Guardian 28,873 – Brummie

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I seemed to be very much on Brummie’s wavelength this morning and got through this pretty quickly.

No theme that I can see, but you never know… Thanks to Brummie.

 
Across
1 PYJAMAS Retirement habit: pays off to carry stick (7)
JAM (to stick) in PAYS*
5 CALLOUS Contact the Guardian about job centre that’s unfeeling (7)
[j]O[b] in CALL US
9 MOURN Possibly keen to do this vocally? (5)
Cryptic definition: to keen is “to wail over the dead”
10 BUCCANEER Unscrupulous opportunist immersing copper-backed tin in drink (9)
Reverse of CU + CAN (tin) in BEER
11 ACCOMPLISH Bill & Co limp off to quiet do (10)
AC (account, bill) + CO + LIMP* + SH (be quiet!)
12 SCOW Submerge head and keep under flat-bottomed boat (4)
First letter of Submerge + COW (keep under)
14 CRYPTOMNESIA Inspector May’s false subconscious memory (12)
(INSPECTOR MAY)*. Cryptomnesia is “when a forgotten memory returns without its being recognized as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original“
18 ASTEROID BELT One means of improving athletic performance: live with military officer somewhere beyond Mars! (8,4)
A STEROID (way of improving performance) + BE (live) + LT (lieutenant)
21 KING LEAR Play card with real finesse (4,4)
KING (card) + REAL*
22 STAG BEETLE Male only wants car that’s big of its kind and aggressive-looking (4,6)
STAG (male-only, as in stag party) + BEETLE (VW car)
25 PHENOMENA Only females love males to wear father’s spectacles (9)
HEN (female-only – counterpart to stag) + O (love) MEN in PA
26 CADET Trainee state police officer cut short (5)
CA (California) + DET[ective]
27 NESTLED Ends let out and pressed close (7)
(END LET)*
28 SERPENT Unexpectedly present a twisty firework (7)
PRESENT*
Down
1 PAMPAS GRASS Ornamental garden plant — holding one, state politicians squeal (6,5)
A in PA (Pennsylvania, another US state) MPS + GRASS (inform, squeal)
2 JOUNCE Jack (lightweight) gets a shock (6)
J + OUNCE – I don’t remember seeing this word before, but the wordplay was helpful
3 MONTMARTRE Drive home, back into awful torment in part of Paris (10)
Reverse of RAM (drive home) in TORMENT*
4 SIBYL Forecaster lives up near far end of Hull (5)
Reverse of IS (lives) + BY + [Hul]L
5 COCKSCOMB Tip: start to search (search meth­odically) for a kind of cap (9)
COCK (to tip, as in a cocked hat) + S[earch] + COMB (search meth­odically) – a cockscomb is a jester’s cap
7 OVERCAST Past players rather dull? (8)
OVER (past) + CAST (theatrical players)
8 STRAW HAT Cover up of certain features of Cromwell’s reversal at Derby? (5,3)
Reverse of WARTS, from Oliver Cromwell’s (probably apocryphal) instruction to Lely to paint him “warts and all” + HAT (e.g. a Derby). A straw hat (or indeed any hat) is a “cover, up”
13 INFLUENCER Come to a conclusion about Uncle Dicky, social media promoter (10)
UNCLE* in INFER (come to a conclusion)
15 PRINTHEAD In-depth disheartened author’s novel means of putting characters on paper (9)
Anagram of IN DEPTH + A[utho]R
16 BACKSPIN Recoil at political bias employed by one who serves? (8)
BACK (recoil) + SPIN (political bias)
17 STUNNERS Most attractive types, those basking on the beach, lapping up temperature (8)
T in SUNNERS (sunbathers)
19 STODGE Set about catching wild dog that’s hard going to put away (6)
DOG* in SET*
20 SEPTET A month with English theatre’s top group (6)
SEPT[ember] + E + T[heatre]
24 COWL Pass round women’s head covering (4)
W[oman] in COL (mountain pass)

