Guardian Cryptic N° 26,146 by Gordius

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26146.

I enjoyed this offering from Gordius. I found it fairly easy, and the Gordian looseness, while certainly in evidence, did not seem to me to be much of a drawback.

Across
1. Vehicle condition needs attention, back to front (6,3)
ESTATE CAR STATE (‘condition’) plus CARE (‘attention’) with the last letter moved to the beginning (‘back to front’).
6. Relict without name to be seen through? (5)
WIDOW A subtraction: WI[n]DOW (‘to be seen through’) without N (‘name’).
9. Where to find soft material (5)
PLACE A charade of P (‘soft’) plus LACE (‘material’).
10. Tennis player who takes unfair advantage? (9)
RACKETEER A double definition, sort of.
11. It makes one fall, endlessly (3)
SIN A subtraction: SIN[k] (‘fall’) ‘endlessly’, with an extended definition.
12. People go down with hard complaints in Somerset (6,5)
MENDIP HILLS A charade of MEN (‘people’) plus DIP (‘go down’) plus H (‘hard’) plus ILLS (‘complaints’).
14. Shipmates upset on the Queen Elizabeth? (7)
STEAMER A charade of STEAM, an anagram (‘upset’) of ‘mates’ plus ER (‘the Queen Elizabeth’).
15. See about student turning colour when getting on (7)
ELDERLY An envelope (‘about’) of L (‘student’) plus DER, a reversal (‘turning’) of RED (‘colour’) in ELY (‘see’).
16. Foreign copper gets doctor free (7)
MOUNTIE A charade of MO (‘doctor’) plus UNTIE (‘free’).
19. High point frequently in inferior backing (7)
ROOFTOP An envelope (‘in’) of OFT (‘frequently’) in ROOP, a reversal (‘backing’) of POOR (‘inferior’).
22. Natural dwarfishness? (11)
UNDERGROWTH Cryptic definition.
23. Disordered, having been created short (3)
MAD A subtraction: MAD[e] (‘created’) ‘short’.
24. Spill the beans twice, when there’s only one … (9)
SINGLETON A charade of SING plus LET ON (‘spill the beans twice’).
26. … or none, which is comic (5)
BEANO ‘bean’ from 24A plus O (‘none’), for the British kids’ comic.
27. Possibly loitering with intent — that’s the girl! (5)
SUSIE A charade of SUS (‘possibly loitering with intent’. Chambers gives this as an example of suspicious behaviour) plus I.E. (‘that’s’).
28. Rhubarb thrown away? (4,5)
CAST ASIDE Double definition, with reference to the theatrical use of ‘rhubarb’ to give the impression of crowd murmuring.
…
Down
1. Shows up former attitudes (7)
EXPOSES A charade of EX (‘former’) plus POSES (‘attitudes’).
2. Student without one might be neater (7)
TRAINEE TRAINEE minus the I (‘one’) is an anagram (‘might be’) of ‘neater’.
3. Mother accidentally encountered royalty with some measure of warmth (11)
THERMOMETER A charade of THERMO, an anagram (‘accidentally’) of ‘mother’ plus MET (‘encountered’) plus ER (‘royalty’). Chambers does give “an instrument for finding the extent of anything” as a definition of ‘measure’.
4. Nothing in difficult situation can hold court (7)
CORONER An envelope (‘in’) of O (‘nothing’) i CORNER (‘difficult situation’).
5. Admit always rising over broken ice (7)
RECEIVE An envelope (‘over’) of CEI ,an anagram (‘broken’) of ‘ice’ in REVE, a reversal (‘rising’, in a down light) of EVER (‘always’).
6. Questionable sound of a river? (3)
WYE A homophone (‘sound of’) of WHY (‘questionable’).
7. Dickens beginning with character of resident (7)
DWELLER A charade of D (‘Dickens beginning’) plus WELLER (‘character’ in Pickwick Papers).
8. Lazy output by heartless Harry (4-3)
WORKSHY A charade of WORKS (‘output’ of Beethoven, for example) plus HY (‘heartless HarrY‘)
13. It can stop you from drinking (11)
HYDROPHOBIA Cryptic definition.
16. Old Jew keeps us in desserts (7)
MOUSSES An envelope (‘keeps’) of ‘us’ in MOSES (‘old Jew’).
17. International body consumes water spirits (7)
UNDINES A charade of UN (‘international body’) plus DINES (‘consumes’).
18. Unreliable boy catches rodent (7)
ERRATIC An envelope (‘catches’) of RAT (‘rodent’) in ERIC (‘boy’).
19. Left wing, about to conquer, turns back (7)
REWINDS An envelope (‘about’) of WIN (‘conquer’) in REDS (‘left wing’).
20. Percussion gives boy awful pain (7)
TIMPANI A charade of TIM (‘boy’) plus PANI, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘pain’.
21. Priest carries on as innkeeper (7)
PADRONE An envelope (‘carries’) of ‘on’ in PADRE (‘priest’).
25. General shelter (green in London) (3)
LEE Triple definition. Lee Green is Greenwich way.

