Guardian Cryptic 29,056 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29056.

I found this witty, inventive, and with enough misdirection to pose a challenge without using tortuous wordplay. In all, a brilliant puzzle from a master setter.

ACROSS
1 NEVER MIND
Forget it is either Edward or Kelly being a rat-catcher? (5,4)
An envelope (‘being a …-catcher’) of VERMIN (‘rat’-) in NED (‘either Edward or Kelly’; a familiar form of the name, and one such being the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly).
6 CUT UP
Sad Parisian you dressed in bit of lady’s underwear (3,2)
An envelope (‘dressed in’) of TU (‘Parisian you’) in CUP (‘bit of lady’s underwear’).
9 TEN COMMANDMENTS
Tense nurse speaks about damn silly instructions for man taking tablets (3,12)
An envelope (‘about’) of ANDM, an anagram (‘silly’) of ‘damn’ in T (‘tense’) plus EN (enrolled ‘nurse’) plus COMMENTS (‘speaks’), with a cryptic definition.
10 HASH
Is in possession of one drug or another (4)
A charade of HAS (‘is in possession of’) plus H (heroin, ‘one drug’), the definition being ‘another’ drug, hashish, a marijuana product.
11 ON SAFARI
Running a web browser, search­ing for wild animals (2,6)
A charade of ON (‘running’) plus SAFARI (‘a web browser’ from Apple).
14 PINOT NOIR
Drink some beer, eating egg hard-boiled, perhaps (5,4)
A charade of PINOT, an envelope (‘eating’) of O (‘egg’ – yet another way of indicating the letter) in PINT (‘some beer’); plus NOIR (as in film noir, ‘hard-boiled, perhaps’), for wine made from the grape varietal.
15 INDRI
African animal almost weed on Imogen’s jacket (5)
A charade of IN (‘ImogeN‘s jacket’) plus DRI[p] (‘weed’; no, not a verb, but a name for an insignificant person); the INDRI is a lemur, found in Madagascar).
16 SATYR
Didn’t stand by younger man who’s a bit of an animal (5)
A charade of SAT (‘didn’t stand’) plus (‘by’) YR (‘younger’).
18 ABOUT-FACE
Fit female wearing a wonderful flip-flop in America (5-4)
An envelope (‘wearing’) of BOUT (‘fit’, seizure) plus F (‘female’) in ‘a’ plus ACE (‘wonderful’).
20 ACCOLADE
First-class pilot receiving officer promotion and praise (8)
An envelope (‘receiving’) of CO (commanding ‘officer’) in ‘a’ plus CLADE (Emil, WW11 Luftwaffe ‘pilot’).

