Guardian Cryptic 27,813 by Vulcan

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Very entertaining – I liked 11ac, 7dn, and especially 27ac. Thanks to Vulcan.

Across
1 MACARONI CHEESE American chose to cook eastern dish (8,6)
(American chose)* with “cook” as the anagram indicator; plus E (Eastern)
8 REALM Proper mess in front field (5)
REAL=”Proper” + the front of Mess
9 ON THE HOP How kangaroo may be caught unawares? (2,3,3)
also =”How kangaroo may be”
11 BLESSED Lucky to be not so much asleep? (7)
LESS=”not so much”; in BED or “asleep”
12 HOSANNA Party-giver shortly meets reflective girl, glory be! (7)
HOS[t]=”Party-giver shortly” + ANNA=”girl” and a palindrome i.e. “reflective”
13 OBELI Wardrobe likely to conceal daggers (5)
=plural of obelus, a symbol that can take the shape of a dagger [wiki]
hidden in “WardrOBE LIkely”
15 YARDSTICK Criterion for replacing dirty cask (9)
(dirty cask)* with ‘re-placing’ as the anagram indicator
17 HARD-NOSED Unsympathetic, like a rhino? (4-5)
also =”like a rhino?”
20 ALLOT Share out much broadcasting (5)
homophone/”broadcasting” of ‘a lot’=”much”
21 REPLACE Supersede corded cloth with fine fabric (7)
REP=”corded cloth” + LACE=”fine fabric”
23 CASSATA Money being short, settled down with a sweet (7)
=a type of ice cream
CAS[h]=”Money being short” + SAT=”settled down” + A
25 PUNISHED Sanctioned, having peddled drugs round province (8)
PUSHED=”peddled drugs” around NI=Northern Ireland=”province”
26 OWING Due to be in old part of mansion (5)
O (Old) + WING=”part of mansion”
27 PEASANTS REVOLT Pastoral events demanding reform (8,6)
(Pastoral events)*, with “reform” as the anagram indicator”
Down
1 MARX BROTHERS Funny group, Karl and The Monks (4,8)
Karl MARX + BROTHERS=”Monks”
2 CRANE Bird often seen on building site (5)
double definition
3 REMISSION Slackening corps’ objective (9)
RE=Royal Engineers=”corps” + MISSION=”objective”
4 NOONDAY Almost nobody died? Yes, twelve (7)
NO-ON[e]=”Almost nobody” + D (died) + AY=”Yes”
5 CATCHER One with claws caught her slip, perhaps (7)
=e.g. a slip fielder in cricket, placed behind the batsman to take catches
CAT=”One with claws” + C (caught, cricket abbr.) + HER
6 EVENS Rugby game doesn’t start at these odds (5)
[s]EVENS=”Rugby game doesn’t start” – sevens is a seven-a-side form of Rugby Union
7 SPOONBILL One eating fish given charge for cutlery? (9)
=a type of bird
SPOON BILL=”charge for cutlery?”
10 BACK STRAIGHT Good sitting posture for part of course (4,8)
=straight part of a race course
BACK STRAIGHT also =”Good sitting posture”
14 ENRAPTURE Transport: repeat run when ordered (9)
(repeat run)* with “ordered” as the anagram indicator
16 SOAPSTONE Material for carving kinky teaspoons (9)
=a type of rock used for carving
(teaspoons)* with “kinky” as the anagram indicator
18 STEPHEN St Wenceslas’s feast day? (7)
according to the carol [wiki], ‘Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen”
19 DECADES A month, helpers said, appearing as a very long time (7)
DEC (December)=”A month” + ADES as a homophone/”said” of ‘aides’=”helpers”
22 AMISS Kingsley & Son put together wrongly (5)
Kinglesy AMIS the writer [wiki] + S (son)
24 AMINO Sort of acid, could I be? Wrong (5)
AM I? NO=”could I be? Wrong”

37 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,813 by Vulcan”

  1. Thanks Vulcan and manehi

    Yes, very nice. My favourites were BLESSED and PEASANTS’ REVOLT too.

