Guardian Cryptic 27,725 by Philistine

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27725.

Philistine in unbuttoned mood, I think, with mainly standard clue forms, and a relatively quick solve. Two references to Homer (and one that isn’t) hardly constitutes a theme.

Across
1 TROJAN WAR Kind of warrant restraining Simpson in conflict (6,3)
An envelope (‘restraining’) of OJ (that ‘Simpson’) in TRANWAR, an anagram (‘kind of’) ‘warrant’.
6 CAGED Cold in prison (5)
A lift and separate: a charade of ‘C’ plus AGED (‘-old’).
9   See 24
10   See 22
11 ETHEREAL Passage from Goethe really out of this world (8)
A hidden answer (‘passage from’) in ‘GoERHE REALly”.
14 FRYING PAN In the kitchen with Spooner’s stalker? (6,3)
A Spoonerism of PRYING FAN (‘stalker’). I chose the version which seemed more natural, and the crossers proved it correct.
15 BISON Big beast with Paddington, say, for a Londoner (5)
The best I can do for the wordplay is to suggest that Paddington is the Bear, and the reference is to him being adopted by the Browns (BOY SON? BEAR SON?).
16 RESIT Green skirt oddly removed at second attempt (5)
Alternate letters (‘oddly removed’) of ‘gReEn SkIrT‘.
18 CHEERLESS Grim and unpleasant leer interrupts game (9)
An envelope (‘interrupts’) of EERL, an anagram (‘unpleasant’) of ‘leer’ in CHESS (‘game’).
20 WASHABLE Easy to clean hospital — used to be adept about it (8)
An envelope (‘about it’) of H (‘hospital’) in WAS ABLE (‘used to be adept’).
21 PIMP Procurer dropping the French spot (4)
PIMP[le] (‘spot’) minus the LE (‘dropping the Frebch’).
25   See 4
26 REDID Communist papers prepared again (5)
A charade of RED (‘communist’) plus ID (‘papers’).
27 EXPEDIENT Once confined, breathe one’s last inside — it’s practical (9)
An envelope (‘inside’) of DIE (‘breathe one’s last’) in EX (‘once’) PENT (‘confined’).
Down
1 THORN Spike Milligan ultimately following God (5)
A charade of THOR (‘God’) plus N (‘MilligaN ultimately’).
2 OBESITY Large size of honour bestowed on Manchester, say? (7)
A charade of OBE (Order of the British Empire, ‘honour’) plus SITY, sounding like CITY (‘Manchester, say?’ with ‘say’ and ‘?’ sharing the duties for the homophone and the indication by example).
3 ACHE Long in 12 (4)
Hidden in 12D UNATTACHED.
4, 25 WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN Open sandwich he threw out in crisis (4,3,5,3,4)
An anagram (‘out’) of ‘open sandwich he threw’.
5 ROSE-TINTED Stick round teens? It may be optimistic (4-6)
An envelope (’round’) of SETINTE, an anagram (‘may be’) of ‘teens it’ in ROD (‘stick’).
6 CANTERBURY City devastated by a current (10)
An anagram (‘devastated’) of ‘by a current’.
7 GROCERS Apple’s sold by them (7)
Cryptic definition.
8 DWELLINGS Racket involving completely empty glass houses (9)
A charade of DWELLIN, an envelope (‘involving’) of WELL (and truly, ‘completely’) in DIN (‘row’); plus GS (’empty GlasS‘).
12 UNATTACHED Cut any tax, attack the reds without borders and without strings (10)
‘cUt aNy tAx aTTACk tHe rEDs’ minus the words’ outer letters (‘without borders’)
13 APOCALYPSE Revelation from a policeman must turn up before evidence ultimately plays out (10)
A charade of ‘a’ plus POC, a revresal (‘must turn up’ in a down light) of COP (‘policeman’) plus ALYPS, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘plays’ plus E (‘evidencE ultimately’), with ‘before’ indicating the order of the particles.
14 FIREWATER Spirit elements (9)
FIRE and WATER, along with air and earth, were the supposed ‘elements’ of ancient Greece and other cultures, The Chinese added wood as a fifth.
17 SUSPEND Put on hold dispatch about distinguishing brand feature (7)
An envelope (‘about’) of USP (unique selling point, ‘distinguishing brand feature’) in SEND (‘dispatch’).
19 EPITOME Perfect example of endlessly tepid and selfish dedication (7)
A charade of EPI (‘endlessly tEPId’ – both ends) plus TO ME (‘selfish dedication’).
22, 10 PINOT NOIR  Wine for one into porn, perhaps (5,4)
An anagram {‘perhaps’) of ‘I’ (‘one’) plus ‘into porn’.
23 CAMP Group shelled prawns (4)
[s]CAMP[i] (‘prawns’) minus its outer letters (‘shelld’).
24, 9 HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE  The way Helen leaves Ovid hero (4,4,5,2,4)
An anagram (‘the way’ – I’ve seen stranger anagrinds, and it gives a neat &lit, even if Ovid is not the first poet to come to mind in this connection) of ‘Helen leaves Ovid hero’.
completed grid

