Guardian Cryptic 27,354 by Tramp

by

A challenge, but worth the effort.

This was really enjoyable, not a walk in the park more, but rewarding if you stick with it.

I put a tick against about half of the answers, but my favourites were 2dn and 26ac.

Thanks, Tramp.

Across
1 ROBUST Fit men in recession not working (6)
<=O.R. (other ranks, so “men”, in recession) + BUST (“not working”)
4 ECLIPSES Blocks YouTube videos? They end like this? (8)
E-CLIPS (“YouTube videos” could be described thus) + ends of (lik)E (thi)S
9 DOUSE Solve work that’s put out (5)
DO (“solve”) + USE (“work”)
10 TIMEPIECE Magazine article that could be digital (9)
TIME (“magazine”) + PIECE (“article”)
11 INFUSIBLE Terrible Sun lie/fib can’t be run together (9)
*(sun lie fib)
12 DUCKS Avoids those with bills up front (5)
Double definition, the second mildly cryptic.
13 HEART-RENDING Try getting popular on Twitter? Sad (5-7)
HEAR (“try”) + TRENDING (“getting popular on Twitter”)
17 BELOW THE BELT Unfair punch: man, that hurts inside ring? (5,3,4)
BELT (“punch”) + HE (“man”) with OW (“that hurts”) inside, + BELT (“ring”), so BEL(OW)T-HE-BELT
20 BLOOM Bachelor can go to McDonalds, it’s opened (5)
B(achelor) + LOO (“can”) + M(cDonalds) (I assume this refers to the logo, the golden arches)
21 TWO-STROKE Motor to work having set off (3-6)
*(to work set)
23 CROSSBARS Centre halves at the back covering block: they help make goals (9)
CROSS (“centre”, in football) + (halve)S covering BAR (“block”)
24 STOIC Reduced sick wards closed for patient (5)
SIC(k) wards TO (“closed”)
25 SPARSELY Barely see, getting on boxes (8)
ELY (“see”) on SPARS (“boxes”)
26 GRUMPY Likely to moan from good sex, not half (6)
G(ood) + RUMPY(-pumpy) (“sex”, not half)
Down
1 RED LIGHT Sign to stop on date with blonde? (3,5)
RE (“on”) + D(ate) + LIGHT (“blonde”)
2 BLUE FLAG Recognition for clean water in dirty sink (4,4)
BLUE (“dirty”) + FLAG (“sink”)
3 SPECS They improve definition of small muscles (5)
S(mall) + PECS (“muscles”)
5 COMMENDATIONS Groom in Mates condom gets positive remarks (13)
*(in mates condom)
6 IMPEDANCE Characteristic of a current politician that is entertaining with moves (9)
I.E. (“that is”) entertaining M.P. (“politician”) + DANCE (“moves”)
7 STENCH Scores going up to check smell (6)
<=NETS (“scores”, going up) + CH(eck)
8 SHEESH Blimey! That girl’s smuggling drugs (heroin) (6)
SHE’S (“that girl’s”) smuggling E (ecstasy, so “drugs”) + H(eroin)
10 TABLE FOOTBALL Move bottom and dance where bars have swingers who score? (5,8)
TABLE (“move”) + FOOT (“bottom”) + BALL (“dance”)
14 THERMOSES Rest home’s breaks in which you might get tea or coffee? (9)
*(rest homes)
15 JEROBOAM From the bottom, pierce hole in squash bottle (8)
<=BORE (“pierce”, from the bottom) + O (“hole”) in JAM (“squash”)
16 STRETCHY Easily drawn out with either side of ruler to make an impression in pen (8)
R (either side of RuleR) + ETCH (“to maek an impression”) in STY (“pen”)
18 ABACUS Tot with this baby face? Busy wiping walls (6)
(b)AB(y) + (f)AC(e) + (b)US(y)
19 TOYOTA Returning books and a model car (6)
<=OT (Old TEstament, so “books”) + <=A TOY (“model”)
22 TASER Shocker! Had another go at paper when upset (5)
<=RESAT (“had another go at paper”, upset)

*anagram

55 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,354 by Tramp”

  2. Indeed, not a walk in the park at all. At 20a, I assumed that the ‘M’ just referenced the first , or opening, letter of McDonald’s, with ‘opened’ doing double duty. Who knows? It worked for me.

  3. Thanks Tramp and loonapick

    Too many partly unparsed for me to fully enjoy, though I did like BLUE FLAG, THERMOSES and TASER.

    “drug” would have been better in 8d, as “drugs” seems to give SHEEESH!

    To be pedantic, IMPEDANCE is a characteristic of the circuit a current is passing through, rather than the current itself.

    [12a reminded me of a very old joke:
    “Mummy, Mummy, there’s a man at the door with a bill”
    “Don’t be silly dear, it must be a duck with a hat on”]

  4. George @2
    Yes, I thought “opened” in 20a was doing double duty, and I wasn’t so happy about it. The last part of the clue is a bit opaque, though, so there may be other interpretations possible.

