Guardian Cryptic 26706 by Rufus

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A bit trickier than usual from Rufus, and a nice start to the week. A few swindles in the clues had me looking for any further connections, but I’m yet to think of any. Favourites 25ac, 5dn, 7dn, and 21dn.

Across
9 CARVE
Number feel concern about cut (5)

V=5 in Roman numerals=”Number”, with CARE=”feel concern” about it.
10 INFLUENCE
Clout, say (9)

Double definition – “say” as in “to have a say in the matter”.
11 MANIFESTO
Public declaration in the show ring (9)

MANIFEST=”show”, plus O=”ring”
12 TULIP
Switch lit up bulb (5)

(lit up)*
13 BOUNCER
One who throws out a bad cheque (7)

Double definition
15 TANTRUM
A bad-tempered pet (7)

Cryptic def – “pet” as in ‘sulk’ rather than an animal
17 COLON
Stop, or pass on (5)

“Stop”=’a punctuation mark’. COL=”pass” in a mountain range, plus ON
18 POD
Pea jacket? (3)

Cryptic def – the shell of a pea, rather than the type of coat.
20 ASPEN
Tree in a small enclosure (5)

A, plus S[mall], plus PEN=”enclosure”
22 NOTATES
Writes down memoranda at the centre (7)

NOTES=”memoranda”, with AT in the centre of it
25 WREATHE
Wind resulting from unsettled weather (7)

“Wind” rhyming with ‘dined’, as in to twist. (weather)*
26 THUMB
One of two up for approval (5)

Cryptic def.
27 RESURGENT
Current increase in rent — and it’s rising again (9)

SURGE=”Current increase”, in RENT
30 TITLE DEED
It will prove ownership of river in named setting (5,4)

DEE=”river” in TITLED=”named”
31 MAINE
Major eastern state (5)

MAIN=”Major” plus E[astern]
Down
1 SCAM
Put up rainwear in a swindle (4)

MACS=”rainwear”, reversed (“Put up”)
2 TRANQUIL
Still managed to snuggle into quilt, when drunk (8)

RAN=”managed”, inside (quilt)*
3 REEF
The knot sailors try to avoid (4)

Double def – a type of knot, or a nautical hazard
4 AIRSTRIP
Advertise sportswear for those taking the air (8)

AIR=”Advertise” plus STRIP=”sportswear”
5 AFLOAT
Middleman to offer new shares for sale, so not going under (6)

[m]A[n]=”Middle/man”, plus FLOAT=”offer new shares for sale”
6 JUST IN CASE
Man takes court action, hoping judge will be this (4,2,4)

A cryptic definition, and JUSTIN=”Man”, plus CASE=”court action”
7 ANTLER
Head branch rental adjusted (6)

(rental)*
8 WEEP
Little quiet cry (4)

WEE=”Little” plus P[iano]=”quiet”
13 BACON
Meat company included in embargo (5)

CO[mpany] included in BAN=”embargo”
14 CONSTABLES
Firm taken in by swindles gets the police (10)

STABLE=”Firm” inside CONS=”swindles”
16 MANSE
Names changed to accommodate the minister (5)

an ecclesiastical residence. (Names)*
19 DOWNSIDE
Not the best situation for a county team (8)

County DOWN in Northern Ireland, plus SIDE=”team”
21 PATHETIC
Sad passage — quote coming up (8)

PATH=”passage”, plus CITE=”quote” reversed (“coming up”)
23 TAUNTS
Teases the non-male members of the family (6)

T[he] minus he=“the non-male“, plus AUNTS=”members of the family”
24 SERIES
Cycle chain? (6)

Double definition
26 TOTE
It’s on course to work for the better (4)

cryptic definition – a TOTE or totalisator is a betting system found at a race “course” and for the “better”/bettor
28 RAMP
It’s a swindle to put a penny on farm butter (4)

RAMP=”swindle”. P[enny] on RAM=”farm butter”
29 TEEM
Some seem quite empty, or just the opposite (4)

The opposite of seeming empty. Hidden in [qui]TE EM[pty]

20 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26706 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and manehi
    Fortunately there were several I liked (25a, 31a, 7d, 8d, 16d and 23d) to offset all the unsatisfactory clues. Rufus back to irritating habits!

    10a is the same definition twice, not double def.; I’ve heard of cheques bouncing, but never a bad cheque being called a “bouncer”; TANTRUM isn’t cryptic at all; (pedantically) AT isn’t at the centre of NOTATES – 3 letters before, 2 after; 4d the clue has AIR in it; 6d there isn’t a definition for the usual meaning of “just in case”; why “to work” in 26d? – the clue would be much better as “It’s on course for the better”; what is “seem” doing in 29d?

