Guardian 28,049 – Puck

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Puck delivers a killer of a puzzle today…

… with four of them (one maybe dubious) in the long answers around the edges. Apart from GUNFIRE I can’t see any other relevant words. Good fun, despite the morbid theme: thanks to Puck.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. JAMES HANRATTY Alleged killer tan Her Majesty sports, with A&E, for once, not needed (5,8)
Anagram of of TAN HER MAJESTY, with an extra A and less one of the Es. James Hanratty known as the A6 Murderer, was one of the last few people to be hanged in the UK. There was much controversy about the case though recent DNA evidence apparently points to his guilt
10. ODDMENT Bit left over is not even intended for broadcast (7)
ODD (not even) + MENT (homophone of “meant”)
11. MAESTRO Most are recycling one sort of plastic (7)
(MOST ARE)*; Maestro is a pre-paid debit card, hence a “sort of plastic”
12. ANNOY Bug? There’s a small number in a place over the pond (5)
NO (number) in A NY
13. PRESCIENT Now touring Channel Islands, knowing about things in advance (9)
CI in PRESENT
14. DRIER Airdrie resident’s more in need of liquid refreshment (5)
Hidden in airDRIE Resident, with the inclusion indicated by the possessive ‘s
16. COTE D’AZUR Nice area street map’s showing in red, with nothing cut out (4,5)
AZ (street map – the “A to Z”) in anagram of RED O CUT. Nice is the main city of the Côte d’Azur or French Riviera
18. EX OFFICIO Old fellows in charge, one wearing glasses by virtue of current position (2,7)
EX (old) + FF IC I in OO (glasses)
19. SONAR System for detecting characters involved in arson, repeatedly (5)
Hidden in arSON ARson; since SONAR and ARSON are anagrams, I think the clue would have worked without “repeatedly”: no harm in it though
20. LAST STRAW Tipping Point? It’s where shoes may be fashionable pale yellow colour (4,5)
LAST (where shoes are made fashioned – thanks to TheZed) + STRAW (pale yellow)
23. SCOOP Novel written using small pen (5)
S + COOP – Evelyn Waugh’s comic novel about overseas journalism
24. ORGANZA Possibly the last newspaper with adult material (7)
The last newspaper might be ORGAN Z, plus A
25. GUNFIRE When drunk, mostly refuse gin shots (7)
Anagram of REFU[se] GIN, with a rather vague use of “mostly”
26. JACK THE RIPPER Honour tourist that’s caught male killer (4,3,6)
JACK (honour, in card games) + HE in TRIPPER
Down
2. ANDANTINO Two articles about daughter into running quite slowly (9)
D in AN AN + INTO*
3. EMERY An abrasive comedian (5)
Double definition: as in emery paper, used for smoothing, and comedian Dick Emery, who is likely to be unfamiliar to many younger solvers. We had EMERY PAPER in a Pasquale puzzle in December, clued as “Old comic publication seen as abrasive (5,5)”
4. HET UP Agitated by appearance of some white hairs? (3,2)
HET is UP in whiTE Hairs
5. NUMBER TWO Deputy‘s short cut (6,3)
Double definition: assistant and a short style of haircut
6. AREA CODES Some of the cell numbers American does care about (4,5)
A + (DOES CARE)* – an area code might be part of a cellphone number, in US terminology
7. TITLE Hat-wearing model? That’s right (5)
T (model) in TILE (hat)
8. DONALD NEILSON A Trump lie’s non-malignant? It’s a killer (6,7)
DONALD (a Trump) + (LIES NON)*; Neilson was known as the Black Panther
9. DOCTOR CRIPPEN Killer piano in Prince cover potentially, if you were to do this (6,7)
If you were to DOCTOR (i.e. anagram) CRIPPEN, you could get P[iano] in (“covered by”) PRINCE
15. REFUSENIK Dissident wanting official employment upset relatives (9)
REF (referee, official) + USE + reverse of KIN
16. COCKROACH Spooner’s music teacher? He’s six feet under! (9)
Spoonerism of ROCK COACH; cockroaches are insects, so have six legs
17. ZINC OXIDE Pigment? Unknown number to ring for its formula (4,5)
The chemical formula of Zinc Oxide is ZnO – Z (unknown) + n (number) + O (ring); it’s used as a white pigment
21. SIGMA Letter E missing: game is lost (5)
Anagram of (GAME IS) less E
22. WAGER Punt in which to practise going on river (5)
WAGE (to practise, as in wage war) + R
23. SUNUP What happens soon after Aurora raises matter involving a Parisian (5)
UN (French “a”) in reverse of PUS (matter); Aurora is the Roman goddess of dawn

