Guardian Cryptic 27,753 by Chifonie

by

All good fun, with a few trickier elements at the end, including my favourites 4dn and 7dn. Thanks to Chifonie.

Across
1 PROSPECT Survey the landscape (8)
double definition, as a verb and as a noun
5 STEP IN Interrupt prince filling beer mug (4,2)
P (prince) inside STEIN=”beer mug”
9 PROTRUDE Corruption riddled Mrs Grundy’s project (8)
PROTRUDE=”project” as a verb
ROT=”Corruption” inside PRUDE=”Mrs Grundy” [wiki]
10 MAUSER One thinking about a gun (6)
MAUSER is a make of gun [wiki]
MUSER=”One thinking” about A
12 ELSIE Girl preferably tours India (5)
I assume this is ELSE=”preferably” around I for India,
but I can’t quite see how ‘else’=”preferably”
13 BALLERINA A liberal excited about new performer (9)
(A liberal)* around N for “new”
14 GENERAL STORE Officers rent shop (7,5)
GENERALS=”Officers” + TORE, past tense of ‘tear’=”rent”, past tense of ‘rend’
18 BUSTER KEATON Film star is unsteady, but no retakes (6,6)
(but no retakes)*
21 INTERPRET Entomb priest with alien? Explain! (9)
INTER=”Entomb” + PR (priest) + ET=extra-terrestrial=”alien”
23 TENOR General meaning of vocalist (5)
double definition
24 THEBAN The prohibition of an ancient city (6)
THE + BAN=”prohibition”
25 DIABOLIC Boil acid mistakenly? That’s hellish! (8)
(Boil acid)*
26 EVENTS Engineer initially provides exhaust and fixtures (6)
Engineer + VENTS=”provides exhaust”
27 ASSENTER One agreeing to make fool join (8)
ASS=”fool” + ENTER=”join”
Down
1 POPPET Dad’s favourite child? (6)
POP=”Dad” + PET=”favourite”
2 OBOIST Died first protecting old player (6)
OB=”Died” (short for Latin obiit) + IST=1st=”first”; around O for “old”
3 PERSEVERE Exercises Rex finds demanding? Struggle on! (9)
PE=Physical Education=”Exercises” + R for “Rex” + SEVERE=”demanding”
4 CODE BREAKERS Charlie’s poem on waves is crackers (4-8)
C for “Charlie” + ODE=”poem” + BREAKERS=”waves”
6 TRACE Follow Tory leader contest (5)
Tory + RACE=”contest”
7 POSEIDON God is present, I assume (8)
POSE as a verb=”present” + I + DON=take on=”assume”
8 NARRATED Hurried back, considered and told the tale (8)
RAN=”Hurried” reversed/”back” + RATED=”considered”
11 PLEASANTRIES Small talk on amazing sale in food stores (12)
(sale)* in PANTRIES=”food stores”
15 SHOOTABLE Go away with list that can be bagged (9)
SHOO=”Go away” + TABLE=”list”, as a way of presenting information
16 ABSINTHE Sailors in the drink? (8)
ABS=able-bodied seaman plus an ‘s‘=”Sailors” + IN THE
17 AS IT WERE Wears tie loosely, so to speak (2,2,4)
(Wears tie)*
19 ANKLET A knight allowed jewellery (6)
AN=”A” + K for “knight” + LET=”allowed”
20 BRACER Tonic for people in Britain (6)
RACE=”people” in BR (Britain)
22 REACT Kick back produced by six elements (5)
“six” refers to 6dn, TRACE, and REACT is an anagram of the elements/letters of TRACE

45 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,753 by Chifonie”

  1. Quite a quick puzzle to ease us into the week.

    The only answer I couldn’t satisfactorily parse was ELSIE, as, like you, I couldn’t equate ‘else’ with ‘preferably’.

    Didn’t know the reference to Mrs Grundy but guessed the answer from the wordplay.  Similarly, not very knowledgeable about film stars but BUSTER KEATON was obvious, even to me, once I got the crossing K.

    I thought that 16 dn was rather lazy clueing, as the answer is virtually given.

    I liked 4 dn and 22 dn.  Is it worth pointing out that the ‘six’ refers to 6 dn ?

    Thanks to Chifonie and to manehi.

  3. Thanks Chifonie and manehi

    You haven’t given the parsing for REACT, manehi, and I was rather hoping to see it!

    I questioned ELSE = preferably too, and ENTER = join as well. What happens to the S in the clue for POPPET?

    “Sailors in the drink” is a real chestnut.

    BUSTER KEATON was my favourite.

  5. A fun and easy puzzle, although I failed to solve MAUSER (never heard of it).

    The paring of 22d has gone missing – I presumed it was the abbreviations of 6 chemical elements

    Thanks B+S

  10. Notwithstanding the odd quibble I thought this was an excellent Monday puzzle with smooth surfaces and a range of devices. I had to stop and think about most of the clues but wasn’t wrestling over any of them. Like others POSEIDON was my favourite. Everyman is still struggling to find a consistent style – Chifonie would be a good fit based on this puzzle. Thanks to him and manehi.

