Guardian 26,801 – Rufus

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It’s Monday, it’s Rufus, we know what to expect – a generous supply of double and cryptic definitions (five of each today). Thanks to the setter.

By the way, I see the Guardian has found a new way to mess things up on the crossword site – the PDF version is now blank apart from the solution to the previous puzzle. Well done, chaps.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. ABBESS Sailor is married to Elizabeth, a superior lady (6)
AB + BESS – an Abbess may be a Mother Superior, though I dare say there are technical differences between the two
4. REVERE Venerate a midnight rider (6)
Double definition – from Paul Revere and his famous midnight ride
9. APSE Seen in church when spring returns before Easter starts (4)
Reverse of SPA + E[aster]. The definition is grammatically inaccurate, and could easily be fixed by making the clue read “It’s seen in church…”
10. ORIGINATED Rose and made a speech without a single drink (10)
I GIN in ORATED
11. CRIMEA It’s an offence to go to a part of Putin’s Russia (6)
CRIME + A
12. DIALOGUE Conversation piece? (8)
Cryptic definition
13. BLACKHEAD Spot gloomy principal (9)
BLACK + HEAD
15. TRUE Right in line (4)
Double definition
16. ALSO Too wrapped up in financial solvency (4)
HIdden in financiAL SOlvency
17. SCOUNDREL Lout knocked nurse cold (9)
(NURSE COLD)*
21. ROUSSEAU Philosopher offers wine and gold, when entertaining us (8)
US in ROSÉ + AU
22. ENCODE Don’t make a message plain (6)
Cryptic definition
24. HAILSTORMS Frozen waterfalls? (10)
Cryptic definition
25. NEWS None of it is good, it’s said (4)
Cryptic definition – “no news is good news”
26. YES-MEN Acquiescent types originally serving in a Gulf country (3-3)
S[erving] in YEMEN
27. PLANED Took off and levelled out (6)
Double definition
Down
1. APPAREL Clothes appear new on student (7)
APPEAR* + L
2. BREAM Fish seems to be right in the light (5)
R in BEAM
3. STOMACH Tolerate a most unusual church (7)
(A MOST)* + CH
5. ELIJAH A miracle-man, he’s involved in jailbreak (6)
JAIL* in HE, though the clue would seem to indicate HE in JAIL*..
6. ENAMOURED So in love, with demeanour transformed (9)
DEMEANOUR*
7. EXECUTE Put to death — and do it with a will (7)
Double definition
8. BIRD SANCTUARY Disturb canary hatching here, possibly (4,9)
(DISTURB CANARY)*
14. CASH SALES One wouldn’t credit such transactions (4,5)
Cryptic definition
16. ANOMALY Loan may be arranged, though it’s irregular (7)
(LOAN MAY)*
18. UTENSIL We hear you possibly enlist in domestic service, perhaps (7)
U (“we hear you”) + ENLIST*
19. ENDOWED Given an income, but at the finish was in debt (7)
END + OWED
20. SETTLE Pay for a seat (6)
Double definition
23. CANON Is able to hold on, as a rule (5)
CAN + ON – “hold” would usually indicate ON in CAN, but I suppose this just about works

48 comments on “Guardian 26,801 – Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and Andrew
    A few I liked – BIRD SANCTUARY and HAILSTORMS for instance – but some odd ideas too. I wouldn’t equate LOUT with SCOUNDREL (different sorts of ill-doing), and does PLANED really mean “took off”?

  2. Usual mix. Good like 8 and some like 5 and 23 would have Ximenes graving in his turn. This the second Pdf they have messed up this week…I sense a staff change at the G.. The guy who knew how to do it has left?

  3. Thanks Andrew…I was beginning to think the pdf thing was just me!

    Found this tough to finish. Rufus’s short double defs kill me. LOI was TRUE which I stared at for ages.

    Liked the surprising anagram of BIRD SANCTUARY and also HAILSTORMS.

    I think muffin has a point about PLANED. Perhaps Rufus was thinking of sailing – that point where the boat sort of ‘climbs out of the water and it feels like it has taken off.

    Nice week, all.

  4. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    I suppose 27ac could be understood as just referring to the carpenter’s tool: “He took off the rough edges with his plane”.

