Guardian 27,722 / Crucible

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A fun but fairly easy prize puzzle from Crucible, with a theme of paintings

The painting-related answers are:

  • GLAIR
  • NATIONAL GALLERY
  • TEMPERA
  • MATISSE
  • NIOBE (perhaps – there are lots of paintings of Niobe)
  • PORTRAIT
  • VIEW (maybe?)
  • GOYA
  • CAMEOS
  • EMULSION

Across

9. Love a lecture Degas originally introduced (9)
ADORATION
A + ORATION = “lecture” around D[ega] = “Degas originally”
Definition: “Love”

10. Current chairman passes round golf flyer (5)
IMAGO
I = “Current” + MAO = “chairman” around G = “golf” (from the NATO phonetic alphabet)
Definition: “flyer” – IMAGO is “the last stage of an insect’s development” (Chambers)

11. Dull hack’s book (7)
MATTHEW
MATT = “Dull” + HEW = “hack”
Definition: “book” (the first book of the New Testament)

12. Gunmen guard, say, a Times craft event (7)
REGATTA
RA (Royal Artillery) = “Gunmen” around EG = “say” + A + TT = “times”
Definition: “event”

13. Good sides keep fit in white (5)
GLAIR
G = “Good” + LR = “sides” around AI (A1) = “fit” (If something’s A1, I suppose it’s fit for its purpose? Maybe I’m missing something.)
Definition: “white” – glair is the white of an egg

14. Bowler traps a Kent opener that appears in 12 (9)
SPINNAKER
SPINNER = “Bowler” around A + K[ent] = “Kent opener”
Definition: “appears in [REGATTA]”

16. Citizen largely vandalised location of hangings (8,7)
NATIONAL GALLERY
NATIONAL = “Citizen” + (LARGELY)* = “vandalised location”
Definition: “location of hangings”

19. Study coin displayed behind bars (2,7)
IN CUSTODY
(STUDY COIN)*
Definition: “behind bars”

21. Drunk one’s out of it (5)
SKULL
Cryptic definition, referring to the expression to be “drunk out of your skull”

22. A traveller gathered about 18 (7)
TEMPERA
A + REP = “traveller” + MET = “gathered” all reversed
Definition: “[EMULSION] – one of the definitions in Chambers is: “an emulsion, esp made with egg yolk, used as a medium for powdered pigments” (another clue that refers to egg white)

23. Couple hosts one extremely serious artist (7)
MATISSE
MATE + “Couple” (as a verb) around I = “one” + S[eriou]S = “extremely serious”
Definition: “artist”

24. Tearful woman’s provincial honour (5)
NIOBE
NI OBE (Northern Ireland is a province, and the OBE (Order of the Britsh Empire) is an honour)
Definition: “Tearful woman”

25. Former PM’s organ fund (9)
LIVERPOOL
LIVER = “organ” + POOL = “fund”
Definition: “Former PM”

Down

1. Amusing lad edited miscellany (10)
SALMAGUNDI
(AMUSING LAD)*
Definition: “miscellany” – I’d never heard this word before but Chambers defines it as: “A dish of minced meat with eggs, anchovies, vinegar, pepper, etc.” or “a medley, miscellany”

2. Left artist exactly what’s needed: a painting (8)
PORTRAIT
PORT = “left” + RA = “artist” + IT = “exactly what’s needed” (as in “That’s it!”)
Definition: “painting”

3. Swimmer’s article seized by lawyers (6)
BATHER
THE = “article” in BAR = “lawyers”
Definition: “Swimmer”

4. Struggle with angle (4)
VIEW
VIE = “Struggle” + W = “with”
Definition: “angle”

5. Straight new English bishop in vile collars (10)
UNERRINGLY
N = “new” + E = “English” + RR (Right Reverend) = “bishop” + IN inside UGLY = “vile” – “collars” indicates inclusion
Definition: “Straight”

6. Raving mad learner grabs one old instrument (8)
VIRGINAL
(RAVING)* + L = “learner” around I = “one”
Definition: “old instrument”

