A Monday Rufus, abound with cds, dds, and anagrams – and a few nautical references. Those who like involved constructions may be disappointed. Thanks to Rufus. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 The Church is after him, say, to deliver judgment (9)
PRONOUNCE : CE(abbrev. for the Church of England) placed after(is after) PRONOUN(an example of which/say, is “him”).
6 It breaks and breaks around the West (4)
DAWN : Anagram of (breaks) AND containing(around) W(abbrev. for “West”).
8 Criticism for decent chap leading strike (8)
BRICKBAT : BRICK(a decent chap) placed before(leading) BAT(to strike, with, well, a bat).
9 German sub (6)
ERSATZ : Defn: A substitute or imitation of some natural or genuine product, from German for “a substitute or replacement”.
10 Nit-picker takes notes in exercise books (6)
PEDANT : D,A(2 of the notes on the musical scale) contained in(in) [ PE(abbrev. for “physical education”;exercise) + NT(abbrev. for the books in the New Testament) ].
11 You won’t care if you lose it (8)
INTEREST : Cryptic Defn: The “it” referring to being uninterested;lost interest. But one would care if it was of the monetary kind.
12 Noted and objected (6)
MINDED : Double defn: 1st: Took notice of, as in “to mind one’s own business”; and 2nd: Objected to;took offence at, as in “she minded him sitting close to her”.
15 One with minor responsibilities in a newspaper (8)
GUARDIAN : Double defn: 1st: One having responsibility for a minor/a person below the legal age; and 2nd: The newspaper this crossword is to be found in.
16 Prank ceased being funny when father came in (8)
ESCAPADE : Anagram of(being funny) CEASED containing(… came in) PA(informal term for one’s father).
19 Not a person of substance, presumably (6)
NOBODY : Cryptic defn: Figuratively a non-entity; literally, with a space in between, having no physical substance.
21 Seizes egg collections (8)
CLUTCHES : Double defn.
22 Private doctor comes in this month (6)
INMOST : MO(abbrev. for “medical officer”;a doctor) contained in(comes in) INST(abbrev. for “instant”;the current month at time of writing).
24 Go back by air? (6)
REPAIR : Reversal of(back) PER(by way of;according to) + AIR.
Answer: To go to a place, as in “they hastily repaired to the bedroom”.
25 Criminal who runs a 13 down business (8)
RECEIVER : Double defn: 1st: One who knowingly receives stolen goods; and 2nd: One appointed by a court to manage an insolvent(answer to 13 down) business.
26 Indication that a writer’s revision is not better (4)
STET : Cryptic defn: A notation to ignore a revision in a piece of writing, and to revert to the original.
27 I wondered about getting a bedcover (9)
EIDERDOWN : Anagram of(about) I WONDERED.
Down
1 Quietly fancy a witch-hunt (5)
PURGE : P(abbrev. for “piano”;a musical direction to play quietly) + URGE(a fancy;a strong impulse, as in “the sex urge”).
Answer: The elimination of (undesirable) opponents or dissidents from a state, political party, etc.
2 Fruit supplier made love to cleaner in street (7)
ORCHARD : O(letter that looks like 0;love in tennis scores) plus(to) { CHAR(short for “charwoman”;a cleaning lady) contained in(in) RD(abbrev. for a road;a street) }.
3 Circulate gold coin (5)
ORBIT : OR(in heraldry, the colour of gold) + BIT(any small coin).
4 Love to be on night shift (7)
NOTHING : Anagram of(shift) ON NIGHT.
Defn: Tennis again – why not? – after a 77 year wait – well done!
5 Complaint as regards public transport (3,6)
EYE STRAIN : EYES(regards;looks at, as in “she regarded him with suspicion”) + TRAIN(a form of public transport).
6 Title in fact much wished for (7)
DESIRED : SIR(title for a knight) contained in(in) DEED(something that is done, and therefore is fact, as in “after the fact” in law).
7 Oppose having a base (9)
WITHSTAND : WITH(having) + STAND(a base which supports something).
13 Rude about vessel’s prow being on the rocks (9)
INSOLVENT : INSOLENT(rude) containing(about) first letter of(…’s prow) “vessel “.
Defn: To be in trouble, in this case, financially.
14 Orders hay to be put out for this animal (4,5)
DRAY HORSE : Anagram of(put out) ORDERS HAY.
…and as a treat, they’re sometimes given a bit of their load.
17 A pamphlet said to make a personal appeal (7)
ATTRACT : Homophone of(said) “a tract”(a pamphlet, usually with political or religious content).
18 Guaranteed safe, when in extremity (7)
ENSURED : SURE(safe;secure from risk or uncertainty, as in “a safe/sure bet”) contained in(when in) END(an extremity).
20 Young Italian graduate doctor in love (7)
BAMBINO : BA(abbrev. for “Bachelor of Arts”, a degree a graduate might have) + MB(abbrev. for “Bachelor of Medicine;a doctor) + IN + O(see 2 and 4 down above).
Answer: A small child or baby, from Italian.
22 Experience part of the main current (5)
INCUR : Hidden in(part of) “main current “.
23 Grim end to a ship (5)
STERN : Double defn.
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[[Thanks, scchua. I love the ERASATZ coffee advert, and number 2 is Jennifer, comic partner of DAWN. Stumped by the rest for the time being.]]
I liked 16a, 2d, 10a, 20d, 7d, 6d, 9a (last in) and my favourites were 5d EYE STRAIN & 19a NOBODY.
New word for me was BRICKBAT.
Thanks for the blog, scchua. I needed your help to parse 24a & 6a.
