Guardian Cryptic N° 26,236 by Gordius

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26236.

It would hardly be a Gordius puzzle without some quibbles, but in my book they are minor this time out.

 

Across
7. Time a pint’s poured out — can’t wait (9)
IMPATIENT An anagram (‘poured out’) of ‘time a pint’. The grammar of the definition is suspect, but the surface makes up for it.
8. Crooked, like a botanical garden (5)
ASKEW A charade of AS (like’) plus KEW (‘a botanical garden’ outside London)
9. Beggar‘s apology? (9)
MENDICANT I take it that the apology is MEND I CAN’T.
10. Poet in transport service (5)
BURNS An envelope (‘in’) of RN (Royal Navy, ‘service’) in BUS (‘transport’).
12. Keep alien in the wet (6)
RETAIN An envelope (‘in’) of ET (‘alien’) in RAIN (‘the wet’).
13. Religious worker holds arduous job (8)
ANCHORET An envelope (‘holds’) of CHORE (‘arduous job’) in ANT (‘worker’). ANCHORET is a variant of anchorite, a hermit.
16. Schoolgirl captures rebel (7)
ACADEMY An envelope (‘captures’) of CADE (‘rebel’) in AMY (‘girl’).
19. Iberian prince angered in revolt (7)
GRANDEE An anagram (‘in revolt’) of ‘angered’.
22. Transfer city across Germany (4,4)
HAND OVER An envelope (‘across’) of D (‘Germany’, IVR) in HANOVER (‘city’). I caused myself some difficulty here by misreading the initial H as an M.
25. Some can go crazy over a drink (6)
COGNAC A hidden (‘some’) reversal (‘over’) in ‘CAN GO Crazy’
27. Contamination isn’t common (5)
TAINT A contraction of IT AIN’T (‘ISN’T COMMON’).
28. Tourer man crashed over the line (9)
NUMERATOR An anagram (‘crashed’) of ‘tourer man’, with an allusive definition.
29. Fascinate when about to inflict injury (5)
CHARM A charade of C (circa, ‘about’) plus HARM (‘inflict injury’).
30. It’s seen to be off (4,5)
BLUE PETER Cryptic definition: a flag indicating that a ship is ready to sail.

Down
1. Physicist had been a member before (6)
AMPERE A charade of ‘a’ plus MP (‘member’ of Parliament) plus ERE (‘before’).
2. Domestic had a mind to cook (8)
HANDMAID An anagram (‘to cook’) of ‘had a mind’.
3. Acid murderer turned in (6)
NIACIN A charade of NIAC, a reversal (‘turned’) of CAIN (‘murderer’ of Abel, in Genesis 4) plus ‘in’. NIACIN is vitamin B3, or nicotinic acid.
4. Liar kept one in fruit (7)
ANANIAS An envelope (‘kept’) of I (‘one’) in ANANAS (‘fruit’, the pineapple and other plants of the genus). One of the characters Ananias in the New Testament (Acts 5) was struck dead for lying.
5. Pretender takes up work without charges (6)
PSEUDO A reversal (‘taken up’, in a down light) of an envelope (‘without’) of DUES (‘charges’) in OP (‘work’).
6. Session can see improvement (6)
SEANCE An anagram (‘improvement’) of ‘can see’.
11. Disfigurement at church is seldom found (4)
SCAR A subtraction: SCAR[ce] (‘seldom found’) without CE (‘church’) – but presented the other way round.
14. Way without a perch (3)
ROD A subtraction: RO[a]D (‘way’) ‘without a’. A rod, pole, or perch is a length of 5 1/2 yards.
15. Getting to Spain on foot (3)
TOE A charade of ‘to’ plus E (‘Spain’, IVR).
16. Residue, perhaps, of wood (3)
ASH Double definition.
17. Cut grass? (3)
AWN An AWN, a bristle-like structure, is a prominent feature of some grasses (barley, for example); and [l]AWN (‘grass’) is cut. A nice idea that I do not think quite works.
18. Starts to make off very easily? (4)
MOVE First letters (‘starts’) of ‘Make Off Vesy Easily’ with an extended definition.
20. Some of M25, now and then? (2-2,4)
NO-GO AREA Cryptic (but perhaps heartfelt) definition.
21. Distress with time and money abroad (7)
TROUBLE A charade of T (‘time’) plus ROUBLE (‘money abroad’).
23. A way to unknown lack of care (6)
APATHY A charade of ‘a’ plus PATH (‘way’) plus Y (‘unknown’).
24. Numerical structure heard in church office (6)
DENARY A homophone (‘heard’) of DEANERY (‘church office’).
25. Smart without a chopper (6)
CLEVER A subtraction: CLE[a]VER (‘chopper’) ‘without a’ (again).
26. Imperfect octave gets the bird (6)
AVOCET An anagram (‘imperfect’) of ‘octave’.

