Guardian Cryptic 27,811 by Tramp

by

Really enjoyed this, especially the surfaces. Took a little while to get going then it all fell quickly into place. Favourites 15ac, 17ac, 20ac, 1dn, 10dn, and 16dn. Thanks to Tramp.

Across
1 MOTION PICTURES Tom Cruise: point out films (6,8)
(Tom Cruise point)*
8 RINSE Wash up around noon (5)
RISE=”up” around N (noon)
9 RELEGATE Agree let for building and move to a worse place (8)
(Agree let)*
11 INSULIN Drug and endless drink — one litre knocked back entering pub (7)
SUp=”endless drink” + IL=1L=”one litre” reversed/”knocked back”; all inside INN=”pub”
12 MARINER Sailor in a state right to cross river (7)
MAINE=”state” + R (right), around R (river)
13 GECKO Scales on this being electronic, (approximately) 0kg returned to screen (5)
=a being that is covered in scales
E (electronic) + C=circa=”approximately”; with OKG=”0kg” reversed around
15 PROKOFIEV He scored for City by cutting inside (9)
=a composer i.e. someone who wrote scores
PRO=”for” + KIEV=”City” with OF=”by” cutting inside
17 LAST STRAW Breaking point? Carries on returning growth (4,5)
LASTS=”Carries on” + reversal/”returning” of WART=”growth”
20 SHEEN Brilliance of healthcare provider in recession without drugs (5)
NHS=”healthcare provider” reversed/”in recession”; and around E + E=ecstacy + ecstacy=”drugs”
21 ROASTED Did cook in oven: raw on the outside (7)
OAST=a kiln for drying hops=”oven”; with RED=”raw” outside
23 SWEATER Is one hot in sun? Conditions not hot (7)
S (sun) + WEAThER=”Conditions” minus h for “hot”
25 RIGATONI Pasta cook visiting Italy to adopt cooking (8)
RIG=manipulate dishonestly, as in “cook” the books; plus AT=”visiting” and I (Italy) around ON=”cooking”
26 RERUN Getting into period drama on TV (repeat) (5)
RUN=”period”, with ER=the US medical “drama on TV” inside
27 TARGET PRACTICE Get better shots with this model? Great plastic surgery (6,8)
model T car + (great)* with “plastic” as anagrind + PRACTICE=”surgery”, a place to consult e.g. a doctor
Down
1 MORNING GLORY Hello! celebrity that might have shoot in bed? (7,5)
=a plant that might have its shoots in a flower bed
MORNING=a greeting, “Hello”; plus GLORY=”celebrity”
2 TONES Fans sent to cup round matches (5)
TONES as an intransitive verb can mean ‘harmonises’ or “matches”
“Fans” is the anagrind for (sent)*, around O=”round”
3 OVERLOOKS Forgets about beauty (9)
OVER=”about” + LOOKS=”beauty”
4 PARSNIP Norm to steal plant (7)
PAR=”Norm” + SNIP=”steal”
5 COLUMBO TV detective to search old house for clue, essentially (7)
COMB=”search” + O (old) around the centre or essentials of cLUe
6 URGER Top McDonald’s? One does egg (5)
bURGER=”McDonald’s”, with the top removed
7 EXTENSIVE Old lover in? See TV set that’s wide (9)
EX=”Old lover”, plus (in See TV)*
10 DRIVING RANGE Place for swingers? Taking the car key in the middle, getting kinky gran (7,5)
=a place to swing golf clubs
DRIVING=”Taking the car” + the middle of kEy; around (gran)*
14 COSTA RICA Came to continent, when missing fine country (5,4)
COST=”Came to” + AfRICA=”continent” minus f for “fine”
16 OBSTETRIC So, bitter struggles with Conservative dealing with Labour (9)
(So bitter)* + C for Conservative
18 REDCOAT Entertainer embarrassed on film (7)
=an entertainer at Butlins [wiki]
RED=”embarrassed” on COAT=”film”
19 WISPIER Lighter Wise partly obscured by old Morecambe’s feature? (7)
WISe with the last part obscured/removed; plus PIER=old feature of Morecambe, an English seaside town
22 TWANG Sound from plucking pheasant, ultimately hung up to eat (5)
pheasanT + reversal/”hung up” of GNAW=”eat”
24 TARSI Bones of soldiers? Cause of pain? (5)
=bones in the feet
TA=Territorial Army=”soldiers” + RSI=Repetitive Strain Injury=”Cause of pain”

 

49 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,811 by Tramp”

  2. Enjoyable but I thought the use of ‘fans’ and ‘plastic’ as anagrinds was a bit of a stretch – does any word now suffice? Also ‘0kg’ in 13a made the surface a bit clunky IMHO. But a lot of great cluing and misdirection.

