Guardian 26,209 by Brendan

by

Welcome from a cold and grey Rochdale, the weather’s not much better. Brendan returns giving Rufus a week off.

Well it’s Irishman Brendan who does themes occasionally(!) and St Patrick’s Day, so even the most theme blind solver may spot a link or two here…

Across

9 Old verse penned by some rulers in parts of Ireland (9)
PROVINCES
O(ld) & V(erse) in PRINCES

10 Bird’s nest found in country area put back (5)
AERIE
EIRE (Ireland) & A all reversed, not a spelling that I’m familiar with.

11 Duke, libertine, sailor, MP and knight (5)
DRAKE
D(uke) & RAKE, and three defs

12 Rascals taking naps sleep badly (9)
SPALPEENS
[NAPS SLEEP]*

13 Left thrown in fight — Paddy’s harmless nonsense (7)
BLARNEY
L(eft) in BARNEY

14 Appointed as agent, as expressed in legal document (7)
DEPUTED
PUT in DEED

17,22 Legendary snake handler, in past, contrived a deception (5,7)
SAINT PATRICK
[IN PAST]* & A TRICK

19 So-called teacher of Irish trimmed back (3)
SIR
(i)RIS(h) reversed

20 Piece of jewellery one found in ancient site near Dublin (5)
TIARA
1 in TARA

21 Queen preserved, in a way — turned into mythological heroine (7)
DEIRDRE
E.R. & DRIED all reversed

22 See 17
SAINT PATRICK
See 17

24 Emerging forcefully from hot Irish capital in fall (9)
DEHISCENT
H(ot) & I(rish) in DESCENT

26 Limerick’s next for this English poet (5)
CLARE

I assume CLARE is next door to LIMERICK in Ireland for this poet

28 Incensed as Irish scoffed (5)
IRATE
IR(ish) & ATE

29 Poverty observed, going west — has food taken in (9)
NEEDINESS
DINES in SEEN reversed

Down

1 Staple food in second and last course reduced (4)
SPUD
S(econd) & PUD(ding)

2 Boy present for a musical performance (6)
SONATA
SON & AT & A

3 Remained dormant in Ireland after one’s left with Edward (10)
HIBERNATED
1 removed from HIBERN(i)A & TED (Edward)

4 Indication of agreement a company set up for playwright (6)
O’CASEY
YES A CO. all reversed.

5 18, for example, I malign (8)
ISLANDER
18 = IRISHMAN who is an ISLANDER, I SLANDER

6 Cheer up with piano that’s traditionally played in Ireland (4)
HARP
RAH rev & P(iano)

7 Teenager’s drunk nonalcoholic drink suitable for today? (5,3)
GREEN TEA
TEENAGER*

8 Irish tax that’s somewhat excessive (4)
CESS
hidden in exCESSive

13 Attached to foundation since being retired? (5)
BASED
AS (since) in BED (retired)

15 Piece of 1 in container — cooked it with a chop (6,4)
POTATO CHIP
1 =  SPUD, POT (container) & [IT A CHOP]*

16 Row after daughter had a Guinness, say (5)
DRANK
D(aughter) & RANK

18 For instance, Shaw creating non-U flower person (8)
IRISHMAN
IRIS (flower) & no U in H(u)MAN

19 Irish pubs feeling incomplete without barmaid (8)
SHEBEENS
HEBE is the goddess of young people, not sure quite how this translates as BARMAID, but it is HEBE in SENS(e)

22 Illicit stuff has power over young person (6)
POTEEN
P(ower) O(ver) TEEN

23 Statement Dorian Gray didn’t make put in picture (6)
IMAGED
Dorian Grey didn’t get old, only his portrait,  so he never said I’M AGED

24 Guardian, for example, hasn’t finished making house in Ireland (4)
DAIL
DAIL(y) as in newspaper

25 Traditional Irish dish in Wild West (4)
STEW
WEST*

27 Conversed in old language? Just the opposite (4)
ERSE
Hidden in convERSEd

*anagram

39 comments on “Guardian 26,209 by Brendan”

  2. Thanks flashling. Despite sparse knowledge of Ireland the excellent green/teen in 7d got me going with three other -eens all got without aids. Did have to look up the last one in though, CLARE, a poet I’ve never heard of. Learned a handy new word in 24a,too. Thanks Brendan.

