Guardian Cryptic 27,940 by Pasquale

by

Challenging and clever, with some tricky parsing and a couple of obscure words that slowed me down towards the end. Favourites were 10/11ac, 14ac, 1dn, and 4dn. Thanks to Pasquale.

Across
8 MINOTAUR Greek character pinned by relatively insignificant monster … (8)
  TAU=”Greek [alphabet] character” inside MINOR=”relatively insignificant”
9 TAUTOG … that character taken around fish (6)
  TAU=the same “character” from the linked clue 8ac, plus GOT=”taken” reversed/”around”
10, 11 HOW’S YOUR FATHER  It is a question about the old man’s health (4,4,6)
  “It” is a definition, meaning sex; and the remainder of the surface is a more literal definition
11   See 10
 
12 BOFFIN Expert leaving to enter wine store (6)
  OFF=”leaving” in BIN=”wine store”, as in a case or stand for holding wine
14 HAIRCUTS Maybe helmet’s protecting Irish copper in top operations (8)
  HAT’S=”Maybe helmet’s” around both: IR (Irish) + CU=chemical symbol for “copper”
15 OSTRICH This rock not completely malleable? I allegedly use sand! (7)
  Ostriches are said to bury their heads in the sand
(This roc[k])*
17, 19 AGAINST ALL ODDS  Most unexpectedly opposing everything offered by bookmaker (7,3,4)
  AGAINST=”opposing” + ALL ODDS=”everything offered by bookmaker”
20 MOTHBALL Books (hardback) in shopping centre store for a long time (8)
  OT (Old Testament)=”books” + HB (hardback), inside MALL=”shopping centre”
22 CANARD Article in comic is only a rumour (6)
  =an unreliable rumour
AN=indefinite “Article” in CARD=”comic” or comical person
23 RABBIT HOLE Underground accommodation teacher has to put up with in Scotland (6,4)
  RABBI=”teacher” + THOLE=Scottish word for ‘endure’, ‘suffer’=”put up with in Scotland”
24 TOIL Labour‘s material electorate finally discarded (4)
  TOILE=a thin cotton material, with electoratE’s final letter removed
25 BUNYAN One who wrote about pilgrim with no heart retreating (6)
  John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress
NAY=”no” NUB=central point=”heart”, all reversed/retreating
26 DRAMBUIE A rum and I’d be exceptionally cordial (8)
  “cordial” can mean ‘liqueur’
(a rum I’d be)*
Down
1 RIGOROUS Severe operatic prince in endless stir (8)
  IGOR=”operatic prince” as in Price Igor; inside ROUS[e]=”endless stir”
2, 13 JOBS FOR THE BOYS  Treatment favouring chums that sounds sexist? (4,3,3,4)
 
3 CANYON Gulf that vessel floats on (6)
  YON=”that”, with CAN=container, “vessel” on top
4 WROUGHT What is to some extent raw, rough, till beaten into shape (7)
  hidden in raW ROUGH Till
5 STIFLING Agitation no end with affair that is oppressive (8)
  STI[r]=”Agitation no end” + FLING=”affair”
6, 24 EUSTACHIAN TUBE A hit tune, almost because somehow it connects to the listener (10,4)
  =a part of the ear or “listener”
(A hit tune becaus[e])*
7 SOLENT Fish not deprived of oxygen in stretch of water (6)
  =a strait between the Isle of Wight and England
SOLE=”Fish” + N[O]T deprived of O (Oxygen)
13   See 2
 
16 COASTING Firm given top grade, smart and doing well with little effort (8)
  CO (Company)=”Firm” + A=”top grade” + STING=feel a sharp pain=”smart”
18 SARDINIA Island noise interrupting end of wondrous song (8)
  DIN=”noise” inside [wondrou]S + ARIA=”song”
19   See 17
 
21 OPAQUE Obscure work — a strange hesitation to avoid it (6)
  OP=opus, “work” + A + QUE[er]=”strange” without ‘er’=”hesitation”
22 CRETAN Islander certain to migrate, leaving island behind (6)
  (certa[i]n)* minus the I for “island”
24   See 6
 

39 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,940 by Pasquale”

  1. Thanks Pasquale and manehi

    I was on Pasquale’s wavelength for this one and got off to a flying start by having the two long ones as write-ins. I got held up later by first thinking of HOBBIT HOLE for 23a (a “hobbi” could be a Scottish teacher perhaps?), but OPAQUE corrected that.

