Guardian Cryptic 27,167 by Rufus

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One for the Rufus fans

At least a third of the clues in this offering from Rufus are either cryptic definitions or double definitions, which is why I’m not a great fan of Rufus.  Some are witty, if not original (SHOOTING STAR, for example), but there’s just too many of them for my liking.

Apart from that, I thought this was an uncharacteristically sloppy effort from the setter – “working” meaning “bee” used twice, “ants” handed to us on a plate in 20ac, CHA and CHAR in the same puzzle…

I did like 6dn and 25ac, though.

Thanks, Rufus.

Across
1 HARD CASH Essential requirement for operating a slot machine (4,4)
  Cryptic definition – more often than not, you need hard cash (ie a coin, as opposed to “soft” cash like notes) to operate a slot machine.
5 SPRUCE Deal turned out well (6)
  Double definition, although someone will have to clarify for me if spruce and deal are the same thing.  They are both types of fir (wood), but are they synonymous?
9 EXECUTOR He has the will to settle things (8)
  Cryptic definition
10 HUSHUP Gag produces a quiet admonition at uni­versity (4,2)
  HUSH (quiet admonition) + UP (at university)
12 ADULT Responsible person gives notice last month (5)
  AD (notice) + Ult. (last month)
13 TAILBOARD Dog food from the back of a lorry? (9)
  TAIL (dog) + BOARD (food)
14 COUNTERBLAST Token expletive in defiant response (12)
  COUNTER (token) + BLAST (expletive)
18 CUP AND SAUCER Common drinking companions (3,3,6)
  Cryptic definition
21 CHARABANC Sailor can brew tea at first for the coach (9)
  CHAR (tea) + A.B. (“able-bodied” seaman) + *(can)
23 KHAKI Uniform colour of Gurkha kit (5)
  Hidden in “GurKHA KIt”
24 ELIXIR Miracle drug for backside beset by nettle (6)
  <= XI (side, as in cricket eleven) “beset by” RILE (nettle)
25 CAREWORN Oarsman returned in vessel, showing distress (8)
  <=ROWER “in” CAN (vessel)
26 MUTINY My unit represented in strike (6)
  *(my unit)
27 MEASURES Steps taken in yards or metres (8)
 
Down
1 HYENAS The laughing stock of Africa? (6)
  Cryptic definition
2 RHESUS Primate replaced ushers (6)
  *(ushers)
3 COUNTDOWN Reckoning that comes to nothing (9)
  Cryptic definition
4 SHOOTING STAR Travelling light? (8,4)
  Cryptic definition
6 PLUMB Born under Victoria, true (5)
  B(orn) “under” PLUM (of which Victoria is a variety).
7 UPHEAVAL Disturbance that may have Paul upset (8)
  *(have paul)
8 EXPEDITE Hasten construction of deep exit (8)
  *(deep exit)
11 HIRE PURCHASE Take on tea in a bag, paying in instalments (4,8)
  HIRE (take on) + (CHA (tea) “in” PURSE (bag))
15 BEESKNEES Low joints for workers? That’s outstanding! (4,5)
  BEE’S (workers) + KNEES (low joints)
16 ICE CREAM Came with rice to provide dessert? (3,5)
  *(came rice)
17 APIARIST One who profits from workers’ activity? (8)
  Cryptic definition
19 FAVOUR Go for help (6)
  Double definition
20 GIANTS They’re enormous soldier ants (6)
  G.I. (soldier) + ANTS
22 ALIEN A right outsider (5)
  A + LIEN (right, in law)

*anagram

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,167 by Rufus”

  1. I thought that this Rufus was more difficult than usual, and I failed to solve 20d, 24a and 25a.

    New word for me was CHARABANC.

    Thanks Rufus and blogger.

  2. Can’t agree that this was sloppy. A few liberties taken, yes, but everything worked perfectly. I actually liked the doubled “tea” and use of bees. Surprises in crosswords are always welcome. Thanks to Rufus for an enjoyable start to the week.

  5. Thanks loonapick. I agree with most of your comments except “sloppy” which is perhaps a little harsh.

    I took ages over some of the double defs and had to use other aids to find COUNTERBLAST.

