Guardian 29,598 – Brummie

by

A straightforward puzzle with no hidden theme that I can see, though you never know. Thanks to Brummie.

 
Across
1 CHARGER It can energise a mobile horse (7)
Double definition
5 FREIGHT Father figure’s load (7)
FR + EIGHT
9 LEGROOM The French prepare something welcomed by car passenger? (7)
LE + GROOM
10 RAGWORM Cloth, weak type – angler’s bait? (7)
RAG + WORM
11 SLEEP ON IT Postpone decision regarding what to do with a four-poster? (5,2,2)
Double definition
12 ACCRA Capital provided by a country’s leader – endless stuff (5)
A + C[ountry] + CRA[m]. Accra is the capital of Ghana
13 INTRO Played by musician just starting out? (5)
A not-very-cryptic definition – the musician is “just starting out” on a piece, not their career
15 OFF LIMITS Unacceptable extremes, not to be gone into (3,6)
OFF (unacceptable) + LIMITS (extremes)
17 TROUSSEAU Wedding collection of tense, naive painter (9)
T[ense] + ROUSSEAU
19 GREBE Diver taking part in quelling rebellion (5)
Hidden in quellinG REBEllion
22 EXTRA Hardly a lead actor’s ‘bye’ (5)
Double definition – a bye is a kind of extra in cricket
23 CARDBOARD Joker on table, showing boxing material (9)
CARD (joker) + BOARD (table)
25 MYALGIA Well, I messed up with gala (muscle pain) (7)
MY (well!) + (I GALA)*
26 PLOTTER Planner who produces a graph? (7)
Double definition
27 LAERTES Dramatic character, Lear, tentatively put back (7)
LEAR* + reverse of SET (to put) – Laertes is a character in Hamlet who (spoiler alert) kills the prince at the end of the play
28 RADICLE One college involved in developing alder rootlet (7)
I C[ollege] in ALDER*
Down
1 COLOSSI Titanic individuals giving officer brief SOS: ‘crashed against tip of iceberg’ (7)
COL[onel] + SOS* + I[ceberg]
2 AUGMENT American nutmeg assortment – swell! (7)
A + NUTMEG*
4 ROMAN NOSE A feature of Nero’s name, or son, ‘Dicky’ (5,4)
(NAME OR SON)*
5,31 FIRST CLASS Splendid start to one’s education? (5,5)
Double definition
6 ENGRAVING Burying a work of art (9)
Double definition – to bury someone is to en-grave them
7 GNOCCHI One leaves Chicago possibly around noon for pasta (7)
N in anagram of CHICAGO less A. Some may question whether gnocchi qualify as pasta
8 TOMCATS Female-chasers – most act abominably (7)
(MOST ACT)*
14 ONSLAUGHT Byron’s laugh, thought to embody ‘offensive’ (9)
Hidden in byrON’S LAUGH Thought
16 FLUORSPAR Entrance to front parlour’s molten mineral (9)
F[ront] + (PARLOUR’S)*
17 THERMAL Article on a naval corps has a line which is uplifting (7)
THE (article) + RM (Royal Marines, a “naval corps”) + A L[ine]
18 OUTTAKE Unreleased film clip issued by Nick (7)
OUT (issued) + TAKE (steal, nick)
20 ELASTIC Flexible sort of ice-covered shoe form (7)
LAST (a “shoe form”) in ICE*
21 ENDORSE Give support to ‘ack that came last? (7)
END [h]ORSE
24,3 BLOOD GROUP O, it might well be family gathering (5,5)
`BLOOD (family) + GROUP (gathering)

77 comments on “Guardian 29,598 – Brummie”

  1. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    A bit of a relief after two tough crosswords. Seemed fairly vanilla to me. No standouts but no grumbled either. There is probably a wonderful hidden message or theme I am missing

  2. Comments on the G’s own site suggest this was a more straightforward Brummie which is certainly how I found it with only the very clever ENGRAVING – COTD for me – holding out til last. I have come across the alternative meaning of the verb but never seen it used. On the whole, very succinct clues and some very apt choices of indicator. Maybe some slightly odd surface readings. Faves include CHARGER, a neat DD, for the lovely surface misdirect; GREBE for the amusing surface; PLOTTER for another very smooth DD; a nice cryptic in FIRST CLASS and what could be a clue-as-definition for TOMCATS. I would prefer to see a definition-by-example indicator for ‘joker’ = CARD though it didn’t hold me up.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  3. This puzzle has that elusive feel-good factor: I feel good about myself, and feel good about the setter.
    So smoothly clued, it’s easy to overlook how skilfully it clicks into place.
    ENGRAVING and ONSLAUGHT just two examples, from many.