74 comments on “Guardian 28,873 – Brummie”

  1. Quite enjoyable, and no sticky moments. I’d never heard of JOUNCE (my dictionary says “British English”). For 14a I had PSEUDOMNESIA at first; I’d never heard of this nor CRYPTOMNESIA. I had STRAW HAT for 8d with a big “Huh?”, and I see I was wrong. I’m not familiar enough with Cromwell to have made any sense of it. Learnt a new meaning for KEEN. Couldn’t parse 1d/23d. I don’t think phenomena are spectacles. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. That’s a phenomenon, but hardly a spectacle.

    Thanks Brummie & Andrew.

  3. Steady plod got there in the end.

    Needed other aids for CRYPTOMNESIA & COCKSCOMB but otherwise it all fell out nicely.

    Bit unconvinced by infer = “come to a conclusion” but I suppose its there or thereabouts.

    Least favourite, STUNNERS for the clunky “lapping up temperature” and favourite, ACCOMPLISH for the nicely hidden def.

    Many thanks both.

  5. I got it all, but LOI STRAW HAT was a big shrug and a bung. I saw that ‘straw’ was ‘warts’ backwards, but that didn’t help me at all. Had all the right bits for BUCCANEER long before I was able to put them together. No idea why ‘firework’ appears in 28a – some Pommy cracker, perhaps? Plenty to like, though: PYJAMAS, CALLOUS, ACCOMPLISH, ASTEROID BELT, PAMPAS GRASS, SIBYL (where’s Basil?), INFLUENCER. Thanks, Brummie and Andrew.

  6. William @3: ‘infer’ definitely means ‘come to a conclusion’. If you say you have been swimming, I can infer that you have been wet.

  7. Andrew, you’ve not included the explanation of ‘scomb’ in 5D (not that it’s difficult to parse) and have omitted an S in 27A. Only mentioning this as I’ve got nothing else to say! Don’t ever recall an easier Brummie! No moans or groans, no ticks.

  8. After a slow start I finished quite quickly because of the meticulous clueing. The memory was new as was the lovely JOUNCE (jolt +bounce)? The only theme I could think of was clothing with PYJAMAS, GRASS (skirt), COCKSCOMB, STRAW HAT, COWL and (ASTEROID) BELT, but all a bit tenuous.

    Ta Brummie & Andrew

  9. Fairly easy to get going but I had a few head scratches before I’d finished. Never heard of 2dn or 14ac but they were solvable. LOI was 8 dn due to lack of gk on my part. Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  10. We were taken aback by phenomena=spectacles, but Chambers has phenomenon as an event that may be observed….I suppose that covers spectacle.
    Nice crossword, thank you Brummie and Andrew

  11. TassieTim @5: a serpent is “a firework that writhes like a serpent when ignited”.

    Thanks for Deegee @7 for pointing out my omission in 5d – now corrected.

  12. There are two cars in STAG BEETLE which gave me brief pause. Classy stuff from Brummie with top marks for KING LEAR PYJAMAS which are available from the Globe Theatre gift shop

    Cheers

  13. THanks Brummie and Andrew
    Pleasant, and pretty straightforward, though I wouldn’t have got CRYPTOMNESIA without an anagram solver. Favourite KING LEAR.

  15. Bit surprised that cryptomnesia was a nho, given it’s been discussed by Jung, Freud, Ferenczi and Lacan, inter alia (not that I’ve studied them in depth, but still…). Fun to have stag then hen [parties], but sort of agree with GDU@1 that not all pHENomena are spectacles (tho I spose they might be rendered ‘visible’ by hi-tech. Feelings are only visible via their effects, which is why the Behaviourists discounted them. But then you could say the same for forces … but enough already 🙂 ). Yep, a gentle one from Brummie, who can be gnarly at times. Thanks BnA.

  16. Freud, Jung, Behaviourism, all before 9 am, wow. Phenomena = spectacles is a stretch, but phenomenal = spectacular maybe less so.

