Guardian Cryptic N° 26,312 by Pasquale

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26312.

I found this a pleasing mid-level puzzle notable for its cryptic definitions, which are backed up by wordpaly.

 

Across
7,16down. Dramatist can’t reintegrate plays (7,8)
TERENCE RATTIGAN An anagram (‘plays’) of ‘can’t reintegrate’.
8. Doctor at filming location when a certain body sinks (7)
MOONSET A charade of MO (‘doctor’) plus ON (‘at’) plus SET (‘filming location’).
9. See 1
– See 1
10. Opposing the monarch’s entourage in battle (9)
AGINCOURT A charade of AGIN (a dialect form of against, ‘opposing’) plus COURT (‘the monarch’s entourage’).
12,20. Deviate from strict formation thus to find snark? (5,5)
BREAK RANKS A reverse clue: an anagram (BREAK) of RANKS is ‘snark’.
13. Use piety falsely as a High Church type (8)
PUSEYITE An anagram (‘falsely’) of ‘use piety’.
15. See 21 down
– See 21 down
16. One had one’s work cut out getting man to embrace woman (5)
RODIN An envelope (‘to embrace’) of DI (‘woman’) in RON (‘man’). As an extended definition referencing The Kiss, I do not think this quite works.
17. See 21 down
– See 21 down
18. Wilder fashion — something that gets under the skin, initially? (8)
THORNTON A charade of THORN (in the flesh; ‘something that gets under the skin’) plus TON (‘fashion’). ‘Initially’ indicates the order of the particles. Not Billy or Gene, but the American playwright and novelist.
20. See 12
– See 12
21. Deceitful types watch grandfather, maybe (3-6)
TWO-TIMERS ‘watch’ and ‘grandfather’ clock are …
22,6. Southeast European first to last has little 21 down or place for romance (4,4)
LOVE NEST A charade of LOVENES, which is SLOVENE (‘southeast European’) with its first letter moved to the end (‘first to last’) plus T (‘little 21 down’, TIME). I spent more time than I ought to have trying to justify LOVE SEAT.
24. Italian in the Lake District, maybe, when it’s less cold (7)
UMBRIAN [c]UMBRIAN (‘in the Lake District, maybe’; Cumbria is the county in which England’s Lake district lies) without the C (‘less cold’).
25. Fool wearing something with feathers as long garment (7)
CASSOCK An envelope (‘wearing’) of ASS (‘fool’) in COCK (‘something with feathers’).

Down
1,9,23. One glorious retreat between five and six on islands — it implies I gave the enemy no chance! (4,4,4)
VENI VIDI VICI An answer in Latin, no less – but one so well known that there should be few complaints on that ground. An envelope (‘between’) of ENIVIDI, a reversal (‘retreat’) of I (‘one’) plus DIVINE (‘glorious’) in V (Roman numeral ‘five’) plus VI (likewise, ‘six’) plus CI (Channel ‘islands’).
2. Ringing of bells around Ireland gets one in an erogenous zone (8)
PERINEAL An envelope (‘around’) of ERIN (‘Ireland’) in PEAL (‘ringing of bells’). Thanks to Robi for bringing the area to my attention in a recent crossword by Paul.
3. Gunfire has journalist heading off repeatedly (3-3)
ACK-ACK [h]ACK (‘journalist’) minus its first letter (‘heading off’) plus more of the same (‘repeatedly’).
4. Audibly show contempt for an offence — one’s more than a heel! (8)
MOCCASIN A homophone (‘audibly’) of MOCK (‘show contempt for’) plus A SIN (‘an offence’).
5. Popular panel may be wounding (6)
INJURY A charade of IN (‘popular’) plus JURY (‘panel’).
6. See 22
– See 22
11. Measure of opposition that is restricting politician on trip (9)
IMPEDANCE An envelope (‘restricting’) of MP (‘politician’) in I.E. (‘that is’) plus DANCE (‘trip’ the light fantastic).
12. Yesteryear’s maestro’s lost in the morning in the wood (5)
BEECH BEECH[am] (Sir Thomas, ‘yesteryear’s maestro’) without (‘lost’) AM (‘in the morning’).
14. Lies in legal writ (5)
TALES I’m not too sure about the ‘writ’: TALES (pronounced tar-lees) is a legal term, and so perhaps ‘writ’, for the filling up of a jury from the people present in the event of an absence.
16. See 7
– See 7
17. Mechanical device to give girl breathing difficulties (8)
WINDLASS A charade of WIND (‘breathing difficulties’) plus LASS (‘girl’).
19. Unruly behaviour brings strain to port (6)
RIOTRY A charade of RIO (‘port’) plus TRY (‘strain’, as in “try the patience of a saint”). I wonder if the surface might resonate with some soccer fans.
20. Change needed for Easter — put in new pews? (6)
RESEAT An anagram (‘change needed’) of ‘Easter’.
21,17across,15. The enemy archer we can’t expect to know immediately (4,4,4)
TIME WILL TELL A charade of TIME (‘the enemy’) plus WILL TELL (generally known as William, the famous ‘archer’ and overture).
23. See 1
– See 1

22 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,312 by Pasquale”

  1. Thanks, PeterO.

    I seem to be completing Pasquale more often these days – is he getting easier?

    I didn’t think UMBRIAN quite works: the Lake District is in Cumbria, not the other way round?

  2. I didn’t have a problem with ‘Umbrian’, which I think works o.k., but found the large number of linked clues a bit tedious. It took me a while to see ‘Thornton’, and I wonder whether he is well enough remembered for solvers of a more tender age.
    Despite reservations, I enjoyed the puzzle overall.

  3. Just to elaborate, a Cumbrian may be in the Lake District. Take off the ‘c’ for cold and you are left with the Italian.

