Guardian Cryptic 27,509 by Qaos

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27509.

A couple of “I suppose”es, which perhaps reflect the different way Qaos’s mind works from mine. Still, very enjoyable.

Across
1 RESIGNS Rules over Sweden, then quits (7)
An envelope (‘over’) of S (‘Sweden’) in REIGNS (‘rules’).
5 BUTLERS Wanting egg, cook troubles servants (7)
An anagram (‘cook’) of ‘tr[o]ubles’ minus the O (‘without egg’).
9 VILLA House 21 (12 read backwards) (5)
A charade of VI (Roman numeral, SIX – the answer for 21A) plus LLA, a reversal (‘read backwards’) of ALL, the answer for 12A.
10 GEOGRAPHY Subject‘s alter ego leads plot: the ultimate robbery (9)
A charade of GEO, an anagram (‘alter’) of ‘ego’, plus GRAPH (‘plot’) plus Y (‘the ultimate robberY‘).
11 ROUNDHANDS Styles of penmanship from wearing mittens, by the looks of it (10)
I suppose that if you are wearing mittens, your hands will look rather round.
12 ALL National Lottery grips everybody (3)
A hidden answer in ‘nationAL Lottery’.
14 LABORATORIES Where they scientifically test Corbyn’s speeches? (12)
LAB[our] ORATORIES (“Corbyn’s speeches’).
18 RURALISATION It makes more country sport, helping to protect champion boxers (12)
An envelope (‘to protect’) of ALIS (‘champion boxers’, if there could be more than one) in RU (‘sport’) plus RATION (‘helping’).
21 SIX A number of Greek characters retired (3)
A reversal (‘retired’) of XIS (‘Greek characters’).
22 PLAINCHANT One in church works outside creating religious music (10)
An envelope (‘outside’) of A (‘one’) plus ‘in’ plus CH (‘church’) in PLANT (‘works’).
25 NUMBER TWO Vice-captain won’t worry about Wood not starting (6,3)
An envelope (about’) of [l]UMBER (‘wood’) minus its first letter (‘not starting’) in NTWO, an anagram (‘worry’) of ‘won’t’.
26 CHESS Noble misses kick-off for Dundee United game (5)
[du]CHESS (‘noble’) minus (‘misses’) D (‘kick-off for Dundee) and U (‘United’).
27 RELATED Told to raise the spirits, in a way (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of ELATE (‘raise the spirits’) in RD (‘a way’).
28 FREEMAN Actor gets fine regarding fake name (7)
A charade of F (‘fine’) plus RE (‘regarding’) plus EMAN, an anagram (‘fake’) of ‘name’, for various candidates, probably the most famous being Martin and Morgan Freeman.
Down
1 ROVERS First dogs on Mars? (6)
Cryptic definition.
2 SELL UP Liquidise drink and pour over naked belly (4,2)
An envelope (‘pour over’) of ELL (‘naked bELLy’) in SUP (‘drink’).
3 GUARDRAILS Safety barriers on track? (10)
I suppose this counts as an envelope (‘on’) of RAIL (‘track’) in GUARDS (‘safety barriers’). Not as satisfying an &lit as 16D.
4 SIGMA Author upset to receive government letter (5)
An envelope (‘to receive’) of G (‘government’) in SIMA, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of AMIS (Kingsley or son Martin, ‘author’).
5 BROADCAST Show fat cats dancing (9)
A charade of BROAD (‘fat’) plus CAST, an anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘cats’.
6 TORY Conservative’s pointless lie (4)
[s]TORY (‘lie’) without the S (‘pointless’, point of the compass).
7 EMPHASIS Pies and mash prepared by weight (8)
An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘pies’ plus ‘mash’.
8 SPYGLASS Initially, sharp back pain, when getting onto girl’s telescope (8)
A charade of S (‘initially Sharp’) plus PYG, a reversal (‘back’) of GYP (‘pain’) plus LASS (‘girl’).
13 MOTORCYCLE Vehicle from space ascending over time takes an age (10)
A charade of MOTOR, an envelope (‘over’) of T (‘time’) in MOOR, a reversal (‘ascending’ in a down light) of ROOM (‘space’); plus CYCLE (‘an age’).
15 OBSOLETED Old plot to capture only Troy was made out of date by Americans (9)
An envelope (‘to capture’) of SOLE (‘only’) plus T (‘Troy’, abbreviation for the system of weights) in O (‘old’) plus BED (‘plot’).
16 PRISONER Heading for rehabilitation, is one held within Pollsmoor’s walls? (8)
An envelope (‘held within’) of R (‘heading for Rehabilitation’) plus ‘is one’ in PR (‘PollsmooR‘s walls’), with an &lit definition. Pollsmoor is a South African prison.
17 PROXIMAL Expert on IMAX flick left near the end (8)
A charade of PRO (‘expert’) plus XIMA, an anagram (‘flick’) of ‘IMAX’ plus L (‘left’).
19 HAREEM Are two males protecting women’s quarters? (6)
An envelope (‘protecting’) of ‘are’ in HE plus M (‘two males’), for an alternative spelling of harem.
20 PTISAN Infusion served up by shaman, as it pours (6)
A hidden reversed (‘served up’ in a down light) in ‘shamaN AS IT Pours’). Another alternative spelling, of tisane.
23 IN-OFF Snooker mishap, provided no fellow is caught (2-3)
An envelope (‘is caught’) of ‘no’ plus F (‘fellow’) in IF (‘provided’).
24 BEET Telecom firm acquires another’s plant (4)
An envelope (‘acquires’) of EE (EE Limited, ‘another’ Telecom firm) in BT (BT Group plc, ‘Telecom firm’) – and EE was indeed acquired by BT.
completed grid

