Guardian Cryptic 27,337 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27337.

Paul generally delivers good value, and this is no exception. The wordplay in 11A IN MANY WAYS took me a time to see, and there were several amusements to be found in the solving.
Across
1 PEGASUS In drink, elder knocked over, seeing stars (7)
A reversal (‘knocked over’) of SUSAGEP, an envelope (‘in’) of SAGE (‘elder’) in SUP (‘drink’), for the constellation.
5 GROUPIE Awful rogue bedding good fan (7)
An envelope (‘bedding’) of PI (‘good’) in GROUE, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘rogue’.
9 PROEM Preamble, introduction to read in literary composition (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of R (‘introduction to Read’) in POEM (‘literary composition’).
10 REARRANGE Switch back selection (9)
A charade of REAR (‘back’) plus RANGE (‘selection’).
11 IN MANY WAYS To a great degree, where taste initially is found in sweetness? (2,4,4)
The T (‘Taste initially’) in ‘sweetness’ is surrounded by letters which are all points of the compass (MANY WAYS).
12 POOR Unsatisfactory track, non-starter (4)
[s]POOR (‘track’) minus its first letter (‘non-starter’).
14 PROCTOLOGIST Entering sport, degenerate retaining cards originally – general idea behind poker? (12)
A charade of PROCTOLO, a double envelope (‘entering’and ‘retaining’) of C (‘Cards originally’) in ROT (‘degenerate’) in POLO (‘sport’); plus GIST (‘general idea’).
18 PROTESTATION Toper sloshed, post complaint (12)
A charade of PROTE, an anagram (‘sloshed’) of ‘toper’ plus STATION (‘post’).
21 ROOK Sell a pup to bird (4)
Double definition: ‘sell a pup’ is swindle.
22 MY PLEASURE What do I find sensually gratifying? Don’t mention it! (2,8)
Double definition.
25 REDBREAST Winger starred with flankers in blue pants (9)
An anagram (‘pants’) of ‘starred’ plus BE (‘flankers in BluE‘).
26 INERT Where Victoria found love, priest’s vestment not required, still (5)
IN [alb]ERT (‘where Victoria found love’) minus ALB (‘priest’s vestment not required’).
27 BARRACK Jeer, as local put on stretcher (7)
A charade of BAR (‘local’) plus RACK (‘stretcher’, instrument of torture).
28 SUNNIER Muslim queen is brighter (7)
A charade of SUNNI (‘Muslim’) plus ER (‘queen’).
Down
1 POPLIN Call on someone to gather first of licensed material (6)
An envelope (‘to gather’) of L (‘first of Licensed’) in POP IN (‘call on someone’).
2 GLOOMY Number one from George, John and Paul’s dismal (6)
Nothing to do with Ringo. A charade of G (‘number one from George’) plus LOO (‘john’) plus MY (‘Paul’s’).
3 SEMINARIES Where potential ministers learn caution ultimately, dividing two houses? (10)
An envelope (‘dividing’) of N (‘cautioN ultimately’) in SEMI plus ARIES (‘two houses’ of different kinds).
4 SCREW Do turn (5)
Double definition – a companion piece to 21A ROOK.
5 GRAVY BOAT A very empty bowl firstly filling old tin vessel on dinner table (5,4)
An envelope (‘filling’) of ‘a’ plus VY (‘VerY empty’) plus B (‘Bowl firstly’) in GROAT (‘old tin’, a coin of four old pence).
6 OURS Top squares belonging to Guardian supporters (4)
[f]OURS (‘squares’ of twos) minus the first letter (‘top’).
7 PANGOLIN One has to record sleep after climbing peak in Nepal one’s scaled (8)
A charade of PANGOLI, a reversal (‘after climbing’ in a down light) of I (‘one’) plus LOG (‘record’) plus NAP (‘sleep’); plus N (‘peak in Nepal’), for the scaly anteater.
8 EXECRATE Loathe flower box (8)
A charade of EXE (‘flower’, a river mostly in Devon) plus CRATE (‘box’).
13 CORONATION Bill’s partner welcoming king before state ceremony (10)
An envelope (‘welcoming’) of R (rex, ‘king’) in COO (‘Bill’s partner’ – to “bill and coo” is to behave with amorous tenderness, like doves); plus NATION (‘state’).
15 CUTTY SARK Injured boxer not on old ship – this one? (5,4)
A charade of CUT (‘injured’) plus TYS[on] (‘boxer’) minus ON (‘not on’) plus ARK (‘old ship’), for the cutter preserved in Greenwich, London.
16 SPARE RIB Cut of meat, free bait (5,3)
A charade of SPARE (‘free’) plus RIB (‘bait’, tease).
17 DO-GOODER One’s always helping to improve, using very bad grammar? (2-6)
Using DO GOODER to mean ‘improve’…
19 HUMERI Initially brought from river on island, bones (6)
A charade of HUM[b]ER (‘river’) minus the B (‘initially Bought from’) plus I (‘island’).
20 LETTER One giving permission, I say? (6)
Double definition – ‘I’ is an example of a letter.
23 LOTUS Flower planted in plot, usually (5)
A hidden answer in ‘pLOT USually’
24 ORCA Huge beast thirty seconds away from island? (4)
[min]ORCA (‘island’) minus MIN (‘thirty seconds’, half minute).