  3. It was corny, but I quite enjoyed the MARX BROTHERS at 1d, as well as the two you and muffin@1 liked, manehi. I think “cook” was a very apt anagrind for 1a MACARONI CHEESE. Recent experience tells me that HOSANNA (12a) can also be spelt hosannah with an “h”. My feeling is that “REP” (fodder in 21a REPLACE) is one of the first “unlikely” words I ever learned when I started doing Quick crosswords a long long time ago. I believe “etui” for needle case was another. 13a OBELI was the only unfamiliar word here, but spotting the hidden made it obvious. Thanks to Vulcan for the fun, and to manehi for the blog.

  4. I thought 27a was a weak not very cryptic definition until I came here and realised it was quite the reverse and it was me who was falling short not the setter. Vulcan is getting better by the puzzle – many thanks to them and manehi.

  5. Unusual words … cassata surely ? Never heard of it. Obelus is fairly common tho’ ? Cassata was, admittedly logical, but couldn’t get cassava out of my mind because it also fits the definition as it’s also tapioca (the dreadful stuff they used to give you for school dinners sometimes !)

  6. Thanks, manehi.

    I think this is Vulcan’s best puzzle so far. 27ac is a real gem and, like others, I also liked BLESSED. Karl and the Monks would certainly be a funny group and I smiled, too, at the kinky teaspoons – reminded me of this man.

    Many thanks, Vulcan, for a fine Bank Holiday puzzle.

  7. From the sublime (27a) to the ridiculous (18d STEPHEN – not even cryptic, is it?)

     

    Thanks manehi and Vulcan

  10. Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

    I enjoyed the many witty and elegant clues – reminiscent of a good Monday Rufus.

  11. Yes!! Vulcan’s best for sure. I’m looking forward to Mondays now. 1 down and 1 across my favourites. Thanks V and Manehi

  12. A pity about “Stephen” being barely cryptic as the rest of this was peppered with gems. Fabulous &lit at 27ac, clever mechanism in “blessed” – not one I’d expect to see in a Monday but perfectly fair as I think one could put the bits together without fully knowing why. “Amiss” was great, and “amino” threw me for far too long. I know too many acids and this was simpler than it seemed, as the best clues so often are. Vulcan could not know it, but the editor should – one answer overlapped with the prize (no spoilers) a bit too closely. “kinky teaspoons” wins it for me for the silliness.

    What a pleasure, and further evidence a crossword does not have to be impossible to be fun. Thank you Vulcan, and manehi for the blog.

  13. David Ellison @ 7

    I agree that 18dn is not the toughest of cryptic challenges, but there is a misdirection nevertheless as St Wenceslas’ feast day is 28th September, not Boxing Day.

  14. A good solve today for the Paddington Bears. I’ve learned something from you, Marienkaefer@13. I had no idea Wenceslas had a feast day on 28th September. I hadn’t realised even that there was a misdirection and reacted like David Ellison@7.
    Thank you Vulcan and Manehi .

  15. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi. Another thumbs up here for an enjoyable, if not that tough puzzle. Lots of nice clues but another fan of blessed spoonbill and I also liked catcher and hard nosed. Thanks again to Vulcan and manehi.

  16. Gentle start to the week, thanks V. I’m sure that rhinos have very soft noses when examined more closely! Was it just yesterday children that we had 12a in another xword? And obeli not so long before. Coincidences, they happen. 24d, last in, a neat flourish by V. And Ms_Chinoz approves too!

    Thanks Manehi for the commentary.

  17. And living in the bush capital (Canberra) can report that the kangaroos here are very, very, aware, as they come down off the neighbouring hill to nibble at our lawns and garden plants of a night !

  18. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

    Good fun for a Monday – it’s all been said. Isn’t there some law about when you don’t encounter something for ever and then it keeps cropping up? Wat Tyler made an appearance recently and now here’s the PEASANTS’ REVOLT.

  19. Thanks to Vulcan and Manehi. Learned several new things today, including the corded cloth ‘rep’, ‘sevens’ as a form of rugby, and the phrase ‘on the hop.’ Didn’t quite finish, as I entered CASSAVA for 23a, not being familiar with the Italian ice cream, though after reading the ingredients, I’d like to become more familiar with it.

