Guardian Cryptic 27,330 by Puck

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27330.

A very enjoyable puzzle, with just one niggle in 6D. If there is a theme, I have missed it (which would be nothing new). There are certainly a couple of shall we say unusual surfaces.

Across
1 SEVENTEENTHS Fractions of number in choppers to put on uniform on board (12)
An envelope (‘on board’ as often is used to indicate IN – the envelope indicator – and SS, the outer part of the envelope)
of EVEN (‘uniform’) plus TEENTH, another envelope (in’) of N (‘number’) in TEETH (‘choppers’) – with ‘to put on’ indicating the order of the particles – all in SS (see above).
9 AHERN Female’s seduced by an ex-taoiseach (5)
An envelope (‘seduced by’) of HER (‘female’) in ‘an’. Bertie Ahern is the ‘ex-taoiseach’.
10 SCREAMING Doctor grimaces, describing onset of nausea as being all too loudly evident (9)
An envelope (‘describing’) of N (‘onset of Nausea’) in SCREAMIG, an anagram (‘doctor’) of ‘grimaces’.
11 DREADED Terrifying regular visitors to Dorset and Leeds (7)
Alternating letters (‘regular visitors to’) of ‘DoRsEt AnD LEeDs’.
12 HALCYON Happy as a kingfisher? (7)
Double definition: in Greek legend, Alcyone and her husband Ceyx were transformed into birds generally identified with kingfishers, and the name halcyon is applied to a genus of kingfishers. According to another legend, kingfishers build a floating nest at sea, and a period of calm around the winter solstice (halcyon days) allowed them to nest successfully; thus HALCYON means ‘happy’ particularly in the sense of peaceful, fortunate.
13 DISBURDENS Frees from tax in Norfolk town (10)
A whimsical formation from DIS BURDENS (‘tax in Norfolk town’). “The nearer you get to it, the more of the town Dis appears”.

An envelope (‘in’) of BURDEN (‘tax’) in DISS (‘Norfolk town’. “The nearer you get to it, the more of the town Diss appears”).
15, 3 LONG-NOSED Large dong one’s confused with a “far out” snout (4-5)
An anagram (‘confused’) of L (‘large’) plus ‘dong ones’.
18 PINK Leftward leaning flower (4)
Double definition.
19 SIX-SHOOTER Arm that’s hairy and small, short 3 (3-7)
Devious: two references to other answers. A charade of SIX (‘hairy’ is the answer to clue six down) plus S (‘small’) plus HOOTER (NOSED is the entry in ‘3’D; cut it ‘short’, it becomes NOSE. Americans might be more familiar with another colloquial meaning of HOOTER)
22 TWO-TONE 4,480-pound European, sounding like a siren (3-4)
A charade of TWO TON (‘4,480-pound’) plus E (‘European’).
24 NON-STOP Somewhat contrarily, spots no numbers around the clock (3-4)
A hidden (‘somewhat’) reversed (‘contrarily’) answer in ‘sPOTS NO Numbers’).
25 GENDARMES Nice men in uniform, mostly Greek S&M nuts (9)
An anagram (‘nuts’) of ‘Gree[k] minus the last letter (‘mostly’) plus S AND M (‘S&M’). ‘Nice’ for the cruciverbally useful city in France, of course.
26 FAIRY Puck? Female, 6, non-starter! (5)
A charade of F (‘female’) plus [h]AIRY (the answer to clue ‘6’D) minus its first letter (‘non-starter’).
27 PECCADILLOES Half-heartedly called police about son’s minor indiscretions (12)
A charade of PECCADILLOE, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘cal[l]ed’ minus an L (‘half-heartedly’) plus ‘police’; plus S (‘son’). The plural may be spelled with or without the penultimate E.
Down
1 STEVENSON From southern town, originally, and yet northern writer (9)
A charade of S T (‘Southern Town, originally) plus EVEN SO (‘and yet’) plus N (‘northern’).
2 VANADIUM Lead – a radioactive element? Not lead, it’s a metallic element (8)
A charade of VAN (‘lead’) plus [r]ADIUM (‘a radioactive element’) minus its first letter (‘not lead’). Neither ‘a’ forms part of the wordplay.
3   See 15
4 EARPHONES Listening devices from back of one shop near Barking (9)
An anagram (‘barking’ mad) of E (‘back of onE‘) plus ‘shop near’.
5 NEATLY One fat fly heads off, as ordered (6)
‘[o]ne [f]at [f]ly’ minus the words’ first letters (‘heads off’).
6 HAIRY Dangerous, so locked away at last (5)
I cannot quite make this work: ‘locked’ could be HAIRY, but ‘awaY at last’ seems to leave HAIR for ‘locked’ (or ‘so locked’) which looks like mismatched parts of speech.
7 BANDED Grouped together with a retired joiner (6)
An implied envelope: AND (a conjunction, ‘joiner’) in BED (‘retired’).
8 EGGNOG Drink for one that’s picked up medal (6)
A charade of E.G. (‘for one’) plus GNOG, a reversal (‘picked up’ in a down light) of GONG (‘medal’).
14 DRIVEN MAD Infuriated by golf shot, curse back-up supports (6,3)
A charade of DRIVE (‘golf shot’) plus NMAD, a reversal (‘back-up’ in a down light) of DAMN (‘curse’), with ‘supports’ confirming the order of the particles.
16 OUTSTRIPS Takes more off away kits? (9)
A charade of OUT (‘away’) plus STRIPS (‘kits’ – e.g. soccer uniforms). For OUTSTRIPS, Chambers gives one meaning “to outdo in denuding oneself”.
17 TO AND FRO Model T Ford, on a return trip? (2,3,3)
An anagram (‘model’) of ‘T Ford on a’.
18 POTAGE A poet raving about Goat’s Head soup (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of G (‘Goat’s head’) in POTAE, an anagram (‘raving’) of ‘a poet’.
20 REPAYS Fish, catching record yields (6)
An envelope (‘catches’) of EP (‘record’) in RAYS (‘fish’).
21 MOSAIC Operating system in iMac involved a collection of bits (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of OS (‘operating system’) in MAIC, an anagram (‘involved’) of ‘iMac’.
23 OUNCE Ring relative who’s missing lost cat (5)
A charade of O (‘ring’) plus UNC[l]E (‘relative’) minus the L (‘missing lost’ – not an abbreviation in Chambers), for the snow leopard, which seems to make more appearances in crosswords than in the wild.
24 NASAL Like first of nurses taking city hospital round (5)
A reversal (’round’) of LA (‘city’) plus SAN (‘hospital’).
completed grid

