Guardian 26,861 – Rufus

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A typical Rufus, with plenty of cryptic and double definitions – 5 of each. For variety there are also 5 pure anagrams and 5 clues of the form “A in B”. Thanks to Rufus.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. ABORIGINE Australian with ancestry in Lincoln? (9)
ORIGIN in ABE
10. IVORY Cream and gold seen in plant (5)
OR in IVY
11. LIQUEUR Fifty-one line up endlessly on right for a drink (7)
LI (51) + QUEU[E] + R
12. ACCUSED Denounced a cricket club not new to exploitation (7)
A + CC + USED (exploited)
13. NEEDY One wants to be so described (5)
Cryptic definition
14. REHOUSING Providing people with different occupations (9)
Cryptic definition
16. OSTRICH FEATHERS Riches of the arts, perhaps, for personal adornment (7,8)
(RICHES OF THE ARTS)*
19. TERMAGANT Scold or nag — matter put straight (9)
(NAG MATTER)*
21. FORUM Return of spirit in open discussion (5)
OF reversed + RUM
22. AVIATES Flies east via resorts (7)
(EAST VIA)*
23. GALLANT Dashing fellow who went to the top at sea (7)
A TOPGALLANT sail is one that is above the topsail on a ship. “That” would be better than “who” here.
24. CAIRO Company about to broadcast somewhere in Egypt (5)
AIR in CO
25. NEW YORKER Fresh delivery of an American magazine (3,6)
NEW + YORKER (type of delivery in cricket)
Down
1. FALLING OUT Argument about leaving the parade ground (7,3)
Double definition
2. CONQUEST Victory or defeat (8)
Double definition – conquest can refer to the act of conquering, or of being conquered
3. NICETY Fine quality diamonds worn with shirt in New York (6)
ICE (slang for diamonds) + T[-shirt] in NY
4. LIAR False witness who turns up to abuse (4)
Reverse of RAIL
5. DETACHMENT Indifference of some soldiers (10)
Double definition
6. DISCOUNT Don’t totally accept the cut-price offer (8)
Double definition
7. BONSAI Various trees but no great variety (6)
Cryptic definition, with “great” in the sense of “large”
8. DYED Found out, Eddy coloured (4)
EDDY*
14. REHEARSING Preparing for the night? (10)
Cryptic definition, the “night” being a performance (“it’ll be all right on the night”)
15. GASOMETERS Some grates designed as fuel-savers (10)
(SOME GRATES)*
17. INACTION Doing nothing but fighting? (8)
A fighting soldier is IN ACTION
18. EARMARKS Lugs around old currency reserves (8)
MARK in EARS
20. RAISIN Fruit is seen in the fall (6)
IS in RAIN
21. FOLLOW One won’t be the first to do it (6)
Cryptic definition
22. ARCH Saucy curve (4)
Double definition
23. GOWN Turn pale, not having a costume (4)
GO WAN less A

39 comments on “Guardian 26,861 – Rufus”

  1. A very nice Rufus, I reckon. I particularly enjoyed OSTRICH FEATHERS, ABORIGINE, DYED and GOWN. Many thanks to him and to Andrew.

  2. I liked this. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I am struggling to get more than half of the other weekly crosswords solved so a Rufus gives me heart. I really really appreciate this blog as it helps enormously with improving my practice. All that being said, I actually got the Paul Prize Crossword out from Saturday week ago (the occupations one), so clearly my solving skills are very uneven. Thanks to all setters, the fifteensquared team, and bloggers. In this Rufus, I appreciated ABORIGINE 9a and FALLING OUT 1d. LOI was BONSAI 7d which I got but couldn’t parse until I realised that “no great” meant small!!! I love that “ah ha” moment.

  3. Thanks Rufus and Andrew
    My slowest ever Rufus solve, though I didn’t help myself by dividing 1d as 3,7 on my grid! Favourite was ABORIGINE.
    Wouldn’t 6d be ebtter without the “totally”?
    I thought the cryptic definitions for BONSAI, REHEARSING and FOLLOW were ridiculously loose.

