The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27261.
A solid puzzle, solving steadily with a couple of political digs to liven things up, and meaningful surfaces.
| Across | ||
| 8 | PAINTING | Setter admitted to longing for creative work (8) |
| An envelope (‘admitted to’) of I (‘setter’) in PANTING (‘longing’). | ||
| 9 | ELIJAH | One Biblical guy or another is with God (6) |
| A charade of ELI (‘another’ ie another Biblical guy) plus JAH (‘God’). | ||
| 10 | MEDICI | Person who treats one powerful family (6) |
| A charade of MEDIC (‘person who treats’) plus I (‘one’). | ||
| 12 | INCREASE | Where to see batter rise (8) |
| IN CREASE (‘where to se batter’ in cricket). | ||
| 13 | URN | Tea may be served in this posh service (3) |
| A charade of U (‘posh’) plus RN (Royal Navy, ‘service’). | ||
| 14 | DRYADS | Nymphs in publicity short on pizzazz? (6) |
| DRY ADS (‘publicity short of pizzazz’). | ||
| 16 | SOLUTION | What you’re after then, I found in airport (8) |
| A charade of SO (‘then’) plus LUTION, an envelope (‘found in’) of ‘I’ in LUTON (‘airport’). | ||
| 17 | TIME LAG | Delay punishment — might he receive it? (4,3) |
| A charade of TIME (‘punishment’) plus LAG (the convict who might receive it). | ||
| 20 | TARNISH | Dirty, like a small lake? (7) |
| A TARN is a small lake, so TARN-ISH is like one of them. | ||
| 23 | OPERETTA | Moving a pot with exotic tree in is light work (8) |
| An envelope (‘with … in’) of ERET, an anagram (‘exotic’) of ‘tree’ in OPTA, an anagram (‘moving’) of ‘a pot’. | ||
| 24 | WEEKLY | Say Observer reporter’s without vigour (6) |
| Sounds like (‘reporter’s) WEAKLY (‘without vigour’). | ||
| 26 | SKI | Runner‘s short jump (3) |
| SKI[p} (‘jump’) minus its last letter (‘short’). | ||
| 27 | INSTINCT | Cool colour preserves special feeling (8) |
| An envelope (‘preserves’) of S (‘special’) in IN (‘cool’) plus TINCT (‘colour’). | ||
| 28 | NARNIA | Returning, a home managed to be a magical place (6) |
| A reversal (‘returning’) of ‘a’ plus IN (‘home’) plus RAN (‘managed’), for the setting of the novels by C S Lewis. | ||
| 31 | STROBE | Light suit’s outside garment (6) |
| A charade of ST (‘SuiT‘s outside’) plus ROBE (‘garment’). | ||
| 32 | FORCE-FED | Police agent in US gets stuffed (5-3) |
| A charade of FORCE (‘police’) plus FED (‘agent in US’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GALE | German booze giving you wind (4) |
| A charade of G (‘German’) plus ALE (‘booze’). | ||
| 2 | ANTI | He’s 4 getting dressed in pantihose (4) |
| A hidden answer (‘dressed in’) ‘pANTIhose’. | ||
| 3 | SIRIUS | Flag raised by country star (6) |
| A charade of SIRI, a reversal (‘raised’ in a down light) of IRIS (‘flag’) plus US (‘country’). | ||
| 4 | AGAINST | V. good to be protected by a new saint (7) |
| An envelope (‘to be protected by’) of G (‘good’) in ‘a’ plus AINST, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘saint’. V for versus. | ||
| 5 | MEA CULPA | I confess foreign map contains a clue in error (3,5) |
| An envelope (‘contains’) of EACUL, an anagram (‘in error’) of ‘a clue’ in MPA, an anagram (‘foreign’) of ‘map’. | ||
| 6 | DILETTANTE | One trifling poet pens current epistle without hesitation (10) |
| An envelope (‘pens’) of I (‘current’) plus LETT[er] (‘epistle’) minus ER (‘without hesitation’) in DANTE (‘poet’). | ||
| 7 | NAUSEOUS | Abroad, we adopt a custom poorly (8) |
| An envelope (‘adopt’) of ‘a’ plus USE (‘custom’) in NOUS (‘abroad, we’). | ||
| 11 | DAY | Period of global revolution ends in deposed Theresa May (3) |
| Last letters (‘ends in’) of ‘deposeD TheresA MaY‘. | ||
| 14 | DOT | Point that’s adroit, not at all odd (3) |
| Even letter (‘not at all odd’) of ‘aDrOiT‘. | ||
| 15 | ABERRATION | President helping to cover up Republican’s deviancy (10) |
| An envelope (‘to cover up’) of R (‘Republican’) in ABE (Lincoln, ‘president’) plus RATION (‘helping’) | ||
| 18 | IMPUNITY | Rascal, by common consent, getting away with it (8) |
| A charade of IMP (‘rascal’) plus UNITY (‘common consent’). Perhaps the definition works with ‘getting’ as a gerund. | ||
| 19 | ATTENDED | Was present wrapping from artist cared for? (8) |
