Guardian 26,067 / Puck

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Sometimes I struggle a little to get on Puck’s wavelength but not today (with one exception) as by and large this was a gentle stroll through Puck’s light and airy clues.

Having said that, he did cause me a lot of head scratching with 8dn and I nearly had to say 8dn. I’m still not sure that I have parsed it correctly, particularly the “you texted, having turned 24” part, though the final definition is quite clear. I spent some time trying to find something to go with ‘together’ to form anagram fodder but to no avail. I’m hoping that someone will be able to come up with a better explanation for this clue than I have been able to achieve.

After spending time trying to unravel 8dn I have an uneasy feeling that I have missed something else relevant to this puzzle but there again perhaps I haven’t.

Across

1 Poor Mary had to drink Coke at first with three different men? More, generally (3,4,3,5)
TOM DICK AND HARRY – anagram (poor) of MARY HAD TO DRINK C[oke]

9 Outgoing partygoer enters rude text (9)
EXTRAVERT – RAVER (partygoer) in (enters) anagram (rude) of TEXT

10 Chaos as fun gets out of hand (5)
SNAFU – anagram (gets out of hand) of AS FUN

11 Opposed putting house next to road before priest retires (7)
HOSTILE – HO (house) ST (road) ELI (priest) reversed (retires)

12 One having sex in China — parrot or ape (7)
IMITATE – I (one) IT (sex) in MATE (China)

13 Gunman in bar in Hull, 24 worker (3)
ROD – triple def. – a reference to Rod Hull & Emu  Edit: see comment #4

14 Some hair possibly set in these? (7)
LOCKETS – LOCK (some hair) anagram (possibly) of SET – and yes, a lock of hair is often kept in a locket

17 Choose common bit of rock ’n’ roll as dance music (7)
ELECTRO – ELECT (chose) RO (the common bit of ROck ‘n’ ROll)

19 One that’s out in front line position (7)
STRIKER – double def.

22 Mad short story about celebrity (7)
STARDOM – anagram (about) of MAD STOR[y]

24 Bird from the mudflats (3)
EMU – hidden in ‘thE MUdflats’

25 Page doesn’t start describing enemies about to relent (4,3)
EASE OFF – [l]EAF (page doesn’t start) around (describing) FOES (enemies) reversed (about)

26 Is unable to accept the Guardian’s running arms show (7)
COURANT – CAN’T (is unable) around (to accept) OUR (the Guardian’s) – a heraldic term meaning ‘in a running position’

28 After breaking bail, writer provides evidence refuting 8 (5)
ALIBI – anagram (breaking) of BAIL I (writer)

29 Transmission of Radio 4’s success with broadcast worth inclusion (5,4)
SHORT WAVE – anagram (broadcast) of WORTH in (inclusion) SAVE (4’s success)

30 Public rehearsal performance of Doctors, not Casualty (7,8)
GENERAL PRACTICE – GENERAL (public) PRACTICE (rehearsal) – a reference to two TV medical series hence the capitalisation

Down

1 Old rockers on about female outlaw’s full-blown affair (3,5,7)
THE WHOLE SHEBANG – THE WHO (old rockers) LEG (on {cricket}) around (about) SHE (female) BAN (outlaw)

2 Writing about the wrong sort of spirit (5)
METHS – MS (writing) around (about) anagram (wrong) of THE

3 Fancy a chart-topping single (7)
IMAGINE – double def.

4 Those maintaining opposition to 19s (7)
KEEPERS – double def. – or you could read it as a single cryptic def.

5 Compound removing some of the dirt inside turn-up (7)
NITRIDE – hidden reversal in ‘thE DIRT INside’

6 Hospital stupidly copies care home (7)
HOSPICE – H (hospital) anagram (stupidly) of COPIES

7 Language used in theatre by Lawrence director tailored to fit again (9)
READAPTED – ADA (language {computing}) in REP (theatre) TE (Lawrence) D (director)

8 We’re so together, you texted, having turned 24? I don’t know about that (5,3,2,5)
YOU’VE GOT ME THERE – triple def. (I think, see preamble) – if you have me there we will be together / if 24 is turned you get U (you texted) ME / an expression of not knowing

15 Pilgrim is able to keep fresh shirt on ice, initially (9)
CHRISTIAN – CAN (is able) around (to keep) anagram (fresh) of SHIRT I[ce]

16,18 New hotel at top of town has everything (3,3)
THE LOT – anagram (new) of HOTEL T[own]

20 More off-the-wall endless sex occupying king and queen (7)
KOOKIER – [n]OOKI[e] (endless sex) in (occupying) R (king) ER (queen)

21 Audible neigh, say, from horse at Hickstead? (7)
REFUSAL – cryptic def. involving a homophone (audible) of ‘neigh’ (nay) and the show jumping location

22 Give aid to gullible person over the phone (7)
SUCCOUR – homophone (over the phone) of ‘sucker’ (gullible person)

23 A note in cry of bird briefly living in water (7)
AQUATIC – A TI (note) in QUAC[k] (cry of bird briefly)

27 Dramatic part for violin or cello (5)
AMATI – hidden in ‘drAMATIc’

28 comments on “Guardian 26,067 / Puck”

  2. Thanks to Puck and Gaufrid

    I generally don’t like inter-related clues, but these were so clever that they were a delight. The misdirection of “Radio 4” was particularly good, and “emu worker” for ROD (Hull) raised a chuckle.

    I also liked SNAFU, and it was nice to see ALIBI defined correctly for a change!

