Guardian Cryptic 27,935 by Nutmeg

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27935.

An excellent puzzle, with, I think, one of the better Spoonerism clues at 16D. The construction seems good to me throughout; at first it seemed anagram-heavy, but that was just the clues that I happened to solve first. With nothing obscure or over-convoluted, this was right up my street, to solve and to blog.

Across
1 SPEAKERS’ CORNER Non-voting parliamentarians monopolise London venue (8,6)
A charade of SPEAKERS (‘non-voting parliamentarians’) plus CORNER (‘monopolise’). The original is at the north-east corner of Hyde Park.
9 ON PURPOSE OUP person redeployed intentionally (2,7)
An anagram (‘redeployed’) of ‘OUP person’.
10 GORGE Butchery involves good stuff (5)
An envelope (‘involving’) of G (‘good’) in GORE (‘butchery’).
11 KNITS A deal of trouble from the East draws closer (5)
A reversal (‘from the East’) of STINK (‘a deal of trouble’).
12 TRUMPETER Musician‘s temper aroused after start-up at intervals (9)
A charade of TRU (‘sTaRt Up at intervals’) plus MPETER, an anagram (‘aroused’) of ‘temper’.
13 NARROWLY Just clergyman’s last pointer disheartened laity (8)
A charade of N (‘clergymaN‘s last’) plus ARROW (‘pointer’) plus LY (‘disheartened LaitY‘).
14 COMMIT Imprison select group of MPs without support, of course (6)
A subtraction: COMMIT[tee] (‘select group of MPs’) minus TEE (‘without support, of course’ – for a golf ‘course’. Of course.)
17 FABLED Legendary sailor ran off to the borders (6)
An envelope (‘to the borders’) of AB (Able-Bodied ‘sailor’) in FLED (‘ran off’).
19 HANGNAIL Exhibit nothing, admitting a digital flaw (8)
A charade of HANG (‘exhibit’) plus NAIL, an envelope (‘admitting’) of ‘a’ in NIL (‘nothing’)
22 LADY’S MAID Above-stairs servant‘s privy constructed, we’re told (5,4)
Sounds like (‘we’re told’) LADIES (‘privy’) plus MADE (‘constructed’).
24 NOOSE Halter quickly flipped over mare’s back (5)
A charade of NOOS, a reversal (‘flipped over’) of SOON (‘quickly’); plus E (‘marE‘s back’).
25 ELITE Cream with fewer calories on last of trifle (5)
A charade of E (‘last of triflE‘) plus LITE (‘with fewer calories’. Hands up all those who wince).
26 ADAM SMITH Economist with German husband joining second president (4,5)
A charade of ADAMS (John, ‘second president’ of the USA) plus MIT (‘with German’) plus H (‘husband’).
27 KEEP TO THE RIGHT Be sinless, as US motorists should? (4,2,3,5)
Definition and literal interpretation.
Down
1 STOCKING FILLER What B&Q’s doing to supply plasterer’s seasonal extra? (8,6)
Definition and literal interpretation. B&Q is a DIY chain, which will stock plasterer’s filler.
2 EMPTIER Comparatively vain agency worker’s first to quit bank (7)
A charade of [t]EMP (‘agency worker’) minus the first letter (‘first to quit’); plus TIER (‘bank’).
3 KERBSTONE Restriction on pavement artist’s work hampers style, so to speak (9)
Sounds like (‘so to speak’) CURBS (‘hampers’) TONE (‘style’).
4 ROOF TILE Gable’s touching part rewritten for Eliot (4,4)
An anagram (‘rewritten’) of ‘for Eliot’.
5 CHERUB Busy butcher has no time for this little charmer (6)
An anagram (‘busy’) of ‘bu[t]cher’ minus the T (‘has no time’).
6 RIG UP Assemble riding kit first (3,2)
A charade of RIG (‘kit’) plus UP (‘riding’).
7 ERRATUM Mistake made by a bishop in not speaking up (7)
A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of an envelope (‘in’) of A RR (‘a bishop’; Right Reverend is the correct mode of referring to a bishop) in MUTE (‘not speaking’).
8 DEERSTALKER HAT Supply athletes with darker headgear (11,3)
An anagram (‘supply’ – in a supple way) of ‘athletes’ plus ‘darker’.
15 ORGANISER Manager‘s journal is here at the centre (9)
A charade of ORGAN (‘journal’) plus ‘is’ plus ER (‘hERe at the centre’).
16 HARD CASH Visa mix-up for Spooner? Here’s an alternative (4,4)
A Spoonerism of CARD HASH; the definition refers back to the ‘Visa mix-up’.
18 BEDSIDE Journalists during stay finding place for an evening tuck-in? (7)
An envelope (‘during’) of EDS (‘journalists’) in BIDE (‘stay’).
20 AVOWING King James’s commission in debt, making a statement (7)
A charade of AV (Authorised Version of the Bible, ‘King James’s commission’) plus OWING (‘in debt’).
21 HAD A GO Tried and went through in the past (3,1,2)
A charade of HAD (‘went through’) plus AGO (‘in the past’).
23 SWEEP Gradually escape, spanning wide range (5)
An envelope (‘spanning’) of W (‘wide’, cricket) in SEEP (‘gradually escape’).
completed grid

