Guardian Cryptic N° 26,229 by Logodaedalus

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26229.

Lashings of envelopes, the odd oddity, but basically straightforward.

 

Across
1. Careless chums must turn to run (8)
SLAPDASH A charade of SLAP, a reversal (‘must turn’) of PALS (‘chums’) plus DASH (‘run’).
5. Cut nearly half a chop to char (6)
SCORCH A charade of SCOR[e] (‘cut nearly’, a little loose, I feel; or perhaps ‘nearly’ is doing double duty) plus CH (‘half a CHop’; the ‘a’ is superfluous to the wordplay).
9. Wit requires trick to take in reporters (8)
COMEDIAN An envelope (‘to take in’) of MEDIA (‘reporters’) in CON (‘trick’).
10. Protester topped bowman (6)
ARCHER A subtraction: [m]ARCHER (‘protester’) minus its first letter (‘topped’).
11. Fake sterling for this style of hair? (8)
RINGLETS An anagram (‘fake’) of ‘sterling’.
12. Young lady with a large prayer book (6)
MISSAL A charade of MISS (‘young lady’) plus ‘a’ plus L (‘large’).
14. Find the French among mixed bathers, gasping (10)
BREATHLESS An envelope (‘among’) of LES (‘the French’) in BREATHS, an anagram (‘mixed’) of ‘bathers’.
18. Visited, if Quentin drops in, having got released to go outside (10)
FREQUENTED An envelope (‘to go outside’) of QUENT[in] ‘drops in’ in FREED (‘released’).
22. Naughty boy absorbs part of the Bible (6)
EROTIC An envelope (‘absorbs’) of OT (Old Testament, ‘part of the Bible’) in ERIC (‘boy’).
23. Misery does not start when you get the sack (8)
EJECTION A subtraction: [d]EJECTION (‘misery’) without its first letter (‘does not start’).
24. Loving scoundrel hiding money (6)
DOTING An envelope (‘hiding’) of TIN (‘money’) in DOG (‘scoundrel’).
25. Perception is sure to break up a rowing team (8)
EYESIGHT An envelope (‘to break up’) of YES (‘sure’) in EIGHT (‘a rowing team’).
26. Looking more embarrassed, when going to and fro (6)
REDDER A palindrome.
27. Saved vehicle left outside (8)
RECYCLED An envelope (‘outside’) of CYCLE (‘vehicle’) in RED (‘left’).

Down
1. Safe after a botched rescue (6)
SECURE An anagram (‘botched’) of ‘rescue’.
2. Most of this nut is needed by a large fish (6)
ALMOND An unusual construction, with wordplay that does not specify the entire answer, but surely gives enough to identify it: ALMON[d] (‘most of this nut’) is needed to form [s]ALMON (‘a large fish’).
3. Benefit keeps two small daughters in a piece of cake (6)
DODDLE An envelope (‘keeps … in’) of DD (‘two small daughters’) in DOLE (‘benefit’).
4. Just a little stuff to make music about (10)
SMATTERING An envelope (‘about’) of MATTER (‘stuff’) in SING (‘to make music’).
6. Coastal road spreads light on a broken chin, breaking one’s heart (8)
CORNICHE An envelope (‘breaking’) of NICH, an anagram (‘broken’) of ‘chin’ in CORE (‘one’s heart’). That leaves ‘spreads light’ (and ‘one’s’ for that matter) with no purpose in life. Am I missing something?
Perhaps ‘light’ just refers to the place for the answer in the grid?
7. See her turning up, since he would like warmed-up food (8)
REHASHED A charade of REH, a reversal (‘turning up’, in a down light) of ‘her’ plus ‘as’ plus HE’D (‘he would’).
8. Injure without being gentle (8)
HARMLESS A charade of HARM (‘injure’) plus LESS (‘without’).
13. Jesse, the robber, and William, the traitor, who wrote Ulysses (5,5)
JAMES JOYCE References to ‘Jesse’ JAMES (‘the robber’ of the Wild West) and ‘William’ JOYCE (‘the traitor’, who broadcast Nazi propaganda during World War II, and was nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw).
15. Wrongdoer to propose concealing denouement (8)
OFFENDER An envelope (‘concealing’) of END (‘denouement’) in OFFER (‘propose’).
16. Animal about to trot when climbing found an answer (8)
RETORTED A reversal (‘when climbing’) of an envelope (‘about’) of ‘trot’ in DEER (‘animal’).
17. Just the house for a formal interview (8)
AUDIENCE Double definition – ‘house’ in the theatrical sense.
19. Playwright has agreement with a company that’s turned around (6)
O’CASEY A reversal (‘that’s turned around’) of YES (‘agreement’) plus ‘a’ plus CO (‘company’).
20. Poet was right to interrupt a wake (6)
VIRGIL An envelope (‘to interrupt’) of R (‘right’) in VIGIL (‘a wake’).
21. Agreed to be seen in a football team from Manchester (6)
UNITED Double definition.

