Guardian Cryptic 27,408 by Brummie

by

A fun puzzle…

…with a theme of Beatles albums: REVOLVER, ABBEY ROAD, SERGEANT PEPPER, RUBBER SOUL, and YELLOW SUBMARINE.

Favourites were 19ac, 22ac, 25ac, 18dn and 20dh. Thanks, Brummie

Across
1 SUBMARINE Lend money to soldier for a sandwich (9)
  =a sandwich in a long bread roll, resembling the shape of a submarine
SUB=provide ‘subsistence money’=”Lend money”; plus MARINE=”soldier”
6 SOUL Biblical ruler has nothing for one’s spirit (4)
  S[A]UL is the “Biblical ruler”, with O=”nothing replacing A=”one”
8 CANNIBAL One who would put away other people (8)
  cryptic definition: “put away”=>’eat’
9 VERITY Reality truly overwhelms sex (6)
  VERY=”truly” around IT=”sex”
10 MIGHTY Stout from May to end of July (6)
  MIGHT=”May”, plus the end of [Jul]Y
11 ELSINORE Dramatic setting relies on rocks (8)
  =the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet
(relies on)*
12 OSIRIS Deity‘s oversize flag (6)
  =an Egyptian god
OS=oversize, plus “flag”=>a type of IRIS flower
15 SERGEANT Rank insect after fabric (8)
  ANT=”insect” after SERGE=”fabric”
16 SPYGLASS Sleeper with composer’s visual aid? (8)
  SPY=”Sleeper” agent; plus Philip GLASS=”composer”
19 PEPPER Dot‘s fitness class at free prep (6)
  =to scatter or sprinkle something onto something else
P[hysical] E[ducation]=”fitness class”; plus (prep)*
21 BROOKLYN Tolerate large, upwardly mobile, New York borough (8)
  BROOK=”Tolerate”, plus L[arge], plus reversal of N[ew] Y[ork]
“upwardly mobile” as a reversal indicator seems more suited to a Down clue
22 RUBBER In America it’s intended to stop partner expecting a series of games (6)
  double definition: In America, a RUBBER is a condom, to prevent a partner from expecting a child; or a RUBBER is a series of bridge games
24 YELLOW Chicken‘s cry that hurt (6)
  YELL ‘OW!’=”cry that hurt”
25 REVOLVER This exponent of spin may get fired (8)
  double definition: something that spins; or a gun
26 ROAD Way to say what Boatman did? (4)
  homophone of ‘rowed’=”what Boatman did”
27 GRANDADDY Old man, Greek tennis champ, holding supplement (9)
  GR[eek]; plus ANDY Murray=”tennis champ” around ADD=”supplement”
Down
1 SPAHI Cavalryman advanced into ship at sea (5)
  =a Turkish or French Algerian cavalryman
A[dvanced] inside (ship)*
2 BENCHER Ale houses new chain: “Senior Inn Member” (7)
  =a senior member of the Inns of Court [wiki]
BEER=”Ale”, around N[ew] CH[ain]
3 ABBEY It accommodates men in order “to put muscle on the old governor” (5)
  =it accommodates men in a monastic order
AB[dominal] muscle on BEY=historical title for a Turkish governor
4 ILLNESS Breathes over large lens — turned cold? (7)
  IS=continues to exist=lives=”Breathes”, around L[arge] and (lens)*
5 EAVESDROP Spy, one right out of abandoned Verdi operas (9)
  (Verdi operas)*, minus i=”one” and r[ight]
6 SYRINGE Ecstasy ring expected to stock drug injector? (7)
  Hidden inside [Ecsta]SY RING E[xpected]
7 UTTERANCE Entire political party rests on English statement (9)
  UTTER=”Entire”; plus ANC=African National Congress=South African political party; plus E[nglish]
13 SUPERHERO Batman of Orpheus carelessly holding up sun god? (9)
  (Orpheus)* around RE=Egyptian sun god, aka Ra
14 SCALLYWAG Dissolute Wally traded in heroin (9)
  (wally)* in SCAG=”heroin”
17 GOOGLED Looked up on the web: “Move both ways, under direction” (7)
  GO plus GO reversed=”Move both ways”; plus LED=”under direction”
18 SANGRIA Was a confessor given fresh air and drink? (7)
  SANG=confessed, or turned informer; plus (air)*
20 PEBBLED European leader, in lead, was bloody stoned! (7)
  E[uropean] in PB=chemical symbol for lead; plus BLED=”was bloody”
22 ROVED Went about reorganising, over deputy’s head (5)
  (over)* plus D[eputy]
23 EMERY Mere polluted with yttrium, a hard mineral (5)
  (Mere)* plus Y=chemical symbol for yttrium

71 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,408 by Brummie”

  1. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    Unusually for a Brummie puzzle, I didn’t find this particularly interesting. I did eventually see the theme, but I wouldn’t have had as much trouble in the NW if I had seen it earlier!

