Guardian 29110 /Harpo

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The site has come back up in the last few minutes, so I can publish this blog for today’s Harpo puzzle

 

 

 

I’m not a regular Guardian blogger so I am unfamiliar with Harpo’s work.

I found this quite difficult with a few obscure words and allusions.

There seemed to be quite a lot of use of the device to take off the first and last letters of a component part of the wordplay

Having said that, there were clues I enjoyed such as the ones for A FAR CRY, LEADERENE and LEMON SQUEEZER

I’ll put the grid graphic up in  the next hour.

No Detail
Across  
1

Using free ticket, others picked up song that could be Under Pressure (10,3) 

COMPRESSED AIR (AIR at more than atmospheric pressure)

COMP (COMPlimentary; given free) + RESSED (sounds like [picked up] REST [others]) + AIR (song)  COMP seems to be used as a definition of ‘free ticket’ rather than just ‘free’

COMP RESSED AIR
10

Poor Garth suffering negative image (9) 

ROTOGRAPH (photograph, eg of a manuscript,) made directly by throwing a reversed image[negative] on a roll of sensitive paper)

Anagram of (suffering) POOR GARTH

ROTOGRAPH*
11

Guileless unconfined weirdo making a comeback (5) 

NAIVE (artless; guileless)

DEVIANT (weirdo) excluding the outer letters (unconfined) D and T,  and then reversed (making a comeback)

NAIVE<
12

Minute deception nobbles sense (5) 

SMELL (one of the five senses)

SELL (a deception) containing (nobbles) M (minute)

S (M) ELL
13

Directed ICBM out to faraway place (9) 

TIMBUCTOO (town in Mali, often used to signify any distant place)

Anagram of (directed) ICBM OUT TO

TIMBUCTOO*
14

A very different matter from American revolutionary party lines (1,3,3) 

A FAR CRY (a very different matter)

A (American) + FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; a revolutionary political party) + RY ([railway] lines)

A FAR C RY
16

Titian and Trotsky perhaps inspire my memories (7) 

RECORDS (memories)

REDS (titian is a striking RED colour and Leon Trotsky [1879-1940] was a prominent communist [RED] –  together they form REDS) containing (inspire) COR! (gosh! my!)

RE (COR) DS
18

Synthetic substance found in college that’s simmering at heart (7) 

POLYMER (any naturally occurring or synthetic substance built up from a series of smaller units)

POLY (reference POLYtechnic college) + MER (central letters of [at heart] SIMMERING)

POLY MER
20

Central part containing black, gold and blackish-green (7) 

CORBEAU (a blackish-green colour)

CORE (central part) containing (containing) B (black, when describing pencil lead) + AU (chemical symbol for gold)

COR (B) E AU
21

Thatcher, for one, in element before terms in Foreign Office (9) 

LEADERENE (a female leader, especially a domineering one. Originally  applied to Margaret Thatcher when UK Prime Minister)

LEAD (chemical element) + ERE (before)+ NE (last letters of [terminals / terms] of each of FOREIGN and OFFICE)

LEAD ERE NE
23

Manual covering grill superficially and cooker for the most part (5) 

GLOVE (item of clothing that covers the hand [part of the body used for manual work]; manual covering)

GL (outer letters of [superficially] GRILL) + OVEN (cooker) excluding the final letter (for the most part) N

GL OVE
24

Deliver burnt vegetable (5) 

CHARD (a vegetable)

CHARD (sounds like [delivered] CHARRED [burnt])

CHARD
25

Peter and David nearly fixed deck (4,5) 

TAPE DRIVE (another name for a TAPE DECK [a machine for recording sound on tape and playing tape-recorded sound through a separate amplifier as part of a hi-fi system])

Anagram of (fixed) PETER and DAVID excluding the final letter (nearly) D

TAPE DRIVE*
26

Conservative affected by tizzy surrounding European window cleaner? (6,7) 

CHAMMY LEATHER (one of the quirky spellings of CHAMOIS LEATHER, a material sometimes used for cleaning windows)

C (Conservative) + HAMMY (affected) + (LATHER [state of agitation; tizzy] containing [surrounding] E [European])

C HAMMY L (E) ATHER
Down  
2

Working prior to article in which dancers appear alert (2,3,4) 

ON THE BALL (alert)

ON (working) + THE (definite article) + BALL (an event where dancers appear)

