Guardian Cryptic 26,954 by Nutmeg

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26954.

Another excellent crossword from Nutmeg. It happens that I also blogged her last Cryptic, and like that one, this did not yield easily, but my progress this time was steadier. A curiosity from that previous crossword: having learned a new word in SCART, I saw on line yesterday a SCART to HDMI converter – it is remarkable how often a newly found word turns up again shortly afterwards.

Across
1 PHANTOM Backer told of cat’s spirit (7)
A charade of PHAN, sounding like (‘told’) FAN (‘backer’) plus TOM (‘cat’).
5 BIG BANG Origin of all that’s heard on 5th Nov? (3,4)
Definition and literal interpretation.
9 SIREN Alarm‘s function about to be inscribed (5)
An envelope (‘to be inscribed’ – I nearly wrote ‘about’) of RE (‘about’) in SIN (abbreviated mathematical ‘function’).
10 LORGNETTE An aid to reading letter briefly gone astray? (9)
An anagram (‘astray’) of ‘letter gon[e]’ with the latter word minus its last letter (‘briefly’).
11 SOCIAL DEMOCRAT Unhappy characters in America to scold politician (6,8)
An anagram (‘unhappy characters’) of ‘America to scold’. Maybe a hint of an extended definition?
13 ODDS Chance of director demanding session for beginners (4)
First letters (‘for beginners’) of ‘Of Director Demanding Session’.
14 BLUE JAYS Smutty letters, some winging round the US (4,4)
A charade of BLUE (‘smutty’) plus JAYS (‘letters’).
17 NOTIONAL Current cuts unacceptable — almost everything’s speculative (8)
An envelope (‘cuts’) of I (‘current’) in NOT ON (‘unacceptable’) plus AL[l] (‘everything’) minus its last letter (‘almost’).
18 KILO Partway through trek, I lost weight (4)
A hidden answer (‘partway through’) in ‘treK I LOst’.
21 TROUBLESHOOTER Snitch primarily annoys Mr Fixit (14)
A charade of TROUBLES (‘annoys’) plus HOOTER (‘snitch’ in the sense of nose)
23 ELICITING First wife ousted by priest in dramatic drawing (9)
EXCITING (‘dramatic’) with EX (‘first wife’) replaced (‘ousted’) by ELI (‘priest’).
24 FROZE Sound of shots in Bow stopped abruptly (5)
This time the Cockney (‘in Bow’) does not drop ‘is aiches, but pronounces (‘sound of’) THROWS (‘shots’) something like this.
25 LEGATEE He’ll take what’s left from match receipts into shelter (7)
An envelope (‘into’) of GATE (‘match receipts’) in LEE (‘shelter’).
26 YANKEES NY team look for no old-fashioned backs (7)
A reversal (‘backs’) of SEEK (‘look for’) plus NAY (‘no old-fashioned’).
Down
1 POST Put up job (4)
Double definition.
2 AIR CONDITIONING Public exposure about state’s way of regulating the environment (3,12)
An envelope (‘about’) of CONDITION (‘state’) in AIRING (‘public exposure’). Great surface.
3 TINTIN Belgian reporter‘s time at home doubled (6)
A charade of T (‘time’) plus IN (at home’) ‘doubled’, for the hero of the comic strip by Hergé.
4 MILDLY Spymaster casually crossing line a little (6)
An envelope (‘crossing’) of L (‘line’) in M (‘spymaster’, James Bond) plus IDLY (‘casually’).
5 BORDELLO Low place in borough (term of disgust expressed)? (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of DELL (‘low place’) in ‘boro[ugh]’ minus UGH (‘term of disgust expressed’), with an extended definition.
6 GUN POWER Historic plot deprived of duke’s artillery (3,5)
GUNPOW[d]ER (‘historic plot’) minud the D (‘deprived of duke’). With the crossing 5A, we have two unseasonal refrences to Guy Fawkes.
7 ALTERNATIVE VOTE Local choice behind change in selection process (11,4)
A charade of ALTER (‘change’) plus (‘behind’, if you see what I mean) NATIVE (‘local’) plus VOTE (‘choice’).
8 GOES TO SHOW Proves what exhibitor does (4,2,4)
Definition and literal interpretation.
12 DOWN AT HEEL Tatty old hat, new one finally ordered (4,2,4)
An anagram (‘ordered’) od ‘old hat new’ plus E  (‘onE finally’).
15 LOBBYIST Interrupting schedule, copper’s heading off campaigner (8)
An envelope (‘interrupting’) of [b]OBBY (‘copper’) minus its first letter (‘heading off’) in LIST (‘schedule’).
16 WATER ICE Sweet liquid and equivalent solid (5,3)
A charade of WATER (‘liquid’) plus ICE (‘equivalent solid’). A water ice is a dessert, or perhaps palate cleanser, of fruit juice frozen to a slush.
19 SHAGGY A couple of Germans in cast not well groomed (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus G G (‘couple of Germans’) in SHY (‘cast’ as in coconut).
20 BOFFIN Scientist raising one stink after another (6)
A charade of BO (‘another’ stink) plus FFIN, a reversal (‘raising’) of NIFF (‘one stink’).
22 LENS Device for paparazzi from Smolensk (4)
A hidden answer (‘from’) in ‘SmoLENSk’.
completed grid

