Guardian Cryptic 27,629 by Brummie

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27629.

Brummie here uses some creative devices, some of which I liked (eg 20D), some I did not (22/12, unless I am missing something).

Across
1 SEGOVIA Celebrated musician goes rocking through (7)
A charade of SEGO, an anagram (‘rocking’) of ‘goes’; plus VIA (‘through’).
5 CADMIUM Protected by relative, one goes after rogue element (7)
A charade of CAD (‘rogue’) plus MIUM, an envelope (‘protected by’) of I (‘one’) in MUM (‘relative’).
9, 21 SHORT ODDS Rum in spirits taken by cautious gambler? (5,4)
An envelope (‘in’) of ODD (‘rum’) in SHORTS (‘spirits’).
10 LAND YACHT Country craft means of moving over sands (4,5)
A simple charade of LAND (‘country’) plus YACHT (‘craft’).
11 MEMBERSHIP Politician’s joint associates (10)
A charade of MEMBER’S (‘politician’s’) plus HIP (‘joint’).
12   See 22
14 COMMON SENSE House move seen as good reasoning (6,5)
A charade of COMMONS (‘House’ of Parliament) plus ENSE, an amagram (‘move’) of ‘seen’.
18 PALINDROMIC Rotor-like, clip-on arm aid failed? No answer (11)
An anagram (‘failed’) of ‘clip-on arm [a]id’ minus an A (‘no answer’), ‘rotor’ being an example of a palindrome.
21   See 9
22, 12 CAUTIONARY TALE  Take warning from this arresting officer’s yarn? (10,4)
I cannot see more to the wordplay than the idea of an arresting officer letting someone off with a caution.
25 TEMPERATE Bad mood: downed mild (9)
A charade of TEMPER (‘bad mood’) plus ATE (‘downed’).
26, 6 OLDEN DAYS Does Dylan’s composition, Times Past (5,4)
An anagram (‘composition’) of ‘does Dylan’.
27 PAROLEE Function assumed by wild ape, one freed with strings (7)
An envelope (‘assumed by’) of ROLE (‘function’) in PAE, an anagram (‘wild’) of ‘ape’.
28 STYLIST Creative type making place for a piggy bank (7)
A charade of STY (‘place for piggy’) plus LIST (‘bank’).
Down
1 SESAME “Tropical plant“, one says in cod Italian style? (6)
Cod Italian indeed: “says-a me” (‘one says’)
2 GLOOMY Dull, ultimately depressing as a cotton mill? (6)
A charade of G (‘ultimately depresinG‘) plus LOOMY (‘as a cotton mill?’ – the question mark is most definitely called for).
3 VITRESCENT Scrapped rivets and coin that can be turned into glass (10)
A charade of VITRES, an anagram (‘scrapped’) of ‘rivets’ plus CENT (‘coin’).
4, 24 ALL IS WELL Each and every one inflates — no need to worry (3,2,4)
A charade of ALL (‘each and every’) plus I SWELL (‘one inflates’ – the two mist be taken together to avoid a gramatical mismatch).
5 CUNEIFORM Confirm EU ground is wedge-shaped (9)
An anagram (‘ground’) of ‘confirm EU’.
6   See 26
7 IN CHAINS As a slave, perhaps, takes measure against a terrible sin (2,6)
A charade of INCH (‘measure’) plus ‘a’ plus INS, an anagram (‘terrible’) of ‘sin’.
8 MUTTERED Madonna’s intro said to be hard to hear (8)
A charade of M (‘Madonna’s intro’) plus UTTERED (‘said’).
13 PSYCHOLOGY Gosh! Poly’s worried about start of current year — mind study (10)
A charade of PSUCHOLOG, an envelope (‘about’) of C (‘start of Current’) in PSYHOLOG, an anagram (‘worried’) of ‘gosh poly’; plus Y (‘year’).
15 MARMALADE Preserve a certain cat (9)
Double definition.
16 SPROUT UP Develop one element of Christmas lunch the Northern way? (6,2)
A charade of SPROUT (perhaps Brussels sprouts are ‘one element of the Christmas lunch’ in the Brummie household) plus UP (‘the Nortern way’ on many maps).
17 VLADIMIR Rival cheekily appropriates slow-witted leader’s first name (8)
An envelope (‘appropriates’) of DIM (‘slow-witted’) in VLAIR, an anagram (‘cheekily’) of ‘rival’. The ‘leader’ would be Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka Lenin.
19 GANDHI Pacifist element of Goring and Himmler (6)
A hidden answer (‘element of’) in ‘GorinG AND HImmler’
20 CYGNET It’s not part of city gent’s choreographed minor ballet role (6)
An anagram (‘coreographed’) of ‘c[it]y gent’ minus IT (‘it’s not part of’), the ‘ballet’ in question being, of course, Swan Lake.
23 TREWS Pants and straightens up, you might say (5)
A homophone (‘you might say’) of TRUES (‘straightens up’).
24   See 4
completed grid

