Guardian 26,640 / Rufus

42 comments on “Guardian 26,640 / Rufus”

1. Thanks Rufus. An enjoyable start to the week.

2. Thank you, Eileen and Rufus. Looking for the obvious on Monday morning, I was thrown a little by the different pronunciations of BUFFET (11a), and of course looked too deeply into RHYMED (27a). You’re right re. 16a if we see it as ‘give the OK’, but I would accept two words for ‘that’s OK’, which would often be followed by the words ‘go ahead’.

3. I enjoyed this. Got a bit stuck in the NW corner but sorted it out. I liked AMMO, ARABESQUE and BUFFET. Thanks to Rufus and Eileen.

4. MikeP

   Just to clarify: my comment re 16dn was an observation / explanation, not a criticism – there’s nothing wrong with the clue: I meant ‘We need to insert a hyphen’.

5. Thank you Eileen.

   Enjoyed this gentle ramp into the week.

   Lots to like including the TAPERS OFF anagram. Not sure about BETTER OFF though. Whimsical little device but I don’t see any definition relating to being ‘better off’.

   Being a bit dim about GOING FOR A SONG. Perfectly good clue but could someone explain the wordplay, please? I see song = number but can’t quite make it work.

   Took ages over HIPS and RHYMED – both good clues I thought.

   Nice week, all.

6. Thanks Rufus and Eileen.

   A pleasant Monday morning start to the crossword week. I particularly liked BARRACKS, ARABESQUE and RHYMES.

   I wonder how Eileen SOFTENed her pupils?

7. William@5 – Yes, I thought the clue for BETTER OFF was a bit odd, and only pencilled in the answer until it was confirmed by the crossers.

   Re GOING FOR A SONG: I reckon the second meaning implies selling something in exchange for a song (as “this is going for a pound”).

8. Lovely start to week. Got FIGS for 15a thinking of leaves on artists models!!

9. Re GOING FOR A SONG:

   Brewer: ‘For sale very cheaply. The allusion is probably to the trilling cost of the old ballad sheets or to the small change given to itinerant songsters outside inns and public houses.’

   There isn’t a ‘second meaning’, drofle – but, as William says, a play on song = number.

   I can’t see a problem with BETTER OFF – better off the boat than on!

10. Thanks, Eileen. I like your allusion to the balladeer outside a pub.

    Re BETTER OFF I agree totally that the seasick chap is ‘better off’ the boat. It’s just that the well known phrase relates to being financially more secure and I wondered if the clue might have been improved with some reference to that meaning.

    Hey-ho, didn’t spoil an otherwise good crossword.

11. Like drofle@3, I found the NW corner the most difficult.

    William@5, I rather liked BETTER OFF – like Eileen@9 the way I saw it was that if you are a seasick passenger, it is better to be off the boat, rather than on.

    My favourites were RECOMMENCE, AMMO, TRUANCIES, RHYMED & BUFFET.

    The definition of BARRACK as “jeer at / disapprove” was new for me. In Australia the word “barrack” = to support or give encouragement. I only mention this as BARRACKS seemed to be the obvious answer but at first I could not understood why (i.e. until i looked in a dictionary).

    I failed to solve 15a HIPS – strange, as I drink rosehip tea very often!

12. Great fun. I was slow seeing HIPS and didn’t get LIEU until I finally got FLUFF. Thanks to Rufus and Eileen.

13. [michelle, just checked NEAT = cattle in Puck, 20th February, you got me there, although it did ring a very faint bell.]

14. Very quick solve. Slightly delayed by having FIGS instead of HIPS but finished in double quick time anyway.
    Enjoyable enough anyway.
    Thanks Rufus.

15. @Eileen # 9
    Re number = song, I remembered the following from my college days: “I lisp’d in numbers, for the numbers came.” (Pope)

16. Thanks Rufus and Eileen

    A relatively quick, but very enjoyable solve today. A mix of write-ins with some neat and elegant clues in the mix.

    Was right on his wavelength today and really liked his BETTER OFF which I saw as a sort of convoluted cryptic double definition (i.e. they would be more healthy (better off) because it would be better if they were off the boat than remain on it). Does that make sense ?

    Had a little trouble seeing RHYMED for some reason and finished in the top left corner with FLUFF, LIEU and SEIZURE the last few in.

17. Michelle @11 Seems I’m outnumbered. OK, the girls win – I’ll get my coat…

18. A typically smooth, elegant and straightforward Monday puzzle.

    Thanks to Rufus and Eileen

19. Thanks all
    Write to these for advce is not a cryptic definition.
    I liked boy/toy and same/game.

20. Thanks all
    Write to these for advce is not a cryptic definition.
    I liked boy/toy and same/game

21. I liked this, particularly the square-dancing Lincoln and the past offers resulting in contracts. I teach in a paralegal-studies program (in other words, training non-lawyers in enough law to be of use in a law office). At least over here, it’s black-letter law that an offer, once rejected, is extinguished unless explicitly revived. So I’ve asked more than one test question, over the years, about whether a past offer can result in a contract! (I also, of course, likethe fact that the clue actually invonves the verb “contract”–a nice bit of misdirection.)