… but see russtoo @2 for a parsing which avoids the name unfamiliar to many (at the expense of using ACE in two adjacent answers).
21 IGBO
I try welcoming bishop in a West African language (4)
An envelope (‘welcoming’) of B (‘bishop’) in ‘I’ plus GO (‘try’, noun).
25 HOT ON THE HEELS OF
Fancying that man wearing felt hose out dogging (3,2,3,5,2)
A charade of HOT ON (‘fancying’) plus THE HEELS OF, an envelope (‘wearing’) of HE (‘that man’) in THEELSOF, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘felt hose’.
26 OASIS
Manufacturer of pop, like one Jack drinks (5)
An envelope (‘drinks’) of AS (‘like’) plus I (‘one’, Roman numeral or personal pronoun) in OS (Ordinary Seaman, ‘Jack’), for one of the pop music bands so named (but not the soft drink – it is a brand name of the drink, not its manufacturer, and ‘pop’ generally refers to something carbonated; thus the definition is cryptic).
27 NURSEMAID
One bringing up issue that’s arisen with mud wrestling (9)
An anagram (‘wrestling’) of ‘arisen’ plus ‘mud’.
DOWN
1 NOTCH
Hard time accepted by criminal up in nick (5)
A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of H (‘hard’) plus CTOH, an envelope (‘accepted by’) of T (‘time’) in CON (‘criminal’).
2 VENISON
Word spoken by Caesar before child’s game (7)
A charade of VENI (vidi, vici ‘word spoken by Caesar’; the famous phrase is recorded as being written by Julius Caesar, but the single word would obviously have been spoken by him) plus SON (‘child’).
3 ROOD
Cross thoroughfare with nothing covering area inside it (4)
An envelope (‘inside it’) of O (‘nothing’) plus (‘covering’) A (‘area’) in RD (road, ‘thoroughfare’).
4 IAMB
Something penned by William Blake? (4)
A hidden answer (something penned’) in ‘WillIAM Blake’, with an &lit definition
5 DINING ROOM
500 homes tidy up mess, say (6,4)
A charade of D (‘Roman numeral, ‘500’) plus In (home) plus IN (home, hence ‘homes’) plus GROOM (‘tidy up’).
6 CYMBALISTS
Poets, we hear, making clangers? (10)
Sounds like (‘we hear’) SYMBOLISTS (‘poets’, of a style pioneered by Baudelaire)
7 TANKARD
Fail removing odd bits of sacred drinking vessel (7)
A charade of TANK (‘fail’) plus ‘sAcReD‘ ‘removing odd bits’.
8 PESTICIDE
Sports team with jerk in a danger to cricket? (9)
An envelope (‘with … in’) of TIC (‘jerk’) in PE (‘sports’) plus SIDE (‘team’).
12 STORYLINES
Special note probing govern­ment’s dishonesty and plots (10)
An envelope (‘probing’) of N (‘note’) in S (‘special’) plus TORY LIES (‘government’s dishonesty’).
13 NOW AND THEN
Problem for wizard, this being the case at times (3,3,4)
A charade of NO WAND (‘problem for wizard’) plus THEN (‘this being the case’).
14 PISTACHIO
Crazy chap, is it? Character resembling a football nut (9)
A charade of PISTACHI, an anagram (‘crazy’) of ‘chap is it’; plus O (‘character resembling a football’).
17 TACITUS
Ancient writer understood Guardian readers (7)
A charade of TACIT (‘understood’) plus US (‘Guardian readers’), for Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian.
19 AUGUSTA
You heard blow is consumed by teetotallers in American capital (7)
An envelope (‘is consumed’) of U (‘you heard’) plus GUST (‘blow’) in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous, ‘teetotallers’), for the capital city of Maine.
22 OFFED
Old G-man with a stutter is taken out (5)
A charade of O (‘old’) plus F-FED (‘G-man with a stutter’). The definition is colloquial for killed.
23 CHAR
Make black tea (4)
Double definition.
24 HE-HE
Amused expression inspired by 25 (2-2)
A hidden answer (‘inspired by’) in ‘hot on tHE HEels of’ (’25’). Since the expression is not actually part of the clue, the convention hardly applies that a hidden answer should not contain words not a part of the answer.

picture of the completed grid

82 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,056 by Picaroon”

  1. What PeterO said.

    I was going to say it’s a pity TEN COMMANDMENTS reappeared so soon, but on checking it seems what happened is that I just this week encountered that answer in one of the compendium books I have around the house, so it was just a peculiar coincidence. In that case the clue was “A number of prescriptions delivered in tablet form”, which I happen to like a bit better.

    Thanks P&P

  3. Thanks Picaroon. This began as a write-in for me but ended with failures i.e. CYMBALISTS, HE-HE, and CUT-UP — a mixed bag for me. I particularly liked VENISON, AUGUSTA, and TACITUS. I parsed ACCOLADE like Russtoo @2. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  4. I also parsed 20a like Russtoo. I entered HE-HE before I solved 25a and suddenly had HE in that clue to get that man, I had been playing around with the anagram around HIM previously, so it fell nicely into place. That helped fill the bottom of the grid and when I returned to the top I was more on Picaroon’s wavelength. Plenty of smiles today. I put OASIS together from the wordplay and thought Coca-Cola make that don’t they? Inever thought of the band, well, I never liked them and I don’t like the drink either.

