Guardian 26,443 – Rufus

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I found this harder than usual for a Rufus, perhaps because of the generous (some might say excessive) number of cryptic (7) and double (5) definitions. The NE corner held was the last to fall. Thanks to Rufus.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. CONTENDER One who struggles to steer a boat (9)
CON (to steer – as in conning tower) + TENDER (a small boat towed by another)
6. AMPS A chemist using current measures (4)
A + MPS (Member of the Pharmaceutical Society)
8. DRAMATIC Sort of society in which people want to take part? (8)
Cryptic definition referring to (usually amateur) dramatic societies
9. FAMISH What you shouldn’t do with a thousand fish around (6)
A + M in FISH, with the whole clue acting as definition
10. RODNEY British admiral gives stick to French marshal (6)
ROD + Marshal NEY, a crossword favourite. I hadn’t heard of Admiral RODNEY: he was active in the American War of Independence
11. AIRSTRIP Side passage for those taking flight? (8)
AIR (side, as as “putting on airs”) + STRIP (passage)
12. USHERS Guides woman’s place in American society (6)
HER in US S
15. MONORAIL Transport system invented by a one-track mind? (8)
Cryptic definition
16. CLEAR-CUT It’s plain to see it’s a terribly cruel act (5-3)
(CRUEL ACT)*
19. EXHUME To do this illegally is a grave offence (6)
Cryptic definition
21. FALL FLAT Don’t drop round — it will produce no response (4,4)
To FALL FLAT is, I suppose, what you do if you don’t “drop round”
22. EQUITY Union left got in extremely easily (6)
QUIT in E[asil]Y
24. ELISHA Samuel’s teacher has turned out to be a prophet (6)
ELI (Samuel’s teacher in the OT) + HAS*
25. NAUTICAL A lunatic, crazy about the sea (8)
(A LUNATIC)*
26. ISIS Divinity course at Oxford (4)
Double definition – Egyptian goddess, and part of the Thames at Oxford
27. EXCEPTION Omission that may be taken as an offence (9)
Double definition – to take exception may be to take offence
Down
1. CARGO Vehicle to travel as freight (5)
CAR + GO
2. NOMINEE He must have a supporter and may get one in me (7)
(ONE IN ME)*
3. ENTRY Record number starting school? (5)
Double definition
4. DECLAIM Inveigh against medical treatment (7)
MEDICAL*
5. REFERENCE Testimonial for a source (9)
Double definition
6. AMMETER It goes with the flow (7)
Cryptic definition – an ammeter “goes” (i.e. works) with the flow of electric current. Perhaps a bit unhelpful that the first letter of this answer is also the A of AMPS in 6a
7. PESSIMISM Not thinking much of the future? (9)
Cryptic definition
13. SYLLABLE One has one of them, another three (9)
The word “one” has one syllable, and “another” has three
14. SICK LEAVE An off break? (4,5)
Cryptic definition – a break when you’re feeling a bit “off”
17. ATLASES Collected books of maps at jumble sales (7)
AT + SALES*
18. TITANIC It’s flipping Brown in charge — what a disaster! (7)
IT< + TAN + IC
20. HOUDINI He escaped to become famous (7)
Cryptic definition
22. EQUIP Fit of wild pique (5)
PIQUE*
23. TWAIN He wrote books in two parts (5)
Double definition

35 comments on “Guardian 26,443 – Rufus”

  2. Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    As is often the case, I used the check button a lot (can it really be that? – it always was!). I too found the NE hardest, and was baffled by the wordplay for AMPS even after solving. AMMETER I thought was a poor clue, and I didn’t think you could “famish” (“be famished” yes.)

    Not really a criticism, but there were several “general knowledgy” clues – 24a, 26a and 10a for instance (the latter I knew from a nearby pub name, and also when I lived in London we were in the ROD(ney) telephone area while letter codes were still used).

    MONORAIL is one rail, certainly, but is it “one track”?