completed grid

53 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,337 by Paul”

  1. Longtime lurker, first post. I think the definition for 14 across is ‘behind poker’ not just any old poker.

  2. Thanks Paul and PeterO! I agree Geoff in US@1, with any other compiler I would say it was just poker but with Paul I’m sure you are correct. Lots of fun throughout, I particularly liked LETTER, POOR, REDBREAST and ORCA. Wasted time trying to put Ben in for Bill’s partner before the penny dropped. And, of course, the behind poker raised a naughty giggle. And, so good not to have a nugatory theme!!

  3. Thanks Peter. Yep, the behind poker was a guffaw, and comes soon after the member caught in the zip in Paul’s previous puzzle. Thanks for explaining for me 11A and 19D which went in soon enough but with a frown and a shrug. PANGOLIN is a real regular in these puzzles as is pants=mad: never seen these elsewhere in the world.

  4. I’m not sure that one question mark at the end of 11 across is enough! Well done PeterO for parsing it. I did enjoy 17 and 2nd though.

  6. Yes, PROCTOLOGIST is brilliant. Also loved GROUPIE, CORONATION, DO-GOODER and HUMERI. Many thanks to Paul and PeterO (especially for parsing IN MANY WAYS, which was completely beyond me).

  7. As others have said, PROCTOLOGIST was the highlight.

    Now I’m thinking of similar methods for cluing IN MANY WAYS: “… where lunacy initially is found in senselessness?”

    Hmm… well you get the idea…

    Thanks, Paul and PeterO.

  8. Feeling miserable this morning for various reasons, some of them connected with the Government.
    14ac lightened my mood to a ludicrous extent (though the vision of Jeremy *unt that came into my head was regrettable).

    Thank you, Paul

  9. Paul is the best! I failed in the NW corner as I had FRONT (‘R’ in ‘FONT’) for 9 across. Still grinning at ‘behind poker’.

  12. I enjoyed this more than some other recent Pauls – surfaces a bit more concise and meaningful, with maybe just 26a and 7d a bit of a throwback.

    I’m sure I remember the PROCTOLOGIST having a poke somewhere else recently (in a crossword, of course). False memory syndrome, perhaps?

  13. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. I too needed help parsing IN MANY WAYS and much enjoyed PROCTOLOGIST, and “sell a pup” for ROOK was new to me. I had trouble with HUMERI (because Humber was not on my mental list for rivers in crossword land) and ORCA (because I was thinking of Majorca, not Minorca). Lots of fun here.

  14. ‘Behind poker’ is very funny, and typical Paul.

    There’s an error in 3dn though. Aries is not a house in astrology, it’s a sign of the Zodiac. Houses and signs both divide the Zodiac into 12 areas, but they are different divisions and so not equivalent. This error has begun to appear quite often in cryptics of late, which is a shame as each appearance seems to give it more invalid credibility. It is a convenient enough device for setters, but just plain wrong.

  15. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Paul seems to be back to be back to his former self (no further comment)
    While the CUTTY SARK is on display at GREENWICH I believe it was a clipper not a cutter.

  16. 15d – the Cutty Sark isn’t a cutter, it’s a clipper. Though I’m sure cut as a synonym for clip could be worked into a future clue…

  18. I thought it was going to be a struggle as on the first pass I got to 23d before solving one! However it turned out to be good fun as I solved it from the bottom up – no pun intended! Like Trailman@12 I have a vague recollection of 14a having appeared relatively recently – in a Paul or Tramp? BeeryH will no doubt help out.
    There were several where I needed PeterO’s to parsing 11a (I’d never have got), 26a, 6d (I’m still not sure I get it) and 19d. And the new word today for me was PROEM.
    Thanks Paul and PeterO.

