Guardian Cryptic 29,109 by Vlad

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29109.

Battling fifteensquared, I have finally managed to get in to post this blog. Solving the puzzle was marginally easier.

ACROSS
9 UP THE DUFF
Expecting trouble put: ‘That man’s no good!’ (2,3,4)
A charade of UPT, an anagram (‘trouble’) of ‘put’, plus HE (‘that man’) plus DUFF (‘no good’).
10 ADIEU
I’m going back out — get Brian under way at the centre (5)
A reversal (‘back’) of the middle letters (‘at the centre’) of ‘oUt gEt brIan unDer wAy’.
11 EGOTIST
Echo understood about Narcissus finally — he loves himself (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of S (”NarcissuS finally’) in E (‘echo’, Nato alphabet) plus GOT IT (‘unerstood’).
12 SEMINAL
Cup tie, if lost, will be momentous (7)
A subtraction: SEM[if]INAL (‘cup tie’) minus IF (‘if lost’).
13 EATS
Food? Pulses the first to get chucked out (4)
A subtraction; [b]EATS (‘pulses’) minus the first letter (‘the first to get chucked out’).
14 BRATISLAVA
Romeo visiting club is hot stuff — capital! (10)
A charade of BRAT, an envelope (‘visiting’) of R (‘Romeo’) in BAT (‘club’); plus ‘is’ plus LAVA (‘hot stuff’).
16 HAM IT UP
Old court favourite that’s good to recall winning, as lesser players may sometimes do (3,2,2)
A charade of HAMIT, a reversal (‘to recall’) of TIM (Henman, ‘old court favourite’, tennis player) plus AH! (‘that’s good’); plus UP (‘winning’)..
17 TERRIER
Barking resident in bank grabbing boob (7)
An envelope (‘grabbing’) of ERR (‘boob’) in TIER (‘bank’). ‘Resident’ seems odd.
19 NOT MUCH COP
A little officer — that’s disappointing! (3,4,3)
A charade of NOT MUCH (‘a little’) plus COP (police ‘officer’).
22 SPIV
I nearly forgot about one very dodgy dealer (4)
A charade of SP, a reversal (‘about’) of PS (post scriptum, ‘I nearly forgot’ and added at the end of a letter) plus I (‘one’) plus V (‘very’).
24 CASH COW
Does it make for lower profits? (4,3)
A pun on ‘lower’ as a COW.
25 OBTUSER
‘Not so clever‘, old Beatty said to employer (7)
A charade of O (‘old’) plus BT (‘Beatty said’ – sounds like) plus USER (’employer’).
26 LINEN
Crease new material (5)
A charade of LINE (‘crease’) plus N (‘new’).
27 CREAM SODA
Working comrades taking a drink (5,4)
A charade of CREAMSOD, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘comrades’; plus (‘taking’) ‘a’; or, of course, it can be regarded as an envelope (‘taking’).
DOWN
1 RUDE MECHANICALS
Cross-talking Liam’s chance to act in Shakespearean troupe (4,11)
A charade of RUDE (‘cross-talking’) plus MECHANICALS, an anagram (‘to act’) of ‘Liam’s chance’.
2 AT BOTTOM
Saw the end of Raab — appreciate that’s uplifting, basically (2,6)
A reversal (‘uplifting’ in a down light) of MOTTO (‘saw’) plus B (‘the end of RaaB‘) plus TA (‘appreciate that’).
3 BENIN
Mountain in African country (5)
A charade of BEN (‘mountain’) plus ‘in’.
4 BUTTER UP
Backside clean on reflection? It’s what sycophants do (6,2)
A charade of BUTT (‘backside’) plus ERUP, a reversal (‘on reflection’) of PURE (‘clean’).
5 OFFSET
Compensate for not filming (6)
Definition and literal onterpretation (OFF SET).
6 PALMISTRY
Reader’s handiwork? (9)
Cryptic definition.
7 SIENNA
It may be burnt — that’s blooming insane! (6)
An anagram (‘blooming’) of ‘insane’.
8 SUELLA BRAVERMAN
Minister dealing with vulnerable refugees, migrants and asylum seekers from the start (6,9)
An anagram (‘dealing with’) of ‘vulnerable’ plus RMAAS (‘Refugees Migrants And Asylum Seekers from the start’), with an extended definition.
15 ETRUSCANS
Old folk finally see ex-PM with prison visiting (9)
An envelope (‘visiting’) of CAN (‘prison’) in E (‘finally seE‘) plus TRUSS (Liz, ‘ex-PM’).
17 TOOK OVER
Ignoring Charlie, sought shelter, then assumed control (4,4)
TOOK [c]OVER (‘sought shelter’) minus the C (‘ignoring Charlie’).
18 IMPOSTOR
Politician in love trio’s outed as a fake (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of MP (‘politician’) in IOSTOR, an anagram (‘outed’) of O (‘love’) plus ‘trio’s’.
20 TISANE
Herbal drink served up — it’s all there (6)
A charade of TI, a reversal (‘served up’ in a down light) of ‘it’, plus SANE (‘all there’).
21 HAWICK
Country bumpkin takes a wife in Scottish town (6)
An envelope (‘takes’) of ‘a’ plus W (‘wife’) in HICK (‘country bumpkin’).
23 STUMP
With Mike contributing, sets about puzzle (5)
An envelope (‘with … contributing’) of M (‘Mike’) in STUP, a reversal (‘about’) of PUTS (‘sets’).

picture of the completed grid

27 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,109 by Vlad”

  2. Not as daunting as it seemed at first. Thanks PeterO for parsing of several clues.
    I like the intersection of RUDE MECHANICALS and HAM IT UP. The adjacent BOTTOM cannot have been accidental.
    Thanks Vlad and PeterO

  3. Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

    Needed help with just one answer today – PALMISTRY – so easier than the usual Vlad, I thought. However, much chewier than the previous three days.

