Guardian Cryptic N° 26,213 by Picaroon

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26213.

It’s been a very good week at the Guardian, culminating with this one, which I found rather difficult – and like last week, I had an hour less that usual to solve it.

 

Across
1. No good making a mess of sweet food (6)
MUFFIN A subtraction: MUFFIN[g] (‘making a mess of’) without the G (‘no good’).
4. Old Testament sermoniser who’s with his God? (6)
ELIJAH I suppose this is a charade of ELI (the High Priest, also a sermoniser, referenced by ‘who’) plus JAH (Yahweh, ‘his God’).
9. Open government Australia’s brought back (4)
AJAR A reversal (‘brought back’) of RAJ (‘government’ of India under Britain, not Australia) plus A (‘Australia’).
10. Initiator of frenzy — maniac’s maddened with it (10)
FANATICISM An anagram (‘maddened’) of F (‘initator of Frenzy’) plus ‘maniacs’ plus ‘it’, with an extended definition.
11. Go without drug twice! Is it pot? (6)
TUREEN An envelope (‘without’) of EE (‘drug twice’) in TURN (‘go’).
12. Steady with the yoga — one’s in a funny position (2,4,2)
GO EASY ON An anagram (‘in a funny position’) of ‘yoga ones’.
13. 10, say, has fresh air (3,6)
SEA SHANTY An anagram (‘fresh’) of TEN (’10’) plus ‘say has’.
15. Tramp — one missing current English king (4)
TREK A charade of TR[amp] (indicated by ‘one’, so ‘tramp’ is not doing double duty) without AMP (‘current’) plus E (‘English’) plus K (‘king’).
16. Minnow from Conservative HQ (4)
CHUB A charade of C (‘Conservative’) plus HUB (‘HQ’).
17. I steer powerboat around Britain’s old Scottish ground (5,4)
IBROX PARK An envelope (‘around’) of BR (‘Britain’) in ‘I’ plus OX (‘steer’) plus P (‘power’) plus ARK (‘boat’), for Glasgow Rangers FC soccer ground, now known as Ibrox Stadium.
21. Romantic figures given increasingly sober, splendid clothes (8)
AMORETTI An envelope (‘clothes’) of MORE (‘increasingly’) plus TT (‘sober’) in AI (‘splendid’).
22. Like the rural upper classes getting back in hunt — pathetic! (6)
TWEEDY A charade of T (‘back in hunT‘) plus WEEDY (‘pathetic’).
24. Footballer in red (4-6)
LEFT-WINGER Double definition.
25. Clap, maybe, when welcoming university’s boss (4)
STUD An envelope (‘welcoming’) of U (‘university’) in STD (sexually transmitted disease, ‘clap, maybe’).
26. Queen single’s piercing beat is something that really gets into your head! (6)
TREPAN An envelope (‘piercing’) of R (Regina, ‘Queen’) plus EP (‘single’) in TAN (‘beat’).
27. One’s played head of police in crime film (6)
SPINET An envelope (‘in’) of P (‘head of Police’) in SIN (‘crime’) plus ET (‘film’).

Down
1. See 2
– See 2
2,1. Legal exemption from fee juror came to settle (5,7)
FORCE MAJEURE An anagram (‘to settle’) of ‘fee juror came’.
3. Trendy pop for European royalty (7)
INFANTA A charade of IN (‘trendy’) plus FANTA (‘pop’).
5. What could bore reading Twitter! (6)
LATHER A charade of LATHE (boring is not the first operation that comes to my mind for a lathe, but a gun barrel can be turned on one of a suitable design) plus R (‘reading’).
A LATHER or (perhaps) ‘twitter’ can be a state of agitation.
6. Athlete’s bits held up by this? (9)
JOCKSTRAP A charade of JOCK (‘athlete’) plus (”s’ for has) STRAP, a reversal of PARTS (‘bits’), with an extended definition.
7. Having pawned donkey, get cushion? (7)
HASSOCK ASS in HOCK (‘having pawned donkey’).
8. In central London, stop men going on the game (13)
KNIGHTSBRIDGE A charade of KNIGHTS (‘men’ in chess) plus BRIDGE (‘game’). I take it ‘stop’ refers to the Tube or bus.
14. Bit of cash gambler finally raised for flirty girl (9)
SOUBRETTE A charade of SOU (‘bit of cash’) plus BRETTE, which is BETTER (‘gambler’) with its last letter moved to second place (‘finally raised’).
16. Least macho punters here on trial (7)
CAMPEST A charade of CAM (the river running through Cambridge, ‘punters here’) plus PEST (‘trial’).
18. Unacceptable prune’s hard, protruding part (7)
OUTCROP A charade of OUT (‘unacceptable’) plus CROP (‘prune’).
19. Soldiers question the protection they have (7)
REDOUBT A charade of RE (‘soldiers’) plus DOUBT (‘question’).
20. America, burning, cheers up invader (6)
ATTILA A reversal (‘up’) of A (‘America’) plus LIT (‘burning’) plus TA (‘cheers’ – thank you).
23. Two characters, both Poles, in European city (5)
ESSEN A charade of ESS plus EN (‘two characters’ S and N, which are ‘both poles’).