    I liked SPRUCE and thought FAVOUR was elegant.

    I think he’s becoming more Rufusian with each passing week!

    Nice week, all.

  6. A very pleasant start to the week with many smiles.We didn,t share your quibbles loonapick. Thanks for the blog. Nice to finish over breakfast and leave the day clear for everything else that piles up

  7. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.

    I enjoyed this, despite circling the workers/bees repetition and the two teas myself on the way through.

    I do like a gentle Rufus to start the week.

    Favourite was 18a CUP AND SAUCER. I was also quite satisfied to get 5a, SPRUCE, my LOI, after mucking up the NE corner by filling in 10a incorrectly (as a knee jerk reaction) with SHUT UP instead of HUSH UP, which of course, held me up.

    [Good to be back to the familiarity of the Guardian cryptic and the forum after an interesting road trip (3500 kms from Queensland to Victoria and back).]

  8. Thanks, Rufus and loonapick. This didn’t start well for me – for a while I had TESTATOR at 9 and SHUT UP at 10, but some easy down answers convinced me they were wrong. This kind of ambiguity is the main reason I’m not a Rufus fan.

    I remember CHARABANC from childhood. My grandma, a Wiganer, used to talk about going on a ‘sharrer’ (that’s what it sounded like) to Blackpool for the day.

  10. Thanks Rufus and loonapick

    I had the first C in 18a so happily wrote in CAT AND FIDDLE – well, it is a Rufus. Once this was corrected, it went easily enough, with KHAKI and CAREWORN favourites.

    I didn’t really understand HARD CASH, but SPRUCE is fine; “deal” is used by woodworkers as a generic term for any softwood, thus including spruce.

  11. Thank you Rufus and loonapick.

    A pleasant start to the week, as always when it is Rufus. I did not have a problem with ‘deal’ = SPRUCE, white deal is from the Norway Spruce.

    I did like the clues for CAREWORN, CUP AND SAUCER, COUNTDOWN, APIARIST and RHESUS.

  13. Michelle@1, Median@8

    I can’t imagine anyone much under the age of 60 has ever heard of a charabanc. I recall reading relatively recently that the word has been dropped from one dictionary (OED?) as nobody ever uses it any more. Which is a shame, I think – it’s a splendid word, so I propose to start using it at every suitable opportunity.

  15. I had a few wavelength issues this morning, but in retrospect it is not obvious why. In particular FAVOUR and MEASURES were last in and I can’t explain why I didn’t think of them earlier.

    Thanks to Rufus and loonapick

  16. Magor @13: The (big) OED, of all dictionaries, will never drop a word, as it strives to be a history of the language. It has words in it that dropped out of use centuries ago, so mere neglect won’t get a word banned from the OED.

    And CHARABANC was a new one for me too. It appears that it’s not only archaic but British, which makes it kind of hard for me as an American just over 40.

    I agree with the commenter who found this harder than usual for Rufus.

  17. I’ve run across charabsnc in books, though I’ve certainly never heard anybody use the word. It took me a while — I had the feeling there was some sort of long C-word meaning a vehicle, and another crosser or two finally tipped it in.

    I thought “stock” was only used for domestic animals. Is anybody running a hyena farm?

    Thanks Rufus and loonapick.

  19. Valentine — ‘cuppa char’ is basic vernacular English. A theme-park entrepreneur is probably drawing up a plan to open a hyena farm at this very moment.

  20. It was a bit strange to have the ants served up on a plate, but I did take the opportunity to learn something new (namely that soldier ant is a specific term for ‘major worker’, whereas army ant is a general description covering over 200 species).

  21. Valentine @18: it certainly is, and in my book the annoying “cha” is just spelt wrong. Not sure which is the original Indian spelling.

    The charabang was a “char-a-bancs” i.e. a cart with seats, and that’s what the early horse-drawn ones looked like – there are lovely old pictures of them off to the country loaded with children on the annual Sunday School outing. The name transferred to the motorised ones but has more or less died out now.

