Guardian 26,355 / Imogen

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

I have been looking forward to blogging my first Imogen puzzle and I certainly wasn’t disappointed with this one.

There are some really good, witty clues here and some misleading definitions. Much of the challenge came in the parsing department, with several ‘ahas’ as the penny dropped. I liked the surfaces throughout and found the whole puzzle most enjoyable. Many thanks to Imogen.

[My only qualm is that Imogen’s puzzles very often have a theme but, apart from two references to cricket / the devil making work for idle hands / Yeats writing a lovely poem beginning, ‘When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep’, I haven’t been able to detect any connections. Dangerous talk.]

Across

1 Gets by: none of us is getting any younger (7)
MANAGES
MAN AGES [and so does woman, unfortunately!]

5 Does nothing in particular for protest movement (7)
POTTERS
Anagram [movement] of PROTEST

9 Was about to show fighting spirit (5)
DEVIL
Reversal [about] of LIVED [was]

10 One needs faith, putting money here? (4,5)
UNIT TRUST
UNIT [one] + TRUST [faith] – a simple charade but a very nice surface

11 Handle letters and sign (10)
FINGERPOST
Another charade – FINGER [handle] + POST [letters]

12 Vincent usually avoids rally (4)
GENE
GENE[rally] [usually] avoiding ‘rally’ for the ’50s rockabilly star, Gene Vincent, whose best-known song was Be-Bop-A-Lula

14 Briefly in Britain — and very soon in the US (11)
MOMENTARILY
Double definition – not really a cryptic clue

18 Show the typing skills of a hungry chicken? (4,3,4)
HUNT AND PECK
Double / cryptic definition – a new one on me but apparently it’s what I do all the time!

21 Informer went quickly round to back of nick (4)
NARK
Reversal [round] of RAN [went quickly] + [nic]K – another very neat surface

22 Apparently old horse raced soundly (4-6)
GREY-HAIRED
Charade of GREY [horse] + HAIRED [sounds like ‘hared’ – raced]

25 Welcoming European, present a peppermint, perhaps (6,3)
HERBAL TEA
HERE [present] round [welcoming] BALT [European] + A

26 Me, appearing in full state (5)
MAINE
ME is the abbreviation for the state of Maine

27 Kid‘s tearful at first, left in care of stranger (7)
TODDLER
T[earful] + L [left] in ODDER [stranger] – another lvely story-telling surface

28 Not to be blamed, son getting out more (7)
SINLESS
S [son] + IN LESS [getting out more] – and another

Down

1 I may save one from feeling of resentment — act to break it (3-3)
MID-OFF
DO [act] in MIFF [feeling of resentment] – my research tells me that the person in this position in cricket is there to prevent a quick single, so ‘may save one’. [I like this one particularly, because I’m so pleased to have understood it!]

2 A few days of prayer — nearly two weeks not available? (6)
NOVENA
NOVE is half of NOVEmber, so nearly two weeks. + NA [not available]: from the same root as November, a novena is ‘a devotion consisting of prayers or services on nine consecutive days’ [Collins]

3 Principle that’s moderate, or humble (6,4)
GOLDEN MEAN
GOLDEN [‘or’, in heraldry] + MEAN [humble] – one of my favourite clues

4 Dismiss such a political speech (5)
STUMP
Double definition: I thought the STUMP was the platform from which the speech was made, rather than the speech itself, but I found this, which shows that STUMP is being used as an adjective here – which the clue actually makes perfectly clear!  A second reference to cricket

5 Power of car, not new, in red (9)
PUISSANCE
[n]ISSAN [car minus n [new] in PUCE [red]

6 Bear child, last of three (4)
TOTE
TOT [child] + [thre]E

7 Repute reported to rival — one bottles it (3,2,3)
EAU DE VIE
Sounds like [reported] odour [reputation] + VIE [rival]

8 Lots here, very special, about the past (8)
SOTHEBYS
SO [very] S [special] round THE BY [the past]

13 Deception by defender is a dicey game (10)
BACKGAMMON
BACK [defender] + GAMMON [‘deceitful nonsense’ – Collins: a new definition for me]

