Guardian Cryptic 27,526 by Chifonie

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A gentle start to the week from Chifonie.


With a few chestnuts and “write-ins”, this puzzle was over far too quickly for my liking, but it will appeal to those who like to start Mondays without execising too many brain cells.

Thanks, Chifonie.

 

 

 

Across
1 SMIDGEON Initially see little fellow working for a very small amount (8)
S(ee) + MIDGE (“little fellow”) + ON (“working”)
5 CELLAR Recall breaking into storeroom (6)
*(recall)
9 PALISADE Muslim unhappy in gym for fencing (8)
ALI (“Muslim”) + SAD (“unhappy”) in P.E. (“gym”)
10 STEAMS Cooks for the crew aboard ship (6)
TEAM (“crew”) in (aboard) SS (steam”ship”)
12 RESTORATION Discontinue speech for refreshment (11)
REST (“discontinue”) + ORATION (“speech”)
15 OGRES Some dog rescuers become monsters (5)
Hidden in “dOG REScuers”
17 SUSPICION American photo taken in Israel produces scepticism (9)
US PIC (“American photo”) taken in SION (“Israel”)
18 INTERMESH The miners adapted to join closely together (9)
*(the miners)
19 NOBLE Half-heartedly incapacitate an aristocrat (5)
NO(b)BLE (“incapacitate” with only half of its heart (BB))
20 SCRAP DEALER Boxing promoter in the waste business? (5,6)
Double definition, the first cryptic.
24 ADRIFT Disagreement following publicity that’s aimless (6)
RIFT (“disagreement”) following AD (“publicity”)
25 DISCRETE Man returned to island unattached (8)
<=SID (“man”, returned) to CRETE (“island”)
26 MAYFLY Insect can escape (6)
MAY (“can”) FLY (“escape)
27 STILLEST Let’s list components? That’s most unmoving! (8)
*(lets list)
Down
1 SUPERSONIC Wonderful boy in charge, travelling very fast (10)
SUPER (“wonderful”) + SON (“boy”) + IC (“in charge”)
2 ILLUSTRATE Explain being angry about sovereign’s desire (10)
IRATE (“angry”) about (L (£, so “sovereign”) + LUST (“desire”))
3 GISMO Device for soldier’s way of working (5)
GI’S (“soldier’s”) M.O. (modus operandi, so “way of working”)
4 OLD MANS BEARD Traveller’s joy seeing damn bad loser upset (3,4,5)
*(damn bad loser)
6 EXTENSION Development in old conflict (9)
EX (“old”) + TENSION (“conflict”)
7 LEAN Barren meadow needs a bit of nitrate (4)
LEA (“meadow”) + N(itrate)
8 RUSE Trick queen over exploit (4)
R(egina) (“queen”) over USE (“exploit”)
11 MISS THE POINT Fail to understand girl has article on train (4,3,5)
MISS (“girl”) has THE (“article”) on POINT (“train”)
13 DISBELIEVE Question son’s disguise in sleazy bar (10)
S(on) + BELIE (“disguise”) in DIVE (“sleazy bar”)
14 ENDEARMENT Stop and notice people getting tons of affection (10)
END (“stop”) + EAR (“notice”) + MEN (“people”) + T(ons)
16 STRESSFUL Left USSR wrongly supporting Soviet leader? That’s worrying! (9)
*(left USSR) supporting S(oviet)
21 EXCEL Top swimmer receives ten cents (5)
EEL (“swimmer”) receives X (“ten”) C(ents)
22 WARM Conflict Mike finds heated (4)
WAR (“conflict”) + M(ike)
23 PRAY Penny has fish? I ask you! (4)
P(enny) + RAY (“fish”)

*anagram

42 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,526 by Chifonie”

  2. An enjoyable Monday puzzle from Chifonie. The challenge within the challenge was to resist looking things up, and this added to the experience. 15a OGRES was amusing, and even though “Man” was a bit vague for SID reversed in 25a DISCRETE, it was a likeable clue too. Meanwhile, 14d ENDEARMENT took quite a while to see and was LOI.
    Many thanks to Chifonie and loonapick.

