Guardian Cryptic 29,158 by Tramp

by

Some tricky cluing, with a few bits of tough parsing left to work through at the end. Lots of nice surfaces and definitions – my favourites were 4ac, 12ac, 17ac, 3dn, 14dn, and especially 4dn. Thanks to Tramp for the puzzle.

 

ACROSS
1 TOSS UP
Quickly prepare large drink on time (4,2)
definition: ‘toss up’ meaning to quickly prepare some food

OS (over size, “large”) + SUP=”drink”; all after T (time)
4 IDEATES
One sees couple at the back inside pictures (7)
for definition, ‘picture’ as a verb meaning ‘imagine’

I=”One”, plus DATES=”sees” with the back letter of [coupl]-E inside
9 PLACE MATS
What might be on table is put with McDonald’s food (no starter) (5,4)
PLACE=”put” + M (McDonald’s) + [e]-ATS=”food” without the starting letter

M for McDonald’s as in the yellow M ‘golden arches’ logo/symbol – I think I first saw this in a Paul puzzle a long time ago
10 BROWN
Brazil has particular coffee? (5)
definition: ‘coffee’ used to describe a brown colour

BR (Brazil), plus OWN=”particular” e.g. one’s own/particular charms
11 END ON
Party of women out of hotel: number pointing at you? (3,2)
for definition e.g. ‘the car was coming at me end on’ meaning that it is coming directly at you

[H]EN DO=”Party of women”, minus H (hotel); plus N (number)
12 BLOODSHOT
Ruddy family photograph (9)
BLOOD=”family” + SHOT=”photograph”
13 SIDEMAN
Maiden’s going out with band member (7)
definition: a sideman is a supporting musician in a band

anagram/”going out” of (Maiden’s)*
15 KIDDIE
Wind up? Peg out little one (6)
KID=tease, joke with=”Wind up” + DIE (‘peg out’ is slang for ‘pass away’)
17 GOSSIP
Dirt, so pig’s rolling around (6)
anagram/”rolling around” of (so pig’s)*
19 SHACKUP
Live with mistress? Husband in bed excited (5,2)
H (Husband) in SACK=”bed” (as in ‘hit the sack’); plus UP=”excited”
22 PROSTRATE
After judge catches Republican lying (9)
POST=”After” + RATE=”judge”; around R (Republican)
24 QUEST
Spanish come again? On vacation start adventure (5)
QUE (Qué in Spanish means ‘what?’ or ‘come again?’); plus S-[tar]-T, vacated of its inside letters
26 OMANI
Asian and European country without borders (5)
[R]-OMANI-[a] is the European country, without its outer letters (borders)
27 NUMBER ONE
Issue taking tablet yourself (6,3)
NUMBER=”Issue” (of a magazine or other periodical), plus ON E=on ecstasy=”taking tablet”

 
28 BUTCHER
One serves meat that’s more tough (7)
double definition – second definition as in ‘more butch’=butch-er
29 UNTIES
Releases United fixtures after noon (6)
U (United); plus TIES=”fixtures” after N (noon)
DOWN
1 TOPLESS
Revealing breasts reduced following last of implant surgery (7)
LESS=”reduced”; following after the last letter of [implan]-T + OP (operation, “surgery”)
2 STAND
Model entering beach to show stomach (5)
definition: ‘stomach’ as a verb e.g. ‘I can’t stand/stomach it’

T (reference to Ford Model T), inside SAND=”beach”
3 USERNAMES
IT handles customer calls (9)
for definition: ‘handle’ as a noun meaning a name or nickname

USER=”customer” + NAMES=”calls”
4 IN STOCK
Off sick, not available (2,5)
anagram/”Off” of (sick not)*
5 EBBED
Went out of section of dartboard after treble in the middle (5)
BED=”section of dartboard”; after the middle letters of [tr]-EB-[le]

a dartboard is divided into sections called beds
6 TOOTHPICK
One might get food by filling hot jacket potato, finally ordered selection (9)
in definition, “filling” as in a dental filling, so “food by filling” might be stuck in one’s teeth

anagram/”ordered” of (hot t o)*, plus PICK=”selection”

in anagram fodder, t o from “jacke-t potat-o finally”
7 SANITY
Son lost it: any reason? (6)
S (Son) + anagram/”lost” of (it any)*
8 CARBON
Copy coach getting 10 regularly (6)
definition: a carbon copy can be referred to just as a ‘carbon’

