Guardian Cryptic 28,742 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle may be found at https://theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28742.

I completed the west side before making any dent on the east. Maybe it’s my mood, but this puzzle seemed to me a little flatter than usual for Picaroon – although it is sound enough. I did particularly like 25A.

ACROSS
1 WHOPPING
Wife using a single pin that’s enormous (8)
A charade of W (‘wife’) plus HOPPING (‘using a single pin’ – ‘pin’ being a leg, and the appearance of PIN in the answer has nothing to do with the case).
6 DEFECT
City bores showing skill in desert (6)
An envelope (‘bores’) of EC (‘city’) in DEFT (‘showing skill’).
9 SPIKES
They help to run vessel laden with fish (6)
An envelope (‘laden with’) of PIKE (‘fish’) in SS (‘vessel’).
10 IMPERIUM
This person’s overturned umpire’s rule (8)
A charade of I’M (‘this person’s’) plus PERIUM, an anagram (‘overturned’) of ‘umpire’.
11 FRIED RICE
Nietzsche, say, putting away hot eastern dish (5,4)
A charade of FRIEDRIC[H] first name of (‘Nietzsche, say’) minus the H (‘putting away hot’) plus E (‘eastern’).
13 DIGIT
What computer enthusiasts do to generate number (5)
DIG IT (‘what computer enthusiasts do’ – IT being Information Technology)’.
15 PADDED
Extra soft at the front, like such bras? (6)
A charade of P (‘soft’, musically) plus ADDED (‘extra’), with ‘at the front’ indicating the order of the particles, and with an extended definition.
17 VANDAL
Smashing individual, say, in line behind museum (6)
A charade of V AND A (Victoria and Albert, London ‘museum’) plus L (‘line’).
18 ALCOCK
A security measure plugged by Conservative flyer from Canada (6)
An envelope (‘plugged by’) of C (‘Conservative’) in ‘a’ plus LOCK (‘security measure’), for John ALCOCK, who was British, but, with navigator Arthur Whitten Brown, flew the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Ireland.
19 WINNOW
Fan to gain immediate victory (6)
WIN NOW (‘gain immediate victory)
21 BEARD
Homer, say, entertaining English classicist (5)
An envelope (‘entertaining’) of E (‘English’) in BARD (‘Homer, say’), for Mary BEARD, Cambridge Professor of Classics.
22 GUSTATORY
Concerned with tasting buffet before a person in a party (9)
A charade of GUST (‘buffet’) plus ‘a’ plus TORY (‘person in a party’).
25 RENT-A-MOB
Perpetually angry people irritating to barmen (4-1-3)
An anagram (‘irritating’) of ‘to barmen’.
26 ATTLEE
Clement in a shelter, keeping dry (6)
An envelope (‘keeping’) of TT (teetotal, ‘dry’) in ‘a’ plus LEE (‘shelter’), for the British Prime Minister 1945-51.
28 STEREO
Could this possibly come from electronic store? (6)
An anagram (‘could this possibly come from’) of E (‘electronic’) plus ‘store’, with an extended definition..
29 GREENERY
Leaves less polluting van in York (8)
A charade of GREENER (‘less polluting’) plus Y (‘van in York’).
DOWN
2, 12 HIP REPLACEMENT
Joint operation in and on work posting (3,11)
A charade of HIP (‘in’) plus RE (‘on’) plus PLACEMENT (‘work posting’).
3 PEKOE
Dog eating nothing for tea (5)
An envelope (‘eating’) of O (‘nothing’) in PEKE (‘dog’).
4 INSURGENCY
Rising desperation shown by current partners at first (10)
A charade of I (electric ‘current’) plus NS (‘partners’ eg. in bridge) plus URGENCY (‘desperation’).
5 GLITCH
Tech trouble ends in god-awful irritation (6)
A charade of GL (‘ends in God-awfuL‘) plus ITCH (‘irritation’).
6 DOPE
Engage in sport or cheat at it (4)
DO PE (‘engage in sport’).
7 FORBIDDEN
Favouring penny-pinching world leader is a no-no (9)
A charade of FOR (‘favouring’) plus BIDDEN, an envelope (‘-‘pinching’) of D (old ‘penny’-) in BIDEN (‘world leader’).
8, 27 CAULIFLOWER EAR
Damage from blows or a fire? Cue wall being rebuilt (11,3)
An anagram (‘being rebuilt’) of ‘or a fire cue wall’.
12
See 2
14 MAGISTRATE
Judge publication top class? (10)
A charade of MAG (‘publication’) plus IST RATE (first rate, ‘top class’).
16 DECORATOR
Cold cuts from French speaker for painter (9)
An envelope (‘cuts’) of C (‘cold’) in DE (‘from French’) plus ORATOR (‘speaker’).
20 BUMBAG
With virus going round, medic gets a little pouch (6)
An envelope (‘going round’) of MB (‘medic’) plus ‘a’ in BUG (‘virus’).
23 TITAN
Artist erasing one sizable figure (5)
TIT[i]AN (‘artist’) minus an I (‘erasing one’).
24 AMMO
Doctor following on from morning rounds (4)
A charade of AM (ante meridiem, ‘morning’) plus MO (Medical Officer, ‘doctor’).
27
See 8