38 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,146 by Gordius”

  2. Thanks Peter. I found the SW corner quite tricky. I don’t agree with your ‘tripe’ description of 25.

  3. Nice solve – witty and not too hard. Best to start the new year in a good mood.

    11a I liked very much, but I can’t see an extended definition there.

    Simplest reading is:
    Def: It makes one fall
    WP: fall, endlessly
    giving the dreaded double duty on the overlap – but why define that as a sin in the first place – so many good cluing possibilities if that construction were accepted as a convention.

    Alternatively, the whole surface can certainly make a def (as inidcated inthe blog) so with a bit of Gordian “looseness” in the WP you’ve got an &lit or maybe a semi – or something similar which folk often mistake for an &lit even when they’re not.

    There are prolly more readings than that too – maybe more readings than words in the clue. Easier to just let the answer pop out and enjoy it for what it is.

    Thanks for the blog PO – also for the additional information that the London Borough of Lewisham is no longer part of London – Greenwich gone too. Where will it end?

  4. molonglo, that’s a typo: it’s not tripe, but triple. General Robert E., shelter as in leeward, and some park in Greenwich.

    Undergrowth (22a) is like a definition-and-a-half (if you’re dwarfish, you’re under-growth–ha ha). But it doesn’t quite parse that way, since “natural” doesn’t really work as a definition. And undergrowth isn’t really dwarfish…

    My least favorite (and last in) was Susie, since “SUS” isn’t an abbreviation we have this side of the Atlantic.

  6. Thanks PeterO – required for explanation of SINGLETON.

    I quite enjoyed this today, and finishing in 20′ made a pleasant change from yesterday’s long one.

    Well, not quite finishing, as I carelessly committed an omission of SIN in 11a!

  7. @ #2, #4 and #5 – I think I see which way up the coin is landing.

    So Greenwich is still in London – phew.

  8. A pretty quick solve this morning, but with some enjoyment. Am I right in thinking that in 14a the anagram indicator is the ‘ship’ part of ‘shipmates’ ? Setters do seem to be becoming increasingly inventive in signalling anagrams, and word splitting also seems to be more commonplace.
    I especially liked the clues for ‘mousses’ and ‘cast aside’, so thanks Gordius.

  9. George, as Peter indicates, the answer is a ship = steamer; an anagram of “mates”, indicated by upset, + “er”

  11. I parsed 11a as a full &lit. Sin supposedly makes one, in fact all of us, fall endlessly, if I have the theology right; and the answer makes us (i.e. provides for us) “fall endlessly”, i.e. sink without the k. (N.B. I’m not completely sure I do have the theology right here, but I gather eternal damnation is applicable to at least some sinners?)

    The slightly prolix wordplay (but with no words uninvolved – i.e. no redundancy) and the roundabout, allusive definition (but again involving every word) is typical of a certain type of setting, which I would call Ximenean as it often appears in Azed’s slips (and Azed certainly is a Ximenean).

