Guardian Cryptic 27,984 by Nutmeg

by

A slow solve and tricky to parse – I really liked some of the misdirection in the surfaces. Favourites were 12ac, 14ac, 17ac, 30ac, and 27ac. Thanks to Nutmeg

Across
1 STAMP COLLECTING Pursuit of hobbyist putting a foot down about part of office? (5,10)
STAMPING=”putting a foot down” around COLLECT=”part of” a religious service or “office”
9 CORNELIAN Hoax involving Russia’s foremost essayist’s a gem (9)
CON=”Hoax” around R[ussia]; plus ELIAN=”essayist’s”=belonging to the Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb [wiki]
10 POLIO Disease from India caught by traveller to the East (5)
I (India) inside Marco POLO=”traveller to the East”
11 NUCLEAR Type of energy in doubt, given initial setback (7)
UNCLEAR=”in doubt” with its initial letter ‘U‘ sent back one space
12 BATHTUB Temperature in small animal centre dips here, perhaps (7)
T (Temperature) in BAT HUB=”small animal centre”
13 OHO I’m surprised state doesn’t have one (3)
OH[I]O=US “state” minus ‘I‘=”one”
14 COMPTON Old batting hero may prefer to open after duck between centuries (7)
Denis Compton the cricketer [wiki]
M[ay] P[refer], after O=zero=a “duck” score in cricket; all inside C (100 in Roman numerals) and TON=another word for ‘century’
17 WELFARE Benefit from meals on wheels on a regular basis (7)
FARE=”meals”, after regular letters of W[h]E[e]L[s]
19 ADVISED Recommended additives losing it when cooked (7)
(additives)* minus the letters of ‘it’
22 ON THE GO Busy gent, husband running round in circles (2,3,2)
(gent h)* where ‘h’=”husband”; inside O and O=”circles”
24 IDA Girl has help cycling (3)
(aid)*, where ‘aid’=”help”
25 SPECIES Class that is wearing glasses (7)
IE=”that is”, inside SPECS=”glasses”
26 TENABLE Seemingly rational little gap in record (7)
EN=a small space between characters in printing=”little gap”; inside TABLE=”record”
28 OUTER Pigeon quietly flying off further from centre (5)
[P]OUTER=a type of “Pigeon”, with ‘P‘ for piano=”quiet” removed
29 ATEMPORAL Timeless ruins at Palermo (9)
(at Palermo)*
30 THROWING LIGHT ON Making plainer group of women in press come across (8,5,2)
WI (Women’s Institute)=”group of women”, in THRONG=”press”; plus LIGHT ON=encounter=”come across”
Down
1 SECOND CLASS POST Extra appointment for teacher? This could delay notification (6-5,4)
this could also be read as a SECOND job role i.e. POST with an extra school CLASS for a teacher
2 AURIC One Bee Gee’s heart of gold (5)
[M]AURIC[e] Gibb was one of the Bee Gee’s
3 PRETEXT Cover coming before book? (7)
PRE-=”coming before” + TEXT=”book”
4 OMICRON I snubbed friend after returning second letter (7)
a letter in the Greek alphabet
I + CRON[y]=”snubbed friend”; all after reversal/”returning” of MO=moment=”second”
5 LONGBOW Arm taken by much acclaimed thespian? (7)
a LONG BOW might be taken by the thespian
6 CAPITOL Where federal laws created a hidden problem in Colorado (7)
A PIT=”a hidden problem” in COL short for Colorado
7 ILL AT EASE Anxious setter will tantalise, concealing answer (3,2,4)
I’LL TEASE=”setter will tantalise”, around A (answer)
8 GOODBYE TO BERLIN Auf wiedersehen, literally? (7,2,6)
A book by Christopher Isherwood [wiki] – is the definition “literally”=>’in literature, e.g. a novel’?
GOODBYE TO BERLIN could be read as ‘crosswordese’ instructions to translate ‘goodbye’ into German, giving “Auf wiedersehen”
15 MOVIE STAR Jack behind manoeuvre to arrest current Hollywood actor? (5,4)
TAR=sailor=”Jack” behind MOVES=”manoeuvre” around I=symbol for electrical “current”
16 ONE A certain cardinal‘s joke (3)
=a cardinal number; and =”joke” as in ‘have you heard the one about…’
18 EON Number two in team running for a long time (3)
the second/”Number two” letter in [t]E[am] + ON=”runnning”
20 SKID ROW Runner with promise revolution­ised slum area (4,3)
SKI=”Runner” + WORD=”promise” reversed/”revolutionised”
21 DISDAIN Arrogance, it’s said, developing during row (7)
(said)* inside DIN=”row”
22 OATMEAL Oscar presumably eating cereal (7)
O (Oscar) + AT MEAL=”presumably eating”
23 TENT PEG Red wine, small amount, but guy needs it (4,3)
as in a “guy” rope used to secure a tent
27 BURST Pop runs in front of lady (5)
R (runs in cricket); inside BUST=”front of lady”

