Guardian 27,713 – Brummie

by

This all went in pretty quickly, apart from the NW corner, which took me longer than the rest put together.

It’s always worth looking for a theme in this setter’s puzzles, and here we have a lot of answers relating to railways in one way or another: I think I can see twelve, which is a remarkable achievement.

Talking of remarkable achievements, I see from comments on the Guardian site that this is Brummie’s 200th puzzle: I’m not sure how they know, but congratulations to him for that, and thanks for this one.

 
 
 
Across
1. TIMETABLE Period furniture schedule (9)
TIME (period) + TABLE
6. FOOT Tootsie‘s pay (4)
Double definition – I thought “tootsie” just a meant a toe, but Chambers says it can also mean a foot; also “pay” as in “foot the bill”
8. LALLYGAG Idle American Liberal supporter needs muzzle! (8)
L[iberal] + ALLY + GAG – American word meaning to idle or loiter
9. CLEVER Bar after C sharp (6)
C + LEVER
10. ANNALS Townswoman on the outskirts of Los Angeles making records (6)
ANNA (as, I presume, in Arnold Bennett’s novel Anna of the Five Towns + L[os Angele]S
11. ABROGATE Stop runaway boar colliding with number of spectators (8)
BOAR* + GATE (number of spectators)
12. TENDER Feeling smart? Make an offer (6)
Double definition
15. EXISTENT Real sexist entertainer on the inside (8)
Hidden in sEXIST ENTertainer
16. CORRIDOR Passage from never-ending TV soap about bar (8)
CORRI[E] (nickname of Coronation Street) + reverse of ROD (bar)
19. NICEST Exotic insect is most particular (6)
INSECT*
21. TOM THUMB Small person failed MOT — having to seek a lift (3,5)
MOT* + THUMB (to hitch-hike, seek a lift)
22. SIT-UPS Takes an exam to include finished exercises (3-3)
UP (finished) in SITS (takes an exam)
24. TICKET Before extra time starts, Mark gets card (6)
TICK (mark) + E[xtra] T[ime]
25. TERMINAL Doctor finally intervenes in chronic ailment, ending in death (8)
[docto]R in AILMENT*
26. STEN Takes back gun (4)
Reverse of NETS
27. RECTANGLE In general, bustling court figure (9)
CT in GENERAL*
Down
1. TRAIN Aim to be an instructor (5)
Double definition – as in “train one’s sights” for the first
2. MALLARD Doctor eating every last bit, given a recipe for duck (7)
ALL (every last bit) + A R in M.D. The Mallard, as well as being a type of duck, was also the fastest ever steam locomotive
3. TAGUS European flower market’s ultimate sugar confection? No resistance! (5)
[marke]T + SUGAR* less R
4. BAGGAGE Secure plum in cases (7)
BAG + GAGE (plum)
5. EXCURSION Trip when dancing on cruise, having snatched a kiss (9)
X (kiss) in (ON CRUISE)*
6. FREIGHT Load carried by father figure (7)
FR + EIGHT
7. OVERTONES Implicit quality of public units (9)
OVERT + ONES
13. ECONOMIST Dismal scientist: “Dynamite to incomes!” (9)
(TO INCOMES)* – economics was described by Thomas Carlyle as “the dismal science” (in contrast to the “gay science” of song and verse writing)
14. RED DUSTER Flag — Reuters wrong about dates (3,6)
D D (two Dates) in REUTERS – slang for the Red Ensign
17. RETAKEN Nasty tear on doll (snapped again?) (7)
TEAR* + KEN (doll – Barbie’s boyfriend); “snapped” = “taken” as a photograph
18. ROBOTIC Descriptive of K-9‘s pinch of the ear (7)
ROB (to steal, pinch) + OTIC (of the ear) – K-9 was a robot dog in Doctor Who
20. CUTTING Press piece‘s a bit of a plant? (7)
Double definition
22. STRIA One’s captivated by star-shaped feature of fluted column (5)
I in STAR – a stria is “one of the fillets [i.e. small spaces or bands] between the flutes of columns”, perhaps more familiar in the adjective “striated”
23. PLATE Penny, dead dishy thing (5)
P + LATE – a plate is a kind of dish, so a “dishy thing”

59 comments on “Guardian 27,713 – Brummie”

  1. Beaten by 8a and 3D, both new to me. As usual, I missed the theme! Otherwise straightforward. One query re 2d – is R for recipe in common use? Thanks to Andrew for the blog and Brummie for the puzzle.

