Guardian 26,241 by Brummie

by

Was expecting to breeze through this after getting several of the longer clues almost immediately, but got held up in the top left corner…

…1ac last in and a new word to me, but very gettable once the checkers gave away the anagram. Favourites were 9ac and 5dn. Edited thanks to Banzai Bob.

Across
1 GERTCHA Are you having me on the crag rocks? (7)
=”Are you having me on[?]”, slang for ‘get away’, ‘come off it’. (the crag)*
5 SETTLER Not a nomad liked by creditors (7)
=”Not a nomad”, someone who settles down in one place; =”liked by creditors”, someone who settles their debts
9 SOBER Akin to a judge’s robes, pants? (5)
=”Akin to a judge”, as in ‘sober as a judge’. (robes)*
10,17 STOCKHOLM SYNDROME Capital broadcast sinned against capital’s tendency to empathise with abductors? (9,8)
=”tendency to empathise with abductors”. STOCKHOLM=”capital”, SYND sounds like (broadcast) “sinned”, ROME=”capital”
11 OUTCOMPETE Best rivals to compute creatively on Earth (10)
=”Best rivals”, “Best” as in to do better than. (to compute)*, plus E[arth]
12 INKY Squid-like, powerless finger (4)
=”Squid-like”. [p]INKY=”finger”, missing P[ower]
14,24 SCANDINAVIAN NOIR Dark sort of tales of a northerner and wrought iron (12,4)
=”Dark sort of tales”. SCANDINAVIAN=”northerner” plus (iron)*
18 OLYMPIC FLAME Compel family to cycle (should not go out during major sporting event) (7,5)
=”should not go out during major sporting event”. (Compel family)*
21 LODE Vein running through Tiepolo design (4)
=”Vein”. Hidden in “TiepoLO DEsign”
22 IMPAIRMENT The thing about politician high fliers is weakness (10)
=”weakness”. IT=”The thing”, around MP=”politician” and AIRMEN=”high fliers”
25 PROPONENT Rotating proton pen champion (9)
=”champion”. (proton pen)*
26 TAKE HEART See 6
27 PIERROT Comic entertainer and where he often performed with balls (7)
=”Comic entertainer”. PIER=”where he often performed”, plus ROT=”balls”=nonsense
28 CONATUS Toucan’s migratory natural impulse (7)
=”natural impulse”. (Toucan’s)*
Down
1 GO-SLOW Large sum borne by 14 city with industrial action (2-4)
=”industiral action”. G[rand]=”Large sum”, plus OSLO=”[Scandinavian] city”, plus W[ith]
2 RUBATO Right about improvised flexibility of tempo (6)
=”flexibility of tempo”, modified or distorted rhythm. R[ight] plus (about)*
3 CARBON COPY It looks just the same as small engine part and performing ape (6,4)
=”It looks just the same”. CAR BON[net]=”small engine part”, plus COPY=”performing ape”
4 AESOP A model, upwardly mobile Greek writer (5)
=”Greek writer”. A plus rev(POSE)=”model, upwardly mobile”
5 SHOW TRIAL Trails off — without question a mockery of justice (4,5)
=”mockery of justice”. (Trails)*, around HOW=”question”
6,26 TAKE HEART Be hopeful Nick is on the organ (4,5)
=”Be hopeful”. TAKE=”Nick” plus HEART=”organ”
7 LYONNAIS Is an only alternative for an old European province (8)
a historical province of France. (Is an only)*
8 RAMAYANA Camera may analyse housing saga of India (8)
=”saga of India”. Hidden in “CameRA MAY ANAlyse”
13 CARMARTHEN County town vehicle to drive home in reverse at that point (10)
=”County town” in Wales. CAR=”vehicle” plus rev(RAM)=”drive home in reverse” plus THEN=”at that point”
15 NO COMMENT Ten common moves of which I’ll not speak (2,7)
=”I’ll not speak”. (Ten common)*
16 LOLLIPOP One’s into lounge music that’s sticky sweet (8)
=”sticky sweet”. I=”One”, inside LOLL=”lounge” and POP=”music”
17 STOCKHOLM SYNDROME See 10
19 REDACT Carted off to do some editing (6)
=”do some editing”. (Carted)*
20 OTITIS Ear inflammation aggravated, so it doubled (6)
=”Ear inflammation”. (so it it)*
23 ANTIC Tricky thing, being contra the speed of light (5)
=”Tricky thing”. ANTI=”contra” plus C=”speed of light”
24 SCANDINAVIAN NOIR See 14

 

32 comments on “Guardian 26,241 by Brummie”

  2. I think you have parsed 13d incorrectly. Carmarthen is the county town with vehicle being the car.

  4. Thanks, manehi.

    Quite liked PIERROT. Otherwise, I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t very enthusiastic – too many write-ins.