37 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,213 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks, PeterO. I didn’t enjoy this as much as I normally do Picaroon’s puzzles but I did like HASSOCK and IBROX PARK!

    Thanks for explaining 5dn, which was my last one in – I got stuck on trying to make something of [b]LATHER and then lost interest.

    As far as I know, KNIGHTSBRIDGE is not particularly known for a bus stop… 😉

  2. Thanks for your blog, but I’m rather hoping there’s more to 26 – an EP isn’t a single by definition, or am I missing something? If I haven’t, it won’t be the only ‘hmmm…’ moment.

  3. Very crunchy – found it quite tough at times but greatly enjoyed the originality of the devices. 7d very nice.

    Got 26 from the def. Surely an EP is not a single – they normally had four tracks – two on each side – that’s what was “extended” about them.

    A reference to the académie tinpanallaise may be called for.

  5. Thanks Peter. I too struggled a bit with this, and it didn’t thrill me. I failed on INFANTA (going for Alfonso) so of course fouled up 13a. ELIJAH, LATHER, CHUB, TWEEDY and CAMPEST were among the guess-so answers that looked most likely: none of them came with that good feeling Yes!

  7. Sexually transmitted diseases, men on the game, athlete’s bits: must be the Guardian crossword.
    thanks for the blog Peter. I don’t know why Jock should clue athlete, and assumed that ‘jockstrap’ was just a rather weak cryptic definition.

  8. Thanks Peter. I agree that this was quite a difficult one: I thought I was going to get nowhere with it for a while.

    4a – Elijah was “with his God” because he was taken up to Heaven in a whirlwind (and a Chariot of Fire) in 2 Kings 2), which makes the clue an &lit.

    George C: JOCK is (mostly) American slang for someone, especially in school or college, who prefers sports to more intellectual pursuits. This usage is probably a shortening of JOCKSTRAP, which rather weakens the cryptic construction.

  10. We weren’t at all impressed by this and didn’t find it enjoyable. The use of words to denote their initial letter (Australia for a or reading for r, for example) seemed very lame and lazy. A chin certainly isn’t a minnow, either, or an ep a single.

  13. Re 26a

    It doesn’t do to be dogmatic on these matters – I know next to nothing about Queen (the rock group) but a reference to their Discography on wikipedia lists among the singles in 1977 “Good old-fashioned lover boy” as the group’s first EP!

    It would suggest that in compiling the charts, there were only singles charts and album charts, and EPs were included with singles for this purpose.

  14. Hard work, particularly the SW corner (failed miserably with some) but I thought IBROX PARK and KNIGHTSBRIDGE surfaces were great. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

  15. Thanks, PeterO

    I read this through a few times before anything popped out at me but, after a slow start, I progressed fairly quickly, with the SE quadrant the last to yield. A lot to like here, with quite a bit to irritate as well.

    I hadn’t spotted the cryptic reading of 6d, so I was reluctant to put it in until I had some crossers as it seemed to be just a very weak CD. It’s certainly a better clue than I gave it credit for, but too much of a write-in from the surface.

    Some nice clues and constructions here: I starred 4a, 11a, 17a, 22a, 25a, 7d, 16d.