    Good stuff, Brummie + Andrew

  5. Not too much to distract from the tennis-watching, nice and cruisy from the Brum, although I did put radical at first for the rootlet, and ragsworm was new. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  8. Nothing to scare the horses. Tentative ticks for ENGRAVING, THERMAL and the nicely hidden ONSLAUGHT

    Is Brummie the most conventional of the current stable of Guardian setters?

    Cheers A&B

  9. Yes, the word straightforward immediately sprang to my mind too as BLOOD GROUP became the last clue to yield this morning. Though I did walk past the hidden ONSLAUGHT several times before I noticed it lurking there to ambush me. Many thanks Brummie and Andrew…

  10. Thanks Brummie and Andrew.
    Faves: ENGRAVING, ONSLAUGHT, TOMCATS and ENDORSE.
    INTRO
    Was looking for a wordplay but couldn’t see any. Agree with the blogger’s ‘not-very-cryptic’ observation.

  11. That seemed about my level. Quite a relief.
    Couldn’t parse the “cram” of Accra. But could see what it had to be. Obviously my failing, not the setter’s.
    Thought the “end ‘orse” was very nice.

  13. Straightforward, although got in a bit of a tangle as RADICLE and radicel are almost interchangeable and both fit the anagram. Needed ENDORSE (loi) to split them.

  14. Ah yes, Andrew’s cram for stuff in 12 is better than my thought. I did think crap as in ”I have a lot of crap” would be controversial, maybe I should have checked other options.

  15. This was on the easy side, but that’s a relief now and again! My favourite clue was COLOSSI for the evocative surface.

  16. Eoink @14 – you and me both for crap in ACCRA, although I did also think cram was probably meant.

    I was definitely on the setter’s wavelength as this sailed in, but it also felt very straightforward.

    Thank you to Brummie and Andrew.

  18. I agree with the ‘straightforward’ description but there’s nothing wrong with that: E.N.Boll& @3 makes a good point.

    My favourites were the amusingly misleading CHARGER, LEGROOM, LAERTES – thanks for the alert, Andrew! – COLOSSI, for the surface, as for Polecat, ENGRAVING, the well- hidden ONSLAUGHT and BLOOD GROUP, for the neat definition. It’s not the first time I’ve seen END ‘ORSE but it still raised a smile.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  19. Remarkably easy for Brummie but a pleasant stroll. ENGRAVING, ROMAN NOSE and ENDORSE were my favourites. Another crap merchant.

    Ta Brummie & Andrew.

  21. Thanks Brummie and Andrew

    Since ‘pasta’ is the Italian for ‘dough’ gnocchi are considered to be a form of pasta made from potato dough.

  23. Yes, a nice straightforward puzzle with nothing to frighten the end ‘orses. I take it that “en-grave” is a whimsical definition of “bury”, as I’ve never encountered it as a real word in that sense. I wasted time trying to force “inter” into that answer. Also got tangled up in radicle/radical because I didn’t read the clue carefully enough.

  24. Well I enjoyed it. The only hold up was trying to spell FLUORSPAR as Flurospar!!
    I’m sure Gervase will let us know about pasta/gnocchi. As far as I’m concerned, they’re carbs. Nuff said.

  25. gladys @23, apparently it is a real word in Chambers 2016…
    engrave2 (obsolete)
    transitive verb
    To deposit in the grave

    but it’s obsolete so it’s not surprising that neither you nor I have come across it in real life.

  26. On the question of whether gnocchi are pasta – I cannot imagine there being a definitive ruling on this anywhere. There is no absolute definition for some things, which is one of the joys of language, surely. Life, and its rich experience, is not described purely by rules and definitions.

    Would we believe Chambers or the OED if they defined gnocchi as a type of pasta? Or would we add it to their list of errors? Would we trust an individual Italian/Swiss/Tyrolean cook book? A translation of a menu?

    Much more important is whether they are home-made and what sauce you are going to serve them with. Now I’m thinking of the lovely Austrian Knödeln, Spätzle and Gnocchi I was eating last week and feeling the need for a Gluhwein!

  27. Straightforward indeed, and none the worse for that, though some of the surfaces are a bit rickety.

    I liked BLOOD GROUP, ENDORSE, ONSLAUGHT and ENGRAVING (which, in the sense of the act of inhumation, is ‘obsolete’ according to Chambers – not even ‘archaic’!).

