Guardian Cryptic 27,570 by Imogen

by

The puzzle can be solved here.

The four long entries give a starter to most of the shorter ones, but in the main, this was one of those puzzles where parsing for some of the answers takes a while.

Apologies to readers who got in early, as my initial blog was a bit rushed.  I hope I’ve resolved any issues from that early iteration now.

Thanks, Imogen

 

Across
1 COME UP TO SCRATCH Do OK but appear to withdraw? (4,2,2,7)
COME UP (“appear”) + TO SCRATCH (“withdraw”)
9 OBSERVANT Our sister has no hesitation taking on worker with sharp eyes (9)
OBSERV(er) (“sister” (to the Guardian), with no ER (“hesitation”) taking on ANT (“worker”)
10 CRAWL Crop left to make slow progress (5)
CRAW (“crop”) + L(eft)
11 EARRING Not hard for fish to swallow a piece of jewellery (7)
(h)ERRING (“fish”, not hard) to swallow A
12 RIVIERA I visited Mexican painter here in the south of France (7)
I visited (Diego) RIVERA (“Mexiacn painter”)
13 ALI He fought a big cat: that’s not on (3)
A LI(on) (“big cat,”, not on)
14 OPPRESS Terrifying woman’s repeated power to knock out a grand bully (7)
O(g>PP)RESS (“terrifying woman” with PP (repeated P(ower)) knocking out G (“a grand”)
17 CORDIAL Friendly girl in pink (7)
DI (“girl”) in CORAL (“pink”)
19 HATCHET Lid on trunk initially stuck out — cutter supplied (7)
HAT (“lid”) + CHE(s)T (“trunk” with S(tuck) out)
22 BREADTH In inspiration, daughter shows liberality of mind (7)
in BREATH (“inspiration”), D(aughter)
24 AVE Hail penetrating cavern (3)
Hidden in “cAVErn”
25 CONSIGN Carefully study gesture to transmit (7)
CON (“carefully study”) + SIGN (“gesture”)
26 AEROBIC Like some exercise? I carried back some French wine bottles (7)
<= I BORE (“I carried”, back) bottled by AC (appellation controllé, so “French wine”)
28 ERATO School almost suppressing artist’s inspiration (5)
ETO(n) (“school”, almost) suppressing R.A. (“artist”)
29 EPISTOLER Reader in church always involving ancient Shakespearean (9)
E’ER (“always”) involving (Ancient) PISTOL (character in three “Shakespeare” plays)
30 THE PLOT THICKENS Complications ensue as more points are added to graph (3,4,8)
If you add more points to a graph, you’d thicken the plot.
Down
1 CLOSE TO THE CHEST About to secure strongbox, where one may 8, giving nothing away (5,2,3,5)
Double definition, and CLOSE THE CHEST (“secure strongbox”) about TO
2 MISER One that’s near title losing time (5)
MIS(t)ER (“title”, losing T(ime)
3 UPRAISE Maintaining quiet air as river rises, take advantage of lift (7)
P (“quiet”) + RAI (“air” with R rising to the top), maintained by USE (“take advantage of”)
4 TEAR GAS Race to join conversation that will make you smart (4,3)
TEAR (“race”) to join GAS (“conversation”)
5 SATIRIC Ridiculing racist I thumped (7)
*(racist i)
6 RECOVER Get back from sports ground having finished (7)
REC (“sports ground”) having OVER (“finished”)
7 TRADE WIND Condensation in carriages eventually shorted regular current (5,4)
DEW (“condensation”) in TRAIN (“carriages”) + (shorte)D
8 HOLD ALL THE CARDS Be in full control of big bag on deck (4,3,3,5)
HOLD ALL (“big bag”) on THE CARDS (“deck”)
15 POTENTATE Writer about to set up cheap material on eastern ruler (9)
PEN (“writer”) about <=TO (set up) + TAT (“cheap material”) on E(astern)
16 SUE Take action as point in dispute is dropped (3)
(IS)SUE (“point in dispute”, with IS dropped)
18 OAR Blade decapitated pig (3)
(b)OAR (“pig”, decapitated)
20 HAIR OIL Greaser endlessly tough in awful weather (4,3)
IRO(n) (“tough”, endlessly) in HAIL (“awful weather”)
21 TANGENT One touching line of smack sent for execution (7)
TANG (“smack”) + (s)ENT (for execution = beheaded)
22 BEARISH Rough and rude treatment for rabies at hospital (7)
*(rabies) at H(ospital)
23 ERRATIC Unpredictable Cartman keeps an odd pet! (7)
ERIC (Cartman, a character in ‘South Park’) keeps RAT (“an odd pet”)
27 BILGE Promoting English with plausible nonsense (5)
<=(E(nglish) GLIB (“plausible”))

