Guardian 28,357 – Pan

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Not as easy as Pan can be – certainly harder than her Prize puzzle a couple of weeks ago – but generally straightforward and Monday-friendly. Thanks to Pan

 
Across
4. DOCTOR Tamper with retro piece of religious iconography outside court (6)
C[our]T in reverse of ROOD (cross)
6. CHARLOCK Plant found by fish next to part of canal network (8)
CHAR (fish) + LOCK (seen on canals) – I didn’t know the word, but the plant (also called Wild Mustard) is familiar
9. ARREST Medical emergency caused by a speaker’s inactivity (6)
Homophone of “a rest”
10. GRADIENT Slope in garden altered to accommodate one plant finally (8)
I (one) in GARDEN* + [plan]T
11. PEARLESCENT Fruit with extremely likeable fragrance has a fine lustre (11)
PEAR + L[ikabl]E + SCENT – the definition doesn’t work grammatically: “and with a fine lustre” might be better
15. REORDER College head leaves part-time judge to request another delivery (7)
RECORDER (part-time judge) less C[ollege]
17. TORRENT Huge flow of gold found in British river (7)
OR (gold) in TRENT
18. MAGINOT LINE Wise men given no time to join those waiting to see old French fortifications (7,4)
MAGI (the Wise Men in the Christmas story) + NO T + LINE (a queue, those waiting)
22. POIGNANT Sharp fielder catching good new Australian (8)
G[ood] N[ew] A[ustralian] in POINT (fielding position in cricket)
23. MAGNUM Relative trapping animal in bottle (6)
GNU in MAM (mother)
24. TIPSTAFF Court official with gratuities for office workers (8)
TIPS (gratuitues) + STAFF As noted in the comments, this gives a superfluous S
25. MIRROR Reflect, as young person runs for navy (6)
MINOR (young person) with two R[un]s replacing N[avy]
Down
1. MORSEL Small piece of mushroom without top of stalk (6)
S[talk] in MOREL (mushroom), with “without” meaning “outside”
2. CHARLESTON Dance, though Rachel and son not dancing (10)
Anagram of RACHEL S NOT
3. PREDATOR Aggressor‘s press release to editor returning duty list (8)
P[ress] R[elease] + ED[itor] + reverse of ROTA
4. DIASPORA Return said sources of 3, 7, 15 and 9 for all those who have left their homeland (8)
Reverse of SAID + initial letters of Predator Open Reorder Arrest (the answers to the numbered clues)
5. CARDAMOM Drama changed into half comedy for produce some spice (8)
DRAMA* in COM[edy]
7. OPEN Old writer in annual golf event (4)
O + PEN
8. KITE Bird originally kept in tiny enclosure (4)
First letters of Kept In Tiny Enclosure
12. STROGANOFF Dish of beef roast, carved up with good source of nutrients, is no longer on the menu (10)
Anagram of (ROAST G[ood]) + N[utrients] + OFF (no longer on the menu – the “is” is redundant)
13. DESIGNER Creative type‘s gender is fluid (8)
(GENDER IS)*
14. STREAMER Flag flown by ship crossing river (8)
R in STEAMER
16. DOMINATE Two notes put away following Norway leader’s command (8)
DO MI (notes, as in do-re-mi) + N[orway] + ATE (put away)
19. TRAGIC Very sad soldier in vehicle going back uphill (6)
GI (soldier) in reverse of CART
20. SPOT Covers over notice (4)
Reverse of TOPS (covers): this clue could equally well give TOPS, but either of the crossing letters settles the matter
21. PIMP Detective in touch with politician’s solicitor (4)
PI (Private Investigator) + MP (politician)

73 comments on “Guardian 28,357 – Pan”

  1. Straightforward with some interesting clues. I liked STROGANOFF and DIASPORA. The clue for CARDAMOM should surely be ‘to produce’ rather than ‘for’, otherwise it doesn’t make sense. Thanks Pan and Andrew

  3. Nice straightforward start to a Monday morning. STROGANOFF and PIMP were my favourites. Like Abdrew I didn’t know CHARLOCK. I’m with @1AlanC on the clue for CARDAMOM.

