Guardian 27,916 – Puck

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This mostly slipped in very quickly, though there were a couple of parsings that took me a while.

No particular theme that I can see, apart from the reduplicated expressions in 7,16 and 8,20 (two of them, appropriately). Thanks to Puck.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. SLIPPED DISC CID’s possibly back in trouble with this (7,4)
“SLIPPED” DISC, i.e. an anagram, could give you “CID’s”
9. ALL-STAR Large ‘astral’ cast might be …(3-4)
Anagram of L + ASTRAL, &lit
10. NAIROBI … backing Scot, singer briefly appearing in African capital (7)
Reverse of IAN (stereotypical Scot) + a truncated ROBIN (bird, singer)
11. ZIRCONIUM Element symbolised by O, oddly (9)
The chemical symbol for Zirconium is Zr, which we can get from the odd letters of ZeRo
12. AVOID Duck eaten by greedy duck (5)
O (another O for zero..) in AVID
13. EGGS Contents of clutch bag finally found in, say, front of skip (4)
Last letter of baG in E.G. (say) + S[kip]
14. ELECTORATE Voters potentially have online reader worried (10)
E-LECTOR + ATE. “Potentially”, I suppose, because you can be a member of the electorate but not actually vote
16. DOTTED LINE One might tear along this … (6,4)
Cryptic-ish definition, referring to instructions on a form As cryptor points out in comment 1, the ellipsis is a “dotted line”, making this a double definition
19. BEEF … bank enthusiastically — eventually fishing, initially for carp (4)
First letters of Bank Enthusiastically Eventually Fishing. Carp and beef both mean a complaint
21. ZLOTY Apart from 50% of OAPs, too lazy to go round foreign capital (5)
Anagram of TOO LAZY less OA (half of OAPS). This time the “foreign capital” is currency – that of Poland. Strictly speaking the second letter is Ł, with a stroke, pronounced rather like a W
22. THRESHOLD Informed about hard right, she changed point of entry (9)
H R SHE* in TOLD
24. LUSHEST Most attractive female consumed by sexual desire (7)
SHE (agan!) in LUST
25. ACCUSAL Charge American a pound, placed on account (7)
ACC[ount] + US + A L (pound)
26. YELLOWSTONE Chicken satay and tikka starters at lunchtime, current in the western US (11)
YELLOW (cowardly, chicken) + S[atay] + T[ikka] + ONE (o’clock, lunchtime). More familiar (to me, anyway) as the US national park, but it’s named after the Yellowstone River (“current”)
Down
1. SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY Condemned lifeless yoghurt in holier-than-thou fashion (4-11)
(LIFELESS YOGHURT)
2. INTRO Entry passage given coat by paint roller (5)
Hidden in paINT Roller
3. PARTIAL Someone adversarial, extremely biased (7)
Lift and separate: someone = some one = PART I, plus the “extreme” letters of AdversariaL
4. DYNAMIC Driving mounted policemen around a lot (7)
MANY in CID, reversed
5. IMITATOR Somewhat contrary parrot, a timid parrot (8)
Hidden in reverse of parROT A TIMId
6. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE Sweet shade of brown hair product (9,6)
CHOCOLATE (shade of brown) + MOUSSE. Rather weak, as the name of the colour comes from the food
7,16. RAZZLE DAZZLE Heading off, worn out, to laze around taking in unknown song from Chicago (6,6)
[F]RAZZLED (worn out) + Z (unknown) in LAZE. It’s a song from the musical Chicago
8,20. FIDDLE-FADDLE Do become confused, following female nonsense (6-6)
FIDDLE (to swindle, do) + F + ADDLE (become confused)
15. VERY WELL Sort of light source OK in the pink? (4,4)
VERY (source of light, as in the distress flare called a Very Light) + WELL (OK), again very similar meanings in wordplay and answer
17. LET IT GO Fool has broken child’s toy in half? Be forgiving (3,2,2)
TIT (fool) in LEGO (exactly in the middle, hence “in half”)
18. NORMANS Opera covering polar opposites? Wisdom was famously one of them (7)
NORMA (opera by Bellini) + N S (poles)
23. SECCO Painting on plaster that’s dry and firm (5)
SEC (dry) + CO (company, firm). Again rather weak, as “sec” and “secco” are essentially the same word. Secco is a technique of painting on dry plaster, in contrast to fresco, where it’s still wet, so the clue is an extended definition

42 comments on “Guardian 27,916 – Puck”

  1. The cryptic part of 16a could be the ellipsis (…) at the end of the clue, suggestive of a dotted line?  Thanks Andrew & Puck.

  2. A very satisfying puzzle. Thanks to cryptor for spotting the ellipsis explanation, which I missed, and to Andrew for the parsing of 3d, which also eluded me. I thought that I would be in trouble with 7,16, as I don’t know the musical, but the word play was clear.

