Guardian 27,642 – Imogen

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My second appearance of the week, standing in for Eileen who is on holiday. I found this pretty tough: slow to start and not much quicker even when I had some answers in. However, everything looks fairly straightforward and totally fair in retrospect, though I have a slight doubt about whether I’ve parsed 1d correctly. Thanks to Imogen.

There’s a bit of a musical theme, with opera and ballet among others making a few appearances.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. LIGHT POLLUTION Not many voters out in storm: it could ruin the night (5,9)
LIGHT POLL (“not many voters”) + (OUT IN)*
8. SLAKE Satisfy a companion to S. Beauty? (5)
The ballet S[wan] LAKE might be a companion to S[leeping] BEAUTY (both with music by Tchaikovsky)
9. TOTALLED Everything carried round is smashed (8)
ALL in TOTED
11. PIONEER Groundbreaker I used in wharf (7)
ONE (=I) in PIER
12. RADIATE TV station securing opera about to broadcast (7)
Reverse of AIDA in RTE (Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann)
13. OUTRO Last piece of music recorded twice by a UN secretary-general? (5)
An “indirect hidden” from bOUTROs bOUTROs-Ghali. “Outro” is in contrast to “intro”
15. POLISH OFF Dispose of foolish nonsense in contrasting volumes (6,3)
FOOLISH* in P F (soft and loud in music)
17. ELONGATED Unmarked fruit kept in college is pulled out (9)
MELON less M[ark] + GATED (kept in college as a punishment)
20. BARER Messenger’s spoken, having lesson in two parts (5)
Homophone of “bearer”, and to get the definition we have to split “lesson” into two parts, getting “less on”
21. TO SPARE Over time, sailor gets trim (2,5)
T + OS (Ordinary Seaman) + PARE (to trim)
23. PRIAPUS Power couple return to America as sex symbol (7)
P + reverse of PAIR + US
25. COGITATE Think tooth — it chewed (8)
COG (tooth) + IT + ATE
26. TANKA Fail badly with a Japanese verse (5)
TANK (fail badly) + A. Tank (meaning “short poem”) is a Japanese verse form with lines of 5, 7 ,5, 7 and 5 syllables (in contrast to haiku, which has 5,7,5)
27. SKIM THE SURFACE Act superficially, ordering makeshift cures (4,3,7)
(MAKESHIFT CURES)*
Down
1. LOST PROPERTY Repossessed house and office (4,8)
A repossessed house would be a “lost property” to its residents; railway stations etc may have a “lost property office”, but plain “office” seems a bit weak as a definition
2. GUANO Working month taken up with fertiliser (5)
Reverse of ON AUG
3. THEME SONG That elementary particle finally revealing signature in air (5,4)
THE MESON + [revealin]G
4. OUTCROP Produce more veg than what pokes out of the ground (7)
To “out-crop” your rival on the allotment is to “produce more veg than”
5. LATERAL Shoot dead, holding automatic at first in both hands (7)
LATE (dead) + A[utomatic] in R & L
6. TILED Worked in bathroom perhaps — it’s over light (5)
Reverse of IT + L[ight] E[mitting] D[iode]
7. OPERAGOER One attending Macbeth in poorer age made to suffer (9)
(POORER AGE)* – this needs a “maybe” after “Macbeth” as the operagoer could be attending any number of operas. I would put a hyphen in the word, but dictionaries seem to disagree
10. WELFARE STATE Hurried up a stay in bed, worried for the NHS etc (7,5)
Reverse of FLEW (hurried) + A REST + ATE (worried)
14. TOOK STOCK Assessed situation of a Hobbit clan (4,5)
The Tooks are a family or clan of Hobbits in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so they are “Took stock”
16. SOB SISTER Sentimental actor in summertime is captivated by rambling rose (3,6)
IS in BST (British Summer Time), in ROSE*
18. THE WASH Bay where it all comes out? (3,4)
From the saying “iIt all comes out in the wash”, and The Wash, a large bay in East Anglia
19. DEPRESS Regularly tempt to cut garment lower (7)
[t]E[m]P[t] in DRESS
22. AXIOM A kiss lifts me in Paris, as a rule (5)
A + X + reverse of MOI
24. PANDA Letters from secretary, a Chinese native (5)
The secretary is a PA, so the letters are P AND A

37 comments on “Guardian 27,642 – Imogen”

  1. I parsed 1d the same as you Andrew. The only one I couldn’t parse was “meson” @ 3d – particle physics not being my strong suit.

  2. Thanks for standing in for Eileen, Andrew. Glad you joined the dots of a loose arts theme – I didn’t make those connections.

    I liked this but it was not an easy solve for me.

