Guardian 27,432 / Brummie

54 comments on “Guardian 27,432 / Brummie”

1. I enjoyed this very much and particularly liked the linked clues.

   Thanks to Brummie for a fun start to the day and to Eileen for the explanations

2. Thanks Eileen. 2I parsed GOLD as G+OLD – a G is a grand , old=aged.

3. I also enjoyed this. Brummie is rapidly becoming one of my favourite setters.
   My favourites were 9a LOTTO, 10a FULL MARKS, 14a IDLE THOUGHTS, 25a RADIO SHOW and 26a COMET.
   I recalled that previous recent clue “everywhere” for GALORE 1d and I can also remember some negativity around it.
   I was hoping to understand GOLD in 1a GOLD BAR, but I can see you were also uncertain about the “Large sum advanced” clue for GOLD, Eileen. Thanks for your help with the “Glen” part of 17d STRADDLE, the “my” part of 20d MYRTLE, and the “I say” part of 23d COWER, Eileen. There were a few exclamations at my end when I saw the obvious fodder for the latter two.
   Thanks very much to setter and blogger alike.

4. I don’t usually post this early because (1) I haven’t usually started the puzzle by now (2) even if I had, it wouldn’t be finished. But not today! Maybe it was Valentine’s day bonhomie speeding my brain onwards, but this got dashed in over what was probably meant to be a romantic breakfast in a quiet little B&B. At least it means Mrs T has me to herself for the rest of the day.

   Alas one error slipped in, in my haste: PIER not BIER. Things stand on a pier, and it sounds like peer, and aren’t all peers rather stout? A stereotype not befitting the Guardian, on reflection.

5. We crossed, andysmith@2. Thanks for your explanation for GOLD. Much appreciated.

6. Like crypicsue I enjoyed this a lot. It went in quite steadily. Favourites were UNTHICKENED, GOLDILOCKS ZONE, SOME LIKE IT HOT and IDLE THOUGHT. Many thanks to Brummie. I missed C = speed of light – thanks, Eileen!

7. I struggled over IDLE THOUGHT and BRONCHITIS despite having many crossers.  I feel that “as fast as possible” = “speed of light” = “C” is just a little obscure.  Also Bill Haley and his Comets would normally be referred to as Rock and Roll rather than simply Rock which tends to be used to describe later, heaver bands.

   Having said all that – a fun solve.

8. Hmm…not my thing this morning.

   I liked COMET and UNTHICKENED and the Goldilocks/porridge gag was alright but I don’t enjoy clues with no discernible surface. “Peanuts stand stars”?? “Tasteless entrances by one backward duck”??  ” Telling off about orange tank tops wrongly taken”??  Theses are just words in a row.

   I’ve a feeling GOLD BAR is D for 500 (large?) + LOG (sum?) advanced (backwards) but it’s a bit of a strain.

   Hey-ho, can’t win ’em all.

   Nice week, all.

9. Thank you for parsing Bronchitis – I just could not see it at all

10. Nice to get a Brummie in one pass. My lucky day! Thanks B and Eileen

11. Thanks Eileen and Brummie.

    I did wonder if there was a mini astronomical theme: COMET, LITTLE BEAR, GOLDILOCKS ZONE.

    I took “Member of rock band” to be referring the Oort cloud (the origin of long period comets), but this is probably a bit remote for a general clue; your explanation is more convincing.

    I enjoyed this, and thought it easier than most Brummies.

     

12. Hi andysmith @2 – many thanks for that. 😉

13. Thanks Brummie and Eileen.

    This went in steadily after I BIFD a few (eg STRADDLE), with the parsing catching up afterwards.

    Enjoyable solve with some nice linked clues. I agree with William @8 about the clue for LITTLE BEAR, but the other two he cites seem OK to me [maybe he didn’t read ‘tank tops’ properly].

     

14. Robi @13:  Thanks for your thought, but how should one read tank tops?  Sleeveless jumpers?  Gun turrets? The last drop of petrol?  Perhaps you’re right – there’s a meaning I’m missing.  Do tell.

15. I’m with Trailman above. Oddly quick to complete, though i put it down to overnight buoyancy after superb Spurs performance last night.

16. Thanks to Brummie and Eileen. A very slow solve for me, though I did eventually get through. With the exclamations I did get COR but missed MY in MYRTLE, could not parse GOLD BAR, missed C as speed of light, and had to check that PORRIDGE was a TV show.

17. You are very kind,Eileen.

18. Like crypticsue @1, “I enjoyed this very much and particularly liked the linked clues.” [Linked clues and themes are not for everyone, but I nearly always enjoy them, and it’s one reason why I like Guardian crosswords.]

    As with Julie @3, Brummie is becoming or has become one of my favourite setters. This crossword had a similar feel to the last Brummie I solved, which I still remember well, and I enjoyed it a lot.