    Thanks for a fun start to the week, Pan.

  4. Did not parse MIRROR
    Favourites: PIMP, DOMINATE
    New: pearlescent, charlock, Maginot Line

    There is something wrong with the clue (and blog) for 24a which I think should be gratuity singular => TIP/STAFF because TIPS+STAFF does not work.

    Thanks, Pan and Andrew

  6. Agree with Michelle and AlanC re TIPSSTAFF –

    ‘Court official rewards recent commenter cut short’ ?? 😉

    And wouldn’t CHARLESTON be simpler and better if it was ‘Dance, though Rachel’s not dancing’? (as almost suggested by Andrew)

    Sorry to start the week with stroganoffs. Thanks Pan and Andrew.

  8. Had the same thoughts on 24a and 5d as others. The NW corner took me the longest. I liked the MAGINOT LINE, POIGNANT, CHARLESTON (though essexboy’s alternative clue @6 is even better) and CARDAMOM (despite the glitch in the clue). Had no idea about how to parse DIASPORA so thanks for that, Andrew. And thanks to Pan.

  10. Took time to parse MIRROR and like TassieTim@8 was stuck in NW corner for some time, before I got DOCTOR and ARREST. All in all a good Monday puzzle. Many thanks to Pan and Andrew.

  13. 12 down reminds me of the time I tried to use ‘BEEF STEW’ as my login password and the site said it wasn’t ‘STROGANOFF’.

  14. Thanks to Pan and Andrew. 6a CHARLOCK (as for Andrew and others) and 24a TIPSTAFF were new words for me. I liked the simplicity of 7d OPEN and 21d PIMP (again as already cited above). Isn’t PEARLESCENT (11a) a lovely word?

  15. What a pity about the glitches – they were all easily avoidable.

    Otherwise, there were lots of good clues, with some very nice surfaces. I particularly liked REORDER, MAGINOT LINE, CHARLESTON (agree with Tassie Tim) and TRAGIC.

    Many thanks to Pan and Andrew (and thanks for the smile, Jeremy Nicholas @13).

  16. Thanks Pan and Andrew
    In addition to the problems with TIPSTAFF and CARDAMOM, I thought DIASPORA was lazily clued. Otherwise enjoyable, with MAGINOT LINE favourite.

  17. Thanks both. Maybe 5d would have a better surface as “Drama changed into half comedy for production of some spice”.

    Thanks to Jeremy @ 13 for the laugh- I will be stealing that!

  19. Gentle-ish work-out for a Monday. Strange that our esteemed editor didn’t spot the double S…I wonder if we’re missing something?

    There’s also something not quite right about 5d. “Drama changed into half comedy for produce some spice”. Wot? Doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?

    Didn’t spoil the puzzle though, many thanks, both.

  21. Jeremy Nicholas @13: You remind of a cartoon I saw in a French magazine some time ago…A geeky bloke reads on his screen, “Saisir votre mot de passe”. He enters, “Pénis”. The computer returns the message, “Votre mot de passe n’est pas assez longue”.

  22. Had to check the existence of CHARLOCK and MOREL but otherwise seemed very straightforward today. Pity about the errors but didn’t hold me up. Thanks Pan and Andrew. Now back to Friday’s from Paul!

  24. I have to say it … regarding 25a MIRROR, as a constant complainer that “r = run” exists only in the minds of crossword setters, as it is derived from the column heading in a cricket bowler’s analysis standing for run(s) conceded, it is most definitely the case that “runs = r” and not “rr”. Grrrr.

  25. I put in CHAdLOCK at the beginning until the PREDATOR came along.

    Pleasant Monday solve. The ‘for’ in 5D is surely a ‘to’ misprint; otherwise a nice clue. I also liked POIGNANT, CHARLESTON and TRAGIC.

    Thanks Pan and Andrew.

  27. William@21 – I’m afraid your French computer needs a spellcheck/grammar check: “mot” is a masculine noun, therefore the final word should be “long”.

