Guardian Cryptic 27,413 by Tramp

67 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,413 by Tramp”

1. An enjoyable challenge with particularly good long anagrams. Thanks Tramp and Loonapjck.

2. A challenge this morning but very satisfying when it suddenly fell into place. Particularly liked mouse…having been misdirected by the film references in other clues. Is that what you call a tea tray? Or a 22d er.

3. A properly satisfying and enjoyable challenge with lots of d’oh moments.   Thank you to Tramp and Loonapick too

4. Thanks for the blog. I thought that some of the surfaces were clunky – the long anagrams might as well have had an (anag.) label on the clue …

   “retorting” for 4d anyone?

5. Did anyone else guess WAGON for 7d?

6. In some ways more like an Azed than a weekday puzzle, though I refrained from using Chambers till after finishing, notably to check HIATUS HERNIA: it could only be that, once I had written in MUMBAI for 11 across rather than DURBAN, which very nearly works. No complaints about the difficulty: it’s good to keep up the wide range, and there was nothing unfair in this.

7. Thanks Tramp and loonapick

   Yes, Gladys, I had confidently written WAGON in at 7d!

   Too many “guess the answer, then try to parse” ones to be totally enjoyable. LUMBAR PUNCTURE was my favourite. I’m still not seeing why “lots” is RATIONS in 18a.

   I hadn’t heard of SUPERELEVATION, but Google tells me that Tramp’s definition is exactly right – it’s the difference in height between the inside and outside of a curve on a road or railway track, hence the “bank”.

   Pedants’ corner: ZINFANDEL is a grape not a drink; the drink made from it is wine.

8. Muffin: that your lot – thats your ration??

9. Thanks pex. Not convinced!

10. Difficulty turned up to 11, loonapick? If so, it’s another illustration of the subjectivity of ‘difficulty’. I often struggle with Tramp’s puzzles but not today. It all went in pretty smoothly and the only word I had to check in the dictionary was MAZER. Favourites were REHAB and LUMBAR PUNCTURE.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

11. Wondering why there was a different clue for 1ac in the printed edition – both clued seem to work perfectly well.

12. Thanks Tramp and loonapick.

    I found it difficult, although fairly clued. The 1a clue in the paper is: ‘Mother has almost nothing for bowl.’ Obviously more compact but no indication of a slightly archaic word.

    My bottle of zinfandel contains wine not grapes.

13. Thanks to Tramp and loonapick. Struggled with this and first pass yielded little. It was only the long anagrams that got me going. Quite a few were unparsed, or parsed after the event, but nearly got there. A DNF for me because I blagged bell for 23d which obviously could not be parsed. I guess celebrity mags not really my thing, though I have heard of Hello. Thanks again to Tramp for a tough but enjoyable challenge and particularly loonapick for clarifying some parsing.

14. Spare a thought for Newby-Lurker; that’s a hell of a Tuesday
    for one who’s just put his head above the parapet !
    Reminder: Maslanka’s doing RIDDLES today, BBC Radio 4, noon GMT.

15. I had not heard of 1a MAZER so that was a guess. 15a ERECT seems so obvious with hindsight – I should have seen ET for “film”, as it has been used before, but kept trying to make something of “tar” for “pitch” as a noun rather than seeing it as a verb, as in to pitch a tent…so a real d’oh moment for me as my LOI.

    I enjoyed solving the long anagrams although I didn’t like the surfaces overly-much.

    Were there any further references to Spinal Tap than 8a and 19,21a?

    Median@10, I guess loonapick was simply quoting from 24a in his Intro?

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

    [Was glad you could include one of your favourite bands in 1d, Patrick J. Berry. I liked the reference to one of mine in 2d…]

16. Agree with Steve @ 11. 1a in the paper reads “Mother has almost nothing for bowl”

17. P.S. I was wondering what happened to masers. Here is an interesting report.

18. Odd how one man’s difficult is one man’s easy. I really struggled with yesterday’s Chifonie but found this a lot easier. [man=person but it doesn’t scan very well!]
    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

19. Surely if a glass of merlot or chardonnay is on offer in a bar, so can a glass of  zinfandel-especially if you live in California.

    i am astounded that Digbtdavies found this easier than Chifonie yesterday.

    I liked it anyhow, finishing with HELL and MOUSE(and tea trays)

     

    Thanks to loonapick and Tramp.