70 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,509 by Qaos”

  1. Thank you Qaos and Peter O.
    I took the GUARDRAIL to be a double definition, as a guardrail is a bannister and an extra rail or track that prevents a train from derailing.
    What are we both missing ? I can’t believe Q hasn’t hidden something.

  2. Or better, a combination of your envelope and a dd, which would explain the ‘?’.

  3. Sadly, too hastily, I bunged in SUM at 21ac.

    Seemed OK at the time, but ruined 17dn … and then 9ac.

     

  4. Q has hidden something, but I’ll keep it under my hat at this early hour !

  5. My favourites were 14a, 9a, 4d.

    New words for me were PTISAN, IN-OFF

    I could not parse 25a and 24d – had heard of BT but not EE telecom company.

    Thanks Peter and Qaos.

  6. 16d, 21a and 25a look like the start of a theme, but I’ll leave it to those with better memories to pick out which others are related.

  9. Thanks Qaos and PeterO

    I found this difficult, especially in the NW, but when I had finished I wondered why, as it was all perfectly fair. The two unusual spellings were fortunately straightforwardly clued. (I Googled PTISAN, and it seems more correct than “tisane”, as it derives from the Greek ptisane, from ptissein “to crush”.)

    Well spotted, gladys!

  12. Isn’t ’roundhands’ simply that the mittens go round the hands rather than making the hands look round?  Or am I being thick again…

  13. I think 26 might also relate to the theme. I seem to remember it featuring in at least one episode

  15. I got 1d and 9 early on and thought I had two components of an obvious theme.  Turned out that I was both right and very wrong…

  16. Me at 14 – I meant balloon of course. A quick google revealed a character allied the BUTLER

  19. Didn’t see the theme without the hints here. Thanks for the blog PeterO. Never seen the show but I’ve been to port merion. I remember seeing a life sized chessboard on a lawn somewhere

  20. Thanks Qaos and Peter O.

    1a is also thematic. JD resigned as a secret agent at the end of DM.

  22. Could 13d be thematic ? – I don’t remember one featured in any episode, though of course one was used by an entirely different prisoner.

  23. I thought the theme was something to do with CHESS as BUTLER and FREEMAN are both chess players, doh!

    This seemed to be a little gentler than some of Qaos’s offerings.

    I wonder how long it took to find Pollsmoor for the clue of the PRISONER – good clue though. IMHO, the clue for GEOGRAPHY would have been better with ‘… the ultimate in robbery.’