29 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,954 by Nutmeg”

  2. Thanks PeterO and Nutmeg

    My favourite was NOTIONAL.

    I gave up on 20d and 24a, and I could not parse 21a (did not know that snitch = nose, but I did know that hooter = nose), 19d, 23a

    sidey@1 – you can google GUNPOWDER PLOT – it is there 🙂

  3. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

    Not quite up to Nutmeg’s best, I thought. 7d in particular seems a bit weak, as “choice” is both “vote” and “alternative vote”, and “behind” doesn’t seem to work in a down clue.

    I didn’t parse 21a, not knowing “snitch” for nose, or 23a, not seeing “ex” for “first wife” – does having an “ex” imply also having at least a second wife?

    Favourite was BIG BANG, in which the definition is “Origin of all” I think, Peter.

  4. As usual with Nutmeg, much to enjoy here – too many good clues to list, but I liked 14 & 21ac especially. I too found the puzzle heavy going initially, but blame that on the fact that I’m out of practice; have had a hectic couple of weeks with little time to concentrate on crosswords.

    Thank you Nutmeg & PeterO.

  5. I thought for a while that my lack of knowledge of baseball may be a problem, but, as far as I can see, it seems to be a very mini theme. Then again, being Nutmeg, I am probably misding something very clever.
    Thanks for a most entertaining puzxle, as ever.

  7. Anyone else get “measly” for 4d? Left me stumped for 10a.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO for an enjoyable puzzle and informative blog.

  8. Thanks PeterO.

    CrumlinT @7 I was actually on the point of asking the measly question myself! It sort of works and it held me up too.

    I spotted the gag in FROZE early but struggled to find a past participle to work. Excellent clue.

    Not sure if the BORDELLO clue construction is quite fair. PeterO calls it an extended definition but it just looks like a confusion between the def and the fodder IMHO. It’s perfectly getable though, so no complaint.

    Loved the trouble with her hooter and also NOTIONAL was neat.

    The grid is interesting with the NE and SW halves joining at only 2 points.

    An accomplished setter, most enjoyable.

    Nice week, all.

  10. William.

    My own stupid fault. If I had given 10a more attention I would have realised measly was wrong. (Another) lesson learned.

  11. Favourite NOTIONAL. BIG BANG reminded me of Terry Pratchett’s concise description of the origin of the universe: “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.”

  12. Thanks Nutmeg & PeterO.

    Entertaining crossword with some lovely clues. I too have reservations about GUN POWER. Strangely enough GIN POWER seems to be an accepted expression ,at least in Dictionary.com.

    I was another ‘measly,’ which seems to sort of parse.

    I liked the stinky BOFFIN.

  13. Robi @12 “seems to sort of parse” my thoughts exactly. I kept trying to make it work but was never totally convinced.