  2. Gillian – I only found out via crosswords that R(ecipe) comes from the doctors’ shorthand used in old fashioned Latin prescriptions. Just be grateful that it wasn’t clued as its translation, “take”, as it sometimes is.

  3. Thanks both. I’m getting TIMETABLE, FOOT + PLATE, TENDER, CORRIDOR, TICKET, TERMINAL, TRAIN, MALLARD, BAGGAGE, EXCURSION, FREIGHT and CUTTING. Wow!

  5. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    Altough this wasn’t difficult, I enjoyed it. I had to look up LALLYLAG, but it was fairly clued. I didn’t see the theme, of course! Favourites were MALLARD (an early entry) and LOI OVERTONES.

    I was irritated by STEN, as it’s ambiguous without the crossers, which makes it a poor clue for me.

  7. Add me to the put NETS had to change to STEN grumpy gang

    Apart from that an extremely straightforward crossword.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  8. Like Andrew the NW took longer than the rest with ANNALS the loi – thanks for the ANNA explanation. I also had NETS at first but ECONOMIST (thanks again for “dismal science” Andrew) changed my mind. LALLYGAG was new but gettable – it will be interesting to see what anecdotes our US contributors come up with regarding its usage. I looked for but didn’t come up with the theme – plus ca change.
    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew – again!

  9. My old mate from upstate NY pronounced it lollygag, regional difference, which slowed the NW a bit. Dnk the Bennett character, or the Corrie nickname, or the one for Red Ensign, or the column embellishment. Slow, too, to get bag gage and fr eight, d’oh to both. Neverending education, this game, and loads of fun.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  12. This was very difficult for me. Of the ones I solved I could not parse 1d, 10a (ANNA – never heard of this Anna), or 16a – Coronation Street came to mind but I had no idea it is shortened to Corrie.

    I failed to solve 8a, 3d, 22d – none of them are words that I have ever heard before.

    Thanks blogger and setter

     

  14. Many thanks Brummie and Andrew. Obvs did not spot the theme but congrats on 200th puzzle! Just a small query about 16a: Is “never-ending” a misdirection/crossword synonym for “unending/endless”?

  15. LOLLYGAG is a very familiar term here in the US, but it took me a while to figure out that it could also be spelled with an “A”; I’ve never seen that spelling. There is a nice piece about the history of the term in a William Safire column in the New York Times, indicating that at one time the term had a sexual connotation, but it defiinitely does not now. Whenever I hear the word I think about this famous scene from Bull Durham (not sure whether anyone outside the US would ever watch the movie).

  16. Missed the train here too – or should I say the train theme?
    I see I am in company in not getting LALLYGAG 8a or the “flower” TAGUS 3d. That darned “flower” for river gets me every time!
    I didn’t understand the “Townswoman” reference in ANNALS 10a either, nor the “Dismal” bit in 13d ECONOMIST. These things all left me dissatisfied with my EXCURSION into this puzzle.
    However I did like 9a CLEVER (though I wasn’t), 12a TENDER, 21a TOM THUMB (though not aware of the extra thematic reference), 5d EXCURSION and 20d CUTTING. And now that I have listed all those, I can’t believe I failed at trainspotting!
    Congratulations to Brummie on your 200th puzzle, and thank you.
    The blog was very much appreciated, Andrew.

  17. PS 14d RED DUSTER for flag” was also unfamiliar.
    We crossed, Iroquois@15, but thanks for the interesting post about LOLLYGAG/LALLYGAG.

  18. Remain totally impervious to themes in 2019, it seems.

    Dnk ECONOMISTS were the “dismal scientists” but support the description wholeheartedly if “serially inaccurate” could be inserted somewhere.

    Had to look up tootsie as I thought it related only to toes.  Nice clue as it turns out.

    Thought TICKET = card a tad feeble but perfectly getable.

    Enjoyable puzzle, many thanks both.

    Nice week, all.

  19. Thanks Andrew; the NW also gave me trouble as I didn’t know LALLYGAG or the townswoman.

    Impressive setting to get in so many theme words (I didn’t spot the theme!)

    ROBOTIC was very clever; I was expecting a homophone and something to do with canines!

  20. Julie in Oz’s post reminded me that I meant to add my congratulations to Brummie.  At an average of a little over 32 clues per puzzle, that makes about 65,000 clues!  Gosh.

    Also, aren’t the 2 uses here of CUTTING from the same root?