    I didn’t know SCAG for “heroin”, and I didn’t think PEBBLED was a word. It is though – I found it in the Urban Dictionary, which interestingly, specifically says that it doesn’t mean “stoned”.

  2. Welcome relief after yesterday’s debacle. Sometimes i wonder if spotting these themes would help. I didn’t here, as usual.
    Nice to see Murray back in action, though not sure Andy is a fair synonym for tennis champ.

  3. Thanks both.
    Reasonably straightforward for a Brummie, although 21a was naughty (the reverse NY) and 6a could have been SAUL (nearly).
    I thought that the supplement in 27a was AND leaving ADDY for some tennis player or other. Doh!

  4. For once I spotted the theme and it helped! When ELSINORE went in I wondered if we’d got another Hamlet but when SERGEANT and PEPPER appeared a few clues later the theme was exposed. It helped with the NW corner which was the last to yield. As others have said this didn’t have the intrigue that Brummie often has, but it was a fun start to the day – off on my bike ride where I’ll listen to some Beatles. Thanks Brummie and manehi.

  5. Doh! How dumb can you be? I finished in one session but didn’t spot the theme, probably because I didn’t look for one. Unlike Qaos, say, Brummie isn’t established in my head as a setter who has themes. On reflection, though, it’s becoming more common.

    I particularly liked CANNIBAL. Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  6. Agree – very enjoyable…

    Many thanks to Brummie for a lovely puzzle.

    Technically a DNF for me, as who could possibly know SPAHI without checking with references, guessing notwithstanding? My 1d LOI had, in the end, only the crossers and two blank letters.

    But when I relished the delights of CANNIBAL, SPYGLASS, YELLOW, ABBEY and SUPERHERO along the ROAD to eventual failure, who would I be to complain?

    Like WhiteKing@4, I got Elsinore early so was expecting Hamlet, but after that the gradual revelation of the theme was a lovely surprise. [I do love The Beatles: my first album bought with my own money was a second hand copy of “The White Album” (a double LP) for $5 in 1968, However, I must admit to being more of a Stones fan back in the day … In Australia there was a strict Beatles vs Stones demarcation, I fell on the latter side only because I liked to be a bit less mainstream – seems a funny distinction these days (songs like “Let’s Spend the Night Together were so daring once upon a time!).]

    [Favourite was definitely BROOKLYN, where my son and his wife are currently residing, given that only this morning I had a video call with them prior to tackling the Brummie. We debriefed their Martin Luther King Day long weekend, during which they explored the neighbourhoods and boroughs in which they might find their own pied a terre when relocating from their currently temporary digs. (In our family, we call such coincidences “It happened again!”.) Unlike manehi and Shirl@3, I appreciated the fact that it was referenced as an “upwardly mobile” area, leading to a reverse of NY…even though it wasn’t a down clue…]

    Had to smile at 22a, as in my very late post on yesterday’s Imogen, I used the phrase “dead rubber”…[Sidebar: I learned a long time ago to use “eraser” instead of “rubber” in teenage classrooms.]

    I really appreciated the puzzle, Brummie, and the blog, manehi, for which much thanks to you both.

     

  7. I knew SCAG was heroin but didnt notice as i saw SCALLYWAG staring at me.So thanks for the parse.

    I can only remember one Brummie with no theme so I’m usually on the lookout early on. FOI was ELSINORE and I thought “not again?”

    Then they started rolling in and that made it a gentle but very nostalgic and enjoyable stroll in the park.

     

    Thanks to manehi also for the ANDY parse and thanks Brummie.

     

  8. muffin@1: PEBBLED was one of my first, as my husband is a curler and frequently comments on how well or poorly the ice has been pebbled.

  10. Hi JinA – I too was more Stones than Beatles for reasons similar to yours. They still rock, especially Keith – the film of their 2016 Havana Moon concert in Cuba is great and is on Amazon. I went back to read your late Imogen post – and enjoyed it as always. It’s lovely to know that forum members from around the world do meet up when their paths cross.

