Guardian Cryptic 29043 Brummie

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

Across

9. On trial for breaking with my routine (9)

NORMALITY : Anagram of(… for breaking …) [ON TRIAL plus(with) MY].

10. Look back on grabbing Simpson’s drink (5)

RIOJA : Reversal of(… back on) AIR(the look/appearance given by someone or something) containing(grabbing) OJ(initials of Orenthal James Simpson, former American footballer).

Defn: …, specifically from the vineyards in the Spanish region of the same name:

And OJ also stands for another drink, orange juice.

11. Pound gets eastern family food dish (7)

RAMEKIN : RAM(to pound/hit hard) plus(gets) E(abbrev. for “Eastern”) + KIN(family/relatives).

Defn:  A small bowl:

 

12. Insert rock star Robert’s introduction (7)

IMPLANT : [I’M PLANT](as in:

 … “I’m Plant, Robert Plant, rock star” and lead singer of Led Zeppelin).

13, 3. Take unfair advantage of a private draw organised by Kelvin? (4,4)

PULL RANK : PULL(to draw/to exert a force that causes movement) + RAN(organised/managed by) K(symbol for the kelvin, the unit of temperature in the Kelvin temperature scale).

Defn: To take advantage of one’s superior position/rank over another, possibly a lowly private in the military.

14. Accounting category for rigged prices (5,5)

FIXED COSTS : FIXED(rigged/managed an outcome by fraudulent or underhand means) + COSTS(the prices paid for goods or services).

15. Salmon’s head right in net — pull out (7)

SCRATCH : 1st letter of(…’s head) “Salmon” + [ R(abbrev. for “right”) contained in(in) CATCH(to net/to capture using, well, a net) ].

Defn: … of an event, such as a race.

17. Until a pianist covers Fish (7)

TILAPIA : Hidden in(… covers) “Until a pianist“.

19. At risk of death and really annoyed! (10)

ENDANGERED : END(the cessation/death of something) plus(and) ANGERED(really/totally annoyed/irritated).

22. A way to turn back time that makes me angry (4)

DRAT! : Reversal of(… to turn back) [ A + RD(abbrev. for “road”/a way/thoroughfare) ] + T(abbrev. for “time”).

Defn: An expression uttered when something or someone makes one/me angry/annoyed.

23. As stars might do, two minutes into shire performance (7)

SHIMMER : M,M(2 x abbrev. for “minute”, in time notation) contained in(into) anagram of(… performance) SHIRE.

Defn: …, stars in the sky, that is.

24. Who provides tree surgery in estate? (7)

CATERER : Anagram of(… surgery) TREE contained in(in) CAR(a motor vehicle, an example/model of which is the estate car).

26. Unacceptable, even after being overturned (3,2)

NOT ON : Solution is a palindrome(…, even after being overturned, in a down clue).

27. Rogue sporting cardinal hat ousts DI (9)

CHARLATAN : Anagram of(sporting) [“cardinal hat” minus(ousts) “DI“].

Down

1. Plain stewed prune acting as a spirit? (15)

UNPREPOSSESSING : Anagram of(stewed) PRUNE + POSSESSING(acting as a spirit that takes possession/has complete control over someone’s speech and actions).

2. Wild romp with earl, which has bite (8)

PREMOLAR : Anagram of(Wild) [ROMP plus(with) EARL].

Defn: That in your mouth ….

3. See 13 Across

4. China’s expelling Queen is hard and very cruel (8)

FIENDISH : “friend”(mate/in slang, “china”) minus(expelling) “r”(abbrev. for “Regina”/Queen) + IS + H(abbrev. for “hard”).

5. Newspaper acknowledgement producing extremely bloody row (6)

BYLINE : 1st and last letters of(extremely) “bloody” + LINE(a row/a linear arrangement of people or things).

Defn: …, specifically, a line in a newspaper naming the writer of an article.

6. Surprisingly, April-Oct is like Haiti! (8)

TROPICAL : Anagram of(Surprisingly) APRIL-OCT.

Defn: …, the island situated in the tropics.

7. Slough put gold into service (6)

MORASS : OR(the gold colour in heraldry) contained in(put … into) MASS(a Christian service/ceremony of religious worship).