  19. Definitely one of Paul’s better ones – pretty tough in places but very entertaining.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  20. WhiteKing @18 Maybe no pun intended but jolly amusing nonetheless.

    Loved this but needed to come here to find the parsing for IN MANY WAYS. I don’t think I’ve seen this ruse before and I love it when, after hundreds of thousands of cryptics, someone finds yet another fresh way to obfuscate.

    Don’t always think he’s quite fair but he’s always fun, thanks Paul.

    Nice week, all.

  21. Trailman @12, WhiteKing @18 – I can’t find any previous instances of PROCTOLOGIST. These were the closest I could find:

    Shed 27246: Looking up passages in love diary, month before: snoop around (10)
    Crucible 26285: They analysed stool and got scrip (13)

    Maybe it was in another paper, the Quiptic or the Genius…

  22. A very fun puzzle from Paul today. Like WhiteKing @18, my FOI was LOTUS. Too many clever clues to mention them all, but my favorites included PROCTOLOGIST (for all of the reasons mentioned by others above), GLOOMY, REDBREAST, INERT, and ORCA, and my CotD is a toss-up between IN MANY WAYS, for the pleasurable PDM it provided when the mists parted and I got the parsing, and LETTER, which I found to be excellent in every way. The only holdup today was with ROOK, my LOI, because I am not familiar with the expression “sell a pup” . . . But there seemed to be no other answer that was potentially suitable, so I guessed (and subsequently confirmed by Google) the “swindle” meaning. “A pig in a poke” is the expression I am much more familiar with. Many thanks to Paul and PeterO and to the other commenters. This is shaping up to be a great week of puzzles, and I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow and Friday bring.

  23. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    I didn’t have many done when I had to go out this morning, but it went steadily on second look. I enjoyed it more than most of Paul’s with PROCTOLOGIST (of course) and CUTTY SARK favourites. I had no idea of the parsing of IN MANY WAYS.

  25. Thanks beery @21. Maybe it was just in my nightmares … but the Shed wasn’t too long ago, so it was probably that.

  26. Didn’t get the parsing to IN MANY WAYS or PROCTOLOGIST but the latter was quite brilliant. I also liked SEMINARIES, POPLIN and GLOOMY. In fact I liked pretty much all of this. One of Paul’s best!
    On a sadder note: Fats Domino RIP.
    Thanks Paul.

  29. Yes muffin I wasted time on that idea. See my note @2
    Also, I hope I am not infringing any rules but there is a clue in this week’s Prize Philistine, which is a candidate for clue of the year IMHO!

  30. Sorry s.panza – missed that. 16a in the Prize, perhaps?
    Clue of the year for me was in last week’s Quiptic (of all places!)
    Exhausted by current Tory tactic to stay in government? (4,2)

  32. Trismegistus and kevin, above. I always though cutty sark was a short shirt worn by witch Nannie Dee …

    Brilliant puzzle from Paul – and thanks to PeterO.

  33. Anyone else held up like me by putting GULL instead of ROOK for 21A? A plausible alternative, I felt with no crossers.

    Like everyone else, enjoyed the puzzle a lot, with all the same favourites as those listed above – but thanks Peter O for several parsings, especially the brilliant IN MANY WAYS.

    And thanks as always to Paul who rarely fails to amuse.

  34. My first one in was GLOOMY which put me in a great mood (excellent clue). I loved GROUPIE, PROCTOLOGIST, LOTUS, and many more. Excellent puzzle.

    I had a full grid but I am very grateful to PeterO for the explanations of 11a, 21a, 26a and 19d. Hmm, seems a lot.

    And many thanks Paul for excellent entertainment

  35. Among other things, this puzzle offered the latest appearance of one of The Three Most Important Rivers in Crosswordland, in 8d.

  36. Sorry to be thick folks, but we still don’t understand IN MANY WAYS… Could someone indulge me and explain it in idiot proof terms?!! Other than that, loved it, esp PROCTOLOGIST…

    Anyone able to help?!

    Thanks Paul and PeterO.

  39. Very tough crossword indeed. No easy clues to give average solvers like me a way in. I don’t really like this level of crossword elitism. It is a shame as so far this week the crosswords have been accessible,in that they’ve contained enough clues to give people a start.

  40. I usually do quite well with Paul, but that one seemed to be from a different planet. I set a ‘cryptic clue of the week’ for my pupils at school but not one of these will be suitable, such is the obscurity of the crossword-ese and answers. Thanks for the explanations, less so Paul for the meta-crypticity…

  41. Simon @ 39: I generally find Paul quite tricky, but today was easier for me than most of his puzzles. All rather unpredictable.