*anagram

68 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,570 by Imogen”

  3. Thanks Trovatore & Quenbarrow – couldn’t see that.

    As the blogger says, the 4 long answers were the way in and rest followed faster than the parsing, which spoiled the whole slightly for me.

    Thank you, Imogen, nice week, all.

  5. I see the rest of the charade for 15dn is missing – TAT (cheap material) on E(astern). I appreciate Loonapick getting these out early – perhaps a work in progress today.

  6. I think POTENTATE is PEN (writer) containing <-TO plus TAT (cheap material) plus E (eastern)

  7. Thanks loonapick. I think in 1 down ‘secure strongbox’ = ‘close the chest’ which is written around (= about) ‘to’. However, where the word ‘the’ in the solution is indicated I can’t see.

  8. PS – thanks to Loonapick for the blog. I had to come here to find your explanation for UPRAISE, though it seems so simple now I see the trick. Thanks also to Imogen for a fine puzzle – tricky but enjoyably so.

  9. 30 ac made me  chuckle; the rest, fairly bland, and I couldn’t parse several

     

    Thanks loonapick and Imogen

  10. I also had troubles with the parsing. The ones that fooled me were 9a OBSERVANT (not so familiar with all your UK papers), 26a AEROBIC (hadn’t heard of AC in that context) and 21d TANGENT (still not sure really of how “smack” = TANG. I did like the four long solutions around the outside. Thanks to Imogen, loonapick and other solvers.

  11. Apologies for the rushed nature of my blog this morning.  I had much less time than normal before I had to head out for work this morning, but I won’t bore you with the details.

    I’ve made some of the changes mentioned in posts above, so I hope it’s complete now.  About to go into a meeting, so don’t have time to check thoroughly, so I’ll apologise now for any other outstanding issues.

    Loonapick

     

  13. I had forgotten about Observer being the sister so was trying to get a sist in there.
    The plot thickens also made me laugh, Dave@9
    Not sure about close to the chest being about to secure it.
    Also forgot about rise to the top being moving the r of air
    15 Thanks for explaining above. I can see Poe, tat and e. TN?
    My children wouldn’t let me watch South Park when they were teenagers so had to check who Cartman was though the clue got me there.
    I enjoyed the long clues. Don’t seem to have had so many recently. Thanks, Imogen and Loonapick.

  15. Yes as William@3 says, not the workout that Imogen can be, but I enjoy clues like the long ones, where you have to gestalt the answers as it were, more than Lego ones (think of a synonym, remove a letter, reverse, insert, then add etc.).

    I was thinking of Kahlo rather than her hubby in 12a, had to look up AC after getting aerobic, also couldn’t see the instruction to drop the ‘is’ in 16d, and didn’t see the ‘glib’ in bilge (d’oh to both). So some victories to the setter notwithstanding the gentle solve.

    Thanks Imogen and Loonapick.

  16. Thanks to Imogen and loonapick. Like others I did well with the four long answers but elsewhere needed help with the parsing of OBSERVANT (I missed the sister reference), ISSUE, AEROBIC, and TANGENT.

  18. Thanks loonapick. I belatedly realised I came to check the blog and comments before I’d completed the puzzle, having 29 still to do. But having seen what the answer is, and how it was arrived at, I’m 99 per cent sure I’d never ha e got it without ‘assistance’. So, a little unsatisfactory generally, but a lot of ingenuity from Imogen today.

  19. Ronald@17

    Someone that’s near (ie mean or tight with money) is a miser.  “Mister” is a title, but it’s lost the t of time, leaving MISER

  20. Thanks for that, Loonapick! I must admit I’ve never heard or come across that meaning for the word “near” before…

  21. @17 One of the meanings of “near” is ‘ungenerous, miserly’, so “one that’s near” = MISER. Then, title = MISTER, losing its T (= time).

