Guardian 27,059 / Rufus

39 comments on “Guardian 27,059 / Rufus”

1. Thanks Rufus and Eileen

   I had GYBER in fact. The clue for MEANDER was a lovely change, and I liked the clue for APRON too. I wonder if BH can list similar clues for RABBI?

   The clue for 1ac was more of a hint than a clue, though to be fair I guessed the answer as soon as I had the D from DUBAI.

   I’ve only heard of HERBAL TEAS before (not “herb”), and I wonder if Henley would be surprised by their maritime relocation at 18d?

2. I’ve just looked in Chambers. It has GYBE (sometimes JIBE).

3. Yes, that’s where I found the spellings.

4. I think 8 across works: it’s the one jeering that’s the definition. Gybe or jibe means to change course, so the one doing that is a gyber or a jiber. Those sound like giber, and as gibe is an alternative spelling for jibe then the one one jeering is the giber.

5. Mostly standard Rufus fare, but RIDING TO HOUNDS was unfamiliar and I share your reservations on GIBER. Not sure I’ve ever seen SPRIG = young man but that was easy enough to guess.

   Thanks to Rufus and Eileen

6. Hi Trish @4 – you’re quite right, of course. I had the wrong definition [and I’ve now found ‘gibe’ as a variant of ‘gybe’ in Collins!] It’s unfortunate, though, that both sound-alikes have the same alternative spellings!

7. Not too strenuous a test for the Monday morning grey cells. APRON eluded me and it was a ‘doh’ moment when I gave in and pressed ‘reveal’.

   I agree with the reservations about GIBER/GYBER. Seems to me there’s nothing in the clue to enable 100% certainty as to which is the setter’s intended answer.

   21a is an absolute beauty.

   Thanks to Rufus and Eileen

8. Yes, the usual mixed bag from Rufus. I hadn’t heard of UVULA; liked RIDING TO HOUNDS, RAGS-TO-RICHES and APRON. Thanks to R and E.

9. This took less than ten minutes. Either I’m getting better or just lucky today. Gybe or jibe both work really. I agree about 21a – good clue.

10. Thank you, Eileen, and good morning everyone.

    Pretty brisk solve this morning with ALARM BELL being so uncryptic I refused to write it in until the end.

    At 1a, I felt sure half the clue was missing, and wondered if it should have read, In the pink but going to the dogs. Still not up to much but might possibly have raised a smile.

    Admired RAGS TO RICHES, & ELOPING.

    Nice week, all.

11. Thanks Rufus and Eileen.

    For 1A I think one has to ignore the foxhunting and just take it as a description. I too put GYBER but I think both spellings work.

    Another one who liked ELOPING. The only clue I thought was very weak was the one for ALARM BELL.

12. P.S. I liked MUSIC HALL as well.

13. Thanks Rufus and Eileen. I liked 21a, 10d and 16d, had reservations about the not really cryptic 15a and 14d. Overall found this easier than the quiptic.

14. I agree, a bit of a mixed bag. Some really nice clues: MUSIC HALL was clever, and I also particularly liked 4d and 23a.

    I think the problem with clues like 15a (for ALARM BELL) is that you tend to see the answer straight away before you even notice that there is another meaning (which in this case is somebody phoning you to give you a warning). That is to say, what is supposed to be the cryptic meaning actually reads as the surface.

15. I agree with most of the dislikes and likes here – especially APRON & MUSIC HALL. I also thought TAVERNA was pretty good.

    Did anyone else find 24d SYRIA slightly problematic? As clued the wordplay surely leads to YRIAS?

    Thanks Rufus and Eileen.

16. I can only assume Rufus felt sorry for us solvers because it’s a Monday. I took significantly more than Dutchman’s ten minutes to finish, but this puzzle was less of a brain-exerciser than most. I agree with the comments regarding HERB TEA and GIBER but in neither case was my progress affected. I particularly liked CONUNDRUM and MUSIC HALL

17. Thank you Rufus and Eileen.

    I thought RIDING TO HOUNDS was “going to the dogs” in the opinion of some people since fox-hunting was banned, it is now supposed to be just a “drag hunt” (it appears that Theresa May’s government is pushing for a new vote to repeal the ban).
    I like William’s suggestion @10 for the clue, “In the pink but going to the dogs” !

    The clues for ELOPING and APRON were great.

18. Angstony @15 I sympathise with your query re 24d. Fortunately, I’d got the answer before trying to parse. There is a way – to me – that the clue works as written but it’s a tad ugly: return of open = YRIA (added) to southern = S which, although appearing in the middle of the clue, is thus signposted as the initial letter.

19. Mark et al @18 I see the slight problem with SYRIA. It might have been better if the clue had read, “Open UP to southern country”. At least that would add some direction indicator to a down light.

