Guardian Cryptic N° 26,266 by Crucible

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26266.

As usual, answer definitions are underlined in the clues; single quotes denote relevant portions of the clue, capital letters indicate answers or portions thereof, and bold capitals indicate letters from the clue which are picked out for the wordplay.

I found this quite a struggle, ending in the SE corner; I would be interested to hear how others found it. I have a few quibbles, but on the whole the puzzle is fairly clued, just difficult. The theme of game – or games – is used inventively.

 

Across
1. Secretary sends out returns for game, perhaps (7)
PASTIME A charade of PA (personal assistant, ‘secretary’) plus STIME, a reversal (‘returns’) of EMITS (‘sends out’).
5. Drink in a large can initially works (7)
ALCOPOP A charade of ‘a’ plus L (‘large’) plus C (‘Can initially’) plus OP OP (‘works’ – this trick is used a couple of times below).
9. Landowner‘s hidey-hole for game at Land’s End (5)
LAIRD A charade of LAIR (‘hidey-hole for game’) plus D (‘LanD‘s end’).
10. Split journey, taking in golf game (9)
PARTRIDGE An envelope (‘taking in’) of G (phonetic alphabet, ‘golf’) in PART (‘split’) plus RIDE (‘journey’).
11. Radical broadcaster is impressed by England batsman (10)
TROTSKYIST An envelope (‘impressed by’) of SKY (‘broadcaster’) plus ‘is’ in TROTT (Jonathan, ‘England batsman’).
12. It’s not all child’s play going over them! (4)
ALPS A hidden (‘it’s not all’) reverse (‘going over’) in ‘child’S PLAy’, with an extended definition.
14. Game Italian’s behind French driver, twisting in and out (12)
PROSTITUTION A charade of PROST (Alain Marie Pascal, ‘French driver’ of Formula One) plus IT (‘Italian’) plus UTION, an anagram (‘twisting’) of ‘in’ and ‘out’. Game as in “on the game”.
18. Potter’s art master’s boring wonky Ming shapes (12)
GAMESMANSHIP An envelope (‘boring’) of MA (‘Master’ of Arts) in GAMESNSHIP, an anagram (‘wonky’) of ‘Ming shapes’. The ‘Potter’ is not Harry, or a ceramicist, but Steven, the author of The theory and Practise of Gamesmanship (or the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating’).
21. Crack shot ultimately remains in it (4)
TURN A charade of T (‘shoT ultimately’) plus URN (‘remains in it’).
22. Continue wasting spare euros to binge (2,2,1,5)
GO ON A SPREE A charade of GO ON (‘continue’) plus ASPRE, an anagram (‘wasting’) of ‘spare’ plus E (‘euros’).
25. Main food grown here by Dorset moved over close to Poole (6,3)
OYSTER BED An envelope (‘over’) of E (‘close to PoolE‘) in OYSTRBED, an anagram (‘moved’) of ‘by Dorset’.
26. Oust no-frills insurers in recession? Yes (5)
USURP A charade of US, [o]US[t] without its outer letters (‘no frills’) plus URP, a reversal (‘in recession’) of PRU (‘The Prudential, ‘insurers’). If this reading is correct, ‘yes’ refers back just to the definiton ‘oust’. I would be happier if there were some way of getting US from ‘no-frills’, but I cannot see it.
27. This ground includes a 9 to clear the field (3,1,3)
HIT A SIX An envelope (‘includes’) of ‘a’ in HITS, an anagram (‘ground’) of ‘this’ plus IX (Roman numeral, not the clue number ‘9’).
28. Game rights over old English river (3,4)
ROE DEER An envelope (‘over’) of O (‘old’) plus E (‘English’) plus DEE (‘river’) in R R (‘rights’).

