Guardian Cryptic 27,353 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found athttps://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27353.

Very heavy on the cryptic definitions, even by Rufus’ standards.

Across
1 PHARAOHS Their resting places have their points (8)
Cryptic definition; I suppose that the reference is to the Egyptian pyramids, although most have lots their points (but some are aligned to compass points), and, of course, only a few pharaohs had pyramid tombs.
5 SMACKS Spanking vessels? (6)
Cryptic definition, for want of a better label.
9 PRESSURE Force regularly used on a group (8)
This puzzles me: I suppose the reference is to peer pressure, but I would have said that it is used by a group on an individual, rather than on the group.
10 ALUMNI Students of the past? (6)
Cryptic definition.
12 RESIN About to fall from grace, by gum (5)
A charade of RE (‘about’) plus SIN (‘fall from grace’).
13 ATHENAEUM A new menu Thea provided for the club (9)
A charade of ‘a’ plus THENAEUM, an anagram (‘new … provided’) of ‘menu Thea’.
14 HEADMISTRESS Possibly she dreams it’s a principal post (12)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘she dreams its’.
18 ANAESTHETIST A hospital number (12)
Cryptic definition.
21 CAFETERIA Order ice after a place to eat is found (9)
An anagram (‘order’) of ‘ice after a’.
23 FARCE Actors perform foolishly in it (5)
Crypticish definition.
24 LAIRDS Number with first-class ways to travel for landowners (6)
A charade of L (Roman numeral 50, ‘number’) plus A I (A 1, that is, ‘first-class’) plus RDS (roads, ‘ways’).
25 BARRACKS Private quarters (8)
Cryptic definition, and one of the better ones to my mind.
26 SHEARS Try to get aboard cutters (6)
An envelope (the implied IN) of HEAR (‘try’) IN SS (‘aboard’).
27 ADHERENT He will be embraced by wildly ardent disciple (8)
An envelope (”will be embraced by’) of ‘he’ in ADRENT, an anagram (‘wildly’ – but not very wildly) of ‘ardent’.
Down
1 PAPERS Press for identity documents? (6)
Double definition.
2 AGEISM Is game playing a bias against the elderly? (6)
An anagram (‘playing’) of ‘is game’.
3 ABSENTEES Sailor told to go on return watch for missing persons (9)
A charade of AB (‘sailor’) plus SENT (‘told to go’) plus EES, a reversal (‘on return’) of SEE (‘watch’).
4 HERE AND THERE Sporadic localities? (4,3,5)
Cryptic double definition.
6 MELON See chaps without fruit (5)
An envelope (‘without’) of LO (‘see’) in MEN (‘chaps’).
7 COMPETES Favourite comes round and takes part in the event (8)
An envelope (’round’) of PET (‘favourite’) in ‘comes’.
8 SKIRMISH Small party conflict (8)
Definition.
11 CHRISTIAN AID It is a rich and varied source of charity (9,3)
An anagram (‘varied’) of ‘it is a rich and’.
15 TASK FORCE Service men who have a job to do (4,5)
Cryptic definition.
16 CATCALLS Tom rings, expressing disapproval (8)
A charade of CAT (‘Tom’, by example) plus CALLS (‘rings’), with an allusive “definition”.
17 HALF-TIME The rest of the players (4-4)
Cryptic definition.
19 CRECHE Where children are to be found between two and five? (6)
Definition; if there is a cryptic element, it is that ‘between two and five’ must be taken as ages, not time of day, but ‘children’ makes the correct reading the more likely.
20 TEA SET Domestic service? (3,3)
Cryptic definition.
22 TUDOR Number in tour around royal house (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of D (Roman numeral 500, ‘number’) in TUOR, an anagram (‘around’) of ‘tour’.
completed grid

42 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,353 by Rufus”

  1. Yes, as you say PeterO a bit heavy on the cryptic definitions. I usually disagree with the majority here because I enjoy Rufus’s puzzles and often find great wit in them. Not so much today; 17d and 18a I seem to have seen quite recently, and 8d does not seem to be cryptic at all – unless a KIRMISH is a party in some out of the way part of the world. But the week is underway and I’m sure we have some fine fare coming up. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

  2. I’m very much in agreement with s.panza@1 on SKIRMISH – it really makes very little sense. Small conflict, yes, but party?? On the other hand, 1ac raised a laugh and 14ac was an above-average anagram.

  3. I agree, Letzbefair@2, 1a PHARAOHS was amusing. It took me a while to see it.

    My only delays were putting in LEMON for 6d and THREE for 22d, which when the crossers wouldn’t work I rethought and quickly amended.

