Guardian Cryptic 26,871 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26871.

A fine puzzle woven from the simplest of threads, but still requiring a good deal of thought. I managed to get as couple of the references before the gating clue 24A BALL.

Across
8 CASTRATO Old singer and players, one singing before 24 across (8)
A charade of CAST (‘players’) plus RAT (‘one singing’) plus O (’24 across’ BALL).
9 BRIGHT Reportedly be good on the 24 across (6)
A charade of B (‘reportedly be’) plus RIGHT (‘good’).
10 BOWL Blackbird to launch a 24 across (4)
A charade of B (‘black’) plus OWL (‘bird’).
11 ASTOUNDING Staggering home, overwhelmed by gusto, and stumbling (10)
An envelope (‘overwhelmed by’) of IN (‘home’) in ASTOUNDG, an anagram (‘stumbling’) of ‘gusto and’. Excellent surface.
12 DANCER Sheridan ceremoniously welcomes one at 24 across (6)
A hidden answer (‘welcomes’) in ‘SheriDAN CERemoniously’.
14 ORATRESS She gives her address and, if not, a lock of hair (8)
A charade of OR (‘if not’) plus ‘a’ plus TRESS (‘lock of hair’).
15 REVAMPS Rebuffed person with account about politician’s makeovers (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of MP (‘politician’) in REVAS, a reversal (‘rebuffed’) of SAVER (‘person with account’).
17 DEWLAPS They hang from the neck of special friend, married on the rebound (7)
A reversal (‘on the rebound’) of S (‘special’) plus PAL (‘friend’) plus WED (‘married’).
20 MERCHANT He sells car, the Chinese model (8)
A charade of MERC (Mercedes Benz, ‘car’) plus HAN (‘the Chinese’) plus T (‘model’).
22, 13 SHADOW CHANCELLOR With fortune in dollars, who changed job for 24 acrosses? (6,10)
An envelope (‘in’) of CHANCE (‘fortune’) in SHADOWLLOR, an anagram (‘changed’) of ‘dollars who’. Ed Balls was onetime Shadow Chancellor.
23 WELL EARNED Latitude taken by compilers of an erudite nature is justified (4,6)
An envelope (‘taken by’) of L (‘latitude’) in WE (‘compilers’) plus LEARNED (‘of an erudite nature’). I would probably hyphenate well-earned, but maybe that’s just me.
24 BALL Left backing return of Labour Party (4)
A charade of BAL, a reversal (‘return’) of LAB (‘Labour’) plus L (‘left’); ‘backing’ indicates the order of the particles.
25   See 16
26 BACKSPIN Defend media manipulation in 24 across’s movement (8)
A charade of BACK (‘defend’) plus SPIN (‘media manipulation’).
Down
1 SABOTAGE Hinder Solomon penning a book on scripture (8)
An envelope (‘penning’) of ‘a’ plus B (‘book’) plus OT (‘scripture’) in SAGE (‘Solomon’).
2 ET AL Departed northwards with others (2,2)
A reversal (‘northward’ in a down light) of LATE (‘departed’).
3 BAZAAR Azed addicts filling vacant bierkeller in fair (6)
An envelope (‘filling’) of AZ (‘azed’) plus AA (‘addicts’) in BR (‘vacant BierkelleR‘).
4 FOXTROT Confuse with wrong turns in performance in 24 across (7)
A charade of FOX (‘confuse’) plus TROT, a reversal (‘turns’) of TORT (‘wrong’). I do not quite see Elizabeth Bennet doing the foxtrot.
5 OBDURATE Determined a doubter will convert (8)
An anagram (‘will convert’) of ‘a doubter’.
6 CINDERELLA One smouldering vocalist who goes to the 24 across (10)
A charade of CINDER (‘one smouldering’) plus ELLA (Fitzgerald, ‘vocalist’).
7 CHINOS Feature extra large trousers (6)
A charade of CHIN (‘feature’) plus OS (‘extra large’).
13   See 22 across
16, 25 PEASANTS REVOLT  24 across’s movement training, eg workers and soldiers — potential unit (8,6)
A charade of PE (‘training’) plus AS (‘eg’) plus ANTS (‘workers’) plus RE (‘soldiers’) plus VOLT (‘potential unit’). The sermons of John Ball inspired the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
18 PROCLAIM For 100 pounds, design trumpet (8)
A charade of PRO (‘for’) plus C (‘100’) plus L (‘pounds’) plus AIM (‘design’).
19 STAND BY Support rock band in dirty surroundings (5,2)
An envelope (‘in’) of ANDB, an anagram (‘rock’) of ‘band’ in STY (‘dirty surroundings’).
21 ELEVEN Sides of equilateral with smooth side (6)
A charade of EL (‘sides of EquilateraL‘) plus EVEN (‘smooth’).
22 SEDUCE Lure of extremely statesmanlike fascist (6)
A charade of SE (‘extremely StatesmanlikE‘)  plus DUCE (Il Duce, Mussolini, ‘fascist’).
24 BEST Top man on the 24 across (4)
Double definition, the second being a reference the footballer George Best.
completed grid

38 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,871 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

    Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
    The wordplays on ‘ball’ were excellent.