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,229 by Logodaedalus”

  1. Thanks, PeterO. Like Gordius on an off day.

    Four puzzles for the price of one, with plenty of free gifts – extraneous words. Normally, he gets away with it because the clues are rhyming couplets, though not this time. (Surely, though, there must be something going on with the light in CORNICHE, but I can’t see it any more than you.)

    Only a few weeks ago, Brendan gave us: Indication of agreement a company set up for playwright. 🙁

  2. Turgid puzzle. Loose clueing. Unhelpful four for the price of one grid. You can take it that I didn’t like it that much.

  3. Thanks PeterO.

    Though I cannot really see why, I found this a little harder than the recent offering from L.

    CORNICHE Does the surface make sense? The only scenario I could discern was someone had an accident on a coastal road, resulting in a broken chin. I found it hard to think of another way of connecting CORNICHE and “broken …heart”? A clue that should have been rewritten, I think.

  4. This one had a feeling of ‘seen it before’ which made most of the clues a write in and is probably part of what K’s D didn’t like it. I didn’t exactly dislike it but it wasn’t the most entertaining puzzle I’ve solved this morning. Thanks to setter and blogger

  6. “Most of this nut is needed by a large fish (6)” caused me problems.

    Having all the check letters, Almond immediately spang to mind, but I dismissed this.

    I thought the solution would be:
    most of nut=Almon + “a”, giving Almona a large fish.

    A fish I had not heard of and in fact does not exist!

  7. It took me a while to adjust to the style of this puzzle, so I was looking for more difficulty than was there.
    Not the greatest of puzzles in my opinion, but a successful completion at least after my carelessness yesterday.

  8. I agree with Kathryn’s Dad@2 about the grid – famously useless for solvers, easy for compilers. I thought the puzzle a walk-through, too. I wonder, though, why I’m prepared to shrug my shoulders and forgive Logodaedlus and yet every time I see the name Rufus on a Monday for puzzles that are no worse than this one I shake my head in disbelief that this can be happening again.

    Blind prejudice is such an unattractive character trait…

  11. Re 19d O’CASEY, I would have added that this refers to Sean, probably best known for “Juno and the Paycock”.

  12. Fairly straightforward almost suitable for a Quiptic.

    Thanks PeterO; I found myself writing in a lot of the answers from the definitions, UNITED and JAMES JOYCE being two particularly glaring examples.

    What the clue for CORNICHE is all about is anyone’s guess.

  13. P.S. CORNICHE in Collins says ‘see cornice,’ which is defined as ‘2.an overhanging ledge of snow formed by the wind on the edge of a mountain ridge, cliff, or corrie.’ I suppose that would ‘spread light.’

  14. peterjohn @ 9

    Now corrected.

    peterjohn @ 10

    When I can see no other use for a word, I will include it in the definition (as, for example, the ‘a’ in 3D now I have got it right), but the general clue format “(Wordplay) to (definition)” is fairly common, with ‘to’ being interpreted as “leads to”, say. So I would definitely not include ‘to’ in the definition.

    peterjohn @ 11

    Point taken, and I will keep it in mind; but to some extent it is a matter of style. Where I feel that a reference is obscure or otherwise notable, I will expand on it or at least include a hyperlink, but otherwise I think readers of the blog are just as capable as I am to go to Wikipedia or an online dictionary if needed.

    GSOL @ 5

    I think you are new to the blog, or at least my corner of it, so welcome. My idea about ‘spreads light’ was an afterthought prompted by my use of “light” a couple of clues down. That Logodaedalus uses ‘spreads’ rather than ‘sheds’ seems to me to give weight to my suggestion, that the clue might be paraphrased as:

    To form a word meaning “coastal road”, put into the grid slot an anagram of “chin” surrounded by a word meaning “heart”.

    Either way, I agree with Dave Ellison @ 3 that it does not make for much of a surface.

  15. I don’t like to be too negative, but I couldn’t find much to enjoy here, nor was there much thought required. Last in was VIRGIL because I was thinking of English poets. I can’t see anything cryptic about JAMES JOYCE. NeilW @1 – speaking of Gordius, he hasn’t been seen for a couple of months now, so there must be more gaps than usual in the schedule…

  16. Thanks PeterO. I liked this, as I did the previous Logodaedalus. The style is definitely old fashioned, and I can quite understand why it does not appeal to everyone. I enjoy the wordiness as an occasional break from the more common terse constructions. I would not want to see this every day.