20. [Sorry Median@10 my comment sounded unfairly critical of your post and stated the obvious. I am sure you saw that loonapick was picking up the quote to describe the fact that he had some difficulties in the solve. I didn’t find it an easy puzzle myself, either, but we all experience puzzles differently.]

21. Thanks to Tramp and loonapick. I found this tough going. I struggled with MOUSE, GANJA, MAZER, SUPERELEVATION, and especially the hiatus in HIATUS HERNIA (my LOI).

22. What a mixture of themes that was. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, with film and theatre (thespian and surgical) thrown on.

    I got there in the end but found it difficult. Spinal Tap and their ilk are not my forte. Mazer and Zinfandel were new to me and had to check in Chambers.

    I too wanted to put WAGON in 7d but fortunately had already got MUMBAI in which stopped me. Rather liked that misdirection.

    I think MOUSE was my favourite, but a very enjoyable puzzle all round.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

23. Very enjoyable. Thought LUMBAR PUNCTURE especially was brilliant.

    See nothing wrong with ‘drink’ for ZINFANDEL..

     

     

24. Rather clunky for me, surfaces really suffering. As to theme,, not sure the flavour of Spinal Tap has been realised here, but I’m not really a fan of themes-in-clues anyway.

25. Punched the air when the long anagrams to CINEMATOGRAPHY and, a little later, SUPERELEVATION went in. Didn’t know what the latter was, so thanks muffin @7. Didn’t know MAZER either, but after the crossers were in nothing else could do.

    If only, to have made this the ultimate Spinal Tap crossword, STONEHENGE could have made an appearance.

26. Seemed very tough to start with but once one or two of the longer solutions went in it never seemed impossible, though MAZER and HIATUS HERNIA were new to me. All very entertaining.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick

27. Julie in Australia @20: No offence taken. In my comment @10 about the level of difficulty, I wasn’t having a go at loonapick and I didn’t mean to sound big-headed. I was simply remarking on a couple of things that I’m sure often strike most of us: a) what one person finds difficult another doesn’t; b)a given setter can seem hard one day and easier on another. I might also have said that my solving abilities vary from day to day, hour to hour and mood to mood.

28. I liked this and found it fairly straightforward.  Carefully following the instructions in each clue allowed most lights to be filled on the first pass.  Unusually for me, I solved most of the anagrams without crossers.

    A very clever gridfill and use of the theme.  I thought SUPERELEVATION (I had to look it up too) was brilliant because of the surface, with its reference to the one particular scene in the movie.

    Great fun!  Thanks, Tramp and loonapick.

29. re 10a – kinky nurses? In 2018? Really?

30. I look to the challenge when I see Tramp’s name and whilst I enjoyed this I didn’t think it was one of his best. Like others have commented I found some the surfaces clunky and it was almost as though he was trying too hard to link them – Crossbar@22 summed it up in their opening sentence. The long anagrams were clever but I only finished up with one tick – for LUMBAR PUNCTURE.
    I’m sorry not to be more enthusiastic Tramp (I presume you will post at sometime and I do appreciate you looking in here) and thanks to loonapick for the blog.

31. loonapick, I think you have a typo in the introduction — did you mean interval, not internal, for hiatus?

    phitonelly @28  What movie?

    Thanks, Tramp and loonapick.

     

32. It should be I look forward

33. I enjoyed this puzzle.  Lots of clever wordplay and misdirection.  I liked the themed clues, although, like Trailman @25, I was hoping to see a reference to Stonehenge, which was my favorite scene from the rock mockumentary.

    Julie in Australia @15, you asked if there were further references to Spinal Tap than 8a and 19,21a.  I think there were many indirect references as well: 15ac, 11ac (the dumb group), 24ac (turning “up to eleven” — as also used by loonapick in his opening line), 3d/12d (“one louder”), 4d, 14d, and several other references to rock music, bands, movies, or combinations of the same.

    My favorite today was also my LOI: MOUSE, which I experienced exactly as described by Hedgehog @2.

    Many thanks to Tramp, loonapick, and the other commenters.

34. Valentine @31:  The movie (and connecting theme in the surfaces, at least) is “This is Spinal Tap”.

35. Like beeryhiker we found this tough going until the big anagrams came out. Then just a matter of brain grinding until the end. Never heard of a mazer nor superelevation,(thought that was camber!).