    Favourites were 9a TOTALLED, 14d TOOK STOCK and 18d THE WASH (the latter is a UK geographical reference that I have actually heard of somewhere along the line – I have only ever spent five days in the UK, but my crossword journeys have helped me to travel there vicariously!).

    I thought LOST PROPERTY was okay, but I can take your point that it may be a bit loose, Andrew. I needed your help to parse 12a RADIATE, 10d WELFARE STATE and 16d SOB SISTER. I thought SLAKE was a bit clumsy at 8a (thinking BEAUTY was the name of an English lake!!!), and now I am embarrassed as I didn’t get the Tchaikovsky reference!!!

    Thanks to Imogen.

  3. Took too long to type that – I am with you, Niltac@1, had absolutely no idea about 3d THEME SONG, only got it from the definition and the crossers!

  4. SOB SISTER and TANKA both new to me.

    I might point out that a meson, althoug sub-atomic, is not a fundamental particle. That quibble aside, I enjoyed it.

    Thanks to Imogen and Andrew.

     

  5. Thanks Andrew.  I couldn’t parse 8 across, but you have nailed it, thanks.  I also agree with what you say about 1 down.

    This was pretty hard.  Most of the clues seemed fair to me, although I’m not convinced that “storm” acts as an effective anagrind in 1 across in the position it occupies in the clue.  In order to work, does it not have to be interpreted in a transitive imperative verbal sense, meaning “disturb (by a storm)”?  But if it is meant to be used transitively, it would have to precede the words “out in”.

  7. Phew, much harder than Saturday’s if I remember, and had to look up tanka to finish the SE. Lots of muttering over parsing: 9a (d’oh), 13a ditto (even after I’d looked them up…blind, and thick!), took ages to get piano-forte, chestnuts though they be, and to rembember the less/on trick, tho we’ve had it recently. Lots of clever moves in Imogen’s clues, he?s one of my favourite setters.

    Would 5d be better if holding had no ‘ing’, or became ‘with’ instead. Took a while to get ‘flew’ reversed in 10d, after which it the answer flew in. Muttered about 16d before thinking of BST acronym, and only happened to know The Wash from idling through Mrs ginf’s collection of Elizabeth Goudge (a bit C of E for a crusty old atheist, but quite sweet). CoTD panda for brevity and wit, tho plenty of both throughout.

    So, lateral neurons not firing too well, but lots of enjoyment notwithstanding.

    Thanks Imogen for the workout and Andrew for the explanations.

  8. Thanks Imogen and Andrew. I entered SLAKE without parsing it, wondering if LAKE / beauty had something to do with Veronica LAKE. It still seems a bit odd to me, with the surface not really making a lot of sense.

    I had parsed 9a as TOTAL (everything) and LED (carried round) but your version is better Andrew!

  9. All right, I am chastened but satisfied. Should have understood how BARER works, but wasn’t expecting that kind of jiggery-pokery, which I would have been from Boatman, Philistine or Qaos, whom I know (and like) a bit better than Imogen. SLAKE is actually very neat, if you don’t mind the clue making little sense from time to time (and there’s no law that says all surfaces must be smooth). I think TOTALLED must be a slang expression I haven’t met, though I reasoned that it could be. 13 is a horrible word. Lots of good misdirection, e.g. WELFARE STATE looks as if it should be an anagram of for the NHS etc and it took considerable resilience not simply to write in IN SHAPE without comprehending, for what in the end I worked out as TO SPARE – the best clue, in my opinion, and the smoothest surface as well – LATERAL also excellent and a close second.

  10. Ditto re resisting ‘in shape’, komornik, and I’d forgotten the OS acronym, which slowed me down. Otoh, I don’t mind neologisms like outro, and prequel; they’re a bit slick, but kinda fun.

  11. I have a few minor quibbles which others have already mentioned, but the one that provokes this post is 20a BARER. It seems to me that both derivations are cryptic: isn’t it the case that the commonly accepted rules of the game require that in this style of clue at least one side must be a direct definition?

  12. Thanks to Imogen and Andrew. Very tough going for me. I did dredge up THE WASH from somewhere, did not know TANKA or the RTE in RADIATE, did not get OUTRO (I was guessing outdo or outgo), did not parse BARER, and did. not connect LATERAL and shoot.

  13. Thanks Imogen for a good crossword that I found very tough, not helped by my ignorance of TANKA, SOB SISTER, OUTRO and the Hobbit.

    Thanks Andrew; good explanations – I think I have seen the P AND A clue somewhere before but I still managed to think of a PA’s NDA – and wondered why the latter was ‘letters’, doh. I also fell into the ‘for the NHS etc’ anagram trap, but I ran out of vowels.

    I quite liked the LIGHT POLLUTION, although I agree with Richard @5 that storm seems to be in the wrong place. I also enjoyed POLISH OFF.

