Guardian Cryptic 27,910 by Tramp

by

A quick solve, followed by some head-scratching over several bits of parsing. I liked 1ac, 18ac, 1dn, 6dn, and especially 17dn. Thanks to Tramp for the puzzle.

Across
1 AMNESICS They can’t recall, thus must enter made-up names (8)
SIC=”thus”, entering (names)*
5 EGESTS Throws out European — company has no union (6)
E (European) + GuESTS=”company” minus U (union)
9 SACRED COW You can’t have a go at this bloody bully after school turned around (6,3)
RED=”bloody” + COW=intimidate=”bully”; after S (school) + reversal/”turned” of CA=circa=”around”
11 GO OFF Turn and depart (2,3)
double definition: as in food going off; or a person heading off
12 IMPERSONATES Does rascal show on TV small round bottom? (12)
definition as in ‘Rory Bremner does Tony Blair”
IMP=”rascal” + ER=”show on TV” + S (small) + O=”round” + NATES=”bottom”
15 TIES Draws matches (4)
double definition
16 ASPIDISTRA Plant (iris) adapts when neglected (10)
(iris adapts)*
18 RIFLE RANGE Real gunfire shot having taken turn here? (5,5)
(Real gunfire)*, with “shot” as anagrind, taking away U for [U-]”turn”
19 ORFE Send back partially defrosted fish (4)
hidden reversed in dEFROsted
21 HALLUCINOGEN Enough! Nearly calling off trip on this (12)
(Enough callin)*, with “Nearly” indicating the shortening of callin[g]
24 E COLI Tablet reduced abdominal pain — possible cause? (1,4)
E (ecstacy)=”Tablet” + COLI[c]=”reduced abdominal pain”
25 LADIES MAN Bloke that is special lover? (6,3)
LAD=”Bloke” + I.E.=”that is” + S (special) + MAN=”lover”
26 TISANE Drink neat rum when touring island (6)
(neat)* around IS (island)
27 ARKANSAS State two answers: scores missing first rounds (8)
ANS and A are “two [abbreviated] answers”; with [m]ARKS=”scores missing first” going around
Down
1 ALSO To boot ball, wingers drop off like this (4)
[b]AL[L] with the wingers/outer letters removed; plus SO=”like this”
2 NECK Kiss cheek (4)
double definition, the second using cheek in the sense of audacity
3 STEAMY Side wearing skirts of sky blue (6)
as in ‘blue movie’
TEAM=”Side” wearing the outer letters/”skirts” of SkY
4 COCKER SPANIEL Mate to talk glibly about one man’s best friend? (6,7)
COCKER=slang for “Mate” + SPIEL=”talk glibly” around AN=”one”
6 GIGANTIC Tremendous performance against Conservative (8)
GIG=”performance” + ANTI=”against” + C (Conservative)
7 SHORT STORY Work with spirit level in America (5,5)
a SHORT is an alcoholic drink with spirits; plus STORY=American spelling/word meaning a floor/level in a building
8 SOFT SOAPED Did butter and spread food pastes (4-6)
definition meaning ‘flattered’
(food pastes)*
10 WASHING POWDER Cleaner wrong? Has wiped bum (7,6)
(wrong has wiped)*
13 STARCHIEST Smash hit — actress is most stiff (10)
(hit actress)*
14 BEDFELLOWS Partners with screams: they make electricity inside (10)
BELLOWS=”screams” with EDF=Électricité de France=”they make electricity” inside
17 PERUVIAN A sign for Underground by end of station like Paddington (8)
like Paddington Bear, a character from Peru
PER=”A” as in ‘once per year’/’once a year’; + U=”sign for Underground” + VIA=”by” + end of statioN
20 PESETA Old money from film copies circulating (6)
pre-Euro Spanish currency
ET=the Spieldberg “film”; with APES=”copies” circulating, moving the last letters to the front
22 XMAS Kiss while under piece of mistletoe now? (4)
X=”Kiss” + AS=”while” under M[istletoe]
23 INNS Locals concerned with Poles (4)
IN=”concerned with” + N[orth] and S[outh] “Poles”

63 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,910 by Tramp”

  1. Thanks Tramp and manehi

    Very enjoyable. I loved the well-concealed anagram for STARCHIEST, and the hidden definition for PERUVIAN.

