Guardian Cryptic 28,005 by Chifonie

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A quick blog for a quick puzzle.

Have had to do this in a rush this morning, so thankfully it was extremely straightforward, with a few old chestnuts to get me going (FINE, REPENT etc).

I did have some minor quibbles, especially the use of superfluous words such as “the” in 21dn, which were not necessary for the wordplay, but did help the surfaces make sense.

I also had minor problems with 7ac and 13dn.

Thanks, Chifonie.

Across
7 PROCEEDS Starts to make profits (8)
Double definition, although I don’t know that “proceeds” are necessarly “profits”.  I think it applies to all revenue, not just the profit element.
9 LENDER Inadequate hatless uncle (6)
[hatless] (s)LENDER (“inadequate”)
10 FINE Satisfactory penalty (4)
Double definition
11 ESCRITOIRE O! Eric tries assembling desk (10)
*(o eric tries) [anag:assembling]
12 ABDUCT Make off with sailor’s pipe (6)
AB (able-bodied seaman, so “sailor”) + DUCT (“pipe”)
14 ALICANTE One is unable to tuck into beer in Spain (8)
I CAN’T (“one is unable”) to tuck into ALE (“beer”)

“In Spain” is a very loose definiton.
15 EXTINCT Court is after old money that’s gone (7)
Ct. (court) is after EX (“old”) + TIN (“money”)
17 ATTIRED A model gets weary being turned out (7)
A + (model-)T gets TIRED (“weary”)
20 SCAFFOLD Platform for a couple of fellows in lecture (8)
A + FF (couple of fellows) in SCALD (“lecture”)
22 MINTON Pottery strike’s working (6)
MINT (“strike”) + ON (“working”)
23 DEPRECIATE One included in censure is to lose value (10)
I (one) included in DEPRECATE (“censure”)
24 DOME Work with engineer in cupola (4)
DO (“work”) with M.E. (Mechanical “Engineer”)
25 BRIEFS Barristers‘ clothing (6)
Double definition
26 SCABIOUS Strike-breaker promises to supply plant (8)
SCAB (“strike-breaker”) + IOUs (“promises to supply”)
Down
1 BRAINBOX Intellectual is supporter in fight (8)
BRA (“supporter”) + IN + BOX (“fight”)
2 ACHE One holds husband in pain (4)
ACE (“one”) holds H (husband)
3 REPENT Soldiers imprisoned feel remorse (6)
R.E. (Royal Engineers, so “soldiers”) + PENT (“imprisoned”)
4 ALPINIST Mountaineer with surgical rod in a heel (8)
PIN (“surgical rod”) in A LIST (“heel”)
5 INNOVATION Novelty pub gets plaudits (10)
INN (“pub”) gets OVATION (“plaudits”)
6 SECRET Clandestine faction assimilates religious teaching (6)
SECT (“faction”) assimilates R.E. (Religious Education. so “religious teaching”)
8 SOCIAL Cola is ordered for a party (6)
*(cola is) [anag:ordered]
13 UNINFORMED In the dark, when knight’s wearing regimentals (10)
N (knight, in chess notation) in UNIFORMED (“wearing regimantals”)

Doesn’t quite work for me; “wearing regimental” implies IN UNIFORM, not IN UNIFORMED
16 CHOICEST Oscar in charge in case? That’s best! (8)
O (Oscar) + I.C. (in charge) in CHEST (“case”)
18 ENORMOUS Doctor sure moon is huge (8)
*(sure moon) [anag:doctor]
19 IDEALS Morals of ladies becoming corrupted (6)
*(ladies) [anag:becoming corrupted]
21 CHERRY Fruit is dear in France on the railway (6)
CHER (“dear” in French) on RY (railway)
22 MAENAD Bacchante‘s crazy about another woman (6)
MAD (“crazy”) about ENA (“another woman”)

A maenad was a female follower of Dionysius in Greek mythology, and a bacchant or bacchante was the equivalent in Roman mythology (a follower of Bacchus).
24  DAIS Cut flower for the platform (4)
[cut] DAIS(y) with “platform” as the definition

*anagram

35 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,005 by Chifonie”

  1. Thanks Loonapick. In your hurry you’ve omitted 24dn (dais – dais[y]). I agree with your issues and would add “maenad” which is not well clued for an obscure word. If you don’t know it, and have the crossers then “mad” leaps out (possibly as letters 1,5,6) but why “ena” for “another woman”? It could be almost anything. Otherwise some lovely surfaces and a smooth solve. Thanks Chifonie.

  4. Thanks for the blog. Never heard of Minton pottery but vaguely recalled Denton pottery, which sort of fitted …

    I thought UNIFORMED was fine although possibly required a ?

  5. Strike for mint took me ages to twig as well, clever. Lazy, so cheated to get maenad, a dnk. And had ?s next to ‘profits’ and ‘in Spain’. Also dnk scabious the plant, but couldn’t be otherwise. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick.

  6. Thanks loonapick.

    How does “lender” mean “uncle”? I’m still none the wiser.

    Agree with you on “proceeds”. The proceeds of a sale are the price that you get for the goods, not the profit that you make on the sale.

  10. I studied Euripides’s Bacchae at school as a set book for Greek GCE, so MAENAD was not hard; though I agree about ENA being very weak.

  11. Enjoyed the crossword and the blog, so thanks to setter and blogger. But I didn’t much care for 9a .’Uncle’ for pawnbroker is one of those words that I’ve only encountered in crosswords and Dickens and in my book, ‘slender’ doesn’t mean inadequate but of doubtful adequacy. And to cap it all, so to speak, hats go on the head or top and seem more suited to down clues than those going from left to right.

  12. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick

    Mostly fine. Last two were the MINTON/MAENAD crossers – I agree that the latter needs a clearer clue.