  3. Not quite a write-in for me as I got a bit stuck in the NW corner, but eventually got ILLUSTRATE and then SMIDGEON. By the way, SCRAP SELLER is an equally good answer as SCRAP DEALER, and has the same crossers. Thanks to C & l.

  4. A lovely puzzle for Mr Paddington Bear and me to complete over our breakfast cuppa overlooking the Yorkshire Dales on our holiday. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick

  6. Thanks, Andy Smith, don’t know how that happened, but edited now.

    Drofle – I think “scrap dealer” is a more common phrase, but I see your point.

    pex – “to gain a person’s ear” = “to gain a person’s notice”, weak, but the only example I can come up with.

  7. Great puzzle for the Monday slot – I don’t like to spend too much time on the Monday cryptic because I do two puzzles (this and the Quiptic).

    My favourite clue was 20a.

    Thanks Chifonie and loonapick.

  9. Agree with pex re “ear” and also had a ? next to “point” as “train” (of thought?) in 11d.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

    (JinA, in answer to yr question Friday, yep freo as in WA. Ta for asking)

  10. Thank you Chifonie and loonapick.

    Quickly over, but the SE corner took a while to fill and, like JinA @2, ENDEARMENT was the last in – for EAR, “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears” came to mind.

  11. Very gentle even for a Monday. L = sovereign is less common than it used to be, so I had to think about that one, and had it not cropped up in previous crosswords I would not have known that traveller’s Joy and old man’s beard were synonymous…

    Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick

  12. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick

    Is “midge” right for “little fellow”? Was he thinking of ” midget”?

    I generally use S when S or Z are possible, but I think I’ve only seen GIZMO and ZION for Israel.

    Favourite was SCRAP DEALER.

  13. Muffin

    Midge – I checked that with Chambers, which I don’t have to hand now I’m at work, but “midge” was there for ” a small person” or similar (don’t remember exact wording).

    Sion – Wikipedia says it is sometimes transliterated as Sion, but you’re right, I’ve only ever come across Zion before.

    Gismo – Chambers suggests that GISMO and GIZMO are interchangeable.

  14. muffin @12, the COED for MIDGE gives “a small person”, and for midget “an extremely small person”!

  15. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick.  A pleasant Monday puzzle.

    grantinfreo @9: I assumed that train=POINT in 11d was intended as in “train a gun” / “point a gun”.

  17. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick. As people have said steady enough solve. However got held up on 13d for a while (though now I do not know why). I think it is reflective of a problem I often have with Chifonie, which trying to ascertain the definition part of the clue. Just a personal ideosyncracy I guess, and now I think that was my favourite clue. Thanks again to Chifonie and loonapick.

  18. Traveller’s Joy agin – what a delight. After a quick look at Genius, returned to the safety of this one. Thanks, Chifonie.

  19. I found that tougher than most on here it seems. Old Man’s Beard was a write-in (I love our native clematis) as was miss the point, but after that I got stuck and progress was slow and patchy.

     

    Thanks to Chifonie (hope I get on your wavelength next time) and to loonapick.

  20. Thanks to Chifonie and Loonapick for a fine puzzle and blog.  I used to enjoy Rufus’s cryptic definitions, although they could be quite hard to complete, but  that apart, Chifonie is proving to be a great replacement for the Monday slot!  My favourites today were PALISADE and MAYFLY.   This went in in about 30 minutes, which means I have no excuse for not practicing my saxophone, before I settle down to a glass (or two) of local wine and then a siesta sat outside overlooking my village in the altiplano de Granada.  It’s a hard life!!

  23. Chiffy could have used ‘Swiss town’ as a less contentious definition of Sion. I know it exists as I went there a couple of weeks ago – well worth a visit for castle fans. Thanks for the blog loonapick.

  25. [grantinfreo@9. I thought so. I have a little list going of Aussie contributors. Would be great to all meet up sometime, but it’s such a big country, as they say in the classics. Julie in Queensland]

  26. Personally, I’d like more of a challenge on a Monday. This one was easier than the day’s Quiptic imo.

  27. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick.

