Guardian 26,496 by Rufus

by

Pleasant Monday fun from Rufus – favourites were 13ac, 3dn and 5dn.

Across
1 MAKE THINGS CLEAR
Explain what spectacles do (4,6,5)

=”Explain”; also =”what spectacles do”
9 GOOD LOSER
He won’t complain when he gets a beating (4,5)

Cryptic definition – not a physical beating
10 CLOUT
Look into TUC backing strike (5)

=”strike”. LO=”Look”=’see over there!’, inside a reversal (“backing”) of TUC
11 ELEGIAC
Upsets Alice, for example, describing poetry (7)

can describe some poems. (ALICE e.g.)*, where e.g.=”for example”
12 APPOINT
Designate a quiet period (7)

=”Designate”. A plus P[iano]=”quiet” plus POINT=”period”
13 TUG
A tower of strength (3)

Cryptic def: a tugboat is a tow-er, something that tows (rhymes with lower rather than sour)
14 INSISTS
Demands its sins be found out (7)

=”Demands”. (its sins)*
17 EAT INTO
Use up waste (3,4)

=”Use up”=consume=”waste”
19 CAPITAL
Major city investment (7)

=”Major city”; =”investment”
22 OTHELLO
Look after new hotel for one who couldn’t trust his wife (7)

=”one who couldn’t trust his wife” in Shakespeare’s tragedy. LO=”Look” (again!), after (hotel)*
24 YAP
Pay back, but not in silence, apparently (3)

=”not in silence”. Reversal (“back”) of PAY
25 MARCONI
He had signal success at the end of the nineteenth century (7)

Cryptic def – Guglielmo Marconi [wiki] was responsible for developing wireless telegraphy at the end of the 1800s – hence success with signals themselves, rather than “signal” meaning ‘remarkable’
26 ERRATIC
Man going around desert, wandering (7)

=”wandering”. ERIC=”Man”, around RAT=”desert”=’switch sides’
28 ABOUT
Sailor dismissed roughly (5)

=”roughly”. A[ble]-B[odied seaman]=”Sailor”, plus OUT=”dismissed”
29 GLISSANDO
Series of notes for musician to travel around new islands (9)

=”Series of notes for musician”. GO=”travel” around (islands)*
30 STAMPING GROUNDS
Favourite places for having tantrums? (8,7)

=”Favourite places”; might also be the places where you STAMP during tantrums.
Down
1 MAGNETIC COMPASS
Attractive range shown in traveller’s guide (8,7)

=”traveller’s guide”. MAGNETIC=”Attractive”; plus COMPASS=”range”
2 KRONE
In Denmark Ron exchanges local money (5)

=”local money” in Denmark. Hidden in [Denmar]K RON E[xchanges]
3 TALLIES
Agrees to put the lot in bonds (7)

=”Agrees”=corresponds to. ALL=”the lot”, inside TIES=”bonds”
4 INSECTS
Possibly flies in groups (7)

=”Possibly flies”. IN plus SECTS=”groups”
5 GARBAGE
Refuse to dress on time (7)

=”Refuse”. GARB=”dress” plus AGE=”time”
6 COCKPIT
Where feathers used to fly (and pilots still do) (7)

=a pit where game cocks would have fought; also =[Where] pilots [fly]
7 EMOTIONAL
Rational converse? (9)

cryptic def, =the opposite of “Rational”, rather than converse meaning ‘conversation’
8 ROTATION OF CROPS
Revolutionary system for increasing the harvest (8,2,5)

cryptic def – Revolutionary hinting at ROTATION as well as a significant change
15 SUPERNOVA
Brilliant new star explodes onto the scene (9)

=”star explodes onto the scene”. SUPER=”Brilliant”; plus NOVA=”new” in Latin
16 TEA
What a caddy carries (3)

cryptic def – a caddy is a container for tea, as well as someone assisting a golfer
18 APT
A small point, but appropriate (3)

=”appropriate”. A, plus P[oin]T=”small point”
20 TWO-STEP
Pas de deux? (3-4)

cryptic def – a dance in 2/4 time, rather than a dance for two.
21 LYING-IN
Not coming out with the truth, when having a baby (5-2)

