Guardian Cryptic 28,948 by Brendan

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A fun solve with lots of smiles along the way. My favourite clues were 12ac, 2dn, 3dn, and 14dn – thanks to Brendan for the puzzle.

As indicated in 18ac, there is a theme around cats, with each clue/solution connected in some way.

ACROSS
5 SUITOR
eg Owl pursuing pussycat that’s possibly ours, grabbing it (6)
definition refers to the poem by Edward Lear [wiki]

anagram/”possibly” of (ours)*, around IT
6 OCELOT
Author backed deal, getting fur from American native (6)
definition: the name of a cat species found in South and Central America, or the fur of this animal

ECO (Umberto Eco the “Author”) reversed/”backed”, plus LOT=”deal” e.g. in the sense of ‘a [large] quantity’
9 TIGERS
Tenacious types good to have in rows (6)
definition: Chambers gives ‘a formidable competitor’ as a meaning of ‘tiger’

G (good) in TIERS=”rows”
10 EXCLAIMS
Former cat lover initially objects and cries out (8)
EX (“Former”) + C-at L-over initials + AIMS=”objects” as a noun e.g. ‘the object of this exercise is to…’
11 THAI
Recalled Siamese couple in pronouncement (4)
theme: reference to Siamese cats

definition: “Recalled” hinting at a name used in the past – Thailand was formerly known as Siam

wordplay: sounds like (“in pronouncement”) ‘tie’=”couple”
12 MOTHERHOOD
Not the same husband, in emotional state that can involve having kittens (10)
definition: motherhood for a cat would involve having kittens

OTHER=”Not the same” + H (husband), all inside MOOD=”emotional state”
13 LEOPARD MOTH
In unusually old home, trap insect spotted in Europe (7,4)
definition: a moth species found in Europe – and also “spotted” as it is has spots on its thorax and its wings [wiki]

anagram/”unusually” of (old home trap)*
18 CAT SCANNER
Diagnostic aid that’ll help you see today’s theme? (3,7)
definition: in medicine, a Computed Axial Tomography scanner uses X-rays to obtain images of a body

the theme today is cats, so a scanner for cats would help you see the theme
21 MEOW
Speech in Cats? Tipsy, forgetting lines in middle (4)
ME-[LL]-OW, minus the LL (lines) in the middle

‘mellow’=slightly drunk=”Tipsy”
22 SPECTRUM
Small tame animal swallowing cold drink that’s colourful (8)
S (Small) + PET=”tame animal” around C (cold) + RUM=”drink”
23 THRASH
Lively party, hit with cat (6)
double definition – in the second definition, “cat” as in cat-o’-nine-tails, a whip
24 WILDER
Less domesticated, runs after writer (6)
R (runs, in cricket) after WILDE (Oscar Wilde the writer)
25 JAGUAR
We hear you are on spree in classic sports car (6)
UAR sounds like/(We hear) “you are”, after JAG=a bout of indulgence=”spree”
DOWN
1 LIFELINE
Left one kind of mammal means of escape (8)
L (Left) + I (one) + FELINE=”kind of mammal”
2 POSSUM
Name of Aussie inhabitant poet used, confusing us Poms (6)
definition part 1: “Name of Aussie inhabitant” – a possum is an Australian marsupial

definition part 2: “Name… poet used” – the poet T. S. Eliot wrote poems about cats under the name of ‘Old Possum’ – these were collected as Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats [wiki] which was adapted into the musical Cats

wordplay: anagram/”confusing” of (us Poms)*
3 ICE CREAM
Change order for Manx cat re mice as dessert (3,5)
anagram/”Change order” of (ca re mice)*

ca is ca-[t], a tail-less or “Manx” cat
4 BLEACH
In trouble, a cheetah appears to turn white (6)
hidden in trou-BLE A CH-eetah
5 SLIGHT
Catty comment, say, that’s inconsequential (6)
double definition
7 TOM-TOM
Male twins that may be soundly beaten? (3-3)
definition: a tom-tom drum can be “soundly beaten” i.e. beaten to make a sound

a TOM is a male cat, so TOM-TOM would be a pair of these males
8 DEUTERONOMY
Convert you mentored, producing book from OT (11)
theme: Old Deuteronomy is the name of a character in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and the musical adaptation Cats

definition: Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament (“OT”)

anagram/”Convert” of (you mentored)*
14 PEA GREEN
Write about match for colour of beautiful boat couple used (3,5)
definition: in Edward Lear’s poem, “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea / In a beautiful PEA GREEN boat”

