Guardian 27,661 – Picaroon

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This one needed a bit of research…

… to confirm some of the CURRENCIES that are hidden in all the across answers (highlighted below). Most of them are reasonably familiar, but there were a few I was unsure about; in these cases I’ve given the countries they apply to. As always from this setter, a very enjoyable puzzle, though unusually for him I have a couple of nitpicks, noted in the explanations. Thanks to Picaroon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
4. SOMATA Virtuoso matador holds animals’ bodies (6)
Hidden in virtuoSO MATAdor. The Som is name of the currencies of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
6. EUROCRAT French way to back bad actor, a union player? (8)
Reverse of RUE (French for street, way) + ACTOR* – a Eurocrat might be a “player” in the European Union
9. AM-DRAM Local rep may offer this pre-lunch drink (2-4)
The pre-lunch drink is a DRAM in the morning (A.M.). The definition seems a bit inaccurate: rep = repertory theatre is professional, though I suppose there are some theatres called “the Rep” that might put on amateur productions. The Dram if the currency of Armenia
10. GRANDEUR Two British monarchs hosting posh nobility (8)
U (posh) in G.R. and E.R. – the EUR in the answer is a (deliberate?) red herring, as it’s just the code for the Euro, not its name.
11. GUILLOTINED Killed duelling, criminal’s put on outfit oddly (11)
Alternate letters of OuTfIt in DUELLING* – though surely “put on” suggests that OTI should be on the outside.. The Loti is the currency of Lesotho
15. REALIGN A Liberal breaks rule to switch allegiance (7)
A L in REIGN
17. IMPOUND Pen note about poet (7)
Reverse of MI (note, as in do-re-mi) + [Ezra] Pound
18. MINISTERIAL Concerned with the cloth of skirt tailor retails (11)
MINI (skirt) + RETAILS*
22. ORDINARY Ring road, one not for pedestrian (8)
O + RD + I + NARY
23. DALEKS Depression case from Kansas is trouble for the doctor (6)
DALE (valley, depression) + the “case” of K[ansa]S. I’m sure Doctor Who purists would want The Doctor to be capitalised. The Lek is the currency of Albania
24. DOYENNES Poet’s penning mock archaic article showing women on top (8)
YE (“mock archaic [definite] article”) in [John] DONNE’S
25. WONTED Dumplings not on, Edward’s usual (6)
WON T[ON] + ED. Both North and South Korea have the Won as their currency (though it’s not the same, er, one)
Down
1. ST PAUL State capital built up last (2,4)
(UP LAST)*. St Paul (which adjoins Minneapolis, making the “Twin Cities”) is the state capital of Minnesota
2. CURRENCIES Many a tender dog with sincere barking (in all across solutions here) (10)
CUR + SINCERE*
3. JOINED-UP Coordinated what soldiers did (6-2)
Double definition
4. STAGGERS Stock complaint from canonised cricket commentator? (8)
S[ain]T + AGGERS, nickname of cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew. Staggers is a disease of cattle and sheep (“stock”)
5. MADRIGAL Most of city girl’s old song (8)
MADRI[D] + GAL
7. REEL Victor snubbed in party dance (4)
REVEL less V
8. TERM Spell a word (4)
Double definition
12. TENANTRIES Cryptic entertains, displaying groups of letters (10)
ENTERTAINS*
13. RUDIMENT It could be true, mind shows undeveloped part (8)
(TRUE MIND)*
14. IDOLISED Respected papers covering party spreading lies (8)
DO + LIES* in ID (papers)
16. IMMINENT Two lots of the writer’s books at hand (8)
I’M + MINE (two ways of saying “the writer’s”) + N[ew] T[estament]
19. ETALON Stripping off, never mind getting a measuring device (6)
LET ALONE (“never mind”), minus its outer letters. (Not [G]ET ALON[G], which I was trying to justify to myself for a while) The etalon, used for measuring wavelengths of light, is also known as the Fabry–Pérot interferometer
20. HOOD Gangster to take drugs, holding nothing back (4)
O (nothing) in DO H[eroin]
21. EDGY Avant-garde clothes taken from excited guy (4)
Outer letters (“clothes”) of E[xcite]D G[u]Y

45 comments on “Guardian 27,661 – Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

    I felt that this lacked the light touch and humour of a typical Picaroon puzzle. I agree about the OTI in 11a. Several of the currencies I didn’t know; I confess that I didn’t bother to track them all down.

    AM-DRAM did make me smile. I didn’t know ETALON (despite me having a scientific training), but was able to work it out from the wordplay.

    I wonder what non-cricket -ollowers will make of STAGGERS? FOI for me, in fact.

  3. A grid full of delights shame it had to end Faves were Saint Aggers (alas not arlott or benaud yet), AMDRAM DALEKS DOYENNES and the letters misdirection (again).

    Didn’t know SOMATA or ETALON – but easy enough to get – nor yet half the currencies.

    Thanks to Pickers for the smiles and to Andrew for another comprehensive blog

  4. Many thanks to Picaroon for a great puzzle – and Andrew for all the research. I’m rushing out now, so like  muffin, I simply trusted Picaroon. 😉

    Re 4dn: it’s not long since I gave this link but I can’t resist doing so again.

