Guardian Cryptic 27158 Brummie

by

Quite a straightforward puzzle. Thanks to Brummie. Definitions are underlined in the clues…

A theme of outer space and its exploration: MOON, lunar LANDING, spaceWALK and MOONWALK, DOCKING, CAPSULE, ECLIPSE, APOLLO and GEMINI (NASA space projects), SATURN (planet and family of rockets used in the NASA missions), NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application), and Wernher von BRAUN.

Across

8 Metal cast put round to pave the way (4,2,2)

LEAD UP TO : LEAD(a chemical metal element) + anagram of(cast) PUT + O(letter signifying something round).

9 See 15

10 Loaf‘s a short time in progress (4)

MOON : MO(short for “moment”, a very short time period) + ON(signifying continuation;in progress).

Defn: To behave aimlessly.

11 Dig rows? Small probability (10)

LIKELINESS : LIKE(dig, as in “I dig rock ‘n’ roll music”) + LINES(rows of similar things) + S(abbrev. for “small”).

12 Austere oast houses shown in 3-D (6)

STEREO : Hidden in(… houses) “Austere oast“.

Answer: Short for “stereoscopic”, describing the process where pictures or movies are made to give an impression of being 3-dimensional.

14 Expendable Bugs Society (8)

NEEDLESS : NEEDLES(bugs;annoys) + S(abbrev. for “Society”).

16 Arrival that’s between flights (7)

LANDING : Double defn: 1st: … of, say, plane after a flight; and 2nd: A level area between flights of stairs.

18 Container clue (cryptic) involves “reversing resort” (7)

CAPSULE : Anagram of(… (cryptic)) CLUE containing(involves) reversal of(reversing) SPA(a health resort).

21 Fancy acting so sceptical (8)

AGNOSTIC : Anagram of(Fancy) ACTING SO.

23 Script’s opening extract: “Get into bed” (6)

SEDUCE : The 1st letter of(…’s opening) “Script” + EDUCE(to extract;to bring out something latent or potential).

Defn: To get someone into bed, not for the him/her to sleep but to be slept with.

24 Where to shop wearing belt? It might well contain a catch (5,5)

SMALL PRINT : MALL(a large complex containing a collection of shops) contained in(wearing;clothed in) SPRINT(to belt;to run at speed).

Defn: An agreement’s terms and conditions literally printed in small type, that may contain an unfavourable term or condition;a catch.

26 One of life’s professions that is covered by a postman? (4)

WALK : Double defn: 1st: A line of work or profession, as in “People from different walks of life took part in the protest – tinkers, tailors, soldiers …. “; and 2nd: The round followed by a postman, from when postmen used to go on foot.

27 Roman emperor is not quite a Roman emperor before the state (5)

NERVA : “Nero”(a Roman emperor) minus its last letter(not quite …) plus(before) VA(abbrev. for the US state of Virginia).

Defn: … who had earlier served under Nero.

28 Conversely, one’s in story about female society (8)

SORORITY : [ OR(conversely;an introduction to an alternative which is the reverse of an idea or statement just stated) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) ] contained in(…’s in;is in) anagram of(… about) STORY.

Defn: In North America, a society for female students in a college or university.

Down

1 Drink problem on team displays (5,3)

LEMON TEA : Hidden in(… displays) “problem on team“.

2 Poetry spoken by popular deity (4)

ODIN : Homophone of(… spoken) “ode”(poetry;a poem) + IN(popular;trendy).

Defn: … in Scandinavian mythology.

3 A top circle mountain butterfly (6)

APOLLO : A + POLL(a person’s head;top) + O(letter signifying a circle).

4 Crafty manoeuvre which a clipper might perform? (7)

DOCKING : Double defn: 1st: A manoeuvre by a craft such as a ship, including a clipper, against a landing;a dock; and 2nd: Something performed with a clipper;a cutter, or by someone who wields one, to the tail of an animal, eg. a pet cat or dog.

