Guardian Cryptic 27404 Puck

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Apologies for this late posting.  This was difficult for me. Thanks to Puck. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

The theme is Shakespearean, and associated words are marked “*”. There are also a couple of references in the clues.

Across

*7 Gaunt son in hospital, briefly very sick (5,2)

HENRY IV : Anagram of(… sick) [IN + H(abbrev. for;briefly “hospital”) + VERY]

Defn: Son of John of Gaunt.

*8 Time on leave: endless misery, having bit one’s other half? (4,3)

PART TWO : T(abbrev. for “time”) placed after(on) PART(to leave) + “woe” minus its last letter(endless …).

Defn: A partial explanation: The other half of the title of the Shakespearean play, Henry IV Part 2. I can’t explain “bit”, though.

9 Supports breaks regularly offered by 10 (4)

BRAS : The 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “breaks” placed after(offered by) the 1st letter of(“…’s head”, answer to 10 across) “boar”.l

Defn: Supporters of the female breasts.

*10 Pub to which Spooner’s working girl retired (5,4)

BOARS HEAD : Spoonerism of “whore’s bed”(the place to which a working girl has retired;slept).

Defn: Name of any number of pubs in London, most famously the supposed meeting place of Falstaff.

12 Page? He’s in a group (5)

SHEET : HE contained in(…’s in) SET(a group of related items).

13 A comic drinks one can in store (8)

AWAITING : A + WAG(a comic;one who makes jokes) containing(drinks) I(Roman numeral for “one”) +TIN(a can) ].

15 Ugly lump in conflict with model (4)

WART : WAR(a conflict) plus(conflict) T(the model of car made by the Ford Company).

16 Witty remark, providing theme (5)

MOTIF : MOT(short for “bon mot”;a witty remark) + IF(providing;in case).

*17 Tooth fairy’s first name, inscribed in silver (4)

FANG : The 1st letter of(…’s first) “fairy” + [ N(abbrev. for “name”) contained in(inscribed in) AG(symbol for the chemical element, silverp].

*18 Came across retired people causing trouble, coming to violent blows (8)

TEMPESTS : Reversal of(… retired) MET(came across) + PESTS(people causing trouble;nuisances).

*20 Spy eating a French sandwich (5)

BLUNT : UN(French for “a”) contained in(eating …) BLT(abbrev. for a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich).

Defn: Anthony, one of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies.

21 As a turn is played in Haydn and Schubert? (9)

AUSTRIANS : Anagram of(… played) AS A TURN IS.

Defn: …’s nationality.

22 Power bills for flats (4)

PADS : P(symbol for “power” in physics) + ADS(short for advertisements;bills as in “post no bills” seen on walls).

Defn: Homes.

24 8’s not begun, surprisingly, with glass completely empty? (2,5)

AT WORST : Anagram of(…, surprisingly) “part two’s”(answer to 8 across) minus its 1st letter(… not begun).

*25 Queen getting weak, beheaded at once (7)

QUICKLY : QU(abbrev. for “Queen”) plus(getting) “sickly”(weak) minus its 1st letter(beheaded).

Down

1 Evil originally seen in Jack the Ripper’s work? (4)

TEAR : The 1st letter of(… originally) “Evil” contained in(seen in) TAR(like Jack, a term for a sailor).

Defn: A ripper’s work;result of an action would be a rip;tear.

2 View of the 18 protagonist getting caught, not run out (8)

PROSPECT : “Prospero”(the protagonist of Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest;most of the answer to 18 across) plus(getting) CT(abbrev. for “caught”) minus(not) “ro”(abbrev. for “run out”).

3 Fool commonly eats guts of fat bird as delicacy (6)

TITBIT : TIT(slang for;commonly, a fool) containing(eats) the central 3 letters of(guts of) “fat bird“.

*4 Flower seller’s first flower show in Covent Garden? (8)

FALSTAFF : FAL(the Cornish river;flow-er) + the 1st letter of(…’s first) “seller’s” + TAFF(the Welsh river;flow-er).

