Guardian 26,719 – Picaroon

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An entertaining and not-too-difficult puzzle from Picaroon.

I spotted the theme almost immediately from 9a and 10a, but it didn’t help greatly, as all of the 13 fish (shown in blue below) have non-fishy definitions, some being rather more obscure (as names of fish) than others. Thanks to Picaroon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
8. DENATURE Fundamentally change tune and dare to get jazzy (8)
(TUNE DARE)*
9. ROACH Butt in reproachfully (5)
Hidden in repROACHfully
10. BASS Part of orchestra lacking right instrument (4)
BRASS less R
11. LOCOMOTIVE Nuts ground in big machine (10)
LOCO (mad, nuts) + MOTIVE (ground or grounds)
12. OLD HAT Like a chestnut horse brought in to lad for grooming (3,3)
H in (TO LAD)*
14. EPHEMERA They pass quickly, with record time crossing border (8)
HEM in EP + ERA
16. POLLOCK Artist cut receding hair (7)
LOP (cut) reversed + LOCK – the artist is Jackson Pollock
18. EGGMASS Intelligentsia urge religious celebration (7)
EGG (urge) + MASS – a new word for me: Chambers gives “intellectuals as a group” (perhaps derived from “egghead”?)
21. ABINGDON Neighbour of Oxford tutor found by a search engine (8)
The tutor might be A BING DON, Bing being Microsoft’s web search engine
23. SUCKER Person wanting compensation about fashionable label for mug (6)
CK (Calvin Klein, fashionable label) in SUER
24. PHILOSOPHY School with hippy founders ditching conservative belief system (10)
(SCHOOL HIPPY)* less C
26. CHIP Thematic accompaniment is cold and hot (4)
C + HIP – one of the chips to go with your fish
27. SHOAL Back country without hospital? 9, 10 and 11 other answers might make it (5)
H in reverse of LAOS – shoals are made up of fish
28. ETHEREAL Delicate present wrapped by Roman and others (8)
HERE (present) in ET AL
Down
1. SERAGLIO Al Gore is amazing for wives and girlfriends (8)
(AL GORE IS)*
2. RAYS What the Sun produces is reporter’s ruin (4)
Homophone of “raze” (to the ground)
3. MULLET Ponder extremely elegant hairdo (6)
MULL + E[legan]T
4. PERCHES Foreign parents embracing companion in bars where birds are found (7)
CH in PERES (French fathers)
5. DRUM Primarily despondent spirit for one getting beaten (4)
D[espondent] + RUM
6. PANTOMIMIC Rubbish for parodying, like some theatrical entertainment (10)
PAN (to criticise, rubbish) + TO MIMIC
7. SHAVER Boy‘s mum to swear (6)
SH (quiet, mum) + AVER. Rather dated slang for a boy or youth
13. HALF-NELSON Gripping action as prince and heir admits following Charles’s mistress endlessly (4-6)
F[ollowing] + NEL[L Gwynn, Mistress of Charles II] in HAL + SON
15. HAG Witch‘s laugh before midnight? (3)
HA (laugh) + [ni]G[ht]
17. COD Sham complaint Liberal’s dropped (3)
COLD less L
19. SHERIDAN Comic writer‘s novel managed to skirt round primitive urges (8)
SHE (H Rider Haggard novel) + ID (primitive urges) in RAN (managed)
20. SNAPPER Game for every paparazzo (7)
SNAP (card game) + PER
22. BEHEST Ambassador’s to be dressed in cream — and that’s an order (6)
HE in BEST
23. SCYTHE Loudly show irritation with article that’s cut (6)
SCY (“sigh”) + THE
25. SOLE Exclusive story’s beginning to get approval in Spain (4)
S[tory] + OLE
26. CARP Pick holes in garment with a run in it (4)
R in CAP

33 comments on “Guardian 26,719 – Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
    Much easier than the last Picaroon, but still fun.

    27a seems to imply that there are “locomotive fish”, but the only link I can find is that a class of locomotives took their names from fish.

    EGGMASS is odd. The definition for “intelligentsia” is in Chambers, though as two words; the more obvious definition – a mass of eggs, often of fish or shellfish – isn’t!

  3. Thanks Andrew.

    Steady proigress from start to finish today. Half guessed (correctly) the theme from CHIP.

    I took the 9, 10 and 11 other answers to be 9a and 10a and eleven other fish as answers, 13 altogether.

  6. Very nice – I didn’t spot the theme until I’d almost finished. Never heard of EGGMASS. Favourites included ETHEREAL, EPHEMERA, MULLET and HALF-NELSON (lovely clue). Many thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  7. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

    Rather fun, there are also EPHEMERA (mayflies) to catch the fish with. I needed help to pare SUCKER, PERCHES and SHERIDAN.

  8. Locomotive fish? There was a steam locomotive of the old LNER named “Salmon Trout”. But not actually named after the fish but a racehorse of that name.

    Nice puzzle. Unlike Dave Ellison, though, CHIP was my LOI when i suddenlt twigged the ‘thematic’ reference.

    Thanks, Picaroon and Andrew.

  10. Having failed to recognise DRUM as a fish, and Googling around for the 13th, I discovered there is a SCYTHE fish, Pseudogobio esocinus, notable (!) for the presence of numerous taste-buds on the granular processes of its strikingly broad lips. And to think people sometimes say crosswords are a waste of time.
    Many thanks, Picaroon and Andrew.

