Guardian Cryptic 27,217 by Chifonie

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27217.

I found this straightforward even for a Chifonie – for which, many thanks, as I was short of time to complete the blog. The double appearance of Old Bob might be questionable, but his companion Carol serves two quite different purposes.

Across
7 CHACONNE Composition arranged? No chance! (8)
An anagram (‘arranged’) of ‘no chance’.
9 ERASED Times editor’s removed (6)
A charade of ERAS (‘times’) plus ED (‘editor’).
10 RUIN Demolish one in lead (4)
An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘one’) in RUN (‘lead’).
11 OPALESCENT Sparkling drink gets fragrance after a little work (10)
A charade of OP (‘a little work’) plus ALE (‘drink’) plus SCENT (‘fragrance’).
12 GAUCHE Clumsy German, hurt when touring university (6)
An envelope (‘when touring’) of U (‘university’) in G (‘German’) plus ACHE (‘hurt’).
14 SHILLING Old Bob and Carol separated by rising ground (8)
An envelope (‘sepatated by’) of HILL (‘rising ground’) in SING (‘carol’).
15 DOMAIN Study foremost field (6)
A charade of DO (‘study’) plus MAIN (‘foremost’).
17 CHITON Bill’s concerned with old tunic (6)
A charade of CHIT (‘bill’) plus ON (‘concerned with’).
20 DREADFUL Doctor led fraud? That’s appalling! (8)
An anagram (‘doctor’) of ‘led fraud’.
22 SPRATS Quarrels about recipe for fish (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘recipe’) in SPATS (‘quarrels’).
23 APOSTROPHE Pope rash to change punctuation (10)
An anagram (‘change’) of ‘pope rash to’.
24 CLIP Caught part of face a blow (4)
A charade of C (‘caught’) plus LIP (‘part of face’).
25 DECODE Find the solution for fish in river (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of COD (‘fish’) in DEE (‘river’).
26 PAGANINI Heathen in Italy often on the fiddle (8)
A charade of PAGAN (‘heathen’) plus ‘in’ plus I (‘Italy’), with a cryptic indication.
Down
1 THOUSAND A large number of handouts ordered (8)
An anagram (‘ordered’) of ‘handouts’.
2 SCAN Search about in tin (4)
An envelope (‘in’) of CA (circa, ‘about’) in SN (chemical symbol, ‘tin’).
3 ENROBE Export leader taken over? Invest! (6)
A reversal (‘over’) of E (‘Export leader’) plus BORNE (‘taken’).
4 FEVERISH Excited swimmer is eating continually (8)
An envelope (‘is eating’) of EVER (‘continually’) in FISH (‘swimmer’).
5 CALCULATOR Sadly Carol joined a cult in summer (10)
An anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘Carol’ plus ‘a cult’.
6 LEAN ON Derive support from article in house that’s new (4,2)
An envelope (‘in’) of AN (indefinite ‘article’) in LEO (‘house’ astrological) plus (‘that’s’, which must be interpreted as “that has”) N (‘new’).
8 ELAPSE Pass by the Spanish church feature (6)
A charade of EL (‘the Spanish’) plus APSE (‘church feature’).
13 COMPASSION Naval officer briefly has love for humanity (10)
A charade of COM (commodore, ‘naval officer briefly’) plus PASSION (‘love’).
16 INFORMER Sneak in late (8)
A charade of ‘in’ plus FORMER (‘late’).
18 NUTRIENT Lunatic tore round island for sustenance (8)
An envelope (’round’) of I (‘island’) in NUT (‘lunatic’) plus RENT (‘tore’).
19 SLIP-UP Upset students making careless mistake (4-2)
A reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of PUPILS (‘students’).
21 RAPIER Soldier gets support for weapon (6)
A charade of RA (‘soldier’) plus PIER (‘support’). The Guardian seems to think the answer is RAPPED. I do not believe a word of it.
22 SLEDGE Hammer old Bob put on shelf (6)
A charade of S (shilling, ‘old bob’ – see 14A) plus LEDGE (‘shelf’).
24 CONY Tiny bit of nasturtium eaten by shy rabbit (4)
An envelope (‘eaten by’) of N (‘tiny bit of Nasturtium’) in COY (‘shy’).
completed grid

24 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,217 by Chifonie”

  2. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO

    Pleasant and not too difficult, though I didn’t parse ENROBE and was doubtful about the equivalence of RUN/LEAD in RUIN. Favourites were the fairly obvious CALCULATOR (for the surface) and PAGANINI, as he was Italian, and reputed to have sold his soul to the devil, which might make him a PAGAN?

    There is now a note on the online version that the solution to 21d has been changed (to RAPIER).

  3. Like muffin@2, I couldn’t parse 3D ENROBE although I guessed it from the “in vest” part, which I thought had something to do with getting dressed – maybe?

    SHILLING 14a was my FOI, and I liked it too, Auriga@1, but like PeterO, I was disappointed to find the repetition of “old Bob” as a device for SLEDGE 22d.