[[Right, Ian SW3, and for an encore here’s a cartoon you might enjoy: http://www.coolinarium.de/postkarte-muckefuck/inkognito/a-982357/
]]
Thanks Rufus and scchua
I found this entertaining, with EIDERDOWN and DRAY HORSE particular favourites. I was a bit concerned about URGE=FANCY, but you have explained it for me. I thought REPAIR was a bit weak – in fact it was my last one in, as I was looking for something more complicated.
A BRICKBAT was originally an actual weapon – to be precise, a portion of a brick, thrown at someone!
Thanks scchua and Rufus
Usual Rufus fare and nice to have him back again after a break.
I particularly liked 8a, 15a, 16a, 13d, .
Thanks scchua and Rufus.
I found this quite tricky in parts. I tried idealism for 11 at first until the crossers intervened. Largely good except for REPAIR. I particularly liked ERSATZ and ESCAPADE.
[[#6 is Leo Sayer, who had a hit with ORCHARD Road; more thoughts needed for the others!]]
[[The two cats (sphinx #2 and munchkin #7) are natural mutations and, as such, maybe could be called ERSATZ??]]
I found this very straightforward. Is the clue for STET even cryptic?
[[Robi, you’re right about Sayer, and the cats are the sphynx and the munchkin, but the link is not ERSATZ.]]
[[#1 from Unfortunate Events Series by Lemony Snicket, which includes The ERSATZ Elevator]]
[[Ahhhhhhhhh the BAMBINO is a result of a cross between a Munchkin Cat and a Sphynx]]
[[Well done, Ian SW3 and Robi. Looks like nothing gets past you all – except pic 5 perhaps?]]
[[Is no 5 the name of the font? (which I don’t recognise)]]
At least schua’s stuff is entertaining! I am okay with this though, it is just thjat I am a fan of more complex styles, so mea culpa really.
I was reading that either Gordius or rUfus had died, some person was positing. Perisj the thought!! It’s not true I hope?
Rowland @14; I think it was a tichy reference to William Rufus, who obviously died some time ago!
[[Robi, yes, the font name is involved, but not directly.]]
Thanks to scchua for the blog. I needed you to explain URGE=fancy which I was dubious about.
On 6 I had D-W- it breaks so it had to be DAWN but I did not see where DAN came from 🙁
[[I just about managed to work out that Muckefuck is ERSATZ coffee but the rest I have not a clue.]]
Oh Robi I have goofed!! Thanks R.
Thanks to Rufus for the puzzle and scchua for the blog.
[[Stared at picture #5 for the longest time and all I got was EYE STRAIN!]]
Cheers…
Actually, I don’t think it is the usual Rufus fare. dd/cd clues were in single figures, and there was a fair variety of constructions in the “proper wordplay” clues. (Nothing very stretching, mind, but you’re not expecting brainstrain on a Monday Graun.) And it’s on a sensible grid. As a result,it’s by far the best Rufus puzzle in months.
Rowly @18
Easy mistake, not your fault.
There was a clue last week about William Rufus clued something like ‘Forest Casualty.
Some tool posted here implying it was Rufus the setter who was dead.
As there seem to be no holds barred on this site at the moment, I have no hesitation in stating that whoever posted that was a total tosser.
Usual Rufus fare with the usual unbelievable response!
Surely there’s a better clue for REPAIR than the dodgy one provided. It was my only non write in as I couldn’t believe the setter would provide the last three letters of a 6 letter answer in the clue!
Surely 22 across needs a “Very” or some such modifier to really work?
Also 9 and 26 across aren’t cryptic!
Thanks to Sschua and Rufus
morphiamonet @21
The tasteless “joke” was not posted here but on the Guardian site, where they do tend to be a bit self-indulgent. Happily, after some initial alarm, the poster was roundly condemned by the regulars.
rhotician @23
Sorry, but you’re wrong.
“Bryan” posted here at 3:20 on 4/7 “sorry to hear about Rufus RIP, no wonder he didn’t make his usual Monday appearance”
I know what Uncle Yap would call him and I would agree.
[[Well, I’ve browsed through hundreds of fonts looking for no. 5 but have found nothing identical and nothing with a name suggestive of nything I can link to the puzzle. I give up.]]
mm @24 Sorry. You’re right. I only really noticed him in the other place, where he was belatedly jumped on. Here you managed to deal with him very promptly. Well done.
[[How about the answers to the photographs – all of them?]]
[[Ian SW3, Robi, grandpuzzler and chas. I’ve added a link under the pics for the answer to #5. For chas (answers already given by others, but to repeat): pic1: Billy Connolly from the film Lemony Snicket’s….. from the book series whose 6th book is “The ERSATZ Elevator”; pic2: Jennifer Saunders, comic partner with DAWN French; pic3: a Sphynx cat and pic6: a Munchkin cat, which when crossed produce a BAMBINO cat; pict4: Muckefuck is German for ERSATZ coffee; pic 6: Leo Sayer had a hit with ORCHARD Road.]]
[[Thanks for that. I saw the post from Robi @11 saying a Bambino is a cross between a sphynx and a munchkin. My education clearly has a gap in it because those three items together mean nothing to me.]]
[[Wow. I would never in a million years have been able to identify no. 5 as Candida, and none of the examples of Candida I’ve just looked at is sans serif.]]
How is Erzatz a cryptic clue? I could read this in my German dictionary.
I am not clear why putting the picture comments in square brackets makes them less of a distraction from the crossword discussion, which is what this blog is about.
Thanks Rufus & Scchua