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Usual Rufus fare.
A very gentle start to the week, with the expected mix of barely cryptic defintions, simple anagrams and double definitions. Most of this was standard for the setter, but I wasn’t sure about 15ac (seemed even less cryptic than his usual), and I have commented at 21dn that I don’t think “JUST” and “ABOUT” are synonymous.
My favourite clue was 7dn.
Thanks, Rufus.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AUTOBUS | Transport moving about America (7) |
| *(about) + U.S. (“America”) | ||
| 5 | ENDS UP | Finishes doing a headstand? (4,2) |
| Cryptis definition | ||
| 9 | ALSO-RANS | They set off, but got no place (4-4) |
| Slightly cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | BANANA | Fruit held in hand (6) |
| Cryptic defintion, as a bunch of bananas is known as a “hand” | ||
| 12 | BAKEWELL TART | Pudding that comes with cooking instructions? (8,4) |
| Cryptic defintion | ||
| 15 | BREADFRUIT | Pacific islanders’ cash crop? (10) |
| BREAD (“cash”) + FRUIT (“crop”) | ||
| 17 | SEC | Very short time needed to get dry (3) |
| SEC(ond) | ||
| 19 | EXE | River seen in Sussex, Essex and in Devon! (3) |
| Hidden in “SussEX Essex” | ||
| 20 | ABDICATION | The abandonment of royal dignity (10) |
| Almost cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | SEMI-DETACHED | Sort of house in Cheam, its deed is mislaid (4-8) |
| *(cheam its deed) | ||
| 26 | OWNS UP | Confesses to being part of a town’s uprising (4,2) |
| Hidden in “tOWNS UPrising” | ||
| 27 | APPLAUSE | Acclamation of unusual papal custom (8) |
| *(papal) + USE (“custom”) | ||
| 28 | SEDATE | Teased about being staid (6) |
| *(teased) | ||
| 29 | SCALPEL | Knife that’s a trophy to the Spanish (7) |
| SCALP (“trophy”) + EL (“the” in “Spanish”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ALAS | A girl reaches no conclusion, sad to say (4) |
| A LAS(s) | ||
| 2 | TASK | The head to apply for a job (4) |
| T(he) + ASK (“apply for”) | ||
| 3 | BARMAIDS | Females in public service? (8) |
| Females who serve you in a public bar, so mildly cryptic definition | ||
| 4 | SENSE | One of five, one may feel (5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | NEARLY | Almost get a point too soon (6) |
| N(orth) (“a point”) + EARLY (“too soon”) | ||
| 7 | SEAMANSHIP | Wrong emphasis about an ability in the main (10) |
| *(emphasis) about AN | ||
| 8 | PLASTICINE | Fashionable gift for youngsters (10) |
| Cryptic definition – if plasticine still exists as a thing, then it is something youngsters use to fashion or form into mini sculptures. | ||
| 11 | GEMINI | There’s something precious in one set of twins (6) |
| GEM (“something precious”) + IN + 1 | ||
| 13 | OBSESSIONS | Former pupil has terms for irresistible impulses (10) |
| O.B. (old boy, so “former pupil”) + SESSIONS (“terms”) | ||
| 14 | DETERMINED | Settled in a resolute way (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | REBATE | A bit of your own back (6) |
| Cryptic defintion | ||
| 18 | CAMELLIA | Order me a lilac or another shrub (8) |
| *(me a lilac) | ||
| 21 | ADJUST | A number almost set right (6) |
| A + D (500 in Roman numerals, so “number”) + JUST (“almost”)
Just and almost are not synonymous, though. In fact, it could be argued that they are antonyms. |
||
| 23 | CAPES | Outstanding features of space (5) |
| *(space) | ||
| 24 | HUMP | Carry a load of despondency (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | FELL | Went over the hill? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
Yes, usual Rufus fare indeed. Nothing jumped out at me, but I rather liked BREADFRUIT and PLASTICINE. Thanks to R and l.
A gentle workout . Just…about…nearly…almost a quiptic.
Don’t like the general condescending tone and implied criticism of the setter as out of date with the plasticine comment, a product which is still widely used.
‘Morning all
I too was surprised to see the almost/just ‘synonym’. They are just (not almost) on opposite sides of a thin dividing line.
Like drofle@1, I liked 15a and 8d, and also 12a. I got held up for a while by 15 (having missed the apostrophe in the clue) assuming the definition was ‘Pacific islanders’. A search for the word ‘breadgrain’ (a native of the island of breadgra, which doesn’t exist) proved fruitless.
I wonder how today’s e-kids would react if they got plasticine as a Christmas present. Not well, methinks.
Thanks Rufus and loonapick.