50 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,725 by Philistine”

  1. Thanks, PeterO.

    I played with BISON “in a London accent” arriving at basin. To my surprise, Google tells me Paddington Basin is a place in London. Not wild about this but the best I can offer.

    Favourite clue was the Grocer’s apostrophe.

  2. Thanks P&P. BISON is basin as in Paddington Basin, as approximately pronounced in some parts (e.g. East End) of
    London.

  3. Aaah we crossed! But since I’m here again I will say wrt. 24,9 that good &lits are jewels you want to cherish, but “The way” is so weak an indicator I didn’t even see it before the blog.

  5. Thanks PeterO. Like NeilW I toyed with homophones of bison including basin, but Paddington Basin seemed so unlikely I didn’t bother to check.

  6. Yep not a great challenge from the Phil. Bison for basin is pure Strine; probably arrived with the First Fleet, but had to look up the basin and canal. Is there an apple called grocer? Forgot the c-old trick for the umpteenth time, d’oh, so caged was a biff. Otherwise quite fun. Thanks Philistine and PeterO.

  7. Liked epitome. “To me” as selfless dedication may be an old chestnut, but had passed me by.

    I don’t understand 24,9. All very well to “& lit”, but and literally what? Was Helen head over heels in love? I thought she was kidnapped. And what has Ovid to do with it? Plus the anagrind is dodgy

  8. @grantinfreo

    In the clue for GROCERS, Philistine is alluding to the “greengrocer’s apostrophe” by using “Apple’s”…quite brilliantly, I thought

  9. Enjoyed the apple’s and pear’s in 7d, but not the BISON – I do know about Paddington Basin, if that is indeed the reference, but then I live within ten miles of it and it isn’t exactly world famous.

  10. All done. Thanks for the blog Peter. There’s a small thoo in the explanation to 13d, not that it matters.

  12. Thanks Philistine and PeterO

    Yes, very easy for a Philistine. I went for Paddington Basin as it reminded me of the riddle “What’s the difference between a bison and a buffalo? You can’t wash your hands in a buffalo!”

    A little annoyed with GROCERS, as I had COSTERS to start with – a much better answer, especially as the apple sellers and apostrophe misusers are “greengrocers”.

  13. Enjoyed this even though we didn’t get the apostrophe ref in apple’s..in spite of having rubbed them out on blackboards outside shops on several occasions!
    Thanks, PP and P.

  15. Thanks Philistine & PeterO. I had question marks against GROCERS and BISON, but thanks to baerchen @ 8 for the explanation regarding the “greengrocer’s apostrophe” which meant the clue was a whole lot better than I first gave it credit for. The jury’s still out on BISON although I can’t see a better parsing.

  16. Thanks both. I am afraid that the only “Londener” pronouncing BASIN as BISON would be Dick Van Dyke in Mayree Poppeens!

