Guardian 26,674 by Picaroon

by

Enjoyed this a lot, and got stuck on the top half for a while. Favourites were both 5ac/dn, 9ac and 23dn.

Across
1 BEACHED
Landed a bit of jewellery with red inside (7)

BEAD=”a bit of jewellery”, with CHE=”red” inside
5 AIRPORT
Music and booze for George Best, perhaps (7)

a Belfast airport is named for George Best. AIR=”Music”, plus PORT=”booze”
9 FLING
Romance and evening out, leaving at ten (5)

FL[atten]ING=”evening out”, leaving “at ten” out
10 PEASANTRY
Josh abandons Latin class that works hard (9)

P[l]EASANTRY=”Josh”, minus L[atin]
11 INTERURBAN
Monarch stops wearing headdress between London and Edinburgh, say (10)

E[lizabeth] R[egina]=”Monarch”, stopping/inside IN TURBAN=”wearing headdress”
12 STET
It’s fixed — about time! Don’t change it (4)

an editor’s note to ignore an alteration. SET=”fixed”, around T[ime]
14 ILLUSTRATION
Image of Troy inspiring desire — fantastic art (12)

ILION=another name for the city of “Troy”, taking in all of: LUST=”desire” plus (art)*
18 HUNGER STRIKE
Thinker’s urge to move fast (6,6)

(Thinker’s urge)*
21 CLAP
Approvingly receive cold drink (4)

C[old] plus LAP=”drink”
22 UMBELLIFER
Linnaeus’s opening sentence dissecting brown herbaceous plant (10)

a family of plants including carrot, celery and parsley [wiki]. L[innaeus], plus LIFE=prison “sentence”, all inside UMBER=”brown”
25 SUEZ CANAL
Returning Greek ruler may walk unclothed in passage (4,5)

ZEUS=”Greek ruler”, reversed (“Returned”), plus CAN=”may”, plus [w]AL[k] “unclothed” without its outer letters.
26 DEIGN
Haughtily consent to listen to Kierkegaard, say (5)

Kierkegaard was a “Dane”, which sounds like DEIGN
27 TRAITOR
Renegade or rat — that captures it (7)

(or rat)* around IT, with Renegade doing double duty as the anagrind
28 NOSEGAY
Styling goes with any corsage (7)

(goes any)*
Down
1 BOFFIN
Scientist brought in to fob off inspectors (6)

Hidden inside [fo]B OFF IN[spectors]
2 ARISTO
Noble way to enter a city (6)

ST[reet]=”way”, inside A plus RIO=”city”
3 HIGH ROLLER
Vocal greeting? Wave is better (4,6)

better as in bettor. HIGH sounds like ‘high’ i.e. “Vocal greeting”; plus ROLLER=a long heavy WAVE
4 DOPER
One wants to cheat with sport, right? (5)

DO P[hysical] E[ducation]=”sport”, plus R[ight]
5 ALABASTER
Imitating someone cooking meat that’s pale (9)

“À LA BASTER”=”Imitating someone cooking meat”
6 ROAD
Path travelled by boat in sound (4)

Sounds like ‘rowed’=”travelled by boat”
7 OUTSTRIP
Leave behind away kit (8)

OUT=”away”, plus STRIP=”kit”
8 TRYSTING
Hear singer’s on a date (8)

TRY=”Hear” a court case, plus STING the singer.
13 BACKSLIDES
Liberal entering behind rear seat perhaps slips (10)

L[iberal] entering BACKSIDE=”behind”, plus S[eat]? not sure if “rear” is doing anything else here
15 URSA MINOR
Your little boy gets home with gold stars (4,5)

UR, the abbrevation=”Your little”, plus SAM=”boy” plus IN=”home” plus OR=”gold”
16 THICKSET
Burly group of pupils unlikely to get good grades (8)

THICK SET=”group of pupils unlikely to get good grades”
17 IN CAMERA
Where to find film not for public viewing (2,6)

also =”Where to find film”
19 OFFING
Part of sea current enters wrong gulf (6)

the region some distance offshore. IN=”current”=fashionable, inside OFF=”wrong” plus G[ulf]
20 TRENDY
Stylish goal, cracking shot (6)