Defn: An opera, possibly performed in the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

5 In drunken state outside 10, with glass full to the brim? (2,4)

AT BEST : Anagram of(drunken) STATE containing(outside) the 1st letter of(“…’s head”;answer to 10 across) “boar”.

6 Acting on day lost for words (4)

AWED : A(abbrev. for “acting”) placed above(on, in a down clue) WED(abbrev. for “Wednesday”).

11 Film horrible short adult that’s incontinent (9)

ANASTASIA : “nasty”(horrible) minus its last letter(short) + A(abbrev. for “adult”) contained in(in-) ASIA(-continent)

12 Gin topless dancer’s drunk without coke (5)

SNARE : Anagram of(…’s drunk) “dancer” minus its 1st letter(topless …) minus(without) “c”(abbrev. for “coke”;cocaine).

14 Small number in 10 upset group of players (5)

NONET : Reversal of(… upset) [NO(a.;small number) contained in(in) TEN(10) ].

*16 Bit on the side? Lock phone card up first (8)

MISTRESS : TRESS(a long lock of hair) placed below(… first, in a down clue) reversal of(… up, in a down clue) SIM(abbrev. for “subscriber identification module”, the card in your mobile phone).

17 Guardian secretary in KFC ordered two items less than perfect order, stomach-wise? (4-4)

FOUR-PACK : OUR(self-referential possessive pronoun for the Guardian newspaper)+ PA(abbrev. for “personal assistant”;a secretary) contained in(in) anagram of(… ordered) KFC.

Defn: “Six-pack”, set of a man’s well-shaped;perfect abdominal;stomach muscles less two items gives a four-pack.

*19 Rod, after a great deal to drink, falls over (6)

PISTOL : Reversal of(…, falls over, in a down clue) [LOT(a great deal;plenty) plus(to) SIP(to drink in small mouthfuls).

Answer: …, whose slang word is “rod”.

20 Quarrel where vehicle gets rammed? (4-2)

BUST-UP : BUS(a large motor vehicle) plus(gets …-ed, as in “charged”=gets a charge) + TUP(a ram).

21 Book of plays (4)

ACTS : Double defn: 1st: … of the Bible.

23 Toy Manx sheep? (4)

DOLL : “Dolly”(the sheep who was the first cloned mammal) minus its last letter(Manx, as with tailless Manx cats)

51 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27404 Puck”

  1. Thanks Puck (another Shakesperean) and scchua

    I found this difficult to solve, and even harder to parse, with several going in from definition alone. I had no idea what was going on in 8a, and had to “Check” to see if it was “one” or TWO. I did spot a theme though, although I was too specific, thinking it was based around the character FALSTAFF; I eventually remembered that the opera was based on The merry wives of Windsor rather than the Henry plays.

    HENRY IV was my favourite. To digress, John of Gaunt was so-called as he was born in Ghent in Belgium. This is Gant in Flemish. When we were on a train from Brussels to Ghent (to see the Van Eyck altarpiece), the destination on the board in the carriage changed from “Ghent” to “Gant” as we crossed some invisible linguistic line.

  2. Very hard, too.  I twigged, but that only encouraged me to reveal the last couple.

    Bit one is ‘part one’

    Thanks Puck, scchua

  3. The clue for FOUR-PACK doesn’t include a valid definition. A “four-pack” has nothing to do with stomach muscles; rather more to do with a beer belly!

  4. Thanks both. Great stuff – I got the theme for once!
    Would 3d be better as “Bird eats guts of fat bird as delicacy”?

  6. This seemed quite tame to start with – for one thing, no long answers of more than 9 letters. But what a brilliantly managed theme gradually  emerged! – gradually for me, perhaps quicker for others, but 1 across was my LOI. Not just  H IV parts one and two + Falstaff, but Doll Tearsheet and Mistress Quickly and the Boars Head and Pistol and (Sir Walter) Blunt. I am one of those often slow to pick up themes, and maybe by the time I click send this others will have jumped in, with more details…. But terrific thinks anyway to Puck, and to Scchua

  7. Thanks, scchua,

    What a lovely puzzle!

