Guardian Cryptic N° 26,155 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26155.

Somehow I have lost the usual formatting and I am afraid I do not have time to put in the colours and definition underlining by hand. At least the results are legible. As for the puzzle, the solutions came fairly easily; for a Rufus, it is not too heavy on the cryptic definitions, but there are a couple of definitions that I think are dubious. With a little more time this morning, I have added the formatting by hand. I think the culprit for the problem must be an update to WordPress

Across
1. An advance order (7,5)
FORWARD MARCH Cryptic definition.
8. Current charges for what a solicitor does (7)
ACCOSTS A charade of AC (alternating ‘current’) plus COSTS (‘charges’).
9. Termini switched for the time being (7)
INTERIM An anagram (‘switched’) of ‘termini’.
11. Student of the past (7)
ALUMNUS Cryptic definition.
12. Often behind bars when captured, but may be paroled (7)
LEOPARD An anagram (‘may be’) of ‘paroled’.
13. Losses from strikes (5)
TOLLS Double definition.
14. An old man with the twitch won’t join in the fun (9)
APATHETIC A charade of A PA (‘an old man’) plus ‘the’ plus TIC (‘twitch’).
16. Somewhat eccentric rest facility? (3-6)
OFF CENTRE A charade of OFF (‘rest’) plus CENTRE (‘facility’).
19. Not a bow — not even a smile, apparently (5)
STERN Double definition.
21. Most women have this combination of give and take (7)
HANDBAG A charade of HAND (‘give’) and BAG (‘take’).
23. What this youngster‘s mother did? (4,3)
BEAR CUB Double definition, sort of.
24. Embarrassment of companion ends with a smile (7)
CHAGRIN A charade of CH (‘companion’ of Honour) plus ‘a’ plus GRIN (‘smile’).
25. Form of elation that may be cut short (7)
TOENAIL An anagram (‘form of’) of ‘elation’.
26. Noted all past blunders in one’s lifetime (8,4)
ALLOTTED SPAN An anagram (‘blunders’) of ‘noted all past’.

Down
1. It’s real, topless or not! (7)
FACTUAL [f]ACTUAL.
2. Takes offence at gifts not being opened (7)
RESENTS [p]RESENTS (‘gifts’) without its first letter (‘not being opened’)..
3. Help worker to find a mate? (9)
ASSISTANT A charade of ASSIST (‘help’) plus ant (‘worker’).
4. Not well, goes to doctor — that’s the routine (5)
DRILL A charade of DR (‘doctor’) plus ILL (‘not well’).
5. City that sent missionaries out to China (7)
ANTIOCH An anagram (‘out’) of ‘to China’. See Acts 13 1-4.
6. Fruit ran short outside (7)
CURRANT An envelope (‘outside’) of ‘ran’ in CURT (‘short’)
7. I catch pastor out in dire straits (12)
CATASTROPHIC An anagram (‘out’) of ‘I catch pastor’. I do not think the definition quite works.
10. Doctors’ dance held in the gymnasium? (8,4)
MEDICINE BALL Definition and literal interpretation.
15. Put out account with wrong rebate to daughter (9)
ACERBATED A charade of AC (‘account’) plus ERBATE, an anagram (‘wrong’) of ‘rebate’ plus D (‘daughter’).
17. Flier in a flat spin (7)
FANTAIL An anagram (‘spin’) of ‘in a flat’.
18. An order to stop amber changing to green? (7)
EMBARGO A charade of EMBAR, an anagram (‘changing’) of ‘amber’ plus GO (‘green’).
19. Mix a cocktail to revitalise people (5-2)
SHAKE-UP Double definition. As a verb, I would not hyphenate the answer.
20. Can he, in disturbance, hold fast? (7)
ENCHAIN An anagram (‘disturbance’) of ‘can he in’.
22. DNA unit takes time to find in a cat-like animal (5)
GENET A charade of GENE (‘DNA unit’) plus T (‘time’).

31 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,155 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks Peter. I found it a pleasurable solve as well – had to get help on Antioch though, as it was unknown to me.

    One clue that I had trouble with was ACCOSTS – Frankly, since a Solictor can be a Lawyer, I did think ACCUSES was a potential solution as well but could not parse “charges” in the clue with this solution. While Accosts lends itself to credible parsing, the relationship to a Solicitor was not immediate – am I missing something here?

  7. My apologies – I, for some reason had capitalized the ‘s’ in solicitor and therefore went down the legal route…

  8. Not one of Rufus’s best in my opinion. I thought that the clue for 22d was particularly shaky, but I liked 10d.

  9. Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    Rufus is known for his clever anagrams but I thought ANTIOCH was one of the best ever.

    [7dn made me smile, too. Many thanks, Rufus.]

  10. Thanks PeterO and Rufus

    Quick and relatively easy. I too worried a little re ‘catastrophic’. I particularly liked 26a.

  12. I quite liked this, for a Rufus, 16 and 18 being particularly clever, plus indeed the ANTIOCH anagram.

    But I spoilt it all in the NW corner. First I had, for a while, ATTENDANT at 3. Then, after getting that right, I dashed off accuses as last one in. Silly me.

  13. Yes, I thought this was better than the average Rufus, and a decent grid not detracting from the enjoyment.

    How is TOLLS LOSSES?

    Thanks PeterO.

    [A captcha for Eileen today: ? x 1 = one]

  16. Enjoyable and no Google needed.

    Thanks PeterO; more anagrams and less DDs made this an easier solve.

    I did like LEOPARD, EMBARGO and ACCOSTS, despite Turbolegs sheltered upbringing.

  18. I enjoyed this puzzle. I don’t have as much of a problem with the definition for CATASTROPHIC as some of you seem to. OFF-CENTRE was my LOI after ASSISTANT.

  20. Nice, gentle offering with just a splash of looseness. Didn’t know ‘acerbate’ was a word. Antioch is the place where the word ‘Christian’ was first used.

  22. I don’t think I’ve never seen ACERBATE as a verb before, but since exacerbate (and acerbic) are familiar that didn’t hold me up for long.

  23. All enjoyable stuff, but at first I thought that ‘eccentric’ was much too similar to CENTRE to be the correct solution: they are derived from the same word!

  25. My first ever complete solution!

    Just wanted to thank you all. I took up cryptic crosswords when I read about the anniversary a few weeks ago. This blog has definitely speeded up my understanding.

    🙂

  26. 16d – ‘rest facility?’ is not a charade, it’s a CD. It’ a rare pleasure to be able to quibble with PeterO.

  28. rhotician @26

    If I have given pleasure, then I think I have served my purpose. However, I am not sure how you make a CD of the clue.

    Bebe @25

    Congratulations, and welcome to the blog.

  29. ‘Somewhat eccentric’ is the definition, so it can’t be a CD, you’d suppose. The supporting material is, however, perhaps meant to be cryptic in nature, as I can’t dig ‘rest’ for OFF in that sense. So Rufus’ ‘off-centre’ is ‘a facility to use when one is off’ is my guess.

  31. I’m late to the party, so not much left to add other than a potential quibble with 23a. It seems to me the clue needs the word “do” at the end; otherwise, grammatically, the answer would be BORE CUB. Then again, I don’t speak English. 😉 Anyway, thanks to Rufus & PeterO.

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