Guardian Cryptic 27,664 by Vulcan

by

An enjoyable and quick solve with a few trickier clues and nice surfaces. Favourites were 22ac, 27ac, 8dn, and 16dn. Thanks to Vulcan.

Across
1 ARTISTS Maybe there’s still life in what they do (7)
  “still life” as in a type of artwork
5 ACROBAT Circus artiste’s value is tumbling (7)
  “tumbling” as in performing acrobatic feats
9 MANSE Chap’s first to enter minister’s home (5)
  MAN’S=”Chap’s” + Enter
10 RADIO PLAY Drama one never sees performed (5,4)
  cryptic definition
11 SWEETHEART Wee darling? (10)
  “Wee” is the centre or HEART of SWEET
12 BRUT Like some wine? It’s no end crude! (4)
  BRUTe=”crude” without the end letter
14 COLD SHOULDER Turn one’s back on the roast second time round? (4-8)
  COLD SHOULDER could be “the roast second time round?”
18 EMANCIPATION Given this freedom, name optician at random (12)
  (name optician)*
21 RUTH Routine hard for girl (4)
  RUT=”Routine” + H (hard)
22 REAL ESTATE Settle area, wild land (4,6)
  (Settle area)*
25 SUCCESSOR Win gold: I follow (9)
  SUCCESS=”Win” + OR=”gold”
26 REPEL Drive back to dance round piano (5)
  REEL=”dance” round P (piano)
27 SPEARED Second vegetable, like a tomato, taken on fork (7)
  S (second) + PEA=”vegetable” + RED=”like a tomato”
28 HAS BEEN Banshee terrified failing man (3-4)
  (Banshee)*
Down
1 ALMOST A large majority? Not quite (6)
  A + L (large) + MOST=”majority”
2 TINDER Find a match here? This can flame up quickly (6)
  first definition refers to the dating app Tinder
3 SPENT FORCE One now weak, having given out on behalf of church (5,5)
  SPENT=”given out” + FOR=”on behalf of” + CE (Church of England)
4 SURGE Rush of crowd needs some calmness urgently (5)
  hidden in “calmnesS URGEntly”
5 ALDERSHOT Ordering heralds back to military town (9)
  (heralds)* + reversal/”back” of TO
6 ROOM Space for one’s elbow? (4)
  referring to the phrase ‘elbow room’
7 BELGRADE Glad beer is brewed by the Danube (8)
  (Glad beer)*
8 TOY STORY Film or plays, right? (3,5)
  TOYS=”plays” + TORY=conservative=”right” wing
13 OUT OF SORTS Not feeling well, with no more anagrams to do? (3,2,5)
  OUT OF SORTS could also =”with no more anagrams to do?”
15 DEPRESSED Letters on keyboard can be low (9)
  double definition: =pressed down; =dispirited
16 NEUROSIS New coins, one’s obsession (8)
  N (new) + EUROS=”coins” + I’S=”one’s”
17 CANTICLE Hymn is horrible — cancel it (8)
  (cancel it)*
19 SAMPLE Specimen, small, more than enough (6)
  S (small) + AMPLE=”more than enough”
20 FELL IN Film director, finally failing, took place in the ranks (4,2)
  Federico FELLINi is the film director [wiki], minus the final letter
23 LARCH Tree that’s between poplar and chestnut (5)
  taking letters from popLAR and CHestnut
24 WEIR Feature of river no end odd (4)
  WEIRd=”odd” with no end letter

43 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,664 by Vulcan”

  1. Long time lurker here, previously never commented because i was always a few days behind, that all changed when i accepted a “career break”. Struggled with 16d (didn’t know euro was a coin). First four across were write-ins, got better after that.

  3. A pleasant start-the-week puzzle, elegantly blogged, but a but too November-Monday-morningish in other ways. Was this a deliberate theme? OUT OF SORTS, DEPRESSED, SPENT FORCE, NEUROSIS, HAS-BEEN?

