Guardian 26,748 / Rufus

34 comments on “Guardian 26,748 / Rufus”

1. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid
   I didn’t know the second meaning of CORSET, and was puzzled by the last part of the clue for AERIALS – why “for some speakers”? Is it an attempt to mislead towards a “sounds like”? Even in a radio sense, speakers don’t receive signals directly from aerials.
   Favourite was TRAGEDIAN.

2. Thanks Gaufrid. Can’t see what speakers have to do with aerials though

3. [A friend living in Bristol (Bris’l) had poor TV reception. Ho got an engineer to look at it. The engineer reported “It’s your aerial”. Friend said “that’s what I got you out to fix”. “No”, said the engineer, “not the aerial on your roof – the areal you live in.”]

4. btw today’s Quiptic is a lovely crossword (Orlando).

5. Nice gag Muffin

6. Thanks Rufus & Gaufrid.

   I thought the clue for AERIALS was OK. AERIALS provide good reception for radios, which can only be assessed by the sound coming out of the speakers. The surface was obviously constructed to allude to orators.

7. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

   Rushed through this … and in the haste had for some reason carelessly written in AIRWAYS rather than AERIALS at 23a.

   A few new terms here – TOOLING (in book binding), SARABAND (I think, well had to look it up to check anyway) and CORSET (as a restriction on finances). They were all amongst the last in.

8. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid.

   I took longer than usual on this, I cannot think why. The second sense of CORSET was new to me, though I seem to recall a banking term ‘corsage’, but find it nowhere in my dictionaries or on the web.

   I did like TOOLING, BOOTLEGGER, TRAGEDIAN and CHAPLAINCY.

9. Thanks all
   Last in was Eliot, since the biblical reference was lost on me.
   I think many of you have been fooled by R. In 23 across since only the voice meaning is needed.

10. I agree with others about 23a.

    Somehow I totally failed to parse 22a, and only remembered the liquorish meaning of bootleg – d’oh! I’d also never come across the bank-related meaning of CORSET, but it’s there in Collins, so fair do’s.

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Rufus.

11. I enjoyed this. 13a, I guessed ellot but didn’t parse it – religion is not my strong suit. For some reason I didn’t get 3d even though it is obvious now.

    I didn’t think that 1d was cryptic, a bootlegger and a pirate are both people who avoid excise duties.

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.

12. I agree with JohnM @11, that is how I ‘parsed’ BOOTLEGGER, but did not trust my own judgement.

13. “Bootlegs” can be pirate copies of works under copyright. That makes the clue a dd rather than cryptic def., the other definition being the older meaning of illicit production of alcohol, especially during Prohibition in the USA.

14. An enjoyable though fairly quick solve. Favourites are CHAPLAINCY, AGREED and GAME, SET AND MATCH.

    I’m another who doesn’t see what “speakers” adds to 23a. “They ensure a good reception”, with or without “for some”, would be a (not very) cryptic definition clue on its own. “Speakers” seems to be an add-on just to hint at a homophone rather than integral part of the clue. It seems clumsy. On the other hand, it seems we all solved it anyway, so it’s just a minor niggle.

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.

15. All pretty straightforward except my last in TOOLING which was unfamiliar – a typical Rufus clue with nothing to fall back on if you are not familiar with the definition…

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid

16. I’ve been on vacation from cryptics for almost two weeks (a week on actual literal Florida vacation, then a week of doing other things with my mornings). Thanks to that, it took me a fair while to get into this. Then I remembered it was Rufus–and thus that half of these would be cryptic definitions. Then it went in pretty quickly.

    I think the cryptic-ness of the BOOTLEGGER clue is meant to come from misinterpreting “still” to mean “even today.”

17. We too had AIRWAYS instead of AERIALS. I can’t see why AERIALS is a better answer to such a loose clue. Speakers need their airways clear to make a good speech, and hence to get a good reception. EARS would have been an equally good answer except for the number of letters!
    Am I missing something?

18. I thought there were a few weak clues here (9A, 11A, 19A, 23A and perhaps a couple of others), which rather spoilt the rest of the crossword which had some some neat clues, e.g. 8D (HERO) and 24A (LADEN). It was still on the easy side, as Rufus’s puzzles often are, although I was stuck on 11A (TOOLING) when I only had the T and O to cross it: I just ‘biffed’ it and decided to read all about it here.

19. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid. For whatever reason I breezed through this puzzle very quickly pausing only slightly over REPERTORY and CORSET.

20. I liked this and it took me longer than usual having got stuck on ELIOT- an excellent clue, I now think- and, oddly, ARTIST. I didn’t see a problem with AERIALS. I liked CHAPLAINCY, GANG and SARABAND.
    Thanks Rufus.

21. I enjoyed this puzzle, which means I could do lots of it (so it must have been easy!). I admire the way most of you are quite complacent when you miss a clue. I tend to grind my teeth & get miffed as in 10a Rhone – I must remember to analyse each word!! (much head bashing, as well).

    Please could someone explain the use of the word “parse” in the context in which it’s used here. My grammar is far off in the very distant past. (mind – the higher mathematics at the bottom near “submit” had me momentarily perplexed!)

