Guardian Cryptic 27,951 by Vulcan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27951.

I get the feeling in some of the clues that, rather than being lead to the answer, I am being pointed in the right direction and given a gentle push. This is in uncommon amongst many other setters, but are those clues inherently any the worse for that? I am not sure (although it does seem to result in some clunkers). In any case, there are enough “standard” clues here to enjoy.

Across
8 MAGNOLIA Moving along, aim for tree (8)
An anagram (‘moving’) of ‘along aim’.
9 ELATED Very happy to be one of the family? Not at first (6)
A subtraction: [r]ELATED (‘one of the family’) minus the first letter (‘not at first’).
10   See 2
11 BAKED BEANS Food for hotheads? (5,5)
A charade of BAKED (‘hot’) plus BEANS (‘heads’).
12 PLUCKY Brave, attempting the banjo? (6)
Definition and punning reference.
14 GAUNTLET One’s on hand potentially to issue a challenge (8)
Definition.
15 ASSAULT Attack a sailor verbally (7)
Sounds like (‘verbally’) A SALT (‘a sailor’).
17 STRINGY Mean to keep recipe for such poor-quality meat (7)
An envelope (‘to keep’) of R (‘recipe’) in STINGY (‘mean’). The definition is problematical, in that on the face of it, STRINGY is an adjective, and the underlined portion of the clue seems to indicate a noun. Is the intention that STRINGY should be read as a noun, on the lines of “streaky” for streaky bacon? If so, I cannot trace any justification for this use. Or is ‘such’ intended to indicate an adjective? A similar use seems to be in play in 4D; I find it less objectionable there, but they are both rather woolly.
20 COMPOUND Enclosure is not simple (8)
Double definition.
22 RESENT Object to being given errand, not for the first time (6)
RE-SENT.
23 NEEDLEWORK Want extremely lucrative job: sewer business? (10)
A charade f NEED (‘want’) plus LE (‘extremely LucrativE‘) plus WORK (‘job’), with a cryptic definition.
24, 24 down SLIPSHOD  Careless mistakes with brickie’s equipment (8)
A charade of SLIPS (‘mistakes’) plus HOD (‘brickie’s equipment’).
25 GO BUST Try sculpture and fail (2,4)
A charade of GO (‘try’) plus BUST (‘sculpture’).
26 RANSOMED In foreign currency, a few demanded money for freedom (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of SOME (‘a few’) in RAND (‘foreign currency’).
Down
1 DAMOCLES Lad comes for punishment: he received suspended death sentence (8)
An anagram (‘for punishment’) of ‘lad comes’; with a cryptic definition.
2, 10 ANTELOPE Neat moves, to run browser (8)
A charade of ANTE, an anagram (‘moves’) of ‘neat’ plus LOPE (‘run’).
3 OLD BOY Bloody nonsense, my dear chap! (3,3)
An anagram (‘nonsense’) of ‘bloody’.
4 PACKAGE Prepare a long time for such a holiday? (7)
A charade of PACK (‘prepare’, in the context of the ‘holiday’) plus AGE (‘a long time’).
5 HEADHUNT Try to identify candidate to take charge of school? (8)
Definition and literal allusion? “Cryptic definition” does not seem to me to fit the bill, and if you can come up with a better description of the clue, be my guest – in any case, the intention is obvious.
6 TAPESTRIES They go up the wall, as striptease performed (10)
An anagram (‘performed’) of ‘striptease’, with an amusing cryptic definition.
7 SEANCE Hopefully, a spirited session (6)
Cryptic definition.
13 CLAPPED OUT Exhausted, but well received as you leave (7,3)
Definition and literal interpretation.
16 LAUREATE Line, golden, from this poet? (8)
A charade of L (‘line’) plus AUREATE (‘golden’).
18 GENTILES Not the chosen people — one is covered in maggots (8)
An envelope (‘is covered in’) of I (‘one’) in GENTLES (‘maggots’).
19 ADJOURN Put off taking a day over most of magazine (7)
A charade of ‘a’ plus D (‘day’) plus JOURN[al] (‘magazine’) minus its last two letters (‘most of’).
21 OREGON From Reno, go travelling — north, to here (6)
An anagram (‘travelling’) of ‘Reno go’ – with an extended definition, of course.
22 RAKING Inclining to be collecting leaves (6)
Double definition. I have spent much of today in the latter.
24   See 24 across
completed grid