38 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,984 by Nutmeg”

  1. “Tent” wine in 23dn apparently being a kind of deep red wine, chiefly from Galicia or Malaga in Spain, “tent” being a corruption of vinto tinto.

    This was one of four or five I couldn’t parse but was led to by the definitions and crossers. Thanks for the explanations manehi and for an enjoyable puzzle Nutmeg.

  2. Quite difficult, but also enjoyable. My favourites were BATHTUB, COMPTON, LONGBOW.

    I couldn’t parse 4d or 16d.

    New for me was ‘pouter’ = pigeon and ‘Elian’ for essayist’s – both of which I found in my online dictionary.

    Thanks Nutmeg and manehi.

  3. also, re 23dn, I learnt today that peg = “a measure of spirits // have a peg of whisky” which I understood to be a small amount.

  4. Thanks Nutmeg and manehi

    I had an unusually large number pencilled in, as I wasn’t sure they were right. I did eventually parse all except COMPTON, in which I had “prefer” to give OPT, with some not quite working other bits.

    BURST raised a chuckle.

  5. Thanks, manehi. Once again, I agree with your favourites, with the addition of 2 and 7dn [super surface].

    I think 16dn is a triple definition: a certain / cardinal / joke.

    The musical ‘Cabaret’ is an adaptation of ‘Goodbye to Berlin’.

    Many thanks to Nutmeg for an enjoyable puzzle.

  6. The spice lady’s usual succinctness on dispaly today. Looked at 9ac, thought Oh expletive, can only think of Lamb and it can’t be him, but it was! His Elia alias was, however, a tilt. Vaguely remembered the churchy meaning of collect, liked the meals on wheels, the busy gent and the snubbed friend. And wondered about Col as abbreviation, about plural moves as manoeuvre, and about peg as small amount…'[take someone] down a peg’? chota peg? Lots to enjoy, thanks Nutmeg and Manehi.

  7. Lots of clever misdirections and one or two took some parsing, but great fun this morning. Those who object to cricketers appearing in the puzzle may have been choking on their cornflakes with 14 across…

  8. Couldn’t find a way in for ages but once I did I actually filled and parsed at a steady pace. Nigh on perfect I thought. Elian and Tent clues among others felt like timeless classics from crosswordland. Excellent, blog and puzzle.

  10. I didn’t like 24a being an anagram of something not in the clue. It could have been ‘help first to last’ or something.

  11. Good to know that about Cabaret, Eileen, ta. (Saw I am a camera when it came out… I was about 7, so I think the folks couldn’t find a babysitter 🙂 )

  12. It is an anagram, of course, but you could also argue that is just “cycling” the first letter to the end to get IDA from AID.

  14. Tent belongs to crosswords rather than wine shops (but what would I know-I’ve only seen it in puzzles)

    Didnt have time to look up “pouter” but I wouldnt expect a shouter pigeon.Cockatoo yes.I loved LONGBOW and BURST

    In fact I loved it all.

    (I once read Mr Norris Changes Trains and if Goodbye to Berlin is its companion I’ll maybe grab them both-werent they the basis of Cabaret? )

  16. I wasn’t expect a Nutmeg crossword to take me as long as this one did.   Lots to enjoy so thank you to her and manehi

    I’d agree with copmus about the wine – it is definitely one that seems only to be available in Crosswordland

  17. Thanks both,
    I found this quite testing. It would have been even harder without such a friendly grid. I too thought the cricket critics would have words to say about 14ac.

  19. I very often come here having struggled, only to read something depressingly jolly such as; “a pleasant and swift solve with no particular difficulties”.

    On this occasion, however, I woke early at 5 and had it done before the tea went cold.

    The baffling and tantalizing world which is Crosswordland, I suppose.

    Many thanks, Nutmeg and manehi.

