Guardian Cryptic 29,190 by Carpathian

by

An enjoyable solve – I especially liked 6ac, 3dn, 19dn, and 23dn. Thanks to Carpathian.

ACROSS
1 BACKWOODS
Support clubs in remote region (9)

BACK="Support" + WOODS=[golf] "clubs"
6 BIAS
Snub I assume hides prejudice (4)

hidden in [Snu]-B I AS-[sume]
10 ALIBI
A politician with one excuse for failure (5)

A (from the surface) + LIB (liberal, "politician") + I="one"
11 TRADE-OFFS
Sad effort forming compromises (5-4)

anagram/"forming" from (Sad effort)*
12 STEEPLE
Support place in south-east for church tower (7)

TEE ("Support" for a golf ball) + PL (place); all in SE (South East)
13 INTRUDE
Gatecrash popular event finally getting bawdy (7)

IN="popular" + final letter of [even]-T + RUDE="bawdy"
14 INTERROGATION
Examination of progress turning in quota by Bury (13)

GO="progress" as a verb, reversed/"turning" in RATION="quota"; all after INTER="bury"
17 CONFECTIONERY
Candy caught working with ferocity travelling around Newcastle area (13)

C (caught, cricket abbreviation) + ON="working" + anagram/"travelling" of (ferocity)* around NE (North East, "Newcastle area")
21 CHEAPER
Believe singer holding monkey is a better bargain (7)

CHER, the singer of the song Believe [wiki], around APE="monkey"

'ape' and 'monkey' as verbs can mean 'mimic'
22 USURERS
Money lenders more certain to be found in America (7)

SURER="more certain" inside US (United States, "America")
24 PIONEERED
Took the lead from sanctimonious individual left holding drug (9)

PI (short for pious, "sanctimonious") + ONE="individual" + RED (as in socialist, "left"); around E (ecstasy, "drug")
25 SLING
Throw a loop (5)

double definition: to throw, or a strap/loop
26 SAFE
Regularly snaffled cash box (4)

regular letters from S-n-A-f-F-l-E-d
27 MARE’S NEST
Steersman sorted out disordered situation (5,4)

anagram/"sorted out" of (Steersman)*
DOWN
1 BEARSKIN
Carries family hat worn on ceremonial occasions (8)

BEARS="Carries" + KIN="family"
2 CHIVE
Plant initially consumed colony of bees (5)

initial letter of C-onsumed + HIVE="colony of bees"
3 WHIPPERSNAPPER
Whiskey cooler photographer gives young rascal (14)

W (Whiskey, NATO alphabet) + HIPPER="cooler" + SNAPPER="photographer"
4 ON THE GO
Active regarding getting article ready (2,3,2)

ON="regarding" + THE (the definite "article") + GO (as an adjective meaning "ready" e.g. 'all systems go')
5 STAMINA
Turned over rugs in academy showing endurance (7)

MATS="rugs" reversed/"Turned over"; plus IN (from surface) + A (academy)
7 INFLUENCE
Chimney in pub by church produces effect (9)

FLUE="Chimney" in INN="pub", plus CE (Church of England)
8 SISTER
Son first to meet Virgin Queen and nun (6)

S (Son) + IST=1st="first" + ER (Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth I the "Virgin Queen")
9 VENTRILOQUISTS
Novelist quits rewrite about Republican puppet masters, perhaps (14)

anagram/"rewrite" of (Novelist quits)*, around R (Republican)
15 TICKED OFF
Reprimanded American’s annoyed (6,3)

to 'tick off' is a British phrase meaning to reprimand, and an American phrase meaning to annoy
16 EYESIGHT
Agreement accepted by rowing team makes a kind of sense (8)

YES="Agreement", accepted into EIGHT="rowing team"
18 EARDRUM
Facial hair (not black) on strange part of body (7)

B-EARD="Facial hair" minus B for black, plus RUM="strange"
19 THUNDER
Middle of masthead below boom (7)

middle letters of mas-TH-ead, plus UNDER="below"
20 SCOPES
Head of strategy manages fields (6)

head letter of S-trategy, plus COPES="manages"
23 EXILE
Chuck out timeless fabric (5)

t-EX-t-ILE="fabric", less the letters t for "time"

59 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,190 by Carpathian”

  1. Is an alibi an excuse for failure? “I’m not a suspect as I have an alibi.”

    Didn’t know TICKED OFF had different meanings either side of the Atlantic. We use it for both.

    I thought it unusual that Carpathian had set both this and the quiptic today. I got halfway into the latter before the sense of déjà vu hit.