    The theme is 7,8ac. with the characters FALSTAFF, PISTOL, MISTRESS QUICKLY, DOLL TEARSHEET, FANG, SNARE and WART [and THE BOAR’S HEAD].

    My favourite clues were BOAR;S HEAD, PROSPECT, FALSTAFF, ANASTASIA and BUST-UP.

    Many thanks, Puck – I loved it!

  8. Thank you Puck and Scchua,

    In 7A the whole of the word ‘very’ is needed for the anagram fodder, not just the abbreviation.

    A great puzzle made a bit harder for me by my not knowing too much about the theme.

  10. Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet are further thematic entries.  Great puzzle, Puck.  Thanks scchua .

  11. quenbarrow @ 6.  By the time I had typed my contribution, you had jumped in.  The crown is yours this time.  🙂

  12. A very impressive puzzle – I must admit that I would have missed quite a lot had I not Googled Henry IV Part Two, which revealed the additional themers Andrew, Eileen and quenbarrow have mentioned. QUICKLY was last in.

    Thanks to Puck and scchua

  14. There were a few kick-selfs in here notably 17ac.  10ac fell into place quite early thanks to an old joke about a rather scabby pub near a former workplace (town omitted in case the landlord is litigious!).  Didn’t spot the Shakespearean theme until I solved 1ac relatively late on.  Despite John O’Gaunt crossing my mind early I didn’t follow it through.

    I thought the structure of the wordplay for 20ac was a little iffy.  Also agree with muffin@3 about the definition of four-pack.

  15. Muffin@1 your memory (or possibly Belgian railways!) is playing tricks on you! Ghent is Ghent in Flemish/Dutch and Gand in French. Starting your train journey in Brussels, which is officially bilingual (French/Dutch), the destination would have been displayed alternatively in Dutch and French. However, once you left Brussels, your journey would have taken you through Dutch-speaking Flanders, where the destination should have been given only in Dutch, that is, Ghent. As far as I know, the Brussels-Ghent line doesn’t cross French-speaking Wallonia, so you should not have seen Gand displayed as your destination after you left Brussels.

  16. Frankie the cat @14 and muffin @3 the definition is “2 items less than perfect order stomach wise” which refers to a 6 pack of abdominal muscles less 2 ie a 4 pack. While it didn’t exactly leap out while solving it seems fair enough.

  17. Like James@2, I think ‘bit’ is part of definition, i.e. part two follows bit one. Just to clarify, in 2d I think we are meant to take 18 as TEMPEST’S, hence explaining the extra S.

  18. Thanks to Puck and scchua. Nearly gave up on this a few times, but persevered and nearly got there. That said many we’re guess and parse later and some unparsed (thanks again scchua). My only mistake was putting piston in for 19d, though obviously parsing did not work. Realised the Shakespeare theme, but not really my strong suit. That said, enjoyed it and pleased to have nearly got there.

  19. the sauvian scrabbler @15

    Curious – we definitely had both spellings displayed at different stages of the journey in the carriage. Belgian railways, perhaps?

    Mr Paddington Bear

    ..but a “four-pack” has a valid definition as four cans (usually beer or lager) attached together. Why go the roundabout route with stomach muscles?

  21. Muffin @19 good point but obscure definitions are by no means unusual. Well obscure to me at least.

  22. Well that was an interesting and enjoyable workout. Thanks Puck, and thanks Scchua for clearing up a couple of my wobbly parsings. I still don’t understand in 9a how “offered by” means “”placed after”.

    I rather liked 7a, and HENRY IV came to me very quickly, though I had to Google John of Gaunt to double check the family relationship. The parsing took a little longer. But then I was a bit dim about 8a and 6d which went in last.

    I’m not familiar with Henry IV (either part), but I have seen Verdi’s Falstaff, not at Covent Garden but at the Mayflower in Southampton with the Welsh National Opera and Bryn Terfel stepping in at the last minute as Falstaff, when the scheduled singer was indisposed. Lovely!

