Guardian Cryptic 27,197 by Rufus

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It’s Monday, so we get a Rufus to solve…

…and today’s is fairly typical. although there are perhaps slightly fewer cryptic definitions (5) and double definitions (3) than normal.  There were the usual chestnuts (ASSET and OCEAN), but I really liked 9ac.

I may be missing something with 14ac, and 11dn is not cryptic at all in my opinion.  Also, in 20dn, we are just handed five of the six letters of the solution.

Thanks, Rufus.

Across
1 PLAUDITS Handy expressions of approval (8)
  Cryptic definition – “plaudits” ~ applause, for which you require your hands.
5 STRAND Maroon thread (6)
  Double definition
9 POSTCARD One-sided view from a correspondent? (8)
  Cryptic definition – a postcard has a view on one side, normally.
10 STEPPE Badly set university course, that’s plain (6)
  *(set) + PPE (short for Philosophy, Politics and Economics)
12 ASSET Girl comes back with something useful (5)
  <=TESSA
13 EXAMINERS They ask questions of pitmen after cutback (9)
  MINERS “after” <=AXE
14 ALLITERATION Repetition is, after all, Peter Piper’s speciality (12)
  There is alliteration in “after all” and “Peter Piper”.

The clue also indicates that there may be something else going on – ITERATION after ALL, but I don’t see the “iteration” = “Peter Piper” bit?
18 BALANCED DIET Weighed out prescribed food? (8,4)
  Cryptic definition
21 ANDROMEDA Wife of Perseus, wrongly named Dora (9)
  *(named dora)
23 DEVIL He leads many to sin (5)
  D (“many”) + EVIL (“sin”)
24 IRISES Is about to get up, but flags (6)
  IS “about” RISE (“to get up”)
25 SCUTTLES Nuts are found in them — and bolts (8)
  Think coal scuttles and nut coal…
26 ENGINE Motor found on fire, perhaps (6)
  As in “fire ENGINE”
27 PSALTERS As an afterthought, changes the songbooks (8)
  P.S. (“afterthought”) + ALTERS (“changes”)
Down
1 POPLAR Timber producer of high standing until found to be heartless (6)
  POP(u)LAR (“of high standing”)
2 ASSISI A southern university river rises where Francis came from (6)
  A + S(outhern) + <=ISIS (the Thames at Oxford, therefore “university river”)
3 DECATHLON Told he can become involved in an Olympic event (9)
  *(told he can)
4 THREE WISE MEN They provided new items here and original Christmas gifts (5,4,3)
  *(new items here)
6 TUTTI Everybody‘s playtime? (5)
  In music, “tutti” means “all”, from the Italian.
7 APPLE PIE Sweet and perfect to order (5,3)
  Double definition
8 DRESSING Oil and vinegar is bound to help the wound (8)
  Double definition
11 MAKE ADVANCES Progress with amorous overtures? (4,8)
  Not sure this is cryptic?
15 ANECDOTAL Like stories that can lead to novel (9)
  *(can lead to)
16 ABLATIVE Case is essential up in Lincoln (8)
  <=VITAL “in” ABE (Lincoln)
17 SLEDGING Winter sport Aussie cricketers are famous for? (8)
  Double definition – in cricket, players of the fielding side often try to put off batsmen by being sarcastic or less than complimentary about them, and that is known as “sledging”.
19 EVOLVE Develop part of a revolver (6)
  (barely) hidden in “rEVOLVEr”
20 CLASPS Their function is to secure quiet in class (6)
  P (“quiet” as in piano) “in” CLASS
22 OCEAN Once a rough expanse of water (5)
  *(once a)

*anagram

33 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,197 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks, loonapick. I read 14a as ITERATION after ALL, with “Peter Piper’s speciality” s the definition. Also thought 11d was the customary “surely that’s just too obvious” clue.

  2. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.

    As I was away from home and only had my iPad, for the first time I solved on screen instead of printing the puzzle off and using old technology. Because it didn’t take a long time this worked out for me, and as I didn’t have too many delays I didn’t run the iPad charge down too much. And I resisted using the check button as I much prefer to read the blogger’s explanations here.

    Held up a little by trying both CLAPPING and APPLAUSE at 1a, but once I saw DECATHLON at 3D I re-thought my NW corner.

    I agree with loonapick that 9a POSTCARD was one to like. I also thought 18a BALANCED DIET and 16d ABLATIVE were good fun.

    As the first Aussie to comment, of course I have to register my displeasure at the clue for SLEDGING, 17d.

    I was also disappointed at the repetition of the fodder (CLASS) in 20d CLASPS.

  3. My favourites were PSALTERS, TUTTI, POSTCARD.

    New word for me was ABLATIVE.

    I parsed 11d as a double definition of progress + amorous overtures, but I often get confused about CDs and DDs. And I parsed 14a in the same way as Brian @1

    Thank you Rufus and blogger.