55 comments on “Guardian 28,049 – Puck”

  1. Thanks Andrew (and you beat me to my intended pun).

    I found most of the clues ropey and had to give up on a few. Not what I would call ‘smooth surfaces’

  2. Thanks Andrew – there were a few here I’d not fully parsed including Zinc Oxide and I’d missed the nice Nice connection. Clever use of the theme and impressive gridfill with the killers round the outside but a number of clues were a bit strained as a result.

    I thought “place over the pond” a bit vague for NY given an entire continent to choose from, though the answer was clear enough. “area codes” are one thing that does not appear in a cell phone number – they have a prefix but it’s not by area! I thought the “to” in the “zinc oxide” clue a bit surplus to requirements and confusing.

    For 20ac I think the “fashionable” part is a pun on the fashioning of shows on a last, so is part of the first bit of wordplay. “het” is only “up” in “white hairs” if the clue is written vertically, but it’s the answer that goes in vertically. I think the interpretation should be “het up” is “teh” which is in “white hairs”. Does anyone say this anymore? In fact isn’t much of the puzzle aimed at, shall we say, an older generation?

    Lots of cleverness and inventiveness here as well though so many thanks Puck. I should’ve seen “scoop” earlier as I have just built a chicken coop!

  4. I really enjoyed this having to actually work out the names with no reference handy(being in a waiting room at the time)

    I believe some solvers have reservations about relatives of victims being still alive and solving puzzles.

    Its a fine line but seeing as I’d never heard of J Hanratty or D Neilson I was not bothered

    Thanks Puck anmd Andrew

  6. Thanks Andrew – I didn’t parse the ANY part of ANNOY and was muttering about there being no container indicator for DRIER until I read your blog. The puzzle looked impenetrable at first but once we got going it went in steadily. My favourite was COCKROACH – I usually dislike Spoonerism clues as they are often contrived but I thought this was well clued and amusing. Thanks to Puck as well – and there’s even time to have a go at Klingsor in The I – a top setter for me.

  7. Phew,bit of a slog, with only the Ripper within recallable GK. And a dnf, cheated for Hanratty, lazy and watching the local pyjama cricket. Cote D’Azur and Doctor Crippen took some nutting out. Fun though, thanks both.

  8. Thanks, Andrew, especially for the parsing of 17dn.

    Great puzzle, with many ingenious clues. Like copmus, I enjoyed working out the names. I liked the Nice area, the sort of plastic, possibly the last newspaper and the dissident, among others. I’m with WhiteKing’s comment about Spoonerisms, including this one.

    Many thanks, Puck – a bit gruesome but an enjoyable solve!

     

  10. @copmus I really must start using emoticons when parodying the professional offence seekers on the Guardian site. Lots to enjoy here but lots of irritants too like ORGANZA and JACK/HONOUR

    Thanks to Andrew & Puck for all the hard graft

  11. TheZed @ 2 The geographical division relating to a specific landline area code can be called a cell (but the clue is poor and you are right that cellphone numbers don’t have ‘area codes’).

    Curious one for me, found it a bit distasteful after solving 1a and 8d but was unbothered by the other two killers so I guess it’s just a case of ‘too soon’ (or ‘I’m too old’), was also discombobulated by the number of ‘that old chestnut’ and ‘suppose it works’ moments scattered amongst the fine cluing (‘nice area’ at the start of a clue, ‘s for has in 14, ‘fashionable’, the Spoonerism, etc…all brilliant).

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  12. Shirl @ 5 just for clarification – it’s not only the Jack that is an honour in a pack of cards.  It also applies to the King and Queen too.