| A charade of AT (‘wrapping from ArtisT‘) plus TENDED (‘cared for’). | ||
| 21 | HOY | Sailor’s cry, abandoning a boat (3) |
| [a]HOY (‘sailor’s cry’) minus the A (‘abandoning a’). | ||
| 22 | MASTIFF | Old lady needing massage for dog (7) |
| A charade of MA (‘old lady’) plus STIFF (‘needing massage’). | ||
| 24 | WINTRY | Go after success, being bitter (6) |
| A charade of WIN (‘success’) plus TRY (‘go’). | ||
| 25 | KIN | Family man short of £1,000 (3) |
| KIN[g] (‘man’ in chess) minus the G (‘short of £1,000’). | ||
| 29 | REEK | Hum Gluck’s overture out of Iphigenia, say (4) |
| [g]REEK (‘Iphigenia, say’) minus the G (‘Gluck’s overture out’). | ||
| 30 | IVES | American who scored heroin leaves busy places (4) |
| [h]IVES (‘busy places’) minus the H (‘heroin leaves’). | ||
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.
Beautiful puzzle!
Liked to see batter rise, one trifling, cool colour, police agent and Gluck’s overture.
Great week!
Great puzzle by Picaroon who is among the best right now. I enjoyed many including 5, 9,20 and 30. I wonder how often I will be fooled temporarily by the definition scorer for a composer. IVES is certainly a favourite of mine. I have no idea who Iphigenia is/was so REEK was my loi with a bit of a chuckle at hum as the definition. There was moaning from s few yesterday that some clues had to be guessed and then parsed, something that does not bother me, but I don’t think anyone can complain about that today. Nevertheless, it was good to read that PeterO agreed all my ideas on that score so many thanks. Since I am currently living in the West Indies and get started on the solve at 19:00 my time it is good to get the 225 blog before bedtime and get a chance to post early, so thanks also for that PeterO.
Like ilippu@1 and sanchopanza@2, I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, and have to add to their aforementioned favourites, particularly 12a INCREASE and 5d MEA CULPA, by mentioning some others, 3d SIRIUS, 7d NAUSEOUS, 18d IMPUNITY and 22d MASTIFF.
I got 26a SKI as I think “Runner” was used in this context in yesterday’s Paul. For once those three letter words went in easier for me, as I often get infuriated with seemingly simple, short clues.
I just had to assume LUTON had an airport for 16a SOLUTION. My knowledge of British place names has certainly expanded since playing this game!
Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
A delightful puzzle – taking about the same time to complete as it took me to get LIECHTENSTEIN as my LOI yesterday!!
ABERRATION was my favourite.
Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.
As others have already said, a very enjoyable delight of a crossworde – not as tricky as Picaroon can be – great fun from start to finish, and hard to pick a favourite from so many
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
Yes, as others have said, not as hard as the Pirate can be, but still very enjoyable. Particular favourites were SOLUTION, DAY (easy but lovely) and IVES.
I was held up by confidently writing in LEA(p) for 20a.
The parts of the clue for MEDICI aren’t as separated as it might appear; it is thought that the family took its name from a forebear who was an apothecary, and their symbol was a shield with pills on it!
I meant to say that I would have taken far longer to get AGAINST if I hadn’t seen ANTI first.
Perfection in cluing. I went the wrong way at first writing in WEAKLY -until I saw 6d would not work if there was an a at the end.
All very enjoyable.Thanks PeterO and Pickers.
Very enjoyable and just the right amount of a challenge for me. Lots of good clues, but I particularly liked MASTIFF and IVES.
We had “Greek” losing the G for REEK in Nutmeg’s Quiptic last week, so that helped with 29d.
Julie in Aus: Luton Airport became particularly famous in the 1970s because of this advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEjIlZsuTg
Very enjoyable, thanks Picaroon, and PeterO for the blog.
Started with all the three-letter words, and filled from there with the SW corner being the last to be populated.
