Guardian 27,518 – Brummie

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Despite a few easy clues, I found this quite slow going, particularly in the NW corner, though for no obvious reason on looking back at it. Thanks to Brummie.

There’s an impressive number of football-related answers: I’m no fan of the “beautiful game”, but I can see at least a dozen. If you didn’t notice them, I’ll start you off with FORWARD and PENALTY and let you find the rest..

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. ASSIST Musician’s book is lacking support (6)
BASSIST less B[ook]
4. FORWARD Advanced because fighting Germany (7)
FOR (because) + WAR (fighting) + D (DGermany)
9. FORMATION Data not in for Red Arrows display? (9)
INFORMATION less IN
10. COMET Long-distance traveller needs to reach Everest’s base (5)
COME + [everes]T, though “reach” is surely “come to”, not just “come”. Some might not like “base” for the last letter in an across clue, but I don’t particularly object
11. IMPEL One’s exercise at 50? Get going! (5)
I’M (one’s, i.e. one is) + PE + L
12. RHAPSODIC Effusive, improvised C sharp setting for Groom’s Vow Rejected (9)
Reverse of “I DO” (vow in some wedding ceremonies) in (C SHARP)*
13. TAPSTER Barperson who has a sip (about a pint) (7)
P (pint) in TASTER
15. TACKLE Caught in lie about old advocate’s outfit (6)
Slight contorted grammar here: the old advocate is a K[ing’s] C[ounsel], who is reversed (about) and “caught” be TALE (lie)
17. PODIUM Speaker’s position, bottom of heap — shame (6)
[hea]P + ODIUM. Those who didn’t like “base” in 10 might feel the same about “bottom” here
19. BUGLOSS Weed brings illness and bereavement (7)
BUG (illness, as in “suffering from a bug”) + LOSS – I didn’t know the name (which comes from the Greek for “ox-tongue” – bou.. for ox and gloss.. for tongue), but I think I have some of it in my garden..
22. UNOPPOSED Lacking competition, large organisation sat after work (9)
UN (large organisation) + OP + POSED
24. TABLE Submit pill when temperature’s taken (5)
TABLET less the second T
26. FEINT Feature of fencing‘s noisy collapse (5)
Homophone of “faint” (collapse) – fencing as in swordplay
27. LIGHTEN UP Turn the screw left not right ultimately, to relax? (7,2)
TIGHTEN UP with [righ]T replaced by L – nice misdirection to use the T where one might expect R
28. PENALTY Play ten rounds as punishment (7)
(PLAY TEN)*
29. ARCHER Who might pierce inner ear, being vexed about Queen and Church (6)
R + CH in EAR*. “Inner” is one of the sections of an archery target
Down
1. AFFLICT Fact: if swimming round lake, that’s trouble (7)
L in (FACT IF)*
2. STRIP Short cut round T-bar (5)
T in S[hort) RIP (cut) – the hyphen has to be ignored
3. SCARLATTI Castrati failed to comprehend Latin composer (9)
L in CASTRATI* – Alessandro Scarlatti or his son Domenico: the former is perhaps more appropriate, as he wrote a lot of operas, which would no doubt have featured castrati at the time
4. FONDANT Sweet, affectionate article on collection of books (7)
FOND + A + N[ew] T[estament]
5. RACES Meeting different sorts of people (5)
Double definition
6. ARMADILLO Jocular, mad, illogical centre for protected species (9)
Central letters in joculAR MAD ILLOgical – “protected” refers to the armadillo’s tough shell, rather than its legal status
7. DETACH To get unengaged, the chap had to take Kitty back (6)
Reverse of CAT in HE’D
8. MIRROR Spanish artist admits resistance against reverse driving aid (6)
R in MIRO (Spanish artist) + R[everse]
14. PROMOTION Sales publicity for poet? (9)
PRO (for) + [Andrew] MOTION, former Poet :Laureate
16. COGITATOR Who thinks Rocky too tragic? (9)
(TOO TRAGIC)*
18. MISPLAY Avoid stage production broadcast: it might infringe the rules (7)
Homophone of “miss play”
19. BAD EGG Rogue commanded galleons originally (3,3)
BADE + G[alleon] twice
20. SWEEPER Second one to cry “Besom“? (7)
S + WEEPER – a besom is a broom made of twigs
21. DUFF UP Pound no good — raise (4,2)
DUFF (no good) + UP (raise) – slang phrase (perhaps rather old-fashioned: I associate it with my schooldays 50 years ago) for “beat up”
23. PETAL Feature of flower power: raised behind (5)
P[ower] + reverse of LATE
25. BENCH Sands (new for start of athletics) settle (5)
BEACH (sands) with A[thletics] replaced by N; a settle is a high-backed bench