    I got GOLD = G+OLD all right at 1a, but, perhaps through not giving myself enough time to go back over the clues, I didn’t get THOU = ‘1,000 quickly’ in 14a (in fact I still don’t!), C = ‘as fast as possible’ in 3d or DLE = D[A]LE in 17d. I didn’t know GOLDILOCKS ZONE, and I had to dig deep to get SOME LIKE IT HOT (was it a classic?).

    As well as the linked clues, and some other good ones, I liked the two exclamations in consecutive clues: MY = ‘well’ and COR = ‘I say’.

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen.

19. I had Pier in too, Trailman, for the same reasoning as yours…

20. Thanks to Brummie for a fun and enjoyable puzzle and to Eileen for explaining some parsing. I missed the dale bit in straddle and also could not fully parse bronchitis. I also confused comet and asteroid therefore mis- parsed it, and given that, unsurprisingly had not heard of 13/24d. That said the anagram was very gettable. My experience similar to Eileen with a slowish start but then it unpacked quite readily. I did think bier was quite a nice clue and I also had a feeling some like it hot had been used before, though not sure in was a Guardian puzzle. Thanks again to Brummie and Eileen.

21. Dave Ellison @12. I like your explanation for COMET better than the “real” one. 🙂 I was looking for an astronomical theme.

22. Oops. That should have been @11. Can’t see the numbers on my phone.

23. @11 could be a mini astronomical theme as you suggest, but also a mini three bears theme: goldilocks, porridge, little bear, some like it hot

24. Very enjoyable crossword. Couldn’t parse ‘insipid’ but knew it was obviously the answer. Now reading the above explanation I should have. Thanks!

25. I did not do this early in the morning, but all the same a lightning quick solve over lunchtime while at work. I seem to have got on Brummie’s wavelength, atleast for these last two weeks. I got all the answers right, one or two did not parse fully – I assumed ON C was some kind of unknown slang for working hard, for example.

     

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

26. I found this one a bit patchy.  I had no idea on the parsing of GOLD BAR and was left wondering if the Au in “vault” might be indicating the gold somehow.  I put in SOME LIKE IT HOT from the enumeration and clean forgot to check the references to 13 and 7 (unsolved at the time)!  7 requires a little too much (old TV) GK for my liking.  I liked the COMET CD (I saw it a la Dave Ellison@11)

    Surfaces are a matter of personal taste.  To me, “Peanuts stand stars” conjured up images of Lucy and her “The psychiatrist is IN” stall, set up to fleece Charlie Brown, so I liked it.

    Alan B@18.  I think it’s perfectly justifiable to regard Some Like It Hot as a classic – check out the Wiki entry.

    Thanks, Brummie and Eileen (PS think you meant to underline “separate” as the def in 8)

27. A COMET literally blazes a trail (or tail) through the sky. GOLDILOCKS ZONE was a write-in (given my interests) and LOI was BIER.

    Thanks to Brummie for the entertainment and to Eileen for casting light in a few dark parsing places.

28. Thanks, phitonelly – I’ll amend it now. I’m amazed that no one else spotted it before this!

29. Most of this was very straightforward, but it took me ages to see BIER. Liked BRONCHITIS

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

30. 28 Is “res” a small house or a small (abbreviated) word for house?

31. The Oort cloud connection would make the clue and &lit as well as a CD?

    Auriga @ 27 I did wonder if your choice of pseudonym meant you had some astronomical connections?

     

32. Valentine @30 A “des res” is a British term for a desirable residence

33. Thank you to Brummie and Eileen. A “Goldilocks” solve I thought.

    6,15 reminded me both of the convenient fact that the name “Keith” is hidden in it (Actor in “Some Like it Hot?”), and the irrelevant fact that in German it is “Manche moegens heiss” which for some reason seems even funnier to me. A classic indeed.

34. Dave Ellison @31,

    The handle was mundane rather than Ptolemaic. Nice thought, though.

     

35. Has anybody else noticed that the Guardian cryptic has got an awful lot easier since the paper went tabloid, or is it just me?

36. Edward C – it has certaibly got bigger. Perhaps that makes it feel easier.

37. Certainly, sorry.

38. phitonelly @26

    You’re right about the ‘classic comedy’.  Having followed your link, I know I never saw the film, but the title should have come to me more readily than it did.

39. Thanks to Eileen and Brummie. Initially I thought this would be hard work, but after getting MISCELLANY as FOI the SE corner fell nicely and the rest went in fairly quickly. I had to come here to understand one or two of the parsings though !

40. I liked this too. I used to have trouble with Brummie but I’ve enjoyed his more recent puzzles and I think this is the best of the week so far. Mind you, I couldn’t see the parsing for BRONCHITIS which is so obvious now I know. Nice to see the now much maligned Bill Haley getting a reference. ” Rock around the clock” was the first record I had and I still have a certain affection for it.
    Thanks Brummie

41. William @14. Look at Eileen’s parsing, “O[range] T[ank]”. The relevant part of the clue is “orange tank tops”. Brummie is asking you to take the first letters of orange and tank.