    Anyone else with a SPRAY TAN at 8d? Yes I know it doesn’t parse, and it also sank my flat-bottomed boat. Otherwise it all fell into place nicely, thanks B & A.

  17. Some nice clues here: my favourites were BUCCANEER, ACCOMPLISH, ASTEROID BELT, KING LEAR, PHENOMENA (no quibble at all about the definition: both are things seen or observed), MONTMARTRE and INFLUENCER and I particularly enjoyed the construction and surface of STRAW HAT and, like gif, the juxtaposition of STAG and HEN in 22 and 25ac.

    Many thanks to Brummie for the fun and Andrew for the blog.

  19. I cant focus on Oliver Cromwell since mark Rylance played Thomas Cromwell
    I didnt see a theme but saw a couple of setters lurking in the grid

  21. Yes I found a couple of unfamiliar words here too, but fortunately managed to work them out. Learning all the time. Like Tassie Tim@5, I liked 1a PYJAMAS and 5a CALLOUS, while I concur with several fellow posters regarding 21a6d KING LEAR, which I thought was super. Many thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  22. I thought PHENOMENA might have been a missed opportunity to clue ”females only” twice, HEN and OMEN, but I think it’s been done before, not necessarily in the same word.
    Loved CRYPTOMNESIA. Is that the word when you can’t think of the answer, or you think you can remember it, but can’t dredge it out of your subconscious, and then you think maybe you’re wrong.
    Was today’s crossie aimed at the DART landing on the asteroid, or was it a farmyard jungle?

  23. All fairly plain sailing but I disliked 8. A Derby hat is a bowler, and you don’t make it out of straw, so for me the clue didn’t hang together. (And I think Cromwell never fought at Derby, so it is a bit extraneous anyway.)

  24. YesMe2@23. I think you might have missed the boat. ”derby” as I see it is just a ”hat”. I had to look UP Cromwell’s features. My quibble with this clue is the definition of STRAW HAT. It could have been ”cover”, and one of the reversal indicators in a down clue, ”up” and ”reversal” didn’t need to be there.

  25. Not a theme as such, but I was entertained by the juxtaposition of KING LEAR and COCKSCOMB – Jesters do oft prove prophets.

  26. Presumably the inclusion of references to BUCCANEER and SERPENT is not accidental. Perhaps COCKSCOMB and STODGE are setters whose appearance we should look forward to?

  27. I had no trouble with Cromwell’s WARTS, but wondered about recoil=BACK. I don’t think it quite works. You may jump back, fall back, back off, back away etc. but not simply back.

  28. I had the same favourites as Eileen, but I wasn’t stunned by STUNNERS (sunners???). Roz will be disappointed at the missed opportunity to define JOUNCE as the fourth derivative of the position vector.

  31. Adding to the controversy about 8d, I had Straw Man as a cover up , but could see no connection to any Cromwell whatsoever. Also put in Homoptera for 25 across, as these are aphids etc which are all female, and was thinking along the Stag beetle line. Had no idea what they had to do with Pa’s spectacles. Good misdirection throughout, I was completely up the garden path among the 1d.

  34. Bit of a slog for me after two breezy ones yesterday. Partly a wavelength mismatch, partly obscure (to me) GK… not heard of COCKSCOMB, JOUNCE, CRYPTOMNESIA, SCOW, didn’t know about the Cromwell WARTS connection. I ground out a finish with much bunging and checking (never a reveal!)

    So it was more educational than enjoyable – but that still makes it worthwhile!

    Thanks both.

  35. Thank goodness for a friendly grid, for some of these clues seem to send me all round the houses before I realised what the definition was precisely. Had no idea that warts was playing a part in 8d and ended up with Screw Cap there, so another version to go along with Spray Tan, essexboy@16, with all crossers in place. So a DNF here. Liked KING LEAR, thought STUNNERS a bit of a clumsy clue, and I don’t suppose CRYPTOMNESIA could have been clued any other way than as an anagram. Enjoyed this…

  38. Loved this, favs were 18a and 3d. Last one in was 22a, not sure why as it was well clued like the rest. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  42. Beat me to it! Backspin on a serve in table tennis is pretty common.