36. We had the printed edition too, so a different clue for 1A. We also had RETORTING at 4d which we realise now was stretching the definition of ‘act’ (tort) a bit too far!! Don’t have a problem with ‘kinky’ at 10A. Fave was 9D. We thought the theme was unreconstructed filth rather than Spinal Tap!!!

37. I’ve found the comments so far very interesting,especially with the range of opinions on how tough or easy this was.

    I find all cryptics challenging, and I would align myself with those that found this tough, but a better way to describe my solving experience is to say that it was a slog, which of course has more to do with the quality and clarity of the clues and whether too much knowledge is assumed – not whether the clues parse or not. (I think they all do.)

    I thought the clue for 1a MAZER in the print edition was better and clearer than online, making it solvable (for me).

    Like quenbarrow @6, I had DURBAN at first for MUMBAI, DURAN being ‘group, half lost’, and the ‘B’ just about matching ‘one trailing dumb’ (but maybe not!).

    I’m not fond of answers like RECYCLES being clued as RE+CYCLES, but I can’t say it doesn’t work.  In contrast to that, I liked 4a RE-RECORD, which had a more imaginative construction in the wordplay.

    I thought LUMBAR PUNCTURE was a super clue, which I found tricky for no reason.  Getting the answer to this was very satisfying. I also liked 7d REHAB, which I didn’t parse correctly, or at all, but it is clear now.

    I haven’t heard of MAZER or GANJA, and I found some clues like 11a, 17a, 13d and 9d too clunky, causing me to guess or biff some answers.  MICHELANGELO was a guess, but it had to be that, starting with MICHE.

    I echo WhiteKing @30 in saying this was not one of Tramp’s best.  I have always looked forward to his puzzles, though, and still do.  I noticed a theme, but it meant very little to me – I’m glad it didn’t intrude too much.

    Thanks to Tramp and loonapick.

38. Valentine@31

    See DaveMc@34 for the answer.  Google “these go to eleven” for a Youtube clip of the scene.

39. Thanks, Tramp and Loonapick. This one obviously hit the spot with me as I didn’t doze off halfway through as I am usually wont to do.  As a bit of a railway buff I had actually heard of SUPERELEVATION, and being an ex-NHS employee LUMBAR PUNCTURE came to mind quite easily.     I will admit though that I have never seen “This Is Spinal Tap”, but as we all know it’s one of Tramp’s (unwritten) rules that you don’t need to know anything about the theme in order to solve the puzzle.

40. Thanks both,
    A decent work out with good anagrams. My only quibble is with hiatus hernia. Such hernias are internal and aren’t examples of an ‘organ sticking out’. I’m not sure what the question mark at the end of the clue is for.

41. Brilliant. Enjoyed this immensely. But then, I enjoyed the spinal tap movie immensely. I thought it was very clever for the theme to permeate so much of the puzzle. I enjoyed LUMBAR PUNCTURE, a very nice literal-instead-of-theme reversal clue.

    Not easy but I didn’t need to look at the dictionary much – ok, didn’t know mazer.

    Very nice to see crapulent get a mention, brilliant word.

    Many thanks tramp, and thank you loonapick as always.

42. I hadn’t heard of mazer like julie @15 but it worked so well with the parsing and I’d worked out the 2 down probably started with a z. Zinfandel defeated me. A result of being primarily a beer drinker who just buys the most reduced red wine in the supermarket.

43. Ooh and I liked on-screen director as a nicely misleading definition of mouse.

44. Thanks for the blog, Loonapick.

    This was not a crossword to be attempted when tired after a long day at work….

45. Nothing went in on the first pass – I was staring into the abyss – but it all gradually yielded. Very inventive – I particularly liked the long anagrams, plus ZINFANDEL and MOUSE. Many thanks to T & l.

46. CINEMATOGRAPHY was FOI, followed by MICHELANGELO. I did find this quite difficult but the puzzle was a very good one and I didn’t think there was anything clunky here. MOUSE,my LOI, was brilliant!
    Thanks Tramp.

47. Brilliant stuff – must watch Spinal Tap again; been ages.  I assumed loonapick’s “up to 11” comment was more a reference to the film than a true difficulty-rating; this was much more fun than difficult.  MAZER and HIATUS HERNIA were my learnings of the day, and the PDF version of the MAZER clue was different from that above, though both were equally clear and fair.  MOUSE, LUMBAR PUNCTURE, REHAB and MICHELANGELO were the pick of the pops for me.  Great work Tramp and loonapick.

