Guardian 27,638 – Puck

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Puck never disappoints, and here is another fine example…

… with a mini(?) theme given by the song at 11,26, which was written by HARRY WARREN and MACK GORDON. I can’t see any other references, but am prepared to be corrected. Thanks to Puck.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. RYE GRASS Broadcast mocking animal eating grain as fodder (3,5)
GR in RYE (homophone of “wry” – mocking) + ASS (animal)
6. LIPIDS Fatty substances put Tory leader on edge (6)
LIP (edge) + IDS (Iain Duncan Smith, Tory leader 2001-2003)
9. SURFER Man going on board with female, in steady relationship at first (6)
F in SURE + R[elationship]
10. ALMANACS Girl returned to look quickly through yearly publications (8)
ALMA (girl) + reverse of SCAN
11,21,22,2. THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU Standard way of saying RAM must remain constant? (5,4,5,2,7,3)
The faithful ram (male sheep, not to be confused with Random Access Memory, as the surface would have us believe) would say “there will never be another ewe”. The song was written for a long-forgotten film, but lives on as a jazz standard.
13. HARRY Badger runs through mown grass (5)
R + R in HAY
15,26. GORDON SUMNER Sting involving gin and rum drunk around Geordieland? (6,6)
GORDON’S (brand of gin) + N.E. (“Geordieland” is in the north-east of England) in RUM* . The stage real name of musician Sting, who was born in Wallsend, making at least the “Geordie” part relevant – I don’t know about the gin and rum
17. WARREN A rook nested in smaller species’ overcrowded area (6)
A + R in WREN (a smaller bird than a rook)
18. TOYOTA Car that only young owners treasure always starts (6)
First letters of That Only Young Owners Treasure Always
19. SCAMPI Southern river with very good crustaceans (6)
S + CAM + PI (sanctimonious, so “very good”, if hypocritically so)
25. ASHTRAYS Adult errs when drunk? Butts in here, perhaps (8)
A[dult] + SHTRAYS (drunken way of saying “strays”)
28. ANORAK Article with piece about female trainspotter (6)
NORA (female name) in A K[ing] (chess piece)
29. PUSHOVER Piece of cake turned up? Keep mum on! (8)
Reverse of UP + SH (be quiet, keep mum) + OVER (on)
Down
3. GOFER Some running of errands for dogsbody (5)
Hidden in runninG OF Errands. A gofer is a dogsbody who may be asked to “go for” things
4. ARROWROOTS Topless thin torso, sporting white bloomers (10)
[N]ARROW + TORSO* – arrowroot, which the starch used for thickening in cooking comes from, has white flowers. The plural looks a bit odd but I suppose it’s OK.
5. SCALLY Rogue with second name unknown (6)
S + CALL + Y (unknown in equations etc)
7. PENTAGRAM One writing piece about male star (9)
PEN + reverse of GAT (gun, piece) + RAM
8. DOCTRINAIRE Impractically theoretical medic taking round out to home by river (11)
DOCTOR (medic) less O + IN (home) + AIRE (river)
12. HIGH TREASON Crime committed against state senator? (4,7)
If TREASON is “high” it becomes SENATOR
14. LARCENISTS Those wrongly taking clarinet solos, discontentedly playing (10)
Anagram of CLARINET S[olo]S
16. RHYMESTER Poet from Maidenhead almost set off in posh car (9)
HYME[n] + SET* in R[olls] R[oyce]
20. MESS-UP Notes drink causing muddled confusion (4-2)
MES (plural of me, as in tonic sol-fa) + SUP
23. TEMPO Essential for galop, metronome’s rising speed (5)
Hidden in reverse of galOP METronome’s
24. MACK Computer keyboard’s lead is waterproof (4)
MAC (computer) + K[eyboard] – short form of mac[k]intosh, a coat named – often, as here, with an extra K – after its inventor.
27,6. EWE-LAMB Blame shifted, after royal subject knocked over dearest possession (3-4)
Reverse of WE (“royal subject”, as in the Royal We) + BLAME*. I see that the “dearest possession” sense has a biblical origin: in 2 Samuel 12 there is a story about “[a] poor man [who] had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.” Spoiler alert: things don’t turn out well for the ewe-lamb.