  22. Thanks Imogen and loonapick

    Ronald @ 20: Store near = tight in your etui. It’s a regular crossword piece of misdirection, along with, say, neat for cattle, R for take, and others of that ilk.

  23. …and many thanks, too, John Wells. I don’t suppose “near” is used in certain parts of the country, i.e. as in the dialect of the North, let’s say. Am I being a Southern Softie here, or is it just that for one of language’s commonly used words I simply have never encountered that meaning before?

  24. Ah, I’m familiar with neat for cattle, that crops up quite a bit in our daily crosswords. Enough from me for one morning now…

  26. Glad to have finished this while the temperature is only 21 degrees, most enjoyable – it’s a rare treat to have four long answers. Thanks to Imogen for interesting clues, loonapick for a nostalgic glimpse of the world of work in a heatwave, and to grant inferno (that came up automatically and I can’t bring myself to correct it) for the gestalt/Lego distinction. Tho most of my Legos are gestated,really. I’ve just twigged where freo is. Been there, day trip from Perth by boat.

  27. Hi there Harhop, or G’day from WA, as we say here. Glad you didn’t change inferno! Yes I try to gestalt them too, to save having to grind them out, tho sometimes needs must. Nice you’ve seen Freo; London or Paris it ain’t, but mrs ginf and I are always glad to get home.

  28. Along with grantinfreo I was thinking of Kahlo. And having biffed in UPRAISE was trying to fit in URE which I’ve come to look out for. But no, Imogen was cleverer than that. South Park, on the other hand, is not in my vocabulary.

    Is GLIB really plausible? And some I thought were overly misdirected eg RAT, the odd pet, CON carefully study, and  SUE.  Just grumbling after looking for a cardinal point moving  down from a word  meaning dispute.

    The clue for TANGENT was a novel indicator for delete first letter.  Not keen on HATCHET. TRADE WIND my pick.

  29. Loved this. Thanks Imogen and Loonapick. For what it’s worth I read ‘carriages eventually shorted’ in 7d as a fanciful contraction of ‘train would’, so ‘train’d’.

  30. Did nearly all of this over breakfast, and enjoyed it especially the long answers around the perimeter. Have to confess that I didn’t bother with all of the parsing, and had 29a EPISTOLER and 27d BILGE missing at the end. Decided it was already too hot to exert any more effort, so came here.

    I sometimes wonder about clues like 9a which talk of “our sister” and there are often clues with references to “us” and “we” referring to the Guardian. This means the solver has to know where the crossword was originally published. 9a is obviously more awkward for non-UK solvers who wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the relationship between the two papers, as JinA @10 points out. Does the Guardian hold the rights to the crosswords published in it, or could the setter publish them elsewhere without reference to the Guardian? Just wondering.

    Anyway, thanks to Imogen and loonapick. Nice start to the day.

     

  31. grantinfreo:  find your gestalt/lego classifications really useful.  I’ve wanted to express this distinction a couple of times and come up short.  Nice one.

  32. Crossbar @30:  You make an interesting point.  Personally, I’ve always liked the Grauniness of these puzzles but if this one washed up on a desert island and one had no knowledge of its provenance, 9a would be next to impossible.  Hmmm?

  33. Xjpotter@29: My reading is “eventually”=”in the end”. Not a construction I’ve seen before but possibly part of the lore.

  34. Not all French wine is appellation controllé, so “some French wine” is AC in 26 across.

    Thanks for the puzzle Imogen and for the blog loonapick.

  35. My ODE has both NEAR = miserly and NEAT = cow as archaic but I don’t suppose people are going to use indicators with them.

    Thanks Imogen, not as frightening as some but enjoyable. Thanks also to busy loonapick.

  36. I was not whingeing, Crossbar@30z I have shared before that I enjoy tackling these crosswords while knowing that they are UK/situated. It doesn’t worry me. My knowledge of the UK, of Europe, and indeed of the world at large has been significantly enriched because of my choice to engage in these puzzles.

  39. Thanks to Imogen and loonapick. As others have said not one of Imogen’s toughest but nevertheless enjoyable. I found some of the parsing tricky and needed to come here to clarify some bits and pieces. Loved the plot thickens, but lots of other nice clues. Thanks again to Imogen and loonapick.

