Guardian Cryptic 27,053 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27053.

Rufus seems to be continuing with his increased quota of cryptic definitions, which in my book  is no good thing, particularly when a fair number of them are as feeble as here.

Across
9 HACKNEYED Tired horse hired by our leader? (9)
A charade of HACKNEY (‘horse hired’) plus ED (editor, ‘our leader’).
10 LACKS Wants to sound negligent (5)
Sounds like (‘to sound’) LAX (‘negligent’).
11 ENDLESS Coming to no conclusion (7)
Crypticish definition.
12 ADIPOSE Notice one model getting fat (7)
A charade of AD (‘notice’) plus I (‘one’) plus POSE (‘model’).
13 MAMBA A poisonous creeper (5)
Vaguely cryptic definition.
14 SIDE ISSUE Team result is not the main topic of conver­sation (4,5)
Definition and literal interpretation.
16 STAGE DIRECTIONS Coach given guidelines for players to follow (5,10)
A charade of STAGE (‘coach’) plus DIRECTIONS (‘guidelines’).
19 CALLED FOR Necessitated being collected (6,3)
Double definition.
21 ELFIN “Spritely” — that’s the Spanish and French conclusion (5)
A charade of EL (‘the Spanish’) plus FIN (end, ‘French conclusion’).
22 CREATOR First-former? (7)
Cryptic definition.
23 SIROCCO An oppressive blow for the Italians (7)
Cryptic definition.
24 ON AIR One may happily walk here during broadcast (2,3)
Double definition.
25 NIGHTMARE Dream of Black Bess? (9)
Definition and literal interpretation.
Down
1 SHEET MUSIC Notepaper not bound to sell? (5,5)
Cryptic definition, sort of.
2 ACADEMIA A chartered accountant meant to take up scholastic life (8)
A charade of ‘a’ plus CA (‘chartered accountant’) plus DEMIA, a reversal (‘to take up’ in a down light) of AIMED (‘meant’).
3 ANGELA Girl writing Guardian article (6)
A charade of ANGEL (‘Guardian’) plus A  (indefinite ‘article’).
4 EYES They see and give audible approval (4)
Sounds like (‘audible’) AYES (‘approval’)
5 EDWARD LEAR Humorist in the red, upset about raw deal, perhaps (6,4)
An envelope (‘about’) of WARD LEA, an anagram (‘perhaps’) of ‘raw deal’ in EDR, an anagram (‘upset’) of ‘red’. ‘The’ is there just for the surface.
6 ALPINIST It’s plain stupid for a mountaineer (8)
An anagram (‘stupid’) of ‘it’s plain’.
7 ACTORS Cast or cast out (6)
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘or cast’.
8 ISLE Small marine detachment (4)
Cryptic definition.
14 STIFF DRINK Yet it might help you relax (5,5)
Cryptic definition.
15 EISENHOWER Where one is involved as an ex-president (10)
An anagram (‘involved’) of ‘where one is’.
17 ELECTORS Having a choice makes them cross (8)
Slightly cryptic definition.
18 OFFICIAL One in post bearing stamp of credibility (8)
Double definition, I suppose.
20 LEEWAY Some freedom allowed for fish picked up on route (6)
A charade of LEE, a reversal (‘picked up’) of EEL (‘fish’) plus WAY (‘route’).
21 ERRATA In time, deserter will make mistakes (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of RAT (‘deserter’) in ERA (‘time’).
22 COOL CO2 left to freeze (4)
A charade of ‘C’ plus OO (‘O2’) plus L (‘left’).
23 SAGA Fail to keep up a legend (4)
A charade of SAG (‘fail to keep up’) plus ‘a’.
completed grid

61 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,053 by Rufus”

  3. I always struggle the most with cryptic definitions but despite that I do admire setters who can produce really good cds. They must be much harder to come up with than anagrams, charades and so forth. I did enjoy some of the cds today – ELECTORS and MAMBA both raised a smile. But ENDLESS and CREATOR both raised groans instead, unfortunately.

    I have a question on 25. I get that Black = NIGHT but why does Bess = MARE? The answer was easy enough to guess but I’m clearly missing something here?

    Thanks to Rufus and PeterO

  5. @2 Flavia: I like to think that it is not the Monday offering getting feebler and feebler, but that I am getting smarter and smarter.

  6. Thanks Rufus and PeterO

    I found this much harder than a typical Rufus, with the NW taking ages to fall (not helped by me having ADDER for 13a for some time – I really dislike clues like this). I did like ALPINIST and ACTORS.

    The clue for ELFIN was odd – two bits of wordplay (“like a sprite” and EL FIN), but no proper definition (elfin doesn’t actually mean “spritely” in the normal sense).

    I don’t see how 14a gives “issue”.

