Guardian 24,862 – Brummie

by
Across
1 SOPHISM OP=work in S[c]HISM
5 INSISTS sounds like “in cysts”
9 POLYP Y[en] in rev(PLOP)
10 UP THE WALL cryptic def
11 NURSE SHARK NURSE=tend to + SH=quiet + ARK=craft
12, 4dn DARTMOUTH DARTH around (tum)* around O=nothing
14 SURGEON FISH (if roughness)*, and definition using a few other clues nicely.
18 REPROACHFUL REP + R[ight] + [c]OACHFUL
21 A O N B [wiki] rev(BOA) around [su]N
22 OPERATIONS [h]OPE + RATIONS
25 IN THE MAIN THEM + A + I[mbibes] all inside INN
26 COWER COW + ER
27 MARL PIT [wiki] M[inutes] + (LA trip)*
28 LILY PAD LILY + PAD
Down
1 SUPINE SUP + [w]INE
2 PALTRY PAL[e] + TRY
3 IMPRESSION double def – “fancy” as in a belief
5 INTERLEAF = a blank page inserted into, or “introduced to” a book
7 SHAMANIC (maniacs)* around [Scotc]H
8 SPLOTCHY PLOT + C[irca]=about all inside SHY=cast in the sense of a throwing something
13 ANALYTICAL ANAL + L[ine] all around rev(A CITY)
15 ROCK PLANT e.g. London Pride
16 ORGANISM (roaming’s)*
17 SPINSTER double def
19 DOO-WOP rev(P O WOOD). “deal” can refer to softwood
20 ASTRID A + ST + RID
23 RENAL [bea]N inside REAL
24, 6 HEMPSEED HEED around MPS + [coars]E

16 comments on “Guardian 24,862 – Brummie”

  1. Thanks, manehi. I enjoyed this a lot, as usual with Brummie puzzles.

    My first entry was 10ac: UP THE POLE – not a good start! However, 7dn had to be an anagram, so that put me right.

    I laughed at the whimsical association of the SURGEONFISH and NURSE SHARK [I hadn’t heard of either] and adding IN THE MAIN was clever, especially as there was no allusion to the sea in 25ac.

  3. I don’t know if I’d use the word wonderful, but I thought it was a perfectly good puzzle with some nice touches. Good enough for the likes of me, anyway. 🙂

  4. Many thanks, Manehi, I would like to join the parade of all those who found it truly wonderful. It was a great theme and I also liked 5a INSISTS.

    I’d never heard of 21a AONB as an abbreviation but it was very guessable. Even though I struggled, I always felt that I would get there eventually.

    More of the same, please, Brummie!

  5. Most enjoyable puzzle of the week with one of the best clues for ages in I3 down. News to me that hempseed was used as fishing bait.Might explain the glazed expressions on the faces of some of the anglers on the Basingstoke Canal.

  6. NeilW #2 – you’re right. Appeared pretty good to me. Especially liked the coach load of tourists in 18ac.

  7. Possibly. I’m afraid this one bored me, with little to excite in the clue writing. It seemed very clonkily put together, and somehow predictable, although I must confessed I have never been impressed by this compiler even in the Private Eye magazine.

  8. Thanks, manehi. I enjoyed this, too, particularly 18ac and the interlinked 11ac, 14ac and 25ac. 8dn was the last one I got and took me ages to see. Didn’t see the wordplay of 26ac until I read the blog — and me a former fan of ER!

    (Eileen — good to hear from you!)

  9. Not one of Brummie’s best, but still pretty enjoyable. Disappointed by relatively low incidence of scatalogical references, though, with 13down the honourable exception. Clearly, Cyclops is allowed to (encouraged to?) get away with a lot more filth in Private Eye.

  10. I’m on the fence on this one. Not wonderful, but not tedious either.
    Is 5 dn really cryptic? If so I don’t see it.
    And, as is often the case, once again I’m mystified by the …….. link between clues in 16/17 dn. What’s the connection?

  11. What a trial it was for me. Over 3 hrs off and on (mainly on).

    His style can be exasperating at times in that there’s usually too much information for each clue.

  12. There isn’t one, so that’s foxed you.

    Or rather, sometimes compilers run things on like that with a view to misdirection, or as a means of having a surface – such as the one @ 16dn – making sense when otherwise it might not. Although the ‘as’ is a bit of a spare one whichever way you look at it. And it’s MORGAN IS with the M moved, which might have tempted some people.

    Interesting mix of views about this puzzle, though not quite as amusing as the one the other day where the blogger talked it up … and absolutely everyone else shot it down.

  14. Nice that, in a puzzle with some “medical” related ansers, the “US TV series” referenced in 26ac is “ER”!

  15. I don’t suppose anyone will see this, but the cluing 12ac/4dn is wrong. “Darth” is not the name of a Star Wars character, it is the title of several characters, the best known of which is Darth Vader. I’m not even a Star Wars fan and this sloppiness irritates me.

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