    Like s.panza@1, I felt there was some repetition of recent clues/solutions with the “number” in 18a and the “players’ rest” in 17d feeling very familiar – similarly with 3d ABSENTEES.

    A pleasant enough puzzle, though I am still disappointed that 8d SKIRMISH seems to have no cryptic element in the parsing. The only other one I couldn’t parse was 26a SHEARS, so I appreciated your blog for this, PeterO.

    Thanks to Rufus and PO..

  6. Popped in to see if I’d missed something with 19d. Seems not.

    For those asking about 5d, Skirmish is a double definition – “Small party” refers to a small group of soldiers i.e. “Skirmish Party”; then “conflict” as a synonym for skirmish.

  7. @6
    I’m afraid I can’t agree that SKIRMISH is a double definition.
    It is, as PeterO says, a “definition”, albeit one given an almost imperceptible tweak

  8. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    After a run of Rufus puzzles that I really enjoyed, this was one of his worst ever – PHARAOHS, PRESSURE, FARCE, SKIRMISH, CRECHE and BARRACKS are all feeble. Is “around” a valid anagram indicator (in TUDOR)?

    I did like CATCALLS and SHEARS.

  9. I parsed 9a PRESSURE like passerby @5.

    I parsed 8d SKIRMISH as a definition that is cryptic insofar as the surface reading is “a small conflict within a (political) party” whereas a skirmish is more of “a conflict between small (warring) parties”.

    Can anyone give any insight into 5a SMACKS? I guessed it from the crossers but I have no idea how vessels are involved.

    Oh, and this was actually a DNF for me as I guessed PET SIT for 20d, pet-sitting being a service relating to domestic animals. I’d also toyed with BED SIT. Maybe it’s just a Monday morning thing, but I’m grumpy about the weak cryptic with only three very unhelpful crossers for confirmation.

    Thanks to PeterO and Rufus.

  11. Thanks PeterO.

    My only problem with PHARAOHS was spelling the wretched word – I always have to look it up.

    I think the kirmish brigade are making far too much of this straightforward clue…it’s Rufus, remember.

    I see the the old numb-er gag is given yet another outing. I suppose there must be someone left on the planet who will fall for it.

    Not quite sure how the domestic service clue defines TEA SET but I supposed it’s all there.

    A little on the drab side from Rufus this morning for my taste but no complaints.

    Nice week, all.

  12. As usual the cryptic defs held me up a little, and the unhelpful grid meant this wasn’t my quickest Rufus solve. Had PET SIT for 20d ruled out by the check button.

    Thanks to Rufus and PeterO

  15. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    I suppose the crypticity of SKIRMISH is supposed to relate to a conflict at a small party.

    I found the interconnection of three or four cryptic definitions in the SE corner slowed me down a bit.

    I quite liked HALF-TIME.

  16. Dan Milton @4

    You might (just) be right. When writing the blog, I rejected KIRMISH for ‘party’ because I could find no justification for the variant of KERMIS, and the definition ‘party’ for a fair or carnival is rather oblique. However, on further digging, I find that the OED lists KIRMISH as one of many variants, but gives no example of that spelling. As an archaic borrowed word, it is hardly surprising that there have been several variants, and it may just mean that someone once used that form. In whatever form, the word is on the obscure side – I was familiar with it principally from the borrowing into another language, the film title La Kermesse Héroïque (and it must be 50 years since I saw the film). Is this what Rufus intended? It lifts the clue out of the straight definition, but it strikes me as too obscure even for Azed.

  17. The American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders (soon to appear at the 2017 London Jazz Festival) made a small statement about spelling reform when he adopted that forename in the 1960s (he was born Farrell Sanders). There is no doubt that ‘pharaoh’ was what he had in mind (put there by Sun Ra, one of his mentors at the time), but once it was capitalised as a proper name ‘Pharoah’ became a perfectly acceptable spelling for anyone who knows a bit about jazz.

  18. I hope Pharoah Sanders is better at the London Jazz Festival than he was at Cheltenham a couple of years ago!
    SKIRMISH was my LOI and I can’t say I liked it much. I’m sure the more elaborate explanations of it are wrong- interesting though they were. Otherwise, this was Ok but not one of this setter’s best.
    Thanks Rufus.

  19. Peter @18. He is headlining a Coltrane tribute concert this Saturday at the Barbican (the venue where Alice Coltrane failed to appear in 2007, having died soon after the tickets went on sale).

  20. I got things messed up by putting in CHRISTMAS PUD rather than CHRISTIAN AID: rich and varied, and a source of charity if you find a sixpence in there!! Like others, I thought there were a few dodgy clues today (SKIRMISH particularly). PHARAOHS was a bit odd, but fun. Rufus’s unique take on cluing was evident!