31 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,236 by Gordius”

  1. Thanks PeterO. Typical Gordius except that, while we’re used to his puzzles being salted with a little religion, on this occasion the top seems to have come off the shaker! [I don’t think it’s supposed to be a theme, though! 🙂 ]

    Can’t see how PSEUDO equals a pretender.

  2. 7ac IMPATIENT, 5dn PSEUDO and 24dn DENARY are adjectives not clued as such.

    27ac indicates AINT and 18dn MOVES. In 30ac, BLUE PETER there’s something not right about ‘to be off’.

    Gordius’s style often strikes me as like Araucaria not at his best. This one wasn’t difficult though, in spite of the unfriendly grid.

  3. Thanks Gordius and PeterO
    After a large number of write-ins, I thought that this might be disappointingly easy. Fortunately the “non-write-ins” proved sufficiently thought-provoking to make up.
    I am prepared to put up with most of the loosenesses for the sake of the surfaces, but I really don’t think MOVE works – I agree with rhotician that MOVES is defined.
    However, I think TAINT is OK – it’s common for “it isn’t” or IT AIN’T (as in the intellectual discussion “TIS!” “TAINT!” TIS!” TAINT!” etc.)

  4. Glad to see a few science and mathematical clues.

    Did not like “Cut grass? (3)” or “Some of M25, now and then?”

  5. To be fair to Gordius, pseudo as a noun is in the dictionary. The fun in doing a Gordius puzzle is to tot up how many clues don’t have enough clue (17, 30) or don’t quite have the right clue (see above); the challenge is to keep one’s wits and exit the house of mirrors undaunted.

  6. Sorry, but I didn’t think the cluing was up to scratch. I take ulaca’s point, but there is a limit to which I am prepared to welcome clues that ‘don t quite have the right clue’.

  7. Thanks Gordius & PeterO

    I think 11 is a non-addition rather than a subtraction – add SCAR to CE to get SCARCE, as opposed to subtracting CE etc..

  8. TAINT and DENARY were among the good clues, so Gordius can do it if he tries.

    But clues like 9a and 20d just make you wish for Rufus to take charge of the cryptic and double definitions.

  9. muffin @3 – the clue has “isn’t common” not “it isn’t common”.
    ulaca @5 – you say that pseudo as a noun is in “the” dictionary. What is “the” dictionary? It sure ain’t Collins nor Chambers.

  10. Thanks PeterO and Gordius

    Some loose cluing as noted, but some good ones too – I liked 8a, 22a, 27a and 20d.

  11. rhotician @2: DENARY as a noun is pretty common in computing and mathematics, but it doesn’t seem to be in either Chambers or Collins, which is a problem. Then again, they don’t have “binary” (as in base 2) as a noun either, which I think most people here would find less controversial.

  12. Hi Schroduck @11, DENARY is in my 11th edition Chambers as either adj or noun.

    More of a problem is PSEUDO, only an adjective in the same edition, which has PSEUD as the noun (cf Private Eye’s usage).

  13. Yes, Gordius is exasperating. PSEUDO is wrong – you can have pseudo-something but it doesn’t stand on its own as a noun. (And I can’t think of an example of a substitution of pretender-something.)

    On the other hand, take the clue for CLEVER – my thinking went something like: “Oh he’s got this wrong: it must be supposed to be cleaver… oh, hang on…”

    The first is wrong, the second delightful. I find myself, again, wondering what is the function of the editor, though?

  14. I like to feel I’m as pedantic as the next man (and I agree with most of the reservations above), but I actually quite enjoyed filling this one in nevertheless…and that’s the main thing I suppose.

    But I do understand how anyone who has sweated blood trying to set a perfectly-clued puzzle might feel slightly peeved that someone can get away with clueing this loose.