  11. Well that was enjoyable, especially after I spotted the Beatles theme, which, like WhiteKing @4, helped me with the NW corner.

    It took me a while to get into it, and it wasn’t until I’d got BROOKLYN and RUBBER (which amused me) that my brain clicked into gear. I then got stuck in the NW, chiefly because I’d written ILLNESS in carelessly and had an N at the end of what was to be  CANNIBAL. In fact I was pretty dim in that corner all round as I couldn’t see MIGHTY for ages.

    I rather hoped 1d was going to be the more common (I think) uhlan, but then it was obviously some combination of  “ship” and “a”, and I had a vague recollection of something similar in the past. It seems this is a favourite with Brummie – see July 31st 2015.

    Thanks Brummie, I rather enjoyed the surfaces, and thanks manehi.

  12. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    JulieinA @ 6: SPAHI was one of my firstentries, stemming from my own interest in miltary history in my teens (many years ago). I also vaguely remembered it having turned up in a crossword previously: turns out it was also Brummie, in 2015.

  14. Did anyone else go for Hannibal? ( as in Hannibal Lecter) I thought the One who in the clue should take me to a specific man eater…
    An enjoyable puzzle and comprehensive blog, so my thanks too to both

  15. Where else but crosswordland would you get a group of people, many of whom haven’t met face to face, exploring things as diverse as Incan knots, Mandelbrot sets, French cavalry, curling and the Stones/Beatles? What joy! I’m off out for the day now and will check back later to see what else comes up 🙂

  16. I had never heard of Spahi, but my other half knew it at once,admittedly we had the first letter by then. He recalls lots of boys adventure books set about 1900 with spahi appearing. It was an easy solve after yesterday, but we missed theme as usual. Thanks

  17. WhiteKing @ 15. Well said!. I remember some years ago, we had a discussion here on how to lower the landing gear on an

    Avro Anson (or was it a Dakota) – manually, if I remember correctly.

     

    Thanks Brummie and manehi

  19. MrsH@14: Yes, I had Hannibal. It was one of the last ones I solved so I had all the crossers and just saw that Hannibal fitted, and could be parsed as you did. I did get it right after my final ‘Check all’ showed up the error.

    It doesn’t really bother me, but it’s actaully a flaw in the crossword if two words can both validly fit the clue and the crossers.

  20. Thanks Brummie and manehi.

    Entertaining crossword – the theme was staring me in the face once I had finished!

    muffin @9, what about a pebbled beach? The ‘upwardly mobile’ was surely just a mistake.

    I did like Brummie’s cannibal.

  21. Mrs H @14, I also went for Hannibal, have not read the novels or seen any film, but knew of him!

    At first, with ELSINORE, I thought we were in for Hamlet again, but entering SERGEANT and PEPPER  brought the Beatles to mind – made me feel ill since a son brought their recordings home one holiday when I was suffering from morning sickness.

    Thank you Brummie, all the same, for the puzzle, and manehi  for the blog

  22. Thomas Harris chose the forename Hannibal for Dr. Lecter so he could crack the “Hannibal the Cannibal” gag.

    It seems slightly daft to suggest that this makes Hannibal a valid alternative grid entry

  23. Not the struggle I thought it might be at first – when I was thinking, surely not two tough puzzles in two days?

    Like many others, the NW corner took longest, and like some, spotting the theme earlier than the very end (“Oh look, SUBMARINE and YELLOW in the same puzzle! I wonder if…?”) would have helped. CANNIBAL last in, cos it’s a cd.

  24. Robi @20

    “Pebble beach”, surely? “Pebbled” implies that someone has put them there. You would refer to a “sandy” beach (so also “pebbly”), but not a “sanded” one.

  26. muffin @24; pebbled is an adjective in Chambers [pebbled, pebbling, pebbly – full of pebbles], and in Oxford where there are a number of examples given of ‘pebbled beach.’

  28. Thanks for the blog. Personally I found this hard work, not on Brummie’s wavelength. ‘scallywag’ a synonym for ‘dissolute’? Not in my lexicon.

  29. Thanks to Brummie and manehi for the blog. Managed to finish this but by no means a write in and completely missed the them even though I have been expecting something along these lines in view of the recent Sergeant Peeper anniversary. Had to double check 1 and 2 down on google even though I parsed them fine. Neither are familiar terms for me at least and probably as a consequence my favourite was googled. Thanks again to Brummie and manehi.

