Guardian 27,983 – Imogen

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Quite a tricky one from Imogen today, with a few words that may be unfamiliar to some, but also some easier clues to get things started. Thanks to Imogen.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. ROAD TRAIN Radar not working to pin down one Aussie convoy (4,5)
I in (RADAR NOT)*. A road train consists of a number of trailers pulled by a single “engine”, so I’m not sure it can really be described as a convoy, which consists of multiple vehicles
10. ROACH Fabulous bird takes hour to eat a fish (5)
A in ROC + H
11. IRON MAN Female? No! (4,3)
Female = Fe + male = IRON (chimical symbol) + MAN, &lit (though women do take part in Ironman events)
12. ITALICS They emphasise it’s about a girl, mostly (7)
ALIC[E] in IT’S
13. EVADE Manage to miss ex-PM turning back to wave (5)
Reverse of DAVE (as David Cameron supposedly asked to be called) + the “back” letter of wavE
14. ROTUNDITY Stoutness of daughter one embraces after decline (9)
ROT (decine) + D in UNITY
16. HEALTH‑CONSCIOUS One’s drunk, awake: knowing one should drink less? (6-9)
HEALTH (as in drink someone’s health) + CONSCIOUS (awake)
19. POLE VAULT In the event, where John Paul II might have been laid to rest? (4,5)
Double definition – John Paul II was famously the “Polish Pope”
21. CREPE In rubber, move stealthily, advancing quietly (5)
CREEP with the P (piano, quietly) advanced, i.e. moved nearer the start
22. FABERGE His marvellous royal eggs regularly sent over (7)
FAB (marvellous) + ER (he Queen, a “royal”) + reverse of EgGs, &lit, with reference to Fabergé eggs
23. MISERLY Ungenerous to be left in wretchedness (7)
L in MISERY
24. MILNE Breakdown finally in short journey: getting AA (5)
[breakdow]N in MILE, to give the creator of Winne The Pooh et al
25. COMPENDIA Reference works from which man copied wrongly (9)
(MAN COPIED)*
Down
1. CRUISE SHIP Pleasure craft, one that could launch a missile? (6,4)
Double definition, with reference to Cruise missiles
2. SAYONARA Keep silent, then hurried up with a goodbye (8)
SAY 0 (keep silient) + reverse of RAN + A. Japanese word for goodbye, literally meaning “if that’s the way it is”
3. STYMIE Block son taking my turn in match (6)
S + reverse of MY in TIE (e.g. a football match, as in cup tie)
4. PAWN Man and wife accepted by god (4)
W in PAN
5. INDISTINCT Vague hunch about policeman (10)
DI (Detective Inspector) in INSTINCT (hunch)
6. ARMAGNAC Work out anagram to get cold drink (8)
Anagram of ANAGRAM + C
7. TAHINI Area gets diluted covering before I paste (6)
A[rea] in THIN + I
8. RHYS Rich husband you seek? Look first for a Welshman (4)
First letters of Rich Husband You Seek
14. RECRUDESCE From sports ground, secured criminal is to break out again (10)
REC (sports ground) + SECURED
15. YESTERYEAR In the past ate rye doubly cooked, grabbing seconds (10)
S in anagram of ATE RYE RYE
17. TAVERNER Overtax salaried man, not a landlord (8)
Reverse of VAT (“over tax”) + EARNER less A – landlord in the sense of one who keeps a pub
18. OVERRODE Put aside exhausted horse (8)
If you OVER-RODE a horse then you may have exhausted it
20. LABILE Unstable California city’s anger (6)
L[os] A[ngeles] + BILE
21. COSSET Pamper commander’s circle (6)
CO’S SET
22. FUME In coal, say, endless money — and smoke (4)
M[oney] in endless FUE[L]
23. MEME Selfish clamour that’s passed non-genetically? (4)
The selfish clamour is people crying “me! me!”. The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins to describe ideas etc passed between people in a way analogous to the transfer of genes

53 comments on “Guardian 27,983 – Imogen”

  1. I’m glad you cleared up the road train thing. It most certainly is not a convoy.

    Passing one of the b****s on  a narrow dirt road is bad enough as it is.

  2. Thanks Andrew and Imogen

    I thought I completed this, but had OVERRIDE (exhausted = OVER, horse = RIDE) – anybody else?

    Mike

  5. Ditto re convoy, and overrode for put aside is a bit loose as well. Overall both looser and cuter than usual for the sometimes obscurely scholarly Imogen, eg Fe male, drunk health, Pole vault, and say o. AA was ‘que?’ and then d’oh. Top half no prob, and when rotundity led to recrudesce (a bit erk) the last half-dozen in the south wrote themselves. All good fun, thanks both.

    PS everyone said how easy the prize was; yes, but can only think of two candidates for 3d, neither of which clicks; probly a culture blank.