    But there are certainly quibbles in addition to those already mentioned: ‘stop’ in 8d is presumably to avoid the despised ‘in [place]’ definition, but tube stations are not normally referred to as ‘stops’, and I don’t like ‘current’ = AMP or MUFFIN = ‘sweet food’ (just ‘food’ would suffice, as they don’t have to be sweet. It’s sad that the original English muffin has been elbowed out by the American fairy cake on steroids).

  16. Thanks Picaroon & PeterO. I too found this hard – soubrette, trepan and spinet were new for me, and I couldn’t parse sea shanty or jockstrap (like George I assumed it was just a cryptic definition.) I did like hassock!

  17. Really enjoyed this crossword, great for a Friday. Thanks for explaining ‘Amoretti’, which I couldn’t parse. I’m such a philistine, I just think of a biscuit!
    Should’Knightsbridge’ be clued as ‘West’ rather than ‘central’ London? It’s further west then the west end of Westminster, which is quite far west!

  18. Gervase: I nearly agreed with you on your reservations over “stop” (8dn) but then I thought it would be normal to say “Knightsbridge is the third stop after Piccadilly Circus on the Piccadilly Line”. I still can’t think of any situation where you could use a lathe to bore anything (LATHER – 5dn). Apart from that, clever stuff and quite tough.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  19. Very good end to an excellent week for setters and bloggers. Wasn’t too happy with CHUB or LATHER but still very enjoyable. Thought perhaps ELIJAH referred to Eli and the Rastafarian God Jah thus leading to ELIJAH (Muhammed). Probably too clever by half. Hope tomorrow maintains this week’s high standard

  20. Late start, really didn’t expect to finish but got there in the end. I would quibble too with the EP and the JOCK etc but there was very good stuff too like TWEEDY. Didn’t know AMORETTI and was convinced for ages that 2,1 would be Latin. LATHER last in, a good way to end.

  21. CHUB/minnow certainly did not look right to me, but as it was getting late, I left it to the discussion. A little digging shows that, while neither word defines a unique fish, and both are mainly applied to fish of the same family, the carps, there does not seem to be any overlap.Certainly in common usage, “chubby” hardly describes a minnow.

    cholecyst @18

    LATHE was one that looked so odd that I did look it up, and as I said in the blog it seems that lathes are used in gunsmithing. I have been hunting without success for a web site that encapsulates the information, but a gunsmith’s lathe holds the barrel in a single chuck which rotates (and makes the tool a lathe), while the drill bit does not rotate, but moves into the barrel. I think that with big guns, the bore may not be cut on a lathe, but one is used to true the bore.

  22. Without wishing to prolong the discussion too tediously, having dabbled in model engineering over a number of years, I can assure people that lathes are used for boring such things as small steam engine cylinders. There are special boring tools manufactured for this purpose, and the use of them permits large holes to be machined accurately with a relatively small lathe, when it would be impractical to use a drill, which would also not give a sufficiently smooth finish.

  23. This was in the end quite enjoyable when solved with (ahem..) ‘occasional’ use of the ‘Check’ button (given that there were a few fairly complex constructions), but without it I don’t know if I would have finished, and might have got quite cross!

    But it has definitely been an interesting assortment this week.

    david & linda @10 : I agree ‘A’ for Aus seems a bit mehh (although it is in Chambers), but ‘R’ for ‘reading’ (from “The Three R’s”) seems to be becoming a crossword ‘thing’ these days.

    Thanks for the useful blog PeterO.

  24. Count me as another who found this on the tricky side, but I got there in the end with LATHER my LOI when I finally interpreted the clue correctly.

    I didn’t have a problem with EP defined as a single for much the same reason as MRG@13. The first record I ever bought was the Five By Five EP by The Rolling Stones and I’m reasonably sure it was in the singles charts at the time. I agree with cholecyst@18 about his interpretation of “stop” for KNIGHTSBRIDGE. Finally, thanks to GC@22 for his detailed explanation of why a lathe can also be a boring tool.

  25. Found this difficult and lost interest after completing SW and NE corners. I found I was putting in too many entries from the crossings rather than parsing correctly.

