Guardian Cryptic 27,109 by Arachne

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A rare pleasure to see Arachne. Favourites were 25a, 27a, 15d, 19d, and 24d.

Across
1 WARNING Caution pensioner finally to stop shrinking (7)
  [pensione]R inside WANING=”shrinking”
5 MAILBAG Postholder stitched up by criminal (7)
  sewing MAILBAGs was a classic type of penal labour undertaken by prisoners
9 RAGED Was angry Bolshevik accepting silver? (5)
  RED=”Bolshevik” taking in AG=chemical symbol for “silver”
10 BETTER OFF One gambling nothing leaves in a more favourable position (6,3)
  BETTER=bettor=”One gambling”, plus O=”nothing” plus FF=folios=”leaves” of paper
11 HALF-LENGTH Portrait of Len? (4-6)
  =a “Portrait” of the upper half of a person. “Len” is HALF of LEN[GTH]
12 ACTS Feigns current case of tinnitus (4)
  A[lternating] C[urrent], plus the “case” or outer letters of T[innitu]S
14 CHIAROSCURO Painting Dog & Duck after a choir’s rampage (11)
  =a “Painting” technique contrasting dark and light. CUR=”Dog” and O=”Duck” in cricket scoring; after (a choir’s)*
18 THATCHERITE Right-wing Mad Hatter ethic (11)
  (Hatter ethic)*
21 EPIC Impressive record leads to impressive career (4)
  EP=an Extended Play musical “record”; plus the leading letters of I[mpressive] C[areer]
22 PEBBLEDASH Vacuous people ran into party and put Stones on (10)
  “Vacuous” or emptied out P[eopl]E; plus BLED=e.g. paint “ran” inside BASH=”party”
25 MONEYBAGS Fat cat Spooner’s copies of Playboy (9)
  Spoonerism of ‘bunny mags’, referring to Playboy Bunnies
26 ADDER Removing jacket, runs in tights in summer (5)
  =someone who sums up or adds up numbers. [L]ADDER[S]=”runs in tights”, with the jacket or outer letters removed
27 DRAGNET Police search rock garden, then chicken shed (7)
  (garden)*, with “rock” as the anagrind; plus T[hen] minus hen, or shedding the chicken
28 SKETCHY Imperfect start hampering Kay and the rest (7)
  SHY=”start”=recoil away from, around K[ay] and ETC=et cetera=”the rest”
Down
1 WORTHY Somebody in trouble over your past (6)
  =Somebody who is “in” or popular. ROW=”trouble”, reversed/”over”; plus THY=”your [in the] past”
2 REGALE Generously provide claret, perhaps leaving Edwin with wind (6)
  Red winE=”claret, perhaps”, leaving behind the Edwin; plus GALE=”wind”
3 INDELICACY Tastelessness of cod Iceland found in Arctic (10)
  (Iceland)* with an anagrind of “cod” as in parody, inside ICY=”Arctic”
4 GABON Yak trampling outskirts of Orpington, home to some West Africans (5)
  GAB=”Yak”=idle chatter; plus O[rpingto]N
5 METATARSI Came across a sailor, oddly skin and bones (9)
  =”bones” in the foot. MET A TAR=”Came across a sailor”, plus the odd letters of S[k]I[n]
6 IDES Middle of month in Rome, ie time to go (4)
  ID EST=”ie”, with T[ime] going away
7 BRONCHUS Toiling over brunch, finally gets bit of a breather (8)
  =part of the windpipe, used for breathing. (o brunch)*, where o[ver] is a cricket abbreviation and the anagrind is “Toiling”; plus the final letter of [get]S
8 GIFT SHOP Fights construction work in present place (4,4)
  =a place where presents can be bought. (Fights)*, plus OP[us]=”work”
13 ASSEVERATE State judge going after buffoon and First Lady (10)
  =to declare or “State” something. RATE=”Judge”, going after ASS=”buffoon” and EVE=”First Lady”
15 INELEGANT Clumsy fine leg anticipating catch (9)
  hidden in [f]INE LEG ANT[icipating]
16 STREAMED Continuously played on computer, like many schoolkids (8)
  double definition: streaming as a way of viewing media online; and a way of dividing groups of schoolchildren by ability or subjects of study
17 HACIENDA Article supporting new echidna farm (8)
  A=the indefinite “Article”, under (echidna)*
19 BARDIC Strip the fuzz from the bottom of a poet (6)
  BAR=”Strip”, plus a reversal/”from the bottom” of CID=Criminal Investigation Department of the Police or “the fuzz”
20 CHERRY Ruddy guerrilla leader on right lines (6)
  CHE Guevara=”guerrila leader” on R[ight] and R[ailwa]Y=”lines”
23 BASIS Fundament of individual bitten by fish (5)
  I=”individual”, inside BASS=”fish”
24 HYMN Honeymoon shot of a certain old love in Jerusalem? (4)
  =the poem by William Blake sung as a HYMN. HoneYMooN, minus or “shot of” one=”a certain” and minus O[ld] and minus O=”love”