  7. I was sorely tempted at 23d to write in CONAN but that’s a barbarian whereas CANON fitted the definition so I plumped for that instead.

    Last in was HAILSTORMS, for me a typically Rufusian bête noire.

  9. Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

    Plane sailing today rather than plain sailing, but CANON works for me since it is a down clue. I liked BIRD SANCTUARY, HAILSTORMS, CASH SALES and REVERE.

  11. Andrew – not sure what your problem with ‘seen in church’ is (surely it’s just a style of shorthand that doesn’t change the definition). On the other hand, ‘Easter starts’ suggests at least EA whereas ‘start of Easter’ would pinpoint the single E.

  13. I liked BIRD SANCTUARY and UTENSIL. Agree that PLANED was a bit iffy, but all in all a very enjoyable Rufus. Thanks to him and to Andrew.

  14. @Tim Phillips: my rule of thumb in this sort of case is to ask “would the definition work as a clue in a ‘Quick’ crossword?”, and to me “Seen in church” doesn’t define APSE, any more than (another bugbear of mine) “In France” defines PARIS. I do realise that not everyone agrees with me on this point…

  15. Tricky with Rufus, isn’t it?

    I have family and friends for whom he’s the ideal entry-level setter and, with a little nudging from me, helps them to get many of the roots and principles.

    But then, when he is occasionally sloppy or inaccurate, it doesn’t ‘arm’ them for the bigger guns (not that any of them is totally immune from sloppiness, of course!) ?

  17. Andrew @14

    Yes but…why is “it’s seen in church” any more, err, definitive?

    (By the way, it’s a neat surface, with juxtaposition of spring and Easter, don’t you think?)

  18. btw I’m still the only poster on the Quiptic thread. I would recommend this week’s (by Hectence) – a very good puzzle, in my opinion.

    It’s here:
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords

    (I haven’t linked to the actual puzzle as that has all my answers showing. I don’t think that these would show up if someone else followed the link, but I don’t want to risk it.)

  19. Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    He did it again !!! Drew the error at 25a with NOWT … couldn’t make it work 100% and too hasty to think it through further !!!

    Didn’t have too many problems with the rest of it. Interesting definition for CRIMEA, I thought.

    At 27a, I had it as ‘took off in an aeroplane’ and ‘levelled out with the carlenter’s tool’.

    Last few in were CASH SALES, SETTLE and HAILSTORMS.

  20. re PLANED: I didn’t actually check this at the time, but Chambers gives “to travel by aeroplane” as a definition of PLANE. So it’s not exactly the same as “took off”, but presumably this meaning is what Rufus had in mind.

  21. Thanks Rufus & Andrew.

    I was another nowt and hailstones at the beginning. Like William @3, LOI was TRUE. My ODE has ‘travel in an aeroplane’ for PLANE, so I guess it’s probably OK. In the US, I think they often use ‘deplane.’ (…and “we will be boarding the plane momentarily,” which always produces a smile 🙂 )

    I liked UTENSIL and ORIGINATED.

  22. Another Monday, another Rufus, all pretty straightforward though not quite as many write-ins as last week.

    Thanks to Rufus and Andrew

  23. Did anyone else think of AVALANCHES as a solution for 24ac? It seems to work just as well, and fits two of the crossers. That’s the (or a) trouble with DDs.

  24. I also had NOWT for 25 across and started confidently entering STALACTITE for 24 across until I realized the error of my ways!

  25. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. It’s very helpful to read the comments of people who are far more expert at solving crosswords than I am. As I now feel reasonably confident tackling crosswords set by Rufus, can anyone suggest other compilers of Guardian crosswords that would be suitable for those of us who are near the beginners end of the spectrum?

  26. Colin @25, Falcon (Allan Scott, the former Everyman crossword setter) in the Financial Times is great (the present Everyman setter’s crosswords are harder). The Quiptic crossword is supposed to be easier than Rufus, but this is not always so.

  27. Colin @25 – the best advice I can give is just try any of them, don’t worry about finishing and look up the solutions here for the ones you don’t understand – I would have learned much quicker had this site been available when I was starting. The next easiest in the Guardian stable is usually Chifonie, though he does set the occasional trickier one.