  2. muffin: I agree with your gripes, and would level your criticism of 10A at 24A too. I think I can justify ‘seem’ in 29D, though: without it, the def would be “just the opposite” of “quite empty”, which would require an adjective, but TEEM is a verb, so we need a verbal phrase.

  3. I also couldn’t believe AIRSTRIP was right as ‘air’ is in the clue, and thought that JUST IN CASE was a bit iffy, but it is Rufus after all! Some nice clues including WREATHE, CONSTABLES and ANTLER. Thanks to R and m.

  5. I agree with muffin @1. I had DOWNCAST for 19d before walking it back. Did anyone notice that TEEM written backwards is MEET (i.e. “just”)? I doubt it’s intentional though.

  6. poc @5, yes, I noticed that MEET = ‘just’, but had just made a fool of myself by first entering RESURRECT at 27a, so thought I had better keep quiet.

  7. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    I tend not to grizzle too much if I get the grid filled out fully with no wrong answers .. and so it was here.

    Did have SYSTEM at 24d and STREAMLET at 27a initially, which caused a bit of a rework down in the SE corner, but still all done in relatively quick time.

    Missed the JUSTIN CASE parsing of 6d basically through laziness …

  8. Enjoyable with the exception of AIRSTRIP which I paused over for the reason Drofle has mentioned. I suppose some of the other gripes are justified but I can’t say they bothered me over much. LOI was TEEM which took me far longer than it should have.
    Nice start to the week.
    Thanks Rufus.

  9. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. I’m another who paused at length over the “strip” in AIRSTRIP but the rest went very quickly – and I especially liked JUST IN CASE.

  10. Thanks Rufus and manehi.

    I liked “antler.”

    How is “strip” sportswear?

    How is a series a cycle? It seems more linear than circular.

  11. Valentine @10: “Strip” for sportswear (specifically, a sports uniform) is a usage I’ve only seen in British sports writing. It may occur elsewhere, but I certainly wouldn’t know the word if I weren’t both an Anglophile and a sports nut.

    As for a series being a cycle–think song cycle or sonnet cycle. (To be fair, that was the one clue in this one that I did not solve. (Though to be fair to me, that’s because I ran out of time, as I had a student to meet.))

    –M.

  12. Valentine@10
    Football teams have an “away strip”, which differs from the usual colours of jerseys, shorts etc.

  13. Valentine, “strip” is fine.

    I agree the clue to 24dn is not good; a series can be cyclic or linear as you suggest. However, having gone through the possibilities I decided “series” was the only answer that fitted.

  14. It was Rufus so I don’t understand the criticism.

    He’s had much dodgier puzzles than this that haven’t raised a whisper of complaint!

    I’m sure the ed would have spotted any major errors! 😉

    I for one found this particularly easy, even for Rufus.

    Thanks to manehi and Rufus.

  15. BNTO @14
    You exaggerate, I think – I can’t remember a Rufus puzzle that hasn’t “raised a whisper of complaint”!

  16. Thanks all
    I’m find it difficult to disagree with anything in Muffin @1.
    However I can’t accept drofle’s universal excuse @3.
    Does the NUJ negotiate lower fees for weaker puzzles?

  17. Muffin @15

    You are probably aware that I used to often post about the poor quality of Rufus puzzles. However I was often the only one to point out the awful cluing and the waiving of common cluing practices.

    I was told at the time that Rufus has a very large fan base. (In fact I was often scolded by them for my affrontery in critcising the great man).

    My tactic now is to pursue the positive reinforcement route and offer voluble praise for average puzzles which have the merit of not being too”dodgy”.

    I can only assume the ed has a similar strategy for Rufus.(Obviously for fear that some of the fan base might be people in “high places” 😉 )

  18. While I think most of the grumbles above are justified to an extent, the only one which bothered me was the repetition of AIR in the clue and answer for 4d. Like Cookie, I originally entered “resurrect” for 27a, until I realised I couldn’t parse that. TAUNTS was my favourite.

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi.

  19. Agree with manehi that this was a little tricky for a Rufus. Nothing unfair, so for me one of his better ones.
    Thanks to Rufus and manehi

  20. Thanks manehi and Rufus.

    There are some good clues here as pointed out but a host of poor clues too. Especially many of the not-so-cryptic DDs where the two definitions were barely dissimilar.

    I found the AIR in both the clue and answer to 4dn particularly irksome.

    Yes we do all love Rufus but I’m starting to feel he might be overworked and in need of a break. It’s all seeming a bit tired.

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