    I have a different issue with PROCEEDS. It precisely doesn’t mean “starts” – it means “continues with somethibg already started”.

  13. Thanks to loonapick for the blog and Chifonie for the puzzle.

    I had to come here for MINTON (22a), unfamiliar (U/F) to me as a pottery brand. So a DNF for me.

    I liked 20a SCAFFOLD, 4d ALPINIST, 5d INNOVATION (for which I originally tried “invocation” though it didn’t sound right, so I did a rethink!) and 19d IDEALS. Unlike others, I enjoyed solving 22d MAENAD (which I got more by instinct than by logic.)

  14. My favourite was UNIFORMED.

    New for me were MINTON and SCABIOUS but they were fairly clued and I simply had to check that MINTON pottery existed.

    I failed 9a LENDER which was way over my head because I never heard of uncle = lender or pawnbroker, and also 4d ALPINIST which I should have been able to solve.

    Thanks B+S

  15. An enjoyable Monday puzzle.  There were certainly plenty of crossword classics in here – “model” for T; “supporter” for BRA; RE twice, as both Royal Engineers and Religious Education; and so on.  I’m not complaining – I like these traditions!

    muffin @12: I initially wondered about “starts” = PROCEEDS.  But although Chambers has “to go on; to continue” as the main definition of “proceed”, it also has “to begin and go on”.  I suppose this would work as in “He announced that he was going to sing, then proceeded to do so”.  So I think it’s OK.

    I agree with arib @11 that “hat” doesn’t seem right for the first letter of an across clue.  But like Julie @13 I enjoyed 22d MAENAD.

    Thanks Chifonie and loonapick.

  16. I agree with Loonapick’s qualms about 13d UNINFORMED, but would put it a bit differently. “Wearing” is doing double-duty.

    Also, I see where TheZed@1 is coming from re: ENA, but in this case I don’t think it’s so problematic. As with male names, there is a small (unofficial) set of go-to frequently used short female names, and a larger set of occasionally used names, and Ena is definitely in that. It’s not like Piers, which we had recently, which required the Morgan.

  17. There should be a list somewhere of “slang words more likely to be seen in crosswords than in real life” e.g. uncle=pawnbroker. It depends on personal opinion of course, but I reckon a fairly short list of old chestnuts of this type could be put together.

    Extinct was possibly my favourite, though tin=money would join uncle in my list.

    Maenad was a word I recognised but couldn’t have defined other than some type of spirit (as in nymphs, dryads etc). I don’t remember seeing Bacchante but I do know Bacchus so having seen the mad element I was able to join the dots.

     

  19. Crazy about Sharples – a woman beside herself with frenzy (6)

    But maybe some of you are not old enough to remember Ena Sharples. The definition part is word-for-word from Chambers. Yes, that ENA seemed a bit arbitrary. Good Monday crossword though, if you don’t like them too hard. And I agree, PROCEEDS = income, not profits.

  20. Thanks both,
    A smile at 26ac, a word search for 22d. I see the point about 13d although it was all going in so quickly that I didn’t notice wearing was doing double duty at the time.

  21. Judging by the comments, I found this a bit tougher than most of you. To the list of quibbles already mentioned, I would add that ‘mint’ in 22a should be clued by ‘strike,’ not ‘strike’s.’ The superfluous possessive would be acceptable as a link between wordplay and definition, but not within the wordplay.

    Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick.

  22. I put ‘resent’ for 3d.(soldiers imprisoned – Royal Engineers sent down) but I guess resent doesn’t exactly mean ‘feel remorse’

  23. General knowledge and obscurity: my mother (b. Lambeth, 1925) knew that pawnbrokers were called ‘uncle’, though she didn’t go in for crosswords. Thanks, Chifonie and loonapick.

  24. Got DOME by looking up “cupola”, but assumed engineer = creator (of puzzle) = ME.

    From the comments it seems to me 7a would as well have been clued “Continues to make revenue” and nobody would be complaining!

  25. Thanks both.  I’m in the harder rather than easier camp.

    I got interested in ‘uncle’ – here’s the first attested use in OED:  3. slang. A pawnbroker. Now historical.In earlier use chiefly preceded by a possessive adjective.
    1606   T. Dekker Newes from Hell sig. Dv   When I prepar’d to fight a battayle on the Chesse-board, a Knight was alwayes better then a Pawne: But the Vsurer myne Vnckle made it playne, that a good pawne now was better then a Knight.

  26. No problem with” uncle” for a Pembroke but SCABIOUS was new to me,it doesn’t sound like a plant( or even a noun) REPENT took me some time and I had RESENT originally and didn’t like it.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  27. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick. The ‘s in 22 stands for ‘has’ in the wordplay, and is not superfluous – it improves the surface.

  28. Gonzo @27, unless I’m missing something in your explanation, I don’t think it works. “Strike has working” makes no sense in either the surface or the wordplay.

  29. John Wells@10
    I too studied Euripides’ “The Bacchae” as set book at school but for ‘A’ Level, not GCE. It was one of the reasons why I greatly preferred Greek literature to Latin. Agree with you about ENA.
    Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick.

  30. I studied the Just William books in one of which William talked about the “uninformed police” to the confusion of all until another child points out that he means “uniformed police”. 13d brought it all back

  34. Whoever said ‘very Monday-ish’ I can’t agree. Half went in fairly well but some tricky words (eg I’ve got no hope on 22d) plus some clues I don’t like – I was looking for ABS – – – on 12a and – – – SON on
    22a (those S’s are just wrong for me?) … I agree with loonapick that proceeds aren’t profits…revenues maybe? I normally like chifonie but this one has left me a bit irritated … thanks loona

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