Guardian Cryptic 27,023 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27023.

A puzzle very heavy on the cryptic definitions, even for a Rufus, and none the better for that – by and large I think they make a rather sad bunch. 2D SCOT-FREE makes up for a lot, however.

Across
9 RUCHE A trimming of lace, one gathered (5)
Cryptic definition.
10 TAP DANCER He trips and hits the floor noisily (3,6)
A rather obvious cryptic definition, and my first in.
11 PUT PAID TO Endorse bill for Scotch (3,4,2)
Definition and literal interpretation. An ingenious idea which I think does not quite work (TO seems a little awkward to me) – and of course the capital letter for ‘Scotch’ is misleading.
12 TACIT It’s understood Tom came back with it (5)
A charade of TAC, a reversal (‘came back’) of CAT (‘Tom’, indication by example) plus (‘with’) ‘it’.
13 SARACEN Cross opponent of the Middle Ages (7)
Cryptic definition.
15 DORMANT Possibly asleep, certainly inactive (7)
Definition.
17 PREEN Bird’s tidy up? No, down! (5)
Cryptic definition.
18 SIR Title is backed by right (3)
A charade of SI, a reversal (‘backed’) of ‘is’ plus (‘by’) R (‘right’).
20 IRATE Gershwin tune heartless and angry (5)
A charade of IRA (‘Gershwin’, not composer George, but his brother and frequent lyricist) plus TE (‘TunE heartless’).
22 ASTRIDE Trade is bad, though up (7)
An anagram (‘bad’) of ‘trade is’.
25 AUDITOR He will be called to account (7)
Cryptic definition.
26 STERN Grim prospect for yachtsman trying to catch rival (5)
Definition and cryptic definition – ‘prospect’ meaning view.
27 TEST PILOT One who is often up for trial (4,5)
Cryptic definition.
30 HESITATES Gets lost in proverb (9)
“He who hesitates is lost” being the proverb.
31 WISER More sage is planted in middle of flower bed (5)
An envelope (planted in’) of ‘is’ in WER (‘middle of floWER bed’)
Down
1 PROP Support a rugby player (4)
Double definition.
2 SCOT-FREE Artful secret of not having to pay a thing! (4-4)
An anagram (‘artful’) of ‘secret of’. Rufus at his best – simple but so apposite.
3 VEGA Small serving of carrots, say, given to a big star (4)
A charade of VEG (‘small serving of carrots, say’, this time with an acknowledged – ‘say’ – indication by example, and ‘small serving’ giving the abbreviation) plus (‘given to’) ‘a’.
4 STUDENTS Boss sent out those still learning (8)
A charade of STUD (‘boss’) plus ENTS, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘sent’.
5 UPHOLD At university remain champion (6)
A charade of UP (‘at university’) plus HOLD (‘remain’ as in “the centre will not hold”). ‘Champion’ as a verb.
6 MASTERMIND Brain behind smart denim fashion? (10)
An anagram (‘fashion’) of ‘smart denim’
7 ACACIA Twice Bill and I get together in a gum tree (6)
A charade of AC (‘bill’) plus AC (‘twice’) plus ‘I’ plus (ignoring ‘in’) ‘a’. The term ‘gum tree’ is not exact, but generally refers to various eucalypts, but the gum arabic tree is an acacia, so that the “definition” is at best an indication by example.
8 FRET A small piece of wood — pine? (4)
Double definition.
13 SEPIA Cuttlefish product very good in salt water (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of PI (‘very good’) in SEA (‘salt water’).
14 CINCINNATI Service chief’s hotel at one US city (10)
A charade od C-IN-C (commander-in-chief, ‘service chief’) plus INN (‘hotel’) plus ‘at’ plus I (‘one’, Roman numeral or impersonal personal pronoun).
16 THEIR The king trapped one of them (5)
An envelope (‘trapped’) of I (‘one’) in ‘the’ plus R (Rex, ‘king’).
19 REASSESS About to start, seas break over ship — so reconsider (8)
A charade of RE (‘about’; ‘to start’ emphasizes that this is the first particle) plus ASSESS, an envelope (‘over’) of SS (the first pair, ‘ship’) in AESS, an anagram (‘break’) of ‘seas’.
21 ART CLASS Pupils who draw on their teacher’s guidance (3,5)
Cryptic definition.
23 THEISM It may give me this belief in God (6)
An anagram (‘it may give’) of ‘me this’.
24 ESTATE Property of the Orient Express (6)
A charade of E (‘Orient’) plus STATE (‘express’).
26 SOHO Staff officer with small house in London area (4)
A charade of SO (‘Staff Officer’) plus HO (‘small house’). Also an area of Manhattan, named not after the London area (although that might have been involved to some extent), but because it is south of Houston Street (which is pronounced how-ston, being named after a different fellow from the Sam Houston after whom the Texas city is named).
28 PEWS Service accommodation (4)
Cryptic definition.
29 TERM Call time (4)
Double definition.
completed grid

