Guardian 27,700 – Brendan

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After Chifonie’s unexpected appearance on Thursday last week, I wondered who it would be today, so it was a delight and surprise to see Brendan’s name, as we last saw him only two weeks ago.

As usual with this setter, a clearly-signalled theme, based around 13,22. No seasonal references here, but still a nice way to start Christmas Eve. Thanks to Brendan, and Merry Christmas to all: see you next year.

(Sorry for the late appearance of this blog – I thought I’d published it early this morning but obviously failed to press the right button.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. EVAPORATE Give address on back cover, otherwise disappear (9)
Reverse of PAVE (to cover) + ORATE (give an address);not sure what “otherwise” is doing
10. TASTE Art patron holding small aesthetic guide (5)
S in TATE (Henry Tate, sugar magnate and founder of the Tate Gallery)
11. ODOUR Scent you reportedly lost after crossing Atlantic? (5)
The U (“you, reportedly”) is lost in the American spelling, ODOR
12. HERBALIST Botanical expert with itemised qualifications of female scholar? (9)
HER B.A. LIST
13,22. CHANGES OF STATE Eg 10 and 28 transformations between parts of the middle row (7,2,5)
10 (TASTE) and 28 (TESTA) are both anagrams of STATE, and in the middle row we have three states of matter in STEAM, ICE and WATER
14. ENDGAME Den rebuilt by wild animals in stage before mating, often (7)
DEN* + GAME, with the definition referring to chess
17. STEAM Energy shown by second eleven (5)
S + TEAM (eleven – football or cricket team)
19. ICE Decorate things cooked in kitchen, with odd exceptions (3)
kItChEn with the odd letters removed
20. WATER Tend to bed or what’s in special kind of mattress (5)
Double definition – watering a garden (bed), and the mattress of a water bed
21. DRESS UP Doctor improperly uses pressure to get into suit, say (5,2)
DR + (USES P)*
24. RIGHTMOST So to speak, inscribe 2nd Street on map in Far East? (9)
Homophone of “write” + MO (second – 2nd) + ST “rightmost” because East is usually on the right in maps
26. ASSAM A state briefly flipped, becoming another state (5)
A + reverse of MASS[achusetts] – is the use of the thematic word “state” here a blemish or a helpful hint? See also 1d
28. TESTA Article on big game put in hard cover (5)
TEST (big game, as in test match) + A (article); testa is the hard shell of a seed
29. EMIGRANTS Garments I altered — they’ve had 13 across 22 across (9)
(GARMENTS I)* – emigrants have moved to a new state
Down
1. MEMO One state followed by another, note (4)
ME (Maine) + MO (Missouri) – another use of “state”
2. SAMOSA Fare from India south, landing in Pacific islands (6)
S in SAMOA
3. BOARD GAMES More bad gas circulated in draughts etc (5,5)
(MORE BAD GAS)*
4. GASHES Cuts components of air, for example, including hydrogen (6)
H in GASES
5. DEFREEZE 25 take part in crusade zealously, securing release (8)
FREE (release) in [crusa]DE ZE[alously] – rather a vague indication of the “part”, but clear enough
6. ETNA Mediterranean landmark visible in Estonia, oddly (4)
Odd letters of EsToNiA
7. ASPIRANT Showing ambition when I sound off about power (8)
P in AS I RANT
8. MELT Become emotional, having bumped into learner on inside (4)
L in MET (bumped into)
13. CASED Fourth law suit, as viewed by robber, potentially (5)
CASE D is the fourth law suit, after Cases A, B and C; reference to a robber “casing the joint”
15. DOWNSTAIRS County’s crewmen bringing one in on the ground floor, perhaps (10)
[County] DOWN’S + I in TARS (sailors, crewmen)
16. EERIE Frightfully odd English upset part of the EU (5)
E + reverse of EIRE
18. ENERGISE Invigorate loco engineers with no end of passion (8)
Anagram of ENGINEERS less one N (end of passioN)
19. IMPROVED Short, spontaneous performance edited, so better (8)
IMPROV[isation] + ED[ited]
22. OUTWIT Cunningly defeat without being heartless, having switched halves (6)
WIT[h]OUT with its two halves swapped
23. ASSENT Good thing about name in form posted? OK (6)
Two cryptic indications here: N (name) in ASSET, and AS SENT (in the form posted)
24. RUTH Judges having reached conclusion, what comes next? Old-fashioned pity (4)
The book of Ruth follows Judges in the Old Testament
25. THAW What must be modified to produce rapprochement (4)
WHAT*
27. MIST Result of condensation, being damp, without oxygen (4)
MOIST less O

23 comments on “Guardian 27,700 – Brendan”

  1. Tougher than we’re used to on a Monday. I can’t believe I didn’t notice the theme until I’d finished. Some interesting wordplay. The hidden envelope construction of 5 down was new to me! Thanks to Brendan and Andrew.