  7. I usually quite like Rufus’ unique style, but today I’m with PeterO in thinking that, even by his own lights, this was pretty sloppy.
    With a cryptic clue, you ought to be able to tell when you’ve got it right because it parses. How on earth does MAMBA fit this criterion? Even when the CD penny drops, the answer could equally plausibly have been SNAKE, or VIPER, or ADDER, or KRAIT … Grr!

  8. Me too – I find it difficult to look forward to Monday morning when it’s odds on another Rufus effort.

  10. I took some time to get into this. I agree that some of the clues were rather sloppy, such as the one for MAMBA, but that’s Rufus! One has to adopt a different frame of mind with his puzzles, and that’s fine for me once a week, but no more, please! I liked the EISENHOWER anagram, NIGHTMARE and STIFF DRINK (typical Rufus). Thanks to R and PeterO.

  12. Roger and gladys and other ophidiophobics: it’s a crossword not a general knowledge quiz – that’s why only mamba fits.

    I sometimes wonder why people do Rufus’s puzzles if they don’t like them.

    Thanks PeterO and Rufus

  13. Not the best of Rufus. Too many cryptic definitions for my liking, with some being rather sloppy. For example, 13 – why the ‘A’ in the clue? Also, at 14d, for quite a while I had STILL (= ‘yet’) instead of ‘STIFF’.

    Thanks to PeterO and Rufus.

  14. Thank you Rufus and PeterO.

    Being rather feeble myself, I love Rufus’s crosswords. STAGE DIRECTIONS, ACTORS, STIFF DRINK and ELECTORS made me smile.

  15. Thank you PeterO.

    I didn’t find this at all feeble. Perhaps a quicker solve than others but no less entertaining for that. I adore eclairs but still want some bread now and again.

    Rufus is a hero in my book but perhaps there’s a parallel with the immigration debate here: a small dose of moderation would silence a fair proportion of the critics. If that’s a little periphrastic, all I mean is that changing to ‘every other week’ would reduce the poor fellow’s workload and make his offerings a welcome change and thus avoid the grumbles that often accompany over-familiarity.

    Nice week, all.

  16. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    Pleasant enough start to the week. I was another with still = yet for a while.

    I rather liked SHEET MUSIC; it takes all sorts!

  20. Walpip @19 Well spotted! However to be ultra-pedantic, I believe there are 2 that are poisonous – the Japanese grass snake is one but I can’t remember the other. Perhaps you’ll know it.

  21. I think that cryptic definitions, by definition, entail mind-reading; in this case the mind of an octogenarian Englishman. It seems probable that that exercise is easier to the extent that one is elderly, male and English.

  22. Tend to agree that this was not one of Rufus’ best, but I suppose he’s allowed to have off days like the rest of us. Some clever clues, but too many sloppy and weak, rather than just easy. I don’t mind easy!

  23. I used to be terrible at crosswords. Thanks to Rufus and other setters I have improved to below average. If I keep trying I will gradually get up to being good. Without a varied range of setters I have no hope. Bless all setters who cover our wide range of abilities and all bloggers who also have a wide range of abilities.
    For today thanks to Rufus and PeterO

  24. As well as those mentioned, I found “writing” in 3 ac unsatisfactor – why not simply “Girl in Guardian article”, and in 24 ac, where is “on air” exactly? I’d like to happily walk there.

  25. All I want from Rufus is brevity and the need to occasionally engage brain. He complied with that brief today unlike other (days)

  27. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. I enjoy Rufus puzzles as a change of pace. My only problem is that with some of the CDs and DDs even when I get the answer I am not sure I’m right (e.g., SHEET MUSIC, OFFICIAL).

  28. One of the mere mortals here who didn’t find this a total doddle. Satisfying that everything eventually dropped into place with 8d being my LOI and I still don’t think I understand it but the online puzzle hasn’t flagged it as incorrect. Disappointing to find that my success should be tempered by the understanding that today’s offering is feeble and sloppy!

    Really enjoyed SIDE ISSUE (I’m happy with result=issue as in offspring), STAGE DIRECTIONS, SHEET MUSIC and STIFF DRINK which made me smile. And three neat anagrams in 6, 7 and 15d all got a thumbs up.

  29. I agree with those who found this a little sloppy- MAMBA- but I did
    like CREATOR,ELECTORS and CALLED FOR. I am male,elderly and English
    so I suppose this was intended for me. I’m not quite an octogenarian
    though!
    Thanks Rufus

  30. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    I’m with Aqua @23. A Rufus puzzle was the first Guardian cryptic I completed and for ages I waited impatiently for Mondays to practice. Now I can tackle most setters but still look forward to Rufus and would hate it if there were fewer of them.

