Guardian 26,838 – Chifonie

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I’d been thinking that some of Chifonie’s recent puzzles had been getting slightly more difficult, but this one is back to his old style, with lots of easy charades and anagrams, so it was over very quickly. Although most of the clues are absolutely fine, there are a couple of devices that are used more than once (three times, in one case), which some editorial checking might have prevented. Thanks to Chifonie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. METAPHYSICAL A cheat simply becomes abstruse (12)
(A CHEAT SIMPLY)*
8. UNIDEAL Institution has a lot that’s not perfect (7)
UNI + DEAL (as in “a raw deal” for one’s lot, I suppose) – rather a strange word, but presumably Chifonie painted himself into a corner here.
9. ANTIOCH Opposed to old church in biblical town (7)
ANTI + O + CH
11. NOTELET Communication when school rejected sanction (7)
Reverse of ETON + LET (sanction, in the sense of “allow”. See also 17d and 18d)
12. SAUNTER Walk in nature’s strange way (7)
NATURES*
13. FORMS Creates questionnaires (5)
Double definition
14. BLIGHTERS Reprobates ultimately bomb boats (9)
[bom]B + LIGHTERS
16. HOTELIERS Others lie about hosts (9)
(OTHERS LIE)*
19. MANGO Crew try fruit (5)
MAN (crew, as a verb) + GO (try)
21. ALL-STAR Each heavenly body belonging to an outstanding group (3-4)
ALL (each) + STAR
23. LATERAL Subsequently the French turned sideways (7)
LATER + reverse of LA
24. ENVIOUS Eastern Nevada promises to be green (7)
E + NV + IOUS
25. TESTATE Willing to examine a note (7)
TEST A TE
26. EVENING DRESS Don appears after ironing formal wear (7,5)
EVENING (ironing) + DON – I don’t like “don” = “dress” as they are not really equivalent
Down
1. MOISTER Man inhales oxygen that’s less dry (7)
O in MISTER
2. THE ALPS Doctor helps at mountain range (3,4)
(HELPS AT)*
3. PALATABLE Friend has a supply of food that’s tasty (9)
PAL + A TABLE
4. YEARS Youth leader ’appily listens a long time (5)
Y + [h]EARS – with “’applily” being there only to indicate the dropped H
5. IN TOUCH Clued up and enthusiastic about University College Hospital (2,5)
INTO UCH
6. APOSTLE Messenger has porter keeping mail (7)
POST in ALE
7. TURN OF PHRASE Expression doctor hears up front (4,2,6)
(HEARS UP FRONT)* – second use of “doctor” as an anagram indicator
10. HARD SHOULDER Ought, in more difficult circumstances, to stop here (4,8)
SHOULD in HARDER
15. INSULATED Spoke to rudely about American being cut off (9)
A in INSULTED
17. TEL AVIV Test authorised on reflection here in Israel (3,4)
Reverse of VIVA (test) + LET – second use of “let”
18. LET DOWN Allow insulating material is a disappointment (3-4)
LET (and again!) + DOWN (insulating material)
19. MATISSE Mike arranged siesta for artist (7)
M (Mike in the phonetic alphabet) + SIESTA*
20. NORMANS Operatic heroine partners French invaders (7)
NORMA (title character in opera by Bellini) + N S (partners in Bridge)
22. RESIN Tree product initially stopped during check (5)
S[topped] in REIN

34 comments on “Guardian 26,838 – Chifonie”

  1. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew. I found this quite enjoyable because I spotted the anagram at 1a straightway – METAPHYSICAL – which gave me the six initial letters of the Down clues. They assisted with solving the top half of the puzzle. My favourites were 9a ANTIOCH and 24a ENVIOUS. I agree with your quibble, Andrew. I am not a very experienced solver but to have a repeat of “LET” in 11a NOTELET (“sanction”), 17d (albeit “on reflection” in TEL AVIV) (“authorised”) and again next door in 18d LET-DOWN (“allow”) seemed kind of disappointing. I thought for a moment it may have linked to a theme but unless I missed something I couldn’t see one.

  2. I also found this quite straightforward.

    New words for me were NOTELET and VIVA = test.

    I think there is a typo in the blog for 1d which is O in MISTER.

    Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

  3. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

    Yes, very easy. I liked ENVIOUS and APOSTLE.

    I think “tasty” is rather more demanding of the food than merely “palatable”!

    4d was a rather lazy clue, I thought, and, pedantically, the NORMANS weren’t French!

  4. Yes, almost a write-in but with some nice clues: e.g. HARD SHOULDER, ENVIOUS and MANGO. LOI was UNIDEAL, which I stared at for a bit, thinking there wasn’t a word that fitted. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.

  5. A gentle solve with some nice surface readings. I questioned the repetition of “let” too, but excused it because of the varied wordplay.

    Thank you Chifonie and Andrew.

  6. Either they’re getting easier or I’m getting better: yesterday only one clue foxed me and today I finished this one (this is a rare event). UNIDEAL nearly beat me as I had no idea that was a word. Anyway, thanks to everyone who posts on this site as I think it’s reading all your comments which is helping me improve.

  7. Andrew – I took “a lot” as being more or less equivalent to “a great deal”, and hence “a deal” (he had a lot of money – he had a great deal of money – he had a deal of money); not convinced, though.

