Guardian Cryptic 27,574 by Chifonie

by

Smooth and enjoyable. Favourites were 13ac, 2dn, 4dn, and 7dn. Thanks to Chifonie.

Across
5 HOOVER Hang around old president (6)
=Herbert Hoover
HOVER=”Hang” around Old
6 GNEISS Badly singes rock (6)
=a type of metamorphic rock
(singes)*
9 MAHLER Composer of Harlem Shuffle (6)
=Gustav Mahler
(Harlem)*
10 AMORALLY Mayor prepared to embrace everyone with a lack of conscience (8)
(Mayor)* around ALL=”everyone”
11 STOP Take off Somerset’s first spinner (4)
“Take off”=retire, leave, quit
Somerset’s first letter, plus TOP=”spinner”
12 PREFERENCE Copper’s testimonial is choice (10)
Penny=”Copper” plus REFERENCE=”testimonial”
13 DESECRATION Curiously considerate to religious vandalism (11)
(considerate)*
18 INCONSTANT In a short time a prisoner becomes disloyal (10)
INSTANT=”short time” with CONvict=”prisoner” inside
21 PART Usual time to say goodbye (4)
PAR=”Usual” plus Time
22 LACERATE Cut fabric’s cost (8)
LACE=”fabric” plus RATE=”cost”
23 RISING Mounting a revolt (6)
double definition
24 LOOK IN Pay a visit for game of cards with the family (4,2)
LOO=”game of cards” plus KIN=”family”
25 PINNIE Apron for local tucking into tart (6)
INN=pub=”local”, inside PIE=”tart”
Down
1 COLLAPSE Break down everything that’s sprung up in wood (8)
ALL=”everything” reversed/”sprung up”; inside COPSE=”wood”
2 LET RIP The French slip up and speak angrily (3,3)
LE=”The [in] French”, plus TRIP=”slip up”
3 INSOLENT Showing disrespect in the waterway (8)
IN, plus river SOLENT =”waterway”
4 VISAGE Half a dozen learned one’s facial features (6)
VI=6 in roman numerals=”Half a dozen”, plus SAGE=”learned one”
5 HEARTS Pick up Eliot’s suit (6)
=suit in playing cards
HEAR=”Pick up”, plus TS Eliot the poet
7 SPLICE Marry and relish holding party (6)
SPICE=”relish” around Liberal=”party”
8 SAFE-BREAKER Burglar‘s not dangerous, given a wave (4-7)
SAFE=”not dangerous”, plus BREAKER=”wave” breaking on the shore
14 ECSTATIC Delighted the European Commission’s unchanging (8)
European Commission plus STATIC=”unchanging”
15 OPPOSING Work over would-be enemy (8)
=enemy as an adjective e.g. ‘enemy/opposing forces’
OPus=”Work” plus POSING=pretending to be something=”would-be”
16 ENTAIL Require English to Latin translation (6)
English plus (Latin)*
17 CRINGE Draw back from phone in church (6)
RING=”phone” inside Church of England
19 OBERON King giving order to man (6)
=King of the Fairies
Order of the British Empire, plus RON=”man”
20 TURPIN Highwayman has power in Italian city (6)
=Dick Turpin
Power in TURIN=”Italian city”

52 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,574 by Chifonie”

  1. Thanks Chifonie and manehi

    I’m finding it difficult to match the parts of speech for “enemy” and OPPOSING (and I’m not keen on “would-be” for the POSING part either). Also “man” for RON in OBERON is lazy, and “party” for L in SPLICE is a bit loose too.

    Favourite was the misleading HEARTS.

  2. Closer to the Rufus level of difficulty than many of the recent Monday puzzles – which is not meant as a complaint. But I agree with muffin’s points above, and also felt that the use of ALL (everyone/everything) in two nearby answers (10a and 1d) was awkward.

     

  3. I tend to agree with you muffin @1 Some of this felt a little clunky. But I suppose enemy forces are OPPOSING forces.

    Still a nice easy start to the week as we’ve come to expect.

    Thanks manehi and Chifonie

  4. I liked it, but have to agree with muffin on 7d. OTOH, I took enemy as an adjective (e.g.enemy forces/opposing forces). Favourite was Visage which had me quite misled for some time.

  5. A good way of easing into the week. I liked 8d SAFE-BREAKER a lot, and also enjoyed 5a HOOVER, 2d LET RIP (as mentioned by manehi) and 14d ECCENTRIC. But I concur with the points made by muffin and quenbarrow. For instance, I was sure 15d was OPPONENT as that is the synonym for enemy, but of course I couldn’t make it parse.
    Thank you to Chifonie and manehi.

  6. [Crossed with crossbar and 2 tanners, or I would have acknowledged your alternative thoughts on “OPPOSING”.]

