Guardian 27,182 – Boatman

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I found this mostly less tricky than usual for Boatman, but still had a bit of trouble finishing off the top half, not helped by the horrible grid, with four almost isolated corners, and a large majority of answers with their first letters unchecked. I have a couple of niggles, noted below, but nothing too serious.

There’s a “cops and robbers” theme in the clues, but no particular knowledge is needed, expect perhaps in 24a. Thanks to Boatman

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
7. LINO TILES After love setback I stole freely — no getting cold feet on these (4,5)
Reverse of NIL + (I STOLE)*
8. CAPER Drugs dropped at start of getaway car’s last lark (5)
[ES]CAPE + [CA]R – a bit odd that this crosses with 5d, which has “caper” in its clue
9. SACRIFICE Offer up newly scarce housing for one offender with another one (9)
I (one) + F (the end of “off”, or “off ender” – a nice trick) + I in SCARCE*
10. ABETS One moves to lead in police patrols and gets involved in crime (5)
BEATS (police patrols) with A moved to the front
12. TELLER Informant in bank job (6)
Double definition
13. LIFELONG Persistent criminal put inside to get free food (8)
FELON in LIG. A lig (new to me) is “a party with free refreshments”, or as a verb, as here, “to be a freeloader, esp in the entertainment industry”
14. BATTERY A cell where assault might lead (7)
Double definition – electrical cell/battery, and as in the phrase “assault and battery”
17. CROPPER Mishap for police officer capturing ringleader (7)
R[ing] in COPPER
20. STARGAZE Look up to Scottish monarch, royal inside, one last European (8)
R in STAG (the “monarch of the glen”) + A + Z (last) + E
22. DINING Consuming desire begins at home in middle age (6)
D[esire] + IN (at home) + IN + [A]G[E]
24. CRAZE It’s a fashion to speak of criminals (5)
Homophone of Krays
25. PERISCOPE Means of oversight for every single police officer in the Home Counties (9)
PER (for every) + I (single) + COP in SE (South-east England = Home Counties)
26. THIEF Article contains information by which force gets criminal (5)
I in THE + F
27. EVANGELIC Give clean interpretation of the Gospel (9)
(GIVE CLEAN)*
Down
1. PIRATE Boatman involved in crime gets coppers annoyed (6)
P[ence] + IRATE – unusually there is only one mention of Boatman in the clues of this puzzle
2. SORRY LOT Clarification sought on fate of band of good-for-nothings (5,3)
SORRY (used to ask for clarification: “sorry?”) + LOT (fate)
3. PILFER Commit crime, giving judge backchat! (6)
Reverse of REF[eree] LIP, though the reversal doesn’t seem to be indicated, except possibly the “back” in “backchat”, though this is already accounted for in backchat=lip, and anyway is in the wrong place
4. DESCALE Criminal case led to clean up, resulting in loss of deposit (7)
(CASE LED)*
5. GAMBOL Caper gets student doctor locked up (6)
MB in GAOL (i.e. locked up) – an MB isn’t necessarily a student doctor, though
6. SENTENCE Perhaps this is time for a criminal (8)
Double definition – the clue itself is a sentence
11. AFAR As from any remote origins (4)
First letters of As From Any Remote, &lit
15. AUTARCHY Government by one in outrageous yacht, Russian sins denied (8)
Anagram of YACHT RUSSIAN, less SINS
16. READ Interpret what’s set down regularly in freehand (4)
Alternate letters in fReEhAnD
18. PANICKED Arrested after sidekick lost nerve (8)
PA (sidekick) + NICKED (arrested)
19. DESERVE Detective lacks heart to present warrant (7)
D[etectiv]E + SERVE (present)
21. ROZZER Police officer solving crossword puzzle — would CPS’s letters get ignored? (6)
Anagram of CROSSWORD PUZZLE, less WOULD CPS’S
22. DEIGNS Condescends to speak of northerners (6)
Homophone of “Danes” (northern Europeans)
23. NAPKIN Seize family at dinner — it’s their cover (6)
NAP (to seize) +KIN

46 comments on “Guardian 27,182 – Boatman”

  1. Thanks Andrew. I agree about the wordplay for PILFER. It really needs ‘judge back backchat (back!)’ Re 2 across, isn’t it [ES]CAPE rather than [E]SCAPE?

  3. I really enjoyed this. Favourites were PILFER, DESCALE (very good), PANICKED and ROZZER. Couldn’t parse SACRIFICE or ABETS – a bit too clever for me. And ran out of steam at the very end with THIEF. Many thanks to Boatman and Andrew.

  5. Thanks Boatman and Andrew

    I had a bit of trouble parsing 7a 13a 15d and 21d (thanks Andrew). Interesting that two of these had removals from the anagram fodder. ( must learn to try harder).

