Guardian Cryptic 27,183 by Nutmeg

by

A tough solve and an enjoyable one – I really liked 22/26ac, 19dn and 23dn. Thanks, Nutmeg

Across
9 PIANO Music maker Scotsman’s potty about (5)
IAN=”Scotsman”, with PO=chamberpot=”potty” around it
10 ROUNDELAY Song and dance sequence featuring old lag (9)
=a song with a refrain; a dance in a ring.
RUN=”sequence” around O[ld]; plus DELAY=”lag”
11 CARTED OFF Forced aft at sea and taken away (6,3)
(Forced aft)*
12 MAGUS Astrologer‘s publication not fit for purpose (5)
MAG[azine]=”publication”, plus US=UnServiceable [Edit thanks to michelle and Flavia] US[e]=”purpose” with “not fit”=incomplete, the wrong size
13 CAGOULE An attempt to cut faulty clue for waterproof (7)
A GO=”An attempt”, cutting into (clue)*
15 NON STOP Express “nobody’s the winner”, verbally (3-4)
=e.g. an “Express” train service.
Sounds like/”verbally”: ‘none’s top’=”nobody’s the winner”
17 TELCO Eg BT line for section in supermarket (5)
=telecommunications company. spelling edit thanks to Valentine
L[ine] taking the place of S[ection] in TE[s]CO=”supermarket”
18 SOB Anguished cry from head retiring shortly (3)
BOS[s]=”head”, reversed/”retiring” and abbreviated/”shortly”
20 IDAHO House associated with Greek mountain state (5)
HO[use], after IDA, a mountain in Crete
22, 26 PUDDING BASIN Amending pub sign, add in Cook’s vessel (7,5)
(pub sign add in)*
25 ICEBERG Bird reaching Channel Islands from the East, one mostly unseen at sea (7)
GREBE=”Bird”, plus C[hannel] I[slands]; all reversed/”from the East”
26   See 22
27 SPARKLING Touring Kuala Lumpur, going easy on bubbly (9)
K[uala] L[umpur], with SPARING=”going easy” around it
30 TRANSCEND Leave behind traveller on vacation to rise around noon (9)
T[ravelle]R with its inner letters vacated, plus ASCEND=”rise” around N[oon]
31 TENOR Leaders picked off IT men for course (5)
=general course or character of something.
The leading letters removed from [I]T [m]EN [f]OR
Down
1 SPEC Details of what’s needed, tiny bit detailed (4)
=specification of what is needed.
SPEC[k]=”tiny bit”, detailed or with its tail letter removed
2 MADRIGAL Capital left after mother died causes glee (8)
=a song.
RIGA=”Capital” of Latvia, plus L[eft]; all after MA=”mother” plus D[ied]
3 MORE Further source of 14? (4)
Sir Thomas MORE wrote Utopia [wiki]
4 TRIOLETS King described by unorthodox TS Eliot verses (8)
=poems of eight lines.
R[ex]=”King”, inside (T S Eliot)*
5 MUFFIN Mule makin’ a mess of teatime food (6)
triple definition: =MUFFIN the “Mule” the TV puppet [wiki]; =MUFFIN’=muffing=bungling or “makin’ a mess”; =a cake
6 ADAMANTINE Immovable plug a worker discovered in pit (10)
AD[vert]=”plug”, plus A; plus ANT=”worker” in MINE=”pit”
7 PLIGHT In tight spot, swear! (6)
double definition: =a difficult situation; and =to pledge=to “swear”
8 EYES Agreement to support European views (4)
YES=”Agreement”, after E[uropean]
13 CUT UP Dice moved a great deal (3,2)
double def: =to cut up into cubes; =made to feel emotional
14 UTOPIANISM New World vision heartless Putin aims to burst (10)
(Pu[t]in aims to)*; with the heart or middle letter of Putin removed
16 PRONG Spike close to flower in bouquet (5)
the closing letter of [flowe]R, inside PONG=smell=”bouquet”
19 BRIGANDS Robbers in general, primarily in gangs (8)
the primary letters of R[obbers] I[n] G[eneral], in BANDS=”gangs”. &lit definition
21 APERIENT Take off and tear round island — that should get you going (8)
=a laxative.
APE=imitate=”Take off”; plus RENT=”tear” around I[sland]
23 DISMAL Bleak philosophy embraced by youth in recession (6)
ISM or an ‘-ism’=a “philosophy” – e.g. social-ism, capital-ism; with LAD=”youth” around it in reverse/”recession”
24 GUSHED Two Guardian leaders dropped were too effusive (6)
The first two leading letters of GU[ardian], plus SHED=”dropped”
26 BUTE Though English, it’s Scottish (4)
=an island in Scotland. BUT=”Though” plus E[nglish]
28 KITH Tackle Henry’s mates (4)
=friends, as in ‘kith and kin’.
KIT=tools, gear=”Tackle”; plus H[enry]
29 GIRL She has a serviceman on both sides (4)
GI=US soldier=”serviceman”; plus R[ight] and L[eft]=”both sides”