Apologies re “plasticine”. I didn’t realise it was still used. I agree with Greensward, mind you, that it wouldn’t necessarily too many youngsters’ lists to Santa.
Gerry@3
Just seen your post. No implied criticism of Rufus, or plasticine, intended. The brightly coloured strips, which inevitably turned into a brown mass, bring back many happy memories.
Usual mix of good and poor clues imo. SEAMANSHIP was a particularly good one I thought.
Thanks Rufus and loonapick
I enjoyed this, with ALSO-RANS, BAKEWELL TART and (LOI) TASK favourites. I was a bit irritated with 3d, as it also could have been bargirls or barwomen (yes, I know the crossers decide, but they were late in).
According to Chambers, the modelling clay is plasticEne – this would have been annoying in a Prize, as the letter isn’t checked.
“He almost made the jump over the crevasse” and “he just made the leap over the crevasse” have rather different outcomes.
Just noticed I has LUMP instead of HUMP – nearly (almost, just?) as good!
Nice gentle start to the week.
I always found Plasticene very disappointing as a toy, but it was certainly put to brilliant use in Creature Comforts, and in Tony Hart’s Morph.
You don’t often hear AUTOBUS used in the UK, just “bus” which I always thought came from omnibus.
My favourites 7d and 8d.
Thanks to Rufus and Loonapick.
A good enough start to the week. I thought 20, though fairly obvious, doesn’t have so much to do with dignity. Thanks Rufus and Loonapick.
No problem with ‘just’ and ‘almost’ – English is such an approximately exact language!
Nice Rufus. Thanks to you and loonapick. However….. “There are no TARTS in BAKEWELL”…. only puddings as defined.
It didn’t help that my first confident entry was ‘aged’ at 25d. It seemed like a typical Rufusian clue. I’ll persist with Rufus but I rarely get on his wavelength. No criticism of him. I found the Prize easier, and that was hard.
[For those here who don’t normally do the Quiptic, I’d recommend today’s. It’s by a new compiler, and I think that it’s excellent.]
Thank you Rufus and loonapick.
An enjoyable Rufus, my favourite clues were those for BREADFRUIT, SEAMANSHIP and PLASTICINE -I cannot think why Chambers spells it PLASTICENE (muffin @8), perhaps thinking of the PLEISTOCENE geologic period, both the COED and Collins only give PLASTICINE…
My memories are only of PLASTICENE. However you can buy 230 varieties of it on EBay but 8,122 of the -ine variation. Who decides which is correct when the crucial letter is unchecked?
APPLAUSE was quite good.
Plasticine was a Proustian moment for me – took me right back to coloured, furrowed strips joined together and to that particular smell.
Xjpotter@14. Your ‘aged’ entry at 25d got me wondering if any of the compilers could (or have) ever set a puzzle consisting of pairs of identical clues, each having the same letter count, but leading to a different, equally valid, answer. Up for the challenge, anyone…?
Plasticine was originally Harbutt’s name for the modelling clay he invented: I don’t know whether it was ever a registered trademark, but guess that ‘plasticene’ was used to avoid the need to flag it with an (R). (cf. ‘Gramophone’ and ‘Hoover’.)
Thanks Rufus; it wasn’t particularly gentle for me because I got stuck in the NW corner for a while.
Thanks loonapick; I guess you meant ‘just’ and ‘almost’ are not synonymous, although if you add ‘about’ they are. I didn’t much like ‘the head’ meaning ‘T’. I liked PLASTICINE and BARMAIDS.
Greensward @19; DONK/SCREW once set a puzzle with pairs of identical clues – he said he would never do it again!
I echo muffin @15; the Quiptic is certainly worth a visit.
My time in the US taught me to be cautious about how I use 24 down
I’m not going to be one to quibble as to whether PLASTICINE is still around! Whether it is or no, infinitely superior to “play-dough” or whatever succeeded it! I have fond memories of happy hours passed in primary school…. Only downside was, you started with neat packs in a dozen different colours, but by the time you’d used and re-used it somewhat, it had all merged into a uniform greyish-brown.
I wasn’t sure whether ALSO-RAN can be pluralised like that, but being in no way acquainted with anything horsey, I’ll go with the majority. I also wondered whether AUTOBUS is really an English word, but again…
Quite a few nice deceptions in the definitions. Liked SEAMANSHIP. A good piece from Rufus, and thanks to him and loonapick.
PeterM @20
Chambers actually has Plasticene (R). Perhaps Harbutt never patented it, so whoever did changed the spelling to duck priority issues?
Recent editions of Chambers have Plasticine; it’s been spelt that way since the 2003 edition. It had an E in 1998.