62 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,629 by Brummie”

  1. Another leader does come to mind, as well, for 17d. Thanks to Brummie, and to Peter0 for the early blog – surprised to be getting in before the Australians!

  2. Thanks PeterO and Brummie.

    Is 13a “A charade of PSUCHOLOG” a bit of history?

    I couldn’t parse 22,12 either: I noticed (*YARN) was at the end of CAUTIONARY, but I can’t see that helps.

    I went for the current leader in 17d as well.

  3. I got 1d eventually, realised the homophone of “Says-a me” but does that mean that ‘cod Italian’ has a slang meaning of eg. music hall characterisations of the Italian accent? never heard the term before.

  4. 22, 12: An arresting officer has to caution the arrested person by reading him or her the Miranda Rights.

  6. Thanks to Brummie for an enjoyable solve and to PeterO for a good blog.

    Re 17d, I am pretty sure I thought of the same leader for “dim-witted” as quenbarrow@1 (with apologies for the pot and kettle accusation to our US friends, as we have several of them here too). While I like the Lenin reference, PeterO, I am inclined to agree with cryptor@5 that Brummie was thinking of Putin. Mind you, I did play around with CLODPOLL for a while for that one, a delightful word I only know from doing the Guardian cryptics!

    Favourites were 18a PALINDROMIC, 13a PSYCHOLOGY (interesting explanation from PeterO, as already referred to by David Ellison@2) and 15d MARMALADE.

    I had not heard of “cod Italian” before either, 2 tanners@3 (1d SESAME). I couldn’t parse the Christmas part of 16d SPROUT UP, but when I read your explanation, PeterO, I felt pretty stupid. Not standard fare for Christmas here – we go more for prawns and salad – but it is a pretty obvious addition to a hot roast dinner.

  7. Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

    2 tanners, JinA: I did know ‘cod’ as an indicating jocular imitation, but having just checked on some online dictionaries, I see it is specifically British English, and described as informal. ‘Cod Latin’ is a more frequent expression, describing such phrases as ‘illegitimi non carborundum’.

  8. I thought this was easier then yesterday’s puzzle. Couldn’t parse SESAME and now I can see why…

  9. Stared dumbly at a sparse west side after fhe east had more or less written itself. Took ages to remember trews, thought sesame a bit of a hoot, took a while to nut out the logical but unfamiliar vitrescent, and LOI parolee was the cleverest and my COD (was thinking strings….macrame, boucle…scratch scratch). All good in the end.

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  10. Thank you, PeterO, you saved my blushes re ALL IS WELL.  As you say, I SWELL has to be taken together. (You might want to correct the minor typo at nortHern)

    I enjoyed this on the whole with ticks at COMMON SENSE, STYLIST, SESAME, & CYGNET.

    I was of the same mind as cryptor @4 re CAUTIONARY TALE but still not convinced by it.

    Not wild about SPROUT UP as I failed to parse it but I suppose it’s OK.

    Many thanks, Brummie, good puzzle.

    Nice week, all.

  11. Thanks Brummie and PeterO

    I enjoyed this a lot more than recent offerings from Brummie, with favourites COMMON SENSE, GLOOMY, CUNEIFORM, and (as PeterO) CYGNET.

    A couple where a word in the clue non-cryptically gives a word in the answer – YACHT in 10a and TALE in the contentious 22,12.