    Cookie – thanks for welcome on previous puzzle. I will probably start on Everyman, though I shouldn’t. I tend to get “set” when on the computer. Good for the mind, bad for the butt.

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.

22. ChrisP @21

    Welcome!

    “Parse” in this context means “explain the wordplay” (as distinct from the definition).

    The Guardian Quiptic is a good puzzle to practise on. This week’s is particularly good.

    http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quiptic/838

23. ……..actually, sorting out definition can be part of the parsing too. Basically it means “explain how the clue works”.

24. Yeah. When you grammatically parse a sentence, your brain analyzes the structure and function of the words to produce meaning. When your computer parses a bit of programming, it’s analyzing the structure and content of the program to produce clear instructions.

    When you parse a cryptic clue, you’re doing more or less the same thing: analyzing the structure and function of a clue to produce clear directions as to what word is intended.

    So (to pick one arbitrarily from the above) “Left port with cargo on board (5)” parses as “(Abbreviation for) left + (a specific) port = (a word that means) “with cargo on board.”

    –M.

25. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid.

    A nice quick solve except for four that held me up

    Re 23a, isn’t anyone here old enough to have played with crystal sets (no power supply) where a long areal wire was essential for audible reception?

26. Thanks Muffin & mrpenny for explanations, (22 – 24) that’s very clear. I am working the quiptics, agree they are often easier, shall keep on trying.

27. I enjoyed this Rufus and the one in the Telegraph today as well. I haven’t always enjoyed the puzzles, sometimes the cryptic and double definitions frustrate me, but recently either I have grown more tolerant or the puzzles have been genuinely better. They do seem to have become a touch harder.

    Many thanks Rufus and thanks Gaufrid

28. I don’t understand the complaints as it’s a “Rufus Monday”.

    This was probably “mid-range” on the dodgy scale for Rufus but of course complaints aren’t allowed because

    a) Easy Monday is of course the strict policy of the Guardian Crossword Ed.

    b) Rufus has a huge following and they’ll “get you” if you dare to complain.

    Freddy @25

    I think the complaints about 23A refer to the use of the words “reception for some speakers”. Even in the simplest crystal set all frequencies are “received” from the aerial by the tuned circuit but only the resonant frequency is transmitted to the speakers. i.e. the speakers don’t receive anything directly from the aerial. (But I’m not complaining 😉 )

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Rufus

29. B(NTO) @28
    🙂

    (Actually, I thought that there were far fewer complaints than with most Fufuses. Rather better than is often the case.)

30. I love Monday’s crossword as it is doable for less clever solvers and rank amateurs. Rufus is just challenging enough for me and I am very grateful. I appreciate the editorial policy re Mondays as I can have some satisfaction in actually getting it out once a week…I also enjoy reading the comments and though I am a bit of a pedant at heart, I do find some criticisms/discussions just a little picky. I am in awe of those of you who can solve them all and who know so much about cryptics. Many of you have a much longer history than mine with The Guardian and know so much about parsing, dds etc etc. Being an Aussie solver does have disadvantages eg regarding some geographical, political and media references/clues, but I am delighted to be a part of this cryptic community. The whole endeavour gives me much pleasure. Hopefully all solvers can still remember what it was like to crack even a few clues rather than always being able to solve the puzzles in full. The process of gradually honing your skills must have been both difficult and delightful. Thanks to Rufus, Guifrid (Sp?), all the setters and all the people who do the explanations and make comments/clarifications. Much appreciated.

31. I’m a Rufus fan – you take the rough (some loose definitions) with the smooth (often some very clever double definitions). He’s perfect for Mondays and I miss him when he doesn’t appear!

32. Thanks to Rufus for one I could complete! This is rare for me.
    I loved Bootlegger – got it straight from ‘one operating still’ as in distillation.

33. Brendan @28

    You say “Easy Monday is of course the strict policy of the Guardian Crossword Ed.”

    Whether that was tongue-in-cheek or not, this is yet another reference to the Guardian Crossword Editor.

    Is there such a being? I sometimes wonder. Typos aside, many errors and faults, both simple and subtle, are pointed out by this community, which is why I think the Guardian has no active crossword editor – just an inactive postholder.

    Having just come back from a month in Australia, where I solved a number of (British) Times crosswords 30 days behind their appearance in The Times, I was struck by how few solecisms or typos there were in the clues – evidence, of a sort, of an active crossword editor.

    Incidentally, I found the general level of difficulty of The Times crosswords to be very similar to that of Guardian crosswords, but I hasten to point out that the Guardian puzzles are more fun, on the whole, because the clues are more creative, have more humour and often have themes.

    Can anyone with inside knowledge say whether or not the person who is mentioned so many times on this site actually exists. To sum up, I don’t think there is an active crossword editor at the Guardian, but I think it needs one.

34. Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus.

    Usual stuff from this setter. New definition of TOOLING for me.

    Managed to get through without error for once.

    Same issues about AERIALS as others above.

    I suspect you’re reading too much into the clue for CORSET. Ladies were confined by their stays.

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