    Favs include: DEWLAPS, BAZAAR, SHADOW CHANCELLOR and PEASANTS REVOLT

  2. Thanks Peter. Spent most of the lunch hour over this, pleasurably. Though hazy on the balls in the two long answers I got them midway through, and deemed them good. 15A was second last (needed you to explain the ‘saver’) and 1D last of all, for no good reason. Nice one, Picaroon.

  3. Thank you PeterO and Picaroon.

    I really enjoyed this puzzle, with my favourites being REVAMPS and BRIGHT (LOI).

    New word for me was DEWLAPS.

  4. Very enjoyable puzzle and insightful blog. So, many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. Many great clues, but I especially liked 8a, 17a, 26a, 7d, and 24d!! Held up by 1d as it took me a while to see ‘hinder’ as a definition of SABOTAGE, and although I wrote it in I was not entirely convinced, but then again the wordplay is pretty clear.

  5. This was an excellent puzzle – for me the best this week. I thought for a while the theme was a bit overplayed, but I changed my mind as I made progress through the clues, all of which were fair as I expect from this setter.

    Like molonglo and S Panza, I got 1D (SABOTAGE) last of all. I had to get 10A (BOWL) before that (my second last), and then SABOTAGE was straightforward. BOWL was one of my favourites, among many others.

    Thanks to Picaroon. Thanks also to PeterO who explained a few bits of the parsing of four of the clues which I didn’t quite get while solving.

  6. Thank you to Picaroon and PeterO. Disappointed in myself that I missed several here 8a CASTRATO, 22a 13d SHADOW CHANCELLOR, 26a BACKSPIN, 1d SABOTAGE and 16d 25a PEASANTS REVOLT. Penny didn’t drop on these even with some crossers. Feel I may have given up too soon. “BALL” references for SHADOW CHANCELLOR and PEASANTS REVOLT were totally unknown so lost on me. So I appreciated your clarification, PeterO, and bow to you and Picaroon as having much more “erudite natures” than me. Still felt happy in my own small way to solve such gems as 7d CHINOS and 22d SEDUCE. Just asking if anyone thinks the derivation of 8a has anything to do with the loss of the singer’s 24 acrosses?

  7. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

    A nice puzzle, by one of my favourite compilers. I got off to a fast start by seeing BOWL immediately, hence BALL. It then went steadily, with CASTRATO and then FOXTROT (one of my favourites) last. Other favourites for me were BAZAAR and SHADOW CHANCELLOR, but there weren’t any poor ones.

    One question – is THE CHINESE for HAN OK? I know of the HAN Dynasty, but is it also Chinese for “£the”?

  8. Thanks PeterO – particularly for getting to the bottom of PEASANT’S REVOLT.

    Given the theme, the clue for CASTRATO seemed something of a missed opportunity!

  9. Very enjoyable. I think Paul might have clued 8 differently. Esp liked 4 and 22-13 but many others too.

  12. I went for BOSS at 24D – just about justifiable I think given recent slang use of the word as an adjective. But the right answer is better.

  13. Jason @ 12: me too (BOSS instead of BEST) although it didn’t seem quite right. A great puzzle as usual from Picaroon – clearly clued and all gettable. My favourites were SHADOW CHANCELLOR, ASTOUNDING and BAZAAR. Many fthanks to him and to PeterO.

  17. Pleasant challenge today. Nice theme with plenty of possibilities, and I did wonder if 8ac may have originally had a more Paulesque clue that was destined for rejection. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

  18. Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. I was surprised that I dredged up John Ball and Ed Balls though I did not remember George Best (who has appeared in previous puzzles). Last in was FOXTROT. Great fun.

  19. Thanks both.

    Westdale @10 Thanks for that. How would it be used, though? Do you mean they would use it in the same way as I might say “we Brits”?

    Re ORATRESS, I was always taught to use ORATRIX in the same way as the feminine aviator becomes aviatrix but perhaps I’m wrong.

    Fine puzzle from this consistently fine setter. Had to look up John Bull but otherwise managed to tease it out after a slow start.

    Favourites included FOXTROT & CINDERELLA.

    Nice (long) weekend, all.

  20. Like Muffin@7 I got off to a quick start with BOWL and BALL, which made progress relatively easy, but no less enjoyable for that. I didn’t know John Ball (must have drifted off in that history lesson!) so thanks for that essential piece of info, PeterO.
    And thanks to Picaroon for a thoroughly entertaining puzzle.