  5. Yes, a lovely puzzle – hard work but very rewarding. I particularly liked HEART-RENDING, STOIC, TABLE FOOTBALL and ABACUS, but like loonapick I could have mentioned many more. Many thanks to T and l.

  7. muffin@3 – I thought 8d might be

    “SHE (“that girl”)’s smuggling E’S (ecstasy, so “drugs”) + H(eroin)”

    Definitely a tricky puzzle for me – many thanks to Tramp, and loonapick for parsing: esp. 17ac (I forgot that “belt” can be a punch as well as a ring).

  8. Ref 20A I think that ‘go’ is the indicator to use the opening letter (‘go to’ as in ‘opening to’ or ‘start to’).

    I thought that this was a fantastic crossword, no weak spots and an abundance of highlights.

    Thanks Tramp and Loonapick.

  9. Too many convolutions for my liking.

    As muffin says, impedance is not a current characteristic any more than resistance is.

  10. robert @8
    I think that works – the “go to” doesn’t seem to have much function otherwise.

    JohnR @7
    Not convinced! “drug” would have “ducked” the problem.

  11. Muffin @3

    It might be a very old joke but it still made me laugh, thank you.

    I can’t argue with your statement about impedance but without a current there is no impedance so I think the clue is fair.

  12. Thanks loonapick and Tramp. Tramp’s puzzles can be quite difficult to get an early handle on but are ultimately rewarding. Re 4ac: I thought the ‘-es’ at the end of ‘eclipses’ cam from the last letters of ‘YouTube’ and ‘videos’.

  13. Thanks Tramp, Loonapick
    Really tricky and fun. Many favourites, including COMMENDATIONS, ECLIPSES, SHEESH, TABLE FOOTBALL (thinking of gymnastics for ages). Although recognition rather gave the game away, I thought clean water in dirty sink was brilliant.

  14. I didn’t really enjoy this, and agree with muffin@3.

    21a I didn’t really like “motor”; “engine” surely, though Collins will no doubt correct me.

    Epeolater@12 I didn’t like the superfluous “they” in the clue, if we accept loonapick’s explanation (and it should be “ends” not “end”); so your suggestion makes sense (they referring to the last two words), except then what is the “like this” doing?

    I did like 26a, however.

    Thanks loonapick and Tramp.

  15. Thanks, loonapick, especially for parsing BELOW THE BELT – the only one I couldn’t understand.

    Just about at the edge of my solving ability to get there in one go (and I don’t usually have time with a daily cryptic to have more than one go), so perfect for me today. All the niggles so far mentioned didn’t bother me. Concise clueing with good surfaces – well done, Tramp.

    Favourite today GRUMPY, because it’s my middle name and it was a nice dose of fnaar-fnaar.

  17. Agree with Epeolater @12. YouTube videos end like this, i.e. with an E and an S. McDonalds is often used to denote the letter M, as in the arch, so I’m with loonapick on this. Also agree that 8d would be better with drug singular. Don’t think JohnR’s parsing @7 really works since ‘smuggling’ indicates an inclusion.

  18. Re impedance – I took the def as “characteristic” – with I(current symbol)+MP+E(Entertainment in listings maybe)+DANCE.

    A couple of parsings eluded me, thanks for the useful blog.

  19. Thanks Tramp and loonapick.

    Hard going, but I liked BLUE FLAG, ECLIPSES, COMMENDATIONS, TABLE FOOTBALL and ABACUS; the latter an Arachne-type clue.

    TWO-STROKE TOYOTAS with CROSSBARS; it’s a novel concept!

  20. Nice to see ELY clued as something other than city – I wasn’t aware of this definition. Thanks Tramp & loonapick

  22. Mistley@21 if a door is ‘to’ it is closed, more often seen in the phrase ‘put the door to’ for ‘close the door’.

  23. Mistley @21, here in the north west we would say put the door ‘to’ meaning up against the frame, closed but not locked.

  24. Sometimes I find it difficult to complete a puzzle when the four corners are more-or-less self-contained. Is there a word for this in terms of describing the grid Tramp used?

    I managed to solve three-quarters of the puzzle: NW, NE and SE, but ended up with mostly blanks in the SW. So overall, a bit of a fail for me.

    I got TABLE in 10d but not the FOOTBALL part, and now I feel this contributed to my obtuseness in terms of cracking the clues in the lower left.

    Kind of disappointed to give up.

    Several of my “Echo Pairs” list (previously alluded to on the forum) are rude and crude rhymes like RUMPY PUMPY, so I was amused to see reference to this phrase as part of 26a GRUMPY. The latter was my favourite of the clues I solved.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

  26. Thanks to Tramp and loonapick. I too wondered about TO = closed and did not parse GRUMPY, but, after a slow start, I made progress and enjoyed this puzzle.

  28. Quite an entertaining challenge – I found the SW corner tougher than the rest, but plenty of tricky parsings.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick

  29. This was certainly a challenge, but worthwhile. I got there in the end with only a minimal amount of cheating. I particularly liked GRUMPY.

    bodycheetah @20: are you joking by any chance? I thought ELY was always clued by “see” and in fact was the only known seat of a bishop in Crosswordland.