  13. I found this difficult because of the GK. I failed to solve DONALD NEILSON (never heard of him), and needed help from google plus guesswork to solve DOCTOR CRIPPEN + JAMES HANRATTY. Also new for me were number two = short hair cut, maestro = plastic (is it a brand name?), and comedian Dick EMERY.

    I was not sure how to parse 17d or 26a JACK = honour?

    My favourites were COCKROACH, COTE D’AZUR.

    Thanks, Puck and Andrew.

  15. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    I had a slightly different parsing for 17: Z (unknown) NO (number) ‘to ring’ ie to sound out > be expressed fully. Any takers?

  16. Anyone else disappointed when 8d A***/***** with an anagram of DOES CARE didn’t turn out to be ARAD SECOE or some such?

    I’m with Robert @11 on finding two of the killers fair game, two not so much, but enjoyed the puzzle anyway.

    Thanks Puck, Andrew

  17. Interesting to see others’ reactions – Hanratty was quite well known to me since my grandfather made a bit of a name for himself reporting the case for the local newspaper. copmus @4 – I believe Donald Neilson may have been overshadowed in folk-memory by his near-namesake Dennis Nilsen, though I certainly remember both. I agree with TheZed @2 regarding both the interpretation of “fashionable” (“where shoes are fashioned”) and I too queried whether cellphones (or “mobile phones” as we call them in the UK…) include area codes.

    My pet hate today was 11ac “MAESTRO”, as I am not a fully paid up member of the consumer society and so I dislike commercial names in crosswords and answers that border on advertising. Which is why I thank Andrew for the explanation since I was blissfully unaware of its commercial connotation.

    And thanks to Puck of course for a solid (apart from a couple of minor quiblettes) solve.

  19. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    Puck is usually one of my favourite setters, but I didn’t enjoy this one – too many unparsed. I saw SONAR early but was reluctant to enter it as I couldn’t see what “repeatedly” was doing. I also had OMEGA at 21d for some time.

    I did parse 9d, but only retrospectively – I can’t think that anyone could solve it bottom-up.

    I suppose “under” can refer to legs in 16d, but I didn’t like it. Quite a lot of the rest seemed rather loose as well.

  20. My initial reaction was similar to that in pedro’s first post. 1ac for example is difficult to read and make sense of. After reading Andrew’s blog and re-reading the clues I’ve changed my mind. Still, i didn’t enjoy this much and didñ’t come close to finishing it.

  21. Phew.  That was a struggle, and not sure I’d ever have got there without access to reference materials.

    Could not recall HANRATTY or NEILSON at the time, but now do, vaguely.

    Ticks at MAESTRO and, unparsed until Andrew’s excellent blog, ZINC OXIDE.

    Also missed the double arson hidden word in SONAR, and so was going to suggest “repeatedly” was superfluous.

    One small query…I don’t quite see how LAST STRAW works.  The clue says where shoes are made (fashionable).  Surely a LAST is on what shoes are made, no?

    Overall, a fine achievement that can’t have been easy to compile, so many thanks to the imp.

    Nice week, all.

  22. Slow start but got there in the end, although forgetting the now largely defunct MAESTRO card – I spent ages trying to relate it to a type of plastic!

    Lots of good clues, although I thought the ‘mostly’ and ‘wanting’ were a bit inaccurate. I, too, appreciated the Spoonerism.

    Thanks Puck and Andrew.

     

  23. TheZed@2 & Robert@11,  unlike European mobile phone numbers which generally have their own prefixes distinct from national area codes, US cell phone numbers follow the general numbering convention there so do have area codes. The “American” in the clue is thus relevant.

  24. I am interested in serial killers but prefer the ones in fiction (e.g. Val McDermid’s) to the true crime ones, so I missed 1a JAMES HANRATTY and 9d DOCTOR CRIPPEN (hadn’t heard of the first but did know of the infamous second). However, I couldn’t get the wordplay for either so they were the two unfinished solutions in my grid. I did manage to get the other killers via wordplay and crossers, though for me too, the JACK part of 26a JACK THE RIPPER was unparsed. Some nice (!) PDMs among the rest.
    Thanks to Puck and Andrew. The comments also made for good reading, so thanks to all contributors.