picture of the completed grid

68 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,742 by Picaroon”

  1. One niggle: the Alcock and Brown flight took place 30 years before Newfoundland became part of Canada.

  2. Anything this ruminative plodder can do in under the hour the whizzes find pretty easy, which I reckon will be the case today. So, yes, PeterO, perhaps a bit pedestrian from the pirate. I loved Mary Beard’s Rome series, tho dnk it was her when solving. Quite fun, ta both.

  4. I quite agree with PeterO’s characterization of this puzzle.

    The most interesting problem for me was how to exactly parse STEREO. Is it an &lit., an extended definition or something else? It all depends on how extensive is the anagrind, I suppose. It doesn’t really matter, not a bad clue, just a bit of a conundrum.

  5. I wasted a lot of time after putting DIVE in at 6d, which seemed perfectly OK to me, albeit wrong. I needed the checker to get me onto the right path. I also got fixated for quite a while on tennis for the “smashing individual” in 17a, tried to play around with variations on “Lendl” as a consequence, and got nowhere.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Peter.

  7. I liked this puzzle and didn’t find it flat at all, though I fell a bit flat right at the end when I had to google “BEARD Classicist” to be sure my LOI at 21a was correct, not having heard of Mary Beard. I had lots of ticks – 11a FRIED RICE, 13a DIGIT, 17a VANDAL, 2/12d HIP REPLACEMENT, 8/27d CAULIFLOWER EAR and 20d BUMBAG, all of which made me smile when I got them, as well as other clues I thought were good like 19a WINNOW, 22a GUSTATORY, 14d MAGISTRATE and 23d TITAN. So for my money, it was an enjoyable solve, and I’d like to extend my thanks to Picaroon, as well as to PeterO for the blog (explanations of 6a DEFECT and 29a GREENERY were particularly appreciated).

  8. I’m another who had to guess that there must be a classicist called BEARD. Otherwise it dropped out fairly quickly. A number of good clues but the favourite was FRIED RICE.

  9. Well not only do I live in the country that produced Mary BEARD, I also recently clued ‘Beards’ using precisely the same structure and I still failed to get it! The Homer misdirect did for me good and proper – plus I always have a nagging doubt that reference is being made to the cartoon character, of whom I know nothing (despite the 725 episodes thus far!).

    My last but one was FRIED RICE and I never thought I’d nominate such a prosaic solution for COTD but what a lovely spot by the setter. I must be feeling in a good mood this morning: right up to – and including – that final DNF, I was having a lot of fun and the tightness of Picaroon’s clueing is just joyful. JinA, with whom I appear to have shared an almost identical experience, has also conveniently highlighted the clues I particularly enjoyed – I would add WHOPPING to the list and, because I did parse it, GREENERY. ‘Van in York’ – delightful.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  10. I agree with JinA and PostMark. I’d have said ‘gentler than usual for Picaroon’ rather than ‘flatter than usual’, but no less enjoyable for that.

    To their favourites I would add SPIKES and PEKOE.

    I was another who had DIVE for a while at 6d, which had me wondering if INVERTUS could be a word for ‘this person’s overturned’ in 10a (turns out it’s an e-commerce company based in Lithuania) before the IMPERIUM struck back in the nick of time.

    Thanks P & P

  11. What delightful GK this site offers. Date of first pillar-boxes yesterday; Lithuanian e-commerce and the fact that Newfoundland only joined Canada in 1949 today.
    Like essexboy @10, I was a DIVEr at first, and like PeterO I found I’d got the west side complete with nothing on the east.
    Gentle and enjoyable. Good to be reminded of men like ALCOCK (the courage it must have taken to do that flight doesn’t bear thinking about) and ATTLEE (yes, we once had a PM with principles). Other delights included WHOPPING, DIGIT, GREENERY, HIP REPLACEMENT, INSURGENCY, CAULIFLOWER EAR…
    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  12. I agree that this was unexpectedly gentle for Picaroon, albeit with one or two harder nuggets here and there – BEARD defeated me (although I do know of her) because I was too busy thinking of yellow cartoons and anyway the usual BARD is Shakespeare… My fault.

