Guardian Cryptic 27,565 by Brummie

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Found this a little tricky, struggling to finish in the SW corner. Favourites were 13ac, 7dn, 14dn, and 16dn. Thanks to Brummie

Across
1 LUTIST Player longing to take it over (6)
LUST=”longing” around IT reversed/”over”
4 LICENSE Head’s unwelcome visitors forged SEN permit (7)
LICE=”Head’s unwelcome visitors”, plus (SEN)*
9 PARTYGOER Social promiscuous type likely to be one? (9)
PARTY=”Social” plus GOER=”promiscuous type”
10, 25 CROSSROADS  Which gives travellers a choice of hybrid oxygen-filled X-ray units (10)
CROSS=”hybrid”; plus Oxygen inside RADS – a rad is a unit of dosage of radiation [e.g. X-rays]
11, 24 AND SO FORTH Hot rod fans confounded etc (3,2,5)
(Hot rod fans)*
12 SPIT IT OUT Come on, tell me what to do with unpalatable food! (4,2,3)
double definition
13 MONIKER Handle new ex-president in short time, right? (7)
New plus IKE=Eisenhower=”ex-president”; both inside MOment=”short time” plus Right
15 HUBRIS It’s leaving British frustrated about United’s arrogance (6)
(British)* minus the letters “It”, around United
17 AGATHA Writer’s first cooker and fancy hat (6)
=Agatha Christie’s first name
AGA=”cooker” plus (hat)*
19 OPTIMUM Ideal pot, unhappily one not forthcoming (7)
(pot)* plus I=”one” plus MUM=staying quiet=”not forthcoming”
22 CATERWAUL Sound barrier? First, Fritz, er, produces shriek? (9)
the last syllable WAUL sounds like ‘wall’=”barrier”; after CAT=”Fritz” plus ER
Fritz the Cat was a comic strip [wiki] and later an animated film
24   See 11
26 TROOP Band knocking back drink, comprehending nothing (5)
PORT=”drink” reversed/knocked back; around O=”nothing”
27 DEFOLIANT Leaves off using one (9)
cryptic def – “Leaves off” from a plant, rather than “Leaves off”=’avoids doing’
28 HONITON Little darlin’ playing around IT town in Devon (7)
HON=”Little darlin'” plus ON=”playing”; both around IT
29 ODESSA City lines: muggins has to go back (6)
ODES=”lines” of poetry; plus ASS=fool=”muggins” reversed/”back” edited to remove an extra ‘S’, thanks to William 
Down
1 LIP BALM Appreciated by tender kissers (3,4)
cryptic clue, with “tender kissers” hinting at sensitive lips
2, 19 TIRED OF LIFE  Mentally resigned to go west (5,2,4)
cryptic def – “go west”=dissipate, die
3 SKYROCKET Blue plant displaying shoot high up (9)
SKY=”Blue” plus ROCKET=”plant”
4 LARGISH Regular GIs have houses on the big side (7)
Hidden/housed inside “ReguLAR GIS Have”
5 CACTI Plants do in Guernsey region (5)
ACT=”do” in Channel Islands=”Guernsey region”
6 NEOLOGISM A word like “logo-mines”, perhaps? (9)
(logo mines)*
7 ERSATZ Substitute bankers at Zurich centre (6)
letters in the centre of bankERS AT Zurich
8 BOWSER Cellist possibly ushering in second tanker (6)
=a tanker for refuelling aircraft
BOWER=someone who uses a bow=”Cellist, possibly” around Second
14 NIGHTGOWN Near an urban area covering source of gold that might do for retirement (9)
=as in retiring to bed
NIGH TOWN=”Near an urban area” around the first letter of Gold
16 BIT OF A LAD Youthful rogue has not much ham, lettuce etc — no seconds (3,2,1,3)
BIT OF SALAD=”not much ham, lettuce etc”, minus Seconds
18 ABANDON Brass concert will have this strand (7)
“strand” as in leave someone helpless
a “Brass concert will have” A BAND ON
19   See 2
20 MAHATMA Gandhi‘s headgear wrapped by two old ladies? (7)
HAT=”headgear” inside MA and MA=”two old ladies”
21 SCOTCH Put a stop to drink (6)
double definition
23 REPOT Size up a conservatory plant? (5)
cryptic def – “Size up” as in ‘put into a larger size of pot’, rather than ‘take a mental measure of’
25   See 10

 

37 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,565 by Brummie”

  1. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    I didn’t enjoy this. A lot of looseness and nonsensical surfaces, and odd cryptic definitions. As an example, shouldn’t 22a have a “for example” (or similar) for “Fritz” to give “cat”?

