Guardian Cryptic N° 25,956 by Brendan

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25956.

A surprisingly straightforward offering from Brendan, which suits me down to the ground at the moment – I am sure that I would not have been able to work out the parsing of CLAM in yesterday’s Bonxie, so I am more than happy that it fell into the capable hands of Eileen, to whom much thanks. There is a mini-theme of antonyms – MINUSES/PLUSSES, PROS/CONS, AYES/NAYS

Across
9. Panorama broadcast about vote for a period of stability (3,6)
PAX ROMANA An envelope (‘about’) of X (‘vote’) in PAROMANA, an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘panorama’.
10. Contemporary copies held by literature professor (5)
REPRO A hidden answer (‘held by’) in ‘literatuRE PROfessor’.
11. Constant intense pressure for dishonest person (5)
CHEAT A charade of C (‘constant’) plus HEAT (‘intense pressure’).
12. They will profoundly mislead you, unless I do otherwise (9)
DELUSIONS An anagram (‘otherwise’) of ‘unless I do’.
13. A little seabird or marsh bird (7)
BITTERN A charade of BIT (‘a little’) plus TERN (‘seabird’).
The American Bittern
14. Make some changes in speech to spread ill-feeling about left (7)
INFLECT An envelope (‘about’) of L (‘left’) in INFECT (‘to spread ill-feeling’; Ill-feeling feeling ill).
17. Time in prison reduced by exactly 50% for venomous attack (5)
STING An envelope (‘in’) of T (‘time’) in SING[sing] (‘prison’) bisected (‘reduced by 50%’).
19. Finally at short notice producing a small amount (3)
TAD A charade of T (‘finally aT‘) plus AD (‘short notice’).
20. Some upset over reversing 25 and 27 (5)
VOTES A hidden reverse (‘some … reversing’) in ‘upSET OVer’.
21. Drawbacks in writing about having current employment (7)
MINUSES An envelope (‘about’) of IN (‘current’) plus USE (’employment’) in MS (manuscript, ‘writing’).
22. They indicate additions, including extra line in Cats (7)
PLUSSES An envelope (‘including extra’) of L (‘line’) in PUSSES (‘cats’).
24. Bit of proverbial wisdom about very diligent worker creating profit (9)
ADVANTAGE An envelope (‘about’) of V (‘very’) plus ANT (‘diligent worker’) in ADAGE (‘bit of proverbial wisdom’).
26. Retrospectively, a time and a place for sporting contest (5)
ARENA A reversal (‘retrospectively’) of AN ERA (‘a time’).
28. Start of trial with legal representative in poor condition (5)
TATTY A charade of T (‘start of Trial’) plus ATTY (abbreviation for attourney, ‘legal representative’).
29. Concerning learner — changed gear too much (9)
OVERLARGE A charade of OVER (‘concerning’) plus L (‘learner’) plus ARGE, an anagram (‘changed’) of ‘gear’.
Down
1. Some impressive picture (4)
EPIC A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘impressivE PICture’) with an &lit definition.
2. Apply without pressure, as one with particular proficiency (6)
EXPERT An envelope (‘without’) of P (‘pressure’) in EXERT (‘apply’).
3. Confused blog stated it’s a kind of fuel (7,3)
BOTTLED GAS An anagram (‘confused’) of ‘blog stated’.
4. Sign agreement to strike, overturning excuse (6)
PARDON A reversal (‘overturning’) of NOD (‘sign agreement’) plus RAP (‘strike’).
5. Awfully bad girl pinching ring one imprisoned repeatedly (8)
GAOLBIRD An envelope (‘pinching’) of O (‘ring’) in GALBIRD, an anagram (‘awfully’) of ‘bad girl’.
6. 2, 24 across and 4, oddly, as opposed to 8 (4)
PROS 2D is EXPERT; 24A is ADVANTAGE, and the odd letters of 4D are PaRdOn. each of which is a PRO; for the opposite of 8D, CONS
7. Work quietly on early bid as rival (8)
OPPONENT A charade of OP (‘work’) plus P (piano, ‘quietly’) plus E (‘early’; not in Chambers, but I found it here) plus NT (no trumps, ‘bid’ in bridge).
8. Business partners, such as 5, 11 and 17 (4)
CONS Multiple definition. I take it that the business is tricky.
13. In period of prosperity, bury small chest (5)
BOSOM An envelope (‘in … bury’) of S (‘small’) in BOOM (‘period of prosperity’)
15. Value of bar seen in drunken state as propitious (10)
FAVOURABLE An anagram (‘in drunken state’) of ‘value of bar’.
16. Old American model poses for work assignments (5)
TASKS A charade of T (‘old American model’, to expand on the usual indication) plus ASKS (‘poses’).
18. Do something creative, based on instinct, about old volume (8)
INNOVATE An envelope (‘about’) of O (‘old’) plus V (‘volume’) in INNATE (‘based on instinct’).
19. As one who’s left, critically examine a Conservative cut (8)
TESTATOR A charade of TEST (‘critically examine’) plus ‘a’ plus TOR[y] (‘Conservative’) ‘cut’.
22. Have greater regard for judge interrupting jury member half-heartedly? (6)
PREFER An envelope (‘interrupting’) of REF (referee, ‘judge’) in PE[e]R (‘jury member’) ‘half-heartedly’.
23. 8 animals in herd (6)
STEERS Double definition; another meaning of 8D, CONS.
24. 7 cannot win, being oddly deficient (4)
ANTI Drop the odd letters (‘being oddly deficient’) of ‘cAnNoT wIn’, for 7D OPPONENT.
25. Denials beginning now, as you speak (4)
NAYS First letters (‘beginning’) of ‘Now, As You Speak’.
27. One or more positive responses (4)
AYES A YES (‘one positive response’) or …