    I’m another who found GUN POWER a bit strange. In fact the answer jumped out so readily, and being so close to measly I left it only ghosted in for some time.

  14. Enjoyable crossword. Not too difficult I found with NW quadrant the hardest, MILDLY being my last answer. Favourite clues PHANTOM, GOES TO SHOW, BOFFIN. Thanks, Nutmeg, and PeterO for the blog – I needed your explanations for TROUBLESHOOTER and FROZE though I’d guessed both fairly early on from definition.

  15. Thank you Nutmeg and PeterO.

    An enjoyable solve. GUN POWER is an expression used as an alternative to Talk Power, but it can be found in various army publications etc. in relation to artillery – here is one from My Job Search

    “The Royal Artillery is responsible for supplying gun power to the army across all disciplines.”

  17. GUNPOWER is in the online version of the OED, although it’s shown as hyphenated: ” gun-power n. the number and strength of guns available in any given place or circumstances.”

  18. I thought of MEASLY too, but wasn’t convinced. Phew!

    With the 5 Nov reference and BIG BANG / GUN POWER going in early, I thought there might be some sort of theme to find, but it seems not.

    Nice enough and not too troublesome, though PHANTOM held me up a bit at the end – it should not have, of course.

  20. I didn’t have a problem with GUN POWER and I thought it rather a good clue.
    I usually have difficulties with this setter but this seemed relatively straightforward. I liked BOFFIN and FROZE,oh and ELICITING.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  21. Hm, I had MEASLY too which stopped me getting LORGNETTE. I can see that it’s wrong now, you would need EASILY = casually.

    Plenty to like, many thanks Nutmeg and PeterO. I didn’t spot the baseball theme (@5), I was wondering why we were having an early Guy Fawkes.

  22. Not so much Nutmeg as Vanilla. Fortunately I prefer vanilla. Dollop of fudge at 5d, unfortunately.

  23. Thanks all
    Last in was mildly.
    The G.Fawkes reference set me wondering, was I in the correct month! Probably set by Nutmeg in 2015?
    Some nice anagrams esp.11 across.

  24. Overall, I enjoyed this, though like some others, I’m not convinced by the extended definition for BORDELLO. ELICITING was my LOI. I was fixated on the replacement involving a W (first of “wife”), and eventually used a wordfinder to get it, at which point the parsing was so obvious that I could have kicked myself.

    Thanks, Nutmeg and PeterO.

  25. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO. I’m finally back to puzzles and blog after an interruption for my annual UK trip. I much enjoyed this one though I needed help parsing FROZE and TROUBLESHOOTER. Last in was BLUE JAYS which I should have known immediately since I’m familiar with both the baseball team and the bird (plenty of them in my area).

  26. Thanks Nutmeg and Peter O …

    Took me a while – couldn’t drag LORGNETTE from memory for ages although I knew it – d’oh….

    FOI BIG BANG
    LOI BLUE JAYS

    Didn’t fully parse Eliciting but could see how it should work…

    I have no complaints – I rarely have complaints :-)Someone has taken the time to set the puzzle and thank-you!

  27. I must join the objections to first wife being “ex” in 23a. My first and only wife (of 33 years) is most certainly not an ex, and we both intend that she never will be.

  28. Thanks PetetO and Nutmeg.

    It took a while but I had no real difficulty with this and matched DodgyProf with my first and last in.

    Low place doing double duty at 5dn seemed out of kilter with the style of the rest of the puzzle. Is there an editorial hand at work here?

    Nice to do an unthemed puzzle.

  29. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

    Good to get back to a Guardian puzzle with this one which took a number of sittings over a couple of days to work my way through. Didn’t do myself any favours with 5d my marking it as 3-5 as well as 6d for some reason – when I looked at the clue with the break removed it easily became my last one in 🙂 .

    Had trouble parsing WATER ICE because of not breaking up ‘Sweet liquid’ – nice clue once you get over that simple step. Hadn’t seen ‘snitch’ for nose before either.

    Overall a good puzzle that I enjoyed a lot.

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