55 comments on “Guardian 27,638 – Puck”

  2. Thanks, Andrew – I agree entirely with your preamble. [And thanks for your reminder about the ewe-lamb.]

    Before I saw the significance of WARREN and MACK, I wondered whether it was Sting’s birthday but apparently that was last week – and not a ‘big’ one, anyway. [Happy memories of my then teenage son’s obsession with The Police.]

    As usual, there are too many good clues to list them all but HIGH TREASON stands out, I think, along with the witty long one.

    Many thanks, Puck –  I really enjoyed it.

     

     

     

  4. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    Odd one for me. Of course ARROWROOT must be a plant, but I’ve only come across the thickening agent; there’s no reason why a waterproof shouldn’t be a MACK but I’ve only seen “mac”. I suspect that ME as a note has more to do with that dreadful earworm than solfeggio, in which it is “mi”.

    A couple of bits of advertising, though GORDONS UMNER was my favourite (despite the GK requirement!).

    LOI was ANORAK, mainly because I had mangaed to read “trainspotter” as “transporter”!

  5. Thanks both. I could have done with “OLD Tory leader” in 6a
    I am afraid that the monogamous ram in 11a would swiftly be dispatched to the abattoir!

  6. Thanks, Andrew, for a delightfully informative blog, without which I had not really appreciated Puck’s offering

  7. Our boys were more Annie Lennox, so had forgotten Sting’s name, and had no idea who IDS was, or about the ewe-lamb, but all guessable. I find Puck’s clues more sort of knotty than, eg, Nutmeg’s, but no less fun for that. Ticks for the surfer, pushover, and the poet from Maidenhead, albeit un peu intime. And a loud groan/laugh at the other ewe, the homophone one, in There Will Never Be Another You. Very Xmas cracker…fun!

    Many thanks Puck and Andrew.

  8. PS and I know anorak as geek, nerd, etc. from crosswords but I can’t remember ever hearing or seeing it used downunder, despite half-listening to lots of gen x and y-ish contemporary culture panel shows.

  9. Good fun – had to work out Sting’s name, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Hadn’t heard of THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU, so needed a few crossers first. Favourites were ASHTRAYS, SURFER and PUSHOVER. Many thanks to P & A.

  10. Thanks for IDS-got the answer but….

    Whereas no excuse for not knowing Sting’s real name and the clue was watertight.There are some nice versions of that song, including a vocal by Nat Cole and an instrumental with Barney Kessel.Harry  was looking like he wanted to fit in somewhere.

    A nice change of style after the last three Grauns but variety is good.Four great puzzles in a row.

    Thanks Puck and Andrew

  12. muffin, my little cousin just loved doe a deer, to the grim smiles of her dad (very Ferrier and Schwarzkopf); she went on to RADA and a successful career, some classical, some Lloyd Webber. That’s showbiz!

  13. Minor point, Andrew – you have stage name/real name of Sting the wrong way round. I doubt if anyone would be confused by it, though 🙂

    Do the various rams and the ewe-lamb contribute to another mini-theme?

  14. Thanks Puck for an entertaining crossword. I was so misled by RAM and computers that I failed to see the ‘ewe,’ doh, even with the EWE-LAMB hint. I can’t say I’ve ever heard the expression but it is in the BRB.

    Thanks Andrew; not such a mini-theme as ten related words are quite good to get in a grid. Iceland (the song was originally for the musical Iceland [1942] according to Wiki) would fit in 27,6 but maybe there were no good fillers (and another Gordon would be needed.)

    Shameless piece of advertising at 18 but not much else would fit in, although trysts was a possibility.

    I did enjoy the state senator.

  15. Maybe Puck is hoping for a new Toyota and a year’s supply of Gordon’s gin. In my extensive reading of American crime fiction, I believe “piece” is used for handguns, rather than something as cumbersome as a Gatling gun. Minor quiblle in a crossword I enjoyed.

     

  16. Thanks to Puck and Andrew. I agree with Auriga@1, much easier to solve than parse. The puzzle unfolded quite nicely for me, but still needed to come here to clear up some parsing, particularly the long clue which I knew had something to do with sheep, but not quite sure exactly what, and was unaware of the story of the ewe lamb. Last one was doctrinaire which is now one of my favourites along with surfer and high treason. Thanks again to Puck for a fun puzzle and Andrew for clarifying the parsing.