    In Italy, GNOCCHI are considered at least country members of the pasta club. The commonest type is based on mashed potato, but includes flour, and ‘gnocchi alla romana’ are made with semolina, so definitely qualify. Bear in mind that ‘pasta’ means ‘paste’, and the word in Italian covers ‘pastry’ as well as what in English we would understand by the term.

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  28. Very enjoyable – with thanks to Brummie. My favourites already mentioned.
    I appreciated the succinct blog by Andrew.
    I hadn’t heard of a few solutions like 10a RAGWORM, 28a RADICLE and 16d FLUOROSPAR (the latter two already mentioned by others) – I got them but hadn’t encountered them before.

  29. Had to check the dictionary for the correct spelling of FLuXXspar. Now engraved in my mind in flourescent lights…

  30. FIRST CLASS and LEGROOM made me wonder if there was a flying theme… then FREIGHT, THERMAL… but sometimes one sees what they want to see.
    A jolly short-haul, nonetheless!

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  31. Blaise @29: I remember a jar in the lab being mislabelled as ‘sodium flouride’. Someone had scribbled underneath: ‘Graded grains make finer fluor’

  32. I was briefly held up by trying to fit something into 3,24 rather than 24,3 – not enough coffee yet, perhaps.

    Otherwise definitely straightforward, and perfectly satisfying for this solver. Favorites included ONSLAUGHT (which had me down a rabbit role reading about Byron, Lovelace, etc.) and TROUSSEAU.

    NHO RADICLE, FLUORSPAR, or RAGWORM, but all were clued clearly enough.

  33. Very straightforward. Perhaps someone dropped a Quiptic on the way to the photocopier 🙂 although I failed on LAERTES due to a GK gap. Liked LEGROOM and ONSLAUGHT.

    The GNOCCHI/pasta quibble comes up a lot and it seems to be a sort of hypercorrection. Google ‘is gnocchi a dumpling or a pasta’ and most results say ‘both’.

    Cheers Brummie and Andrew.

  34. A relief to have one within my capabilities. Yesterday’s proved difficult and I threw in the towel eventually, so it was satisfying/affirming to fully complete this, with enjoyment along the way.

  35. I thought I was getting better at solving but I see many found this quite straightforward. I learnt that some regard GNOCCHI as pasta, and O, which wasn’t oxygen, is in a periodic table group called the chalcogens (perhaps as a biochemist I should have known that, although some exclude oxygen from this group). I liked the titanic COLOSSI, Byron’s ONSLAUGHT, and the END ‘ORSE. IMHO it might have been better to put something like: ‘American leaves Chicago’ in the clue for GNOCCHI, since I assumed at first that the ‘i’ was being removed.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  37. I agree with “straightforward” but I found this much more taxing than yesterday’s, for whatever reason. Maybe the surfaces didn’t quite yield to me as easily.

    The only one I didn’t get was TROUSSEAU, partly because I was assuming I need a painter’s name, and didn’t know one that began with T and ended U – should’ve thought more outside the box (also NHO ‘naive’ art, so that particular word threw me completely)

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  38. Yes, good fun and pretty straightforward.

    I’ve always liked the CHARGER double definition. I had a colleague many years ago who would regularly ask to borrow mine by using the line from from the hymn “When a Knight Won His Spurs.”

    Like others, I was held up wondering about Byron, particularly as he apparently did say “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” I hadn’t heard of that, but now I’m not sure if it’s such a famous quotation that the clue was a very apt misdirection, as well as hiding ONSLAUGHT.

  40. I found this fairly straightforward. Onslaught very cleverly hidden. Just a comment on yesterday’s Quick 17071. Did anyone finish it? It was a nightmare!

  41. A good puzzle for anyone who wants an incremental step up from Monday fare and might normally have Brummie in their DNA pile. Brummie reliably does cds very well – both FIRST CLASS and BLOOD GROUP are fine examples of the genre. Also thought the gk was very nicely clued (LAERTES, MYALGIA, ACCRA, RADICLE). Favourite was COLOSSI for the tremendous surface.