  8. I parsed 3d as ROAD with O replacing (or covering in the sense of going over the top of) the A. I agree with the blogger’s comments on this puzzle. Nothing annoying in the parsing, and I parsed ACCOLADE in the same way as the the other commenters above. The reference to the name would be a step too obscure, I think. Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  10. I failed by having unparsed CAMPANISTS (bell-ringers, so definition works) for CYMBALISTS. Also didn’t parse INDRI. Otherwise very enjoyable. Favourite was PESTICIDE.
    Thanks both.

  11. Very smoothly done as always with the less familiar words clearly clued. As PeterO points out, some creative ways of indicating O today. Favourites include CUT UP, HASH, ACCOLADE, NURSEMAID, IAMB, DINING ROOM, NOW AND THEN and PISTACHIO. I’m not sure OASIS would describe their music as pop but it’s fair enough for a puzzle.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  12. Absolutely agree with others about Accolade – Emil Clade surely too obscure a character to be used for ‘pilot’. The clue works perfectly well as ‘ace’, ‘col’ and ‘ad’

  13. Is there a theme of album names? Not my area of expertise but I saw oasis and never mind. It felt like there were others. Googling lead to about face.

  14. I should add I enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks Picaroon. Plus it’s great to get your early blogs PeterO. Liked venison and pesticide.

  15. STORYLINES, with its ingredient of government’s dishonesty = Tory lies, raised a smile. As, for the Pauline reason, did the wordplay for HOT ON THE HEELS OF.
    IAMB is brilliant. An iamb is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Such as some-thing. So a true &lit. Very neat.
    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  16. CanberraGirl@13 :AUGUSTA is by Willie Nelson/Don Cherry, NEVERMIND is by Nirvana, ( What’s the STORY, ) Morning Glory is by OASIS, ABOUT FACE is by Dave Gilmour and NOW AND THEN is by The Carpenters – all albums. There may be more.

    Thank you Picaroon and PeterO.

  18. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
    I didn’t think this was one of the pirate’s best, possibly because I failed to parse several.
    “Nothing covering area” is a very odd way of clueing a replacement.
    I parsed ACCOLADE as several posters above, but using ACE twice for wonderful/first class in consecutive clues isn’t perhaps what he intended.
    “Hard-boiled” for NOIR is a bit of a stretch.
    He caught me out on 19d, though – my immediate reaction was “Augusta isn’t the capital of Georgia”!

  19. I, too, toyed with bell-ringing for CYMBALISTS, even wondering about those well-known poets Camp and Iles to give Campaniles. Lovely puzzle again from Picaroon.

  20. Oh and TEN COMMANDMENTS is by Ozzy and shot down ON SAFARI is by Bad Company.

    I parsed ACCOLADE in the same way as others, above.

  21. Favourites: NEVER MIND, STORYLINES, NOW AND THEN.

    I could not parse 9ac, 8d.

    20ac like Russtoo, Tony Santucci & others I parsed it as COL = officer + AD = promotion in ACE = first class pilot. Def = praise. Never heard of CLADE (Emil, WW11 Luftwaffe ‘pilot’) – is he very famous?

    New for me: IGBO.

    Thanks, both.

  23. CAMPANISTS from me too, as a final ‘bung’. So disappointed to have failed on such an enjoyable challenge. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  24. crypticsue@17. It’s so disappointing: getting a Picaroon puzzle on Friday means that there won’t be one tomorrow. If we’re very lucky we might get Nutmeg. Two of the very best in my opinion.

  25. Was totally misled by some of the very misleading surfaces which took me a fair time to work out and parse. Also didn’t parse a couple. Did parse ACCOLADE and ROOD as others above.