47 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,023 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks PeterO and Rufus.
    Even though I liked 27, 3, 4, 26 and 28, somehow, overall, I didn’t enjoy solving the puzzle.

  2. I enjoyed this a lot. My favourites were TACIT, ESTATE, PEWS, TERM.

    I needed help to parse 17a, 14d.

    New for me was PROP = rugby player.

    Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

  3. I never really enjoy Rufuses, but still keep doing them! For 1d I confidently put BACK, but soon had to revise. In Aus gum trees are eucalypts and acacias are wattles, but your explanation soothes me.

  4. Thanks, PeterO
    I’m not sure that FRET is a close enough synonym for pine but I found the rest of the puzzle okay – a tad easier than normal for Rufus. I entered Saladin instead of SARACEN which I thought fitted given his leadership against the crusaders – but the crossers put me onto the right track.

  5. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    I don’t see how PUT PAID TO is equivalent to”endorse bill”. “Opponent of the Middle Ages” is very vague. I don’t think “Gets lost in proverb” defines HESITATES – something seems to be missing. Chambers does give fret as a piece of wood or metal on a guitar fingerboard, but I’ve played a lot of guitars and have never seen anything other than metal ones.

    I did like WISER.

  7. Thanks PeterO for a comprehensive explanation and analysis (though I think you got carried away with SOHO lol)

    I cant see what Saracen has to do with ‘cross’.

  8. pex @7
    I think it’s a reference to the Saracens’ opponents, the Crusaders, who had red crosses on their outer shirts. The Saracens were thus the opponents of “the cross”.

  9. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    pex @ 7: the cross was the symbol of the christian crusaders, who foughtn against the Saracens. Hence the Saracens were ‘cross opponents’.

  13. Thank you Rufus and PeterO.

    I always enjoy Rufus’s puzzles, and today was no exception. I especially liked the “prospect for yachtsman trying to catch rival” and the “Service accommodation”.

  14. muffin @ 5

    Re “put paid to” – I’m also puzzled by this. I assume it refers to marking a bill as “paid” but surely this is not endorsing it whereas marking it “ok to pay” would be. No doubt I am missing something obvious.

  15. Our thought for 7d (acacia) was that “gum” goes with “together” meaning stick all the bits to get a tree.
    There were alot of Rufus cryptic definitions, and some were quite tricky. But we expect this from
    Rufus. We enjoyed it Thanks Rufus and PeterO

  16. Mickinely @14. I don’t think you have missed anything. To mark a bill ‘paid’ is to receipt it, not to endorse it.

  18. I particularly enjoyed HESITATES. I put in RUCHE in light ink last night because I thought the answer had to have an A or an I in it, and only this morning did I realize that the collar is “gathered.” And PUT PAID TO defeated me, the closest I could get was PUT HAND TO, awkwardly meaning “sign” for “endorse”.