49 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,183 by Nutmeg”

  2. I too found this tough but enjoyable. I learnt some new words such as CAGOULE, ADAMANTINE, US = unserviceable, PO = potty, glee = MADRIGAL.

    My favourites were PRONG, ICEBERG, APERIENT.

    I needed help to parse 13d, 24d and 5d (only got as far as muffin’ = makin’ a mess + teatime food, but had no idea about the TV mule).

    Thanks manehi and Nutmeg

  4. I did enjoy this but is NON STOP meant to be a homophone for none’s top? I solved it but the homophone doesn’t sound right to my ear I (a NZer) pronounce non to rhyme with gone and none to rhyme with nun.

  6. @pedrox – but do you pronounce ‘scone’ to rhyme with ‘gone’ or with ‘tone’? Or were you thinking of the Scottish place-name Scone, which rhymes with ‘soon’?

  7. Very enjoyable – started very quickly and thought it would be a breeze, but slowed down and crawled at the end trying to get APERIENT, TENOR and TELCO. Favourites were TRANSCEND, ROUNDELAY, MADRIGAL and SPARKLING. I agree with matrixmania that the homophone in NON-STOP is iffy: NON and NONE (equivalent to NUN) definitely aren’t pronounced in the same way. Many thanks to Nutmeg and manehi.

  8. Another good one from Nutmeg; favourite was “aperient”. No problem with “non-stop” for me, I pronounce “none” to rhyme with “on” – and I’m sure I’m not alone!

    Thank you Nutmeg & manehi.

  9. I’m very pleased to have US for unserviceable explained after many years of seeing it clued as ‘useless’, and thinking that was a very poor indicator for shortening ‘use’.
    When considering the non-stop homophone, I was wondering ‘does anyone really pronounce that nun-stop?’. Interesting that, as JuneG@8 says, it’s the none can be pronounced non, which didn’t occur to me, but I now recall a childhood friend (and his mother, from NI) pronouncing it that way.
    Thanks Manehi, and Nutmeg, for the usual quality cluing

  10. Thanks, manehi, for the blog and Nutmeg for another witty and enjoyable puzzle.

    No particular favourites – all good stuff.

    Interesting that we had ‘none’ = service the other day – where it rhymes with ‘tone’. 😉

  12. Thanks manehi and Nutmeg, really enjoyed this.

    My favourite was PIANO.

    Tried to fit Moore (of almanack fame) at 12a, which held me up, and gigi at 29d.

  13. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi. I agree that this was quite challenging, but I found it an interesting puzzle.

    I’m with michelle@2 regarding quite a few new words; to her list I would have to add 4d TRIOLETS and 26d BUTE, both of which I worked out but which were unfamiliar.

    I also could not parse 5d fully as I had not heard of the TV show with the mule in it either.

    Like drofle@7, I liked 27a SPARKLING. Another favourite was 3d, MORE, which was cleverly linked to 14d UTOPIANISM.

  14. I had no idea about US. i always thought it was a tradesman’s/techie’s joke meaning Up to S***. (true)
    Had problems with the homophone too. But who am I to say? US colonials !?

