Guardian 27,205 / Picaroon

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I found most of this puzzle to be relatively straightforward but was delayed a little by the last two or three entries, particularly 1dn which I’d never heard of before.

It’s a pangram, but I have a niggling feeling that something else is going on by way of a theme but I can’t put my finger on precisely what. Perhaps someone with a better imagination, or more knowledge, than me will be able to shed some light on it.

Across
1 He overvalues his country home, with £1,000 invested in beam (8)
JINGOIST – IN (home) G (£1,000) in (invested in) JOIST (beam)

5 Left inside covers of Tchaikovsky score (6)
TWENTY – WENT (left) in (inside) T[chaikovsk]Y (covers of Tchaikovsky)

9 Unlikely duo one’s detained by motorway light (8)
MISMATCH – I’S (one’s) in (detained by) M (motorway) MATCH (light)

10 Wartime leader of the French Resistance on strike (6)
HITLER – HIT (strike) LE (the French) R (resistance)

12 Love clip framing part of bird in viewfinder (7,4)
OPINION POLL – O (love) POLL (clip) around (framing) PINION (part of bird)

15 Wits maintaining heading for extinction is Labour’s reward (5)
WAGES – WAGS (wits) around (maintaining) E[xtinction) (heading for extinction)

17 Unidentified object‘s watery and sticky (9)
THINGUMMY – THIN (watery) GUMMY (sticky)

18 Look to put in order, wanting small gift for wordsmith (9)
ELOQUENCE – LO (look) in (to put in) [s]EQUENCE (order, wanting small)

19 Moan entrance fee’s back (5)
GRIPE – GRIP (entrance) [fe]E (fee’s back)

20 Like partners giving affection (4,2,5)
HAND IN GLOVE – HANDING (giving) LOVE (affection)

24 Awful note about financial obligations (6)
ODIOUS – DO (note) reversed (about) IOUS (financial obligations)

25 New pope not welcoming new adversary (8)
OPPONENT – an anagram (new) of POPE NOT around (welcoming) N (new)

26 Complaint from youth, oppressed by top Tory (6)
MALADY – LAD (youth) in (oppressed by) MAY (top Tory)

27 Supplier of lines in sexed-up report about politician (8)
PROMPTER – an anagram (sexed-up) of REPORT around (about) MP (politician)

Down
1 James takes drugs, toxic stuff from America (6,4)
JIMSON WEED – JIM’S ON WEED (James takes drugs) – something I had not heard of before, Collins has the best description: “US, Canadian A poisonous solanaceous plant, Datura stramonium, of the N hemisphere, having white funnel-shaped flowers and spiny capsule fruits Also called (in Britain and certain other countries) thorn apple”.

2 Gents running around in penalty area, where wingers are (7,3)
NESTING BOX – an anagram (running) of GENTS around IN plus BOX (penalty area)

3 Arab statesman involved in womanising (5)
OMANI – hidden in (involved in) ‘wOMANIsing’

4 Unrivalled heavyweight caught in first moment? (6,2,4)
SECOND TO NONE – TON (heavyweight) in (caught in) SECOND ONE (first moment)

6 Toy with Spooner’s feminine hair (9)
WHIRLIGIG – a Spoonerism of ‘girlie wig’ (feminine hair)

7 Invalid somewhat unwell, unfit to get up (4)
NULL – hidden (somewhat) reversal (to get up) in ‘unweLL UNfit’

8 Greeting kings in royal house (4)
YORK – YO (greeting) R K (kings)

11 Dancer admits: “I cried out for tawdry romance” (6-6)
BODICE-RIPPER – BOPPER (dancer) around (admits) an anagram (out) of I CRIED

13 Almighty muddle in poem not close to perfect (10)
OMNIPOTENT – an anagram (muddle) of IN POEM NOT plus [perfec]T (close to perfect)

14 Kind person like me, a newspaper employee (10)
TYPESETTER – TYPE (kind) SETTER (person like me)

16 Drunk larks in outskirts of Sunderland, the capital for corruption! (5,4)
SLUSH FUND – LUSH (drunk) FUN (larks) in S[underlan]D (outskirts of Sunderland)

21 After starter from grill, have space for curry (5)
GROOM – G[rill] (starter from grill) ROOM (space)

22 Dash miles round Australia the wrong way (4)
ZOOM – M (miles) O (round) OZ (Australia) reversed (the wrong way)

23 Classical sextet uncovered folk instrument (4)
VIOL – VI (classical sextet) [f]OL[k] (uncovered folk)

35 comments on “Guardian 27,205 / Picaroon”

  1. Saw the pangram, also missed the theme if there is one. Got stuck at the end staring at O_I_I_N _O_L for about ten minutes until the penny dropped. Hadn’t heard of JIMSON WEED. Favourites were ELOQUENCE, SLUSH FUND, NESTING BOX and BODICE-RIPPER. Nice surfaces as always from Picaroon. Many thanks to P and G.