Down
1. Bucket covers hole at a game (6)
PELOTA An envelope (‘covers’) of O (‘hole’) in PELT (‘bucket’, as with rain) plus ‘a’.
2. Small child loves snowmobile (6)
SKIDOO A charade of S (‘small’) plus KID (‘child’) plus O O (‘loves’), for a brand of smowmobiles, normally spelled with a hyphen.
3. Lacking a name, Indian accent needs saving (2,8)
IN DISTRESS A charade of ‘Indi[an]’ witout ‘a’ and N (‘name’) plus STRESS (‘accnt’).
4. Hungry type at sea drinks last of rum (5)
EMPTY An envelope (‘drinks’) of M (‘last of ruM‘) in EPTY, an anagram (‘at sea’) of ‘type’.
5. Actor is bamboozled by civil service word games (9)
ACROSTICS A charade of ACROSTI, an anagram (‘bamboozled’) of ‘actor is’ plus CS (‘civil service’).
6. Maybe a king or a queen breaks a record (4)
CARD An envelope (‘breaks’) of ‘a’ (the second one) plus R (regina, ‘queen’) in CD (‘a record’).
7. Refuse to be kept here training with racket, holding a pound (5,3)
PEDAL BIN An envelope (‘holding’) of ‘a’ plus LB (‘pound’) in PE (‘training’) plus DIN (‘racket’).
8. Game bloke, one wearing ridiculous pants (8)
PHEASANT An envelope (‘wearing’) of HE (‘bloke’) plus A (‘one’) in PSANT, an anagram(‘ridiculous’) of ‘pants’.
13. Polish runner-up at dice game (6,4)
RUBIK’S CUBE A charade of RUB (‘polish’) plus IKS, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of SKI (‘runner’) plus CUBE (‘dice’; to avoid any controversy, ‘dice’ as a verb, to cut up vegetables, say).
15. Spar commercial interrupts play on TV (6-3)
SHADOW-BOX An envelope (‘interrupts’) of AD (‘commercial’) in SHOW (‘play’) plus BOX (‘TV’).
16. It helps 8 to get out to get hog roasted (3,5)
EGG TOOTH An anagram (‘roasted’) of ‘to get hog’. Here ‘8’ is the clue number.
17. Glitterati check butts over (5,3)
SMART SET A reversal (‘over’) of TEST (‘check’) plus RAMS (‘butts’).
19. Cast rug mostly over player’s back (6)
TROUPE An envelope (‘over’) of R (‘playeR‘s back’) in TOUPE[e] (‘rug’) ‘mostly’. I think the definition is a little loose.
20. Game controller‘s about to take a quick look up (6)
KEEPER A reverse (‘up’ in a down light) charade of RE (‘about’) plus PEEK (‘take a quick look’). ‘keeper’ I suppose in the sense of gamekeeper.
23. Drain out the pits (5)
NADIR An anagram (‘out’) of ‘drain’.
24. Guy reported supporters on course (4)
TEES A homophone (‘reported’) of TEASE (‘guy’), the course, of course, being for golf.

28 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,266 by Crucible”

  1. Thanks Petero and Crucible. I had put USURY instead of USURP and so I failed to get 20d. Agree that it was quite difficult, but with some nice clues.

  2. Thanks, PeterO. I thought this was great fun – and not too hard until the SE corner…

    I think your parsing of USURP is right but, I agree, it’s all a bit tortuous.

    I wonder why Crucible didn’t use “weaving” rather than “twisting” in 14, since that’s the word most associated with cars. (I think!)

  3. Very enjoyable – very well worked theme.

    Thanks for the blog PO. I wouldn’t say I struggled but I was certainly kept busy for a good while – it unfolded gradually as this setter’s puzzles usually do for me. Is that just a knack or do some setters have a sixth sense that tells them how a puzzle will go for the solver?

    You seem to be damning it with faint praise. “a few quibbles” – I counted 26a, which was fine for me (“Yes” keys what you’re going to do to those guys – having a plausible object there doesn’t hurt the verb. In fact the clue would work even without “Yes”.) and 2d which I agree should really be 3-3 – although I didn’t know that at the time. So that’s two – does that count as “a few”. Maybe I missed some.

    Great puzzle I thought – lived up to expectations – which for this setter (for me at least) are always high.

    Faves 11a, 13d

    LOI was 19d – or at least parsing it was.

  4. Enjoyed this one. It wasn’t too easy or too hard. Held up by 13d for a while as I had ‘red’ instead of ‘roe’ at 28a until I read the clue again! But then it was 2am so am forgiving myself.

  5. Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

    I could echo just about every word of JS’s comment @3. The puzzle unravelled at a most satisfactory rate for me, too, and I’ve often had a similar thought about setters. With my favourites, it’s almost as if they’re looking over my shoulder, encouraging me and sharing my amusement as the pennies drop.

    There’s another quibble in the blog about the ‘loose’ definition in 19dn: Collins has, for ‘troupe’, ‘a company of actors or other performers’ and for ‘cast’, ‘the actors in a play collectively’, which is tight enough for me.

    I loved the way 18ac tied the whole thing together. Many thanks to Crucible for another lovely puzzle.

  6. Lovely crossword and blog, thanks. Only minor quibble is that spar does not mean shadow box, surely? One requires a partner, and the other requires the absence of one, I thought. It was clear enough what the answer was, but perhaps the clue could have been tweaked for accuracy.

  7. I enjoyed the puzzle and the blog. On 26, I got ‘us’ by removing the edges (no frills) from ‘oust’, ‘yes’ then being an ‘and lit’ indicator.

  8. Please ignore the second part of comment 7: written before brain was in gear, and I mistakenly pressed submit when I’d actually intended just to go away. I’ll get me coat…

  9. Didn’t anyone else try to fit GROUSE into 19d? Did the setter miss an opportunity, or was it a deliberate misdirection?
    Liked the puzzle, lots of nice surfaces, but i gave up on 21a TURN, and 19d TROUPE.

  13. Good entertaining puzzle.

    Thanks PeterO; I didn’t much like the ‘Yes’ in 26. Perhaps it could have been avoided by using ‘appropriate’ or some such. SKIDOO is in Collins and ODE without a hyphen and as an alternative form in Chambers. ‘Snowmobile’ was a bit of a giveaway.

    I liked PROSTITUTION (not literally) and GAMESMANSHIP where I thought the Potter would have been Dennis.

