The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26043.
If there is anything going on under the surface, I cannot spot it, nor is it required to add further sparkle to a fine set of clues.
| Across | |||
| 1. | One very loudly breaking singer’s jaw (7) | ||
| CHAFFER | An envelope (‘breaking’) of A (‘one’) plus FF (‘very loudly’) in CHER (‘singer’. Where would crosswords be without her?). Chambers gives CHAFFER (verb) as bargain, but slips in an obsolete meaning of bandy, which can be exchange of words; Collins gives ‘jaw’ as a synonym, in the sense of chat, and the OED agrees. | ||
| 5. | Leonard and Alfred briefly returned the sweet talk (7) | ||
| FLANNEL | A reversal (‘returned’) of LEN ‘N’ ALF (‘Leonard and Alfred briefly’). | ||
| 9. | Having a lookabout (9) | ||
| REGARDING | Double definition. | ||
| 10. | Article obtained with spare thousand dollars (5) | ||
| THING | A charade of THIN (‘spare’) plus G (‘thousand dollars’). | ||
| 11. | What frotteur does with unknown girl (4) | ||
| RUBY | A charade of RUB (‘what frotteur does’) plus Y (‘unknown’). | ||
| 12. | Italian composer wasted time once rejecting an infantile complaint (10) | ||
| SCARLATINA | A charade of SCARTLT[t]I (‘Italian composer’) without T (‘wasted time’) plus NA, a reversal (‘rejecting’) of ‘an’. | ||
| 14. | Barton ultimately a thug, irritating FA (6) | ||
| NAUGHT | A charade of N (“BartoN, ultimately’) plus ‘a’ plus UGHT, an anagram (‘irritating’) of ‘thug’. | ||
| 15. | Argentinian poster boy posed at first with hand bag (7) | ||
| SATCHEL | A charade of SAT (‘posed’) plus CHE (Guevara, ‘Argentinian poster boy’, dismissively) plus L (left, ‘hand’). | ||
| 16. | Travelling west, Slav spies Italian city (7) | ||
| BRESCIA | A charade of BRES, a reversal (‘travelling west’) of SERB (‘Slav’) plus CIA (‘spies’). | ||
| 18. | Slack dandy stealing Helen’s heart with heartless ploy (6) | ||
| FLOPPY | An envelope (‘stealing’) of L (‘HeLen’s heart’) in FOP (‘dandy’) plus PY (‘heartless PloY‘). | ||
| 20. | In the main, reveals all the low-fat party food? (6-4) | ||
| SKINNY-DIPS | Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 21. | One’s inclined to the left — or to right? To the left (4) | ||
| TROT | A reversal (‘to the left’, the second one) of ‘to’ plus RT (‘right’). | ||
| 24. | School of trout swimming (5) | ||
| TUTOR | An anagram (‘swimming’) of ‘trout’, with the definition as a verb. | ||
| 25. | Public gets behind what a card player may do (9) | ||
| OVERTRUMP | A charade of OVERT (‘public’) plus RUMP (‘behind’). | ||
| 26. | Bores perhaps writing cutting articles (7) | ||
| PIERCES | An envelope (‘cutting’) of R (‘writing’; one of the three Rs) in PIECES (‘articles’). | ||
| 27. | Sort of jazz instrument holds back from loud hum (4,3) | ||
| HARD BOP | An envelope (‘holds’) of D (‘back from louD‘) plus BO (body odour, ‘hum’) in HARP (‘instrument’). | ||
| … Down |
|||
| 1. | Successful striker won’t start — it makes Jonathan lose heart (5) | ||
| CORER | A subtraction, [s]CORER (‘successful striker’ in soccar) without its first letter (‘won’t start’), with a cryptic definition – Jonathan is a variety of apple. | ||
| 2. | What may be employed by summer time — underwear to keep cool, at last (7) | ||
| ALGEBRA | An envelope (to keep’) of L (‘cooL, at last’) in AGE (‘time’) plus BRA (‘underwear’). | ||
| 3. | Iron-clad soldiers look out (4) | ||
| FORE | An envelope (‘clad’) of OR (other ranks, ‘soldiers’) in FE (‘iron, chemical symbol). | ||
| 4. | Pour artist small drinks included at beach party by the gallon (4,4,3,4) | ||
| RAIN CATS AND DOGS | A charade of RA (‘artist’) plus INC (‘small drinks included’. I suppose an abbreviation of ‘included’, but what is the justification for ‘drinks’, other than the surface?) plus ‘at’ plus SAND (‘beach’) plus DO (‘party’) plus G (‘gallon’). I overlooked the final S; for the explanation, see Muffyworld @2, to whom thanks. |
