Guardian Cryptic 28,025 by Nutmeg

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A tricky but enjoyable challenge today.

As always, Nutmeg provides lovely surfaces, some of them also very neatly concise: 15a, 19a and 24d for example. She also enjoys definitions ranging from the slightly obscure (10a) to the downright devious (2d). My favourite today was 13d, for the clever misdirection.

There’s a good handful of sporting references here, which may not please everyone, but cricket terms at least seem to be fair game for crosswords.  Thanks Nutmeg for giving our brains some January exercise after the holidays.

Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 PASTICHES Savoury snacks child tucks into, not the genuine article (9)
PASTIES (savoury snacks) with CH (ch = child) inserted.
Pastiche = imitation of the style of a particular artist by someone else.
6 BINGO Abandon attempt to get to game (5)
BIN (abandon = discard) + GO (attempt, as in to have a go).
9 DRAFT Cask beer picked up for military detachment (5)
Homophone (picked up) of DRAUGHT (beer served from the cask).
10 WHITE LINE Spooner’s low-alcohol drink a boon to errant drivers (5,4)
Spoonerism of LIGHT WINE, a low-alcohol drink.
The line separating two or more lanes on a road, to help drivers stay in their own lane.
11 LEE TREVINO Never lie to angry clubman (3,7)
Anagram (angry) of NEVER LIE TO.
Clubman = golfer (i.e. one who plays using clubs): Lee Trevino.
12 SECT Standard breached by Catholic faction (4)
SET (standard, as in a set meal) with C (Catholic, as in the abbreviation RC) inserted.
14 MEATIER Adult in his own field carrying more weight (7)
A (adult) inserted into METIER (properly métier, from the French: profession or calling, hence one’s field of expertise).
15 RANSACK Managed to fire rifle (7)
RAN (managed, as in “ran the company”) + SACK (fire = dismiss from employment).
Rifle = ransack = roughly search for valuables.
17 SPEAK UP Summit goes into matter, turning sound off (5,2)
PEAK (summit), inserted into PUS (matter) reversed (turning).
Sound off = speak up = make one’s views known.
19 BARGAIN Understanding landlord’s profit? (7)
Landlord = one who runs a bar, so the profit made there might be called the BAR GAIN.
Understanding = bargain = agreement.
20 REDS Clarets, perhaps, or their Premiership rivals? (4)
REDS = short for types of red wine, of which an example is claret.
“The Clarets” is also the nickname of the Premier League football club Burnley; their Premier League rivals include Liverpool, known as the Reds. Other football teams are of course available.
22 PORTLINESS Bulk transport lines supplying crates (10)
Hidden answer (… crates) in [trans]PORT LINES S[upplying].
Portly = a euphemism for overweight, particularly applied to older men with large waistlines.
25 SHOCK WAVE Effect from explosion of wine and whiskey kept in store (5,4)
HOCK (German white wine) + W (Whiskey in the radio alphabet), inserted into SAVE (store).
26 AKELA Youth leader makes plan, not taking sides (5)
Central letters (not taking sides = outside letters removed) of [m]AKE[s] [p]LA[n].
Akela = name given to an assistant Cub Scout leader. (From Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.)
27 SUNNY Cheerful star, nominally on vacation (5)
SUN (star) + N[ominall]Y (on vacation = emptied).
28 CONTENTED Cheerful jailbird temporarily housed? (9)
CON (short for convict = jailbird) + TENTED (in a tent, which could be considered temporary housing).
DOWN
1 PEDAL For instance, clutch ring inlaid with diamonds (5)
PEAL (ring of bells) with D (abbreviation for diamonds as a playing card suit) inserted.
Clutch = one of the pedals in a manual-drive car.
2 STAGE NAME Contrary chap, say, probing food item on a bill? (5,4)
MAN (chap) + EG (for example = say), inserted into EATS (as a noun = food), all reversed (contrary).
Stage name = name by which an actor is known professionally, hence the name that appears on a playbill or programme.
3 INTERLINKS Joins players from Milan on golf course (10)
INTER (short name for the Italian football club Inter Milan) + LINKS (a type of golf course).
4 HOWEVER But we must supplant president’s last love (7)
HOOVER (Herbert Hoover, 31st US President), with the last O (love = zero in tennis scoring) supplanted by WE.
5 SPINNER Bowler, wayward type harnessing a touch of pace (7)
SINNER (wayward type) containing a touch (a small part = just the first letter) of Pace.
Spinner = short for spin bowler in cricket.
6 BEEF Complain as book price rises (4)
B (book) + FEE (price) reversed (rises = upwards in a down clue).
7 NAIVE Green water often bottled up (5)
EVIAN (brand of mineral water, so “water often bottled”) reversed (up, in a down clue).
Green = naive = inexperienced.
8 OVERTAKEN Successive balls received and struck (with attack) (9)
OVER (6 consecutive balls in cricket, or sometimes more than 6 if bad balls are bowled) + TAKEN (received).
Struck = overtaken = incapacitated by an illness.
13 INORDINATE Extraordinary rendition transporting a suspect (10)
Anagram (suspect) of RENDITION containing (transporting) A. Very clever misdirection here: “extraordinary rendition” is a real concept, so the solver thinks “oh, yes, that’s just to confuse us, extraordinary must be an anagram indicator”. But it isn’t.
14 MUSK ROSES Modern Miss guarding flower in Wales grew fragrant blooms (4,5)
MS (Ms = modern replacement for Miss / Mrs), containing (guarding) USK (Welsh river = flower) + ROSE (grew).
16 ABATEMENT A criminal securing crooked mate’s remission (9)
A + BENT (criminal, as an adjective), containing (securing) an anagram (crooked) of MATE.
Abatement = remission = lessening.
18 PROSAIC Mundane master, so it appears, inspiring article (7)
PRO (master) + SIC (so it appears: editor’s indication that an apparent mistake is in fact quoted correctly from the source), containing A (the indefinite article).
19 BITTERN Sharp tail of garden bird (7)
BITTER (sharp-tasting) + last letter (tail) of [garde]N.
Bittern: marshland bird related to the heron.
21 DROWN Third of Tories wearing blue go under (5)
Third letter of [to]R[ies], inserted into (wearing) DOWN (blue = unhappy).
23 SHARD What archaeologists may find strenuous, spades to the fore (5)
HARD (strenuous), with S (spades as a playing card suit) at the start.
Shard = broken piece of pottery.
24 OKAY Fine wine unopened (4)
TOKAY (otherwise known as Tokaji: Hungarian sweet wine), without the opening letter (unopened).
Fine = okay = all right.

