The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27331.
Firstly, some apologies are due: to loonapick, with whom I arranged to swap yesterday’s blog for today’s, and then omitted to correct my calendar and forgot about the change; to Gaufrid, for putting a spanner in the works; and to the rest of you for the resulting confusion. At least yesterday’s Puck was a puzzle worthy of the double blog to which it was subjected. So here I am again, with the blog I was supposed to write. This Chifonie was very much a gentler offering, though by no means trivial. There is a certain lack of variety in the clues, and in particular somewhat more envelopes than might be ideal.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TAMEST | During audition, amateur is most uninteresting (6) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of AM (‘amateur’) in TEST (‘audition’). | ||
| 4 | CHAPEL | Husband put in place, wandering in religious venue (6) |
| An envelope (‘put in’) of H (‘husband’) in CAPEL, an anagram (‘wandering’) of ‘place’. | ||
| 9 | SMUT | Coarseness makes stomachs turn (4) |
| A reversal (‘makes … turn’) of TUMS (‘stomachs’). Rather familiar – indeed virtually the same clue appeared in Guardian 27315 by Tramp on September 29th last. | ||
| 10 | MINOR CANON | Island lacking a clergyman (5,5) |
| A charade of MINORCA (‘island’) plus NON (‘lacking’; either directly the Latin “not” – non compos mentis, for example, lacking a sound mind (to paraphrase slightly); or, derived, the prefix non-, indicating the absence of something). | ||
| 11 | DEMEAN | Clergyman keeps setter humble (6) |
| An envelope (‘keeps’) of ME (‘setter’) in DEAN (‘clergyman’). Definition as a verb. | ||
| 12 | ESOTERIC | Inscrutable Tories assembled in the City (8) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of SOTERI, an anagram (‘assembled’) of ‘Tories’ in EC (‘the city’). | ||
| 13 | PARSONAGE | Priest’s crime taking time in a clerical residence (9) |
| A charade of P (‘priest’) plus (the apostrophe s for has) ARSON (‘crime’) plus AGE (‘time’). | ||
| 15 | HEBE | Goddess makes man exist (4) |
| A charade of HE (‘man’) plus BE (‘exist’). The cup-bearer to the gods, and the goddess of youth. | ||
| 16 | HUGE | Mammoth‘s initially grey in colour (4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of G (‘initially Grey’) in HUE (‘colour’). | ||
| 17 | HAVE IT OUT | Argue over remedy for an aching tooth (4,2,3) |
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 21 | TIRAMISU | Is it a rum cocktail that’s sweet? (8) |
| An anagram (‘cocktail’) of ‘is it a rum’. That reminds me, I have some in the fridge, and I am due for my dessert. | ||
| 22 | SIGHTS | Moans about time in places of interest (6) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of T (‘time’) in SIGHS (‘moans’ approximately). | ||
| 24 | ACQUAINTED | Virtuoso keeps old-fashioned duke on friendly terms (10) |
| 25 | ARID | Dehydrated in the Kalahari Desert (4) |
| A hidden answer in ‘the KalahARI Desert’. | ||
| 26 | THEBES | Most of the elite found in ancient Egypt (6) |
| THE BES[t] (‘the elite’) minus the last letter (‘Most of’). Also found in Greece (more than once) and Illinois. | ||
| 27 | SPREAD | Study the odds before broadcast (6) |
| Not the expected word order. A charade of SP (starting price, ‘the odds’) plus READ (‘study’), with ‘before’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TEMPERA | Tone down a painter’s medium (7) |
| A charade of TEMPER (‘tone down’) plus ‘a’. | ||
| 2 | METRE | Distance Tory leader goes into pond (5) |
| An envelope (‘goes into’) of T (‘Tory leader’) in MERE (‘pond’). | ||
| 3 | SIMENON | Author of People In Israel (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of MEN (‘people’) in SION (‘Israel’ more specifically Jerusalem, and more often Zion). | ||
| 5 | HARROW | Hospital appears on direction indicator in London (6) |