    Enjoyed it and favourites included: PESTICIDE, DINING ROOM, STORYLINES

    Thanks Picaroon and Peter0

  26. Agree with PeterO’s assessment of the brilliance. Parsed ACCOLADE and ROOD as others and thought there was going to be music playing after NEVERMIND and OASIS went in early. Re CanberraGirl @13 and Flea @16, I used to see some sort of musical theme in almost every crossword but I gave up after a couple of curmudgeonly commenters pointed out that any word could be the name of a band/album/song somewhere in the universe. Anyway, I won’t mention IGBO POP. I agree, PostMark @11, that Oasis might not be too enamoured with ‘pop’.

    Ta Picaroon & PeterO.

  27. As usual from Picaroon some lovely clues with clever misdirection, for example the “danger to cricket” in 8d.

    Flea @16 and 20: that’s interesting, but isn’t it just that, rather like band names as previously discussed, almost anything can be the name of an album? Apart from the Nirvana and Oasis titles, the ones you mention are not particularly well known. And is it reasonable to include STORY when it’s one word from a five-word title?

    Many thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  29. Another great crossword from Picaroon.

    I liked the rat-catcher in NEVER MIND, the hard-boiled egg in PINOT NOIR, HOT ON THE HEELS OF for the surface and wordplay, PESTICIDE for the non-cricketing sport, and STORYLINES for a deserved dig at the government.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.

  32. Russtoo : me too !
    Re: ROOD. I took it as ROAD (thoroughfare) with nothing (O) covering area (A) (i.e., replacing it).

  33. Another good one from the Pirate. I’m with the crowd on ACCOLADE and ROOD.

    Favourites for me were PESTICIDE, DINING ROOM and STORYLINES (snap Fiona Anne @25!). ‘Dogging’ as a definition is fun in the context of the surface.

    I hadn’t spotted the metrical significance of ‘something’ in the clue for IAMB. Bravo NeilH @15. That converts a good hidden clue into something rather spectacular and has to be COTD.

    Thanks to S&B

  34. …correction! I’ve realised that a IAMB is a short syllable followed by a long one. ‘Something’ is the opposite – a trochee. NEVER MIND. 🙁

  35. Proper hard, but I was enjoying the struggle so much that I allowed myself to exceed my usual time limit. A superb puzzle, in my view. I spent a long time looking for abbreviated species of weeds in INDRI and while TEN COMMANDMENTS went in fairly early it took a while to work out the parsing. Loved CYMBALISTS and STORYLINES among many others.
    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. And with regard to the latter, thanks for using the appropriate vocabulary – “envelope”, “charade” and so on. Contrary to the opinion of one poster yesterday, using the right word allows one to be concise and is emphatically not nonsense.

  38. Nothing to add to the ACCOLADEs – brilliant, as ever.

    Thanks to Picaroon (I’m with George Clements @24) and PeterO.

  39. Good fun from a favourite setter. I thought at first it was going to be straightforward, but ground to a halt halfway. Agreed about the parsing of ACCOLADE and ROOD. I also wondered about CAMPANISTS, but it didn’t parse so I tried various second letters until the light dawned with CYMBALISTS. Some nice misleading definitions: the aforesaid clangers, the man taking the tablets, and (my favourite) the danger to cricket. Wasted some time trying to make the ABOUT FACE clue lead to some kind of US slang for a flop (turkey? bomb?): I’ve seen too many lift-and-separates lately! Don’t think I’ve seen YR for younger before, but I like the clue.

  40. Mostly enjoyable. I felt that IGBO and perhaps INDRI were pushing the limits reasonable GK.

    I don’t undertstand what “in America” is doing in the definition of 18A. Is ABOUT-FACE not a British English expression too?

  41. For the most part, thoroughly enjoyable, an oft repeated description of Picaroon’s puzzles (for me, anyway), but have to admit I was defeated ultimately by the NE corner – couldn’t get the African animal at 15ac, nor the American flip flops at 18ac. And therefore missed out on uncovering the excellent CYMBALISTS and PESTICIDE. Wasn’t too keen on the word OFFED, only quibble today.