    I worked out what Nietzsche’s first name must be after getting FRIED RICE, and took a while to find the right museum for VANDAL.

  13. Like PeterO I found the first half went in quite quickly but I only had CAULIFLOWER EAR on the right side for a while.

    Liked FRIED RICE, GUSTATORY, FORBIDDEN, GREENERY.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  14. [NeilH @11: it’s not often that my pseudonym gets me into trouble but it does often get abbreviated in comments from others so PM does tend to catch my eye. As it did just now, ‘ … a PM with principles …’ Eh? What kind of new and baseless slur is this? And then I saw the context 😀 ]

  15. Wasted ages firmly convinced that the homer was a bird before blundering in to Mary.

    Interestingly, I recently clued HIP REPLACEMENT as “Operation Phi”.

    To all those who thought this was too easy, be careful whatever you wish for. I, for one, really enjoyed it.

  16. 1ac WHOPPING put a smile on my face right at the start, followed by more for FRIED RICE, GUSTATORY (I liked the ‘tasting buffet’), CAULIFLOWER EAR, DIGIT, HIP REPLACEMENT, VANDAL and GREENERY.

    I notice that I seem to be duplicating NeilH’s favourites – and I agree with his sentiments in general, too.

    Thanks, as ever, to Picaroon and to PeterO.

  17. Unlike some, I completed the East side with the West remaining fairly empty. I failed on 21ac after struggling to understand why French actress Emmanuelle Beart might be described as a classicist!! The museum in 17ac was my favourite bit of the puzzle.
    Thanks to P and PO.

  18. It’s unusual to have two answers that fit perfectly without the crossers (dope and dive) but it goes to show you always have to consider an answer might be wrong.
    Otherwise just the right level of difficulty for me.

  19. Lots to enjoy from Picaroon as ever: for me, WHOPPING, DEFECT and FRIED RICE in particular. The Guardian setters are a wonderfully inventive bunch! Many thanks to P & P.

  20. Another DIVE here as well as a more dubious SPOUTS – well, they help the water run away???, but all good fun. I had the same favourites as NeilH and Eileen.

  22. I must have been on Picaroon’s wavelength today, as the answers flew in (entire west side first, as with PeterO) before I’d finished my porridge. But as Eileen often says, a puzzle doesn’t have to be difficult to be good. This was very enjoyable, with a great cast of characters – Nietzsche, Titian, Mary Beard, Alcock and Brown, Clement Attlee…

    The “van in York” rang an immediate bell, and on checking I see that Picaroon used it in November 2020 (28,288).

    Many thanks both.

  23. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon. In short: what Eileen said. And what copmus said. When your first two in are clues like WHOPPING and FRIED RICE, you know you’re in for a treat. But then I really struggled to finish and the clock stopped well past the hour mark – with everyone else saying how gentle this was, I guess it must be me being slow of brain this morning.

    That would probably also explain why I can’t see how people are arriving at DIVE for 6d. I’m probably missing something obvious. DOPE was another that made me smile broadly when I eventually cracked it. DIVE never occurred to me.

    As always with this setter, the grid construction is impressive, with the symmetry of the two long down clues.

  24. Flat? I enjoyed this enormously – and it didn’t seem to me any more or less tricky than usual. For me, the RHS yielded first, though I was another DIVEr to start with (and I also pondered how SHAKES could ‘help to run’ 🙂 ).

    Some beautiful surfaces and definitions here. ‘…van in York’ is splendid. Favourites as for NeilH and Eileen.

    I wonder how our American friends got on with BUMBAG (‘fanny pack’ in the local version!)

    Delighted to see a reference to the wonderful Mary BEARD (my LOI in fact).

    Thanks to S&B

  25. Hahaha JerryG @17, I too considered Beart with the Homer reference (PostMark@9), but then decided that there should have been a reference to the Son of Homer which was missing.

  26. So I whacked in WHOPPING, saw the PIN & tried to parse ‘hop-g’ …

    The tea and the aviator delayed me a little, but I loved all of it, especially
    ATTLEE, the ‘smashing individual’ and the buffet party.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  27. I had no qualms about entering DOPE at 6dn. Like Widdersbel@23, DIVE would never have occurred to me since I don’t follow “soccer”. Apparently, the term refers to an exaggerated reaction to a tackle in an effort to earn a free kick which is considered cheating. One case where the lack of local GK turned out to be an advantage. And DIVE doesn’t match the wordplay Do PE, so DOPE is clearly superior even without the crosser.