  30. I thought the theme was titillation. Table football, a bit of rumpypumpy, red light, blue flag, below the belt. Maybe sparsely ducks and crossbars!
    Great xword!

  31. Thanks, loonapick.

    When, oh! when will I spot re = on? (as in the RED LIGHT clue).

    Thank heavens for the 2 anagrams at INFUSIBLE & COMMENDATIONS. Without these I’m not sure if I’d have started, let alone finished.

    Got there in the end but became a little despondent through unparsed entries.

    Loved GRUMPY and TABLE FOOTBALL but cared less for some of the clunkier ones such as BELOW THE BELT etc.

    Good work-out though, so many thanks Tramp.

    Nice week, all.

  32. bodycheetah @20: I wonder if you’re being ironic? I always though Ely = see was up there with tar = sailor in crossword lore.

  36. OK let’s try again:

    8d this was a toughie!

    I see the quibble about IMPEDANCE has been mentioned, so no more to say (trying to forget my electronics anyway)!

    My other gripe, I suppose, is that time-worn “OR” for men in 1ac. Seeing as it’s cropped up several times in recent months, I suppose we seasoned solvers have got used to it – but a bit unfair on anyone delving into a Grauniad crypto for the first time!

    Loved ABACUS – took me ages to spot it, was toying with BRICKS (i.e. ‘walls’) for ages. D’oh!

    LOI was ECLIPSES – hours after everything else was in place. I reckon the “ES” could equally be the last letters of youtubE videoS, as of likE thiS, but that’s debatable. Also debatable (wearing my astro hat that is) is whether ECLIPSE and BLOCK are exact synonyms (pedantically speaking, a solar eclipse where the moon blocks the sun, is an occultation not an eclipse) but best let that one go….

    Nice work Tramp and Loonapick.

  37. Muffin@3 – my version of your old joke (without DUCK ref.) goes:

    “Daddy, there’s a man at the door.”
    “With a bill?”
    “Nope – just an ordinary nose like yours.”

  38. A bit late in the day but still time to say thanks to both Tramp and Loonapick for an intriguing puzzle and an excellent blog.

    Just a small quibble about 25: For me barely is closer to hardly or scarcely, as in “I could barely see him in the fog”, whereas sparsely goes more in the direction of thinly. “X is sparsely populated” is not synonymous with “X is barely populated”, or am I just being a difficult old codger?

  39. FirmlyDirac @35
    For some unknown reason your initial comment was intercepted by the spam filter. I would have recovered it from the spam folder but you have already posted a replacement.

  40. MartinD, for me you hit the nail on the head ‘wading through treacle’. But then Tramp has always been my least favourite of current setters mainly because of the nugatory themes, happily not in evidence today – or have I missed it. But to be fair he is well praised on 225 and tomorrow is another day!

  41. Really hard but there was enough here to keep me going until the end. I liked GRUMPY and parsed it correctly and this gave me JEROBOAM which was LOI.But the puzzle was too difficult to be really enjoyable and too many went in half parsed.
    Thanks Tramp- I think!

  44. It’s news to me that McDonalds is “often used to indicate the letter M” so I didn’t parse 20a.

    But apart from that, very enjoyable.

  45. Many thanks for the blog, loonapick.

    Thanks for the comments. I don’t know anything about circuits/currents.

    Neil

  47. Surprised more people haven’t commented favourably on 13a, a brilliant parody. Many thanks to Tramp and Loonapick.

  48. Martin@38: I too paused at SPARSELY, but OneLook.com reminded me of ‘a barely furnished room’ in that sense.
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  49. FD @37
    At University we spent hours analysing the joke, and could recite it missing out any of the words as we wished. We came to the conclusion that every word as stated was critical 🙂

  51. Several went in on the first pass (anagrams and clunky ones as William@31) then a few more, then I waded through quicksand before coming stuck fast short of dry land. You could say there was something for every level of solver in this puzzle, but it did seem to lack consistency to me. I had smileys against 9,13, 2, 6, along with several unparsed so definitely at the upper end of my solving skills. Thanks for the stretch Tramp and for the help unravelling loonapick.

  53. Hoo boy, this one was a struggle for me, but I plodded along until eventually I got to the end (LOI was JEROBOAM). My favorites were ABACUS, HEART-RENDING and TABLE FOOTBALL. Very funny surface on that last one. Many thanks to Tramp and loonapick and commenters.

  54. Very Trampish; back to his best I thought.
    TABLE FOOTBALL was a fantastic clue with the clever definition nicely fitting the very smooth surface. I must agree with Stumper@47 that HEART-RENDING was a lovely parody (albeit unwittingly) – both Trampish and Trumpish!
    I agree with a couple of commenters that the parsing of STENCH should have “nets” not “tens” as loonapick suggests since “tens” reversed is not “sten” but “snet” so a little surprised blog not corrected.
    Great puzzle – thanks Neil.
    And a beautifully constructed blog from loonapick.

Comments are closed.