    As I say though, it was an enjoyable enough diversion (…except SCAR – I wish setters would give up with that clue style already! 🙂 ), so thank you Gordius and PeterO.

  15. Without wishing to ignite dictionary wars, the Oxford Dictionaries (OED?) site has PSUEDO as a noun, see here. It’s also listed as a noun in the Webster’s College Dictionary entry on the Free Dictionary site. I don’t have a physical copy of the OED/ODE to check though.

  18. Thanks all
    I do agree with Muffin’s first paragraph.I was paticularly held up by the NE mostly because I had opted for a doubtful ‘sat’ for 14d.
    I liked the bit of maths in 28 ac.

  19. So, sidey, are you saying that Gordius is around 185 years late with this puzzle? The editor ditched the venerable actor Mr Tree a few weeks ago and he was only a hundred and something years old… so perhaps you have a point. 🙂

  20. Thanks Gordius & PeterO.

    The ODE is supposed to be fairly current usage and has PSEUDO as a noun: ‘a pretentious or insincere person,’ so I don’t think Gordius can be faulted here. I thought MENDICANT was a nice idea, but not very well executed. Maybe something like ‘Beggar unable to heal’ or some such would have been better.

  21. I found this a bit harder than Gordius often is, despite the number of short answers. Last in was ANANIAS which I didn’t think of until I had the crosser from ANCHORET (a new word to me). I can’t think of anything new to say about the Gordius style, so I won’t comment on that.

    Thanks to PeterO and Gordius

  22. A grouse. I object to the difficulty being ratcheted up by over vague, poor and/or inaccurate definitions in clues, rather than clever and convoluted construction. 9ac typifies this for me, Dave Ellison’s correction is more accurate and therefore easier. The wrong parts of speech in definitions have the same effect. There is always a balance between deviousness and inaccuracy and we will probably all disagree where the boundary is.

  23. I was about to post something further on the noun/adjective question when I looked in the mirror and…

  24. A typical Gordius puzzle. BURNS was my LOI after I realised that I had misspelled PSEUDO as “psuedo”.

    I agree with those of you who said the clue for MENDICANT needed something extra in the wordplay for it to work properly, and the clue for AWN didn’t quite do it for me either. I didn’t know the variant ANCHORET but the answer was obvious enough from the wordplay and the checkers.

  25. Pretty loose as ever for Gordius and not much to entertain.

    Although as we know the setter’s ways it wasn’t too difficult.

    However I must defend Gordius for 17D

    SOED has awn as

    a noun – A bristle-like projection; esp. that terminating the grain sheath of barley, oats, and other grasses.

    and

    a verb – Remove the awns from.

    So awn can mean cut the top off grass

    Captcha claims that one + 1 ISN’T 2

    and cutting the top off “lawn” gives “awn”

    Quite brilliant really !!!

    Thanks to PeterO and Gordius

    CAPTCHA claims that one + 1 ISN’T 2

  26. I sympathise with some of the grumbles, but on reflection they melt away. PSEUDO for me is OK as a noun, albeit a rather American one like “wino”, “weirdo” etc., for instance.

    I found it quite hard in places, but enjoyable

  28. Cryptocyclist @ 22. Dave Ellison didn’t have a suggestion! However, perhaps “Beggar’s regret” or “Beggar’s remorse” would be slightly better?

  29. It’s a puzzle and I finished it without cheating. It passed some time pleasantly, and I am a lucky man to have that time to spare and sufficient brain power to do it. Isn’t that the point?

  30. Martin P is basically right. Gordius is “libertarian” but generally careful with his innovations. “Loose” is a slightly dangerous criticism as it seems to imply laziness on the part of the setter. But if you look at TAINT, for instance, it is clear that it would have been far easier to leave the “it” in – the effort and imagination, for setter and solver, comes in making it work without. (Not that Ximenes would like it!) Breezily asserting that pseudo isn’t a noun when you haven’t even bothered to google it, on the other hand, IS sloppy… The exception for me was MOVE – I think I see where he was going with it but it still doesn’t seem to work.

    Martin P is also right that it wasn’t easy – I think a lot of the trouble starts when you assume a clue that is hard to explain/understand must be bad rather than hard.

  31. 24 doesn’t work for me – “denary”, first syllable rhymes with “pen”, sounds nothing like “deanery”, first syllable rhyming with “seen”.

Comments are closed.