    A recent issue of Games Magazine had a puzzle in which they had cartoon drawings of various palindromes; your job was to guess the palindrome. One of the drawings showed a dog and a cat saying to a dancing Lincoln, “Now pirouette!” The intended palindrome answer was PETS TELL ABE BALLET STEP. So today, dancing Lincoln strikes again….

22. Cookie@13 and William@17
    I have seen your comments 🙂

23. Argh it was RHYMED. Currently groaning lots about that one. Didn’t see it at all until I came here but now I’m kicking myself for going down the wrong path on that.

    Nice puzzle overall though.

24. RCWhiting @19 and 20

    “Write to these for advice is not a cryptic definition.”

    No, of course it isn’t. I did hesitate over this and will change the blog now.

    [I’ve been wondering for ages – and may have missed an explanation along the way – why all your comments these days are duplicated?]

    Hi William @17 [and 10]

    I think it’s the fact that it doesn’t refer to the well-known phrase that makes it cryptic – but thanks for the ‘girls’. 😉

25. I liked this a lot – a nice gentle start to the week. Favourite were RHYMED and BETTER OFF, followed by ARABESQUE, BARRACKS and GOING FOR A SONG.

    Thanks to Rufus and Eileen.

26. Just for the record, in case anyone’s confused, Cookie’s comment @13 relates to Michelle’s comment 7 on the cryptic – not that it really matters.

    But, Michelle, there’s no need to stop mentioning when you come across new words. Most of us do it all the time: that’s part of the fun in doing crosswords – so long as there aren’t too many in one puzzle. 😉

27. Eileen, I would be very grateful if anyone can explain how I can avoid the duplication.
    Almost always when I click on submit I get a message saying mine is a duplicate when in fact nothing has appeared.
    I can repeat this process many times, each time solving the same captcha.
    Eventually I tire of the game and make a very small alteration (eg remove a full stop!) And submit whereupon both versions appear.
    Help!

28. Eileen, I would be very grateful if anyone can explain how I can avoid the duplication
    Almost always when I click on submit I get a message saying mine is a duplicate when in fact nothing has appeared.
    I can repeat this process many times, each time solving the same captcha.
    Eventually I tire of the game and make a very small alteration (eg remove a full stop!) And submit whereupon both versions appear.
    Help!

29. Eileen @26, that should be Michelle’s comment @7 on the Quiptic (I did put mine in square brackets).

    Isn’t mrpenny’s @21 ABE palindrome just marvellous !

30. Thanks for that, RCW @27 – and 28!

    I have obviously missed previous comments. Presumably, you have consulted Gaufrid – if he can’t sort it, I’ve no idea who can!

31. Cookie @29 – Quiptic, of course.

32. Eileen, I would be very grateful if anyone can explain how I can avoid the duplication
    Almost always when I click on submit I get a message saying mine is a duplicate when in fact nothing has appeared.
    I can repeat this process many times, each time solving the same captcha.
    Eventually I tire of the game and make a very small alteration (eg remove a full stop!) And submit whereupon both versions appear.
    Help

33. Hi RCW @32

    Oh dear, we seem to have compounded the problem!

34. I cannot see why ‘square dancing’ is less good than ‘square dance’. Surely the reverse is true!

35. Hedgy, because a square dance is a kind of dance. “Lincoln in square dance” makes surface sense for that reason. If youb wanted the verb, it would have to be “Lincoln square-dancing,” which is wrong wordplay.

36. Square dancing—American, rural, and 19th-century in origin–fits ol’ Abe perfectly. Part of what makes the clue so brilliant. You could just about picture Lincoln square-dancing. But only a young Lincoln–his wife was way too much a snob to do anything so “country” as a square dance.

37. Hi mrpenny @36

    As you say, this is what’s so brilliant about Rufus’s surfaces!

38. I had BATTER for 11a, which sort of works, but I should have realised it wasn’t sublime enough for Rufus. Of course, I couldn’t then finish the NW corner.
    Thanks to Eileen & R

39. Hi nametab

    Yes, it does sort of work. 😉

40. I had ragout for 11A which I was aware of and the SOED has as

    “slang a sudden short unofficial strike by coalminers”

    Apparently this is usually hypenated but if this hadn’t been the case I do believe this is a much better answer 😉

    Thanks to Eileen and Rufus

41. Isn’t “neat” a singular term? How can it mean “cattle”?

42. I can’t find anything neat in the Quiptic — is there a reference to neat or cattle?

    I’ve never run across neat meaning the animal in the word of normal prose, but there is something called neatsfoot oil. I just looked it up; it’s not made from hooves but from shin and footbones of cattle.

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