    It seemed to me that we’ve had BOSS = STUD rather often, so not knowing what beeryhiker does in his research I googled a bit, and found five in the last five months, two of them in late September. I also found that Puck used “The whole lot are dolts, boss!” for “What fools these mortals be!” last February and last April.

  19. Some very good clues: I particularly enjoyed STERN, WISER and ESTATE.

    A few quibbles however. The clue for ACACIA would have worked if it had said “with a” rather than “in a”, but doesn’t seem to as it stands. Muffin @5, I agree about “small piece of wood” being a very dubious definition for FRET. And I don’t see how the clue for DORMANT is cryptic at all. (PeterO, I notice you just explain it as “definition” rather than anything else!)

  21. Muffin @5 — as you say, Chambers says fingerboard frets may be of wood or metal (cf. metal specifically in Chambers; ‘hard material’ generally in Wikipedia). The first image that came into my head was actually ornamental fretwork and the small pieces of wood that are cut out and discarded by someone using a fretsaw.

  22. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    I enjoyed this.

    However as an Aussie surrounded by gum trees, I did react badly to 7d, ACACIA, which is a wattle, but can accept that my view of all things herbaceous may be myopic. I did quite like your take on this one, Apple granny@15.

    JimS@19, I also put a question mark against 15a DORMANT; “Is this actually cryptic?” was also my question.

    My definite favourite was 30a HESITATES. I shouldn’t have paused as long as I did before filling it in!

    I enjoyed the discussion at 26d of the NYC suburb called SOHO by PeterO.

  23. I think the (movable) frets on a sitar may be made of wood – still think it’s a poor clue, though. PEWS did make me think for a minute. Thanks to setter and solver.

  24. This was good in parts. I particularly enjoyed 31a WISER, 2d SCOT-FREE and 14d CINCINNATI. However, I found myself plodding my way in fits and starts through all the cryptic definitions and ended up filling in what I thought were the only possible answers to a few weak clues.

    I couldn’t help noticing that in 2d SCOT-FREE Rufus used exactly the same device as Brendan on 20 September for the same answer-word:

    “Secret of getting drunk with no negative consequences”

    Today’s version is just as neat, if not more so.

    Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

  25. only 2/3 in for me. Bit of a mixed Rufus bag.

    1a – never heard of the word, which hindered me somewhat.

    10a – didn’t get this one either. why is the tap dancer tripping? is the second half of the clue not enough?

    3d – Vega is a new word on me.

    7d – probably would be better if just ‘tree’ rather than muddying it with the word ‘gum’.

  28. Can’t say I enjoyed this much. The cluing seemed looser than usual for this setter and,as a result,I found the puzzle harder. I did like PEWS and SARACEN however.LOI was TERM.
    Thanks Rufus.

  29. bobloblaw @25

    10A – the expression “tripping the light fantastic” comes to mind.

    7D – I agree that dropping the ‘gum’ would be an improvement, but not all acacias are trees, so it is still an indication by example – albeit a very much broader example – and there is also the inappropriate ‘in’ to be dealt with.

  30. Cryptic defs are often my most feared clues but they whizzed in today. Perhaps Rufus has run out of clever ones, here’s hoping. Nothing too scary.

  31. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. RUCHE ws new to me (and last in), and, like others, I resisted putting in DORMANT because it did not seem cryptic. Otherwise, another Monday, another Rufus which is fine with me.

  32. Thanks PeterO. I initially put in “tree” for 8d, which I thought worked for a Rufus … (woods and trees etc).

  35. Julie @20 SOHO is no more a suburb of NYC than Soho is of London. It’s right in Manhattan, the New York-est of New York City’s five boroughs. (In fact, some people in the other boroughs refer to Manhattan as “New York.”) SOHO, short for South of Houston (how-ston), is bounded by Houston, Crosby and Canal Streets and Sixth Avenue. Houston is the street just below 1st St, where the numbering stops and all is higgledy-piggledy. There’s plenty of city below 1st St, mostly the oldest settled part.