CAR=railway carriage=”coach” plus regular letters from B-r-O-w-N, the solution to 10ac
14 DEODORANT
Sure is one not adored at work (9)
for definition, ‘Sure’ is the name of one brand of deodorant

anagram/”at work” of (not adored)*
16 DRAG QUEEN
TV bore with rock group (4,5)
definition: TV short for transvestite

DRAG=”bore” + QUEEN=”rock group” [wiki]
18 PLANNER
Designer lotion ultimately collected by shaver (7)
ultimate/last letter of [lotio]-N, collected inside PLANER=”shaver” (e.g. planing/shaving a wooden surface until smooth)
19 STEAMS
Races American out of blocks? Quite the opposite (6)
definition: ‘steam’ as a verb meaning ‘move quickly’=’race’

A (American), inside STEMS=”blocks” as a verb e.g. ‘stem the flow’

the opposite of “American out of blocks”, so ‘American inside blocks’
20 PUTTERS
They throw golf clubs (7)
double definition: first as in shot-putters who throw; second as in golf clubs used to make putts
21 APLOMB
See Mike with a lead boxing, showing confidence (6)
LO=exclamation meaning ‘see!’ + M (Mike in the NATO alphabet); all boxed inside A + PB (plumbum, chemical symbol for the element “lead”)
23 THIGH
Bottom of skirt reaching far up top of leg (5)
bottom/last letter of skir-T, plus HIGH=”far up”
25 ECOLI
Ulcerative colitis cases, possible cause? (1,4)
contained inside (cased by): [Ulcerativ]-E COLI-[tis]

75 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,158 by Tramp”

  1. Another trademark McDonald’s clue from Tramp. Plenty of inventive clues with ticks for BLOODSHOT, KIDDIE, SHACK UP, QUEST (who else thought of the Spanish waiter?), DEODORANT, DRAG QUEEN and PUTTERS. (For those who missed it, Brockwell dropped in late last night to discuss his golf ‘duffs’). [No theme that I can see Roz, tho I may be wrong, so some respite for you today. I see the Super HOOP(s) got a mention yesterday].

    Ta Tramp & manehi.

  2. Super slow start but once the caffeine kicked in it all fell into place

    Ticks for APLOMB, IDEATES, and TOOTHPICK

    Cheers T&M

  3. I don’t think we have Sure deodorant here. Didn’t know there are beds on dartboards. Not finished yet …

  5. Thank you manehi. Never heard of CARBON being a synonym for copy even though I’m from that era.
    The term Asian is a bit different down here, but I got OMANI, nevertheless.
    Loved the Spanish waiter, AlanC@1. We did get Fawlty Towers here.
    I was quite good at darts but didn’t know the bed..
    Wasn’t sure about Sure but it had to be that.
    Still don’t get DRAG QUEEN.

  7. BLOODSHOT usually refers to eyes, whereas ruddy refers to complexion, but I guess the underlying physiological happenings are the same, so I’ll pay that.

  8. GDU@3: I think Sure might be Rexona in Oz, if the tick logo on each brand is a definitive sign and I’m wondering if you ever got the TV programme BULLSEYE over there ; this buzz phrase featured re ‘a zone of the dart board’ :

    “Stay out of the black and into the red; nothing in this game for two in a BED” !

  9. As Jim Bowen – legendary host of darts-themed game show Bullseye – used to say: “Stay out of the black and into the red, Nothing in this game for two in a bed”

    Flea@4 I had the same brain fart on USERNAMES – to my shame I even had the U and the NAMES

  11. paddymelon@6; interesting that you aren’t familiar with “carbon copy”, I thought it was pretty much ubiquitous in the dim and distant days when we used typewriter and carbon paper. And as for the dartboard, if you had ever wasted a Sunday afternoon in the ‘70s watching Bullseye on the box you’d recognise the catchphrase “nothing in this game for three in a bed”.
    I failed miserably to parse IDEATES and only staggered my way to DEODERANT with the crossers, as the brand name never occurred to me.
    Thanks to Tramp and Eileen.

  13. New for me: SURE deodorant brand; BED = part of dartboard (5d).

    Could not parse 8d or 6d apart from PICK = selection.

    Thanks, both.

