Guardian Cryptic 29,211 by Picaroon

by

Lots to like today – some of my favourites were 1ac, 10ac, 12ac, 25ac, 26ac, 1dn, 5dn, 19dn, and 22dn. Thanks to Picaroon for the puzzle.

As mentioned in 6dn, the grid contains multiple examples of JOB SHARING – the names of jobs split between pairs of across entries.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8 HAIRCARE
Looking after Barnet Hospital, show anxiety (8)

for definition: Barnet is rhyming slang for 'hair' (Barnet Fair)

H (Hospital) + AIR=broadcast="show" + CARE=worry="anxiety"
9 ROOTLE
Ferret and small marsupial let out to lunch (6)

definition: to rootle is to rummage around or "Ferret"

ROO (short for kangaroo, "small marsupial") + anagram of (let)*

anagram indicator is "out to lunch", slang for 'slightly crazy'
10 LISP
If so, loser becomes poser, in a manner of speaking (4)

L-oser becomes P-oser, if L IS P
11 LUMBERSOME
Thus entering wood, Picaroon moving clumsily (10)

SO="Thus", entering inside: LUMBER="wood" + ME="Picaroon"
12 OCTAVE
English firm receiving tax returns in standard interval (6)

E (English) + CO (company, "firm"), both around VAT (value added tax); and all reverse/"returns"
14 TRIMARAN
Travelling Martian bearing right in vessel (8)

anagram/"Travelling" of (Martian)*, around R (right)
15 MIASMAS
Pair of old ladies maintaining this compiler stinks! (7)

definition: "stinks" as a plural, more than one thing that stinks

a pair of MAS="old ladies", around I="this compiler"
17 ON SIGHT
When spotted, thong is tight (2,5)

anagram/"tight" of (thong is)*

"tight" meaning intoxicated for the anagram indicator
20 INDIRECT
Roundabout in Rome’s outskirts? Charge around it (8)

the outer letters (outskirts) of R-om-E; with INDICT="Charge" around them
22 ORGANS
Argos supply entertaining new donatable items (6)

anagram of (Argos)*, around N (new)

"supply" as anagram indicator as in 'supple'
23 ATTENDANCE
All those present when the news is broadcast party (10)

AT TEN="when the news is broadcast" + DANCE="party"
24 RIBS
Daughter’s scrubbed wild bird’s cage? (4)

anagram/"wild" of (bird's)*, with the d for "Daughter" removed/scrubbed
25 LOUCHE
Disreputable, heartless lowlife admitting this is agony (6)

L-owlif-E heartless without its inside letters; around OUCH="this is agony"
26 MISTITLE
Wrongly label item, with list in shambles (8)

anagram/"in shambles" of (item list)*
DOWN
1 MARIACHI
Street musician‘s song from West Side Story character (8)

MARIA="song from West Side Story" [wiki] + CHI="character" in the Greek alphabet
2
See 24

3 FAILLE
Don’t pass on coat of lace fabric that’s ribbed (6)

definition: a type of cloth fabric that is ribbed

FAIL="Don't pass" + outer letters (coat) of L-ac-E
4 TERMITE
Spy that thing in rotten tree? You might spy this thing in rotten tree (7)

M=codename of a "Spy" in James Bond [wiki] + IT="that thing;" all inside anagram/"rotten" of (tree)*
5 FRIESIAN
Supplier of beef and chips popular around America (8)

definition: a breed of cow i.e. a source of beef

FRIES="chips" + IN="popular" around A (America)
6 JOB-SHARING
Patient guy’s making a career in work practice (shown in pairs of across answers here) (3-7)

JOB'S="Patient guy's" + HARING=speeding around=careering="making a career"

Job was tested by God in the Bible [wiki]
7 ALUMNA
Engineering manual for student once (6)

anagram/"Engineering" of (manual)*
13 ABSTINENCE
Laying off flipping idiot involved in non-23 (10)

for definition e.g. 'to lay off the sauce' meaning to give up drinking

reversal/"flipping" of NIT="idiot"; inside ABSENCE=non-ATTENDANCE (using solution to 23ac)
16 ABERDEEN
A dieter regularly visiting capital city up north (8)