  6. Thanks for the blog. Couldn’t parse etalon, LOI, so ta for that. I think that “put on” can legitimately be read either way – if you put on a scarf, it is round your neck; if you are put on a scarf, you are sitting on it …

  7. local rep =am dram in my book QED.

    Very clever stuff and great fun looking out for` st(ot)inkas.

    Thanks JB and Anfrew

  8. Etalon(s), though obscure, is a word familiar to many scrabble players as it scores a 50 point bonus using common letters. Only today though, having to look up the meaning to see it fitted the definition, have I learned its meaning!

  9. Good setting to get in all the currencies, although I didn’t know a few of them.

    Thanks Andrew; another scientist who has never heard of ETALON (French étalon a fixed standard of weights and measures, from Old French estalon.)  

    I liked the morning drink and the women on top.

  10. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. I made no effort to track down all the CURRENCIES and, as Muffin@1 predicted, had to look up Aggers-Agnew after figuring out STAGGERS from the definition. AM-DRAM gave me trouble, and I took forever getting ETALON experimenting on Google after all the crossers were available.

  12. With the left done, looked at 19d thinking hmmm, and there I was at the end staring at it, futilely thinking something like ‘there (there)’ for never mind; gave up and put the crossers in a thingy.

    Much worse than that, missspelled granduer (quelle honte!) and had ‘rout’ (a la Austin et al) for the dance. And of course had no idea about the theme; wondered about the bracket in 2d then forgot about it. Feeling very much the beginner. Oh well.

    Apart from stuff-ups it was quite fun; no prob with the duelling criminal putting on oti, liked the skirt plus retails tailored, the ord with 1 nary, and the writer’s two lots of books. Haven’t seen (as is my) wont as a past participle before, and I guess wonton must be a collective plural as well as singular.

    Lots to like, thanks Andrew and Picaroon.

  13. Just to tidy up: the currencies are in the across solutions (2d).

    So the missing ones in the blog (apart from the obvious 6 and 17) are 10 RAND – South Africa; 15 REAL – Brazil; 18 RIAL – Iran; 22 DINAR – Algeria; 24 YEN – Japan

  16. trenodia @13

    Andrew has highlighted them – just not in a very contrasting colour! True, he hasn’t given the country for each, though.

  17. Andrew My apologies. I just read your preamble where you say that the currencies are highllighted. My eyes aren’t as good as they were and the highlights were not apparent to me and you had not given the countries concerned. Hence my comments.

  20. My favourite was DALEKS. I stared at 19 for a long time but did eventually apply some logic and detective work, instead of my usual half-baked trial and error/guesswork, and worked it out without any cheating. Must try that more often. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  21. Thanks Eileen@4, I’ve just done the same as last time, watched the legover and then the Boycs wind-up and a couple more….great stuff. (All the more nostalgic downunder as the moguls are taking over and there’s less and less cricket on free-to-air).

  22. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. Well the week gets no easier for me. Mostly this went in steadily, but the last few took ages. Last ones, unsurprisingly, we’re am-dram, wonted and etalon (none of which my automatic spellcheck likes at all). I did enjoy the challenge and I felt there were some nice clues such as daleks, ordinary and joined-up. Thanks again to Picaroon and Andrew.

  23. Hi Grant can’t you go and watch in the marvelous sail and anchor? The only Oz pub in my all-time top 10.

    We Poms are enjoying the Aussie dressing room slogan furore. We have added “we all sand together” and “take the rough with the smooth”! Liked the blogger who said “whoever came up with that should have their balls tampered with”

  24. I must admit to resorting to a word search to find the unfamiliar ETALON, which was last in – the rest were tough but gettable and the grid fill is impressive, even if a couple of the currencies were unfamiliar.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew

  25. muffin @1 As a non-cricket-follower I’ll tell you that I filled in STAGGERS (a word I’d heard) when I had enough crossers, having started the word with ST for “canonised.”

  26. Phew – another hard bash with the SE going in last in spite of using a Fabry-Perot etalon (as opposed to its lesser-known cousin, the Fabreau-Perrier fizzy water measuring device) every day for several years. 13D put me in mind of the cartoon in the Observer through the 70s and early 80s, “The Rudiments of Wisdom” by Tim Hunkin.

    Some nice misleading surfaces with less-than-obvious definitions meant a lot of work with parsing, but all the better for it. The theme was gentle – nothing seemed forced and knowing it did not help get daleks at my LOI. A lot to like, though I found 8d weak.

  27. Hi there BlueCanary, yes there’s no lack of big-screen pubs, and the Sail does a decent pint, but there’s nothing quite as comfy as the feet up on the sofa!