    Favourites were 17d and 18d, though the latter would have been more topical a few years ago.

  3. I found this harder than Rufus normally is. The only clue I didn’t really like was 16a – it would be better without the “it’s a”, I think, as it really requires “terrible” rather than “terribly” for the cryptic reading to work (“It’s a terrible x” could obviously indicate an anagram of x but “it’s a terribly x” is bizarre.). Without the “it’s a”, “Terribly cruel act, it’s plain to see” works perfectly so I’m not sure what happened here – it certainly made it harder, if that was the intention. Otherwise I enjoyed this, including the oblique CDs, all of which slotted in comfortably after a bit more than the usual amount of staring and headscratching.

    By the way, I didn’t think of this at the time but I think 11a (AIRSTRIP) must be side=AIRS and passage=TRIP (as in Passage to India etc.)

    @2
    Famish for “be extremely hungry” is the non-obsolete version according to the ODE. “Famish” meaning “to make hungry” is listed as “archaic”. Confusingly, as you say, “to be famished” is still common. Such linguistic fastidiousness – it’s too creative to be called pedantry – is far more common in Rufus than some people seem to realise.

  4. Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    This seemed quite sophisticated for a Rufus. I could not parse 6a, AMPS, first guessed ohms, nor the CON in CONTENDER. I liked SYLLABLE, EXCEPTION and SICK LEAVE

  5. Thank you Andrew and good morning everyone.

    For me, the slightly curious linguistic use of FAMISH is the essence of why Rufus’s clueing is sometimes difficult. It’s perfectly correct, but unusual, and it sometimes takes me ages before the penny drops.

    For me, Rufus has refined his style over the years and is now a most accomplished setter.

    What do we think the ‘?’ is doing in ENTRY? I felt the clue worked perfectly well without it.

    Don’t really understand FALL FLAT, Andrew, perhaps someone else can explain.

    Thank you, Rufus, nice week all.

  6. Muffin @2 – clever thought re one-track, and I think you are quite right, but perhaps the ‘?’ let’s the setter of the hook.

  7. Thanks Rufus & Andrew.

    A four-in-one puzzle with the NE last to fall, as Andrew’s experience.

    I think AIRSTRIP is probably best parsed as Herb @3 has done.

    As Andrew said, the large number of cds and dds made this quite a tricky solve. I too used the Check button quite a lot to assure me that I had the correct answer.

    I liked SYLLABLE & TITANIC.

  8. Thanks, Andrew.

    Relatively tricky for me also.

    My favourites were also SYLLABLE and TITANIC.

    LOI was AMMETER – I had thought of it earlier, but was unsure until I had all the crossers as the clue was vague. On the other hand, I had no problem with AMPS, which was a write-in – though as a (real!) ‘chemist’, it has always mildly irritated me that this term is generally used instead of the more accurate ‘pharmacist’.

  10. 16A does not work by reason of cryptic grammar at the moment, although Herb’s suggestion would solve it I think – ‘a terrible cruel act’ would be one example of a jumbling of those letters. Usual Guardian ‘make the surface work at all costs’ stuff. You get that in Rufus all the time.

  11. Mind you, we could always write it properly:

    Cruel act, terrible, is plain to see (8)

    I still hate it though. It’s depressing.

  12. 16a was 16a for me – first in, spotted it straight away.

    Only completed about half of this, some due to obscurities (or at least words I didn’t know), some were my own fault and seem obvious now.

    SYLLABLE was very good, though.

  13. I remember “syllable” being clued in previous Graun puzzle (20 or 30 years ago?) as “one has one, another has three”.

  15. Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    Agree that Rufus has consistently lifted over the past little while – not necessarily by getting harder, but just better quality – am really enjoying his puzzles. SYLLABLES was my favourite in this – closely followed by SICK LEAVE.

