Guardian Cryptic 26,070 / Chifonie

26 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,070 / Chifonie”

1. A nice gentle start to Friday. Now off to placate the border terrier who has been pestering for attention while I have been poking the iPad. (As suggested earlier in the week, I’ve tried training her to sit on my head, but the surface there is far too shiny).

2. Thanks Writinghawk and Chifonie

   I agree with Writinghawk’s assessment – an enjoyable puzzle like baby bear’s bed – neither too hard etc.

   I particularly liked 23a among generally very high quality clues.

   🙂 Thanks George Clements for momentarily putting the idea into my head that Chifonie’s surfaces are as smooth as a shiny bald pate.

3. Thanks Chifonie and Writinghawk.

   Didn’t last long despite an unaccountably slow start. Agree with WH’s grumbles about 20 and 24d, but otherwise pleasant enough.

   Favourite was MICKEY as it was a touch more crafty than the rest.

4. Hi Mitz

   I must confess I didn’t much like 21d as a clue and am probably missing something there. I saw the parsing suggested by Writinghawk but am still puzzled by the unheralded ‘C = see’ and the exact status of key (= note?) in the clue. I admit I could not find a satisfactory alternative and could only wonder unconvincingly if there was something in ey(e) = see without its final note ‘e’.

5. Hi tupu,

   I shared your misgivings, and decided in the end that 21 was my favourite precisely because (unlike the rest of the puzzle) it took a while to sort out, and I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on.

   The MI bit is straightforward, and I agree with WH that “that’s taken from a dupe” is the definition. If “see” = C and “note” = KEY then we’ve been a bit short-changed on the indicator front. How about “note” = C and “that’s taken” = KEY, also doing double duty as part of the non-cryptic definition?

6. I agree with tupu about 21d and have a similar problem with 18d where there is no indication (like ‘case’ or ‘ends’) that only the first and last letters of barrel are to be used. I spent a lot of time trying to fit ‘tun’ and other synonyms for barrel into the grid! It seems to me thatsometimes the clarity of the surface is allowed to tae over!

   Thanks nonetheless to Chifonie for what was for me, particularly in the SW quadrant, quite a struggle!

7. There’s nothing fishy about 21d. Chambers:

   see(3) n The third letter of the alphabet (C,c).

8. Hi tupu et al
   I don’t see a problem with 21dn. Chambers confirms see=C (3rd def.) and under ‘note’ it has “a key of a piano or other instrument”.

9. Chris @6: The dictionary also lists the abbreviation “bl” for “barrel”. Chifonie wouldn’t be so unreasonable as to expect you to randomly discard the middle of the word for no reason.

10. Thanks WH and Gaufrid. All sorted out, then.

11. Thanks Chifonie and Writinghawk
    This took two goes. First 20 minutes left a lot of blanks. I didn’t help myself by carelessly entering “Arabella” (Straussian operatic heroine) for 18dn, thinking to work out exactly what the anagram was later (it isn’t, of course).
    I picked it up again after errands done, and the rest fell into place remarkably quickly – perhaps I wasn’t awake earlier.
    I didn’t have any problems with AMRITSAR or METZ, but possibly because they were write-ins for me. If they had been holding me up I might have thought differently.

12. Would “floppy hat” instead of “sloppy hat” have been better for FEDORA? I think floppy still works as an anagram indicator.

13. Muffin@12: Yes, quite right! Now you point it out, ‘sloppy’ is so odd you almost wonder if it’s a misprint.

14. Thanks, WH.

    Finished this one without any great difficulty. I agree with muffin @12 that ‘floppy’ would have been much better for FEDORA – at least the surface would have made sense.

    What is ‘sloppy’ is the ‘in [country]’ device. Personally, I’m not terribly exercised by this – it occurs so often that it is easy to spot – but many solvers find it irritating and there are simple ways to avoid it.

    Favourite clue was 11a, though the question mark was puzzling. It can’t simply be to indicate that there is a cryptic reading; that’s the whole point of this type of puzzle. A very strict interpretation of the conventions would suggest that it ‘excuses’ the ‘lift-and-separate’ (work/place), which purists frown on. But since when was Chifonie a stickler for the rulebook?

15. Ah, rulebooks, rulebooks … my kingdom for a rulebook. I’m relaxed about the ‘in country’ clueing, but I know other solvers (and indeed some other setters) don’t like it.

    Found this a fine puzzle which fell out steadily. My last in was ABNORMAL: I too was in the TUN hunting group.

    Thanks for blogging, WH.

16. Kinda tame for a Friday, I was hoping for more action I guess. It was an okay solve, though I was glad to get a dose of Phi across the way.

    Just to pick out your gripes, Writinghawk, (though you could have had more than you did), I agree the definitions are wrong: also, in 20 ‘backed’ I didn’t like, you know, why is the past tense used there? And in 24 down the ‘Zionist leader’ you could reasonably have mauled.

    You’re brave, but I like the way you corrected the compiler at 23 – maybe you should try your hand at this game!

    Thanks for your blog today.

17. Re Gervase, which missed (sorry brother) I agree with the way the compiler did it. That QM is needed I reckon.

18. Thanks to Writinghawk for the blog. You explained 13d where I had the right answer without being able to parse it.

    On 19d I am so used to seeing support used to indicate BRA that it took me a long time to realise that a golf ball is supported by a TEE 🙁

19. Why is Diplomat H.E?

20. Daniel @ 19
    His Excellency – courtesy title for an ambassador.

21. An Ambassador is His Excellency

22. Or indeed, it should be added, this being 2013 and all, Her Excellency.

23. Thanks to Writinghawk for the blog.
    This Chifonie puzzle was mostly straightforward but like tupu @4 I deliberated for ages before filling in MICKEY. Not the best clue in my opinion.

24. Many thanks Gaufrid et al for the gloss on ‘see’ in 21d. One lives and learns. I still don’t like it very much. I don’t see this use of ‘see’ in my Collins or in OED, and I feel it’s a bit like playing scrabble against someone who has devoted themselves to hunting out little known two letter words in Chambers. So not the best of clues, but I agree the answer was clear and amusing enough, and I did enjoy the puzzle.

25. A mostly straightforward puzzle although I was held up at the end by MICKEY. I parsed it slightly differently with KEY as “note that’s taken from a” and “dupe” as the definition, not “a dupe”. In my Chambers “mickey”, in the sense required here (dupe = to trick someone), is a verb, not a noun.

26. @muffin, Derek Lazenby and Writinghawk: thanks!

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