    Here is an example of the same “makes you”/”makes one” device in an &lit. clue awarded VHC by Azed:

    What makes you flop after effect of snow? – COLD TURKEY (the explanation is “Cold + Turkey, &lit.”)

    And another:

    It makes one mistakenly glory, taken in by a fleeting fancy – FAIRY GOLD (anag. in fad, & lit.)

    Both are excellent (sadly neither is by me). I like Gordius’s clue a lot too.

  12. Good morning everyone, and thanks PeterO.

    SINGLETON relieved an otherwise bland dish for my taste.

    George @8 I don’t think so. I read it as SHIP for the def, with MATES upset (anagrind) + ER.

  14. PS. Slight error by me @11. My second example doesn’t quite use the device I said it did (“one” yields “i” – but I think with that “it makes” it’s still an example of the same approach as Gordius in 11a). I’d recommend trawling the andlit.org.uk archive for other similar examples (I did a search on “makes you”). It’s a very attractive and infectious, as well as fastidious, setting style

  15. SINGLETON MOUSSES and DWELLER all pretty good in my book. Today’s personal learning point is UNDINES, which I guessed as an alternative from the balletic ONDINE.

    At 9d I’ve just convinced myself that the left wing, in general, is composed, in crossword-land, of REDS. Otherwise I would have had this down as Gordian looseness.

  16. I can’t add much to that – a quick solve and nothing controversial (unlike last time Gordius mentioned Moses). As for UNDINES I’m not sure I should admit to knowing that thanks to Firth of Fifth by Genesis and its mention of “undinal songs”.

    Thanks to Gordius and PeterO.

  17. Thanks, PeterO & Gordius.

    This was enjoyable, but I had to look up MENDIP HILLS (having first tried MENDIE HILLS). And I wasn’t able to parse 27a.

    Not sure I like “Where to find” as a definition for PLACE. I think Gordius would have been fine to go with the more concise, “To find soft material,” as Chambers gives the third verbal definition of PLACE as “to find a place, home, job, publisher, etc for someone.” And PeterO preempted my would-be quibble with THERMOMETER as “measure” (vice “measurer”).

  18. Thanks all
    I found this quite enjoyable. Favourites 14,15,16,24 &27 ac; 13, 16 d
    Only objection was the unnecessary third definition in 25 down,especially redundant for non Londoners.

  19. I think this has its characteristic Gordisms, where he makes a leap between defs and wordplay that his solvers (me say) might not necessarily dig. SIN is one of those for me, as it is, I think, for Jolly Swagman: doesn’t quite ‘travel’.

    Not satisfying then for all of us, and too easy, but not all bad. The Times today was a STINKER I’ll just let you know for comparison, but everything in the right place, as you’d expect.

    HNY all, BTW.

  20. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot more than some previous Gordius puzzles.

    beery hiker@16 beat me to it with his “undinal songs” comment.

    SUSIE was my LOI after MOUSSES.

  21. Haha, it makes me love this place even more to discover that there are others here whose early knowledge of Myth came from Gabriel-era Genesis (…and of Philosophy from Python?)

  22. Found this really hard and still working out why – thank goodness for this blog and all the contributions!

    8d, 1a, 23a were my first with a few more to follow but then needed help.

    Still can’t work out when a clue needs a word split (14a) and couldn’t parse all the clues despite having answers – 15a and 3d for example.

    Having said all that don’t think I’ve tried a Gordius before so maybe I’m not in tune with him yet.

  23. I in the “not as bad as some recent Gordius puzzles” camp.

    In fact I might go as far as to say that I quite enjoyed this one. I liked 28A but 11A still doesn’t quite work for me despite listening to its advocates on here.

    Yet another easy puzzle though. When will we get something to test us again?

    Thanks to PeterO and Gordius

  25. I liked a lot of this, especially 11a.I was wondering if any of you could recommend setters for the less able and less experienced solvers , like me.So far , I do all the Rufus and Brendans i come across. I also like Crux, Firefly and Armonie.