 

45 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,025 by Nutmeg”

  1. Thanks Nutmeg, and Quirister for parsing 4D for me.

    There’s a bit of a ‘wine’ inclusions theme going on, with Lee TreVINO and also ASTI, WHITE, SEC, SACK, RED, HOCK and ROSE. Not that it helped much.

  2. Happy days are here again  … two challenging and fun puzzles in a row. Many amusing clues (HOWEVER etc) and an unusually tough anagram (LEE TREVINO).  Very enjoyable.

  4. cholecyst @3, you are not alone, I also put CONTAINERS for 22ac at first. As I was unsure, I pressed the check button right away, which left me with _O_T_INE_S, and that helped me to get to the correct answer. So a bit of cheating on my side.

    Anyway, I found this challenging but very enjoyable. Thanks Nutmeg and Quirister!

  5. cholecyst@3 – yes, and it had the right crossers, but doesn’t really parse – gave up on 2d as well, so a dnf for me. Thanks for the helpful accurate blog.

  6. Thanks Nutmeg and Quirister. Didn’t get the explanation for 11A and 2D till I saw this blog. Clubman for golfer was a nice touch! Cholecyst: I had put down CONTAINERS for 22A too 🙂 but could correct it thanks to the crossing letters.

  7. Yes, I admit it, I got stuck on CONTAINERS for a while too, but obviously couldn’t make it fit the first half of the clue.

