Guardian 28,001 / Tramp

by

It’s Tramp with another enjoyable and entertaining puzzle. Many thanks to him.

[I’m rather pushed for time today and need help with the last clue – I’m sure I shan’t have to wait long.]

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

7 Mount finest horse (8)
BESTRIDE
BEST RIDE [finest horse]

9 Plant kiss on round lips, softly going to hug one (6)
OXALIS
O [round] + X [kiss] + LI[p]S [minus p – softly] round [to hug] A [one]

10 Second person to try Apple iPad, a man’s content (4)
ADAM
Contained in ipAD AMan’s – clever: we’re so used to seeing ADAM clued as ‘first person’

11 Bit of trouble cutting grass (10)
SMATTERING
MATTER [trouble, as in ‘What’s the matter?’] in SING [grass – both slang for to inform]

12 Make love with fellow: let me see thing (6)
DOOFER
DO [make] + O [love] + F [fellow] + ER [let me see] – any thing that you don’t know or can’t remember the name of, like a thingummy

14 National horse is short, can it hit fences? (8)
CROATIAN
An anagram [hit] of CAN IT round [fences] ROA[n] [horse, short]

15 Sounds hooters, the first person must go inside (6)
NOISES
I [first person] in NOSES [hooters]

17 Chaos from British far-right group before noon (6)
BEDLAM
B [British] + EDL [English Defence League – far right group + AM [before noon] – see here for the origin of the word

20 Jade and tire, hen party’s starting to get drunk (8)
NEPHRITE
An anagram [drunk] of TIRE HEN P[arty] – I wondered what this had to do with kidneys: Chambers tells us it’s an old charm against kidney disease

22 Neglect daughter, one son gets help (6)
DISUSE
D [daughter] + I S [one son] + USE [help – as in ‘It’s no use …]

23 Club member getting birdie? (10)
WOODPECKER
WOOD [golf club] + PECKER [slang for the male member – orig US, Chambers says ]

24 Soldiers stand around for drill (4)
BORE
BE [stand – as in A is / stands for apple?] round OR [Other Ranks – soldiers]

25 Switzerland and Italy twice affected (6)
CHICHI
CH [Switzerland] + I [Italy – both International Vehicle Registration code] twice

26 Studying for an exam about conception (8)
REVISION
RE [about] + VISION [conception]

Down

1 Put away drink after drive (4,4)
SEND DOWN
SEND [drive] + DOWN [drink]

2 Cover of magazine turned over, after sex article (4)
ITEM
IT [sex] + a reversal [turned over] of M[agazin[E

3 Python, perhaps, welcomes second TV series (6)
HISSER
HIS [welcomes] + S [second] + ER [TV series]

4 Pole position at the start, drink put on ice (8)
POSTPONE
POST [pole] + P[osition] + ONE [drink – as in ‘one for the road’?]

5 Lies lead to Farage, as reality gets distorted (5,5)
FAIRY TALES
An anagram [gets distorted] of AS REALITY + F[arage] – brilliant!

6 Brown from swimming in sea around noon (6)
SIENNA
An anagram [swimming] of IN SEA round N [noon]

8 Bishop in file at the back by a rook getting check (6)
EXARCH
[fil]E + X [by] + A R [a rook] + CH [check] – in the Orthodox Church, a bishop lower in rank than a patriarch and having jurisdiction wider than the metropolitan of a diocese – senior to an eparch, my first thought, which also fits but didn’t parse: I liked the way Tramp got in four misleading references to chess [cf 14ac, with three references to horse racing]

13 Following match on ground where captain might be (6,4)
FLIGHT DECK
F [following] + LIGHT [match] + DECK [ground, as in ‘hit the deck’]

16 Rash of the skin, not initially red (8)
EPIDEMIC
EPIDE[r]MIC [of the skin, minus r{ed}]

18 Snowball in face, fell over (8)
MUSHROOM
MUSH [slang for face] + a reversal [over] of MOOR [fell]

19 A barrel, say, runs out when filling beer container (6)
BEAKER
A K[eg] [barrel, minus eg – say] in BEER

21 Periods of quiet — manage to get upset (6)
EPOCHS
A reversal [upset] of SH [quiet] + COPE [manage]

22 Take an empty elevator to go down for reception (6)
DERIVE
E[levato]R in [for reception] DIVE [go down]

24 Broke, mostly get by begging on street (4)
BUST
I can’t see how this works, I’m afraid – over to you

58 comments on “Guardian 28,001 / Tramp”

  4. Thanks Tramp and Eileen

    Some lovely clues. I’ve ticked ADAM, WOODPECKER, FAIRY TALES, and MUSHROOM.

