The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29902.
Maybe not Brummie at his toughest, but with enough trickery to keep a solver happy. He often uses a theme, but I do not see anything obvious here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ALWAYS |
Everything is a burden, it’s said unfailingly (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘it’s said’) ALL (‘everything’) WEIGHS (‘is a burden’). | ||
| 5 | BACKLIFT |
Bat’s preparatory move, dramatically illuminated when female enters (8)
|
| An envelope (‘when … enters’) of F (‘female’) in BACKLIT (‘dramatically illumiinated’). | ||
| 9 | RESTORER |
Stop working with rock star’s ultimate fixer (8)
|
| A charade of REST (‘stop working’) plus ORE (‘rock’) plus R (‘staR‘s ultimate’). | ||
| 10, 13 | NITRIC ACID |
Explosive agent and critic put off introducing one (6,4)
|
| An envelope (‘introducing’) of I (‘one’) in NTRICACID (or any other missing I), an anagram (‘put off’) of ‘and critic’. NITRIC ACID is not in itself explosive, but is used to produce many substances which are, such as TNT and nitroglycerin. | ||
| 11 | CABBAGE WHITE |
Many a flutter initiated by this US money (and a bit English) (7,5)
|
| A charade of CABBAGE (‘US money’) plus WHIT (‘a bit’) plus E (‘English’), with a cryptic definition and perhaps a hint of the butterfly effect. | ||
| 13 |
See 10
|
|
| 14 | NEOPHYTE |
Trainee mobile phone, yet complicated (8)
|
| A charade of NEOPH, an anagram (‘mobile’) of ‘phone’ plus YTE, an anagram (‘complicated’) of ‘yet’. Two anagrams for the price of one. | ||
| 17 | VIRGINIA |
Pure iodine added to a tobacco (8)
|
| A charade of VIRGIN (‘pure’) plus I (chemical symbol, ‘iodine’) plus (‘added to’) ‘a’. | ||
| 18 | MOOT |
Low temperature? That’s debatable (4)
|
| A charade of MOO (‘low’ – “The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea”) plus T (‘temperature’). | ||
| 20 | EMBROIDERING |
Exaggerating what a sewer might be doing (12)
|
| Double definition,with ‘sewer’ as a person sewing. | ||
| 23 | STOLEN |
Hot sort of scarf with neck opening (6)
|
| A charade of STOLE (‘sort of scarf plus N (‘Neck opening’). | ||
| 24 | EXPLORER |
Maybe Burton’s ex at piano, learning rock intro (8)
|
| A charade of ‘ex’ plus (‘at’) P (‘piano’) plus LORE (‘learning’) plus R (‘Rock intro’). The definition refers to Sir Richard Francis Burton, 19th century British explorer.. | ||
| 25 | ACCREDIT |
One has copies, right, to correct and certify (8)
|
| A charade of A (‘one’) plus C C (‘copies’) plus R (‘right’) plus EDIT (‘correct’). | ||
| 26 | TENURE |
Presidential term: ‘Career’s over in golf course support’ (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of NUR, a reversal (‘over’) of RUN (‘career’) in TEE (‘golf course support’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LEER |
Glad eye? Wind-up! (4)
|
| A reversal (-‘up’ in a down light) of REEL (‘wind’-, verb). | ||
| 3 | ATTACK DOG |
Norman Tebbit’s role – to have a go at setter? (6,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation; Norman Tebbit was widely seen as Margaret Thatcher’s ATTACK DOG. | ||
| 4 | SCRUBS |
Abandons theatre wear (6)
|
| Double definition, the ‘theatre’ being of the operating kind. | ||
| 5 | BARGAIN-BASEMENT |
Cheap gibes at barman ineptly carrying measure (7-8)
|
| An envelope (‘carrying’) of EN (‘measure’) in BARGAINBASEMT, an anagram (‘ineptly’) of ‘gibes at barman’. | ||
| 6 | CONVENOR |
Scam merchant gets rid of diamonds for union official (8)
|
| A charade of CON (‘scam’) plus VEN[d]OR (‘merchant’) minus the D (‘gets rid of diamonds’). | ||
| 7 | LATCH |
Bar entrance – strip clubs inside (5)
|
| An envelope (‘inside’) of C (‘clubs’) in LATH (‘strip’). For the definition, read ‘bar’ as a verb. | ||