    I liked this a lot! Loads of fun clues inc ACCOMPLISH, ASTEROID BELT, PHENOMENA, PRINTHEAD. Many more…

    I was luckily on the same wavelength too.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  43. I enjoyed this a lot; like many here didn’t think it too hard, but interestingly many in the G comments thought otherwise.

    Isn’t cryptomnesia related to déjà vu, or, wait, didn’t somebody already say that?

  44. My vocabulary is not up to Brummie puzzles as a rule and so it proved today.
    As ever, the hints are enlightening and I enjoy learning new words, just a shame they tend to not stay there!
    Thanks both.

  46. poc @27 To back is to drive backwards — there’s a gear for that. You can back down your driveway, for instance.

    William@32 With a familiarity with basic calculus, I understand the derivatives which are velocity and acceleration, but what’s jerk? Yes, it’s change of acceleration over time, but what in the real world would that be?

    Pleasant puzzle, thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  47. @46 It would feel just like a jerk! That is, there would have be a sudden change in the net force applied to you. Can be quite unpleasant!

  48. Thanks both,
    Valentine @46 You are in a train that is stopping – there is negative acceleration. When it comes to rest the acceleration suddenly becomes zero. The change in acceleration is felt as a jerk. Rather a good name for it.

  49. Despite my moniker it took me a ridiculously long time to get STRAW HAT, being led astray by ‘Derby?’ into thinking of horse races or big local matches.

    I don’t understand the objection (see #1 & #15) that “not all phenomena are spectacles” – they don’t have to be. But surely all spectacles *are* PHENOMENA, apart from those which Pa leaves lying around the house and can’t find.

    For a long time I used to struggle to finish Brummie, but lately I’ve been more on his wavelength and now he’s the only setter I *don’t* struggle to finish…

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  50. Not the usual level of challenge from Brummie despite which a DNF for me as I’m another ‘SCREW CAP – huh?’ person.

  51. Delighted to complete a Brummie puzzle especially as a few things unfamiliar to me. MOURN a bung in as didn’t know the context of keen & both JOUNCE & CRYPTOMNESIA unfamiliar. I also pondered SCREW TOP/CAP before settling on the right answer but despite seeing warts reversed didn’t twig the context either.
    Enjoyed the tussle.
    Thanks all.

  52. Thanks Brummie. I thought this was going to be difficult at first but the bottom half went in quickly and the rest followed methodically. I had screw cap (this was in a recent crossword) before revealing STRAW HAT and I never could parse it. My top picks were KING LEAR and PHENOMENA. Like copmus @19 I thought SERPENT and BUCCANEER might be part of a setters’ theme but this was done recently. (I forget which publication & setter but it was a fun crossword.) Thanks Andrew for the blog.

  53. JOUNCE was a new one but a fun word to discover. I’ll admit to using the anagram-o-matic for CRYPTOMNESIA, once I had most of the crossers and it became obvious what the fodder was, and that the result was going to be a technical term I didn’t know. I thought the definition for STAG BEETLE was a bit inadequate: lots of creatures of all sorts are “big of their kind and aggressive looking” (and they are: we get them in the garden sometimes).

    Liked PYJAMAS and KING LEAR: didn’t know the SERPENT firework.

  54. Thanks for the blog , pretty good overall. Not keen on STRAW HAT using a hat in the word play to give hat. STUNNERS pretty week as well . A lot of good clues mentioned above so I will not repeat.
    The best way to view JERK is using an acceleration time graph, JERK is the gradient so it can be constant, or change smoothly , despite the name. JOUNCE is the next one along, much easier to understand these visually, I need a whiteboard.