5 Prime murder victim‘s name left off (4)

ABEL : “label”(to put a name or tag to) minus(… off) “l”(abbrev. for “left”)

Defn: The first;prime murder victim in the Bible. The alternative “Labe” doesn’t work.

6 Revolutionary lancer’s aid made flesh (10)

CARNALISED : Anagram of(Revolutionary) LANCER’S AID.

Defn: …, not flesh literally, but in the physical sense as opposed to the spiritual, and hence to make sensually appealing.

7 Number turned against terrorist group’s spiritual knowledge (6)

GNOSIS : Reversal of(… turned) SONG(a musical number) plus(against) IS(short for ISIS the terrorist group).

13 Soldiers onto drama (oil spillage) that prompts an early uprising? (5,5)

RADIO ALARM : RA(abbrev. for the Royal Artillery, a branch of the British military) plus(onto) anagram of(… spillage) DRAMA (OIL.

Defn: Something you set to wake you up early.

15, 9 Adolf’s companion volume, carried by each supporter, in need of substantial organisation (3,5)

EVA BRAUN : V(symbol for “volume”, in physics, say) contained in(carried by) EA(abbrev. for “each”) + BRA(a supporter of the feminine chest) plus(in need of) UN(abbrev. for the United Nations, the large;substantial organisation).

Defn: Adolf Hitler’s, that is.

17 Charlie‘s unit of luminance (3)

NIT : Double defn: 1st: A foolish person; and 2nd: … equal to 1 candela per square metre, and a candela in turn is equal to …..

19 Where to get a drink with vermouth, overlooking yard setting (8)

LOCALITY : LOCAL(a pub;a place to get a drink near one’s home) plus(with) IT(short for Italian vermouth, as in “gin and it”) placed above(overlooking, in a down clue) Y(abbrev. for “yard”, the unit of measurement).

20 See about wrapping box and put in shade (7)

ECLIPSE : Anagram of(… about) SEE containing(wrapping) CLIP(to box;to land a blow).

Defn: To overshadow.

22 For instance, getting up skirt is one sign (6)

GEMINI : Reversal of(…, getting up, in a down clue) EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”;for instance) + MINI(short for “miniskirt”).

Defn: … in the zodiac.

23 A major wanderer rested by vessel (6)

SATURN : SAT(rested) plus(by) URN(a vessel, especially one for the ashes of a cremated person).

Defn: … orbiting our sun.

25 See 26

26, 25 Part of this clue shows promise and flexibility (8)

WORDPLAY : WORD(a promise, as in “you have my word on it”) plus(and) PLAY(flexibility;freedom of movement, within a space for part of a mechanism, or within the scope of an activity.

Defn: …, from “promise” to the end.

27 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27158 Brummie”

  1. For 15/9 i was thinking of Adolph’s companion as EVA to be worked into the wordplay(ha another answer!) but lo and behold EVA BRAUN was the answer-was it a double bluff or a substandard clue?
    With NIT-as well, as being a DD, it was also in UNIT which for me made it clumsy. Didnt like 8 at the time but in retrospect it doesnt look bad. I like GNOSIS as IS =Islamic State and Isis is that river in Oxford.
    I only twigged MOON from the theme and parsed afterwards.Good.
    I’ve in fact upgraded my opinion of this puzzle,

  2. Thanks Brummie and scchua

    I completely missed the theme, of course. Mostly pretty easy, but some tricky ones to finish, including two of my favourites, SEDUCE and SATURN. Other favourites included LIKELINESS, SMALL PRINT and LEMON TEA.

    I didn’t parse GNOSIS, and didn’t know NIT as the unit (I agree with copmus that it’s a bit clumsy that it’s in uNIT) and I confess that having got N?R?? for 27a I “revealed” rather than search through states and emperors to see which state after NER gave one.

    CARNALISED was easy enough, but my Chambers gives it as meaning “sensualised” rather than “made flesh”, for which “incarnated” is more accurate.

