Guardian 26,837 / Rufus

57 comments on “Guardian 26,837 / Rufus”

1. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

   For some reason I found this considerably more difficult than most Rufuses, and hence more enjoyable. I particularly liked MOUSER.

   A bit odd that RAIL appears twice, one nearly directly above the other.

   There’s no point in quibbling about Rufus’s cryptic definitions – that’s what we expect – so the only remaining problem I had was with 1a, where the wording clearly indicates that the anagram fodder is “in a paper” rather than “a paper is”. I nwasted some time on this, and don’t think the “in” should be there.

2. Thanks Gaufrid. Methinks you’ve been rather kind here. I cannot see any crypticness at all with 8 and 16 down.
   A couple of pleasantly cryptic ones though.

3. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid, a pleasant start to the week.

   Like muffin, I found this took me a little longer than usual and MOUSER was my favourite.

4. This wasn’t one of the better recent Rufus puzzles, I thought: a bit of laxness here and there. Have I missed something, or does the clueing of 17d imply the HED goes around the CLUES anag? And what is ‘out of date’ lending to 16d? Explanations welcome; happy to accept it’s me not getting the subtleties.

   But what with the double RAIL as well, Rufus’s usual precision didn’t seem to be quite here today.

5. Thank you Gaufrid.

   A few likes – PAST ONES PEAK, SUPPER & EYESIGHT, and a few niggles this morning.

   I’m surprised Rufus used ‘anyway’ in the IN ANY CASE clue.
   OFT TIMES just seems a straightforward definition.
   In SCHEDULE, the inclusion seems to have been inverted, doesn’t it? Surely ‘HED’ is put in CLUES* not the other way round.

   pex @2 I suppose the cryptic element in the RAG WEEKS clue is the double sense of ‘collect’.

   In any case (sic) I enjoyed this, as I usually do with this setter.

   Nice week, all.

6. Trailman @5 Apologies – crossing.

7. Thanks William @4, I see the slight double meaning of ‘collect’ now.

   Like Trailman @4, hoping for enlightenment on 16d now

8. William @ 5: I agree about the inversion in SCHEDULE. Rather odd. Otherwise I found this a bit easier than usual. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.

9. No probs William @6

10. Trailman, pex
    The ‘out of date’ in 16dn is there because Collins and Oxford describe OFT-TIMES as archaic.

11. Thanks Gaufrid
    The one I check – Chambers – doesn’t (‘now mainly poetic or as combining form’).
    But with two sources out of three I guess he’s in the clear.

12. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

    Enjoyable enough and very straightforward. Found this at the easier end of his scale – but am convinced its more about what frame of mind that you are in when you tackle his puzzles.

    He almost drew an error when I wrote EARN CURRENCY in at 11d, but was able to clean it up on the final parsing run through before coming here.

    Finished in the bottom middle of the grid with SPITFIRES, ENTRAILS and that EARN CURRENCY the last few in.

13. So that accounts for the “out of date” in 16d, the COED gives OFT-TIMES as archaic or literary, three sources out of four now.

14. I failed to solve 8d – RAG WEEK – I have never heard of that before, and also 14a – I got PAST ONE’S but could not guess the third word.

    I neded help to parse 2d and 5a.

    Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus.

15. Apologies to Gaufrid @10, but the OED and COED often differ; just to get the count right, the Merriam-Webster gives OFTTIMES (one word) as archaic.

16. Better wordings for 17d:

    ‘Cryptic clues he’d put in list’ or ‘He’d put in cryptic clues list’.

17. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid. Like Michelle @14 I had never heard of RAG WEEKS so I needed Google to get the “rag,” and I took a long time before seeing SUPPER (I was looking for something subtler). However, as always I enjoyed the offering from this setter.

18. I admire the tolerance shown here to Rufus. I wish I could share it. I know, I know, he’s “the world’s most prolific crossword compiler”, but some of this is just slapdash. “Any” in the clue and answer of 13ac, “fiery” and “fire” in 15dn, “rail” twice in close proximity, 17dn not working properly . . .

    Doubtless people will say, well that’s what you expect from Rufus, if you don’t like it don’t bother with it. But aren’t we entitled to expect better? Or at least some sort of editing?

19. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid: I enjoyed this puzzle, with fewer groans than usual.

    Is it “something we don’t talk about,” but there is a very obvious biological connection in 8d. With so many bodily functions invading crosswords these days, perhaps there are some that are still taboo?

