Guardian 27,508 / Pan

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It has  become quite a game, trying to guess who will fill the Monday slot. Today it’s Pan’s turn to provide the ‘gentle start to the week’.

Here we have a straightforward, precisely and elegantly clued puzzle, with some lovely surfaces, which should be right up the street of those missing Rufus. Thank you, Pan – I enjoyed it.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Tides swirling round end of bus stop (6)
DESIST
Anagram [swirling] of TIDES round buS

4, 23  Try to get friend into new art and old Marian hymn music (6,5)
STABAT MATER
STAB [try] + MATE [friend] in an anagram [new] of ART

9 Couple stealing gold from home helper (4)
PAIR
[au] PAIR [home helper] minus au [gold]

10 Money given to fourth in line, say, for property (4,6)
REAL ESTATE
REAL [Brazilian money] + [lin]E + STATE [say]

11 Round clubs for the old man (6)
CHUBBY
C [clubs] + HUBBY [old man]

12 Let down by legal document about apartment (8)
DEFLATED
DEED [legal document] round FLAT [apartment]

13 Cruel and pointed remark by one born in late March? (9)
BARBARIAN
BARB [pointed remark] + ARIAN [one born in late March]

15 Accommodation for archaeologists? (4)
DIGS
Cryptic definition

16 Part of the Koran found in ancient city in Saudi Arabia (4)
SURA
UR [ancient city] in SA [Saudi Arabia]

17 One travelling out to north Germany (9)
PASSENGER
PASSÉ [out] + N [north] + GER[many]

21 Itinerant magician’s prop turned King Edward into Queen Elizabeth! (8)
WANDERER
WAND [magician’s prop] + a reversal [turned] of ER [Eduardus Rex – King Edward] in ER [Elizabetha Regina – Queen Elizabeth]

22 Drink, one way and another, leads to disturbance (6)
RUMPUS
RUM [drink] + a reversal [another way] of SUP [drink]

24 Craftsman means to groom his boy (10)
STONEMASON
Anagram [groom] of MEANS TO + SON [his boy]

25 Ass featured in ancient witchcraft (4)
TWIT
Contained in ancienT WITchcraft

26 River bird may be a record holder (6)
DEEJAY
DEE [river] + JAY [bird]

27 Soldiers leaving train for another kind of transport (6)
HEARSE
[re]HEARSE [train] minus re [Royal Engineers – soldiers]

Down

1 Excitement about Switzerland’s old silver coin (7)
DRACHMA
DRAMA [excitement] round CH [Switzerland]

2 Cancel subscription to protect creditor (5)
SCRUB
SUB [subscription] round CR [creditor]

3 Streetwise leader’s entreaty to graffiti artist? (7)
SPRAYER
S[treetwise] + PRAYER [entreaty]

5 Upper-class chap snorting drugs to get things going (3,3)
TEE OFF
TOFF [upper class chap] round E E [drugs]

6 Taliban to become an army unit (9)
BATTALION
Anagram [become] of TALIBAN TO

7 Pre-rest, naughty child moves unsteadily (7)
TOTTERS
TOT [child] before an anagram [naughty] of REST

8 Vehicles, one after another, carrying assistance, turned up to support a major medical emergency (7,6)
CARDIAC ARREST
CAR [vehicle] + CAR [another] round a reversal [turned up] of AID [assistance] + REST [snooker support] – a very neatly constructed clue

14 Damaged car banned in social event (4,5)
BARN DANCE
Anagram [damaged] of CAR BANNED

16 Set up celebrity with young man from the fifties (7)
STARTED
STAR [celebrity] + TED [young man from the fifties]

18 Sergeant abroad missing English rum (7)
STRANGE
Anagram [abroad] of SERG[e]ANT missing e [English]

19 European charged outside America is difficult to catch (7)
ELUSIVE
E [European] + LIVE [charged] round US [America]

20 Atrocity committed on a field of battle? (6)
CRIMEA
CRIME [atrocity] + A

54 comments on “Guardian 27,508 / Pan”

  3. Thanks Pan and Eileen

    Very nice, with favourites PASSENGER and WANDERER. I didn’t parse HEARSE (again – I think I’ve missed parsing a similar clue before!)

    The CRIMEA = A CRIME thing has been around for some time; the Anti Corn Law League campaigner John Bright is alleged to have said it. I’ve not been able to find a date, but it would have been late 1850s.

  4. A wonderful crossword for the Monday Cryptic slot.
    My favourites were STABAT MATER, DEEJAY and PASSENGER

    Thanks Pan and Eileen.

     

  5. Thanks both. Enjoyed this.
    (Muffin @3 – I expect that few people had heard of the Crimea before the war of 1853, so your date would be about right!)

