I only needed one pass through the clues to finish this one, despite being somewhat under the influence of alcohol (in my case whisky) so it must have been easy. In fact focusing on the screen to type this post was probably more difficult than the puzzle.
The customary plethora of cryptic definitions and anagrams but, surprisingly, no only one double definitions.
Across
1 Range of company found by MP on a ship (7)
COMPASS – CO (company) MP A SS (a ship)
5 Not quite a heavyweight / vessel? (7)
CRUISER – double def. – the first referring to boxing
9 Bulb lit up, when switched (5)
TULIP – an anagram (when switched) of LIT UP
10 I made case out for specialised schools (9)
ACADEMIES – an anagram (out) of I MADE CASE
11 The constitution should be all the better for them (10)
AMENDMENTS – cryptic def.
12 A student is after an alternative exam (4)
ORAL – A L (a student) after OR (an alternative)
14 It may have a good nap on the flight (5,6)
STAIR CARPET – cryptic def.
18 Person with two hips? (11)
CHEER LEADER – cryptic def. – as in ‘hip, hip hooray’
21 Some harbour dues with which Indians are conversant (4)
URDU – hidden in (some) ‘harboUR DUes’
22 Break away from the craft (5,5)
SHORE LEAVE – cryptic def.
25 Exacting examinations, involving litmus papers? (4,5)
ACID TESTS – def. plus cryptic indication
26 One has to be what one is (5)
OWNER – cryptic def.
27 Sending out terminations (7)
ENDINGS – an anagram (out) of SENDING
28 Getting fed up about midday? (2,5)
AT LUNCH – cryptic def.
Down
1 A yacht capsized in Old China (6)
CATHAY – an anagram (capsized) of A YACHT
2 Striker appears satisfied about everything (6)
MALLET – MET (satisfied) around (about) ALL (everything)
3 Ida strips a rampant evergreen (10)
ASPIDISTRA – an anagram (rampant) of IDA STRIPS A
4 Around morning she gets a feeling of guilt (5)
SHAME – SHE around AM (morning)
5 Accountant may be after this three-card trick (9)
CHARTERED – an anagram (trick) of THREE-CARD
6 Takes advantage, gaining three points on centre court (4)
USES – [co]U[rt] (centre court) S E S (three points)
7 Footholds on the mount (8)
STIRRUPS – cryptic def.
8 Determined to give poor Rose an instrument (8)
RESOLUTE – an anagram (poor) of ROSE plus LUTE (an instrument)
13 Container to list in aircraft manoeuvre (6,4)
BARREL ROLL – BARREL (container) ROLL (list)
15 Sort out that messy collection of stones (9)
AMETHYSTS – an anagram (sort out) of THAT MESSY
16 Precise bill supported by a junior minister (8)
ACCURATE – AC (bill) CURATE (junior minister)
17 It’s a blow that has to be faced (8)
HEADWIND – cryptic def.
19 Girl came in to study the weapon (6)
CANNON – ANN (girl) in (came in to) CON (study)
20 Want to disguise hatred (6)
DEARTH – an anagram (to disguise) of HATRED
23 A follower of Ethiopian emperor and a Russian emperor uplifted (5)
RASTA – A TSAR (a Russian emperor) reversed (uplifted)
24 Heads up to deliver a knock-out blow (4)
STUN – NUTS (heads) reversed (up)
All very straightforward, apart from the less than clear (to me) wording of 26ac.
Correction: ALL very straightforward (penny has just dropped re. wording of 26ac)!
Yes, quite easy, but not made any easier by me putting in lighter at 5a.
There is no E in the anagram fodder in 3d. I think the correct answer is ASPIDISTRA.
Thanks Kevin, typo corrected.
Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid
As Kevin did, I had LIGHTER for 5a for a while; otherwise yes, very easy, but worth it for “Person with two hips?”!
Yes, the easiest Rufus for some time as far as I was concerned – I normally have to scratch my head about some of his DDs. I also put in LIGHTER instead of CRUISER in the top RH corner initially.
I got the giggles with 12 which I entered as ‘anal’ (A L after ‘an’), thinking it was some kind of ‘alternative’ medical exam I had fortunately not yet heard of. I only corrected it to ORAL when I got the ‘R’ crosser from STIRRUP.
matrixmania @ 7
Your contribution had me prostate with laughter.
I’m yet another who had LIGHTER for a while at 5ac. It’s an illustration of the ambiguity I don’t like in some Rufus clues. On the other hand, I did like STAIR CARPET at 14.
Entered BARREL TURN at 13d before it didn’t work but otherwise no problems.
[Talking of three-card tricks (cf 10d) … indeed 10a ACADEMIES can be specialised schools, notably for creative arts (Rada, Royal Academy of Music &c), but in Scotland I understand that’s always been just the accepted term for a secondary school. The recent appropriation of the term for use in English secondary schools, however, seems to have been an act of rebranding designed to split them into those the govt likes (renamed as academies) and those it doesn’t (unrenamed), solely on the basis of their governance model. Now about to be given an extra twist by the further balkanisation into a renewed grammar school sector, without the guts to say there are new secondary moderns alongside.]