  25. Mostly easier to solve than parse, and reading the blog allows me to see why. I seldom spot reverse clues like 4d and 9d, although unlike Boffo @18, I do like and admire them. ZINC OXIDE was also quite clever but above my parsing pay grade. I agree that the use of ‘mostly’ in 25a was loose and would have annoyed me if it had kept me from the answer. As it is, I have no complaints. Thanks to Puck and to Andrew for what must have been a challenging blog.

  27. bdg @23 thanks for that nugget – having an area code is a weird way to do mobile numbers and when I lived in the states (93-94) cell phones were exceptionally rare so I never clocked this fact. I think the “American” part of the clue has to be the use of “cell” rather than “mobile” as “American” is already needed for the “A” in the solution.

  28. Am I the only one to find it a bit shoddy if not unfair that CODE D’AZUR was enumerated as 2 words not 3? The poor DE, not only does it have its E elided but its whole existence is ignored! (Would you say CHARLES DE GAULLE was 2 words? Is there really a difference?)

  29. Dr. WhatsOn @28 How would you enumerate “That’s Life”? (5,4), (4’1,4), (4,2,4)? In fact the elision in Cote D’Azur is a grammatical requirement (“De Azur” would be plain wrong) where the one in my example is optional. Either way I cannot see  a way to enumerate it that is more accurate. “Charles De Gaulle” is 3 words but “Jean D’Alembert” is 2 by my count.

  30. bdg @ 23 Yes and it frequently causes awkward situations where I work (in the UK for a US company) when we call a customer on what is listed as their cell phone and find we’ve woken up a relative of theirs at home! Unfortunately ‘American’ is used for the ‘a’ and ‘cellphone’ is in common use here too so it doesn’t get Puck off the hook for me.

  31. Well, TheZed@29, I knew that was coming! It depends on how you define “word”. D’Azur imo is not one. But to answer your question another way, what I would have done is not to use that answer (a shame, because it was otherwise a rather “nice” clue).

  32. SimonS@15- you may have found a weak spot in the puzzle-is number NO or N? Either or in mein buch.

    But having number as N then ring has to be O=ZnO is O level Chem I spose..

    Not the strongest clue but sitting in the waiting room while copmissus was being investigated for causes of chronic back pain

    I sort of bunged em in.C”est la vie.

  33. Bodycheetah @10, you talk about “professional offence-seekers”. I can see that the puzzle wouldn’t bother most people – Puck’s obviously not celebrating these figures – but surely you can see why some people might object to the inclusion of the murderer Neilson, responsible for the kidnapping and death of a 17-year-old girl in the 1970s. That’s living memory for a lot of people. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8516000/8516944.stm

    The Times certainly wouldn’t have gone anywhere near that in a clue.

  34. I quite enjoyed this, though didn’t get COTE D’AZUR, and kicked myself not to see Nice as the French town. Kept thinking the first word must be City. As for the ‘repeating’ bit of 19a, I took that to be a reference to the echo bleep-bleep-bleep of sonar…. but I think I was being fanciful.
    Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  35. Thanks both,

    I had to resort to the check button to finish this. Was I alone in putting an unparsed ‘zinc white’, which is a pigment, for 17d? Did anyone else find the ‘wanting’ as a definition wordplay separator a bit ..er.. wanting in 15d?

    Otherwise some nifty clues.

  36. I didn’t know about the Maestro card, and being female a Number Two haircut is not part of my daily experience, so although I had those answers I didn’t really know why. Didn’t know Donald Neilson either. On the other hand I do know Dick Emery – though he must be fast approaching his Clue By date. I liked the COCKROACH.

  37. The Zed: Re HET UP. Does anyone say this anymore? Yes, I do, regularly. But, that said, I’m also rather partial to
    “Keep your wig on ! ” I did a bit of research after completion, and in a way wished I hadn’t. But my justification for
    Maestro was the bizarre discovery that an American company fashioned banjo ukeleles out of Maestro plastic in the
    50s.
    I always like to see a (dis)honourable knave or Jack as it is crucial to a Bath Coup; a very nifty bridge manoeuvre.
    Thanks to Andrew and Puck; I really enjoyed this but I hope your dark mood is only temporary.