    An enjoyable start to the week, and worth waiting the extra hour. (Daylight saving has just begun here.) Thanks Carpathian & manehi.

  2. GDU@1
    ALIBI
    ‘An excuse for failure(informal)’ is a meaning given in …
    (do I need to mention the source?) 🙂

  3. I agree with GDU@1’s comments about the puzzle, although for me it was an enjoyable end to the week.

    Good thing monkey and ape can both be verbs – ’nuff said!

  4. As Geoff@1 I wouldn’t agree with the ALIBI definition as it means somewhere else doesn’t it, hardly an excuse.
    And didn’t know the American TICKED OFF
    Thanks both

  5. KVa @ 2, I’m in complete agreement that “alibi” can mean an excuse for failure, but just “excuse” would do. You wouldn’t clue “cat” as “feline pet with black fur“, would you?

    The source? Let me see. Starts with C? (And not Collins.)

  6. And as tim the toffee says, even “excuse” is an uncomfortable synonym. But if it’s in you-know-where, I don’t have a leg to stand on.

  7. ALIBI contd
    GDU
    Another C-dictionary (Chambers) says:
    an excuse for something bad or for a failure:
    After eight years in power, the government can no longer use the previous government’s policy as an alibi for its own failure.

  10. > ‘ape’ and ‘monkey’ as verbs can mean ‘mimic’

    Stop monkeying me for stop copying me? That’s news to me.
    To monkey about is to play the fool.

  11. Gotta say I’m speechless about 13+1 letter anagram VENTRILOQUISTS. Great anagrist, surface and def too.

    ALIBI The dog ate my homework. I was elsewhere and didn’t see it. Not guilty.

  14. Didn’t know why ‘believe’ was needed in 21a, so thanks for the extra GK, manehi – and for the rest of the blog. I can’t see any Quiptic for today, by Carpathian or anyone – only last week’s, which was by Carpathian. Am I alone here? Thanks also to Carpathian.

  16. Pierre has put a placeholder on today’s Quiptic. He said he would post when he himself gets the crossword to blog.

  17. I thought a mare’s nest meant an illusion rather than disorder but I see that there are both meanings. Others enjoyable and straightforward. Thanks setter and blogger.

  18. Willbar @13 yes – does that conflict with the clue in someway?

    I’d been stressing about spending too long on crosswords, so this hit the mark perfectly 🙂

    Ticks for EXILE and BELIEVE as it’s on my guilty pleasures playlist

    Cheers M&C

  19. [As anyone who’s read Terry Pratchett will know, be VERY careful about using the word monkey!]

    Thanks to Carpathian and manehi

  20. I hadn’t come across MARE’S NEST before. I thought it unusual since, obviously, mares don’t nest. Looking at its derivation, it originally meant ‘A false discovery’ (since mare’s nests are not a thing) and, like many things in English, the meaning has changed over the years.

  21. I thought the long clues were very good and agree with paddymelon @11 re VENTRILOQUISTS. I also liked PIONEERED.

    Ta Carpathian & manehi.

  22. I agree with the quibbles about the ape and the ALIBI. Can I add another: this is the second recent crossword to clue CHIVE as a plant or herb, where I have always known it as CHIVES (is this actually a plural noun at all?). Haven’t seen MARES NEST for ages: yes, I thought it was a fanciful idea rather than a mess. I expect the Holy Book says otherwise in all the above cases.

    WHIPPERSNAPPER made me laugh.

  23. Lovely neat and tidy Monday puzzle, with the clues for the long words particularly good and I also thought BEARSKIN and EYESIGHT very satisfying. By Carpathian’s high standards, I found PIONEERED a little clunky (not convinced by “pi” for “pious” or “red” for “left”).

  24. Favourites: WHIPPERSNAPPER, EARDRUM, EXILE.

    New for me: MARE’S NEST = mess.

    Liked Geoff@1, I didn’t know (or had forgotten) TICKED OFF had different meanings either side of the Atlantic.

    Thanks, both.

    KVa@7 – I liked your sample sentence for alibi but I would have changed it to thirteen years.

  25. I liked VENTRILOQUIST and EXILE. INFLUENCE was clued in a very similar way in Carpathian’s Quiptic last week, which also had a singular CHIVE in the clue for ARCHIVE.

  27. A very Mondayish puzzle, though none the worst for that. I was also pleased to see the increasingly rare expression: MARE’S NEST. Apparently it first appeared in a 16th century play. Perhaps now supplanted by the more common “dog’s breakfast”…With thanks to Carpathian and manehi.

