Guardian Cryptic 27,275 by Rufus

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27275.

A quick blog, to stand in for the regular blogger, who is unavailable. Even for Rufus, this is heavy on the cryptic definitions.

Across
1 MILK MAID Farm hand producing lower output (4,4)
Cryptic definition, ‘lower’ being a cow.
5 COMPEL How to make do? (6)
Cryptic definition.
9 SENORITA When this foreign girl gets married, she loses it (8)
SENOR[it]A.
10 BOLEYN Nobly involved with English queen who lost her head (6)
An anagram (involved’) of ‘nobly’ plus E (‘English’).
12 ADIEU So long to suffer in a university (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of DIE (‘suffer’) in ‘a’ plus U (‘university’).
13 RAISE HELL Make a disturbance to give a lift to the underworld (5,4)
Definition and literal interpretation.
14 VISIBLY MOVED Upset when given an open transfer? (7,5)
Definition and literal interpretation.
18 UNTOLD WEALTH Large sum not declared, apparently (6,6)
Definition and literal allusion.
21 ENAMOURED Fascinated by unusual demeanour (9)
An anagram (‘unusual’) of ‘demeanour’.
23 IDEAL Thought first of ladies a model of excellence (5)
A charade of IDEA (‘thought’) plus L (‘first of Ladies’).
24 IN DEBT Descriptive of one who can’t settle (2,4)
Cryptic definition.
25 CANOPIES Covers with article inside various editions (8)
An envelope (‘with … inside’) of AN (indefinite ‘article’) in COPIES (‘various editions’?).
26 REMOTE Nowhere near being unapproachable (6)
Double definition.
27 PLAYPENS Games enclosures for the very young (8)
The hint of a charade of PLAY (‘games’) plus PENS (‘enclosures’) for an extended crypticish definition.
Down
1 MISHAP One MP has variable ill-fortune (6)
An anagram (‘variable’) of I (‘one’) plus ‘MP has’.
2 LENTIL Pulse found in virulent illnesses (6)
A hidden answer (‘found in’) in ‘viruLENT ILlness’.
3 MARSUPIAL One that always pockets litter (9)
Cryptic definition.
4 INTERVIEWERS They try to get opinions among TV audiences (12)
A charade i\of INTER (‘among’) plus VIEWERS (‘TV audiences’).
6 OZONE Sea air adds a little weight to one (5)
A charade of OZ (‘little weight’) plus ‘one’.
7 PRESERVE An order you’ll carry out, if you can! (8)
I do not see any specific connection between ‘order’ and PRESERVE, beyond than that the latter word may be an imperative, so I see this as a weak cryptic definition, depending on the interpretation of ‘can’ as putting up fruit and vegetables.
8 LANDLADY An accommodating woman (8)
Cryptic definition.
11 BILLIARD BALL One made to move on cue (8,4)
Cryptic definition.
15 MATRIMONY The state you’re in after the match (9)
Cryptic definition.
16 SUPERIOR Snooty head of a religious order (8)
Double definition.
17 AT RANDOM Shoot like this and you’ll probably miss (2,6)
Cryptic definition.
19 RETIRE Go back to bed? (6)
Somewhere between a cryptic and a double definition (‘go back’ and ‘go to bed’).
20 CLASPS Holds 150 serpents (6)
A charade of CL (‘150’, Roman numeral) plus ASPS (‘serpents’).
22 ORBIT Go round the globe on it (5)
A charade of ORB (‘the globe’) plus ‘it’, with an extended definition.
completed grid

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,275 by Rufus”

  1. Found this very difficult for a Rufus, mostly due to crossing cds – VISIBLY MOVED, PRESERVE and COMPEL all took me ages, and I was unfamiliar with OZONE as sea air.

    To be honest I didn’t enjoy this much

    Thanks to Rufus and PeterO

  2. I enjoyed this a lot, although I couldn’t get VISIBLY MOVED. Favourites were MARSUPIAL, UNTOLD WEALTH and ORBIT. I agree that PRESERVE seemed pretty iffy. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  3. For some strange reason, I like the fact that L in IDEAL is clued as ‘first of ladies’ rather than ‘first lady’. Yes, I read PRESERVE as in if ordered to preserve then putting something in a can would be carrying out the order. Typical Rufus fare all said and done. Great surfaces but some not-so-great clues.