26 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 25,956 by Brendan”

  1. Thanks for the blog, PeterO. I agree that this was pretty straightforward compared to yesterday’s Bonxie. It’s all relative, I guess. I also liked the fact that today I could parse all the clues.

    My favourites were 26a, 7d, 24a, 27a.

    New definition for me was CON = ‘steer a vessel’.

  2. Thanks, Peter. Very simple for a Friday Brendan I thought, with a theme-lite – I did wonder if I was missing something more??

    You are right no doubt, but I had the end of the parsing of OPPONENT as ENT(ry) for “early bid”.

  3. Thank-you to Brendan and Peter.

    For 8 – business (CO) and partners (NS). With the rest of the clue the definition

  4. Thanks PeterO and Brendan. I enjoyed the series of interlinked clues.

    I parsed OPPONENT differently to both you and NeilW@2

    I had the last bit as ONE NT (one no trump) which would be an early bid in a game of bridge, I imagine. I’m not sure who is right!

  5. If you’re a regular solver, you’ll know there’s usually something going on with a Brendan puzzle, but it does seem to be just a mini-theme here (famous last words …)

    I thought PARDON was nicely misleading, but there were lots of good clues today.

    Thanks to Peter and the setter.

  6. Thanks to Brendan and Peter. An easy fill-in for a Friday, though I needed you for clarification of ‘atty’ and ‘no trump’. A most enjoyable week.

  7. I agree a surprisingly straightforward puzzle for Friday and from Brendan.

    I parsed CONS and. OPPONENT as PeterO did, but think the versons by Tonii and Muffyword are better.

    Thanks to all.

  8. Thanks for a great blog, PeterO.

    Hmm, ‘I fear the Greeks…’ Most unBrendanlike to have pointed out the connections in 6 and 8dn: we’re usually left to spot that kind of thing for ourselves – and then some. I can’t see anything else going on but I shan’t be at all surprised to find out that there is!

    I couldn’t finish parsing 7dn at all, so all the suggestions make sense to me, as a non bridge player.

    I’d never dream of spelling the plural of ‘plus’ that way – it looks really odd to me – but I see that it’s correct.

    This is one of those puzzles where it’s really worthwhile looking back at the clues: there isn’t a single surface here that doesn’t make perfect sense – and there are some real gems, too many to mention, in fact.

    Many thanks, Brendan: I enjoyed the puzzle [and look forward to further revelations!].

  9. Thanks Peter.

    I too liked con = steer. I got it from the conning tower in a submarine and the numerous 50s films where the American captain barks “Ensign, take the con.” This was extended into Kirk on The Enterprise. “Left hand down a bit” is the British equivalent.

  11. Thanks PeterO and Brendan

    An enjoyable enough and relatively trouble-free puzzle after yesterday’s (much loved by most I must confess) obscure definitions. The theme is not quite simply antonyms – many of the words involve ideas of competition, judgment and argument as well as opposition in a purely semantic sense (which C.K.Ogden nicely referred to as ‘polar bearings’).

    I parsed opponent as PeterO did but, like Mac @7, I also liked other suggestions.

    It took me some time to accept ‘peer’ as ‘jury member’ (since it is not quite a straightforward correspondence) until I remembered the idea of being judged by a jury as being ‘judged by one’s peers’.

  12. 28ac gave me pause, as there was no hint of the lawyer being abbreviated.
    I got 8 as Tonii did, which then gave me 6 without having to think about the cross references. For 7, I tried to parse similarly to PeterO, except that I had E = East, the bridge player; however I am sure that Muffyword has the right explanation.

