Guardian Cryptic 28564 Picaroon

by

Thank you to Picaroon. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1. Sit once more in tranquillity (6)

REPOSE : RE-(prefix indicating a repeat/once more) + POSE(to sit/to assume a position to be photographed or painted).

Defn: A state of …/stillness.

4. Palace player going too far in large undergarment (8)

ALHAMBRA : HAM(a player on stage, specifically one who overacts/is going too far) contained in(in) [ A +L(abbrev. for “large”) + BRA(short for brassiere, the undergarment) ].

Defn: … in Granada, Spain.

9. News about cycle of regularly fabricated material (5)

NYLON : N,N(twice the abbrev. for “new”) containing(about) 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “cycle of“.

Fabricated material:

10. Boss losing face in dog-tired state (9)

LASSITUDE : “stud”(boss/a projecting knob in the centre of a shield) minus its 1st letter(losing face) contained in(in) LASSIE(the fictional canine character).

11. Slides, as with sliding rocks (9)

GLISSANDI : Anagram of(… rocks) [AS plus(with) SLIDING].

Defn: … between two notes in music scores.

12. Pirouetting priest in party is slippery (5)

OILED : Reversal of(Pirouetting) [ ELI(Biblical priest) contained in(in) DO(a party/a social function) ].

13. Business that’s going to set up partnerships? (6,6)

DATING AGENCY : Cryptic defn: …, romantic partnerships, that is.

17. The Met Office? (8,4)

SCOTLAND YARD : Cryptic defn: One of the departments/office of the Met, the Metropolitan Police in London.

20. Divine Greek female and Frenchman on island (5)

IRENE : RENÉ(a typical Frenchman’s name) placed after(on) I(abbrev. for “island”).

Defn: The Greek goddess of peace.

21. Person to copy European-style bread sandwiches (4,5)

ROLE MODEL : [ E(abbrev. for “European”) + MODE(a style/manner in which something is done) ] contained in(… sandwiches) ROLL(a very small loaf of bread).

23. Time off saved duty at work (5,4)

DUVET DAYS : Anagram of(… at work) SAVED DUTY.

Defn: Unscheduled extra days of sanctioned leave from work to alleviate stress.

24. Versifier performed in recital (5)

DONNE : Homophone of(… in recital) “Donne”(John, English poet/versifier).

25. Legal authorities excluding one sign (8)

NOTARIES : NOT(excluding/except for) + ARIES(one of the 12 signs of the zodiac).

26. A second tie put on where actors perform (6)

REPLAY : RE(on/with reference to) + PLAY(in which/where actors perform).

Defn: …/a re-match of sporting teams, the first meeting of which had ended in a draw or was abandoned.

Down

1. Study absorbing info about English traitor (8)

RENEGADE : [ READ(to study a subject, say, at a university) containing(absorbing) reversal of(… about) GEN(information) ] + E(abbrev. for “English”).

2. Alleviate pressure on my total earlier food intake (8)

PALLIATE : P(symbol for “pressure” in physics) placed above(on, in a down clue) [ALL I ATE](my total earlier food intake/all that I had eaten).

3. Rising stars around independent channel (5)

SINUS : Reversal of(Rising, in a down clue) SUNS(stars in the universe, like our own) containing(around) I(abbrev. for “Independent”, the newspaper, or one not belonging to any political party).

Defn: A hollow cavity/channel within the bones between your eyes.

5. Liberals seem upset by society’s work on injustice (3,10)

LES MISERABLES : Anagram of(… upset) LIBERALS SEEM plus(by) S(abbrev. for “society”).

Defn: …, viz. a French historical novel by Victor Hugo.

6. Do I take drug, on turning up to get some protein? (5,4)

AMINO ACID : { [AM I …?](do I …?) ON(take/use) ACID(short for LSD, a hallucinogenic drug) } with reversal of(… turning up, in a down clue) its “ON”.

Defn: …/a building block of a protein.

7. Canadian songster scoffing a trifle (6)

BAUBLE : BUBLÉ(Michael, Canadian singer and songwriter) containing(scoffing) A.

8. See 18

10. Scandal involving royal house making bit of capital (9,4)

LANCASTER GATE : LANCASTER(the former English royal house whose emblem was a red rose)-GATE(suffix denoting a scandal).

Defn: …/a locality in the English capital, London.

14. What makes middle of cell right after fresh clean out (9)

NUCLEATOR : R(abbrev. for “right”) placed below(after, in a down clue) anagram of(fresh) CLEAN OUT.

Defn: Material that forms the nucleus/centre of a biological cell.