  3. An enjoyable puzzle which i returned to twice during the night during some uncharacteristic bouts of insomnia (perhaps not the best cure!). 18 Down went in fairly easily, but it took at least a minute before the penny dropped. My mind was so focused on 1066 and all that it took that long to make the (now obvious) link to Norman Wisdom. I must say that I find his films much funnier now than when I was a child.

  4. Norman Wisdom? Funny? Obviously I’m not old enough yet at 70. Didn’t parse Zirconium, and not very fond of it when I read this! Otherwise a good gallop, thanks.

     

  6. Parsed 16ac like cryptor, but missed the O=Z[e]r[o], and also the part1 in 3d. So yes it all went in pretty quickly but my parsing was a bit thick and lazy. 7d for me evokes Bill Haley rather than the musical, but no matter, and I’ve come across the old Very light plus ‘well’ very recently. Some nice clues, the parrots raised a smile. Wondered whether you can fiddle someone, rather than eg the books; minor point tho. Thanks Puck and Andrew.

  7. I missed the ‘lift and separate’ at 3d, and it took me a while to parse RAZZLE DAZZLE and ZLOTY, but the rest went in steadily enough. I like clues with the punctuation mark or a symbol as the def and DOTTED LINE was my favourite.

    Thanks to Punk and Andrew

     

  8. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    Very quick for a Puck, but a nice puzzle. I didn’t know YELLOWSTONE was a river either, but guessed it must be; I also couldn’t parse ZIRCONIUM.

    A bit odd to have CID in the clue for 1a and the wordplay for 4d?

    Lots to like – AVOID was just favourite.

  9. Thanks, Andrew.

    I thought this was fun  – and I got the chemistry clue this time.

    I laughed when I saw 16ac [parsed as cryptor] as I did in primary school, when I heard the joke about the two flies on top of a cornflake packet.

    Favourites today were SLIPPED DISC, EGGS and LET IT GO.

    Many thanks, Puck – most enjoyable.

     

  10. Am administering the traditional self-kicking for 3d.  Was feeling v smug, having had a hazy recollection of “parti” meaning a certain someone – even found a dictionary definition: “Someone (especially a man) who is considered to be a good choice for marriage, because of wealth, status etc.”  Then sifted from thinking gear and moved into drive, not checking rear view mirror.  Enjoyed myself, as usual, but found it a bit peasy.  Thanks as ever Puck and thanks Andrew for putting me right.

  11. Surely, also, the …s in 16a and 19a are running the two clues together into a meaningful story. I missed the significance as given by cryptor@1. I wonder if Paul would have just given the clue as … (ie without any words).

    Thanks Andrew – needed several explanation in this one; and to Puck

     

  13. John @4 Obviously you are not Albanian then – apparently Norman Wisdom is a comedy hero there. Some things are beyond explanation.

    This went in reasonably quickly, with “slipped disc” holding me up though I really enjoyed it once I got there. “partial” partially eluded me in parsing so thank you Andrew for that. I was not much impressed with “acc” = account instead of “ac” or “US” = “American” though I can think of examples (“The US economy…”) but they seem lazy rather than solid.

    “Fiddle faddle” and “razzle dazzle” in there in honour of the new PM and the return of parliament perhaps?

  14. Lots of fun but missed a couple of reasons why, so appreciated explanations from Andrew and cryptor@1. Faves were the long ones around the edges.

  15. Thanks Puck, Andrew

    I like the dotted line trick, though it seems a shame the other half of the clue was so transparent as to have made it superfluous.

    Greedy duck was good.

    Odd that VERY WELL is given as ‘in the pink’.  I shouldn’t think ‘QUITE WELL’ is included in any compiler’s word list; VERY WELL must be there because it has another meaning; i.e. consent.  In the pink fine for wordplay, and ‘OK’ would suffice for definition.

    I’ve spent a minute rather anally trying to decide if the O in the ZIRCONIUM clue is printed as a letter O or the digit 0.  I think it is the letter O, and will excuse myself from having failed to parse it on that ground.

  16. [The perimeter solutions made me think it was the same grid pattern as yesterday’s, but it wasn’t. Meant to say thank you to Puck.]

  17. Many thanks to Puck and Andrew – I was particularly grateful for explanation of ZIRCONIUM.

    A note on 15 down: I took it as VERY (sort of light) WELL (source) with two distinct definitions: ‘OK’ (as in eg “Very well, if you must” and ‘in the pink’.

     

     

  18. Fun and for me relatively straightforward given that is is Puck. Missed the part 1 in 3 dn having parsed as did TerriBislow. Agree with cryptor re the …. and thought clue was clever albeit straightforward. Fav was AVOID, which raised a chuckle and Zr earned a groan when I parsed it.
    Thanks to Puck and to Andrew for the blog.

  19. I don’t know if it qualifies as a theme, but there are thirteen words with double letters, including the obvious razzle, dazzle, fiddle and faddle. I don’t know how many would be expected by chance.