  15. I would add END-ON to the list of favourites. I confused myself by thinking that “hot jacket” would be ht.

  16. For those who may not know this:
    In an email, CC stands for “carbon copy.” BCC stands for “blind carbon copy.”

  17. Thanks manehi, agree this took a while to unravel eg TOOTHPICK, and thanks for confirming CARBON on its own suffices. I don’t think I have heard TOSS UP used in that sense (know “toss together”) but the wordplay was nice and clear so in it went. I liked the filthy GOSSIP, the efficient IN STOCK which took me far too long to spot, and the flashbacks to the TV (not 16d) of my youth. Thanks Tramp.

  18. I had UNPINS for 29 – U(nited) + pins (fixtures) following n(oon). Ties=fixtures is slightly smoother I think, but both work.

  19. The expected degree of difficulty from Tramp. I had the right answer from the def but didn’t know how ‘McDonald’s food (no starter) gave MATS; one to remember as I suspect other setters apart from Paul could use the same trick. I’m definitely old enough to remember CARBON copies from school; you had to turn a handle on this big machine and as if by magic out came as many copies as you wanted; the wonders of modern technology at the time.

    Plenty to like, but I’ll also go for IN STOCK as my favourite; great, misleading surface.

    Thanks to manehi and Tramp

  20. Had no trouble with CARBON, having to explain the meanings of CC and BCC to more than one USER over the years. I even remember using a Roneo machine back in the day, which really dates me. EBBED was a bung as I’m unfamiliar with darts terminology, though I recently filed away OCHE for other occasions.

  22. Tramp on top form, I thought, with lots of misdirections, hidden definitions and clever anagrams.

    To manehi’s favourites I must add 19ac SHACK UP, 22ac PROSTRATE and the two little gems 24ac QUEST (thanks for the clip, Flea @40) 😉 ) and 21dn APLOMB.

    Thanks for a lot of fun, Tramp and manehi for a great blog, as usual.

  23. Wordplodder @19: as I alluded to @1, this is the third puzzle in 2023 that Tramp has used McDonald’s. Eileen pointed in a Tramp blog in 2021, that he had already used it a few times before. Obviously Tramp’s go-to fast food outlet!

  24. Thanks Tramp and manehi

    WP @ 19 I think what you’re referring to is a Roneo machine: carbon copies were created simultaneously by key force under the top sheet on a typewriter.

  27. Thanks for the blog, good puzzle with neat clues throughout. APLOMB my favourite out of many. I agree with the Manuel reference for QUEST , one of four Spanish words that I know.
    AlanC @1 the theme is in the top right corner, start with the first B of EBBED , take a knight’s tour and you can spell out the name of a BEAR with a DOUBLE name who is part of a DOUBLE ACT and also the name of a pet rabbit belonging to a Queens’ College researcher.

  28. [ AlanC@1 I have sad news, you have been warned, the rules clearly state that 3 Number 1 entries in a row is just showing off and the score is returned to zero. It is now 29-0 , I think you are just trying to emulate KPR ]

  29. Having made good progress though the rest of the puzzle I found the north east very difficult. I’ve never come across the word IDEATES, and could parse neither 5d nor 6d. So thanks for that Manehi. I really liked PROSTRATE. Very clever use of the word lying in conjunction with Republicans.

  30. [Roz @28: I did remember the rules but no-one was posting so I couldn’t resist. It’s going to be a long way back 🙂 Nice spot with the theme btw. Ingenious]

  31. [ AlanC I would be lenient but it is your second offence so a red card , also I have no chance otherwise just with Azed and Cyclops . If you want to see a genuine theme miracle track down the FT blog 31st May this year ]

  32. Very refreshing with plenty of tight surfaces and economical cluing. And plenty of fun, too. I still have not cottoned on to the McDonald’s trick, even though it was the only possible source of the M. A construction I still find hard to stomach.

    I was beaten by IDEATES though; a word I have only ever encountered in puzzles. Favourites today included GOSSIP, SHACK UP, QUEST, SANITY, PLANNERS, PUTTERS and APLOMB.

    Thanks Tramp and manehi

  34. Don’t worry, Geoff Down Under, I’ve played darts for over 50 years in Britain and didn’t know the sections were called beds. Great crossword – exercised my grey cells.

  35. Not much appeared on the first run through, but it was slowly, and satisfyingly, pieced together.

    I liked the surface of IDEATES, the good anagram for SIDEMAN, the wordplays in TOPLESS and TOOTHPICK, and the misleading lead in APLOMB. I was thinking that ‘has’ in 10A should have been ‘owns’ but I see from the blog that own relates to particular.

