Morning all!
Funnily enough, when we remembered that we were due to blog Rufus, H mentioned that this setter always uses a number of cryptic definitions and naval references, and this puzzle didn’t disappoint on those counts!
An enjoyable Monday morning solve.
ACROSS
1. A G IN COURT
6. BE A U
8. BUN FIGHT
9. L(ARIA)T ‘something catchy’ cryptic definition of rope
10. KEENLY ‘Len’ anagrammised inside ‘key’ defined as ”locker’
11. UP IN ARMS dd
12. PAP(AY)A
15. HIGHNESS cryptic definition
16. PRATIQUE ‘tar’ reversed in ‘pique’
19. OR ELSE dd
21. AUDITION cryptic definition
22. DEBRIS (brides)*
24. OBJECT dd
25. BANKRUPT cryptic definition
26. FEUD we think this is a cryptic definition, as ‘bitter’ often precedes ‘feud’, but not entirely sure See Eileen’s comment below – ‘relatively’ provides the cryptic element here
27. DREAMBOAT (met abroad)*
DOWN
1. AB(US)E
2. INFANT A
3. CAG(n)EY ref. James Cagney, babyfaced star of many a gangster film
4. UNTRUTH ‘hunt’ anagrammised around ‘rut’
5. TALKING TO dd
6. BAR GAIN
7. ALARMISTS (mass trial)*
13. AIR BUBBLE cryptic definition, ref. spirit level
14. AC QUITTED
17. T(AIL)END
18. ENNOBLE (ben noel)*
20. E MB ARGO the Argo was Jason’s ship in Greek mythology
22. DENIM ‘mined'<
23. INPUT (Putin)*
Many thanks, Handel, or may I call you El?
Yours was a new name to me, so I looked you up. Welcome aboard – which is, I believe, an appropriate nautical expression. Nice and early too.
This was very enjoyable but I found the SW corner tougher than the usual Rufus. I’d never come across 16a PRATIQUE before and my first thought on 13d was ALL SQUARE. However, I got there in the end.
Well done, Rufus, but I wonder who will be given the Monday slot next week when #25,000 comes up and on a Bank Holiday?
My guess is that it will be an inpenetrable 50 x 50 Jumbo with an Araucarian alpha-thing. And. almost inevitably, it won’t print out.
Let’s see!
Thanks handel
This Rufus broadly on a par with Friday’s puzzle from Logodaedalus in terms of degree of difficulty. ‘Abe’ getting another appearance!
8ac was cleverly worded to offer ‘Bunfight’. Otherwise a bit of a plodder.
25′
‘an enjoyable Monday morning solve’ sums this puzzle up admirably.
Thanks Handel – and welcome to the Guardian slot.
Some lovely story-telling surfaces, as we expect from Rufus e.g. 6, 9, 10, 16ac, 14dn.
The more cryptic part of 26 is ‘relatively’, as we often see ‘bitter family feud’.
Yes, Abe’s shown up quite a lot recently; also the second appearance of ‘locker’ for ‘key’ in quite a short time, both from Rufus I think. I agree with Bryan about the SW corner – if it had all been like this, it could have made quite an interesting puzzle.
Shouldn’t ‘well-informed about’ (11a) be ‘up on’ rather than ‘up in’?
Among the usual clunky cryptic definitions ‘bankrupt’ was actually quite witty.
Thanks Handel.
Three weekday completions on the trot! What is going on? Ok, I realise two of them were very easy, but still… It can’t be a coincidence that it’s happened within a few weeks of joining Fifteensquared.
I liked 9ac, not especially because of the clue but because I think ‘lariat’ sounds such a cheery word (no idea why).
Thank you Handel. I side with Brian, Eileen and rrc – not difficult but the clues needed to be teased out with some amusing revelations. Definitely not clunky or a plodder for me, and several rungs above Friday’s Logodaedalus.
Last to go in was BUNFIGHT. Never heard it used to mean a party. But that meaning is in the dictionary, so no grumbling.
Re 11a
The clue is: “”Well-informed about weapons, prepared to protest strongly”
“prepared to protest strongly” is the def. for phrase reqd. and it is idiomatic.
The wordplay is
well-informed – UP
about – IN
weapons – ARMS
I don’t see any conflict there.
The component ‘up’ (in the sense ‘learned’ was used in a clue in last week’s Everyman – about which there are some Comments underneath the relevant blog.
Thanks, Handel. Mostly easy, but it took me awhile to get the SW corner out. PRATIQUE was new to me. I liked the cd at 25ac but my favourites were 10ac and 7dn — lovely surfaces!
Hi Another Andrew
How funny – I’ve the same feelings about ‘lariat’. I think it may be because the only place I’ve come across it [except crosswords] is in a song I heard as a child. I’d no idea what a lariat was – but it seemed to me then to be associated with fun!
“All the cowhands wanna marry Harriet,
Harriet’s handy with a lariat,
But she don’t want to marry yet,
She’s havin’ too much fun!”
As for this idea that women, when once they get married, become shackled, we have a beautiful word in Tamil. Yes, it is something related to animals and to ropes! The Tamil term is the rope or string drawn through the bridge of the nose of a bullock (as a bridle). Do you think this is worse than lariat?