    One of the first ones I had was SPORTY for 3d. PORT inside SY, and an Oxford or Cambridge blue could be a “sporty”! Corrected eventually by SACRED COW.

    Is 25a supposed to be &lit?

    Only quibble – I thought EDF in BEDFELLOWS was a little unfair.

  3. A good Tuesday challenge.

    I’m sure I’m not the only one with a perfectly parsing GHOST STORY for 7d. EGESTS being a bit too obscure for me to even attempt a reworking of that NE corner.

    Thanks Tramp and Manehi

  4. Like doofs @3, I entered ‘ghost story’, absolutely convinced it was correct, so I was done for 5a as well. No idea about EDF in 14d.

    I agree PERUVIAN was excellent and I also liked the def and complicated parsing for IMPERSONATES.

    Thanks to Tramp and manehi

  5. Re 17d – I took “per” to be a sign for for, if you see what I mean.  I like your parsing much better, Manehi, and it is clearly the correct one.  I hardly dare say thank you to anyone after the reaction yesterday.  My particular point is that some of us do not withhold thanks to a person who gets paid for their work.  I do quite understand how obligatory ps & qs can get fetishist and meaningless. Oh bugger, it, thanks anyway, as per, for all the joy.

  6. Not sure I follow why U is “sign for Underground” – isn’t that a circle with a horizontal bar through it, as in, I hope I have this right, this

  8. I had a couple of quibbles but Manehi’s more accurate parsing of “Peruvian” (which I too as TerriBlislow @5 did) and “Arkansas” have put those to bed so this all seems to play fair. I did think the combination of some (cleverly, almost trademark) loose definitions with difficult misleading constructions made this pretty tough however, and it was a bit of a case of finding the word to fit and slowly justifying afterwards. Still, when it works it is satisfying and I must remember with Tramp never to believe what his clues say! They mislead more than a certain fop-haired premiere…but in a good way.

    Thanks Manehi for some tricksy parsing and Tramp for making it a labour of love.

  10. Am I the only one who hastily entered “AMNESIAC” at 1ac? The possibility of two answers did put me off the clue, though the wording points clearly to the version reported by manehi.

    Regarding thanks I believe there is a cultural difference between UK and US residents, in that Americans think it is rude to thank someone for doing their job because it appears as if you are “treating them like a servant”. I am British and I don’t want to appear rude, so thanks to Tramp and manehi

  11. More enjoyable Tramp puzzle today for this solver. Most parsable, with a new word in 5a egest. 19a orfe seen quite recently.

    Liked 21a, but 14d deeply hidden (‘partners’, and does bellow really match scream?).

    And aspidistra, a long time since seen.

    Thanks Manehi & Tramp for today’s challenge.

  12. Re Trismegistus@10, the tense guided 1a (‘they can’t), hence need to look beyond singular ‘amnesiac’. BRB (big red book – Chambers) gives solution where names* can go with ‘sic’.

  13. Thanks both. Excellent puzzle
    [I just fished Saturday’s Prize out of the recycling to re-read the instructions. WTF? I think that it’s going back in]

  14. Enjoyed this. While not too pi about politeness, I’m with TerriBlislow et al, very fondly grateful for this generous playground of the mind, so thanks to Tramp and Manehi and to the entire global Gcw community.

    Took a while to see ‘does’ as the 12ac def, and ditto short for spirit, and the electricity company acronym was a solve and then search. Old expressions like soft soap (or flannel), as in ‘Don’t give me any of that….’, always evoke a nostalgic warmth. Fun puzzle, keep ’em coming!

  15. As far as the Aussie cultural response goes, I daren’t respond on behalf of my fellow Aussies.

    But I do want to record my personal thanks without question for being part of the Guardian crossword story, for being part of the interweaving that is this forum, and for being included and acknowledged in any and all ways in this privileged activity.

    I liked all of this puzzle from Tramp.

    11a GO OFF was lovely for its economy.

    I ticked as particular likes 9a SACRED COW, 12a IMPERSONATES, 21a HALLUCINOGEN, 3d STEAMY, 4d COCKER SPANIEL and 10d WASHING POWDER.

    Terriblistow@5, I was really glad to see the conversation you sparked yesterday. As far as I am concerned, there is too little gratitude for all of the blessings we enjoy in this world.

