Guardian Cryptic 27,857 by Crucible

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Tough and slow going, and an enjoyable solve. I liked the interconnections around 7dn and 8dn, but haven’t spotted a wider theme than that. Other favourite clues were 14ac, 24ac, and 5dn. Thanks to Crucible

Across
1 FLOWER Fine cow, the best (6)
“the flower of…” can mean the best example of something, e.g. ‘the flower of English chivalry’
F (Fine) + LOWER=”cow”, as in ‘the cattle are lowing’
5 DIGESTED Broken-down Welshman joked on air (8)
homophone/”on air” of: ‘Dai jested’=”Welshman joked”
9 ICE SHEET It’s full of grated cheese that’s melting fast (3,5)
IT, around (cheese)*
10 NOOSES Loops edges around hole (6)
NOSES=”edges [ahead of the competition]”, around O=”hole”
11 BRUSH TURKEYS Australian birds scrub duds (5,7)
BRUSH=”scrub” + TURKEYS=”duds”=plays, films, etc that are complete failures
13 COWS Whiskey in Greek island is daunting (4)
Whiskey is W in the phonetic alphabet, inside COS=”Greek island”
14 LA MANCHA Monk controls a new church in Don’s area (2,6)
Don Quixote was the Man of La Mancha
LAMA=”Monk”, around A + N (New) + CH (Church)
17 STANDARD Tolerate bill involving Republican flag (8)
STAND=”Tolerate” + AD=advert=”bill” around R (Republican)
18 WINE Complain, putting away hot drink (4)
WhINE=”Complain”, putting away h for “hot”
20 CAR BOOT SALES Arab chemist packs cold beers for open-air markets (3,4,5)
AR (Arab) + BOOTS=UK pharmacy chain=”chemist”, inside C (cold) + ALES=”beers”
23 BARREL Lock on live bomb (6)
barrel=bomb=move or drive a vehicle very quickly
BAR=to secure=”Lock” + RE=”on [the topic of…]” + L (live)
24 ANNUALLY PA woman accompanies posh colleague (8)
PA=per annum
ANN=”woman” + U=upper-class=”posh” + ALLY=”colleague”
25 RESETTLE Find new homes for letters edited by European (8)
(letters)* + E (European)
26 HIDING Current racket in mercury leads to a severe defeat (6)
I=symbol for “Current” in physics + DIN=”racket”; inside HG=chemical symbol for “mercury”
Down
2 LOCK Secure place with gates at both ends (4)
double definition: the second definition referring to locks in canals and other waterways
3 WASH BASIN Sink used to be stylish, compris­ing a special sort of graphite (9)
WAS IN=”used to be stylish”, around A + S (special) + HB=Hard Black=”sort of graphite” in pencils
4 RUEFUL Sheepish four regularly breaking new rule (6)
regular letters from FoUr inside (rule)*
5 DUTCH ELM DISEASE What causes the middle to rot? (5,3,7)
(causes the middle)*
6 GIN RUMMY Game‘s tacky, restricting home runs (3,5)
GUMMY=”tacky” around IN=”home” + R (runs) in cricket
7 STOCK Handle contents of shelves 1 or 13 (5)
Quadruple definition: STOCK can mean the handle end of a tool; the contents of shop shelves; a type of flower; and cattle/cows
8 EVERYTHING 2, 7 and 23, say, keeping extremely slim (10)
2, 7 and 23=LOCK, STOCK, and BARREL, a figure of speech meaning EVERYTHING
EG=”say”, around VERY THIN=”extremely slim”
12 SOFT PALATE Dim friend put away oral part (4,6)
SOFT=”Dim” lighting + PAL=”friend” + ATE=”put away”
15 NEWSSTAND Stall society occupying recent feature of arena? (9)
S (society) inside NEW STAND=”recent feature of arena?”
16 WAGON-LIT In which sleepers lie on other sleepers (5-3)
cryptic definition: a train carriage where people sleep (In which sleepers lie), that runs “on other [railway track] sleepers”
19 CLINCH Picnic invaded by large seal (6)
=as in clinch/seal victory
CINCH=easy task=”Picnic”, around L (large)
21 BARGE Start to go in, having shed clothes to get lighter (5)
a lighter is a type of flat-bottomed barge
G=”Start to go”; in BARE=”having shed clothes”
22 CLAN Are they all partial to Gaelic language? (4)
a CLAN might be a Gaelic tribe
hidden inside/”partial to”: GaeliC LANguage

46 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,857 by Crucible”

  2. Like manehi this was slow going for me – almost gave up but suddenly got LOCK, STOCK & BARREL which helped a lot. Favourites were CAR BOOT SALES and LA MANCHA. Many thanks to C & m.

     

  3. Just couldn’t get Car Boot Sales, though it was staring me in the face. Not sure about Clan for 22d, shouldn’t this clue have an answer in the plural?