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

     

  24. I recall the oft-repeated “Qaos always has a theme”, but did not get this one. And I still don’t. A TV show called “Prisoner”? Is it time for the big reveal?
    A DNF anyway as I had blanks in 23d IN-OFF -and 20d PTISAN, both unfamiliar.
    I enjoyed 14a LABORATORIES, particularly as the solution included TORIES.
    Thanks for the blog, PeterO, and kudos to Qaos: you defeated me on this occasion.

  26. For those unfamiliar with the 16a, he is housed in VILLA number SIX of the VILLA/GE. You’d imagine the head honcho to be number one but as far as I can remember [s]he never appears and the whole affair is managed by a successioin of NUMBER TWOs.

  27. I saw the Prisoner TV series on DVD many years ago, but I totally forgot what villa he lives in, so I missed the theme of this one but enjoyed it anyway, especially as I managed to complete it!

  28. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO. As usual with Qaos I started out quite slowly, but eventually got going. I was then held up in the SE for ages with last two ptisan and hareem, neither of which are in my, I know inadequate OED, but could be got from the cluing. I liked chess, plainchant and geography. Of course, as usual, missed the theme in spite of visiting Port Merion only last year (recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity) and everything including the giant chessboard is still there. Thanks again to Qaos and PeterO.

  29. As often happens the puzzle turned out to better than I thought with the blog providing the insights I missed. That said it seemed to be a real mixed bag of the very straightforward and the very intricate, and I solved several from the definition and crossers and failed on the parsing. I wonder which clues had been amended at the request of the editor?
    I liked BUTLERS LABORATORIES ROVERS and EMPHASIS but wasn’t keen on ROUNDHANDS RURALISATION or OBSOLETED – more for the words themselves than the clues. I’ve never seen LIQUIDISE used in this context – I would expect it to be LIQUIDATE but no doubt this usage will be the dictionary.
    I didn’t get the theme although I knew there would be one and am still not sure of all the references.
    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  30. This was fun. Favourites were 4d and 7d.

    Trovatore @3: I also initially had SUM for 21a and I think it works. 9a made me reconsider.

    [Greensward @20: the main character RESIGNS in the opening sequence of The Prisoner. It is never stated that he is John Drake from Danger Man, and I think views vary on whether he was intended to be.]

  31. Didn’t finish it due to putting TISANA for 20d, which google convinced me was another alternate spelling of tisane. Never heard of the correct answer. I realised I’d screwed up when I got 26. Just about spotted the theme but I’ve never seen it so it didn’t help.

  33. So I get the impression that there is a theme based around an Aussie TV series called Prisoner. Never watched it but solved the puzzle.

  35. I always get excited when I see that Qaos is the setter.  I enjoyed this puzzle, but felt a bit of a let-down in that I knew there had to be a ghost theme, but I could not pick it out after spending quite some time searching for it in the completed grid.  Now that I see that the theme is the 16d, I feel less badly about missing it.  I never really watched that show, other than flipping past it for a few minutes, maybe two or three times, many years ago.  I don’t recall ever watching an entire episode (although I have certainly heard much praise of the show over the years, from its enthusiasts).

    Like Trovatore @3, I initially had SUM at 21ac — in fact, it was my (incorrect) FOI — until 9ac led me to the correct answer.

    I did not understand the “by Americans” portion of 15d until I looked it up in the dictionary and saw that, to the extent that ‘obsolete’ could be accepted as a verb at all, it would be only as an Americanism.  I do not typically hear this word used as a verb here in the US, and if I ever did, I would probably bemock* such usage.  [*A word from about a hundred Guardian Cryptics ago.]

    Count me among those who know tisane but not PTISAN.  (But then again, there was that one time when I enjoyed a ptasty ptisan with my friend Ptolemy as we ptalked about ptarmigan.)

    Many thanks to Qaos and PeterO and the other commenters.

  36. Another ghost theme I would never have got, having only seen the occasional episode. Quite a straightforward solve, particularly by recent Tuesday standards, but all very entertaining.