15 Out of ministry, one inspiring run for presiding officer (9)
MODERATOR
MOD [Ministry of Defence] + ERATO [the Muse of love poetry – ‘one inspiring’] + R [run]

16 Tiny distance covered by which bird? (8)
WHINCHAT
INCH [tiny distance] in [covered by] WHAT [which]

17 Governing, managed to conceal source of riches — it’s invisible (8)
INFRARED
IN [governing] + FARED [managed] round R[iches]

19 Original function of a bear? (6)
URSINE
UR [original – a crossword favourite] + SINE [function]

20 The unemployed perpetrate devilries — I’ve kept clear (6)
IDLERS
Anagram [perpetrate?] of D[evi]LRIES minus [kept clear] ‘ive’

23 Agreeable remark about flipping reserve linesman (5)
YEATS
YES [agreeable remark] round reversal [flipping] of Territorial Army [reserve] for the Irish poet

24 Dark covering another setter while speaking (4)
PALL
Sounds like [while speaking] Paul [another setter]

36 comments on “Guardian 26,355 / Imogen”

  1. I enjoyed this one very much too! My favourites were 1d, 2d, 3d, 15d, 23d among others. In fact apart from 1ac which was my stand out favourite, I liked them all. Forgot again to look for a theme but then I usually do!

    Thx both!

  3. Hard work for me but managed to complete it. Very nice clueing. Favourites were WHINCHAT and HERBAL TEA. Many thanks to Imogen and Eileen.

  4. I found this very hard, especially for an Imogen; had to resort to cheat books today. A struggle to start and to finish.

    Thanks, Eileen, for several explanations.

  5. Thanks, Eileen.

    I found this very tricky, especially the NW quadrant, though MANAGES was an early entry. I spent far too long trying to justify GOLDEN RULE for 3d.

    Some excellent clues here. Imogen violates the unwritten rule ‘easy clue for unusual word’ in a few places (NOVENA, particularly, for me!). That isn’t a criticism, just my excuse for finding the puzzle more difficult than usual.

    My favourites were LIVED, HERBAL TEA, TODDLER and URSINE.

  6. Thanks for explanations, Eileen, as I put in several without parsing clue.
    I was completely defeated by 12ac, as I don’t recall having ever heard of Gene Vincent or the hit song.

  7. Thanks Imogen & Eileen. When you see Imo you know you’re in for a challenge and this was no exception.

    I suppose the UR- is the prefix? I needed Eileen’s extensive cricket knowledge to unravel MID-OFF. 😉 I thought of Gogh for Vincent before the PDM. I tried ‘forages’ for 1a at first.

    It always causes a smile when in the US they say: “We will be boarding the plane momentarily.” And they don’t like walking on the pavement.

    Never heard of HUNT AND PECK before. I liked the TODDLER with his cup of HERBAL TEA.

  8. Thanks to Eileen for the blog. You explained several where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    On 18 I read the first part of the clue to refer to a skilled typist which does not fit the answer. It does describe my use of the keyboard.

    On 2 I think that half of November is 15 days so greater than a fortnight.

  9. Like mant others, I found this tough (didn’t get close to finishing), but I’d agree that the clueing was precise enough.

    I’ve only recently begun playing backgammon and so I’m disappointed in not getting that one.

  10. Thanks for the Yeats reminder Eileen (and the blog). It prompted me to get the book down from the shelf and read the poem again. I found this the most enjoyable puzzle for some time.

  11. A good workout, with some lovely surfaces over precise clueing (eg 3d and 10a). My thanks to Imogen, and also to Eileen for explaining the wordplay of 15d – and the definition of 12a!

  12. A lovely puzzle – I found the bottom half especially fun. Thanks Eileen for the blog, and especially for the parsing 26a and 12a.

    Is it just me, or have other setters been making guest appearances in Guardian puzzles a lot recently?

  13. Thanks to Imogen for some very elegant misdirection, and Eileen for the parsing of 3d which entirely escaped me. I particularly liked 5a for the effective concealment of such a simple anagram. Also 19d for the utter bafflement it provoked on first reading! Good stuff all round.