END=”goal”, inside TRY=”shot”
23 ELLEN
Girl from outer parts of London, we hear (5)

Sounds like “L, N”=L[ondo]N
24 SCAT
Beginning to sing, jazz fan may do this (4)

S[ing] plus CAT=”jazz fan”

49 comments on “Guardian 26,674 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks manehi and Picaroon. An enjoyable Friday morning romp. I thought STET and IN CAMERA were a little too straightforward, but more than compensated for overall. I liked ALABASTER, and BOFFIN simply because it’s such a fun word. I failed to parse OFFING and ILLUSTRATION – lack of a classical education, methinks. Is ARISTO an accepted word these days, and if not shouldn’t it have been flagged as slang/an abbreviation?

  2. Regarding 13, I believe that “behind”, “rear”, and “seat” are merely all synonyms for “backside”, hence BACKSIDES.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi.

  3. Thanks Picaroon and manehi
    I found this difficult too, particularly the top; finished in the NE.
    Favourites were DEIGN (FOI) and SUEZ CANAL.
    I only knew the Latin form ILIUM for Troy, so that took a little checking.
    I hate “ur” = “your”, “little” or otherwise. STING is hardly a singer in the forefront of people’s minds any more, is he?

  5. Thanks, manehi.

    This was one that I read almost through before making a tiny puncture with URSA MINOR (like muffin I loathe things like ur = your).

    Failed to parse FLING as I was fixated on “filing” for “evening”.

    Not wild about all the double duty going on today. Could hardly bring myself to put in TRAITOR and I still can’t quite make DOPER work.

    I quite agree with MikeP re “Boffin”. I wonder where it comes from? There a Nicodemus Boffin in Dickens’ ‘Our Mutual Friend’ and I recall him being referred to as an “odd-looking gentleman” but I’m not convinced this is the origin.

    Liked ALABASTER and HIGH ROLLER.

    Many thanks to our pirate.

    Nice weekend, all.

  8. jvh @7 Thanks. I see what you’re getting at. I suppose it’s just a matter of style. A certain reverend used to do this sort of thing all the time and some found it fine but I’m afraid I never did.

  10. Can josh and pleasantry be made equal? Not convinced that josh is ever a noun in the UK. Like others nor am I convinced by doper. Not getting either of these held me up for ages in the NE corner. But the rest I thought was all quite wonderful. The best of the week for me.

  12. Found this one pretty tough in parts but as always Picaroon is inventive and entertaining. Last in was INTERURBAN, wasn’t familiar with the definition of OFFING. Liked FLING, SUEZ CANAL, TRYSTING and URSA MINOR.

    Thanks to Picaroon and manehi

  13. Thanks to Picaroon and manehi. I needed manehi’s help for the parsing of FLING (I missed the “flattening”-“at ten” subtraction) and OUTSTRIP (I missed the kit-strip connection) and the G=gulf for OFFING was new to me, but to my surprise I did manage to piece out UMBELLIFER (I’m a plant illiterate). Overall, lots of fun.

  15. Hardest of the week for me, even with Pasquale, so hardly a ‘fling’. Some niggles: like xjpotter @10, I’m not convinced that josh is ever a noun in the UK; the adjective ‘pale’ didn’t really work for the noun ALABASTER, though I suppose it can be an adjective too, and I liked the cryptic bit; London and Edinburgh are a bit of a stretch for INTERURBAN, as there are so many other urban bits in the way. Oh dear, I’m coming over all hedgehoggy … But I was pleased with myself at getting OFFING and UMBELLIFER, especially as I too am plant-illiterate. Knowing Troy = Ilium, I even had a go at neologising ILLUSTRATIUM, but the second guess wasn’t too hard.

    Will recommend 23d to my son – I give him occasional clues in the hope that he’ll try solving too, and one leading to his girlfriend’s name might be a good way in.

  16. I parsed 4DN as DO=cheat, PE= sport, R=right.
    Some of this was quite easy but I kept getting stuck. NE was the hardest, I thought but generally I enjoyed this. I couldn’t parse ILLUSTRATION so thanks to the blogger for that.
    Favourites were THICKSET, IN CAMERA and AIRPORT (LOI)
    Thanks Picaroon.