  2. Mostly fairly straightforward, but we have not heard of 1d and needed help parsing 19a.

    6d made us laugh and we enjoyed the surfaces.

    Thank you Gaufrid and Picaroon.

  3. A really lovely puzzle, full of chuckles, and so elegantly clued. Too many to mention but I laughed out loud at HAND IN GLOVE, THINGUMMY, and MALADY.

    JIMSON WEED is the subject of one of Georgia O’Keefe’s most celebrated paintings.

    In 8 down, perhaps ‘Royal house greeting kings’ (dispensing with the redundant ‘in’) would have been a tidier clue.

    Many thanks to Picaroon, on top form, and thanks too to Gasufrid without whom we were unable to parse GRIPE

  5. Difficult but fun – I loved this puzzle (but missed seeing the pangram). It cheered me up on a day of terrible news about the Manchester bombing tragedy.

    My favourites were BODICE RIPPER, THINGUMMY, SECOND TO NONE, JIMSON WEED, MISMATCH, TWENTY, SLUSH FUND.

    I could not parse 1a (never heard of joist). New words for me were NESTING BOX, as well as BOX = penalty area (I know nothing of soccer). Also could not parse 19a – I didn’t know that GRIP = entrance.

    Thanks Gaufrid and Picaroon

  6. Thanks Gaufrid.

    Yes, fairly straightforward but highly entertaining, as always from Picaroon.

    I hadn’t heard of JIMSON WEED, either, but by the time I got to it I had enough crossers for the witty charade to make it obvious – and make me smile.

    As so often, I started listing favourites and ran out of steam. Last one in was GRIPE: I didn’t think I’d ever be caught out by ‘entrance’ again – another satisfying pdm.

    Many thanks to Picaroon.

  7. 1d was my first in–it’s very common in the US, and every few years there’s a story about kids using it for its hallucinogenic effects and dying from it.

  8. Having got 1ac I tried squeezing Jeremy Kyle into 1d before realising he wasn’t American.

    Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid.

  10. What Eileen said except that I wasn’t caught out by the grip meaning of ‘entrance’

    Thanks to Picaroon – lovely to meet you last week – and to Gaufrid too

  11. 1D was my first in. Lots of references in cowboy films I watched in childhood, much of the basis of Castenada’s books on his supposed shamanic training, much referred to in Wilson & Shea’s Illuminatus. I knew somone who grew it in his London garden in the hope that neighbours’ delinquent children who kept nicking from his garden would eat it and kill themselves. I ‘m not sure he was joking.

    Great puzzle all round, I thought.

  12. Thank you Picaroon and Gaufrid.

    I knew JIMSON WEED, not that I have ever tried anything in that line, but had a problem with parsing OPINION POLL, I had O (love) PIN (clip) framing (concocting a false charge) ION (part) POLL (of bird, ‘tame parrot’), I always forget that other meaning of ‘pinion’, and we have had it recently.

    I loved the ‘girlie wig’ and THINGUMMY.

  13. baerchen @9, my false Google was for JIMPOT WEED. That’s the trouble when clueing unfamiliar terms: ambiguities are always possible.

    This puzzle was far more to my taste than some of the recent efforts. It’s quite a refreshing change to have no wilful obscurities in the clueing, and plenty of fun on the way, with the likes of YORK and BODICE-RIPPER. It might have been nice though for Picaroon to have come up with a stronger adjective than ‘wartime’ in 10a. ODIOUS, perhaps?

  14. Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid.

    Yes enjoyable but challenging, and I failed at the last as I couldn’t get JIMSON WEED 1d. I have actually heard of the hallucinogenic properties of Datura as Devil’s Trumpet, but this name for it was totally unfamiliar.

    Many of my favourites have been mentioned already, but I actually really liked 10a HITLER (although yes I can think of better adjectives, Trailman@13). Other goodies were 12a OPINION POLL, 17a THINGUMMY, 20a HAND IN GLOVE, 6d WHIRLYGIG, and 16D SLUSH FUND. But 11d BODICE RIPPER was my top favourite – a ripper clue!!!!

    For 19d I kept thinking of something to do with “gate” for entrance, but the crossers didn’t work, so while I got GRIPE, it remained unparsed. So yes I was totally distracted by that other pronunciation of “entrance”.

    You beat me in the end, Picaroon, but I enjoyed the battle even if I lost.

  15. Job@3, I cannot believe the coincidence of your mention of Georgia O’Keeffe. I went to an exhibition of her work only last Friday in Brisbane, our state capital. I saw her paintings featuring petunias, arum lilies and morning glory, but unfortunately for me and my solve today, the JIMSON WEED painting was not part of the touring catalogue.

  17. “Joist wrote Ulysses and girder wrote Faust “said our man in Kerry.
    Lovely puzz as per usual from Pickers.
    I think I only got 1d from 1a and a bit of a google-guess.I so wanted it to be DURBAN POISON.But….
    Thanks Gaufrid.