=”having a baby”, giving birth. A cryptic opposite of “coming out [vs IN] with the truth [vs LYING]”.
22 OPENING
Moves at first opportunity (7)

=the early stages of a game=”Moves at first”; also =”opportunity”
23 HERE’S TO
How to start a toast for heroes, perhaps — about time! (5,2)

=”How to start a toast”. (heroes)* around T[ime]
27 TENON
Saw no clear profit rise (5)

=a type of cutting saw. Reversal (“rise”) of all of: NO plus NET=”clear profit”

40 comments on “Guardian 26,496 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks, manehi.

    I found this very easy, under 10′, equalling my pb, set for an Altair forty nine years ago.

    I liked 30ac.

    Doing this on line, I accidentally missed seeing all the 3 letter clues first time through

  2. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    The only problems I had with this were having to check (e.g. YAP) because of thinking “Can it really be that simple?” The only non-write-in was EAT INTO, for which I needed the crossers – still not sure why it means “waste”. I’ve only heard “crop rotation”; “rotation of crops” seems to be an unnecessarily verbose way of describing the concept.

    SUPERNOVA was a bit unsatisfactory as a “nova” (from the Latin, of course) is a “new star”; i.e. one that has suddenly become bright enough to see. A supernova is just an extreme example of this, in which the star has exploded.

    I did like GLISSANDO.

  3. Very easy even by Rufus standards – it’s not often I finish one before getting to the office, but all quite pleasant – liked COCKPIT and TUG, last in HERE’S TO.

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi

  4. Like muffin, I also couldn’t quite believe YAP, and didn’t really understand EAT INTO. But enjoyable Rufusian stuff as usual. Favourites were STAMPING GROUNDS and COCKPIT.

  5. Good morning everyone and thanks for the blog manehi. Must be my fastest ever solve.

    Had to check OPENING for “moves” plural, but Chambers has it clearly as “a series of moves to start a game {of chess}.

    Had all 4 perimeter clues first then worked in to the centre. Never been able to do this before.

    Even the Captcha followed the theme…1+1!

    Nice week, all.

  6. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Agree that this was at the easy end of Rufus … and an unusual grid for him.

    Had EAT INTO as a very close double definition:
    (1) to use a large part of something valuable (e.g. savings);
    (2) a cost that is more than intended or budgeted. (is that really waste ?)

    Hadn’t seen that definition of LYING IN before – these days the mums are kicked out of public hospitals in close to 24 hours after delivery here.

  7. Thanks Rufus and manehi,

    New word (or one forgotten) was a TENON saw. Some funny groans TEA, TUG, YAP …
    I did like STAMPING GROUND, MAGNETIC COMPASS and COCKPIT.

  8. Well that was straightforward, none of my usual hanging around with dodgy cds and dds, though EMOTIONAL was my last in. Can’t remember when I last saw this grid, but I quite like it, or at least I do when the 15s come out easily.

    Agree with the growing trend re YAP (I had to check it too, just in case) and SUPERNOVA.

    William @5, my captcha is two x 1 … do they subconsciously pick up on the difficulty of the crossword?

  9. Finished which means it must have been pretty simple for that to happen. Agree with #2 muffin about it not being the usual way to describe planting onions in a different place each year and 6d made me smile which probably makes me a bad person. Thanks to setter and solver.

  10. Thanks Rufus, nice Monday puzzle.

    Thanks manehi, I seem to be in a minority in not filling the perimeter until nearly the end. I too had to check that YAP was the correct answer.

    I liked STAMPING GROUNDS & COCKPIT.

  12. Thank you Rufus and manehi. Glad no one has put in the boot or put the boot in this week.
    Liked ELEGIAC as I have a daughter of that name, plus TUG, STAMPING GROUNDS and MAGNETIC COMPASS.TENON new on me.