36 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,951 by Vulcan”

  1. Yes PeterO, re 5d, I wondered whether ‘school’ is a term used in a hunting context, fox or other.

  2. A gentle push in the intended direction is pretty apt for some this setter’s clues, but no objections here. Haven’t seen the word hod for ages, due maybe to its being not needed in the land of the single storey house on its quarter-acre (not entirely so in recent decades). I liked Damocles, although it added an extra shiver to what was on the radio at the time, to do with the state of the planet. In contrast, aureate is a lovely word, evoking a halo round a Botticelli figure. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  3. Enjoyabe for the most part, but I could not parse the HUNT part of HEADHUNT, and I failed to solve DAMOCLES and the LOPE part of ANTELOPE. I agree that STRINGY seemed problematic.

    Thanks Peter and Vulcan.

  4. Fav was Damocles. TILT: gentles= worms. I agree difficult to classify 5d but also agree that intention obvious. A pleasant way to spend time over a cuppa. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  6. Thanks very much to Vulcan and PeterO. Not too easy, not too hard.

    I also learned “gentles” for maggots today, ngaio@4, though I had to look it up after solving to check it, and then I thought I should know it as it felt vaguely Shakespearean. Thanks gif@2 – I like it when you and others mention the thoughts evoked by certain words – words are amazing and powerful and I love them – even when, like Damocles, they make me feel like it is a scary world to live in.

    I thought 2d 10a ANTE LOPE was really tough to get and therefore my LOI. IMO there were several clues that were fun to solve: 9a ELATED, 24a 24d SLIP SHOD, 3d OLD MAN (great Neil Young song, BTW) and 18d GENTILES (memories of its mispronunciation in many a scripture class by unwary students!). My take on 5d HEADHUNT was simply the practice of looking for a decent new Principal, without HUNT being necessarily clued in the wordplay. I thought STRINGY at 17a read okay – as in poor-quality meat is such…and I also didn’t mind 4d PACKAGE as in a holiday package (airfares, hotels etc included). But perhaps it’s just that I am having a mellow Monday.

  7. Yeah I’m sure you’re right about headhunt, JinA, no need to complicate it. And yes, a package holiday is still a thing, I think.

  9. Slipshod last one in, and I’m never quite sure whether the difference between Maggots and Gentles is a regional thing. Gentles in the North, Maggots in the South? A while since I went fishing/angling…

  11. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

    I enjoyed this – not as easy as Vulcan often is. Favourites SLIPSHOD, DAMOCLES and CLAPPED OUT.

  12. Thanks both.

    Found this rather pale stuff on the whole.

    I was going to question STRINGY but now presume it was a simple oversight.  There’s a similar issue for me at PLUCKY, but this one escapes scrutiny due to the pun.

    Was being a bit thick about OREGON as I didn’t know where Reno was until I looked it up.

    A solitary tick at GO BUST.

    Nice week, all.

  14. Plenty of mention of PACKAGE HOLIDAYS of late with the Thomas Cook issue.
    Enjoyed this but even better was JinA’s commentary. You express yourself so well with such a range of interesting references. ?
    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO (always a nice early blog).

  16. Gaufrid@13…silly me, of course I see now that it was Qaos on Friday (in more ways than one in my head, quite obviously), as I was distracted by a reference on the blog to an article about Philistine that day in The Guardian, describing his recent appearance at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. Mystery solved, mea culpa and all that…

  17. Good Monday challenge. I think as ‘such’ can mean: ‘of the type that is being mentioned’ it works fine to provide an adjective or adjectival noun.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  18. Very enjoyable as usual with this setter, many thanks Vulcan and thank you PeterO for the informative early blog.  Am I the only one that finds the devise at 2d and 24a a trifle upsetting? In effect we only have 2 crossers for an 8 letter word!  Just asking!!  Favourites were NEEDLEWORK for the lovely cryptic definition and as mentioned by others DAMOCLES

  20. Spanza@18, I guess I just thought, are both parts of each answer words in themselves? Then I thought of “up the ANTE” and I was okay with 2d. But I did find the fact that both eight letter words involved crossers a little tricky – I was okay with 24a24d SLIP SHOD because I intuited it straight away, but as I say, I had trouble with 2d10a ANTE LOPE, which took me an inordinately long time to solve.