  9. I agree with everything said so far – at least I managed to finish this one! I had SAFE CRACKER first, andysmith@8, but then of course the second C didn’t fit…

    Many thanks Chifonie and manehi.

  10. I’d forgotten that first overview gave rising at 23a and, when I got back down there, bunged in opponent for 15d and had to unscramble (I was thinkkng ‘ponent’ as in logic, more in Imogen’s line). By then mrs ginf was agitating for her constitutional so I looked up the king; silly really, nothing too hard about OBE+Ron (was wondering whether ‘fabric’ could=’cast’ (Freud rears his head!)) So a dnf technically, and on a Monday! Ho hey, tomorrow is another day.

  12. A very nice (or GNEISS) Monday puzzle. I really liked MAHLER and ECSTATIC.

    I thought enemy = OPPOSING was fine, exactly as explained by Manehi in his blog.

  13. I share Muffin’s distaste for Ron = man in Oberon (tbh, I feel all clues that use a random name or nickname for man/woman/girl/boy are a bit iffy) and I had my doubts about 8D; like Andy Smith, I wouldn’t have said Safe-Breaker was a proper term. Safe-Cracker, or House-Breaker, are the norm, aren’t they? But then I’d originally thought it was Gate-Crasher, until the crosses proved otherwise… However, there were lots of delicious touches (I wonder what Mahler would have made of the Harlem Shuffle?) and my favourite was Visage: having spent a while trying to fit “six” into the answer, I suddenly saw the Yoda interpretation of Learned One. A very clever and smooth clue! Many thanks to Chifonie, and to Manehi for the explanations.

  14. Thanks both.

    On the paid-for IPad app there is a different clue and solution for 10ac as well as a different clue but the same solution for 7d.

  16. Thank you Chifonie and manehi.

    Just right for Monday and very enjoyable, especially the clues for DESECRATION and HEARTS.

    According to the COED SAFE-BREAKER is the usual English term, safe-cracker being the US one.

  17. Many thanks Chifonie and manehi. Agree that MAHLER is a delight. Previously the only composer to give consistent anagrammatical pleasure was Elgar and his large, regal lager etc. Good to have that one to add to the repertoire.

  18. I found the “take off” = “stop” a stretch of a synonym but generally enjoyed the steady solve.

  20. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi. As others have said a relatively straightforward beginning to the week, but nonetheless enjoyable. 12a held me up for a while, not in terms of solving, but in terms of parsing until the copper dropped. Another who liked Hoover and let rip and thanks again to Chifonie and manehi.

  21. Not much to add. I often agree with Muffin and I do today. I bunged in OPPONENT but this made 23ac impossible and,as JIA says,it doesn’t parse. OPPOSING doesn’t feel right even if it clearly is! Harlem Shuffle by Bob and Earl has now become an earworm thanks to 9ac. It could be a lot worse! Great clue too.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  22. Thanks both,

    Some very smooth clues. My only quibble is with spice = relish. They are not synonyms in my idiolect either as verbs or nouns but I expect someone will be along to say they are in Chambers, or to provide a counter example.

  23. Great link baerchen, thank you, to the Picaroon interview. Interesting to see how the book goes.

  24. Many thanks to Chifonie and manehi.  I share doubts with woodbine@18 about ‘take off’ as a synonym for ‘stop’; more obvious alternatives include ‘block’, ‘ban’, ‘check’ …

  25. A fairly typical Chifonie puzzle, I thought.

    The problem with SAFE-BREAKER to me is that it’s not synonymous with “burglar”.  Other than that, no real hold-ups.  I saw STOP as “take off” as in take off/stop some of a person’s wages.  I very much liked the inconsiderate anagram for DESECRATION.  Maybe a chestnut, but it’s new to me.

    Thanks, Chifonie and manehi for another fine blog.

  26. As Bracoman says @ 14, there are two different clues on the iPad. 10ac is “adorable”, which makes sense – “[Skilled at getting round girl? That’s charming!] (8)” – yields ABLE around DORA. But can someone help me with the parsing of 7d – SPLICE? The clue here is “[Join sovereign wearing charm] (6)”.

  27. Peter@26

    It’s essentially the same parse – SPICE (charm) around L (pound = sovereign (currency)).

  28. Funny — I see L as a pound sign now and then, but I’ve never seen S as a dollar sign.  (I am told that the dollar sign is a capital U superimposed on a capital S, with the bottom of the U not joined.  Not sure I believe it.)

  29. Hope 9ac is original. For sheer chutzpah – and the delicious incongruity of the surface of the clue and its solution – it earns top marks for entertainment value.

  30. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi. I had the same queries as those already noted, but I much enjoyed this puzzle.

