Guardian 26,676 by Rufus

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A nice, gentle, start to the week with plenty of anagrams, double and cryptic defs. Thanks Rufus.

Across
9 NARRATION
When retired, managed share account (9)

RAN=”managed”, reversed (“retired”), plus RATION=”share”
10 SAVES
Avoids spending reserves (5)

double def
11 MACHETE
The mace may be used as a weapon (7)

(The mace)*
12 ENLARGE
Increase in general disorder (7)

(general)*
13 LIE UP
Be in the dock? (3,2)

cryptic def – of a ship, to be out of commission in the dock
14 ALLOTMENT
Allowance for home-grown food provider (9)

double def
16 ANY PORT IN A STORM
When it’s rough, choice of wine is un­important (3,4,2,1,5)

Punning def, with wine=PORT
19 MEANDERED
Wandered, heading Middle East instead of West (9)

M[iddle], plus [w]ANDERED, with E[ast] instead of W[est]
21 SOLVE
Find the answer to love’s torment (5)

(love’s)*
22 ALABAMA
State of a student gaining a couple of degrees (7)

A, plus L[earner]=”student”, plus A, plus BA and MA=”couple of degrees”
23 TURNKEY
Ancient lock-keeper (7)

cryptic def – an old term for a jailer.
24 CROWD
Press gang (5)

double def
25 TIN OPENER
Can a beginner operate this kitchen equipment? (3,6)

TIN=”Can”, plus OPENER=”beginner”
Down
1 ANIMAL FARM
Napoleon’s novel home (6,4)

Napoleon is a character in Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM [wiki]
2 CROCKERY
Note garden feature in China (8)

C=[musical] Note, plus ROCKERY=”garden feature”
3 MADE UP
Used cosmetics? That’s untrue (4,2)

double def
4 HIKE
March price increase (4)

double def
5 UNDERLINED
Stressed junior was untruthful about one point (10)

UNDER=”junior”, plus LIED=”was untruthful”, around N[orth]=”one point” of the compass
6 ISOLATES
Cuts off and, also, ties off (8)

(also ties)*
7 AVERSE
Opposed states open engagement (6)

AVERS=”states”, plus E[ngagement]
8 ISLE
Land in the water (4)

cryptic def – “Land” as a noun, not a verb
14 AFTERTASTE
Behind gets a smack, leaving a lingering sensation (10)

AFTER=”Behind”, plus TASTE=”smack”
15 TIMBERYARD
A good deal may come from it (10)

cryptic def – “deal” can mean a board of fir or pine.
17 OLD HANDS
Elderly crew of experienced campaigners (3,5)

OLD=”Elderly”, HANDS=”crew”
18 OILSKINS
No silk is used in these protective garments (8)

(No silk is used)*
20 AMAZON
Aggressive female goes to sea (6)

double def – the female warriors; and the AMAZON river flows to the sea
21 SCRAPE
A close shave? (6)

cryptic def, or rather a straight def masquerading as the idiom
22 ARCH
Cunning chief (4)

double def
23 TINE
A picking-up point (4)

cryptic def – a point or prong of e.g. a fork, used to pick things up

18 comments on “Guardian 26,676 by Rufus”

  1. Re the clue 21a.
    Find the answer to love’s torment (5)
    I know the apostrophe in a word may be ignored when we jumble the letters for an anagram.
    I am also not talking about the nounal anagram indicator following the fodder.
    However, ‘s in a clue is taken as ‘is’ or ‘has’ in cryptic grammar.
    How do we interpret ‘s here? That’s my question.

  2. Thanks, manehi. I needed your help with MEANDERED having used up ME for Middle East, the rest then not making much sense. I liked ANIMAL FARM, TIMBERYARD and TINE. Quite smooth surfaces from Rufus this morning. Enjoyable.

  4. Hi MikeP @2. I simply took ME for Middle East and substituted it for W. Worked for me!
    Struggled with timber yard until the crossers forced my brain into actio.

    Thanks to both.