ON THE BALL
3

Pinch little dog with half-docked tail (5) 

PUGIL (originally a small handful; now, as much as the thumb and two fingers can lift, a pinch)

PUG (small dog) + IL (2 of the 4 letters [half-docked] of TAIL)

PUG IL
4

Just cut doubles on court and play off and on (7)

EXACTLY (precise; just)

AXE (cut) reversed (doubles [folds?]) + CT (court) + LY (letters 2 and 4 [on and off] of PLAY)

EXA< CT LY
5

Force engineers over supporting school planner (7) 

SCHEMER (planner)

SCH (school) + REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineer, an armed force) reversed (over)  As this is a down entry , the letters EMER are ‘supporting’ the letters SCH

SCH EMER<
6

Articulate doctor checks shopper (9) 

DENOUNCER (one who informs against or accuses publicly; shopper [also one who informs against)

DR (doctor) contains (checks) ENOUNCE (articulate)

D (ENOUNCE) R
7

One sod of course forgetting verse in Dumbo (5) 

IDIOT (fool; dumbo)

I (Roman numeral for one) + DIVOT (a piece of turf [sod] created by a shot of the golf course) excluding (forgetting) V (verse)

I DIOT
8

Team players act with calm, mainly working out (7,6) 

CRYSTAL PALACE (Premier league football team)

Anagram of (working out) PLAYERS ACT and CALM excluding the final letter (mainly) M

CRYSTAL PALACE* 
9

Press sent Queen brief solemn final letter to ‘ER’ (5,8) 

LEMON SQUEEZER (small press for extracting the juice of LEMONs)

Anagram of (sent) QUEEN and SOLEMN excluding the final letter [brief] N + Z (final letter of the alphabet) + ER

LEMON SQUEE* Z ER
15

Norman’s like mother, accepting new ecclesiastical benefice (9) 

COMMENDAM (an ecclesiastical benefice held)

(COMME [French {Norman} for ‘like’] + DAM [mother]) all containing (accepting) N (new

COMME (N) DAM
17

Right bonkers theories use persuasive language (9) 

RHETORISE (use persuasive language)

R (right) + an anagram of (bonkers) THEORIES

R HETORISE*
19

Naked environmentalists test legal resumption of possession (2-5) 

RE-ENTRY (legal term for the resumption of possession)

GREENS (environmentalists) excluding the outer letters (naked) G and S + TRY (test)

RE-EN TRY
20

Uncovered partition over unnamed  wood stool (7) 

CREEPIE (a low stool or stool of repentance)

SCREEN (partition) excluding the outer letters (uncovered) S and N + PINE (made of PINE wood; wooden) excluding (un-) N (name)

CREE PIE
22

Non-professional boxers, outwardly selfish, strike with shame (5) 

ABASH (strike with shame)

ABA (Amateur Boxing Association; non-professional boxers) + SH (outer letters of [outwardly] SELFISH)

ABA SH
23

Turn to hit well-known no-shower (5) 

GODOT (reference the play ‘Waiting for GODOT‘ by Samuel Beckett  [1906-1989].  GODOT never arrives, so is a no-shower)

GO (try; attempt; turn) + DOT (slang for ‘hi’t)

GO DOT

 

20 comments on “Guardian 29110 /Harpo”

  2. I imagine comments are still not working, but for what it’s worth I agree with duncanshiell’s assessment. As a regular Guardian solver, I’ve met Harpo previously, but still not used to his style, and the obscurities today (both in the answers and in the clues – took me a while to remember FARC) made for a very trickly solve in all. Did like 23d when I finally saw it. and the simple but effective 24a. Thanks to Harpo and Duncashiell.

  3. Too many obscurities to be enjoyable, plus a number of unusual constructions (e.g. ‘double’ meaning ‘reverse’). Not much fun for me I’m afraid.

  4. More than anything, relieved to discover that we’re up and running again. Though found this a real toughie even if I enjoyed the journey as far as I got. Thank goodness for Duncanshiell providing the parsing of IDIOT, NAIVE and CORBEAU amongst several others, I’m afraid. New ones, COMMENDAM, CREEPIE made it a DNF. But LEMON SQUEEZER left me voicing that childhood ditty about Julius Caesar quietly to myself at the end…

  5. Great to see the forum up again!
    I found today’s Harpo a bit of a slog, but ultimately satisfying. Some obscurities, but gettable via the parsing.