  4. I was unable to parse 5a (the word ‘value’ threw me off) and 14a.

    My favourites were NEUROSIS, TOY STORY, SWEETHEART, SPENT FORCE.

    Thank you manehi and Vulcan

  5. Welcome to the Oz cohort Greg.in.Syd. Yes nice gentle Monday stroll, although I was dead slow to see sweetheart, a dead-set chestnut (thinking sweetberry? diueritic plant? total nonsense!). Dnk the film, but did know Aldershot from somewhere…war fiction maybe, or Mrs ginf re-running Foyle’s War (yet again!). Thought ‘obsession’ could have done with a ?, as it’s one type of neurosis, and ditto ‘feature of river’, as weirs are human- (or beaver-)made, tho I spose there could be naturally-occurring ones. Quibblets merely.

    Thanks Manehi and Vulcan.

  6. @3 above: can add 14ac to the list: perhaps time to resort to 2d? (should of course have written ‘but a bit too…’)

  7. Thanks Vulcan and manehi

    Two “cryptic” definitions to start with? It did improve a bit after, though – I liked SWEETHEART (though I think I’ve seen a similar clue quite recently?) and ALDERSHOT.

    I didn’t know Tinder as a dating app.

    Letters aren’t depressed on a keyboard – keys are!

    (btw try Hectence’s Quiptic today – a much meatier challenge)

  10. Thanks manehi. Agreed, a gentle stroll, but somehow refreshing. Is there a name for the type of clue at 11? A ‘reverse hidden’ or something?

  12. copmus@9: Do the zzz’s mean you slept through it all? If so, well done! I’ve only ever rerun the odd clue in my sleep, never a whole puzzle. Many thanks Vulcan and manehi for a relatively gentle start to the week.

  14. I liked TOY STORY and OUT OF SORTS. I thought 15 might have been improved by a ‘this’ after ‘be’, which wouldn’t have affected the surface.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  15. Yep, bright and breezy this. Over all too soon. Unlike the winter. I missed the parsing of ‘sweetheart’ too but in it went regardless. Speared was the last to go in. Liked that one. Thanks Vulcan and Manehi.

  16. A gentle wake-up, not helped by my cat going absolutely bonkers and trying to eat my fingers, tread on the mouse and roll on the keyboard. She entered several solutions, none of which were right (and I am pretty sure wugrhmph is not a word). Not a great fan of semi-cryptic definitions like 1ac and 5ac as even once you think you have it there’s a degree of uncertainty (for me at least). Generous grid too. 14ac, 13dn work better for my taste. Some nice anagrams though leading to fun surfaces.

    17dn reminds me of that science fiction classic A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller.

  17. Morning all, and welcome to Greg in Syd @1.

    Not so keen on this as others appear to be.  Thought the clues for BRUT and OUT OF SORTS a bit feeble.

    Some good stuff too, mind.  Ticks at SWEETHEART, NEUROSIS, & CANTICLE.

    ARTISTS was particularly Rufusian don’t you think?

    Many thanks to manehi as usual.

    Nice week, all.

  18. Thank you Vulcan and manehi.

    I, too, missed the parsing of SWEETHEART, now one of my favourites along with OUT OF SORTS, NEUROSIS and  CANTICLE.

  20. A nice, gentle start to the week. Good to see TINDER the app getting a mention – it makes a change from the usual mid-twentieth century fare (cricket, bible etc.). I enjoyed SPEARED & FELLINI.

    Re: grantinfreo @ 5 – loving the word quibblets. I’m stealing that.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  21. I’m curious as to why 1a / 5a were not edited, neither of them is that good that it couldn’t be changed to avoid the unfortunate coincidence.

    Otherwise an undemanding start to the week so thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  24. grantinfreo @5:  Which is the greater; a quibblet or a quibbling?  So want to use the new word but would hate to get the emphasis wrong.