    It wouldn’t be Pasquale if there wasn’t at least one word I hadn’t heard of; today’s was TAUTOG.

  3. Minor point: the Eustachian tube definition is more than just “part of the ear” – as you have underlined, manehi, it connects the ear to the mouth, allowing pressure in the middle ear to be equalised with external pressure.

  5. A DNF for me unfortunately – couldn’t get 9a TAUTOG or 7d SOLENT. Thanks for the contribution to my knowledge base, Pasquale, as always.

    I liked the ones you liked, manehi, and also 6,24d EUSTACHIAN TUBE. I also really appreciated your blog, which helped explain a few question marks, like the parsing of 23a RABBIT HOLE.

    Thanks also to contributors so far; I will also be interested in how others found it.

    [Thanks to kind contributors for the follow-up comments on Belgium yesterday. I would dearly love to visit the country, including both Ghent and Bruges, one day.]

  7. Yes, cordial in my childhood was flavouring that’s added to water, but SOED has ‘sweetened spirit’, so hmm. Took as long as the rest of the puzzle deciding that ‘got’ was the only three-letter past participle with an ‘o’ in it that I could think of, hence that the improbable-sounding tautog must be a fish; it was; who knew? Solent that gave the ‘o’, otoh, is a regular. Thole for ‘put up with’ less so, but remembered from previous cws. I always chuckle at “Fancy a bit of 10,11” as a pull line, so deliciously quirky. I suppose other languages have similar; any examples from our linguists? Great puzzle, over too soon apart from the fish, thanks Don and manehi.

  9. “Liqueur” and “cordial” are pretty much interchangeable here in the US, so I had no trouble with Drambuie. A quick search of dictionaries indicates that the liqueur meaning seems mainly North American, whereas the non-alcoholic syrup term (which I’d never heard of) is mainly UK and Australia. So it might have been fairer if the clue had indicated “cordial to Americans” or something along those lines.

  10. Very enjoyable.  I particularly liked the “expert leaving to enter wine store” at 12a, and the clever inclusion at 4d.

    For me, one of the high points in doing crosswords is working out an answer I’ve never heard of, thinking “Surely that can’t really exist?”, looking it up and there it is!  TAUTOG at 9a was a classic example of this.

    Many thanks Pasquale and manehi.

  11. NNI @ 4 I was disabused of a similar belief very recently (Galliano related googling) when I came across a number of old adverts describing alcoholic drinks as cordials (Campari was one), I looked it up was surprised to learn that cordial as a sweet drink rather than as a non-alcoholic drink is well established usage.

    Found this tough in places but no complaints, thanks to Pasquale and manehi.

  12. A lovely puzzle with Pasquale’s usual elegant style. It was a dnf for me as I had THE instead of ALL and despite having come up with MALL I didn’t revisit it so didn’t get MOTHBALL. I also decided to test out my recently acquired Bradshaw’s to see if there was a 6 letter fish listed that fitted the bill – and there it was :-). I liked the link with 8a – unusually the ….. meant something. Thanks to Pasquale and manehi.

  15. I looked for a theme today. Found a bunch of geographic terms, a bunch of animal terms (including canard if you know French), and of course the Cretan Minotaur, but nothing really compelling.

  16. copmus@14: I’m irresistibly reminded of a certain Limerick:

    On the breast of a barmaid in Sale
    Is tattoo’d the price of brown ale
    And on her behind
    For the sake of the blind
    Is the same information in Braille

  17. poc @16 –  I am sure that your limerick was hilarious 50 years ago but it is somewhat odd that you feel a need to share it in 2019.