Defn: …/an area of swampy ground.

8. Heart-broken, make a confession about mad character of tremendous importance (5-10)

EARTH-SHATTERING : Anagram of(…-broken) HEART + SING(slang for “to make a confession for a wrongdoing, and also implicate others”) containing(about) HATTER(or the Mad Hatter, the character in “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” and “Through The Looking-Glass”).

16. ‘Building for families’ doctrine includes soldiers (8)

TENEMENT : TENET(a doctrine/a belief held by a group of people) containing(includes) MEN(soldiers who are non-officers/ordinary members of the military).

Defn: …, ie. one split into multiple residences for families.

17. Deified leader, Hector, thrashed a leader of Troy (8)

THEOCRAT : Anagram of(.., thrashed) HECTOR + A + 1st letter of(leader of) “Troy“.

Defn: …/a divine ruler.

18. Make a formal speech contributing to camper or a tent (8)

PERORATE : Hidden in(contributing to) “camper or a tent“.

20. Delicate tin buckles in time (6)

DAINTY : Anagram of(… buckles) TIN contained in(in) DAY(a time period of 24 hours).

21. Plough wealth into backward North East? Very funny! (6)

ENRICH : Reversal of(backward) NE(abbrev. for “North East”) + RICH(“Very funny!”, said of a remark causing ironic amusement or indignation/”That’s laughable”, as in “That denial is rich coming from one caught red-handed”.

25. List has no heading for ‘wading bird’ (4)

TILT : 1st letter deleted from(no heading for) “stilt”(a wading bird with extremely long stilt-like legs).

Defn: …/to lean to one side.

59 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29043 Brummie”

  1. On the easier end of the scale for this setter with a few helpful anagrams and hidden answers, PERORATE and TILAPIA, which were both TILTs. 1dn was my LOI and was my favourite. I also liked EARTH SHATTERING, RIOJA, RAMEKIN, the amusing IMPLANT (too many ear worms to choose from), PULL RANK, CATERER and the punchy ENRICH.

    Ta Brummie & scchua for the usual colourful blog.

  2. Thanks Brummie and scchua
    A very sticky start, but once a few were in, the rest went quite quickly.
    Robert Plant is hardly a household name any more – though most crossword solvers are probably old enough to remember him.
    I wonder if the capitalised Fish was supposed to misdirect towards the band Marillion?

  4. Liked the short ones this morning; particularly RIOJA, DRAT! and NOT ON.
    Just on my way to the dentists – checks on PREMOLARs among others and I do have an INPLANT.

    Ta Bummie and scchua.

  8. A good steady solve, that. Oddly, my FOI was a NHO — TILAPIA. It just looked like a word, even if I didn’t actually recognise it. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was right. I was ultimately defeated as I put in an unparsed STRETCH instead of SCRATCH — it seemed to fit ‘pull out’ better than the actual answer, to me.

    Thanks both.

  9. Gentle potter but for the last couple, _i_e_ costs and (tree)* in car … bit of brain fog there. And yes, I’m in the age bracket for the Led Zep bloke. Quite fun, ta Brum and scchua.

  11. UNPREPOSSESSING was my favourite. I thought the April-Oct anagram for TROPICAL was a nice find. I suppose Oct-April would have been more surprising but less natural. I always thought a THEOCRAT was one who believed in theocracy, like the Iranian mullahs, but Chambers tells me I am wrong.

  12. Oh, that Simpson!

    Nothing here gave me too much trouble, though I took a while to find china=friend for FIENDISH, and needed all the crossers for PREMOLAR and UNPREPOSSESSING. Liked PULL RANK, TROPICAL and DRAT.

  13. Plenty of smiles, nothing controversial. TILAPIA, PERORATE & PREMOLAR were new to me. Thanks Brummie & scchua.

  14. Thank you scchua, as usual, for your well-designed and helpful blog.
    I needed your help for PULL RANK, mainly where to put the ”private”. Not fond of this clue. As you’ve indicated, ”private” is an example, a possibility, of a lower rank. S’pose the question mark lets that one through.
    Took me a while to cotton on to the def ”at risk” in ENDANGERED. Quite liked that one, and NORMALITY also for the misdirection. Frankly, I found the rest a little UNPREPOSSESSING and less than EARTH-SHATTERING, including those 2 clues. Perhaps a good sleep and things will look better in the morning.