  4. Thanks Vlad and Peter O. A bit slow to finish after a racing start but got there. Agree with Dave E@3 that it was chewier than previous 3 days. Never heard of RUDE MECHANICALS (showing my ignorance of Shakespeare) so had a bit of a problem with that one. Like PeterO I found “resident” in 17a a bit odd. Liked SUELLAB but needed help with parsing. Good fun.

  5. TERRIER
    Terriers originated on the British Isles and were a product of man’s evolving needs(K9 magazine).
    I don’t know if this can be connected to the ‘resident’ bit of the clue.

  6. Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

    Completed, which is rare for me with Vlad, but needed the parsings of Suella B and Tisane.

  8. Many thanks to Vlad for a meaty challenge, and to PeterO for the blog. I failed on 23d, knowing STEMS couldn’t be right, but … Agree with cobro@7 re parsing of RUDE in 1d.

  9. It’s not a popular opinion around here, but SUELLA BRAVERMAN is the kind of clue that annoys me, especially when it’s an important part of the grid. The Guardian stopped being a UK-only publication years ago, and it really is time that setters realised they have a global audience now.

  10. Regarding 8D Ms Braverman is not merely a minister of state, but a secretary of state – even more alarming!

  11. I’ve only managed to get intermittent and fleeting access to 15² since Tuesday. I would have liked to comment on some of Anto’s slightly controversial clues the other day but couldn’t, and it’s a bit late now. Let’s hope the problems are sorted soon.

    I enjoyed today’s puzzle. It took me much too long to get 1d, but when the penny finally dropped it was very satisfying. I took RUDE as PeterO did, but cobro’s idea @7 is perhaps better. Also EGOTIST and ETRUSCANS got ticks – both very clever with great surfaces.

    Many thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  12. I’m glad I had time this morning to tackle this, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some parsings were tricky, but I think I got them all. I saw RUDE in 1d as blogged, although I now appreciate that it also sounds like ROOD. I’m embarrassed not to have encountered the ‘rude mechanicals’ before – I had to work it all out from the clue. I liked the clue to the other long answer too – a very neat description of this controversial politician’s most prominent role.

    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

  13. Thank you Peter – I echo those who found it quicker than first expected. I did wonder if the three ‘UPs’ – at 9, 4 and 16 – were significant. They seemed too numerous to be a mistake but not plentiful enough to be a theme. Anyway, thanks for the fun, Vlad.

  14. Found this somewhere online:
    Dogs that are maintained outside the home, without significant positive human interaction, usually in a yard or kennel or tethered on a chain are referred to as “resident dogs”. These dogs are generally obtained for functions, such as guarding, fighting, protection or breeding.
    Terriers are resident dogs, I guess.

  16. As I’ve pointed out before, the crossword is set for the PRINTED newspaper, which is sold in the UK, and, therefore, is likely to contain more UK based knowledge as a result.

  17. The Territorial Army – the TA – beloved of setters since time immemorial – are nicknamed the terriers.
    Renamed the Army Reserve in 2013 but still appearing in crosswords. Would they be resident soldiers?
    Agree on ROOD MECHANICALS.
    SUELLA BRAVERMAN is the kind of person that annoys me.
    Thanks V&P

  18. Yeah, this one was evidently not intended for export, with SUELLA BRAVERMAN and the town in Scotland both needing Internet help for this Septic to solve. (The crossing letters plus the anagram fodder made the Home Secretary’s name almost guessable, I’ll say that.) Throw in a few uniquely British turns of phrase (UP THE DUFF, NOT MUCH COP) and I was distinctly reminded that I was doing a puzzle from a foreign land. But of course, that’s the thing–I was in fact doing that, so I can’t turn around and complain about it being too foreign.

    Anyway, hooray–I managed to finish a Vlad without getting impaled.

  19. Eventually got in using Edge and adding site to insecurecontent as advised in the Guardian blog post by Lawtie.

    Difficult but got there in the end. SUELLA BRAVERMAN was a write-in for me given the enumeration but it took a long time to parse.

    Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  20. We’ve been working our way through Guardian archive cryptics from 10 years ago to fill the day after the current one is solved.
    I wonder how many people will get SUELLA BRAVERMAN in ten years’ time? (Hint: none, I hope!)

  21. Robi@19: Same here…I was having withdrawl symptoms…. After three days of Monday like puzzles this was more of a challenge. One or two tricky parsings and am pleased to get access to the site again to work through them. With thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

  24. Thanks for the blog, first time the site has worked for me since Monday but I do not know how to change anything.
    Good puzzle, seemed to be a lot of entries more than one word.
    UP THE DUFF is one of my favourite phrases.

  25. I could not parse 2d, 20d.

    New for me: NOT MUCH COP, HAWICK (well-clued)

    Favourites: SPIV, SEMINAL (loi).

    Thanks, both.

    * posting now as I could not access the site since 27 June. I use a Mac and it would not even work with http instead of https

  27. Like another commenter, having never heard of RUDE MECHANICALS (showing my ignorance of Shakespeare, or at least, failure to recall), I saw ‘cross’ in the clue as a synonym for MULE, which actually fits the crossing letters. I remember being quite pleased to have spotted it at the time, so I was well and truly hoist with my own petard.

    Of course, ‘cross-talking’=homophone for ROOD is much better.

    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

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