Guardian 26,815 – Philistine

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A very satisfying puzzle from Philistine today, with lots of clues that seemed impenetrable at first but gradually yielded, including a few where the letters of the answer literally appear in the clue, though well concealed. Another feature is that several clues have more than one definition or cryptic indication – 1 across in particular. Thanks to Philistine.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. SHANDY Inside a kind of beach hotel, in shy and quiet Murray, a drink (6)
H[otel] in SANDY (kind of beach); AND in SHY; SH + ANDY (Murray, tennis player) – having three cryptic indications in one clue must be some kind of record
4,25. SECOND HAND Old timer (6,4)
Double definition
9,15. RARA AVIS Exceptional person in a short skirt to ravish when stripped (4,4)
RA-RA + [r]AVIS[h] – literally meaning “rare bird”, this expression comes the Roman poet Juvenal’s Satires
10. BOWDLERISE Bimbo extremely lewd, perhaps come up and use a figleaf (10)
B[imb]O + LEWD* + RISE
11. SUDOKU Puzzle from the south of France all right, you said (6)
SUD + OK + “you”
12. SPITEFUL Type of roast beef foul, not half nasty (8)
SPIT [type of roast] + halves of beEF foUL
13. XENOPHOBE Phoneboxes endlessly vandalised? I blame immigrants (9)
Anagram of PHONEBOXE[s]
16. SHED Compiler the woman would dump in the outhouse (4)
SHE’D, plus three definitions
17. ACCESSORY Starts to stir up serious trouble out of a success story? That’s helpful! (9)
A SUCCESS STORY less (in order) the first letters of Stir Up Serious Trouble
21. SNOWBALL To accumulate win, snob needs the lot (8)
W in SNOB + ALL
22. IN SITU Partly explains it, untouched and unmoved (2,4)
Hidden in explaINS IT Untouched
24. ATTENDANCE Presence of an entry in Cinderella’s timetable? (10)
Cinderella’s timetable might say “AT TEN: DANCE”. Do we know the Prince’s ball was at ten? This seems a bit vague
26. ARMOUR It’s right, in love, to get protection (6)
R in AMOUR
27. STABLE Steady start to trade in fur stalls (6)
T[rade] in SABLE, and two definitions
Down
1. STATUTE Figure includes Newton’s fourth law (7)
[new]T[on] in STATUE
2. ALAMO Siege with intent to produce lamentation (5)
Lamentation is an anagram of ALAMO + INTENT
3. DEBAUCH Debate such set-up ignored is corrupt (7)
DEBATE SUCH minus the reverse of SET
5. ECLAIR Jenny‘s cake (6)
Double definition – Jenny is this comedian, for those that don’t know of her
6. OURSELVES Kinky lovers use the Guardian — emphatically so (9)
(LOVERS USE)*
7. DISCUSS Talk about events? (7)
A “false plural” of DISCUS (event), or you could think of events = event + S = discus + S
8. SWASHBUCKLING Clean male, captivated by weapon, becomes adventurous (13)
WASH BUCK in SLING
14. OVERWHELM Finished warhead steering into swamp (9)
OVER + W[ar] + HELM
16. SINATRA Songs in a traditional setting for him (7)
Hidden in songS IN A TRAditional, and kind of &lit
18. EVIDENT Plain instinct to enter contest (7)
ID (as in Freudian theory) in EVENT
19. RETINUE Following up in reproductive unit: erythematous uterine disorder (7)
Hidden in reverse of reproductivE UNIT ERythematous, and UTERINE*
20. LANDAU Light gold carriage (6)
LAND (to light) + AU
23. SAHIB “Sir”, as he is British originally (5)
First letters &lit

60 comments on “Guardian 26,815 – Philistine”

  2. Thanks Andrew and Philistine.

    This was fun, with a glut of pointers in many clues making for fun surface readings as well as facilitating (or not) the task of solving.

    Regarding Cinders, I think if she had to leave by twelve, the dance would have had to have started by ten, don’t you agree?

  3. Thanks for a great blog, Andrew.

    This was a lot of fun, as usual from Philistine. I loved the witty definition of BOWDLERISE and the clue for SINATRA but there’s no difficulty in choosing a top favourite today: the wonderful XENOPHOBE, which shoots straight into my list of absolute classics.

    Many thanks, as ever, to Philistine, for a most enjoyable puzzle.