    7a was not helped by me remembering that lino tiles DID make feet feel cold. So I was leaving “no” out of the definition and trying to fit it in the anagram fodder.

    I wonder would 14a work better as “cells where assault might lead”? Technically, a battery consists of a number of cells.

  6. I failed to solve 24a (should have been able to solve this as I know about the Krays, and enjoyed a TV show called Whitechapel that focussed on the Kray twins, plus the film that Tom Hardy starred in where he played both brothers – what a brilliant actor!). I also failed to solve 1d (just could not see it, I rarely think about P=pence) and 21d – never heard the word ROZZER before.

    I thought the repeat of CAPER in 8a and 5d was a pity.

    My favourite was SACRIFICE – I liked the ‘off-ender’ bit.

    First time I heard NAP=seize although I do know ‘kidnap’, and LIG was also a new word for me.

    I also could not parse GAMBOL. I did consider MB in GAOL but could not work out how the student bit would be parsed.

    Thanks setter and blogger

  7. I liked PIRATE, because it’s simple and funny, DESCALE and ROZZER, which is fantastically clever and satisfying

  8. I enjoyed this puzzle – not too hard, but the NW held out for quite a long time.

    Perhaps the clue for 5d would have been better as “8 gets doctor locked up (6)” – then there would have been no grumbles about the duplication. I too wondered what the student was doing…

  9. I always look forward to Boatman’s puzzles but I realise that it’s been a while since I completed one, and this was another DNF.
    Even though I know that the Queensberry rules get chucked in the bin, I’m just not programmed to spot “offender” =”f”, “r”=royal “z”=”last” and “middle age” =”g”.
    I could go on; prob best not to.
    Here’s to the next one, thanks to S&B

  10. Thanks, all … In the clue for PILFER, it’s very important to take account of the exclamation mark at the end, which tells you that I’m admitting to some manner of outrage – in this case, “back” serving double-duty to indicate two instances of reversal. Whether or not this sort of thing is a good idea depends crucially on whether the trickery led you to fail to solve the clue or, worse, to get the right answer and then to reject it. If, on the other hand, you solved the clue confidently and enjoyed being mislead, then it achieved its purpose!

  11. Thanks Boatman, entertaining puzzle.

    Thanks also to Andrew; I got a bit stuck in the NW corner but it eventually was resolved.

    I can’t find any support for I = information in dictionaries. I know it’s in IT but I don’t think anyone would use T = technology (?)

    I particularly enjoyed ABETS, SACRIFICE and PERISCOPE

  13. @Robi – I think your suggestion to retire the judge is excellent – it would have polished the grammar of the clue with no detriment whatsoever to the surface.

  14. @Robi, Mitz It would certainly have affected the surface. If the judge is retired, the criminal won’t be up before him.

  17. Robi – that could be brilliant, if it wasn’t for James’s and Baer’s objections! Keep going, all – you know that if you can find a way of resolving this you’ll guarantee yourself a place in the next book …

  20. Malcolm – It’s either … It may entertain you to know that my first draft for the clue was a play on the idea that, as it followed NAP in a down clue, the family could be said to be “under a(r)rest”, but my very perceptive test solver noticed that there were several possible captures (the more so if you’re familiar with that sense of NAP) confusingly vying for attention in that formulation.

  21. “enjoyed being mislead” – Boatman (comment 10), you too have trouble with the past participle of “lead”?!

  23. Robi@12 had a good idea but it didn’t solve the problem; “giving retired judge backchat” would produce REFPIL.

    I know that “to come a cropper” is “to have a mishap”, but does that mean that a mishap is a cropper?

    I thought an MB wasn’t a student doctor at all but a real one. I could be wrong, since we don’t have that degree over here.

    Having said all that, I did enjoy the puzzle, or rather the four puzzles in the four corners (NW was hard for me too).

  24. I like the way Boatman responds and engages: it makes me consider attending one of those masterclasses, which would be a first. The misdirection in 1d was especially neat, since the first thought when the setter names her/himself is generally to try to slot in ME or I. Unlike everyone else, it seems, I was held up by 20ac STARGAZE, trying to work the royal house of Stuart into it…

  25. I had an alternative answer for 3d which I felt was just as good until I read Boatman’s comment at 10
    Commit crime = con, judge back = fer confer=chat!

  26. Thank you Boatman and Andrew.

    A wicked puzzle, great fun. I guess LINO TILES are warmer than glazed clay tiles or flagstones, but surely not warmer than wood? I had to check LIG and ROZZER in the dictionary, both new to me but gettable from their clues. The clue for STARGAZE fooled me for a while, as did that for CRAZE until the twins came to mind.

  27. I would say ‘judge backchat gives commit crime’ first of all, not the other way around, and it’s a mess to try to reverse both parts with one indicator not only sandwiched between them, but joined (falsely) to one of them. Classic case of struggling to get a good surface at the expense of the cryptic part.

