Guardian Cryptic 27,737 by Nutmeg

by

Enjoyed this – a lot of neat constructions and some sneaky definitions. The online Special instructions mentioning a correction to the clue for 9 down also brought a smile [9 across now reads “worthy committees”]. Favourites were 3dn and 13dn. Thanks to Nutmeg.

Across
1 OBJECTIVE Voice complaint leading to Nutmeg’s end (9)
OBJECT=”Voice complaint” + I’VE=”Nutmeg’s”
6 MOCHA Hot drink, second cuppa? (5)
MO=moment=”second” + CHA=tea=”cuppa”
9 COME TO TERMS WITH Learn to handle worthy com­mittees with no yen to adapt (4,2,5,4)
(worthy committees)* minus a y for “yen”
10 SLIM Unlikely way to lose weight (4)
double definition
11 RAPESEED Man’s close kin digging into tall grass for source of oil (8)
APES=”Man’s close kin” inside REED=”tall grass”
14 FORT WORTH River into which two run somewhere in Texas (4,5)
FORTH=”River” with TWO inside
15 BONGO Antelope‘s niff embodying another left by papa (5)
=a species of antelope
BO=body odour=”niff”, around PONG=”another” niff; minus P for “papa”
16 REALM Field unaffected by motorway (5)
REAL=without affectation, “unaffected” + M for “motorway”
18 NINE LIVES Home in Tyneside continues to be Kitty’s expectation (4,5)
IN=at “Home”, inside NE=North East of England=”Tyneside” + LIVES=”continues to be”
20 CHERUBIC Sweet and innocent youngster admitting woman’s in charge (8)
CUB=”youngster” around HER=”woman”; + IC for “in charge”
21 SNOW Illegal drug supplied by son came first from east (4)
=slang for cocaine
S for “son” + WON=”came first” reversed/”from east”
25 SHORT SHARP SHOCK Artfully trap crook, shut up periodically for remedial treatment (5,5,5)
(trap crook)* with SH=”shut up” added in periodically
26 SPEED Drug limited in urban areas? (5)
double definition
27 SLOTTED IN Fluid not listed, added where appropriate (7,2)
(not listed)*
Down
1 ORCAS Particularly large guards right about killers, in the main (5)
=killer whales, in the “main” or ocean
OS=over size=”Particularly large” around R for “right” and CA=circa=”about”
2 JUMPIER Increasingly nervous, one pierces top (7)
I=”one” in JUMPER=”top”
3 CATO Censor cinema and theatre obscenities to start with (4)
Cato the Elder [wiki] was a Roman censor or magistrate
starting letters of Cinema And Theatre Obscenities
4 INTO Part of joint osteopath’s enthusiastic about? (4)
hidden in joINT Osteopath
5 EARBASHING Deserving party comes in for new criticism (10)
EARNING=”Deserving” but with BASH=”party” coming in for an N=”new”
6 MASKED BALL Doctor Holding questioned everybody’s function (6,4)
MB=Bachelor of Medicine=”Doctor” around ASKED=”questioned”; plus ALL=”everybody”
7 CRIMEAN War, an illegal act starts it (7)
AN, with CRIME=”illegal act” at the start
8 ANHYDROUS Rear exit keeping spa hotel free from water (9)
ANUS=”Rear exit” around HYDRO=”spa hotel”
12 SWIMSUITED Dimwits use explosive in Bikini, for instance (10)
(Dimwits use)*
13 BRANDISHES Food helping to keep you regular is flourishing (10)
BRAN DISHES=”Food helping to keep you regular”
14 FORECASTS Anticipates key periods of abstinence for Spooner (9)
Spoonerism of CORE FASTS=”key periods of abstinence”
17 ACETONE Solvent of superb quality (7)
ACE=”superb” + TONE=”quality”
19 VANLOAD Vehicle’s contents I removed from empty street changing hands (7)
I removed from VAIN=”empty” + ROAD=”street” with R (right) changing hands to L (left)
22 WAKEN Arouse suspicion ultimately at end of trail (5)
the last letter of suspicioN after WAKE=”trail”
23 BRIO Contributor to choirboy’s mounting enthusiasm? (4)
Hidden and reversed/”Contributor to… mounting” inside chOIRBoy
24 ISNT On odd occasions insanity doesn’t occur (4)
odd letters from InSaNiTy

47 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,737 by Nutmeg”

  1. I also enjoyed this a lot, especially ANHYDROUS, FORECASTS, BONGO and MOCHA, which displayed Nutmeg’s usual wit. Many thanks to N & m.