  30. I actually spotted the theme which, if you know me, you’ll know is something of a miracle.   I did enjoy the solve and was grateful that the office dictionary was able to confirm which of my guesses as to whether the P and the H went in 1 was correct

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi

  31. muffin @27, I think that there are ‘sanded’ beaches, ones where sand is spread over stones by contractors.

  34. I learned SPAHI from a novel by P C Wren (not Beau Geste, but a similar Foreign Legion setting). Odd how these things stick in the mind.

    Favourites today CANNIBAL, MIGHTY and SUPERHERO. Add me to the Stones side of the Great Divide: keeping my fingers crossed that they make it to the UK this summer.

  35. I enjoyed this very much – all the more so for keeping to my new rule for 2018 (actually a well-meant intention which is going well so far) of not looking anything up.  This meant that I had to rely on RE being the same as RA, the Sun God, in 13d SUPERHERO and on SCAG meaning ‘heroin’ in 14d SCALLYWAG (which had a definition that made me think twice about this).

    I couldn’t parse 6a SOUL (not seeing the significance of ‘for’) or 4d ILLNESS (‘breathes’ = ‘is’?).  I was lucky to think of ANDY as a tennis champ in 27a GRANDADDY.  These observations notwithstanding, I thought this was an excellent puzzle, full of sound, complete clues that I had to work on (this wasn’t a quick solve) – and I didn’t have to guess anything.

    It’s good to come here and read others’ experiences, whether on topic or slightly off-topic!

    Oh, and I didn’t see the theme until I had just finished!  But that’s better than my usual experience of having to be told the theme here.  I just saw SERGEANT and PEPPER in close proximity, and the penny (from Penny Lane) dropped.

    Many thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  36. re 13d – surprised that the debate is not raging about the use of Batman as an exemplar of superheroes. He does not have the primary characteristic of a special power, just lots of cash to invest in the highest tech crime-fighting paraphernalia.  Holy misdescription!

  38. I clicked on your link, Robi. The page for “pebbled” just said (more or less as I did) “See pebble”. I followed that too, where it gave as an example a “pebble beach”. Was your intention to make my point?  🙂

  40. Muffin @38, try this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12160415/Locals-hoping-pebbles-will-be-permanently-removed-from-beach-left-bare-after-storms-have-hopes-dashed.html

  41. My title of champion theme-misser is undented.  Maybe even magnified, since I missed such a very obvious theme!

    I join the crowd of those who didn’t know “scag,” so I biffed in SCALLYWAG.

    I wondered about pebbled — wondered if it was a reference to pebbledash, which I don’t think is a word used this side the Atlantic.  So I googled it and found a meaning too gross even for Paul.

    Brooklyn is definitely upwardly mobile — it has become hip and trendy, unlike the unassuming community my cousin moved into several decades ago.

  43. Can’t believe I missed that theme. This was entertaining and a lot easier than yesterday.

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi

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  46. Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

    A rare example of a themed crossword where the theme doesn’t intrude a level of impenetrability.  Very enjoyable.

    The Beatles/Stones divide amuses me. I like the Stones, but they are not on the same planet as the Beatles imho.  I recall a similar Elvis/Cliff divide back in the day.

  50. Thanks to Brummie and manehi. I needed a Google check for SPAHI and took a long time spotting BENCHER (and RE instead of RA for SUPERHERO slowed me down) but for a change I did spot the theme and much enjoyed the puzzle.

  51. Glad I’m not the only one that never sees themes, I think I get too focused on the individual clues. How would we measure the most unable to spot themes, given the claim above?

    I always used to groan when I saw Brummie’s name, I was permanently not on his wavelength. I guess I must be getting better, novices take heart.

    Having lived in a pebble dashed house as a kid, I thought it might derive from that too.

  52. Whether it was intended thematically or not, Dick EMERY was the voice actor for several roles in the film of YELLOW SUBMARINE (“Repair, revive, revamp, renew. Ipse dixit, just turn the screw!”)

  53. I remember being helpless with laughter when first clapping eyes on the sandpit on Brighton beach. I’m sure it has prevented the tears of many bucket-and-spade wielding toddlers faced with nothing but pebbles.
    I hope it is still there.

  54. Found this a bit iffy. 6 across niggled me with its idiosyncratic grammar, and there were a few other things along the way. I wasn’t engaged by this for some reason, finding it clunky and a bit ‘hard work’.

    Thanks to both.

  55. I noticed the Beatles theme when SERGEANT slipped in just above PEPPER, and once I’d got YELLOW I was sure that SUBMARINE would be in there somewhere – helped a lot with 1ac.  But I didn’t spot the other themers: notwithstanding the fact that, of the whole genre, the Beatles are probably the ones I remember best, it’s still a genre I know little about!