48 comments on “Guardian 27,518 – Brummie”

  1. Thanks Andrew, especially for pointing out the soccer terms which I, as the least football-savvy male in the UK, needless to say, missed. This all went in very smoothly for me, but more enjoyably than most beginner-level puzzles. So: ‘up the Villa, Baggies, Blues’ or whatever, to Brummie!

  3. The clue for 1ac doesn’t really work because it has a redundant ‘s. Something like: Support musician lacking book would have been better, I think.

    A good puzzle nevertheless.  My favourite is 19ac.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  4. Yes, Andrew, that NW was difficult though not sure why. Missed the theme. Pity as so many references were, with hindsight, quite obvious – and clearly linked! Liked 26a FEINT. 19a BUGLOSS was unfamiliar [so SILT – Something I Learned Today – with thanks to DaveMc for that concept].
    With appreciation to Brummie for the enjoyment and to Andrew for the explanations of the finer points.

  5. It was, you may say, a puzzle of two halves. I filled the entire RH side before entering an answer in the LHS, finishing in the NW. The theme passed me by.

    My thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  6. Thanks Andrew – well done on spotting the theme, which completely passed me by but I’m not ashamed of that.

    I was expecting your customary comment on I DO [12ac] – have you given up on that one? I’ve still never heard it.  😉

    I enjoyed this puzzle. Favourites today were 3dn, for the surface, and 27ac for the construction – and I liked the ‘protected species’, too.

    Thanks, Brummie, for an entertaining puzzle on a dull morning.

  7. Eileen – I haven’t totally given up on “I do” versus “I will”, but decided not to make a meal of it this time. My reference to  “… some wedding ceremonies…” was intended as a nod to it 🙂

  8. I googled Motion poet and came up with Andrew but only an article he’d written.I was at the same time thinking of Poetry in Motion but the clue said POET. And if A Motion was a Laureate then Brummie is free to walk.

    But I felt there were a few sloppy clues around. Apart from COMET(as already pointed out) there are

    TACKLE- I could see C for caught and KC -I mean its defendable but it just doesnt have the same crispness as yesterday’s Nutmeg(or today’s Phi)I thought MIRROR and ARCHER were a bit forced too.

    Not keen on DUFF UP either. Its just that I remember Brummie being a bit er..tighter than this. I dont expect Queensbury Rules from him  but I would like a return to previous form.

    Anyhow, thank Andrew( I could see at least 10 themers )and thanks Brummie

  9. BUGLOSS was my new word today. I could not parse 14d and failed to parse 15a correctly – I thought it was C in TALE – but I did not know what to do with the K 🙁

    I also failed DUFF UP (never heard of this).

    My favourite was 12a.

    Thanks Andrew and Brummie

  10. In 6d I took ‘protected’ to signify containment of the word within the clue and didn’t think about armour.

  12. I bought a shade-loving, blue-flowered Buglossoides from the late Beth Chatto’s garden last week.

  15. I jumped the right way on 26a, but I think that anyone who opted for ‘faint’ could, justifiably, call for reference to the VAR assessor, or the crossword equivalent.

  16. Well played Brummie and thanks Andrew. Bugloss a new word for me too. A nice mix of straightforward and head scratching. Good luck to Villa tomorrow! And to the mighty Scarlets!¡

  17. Very enjoyable.  I did this on my phone so I didn’t have any actual ticks, just mental ones, which of course I then tend to forget.  But I do remember having one for BAD EGG.

    It was the second day running that “barman” or “barperson” (13a) was not a composer!  And a composer (3d) was just “composer”!  Oh well it keeps you on your toes.

    copmus @8: I don’t understand your objection to DUFF UP.  Is it because of UP as a verb?  Surely this is ok, as in “up the ante”?

     

  18. My experience was different in that the top half went in first with the SW the last quadrant to yield. I put in ‘faint’ at first for 26. It seems to me that it can be read either way round (?)

    I missed the footie theme. I’ve got 12 related terms if you include MISPLAY and TABLE.