  28. Another cracker from Picaroon.

    I liked WHOPPING for the single pin; FRIED RICE for Fred; VANDAL where I thought VA was the museum at first; INSURGENCY for the ‘rising desperation’ and general surface; and FORBIDDEN for the penny-pinching world leader [Trump seems to have gone out of fashion as a cruciverbal world leader.]

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  31. KLColin @27

    DIVE certainly does fit the wordplay, if you are a diver. It means both to participate in a sport, and to cheat at one. Nothing in the clue (or the actual answer) indicates it has to be the same sport.

  32. GregfromOz @31 – Oh! I get it now – diving as a sport just didn’t occur to me. Thanks for clarifying. I think the correct answer is far more satisfying though.

  33. Widdersbel @32: You’re right that DOPE is more satisfying, as it is charade + def, rather than double def. However, it is not quite perfect, because PE may be good exercise, but isn’t a ‘sport’ except in the general sense of ‘pastime’ 🙂

  34. Found this quite tough, especially much of the RHS but it proved to be very enjoyable.

    Many favourites: WHOPPING (haha), DECORATOR, FRIED RICE, BEARD, HIP REPLACEMENT, DOPE, DIGIT, VANDAL, MAGISTRATE, TITAN, gustatory (loi).

    Did not parse 29ac GREENERY (I was wrongly looking at it as GREEN + ERY).

    Needed google for English aviator John Alcock (1892–1919).

    Thanks, both.

  35. What Eileen said.

    I’ve done several crosswords already today and this one was, for me, the most enjoyable, with smiles throughout, especially at 1a and 15a

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  36. This yielded gradually and very satisfyingly, with the NW corner last to fall, the ultimate solve being ALCOCK. Thought for a while that 7d would start with Pro- for “favouring” rather than FOR-
    Had wondered about Teabag rather than the considerably larger BUMBAG for a while with the G in place at the bottom end. Liked FRIED RICE once I realised (actually, looked it up) Friedrich was the philosopher’s moniker. Big ticks, (or asterisks in my case) for ATTLEE, (though was wondering at first if Papal knowledge was required here), MAGISTRATE, and AMMO.
    Many thanks Picaroon and PeterO…

  37. Got the two long ones and a handful of others, but too tough for me and had to reveal the rest. Couldn’t parse about a third of them before coming here.

    Not helped by several DNK: imperium, Alcock, winnow, Mary Beard, pekoe.

    I particularly liked ATTLEE, WHOPPING and DOPE

    I always get caught out by that VAN = at the front thing, as you never see it anywhere else other than cryptics!

  38. Excellent.
    Thanks for the parsing of 22a. That was a DNF for me as GUST = BUFFET eluded me and the word was unknown.
    A slow start, with the typical thought that this would be beyond me, but it all came together apart from 22a, above and the classicist at 21a.
    Still not very good, but definitely making progress.
    Thanks both…

  39. We enjoy reading comments and explanations here as a complement to our fight with the Grid itself.
    Today, I didn’t understand, in 6a, how EC could mean ‘city’. Any offers please.

  40. WearyB @39 The City of London is EC3, so crossword compilers use CITY = EC as part of wordplay.

  42. Thoroughly enjoyable with whoppoing, fried rice, Allcock (like others I was looking for a bird) among my favourites. Wa a bit puzzled by gust=buffet (noun=verb) but no one has mentioned it so it must be ok. Thanks Picaroon and Peter.

  43. gervase @33: true, PE isn’t ‘a sport’ but, in a school context, it is often a synonym for sport. Sport, generally. Sport as a part of the curriculum as distinct from sports chosen as extra-curricular activity by those who enjoy them. Which distinction also supports the other name sometimes used – ‘Games’. Does that work?

  44. Thanks both,
    PostMark @44 et al. Dope spelled out would be ‘Do physical exercise’ of which taking part in sport might be an example, but the clue would then need a question mark.

    Similarly, not all Attlees are Clements and not all Clements are Attlees (although it is hard to think of another famous one offhand) so 26a might also merit a ?

  45. Although DOPE is the obvious answer to 6d once the crossers are in I wasn’t entirely happy with “cheat at it” as synonymous with “dope.” While you can dope a horse, if the reference here is to drug taking by athletes then this seems to be an intransitive verb which I don’t think is idiomatic English. Wouldn’t we say “take dope” or make it reflexive-“dope oneself”?