15. Cleric rejected papers cutting about sex (8)

CARDINAL : Reversal of(rejected) ID(identification papers) contained in(cutting) CARNAL(about sex/pertaining to physical sexual needs and activities).

16. Praise dropping a train network for non-union shenanigans (8)

ADULTERY : “adulate”(to praise/to idolise) minus(dropping) “A” + RY(abbrev. for “railway”/train network).

Defn: …/secret activity outside wedlock/non-union.

18, 8. Feature of Copenhagen — Danish design kept secret (6,6)

HIDDEN AGENDA : Hidden in(Feature of) “Copenhagen — Danish“.

Defn: …/undisclosed intention.

Not this feature:

19. Olivier periodically dressed in check cloth (6)

VELVET : 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… periodically) “Olivier” contained in(dressed in) VET(to check/to screen).

22. For example, stupid flipping sucker! (5)

MIDGE : Reversal of(… flipping) [ EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example) + DIM(stupid/dense) ].

Defn: …/a small blood-sucking fly.

83 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28564 Picaroon”

  2. Enjoyed this immensely with lots of ticks, including the clever LES MISERABLES, LANCASTER GATE, LASSITUDE, DUVET DAYS and the excellent HIDDEN AGENDA. With two As in the crossers for ALHAMBRA, I was fixed on best-known Crystal Palace player, Louis Saha for far too long. Dnk GLISSANDI but gettable. Super puzzle.

    Ta Picaroon & scchua

  3. Thanks Picaroon and scchua
    Great fun. Not difficult, though I missed the parsings of CARDINAL and the middle of NYLON. Also, despite having studied and taught biology, NUCLEATOR was a new word for me. (Google seems to think that it’s more to do with bubbles than cells.)
    Favourites DUVET DAYS, PALLIATE, and AMINO ACID.

  4. I’m so glad I persevered with this, having rather floundered early on. If only for what I thought was the quite brilliant HIDDEN AGENDA. Simply guessing ROLE MODEL through its definition helped get things going again, and dim memories of General Science O Level assisted with AMINO ACID and NUCLEATOR. Enjoyed the challenge this morning.

  6. Thanks Picaroon & scchua. Typically excellent work on both the puzzle and the blog. The standouts for me were ALHAMBRA, LES MISERABLES, VELVET and BAUBLE (the last for the lovely surface).

    If I’m being really picky, I thought the CD in 13a was a bit weak. Not sure about 17a – thought it was a bit vague at first but it’s one of those that’s very obvious when you see it, so that probably means it’s actually very clever.

  7. EB @5 – I parsed REPLAY the same way as you. It feels more convincing to me than scchua’s take, but I think both work.

  11. Toughest puzzle so far this week for me. Had trouble with NE and SW corners as well as the Lancaster thingy.

    13ac and 17ac did not seem very cryptic to me.

    Favourites: PALLIATE, AMINO ACID, ADULTERY, LASSITUDE, ALHAMBRA.

    New for me: DUVET DAYS, NUCLEATOR, LANCASTER GATE.

    Thanks, both.

    I parsed REPLY in the same way as essexboy @5

  13. Well constructed puzzle albeit with quite a few chestnuts (Eli used to appear regularly but I haven’t seen him for a while). The CDs were obvious to me, but amusing. Favourites were LES MIS and HIDDEN AGENDA (the 6 letters of the first word did have me reaching for den lille havfrue).

    I agree with essexboy @6 about the parsing REP-LAY.

    Despite Ronald’s O Level science lessons, the definition for NUCLEATOR is wrong, except in an allusive sense. There is no apparatus or mechanism which ‘makes’ a cell nucleus – it is an inherited structure which divides when the cell divides [this is not the place to discuss the origin of the nucleus in eukaryotic organisms, ie those like plants and animals that have a cell nucleus, unlike bacteria!]

    Thanks to S&B

  14. Found this difficult and couldn’t parse a couple.

    I thought the description for LANCASTER GATE was a bit wide.

    as pleased I remembered the device used in NYLON from a recent puzzle where it had been new to me.

    Liked IRENE, PALLIATE, LASSITUDE

    Thanks Picaroon and scchua

  15. Elegant stuff from the pirate this morning with ticks everywhere, but pick of the bunch going to the somewhat &lit-ish HIDDEN AGENDA.

    This would be an excellent puzzle for cryptic Freshmen to cut their teeth on. Excellent use of surface and some inventive clue structures.

    LANCASTER GATE produced a chuckle. Isn’t it odd how gate has crept into the language as a generic link word for any scandal?

    Many thanks for the interesting blog, scchua.