    New one for me is BUGLOSS. I particularly liked LIGHTEN UP.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew (Yesterday’s Guardian suggested we say ‘thank you’ more than most of our neighbours.)

  20. In 10 across, doesn’t the “needs to” do exactly what you said Andrew; COME needs to = reach?

    Enjoyable puzzle, though I missed 21 down, favorite was 16d

    Thanks Andrew and Brummie

     

  21. Unlike many, I had no problem with BUGLOSS, which had stuck in my mind for decades in a poetic context – I was convinced it was Shakespeare, but a search of Concordances suggests not – so it must have been this, listed by OED, from Crabbe in 1783:

    There the blue bugloss paints the sterile soil.

  23. As usual, I had to come here to be made aware of a theme! Didn’t know 19a before, and failed miserably to parse 15a, not seeing KC -> CK. Apart from that, very enjoyable.

  24. Thank you Brummie and Andrew.

    I missed the football references, but being a New Zealander that was not surprising.  I had no trouble with “Everest’s base” (“base camps” came to mind) or “bottom of heap” (it being an idiom) in across clues.

    Komornik @12, thanks for the reference to Beth Chatto and her gardens.

  25. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    Liz @ 22: if you have a RIP SAW you either rip or cut a piece of timber.

    hth

  26. quenbarrow @21, the BUGLOSS is a beautiful ‘weed’, and that quotation ties in with the gardens of Beth Chatto which were developed to cope with problem areas – just found Crabbe’s poem, The Village,  it is not RHAPSODIC like the usual pastorals.

  27. Found this pretty tough, and had to cheat a little to get DUFF UP, which was last in. Missed the theme too (no excuses except that I forgot to look for one).

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  28. Most of my views on this have been stated already. I forgot to go back to 21 DUFF UP – which is a shame because it’s a good clue, the surface leading the solver away from a phrase meaning ‘pound’ in that sense. I also liked COGITATION.
    It was good to see NT indicated as a ‘collection of books’ instead of the stock indicator ‘books’. ‘Get going’ for IMPEL and ‘driving aid’ for MIRROR also stood out.
    I liked Jam’s suggested revision @3 for 1a ASSIST.
    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  29. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew. I somehow dredged up BUGLOSS but I struggled with DUFF UP, could not parse TACKLE, and missed the STRIP-bar connection. I rarely spot a theme but this one stood out for me, even though I’m more familiar with US football – and I remember that many recently did not know Neymar. Maybe I read too many sports headlines?

  30. Re the theme. I counted ten but some players would 21d others so maybe 11. As Brighton supporter I know what its like to go through the agonies of will we /will we not go up. So Brummie good luck for this weekend so that you can be 12a if you succeed.

  31. I’m enjoying this setter more and more and I liked this. I didn’t bother with the theme but I suppose even I could identify FORWARD and PENALTY but I didn’t. A lot of the points have already been made – the NE was the hardest and I didn’t know BUGLOSS Much to like though- STRIP,DUFF UP and lIGHTEN UP etc.
    Thanks Brummie.
    ps Having looked again, I can see a number of football references. Who’d have thought it!

  32. Just for completeness, my list of footballing terms (some of them a bit tenuous) is, in clue order:

    ASSIST, FORWARD, FORMATION, TACKLE, PODIUM, UNOPPOSED, [League] TABLE, FEINT, PENALTY, STRIP (what footballers wear), PROMOTION, MISPLAY, SWEEPER and BENCH (where substitutes sit)

    which makes a very impressive 14. In addition there are a couple of ARCHERs in American Football; and, as @gsolphotog mentioned Aston Villa, a Cameron Archer who plays for their Under 18 side. And if there aren’t teams called the COMETs and the TAPSTERs then there ought to be..

  33. I also had no problem with bugloss. As a ten-year-old many centuries ago I used to walk to my primary school across a common rich in wild flowers. I’d pick these unfamiliar blooms (we’d just moved back to England from Africa) then check them out in a book on the school nature table. My variety, I learned, was called “Viper’s Bugloss” and that exotic name imbedded itself in my brain. Today that common is a housing estate; most people wouldn’t dare to let a little girl walk to school unaccompanied, and I wonder how many children know the names of English wild flowers? Still learning, though: the internet has just told me the origin of the “viper”, wondered about these many decades.