38 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,109 by Arachne”

  1. I visit this site pretty regularly, for clarification, confirmation, reassurance and enlightenment! I would just like to thank all the bloggers for their excellent work. Occasionally in the past I have posted comments as “Tom” but the arrival of a new regularly contributing Tom has necessitated a change.
    I know Arachne to be a particular favourite in the 15 squared community. Rightly so. This puzzle was typically brilliant: clever, joyful wordplay and witty, elegant surfaces.
    And what a lovely Spoonerism!
    But among the many highlights, a tiny shadow of dissatisfaction . . . painting = chiaroscuro is a bit too much of a stretch for me. Still, overall, a great midweek treat. Thanks to Arachne and Manehi

  2. We’ve had to wait a very long time for an Arachne but it was well worth the wait. As Old Tom says, brilliant, clever, joyful and elegant.

    Thanks to Manehi for the blog and big thanks and welcome back to Arachne – hope we don’t have to wait so long for your next one.

  3. Lovely! Too many great clues to list them all, but particular favourites were PEBBLEDASH and DRAGNET – both very clever and funny.

  5. A really fantastic puzzle as always from Arachne. As JimS@3 says, there are too many brilliant clues to list, but nevertheless, here goes: MONEYBAGS, PEBBLEDASH, DRAGNET, BARDIC, SKETCHY, HYMN . . . Many thanks to Arachne and manehi. I wonder how long it takes her to construct a puzzle.

  9. My husband, who has a far dirtier mind than mine, suggested that “Boney Mags” works just as well as “Bunny Mags” for 25ac. Right now he is sitting on the naughty step.

  11. Thanks manehi and Arachne. I also echo the above sentiments.

    Only had one answer first time through and I thought the clues looked impenetrable. But then got BETTER OFF and the rest more or less flowed. I had a hold up with RABAT for 4d, which of course I couldn’t justify.

  12. I can only echo the previous comments, and I don’t mind admitting to my failure to solve BARDIC, ADDER and HYMN. Sometimes clues can be a little too difficult to deduce! Nevertheless a very enjoyable puzzle and my thanks are due to Arachne and also manehi for putting me out of my misery!

  14. Thank you Arachne and manehi.

    It has all been said, and the Spoonerism passed the Eileen test, but I must mention that I loved the challenge of the parsing, especially that for HALF-LENGTH, DRAGNET, REGALE and HYMN! Looking forward to the next one.

  15. Pipped at the post as I just could not see 24d HYMN, so two letters left blank. Kicking myself as I know both the poem and the hymn!!!!

    Most of my favourites have been mentioned but I also liked 5d METATARSI and 26a ADDER, although I think we have had the clue “summer” for ADDER before.

    I couldn’t parse 5a MAILBAGS as I didn’t get the criminal connection. Here in Australia I think prisoners make number plates?

    13d ASSEVERATE was a new word for me, but attainable from the crossers and the wordplay – it was a great clue with the subtle suggestion of current events in the US.

    The capital “S” for “Stones” in 22a was a clever piece of misdirection for PEBBLEDASH, as I was convinced it was something to do with Mick and the boys.

    Many fun solving moments here. Warm thanks to Arachne and manehi.

  16. The spider lady does it again! Thanks, and to manehi for the good blog.

    Old Tom @1; Collins gives for CHIAROSCURO: monochrome painting using light and dark only, as in grisaille.

    Many fine clues; ADDER a ‘typical’ Arachne clue. I liked THATCHERITE. I thought HALF-LENGTH was the only slightly weak clue.

  17. Welcome back Arachne – as always this was a pleasure to solve. The SE corner took longest with BARDIC and PEBBLEDASH last in. Favourite was MONEYBAGS. Spent rather too long looking for a more literal parsing of MAILBAG without thinking of it like a Rufus clue…

    Thanks to Arachne and manehi

  18. I was not on the setter’s wavelength at all today. I gave up on solving 25a and 24d and I solved/guessed but could not parse 5a, 22a, 2d (only parsed the GALE bit), 3d, 6d,19d. With quite a few of the others I guessed the answer and parsed later. This puzzle felt like a really hard slog – not very enjoyable for me but at least I almost finished it.

