Guardian Cryptic 27,723 by Pan

by

Not very tricky but some nice surfaces and clues – favourites were 13ac, 3dn, and 6dn. Thanks to Pan.

Across
1 TROOPS Soldiers in play about capturing second in command (6)
SPORT=”play”, reversed/”about”; around second letter in cOmmand
4 UNREST Rebellion contained by gun restrictions (6)
Hidden in gUN RESTrictions
9 SMUG Unpleasantly satisfied when turning sticks (4)
reversal/”turning” of GUMS=”sticks”=fastens with adhesive
10 CARBUNCLES Run into vehicle with relatives’ jewels (10)
R for “Run” in CAB=”vehicle” + UNCLES=”relatives”
11 TURNED Boy inhaling pot suddenly felt sick (6)
TED=”Boy” around URN=”pot”
12 AT A PINCH In case of emergency, put a drain to part of foot (2,1,5)
A + TAP=”drain” + INCH=unit of distance=”part of a foot”
13 BARBARIAN Wild West Indian right for daughter (9)
BARBADIAN=”West Indian”, swapping Right for Daughter
15 LAME Weak fellow fleeing fire (4)
FLAME=”fire”, losing Fellow
16 BURN Poet losing son in stream (4)
BURNS=”Poet”, losing Son
17 ADAPTABLE Parents turning to furniture that’s easily modified (9)
PA and DA=”Parents”, reversed/”turning2 + TABLE=”furniture”
21 MISNOMER Unsuitable term for skinflint carrying no money (8)
MISER=”skinflint” around: NO + M for “money”
22 MORTAR River to fill moat damaged by king’s gun firing shells (6)
R for “River” in (moat)* + R for Rex=”king”
24 BASSET HORN Graduates almost fix letter in Old English to instrument (6,4)
BA’S=Bachelors of Arts=”Graduates” + SE[t]=”almost fix” + THORN=”letter in Old English”
25 CONY Rabbit trick with funny ending (4)
CON=”trick” + the ending of funnY
26 DEADLY Lead widespread in the outskirts of Derby is very dangerous (6)
(Lead)* in the outer letters of DerbY
27 BOPPED Danced beginning and end of bolero with retired film star (6)
beginning and end of BolerO + Johnny DEPP=”film star” reversed/retired
Down
1 TEMPURA Office worker casually visiting old city to get a deep-fried dish (7)
TEMP=”Office worker casually” + UR=”old city” + A
2 ORGAN Old rag changed to new newspaper (5)
O for Old + (rag)* + N for new
3 PICADOR Bull-baiter told to choose a way in (7)
homophone/”told” of ‘pick a door’=”choose a way in”
5 NOUGAT Tongue almost twisted around a sweet (6)
(Tongu[e])* around A
6 ENCHILADA Mexican dish and Indian dish served up in English-designed china (9)
DAL=”Indial dish” reversed/”served up”, inside: E for English + (china)*
7 TREACLE Syrup from plant with a caramel coating inside (7)
TREE=”plant” with A + CarameL inside
8 TRIAL AND ERROR Fear surrounding money and experimental methodology (5,3,5)
TERROR=”Fear” around RIAL=Iranian currency=”money” + AND
14 BERING SEA Social worker screening calls by Australian in part of the North Pacific (6,3)
BEE=”Social worker” around RINGS=”calls”; plus A for Australian
16 BRIGAND Bird flapping round horse upset robber (7)
(Bird)* around NAG=”horse” reversed/”upset”
18 PIMENTO People in bed get nothing as hot food to eat (7)
MEN=”People” in PIT=”bed” + O=”nothing”
19 LEARNED Local leader deserved to be educated (7)
leading letter of Local + EARNED=”deserved”
20 AMYTAL American stirred malty sedative (6)
=Amobarbital or sodium amytal, a barbiturate
A for American + (malty)*
23 RECAP Go over head of corn during harvest (5)
head letter of Corn inside REAP=”harvest”

31 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,723 by Pan”

  1. Thanks Pan and manehi

    Very pleasant. I needed to “check” whether my first guess for 20d – AMATYL – was correct, as I’ve never heard of either spelling!