| 8 | FLIRTATION |
Serious affair? No, not if trial’s rigged (10)
|
| An anagram (‘rigged’) of ‘not if trial’. | ||
| 12 | SCHISMATIC |
Divisive school is Mother Theresa’s first international college (10)
|
| A charade of SCH (‘school’) plus ‘is’ plus MA (‘mother’) plus T (‘Theresa’s first’) plus I (‘international’) plus C (‘college’). | ||
| 15 | HOME-GROWN |
Local gets in wrong rum (4-5)
|
| A charade of HOME (‘in’) plus GROWN, an anagram (‘rum’) of ‘wrong’. | ||
| 16 | UNSIGNED |
United takes sending off to be lacking certification (8)
|
| A charade of U (‘united’) plus NSIGNED, an anagram (‘off’) of ‘sending’. | ||
| 19 | TINPOT |
Mediocre elected president blocking measure (6)
|
| An envelope (‘blocking’) of IN (‘elected’) plus P (‘president’) in TOT (‘measure’ of drink). | ||
| 21 | RULER |
One who regrets welcoming Latin dictator? (5)
|
| An envelope (‘welcoming’) of L (‘Latin’) in RUER (‘one who regrets’). | ||
| 22 | HEIR |
Successor’s appearance reported (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘reported’) AIR (‘appearance’). |
Tinpot dictator, schismatic attack dog. Hmmm…
Thanks, Brummie and PeterO for a good puzzle. Gosh PeterO you were up early!
I thought I had come across a Jorum for the first action of a bat about to fly – the BACKFLIT – but FLIRTATION put me right. And all this after watching the Ashes (don’t mention the cricket!). Can we add STOLEN, HEIR (he won’t need one) and TENURE (indefinite) to your list GinF? Thanks, Brummie and Peter O.
Yep gif @1. My thoughts too, and a lot more. For me the giveaway was the definition for 26a, which I thought was overly specific, and the surface also told a story.
Meant to say 26a, the clue for TENURE. Did anyone else notice tbat?
I thought the theme more specifically might relate to the release, or not, of the Epstein files incriminating Trump. We have VIRGINIA and STOLEN, for anyone who’s been following the story.
But as I said on the G site, I might just have Trump Derangement. Syndrome. He’s everywhere!
Apologies Tassie Tim @3. Missed your post mentioning TENURE.
Peter O. Thank you. CABBAGE WHITE was my favourite clue. The butterfly effect (which I like) occurred to me too, but I was impressed by the surface which was about gambling/flutter (which I don’t like).
TheGreatZarf #2. It’s all relative. Peter O lives in the USofA and posts before my bedtime (which I like), and rest assured, that’s where I’m heading now. 🙂
Lots of fun, especially ATTACK DOG, great puppet on Spitting Image. Not sure about your theme paddymelon but sounds convincing.
Ta Brummie & PeterO.
Enjoyable puzzle with a subtle theme.
Does cabbage derive from the green hue of the US notes?
I wasn’t aware of CABBAGE as a slang term for the currency of our disreputable former colony, but the crossers made the answer clear.
As Grantinfreo @1 observed, it’s pretty clear what the theme is; though surely the allusions are to leering attack dogs and a schismatic ruler embroidering claims of a stolen election and looking to inflict a tinpot homegrown heir on the world.
A fair number of the surfaces fit the theme, too, most notably that for 26a, though references to bars and scam merchants are also apt.
Making fun from a safe distance seems like all that is left to us; though Mandelson says he’s gracious and Starmer admires his family values, so that’s good.
Thanks, Brummie and PeterO
I fail to see why bat’s preparatory move=backlift and I didn’t know cabbage=US currency. Other than that it yielded slowly but steadily, as more crossers appeared, just as I like it.
@ravenrider #11. A backlift is the first move by a batter in cricket.
Sadly, paddymelon, your suggestion @5, has me linking NEOPHYTE and the consecutive VIRGINIA, which I’m now convinced is deliberate.