  15. Enjoyed this, adding to my GK along the way, reading that the STILT is of the family Recurvirostridae, to which the Avocet also belongs. Now off to my dental hygienist…

  16. Largely straightforward today but nice to have one that didn’t take most of the day. I thought the 2 hidden answers were very well hidden and were amongst my last in. ( I’d never heard of the fish.)
    Robert Plant was one of the original Rock Gods and remains so today so no excuses for not knowing his name. (TimC@10 has also rightly referced another in JonA. Surprised Brummie didn’t throw in some Sabbath references.)
    Thanks to B and scchua for the blog. Rock and Roll!!
    Thanks Brummie

  17. This seemed very gentle indeed esp for this setter.

    Favourites were CATERER and THEOCRAT.

    Thanks Brummie and scchua

  19. I started a bit slowly but the 10 anagrams (including partials) helped along my solve (and the hiddens).

    I liked the rogue sporting cardinal hat and EARTH-SHATTERING with its mad hatter. The China in 4D was a two-step process of china=mate=friend, which some may not like.

    Thanks Brummie for the fun and scchua for the super pictorial blog.

  20. Nice returning to the G cryptic after 10 days away. Lots of nice misdirections – well, they certainly misdirected me! Thanks Brummie and scchua

  21. Like JerryG @ 16 I thought the hidden ones were very well hidden and took me ages to spot.

    Lots of anagrams – often as part of the solution making it harder to work out sometimes – for me anyway.

    Favourites included: CHARLATAN, EARTH-SHATTERING, TENEMENT, FIENDISH

    Thanks Brummie and scchua

  25. Entered THREATENED (dd) at 19a on the first run through with a mental note that, although it seemed plausible, it might not be right. However, I forgot that note, as two crossers “confirmed” it. That made 1d, 16d, 20d all unnecessarily difficult. Robert Plant keeps making great music – often from quite different genres, so I’d say he has been staying relevant. Thanks, Brummie and scchua.

  29. PULL RANK was my LOI and took me longer than all the others combined. Totally fixated on an anagram of draw – as I’m sure Brummie intended 🙂

    Cheers B&S

  31. I always thought perorate meant sum up; it does, but it’s archaic apparently, whereas its ‘formal speech’ meaning is not, hey ho.

  32. AlanC @26. If you break the clue into ‘at risk of death’ and ‘really annoyed [someone else]’, then – it seemed to me – you have alternative definitions of THREATENED. Almost works…

  33. Enjoyable puzzle. Favourites: IMPLANT. I’m a big fan of Led Zeppelin. I saw Robert Plant in concert a few years ago in Melbourne – he has made some great music post-Led Zeppelin.

    I did not parse 27ac.

    New for me STILT bird (for 25d).

    Thanks, both.

  34. Didn’t know the fish but saw it. April-Oct surprisingly TROPICAL as stated.
    Thanks Brummie and scchua

  35. Easy for a Thursday, I thought—much more so than crossing swords with Brendan 2 days ago. By the same token, no standout clues for me.

    My only NHO, TILAPIA, was not so much fairly clued as literally written out for us. I’m old enough to remember Robert Plant as a rock star (first concert I attended – Sydney 1972).

    I liked the misdirection involving “private” in PULL RANK. I got TILT but didn’t parse it. I could have looked it up, if I was sufficiently curious. Also missed how “air”=“look” in the clueing of RIOJA, giving me a D’OH! when I read scchua above.

    Thanks to Brummie for the diversion and to scchua for the hermeneutic exposition.

  36. Finally, after a long break, am up to date with the crosswords. Enjoyed yesterday’s and today’s very much. Favourite today was PULL RANK with TROPICAL a close second. Thanks Brummie and scchua

  37. Like Bodycheetah @29, I found this mostly straightforward except for 13/3, which had me stumped for far too long. Nice fun puzzle overall, thanks, Brummie. Particularly liked ENDANGERED and UNPREPOSSESSING. And thanks for the blog, scchua.

