Guardian Cryptic 27,422 by Brummie

by

Fun, and over rather quickly.

A suspicion of a theme or some connections between solutions [ARMCHAIR next to COUCH, EMPIRICIST next to TEST, MURDER crossing DETECTIVES], but I haven’t been able to spot anything conclusive. Favourites were 9/22, 15ac and 5dn. Thanks, Brummie

Across
8, 13 ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES Padding taken advantage of by such relaxed solvers? (8,10)
a cryptic definition referring to the padding in armchairs – is there more to this?
9, 22 COUCH POTATO  Who idly views analysis aid number two — “full of cheap rubbish” (5,6)
COUCH=”[psycho-]analysis aid”; plus POO=”number two” around TAT=”cheap rubbish”
10, 24 down SAND TRAP Leave genetic material to regress after sulphur hazard (4,4)
PART=”Leave” plus DNA=”genetic material”, all reversed/”to regress”, and after S[ulphur]
11 TIGER WOODS Court crime officer is after “Cat”, once a champion driver (5,5)
definition refering to drive shots in golf
WOO=”Court” plus D[etective] S[ergeant]=”crime officer”; after TIGER=”Cat”
12 MURDER Top content of rookery? (6)
double definition: “Top”=kill; and a ‘murder’ of crows in a rookery
14 OVERSEWN Stitched up, confess to taking in lines (8)
OWN=”confess to”; around VERSE=”lines”
15 CERTIFY Declare it’s correct to switch first and third (7)
RECTIFY=”correct”, switching the first R for the third C
17 SEAGULL Deposit unwelcome from this main fool (7)
SEA=”main” plus GULL= gullible person=”fool”
20 ABSCISSA Re-engineering basics when returning x-coordinate (8)
(basics)*; plus reversal of AS=”when”
22   See 9
23 EMPIRICIST Philosopher‘s permit is useless outside Channel Isles (10)
(permit is)* around CI
24   See 2
25   See 1
26 ELEVATOR Lift to reveal cracks (8)
(to reveal)*
Down
1, 25 TREASURE CHEST Chartreuse, drunk by wrong set, is object of a pirate’s dig? (8,5)
(Chartreuse set)*
2, 24 across ACID TEST  It provides proof of ace group of detectives attending sports event (4,4)
A[ce] plus CID=Criminal Investigation Department=”group of detectives”; plus TEST=”sports event” e.g. a cricket or rugby match
3 FACTOR Female player’s cause (6)
F[emale] plus ACTOR=”player”
4 DRAGOON Soldier‘s round embedded in battleaxe (7)
O=”round” inside DRAGON=”battleaxe”=a formidable character
5 SCORSESE Director of 20, covering society (South-east) (8)
SCORE=”20″, around S[ociety]; plus S[outh] E[ast]
6 OUT OF SIGHT Hidden optical faculty all used up? (3,2,5)
[I’ve run] OUT OF SIGHT might =”optical faculty all used up”
7, 19 SHADOW CABINET  Opposition chiefly to bench aid was misplaced (6,7)
(to bench aid was)*
13   See 8
16 FASCISTS Domino cut by half-opened scissors, ones on the extreme right? (8)
FATS Domino the American musician [wiki], around the opening half of SCIS[sors]
18 LATE SHOW At the end of the day, it’s viewed as wealth so wasted (4,4)
(wealth so)*
19   See 7
21 BEMOCK Rag Maureen immersed in stream (6)
MO=”Maureen”, inside BECK=a “stream”
22 PATTER Incomplete design made by baby’s feet? (6)
PATTER[n]=”Incomplete design”
24   See 10

40 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,422 by Brummie”

  1. Fastest solve ever, I don’t think I will ever repeat this feat. I even solved it before this blog came up. I suppose it was much too easy, by normal Brummie standards

    Thank you.

  2. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    My first was SAND TRAP, and TIGER WOODS was an early entry too, so I was looking for a golf theme, but I can’t see any others.

    I’m pleased that you couldn’t see anything more in 8,13, as it puzzled me too. BEMOCK was satisfying, as I’ve never heard the word, and constructed it from the wordplay. FASCISTS was another favourite.

    I think you would find rooks (or penguins) in a rookery, in which case the collective is “parliament”.

  5. Nice puzzle – I had trouble getting into it, but then it went quickly. Favourites were TIGER WOODS, SEAGULL and FASCISTS. Had to check ABSCISSA. Many thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  6. I’m on a bad run, managing to get one wrong in every puzzle. Today, I convinced myself that 15a required the first and third letters of ‘certify’ to be altered to give ‘testify’. Doh.

  7. Nice puzzle, but perhaps not with the smoothness of surfaces of Mr Manley yesterday.

    Oddly, manehi’s favourite of COUCH POTATO was the one I put a cross next to;  “Who idly views analysis aid number two…” didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

    I’m a serial non-spotter of themes but was convinced there was something about golf going on as my FOI was the same as muffin’s – SAND TRAP.

    Pleasant solve to end a good week, so many thanks, Brummie, and nice weekend, all.