    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO

  37. Thanks to Qaos and PeterO. Tough going for me.  Like DaveMc@35 I’ve never come across OBSOLETED as a verb in US usage and was also not familiar with ROUNDHANDS, ON-OFF, gyp as pain in SPYGLASS, and the spelling of HAREEM and PTISAN.

  38. I whipped through this without bothering with the theme or much else, putting in ‘ptisan’ as the only possible answer with the crossers.   I couldn’t get ‘hareem’ to finish, however, so I came back an hour later and it was immediately obvious.

    Greetings to all the Fifteensquared crew from the opposite corner.   I have taken to do doing the Guardian puzzle nearly every day.

  39. DaveMc @35: I only recently learned that ptarmigan does not really deserve its ‘p’ – the gaelic root is tarmachan and we English added the ‘p’ to make it seem a bit more Greek, maybe hoping for a near-miss “ptero-” reference in the name! So ptisane is more ptrue to its origins than ptarmigan.

    I was misdirected by Qaos’s love of number clues so didn’t think for ages to look at 12 and 21 as actual answers as I would’ve for most setters. My tea-tray of the day there I reckon.

  40. “I am not a number, I am a FREEMAN” so 28 as well. I think the final episode had a “vehicle from space ascending”. In a way, te whole village was a laboratory. SPY in 8 down. The more I look, the more links I see to a programme I used to enjoy.

     

  41. A lot to like here, even though I missed the theme. I had a high-school classmate who was a big Prisoner fan, but this was back when British TV (usually on videotape) was hard to find, so I’ve only heard about the show.

    PeterO, there are indeed two champion boxers named Ali: Muhammad and his daughter Laila.

  42. Never watched The Prisoner so this was simply an exercise in crossword completion for me. I was slowed a bit by reckoning that the hidden infusion was TISANA, being much closer to the tisane I knew about than the PTISAN that I didn’t, but the actors FREEMAN soon put me right. As a theme-free crossword, dodgy words like ROUNDHANDS stopped it from being a classic.

  44. Thanks to PeterO and Qaos. I, like Mitz, identified the wrong ghost theme to begin with but fell in properly when I got 16d. I thought the show itself was tosh, I didn’t watch it so some of the references escaped me. The puzzle was excellent though, very enjoyable.

  45. Fair comment Trailman@42. Alas DNF as I know next to nothing about Australian TV. Even Julie in A didn’t get it! Thanks all the same to Qaos and PeterO.

  47. I enjoyed this, mainly because I actually finished it, with barely any assistance from dictionary or thesaurus. My only quibble is with ‘liquidise’ to mean SELL UP. Chambers does not have this meaning, only to puree or to make liquid. I sort-of guessed the theme, but never watched the series, so couldn’t identify all the relevant words.
    Favourties were LABORATORIES and PRISONER.
    Thanks to Qaos and PeterO.

  49. No Mitz – follow my link (on “Portmeirion”)

    Did anyone actually watch “Prisoner, Cell block H”? (though the same question could be asked about “The prisoner”!)

  50. It’s like bronze-y and gold-y but it’s made of iron.

     

    And yes: I used to watch both.  Both fantastic in their own special sweet ways.

  51. Well, I had to go to Prisoner (disambiguation) on Wiki, and then I hit on the wrong option (P Cell Block H) and was puzzled as to why none of the alleged themers cropped up.  Eventually I homed in on The Prisoner (1967 British TV series) which appears to be the right one.

    Never watched it.  Never even heard of it.  That’s my excuse.  So I was a bit disappointed that Qaos the theme-wizard hadn’t put up a gettable theme this time… 🙁

    What of the puzzle?  Not entirely happy.  Like several others, I started with SUM at 21a.  Just to recap, the ‘big four’ Ximenean principles are:

    * Appropriate indicators for all clue types
    * No indirect anagrams
    * No misleading connectors or punctuation
    * Unambiguous, unique answer to every clue

    Of these, I am comfortable about breaking the first and the third, but the second and fourth are a ‘must’ – even for libertarians.  I don’t think 21a works in that respect.