  18. Enjoyed this. Hadn’t seen g for gulf before ( not in chambers). Must remember Ilion for troy! Liked the semi&lit in 27a TRAITOR (@7!). Guess 24d also has semi&lit flavour. Thanks steveb@2 for the explanation of 13d (BACKSLIDES), had me confused.

    I got stuck in ne towards the end. Particularly liked 9a FLING, 18a HUNGER STRIKE, 27a TRAITOR (semi&lit), 28a NOSEGAY, and I liked 20d TRENDY.

    Many thanks Picaroon and manehi for the review

  20. Enjoyed this, so many thanks to Picaroon and to manehi for help with several clues I had trouble parsing. muffin@17: you may be a genius at solving crosswords but you should stick to crosswords as your knowledge of music is pathetic if you criticise Kathleen Ferrier in such a strong way. Tell us all that YOU do not like her singing, but calling the recording appalling is utterly crass, plain and simple!!

  21. Coltranesax @20
    It’s a folk song, for goodness sake! No folksinger would phrase “southerly” suth-ther-ly. It irritates me every time I hear it. She had a wonderful instrument, but couldn’t play it properly.

    I should be biased the othe way – she and my wife went to the same school, though a few years apart.

  22. P.S. I don’t think any “art singers” should be allowed to sing folk songs. With the possible exception of Alfred Deller, they all murder them!

  23. Nothing much to say that hasn’t been said.

    I’m only posting to say that a lot of Kathleen Ferrier’s recording are appalling. (Which definitely isn’t “utterly crass, plain and simple” 😉 )

    I listen exclusely to classical music for at least 4 hours a day so my opinion is probably not “crass”. Perhaps it’s the “modern ear” but more likely it’s the fact that Ms Ferrier was persuaded to venture outside the classical world. This definitely didn’t work as it also didn’t work for Kiri Te Kanawa! Both tried to sing non-operatic songs as if they actually were opera. A big mistake for me! (To be honest I also find Kathleen Ferrier’s operatic offerings a little disappointing. I can’t think of any performance recorded by her which hasn’t been bettered by her contemporaries and many since.)

    Sorry Coltranesax but I probably overreacted to your kneejerk response. (I hate jazz too! 🙁 )

    Thanks to manehi and Picaroon

  26. Ooh we can’t have 27 as &lit. Oh no. Because the clue doesn’t read as a definition for TRAITOR. So it’s one of those double-duty things that horrify hedgehoggys. And me too. So Picaroon, whilst excellent, is not The Messiah (etc).

  28. Paul B @ 26

    I know you’re being sarcastic, but I’m pretty sure Renegade and Rat cover Traitor … It’s a sound &lit. There’s no double duty.

  30. This is a crossword site so could you pretentious music buffs conduct your tedious and irrelevant arguments in some other more appropriate forum

  31. [LBT @30 – I have nothing to say on Ms Ferrier, whose ouevre is unfamiliar to me, but the “tedious and irrelevant” stuff has livened up a very quiet day here.]

  33. LBT @30

    These “irrelevant arguments” actually arose from a discussion of the relevant puzzle.

    Whereas your comments appear to breach site policy.

    “1. Aggressive, insulting or inflammatory comments, and comments containing offensive language, are not acceptable and will be removed.”

    So please restrict your comments to the relevant puzzle in future. 😉

  37. croswordfan @36

    An &lit is a clue where the whole clue is both the definition and the wordplay.

    This week Pasquale had

    Ace in odd bits of colour, one with great skill — and French too (6,5)

    Answer Claude Monet

    The whole clue could be a definition for Claude Monrt and the wordplay is the whole clue.

    A(ce) in odd letters of C(o)L(o)U(r) & DEMON (one with great skill) & ET (french for AND)

    Beware as there are often long arguments as to whether a particular clue is a “true” &lit. (I think &lit stands for “and literally” but I fail to see how this describes this type of clue?)

  39. Peter Aspinwall @38. Thank you, I was beginning to wonder if I was really the only one in crosswordland that appreciated Klever Kath. Of course no-one is everyone’s cup of tea, but to call her singing appalling was just too much to take. And, anyone who ‘hates Jazz’ without qualification, I just feel sorry for!!