  21. This has been another excellent week and this was another fine crossword. Nothing unfamiliar but plenty of disguise. Last in was SABOTAGE, favourite SEDUCE.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  22. Good fun, helped by getting the gateway clue early on. Count me as #4 who entered ‘boss’ for 24d, but BEST does work better. Really liked CASTRATO which I thought was just suggestive enough.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  23. Good puzzle from an excellent setter, if not Picaroon’s toughest. I liked figuring out the various uses of BALL, which he used well – especially John and (plural) Ed. Only minor gripe is hinder = SABOTAGE, but I see I’m not the only one here.

  24. To Westdale @10 – about 90% of Chinese might (refer to themselves as Han). Han is an ethnic grouping who are dominant in China today but it hasn’t always been so. The Tang and Qing dynasties for example were led by the Manchu. Not really PC to equate Chinese and Han but close enough for a Guardian crossword I suppose. Would not go down so well in the SCMP.

    I thought this was going to be tough but it yielded very quickly one I had the gateway clue. I failed on 24 down as I saw it was either BOSS or BEST but was not sure which one was a ball player.

  25. A nice puzzle. It took me much too long to get BALL, only getting it after CINDERELLA gave it away.

    I have no problem with “hinder” = SABOTAGE. My only initial doubt about 1D was whether “Solomon” was ok for “sage”, or whether it should have been “eg Solomon” or similar. But Chambers has Solomon to mean “a person of unusual wisdom”, so fair enough.

    Would “oratress” fall foul of the Guardian style guide, on the same grounds that they don’t like “actress”?

  26. Thanks all
    I wrote in castrati very swiftly without thought! Thus I need managed foxtrot, otherwise finished and generally enjoyed.

  28. Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO for an excellent puzzle and blog. My only quibble is using latitude for l. I find there are too many single letters being clued as abbreviations in Guardian crosswords to be entirely fair. The huge variety of words that can be abbreviated makes the use of them a bit meaningless.

  29. I really enjoyed this despite failing-annoyingly- on REVAMPS. Pretty obvious now I know. I thought the theme was extremely well handled- SHADOW CHANCELLOR being my favourite. I also liked ORATRESS and MERCHANT.
    Quite excellent.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  30. Did not get FOXTROT, but everything else went in fine, and it was quite good indeed. Solid cluing all around. I was expecting more sports balls and fewer dancing balls, but of course crosswords exist to confound your expectations. Probably a good thing that this puzzle was not a Paul, eh?

    The Han Chinese are the majority ethnic group, so “the Chinese” for HAN is not too horrible. But I’m not sure how the Manchus, Mongols, Miaos and so on would feel about this clue. Pretty sure that the Tibetans and Uighurs are content to not be counted as Chinese…(apologies if I just got this blog banned in China!)

  31. Thanks asahatter@15 for reminding us that puzzle was a day late!
    I went for BOSS at 24dn after rejecting BUSH and BASE.

  32. Another BOSS here (are we into double figures yet?) but I didn’t like it at all, hence my turning up here to check! Nice puzzle indeed.

  33. Very enjoyable in the end. As I said about Nutmeg’s puzzle on Tuesday, I’m generally not keen on puzzles with a lot of cross-references, particular when they are all referring to the same clue, so my heart sank a little on first read this one. It didn’t help that I was quite slow getting 24a. However, I like the variety of uses of the theme word. I did initially try “boss” for 24d but it didn’t feel right so I used the Check button which told me I needed to rethink it.

    Favourites include ASTOUNDING, REVAMPS, WELL EARNED and OBDURATE.

    Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.

  34. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

    Started this one late last night after farewell drinks for one of the folk at work – and failed as 6d when it passed midnight before the last clue fell. Really enjoyable puzzle though!

    Did have 2 or 3 of the ’24 across’ clues before BALL presented (I think that FOXTROT was the trigger). There were a couple where I had the answer but not the full parsing – didn’t know the Ball who incited the PEASANT’S REVOLT (only remembered Wat Tyler’s involvement and the messy end that happened to him), BEST (kicking myself for not remembering George as the ‘man on the ball’) and my last one in REVAMPS (had reversed A VER(sion) whilst wondering how A=’person’).

    A really good end of the week crossword – still need to get to the Brendan and Nutmeg !

  36. slipstream@35 – a very good question! Could it be an L rotated through 90 degrees. There must be an expert in longitudinologistics out there who can enlighten us. Please do so.
    Thanks to S & B.

  37. slipstream @35
    Interesting question – according to all the sources I have found online, the official technical abbreviations are “lat.” and “long.”, and L is only used for either of them in acronyms.

    Any word may appear as its initial letter in acronyms, so IMO that is at best only an excuse when the acronym is very well known and in regular use, and the clue should give some indication or context to help solvers realise that is what is happening. Ideally, use in an acronym would never be used as a sole justification.

  38. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

    I look like the eight BOSS instead of BEST.

    Otherwise all good and enjoyable.

    Thanks again.

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