  11. Another one here not happy with ELSE. Also had the same query as baerchen (@7) but  concluded what Anna says at @8. (and manehi)

    Took a bit more thinking than accustomed to on a Monday

  12. @Anna/Manehi

    Hmmmm….so if “a” and “n” are interchangeable, does that mean that I could get away with:

    An attractive accent? (5)

  15. Yep pretty much as everyone’s said, except a d’oh for react, in which I was looking at the periodic table: C, Ca, Tc, Te, Re, Ac etc. Talk about making a sow’s ear…thick! Hey ho. Fun anyway, thanks Chifonie and Manehi.

  18. grantininfreo @15:  So glad someone else ‘fessed up to grinding through 2-letter element combos before I had to.

    I had the same quibblets as others: ELSE = preferably; and a = an.

    Also, the ‘s of Dad’s seems not to feature in POPPET.

    Other than that, all a bit dull, really.  POSEIDON is particularly clunky.

    Thanks to manehi and Chifonie, nice week, all.

  19. Hi William, ‘fessing up to one’s blind spots is part of the fun. The ‘s in Dad’s is a contraction of ‘Dad has’, an old, much discussed, cw liberty. And I thought pose i don for present I assume was pretty neat. Hey ho again.

  21. Re 1d: Isn’t it simply pop has pet with the “ownership” element deleted?

    Thanks for a smooth start to the week, Chifonie and manehi.

  24. Not to my taste this morning – lots of clues I had parsed perfectly well but struggled to find the rather odd choice of synonym. Along with “A”=”An” and “preferably” = “else” (especially when only defined as a girl’s name) I also thought Poseidon a very poor set of replacements, and “table” = “list” a bit off, though guessable from the grammar. The “on” in 11dn threw me as well – I don’t see what it is doing other than confusing small talk as possibly part of the word play. Some fun to be had here but, as I said, not for me. Thanks Manehi and Chifonie.

  25. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi. Mostly a steady solve for me but got held up by the last few. Last ones were protrude, Poseidon and las one pleasantries (which for some reason took me an age to see). Another who went looking for elements in 22, and favourites for me were Busster Keaton and code breakers. Thanks again to Chifonie and manehi.

  27. Thanks for the blog Manehi. Was struggling to parse 22d (though I got the answer from crossings) till I saw it. IMO it would have been fairer to clue it as 6 and not “six”?

    Loved POSEIDON, MAUSER and POPPET.

  28. In addition to the question as to whether else = preferably I was slightly thrown by the very general clue, girls name, which will also lead to Elise as a possible answer. Certainly had me on the back foot for a while.

    Thanks to both Chifonie and Manehi.

  29. Thanks to manehi and Chifonie

    You could say a historic, or else, according to my English teacher, an historic February day – the warmest on record.

  30. Liked THEBAN and PROSPECT best. Have we had AS IT WERE very recently? Everyman?
    Same questions as above re ‘s and a/an but overall an entertaining start to the week.
    Thanks, manehi and Chifonie and others for the explanation for Six.

  31. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi. I had the same problems with ELSIE and REACT but otherwise smooth sailing on a Monday.

  32. ELSIE was LOI and probably the weakest clue in an otherwise excellent puzzle. CODE BREAKER was my favourite.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  33. I think now we should admit Chifonie into the pantheon occupied by the likes of Picaroon, Imogen, Arachne, Puck et al.   He should now be asked to set for any day of the week including the Saturday Prize.  This was IMHO, by any standards, a fine Crossword.  My own favourites were CODE BREAKER and MAUSER.  I did need help to parse a few so many thanks to both Chifonie and manehi.

  34. Thanks both,

    Despite a couple of glitches, this was a good Monday solve. 11d was cod for me just because the word pantry is not much heard (by me) these days.

  36. “Sailors in the drink” turns up in a Pan puzzle in 2012 and a Rufus in 2011. I didn’t bother to any further back in the Site Search.

  37. Good Monday fun.  I needed to come here to get the parsing for REACT.  A TTM once I read what it was!  There were many very nice, concise surfaces that sounded like plausible real world utterances, as so often is the case with this setter.  My favorite today was probably BUSTER KEATON for its surface and anagram.  As an added bonus, that clue is a great example of crosswords becoming more relatable for Millennials (Ha ha!  Actually, the moment I read the words “Film star”, my immediate thought was Elmer Booth, but then I saw the letter count wouldn’t work).

    Many thanks to Chifonie and manehi and the other commenters.

  38. Thanks y’all! Great crossword. Struggled with PLEASANTRIES too, even after writing all the crossers out horizontally.

    No idea what all the A/AN fuss is about; AN is most definitely a synonym for A. Though I do like “A pair of knights” suggestion.

  39. Else for preference is definitely poor. E.g.  if you don’t like this then you will have something else (which you may not like), or do this or you will face the cosequences. As a child I thought the consequences were an indigenous American tribe.

  40. 24A the old city is Thebes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,_Egypt

    “of Thebes” is THEBAN

    Not everybody would know that, Manehi. More help is always required for us thickos.

    Remember your target audience are not the clever clogs who post at breakfast time; but us poor strugglers that even if we get the answers can’t always work out what they mean.

  41. Hedgehog @30. You’re referencing a live prize puzzle. I had a severe moderating for doing similar a week or so ago! You’re right though…

  43. 6D – could it be an “IF ELSE” from code logic or maybe just that while it may not be preferable, it is at least available to be preferred in the first place? Maybe I just need more 16D…

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