Guardian 26173 – Rufus

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A very quick solve for me, though I needed references to remind myself what 20a was on about. Apart from that, a characteristic Rufus to start the week and the month. Thanks to the setter.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
7. OUT OF FORM Not feeling well, so not at school (3,2,4)
Double definition
8. HEART Warmth gets right into the centre (5)
R in HEAT
9. IN THE DARK Not knowing how to mend a fuse? (2,3,4)
Not exactly a cyptic definition, more a definition + hint
10. DENSE Not very bright, but studies English (5)
DENS (studies) + E
12. FAIRLY Look knowing about it? Quite (6)
AIR (look) in FLY (knowing)
13. TONE-DEAF Unaware that one has the wrong key? (4-4)
Cryptic definition
14. BONDAGE Restraint shown when government security takes time (7)
BOND (Government security) + AGE (time)
17. REPRESS Make more records from master (7)
Records are (or were) pressed, so to make more is to RE-PRESS
20. PEMBROKE Welsh town where the leaves drop? (8)
The former county town of Pembrokeshire, and a Pembroke table is one with “drop leaves” – picture here
22. GOITRE Find it surrounded by blood — get a lump in the throat (6)
IT in GORE
24. ACRID Getting little credit in support is irritating (5)
CR in AID
25. WATERSIDE Abnormal tides wear the river bank (9)
(TIDES WEAR)*
26. USAGE States how old one is — it’s the custom (5)
US (United Stage) + AGE (how old one is)
27. MEASURE UP Be sufficiently competent to take dimensions (7,2)
Double definition
Down
1. GUINEA Did this fowl lay golden eggs? (6)
Another definition + hint, the fowl being the Guineafowl, and a reference to golden guineas
2. BOTHERED Hot companion is extra in bed (8)
OTHER in BED. The definition refers to the expression “hot and bothered”
3. OFF DAY Holiday when one is not at one’s best (3,3)
Double definition
4. PRO RATA Alternative offered in a part exchange is equitable (3,4)
OR in (A PART)*
5. DEFEND Guard appears fed up over tip (6)
Reverse of FED + END (tip)
6. TRESPASS It’s very French to overtake and an offence (8)
TRES (French for “very”) + PASS (overtake)
11. ANTE Payment before mountain ascent (4)
Reverse of [Mount] ETNA, and an ante is a “payment before” a hand of poker etc
15. OVERCAST Not very bright, so extra shy (8)
OVER (extra) + SHY ( = cast = throw)
16. GROW Develop argument after midnight (4)
Middle letter of niGht + ROW
18. REINSURE Maintain the same policy? (8)
Cryptic definition
19. BELATED Behind time, second mate dashed around (7)
[m]A[te] in BELTED (dashed, or rushed), though I don’t like “second mate” for “second letter of mate”
21. BRIDGE Game captain takes control here (6)
Double definition – card game, and where a ship’s captain is found
22. GREASE Agrees to make a film musical (6)
AGREES*
23. RADIUM Fresh air and mud has curative powers (6)
(AIR MUD)*

34 comments on “Guardian 26173 – Rufus”

  1. Thanks Andrew and Rufus

    I liked the two “Not so bright” definitions. I guessed that Pembroke referred to a table, and was able to find it through Google.

    I finished quickly, except for REPRESS – it took me some time to see this.

    “Not playing well” would be a better definition for OUT OF FORM, wouldn’t it?

    The belief that RADIUM has curative powers was sadly erroneous, and caused a lot of damage.

  3. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    I think the curative use of radium relates to cancer therapy via radiotherapy. Other isotopes have largely replaced radium although it is still infrequently used.

    Had to look up PEMBROKE tables; quite nice clue if you knew the connection.

  4. Notmuch to argue about, muffin! I completed the puzzle correctly without having parsed FAIRLY, PEMBROKE or BELATED, so thanks Andrew for those. I couldn’t see how AIR equated to “look” intil I remembered that the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo had an “independent air”!

  5. The Return of the Grid from Hell.

    Last year the FDA approved the use of radium in the treatment of bone metastasis so the belief in its powers is not entirely “erroneous”, although it did indeed cause a lot of “damage”. And ‘curative’ is nicely allusive.