  40. Thanks William@31? (long over the yardarm).

    paddymelon@28 (?, ditto), my ancient Collins says Glib: artful, easy, fast-talking, fluent, garrulous, insincere, plausible, quick, ready, slick, slippery, smooth, smooth-tongued, suave, talkative, voluble.

    A veritable setter’s feast, including the one Imogen used!

  41. Thanks Imogen and Loonapick.

    I too needed help with parsing OBSERVANT and might be looking at it yet. Enjoyed THE PLOT THICKENS and some lovely surfaces of which favourites were TEAR GAS and TRADE WIND.

  42. JinA @36 I didn’t mean to imply that you were whingeing at all. Your comments are always totally whinge-free. The provenance of a crossword is bound to make it harder for some solvers. I would struggle with any Ozzie based clues despite Mr. Crossbar having many relations down under.

  43. Much more straightforward than I seem to remember Imogen’s last puzzle being, and the last two in, EPISTOLER (a TILT) and then BILGE, took almost as long as the rest. I had the same parsing difficulties as JinA and Hedgehog and didn’t get the Cartman reference.
    Lots of ticks with TEAR GAS getting my cotd vote.
    Thanks to Imogen and loonapick.

  44. I think this was the most straightforward Imogen we have seen, despite a couple that were a little tricky to parse. All quite fun to solve, if over rather quickly.

    Thanks to Imogen and loonapick

  45. Thanks Imogen and loonapick

    I found this both easier than usual for Imogen (mainly due to the friendly grid – I had finished before I went out to golf this morning) and more enjoyable than usual. I’d only raise an eyebrow at the GK needed for ERRATIC (I’ve seen the programme a couple of times and hated it!). THE PLOT THICKENS was my favourite too.

  47. 16d SUE how is “is” a point?

    Simon S @22 — how is R “take”?

    Thanks Imogen and loonapick.

  51. General plea to setters – can we drop this “execute” = “remove the first letter” device (21d)? As well as being somewhat distasteful (at least for us younger ones from the snowflake generation), it doesn’t actually work. Yes, beheading is a form of execution, and beheading can be taken to imply removing the first letter, but taking the first letter from “sent” doesn’t result in its execution.  It’s just a verb with a letter missing. The device might work if it referenced a living being that would die if it had its head cut off, like the poor pig in 18d.

    Not helped by the fact that beheading is only one of regrettably many ways of execution. The result could equally be SELETHALNT or AMILLSENTPOND.

  52. Valentine @47. An “issue” is a point in dispute, and SUE is issue with “is” dropped.

    Re r/take/recipe see Monday’s blog by Eileen and comments on Pan’s crossword.

  53. Van Winkle’s comment makes me recall that I couldn’t parse TANGENT: I had smack meaning tan, not tang, and was left with an (unexecuted) gent.

    On the point raised, despite being a paid-up snowflake, I don’t share the distaste for ‘execute’ as an indicator of a first letter removal. It seems to me quite fair for setters to mislead us; just as ‘Manx’ is sometimes used to indicate the lopping of the last letter of all sorts of words which have nothing to do with cats.

  54. I was well ensconced in hedge trimming when the paper arrived so I got to this late. I really enjoyed it once I started it. Imogen’s puzzles are becoming more amusing than most other setters. EPISTOLER was new to me and TANGENT,so easy now, was my LOI. Lots of fun.
    Thanks Imogen

  55. Hello all,

    I’m a very occasional contributor but I have to ask:

    How does R = take , to reiterate Valentine

    and ,

    how does con = study

    I generally enjoy crosswording, but things like this, with no apparent connection, frustrate me a bit. Also, I have seen a words used to denote their first letter, which also seems a bit unfair.

    On a more positive note, the blogs are a great help to a novice like myself, so thanks very much.

  56. I enjoyed this Hump Day puzzle, especially the long entries around the perimeter, with THE PLOT THICKENS being my favorite of the day.  When I read 23d, my immediate thought was of “South Park”, but I almost as quickly overruled that impulse, being quite confident that “Cartman” must mean the dictionary (common noun) definition — notwithstanding the capital C — and surely could not be a clue for THAT Cartman.  It came as a pleasant surprise, then, to see that Imogen really was cluing ERIC.  I did not know, or expect, that “South Park” would be a familiar cultural reference for non-US solvers, so this becomes my favorite TILT from this puzzle.  Incidentally, the real South Park, Colorado is quite a beautiful place — a (relatively) level spread of land ringed by mountains.