48 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,935 by Nutmeg”

  1. A pleasure from Nutmeg as always. I thought the Spoonerism was beautifully clued and loved the misdirection of NARROWLY and HANGNAIL. Didn’t quite finish, having entered SET UP at 6d (got impatient and checked it before solving the crossing 1a and 10a), but enjoyed it even in defeat. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.

  2. It seems to be de rigueur to praise Nutmeg’s work, and this puzzle is no exception. However, sometimes I wonder what the comments here would be like if we didn’t know the setter’s identity in advance of posting. Just a thought experiment, of course, but wouldn’t it be interesting if, say, for the Prize you had to identify the setter too? I don’t think my accuracy would be all that great (except when there are clues involving peeing).

  3. Went to a huge DIY once with the bro-in-law, somewhere on the North Circular but don’t remember its name, hence 1d was a half-parsed loi. Yes a nice Nutmeg to potter through over a cuppa or two. Liked the two uses of ‘supply’, the curbs tone, a right rev in not speaking up, and the Spoonerism. Fun, thanks both.

    I agree, Dr. Wh, I might tell an Arachne from a Vlad, but in general don’t reckon I’d pick setters too well.

  4. Interesting question Dr. WhatOn@2. Like gif@3I am not sure how I’d go with guessing the puzzlers’ identities. But Nutmeg has a characteristic sparkle I reckon – here, for me, those clues were 1a and 1d, SPEAKERS’ CORNER and STOCKING FILLER. I also loved quirky clues like 19a HANGNAIL, as already cited by DaveinNCarolina@1. Other ticks here today for 10a GORGE, 11a KNITS, 22a LADY’S MAID and 8d DEERSTALKER HAT, but to be honest I relished almost every clue I solved. This puzzle gave me great satisfaction.

    I guess when I know it’s Nutmeg I feel like her cluing will always be fair and reliable – and I won’t have to look up anything U/F my newly-acquired print copy of the BRB (even though I do love rustling through its pages rather than using online reference sources!). (Oh, I tell a lie, that being said, after solving 1d, I did have to look up B&Q quickly on Google to confirm them as suppliers of plaster/Spakfilla – I guess like our Bunnings here?)

    Not sure how ORGAN means “journal” in 15d and I just guessed ORGANISER from the crossers, thinking it referred to both the Manager and her daily diary.

    Many thanks to Nutmeg for spicing up my day and to PeterO for a thorough blog.

  6. Another super puzzle from Nutmeg. I wonder whether the juxtaposition in the completed grid of ‘Trump’, ‘Hang’ and ‘Noose’ was coincidental ?

  8. Good question, DrW@2. I reckon I’d identify Paul, Vlad and Arachne, and maybe no others.

    Loved SPEAKERS CORNER, CHERUB and STOCKING FILLER in particular. Many thanks to Nutmeg & PeterO.