  17. Great puzzle, which I found relatively easy. Never heard of DUVET DAYS or Bublé. Favourites were ALHAMBRA, LASSITUDE (haha!), ROLE MODEL and HIDDEN AGENDA. Many thanks to P & s.

  19. Somewhat off-topic but thinking of GLISSANDI, my Italian studies caused me yesterday to look up allegro and was surprised to learn that it doesn’t mean fast but happy.

    Sbalordito.

  20. essexboy@18: Gosh, yes, I’d forgotten that little broohaha. Didn’t realize until reading your link that one of the officers actually did stir for the [alleged] offence.

  21. This was very enjoyable. Was there a mini-theme of old crossword favourites? Boss = STUD, scandal = GATE, priest = ELI, party = DO, Frenchman = RENE… And 18, 8 was surely a nod to Enigmatist’s much loved clue for the same answer.

    Many thanks Picaroon and scchua.

  22. [William @19: ‘Cheerful’ is a slightly more accurate translation of ‘allegro’ and the primary meaning of ‘presto’ is ‘soon’, though it can imply fast in the sense of ‘hurry up!]

  23. Like the rain, solutions spread in from the west.
    Having done a fair bit of biochemistry as well as industrial chemistry, I have to agree with Gervase@13 that NUCLEATOR just won’t do as a definition for a mechanism for creating a cell nucleus, but the word can be used for microscopic seeding of crystals in solutions or melts, usually referred to as “nucleating agents”.
    That quibble aside, I enjoyed the crossword, so thanks to Picaroon and scchua.

  24. I was loving the artwork on this blog then it ran out.
    Lovely as always from this setter
    No fillers
    Just elegance and precision like a Swiss watch or tennis player
    Thanks JB and scchua
    If he did an Inqy should he be called Jolly Roger?

  25. William @15 – there was an actual scandal (or at least a media brouhaha) associated with Lancaster Gate, back in the days when it was the home of the Football Association and Sven Goran Eriksson was England manager. I don’t recall that incident ever being referred to as Lancaster Gategate though.

  27. Gervase @22: Thanks for that – a little knowledge, etc.

    Your thoughts on presto reminded me of a particularly stressful dress rehearsal of The Winter’s Tale where everyone was getting nervous & fractious. One of the minor characters made a disastrously late entry and the director screamed, “Alan you really MUST come on quicker!!” The hapless lad’s response displayed an admirable grasp of English but appalling timing…”Do you mean quicker or sooner?

  29. essexboy @5: I parsed REPLAY the same way as scchua, but both parsings seem equally valid. Was this possibly intentional on Picaroon’s part?

  31. A delightfully horizontal flavour today with DUVET DAYS to alleviate LASSITUDE and much else you might encounter in a bedroom …
    I love the slippery pairing of 11 & 12, the smooth textiles NYLON and VELVET, the cardinal intent in the bottom right-hand corner.
    But my favourite clue today: ‘palace player’ for its misdirection and … allusion to HRH?
    Thanks Picaroon, & scchua for lovely illustrated blog.

  32. Found this an enjoyable challenge but pretty tough!
    Got them all in eventually, but had to use the check button a few times and couldn’t parse 10A, 15 or 18,8 (can now see why everyone likes the last of those so much!)
    DNK 14
    And I had no idea Michael Buble was Canadian!

  33. Also liked the pose/model & role/play pairings!
    And that Al-Ham(b)ra is ‘the red one’ (perhaps not quite cardinal) and peaceful like IRENE

  34. Very enjoyable crossword to solve. Yes, ‘little mermaid’ didn’t seem to fit in 18,8.

    I thought I had seen HIDDEN AGENDA before, as in Eccles’: Copenhagen dancer has this covert plan; still good, though. I particularly liked ALHAMBRA, LASSITUDE, SCOTLAND YARD, LES MISERABLES and PALLIATE. I wondered if the ‘one’ in the clue for NOTARIES was necessary, and was potentially misleading.

    [Gervase @13, I make no apologies for stating that current theory suggests that cell nuclei are probably derived from archaea; it’s about time that more people are made aware of archaea, the ‘third domain of life’ which are fascinating little microbes.]

    Thanks Picaroon and scchua.

  35. Presumably the recent Joe Marler ball tampering incident was propagate?

    Loved HIDDEN AGENDA for sending me in a virtual tour of Copenhagen’s attractions

  40. I see that SCOTLAND YARD was clued as “The Met Office”. Too bad the adjacent DATING AGENCY wasn’t clued as “The Meet Office” (just this once).