  13. I solved 23d STEERS from the animals in herd bit of the clue and then briefly tried COWS in 8d . . .

    Having spent ages thinking of seabirds for 13ac, then finding it began with a B (starting with BOG?), I was pleased to eventually realise that BITTERN fitted the clue nicely.

    Thanks PeterO for enlightening me on the parsing of STING.

  14. Thanks Brendan and PeterO

    Nothing much to add to a pretty easy solve for a Friday with what looks like only a very lightweight ‘Brendan theme’. Could only find four pairs of ‘opponents’ and a group of similar words (ADVANTAGE, FAVOURABLE and PREFER).

    Interested to see if anything deeper arises.

  17. Nice. Smooth. Didn’t take too long to get the hang of it – solving MINUSES led me immediately to look for PLUSSES, and there it was next door! Not complaining though as I only had limited solving time available today.

  18. I think that Muffyword’s (@4)’s parsing of OPPONENT is the correct one. A parsing of E = early, NT = bid seems dubious to me (E = early a non-standard abbreviation I think plus NT not a bid by itself), whereas ONE NT = early bid makes perfect sense to me.

  19. Anyone who has ever played bridge must surely agree with Muffyword’s parsing of 7d. I miss many of the aha moments in football-related clues, but this one I enjoyed.

  21. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. You explained a couple of cases where I had the right answer without fully understanding the reason.

  22. As so many of you have said, this was on the easy side for a Brendan, but still enjoyable. I couldn’t parse OPPONENT but the answer couldn’t have been anything else.

  23. I struggled with Bonxie yesterday and eventually gave up, but really enjoyed today’s offering and was glad was able to complete it as my confidence was a bit shaken this week with the toughies thus far. Needed PeterO for parsing of STING and STEERS, so thanks for that. I picked up on the themes in the same way as Tupu @ 11 and found the surfaces really smooth too. Enjoy the bank holiday.

  24. The theme is better thought of as “pros and cons.” Both words appear, along with several different pros (various definitions), several different cons (again, multiple definitions, including convicts and conning towers), and synonyms such as pluses and minuses, ayes and nays, etc.

    Sadly, no prose or khans.

  25. As has been said very easy for A Friday Brendan. Enjoyable though.

    I originally parsed OPPONENT as PeterO but I believe the ONE NT gang are “on the money” as the E for early is definitely dodgy.

    As a prolific bridge player at University I should be ashamed of myself for not seeing the correct parsing!

    See the following:

    “Opening 1NT promises between 12-14 HCP, and a balanced hand (no singleton, and not more than one doubleton).
    This bid is the cornerstone of our Acol system”

    I must add that my partner and I were also notoriously poor players often underperforming at duplicate bridge on a scale never before known! (We were more interested in the social side of the game 🙂 )

    Thanks to PeterO and Brendan

  26. What a relief this puzzle was!

    After getting beaten up badly all week – somewhere around Thursday I finally resorted to every brute force research technique know to man to “almost” finish my 2/3 finished Rufus. Tuesday and Thursday still remain perhaps 1/4 done each.

    So it was with relief that I saw Brendan’s name on Friday.

    It has been a long time since I completely finished a Guardian puzzle with no aids and fully parsed, so I am very proud to have cracked this one. Got started last night, maybe 1/3 done, most importantly including the checks for 6 and 8, and EXPERT and GAOLBIRD. At first glance today, remembering that 6 and 8 were related, the answers suddenly jumped out at me, with 2 and 5 as confirmation. Slowly worked through things, with the last one in being the correction of the non-word “testacon”.

    On OPPONENT I first solved/parsed it Peter’s way, then the “one NT” clicked.

    I remember some time ago nominating a puzzle – it may very well have been a Brendan – as being “perfect”. I think this one belongs in that category, too.

    For the why: As Eileen pointed out, and I noticed quite a few during the solve, the surfaces in this list of clues are superbly smooth.

    Also, the “theme”, which just seems to sprawl gently over the whole puzzle. It is if every answer comes from a short story or a ballad or something. Even most of the definitely “not themed” words seem to blend right in.

    Starting with the obvious, there are the PROS and CONS, and their six varying examples – two pairs of which relate strongly, the EXPERT and the CHEAT, and the PARDON for the GAOLBIRD. The two pairs of VOTES, the AYES and NAYS – votes both FAVOURABLE and ANTI.

    The PLUSSES and MINUSES lead my mind to ADVANTAGE, TATTY, OVERLARGE.

    PAX ROMANA and ARENA. The CONServative “cut” in TESTATOR.

    The only two words that don’t feel like part of some subtle mega-theme, to me, are BOTTLED GAS and BITTERN.

    What a gem, thank you, Brendan! And thanks for the blog, PeterO and the rest of you lot.

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