  28. I had HAILSTONES as my FOI and liked it better than the answer. PLANED was LOI and I didn’t like it at all for reasons pointed out elsewhere. Indeed I didn’t think much of this at all and I’m normally in Rufus’s corner. Perhaps I’ll have a go at the Quiptic. Thanks anyway Rufus.

  29. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    I, like William @ 3 today, usually spend more time with Rufus finishing off the last few than with the bulk of the clues. However, a quick solve for me today.

    Aquaplaning according to wiki is: “Water pressure in front of the wheel forces a wedge of water under the leading edge of the tire, causing it to lift from the road”

  30. Thank you for the blog, Andrew, I share your reservations about 5 & 23d. [This should have been the first comment today but I must have forgotten to press “submit”!]

    Colin @25: I agree totally with Beery Hiker’s advice. Indeed, I would go further and actually recommend Chifonie as a good setter to start with, having used his puzzles to help a friend who was in your position; she really enjoyed them and is now confidently trying other, perhaps harder, setters. She gained invaluable experience through his use of a good mix of clue types .

  31. Starting to get the hang of these now, albeit that they take me an inordinately long time, but I’ll keep plugging on. Re:’planed’, I’d assumed with Cholecyst@4 that taking off is what a carpenter does and the leveling referred to what they do with those enormous machines at roadworks to create a level surface. Thanks to Rufus, Andrew and all the helpful posts.

  33. All good clean fun in Rufus’s usual Christmas cracker style punnery, but how is ‘Dialogue’ cryptic? And a scoundrel just isn’t a lout.

  34. Usual Rufus fare. 🙁

    I think people are over complicating 27A. It’s much simpler as a CD. “Took off and levelled out” suggests an aeroplane taking off etc but is a simple CD of using a carpenter’s plane to take off wood to level a surface.

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus

  36. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I found this one easy going and dealt with it during breaks in the Super Bowl last night. I did not have trouble with NEWS or PLANED so finished quickly. No complaints.

  37. The trouble with Rufus is that , too often, there is the need to enter a solution on the basis that you think you know what he means — as in PLANED and CANON and ELIJAH. Too often, though, it’s just not the case

  38. The trouble with Rufus is that , too often, there is the need to enter a solution on the basis that you think you know what he means — as in PLANED and CANON and ELIJAH. Too often, though, it’s just not the case.
    mustn’t grumble though, I’d rather have it to do on a Monday than nothing at all . . .

  40. Valentine @39

    I thought all the clue needed was two simple adjustments:

    “It’s seen in church when spring returns before start of Easter (4)”

    as that would seem to clear up the doubts that some or many of us had about both the definition and the wordplay. I just get the feeling that the clue as printed was rushed.

    Brendan @34

    I agree with your reading of 27A (PLANED). That’s exactly how it came to me when I wrote it in. I thought it was one of the best clues today because the two parts together indicate the answer, and the surface neatly suggests aircraft motion.

    [Btw, Brendan, did you see my post from yonks ago: no. 44 on 3 Feb in reply to yours re verbal nouns?]

  41. Had a chuckle at Putin’s Russia. Spent ages looking for an anagram and &lit for ‘frozen waterfalls’ as all the crossers were there. And like others, before the penny dropped, I had NOWT for 25 which I justified as homophone for N(ot) OUT. But then that would have been clued as *. Or has that been done already?

  42. Alan @40

    Sorry I never got back to that thread. I have now rectified this with a brief reply on said thread which will no doubt confuse the blogger PeterO!

  46. Only one cheat needed today which is a great result by my standards. Though I did lead myself astray for awhile when I smugly entered AVALANCHES for 24a.

    For 5d I read this as an anagram/charade of HE* (involved) and JAIL* (break) – rather than an insertion of HE into JAIL* as above?

    Thanks for the blog, Andrew.

  47. matrixmania @46
    I also parsed ELIJAH as an anagram of (HE + JAIL). I don’t think Andrew’s parsing works as it would have to be JAIL* in EH and there is no reversal indicator. Combining separated elements in a single anagram would be unusual, though, even with the “involved in” suggesting combining them.

  48. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    Agree with JennyK on the parsing of 5dn.

    If it’s one thing I’ve learned about Rufus puzzles, it is:

    USE A PENCIL.

    I’ve been caught out too many times.

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