    Re yesterday’s discussion on solving times, finishing this one quickly was a good thing because it meant I had time left on my morning train commute to go back and finish yesterday’s Io. If anyone else finds themselves at a loose end, I would highly recommend it, quite brilliant – no danger of anyone complaining about that one being over too quickly.

  38. I normally struggle with our setter from the West Midlands, but not today.
    I found the NW leading to some head-scratching…luckily Mrs.H (aka the anagram queen) sorted out 2d after I had fallen into the trap of looking for an animal.
    The anagrams certainly helped and Robert Plant was good for me having seen Led Zeppelin at Knebworth far too many years ago.
    Thanks both…

  39. TILAPIA is a common menu item here in Florida. As is dolphin, to the consternation of many visitors. Don’t worry, it’s not Flipper; it’s another name for mahi mahi.

  40. Liked this very much especially the ref to Plant. Went and played a track from 2002 of his duelling with J Page-both unplugged as it were. Its called Gallows Pole. Thanks for blog and Brummie for bringing back memories of a great gig

  41. Thanks Brummie. Normally I expect a bit of a tussle with this setter but most of this slipped in easily. Nonetheless it was very enjoyable with IMPLANT, DRAT, and EARTH-SHATTERING being my top picks. I could not parse RIOJA as I got stuck on Homer instead of OJ. Thanks scchua for the illustrated blog.

  44. Thanks for the blog, ENDANGERED was clever, PULL RANK deceptive and CHARLATAN was neat.
    AlanC Number 1 again , the Led Zeppelin of the album charts , second time this week. Remember 3 in a week will halve your score like before so be wry careful, it is now 18-8.

  45. China is getting to be a crosser cliché filed away with Peter. Neither still in common use anywhere, I’d guess. Bit like Robert Palmer.

    Also must file OJ in with Homer and Wallis.

    Fun puzzle, thanks both.

  46. Glad I wasn’t alone in struggling with PULL RANK. This was a much harder solve altogether than yesterday’s Qaos for me, with several revisits needed to get a foothold in the LHS. It took me forever to see ‘acting like a spirit’ for POSSESSING. Doh. Just a slow-brain day I guess.

    Thanks to Brummie for the work out, and for the almost name check in 8d. And thanks to scchua for the very thorough and colourful blog.

  47. Roz @44: ‘wry careful’ haha. That would be a Heartbreaker but How Many More Times are you going to give me No Quarter but I don’t want to Ramble On…

  48. AlanC I cannot compete with your musical imagination , I am going to use wry to mean very etc as the latest slang ,my students use “bare” all the time and it really annoys me.

  49. Just the right level of difficulty for me. Thanks, Brummie and Schua – I had heard of tilapia and now I know what it looks like!

  50. Conditioned as I am by easy Mondays and tough Fridays, I have a slightly Pavlovian expectation that the Guardian’s crosswords will gradually increase in difficulty through the week. That expectation wasn’t met today. I’m afraid I found it a bit dull.

    Thanks to Brummie and scchua.

  51. DRAT! I didn’t get that. Nor did I get RIOJA. But I have now learned from these reversals, and I will know what to look for in the future. Thanks!

  52. TILAPIA also common in lake Victoria in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. A rather Mondayish puzzle.

  53. I am here to tell tales of failure and incompetence again.

    4 clues solved on my own.

    Even with the helpful explanations provided here, I would not have gotten the answers!

    If at first you don’t succeed….

  55. Filled in the RHS fairly quickly, got stuck, came back to it and once UNPREPOSSESSING dropped it all made sense. TILT was my LOI, which I got from jousting rather than leaning to one side – a TILT would be a contest in the lists.

  56. Like Rob T@8 I tried to make ‘stretch’ work for 15a but then realised ‘scratch’ had another meaning and was the perfect answer. Did two thirds or so of this in the morning (Friday) and just came home and finished it. Thanks Brummie for giving me the satisfaction even though I couldn’t parse ‘rioja’. I tried hard to fit Duff beer into the solution but eventually realised there was only one drink which fitted the crossers.

  57. Keep at it Steffen – you’ll get there!

    I have taken to doing the crossword a day late, as my newspaper is arriving later, and I like to have the crossword to do with my morning cuppa in bed. So that explains why I have been missing from here. But I am still reading and appreciating both the bloggers and the commenters.

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