  14. I thought there were some really lovely clues in this, and as others have said, it had a great flow as a whole. So I’m slightly surprised more people aren’t raving about it – maybe I’m just in a good mood having started my halfterm early! (self-employed…so no pay next week, but good to have some rest).

    Maybe if you’re being picky…possibly a few too many ‘last letters of words’ inserted into other things, but the quality of the rest easily earns forgiveness for that. Some of the best moments in crosswords come from nouns needing to be read as verbs, and I thought ‘Bucket’ for PELT was delicious!

    Thank you once again PeterO, and Crucible for a fine puzzle.

  15. Failed to get 19dn.

    I did not know the alternate meaning of rug ( informal, chiefly North American: A toupee or wig) and spent a long time thinking along the lines of mat,carpet etc

  16. Thanks, PeterO

    Great puzzle, with no quibbles from me, other than to echo Ian SW3’s point @6 that ‘spar’ is not SHADOW BOX – but it did make for a good surface.

    The first ‘games’ I inserted were of the sporting variety, so I was pleasantly surprised when the venery appeared (in both senses – see Chambers!)

    A lot of clever constructions and smoothly misleading surfaces; I starred 14a, 21a, 27a. LOI was TROUPE.

  18. not to my liking at all, and eventually gave up before completion – that is unusual for me so says something about the crossword

  19. JS @3

    It was not my intention to damn with faint praise – more nearly to praise with faint damn. I still do not think 26A uses its idea very well: USURP and ‘oust’ are reasonable synonyms, but the specific connotation of USURP seems quite inappropriate to kicking out insurers. The definitional ‘yes’ would then refer back just to ‘oust’, which does not seem very satisfactory to me. Your description of the puzzle as “unfolding gradually” is nor so far from my experience, except that, with a blog to get out in a timely fashion, “gradually” takes on a greater sense of struggle than it would otherwise.

    Everyone (in particular) @12
    Thanks for the elucidation. Perhaps I should have added to my preamble that square brackets indicate letters omitted.

    Eileen @5

    The ‘cast’ of a play may be drawn from a troupe, so the two are closely related. my (minor) point is that ‘cast’ does not sit well as a definition of TROUPE.

    peterjohn @9

    Yes, I spent some time wondering why GROUSE did not fit with the clue for 19D.

    Robi @13

    … or Painless or Colonel.

  20. Enjoyed this but found it quite tough, failed to finish it at lunchtime, and missed a few parsings, especially at the end in the SE corner, so thanks to PeterO for those and to Crucible. Last in was TROUPE (I thought the definition was fine – it just took a long time to see it). Liked SKIDOO and RUBIKS CUBE.

  21. I typed a long contribution earlier but must have pressed a wrong button as It has not appeared. I got two wrong, having misspelled ‘Rubik’ and (yes peterjohn@9) hastily entering ‘grouse’ instead of ‘troupe’ as I couldn’t readily see the answer, I was bored, and grouse fitted the theme even if I couldn’t parse it.
    I thought that the ‘Pru’ element of 26a would cause problems for overseas solvers, and am not convinced by ‘crack’ as a definition of ‘turn’: I can see the connection, but think of someone taking a turn to have a crack at something
    I’m pleased that others enjoyed the puzzle more than I did; it just goes to show, once again, that different styles appeal to different solvers.

  22. I thought I was really going to struggle with this one when OYSTER BED was my FOI as I went through the across clues, but like a few of you it became a steady solve as I unpicked each clue. I found this puzzle very enjoyable because for the most part the clues didn’t signpost the definitions, and a fair amount of brain power had to be expended to unravel them. I got GAMESMANSHIP from the wordplay because I didn’t know the Potter in question. Count me as another who was trying to justify “grouse” for 19dn before the penny dropped, and I have to think that it was a deliberate piece of misdirection from Crucible. Unlike some of you I had the most trouble in the NW and PELOTA was my LOI after TROTSKYIST.

  23. Well dinner is finally served! (And it was “game”)

    Difficult but fair. Finally got there but failed to parse TROUPE.

    No real quibbles with this.

    Thanks to PeterO and Crucible

  24. Thanks PeterO and Crucible.

    I found this quite tough too. Re USURP, PRU and Scottish Union, SU, anyone?

    Thanks all.

  25. Oddly enough, it was the NW rather than SE that caused me most difficulty, although I also thought 19D must be grouse for some reason I couldn’t see (unsurprisingly, as it turns out). I thought the theme was nicely used.

  26. Thanks Crucible and PeterO

    Another who found this a tough assignment – but to be expected when you see Crucible’s name at the top. And as with most times with his puzzles, this was a pleasure to gradually unravel – the variations of the games adding to the fun.

    Ended with the two four-letter across clues – I think that the setters are collectively getting better at concealing the hidden answer run-on words these days … or I’m just getting slower at seeing them! Like some others, I didn’t manage to parse TROUPE.

  27. @PO #19 “praise with faint damn”

    Good one – I’ll store it away for future use.

  28. I think Crucible is great – I love his puzzles. Had no problems with this one – not a single grouse!
    Many thanks to Crucible and PeterO.

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