Guardian Cryptic 27,827 by Crucible

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A fun solve – I got into it quickly and then got a bit stuck on the left side. Favourites were 4ac, 25ac, 3dn and 6dn. Thanks to Crucible.

There seems to be a theme loosely around JACK OF ALL TRADES / INDUSTRIOUSNESS, with solutions related to occupations e.g. RETAILER, STOKER, HATTER, FELLOW, PLANER, MARINER

Across
1 REPAIR Go to fix theatre broadcast (6)
REP=repertory “theatre”; + AIR=”broadcast”
Edit thanks to VinnyD – there are two definitions: “Go”, or take oneself somewhere, as in ‘repair to the sitting room’; and the more usual meaning of “to fix”
4 BROWSE Peruse file obstructing stock problem (6)
ROW=”file” inside BSE=bovine spongiform encephalopathy=mad cow disease=”stock problem”
9 JACK OF ALL TRADES Handyman sailor taking wheel on autumn winds (4,2,3,6)
JACK=”sailor” + O=round shape=”wheel” + FALL=”autumn” in the US + TRADES=the trade “winds”
10 WIZARD Current head of zoology inspired by minor genius (6)
I=symbol for electric current + head letter of Zoology; taken in/”inspired by” WARD=”minor”
11 NONMETAL Poor conductor, not a learner devouring music mag (8)
NOT A + L (learner); around/”devouring” NME=British music magazine
12 RETAILER He complains bitterly about film supplier (8)
RAILER=”He complains bitterly”, around ET=”film” about the Extra-Terrestrial
14 STOKER Irish author‘s sister inhaling smoke (6)
Bram Stoker most famously wrote Dracula
SR=abbreviation for “sister”; around TOKE=”smoke”
15 B-MOVIE I’m above getting upset missing a film (1-5)
anagram of (I’m above)*, missing an a
18 AVIATION Flying through divided country with no leader (8)
VIA=”through”, inside nATION=”country” without its leading letter
21 GRANDEUR Pair of kings hosting Brussels pomp (8)
GR (Georgius Rex, King George) AND R (Rex)=”Pair of kings”; around EU=”Brussels”
22 HATTER Party member that infuriated the Queen (6)
the HATTER is a member of the mad tea party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
anagram of (that)* + ER (Elizabeth Regina)=”the Queen”
24 INDUSTRIOUSNESS Group on American cape beyond river showing diligence (15)
TRIO=”Group” + US=”American” + NESS=”cape”; all after INDUS=”river”
25 REEBOK Animal‘s smell masking another one (6)
the reebok is an African antelope
REEK=”smell” around BO (body odour)=”another [smell]”
26 FELLOW Learned man tripped over wife (6)
FELL=”tripped” + O (over, cricket abbr.) + W (wife)
Down
1 REALISE Clear about boxer’s energy (7)
RE=”about” + Muhammad ALI’S=“boxer’s” + E (energy)
2 PUKKA Perfectly constructed contract, according to auditor (5)
homophone/”according to auditor” of ‘pucker’=”contract” as a verb
3 INFIDEL He has no faith in candidates promoting Democrat (7)
IN + FIELD=”candidates” but with D for “Democrat” promoted and moved up in the order, going above some earlier letters
5 RATINGS Juniors on board watching figures (7)
double definition – in the first, a ‘rating’ is a junior member of a navy i.e. “on board” a ship
6 WHALEBOAT What the French stole, drilling vessel (9)
WHAT, around all of: LE=”the [in] French” + BOA=”stole”, as in a shawl or wrap worn around the shoulders
“drilling” is the insertion indicator
7 ELEVATE Raise tax in European shelter (7)
VAT (Value Added Tax) in all of: E (European) + LEE=”shelter”
8 PLANER One who smooths way into image-enhancement (6)
LANE=”way” inside PR (Public Relations)=”image-enhancement”
13 ADVENTURE Bill undertaking possibly hazardous trip (9)
AD=advert=”Bill” + VENTURE=”undertaking”
16 MARINER Probe digger fording a river (7)
the Mariner program launched a series of space probes [wiki]
MINER=”digger” around A + R (river)
17 ELECTRO Short celebration includes revolutionary dance music (7)
hidden reversed/”includes revolutionary” inside shORT CELEbration
18 ADROIT Handy warning to drivers arriving at Calais? (6)
À DROITe [?] would be French for ‘to the right’ or ‘on the right’, and drivers arriving at Calais would have to switch to the right side of the road
not sure if I’m forgetting my French and ‘à droit’ can mean something similar
19 IN-HOUSE Employed around head office, not contracted out (2-5)
IN USE=”Employed” around HO (head office)
20 OVERSAW Supervised position of lumberjack? (7)
OVER SAW=”position of lumberjack?”
23 TONAL Number alto rehashed using standard harmony (5)
N (number) + “alto” made into an anagram (N alto)*