PEN=”Write” about AGREE=”match”
15 TIMOROUS
From island in Pacific ring America like a scaredy-cat (8)
TIMOR=”island in Pacific” + O=”ring” + US=”America”

“From” meaning that TIMOROUS can be made from this combination
16 PAWPAW
Put foot repeatedly in fruit tree (6)
definition: a fruit tree found in North America [wiki]

PAW=”foot”, written/”Put” repeatedly to make PAWPAW
17 MOUSER
One having systematic way to do things, hunting animal (6)
MO USER=’Modus Operandi user’=”One having systematic way to do things”
19 SUCKLE
Feed young awful clues about kitten’s head (6)
anagram/”awful” of (clues)*, around the first letter of K-itten
20 RATBAG
Rotter that retains cat’s haul? (6)
a ‘ratbag’ could be a bag that contains a cat’s haul of rats

74 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,948 by Brendan”

  1. That was easier than the Brendan I remember and it was hard to miss the theme.
    POSSUM was nice but they’re a pain when they invade your roof space. They’re protected so you can’t kill them or move them more than 50 metres I think. I had to get Possum Busters in to clear them out and block up the entry holes.
    Favourite was MOUSER for the MO.

  2. I’d guess that many solvers know about TS Eliot being Old Possum who wrote the poems that became Cats the musical, but not this old lad, who vaguely wondered if Barry Humphries was involved. Not to worry, this was a pleasant little potter anyway.
    Btw manehi, your 18ac suggests tinned cat (gruesome thought, sorry 🙂 ). Thanks Bnm.

  4. Thanks Brendan for an amusing crossword. This went in quickly but I was stumped by THRASH and RATBAG. MOTHERHOOD was my favourite. Funny to see Manx two days in a row as the wordplay for “ca.” (Brendan and Paul must use the same computer program.) Thanks manehi for the blog. (Kitty, who blogs Indy crosswords, would have loved this.)

  6. Good point, Gdu @5, it is closer to the Indian Ocean, but that’s a small quibble, it was a fun puzzle. Thanks to Brendan and Manehi.

  7. Thanks manehi and Brendan.

    I was not aware of most of the literary allusions that make the puzzle grander.
    Great blog on a good puzzle.

  8. GDU@4 Like you, I think TIMOR is in the Indian Ocean.
    This was easy for a Brendan, but highly enjoyable. I especially liked MOTHERHOOD, SUCKLE and SLIGHT.
    Thanks B&m Isn’t that a chain of shops?

  9. Fun puzzle, generally not so tough, but I was held up for a while at the end with RATBAG, THRASH and MOUSER, but when one fell they all did. I was wondering for a bit if Modus Operandi is necessarily systematic, since it just means “way of working”, but the way it is used (ie the m.o. of m.o.) does indeed imply systemacity.

    Thanks B&M

  10. I too was wondering about TIMOR, thought it must be on the border between the two oceans, but didn’t consult an atlas and forgot about it until coming here.

  11. Bali hai – the song in South Pacific the musical – seems to think Bali is in the (South) Pacific, and Timor is further East. Mind you, James Michener set his Tales of the South Pacific stories nearer the Coral Sea.
    This was lots of fun: CAT SCANNER was nice, and we enjoyed getting (most of) the cat references. Thanks, Brendan and manehi.

  12. Another Timor doubter here.

    JAGUAR raised an eyebrow as I wouldn’t have described the marque as a classic sports car. Also nho jag meaning “spree”.

    Over to soon for me, most enjoyable. Thanks both.

  13. That was fun, surprisingly quick until I was held up by RATBAG, THRASH and MOUSER in the southeast corner, and THAI in the northwest, but still not slow. THAI because I was trying to link the Siamese cats in the poems, without going to get the book, and Lady and the Tramp, as I suspect I was supposed to be misdirected. But I love Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats from well before I saw the first run of the musical in London and recognised the literary references.

    Thank you to manehi and Brendan.

  14. That was fun though not what I expected for Friday fare in terms of difficulty.

    Cat scanner has be the COTD for me.

    Thanks both.

  15. I think of Jaguar E types as classic sports cars, the ones that look like the Aston Martin James Bond drove in Goldfinger, rather than the luxury saloons of most Jaguars, those driven by John Thaw variously.

  16. Very enjoyable from Brendan and a fine weaving around his theme with some excellent surfaces throughout. I really enjoyed finding a bevy of cat clues in the SE at the end of the puzzle – MEOW, MOUSER which I thought splendid, and JAGUAR. Also rather fun to see the symmetrical placing of TOMTOM and PAWPAW given that they used a similar construction. SUITOR, THRASH, POSSUM, PEA GREEN and the simple but delightful ICE CREAM with its reference to mice for dessert were, along with MOUSER, overall favourites.