  42. Thanks to Paul and PeterO

    Cryptic crosswords are, er, cryptic. To solve them you have, sometimes, to stretch the bounds of your thought patterns, but do remember that they are, after all, set by humans like (most of) the rest of us. There’s nothing elitist about setters in my experience.

    No easy clues today? Well, 5A, 12 & 6 were write-ins. It’s all a matter of practice and learning the setters’ techniques. We all have to start somewhere, and you can’t expect to start doing them and rattle through a Bonxie or an Enigmatist a couple of months later. Plus it’s a game, and the world won’t grind to a haltif you don’tfinish. Just enjoy the challenge.

  43. I enjoyed this and completed it but sympathise with speckledjim@39 and drofle@40 because I felt much the same about last week’s Paul. Lots of clues that I would never have got from the wordplay alone and where the definition was not obvious, meaning that failure get many crossers meant failing to solve.
    I too tried BEN and GULL first and failed to parse 11a and 19d. I thought that EXECRATE only meant “denounce” (possibly as a consequence of hating) but Chambers also gives “detest” so I was wrong.
    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  45. Simon S @42
    Hear hear! Very nicely said.
    But 6d seemed to me to be just a bit trickier than “write-in” level! However, to further support your point, I would add to your list of “easier” clues — ones having (1) wordplay that is reasonably straightforward and manageable, and not too devious, (2) a definition portion that is also pretty identifiable, and (3) answers that don’t require specialized knowledge or consultation of a dictionary — the following: 23, 16, 22, 18, 10, 28, and 1d, and possibly a few others besides!

  46. Simon S @42 and DaveMc @45 nicely proving Simon @39’s point. He says he found it difficult to get started (me too). You then provide a list of all the clues that were apparently write-ins, despite the fact that he has provided you with evidence that they weren’t. Why not just tell him he’s not worthy to attempt the crossword?
    It would be fascinating to know what the balance is these days between those who do the crossword because it comes with their newspaper (and who might tend to prefer approachability) and those whose only contact with the Guardian is the on-line crossword (who might tend more towards wanting a challenge). From the regular evidence of this website, there are plenty in the latter group who consider it a fundamental characteristic of a cryptic crossword that it should be beyond the wit of the average person, and if the average person has spent their £2 and feel short-changed they should keep quiet.

  47. Van Winkle @46

    Not sure if you’ll ever “travel back in time” to this blog to check for any replies to your post, but you have characterized the comments from Simon S @42 and Me @45 about 180 degrees off from what I think Simon S said, and what I certainly intended to say (and if I failed to express myself adequately, shame on me). I did not state that the clues that I enumerated were write-ins, or even that they were easy. I said that they were “easier” (in quotation marks), and explained what I meant by that. The last thing I would ever think or say is that any other person is “unworthy” to attempt the crossword! To the contrary, I was attempting to second Simon S’s point that this is a game — one that the people on this board love to play — and that, like so many other games (take football, or soccer as we call it here in the U.S., for example), the more one plays, the more one’s skills increase … AND the more one becomes attuned to the subtleties of the game that make it even more pleasurable than before. The clues I mentioned were ones that were, in my opinion (you or others may disagree), among the more accessible and less devious ones. This was NOT to say that a person would have to be inept or “unworthy” to possibly find any of them challenging, but rather, to say that, if anyone who attempted this puzzle failed to solve any of them and then came here and read PeterO’s explanations (and perhaps some of the further discussions contained in the comments), that person might say “Oh, now I see what the setter did” and perhaps in doing do add a new tool to their solver’s toolbelt that might aid them in the next cryptic they attempt. That is certainly the way I have experienced things as I have been gradually acquiring more skill at, and increasing my love of, this game.

  50. DaveMc @47 – you do seem to be confirming the impression initially given that anyone finding a Guardian crossword too difficult should aspire to a higher level of competence rather than complain about its approachability. There are plenty of us who just want an amusing diversion that will fill a few minutes after we have finished reading the newspaper and do not need reassurance that we in the foothills of a great journey that will lead us to the summit of Mount Enigmatist.

  51. Van Winkle @50
    Thanks for your reply. I think I can admit to the truth of your first sentence, provided, that to the extent that I take this view it does not come from a judgmental or negative place, but rather, only from a place of enthusiasm and excitement to be (in cyberspace, anyway) amongst others who share, to a greater or lesser degree, my enjoyment of this pastime. As for your second sentence, point taken. I can dig that.

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