  9. RogerN @1, Rullytully @8 – and of course Tokay (though beheaded…)

    Yes, I biffed in CONTAINERS at 22 ac, couldn’t see anything wrong with it at first… they are bulk transport and they are large metal crates. But something about “lines” worried me so I hit the CHECK button. Even after getting the answer, I didn’t see the inclusion. Thanks to Quirister for the  explanation(s) and Nutmeg for a fine puzzle with many nice surfaces (as usual).

  10. Bulk transport  lines supplying crates (10)

    anag or crates with in(line) and on(line) = Containers.

    Parses quite well I think, although the ‘hidden answer’ is better once you have seen it.

  12. A classic nutmeg by Nutmeg, I had CONTAINERS too-I could see CRATES but couldnt parse the rest.

    Hardly surprising- didnt check answers until later in the day. Doh! You got me Megster (and a few others it seems)

    Chapeau.

  15. Another fine puzzle from Nutmeg, and a dnf as I gave up on 2d. I also fell headlong into the extraordinary rendition trap and having got the answer even went to Bradshaw’s to see if it has INORDINATE as a synonym for SUSPECT – which it doesn’t – and still didn’t twig it before coming here. I was also going to suggest SPEAK UP as my clue of the year so far with it’s brilliant surface and cunningly hidden definition – but 13d probably tops it now I get it.
    Well and truly nutmegged today – thanks to her and Quirister for helping me out of the traps.

  16. Thank you to Nutmeg and Qurister.

    An enjoyable solve although some of the parsing escaped me.

    I have a car which detects 10ac’s and tells me if I am straying over them without indicating. So I am not allowed to be errant.

    And – real trivia warning – there is Road Safety Markings Association in the UK.

  17. Lots to like, but had CONTAINERS in too, carelessly and hopefully. Took ages to get loi STAGE NAME. And PUS popped up again as part of the cluing, didn’t that appear quite recently, amidst much discussion?

  18. I appreciated the “wine” inclusions, RogerN@1, but now think a few glasses might have helped me to solve this more easily. Still, I (mostly) got there in the end with a few guesses and a couple unparsed. However I was another CONTAINERS at 22a: it seemed okay to me at the time. I really liked 10a WHITE LINE (you are lucky to have such a clever device in your car, marienkaefer@17) and 7d NAIVE.

    Thanks to Nutmeg and Quirister.

  21. I, too, tried CONTAINERS but didn’t like it much. I didn’t see the hidden until I came here – great clue! I was looking for a plan that was ?AKELA?, doh!

    Lots of nice surfaces to the clues, thanks Nutmeg and Quirister.

  22. I really enjoyed this one.  Good surfaces ( e.g. RANSACK, SPEAK UP) and clever constructions (e.g. HOWEVER, AKELA).  PORTLINESS was beautifully hidden, my LOI in fact.  I tried for quite a while to parse HEAVIER for 14a before seeing the light.

    I saw the wines hidden after a post-solve perusal, so no help during the event.  There’s also BITTER of course, but perhaps that drink was unintentionally brought to the party.

    So, is there a celebration that Nutmeg’s acknowledging?  Landmark puzzle??  Whatever it is, it was beautiful.  Thanks, Nutmeg and Quirister.

     

  23. I liked the whole thing except for 28a. Doesn’t CHEERFUL really describe the outward appearance, while CONTENTED is the inner state, and they don’t have to match (think the nominees at an awards ceremony at the point when someone else is announced as the winner)?

  24. These days, technically, every over has 6 balls (used to be 8 in Oz) – bad balls don’t count, because they’re wides or no balls, not “balls”. (I was an umpire in the Cheshire Cricket League.) Yes, Nutmeg was being very tricky. The runner was well concealed at 22a, paretly because “crates” doesn’t do it for me. It’s always annoying when I don’t see one immediately. EVIAN/NAIVE again. But the Welsh flower wasn’t the Dee, for a change. Great fun.

  25. Yet another CONTAINER here, thought at the time it was a slightly unsatisfactory clue. Should have known Nutmeg was better than that.

