Guardian Cryptic 28923 Picaroon

by

Apologies.  A combination of running errands and solving a tricky puzzle resulted in the late posting.  Thank you to Picaroon.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9. Performing twice in Tosca is stimulating for a soloist? (9)

ONANISTIC : Anagram of(Performing) [ 2 x(twice) IN + TOSCA ].

As Woody Allen said, “… It’s having sex with someone I love.” And maybe also: “Having sex is like bridge. If you don’t have a good partner, you’d better have a good hand.”

10. Refurbished loo contains very old moulding (5)

OVOLO : Anagram of(Refurbished) LOO containing(contains) [ V(abbrev. for “very”) + O(abbrev. for “old”) ].

11. Demanding person from Oldham needing a break? (7)

EXACTOR : Separating “Oldham” into 2(needing a break): EX-(abbrev. for “old”) ACTOR(“ham” being one who acts badly and exaggeratedly).

12. African fish’s name maybe grasped by sailors (7)

RWANDAN : WANDA(“fish’s name maybe”, as in “A Fish Called Wanda”, a 1988 film) contained in(grasped by) RN(abbrev. for the Royal Navy, the British military branch consisting of sailors).

Defn: … from Rwanda.

13. Conservative going kind of pink, concerned with speech (4)

ORAL : C(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party) deleted from(going) “coral”(a shade/kind of pink colour).

14. Person grilling odd sandwiches is not out to lunch (10)

QUESTIONER : QUEER(odd/strange) containing(sandwiches) anagram of(out to lunch /not in command of one’s mental faculties) IS NOT.

Defn: …, ie. one who interrogates.

16. What reprobates do after some tobacco’s in pocket (5,2)

QUIDS IN : SIN(be immoral/what reprobates do) placed after(after) QUID(a lump of/some chewing tobacco).

Defn: …/having money to spare, or more than one expected.

17. Boxing a long time, clobber despicable people (7)

TOERAGS : ERA(a long time period) contained in(Boxing a …,…) TOGS(clothes/clobber).

19. Establishing distance from two directions before time rambling (10)

ESTRANGING    : E,S(abbrev. for two directions, east and south respectively) plus(before) T(abbrev. “time”) + RANGING(rambling/spreading in different directions).

Defn: …/causing to be no longer be friendly terms/to be distant.

22. Cash returns for Jack, say (4)

TOOL : Reversal of(… returns) LOOT(slang for cash/money).

Defn: An example of which/say, is what you use to jack up/lift heavy articles, eg. your car.

24. Invest and invest, investing reserve (5-2)

STAND-IN : Hidden in(…, investing) “Invest and invest“.

Defn: …/a substitute.

25. Liking less parking in transport (7)

ENCHANT : “penchant”(a liking/an inclination to) minus(less) “p”(abbrev. for “parking”).

Defn: …/to enrapture.

26. Plain Welsh seaside resort, no dud (5)

LLANO : “Llandudno”(a seaside resort in Wales) minus(no) “dud”.

There’s one “n” too many in the wordplay.

Defn: … in South America. And “llanno” is not an alternative spelling.

27. Screen star in a period of abstention cutting alcohol (9)

VALENTINO : [A + LENT(a period of abstention for Christians) ] contained in(cutting) VINO(alcohol, specifically, wine).

Answer: Rudolph, the screen star in silent films.

The Latin Lover:

Down

1. Passion dominates game, we hear, in pointless tennis position (4,8,3)

LOVE CONQUERS ALL : [ LOVE ALL](the score/position in a tennis match when neither side has scored a point/is pointless) containing(…, in …) homophone of(…, we hear) “conkers”(a children’s game played with conkers, nuts of the horse chestnut tree).

2. Spy Indian princess rejecting article without thanks (4,4)

MATA HARI : “maharani”(an Indian ruling princess) minus(rejecting) “an”(article in grammar) containing(without) TA(short for thank you/thanks).

Defn: Dutch exotic dancer who was also a spy for Germany during World War I.

3. One showing Mary pastry case from trattoria (5)

PIETA : PIE(pastry/a dish with a base of pastry) + 1st and last letters of(case from) “trattoria“.

Defn: …, viz. an Italian Renaissance sculpture.

4. Opener gets run out in captivating draw (4,4)

STAR TURN : START(the opener/the first of a series) plus(gets) anagram of(… out) RUN.

Defn: …/one who is interesting and brings in/draws the crowd to a performance.

5. Many runs perhaps in Twenty20? (6)

SCORES : SCORES(Twenty and 20), Twenty20 being a format of cricket, in which, of course, runs are scored.

