Guardian Cryptic 29,242 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle can be found here – https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29242

Sorry, guys, but you get a double helping of Loonapick this week, as I am covering for the usual Friday blogger today. I don;t often get a Picaroon to blog, so this was a rare pleasure. I enjoyed this puzzle which required good knowledge of the phonetic alphabet to solve. SOme solvers may not like BRRR, but it's a valid word, and ESPANA, as it's not English, but it is surely well enough known to be acceptable.

Thanks Picaroon

ACROSS
1 BASICS
ABC is primarily suitable, perhaps, for these? (6)

*(abc is s) [anag:perhaps], where S is [primarily] S(uitable)
4 AFFLUENT
Sewage initially disappearing after a flush (8)

(e)FFLUENT ("sewage", initially disappearing) after A
9
See 22 Down

10 GUJARATI
Corrupt Raja in middle India gets the lingo there? (8)

*(raja) [anag:corrupt] in GUT ("middle") + I (India, in the NATO phonetic alphabet)
11 FIRST-CLASS-POST
Students getting job after good result of degree in letters (5-5,4)

CLASS ("students") getting POST ("job") after FIRST ("good result of degree")
13 CORNUCOPIA
Playing our piano, starts to compose concerto for horn (10)

*(our piano cc) [anag:playing] where CC is [starts to] C(ompose) C(oncerto)
14 BRRR
Beer drained by Republicans – it’s bitter! (4)

B(ee)R [drained] by R + R (Republicans)
16 REEF
Bank official rings Head of Eurobank (4)

REF ("official") rings [head of] E(urobank)
18 SHOTPUTTER
Society dance which includes tango, say, for one throwing a ball (4,6)

S (society) + HOP ("dance") which includes T (tango, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + UTTER ("say")
21 MOTION SICKNESS
In Minsk etc., so-so tours a problem for traveller (6,8)

*(in minks etc so so) [anag:tours]
23 TUCK SHOP
Corpulent friar’s bound for confectionery store (4,4)

TUCK'S ("corpulent friar's") + HOP ("bound")
24 HETERO
Three bananas, round or straight? (6)

*(three) [anag:bananas] + O (round)
25 CORNICHE
My hotel in Med resort in coastal route (8)

COR ("my!") + H (hotel, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) in NICE ("Med resort")
26 ESPANA
European country‘s sea unfortunately full of trash (6)

*(sea) [anag:unfortunately] full of PAN ("trash")
DOWN
1 BUSH
Maybe Holly‘s husband stuck behind large vehicle (4)

H (husband) stuck behind BUS ("large vehicle")
2 SHOWIER
Louder individual welcomed among rabble (7)

I (one, so "individual") welcomed among SHOWER ("rabble")
3 CHIASMUS
Two lots of Greek letters containing a rhetorical device (8)

CHIS and MUS ("two lots of Greek letters") containing A

A chiasmus is device whereby a speaker uses a reversal to make his or her point (e.g. I don't live to work, I work to live (my own personal maxim))
5 FEUDALISTIC
Spat on celebs one caught promoting social inequality (11)

FEUD ("spat") on A-LIST ("celebrities") + I (one) + C (caught, in cricket)
6 LIAISE
Communicate false info about mafiosi, periodically (6)

LIE ("false info") about (m)A(f)I(o)S(i) [periodically]
7 ENAMOUR
Volte-face from old chap in Parisian street entrance (7)

[volte-face] <=(O (old) + MAN ("chap") in RUE ("Parisian street"))
8 TWITTERER
Online commenter‘s weight has someone laughing about it (9)

W (weight) has TITTERER ("someone laughing") about it
12 CLOTHES MOTH
Silly mesh hot pants for a consumer of garments (7,4)

CLOT ("silly") + *(mesh hot) [anag:pants]
13 CHROMATIC
Dealing with colour, check an artist like Turner eschews navy (9)

Ch. (check, in chess notation) + ROMA(n)TIC ("a painter like Turner" eschewing N (navy))
15 GUINNESS
Around hostelry, suppose this may get drunk (8)

Around INN ("hostelry"), GUESS ("suppose")
17 ENTICER
Alluring person‘s frenetic, topless dancing (7)