  6. A tricky crossword – I too had OVERRIDE.

    My favourites were 11a – because I got the FE straight away, which makes a change; 24a for the AA and the sneakily clever 8d

    Thanks to Imogen for the early morning brain stretching and to Andrew for sorting it all out

  9. Yes, minty@2, I put override too.  I thought it worked v well as George Clements@4 says.  I went back just now to use check to see what the kosher answer is.  So I was wrong but I still think override is right.  Or just as right.  Good fun and a really good workout.  I particularly enjoyed 11ac.  Good stuff, Andrew.

  11. Yep, crypticsue@8 – I also took ride to be a noun.  Thing is put aside can be present or past tense.  But “horse” requires a synonym and rode aint that.

  12. Terri@11, in overrode, the horse is understood, a tacit generic as it were. That said, if I’d seen both, I might well have preferred ride. Just dumb luck in the messy neural lottery!

  13. Another Override here and thwarted for a while by the little matter of A A Milne (very clever disguise), and Fume in the extremity of the SW corner.

  14. Great set of clues-I may have seen female before but it hasnt gone cold yet. I hadnt seen the “event” before so extra chuckle there.

    The AA was exceptional and the only one up for VAR is the horse-cant remember which way I dived

    A very enjoyable solve. Thanks Andrew and Imogen

  16. My favourites were IRON MAN, EVADE, SAYONARA, and POLE VAULT which made me laugh!

    I could not parse 17d – did not think of VAT.

    New word for me was ‘recrudescence’.

    Thanks Imogen and Andrew.

  17. Another OVERRIDE, which counts as a win, I think.

    Not quite as tricky as some from Imogen, although I ground to a halt before solving the last few. I particularly liked POLE VAULT, SAYONARA, TAVERNER and MEME.

    Thanks Imogen and Rew (apparently rew is a variant of rue and row according to the BRB or as a name, variant of Rowe – useless-fact-for-the-day.)

  18. Many thanks to Imogen and Andrew – I too chose OVERRIDE over OVERRODE. Failed to parse IRON MAN, one of my favourites now.

     

  19. Thank you Imogen for a challenging, but enjoyable, puzzle and Andrew for a helpful blog.

    Another OVERRIDE here.

    I think ‘In the past’ is the definition for YESTERYEAR, but what is the ‘In’ doing in 21a, or the ‘In the’ in 19a?

    The ‘His’ in 22a is not part of the word play, so I think the clue is a semi-&lit.

  20. Thanks Imogen and Andrew

    I thought OVERRIDE at first, as i exhausted + horse, but I think the true definition is ‘exhausted horse’, which for me makes OVERRODE the correct and unequivocal correct answer. It’s an excellent piece of misdirection by Imogen, imo.

  22. Same as most people OVERRIDE and favourites IRON MAN POLE VAULT. It took me ages to get HEALTH despite having the first letter and CONSCIOUS. A tilt with RECRUDESCE as well so all in all an enjoyable solve – thanks to Imogen and Andrew.

  23. Yet another override here. I disagree with SimonS. Override is the better. Now to war like the bigenders and littleenders.

  24. An excellent crossword that had (for me) a more challenging left side. I even had ‘-CONSCIOUS’ at 16a and had to wait for the initial H before completing that answer.
    There were a few unknown words, but I had no difficulty getting them.
    I thought 18d had to be OVERRIDE because, as well as fitting the definition just as well, it has the components ‘over’ (exhausted) and ‘ride’ (horse). OVERRODE does not mean ‘exhausted horse’: it means ‘exhausted’ (when applied to, say, a horse).
    Many thanks to Imogen and Andrew.

  26. Thanks Imogen and Andrew.

    Another vote for IRON MAN as favourite, and another for the OVERRIDE option.

    I had an unparsed MELEE (which could possibly be defined as “breakdown”) at 24a, until the Check button put me right.

  27. I thought IRONMAN was very good, but not an &lit. Neither was FABERGE, as noted by Cookie@19. As I said a few weeks ago, these kinds of clues are not gold but iron pyrites.

    Agree again with Cookie regarding the superfluous “In”s. Isn’t “short” also superfluous in 24a?

    Imo, not only is override right, but overrode is wrong.

    “Turning back” very clever in 13a.

  28. I’m a bit slow, can someone please explain the parsing of Iron Man in slightly simpler terms? I get that you have to split Fe-male to get Iron and Man, but what does the No? do? Normally, I’d expect a word like that to tell you to look for something that is not female, but Iron Man is not an antonym for female (and as others have pointed out, the event is open to all). Does just calling it & Lit excuse this? Thanks in advance.

  29. Thanks both,

    Having some doubt that ‘crepe’ alone could mean rubber, I looked it up in oed. I was wrong, but I learned the word ‘crape’ as an alternative to ‘crepe’ for the crinkly fabric. Paul could doubtless clue it.