    Some I didn’t understand, including (sorry, Eileen) BUST – the ST is obvious; I did wonder if BU comes from “busking”?

    Quite a lot seemed rather loose, though (loose, not necessarily wrong). “Help” = USE in22a, “drive” = SEND in 1d, “welcome” = HIS in 3d (??), “ground” = DECK, “take” = DERIVE in 22d.

    I liked the surface of 19d, but it seems a very complex way to supply a K for the answer!

  5. Thanks, Ang Almond @1 – I just couldn’t think of bum. [Edit: the thanks should be to gladys, of course.]

    gladys @3 – a rash of complaints? I’m rushing out now.

  6. I wondered about epidemic = rash too, gladys, but I justified it by something like “there’s been a rash of break-ins around here” = “there’s been an epidemic of break-ins around here” – i.e. metaphorically.

  7. I [mis]parsed BEAKER as BREAKER (“a small water cask, used on shipboard” sez Chambers) minus Runs. But I lean to Eileen’s interpretation as far more elegant.

  9. I think 3d is his with an s inside it plus er, minor point. Undone by woofer at 12ac (woo as make love, plus etc), thinking some slang I dnk (maybe related to the cheeky pecker). Hey ho. So, hard going in places with some sly Trampisms, eg oxalis and derive, and some barely remembered bits, eg EDL in bedlam, and the bishop, which I’m sure isn’t new here, but rare enough. And no, dnk why jade is kidney-related, but guessable with crossers. Worth the effort all in all, thanks Tramp and Eileen.

  10. I really disliked this crossword. Far too many clues where the only way to get the answer was to guess and then try to parse. Also some very obscure words: nephrite, exarch. As for ‘hisser’, what nonsense. Thanks Eileen

  11. No wonder i couldnt parse POSTPONE its pretty out there – it had to be that but…

    Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this rather tricky puzzle.

    Funny the use of APPLE-I dont remember ever seeing it in the bible (correct me if I am wrong-aint no theologian)

    I too had EPARCH as I had heard of it but I used the check button to find something that I hadnt heard of but which parsed better.

    Thanks to Eileen for blog, gladys for BUST and Tramp for puzzle.

  12. On the topic of 10a, I’m told with good authority that the bible does not say the forbidden fruit was an apple – it is just often pictured as such. Perhaps Eve had a nice pear (read that as you wish). Loved the clue for WOODPECKER.

  13. Looking again at 3d hisser, ignore my first bit @9, talking thru my wotnot. And the clue is quite clever, I thought.

  16. Thanks Eileen and Tramp.

    A dnf, as I missed SMATTERING, EXARCH and HISSER. The first I should have got; possibly also the second, though it’s not a word I’ve ever come across. But as for HISSER, I fully agree with Dafydd@10 – a really clumsy clue. I didn’t parse BEAKER, and having seen it explained, I don’t like it either. Can’t compilers think of a new way of cluing “IT” (2d)?

    All in all, not enjoyable for me, though I did quite like OXALIS and NEPHRITE.

  17. Thanks Tramp and Eileen

    muffin @ 4: How about “That’s not a lot of use / help”? I think that’s quite tight.

  18. Thank you Tramp for an enjoyable puzzle and Eileen for a very helpful blog – and Gladys @2 for parsing 24d.

    Dafydd @10, here is some recent BBC news about a snake found in a lorry, “The hitchhiking hisser, which was found last week, is now in the care of staff at the charity’s rescue centre in Brighton”.

  19. I could add “drink” = ONE to my list of loosenesses.

    OK, I’ve given it more thought, and I really can’t see why “welcomes” gives HIS. Could anyone explain, please?

  21. Simon S @17

    I wouldn’t describe it as “quite tight”, though we can agree to differ.

    btw the reason for my orphaned post yesterday has re-appeared.

  29. Outwitted by SMATTERING, HISSER, and DISUSE, but no complaints in retrospect, not even about the much maligned snake. ADAM and BEAKER stood out for me among several brilliant clues. I wasn’t really bothered by the looseness mentioned above, perhaps because I was expecting it. Tramp typically stretches the limits of synonymy. Perhaps I’m just in a generous mood this morning.

    Thanks to Tramp and Eileen.

  30. Not my kind of puzzle today, I’m afraid. Too many itsy bitsy clues, for OXALIS and DOOFER e.g. Each to his own, obviously, but a DNF here…

  31. Unlike yesterday, I was glad when this one was over! Some of the “synonyms” are just too loose, imo.

    I did like 10a, but did you know that in early modern English, “apple” meant “fruit”, generically? (And “meat” meant “food”, fwiw.)