Thank you Gaufrid, you toper, you.
Another LIGHTER here which held up an otherwise quite straightforward Rufusian offering.
CHEERLEADER made me chuckle and I thought OWNER quite stylish.
Thank you, Rufus, nice week, all.
I’m another who thought of ANAL when first reading the clue for 12a! But like matrixmania I couldn’t shoehorn it into the clue, however hard I tried.
Thanks Gaufrid (and Rufus). Your excellent blog has planted the mischievous idea that alcohol might be just the thing to make Rufus’s puzzles more challenging. However it might be a little difficult to explain this to my wife at 08.00 on a Monday morning.
I thought Cheerleader was rather neat.
Thank you Rufus and Gaufrid.
Straightforward, but I got tied up for a while at 26a having entered OTHER…
CHEERLEADER and STAIR CARPET were great!
Many thanks Rufus and Gaufrid!! I enjoyed this as I invariably do with Rufus. He gets some stick for his apparent ‘ambiguity’, but with all due respect to Median @9 and others there really is no way lighter can be correct here, Rufus is, as usual very precise. In boxing there are heavyweights, Cruiser-weights and light-weights. There is no division called lighter-weight so why blame Rufus for your error. Fairly easy yes, but this week the pleasure came again and again, CRUISER, STAIR CARPET, CHEERLEADER, BARREL ROLL, SHORE LEAVE, I could go on, all beautifully crafted and utterly unambiguous.
Strange, Gaufrid said there were no double definitions, perhaps he was seeing double all the time…
Cookie @16
“… perhaps he was seeing double all the time…”
Hardly, I was having enough difficulty focusing on a single image (due to poor eyesight in dull/artificial light rather than the whisky). My error was that when I came to write the preamble I had completely forgotten about 5ac, my second entry after 1ac, because there had been many other clues to read/solve/parse in the interim.
I am yet another who did a double-take after thinking of ‘anal’ for 12a!
Enjoyable puzzle – I was unable to parse the person with two hips.
thanks Gaufrid and Rufus.
Thanks to both blogger and setter. This puzzle took me all of 14 minutes (which is lightning speed for me).
I parsed 5A as a not-very cryptic definition, since a CRUISER is just below the heaviest classes of navy ships. I did not know about the boxing class.
George @8 I hope it is only your English teacher (for advice on spelling) and not your doctor that you need to see about the PROSTATE.
Yes one of my quickest solves ever, except for that slight hesitation over 5a, with LIGHTER also having come to mind first, so having to wait on the crossers to get CRUISER. I also tried CHEM TESTS for 25a instead of ACID TESTS which was a very dumb mistake.
CHEERLEADER 18a my definite favourite, but agree that 26a OWNER was neat.
Most enjoyable puzzle and blog. Thanks to Rufus, Gaufrid the online contributors.
Yes, easy but I was another LIGHTER which slowed matters up somewhat.CRUISER is much Bette though.
I was another who liked CHEERLEADER and URDU. I’m from Liverpool so, for me and compatriots,the latter is what one has on the top of one’s head!
I find it odd that people time themselves when doing puzzles. It isn’t a competition!
Thanks Rufus.
S. Panza @15: Actually, Rufus is very often not precise, so “lighter” as a cryptic definition would be fairly typical of him. There’s no reason it must refer to boxing. Plus, I was not familiar with the term cruiserweight. Is it used here in the U.S.? Like others, I started with lighter and (briefly) anal.
Would someone please explain “owner?”
Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid. I too got through this puzzle on one pass (unusual for me, even with this setter), but I did see CRUISER at the start and did (to my surprise) get the correct spelling for ASPISDISTRA. Great fun.
Posterntoo @23
“One has” = “one possesses” i.e. one owns, so if one has, one is an owner.
Does that make sense to you? I’m not sure it did to me when I re-read it!
CRUISER and ORAL didn’t hold me up, but bunging in ALIVE for 26 did.
But now agree with William@11 and Julie@21 that it’s a clever clue.
Also liked the clues for CHEERLEADER and STAIR CARPET.
Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.
Oddly found this harder than the usual Rufus. Must have been in wrong mindset.
This is probably an old chestnut but why does ‘con’=’study’?
I was another LIGHTER. I also wanted 14ac to be MAGIC CARPET until I started trying to find non-existent crossers.
Can someone explain SHORE LEAVE please? I don’t understand the ‘craft’ part of the clue.
Like Sean Dimly I originally put ALIVE for 26 ac.
I’m fairly new to this cyptic world and am amazed when people start by saying how easy a crossword is. Maybe one day I’ll say that too…meanwhile I enjoyed this one very much.
bobloblaw @27: “con” is a rather outdated word meaning to study. Rarely used these days except in crosswords where it remains very popular!
“Study” in a clue usually indicates either “con” or “den”.
