The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29813.
When 1 Across falls out on first reading, I think I am in for an easy ride, and by and large that is how it turned out here. Brummie often has a theme, but I do not see anything – which is far from saying that there is none.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CAMPUS |
Students here affected America (6)
|
| A charade of CAMP (‘affected’) plus US (‘American’). | ||
| 5 | CATACOMB |
Tom possibly on a search for dead accommodating place (8)
|
| A charade of CAT (‘tom possibly’) plus ‘a’ plus COMB (‘search’, verb). | ||
| 9 | SPURIOUS |
Dodgy football club concealing debt (8)
|
| An envelope (‘concealing’) of IOU (‘debt’) in SPURS (Tottenham Hotspur, ‘football club’). | ||
| 10 | POETRY |
Lines of type or squiggles (6)
|
| An anagram (‘squiggles’) of ‘type or’. | ||
| 11 | STAGE WHISPER |
Before gossip, stand aside (5,7)
|
| A charade of STAGE (‘stand’) plus WHISPER (‘gossip’). | ||
| 13 | SWOT |
Backward Yanks study!? (4)
|
| A reversal (‘backwards’) of TOWS (‘yanks’). | ||
| 14 | IDENTITY |
What makes the real you deny it – twice, brazenly? (8)
|
| An anagram (‘brazenly’) of ‘deny it’ plus another ‘it’ (‘twice’). | ||
| 17 | KNICKERS |
Underwear that’s exasperating (8)
|
| Double definition; the second is a humorous mock expletive. | ||
| 18 | PAWL |
Catch wife in embrace of mate (4)
|
| An envelope (‘in embrace of’) of W (‘wife’) in PAL (‘mate’). | ||
| 20 | GRAND LARCENY |
Crime of old lady: nabbing rocking cradle (5,7)
|
| An envelope (‘nabbing’) of DLARCE, an anagram (‘rocking’) of ‘cradle’ in GRANNY (‘old lady’). | ||
| 23 | MUESLI |
Use milk, almost curdled, for breakfast? (6)
|
| An anagram (‘curdled’) of ‘use mil[k]’ minus the last letter (‘almost’). I’m sure some will want to include ‘for’ in the definition. | ||
| 24 | EMBLAZON |
Display lamb cooked in controlled zone (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of MBLA, an anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘lamb’ in EZON, an anagram (‘controlled’) of ‘zone’. | ||
| 25 | ADULTERY |
Mature blend of rye? That’s cheating! (8)
|
| A charade of ADULT (‘mature’) plus ERY, an anabram (‘blend of’) of ‘rye’. | ||
| 26 | GREEDY |
Good as a woodwind section – but insatiable (6)
|
| A charade of G (‘good’) plus REEDY (‘as a woodwind section’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ALPS |
Range of adult records from former times (4)
|
| A charade of A (‘adult’) plus LPS (‘recors from former times’). | ||
| 3 | PARASITIC |
Soldiers, with one jerk clinging on for support (9)
|
| A charade of PARAS (members of the Parachure Regiment, ‘soldiers’) plus I (‘one’) plus TIC (‘jerk’). | ||
| 4 | SLOGAN |
Labour needs a new election catchphrase? (6)
|
| A charade of SLOG (‘labour’) plus ‘a’ plus N (‘new’). | ||
| 5 | COSMETIC SURGERY |
Customer is e.g. about to be covered in blubber as a means of improving looks? (8,7)
|
| An envelope (‘to be covered in’) of OSMETICSURGE, an anagram (‘about’) of ‘customer is eg’ in CRY (‘blubber’). | ||
| 6 | TAP SHOES |
Bugs, garden tools, dance wear (3,5)
|
| A charade of TAPS (‘bugs’ – as in “his phone was tapped”) plus HOES (‘garden tools’). | ||
| 7 | CRESS |
Garnish shows one’s out of touch romantically (5)
|
| A subtraction: C[a]RESS (‘touch romantically’) minus the A (‘one’s out’). | ||
| 8 | MARKET TOWN |
Could be Ludlow’s ATM network needs fixing (6,4)
|
| An anagram (‘needs fixing’) of ‘ATM network’. | ||
| 12 | SWAN AROUND |
Bird needs a shot to move gracefully (4,6)
|
| A charade of SWAN (‘bird’) plus ‘a’ plus ROUND (‘shot’). | ||
| 15 | TIPSY CAKE |
Sort of trifle that produces tight coat! (5,4)
|
| A charade of TIPSY (‘tight’) plus CAKE (‘coat’), plus the suggestion that the cake is fattening. | ||
| 16 | VERLAINE |
French writer’s not entirely over LA – “inexorable!” (8)
|
| A hidden (‘not entirely’) answer in ‘oVER LA INExorable’. | ||
| 19 | BEDBUG |
Sucker’s base program error (6)
|
| A charade of BED (‘base’) plus BUG (‘program error’). | ||
| 21 | NASAL |
Nosy overseer of missions by lake (5)
|
| A charade of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ‘overseer of missions’) plus L (‘lake’). | ||
| 22 | FOLD |
Pound to go out of business (4)
|
| Double definition. |
Just the right level of difficulty (for me tonight). TIPSY CAKE was an nho, despite the fact that I do add sherry to my trifle.