    But this didn’t matter with a ghost theme.

    Technically a DNF for me because I had to look up both SHAPI and SPAHI – in that order!  Certainly a word I’d never heard of (who has?).  If it was the ‘filler’ word, a bit unfair: SWAMI (a word much better known to most people I reckon) would have fitted in just as well.  Incidentally, wouldn’t SWAMI have been loosely thematic?  What was the designation of that guy the Beatles went to visit in India?

    Although it was in fact my FOI, SUPERHERO seemed a bit questionable to me.  The Sun-God has always been “RA” for me, never “RE”.  Seeing as ER or RE can be encoded in so many other ways, it seems unnecessarily obscure.

    Finally, I wondered whether “cold” = ILLNESS is a ‘definition by example’ and therefore should have been indicated as such.

    Sorry that this is a list of gripes.  Enjoyed the rest of the puzzle even if I didn’t get all the themers.  Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  56. Il principe @53: there’s plenty of sand on Brighton beach, in fact.  Only trouble is, it’s only uncovered at low tide, preferably a spring tide.  If you’re into building a sandcastle, you’ll have to hurry up and finish it before the tide turns and washes it away!

    We normally refer to it as a ‘shingle’ beach, in these parts.  But ‘pebble’ or ‘pebbled’ will do just as well.

  57. Laccaria @55

    I had the same question at first about ‘cold’ and ILLNESS in 4d.  I was happy that ‘cold?’ was the definition by example, the question mark indicating exactly that.

  58. May is not the same as might, even if the majority of the population these days use may when they ought to say might. 

  59. I didn’t see the theme until coming here and,of course, it’s now blindingly obvious. On the Beatles v Stones: I saw the former at the Cavern before the hits and they were fantastic. I found the first records very disappointing by comparison and became a Stones fan. However, the Beatles output has lasted far better than that of the Stones.
    Back to the plot. Mostly this was pretty straightforward but I had to look up SPAHI and I couldn’t parse either ABBEY or ILLNESS,which were bunged in from the crossers.
    Thanks Brummie

  60. After getting positively banjaxed by yesterday’s puzzle — I did not complete it (three or four clues, all in the NE corner) until shortly before noon today — I was relieved to find today’s puzzle much more on my wavelength, and I fairly well flew through it.  But then, coming here, I immediately discovered that in my haste to solve the puzzle, I *completely* missed the ghost theme, which could hardly have been more apparent in retrospect.  A forehead-slapping moment for me, being a big fan of ghost themes and also of the Beatles.  (I am decidedly on the Beatles side of the Beatles/Stones divide, although my appreciation of the Stones has only grown through the years.)  Also in my haste I missed that “Re” was used instead of “Ra” in 13d.

    Valentine @41 – your description of what you discovered when you 17’ed pebbledash was too tempting for me not to search the same term.  Oh my.

    Many thanks to Brummie, manehi and other commenters.

  61. Van Winkle @36 makes a good point re 13dn.  Also, and more to the point to my mind, Batman is not a synonym or definition of a superhero but is (intended as) an example of one so (notwithstanding his questionable qualifications) the clue is missing anything to indicate this such as a question mark or “say”.

  63. Solved the SW corner in record time for me but then struggled with the rest, scallywag was my favourite as Renton said to Spud ” these cryptic crosswords are daeing ma heid in likesae, time to get back on the scag”

  64. 21a isn’t unfair it’s plain wrong. Upwardly mobile cannot indicate a reversal on a horizontal clue. Those who revel in Brooklyn actually being upwardly mobile are missing the point and the setter certainly should have resisted that temptation.

  66. After another look, I think the clue for REVOLVER is a bit odd. It’s not exactly a double definition, as it isn’t a “gun” in general; it’s a specific sort of gun in which the bullet chamber revolves.

  68. Eric @64
    Having commented in general on the sound and clear clues in this crossword, I must go into reverse and agree with you concerning the clue to BROOKLYN. The temptation was evidently too strong! Also, ‘New York’ appears to be doing double duty as part of the wordplay and of the definition (otherwise you just have the vague indication ‘borough’ for the answer), but I for one don’t mind that.

  69. Once again, I think it’s okay. There aren’t all that many famous boroughs in the world.  And then in an &lit-tish sort of way Brooklyn is a large, upwardly mobile New York borough, as, say, Queens is not (except for the large part).

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