    Nice week, all.

  20. Delightful crossword with a lot of good misdirection. As muffin @12 says, I assumed IDA was not an anagram, just AID ‘cycling,’ with the first letter going to the end.

    Many good clues to choose from; I particularly enjoyed LONGBOW, BURST, WELFARE and BATHTUB.

    Thanks Nutmeg and manehi for a good blog and revealing a couple of the parsings I missed.

  22. Nutmeg,thanks for a pleasant puzzle.  manehi, thanks for the blog, and particularly thanks for the parsing of OMICRON, which was beyond me.

    We haven’t seen tent = red wine in a while.  An obscure bit of GK I learned here.

    SKID ROW, or “skid road,” began in Northwestern logging towns in the US, being the road down which timber workers skidded logs.

    In the Pacific Northwest roads built of spaced logs similar to widely spaced “army track” were the mainstay of local logging practices and were called skid roads. Two of these, respectively on the outskirts of the milltowns of Seattle and Vancouver, which had become concentrations of bars and logger’s slums, were the origin of the more widespread meaning of “skid road” and its derivative skid row, referring to a poor area.(Wikipedia)

  23. Didn’t help myself for parsing 11ac wrongly. I still reckon nuclear or unclear could be valid answers depending on how you bracket the parts, though nuclear is perhaps more straightforward.

    Much to like, but also too many obscure literary references for my taste, Essays of Elias, and particularly Goodbye to Berlin since there’s no proper definition or wordplay that helps to construct it. Even after considering goodbye for the start, it’s difficult to spot the answer if you’ve never heard of the book. And why go for the obscure cornelian when carnelian is just as easy to clue?

    Somebody pointed out to me recently that omega and omicron are actually descriptions of the two different “o”s – put a space after the o and mega and micron become blindingly obvious.

     

     

  25. This appeared to be nearly impossible early on, but then the pieces began to fall slowly and steadily into place. A satisfying solve, marred only by having to reveal LONGBOW. I couldn’t get Lithgow out of my head, having convinced my self that ‘thespian’ was the definition. Oh, well …

    Thanks to Nutmeg for a pleasant morning and to manehi for the parsing of several.

  27. Three weeks ago, I said the following:

    “Well, in the space of two weeks we have had ADIEU, HASTA LUEGO and TOODLE-OO. Is some weird longitudinal theme playing out?”

    I *almost* followed it with: “What’s next, Auf Wiedersehen?”. I could kick myself! And of course there was yesterday’s SAYONARA. Arrivederci, anyone?

  30. The lovely grid temped me into this – that, and solving 1ac, 1d and 8d quite quickly ! Some very abstruse parsing but I come here to be instructed in that and the unparsed answers didn’t prevent me completing the puzzle. My favourite was probably AURIC. Oh, and much though I strive to do so, I really can’t give a rat’s about the moans when cricketers appear in Guardian crosswords. Thanks to Manehi and Nutmeg !

  33. In 8d, does “literally” mean “in literature”? Should it not be “literarily”?

    Sorry to make the comment so late. I have only just got round to completing it!

  34. I have never thought of the guardian crossword as easy, this crossword didn’t change that opinion.

    I solved a few of the clues, and when checking the blog, Compton, despite not knowing him (young and non cricket fan) was gutted that I talked myself out of a clue. I was also gutted when I seen auric having known Maurice Gibb (seen him on a documentary) I didn’t know the bit about gold=auric.

  35. It took me a while to get anywhere with this, but once I’d started things became heaps easier. My fave was BURST, which made me grin, and I also enjoyed ADVISED and ON THE GO, and my least-fave was OHO which felt a tad weak (though perhaps this is simply because I’ve never personally said it myself, or heard anyone else do so). Like GinF, I got “peg” from Chota/Burra Peg. Thanks to Nutmeg for a satisfying solve and to Manehi for the blog

  36. I finished this but with quite a few unparsed and, having read the blog, I’m not surprised.
    Howard@23. I’ve heard of cornelian but carnelian would have been too obscure for me!
    Thanks to Nutmeg and manehi

  37. Quite liked this but can’t say I managed to parse it all..Could be because I got to it so late!
    Thanks Nutmeg.

  38. Ronald @7, Tyngewick @17. 14ac could have been worse for non-cricketing fans with a minor change: Old batting hero May (Peter) to open after duck between centuries (7)

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