  28. A pleasant Monday solve, glitches notwithstanding, with some lovely clues. Yes,JinA@14, PEARLESCENT is a lovely word. Ta to Pan and Andrew

  29. Thanks to Andrew and Pan.

    I had the same reservations about 24A, but then I thought that if you tip the staff, you give them gratuities.

  30. Van Winkle@24 : Yes, r in bowler’s analysis is ‘runs’, but it designates ‘run’ in the short version of ‘run out’.

  32. Fun little number this morning and a quickish solve to give me that feeling on a Monday that maybe the brain hasn’t gone to total mush (although I’m waiting for another Vlad mauling later in the week to rightfully put me back in Dunceville…)

    Thanks to Pan and Andrew!

  33. Robi @26 – yes, that is what I said – r stands for “run or runs”, not “run” or “runs”.
    BenW@30 – yes, but that breaks the “no separation” convention for use of abbreviations.
    This is part of my general campaign against usages that are write-ins for those that have seen them sufficient times before but make no obvious sense to those that have not and where there is no middle point. A campaign that is particularly less lethargic on a Monday.

  34. I tried to put opalescent into 11a, thinking of Opal fruits, but felt sure it didn’t have two ls.

    Thanks Pan and Andrew

  35. Having looked in vain for a homophone that wasn’t there in the Quiptic, I failed to spot the one that was there in ARREST. Must try harder, as it always used to say on my school reports.
    A bit tougher than Pan usually is. I did know CHARLOCK (thanks, Observer Book of Wild Flowers) and I got STROGANOFF very quickly because I cooked one yesterday, albeit with mushrooms not beef ( and not morels, either). Thanks Pan and Andrew.

  36. Thought it was going to be another nightmare like last week, left with just two crossing clues that would not come. One was ARREST, which since I’m sitting in a hospital car park on patient transport duties was a bit frustrating. But when that went in MORSEL followed. Phew.

    TIPSTAFF shouldn’t have happened but there are worse crimes (it’s not a military coup). Parsing MIRROR was just over my head.

  38. Another of those strange “same word in two different crosswords on the same day” coincidences this morning. I thought DIASPORA was a bit laboured, but maybe that’s because I bunged in PASSPORT unparsed, as it fitted the P and the R and was something “for those leaving their homeland.

  42. Newbie here: difficulties mentioned above with cardamom made no difference to me as it was my FOI (see – am picking up “in crowd” lingo)!
    New for me runs = r/rr, although I knew point! Helps to have an OH with sports bent.
    Still getting some answers with no clue why.
    Today can proudly say I was familiar with all the answers inc. charlock. Did look up Maginot Line to check historical Background. This is unlike some days when Chambers is to hand right the way through.

  43. Van Winkle @33 – Thanks,I hadn’t appreciated that abbreviations couldn’t be separated. Often in solving, the abbreviation that comes to mind is one that does require separation eg N(avy) from RN in 25a. It is presumably the setter’s responsibility to see that the conventions are followed and in this particular instance to see that a stand-alone usage does exist.
    I’ve occasionally tried to explain the ‘coding’ of cryptics to beginners, and something like R(uns) or N(avy) is invariably more readily accepted than ‘flower/banker’ for river (cf discussion here a few days ago).

  45. VW @* I parsed MIRROR as run=r therefore runs=rr ie it’s an instruction to pluralise the r. I’m sure we’ve seen other examples like pennies yielding DD, fifties LL etc.

  46. Thanks both,
    I liked 4ac. The crossing ‘chars’ in 2d and 6ac were a shame. The definition of ‘mushroom ‘ in Chambers would exclude morels as they don’t have gills, but I guess the broad mass of ordinary working people wouldn’t worry.

  47. BenW@43 – this part of my concern … N is in Chambers as a stand-alone abbreviation for navy, so would usually be regarded as fair game under the conventions, even though there is no common usage that would lead solvers to make the connection unless they had seen it before.
    Bodycheetah@45 – it’s the run = r thing that bothers me – if you’re (questionably) going to allow r = run(s) to be represented in the singular, then my view is that it will still be r in the plural.