35 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,330 by Puck”

  2. Flavia @1
    Yes, of course. I should have remembered that, and for that matter checked with Wikipedia. Puck did his best to point me in the right direction.

  3. Thanks Puck and PeterO. A lot of fun. I took ‘so locked’ in 6d to be a slightly whimsical definition of hair. I couldn’t parse 8d but I see that to work ‘that’s’ has to read as ‘that has’ doesn’t it?
    I’m determined to find that theme. I’m sure it’s there. Back for another look.

  4. Thanks Peter. I suppose the nose is the theme. Thanks for the parsing of NASAL. I failed on your devious 19A, going for ‘pig-shooter’ (quite common around here); I didn’t in any case much like hairy here as well in the 6D answer, which you didn’t like. Enjoyed the rest of it, which wasn’t very testing.

  5. I googled PINK FAIRY(as it seemed a familiar pairing) and hit upon ARMADILLO and the floodgates open.SCREAMING HAIRY ARMADILLO, SIX BANDED ARMADILLO
    MOSAIC ARMADILLO STEVENSON ARMADILLO NASAL ARMADILLO TWO TONE ARMADILLO.(I think Halcyon Days are on the Armadillo labelO)

    You can rely on Puck (and Qaos, Brummie and Brendan) for skeletons in the cupboard.

  6. There is a NASAL ARMADILLO too.

    I used to live near Eye with the “South Folk” and Diss was just over the border (‘North Folk’
    But cudtoms control was at Carrow Road.

  7. And a LONG-NOSED AMRMADILLO
    I enjoyed this one and even managed to complete it (which is rare mid-week for me)

  9. Thank you, PeterO, for an excellent blog, allowing me to see the parsing when I got the answer but couldn’t quite see why. Thanks also to Puck. What an amazing theme!

  10. Thanks PeterO and Puck.

    I finished this themeless, of course, despite looking. I would never have found it.

    A bit slow on why NASAL; is this referring to the letter N in NURSES?

  11. Very well spotted copmus; I’d never have got there, despite knowing that there must be a theme, since I figured that the somewhat odd 1a must have been there for a reason.
    Thanks to S&B

  12. Amazing theme, which I missed as ever. The SIX in SIX-SHOOTER passed me by; I particularly liked SEVENTEENTHS, GENDARMES and PECCADILLOES. Many thanks to Puck and PeterO.

  13. Thanks Puck and PeterO

    I enjoyed this, though I was a bit irritated by 13a, as I had the better answer DISCHARGES until VANADIUM showed it to be wrong. Nice to see DISS and NICE taking their rightful places in crosswords again!

    Favourites were DRIVEN MAD (as I have been on golf courses many times!), TO AND FRO and MOSAIC. I didn’t parse BANDED, and I didn’t see the theme, of course.

    Baerchen @11. I’m not seeing the significance of SEVENTEENTHS. Could you explain, please?

  14. Thanks for the blogs! – two for the price of one today, so I’ll post my comment on both.

    A very good example of a puzzle where not spotting the theme did not detract from the enjoyment of solving it [apart from the frustration of knowing that there must be one, since it’s Puck]. I got as far as trying to make something of the fact that today is the SEVENTEENTH…

    I could get seriously worried about Puck’s seemingly boundless passion for armadillos: I really did think he’d exhausted that theme, which makes this puzzle all the more brilliant.