    Like some others I struggled a bit in the NW, but had no issue with SIDE ISSUED. Liked ELFIN and ELECTORS

  31. Encouraged by Eileen to comment more often, SHEET MUSIC is a lovely cryptic clue, not as described in 2 comments above. It is paper with notes on and is not bound. But perhaps you all realised that.

  32. Mark @28
    The puzzle may be ‘feeble and sloppy’ (I would describe it as feeble in places but not exactly sloppy), but that didn’t make it particularly easy to complete. Many or most of the clues belonged to the two easiest types of clue (the double definition and the cryptic definition), but one still had to guess what the setter had in mind in each case. I often find that more difficult (as well as less satisfying) than solving a set of clues that use a bigger range of cryptic devices.

    Like Walpip @19, I was surprised to see ‘poisonous’ instead of ‘venomous’ in the clue to 13a MAMBA. When I had just the middle ‘M’ I thought of MAMBA, but I left it blank partly because it may not have been unique but mainly because I thought it had to be something genuinely poisonous, like a plant or creature that actually is poisonous.

    I understand why Rufus is popular with many people (including many no doubt who do not visit this site!), but my preference is for a more challenging puzzle in which I can be more certain of an answer when I have worked it out.

  35. muffin@33: for “issue” Chambers has “ultimate result, outcome”. I think it’s possibly a rather antiquated meaning. In Richard III, Richard says “No doubt we bring it to a happy issue” (Act III scene 7, 53).

    I enjoyed today’s puzzle. ENDLESS was maybe a bit weak, but there were plenty of really nice clues. ACTORS was very clever, as was the anagram for EISENHOWER. You just have to get yourself into the right mindset for Rufus. As cholecyst suggests @12, if you don’t like cryptic definitions, nobody’s forcing you to do the puzzle!

  36. Thanks beardydaly and JimS
    Not convinced by “issue as a result of”, but I must bow to the authority of Chambers. Not a usage I’ve ever come across before, though!

  37. To all Rufus hatters who comment on this site, either desist fro commenting or buy the Torygraph on a Monday please.

  39. Thanks to blogger and setter.

    Had a few quibbles along the lines already mentioned, in particular with ANGELA (LOI) – cf jeceris@24, but all in all a pleasant Monday nut to crack. While I appreciate the venomous/poisonous argument, a clue for a venomous creeper would remove any cryptic element, and it seems to me that since “common usage” is defended frequently in these jottings I can cope with snakes being poisonous – which snake?: well it’s a crossword so….

  41. Don Morris @37 & 38!!

    Do you have a reason why people should desist from making negative comments about these awful Rufus puzzles other than the fact that this seems to annoy you?

  42. Don Morris @37:
    “…. or buy the Torygraph on a Monday please”
    You may well find a crossword by the same setter there!
    I’m afraid not a good example.

    BNTO @41:
    “Do you have a reason why people should desist from making negative comments about these awful Rufus puzzles other than the fact that this seems to annoy you?”
    Try to accept that Rufus is a setter that many (less experienced or less demanding) solvers than you (and I) look forward to.
    Rufus has something that is unique (which, in my opinion, does not equal: he’s awful), try to appreciate that.

    That said, this wasn’t one of his ‘best’, agree.
    Especially, some of his cryptic definitions aren’t cryptic at all.
    BTW, take a look at today’s FT (Dante) and be surprised that …
    [it’s a prize crossword, so I cannot say more]

    Thanks PeterO.

  44. Hi Cookie
    Not synonyms, I think; still not convinced. However JimS has invoked the authority of Chambers.

    (BTW an unusual disagreement between Chambers and Collins about a word in last Saturday’s Prize!)

  47. I am usually a Rufus admirer but this one had too many not very cryptic definitions and obvious charades for me.
    Trenodia @ 4. I suspect that matrixmania @ 3 knew that Black Bess was Turpin’s horse but that isn’t the point. If Black = NIGHT then Bess has in some way to be the clue for MARE. Or, alternatively, if Dick Turpin operated mainly at night, his horse could be described as a NIGHTMARE but I don’t think he did. Rufus has probably already clued NIGHTMARE as “dark horse” or that might have been better.

  50. Sil @42

    I agree that Rufus puzzles are unique which of course does not equate to awful.

    However for the last three years at least, in my humble opinion of course, the standard of his cluing has become, let’s say, a little looser than in times gone by. This is especially true of the many CDs and DDs which are very common in his puzzles.

    I have said this many times before but I’ll say it again. I don’t think that these puzzles are a good introduction to cryptic puzzles. Quite the opposite in fact as they are so “unique” in their style.

    Solving a Rufus does not require the rigour or techniques that are essential in solving something like a good Arachne, Paul or a Qaos for instance. So as a beginner’s guide to cryptic puzzles they are indeed next to useless. This particular puzzle had the extra characteristic of being pretty awful though.