  21. Good Monday stuff. Loved BAKED BEANS, and ANTELOPE once I had got it (LOI for me). Many thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  23. An enjoyable Monday puzzle.  Some of the clues were a bit vague and allusive as you say, PeterO, but they were mostly gettable all the same.

    SPanza @18: yes my last two were 2d and 24a, I think for the reason you suggest.

    JinA @6: there is indeed a Neil Young song called “Old Man”, but the answer to 3d is OLD BOY.  I can’t imagine Neil addressing anyone as the latter!

    Many thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  24. [Thanks Lord Jim@23: you are clearly right. My first entry was “OLD MAN” (old chap), later corrected to “OLD BOY” – a wonderful anagram of “BLOODY” when I saw it. Embarrassed now that you picked up on my (misguided) crazy (horse) thought pattern.]

  26. A mostly straightforward solve but the last three, headhunt, stringy and gentiles took longer to solve than the rest of the crossword put together. Favourites for me today were old boy and Damocles both of which made me smile. Thanks to both Vulcan and PeterO.

  27. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

    Much to enjoy and, yes, waggle the eyebrows at a but I always allow a bit of elastication on Monday.  My experience was mirrored by JinA, with ANTELOPE the last one in after much heat-ray vision deployment.  But best was GENTILES which evoked distant memories of an elder brother explaining to me that “gentle” was a synonym for “maggot”, something I have never forgotten over the many intervening decades, but yet something I have never managed to work into a conversation.  I don’t think I’ve seen it in the interim, so a sweet pang of nostalgia.

    On the 8-letter split, I always wince at the sight but the commonality of one letter, even  if not an actual crosser, is usually sufficient to unlock and (as frequently noted here previously) as long as the components are words in their own right the device is justifiable – just – imho. (I think I’ve mellowed on this…)

    An unfriendly grid no?

  28. Enjoyable enough but I didn’t know the gentle maggots and I wasn’t too sure about RAKISH until I thought of “rakish angle”. I take the points made about STRINGY but it seemed all right to me at the time of solving. I liked PLUCKY and SLIP SHOD.
    Thanks Vulcan.

  29. ”gentles” was a new one for me: I knew the word from Shakespeare – but had always supposed it to be some play on “gentlemen” and that it was the kind of gag that had them falling about in Will’s day. Maggots, eh? I shall try to work that word into a conversation at some point.
    I enjoy Vulcan’s oeuvres and there’s always something that makes me smile. My fave today was NEEDLEWORK, largely because I was taken in at first by the wordplay and spent far longer than I should thinking about the Bazalgette family: 19C Joseph, the much-admired creator of effective sewer-networks, and present-day Peter, whose reality TV series have made him decidedly wealthy (far be it for me say that one got rid of rubbish from our homes and the other brought it back in…..) before the real answer occurred to me! Thanks Vulcan – and thanks too to Peter O

  31. A very pleasant solve – we really like Vulcan, but – now we are becoming a little more experienced – spent
    ages looking for themes and ninas.

    And, as great fans of pedantry central, delighted by baerchen’s ruling regarding worms and maggots. Would it have mattered to Marvell’s Coy Mistress, I wonder?

  32. Is it too nit-picky to point out that a HOD does not form part of a brickie’s equipment? The hod is used by the hod-carrier who brings the building materials to the waiting brickie (not, one hopes, waiting too long).

  33. Thank you to Vulcan and Peter O. … as usual I enjoyed reading the blog at least as much as solving the puzzle.  I was a little annoyed by “browser” as the definition of antelope (we have run into this before: fish, boy, girl etc. where the number of names is almost infinite). Also, I thought definition by example required a question mark or some indication. Needless to say, I didn’t know gentles and spent some time trying to turn “maggots I” into some hitherto unknown anagram of goyim.

  35. Enjoyed the crossword, but I don’t accept browser as a definition for antelope 2D/10A. Some are browsers, but many are grazers. It’s like using “walker” as the definition for ostrich.

    But I stick to my first – enjoyable crossword and thanks to Vulcan for the pleasure.

     

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