  26. Thanks Gordius and PeterO

    grimalkin@25 – I find Chifonie quite a straightforward setter in the Guardian.

    Enjoyed this one but had to recover from a Grade 5 spelling error with RECEIVE and by writing in DIPSOPHOBIA (it is a word that means fear of drinking) – which did make finding the MENDIP HILLS that little bit harder.

    Otherwise a pretty controversy-free puzzle from Gordius today

  27. grimalkin @25

    I’d suggest playing it the other way round: try every one that’s in front of you, accept that you will find some easier than others, but don’t be downhearted if you don’t get very far – you *will* get better with time and practice. After all, you’re only really competing against yourself. If you only do ones where you feel comfortable you reduce your chances to push your limits and grow.

    I sometimes think that naming the setter isn’t a good idea – you see a name and your heart sinks – certainly used to for me…and the elation I felt when I first completed an Araucaria was indescribable, really!

    Added to which is the resonance between you and the individual setters – over on the graun site you regularly see posts that the commenter finds Rufus harder than others, and in my own case I can’t see why the Observer Everyman is a prize – I can regularly finish it over breakfast on Sunday, but I never *regularly* finish even Rufus that fast.

    Sorry to all if I’ve been excessively verbose!

    hth

  29. Brucew@26 and SimonS @26,thanks for your tips. Yes , I love Chifonie ! As for trying everything… well I hammer away at Paul and other hard ones and it does my head in, but your right , just do it.And then read the reviews !Thanks again.

  31. The clueing throughout is very concise. Something of a trade-mark of Gordius.
    Just look at the link PeterO gives at the start of his characteristically concise blog.

  32. @Herb #11

    Spot on. And your &lit claim stands unchallenged!

    Just as an aside – good that you used the term “full &lit” since Ximenes, who (I have to concede) coined the term, allowed it also for some which don’t quite qualify as “full”.

    Still – an interesting clue – lots of angles – lots to chat about – and only five words.

  33. It could be that no one’s bothered. Or that no-one quite understands.

    ‘It’ (the answer?) ‘makes us fall (=SINK) endlessly’ (=SINk) is the way I view it, where ‘It’ is redundant for serious &litters (in that it is a definition, however imprecise). There would perhaps be a further discussion as the necessary meaning of SINK as opposed to SIN, but I’m far too tired for that just now.

    TTFN.

  35. Herb @11

    When I was directed to the Azed slip site I thought many of the clues identified as &lit were really semi or ish. All fine clues of course but Azed has very limited space for a great many annotations. I doubt if he would claim that his description &lit means full &lit (official).

  36. Just for information – in his relatively mellow chapter (compared with the ranting in the previous two) on &lits Ximenes offers these first two clues as ones which he approves of (pp 73-74):

    I don’t exactly get more dim – I last if I’m this (12)

    (MORE DIM I LAST)* for IMMORTALISED

    Can make you uncommonly sore with flickering tip (7)

    Ie SORE* TIP* but read (SORE TIP)* for RIPOSTE

    He declares a minor issue (which has forgiven himself for) in the first one but none in the second.

  38. I wish I’d been able to comment again at the time on this puzzle. I was busy for the rest of the day and then forgot about it. It was ages ago now but I think it would be wrong not to reply to rhotician @35, just in case anyone does take another look here:

    I am absolutely sure that Azed would not have a clue labelled &lit in the slip if he didn’t think that was what it was. If he thinks your explanation of the clue is not quite right he corrects it (he did that to me at least once). He doesn’t claim to be infallible but he certainly wouldn’t call anyone’s clue &lit if he thought it was “only semi or ish”. He’s clearly very scupulous indeed about that kind of thing. Those &lits (certainly the ones I quoted @11 above) are to be read as full &lits: everything is involved in the cryptic reading (i.e. wordplay) and everything is involved in the definition.

    I think like Paul B you just have a different idea of what an &lit has to be compared to Azed and Ximenes.

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