  4. I really liked the multi-definition or “multi-wordplay” clues, especially SHANDY. I’d never heard of ‘ra-ra’ skirts (funnily enough I don’t feel diminished by my lack of knowledge) though had come across RARA AVIS. The wordplay and definition for BOWDLERISE brought a chuckle, as did ATTENDANCE.

    Thank you to Philistine and to Andrew.

  6. Must have been on the right wavelength this mornig, since I found this surprisingly straightforward but very enjoyable – RARA AVIS was the only one I had to dredge up – fortunately I remembered that from last time Philistine used it (26513, last March).

    Thanks to Philistine and Andrew

  8. What an enjoyable solve. Thanks to Philistine and Andrew. I really liked “Swashbuckling” 8 Dn and as Eileen@3 has said, “Xenophobe” 13 Ac, was wonderful; such an “Ah ha” moment for me when I saw it. I got “Rara Avis” without knowing why; had the cross letters, understood “RaRa” skirts that cheerleaders wear, and could see how “Avis” derived form “ravish”, but for the latter could not see a link with the Rentacar mob or the woman’s name, “Avis”. The old Latin gets me every time; I only did a smattering of it in primary school, although when I read the blog re Juvenal I recalled the link to “avian”, aviary” etc. BTW, I saw 24 Ac – the reminder entry in Cinders’ diary – as being a play on “Attend dance” although I know that gives two “ds” in the middle, but nothing to do with ten o’clock was intended,I feel. A bit of a stretch as I always had it that she met her handsome prince at a ball, but clever nevertheless.

  9. Hello nevermarty @5. Apologies if I’m crossed or cross someone else, but there was a ‘qd’ in the Indy puzzle 9,160 from Hieroglyph yesterday 23/2.

    Tom’s mate, man and woman leading band (5).

  10. Julie in Australia @8
    Re ‘the Rentacar mob,’ ALAMO (2 dn) is also a car rental firm, in the UK at least. I was beginning to expect a theme, but no Hertz, Advantage, Dollar etc, so a very mini-theme at most, and perhaps a mere coincidence.

  11. Thanks for the blog, needed help on parsing 1ac. Confidently entered ECCLES for 5d after the 1968 Hollies’ single ..

  12. Thanks Philistine & Andrew.

    As beery hiker @6 said, this was surprisingly straightforward. Like Stella @2, I think the AT TEN DANCE just meant she better start dancing well before midnight. Some very nice clues, especially as Eileen @3 said, the one for XENOPHOBE. I think, though, I would put 1A in the camp that hedgehoggy used to say was compileritis. The surface was clunky and IMHO ‘Drink inside a kind of beach hotel’ would have been preferable; the ‘Murray’ gave the game away.

  13. Great puzzle. Got a bit stuck in the SW corner, not helped by initially putting in LANDOR rather than LANDAU for some reason. Put in ALAMO without parsing – thanks, Andrew! I agree with Eileen that XENOPHOBE is memorable, and I also loved BOWDLERISE, RARA AVIS and the triple clues, including RETINUE and SHANDY. Many thanks to P and A.

  14. These multiple clues always make me feel a bit odd for a reason I can’t pin down. Perhaps because a significant part of the clue is effectively redundant, apart to demonstrate the skills of the compiler. But 16a makes me feel odder than usual, because it has extraneous words in it, with the “in the” not making a contribution. The usual excuse for extraneous words (linking wordplay and definition) doesn’t work with a multiplicity of wordplays and definitions.
    Was also hoping 5d was going to be ECCLES, but this would have involved a familiarity with Jennifer which is probably not justified.

  15. Variations on xenophobe/phonebox[es] have turned up before (in The Times for one), but 13 is the best example of it yet. Excellent clues all round.

  16. Thanks Andrew and Philistine. Very enjoyable.

    Held up in two spots by misspelling , as ever, SODUKO; and by entering ECCLES, as others did.

  17. Re Cinderella’s dance attendance – I’ve just re-read the Grimms’ Aschenputtel and it seems the (3) dances started at some unspecified time in the afternoon. I’d forgotten what a grisly tale the original was!