  4. A steady solve, helped on realising re lock, stock and barrel. Thanks for helping with the parsing of barrel. Fav was annually – I stared at this for a while thinking personal assistant, public address before I twigged (with the help of crossers) to per annum; why it took so long when I had “…ually” I don’t know. Thanks to Crucible and to Manehi.

  5. Struggled with this. I particularly admired the brilliant 5d and also 8d.

    Another clue here for JinA to appreciate (although I’ve never heard of them)

  6. Thanks, manehi, you were probably faster than I with this.

    Enjoyable on the whole but found some of the synonyms a tad strained with BARREL = bomb being the chief culprit for me.  I only really entered it for its connection with LOCK & STOCK rather than its own clue.

    Hadn’t come across Ar = Arab before but found it in Chambers.

    Favourite was the clever inclusion reference “partial” in CLAN.

    Many thanks, Crucible, nice week, all.

  7. Much enjoyed – thanks Crucible/Manehi for comment. Hard starting, slow at times, but persistence got there.

    5d very well and deviously constructed. Liked 16d, word not seen for a long time – sleepers on sleepers could have taken some time to deconstruct.

    Brush turkeys wicked things in the garden, they scratch up everything.

  8. Thanks Crucible and manehi

    A very enjoyable tussle, but got there in the end. Getting 8 from crossers gave me 2, 7 & 23, which opened things up.

    Ronald @ 3: as ‘clan’ is a collective noun it can be represented by either a singular or plural pronoun.

  9. I enjoyed that. A good number of clues where I solved one bit of wordplay, then the next bit and then the answer unfolded, which suggests excellent setting. A pity I had not solved “barrel” but did have “lock” and “stock” before coming to 8dn, which rather gave the game away!

    Thanks Crucible – a fun and not too tough start to the day, and thanks Manehi for sorting it all out.

  10. As other posters, I found this a slow start and was then helped by the LOCK, STOCK and BARREL.

    Very enjoyable solve; I particularly liked the nice anagram for DUTCH ELM DISEASE, LA MANCHA and CLINCH.

    Thanks Crucible and manehi.

     

  11. Not sure about “barrel=bomb=move or drive a vehicle very quickly”.
    A barrel bomb is simply a bomb, albeit of a particularly nasty type.

  12. Ok. Barrel is fine. Just put my comment down to a lack of knowledge re N American usage and informal English.

  13. An super crossword replete with excellent clues. Not that easy, either. 5d and 11a are all too familiar: I will shortly be seeing brush turkeys again in their home environment, and, many years ago, I had to have a tall elm felled because of the rot caused by the elm bark beetle.
    We’ve had Boots the Chemist twice in a short time. Overseas solvers will know this now!
    Many favourites, the top one being DUTCH ELM DISEASE.
    Thanks to Crucible and manehi.

  14. Lovely crossword – elegantly clued. ‘Clan’ is fine as collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural (e.g. ‘The Cabinet is revolting’ or ‘The Cabinet are revolting.’)

  16. I entirely agree with Alan B’s assessment of the puzzle.

    I share others’ admiration for DUTCH ELM DISEASE and I also particularly liked the construction of EVERYTHING – it made me smile, after I’d spent a minute or two looking for a word containing SM.

    Many thanks to Crucible and manehi – most enjoyable puzzle and blog.

  17. I really enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were CAR BOOT SALES, ANNUALLY (Loi), EVERYTHING (which helped me solve STOCK + BARREL; I had already solved LOCK).

    New for me were BRUSH TURKEYS, DUTCH ELM DISEASE.

    Thanks Crucible and manehi

  18. @Dicho 11

    I had 23a down as a double definition with barrel lock and barrel bomb (a live one!), hadn’t spotted the wordplay – duh. Shame as I thought I’d successfully parsed 8d today, which is a rarity. Lovely puzzle.

  19. Not much to add to what others have said, tough but entertaining. I didn’t get there in the end, partly because I entered BRUSH CUCKOOS for 11a, thinking it was rather loose, but it fit the five crossers I had in at the time. Oh, well …

    Thanks to Crucible and manehi.

  20. Some anagrams are hard to believe even when you’ve guessed the answer – e.g. 5d

    I liked PA as a concealed definition. Strictly speaking I would have thought the dots are required – P.A. – but no doubt it will turn out that in this case they are optional.

    Failed to see stock=flower before getting 1ac.

  22. All I could think about for PA last night was Pennsylvania (not productive at all, who’s a famous Pennsylvania woman?), but this morning after a tour through “personal assistant,” “-ually” got me “per annum.”

  23. Ronald @ 2 Ditto the earlier replies about collective nouns but I parsed the clue with ‘Are they all partial’ as the definition (referring to the members of a clan who would have the same bias/partiality), I think Gaelic is just there for the surface/letter c.

    Had no issues with barrel(ling) for bomb(ing) having done plenty of both in my youth and plenty of moaning about youngsters doing them more recently.

