It gets harder and harder to say anything new about Rufus – today I’ll just say that I found this very easy even by his standards, and that I expect to have a lot more trouble with Anto over in the Quiptic. Thanks to Rufus.
| Across | ||||||||
| 9. | NIGHTFALL | Day trip? Quite the contrary (9) Cryptic definition |
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| 10. | ARENA | A period return to Wembley, say (5) Reverse of AN ERA |
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| 11. | ABOLISH | A returned high ball is hard to stop (7) A + reverse of LOB + IS H |
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| 12. | ON TRIAL | Liar not found out, when appearing in court (2,5) (LIAR NOT)* |
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| 13. | GRIME | Dirt, for example, seen back round edge (5) RIM in reverse of EG |
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| 14. | THEORETIC | Cite other changes, being purely speculative (9) (CITE OTHER)* |
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| 16. | RAYMOND CHANDLER | Cherry and almond pie made by a writer (7,8) (CHERRY AND ALMOND)* |
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| 19. | DOG COLLAR | Kit for vicars and boxers? (3,6) An overlapping double definition |
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| 21. | CANOE | Hole in bamboo boat (5) O in CANE |
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| 22. | ISRAELI | Airs composed by priest, one living in Jerusalem? (7) AIRS* + ELI (Old Testament priest) |
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| 23. | AILMENT | It may cause ill-feeling (7) Cryptic definition |
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| 24. | OX-EYE | Look after a bull for Daisy (2-3) OX + EYE |
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| 25. | ENDEAVOUR | Aim always, say, to try hard (9) END + homophone of “ever” |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | ENDANGERED | Put in a difficult position and finished full of rage (10) ANGER in ENDED |
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| 2. | IGNOMINY | Go in — in my discomposure, shame (8) (GO IN IN MY)* |
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| 3. | STRIDE | Leader of the squad tried to change step (6) S[quad] + TRIED* |
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| 4. | OATH | Reluctant to lose student showing promise (4) [L]OATH |
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| 5. | ALTOGETHER | Great hotel renovated completely (10) (GREAT HOTEL)* |
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| 6. | CAST-IRON | Sort of alibi that has not been forged (4-4) Double definition |
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| 7. | DESIST | Stop in a crooked side street (6) SIDE* + ST |
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| 8. | HAUL | Net gain from trawling? (4) Cryptic definition – the trawler’s net brings up the haul of fish |
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| 14. | TIDAL RIVER | Where to find alternating current (5,5) Cryptic definition |
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| 15. | CARPENTERS | They saw where fish comes in (10) CARP + ENTERS |
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| 17. | ODOMETER | It registers miles motored, possibly around the Orient (8) E in MOTORED* |
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| 18. | LANCELOT | Knight provides weapon to many (8) LANCE + LOT |
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| 20. | GARRET | Slip up in gunroom (6) Reverse of ERR in GAT[ling gun], with a lift-and-separate definition |
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| 21. | CELLAR | Wine store is a short distance in vehicle (6) ELL (measure of length) in CAR |
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| 22. | IDOL | I’d look up to this hero (4) ID + reverse of LO |
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| 23. | AIDS | Helps in case of serious disease (4) Double definition |
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Enjoyable nonetheless.
Thanks, Andrew. I needed to be sure I had “RIVER” correct at 14d TIDAL RIVER, so appreciated the confirmation of my guess. There are a lot of possibilities for words with -I-E-!
My favourites were 19a DOG COLLAR, 5d ALTOGETHER, 6d CAST IRON, 15d CARPENTERS and 18d LANCELOT.
Thanks to Rufus. 16a brought back fond memories of one of my favourite crime writers.
Thanks Rufus and Andrew
I liked ON TRIAL and CARPENTERS. I don’t think NIGHTFALL works as there is no definition – it’s not the opposite of “day trip”. The definition for TIDAL RIVER is very loose too.
Now to Anto!
Yes, I agree that it is hard to say anything new about Rufus. This one was pleasant enough – did cause myself a few problems by writing ALLERGY at 23, but eventually realised that the knight had to be the obvious one…
Thanks to Rufus and Andrew
As always lots of lovely surfaces. I especially enjoyed CARPENTERS and ALTOGETHER. A very enjoyable start to the week. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
I am fine with NIGHT FALL being “opposite” to a fall/trip in the daytime. I understood the “quite the opposite” to refer to the time of the fall (day/night).
I always look forward to Rufus on a Monday (more than the so-called “quiptics”). I enjoyed this puzzle – my favourites were NIGHTFALL, CARPENTERS, DOG COLLAR. New words for me were GAT and TIDAL RIVER.
Thanks Rufus and blogger.
Thanks Rufus. My only quibble was with “leader of THE squad” to give us a letter S. Would have been a bad misdirection if the answer overall hadn’t been relatively clear.
Rufus uses lift-and-separate (20d)! Surely a first time. Elsewhere, loads of write-ins, a barely-cryptic definition (AILMENT), and another that’s prone to ambiguity (TIDAL RIVER). So, nearly nothing new.
Thanks Rufus; pretty straightforward but still enjoyable.
Thanks Andrew; I tried TIDAL reach at first before getting the other crossers. I think Rufus has done lift-and-separate clues before but I can’t remember them.
I enjoyed CARPENTERS and ENDEAVOUR.
Thank you Rufus and Andrew.
The clue for OX-EYE was my favourite – we have heifers in the field at the end of our garden again, hopefully to form a dairy herd, there has not been one in the village for a long time, they are wearing little bells.