A (from surface); plus regular letters from D-i-E-t-E-r inside BERN="capital" of Switzerland
18 HANDBALL
Possible reason for booking manual worker before party (8)

definition: a handball foul in football could get you a booking (a yellow or red card)

HAND="manual worker" + BALL="party"
19 STONE ME
I never did insist on emerald rings (5,2)

definition: 'I never did!' or 'stone me!' as expressions of surprise

contained/'ringed' inside insi-ST ON EME-rald
21 NOTION
Fancy a round, stopping out (6)

definition: "Fancy" as a noun for a thought or idea

O="round" letter; inside/"stopping" NOT IN="out"
22 OR ELSE
Threatening words worried lessee? There’s nothing odd in that (2,4)

w-O-r-R-i-E-d L-e-S-s-E-e, without any of the "odd" letters
24, 2 RAINDROP
Bit of a shower head in receptacle in a rubbish dump (8)

head/first letter of R-eceptacle + anagram/"rubbish" of (in a)* + DROP=discard="dump"

66 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,211 by Picaroon”

  1. On Picaroon’s wavelength last night and probably my quickest solve this week. Very clever theme which helped with INDIRECT as I thought of Rector and it turned out to be that or Director. Amusing to see ROOTLE again so soon, after recently being clued by Nutmeg & Arachne. My favourites were MIASMAS, HAIRCARE and TERMITE. Ear worm for the day
    https://youtu.be/DyofWTw0bqY

    Ta Picaroon & manehi.

  2. 6d was my last one in and it took me a while to parse it but it did make me see the theme of jobs and careers in the across answers.

    I did not parse 21d.

    Favourites: HAIRCARE, LISP, TERMITE.

    New for me: FAILLE.

    Thanks, both.

  3. Good heavens. So barnet is hair? This and RAINDROP were my two parsing failures. Didn’t know M was a spy either. And my lexicon was expanded by two — LOUCHE & FAILLE. Don’t think I’ve heard the expression STONE ME.

    I found this to be a very likeable puzzle, and more achievable than another recent one (unusually) by this setter. It took me a while to work out the theme.

    Thanks Picaroon & manehi.

  4. Thanks Picaroon and manehi
    Very slow start – reading the clues in order, FOI MISTITLE. The downs went a bit more easily, but still a struggle in the SW.
    I didn’t parse MARIACHI as I thought Maria was the character, but couldn’t see why CHI was the song.
    Favourites ATTENDANCE and STONE ME.
    Pedants’ corner: as far as I know, Friesians are exclusively dairy rather than beef cattle.

  5. Thanks Picaroon and manehi
    Very slow start – reading the clues in order, FOI MISTITLE. The downs went a bit more easily, but still a struggle in the SW.
    I didn’t parse MARIACHI as I thought Maria was the character, but couldn’t see why CHI was the song. NHO FAILLE.
    Favourites ATTENDANCE and STONE ME.
    Pedants’ corner: as far as I know, Friesians are exclusively dairy rather than beef cattle.

  7. I was relieved to see Picaroon’s name this morning: it’s exactly four weeks since his last appearance and I was getting concerned.

    Dashing out in a minute, so no time for details – super puzzle and theme, which helped a bit with the second half.

    Many thanks for lots of fun, Picaroon and manehi for a great blog.

  8. Barnet is common in Cockney / London argot; I’ve heard it used a lot, and even my daughter recognises it, unlike some of the more esoteric Cockney / Mockney rhyming slang, some of which is definitely invented or lost in the mists of time.

    Fun crossword, RHS went in first, LHS took longer.

    Thank you to Picaroon and manehi.