  17. Gordons + rum drunk around North-East=Geordieland

    Don’t think I’ve ever heard of Sting’s real name or Gr for grain. Plus a few niggles such as should have been old tory leader and RAM has a specific meaning but maybe that’s sour grapes because I couldn’t finish a crossword with some excellent clues. I couldn’t see Doctrinaire even with all the crossers.

    How may saw “Tory leader on edge” and instantly thought Mayhem?

  18. Quite enjoyable but I did find one or two of the surfaces a little contrived.  8 dn for example?

    I didn’t know EWE LAMB in that meaning.

    Neither did I know Sting’s real name – I only worked out at the (almost) last moment that it must be the singer and had to Google it.

    LOI was RHYMESTER because I was so sure it was the name of a poet.  And the, er, Maidenhead, was rather unexpected …

    I did like 26 ac.

    Many thanks to Puck and to Andrew.

  19. Lovely crossword but two small technical issues to bring further pleasure to grouches. Only in the imagination of crossword setters does R stand for “run”.  The cricket reference in a bowler’s analysis is to “run(s)”. So the “runs” in 13a would only be an instruction to add a single R to HAY.  And in 25a, the drunkard seems to have sobered up by the time they get to the end of STRAYS.

  20. Howard March @17 – the last Paul Prize crossword had ‘ Result of lack of planning putting leader on edge (6)’

  21. Many thanks, Puck and Andrew, a tough workout for me, but ultimately rewarding. Got stuck in the top right for some time (6 & 10a, 7 & 8d) with 7 being the loi. Favourites were the ‘constant ram’ and the ‘shtraying adult’.

    Howard @17: yep, with you on that, but also tried all combinations of ‘may’ with hem, rim and lip! I thought it a bit unfair to clue IDS as ‘tory leader’.

    Copland @15. The online dictionary I use defines ‘gat’ as a pistol or revolver (US slang.) I suppose the latter could be construed as a mini Gatling Gun?

  22. All very entertaining, with a few decidedly tricky parsings. The song was not familiar to me, so I missed the theme.

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew

  23. Thanks to Puck and Andrew. I’m another who found this puzzle easier to solve than parse. I didn’t know IDS or SCALLY and missed the RAM-ewe-you and TREASON-senator.

  24. Lovely point re ashtraysh, Van Winkle. [btw, Rip V W was one of my favourite childhood story books; not sure why; something to do with the sound of bowling balls and peels of thunder]

  27. I think the clue 17 across would have worked rather better if it were to have referred to “bird” rather than species, as the word “wren” does not denote a species, but a family which, according to Wikipedia, contains 88 different species.

  28. Pick of the week for me. I was on the wavelength straight away. I did know Sting’s real name even though his music leaves me cold. I liked LIPIDS and did see IDS. Puck could have made it easier for others if he’d said USELESS Tory leader even though there’s a lot of competition for that description. I didn’t spot the songwriters although I do recognise their names. Too many goodies but I did smile at ASHTRAYS.
    Thanks Puck.

  29. R = RUN will run and run. Chambers has ‘11. Run(s) (cricket)’ so I think it’s fair use even if some may not like it.

    Thanks Puck and Andrew

  30. Richard @27

    Wiki also points out that there is only one European member of the family, and it is just called “wren” in Anglophone countries.

  32. Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

    I haven’t enjoyed this week as much as many apparently, and this one was on the cold porridge side of Goldilocks for me. Hands up, matters were not helped by that I have never, ever, encountered the central song – which surprises me greatly. Similarly with the EWE-LAMB. Perhaps I am just encountering the precipices at the edges of my fields of general knowledge. I suppose it’s better to teeter by the chasms of ignorance than to experience a PUSHOVER (on this can anyone help me to equate “on” with “over”).

     

  34. Alphalpha @32

    “on” and “over” can both mean “above”, as in “on top of” and “over the limit”.

  35. Why is Surfer a man? I suppose the clue reads better that way but it results in an assumption which many would take issue with.