    Thanks to both.

  3. This was a really fun puzzle. I could not work out how to parse RIGATONI apart from RIG + I – I had no idea what to do with the ATON bit!

    New for me was Morecambe Pier which I discovered via google.

    Thanks Tramp & manehi

  4. Thanks Tramp and manehi.  There were some really clever elements in the clues here – I particularly liked “He scored for City” in 15a and “plucking pheasant” (no Spoonerisms please) in 22d.

    I thought “plastic” was fine as an anagram indicator and better than a lot we see.

  5. Good workout, but marred for me by a few loose connections. In fact, I’d say that glory for celebrity (in today’s sense/commonest usage) in 1d is pretty arguable. But, can see similarity in times past.

    Should have got surgery/practice in 23a. Missed 2d (tends?), thinking of fanning a small match flame. Have now learnt about redcoats, finer knowledge of Butlins not known this side of the world, will it ever come up again?

    Somewhat wary of drug names for xword clues, insulin coming hard on heels of cocod-whatever it was last week. Insulin ok, but as there are just so many, and with different names around the world would suggest compilers need to be pretty sure of their universality in global usage. COTD was sweater, very nice double. Thanks Manehi et Tramp.

  6. Lord Jim @ 4
    I really did laugh out loud when I saw your comment:
    “I particularly liked “He scored for City” in 15a and “plucking pheasant” (no Spoonerisms please) in 22d.”

    I hadn’t thought of that – it is very amusing!

  7. Must be my mucky mind, 1d has a slightly smutty interpretation too – I wonder if intended?

    Enjoyed this, after staring blankly at the page for longer than usual, eventually got going. Needed help parsing RERUN so thanks Manehi.

    And thanks to Tramp too

     

     

  8. Yes, I found it hard to start – just one letter (an S for a plural at the end of one clue) after the first run through. It wasn’t much help, but things resolved after the second run through.

     

    Thanks Tramp & manehi

  9. Thanks Tramp and Manehi. Needed to read blog before all the parsing fell into place. Some nice “Dohhh” moments.

  10. Doofs @7 I wondered about the additional cryptic definition hidden smuttily in there too!

    That was brilliant in my opinion. A lovely mix of clue types so I went round and round as more of the grid filled in, gradually spotting my misconceptions, or working out how to read each one. “tones” was LOI. I am usually critical of things like weak anagrinds (“fans” in this case – “plastic” we’ve had before and it does specifically mean “able to be deformed” which is about as anagrindy as you can get) but the surfaces more than made up for any slight wobbles. And oh, the surfaces – a delight from 1ac to 24dn. Thank you Tramp for brightening an overcast morning, and manehi for the lucid blog.

  11. Thanks, manehi. As usual, I agree with your favourites, top one being OBSTETRIC – brilliant surface! [I usually abhor the current practice of prefacing every statement with ‘So’ but it works perfectly here. 😉 ]

    I think ‘plastic’ as an anagrind is quite common – it works for me – and we’ve seen ‘fans several times recently, too.

    Many thanks, Tramp, for the fun – really sorry you can’t join us tomorrow.

  13. LordJim@4, Michelle@6

    I’m not the pheasant plucker, I’m the pheasant plucker’s son

    I’m only plucking pheasants cos the pheasant plucker’s gone

    Repeat 10 times quickly!

    Thanks to Tramp & Manehi

  16. I learned it as, “I’m a mother pheasant plucker; I pluck mother pheasants. I’m the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker to ever pluck a mother pheasant.”

    I had not heard of Morecambe Pier or REDCOATS as entertainers (here, the word invariably means the British army in the 18th century), but both were obviously correct from context and crossers. Speaking of the army, I’d forgotten about TA, so TARSI went in without parsing. Ta for that.

    “Soldiers” can be TA, RE, RA, OR, GIS, men, or even ants. Probably others I’m forgetting. Aren’t crosswords fun?