  13. Your honor, please let the record reflect a continuing objection to all clues in which “man” is used to refer to any of the thousands of male first names that are in common usage. That today’s version (“Eric” in the word “erratic”) could easily be reverse-engineered from what was an obvious answer does not excuse the phenomenon. Next week it’ll be Ed, maybe, and the week after–who knows? Dan? Algernon? Xavier? Khalil? How do we guess?

  16. Beery hiker @ 15. Touché. We did consider ELEGIAC as a first name but worried that people would find it a challenge to spell like RCW @11. So Alice it was and is.

  17. Nothing much to add really. A typical Rufus: enjoyable enough but quite a quick solve. Liked GLISSANDO and CLOUT. Surely the use of MAN for a variety of male names isn’t a problem?
    Just saying.

  18. Thanks manehi and rufus for a pleasant solve. Agree with mrpenney#13 about ‘man’ at 26a. I was trying to shoehorn ‘nomadic’ in!

  19. Well, I did not find it all easy, although some answers came quickly. I hope this does not make me unwelcome in this ‘community’…So, might I just say as one new to cryptics, although I find this site very useful in learning and doing them , the tone of some remarks seems to me sometimes rather off-putting, and the content dispiriting. Especially when I have been struggling. Of course, everyone needs to feel able to say what they want to each other, and what they really think; but at the same time no-one likes to be made to feel a fool or stupid! Maybe some of you could bear that in mind? Just saying and asking, as they say…

  21. Fayol @19
    Do you do the online Guardian Quiptic? A new one is published every Monday. They are good practice. Today’s, I think, is more fun than this Rufus.

  22. Names are a nightmare in puzzles, aren’t they? Bit like ‘note’ or whatever. Which one IS it? And, of course, like playing ‘spot the abbreviation’ in papers that do not restrict their compilers to a list of same. The Times does I know, but I don’t think any of the others do. If you know different please say.

    ‘Hoggy’

  23. Fayol @19, I did not find it all easy either, I have to use the check button. If I get really stuck I put the vowels in, to try and deduce the answer, then parse backwards. The Everyman is often good and I can usually finish it on the Sunday it is published without aid, but it takes me three hours. I have been doing cryptics for about 6 months now.

  24. I enjoyed this. I am ashamed to say I didn’t finish it. I missed 17a. I put in rotation of crops (one of the first in) but when I saw that this made 17a end in “O” I changed it to rotating of crops. DOH!!

    I liked 4d.

    It isn’t just me then that finds some bloggers’ boasts annoying.

  25. To be fair to the ‘old hands’, if you’ve done a lot of crosswords over a lot of years, you end up talking a different language because of the known knowns. It is interesting to note that no one has actually (seriously) criticised Rufus this week because it was basically a totally fair crossword using a lot of age-old conventions that the old hands will have spotted even before they had finished reading the clue.

    So, for the old hands, “fair but easy”. Even Ol’ Hoggy seems benignly content, quite a rarity!

    To JohnM & Fayol; yes, of course this blog must seem like a closed club sometimes but, speaking for myself at least, I love to hear from people who perhaps haven’t come across the conventions and, where I can, I’ll explain. Mind you, saddo that I am, 30 years ago when I lived in London and knew the tube backwards I used to hang around hoping to be asked directions!

    It’s like anything that you have done with practice and are discussing with others who are also well-practised, the language starts to get a bit complacent and jargonated. Please don’t let it put you off because with a very few exceptions on this site, I think it is fair to say we welcome newer solvers with open arms.

    If you can, why not come to the Cambridge S&B meeting? See the FifteenSquared homepage. I am an old-ish hand and I’ll be coming for the first time, so I am just as scared!!!!

    Tim

  26. To the old hands who find Rufus on the simple side (as is intended, of course) I can recommend attempting completion without filling in the grid. Surprising how much harder it is sometimes to spot even straight forward solutions when you have to keep the crossers in mind.
    And in case the tone of my suggestion seems to be at the complacent end of the spectrum, it’s not meant as such. I just find it spices up what I anticipate will be a quick solve.