  21. South-east corner was the last to yield for me. Closer to home, I wonder whether there are any Brummie type words in the vernacular for someone similar to a Lallygag

  24. Thank you Brummie and Andrew.

    The blog was very helpful in explaining Townswoman, never-ending TV soap and K-9.  LALLYGAG was new to me.

    I missed the theme, but perhaps RED DUSTER (and cLEVER)could be added? From the book Signalman’s Trilogy, “I picked up the blue and red duster used when pulling levers – the signalman’s unofficial badge of office”

  26. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew and congrats on a milestone achievement Brummie (I wonder how many blogs have our various bloggers blogged?)

    Really enjoyed CLEVER and CORRIDOR among many others although in our house it was always Corro for Coronation Street before we ever heard of “Corrie”. Strictly a dnf for me as when I got to STRIA (LOI) I opted for the equally likely “sirta”, knowing I was in a no-know situation. My theme engine never got into first gear. I liked the “particular” usage of “nice” in NICEST: it’s one I have found not to have much of an audience – seems to have faded from the general vocabulary.

  27. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew. As others have said a relatively gentle solve for Brummie, but nonetheless enjoyable. Last two for me (unsurprisingly given the above) were lallygag and stria which were both unfamiliar. I did like retaken and robotic and thanks again to Andrew for the blog and to Brummie for all the pleasure he has given us solvers over the years. Maybe we will get a book of Brummie puzzles one day?

  28. Thanks both,
    I cheated on train and annals but a satisfying solve. I’m normally a critic of crosswordisms like flower for river but 3D does illustrate how they can sometimes provide opportunities for elegant or sorreal surfaces.

  31. My pet hate in crosswords is clues such as “Takes back gun” which could equally mean “(takes back) gun” or “takes (back gun)”

  32. Wiiliam @30, here, hopefully, is an article on the signal box at Loughborough Central Railway Station.  If you enlarge the image you will see the RED DUSTER (14d) the signalman is holding, it is used to prevent sweat from his hands damaging the handles of the levers.  The C LEVERs (9a), apparently, are those in the middle of the lever frame.

  34. All very entertaining. LALLYGAG was last in but more familiar than STRIA and RED DUSTER.

    As to how we know that Brummie has reached 200 puzzles, there is no secret – his first (in 2003) was after the archive started (in 1999) and a few of us have used the archive to generate our own lists.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

     

  35. Happy Anniversary Brummie, loved the theme and was watching an interview
    with the engine-driver just the other day.
    Iroquois:
    One limey, at least, has seen your film. I used to listen to your game
    on US Armed Forces Radio Network Europe. When deciding which team
    to follow, I decided that when I finally got to The States, I would see if the team
    of the city I was in was around and not on the road. As a result, the burden
    of my life-long support has been foisted onto the Albuquerque Isotopes.

    Thank you Andrew.

  39. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew. I had the same problems already mentioned (Corrie, Bennett’s ANNA, STRIA, RED DUSTER) and did not know the connection to Doctor Who in K9, but I did manage to get through. I’m another US solver familiar with lollygag, not LALLYGAG. For once I did spot the theme.

  40. Andrew@36

    No small achievement! Congrats.

    And a prime number to boot. So much more satisfying than the usual decimal cliches… (Not to subtract in any way from Brummie’s achievement.)

  41. I liked this. TRAIN was FOI so, perhaps, I should have seen the theme but,of course I didn’t. Perhaps GRAYLING should have been included: he must be good for something! I did like ECONOMIST and FOOT. I didn’t think 26ac was ambiguous but,looking at it again, I suppose it is.
    Thanks Brummie.

  42. Not familiar with LALLYGAG.  I could have sworn that “Lollygaggers!” was an insult used by Captain Haddock in the Tintin books. Can I find it? Blistering barnacles! I can’t.

    Thanks, Brummie and Andrew.

  43. Thanks Andrew and Brummie.  A bit of a doddle this one compared to what we often get from midweek onwards, but none the worse for that.  I wasn’t looking for a theme so I failed to twig this one although MALLARD should have made me stop and think, d’oh !    I agree with muffin@5 and Howard March@31, the clue for STEN was totally ambiguous until you got either ECONOMIST or RETAKEN !

