Gentle fun from Rufus…
…though as a non-white European 14dn felt slightly uncomfortable. Favourite was 23dn.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TOO MUCH |
In a sense the doctor was sent back as redundant (3,4)
=”redundant”. M[edical] O[fficer]=”doctor” reversed (“sent back”) and inside TOUCH i.e. “In a sense”
|
| 5 | REEFERS |
Sailors’ smokes (7)
=”Sailors”=midshipmen; =”smokes”=cigarettes containing marijuana
|
| 9 | OUTRE |
Extravagant version of true love (5)
=”Extravagant”. (true O)*, where O=”love”=zero
|
| 10 | SACKCLOTH |
Penitent habit of clergy after dismissal (9)
=”Penitent habit”. CLOTH=”clergy”, after SACK=”dismissal”
|
| 11 | BLUE PETER |
Boy looking sad, an indication of imminent departure (4,5)
=”an indication of imminent departure”, hoisted when a ship is about to set sail. BLUE=”sad”, PETER is the “Boy”
|
| 12 | LAYER |
Course for one in egg production (5)
=”Course”; =”one in egg production”
|
| 13 | ELBOW |
Drinking bender (5)
cryptic definition – your ELBOW bends as you drink
|
| 15 | TUCK BOXES |
They come to terms with cakes and sweets (4,5)
Cryptic definition – these are brought to school “terms with cakes and sweets”
|
| 18 | FORBIDDEN |
Not allowed in Bedford after work (9)
=”Not allowed”. (in Bedford)*
|
| 19 | ROLLS |
Posh vehicle for baker’s deliveries? (5)
=”Posh vehicle” (ROLLS Royce); =”baker’s deliveries”
|
| 21 | TRACE |
Record start of the event (5)
=”Record”. T[he]=”start of the”, plus RACE=”event”
|
| 23 | BLACK SPOT |
Dangerous situation that frightened a buccaneer to death (5,4)
=”frightened a buccanner to death” in Treasure Island. BLACK=”Dangerous” plus SPOT=”situation”
|
| 25 | HAYMAKERS |
Knockout blows for farm workers? (9)
=”Knockout blows”, =”farm workers”
|
| 26 | DROLL |
Funny to see a number walk like sailors (5)
=”Funny”. D=”a number”, 500 in Roman numerals, plus ROLL=”walk like sailors”
|
| 27 | DISPLAY |
Number I spread out for show (7)
=”show”. D=”Number” again, plus I, plus SPLAY=”spread out”
|
| 28 | SUSPEND |
We object during pay out to hold up (7)
=”hold up”. US=”We object” – the object pronoun form of the subject pronoun “We” – inside SPEND=”pay out”
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | TROUBLE |
One may take it to avoid it (7)
cryptic def – one may take TROUBLE to avoid TROUBLE
|
| 2 | OUTNUMBER |
Be more than an issue after being made public (9)
=”Be more than”. NUMBER=”issue”, after OUT=”made public”
|
| 3 | USE UP |
Exhaust advice on employment of umbrellas (3,2)
=”Exhaust”; =”advice on employment of umbrellas”
|
| 4 | HESITATED |
Was indecisive, because the date is wrong (9)
=”Was indecisive”. (the date is)*
|
| 5 | RECUR |
Come again about a dog (5)
=”Come again”. RE=”about” plus CUR=”dog”
|
| 6 | EXCALIBUR |
Brand associated with Arthur (9)
cryptic definition – “Brand” in the sense of ‘sword’
|
| 7 | EBONY |
Wood sculpted by one (5)
=”Wood”. (by one)*
|
| 8 | SPHERES |
Fields of activity of all round significance (7)
=”Fields of activity”, with a cryptic allusion to SPHERES being “all round”.
|
| 14 | WHITEHALL |
European lobby in British government? (9)
=”British government”. WHITE=”European”[?], plus HALL=”lobby”
|
| 16 | CANVASSES |
Solicits votes for an artist’s works (9)
=”Solicits votes”; =[used] “for an artist’s works”
|
| 17 | XYLOPHONE |
Oxyphenol derivative that is used by wood tappers (9)
=”used by wood tappers”. (Oxyphenol)* – Oxyphenol is apparently a “phenol [caustic compound] produced by the distillation of catechin; oxyphenic acid or pyrocatechin.”
|
| 18 | FETCHED |
Got key cut (7)
=”Got”. F=[musical] “key” plus ETCHED=”cut”
|
| 20 | SETTLED |
Paid as agreed (7)
=”Paid”; =”agreed”
|
| 22 | ABYSS |
In the bay, wrecked ship sunk deep (5)
=”deep”. (bay)*, plus SS=”ship”
|
| 23 | BEEFY |
Muscular like some bully? (5)
=”Muscular”. ‘bull’ to BEEF as “bully” to BEEFY
|
| 24 | KUDOS |
Rising United Kingdom party’s prestige (5)
=”prestige”. UK, reversed (“Rising”) plus DO’S=”party’s”
|
Thanks Rufus and manehi
I found the LHS harder than the right, and didn’t understand the “white” of WHITEHALL – if manehi’s parsing is the correct one, I agree that it is a poor clue.