    Thanks Philistine for an enjoyable puzzle and to Andrew for the blog

  18. Doughnut @15 – you got me looking through the Guardian clues list it has 3 previous occurrences in the Guardian:-

    Orlando 22230: English phone box designed for one who won’t speak to the French? (9)
    Quantum 23768: Use English phone box – I don’t like foreign ones (9)
    Brummie 26300: Who dislikes foreign types of plastic phone boxes no end (9)

    Since I was searching for phone box, I found these too – the first is too good to resist quoting:

    Puck 24000: Ex-foreign secretary outside phone box (10)
    Tramp 25669: In phone box he changes part of broken telephone (4)
    Auster 23427: He engineered changes in telephone boxes (8)

  19. Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

    This was a fun puzzle, even though I did not know the comedian Jenny ECLAIR – I kept trying to relate an ass or a donkey to the clue, there is “cattle cake” but was not sure if it was fed to “horses”.

    I especially liked BOWDLERISE, XENOPHOBE, ATTENDANCE, ALAMO, OVERWHELM and SWASHBUCKLING.

  20. beery hiker @18, you are a treasure! For me, Philistine’s surface wins, with Orlando highly commended. And I love Puck’s phone box.

    It’s perhaps worth quoting again Chambers’ definition of ECLAIR: ‘a cake, long in shape but short in duration, with cream filling and usu chocolate icing’.

  21. For 24 I parsed the same way as JinA @8. I did not notice the extra d in my parsing (mea culpa)

    [apologies if the system complains about this posting – I had to re-install Windows and lost some settings.]

  22. Found much to like in this puzzle and, like Eileen @3, my favourites are too many to list; I specially enjoyed the mutiple definitions – very clever. My clue of the day, if not the week, has to be 10ac; it gave me a much needed really good laugh.

    Many thanks to Philistine and Andrew.

  25. Phew. Enjoyable challenge. Many thanks to slogger & better.

    Was struggling badly here and then, deep joy, the central 8d SWASHBUCKLING slipped in and turned like a key in a lock allowing everything else to fall into place.

    This is why I do crosswords.

    nevermarty @5 Well spotted, 4 it is.

    SECOND HAND, RARA AVIS, BOWDLERISE, ALAMO, SPITEFUL, XENOPHOBE (best), ACCESSORY, STATUTE, DISCUSS, SAHIB all belters.

    Bravi, Philistine.

    Nice week, all.

  26. Valentine @23 Excellent question. I seem to recall he was based out East…Malasia? Philipines? I do hope someone will tell us.

  27. Re Uncle Yap – he still comments occasionally and still sets for the FT as Sayang. Anyone who remembers his final blog will know why he isn’t doing that any more…

  29. Thanks to Philistine and Andrew. I needed help parsing ALAMO and ATTENDANCE and had to look up Jenny ECLAIR (and did not spot all of the multiple definitions) but much enjoyed this puzzle.

  30. Thanks Philistine and Andrew
    Very clever, but with an element of showing off, I think – enjoyable all the same. It seemed to go more quickly than some of this compiler’s; perhaps I too was on the right wavelength.
    Lots to like, but another “near homophone” complaint from me. Does anyone actually say SU DOKE YOU rather than SU DOKE OO? (and the clue definitely says “you said”, so I don’t think the “it wasn’t meant as an exact homophone” argument stands)

  31. P.S. Eileen got in first with the Chambers “eclair” definition 🙂 . There are other of these “Easter eggs” to be found in Chambers too……

  32. Hi muffin @30

    In 11ac, it’s the letter U which is being clued as ‘you said’, not its sound in the word SUDOKU.

  35. I echo most of the sentiments expressed here already. This was a clever, well-crafted and enjoyable puzzle with some stand-out features.

    I agree with nevermarty @5 that 16A (SHED) is a quadruple definition. Like Van Winkle @14 I noticed the redundant ‘in the’ (a filler needed for the surface), but I thought this was acceptable.

    Like Andy @11, I hastily put in ECCLES at 5D, remembering Jennifer Eccles, but fortunately for me I then got 10A (BOWDLERISE – what a super clue), so I corrected 5D immediately to ECLAIR. (I’ve never heard of Jenny Eclair, though.)

    Like William @25, I was glad to get 8D (SWASHBUCKLING) early on – in fact it was my first in. I went to that clue first because it was a long word, and I count myself lucky that, after ‘enterprising’, it was the first word I thought of that could mean ‘adventurous’.