There were some clues that raised an eyebrow, but I made peace with most of them after a bit of internal debate. The holdout was 13a: Yank implies a jerk to get going, but TOW suggests something much smoother.
Isn’t this the third market town we’ve had in the last 10 days (the other 2 were in clues)?
Tx B&P
Ditto re nhho that trifle name, Dr Wh @1, despite the late mrs ginf, the maker of large trifles for our tribe, soaking the pound cake on the bottom in at least half a bottle of sherry. Agree, too, that while a tic is a jerk, towing is not yanking. Nice breezy fun puzzle though, ta Brum and Peter.
I too wasn’t entirely convinced by tow/yank, for the same reason as Dr. WhatsOn@1. I didn’t know Ludlow was a market town, but I do now. The wordplay was straightforward. I couldn’t parse CRESS, but now see it’s quite a clever clue. Never heard of PAWL or TIPSY CAKE (a British specialty?).
A pleasant solve and not as difficult as I sometimes find Brummie’s.
I also had to look up my last two, 15d TIPSY CAKE, and 18a PAWL, both nho, as well as the second meaning of 17a KNICKERS. Everything else solved and parsed. Delightful puzzle. Favourites? 10a POETRY (“type or squiggles” raised a smile), 11a STAGE WHISPER (my second home), 23a MUESLI (nice surface. I almost took the bait to include “for” in the definition, but though better of it!), 21d NASAL (“overseer of missions”), 22d FOLD (“pound” a good misdirection)
9a I was pleased to know the footbal club for a change (SPURS)!
4d could SLOGAN have worked just as well (or better?) without “election”, both surface and definition?
5d COSMETIC SURGERY tells a wonderful story, but slightly weakened by the stray “e.g.”
I’d forgotten, or never knew tight=drunk (British only?). Coupled with not knowing tipsy cake made that one pretty tough! Otherwise a very enjoyable solve.
Can someone explain in what sense pound = fold? As an enclosure?
Dr @1. Yes market towns do seem to be popular at the moment. But hopefully not another occluded front please!
khayyam@5, yes, enclosure. Chambers:
Pound: “an enclosure in which to keep stray animals”
Fold: “an enclosure for protecting domestic animals”
Not exactly synonymous, I suppose, but close enough to be delightful rather than annoying
Thanks mig@6. I suppose I’d always imagined flock more than enclosure for “return to the fold”. It was close enough to get the clue with a bit of puzzlement. So good to adjust my internal definition a bit!
Kayyam@5 bill fold – where you kept pound notes… Once upon a time
Nice puzzle. A couple of stretchy definitions, as already mentioned, but nothing too outrageous. Nho PAWL nor, I’m afraid, the French poet – so they were things I learnt today. Faves were GRAND LARCENY and COSMETIC SURGERY.
Thanks both
GRAND LARCENY was a hoot.
SWAN AROUND comic, or tragic, however you read it. PARASITIC likewise. IDENTITY ticked all the boxes for me, def, surface and wordplay.