  11. Roger @10: Now there’s a curious thing. A puzzle elsewhere a couple of weeks ago was themed around sharks and one of the non-themed answers was ‘Isabella’. Yet the setter was not aware that there is an Isabella shark, Squalus Isabella, also known as the Draughtsboard shark. And today you’ve managed to find a non-themed answer that fits the theme. Serendipity or what?

  13. Thanks Picaroon; nice setting to get 13 or 14 fishes in there.

    Thanks Andrew; I didn’t think it was that easy, not knowing SHAVER & EGGMASS, the latter given as one word in Collins.

  14. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. I had forgotten the COD = sham link in UK slang (I had encountered it before) and needed help parsing SUCKER (I missed the CK = Calvin Klein). Also EGGMASS was clear from the clues but was hard for me to credit (as opposed to eggheads). Still, lots of fun here.

  15. I did not find this easy–45 minutes or so. I had not heard of ROACH as a fish, but assumed it must be after I got SHOAL. I cottoned onto the theme right about then, too, having noticed that BASS, RAYS, and COD were defined non-ichthyologically.

    I cheated on ABINGDON, not being in the mood to comb a map for towns near Oxford.

  16. A straightforward but very enjoyable solve – EGGMASS last in – new to me but fairly clued. Liked ABINGDON, ETHEREAL and SERAGLIO

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew

  17. 11a. It was apparently in 1964 that British Rail introduced its new sign. Immediately I saw it I called it a logomotif. I am pleased to say both it and I are still going strong.

  18. I forgot to mention that I knew ABINGDON not because of my limited knowledge of the Oxford area but because of a passing acquaintance with a little known play, Henry Porter’s The Two Angry Women of Abingdon (1598).

  20. The ’11 other answers’ gag was very cute. In my case I just assumed it was another Grauniad typo.

    Late start today so thankfully not too difficult a puzzle. Strictly speaking, do all these fish form shoals? Though I’ve just checked ROACH, which I thought didn’t as it’s a river fish only to find it does.

  21. Thanks, Andrew. Bit surprised by your and others’ lukewarm response to what (personally, of course) I found to be a lovely puzzle. Yes, not too difficult but a delight: stupidly, I didn’t cotton on to the theme until I arrived at 27ac – from then on, all the unfilled lights were revealed. That said, I didn’t bother to count the fish.

  22. NeilW @21
    Re-reading the responses, I would say that all contributors were positive, if not perhaps effusive.

  23. muffin @22 erm… “positive, if not perhaps effusive” is different to lukewarm? Perhaps, but the difference is minimal. Anyway, as I tried to imply, all tastes are different.

  25. Hmm, I’m rather lukewarm and this took me quite a long time. I didn’t spot the theme,as usual, and I expect that slowed me down.
    SHOAL was my LOI.
    I had to look up EGGMASS having got it from the wordplay and I can’t say I liked OLD HAT much.
    So, not a bad puzzle but by no means the most enjoyable.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  27. Just a thought – is there actually an instrument called a BASS? Double bass, bass clarinet etc., yes, but just bass? I suppose it is sometimes used to refer to bass guitar.

    (As another afterthought, I think that “bar” is part of the definition for 4d PERCHES.)

  28. A pleasant enough puzzle. I think the responses reflect a little disappointment after seeing that this was a “Pirate puzzle”.

    Much easier than usual for the setter although there were some nice clues. The fact that I cant remember them is probably indicative!

    I too had never heard of “eggmass” but the wordplay and crossers made it the only possibility. It’s not in the SOED but is in Collins and Chambers.

    I saw the 9,10 and 11 conceit when I had only 7D to solve and a quick count suggested that it needed to be a fish. Luckily I decided that several more of the clues were probably fish outside the setter’s knowledge as there are probably thousands of names for fish types! (I was actually not counting “drum”)

    Thanks to Andrew and Picaroon

  29. I suppose I’m “lukewarm” by NeilW’s standards, but I definitely have a positive feeling about it, if not to the extent of effusiveness. SHOAL gave me the theme, as I already had ROACH and BASS. CHIP was my LOI. Although I had seen the fish theme, for some reason which I can’t fathom I didn’t link the “thematic” in the clue with the puzzle theme for a long time.

    18a had to be EGGMASS, but I couldn’t find it in any of my usual online dictionaries. It still seems strange to me.

    muffin @27
    I think that in rock groups bass guitarists often just say they play BASS rather than “bass guitar”, so I think it is valid to say that it can be an instrument.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  32. ThNks Picaroon and Andrew

    Enjoyable puzzle that was done after the Melbourne Cup racing was over. A good effort to get the thirteen fish into the grid. Got the theme about half way after getting the CHIP clue which immediately helped with CARP. Cute trick with the clue fir SHOAL that took some time to twig with the 11.

    Finished in the SW with POLLACK, SHOAL and SOLE the last few in.

  33. Thanks Andrew and Picaroon.

    Enjoyed this.

    EGGMASS was new to me as was SHAVER for a lad.

    Thanks for explaining the SHE in 19dn. I didn’t see it even though I’ve read the book – excellent take by the way.

    My only ‘carp’ is sigh = show irritation. A sigh for me is more in resignation.

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