  10. muffin @5 no, Friesians were so ubiquitous as being useful for both beef and milk – many of the bull calves went to market and then in huge trucks off to the Continent, when live animal trade was allowed, to produce veal. But we still eat Friesian meat as sucklers or after a year. I have to my knowledge.

    (I was thinking Sturminster Newton market, which was, thirty years ago, the biggest calf market in Europe, in the midst of the dairy farms of the Blackmore Vale, with a cheese factory with a market outlet That market is now covered with housing.)

  12. I put in HAIRWAVE for 1a. Thinking about waving not drowning and then failed to see it did not completely parse since ‘show’ was needed for AIR after the H. Oh well. I guess the job of ‘hairwaver’ was a little odd which should have clued me to a mistake! an enjoyable puzzle, Thanks picaroon. Excellent blog manehi, which I needed to show my error and complete parsing of the haring part of JOB SHARING.

  15. Nice to see Picaroon again, and a theme that proved useful once I saw it, particularly for LOUCHE and MIASMAS.
    Same problem with MARIACHI as muffin@4, and I also thought FRIESIANs were a dairy breed (nice clue), but I’ll take Shanne@10’s word for it that they aren’t. FAILLE was new, and it took ages to see RIBS=cage.

    STONE ME always brings to mind a TV ad that Tony Hancock used to do: can’t remember what it was for, but it started with him switching on the TV to find it showing “Stone me! Football again!” – which became something of a catchphrase in our house.

  16. I have a vague memory of a story from comedian Mike Harding of him using the term ROOTLE for “ferret about” in a country where it meant something rather different….

  17. Nice one from the Pirate, much gentler than usual, I thought. Themed, of course, but explicitly this time, which helped with the last few entries.

    I don’t think I have ever come across LUMBERSOME (lumbering and cumbersome, yes!) and certainly not FAILLE, but both leapt out. NOTION and STONE ME were personal favourites.

    GDU @3: Barnet is probably the most commonly used piece of rhyming slang in crosswords – the word almost invariably indicates something trichological. HAIRCAIR was a write-in for me, which gave me a head start 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

  20. AlanC’s opening line @1 sums up my experience this morning. On the wavelength from the get-go and a very satisfyingly full-ish grid after the first pass. Clues so very cleanly written and some lovely surfaces. And a pleasant theme. Just the way to start the day. Lots of favourites so the double ticks probably go to LUMBERSOME, OCTAVE, TRIMARAN, ON SIGHT, TERMITE, ALUMNA, HANDBALL and STONE ME.

    ‘This is agony’ = OUCH made me laugh. Echoes of ‘it’s just a flesh wound’.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi

  21. Thanks for the parse of STONE ME. I had “emerald” as STONE in a definition by example, which then rings EM. I spent too long trying to make “insist on” be EM

  23. For whatever reason was totally on Picaroon’s wavelength from the very start this morning, though after completing had to come on here to discover what the ingenious message in 6d was all about. Though thought LUMBERSOME was, well, rather Cumbersome. Wasn’t sure either how either HANDBALL or ABERDEEN worked exactly, and new ones for me were MARIACHI and FAILLE, but clearly clued. Last one in INDIRECT. Thanks Picaroon, lots of fun, and Manehi…

  25. Hats off. Fantastic – and stumped me for ages, since I didn’t see JOB in 6dn until I’d got LUMBERSOME. I spent far too long looking for things to go with the imagined CHEROOT. Massive number of brilliant clues, totally misleading me: favourite probably HANDBALL. Thank you James, an absolute winner.

  26. Shanne@10…I know a dairy farming family in the Sturminster Newton area who had farmed in that way for generations, but now run a thriving haulage company in that town. The winds of change…

  28. Excellent crossword. FAILLE and LUMBERSOME both new to me (and of course they crossed!). A well implemented theme too – I saw DIRECTOR, not noticing RECTOR.

    Thanks to Picaroon and manehi.