*(renetic) [anag:dancing] where RENETIC is [topless] (f)RENETIC
19 TESSERA
War god placed towards the top part of Roman decoration (7)

<=(ARES ("war god") + SET ("placed"), towards the top)
20 BONSAI
Little growth in Shanghai as no business is on the up (6)

Hidden backwards [in…on the up] in "shangaI AS NO Business"
22, 9 NOVA SCOTIA
Not a single firm invested in huge capital returns in the Halifax region (4,6)

NO ("not a") + Co. ("firm") invested in VAST ("huge") + <=A1 ("capital", returns)

76 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,242 by Picaroon”

  1. I’m reminded of the Australian sitcom Kath & Kim from decades ago. They were always wondering what it would be like to be effluent.

  2. Thanks, Picaroon and loonapick!
    Great puzzle and quite a blog!

    Top Fave: GUJARATI (what a funny surface!)
    Liked SHOT PUTTER and ENAMOUR as well.

  3. Thank you loonapick. Good that you were rewarded with a Pickers while putting your hand up for the extra stint.
    I thought ESPANA was fair, even without the tilde, as European , the first word in the clue indicates the foreign language. Otherwise European is superfluous. Country would be sufficient.

  4. Good one pirate. I have no objections to BRRR, I thoughr BR+2 more Rs and did not see it until I wrote it in! Or Espana, I liked that one two and BASICS and….. Not too difficult but very enjoable.
    Thanks both.

  7. In. NOVA SCOTIA where is ‘single’ and why is ‘not a’ NO?

    BRRR made me laugh. GUINNESS was good. Thanks picaroon and loonapick.

  8. And I agree with KVa. GUJARATI my fav, and FOI.
    Laughed at BONSAI, because it’s Japanese and not from Shanghai. The def little growth is misleading and not really accurate, but all part of the fun. CLOTHES MOTH was hilarious, a consumer of garments.

  10. CHIASMUS was new, but clued so it could be built. I needed help parsing SHOT PUTTER, but when I came here, didn’t know why I’d forgotten S=society. TWITTERER looks to have a short shelf life.

    The FT has Buccaneer, so it’s a double Picaroon day.

    Thank you to loonapick and Picaroon.

  11. I didn’t know CHIASMUS but solved it from wordplay. Loved the Greek with the (English) plural s. Very funny. Picaroon has a great sense of language, and humour.

  12. Thank you CanberraGirl @9 for reassuring me I’m not alone…
    What a delightful puzzle. Tough – in places, very tough – but absolutely fair and immaculately put together. Some unfamiliar or unexpected words – CHIASMUS, BRRR, ESPANA – clued with very clear wordplay, so giving the solver a decent chance.
    Thanks, both.

  13. Gdu @1 yes – fond memories of Kath and Kim and the wedding sausages 🙂

    Lovely stuff from Picaroon with top marks for BRRR, AFFLUENT & ENAMOUR

    Cheers L&P

  14. BASICS very clever. Speaking of ABC, TUCK SHOP here in Oz, is the school canteen where kids can buy their lunch.
    Confectionery not allowed, these days.

  15. Thanks Picaroon and loonapick
    Very good, lots of ticks. Particular favourites AFFLUENT, CORNUCOPIA, and GUINESS.
    With a bit of pushing, 24a could be HERETO. I was a bit surprised it wasn’t when I checked.
    I didn’t parse CHROMATIC, and think it’s rather a weak clue. “Artist like Turner eschews navy” is very loose for ROMATIC.

  16. Tough but quite enjoyable.

    I could not parse 22/9 apart from what I assumed was the A S CO (a single co[mpany] bit. I can understand loonapick’s parsing if NO = not a single, otherwise I don’t see what to do with the ‘single’.

    Favourites: ENAMOUR, GUINNESS, BASICS.

    New for me: CORNUCOPIA = an ornamental container shaped like a goat’s horn; SHOWER = rabble (for 2d); the fact that Halifax is in Nova Scotia; CHIASMUS (very nicely clued).

    Thanks, both.

  17. Super puzzle, packed with wit and intention. Thanks Picaroon and Loonapick.

    Paddymelon @11 – I wonder how many got the solution for that one from the wordplay, and how many the wordplay from the solution.

