Guardian 26,353 – Rufus

by

Slightly trickier than the average Rufus, I thought, with fewer cryptic definitions than usual, making it seem more like a “normal” puzzle. Thanks to Rufus.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. OWING Outstanding old part of a building (5)
O + WING
10. TIN-OPENER Metal key used by the cook (3-6)
Cryptic definition
11. ALLIGATOR Reptile snarling at gorilla (9)
(AT GORILLA)*
12. TRACT Treatise closely followed, we hear (5)
Homophone of “tracked”
13. MAMMOTH A short distance covered by light aircraft or jumbo in the past (7)
A MM (millimetre) in MOTH
15. YIELDED Produced admitted superiority (7)
Double definition
17. TENET Opinion one can always go back on? (5)
Palindrome
18. POD It’s evacuated during shelling (3)
Cryptic definition, referring to the shelling of pea pods
20. DEBAR Exclude use of foreign lawyers (5)
DE (“of” in French) + BAR (lawyers)
22. DOGFISH Trouble with fog in vessel seeking shark (7)
FOG* in DISH
25. LAGGARD Many tease girl about being a slowcoach (7)
Reverse of D (500) + RAG GAL
26. DROOL New or old slaver (5)
(OR OLD)*
27. IN REVERSE River seen swirling backwards (2,7)
(RIVER SEEN)*
30. AMSTERDAM Port for mother after morning rest, perhaps (9)
AM + REST* + DAM
31. VICES Bad habits that are difficult to get out of (5)
Double definition (the second being the woodworker’s tool)
Down
1. SOFA Notes seating is provided (4)
SO + FA (notes in Tonic Sol-fa)
2. RIFLEMAN Firm, lean sort of soldier (8)
(FIRM LEAN)*
3. AGOG Eager to go up after a key (4)
A G (a key, in music) + reverse of GO
4. STITCH UP Swindle to reduce the rent? (6,2)
Double definition – the “rent” is a tear, which could be repaired by sewing
5. ENERGY Green Party finally contrived to get power (6)
(GREEN [part]Y)*
6. SPOTTED DOG Pudding is seen to follow after (7,3)
SPOTTED (seen) + DOG (follow) – a less-familiar (to me) variant of spotted dick
7. INLAID Like marquetry with fashionable Dali design (6)
IN (fashionable) + DALI*
8. FRET Key pattern on a guitar? (4)
Cryptic definition, I suppose, as the frets on a guitar let the player play in various keys. Does anyone have a better explanation?
13. MATED Got together, after a final check (5)
Double definition – the “final check” being in chess
14. OUTFIELDER One who is deep in the letters of Freud and Eliot (10)
(FREUD ELIOT)* – cricketing reference
16. DARED Ventured again to take father out (5)
RE (again) in DAD
19. DOLDRUMS Barrels found around ancient dumps (8)
OLD in DRUMS
21. BEATRICE Live a moment with Dante’s love (8)
BE A TRICE – Beatrice Portinari was the poet Dante’s muse and (unrequited?) love
23. GROUSE Get up after midnight and complain (6)
Middle letter of niGht + ROUSE
24. HAIR-DO Bob all set for musical party? (4-2)
HAIR (musical) + DO (party)
26. DEAL Board of Trade? (4)
Double definition
28. VIVA Violet and Virginia in oral exam (4)
VI + VA
29. EASE Relax! Take a seat inside! (4)
Hidden in takE A SEat

24 comments on “Guardian 26,353 – Rufus”

  1. muffin
    #1 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 08:22

    Thanks Rufus and Andrew
    I enjoyed this, and particularly liked DROOL and OUTFIELDER.

    I had PEA instead of POD for a while. Interesting that “evacuated” can describe both the place from which things are removed and the things removed themselves. (“London has been evacuated” and “these children have been evacuated from London”, for example.)

  2. Eileen
    #2 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 08:37

    Thanks, Andrew.

    I agree with your preamble – in fact, I think there are even fewer cryptic definitions because I took 10ac as a charade.

    I enjoyed this a lot: great surfaces throughout, as ever, but I particularly liked 5dn, 14dn, 21dn and 24dn.

    I smiled when I finally got DROOL – I was sure ‘slaver’ must be the nautical version!

    Many thanks to Rufus for a very amiable puzzle.

  3. anio
    #3 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:17

    I actually enjoyed a Rufus puzzle! Thanks to him and Andrew.

  4. Muffyword
    #4 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:27

    Re FRET – I think this is a DD. fret(work) is a sort of pattern, and Chambers even says “(Greek) key (pattern)”. When solving, I assumed that this was F + RET, but that proved to be incorrect.

  5. Robi
    #5 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:30

    Thanks Rufus for an enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks Andrew; there seemed to be a lot of keys but they all seemed to be different.

    I particularly enjoyed STITCH UP and HAIR-DO.

    BTW the Saturday Prize puzzle is in today’s newspaper with a correction.