  6. Thanks Rufus and manehi.

    I also struggled with TIMBERYARD, a really good clue and the last in. NARRATION, CROCKERY and AFTERTASTE pleased me too.

    typo, 18d (no silk is)*

  7. Thanks Rufus & manehi.

    Fairly straightforward, although I was looking for a sea in 20 until I found AMAZON – nice clue. I also particularly enjoyed TIMBERYARD.

    Rishi @1; torment is of course also a verb and, as you say, one just ignores the punctuation to get the anagram. The fact that ‘s can also be used for is or has is somewhat irrelevant.

  8. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. I took some time getting TIMBERYARD because my initial preference was for “lumberyard” (the term most familiar to me) and last in were LIE UP (also new to me) and HIKE (because I was wrongly fixated on “rise”). Like Parky @4 I thought ME was the substitution for W in MEANDERED.

  9. A couple of these made me a bit grumpy. “Land in the sea” seemed to me not cryptic at all–I actually hesitated before putting in ISLE because it couldn’t possibly be that simple, could it? Same complaint about SCRAPE. And the two definitions for “Saves” are really the same definition written two different ways.

    Here, of course, it’s a can opener and a lumberyard, but those aren’t complaints–just my usual transatlantic observations.

  10. I agree with mrpenny, ISLE is barely cryptic, but this is Rufus and it happens.

    Liked TINE. Thought it was going to be one of those clues with several not-very-convincing answers until the cogs fell into place.

    Ah well, that’s 20 minutes of a three-hour train journey taken up, better read the paper now.

  11. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. I enjoyed this, though I agree that ISLE barely qualifies as cryptic. I too saw MEANDERED as a simple substitution of ME for W.

    Rishi @1
    Just because ‘s can be something else in a cryptic clue doesn’t mean it always must be. Sometimes, it is just an S.

  12. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    A record fast Rufus solve for me on this evening’s express train ride home. No real hold ups, except that I had to revisit my original RISE (that I couldn’t parse) at 4d before I found HIKE.

    Last few in were AMAZON, CROWD and OLD HANDS. Didn’t really spot the ME for W, but it could be no other. It was quite strange in that I was doing an old FT puzzle (11/03/2015) from my backpile today and it had an almost identical clue for UNDERLINED.

    Liked the clue for TINE.

  13. 19dn ME for WHICH for me too. I suppose this is a typical Rufus but I thought it somewhat harder than usual. TIMBERYARD delayed me for quite a time but I loved ANIMAL FARM and TINE.
    Generally enjoyable despite the above.
    Thanks Rufus.

  15. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Enjoyable in the main, but as ever with Rufus, one or two little irritations. I thought that both SAVES and CROWD were the same definition twice, rather than a dd. ANIMAL FARM would have been completely impenetrable to anyone who hadn’t read it (or seen the film, I suppose).

    As it was Rufus, I blithely wrote in DELILAH for 23a – well, it could have been, couldn’t it?

  16. I did the same as Parky@4 for MEANDERED. I did wonder though where that left the parsing of definition vs wordplay. Is it an &lit?

    I think ISLE is undeniably cryptic, as explained in manehi’s excellent review – however, it suffers as a clue since the reading that provides the answer is just as likely to be the solver’s first interpretation as the misleading reading. This unfortunately happens a lot with Rufus, who seems to enjoy very subtle cryptic definitions, thereby risking that the true definition is first recognised. So, I try to appreciate the subtlety.

    I was delighted with 14d (AFTERTASTE) – you devil Rufus.

    many thanks Rufus and manehi

  18. I feel the term “cryptic’ is used very loosely to describe a fair percentage of these clues! Very limp offering, I’m afraid.

    10A, 13A, 24A, 8D, 17D, 21D all seemed one-dimensional; several dds were not references to two separate things; and anagrams were generally pretty obvious. It’s taken me nearly as long to write this as it did to complete the crossword, and I have rarely (if ever!) been so unchallenged and underwhelmed by a Guardian cryptic – even on a Monday!

    Yes, I know it’s yesterday’s crossword, but I usually tackle them the next morning, as in this case!

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