  46. Thanks and Congrats Brummie!  My goodness, 2 Simpson’s references in a single day of blogging! Thank you to Keyser@44 – I forgot about Mr. Burns accusing others of lollygagging (excellent! indeed), and thank you to il principe dell’oscurità@35 for mentioning the Isotopes who were named for the team on the Simpsons oddly enough.  I live in El Paso – unsurprisingly our team are the Chihuahuas … I don’t know what this indicates about their prowess on the field. JAW@37 – Would we be better off with more obscure Britishisms? Tyke the other day seemed to be obscure to both the English and the Australians who were intended to understand the clue (via poor homophone).  As long as the obscure words are fairly clued, I’m not sure that I mind so much where they are from.

  47. This is a crossword puzzle! If the crossers solve the ambiguity (STEN) it is fine in my view. If they don’t, then there’s an issue.
    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  48. Ralph Houston @47

    I guessed that someone would say that. It’s true, but it still means that it’s an unsatisfactory clue. I usually work through the clues in order, so I got to 26a before I had looked at any of the down clues – do I enter STEN or NETS? (For once, I guessed right, in fact)

  49. Muffin, I think that these puzzles were called crosswords to give the potential solvers a clue in how they might be completed.

    Perhaps you should also remember that “cryptics” evolved from the original definition only puzzles. In these the crossers are often essential in deciding between more than one possible answer. In fact without that bit of jeopardy the grid is almost superfluous.

    However it appears that you have decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

  51. Failed on LALLYGAG and, as usual, didn’t spot the theme. I agree with Muffin @ 5. I too attempt the clues in the order printed and so had to wait until 13d before knowing that STEN was correct. Not insoluble or even difficult and it could be argued that it is a legitimate part of the test but I have the feeling that a clue should stand on its own even if in practice we use crossers to solve it.
    William@18. It’s the “science” bit of the Carlyle quote that I have a problem with. How about “the dismal faith or religion” ?
    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew. For what it’s worth I must be somewhere above 15000 as a solver which is nothing to boast about, merely a factor of age.

  52. It seems odd to me that a crossword clue should be judged as poor because it doesn’t work with a methodology that starts off by ignoring the fact that a crossword is being done. Doing the clues in order is a curious way of doing something designed specifically to interrelate Across and Down. My approach is to try and get a chain of clues from top left to bottom right as soon as possible.  Clues like 26a are all part of the fun of seeing the whole thing working together.

  53. I really enjoyed this. I’m very impressed that Muffin can work through the clues in numerical order. For me the crossers are absolutely essential. I guess that’s why Muffin is a 15X15 blogger while I’m really happy to finish a Guardian crossword without too much recourse to various crossword-help apps. For that reason, I didn’t mind the nets-sten dilemma, but I guess my instinct is that something in the clue should eliminate this ambiguity, rather than relying on crossers to settle the matter. In any case, thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  54. Gladys@2 very belated thanks for the explanation. Only just catching up with yesterday, having struggled with nutmeg today.

  55. Mark @53

    I didn’t say that I solve them all in numerical order!

    btw I’m not a blogger here – just a regular contributor.

  56. Lallygag threw me, as I only know it as a Lincolnshire word for the piece of string farm labourers used to tie round their trouser legs – presumably to stop anything running up them!

  57. Haha sorry muffin @ 55 for the misunderstanding re numerical order & also I guess I’ve seen your comments so often that I assumed you were a blogger. Whatever happened to Hedgehoggy by the way? As I’ve been going back thru the archives I’ve seen lots of comments from him/her but more recently I haven’t seen any.

  58. Van Winkle@52
    I used to start in the top left corner and work my way through as I found crossers until I discovered that sometimes I had missed a clue. I read somewhere that the legendary solver Roy Dean uses/d the same method as Muffin and I for the same reason.
    I don’t attempt the clues as a whole in numerical order. I try the across clues in numerical order first, then the down clues. In this puzzle I went 1, 6 and didn’t reach 2 until after 27.
    I realise that only the long-suffering Gaufrid will probably see this so apologies to him.

  59. I’ve fallen behind on my crosswords, so I’m awfully late getting here. I’m surprised that no one before me has complained about the anagrind “chronic”. A certain amount of flexibility is needed for anagrinds, of course, but I can’t see any way to stretch that one to fit.

    Except for that quibble, I found this to be a fine and enjoyable puzzle. The terms I didn’t know (RED DUSTER, STRIA) were readily gettable from the wordplay and crossers, so I learned some new words.

    I’m another American who is quite familiar with the word LOLLYGAG but has rarely if ever seen it spelled with an A in place of the O.

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