I found this a bit harder than usual for a Rufus, with a few quibbles, as detailed below. Thanks to the setter.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | ATTACHE CASE | Stick to the point and argument may be carried (7,4) ATTACH + E (compass point) + CASE (argument) |
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| 9. | ABANDON | And the sailor is first on leave (7) AB + AND + ON |
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| 10. | PARAPET | Limited protection provided by regimental mascot? (7) The PARA PET might be the mascot of the Parachute Regiment |
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| 11. | TEDDY BEAR | Baby Edward has to carry something to cuddle (5,4) TEDDY (diminutive of Edward) + BEAR (carry) |
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| 12. | PREEN | Clean down (5) Cryptic (or perhaps literal) definition (though I think preening is mostly done on feathers rather than down) |
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| 13. | EONS | Long times in the onslaught (4) Hidden in thE ONslaught |
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| 14. | OSTRACISES | Raises cost somehow, or gets cut off (10) (RAISES COST)* – I don’t think “gets cut off” can be a definition of “ostracises”, so the grammar is faulty here |
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| 16. | CONVERSION | Religious experience necessary to achieve a goal (10) Double definition (the goal is in Rugby) |
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| 19. | PERI | Each one a fairy! (4) PER I |
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| 20. | RESET | Steer incorrectly and course must be this (5) STEER* |
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| 21. | RESTRAINS | Checks taxes — not for the first time! (9) RE-STRAINS (to strain = to tax) |
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| 23. | EXOTICA | Small company tax that is adjusted for objects from distant countries (7) Anagram of CO TAX IE |
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| 24. | EASTERN | Point behind the ship towards the sunrise (7) E + ASTERN |
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| 25. | THE OTHER DAY | Hated theory developed recently (3,5,3) (HATED THEORY)* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | ABANDON ONE’S POST | Forsake your responsibilities, leaving letters unanswered? (7,4,4) Double definition – it’s rather surprising to have two ABANDONs crossing here |
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| 2. | TODDY | It could make one extremely tiddly with rum in it (5) ODD in T[iddl]Y, &lit |
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| 3. | CONKERS | Beats soundly in a game that’s child’s play (7) Homophone of “conquers” |
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| 4. | EMPEROR | Ruler in a temper, or so it seems (7) HIdden in tEMPER OR |
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| 5. | AIRSPACE | It’s under a country’s jurisdiction, though over it (8) Cryptic definition |
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| 6. | EXPRESS DELIVERY | Fast talking gets a speedy service (7,8) Double definition |
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| 7. | BATTLE-SCARRED | Showing signs of fight? (6-7) I can’t see this as anything but a straight definition |
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| 8. | AT ONE’S WITS’ END | Doesn’t win seat, when in a state of utter perplexity (2,4,4,3) (DOESN’T WIN SEAT)* |
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| 15. | BESTRIDE | Sit a certain way for the ideal journey? (8) BEST RIDE |
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| 17. | SERVANT | The civil type won’t wait for a job (7) Cryptic definition – civil servants aren’t the sort of servants who wait at tables |
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| 18. | OBSCENE | Offensive alumnus put on some act (7) OB (old boy = alumnus) + SCENE (part of an Act in a play) |
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| 22. | RASED | Brought down to earth, strange as it may sound (5) Reference to the homophone “raised” |
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Many thanks, Andrew, but PLEASE can you explain:
‘as detailed bwloe.’
Or do you just love anagrams?
Yeah, I kinda lost interest in this puzzle after filling in ABANDON crossing ABANDON. This is a huge no-no in American crosswords, unless it’s a part of some theme. Was this a case of Rufus being cute or careless? My guess is careless.
Thanks Rufus and Andrew.
Have to turn the computer off because there is an electrical storm – just quickly, I have CONFESSION for 16a, suppose most people would rather go to a rugby match than heaven.
16a doesn’t quite work for me. Aren’t conversions and goals different things in rugby (following tries and penalties respectively)? You can certainly convert a penalty in football (though it would not be necessary to score a goal, what with the many other ways you can do it) but I didn’t think the same terminology applied in rugby of either code.
(Resorting to pedantry in response to a perfectly satisfactory Monday morning crossword.)
Goal = conversion in rugby I think. I thought the double ABANDON was pretty weird – Rufus couldn’t have noticed! He does produce a lot of puzzles, as I understand it. Favourites were AIRSPACE and RASED (last one in). Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
I have been spared. Van Winkle @4, I know little about rugby but the OCED gives conversion n 6 Rugby & Amer. Football the scoring of points by a successful kick at goal after scoring a try.
I enjoyed the crossword, particularly CONKERS and SERVANT.
Do hope Rufus is not going to ABANDON his POST feeling BATTLE-SCARRED and AT his WITS’ END.
Strange. I didn’t even notice the crossing ABANDONs until I came here. For some reason it took me a little longer to get on Rufus’s wavelength than it normally does, and I was held up slightly at the end by the RESTRAINS/RASED crossers. Count me as another who raised an eyebrow at the clue for CONVERSION.
Strangely, a converted try used to be called a goal.
It still is in rugby league. Baseless pedantry – apologies.