Mig@4 In COSMETIC SURGERY, the ‘e.g.’ is an essential part of the anagram fodder, not a stray addition.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Some oddities. I agree with others that yank and tow aren’t equivalent. Does Brummie not know that vinyl HiFi has been very trendy for the last few years? Why is WHISPER “gossip”?
I didn’t parse CRESS – thanks PeterO.
Favourite the nicely hidden VERLAINE.
I’m sure we’ve had PEN/FOLD before – my mum was partial to reciting Lord Byron’s The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold so the meaning’s been lodged in my brain ever since
Top marks for CRESS, GRAND LARCENY, STAGE WHISPER and IDENTITY for today’s earworm from X-Ray Spex
Cheers P&B
Not particularly difficult, but good fun (I laughed at SLOGAN). It took a while to convince myself that a PAWL was a thing, or to remember why FOLD=pound. VERLAINE was beautifully disguised. I don’t associate “swanning around” with grace or elegance, but more with nonchalance, laziness or being inconsiderate (he’s swanned off to the pub just when we need him…)
[LUDLOW market is highly recommended if you’re ever in that part of the world: lots of very good foodie stalls.]
Favourites: MARKET TOWN, ADULTERY, BEDBUG.
New for me: TIPSY CAKE, PAWL.
Lovely to see Ludlow in the puzzle today. Last Friday I was on a train that was continuing to Ludlow and beyond, so the town was very fresh in my mind 🙂
For those that haven’t come across PAWL, see here. It’s unusual to see pawl by itself; it’s usually “ratchet and pawl”.
I enjoyed this a lot, as always with Brummie. I thought of PAWL very early on but didn’t believe in it enough to check it in Chambers until right at the end. Fool.
[Please forgive me for going off-topic, but it looks as if no one has visited the general discussion for a long time, so I hoped I might get some help here. My son has been training himself to do cryptic crosswords through the Quick Cryptic, which he now finds too easy, and has progressed happily to Everyman. As part of his birthday present he’d like a book of reasonably straightforward but properly cryptic puzzles – he doesn’t want to do them online as he spends all day reading stuff on his laptop. Can anyone recommend such a thing? There used to be a collection of Guardian Quiptics, but it seems to be no longer available.]
Sarah @17
We really enjoyed this one:
The Chambers Book of Cryptic Crosswords, Book 1
which I think was compiled by Brummie. I don’t think there was ever a Book 2.
Also, you can find all the old Quiptics on the Guardian website. We usualy print off a sheaf of them to take on holiday.
Re the blog for 15D: I’m sure I was told that when you cut a cake all the calories fly out.
Can anyone explain to me the use, or relevance, of the ‘exclamation mark + question mark’ at the end of 13ac?
I know that in some conventions, it is used to indicate an &lit, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Good fun, but over far too soon.
Like Geoff@3, I couldn’t parse CRESS, but now that PeterO’s kindly explained it, I think it’s a little cracker.
I also enjoyed the surface to MUESLI, and SPURIOUS and ALPS both made me grin.
Many thanks to Brummie & PeterO
I had worryingly few on the first pass (pre-coffee though) but it unfolded nicely for me today, a couple of slightly chewy ones but overall a lovely difficulty curve. CRESS took me a while but is my favourite clue of the puzzle, a nicely misleading surface leading up to an amusing penny-drop.
Many thanks both.
Agree with Wellbeck @21 (and Rob T @22) – a lot of fun and, actually, just the right length of time needed for me on a busy-ish day.
My favourites were POETRY, STAGE WHISPER, IDENTITY, GRAND LARCENY, ADULTERY, SLOGAN, COSMETIC SURGERY, CRESS, MARKET TOWN and NASAL – all of these put a smile on my face, for one reason or another. (Ludlow really is a delightful place to visit.)
Many thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
The parsing of CRESS had me scratching my filbert for too long until the penny dropped. Very good.
Thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the crossword which was on the easier side for Brummie today.
Thanks both.