    20D (LANDAU) was deceptively simple. I had the wrong idea with non-words like ‘orbier’ until I got the construction right. drofle’s LANDOR (@13) was closer, but anyway we both got there in the end.

    I thought the ‘?’ in 24A (ATTENDANCE) was sufficient to hint at the answer from the reference to Cinderella.

    I’m annoyed at Eileen for quoting the Chambers entry for ‘eclair’ – I wanted to do that! How quirky is that definition? Not that I object to a bit of humour à la Samuel Johnson in a modern dictionary. (I don’t mean it, Eileen. I’ve known it, by the way, since my sister pointed it out a few years ago.)

    Many thanks to Philistine for making my day, and to Andrew for the blog.

  36. Dazzling. I started off ticking my favourite clues, as often, but gave up because there were so many. XENOPHOBE cream of the crop, though I see I’m hardly being original there.

    Difficulty level? I found this quite a quick solve, clearly I was right on the setter’s wavelength: it’s nice when it happens. Loved the multiple definitions and the ‘hiding in plain sight’, ACCESSORY being the prime example. Well done Philistine.

  37. Thanks Philistine and Andrew

    Re ‘homophones’, I posted recently on another blog, but probably too late for many people to see it (I think it was the following day) that if you think of them as ‘puns’ not straight ‘homophones’ the “do you say it that way?” question becomes moee or less redundant.

  39. For any who haven’t spotted them, pages 19 and 20 in the red-edged pages at the end of the 13th edition has a couple of dozen of the eclair-type definitions. They are of mixed quality but a ray of sunshine in a dull world.

  40. I quite liked this although the top half went in rather more quickly than the bottom. I was thrown a little by the multiple definitions which I don’t really see the point of. Still, this was agreeable enough and I do agree about XENOPHOBE.
    Good fun.
    Thanks Philistine.

  41. beery hiker @34
    My point is that in the word SUDOKU the letter U is pronounced “OO”.

    Simon S @37
    Yes in some cases, but here it explicitly says “said”, so surely a homophone rather than a pun was intended?

    I think we won’t agree on this!

  42. muffin @41, yes, but Eileen’s point is that the wordplay is there to lead you to the letter U, which does not have to be pronounced the same way in the completed solution

  43. Exactly: the U is simply the final component of the wordplay – ‘U’ sounds like you = “‘you’ said”.

  45. Eileen @38
    Apology accepted although not needed. It appears muffin (@31) was also pre-empted by you. I’m glad he reminded me of the term ‘Easter Eggs’ for these quirky definitions because I had forgotten it.

    Simon @37
    You may remember I did reply to your comment the other day about puns, but it occurs to me now that using this device might solve one problem but create another: I can’t see how a pun would be indicated without nakedly announcing it. But perhaps this is ok: even if you tell the solver it is a pun, that doesn’t necessarily make it easy, and you might still have a perfect clue where the solver has to think of both the intended answer and the punning phrase. I typically find near-homophones difficult, and calling them puns, however they are indicated, hardly makes them easier!

  46. Alan @45
    The term “Easter eggs” for hidden extras derives from computer software; for example, in some editions of Excel it was possible to access a spaceship landing game. I think that this term iteslf was taken from the “Easter egg hunts” that seem popular with American children. I thought the term appropriate for the hidden goodies in Chambers; I expect it has been used in this context before.

  47. muffin @46
    Of course – how absolutely right you are! I had completely forgotten the Easter eggs that I found years ago on some software products that I used – not Excel, as it happens, but some others that I can’t remember. In one case it was hardly a free ‘gift’ but a free ‘show’ displaying the software authors’ names, a jingle and some cartoon pictures.

  48. Alan @ 45

    Yes I do remember. I don’t think the setter explicitly has to find some sort of pun indicator, said will still so fine, but if ‘we’ call related sounds puns I don’t think there is a need for precise sonic accuracy. Just my own view, of course, but if a setter’s homophone-type clue/solution brings a grin or a groan that’s fine by me.

    Easter eggs are, or certainly were, a feature of film DVDs, accessing outtakes, bloopers and the like. There appear to be several websites, some dedicated to specific films, telling you how to find them.

  49. I’ve left it till now to admit it, but SINATRA was my last one in. Yet there it was, sitting (hardly hiding) in the clue!