  4. Absolutely fab from Brendan. So many linked elements – DEFREEZE, MIST, MELT, THAW, EVAPORATE, across the middle STEAM, ICE and WATER, CHANGE OF STATE, which led to TASTE and TESTA – are there more?

    All clued fairly and squarely.

    Thanks to Andrew and Brendan.

  5. A rather stumbling effort from freo, with 5d unsolved and several others unparsed. Eg getting the theme without getting ‘middle row’ steam, ice, water; not getting 2nd=mo, d’oh, and knowing testa=head but not hard case. Also took ages to go “Oh, Ruth must come after Judges”. Oh well. Happy holiday all. Nice puzzle Brendan and thanks for the Xmas Eve blog Andrew.

  6. As per usual, Eileen and I are in complete agreement.

    Seasons Greetings to her, Brendan, Andrew and all the rest of you too

  10. Thanks to Brendan and Andrew. Oh dear got in a bit of a muddle in the “Far East” with this. Mostly went in ok, but I carelessly put in aspiring for 7d without giving it that much thought. This meant I struggled with 14 and 20a and it never occurred to me that 7d was wrong. Should have set alarm bells off but maybe seasonal relaxation has kicked in a bit early. Hey ho still an enjoyable puzzle and I liked Ruth and herbalist. Thanks again to Brendan and Andrew, and I echo Eileen’s message regarding Christmas.

  12. A great puzzle to kick off Christmas.

    No quibbles at all.  Guessed that Ruth must come after Judges.

    Thanks to Brendan and to Andrew.

  14. Phew, quite a toughie especially for a Monday. I suppose I saw the theme- although I had PLACE instead of STATE until it was disqualified by DOWNSTAIRS. I had to look up TESTA so I’ve learned something today.
    Thanks Brendan
    Oh,and Christmas greetings to all!!

  15. Had Change Of Order for a while, but resolved (literally) eventually.
    Thanks to Brendan and Andrew, and a Happy Christmas to all our readers.

  16. Meant to comment early – always a delight to see Brendan and as befits the holiday slot this was one of his trickier ones.

    Thanks to Brendan and Andrew, and Happy Christmas to all bloggers, setters, commenters and even lurkers

  17. Thanks Andrew and Brendan!
    What? Only 16 comments so far?!

    If EMIGRANTS change State, then 1d and 26a definitely belong here! He could have clued Samoa as a state as well!

    Brendan’s is a class act. Seasons Greetings to all!

  18. Spotted the theme quite early. Having got STEAM and ICE, the reference to ‘the middle row’ in the clue for 13,22 gave me WATER, so I could then get CHANGES OF STATE.
    However, it was a DNF as I put REPRIEVE for 5d with a can’t parse by it.
    Favourites were OUTWIT and RUTH.
    Thanks Brendan and Andrew.
    Seasons greetings to all

  19. Very elegant.

    Thank you Brendan and Andrew

    And a Very Merry Christmas to all,

    Maskarade should keep a few of us out of mischief !

  20. I’m slightly late to the game, but I just wanted to say that it’s always good to see Brendan and I enjoyed the puzzle, despite not knowing TESTA at all and struggling to see RUTH.

    Merry Christmas, everyone!

  22. A belated comment but just in case anyone is still reading: i failed to parse 24 ac fully, so when I saw the blog I initially thought 2nd = second = mo to be a bit unfair as it requires 2 leaps. But then I realized that if you apply the homophone indicator to 2nd as well as inscribe it works out fine. So I think that is part of the parsing. Thanks to Brendan and Andrew.

  23. Late to the party. Fun puzzle. I parse 9A as follows: ORATE (give address) is on the back of EVAP (otherwise cover.)

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