  29. Lovely challenge this morning. I had parsed LOUCHE as Lou[t] [A]che but was relieved to see a better explanation.

  30. Delightful puzzle with a useful theme, which helped me solve a few of the crossers.

    I particularly liked the wordplays in INDIRECT, ATTENDANCE, RAINDROP and NOTION, the surface in FRIESIAN, and the well-hidden STONE ME. I thought the ‘to lunch’ in the clue for ROOTLE could have been omitted with no disturbance to the surface. I haven’t seen any of our female contributors commenting on ‘old ladies’ for MAs but I would have thought the ‘old’ could have been left out. 😉

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi.

  31. Thank you AlanC @1 for the earworm. Reminds me of the only vinyls my parents ever had, or the only shows we ever saw, as a baby boomer (from yesterday).

    Shanne@10. I remember your previous contributions to my knowledge of cattle. As a butcher’s daughter I only remember Friesians as dairy cattle.

    Loved STONE ME (amongst others). My earworm, one I’ve never heard before. Van Morrison and Dylan. You probably need to be stoned to listen to this. 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmViTJ0xYOs

  33. And as for Maria, the song in West Side Story, as per AlanC@1. here’s a whole lotta musical notation we get with cryptic crosswords:
    Fun fact : this song is composed in the lydian mode of the major scale, which means the 4th note of the scale is raised by a half step, producing an elevating, floaty feeling on the listener. It’s the brightest mode of the major scale, and I find it suits this scene extremely well

    Geddit?

  34. Enjoyed this. Not quite a finish for me as nho faille and put in taille (one of the definitions is a bodice/waist of a garment – not a particularly good fit to the clue but have seen looser ones!). I am am sure I have seen tootle and raindrop similarly clued recently, and louche but not quite so, which helped.

  36. [AlanC @1 – let’s remember Jimmy Bryant, who actually sang “Maria” in the film, and was uncredited along with Marni Nixon and others. He died last year aged 93]

  37. Really struggled with this at first and only managed about a third of the grid. Went away, came back, and, as is so often the case, a couple of clues clicked immediately and the rest fell into place smoothly. NOTION was my favourite. Good to see that Barnet Fair still gets an outing (accepting that this might be frustrating for overseas readers). Many thanks Picaroon and manehi.

  38. FAILLE and HAIRCARE held me up a little, the latter surprisingly a single word, and for the former I was trying to get “don’t pass on” I.e. live etc instead of “don’t pass”.
    Very enjoyable thank Picaroon and manehi

  39. Gervase @17: while Barnet for hair is common in these crosswords, I’d say China for mate (usually the letters PAL) beats it by a country mile.

    I have nothing to add about the crossword, or on the side discussions of animal husbandry and the compositions of Leonard Bernstein. I’m enjoying it, though.

  40. Thanks for the blog, I did not know FAILLE or MARIACHI but the clues were fair and they had to be right. The trick for LISP is often used by Azed . I liked ATTENDANCE for the news angle. The theme clue was to late to give me any help.

  42. I almost feel like I have cheated when the theme provides the answer before the wordplay as the mason and the plumber did today. Nice to have Picaroon back.

  45. I knew MARIACHI from a line in a Tom Lehrer song (Fiesta time in Guadalajara?)
    The mariachi would serenade
    And wouldn’t shut up ’til they got paid

  48. [Well done AlanC I have stolen that term from my students . My favourite term they use is bed-wetting music, Can you guess who that is for ? ]

  49. Just to add to what Shanne said at 10. As a farmer’s son I know that Friesians, like other milk-producing breeds like Jerseys and Guernseys, do not normally produce beef. The bull calves are disposed of when young. In this country, where veal is not so popular, these calves were either exported or used for pet food. Now “rose veal” , from calves treated humanely, is becoming popular. So, to be pedantic, Fresians do not really produce beef; they produce milk and veal.

  50. Totally missed the theme, couldn’t make any sense of 6dn.

    HANDBALL foul was new to me.

    Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog.

    Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.