    New words were BRONCHUS & ASSEVERATE.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  20. Thanks to Arachne for a very enjoyable puzzle and to manehi for explaining why my uparsed attempt of SYON for 24d was so completely wrong. I was in a tangle with Zion and Sion, getting muddled about Syon Park and could not sit back and think about Blake and Parry. It could be suggested that Jerusalem is technically not a hymn, but I think Arachne covered this cleverly with the question mark.

  21. Thanks both,
    A Paul and an Arachne on consecutive days will be a hard act to follow.

    I lazily put ‘Syon’ into 24 down and was lax about the parsing.

  23. Bob Clary @20 and Tyngewick @21, I also entered SYON at 24d, having googled to confirm the spelling and found Songs of Syon, a hymnal, but got suspicious since it would not parse, and being alive to deletions after 27a and 2d thought again.

  24. Thanks to Arachne and manehi. In my travels backward through the Guardian archives (I’ve reached July 2010) I look forward to meeting Arachne puzzles – and this one was no exception. I needed help explaining MAILBAG, did not know PEBBLEDASH (though I did parse it), and took a long time getting HYMN, but great fun overall.

  25. Popping in briefly just to say I do so enjoy and admire Arachne’s wordplay. Some beauties today, and great fun to solve. Thank you, Arachne!

  26. This is actually my first Arachne but I can see why so many of the experienced hands here have welcomed her re-appearance. At first this seemed – as Dave Ellison @11: says – impenetrable. Quite literally no way in. And then GABON solved, followed by BETTER OFF and the solve progressed steadily – over three sessions – to a satisfactory conclusion without assistance.

    A thoroughly enjoyable and very testing experience – which is just what we crave. Everything seemed scrupulously clued: I’ll even forgive HALF-LENGTH! Most of the real gems have already been identified so nothing terribly original in my list: DRAGNET, METATARSI, MONEYBAGS, INELEGANT, BARDIC. I also liked WORTHY. Clue of the day, for me, is PEBBLEDASH: amazing how a single capitalised letter in a clue can be so misleading.

    Solved (guessed?) REGALE and IDES without properly parsing so many thanks to manehi for the explanations. I look forward to Arachne’s return.

  27. I was disappointed with yesterday’s Paul, but this more than enough to restore one’s faith in crosswordland! An excellent puzzle from an excellent setter.All my favourites have been mentioned but I thought MONEYBAGS was truly inspired.
    Thanks Arachne.

  28. Really enjoyed this one and it’s good to see Arachne back and in top form. Last in was 24d with such a clever construction. Thanks to everyone.

  29. I echo the comments of praise from Old Tom @1, crypticsue @2 and others that followed them, and like drofle @5 I found there were (almost) too many favourite clues to mention – but I’ll list them briefly: 5a, 14a, 22a, 25a, 3d, 5d, 6d, 8d and 13d. My top favourites were 25a MONEYBAGS (I loved the spoonerism) and 13d ASSEVERATE (with its great surface).

    Like michelle @18, though, I found some bits of some clues (six in all) a bit hard to fathom and wondered whether the surfaces were allowed to trump the wordplay constructions. By intuition (not always a strong point) I still managed to find all the answers and work everything out eventually.

    Arachne ia a master of the art of smooth and clever clueing, and all in all this was a puzzle to savour.

    Thanks to Arachne and manehi.

  30. I’m also a member of the SYON club, I’m afraid.

    I love a far-fetched anagram and delighted in 17d Echidna + A = Hacienda and Iceland making up INDELICACY and especially the Mad Hatter ethic for Thatcherite!

  31. Had to do this once I knew it was Arachne. Very enjoyable, plenty of interesting words some of which were new to me. A spoonerism that works nicely, and some lovely parsing – though I missed BARDIC.

    Many thanks Arachne and manehi

  33. What a lovely puzzle! Lots of clues that looked impossible and were then revealed to be just brilliant. Thank you Arachne and Manehi.

  35. Thanks to setter and blogger.

    Loved the surfaces of MAILBAG, DRAGNET, REGALE and HYMN – all conjured up believable scenarios and raised a chuckle. With surfaces of this standard ( cf drofle@5) voluminous output can hardly be expected.

  36. It was getting too late so I came here with 8 still to do – and I’m glad I did – I’d still have been doing it at daybreak! However the shortcomings were all mine (although I thought Iceland and icy was a bit close) so thanks to Arachne and I hope to do better when she next appears and for maheni for letting me go to sleep.

  37. As is usual, did it the morning after. I had to resort to the Chambers app for HYMN BARDIC And SKETCHY, but clued perfectly. ASSEVERATE was a new word, but with a couple crossing letters was easy enough to guess.

  38. I was convinced 28a was STREAKY (Kay + rest)*, but could not see how ASSEVERATE, which I had, was wrong. Finally the penny dropped.

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