  24. Very tough going despite getting PROSPERO and the Shakespearean theme early. Deep respect to scchua for managing to parse that lot! Hope Puck reverts to his more munificent self anon.

  25. This was a mixed bag, I have to say, from one of my favourite setters.  There were only a few easy clues, all in the bottom half, and there were some brilliant ones to follow, but in the absence of references of any kind to hand I had to stop before the end, suffering from a lack of knowledge and some clues that, having seen them explained here, I thought were pretty poor, even if they can be demonstrably parsed.

    My favourites were BOARS HEAD, FANG, TEMPESTS, BLUNTS, QUICKLY, MISTRESS, BUST-UP and DOLL.  I’m getting better at spoonerisms, managing to get BOARS HEAD with only the A given.

    Thanks Puck and scchua.

  26. It was never going to be right, but, showing my age, I really wanted 12a to be JIMMY!

    Indeed a tough one. Not many on first pass but looked a lot better after second pass.

  27. Bravissimo/a Puck ! S/He (?) sent me sailing off to the island in a storm, vainly searching for Ariel for an age……… Now I’m looking for references which are NOT relevant to the REAL theme, and they are few and far between. The five letters, right across the middle, were the cherry on the bun.
    (I’ve got 16 that do fit [counting grid entries separately] but I’m sure there are are more.) What have I missed ?

    Past and to come, seem best; things present worst.
    (Archbishop of York, Act 1 Scene 3) – Pertinent to our times, perhaps?

  28. Thanks Puck and scchua.

    Crossbar @ 22: if you read ‘offered by’ as ‘presented next to’ the clue works, as in “The shallots were offered by the onions”.

    Works for me.

    PS The captcha “nine x nine =“ is rejecting my submission of 81. When did that change?

  29. Among the characters of Henry IV, there is also a Page. In addition, Falstaff reminisces about his time as a page to the Duke of Norfolk (which makes a very short aria in Verdi).

  30. Pucked! This was hard, and I had piston instead of PISTOL, so did not really finish (reasoning that ‘not sip’ was a great deal to drink!).
    Favourites were ANASTASIA and BLUNT; couldn’t parse TITBIT, SNARE or FALSTAFF. Thanks Scchua/Puck

  32. John, you beat me to it with ‘page’.
    (Francis) Feeble could have muscled in as a ‘weak’ synonym in 25a.

  34. Quite hard and I got most of the theme. Well,sort of. I wish I’d googled HENRY IV, I think it would have saved me a lot of time.Last in were PART TWO and AWED.Both of which I managed to parse!
    I spent far too long in getting BOARS HEAD. I did my Mphil at Reading University and one of the bigger pubs in town had that name and was universally referred to by the Spoonerism.
    Thanks Qaos.

  35. Thank you to Puck and scchua. Tough but most enjoyable. The two Henry IV plays are among Shakespeare’s greatest works, and Verdi’s Falstaff is also wonderful, which added to the enjoyment.

  36. The lateness of this posting is directly correlated to the difficulty level for me – but I did get there in the end. Like PeterA@34 PART TWO and AWED were my last in. I even got the theme before the end which helped with FALSTAFF. Whilst there were some tricky parsings I decided they were brilliant clues as I managed to get them :-).
    Thanks Puck and all hail scchua for setting everything out.

  37. I see what you mean Simon S @28 but it still feels a bit awkward to me. Never mind. There were plenty there that I liked.

  39. Got a few after a second go at this but no where near finished, I’m waiting for the day when the theme is vodka based drinks. Might get a few then.

  40. Just for once the theme sprang out at me at the second one in!  I’d put down HENRY IV and then BOARS HEAD, and it dawned on me at once: ‘ello ‘ello ‘ello something fishy here!  I suppose it was a pity we had Hamlet only a couple of days ago – made it almost a give-away.

