Guardian Cryptic N° 26.169 by Pasquale

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26169.
I made heavier weather of this than seems reasonable in hindsight, given the standard repertoire of clue types. I solved it anticlockwise from the SW corner, and unusually for a Pasquale puzzle, I found a couple of niggles.

Across
1. Grave individual, fellow with the stuffing knocked out (6)
SOLEMN A charade of SOLE (‘individual’) plus M[a]N (‘fellow’) minus its middle letter (‘with the stuffing knocked out’).
4. Philosophical outlook I peddle is mad, not of our era (8)
IDEALISM A charade of ‘I’ plus DEAL (‘peddle’) plus ‘is’ plus ‘m[ad]’ without AD (‘not of our era’).
9. Power of inspiring person engaging class (6)
MUSCLE An envelope (‘engaging’) of CL (‘class’) in MUSE (‘inspiring person’).
10. Four participating in sensual merriment (8)
CARNIVAL An envelope (‘in’) of IV (Roman numeral, ‘four’) in CARNAL (‘sensual’).
11. Male is part of the group arranged to provide lies (14)
MISINFORMATION A charade of M (‘male’) plus ‘is’ plus IN (‘part of’) plus FORMATION (‘the group arranged’).
13. Well-placed religious institution that’s pleasant, not cold, inside (10)
CONVENIENT An envelope (‘inside’) of NI[c]E (‘pleasant’) without the C (‘not cold’) in CONVENT (‘religious institution’).
14. That place not right for you (4)
THEE A subtraction: THE[r]E (‘that place’) without the R (‘not right’).
16. Revolutionary to spoil mark on ballot paper (4)
MARX A charade of MAR (‘spoil’) plus X (‘mark on ballot paper’).
18. Good humour shown by 19 22 against English in game (10)
CHEERINESS An envelope (‘in’) of E (‘English’) plus ERIN (’19 22′ is EMERALD ISLE) in CHESS (‘game’).
21. Government agency working undercover, say, with unknown number involved (8,6)
ORDNANCE SURVEY An anagram (‘working’) of ‘undercover say’ plus N (‘unknown number’).
23. Idiot hugging tree, expressing a load of nonsense? (8)
FOLDEROL An envelope (‘hugging’) of [a]LDER (‘tree’) without the A (‘expressing a’) in FOOL (‘idiot’).
24. Mathematical info about old animals (6)
STOATS An envelope (‘about’) of O (‘old’) in STATS (statistics, ‘mathematical info’).
25. What scientific theory may be established in columnar layout? (8)
TESTABLE An envelope (‘in’) of EST (‘established’) in TABLE (‘columnar layout’). May be?
26. Dog mess lazy one leaves (6)
POODLE A charade of POO (‘mess’) plus [i]DLE (‘lazy’) without the I (‘one leaves’).
Down
1. Depression with pounds lost in financially challenging time (4)
SUMP A subtraction: S[l]UMP (‘financially challenging times’) without the L (‘pounds lost’).
2. Man facing endless prejudice when finally revealed as gay (7)
LESBIAN A charade of LES (‘man’) plus BIA[s] (‘prejudice’) without its last letter (‘endless’) plus N (‘wheN finally’).
3. Fashion designer — a black-looking fellow, inwardly bad (8)
MILLINER An envelope (‘inwardly’) of ILL (‘bad’) in MINER (‘a black-looking fellow’).
5. Doubles from boring bods in the belfry? (4,7)
DEAD RINGERS A charade of DEAD (‘boring’) plus RINGERS (‘bods in the belfry’. That’s where the bells are, but the bods would probably be pulling on ropes below). The wordplay might also be described (by me, anyway) as a literal interpretation, or even a cryptic definition.
6. Plant book promoted before Christmas? (6)
ANNUAL Double definition.
7. Rail taking home very small number, losing time (7)
INVEIGH A charade of IN (‘home’) plus V (‘very’) plus EIGH[t] (‘small number’; ‘small’ depends on the context) without the T (‘losing time’).
8. The old woman hangs around and pretends to be ill (9)
MALINGERS A charade of MA (‘the old woman’) plus LINGERS (‘hangs around’).
12. Foolish chat about educational establishment (5,6)
FAITH SCHOOL An anagram (‘about’) of ‘foolish chat’.
13. Abandon computers and suchlike? You must be joking! (4,3,2)
COME OFF IT Definition and literal interpretation.
15. Show words inside book? (8)
LIBRETTO Double definition.
17. More than one puzzle rankles, spread across days and days (7)
RIDDLES An envelope (‘spread across’) of DD (‘days and days’) in RILES (‘rankles’).
19,22. Land across the water in which you may see leader smile (7,4)
EMERALD ISLE An anagram (‘in which you may see’) of ‘leader smile’.
20. Picture maker arrived — famous painter? (6)
CAMERA A charade of CAME (‘arrived’) plus RA (‘famous painter’).
22. See 19
– See 19