  8. Thank you both.

    I know we enjoy a range of difficulty here at the Graun but I wonder if this would not have been more at home in a Quiptic? Clues like MATISSE, EVENING DRESS, BLIGHTERS & ALL STAR would be excellent for beginners to get their teeth into.

    The anagrams were perhaps rather too numerous and glaring, and the double use of the ‘doctor’ anagrind was a bit disappointing I thought.

    I Liked FORMS and HARD SHOULDER.

    Nice week, all.

  9. I agree with you, Peter G@6, even if I find the puzzle slightly easier, or indeed when I have been totally stumped, the blogging from the solvers and the participants is of enormous assistance in helping me to improve. So I am very grateful to all contributors.

  11. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

    I managed to finish this without help in a reasonable time, a first for me – an ideal crossword for beginners. HARD SHOULDER was really good!

  12. One can almost excuse the two uses of RAIL from Rufus yesterday, when we have three examples of LET and a double DOCTOR today. Still, I was pleased to see Cookie’s comment @11 – reminds us that the important thing about the Guardian is its range, if we wanted consistency we’d go somewhere else.

  14. Finished this off pretty quickly, with only the slight hesitation over 8a to give pause.

    I’m beginning to worry that Tuesday may be becoming the new Monday!

    Thanks nevertheless to Chifonie and to Andrew for the blog.

  15. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

    Found this one pretty straightforward as well – although was able to stretch it out for a half hour over lunch. Don’t mind the variety in difficulty of the Guardian puzzles … and anticipate that we’ll really get whats coming to us in a day or two !! Meanwhile it gave me the time to pick up the much harder Paul from the 4th, to fill in the rest of the puzzle-solving for the day.

    Actually didn’t even pick up on the multi-use of devices … funny how sometimes you can miss the obvious like that.

    Finished up in the NW again with TURN OF PHRASE, METAPHYSICAL and the unusual UNIDEAL as the last ones in.

  18. Been a while since I’ve had a chance to have a go at a crossword due to necessary change sin commuting habits, but thankfully today I’ve been able to. Not a bad one to ease me back into the habit, which it’ll hopefully become.

  19. There are times when an easier puzzle can be very therapeutic. I was also watching our female cricketers trying very hard to throw away an easy win, a task which they also got wrong! So my shredded nerves needed this puzzle. Thanks all.

  20. Thanks Chiffonie. Quite enjoyable although it was much more straightforward than normal, especially as I got MOISTER and METAPHYSICAL immediately, thanks to having studied a bit of John Donne many many years ago. BLIGHTERS was the last one in. I liked HARD SHOULDER.

  21. Easiest crossword of the year so far. I don’t begrudge that since it may encourage new solvers, but for me there was nothing that struck me as particularly clever, quirky or memorable. Still at least we should have a Maskarade Easter special to look forward to.

    Thanks to Andrew and Chifonie

  22. John Appleton @18, glad to see you back, was wondering what had happened to you. Yes, this was a good starter to ease you back in to solving.

  23. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew. Neither ideal or unideal (and my spellcheck rejected the latter). Easy but enjoyable.

  24. This was very easy. Even the anagrams didn’t need working out. Pleasant enough but over all too quickly. LOI was TESTATE for no particular reason.
    Thanks CHIFONIE.

  25. for 8ac. Surely UN is the institution, and ‘1 deal’ fits fairly comfortably into ‘a lot’, ‘a good deal’ being a good lot, as several have pointed out.

    A pleasant accompaniment to a sunny lunch hour. Thanks to both.

  26. Caesario. Uni is yoofspeak for university or college.
    This was the fastest Guardian cryptic I’ve ever done. Thought I was getting cleverer until I read the comments.

  29. Yes, the easiest Guardian cryptic for quite a while, but useful nevertheless. As I finished, I showed it to a couple of people who have displayed some interest in cryptics – helping them to parse the answers. They weren’t dismissive or overawed, so maybe they’ll persist with my favourite hobby. Thanks, Chifonie!

  31. Is it Monday again already? Not much of a diversion to be had today.

    Surely this was far too easy for publication?

    We seem to be back to random puzzle selection again. 🙂

    I wonder what or who prompted the Guardian to correct a week old puzzle? Perhaps they could persuade the Crossword team to look at puzzles before they are published. Probably this idea is a little too radical.

    I know, “I wouldn’t LET it lie.” (Thought I get into the theme of the day!)

    Thanks to Andrew and Chifonie

  32. I enjoyed this as Chifonie’s characteristic clean and tidy style was evident. Favourites were TURN OF PHRASE and HARD SHOULDER. Glad others pointed out the repetitions, they did surprise during the solve.

    Many thanks Chiffonier and Andrew

  33. I did find this pretty straight forward. However, I was led astray for five/ten minutes by 15 down as I misinterpreted the clue and initially came up with DISCUSSED, although I suppose initially I did cram this in (as was on a role and didn’t think through the American cut off).
    Spoke rudely to: DISSED
    Around about American cut off: C and US (??? – as I said just crammed it in).

    Felt like an idiot when blighters became apparent.

  34. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

    A good solid puzzle.

    Not difficult and all reasonably elegant with the possible exception of UNIDEAL which seems a bit of a clumsy non-word.

    Enjoyable nonetheless.

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