar of soap” came into my head.

    Re ILLITERATE, I hadnt heard “don” used like that  before.

    Very good as usual from Tramp and thanks Peter O.

  15. PeterO:  but just to point out a typo in 2a (bool) [Easily done when you’re in a rush]

    Too many far-stretched definitions in my view, eg CRIES for PRAYERS

  17. Thank you, PeterO.

    Tiny gripe over went = ran in the ROAN clue but I suppose it’s fair enough.

    grantinfreo @1:  That’s astonishing, my route followed yours exactly (although at a slower pace, I suspect).

    I clued BARCAROLE recently as Song part for a dog on the radio? (9)

    Thoroughly enjoyed this, what an accomplished setter Tramp has become.

    Nice week, all.

  19. William @18 there seems to be controversy over who originally came up with ROVERS RETURN clue-I thought it was either Rufus or Anax in rookie days

    It was great whoever it was. Classic CD in fact.

  20. Thanks Tramp and PeterO

    William @ 17: if you think in terms of operation rather than movement, 6 is fine: ‘The car ran/went well’.

    Tramp is even more accomplished now, as per his twitter feed he wrote this one three years ago.

  21. Afraid I didn’t enjoy this as much as others appear to. Too many old favourites for me – to those mentioned above I’d add bloody Serengeti for plain.

    I did think Kylie was clever -especially in short hot pants – and smiled at BANANA SKINS mad relatives

    Probably just grumpy about the cricket!

  22. copmus @19:  Thanks, didn’t know there was controversy.  Such a belter I’d claim it for myself if I thought I’d get away with it.

    Simon S @20:  Of course, thanks for that.  I wonder how Tramp feels looking back on a 3-year old puzzle?  I’m always a bit shame-faced when I look back at my earlier stuff.

  23. Thanks for the blog, PeterO and thanks to others for commenting.

    For 24d, I shouldn’t have used a double definition to clue a four-letter word whose checked letters are vowels. I don’t think I’d do that now.

    Neil

  25. Yeah, good fun with some unusual but perfectly valid definitions. Cake had me hesitating but soap-wise it works.Especially with Kylie singing in the background! Guessed etui.
    Am I being dumb…why does folk mean guys? Thought folk was all of us.

  27. To Tramp @23, (and anyone else in the know.) Does The Guardian have an archive of (presumably) unpublished puzzles, from which it can choose to publish on any given day, or is it at the setter’s discretion to submit a particular puzzle? I have no complaints either way, just wondering.

  28. Tramp@23, especially space a space e … I put mace (overthinking somewhat; hence I now have a double dnf). Thanks for dropping by.

  29. Yaffle @ 25: “Guys” is often used as a form of address to groups of people of both sexes. You don’t have to like it, though.

  30. Kylie was the first to the party and she opened up the NW. But after that it was hard work. I finished but several answers were bashed in without parsing. So the blog was incredibly helpful. I loved 14, 18 & 25. DEBIT held me up more than it should. I had the D so assumed that ‘sex channel, turned over first’ was ADULT with the position of the A moved. Stupid, but there it is. BARCAROLE & ROAN were new to me. Overall, very challenging but enjoyable.

    Thanks Tramp and PeterO.

    P.S. Yaffle@25 – in these PC times, business-speak often uses guys in a non-gender specific way (in my experience). I tend to stick to folks, as it is truly inclusive.

  32. Thank you Tramp and PeterO.

    Quite a challenge but very enjoyable.  The clue for HONEST was a laugh after yesterday.

    Yaffle @25, for me the word ‘Broads’ signaled North American usage, and there ‘guys’ means people of either sex.

  34. Some excellent stuff, e.g. 1,15. Amused by the mad relatives.

    24d is not good, though. As well as CANE, why not DATE (a sweet thing which might take place in a bar)?

  35. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO. I found this tough going and for me a lot of solve and then parse. The NE was last and a DNF for me. Just like grantinfreo@ I could not for the life of me get 8d, though I really do not know why now. Lots to like though, such as banana skins and castrating, and thanks again to Tramp and PeterO.