    Thanks Brendan and manehi

  17. Loved it all – Brendan at his gentle best. I liked the whole cats theme a great deal. Most of the ones I appreciated have been canvassed but I could add 22a SPECTRUM and 12 LIFELINE (which I loved). Thanks to both Brendan and manehi for the enjoment today.

  18. ginf @2, you’re not alone re POSSUM. Could Dame Edna be called a poet? Yes indeed she could.

    Timor “in Pacific” may be a stretch, but it is definitely in the Pacific ring (of fire).

    Btw TT @11, Bali Ha’i in South Pacific was based on the real island of Ambae in Vanuatu. It’s visible from Espiritu Santo, where Michener was stationed during the war. Apparently the name Bali Ha’i comes not from Bali, but from a signpost he saw in the Treasury Islands. (And most of the film was shot in Hawaii!)

    Super puzzle, very nicely blogged manehi.

  19. P.S. I did wonder about the ‘you are’ homophone on JAGUAR. Maybe hard on US solvers who I think tend to pronounce a ‘w’ after the G (reflecting the Portuguese), not a ‘y’ sound. But for RP speakers (and Madness) it’s much closer.

  20. eb @18: thanks for that info. You are right about Timor being on the Pacific ring of fire – due to it being one of the island arc islands where the Pacific and Australian plates are colliding. Does the Pacific Ocean have the same range as the plate?

  21. William @12, surely the SS100, the XK series are considered classics (not to mention the E-type).
    TIMOR is closer to the Indian Ocean than the Pacific (and the Timor Sea is considered by most to belong to the Indian Ocean), but it’s loosely considered to be a Pacific island. It’s an “observer” in the Pacific Islands Forum, although not a full member, and has applied for ASEAN membership. That’s near enough for me for a crossword clue.

  22. Thanks Brendan and manehi
    I was held up a long time in the SE, partly through not being able to find a Pacific isalnd for 15d. eb – you’re right about “ring of fire”, but it doesn’t help, because “ring” would then be doing double duty.
    Very clever to work in all those cat references. Favoruite was LIFELINE.

  23. Great fun today, thanks Brendan and manehi. Even I spotted the theme! Like others, the SE was a hold- out but then quickly came together. I was struggling to equate mellow with tipsy but I think it’s acceptable.
    Thanks to essexboy@19 for the lovely Madness clip. Isn’t that a very young Terry Hall 2 minutes in? Sad to hear of his passing this week.

  24. [Shanne @13
    When our daughter was about the right age (13?), we took her to a performance of “Cats”. The verdict from our family was that it would have been good without all the singing and dancing…]

  25. Nicely summed up by PM @16, with a cute reference to bevy, this had me purring throughout. Took eons to get the BAG after RAT and like Tony Santucci @4 was surprised to see the Manx trick two days in a row. Shamefully missed the reference to toilets (7) who I studied at university. Quirky little puzzle but you gotta love Brendan.

    Ta both.

  26. Tony S @4 & AlanC @25: not that it bothered me but, were a finger to be pointed wrt Manx, surely it would be at the editorial choice of sequencing? As setters have occasionally pointed out before, the puzzles are submitted some weeks/months in advance.

  27. I wonder if TIGERS is an a&lit manehi, as your ‘formidable competitor’ would be good to have in a row, as in fight/argument?

  28. [JerryG @23 – yes, the Fun Boy Three with Terry Hall, when I looked and checked they were there. I was thinking how young Suggs looked for that video.
    Muffin @24 – I must have been just earning post-university to see Cats – and it was the big thing at the time, Wayne Sleep was in it, but not the night I was there. There are bits that are great fun, but others where I’m not so sure. I preferred Bonnie Langford in the Pirates of Penzance version with Tim Curry, George Cole and Pamela Stephenson. ]

  29. Thanks for all the gentle chiding about Timor. On such occasions, Dr. Johnson’s line is best (ignorance, pure ignorance). And thanks to Manehi and all the analysts in 2022.

  30. I would like to say that the DEUTERONOMY anagram is a great find, but I am afraid someone will point out that it’s been done before. eb@19 if only all homophone debates were illustrated by Madness clips!