  33. Incredibly unlikeable. Did a “reveal all” in the end, because it was getting soooooooo tedious….

    Maybe I should find another way to stave off Alzheimers.

  34. gladys @2  In my haste, I mistakenly thanked the wrong person – my apologies. 😉

    Dr Whatson @31: I’ve just returned home, to find you just beat me to it re the apple. The Latin malum is usually translated as apple but it can also mean ‘any tree- fruit fleshy on the outside and having a kernel within’ [Lewis and Short].

    Gordon @8 – you’re right about 9ac, of course – another victim of my haste. I’ll fix it now.

  35. 12ac spelling of doofor wrong so through me, I thought it was an old Northern expression, witb particular reference to Liverpool dockers when unloading ships, “this’ll doofor our Vera this’ll doofor our Fred etc”

     

  37. David @35 – Chambers gives DOOFER, “Thought to be based on the phrase [it will] do for [now]”  – not specified as Northern, though.

  39. Doofer is new to me as “thingummy” — the closest I can think of over here is “doodad,” which is more limited, meaning something like “gadget.”

    At the bottom of the page of Eileen’s Bedlam link is another about the British/American biscuit/cookie-cracker divide, which you might also enjoy.  Biscuits do exist over here, but they’re not like cookies or crackers, they’re more like an unsweetened scone, but lighter.  Cookies are Dutch.  Nuff said, go read the link.

    I have to go now, will read the rest of this blog later.

  40. “Biscuit” is, of course, French for “twice cooked”. I’ve never cooked one, so don’t know if this is still a requisite…

  41. All in all I found that a bit “meh” to be honest. As many others have commented, there were a lot of loose definitions which required guessing and justifying rather than solving. I am also increasingly coming to dislike “short…” where you have to guess one of a hundred synonyms (it’s always a name, a horse or something else which has many possibilities) and then knock something off it. When it was first used it was clever, now it is used so much it is becoming a bit of a prop I feel.

    Looking back, some of the clues were very succinct – the bishop (I also had a partly-parsed “eparch”) and “smattering” (though “sing” for “grass” is weak…a criminal could sing by confessing and not grassing anyone up) for example. I never really got on the right wavelength today but also felt the clues just turned too many corners to be admirable in most cases.

    Oxalis took some piecing together, but “oxalic acid” is familiar right now as beekeepers use it to treat their colonies for the varroa mite at this time of year. It seemed reasonable there might be an “oxalis” plant, though the acid is common to many.

  42. TheZed @41

    Curiously, I had never made any connection between oxalic acid (famously derived from rhubarb leaves) and Oxalis (wood sorrel). Is there a connection?

  43. TheZed: I also think there are too many of those “think of a synonym and prune it” clues – it was unusual for me to get one like 24d.

  44. Muffin @42 Apparently so – I too think of rhubarb as the most common source, though sprouts with our Christmas dinner will also contain a decent amount, as will spinach. But it seems the genus as a whole is quite high in oxalic acid. Which reminds me – I must dig up the tubers of my oxalis tuberosa (oca) now there’s been a good frost…another reason I should’ve solved that clue sooner!

  46. Yesterday TITS. Today PECKER. This is not a soft porn site.

    Dread to think which F*****N C**T will be setting tomorrow.

  47. Struggled through this to completion but had WOOFER for 12a. Didn’t think it was right at the time but it took so long to finish the puzzle that I forgot to go back and look at it again.

  48. What is a snowball mushroom? I know what a puffball is, and it does resemble a snowball, but I’ve never heard it called that.

  49. Thanks, Eileen.

    I’ll never complain about an easy Monday puzzle again (OK, I probably will).

    Springy @48 – snowball and mushroom have similar meanings as verbs meaning to increase in size quickly.

  50. A toughie – failed at the last EPARCH. The only real niggle I have is with 22d – I think the ‘for reception’ means the opposite to how it is being used.
    Thanks Eileen and Tramp.

  51. I join the ranks of those who.found this tough- a dnf as used check buttons and dictionary to complete

    Thanks for the info that apple = fruit. I can now be less irritated by the constant references to apples in art/lit/language re the story of the fall.

    Thanks to Eileen for the very helpful blog and to the contributors for the interesting and helpful comments.

  54. Thanks to Eileen and Tramp

    A fine puzzle in Tramp’s very own style.

    In 24a I thought “be” = “stand” perhaps in something like “let it be”.

  56. Anyone else frustrated by NEPHRITE containing the same letters as PREHNITE which is also a type of jade? I found this one too loose, and as an editor I’d argue that “it” is a pronoun, not an article ( 2d)

  57. Debs – a “Hi” is a welcome. Now pluralise it. Thought this (and the crossword as a whole) tricky but fair.

Comments are closed.