  14. A couple of quite odd answer-words here, but not in Pasquale’s league, thankfully. The cluemanship (or cluewomanship, or cluepersonship) is pretty good too. I think 5 is a bit weird, in that it has the answer FOR the wordplay, and not the other way around, but 14 I can’t fault. Since when are double-definitions any more ‘cryptic’ than this?

  15. This was difficult, both to get started and to finish, but as inventive and entertaining as we’ve come to expect from Imogen. I had to resort to a bit of guess and check to get HUNT AND PECK, and only then saw INFRARED. Liked MID-OFF.

    Thanks to Imogen and Eileen.

  16. Tricky one today, and I failed on my famous Vincents, entering FETE in desperation. I’m very, very cross with myself.

    Like Gervase @5, I found the NW corner especially tough, not helped by lengthy attempted anagramisation of SUCH A at 4d. It eventually fell straight after MID-OFF, somehow.

  17. Hi chas @8 [I’ve been out since shortly after posting the blog]

    Re 2dn: when I solved this very early this morning, NOVE = half of November = nearly two weeks seemed to make sense! I think I must have been thinking of ‘near enough two weeks’.

  18. I think you have to read “nearly” differently – when approaching 14 from above (not below) you are nearly there when you get to 15, but maybe that’s too much of a stretch.

    GENE was my first in even though all of his hits were before I was born…

  20. Eileen thanks for your comment @17.

    Many thanks also for the link you provided. I checked my music collection and I have three CDs that include Be-Bop-a-Lula but this is the first time I’ve seen him doing it.

  21. Thanks Imogen and Eileen
    I too found this difficult, and nearly gave up in the NW – I needed computer help for NOVENA. However very satisfying, with lots of misleading clueing (quite a lot of which I needed Eileen’s help to elucidate).

    Favourites were GENE (when the penny dropped) and URSINE – I liked “bear” turning up with two very different meanings.

    I agree that “Captchas” seem to have been getting harder recently, so thankfully this one was ? + 1 = two – within my capabilities!

  23. GENE was the last one in even though I’d thought of it,rejected it as too low brow for the Guardian,then realised it couldn’t be anything else. None of his hits were before I was born I regret to say- but I digress. I found the puzzle quite difficult and had to guess some that I was unable to parse. I’d never heard of HUNT AND PECK or NOVENA,and I thought STUMP was a bit naughty.
    Thanks even though it kept me busy for longer than I’d expected.

  25. Hi Gasmanjack @24

    The homophone isn’t EAU DE VIE: it’s EAU DE [sounds like ‘odour’ – but not in rhotic accents] + VIE [to rival]

  26. Difficult but enjoyable. I also winced at “odour-vie” and I for one have never heard anyone described as a Balt. Did anyone else briefly consider CUBE for 6d?

  30. Hi gladys @26

    I’m sorry, I realise my comment @25 might still be ambiguous: VIE isn’t part of the homophone, as the position of ‘reported’ in the clue makes clear.

    I’ve never heard BALT in conversation, either, but I thought it was easily guessable and Chambers confirmed it: ‘a native or inhabitant of the Baltic provinces or states’.

    CUBE didn’t occur to me – but I can see where you’re coming from. 😉

  32. I thought 2d just referred to half a month. Never come across ‘hunt and peck’ before, but I suppose this is how people type these days rather than by trained touch-typing.

  33. Thanks Eileen,

    Very late on parade today as I have just completed this basking on the sundeck of the Bretagne – travelling from St Malo after a blissful ‘NOVE’ in France…so the paper was a day out of date.

    Certainly glad to find the grey matter still functioning enough to finish in one session – although I had to assume it was ‘NOVENA’, and was glad to have your parsing for ‘MODERATOR’, Eileen.

    Slightly sad to have to end our holiday, but how lovely to slide back into the crossword saddle…and this was a lovely one to come back to.

  34. Thanks Imogen and Eileen

    Got caught up on a busy end of the week last week and only got to this one late last night.

    It was another classic offering by Imogen with a wide range of clue types, a lot of wit and some pretty tricky parsing challenges.

    I also finished in the NW corner, with FINGERPOST (new to me), GOLDEN MEAN (also new to me) and MID-OFF (which I should’ve got much earlier) the last few in.

    Happy to get it all correct and parsed …

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