Alan C #13. I did say I was going to bed 🙂 . I’d also looked at NEOPHYTE and VIRGINIA, and believe they’re deliberate. Surely they’re thematic, however wide or narrow the theme?
Thanks, SteveThePirate @12. Seems a bit too specialist to me but at least the wordplay was straightforward.
Enjoyable clueing, and enjoyable solving. Can’t say fairer than that.
StevethePirate@12 and ravenrider@11. BACKLIFT. Baseball occurred to me.
I smiled when I eventually saw through the misdirection in EXPLORER. I liked NEOPHYTE, too. It’s sad how Norman The bit seems quite mild in comparison to today’s attack dogs.
ravenrider@11: the batter stands at the wicket with the bat in a near-vertical position, the lower tip against the batter’s foot. Then, as the bowler takes their run up to bowl the ball, the batter lifts the bat to the rear into a near-horizontal position, ready to swing the bat down and through for the stroke needed to hit the oncoming ball.
In golf the analogous move would be called a “backswing”.
PeterT @18, I did smile at your autocorrect of NT.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Very nice. Favourite LOI ALWAYS for the misleading “burden”.
I too didn’t know CABBAGE for American money, but it had to be right.
I wonder what overseas solvers will make of the reference to Norman Tebbit? It’s nearly 40 years since he had that role, and I doubt if he was very well known outside the UK even then.
Lovely puzzle, with a few things I didn’t know but still eminently solvable.
The main thing that held me up is that I initially filled in EMBELLISHING for 20A, which seems to be an equally valid solution.
Tough puzzle.
Favourite: MOOT.
I needed help for some of the GK. New for me. Norman Tebbitt = Thatcher’s ATTACK DOG (muffin@21 – I am an overseas solver and I never heard of the man); CONVENOR = a senior trade union official at a workplace; CABBAGE = American slang term for money, particularly green paper money; and also glad eye (in clue for 2d).
MOOT is another of those “contranyms”. It can mean either “debatable” (as here), or “not worth debating”.
Petert#18:
That’s because he’s dead
CABBAGE as slang for US currency has been used by Brummie before (puzzle 29,296 on 10/2/24). It caught me out first time I saw it, but I remembered it this time.
The top half took much longer than the bottom. I think overall I found this more challenging than most. Certainly on par with other Brummie puzzles I’ve completed.
Liked the ATTACK DOG of Norman Tebbit. Spitting Image was not kind to him (rightfully so in my opinion)
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Picking up on Muffins #24 comment about moot. I only ever heard the “undecided” version in the UK and the “doesn’t need to be decided” version in the US. So is that a contranym? Or is there another word to be used when the meanings diverge across different “languages”?
Nice puzzle. I’m not sure that a theme was actually intended. After last week’s Pasquale I briefly toyed with the idea of GAMISMATIC for 12d until the penny dropped. Re MOOT, whenever you see the word “low”, think MOO.
Norman Tebbit was also called a “semi house-trained pole cat” (by Michael Foot I think). He really was a nasty piece of work.
Many thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Had to reveal BACKLIFT (my interest in cricket would be undetectable even with powerful machinery) but otherwise an agreeable puzzle.
I think the reason this was an easier solve overall is that the proportion of charade clues is quite high — and those charade clues are also pretty much linear. You just step through right-to-left or top-to-bottom.
The envelope clues (seven of them) also telegraph the inclusion quite clearly (‘carrying’, ‘inside’, ‘blocking’, ‘welcoming’), so that gives the solver a definite leg-up.
Definitely a few digs at a certain president. If that amounts to a theme, I would add UNSIGNED (Trump’s criticism of Biden’s use of an autopen), EMBROIDERING (the truth) and of course RULER. I did like the bat’s preparatory move in BACKLIFT, the good anagram for BARGAIN BASEMENT and the TINPOT mediocre president.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Were not some people referred to as cabbages?
What a fabulous crossword! Huge thanks to Brummie, and of course to the ever meticulous PeterO for yet another exemplary blog.