    Not too keen on TURNED – loose definition and wordplay for TED.

  5. Another who had to guess whether it was AMYTAL or AMATYL, and luckily guessed right. All good stuff and not too taxing. Count me as another who enjoyed PICADOR mist. Thanks Pan and Manehi

  6. Thanks Pan and manehi.

    Good start to the week. I’m another one who loved PICADOR. AMYTAL was no problem for me – I was half-asleep.

  7. Glad I’m not the only one who didn’t know AMYTAL, but I guessed the right way round.

    Thanks to Pan and manehi

  8. Thanks to Pan and manehi. Nothing much more here, and as others have said not too taxing, but nonetheless enjoyable. Last one was lame which took longer than it should have done and another who had to check Amytal. I was another fan of picador and I also liked bopped. Thanks again to Pan and manehi.

  11. All good fun, another sedative checker here. Took ages to spot TRIAL AND ERROR. Only excuse was dnk rail.

    Cross with myself for failing to parse BARBARIAN. So often miss the ‘for’ gag.

    Good Monday puzzle, than you Pan.

    Nice week, all.

  14. Thanks both,

    17 was my COTD. For 11 ac, I thought of ‘turned’ but opted for ‘gurned’ with ‘Ged’ being, in my mind’s eye, a somewhat rural lad.

  15. Thanks to Pan and manehi. Lots of fun.  I join the crowd that enjoyed PICADOR and had trouble spelling AMYTAL (though I knew the term).

  16. I also ticked PICADOR and had one by SMUG for misleading me into thinking of sticks as a noun at first. 8d was also my loi and I didn’t see the Iranian currency. BASSET HIRN was my tilt. Thanks to Pan and manehi.

  18. Quite good fun. I liked 12a AT A PINCH. I too had never heard of 10a CARBUNCLES used in that sense. 2d ORGAN was unfamiliar for “newspaper”. Thanks Pan and manehi.

  19. It was going to be amatyl or amytal and I guessed wrong.

    And like Tyngewick I also opted for gurned.

    So, two wrong in the Monday puzzle.  Not a promising start to the week.

    Liked PICADOR, though, and nice to see THORN in the puzzle.  One of my favourite letters.  It is the letter which survives as the ‘Y’ in ‘Ye olde coffee shoppe’, that sort of thing.

    Sorry, I’ll go now.

    Thanks to Pan and to manehi.

  20. My favourites were AT A PINCH + TROOPS.

    I was unable to parse 24a as I had split it up as BAS/SET/HORN.

    Thank you manehi and Pan

  21. I wanted more exotic foodstuffs…pimento, enchilada and tempura had my mouth watering. But nougat was the end of the road. I’m just back from the dentist. Picador made me laugh. Thanks Pan and Manehi

  22. Thanks to Pan and manehi.

    A tasty morsel with lovely surfaces: BRIGAND, BOPPED and BARABRIAN in particular.  Ah Mondays – what’s not to like?

     

  24. Not much to add. I looked up AMYTAL and thought TURNED rather naff.Pretty much what Muffin said.
    Thanks Pan.

  25. 24@: I seem to recall previous objections to this form of clue, where [in this case] SET is there in full as part of the answer. but has to be read retrospectively as incomplete, SE[t], in order to make space for the initial T of THORN. (and cf Michelle @20). I sympathise with any such objection – surely quite clumsy?

  28. Amytal is a proprietary name so would not have been accepted by many editors. It is a very good example of the dangers of cluing foreign (or in this case made up) words as anagrams because the position of the Y becomes a toss of the coin decision and therefore rather unsatisfactory.

  30. To JinA. “Private Eye”, Lord Gnome’s famous organ, was required reading in my uni days. Still going strong, I believe, and with a crossword far more Pauline than Paul himself. I still occasionally mosey over to have a dekko online just to check on their take on the Brexit shenanigans over there

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