||
| 5. | Images in which 3 ate and 14, too? (7,2,6) | ||
| FIGURES OF SPEECH | 3 is FORE. which sounds like FOUR; ‘ate, like EIGHT, and 14, NAUGHT like NOUGHT – all homophones of figures. | ||
| 6. | Erotic experience is a drag, we’re told (10) | ||
| ATTRACTION | A homophone (‘we’re told’) of A TRACTION (‘a drag’). | ||
| 7. | Cynical racist stance? (7) | ||
| NOIRISH | NO IRISH (‘racist stance’). | ||
| 8. | Canvas used by sailor having earache? (7) | ||
| LUGSAIL | LUGS AIL (‘having earache’). | ||
| 13. | Vain like Gregory? (10) | ||
| EGOCENTRIC | ‘GrEGOry’ might be described as EGO-CENTRIC. | ||
| 16. | Pick-up location where you get kiss — great! (3,4) | ||
| BUS STOP | A charade of BUSS (‘kiss’) plus TOP (‘great’). | ||
| 17. | Letter supporting English boy, who gets expelled (7) | ||
| EVICTEE | A charade of E (‘English’) plus VIC (‘boy’) plus TEE (‘letter’). | ||
| 19. | Sort of wine salesman raised alarm (7) | ||
| PERTURB | A reversal (‘raised’) of BRUT (‘sort of wine’) plus REP (‘salesman’). | ||
| 22. | Fill pot (3,2) | ||
| TOP UP | TOP up is ‘pot’. | ||
| 23. | Excitement makes you cooler (4) | ||
| STIR | Double definition – cooler being prison. | ||
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. Loved this puzzle especially NOIRISH and EGOCENTRIC. New words for me were SCARLATINA and CHAFFER.
Cheers…
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.
This was nicely varied.
Re RAIN CATS AND DOGS: I think it is RA-INC-AT-SAND-DO-G-S – so artist (RA) small (the final S) drinks (encloses) the other elements.
There were quite a few new words for me in this puzzle which required confirmation in the dictionary: FROTTEUR, BUSS, CHAFFER, FLANNEL = ‘sweet talk’, NOIRISH, SCARLATINA, HARD BOP.
I liked 16a, 18a, 15a, 2d, 22d, 1d & 27a (last in) and my favourites were 13d, 4d , 20a & 5d.
I couldn’t fully parse 23d or 26a even though I guessed it was R in PIECES (I always forget about “the 3 R’s”). I parsed 21a wrong as I thought it was a reversed hidden answer (maybe all that left right left made me dizzy!)
For 4d I parsed it as RA + INC + AT SAND DO + GS (small gins?) But then I didn’t know why “by the gallon” was there, not why the GS had moved to the end. I like Muffyword’s parsing@2.
For 5d, one more homophone – TOO = “two”
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
Thanks Peter. This was a bid odd – got all but about eight at high speed then hit the wall. NOIRISH was last in – that and the jazz instrument needed help. Decided on ALGEBRA, butcouldn’t see why ‘summer’: suddenly it’s obvious. Failed on EVICTEE – thought it must be ‘epistle’ only that didn’t parse. Oh well.
Meaty puzzle, where I am pleased to say ‘frotteur’ was a new word to me – as was ‘lugsail’, though nothing surprising there, as I have always been a ‘dry bod’. Lots of good stuff, but SKINNY DIPS (something I have done – sometimes sober) takes the biscuit.
After getting BRESCIA – the club where Roberto Baggio (the Divine Ponytail) ended his stellar career – I was trying to work one of Joey Barton’s many clubs into 14a, sadly, to no avail.
Thanks for the blog, PeterO.
More excellent stuff from Picaroon. I loved the ingenious FIGURES OF SPEECH mini-theme and the risqué RUBY and SKINNY-DIPS. EGOCENTRIC and ALGEBRA raised a smile, too.
RAIN CATS AND DOGS went in immediately, from the enumeration, but it was fun working out the wordplay.
LUGSAIL was still fresh in the mind from last Thursday [Donk’s
‘Trouble with those enabling hearing aid for sailor’] so no problem there – thanks, Donk!
Great surfaces throughout, as ever. Very many thanks, Picaroon – come back soon!
Thanks, PeterO
Entertaining and rather tricky puzzle from the Pirate.