  17. @3 & 4

    I was another “ghost story.” It looked good to me! So that scuppered me for getting “egests,” though that’s a new word for me so might not have got it anyway. “Ingests” is familiar, so I suppose I should have made the link.

    Enjoyed this, though I didn’t find it easy.

    [Like Shirl @14, I read the instructions for Saturday’s crossword and decided it was impossible and did not even attempt it.]

  18. With you J_in_Oz@15 !

    Have been doing Guardian x-words on and off for 30+yrs now. Used to do Araucaria and others from Graun Weekly over a beer with colleagues as the Friday afternoon wind-down.

    Fantastic now that the x-words are available daily on the net (now a daily wind-down after work, but beer has gone by the wayside), and am with partner similarly inclined.

  19. That was a lot of fun. I don’t always get on Tramp’s wv but I did today.
    The Saturday rubric was much more complicated than it needed to have been. At first I thought he meant …… Worth persisting as the crossword itself was one of Maskarade’s better ones.

    Edited by Admin to remove a detailed reference to a currently live prize puzzle.

  20. Although it does parse, I don’t think GHOST STORY is as elegant a solution as SHORT STORY, as “ghost” has the same meaning in the wordplay as in the answer.

    (I can afford to be just a little smug, though, as I had EGESTS first!)

  21. chinoz @12 I did say it was a quick biff, but I had to change it as it wouldn’t parse. I also said the wordplay points clearly to the “correct” answer, though I’m not entirely convinced AMNESIAC couldn’t fit the definition part. I think in my past education (Psychology) the word amnesiac was more common than amnesic, which is why I biffed it in. If you google the difference you will find helpful pointers to the difference between the two words:

    1) An amnesic is someone suffering from memory problems

    2) An amnesiac is someone who is amnesic

    A nice circular definition which makes them look pretty much like synonyms.

    And like a couple of others I biffed in GHOST at 7d then tried to fit TOWN or TRAIN into the second part, but I had too many crossers by then so neither would fit. Yet it fell eventually.

  22. Lovely puzzle today, Tramp: many Thanks and to manehi too for the entertainment and enlightenment.

    I loved SACRED COW which, for my late Uncle was a tongue in cheek synonym for a cyclist, particularly in the city.

    New for me was EGESTS.

    I’m essentially with TerriBlislow on the question of Thanks as it seems to me never to do harm to say be grateful to someone for any service regardless of whether or not it is in the line of duty: I only have a problem with it when it seems disingenuous especially in this forum when the negative criticism outweighs the positive.

  23. I had a feeling it was BELLOWS round something but I did not know of EDF. I also could not parse SACRED COW.

    New for me was EGESTS.

    I failed to solve ARKANSAS.

    Thank you Tramp and manehi.

     

    [It seems both ridiculous and unnecessary that we should squabble over whether some people like to say thank you.]

  24. got stuck right at the start, I thought it was “AmnesiAcs” but have never heard it without the second “A”

  25. I am another who really enjoyed this offering, though I needed to come here to clarify some bits of parsing (e.g. Peruvian). Last two were hallucinogen and bedfellows, and I was another who spent a while on ghost story, but fortunately egests came to my rescue. My favourites were also, washing powder and cocker spaniel. Thanks to Tramp for the challenge and manehi for making up for my parsing inadequacy.

  26. Trismegistus@10 – yes I biffed in amnesiac and then very quickly removed it as it clearly wasn’t right. Also thought ghost story but did not put in, as had the G of egests. Next try was spook story…. so unlike Manehi this was not a quick solve for me.
    I did like 10dn. Did not know Paddington was peruvian – winnie the pooh was the bear of my childhood.

    JinA, GinF and Chinoz, I am also with you re the GCW community- stumbling on this website has been a pleasure and a privilege.

    I am firmly in the camp of those who thank bus drivers, airplane pilots, waitstaff etc so I going to continue to thank teh blogger – thanks Manehi and the setter – thanks Tramp for the fun and the workout

  27. If the setters were paid £500 for a puzzle I might possibly be less forthcoming in my thanks.

    When I think of how much harmless pleasure these people provide, coupled with the fact that they are free (although you can indeed contribute to the Guardian)

    it has to be pretty lack-lustre for me not to bother to say ta. These puzzles provide excellent therapy for the mind. Alas the body is another tale.