  4. Thanks for explaining GALLANT, Andrew – I got it from the definition but couldn’t parse it. Like Julie, I also appreciated the reference to New Zealand’s “West Island” in 9ac.

  6. Typical Rufus with much to enjoy and some that are ho-hum.
    Gasometers are not the same as gasholders..they are,surprisingly, meters. Been grumbling about that one for 45 years or so! HH mode now off:-)

  7. Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

    An enjoyable solve, though, like muffin, I took longer than I usually do with a Rufus. I know that many solvers do not like double definitions, but I found them rather good today, especially FALLING OUT, DISCOUNT, DETACHMENT and the Janus word CONQUEST.

  8. Thanks Rufus and Andrew

    A typical start to the week that I was able to complete in three nano-sessions where I could grab them in a busy day.

    Only a couple of minor holdups with the last two in – GALLANT which took a while to find the sail definition and BONSAI before the appropriate version of ‘great dawned !

    Thought that the wordplay for ABORIGINE was very good, but think that the politically correct Nazis would be turning apoplectic as the indigenous Australians are now referred to as ‘Koori” – well the ones from Victoria and New South Wales at least.

  9. Westdale @6. Pedant that I am, I was going to make a similar comment. But then I checked the BRB which, surprisingly perhaps, has only GASOMETER = “storage tank for gas” and no entry at all for GASHOLDER.

    Did anyone else have SECOND as the answer for 21 DN? It certainly made that corner difficult to complete.

    Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

  10. Thank you Rufus and Andrew.

    Like muffin and Cookie I took longer than usual, but enjoyed the solve.

    As one of those people who actually buy the paper, even have it delivered, I was upset to see they have moved the crossword again. This means you cannot easily fold the paper to do the crossword. Last time they did this was in January 2012. That time there was an uproar and they moved the crossword by the Friday. I’m hoping there will be a similar change again this time. Personally I’ve emailed the Guardian. I hope many others will too.

  12. Charles Barnwell @10

    Yes, my heart sank when I opened the paper. Do they never learn? I have e-mailed Hugh Stephenson too.

  13. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I needed help parsing (TOP)GALLANT and took a while before seeing BONSAI but was proud of myself (given my limited knowledge of cricket terms) for spotting the “yorker” in NEW YORKER right off. Lots of fun.

  14. Thanks Rufus & Andrew.

    Good enjoyable solve. Westdale @6; blame the dictionaries or common usage: Collins: ‘a nontechnical name for gasholder;’ ODE ‘a large metal tank…’

    I got a bit stuck with the NE corner, BONSAI being my LOI. Bruce@8 from Wiki: ‘Professor MaryAnn Bin-Sallik, has publicly lectured on the ways Aboriginal Australians have been categorised and labelled over time…She called for a replacement of this terminology by that of “Aborigine” or “Torres Strait Islander” – “irrespective of hue”.

  16. One of Rufus’s better (and more challenging ones). GALLANT and GOWN last two in. Second all of the outraged comments on the stupidity of the new paper layout. Simplest solution would be to move the banner at the bottom to the middle. It is clear that disaffected former Indie readers have been complaining about the smaller number of number puzzles in the Guardian.

    Thanks to Rufus and Andrew

  17. Was I alone in putting in “ruitis” for 20d? (“fRUIT IS seen on the fall”) OK, I now can see it’s not an English word – I googled it and learned it is Latin for “fall with violence”. I thought it was a bit obscure for a Rufus, though unusually there was a word (“termagant”) I’d not come across before.

  18. I don’t see what “about” is doing in 1D. And I agree with Andrew about “that” and “who” in 23A. Apart from that, a typically enjoyable Rufus. The surface of 16A was very good.

    I was one of those protesting about the repositioning of the crossword in January 2012 and I’ll do so again this time.