39 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,827 by Crucible”

  1. I thought I’d managed to complete this without the need to look anything up for a change, then came to 225 and discovered I’d entered STOKES @ 14a instead of STOKER – doh. Apart from that minor hiccough a very enjoyable puzzle with some excellent clues. Favourite was ELECTRO@17d.

    Thanks to Crucible and manehi.

  4. Cleverly done – a number of simple things that threw me for quite a while. “What”, “not” and “GR and R” where the answer was almost a total giveaway once you learned to read what the clue said, not what you thought it said. I was looking out for Q and X in the NE as I was finishing there, thinking we might have a pangram, but again I was thrown off the scent.

    Lots of favourites here but yes 1ac is a bit off with the definition unless VinnyD @3 is right, and as manehi points out, “a droit” means “the right to” something not “on the right” which would be “a droite”.

    Thanks Crucible and Manehi – a fun start to the day

  5. Many thanks for kind thoughts yesterday. I hesitated about saying, but it felt natural, given that a couple’s gen ken intertwines over the decades and hence relates to solving. And re chads and that US election, yes it all came back. How could I forget, given the times I’ve wondered how different the world might be had (the chads in) Miami favoured Gore over Bush!

    As for today’s, fun rather than fiery from the Crucible, as you say Manehi, though with a couple of dumb fails to parse, viz: George Rex (thinking ‘hmm, grand = 1000 = k/ing is a bit indirect’, d’oh!), and bunging in electro with a shrug instead of looking in reverse, also d’oh. O’wise all good and steady. Thanks Crucible and Manehi.

  6. Good thought VinnieD, tho in that case “go and fix” might be better.

    Didn’t notice the missing e in droit, French too rusty.

  8. Thanks manehi and Crucible.

     

    I looked for  a theme but didn’t spot it.

    18ac I spent far too long trying to explain AVI when added to ATION – doh!

  9. Thanks for the blog, manehi. Once again, I agree with your favourites.

    I also liked the picture in 26ac of the perhaps absent-minded professor’s accident.

    TOKE = smoke is the thing I’ve learned today.

    Many thanks to Crucible for an enjoyable puzzle.

  11. I thought the definition for “infidel” misleading: an infidel is someone one who believes differently from me, but they are likely to be believers (historically it was mostly used to apply to muslims).  Otherwise many thanks!

  13. and Charlie: I think infidel was a word used by Muslims for a ‘non-believer’. (I haven’t bothered checking though)

  14. poc@10 – I’ve always thought that CLEAR in this sense would refer to a profit made when selling something. For instance, a painting sold at an auction could be said to realise £100 after commission.

     

  15. Thanks manehi and Crucible.

    I got held up for a while in the NE corner and was about the give up but I managed to solve the final three clues that I had been struggling with.