  42. Jacob@40: ABOUT-FACE is originally a US military term. Here we would say ABOUT-TURN.

    I concur with Muffin@18 regarding the ‘O’ for ‘A’ clueing. It does seem odd. Otherwise there was lots to enjoy, though I had to reveal CYMBALISTS.

  43. …when NEVER MIND and then TEN COMMANDMENTS turned up early on, I briefly wondered whether there would be references to Nirvana and tablets. The two unconnected, I hasten to add…

  44. @22Offspinner, I also originally had LAMB for 4d before I got 1a. (little lamb who made thee). Never saw the hidden word! Got 9a but couldn’t parse it. Thanks PeterO. This was a brilliant puzzle, and now fully parsed is shown to be even more brilliant. Didn’t know INDRI.

  45. Busy day so of course it’s already all been said by the time I finish the solve. But just wanted to register how much I enjoyed this one, despite the north-east holding out on me for far too long. Eventually, most of the tough ones as aforementioned (such as 15a INDRI and 21a IGBO) were gettable by wordplay (and subsequent check via Chambers to verify). Nevertheless, I still needed to come here to check how some clues worked, which is why 15² is, as always, invaluable. Not so sure about the musical connections, flea et al, but your musings are fun to read nevertheless.
    Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.

  46. [Ronald@41, we crossed as I took too long reading previous posts to make sure I wasn’t repeating other people’s thoughts, but as you said, that NE quadrant was a challenge!]

  47. Jacob @40: I took ‘flip-flop in America’ to be the US indicator – what, in America, is called a flip-flop (a reversal of policy), we would call an ABOUT FACE.

  48. Muffin @18 et al does it help with ROOD to think of “covering” in the sense of standing in for e.g. “I’m standing in for Boris next week”?

    Lovely stuff from Picaroon – the only hair I could find to even slightly split was cymbals clanging

    HASH, PINOT NOIR & DOGGING before breakfast! Well it is Friday I suppose

    Cheers P&P

  49. Me@1 forgot to mention the parsings of ACCOLADE and ROOD. In too much of a rush to get to sleep.

    We had INDRI back in January, and before that, October. Seems to be a good one to remember.

  50. IGBO is spoken by more than 40 million people in Southern Nigeria, so together with Yoruba and Hausa it could be considered one of the least ‘obscure’ languages of West Africa. And lemurs do creep into crosswords now and then, although aye-ayes may be commoner than INDRIs 🙂

  52. Lots of music references! As soon as NEVER MIND went in I was on the look out for more.

    A fine puzzle to ease us into the weekend, with my faves being VENISON, ACCOLADE (parsed as ace round col ad), SATYR and IGBO.

    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  54. I concur wholeheartedly with Redrodney @53. Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.

    AidaN @51 – it seems unlikely to me that Picaroon would clue an indirect anagram like that. I think the most indirect he gets in anagrams is using standard one-letter abbreviations.

  55. Btw, hard-boiled in this sense is referring to the genre of fiction – of which Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels might be considered an example. When transferred to the screen they became film noir (so-called for their visual style and the way they are lit, but referring to the genre by extension).

  56. Widdersbel @54: I agree – an indirect anagram is most unlikely, particularly as ‘iron’ and ‘hard’ are not the most obvious of synonyms, despite being interchangeable in some contexts.

  57. Widdersbel@55: Well that explains that, whew.

    Thanks both and I’ve totally enjoyed this week’s collection of puzzles – really top-notch, brimming with entertainment. I can’t remember a better week.

    And I’ve still got a couple of blanks in Brockwell’s prize to savour (and a 50th anniversary reference to figure out – what fun!).

  58. Worth coming here just for IGBO POP (thanks AlanC 🤣 )

    And best wishes to bodycheetah @48 for his stint as PM next week. Perhaps we’ll catch a glimpse at the Coronation?

    I too agree with Widdersbel – and PeterO – about NOIR and hard-boiled. This argues that they aren’t quite the same, but since no two critics can ever agree exactly where the boundaries of a literary or film genre lie, I think Picaroon is on safe ground.