  19. So you pay more for the paper and you have to fold the paper badly. Look, we’re Guardian supporters, why bugger us up like this? It’s not as if it’s the first time.

    Having got over that, I started the crossword. One of my Rufusian nightmares, the dd/cd clues being slower even than usual. The NE held out longest and finally *O*S*I was making no sense, so into my solver app it went. I see it now, but that’s not the point alas.

  20. Cholecyst yes I put second in too for 21 down. Not as straightforward as usual but got there in the end.

  21. Marienkaefer Trailman. I am glad to say I have had a response on Twitter. The positioning should be fixed tomorrow.

  22. Julie, I agree with you. I can usually get about half way with the other compilers, apart from chifonie, so always pleased to see a crossword set by Rufus. And thanks to Andrew and everyone else for their comments. Very helpful for us beginners

  23. I agree with Muffin@3. I took much longer than usual to solve this and I thought the cluing was a bit iffy in parts. Definitely not Rufus’s finest hour – or perhaps mine!
    Thanks Rufus.

  25. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    However, came on here today not to get the answers to and explanations for the ones I cannot do, but to find some like-minded souls who also cannot believe they’ve put the crease through the crossword.

    Although thanks Charles @21, it’s nice to know there’s a tweet about it being fixed tomorrow. Let’s hope so.

    Actually I finished today’s, which does not happen so often with a Rufus, I find, as I usually get stuck in a CD/DD/can only see the Necker Cube one way sort of hell…

  26. Thanks Rufus and Andrew.

    A fairly enjoyable one, which took about 20 mins on line last night, apart for the last three: the two REs and BONSAI. I thought I would be able to finish them this morning, but nothing surfaced, so my time goes up to infinity for this one.

    I agree about the poor layout in the paper, and I suspect beery hiker is correct, that they have included all these puzzles because the Indie has disappeared. I tried the Killers, but they are too easy, so no joy there. I suppose it is Monday and beginners need encouraging; where have I heard that before?

  27. I too have emailed the powers that be- are they so stupid to position the cryptic the way they have. Just like last time.

  28. I found this a bit hard but mostly fair. But not really happy about rehousing….a new occupation isn’t a new habitation is it? I didnt think that was fair play but am I missing something?

  30. Izzythedram @28
    Although there were several I wasn’t happy about, REHOUSING wasn’t one of them – one occupies a house, doesn’t one?

  31. I too found this a bit more work than a typical Rufus, but none the worse for that. I think my favourite is OSTRICH FEATHERS, among many other good clues.

    Thanks, Rufus and Andrew.

  32. I must have been on Rufus’s wavelength today, as I actually found it a bit easier than his usual offerings. His surfaces are always very good.

  33. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew and to those who appear to have managed to get the puzzle restored to its usual place.
    I usually do the Polyword puzzle in my wife’s Telegraph as something to pass the time when reading is impossible, while shaving and washing up, for example, and was pleased to see a Guardian equivalent but I’ll be sticking to the Telegraph as 3 letter words makes the number less manageable and I appreciate the setting of target figures as an indication of difficulty.
    I seem to remember that the Guardian cost 2.5p in current currency when I started buying it. The rate of increase is even higher than house prices. Like others I suspect that much of the increase goes towards the online edition and find this unfair.

  34. Didn’t help myself in the TR corner by “solving” 14A as “reworking” – surely others must have made the same mistake?

  37. michael @ 36
    The first person to do an activity can be regarded as the leader. Anyone who subsequently does the activity must follow the leader and therefore won’t be the first to do it.
    Hope this helps.

  39. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    I got through this without any errors. Remembered TOPGALLANT from the Patrick O’Brien novels.

    My only query is in 12ac. The clue stated “not new to exploitation”. Both not new and exploitation mean “used”. I based my answer on the former, you Andrew used the latter. Is this meant to be some kind of semi-double?

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