Guardian 26,287 by Chifonie

29 comments on “Guardian 26,287 by Chifonie”

1. Thanks Chifonie and manehi
   I liked PIERCES and SPROG, but I thought that STEAMER was a bit clumsy (TEAM in the clue to give the T), and P for clergyman was a bit obscure.

2. Thanks, manehi.

   I enjoyed this puzzle more than usual for Chifonie. There was some nice misdirection and satisfying surfaces [eg 9ac and two inebriate women in one puzzle!].

   My only quibble is that, by my reckoning, exactly half the clues involved adding or subtracting a single letter – with four different indications for P – which did get a little bit tedious.

   But it was an enjoyable solve – thanks, Chifonie.

3. Don’t like when any old word is used to provide letters from their initial, as in p= priest, b= barrel. Or are these real abbreviations that I don’t know? ‘Team leader’ is ok as it is signalled. Otherwise enjoyed

4. Oh, how I love the one Monday a month we get a proper crossword. Thanks, Chifonie.

5. Hi almw3
   I didn’t quite make myself clear about STEAMER. No probs about “team leader” giving the T – however as the answer includes TEAM (sTEAMer), it would have been neater either to use this in the clue, or to find a different word to provide the T.

6. I thought that this was fair enough for a Monday puzzle.

7. Thanks Chifone and manehi

   This is the style of crossword that I think would be good for the folk that are learning the trade. There is no ambiguity with any of the answers and notwithstanding the numerous single letter instances that may become tedious for the more experienced solver, it’d be welcomed by novices I’m sure.

   Still would have been good to see a few more dd’s, cd’s or other devices for variety to keep interest to all.

8. @muffin. Yes, I agree with your point about TEAM in the clue as well as in the word. I was making a slightly different point about the use of random words that aren’t true abbreviations to give initial letters.
   For instance, the other day I did a puzzle where SUN was used in the clue to give ‘s’. I don’t know that this is a true abbreviation (it might be one I just don’t know) but I have been doing cryptics for donkeys’, having been brought up on them from childhood. I just think there are so many which are true abbreviations that random words needn’t be used.

   However, I do appreciate very much all the effort that the compilers go to to provide these wonderful puzzles and it is only a very small niggle. I know I couldn’t do it!

9. Enjoyable Monday fare.

   Thanks manehi; b for barrel is described as “not a standard abbreviation.” 🙁

   I did like the &lit PIERCES and the Champ.

10. 19d Is ‘p’ a common abbreviation for priest or pastor? There’s no first letter indication.

    Valentine

11. P.S. B=barrel is in my Chambers Crossword Dictionary but not in Bradford’s or the Chambers Dictionary where the abbreviation is bl.

12. Valentine @10; p=priest or pastor is at least in Chambers.

13. I thought this was a better puzzle than some of Chifonie’s other ones, although I agree that were probably too many letter-addition and letter-subtraction clues. I had the most trouble in the NW and EXERTS was my LOI after ENCHANT.

14. Thanks to manehi for the blog.

    I also was unhappy with the number of cases where a word in the clue is present simply for its initial letter without any indication of this. Note that ‘team leader’ is acceptable but barrel=b etc is out of order.

15. Fairly straightforward but with a few that require some thought and lots of nice surfaces, so fine for the Rufus slot. Liked TREADMILL, DEAD MEN and ROGUE.

    Thanks to manehi and Chifonie

16. No one else have Wanda for 11ac? That held up the corner.

    Thanks, manehi, and Chifonie

17. I have to eat humble pie, then, over my rant about non-standard abbreviations! Sorry compilers!

18. Dave ellison @ 16

    Yep, I did too – I assumed that if we could have (I think it was) Kn for Kansas we could have equally aberrant Da for Delaware. That held me up no end till I realised what 3 must be.

19. Thanks all
    This was a perfect substitute for a Rufus.

20. chas@14 – as has already been said above, b=barrel is an acceptable abbreviation, it is in Chambers, and it is presumably used in the oil industry. Similarly p=priest is also in Chambers, so Chifonie doesn’t need to signify them any other way.

21. Dave ellison @16 and Simon S @18. Yup, me too. In fact, it was my second one in and it took a little while to detect my error.

22. Straightforward Monday fun is a fine description. Just right to start the week.

    P for ‘priest’ is perhaps most often seen in the abbreviation ‘PP’ for ‘Parish Priest’.

    Thanks to S&B.

23. NW corner held me up a bit too, like Andy B @13 – finally ENCHANT was my way in. Liked 11 when I got it therefore, though the double duty at 19 was clever too.

24. @brucew you want more cds and dds on a Monday 😛 ? Nice change for the cryptic to be harder than the Quiptic.
    Thought 19a clever, thanks both S&B.

25. This seemed a happy crossword, and just about perfect for a Monday. A good few write-ins (but often with quite elegant clues), and then some that made you think a bit more.

    The wilfully obscure abbreviations mentioned by others were the only real downside.

    Agree with Robi about PIERCES and the champ. Also it’s neat that ‘Maria’ actually is a “song for a girl”, and I liked CORUSCATE…apart from anything else, it’s such a lovely word!

    Thanks to both of you.

26. Ian SW3 @4 expresses my thoughts exactly

    Thanks to manehi and Chifonie.

27. I too have been doing crosswords from a very early age as has almaw3 and many more of you I’m sure. However sometimes a less difficult solve is welcome I tire of the constant Rufus criticism after all variety is the spice of life . rather an arrogant comment brucew@aus I thought.Thank you manehi and Chifonie

28. Hi ezzie
    Apologies if my comment came across as arrogant – certainly not the intent.
    I have recommended this setter to a number of friends to begin the journey into the Guardian world of puzzles. I think that his crisp clueing style and his subtle misdirection (as in CHAMP here) is an excellent stepping stone from the crosswords in the Aussie dailies. It is just that this one (as was noted by a couple of others here) seemed a little more one-dimensional with basically charades and one letter insertion deletions being the device in a very large percentage of clues. I shouldn’t have qualified my statement with more experienced solvers.

    Hey flashling … certainly not as many as the normal fare … one or two is OK … but hidden answers and other devices are welcome as well – again without being too different in difficulty to the rest of the puzzle. :).
    By the way I always enjoy this setter, even if it doesn’t take as long to finish his work.

29. I missed this one on Monday. I think it’s well constructed, with several really good surfaces. There’s quite a skill to creating a whole puzzle of clues that are all so orthodox and easy. I wouldn’t want them like this every day (or every Monday), but Chifonie certainly has his uses, especially if you’re in a relatively mellow mood (and have just got through a Nimrod, as I have today…).

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