    CG @7 – NO = “not a single”

  19. [Ha ha Geoff Down Under@1 (and Bodycheetah@13) – I also thought of “EFFLUENT” from “Kath and Kim” when I solved 4a, and I am always mindful of the “Baby Cheeses” once December rolls around.]
    Great puzzle – most enjoyable. I also liked CLOTHES MOTH, paddymelon@11. And agree with Canberra Girl@7 with my other favourite, 15d GUINNESS [Apparently Shane McGowan (RIP) used to drink the latter as a kid to help him sleep properly…]
    Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.

  20. I found this mostly steady-away but ultimately it was a DNF for me as I was defeated by both CHIASMUS and TESSERA. Both are now filed away, although whether I will ever be able to retrieve them is another matter. Favourite was CHROMATIC.

    Thanks both.

  21. I really like Picaroon’s puzzles, but I was unhappy with ‘Espana’: I thought that there must be a word ‘Estata’ which was unknown to me, and I entered it, so it’s a DNF for me.

  22. Widdersbel@17. CHIASMUS. I was thinking about that when I posted and asked myself the question. I do remember taking a stab on the last 3 letters being MUS.

  23. Look at moi, look at moi GDU@1. Loved Kath and Kim!
    Nice puzzle today. Not too difficult but more of a stretch than yesterday. I share the quibbles noted so far but they’re pretty minor. So thanks to P and l for stepping in.

  24. For the Antipodeans here, I’m aware of the Kath and Kim joke, but isn’t effluent Kiwi for affluent. ? 🙂

  25. Highly enjoyable puzzle from the Pirate with many great clues. Favourites were AFFLUENT, BONSAI, ENAMOUR, GUJARATI, CORNUCOPIA, HETERO and CHROMATIC (sorry muffin, it works for me 🙂 ) – clever constructions and witty surfaces.

    CHIASMUS rang a bell as a rhetorical device (though I couldn’t have told you what it actually was) but I constructed it from just the C and U. I originally interpreted ‘good result of degree’ as FIRST CLASS, which meant there was a lot of clue unaccounted for….

    What are we supposed to call TWITTERERS now! Exists?

    Thanks to S&B

  26. Gervase@25. Brilliant!! EXists. Very funny. You should copyright that, or whatever is the word in twitterdom.

  27. Another superb offering from the Pirate.
    BRRR perfectly topical as Winter starts.
    Cannot see any objection to España other than the ear worm it has caused…
    Oh this year we’re off to sunny Spain …

    Thanks all 🙂

  32. Further to Gervase’s witty take on ex-twitterers, and I know this is off topic so please delete if inappropriate, I deleted my Twitter account years ago.
    I wonder if any of our cryptic community have migrated to Threads as I would love to reconnect.

  34. Thanks to setter and blogger.
    I looked up ‘CHIASMUS’. Apparently in rhetorical terms ‘I don’t live to work, I work to live ‘ is more an example of Antimetabole – where words are repeated. So ‘By day the frolic, and the dance by night’ is an example of chiasmus

  36. Once I sorted out that it was FIRST-CLASS POST rather than Mail, and ESPANA rather than a rather uncertain Serbia, this was great fun. Liked AFFLUENT, HETERO and GUINNESS (My Goodness, yes), and it was the tricky NE quarter that was last to yield. Appropriately enough BRRR was last one in on this chilly morning in East Anglia. Thanks Picaroon and Loonapick…

  38. I love Double Pirate Day

    This was the trickier of the two but equally enjoyable

    Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick

  39. Classy puzzle, as ever, from Picaroon.

    BRRR, it’s cold in Southern England; I couldn’t quite see how lage meant bitter. 😕

    I liked the surfaces for AFFLUENT and CORNUCOPIA, the wordplays for SHOT PUTTER and ENAMOUR, the good anagram for MOTION SICKNESS, and the well-hidden BONSAI.

    Thanks Picaroon and loonapick.

  40. Lots to like as usual with Picaroon. I frowned at ESPANA, which is neither English nor Spanish, but that’s never going to change. GUJARATI, CORNICHE and TESSERA were very good, but I had to consult Wikipedia to get CHIASMUS.