    Also HAREEM.  I’ve never ever seen that spelling.  Another dictionary look-up needed.  And PTISAN (another word I’d never seen spelt like that).  I put in TISANA at first, thinking it was a valid variant of TISANE which I know perfectly well (it’s a word we often use in French restaurants when we don’t want coffee after the meal…)

    Actually 9a put me on the right track for SIX instead of SUM, as well as a give-away for 12a (but 12a was too easy wasn’t it?  I think ‘hidden words’ ought to be more than 3 letters…)

    15d: is OBSOLETED an Americanism?  An ugly word, whatever, perhaps the words “by Americans” could have been left out?

    RURALISATION.  Clever but why oh why is a champion boxer nearly always ALI?  I suppose it’s the most crossword-friendly boxer’s name in the repertoire.  Anyway, there’s only ever been one ALI as far as I know, so can he be pluralised?

    And is a DUCHESS strictly speaking a “noble”?  I thought it was someone married to a noble, which is a rather different thing…

    With all these gripes, I’d better come up with something positive.  OK, I thought PLAINCHANT was nicely clued and a decent surface.  And others…

    Thanks anyway to Qaos (hope for a more positive experience next time!) and Peter.

  53. “Obsoleted” may be an American usage, but I can assure you that some of us Americans would never use such an ugly word.

    Another trans-Atlantic difference: for us, “gyp” means “cheat, swindle”; the “pain” usage doesn’t exist here. And the word is at least somewhat offensive, deriving from “gypsy” and being something of an ethnic slur. According to Chambers, the “pain” meaning has a different etymology, so this applies only to the “cheat” sense.

    I completely missed the theme.

     

     

     

  54. Laccaria. Your post – if it is not an attempt at trolling – is without question the most pompous, absurd and laughably tragic post I have ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on here. And I can safely say you’re up against some pretty stiff competition. Whichever dream you had in which you were anointed as the Cryptic Guru de nos jours was just that – a dream. Please stop.

  55. @51 Laccaria, I think someone married to a noble becomes a noble as well. And it works both ways, though I don’t think anyone marrying a duchess would become a duke, probably a viscount or something….

    But I disliked 26a for a completely different reason. I started doing crosswords after a few years of abstinence to keep my mind in good working order as I enter my later years. After reading PeterO’s explanation of 26a, I begin to think my mind is in much better order than that of Qaos!

    I finished probably 2/3 of it, the reason being as I stated above…

    Thanks to Qaos (or 2/3 of a thank) and full thanks to PeterO.

  58. I’ll do my fellow Americans one better. I hereby offer this solemn oath to everyone on this site that I shall administer a prolonged and merciless thrashing to anyone who uses “obsoleted” in my presence.

    Sadly, I can already imagine my agency’s upper management joyfully adopting that usage.  These are the same people that use “promote” as an intransitive verb as in “In 2016 Patricia promoted to Superintendent of Operations.”

  59. Thanks to both for an afternoon of entertainment. We had to watch “The Prisoner” as “The Avengers “ had finished. Make of that what you will but TV choice in NZ was limited in those days. Missed that as a theme though.

    Getting back to the early discussion. I took GUARDRAILS to be a safety (a guard) on tracks (rails). Well, it made sense to me at the time. For the rest, I am pleased I can come here to have my suspicions confirmed or dashed.

  60. It was late before I could start this, but I’m glad I did.  I only wish I had seen the theme.  I watched some episodes of that innovative, cult British TV series, and the hints PRISONER, SIX, NUMBER TWO and FREEMAN (i.e. ‘free man’) should have been enough.  Fortunately, it was not necessary to know the theme in order to fill the grid.

    I’m with WhiteKing and Robi concerning ‘liquidise’ for ‘sell up’.  I checked both Chambers and Collins for that meaning (that of ‘liquidate’), but it is not there.  I was reluctant to enter an solution because of that.  (The ‘pull’ of the surface may have been too great – it is a good one!)

    There were several very good clues, and PRISONER topped my list (even though I did not know of that prison – something learned today).

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  61. Missed the theme completely, but that didn’t detract from the enjoyment. Some of my many favourites were anti-favourites of others – e.g. CHESS and SELL UP. For a themed puzzle, surfaces were remarkably good – I especially liked GEOGRAPHY, RESIGNS, BROADCAST and PLAINCHANT.

