Guardian Cryptic 26,881 by Brendan

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A topical themed offering from Brendan

My first blog of a Guardian puzzle in years, and Brendan has served up a good ‘un, with a Republican Party theme.

Donald Trump makes several personal appearances, and some of the solutions may also apply to the Republican candidate, but I won’t betray my feelings about him by indicating which!

Only one clue gave me an issue re parsing (15dn), so if anyone can enlighten me, please go ahead.

Thanks, Brendan, for a pleasant mental workout.

Across
9 MARCO POLO Noted explorer making name once in US politics and sport (5,4)
MARCO (“name once in US politics”) + POLO (“sport”)

Refers, I assume, to Marco Rubio, who lost out to Donald Trump in his attempt to secure the Republication nomination in this year’s Presidential election.
10 ELECT To do this, people will choose Democratic president, ultimately? (5)
Made up of last letters of “peoplE wilL choosE democratiC presidenT“
11 GRANT Present or past president (5)
Double definition.

Ulysses S Grant was president of the USA from 1869 to 1877.
12 LAST TRUMP Ultimate demagogue that will usher in day of reckoning (4,5)
LAST (“ultimate”) + TRUMP (the ultimate “demagogue”)

In the Bible in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”
13 BATONED Hit one Democrat, struck with club (7)
BAT + ONE + D
14 DARKISH One looking good around Southern state that’s not all white (7)
DISH (“one looking good”) around Ark. (Arkansas = “Southern state”)
17 GRAND Good article penned by Republican and Democrat for a lot of dollars (5)
G + AN “penned by” R and D
19 OLD Veteran from left in party getting backed (3)
L in <=DO
20 PARTY Kind of animal that’s associated with elephant or donkey, for example? (5)
Refers to a “party animal”, and the two animals associated with parties in America (the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey)
21 TRUMPET Something blown by itself to a large extent (7)
Cryptic defintion
22 DEBATES Base Ted excited in arguments with opponents (7)
*(base ted)
24 DRACONIAN On air, can broadcast after Democrat, showing extreme harshness (9)
*(on air can) after D
26 IGLOO Look into one attempt to get White House? (5)
LO into 1 GO
28 CREWS Gangs uttered name of ex-runner (5)
Homophone of (Ted) CRUZ, who lost out on the Republican party’s nomination to Donald Trump.
29 HALF A PINT Plan cobbled together with faith that’s small beer (4,1,4)
*(plan faith)
Down
1 SMUG Excessively self-satisfied Southern simpleton (4)
S + MUG
2 ERRANT Ecstasy over Republican tirade going wrong (6)
E (“ecstasy”) + R + RANT
3 SOFTENED UP Weakened and confused dupes frequently taken in (8,2)
OFTEN “taken in” by *(dupes)
4 POLLED Voted as directed, supporting three political leaders (6)
LED, supporting POL(itical)
5 LOPSIDED Awfully odd spiel, far from balanced (8)
*(odd spiel)
6 SEAT Even part of state supporting main goal of politician (4)
T (“even part of “sTaTe”) supporting SEA (“main”)
7 PECULIAR Bizarre muddle I clear up (8)
*(I clear up)
8 ATOP Placed above all the other politicians, initially (4)
Made up of initial letters of All The Other Politicians
13 BIGOT Run, in part, as epitome of intolerance (5)
GO in BIT
15 REPUBLICAN Adherent of middle line? Yes and no (10)
Not sure of the parsing of this, maybe due to my ignorance of US politics.
16 HAYES It’s hard getting votes for 11’s successor (5)
H + AYES (“votes”)

Rutherford B Hayes succeeded Ulysses S Grant in 1887 and was President for 4 years.
18 ADULATED Absurdly lauded over a time, praised excessively (8)
*(lauded) over A T
19 OUTRIGHT Utter what’s inaccurate, supported by conservatives (8)
OUT (“inaccurate”), “supported by” RIGHT
22, 24 DONALD DUCK Love going after Mitt’s likely successor, animated character (6,4)
DUCK (“love”) after DONALD (Trump, likely successor to Mitt Romney, the defeated Republican nominee in 2012)
23 TALKIE Finally shout like a crazy, not silent (6)
(shou)T + *(a like)
24   See 22
25 OUST Throw out Obamacare using salami tactics, primarily (4)
From the initial letters of “Obamacare Using Salami Tactics”
27 OATH Some loathsome characters that incoming president has to take (4)
Some characters from “lOATHsome”