  32. Petert @30: I can find no evidence of anyone having anagrammed Deuteronomy as has Brendan. The only other anagrams I can point to are:

    Book where one more duty laid out? (11) – Everyman 2020
    Book where one more duty laid out? (11) – Hindu Crossword Corner 2020
    Tudor yeomen looking silly in old book (11) – Telegraph 2016
    You’re to mend tattered book (11) – Telegraph Toughie 2009

  36. A very nicely executed and entertaining theme., and an enjoyable puzzle overall, although I missed out on both THRASH and MOUSER.

    Thanks to Brendan and manehi.

  38. The Umberto Eco of OCELOT wrote a book about translation (“as negotiation”) called “Mouse or Rat” Accidentally appropriate?

  39. After many occasions considering it, never did get to Cats but did see Dame Edna starring as “The Saviour of London”, in Dick Whittington, at the New Wimbledon Theatre I. 2011 – hilarious !

    This was a quotation from the great aristocrat at the time :

    “I am looking forward to all the fun and frolics and meeting all of you lovely little possums of London, but most of all, the thought of guiding Dick Whittington to become Lord Mayor of London thrills me. I did the exact same thing for Boris Johnson not long ago”

    ( BJ did OK as mayor but, my goodness, he did emulate the farce of Dame Edna later ! Maybe like a recent solution, TERMINATOR, he’ll be back ).

    And, of course, Dick did solve London’s infestations with a MOUSER cat.

    Seemed an easier puzzle for a Friday and even my pen-name, on 15^2, more often than not, is connected with CATS.

    Thanks to Brendan and manehi

  40. Relatively gentle furry fun from Brendan. I got held up a bit in the SE (not remembering how to spell MEOW didn’t help 🙁 ) but it all fell out nicely in the end.

    Lots of good surfaces, constructions and varied feline references to enjoy. I was another who raised an eyebrow at the location of Timor – thanks to Brendan for dropping by and explaining that we don’t need sophistry to justify the clue 🙂

    Many thanks and seasonal greetings to Brian G and manehi

  42. Breezed through 75% of this then got quite seriously stuck in the SE. Eventually parsed LOI MOUSER as a DD, i.e. one who uses a mouse, which a way of using a system. Thought it a bit weak, but decided it was OK because of the theme, which was indeed the way I got there. However, MO user is much more logical and makes it a very good clue!

  45. The usual classy compilation from Brendan, with the last two in THAI and SLIGHT. Thought these clues very similar in nature to the cluster in the SE corner, RATBAG, THRASH and JAGUAR. Have to admit that I had to look up Jag as meaning a Spree for confirmation. Thought MEOW was rather sneaky, but perhaps I’m being rather too catty in my comments. Many thanks B and M…

  46. Tony Santucci @4 is quite right – paws up from me!

    Thanks to Brendan for this and all the other excellent puzzles throughout the year, and thanks to manehi for the great blogging work. I almost always lurk these days but regularly peek in.

  47. Such good fun. Did this with our cat on my lap! SE corner took a while (thrash holding things up), after racing through other clues. Hadn’t come across the word ‘rotter’ since seeing it frequently in the Beano as a kid (I.e. ‘what a rotter’). A wee bit disappointed ailouros didn’t make an appearance.

  49. Excellent fun. I enjoyed seeing for the first time yesterday the tailless Manx cat, so it was funny to see it again so quickly today. Thanks Essexboy @19 for the Madness reference (“it’s not quite a …”). Thanks Manehi for the excellent blog and for explaining MOUSER. Thanks Brendan for a joyful end to the week.

  50. Excellent puzzle, on the gentle side, which was what was needed in a time-poor day.

    Liked esp LIFELINE and MOUSER.

    Thanks Brendan and manehi

  51. Yes, an excellent not-too-hard puzzle and a theme that nestled comfortably with the clueing.
    I had little idea where Timor is so that didn’t slow me up — hmmm, maybe I’ll have a quick look at an atlas…

  52. No hope of parsing 6a OCELOT and I forgot about that other cat in 23a THRASH. Could make no sense of “recalled” in 11a THAI.

    Loved 2d POSSUM — both for the wordplay and because I fell in love with Old Possum’s book at eight (I would then and will now read anything about cats). Possums are also North American animals. Over the years they’ve been moving farther north, definitely in New England for many years. I remember my dog getting very excited about a possum that was pretending to be dead under the car. Still there when we came back from our walk. Gone the next morning.

    AlanC@25 Toilets? at university?

    eb@31 I’m not sure the wee tim’rous beastie would be happy to be in the company of so many cats!

    Thanks to Brendan and manehi and a very happy holiday season to all.

  53. Gervase@40: “not remembering how to spell MEOW didn’t help”. Yeah, spelling is always a problem with loanwords from languages that don’t use the Roman alphabet.