  3. Thanks, manehi.

    I’ll add SWIMSUITED and SHORT SHARP SHOCK – both cleverly allusive and I enjoyed the construction of the latter, too.

    Another antelope to add to the collection. [Eggheads’ Judith Keppel maintains that any new animal   that crops up is some kind of antelope.]

    Many thanks, Nutmeg – most enjoyable, as always.

  4. Sid’s Law strikes again (the typo information containing a typo). The special instruction wasn’t there when I printed this off this morning, but didn’t affect my enjoyment of this, which contained some lovely surfaces. COD for me was SHORT SHARP SHOCK, and BONGO was a SILT. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi.

  5. Excellent fun – bongo was new to me but easy enough to work out once I had some crossers (LOI in fact). Lots of lovely clues which looked utterly impenetrable until the penny dropped onto the mousetrap, flinging the tea tray across the room into my forehead. Short Sharp Shock my CotD for that reason – lovely construction.

    Thanks Manehi and thank you Nutmeg for a very pleasurable solve.

  6. Thanks for the blog.

    I think that humans, gorillas, chimps, bonobos, orangs etc are all apes, so 11a is technically incorrect. Man’s family would be better.

    Liked the puzzle though. nice surfaces and some sneaky clues.

  8. Ditto for my pdf re 9a sans s, and ditto re bongo the Disney-sounding antelope (in the 60s mine, ie the drum, didn’t survive quarantine: untanned leather tension thongs). But yes, quite fun in all, with enough to unpick, especially with aging memory (“What was that war with ‘Into the valley of death etc’?”). Other good old chestnuts always help: orcas, Cato, acetone and brio. Smiled at speed and slotted in. Wondered about 10a (What are the odds? Slim; unlikely; spose so). Thanks Nutmeg and Manehi.

  9. Hi grantinfreo @8 – I thought of ‘slim chance’ – I’ve just looked it up and that’s the example Collins gives.

  10. An excellent puzzle with lots of ticks most of which have been mentioned. One that hasn’t is SLOTTED IN – it took me ages to see fluid as an anagrind. Loi was VANLOAD – sometimes things just don’t come to mind. I knew BONGO as an antelope but failed to unravel the parsing and also struggled with the “IVE” bit of 1a. For once my loose approach to parsing long anagrams paid off – I didn’t notice the missing S in 9a.
    Many thanks to Nutmeg and manehi.

  11. Thanks Nutmeg, manehi

    I have trouble with slim too.  It doesn’t mean unlikely by itself, does it?  Just combined with some probabilistic noun.  I didn’t write it in, but first wondered about an easier way to lose weight, S*I*.  Just about works as a response to someone saying something unbelievable, as an alternative to ‘unlikely’.

    Lovely special instructions.

  12. Thanks Nutmeg; entertaining but difficult for me to unravel.

    Thanks manehi; you seem to be missing a ‘run’ in 14A.

    I liked ANHYDROUS and the antelope, although it could have been a drum. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in my list of antelopes. I BIFD ‘spooned in’ at the beginning, which of course didn’t parse.

  14. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi

    My favourites were FORECASTS + RAPESEED.

    New words for me were BONGO+ ANHYDROUS, and I needed help to parse 15a.

  16. Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi. I am another who enjoyed this a lot, and you have answered my query on 9a (still pop down the newsagent everyday to get my papers). I got little on first couple of passes and had that sinking feeling, but in eventually began to unpack. I was not helped by originally by putting objecting for 1a, but eventually got earbashing which put that right. Last in was the SE with snow and vanload, and I am another fan of anhydrous (spent ages trying to fit in dehydrate) and short sharp shock. Thanks again to Nutmeg and manehi.

  19. Enjoyable as ever from Nutmeg. Am I the only one to have a slight issue with the definition for 22d? The word given is often confused with a very similar word to give this meaning, though the alternative would break the surface. Didn’t quite work for me, but no biggie! Thanks to manehi too.

  20. I am always glad to see Nutmeg and enjoyed it all except possibly VANLOAD-didnt seem to parse quite as perfectly as the rest

    Thanks manahei and Nutmeg

  21. Thanks to Nutmeg and Manehi.

    I enjoyed a lot of this, already mentioned by others, but find it hard to reconcile myself with an expectation to spot the devices in EARBASHING and VANLOAD. No complaints, just that this bear would have been there until Tibb’s eve with no hope of success without the aid of crossers. Favourite was ISNT.

  22. “Niff” in the clue @15a reminds me of the song:

    Oh, that Gorgonzola cheese!

    It wasn’t very healthy, I suppose.

    Our tom cat fell a corpse upon the mat

    When the niff went up his nose!