    [Gasmanjack @49/50 – Ha ha!  It reminds me of another old (and slightly ribald) riddle:  “How do you circumcise a whale?  You need four skin divers.”]

    [Crossbar @46 – I still have half a day of work ahead of me, but if I get a chance I intend to go hunting for the earworm of which you speak.]

    Many thanks to Imogen and loonapick and the other commenters.

  57. Martin @55 see my comment @52. There was an explanation and lots of discussion about r/take/ recipe on Monday. I don’t want to repeat it all now

  58. Martin @ 55

    R has been dealt with.

    Con as ‘study’ – from Chambers:
    con3 (Spenser conne or kon) /kon/ (archaic)
    transitive verb (conn?ing; conned, Spenser cond /kond/)
    1. To know
    2. To learn
    3. To study carefully, scan, pore over
    4. To commit to memory
    5. To acknowledge (as in to con thanks)
    6. To teach or show

    ORIGIN: Another form of can, OE cunnan to know; perh partly cunnian to seek to know, examine. (See conner2)

    hth

  60. Thanks Crossbar,

    I looked at that and understand now. I probably wouldn’t be able to work things like that out for myself, it being the initial letter of a latin synonym, so committing them to memory is probably part of becoming a seasoned crossworder. I look forward the day when I can finish all the puzzles in a week without cheating. I found Rufus gave me confidence to continue beyond Monday, and his nautical stuff was nice too.

  61. Martin @60 You’ll soon get to know most of the little crossword quirks, though the R/take/recipe business was new to me, even after 50 years of solving.

    Though we don’t have Rufus any more, the Monday crossword still tends to be easier than the others, and sometimes in the style of Rufus.

    Have fun with your solving. Wishing you lots of “aha!” moments.

  62. Crossbar @59 –

    Thanks for your reply, and the link — which, unfortunately for me, led to the BBC page with a “content not available in your location” notification.  But I Googled “Desert Island Discs Theme Tune” and found “‘(By The) Sleepy Lagoon’ composed by Eric Coates and performed by Eric Coates and the Symphony Orchestra”.  Is that the one?  I just finished listening to it — very nice, with a lush arrangement (and aptly titled).  Definitely more relaxing, as earworms go, than anything one might hear on South Park.

  63. DaveMC @62 – yes that’s the one. Very well known here, as is the programme. If you’re not familiar with the prog have a look on Wiki. It was first aired in 1942, and is still going.

  64. I believe the Sleepy Lagoon was actually Morecambe Bay; for tropical birds hear seagulls!

  65. [BTW, I realize that by this point there’s probably nobody in here but us chickens, but late yesterday — just a few minutes before midnight in the UK I believe — I clicked the Guardian link under “Today’s Cryptics” at the upper left of this website and noticed that, on the Guardian page, prior to Imogen’s puzzle being made available, but after Tramp’s Tuesday puzzle had been pushed down from the top-of-the-page spot, there appeared in that spot “Cryptic crossword No. 15,047”, set by “w”, bearing the date of June 15, 1978.  I clicked on it and saw that it was based on a 13 x 13, rather than a 15 x 15, grid, and that it did not appear to be cryptic at all, but rather, it seemed to have American-style (no cryptic elements) clueing.  Did anybody else happen to see this?  Was this a strange time warp error, or was there a special significance and purpose for this 1978 puzzle having been made available on the page, at least temporarily**?

    (**I see no trace of it on the Guardian page now . . . but I noticed just now that the “Quick” crosswords are now up to No. 15,042, and they seem to have the same grid size and clueing style as the puzzle I saw — could there be a connection?  Did I actually see a Quick crossword from the future, that was accidentally loaded for a short while on the page, mis-identified as a Cryptic crossword from the past?)]

  66. Yes, DaveMc, I came across this too.

    The comments associated with it gave some plausible explanations. You might be on to something though.

  67. [ A propos Desert Island Discs – Notesandstitches @64 – the Sleepy Lagoon theme actually came to Eric Coates on the beach at Selsey in Sussex, where he lived. There is a blue plaque marking the spot. The rather bleak view across the shingle to Bognor Regis is certainly far removed from most people’s idea of a romantic desert island. The recording used to include seagull cries (quite inappropriate for a tropical island) but they seem to have disappeared in recent years.]

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