Traditionally gentle Tuesday fun from Gurney this morning.
Apologies for the late, late blog. The puzzle is still unavailable through my normal routes, so I’ve blogged manually. Gurney’s puzzle is very well set, straightforward and nothing to do with this morning’s hair-tearing. Thanks to him but this time mostly to Gaufrid, again.
ACROSS
1 Dump returned scarlet folder (6)
BINDER
BIN (to ‘dump’) + RED (‘scarlet’, reversed).
4 Following strange dream, guerrilla making diplomatic move? (8)
DEMARCHE
Anagram (‘strange’) of DREAM + CHE (Guevara, ‘guerrilla’).
9 Term of the English nominee up rather early, having just started (6)
TENURE
First letters (‘having just started’) of 2nd-7th words of clue.
10 Rugby played and German accommodated in French region (8)
BURGUNDY
Anagram (‘played’) of RUGBY includes UND (‘German and’).
12 Referring to amateur group, distinctive, in event (5,4)
RELAY RACE
RE[ferring to] + LAY (‘amateur’) + RACE (distinctive group).
13 Scarf, one that is initially imported (5)
STOLE
SOLE (‘one’) includes T (1st letter of ‘That’).
14 Break for coaching expert? Not really (7,7)
BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY
Whole clue cryptic.
17 Date of note many translated as Yom Kippur (3,2,9)
DAY OF ATONEMENT
Anagram of DATE OF NOTE MANY. And an &lit, near as dammit.
21 House somewhat big, look! (5)
IGLOO
Inclusion in ‘bIG LOOk’.
22 German region top in southeast in big win (9)
LANDSLIDE
LAND (‘German region’), then LID (‘top’) in S[outh] E[ast].
24 French female embraces one linked to Gibraltar in such a good catch? (8)
ELIGIBLE
ELLE (‘French female’) contains 1 + GIB[raltar].
25 Cut hole in gun, getting round resistance (6)
PIERCE
PIECE (slang, ‘gun’) surrounds R[esistance].
26 Sending message, ultimately just small thing, not hard (8)
TWEETING
T (last letter, ‘ultimately’, of ‘jusT’) + WEE (‘small’) + ThING without H[ard]. Last in. I spent ages wondering what T.ESTING could possibly be. Twit.
27 Gym worker interrupted by daughter, one overconcerned with detail (6)
PEDANT
PE (‘gym’) + ANT (a ‘worker’, possibly) includes D[aughter].
DOWN
1 Unexpected bother – graduate put on dressing gown (8)
BATHROBE
Anagram (‘unexpected’) of BOTHER with BA (‘graduate’) on top.
2 Perplex using outrageous pun so extremely novel (7)
NONPLUS
Hardworking anagram (‘outrageous’, and so it is) of PUN SO + ‘extreme’ (ends) of NoveL.
3 Noble years before time (5)
EARLY
EARL (’noble’) + T[ime].
5 A scent of Franco-German cooperation? (3,2,7)
EAU DE COLOGNE
Cryptic. ‘Cologne’ is one of those border cities which everyone pronounces and spells as he pleases.
6 Saint’s month pioneer oddly suppressed (9)
AUGUSTINE
AUGUST + even-numbered letters of ‘pIoNeEr’.
7 Swiss political region beginning to admire footballer Eric (7)
CANTONA
CANTON + start of ‘Admire’. Ooh-ah.
8 Cathedral city view showing president’s palace (6)
ELYSEE
ELY (‘cathedral city’) + SEE (‘view’) et nous voila chez Macron.
11 Recovery programme transforming small hotel, only the first, pal ran (8,4)
MARSHALL PLAN
Another complex anagram (’transforming’) of SMALL H[otel] + PAL RAN. ‘Only the first’ is unnecessary and there simply to confuse. And did its job.
15 He defends a game over essential point (9)
APOLOGIST
A + POLO [a ‘game’) + GIST (‘essential point’).
16 Most expensive sword raised in street after street (8)
STEEPEST
EPEE (a ’sword’, reversed upward in this down clue) in 2 X ST[reet].
18 Unsurpassed drink captivating learner with Biblical book (3-4)
ALL-TIME
ALE (‘drink’) surrounds L[earner] + TIM[othy], New Testament ‘book’.
19 Country farmer I treat, characters having left (7)
ERITREA
Inclusion (other ’characters having left’ – why I am I such a wretchedly slow study for these things?-) in ‘farmER I TREAt’.
20 Amuse frogman over time (6)
DIVERT
DIVER (‘frogman’) on T[ime].
23 Place to nurse quiet grudge (5)
SPITE
SITE [‘place’) surrounds P (musically ‘quiet’).
Thank you for the write up. The late blog today gave the puzzle much more attention than I normally allow before throwing in the towel and heading to 15 Sq. Quite pleased with how much even a newbie like me was able to complete.
With that said I did have to use a thesaurus on a few such as 2a and 13a. What does this blog consider ‘cheating’? I’m sure the purists out there forbid any external sources, but for us civilians what is considered acceptable?
– Gregoire
For 3d the parse should be EARL Year. Thanks both
To Gregoire:
We do this for fun, so use whatever sources you like to keep it so. And consider that setters have all kinds of tools to help them in their evil ways.
To John:
3D: quite right. I was just tired & fed up by then.
Thanks Gurney and Grant
Not as hard as this setter can be but an interesting puzzle all of the same. … and it appears hard enough to have elicited another error (been a few recently – must be getting sloppy) – had SHIRE (SH (quiet) IRE (grudge, well maybe !) with a very loose definition of ‘place’. Wasn’t 100% comfortable with it and obviously had every right to have been !!!
Did like the EAU DE COLOGNE with the French ‘water of’ and the German town cooperation.
Finished with that SHIRE, oops SPITE !!!
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Grant, and I sympathise with your difficulties. Thanks also to those who commented. To Gregoire, I would there is quite a learning curve in cryptic crosswords but the key is practice and ensuring you understand how clues actually work. Blogs are a great help there. Eventually most will solve the daily cryptic puzzles without “aids” most of the time, but, I’d say always go for help when completely stuck after a longish period. It can also be useful to leave a puzzle for a while and then come back to it – the subconscious will have kept working at it in the interim. Most words in the daily puzzles will be familiar enough and an unknown one can usually eventually be teased out from the wordplay and emerging crossing letters. And, yes, IMHO their only purpose is enjoyment and “cheating” does not arise, but there is satisfaction when a puzzle is solved without consulting anything.
Thanks to Gurney and Grant B. Enjoyable, especially BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY. Note: AUGUSTINE also appeared in today’s Guardian puzzle.