20. Thanks Eileen and Rufus.

    Had a pleasant while with this one. I also enjoyed ELOPING and APRON but had SPROG for SPRIG, pretty unforgivable in retrospect and perhaps a product of having this blog to refer to for parsing (it must be right – Eileen will explain why). Developing lazy habits – slap on wrist for self.

21. William @19 Nice modification.

22. Pleasant puzzle, which I finished before going to sleep — reliably can with Rufus, usually can’t with others.

    Muffin @1 — there are sailing regattas as well as rowing ones, and they generally take place on salt water, if not necessarily 8on the high seas. “Herb tea” is a common expression to me, maybe it’s American?

    Did anybody else get stuck on TAVERNA thinking that “welcome” was a container indicator? That gave me TA and RN and … and …?

    I don’t think that UVULA is a lump. I just dangles.

    And thanks as ever to Rufus and Eileen.

23. Mark @21, William should start setting crosswords.

24. This was OK I suppose but I am becoming irritated by the ‘cryptics’
    that aren’t! ALARM BELL springs to mind! I wasn’t sure about SPRIG
    either. On the positive side, I did like SYRIA and GENERAL RELEASE.
    A mixed bag,as Eileen says.
    Thanks Rufus.

25. Thanks both,

    I did most of this without writing anything in the grid. I liked 17a and 21a. ‘Targeted’ crossing with an anagram of ‘a target’ was a bit weedy.

26. Valentine @22
    True of course, but the Henley Regatta is the most famous one.

27. Muffin @26. There are rowing regattas (famously Henley) and sailing regattas (famously Cowes). There is a crossword setter (famously Rufus) with a reputation for knowing a lot about such things.

28. Mark @18: Thanks. An implied ‘added’ just about makes sense, but William @19’s suggestion would have been much better.

29. Reading the comments on a Rufus puzzle sometimes reminds me of a comment (sadly I can’t find it, to be sure of who said it – I think it was Alan Bennett) about audiences whose sole reason for visiting the theatre is so that they can leave in disgust at the interval. It seems that lots of you don’t like Rufus, but you keep coming back to have another moan about him! 🙂

    My view: most of the ‘that’s not cryptic’ complaints are unfounded; in each case, a surface reading would not lead to the answer. Perhaps, as regular solvers, we automatically see something like ‘a lump in the throat’ and think about anatomy, but that’s not how the phrase is used normally.

    Thanks to Eileen and Rufus and hurray for come easier puzzles in the mix.

30. Thanks to Rufus and Eileen. Nothing to add. As in the past, I had to pause over several answers (e.g., ALARM BELL, BON VOYAGE) because I thought they were too obvious.

31. MikeR@29 – I think most of us like Rufus’s puzzles as a variation in the week’s offerings, but they are a bit of a curate’s egg. ALARM BELL isn’t really cryptic, and it is meant to be a cryptic crossword. However he also always produces some rather good clues. I enjoy the change in style on Mondays.

32. MikeR@29 – I usually quite like Rufus for a change, but this one simply had too many very weak cryptic definitions. “A lump in one’s throat” with no context? I’d be interested in what the average non-crossworder thought that meant. Seems 50/50 – not really cryptic to me.

33. Thanks Rufus and thanks Eileen.

    We couldn’t decide wether it was GYBER or GIBER without using the check button, so weren’t happy with that clue.

34. At 20A I had SPROG instead of SPRIG and at the time I thought I could justify it.

35. Didn’t know the fox-hunting expression. I had a misspelled version of gybe in my head thereby avoiding any complications with 8a.

    Mildly cryptic definitions are a Rufus speciality, he is a master of them. I find it hard to write cryptic definitions, and it is not without envy that I see them just roll of the tongue in a Rufus puzzle.

    But shouldn’t general (27a) have a definition by example indicator?

    Many thanks Rufus and Eileen

36. Off the tongue, even…

37. I am used to barely cryptic clues (not only from Rufus), but ALARM BELL was really not cryptic at all. However, I still enjoyed this puzzle, as usual with Rufus, and I particularly liked ELOPING and MEANDER.

    Thanks, Rufus and Eileen.

38. 8a. Is it possible that the online answer is wrong? I too wrote in GYBER which, if correct, would be an acceptable homophone for jiber. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow’s paper.
    MikeR @ 29. A good point – I confess to being guilty of confusing “too easy” (to me as an experienced solver) with “barely cryptic” which is a very different sort of criticism.

39. Pino @38
    I still think it’s a poor clue, but I think (as Trish said @4) that the definition is “the one jeering”, which could be “GIBER” (though “jiber” would be more standard), with the sailor being the sounds like – GYBER. Pretty indifferent, though.

    btw I wasn’t being entirely serious about the “Henley” comment.

Comments are closed.