  51. Thanks Picaroon for a well constructed, enjoyable crossword. I got the theme early and it helped a bit. I never heard of STONE ME and I couldn’t parse it but I guessed it correctly. I thought it odd that FRIESIAN was in this puzzle and “Frisian” was in a crossword yesterday. How does that happen? I had many favourites including LISP, TRIMARAN, MIASMAS, ON SIGHT, and RIBS. Thanks manehi for the blog.

  52. Forgot to look for a theme which, despite a comment on the Grauniad site, did not hit me in the face. In my defence, I solved the puzzle over more than one sitting and I had forgotten about the solution to 6d which clearly referenced other answers. I was held up on faille – which was unknown to me but could be deduced. I hesitated because I was uncertain about ‘lumbersome’: it parsed, but is not a word I have ever encountered. No complaints and another cracking puzzle from Picaroon.

  53. Muffin @45: The song is called In Old Mexico. (The clip includes an unrelated comedy routine; trust me, he does eventually start singing.)

    Out came the matador
    Who must have been potted or
    Slightly insane, but who looked rather bored.
    And the picadors, of course,
    Each one on his horse,
    I shouted Ole! every time one was gored.

  56. In 21D, besides NOTION and “fancy” both referring to an idea, aren’t they both also synonyms for a knick-knack?

    Did anyone else notice a surfeit of anagrams? I count nine clues with anagrams in all or part out of 27 total. Isn’t one-in-three unusually high?

  57. 5D is also clever since the popular name for chips in America is “fries” (chips being the word used to refer to potato crisps)

  58. In defence of MARIACHI, I am surprised that no one here has cited Charles Mingus’s excellent 1962 album, Tijuana Moods, one of whose tracks is ‘Los Mariachis’, translated on the album cover as ‘The Street Musicians. So, late in the commenting day as it is, a shout-out for Mingus.

  59. Beautifully constructed. The jobs helped with LUMBERSOME and HAIRCARE. Like, SimpleS @34, I also went with TAILLE for 3 (using tail in the sense of follow), so a DNF again 🙁 .
    Fave pair LOUCHE/MISTITLE, natch. (… am one 😉 )
    Lots of fun. Thanks, Pm. Nice afternoon, all.

  60. Has anyone else experienced a problem with split clues like 24,2 today? I go into the Guardian website and this type of clue is displayed correctly but, when I hit Print, the next screen just shows 24. Not a big problem today as there’s only one clue like this and it was easy to spot “2 See 24” but it’s a bit tedious when there are several of them.

  61. jellyroll @60
    Yes, I’ve had that problem for the last couple of weeks. Not a major one, though,as the dependent clue refers back to the main one, as you say.

  62. [ Balfour@58, thanks for the Mingus shout-out, and for reminding me of Tijuana Moods, one of my favourite of his records and well worth listening to again. ]

  63. Thanks both,
    A quiblet – mariachi refers to a group of singers so shouldn’t the clue refer to ‘street singers’?

  64. Tyngewick @63
    I thought that too, but the Tom Lehrer lyric (see MrP @53), to my surprise, had “mariachis”.

  65. Thanks Picaroon and Manehi. I liked this a lot. Found it quite straightforward but also lovely bits memory jogging and many clues requiring some thinking outside the square.
    And thanks Balfour @58 for reminding me that much beloved Charles Mingus was an early-to-bed, early-to-rise person like me 🙂

  66. We were definitely using the jobs (and wondering which of RECTOR and DIRECTOR was intended) even though 6d was the only answer we didn’t find. 4d was a delightful surface and HANDBALL all came together very nicely. Was a bit of a pity that DANCER was a hidden job when “party”=DANCE was part of the breakup, and similarly pity that CARER was mostly supplied by the obviously etymologically linked HAIRCARE – when it could have been something like a MOTORCAR followed by something starting ER. I hadn’t heard of Barnet or Louche but my wife had; FAILLE was new to both of us but fairly clearly right anyway. Good fun!

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