  54. Valentine @52
    There are also marsupial possums, which are Australian natlves; they have become endangered there, but are a pest in New Zealand. Some Australian tribal customs need possum fur clothing, which must now be imported back from NZ.
    I brought back a jumper from NZ that was made in part from possum fur – wonderfully warm.
    I wonder which possums Eliot was thinking of?

  56. Very enjoyable as always from Brendan and so clever to get a themed reference into every clue or answer.

    A few weeks ago (28,929) PeterO suggested that Anto was deviating from standard crossword conventions by providing definitions such as “is hard to explain” for OFFSIDE RULE. I didn’t really agree at the time, and today’s definition for SPECTRUM, “that’s colourful”, seems to me essentially the same sort of thing. If it’s good enough for Brendan I think it’s all right!

    Many thanks Brendan and manehi.

  57. pserve_p2 @53: I echo muffin’s comment above. Curiously the transliteration from the Feline is remarkably similar in most Indo-European languages ( miao in Italian, the rather more complex m?au in Czech) although the original has no bilabial nasal phoneme 🙂

  58. Super puzzle, as ever from Brendan.
    Our first Birman used to like sleeping on out home scanner. One day I scanner her, printed the resulting rather cryptic view of her underparts, and clipped the resulting image to the cover of a file I took to a multi-disciplinary cancer meeting. I could see various surgeons with very puzzled expressions nudging each other. At the end of the meeting one of them sidled up to me and asked what the image was. “You’re a surgeon and you don’t recognise a cat scan?” How to reduce an eminent medical person to giggles.

  60. Love to see a youtube of that, eb @18. [And speaking of being rude in the presence of royalty, Billy Connolly at a Royal Command years ago introduced himself as “The man who put the c**t in country music”. I remember thinking Now that’s one braw Rob Roy!]

  61. Thx to Brendan for a thoroughly enjoyable challenge, an excellent setter on top form. Lots of favourites, and thanks to manehi for the blog.

  62. Fun puzzle! Thank you Brendan and manehi – and also essexboy for the Nutty Boys vid.
    Twas the (night before the) night before xmas,
    And all through the house,
    Not a creature was stirring,
    Not even a mouser…
    Happy holidays, all!

  66. Delightful solve, done with one of our two cats by my side on this bitterly cold morning in Chicago.

    When I saw POSSUM defined as an Australian native, I was a bit surprised, since I was thinking of opossums, the most common North American marsupials, which are nearly always spoken of, and therefore often spelled, without the initial O. So today I learned that there’s an Australian animal called a possum which resenbles, and is therefore named after, but is not related to, our own cute little tree rats.

    For the record, the “you are” homophone in the clue for JAGuAR is not a problem for us here, since the TV ads for the cars all feature a snobby-sounding gent with an impeccable RP accent, so we’ve heard the three-syllable version of the word often enough!

  67. mrpenney @66
    My surprise (and ignorance), but I didn’t realise there were marsupials elsewhere than Australia and surrounding areas! Perhaps your opossums aren’t that distantly related?

  68. lin @41. probably too late to catch your attention, but Leopold Bloom’s cat in Ulysses says ‘Mkgnao’, which has always struck me as a felicitous transcription of feline speech.

  69. Came late to this party celebrating a delightful, cheerful, purrfect puzzle (despite the timorous quibbles). Many, many thanks to BG and manehi, and for the smile of the day from Goujeers@58. Must remember to tell that one to the nurses in the recovery room when I go in for my next volunteer shift. May all your next few days be merry and bright.

  70. [mrpenney/muffin @66/67 – thanks! I was ignorant re marsupials too. According to this the first marsupial was probably Mongolian, but all living marsupials have South American ancestors. They got to N America via the Great American Interchange, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 million years ago, which joined up N and S America.

    They seem to have got to Australia about 50 mya via Antarctica, which was joined onto S America until 35 mya. Aus had already split off, but the suggestion is that a single progenitor species made it across the still narrow gap by ‘rafting’ (not that they built the raft themselves, I imagine).]

  71. All this talk of manx cats reminds me of a question on The Weakest Link many moons ago.

    “A manx cat has no what?”

    If I’d been a contestant I’d have said “Second mortgage”.

    The answer given was “Tail”, equally correct, but not as creative.

  74. I did not parse 6ac.

    Failed 9ac.

    New: THRASH = party; mellow = tipsy (for 21ac); JAG = spree (for 25ac).

    Liked MOUSER.

    Thanks, both.

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