Trailman @7, Rufus has used lift-and-separate more then twice recently.
In defence of the late, great TJ Harrington a Gat is a gun in own right.
I like Rufus but agree with the ambiguity comments, I initially had nightmare for 9A (equally plausible I thought until the crosser at the end needed changing) and 14D could be tidal dikes, tidal wires, tidal piles, etc.
Typo, sorry..
‘ in it’s own right. ‘
Thanks, Andrew.
I take your point but I enjoyed this nonetheless with CANOE & CARPENTERS getting ticks.
I agree with Muffin @2 re NIGHTFALL. A nice bit of fun but where’s the def?
I was going to question why ell at nearly 4 feet is a “short distance”, but I suppose it depends on your particular scale. For a motoring trip it’s a very short distance!
I’m a firm fan of this setter but, as I’ve mentioned before, I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to make his contributions fortnightly and thus avoid the crticism that so oftens attends familiarity.
Thanks, as usual Rufus, and nice week, all.
Thanks to Rufus and Andrew
Relatively straightforward Monday fare. I do admire some of Rufus’s surfaces and ingenious anagrams – cherry and almond pie for Raymond Chandler for example.
Like beery hiker @3 and Robert @10 I initially wrote in allergy and nightmare, though both were quickly corrected.
Thanks to Rufus and Andrew. I too enjoyed this puzzle. I could not believe AILMENT was the correct solution (but it was Rufus on a Monday) and, like others, kept coming up with options before seeing TIDAL RIVER. LOI was HAUL which for some reason I could not get from the crossers.
I liked cherry and almond pie too.
I tried to put “A MM” in “CAR” for the short distance, but couldn’t convince myself CAMMAR was a word. Did anybody else get hung up on millimeters? Finally I asked myself where I’d find wine and the penny dropped.
Robert at 11: “It’s own right” – aaaaarrrrgh!
Anybody else have TORMENT for 23a?
I really enjoy a Rufus puzzle. Yes, I do the Guardian crossword every day, and yes, I usually complete each one, but Rufus on a Monday is a gentle start to the week. And his easily-accessible,puzzles may even encourage readers new to the bizarre and esoteric world of crosswords to have a go.
Unlike @10 robert, I wasn’t aware of the T J Harrington “gat”. But it was a word familiar from 1950s cops-and-robbers films and TV shows – possibly some written by 16a – where everyone seemed to own a “gat”. It didn’t occur to me that it may be derived from Gatling Gun, so I may have learned something new.
Talking of which, I thought alMOND-rayMOND was a bit too much of a giveaway, but possibly because I had the crossers from 1d & 2d in place…
I was happy that a day fall is the opposite of a night trip – there have been more tenuous synonyms and antonyms in cryptic crosswords!
Nice easy stroll, as is customary on a Monday. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
It felt right to be back to Rufus on a Monday. Mostly a write in but with nice surfaces I thought.
Completely failed on the lift and seperate at 20d, this is Rufus after all.
Thanks to Andrew and Rufus, of course.
Quick, but quite fun and the usual Rufus MO.
I tried NIGHTSTAY – I suppose I was thinking of OVERNIGHT STAY – for 9 to get a full opposite, but there’s no such word really. I’m surprised Rufus didn’t use “cooked” as an anagrind in 16. It’s a nice spot as an anagram. I misread 23d’s “case of serious” as SS and tried SIDS before realising that I couldn’t find a way to get to the ID bit. Now I’m not sure why “case of serious” is there at all.
Overall, a nice hors d’oeuvre for the week.
Thanks, Rufus and Andrew
Thanks Rufus and Andrew.
Couldn’t agree more with Chelonia @18. Rufus was my way into solving cryptic and I am always disappointed if he’s not the Monday setter.
I think that a couple of posters have misunderstood my point about NIGHTFALL. The wordplay works and is quite fun, but where in the clue is the definition of “nightfall”?
Don’t think I misunderstood, Muffin. (@12)
[Yes, but you agreed with me, William 🙂 ]
Enjoyable enough although some of the cluing was a bit loose,as others have pointed out. GARRET was LOI. I liked CARPENTERS. Pity it wasn’t harder though, because I’ll now have to finish cutting my hedges!
Thanks Rufus
Leo @16. That was pretty much my reaction just after I posted it but I didn’t want to risk a correction of the correction!
@23 muffin – could it be an &lit?
Trismegistus @28
I don’t see it as &lit. Something like “dusk” would be needed for a definition.
There’s a classic Isaac Asimov short story entitled “Nightfall”; perhaps Rufus could have worked in a reference to that.
Thanks Andrew. Favourite was CARPENTERS. Thanks Rufus for the stroll – cancelling out the torture that was last Friday!
Muffin@2 et al. I suppose it could be argued that NIGHTFALL is the opposite of day fall = day trip so the whole clue is the definition but I can’t say that I like it either. I can’t see anything cryptic in 14 d. Even so there were lots of excellent surfaces and 16a is a very well-spotted anagram. Thanks to Rufus and Andrew.
Me@31
I’m not fully au fait with the jargon of crosswords so needed to check on the “About Fifteen Squared” page to discover what “& lit” means and that I was repeating Trismegistus@23. Apologies.
I’m a new poster, but Garret? I don’t think that’s fair since “gunroom” was written as one word. I see the parsing side of it, but I had “garter” for “slip.” Interested in any thoughts? I was happy to get everything else correct.