Guardian 26,437 by Rufus

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A pleasant Monday solve from Rufus. I liked 5ac, 13ac, 27ac and 7dn.

Across
1 ADVANCE
Increase progress (7)
=”Increase”; =”progress”
5 ESSENCE
Concentration required when driving in France (7)
=a concentrated extract of a plant or similar; =petrol in French.
10 NIBS
His mock title for writers (4)
=”His mock title”; =the pointed end of pens=”writers”
11 ABSTEMIOUS
Sparing sort of item sailors ring us about (10)
=”Sparing”. (item abs O us)*, where ABs=”Able-bodied seamen” and O=”ring”
12 ADVENT
Notice split coming (6)
=”coming”. AD[vert]=”Notice”, plus VENT=”split”
13 CELERITY
Heartless person who’s well known for speed (8)
=”speed”. CELE[b]RITY
14 APPERTAIN
Relate to an unusual pet pirana (9)
=”Relate to”. (pet pirana)*
16 ENTRY
Gate for all competitors (5)
=”Gate”; =a list of “all competitors”
17 JEWEL
Brilliant combination of the Hebrew and the Spanish (5)
“Brilliant” is a certain cut of JEWEL. JEW=”Hebrew” plus EL=”the [in] Spanish”
19 AT PRESENT
Pat and Ernest have split up now (2,7)
=”now”. (Pat Ernest)*
23 VIRTUOSI
Visitor excited, being around Centre Court maestros (8)
=”maestros”. (Visitor)* around [Co]U[rt]
24 MADRID
It’s senseless to dispose of capital (6)
=”capital”. MAD=”senseless” plus RID=”dispose of”
26 FOUR-POSTER
Number given bill for sleeping accommodation (4-6)
=”sleeping accommodation”. FOUR=”Number” plus POSTER=”bill”
27 IBID
I make an offer in place of a previous quotation (4)
Short for ibidem (Latin), used to refer back to a previously cited piece of text. I plus BID=”make an offer”
28 SEA LORD
Naval man, quite the opposite of a landlady! (3,4)
=”Naval man”. SEA being the opposite of “land” and LORD of “lady”
29 LEAKAGE
A breach of security (7)
cryptic def? =the unauthorised sharing of restricted information.
Down
2 DRIED UP
Forgot production lines (5,2)
cryptic def – to have forgotten one’s lines in a theatrical production.
3 AISLE
Such a passage is a tissue of lies (5)
=”a passage”. “a” plus (lies)* – tissue can mean ‘to weave’
4 COAL TIT
Small bird needs tail bent when in bed (4,3)
=”Small bird”. (tail)* inside COT=”bed”
6 SHEILA
Australian girl gets German greeting in South Africa (6)
=”Australian girl”. HEIL=”German greeting” in S[outh] A[frica]
7 EMIGRANTS
They’ve left me staring in bewilderment (9)
=”They’ve left”. (me staring)*
8 CLUTTER
After class, complete confusion (7)
=”confusion”. CL[ass] plus UTTER=”complete”
9 PSYCHIATRISTS
Those with the mind to study say this script is flawed (13)
=”Those with the mind to study”. (say this script)*
15 ELECTORAL
Sort of roll (A-E etc) (9)
=”Sort of roll”. (roll A E etc)*
18 EPISODE
Part of the story is in verse (7)
=”Part of the story”. IS inside EPODE=a form of lyric “verse”
20 REMORSE
Pity the Royal Engineers have adopted the signallers’ system (7)
=”Pity”. R[oyal] E[ngineers] plus MORSE=”signaller’s system”
21 NAILING
Driving a point home, Newton is out of order (7)
=”Driving a point home”. N[ewton], plus AILING=”out of order”
22 HONOUR
Cash or credit? (6)
=fulfil an obligation=”Cash” [e.g. a cheque]; =to give “credit”/respect/admiration
25 DRINK
Tea and toast (5)
=”Tea”; =”toast” [to your health, etc]

25 comments on “Guardian 26,437 by Rufus”

  2. Thanks Rufus and manehi
    The NW was last to fall. I liked the same ones as you did, manehi; I didn’t like ADVANCE or HONOUR – in both cases I thought that the second definition was very loose.