  3. Thanks, flashling, for the blog.

    [In 3dn, Edward needs to be TED this time and your finger seems to have slipped in your parsing of 8dn. 😉 ]

    Hebe was cupbearer to the gods, so I suppose that makes her a kind of barmaid – a lovely idea, anyway!

    Lots of fun from Brendan today. Many thanks and a happy St Patrick’s Day to him.

  4. Hebe was the cupbearer to the gods so barmaid seems rather good. I think Deirdre was the mythological heroine rather than the queen. Very nice puzzle and thanks for the parsings I missed.

  5. Thanks, flashling. This was fun and those words that were a little obscure were all fairly clued.

    One little point: it’s TED not ED in HIBERNATED.

  7. Thanks Brendan & flashling! Nice theme and some lovely words here. I had to check DEHISCENT, CESS, HEBE and POTEEN in Chambers and spent a while trying different anarams before finding SPALPEENS.

  8. When we learned the Irish counties by rote in the 1960s Munster was Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. It was only recently when looking at a map of Ireland that I saw some method in the madness as it follows the coastline in clockwise sequence before deviating inland to Tipp the only county in Munster with no coastline.

    By dint of our local knowledge this was the easiest Brendan ever – finished before the last spoon of porridge. As befits St Patricks Day it is raining so we will go to see the parade in Skibbereen and get drenched.

    Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig díbh go léir.

  9. Thanks Brendan and flashling.
    Clever and fun. SPALPEENS was a new word for me (I must try to work it into conversation), and the spelling of AERIE was not how I would have spelled it, though it seems to be standard.
    One tiny quibble – I know it seems to be normal practice, but I don’t like answers like O’CASEY being given as (6) – I would prefer(1,5).

  14. Thanks flashling and Brendan

    Is the parsing of 23d correct? Isn’t it because he did NOT get old or am I missing something?

    An enjoyable St P Day puzzle. Iparticularly liked 13a,13d, and 19d.

    Needed to check the dictionary a few times.

  15. Lovely stuff for Paddy’s Day – just a shame that in about six clues, Brendan did not get anything Irish into the clue or the solution.

    Thanks to Flashing for the blog – just one more quibble – I think “not” is missing from the parsing of 23d

  16. An excellent celebratory puzzle. Brendan did extremely well to get so many Irish references into either the clues or the answers. SPALPEENS was new to me, DEHISCENT needed to be teased out from the wordplay, and CLARE was my LOI.

  17. BillyK @12: CESS is an old word for tax, now used only in Ireland, Scotland and India. It is the root of ASSESSMENT. Most commonly heard in the imprecation “Bad cess to you!”

    Perfect puzzle as ever from Brendan.

  18. re 23a

    Thanks flashling for correcting the blog – I imagine the clue is also meant to evoke the way his aging only appears in his picture.

  19. Yes Tupu, I had missed the n’t bit, one of the perils of doing a blog whilst actually busy at work….

  20. Enjoyable puzzle, and happy St Patrick’s day to all my friends who are Irish or of Irish descent.

  21. Happy St Patrick’s Day and thank you to Brendan for an excellent themed puzzle – my only hold up was my inability to remember how to spell Deirdre as both spalpeens and dehiscent were lurking in the back of my memory!

    Thanks to busy Flashling too.

  22. Thanks to Brendan & flashling and Happy St Patrick’s Day.

    Learned a bit more about Ireland today – I do like my Guinness!

  23. This was entertaining and educational, so a good start to the week. DEHISCENT was the only unfamiliar word, though the DEIRDRE mythology was new to me, I only knew SPALPEEN from previous crosswords, I think I must have seen CESS = tax before. I was briefly thrown by POTEEN as I knew the Gaelic spelling POITIN. Last in was HIBERNATED. All I need now is an excuse to mention AERIE Faerie Nonsense…

    Thanks to Brendan and flashling

  24. CESS was last in and pure guesswork. Thought I was dealing with a double definition and had never heard the word. DEHISCENT new too but at least I knew where I was going with that one. IRISHMAN my favourite for its play on Pygmalion.