  15. Thanks Nutmeg and manehi.

    My understanding is that Muffin the Mule is no longer a criminal offence.

  16. Thank you Nutmeg and manehi.

    A very enjoyable crossword. A TRIOLET is more than just an eight line poem, perhaps this is why I could not find one by T. S. Eliot

    Of all the sickly forms of verse,
    Commend me to the triolet.
    It makes bad writers somewhat worse:
    Of all the sickly forms of verse,
    That fall beneath a reader’s curse,
    It is the feeblest jingle yet.
    Of all the sickly forms of verse,
    Commend me to the triolet. Banjo Paterson.

  17. Surely the main problem with the homophone is not whether none=nun but the fact that “stop” is pronounced with an S sound whereas “none’s” is pronounced with a Z?

  18. delay is transitive, lag not
    astrologer’s
    cagoule met in this puzzle
    About that homophone — whether or not the vowels match, the s’s don’t. The one in “stop” is unvoiced, a soft s, and the one in “none’s” is voiced, like a z.

    I’d never heard of Muffin the Mule (British TV is often my downfall) or telco. TelCo? Mind your m’s and n’s in “communication,” manehi, you have too many of one and too few of t’other.

    I don’t know “tenor” as meaning “course” or “diced” as meaning “emotionally moved.” Can someone explain? They’d be new to me in those senses.

    “Pong” generally means an unpleasant smell, while “bouquet” means a pleasant one. I don’t see them as equivalent.

    I knew CAGOULE, but only from this puzzle.
    .

  19. Oops. I didn’t see that I’d left some notes to myself at the top of the post. “Astrologer’s” for “Magus” doesn’t take the final s into account.

    Crossed with MrSmeam.

  20. Thanks for the typo spot, Valentine.

    Delay and lag may differ as verbs, but can be read as nouns
    The ‘s is a contraction for ‘is’, linking the definition (Astrologer) to the rest of the clue.
    The ‘tenor’ of e.g. a conversation/piece of writing is the ‘course’ or ‘drift’ of thought or meaning that runs through it.
    ‘diced’ does not mean “emotionally moved”; CUT UP means emotionally moved/upset over something

  21. Comments 17 and 18 are missing the point. The homophone is that NONS TOP is supposed to sound like NONE’S TOP. NON STOP comes from the definition (Express), so the voiced/unvoiced S distinction is not relevant.

  22. Enjoyed this, if only because I was confident enough to enter TRIOLETS and APERIENT without checking what they mean.

  23. I too struggled with NONSTOP and don’t like it. Some other new words and abbreviations for me but the homophobe was the only one that jarred as unfair.

  24. Another gem from Nutmeg, who surely deserves a crack at setting the prize by now. Found this a little tricky in places but all completely fair.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi

  25. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi. My reaction echoes Michelle @2, but PUDDING BASIN was also new to me. I did know BUTE from previous puzzles. Difficult at times but enjoyable.

  26. We found this one tough but very enjoyable. Never heard of a triolet but apparently autocorrect has! Thanks to everyone.

  27. Thanks both. Some intricate and tricky cluing. Lag can be transitive. It’s what econometricians sometimes do to variables.

  31. Did not finish this one. The trio ROUNDELAY/PLIGHT/MAGUS tripped me up, the main problem being my inability to spot PLIGHT. It’s probably sour grapes but the way it’s written seems a bit unfair as it emphasises the “In”, which is only there for the surface. “Swear in tight spot” would be fairer, I think. On the other hand, CUT UP is a very nice DD. Other likes include BUTE, ADAMANTINE, APERIENT and UTOPIANISM.
    Tough, but well clued.
    Thanks, Nutmeg and manehi.

  32. I thought I’d (for once!) spotted a theme here. Two of the answers were fairly unusual words I recognised from G & S operas – ADAMANTINE & TRIOLETS – and other references such as IDAho, UTOPIAnism, pudding basin, sparkling, madrigal, roundelay and others. Has anyone else out there had a misspent youth in amateur musical theatre and could Nutmeg confirm that I’m not just making all this up?