  41. Lovely stuff. I had no problem with BRRR or ESPANA. Last in was BONSAI, which took me far too long. With thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.

  42. Re BONSAI, since he only needed Shanghai for the I, couldn’t our setter have picked a Japanese place that ends in I instead (say, Nagasaki)? That would’ve improved the clue in my book.

  43. Phil @34 – yeah, yeah, that is what Wikipedia says and yours is Wikipedia’s example. However, I can assure you that in the world of academic literary scholarship, anitimetabole is regarded as a sub-type of chiasmus, not as categorically distinct from it, as Wiki pedantically would suggest. Thus, all examples of antimetabole are seen as ipso facto examples of chiasmus, while not every example of chiasmus participates in antimetabole.

  45. CHIASMUS is an X (Greek Chi) shaped construction with an ABBA configuration ‘… but no repetition of words’. Here’s an Abba song with lots of repetition.

  46. Excellent as always from Picaroon. Lots of clever misdirection such as the well-disguised definition (“entrance”) in ENAMOUR.

    My favourite crossword maxim paid off again for 25a: whenever you see the word “my”, think COR!

    Many thanks Picaroon and loonapick.

  47. poc @40; I’m not sure that I understand your objections to ESPANA. If it is the missing tilde the usual practice is to ignore punctuation marks. It’s in the ODE and Collins, so I’m on the setter’s side here. 🙂

  48. PS FEUDALISTIC (“promoting social inequality”) was quite topical given the Guardian’s recent stories about the monarchy profiting from bona vacantia cases.

  49. Count me as another “ESTATA”; seemed perfectly likely to be a word for “country” in a European language. And after I managed to get CHIASMUS right, too…

  51. To Balfour @43
    According to Chat GPT:
    Antimetabole and chiasmus are related rhetorical devices, but they are not synonymous. Both involve a kind of repetition, but their structures differ.
    While both antimetabole and chiasmus involve some form of repetition or mirroring, they operate at different levels. Not every example of chiasmus involves antimetabole, and vice versa.
    Regarding your statement, it’s generally true that examples of antimetabole can be seen as ipso facto examples of chiasmus because of the reversal of elements. However, not every example of chiasmus involves antimetabole. In chiasmus, the reversal is often more about the grammatical or thematic structure rather than the repetition of the exact same words or phrases.
    In summary, antimetabole and chiasmus share some similarities, but they are distinct rhetorical devices with different structures and focuses.’
    Get me a ticket to ‘the academic world of literary scholarship’!

  52. 12D had me puzzled for a moment or two. CLOTHES MOTH was the obvious answer but I stupidly took “silly” to be the anagrind and “mesh hot pants” to be the fodder until I noticed there was one letter too many. Then had difficulty equating “clot” and “silly” until twigging that silly can be a noun as here.

  54. Good as always from Picaroon. I have no objection to ESPANA but it took a long time to get it: I tried SERBIA at first, and had FIRST CLASS (degree) for ages before the POST penny dropped. CHIASMUS I’ve never met before and had to resort to a list of such devices to find one that fitted the recipe, though I did get as far as ?MUS. liked TUCK SHOP, HETERO, CLOTHES MOTH, and the neat little BUSH.

  55. The tilde on ñ is not a punctuation mark. ñ is a different letter from n.

    A spat is essentially brief, whereas a feud is essentially protracted.

  56. Nothing for me today. Rounds off a fantastically unsuccessful week.

    I am asking Santa for crossword help books.

  57. Quite tough in the end after a flying start, which is how I like my Friday crosswords. Quite a few were obvious from the definition, and the parsing followed. But an equal number were of the more satisfying ‘follow the instructions to the answer’ variety, with ENAMOUR (I had no idea it meant entrance) and CHIASMUS (new word for me) being the most notable. Thanks Picaroon and loonapick for a great end to the week.

  59. Thanks Picaroon, that was fun despite needing assistance with SHOWIER, GUJARATI, and SHOT PUTTER. I like clues like CHIASMUS, unknown words to me that I can deduce by parsing. On that note, knowing both the Greek alphabet and the phonetic alphabet have been very useful in cryptic land. Top picks among the many good clues include BASICS, AFFLUENT, CORNUCOPIA, HETERO, ENAMOUR, and the very amusing CLOTHES MOTH. Thanks loonapick for the blog.