  40. Another terrific crossword, this time the intelligence of Picaroon being our treat. I found the NE corner the least yielding of the week but, once I had ILLUSTRATION the rest fell. But I was held up for a while; I guess that’s to be expected as my eleventh decade approaches ever more unshakingly – and shakingly!
    xjpotter – I almost agree but, for me Screw just took the laurels. It’s good to know we all have slightly differing tastes.
    Trailman – You think like me; I’m always looking for tempting morsels with which to hook the next potential crucijunkie!
    LBT – I don’t think most regular 225ers object to a little diversion in our chats; personally, I quite welcome them.
    manehi – a great blog, as always (clearly posting from overseas; we say “named after” rather than “named for”. I’ve always found that an irritating, and somewhat non-sensical Americanism but now someone as estimable as you has used it I may have to think again!)
    Once again, huge thanks to Picaroon.

  41. Coltranesax @39
    To be precise, I called her singing of “Blow the wind southerly” appalling – I stand by that.

    Last year I saw on TV a (proms?) concert which juxtaposed the Percy Grainger version of “Shallow Brown” for orchestra, choir and soloist with an unaccompanied version sung by June Tabor. The contrast was almost painful, and I was embarrassed for the poor choir and orchestra.

    (P.S. I do like quite a lot of jazz, especially that of your namesake!)

    PPS. has the spellcheck disappeared? I wasn’t completely sure how many Rs to put in “embarrassed”, but neither try attracted the red underline.

  42. Thanks manehi – good blog, as ever!

    I’d just like to point out that the clue for DOPER doesn’t parse as suggested, which is perhaps why people are unconvinced, but should be read as follows:
    One [i.e. a DOPER] wants [requires] to cheat [DO] with sport, [+ P.E.] right? [R].

    There’s no “double duty”, which I don’t like either and wouldn’t ever use.

  43. Muffin @ 41 Yes you did and I accept your reservations about ‘classical’ musicians stepping out of their comfort zones and trying their hand at folk or Jazz. As Ella once sang, “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing,” and the late great Yehudi Menuhin made some suspect CDs with the fabulous Stephan Grappelli for the same reason.
    But, what do you “hate” about the classic Bruno Walter recording of Das Lied von der Erde? I find the Abschied incredibly moving, and KF’s is the version of several I have, that I go back to time and again!! I also love the BNTO choice of Janet Baker!!
    It is enjoyable to chat with like minded folk, but perhaps if we want to continue to share comments (I have some strong views on Folk Singers as well) we might move to the General Discussion site. Just let me know and I will come back to you!!

  44. Picaroon @ 42 thanks!! I was convinced of this since Peter Aspinwall suggested it @16. Sparing your blushes, but I thought this was a great crossword in a great crossword week. Thanks again!!

  45. Just one quick response, coltranesax. I suppose my problem with that recording is that it wasn’t the one I heard first – I think that was Janet Baker and Fischer-Dieskau – and I fall into the trap of comparing new experiences unfavourably with my preconceptions.

    I’ll give th Ferrier recording another go. on your recommendation. “Abschied” is one of the most moving pieces. Did you hear the story of the radio technician who was concerned that the signal was fading, so continuaaly upped the gain through the final diminuendo? I can’t remember which perfromance it was, though.

  46. Muffin@45. If and only if you are interested, I have just left a message for you on ‘General Discussion’. All the best!!

  48. Thanks Picaroon and manehi

    The usual top notch offering from this setter here which I only got to on Sunday. It took most of the day on and off to get through – so quite a toughie. Ended up failing on DOPER however, having opted for ‘duper’ which nearly works if you use their common meaning “to make fun of; trick; kid”.

    Didn’t know the ILION name for Troy, so 14a was only half parsed and missed the very clever triple example of BACKSIDES !

    Many fine clues and a lot where one needed to put a lot of thought into to get what was going on. CLAP was my last one in, but like others spent a lot of time in the NE corner at the finish

  49. Thanks manehi for the blog, Picaroon for both a good puzzle and for your contribution above, and specially to Steve B for sorting out the parsing of BACKSLIDES.

    4dn was my only real concern and I eventually opted for DUPER as well. But equally it could have been GAMER (game=sport + R – as in someone who ‘games’ a system) until the crossers ruled that out.

    But one dodgy clue does not spoil a good challenge so thanks again.

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