  28. [Just a note from yesterday in reply to dansar @ 24, which seems to have been passed as ok by the off topic monitor. I wondered if he/she considers Polly Toynbee’s column today as “drivel”.]

  29. Thanks, manehi – I’ll go along with your favourites again.

    I was momentarily nonplussed when I ran out of squares to enter AMNESIACS, not having checked the anagram fodder, but Chambers put me right with the alternative, which I wasn’t aware of.

    11ac was interesting, in that it wasn’t, as often, GO = turn!

    It’s interesting how EGESTS is so much less familiar than ‘ingests’ – a bit like ‘erupt’ and ‘irrupt’ [except the other way round!] and ‘oriental’ and ‘occidental’.

    Nothing more to add, except many thanks to Tramp for an other enjoyable puzzle.

  30. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this as much as some. EDF? WTF?

    Moving on: I see several references to a Maskerade on Saturday. There is no such thing on the web page (I tried with several different browsers just in case), nor does it appear in the Guardian app. I only see the Weekend and Speedy puzzles. I put it down to the increasingly common editorial ineptitude, but perhaps finding it is part of the challenge.

  31. poc @30

    There was a link to a .pdf for the puzzle on the Guardain crossword site on Saturday, at least. (Needed as it is a double puzzle.)

    I read the instructions and decided not to bother!

  33. Once I realised that _G_G_S wasn’t going to happen, I corrected GHOST STORY to SHORT STORY and found EGESTS, a word I knew from biology. I had to look up AMNESICS as I only knew AMNESIAC. I didn’t know about EDF. COCKER for mate? I finished and was glad it wasn’t too easy, but somehow didn’t enjoy the struggle. And is neglected an anagram indicator? But thanks, whatever people say, to setter and blogger.

  34. I mentioned up @6 that I was puzzled by sign for underground, and still am.  Either sign is now synonymous for initial letter, or I’m just having a prolonged brain fart.  Help, please.

    Thanks.

  35. Thanks both, most enjoyable. But, doesn’t Tramp always have a theme? I spent time looking but couldn’t find anything. EDF is the European Development Fund to this ex aid worker, but I solved it in anyway.

  37. poc @ 30: your difficulty in finding the weekend Maskarade may be because it was uploaded as a Cryptic, not a Prize: try this https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2019/aug/24/cryptic-crossword-27908

    SPanza @ 35: Tramp certainly always used to have themes, generally in the clues, but two or three years ago he wrote that (I think) he was finding it harder to find themes that interested him enough to write about. Consequently (most of) his recent output is non-themed. The appearance these days of themed puzzles by him is that Hugh Stephenson seems to have a sizeable backlog of Tramp puzzles, which he often posts that he wrote two or three years ago.

  39. Simon S
    Thanks for that, I won’t waste too much time in future looking for Tramp themes if they are not obvious.
    I much prefer non-themed crossies usually

  40. DrWhatsOn@6 – perhaps Tramp is from Glasgow (or Berlin? – the London Underground isn’t the only one, but he should have given a hint that it wasn’t the one referred to.

    I must take this opportunity to thank Tramp for the puzzle, and Manehi for parsing the trickier clues.

  41. SPanza @36 and PeterM @ 40 – yes that must be it, thanks.  To my knowledge, it is only the London system that goes by the name The Underground, the others are the Subway or Metro or something else.  While I would have liked to see some indicator in the clue, I can see that it would have spoiled the fun.

  44. A nice offering, thanks to Tramp and Manehi ! Re. the references to Saturday’s Bank Holiday Special – no it isn’t impossible, I finished it yesterday. However the special instructions are not well-expressed and the approach necessary to solve said puzzle won’t appeal to all here on this forum I’ll return to this theme on Saturday !

  45. I got EGESTS from the wordplay but I had to look it up. SHORT STORY, I got from the crossers and definition and the sound you can hear is me kicking myself! PERUVIAN was lovely and also LOI.
    I haven’t started the Prize yet despite twigging how to do it. It goes against the grain not to tackle it but –.
    Thanks Tramp.

  46. Another GHOST STORY with the result that EGESTS was the loi. Being in company of people drinking shorts helped put me right.

  47. Just a word on the Maskarade – I did it with another person and we did finish it once we concluded that the instructions are plain wrong in one respect. Very misleading, and we were about to give up in despair when we saw what to do. We both agreed that we would never have stuck with it if we had been doing it solo.