  48. muffin @16 “I thought DIASPORA was lazily clued.” Tend to agree, or is it more like unfair than lazy? Two of the initial letters (referenced by 15 & 9 in the clue) are actually in the solution. It’s ok as long as you already have DIASPORA, because you then have all the letters and can work out the parsing, but if you don’t know the answer and you’re trying to construct it from the wordplay, you could be in trouble.

    Van Winkle @24. Totally agree that R=run(s), so runs does not=RR. (Bodycheetah @45 – the point is that R= run or runs, so RR is not runs because R is.) So I failed to parse that one.

    Like Trailman I was looking at MORSEL and ARREST for the longest time, but got there in the end. An enjoyable solve, despite the little niggly quibbles (quibbly niggles?).

  51. Thanks Pan, that was fun. I learned two new words, TIPSTAFF and CHARLOCK and I thought MIRROR, STROGANOFF, SPOT, and PIMP ( great surface) were all well-crafted. I could not parse REORDER so thanks Andrew for the blog. [Thanks William @21 for the French joke.]

  52. I came to the 15^2 to find out the significance of MCP/EFC (the apparent nina) but I guess it has none. The asides in @13 and @21 made up for my disappointment.

    BTW r for run is common in baseball as well (particularly in the stat RBI which stands for Run Batted In. There are many arguments about the plural: RBIs, RsBI, RBI.

  53. SH@48 R can equal runs but it doesn’t have to. I think it’s a cute bit of misdirection that seems to have had the intended effect

  54. MORSEL is a type of clue I have seen before and failed to get – every time – and again today. Also did not parse MIRROR.

    Found it harder than the last few Mondays and took me a while.

    I agree JinA that PEARLESCENT i s lovely word.

    Favourites: MAGINOT LINE (just sprung into my mind and a lovely surface) PIMP, POIGNANT

    Thanks to Pan and Andrew

  55. Re 25a MIRROR, VW’s complaint @24 could be addressed by adding twice after runs: “Reflect as young person runs twice for navy.” It doesn’t make the surface any better, but it wasn’t very good in the first place.

    jvh@29 does a nice job of trying to justify Pan’s error with TIPSTAFF, demonstrating what a compassionate and considerate community we are.

    I loved essexboy’s Boratification @20 of the CARDAMOM clue, and thanks William@21 and Jeremy@13 for the laughs.

    AlanC@1 and I seem to be alone in liking DIASPORA, although we have company in our approval of STROGANOFF.

    [ Bodycheetah, I hope you are feeling better now. ]

    Thanks Pan and Andrew.

  56. cellomaniac – good idea about ‘runs twice’.

    Re DIASPORA, I didn’t say I didn’t like the clue, I just thought it was potentially unfair. I like the device, it was just unlucky for Pan that the only clues with R and A as initial letters were those that started in DIASPORA itself. Perhaps she should have kept her powder dry for a better opportunity.

    Yes, I like to think we’re a ‘compassionate and considerate community’, perfectly illustrated by essexboy’s tender reference to Taffy @6: ‘recent commenter cut short’ indeed. And the emboldening of the two esses…

    I think I’ll forgive him this once.

  57. Sorry hatter @56, I’ve only just seen the ‘insignia’. I honestly wouldn’t have made light of that subject, even on a non-memorial day. Thanks for your forgiveness; we’ll put it down as another one for PM’s ‘sadness of coincidence’ file.

  58. With 9a I parsed ARREST as A R (speaker as speakers can be R or L) and REST with no homophone. Needed Andrew’s help with MIRROR – thank you. Thanks Pan for a suitable Monday puzzle – a relief after a difficult weekend!

  59. I don’t think a PIMP is the one who does the soliciting. His sex-worker solicits and the pimp collects his percentage after the fact for providing so-called protection.

  60. [ sheffield hatter@56, I have no interest in football, but I do have friends who live in Hove, so I occasionally glance at the Premier League tables to see if B&H are going to avoid relegation. I will remain compassionate and considerate and so will not comment on other teams facing that fate. ]

  61. [cellomaniac – Thanks, but your compassion is slightly misdirected in this instance. My moniker indicates where I live and which team I support, but they are not the same. I have compassion for my friends in Sheffield who are Blades supporters – and the Owls are not much better off – but my team is Luton Town, aka The Hatters. Incidentally, I was born in Brighton, so I too glance at the tables to make sure Brighton & Hove Albion are not going to be relegated this season.]