    First in was 1d and last in was 2d (in which I didn’t see the anagram for ages – and yet it looks so simple in hindsight). Hadn’t heard of Admiral RODNEY and this context of FAMISH.

  16. I am with Herb @3 re. parsing of 11ac, with William @5 in not really understanding 21a FALL FLAT, and with Muffin @2 in having used the check button to verify that I had really completed the whole thing correctly (I had done).

  18. Count me as another who found this more difficult than Rufus usually is. Last in was RODNEY, but have no excuses for that since I used to drink in an Admiral Rodney when I was a teenager. Couldn’t parse AIRSTRIP so thanks for that. Liked TITANIC.

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus.

  20. In reply to William@5 I think the ‘?’ In 3d refers to schools having 30pupils coming in at start of year in each classe.g. 4 form ENTRY= 120 pupils in the year group.

  21. I agree that this was harder than usual for Rufus and there were those I got but found difficult to justify as a result of my inability to parse-AIRSTRIP,FAMISH and ENTRY. The first two I now see are rather clever now the parsing has been explained. ENTRY I thought rather poor,as was s CONTENDER. I loved FALL FLAT though.
    Not my favourite Rufus but we all complain when they’re “too easy” don’t we?

  22. I also found this tougher than usual for Rufus, and enjoyed it all the more for it. The only one I failed to parse myself was 11a, as I was unfamiliar with that meaning for ‘side’.

    Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

  23. Walpip @20 – thank you. I see what you mean but ENTRY is still perfectly valid for “number starting school”. I still see no need for the ‘?’.

    Hey-ho, only a minor observation in an otherwise good crossword.

  24. dnf. put historism in at 7dn which made that corner impossible. amps seemed like it was likely but never heard of mps. oh well

  25. Occasional highlights like (last in) SYLLABLES but dodgy clues like FAMISH detract. Didn’t help myself though by entering FRIENDLY early on at 8a.

  26. I understand why Rufus uses so many Cryptic Definitions – they are his ‘calling card’ really. I don’t think any other setter would come up with “Not thinking much of the future? (9)” for PESSIMISM. For me they do have a certain charm in that they are so close to being straight definitions, and yet just sufficiently out of reach to hold you up for a minute. I think the joy for him is in deliberately seeing just how close to a straight definition he dares make it while still providing a challenge; and the joy for the solver is in not being able to believe that it could have held you up at all!

  27. William @ 5 and John E @ 16 – 21ac if you “don’t drop round”, then you “fall flat”! A comment would “fall flat” if “it will produce no response”.

    I struggled with 6ac, thinking it may be an abbreviation of “imps”, for imperial measure, with the “i” for current, and “mps” for chemist, as explained by Andrew – the weak clue (I felt) for 6dn did not help!

    I failed on 11ac, creating the (appropriate?) asset for an aircraft, an “airstair”! I think Herb @ 3 has the correct parsing.

    With thanks to Rufus and Andrew

  28. Completed but felt that there were too many UK specific answers – Rodney, Amps, Isis and Equity – though could be guessed from wordplay…..6D clue is weak as well. Liked 13D. Thanks to Andrew, and Rufus.

  29. ilippu @28 – I’m afraid that’s what you should expect from crosswords which are primarily designed for inclusion in British newspapers – you are lucky that the Guardian chooses to make them freely available…

  30. A conning tower isn’t for steering it’s for peering. i.e. providing the captain with the visibility needed to advise the helmsman, who in turn does the steering.
    To say that if you don’t “drop round” then you must “fall flat” is a justification too far. You could drop (or fall) in, or out or back, to name but three.

  35. Even though I completed this without use of the Check button or the Web I still think it was the worst Rufus for a long while.

    So many dodgy clues and so many just plain wrong! They have all been pointed out already.

    This would be almost impossible if one didn’t know Rufus and realised that the improbable/incorrect answers are probably what is required.

    I still hold that this sort of puzzle is the worst grounding for a beginner in cryptics!

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus.

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