22d doesn’t seem to follow the “rules” – “in” should be a containment indicator, and what’s the “sunk” for?
I liked FORBIDDEN.
Me too on WHITEHALL and ABYSS. With the former, I’d assumed I’d missed something till I came here. This is the Guardian after all, not that it would be better anywhere else.
Otherwise a very quick single-sitting solve, just the tiniest of hold-ups in the SW.
Thank you Rufus and manehi
Re 14d, the police ethnicity codes IC1 and 2 are “white, European”
Thanks Rufus; I thought this was more straightforward than usual.
Thanks manehi – I agree that European=white is wrong and might be offensive.
Muffin @1 – I see what you mean, but I think the construction is that the SS ‘sunk’ [i.e. was below] after the bay wrecked.
Did anyone else try ‘straw’ for 13? I particularly liked TUCK BOXES, SUSPEND [is ‘we object’ a known trick?] and XYLOPHONE.
14dn was indeed a strange clue for the Guardian. As far as 22dn is concerned “in” doesn’t always have to be a containment indicator, and here it is used purely to indicate the introduction of the wordplay. Sunk is there to help the surface reading, and “sunk deep” just about works as the definition, although “sunken deep” would probably be a better way of saying it. Having said that, it could just be there to indicate that the ship is under the anagram fodder.
Did anyone else try “straw” for 13a?
Are all Europeans white, anyway?
Shirl @3, indeed some Europeans are white, and hence need a coding, but the point is that ‘European’ is not synonymous with white. The UK census has a tick box for ‘White British’ in the same way.
Thanks Rufus and manehi
Quite enjoyed this with several cute and witty clues – 3d, 15a, 23a and 6d (once you understood ‘brand’.
I didn’t know that BRAND was a type of sword.
TRACE was the last one in – and took an age to spot the T RACE construction.
From Chambers for WHITE: “3. (sometimes cap) belonging to one of the pale-skinned, specif European races.”
In purely linguistic terms, it’s perhaps debatable if the above allows EUROPEAN to define WHITE suitably. But were I setting, I’d have steered clear of it. Interestingly, Chambers also has for WHITE “21. In continental Europe, anti-revolutionary (politics)”. So the clue might be amended easily to be less controversial, although perhaps at the expense of solvability.
The usual gentle, though pleasant, outing from Rufus; many thanks to setter and blogger! I enjoyed the puzzle (but, like some others, I wasn’t too happy with 14 down).
I had a slightly different parsing to 23 down. I thought of “bully beef” (canned corned beef as eaten, for example, in the trenches in WW1); so “bully” could be made of beef and hence be “beefy”?
I accept that the parsing Manehi gives is very similar (and may well be what Rufus intended anyway).
Thanks Rufus and manehi
I was brought to a stop at WHITEHALL, and could see no other parsing. John Appleton @10 might have found a way around the problem, and Rufus may have used European in that sense.
Shirl @3, Trailman @8. I cannot see why anyone needs a colour code. The UK is the only country in Europe to have introduced ethnic categories (colour included) in the census (Race Relations Act 1976, supposedly to help fight against racial discrimination).
Rick @11 — your parsing of 23 down was the one I went for, not least because it sounds typically Rufus.
I don’t get “roll” meaning “walk like sailors”. Sure, their ships can roll, but is “rolling” also defined somewhere as the gait of jolly jack tars compensating for such motion?
I’m glad others have questioned European=White – it might have been acceptable in colonial India 70 years ago, but it can’t be PC these days and I think the editor should have picked it up. As for the rest of the crossword, I thought it was one of the easier ones we’ve seen from Rufus recently – last in FETCHED.
Thanks to manehi adn Rufus
Barry R @14. When one travelled by sea in the past ships rolled a lot (no real stabilisers). The only way to stay upright was to have one’s legs slightly apart and to sway in the opposite direction. When one went ashore one rolled when walking for several days before readjusting to terra firma, hence a sailor’s roll.
Thanks Rufus and manehi.
I put ‘TICK BOXES’ in 15 across, thinking ‘They come to terms’ was a clever definition for such, but I couldn’t fathom the wordplay… and no wonder! 🙂
XYLOPHONE was my favourite clue – lovely definition.