  6. Thanks to Pan and Eileen.
    I enjoyed this – thought it might be a short sharp solve, but there were hold-ups as I didn’t twig to “TED” for “Teddy boy” in 16d STARTED for a while, and it also then took me a while to see DEEJAY at 26a! [DaveMc, have to thank you for ensuring that I do now generally get the “rivers of Crosswordland” fodder!]
    I had remembered the Koran reference as SURAH, but of course only SURA fitted the parsing for 16a – and reference sources indicate both spellings.
    Like michelle@4, I liked STABAT MATER (memories of a Catholic girlhood, singing that at the Stations of the Cross). Other clues I circled as good clues were 13a BARBARIAN, 15a DIGS, 27a HEARSE and 8d CARDIAC ARREST (agree re the latter, Eileen).

  7. Thank you, Eileen and Pan.

    A shade too near the Quiptic for me, I have to say, although most of us seem to like a gentler start to the week.

    PASSENGER, HEARSE, & CARDIAC ARREST were nicely clued.

    Nice week, all.

     

  8. A very straightforward puzzle, but I don’t begrudge that in the Monday slot. CRIMEA was last in.

    Thanks to Pan and Eileen

  9. Didn’t STABAT MATER or SURA but they were both eminently gettable from the clues.

    Thanks to Pan and Eileen.

  11. Being neither musical nor religious (and having been brought up in the very non-Catholic traditions of the Church of Scotland), I didn’t get STABAT MATER, and the lack of the R meant I missed HEARSE too. But I feel I should really have got both from the wordplay.

    Thanks Pan and Eileen.

  12. Thanks to Pan and Eileen. As with others found this to be a gentle but enjoyable solve. I also did not know Stabat Matar and Sura, but both very gettable for cluing. Last ones were chubby and sprayer which along with passenger were amongst my favourites. Thanks again to Pan and Eileen.

  13. Reasonably straightforward although I got a bit stuck in the SE corner and didn’t know STABAT MATER or SURA, although the latter couldn’t be much else.

    Pity that RUM was in the crossing clue for RUMPUS. I liked HEARSE and CARDIAC ARREST.

    Thanks Pan and Eileen.

  14. Completely agree with William @7 and just need to endorse his thanks to Pan and Eileen.

    Mention of 4,23 prompted me to listen to my version by Pergolesi, so not only was this a fun 30 mins of crossword solving but thereafter 40 mins of sheer musical joy.  My cup runneth over!!

  15. Like almost everyone else has said a nice puzzle with a couple of new things STABAT MATER and SURA – although the latter was somewhere in back of my mind. It’s good to have obscure (to me) solutions clued clearly.
    Plenty of time to get out in the garden – and the chance to do another puzzle when we stop for a cuppa – Indy or FT?
    Thanks Pan and Eileen.

  16. Pergolesi may have done the best Stabat Mater but I think there are a few contenders.

    Ah just noticed that S Panza @14 mentioned it.So-seconded.

  17. The ‘Gentle Monday’ slot is no longer a given, methinks.  But today’s at least was back to the Rufus tradition.

    No complaints.  I found it rather easier than I prefer, but I’ve done enough crosswords now to know that they need to cater for many tastes, I can’t always have it my way.

    I thought there might be a somewhat morbid theme here, with CARDIAC ARREST leading to a trip in a HEARSE, followed by a funeral where STABAT MATER might be sung (is it sung at funerals?).  Pity there wasn’t a OBOL instead of a DRACHMA, for putting in the mouth, should the deceased be en route to you-know-where….

    OK, maybe not. 😮

    Thanks to Pan and Eileen.

  19. copmus@15:  many contenders as you suggest, but one of my favourites is that by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.  Beautifully reflective!!  Perhaps this is not exactly the place but the administrator might allow those interested to each mention their favourite Stabat Mater.

  20. Thank you Pan and Eileen.
    “Thirded” on the Pergolesi; Scholl and Barbara Bonney for me and memories of singing counter-tenor in the distant past.

  21. Eileen – just noticed that in your explanation of 19d’s wordplay, you’ve got two Europeans and no American.  Is there some political undertone to this? 🙂

  22. Laccaria @17: no not specifically at funerals, more usually on September 15th, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.  Maybe a real Roman Catholic can tell us more about “the sorrowful Mother was Standing”.

  24. Thanks to Pan and Eileen. I enjoyed it. I did dredge up STABAT MATER and SURA(H) and for once I managed to remember the CH for Switzerland in DRACHMA.

  26. Quite agreeable. I didn’t know STAB AT MATER or SURA but both were so easy to get. DEEJAY and HEARSE were the LOI.
    Thanks Pan.

  27. John E @25 – that’s a new one on me. My choir has sung STABAT MATER by  Rossini, Haydn and, most recently, Paul Mealor, which is my favourite at the moment. I didn’t know the Pergolesi one but have been prompted to listen to it by S Panza and copmus – thanks, both.

  28. Eileen @27: when you have a moment, do try the SM by Arvo Pärt .  I predict tears of joy; it happens each time for me!  Prompted by the crossword I listened to both the SMs of Pergolesi and Arvo Pärt, sitting in my garden under warm pellucid skies overlooking our beautiful village of Galera in the Andalucian high plains NE of Granada.  It was a near perfect way to relax after a hard 30 mins working on the Pan crossword.  If I knew how to do it I would insert a smiley emoticon at this point, but that piece of high tech is above my pay grade!