*anagram

46 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,881 by Brendan”

  3. Thanks Brendan & loonapick.

    LOI was CREWS where I was thinking of ‘cruise’ for a long time, doh! Enough anagrams to enable steady progress. Nice dig at a certain Republican almost-nominee.

    Among others, I liked IGLOO for White House.

  4. Many thanks, Loonapick.

    Didn’t get Marco Rubio although the answer was clear enough.

    With the ELECT clue, I wondered if there was something more going on, in that any president has been elected by a democratic process. But perhaps I’m trying too hard.

    Bridled a little at the definition of DARKISH. If something is not all white that implies that it has some white, doesn’t it? Whereas ‘darkish’ implies that the whole thing is…well…darkish.

    DuncT Thanks, needed that.

    I didn’t know about the elephant/donkey thing so had to look it up at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881985.html

    A stylish offering from Brendan to brighten a foul day, many thanks.

    Nice week, all.

  5. Thanks Brendan & loonapick

    Simple enough, but the parsing of 15d evaded me even though I had spotted “grand old party” in the middle. Doh!

  6. Missed the Grand Old Party – thanks DuncT. Agree about DARKISH being an odd way to define “not all white” unless Brendan is making oblique reference to a supposed Southern preoccupation with “darkies” – not very nice if it is. I did like IGLOO – the perfect crossword haystack in which to hide that particular needle!

  7. Thanks, loonapick, and welcome (back) to the Guardian blog. I didn’t realise, though, that Elizabeth Regina had set the puzzle today.

    It was a good one, which I enjoyed. I first came across this setter’s puzzles in the Indy, where he was Virgilius, and then discovered Brendan later. If I remember well, he’s an Irishman who’s lived in the US for a long while, so it’s nice to see his perspective on the US Presidential campaign.

    I smiled when I understood REPUBLICAN; but I smiled on a few other occasions as well.

    Thank you to Brenda for today’s puzzle.

  8. Thanks loonapick [welcome back to the Guardian fold] and Brendan, for a puzzle that I enjoyed more than I expected, given the theme, which should stop the complaints about parochial UK themes for a while. 😉 ]

    loonapick, I presume 21ac, TRUMP[ET], is one of those you didn’t care to spell out? – one of my favourites, along with DONALD DUCK.

  9. Thanks for the blog. Running down the middle column, is the candidate presumptive in La-Laa land?

  10. Thanks for the comments so far…

    DuncT @1 – thanks – didn’t twig that Brendan wanted us to look at the middle line of the puzzle, so thanks.

    Kathryn’s Dad @7 – a simple typo, now corrected. I wonder if HRH would even know what the Guardian is…

    Eileen @8 – Actually I didn’t quite follow that one, and should have said so in my preamble.

  12. Thanks to Brendan and loonapick. I missed the middle-GOP parsing of REPUBLICAN – and now I wonder if SMUG BIGOT is meant to accompany LOPSIDED DONALD in the down solutions. Great fun for a US solver.

  13. What HRH knows and doesn’t know is a mystery, loonapick. I was only teasing, as you know – typos come with the territory when you’re blogging.

    Now that TRUMPET has been explained, I’m smiling even more.

  14. Thanks, ACD. Since we’ve started to collectively understand the theme, may I suggest that OUT RIGHT might have something to do with Brendan’s political views? I could be wrong, and apologise to the setter if I am.

  15. A big thank you to everyone involved in this site. After months of trying I finally completed a non-rufus one! Couldn’t have done it without you

  17. A quick solve but a clever puzzle so I don’t mind. Alas didn’t twig the REPUBLICAN thing till I came here, but that’s pretty much par for the course for me. IGLOO the undoubted favourite.