    It must be obvious from the recent postings on Rufus puzzles that more and more people agree with this.

    Finally, in reply to the many posts of “Don’t solve Rufus puzzles if you don’t like them!” or “Don’t criticise Rufus as he has a large following” I say “if you don’t like what somebody posts then feel free to ignore it.” 😉

  52. This is the first time I comment on this site. I am French, and maybe I lack vocabulary, but today for the first time I finished Rufus’s offering.

    I love his puzzles. I wonder why some individuals keep criticising them week in, week out.
    This is becoming extremely tiresome. If you don’t like his style why not do something else with your life.
    I am sure there are many other puzzles and setters that you prefer and will give you a lot of pleasure. Please stop spoiling this otherwise excellent site with your constant negativity.

    Thanks Rufus. Please forgive them.

  54. I only buy The Guardian on Mondays so that I can do the Rufus puzzles. I can’t always get the answers but once I know what they are, I can see how they were reached which I can’t say is true for other setters. I consider myself neither unintelligent nor a beginner. It would be a better world if people stopped being snotty about other people’s work.
    Thanks, Rufus! Keep it up, please!

  55. Thanks to Rufus and Peter O. It was Rufus’crosswords that first got me started, and I look forward to seeing his name below the Monday crossword. There’s plenty of variety across the week

  56. BNTO@50 Your view appears to be that a Rufus crossword’s only purpose is to set beginners on the path to greater things. As many of the previous posts show, there are plenty of us who would prefer to stroll genially/feebly in the foothills with Rufus than (eg) get snarled up in Arachne’s web or perish before even leaving basecamp in the chill of an impenetrable Enigmatist blizzard.
    The more and more people you find agreeing with you is still a small handful. By the same measure the preceding posts that you have flushed out are a great flood of Rufus love.
    But then I like cryptic definitions, even the corny ones. Even the worst of Rufus’ are usually better than those other setters come up with. I will make a note to comment tiresomely “not as good as Rufus” every time I see one from now on.
    ps – you forgot to give your illustrious ed his due share of the blame for the fiasco.

  57. We often have this sort of debate about Rufus and the quality of his puzzles, although usually not quite so intensely. For my part, I think it’s quite fair to give one’s views on both the technical and artisitic quality of the clues, or of the puzzle as a whole, as well as saying whether or not we enjoyed the crossword.

    Setting is clearly an art, and having been at that end of things I know what sort of skill and effort are required to write good clues – irrespective, by the way, of how easy or hard you want them to be.

    In my experience of solving Guardian cryptic crosswords, at the rate of 4 or 5 a week over two years or so, I can see and appreciate how well clues are typically constructed, refined and presented by all the best setters.

    Rufus does indeed stand out from all the other setters whose puzzles I have attempted. I find his puzzles on the easy side of average, but usually not write-ins, probably because my intuitive skills are below par. Where he is unique is in the raw simplicity of most of his clues, and from where I sit it seems he does not expend much skill or effort on clue construction or wordplay, which I think make up much of the setter’s art.

    As Rufus is clearly an excellent wordsmith I personally find the bulk of his output disappointing, for the simple reason that I derive my enjoyment from an appreciation of the setter’s skill as well from the challenge of solving his or her clues.

    I realise this is very late and may have a small audience!

  58. Alan B @57 – just to confirm that even though it is small you do have an audience. I would disagree that crossword setting is an art. Many of the commentators on this blog would possibly be of the view that they would be quite happy for it to be a craft. This still of course leaves you justified in saying that you found the crossword disappointing. What got my goat were some of the other commentators who concluded that, because they found it disappointing, it (or parts of it) were definitively feeble or awful.

  59. Van Winkle @58
    Thank you for your response. I used the word ‘art’ more in the sense of skill than of beauty. I would not argue with your word ‘craft’ – in fact that is probably the word I should have chosen instead of ‘art’.
    I’m with you with regard to negative comments. Giving that sort of criticism is too easy sometimes – one should try to be objective, and I share your view that just finding something disappointing doesn’t mean it’s awful.

  60. We’ve had this discussion over and over again.

    To be clear, I do not find Rufus the most challenging of setters, to put it mildly.
    But somehow he is also one who has an extraordinary antenna for the ordinary.
    He can write cryptic definitions with such an ease I wouldn’t even have thought of.
    For me, as a non-Brit, Rufus has been instrumental in understanding idiomatic expressions in a language that is my second.

    Despite often hearing me say “that’s not very good”, I still have a soft spot for this man who is unique in Crosswordland.

  61. Good point, Sil )@60). I fully acknowledge that Rufus is (as I put it) an excellent wordsmith – he evidently has a vast knowledge of words and meanings that he can recall effortlessly. What also shows, though, is an apparent rush to finish his creations, which ‘critics’ like myself think often deserve some refinement here and there.

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