6. Shrewder retaining ball, male player (9)

WOMANISER : WISER(shrewder/smarter) containing(retaining) [ O(letter shaped like a ball) + MAN(a male) ].

Defn: …/a male who plays the field and has many sexual partners.

7. Thoroughly soppy git by place of retreat (6)

SODDEN : SOD(a git/a unpleasant man) plus(by) DEN(a place of retreat/a room to relax in).

Defn: …/saturated with too much liquid.

8. Blunt answer’s received about legislative measure (5,10)

JOINT RESOLUTION : [ JOINT(slang for a cannabis cigarette, like a blunt which is an amount of cannabis rolled with cigar wrapping) + SOLUTION(answer to a problem) ] containing(received) RE(with reference to/about).

Defn: … in the US Congress.

15. Take in various keys, say, and polish roughly (6-3)

ISLAND-HOP : A0(… roughly) AND POLISH.

Defn: To take in/to tour, going from one key/a low-lying island to another.

17. Gaudy little skirts are popular with consumers (8)

TINSELLY : TINY(little in size) containing(skirts) SELL(describing items that are popular with consumers/customers, as in “iPhones sell”.

18. One nameless dreamer with a bouquet (8)

AROMATIC : A(one/a single) + “romantic”(a dreamer/one with idealised views of reality) minus(…less) “n”(abbrev. for “name”).

Defn: …/having the characteristic scent/aroma of wine or perfume.

20. Revolutionary Communist wears brown, without exception (2,1,3)

TO A MAN : Reversal of(Revolutionary) MAO(Zedong, Chinese Communist) contained in(wears) TAN(a brownish colour).

21. Banking centre, say, raised what’s held in Russian banks (6)

GENEVA : Reversal of(…, raised, in a down clue) EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example/say) + NEVA(a river in Russia/what is held within river banks in Russia).

Defn: …/a financial centre in Switzerland.

23. Son has ice cream or small cake (5)

SCONE : S(abbrev. for “son”) plus(has) CONE(short for an ice cone).

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28923 Picaroon”

  2. Thanks Picaroon and scchua
    I didn’t find this all that difficult to complete, in fact, though I didn’t understand the JOINT in 8d (does me credit?), or parse TINSELLY.
    FOI and favourite was 1d.

  3. …meant to say that I thought some of these were wonderfully disguised and clued – ISLAND HOP in particular. Shouldn’t really mention that LOI was TOOL…

  4. Brilliant! Loved ONANISTIC, SCORES & LOI ISLAND HOPPING which I should have got sooner having studied MacArthur’s campaigns in history (or current affairs as my mum used to call it)

    Cheers S&P

  5. Raced through the top half, then crawled through the lower. Didn’t parse E ACTOR, particularly liked the Wanda link

  6. Tough puzzle. Halfway through I suspected it might be a pangram which helped me when I got to 1d and 11ac. On completing it, I did not end up checking if it is a pangram or not.

    New for me: OVOLO, Llandudno (for 26ac – thanks, google, and I saw that there is an error in the clue); QUIDS IN.

    Liked WOMANISER, RWANDAN, TO A MAN. MATA HARI, ONANISTIC; PIETA, EXACTOR.

    I could not parse 8d, 4d.

    Thanks, both.

  8. Splendid puzzle with a right lol to start with. I couldn’t help but notice some comments at the top of the G’s own blog that took exception to 9a but I thought it was very well clued indeed and a very amusing def. But what about the rest of the puzzle? Brimming over with imagination and creativity and huge fun throughout. A bit of a cop out to say too many favourites to mention … although LLANO is surprising.

    Blunt for joint is completely new to me so that was a bong ‘n’ shrug.

    Thanks Picaroon and scchua

  10. Crosser @7. Onanistic is an anagram (performing) of twice in i.e ININ and TOSCA. STANDIN is hidden in InveST AND INvest.

  11. Difficult but doable, until I had to go to an appointment so revealed two that turned out to be relatively straightforward! Ah well. Thanks Picaroon, and scchua for parsing a couple for me.

  17. Some less common terms (one in particular) slowed this to a prize-level crawl, but all gettable in the end.

    What’s this with the sudden fascination for TOERAGs? In addition to daily puzzles (do a search) it was the target word for the clue-writing competition on andlit.org.uk last May.

    Liked RWANDAN, but maybe just because I liked the reference and was pleased to get it. WOMANISER too, misdirected by the current season.