Loved the anagrind, squiggles, not sure I’ve seen that before. Not the usual tough challenge but fun all the way. Agree with others about yank/tow. Favourites were SPURIOUS, GRAND LARCENY, IDENTITY, COSMETIC SURGERY, TIPSY CAKE (nho) and the lovely VERLAINE.
Ta Brummie & PeterO.
Not heard of TIPSY CAKE but sounds yummy. Also PAWL was new to me which made the SW corner account for a disproportionate amount of time. Don’t think I’ve ever heard KNICKERS as a mild expletive but it was obvious from the checking lettters.
Liked SLOGAN and PARASITIC amongst many others.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Reliable and fair entertainment as always from Brummie.
TIPSY CAKE and PAWL were new to me. It does make sense to describe a combination of sponge and sherry as such, and I can’t believe I have reached my advanced age without coming across PAWL before.
SPURIOUS was my favourite due to the SPURS reference (though there are plenty of clubs a lot more “dodgy” than we are).
Thanks B&PO
In the clue for CRESS, I thought ‘one’s out of touch romantically’ was crass and I was going to complain about an unfair substitution, doh! It was a good clue though. I liked the GRAND LARCENY crime of an old lady, the topical surface for SLOGAN, MARKET TOWN, where at first I selected Ludlow’s as part of the fodder, and the nicely hidden VERLAINE.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Enjoyed this but I did have a few small quibbles. Didn’t get why fold was pound but of course it is (now I’ve read the comments)! Not very happy with WHISPER for gossip. They don’t seem to be interchangeable to me. Surely a blubber is the one who is blubbing? So cry and blub are the synonyms, aren’t they? And the ‘s in Ludlow’s seemed to be superfluous.
In spite of that I thought it was great fun, and I enjoyed it. So thank you Brummie.
Agree witth Gladys@14 re ‘swan around’. Can’t find anything online to support ‘graceful’ and am surprised it’s largely passed without comment. Maybe Chambers…
I seem to be in a small minority in not having heard of the French poet, my LOI. Tipsy cake was also new to me, and I see I’m in good company there.
For a reference to 15down have a listen to the wonderful Bar On the Piccolo Marina by Noël Coward.
Tic@29 Chambers: blubber – to weep effusively
The apostrophe is there for the surface grammar and it’s also common way of indicating “is” to link the wordplay and def
16D was my LOI. I was convinced that it was a truncation of a synonym for inexorable surrounding LA, when I came back to it after a gap my brain popped up Verlaine from somewhere, and even then I was trying to work out what verine was short for until the inevitable teatray moment.
Bodycheetah@27 –
OK, thank you for that. Two quibbles withdrawn.
Good puzzle, enjoyed it last night.
Brazenly is an anagrind? Cake = coat?
Anybody else try to make a word from LUDLOWSATM? Don’t try it, it doesn’t work.
The swan can swim while sitting down.
For pure conceit it takes the crown.
It looks in the mirror over and over
And claims to have never heard of Pavlova.
(Ogden Nash, Carnival of the Animals)
Paddy lay back, take in your slack,
Take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl
About ship’s stations, boys, be handy
We’re bound for Valparaiso round the Horn
(Chorus of the capstan shanty Paddy Lay Back)
The capstan is a big spool standing vertically on a ship’s deck, with bars all around it as radii. The crew walk around it pushing the bars and doing some heavy lifting thereby, usually raising the anchor. The pawls (see the muffin’s link @16) keep the capstan from spinning backward and dropping the anchor.
Thanks, Brummie and PeterO.
Very enjoyable puzzle, thanks Brummie. TIPSY CAKE was my favourite, but I hadn’t parsed CRESS (l’m not alone I see) which now supplants it. Thanks PeterO.
Valentine @36, I took it to be cake as in “face was caked with makeup” and coat as the verb, so both meaning cover with a layer of something.
Gladys @14/endwether @30; yes, Chambers: swan about or around (informal)
To move about aimlessly, or gracefully
Thanks very much Simonc @18; much appreciated.
Andy in Durham @11, Re 5d, I understand the “e.g.” is anagram fodder and is essential for the clue to work. Unfortunately it slightly mars the surface reading, which keeps it from being a truly great clue
As an Arsenal supporter I was amused by the dodgy club reference.