  23. I completely agree with loonapick. Not one of Rufus’s best. Also, I got PLUMB very quickly, having just entered the same answer in today’s Quick.

  25. I wouldn’t say that I struggled but one or two of the cd / dd type clues seemed a bit loose to me so I was diffident in writing them in – HARD CASH, for example, and FAVOUR, for which I had to go online and use the check button to verify. Still, all done in the end.

  26. Thanks to loonapick for the blog.

    I’m another who looked at 9, counted the letters, then wrote in TESTATOR: it’s obvious isn’t it?
    Silly me.

  27. 20dn was sloppy but I didn’t find anything wrong with the rest of it,and I thought the puzzle somewhat harder than usual for Rufus. When I was young and living in Liverpool, we often went to Blackpool on SHARRA – often arriving home in the early hours several sheets to the wind! Liked ELIXIR and CHARABANC.
    Thanks Rufus.

  28. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick. I enjoy Rufus puzzles because I remember a time when they were the only ones I could fathom. I still have trouble with his double definitions when I have the correct solution but am doubtful I am right (FAVOUR, HARD CASH). I did know CHARABANC (maybe from reading novels) and my LOI was ELIXIR (I took a long time parsing it).

  29. Charabanc was in use during my childhood – a legacy, no doubt, of our Edwardian parents. From the same stable comes “pantechnicon” – a moving/furniture van/lorry/truck.

  30. [Sasquash @29, PANTECHNICON was used by Rufus and Araucaria in 2009, the only references I can find on Site Search, it must be due for another airing.]

  31. I like the confidence building start to the week that Rufus gives me. I didn’t find it any harder than usual for him so maybe I just happened on the “right” answers (like EXECUTOR) and the “wrong” alternatives didn’t come to my surface.
    I’m with those who thought the GIANTS clue was a step too far in offering a direct route from garden gate to front door, and I’m a Lancashire lad whose grandparents regularly referred to the “(s)charra” and it’s lovely to see it remembered in crossword land if no where else. Thanks to Rufus and Loonapick.

  32. As this seems to be memory lane day, those who were around in the fifties might like the wit I worked with who saw three tea-ladies, with their trolleys, coming towards him and said “cha-cha-cha”.

  34. My introduction to CHARABANC was in the lyrics of the 1977 hit record “Peaches” by punk group The Stranglers (lyrics unsuitable for refined company, I hasten to add). Good to know the word lives on, if only in crosswords.

    Thanks, Rufus and loonapick.

  35. I’m with Valentine. Cha= tea. Char= cleaning lady. Can’t find char in my dictionary meaning tea. Agree harder than usual, not exactly “sloppy’ but not elegant in places.

  36. I thought this was okay and, to be honest, if the “bee tea” elements hadn’t been mentioned, I wouldn’t have noticed them. My only minor qualm is with 7d because I’m not convinced the cryptic grammar is entirely sound. But, hey, the answer is still clear enough – which, for the Guardian’s libertarian solvers, is all that matters.

    Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.

  37. A pleasant and not too demanding start to the week. I’m old enough to know what a charabanc is and I have no issue with spruce being used as a synonym for deal. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  39. Quite hard for a Rufus, I thought. My last in was SPRUCE which I hadn’t seen before as an adjective. I thought the clue was an error at first, as it appeared to me to indicate spruced. TAILBOARD and COUNTERBLAST were unfamiliar words for me, but the clueing was clear enough. Thanks, Loonapick and Rufus.

  41. I’m grateful to Magor (13) and Cholecyst (14) for their comments on CHARABANC. I too think this is a splendid word and recall my late father using it on several occasions. I remember him pronouncing it as ‘SHARRABANG’. No other person I have known has ever used this word. Towards the end of my career when I was employed by a “politically correct” establishment that insisted on the use of plain English, I once delighted in the opportunity to use this marvellous word – “to broaden their education”.

  42. I think that anyone who has been in a proper East End pub with social history photos will have seen “charabangs” off on days out

  43. Charabancs were mentioned a few times in the Timeshift BBC4 series episode “The Golden Age of Coach Travel”.

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