  6. R P Hiscocks
    #6 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:46

    What is the correction Robi for the prize crossword please ?

  7. almw3
    #7 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:49

    A very nice puzzle with concise, slick clueing throughout. I was another PEA person at first!

    So many to like but 24d, 14d, 11ac among them.

    Thx both

  8. Robi
    #8 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 09:55

    RPH @6; sorry, a bit misleading, just to say that the puzzle was corrected to the right one.

  9. Trailman
    #9 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 10:08

    I’m another who doesn’t often praise Rufus but does so today. All went in nicely, and the cd/dd clues weren’t too numerous but (MATED especially) brought a smile.

    Plus a number of other clever clues such as ENERGY, DOGFISH and best of all DROOL.

    Oh go on one quibble then. Fielders are ‘in the deep’ surely rather than just ‘deep’. But I’m clutching at straws to be a little miserable here. I suppose deep extra cover is a deep position after all.

  10. ClaireS
    #10 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 10:26

    Thanks for the blog Andrew.

    Conversely, I found this easier than usual for a Rufus for the same reason: fewer double and cryptic definitions as these are my twin Achilles’ heels. POD was my favourite and I also particularly liked OUTFIELDERS, HAIR DO and DROOL – nice hiding of definition meanings.

    Thanks Rufus for a pleasant solve.

  11. Andy B
    #11 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 10:31

    An enjoyable puzzle, IMHO. The DROOL/OUTFIELDER crossers were my last ones in and I don’t have a problem with the definition for the latter. Count me as another who was unsure about POD/pea until I got the second checker.

  12. chas
    #12 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 12:22

    Thanks to Andrew for the blog. I also found this a little easier than the usual Rufus.

    I am another who started with PEA. 🙁

    I am a pedant from way back. Power and ENERGY are, strictly speaking, different sorts of things: in layman’s terms power is the rate of use of energy. However, I guess that crossworders will happily accept equivalence here.

  13. beery hiker
    #13 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 12:56

    Liked OUTFIELDER, last in was FRET. It was good of the Guardian to print Saturday’s missing prize puzzle above this one, giving us paper solvers two enjoyable but fairly straightforward crosswords for the price of one.

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus

  14. ravilyn
    #14 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 13:37

    Back after vacation. For some reason I find Rufus easier than the others. Often I see people saying “that was an easy one” to many puzzles I found hard. But somehow I seem to “get” Rufus. Did not get Deal and missed the chess reference in mated.

  15. Peter Asplnwall
    #15 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 13:45

    Last in was SOFA which in retrospect is perhaps the easiest clue. I also had PEA which slowed me down a little and I’d never heard of SPOTTED DOG as a pudding. But otherwise this was quite enjoyable.

  16. brucew@aus
    #16 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 14:11

    Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    Enjoyed this today – had a few interruptions during the solve which stretched the elapsed time out a bit.

    Thought DROOL was outstanding – so well concealed. STITCHED UP was another which was quite clever.

  17. Kathryn's Dad
    #17 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 16:06

    Good puzzle; good blog. Thanks both.

  18. Dave ellison
    #18 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 16:10

    Yes, I am another who doesn’t often sing Rufus praises, but today’s offering was quite enjoyable. Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

    The shorties at top left were last in, but, as peter Aspinwall says about SOFA, perhaps the easier clues.

  19. Wysawyg
    #19 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 19:47

    I thought 10a was a charade with metal = tin and key = opener. Def being ‘used by the cook’.

    I managed to finish the whole crossword on my own today. That’s still a rarity for me though I tend to get more clues each time. Always a good feeling! Amsterdam, Drool and Deal were my last ones in!

  20. Altered
    #20 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 19:50

    DROOL was quickly in for me, but wrongly! Did anyone else think it was OWNER?

  21. Simon s
    #21 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 20:07

    Altered @ 20

    Yes, on my first pass through the across clues…then on first pass through the down clues I reached 14 & saw the anagram immediately…rethink time…

  22. Sil van den Hoek
    #22 - Mon 1st Sep 14, 20:27

    Funny to see everyone so positive all at once.

    The majority of the clues wasn’t very different from the usual Rufus stuff but, indeed, the lack of CDs gave this puzzle a different feel.

    While I so far agree with your verdict, Andrew, I cannot say that this was ‘slightly trickier than the ususal Rufus’.
    Actually, I found this an extremely easy crossword – probably for the same reasons ClaireS mentioned @10.

    Perhaps Rufus wrote, for once, the perfect Quiptic?

  23. Ian SW3
    #23 - Tue 2nd Sep 14, 08:42

    I’m late to the party as I didn’t get to this one till late last night, but I just wanted to say this was a perfectly good crossword. Thanks, Rufus.

  24. shaar
    #24 - Wed 3rd Sep 14, 00:25

    Another thoroughly enjoyable crossword. Brightened up a blue day. Thankyou Andrew and THANKYOU rufus.

Comments are closed.