Guardian Cryptic 27,323 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27323.

I thought this an above-average Rufus, particularly in the NW corner – and not too heavy on the DDs and (even more so) the CDs.

Across
9 ABANDONED Performed in a group of profligate character (9)
An envelope (‘in’) of DONE (‘performed’) in A BAND (‘a group’). A good start.
10 GALOP Number love to be included in break dance (5)
An envelope (‘to be included’) of L (Roman 50, ‘number’) plus O (‘love’) in GAP (‘break’).
11 DERVISH Man in a whirl – fuel’s his trouble? (7)
A charade of DERV (diesel ‘fuel’) plus ISH, an anagram (‘trouble’) of ‘his’.
12 OPOSSUM Animal that’s old and can play dead (7)
A charade of O (‘old’) plus POSSUM (“to play possum” is to ‘play dead’ – and do I detect a play on ‘can’ even if the person is wrong?) . Since POSSUM is an aphetic form of OPOSSUM, and the animal does play dead when threatened (hence the expression), as a cryptic clue, it is chasing its own tail. As a straight definition it can hardly be faulted.
13 DEALT Gave the players a hand (5)
Cryptic definition.
14 ARISTOTLE Old Greek totaliser cock-up (9)
An anagram (‘cock-up’) of ‘totaliser’.
16 TOSSING THE CABER Highland fling? (7,3,5)
Cryptic definition.
19 SIDEBOARD Team directors found in the dining room (9)
A charade of SIDE (‘team’) plus BOARD (‘directors’).
21 NORTH Point of thorn extracted (5)
An anagram (‘extracted’) of ‘thorn’.
22 GRANDMA Drag man out to see aged parent (7)
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘drag man’. The definition seems to straddle two meanings – the familial parent’s parent, and the aged woman.
23 ART DECO Firm follows new trade style (3,4)
A charade of ARTDE, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘trade’ plus CO (‘firm’).
24 GEESE About to notice, for example, returning birds (5)
A reversal (‘returning’) of ESEEG, an envelope (‘about’) of SEE (‘to notice’) in E.G. (‘for example’).
25 EIDER DUCK It flies, but gets down for cover at night? (5,4)
Definition and cryptic allusion.
Down
1 CANDIDATES Potential MPs outspoken over unsettled seat (10)
A charade of CANDID (‘outspoken’) plus ATES, an anagram (‘unsettled’) of ‘seat’.
2 FAIRWAYS Good routes for long-distance drivers (8)
An unusual construction: there is a wordplay – a charade of FAIR (‘good’) plus WAYS (‘routes’) – but the clue as a whole is the definition, with the cryptic reference to golfers (or their implements) as ‘long-distance drivers’.
3 ADDICT Drug user did wrong as lawbreaker (6)
An envelope (‘-breaker’) of DDI, an anagram (‘wrong’) of ‘did’ in ACT (‘law-‘).
4 INCH Part of the foot and chin broken (4)
An anagram (‘broken’) of ‘chin’. A twelfth part thereof.
5 ADMONISHED Warned about diam­onds he ordered (10)
An anagram (‘about’ and ‘ordered’) of ‘diamonds he’.
6 AGNOSTIC Acting so strangely, not knowing what to believe (8)
An anagram (‘strangely’) of ‘acting so’.
7 CLOSET Shut head teacher in the cupboard (6)
A charade of CLOSE (‘shut’) plus T (‘head Teacher’).
8 SPAM Set up plans for junk mail (4)
A reversal (‘set up’ in a down light) of MAPS (‘plans’).
14 AGGRAVATED Annoyed, having made things worse (10)
Double definition.
15 EARTHWORKS Banks that can stop advances (10)
Cryptic definition.
17 IMBEDDED One thousand planted out and firmly set (8)
A charade of I (‘one’) plus M (Roman numeral, ‘thousand’) plus BEDDED (‘planted out’).
18 BORDEAUX Port or claret? (8)
Double definition.
20 DIADEM Temple ornament I’d made badly (6)
An anagram (‘badly’) of ‘I’d made’. The nearest I can get to justifying the ‘temple’ in the definition is the hymn:

The head that once was crowned with thorns,
Is crowned with glory now,
A royal diadem adorns
The mighty victor’s brow.
21 NATURE An upright and stylishly true character (6)
A charade of NA, a reversal (‘upright’ in a down light – but isn’t ‘upright’ the right way up? I suppose that if one regards the natural posture of the word as horizontal, rendering it ‘upright’ could give the desired result) of ‘an’ plus TURE, an anagram (‘stylishly’) of ‘true’.
22 GAGS Makes sick  jokes (4)
Double definition.
23 AIDS It’s said to produce a killer disease (4)
An anagram (‘to produce’) of ‘said’.
completed grid

27 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,323 by Rufus”

  1. The Quick took me longer than this. More clues like 2 and 11 were needed and NO clues like 12.Thanks peterO.

  2. What fun, eh?
    A lovely rufus to start the week for me.
    And all you can spend the day whinging. Oh rufus is so easy, not worth me getting up for. I did it in my sleep you know.

  4. Fed up with patronising comments about Rufus, such as ‘above average’! I find some of the other cryptic setters too clever for their own good while lacking the wit and grace of Rufus, who never shows off or flaunts his erudition. Lay off please.

  6. Thanks Rufus and PeterO
    Rapid, except the NW, which I found unusually difficult, but contained my three favourite clues, DERVISH, FAIRWAYS and ADDICT.
    I suppose there is no point in complaining about the first definition of AGGRAVATED (it came up in discussion last week). I wasn’t impressed by “extracted” as an anagram indicator in 21a.

  7. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    I gal(l)oped through this. LOI was EARTHWORKS, nice clue. I also particularly enjoyed FAIRWAYS and ADDICT.

  8. Thank you Rufus and Peter0

    I think this was the fastest I have ever done Rufus, despite a small hitch with eiderdown rather than eider duck for my first one in. I didn’t have to spend too much time scratching my head over double definitions.

    As always, I found some of the surfaces elegant and witty: 14 and 24 ac (the latter nicely &littish I thought), 1, 6 and 7 dn.

  9. Thank you Rufus and PeterO.

    A most enjoyable crossword, just right for Monday morning. Favourite clues were those for OPOSSUM, EIDER DUCK, FAIRWAYS and AGNOSTIC – DERVISH revived memories of Alexandria, there was a house at the end of our garden where Sufis met in secret to ‘whirl’, such activities were ‘banned’, except for performances for tourists.

  10. Thanks PeterO and nice find on the DIADEM poem.

    Diverting puzzle but over too quickly.

    Same favourites as Cookie but would add…

    Didn’t know the ‘warning’ def of ADMONISH, and I’m really not a fan of clues using the lazy device such as head teacher for ‘t’. ‘T’ is the head of teacher not head teacher.

    Other than that, thanks Rufus.

    Nice week, all.

  11. I often find Rufus takes me longer than others seem to, but today’s was over very quickly – and I think that reflects that there were fewer DD/CDs than usual, as observed by PeterO in his introduction. I don’t easily come up with synonyms and need the other parts of a clue to lead me to the solution.
    Like others the NW corner was the last in and Mrs W came to the rescue with FAIRWAYS as my thinking was stuck on _ _ _ROADS. My favourite today was NATURE which had a nice surface (upright seemed fair enough to me) and a clever definition.
    Thanks Rufus for a well crafted puzzle and PeterO for a clear blog.

  12. We whisked through this too quickly for a Guardian cryptic, until a somewhat lengthy scratch of the head over Fairways – even after the golf link had struck us!

    Some nice clues, though – but the one that really irritated us was 16a. Just too obvious.

  13. A very rapid solve but enjoyable for all that. Didn’t care much for OPOSSUM but the rest was fine. FAIRWAYS was LOI.
    Thanks Rufus.

  14. Like WhiteKing @11, I solved this more quickly than is usual for a Rufus – and I think for the same reason. For a while I also visualised only –––ROADS going down where FAIRWAYS should go – until the answer hit me. I liked that clue.

    As for NATURE, I had doubts at first about AN going up, but when I realised that if AN would normally be written downwards in a Down clue, it should be reversed if the clue says ‘upright’. Perhaps not entirely convincing for everyone, but I thought it was OK.

    Thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  17. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. Enjoyable as usual. I had to choose between GRANDMA and Grandam, but the crossers helped, and I took a while parsing ADDICT. DERV in DERVISH is not part of my vocabulary but was dredged up from previous puzzles.

  18. I enjoyed this — a fine start to the week. I had two very minor quibbles: first, 12ac did not seem to me to be ideally clued. I would have preferred wordplay using something other than “possum” as an element of solving for OPOSSUM. (Perhaps I am missing something here? I have read and re-read PeterO’s comment, “do I detect a play on ‘can’ even if the person is wrong?”, but I’m afraid I don’t see what he is driving at.)
    Second, I wondered about the “for cover at night” portion of the clue in 25ac, and how that would lead the solver to eider *duck*, absent the crossers. I would have preferred that clue to read something like, “It flies, but gets down to get down”.
    But again, I liked the puzzle overall, especially FAIRWAYS (including the “long distance” part) — although I had the feeling that I have seen this clue before, or something similar to it — and CANDIDATES and AGNOSTIC, among others. Many thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  19. DaveMc @18

    Possum is Latin for I can.
    Your point about 25A is interesting. I think the clue is a good example of Rufus’ playfulness, and perhaps should be accepted and admired as such without over-analysis. However, to do just that, I find that it does not quite word as it stands, and his clues often fall frustratingly short in this way. I would zero in on ‘gets’ as the source of the trouble, and off the top of the head can only suggest “It flies, but beds down for cover at night” – hardly more satisfactory, but at least it adds a pun which appeals to me.

    Trismegistus @5

    Sour grapes, but your link shows that the temple is the area covered by the side-pieces of spectacles, whereas a diadem is more about the brow and (again) the top of the head. Again, an imprecision that may grate with some, and be accepted – indeed embraced – by others.

  20. I love Rufus and this was no exception; my only criticism would be that he is not as good at throwing us off the scent with anagrams as some of the other setters

  21. PeterO @19
    Thanks for the explanation of your blog comment “possum” — it’s always great to learn new things while (whilst) enjoying a crossword! If there was a play on words along those lines intended by Rufus for the Latin scholars out there, then the clueing in 12ac rises in my estimation!
    As for 25ac, notwithstanding my small quibble in @18 above, I found this clue quickly solveable, given that I already had EIDER and the crossers U and K, by employing my usual strategy for solving Rufus’ cryptic clues (which is, exactly as you suggest, grounded in acceptance and admiration of this setter’s playfulness): if the clue does not appear to have detailed and meticulous wordplay, I squint a bit and “lean away” from the clue, and then I usually can get on Rufus’ wavelength and see the answer. [However, I solved this one a bit differently than your suggestion above: I thought of a creature that flies, which, being an eider, “gets” to have (because it is already wearing it) “down” as its “cover” (as in bedcovers) when it sleeps every night. With this reading, the word “duck” went straight in — no need to ponder any number of other four-letter words with U and K as the second and fourth letters, which might follow EIDER!]

  23. I was puzzled by “temple” until I read Trismegistus @5’s explanation. Thanks!

    Overall, a very enjoyable (if not too difficult) puzzle. I share others’ dissatisfaction with OPOSSUM, but otherwise there was a great deal to like.

  25. The OPOSSUM doesn’t quite work for me. Possums and Opossums, whilst both marsupials and very similar in appearance, are distinct animals: Possums (Phalangeridae)are native to Australasia, whereas Opossums (Didelphimorphia) come from the Americas. Perhaps the word ‘can’ messes up the grammar a bit. But no matter.

    Fine work from Rufus, perhaps more misdirection than usual. Certainly I went astray in 21a for a while, putting in HORNE – a hidden word, thinking of ‘point’ in the sense of Cape Horn. I got the spelling wrong: I must have had on my mind that hilarious radio comedy series of the 1960s Round The Horne (enjoy!).

  26. FirmlyDirac @25

    Your first paragraph seems to be only partially true. According to Wikipedia, the name possum was applied to Australian Phalangeridae for their resemblance to the American opossums (or ‘possums or possums), and it is the latter animals that are known for playing possum.

Comments are closed.