    For themed crosswords particularly, but also for any crossword or mind game, my two least favourite subjects are soaps and crooners. Crooner is not the only label that attaches itself to Sinatra, but it is the first and most obvious one, so perhaps I stumbled upon a psychological barrier here – until my mind cleared.

    Seriously, the clue was 100% fair (and there were were other neatly hidden answers that I saw more or less straight away), and the crossword was excellent.

  50. Simon @48
    Thanks for your further input on puns and sound-alikes. As you say, it doesn’t matter how it is indicated, as long as it is indicated – and we can call it a pun after the event without worrying about dead-end arguments over near-homophones.
    Thanks also for your tips on Easter eggs.

  51. Thanks all
    It seems a while since we had a Philistine to solve so this was just a shade disappointingly easy but still fun.
    I had to consult Chambers for rara avis.
    P seems to have revived big time a cryptic device not seen too often: the multiple offerings for a single clue.

  52. A very enjoyable puzzle from Philistine with lots of great clues.

    This was only slightly marred by the fact that 8D was almosy a write in which gave too many clues to the several across clues in intersected.

    I don’t understand Muffin’s objections to 11A Eileen and others have explained the quite reasonable use of “you” to indicate the pronunciation of the letter “u” but Muffin doesn’t seem to want to see it. (It doesn’t matter how the letter “u” is pronounced in the word it’s just present!)

    Thanks to Andrew and Philistine

  53. I got stuck for a long time with only about a third of the answers in place. Once I finally got going again (I think it was with BOWDLERISE), the rest of the answers flowed very nicely.

    I enjoyed it less than I usually enjoy Philistine’s puzzles, but that was not because I struggled at first as I always find his puzzles tough. I agree with Robi @12 about the clunkiness of the surface of 1a. Either of the first two constructions could have been used on its own, and the Murray one made the answer far too obvious. I also wasn’t keen on ATTENDANCE or the ‘false plural’ for DISCUSS. That said, there are a lot of very nice clues, including the lovely surface for XENOPHOBE.

    Thanks, Philistine and Andrew.

  54. Jenny (@53)
    Ah yes, I forgot about DISCUSS – I thought the same. The ‘?’ isn’t quite good enough to make this work. Also SHANDY – I agree the Murray reference wasn’t needed and made it too easy, as others have also said.
    This was a super puzzle, though, as I have said already.

  55. I realise that this puzzle has been well received and that all the criticisms probably have some justification and will be welcomed by Philistine.

    However I’d just like to remind all of the “same old same old” , ill thought-out stuff that Rufus gets away with almost evry week. Compare that with this well-crafted, innovative, humourous and clever puzzle and declare its brilliance.

    Philistine and his ilk are trying to entertain us whereas Rufus at al are just putting in a shift.

  56. Thanks to Andrew and Philistine. This was a challenge for a relative beginner, but very enjoyable. Some really good clues, especially XENOPHOBE, SWASHBUCKLING and OVERWHELM

  57. Enjoyable, with some memorable clues (which I will preserve in my little black book). I didn’t think this was a particularly easy puzzle on the face of it but sailed through most of it surprisingly quickly (for me) — perhaps just ‘on the right wavelength’ as others have found. SE held me up for a while at the end. I’ve only very occasionally come across the multiple-indicator clue but thought it was used to great effect here because so unexpected. A real palate-cleanser!

    Thanks to Philistine for an elegantly crafted sorbet of a puzzle, and to Andrew for the excellent blog.

  58. Think Muffin’s objection to the SUDOKU clue is well founded. Others are confusing the SOUND denoted/indicated by the letter (U) with how the letter’s NAME is spoken, in my opinion.

  59. Thanks Philistine and Andrew

    Actually finished this one last week but only checked off today. Found it an interesting challenge after starting off with RARA AVIS the first one in.

    Thought the multiple definitions in 1a and 16a were quite clever, raising a slight smile with SHED for Philistine to actually be doing it again.

    Did notice a lot of answers starting with S, but think that it was probably coincidental.

    Finished in the SW corner with OVERWHELM, SHED and SNOWBALL the last few in.

  60. Thanks Andrew and Philistine.

    Hard to get going but thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding as it slowly fell into place.

    With quadruples at 1ac and 16ac and triples at 27 and 19 – none of which messed up the surfaces – this was quite a tour de force.

    My favourites match those identified above.

    Thanks again.

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