    Are LINO TILES and SORRY LOT legitimate entries for a daily crossword? I would say not.

  28. Howard – That’s excellent! I’ll have to remember it for the next time I need a clue with two possible solutions, in the manner of that Referendum Day puzzle – not that I’m tempting fate by suggesting a repeat of the event itself, you understand …

    Quen – Why, thank you! If you’re very, very quick, I could get you into my spring class a week on Saturday, 6 May – http://boatmancryptics.co.uk/index_files/CrosswordMasterclasses.html

    Hovis@22 – Indeed, and in the international symbol for tourist information centres.

    CaptG@21 – Oh dear. It’s a good job one of us is paying attention …

  29. Thanks, Andrew and Boatman.

    Enjoyed this, perhaps because I found it easier than Boatman’s usual.

    I couldn’t solve 10ac (though I saw what was intended) because I had PARCEL for 5d: CAPER + L doctored, though it didn’t quite make “locked up”.

    I agree with Andrew’s comments entirely about the grid – perhaps it is time it joined the one that was Rufus’ favourite which was eventually banished to the grid graveyard.

  30. Found this quite tricky in places – but fairly entertaining so no complaints. Last in was PIRATE which should have been obvious much earlier.

    Thanks to Boatman and Andrew

  31. I forgot to say earlier that ROZZER brings to mind “It’s crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide,” which was an all-purpose nonsense statement in MAD magazine for years in my childhood. Decades later I found the original in Margery Allingham’s A Fashion in Shrouds, much to my delight and astonishment. It’s a quote from Albert Campion’s lugubrious and formerly criminal butler/valet/assistant, Magersfontein Lugg.

  32. Thanks to Boatman and Andrew. As usual I had trouble with this setter but I did muddle through. LINO TILES and AUTARCHY were new to me (though eventually gettable from the clues) and even in the US I knew the Krays, but the “lig” in LIFELONG held me up for a while and I needed help parsing ABETS and STARGAZE.

  34. Loved the misdirection in 1D. But struggled to finish and there were no lightbulb moments when I finally got 3D and 5D: “not ‘aving it” as the Krays might have said. And yes to earlier quibble. Lino IS cold!

  37. I was another CONFER which meant that 7 ac was going to end with SOLES, which seemed plausible enough,and all I could think of was NITO! These apparently exist but—-. I struggled with some others too,but they finally yielded albeit slowly. Not my finest hour. Still, off to Cheltenham for the Jazz Festival tomorrow!
    Thanks Boatman.

  38. Oops! Sorry, Boatman @28 – missed your explanation of i = information.

    I completed the puzzle but found the west a struggle compared to the east. I can’t see any way to make PILFER work as is. Maybe “Commit crime, sending up judge with backchat”, the crime presumably then being contempt of court.
    I liked PERISCOPE very much. Perhaps surveillance could also be used instead of oversight.

    Thanks, Boatman and Andrew.

  40. How I read 3d. If you give the (judge back = FER) chat, then the chat needs to be backwards as well.
    Favourite was CRAZE .

    Thanks Boatman and Andrew.

  41. I thought I was really going to struggle but got there in the end – with a guess-check-parse tactic in places. There were several clues which became favourites when I got them as they weren’t that difficult as they first appeared – 12,14 & 24a and 1 & 3d – which I was happy with. That said, I’m usually happy with them if I get them and feel the setter’s done a good job and I don’t worry about the finer points – but that’s just me.
    LIG was new to me as well, and I didn’t parse the F in 9a.
    This is definitely a grid where gentler clues are called for – and most experienced Boatman solvers seem to think this was at the easier end for him, so maybe he did take the grid into account when setting it.
    Thanks for the puzzle and contributing to the blog Boatman and to Andrew for the explanations.

  43. Re: 9 across: was I the only one to take the ‘f’ as relating to “F-word” (an offensive word, an offender) rather than the last letter in “off” (off-ender)?

  45. Saved for Saturday morning coffee – busy week but particularly enjoy a Boatman.
    FOI – CONFER at 3dn thinking what a delightful “lift and separate” type clue (parsed as Howard), which served to then confirm that 7ac couldn’t be LINO TILES – which always feel cold to my sensitive tootsies anyway. When eventually I sorted this out I viewed it not as clever misdirection but as (possibly avoidable) imperfection. Unfortunately, this meant the puzzle was far less pleasurable than it might have been.
    And, yet again in crossword world, a SENTENCE without a full stop! What would my poor old masters (now probably enjoying more heavenly – or hellish – grammar) have thought? A whack with the slipper no doubt…..!
    I’ll still look forward to the next though – and that’s what counts.
    Thanks to B and A.

  46. It’s plain wrong I’m afraid.
    All the exclamation marks in the world don’t excuse it

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