  55. [ For fans of Arachne there was a Rosa Klebb puzzle in the FT on Saturday. Pete does a great blog for these but it will not be posted for a while, well worth a look]

  58. Mr SR reckons he can see a male/female animal theme, explicitly referred to in 22a “male only” and 25a “only females”.
    Then going on to:
    12a and 24d cow
    5d cock
    14a tom
    25a hen (and men)
    28a pen
    22a stag
    There may of course be more.

    Thanks for the entertainment, Brummie, and thanks for educating us about “cockscomb” meaning a jester’s hat, Andrew.

  59. Unlike some others here we found this tough going!
    Like Chardonneret@31 we had STRAW MAN at 8d, which works pretty well. Derby is a man (as in Derby and Joan), and a straw man can
    help cover up all sorts of crimes.

  62. As no one else has mentioned it, JOUNCE is also a technical term used in the equations of motion in mechanics.

    Everyone should be familiar with the concept of displacement/distance and velocity/speed being the derivative of displacement over time. The derivative of velocity over time (ergo the 2nd derivative of displacement over time) is acceleration.

    For school level maths and physics that’s usually as far as it is taken but you can of course take it further. The next derivative, i.e. acceleration.over time, is known as JERK, and the derivative of jerk over time is … JOUNCE!

    Jerk and jounce are actually of practical use and of particular interest to designers of roller coasters and other theme park rides that give you a thrill by sudden changes of motion – in which case shock (as in jolt) is an appropriate description.

  63. Apologies – lots of other people mentioned it but hadn’t when I originally wrote my post, but then I got distracted and didn’t press submit for several hours.

    (How do you insert a face palm emoji on here)

  64. Jounce is familiar to roller-coaster designers. The rate of change of position is velocity and the rate of change of velocity is acceleration. The rate if change of acceleration is jerk – very uncomfortable – and the rate of change of jerk is jounce – even more so. A “fun” ride must have high accelerations but lower jerks and mimimal jounce.
    For mathematicians, it’s the fourth derivative of position.
    (Just my 2p worth)

  65. Two excellent TILTs today: 2d JOUNCE is a great word that I will try to use (jolt and bounce, as AlanC@8 suggests), and the Cromwellian origin of the phrase “warts and all” at 8d.

    Dr. WhatsOn@43, I agree that 14a CRYPTOMNESIA is related to, but the opposite of, deja vu – I just thought of that, or did I?

    Bodycheetah@12, I think I’m going mad, so I need some of those PJs from the Globe.

    Thanks, Brummie, Andrew, and commenters for the fun and explanations.

  66. For all those who have never heard of CRYPTOMNESIA, defined above as the false sensation of a memory being new–are you sure?

  67. Peter Wimsey always says pyjamas so I was able to get the spelling correct for the puzzle despite the more common spelling of pajamas over here.
    What do other think, is the puzzle completed correctly with the US spelling?
    Has anyone ever made a puzzle with two distinct sets of answers which worked with UK spelling and US spellings? Better yet with alternative words eg. rubbers and erasers.

  68. Thanks for the explanation of JOUNCE as a mathematician, once I would have expected to have known it.
    Ta and tara

  69. Acrossthepond @67: in this case the British spelling is unambiguously called for. The wordplay (JAM in an anagram of PAYS) requires a Y. I can imagine cases where it’d be ambiguous which spelling was needed, but this isn’t one of them.

  71. Pdan@47 and Tyngewick@48 That jounce doesn’t feel so much like a fourth (or any other) derivative as like a sharp corner in the function. A derivative goes on as long as the function, but not if the train has slammed to a halt!

    I figured 14ac was some kind of -MNESIA, since it was a memory thing, and then built the rest out of what was left of the anagram.

    Thanks, all.

  72. Valentine @71: I figured out it was a CRYPTO- then got the end from the remaining fodder – exactly the opposite to you!

  74. Valentine@46: I don’t mean to suggest that there is no such verb as “back”. Of course there is, but you don’t recoil down the driveway.

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