20. @Freddy (#19)

    I’d love to know whether or not the allusion that you mention in 8d is intentional. If so, the clue is markedly improved – i.e. it becomes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek, cryptic/double definition, rather than yet another barely cryptic definition.

21. All pretty straightforward apart from the usual Rufus stylistic quirks.

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid

22. Hmm. I know Rufus is the ‘easy’ start to the week. But sometimes it’s just not taxing at all. Anyway in a clue where the answer is ‘in any case’ is poor, as is firey where the answer is ‘spitfires.

23. I never thought of “periods” in the sense implied in getting RAG WEEKS but I hope Freddy’s parsing is correct because ,if so, 8dn becomes an excellent clue. Some of the other clues were a bit clunky I suppose but I rather enjoyed this. I liked MOUSER and STEADY.
    Thanks Rufus.

24. Re Freddy@19 et al. I’m not proud at all to say that I recall the crude phrase ‘on the rag’ from my teenage years as describing someone who was having her period. I too saw 8, therefore, as more than a cryptic definition, albeit one that I thought had the potential to offend.

25. I can’t believe any such effusion from Rufus in 8d, so I would say it was unhappenstance; not so with 4d though? I saw another strand where the “buck” suggests “buck shot”, making that a superior clue.

    Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus

26. Speaking as one of the potentially-offended, if the double meaning in 8d is intentional, it does not improve the clue for me.

27. @gladys 26

    I think there is a zero possibility of Rufus introducing that notion and I imagine he would not be impressed by the suggestion that he might.
    I would be less surprised if Her Majesty closed her Christmas Day address with an obscene limerick

28. Re ‘Rag weeks’, yes it is surprisingly crude and not a little misogynistic, the rag being a contemptuous term for a pre tampax menstrual pad. It’s not like the usual sweet old uncle Rufus with his Christmas cracker puns, is it?

29. Pretty much write-ins throughout. Remarkable for me. Of course the double entendre in 8d is intentional otherwise “times” would have done. What with mentions of farts last week and continuous refs to items of ladies’ underpinnings it will be no time at all before the Grauniad crossword has the first use of the “F” word in a broadsheet cryptic. Hurrah! Cole Porter (and Flanders and Swann) had a point.

30. But Baerchen made me laugh. I’d love to hear Brenda finish a Xmas speech with an obscene Limerick. I’d tune in for that!

31. Usual old tat!

    Even looser than usual.

    It could only happen in the Guardian!

    Should we blame Rufus or our illustrious ed? 😉

    Thanks to Gaufrid

32. Bruce (#12) – I, too, had ‘earn currency’ for 11d. They both seem perfectly valid answers to the clue and the crossers don’t give any help in deciding between them.

33. First, Gaufrid, thanks for the blog. I haven’t gone back to check, but I think the first sentence of your preamble:

    “It’s Monday, it’s Rufus, so we know what to expect.”

    is the standard intro to a Monday Rufus. It is succinct and spot-on.

    I expect we all have a least favourite setter, and mine is Rufus. I’ve hinted in the past that Rufus rushes his puzzles, and that’s how he manages to produce so many. My Latin teacher would have said non sequitur to that, but today’s puzzle (judging by my own and others’ experiences) and many, many other Rufuses in the recent past show every sign of having been rushed through and not quality checked.

    Brendan asked:

    “Should we blame Rufus or our illustrious ed?”

    I don’t think quality checking one’s work should be left to a crossword editor – it is surely the setter’s responsibility. The editor should in my opinion be required to make only basic checks for libel, obvious howlers and anything else that he might wish to do in order to uphold standards.

    Thanks to Rufus in spite of my comments(!) I enjoyed some of the clues and even had some favourites: MOUSER, EYESIGHT and SPEND.

34. Alan Browne @ 33

    Interesting comments re the editor.

    In my view, the responsibilities of the editor should include, but not be limited to:

    Having the puzzle independently test-solved [to check that the thing fundamentally works]
    and
    Checking whether there are any other obvious areas of difficulty, eg libel, potential to cause offence etc. But only the obvious ones. Nitpickers will always be able to find something in a dark corner that upsets them.

35. Bruce @12 and Alastair @32

    I managed to get GAIN CURRENCY all right, but the interesting thing about this phrase and about PAST ONE’S PEAK is that neither Chambers nor Collins thinks that either of them makes a recognised phrase worthy of inclusion.

    I liked both these phrases, as they are idiomatic (metaphorical?) – they each normally mean something other than what the sum of the words means. PAST ONE’S PEAK was a favourite that I forgot to mention in my earlier post.