  19. Got so close on this one, closer than anything in some time. But came a-cropper with 28A (just couldn’t see it, and wrong-footed by trying to draw from my limited knowledge of athletes) and 6D (main = sea was a new one on me). Also missed the clever explanation for 15D, though the word slotted in nicely enough.

    Very neat, elegant and intricately-themed crossword.

  20. Really dreaded this when the first few GOP-themed clues started appearing, but this was a fun and fast puzzle.

    Geoff @ 18: It tells you to read the clue two ways: The first is “Adherent of the middle line: yes”, which means whatever is in the middle line of the grid. The second is “Adherent of the middle line: no”, and indeed, an American Republican is someone with firm right-wing views who is therefore not going to take the middle line in a debate.

  21. I still don’t get ‘trumpet’.

    What was the typo that gave rise to Elizabeth Regina?

    Cookie, what is ARAR?

    I’m feeling stupider than usual this morning. But thoroughly enjoying the poking fun at my most preposterous compatriot.

  22. I groaned when I realised (early) the theme. Those of us on the other side of “the pond” have been suffering from electioneering for over 16 months. It is, I think, the largest of our few manufacturing businesses.

    This was, however, very enjoyable though I couldn’t parse all. Amusingly, I conned through all of the southern states, for 14ac, for some time before it clicked – guess where I live!

    Thanks to Brendan and loonapick

  23. Valentine @ 21:

    Trumpet – there’s a saying “blowing ones own trumpet” – i.e. to be boastful; possibly a sly reference to Donald of course.

    I imagine loonapick referred initially to the setter as Brenda – this site will explain the ER reference:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_and_organisations_frequently_parodied_by_Private_Eye

    But I don’t understand the arar reference either.

    Liked this puzzle, and good to find a midweek one I can actually solve!!

  24. Fun but rather lite.
    I had a very slightly different parse for 16:
    H (hard) + AYES (votes for), definition = 11’s successor. For once the “for” gets a chance to play a role other than harmless linker, so I thought it’d be a shame to miss it 🙂
    Thanks, loonapick and her maj.

  25. Very nice. Indeed one of Brendan’s best which foxed me on a number of occasions. I realized that 15dn was REPUBLICAN but I couldn’t fathom why. In retrospect, reading the rubric properly would have helped. I didn’t like DARKISH much and I didn’t really understand IGLOO.
    But none of this detracts from a most enjoyable puzzle.
    Thanks Brendan.

  26. Anyone wishing to criticise the accessibility of this puzzle would be well advised to ponder the brilliance of 15d first.

  27. Valentine @21, this struck me, partly because Trump says he will make an “exception” for London’s new mayor.

    I have just been listening to Brian Greer, “Brendan”, being interviewed (you can see this interview by clicking on setters above). Such a Nina as ARAR, Maher Arar, could be envisaged, but is probably just chance.

  28. Loved it.

    Like Shirl@5, I had spotted the middle line without linking it to a clue, so many thanks DuncT@1.

    Thanks also to Brendan and lunatic

  30. Entertaining as one would expect from Brendan, Fairly straightforward, though I wasn’t familiar with the LAST TRUMP quotation and spent far to long looking the wrong side of the pond for SEAT, which was last in. Liked IGLOO and DONALD DUCK

    Thanks to Brendan, thanks and welcome to the Guardian blog to loonapick

  31. Very enjoyable, especially after 15 pointed out!
    To be picky, wouldn’t 6 parse as sea-tt? The tt threw me off a long time.

  32. Thanks Brendan and loonapick

    Much as others have said – fairly easy but very enjoyable. Favourites were LAST TRUMP and IGLOO.

    Westdale has just mentioned my only quibble – I didn’t like “Even part of state” to give just T. “One even part of state” might have been fairer.

  33. muffin@32 I agree re STATE – the use of EVEN threw me and had me looking for even letters throughout.