29 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26.169 by Pasquale”

  2. I found this a little easier than most of the Don’s puzzles.
    At 8d, I think that the word small indicates an abbreviation of ‘very’ rather than a suggestion that eight is necessarily a small number
    Good start to the day.

  4. I’m not normally a fan of Pasquale but there are some nice subtleties here. Doubles is a bell ringing term. Many theories in eg particle physics aren’t testable yet. And the anagram fodder at 12d is amusingly naughty.

    Thanks both.

  5. Thanks Pasquale a d PeterO

    A workmanlike solve today and like Peter I finished in the NW with SUMP and MUSCLE my last two in.

    There did seem to be an unusually high number of ‘letter removes’ today – in 1a, 4a, 13a, 14a, 23a, 26a, 1d, 2d and 7d – does that constitute a mini-theme? 🙂

    Also an absence of the obscure words that are a bit of a trademark …

    Enjoyable workout all the same.

  6. Thanks Pasquale; I enjoyed not having to scrabble around with obscure words.

    Thanks PeterO; I thought in 13a the ‘that’s’ was ie, leaving a forlorn ‘n’ to parse. 🙁

    I don’t know whether the MISINFORMATION and FAITH SCHOOL intersection was leaving a message, especially with FOLDEROL and TESTABLE on board.

  7. One too many obscure words for me, with ‘falderol’ going in without conviction. I always enjoy Don’s puzzles – even if (because?) I know I’m likely to come a cropper. Today I thought the NW was particularly strong, and the school and the bell ringers both raised a smile. Incidentally, I took 15d as a single, crypticish definition.

  8. Thanks, PeterO.

    Unlike Robi @6 I was slightly disappointed by the lack of a chance to extend my vocabulary, but I did enjoy this puzzle.

    The usual well-made clues with surfaces that actually make sense. Favourite was 21a, for an unexpected anagram well incorporated into the surface reading. I agree with George Clements that ‘very small’ in 7d represents V and that EIGHT is just ‘number’, though I hadn’t spotted this parsing myself.

  9. Thanks PeterO and Pasquale

    An enjoyable puzzle with a pleasant light touch and some excellent cluing.
    I too particularly liked the surprising anagram in 21a.

  10. Maybe I was just on the right wavelength today but I found this unusually straightforward by Pasquale’s standards. Some enjoyable stiff, especially FAITH SCHOOL. Last in was STOATS. A crossword to renew our faith in the Ximenean school. Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO

  12. You obviously get excited by Ximenean crosswords, beery hiker … no need to be embarrassed about that.

  13. Pasquale is fast becoming my favourite compiler. I feel like I’m getting to know him; which is how over the years I felt about Araucaria. And I like what I’m finding out. I’m ashamed to think now that my heart used to sink when I saw that it was a Pasquale. I couldn’t at first find my way in. And I still have that problem; just that now I enjoy the frustration and have more faith. Now that I look at this puzzle from the vantage point of having completed it it seems quite fair and straightforward but that was not my experience filling it in. For rather a long time I had only 14 across. But gradually others came. Finally found my way to the NW and then the NE. Many thanks Pasquale and PeterO. I agree with ulaca at 7 that 15d is a cryptic.

  14. Thanks PeterO and Pasquale
    A slow start, followed by a very slow finish in the NW. I was a bit thrown by (apparently) only one “pound” being removed from SLUMP to give SUMP – does “L” stand for plural as well as singular?
    I knew about bell ringers ringing “triples” and I found “doubles” as well, so I initially missed the correct meaning of “doubles” in this clue.
    I also tried to enter “pack it in” for 13d (yes, I know it doesn’t fit).

  15. I spent too much time trying to justify SLUM for 1D before the penny (or rather the pound) dropped. My COD was 9A for the smooth surface. Thanks setter & blogger!