  21. My solve much like many others above. Largely a quick solve for a Puck, but could not parse zirconium. Another fan of the long clues around the edges and thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  22. I too, with TheZed, wondered whether 7, 16 down and 8, 20 down constituted a mini de Pfeffel Johnson theme.

    Many thanks to blogger and setter.

  23. judygs @ 17 Plausible but that does raise the question of why Puck would bother to have wordplay and two definitions (also I’m not sure that that ‘very’ being a ‘sort of light’ would be universally accepted)?

    Enjoyed this, was initially pleased that Puck didn’t go down the ‘Section 9’ route for 3d then thought he’d missed a trick for any manga fans.

    Also thought that ‘other operas are available’ but was quickly appeased by thoughts of the late, great Norman wisdom (of course other people may have a different opinion but please watch Going gently before getting back to me).

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  24. Very lights featured a lot in boys’ own type stories I used to read in the 50s and 60s. They’re a sort of flare, as I remember.

    I took “source” as the WELL as well (sorry!)

  27. Fairly straightforward for a Puck, but I couldn’t see the parsing of ZIRCONIUM, which should have occurred to me

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew

  29. The only RAZZLE DAZZLE I know was by Bill Haley and the Comets but I guessed this referred to another song in ‘Chicago’. I couldn’t parse ZIRCONIUM along with virtually everybody else. ACCUSAL was LOI. Liked ZLOTY.
    Nice puzzle.
    Thanks Puck.

  30. I’m sure I have had bruising encounters with Puck before, so the straightforward nature of this was a pleasant surprise. Was it easier or am I getting better?

    It had to be ZIRCONIUM, but I didn’t parse it before coming here. SECCO was new but unambiguous. Favourites were SELF RIGHTEOUSLY for the pleasing anagram and PARTIAL for ‘someone’ becoming PARTI-.

    Thanks to both as always.

  31. Lovely puzzle which I enjoyed so many thanks Puck!  However, several that I could not convincingly parse (Zirconium for one) so thanks Andrew for the elucidation.  Favourites the inventive SLIPPED DISC, ZIRCONIUM once I knew why and DOTTED LINE which I did work out on my own.

  32. Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

    It’s all been said and I enjoyed it on balance, very much in fact as I usually struggle with Puck but had lots of PD moments today. Wish I’d stuck with ZIRCONIUM a bit longer before throwing in the parsing towel.

  33. This puzzle was over quickly but very enjoyable. I particularly like the crossing clues 5d and 12a, with their similar repeated-bird structures.

    I’m glad to see I’m not alone in failing to parse several clues, particularly 11a, 16a and 3d. When I thought 16a was just a (not particularly) definition, I was disappointed in it, but with the extra component I quite like it. 11a was tricky but fair in my opinion. I’m disappointed in myself for missing the lift-and-separate in 3d.

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew!

     

  35. I don’t always enjoy crosswords I’ve solved quickly as much as I did this one. Lots of variety and fun. It went in at a rare old rate of knots, despite me having no idea about the parsing of Zr. What a wonderful anagram at 1d!
    Thanks to P&A

  36. I agree with judygs@17 about VERY WELL as a wordplay + 2 definitions type and thanks to cryptor@1 for the added PDM for DOTTED LINE.
    Puck in top form, I thought. I even spotted the Zr trick, making it one of my favourites, along with NORMANS.
    Wonderful stuff. Thanks, Puck and Andrew.

  37. As a gay man (from Chicago), naturally I wound up running through the whole score in my head to find the one that fit. Almost my first in. (“Razzle Dazzle” comes near the end of the show, after such other well known numbers as “All That Jazz,” “The Cell Block Tango,” and “Mr. Cellophane.”)

  38. Oh, and regarding the Yellowstone River–the park is indeed named for the river. The river, a tributary of the Missouri (which is in turn a major tributary of the Mississippi) gets its name from the yellow, sulfrous stone it carves. It’s sulfrous because of all the volcanic activity in the Yellowstone Basin.

    One of the biggest non-geothermal attractions in the park is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, where the yellow stone is prominently on display.

  40. Quick for Puck, Zr not parsed, ….. clever, Wisdom not funny – seems to be the consensus.
    Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  41. Forgive me, Andrew, but I do wish bloggers would be more circumspect in their pronouncements. The word-splitting at 3dn is NOT an example of “lift and separate” which is a different thing. And I see this has encouraged at least two commenters to accept this misnomer.
    I expect fifteensquared to avoid these errors. However, given the cavalier way in which people describe virtually any clue that has a surface reflecting the solution as “&lit” even when they’re not, I’m beginning to wonder whether fifteensquared is still offering a definitive education in cryptic crosswords.
    Personally, I expect fifteensquared to be accurate.
    (As for poor Norman – just because I don’t find him funny doesn’t mean others view him similarly!!)
    Nice enough puzzle…
    Many thanks, both and all.

  42. For full explanation of what constitutes a “lift and separate” clue, see crosswordunclued.com. The term was coined by a well-known Times crossword champion and, personally, quite apart from anything else, I find it a little disrespectful to get it wrong.

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