    DaveMcA25: I enjoyed your sentence about ptisan – it made me think of pswimming.

    Nice catch, mrpenny@41 about the two champion Ali’s. I assume Laccaria’s dudgeon was too high for him to notice your comment.

    Thanks Qaos and PeterO.

  62. Good crossword as one may expect from Qaos. I thought the theme didn’t disturb the flow, and that’s pretty good considering how many Prisoner references were included. I wasn’t sure of the need for “and pour” in 2dn which is unlike Qaos.
    I thought the Prisoner an excellent series (is it true that it was cleverly constructed so that the episodes could be watched in any order – or is that a pretentious myth?). I’m unsure how John B can describe it as “tosh” given his confession to never having watched it!
    [I completely agree with Bingybing; our “tuneless” (geddit?) contributor irritates me perhaps more than hedgehoggy ever did. Though we should perhaps be more kindly. In any case, he probably won’t read it, as he seems to ignore others’ posts.]
    Thanks again to Qaos (nice to be reminded of such a brilliant example of British television at its best) and many thanks to PeterO also.

  63. I assure everyone, I do read a good deal of this blog, though it does now run to sixty-two posts and I missed the one about “Ali”.  I can’t take absolutely everything in: I ain’t no f**king “Rain Man”.  What I will say is, trolls are in general cowards lurking behind their cloaks of anonymity.  But sometimes these cowards make mistakes.

    So – Gaufrid – are you really happy with all this crap spewing out of this so-called blog?

  64. I solved this on the train so got stuck at the alternative spellings, not having my trusty Chambers. I wanted to enter chess but didn’t get to duchess. I enjoyed the 12/21 thingy and PRISONER

    I know of the tv program (and have been to portmeirion), but never watched it so the theme escaped me. Of course it is a ghost theme – it is not essential that it is spotted, but extra fun if it is.

    Many thanks Qaos and PeterO

  65. Laccaria @51 and 63 – I normally stay out of these spats, but I can’t help thinking that most of your objections could be resolved by looking up the “offending” words in a good dictionary, for example one of the definitions of duchess is “a woman holding a rank equivalent to duke in her own right”, which is a noble. I will accept that SUM has an alternative parseable answer and that Alis is a whimsical construction, but reversals are not covered by the anagram rule and never have been. If you are willing to dish out criticism you should be prepared to take it. I hope this doesn’t degenerate into a witch hunt.

  67. I’m coming to this very late, so maybe no one will see this. But I find it very disappointing when people comment that someone’s posts are “pompous” or “absurd” or that their contributions irritate them. Why not address the points made, instead of doling out this sort of abuse? I would guess (and hope) that if we were in a group face to face discussing a crossword you wouldn’t be so rude, so why do you think it’s ok when you’re online and anonymous?

    Laccaria, if you’re still listening, I really hope that the unpleasant comments of a very few won’t put you off continuing to comment.

  68. Pete Loyley @66 – Not sure if you will come back to this blog looking for an answer to your question, but here it is: parse the clue exactly as explained by PeterO, except use the Greek character mu instead of xi.  The definition portion (A number) could arguably be a definition of SUM.

    Lord Jim @67 – Well said.

  69. Laccaria @63. Your question to Gaufrid is one that has been asked a couple of times recently, but more politely in respect of the growing trend for contributors to disregard site policies to talk about themselves rather than discuss the crossword. I know Lord Jim has kindly advised me previously that these insights are inspired, but this escalating daily contest between Laccaria, DaveMc, Julie in Australia and all to see who can chalk up the most uses of “I” is getting very wearing.

    To get into the spirit of things, I better confirm that I agree with myself most wholeheartedly about this.

  70. Van Winkle @69

    You articulated you main point well, and wrapped it up nicely with your last sentence, but I think the blunderbuss you used as your weapon of choice for firing at contributors to this forum was inappropriate and could have hit the wrong people.

    I commend those who have striven to moderate the offending posts evident here as well as those who feel the same but kept their counsel.

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