  29. This is turning out to be a fab week; another neat, elusive and delightful crossword. After slotting in Donne and Pound I thought I might be looking for poets in the ac clues. Not for long. Far more prosaic than that but no less imaginative. The currencies tended to affirm rather than help the solve, especially as I was unfamiliar with som,son and dram in context. Am-dram made me smile, as did daleks. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

  32. Rather enjoyed this although I’m a little miffed not to have noticed the currencies,2dn notwithstanding and 6ac come to that.
    I liked STAGGERS, AM DRAM and DALEKS. I didn’t know STOMATA or ETALON but they weren’t hard to get. Couldn’t be bothered to check on ST PAUL but the answer was obvious.
    A walk in the park after yesterday.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  33. This was a DNF for me, as I cheated on ETALON.  And of course I only knew about half the currencies.  STAGGERS had to be that, and I assumed there was a cricket commenter named Aggers, but I wasn’t in the mood to look that up either.  A fun workout all the same.

    [The comment about the pronunciation of “won” brings back a memory: in high school, we did a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream; all of our fairies were played by Asian-Americans (this was before the days where casting like that in a public school would be deemed politically incorrect; bear in mind that “Asian” in America is more likely to mean East Asian than South).  Our Oberon, the first time we ran through the script, read the line “Tarry, rash wanton!” as “Tarry, rash wonton!” Everyone in the room laughed for a good three minutes, except possibly our Titania, who didn’t like being called a dumpling.]

  34. Educational, as ever with Picaroon. Thanks to the pirate and Andrew.
    Dansar @8 How does ETALON score 50 ?

  35. il principe dell’oscurità @34, it doesn’t, etalons does. The “s” is in brackets as it doesn’t form part of the answer to the clue.

     

  36. I enjoyed this — loved the theme, even if I had to do a bunch of Googling to figure out some of the currencies that were (to me) obscure.  In addition to the themed entries and CURRENCIES itself (which for me provided a great PDM), I enjoyed the wordplay in MINISTERIAL, ORDINARY, and especially GRANDEUR, my CotD.  When I was parsing 11ac, I read the apostrophe-s as “is” rather than “has”, so it did not occur to me that OTI should be on the outside of *(DUELLING).

    [5d made me think of A MAN AND A GIRL, if there are any Tales of the City fans on this forum.]

    Many thanks to Picaroon and Andrew and the other commenters.

  37. I thought there should be agreement, as in: “ARE trouble for the doctor” … confused the heck out of me.

  38. Crashed on ‘etalon’, but enjoyed the rest of the puzzle, as usual with Picaroon. Frustrating, but where would the pleasure be if you could solve the puzxles every time?

  39. DavMc, it’s the next day so you might not see this but Mrs Madrigal, yes! Didn’t think of it at the time but yes those Maupin books are great. The tv series with Olivia Dukakis as Mrs M was great too, just a pity they never finished it (as far as I know).

  40. grantinfreo @39 –

    “Next day” for you, perhaps, in your part of the world, but here it just crossed 6 p.m. and I still have “miles to go before I sleep”, as our Mr. Frost would be wonted to say.  I didn’t actually read the Maupin books myself, but my DW did – does that still count??  In any event, we watched the TV miniseries together back in the 1990s, as each one became available to watch in the US, and we too (two?) thought they were all great, especially the first two.  I recalled that there were three TotC miniseries in total that we watched, but I just went to Wikipedia to make sure I wasn’t accidentally leaving one out … and there I learned that there is going to be a new “twenty years later” miniseries coming out next year (!!), in which Olympia D. and Laura Linney will be reprising their roles as Anna Madrigal and Mary Ann Singleton.

  41. Did anybody other than me get the dictionary out to check whether STARLOTT is a livestock disease? No? Thought not.

  42. Most enjoyable, DNF but I’d have never got etalon even if I’d have got the other remaining couple!

    Quick question as a relative newbie – the ‘a’ in 8d confused me for a long while as I tried to incorporate it into the answer. Why isn’t the clue just ‘spell word’ ? Should I be ignoring indefinite articles?

  43. Stuart @42 — Re: your question, “Should I be ignoring indefinite articles?”  (and hoping you are coming back here to check for answers)

    Speaking only from my personal impressions and experiences as a solver (i.e., not purporting to address the formalistic, Ximenean standards and analysis), I would answer your question “Yes … except when you shouldn’t.”  Sometimes an article (indefinite or definite), or a short preposition such as “in” or “by”, is not a material element of the wordplay, and appears to have been included by the setter (one surmises) merely to improve the “flow” and readability of the surface.  But in some other cases these seemingly innocuous short words may turn out to be essential components of the clue.  It’s all in good fun, anyway, so I see no need to make an exact science of it.  If you choose to “play”, you try to remain mentally nimble and open minded (“keep your brain on its toes” and “don’t forget to squint your ears on Spoonerism and homophone clues” are two pieces of my solving style), to try to get to the right answer and the right parsing of that answer, and that includes trying to be mindful of not falling into an assumption that a short word like “a” in the surface either must be, or must not be, a significant element of the clue.  HTH.

  44. Congratulations to everyone who didn’t get 20d from the definition but worked it out from “never mind” = “let alone” then stripped off.

  45. Thanks DaveMc … I guess to date I’ve taken the view that if the surface doesn’t need it, it must be there for a reason…but I need to loosen up!

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