  3. I also like this more in retrospect. Most of my gripes are from my own misunderstandings (bar nit) so I’ll put it down to a woolly-headed morning.
    Thanks Brummie, scchua

  5. Sorry, please ignore that comment. Grovelling apologies to Scchua -I failed to read your underlined solution. What a nit I am. Thanks for the brilliant blog.

  9. Thanks to Brummie and scchua. I had trouble parsing WALK and ECLIPSE and did not know NERVA, the APOLLO butterfly, or IT as Italian vermouth, but still managed to get through. Enjoyable.

  10. Thank you Brummie and scchua.

    Enjoyed the puzzle, not that space exploration of the spaceWALKing type interests me, but for those who it does interest there are two people due to start a spaceWALK in a few minutes time, if they have not done so all ready…

  11. I found this quite a struggle – my cruciverbal powers seem to be fading. I had TACKING for ‘Crafty manoeuvre which a clipper might perform’ (tack something to = clip something to), but that meant 8a had to end in _A which looked unlikely . . . . Favourites were ECLIPSE, WORDPLAY and SMALL PRINT. Thanks to Brummie and scchua.

  12. Liked the theme: 15dn is another relevant item – a spaceWALK is usually called an EVA (extra-vehiculat activity).

  13. Thanks, scchua. I’d never heard of NERVA (as a NASA project) so assumed that it was really Minerva that was meant to be included – which you get from the MI in GEMINI: overimagination on my part, no doubt!

  14. An enjoyable puzzle, with only the very minor niggles already mentioned by copmus @1. I missed the theme, as usual. Favourites were CAPSULE and WORDPLAY.

    Thanks, Brummie and scchua.

  15. Really liked the blog – very helpful to be given extra information for some of the definitions. Thanks.

  16. Having returned from hospital minus two polyps, I thought I’d see what Brummie had to offer me whilst in a post sedated condition. And this was just about right. Ok, I didn’t spot the theme and I rejected NIT for 17dn because of UNIT and guessed at ‘nut’. Ah well! The rest I liked esp APOLLO,NERVA and CAPSULE.
    Thanks Brummie.

  17. Another TACKING here and I didn’t know NIT as a unit of measurement, but otherwise very enjoyable.

  18. Thank you Brummie and scchua. I enjoyed this, though I didn’t get NIT (I had the T and was confused – thinking of Charlie Watts and light bulbs etc….), nor indeed one or two others. But for me to almost complete a puzzle is a triumph in itself.
    Favourtie was SMALL PRINT.

  19. Thanks all
    Average in all respects
    Last in and unparsed was eclipse since clip equals box was outside my know-how.
    Favourite was seduce.

  20. Really didn’t enjoy this. Fiddly, clunky clues, dodgy surfaces, general lack of elegance/wit. Sorry. Enjoyed the Codeword above much more.

  21. Well we certainly didn’t find this straightforward and found it a mixture of nice clues and others which seemed a bit laboured. I liked 14a and 16a seemed Rufusesque so got a smiley. 1d was well hidden and had me trying for anagrams around on team! I was another TACKING for a long time. GNOSIS was new as was the EDUCE part of 23a. Thanks scchua and Brummie.

  22. Dear Ssshua a bra does not hold up female chests. It holds their breasts! Reminds me of my grandmother in the days when breast was a rude word!

  23. Thanks all.

    I though 4a was an unusual clue – could be described as a “double cryptic definition” perhaps?

  26. [Sschua – Great blog; I believe IS is short for ISIL – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (‘Daesh” being the Arabic equivalent) though I may be wrong, but based on heurism, doubt it!)]
    An excellent crossword all ways round. Thank you, Brummie.

  27. It certainly wasn’t straightforward for me – one of the hardest puzzles I remember finishing. Maybe if I’d spotted the theme it would have been easier.

    The clues were fair (except 8a, where the def should be ‘pave the way *for*’) but most of the surfaces didn’t seem to mean much.

Comments are closed.