A lot of well-disguised definitions and clever surfaces: I starred 10a, 11a, 14a, 20a, 2d, 3d, 5d, 7d, 16d – the most for a long time. HARD BOP and the apple variety ‘Jonathan’ were unknown to me, but the wordplay led me to the answers without too much trouble.
Altogether a very clever and enjoyable crossword.
Thanks to PeterO for the blog.
On 2d I don’t see where summer fits in. Somebody who is summing (adding up) would use arithmetic!
On 13d I failed to see EGO in the middle of Gregory – I just assumed that some pope was notorious for vanity 🙁
Thanks, Picaroon and Peter O. I got it in but I do not understand 14AC. May someone explain?
Jeff @9: The definition is ‘FA’ – nothing (NAUGHT) – which is an abbreviation of ‘f*** all’ (or ‘Fanny Adams’, if you prefer).
@Jeff Cumberbatch – It’s a bit of a risque clue. Just see the second definition for “FA” at Wiktionary.
Getting the right letters in the right spaces wasn’t a problem, but working out why often was. Jonathan is an apple? Buss is kiss? Ah well, something to add to the memory banks. But when the penny did drop, as with LUGSAIL and PERTURB, it was delicious. And for those that know Mr Barton’s reputation, the surface of 14 is spot-on.
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon
Somewhat to my surprise I managed all of this trickily witty puzzle after one or two false starts. I had thought early on that 3d was probably free (out) which sounds a little like ‘three’ and this led me into thinking 9a would be ‘reviewing’. I also thought cutting pieces might be a form of precis in plural.
I had to check the meaning of ‘frot’ and now prefer not to know.
Some excellent deceptive cluing.
I especially liked 5a, 20a, 27a, 1d, 2d, and 8d.
Appreciate the grands scheme Picaroon always attempts, and was enetrtained today, but the detail sometimes is a disappointment , maybe a bit inaccurate, or taking too much of a chance that we will ‘get it’. That comes with the experience I would guess, so I am sure it will be okay.
Of the ideas, which were all fun, I liked the CATS AND DOGS best.
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.
Gorgeous, top draw stuff today with laughs aplenty and entertainment throughout. Too many stars to highlight any particular clues.
Gervase& Trailam
as an antipodean, it’s interesting to hear that you did not know of Jonathan apples. I guess they must have been more popular in OZ than UK during the past 50 years.
perhaps I meant Trailman @12 above?
Hi Michelle
Trailman it is. Over here you can’t move for Braeburns, which I think originated down under, but can’t ever recall seeing Jonathans. Maybe I should go to some posher shops.
chas @8: if you want to sum a series, to avoid that tedious adding up, you can use algebra.
Michelle: As Trailman says, the supermarkets here are bulging with Braeburns, Galas (both NZ varieties) and Pink Ladies (from Oz). Oddly, according to Wikipedia, Jonathan is an apple variety originally from the US.
Since no one else has commented, I must be the only one present for whom ATTRACTION and “erotic experience” are not synonymous! Perhaps it’s an age thing.
Gervase @20
As your link shows, Jonathans are highly susceptible to all sorts of diseases, which might explain why the variety is not better known.
I wondered about this too, and concluded ‘erotic’ is being used in, for example, the way CS Lewis uses it, meaning pertaining to Eros, where Eros refers to the state of being in love. Not that convincing, but better than erotic as in the ‘erotic movie’ sense!
Not sure about that, ulaca. Also, I found TRACTION & ATTRACTION a bit close in Latin root, which I admit sounds like a shag in a lupanarium, unless that’s too erotic.
There were quite a few obscurities in this one, and I’m delighted to see from the blog and comments that, for once, it isn’t ‘just me’. I found the clueing style a bit clunky too, and didn’t get the jokes as with EGO-CENTRIC. Thanks to PeterO for sorting it all out for me!
Another good Picaroon puzzle, and one which would have defeated me in competition because I couldn’t think of anything other than EPISTLE at 17dn. I would have had my fingers crossed hoping there was a schoolboy called “Pistle” who got expelled in Tom Brown’s School Days or something similar. When I resorted to aids and saw EVICTEE it became the obvious answer.
NOIRISH was new to me but gettable from the excellent clue.
Thanks Peter O and Picaroon, a very entertaining puzzle.
A summer could be one who does sums: addition, multiplication or whatever, so algebra fits the bill perfectly.
Andy B @ 26 Me, too – (EPISTLE) that is.
PeteM @ 19. I thought of that, too, but dismissed it as I thought the general Xwording populace would probably not know of that. I used to use that device in detention for my students, saying they could go as soon as they had summed the first 999 integers – none ever went early!
So I am with chas @ 8 on this one.