| A charade of H (‘hospital’) plus ARROW (‘direction indicator’). My first reaction was that including HARROW ‘in London’ was a bit of a stretch, but since 1965, it has been a borough in Greater London. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? | ||
| 6 | PLACEMENT | Exercise about to strengthen soldiers’ disposition (9) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of LACE (‘to strengthen’ Oxford: “to add an ingredient, especially alcohol, to (a drink or dish) to enhance its flavor or strength”) plus MEN (‘soldiers’) in PT (‘exercise’). | ||
| 7 | LEONINE | A long time in the business of a beastly king (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of EON (‘a long time’) in LINE ([the business’. “What’s my line?”). | ||
| 8 | UNDERGRADUATE | Student‘s oddly guarded nature (13) |
| An anagram (‘oddly’) of ‘guarded nature’. | ||
| 14 | SIGNATURE | Endorsement for Sicilian leaders’ good temperament (9) |
| A charade of SI (‘SIcilian leaders’ – note the plural) plus G (‘good’) plus NATURE (‘temperament’). | ||
| 16 | HAIRCUT | Husband’s manner stung? That’s distressing? (7) |
| A charade of H (‘husband’) plus AIR (‘manner’) plus CUT (‘stung’), with a cryptic definition (‘dis-tressing’). | ||
| 18 | EASED UP | Player paused awkwardly and slowed down (5,2) |
| A charade of E (east, ‘player’ in bridge, for example) plus ASEDUP, an anagram (‘awkwardly’) of ‘paused’. | ||
| 19 | UNTRIED | Peacekeepers heard but not yet proven (7) |
| A charade of UN (‘peacekeepers’) plus TRIED (‘heard’). | ||
| 20 | DIVINE | Theologian to have main meal about six (6) |
| An envelope (‘about’) of VI (Roman numeral, ‘six’) in DINE (‘have main meal’). | ||
| 23 | GRAVE | German party is subdued (5) |
| A charade of G (‘German’) plus RAVE (‘party’; what interesting lives setters must lead). | ||
Had no problem with this except I couldn’t see a couple of bits of wordplay. I couldn’t see why LACE was strengthen since I didn’t think of lacing the punchbowl etc. And I couldn’t see how MINOR CANON worked since I read the clue as “island lacking a” giving MINORC and then a mysterious ANON from…where. But it couldn’t be anything else.
Thanks Chifonie for a gentle canter and PeterO for getting the blog up before us Californians go to bed
A gentle stroll with a sting in the tail, for me at least. I probably spent more time on HARROW (I, too, don’t think of it as being part of London) and MINOR CANON than I did on all the rest of the puzzle put together.
Thanks, Chifonie and PeterO.
A bit of a breeze but well clued and I particularly enjoyed MINOR CANON and HAIRCUT. Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO.
Blessed if I know how anybody gets “EC” from “the city”. I got it from the crossers, but kept trying NY and LA to no avail. I suppose it makes sense to British solvers, but pretty opaque to the rest of us.
Greg@4: Yes, I can’t understand the puzzlement. Postcodes in the City of London are prefixed EC and also WC (I think).
WC prefix is City of Westminster EC is City of London
drofle @5 and Greg @4,
All but a tiny bit of WC is outside the City, but EC roughly coincides with the City of London. This may not be common knowledge to those farther afield, but “city” is a very common crossword convention for EC.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
“Much gentler but my no means trivial” sums it up for me. Most of it went in easily enough and half a dozen resisted – especially DIVINE – but that was because I’d put tiramAsu in – careless again! Favourite was HAIRCUT and HUGE took much longer than it should have.
And thank you Eileen for listing the Puck armadillo puzzles yesterday – I’ve printed them off and at first glance they’re going to be a challenge – even knowing the theme.
Thank you Chifonie and PeterO.
All pretty vanilla as we expect from Chifonie, though MINOR CANON took me longer since the solution was unfamiliar to me.
Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO
Thanks Chifonie, PeterO
Though it’s all quite straightforward, I always admire Chifonie’s elegant clues. I liked SIMENON, SIGNATURE, HAIRCUT.
MINOR CANON was in a Times puzzle not long ago. I can’t remember the clue exactly; it was similar, but split it MINORCAN/ON using ‘Spaniard’ or ‘islander’ for the first half. Anyway, not having come across Minor Canons, I put in Major Canon, which worked just as well, but stuffed up the rest of the puzzle. Merriam Webster (though not Chambers) has Major Canon as a thing.
Easy enough though I didn’t much like 24a. I wouldn’t say that ACQUAINTED means “on friendly terms” and Chambers does not define it so. I’ve been acquainted with some unfriendly people over the years.
Thank you Chifonie for an enjoyable puzzle and PeterO for blogging in loonapick’s place.
Favourite clues were those for MINOR CANON, HUGE, HAVE IT OUT, TEMPERA, PLACEMENT and HAIRCUT.
Slightly grumpy about the clue for MINOR CANON (which I didn’t know). Why put in an extraneous ‘a’ as the clue would be fine without it (and not so misleading).
Thanks Chifonie; I got a bit bogged down in the SW corner. I didn’t realise that divine as a noun could have the meaning of a theologian.
Thanks PeterO; in 24 I think you meant another envelope rather than a charade.
Thanks to Chifonie and PeterO. Very enjoyable. I needed help parsing MINOR CANON but had no trouble with PLACEMENT-lace or HARROW (here in the US I just assumed it was part of Greater London). HAIRCUT was my LOI (I regularly get misled by “tressing” clues). From previous puzzles I knew EC = “city” and SP = “odds” but thanks to PeterO I now understand that the latter = “special price.”
For 5D I had Hendon – H plus “End On” which could well be a direction indicator on a packing case! Thought haircut was very elegant.
[Delfini @15, are you called David and do you have a brother named Danilo?]
Thanks both,
A pleasant solve although I put in minor manor (unparsed) for 10 hoping it was some term for a parish without an incumbent. I think the right answer is very clever.
Like Delfina I had Hendon at 5d which because it works just as well and fits the crosser at 12ac meant I never got 10ac. Otherwise all slotted in steadily. Thanks Chifonie and PeterO.
Thanks Chifonie and PeterO
I had the same problem with MINOR CANON as paul @1 and others. I also confidently wrote in ISIS for 15a, and was quite surprised when it was wrong.
Favourites were SPREAD and HAIRCUT. “Player” for E in 18d was feeble – even worse than “partner” for a bridge player the other day!
Liked HAIRCUT-distressing: ouch!- and most of the rest of it. I’m another who can’t spell TIRAMISU so DIVINE took quite a long time.
A gentle solve.
Thanks Chifonie.
Enjoyed this a lot. Many thanks to Chifonie and PeterO. Just one quibble re 12: is inscrutable a good(?) synonym of ISO…?
Sorry: ESO…
I think SP is not “special price” but “starting price”
I enjoyed this. I concur with PeterO’s assessment of this puzzle (seconded by others) as “a gentler [than yesterday’s trickier Puck] offering, though by no means trivial”. I thought there were many excellent surfaces that sounded like things one might conceivably hear in the world outside of crosswordland (outside of crossworld?). My favorites included HAIRCUT, MINOR CANON, ACQUAINTED, and my CotD, HAVE IT OUT — which seemed Rufusian to me but topped my list because I got a chuckle when the penny dropped.
Many thanks to Chifonie and PeterO.
Thanks as always to Chifonie and PeterO: a chewy non-theme treat.
Muffin@19
I agree about the bridge references. A layer of crypsis too far perhaps.
I’m surprised about the acceptance of HAIRCUT which many commenters liked. I thought it a dodgy clue using the ‘s. I did like the definition part though.
@25; I wondered if there was a sort of clerical theme. Several references in the clues and a few in the answers.
Thank you Chifonie for a gentle solve that only needed one ‘cheat’ to get going (1A).