48. Thanks for the blog loonapick. Thanks to others for the comments. I wrote this puzzle four years ago. For those that don’t know This is Spinal Tap is one of the funniest films of all time. It is about a spoof English heavy metal band as they promote their new album in the US. I highly recommend it.

    Neil

49. Thanks for dropping in, Tramp. Can you explain the two slightly different clues for 1ac?

50. Thanks Tramp and Loonapick, this was mostly above my skill set managed lumbar puncture but then guessed at wagon then for some reason put in “rough and tumble” instead of Romeo and Juliet gave up not long after.

51. I’m pretty sure that years ago Tramp already gave us a Spinal Tap crossword [with even more Spinal Tap in it].

    Or is my memory letting me down now?

    (BTW, this was another excellent crossword)

     

52. I’ve heard of a “hiatal hernia” (in fact, I had one!), but never a “hiatus hernia”. It turns out to be partly a regional difference: “hiatal” is more common in the US (where I live), and “hiatus” wins in the UK. But there’s also a temporal difference: “hiatal” took over from “hiatus” in the US only in about 1980.

    (If you like this sort of thing, and don’t already know about it, check out Google’s Ngram viewer!)

53. As well as WAGON at 7dn, which I eventually corrected, I had GULLS at 17ac, which I didn’t. After all, that can mean ‘takes in’ just as well as GULPS. But of course it didn’t parse.

    Excellent puzzle, which will spur me to watch the film, as I keep telling myself to.

54. Found it!

    It wasn’t Tramp but his alter ego Jambazi in the Indy.

    His debut puzzle there on 24 July 2012 was indeed a Spinal Tap themed crossword.

55. I suppose this is a fair puzzle, but I found it fiendish.  Just punishment, I suppose, for me, for having the hubris to dump a rather intractable offering on the Big Dave site!  (thanks btw to all those who commented there).

    So a brief passage through my line of reasoning – if it’s of interest to anyone!

    I had to cheat – halfway through.  I just couldn’t stomach anything starting with Z at 2d.  So I put it in on the otherwise empty online grid, and hit “Check” – and it stood!  So then I had to figure out –Z-R, for which the only word I could think of is RAZOR.  (n.b. I hadn’t got MICHELANGELO yet).

    Also I had HOSTS at 17a.  Plausible, maybe, I couldn’t figure out whether HOTS is a slangy synonym of “hype” but I was getting suspicious, so “Check” once more – and no!  But once I’d crossed out HOSTS I could see MICHELANGELO dropping in – then GULPS and then ZINFANDEL.  That last I vaguely recollected as a grape variety (I grow a few vines of my own, though not that variety) but I’d never heard of it as the name of a drink.

    So it had to be MAZER at 1a.  Well, I agree it was fairly clued as regards wordplay – just that I’d never heard of the word.  I reckon lots of others haven’t either.  It would have been helpful perhaps if Tramp had put in “German Bowl”.

    So on to 20d.  If the wordplay implies MO as an abbreviation for “Month”, I’m not happy with that.  But I suppose Tramp, and others, are.  I was trying out M—E with a 4-letter word for “handle”, and MAR-E or MAY-E, but getting nowhere.  In the end I had to “check” the second letter and then I caught my MOUSE!  After that the SUPERwhatsit finally dropped in – another long anagram for something I’ve never heard of….

    Thanks to Tramp (but you beat me) and loonapick (who matched you).  I suppose I must swallow all my words about “wanting to set tough puzzles”….

     

     

     

     

56. Coming back on to the forum late (well the next morning here in Oz), so several helpful commentators will probably not see this. But I just wanted to thank those who extrapolated on the theme by discussing the film. Despite my interest in music (thought not so much in heavy metal) and clever comedy, I have not seen it, though of course I have heard of it (maybe from a further spoof on “The Simpsons” way back – vague memory – but also elsewhere). Particularly grateful to DaveMc@33 for this expansion:
     I think there were many indirect references as well: 15ac, 11ac (the dumb group), 24ac (turning “up to eleven” — as also used by loonapick in his opening line), 3d/12d (“one louder”), 4d, 14d, and several other references to rock music, bands, movies, or combinations of the same.

    Clearly it is a must see: thanks to Tramp for coming on and adding this: Tramp @48 For those that don’t know This is Spinal Tap is one of the funniest films of all time. It is about a spoof English heavy metal band as they promote their new album in the US. I highly recommend it. Neil

    We should have a movie night, g Larsen@55: Excellent puzzle, which will spur me to watch the film, as I keep telling myself to.