    Why does 15d need “certain”?

  12. Part of the caution that an arresting officer is supposed to give in 22,12 is that “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence.” To which the smart Alecs respond with 23d.

  13. This seemed a bit Mondayish to start with, but I then slowed down. I agree with PeterO about CAUTIONARY TALES; I had to look up PAROLEE; and got waylaid by trying to find an anagram of ‘rivets’ and ‘coin’. But all good fun. Many thanks to B & P.

  16. Ploughed through this with more duty than enjoyment. Barely a smile – maybe loomy and Vlad – thought cygnet was clever. The ultimate cod Italian is of course “shadupperyerface”.

    BTW JinA and others I finally googled TILT and find it stands for trifractural intermediate ligament tear. Does this mean that when you come across a word you really like you pull a muscle?

    Thanks to Brummie for the workout and to PeterO for the lucid blog.

  17. Eric @15

    “Marmalade” is the name for the colour of an orange and white cat. Orlando the Marmalade Cat was one of my favourites as a young child!

  20. Yes peterM – see mine @17!

    (btw you can embed links by using the “paperclip” icon above the reply bow. It’s quite easy. Copy the URL of the link. Highlight the text you want the link to be on, then click the paperclip and paste URL into the dialog box. Try it!)

  21. “box” not “bow”.

    “Certain” still doesn’t seem to be quite the right word, though. Might “particular” be better?

  23. Thanks Brummie for an entertaining solve; like grantinfreo @9 the East side went in early but the West was more difficult.

    Thanks PeterO; I couldn’t see the trues homophone – I could only think of Tom Truise. Like bluecanary @16 I’m waiting for a reminder for what TILT means here.

    I thought CAUTIONARY TALE was OK; sounds like the blurb I got when stopped and breathalysed (I passed!) I thought of dune buggy for 10 but of course it didn’t parse.

  24. As I predicted earlier, 1d parshed eashier after a couple of drinky poos.

    I really liked VLADIMIR-could have been one of a couple of people waiting for someone…

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  25. copmus @24

    Good idea. “slow-witted waiter’s name” would have neater than “slow-witted leader’s first name”.

  27. Many thanks Brummie and PeterO.  My favourite was 26, 6, with “Times Past” sounding like a plausible Dylan composition (echoes of “The Times They Are A Changin'” and “Time Out of Mind”).  I also really liked the piggy bank in 28A.

    I was a bit puzzled by 10a.  As muffin says @11, “craft” seems like a simple non-cryptic definition of YACHT.  Unless the “craft” in the surface was supposed to suggest the “arts and crafts” sense of the word?  I wasn’t sure how the surface was intended to be read.

  28. [Lord Jim@27, funny that I also thought of “The Times They Are A Changin'” as I solved 26, 6. Classic misdirection but interesting how our thought associations work.)

  29. Whizzed through this – I must be on Brummie’s wavelength today. In fact they went in so fast that I mis-parsed 7d as INS around CHAIN (i.e. the venerable cricket pitch). Very enjoyable overall.

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  30. [Robi@23

    (a) re TILT = Thing I Learned Today (I think DaveMc, one of our US friends, contributed it originally – I was grateful, as prior to that I was always typing….”I was not familiar with….”) (though to be honest, BlueCanary@16, I do overuse my facial muscles quite often, smiling at the clever quips on this site);

    (b) my initial response to 10a at first pass was also DUNE BUGGY, but with such clues I have learned to wait for the crossers rather than be impetuous whilst ignoring any wordplay. How funny though that you, Lord Jim – see 28 – and me would think the same thoughts despite the distance between us!]

     

  31. I also rattled through this much more rapidly than yesterday’s dnf. The last couple of Brummie’s puzzles seem to have been less challenging – or like Keyser I’m on his wavelength. I thought of CAUTIONARY TALE but hesitated inking it in until all the crossers confirmed it – barely a cryptic clue to me. Unlike others I wasn’t a fan
    of VLADIMIR – (leaders’) names are ok as fodder but I’m not keen on them as solutions. Loi was TEMPERATE – was anyone else looking for a synonym for bad ending in ALE?
    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  32. Really enjoyed this, 1dn notwithstanding. Ouch. 3 and 5 were a bit elusive, but the words crept in on a neap tide. 27ac my favourite. Thanks Brummie

  33. Thanks to Brummie and PeterO. Most of this went in quite steadily, but held up by the last few. Last ones were vitrescent (spent ages working on an anagram of rivets and coin) Vladimir and parolee (found this to be an oddish sort of word that just would not come to me for ages). I am another fan of cygnet and also liked membership. Thanks again to Brummie and PeterO.