    Many thanks P & P.

  60. Bodycheetah@48, clanging cymbals have at least one precedent in McNamara’s Band, although they may not be the finest musicians.
    Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO for an entertaining puzzle.

  62. Thanks for the blog, all a bit Sybil Fawlty for my taste.
    AlanC @26 , ignore the grouching, I love your music/film themes. You get a bonus point for IGBO POP , it is now 18-9 . To help you catch up there is a 5 point bonus for a Number 1 entry including a semi-plausible music theme.

  63. essexboy @58
    The clue for 14A PINOT NOIR does say ‘hard-boiled, perhaps’, which suggests that Picaroon sees the distinction.

  65. Can someone help please?

    Trying not to reveal or check anything and avoided answers so far…

    5d – I think the first letter is D, but what do I do next?

  66. Steffen – you’re right about the D.
    Think of another word for ‘home’ in the phrase ‘I stayed home all day’ – and enter it twice, because there are 2 homes.
    Tidy up: think 4 legs
    And then you’ll be in a fine mess.

  67. Being about 6 weeks into my cryptic crossword attemptrs, I was pleased to almost complete this – I had to reveal CYMBALISTS (like others I had tried CAMPANISTS), and INDRI, and I had to check ROOD which was new to me (but I parsed it as others did here, ROAD with O replacing A). Also parsed ACCOLADE as others have said, the pilot in question being unknown to me.

    I especially liked PISTACHIO for “character resembling a football” at the end, and STORYLINES for the TORY LIES reference (although I was a bit unsure about S and N for ‘special’ and ‘note’)

    This has given me hope that I might progress in this hobby after the despair inflicted by Fed earlier this week!

  69. DIN’s good, but you need another home. If you were an officer (and a gentleman), you might think of the right kind of mess.

  72. Steffen and eb

    Apologies for butting in but I did have a response ready (pretty much along the lines of eb’s) then ‘refreshed ‘ before posting (always a good idea!) then found he’d got in first!

    I hope this is not too much of a spoiler: write down your D, followed by the usual crossword word for ‘home’, twice, then you’ve got five spaces to fit a word meaning ‘tidy up’ – look back at eb’s post (4 legs) and ‘the right kind of mess’ (for the definition).
    I think you’ll really enjoy it when the penny drops.
    I’m really enjoying your perseverance!

  73. Sorry Eileen, we’ve got to stop meeting like this 😉

    Steffen, congrats on those three, as for 5d, follow Eileen’s advice, then have something to eat – not in front of the TV though, somewhere more conventionally appropriate.

    If that doesn’t work, sleep on it.

    Gotta hit the swingin’ hot spots of Essex now, so may not see further queries.

    @71, maybe better not to reveal your email address, – wouldn’t want you to be spam-stormed.

  75. Steffen @70. The tips you’ve been given are really helpful for that specific clue, but my advice would be to refrain from beating your head against this particular wall. Picaroon’s puzzles aren’t especially beginner-friendly. In my view the best thing you can do is, once you have got stuck, read the blog and make sure you understand PeterO’s explanations of the answers. Doing that on a daily basis will make you more and more familiar with the conventions used by the setters and your confidence will grow.

  76. I also penned LAMB immediately having sung it many times, not always accurately 🙂
    Didn’t see why ABOUT FACE needed America in the clue like others.
    Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

  77. tim the toffee @76: as per my note @47 – America is there because flip-flop is a US term. Meaning ABOUT FACE. What, in America is called flip-flop, for the solution in a UK grid is ABOUT FACE. So the def is ‘flip-flop in America’

  80. Only just got to this. I don’t normally comment on the work of others but I thought this was a masterclass in clueing.

  81. If anyone is still out there…. (I find the Friday puzzle the best of the week and had this one saved for a few days.)
    I parsed ROOD as RD and O (nothing) and O ( zero – the area inside a cross, eg X, is zero).

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