  28. For a very brief moment or two when my first couple solved, BACKWOODS and STEEPLE, involved the golfing terms Woods (the clubs, not the player) and Tee I wondered whether this might be some kind of theme relating to that sport and the just completed Ryder Cup. With a certain caddie TICKED OFF. But no. Anyway, hats off to Carpathian for some extremely smooth clueing this morning…ha!

  30. Redrodney@29, not often in crossword land, although a clever setter could perhaps make use of Adele amongst others?

  31. I really liked this lovely little puzzle which all slotted together nicely for me. I didn’t have issues with any of the clues but maybe I’m easily pleased. Favourites I ticked have already been mentioned by manehi and previous contributors. Many thanks to Carpathian and manehi.

  35. FrankieG @33 I thought I’d forgotten all about that until a taste and a smell brought the memories flooding back.

  38. Good start to the week with Carpathian’s crisp cluing style.

    I liked CONFECTIONERY for the wordplay, USURERS and THUNDER for the wordplays, VENTRILOQUIST for the novelist fodder, and EARDRUM being a strange hairy part of the body.

    Thanks Carpathian and manehi.

  41. Enjoyed this. Thanks C and m. Despite some quite elaborate wordplay, it seemed relatively easy. Straightforward definitions?

  42. Very nice for a Monday. Some excellent surfaces especially 19D. NHO 27A.

    I was not entirely happy with PI for “pious” in 24A, and think that could have been clued better. I see I am not alone in that.

  43. Nice and gettable crossword overall.

    I think PIONEERED was a particularly weak construction though, not a fan of that one.

  44. The clue for ALIBI is correct and I couldn’t complain it was unfair. But that doesn’t mean I can’t say I don’t like it. It uses a sense of ALIBI that makes English less precise and it grates with me.

    It’s like the difference between technical merit and presentation (in, I think, ice-skating scoring).

    Thanks to C and m.

  46. PI’s constantly popping up in crosswords. It’s dated but obviously very useful to setters. See also SA, IT etc.

  47. Thanks manehi, I enjoyed this too, as well as VENTRILOQUISTS I thought EXILE was very good: not too obvious definition with some early competition from eg Eject, and precise wordplay that took a long time for me to fathom ( subtractions I always find hard, double subtractions doubly so). Thanks Carpathian.

  49. Thanks Carpathian for a gentle start to the week. I found this enjoyable despite its ease. My top picks were BACKWOODS, USURERS, and EYESIGHT. Thanks manehi for the blog.

  50. [Redrodney @29: A singer in crosswords sometimes refers to a bird. A clue could read: “Singer left English property deed (5)”]

  51. MARE’S NEST – a rarity now, as noted above – reminded me of a lovely Rupert book long long ago: he and Algy(?) did find one, I recall.

    Thanks to Carpathian for an enjoyable puzzle and manehi for the informative blog.

    And where is our Quiptic? Surely they’ve had time to sort it out by now!

  52. Thanks for the blog, very good puzzle in the Monday tradition , I would have loved this when I was learning.

  53. [AlanC@21 , against all odds I somehow managed to reach Number 1 for Cyclops on Saturday , it is now 34 – 10 , less than three months to go . ]

  54. Meandme @36 — I noticed that too. INFLUENCE in same position in the grid as last week’s Quiptic, both set by Carpathian, and the clues are quite similar:

    – Control in chimney originally needed on top of church
    – Chimney in pub by church produces effect

  55. I assume the “perhaps” in 9D indicates a definition by example, since a ventriloquist is only one type of puppet master, with a marionettist being another. I do not even know the name for those puppeteers who use rods from below. Nevertheless, did anyone else find the “perhaps” unnecessary, and a little pedantic?

  56. A church can have a very beautiful steeple. It’s not a tower. And vice versa – unless that bit of Latin has also been mangled like “alibi”.

  57. As someone usually points out, and this time it’s me, ALIBI is Latin for “somewhere else” and as such shouldn’t be used as an excuse for someone doing something wrong but only as a reason why they couldn’t have done it. However its use in the former sense has (regrettably) become accepted.
    Thanks to Carpathian and Peter O. I particularly liked 9d because my grandfather was a professional ventriloquist. It’s how he earned his gread and gutter.

  58. On not being able to find the Quiptic I saw the main cryptic was Carpathian and thought I’d have a go. A fun quick solve. Any chance it was the Quiptic masquerading as a the day’s cryptic?

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