  35. Thanks to Brummie and PeterO. Enjoyable. VITRESCENT was new to me (and to my spell-checker) and I was hesitant about sprout in SPROUT UP and loomy in GLOOMY.  As to LAND YACHT, I’ve come across the term before in a cryptic puzzle – and I too tried to work in dune buggy – but this time I was clued in.

  36. I enjoyed this and I also thought it quite a lot easier than yesterday’s Pan. My only problem was VITRISCENT because I was looking for an anagram of RIVETS and COIN which,of course, didn’t get me anywhere. The rest went in a treat including CAUTIONARY TALE which I thought was fine.
    Nice puzzle.
    Thanks Brummie.

  37. Fat Tony comes to mind when thinking about 1 down! Most enjoyable lunchtime filler. Thanks to everyone.

  38. An entertaining puzzle throughout.  I really liked the wacky language play in 1d SESAME: I don’t often come across that word ‘cod’ meaning ‘mock’ – it is a good description of what is happening here.  [I have just re-read a book Let Stalk Strine by Afferbeck Lauder which sends up an Australian way of speaking – hilarious.]

    ‘Goring’ jarred with me in 19d GANDHI, as it evidently did with Auriga @19.  With no umlaut an ‘e’ is needed (‘Goering’), since this name was clearly intended for the surface reading.

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  39. Could someone explain the allusion to PSUCHOLOG above. I see no charade, simply an anagram of “goshpolys” around “c” plus “y”.

  40. Re 17d, sensitive solvers don’t need to get hung up about particular politicians being named, since the name Vladimir means ‘ruler of the world’.

  41. Jeceris: I think its just an error by PeterO. See @2 where Dave E suggests its just appeared out of the blue from a previous solution

  43. I enjoyed this. I liked SEGOVIA, STYLIST and CYGNET the most. Embarrassed to say OLDEN DAYS was my last in because I couldn’t see the 5-letter anagram of DOELN!
    Thanks, Brummie and PeterO.

  44. I really enjoyed this, and found it much easier than yesterday’s cryptic – and also yesterday’s quiptic! My only quibble was with Gloomy: if a cotton mill is loomy, does that mean a shipyard is boaty and Charing Cross is trainy? My faves were Cuneiform, Gandhi and Cygnet. Thanks to Brummie and Peter O

  45. Thanks Charles@40 for the meaning of Vladimir – if the definition had been “ruler of the world” I presume there would have much debate here until your post enlightened us :-).

  46. Thanks both,
    I mostly completed this on a car journey while spouse drove. In 22,12 I took ‘cautionary’ to be a noun meaning ‘someone who administers a caution’, but I see that while oed has a noun it means ‘someone who stands as a surety’.

  48. Wellbeck @ 44

    It seems to be an increasingly common device. Recently Paul had COTTISH for ‘like a bed’ in a clue for Scottish. I think it’s a little lazy, but it’s fun every now and again.

    I liked the use of “cod Italian style’ in 1D, as it was the graun’s/Peter Preston’s use of a cod fax that brought down Jonathan Aitken all those years ago.

  49. I need some help please with 9, 21. According to Chambers online, shorts are just short trousers.  I’m assuming spirits refer to alcoholic substances?  So what are shorts then? Small cocktails?  I’m taking Brummie’s word for it that short odds are cautious bets. I wouldn’t know because I lose no matter how I bet (or invest).

    In addition to shorts, cod (in the imitation sense), marmalade (in the cat sense) and trews (in any sense) were all new to me. I figured that VLADIMIR was just someone’s name so I didn’t bother trying on that one but I was reminded of Pooty-Poot rather than Ulyanov.

    Others apparently disagree but GLOOMY was far and away my favorite.

