Guardian Cryptic 27,153 by Paul

by

A real toughie…

…with a theme around fictional detectives or ‘solvers’ – possibly a tribute to Colin Dexter, crossword fan and creator of Inspector Morse, who passed away this week. 25ac was new to me, and favourites were 12ac, 16dn and 20dn. Thanks, Paul.

Across
1 LUMP SUM Sugar, perhaps, needing part, say, for complete payment (4,3)
LUMP=”Sugar, perhaps”; plus SUM=homophone of ‘some’=”part, say”
5 BORACIC Gold, auric edges in pen containing a metalloid (7)
=containing the metalloid element boron. OR=”Gold”; plus the edges of A[uri]C; all inside BIC=ballpoint “pen”
9 TARSI Groups of bones in this ratio passed to the left (5)
=bones in the foot. Hidden reversed/”in… passed to the left” inside [th]IS RAT[io]
10 SUBSTRATA Lower seams burst as tight on both sides of tanga (9)
(burst as)*, with the anagrind “tight”=drunk; plus both sides of T[ang]A
11 ABERDONIAN Scot, a head welcoming lecturer in religious education (10)
=someone from Aberdeen. A BEAN=”a head”, around all of: DON=”lecturer” in R[eligious] I[nstruction]
12 DIP Relish decline (3)
double definition
14 MICHELANGELO David was his second outstanding challenge, I suspect (12)
=the sculptor of David. MO[ment]=”second”, around (challenge I)*
18 FREE-STANDING Deliver position that’s autonomous (4-8)
FREE=”Deliver” [from something]; plus STANDING=”position”
21 POT Weed in pool (3)
double definition: marijuana; or a “pool” of bets
22 FIRST-PARTY Wood given pen to outline role of someone directly involved (5-5)
FIR=”Wood”; plus STY=”pen” around PART=”role”
25 SCARPETTA Downtrodden thing in the way, a solver (9)
=Kay SCARPETTA [wiki]. CARPET=”Downtrodden thing” in ST[reet]=”the way”, plus A.
26 RABAT Capital given stick by artist (5)
=Capital of Morocco. BAT=”stick” by R[oyal] A[cademician]=”artist”
27 EYELESS Unseeing as a 25-letter alphabet, did you say? (7)
sounds like ‘i’-less=without the letter ‘i’=”as a 25-letter alphabet”
28 END-USER Eventual consumer always touring state in Midwest America (3-4)
E’ER=”always”, around all of:N[orth] D[akota]=”state in Midwest” plus US=”America”
Down
1 LETHAL Possibly toxic sanction well short (6)
LET=allow=”sanction”; plus HAL[e]=”well short”
2 MORSEL Solver left a bit (6)
Inspector MORSE [wiki] is the “Solver”, plus L[eft]
3 SPINDLIEST Tell tales about duke on starter of tempura being least fat (10)
SPIN LIES=”Tell tales”, around D[uke]; all on top of T[empura]
4 MASON Solver, member of secret society (5)
Perry MASON [wiki] is the “Solver”
5 BOBTAILED Like a rabbit, say, albeit modified in corporeal form (9)
(albeit)* in BOD=”corporeal form”
6 ROTA Piffle on a list (4)
ROT=”Piffle”, plus A
7 CHANDLER Solver a shade upset about Paul, ultimately, as writer (8)
=Raymond CHANDLER [wiki], a writer of detective fiction. Charlie CHAN [wiki] is the “Solver”; plus RED=”a shade” reversed/”upset” and around [Pau]L
8 CHAMPION Best solver embodying Holmes, initially (8)
Albert CAMPION [wiki] is the “solver”, around H[olmes]
13 UNINSPIRED Eliciting a yawn perhaps as beginning to nod, rip undies off (10)
(n[od] rip undies)*
15 HYACINTHS Last of money on account invested in reminder to put on his evacuated bloomers (9)
the last of [mone]Y, plus AC[count] both inside HINT=”reminder”; all on H[i]S with the insides evacuated
16 OFF-PISTE It suggests I step on virgin snow (3-5)
OFF-PISTE in crosswordese suggests (piste)* => “I step”
17 LESTRADE In general, violin required for solver (8)
=Inspector Lestrade [wiki]. STRAD[ivarius]=”violin” in General LEE [wiki]
19 EREBUS Ending in ignorance, solver finds god in the dark (6)
=Greek god of darkness. [ignoranc]E plus John REBUS [wiki]=”solver”
20 OYSTER Conclusion of narrative in unfolding story, a world of possibilities? (6)
=referring to the expression ‘the world is my oyster’. [narrativ]E, in (story)*
23 SPADE Solver as pack member (5)
Sam SPADE [wiki] is the “Solver”; and second definiton refers to a pack of cards
24 APSE Copy walls in southern part of church (4)
APE=”Copy”; around/”walls in” S[outhern]

39 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,153 by Paul”

  1. I enjoyed doing this fun puzzle and was helped by the theme.
    It was the first time I saw OFF-PISTE = step
    Thanks Paul and PeterO

  2. Beautifully clued and even if its coincidental that Colin Morse passed this week it is certainly timely and respectful. makes me want to read some CF. I loved the virgin snow.