  4. Thanks Rufus and loonapick
    Rapid solve after recovering from two incorrect answers in my first three (applause for 1a and Diana for 12a). I liked POSTCARD and ABLATIVE. I didn’t parse ENGINE, and still think that it’s a bit feeble.

  5. I also tried APPLAUSE and CLAPPING for 1a before crossers eventually gave PLAUDITS. I think 11d is ok as a double definition playing on the meaning of ADVANCE. I parsed 14a as Brian@1 as well. Although 20d has come in for some criticism, I suspect a few people spent time looking for a suitable synonym for ‘class’, which may have been the point?

  8. I read 14A the same way as Brian@1 and Michelle @3 (repetition = iteration), but It did occur to me that Peter Pipers specialty was pickled pepper picking and not alliteration.

    … and that mine may be nit-picking

  9. Thank you Rufus and loonapick.

    The clue for POSTCARD was also my favourite. I would have been caught out by SLEDGING if we had not had that meaning for SLEDGE in a recent puzzle. ENGINE made me smile, I once saw a fire engine in Geneva shooting flames out of the rear while on its way to put a fire out.

  10. Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, so I’d assume his speciality is alliteration (and also the definition)
    I failed to spot anything cryptic about 23a, but read 11d as a double definition.

    Thanks loonapick

  11. Fancy, sledging again! I’d never heard of it in the cricket sense until we had it in a puzzle a few days ago.

    I had the feeling that PLAUDITS means (verbal) praise, not hand-clapping. Same root, of course, but different applications in modern English.

  12. POSTCARD gets my vote for CoD too.

    Like michelle @3, I took 11d as a DD.

    Unlike Julie @2, I chuckled at SLEDGING. My first thought was UNDERARM – not a sport, I know, but being a Kiwi, it’s the first thing I associate with Aussie cricketers!

  13. This was rather a mixed bag with some very good cluing- STEPPE,TUTTI,ABLATIVE and SCUTTLES, and some that was a bit naff-ASSET and ENGINE. I did enjoy this though and I have to say that I didn’t see anything wrong with MAKE ADVANCES or DEVIL.
    Thanks Rufus

  14. Rufus clued ALLITERATION in his puzzle on 16 January 2017 as follows:

    “Initial repetition is only repetition after all (12)”

    So, although he has used the same device, at least we can credit him with coming up with a new clue!

  17. I got held up at 1d, being convinced the answer to be FORE(mo)EST. Well it’s very early the “heart”.

  18. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick. Like others I was not sure about PLAUDITS and knew SLEDGING from a previous puzzle. PPE for STEPPE was new to me (though the solution was clear) as was the second meaning of SCUTTLE (my LOI). Enjoyable.

  19. Thanks Rufus and loonapick.

    I quite enjoyed this. I liked DEVIL which was a nice, compact &lit, too. I am usually full of ennui for Rufus’ CDs but I quite liked some of the them today – MAKE ADVANCES, for example.

    LOI was CLASPS. I was diverted by not considering CLASS as part of the solution and had in mind prefects in school, so a pleasant surprise when the penny dropped.

  20. Made the mistake of underestimating Rufus and congratulated myself on getting 1a in zero seconds – APPLAUSE! Then ended up having to cross it out which is public humiliation if you’re doing the crossword on paper and you’re on the train…

    Thanks both.

  21. A pleasant if relatively straightforward puzzle which seems to be typical of a Monday. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.

  22. In 6ac isn’t “Everybody’s playtime?” not the definition, making it &lit, which would be two for Rufus in one puzzle – a first maybe?
    14 ac might have been better clued with the “is” following the “after all”.

  24. Don @ 23: on the Guardian’s cryptic crossword page, you can check whether an answer is correct.

  25. Even though some clues might seem ‘easy’, eg, DEVIL, the cluing was brilliant and leaves a nice afterglow. I too had initial reservations about the handiness of plaudits, which went in early, and found that it’s also defined in dictionaries as a round of applause.

    Re loonapick’s hint to think of coal scuttles, which I did know,I had guessed that maybe there were nut scuttles too in a similar shape. Looked them up on Wiki, some beautiful specimens there.

  28. Nut coal is a substance I’ve never heard of, so I failed to parse SCUTTLES. The trouble with 1a is that both the wrong answers are handier than the right one…

  31. Although nut scuttles do exist on the tables of the upper class I guess Rufus was referring to coal nuts which are much commoner and still available. “Nut” is a reference to the size of the coal which is graded as it comes out the mine into various sizes.

    See this illuminating table

  32. Thanks for the illumination BNTO. Coming from colonial stock, definitely not upper class, and no domestic coal fires, I knew neither nut coal nor the fancy tableware. Ignorance didn’t scuttle my craft though, am happy to say. (Groan.)

  33. Actually completed this over the course of multiple lunchtimes – a rarity for me. 9a was nice, but I particularly liked 6d. I too was misled by APPLAUSE on 1a, and after the obvious 2d I then switched to CLAPPING – despite having thought of PLAUDITS first, strangely enough.

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