I also plumped for WEAKLY at first. I didn’t know JAH, but then I’m not a Rastafarian. I especially liked INCREASE and ATTENDED.
Thanks, PeterO.
Once again, I agree with crypticsue that it’s hard to pick a favourite but I have to give top marks for REEK – perfection in cluing, as copmus says.
Thanks for finding that link, JimS – it immediately sprang to my mind. 😉
Many thanks to Picaroon for yet another box of delights.
[Thanks so much, JimS@9. I loved the Campari ad, which was never shown in Australia. My main memory of Luton is from a Monty Python skit “Hijacked Plane to Luton”, but sadly I can’t find a decent clip of it to upload. The one I found had very annoying sub-titles.]
Thank you Picaroon and PeterO.
A straightforward fun crossword – loved the DRY ADS, the gREEK, the STIFF MA, the TIME LAG, the DILETTANTE, and so many others…
Found this unusually easy for a Picaroon, but none the less enjoyable for that. The SW corner took a little longer than the rest with STROBE last in.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. I agree, very enjoyable. I did not know HOY = boat and needed all the crossers before getting DILETTANTE. LOI (appropriately) was MEA CULPA.
I typically get 10 to 15 clues. In this one I got all but two. Did not know JHA being god and could not get nauseous for poorly. There is some usage, “feeling nauseous, feeling poorly” to justify it. But somehow I feel nauseous is an adjective and poorly is an adverb, so would not have connected it.
An enjoyable puzzle with exemplary clues.
As Julie @3 said, the short ones can sometimes be frustrating, and there were many of them today, but the setter ensured they were accessible.
Like @muffin @7, I found that 4d AGAINST was readily solved with the help of the reference to it in 2d ANTI.
I thought at first ‘runner’ in 26d SKI might be a river and came up with AXE, ‘axel jump’ being a move in figure skating. It was just as well I didn’t ink it in.
Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
Thank you Picaroon for showing how to set a decent puzzle without clever-clever surfaces. Yes, Vlad, I’m thinking about you. I had ABERRATION top of my list, but there was plenty of competition.
Jah is a Rastaferían name for god, it says in wiki! Didn’t know that! Do now! Great puzzle which lasted through lunch – and some! Thanks to everyone
Tenerife Miller @19
Jah is not only Rasta; Jah or Jahweh – sometimes rendered in English as Jehovah – is in Hebrew (given the vowels missing in the script) the personal name of God. This form should be familiar to most in the combination hallelujah.
It’s all been said really. Most enjoyable-with STROBE my LOI.
Thanks Picaroon.
Like copmus and Robi I put in WEAKLY, and therefore was staring at the space for DILETTANTE for about twenty minutes . . . As others have said, a lovely puzzle by Picaroon. I agree with Trailman@18: economy rather than complexity makes solving more satisfying – not to say that I don’t enjoy Vlad’s puzzles. Favourites: SOLUTION, NAUSEOUS and TIME LAG. Many thanks to P and P.
Enjoyed this very much, lovely clues, thank you picaroon.
If I have to pick some clues I liked I would mention PAINTING, OPERETTA, IVES, all for surface, but many more excellent clues.
Thanks PeterO for the review.
A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying puzzle. Thanks!
Pedant that I am, I have to point out that “nauseous”, strictly speaking, means “causing nausea”, not “feeling nausea”, so is not a synonym for “poorly”. But that battle is pretty much lost.
Didn’t know JAH. At first I guessed ELISHA, on the grounds that SHA might perfectly well be a god.
Embarrassed to have failed to parse AGAINST. I assumed that “saint” indicated the ST, so I couldn’t get the rest to fit together.
Only one I have doubts about is KIN – not sure whether ‘G’ is a common abbreviation for ‘Grand’ i.e. £1000. But perhaps it’s just me having another moan about single-letter abbreviations. Been there before!
Otherwise an excellent puzzle. I had to write-in INSTINCT unparsed: I was trying to put a ‘C’ (C[ool]) into TINT (didn’t know the word TINCT). Didn’t work for me of course.
IMHO a better clue for 21D would be something like “Clipped sailor’s cry in Mexico today”. Hoy as a boat is very very rare.
What a nasty crossword. Iris = Flag ?
Freda @27
Very common in crosswords. Wild Yellow Irises are also called Yellow Flags.
First time I’ve attempted a Picaroon puzzle and I rather enjoyed the experience.
20a took the prize with 12&17a plus 22d not far behind.
Thanks to Picaroon and to PeterO for the review.