  63. AndrewTyndall @59. I think your definition of PIMP may be too narrow. The definition in my paper edition of Chambers (too long to type out here) includes soliciting, though not necessarily as a prime function. Online there’s this at Dictionary.com. And although I haven’t identified a quote – it may be from a crime novel or a news report – the phrase “pimping his own wife” comes to mind, and the implication there was that he was soliciting customers for his (unwilling) spouse.

  64. [essexboy: normally the vowels are replaced by asterisks, but I think I can still recognise the team you refer to.]

  65. [essexboy @ 62 and sheffield hatter: I’m more than happy to mention Watford as my minnows did the unexpected tonight. I will sleep happy] 🙂

  66. sheffield hatter @63: assigning the PIMP to the benign role in sales and marketing rather than the grubbier chores of sex-trafficking and protection-racketeering seems too generous for this day and age. However I concede your point.

    [BTW: I was a cub reporter on the Luton News back in the day and would stand behind the goal in the Kenilworth Stand with Geoffrey Cox to cheer on the Futcher twins]

  67. [AlanC: there’s only one team we hate more than W*tf*rd and that’s You Rs. Good result though.]

    [AndrewTyndall: Happy days! I didn’t see those two play very much as I was Oop North by then. I started in the Oak Road End in 1969, cheering on Malcom Macdonald (58 goals in 101 matches).]

  68. [I bore the brunt of that in an FA Cup match at Kenilworth Road Jan 6 2001. I took a female friend who had never been to a footie match but unfortunately I could only get tickets in the Luton area. I told her that no matter what, if QPR scored, she was to remain motionless. You were winning 2-0 and everything was fine until the 48th minute when Peter Crouch pulled one back and she jumped to her feet. The abuse I received after that from all around was relentless and vitriolic tbh. We equalised in the 90th minute but I was already on the motorway by then. She still thinks it’s a funny story…]

  69. [AlanC: I think you could repeat that experience at any ground in the country! (I saw us win a cup tie at Leeds when we were in a higher division than them. Kept very quiet indeed when we scored twice to knock them out. Not a pleasant experience.) It’s lucky you left before the usual jammy 90th minute equaliser… 🙂 ]

    [Other commenters: Apologies for the football takeover.]

  70. [ Other commentators: My apologies for starting this – particularly ironic as I am not a footie fan, and I still don’t know who is sheffield hatter’s team. And what or who is a minnow? ]

  71. [cellomaniac @70: sh – Luton Town (see @61); AlanC – Queens Park Rangers (they beat Watford, or as sh prefers it, W*tf*rd, last night, despite being ‘minnows’/underdogs – see @65). The W word and QPR (‘the Rs’) both have a long history of, er, rivalry (to put it politely) with Luton (‘the Hatters’) (see @67/68). Hope that helps!]

  72. [cellomaniac@70: the Hatters is the nickname for Luton Town, so called because they used to play in big top hats that often fell down over their eyes during energetic play, making them easy to beat and thus explaining their lowly league status as minnows. Hope that helps!]
    Thanks very much Andrew and all other commentators above for digging through the dodgy elements – can’t say I enjoyed this very much but maybe I was just running on empty when I ground my way though it late yesterday – worthwhile to see Pearlescent which I agree is a wonderful word, but so specific in meaning that it is hard to clue with a single definition at the start that doesn’t itself end in “scent”: I tried “Lustrous fruit…” but it’s a bit more than that and I think “Colourful and lustrous fruit…” is no better than Andrew’s improvement on the printed version. Thanks Pan in any case!

  73. [ sh and eb – I somehow missed eb@61, which answered my question before I asked it, and I now know what a minnow is. (Strange that I haven’t encountered that in a crossword.)
    And thanks Gazzh for the top hats – an hilarious image. ]

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