  31. Thanks Imogen and Andrew

    I too think OVERRIDE is the better answer. Unsurprisingly I disliked the “In”s starting 19 and 21 a. “ex-PM” to give DAVE in 13a is loose (and disrepectful!). COMPENDIA aren’t “reference works”; they are collections of works (the Punch compendium for example).

    I did like TAVERNER and MEME.

  32. Thanks to Imogen and Andrew.

    All has been said, but I did enjoy this – finger poised over the “reveal” button and withdrawn regularly with a quiet sigh as the penny dropped.  Apart from LOI RECRUDESCE which I can’t see myself working into a conversation any time soon. TILT was MEME (thanks Andrew) which I’ve often seen and kind of understood, but now I have it.  I hope.

  35. The Ironman race is normally spelled without a space in the middle, so is the IRON MAN in question here the superhero, with “No!” acting as the def because the character isn’t female?

    Thanks to Imogen and Andrew

  36. In step with the majority for once- I was another OVERRIDE! Really enjoyed this. Indeed, best of the week so far in my view. I particularly liked IRON MAN and MILNE,oh and FABERGE made me smile.
    Thanks Imogen.

  37. Presumably ‘overrode’ was the setter’s intended answer. Yet this interestingly seems to be irrelevant to several commentators who appear to entertain the idea that clues write themselves. Has the crossword entered the postmodern age? I for one would like to hear from Imogen.

  38. Thanks Imogen, Andrew

    I put OVERRIDE, but feel like I got it wrong.  Exhausted is not a good synonym for over.  Exhausted means finished when it relates to a resource – i.e. used up.  Over means finished in time.

    On the other hand, Alan B @ 24 makes a good point that overrode means ‘exhausted’ rather than ‘exhausted horse’.  While Chambers gives ‘to exhaust by too much riding’ as a definition, it also gives override as a transitive verb.

    On my extra hand, I don’t like ‘put aside’ for overrode.  Override might mean ‘set aside’ but that’s not quite the same.

  39. Tupu @37

    I think the point is that a clue with two equally valid answers is a poor one, especially when the contentious letter isn’t checked. What would have been the decision if this had been a Prize puzzle?

  40. In case it confused anyone else – I spent some time fretting over the “m = money” abbreviation in 14a, before it dawned on me that this IS a valid “abbreviation” (but imho only when CAPITALISED, as in the domain-specific economists’ references to M1, M2, M3,… *money supply*).

  42. Apart from extraneous “in”s, I could have done without “from which” in 25a.

    The clue is much neater without.

    And for the benefit of those like me who don’t see it, can  muffin or alphaalpha please put me out of my misery.

    Thanks

  44. Yet another OVERRIDER here. Seems equally valid to me. Not that this spoilt what I thought was a fine puzzle at the easier end of Imogen’s range. Faves were FABERGE, IRON MAN, EVADE and RECRUDESCE. I got INDISTINCT right but via a misguided route – I thought the policeman would be Sting, and that supplied enough of the answer to get me home. I’m taking it 😉 .
    Thanks, Andrew and Imogen

  45. I really do hope this isn’t a spoiler for Prize 3D, but it reminded me of some of Service’s and Kipling’s poems, which need to be read aloud to be really appreciated (preferably in a group with whisky a-gogo).

  46. This was enormous fun – many thanks Imogen!! Thanks also to Andrew for the ever-informative blog. RECRUDESCE was a new one to me, as are road-trains (I’ve never been to Australia, I’m afraid). My faves were IRONMAN and the deliciously daft POLE VAULT, with INDISTINCT and ARMAGNAC as runners-up.
    As for OVERRIDE/OVERRODE: I’m 100% with Simon S on this. So, Xjpotter, Simon S and I shall see you outside, behind the bike sheds. I’m no 11A myself, but I’ll hold Simon’s coat and cheer encouragingly whilst the pair of you sort this one out the old-fashioned way….

  47. Another OVERRIDE here. I do think it is better, or at least equally valid as an answer.

    IRON MAN has to be the superhero.

    But overall a fun puzzle, thanks Imogen and Andrew.

  49. I’m with the majority in having entered OVERRIDE, but possibly with the minority in concluding (after being stung by the check button) that OVERRODE is the better answer. If ‘horse’ is the clue for ‘ride’, it’s a definition by example and should require a question mark. Imo, the extent of the debate here suggests that it wasn’t a great clue, but the rest was quite enjoyable.

    Thanks to Imogen and Andrew

  51. I’ll just pipe up in defence of ‘compendia’, as Chambers has (in the singular) “a summary of a larger work or subject, containing the most important or useful extracts or facts, an abstract”, so ‘reference works’ seems fine. It was news to me too. Thanks Imogen and Andrew.

  52. Not only can women take part in “Ironman” events, they can also  run pubs, which makes 17d look a bit old-fashioned.

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