  4. Well, I did it, but like George @2 I found the linked clues a bit wearing. Can’t say this was as enjoyable as some we’ve had lately. Sorry!

  5. Thanks Pasquale, reasonably straightforward.

    Thanks PeterO; I got the timer=grandfather but couldn’t see the TWO-TIMERS for a long time. I got the VENI VIDI VICI at the beginning although the archer took longer.

    I didn’t know PUSEYITE but with a few crossers the anagram unravelled.

    I liked BREAK RANKS, 🙂 which had me looking at The Hunting of the Snark at the beginning. 🙁

  6. P.S. Oxford has for TALES: ‘A writ for summoning substitute jurors when the original jury has become deficient in number,’ so I guess ‘writ’ must be fine.

  7. I enjoyed the puzzle (thanks Pasquale!) and the excellent blog from PeterO helped me parse a couple that stumped me (much appreciated).

    With regards to 16 across I agree that this does not quite work as an extended definition referencing The Kiss. I parsed it slightly differently: Rodin (as a sculptor) had his work “cut out” (and then “DI” in “RON” as you say).

    Rick.

  8. Thank you George @2 for suggesting that I might be of a tender age in not having heard of Thornton Wilder!

    I went down Rick @7’s route in solving 16a although I now prefer PeterO’s interpretation. But either way the definition is more of a comment on the solution than a means of reaching it; and I thought the same with 8a.

  9. I personally found this one very difficult for a weekday puzzle – mostly due to holes in my general knowledge, it has to be said. Was worried, when I saw that the first clue was a playwright I couldn’t identify, that the whole puzzle would be a themed one. Luckily that didn’t come to pass (although when I managed to get Rattigan, I did scour the list of his plays on Wikipedia, just in case…)

  10. This was a little tricky in places and I couldn’t see how the definition of RODIN worked, so thanks for the various theories on that. Last in was THORNTON. Thought AGINCOURT was quite neat.

    Thanks to Pasquale and PeterO

  12. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    I had no trouble with 16a: a sculptor cuts out his work seems clear to me.

    On 12,20 I also tried to remember The Hunting… then gave up that approach. Eventually when I had enough crossers I got the answer. Full marks to Pasquale for misdirection.
    One of my favourite clues is Nommag(10) -> Backgammon 🙂

  13. A bit of digging (well, a closer look at the Wikipedia article) suggests an interpretation of the clue which seems to make sense to me: Rodin’s method of work was to produce a small model of a sculpture, have his assistants chisel out the full-size marble version (‘had one’s work cut out’ – ‘cut out’ is not the usual term for the process, but acceptable cryptically), and then add the final touches himself. I wonder why the Don chose to use the impersonal first person rather than “he” and “his” – that would seem more natural, but does give away the gender. Another possibility that I considered was that the sculpture was ‘cut out’ from The Gates of Hell; it was Rodin’s decision to replace the composition with another pair of lovers, but the clue could just about be interpreted that way.

  14. Thanks all
    I often struggle with Pasquale but finished this. I did not write in ‘tales’ but assumed it must be because of lies. 18 ac I think the obscurity of TW (I knew him but very vaguely) with the dubiety of thorn = under the skin a bit much (more through the skin?).

  15. Enjoyed this – even the linked words that seem to have annoyed some solvers! Parts of it were tricky (especially the SE quadrant). Very nice clueing overall. I had to cheat on PUSEYITE – the wordplay was clear enough, but I just didn’t know the word.

    Thanks, Pasquale! And to PeterO too – got the parsing of a couple of the entries through the blog.

  16. On 14d, the fuller title of the writ is “tales de circumstantibus” – such as are standing about I.e bystanders who can be summoned by the judge to act as jurors. Judges didn’t come to town often and speed was perhaps of the essence.. The writ was addressed to the sheriff to round up as many as wereneeded to make up any deficiency – jurors may have failed to turn up or been successfully challenged

  17. 17d: I parsed ‘wind’ = as ‘give breathing difficulties’, i.e. verb not noun.

    Sorry for the small quibble, otherwise many thanks for the write-up.

  18. I didn’t enjoy this as much as some of the Don’s puzzles, but I managed to get there in the end. TALES was my LOI after I decided that it was a DD and I just didn’t know the “legal writ” definition. I managed to get THORNTON and PUSEYITES from the wordplay because I don’t remember having heard of either. I didn’t bother to parse VENI VIDI VICI because the answer was obvious enough once a few checkers were in place.

    Re: 21/17ac/15 does anyone really refer to William Tell as “Will Tell”?

    I agree with Gideon@17 re: the parsing of the “wind” element of WINDLASS.

    Julie@11 – what?

  19. Enjoyed the puzzle – generally. But SW corner incomplete due to “Rodin”, “Thornton” and one or two others.

  20. Thank goodness we’re all different! I saw 16 as Rick@7 did – and thought it a lovely clue. And, unlike others, I thoroughly enjoyed the linked clues. I agree with Gordon@17; in fact, one might even parse 17 as a DD with the second definition enumerated (4,4)!
    My only slight bugbear was “Thornton”.
    Great puzzle and blog. Many thanks to PeterO and to Pasquale…..

  21. BTW Can’t stop myself mentioning that I just had the ‘captcha'(?) of my dreams: 2+2=4 – it’s gonna be a good day!

  22. Hated this.

    Pasquale back to his “esoteric” words and and quite a few “dodgy” clues. (Which have been mentioned)

    As so many people seemed to have enjoyed it though it must be me.

    Thornton Wider (or vice versa) and thorn = something which gets under the skin. Yuk

    Tales and Puseyite are words I encounter on a regular basis. 😉 (Lazy cluing IMHO) However I hope Paul has seen the potential in the the latter. 🙂

    Thanks to PeterO and Pasquale

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