NeilH @ 10, your comment is just brilliant, and has made my day! And congratulations to everyone for the lengthy discussion of the theme without a single mention by name (I think: I haven’t checked back through) of the revolting charlatan at the heart of it. As you imply, NeilH, all we can do from this side of the pond is flick despairing v-signs from a safe distance. I loved your “disreputable former colony”. That will keep me happy for hours! Since we seem to be avoiding being specific, why not just call the place the DFC? After all, it would be comic if it weren’t so sad.
Quite a few were rather difficult; LOI was CABBAGE WHITE. I liked ALWAYS and EXPLORER. Not sure about the theme – sorry, sounds more like TDS to me (I don’t have a sympathy or antipathy, just saying). Thanks Brummie and PeterO!
Robi @ 32: we crossed!
Norman Tebbit must have made enough of an impression on me way back when that ATTACK DOG went in without hesitation… Steve Bell’s cartoons I think (never saw Spitting Image).
Lots of charades, which I always enjoy. Ticks for EXPLORER (I had my mind on the actor for a bit too long) and NEOPHYTE, but lots of other good stuff. Last big one in was CABBAGE WHITE, which unlocked the final hold-outs that crossed it.
I didn’t see a theme myself, but the discussions above are on the ball, I think, in pointing out the underlying dark mutterings embedded here. O brave new world, etc.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Tough but fair, with the bottom half taking a long time to yield. I saw MOO for lower right away, but sewer drew a big groan when I finally saw it.
I was happy to recall the other Richard Burton after being misled with Liz for a while.
For 5A the cricket reference eluded me (as always) but I had a feeling that the first motion a bat makes before launching itself into the air is a very distinctive backlift followed by an emphatic downstroke. I may be completely wrong about that, my knowledge of the natural world being scarce.
Another vote here for the superb comment by NeilH @10, pretty much says it all – I’ve always routinely referred to the US as “our former colony”, will from now on be adding “disreputable” to that phrase! CABBAGE as US currency was new to me… although the comment that Brummie has used this before did ring a faint bell maybe? I also needed PeterO’s help to parse LATCH and TINPOT (my LOI). Thanks to PeterO, Brummie and everyone who commented above, all very entertaining.
MW @34 what does DFC stand for?
Possibly Democratic Free Country
I enjoyed that one. Easy enough for me to finish, hard enough to cause me a lot of thought.
My favourite was SCRUBS. I didn’t get it until only two to go. One of those penny-drop moments which makes one smile.
Lol poc @30, I share your interest in cricket.
I lived in the US for ten years and never heard “cabbage” for money.
Another one here like Tassie Tim #3 who was initially convinced 5a was about bats elegantly and acrobatically descending from their suspended position and then flitting forwards into the air. Pity it wasn’t.
Those of us experiencing the whole thing from closer range (or most of us, anyway) are by turns terrified, angry, disgusted, terrified again, and always deeply sad that everything this country once repersented (often with flaws or contradictions, to be fair), so carefully husbanded for 250 years, is being discarded wantonly in the service of an egomaniacal lunatic and his craven, cynical cronies. I do the crossword to escape the news. Anyway, please don’t lump us all in with him.
LobsterDarts @42: cabbage for money is very dated slang–I’ve only heard it in older movies.
My first thought for Burton was 90s Tim. Considering the usual timeframe of celebrity references, I smugly convinced myself it would be 60s Richard. Little did I know…
Oh well, I did get my 21st century celebrity alright.
ALWAYS is a beautiful clue! Thank you to Brummie and PeterO.
Oh, speaking of EXPLORER: am I the only one who, upon seeing “Burton’s ex”, immediately thought, “um, Taylor?”
Kevin#40, the clue is in the last sentence at #34: Here it is from Wiki: “The DFC was a weekly British children’s anthology comic, published by David Fickling Books The first issue was published at the end of May 2008.” As I said, it would be comic if it weren’t so sad.
