Guardian 26,921 – Rufus

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I rattled through the top half of this very quickly, but for some reason took a little longer on the bottom. Some rather weak clues in my opinion, so not greatly to my taste, but it’s fairly standard Rufus fare for those that like that sort of thing, as I know many do.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. ANDALUSIA Region that’s Spanish and American, inter alia (9)
AND + US in ALIA
6. MOAS Moment when these birds became extinct (4)
MO AS
8. ZERO HOUR It’s when to start, but nothing’s on time (4,4)
ZERO + HOUR
9. RESUME Right to sue me, perhaps, so start again (6)
R + (SUE ME)*
10. WATERY Thin and pale, we try a doctor (6)
(WE TRY A)*
11. APPRAISE Value a quiet compliment (8)
A + P + PRAISE
12. AFFECT Pretend to influence (6)
Double definition
15. TAILSPIN Confusion that doesn’t have one’s head in a whirl (8)
Cryptic definition
16. SUBPOENA Prepared bean soup served by a court officer (8)
(BEAN SOUP)*
19. DATING Saying when? (6)
Cryptic definition
21. IDOLATRY Dilatory sort of hero worship (8)
DILATORY*
22. EUNICE She‘s seen in a classy French resort at end of June (6)
[Jun]E + U (classy) + NICE
24. MIRAGE Motorway fury at illusory prospect of refreshment (6)
M1 + RAGE
25. MARZIPAN Result of having a crush on sugared almonds (8)
Cryptic definition
26. AGUE A complaint I’d not put in a guide (4)
A GUIDE less I’D
27. TOLERANCE Play patience (9)
Double definition
Down
1. ARENA Engagement ring from one who will care, naturally (5)
Hidden in cARE NAturally, with a cryptic defintion – a ring where e.g. gladiators “engage”
2. DIOCESE See a bishop’s concern (7)
Double definition, or rather the same definition twice
3. LOONY Look round New York — it’s crazy! (5)
LO + O + NY
4. SERVANT He may have to wait for his money (7)
Cryptic definition
5. ATROPHIED A drink knocked over ran away swiftly — wasted (9)
A + reverse of PORT + HIED
6. MISLAYS Forgets my sails may be badly rigged (7)
(MY SAILS)*
7. ADMISSION Leave to enter guilty plea? (9)
Double definition
13. FOUNDLING Abandoned type petting outside university (9)
U in FONDLING
14. TREATMENT Nursing management (9)
Double definition (just about)
17. PALE ALE A drink or two on the quiet (4,3)
P + ALE + ALE
18. ABYSMAL Lamb, say, is perhaps unfathomable (7)
(LAMB SAY)*
20. TENSION Stress? One isn’t affected (7)
(ONE ISN’T)*
22. ERROR Fear head chopped off in mistake (5)
TERROR less its first letter
23. CHASE Do impressive work as a huntsman? (5)
Definition + a hint – to chase is to “decorate metal by engraving”

25 comments on “Guardian 26,921 – Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and Andrew
    This took a bit longer than a typical Rufus, but there were typical Rufus moments when I entered an answer thinking “it might be that”. In fact, my STEWARD for 4d turned out to be “but it isn’t”.
    I did like the nicely concealed definition and answer for ARENA.

  2. All pretty straightforward as one would expect from Rufus, with one or two nice clues. PALE ALE was last in.

    Thanks to Andrew and Rufus

  3. Thank you Rufus and Andrew.

    Great to have Rufus back. I love sugared almonds, but try to resiqst them, so first looked for another word for “caries” to enter at 25a.

    Like muffin @1, ARENA was my favourite clue, and last in was PALE ALE, as for beery hiker @2.

    This blog is not posted in the Archive.

  6. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.

    Favourite was 15a TAILSPIN.

    Last ones in 22a EUNICE and 23d CHASE.

  11. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you Andrew.

    As you say, pretty standard Rufusian fare – most of which I enjoyed but have a couple of questions…

    I don’t quite see the ‘leave’ = ADMISSION thing at 7d, and,

    Although it’s perfectly getable, how does the MARZIPAN clue work?

    Thought TOLERANCE was neat.

    Nice week, all.

  12. I had some difficulty in equating ‘abysmal’ and ‘unfathomable’ but OED seems to think it is OK.

    Thanks both.

  13. William @11, I think it is “leave to enter” = ADMISSION, think of “permission to enter”. MARZIPAN is made by crushing sugar and almonds together, or “sugared almonds”, I think that that is all there is to the clue.

  14. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I paused for a bit before getting TAILSPIN and DATING but then realized it was a Rufus puzzle. AGUE was last in. No surprises here and fun.

  15. Definitely a puzzle of two halves. The top half was quite a standard Rufus with some nice clubbing-ARENA,ATROPHIED,MOAS. But the bottom half was more difficult. I don’t understand MARZIPAN, which,along with CHASE, I had to guess. I now see the latter-thanks-but the former? Is it even cryptic?
    Still,thanks Rufus.

  16. A typical Rufus, I think. Yes, a fairly quick solve, but I enjoyed it. Thanks, Rufus and Andrew.

    Peter Aspinwall @15
    I think MARZIPAN counts as cryptic as it isn’t a literal definition. You are (mis)directed to think of the sweets and you don’t make marzipan by actually crushing sugared almonds. Apart from anything else, the proportions would be wrong.

  19. RCW @18

    Arena definition is “Engagement ring”

    SOED has

    tailspin noun & verb

    a noun a spin by an aircraft with the tail spiralling; fig. a state of chaos, panic, or loss of control;
    b verb intrans. perform or go into a tailspin;

  24. Thanks Andrew and Rufus.

    Rufus back to standard form here with some fairly weak double/cryptic definitions such as 15, 19 and 14 and a curved ball that caught me out first time through – at 22ac I entered JANICE (J = “end of June” – Rufus didn’t say which end + A + NICE = “a classy French resort” – which is certainly classier than some I can think of). I soon changed that when I saw 22dn!

    But there are always some nice nuggets such as the definition for ARENA and the anagram fodder for SUBPOENA.

    So always worth the effort.

  25. I really enjoyed this. My favourites were PALE ALE, FOUNDLING, ATROPHIED, TAILSPIN

    I have never heard of the play Tolerance

    Thank you Rufus and Andrew

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