    Agree with all the criticisms above BUT (as often happens) having read the excellent blog, my admiration for the setter has increased. I particularly liked ESSEN.

  26. Jockstrap was my COD. So apparent initially, but then becoming increasingly cryptic. I parsed it as JOCK’S (Athlete’s} TRAP (bits= PART held up). Thanks for the blog, PeterO. Thanks Picaroon!,

  27. Another one that got past the “editor”!

    Too many clues questioned by experienced solvers, myself included.

    Thanks to PeterO and Picaroon

  28. Completed but with real difficulty in the SW.

    Pretty solid clueing though: my only minor quibble is with use of initial letters “A”, for both America and Australia, “R” reading etc. I think it’s a non-playful device to be avoided where possible.

    Thanks everyone.

  29. Collins distinguishes European and N.American chub, mentioning minnow specifically in the latter category.
    Wiki supports this but the link is difficult to find in the tangle of detail.

  30. I enjoyed this puzzle and am bemused at the contrast between the reactions to a clue such as 6d & the free ride given to Arachne for the truly cringeworthy “ghostwrite” earlier in the week (in my opinion the worst clue in several years). I also agree with the contributors who say that an EP was always counted as a single – they generally played at 45rpm & the original name was “Extended Play Single”.

    My favourite clue today was 13a. Nobody else seems to have rated it.

  31. Well, engineerb, my Partner in Crosswords liked 13ac very much.
    However, your verdict about yesterday’s GHOSTWRITE is absolute not mine – I think that was a homophone with a truly Guardianesque smile.

    I also disagree with you (and Picaroon) about EP being a single.
    Perhaps, it’s just because Picaroon is of the cd generation, one not really familiar with the excitement of bands releasing their latest hits – on a single, indeed.

    As to this puzzle, I/we failed on HASSOCK and the connected TREK.
    I am a big fan of Picaroon but I didn’t find this puzzle his ‘magnificent octopus’ (as Baldrick would put it).
    But then, you can’t have it all all the time.

    Many thanks PeterO for the blog, and Picaroon for another good puzzle.

  33. Found this difficult but rewarding – and there was still plenty of it to discuss and finish in the pub. Last in was LATHER, and I must admit that that went in with more hope than expectation – I would never have seen it as a possible synonym of twitter without the crossers. We also found the SW corner quite tough until I finally saw TREPAN, and SOUBRETTE was new to me but easy enough to guess from the wordplay.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  34. Well, a single isn’t a single, is it? Unless it is one-sided!

    Although I can’t find any reference from a v quick Google, didn’t EP sometimes refer to tracks that were more than the ‘normal’ three-and-a-half minutes-odd for airplay?

    I once had ‘Lord, Lord, Lord’ and ‘Sing On’ by the Ken Colyer band, both numbers lasting 5 or 6 minutes, on each side of a piece of vinyl and I think that was referred to as an EP.

  35. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

    Wow … this one was tough … only able to finish it finally early this morning … and then still an effort to parse the last few.

    Thought that JOCKSTRAP was a scream after seeing the cryptic side of it – also liked AMORETTI and SEA SHANTY.

    TREPAN was the last one in … with a shrug about EP … but a thoroughly enjoyable challenge!

  36. Soubrette and amoretti were both now to me. Having two such non-English and fairly obscure words crossing is a bit out of order really.

  37. I thought this was a lot of fun in the end and I’m glad I kept banging away at it all week.

    When I picked it up again, again, today I had only four answers – GO EASY ON, TUREEN, and STUD (my favorite clue) in ink and JOCKSTRAP in pencil.

    I just kept going, though, and finally started cracking some more clues, to the point where the NW phrase and crossers and IBROX PARK were all that was left. On the latter, for a long time I thought it was a port (Webao Port, so very Scottish), when PARK occurred to me, and I saw that could be a Power boat… then I forced the “I” from the clue in, the checked B picked up an R and when I typed IBR into wikipedia’s search box I suddenly realized where the steer was going!

    At that point I was not about to give up and just worked and worked on the 2,1 clue until it finally yielded, making AJAR easy and MUFFIN my LOI.

    Which gave me a rather large sense of satisfaction!

    Thanks PeterO and Picaroon!

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