    I have to agree that the surface reading of 6dn does not make any sense at all. I took ‘spreads light on’ just to be an instruction to the solver, used in the sense of ‘explains’ – ‘gives’ is another word frequently used in this sense.

  17. Thanks PeterO and Logodaedalus
    I entered ALMOND without being happy about it, and almost didn’t enter UNITED as I couldn’t believe it was that easy (James Joyce also barely cryptic).
    I complained last time O’Casey appeared about enumerating it as (5) rather than (1,4), so I won’t repeat that now (oh………I just did; let it stand).
    Saving grace – late start, and gardening to do, so at least it was over quickly.

  18. Google “corniche light”. Seems to offer possibilities.
    Not the only irritation though.

  19. Neil (ftp) @18
    Thanks for digging that one out. It could be that that was Logodaedalus’ intention, but I would still cry foul. I can find no dictionary that connects corniche – or cornice – with light, and the Google references would seem to indicate just a light which fits in (or under) a cornice, which would make a very stretched allusion for a crossword. Of course, as an overhang, a cornice is more likely to obscure light than spread it.

    My capcha gives the product forty-two, but I do not think this is the answer to anything, yet alone everything!

  20. Thanks, Muffin@17. You saved me from doing it (again). (Tho’ I imagine you mean (6) and (1,5)!)

    I spent a fair time trying to find an ‘H’ to fit in to ‘CORNICE’, since cornice lighting seems to be pretty widely available. But that would probably have made things worse, because it would have left extraneous chins and lord knows what else. And why ‘a broken chin’ rather than just ‘broken chin’?

    13d and 21d didn’t really have a place in a cryptic crossword.

    I seem to recall having enjoyed Logodaedalus’s offerings in the past. I have off-days, so I guess it’s churlish to begrudge someone else having one too . . .

    Thanks PeterO and Logodaedalus

  21. AdamH @20
    Correct – I blame a tiring day!
    Seriously, I don’t see the logic. The O’ is short for a separate word (as in “o’clock”), so should surely be indicated as such?
    Anyway, convention seems to be otherwise.

  22. Indeed, we’re stuck with it, muffin. It popped up yesterday, in “What’ll I Do” (6,1,2).

    Then again, it makes us think a bit harder, and we usually get there in the end. . .

  23. To Peter O Thank you for the welcome. Yes I am new in contributing to the blog but do enjoy reading all the comments after completing a puzzle . Today I am largely in agreement with the general sense of an unsatisfactory puzzle but, having also solved today s Toughie which I absolutely hated I read that blog and found that everybody else loved it…ah well!

  24. I wonder whether the ‘cut nearly’ in 5a is SCOR[n] rather than SCOR[e]? And, indeed, whether it matters . . .

  25. I always try to be on the setter’s side. I am convinced that every single one of them wants to entertain us, including Logodaedalus.
    After a long spell of absence, this setter gave us just a few weeks ago an, in my and others’ opinion, very disappointing puzzle – only saved by the rhyming couplets as NeilW @1 makes perfectly clear.

    Thus far everything has already been said, I guess.
    I can even understand PeeDee liking this puzzle because of its old-fashionedness.
    The crossword had indeed an old-fashioned I’ve-seen-it-all-before feeling to it. Just like crypticsue @4 told us.
    Perhaps, the editor thinks a puzzle like this is needed to satisfy those solvers who long for “a good old crossword”.
    That would be fair enough but time has moved on.

    There is a lot that Logodaedalus can be criticised for but I won’t do that here. That said, a few years ago I would have fully analysed a crossword like this in this very place.
    While trying not to be too negative, I agree with AdamH @20 about clues like 13d and to a lesser extent 21d.
    Some nice ideas (like the vehicle left outside in 27 ac) but all in all too easy, loose and unadventurous to my taste.

    I thought, in 11ac Logodaedalus missed an opportunity by not using “Pound” as the anagram indicator (see Chambers: Pound#3, meaning 1 and 2).

    Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  26. I hate to say it but where were the surfaces? This just felt like a beginner’s first run. L is surely embarrassed by this.

  28. Apart from the frankly bizarre clues for ALMOND and CORNICHE this felt like a Quiptic standard puzzle. However, I do the puzzles online for free so I won’t complain too much.

  29. Since most of us are grumbling, I will add mine: As 13d was barely cryptic and my first in, I was hoping it was merely an anchor for a themed puzzle on the works of one of my favorite authors – or at least, with 19d, on Irish writers. All I got instead was 25ac, something which Joyce had increasingly less of as he aged. As for Sil’s lovely comment @ 25 re: “Pound,” that would just have made me hope for a themed puzzle on the early Modernists. 🙂

    Thanks to PeterO, and to Logodaedalus for the fodder. (And don’t get me started on Daedalus/Dedalus!)