    Lots of lovely stories in the clues, as always.

    Many thanks for the fun, Puck – I do hope you weathered the storm.

  15. @muffin

    It just struck me that a “seventeenth” isn’t really a “thing”, is it?
    I mean, it’s like saying “I live twenty-seven thirty-ninths of a mile from my nearest pub”.
    So it seemed to me very much like a word – especially placed in the “prime position” of 1a – which had to be there for some sort of grid-filling reason.
    Perfectly good clue for it, though

  17. Sorry for the double blog. I had arranged to swap with Peter as I am starting a new job tomorrow, and didn’t want the distractions of a blog, but something went wrong, and now you have two for the price of one.

  22. Thanks Puck, PeterO and copmus @5.

    I didn’t know there were so many armadillos, although I did try looking at BANDED * with no good result. PECADILLOS looks wrong with an ‘e’ [armadillos!] but it seems to be in the dictionaries.

    Muffword @19; ha, ha, well ‘spotted!’

  23. Thank you Puck and PeterO.

    I missed the theme, well done Copmus @5, but that did not hinder my enjoyment of the puzzle. I failed to parse SIX-SHOOTER, PEA-SHOOTER did not seem likely, and AHERN had to be, I must have heard of him in the recent past.

    muffin @16, loonapick points out that there is a SEVEN BANDED ARMADILLO at 7d, SEVEN starts 1a…

  24. Also armadillo or armadilloes is in there as a single word if you run across arm down a and across dillo or dilloes.

  25. Not surprised I missed that theme – too much specialised knowledge required even though Puck has history. This seemed pretty tough at first but got easier once a few helpful crossers were in place.

    Thanks to Puck and PeterO (and to loonapick for the alternative blog)

  26. Ha, I missed the ARMADILLO theme, despite Puck’s careful tutoring over the years. I wouldn’t have known the types without looking them up, but should have spotted the Ninaed beasty.
    I loved the way the clues were written, so enjoyed the puzzle immensely.
    Re: HAIRY. I read it as Y (away at last) with HAIR on top (so locked).
    Cheers Puck. Got me again! Thanks also to the dual bloggers, PeterO and Loonapick.

  27. Great crossword; I totally missed the theme of course.

    baerchen: interesting question as to whether SEVENTEENTHS is a “thing”. My view is that any word in the English language is fine as an answer, and that the “thing” question only arises when we’re considering a phrase. For example, WHITE FLAG is ok while WHITE RUG is not.

  29. I thought I was detecting a bit of a theme when I found that Ahern was the 17th taoiseach in chronological order, but then could find no other seventeenths in the rest of the puzzle.

  30. 22a TWO-TONE. A metric tonne is 2204 pounds, so two of them would be 4408. Perhaps the digits got reversed for 2280? Also, that many pounds would be two tonnes, not two tons, so one should subtract an n, not add an e.

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO, and thanks indeed to Puck for the menagerie!63

  31. Valentine @30
    It’s exactly as PeterO says. A British “ton” is 20cwt, each of which is 112 lbs, hence 2240 lbs.

    A “metric tonne” is 1000 kg, so doesn’t have an exact equivalent in libs, though it’s roughly 2200.

  32. Firstly, my apologies all round for the duplicate blog; I had forgotten that I had agreed to swap with loonapick, so you will be getting me again tomorrow. Meanwhile, congratulations to loonapick for spotting the theme.

    phitonelly @26

    I think that your explanation of 6D HAIRY scotches my objection: “having HAIR on top” is a good equivalent to ‘locked’.

    poc @21

    As others have said on one or the other blog, and as I should have made clearer in my version, the definition in 24D NASAL refers to the sound of the first letter N of ‘nurse’.

  33. Thanks to Puck and several bloggers.

    I sniffed a theme early: it seems to me that themed puzzles are inevitably and inherently less, how shall I say, impenetrable? By which I mean not easy to get a bite into. (Michael Bentine had a great story about having a tomato passed to him by an elderly gent on a train who asked if he would mind “getting it started”).

    I noticed a similar effect recently with a 2001 A Space Odyssey theme. In that case spotting the theme was a help – but only if the theme was of interest, and the same applies here. In any event it took a while to get started and I enjoyed slow progress. In conclusion, I found it a somewhat gristly puzzle.

    I don’t mean this as a total negative, but there were times (cf. Epeolater@6’s comments on OUTSTRIPS, ff. on HAIRY, REPAYS) when I could find little to chew over.

    I have never before encountered the crossworthy town of DISS.

    Tasty morsels were: AHERN, DREADED, NON-STOP and TO AND FRO.

  34. PeterO@32: I feared as much. Hardly worth a discussion but to me a nasal sound means the ‘ng’ in ‘ing’, not the ‘n’ on its own.

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