I heard that VERLAINE was always chasing Rimbaud’s.
Enjoyable. Needed you to parse the cress clue. Thanks
Zoot @42
🙂
Definitely on the easier side for Brummie. Apart from NHOs Verlaine and Pawl – also had to check Tipsy Cake, although I think I have come across it before.
Re 3D: surely “clinging on for support” is epiphytic (or lithophytic) rather than parasitic?
Andy@11 and Mig@4&41, I think it was just the placement of “e.g.” in the clue for 5d that marred the surface. If it had read “Customer, e.g., is about…”, the clue would have been even better.
For 19d BEDBUG, perhaps because I had sweets in mind after the tipsy cake at 15d, I kept trying to rationalize HUMBUG until the nastier sucker bit me.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO for the fine puzzle and blog.
Cellomaniac and Andy in Durham, I wanted to highlight 5d because the image of this customer allowing themself to be covered in blubber in the hopes of improving their appearance is hilarious and is still making me laugh! Brummie’s choice of the word “blubber” for CRY is just brilliant!
We thought this was a very enjoyable puzzle. It was all meticulously clued and fair once we’d managed to work our way to a possible answer, although I was held up for ages wondering how “cares” could mean “garnish”, having removed one “s” from “caress”, before my error was pointed out to me. We particularly liked GREEDY and SPURIOUS. GRAND LARCENY was also rather marvellous. Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Never heard of that definition for 22D – Since when did ‘fold’ mean ‘pound’? Please do tell, otherwise I’m just chalking this up as yet another bad clue in the extensive list of such in G crossword history.
Jenna @50 – this really was covered in early comments on the puzzle. You could, for example, go to Mig @6.
SLOGAN had very similar parsing to Tramp’s from last Thursday; synonym for ‘effort’ + a + n (abbreviation), both well set in their own way but the timing is unfortunate.
Not on form this week. I’m having to solve in the evening by which time my reservoir of lateral thinking has dried up. I did finish though and really liked COSMETIC SURGERY and GRAND LARCENY.
Sarah @17 ditto to your first sentence.
Valentine @36 yep, I tried that…and no it doesn’t.
I’m surprised at the number of commenters who have never heard of VERLAINE. I first heard the name – it’s 50 years ago! – in Bob Dylan’s You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go:
Relationships have all been bad
Mine have been like Verlaine’s and Rimbaud’s
I knew it but took ages to realise that it was the answer, and that it was hidden in the clue! That was one of five that I had left unsolved when I took a break, and I also got SWOT when I restarted, though I’m as puzzled as Andrew@19 as to why the setter has placed both an exclamation mark and a question mark at the end of that clue. (Perhaps an acknowledgement that TOWS is a poor synonym for yanks, and that the capital Y needs apologising for?)
Still had a dnf as CRESS just would not come to me, and 11a was completely beyond me.
Thanks anyway to Brummie and to PeterO for the blog.
Leaving aside the quibble as to whether tows is a synonym for yanks in the clue for SWOT, I think the interrobang is intentional and very clever.
It could work in the cryptic clue convention marking a clue as definition or &lit. But when you think about it, do backward people study? Of course they can and do, maybe not in the way that one might usually associate backward and study.(There could be an implied comment there about current US politics as well.)
But I think the interrobang also works in the usual sense of expressing disbelief or rhetorical question, which also makes sense .
In the clue for SWOT I think the exclamation point is integral to the surface, to form the imperative: “OK you benighted Americans, break out a book every now and then!”
(I see PM @55 is on this wavelength)
Very much enjoyed that apart from …
I clearly need a lesson in anagrinds. I thought it was words that were meant to mean either “move around” or “wrong” (which by convention seems to include drunk). As Valentine @36 implies, in what sense is brazenly an Anagrind? I’m not also 100% convinced that “squiggles” means “moves around” – I can’t imagine a sentence in which squiggle is used as an active verb (the snake squiggles on the ground?).
It just feels that setters are trying to find more and more unusual anagrinds, to the detriment of them meaning what they are meant to mean.
Thanks Peter and brummie