    I’m okay with 28a. I think a cheerful soul is a contented soul, rather than one who’s just smiling for the cameras.

    I can cheerfully accept that I was outplayed by Nutmeg. Thanks to her and Quirister.

  26. Doh, I really enjoyed this and felt chuffed when I finally got stage name in last. However another containers here, though I was never fully happy with it, and maybe should have persevered. Lots of great clues and all my favourites have been mentioned. Thanks to Nutmeg for the challenge and Quirister fit the blog.

  27. Thanks both,
    It took a check to tell me the first word of 25 wasn’t ‘stock’, whereupon the answer was immediately obvious. I was another ‘containers’, although I held off writing it in until I had all the crossers.

  28. We too had containers at 22ac and feverishly tried to convince ourselves it worked. Portliness is, of course, much better. Thank you Nutmeg and Quirister for a lovely crossword and blog respectively.

  30. Felt pretty dumb after revealing PORTLINESS and STAGE NAME, so thanks to the commenters who have provided company for my misery. Thanks also to Nutmeg for the workout and to Quirister for explaining a few.

  31. Yup another containers here, and all the crossers correct so didn’t doubt it, even though my parsing seemed weak.
    A real challenge today. Thanks Nutmeg and Quirister.

  32. I’m fairly new to cryptics but i love them as well as you guys and your comments. Got to within 3 today, not getting 22ac(containers here), 26ac and 2d. Thank you.

  33. Like everyone else my first attempt was CONTAINERS but, again like most of the commenters, it didn’t “feel right”. PORTLINESS is indeed way better.
    Some lovely misdirections; for me the nicest was in 10A: given the various sporting references including two to golfing, I spent far too long thinking “drivers” was in a golfing sense as well. Thanks to Quirister for the blog – especially the parsing of AKELA, which eluded me – and chapeau to Nutmeg for a fine piece of work.

  36. Write out 100 times-
    ‘On vacation’ means take all the middle letters out….
    Will I ever learn that one! It never feels intuitive however many times I see it.

  37. Thanks to Nutmeg and Quirister.

    I had PORTLINESS but couldn’t parse it – d’oh!! Much forehead slapping when I got here. TILT was AKELA.  Great surfaces throughout with many boozy elbow nudges.

    Cookie@19: Dry January?  I’m still recovering from a (very) nunsuccessful No-vember.  [While I’m touching on the matter in this august forum – when will we ever get rid of these roman decimal month-names: September etc] [Very much off-topic I appreciate but whom to ask](that doesn’t look right…)

     

  39. Very enjoyable puzzle. My favourites were SPEAK UP, CONTENTED, PASTICHES.

    New word for me was AKELA, and I failed to parse 5d although the answer was obvious.

    Thanks B+S

  40. Ram, I’m puzzld by your comment because CONTAINERS fits the crossing letters perfectly, and I fell for it. Superb puzzle from  Nutmeg and thanks to Quirister for the excellent blog, which cleared up one or two points for me, such as why it’s whiskey not whisky in 25a. My only query is 1a –  shouldn’t article be articles?

  41. Nitsuj, a very warm welcome. I’m pretty new here myself. I also got PORTLINESS wrong, and struggled for quite a while with STAGE NAME. Happy solving!

  43. Thanks to Quirister and Nutmeg

    Some great clues here but I don’t really get “a boon to errant drivers” for “white line”

    In 13d I think the “a” has to be included in the fodder otherwise “suspect” can’t stretch back to act on “rendition”

    Like many others I had “containers” (my loi), but I couldn’t make it parse and eventually arrived at “portliness” after a lot of staring. One of the best hiddens I’ve ever seen.

  45. Agree with Dansar@43 about 13d. Because the anagrind (suspect) is the last word in the sentence, I think the “a” has to be included in the fodder before doing the anagram.

    Some of the defs were tenuous, to say the least. I’m thinking of 12a (standard), 2d (item on a bill), 23d (what archaeologists may find). Also def for 8d – struck (with attack) was clumsy.

    Tough crossword, great blog.

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