  42. [Spaghetti and macaroni (maccheroni in Italian) have been around the Anglosphere long enough for these plurals to have become singular mass nouns in English. Usage regarding other foods of this kind is more varied, particularly for those where the individual pieces are larger, such as ravioli and gnocchi – these terms are still often treated as plurals]

  43. Good fun – as Brummie’s creations always are, and over too soon – as Brummie’s creations always are.
    I thought GREBE & ONSLAUGHT were impressively well-hidden, grinned at ENGRAVING, CHARGER, FREIGHT & BLOOD GROUP and, like Gervase @27, have no problem with GNOCCHI being called pasta. The only problem I have with them is will there be enough for a second helping – and could I share some of JackOFT’s meal?
    Many thanks to Brummie and Andrew

  44. Great fun. Brummie is the setter who’s humour most clicks with mine. A few in there gave me a belly laugh.

    Favourites: ENDORSE, ENGRAVING (although didn’t fully appreciate it until this blog) and THERMAL, the last being one of those words I parsed and thought can this match the definition? I guess so.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew

  45. [Gervase @42: Even I would hesitate to describe a single strand of pasta with the expression “uno spaghetto” but I do struggle with “a panini”. I agree that spaghetti has become an English word, just as we now have traditional English pub food such as lasagna, moussaka, chicken tikka and Thai green curry. As you say, though, even ravioli, which has been around a long time, causes difficulties when you make a single large one as an appetizer. Is it then “un raviolo”? Or is that just being pretentious?

    Wellbeck @43: You would have been welcome – I am not sure how any single person is meant to consume an entire plate of anything served there, especially the Kaiserschmarrn (is it a pancake? Or is it a sweet pasta?) which has enough calories to power a small country for a week.) ]

  46. Gervase@31…that did make me chuckle😄. Wasn’t that the slogan in the Homepride adverts in the 1960’s…?

  47. As a learner how lovely to find a very accessible cryptic at this time of the week! Thank you Brummie and Andrew for the blog.

  48. The gnocchi I have made are all from potato, but it didn’t stop me from entering it. I then did a brief search to see if sources thought they were pasta: some said yes, some said no, some said sort-of, some said pasta-like. Very consistent with the discussion above. Anyway, nice puzzle.

  49. Ad gnocchi: from a pragmatic pov: practically every restaurant I ever visited, including those in Italy, list them under pasta

  51. I have nothing to add to the GNOCCHI discussion, but I am required to comment every time our fair city (“Chicngo” this time) gets name-checked in one of these things. [There’s a restaurant downtown where I sometimes eat lunch that has gnocchi; now I guess I have to go there and have some Chicago gnocchi today.]

  52. [JoFT @45: You say ‘lasagna’ and I say ‘lasagne’! That’s an interesting one: for the composed dish the former is usual in American English, but the latter in Britain. In Italy, the packets of pasta sheets are always labelled ‘lasagne’, ie plural. The layered dish (lasagne al forno) is usually also plural but the singular is sometimes seen (perhaps for the American tourists?), although some Italian dictionaries don’t even give it as an alternative. But there is etymological justification for the singular, as ‘lasagna’ was originally the name of the pot in which it was cooked (cf casserole).

    An Italian would certainly talk of ‘uno spaghetto’ but the proper English term would be ‘a strand of spaghetti’. The word is a diminutive of ‘spago’ – ‘string’, but the thicker sort is not called ‘spaghi’, but rather ‘spaghettoni’ – big little strings. The Italians do like their suffixes 🙂 ]

  54. For ACCRA, I had “endless stuff” as CRA[p], as opposed to CRA[m]. Always nice to have a lowbrow option.

  55. [Gervase @52: I always confuse which side of the Atlantic calls it which! I had not known that “lasagna” was the pot it was cooked in so thank you for that. I shall add it to the list of casserole, marmite, pot au feu, tagine, terrine, cataplana and nabe…and I am sure there are many more. Enough for a crossword theme in fact…]

  56. [I remember going out with my uncle many years ago to dig for RAGWORMs on the beach to use as bait for sea angling later. Nasty-looking red things several inches long, which can bite – but we used to catch lots of fish with them. ]

  57. [JoFT @55: Paella is another, from the Catalan for ‘frying pan’ (Latin ‘patella’, Italian ‘padella’)]

  59. [monkeypuzzler @58: simple and elegant…I like. Gervase @57: given the Latin root, the obvious clue would have to be: ” ‘Two girls, one on each knee’ – timeless classic (6)”]

  60. I am new to cryptics (since Jan 1) and it’s a slog. This was the most accessible one I’ve done. Is there a play on words in LEGROOM? Something the French prepare — legumes?

  61. I had a less than straightforward solve today, partly down to too many distractions in the pub! People talking and expecting answers. One was particularly annoying, quoting Trump as if everything he said was true and saying that all politicians in this country were corrupt, so I moved to a different room and solved the rest of the puzzle in double quick time.

