Guardian 27,819 – Chifonie

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A typical Chifone, with straightforward clueing and lots of charades. Very suitable for those who like their Monday puzzles on the easy side. Thanks to Chifonie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. DETECTION Uncovering deceit? Not difficult! (9)
(DECEIT NOT)*
6. DELFT Pottery expert drinks port (5)
L (left – port) in DEFT (expert)
9. CRUDE Charlie’s discourteous and rough (5)
C + RUDE
10. PRIME TIME Prepare sentence for when the audience is best (5,4)
PRIME (prepare) + TIME (prison sentence)
11. DEPRESSION Pit of despair (10)
Double definition
12. REST Remains calm (4)
Double definition
14. ENTITLE Object endlessly to the French style (7)
ENTITY (object) less its last letter + LE (French “the”)
15. IMPLORE Rascal learning to appeal (7)
IMP (rascal) + LORE (learning)
17. ARRANGE Score runs in a series (7)
R[uns] in A RANGE – to score/arrange as in music
19. SNOWCAT Push off about now in Arctic vehicle (7)
NOW in SCAT. Chambers only gives the trade name Sno-cat, but this version is in Wikipedia as a generic name
20. TOPE Finest English drink (4)
TOP + E
22. HARASSMENT Donkey attendants in deer molestation (10)
ASS MEN (“donkey attendants”) in HART (deer)
25. ELEVATION Joy about English victory and promotion (9)
E V in ELATION
26. LITRE Illuminated note in volume (5)
LIT + RE (note, as in do-re-mi)
27. SEDGE Small border plant (5)
S + EDGE
28. EPHESIANS Book Ian’s sheep for treatment (9)
(IAN’S SHEEP)* – Ephesians is a book of the New Testament
Down
1. DICED Risked getting daughter murdered (5)
D + ICED (murdered)
2. TRUMPETER Musician takes time over odd disciple (9)
T + RUM + PETER
3. CLEMENTINE Fruit makes mild alcoholic drink, but with no head (10)
CLEMENT (mild) + [W]INE
4. IMPASSE Setter’s old-fashioned? That’s an insurmountable difficulty! (7)
I’M PASSÉ
5. NAIROBI New look with Japanese sash? That’s capital! (7)
N + AIR + OBI (Japanese sash)
6. DOES Deer takes one for a ride (4)
Double definition, with two different pronunciations: female deer and swindles
7. LOIRE Beliefs about current in river (5)
I (symbol for electric current) in LORE (beliefs – see also 15a)
8. TREATMENT Surprise people over time in therapy (9)
TREAT (surprise) + MEN + T
13. EPSOM SALTS Purgative stops meals being digested (5,5)
(STOPS MEALS)*
14. EXACTNESS Rigour of head supporting old enterprise (9)
EX (old) ACT (enterprise) “supported by” NESS (geographical “head”)
16. ORCHESTRA Artist holds up gold casket for the band (9)
OR (gold) + CHEST + RA
18. EXAMINE Vet fell over burrow (7)
Reverse of AXE (to fell) + MINE (burrow)
19. STAUNCH Loyal? Huns act badly! (7)
(HUNS ACT)*
21. PLEAD Pastor gets usher to beg (5)
P[astor] + LEAD (to usher)
23. TRESS Emphasise cropped hair (5)
[S]TRESS
24. PALE Penny has beer and pasty (4)
P + ALE

35 comments on “Guardian 27,819 – Chifonie”

  1. The top right took me ages to finish; I was trying everything for deer, except DOE as adding an “a” or “i” to it was fruitless; then, doh, the penny dropped, so DELFT and LOIRE were my LOIs.

     

    Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

  3. We had exactly the same experience, D@1. An enjoyable solve and a break from last week’s struggle with the Genius.

  4. 28ac — strange the replies didn’t come to light:

    Dear Paul,

    Thanks for your long letter.

    Having a lovely time in the temple of Diana.

    Wish you were here.

    John and all the gang in Ephesus.

  5. I thought this was pretty hard, especially for a Monday. Some stretched definitions (Style for entitle, axe for fell, look for air and score for arrange) were one reason but the main one was the clever misdirections in “does” and “delft” particularly. As Bill Watterson points out in “Calvin and Hobbes”: “Verbing nouns weirds language”.

    Very good puzzle – I especially like the beer and pasty, though it was simple it was as elegant as they come.

  6. Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

    I found the NE hard. DELFT was next to last in (then LOIRE), but it was my favourite.

    A couple of loosenesses. Why is a TREAT a surprise? “Calm” for REST also loose.

    I think of an usher as guiding from behind rather than leading!

     

  8. Leo says:

    I agree: a very good and very enjoyable puzzle. Just the right degree of difficulty for me. BUT how is “iced”, in “diced,”  murdered? Can anyone help?

  9. I found it hard for a Monday too. Agree with some of the quibbles – style = entitle? – but thanks to all.

  10. Thanks for the blog. “does” had me foxed for ages. Nice elegant puzzle.

    Leo@8 – I think “iced” is US gangster slang – as in put him on ice (i.e. in the mortuary) etc. I’m sure it turns up in “The Saint” and similar genres.

  11. Leo

    Gangster slang – to “ice” someone is to kill him

    Eric

    style is equivalent to entitle as they can both mean “to name”

  12. Good Monday fare; DELFT was actually my FOI with EXAMINE LOI. Strange how we all find different clues a struggle.

    Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

  13. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew. I enjoyed this, it was not too difficult, but also not a write in. Mostly this unpacked quite readily and I did like delft, Nairobi and snowcat (last one). Thanks again to Chifonie and Andrew.