  9. Thanks both,
    This was relatively straightforward for me, as compared with yesterday when I got stuck in the SE corner.

    Julie @4 and @5, Bunnings took over a U.K. DIY chain, Homebase, with spectacular lack of success. Also your win prompts me to ask a question which has intrigued me for a while. Is it worth entering crossword competitions? The prizes are relatively small, worth say £25 and if postage is say 60p then you’d need about a one in forty chance of winning to make it worthwhile. Does anybody know how many entries the Guardian prize attracts each week? Alternatively, does anyone regularly submit a solution and, if so, how frequently do they win? (I guess I could do my own research by logging the winners each week and looking for repeated names – but I’m not THAT interested, just curious.)

  10. Tyngewick @9
    I’d say it’s definitely not cost effective to enter most crossword competitions if you have to pay postage.
    I have, in the past, won prizes in most of the broadsheet prize crosswords but I entered for the kudos rather than the prize ( I’m that sad).
    One of my personal hobbyhorses is that the Times continually increases its cover price but does not raise the niggardly crossword prizes, even though I’m sure that plenty of people only buy the paper for the puzzles.
    You can, of course submit to blackmail and subscribe to the papers and then submit the puzzles online.
    Needless to say, I no longer enter the prize puzzles.

  11. Thanks both. I thought this was just the right level of difficulty, and agree with JinA@4 that it’s nice not to have anything up (though before solving 1a, I did wonder whether “curbstone” was a valid variant of KERBSTONE and checked that it was).

    A tiny niggle is that the definition of BEDSIDE isn’t great – you tuck in actually in the bed, not beside it!

    JinA@4, “organ” is often used (usually facetiously) in the UK to refer to a newspaper or periodical.

  14. Another delightful puzzle to brighten up a rainy morn. Liked the longuns best. Spent far too long working out how on earth to fit LADIES MAID into the available space – sorry grammarians.
    Doubt I could ID setters blind – maybe Paul (smut); Vlad (fiendish); Puck (well puckish) and obvs Maskerade for huge grids and unintelligible destructions.
    Thanks to both as ever.

  15. Beaulieu @11. I think of my Mum standing at my bedside to tuck me in, making bedside a fair definition”a place for an evening tuck-in” in 18d to my mind

  16. As others have said, a straightforward puzzle. Maybe it’s me, but I always feel a glow of anticipation when I see Nutmeg’s name at the top of the page, though nowadays I seem to get something honest, straightforward and less of an entertainment than perhaps I expected. Perhaps Arachne is the  more playful/entertaining of the two foremost female setters these days? Not sure…. happy for anyone to convince me that Nutmeg still has that “Paul factor”.

    Talking of which, an interesting thought experiment was proposed there by Dr WhatsOn @2. I couldn’t guarantee I could tell the difference between a Nutmeg and an Arachne given a blind tasting. And since so many setters are adopting Pauline lavatorial cluing, while Paul seems to be rationing it more, not sure if I could tell the difference between Paul and many of the other setters.

    GinF @3, how long ago? I remember there being a huge Do-It-All on the North Circular, but that chain and many others from years back have been absorbed by B&Q and Homebase – and Homebase is struggling….

  17. Oh… and PS… Tyngewick @9…. My mother used to regularly send off prize puzzles. The only thing I recall her winniing was a double pack of playing cards from the Daily Telegraph. And that was a consolation prize.

  19. Ref winning crossword comps. Have won Grauni 3 times and AZED twice in 15 or so years. Don’t know why I enter. Kudos I suppose. AZED though is good with £25 book tokens. As entries for Graunie go to pr agency suggests high number whereas AZEDto York Road which suggests low number

  20. Yes Tris it was a good few years ago, a dozen or so. We bought a paling fence and put it up, and it was well weathered last visit which was in ’08.

  21. Thanks to George Clements@10 and Cedric@19. You have confirmed my conjecture that entering the competitions is not cost effective.