    I did like LICENSE and CROSSROADS.

  3. Unlike muffin@1, I did enjoy this. Couldn’t parse Honiton, even though I frequently drive through it. Liked AGATHA, DEFOLIANT and SKYROCKET. Hadn’t heard of BOWSER. Many thanks to B & m.

  5. I liked MAHATMA and the same ones as drofle above.

    Not sure why the ABANDON clue needs brass.  The clue seems to work better without it.

  6. Agree with muffin regarding ‘looseness and nonsensical surfaces’ but enough to give a few smiles. CROSSROADS my fav.

  7. I also had trouble finishing the SW, manehi. 28a HONITON was an unfamiliar place-name. It didn’t help that I had EXFOLIANT instead of DEFOLIANT at 27a, so ABANDON 18d was my LOI after a rethink.
    I enjoyed 5d CACTI and 6d NEOLOGISM, and, like William@5, 20d MAHATMA.
    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  8. My compliments to Brummie, considering my LOI was the hidden word, unnoticed for so long at 7 down…

  9. As per Manehi and Julie, the SW took me as long as the rest, not helped by being slow to get scotch, which is a d’oh. I enjoyed it nonetheless, getting a bit of a chuckle at moniker (good old Ike, brings back the cartoons of him golfing in plus-fours), caterwaul (had forgotte ‘Fritz the’) and, recalling only the water-driven funicular in Devon, I had to nut out Honiton. Repot felt odd, but couldn’t be otherwise.

    Thanks Brummie and Manehi.

  10. Thanks Brummie and manehi. Finished after quite a struggle.

    For 21d I initially had SQUASH but that made 22ac impossible.

  11. William@5, having been to Brass Banding days (yes, all day!) with Lancashire rellies, brass definitely goes with band, whereas ‘concert’ on its own could allude to orchestra, group, ensemble, etc.

  12. grantinfreo @11:  Fair point, but equally, if one goes to a rock concert, that too will have ‘a band on’.  My point was simply that the clue is not unique to ‘brass’.

    Only a minor point on an otherwise fine puzzle.

  13. Thank you  Brummie and manehi.

    Unlike some others, I enjoyed this puzzle, even though I had forgotten Fritz the cat.

    Entering SON OF A GUN at 16d did not help, it would not parse of course, so had to rethink. I found 3d confusing because there is a SKYROCKET plant, an upright blue juniper tree, also known as Blue Arrow I see on checking.

  14. Thanks to Brummie and manehi. I must have been on Brummie’s wavelength today, because I found it a steady and pleasant solve. Left hand side was last in, but unlike some others it was the NW that held me up most with bowser last one in. Lots of nice clues with penny dropping moments, but particularly liked bit of a lad and spit it out. Thanks again to Brummie and manehi.

  16. William@12, you’re right of course, it would work fine without, it’s just that ‘brass’ nails it.

    Cookie@13, I too thought of son of a gun but abandoned it as it didn’t connect with ham or lettuce. As for skyrocket, well wow! I’d love to know whether Brummie was aware of those subtleties.

  17. grantinfreo @16, I figured they would not have much salt pork, and certainly no lettuce, let alone seconds, on British naval vessels in the past where it is thought the idiom SON OF A GUN originated.

  18. Didn’t know about Fritz the cat. It’s a sausage in South Australia, which changed its name to Devon in other states  during WWI (luncheon meat in the UK)

    Liked  PARTYGOER, but saw it as charade and definition, not sure about the &lit.

    Thanks Manehi for ABANDON. I was looking for something like leave someone  at the altar/ strand, with a band on 🙂  I’m with William @5, why brass?

    My favourites were  the cryptic defs DEFOLIANT, LIP BALM, and REPOT, but  not happy about TIRED OF LIFE. Mentally resigned? Resigned implies some sort of acceptance/resolution, not chucking the towel in.

    And did like the novel cluing for the old crossword filler ERSATZ.

     

  19. Like Bracoman @10 I also had SQUASH for 21d. After the z in ERSATZ I was imagining a pangram…. But then I got NIGHTGOWN and had Q-T. I sort-of enjoyed this, and like others found the SW corner trickiest. Favourties were ABANDON and MONIKER.
    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  20. Enough to need a bit of thought, especially some of the cd’s, without being unreasonably difficult.