  41. Does anyone else hate gate? I know full well that it is now a firmly embedded practice to use -gate to refer to a scandal, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Watergate was not a scandal about water, any more than a marathon is an extended mara, or an alcoholic is addicted to alc. I put it down to the fact that fewer people learn the classics in school nowadays, but I’m keen to hear if there are other theories.

  42. Enjoyed this. Manyhave pointedto the cleverest/most satisfying clues so I won’t repeaat their comments. Merely offer my own personal earworm of the day…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-5weyHVC2U

    Thanks to Picaroon and scchua for the illustrative blog {though your illustration of glissandi was actually only one glissando… :-))

  44. Have looked at 18,8 and still don’t get how

    *Feature of Copenhagen – Danish* gets to HIDDEN AGENDA

    Thanks in advance for any explanation

  47. Thanks to Picaroon for a challenging puzzle and ??scchua for the blog.
    My new word of the day was NUCLEATOR, answer came from word play.
    HIDDEN Agenda; ALHAMBRA: and RENEGADE ; were my favourites and Duvet Days made me ?

  49. Dr. WhatsOn @40 🙂 & @41: I quite like that original scandal’s name has its origins in this watergate which once might have been used to ‘drain the swamp’, and nowadays ‘-gate’ can lead to a more dishonourable discharge?

  50. Lovely to see an unadorned picture of the Little Mermaid. When I was there such a thing was impossible with so many climbing on her taking selfies.

  51. Enjoyable crossword and blog thanks both. I feel I am treading on quicksand here, but since no one else has stepped in I feel I must defend scchua from MB’s implied criticism of his photo of nylons to illustrate 9a. Regular visitors to Fifteensquared will know that scchua always provides a variety of images to illustrate his blogs. So the charge that he used the images specifically so that he could use a lurid one for NYLON is unfounded. I will now sit back and await the opprobrium to be dumped upon me by the WOKE brigade!

  52. Little to add, except to note that Picaroon has become my favourite setter. Another gem today, with DUVET DAYS alone worth the price of admission. Thanks to the pirate and to scchua.

  53. DrW @41 I’m with you on the whole gate thing. I love a good neologism but lazily tacking gate onto the end of things grinds my gears. Unless it’s a scandal about a flood etc

  54. Thanks scchua, I like your illustrations (i’m all for a touch of luridity) but have to say I am in the essexboy camp for REPLAY as there was something very similar elsewhere not long ago – good job as I had struggled in NW at first.
    I am still confused by AMINO ACID – surely “Am I on acid?” would be equivalent to “Did I take drug?” as the taking of the drug would have had to have happened in the past in order for me to possibly be under the influence in the present? I see you have separated the equivalences in your blog so now I need to get why Do I = Am I but that also seems beyond me except maybe in an unsatisfyingly philosophical way.
    But no matter as overall this was so good with many misdirections, ALHAMBRA topping it for me, finally clicked having tried various royal hangers-on and got nowhere thinking back to the days of Wright and Bright – thanks Picaroon!

  55. Sadoldsweat@50…and when I was there nearly 40 years ago some vandal (or maybe Viking?) had somehow sawn her head off. I was also taken by how small and unobtrusive the figure was.

  58. A fun solve though couldn’t see anything at first pass. LASSITUDE was a LOL. Managed to almost finish but got NUCLEOLAR (unparsed!) instead of NUCLEATOR so ended up with DEVIL DAYS (also unparsed) – but then never heard of DUVET DAYS either. Thanks both.

  59. Took a while but very satisfying. Thanks scchua and Picaroon

    SPanza@51 – no opprobrium here just a hearty “Well said!”

    DrW@41,Bodycheetah@53 – this may explain why you dislike -gate

  60. Ronald @55 Half Man Half Biscuit confirm your impressions in their song “Fear my wraith”

    “Because their wives are too f***ing bubbly
    And they say “lacksadaisical”
    And they’ll get back from Copenhagen
    And they will say
    That statue’s quite disappointing
    Not very big
    Yeah right, OK”

  61. Actually, very few Frenchmen are called René. Perhaps they got tired of being accosted by English crossword solvers. I had not heard of Duvet days either, possibly because Duvets are not called duvets in France.

  62. Is DUVET DAYS a thing? We don’t have them in the US, but then we don’t have duvets either.

    scchua@24 DONNE is a homophone of “done,” not of itself.

    I’m with essexboy and others on REPLAY.

    [William@27 I hope the production of Winter’s Tale followed the saying that a bad dress rehearsal makes a good performance — how did that one go?]

    Deep Thought@42 Thanks for the earworm. How does anybody ever do those multiple tremolo notes? He didn’t seem to have any extra fingers ….

    And thanks to Blah@59 for “Watergategate.”

