Guardian 25,976 – Rufus

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Got through most of this quickly, but came unstuck for a long while on the last two – 21ac then 7dn. Favourite clues were 2dn and 8ac.

Across
1 PAPER CLIP cryptic def “leaves” in the sense of pieces of paper
6 SAPS =”mugs” (Pass)*
8 PARTAKEN =”shared” PAR TAKEN might imply “a good round of golf”
9 ICICLE cryptic def these may drop from the eaves in winter
10 STRESS double def “Emphasise”; “the consequence of overwork”
11 SMASH HIT =”great entertainment” HIT is “One blow after another”, SMASH
12 OPEN UP double def =”Speak freely”, =”reveal what’s there”
15 PLEURISY =”Complaint” (is purely)*
16 PLEASANT =”Delightful” L[ake] in PEASANT=”rustic”
19 YOU BET double def =”What one does with a bookmaker”; =”of course”
21 ABRASION cryptic def A place where “grazing”, as in scraping, has occurred
22 SESAME =”a plant” SAM, with SEE=”look” outside it
24 SARONG =”garment” SONG=”Something lyrical” around A + R=”redhead”=R[ed]
25 ARMBANDS =”swimming aids” ARM BANDS = “equip groups”
26 WHEY =”a bit of junket” sounds like “way”=”plan”
27 PIECEMEAL =”little by little” PIECE=”Bishop” (in chess) + MEAL=”repast”
Down
1 PLANT double def =”Growth”; =[a place] “for production”
2 PATTERN =”example” PAT=”Be nice to a dog” + TERN=”a bird”
3 RAKES double def =”Has inclination”, =”debauched men”
4 LINES UP =”Queues” Washing LINES may be seen UP on washdays
5 PHILATELY =”Gathering impressions” (hip)* + LATELY=”recently”
6 SLITHER =”slip away” SLIT=”Split” + HER=”girl”
7 PALLIASSE cryptic def A straw mattress, with which one can hit the hay both figuratively and literally
13 PALM BEACH =”US resort” (Mabel chap)*
14 PLAYING UP double def =”Giving undue importance to”; =”bad behaviour”
17 ANATOMY =”branch of medicine” (to many a)*
18 TONNAGE &lit (agent on)*, as well as a ship’s cargo capacity
20 UPSTAGE cryptic def To go UPSTAGE (to the back of the stage) in order to UPSTAGE a fellow player (actor)
22 SOMME =”battle” SOME=”Approximately” holding M=”thousand” in Roman numerals
23 MEDAL =”Gong” “many”=D=500 in Roman Numerals, inside MEAL=”dinner, for example”

25 comments on “Guardian 25,976 – Rufus”

  1. I took longest on the NE corner of this puzzle but still managed to finish it quickly by my standards.

    I liked a lot of the clues, especially 4d, 13d, 22a, 19a, 2d, 3d, 8a, 6a & 11a (last in).

    Thanks for the blog, manehi.

  2. Thank you, manehi, and good morning everyone.

    I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about Rufus puzzles that holds me up. It’s not that they are especially difficult – more obstinate. I seem to get the answer quite quickly and then have to stare at it for some time before I can make it fit the clue.

    I start by thinking the clues are not particularly cryptic and end up thinking that perhaps they are.

    Anyway, thank you Rufus, and have a nice week everyone.

  3. Thanks, manehi.

    It is strange how Rufus can keep you guessing for so long when the answer is obvious when you get it! Unaccountably it was 22a and 20d that held us up!

    Definitely a puzzle brought to you by the letter P!

  4. Thanks, manehi, for the blog.

    William, I know what you mean. Since Rufus’ style is so different to other setters, I find I usually have to get my Rufus head on for his Monday puzzles. I enjoy having a go at his dds and cds, and if the grid is reasonably friendly I can usually get there in the end.

    PLEURISY was a good anagram, and I liked PIECEMEAL too.

    Thank you, Rufus.

  5. Thanks manehi and Rufus

    I found this harder than usual. 20d held me up because I tried to treat it as a double rather than a cryptic definition, and 27a took me frustratingly long to spot.

    I liked several clues and ticked 9a, 19a, 21a and 5d.

  6. Thanks manehi and Rufus

    Some entertaining clues here. Apparently, eaves drop is ‘the water that falls from the eaves of a house.’ New to me was PALLIASSE [last in.]

    I particularly liked YOU BET, PHILATELY and PARTAKEN.

  7. Usual slow Rufus progress, leavened this time by good clues like 15a and 2d.

    If you have never heard of PALLIASSE, you have no way of getting it from the clue, save for multiple combinations of unchecked letters. Hardly the spirit of the cryptic I think.