  18. Thanks to Pasquale and manehi – the question is, will I remember the helpfully-clued fish should it turn up again?

  20. I enjoyed this and was pleasantly surprised to encounter only one unfamiliar word, the aforementioned fish. I didn’t quite get there, as I couldn’t guess the JOBS part of 2, 13d. Is that a well known phrase in the UK, similar to the now-defunct “male help wanted” in US newspapers?

    Thanks to Pasquale and manehi.

  21. Not a lot to add here, sounds like my experience like many others. Had to check on the ear tube and the fish, but most of the rest came readily. Favourites were mothball and rabbit hole, and thanks to Pasquale for the challenge and manehi for clarifying a few bits of parsing.

  22. ginf@19 – i think Rip has been asleep for 100 years, woke up yesterday and decided to “get modern” last night.

    Enjoyable, thanks to the Don and manehi. And le blogeur du jour, manehi

  23. TAUTOG just sounded too improbable to be a real word (see Lord Jim @10) so I ended up with the more plausible sounding ‘taunoy’ – ‘yon’ for ‘that’ (again) being reversed. Pity that plausibility can’t always be relied upon. Maybe I should have taken the advice of John BUNYAN – He who would valiant be… – and taken a chance.

    It took a while to work out what was going on, but MOTHBALL was my favourite.

    Thanks to Pasquale and manehi

  24. Van Winkle @ 17 It is indeed shocking and sadly outdated, very few blind people can read braille, a QR code on her other breast or some audible indication telling where to point their devices for text to speech would be far more inclusive.

  25. grantinfreo @7:  The only equivalent to “How’s you father” I’ve come across is “faire une partie de jambes en l’air”.

  27. DaveinNCarolina @20

    “Jobs for the boys” in England is basically the operation of the old school network – too often Eton!

  28. Fewer obscurities than usual made this a fairly quick solve, though thole and TAUTOG were new to me

    Thanks to Pasquale and manehi

  29. My comment @17 was made on the basis, of course, that it was exclusive of us younger people who do not understand what “brown ale” is. Not for the hilarious presumption that the bodies of female bar staff are part of the service they provide and that it is their role to be groped. I think we should all make a point of reciting the limerick the next time we are ordering at the pub. Free drinks all round!

    [… and the limerick had not the smallest relevance to the crossword.]

  31. Well ripposted Van Winkle, and you are right of course: no more groping or ogling or Tearsheeting. Sigh. It’s hard to give them up.

  32. 22 down was my last one in and it took ages for the penny to drop.Funny that, considering where in Greece I live…

  33. Well this was quite a treat even if I didn’t bother to parse BUNYAN, so obvious was it! I didn’t know TAUTOG of course, and I’m pleased to note that many others didn’t either.
    One of this setter’s more accessible puzzles.
    Thanks Pasquale.

  34. Ta for jambes en l’air, William, and it rather illustrates the point, doesn’t it; physical, as against the oblique slyness of ow’s yer faver.

  35. Remember buying a ladybird book about the Minotaur in 1980 when I was a teen here in Nairobi. LOI RIGOROUS.

  36. Thanks poc@16, that one is going into my reprint of the Braille edition of the “Groper’s Handbook”, politically incorrect and dated though it is 🙂

    All those who don’t like it will have to thole in silence while dining on a steamed tautog.

  37. Completed late in the day, and thought it an elegant and fair puzzle. The TAUTOG was new for us as for many, and help was needed with the parsing of CANYON and OPAQUE. But I am posting mainly to give thanks for the lovely and quite off the point spat about the barperson. What a great little corner of the universe this is! Thanks to Pasquale, manehi, poc, Van Winkle et al from me and Yorkshire Lass.

  38. Nice puzzle, thanks to The Don. Thanks too to Manehi and second what Irishman said about fun in the contributions today. Nothing like a bit of controversy in the posts.

  39. I am always behind the times as I solve (or fail to do so) at leisure. But want to add my thanks and, I trust, anodyne limerick:

    A fellow who owned a small co.
    wrote a sign which proclaimed he would tho.
    person he saw
    dumping dirt at his door.
    And they read it, and they didn’t do.

Comments are closed.