  22. Yes, very enjoyable although I didn’t find the Spoonerism that entertaining. In my opinion, they are better when the Spoonerism is a real phrase.

    Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO.

  24. Agree that this was fun to solve. I doubt that I could in a blind tasting pick the setter, but there are definitely those I seem to be more in tune with, Arachne and Nutmeg being among those. Took a while to complete having thoughtlessly bunged in re-purpose not on purpose (reduce reuse recycle was probably running through my head) which held me up with stocking filler. Liked fabled (LOI), knits and erratum. And, yes, I did wince with cream/elite which also made me smile. Thanks to Nutmeg and to Peter.

  25. Thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO.

    I very much enjoyed this up to a point, with (like JinA) as many favourites as clues solved – perhaps HANGNAIL sticks out – until eventually getting into the west side with a resounding STOCKING FILLER and there it stopped and a DNF as a result of KNITS (but with “draws closer” as the definition and I still don’t get it) and FABLED (but with “to the borders” as a containment indicator, which I was never going to get). Ah me, all very entertaining for all that.

  26. Thank you to Nutmeg and PeterO. An enjoyable and not too testing solve – the relatively straightforward long clues helped considerably.

    I am not sure I would recognise an anonymous setter: part of the pleasure of the Guardian crossword is seeing a particular setter, knowing that you will enjoy their style, and trying to make sure that you are not defeated.

    Tyngewick @9 – I entered the Guardian Prize for many years. So used was I to not winning that when I did eventually do so I only realised when a couple of books arrived through the post. Pride satisfied, I have not submitted since, though I now do Azed and might give that a try, with the juicy £25 in book tokens.

  27. Thanks Nutmeg and PeterO

    Two goes to finish this (interrupted by rather unsuccessful golf). Second go went much faster than the first.

    I really enjoyed it. I don’t like Spooner clues on the whole, but thought 16d a peach of one; another stand out was LOI COMMIT (which I should have got much sooner, considering what I was doing this morning)!

    I didn’t see HAD for “went through” in 21d, and I confess that I still don’t. Could anyone expand on the blog, please?

  28. Thanks Nutmeg for a very enjoyable crossword and PeterO for clearing up quite a lot of parsing – these blogs really are helpful. Today I have added to my GK (RR for bishop) and CK (supply = anagram indicator, potentially – i got the answer as a Holmes fan when all crossers were there but failed abysmally at parsing it). I liked Trumpeter best (but many others also good eg 1D, 16D) and like muffin @27 can’t see why HAD = went through although the answer itself HAD to be right. For Tyngewick @9 – I won the FT weekend cryptic ( a Saturday i think, Mudd rather than Rosa Klebb) a few months ago on my second attempt – the prize is a book and I don’t think the title changes often/at all, thus limiting the appetite for repeat entries, so probably worth a stamp – and the accompanying brief letter of congratulation is going in my scrapbook and worth the price of several stamps! I have a related question but to avoid going further off-topic I will raise it in “General Discussion” later.

  29. Regarding crossword competitions, I have a 100% record! I entered once and won once, and that was last month’s Maskarade. I usually finish the Prize puzzles quite readily, but only entered this one because it took me several days and a lot of effort, and I felt I needed some recognition (Mrs. Dr. W. was not impressed). I faxed the entry from here in the US, but that was free because my plan covers unlimited long distance. The book just arrived this week.

  30. muffin@27: I also paused on HAD but “I had a bad time” and “I went through a bad time” was enough to stop the sniffles, although it’s quite floppy.

  31. [I won my copy of the BRB when my name was drawn out of the hat for successfully solving the 3D Crossword Calendar entry I submitted for September. 3D Crosswords have been a great gift to me and have really expanded my repertoire when it comes to solving. I have also widened my international cryptic crossword network by my participation in the 3Ds. Many of my favourite Guardian setters lend their talents to the charitable causes that are supported by the 3D Calendar Puzzles. I think I have Puck to thank for alerting me to the Calendar via 15² originally. It is a lot of fun.]

    http://www.calendarpuzzles.co.uk/

     

  35. [Dr. WhatsOn@29. Congratulations!