    That’s the only use of the word I’ve ever met, but it came in handy.

    (Why doesn’t ctr-enter give me a single line any more?)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    25a The clue makes me chuckle at the thought of a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block?

    10a and Eileen @9 SLIM We say “slim chance”, as Collins does, but we don’t say “slim likelihood” or “slim odds” or “slim probability”.  I think there’s a linguistic term for a word like “fro” that only occurs in one phrase, or in this sense that only does so in a particular sense.

    Never heard of earbashing, though you can guess it.  (I see that my spellcheck has never heard of it either.)

    Robi@12 FOR(TWO + R)TH River into which two run.

    Nice puzzle, good fun.  Thanks, Nutmeg and manehi.

  24. Hi Valentine @22 – i wondered when someone would pick me up on this! I realised as soon as I’d posted that Collins was giving an example of slim = poor, meagre, not ‘unlikely’  – apologies.

  25. Thanks, manehi, enjoyed this.

    Failed to parse SHORT SHARP SHOCK but bifd it anyway.

    I’m sure I’m being thick but in what context does trail = wake?  No doubt someone will embarrass me.

    Wasn’t happy with SLIM for the reasons others have mentioned.

    Favourite was EARBASHING for the nice surface and construction.

    Nice week, all.

  26. 6A – Given the question mark, I parsed this as “mo’ cha?” as in “more cha”? I concede the mo=second parsing is more elegant but this worked for me

  28. In 15a, I assumed that ‘another’ in the clue meant another antelope, and found ‘pasang’ was one such beast. Removing ‘pas’ (ie pa + pa) and bunging it in BO gives ‘bango’, which made me wonder if the setter had made a mistake. I guess I’m wrong, although ‘P’ for ‘papa’ seems a bit of a stretch.

    Thanks Nutmeg and manehi, most enjoyable.

  30. Greensward@28 – NATO phonetic alphabet – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, … Papa, Quebec …

    From the days when battlefield radio comms was haphazard, avoids confusing e.g. B with P etc – shame to have eg an artillery mission landing on HQ rather than the enemy …

     

  32. Thanks Nutmeg and manehi

    DNF for me – couldn’t see SLIM. First pass gave only 3 – CATO, RAPESEED and SNOW. (I remember learning about Cato ending every speech in the Roman Senate, whatever the topic, with “Carthago delenda est” – “Carthage must be destryed” – this is in the link you gave, manehi, but a long way down it!) However it all went more easily went I got back in from golf.

    Favoruites were NINE LIVES and ANHYDROUS.

  33. Took me a while to get started – only had CATO and MASKED BALL for ages, and the cock up at 9ac didn’t help- but it gradually yielded. Liked BONGO and BRANDISHES.
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  37. This was fun. Favorites for me included ANHYDROUS, NINE LIVES, FORT WORTH and SHORT SHARP SHOCK. [Thanks, Valentine @22, for the additional lyrics that made it possible for me to understand the Gilbert and Sullivan significance of that last one, which I would not have known otherwise.]. I knew the antelope but couldn’t parse BONGO until I re-learned what “niff” means. I think that term has come up in prior GC puzzles.
    Many thanks to Nutmeg and manehi and the other commenters.

  38. HoofItYouDonkey @36 –
    “Nutmeg’s set the Wednesday puzzle.” Or, as Nutmeg would say, “I’ve set the Wednesday puzzle.”

  39. Hi Manehi – really appreciate you guys elucidating the arcana of cryptics.

    One note, 14a, Fort Worth has another R (run): TWOR in FORTH.

  40. A good source of antelope names is the list of names given by the London and North Eastern railway to the B1 express engines they introduced from 1942 onwards. BONGO is one of them, and for some reason the whole class became known as Bongos to the train spotting fraternity.

    These names apparently originated because the first loco’s naming coincided with the visit to England of the South African Prime Minister, Jan Smuts, and it was named Springbok in his honour. The next 40 or so locos were named after ever more obscure types of African antelope. Having run out of antelopes, the following locos were named much more prosaically after LNER board members, and the last batches were not named at all.

    However the names originated, they were singularly appropriate for a fast and handsome locomotive. I spent a good part of my childhood watching them pounding up the line from Kings Cross with such long-gone trains as the Cambridge Buffet Express.

  47. Jamjar, drofle – Yes indeed! A nicely positioned Nina; well spotted, Jamjar. It does seem odd that others may not have noticed….?
    Nutmeg is a very talented setter with an easy sleight of hand. I particularly admired the creativity, and balance – not unlike aforementioned Nina – of SHORT SHARP SHOCK.

    Many thanks, both and all.

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