    I was also held up by writing COLOSAL at 1d, thinking an alternative spelling – and impenetrable parsing – but not checking it, which held me up for 13a (LUTEO? LOTTO? LITHO?). And I had a possible RETWORM for 10a which would have given ENTOMBING for 6d. Eventually dug myself out of that hole.

    Straightforward? Not for everyone. 😁

    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  62. Cazifee @60 – I guess it’s possible but it’s rather loose to be a deliberate nod to that word, so I presume either coincidental or maybe subconscious on Brummie’s part 🙂

    Oh and welcome to crosswordland!

  63. sheffield hatter@61: were you in a Spoons? Despite a dislike for the owner’s politics I do seek them out (on the rare occasion I go to pubs) in view of their policy of not playing background “music”. Mind you, it can also mask annoying conversations!

  64. JoFT@55, Gervase@57 .. and not forgetting ‘balti’ (the ‘bucket’ or pot in which that dish is cooked). Thanks Brummie for a delicious puzzle.

  65. Re 12a ACCRA, all those who parsed “endless stuff” as CRA(p) – myself included – would have been correct if the setter had been Paul.

    Thanks, Brummie, for the fun puzzle. My favourites were the mobile horse of 1a CHARGER, the cockney horse of 21d ENDORSE, and the well-hidden ONSLAUGHT (of horses?) at 14d.

    And thanks, Andrew, for the fine blog.

  68. Cazifee,@60 & RobT@62. I’d give credence to the theory that Brummie nudged us towards the rhyming “legumes” . Crossword setters are mind controllers.
    I’m pretty new to cryptics too and this blog and discussion forum has helped soooo much. Also Pat Cousins on YouTube talks you through every Guardian Cryptic, Quiptic and Everyman solve.
    Today was another great crossword My COTD: TOMCATS.
    Many thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  69. [Nuntius@63. No, I haven’t been in a Wetherspoons for more than seven years, but not for cruciverbal concentration reasons. Nor for political discussion avoidance reasons.

    Sometimes a pub atmosphere is sufficiently random to help me, along with a drop of alcohol, to unlock an insufficiently flexible brain. But in this case it took a move to a quieter room to allow me to concentrate.]

    I was another with CRA(P) rather than the more conventional parsing. Does it matter? I don’t think so. We all got the answer anyway.

  70. Agreed…I found this a lot easier than yesterday’s Philistine, though still ended up two short with both puzzles. I find I can’t devour the news as I used to (far too depressing), and these puzzles are, with one or two other things (e.g. learning Bridge), a very welcome distraction.

  71. I needed a lot of help from helpful people on Crossword Clue Solver to get started, and lots of guesses/checks/re-guesses.

    I’ve never studied Shakespeare, and I am somewhat ashamed to say I find it very difficult to understand.

    The world of art is unknown to me.

    8 clues solved for me.

    Thank you for the explanations.

  72. Ricardo @68 – “Crossword setters are mind controllers” – I know, I am one 🙂 and quite often solvers spot something “clever” they think I’ve done but 19 times out of 20 it’s a coincidence that I could retroactively justify as a subconscious reference… it’s very rarely deliberate (and when it is, it’s usually in the service of a theme).

    [it would be amusing if Brummie popped into the comments to prove me wrong…! 🙂 ]

  73. Steffen @71 – I did study some Shakespeare and I definitely found it difficult to understand!

    I didn’t get LAERTES so despite finding the rest of the puzzle more approachable, today was a DNF for me because of the Bard…

  74. I had a problem with 28a as I believe the correct answer is RADICEL. Before anyone gets upset, my eChambers lists “rootlet” as the only meaning of that word. But that doesn’t fit with ENDORSE, which leaves RADICLE as the only alternative.
    No, I couldn’t see any theme either.
    Thanks to both for the fun and elucidation – a gentle Brummie.

  75. What gladys@56 said except for the lots of fish. (I generally agree with gladys but this one is slightly spooky 🙂 )

    Thanks both

  76. sh 61

    Interesting, Mrs E and I had to move in a Yorkshire pub recently for exactly the same reason, something rather unusual. There’s a lot of it about just now perhaps?

    (In this case we could simply have played Bar-room Bigot Bingo I suppose.)

    A nice bedtime solve from Brummie whatever.

    Thanks all.

  77. One of my occasional completions — yay! Feels like it’s been a while

    Favourite was 1d COLOSSI. I love a clue that tells a story (especially if it misdirects), and that one did beautifully, as did a number of others

    We had “bye” for EXTRA just recently, so that helped

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