Never having raised a cricket bat in anger, I didn’t know about BACKLIFT, so thanks for the explanations from the lads who know about these things. Political themes are wasted on me – I had enough trouble remembering Norman Tebbitt being an ATTACK DOG. Nice misdirection in EXPLORER (yes, I was looking for Taylor or Liz…) and I enjoyed the CABBAGE WHITE.
mrpenny#46: no, you are not the only one who fell for the misdirection. I tried Taylor, then Elizabeth (didn’t fit), then Liz, then Bessie etc., then wondered if there were other former squeezes of the handsome Welshman that we don’t hear about. Then I finally remembered the Victorian explorer, who was even more of a how’s your father expert than his namesake – see the splendid Wiki article for a delicious account of the weird theories of an off-the-scale brilliant anthropologist and linguist. These chaps who could speak twenty-nine languages or do mathematics of Newtonian complexity seem to be two a penny in Victorian Britain; I don’t know why.
Thanks PeterO and Brummie. Good stuff. I second mrpenney@44. Before I retired I worked with a lot of Americans. Many of them are despairing at the conduct of the current President; none of them would I describe as “disreputable”. Let’s acknowledge that the USA is deeply divided – probably even more than Britain – with many good people.
I think Brummie’s very good at using the “secondary” meaning of words to through me off the correct path. Bat, sewer,Burton and theatre did just that today. Thanks for the puzzle and blog. Got there in the end though.
[MikeC @50
I remember that you never seemed to meet any Americans in Europe who had voted for George Dubya (or at least admit to it). Those that did were probably unaware that Europe existed!]
With Spitting Image in mind, my first thought for Tebbit was ‘bovver boy.’
I’ve been into cryptics for a year or so now, and the full fat cryptics are just so wild for me. I’ve mostly done minute cryptic, which I can now usually get quickly. I’m currently working through the quick cryptics after the quiptics still pose too big a challenge for me. But even with them I run into vocabulary issues as a non native speaker. It’s wild to me that anyone can solve the above, or not even consider it the most difficult.
[As one who has commented before on non-existent Brummie themes, I remain to be convinced that one was really intended here (beyond maybe one or two odd clues having a dig at you-know-who.) Maybe Brummie will appear to say?
And well said mrpenney @44 (“please don’t lump us all in with him”). “Our disreputable former colony”? — come on. Let’s have some respect for our many Stateside commenters.]
Shikogo @54
You deserve great credit for even attempting crosswords not in your native language! Anything you manage is worth congratulation.
There was a regular here until he sadly died a few years ago (Francis?) whose first language was French, as I remember, but he became a well respected contributor.
Lord J @55
You’re right to be sceptical – no theme was intended. Indeed, less than half of my puzzles are themed these days.
Fun but pretty straightforward. LATCH was excellent for its surface. I took the NITRIC ACID definition to mean agent (or reagent) for making explosives. Along with those mentioned by PeterO, certain of its salts are too.
Thanks, Brummie for popping in and PeterO for the blog.
phitonelly @58
Indeed. Gunpowder is a mixture of carbon, sulphur (I can’t bring myself to write “sulfur”!), and potassium NITRATE.
[Another ‘well said’ to mrpenney @44 to add to Lord Jim’s @55. Unlike Mary Wackdean @34, I did not find NeilH’s comment ‘just brilliant’. On the contrary, I found it sneering and patronising, and, Lord knows, there is little going on in UK politics right now that entitles us to take that attitude. I really don’t know why NeilH supposes that he and we are at ‘a safe distance’.]
Thank you PeterO and Brummie! A relatively brisk solve for me today, though several had me stuck for a while, with TINPOT LOI.
Great puzzle! LOI 19d TINPOT took a long time because I couldn’t figure out what word would have INP in the middle. A very satisfying penny-drop, along with 1a ALWAYS (“everything is a burden”), 11a CABBAGE WHITE (“many a flutter”), 23a STOLEN (“scarf with neck opening”), 24a EXPLORER (having tried to make TAYLOR and TIM work), 4d SCRUBS (“theatre wear”), and others. 18a “Low temperature” for MOOT was really great. 12d SCHISMATIC had a great surface, with Mother Theresa founding a divisive school. 15d HOME-GROWN had a beautifully poetic surface (“gets in wrong rum” – listen to the vowels, and alliteration!)