7. Scorer to do what setters do without (6)
BARTOK
TO surrounded by BARK = “do what setters do”
Definition: “Scorer”

8. Artist’s intermittently good year (4)
GOYA
G[o]O[d] Y[e]A[r] = “intermittently good year”
Definition: “Artist”

14. Each boy wears black at the appropriate time (10)
SEASONABLE
EA = “each” + SON = “boy” in SABLE = “black”
Definition: “at the appropriate time”

15. Food flown in for queen cooked jolly early (5,5)
ROYAL JELLY
(JOLLY EARLY)*
Definition: “Food flown in for queen”

17. Outside broadcast setting almost more offensive (8)
OBSCENER
OB = “Outside broadcast” + SCENER[y] = “setting almost”
Definition: “more offensive”

18. Paint bird and cat eating last of carcass (8)
EMULSION
EMU = “bird” + LION = “cat” around [carcas]S = “last of carcass”
Definition: “Paint”

20. Carved 2s arrived with sailor (6)
CAMEOS
CAME = “arrived” + OS (Ordinary Seaman) = “sailor”
Definition: “Carved [PORTRAIT]s”

21. Rocket placed on vessel (6)
SATURN
SAT = “placed” + URL = “vessel”
Definition: “Rocket” (the Saturn V was the rocket used for the Apollo missions)

22. Shade of paint in Tiepolo (4)
TINT
Hidden in “[pain]T IN T[iepolo]” – “of” is the hidden indicator
Definition: “Shade”

23. Make weepy film without one (4)
MOVE
MOVIE without I = “one”
Definition: “Make weepy”

29 comments on “Guardian 27,722 / Crucible”

  1. Thanks to Crucible and mhl. Enjoyable puzzle. I did not know the PM LIVERPOOL (but the parsing was clear) and struggled with the spelling of SALMAGUNDI before I had all the crossers. There’s a typo in 21d where url should be urn.

  2. Thanks mhl. Unlike recent puzzles this allowed me to enter quite a few on the first pass and the rest followed readily enough. Didn’t notice the theme though. I don’t think you are missing anything in 13a but A1 at Lloyds seems to be better than just ‘fit’.

  3. I don’t think any of the meanings of MOVE (23d) is MAKE WEEPY. Now, MOVE TO TEARS is precisely that, but only because of the added words, necessary because the bare word doesn’t have that meaning!

    Otherwise, a nice puzzle, and imo not too difficult. Thanks Crucible and Mhl.

  4. Rats! Fell at the second to last hurdle, putting in SEASONALLY instead of SEASONABLE, assuming there must be a famous Sally Black I’d never heard of and maybe ought to check on. By chance, that put an L in the right place for LIVERPOOL which was then my LOI. Otherwise, I might have revisited Ms Black and spotted my mistake. Apart from that, all very enjoyable, with a number of words new to me – SALMAGUNDI, GLAIR, IMAGO.

    Thanks, Crucible, thanks, mhl.

  5. Dr Watson.

    As Chambers defines “move” as “touch the sentiments” and “weepy” as “sentimental” I think move is absolutely fine. You often seem to disagree with definitions which are fine?

    Much too easy a puzzle for a weekend for me.

  6. Thanks Crucible and mhl for explaining it all.

    I was laid up with the lurgy last Sat so
    Managed to make pretty good progress on the day with this one. As the head cold receded on Sun and Mon, worked out some of the trickier ones including (for me) LIVERPOOL and SALMAGUNDI. I did drag that last one from the recesses of the old brain, though needed dictionary to confirm spelling.

    Bizarrely my 2nd LOI was BATHER, not just one of the easiest clues in the x-Word but one of the easiest you will find in any crossword. My excusebis I got obsessed with Swimmer = Fish.

    Eventually the penny dropping and my LOI was the very obscure but pleasant GLAIR., though I quickly checked Chamber‘s to make sure it was this and not GLAAR which (were it to exist and mean ‚white‘) would have been an even better fit in the wordplay.

    Thanks again Crucible for the challenge and mhl for the explanation!

  7. Thanks Crucible and mhl

    A bit easy for a Prize, but I needed you for the parsing of BARTOK, which now becomes my favourite clue.

  9. My only complaint is that it was disappointingly easy for a Saturday puzzle.

    There was nothing wrong with the puzzle itself but only two clues made me think a bit.  GLAIR, which was a new word to me.  It had to be that from the wordplay, looked it up, and was amazed to find it!  BARTOK also got me thinking for a bit.  Not my favourite composer, but a good clue.