  8. Agree with the general tone – an enjoyable puzzle, over quite quickly – but must confess to a couple of minor quibbles.  ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES had me looking for something more than there was.  And MURDER would have been my COTD, had Brummie found a way of referencing crows rather than rooks in the clue.  I accept they are related birds but I’ve always enjoyed collective nouns (does any other language have anything remotely resembling the strange terms we have for groups of animals?) and, as has been pointed out earlier, Rooks is Parliament and Crows is Murder.  Maybe “crow’s nest” could have found its way into the clue?

    As it is, then, I’m awarding COTD to TIGER WOODS where, like others, I was trying to find a racing driver.  Possibly beginning with Tom to incorporate the Cat.

    Thanks Brummie and manehi

  9. Entertaining crossword, thanks Brummie.

    Thanks manehi – I’m not an expert on birds but all the dictionaries seem to describe rooks as a type of crow, so I guess that’s OK for crosswordland – although I accept one wouldn’t normally say a MURDER of rooks [building or parliament seems to be indicated.]

    I, of course, was also misled by the ‘champion driver’ for a while – Ayrton Senna didn’t seem to fit in!

  10. With the d of shadow in i tried To make Nicki Lauda work. But didn’t last long. Otherwise went in ok. Abscissa was new but solveable. I thought Dragoon was well clued.

  11. Robi @9

    The crow family includes carrion crows, rooks, jays, magpies, jackdaws, ravens and choughs in Britain (hooded crows are a regional variant of carrion crows). Rooks and carrion crows are thus related – about as closely as we are to chimps. “Murder of crows” applies to carrion crows, not rooks; if “murder” applied to any of the crow family, the other collectives wouldn’t be needed.

    It used to be easy to tell rooks and crows apart: if you saw one or two rooks, they were crows; if you saw more than two crows together, they were rooks. However they haven’t been obeying this as closely round here recently! Rooks have “baggy trouser” feathers and whit bases to their beaks; crows are all black.

  12. I agree with muffin@11 – the clue to 12ac is simply wrong, and although I’ve seen a few crows together hereabouts, too, they do keep well apart.

  13. Nice puzzle, but I have to agree with others – 12a is plain wrong.

    Also, surely, the definition of 11a is, contentiously, ‘once a champion driver’.

  14. This turned out to be much simpler than it seemed at first glance. All pleasant enough, though I spent a little too long trying to see more in ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES than a  Rufus style cd

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi

  15. Thanks to Brummie and manehi. In contrast to others I found this a bit of a grind. Right hand side went in quite readily, but I struggled a bit with the left hand side. However eventually got there. Last ones in were seagull and murder. Looking at in now, not sure why I found it a struggle, maybe could not quite get on the wavelength of the setter, or maybe just having a bad day. Lots of nice clues therefore thanks again to Brummie and manehi.

  16. I’m with you @15 PetHay in finding that about half went in fairly easily and I had to grind out the rest. My favourite was SEAGULL for the amusing definition; I liked ELEVATOR as it took me a while to see it as an anagram; and I didn’t parse 9,22 or 11. Thanks to Brummie for the challenge and manehi for the blog and parsing.
    I’ve noticed in the past that when regular contributors don’t post for a few days there are sometimes (concerned) comments so this is just to say I’m away in India for the next two weeks – with two people I’ve been mates with for 45 years since university – a sort of boys Marigold Hotel on Tour. Happy solving to everyone.

  17. I’d never heard of a building of rooks, so I looked it up.  Not only to rooks come in buildings and parliaments, they also gather in clamours or storytellings!  Who knew?

    I don’t think “part” is the same as “leave.”  “Depart,” yes.  Can anyone supply a sentence where both work?

    I enjoyed it, it was a steady fill-in for me, and I finished it last night.  (Rare for me.)

    Thank you Brummie and manehi.

  18. Tiger Woods was a champion golfer, not a champion driver. There’s no such “championship” in golf, and there’s much more to the sport than driving.

  19. I was thinking the theme might be furniture couplets – ARMCHAIR detectives, COUCH potato, treasure CHEST, shadow CABINET – and then they ran out.

  20. Thanks to Brummie for an enjoyable romp and to manehi for the usual perceptions.

    Yesterday I mentioned the auto-flagellant which is golf and so I had a spooky moment when SAND TRAP showed up.  TIGER WOODS showed up too late to lend support to the prospect of a, for once (for me), pre-discerned theme.  Nonetheless enjoyable with TREASURE CHEST (for the surface) and SEAGULL among the favourites. While casting around for a theme in retrospect (like manehi) I spotted CHEST ELEVATOR which set me off on another pointless survey.

    WhiteKing@16 sounds like a nice trip – enjoy!

  21. Valentine @17

    I expect “building of rooks” is a reference to their rookeries – lots of large nests in the same or neighbouring trees.

  22. I wouldn’t call this easy – or difficult, for that matter.  I found the level of challenge much to my liking, just like yesterday’s Pasquale – the Brummie being just as entertaining but a bit more devious.

    My favourite was 9/22a COUCH POTATO.  Without the ‘P’, I thoughtI thought the second word had to be ESTATE, but then the significance of ‘number two’ hit me like a hammer!