  5. CARBON COPY – CARB(urettor) (= small engine part) + ON (= performing) and COPY (= ape), n’est-ce pas?

  6. I’m sure that Tim is correct @5. While I enjoyed the puzzle on the whole, I did not know ‘conatus’, which annoyed me.

  7. Thanks, manehi.

    I agree with NeilW @4. A number of answers went straight in from the enumeration and telegraphed definitions, eg 1dn, 3dn, 5dn, 15dn, 6,26. Almost half the clues involved anagrams and the lengthy clues to the long answers gave the game away too easily.

    I did quite like PIERROT and the ‘sticky’ sweet. 😉

    [I know some people think we get too much of him but, considering some of the more obscure anniversaries we’ve been invited to celebrate, was it unreasonable to expect a nod to the Bard on his 450th birthday?]

  8. Thanks manehi and Brummie

    Relatively easy but well clued and enjoyable (with its mini-Scandy theme) at the start of a busy day.

    I counted 12 answers which were partly or wholly anagrammatic.

    I ticked 18a, 3d and 16d as I strolled along.

  9. Thanks manehi – I agree with the general opinion that there were rather too many anagrams and giveaway definitions here. I also agree with Tim P about the parsing of CARBON COPY.

    GERTCHA is well-known to those of us who remember this delightful ditty.

  10. I agree with Tim @5 about the parsing of 3dn – I parsed it likewise (admittedly after having put down the word through the definition and the crossing letters). manehi’s parsing is problematic for me as bonnet does not mean either engine or part of engine.

    Thanks to Brummie for an enjoyable if not-too-difficult puzzle, and to manehi for the blog!

  11. Thanks for the blog manehi. I agree with Eileen @7. CONATUS held me up, as I’ve never heard of the word. Otherwise, it all went in a bit too easily for me. There’s no pleasing some people 🙂

    On days like today, I miss Araucaria and what he would have made of Shakespeare’s 450th.

  12. Tupu is right, too many anagrams. Overall, rather at Brummie’s easier end, but plenty to enjoy nevertheless, with OLYMPIC FLAME at the top.

  15. I agree with everyone else – a lot of straightforward clues, and some very obscure ones (with GERTCHA in the top left, and CONATUS in the bottom right, it took me a long time to crack that diagonal), but not so much in the sweet spot in the middle. I did like OLYMPIC FLAME, PIERROT and SETTLER, though, and even the easy clues had some very nice surfaces (NO COMMENT made me smile).

  16. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    As others, not too many problems with this one ! Even with a number of new words – LYONNAISE, RAMAYANA, GERTCHA and CONATUS, the clues were very clear on how to derive them. RUBATO was the last one in.

  18. Thanks Brummie and manehi
    Late to this today, but not too difficult.
    I wonder why Brummie didn’t use “14ac” in the clue for 10ac? Too easy, perhaps, to give “14 capital”?

  19. Is Lyonnais a noun? I wondered if it meant “pertaining to the Lyon area” so was an adjective. So I worried about putting it in for too long! I think I worry too much.

  21. I didn’t enjoy this as much as most of Brummie’s previous puzzles. As has been noted above, there were too many anagrams and clues where the definition wasn’t disguised. For those of us who like trying to solve a puzzle without recourse to aids 28ac was a poor clue. CONATUS isn’t exactly a common word and the anagram fodder could just as easily have led to “canotus” or other less likely arrangements of the unchecked vowels.

  22. Oh dear, another field day for the Tweezy Brigade.

    Well, I enjoyed it, so thanks, Brummie.

    Last in was CONATUS – no surprise there

  25. My big problem here was the fact that in a couple cases entire chunks of clues are left unencrypted. “Stockholm syndrome” with “Stockholm” given as “capital.” “Scandinavian noir” with “Scandinavian” given as “northerner.” “Take heart” with “heart” given as “organ.” It feels like a cop-out.

    Am I the only one who finds this problematic?

    –M.

  26. Well I enjoyed it and didn’t find it too easy.

    My first pass seemed to indicate a fairly difficult puzzle but it did succumb quite quickly after that.

    Still an enjoyable puzzle, as others have said and nothing to complain about as far as I can see.

    I too had never heard of “gertcha” or “conatus”

    Was I the only one to rattle in OLYMPIC GAMES for 18A. I had a struggle parsing it though! 😉

    Thanks to manehi and Brummie

  27. Tim P

    Nothing to do with Mr Teezy Weezy. OAPs in Liverpool get cheap bus rides after a certain time and greet the bus driver by saying, “Am I too early?” which led to them being known as Twerlies.

    And hence Tweezies…

  28. Tim Phillips @24 ;

    Tweezies are derived in the same way as Twirlies – pensioners hoping to use their free bus passes before the end of the rush hour at 930 – “am I too early?”.

  29. Thanks entirely to Chas and Dave’s celebration of the expression, I found GERTCHA my FOI straight off.

    I have some sympathy for the view that “two or more non-cryptics do not a cryptic make” in some simple compound clues, but it was still a diverting and absorbing puzzle.

    Thanks Brummie, manehi and posters all.

  30. So what do we do about the contributor who complained it took an ‘unconscionably’ long time to complete the puzzle? Twhards? Twards? Whatsyourproblems?

Comments are closed.