  38. A lot of this was guess-first-parse-later, not that I mind. Although I’d painstakingly arrived at DONALD NEILSON from the parsing, JAMES HANRATTY came as a wild guess and, having the pair of them in place, JACK THE RIPPER was an obvious next guess with DOCTOR CRIPPEN emerging shortly afterwards. I’m always impressed at setters’ skills, but even so, fitting in those four unsavoury characters is pretty awesome, I think.
    As well as the gruesome foursome, I particularly enjoyed REFUSENIK, COCKROACH and LAST STRAW. I confess, however, that I had to have the men’s haircut sense of NUMBER TWO explained to me by my partner, for I had a markedly different understanding of that term…
    Thanks to Puck for a classy puzzle and to Andrew for the helpful explanations

  39. Thanks to Andrew and to Puck ! As others have said, a bit gruesome, but I knew the dramatis personae so no worries (yes I’m old enough to remember the A6 murders being news.) I can imagine the sort of discussion that has ensued on the Guardian site so I won’t go there ! I didn’t parse TITLE or ZINC OXIDE, but that’s why I come here after completing the grid.

  41. As I’ve managed to put my back out- while stooping to pick up the Guardian as it happens- I haven’t been in the best of moods today. Consequently I found this rather less enjoyable than I otherwise would. Nonetheless I find it hard to get upset by the inclusion of the names of killers or alleged ones. Some of my parsing was after the event though. I was pleased that I clocked the use of NICE in 16 ac and I guessed that Maestro was a credit card although I still can’t remember it!
    WAGER and LAST STRAW were last ones in.
    Thanks Puck.

  42. Gladys@36 – I love “Clue By date”. But I imagine “laurel” and “hardy” for example will continue to feature in crossword puzzles for many years to come.

  44. I struggled with the theme names, but I enjoyed the well-crafted clues in evidence throughout. I had no references to hand for most of the time I had to solve this puzzle and had to cheat a bit on the right side of the grid later on just to get the last killer.
    Thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  45. In bridge, the top 5 cards are all called honours: A, K, Q, J and ten.

    Puck is too tough for me generally, and DNK three of the four assassins. Still, it was fun trying. Plus I gradually become familiar with the abstruse/cunning devices that setters use via this great website. Many thanks to all the bloggers who contribute.

  46. Straw as a decription of a colour took me back to my days of studying the history of The Turf. And not just ancient history; this from 2004: “the late Duke of Devonshire’s famous straw colours were carried to a glorious victory in the Irish 2,000 Guineas…”

  47. Was ready to class this as too hard, but now clashing myself as too stupid to miss an area of Nice with C.T. and a 5 letter word containing Z.

    Also too thick to work out the anagram of ‘A does care’.

    Very annoying when the hard work was already done!

    Thanks S and B

  49. Like DaveinNC @ 25, we like clues where part of the answer is also part of the instruction to solver, so pleased to parse DOCTOR CRIPPEN, but failed to spot the similar device in HET UP. The ‘in poor taste’ issue had not occurred to us, but I think those who have doubts about referencing DONALD NIELSON are in the right. A matter of time and degree, of course. FRED & ROSE a total no-no, as would be HINDLEY & BRADY. But SAWNEY BEAN or GILLES DE RAIS (6,2,4) no prob.

    Favourite was REFUSENIK.

    Thanks to the girdler and Andrew.

  50. I thought that Z was the unknown then xi (eleven) was the number which is “ring” ed by its formula which is “in code”. Sorry if I’ve written it incorrectly – I’m new to this.

  51. Hello Suzy @50. That’s a clever and fiendish interpretation – too complicated to be a fair clue in my opinion, if that had been what the setter intended. (I also don’t think any roman numeral would be defined as merely ‘number’.)  Mind you, it’s a difficult clue as it is, and I couldn’t parse it at the time, but the Z n O interpratation looks right.

  53. Just finished in a couple of hours with much help from the Internet. Thankfully I am old and play bridge! Maestro also makes plastic pallets, so not sure it’s the card.
    According to Wikipedia James Hanratty was found definitely guilty in 2002 by DNA test, so maybe no longer “alleged”?

  55. As my wife and I do more and more crosswords we have developed a sixth sense for sneaky words like Nice, barman and detailed to name but three!

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