  17. I found this just as difficult as yesterday’s Pasquale but much more enjoyable. Don’t quite know why.

  20. ADROIT is a cute pun (I also thought it was fudging on the E), but isn’t the logic backwards, to be a bit nitpicky? The main benefactors of a warning sign for crossers from England to Calais would be UK residents, not French or other continentals returning home, so the sign should be in English, no? (I do speak from personal experience here from when they inaugurated the hovercraft aeons ago.) If it instead said “handy reminder …”, no problem. I’m sure I’m overthinking this.

    Thanks

  21. Thanks Crucible and manehi

    Lots of fun – most enjoyable for a week or so at least. I didn’t parse WHALEBOAT and missed the hidden ELECTRO parsing.

    Favourite was HATTER. I also particularly liked ADROIT, though,as manehi says, the French is flawed, and, as Dr Whatson says, it is rather Britcentric – it reminded me of the headline “fog in the channel; continent cut off”. You wouldn’t need the sign if driving into Calais!

     

  22. We are probably all over-thinking it, but if you were French returning from an extended driving holiday in the UK, then the French authorities might think it No Bad Thing to display you a gentle reminder to drive “a droite” as you exit Le Shuttle. And my French nieghbour in the office says that yes it is droite, not droit. His explanation: “I have no idea, it just is”. Neat clue though.

  23. Thanks to Crucible and manehi. As others have said a fun and enjoyable solve but a DNF for me. I could not for the life of me see 18d, though I do not know why now. Again I agree withe manehi regarding favourites and thanks again to Crucible.

  25. Well,I can’t say I parsed everything but this was an enjoyable solve nonetheless. JACK OF ALL TRADES went in immediately as did B MOVIE: the rest took a little longer. I suppose there was a theme but,needless to say,I didn’t spot it.
    Thanks Crucible.

  26. re theme – loosely a number of jobs I guess (hatter, stoker, planer (?), mariner, retailer) and jack of all trades. Hardly enough to constitute a theme however. Any other thoughts?

  27. Thanks Crucible for a well constructed puzzle. Thanks too for the parsing of a couple of trickier ones to manehi.

    I thoroughly enjoyed solving this – albeit at a steady pace – and echo the favourites of manehi but would add 20d to my list OVERSAW.

    Also not bothered at all about the validity/spelling of ADROIT. Raised a smile so all is forgiven.

  29. Perhaps 18 d would have been better as “Handy warning to drivers arriving at Calais shortly”

  30. Atlanta Dave @29

    I would also have liked a “from England” or similar – as I implied, if you drive into Calais from France, you are already driving on the right!

  31. re 18, nothing in the clue suggests per se driving into Calais. It’s “drivers arriving at Calais”, so they could well be arriving on a ferry, indeed ‘arriving’ suggests to me that they aren’t driving anyway.

  32. Simon S @31

    Yes, they could well be arriving on a ferry – but they could well not be also? If you drive to somewhere, could you not then arrive there?

  33. Is SR a well accepted abbreviation for sister then? I’ve missed this or forgotten it in a few years of solving. I struggled as well with clear=realise.

  34. To Eric@33. My interpretation was clear=realise=turn a profit of (some amount of money)

  35. Thanks to manehi and Crucible

    Great fun but over too quickly, almost.

    18d took me at least twice as long as the rest of the puzzle and I still got it wrong.

    My schoolboy French told me DROIT was wrong so I eventually went for AFRAID – A FRench HELP could be handy, I’m afraid, I thought when I finally gave up. If this counts as a DNF then I think Crucible should take his share of the blame.

  36. Apologies for the late comment. I humbly accept the blame – and the shame. I graduated in French!

  37. Crikey! And here I was congratulating myself on having got a French expression right for once ? (my grade in O-Level French was a 9). Thanks to setter and bloggers for a good mind exercise!

  38. Niltac at 1, I too had STOKES and it is equally as valid an answer as STOKER. The definition is Irish author. Then we have the s after Irish author and s for sister both inhaling toke giving us STOKES. Margaret Stokes was an Irish author. STOKER is also fine as my Collins has SR as an abbreviation for a nun.

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