    I can’t remember having come across CATERWAUL in cryptics before. BOWSER is an interesting word which is used here for a petrol pump (at a service station) and in expressions such as ‘what you can expect to pay at the bowser’, rather than for a ‘tanker’.

    I have to plead ignorance though on Fritz, the South Australian sausage. Funny people, those croweaters.

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi

  21. Cookie@17, lovely weaving of clue/solution elements; too late and too many glasses of red to respond wittily. A bientot, ginfreo.

  22. I was perfectly happy with this – other than the lack of ghost theme which I’ve come to expect from Brummie.
    I had another alternative for 21d – QUENCH which I thought was an excellent solution but I couldn’t make UTTERANCE parse for 22a. Then I came up with the even less viable SQUASH before Mrs W suggested SCOTCH.
    I had ticks by 4,12a and 5d; don’t really get REPOT; and loi was ABANDON after trying unsuccessfully to make ALADDIN work.
    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  24. If it’s Brummie there must be a theme… mustn’t there?
    Spent ages looking for it.
    Had a job parsing CATERWAUL, CROSSROADS ODESSA. Thanks for those Manehi. Enjoyed the bit of salad, so thanks Brummie as well.

  26. In Lancashire Johnny Muggins was (is) a gobbin – a more gentle and endearing word for an ass, fool etc. They’re all on a spectrum of pejorativeness to me.

  28. Did about 30%, gave up. I guessed what was intended at 2,19 but I consider it very weak. Unless I misunderstrand my British idioms, to “go west” is to fail, not necessarily die.

    CROSSROADS was good, though.

  29. For me the problem with REPOT was the reference to conservatory, whereas I associate repotting more with garden plants. Admittedly, the question mark could indicate that this is an example, and plants in other locations may be available. But still not a good clue.

    And, like Job@25, muggins (usually Billy Muggins), to me means oneself, usually when left in a position of holding the baby or clearing up the mess, which is not the same as being an ass.

    However, an enjoyable puzzle, even though for once I was alert to the possibility of a theme – in vain!

  31. Quite difficult but I did enjoy this. SW was the last to yield for me with REPOT being LOI. Rather weak, I thought. I also got delayed by having LIP SALV for 1dn but this made a nonsense of 13ac. I also had BIT OF A BOY for 16dn which didn’t parse and,of course LAD is better. I liked NEOLOGISM and AND SO FORTH.
    Thanks Brummie.

  32. My first of the day, and I agree, there were many less than meaningful surfaces here! Some technical errors here and there, though not a deluge (e.g. 15 across, 1 & 7 down), and some dbe (Agatha, Fritz and Mahatma), so a bit of a curious one for me all told.

  33. I’ve found myself with an unexpected free evening so I’ll take time to comment further.

    muffin @30 re g larsen: many people have their plants in the garden in pots (some only in pots). Therefore I too thought ‘why the conservatory?’.

    Job @25 and g larsen: I agree about muggins – not the same as being an ass.

    I also had SQUASH before the Mrs said SCOTCH. Quite miffed when she turned out to be right.

     

  34. I wasn’t familiar with “going west” but I was really thrown by BIT OF A LAD. If the first thing going into Brummie’s salad is ham, I definitely want an invitation to dinner.

  35. Thanks to Brummie and manehi. Very difficult for me, partly owing to bad jet lag (I’m in London at this moment). BOWSER, Muggins, and BIT OF A LAD gave me trouble.

  37. This one did not go in gently for me — not to say it wasn’t fun (especially considering the alternatives: stress at work, even more stress in the news) — but I got it solved eventually.  Like other commenters above, I had my hopes up for a ghost theme, but couldn’t spot one.  There were also several unfamiliar words and phrases to me as a US solver, that made the going rougher:  BOWSER, which had to be right based on the crossers and wordplay,but all I could think of was this guy (the guy on the right, if you click the link, the most memorable member of the band Sha Na Na); HONITON; BIT OF A LAD, which seemed only vaguely familiar to me; and especially TIRED OF LIFE, which was my LOI because I was unfamiliar with “go west” as an idiom for “die”.  [But Google-confirming that idiom gave me reason to listen to Into the West, and, well, that isn’t so bad.]

    Many thanks to Brummie and manehi and the other commenters.

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