  31. Nice smooth Monday solve.  Thanks to Chifonie and manehi.

    To Valentine @28

    I always thought the dollar sign was a stylised figure 8.  (Pieces of eight, and all that…)

     

  32. I enjoyed this puzzle, thank you Chifonie.  Why does the Monday slot always bring out the nit pickers? Were you all teachers? You all got your points in early so none of you were held up by apparent ‘clunkiness’.  As Buddy @29 says 9a is a cracker, but there was no mention of that by all the gainsayers.  Thank you manehi, for a nice neutral blog.

  35. A fun and fine puzzle to start the week.  Lots to like.  I always enjoy it when long words turn out to be nag a rams of each other, so inconsiderate/DESECRATION brought a smile.  (Like phitonelly @25, I believe this one was new to me, even if other commenters may have seen it before).  Speaking of agarmans, MAHLER was CotD for me — it was not terribly difficult to solve, but it had a great, concise surface and a laugh-out-loud PDM.  I also liked GNEISS, LET RIP, VISAGE, and HEARTS.

    phitonelly @25, you and I must have been on the same wavelength today, as I agree also with your remark about SAFE-BREAKER.  I do not profess to understand the criminal mind, but I imagine that anyone who acquired mastery of safe-cracking would consider him/herself to be something of an artist and would be insulted to be referred to as a common burglar.

    Many thanks to Chifonie and manehi and the other commenters.

  37. While I generally like Chifonie’s crosswords (and this one too), clueing L by ‘party’ [7d] is just utterly ridiculous.

    He surely could have come up with something else.

    Many thanks manehi for the blog.

  39. Indeed there is much to admire in a Chifonie puzzle, but I take your point. I too had a few hmm moments, but feel that this chap is the (most) natural successor to Rufus.

    Either him or Enigmatist, that is.

  40. Sil @37, party is given by the COED as “n. 3  a group of people united in a cause, opinion, etc., esp. a political group organized on a national basis”, and L is given for Liberal – Arachne, 27,536, has “Party touring Russian capital heading off to share bed (6,2)”…

  42. muffin and Sil, I too was a teacher until I saw the error of my ways, and got out into the wider world.  You are correct muffin the staffroom was Times only.  But my Father taught me how to do crosswords and he worked for the Daily Telegraph so that was our daily drug of choice.  I love the camaraderie of 225, The American angle, the Australians, others who sing in choirs, some who like me live in Spain and the West Indies.  I am happy to count you all as friends, and enjoy communing with you all, whenever I can.  Thanks!!

  43. I do not want to make more waves but, Cookie, your objection against my ‘L objection’ doesn’t make sense to me.  A = B and B = C leads to A= C?  In Chifonie’s world it sometimes does (remember N for ‘man’?).  Arachne used DUP for ‘party’ which is absolutely fine, ‘Liberal’ [L] is not (a) party. And Puck’s CON = ‘party’, well just about.

    I cannot be bothered too much. Chifonie is the best setter to appear on a Monday (if Monday crosswords should be easy). But L =’party’? Let’s put it friendly, not my cup of tea.

  44. I like it when we come on the forum with different points of view as well as with points of agreement. I wanted to add that I really appreciated what S. Panza said @42. We are a mixed bag of setters, bloggers and solvers but I value everyone who participates in creating community on fifteensquared. JinA (yet another retired teacher…!)

  48. Sil @43, yes, I do see what you mean – just out of interest, the COED gives C for Conservative, but no Con.  (however, as well as giving L for Liberal, it gives Lib.).

  49. Thanks to the setter and the blogger for your efforts. “Safe breaker” for burglar is indeed a stretch –

    *Burglary, at Common Law, was the trespassory breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at night with an intent tocommit a felony therein. It is an offense against possession and habitation. The common-law elements of the offense have been modified in most jurisdictions by statutes that tend to make the crime less restrictive.*

  50. pex @45, S. Panza @46 –

    Not sure if there is a point is responding, as: (a) it is already well into “the day after” and it is likely nobody is still checking back here for updates; and (b) in any event, it seems like no other commenters responded to your posts.  Having said that, I am neither retired nor a teacher.  [Not sure about that “younger followers” part, though.  I’m at an age where I do not get referred to with the word “young” very often!!]

  51. pex @46 and S.Panza @47

    At 33, I’m not sure whether that counts me as a ‘younger’ follower but I am not a retired teacher – I am, however, still a teacher.

    Incidentally, it was two former (now retired) teacher colleagues who got me into solving cryptics about 8 years ago, and it was always The Guardian in our staff room, which is why I have stuck with it.

  52. 7d was a very poor clue.  Spice and relish are not synonyms and L for liberal party is very weak indeed.   Some other clues a bit iffy too.  You wouldn’t get this from rufus!

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