I’m usually on the Rufus team but I didn’t like this very much. ABANDON used twice and crossing at that is really sloppy and I would have thought the editor would have had words about this if Rufus thought it acceptable.
I may not be at my most amenable as I did the puzzle after returning from a dental appointment which never puts me in a good frame of mind. Mind you I did like BESTRIDE.
Thanks Andrew, found this tough going.
Muffyword is quite right, we used to call a converted try a goal. I thinks the Americans still call it a field goal today.
AIRSPACE was neat I thought.
Re PREEN, this seems fine; Chambers has ‘to clean feathers’ and down is soft feathers isn’t it?
AndyB me too. Amazing that I didn’t spot this, but then there was an unusual amount of time between the 2 solutions I think.
Thank you again Rufus, nice week all.
Thanks Rufus, largely good fun.
Thanks Andrew; I hesitated to put in the second ABANDON because of the first. He could have used Aladdin and got round the problem.
LOIs were 5 & 12, I thought PREEN was going to be a dd. I liked BESTRIDE.
I fully agree about the faulty grammar for 14ac.
William @11, in American football, a conversion is a try for extra points after a touchdown. There’s the 1-point conversion where the kicker attempts to kick the football through the uprights (which is usually successful) and the 2-point conversion where a runner tries to run the ball into the endzone from the two- or three-yard line (which is less successful). They don’t really count as goals, I don’t think. A field goal (worth 3 points) is when the offense attempts to kick the ball the rest of the way through the uprights at their end of the field.
Its Monday, its Rufus and I am happy. As a rugby player I had no problem with the conversion/goal thing and PARAPET got my GOtD (Groan of the Day – this is a good thing)
Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
Pretty straightforward, though my last in BESTRIDE took me a while. Agree that the two ABANDONs were sloppy. The spelling of RASED might have caused a problem but fortunately the crosser was already in place…
Thanks to Andrew and Rufus.
I still don’t get the clue for RASED, which I would have spelled with a Z (though that’s not my sticking point). How is “raised” = “strange”?
MrP @17, I think it is “strange” that the homophone (it may sound) means the complete opposite.
Strange for the class dummy to be saying it, but I thought this a tad on the easy side!
I was also surprised at two ABANDONs, but was prepared to be generous and presume it was a sort of bluff.
I may be wrong, but my understanding of Rugby terms was that “a try” was called that because that allowed you to “try to convert” your score into “a goal”. Converting a “partial score” into a “full score” is how I’ve always understood it.
I took a while getting PREEN and CONKERS (another game new to me) and dabbled with “confession” vs. CONVERSION but did make it through. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
I had AIRFORCE at 5d so failed on 17ac.
Thanks Andrew. The idea of the “Showing signs of fight” clue is that you are supposed to be misled into reading it as showing signs that you ‘have a bit of fight in you’, rather than signs that you had ‘been in a fight’. Not much of a misdirection I’ll grant you! But this is meant for Monday.
OSTRACISES might have been better clued (with a hint of a political overtone) as “Raises cost somehow, or cuts (10)“. Would solve the grammar problem at least.
I thought there were a few nice moments, as ever with Rufus. RESTRAINS was perfect for the upper end of difficulty for a Monday puzzle.
Thanks A & R.
Thanks, AndyK @18. Still not a fan of the clue.
Re Andrew’s comments in the blog, on the (non-)cryptic definition at 7D: “showing signs of fight” is, I think, meant to mislead via the meaning of “fight” as “gumption, resistance, vim and vigor.” As in, “there’s still some fight left in him.” Or, “he’s showing some signs of fight.”
It’s weak, I know–but it’s all I can come up with to make it not be a straight definition.
William @11
“Down is soft feathers”. Strictly there is the distinction that a feather has a quill, the stiff spine running its length; down does not.
Well we don’t have the usual Rufus fare today. Just something that was rushed off in a spare moment.
Looks like even the ed has got bored with R. (Or is he on his holliers again 😉 )
Thanks to Andrew and Rufus
Limeni @22: looks like we said the same thing at the same time. Sorry!
I’m a newbie so this is probably too basic for everyone else, but why “peri”? For 19A?
Pete @27, a PERI is a fairy in Persian mythology, I only knew a few weeks ago and have been doing the cryptic crossword for nearly a year now.
PeterO Quite right, well spotted.
I was also surprised at the 2 ABANDONs.
I liked 15d and 2a.
Failed to solve 17d and needed help to parse 21a and 16d.
I had never seen this spelling of RASED before.
Thanks Rufus and Andrew
Thanks Cookie
Thanks Rufus and Andrew
Needed a couple of goes to get this one out today and took an age to get my last one in – ATTACHE CASE.
Seemed to find the long clues today much more gettable than the rest. Was unusual to see the two ABANDONs crossing each other, but given that they were so differently clued, it made little impact in the solving of the clues individually.
Did dally with CONFESSIONS for a while, but couldn’t link it closely enough with ‘achieving a goal’ – though that CONVERSION was good when I saw it.
14a definition is “gets cut off”. You got people cut off from society in ancient Greece by ostracising them. The clue works, the criticisms don’t.