  29. Eileen @27: when you have a moment, do try the SM by Arvo Pärt .  I predict tears of joy; it happens each time for me!  Prompted by the crossword I listened to both the SMs of Pergolesi and Arvo Pärt, sitting in my garden under warm pellucid skies overlooking our beautiful village of Galera in the Andalucian high plains NE of Granada.  It was a near perfect way to relax after a hard 30 mins working on the Pan crossword.  If I knew how to do it I would insert a smiley emoticon at this point, but that piece of high tech is above my pay grade! David

  31. I enjoyed this puzzle and think it’s perfect for the Monday slot.  I liked many of the surfaces, especially those for REAL ESTATE and SURA.  I wasn’t so keen on PAIR, which seemed a little cheesy somehow.

    A good start to the week.

    Thanks, Pan and Eileen

  34. John E @25: listened to the only extract (Eia Mater, Fons Amoris)  I could find on YouTube of the Cecilia McDowell SM.  Not an ideal recording but enough to tantalise!  If you know of a better, (ideally complete) recording I would love to listen!!

    Eileen @33:  I will keep this saved for future use; many thanks.

  35. Thank you Pan (and Eileen, and the other parsers who’ve begun to educate me). After some months of trying, this is the first Guardian cryptic I have ever completed all by myself in one go with no cheats. Easy-peasy for the regulars here I know, but all the same I’m childishly pleased with myself. Diolch o galon!

  36. Sion o’r Graig @35:  congrats, may you solve many more, enjoy the process and write about it here on a regular basis!!  I’m sure I speak for the majority here in welcoming you to the Fifteensquared blog!!

  37. Sion @ 35
    Congratulations; it’s a great feeling. Make the most of it. The old hands only get the pleasure of not kicking themselves !

  38. S Panza @34 — As far as I’m aware, the CD in my link @25 is the only recording of Cecilia McDowall’s ‘Stabat Mater’ (in its entirety). I don’t have a copy myself, so I can’t comment on the recording quality. However, I do have another example of her work on the same label (CDLX 7146, which includes the very fine ‘Ave Maris Stella’) and am quite happy with the recording quality given that it was recorded in a church (the same one used to record the ‘Stabat Mater’).

  39. Much to like today.  I agree with Eileen and phitonelly @31 that there were some very nice surfaces.  My favorites today were REAL ESTATE, WANDERER, PASSENGER, and my CotD, CARDIAC ARREST.

    Count me among those who did not know either STABAT MATER (let alone know different compositions and recordings of it) or SURA, yet found the answers to both eminently gettable from the clueing and the crossers.  

    Julie in Australia @6 – Ha ha to your comment regarding the latest appearance of One of the Three Most Important etc., in 26ac!  Incidentally, I looked up the River Dee on Wikipedia, and (news to me, but perhaps not to many others) it appears there are at least seven of them.  So my TILTs (Things I Learned Today) include not only Stabat Mater and Sura, but also Dee/Dee/Dee/Dee/Dee/Dee and Dee!

    Many thanks to Pan and Eileen and the other commenters.

  41. A very apt Monday crossword.

    Not a bland effort to copy Rufus’s style, just a nice puzzle at the right level.

    Pan is – after Arachne [long ago] and Nutmeg [longish ago] – another one who was promoted from the Quiptic.  For me, this setter has not the same finesse (and precision) as the two mentioned, yet is way above the Moleys and Vulcans of this world.  I really do not understand the use of ‘his’ in 24ac other than for the surface (which should be no excuse!).  And setters who write clues like 11ac, are not really on the top of my list. Because I do not like this kind of use of ‘for’ [at all, actually].  As long as editors (like the FT’s and The Guardian’s) are fine with it, I will lose the battle. My view is nowadays that I see that it’s somehow justifiable but that I will never do it myself.

    But yes, a really enjoyable crossword. Right time, right place.

    Thank you, Eileen & Pan.

  42. Thanks to Pan and Eileen.

    An enjoyable if non-strenuous offering with many admirable surfaces, STRANGE not least among them.  But I can’t be doing with DEEJAY. I know, I know, but it’s not a word in its own right – I don’t care what the dictionaries say.  Similarly EMCEE, KAYO and any other re-stuffed abbreviations. And of course because of my prejudice it led to a DEE-ENEFF.  But hey-ho.

    chas@40: Rufus retired some time back after a prodigious setting career.  Hope he is enjoying his retirement – I’d say it would be difficult to stop wrestling with words having done it for so long.

  44. It does actually.

    A reasonably well-clued if somewhat pedestrian puzzle that felt like a Quiptic. But I’m not going to pan Pan for this apposite Monday morsel.

    Thanks Pan and Eileen.

  48. Bit late to the discussion, I know – but if we’re talking about settings of the Stabat Mater, see if you can find Domenico Scarlatti’s version.  10-part unaccompanied choir, absolutely glorious.

  50. pex @49 – we don’t have a preview facility any more.

    But you  managed without, anyway. 😉

  54. Way too late for anyone to see, but Dvorak wrote a Stabat Mater that hardly ever gets performed any more – it is quite different and very moving.

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