    Nice puzzle, good blog, thanks Picaroon and scchua. Good weekend to all.

  64. [Togs @61
    Perhaps all the crossword Renes are based on Rene Artois from ‘Allo ‘Allo.
    We have several times visited a German friend – an ex EFL teacher – in Tubingen, and every time we took her another boxed-set of the programme, until she had the full set. She was a great fan, but the only time I’ve ever seen the programmes are with her, in Germany! Freddie Frinton all over again?]

  66. Great puzzle, quite challenging I thought, but maybe work was stopping me focus fully.

    Have to agree with @21 Lord Jim that there also seemed to a collection of old “favourites” with Eli, Rene, Bra, Do, Stud and Gate all included.

    My favourite today was ALHAMBRA for its beautiful misdirection.

    As others have mentioned, the blog numbering is wrong making getting here from Google very difficult.

    Thanks to Picaroon and scchua

  67. [Several people have commented that the misnumbering made this blog difficult to find. I’m surprised that they haven’t bookmarked this site.]

  68. DrW@41,Bodycheetah@53 – I cannot subscribe to the opprobium being directed at ‘-gate’. It is simply the result of the common linguistic process of ‘back-formation’. One would need also to put up with one’s hackles being raised also by ‘-burger’, a hamburger having been originally a snack associated with Hamburg (cf Frankfurter) – so may the Heavens visit their wrath upon cheeseburger, beefburger and veggieburger. Also ‘-holic’, as in workaholic, chocoholic and shopaholic. All useful additions to the lexis, in my view, despite my being schooled in the classical languages.

  69. [SC @68
    I’ve been told that JFK actually got it right in Berlin, and didn’t say “I am a doughnut” (Ich bin ein Berliner). Do you know if this is the case?]

  70. [Well, muffin, a ‘Berliner’ is what I would call a jam doughnut, besides its being the term for a native of that city. So JFK seems to have said both that he was a ‘spiritual citizen’ of Berlin and a that he was a sugary fried confection stuffed with jam or custard. I rather hope that his audience heard it in the former sense, but there may have been a few titters raised on the assumption that he was not aware of the former. He might have elected to dodge the ambiguity if speaking in Frankfurt… Any further insights from those better acquainted with German than I am will be welcome. ]

  71. [Thanks SC. I have no German, but I think the distinction is between:
    Ich bin ein Berliner – I am a doughnut
    and
    Ich bin Berliner – I live in Berlin]

  72. [me @71
    I’m fairly competent in Italian, and have O level French, so not completely language illiterate. When we stayed with a friend in Cologne, you can’t imagine the relief when touring when we crossed into Belgium and I could understand the road signs!]

  75. [I have been a bit critical in the past of off topic posts especially those involving the lamentable (IMHO) Half Man Half Biscuit. But I have to say I was very interested in the Ich bin ein Berliner exchange which has removed all doubt that I may have had about JFK’s remark. Which only goes to show how valuable these posts can be!]

  76. [Cliveinfrance @73 – exactly! Thanks for the link. As the article suggests, the ‘jelly doughnut’ idea seems to have been invented by Len Deighton in ‘Berlin Game’, accepted without question by the New York Times, and then quoted from paper to paper, and book to book. Here’s Richard Hollis in the Graun in 2005, and here’s Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America in 2003, which curiously combines ‘I am a jelly doughnut’ with Watergategate.]

  77. Excellent puzzle Picaroon, excellent blog scchua (loved the pics, nylon included), excellent comments all. My favourites were HIDDEN AGENDA and LASSITUDE, but everything was fun.

    I second the sentiments of Dr. WhatsOn@41 and Bodycheetah@53 re “-gate”. Unlike other back-formations such as “-burger” or “-oholic”, this one is used almost exclusively by journalists, and while it might have been mildly clever at one time it is now only lazy and unimaginative. It doesn’t add anything useful to our language. (This is not a criticism of the clue in 5d, which I quite liked – “-gate” is fair game for setters.)

  79. Great puzzle. Thanks to Picaroon and to sschua for the enlightenment.
    Valentine@62: if you go to the channel of the excellent chap performing the Recuerdos in that link he gives an extensive treatment of the tremolo technique.

  80. Many commenters have agreed with essexboy @5 about the parsing of REPLAY but no one has said why scchua’s version doesn’t work. It seems to me that ‘put’ has not been assigned a function or meaning in the clue, which would be extraordinarily sloppy for a top setter like Picaroon, so I agree that essexboy et al must be right.

  82. Middle of NYLON eluded me too and NUCLEATOR was new. Oh and missed Aries in NOTARIES! But very enjoyable
    Thanks Picaroon and scchua

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