  36. I was more on Tramp’s wavelength than usual today, perhaps because I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY was first in, initially from the enumeration and Kylie. All very enjoyable, particularly UNDERSTAND.

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

  37. Easier to solve than to parse, as I was not on Tramp’s wavelength today. So thanks to PeterO and to Mr Paddington Bear for daylight on some of them.

  38. The KYLIE clue went right over my head, never heard of her.  I’d never heard of the song I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY either, though it’s a common expression, so the clue was hopeless for me.

    But I loved UNDERSTAND.  Such economy and such misdirection in four words!

    Thanks, Tramp and PeterO.

     

     

     

  39. Found this tough to get into, and slipped up big time with the excellent (and now obvious) 18 across. Loi as a result was 16 down. Enjoyable, testing solve, though…

  40. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO, I had the same problems as already noted (e.g., with bar-CAKE) and needed help parsing SURGERY, but I did know Jon Snow from previous puzzles, BARCAROLE, and the NORFOLK Broads.

  41. Not one for us confirmed bottom-uppers. I got six clues and then gave up, with no particular interest in finding out where the journey would have taken me.  Still puzzled how people can get satisfaction from filling in clues from just definitions and crossers.

  42. Tramp @23:  A very congenial but quite unnecessary mea culpa re CAKE.  I’m betting most people will have got there in the end.

    Thanks for the fun!

  43. I can’t really get in to this setter and I had my difficulties with this, especially the parsing of ILLITERATE which completely defeated me. I had CANE for 24dn before replacing it with CAKE. A few chestnuts- SERENGETI,ETUI- which surely should be pensioned off. I did like NEED,though. And I could do without that Kylie song which has given me an unwanted earworm!
    Still,thanks Tramp.

  45. In the time I had to solve this I had to leave the NE corner only half complete, but I enjoyed the puzzle very much up to that point. I particularly liked DWEEB, BANANA SKINS, CASTRATING and I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY. I’m glad Tramp came on with his comment because I decided to leave 24d (-A-E) until last – I never got there! (It was the simplest and the hardest clue of all.)
    Thanks to Tramp, PeterO and other commenters.

  46. Bah! Got all correct bar CANE at 24a. LOI SCRIBES. COD 28a, was not fooled by ‘broads here…’ having learnt this in my rookie days of solving cryptics despite being a Kenyan who has never been to the UK.

  47. Really enjoyed this, but I’m not sure that SEEDIEST is the same as “extremely sleazy”. Most sleazy would have been better?

  48. Good for you, Chadwick @46.  I’ve been to the UK two or three times but most of my visits have been by the printed page.  I knew the broads too, and the hand of bananas, and I get to congratulate myself when there are British expressions I know.  When I don’t know them, well, I’ve learned something new.  I may or may not remember the TV shows or pop singers, but them’s the breaks.  (US expression some British readers may not have run into.)  But I don’t complain about them.

  49. Terrific Tuesday trickery from Tramp!  I recognized the phrase I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY, but knew of no song of that name, so I Googled it after solving and only then realized it was a Kylie Minogue song, and this in turn greatly elevated my estimation of the clueing for 1,15.

    [I even endured listening to said Kylie track on YouTube for one minute and seventeen seconds — haha!  Fortunately for me, I already had a solid earworm going from having solved 8d first, with the wordplay from that clue immediately summoning this rollicking song to mind — much more to my tastes when it comes to music from the late 1980s.]

    [And, speaking of “Fiesta”, I wanted to add that I read in Wikipedia that some of the percussion in this song is made by the whistle player beating a beer tray against his head — which I found funny in light of prior discussions in this forum regarding “tea tray moments”!!]

    Other favorites today included DWEEB, CASTRATING, OLIGARCHS and CotD for me, UNDERSTAND.

    Many thanks to Tramp and PeterO and the other commenters.

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