    Nothing that hasn’t already been said, other than that I also enjoyed it and found it chewy enough for a Monday.  It’s bliss here in the back garden with everything in full flower and the blue sky over it all.

     

  28. I thought SCRAP DEALER was more common too, but I thought the answer is SCRAP SELLER because promote = sell (advertise, push, big up)?
    According to the website it’s seller. I’m claiming the win anyway.

  29. 20ac: It’s a double def; “scrap seller” fits the first def better, but “scrap dealer” fits the second def better. Impossible to decide even if you see both, and once you see one of them you are unlikely to look further.

    In a prize crossword, I would hope that either would be accepted.

  30. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick. A good Monday outing. I chose SCRAP SELLER because of the parsing, was not confident that train = point, and did not know OLD MANS BEARD.

     

  31. Are GISMO for gizmo and SMIDGEON for smidgen British spellings?

    Regarding Sion instead of Zion, I have seen it before, usually in older texts.

    Old Man’s Beard slowed me down a bit, only because apparently it’s an Old World plant, and I’m no gardener either. Other than that, this went lickety-split.

  32. SCRAP DEALER for me: the alternative seems rather clumsy. Quite easy but certainly not a write in. Last in was ADRIFT which,for some reason, took a long time to see.Now back to hedge trimming.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  33. A very nice puzzle to kick off the week.   I thought that CELLAR and GISMO were well constructed.  CotD for me was ENDEARMENT.  Like my fellow American commenters above, I did not know OLD MAN’S BEARD or how that related to “Treveller’s joy”, but it was the only plausible answer based on the crossers and the anagram fodder, so once the puzzle was complete I went to Google to confirm.  Thus, a(nother) TILT.

    Many thanks to Chifonie and loonapick and the other commenters.

  35. How does any one feel about Muslim = ali in nine across? It makes me feel a little uncomfortable, but I assume it is a standard cryptic device.

  36. mrpenney @31: Chambers has both gismo and gizmo, no indication that either is US or British.  I’m certainly more familiar with the latter.  It also has smidgen, smidgeon and smidgin, again with no suggestion of regional preferences.  (My SOED has nothing between smicket and smift.)

    DaveMc @34: presumably that would be “traveler’s” in your part of the world.  The American spelling always looks to me as though it should be pronounced to rhyme with “revealers”.

  38. Simon @35

    Personally I feel uncomfortable about the many people cycnally planning to kill innocent people in the UK in the name of Islam!

    I wasn’t too concerned about the possible use of a stereotypical Muslim name (even though it wasn’t)

    I’m sure if you studied the rest of the puzzle you could find something else to be “uncomfortable about! 😉

  39. Simon @35, my late husband and I worked/lived in the Middle East for more than 14 years and have/had (some have passed on) many honourable Muslim friends, some of whom were named Ali, one must not judge Muslims in general.

  40. Lord Jim@36  I think you’ll find that words like traveler/traveller spelled with one l in the US are words whose last syllable is unstressed.  Words with a stressed last syllable do get the double l, as in expeller.  Having said that, I find myself for some reason spelling traveller with a double l, and spellcheck always objects.  Other British spellings don’t happen to me, just that kind.

  41. Found this in the cafe today, so probably too late to get anyone’s attention, but:

    2d and 23d both contain what seems to me a surplus “‘s”. Anyone still around who can justify them?

    In 20a the clear definition leads to the well-known SCRAP DEALER. I’ve certainly never heard anyone mention a ‘scrap seller’. The other def is cryptic/fanciful.

    There’s a Sion Park out near Brentford, west of London which I’m sure must be named for the Holy City. Chambers gives the original Hebrew pronunciation as ‘ts’, so in some sense both are wrong.

    Without bothering to check, but based on having lived in Egypt, I’d say Ali is probably the most common Muslim name after Mohammad. @lurkio, most Ali’s aren’t planning to kill anyone, just as you’re probably not planning to drop bombs on any innocents’ heads.

    How lucky I did last month’s Genius and learnt that another name for Old Man’s Beard is Travellers’ Joy!

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