    I don’t like ‘second mate’ either. Unfortunately in the Guardian in recent years this kind of thing has become commonplace and seems now to be acceptable to some setters and most solvers. I’ve never had a problem with the long-established ‘midnight’. Which is odd.

  6. A typical Rufus puzzle.

    My only hold-ups were the PEMBROKE/BELATED crossers. I guessed correctly that there was a type of table called a Pembroke, and I eventually parsed the latter to my satisfaction. Although I was pretty sure the answer had to be BELATED I was reluctant to put it in with such unhelpful checkers until I was completely happy with the wordplay. I had initally thought that the “second” in the clue referred to the letter B, and I agree with Andrew that “second mate” for the letter A isn’t the best of cluing, although this type of convention does get used in Guardian puzzles from time to time so I should remember to look out for it.

  8. Thanks to Andrew for the blog. I had never heard of a Pembroke table so I was totally baffled there.

    On 17a I think that records are pressed from a master copy which is a different meaning from Andrew’s underlined master.

  9. chas – you could be right about “master”. I was thinking that to repress someone is to master them; otherwise it’s just a straight definition.

  10. I’m another who didn’t know about PEMBROKE tables, but it was the only Welsh town that matched the crossers. FAIRLY was last in – I didn’t remember FLY=knowing either.

    Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.

  12. Another who had never beard of Pembroke tables. We live and learn. And I had DELAYED for BELATED, silly I know.

    I believe CDs are also pressed from a master.

  13. Thanks A & R. 20ac is a good example of why Rufus’s clues can be so difficult at times. If you didn’t already know what a Pembroke table was, you’d be pretty unlikely to get the answer without any crossing letters. I know Rufus is supposed to be easy and I always set myself a target to complete in 10 minutes without electronic aids. So far, I have never achieved this. I’m always left with one or two that take at least another 10 minutes.

  14. I agree cholecyst – most of a Rufus goes in in a flash, and you wonder if you’ve drifted into the Telegraph…but then there are always the last few, which are often surprisingly resistant.

    I’ve got used to “second mate” type devices…it just seems like any other convention now. But I can see that it is one stage clumsier than midnight.

    Hope all the early-Genesis people here got a frisson from “Trespass” : )

  15. Rufus is one of those that I find harder than most, due usually to cultural issues. He depends so much on cryptic definitions and double definitions–which only work if you share the same sets of definitions with him.

    Not only had I not heard of Pembroke tables, I’d barely heard of Pembroke. As soon as I find that I’m supposed to know towns in Wales, rivers in Shropshire, or boroughs of London, this Chicagoan knows he’s in trouble. Or opposition politicians, cricketers, or beloved television characters.

    I’d just love to write (and get the Grauniad to publish) a “Yank’s Revenge” cryptic, full of things like Topeka, Shenandoah, Willie Mays, and Newt Gingrich.

  16. It is really a dreadful grid, this one, and also I find myself agreeing re ‘second mate’ for A. It makes me want to say someone of Roger Rufus’s calibre should know better, but then, this IS The Guardian! You can set any old rot you like, I reckon! But, there’s always Tuesday, or other papers.

    A horrid puzzle for me, done in too quick a time.

  17. mrpenney : You have my sympathy. But we in the UK are expected to be familiar with abbreviations for US states and cities, New York boroughs, US presidents and their nicknames, US spellings of common UK English words – I could go on!

  18. I think second mAte is perfectly OK for “A” – no problems with that. As others have commented, not really any different from mid niGht, which is quite common in crosswords.

  19. I’d heard of Pembroke tables. In fact I have a very expensive dilapidated one in the garage. (It’s the patina and cracks you know.) Still thought it was an awful clue.

    Usual “no fun” Rufus for me. My own personal opinion of course.

    I have been solving cryptics for 40 years and have no problem with second mate for a. (In fact this was one of the few clues in this puzzle which I liked!) Limeni @14. Please explain to me why midnight for g is “clumsy” and indeed why second mate for a is one step clumsier???? These are not even “conventions” as when the clue is deconstructed, (which is what we actually do to all clues) they are actually clear statements and the opposite of “clumsy”!