TassieTim@3 I also toyed with BACKFLIT at 5d, thinking it was maybe a descriptor of how bats (the animals) begin to fly after hanging upside down
After extensive discussion about the theme, I was amazed to see from Brummie@57 that none was intended! Or is he just being coy?? 🙂
All very enjoyable and above board. I found the construction of SCHISMATIC very satisfying.
Thanks Brummie #57 for dropping in and disabusing me of a theme. But I’m interested to know why the definition of TENURE as presidential term and the golf reference in the wordplay? Perhaps a latent TDS?
phitonelly @58 and muffin @ 59
The common link is that the nitrate radical provides oxygen to combine with other combustibles.
[phitonelly@58, muffin @ 59, PeterO@65: I dimly recall in a 6th-form chemistry practical synthesising TNT from toluene and nitric acid. I guess nowadays that would risk getting the school shut down!]
[DTS @66
You would need a mixture nitric and sulphuric acids (“nitrating mixture”). TNT isn’t a volatile explosive – it needs a detonator to set it off; in contrast to nitroglycerine (to use the old name), which could be set off just by dropping it. Alfred Nobel made his fortune by discovering that it could be made safer by absorbing it in a clay mineral called keiselguhr, thus inventing dynamite.]
[muffin@67 – thanks! It was a pretty dim memory… I do recall that making TNT was the objective, and that we succeeded (I can’t remember how we determined that!), so I imagine we did use the nitrating mixture. ]
[To get technical, the electrophile substituting in the benzene ring is the NO2+ (I had carefully done the subscript and superscript in Word, but it hasn’t pasted!) ion, formed when nitric acid reacts with sulphuric acid. The delocalised electrons in the benzene ring mean it has to be attacked by electron-loving species – i.e. “electrophiles”.]
I cannot be the only one who wrote in PICRIC ACID which actually is an explosive agent.
muffin@24 and haggis@28: isn’t it wonderful that the difference between the “undecided” and the “doesn’t need to be decided” versions is itself MOOT, regardless of which definition you choose.
Alphalpha @71
🙂
YesMe2 @70
Yes, me too, my first thought for 10, 13 was PICRIC ACID, but I rejected it since it did not fit the wordplay.
Derek @66,
I’d be pretty amazed if you made it at school. Perhaps it was a precursor (mono or dinitrotoluene). To get the fully nitrated compound, you’d need to use fuming sulfuric acid and be pretty careful! Might not get the school shut down so much as blown up!
[phitonelly@74: maybe; the years do tend to polish up the past a bit. But our chemistry teacher was pretty gung-ho, and “TNT” is what I remember. The school’s still there, at any rate!]
I took GinF’s comment @1 to be tongue in cheek, and added my own contribution @3 in similar vein – but then it took on a life of its own! Happy to see Brummie @57 confirm that no theme was intended.
Yeah, as I said, hmmm…
Shikogo @54: my best sympathies; second language for me, too. You’ll improve. Full bodied cryptics bewildered me for a while, but with practice (and asking questions here helps!) I’m now able to complete some, at times even a few in a row. But of course I won’t ever be on par or even close to the best solvers – and that’s Ok. Sometimes you just won’t know the word (or quite a few of them), and it’s also perfectly Ok – can’t know everything. Aim for solving all that you do know (or construct those that you don’t from the pieces that you know and then look up in the dictionary). Using the dictionary helps, too
I hadn’t heard of Norman Tebbit, not being from the UK, so I read the Wikipedia entry, and I learned a few things about him:
(1) he loathed hypocrisy;
(2) his devotion to his disabled wife was touching and exemplary;
(3) he had a sense of humour – in honour of Michael Foot’s descriptive insult, he included a polecat in his coat of arms.
His politics may have been execrable, but he did have some redeeming qualities, unlike the current tinpot ruler who was the subject of Brummie’s non-theme.
mrpenny@44 et al, we aren’t lumping you in with anyone when we call your country disreputable. We are referring to the conduct of the state, not any individuals living there. (There were many good people in 1930s Germany who did their best, unfortunately unsuccessfully.) And as one who lives next door, also in a former colony, I am not commenting from a safe distance. Rest assured, we are truly frightened.