    Thanks Tramp and manehi.

  36. On the carbon subject – who recalls NCR – No Carbon Required – paper? A marvellous, if momentary, miracle, before we all forgot about paper copies and took to email. Oh and I think it is of the essence of a SIDEMAN that he/she is not actually a member of the band, but merely a musician who often works with the band: Billy Preston and the Beatles, for example.,

  37. A tough one today, and three left unsolved at the final whistle. Still, some satisfaction in those we did solve, and room left for improvement.

  39. Thanks both and a nice entertainment it was indeed.

    For END ON I think the definition refers less to something the size of a car and more perhaps to, say, a carrot with the pointy bit, erm, pointing at you. I’m trying to get to the concept of examining something END ON – it’s not all that obscure a term but I can’t seem to think of a common usage.

  40. Great stuff from Tramp.
    I knew it was PLACE MATS but forgot the mighty M sign which I witnessed on my first trip to America-and of course (E)ATS
    Loved QUEST.Loved it all
    Thanks manehi and Tramp

  41. I got there in the end, but not without struggles and some parsings explained. Thank you manehi and Tramp

  44. Poc @20. Even better than the Roneo machine in the hi- tech 70s was the Banda machine which by changing the colour of the carbon paper could produce multiple copies in variegated hues. If the copies were fresh off the machine students would enthusiastically sniff them and become temporarily catatonic!

  45. Thanks for the blog and kind words.

    I’m currently recovering from covid.

    I wrote this in Sept 2021: a lot has happened since then. Sure is a deodorant /antiperspirant in the UK. I once used this clue (or something similar) :

    Sure – result of using it? (2, 5)

    Neil

  46. 16d – DRAG QUEEN – “TV bore with rock group”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band)
    ‘…the band released their self-titled’ – eponymous – ‘debut album in 1973’ – Another 50-year-old LP.
    ‘1984 … their eleventh studio album, The Works. In the UK … triple platinum … failed to do well in the US … the cross-dressing’ – transvestite – ‘video for “I Want to Break Free“, a spoof of the British soap opera Coronation Street, proved controversial and was banned by MTV.’
    Then in 1985 Freddie stole the show at Live Aid and all was forgiven.

  48. It is interesting that CARBON has lived on as a copy long after the technological extinction of carbon paper. Sort of like “dial” to mean “call” when the last rotary phone was probably sold in like 1990.

    I do remember carbon paper, but I think I’m in just about the youngest generation who does (I’m 48). Displaced, in its various uses, by carbonless copies, xerography (photocopies), and then finally email. You do still sometimes see carbonless (“press hard–you are making three copies”) in certain places, but I don’t think I’ve seen a sheet of carbon paper since the late 90s.

    M for McDonald’s elicited some grumbles the first time it came up. I guess people have gotten used to it by now.

  49. We have a 1950s green bakelite GPO phone with a dial and a bell that rings, totally original except the wire into the wall , the sprogs found it for me.

  50. Oh, also: TV for transvestite is also probably on the road to obsolescence, since “transvestite” itself is too. Modern takes on gender are leaving very little room for that word. (Not none! I’m not saying it’s offensive.)

  51. For 9a I was thinking [f]- ATS i.e. FATS as the food no starter as opposed to [e] – EAT but worked just the same and I consider it as properly parsed. IDEATES stumped me though but otherwise all OK today.

  52. Last one in was IDEATES, which popped up in a long forgotten brain cell and finally managed to attract my attention. Most of the top half was harder than most of the bottom half, but that’s probably just down to my brain’s inflexibility.

    Never heard of TOSS UP for food preparation. EBBED was good for me, but would some quibble at ‘treble in the middle’ for the EB? END ON reminded me of photos you’d sometimes see of everyday objects photographed from an unusual angle and close up.

    Thanks to Tramp for an excellent challenge, and to manehi for confirming my parsing.

  53. Whenever I see TV in a clue I wish the setter would on day use it to mean transvestite, rather than the somewhat predictable ‘box’ or ‘set’.
    And lo! There it is..
    Thanks Tramp, some great clueing, particularly the use of ‘Sure’.

  54. Tramp/Neil @45: we have a deodorant called Sure in the US too, but the Web says it’s a different product; your Sure is our Degree, while our Sure doesn’t seem to be available in the UK. It’s a bit surprising that there wasn’t a lawsuit of some kind about that. Or maybe there was, and some money changed hands.