  5. p.s. The link between sea air and ozone is probably more recognisable to older solvers as I believe it has now been debunked.

  7. Some of the cryptic definitions and double definitions stretched my thinking time today, as often happens with Rufus, but I got there in the end.

    The definition of 24a IN DEBT seems wrong – being in debt doesn’t mean you can’t settle, only that you haven’t settled.

    However, I liked 14a VISIBLY MOVED, with its ‘?’, and 18a UNTOLD WEALTH, with ‘apparently’ bringing out the figurative meaning of the phrase.

    Thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  8. First time I’ve been unable to complete a Rufus – I couldn’t parse 7 down at all, nevertheless an enjoyable brain exercise.

  9. I had trouble with this- COMPEL, PRESERVE and VISIBLY MOVED took ages to get, and, though I completed the puzzle, I thought the cluing was very loose. I usually enjoy this setter but this was far from his best.

  10. I think 7 down relates to a restaurant order that is yet to be taken which can be placed in the pre-serve area.

  11. Got stuck for a while after entering 7d as TAKEAWAY. While this is obviously wrong, upon reflection it seems to me to be a better answer than the actual one!

  12. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    I found this rather amusing, with favourites SENORITA, LENTIL and MARSUPIAL. I didn’t think PRESERVE really works even if you take the intended meaning of “can” – the “order” bit seems weak. Also AT RANDOM was fairly, uh, ra.ndom

  13. Alan @7 Rufus hasn’t defined ‘in debt’ as meaning ‘can’t settle’. The clue reads that if one ‘can’t settle’ then one is in debt which is as true as if it read ‘won’t settle’ or ‘hasn’t settled’.

  14. Thank you Rufus and PeterO.

    COMPEL, PRESERVE and VISIBLY MOVED, as for beery hiker @1 and Peter Aspinwall @9, took me a long time to get. I liked the clues for SENORITA, MATRIMONY, UNTOLD WEALTH and MARSUPIAL!

  15. Thanks for the blog PeterO and Rufus.

    I agree that there were rather many cryptic definitions today, a few too many for my tastes I’m afraid. Some were rather good I thought, e.g. MARSUPIAL, but I wasn’t keen on PRESERVE. Mind you, that could just be sour grapes as I failed on it. I also missed COMPEL but think that one good. Like others, VISIBLY MOVED took an age to spot and SENORITA was another favourite.

  16. robert @13
    Agreed. There are two ways of reading the clue, and I read it the wrong way. Thanks for pointing this out.

  17. Yes, I’m sure Rufus was thinking of a preservation order at 7D. It was my last in, and I was happy to have completed it without error. Thanks Rufus and the relief blogger.

  18. Wow! I must be getting better (or was it not a specially hard one today?) because I finished this quite quickly, even if PRESERVE seemed a bit iffy.

    Many thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  19. Missed my usual Monday Rufus fix in the DT so trotted across to the Guardian. Glad that I did as I really enjoyed it. 7d took a bit of head-scratching – I’m definitely in the same camp as those who thought the ‘order’ related to preservation orders – and I was curiously slow to get 25a.

    Eleven contenders for my top slot so I won’t bore you with them all!

    Thanks to Rufus and to PeterO for an excellent stand-in job.

  20. Thanks both,

    I found this an easy solve until I fell at the last fence putting in ‘parodies’ instead of ‘canopies’ for 25ac without pondering the parsing. Maybe I failed because various editions of a work are not identical, otherwise they are just reprints, so are not ‘copies’ of each other.

  22. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. Like others I had to pause over several cds and was not familiar with OZONE as sea air. Still, an enjoyable exercise.

  23. I normally appreciate Rufus’ wit and crisp surfaces but this one had too many not very cryptic definitions and definition and literal interpretations for me.

  25. Almost a complete write-in. Not becasue of good cluing but because one knows this is Rufus and no matter however weak the cluing one knows what the answer is going to be.

    The only slight hold up was 5A and 7D which were very clunky even for Rufus and bordering on being plain wrong.

    A truly awful puzzle.

  29. This had a rather old-fashioned feel to it, and – as a rather old-fashioned solver – I didn’t have too much of a problem with it. A pleasant start to the week.