  8. I enjoyed this and particularly liked PALLIASSE, although I did have to take a moment to work out the spelling! Rufus has paper clips in his puzzle in the DT today (always my first solve each morning) so I really shouldn’t have taken as long as I did to get 1a!

    Thank you to Rufus and manehi

  9. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Quite enjoyed this along with a hot slow cooked lamb and lentil soup for lunch on a cold rainy day in Melbourne. It conveniently lasted the distance of the soup with YOU BET and UPSTAGE being last to surrender. A couple of use of words – UPSTAGE (rear part of the stage) and RAKE (to slant from perpendicular) that were new to me.

    Thought that 19 and 27 were both very good.

  11. I was one of the slowed down after a quick start, as is often the case for Rufus. I put it down to doing the crossword on line at 4 am when I couldn’t sleep, and the old brian wasn’t up to speed.

    I knew I had heard it somewhere: Orlando had PALLIASSES Sept 13 2012:

    “Kippers on these? Mostly wan plonkers”

  12. I had vaguely heard of PALLIASSE before, but it rang a bell because the French for ‘straw’ (both drinking and grassy stuff) is la paille, so that put me on the right track.

  13. Like others I enjoyed the crossword once I had tuned in to Rufus. I agree with William @ 2 that sometimes his puzzles seem harder than they really are, and I too was held up by 22a and 20d. There’s an interesting discussion about Ximenean principles on the Grauniad site, well put by Aztobesed (IMHO).

  15. Standard Rufus fare though I detect that lately his Guardian puzzles have been a little more challenging. (So much for the “Easy Monday” editorial policy!)

    I agree with Trailman, RCW. PALLIASSE was the last in for me. I managed to drag the word from somewhere in my subconscious but I cant see how anyone who has not encountered this word could get this without resorting to dictionary combing or computer aids! (I had been searching for some memory for another word for flail which wasted some time.)

    That’s the problem with Rufus’s predilection for the cryptic and double definition. In the majority of cases if you don’t know the solution word you haven’t any way of “building” it!

    I think Trailman’s “Hardly the spirit of the cryptic I think.” is spot on.

    Nice to hear from you RCW.

    Thanks to Manehi and Rufus

  16. Good stuff overall, though PALLIASSE I couldnt get without help (never heard of it before, and with only a CD to go on there was no way in…)

    Re PARTAKEN… not sure that is a “good round of golf”?? Isn’t it, almost by definition, an *average* round of golf? No biggie though…

    Thanks Rufus….!

  17. Iceman@16
    If I were to ever play a round of golf in par it would be a BRILLIANT round; a real biggie!!!

  18. Thanks to Rufus for the puzzle and manehi for the blog. First in was SAPS which gave me the P as first letter of 7D. Hit the hay? No problem…it’s Rufus and it’s cryptic. I confidently entered PITCHFORK. Subsequent crossers proved that to be wrong. Eventually I entered PALLIASSE and stated that was a new word for me. However, Dave Ellison@11 proved that not to be the case.

    Cheers…

  19. Saran @13: The discussion in the other place is quite interesting if you ignore the usual simple abuse (ximtroll, dweeb, X-mob etc. Even azto, while making the case for respecting MacNutt, can’t resist a swipe at Jimmies.)

    The best of it comes from NewmarketSuasage who starts the whole thing by expressing surprise that Rufus uses ‘redhead’ for R. Not a strict Xim himself, NMS had thought Rufus to be that way inclined. (His wordplay usually is, but often there isn’t any. Witness PALLIASSE today. And I agree with those above that the clue is, “unfair”.) Subsequently he mentions two interesting sites. He can’t do links so he does a cut and paste. I can’t even do that but they are the first two I get when I Google ximinean.

    (There’s a nice exchange at 4.23, by the way.)

  20. Iceman @16: When the Scots invented golf par for a hole did mean average. To Bogey a round meant to go round in par. The Americans decided, for very good reasons, to “regrade” the holes, roughly by one stroke less, but they retained, also rightly, par as a kind of technical term. Bogey for a hole became one over par. If you’re really interested Google bogey and go to Wiki.

  22. I entered icicle in Site Search and found four references to earlier Rufus/Dante puzzles. I’d like to ask, Uncle Yap, if you can remember what the clue in FT12837 was that caused you in your blog to welcome the change from eavesdrops. It was less than five years ago. (Do I mean fewer? No.)

  24. My mother frequently mentioned palliasses which were standard Girl g
    Guide camping equipment in her day . . . nice to find it’s sometimes worth having listened to your mother

  25. Thanks for the blog, Manehi, and Rufus for the puzzle which almost seems to have more going on than I can see. SETYTES down the right? The “UP” phrases? Give us more of that and fewer clues like 7. Don’t worry, I have got over my frustration at endless DDs and CDs and know what to expect.

    The fun part is trying not to “overthink” the clue, with you, sir.

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