Guardian Cryptic 27,095 by Rufus

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A nice start to the week with Rufus’s trademark smooth surfaces. Favourites were 1dn and 17dn – thanks, Rufus.

Across
1 TRIBUNAL Bread in test case exhibited in court (8)
BUN=”Bread” in TRIAL=”test case”
5 OIL RIG A boring set-up (3,3)
cryptic definition – “boring” as in drilling rather than tedious
9 AIREDALE Big dog very good about change of lead (8)
AI=A1=first rate=”very good”, plus RE=”about”, plus (lead)*
10 RAISED Highly bred? (6)
double definition
12 CHEER The church always brings comfort (5)
CH[urch] plus E’ER=ever=”always”
13 TERRORISE Drunken roisterer to frighten people badly (9)
(roisterer)*
14 CORRESPONDED Wrote and agreed (12)
double definition
18 COMMENTARIES They may be running the moment race is organised (12)
definition a reference to ‘running’ commentaries. (moment race is)*
21 FOOTSTOOL Pays for implement to make furniture (9)
FOOTS=”Pays for”, plus TOOL=”implement”
23 AMBER Fossil resin that should be approached with caution (5)
double definition – second definition referring to a cautionary AMBER traffic light
24 OREGON State some foregone conclusion (6)
Hidden in [f]OREGON[e]
25 CAPITALS Head south for the main cities (8)
CAPITAL=”Head”, plus S[outh]
26 DETACH Part the cad needed to play (6)
definition uses “Part” as in ‘separate’. (the cad)*
27 MEANDERS Repairmen take in article in turns (8)
MENDERS=”Repairmen”, taking in A=the indefinite “article”
Down
1 THATCH Do a rush job on the roof? (6)
cryptic definition, with “rush” alluding to the use of rushes or similar plant material to thatch a roof.
2 ISRAEL One’s king set up a republic (6)
I’S=”One’s”, plus LEAR=”king” reversed/”set up”
3 UNDERDONE Such a steak is rarely served (9)
cryptic definition – “rarely” as in a ‘rare’ steak
4 ALLITERATION Initial repetition is only repetition after all (12)
ITERATION=”repetition”, after ALL
6 IDAHO Girl has half an hour in a state (5)
IDA=”Girl”, plus HO[ur]
7 RESCINDS Cancels order for windscreens — not new (8)
(windscreens)*, minus the letters of “new“
8 GODSENDS Gallery finds finales welcome surprises (8)
GODS=the upper “Gallery” in a theatre, plus ENDS=”finales”
11 PRESS RELEASE News handout of journalists’ redundancy (5,7)
PRESS=”journalists”, plus RELEASE=”redundancy”=dismissal from a job
15 OPERATION Performance in the theatre switched to open air (9)
definition referring to a surgical “theatre”. (to open air)*
16 SCAFFOLD A spot of capital punishment (8)
cryptic definition – “spot” as in a location, rather than some small amount
17 IMMODEST I am on the way — the way forward (8)
I’M=”I am”, on MODE=”way”, plus ST[reet]=”way”
19 ABLAZE Idle Jack leads, fuming (6)
LAZE=”Idle”, with AB[le seaman]=sailor=”Jack” leading in front of it
20 CRISIS Course at Oxford is after credit when in trouble (6)
ISIS=a river or “Course” in Oxford, after CR[edit]
22 STOIC Good man in charge, with love at heart, makes a good bearer (5)
ST=saint=”Good man”, plus I[n] C[harge], with O=”love” in the middle/”heart”

42 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,095 by Rufus”

  1. A nice start to the week. Just fitted in our breakfast slot. The answer to 9a needs inserting _ airedale. Several nice clues especially immodest. Thanks Rufus and Manehi

  2. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Not sure I agree about the surfaces – what’s 16d supposed to mean, for instance? I wouldn’t have included “Big” in 9a; it doesn’t add to the clue, and it’s not strictly accurate either (yes, they are the largest terriers, but not all that big as dogs go – btw the blog is missing AIREDALE, manehi!)

    It being Rufus, I tried NEPALI for 10a – better answer than the actual one, I think.

    Favourites were ALLITERATION, IMMODEST and MEANDER (for not being a me and er clue!)

  3. I enjoyed this puzzle – I forgot that Jack = sailor so I was a bit confused on ABLAZE

    muffin@2 – I was fine with SCAFFOLD being a place/location/”spot” of capital punishment

    Thanks Rufus and manehi

  4. michelle @3
    Yes, it workds cryptically. It was the surface I was questioning. What is “a spot of capital punishment”? “A spot of tea”, yes, but “a spot of capital punishment” is like being “slightly pregnant”…..

  5. A nice Rufus today, I thought. Couldn’t get ABLAZE, but all is clear now thanks to manehi’s blog. I liked IMMODEST, THATCH and ALLITERATION. Thanks to R & m.

  6. Pretty decent offering from Rufus today I thought. 25ac gave me a problem, as I was convinced that ‘main’ was being used in its ‘sea’ sense. Silly me. That’s what misdirection is all about.

    A minor tut tut about two separate US states, but that’s the only gripe I can think of.

  9. Thanks manehi and Rufus.

    10 ac: I agree to some extent with muffin’s qualms. I, too, was disappointed to find it wasn’t an inhabitant of mountainous regions. However, as it is a double definition, the second is “bred” and the first, as indicated, “high”; so the inclusion of “ly” ruins the clue.

  10. Thank you Rufus and manehi (who must still be chasing that naughty dog, I wonder why Rufus said he was good?).

    Just right for a Monday, lots of smiles too. Some lovely clues, especially those for THATCH, COMMENTARIES and ALLITERATION.