  3. I don’t think 11 is an anagram of items + abs + o + us.

    It’s merely an anagram (“sort”) of ITEMS with ABS and O US around (“about”) it.

  5. Thanks Rufus for an enjoyable Monday solve.

    Thanks manehi for a good blog. Muffin @2 – my Oxford Thesaurus gives progress as the first synonym in: ‘our technology has advanced in the last few years.’ Collins gives honour=credit, although Oxford says it is archaic.

    I particularly liked CELERITY, SEA LORD and EMIGRANTS.

  6. Thanks Rufus and manehi.

    A very enjoyable puzzle. CELERITY surfaced from deep down and EPODE was either new or long forgotten.
    Liked ABSTEMIOUS, IBID, SEA LORD and REMORSE among others.

  8. Thanks both. This was on the more pleasant side of average for Rufus, though LEAKAGE wasn’t even cryptic, for me. Wasn’t sure about “tissue” as an anagrind so thanks for explaining that one.

    Curiously, five of my first six answers in were the across ones beginning with A, so I began to wonder if something was going on with those. Sadly not.

  10. Well there aren’t many words that fit *O*O*R so HONOUR will do. The sense of ‘credit’ is clear but not ‘cash’, at least to me. I suppose it’s based on ‘I promise to pay the bearer on demand’ as on bank notes. Today’s annoying Rufus clue.

  12. I got stuck with 25 and 29 unsolved and feel a little aggrieved – I don’t think “Tea” is a fair definition for DRINK. I thought 7d was excellent though, so that’s some compensation.

  13. Thanks all
    Usual Monday fare?
    I hesitated to write in honour but otherwise no problems.
    Hard to find anything topaise.

  14. Very normal. Very old-hat in style as usual.

    I quite like 5ac, but worry that it requires GK, or a deeper knowledge of a foreign language than one should really expect.

  15. Fairly typical Rufus – I quite enjoyed this – mostly straightforward but it took me a while to see my last in HONOUR.

    Thanks to manehi and Rufus

  16. I thought this ok. Fairly typical. I didn’t think much of DRINK or LEAKAGE. But otherwise much to enjoy.
    Thanks Rufus.

  17. It looks like “roll” is doing double duty in 15 dn.
    I’m not sure that “pity” and “remorse” are the same thing. Remorse is guilt surely.

  18. I found this more difficult than usual for Rufus and quite enjoyed it. Unlike others here I thought HONOUR was okay. The ‘cash’ meaning required a bit of lateral thinking but that’s not so unusual for double definition clues. I have to agree that LEAKAGE was barely even cryptic, though.

    Thanks Rufus and manehi.

  20. A rather uneven example of this master’s art.

    I agree with Cyborg about the &littishness of 15d, which was my favourite clue. I liked the concept and surface of 5a, but isn’t an ‘ESSENCE’ a ‘concentrate’ rather than a ‘concentration’ ?

  21. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Pleasant start to the week again here. Finished in the top right hand corner, with the clever CELERITY the last one in. Didn’t know the French meaning of ESSENCE prior to this.

    Thought 7d and 9d were among the best.

  23. tonyoz @22

    16ac is a Double Definition type clue which proivide 2 definitions of the answer.

    Answer is ENTRY which can be defined as

    GATE

    or

    NUMBER OF COMPETITORS

    manehi is saying this in his blog

    ENTRY =”Gate” ; =a list of “all competitors”

    the semi colon is denoting a list.

  25. No probs Tony.

    The fact that “Gate” had that other meaning so close to the meaning of “Entry” meant that the layout of the blog was open to misinterpretation.

    I’m sure you weren’t the only person to be confused.

    (No criticism of your blog manehi. It is as ever succinct and precise.)

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