What can one say? Just what we know we are going to get from Rufus on a Monday. A gentle start to the week with not too much wordplay to ponder over.
.
Across
1 Member leads groups with signs of mourning (8)
ARMBANDS – ARM (member) BANDS (groups)
5 Pet for the ancient mariner (3,3)
SEA DOG – cryptic def.
9 Hard to fathom why corruption engulfed good man and king (8)
ABSTRUSE – ABUSE (corruption) around (engulfed) ST (good man) R (king)
10 A vital change for a country (6)
LATVIA – an anagram (change) of A VITAL
12 Love food? (5)
MUSIC – cryptic def.
13 Such a discussion gives opportunity for falling out (4-5)
OPEN-ENDED – cryptic def.
14 Educated at home? (5-7)
HOUSE-TRAINED – cryptic def.
18 Craftsmen with inflationary effects on their products (5-7)
GLASS-BLOWERS – cryptic def.
21 Most agree it could be a useless eyesore (9)
GASOMETER – an anagram (it could be) of MOST AGREE
23 Flinch when college head tucks into port, say (5)
WINCE – C[ollege] (college head) in (tucks into) WINE (port, say)
24 Albion maverick may be released (2,4)
ON BAIL – an anagram (maverick) of ALBION
25 Her rank prohibits one’s admission (8)
BARONESS – ONE’S in (admission) BARS (prohibits)
26 Parts of firearms? (6)
PIECES – double def.
27 On the way had an urge and joined up (8)
STITCHED – ST (way) ITCHED (had an urge)
Down
1 Intimidates the French surrounded by weapons (6)
ALARMS – LA (the French) in (surrounded by) ARMS (weapons)
2 Brood about one’s ill-treatment (6)
MISUSE – MUSE (brood) around (about) I’S (one’s)
3 Terrible actor in trouble with debts (9)
ATROCIOUS – an anagram (in trouble) of ACTOR plus IOUS (debts)
4 Record playing in the small hours — Mood Indigo? (12)
DISCONSOLATE – DISC (record) ON (playing) SO LATE (in the small hours)
6 Note overdue transport (5)
ELATE – E (note) LATE (overdue)
7 A product of good stock (8)
DIVIDEND – cryptic def.
8 Excellent publicity arranged by family members (8)
GRANDADS – GRAND (excellent) ADS (publicity) – I don’t see the reason for ‘arranged by’, the link could have been simply ‘for’.
11 A despatch note? (5,7)
DEATH WARRANT – cryptic def.
15 Missile base and plant (9)
ARROWROOT – ARROW (missile) ROOT (base)
16 Mature pop band, all as old as each other (3,5)
AGE GROUP – AGE (mature) GROUP (pop band)
17 Good enough to get by? (8)
PASSABLE – cryptic def.
19 She gets tangled with men to become engaged (6)
ENMESH – an anagram (gets tangled) on SHE MEN
20 Poetically skilful (6)
VERSED – cryptic def.
22 State of the sea, say (5)
MAINE – a homophone (say) of ‘main’ (the sea)
Thank you, Gaufrid.
Much faster solve than normal for this setter. There’s usually a number of double defs which leave me staring for ages, but only 3 this morning.
Liked OPEN-ENDED & DIVIDEND but less keen on HOUSE TRAINED. The answer goes in readily enough but where’s the def?
Many thanks, Rufus.
Nice week, all.
Thank you, Rufus and Gaufrid. Although it wasn’t difficult, I thought this was more than usually pleasing on account of its many elegant surfaces. I particularly liked the ‘cryptic pretending to be double’ definition of MUSIC as the possible food of love.
A good Rufus with hardly any dodgy clues, I thought. I was held up for a bit by imagining that magic rather than music was the food of love, for some reason! Favourites were SEA DOG, DISCONSOLATE and PASSABLE. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.
I’m wary of saying this but I might slowly be getting on Rufus’s wavelength, after many years of him giving me dd abdabs. Once 7d I would only have thought stock = gravy or pedigree. Now, I’m thinking markets as well!
Or it might just be a lucky streak.
Thank you Rufus and Gaufrid. An enjoyable start to the the week, really good clues with smooth surfaces. Last one in was ARROWROOT! Favourites were SEA DOG, GLASS-BLOWERS and OPEN-ENDED.
Thanks Rufus & Gaufrid.
Very pleasant puzzle with largely good surfaces and nothing much to complain about, I thought. LOI was VERSED, which I couldn’t get for a while.
I liked the Mood Indigo as well as GLASS-BLOWERS and others.
Easy but very elegant
Thanks rufus. Nice comfortable start to the week. Liked MUSIC, SEA-DOG and DISCONSOLATE. Could have used ‘Moody Blues’?
Nothing to get too excited about – a pretty quick solve even by Rufus standards. Liked DISCONSOLATE, last in MUSIC.
Thanks to Gaufrid and Rufus
I like gasometers. MEGASTORE might have been more apt.
Nice puzzle and a great improvement on last week’s Rufus. I particularly liked DISCONSOLATE.
Thanks Rufus.
Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid. As to 12ac I thought in terms of the opening line of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Hi ACD
“As to 12ac I thought in terms of the opening line of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “If music be the food of love, play on.””
As did I, though I added a link for anyone unfamiliar with the quotation. Perhaps I should have done it as a ‘see here’ to make the link more obvious.
Thanks all
Last in was death (warrant, went in earlier}.
Nothing else worth mentioning.
Gaufrid @13. Sorry for the redundancy. I normally would have clicked on your link, but I had little difficulty with this puzzle so that I did not read your comments as thoroughly as usual.
Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid
A straightforward puzzle, and as has been pointed out, very elegantly clued for most part.
Finished in the NW corner with MUSIC, ABSTRUSE and DISCONSOLATE the last few in.
Another enjoyable puzzle, with some very nice surfaces.
Thanks, Rufus and Gaufrid.
Yippee, we finally completed a full Rufus crossword.
Lots of wry smiles as usual with Rufus. Favourite was DISCONSOLATE. Others may also remember the parody of Tom Moore that begins “I never saw a purple cow”. Don’t know about seeing one but if I’d heard one I’m sure it would have MOOED INDIGO”.
Well done G+Sandbag … nice feeling, isn’t it?
New to this but thankyou for the link. Am so pleased I can access an explanation for the more difficult clues! Am only trying Rufus at the moment. Where next do you think?
justjanebee @21
Welcome to cryptics and to this site! Have you tried the Everyman and Guardian Quiptics yet? Both are supposed to comparatively straightforward puzzle, though the Quiptics vary depending on the setter. The consensus on the blog here is that this week’s Quiptic by Anto was far too difficult for that slot. If you check the snippets of introduction on the Quiptic index page here, you can get a feel for how they compare with each other.
Hi justjanebee
Also try Chifonie (from Guardian), his alter-ego Armonie (Financial Times) and Falcon (Financial Times). They are all at the easier scale of setters and good for someone learning the ropes.
Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus.
Enjoyable with reservations as ever.
Agree with William on the lack of definition in 14ac.
Also felt that the clues could have done with a couple of question marks to indicate examples – at the end of 1ac (an armband could be a sign of captaincy) and after band in 16dn (lots of other examples of groups).
With an engineering background, I did think that ‘useless’ was unfortunate in 21ac – we’d have no pressure regulation without them.
But then I enjoyed the simple elegance of WINCE and MAINE. So fair enough.