My print edition of Chambers has Plasticine (R). I was living in Bath when the Bathampton factory closed.
http://www.bathampton-village.org.uk/harbutts-event/
Thanks Robi@21. Any idea where I can find it?
Peter @25:
The Chambers edition I have is pre-1998. Maybe Chambers had a misprint between 1998 and 2002?
Apart from the just/almost quibble I thought this one was rather good with some very nice clues – “seamanship” was my favourite but there were a fair few more that raised a smile.
Thanks for the plasticene research above – as someone who grew up playing with the stuff in the 70s I could have sworn it was an “e”, but had doubts enough to press the check button. Glad to see I’d remembered correctly.
This was more of a struggle than Rufus usually is, but in retrospect it is hard to see why – this is quite often the case for me with his cds.
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick. PLASTICINE/PLASTICENE is not part of my past, and I took a while before getting the “bake” in BAKEWELL TART. Otherwise, the usual enjoyable Rufus on Monday..
My 2003 Chambers has Plasticine (R).
My 2014 (13th edition) Chambers has Plasticine (R).
My Chambers Concise 1988 reprint has Plasticine (R) as part of the plastic entry.
BUT my 1991 Chambers Concise (New Edition) has Plasticene (R) as its own entry.
Make of that what you will.
Is it possible to have too many dictionaries?
It’s been so long since I used plasticine I’d forgotten how to spell it anyway.
I’d agree this competes well not with other cryptics, but with the Quiptic, it was such a breeze. Enjoyable nonetheless.
Today’s Indy is a little more challenging, and The Times today has a real stinker, I think.
Thanks all
Quite straightforward, except I never accepted adjust enough to write it in.
I agree with you RC Whiting, and loonapick, about ‘JUST’.
There’s a difference between something being almost right and just right of course, but the more equal ‘just good enough’ as opposed to ‘almost good enough’ is still too much of a stretch for me.
Quiptic and Cryptic on a par for me today.
Very late today and for some reason I found this more difficult than usual. Mind you this is probably not unconnected with spending what seemed like days dealing with those wonderful people from BT (don’t ask!). Anyway,this is a typical Rufus puzzle but I simply couldn’t see PLASTICINE for ages until, suddenly, I sussed the meaning of FASHIONABLE!
It’s been a difficult day.
Thanks Rufus.
Crossbar @32 — I think you have demonstrated that it can sometimes be useful to have multiple editions of the same dictionary!
The copy of Chambers English Dictionary that I use (ISBN 0550102507) was printed in 1992 and is identified as the 7th edition in the BL cataloguing data on the copyright page. I am really surprised to learn that a different edition misspelled a trademarked product name.
muffin@9: another LUMP here – several possibilities including DUMP, but I derived it from sLUMP. I assume ‘get the hump’ is the intended derivation?
Can someone please explain 23d? Thanks
pK@39: I think it just means a cape as in the Cape of Good Hope, i.e. a promontory.
A pleasant start to the week – apart from ADJUST which is hard to
almostjustify from the wordplay.A very busy day at work, combined with an event away from home that I had to attend this evening, and further combined with a Rufus puzzle whose last several clues eluded me for a time, has resulted in my posting to this blog in tat nearly 11 p.m. here in the eastern U.S. I enjoyed the puzzle – it was a pleasant way to start the week (in the interstices of all of the other frenetic activity of today). I was amused to see SEMI-DETACHED after that term (together with “terrace”) was the topic of considerable commentary in last week’s Orlando puzzle. And of course, so soon, we were graced with another appearance of one of The Most Important etc. etc. in 19ac, this time not as a building block of the wordplay for another answer, but as the answer itself. (What other word might Rufus have set in the grid here? Eve, eke, eye, ewe, ere … I think “EEE” would have had some potential for a laugh or two.) My LOI was PLASTICINE, which I do not remember being a product name used here in the U.S., when I was growing up. I hesitated to put this word in, because I thought it was the name for a plastic explosive (thinking now of David Niven in The Guns of Navarone), but then I realized that I was confusing it with the word “plastique”. So I wrote in the correct answer and even lucked out on the “I” rather than “E” in the final syllable. Many thanks to Rufus and loonapick and other commenters.
Me @42
Haha, I guess I should have “previewed comment”. Meant to say “at” nearly 11 p.m., and somehow it went onto the keyboard as “in tat” – whatever that is.
Just to finish it off: Chambers 1965 (Latest Impression)(Edited by William Geddie) has: Plasticine (trade-mark name), a substitute for modelling clay.
I doubt if anyone will see this, but it just occurred to me to check “plasticine” in Chambers Word Wizard. PLASTIC?NE gives plasticEne, but no plasticIne, so the “misprint” is still extant…