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus

  20. Well Brendan, if you remember I was the one who said I *didn’t* have a problem with second mate.

    But if you really want an argument…when you “deconstruct the clue” ‘second mate’ does not really leave you with ‘A’ because it doesn’t say ‘second of mate’, but ‘second mate’. That seems lazy/clumsy/inelegant/not satisfying to me.

    “Argument after midnight” is more graceful for me because ‘midnight’ somehow does legitimately deliver a ‘G’.
    I suppose it’s a personal thing, and you either feel it or you don’t.

    And anyway, it’s only crosswords!

  21. …I suppose I should have pointed out that “midnight” is in real life a contraction of “middle OF the night”, so the ‘of’ is implied in that case.

  24. Thanks all
    This was easily the most difficult Rufus I have had the pleasure of solving.
    I did solve it eventually although ‘fairly’ and ‘belated’ remained unparsed until now.

  25. Limeni, no I didn’t want an argument, nor did I wish to offend you. It was a genuine question.

    For what it’s worth I don’t see midnight as more elegant than second mate. In fact just the opposite. If midnight is a contraction of “middle of the night” surely this renders “ni” following our usual cryptic clue rules and also ignoring the blank. Whereas second mate gives “a”.

    Your “it’s only crosswords” comment reminds me of Bill Shankly’s “life and death” comments on football. 🙂

    I think the biggest development of the cryptic in the last 20 years has been to present clear precise instructions on how to build the answer but disguise them as a smooth surface which misdirects the solver. Setters starting with Araucaria pioneered this and the likes of Paul, Tramp, Picaroon, Arachne etc continue it.

    I personally prefer this new style to the old “Oxford donnish” style begun with Torquemada and continued by Ximenes etc.

  26. Glad we’re still friends!

    I entirely agree with you that today’s crossword clueing style is greatly preferable to that of yesteryear.

    But to continue with “second mate” a little further ( 🙂 )…

    We are all happy with: ‘End of life’ = E
    but isn’t ‘End life’ = E a step too far?
    That seems equivalent to ‘second mate’ to me.

    ‘Second to mate’ is acceptable IMO, (although you lose the nautical surface).

    “Last to mate man orally” = EMAIL works for me (…OK Paul, you can use that one! 😛 )

  27. I liked “second mate” because it actually means something. I thought the whole point was that you had to think laterally. There shouldn’t be too many conventions – you can study law if you want that.

    Thank you Rufus and Andrew. This is the first for a while that I’ve finished on my own, even if BELATED was a little, er, belated until this morning.

  28. I didn’t parse BELATED either. There seems an endless list of verbs meaning “to move quickly”: race; tear; scorch; fly; career; belt; pelt; hurry; hasten; hie; tank; run; rush; bomb; zoom; etc. Given the range of possibilities offered by the crossings too, I gave up on the task of working through the possibilities.

    Thanks everyone. Ooh: big sum to solve (7X8)…

  29. I think the logic of “second mate” is meant to be “the part of mate that is second”, analagously to, say, “rural England” (= “the part of England that is rural”). This doesn’t mean I particularly like it either, though! It’s a major stretch and although it’s a pretty familiar technique I think it’s on the way out.

  33. Lovely to see an advanced debate handled so well, and with such politeness, by its contributors. You’re all wrong of course, because the cryptic grammar doesn’t work for any of those constructions with the possible exception of midnight, which really does mean mid-night (so, cryptically, fair enough for G). But I wouldn’t use it even so, and for you (once again – it happens pretty frequently in Grauniad ‘analysis’) to suggest that decent cryptic grammar somehow roots the best compilers in the past is idiotic as it is ridiculous. You want examples? Do the bloody Times on any day you may choose, or even The G on a good day, and you’ll see inventive, original and often amusing clueing that’s bang on for grammar.

    Yes, I know it’s a rant, so, sorry. You’re so sensitive too. I am a Xim-Ogre, probably.

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