    Crucible has served up a quite superb and wonderfully clued crossword today (with 5d being the sprinkles on the icing of the cake).

    Thanks to Crucible and manehi.

  24. Thanks to Crucible and manehi. I often struggle with this settter and today was no exception. As others have said generally slow going, but nearly got there in the end. Last one soft palate but failed on wagon lit (new word for me). Still I enjoyed the tussle and another fan of La Mancha, car boot sales and clinch. Thanks again to Crucible and manehi.

  25. Thanks Crucible and manehi

    I came at this from an odd direction. Fairly early on I guessed LOCK STOCK and BARREL, which confirmed LOCK for me, and gave me the unparsed BARREL. EVERYTHING however was LOI, as I too had BRUSH CUCKOOS at 11a!

  26. A great solve, but one slightly pedantic criticism: despite the elegant and popular surface, 5d is misleading insofar as Dutch elm disease has nothing to do with the fact that English elm (Ulmus procera) tends to develop hollow trunks and branches.

  27. An enjoyable and decidedly tricky challenge – thought I was really struggling until I saw DUTCH ELM DISEASE out of nowhere.

    Thanks to manehi and Crucible.

  28. Thanks to Crucible and manehi.

    All has been said, but I wanted to thank for the parsing of BARREL which I would never have got without its LOCK and STOCK partners, both of which were favourites (in fact I still don’t quite get the equivalence of “bar” and “lock” – I’m being a bit thick here I suppose). I also liked EVERYTHING. And CLAN too.

  29. Enjoyed this and found it more straightforward than some seem to have done. I didn’t know BRUSH TURKEYS so I had to look that up.
    I liked FLOWER,LA MANCHA and ANNUALLY which was both COD and LOI.
    Thanks Crucible.

  31. Too tough for me but enjoyed those I got. Stupidly, I didn’t realise Dutch Elm Disease was an anagram; I got the answer but I thought middle referred to the middle word (as in: what rots an elm? D.E.D…). What a maroon. 😀

  32. I found this a very satisfying solve. Thought 20a was the surface of the . Clearly I’ll need to find a middle eastern pharmacist as the weather warms up again! Thanks to setter and blogger.

  34. Very enjoyable crossword today, thanks Crucible. Thanks too to manehi for the parsing.

    I really liked the inter-connectedness of some of the clues too and admired a couple as mentioned by Eileen and others. EVERYTHING was a beauty and I loved ANNUALLY even though it had me on the ropes for a while.

    BRUSH TURKEYS new to me.

  35. I always wondered what wagonlit in Carlson Wagonlit (the travel management company) meant. Thanks to Crucible and manehi for the enlightenment!

  36. Got about half of this and on review if the answers mostly they fitted into the ‘oh yes I can see that’ category rather than the ‘ffs-what?!’ category so thanks Crucible.

    An entry into answering the clue you read rather than the actual clue…I had PEGS for 2d originally (both ends of PlacE and GateS) which would’ve been spot on had the clue started SecureS….

  37. Very fine crossword, thanks Crucible! I wrote DUTCH ELM DISEASE straight in without realising it was a very clever beautifully disguised anagram, and came here to find out if others thought it a bit weak. What a fool I am. It was not an easy solve for me and so I needed Manehi to help with several parsings. So thanks Manehi. Favourite the above mentioned tree rot!

  39. I am humbled by Crucible’s virtuoso use of synonyms in today’s crossword: PICNIC = CINCH was a particular delight. What a marvellous skill, to find far-distant pairs of words that share a common meaning that is readily apparent in hindsight. And then to use this skill to create such joyful surfaces!

  40. Late to the picnic! Loved it. All favourites named. Thanks to Crucible for the test, manehi for the finer points of some parsing, and to participants for an enjoyable blog.

  42. [PS – Parochial Sidebar- Thanks Crucible for the Aussie reference at 11a BRUSH TURKEYS. Appreciate the inclusion, pedro@5. Looking forward to having you over here instead of over there, Alan B@13. I see lots of them (scrub turkeys, bush turkeys) on my morning walk to the beach here at the Sunshine Coast.]

  45. Late to the party, had to work 🙂

    I know “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”

    Found this one tough for midweek, but got off to a good start in the SE corner with HIDING. The key to the puzzle was 5d, what a brilliant clue in hindsight! LOI was NOOSES, didn’t really like NOSES for EDGES, thought it was a bit loose. Put in HAIRDO for 23a [Lock=Hair, Live=Do] and there is a hairstyle called a bomb. That delayed my finish until I got RESETTLE which meant that 16d had to be WAGON-LIT, so BARREL jumped out (what a horrible piece of modern warfare BTW – the people that use them should suffer them). Loved BRUSH TURKEYS and LA MANCHA.

    Thanks setter and bloggers.

  46. A late comment for the record on 7d. Could be a quintuple definition of stock, as ‘contents of shelves’ is helve.

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