  25. Thanks to flashling for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    It took me a little while to spot the theme. I had already seen google’s front page and I was thinking to myself that there seemed to be a lot of Irish in the clues – and some answers. Eventually the penny dropped 🙁

  26. Technically a good puzzle, although personally St. Patrick’s Day bores the arse off me. But that’s in London, with imbeciles wearing giant hats, and pretending they’re Irish (not unlike a lot of pubs). It’s all one big Guinness ad. I’m sure it’s jolly nice in Ireland, though.

  29. Yes, a non-Rufusian treat of a Monday.

    A very enjoyable puzzle from Brendan, as expected.

    DEHISCENT and SPALPEENS were new to me but were both gettable from the wordplay.

    Hebe is listed in the SOED as

    1 A young woman resembling Hebe; a waitress. e17.

    I must agree with other posters re St Patrick’s Day. I can think of very few places that would be more horrific than an “Irish Pub” in Germany on “Paddy’s Day”. However the same would apply to any English pub on New Year’s Eve!

    Thanks to flashling and Brendan

  30. Thanks flashing for the blog and Brendan for a lovely oirish puzzle
    AERIE and SPALPEENS were new to me
    Failed to parse IRISHMAN

  31. We started early in Kells Irish Pub in Portland on Saturday morning. Anguish and joy were experienced and, to use the Irish passive, “drink was taken”. But mostly I agree about how St. Patrick’s Day is milked.

  32. It may be Brendan but it’s still Monday for the anti -Rufus commentariat.

    Managed to get most of this but some clues would have remained unsolved in a month of St Patrick’s days – CESS and AERIE, for example.

    Thought the clue for O’CASEY should have had an apostrophe, like a recent clue for O’SHEA.

  34. Three Brendans in one day? Thanks B(TO) for dropping by, funny how April 23rd passes by with barely a murmur.

  35. Once more an excellent crossword from the incomparable Brendan.

    Where Jovis (@32) was puzzled by CESS and AERIE, I must say that these were my first ins.
    I agree with him/her that O’CASEY has perhaps a bit of an unfair enumeration – although, we know they do it like that. It’s just the editor’s choice and in the end justifiable.

    Brendan (NTO), I agree that the unfamiliar DEHISCENT was 100% clear from the wordplay but I am not so sure about SPALPEENS. It could just as easily have been SLAPPEENS if you don’t know the word (as was the case for us).

    All in all, we thought this was sheer delight.

    Many thanks, flashling, for the blog.
    (and also for the one at another place)

  36. Thanks, Brendan and Flashling.

    Just come to the puzzle and what a way to end the day – pure fun all round.

    When I saw your name, I hoped for an Irish theme and certainly wasn’t disappointed.
    SPALPEENS rang a faint bell and has been added to my vocabulary to surprise a niece from Co. Cork.

    Giovanna xx

  37. SvdH@35

    You surprise me. EYRIE, no problem. AERIE, never come across it.

    But that’s one of the reasons I do crosswords…

  38. Jovis, as a non-Brit I approach crosswords essentially from a constructional point of view.
    For that reason I saw AERIE right away, with the appropriate country being part of it. I was also quite sure that I saw this spelling before (there’s a lot that goes into my head), so there was my first entry.
    My English partner in crosswords had far more trouble with it, just like you she had never come across this word.
    According to dictionaries it seems to be an American word for eyrie. With hindsight, I think Brendan should have indicated that.

  39. Thanks Brendan and flashling

    A pleasant surprise with a well-crafted, themed challenge on a Monday.

    A few new learnings – the two literary folk – O’CASEY and CLARE along with DEHISCENT.

    Vaguely knew of DEIRDRE and interesting to re-read the legend of her. Had seen most of the Irish words such as POTEEN, SPALPEEN, SHEBEEN, CESS, etc – but only in other crosswords!

    Assumed that the three definitions in 11a all referred to Sir Francis DRAKE.

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