I too am confused about OWNER. I get the “one has” part, but I can’t understand how to read the rest of the clue.
Crumplehorn @29
A ‘craft’ is a ship and, when not at sea, sailors could be on SHORE LEAVE.
This was my quickest Rufus too, and I put that down to the near-absence of double definitions, which at the hands of Rufus often slow me down. (His cryptic and almost-cryptic definitions often do the same, but not today for some reason.)
Along with Julie and others, my favourite was 18a CHEERLEADER.
Peter @22
“I find it odd that people time themselves when doing puzzles.”
Absolutely. On the Times for the Times forum, which I have contributed to occasionally, the whole idea is to record your time and tell everyone – a strange obsession, or just bragging. But I would say that, wouldn’t I, because as a rule I’m not a quick solver! Also, I never know how long a puzzle takes me because I never time myself – except just the once a couple of months ago for a research study.
Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid.
Ted @31. One (oneself) has (owns) to be what one (an owner) is.
I got CRUISER straight away – and it is a precise definition as cruiserweight is the class below heavyweight in boxing, so to be not quite a heavyweight means you are a cruiser of a bruiser!
I didn’t get OWNER until several hours after completing the rest of the grid, and if I’m honest I still don’t really like it.
Typically I find the guardian Rufus a little harder than the same-day telegraph.mtoday it was the other way around – today’s telegraph was more devious, and the guardian was straightforward (spellings of evergreens and stones notwithstanding)
Cd’s seem to vary in appeal – STAIR CARPET didn’t appeal to me as much as to most others, apparently, and I thought AT LUNCH was weak, but I really liked HEADWIND and like others I thought ‘person with two hips’ was superb.
Manu thanks gaufrid and Rufus
Thanks, John E @34. Definitely not my cup of tea, but at least now I understand it.
Ted @37, glad to have put you out of your misery. As you will see from the first and second comments on this crossword, it took me a full eight minutes to see the light myself.
I quite liked OWNER. It’s a fresh take on owner = one who has, something we see a lot – and have seen before in Rufus puzzles. I thought it was cleverly presented.
John E @38
It took me a while too to fully appreciate 26a OWNER. I was on a roll and filled in OWNER on the strength of ‘One has’ and left it till later to justify it. When I did so, I thought it worthy of comment but forgot to say anything in my earlier comment. It’s very neat, and my favourite ahead of 18a CHEERLEADER.
I object to 11ac on the basis that there’s no reason why amendments to a constitution should be good per se. Otherwise a nice puzzle, STAIR CARPET being an ‘aha’ moment. Thanks both.
Gonzo @41: I did initially have the same thought about 11a. But the clue does not say that amendments do make the constitution better, but that they should make it better. Surely this is so, otherwise what is the point of them?
Jim: perhaps my unease arises from the ambiguity in ‘should’.
” We should be home by midnight ” – prediction or expression of the speaker’s opinion of the desirable outcome?
I usually find Rufus OK-ish-if-a-bit-simple, but thought 27A was embarrassing. (Move one letter from start to end to solve the anagram? Really? In a Guardian cryptic?)
I contrived to answer “loner” for 26 across, before the crosser saved me. I thought the clue worked, but it probably just says something about me!
Well, this is a puzzle I got completely through, although I had doubts about a couple of parsings.
I was another one who was a bit flummoxed by OWNER – I thought it had to do with the sense of “owning up” to something – and I’ve no familiarity with “CON” meaning “to study” – but there was nothing else that it could have been.
Both AMENDMENTS and AT LUNCH gave me pause because they seemed too simple. Anyway the gentler challenge of a Rufus puzzle is welcome for a novice like me. It’s a notch harder than many of the (rare) cryptics that appear in the NY Times, which is what got me searching across the pond to begin with.
The first clue I tackled was 18ac. I immediately thought of ‘Hooray Henry’ – which fitted, but I could not persuade myself that this had become an 11-letter word. The correctanswer came later, of course !
I liked CHEERLEADER too. And also OWNER, which was a little quirkier than usual for a Monday.
According to Merriam Webster dictionary: Origin and Etymology of con
Middle English connen to know, learn, study, alteration of cunnen to know, infinitive of can — more at can
I read this blog thinking I was too late to comment, having only now had time for the puzzle as a bit of light relief this afternoon, but as Louise has commented today, I’ll go ahead anyway. I just want to defend “lighter” as an alternative answer to 5a. A lighter is a barge, so the second definition would still be “vessel”, with “Not quite a heavyweight” as a slightly more cryptic first definition than when applied to the boxer. The crossers were needed to resolve the ambiguity, which doesn’t bother me at all as this is a crossword.
Thanks, Rufus and Gaufrid.
Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid
A quicker solve than normal from this setter although it didn’t feel like it at the time.
Finished with the clever SHORE LEAVE, the ‘aha’ moment when I finally got what was going on with the ‘two hip’ CHEERLEADER and the easier than I made of it ACCURATE as the last few in.