Guardian 26,586 by Rufus

by

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

Straightforward and fun – favourites were 1ac, 11ac, 16ac. Thanks Rufus.

Across
1 RED ROSE
Symbol of English house wines (3,4)

=”Symbol of English house” of Lancaster. RED and ROSÉ are types of wine
5 DOMAIN
Estate of party chief (6)

=”Estate”. DO=”party”, plus MAIN=”chief”
10 EVEN
Still on level terms (4)

=”Still”; also =”on level terms”
11 ABOVE BOARD
It’s not beneath the directors, to be honest (5,5)

=”honest”. ABOVE=”not beneath”, plus BOARD=”the directors”
12 ELISHA
Sheila’s converted by this prophet (6)

=”prophet”. (Sheila)*
13 TEENAGER
Youngster ate green fresh product (8)

=”Youngster”. (ate green)*
14 APPEALING
A very quiet part of London that’s really attractive (9)

=”attractive”. A plus PP=pianissimo=”very quiet”, plus EALING=”part of London”
16 LILY
She’s not improved by the golden touch (4)

=”She”. Gilding the LILY with the touch of gold does nothing to improve it.
17 BASE / BASS
Very low perch (4)

=”Very low”; also =”perch”
18 STEVENAGE
Hertfordshire town just entering a period of growth (9)

=”Hertfordshire town”. EVEN=”just”, entering STAGE=”period of growth”
22 PLIMSOLL
Important shipping line (8)

Cryptic def – a line on the side of a ship marking the extent to which it should be loaded [wiki]

23 TIED UP
Engaged — or already married? (4,2)

=”Engaged” as in busy; also loosely =”married”
25 DOWNSTREAM
The current trend, naturally (10)

Cryptic def – the natural trend of a current goes DOWNSTREAM
26 ANTE
Dined about noon, or before (4)

=”before”. ATE=”Dined” around N[oon]
27 SAYING
Saw off the tongue (6)

Cryptic def – “Saw” as in cliché
28 INFERNO
The hell of inner turmoil (7)

=”hell”. (of inner)*
Down
2 ENVELOP
Pen love letters, perhaps, and enclose (7)

=”enclose”. (Pen love)*
3 RENTS
Payments of damages? (5)

=”Payments”; also =”damages” from rending
4 SEA WALL
Didn’t miss a thing about East coast defence (3,4)

=Coast defence. SAW ALL=”Didn’t miss a thing”, around E[ast]
6 OPENER
Tin or tape cutter? (6)

Double def: =”Tin… cutter”; also =”tape cutter” at the opening of a public building
7 ADORATION
Love a girl, one not otherwise engaged (9)

=”Love”. A, plus DORA=”girl”, plus (I not)* where I=”one”
8 NURSERY
Place or race for two-year olds (7)

Double def: a place for two year old children, or a race exclusively for two year old horses
9 FORTUNE-TELLER
One predicts there’ll be a lot of money on the counter (7-6)

=”One predicts”. FORTUNE=”a lot of money”, plus TELLER=”counter”
15 EASY MONEY
Yes, one may may make it without exertion (4,5)

…is “made without exertion”. (Yes one may)*
17 BELLOWS
Roars, when seeing fire-raisers (7)

=”Roars”; also =”fire-raisers”
19 VITAMIN
Five take it in around morning as essential part of diets (7)

=”essential part of diets”. V=”Five” in Roman numerals, plus IT IN around AM=morning
20 GLUTTON
Excess weight? It’s his danger (7)

GLUT=”Excess”, plus TON=”weight”, with an &lit def
21 COTTON
Bed not turned, but the sheets may be (6)

=”sheets may be”. COT=”Bed”, plus reversal (“turned”) of NOT
24 ERASE
Cancel right to travel in comfort (5)

=”Cancel”. R[ight] inside EASE=”comfort”

37 comments on “Guardian 26,586 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    I don’t see why the “fresh” is needed in 13a – “product” is adequate as the anagrind.

    In what sense is “bass” =”perch”? If it is a fish reference, it is plain wrong!

    I liked INFERNO.

  3. Forgot to say that I liked LILY very much too.

    Had MAINSTREAM instead of DOWNSTREAM for a while.

  4. Very enjoyable. Also liked ‘lily’. Got a bit confused with perch and bass – are they both in the same fish family or what? Thanks to both.

  5. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    I got off to a flying start with this puzzle, then slowed down a lot in the NE and SW corners but finally managed to finish. I needed help to parse 25a and 16a.

    My favourites were 21d and 6d.

    Muffin @ 1 – my online dictionary has this for bass/perch:

    bass 2 |bas|
    noun (pl.same or basses)
    1 the common European freshwater perch.
    2 any of a number of fish similar to or related to the bass

  6. Thanks manehi, missed the rosé/rose gag and so 1ac went in strictly unparsed.

    Michelle @5 thanks for clearing the fishy thing up. Not sure why Muffin thought it was ‘plain wrong’ – perhaps he’ll elucidate.

    Took me ages to spot DOWNSTREAM and LILY was excellent and LOI.

    Yet another pleasant starter from this tireless setter, thank you Rufus.

    Nice week, all.

  8. My problem was at 23a, where for a while I had TOOK ON, which did 20d and 24d no favours at all. With the crossers in place I dashed in TEED UP which I now see was a very silly thing to do. A win for the setter then.

  9. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Rufus back in top form again for me – enjoyable throughout.

    Made a mess of the SW corner initially – having TERMINAL at 22 and MAINSTREAM at 25. Was able to suss that it should really DOWNSTREAM so that I could write in BRETONS (for god knows why – other than to fit in with TERMINAL) at 17d. Finally COTTON put me and 22 out of our misery -> PLIMSOLL and BELLOWS to finally get it out.