I think I have misread the poem. Anyway…
Thanks, handel. Not too tricky, but some smiles along the way, so for me a good puzzle to get the week started. Tripped myself up by entering CHARY at 3dn. Spookily, ‘up’ as a definition of ‘well-informed’ is used elsewhere today as well (won’t say where in case it spoils it for anyone).
Rishi #8 says “The wordplay is: well-informed – UP, about – IN, weapons – ARMS”
Sorry, but I don’t get “about – IN”. I think it more likely the analysis is as Martin H, #5 says: “Well informed about – UP IN”. “Up on” is more common but I think “up in” is close enough, especially if you accept that well-informed – UP, since then it doesn’t really matter whether it is UP IN, UP ON or even UP AT…
Please ignore the last two lines in my message #8 above.
Sorry! It seems to be a bad day for me!
Another Andrew @6 and Eileen @10.
Thanks to Rufus, but it seems he’s largely left us to make our own entertainment today.
I’ve always liked ‘Reata’ (or ‘Riata’) for similar reasons. Gut-line (a rawhide rope) is, perhaps, rather less cheery. How about Lasso?
Extract below from the song, “Tyin’ Ten Knots in the Devil’s Tail” by Gail I Gardner:
Now Sandy Bob was a reata man
With his gut-line coiled up neat;
But he shook her out and he builds a loop
And he roped the Devils hind feet.
It’s truly amazing what you learn here. On Saturday we learnt that it took 160 turns of a handle to get the wheels up on an Anson aircraft and today that that there is a Tamil word for shackling women.(But Rishi, please what is it? – preferably in Roman characters.) Anyway, I thought today’s puzzle was constructed with effortless elegance.
cholecyst
Rather difficult to put it Roman script but I will try:
The Tamil word is mookanang kayiru.
It is part of the bridle that goes through the nostrils of a bullock. Facetiously applied to the shackle that a person is burdened with.
From ‘mooku’ (nose) and ‘kayiru’ (rope).
Hi cholecyst.
I would say rather ‘seemingly effortless elegance’. ‘Ars est celare artem.’ 🙂
Eileen @10 and Neil @16 (and apologies to anyone who couldn’t care less about lariats),
Talking of lassos, the second verse of the wonderful “Harriet”, which is new to me so thanks for that Eileen, goes:
With a lasso she can throw a buffalo,
Any old bronco in the rodeo;
She can round up any Romeo
Without a rope or a gun!
I always thought that lasso was pronunced “lassoo”. Should I have been pronouncing it with a short “o” all this time (assuming I have actually uttered this word out loud)?
Another Andrew, I have heard this both ways. The two variants are: (I don’t know if the IPA spellings will get through here) l??su and ?læso?. My impression is that the people who know how to use one refer to it as the latter – short ‘o’, emphasis on the first syllable, and if you can effect a broad Texan ‘a’, better still.
Ta for the Tamil, Rishi. Eileen, yes you are right to quote Ovid. How preferable that is to “Ars gratia artis” we sometimes get.
Bryan #1. We aren’t due another jumbo Araucaria till the August holiday. I suspect it will be another alphabetic one this Saturday.
Many thanks, Dave @23
But, surely, #25,000 will be celebrated in some very special way?
Rather straightforward – hope everyone else found it so.
Pratique is also new to me, so could I please have an explanation?
John @ 26
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratique
Thank you Bryan. If it hadn’t been for crosswords, I would probably have gone through life without ever knowing this – or needing to.
Howdy, as others have said, an enjoyable, easy enough crossword, even for a novice like myself. I have one question though – I don’t get the AY in PAPAYA. AY means constantly? Any help appreciated!
Jim.
Re: post 29, I presumed AY was some abbreviation I didn’t know about, so I didn’t look it up. Until now. A Scottish version of ‘always’. Well, I learn something new everyday on these crosswords 🙂
Hi Jim
Not just Scottish – also [Chambers] ‘N. Eng. and archaic’.
It’s reasonably common in crosswords, I think, but I first knew it from the hymn:
“Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind;
For his mercies ay endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure…”
[which I’ve just discovered is by John Milton – so that’s something else learned today].
AYE as well. Handy for lemur-style beasts.
Hello. Been lurking for a couple of weeks. Great blog. Surprised that no one has mentioned today’s TAIL END, which we had just 6 days ago from Pasquale, clued in much the same way. Pasquale: “Be ill, held by nurse? There’s nothing after this” and Rufus: “Become weak, get nurse round for the final stage”.
Interesting flow to solving this one, which echoes many comments above. The right side fell into place very easily, like last Friday’s as mentioned. Except for one embarrassment, not getting BEAU, especially considering I have seen that clue/answer before (I had penciled in BEAR). Then things slowed down dramatically. Finally got AGINCOURT, internet confirmed INFANTA, then CAGEY. Guessing wildly and “literally” at 8a I saw BUNFIGHT fit, internet confirmed it was a real word, and meant “party”.
Then I sat and stared at the SW corner for a while. I had ENNOBLE as part of the “right side”, and penciled in PAPAYA, since AY = “constantly” really doesn’t work for me. Found OBJECT with thesaurus, kicked self. Slowly puzzled out AIR BUBBLE and TAIL END. Saw that “critique” could fit into 16a, which, oddly, gave me ACQUITTED (after giving up on “amplified” finally). Confirmed PRATIQUE on internet. So, I actually finished but I had one stupid error. SW was the best part, I don’t like solving clues as fast as I can read them!
Thanks as always for the blog.