Guardian 25,954 – Chifonie

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It took me longer to get going on this than usual for a Chifonie, but it all came out nicely in the end, with some well-written, if uncomplicated, clues.

 
 
 
 
 
Across
8. CEREBRAL BR in CEREAL
9. USUAL U[nion] in US AL [Capone]
10. BUTT Double definition
11. DRAWBRIDGE DRAW (tie) + BRIDGE (game)
12. BIASED I[raqi] in BASED. Nice misdirection in the use of “partisan”, I thought
14. EXTRACTS TRACT (pamphlet) in EXS (former partners – usually “exes”, I would say)
15. ANDANTE AN (a) + DANTE. Andante is an indication of a moderately slow tempo in music, but also as the name of a movement played at that tempo
17. HELIPAD LIP (insolence) in HEAD
20. NEEDLESS NEEDLES (sewers) + S[plit]
22. PANTRY ANT in PRY
23. HIT-AND-MISS (IS THIS DAMN)*
24. TUNA T[ons] + UNA (Italian feminine “one”)
25. THORN THOR + N[ame]
26. EQUIPPED E + QUIPPED
Down
1. DELUSION (USED LOIN)*
2. REST Double definition
3. TRADED TR (countr abbreviation for Turkey) + DEAD*
4. CLEANER C + LEANER. A domestic is (or was) sometimes called a daily, or “daily woman”
5. SUNBATHE (BUNS HATE)*
6. RUMINATION M1 in RUINATION
7. ALIGHT Double definition
13. SNAPDRAGON SNAP (another card game – see also 11a) + DRAG ON (prolong)
16. TREADING T (Tango, in the phonetic alphabet) + READING (lesson, e.g. in a church service)
18. ARRANGED RANGE (one’s products, e.g. in a shop) in A RD
19. ASPIRES PRAISES*
21. EDICTS C (100) in EDITS
22. PASS UP ASS in PUP (youngster). I was worried about ass=little horse, but Chambers says that “horse” can mean “any member of the genus Equus”, which the donkey is.
24. TOPI TOP + I, &lit as it’s a hat worn in India and thereabouts

14 comments on “Guardian 25,954 – Chifonie”

  1. This puzzle by Chifonie was fun, clearly clued and caused quite a few chuckles. I liked 24a, 7d, 12a, 25a & 15a (last in) and my favourites were USUAL, NEEDLESS, EDICTS, PASS UP & SNAPDRAGON.

    It was interesting to see TOPI as an answer as I saw it another crossword yesterday.

    Thanks for the blog, Andrew. You have a typo in 6d: it is M in RUINATION (not M1).

  3. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

    Fairly straightforward with only the four 4-letter jobbies causing a little hold up. There was a number of times where I initially questioned the validity of components – TR (Turkey), M (motorway), ASS (horse) and ANDANTE (movement) – but they all stood up after checking!

  4. Thank you Andrew and good morning everyone.

    Very rare for me to meet a 1-cup-of-tea-er but such was this one.

    Didn’t know about FIATS being random orders. My wife used to own one and does now start to see the connection!

    Lovely clean crossword, many thanks Chifonie.

  5. Thanks, Andrew. As you say, generally uncomplicated, but well-clued in my opinion and a pleasing puzzle. BRIDGE and SNAP probably at the two ends of the complication spectrum for card games. No particular favourites today.

  6. I agree with PaulW@2 that this would have been better suited to a Monday, but pleasant enough nonetheless.

    My only quibble has already been mentioned by Andrew in his blog, which is the use of ‘exs’ in 14ac. In the online version there is no apostrophe in ‘former partners’, and the plural of ex is surely exes.

  7. Pleasant puzzle with no need for Google.

    Thanks Andrew; Chambers gives the plural of ex as ex’s or exes, so I don’t think we can quibble about that, given that punctuation is ignored in crosswords.

    SNAPDRAGON raised a smile.

  8. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

    Pretty much every day someone complains either that the day’s offering is either too easy or too hard, and someone else will say that it felt just right to them and yet a third person will try to moderate and say that everyone has their own level etc. So I’ll keep my thoughts on difficulty to myself.

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with this crossword – I couldn’t find a single clue that I thought unfair or sloppily clued, and there were some that I did like – favourite was probably HELIPAD. I just didn’t find much that was particularly exciting, and on several occasions I couldn’t help but think “oh, that. Again.”

  9. THanks Andrew and Chifonie

    An enjoyable if fairly low-key crossword with some nicely puzzling surfaces and the odd smile-raiser like 13d.

    I liked 1a (looked for ‘brain’ words at first), and was misled by 20a at first into looking for s…. words.

  12. Pretty straightforward. The only clue I didn’t get before running out of patience was 2. It was obviously a double definition but it just wouldn’t come.

    7, ALIGHT, always strikes me as an old-fashioned, officious word when used in the sense of ‘get off/down’. It’s common in notices on buses – ‘When alighting…’ – and tends to make me chunter to myself about using plain English and not puzzling foreigners.

  13. Good fun. Not difficult but I was glad to complete it so it suited me. Thanks to setter and blogger.

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