  15. Found this quite tough for a Monday, though struggled through with only a couple of reveals. My main quibble is the superfluous ‘in’ in 26a which had me trying to put a note into LIT, unsuccessfully. Otherwise quite a workout, though perhaps should blame the sun inspired Sunday barbecue and litres of wine for a slow start to the week…

  16. Really good for a monday ‘simple’.

    Did anyone else see the fawning Observer article yesterday on the woman who compiles for The New Yorker? She’s so bright, with her ‘razor-sharp clues’. How brilliantly she incorporates modern cultural references which are quite beyond any existing compilers. So what a let-down to be set one of her puzzles. A quick general knowledge xword. No cryptic , no wordplay.
    But she is reasonably good looking and has academic parents so…

  17. Hi there. As an inexperienced solver I found Rufus a wonderful start to every week, giving me a chance to get a foothold in every puzzle but requiring me to think carefully to get to a film solution.

    Having read the above explanations, I am surprised people class this as “easy”. If so, perhaps I need to find a different setter to practise my skills with. Suggestions welcome.

  18. rewolf@16. Yes, that article was ridiculous in presenting Ms Shechtman – in a British paper – as a ‘star of the crossword world’, rather than a star of the non-cryptic American crossword world. I assumed this must be a reprint from a US paper, carelessly waved through without an appropriate editorial introduction, but evidently the journalist actually works for the Guardian/Observer! But he does call himself a ‘clueless crossword amateur’… yes indeed. However, the puzzle printed does have the kind of ingenious embedded theme (the three feminists) that is typical of the attractions of the NYT under Will Shortz. For those who don’t have it already, I recommend the 2013 book ‘The Centenary of the Crossword’ by John Halpern (Paul), which is very good and scholarly on the US/UK compare-contrast topic.

  19. I thought this was straightforward but not easy; the majority of the clues needed help from their neighbours. I didn’t find any of the definitions particularly stretched, but I was a bit surprised by the appearance of SNOWCAT. I followed the given Wikipedia link and found mentions of a number of countries plus Antarctica several times, but ironically never the Arctic.

    Thanks Chifonie and Andrew.

  20. I was surprised when I read that Andrew thought this was “on the easy side”, as I saw it as quite hard, so I agree with several previous comments.  It also took me ages to fill in 6d DOES (as for David Ellison@1 and andysmith@10) – for me, it was my last one in – and I was still not 100% sure of the parsing. I liked 10a PRIME TIME, 15a IMPLORE, 2d TRUMPETER, 4d IMPASSE and 23d TRESS. The double-up of LORE didn’t actually worry me as the synonyms were different (“learning” in 15a IMPLORE, and “Beliefs” in 7d LOIRE). I did circle the double-up of “deer” in both 22a and 6d, but again, one was a “DOE” and one was a “HART”, so I ended up just seeing it as a coincidence and not worth worrying about either.

    I enjoyed the puzzle and am just as glad that I didn’t find it a pushover. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.

  22. Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew.

    I’m chiming along with the consensus here – enjoyable and a nice stretch for a Monday. A special mention for DOES my LOI – I think I’ve been caught by that before: shame on me.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crossword with so many “E”s in it (all answers bar 3), which seemed to add to the difficulty.

  23. I enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were IMPASSE, PALE.

    It was a pity that LORE appeared in both 7d and 15a.

    Thanks Chifonie and Andrew

  24. I’m another who thought that some of the definitions were a bit loose, but the dictionary appears to exonerate Chifonie in every instance.

    Tim Knight@17, I have all too often struggled with a puzzle only to find that most other commenters have found it easy, but coming to 15^2 after getting my nose bloodied has helped me a great deal. The suggestion of Simon S@21 is a good one, but there’s also nothing wrong with failing at a tough puzzle.

  25. Nothing too tricky here, but it took me longer than most Monday puzzles because some of the synonyms had large numbers of possibilities.

    Thanks to Chifonie and Andrew

  26. Tim Knight @17

    Each Monday the Guardian publsihes an online only puzzle called the “Quiptic”. This is aimed at “beginners and ;people in a hurry”. Today’s was particularly good.

  27. Tim Knight @17 I am a reasonably decent solver – I tend to get through pretty much all puzzles and the Saturday prize, and even some Genius puzzles eventually (but not up to Azed or Listener except on a very very good day). I thought this was trickier than normal. Often it’s a case of the “wavelength” you find yourself on – some puzzles click with some solvers and not with others. Robi’s first one in was one of my last. Crosswords are not logical and solved the same way which is why we love them – and our setters!

  28. Tim@17. The book by Paul that I mention @18 gives some very helpful guidance, e.g. in chapter 5, though that may be TOO basic – but the book is full of good material. It should be easy to find copies at a bargain price. Mine was £14.99 reduced to £3.99

  29. To Alphalpha regarding the E’s – see my comment regarding Chifonie in the blog on the Brummie puzzle #27,755. Today’s has a large representation from ETAION SHRDLU, even by Chifonie’s standards.

  31. I was doing this on an i-Pad with very little battery life and ran out of time.  In my rush, I had BEST at 20 (Finest/English drink), so missed that corner.  I also failed to see DELFT and DOES.

    I thought some of the synonyms were a bit tenuous too – REST for calm, DEPRESSION for despair.  I liked EPSOM SALTS and CLEMENTINE.

    Thanks, Chifonie and Andrew.

  33. Keith Malin
    May 13, 2019
    It’s a shame the editor didn’t spot the use of LORE twice in the same crossword.

    You’re ‘aving a laugh

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

  35. RA comes from the Royal Academy of Arts – entity with many artists being members. A very common item in Crossword Land.

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