  20. I took 18d STEPHEN as a regular kind of clue, wherein St. is one part, and Wenceslas’s feast day the other. Still not the best, imo, but better than previously described.

    Thanks.

  21. I agree this was proof that a puzzle doesn’t have to be hard to be good. The less familiar words [CASSATA, OBELI] were clued unambiguously, and the PEASANTS REVOLT was indeed a gem.

    [quenbarrow, the review of that book makes it seem quite interesting indeed. But now I’m curious about something said in there: Black Friday has found its way to Britain? But…Thanksgiving surely hasn’t. How does that work? Here, Black Friday is the second day of a four-day weekend for most, so it makes at least that much sense. Do the shops over there all just agree to have giant sales on the fourth Friday in November, never mind that no one’s off work to go to them?

    [Of course, if an American is being “correct,” it’s “macaroni and cheese,” but it’s usually shortened as you say.]

  22. I agree that this was very entertaining. My favourite was BLESSED.

    Thanks manehi and Vulcan

  24. Minor quibble department – wouldn’t 11d read much more naturally as “Sort of acid, could I be wrong?” Otherwise good fun in a Rufus style.

  25. Absolutely agree – really splendid, a lovely Monday puzzle. Thanks to Vulcan & Manehi.

  26. Just got back from Cheltenham jazz festival and tried to do this on the train but too many distractions. Back in Barnstaple, where there are no distractions at all,this yielded quite satisfactorily. I was another who looked askance at STEPHEN but it appears to be better than I thought..I liked MARX BROTHERS, PEASANTS REVOLT and AMISS. I had to guess EVENS though.
    For anyone who cares Joshua Redman and the Bad Plus were the picks of a rather strong bunch at the Festival. And I’ve still got the Friday and Saturday puzzles to do.
    Thanks Vulcan.

  27. Lucky us for participating in this very fine crossword and lucky you Peter A for hearing the great Joshua Redman live in Cheltenham! I think we will all be fortunate to solve a better clue than that for PEASANTS REVOLT this year! Vulcan is proving to be a very classy addition to the wonderful Guardian stable of setters. Also, and this is not an afterthought, many thanks to Manehi for the blog!!

  28. [Peter A @26

    I was born and brought up in Barnstaple – I no longer live in Devon, though my sister still does.]

  29. Thanks Marienkaefer @13 and Dr. WhatsOn @ 20 regarding STEPHEN. I did wonder if I had missed something (in fact I had completely ignored the St. bit) which is why I queried with a “is it?”.

     

     

     

  30. Beautiful crossword, indeed Vulcan’s masterstroke (so far), only spoilt by 18d’s STEPHEN.

    Like Eileen, I thought immediately of Uri Geller when seeing the clue at 16d. So, perhaps Vulcan missed an opportunity by not using ‘bend(ing)’ as the anagrind.

    Yes, indeed, 27ac was exceptionally good and I am glad Morpheus @23 and S Panza @27 liked it too.

    But my prize for the best anagram clue I’ve seen recently must go to Redshank in the FT: “How sad can it be, reshuffling opposition leaders (6,7)”. Just stunning.

    Many thanks, manehi, for the blog & Vulcan for today’s quality.

  31. PeterA@26. I think you’ll find that there is a typo in 23d in the Prize when you get to it.
    I enjoyed this like everyone else. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  32. Thanks to manehi and Vulcan

    I liked this and I really want to like 27a more than I do but what is the anagrind? If it is REFORM then where does DEMANDING disappear to in the cryptic reading?

    Some other very nice clues, but I’m still not sure I understand 18d

  33. Dansar: as I see it the anagram indicator is “demanding reform” (ie requiring reform).

  34. Pino @31 – I thought that at first but on reflection I think it is Brendan being rather subtle.

  35. Thank you Lord Jim, I think you have it there, but I can’t help thinking that CHALLENGING PASTORAL EVENTS or some such may have sufficed.

  36. thezed@31
    I can just about see a way of making the clue work as it’s written but I think it is a lot better if there is typo. We’ll just have to wait until Saturday. Meanwhile today’s Paul is proving difficult and it’s past my bedtime.

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