  34. Can someone please explain “meeting” = “races”?  No one else is confused so I must be missing something really obvious but I can’t find anything on line and I’m completely flummoxed.

  35. This was fun, although, for me, not the PotW.   I spotted SWEEPER and PENALTY early on, and thought a theme might be afoot (haha), but alas, I forgot to circle back to search the completed grid for more.  My loss.

    I had two TILTs (or “SILTs”, Julie in Australia @4, that works for me also!): BUGLOSS and DUFF UP.  BUGLOSS was perfectly gettable (as distinguished from get-at-able) from the wordplay and the crossers (and, in my case, checking it on Google afterward just to confirm it really is a Thing), but DUFF UP, not so much.  In fact, I solved that one incorrectly, as BUFF UP.  My thought process was that “raise” was the definition portion of the clue (as in, buffing up one’s reputation) and that the wordplay was: Pound = BUFF (as in a buffet or blow) and “no good” = UP (as in, my car went up this morning).  [I’m not sure if “went up” is only a locally used idiom, but everyone in this part of the US seems to use it when a car or an appliance goes kaput.]   Anyway, thanks to Andrew (and 15^2 generally) for setting me straight on this clue.

    Cedric @30, I believe, from the comments above, that the question is not will we /will we not, but rather, WILL we, or DO we?

    Many thanks to Brummie and Andrew and the other commenters.  Have a nice weekend all.

  36. BlueDot @34

    One of the things I’ve learned from 15^2 is that the Chambers dictionary is the gold standard for crossworders.  According to the online Chambers, one of the definitions for meeting is “a sporting event, especially a series of athletics competitions”.

  37. Thanks DaveMc!  I actually looked at Chambers but neglected to scroll down enough to see “meeting” defined separately from “meet”.  I get more flighty (flightier?) every day.

  38. Thanks to S & B. Good puzzle. I took the reference in 5d to be horse racing, not athletics, but I guess either works.

  39. BlueDot @ 34 & DMc @ 36

    In UK usage, ‘going to the races’ usually means horse races, aka a ‘race meeting’ at whichever course. Hance ‘races’ = ‘meeting’.

    hth

  40. Like Auriga@5 the right hand went in before there was much in the left – and I came here with 3 unsolved – PODIUM, FEINT and DUFF UP. I don’t know what it is about Brummie’s puzzles but I don’t get the pleasure I do from other setters. The clues are perfectly fair and gettable so it must be something about the way I see things that isn’t quite in tune. I don’t think anyone has mentioned ARMADILLO which I thought was a superbly hidden embed (as I discovered they’re called by the pros at the S&B) and became even better when Andrew explained “protected” – great misdirection.
    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  41. Thanks to both for an entertain8ng and not too frustrating time.

    Down here we have Vipers Bugloss growing wild up country and a very mild flavoured honey is produced from it.

    TACKLE was the answer I needed explaining and I kept tying to put ER for ‘er into 29a as a unit so it too caused me parsing trouble. I sort of worked it out but it felt uncomfortable. Apart from those two I was happy with it.

  42. I am still, in spite of my post @24,  rather confused by Andrew’s doubts as regarding 10a and 17a, one reads down the page, or down the line – no-one else seems to have questioned  this…

  44. [copmus@8 – Who is this Queensbury? Is this some clever pun on the pugilistic Wilde-hating marquess (of Queensberry)?]

  45. We felt some definitions were rather loose/ wishy washy eg rip = cut (though I take Simon S’s point @ 25) and those mentioned by copmus @8.

    Always enjoy a themed puzzle though and had fun picking them out. Thanks Andrew for the list – we missed PODIUM

  46. Cookie @42: I did @20, though not as clear as it could be.

    The wordplay begins at “needs to reach”  (+T)

    There is an implied subject to the verb “needs” that is  not “long distance traveller.” suppose that subject is xxxx

    the wordplay now reads,  xxxx needs ‘to’ {to mean} reach, so if ‘reach’ means ‘come to,’ as Andrew has suggested, then xxxx = come

  47. Am I the only person who had STRAP rather than STRIP? ( my other half had strip) . How about “s” for short, and part (cut) backwards, giving strap – and a T-bar is a sort of strap on girls’ shoes – usually school ones? Though of course the theme lends itself to strip….
    We should have got more of the football themes.
    And – as usual, last to post so I doubt anyone will reply….:-(

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