  50. BlueDot @49

    I’m surprised that you haven’t found “shorts” in the drink sense. It is short for (sorry!) “short drink”, and they are almost always spirits – often whisk(e)y.

  51. Thanks for the quick answer. I think that you may be right – I feel I may have asked this same question before and am unable to assimilate the answer.

    Would one order a short of scotch then and be understood?  (Not me, mind you. I’ll take the extra large.)

    Or… do you know if these are the same as what we call shots in the US? Served in a shot glass, which Google tells me is about 1.5 imperial ounces?

  53. Lots to enjoy here apart from 10a and 22a,12a.
    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
    I’ll try to post immediately after writing this rather than finding out that I haven’t half a day later as happened with yesterday’s.

  55. Bluedot @ 49/51

    It’s a short drink (ie, in UK 25 or 50 cl) as opposed to a long one (125 or more ml of wine, pint or half-pint of beer).

    Ordering a short of whisk(e)y would probably cause a bemused look.

    Mind you, I like drinking beer from an old-fashioned dimpled glass with a handle, aka a jug. In the summer, I went into a pub and asked for a pint of bitter and was gobsmacked when the server, admittedly not from UK, disappeared behind the scenes and emerged with, yes, literally a jug.

  56. Thanks John E. – that helps a lot. I’m also looking at the Weights and Measures Act of 1963. It looks like culturally shots and shorts are the same but the amounts don’t match up exactly. Now I’m on a mission to find out if “shot” is a corruption of “short”.

  57. Glad to finally make it here at the end of the work day.  I enjoyed this puzzle (with a couple of “asterisks”).  When I saw Brummie’s name, I got my hopes up that we might be getting some kind of a theme (I believe he sometimes does themed puzzles, unless I am confusing him with one of the other setters), but there was nothing thematic here that I could make out.  My “asterisks” were mentioned by PeterO and several of the other commenters above: I came here to 15^2 thinking there must have been some clever wordplay or humorous significance that eluded me on CAUTIONARY TALE and SPROUT UP, but after reading through the blog and comments to this point, it appears that, for both of these clues, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

    I didn’t mind LAND YACHT as much as others appear to have done … but then again, perhaps this was a clue that favored North American solvers (??).  I thought “country craft” was clearly intended to be read as a two word phrase, referring to the homespun, folksy style of furnishings and knickknacks (along these lines) that is pretty popular here in the US (and in Canada also, I think), especially in rural areas.  [I am not worldly enough to know if the country craft style of home decor is just as readily found in the UK, Australia, and elsewhere, or if it is more of a US/Canada thing.]  The other phrase, “land yacht”, is also a well-known (here, at least) expression for the gargantuan sedans (like this one) that a number of American automakers were turning out from the 1950s through the 1970s.  I recall Rufus used to routinely turn out “misdirection” cryptic definitions that were less cryptic than “country craft” for “land yacht”.

    I really enjoyed STYLIST, GLOOMY, and SESAME (once I figured out what “cod” Italian meant!).  I also enjoyed ALL IS WELL, because it immediately reminded me of Rancho from 3 Idiots.  After watching that movie I have found “allizzwell, allizzwell, allizzwell” to be a useful coping tool on more than one occasion!

    Many thanks to Brummie and PeterO and the other commenters.

  58. Jeceris @39

    I have been out most of the day, and have only just seen your comment. Of course, there was a typo, and it should have read PSYCHOLOG. I am using the word ‘charade’ loosely to indicate that the clue articulates the answer into two parts, not that PSYCHOLOG – or Y for that matter – is a word in its own right. Apart from that, our analyses of the clue coincide.

  59. For those who misspent their youth poring over railway maps, the words ‘Goring (without e) and…….’ are ineluctably followed by ‘Streatley’, a station whizzed through (usually) on the Great Western main line from Paddington.

  60. We managed to come up with an anagram of RIVETS and COIN for 3d – VITROSCINE. Pity it wasn’t in the dictionary (or anywhere else) – which we didn’t discover until we were stuck on 11a at the end.

  62. DaveMc@57: the car in your photo is not a sedan but a coupe(2-door). A teeny bit less than a land yacht.

     

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