  35. to Kate A
    Well spotted! I set this puzzle on hearing of the death of Thomas Round a few months ago at the age of 100. He was principal tenor at the D’Oyly Carte opera when I was young, and we saw quite a few of the operas when the company was in the area. Not wanting to set an overtly themed puzzle, I thought I’d slip in some G&S references that an enthusiast might spot. ‘Carte’ and ‘GandS’ are also lurking.

    Thank you to all who’ve commented, and my apolologies to those who don’t like the homophone. I doubt whether it’s possible to use this device without someone disagreeing with the pronunciation but it does add to the variety of clues

  36. Many thanks, Nutmeg, for the confirmation and for adding another layer to a delightful puzzle. So TENOR was another one. [I took part in the chorus of ‘Utopia Ltd’ at university – in a grass skirt. 😉 ]

  39. Funny how things go sometimes. I solved this lovely puzzle in ten minutes (emphatically not usually the case) excepting for TELCO, on which I failed completely. Clear enough with the benefit of hindsight.
    And the three months I spent on tour with the D’Oyly Carte orchestra in the late ’60s didn’t help me spot the disguised theme either.
    Humblebrag over for today…..
    Thanks Nutmeg and Manehi.

  40. Thanks Nutmeg and manehi.

    I concur with all the praise heaped on this puzzle already, although I do have one small query: is there a precedent for the ‘section’ = S seen in 17 TELCO? I don’t recall seeing that before and it’s not listed in any of my references.

  42. Angstony @40, this came up in Tramp’s puzzle last week, and bridgesong @29 commented “lawyers use s as an abbreviation for section when referring to clauses in Acts of Parliament. All criminal lawyers will be familiar with a s.5, for example.”

  43. Late to the game, with little to add, except to point out that this was one of the more Anglocentric puzzles in a while. The following items are either unknown or uncommon in American English and/or American culture:

    –PO for “potty”
    –CAGOULE
    –the “non-stop” homophone
    –both TELCO (we call them “telecoms”) and Tesco
    –PUDDING BASIN
    –SPEC as “details” (here it’d be “specs” if plural)
    –Muffin the Mule (mercifully there were two other ways to get there)
    –“pong” for aroma

    In addition, TRIOLETS and APERIENT were new words for me, and MAGUS was barely familiar. Since the Earl of Bute was a long-ago prime minister, I knew of BUTE.

    At least we got IDAHO to keep us warm.

    Nevertheless, I did finish this, and was kind of amazed that I did.

  44. MUFFIN was my first in, but that’s because I’m ancient and had a huge crush on Annette Mills as a lad. I wouldn’t have dared use that as a clue if I’d been setting this.

  45. I found this hard going and didn’t really get in flow so didn’t fully appreciate Nutmeg’s craft until I came here. And there were four I didn’t parse but that’s down to my lack of persistence and nothing to do with the setting. Favourite – ICEBERG which was my FOI. And what a lovely thread leading to the secret theme – well spotted Kate. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi.

  46. Enjoyed the puzzle immensely and Nutmeg’s contribution, especially as my parents’ playlist featured the fine tenor voice of Thomas Round. While I felt that ROUNDELAY and SPARKLING+EYES and MADRIGAL rang a bell, the notion of the G&S theme eluded me. Well done, Kate.
    And Eric, it looks as if your device has a meddling spell checker like mine!

  48. Muffin reporting in late!

    I really enjoyed this, as ever with Nutmeg. No-one seems to have mentioned this Quiptic clue from Anto in late March:
    10 Bird, when nesting on Channel Islands, turns into shipping hazard! (5)
    Coíncidence?

    (Cookie: referring back to a discussion we had a few weeks ago, I,m staying in Germany, and we were offered for breakfast Erdbeermarmelade – strawberry jam!. P.S. I did get MUFFIN.)

  49. Hi muffin, glad you weren’t eaten at tea-time along with the strawberry jam and Sally Lunn and the rest, luckily for me the Savoy does not serve cookies.

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