  3. What a lovely puzzle and a fitting tribute, even if coincidental, to Colin Dexter – one of my favourite authors. The only shame was that Sherlock Holmes didn’t get an entry, though there are references in 8 and 17.

    My favourite today was ABERDONIAN where I spent a long time trying to force Caledonian to fit. Wonderful pdm when I finally solved it.

    Thanks to Manehi and Paul

  4. Excellent puzzle, satisfying to finish (with, I admit, a bit of guesswork involved in 14a, as the penny simply wouldn’t drop) and beautiful clueing – I was stumped by the parsing for 16d until coming here, but what a wonderful clue once it was revealed. Thanks Paul and Manehi.

  6. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    The theme certainly helped. Struggled a bit with SE corner but all fairly clued. Needed the block for the penny to drop about SPADE, I was thinking of my array at the allotment wondering if they were in fact a social grouping.

    I’ll get me trowel……

  7. Great puzzle. Thanks to Paul and manehi.

    Re the ‘off’ in 16d, it’s suggesting that it’s an anagrind for ‘piste’ = ‘I step’

  8. Thanks Paul and manehi

    Sorry to disagree, but far too much general knowledge was required for this to be a good crossword. I knew them all except Charlie Chan, in fact (so didn’t parse CHANDLER); Perry Mason a very vague memory.

    I did like OFF-PISTE and SUBSTRATA.

  9. Very appropriate and enjoyable. Thanks.

    I was held up at the end because I had gone for Ellery QUEEN for 23D.

  10. Thanks for your lovely comments – I am starting a 26-clue countdown to writing the Guardian crossword while running the London Marathon, for Sense UK in honour of my late brother Paul. Do please follow crosswordpaul

    Thanks!

    John/Paul

  11. It took me an age to realise that ‘solver’ meant detective. I first got CHAMPION and thought ‘solver’ must have something to do with flowers . . . . Hadn’t heard of SCARPETTA, CHAN or CAMPION but got there in the end. Favourites were SPINDLIEST, MICHELANGELO (brilliant!), OYSTER and LUMP SUM. Many thanks to Paul and manehi – and good luck in the marathon!

  13. Had one of those days where all my first thoughts on the clues turn out to be right. W00t! No doubt there will be other days…

    Mind you, I might have struggled with SCARPETTA if I hadn’t got the A from SPADE. But then that’s what a crossword is all about. 😉

    Thanks, Paul and manehi.

  14. This was pretty tough, not getting ‘solver’ for quite a while. After that hurdle, smooth enough. Best puzzle for a while, certainly my favourite of the week.
    Thanks Paul, Manehi

  15. Once I’d realised who the solvers were, this presented little difficulty, though my first thought at 23dn was Nero Wolfe in spite of that final e.
    I’d not read any Cornwell, so 25ac went in (unparsed) from checkers – so thanks manehi for explanation.

  16. Took a while to get going on this, but once I had SPADE the solvers became clear, and it definitely got easier once a few helpful crossers were in place. Quite a pleasant challenge. CHAMPION was last in.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi

  18. An enjoyable puzzle, though it took me a while to complete the NE corner. LESTRADE was new to me but the cluing was relatively straightforward. For me this was one of those puzzles where I started very slowly but warmed up as I solved some of the easier clues. I guess that’s what crosswords are all about… Thanks to Paul and manehi

  19. Thank you Paul and manehi.

    At first I thought we were dealing with another sort of ‘solver’ having assumed MORSE was he of the code, but MASON made me suspicious. Not knowing many of the ‘solvers’ made the puzzle more fun, I really enjoyed it.

    Rushed in with CALEDONIAN and SELF-STANDING, but then looked more carefully at the parsing. The clues for EYELESS and OFF-PISTE were great!

    Best of luck for the London Marathon, John/Paul.

  20. Charlie Chan is unread now – indeed, finding any of the books in print is probably an effort in itself. Channel 4 ran the old B&W films many years ago (as well as the similar Mr. Moto series) and they were rather enjoyable, although probably better seen at longer intervals than weekly (cheap and samey). Later colour TV and cinema films were a disgrace, unfortunately.

    I took an absurdly long time to work out who Mason was (it was obviously the answer). I suppose that’s because he’s lodged in my mind not as a “solver” but as an attorney who in the process of defending his clients uncovers the truth. I don’t think that’s quite the same thing, but if you’re going to allow Scarpetta, who is also neither a police officer nor a private investigator, you have to allow Mason. I didn’t bat an eyelid at Scarpetta, so I think I was just being a prat about Mason.

  21. Well that is eye-opening! I managed to complete this by finding answers containing plausible names that matched the wordplay and came here to find out what the “solver” connection was. I can probably name 5 or 6 fictional detectives but didn’t know any of these, or at least the connection to solver.