    The synchronicity is interesting.

    My book prize (the BRB aka Chambers) arrived last week.

    My husband could not even begin to understand that, for me, this was Christmas come early.

    Crosswordland is indeed an interesting place.]

  36. On the general theme, I think the only setter I could blind-taste would be Brummie – greater verbosity than the average or something like that. Perhaps Vlad as well for initial (usually) impenetrability. No negatives intended – I like the variety and uniformity would soon jade the palate.

    I once entered a prize crossword and didn’t win. That was the end of that.

  37. Many thanks to Nutmeg for nutty puzzle and to PeterO for the blog.

    One setter I’d probably recognise is Boatman, because he almost always includes at least one explicit self-reference.

    I usually submit my solution to the Genius crossword … my last paper submission was about 30 years ago for an Everyman crossword, and I won £25 (I think, anyway a lot of money back then) – pinnacle of success!

     

  38. Ticks from beginning to end. It took me ages to see LADY’S MAID as I couldn’t think of an L_D_S word even with LADIES written down! Loi was the excellent Spoonerism – they usually are with me – with COMMIT ORGANISER and HANGNAIL coming in a rush just before it.
    I’m sure my mindset going into solving the puzzle is influenced by knowing the setter – you get what you look for. I set off in a positive frame of mind when I see Nutmeg’s name – tight, fair and fun. As for blind solving I think I’d guess a Boatman with his trademark self-referencing clues and maybe Qaos with his number clues.
    Many thanks to Nutmeg and to the lucky PeterO who got to blog this one.

  39. I was too distracted by Brexit shenanigans to do yesterday’s puzzle until late yesterday evening.I didn’t enjoy it much although it was probably quite good. I did enjoy this one though- once Geoffrey Cox sat down anyway- Too many favourites but HANGNAIL was lovely once I’d got it. DEERSTALKER took a while as well.
    I was interested in the comments about blind crosswords. I’ve often wondered if I’d find Enigmatist so difficult if I didn’t know he was the setter!
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  40. Muffin@27
    I had a whole packet of Jaffa cakes once!
    Good puzzle. Took a while to see SPEAKERS CORNER and showed that I had RIG UP wrong (I was another SET UP).
    Thanks, Nutters and PeterO

  41. A DNF for me, as I just could not equate halter with NOOSE, did anybody else stumble with this.  Rather like wine I do not think I would be any good at blind tasting.  What I think is most interesting about Dr. WhatsOn’s idea is whether certain setters would take as much flack if we did not know who they were.  Poor old Rufus took a regular pounding which I always thought was unfair.  Having said that, he was one of the most identifiable of setters.  I think I might know The Don because there would always be at least a half a dozen words I had never heard of as answers. Anyway many thanks to Nutmeg and PeterO

  42. Just a small question to all the winners (apart from my mother….) What is BRB and why is it synonymous with Chambers?

  43. Although I’m not a winner, Trismegistus, I’ll answer your question. It’s the Big Red Book. Chambers Dictionary is now traditionally red, though we have an old black one and an even older brown one!

    It seems an unwelcome prize for a crossword, as most solvers presumably already have one (though mine is dated a bit).

  44. muffin @42 thank you! I guess there are many Big Red Books, least of all Monty Python’s, so it wasn’t obvious to me. And didn’t Chairman Mao have a Little Red Book?

     

  47. I came late to today’s crossword so don’t expect much feedback to the following:
    I completed The Scotsman weekend prize crossword for years to try to win a Cross ballpoint pen. I eventually gave up and bought one.
    I also used to do a French crossword in France magazine which demands probably a reasonably advanced level of French and won a Beginners’ course in French.

  48. Julie @4
    I know Bunnings almost as well as B&Q and can tell you that they are very similar.
    [Glad you are enjoying your BRB, which, as it is a new one, must be two editions newer than mine! Glad also that you mentioned the 3d Calendar puzzles, as I can vouch for the quality of the 12 puzzles I completed in 2018 and the enjoyment I had from them.]

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