    If I remember rightly, the Monday puzzle was more demanding?

    Thanks to Crucible and to mhl.

  10. Thank you Crucible and mhl.

    Rather fun, I think that SALMAGUNDI fits the theme, it is a famous club in New York, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, and BATHER, or bathers, are a popular art genre as was ADORATION of the Magi.

  11. Thank you Crucible and Mhl.

    I normally find Crucible daunting but this was relatively straightforward.

    11ac went in straight away, as I used an almost exactly similar clue in a cryptic crossword I set for the local church winter fair (one of the four apostles). I guess it has been clued this way many times before.

  14. I thought this too easy for a Saturday but,that said,it wasn’t a write in by any means -and I didn’t get the theme. GLAIR was new to me but everything else went in apace.
    Thanks Crucible.

  15. Thanks Crucible and mhl.

    I agree with Cookie. I think there are a few answers alluding to famous paintings. ADORATION, SKULL (Holbein), BATHER (Cezanne), SATURN (Goya), VIRGINAL (Vermeer). Possibly others?

  18. Thanks to Crucible and mhl. Not a lot more to add here, a pretty straightforward solve, but by no means a write in. Personally not too bothered in was pretty straightforward, sometimes it’s useful to get through it quickly and free up time for other things. Salmagundi a new word for me and I liked Niobe and national gallery. Thanks again to Crucible and mhl.

  20. I finished it all, rarely for me.  Thanks, Crucible and mhl.

    I knew salmagundi was a miscellany, but didn’t know you could eat it.  The recipe sounds interesting, but not anything I’m likely to make.

    TINT is also a word about painting, I think.

    16a “Vandalised” is the anagrind to make “largely” into GALLERY.  “Location of hangings” is the definition.

    23a MATE = “couple”, not MATE + couple.

     

  21. Alex, I see what you are saying, but arguments from transitivity don’t always work with language because you have to consider usage. If you heard that someone was moved, I don’t think you’d immediately think they wept, in part because there is a perfectly common phrase the speaker could have used if that’s what they meant.

  23. Agree with Cookie and Graham. IMAGO contains an anagram of MAGI and on same row as ADORATION- pure coincidence?

  26. I think you are on to something DannyBoy! Even more tenuously, ROYAL JELLY and SEASONABLE and CUSTODY are all in Saatchi gallery (online), but then if you google “anything” and “painting” you will probably get a hit somewhere.

  27. Dr Whatson

    My comment didn’t use transitivity.

    You said “I don’t think any of the meanings of MOVE (23d) is MAKE WEEPY”

    I merely pointed out that the dictionary confirms that “weepy” can mean mean sentimental. So clearly there is a meaning of “move” which does mean “make weepy”.

    It is a common phrase in the north and doesn’t necessarily suggest actual tears.

  28. Very enjoyable solve. My favourites were emulsion, Bartok, Liverpool (even though I had not known he was a PM, and found out via google). New for me was GLAIR (loi).

    I could not fully parse 14d because I had entered SEASONALLY or 17d as I did not know the abbreviation OB for outside broadcast.

    Thank you Crucible and mhl.

  29. Without necessarily accepting #21 Dr Whatson’s premise about transivity, I would suggest that the argument undermines itself: “If you heard that someone was moved, I don’t think you’d immediately think they wept” would be a possible line of attack if the clue was “Move” and the solution was “Make weepy”. However, as this is in fact the opposite of the true state of affairs, the point immediately fails. I remember that I read the clue “make weepy” and immediately thought of “move”.

    The suggestion @3 that none of the meanings of move is make weepy shows a rigidty of thought that is not very conducive to solving cryptic crossords – I know this from experience as it is my main weakness!  In this case, however, it seems a feeble plaint, as the words have connections that are easily found: being weepy is a way of showing emotion; emotion and motion come to us (ultimately) from Latin emotum (from emovere) and motum (from movere); move comes to us similarly and more obviously from movere; in physics, when something is moved it has motion, in human feelings being moved is what we term emotion.

    This was one of the easier clues in this puzzle, if not the easiest. It seems perverse to criticise it.

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