    So I was immediately looking for an 8-letter light to lodge dear old Sir John!  It took me a surprisingly long while to twig that Puck’s Covent Garden reference invokes Verdi rather than the Bard.  But all the other themers went in nicely!  I was wondering about BRAS – are these garments MISTRESS Q or DOLL TEARSHEET are likely to have worn?  I think they were called ‘stays’ back then, so probably not!

    Liked FOUR-PACK – only loosely in the theme (I don’t think they’d been invented in BOARS HEAD time) – very ingenious!  As the devious wordplay dawned on my I couldn’t help casting a wistful glance down at the Laccaria paunch!  (*sigh*)  I’ve got a long way to go before I can boast that sort of ‘perfect order’, I’m afraid!

    Anyway, not the toughest of tough but a very satisfying challenge.  Thanks to Puck and Scchua.

     

  43. I claim the title of champion theme-misser.  Even after this week’s Hamlet romp another Shakespeare connection blew right by me.

    In 17d, shouldn’t it be “Guardian’s secretary” rather than “Guardian secretary” to mean OUR PA?

    I put in Dall at the bottom (not having any tearsheets in mind at the time).  Toy is DALLY, and Dally curtailed is Dall, a kind of wild sheep in the Western States.  Hey, it worked!

    When I googled “fifteensquared 27404” I got “page unavailable.”  Only when I went to the fifteensquared home site could I find this blog and learn how far astray I’d gone.

  44. Thanks to Puck and scchua. I caught the theme early on so the rest fell into place, though I did not parse DOLL or FOUR-PACK. Of the Shakespeare items already mentioned, Sir Walter BLUNT dies at Shrewsbury at the end of Part 1, whereas Sir John BLUNT is a figure with no lines who appears in Prince John’s entourage in Act 4 of Part 2. I suspect that Puck did not have this mute character in mind (assuming that Part 2 is the focus).

  45. Yes, I carelessly put in ‘PISTON’, ignoring the theme and dimly (pun intended) remembering the old joke about ‘piston broke’ – as the explanation, said out loud, for a man’s dishevelled state beside a non-functioning motor car

  46. This was a difficult and enjoyable challenge. I was very pleased that I could finish it and parse all my answers.

    My favourites were Boar’s Head, Anastasia, four pack, doll

    Thanks Puck and blogger

  47. Coming in very late but blog unavailable before I retired last night and only just got to it now.
    Like Derek Lazenby@26, I really wanted it to be Led Zep’s Page for 12a, but had to erase it pretty 25a QUICKLY.
    Got the theme but missed many of the short answers and several parsings…(endless) misery is me (8a).
    I also hoped that AUSTRALIA was going to be the film and the “IN CONTINENT” (as in popular) for 11d – but that wasn’t to be either. Anyway, it would have looked funny beside 21a.
    Congrats to all the clever solvers and commiserations to those who, like me, tried and failed, or found it tough.
    Many thanks to scchua and Puck…

  48. I found this tough but rewarding. Unusually, I got the theme early on but still didn’t see all its ramifications. Thinking of the opera rather than the play, I was sure 6dn had to be FORD, who has such a wonderful aria; and ‘acting’ could mean ‘for’. But it didn’t work of course.

    In my book Falstaff is one of the greatest of all operas, which never fails to have me leaving the opera house (or turning off the CD) walking on air. All the more moving for being written by Verdi when he was about 80.

    Thanks to Puck and scchua.

  49. As a slight clarification to comment 15. To Dutch/Flemish speakers, the town is spelled Gent although pronounced as us Brits pronounce Ghent. Belgium being officially bilingual has train destination boards that oscillate between Flemish and French irrespective of where you are in the country. On international trains they may also throw in German and/or English.

  51. We finished it!! (But don’t auppose anyone else will blog after we do….)! When Henry IV part one is your a-level set text, Gaunt’s son can only be one person….. . As I couldn’t parse this I didn’t get the total theme till a couple of others went in. And could I remember the name of the inn – could I heck! Steve got that…..
    Very pleased to have finished and got the theme – using Falstaff the. Opera was clever. It’s also the only Opera I’ve ever seen at Covent Garden.
    Thanks Puck and Schuua

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