  16. >muffin
    1d – I had the same thought about the number of pounds. Perhaps, “Depression when pound’s lost . . . .”?

    Being defeated by 7 & 25 in no way spoiled my enjoyment of this one.

  17. muffin @ 14 – L derived from ‘libra’ – also rendered as £ (the medieval scribe’s form) – can stand for singular or plural.

  19. Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    I enjoyed solving this and found more to smile at than usual from this setter. Like others, I admired the clever anagrams and surfaces at 22ac and 12dn and the good cluing throughout.

    No problem with 1dn: LSD = Pounds, shillings and pence.

    Thanks, Pasquale, for an entertaining crossword.

  20. ulaca @7 – folderol is not obscure to fans of Hatfield and the North, though their song was called fol de rol…

  21. beery hiker @ 20
    I was about to ask if that was Ian Dury, but fortunately I checked – I was thinking of “Kilburn and the High Roads” (easy mistake to make!)

  22. umpire46@16
    Oh dear, apostrophes again – but I think quite unnecessary. If the altcode make it through, consider £100, where the sign is just an L.

    George Clements @2 and Gervase @8
    Quite right over ‘small’ in 7D – it’s not the first time I have been tripped up there.

    ulaca @7 and xjp @13
    I do not think we are saying anything much different from each other; unlike, say, 6D, here we do not have two shades of meaning of the answer. I would still lean towards my interpretation, since ‘book’ by itself can mean LIBRETTO.

    sidey @4
    I would pick up on that little word “yet”; I would say that a belief or hypothesis which is in principle untestable does not qualify as a scientific theory.

  23. PeterO @22
    I would agree with your last point, and go further – a hypothesis that is IN PRINCIPLE untestable is NOT a scientific hypothesis.
    But there are quite a number of theories that are currently not testable IN PRACTICE (superstrings, for example) – I would accept that these could still be scientific theories.

  24. I enjoyed this puzzle but I also found it harder to get to grips with than a usual Don puzzle, particularly the NW. MILLINER was my LOI after MUSCLE.

  25. PeterO (@22(& ulaca@17) Point taken about the pound(s). I stand, or perhaps slump, corrected.
    I don’t personally object to the occasional apostrophe if it assists, but in this case, I agree my suggestion is stillborn.

  26. I think this was my favourite puzzle from “the Don” yet.

    It was amusing and beautifully clued. I too had very little in after the first pass but after that the fog steadily cleared and the solve was in the end fairly brisk.

    I personally loved the lack of the “signature” obscure words.

    Thanks to PeterO and Pasquale.

    P.S. I didn’t post yesterday as I was “daan saaf” in Cookham. I started the Gordius in the bar before dinner and finished it postprandially. However I didn’t trust myself to post after the vast quantities of the delicious local Rebellion Beer Co’s IPA. Luckily lots of other posters seemed to share my views but expressed them in a gentler way than I probably would have 😉

  27. beery hiker @ 20 – um, I’ve never heard of ‘Hatfield and the North’ – though I think I’ve seen that road sign somewhere!

    PeterO @ 22 – what tips me towards a single definition is that ‘show words inside’ doesn’t seem quite enough on its own. Also, it parses more elegantly as a cryptic definition IMO.

  28. ulaca @27 – I’m not surprised – they were always more obscure than the word folderol, though they did feature in (and give the title to) Jonathan Coe’s 70s-set novel “The Rotters’ Club”.
    The entire “lyric” of the “song” in question goes something like “fol de rol de rol dilly la day tarumpty bumpty la di da yah boo” (apologies for spelling) and it ends with a ringing telephone, which is answered with the chorus sung through the phone. Instantly memorable to the few of us who have heard it.
    Anyway that’s all way too far off topic, for which I apologise – looking forward to today’s Arachne.

  29. Just to go even further off topic it was coincidental that I was reading Barbara Tuchman on Lord Salisbury in 1895 before reading Beery Hiker’s comments. James 1 did “a swapsy” of Hatfield Palace for the current house of the First Earl of Salisbury. The “palace” was so nice that the First Earl ripped it down immediately and built the existing magnificent Hatfield House.

    Perhaps this might help with today’s Arachne. (I hope not or I’ll be censured!)

    Even I don’t remember the Hatfield and the North track!

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