  26. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi. As others have said, a gentle Monday stroll with some nice clues. However, had to come here to clarify the first definition of tinder, maybe just showing my age. I liked sweetheart, spent force and neurosis, and thanks again to Vulcan and manehi.

  28. Thanks Vulcan for a gentle Monday puzzle. Both ARTISTS and RADIO PLAY were very reminiscent of Rufus.

    In 28a, “terrified” is one of those anagram indicators we’ve seen a lot of recently, where you can tell it’s intended as such but it’s a bit hard to see how exactly it means rearrange the letters.

    (grantinfreo, I was slightly surprised when you welcomed Greg.in.Syd as a member of the Oz cohort as I’d assumed Syd was Sydenham!)

  29. Mr Paddington Bear @23 – thank you…if it works I’ll send you a marmalade sandwich (home made marmalade and bread, of course)

    grantinfreo@27 surely that’s a “hand-me-up”?

  32. COD was FELL IN which was LOI. I did think this was very Rufus-like and none the worse for that. Somebody mentioned RADIO PLAY as being like Rufus and I entirely agree.
    Thanks Vulcan

  33. It’s very good to have a more straightforward puzzle after Friday’s wall of death, although this was over and done with for me very quickly.  Could you perhaps make them just a little more challenging, Vulcan?

  34. Back from a week away on a year 6 residential visit in Wales where it was a joy to spend time with young people whose minds are open and for whom the world still offers adventure.
    Like others it was good to see that things improved after ARTISTS and ACROBAT. I’m with Keyser@20 in appreciating the reference to contemporary culture. I’m also intrigued by Richard@33 reference to Friday’s “wall of death” so will give that a go.
    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  35. A note from the States… I always appreciate the open-mindedness of the British/Guardian puzzles. I especially liked TINDER today because it was actually used in the context as a dating app. Here in the US, editors are so prudish, you would *never* see it used that way! I’m all for more of it! 🙂

  36. My fastest completion ever; even the dodgy Rufusian CDs caused me no problem this time.

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  39. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

    Hurrah – a return to mild Mondays; even a nostalgic reference or two to Rufusian days.  I do like the easy kick off to the week: it means that if I’m getting nowhere I need to examine the old lifestyle (no harm in a bit of self-reflection now and again).  And if I blitz through it, wahay!! bring on the dancing horses.

    But I’m with Richard@33: needs to be tensed up a bit, just a tad. SWEETHEART was fav for it’s brevity and wit.

  41. thezed@16 – If wugrhumph is not a word, it should be.

    Thanks, Vulcan and manehi for a pleasant and relaxing start to the week. I ticked TOY STORY, SWEETHEART and NEUROSIS.

  42. Finally making it here to 15^2 just past midnight in my time zone.  I enjoyed this.  OUT OF SORTS was my top favorite, but there were several others I ticked as well, including LARCH (which immediately made me think of that Monty Python sketch about identifying trees), FELL IN, TOY STORY, REAL ESTATE (great surface!), SWEETHEART (another great surface!) and SPEARED.  I enjoyed RADIO PLAY also, but it seemed to me that I’ve seen this CD at least once before (and Rufus is the setter that came to mind — echoing Lord Jim @28 and Peter Aspinwall @32 on this point).

    I initially struggled to parse TINDER because I was trying to make wordplay out of the second half before I realized the clue was a DD.  I was working on “[This] can” = TIN + “flame up” = DER [thinking of “flame” being the name for a red/orange color] … but I didn’t know what to do with the “quickly” part.

    Many thanks to Vulcan and manehi and the other commenters.

  43. There is certainly a place for these entry-level cryptics, even if proficient solvers find them too easy.

    This puzzle appeared in the Weekly for 23 November, and I was glad to be able to solve it straightforwardly. Consider that the Weekly has switched from newsprint to slick paper, in an attempt to boost newsstand sales. Let these new readers discover cryptics, and feel a measure of pride in being able to solve them. There are always AZEDs for people who need a challenge.

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