    I have no issue with “fan” as an anagrind, and don’t even find it strange. Think about “fan out” as a direction to a search party. It means “spread” there, and who could argue with “spread”?

  17. What Eileen said about the crossword – I’m sorry I can’t be in Leicester tomorrow too!

    Thanks to Tramp and Manehi

  18. Breezed through this, partly because it was so much fun. I hope 1 dn WAS meant to be smutty! It is Friday after all. Thanks Tramp and Manehi

  20. Thanks to Tramp and manehi.

    A layer of crypsis too many for me in many ways.  Worthy of a weekend prize slot. Enjoyable but ran out of time.

  21. A dnf today, thanks to TARSI. I should make a list of all those abbreviations for soldiers. I did raise an eyebrow at 2d, but after brief reflection (Could it involve an anagram of ‘send’? And could ‘fans’ be the anagrind? Well, maybe) decided it was fair. However, I had to come here to find out why TONES = matches. Also new to me were REDCOAT the comedian and the pier at Maracombe. My COD was 15a, where the crossing V finally put me on the right track. Thanks to Tramp and Manehi.

  22. I thought this was nigh on perfect and I’m not usually the biggest Tramp fan. The surfaces were brilliant. My favourite has to be 15 ac closely followed by 16 d. Huge thanks to Tramp and to Manehi. I really needed the blog today. I was short on a number of parsings. I would never have worked out 25 ac. Excellent entertainment.

  23. I loved the surfaces in general and the clues for PROKOFIEV, COLUMBO and DRIVING RANGE in particular.  I also struggled to see why TONES = matches, so thanks, manehi, for that.

    I went looking for a movies theme when I saw GECKO and SHEEN, along with MOTION PICTURES.  The former pair rang bells for the movie Wall Street, but I find on looking it up that the Michael Douglas character was Gordon Gekko, not Gecko.  And I can’t see any other obvious thematic references.  I wonder if this was a Tramp themer that was aborted early on?

    Anyway, it was certainly a very entertaining puzzle and perfect for a Friday.  Thanks, Tramp and manehi.

  24. Took me ages to get started with this, though several clues were pretty straightforward in retrospect, not least 1a! An entertaining challenge.

    Thanks to Tramp and manehi

  25. Like beery hiker@24, I was slow to get going on this one: I was well into the Down clues before I got any answers at all. Once I started to get some breakthroughs in the SW, other parts of the puzzle began to fall into place. Sometimes the better solves for me are when I think I am going to get nothing on the first pass, then I take a couple of little steps, and go on from there. I liked it all in the end, especially 1d MORNING GLORY for its different layers of meaning, as well as the swingers (including the kinky gran) in 10d DRIVING RANGE. Thanks to Tramp and manehi.

    [Enjoy Leicester, sloggers and betters!]

  26. I differed with some about the surfaces.  manehi’s favorites were all fine, but can “scales on this being electronic, (approximately) 0kg returned to screen” possibly mean?  Or “old love in?  See TV set that’s wide”?

    How does rise = up? Or McDonald’s = burger?

    I haven’t spent enough holidays in the UK for this puzzle.  I’ve never heard of holiday camps, much less Butlins, or Morecambe with its pier.  I have, thanks to this puzzle, heard of Morecambe and Wise.  I should look them up on Youtube.

    I got COSTA RICA and RINSE for starters, plus a plural S somewhere and that was it.  Had to use Check a bit.

    But fun in the end, and fun to hear from my buddies across the globe.

  27. [Agree, Valentine@26, regarding the REDCOATs and the Pier at Morecambe – both unfamiliar to me, even though I solved those clues, thinking REDCOAT must be a British TV comedian, and that even though I will never get to Morecambe, that there must be a pier there. That’s all good. The learning we have from each other across the globe is invaluable. I am still thinking about the Chinooks you told us about recently, and the photo you linked. I love the fact that I never stop learning, and some of what I learn is due to the good graces and helpful posts of my fellow solvers on 15², wherever in the world they are.]

  29. Will some kind person please define for me what an ‘anagrind’ is? Not in any of my dictionaries. Must be some kind of anagram? Thanks!

  30. Hi Ppr @29 and welcome! By “anagrind” we mean a word which indicates that another part of the clue is the fodder for an anagram. Common examples include “plastic” (as seen here), “rubbish”, “out”, “upset” and pretty much anything else you can think of!