  27. DP @ 26

    When I was a commuter (on a train, not in a car) more years ago than I care to mention, I used to buy the paper in the morning and tackle the cryptic once I’d finished it or (more often) given up, stymied. I then turned to the quick, but as that was my then-wife’s domain I wasn’t allowed to fill it in, so I did it in my head. Not always easy, as you say. However there was the occasional satisfaction of being asked later “What’s 5D?” and giving the answer without being reminded what the clue was 🙂

  28. Sometimes I find Rufus’ clues quite sublime. 1d is an example: uncluttered; potentially misleading (MOUNTAIN = range, fitted for a while for the first word); ultimately spot on.

    thanks to manehi

  29. To all newcomers, you will improve only by constant comparison to others!
    Fifty years ago as a very junior teacher I stood at the periphery of the crowd round the old master who held the pen and paper.It was a rare day when I could be first to shout out a solution.
    But what satisfaction!!

  30. Peter @17, my complaint is that “man” for a man’s name is not nearly specific enough to narrow the field any. May as well define all of the words in the puzzle as “Word.”

    In American puzzles, the standard with names is to clue someone famous who has that name. For example, with today’s Eric, you could go with “Idle,” which has all kinds of fun possibilities. Or maybe “The Red.” Heck, I’d even take “Viking” for Eric (thinking of Eric the Red, or of Eric as generally a Viking name.)

    Sure, such clues may be easy, and may require you to know a few famous people. But at least they’re specific enough to give the solver some clue. Also, they show a little more creativity! I once did a U.S. cryptic that clued the letters ELLA as “scatter.” Which is awesome.

    I have less of a problem with things like “Point” to mean N,S,E, or W, since there are only four possibilities to run through. Even where “country” might be Mali, Madigascar, Macedonia, or Malawi—it’s hard to see how the setter could do that any better—and, hey, there are fewer than 200 countries to know. It’s a finite list, and you know what you have to do to solve. But “Man” for Al, Andy, Abe, Alan, Allen, Arthur, Artie, Archie, Andre, Antonio, Angelo, Antoine, Anton, Abelard, Alphonse…you get the idea.

  32. @30
    That really is a startlingly unpersuasive argument. Presumably if you ever came across the old favourite “flower” in a crossword clue (there are more than a million species, and it could mean river too, of which there are also thousands) your brain would explode.

  33. Mr Penney @30

    Your argument would seem to suggest that almost all cryptic clues are illegal. (Certainly all charade type clues anyway).

    Only the definition part of the clue needs to be vaguely rigorous, the rest is ,well, “cryptic”.

    In this case def is “wandering” so the answer definitely must mean that. The wordplay just says it’s a man about a desert. Doesn’t even have to be a man’s name as it could be a synonym for man. Also why not complain about “desert” as this could be the verb or a synonym for a very dry place or it’s name or part of a phrase involving desert etc etc etc.

    The only rule is that hopefully when the solver finally finds a word which matches the definition, the wordplay and the crossers it is unique.

    I wasn’t going to comment on this puzzle but as I’m here….

    Surely Rufus compiled this for the Beano or something similar and it somehow arrived at the Guradian? 😉

    I challenge anyone to find an easier puzzle that has been published in the “Cryptic” slot.

  34. A bit late but if anyone is still reading… On my way from Waterloo to St Thomas’s, there’s a building with “Lying In Hospital for Women” across the top

  35. Enjoyed this outing.

    Must admit, on this side of the pond at least, I learned the phrase as stomping grounds. Had to double check that there weren’t any words that could be SUPER-O-O. None found. Lots of times I have to shrug and tell myself, “Another day. Another phrase learned.”

    Thanks to both for my continuing education!

  37. Fayol @ 19 “the tone of some remarks seems to me sometimes rather off-putting, and the content dispiriting. Especially when I have been struggling.” I know what you mean, I often find this too, so my remark @1 was reporting an exception rather than a rule. Most of the time I take well over an hour to not quite complete them.

  39. [Steve @ 38
    I think that we may have played cricket together a few times then – you were (still are?) a slow-left-armer.

    I also played golf with your father at Royal North Devon once – that is, if you are who I think you are!]

Comments are closed.