  19. I really enjoyed this toughie. The solutions included a good sprinkle of more recondite vocabulary to make things a little trickier; the misdirecting defs were clever (esp. ‘take in various keys’, ‘one showing Mary’, and, of course, ‘stimulating for a soloist’); and none of the clues strayed into those controversies that we all love and hate so much.
    Great work. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  21. 10a OVOLO was a jorum for me, and so was “in pocket,” if a phrase can be a jorum. (To newbies on this site, a jorum is a word you didn’t know that you put together from the wordplay and then find that it really is a word. Thanks to Eileen, for whom JORUM was once a jorum..)

    12a To me an era is not necessarily a long period — the Edwardian era was only ten years — but a period characterized by something or someone.

    1d I’ve heard of conkers, but I’d never have thought of it. I’ve never known anyone who’s played it.

    I’ve acquired a minimal cricket vocabulary, but who knew twenty20 was a thing?

    This side the pond, today’s Thanksgiving, so we’re all preparing to overeat.

    Thanks to Picaroon and scchua.

  23. Tricky but interesting. OVOLO likewise a jorum for me – didn’t know there was a word for that stuff. Blunt= joint also new. Had trouble with ONANISTIC because I was fixed on performing = ON (stage) rather than IN so it wouldn’t parse.

    Enjoyed the OldHam, the fishy name, and the Russian banks.

  24. Enjoyable today, with a few unknowns.
    I made the mistake of clicking on ‘images’ while checking 9a.
    OVOLO was unknown, as was LLANO, PIETA.
    I found the LHS much easier than the RHS and still have a few parsings to check as usual.
    Thanks both.

  26. Sincere apologies from me as well, scchua, for the error in 26. I’ve suggested adding a word to the clue to remedy the problem in the online version.

  27. Picaroon @26 – Highly entertaining puzzle regardless of the slip. These things happen, never mind.

    Favourite for me was TINSELLY – wonderful clue.

    Thanks for the blog, scchua.

  28. Great puzzle. 1dn went straight in with a smile. Loved ONANISTIC and GENEVA. LLANO went straight in without noticing the extraneous D – thanks for dropping by, Picaroon, these these things happen (and should be picked up editorially 🙁 ).

  29. Thanks for the blog, great set of clues , TINSELLY and ISLAND-HOP plus many more, see last line from Gladys @23.
    Dud led straight to Llandudno and LLANO , a crossword favourite. The mistake is never the setter’s fault, we all make them and someone else should spot it, we cannot proof-read our own work.

  31. I nearly always find Picaroon’s challenging but rewarding, but today I’d only solved about eight clues after an hour, so for the sake of my sanity I abandoned ship. I hope I’m not losing the plot.

  33. I’m puzzled by the use of “jorum” by Valentine @21 and Gladys @23. Only definition I can find is large drinking vessel or drink, and doesn’t seem to be on sites explaining crossword jargon. Help please..

  35. I found this strangely clunky for a Picaroon – my bad I’m sure – but it was worth it to come here for some parsing and to get, scchua, your take on bridge. :0 Thanks both.

    crosser@7: if you’re still there, ONANISTIC is an anagram (performing) of IN IN TOSCA and STAND-IN is hidden in the clue. Definition-wise STAND-IN is a reserve or substitute and ONANISTIC you’ll have to look up yourself (but carefully if doing so online).

  38. I had to look twice at LOVE CONQUERS ALL to see/hear the ‘game’. Knew the tennis, guessed the phrase, but CONQUERS also means dominates, which is in the wordplay.
    Liked Oldham in EXACTOR, with the lift-and-separate clearly indicated.
    Fine crossword. Ta both.

  40. I’m glad you pointed out there is an extra “n” in 26a, scchua. I was sure it must be LLANO, from LLANDUDNO, but then tried, unsuccessfully, to think of any other Welsh town that would work.

  42. Having come across her in this puzzle, I realized I didn’t know much about Mata Hari so I looked her up.

    Historians report that she either loved France and wasn’t a spy at all for Germany (which is what she said right up to the firing squad) or else had so little valuable info that it didn’t really matter. It appears she was a useful scapegoat for the French at a time when morale was low.

    And I completely failed to notice the extra n!

  43. Thanks scchua, I spent many enjoyable hours teasing this out but never got 8d, not going to feel bad as I didn’t know that meaning of blunt and while I guessed “Resolution” the whole phrase was also a mystery. But enjoyed the struggle, thanks Picaroon, especially for reminding me of Professor Peabodys amusements on Llandudno pier which I enjoyed as a child. (I started this on the phone and by the time I printed off the pdf it had been corrected so appreciate your intervention there too.)

Comments are closed.