  31. Simon S @28 … I disagree that because “on the rise” = “on the up” this demonstrates that “rise” – “up”. These generous allusions and the strange anagrinds do seem to add a fuzziness to Tramp puzzles that some find result in an entertaining challenge. But not all of us. The debate was had a couple of weeks ago, so no need to repeat it here.

    Ppr @29 – an abbreviation for “anagram indicator”.

  32. Thanks to manehi and Tramp

    Very very good.

    One I parsed slightly differently:

    10d I saw KEY as providing E, and IN THE MIDDLE as the instruction to put KINKY GRAN inside.

    And one query:

    2d I have no problem with FAN as an anagrind but I can’t work out why FANS is used here.

    Also, this song has 1d being used as some here suggest.

  33. Excellent puzzle with some very smooth surfaces.

    Can’t see why anyone would object to ‘plastic’ or ‘fans’.

  36. Really good crossword!

    Of course, no problem at all with ‘plastic’ (although many supermarkets seem to think otherwise nowadays).

    However, when it comes to ‘fans’ I’m with Dansar when he says “I have no problem with FAN as an anagrind but I can’t work out why FANS is used here”. Tramp could have used ‘fan’ [as the imperative of that verb (just like e.g. ‘doctor’ or ‘engineer’ in front of a fodder)] which I think would have been ideal.

    Thank you manehi – glad you liked it as much as I did!

  37. I strongly disagree that you can get URGER from the clue. It’s a big stretch to say McDonalds = burger (but I could grudgingly take that), but there is nothing in the clue that indicates to REMOVE the “top” from “burger”. No.

  38. glenn, ‘to top’ can mean ‘to take off the top of (something)’ and that is what happens here.

  39. glenn @37 e.g. Meriam Webster has for “top” as a verb:

    3: to remove or cut the top of especially : to shorten or remove the top of (a plant) : PINCH sense 1b

    I had no problem with this clue, and felt the use of “top” as a verb to mean “to cut the top off something” was familiar to me at least. My ancient Chambers confirms that it exists as a transitive verb meaning “to take the top off” so Tramp is quite fine here to use it in that way.

  40. We had ‘damned’ as an anagrind earlier in the week and no one objected to that, except me. I had no problem at all with plastic and fans.

  41. Xjpotter, if you have no problems with ‘fans’ could you perhaps tell me how it works, as it is here, placed in front of the fodder?

     

  42. A great crossword today with some great surfaces leading to many a chuckle.

    SuperTramp indeed (as per @copmus).

    Thanks Tramp and to manehi for the parsing blog.

  43. Julie@27  Thank you for sharing your enjoyment of the Chinook.  It is a memory I’ll always keep.  I found the photo by googling “Chinook arch” and choosing one of the many that showed up.  There’s also a curious complicated explanation of how they happen if you google.

    I always enjoy your posts.

     

  44. I agreed with Dansar @ 32 about the parsing for 10 down – in the middle indicates that you put the anagram of GRAN between DRIVING and E. 19D I parsed as IS (Wise partly) inside (obscured by) W (west) PIER (old Morecambe’s feature) – the west pier at Morecambe was destroyed in 1977.

  45. Not surprised but dismayed to see so many plaudits on the surfaces. Many good but some awful IMHO.

    Valentine@26 gives examples although i did like (B)URGER

    Also some very loose terms in the parsings I thought.

    Having said that, most of it we enjoyed solving

     

  46. Beautiful!

    My only concern was the ‘old’ in 19dn but Woody explains it well, clearly the west pier is being referenced (ashamed to say I’ve never visited Morecambe or I might have known…!)

    My own COD was DRIVING RANGE (which can be parsed in either way cited above; I happened on the non-manehi way).

    Thanks, Tramp, wonderful stuff (only marred by your non-appearance; I would love to have heard your thoughts on Fan v. Fans in 2dn – as highlighted by Sil)

    mmm…

  48. My last visit to Morecambe was in 1951 for a school choirs’ competition. We came 5th out of 7 entries because two didn’t turn up.
    Thanks to Tramp and manehi

  49. Sil van den Hoek. I see what you mean. I suppose I was thinking of it as an elliptical third person present tense instruction. Hmm.

Comments are closed.