  6. Well done kenmac getting the site up and working again.

    Like poc @3, I thought there were too many obscurities to really enjoy this (although it is fiendish Friday). I struggled on with computer assistance to a grumpy end.

    Thanks Harpo and ds for explaining it all.

  7. Well, I for one enjoyed it immensely and found it very satisfying to solve. A few required a bit of patient whittling away but everything came together nicely in the end. Words like COMMENDAM and PUGIL were clearly enough indicated that I was confident entering them in the grid even though I’ve not encountered them before.

    Thanks, Harpo and Duncan. And thanks to Ken for getting the site back up and running.

  8. Several clues I just did not understand and I was surprised when my only error was a speculative ‘leaderete’: I’ve never heard of ‘leaderene’ and would not have associated ‘terms’ with the final letter of two words – terminals, perhaps, but not terms. On the whole, too obscure to be pleasurable for me.

  9. There is clearly some geographic or internet service provider data affecting who can and can’t log in to the site at the moment. I received e-mails for comments 7 and 8 even though I couldn’t log into fifteensquared.net myself at the time. I have had intermittent access on my desktop since mid morning and have just managed to get in on an Ipad for the first time for a while.

  10. Strange, I can now access the site on my phone but not on other devices – don’t understand why.

    This was very difficult in places and I had to cheat a bit. Several I could only partially parse: in 1a I guessed COMP might have something to do with “complimentary” but wasn’t sure; in 5d I thought the engineers were RE so couldn’t explain the EM. I did remember Thatcher being the LEADERENE but didn’t understand the NE.

    Favourite was RECORDS for the clever use of Titian and Trotsky and of course for the “my” = COR!

    Many thanks Harpo and duncanshiell.

  11. Just got into the blog. Congratulations to whoever fixed it. As to Harpo I did not enjoy it as some cluing IMO very complicated. Still really nice to be back!

  12. Thanks for stepping in with the blog and thank you Kenmac for making it work again.
    I thought this was brilliant, I counted four answers where I was not totally sure of their meaning but the wordplay was flawless so I put them in with confidence, shades of Azed. GLOVE is so clever and RECORDS very neat amongst many fine clues.

  14. I was not on this setter’s wavelength so it was a real struggle. It resembled a puzzle set by Pasquale with some new/rare vocabulary.

    New for me: ROTOGRAPH, CORBEAU; CHAMMY (but I know of CHAMOIS); ABA = Amateur Boxing Association; PUGIL = pinch; LEADERENE; COMMENDAM, CREEPIE.

    I solved/guessed from the definition but could not parse:
    21ac apart from LEAD = element
    4d
    5d apart from SCH = school
    6d
    23d mistakenly thought of rev of TO DOG = hit.

    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. Thankfully I was able to access the temporary Google site where duncanshiell posted this blog.

  15. I enjoyed mostly, but some things I’m doubtful about: ‘nobbles’ for containing (12ac), ‘sent’ as an anagram indicator (9d). Also ‘doubles’ for a reversal (4d) – I think it’s in the sense ‘turn sharply or suddenly’, especially back on oneself, though ‘double back’ is more usual.

  16. Thanks muchly for the blog-that and the puzzle were both excellent
    A few people on the Graun thread were criticising it because they couldnt understand it (sounds like one of Bob’s lines) .
    But clever people like me who talk loudly in restaurants….(it was one of Palin’s)

    I’m just wondering if I’d have picked that it was a Monk puzzle-nice to have him and Jason(Jack/Serpent) on that thread as we recently lost the great Nutmeg
    Life goes on. I was suspecting sabotage for a little while on this site-I wont name names as I’m probably being paranoid

  17. Err…I’m like his namesake when attempting a Harpo puzzle.
    Shall read the answers and admire.
    Thanks both.

  18. A different sort of challenge with 6 words and one expression that were new to me but well and unambiguously clued so interesting and satisfying.
    21a Not sure about the definition. I thought the Blessed Margaret was the only “leaderene”.
    Thanks to Harpo and duncanshiell

  19. Didn’t realise you were back. Why did nobody complain about cluing a series of books as the faraway place Timbuctu?

  20. A bit of a slog, though a few enjoyable solves. Too many obscure / archaic words for the answers and rather extreme riddles for my liking!

Comments are closed.