    Now I feel that if I had known the film, I would have appreciated Tramp’s puzzle construction a whole lot more.

57. Meant “though not so much in heavy metal” of course…

58. Me too JinA.

59. I should have added, GANJA was another word I’ve never heard of – another Wiki look-up – which I did not find edifying.

    I’m wondering whether too many setters are trawling slang words taken from recreational drug culture.  Is this a good thing?

60. Thanks in passing to Tramp and loonapick (another Gunga Din award)

    JinA@57 Please watch This is Spinal Tap at the earliest opportunity – you deserve it: I totally concur with the various recommendations.  The last time I saw it, and the only time in a cinema, I very nearly expired from laughter.  Be aware that it’s a bit of a slow burner; it also helps if you’re familiar with the mechanics of playing music – that invokes a whole new layer as they actually play the music.  (Amazing in these days when it seems impossible for casting directors to come up with an actor who has at least held an instrument before.)  But enjoyable even without that aspect.

61. Il principe dell’oscurità, thank you! Yes, I did find this one a bit tricky, thus this very late post. I resorted to some judicious cheating, of course!
    Despite my love of the Spinal Tap film, I actually missed some of the movie references so thanks to all who pointed them out. My favourite, or certainly most memorable clue was 8a – outrageous surface! – although it took me ages to work out which bits made up the anagram. (Is the word ‘fodder’?)
    I imagine few will see this but after introducing myself yesterday, well, Monday, I wanted to maintain a presence and say thanks to Tramp, Loonapick, all the solvers who have commented as well as a hello to all the lurkers out there especially any who come here late looking for help and actually read this!

62. I’ve only just noticed the discrepancy in the clues for 1ac – as pointed out by several others, above (my fault for not reading through all the comments! 😮 ).  I worked (or attempted to…) from the paper version “Mother has almost nothing…” – not that the other would have been any clearer for me!

63. Newby-lurker @61 – may I join in with a belated welcome to this blog!  You seem to be well up with the rest of folks here, as regards your prowess as a solver, so don’t be disheartened!  Bear in mind that we all ‘cheat’ at times – best is to always mention the fact if you post here.

    Speaking for myself, if I have a DNF (did not finish) I always mention the fact.  Also, if I had to resort to ‘cheating’, I like to state in my post how I ‘cheated’.  Most others also do this.  For this particular puzzle, I did not make use of the Reveal button at any time, nor did I come to the 225 site until I’d finished.  But I did on a few occasions type some letters into the otherwise blank grid on the online version, then use the Check This button.  Without that, it would certainly have been a DNF…… 🙁

    Happy solving and look forward to more contributions from you!

64. Simpler just to not worry too much about finishing the puzzle. You can get just as much enjoyment from doing half of some puzzles as finishing others – no need for any “guilt” in relation to what has not been done.  Looking up the answers for the clues you haven’t got more usually confirms that they wouldn’t have been worth spending any more time on.

65. loonapick – Though I solved the paper version of 1 across, I read your blog and feel your parsing of the online clue has missed some of its neatness.

    The definition is simply “bowl”, the “old” indicating the O to be subtracted (“cut”) from “a zip”=”a zero”.
    Zip is synonymous with zero. Chambers does not suggest the bowl is old. And, of course, it makes for a better clue than your parsing.
    In my very humble opinion.

    While opining, this didn’t have the ‘feel’ and smoothness I usually associate with a Tramp puzzle. Never mind – perhaps it’s just me…?

    Many thanks to you both, loonapick and Tramp.

66. @William F P – I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this – several sources quote a mazer as being a bowl, but they also indicate that they USED to be made of wood, but are now made of metal, so to me the “old” is required as part of the definition, and “cut” indicates the subtraction.  However, the clue works both ways, so hats off to Tramp.

67. Very late to this and my first comment here, I’m quite a newbie to the Guardian grid.  I found this puzzle inelegant in quite a few places, but LUMBAR PUNCTURE is probably my favourite clue this year – and I appreciated the “up to eleven”/”one louder” clues.

    I would quibble on GANJA – as far as I know ganja is a slang term (fairly well known I thought) for cannabis, not for drugs (plural).

    Not only did I write WAGON as FOI, I wrote it in the wrong space at first!

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