  23. My interpretation of the (cryptic aspect of 8d was the same as Robi @15, with the definition being the full three word phrase. I had more misgivings about PRESSURE than I did about SKIRMISH. I thought PHARAOHS was amusing, once the penny dropped — looking at the crossers for that clue, I was concerned one of them might be wrong. LOI for me was CRECHE, because in the US that word is used only to refer to the Christmas manger, but after staring at the crossers for a bit, I recalled (probably from a past Guardian cyptic, maybe even a past Rufus) the UK meaning of a day nursery. Many thanks to Rufus and PeterO and commenters.

  24. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. It’s Rufus on Monday so I anticipate cryptic definitions, go with initial impressions, and use the check button – in this case with CRECHE, SKIRMISH, and PRESSURE. No complaints.

  27. John E @25 and MarkN @26

    Sorry, but I do not think either suggestion amounts to a definition: certainly, the two words are semantically related, but I can neither find a dictionary to give the definition, nor think of a sentence in which the two might be used interchangeably. If I am wrong, give me an example, and so be it. As my blog suggested, I was not happy with the CD description – perhaps “definition and allusion” would have been better.

  28. SMACKS = “spanking” worked for me. Perhaps “spanking” has a more restricted meaning where you are, PeterO (“brand spanking new” for example)?

  29. When I saw 18a I immediately thought of anaesthetic. I counted the letters and found insufficient. Then I suspected he was wanting the name of a specific substance e.g. ether. I had to wait until I had a few crossers for the penny to drop.

  30. “You shouldn’t use smacks to discipline your children?”
    “You shouldn’t use spanking to discipline your children?”
    Seem pretty interchangable to me?

  31. For what it’s worth, I thought that 19d was a good CD. The natural reading of that phrase to me is that “two to five” refers to a range of times of day, so it attained crypticness (crypticity?) for me.

    I’m from the US, where we don’t use CRECHE in this sense — for us, the word only refers to a Nativity scene at Christmastime — but fortunately I dredged up from my memory that it has that meaning over on your side of the Atlantic. (Also, I just spent some time in France, which helped.)

    I agree with the consensus view on the weakness of 8d, and about the large (I would even say excessive) number of CDs in this puzzle.

  32. We often have these ‘heated’ discussions about shades of meaning. In English crosswordland, we cherish the fact that we can derive CRYPTIC crosswords which seems to be possible because of the vast array of synonyms. It is also said of English that no two words have exactly the same meaning. Therefore, no, smack and spank are not exactly the same, but there is enough overlap to make the clue work and to provide a cryptic clue, which you can not have in my second language, Spanish.

  33. George @30

    I’ll accept that. So if you prefer to label the clue as a double definition, go ahead. There are still more CDs than you can shake a stick at.

  34. I agree this was too heavy on the cryptic and double definitions. That said I quite liked SKIRMISH and PRESSURE. I was less impressed by CRECHE, FARCE, BARRACKS and TEA SET all in the bottom corner.
    Favourites were ANAESTHETIST and PHAROAHS.

  36. Back after a week away from crosswordland and as often happens with Rufus it seemed to take longer than it should have done when looking at the answers. Favourites and gripes are similar to other commentors. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO.

  37. I am the one who still fell for 18ac number. I feel dirty.

    Thanks drofle for the Christmas pud laugh, and scroyboy for what seems like the best explanation of skirmish.

  39. It’s a very old crossword fav (which I missed until guessing the answer). It’s number as in a person who makes things numb not an integer etc.

  40. Mercy @37

    Once again, the OED comes up with the unexpected (and doubtfully relevant). scroyboy @6 seems to be suggesting that SKIRMISH by itself may mean a small group of soldiers; otherwise his reference to “skirmish party” leads to a single definition. Most of the usual suspects did not give that meaning, but the O$ED does offer as one definition “A body of skirmishers”. However, there is only one reference listed, to a 1562 (?I cannot be sure of the last digit, but it seems right from other references) translation from the Italian, where it is spelled scaramoche, closer to the original French or Italian. Again, one must wonder if this is Rufus’ intention.

    Jan Larner @38

    You must be new to fifteensquared. This is a common setters’ trick: numb-er as something (or, here, someone) who numbs. Watch out for flower or even banker for river.

    Gaufrid

    My first attempt to post this comment was rejected for a bad captcha – and I still remember my seven times table!. When I got a new captcha the comment disappeared without even being offered to me for moderation. In the meantime, Jack @ 39 had offered the explanation to Jen Lerner @38.

  42. PeterO @33: I am having trouble seeing your problem with 5a as a (whimsical) CD. If I were
    to choose which type of vessel it is that spanks (a spanking vessel), I would choose “smack”. Are puns not allowed in crossword-land?

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