36. Simon @34

    I was very interested in what you said, especially

    “Having the puzzle independently test-solved [to check that the thing fundamentally works]”

    That is a big ask – and could consumer a lot of time on occasion, depending on how difficult (or, perish the thought, how bad) the clues are.

    What might also achieve something a bit less but along the same lines is a ‘test solve’ given all the answers. That way, any experienced solver can check for typos, dodgy wordplay, inadequate definitions/indications, etc, etc.

    Your other points – yes, I agree.

37. In my post @36 I meant ‘consume’ not ‘consumer’ (obviously).

38. By coincidence I asked yesterday on the General Discussion site if the Guardian had changed its policy on the use of Chambers rather than other dictionaries. From 16d I gather that Rufus has. 16d only makes sense if “OFT-TIMES” is archaic whereas it isn’t in Chambers. (At least it isn’t in the 1990 edition).
    I don’t object to the double use of RAIL as it is clued with different meanings in 23a and 25a

39. Muffin sorry for very late response but extremely busy day but totally agree with your comments. Obviously he’s not everyone’s favourite setter but he does have his moments and I quite like an easy start to the week and gradually build up to a real challenge

40. Sorry to come in so late. Enjoyed it. Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid. Wondering if anyone else got confused by trying “PRONTO” instead of “PRESTO” for 2d. I really liked “SHOT IN THE ARM”,4d. Thanks to bloggers – interesting differences of opinion. Again some opining that Rufus is not their cup of tea, but he does at least give some of us a chance to complete the grid fully and reasonably quickly. As the week’s offerings get harder, I am grateful for more ready success with Rufus on Mondays.

41. Alan Browne @36
    Fifteensquared finds bloggers to solve the puzzles and comment on them. The only difference between being a test solver and a blogger is that the test solvers get them a while before they are published.

    I enjoy Rufus’s most of puzzles even with the niggles, and I enjoyed this one. Thanks, Rufus and Gaufrid.

42. rufus you remain the man for me. brendan needs to go boil his head. another super effort from the maestro. i remain your number one fan.

43. shaar @42

    I would if I were you read Site Policy and follow it. Personal comments about posters are not welcome although you do seem to be mistaking me for someone who actually gives a flying **** about what anyone else thinks. 😉

    The other comments by Alan Browne and Simon S about the role of the editor amaze me. They seem to have suggested that he should actually do all almost all things he would normally delegate to others.

    Surely his main task is to set the style, timbre and difficulty of the puzzles. He should determine what a “Guardian Cryptic” is.

    This would obviously involve fairly regular solving of the puzzles and making sure that there is some sort of consistency in the published puzzles.

    All the other business such as libel checking, error checking etc can be the work of someone else.Of course I assume that the Guardian have givem him a Job Description although I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’d asked him to write his own!

44. Brendan @43

    I think you missed my point about the editor’s role. Throughout, I was referring to what the editor should or should not be responsible for and didn’t think at the time that I needed to say that. Obviously he would delegate tasks to others. That’s only a problem if there aren’t any ‘others’! Perhaps I should have been more explicit.

    jennyk @41

    Thanks for explaining the roles for me. My only issue now is that if there are any test solvers available to the Guardian crossword editor they don’t seem to show up sometimes! Glad you enjoyed the puzzle – I enjoyed one Rufus recently but normally, as today, they are not my cup of tea.

45. What a strange sense of entitlement. Although the financial statements might suggest otherwise, the Guardian is a commercial entity, so the basic task of a crossword editor is to do as little as possible as long as the customers keep coming. All this waffle about what a Guardian crossword editor should do is irrelevant.
    It is a while since I read the UN Declaration of Human Rights, but I don’t think crossword puzzling is covered.

46. Van Winkle @45

    One thing your post certainly did was to bring back a sense of perspective (in case it was lost).

    Don’t forget, though, that when basic proof-reading of the Guardian newspaper went AWOL for a while, within living memory, the Grauniad became a laughing stock with its misprunts, and that probably had an impact on its financial statements and commercial standing.

    Crosswords are a small consideration in the big scheme of things, but I still wanted to make an appeal for quality in the crosswords themselves and for some professional pride on the part of the editor. Also, of course, I think it is still true that the Guardian couldn’t afford not to have a crossword, so some standard equal to or above that of its rivals is highly desirable.