    But I suppose that is an indication of good setting.

    Thanks to Paul and Manehi.

  22. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    Ground this one out with a list of detectives to hand – CAMPION means Jane to me!

    Nice idea, and if you knew the tecs as many above seem to have done, it was a breeze. I’m surprised that Paul didn’t used BORACIC = skint in the clue.

    I did like SUBSTRATA and OFF-PISTE, although at the beginning I put off-white without parsing it.

  23. Thanks to Paul and Manehi.

    I really enjoyed this, and found it much more within my capacity than yesterdays. Favourite was HYACINTHS.

  24. Thanks to Paul and manehi. As a long-time fan of detective fiction (and its variants – as with SCARPETTA) I was well prepared for this puzzle though I did have trouble with BORACIC, ABERDONIAN (I too was fixated on Caledonian), and SPINDLIEST. In fact, I just got a Rebus novel for my next plane trip. Great fun.

  25. The grid had embarrassingly large holes in it for quite some time after I had started, even after twigging what a solver was. Alas I read or watch little crime fiction so the theme wasn’t going to help much, I feared.

    But after flipping the page to dash off the Suguru (web solvers can’t do this), the bottom half suddenly seemed to flow. Typical was SCARPETTA – carpet fitted the crossers I had, and a dim distant memory of a TV series I’d never watched confirmed the rest. Hence OFF-PISTE and a host of others. General knowledge? Maybe. More like general awareness, in my case.

    And on to the excellent MICHELANGO, my key to the top half. So that’s where he put Morse…!

  26. It seems we read way more detective novels than the average Guardian solver. Between us we knew all of the characters and once we had the theme it was great fun fitting them all together. Thanks to Paul for the best crossword we’ve had for some time.

  27. Lovely puzzle. Lots of memories of crime fiction. Thoroughly recommend John’s marathon support. Only needs 26 of us!

  28. Great puzzle but really hard. Took me an age to suss ‘solver’ and only got it by mistakenly putting MARPLE for 2dn and then I realised and things got easier. 23 dn gave me trouble: I first had (Ellery) QUEEN and then ( Nero) WOLFE! I’ve obviously read far too many Detective novels! My LOI was BOBTAILED which should have been one of the easy ones!
    Thanks for the workout Paul.

  29. The only trouble with themes is that you can spend far too long trying to shoe-horn possible answers into clues. Enjoyed Paul today – thanks.

  30. I don’t read *any* detective fiction, and still managed this, with the exception of SCARPETTA. This is because all the rest of these are very popular with crossword setters on one side of the Atlantic or the other, so the names are all familiar.) It also helps that these detectives have nearly all been turned into movies or long-lived TV series, so you don’t really have to read at all to be exposed to them.

    There seems to be an unwritten rule that the Guardian crossword has to bring up Inspector Morse at least once a month, and most American crossword series seldom go that length of time without a Perry Mason or Sam Spade reference. So Perry Mason was my first “Solver” in the grid today.

  31. [Of course, in U.S. crosswords, by far the most common character from detective fiction is Nick and Nor Charles’s canine sidekick, ASTA.]

  32. Given some of the comments above, I’m not sure what’s going on but I really didn’t find this too difficult … and I say that as someone who’s often struggled with Paul in the past.

    Very enjoyable solve, my three favourites being MICHELANGELO, OFF-PISTE and APSE.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  33. LESTRADE was the first solver I put in, and so realised at last what solver referred to. But then got stuck as I couldn’t quite recall SCARPETTA (only read one,and wasn’t impressed). But once that was out of the way, progressed albeit slowly to the end.

    Thanks Paul and manehi

  34. I had at least heard of all the detectives except SCARPETTA. I’m fond of detective stories, but Cornwell has never looked appealing to me.

    Stuart @23, I had a star by HYACINTHS too and also MICHELANGELO.

    mrpenney is definitely right about ASTA the crossword dog — she gets at least as many appearances as the muse of crosswords.

  35. With a busy weekend to face I put this by till today (“look away now” as they say about football results) Much enjoyed- knew all the sleuths except Scarpetta. The Colin Dexter coincidence is touching.
    With American solvers it was a pity we didn’t meet Emma Lathen’s (John Putnam) Thatcher,an example for today’s money men and women. A shame that series hasn’t been republished. Amongst the best.

  37. One of our forays into doing the crossword on the day it comes out, rather than 9 months later. This was a real struggle, even though I read lots of detective fiction. Though at this point I’d like to put in a good word for Patricia Cornwell and Kay Scarpetta – it’s good to get women “solvers” and there aren’t enough of them (though lots in “No offence” on TV). I go stuck with bobtailed – parsed it and then thought the answer would be “bi” something and relate to rabbit’s two digestive systems – and got “queen” early but felt it was wrong – so my last in was “spade” which is poor for a bridge-player. Liked the theme – just felt this was a “could do better” for us.
    And is “bean” for head related to “beanie” in the hat? I will go & look it up as I expect no-one else will read the blog now…..

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