    I think your explanation for 8dn makes sense, Gaufrid, but perhaps there is something tighter there (though I can’t see it).

  3. Thanks for this Gaufrid. An excellent blog and it cleared up a couple of points where I was a little confused.

    I can’t improve on your explanation for 8 down. I was a bit confused by 13 across as I thought a “rod” was a gun, not a gunman (as in “packing a rod”); I’m sure that your explanation is what Puck intended however.

    I enjoyed the puzzle as there were many amusing and clever clues. The origin on “snafu” is (I believe) a little rude – but this is the Guardian after all! (-:

    All in all a fine start to the day – thanks Puck!

  4. Hi Rick
    “… as I thought a “rod” was a gun, not a gunman …”

    That was my thought as well and I intended to check in the usual references but forgot after getting bogged down by 8dn.

    I cannot find any support for ROD = gunman so I think it must be a quadruple def. ie ROD (gun) ROD (man) ROD (bar) ROD (Hull, 24 worker).

  6. Thanks to Gaufrid for the blog. You explained several cases where I had the right answer without (fully) understanding why.

    Rick@3 Situation Normal All Fouled Up – nothing rude there 😀

  8. Thanks, Gaufrid. A gentle but entertaining puzzle from Puck – just held up with the last few, but the generous grid helped. Plenty to enjoy, with REFUSAL my favourite.

  9. Thanks Gaufrid and Puck

    A very clever entertaining puzzle. I missed the subtle reference in 29a. I also missed the quadruple definition in 13a having assumed that ‘rod’ like ‘gun’ could refer to a person carrying one.

    I came to much the same result as Gaufrid et al. in trying to parse 8d.

    I was eventually held up a bit by 3d. This was because I initially spelled 9a as ‘extrovert’ even though I had some difficulty explaing rover as a partygoer – we’ll go no more a-roving etc. I also did not remember imagine as a song hit. But got there in the end.

  10. YOU’VE GOT ME THERE is “you’ve” in textspeak = U (from “emu”) plus an anagram of “together” + “me” (rest of “emu”), but I confess I can’t seem to parse it exactly.

    Thanks, Puck and Gaufrid.

  11. I’ve always spelt EXTRAVERT as EXTROVERT, and it was the latter I entered, thinking ‘partygoer = rover? Well maybe’. So a win for the setter then. (The two forms are equivalent, says Chambers.)

    I’m also in the long queue of people who can’t fully parse 8d. I looked at ‘We’re so together’ = YOU’VE GOT ME but that leaves the rest of the subsidiary yielding THERE, which is clearly cobblers.

  14. Entertaining puzzle with little need of Wiki.

    Thanks Gaufrid; in 8D isn’t ‘we’re so together’ just ‘u (you texted) and me’ after 24 is turned?

    I particularly liked COURANT (new word) and KOOKIE.

  16. Thanks, Puck and Gaufrid (rather you than me for the parsing!),

    Great fun helped by a good grid. I enjoyed all the sayings. The last part of 8d held me up but made sense when the penny dropped.

    I’m with Trailman @6 on EXTROVERT. EXTRAVERT does not appear in my older dictionaries, which have extrovert as the opposite of introvert.Neither spelling appears in my 100-year old Chambers’s (sic).

    Giovanna XX

  17. It is like to day’s Indy. Both of themn are very complicated and not really interesting to me, with lots of extra work to do with no extra enjoyment . EXTRAVERT Puck, he could have chucked out easily. 17 ‘common bit of’ was very good.

    Cheers
    R.

  18. 8d doesn’t work for me despite the valiant attempts people have made. Perhaps Puck could drop in and explain? And “save” for “success” is very weak.

  19. Hi jeceris @18
    “And “save” for “success” is very weak.”

    It’s not “success” = “save”, it’s “4’s (ie keeper’s) success” = “save”.

  20. I found this very straightforward for a Puck, and once I had a few checkers the four long answers went in without me bothering to parse them, and from the comments above I’m glad I didn’t as far as 8dn is concerned. THE LOT was my LOI, but only because I mostly solved it from the outside in.

  21. Thanks Puck,I too was thrown a bit with 8 dn as I had STARDOM which gave ME for the 2 letter word so I assumed (wrongly) that the 3 letter word ended in “U” from “HAVING TURNED EMU “but I couldn’t reconcile YOU & ME in the quotation,but once I had entered “SNAFU” it all fell into place.

  22. Lovely Puckster and thanks too to Gaufrid for the blog – I think you nailed 8d OK.

    Surprised me but it turns out that EXTRAVERT is the original spelling and EXTROVERT is what it has drifted to through erroneous usage, which begs the question 😉 of which one should now be considered to be “correct” – Collins is happy with both.

    Evidently academic psychologists still hang on to the old one.

  23. Checking on t’intergoogle,”extravert” comes up as “do you mean extrovert”. Puck’s spelling just looks plain wrong to me.

  24. Found this easier than normal from Puck. Probably helped by getting 2 of the long outside clues on the first pass.

    I’ve still not seen a parsing for 8D which I’m totally happy with though. Nonetheless the usual entertainment from our Irish contributor.

    I was aware of bothe extro- and extravert.

    Bizarrely the SOED has both as being early 20th Century.

    extra from extraversion which is late 17th C
    extro from extroversion which is middle 17th C

    !!!

  26. Add me to the list of people who went for EXTROVERT, which then prevented me from solving 3d (my tentative guess was IDOLISE). But, of course, I appreciated 19a/4d/29a.

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