  30. I’d viewed 2d as ‘a’ ‘l’arge fish, with the fish being a ‘mon’k fish. How the ‘d’is arrived at, I’ve no idea, but nor is it for s’almon’.

  31. muffin and AdamH

    I can’t agree about O’Casey. It’s my belief that you’re wrong. And, by the way, the o in o’clock is short for two separate words.

    How many words are there in the above?

    (PS. NB. I avoided BTW.)

  32. I tried to think of an alternative to 6d’s clue. Conch was obviously in there, and useful with coastal road, so something like:

    “Raging ire – smashed conch on coastal road”

    though I don’t like the “on”

  33. Thanks all
    A very mixed bag most of these clues were below standard.
    I did not write in ‘harmless’because I did not like less = without and I definitely do not accept harmless = gentle. I have experienced hundreds of harmless tackles playing rugby, very few were gentle!

  34. Yes: re CORNICHE I can only think “spreads light” means uses the grid space, and “one’s” merely means the CORE with which you start. Thanks for the pointers peeps, I’d near given up on that.

    And Sil: Pound Sterling would have indeed been a beauty. I expect we’ll see it ere long now!

    A decent enough solve over a pint. (Just the one for this).

    Many thanks all.

  35. Thanks Logodaedalus and PeterO. I was happy to complete this, which is more than I could manage for the “Rufus” On Monday.

  36. This seemed to be a tricky one until half way through the across clues when I realised I was looking for something that wasn’t there!

    So into “Rufus” mode and it became a write in.

    For some reason I was held up by 17D. A typical Rufus DD

    13D is another contender for the easiest clue ever published and also doesn’t seem to be cryptic.

    I have a horrible feeling that our regular setters are starting to boycott the Grauniad. Any other explanations for the rash of newbies and oldies? (It’s certainly not down to merit!)

    Thanks to PeterO abd Logo…

  37. Nightjar@35

    My sentiments word for word. Can’t see what’s wrong with an easier puzzle now and again. Many thanks to both blogger and setter.

    LD, i can’t remember the technical term for that funny device that sometimes runs round the outside of crosswords but a setter used it a few weeks ago and it is apposite again today – something aling the lines of ” nil carborundum bastardi” or words to that effect

  39. BRENDAN@36
    “I have a horrible feeling that our regular setters are starting to boycott the Grauniad. Any other explanations for the rash of newbies and oldies? (It’s certainly not down to merit!)”
    Could this be at least partially explained by the absence of regular contributions from a 90-year old?
    Not all the newer setters areweak, I always enjoy Philistine.

  40. RCW @39 – well said. I only mentioned Gordius’s absence @15 because I haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere – he has been averaging nearly two a month for a number of years, so the much missed Araucaria is not the only one causing a gap to fill. Bonxie also seems to have disappeared since October, but more occasional setters are generally not newsworthy. On the whole, I think the newer setters more than hold their own in terms of quality – if Philistine counts as newer then so do Picaroon, Tramp and Qaos.

  41. Hi RC,

    I’m certainly not referring to Philistine who actually first appeared on my birthday in May 2011. He is actually one of my favourites. He and Tramp (also a favourite of mine appeared in that year.) We had the first Qaos in January 2012 who is a great entertainer.

    I am referring to the last 6 months when certain golden oldies have been resurrected and some new setters blooded.

    You may be right in your surmise that this is an attempt to fill the huge gap left by the big “A”. The last few days have offered “slim pickings” though.

  42. We had 3 new setters last year (not counting Quiptics) – Maskarade, Nutmeg and Otterden. Last time there were 3 new ones in a year was 2006, when we lost Bunthorne and Janus and gained Brendan, Arachne and Puck. If the new crop do as well as those three there’ll be plenty to enjoy – I don’t think we should read too much into any single week, and there’s a Puck today so things are looking up…

  43. I figured out the missing part of the nut/fish clue! The “is” is a clue for the letter “S”, maybe? Like many clues here, a great idea not fully worked through I think. Much as I was frustrated like many by some aspects of this puzzle, the late, great Monkey Puzzler used to leave me with many clues/answers where I would say to myself, “ok, I can see how all that sort of goes together, but I can’t really see how to logically break it down and parse it”.

    Too many oddly easy “clues” as mentioned. UNITED and JAMES JOYCE are write-ins from the definitions. But one thing the Grauniad does give us for free is a variety of styles. Oh and I forgot to mention on the appropriate blog I solved the entire Monday Rufus this week for the second time in my life and in a month.

    I like the variety, if not some of the specific examples of it.

    Regarding surfaces, have they always had to “make sense”? I thought that was just an “extra”?

    Thanks PeterO for the blog and Logodaedalus for the rather quaint but interesting puzzle.

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