  57. Copmus@40, the “mighty” M is best forgotten, in my opinion.
    I may have enjoyed this puzzle a bit more without the (welcome) presence of a lot of family, many of them under tens. Certainly needed no reminders of that gruesome eatery.

  58. I would have assumed it would be “deodourant” in the UK. You always keep me guessing.

    I loved this puzzle. The first time through, I was certain I’d never be able to solve it but ended up not having to cheat even a little bit.

  59. Late to the party today and it was a tale of two halves. Bottom went in quite smartly, but really struggled with the top. Several rather difficult to formulate synonyms, dirt for GOSSIP, BUTCHER for more than tough, and the two meanings of PUTTERS that require a different vowel pronunciation for the U, which I found strange. The last two gnarly ones in were STEAMS for races(?), and IDEATES, with sees for DATES. Not at all straightforward, though enjoyed the ultimately successful challenge…

  60. Thanks Tramp. I solved the bottom half quite easily but I resorted to the guess-then-parse method for some of the top half. I never could figure out the parsing of TOOTHPICK and I didn’t know the dartboard’s “bed” nor “peg out” for die. All else made sense with SHACK UP, IN STOCK (the comma stymied me for a bit), DRAG QUEEN, and the very clever APLOMB being favourites. Thanks manehi for the blog.

  61. Stefano@51 – For 9a – [E]ATS – I was thinking…
    BATS – For Ozzy Osbourne.
    CATS – For customers of the pie shop run by Mrs Lovett’s rival Mrs Mooney in Sweeney Todd.
    HATS – For anyone who’s ever said, say, “If Bozo ever becomes PM, I’ll eat my hat”.
    OATS – For the kilted shot PUTTER on the Scott’s Porage Oats box.
    I still don’t like M for McDonald’s, either.

  63. Enjoyed this a lot, thanks to all.
    Carbon paper is still a thing in the arts & crafts world, where old tech often ends up in retirement.

  64. Tramp@45. Great puzzle as ever – always a pleasure to see your name on the masthead. Re ‘Sure’ – I really wish the Guardian had a rule against brand names. Even if I know them (not this time) it grates for me – why should I have to engrain an advertisement? The otherwise interesting NY Times crosswords just let them proliferate – I guess I live in a capitalist country … .

  66. Brand names equalling word meanings is a difficult debate for me, having lived in both the UK and N America. Do I have an advantage? Probably.

    In the UK, hoovering means to vacuum. Hoover is the brand name of a vacuum appliance manufacturer in N America. As in… can you do the hoovering whilst I wash the dishes?

    In N America, kleenex means paper tissue. Kleenex is a brand name of a tissue manufacturer in the UK. As in… can I borrow a Kleenex to blow my nose?

    It is the same for Sure ?

  67. Andrew@62 – I don’t think a DRAG QUEEN can go TOPLESS – at least not unless he’s very well ‘developed’ in the appropriate regions… But I may be wrong!

    This was certainly tricky and I failed to parse NUMBER ONE – having said that I do have a little moan about E meaning ‘drug’ or ‘tablet’ being so over-worked in Crosswordland … do others share my view?

    I’m a bit doubtful about the definition part of TOOTHPICK – it’s more a case of removing food. Perhaps “…get food from filling…“?

    But lots to give upticks to: USERNAMES and APLOMB probably my favourites.

    Thanks to Tramp and Manehi.

  68. phito @56
    Hi, phito. Peaches, indeed. A tricky, challenging treat. Thanks, Tramp and manehi.
    A resisting qualm is how `particular’ works.
    Apart from that, what Eileen said, boviously. x

  69. Bluedot@58 – I can certainly sympathise (-ize!). As a rule we can easily convert UK English to US English by taking out all the U’s in “-our”. But the converse is not always true. For example, we have “vigour” but “vigorous”.

  72. Many thanks, Tramp – a delightful, elegantly wrong-footing wrangle of a puzzle.
    May you get well again very quickly. I hope it’s not Long Covid (to me that always sounds more like an unprepossessing village eyed up by our Home Secretary for asylum-seekers; Michael Innes readers will remember his Long Canings – set in Wiltshire, with a boarding school, if memory serves; while Long Solving ìs where I feel I really belong).

  73. I parsed PLACE MATS as
    PLACE=”put” + M (McDonald’s) + [o]-ATS=”food” .

    Works just as well.

    I’ve never heard END ON in that sense. Here, we would say HEAD ON.

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