  60. Both SHOWER = RABBLE and TUCK SHOP were unfamiliar to this American. I think I’d probably heard both before but had managed to forget them. But I managed to unravel the clues anyway, which is always satisfying.

    Someone could plausibly complain that the clue for CHIASMUS is uninspired, in that it uses CHI as part of the wordplay, when the word itself is derived from the name of the letter chi. That certainly doesn’t make a clue incorrect, but I’ve noticed that people sometimes complain about charades with parts that include cognates of the actual answer. Not that I would ever do such a thing.

  62. Reliably excellent puzzle from the great man, with numerous delights and no duffers. GUJARATI and GUINNESS justify the entrance fee on their own, with LIAISE, ENAMOUR, BASICS, BRRR and SHOTPUTTER also all superb. Thanks Picaroon and loonapick!

  63. All good fun, bottom half easier than the top. Favourites were GUJARATI, NOVA SCOTIA and SHOT PUTTER (although for anyone who has ever put a shot they will know that no throwing is involved).

    Thanks Picaroon and loonapick

  64. [ArkLark @63
    You have revived a bad memory. When I was 15 I went to represent the school in an athletics competiton at javelin. When we got there it was decided that it was too wet for a safe javelin compettion. Our PE master decided that as we didn’t have a shot putter, I should enter that instead. Well I had seen it on TV, but never actually done one before. Suffice it to say that the 15 year old girl from my school comfortably beat my distance!]

  65. Thanks for stepping in with the blog, no problem with BRRR , I often say it , especially morning swims at the moment. ENAMOUR was a neat construction and Lord JIm@48 is quite right about FEUDALISTIC . Our scrounger in chief has continued the tradition of stealing from Lancashire .

  66. Steffen @ 56 You could also go for the two Bradfords volumes, Crossword Solver’s Dictionary and Crossword Solver’s Lists.

    Both currently available at £13 for paperback on amazon, less for the kindle version (which I find a bit clunky).

  67. Ark Lark @63: agreed. Turning a “put” into a “throw” is akin to referring to a “spin bowler” as a “thrower of a ball”, a slur that has started feuds between Sri Lankans and Australians.

  69. Ted@60 i would often be one of those moaning minnies and might have been today had I known where CHIASMUS comes from – my grumble instead is that for us mathematical non-classicists there isn’t much beyond intuition to help us choose between that and CHIASNUS as the answer.
    As he is a pirate in all his guises, I was a bit disappointed that Picaroon didn’t go for ARRR at 14A – maybe it’s not a real word, but it should be.
    Thanks loonapick for parsing NOVA SCOTIA as coming here I realised that I hadn’t managed it, and thanks Picaroon for another great puzzle.

  70. I wondered if NO in 22d was a cricketing reference as it is what a batter calls when declining a single for fear of being run out.
    Lots of fun. Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.
    Steffen@56 Did you try yesterday’s Pasquale? The consensus here was that it was one of the easier ones.

  71. I was hoping to get some lowdown on shower for rabble in SHOWIER.
    Looked it up on Collins on-line:
    British slang, a derogatory term applied to a person or group, esp to a group considered as being slack, untidy, etc
    Now I understand why others, except for Michelle, haven’t mentioned it.

  72. But I still don’t get why shower is slang for rabble. Delving further for the etymology one theory is a shower of s–t. Can anyone enlighten me?

  74. paddymelon @71 & 72,
    I’m not sure of the derivation, but the comedian Terry Thomas was famous for using the word, as here.

  75. phitonelly@74 for the link. To this Antipodean Terry Thomas sounds like he’s saying Shah. It’s probably best I don’t go there.

  76. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shower ‘…10 (Britain, informal, in the singular) A group of people perceived as incompetent or worthless.
    2023 October 18, Christian Wolmar, “The back of a fag packet used for unworkable rail plans”, in RAIL, number 994, page 45:
    But when I tweeted it out, most of the responses (from the more than one million viewers) were along the lines of: ‘what do you expect from this shower?’
    A very up-to-date citation.
    https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/gzwsxti gives the various expletives to go after “shower of…”

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