42. First time for ages (if ever) that I’ve seen C = velocity of light in a wordplay, so I’ve got to give BRONCHITIS an uptick!  Must file that single-letter clue away for my own use – I wonder if H (Planck’s Constant) or K (Boltzmann’s constant) would pass muster?  Probably not – far too obscure for the non-physics-savvy solvers!  Mind you, we get I = (electric) current, cropping up now and again.

    I thought this was verging on the easy side – I messed up early on by accidentally writing in PORRIDGE at 17d instead of 7d – it threw me that it seemed to fit perfectly with RADIO SHOW and DUE WEST…  But once I’d fixed that, things went smoothly enough.

    FOI was one of the long ones – GOLDILOCKS ZONE – wearing my astronomy hat made it a simple write-in for me!  After that, it goes without saying that I was looking for PORRIDGE and the odd BEAR!  And of course SOME LIKE IT HOT followed soon after.

    I could not parse GOLD BAR.  Looking at AndySmith’s version, I think G = large sum is questionable anyway.  Perhaps another physics-oriented abbreviate, G = gravity, is called for here?  Or why not a simple G = good?  Surely a reasonable surface could be conjured up?  But this is my only complaint.

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

43. Laccaria @ 42: G is used for a grand (1,000) = large.

44. I’m with Frankie the cat @ 7 regarding C = as fast as possible. Thank you Andysmith @ 2 for GOLD. I found this easier to solve than to parse in some cases. Lovely reference to Goldilocks and Porridge, with Some like it hot. Thank you Brummie and Eileen.

45. Like some others, I was thinking that there were two ways of reading the wordplay for COMET – Bill Haley or the Kuiper Belt (more closely fits idea of “rock band” than Oort Cloud, I think).

    Probably just as well that wasn’t my FOI – otherwise I’d have been hunting around the puzzle for reindeer!

46. Drofle@43 – I agree, I’m perfectly aware of the expression.  But I just think the words “large sum” are too vague: if the clue had read, say, “£1000 advanced….” it would have been fairer.  Even then, G as a single-letter for “grand” is stretching it a bit.

47. Enjoyed this. As someone fairly new to the harder broadsheet crosswords I find Brummie tends to be a bit more accessible. Thanks Brummie, and Elaine for the blog. Dis is also the capital of Hell in The Divine Comedy – perhaps a more straightforwardly “hellish location” than Pluto? My favourite was Miss Ella.

48. I finished this one much earlier in the day than I managed to do with the last two.  I really enjoyed it.

    I got held up in the NE because one of my early entries into the grid was 12ac, which I parsed as a triple def of sorts: “Stout-sounding person”, “last” and “stand”, which, to me, seemed all to be passable clues for “BEAR”.  However, after solving LITTLE BEAR and then being unable to solve 7d unless its third crosser could be an “I”, I had to have a second go at 12ac, which was when I finally saw BIER (my LOI).

    Favorites today included SOME LIKE IT HOT, IDLE THOUGHT, MYRTLE and BRONCHITIS.  I did not know Goldilocks Zone was a Thing (thus, it became a TILT – Thing I Learned Today).

    The clue for 4d instantly made me think of The In-Betweeners, and its titular protagonists who often use the word “fit”.

    Many thanks to Brummie and Eileen and the other commenters.

     

49. Laccaria@42 – you are clearly not an afficionado of some genres of crime fiction or related slang – “How much to top Frankie? It will cost you 30G”. Read Damon Runyon for a laugh, maybe?

50. Dave Ellison @32  I knew the expression.  My point was that “des res” is made up of two small (abbreviated) words, so “res” is a small word for house, not a word for a small house.

    And — manners, Valentine! — many thanks to Brummie and Eileen.

     

51. As usual I’ve done the Wed xword a day late.

    I’m surprised no-one has said what I want to say – that this was in the 13,24 for me.

    I agree with PA @ 40:  a) I find Brummie more amenable than I used to and b) best of the week for me (though I’ve not looked at today’s yet)

     

52. I did this late last night, and I notice that no-one here seems to have mentioned that the film Some Like it Hot opens with an incident that was based on the Valentine’s Day Massacre, making the theme almost relevant to the day the puzzle was published.

53. Cannot be doing with the new Guardian look. If I wanted a pink crossword I’d buy the FT. Online only from now on. Guess it saves me money…

54. Dormouse @52 –

    Great observation!  I had forgotten about the Valentine’s Day connection to that movie.

    Sadly, given the horrific school shooting that occurred in Florida yesterday, the response in the future to anyone saying “Valentine’s Day Massacre” may well be, “which one?”

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