  34. Thanks, everybody, I am hoping to be around as Brendan for a while, last year was a kind of crossword sabbatical.

    For the record, I have just voted for Bernie Sanders. Quite simply, the last chance. Reform of the financial system is a necessary first step to doing anything on global warming, Secretary Clinton might give us a different way out (nuclear).

  35. Thank The Maker. I was hoping for something like this after yesterday’s debacle.

    A well-made puzzle with wit, ingenuity, and a proper understanding of our great language.

    Thanks Brendan and loonapick.

  36. Thank you to Brendan for my favorite themed puzzle ever! Needless to say, 15D was my favorite. My interpretation was much less diplomatic then schroduck’s @20. Yes, GOP members call themselves Republicans, but no, their policies appear to align more often with fascist ideals rather than republican ones.

    After 16 years of Republican chicanery, it’s nice to know I can still chuckle through the tears as I watch my poor country circling the drain.

  37. [Hi Blue Dot
    It is a little bit reassuring that it seems that several senior Republican figures don’t want Trump to get the Presidency either. Do you think that he really has a chance of winning?]

  38. A very entertaining solve. I missed the GOP, so I couldn’t parse REPUBLICAN. My LOI was SEAT, which I took far too long to solve, at least partly because I initially ruled out the even letters of “state” for the same reason that others have given. I also wasted some time trying to make 26a “Inigo” (Jones), the architect who designed the Queen’s House at Greenwich, which is also know as the “White House”. Once I saw the correct answer was IGLOO that became one of my favourites, along with TRUMPET, DONALD DUCK and TALKIE.

    Thanks, Brendan and loonapick.

  39. I failed to solve 6d, and could not parse 9a MARCO and 10a.

    My favourites were TRUMPET and IGLOO.

    Thank you Brendan and loonapick

  40. Very easy for a Brendan!

    Does anyone else think that the setters are trying to out the lack of editing by our illustrious non-Ed by placing obvious mistakes in their puzzles?

    Today we had three occurrences of using a string of first or last letters in the clue which is a little excessive. Yesterday we had the “To the left” for a down clue!

    I’m looking forward to the next ones. (Come on Hugh. Keep up 😉 )

  41. Nice to see John GRANT making an appearance in Brian Greer’s puzzle. Now there’s your editors all right.

    Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle, Brendan (that one).

  42. Enjoyable though had to come here for parsing. For example, elephant and donkey had me flummoxed and I thought this was a non-themed clue where “pin the tail in the donkey” and some other game called “elephant” were featured at a party.

    I actually really enjoyed the theme and laughed at myself for filling in 19d as “OSTRICHY” for a start (instead of OUTRIGHT). I must admit I feel kind of OSTRICHY every time I hear Donald Trump speak. So hard for the US and the world to contemplate Trump as President.

    Many thanks to Brendan for your clever quiz and political commentary. So many of the Trump-esques were a real treat – SMUG, BIGOT, LAST TRUMP, DONALD DUCK, for instance. I also enjoyed your solve, loonapick. Grateful.

    Apologies for late blog – camping in the bush and poor internet coverage.

  43. Muffin – I thought it was impossible that Trump would ever get the nomination, so what do I know? No one has ever lost money betting against the stupidity of the American electorate.

  45. Thanks Brendan and loonapick

    Was originally thinking that this was going to be below par for this setter after getting the third initial / final letter clue with OUST, but the content of his trademark theme and the way that it was executed makes this up to and exceeding his high watermark of quality. His satire on Donald Trump was priceless.

    Didn’t get the parsing of REPUBLICAN until coming here as I had missed the GRAND OLD PARTY across the middle. Quite brilliant … especially the interpretation of ‘Yes and no’.

    Clues such as IGLOO and CREWS were excellent.

    Finished in the SE corner with OUTRIGHT, HALF A PINT and TALKIE the last few in.

  46. Thanks Brendan and loonapick.

    Good clean puzzle – even spotted the parsing to 15ac.

    I too wondered about too many first/last letter clues – as in 10, 13 & 25 – but some of the other constructions more than made up.

    Enjoyable overall.

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