    Anne (usually a lurker)

  48. Thanks to Tramp and manehi.

    Just the right level for this goldilocks, although I doubt my forebears would have tolerated the appearance of EDF as a cryptic component.  But so enjoyable with favs PERUVIAN and HALLUCINOGEN.  I was especially pleased to re-cycle ORFE and NATES from tilts since joining the forum.

    Looking leerily at correspondence about saying “thank you” over recent days and it galls me to think that this even gets the oxygen of attention. To the initiator I would offer a hearty “Thank you” and move on.

  49. A silly aside but there are 13 U-Bahns in Germany and 5 Underground systems in the UK with 5 more planned. I would imagine the London system is by far the biggest!

  51. I had a couple of hiccups with this – GO OUT for 11 (I was thinking of tides) which I corrected, and GHOST STORY, which I didn’t. Missed EGESTS as a result. I don’t really agree with you, muffin, about 7. “Spirit” is part of spirit level, i.e work-tool in the surface and means phantom in the cryptic.
    I was wondering why CAS was a school, so thanks for the explanation. Favorites: LADIES MAN and PERUVIAN (Dr WhatsOn: the wiki entry for the U-Bahn, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_U-Bahn, has a nice pic).
    Thanks, T and m

  52. phitonelly @51

    Yes, “spirit level” is a tool one could work with, so I agree with you. I had mentally split it into “spirit” (ghost) and “level in America”.

  53. I wasn’t going to mention it, but after seeing all the comments on the Saturday Prize above, I have to ask why I was singled out for being naughty, Gaufrid? After all I only asked for some explanation of the (obviously too obscure) instructions – hardly a spoiler? In the end I followed a clue given by another much more helpful comment, read the Guardian blog, and decided it wasn’t worth it anyway.

    Todays puzzle was much better, thanks to setter and bloggers (or is that wrong too?)

  54. Thanks to manehi and Tramp

    Top stuff from Tramp as usual. I did wonder about “sign for Underground” in 17d. Perhaps by not using “The” Underground ( by which everyone I know refers to it), Tramp was giving a nod that he wasn’t referring to London.

  55. jeceris @ 28

    I am adding this comment separately in case Admin wishes to remove or relocate it.

    Yes I do. I would also call it specious, but that praises it too highly. If you wish me to dissect it in detail then I shall post in General Discussion if that is allowed.

    First of all though (and I hope I don’t sound patronising, I know we all take sides), I ask that you reread it objectively.

  56. Some cracking clues here. Really liked RIFLE RANGE, BEDFELLOWS and IMPERSONATES with its cunningly concealed definition.

    Thanks to S&B.

  57. very late as finished after attendinding our little local team losing to Aston Villa. Sigh. Liked LADIES MAN and EGESTS was new. As was nates for bottom.

    Roberto @53, I think you are right to be mildly aggrieved. I queried Gaufrid’s comment yesterday on the Chifonie – Irishman@40.

    Also very much enjoyed the pedant-fest here regarding signs for (The) Underground; the sort of stuff that makes this site an absolute joy for me.

    But the business about thanking or not-thanking: I’ve decided to not-thank for a fortnight, by the end of which it will all have been forgotten.

    Thanks to … Aargh! Forgetting!

  58. Thanks (?) Irishman @57. Not really aggrieved, more miffed, since I don’t like spoilers myself.

    Agree with you re the pedantry, it’s nice to see the arguments about how many angels are there on a pin head 🙂

  61. Stuartr – I also paused but let it go on considering phrases like “that’s her man” for “that’s her lover” though, knowing Tramp, there’s probably a better justification.
    With PERUVIAN (a fun clue to parse) I did consider the standard logo (that Dr Whatson described early in above thread) but then saw another, perhaps older – pre war? – logo in my mind’s eye which is, indeed, a large capital unfilled “U”. Or was I imagining things? It’s a pity Neil hasn’t/won’t pop in to put us out of our mysteries….
    I rarely visit Monday puzzles so haven’t seen the comments – but have no reservations in saying THANK YOU, Tramp!

  63. Nice puzzle, if not too taxing. I don’t think PESETA really works: the clue prompts ETSAPE (or a couple of variations), but to get to the required answer, ‘circulating’ seems to be doing double duty – unless I’m missing something.

    Now, ‘recirculating’ might have done the trick 🙂

     

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