    I didn’t realise 17a MURDER was at fault.  Thanks to other commenters and to muffin as well for the lesson on the crow family.

    I too first thought the champion driver would begin with TOM, but I favoured a golfer over a racing driver from the start, this being a cryptic crossword.  That was another good clue.  I didn’t know 21d BEMOCK or 14a OVERSEWN, but I could see that they could be words and were not hard to get.

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

    WhiteKing @16

    Thanks for letting us know.  I hope you enjoy the trip.

  23. Nice to have one I can complete although I puzzled for too long over 17across doh! Thank you Brummie and manehi

  24. Thanks to Brummie and manehi. Like others I found this puzzle easier than anticipated and much enjoyed it, especially the long answers. BEMOCK gave me pause (was there such a verb?) as did the MURDER-rooks connection. Here in the US I’ve never seen a rook, but, in response to Muffin@11, seeing flocks of crows is not unusual. My own (not authoritative) account is that it takes only two or three crows to chase away a hawk but six or more to gang up on an owl (a very noisy event).

  26. A crow in a crowd is a rook.
    A rook on its own is a crow.
    Weaselly distinguished becsuse they’re stoatally different.
    Which is why 12 took me so long.

  27. I didn’t find it quite as easy. I did wonder why the editor allowed ” sulphur”, and if that spelling would be allowed as an answer.

  28. I rather enjoyed this and, after TREASURE CHEST, everything went in quite quickly. I must admit that I spent time trying to find something Martin Scorsese directed for 20ac! I did like BEMOCK but there were a lot of goodies here and this seemed just about right for a Friday afternoon.
    Thanks Brummie.

  29. Thanks both,

    Couch potato was a laugh out loud when I finally managed to parse it. Crows don’t congregate to roost or nest so they are not seen in rookeries.

  30. An easy ride today – only puzzler for me is BEMOCK, is there really such a word?  Reminds me of that horrible contrived travesty “UNBEKNOWNST” which really deserves to be expunged from every dictionary on the planet….  😮 . Ah well I suppose Chambers has BEMOCK (didn’t go to check).

    Nice bit of misdirection in 5d – I suppose there aren’t really many synonyms of ABSCISSA but I was stumped for a while…

    I suppose the theme if there is any, has to be bone-idleness and watching TV.  Is this meant to be a wake-up call?

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  31. Orange @27

    When august publications such as New Scientist still occasionally use outdated names like ethyl alcohol and acetic acid, it is a bit much to expect that the recommended IUPAC spelling sulfur will have made it to the Guardian!

    (Incidentally, even my spellchecker rejected sulfur!)

  32. “Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lodovico…” is a quote from Guardian editorial of many years ago, comparing a spoof synopsis of an opera to some convoluted piece of political manoeuvring – I forget what but I have always had a soft spot for the word since then.

  33. Should have added that I really enjoyed this puzzle. Many thanks, Brummie.

    Last one in – and my favourite – was MURDER. C’mon, cut the guy some slack!

  34. This was a corker, but over too quickly because of the number of long clues (which were mostly excellent). ABSCISSA was new to me, so today was a learning day, thank you Brummie. TIGER WOODS was probably my favourite as the clue implied another kind of champion driver. Thanks manehi also, as always.

  35. Enjoyable puzzle to solve.  I liked most of the cluing, bar ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES – I had the same “is there more to this?” niggling feeling as manehi.  Liked the anagrams for SHADOW CABINET and ELEVATOR.

    I thought TREASURE CHEST was a little unusual with its multiple anagrams.  I guess “Drunk chartreuse set is object of a pirate’s dig?” isn’t so nice a surface.

    I’d endorse Mark@8’s suggestion of crow’s nest (or possibly crows’ nests) in the MURDER clue.  It was my last one too.  Here’s one for all you ornithologists – if crows are such solitary birds, why is there a collective noun for them in the first place?  A bit of an oxymoron, n’est-ce pas (no pun intended 😉 ).

    Thanks, manehi and Brummie

  37. VERY late to the party … I enjoyed this puzzle from Brummie, especially the several two-word answers (even though the surfaces of some of them were a bit ungainly).
    I’ll never forget the time a seagull made an unwelcome deposit in my bummock. Oh, how my friends did bemock me!
    Valentine @17 – I don’t think I saw any response to your post. How about “Parting is such sweet sorrow” … or, as they used to say on game shows, “Our runners-up will receive these lovely parting gifts”.
    Many thanks to Brummie and manehi and the other commenters. Happy weekend all.

  38. Brummie must be a fan of Saturday Night Live. Or maybe Lord of the Rings. Or maybe both. “Look to the East.” Ha ha.

  40. Coming in last again…..well, we did this quite quickly by our standards, despite a very slow start (so we almost continued with a crossword from Febrluary 2017… Shows how slow we are). Liked the couch potato & armchair dectectives but absolutely no idea how it’s parsed. Got “oversewn” after having seen The Phantom Thread last night. Somewhat confused by the rooks ( isn’t there a Ruth Rendell book – A Murder of CRows”? ). We vote for ” A nuisance of wood pigeons” as they hang around out tiny garden and frighten off the little birds.
    Thanks Brummie & manehi

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