  48. Thanks for the blog, I thought this was pretty good throughout. great start with WHOPPING , the single pin is inspired. Nice to see ATTLEE mentioned , the Clement is very deceptive with the capital “hidden” at the start of the sentence. I nearly put WEARY in for 13Ac , it almost works , but I waited until after the Downs fortunately.

  49. Paul @ 42 and Simon S @ 46

    and buffet can be a noun – an array of dishes – which is what I thought

  52. Roz – Half Man Half Biscuit might be a good starting point for a cryptic crossword clue – had me wondering for a while…!

  54. Picaroon never disappoints me and this crossword was no exception. I ticked many favourites including FRIED RICE, PADDED, VANDAL, GREENERY, GLITCH, and TITAN. ALCOCK was unfamiliar but easily deduced from the wordplay; I could not solve BEARD, however. The parsing of WHOPPING eluded me and I bunged in DOPE based on the “cheat” part of the clue. Thanks to both.

  55. Tyngewick@44 the first Clement to come to my mind was Freud, MP for Ely, grandson of Sigmund, broadcaster and more, really very well known, but it might be a generational thing.

  56. …strange then that I immediately thought of Pope Clement, and although there were 14 of these, the last one died in 1774…maybe Mercy was the general theme in those far off days.

  58. The PEKOE rang a bell – everyman clued it almost identically to make ORANGE PEKOE

    Roz many thanks for the HMHB link. By way of thanks I’ll refrain from taking about IT and cricket for 24 hours 🙂

  59. I had IMPERIUM before DOPE, so side-stepped the Dive trap. I wrongly guessed the construction of 6d would be a double-definition on first read-through, so I luckily dodged the bullet. I just assumed ALCOCK would turn out to be Canadian, so missed the subtlety of the definition. Pity about the Newfoundland history getting in the way (thanks for the nugget of GK, DougV).
    Bit surprised by Picaroon going with the nounal definition “a no-no” for FORBIDDEN when not allowed or taboo would do nicely.
    Good fun.
    Thanks, P&P.

  60. Thanks for the thought Steve@57 , not to my taste but I am sure some people on here will like it.

    [Hope you like it Bodycheetah@58 , I did read it , much better than the usual guff in G2 . The thing I am really dreading is a computer game based on cricket that the students will all play and talk about. I suspect it will never happen. ]

  62. Another classy puzzle, like yesterday’s – a different but equally enjoyable experience with so many good clues.

    I just couldn’t think of Mary BEARD when I needed to (I have heard of her) and therefore had to come here to be reminded.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  63. Thanks for the bridge reference in 4D: I had “current partners” being the INS as opposed to the OUTS. North & South is much cleaner.

  64. Thanks PeterO, solved in same order as you but didn’t find it flat even though it lacked the extra layer that Picaroon has put on some puzzles lately. Indebted to my old French teacher whose maxim that a sport needs a ball eventually put me off DIVE though I am in the muffin camp that PE is not sports either! Thanks Tyngewick as I also thought Clement deserved a qn mk. This was a two pint problem after a rare day in EC3 and a very enjoyable one, thanks Picaroon.

  65. I found this harder than yesterday’s relatively easy (and enjoyable) puzzle, which seemed more like a Monday puzzle. ATTLEE fooled me for a long time.

    I parsed Homer as BIRD (ie homing pigeon) and therefore had BEIRD as my classicist (which fit the crossers), who I had pre-decided would be unknown to me. Belatedly I remembered reading Mary Beard’s book SPQR.

    I saw HMHB in the 80s at uni and the only thing I can remember was, after the rather short set, someone next to me, clearly feeling short changed, shouted, “Come back on you bastards; we paid for this!”

  67. As well as DIVE as an alternative answer for 6d, as several have mentioned, I initially had the idea of PLAY, but I waited for a crosser or two before being convinced. The wordplay didn’t quite fit anyway, with ‘cheat at it’ referring back to ‘sport’, whereas PLAY=’cheat’ is more to do with playing the system, rather than a sport. I enjoyed ALCOCK and VANDAL for the tea tray moments, but favourite was GUSTATORY for the way I was able to put together the wordplay elements to make something that I knew must exist, and then remembered the word at almost the same moment.

    I had BIRD as the homer in 21a, too. This gave me a combination of Ambrose Bierce and Mary Beird/Beard, which had to be resolved by reference to online aids, so a DNF for me!

    Thanks to Picaroon & PeterO.

  68. WearyB@39 If you are a non-Brit and if you’re still reading this, you may also be wondering why the City of London was a postal code within a city, rather than a whole city. London’s financial district (I presume the equivalent of New York’s Wall Street) is called The City, even though there’s lots more city surrounding it in all directions.

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