Thanks PeterO.
I had FREE (~out?) at 3d which, along with SLOPPY for FLOPPY (SOP instead of FOP), screwed 5d for a long time.
I was toying with — LOTS AND LOTS for 4d for a while, probably meaning GALLONS. It worked: SAND L (for party) in TOTS, but, of course, nothing emerged for —-LO.
Thus, found it harder than I should have been.
A nightmare for this beginner. I got ONE clue unassisted (“regarding”), and didn’t understand a number of answers even with explanations. Humbling stuff.
That was tough but I got there in the end.
I agree with Chas @8 that “summer” is a poor definition for an algebraist! The arithmetic progression argument doesn’t hold water as an algebraic solution is one which avoids the “summing”. A “summer” is an arithmetician who is not necessarily an algebraist!
Scarlatina was a gift as I had just put La Santissima Trinita on the gramophone ( Spotify )
Another enjoyable offering from Picaroon. I think we are fortunate at the moment to have so many good setters submitting their work to the Guardian. “Well done that man!” to whoever is responsible! (Hugh I presume)
Thanks to PeterO and Picaroon
Thanks to
As a Picaroonian, I found this once more a very very enjoyable crossword.
14ac was my first one in, in fact a write-in – and a good one it was too.
Also one of only two (!!) anagram clues, the other being TUTOR (24ac).
That is quite remarkable.
I am a bit puzzled by Rowland using the word ‘inaccurate’ today.
For me, Picaroon represents very much the opposite.
Two good examples of the setter’s precision can be found in 12ac and 26ac.
In SCARLATINA Picaroon says ‘wasted time once’: minus only one T.
In PIERCES he tells us to use ‘perhaps writing’ (and not just ‘writing’): R.
Many thanks Peter for the blog.
In algebra ? means “the sum of” – not sure how far those suggesting that summing belongs only in arithmetic went with their maths – not very far I would guess.
But then < is read as "is less than" – even when dealing with integers (ie not "fewer than") so you'll never keep the determined pedant happy – oops – correction – that should be the opposite – they'll find something to moan about come what may.
That “?” was a capital sigma on the preview. Can’t trust nuffink nowhere these days.
@Sil #31 – spot on – especially your two specific examples. 🙂
JS @32
Nobody is suggesting that algebra doesn’t use a Sigma. Although this is not so common.
Algebra means all things to all men but mathematically can be divided in Elementary (pre undergrad) and Abstarct (undergrad and way beyond.)(It can also be used as a very general term for a whole branch of mathematics.)
The suggestion was that “Summer” was quite a poor definition for an algebraist. It would be akin, for instance, to defining a Decorator as a “stirrer” or a “cutter”. (Although these defs are far more relevant to decorating than “Summing” is to Algebra.
Finally although “Addition” is a binary operation in abstract algebra it is only one of millions. (An infinite number in fact) Algebra is not about “numbers”. They only represent a zillionth of a percent of what Algebra considers.
Sorry B(NTO) – I can’t make any sense of all that.
“summer” is used cryptically to mean “one who sums” – not I believe a meaning supported by dictionaries – but cryptically acceptable to most people.
Here’s a simple example – in fact maybe the simplest possible statement in algebra:
a + b = c
Your infinite
Read out: a plus b equals c
or: the sum of b and c is a
Take the second one
I just summed b and c – so I am a summer.
I used algebra
Afrit is happy.
Your infinite number of binary(???) operations in algebra would require an infinitely long textbook to explain them all – and that would be before we got to ternary quaternary … n-ary ones etc. Those books often seemed like that to me but in fact they were all finite – I was just too easily distracted. 🙂
Excuse the garbling – I think it’s obvious what was intended.
Ta, Gervase@10 and Schroduck @11
@ Sil ‘writing for example’ is better. I did not wamt to kmake a HUGE list ( of ‘inaccuracise’), as it like re-blogging which I think would be rude.
PS I thnk summer ( because you mentioned it() is a mistake.
B(nto) @35 – Quite right. “summer” is indeed a poor definition for an algebraist.
But the clue has “What may be employed by summer” to define ALGEBRA. JS has explained ‘summer’. His other observations, although garbled, are also valid. For example the sum of the integers from 1 to n is n(n+1)/2.
Rowland @39 – I don’t think ‘writing for example’ is better. And I agree with Sil @31 and JS @34. (And Sil didn’t mention summer.)
You have certainly succeeded in not making a HUGE list of ‘inaccuracies’. But your unjustified patronising remarks about Picaroon indicate that you need to try harder not to be rude.