I also parsed BEEFY the same way as Rick @11 and raised an eyebrow at ‘European’ = WHITE. I suppose if one considers origins it’s technically correct, but it doesn’t really make sense in the modern world. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it ‘offensive’ though.
My goodness! Is the lad feeling alright? A user friendly grid?
Just thought I’d balance out the usual moans about grid choice 🙂
Good afternoon everyone and thank you manehi.
Nuff said on White = European, probably.
Really enjoyed ELBOW – great fun, and it was nice to see an anagram for XYLOPHONE.
I do believe Rufus is honing his art; ABYSS may not be among his finest moments but long may he ease us into the week.
Nice week, all.
14d, could Rufus use York lobby to signify WHITE (from the Wars of the Roses)?
I didn’t-and don’t- have a problem with WHITEHALL and I’m rather surprised that others seem to. I did pause over ABYSS but on reflection I came to the same conclusion as Andy B. I liked XYLOPHONE and ELBOW. I thought this was quite straightforward but enjoyable. My last in was FETCHED.
Thanks Rufus.
6d, did anyone else notice the connection between (Russell) Brand and the 2011 remake of the film Arthur? If you haven’t seen it, my advice would be don’t!
Thanks all
Don’t shoot the messenger! My comment @3 is merely reporting a fact. The police do equate “white” with “European” in their IC codes. I don’t comment on the correctness of that.
Re white European – my point was not that I was offended (as a white European I wouldn’t be) but that such a usage would not be acceptable elsewhere in a liberal newspaper such as the Guardian, and could easily be seen as offensive by others, so allowing it shows poor editorial judgment.
In Indonesia many years ago, I heard a non-white European struggle to convince the locals that he was European. “Not all Europeans are white” did not translate well since the Indonesian for European was “orang putih” which is literally “white person”. I just checked with Google Translate and it gives me “orang Eropa” for European, it seems that Indonesian has become more PC in the last few decades. Maybe it was at the time in the big cities but we were far from a big city.
By the way, this “orang” is the same as in orang utan which is literally man of the forest.
@20, a “York lobby” would be quite feasible at the moment. Apparently the Yorkists fear an elaborate Richard III burial next year could reignite War of the Roses.
Shirl @ 23, no shooting intended, my post @12 to you and Trailman @8 was just for your information. Thought the convention was to use Caucasian for white European. Again this is just for information.
Shirl @23, the police ethnicity codes were changed in 2003, IC1 white person, IC2 Mediterranean person.
Could someone give an example of “Brand” used ‘in the sense of ‘sword’, please?
It’s where we get “brandish” from – see the derivation here for an example.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brandish
From Tennyson’s ‘Morte d’Arthur’:
‘So flash’d and fell the brand Excalibur:
But ere he dipt the surface, rose an arm
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,
And caught him by the hilt, and brandish’d him
Three times, and drew him under in the mere.
And lightly went the other to the King.’
Well, thanks Eileen and muffin. I’m not sure I’d have understood what ‘the brand Excalibur’ meant and I don’t suppose I’ve ever wondered where ‘brandish’ came from.
Now I’m wondering how I can slip it into a conversation as if everyone should know it…
Thanks to all. Could someone please tell me why “course” is “layer”?
crosser @ 33
as in a “course of bricks”
Thanks, Muffin, I didn’t know that!
And damp-proof course of course.
Rufus on good form here I thought – and nothing too eccentric.
Fun and gentle with a few standouts as already mentioned by others.
Of course, the world contains, in addition to non-white Europeans, non-European whites. Not like that clue needs any further abuse. But I’m pasty-faced, practically pallid–and my nearest ancestor on any side who was actually born in Europe (or the adjacent isles) was six generations back.
Bless you mrpenney. I too am non-European white, five generations back on my father’s side. I guess Rufus came up for some “teasing” if he was red haired when younger. His clue was made in all innocence.
I was a bit bemused by canvasses. Surely the artist’s variety has only one ‘s’?
Yeah, bemusing indeed: the verbs are canvas and canvass, according to some dictionaries.
European = white gets that question-mark, we may suppose, as nothing else in the clue appears to be contentious. To be fair there was of course ‘Gosh! A black man!’ (= GOLLY/ WOG) in The Times, but that was back just after Shakespeare called his Othello a black ram and a barbary horse. The New Critical justification for all that is hilarious, where being black is okay so long as, if you suddenly become white, your facial features can still allow you to look ‘noble’. De good ole Arden Shakespeare!
(Look out Caliban, here it comes.)
Thanks, rinsp3 @ 36 if you’re still there, I did know that usage and should have remembered it!