    That nickname has given rise to others for city neighborhoods, such as NOHO (north of Houston)and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Overpasses), a Brooklyn neighborhood that apparently was so named by residents to make it sound unattractive to developers and trendies — it didn’t work, it’s now the most expensive neighborhood in the city, which is going some.

    There — more than anybody wanted to know about New York neighborhoods.

  36. Mickinely @14 I think that “Scotch” in this instance is used in the sense of “To scotch a rumour” in other words, put paid to a rumour.

  38. I suppose that if you write “paid” on a bill you could, at a stretch, be said to be endorsing it but having to understand “put” for “write” and “to” for “on” as well is stretching the clueing too far for me.

  39. Not one of Rufus’s best (and I write that as a Rufus fan). I agree with the quibbles above. LOI was PUT PAID TO, which I took a long time seeing and still doubted for the reason others have already given. My favourite was THEIR.

    Thanks, Rufus and PeterO.

  40. (Thanks Valentine @35 for picking up on my incorrect use of the word “suburb” instead of “borough” when discussing NYC place names. Mea culpa, or “My bad” as the young ones say nowadays.)

  41. This was pretty poor even by Rufus standards.

    However all the fuss about 11A seems strange as it is one of the few clues that is OK!

    SOED has

    endorse ?n?d?:s ? , ?n- ? verb trans. Also in- ?n-. l15.
    I
    1 Write a supplementary or official comment or instruction on (a document), esp. on the back, often to extend or limit its provisions; spec. sign (a bill of exchange) on the back to accept responsibility for paying it; sign (a cheque) on the back to make it payable to someone other than the stated payee. Also, write (a comment etc.) on a document; inscribe (a document) with (a comment etc.); make (a bill etc.) payable to another person by a signature on the back. l15.

    ……..

    So if one pays a bill to someone other than the one mentioned on the front one writes “Paid to Joe Bloggs” on the back and sign it to endorse it.

    A great majority of the other clues were either weak or dodgy. (However our illustrious Ed obviously doesn’t agree 😉 )

  42. Julie in Australia @40

    Sorry, but you still do not have your metropolitan nomenclature sorted out: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs that make up NYC (along with Staten Island, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens). I used the vague “area” to describe Soho, but “district” would be more commonly used. If I were you, I would not lose much sleep over the matter.

  43. I can’t see the point of ‘still’ in 4d (Boss sent out those still learning). Surely the word is completely redundant?

    Like others, I didn’t like the puzzle much – too Rufous for its own good.

  45. BNTO @41 — there is a big difference between ‘paid to’ and ‘payable to’. An endorsement authorises a transfer of title (makes payable to). Putting the word ‘paid’ on a bill turns it into a receipt.

    As for cheques, not many people use them these days, and British cheques have not been transferable to third parties since 1992, when the banks ceased to issue open (uncrossed) chequebooks. Back in the days of uncrossed cheques, the payee named on the front could make an incoming cheque payable to a third party by signing it on the back and handing it to the other person to pay into their own bank account. The signature alone was the endorsement for this purpose.

  46. John E

    There’s a big difference between “Paid” and “Paid to A.N. Other”.

    The latter is an an endorsement that something unusual has happened. The bill only becomes a receipt if the payee has written something on it.

  47. I agree with PeterO that 11ac does not quite work, although I have no problem with TO or with the capital letter for Scotch. My problem concerns the use of ‘endorse’ in a clue whose solution is PUT PAID TO. I have mentioned receipting in earlier comments because PUT PAID TO (meaning ‘mark as paid’) is an exact description of the process of receipting a bill. One would never use the word ‘paid’ (as distinct from ‘pay’ or ‘payable’) as part of the process of endorsing a bill. This process is described in great detail in various online articles that can be accessed using a search term such as ‘bill endorsement’.

Comments are closed.