    Don’t understand how BASE was an option at 17a. Really liked SEA WALL and NURSERY was clever.

  10. Thanks Rufus and manehi.

    Really enjoyed this, the NE corner went in quickly, the rest quite slowly.
    I did like RED ROSE, LILY, SAYING, ABOVE BOARD and PLIMSOLL!

  12. Thanks Rufus and manehi. Standard Rufus stuff, failed to get Lily, which I think was very good. Also missed FORTUNE-TELLER, not helped by entering PLIMSOLE for 22, and begin a bit too sure that the first word was -O-TING.

    I chose BASE for 17. One of those unfortunate coincidences where two words might fit the clue and checkers well enough. Though it might be frustrating for a solver, I don’t put any blame on the setter or the editor for these – I wouldn’t expect either to go through every clue working out if anything else fit it.

  14. Thanks manehi and Rufus
    Mainly a pleasant enough stroll. I had an initial hesitation over ‘bass’ but Chambers confirmed the fishy connection. Lily was last one in and took me quite a time to see. A clever clue.

  15. Much to enjoy here, I thought 8dn was a nice misdirect that had me thinking of the Derby and wondering how on how to make it fit. I had a slight problem with 11ac and initially had board level, with level for honest, in corporate terms there is nothing above the directors so anything that’s not below must be equal to their level.

    Also liked 21dn, nice surface.

    Thanks to Rufus and Manehi

  16. Thanks Rufus, very enjoyable.

    Thanks to manehi for the blog. I started with BASE but then ‘checked’ and changed to BASS. I assumed ‘symbol of English’ was RED ROSE with ‘house wines,’ but the actual parsing is much better. Last ones in were NURSERY and LILY. I was looking to see what Midas’s daughter was called. 🙁

    I particularly liked ABOVE BOARD, DOWNSTREAM & ADORATION

  17. [muffin, couldn’t help thinking of
    “Good morning Mr Garfish”, “Good morning Mr Trout”,
    “How do you like your worms, sir, with salt, sir, or without”…. but I cannot find it online.]

  18. [Doesn’t ring any bells, Cookie.

    btw “gild the lily”, though in common use, so valid in a crossword, is a misquote. The original, from Shakespeare’s King John is:
    To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, ]

  19. BASS is clearly the answer to 17ac. I fail to see how BASE is a viable alternative. Nice puzzle as usual. My LOI was LILY which I thought an excellent clue as was DOMAIN and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
    Thanks Rufus

  20. Pretty straightforward even by Rufus standards, except that technically I failed, since I was another who wrote BASE. Last in was LILY.

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi

  21. Am I the only one who thought of Norfolk for 8dn? It didn’t quite work so I didn’t put it in, but it was tantalizing enough (folk = race, Norfolk Stakes = race for 2-year-olds) that I thought I might be missing something. Above board seemed to confirm the hypothesis. Thank goodness Teenager was so straightforward.

  22. A lot of comment on bass = perch but not much on bass = very low. I think 17a is a DD. Think of Soprano/ (contr(alto) / Tenor / Bass.

    I must admit I went down the track of base but there was no homophone indicator.

  26. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. I did get BASS and, with the help of Google, PLIMSOLL and STEVENAGE but was slowed down by the “down” in DOWNSTREAM, “opener” as “tape cutter,” and “nursery” (the UK term for a race for two-year-olds but new to me). Re muffin @18, I just checked the on-line version of Morris Palmer Tilley’s dictionary of proverbs of the period and neither “gild” or “paint” the lily (or anything close) is listed.

  27. @9 and @19 – the first definition of BASE in my Chambers (to take but one example) says “that on which something rests”, while the first and second definitions of PERCH say “a rod for a bird to alight, sit, or roost on; anything serving that purpose for a bird, a person, or anything else”. That makes them synonymous enough for me, especially in crosswordland. I take it neither of you have any problem with BASE=LOW. I stand by my comment that BASE is a viable alternative to BASS.

  28. Mondays are a treat when there are two Rufus puzzles – the telegraph one was a delight as well.

    I missed lily, and I only barely remembered plimsoll. I entered bass without hesitation but it is pleasing that base also works very well. I quite liked 27a (saw of the tongue), took me a while to click.

    Many thanks Rufus, and thanks for the blog

  29. Fortunately, “lily” came to me just in time to save me from searching for the name of Midas’ daughter! [Thank you so much for reminding me of the poem, Eileen; you’ve made me feel the need for yet another look at that most enjoyable book!]

    I enjoyed this puzzle and the blog; thanks to Rufus and manehi.

  30. Started with gulfstream, then mainstream, then downstream for 23a.
    Bass or Base are both ok (bas behaviour is low behaviour. Guessed Lily.
    Thanks to both.

  31. A nice puzzle to start the week, with some good clues. I struggled with LILY, then forgot to go back for it before coming here. I probably wouldn’t have got it anyway, though I do know the expression (in both correct and misquoted versions).

    Thanks, Rufus and manehi.

  32. I appear to be in a minority of one in not being too keen on this.

    A few of the definitions seem to be a little loose.

    Especially

    TIED UP = Married

    STAGE = “Period of growth” (It’s a period but not necessarily of growth)

    DOWNSTREAM = the “natural” direction of current. (Unfortunately naturally has two meanings and in one the direction of current isn’t necessarily downstream.)

    Also 6D doesn’t quite work for me. A “tape cutter” could be an opener, and a “tin opener” is something which cuts a tin. But I’m not sure a “tin cutter” is a strict enough definition for opener.

    But it’s Rufus so of course nobody will notice. 😉

    Thanks to manehi and Rufus

  34. Not really Peter.

    If this had been any other setter these and other flaws would have been pointed out. However Rufus seems to have “diplomatic immunity”! 🙂

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