  30. I wasn’t a fan of this puzzle because of all the cryptic definitions. I agree with everyone above that PRESERVE is a bit dodgy and as an environmental engineer, I feel confident in stating that there is no link between OZONE and sea air, old wives tales notwithstanding.

    Can someone help me understand VISIBLY MOVED? Is this related to public transport somehow? I live in Los Angeles where public transport is as mythical as ozone by the sea so that could be why I’m not getting it.

  31. BlueDot @30

    I did not realise that the canard that the smell of sea air is due to ozone is such ancient history. It makes me feel my age. Ozone, of course, is really the thing with a hole in it.
    Perhaps you are overthinking 14A VISIBLY MOVED. Rufus often works by fairly loose associations; witness the responders who seemed happy with the connection between PRESERVE and ‘order’ – or, at least, are willing to ascribe the association to Rufus (and are probably right about it). Here, as far as I can tell, Rufus is defining VISIBLY MOVED by the common meaning of the expression, and giving a wordplay which treats the words in their literal sense: that if a transfer – the moving of something from one place to another – is done in the open, the something is VISIBLY MOVED. I think that clues of this type occur often enough (particularly, but not only, in Rufus) to be given the special designation that I used here, rather than by put under the umbrella of charade or whatever.

  32. BlueDot @30
    I’ve just noticed your question.
    ‘Visibly moved’ is to do with emotions, not transport. Somebody weeping is ‘visibly moved’. So is somebody responding in an outwardly similar way to, say, a musical performance.
    Rufus had ‘upset’ as his emotion of choice in the clue, and I believe the ‘?’ at the end indicates a definition by example [as I hinted in my earlier comment @7].
    ‘Given an open transfer’ is the more literal interpretation, making a phrase of two separate words for the wordplay, but as a recognised phrase the answer is to do with emotions.

  34. No connection with public transport. The transfer is a reference to the moving of a footballer from one club to another, and something done in an open way is done visibly

  35. Thanks to PeterO for coming in late to post the blog. Due to time differences, I was unable to comment until now, a day later now.

    I was okay with this puzzle by Rufus (I certainly wouldn’t bag it totally as others have, so I am with the folk who looked for the positives). I circled several answers that I found clever, most of which have already been highlighted. Of course my favourite was the much afore-mentioned 3d MARSUPIAL, in which I enjoyed the misdirection.

    Not sure if anyone will read this question now, but I had a query on the “to suffer” fodder in 12a ADIEU- I wouldn’t use “suffer” as a synonym for “die” even though the words (and the process) are often linked. Anyone else have any thoughts on this one?

    I read the various discussions on 24a IN DEBT, 6d OZONE and 7d PRESERVE with interest, but must admit I didn’t feel too upset by any of them. I did find the clue for 5a COMPEL very awkward grammatically, but I was still quite pleased when I saw what Rufus was getting at.

    Thanks to Rufus.

  37. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    I read 7d in the following way.

    If you are able to carry out this instruction you will have done the following (you will have preserved)

  38. Julie in Australia – Mr B and I also debated whether die can imply suffer. I think it can in phrases like “dying of embarrassment” which clearly implies suffering not expiry. Sorry this response is rather late.

  39. Thank you, Bayleaf. I appreciate your post. I am still not totally convinced, but I do believe in giving cryptic setters the benefit of the doubt. That may well have been the way Rufus saw it.

  40. Commenting rather late, but I just wanted to say that, contrary to what some others think, I thought 7d was a great cryptic definition. For me it didn’t have anything to do with preservation orders: it was simply a brilliant pun on the word “can”.

  41. The criticisms of 7 down depend on the phrase “an order you’ll carry out” meaning “a command you’ll obey”. An alternative reading is “a reservation you’ll perform”. Then, taking P as an abbreviation for PLEASE (as in the admonition “mind your p’s and q’s”), the solution is PRESERVE (can) = P (please) RESERVE (order).

  42. I was wondering if preserve was being used in the context of ‘it is my preserve to cook’ i.e. an area of responsibility or what I am ordered to do?

  43. The weak definitions and unhelpful other crossing letters in the NE corner remind me yet again why I frequently find Rufus crosswords annoying and frustrating.

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