  14. Thanks for holding the fort again Andrew. Just skimming the surface got me nowhere but with some lateral cogitation I took stock, avoided being totalled and by the outro I was slaked! 1dn and 1ac my favourites.
    With apologies and thanks to Imogen

  15. Hmm, Dr. Whatson@11, interesting question, quite complex. Can you get ‘barer’ to mean ‘less on’? She IS barer=she HAS less on. Maybe someone will enlighten us.

  17. Thanks to Imogen and Andrew. I am another who found this very tough and a DNF for me. Failed on theme song(do not know why now), outro and tanka. However, pleased with what I did get and liked light pollution and welfare state. Thanks again to Imogen and Andrew.

  18. A nice test of the grey matter – the 24d solution and variations of the clue come up quite regularly.   I’ve certainly blogged at least two crosswords this year where it has appeared.

    thanks to Imogen and Andrew

  19. Another enjoyable challenge – as so often with Imogen it got easier once a few crossers were in place. TO SPARE was last in.

    Thanks to Imogen and Andrew

  20. Thanks Imogen and Andrew

    I found this agreeably chewy and it took just the right amount of time for an otherwise busy day, which is to say probably a bit longer than I have to spare. But worth it.  LATERAL stood out for me as clue and surface of the day. For all that I thought SLAKE was on the weak side but I’m not a ballet fan so missed the PDM that might have saved it and needed Andrew’s help with the parsing. So thanks again.

     

  21. Hard – with some new tricks and misdirections to remember. But will I?

    One quibble – is 7D really an opera? Doesn’t sound like fun. As Woody would say – include me out!

  23. A real toughie today, I thought. Struggled long and hard with north-east corner. In the end had to check that my final answer to loi 20 across was indeed correct as Barer. Didn’t twig the second “sounds like” for lesson within the same clue…

  24. I only finished this with a combination of electronic aids and guesswork. Far too much of the latter if I’m honest..I knew BARER and LATERAL were right but I couldn’t fathom either of them. I didn’t fare much better with SOB SISTER or THEME SONG if the truth be told. I did like RADIATE and PRIAPUS,as well as the two easy ones AXIOM and THE WASH.
    Bit too rich for my blood.
    Thanks Imogen..

  25. Ginf @15. I think the Def is “having lesson in two parts” = BARER.., not just “lesson….” as Andrew has it.

  26. Very tough for me too. I think I struggled with everything mentioned by everyone above. I stared at B_R_R, T___A and P___A for ages before giving up – but as always with hindsight all the material was there and it was my dimness. Thanks to Andrew for putting me out of my misery with some parsing and Imogen for the torture.

  27. SOB SISTER and PANDA beat me. The first because I didn’t think of BST, the latter because I’m an idiot. Took me a while to see LATERAL and I needed to google for TANKA. Overall a nice challenge.

  28. To grantinfreo: I have no problem with “barer” meaning “less on”. It’s having to decompose “lesson” that makes it cryptic.

  29. Kaiser Hite@21

    Macbeth is indeed (it turns out) an opera by Verdi and may be enjoyed here if you have the time and inclination. ( Hope those links worked.)

  30. I got through this eventually, but it was definitely a challenge.

    I really want to comment on SLAKE. I’m not at all satisfied with it. I’ve mentioned before my skepticism when a letter is used as an abbreviation for something in which the abbreviation is dubious (to wit: it seems that almost any random letter by itself can be used [and in the Guardian, overused] as an abbreviation). However, and speaking as a classical musician, S for “Swan” (or worse, “Sleeping”) is really beyond. I have never seen the ballets shortened in this way. I would personally ask that the editors start reining this kind of thing in.

  31. Very good point, Glenn.  But what makes you think that any editorial control is exercised in relation to Guardian crosswords?

  32. glen@30 I don’t think Imogen is using s. as an abbreviation, but as a direction to the solver: S. Lake  is to   Swan Lake as  S. Beauty is to Sleeping Beauty.

    I didn’t care for the clue as S. Beauty did not suggest to me this musical work; though I put in SLAKE,  I couldn’t even then parse the clue.

  35. I got SLAKE via the definition and the crossers. Now I can see why I couldn’t parse it: it’s doubly cryptic and IMHO more suited to Azed.

  37. Auriga is correct on the particle physics terminology: the word “meson”, as currently used, refers to particles that are not elementary — that is, to particles that are made up of smaller components. But in the mid-20th century, the term was used for some particles that are elementary. Specifically, the elementary particles now known as the muon and the tau were once called the mu meson and the tau meson. So if you’re willing to allow for slightly archaic terminology, then some mesons are (or rather were) elementary.

     

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