47. I had no difficulty in seeing the cryptic element in 8d but for my own part I also found this clue rather distasteful, as it seems some others did. I could not put it any better than MartinD @28.

48. Alan Browne @44 & 46
    I suspect that the Guardian doesn’t use test solvers, judging by the mistakes which appear. However, we know from setters’ comments here that sometimes changes are made very close to publication, so perhaps there are testers but some errors are introduced after they have passed the puzzles as fit for publication.

    Did the misprints really make the Guardian a “laughing stock”? I doubt that they caused many previously loyal readers to switch papers. I think of “Grauniad” more as an affectionate nickname reflecting what for a while was one of their USPs. 😉

49. jennyk @48

    I started to buy the Guardian while misprints were common, and I suppose I’m going against my own theory in saying that. I was amazed at the number of misprints in serious articles in a serious newspaper, and I thought at the time that no good was being done to the reputation of the paper.

    What I said, however, about the possible impact of the Guardian’s misprints was, on reflection, too speculative, and I can readily go along with your counter-argument.

50. Van Winkle @45

    What sense of entitlement?

    As this is a message board to discuss the Guardian Cryptic the topic of what the Editor does or doesn’t do and how this affects the crossword is quite a legitimate topic.

    If you’re not interested then either don’t comment or don’t visit the board.

    Making crass comments on perfectly valid discussions will make people think you’re a troll 😉

51. Please explain why comment 45 is crass. I consider it legitimate to counter the tedious grumblings about the Crossword Editor failing to meet the standards of service that you feel you are entitled to by suggesting that the Guardian is perfectly capable of setting its own standards under which a missing hyphen or an over-populated anagram are not things to get particularly worked up about. The fact that you return each day to do the crossword despite the egregious lapses of the Editor shows such a policy is working just fine.

    As an expert on the site policies, it would also be helpful if you could explain why intimidation to leave the site is acceptable.

52. Jennyk@48
    Alan Browne@49
    Favourite Guardian misprint – in 1961, I think – stated that it was expected that someone had been appointed to the Cabinet because “he had the closet relations with the Prime Minister”. The same issue printed “electric” for “eclectic” in an art exhibition review but I suspect that was a mistake by a copytaker rather than a typesetter.

53. Pino @52
    Thanks. There must be hundreds more, but I don’t remember any myself from the Grauniad’s heyday. I still see the occasional typo or writer’s error, but they are relatively few.

54. VW @51 My original post clearly states why your comments were crass.

    You seem to be arguing on a business/customer basis when in fact I would imagine that a very large percentage of the regular crossword solvers don’t even buy the paper? So in fact their participation in the crossword has no affect on the Guardian’s income.

    I personally would never shell out for the paper as most of the articles I have read online appear to be poorly argued puerile drivel written mostly by “children” fresh from school. Pure clickbait in the main and not worth the most cursory inspection.

    I would of course pay an annual crossword subscription which indeed I did for several years when I was working abroad. (Even though I only had time to do a crossword once a fortnight!)

    You do seem to put strange interpretations on things. Please can you point out where I used any intimidation in my suggestion that you either don’t post or don’t read the site?

55. No – you’re still not getting your point across. What is crass about an argument that, in a situation where someone is making something freely available to persons that don’t need to take it and for which no duty to them is either given or implied, the entitlement to determine what is provided is wholly with the supplier? Which is why there is not a great validity to a debate about solvers’ expectations of the Crossword Editor, until such time as the Guardian might choose to listen. Which it doesn’t.

    And advising me to leave the site because I don’t share your preoccupation with the Crossword Editor and calling me a troll (in such a weaselly way that you can claim you didn’t) is not particularly friendly behaviour.

56. VW @55

    Yet again I repeat there is no implication of entitlement.

    The majority od people on here are passionate about cryptic crosswords and this is the forum to discuss the same in the Guardian. It is natural that they will express thier views on the job/role of the editor and the current encumbent’s performance. To suggest that “All this waffle about what a Guardian crossword editor should do is irrelevant.” is patently incorrect in the context of this arena.

    To suggest that they have no justification in doing this is crass in my opinion.

    By the way I never called you a troll. Read my post. I’m sure your a very nice person and didn’t intend your post to offend.

    However I still think your financial arguments about the the role of crossword in the Guardian are at best specious.

57. Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus.

    Pretty good for a Rufus really. Yes there are a few barely cryptic clues, and only one where the grammar does seem to be all wrong – SCHEDULE – but it does what it says on the tin.

    Relatively straightforward and not too contentious.

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