  18. Thanks Gaufrid, needed you for 1d – ran out of time to do any Googling (sp?).

    Julie in Oz Many thanks for your quite unnecessary apology of a couple of days ago. We must be on similar wavelengths as I had ticked HITLER, OPINION POLL, & THINGUMMY.

    Many thanks Picaroon and nice week all.

  19. Variations on a theme – my guess for 1d was ‘jampot weed’ which I thought just had to be right. A few vaguely election related answers was the best I could come up with for a theme but I’m not convinced. ELOQUENCE was tricky and held me up at the end. BODICE-RIPPER and SLUSH FUND were my favourites.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid

  20. WordPlodder @ 19
    You make me feel much better as Jampot Weed was also my momble for the unknown 1d.
    I convinced myself that the first word must end in ‘pot’ and Jam seemed more plausible than Jim for the first part. Pot and Weed for drugs – what could go wrong?

  21. Another fine crossword. Generally easier than Picaroon usually is, but JIMSON WEED was new to me too.
    Particularly liked OPINION POLL and SLUSH FUND

    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid

  22. The first clue that I read was 1D, and my first thought was no, Trump has five letters. My second thought was the right one – I knew of Datura from gardening, and Jimson Weed from Carlos Castaneda. From there on, things continued to go quite smoothly; I do not keep times, but this must have been one of my quickest solves of a Guardian cryptic. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable, if brief.

  23. Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid. Very enjoyable. I knew JIMSON WEED (though I don’t remember where I came across it) and needed help parsing NESTING BOX. GRIPE was my LOI, but I did at last get grip = entrance.

  24. Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid

    Nothing wrong with this, and I really liked SLUSH FUND and VIOL, but other than those it didn’t bring me the sheer delight that Picaroon often does.

    I needed a wordfinder for JIMSON WEED, despite being familiar with Datura and thornapple – never heard it called that.

  25. Like PeterO I found this a fast solve but no less enjoyable for that. In fact I started fairly slowly and accelerated as the crossers accumulated. Far preferable to me than racing through the early portion and then left staring at impenetrable obscurities.

    1d was later for me but I knew the plant from my time in the US, 40 years ago now. Long enough for me to have forgotten 99% of Castaneda. My favourite clue from an excellent bunch.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid and to Copmus@17 for the witticism, new to me.

  26. I didn’t know JIMSON WEED-or thorn apple for that matter- but Mr Google soon put that right. NESTING BOX was largely a guess but it had to be right. Otherwise this was a bit easier than usual for Picaroon. But a really enjoyable puzzle!
    Thanks Picaroon.

  27. Great fun and my wife spotted the pangram, so great kudos to her! Lol at thingummy and last one in was jimson weed. Never heard of it but wiki says it’s also called stinkweed which we did know. Thanks to everyone.

  28. Second pangram I missed today.

    Many thanks Picaroon – and nice to meet you in London.

    I enjoyed this a lot, I liked that there was no need really to look anything up (except to check 1d). I loved viewfinder, and 20a stood out for me, very nice – I also like 8a (as is). Plenty more to like.

    thanks also Gaufrid

  29. Thanks to Gaufrid and Picaroon.

    Not a favourite setter (no negative – usually beyond me) but this was chewily penetrable if a bit of a (nenjoyable) slog. Had the fun of spotting the pangram from 2LOI ZOOM so that casting around indicated the absence of an “F” and huzzah! SLUSH FUND (LOI and favourite)(among many).

  30. Trailman @ 13. I too guessed JIMPOT WEED at 1d. The clue does say drugs in the plural and pot and weed fitted.
    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid and to Copmus @ 17 for reminding me of an old favourite.

  31. A real struggle to get going for me but the rhs fell apace once WHIRLIGIG (lovely) went in. Then SW and was left needing “nudges” for NW. Favourite was OPINION POLL – great definition. Even though I was thinking of entrance as a verb I stlll couldn’t parse GRIPE so thank you Gaufrid, Picaroon and bloggers all.

  32. Apart from Castaneda, I also knew Jimson Weed from the works of the late, great Hunter S Thompson. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle

  33. Nice to be reminded of the ’70s with Castaneda’s datura at 1dn (I had friends who tried it without dying – I think!) and copmus’s Durban poison – I seem to recall it came in brown paper…?
    First time I’ve used a pangram in solving; I noticed we had all bar Q when I’d nearly finished – which handed me ELOQUENCE on a plate.
    A nice puzzle – and no need to check anything after in Chambers!
    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid.

  34. Nice to see that all you “pangram hunters” saved yourselves 5 minutes. A good return for your many wasted hours on those nasty ubiquitous non-pangrams. 😉

    I personally didn’t “get on” with this at all. I found the cluing very clunky and nowhere near as slick as the usual “Pirate” puzzle.

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