  11. Trailman @ 6: I, too, spent ages looking for something to do with maritime cities before it suddenly clicked.

    muffin @2: I think ‘Nepali’ is a superb solution to the clue – but the pedant in me says it can’t be a better answer as it wouldn’t fit with those pesky cross checkers! I seem to regularly come up with better answers that don’t fit the cross checkers. It’s called “getting it wrong” 🙂

    Very enjoyable Rufus puzzle and I share in the appreciation awarded to THATCH, ALLITERATION, COMMENTARIES and IMMODEST. PRESS RELEASE made me smile and I loved the ‘Galleries’ = “Gods” in 8d.

    I don’t mind there being two US states in one puzzle – but OREGON isn’t particularly well-disguised by ‘foregone’. A very minor criticism of an, otherwise, excellent offering.

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi.

  12. muffin @4: You ask, “What is “a spot of capital punishment?” Think of ‘spot’ = ‘place’ and the cryptic definition is fine.

  14. Median
    I’m not questioning the cryptic part, as I said before. It’s the surface reading. A “spot” in this surface sense means “a bit”, but you can’t have “a bit of capital punishment”, can you?

  16. muffin, if a government had sentenced a hundred or a thousand revolutionaries to death, but in the end hanged only two or three, could that be described as a spot of capital punishment? (Not from the point of view of the unlucky ones, obviously.)

  18. I think I’m more with Muffin on SCAFFOLD – in that the surface is merely okish. I don’t want to Labour the point though. The puzzle as a whole was quite enjoyable. I particularly liked FOOTSTOOL,ABLAZE and MEANDERS.
    Thanks Rufus.

  19. Thanks all who managed to spot the dog – blog has been updated.

    I agree that SCAFFOLD isn’t the best example, but I did like the surfaces as a whole.

  20. This may be the hardest Rufus I’ve done. I usually finish them the night before, unlike puzzles by most other setters. This time I got only 13 of the 26 answers.

    Swathy #8 — Might you mean the “Off with your head!” Queen of Hearts rather than the Red Queen?

    I don’t buy ABLAZE for “fuming”. They are different degrees of “on fire” — ABLAZE is more flaming than fuming.

    Trailman @6 — Idaho and Oregon aren’t separate, they’re contiguous!

    Thank you Rufus and manehi. I especially liked ALLITERATION, and “gods” for “gallery.” Nicely done.

  23. Valentine @21, “A spot of capital punishment” was a great place for women to gather, and they would take their knitting with them to occupy themselves while they waited for the show to begin – especially during the French Revolution (a scaffold is a raised wooden platform, not only for gallows, but also for guillotines).

  26. Took me a little longer than usual to get started with this, so it must have been a bit trickier than Rufus usually is. Some nice clues. IMMODEST was last in

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi

  27. Another lovely Rufus. Thanks to him and manehi.

    MEANDERS and RESCINDS were favourites.

    On the capital punishment issue, surely grammatically the clue should have read “A spot for capital punishment”. But then becomes a shoe-in.

  29. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. For me this Rufus puzzle was easier than usual so that my only pause was with MEANDERS, even with all the crossers. Very enjoyable.

  30. Thanks to Rufus and manehi.

    I completed this on the commute this morning, although GODSENDS completely confounded me, and was therefore LOI a long time after the rest had been completed.

    Now the Monday puzzle is out of the way, I’ll look forward to the rest of the week, wherein I usually get to the office having solved maybe two or three clues in total.

    How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice man, practice.

    🙂

    Stuart.

  31. I forgot about Madame Defarge. I’m not sure she had a spot of capital punishment, though, although she was on the spot for it.

  32. I thought both this and the telegraph were trickier than the usual Rufus – or maybe just me. Anyway, he remains a master of cryptic definitions – much enjoyed.

    Thanks Rufus and manehi

  33. I enjoyed today’s. Nice mix of simpler and trickier stuff. And a relief to get my confidence back on track after total defeat in the face of the prize crossword this week.

    I’d like to use this relatively quiet moment to ask what ‘tea tray’ means. I’ve seen it used a few times when people are discussing crossword clues and keep meaning to ask. Google seems to think I’m making it up…
    Anyone?

  36. Rufus on good form with trademark smooth surfaces as manehi says. Thanks to both. I agree with Muffin that spot = a small amount doesn’t read well at 16d (and spot = location wouldn’t be cryptic) but mustn’t grumble. On the whole so much smoother than other setters. 16d was a prime example of combining three separate elements into a smooth sentence with a nice misdirection.

  37. The guillotine is not a scaffold but it used to stand at the top of a scaffold. The French used to say that someone was “sent to the scaffold”, (“envoyer a l’echafaut”, sorry can’t type accents with this tablet) rather than sent to the guillotine.

  39. Pierre @ 37 — The French word for scaffold appears in every Miles Davis discography that includes his music for Louis Malle’s 1958 film ‘Ascenseur pour l’échafaud’. The sneaky way to do accents is to copy and paste words from existing text elsewhere.

  41. Thanks Baerchen @35 for tea tray explanation. I’ll never forget it now with that link you added!! 🙂

    Thanks Extremophile @34, I did in fact know what a real tea tray was, but the examples you sent were entertaining 😉

  42. I can well imagine some cynical tyrant calling for “a spot of capital punishment”. I thought it was a good clue, if not too difficult. The Queen of Hearts has often been confused with the Red Queen, btw, especially in dramatisations, as pointed out in the Wikipedia for either character.

    Having got all the checkers, I couldn’t think of any word but IMPOTENT to fit 17d, and had actually started to work through the dictionary when IMMODEST came to mind anyway. Excellent clue.

    Also, I couldn’t remember why I associated ISIS with Oxford, but filled in CRISIS anyway.

    Thanks for the vid, Baerchen. Hilarious, and beautifully illustrative of what a “tea-tray moment” is, something I hadn’t known before either.

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