  36. Yet another who found it easier to solve than parse. A DNF, nevertheless. “IDS” did not trigger a memory. I have no particular objection to Sting when he sticks to his genre, even to acting (e.g., Dune). However, when he dubbed himself singing a round by John Dowland, the result was, to put it diplomatically, very unappealling. I had no clue as to his real name; this was one reason for the DNF, since I had to rely on parsing. I did not know the background to the “… YOU” lyrics; interesting.

    Thanks to Puck, Andrew and other bloggers.

  37. Enjoyed this one, though I didn’t know IDS or EWE-LAMB, but everything was so well clued that I was able to get everything out. Like Anna @ 18, I got stuck on RHYMESTER. I agree with Paul @ 35 that 9A is inexcusably sexist. Why not “person”?

  38. Puck is always enjoyed in this house, and this was well up to scratch. But a special thanks for a brilliant blog – informative and very amusing. Would not have parsed maidenhead without it, or known that Gordon Sumner was Sting (sheltered life.)

  40. This was my favourite of a good (slightly short) week.  (I have a ‘puzzle holiday’ on Monday as well as Saturday these days, with no excuse other than having a busy life).

    The quibbles I had with some of the clues have all been mentioned already, and I would be happier just reporting the great solving experience I had with this puzzle and highlighting two rare PDMs that it gave me.  The long phrase, which I don’t think I ever knew, came in stages: first ‘THERE … … BE ANOTHER …’, then ‘THERE MUST … BE ANOTHER WAY’, then back to square one, and finally THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER YOU.  The other phrase (Sting’s real name) came when the crossers I had were G, S and M: I was thinking only of the English literal and figurative meanings of ‘sting’, but getting UMNER from the wordplay made me realise immediately that this could be a name.  With just the G, I saw the possibility of ‘gin’ being GORDONS, and there it was.  (I now know Sting’s real name.)

    An interesting blog – thanks to Andrew and all.  And thanks to Puck for the entertainment.

  41. Just the right level of difficulty, though IDS did have me thinking this puzzle was a reprint.
    Particularly liked SURFER.
    Thanks Andrew and Puck.

  43. Paul Sheaf @35, 9a reads to me as though the male joins the female on the board – this evening one of my sons asked me if I wanted to continue with the Guardian Weekly now that it is a magazine, he said he was fed up with the Guardian’s political correctness, perhaps the same goes for crossword comments …

  44. Re comments about ‘inexcusable’ sexism in 9: look at the forest, not the trees. ‘Man on board’ is a brilliant piece of misdirection towards a chess link. ‘Person on board’ would irreparably reduce the dimensions of the clue.

  45. Simon S @44, the first interpretation of 9 seems to me to be that they are boarding a boat, then since it is a man with a ‘female’ the prejudiced assumption is that he is taking her …

  46. Simon S @44

    The clue in question doesn’t say ‘Man on board’: it says ‘Man going on board’.  The apparent imagery is clearly a person going on board ship with a female, not a chess piece going on a chessboard.  ‘Person’ would have been just as good as ‘Man’, as far as I can tell, but I’m not judging the clue on that.  I actually thought ‘going’ was put there to give a hint of the motion of surfing.

  47. A man on a chessboard moves, so is going. I still think it’s brilliant misdirection, of which Puck is a master. [Sorry if that’s a sexist comment]

  49. Cookie @45

    We crossed.  (I would have referred to your comment if I had seen it.  You and I had the same imagery in mind.)

  50. Never heard the term ‘anorak’ for ‘trainspotter’. But then down here we’re more likely to wear a wide-brimmed hat and a singlet.

  52. @paddymelon anorak is probably only known in the uk. Originally a trainspotter, but can now be applied to anybody obsessive about something, e.g. we are probably all crossword anoraks just for being here.

  53. IDS seems to get far more airtime than he ever did as a leader. He’s usually explaining why everyone else is wrong which is quite rich given his threadbare political career!

  54. Enjoyed solving most of this, but was desperate to get 11ac (didn’t have 1ac, 5d or 16d)…after two days of racking by brains, gave up, came here and realised I would never have got it.  Damn crosswords 🙂

  55. Very enjoyable. Came on this late as have been away. Favourite:’there will never be another you’. Wonderful clue

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