    I quite liked 17a CHITON, my LOI, but thought “on” for “concerned with” a little weak.

    7a CHACONNE was an unfamiliar word, but gettable from the anagram fodder and the crossers.

    I was about to try “chin” for 24a, as it was used in a recent puzzle meaning “punch”, but then could not see why “Caught” was in the clue, so had a rethink on parts of the face.

    Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO.

  4. [Mourning with you further at the announcement of two young Aussie lives lost in the London atrocities. With you in spirit.
    WhiteKing, thank you for your response to my sympathetic post on Monday’s forum. You and your partner (Mrs WhiteKing?) would be welcome to visit if you ever come to Australia. Let me know and I will post my email address.]

  6. And I’m another who couldn’t parse ENROBE. I tried to be too clever with SHILLING as I took bob as the S in the solution and was looking at “ground” as the definition. This meant that despite being the first word I thought of it was the third last one in! As well as those already cited I also like DOMAIN and CONY – where again I overcomplicated it by taking rabbit as talk and trying to figure out how to parse CANT since CHAT didn’t fit with the crosser, nor the rest of the clue.
    A good lesson in considering the obvious first before going to the devious. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO.

  7. Thanks PeterO and Chiffonie. But can anyone explain COMPASSION (13 dn)?

    Maybe LOVE is doing some kind of double duty.

  9. JinA – thanks for your reply and welcome to Aus with Mrs W (I’m Mr K). For me the pain and grief we feel and that you expressed is as people caring about people, and the nation state (an abstract concept that we choose to believe is real) is a big part of the problem. This blog probably isn’t the place for such a discussion, but it is a place where humans connect and your contributions often bring this component to the fore. Thank you for this.

  10. Thanks PeterO and Chifonie
    All very gentle, except for CHITON, which I guessed and checked, and ENROBE, which, rather backwardly, I could parse but not solve – just couldn’t think of the borne bit. I blame a cold.
    ‘Sneak in late’ for INFORMER my favourite – more than the sum of its parts.

  11. Like others I had trouble with ENROBE (couldn’t get it), but loved NUTRIENT, CALCULATOR and CHACONNE anagram. Smooth surfaces as usual from Chifonie. Thanks to C and P.

  12. Thank you Chifonie and PeterO.

    I enjoyed the puzzle, but, like some other solvers, it took me an age to get ENROBE. The clues had lovely smooth surfaces, especially those for CALCULATOR, GAUCHE, SHILLING, NUTRIENT and SLIP-UP, but my favourite was that for INFORMER.

  13. ENROBE was last in, unparsed, and it worried me that a Chifonie clue should prove so difficult. I’m really happy to read about the struggles of others!

    SHILLING was a cracker. I had the initial S and thought ‘so that’s the old bob part sorted’. Not so. And of course it would have been unpardonable to have two old bobs with the same function in one puzzle.

  14. ENROBE was hard for me, as for others, and was last one in. Problem is that in-vest seems more of a cryptic clue than a definition. But Chambers does give ‘clothe’ as one meaning (‘archaic’) for ‘invest’, and ‘enrobe’ itself has a slightly archaic feel, so perhaps this is fair enough, especially with the ! ending of the clue.

  15. Thank you, Chifonie and PeterO

    I’d say in 6d the definition is “lean on” rather than “lean,” for “derive support from.”

    muffin@3 If you run a business you lead it.

    What is a teatray moment?

  16. Valentine @15

    I assume that what you mean is that the underlined (and in italics and coloured) definition should include ‘with’. If so, I agree, and have edited the blog accordingly.

    A teatray moment is like a penny-dropping moment, but more noisy.

    quenbarrow @14 et al

    Chambers and several other dictionaries give invest as a definition for enrobe – I would suppose in the sense of ennoble.

  17. An easy puzzle, not quite to the quality of the other two today in FT and Indy. I think ENROBE is a case in point where ‘export leader’ doesn’t really mean E, and the ‘taken’ is rather difficult to locate as ‘borne’.

    Still pretty good though. An odd day, in which we have three puzzles of such similar difficulty, I think.

  18. Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO. Add me to the list of those who did not get ENROBE – and I also was slowed down by CHITON and DOMAIN. Very enjoyable.

  19. Enrobe was last in. A very enjoyable puzzle though we often expect harder from Chifonie. Thanks to everyone.

  20. CHITON was my LOI- I had toyed with CAFTAN but FEVERISH put paid to that. I had trouble with ENROBE but it had to be right. Quite an entertaining puzzle. Mostly easy but quite acceptable.
    Thanks Chifonie.

    Ps What was the change to the answer to 21dn?

  21. Peter Aspinwall @20

    See the blog: the Grauniad originally gave the answer as RAPPED, which made no sense whatever – at least for the clue as given.

  23. Just remembered I didn’t comment on this one. A little trickier than Chifonie usually is and all the better for that. CHITON was new to me too, ENROBE last in.

    Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO

  24. I see nobody objected to opalescent for sparkling which are two totally different properties. Very poor association.

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