  17. I got BISON at first sight, and knew the area.

    I had GROWERS rather than GROCERS, which I think an equally valid answer to the one utterly unsatisfactory clue I can recall from this usually brilliant setter. As others have pointed out, to be valid in terms of the Amis puncutation reference it would need to  be greengrocers.

  18. Thanks Philistine, PeterO

    I seem to be alone in having found this quite hard.

    Andrew B @7

    It’s not Helen that was left in love – she left Paris (Ovid hero) in that condition

    I didn’t like grocers – the apostrophe is nice but it’s about as cryptic as the nose on your face

  20. Andrew B @7: Ovid has a lot to do with it. His “Heroides” are a collection of imaginary letters written by famous mythological women to their lovers. In Poem 17 Helen warms to the idea of marrying Paris, so could be said to be head over heels in love. If you take “hero” as a covert reference to the title of the collection it is a clever clue!

  22. Jasper Carrott  joke:

    Q :what’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

    A: You can’t wash your hands in a buffalo.

    Works in Brummie but not estuary.

  23. Thanks Philistine, steady but slow solve for me. I thought maybe he tried to fit ‘apostrophe’ into 13 but then it didn’t work/changed his mind. I tried ‘traders’ for 7, just ignoring the apostrophe.

    Thanks PeterO; I didn’t get the explanation for BISON, thinking it was just the bear somehow. ‘Way’ is in the Chambers list of anagrinds but I don’t think it really works as ‘The way.’ Might have been better to just stick to a conventional one like ‘fancy’ or some such.

    Bit of a strange TROJAN WAR.

  24. I opted for an unparsed GROWER, as it is greengrocer(‘)s who sell apples.  It was only when I got on here that I recognised the brilliance of the apostrophe in the clue, which I had previously carelessly regarded as just an irritant.  I also thought that HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE was a superb anagram + and lit, so had no trouble forgiving the weak anagrind.  Similarly clever –  WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN, but I just couldn’t get it by myself and Mrs Job had to come to my rescue as was in the doldrums at that point.

    I also trawled through for more answers relating to the Trojan War, so another tree wrongly barked up.

    I needed the blog today to help with several other parsings, so Thanks Peter O and thanks to Philistine too.

     

  25. Like Job, some of the parsing eluded me and I had to come here for explanations, so I am again deeply grateful to Peter O for making things clear. One of my “inspired guess” answers was TROJAN WAR, and old OJ never occurred to me: I was trying to work Wallis, or either of Nathaniel West’s or The Simpson’s Homer into it. Hey ho. Speaking as a Londoner – and one born within the sound of Bow Bells, oi! – I agree with all the quibbles about PADDINGTON BASIN….but I still liked the clue! I was amused by THORN and UNATTACHED, and impressed by the lengthy anagrams. Thanks for an entertaining couple of hours, Philistine

  26. Ginf@6 pretty much said it for me. I’m sure we’ve had the BISON BASIN homophone debate before and no doubt will again – it’s rare that a homophone works for everyone and sometimes it seems like it works for no one but as long as I can get to the solution I let them go. I didn’t get the apostrophe trick – very clever.
    Thanks to Philistine for one of his more gentle puzzles and to PeterO for the C-AGED ttm.

  27. Took me a while to get going – I should have got 6d a lot earlier than I did 😉 but I particularly liked 7d

    Thanks to Philistine and Peter O

  29. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO. I found this a bit of a mixed bag, with many clues going in on first couple of passes. However I go held up with the long anagrams (not really my forte I think) and in the NE. Last ones in were (unsurprisingly given the above) caged, grocers (I did muse over growers for a while) and bison, none of which went in with any great confidence. I did like firewater and washable, and thanks again to Philistine and PeterO

  30. Another one who missed the apostrophe and biffed caged, also missing the separation. Bison was dreadful – I decided it had to be (LOI) and linked it to Paddington Basin but could not believe that was right as it is so little known. Worse though was the pronunciation – as an ex-Brummie I could make it work as bison (“Oi cood mek it werk as baison”) but even 4 years in the East End of London did not give any hint of that particular vowel shift!

    Otherwise straightforward – the Helen and Paris reference was a clever anagram and just about enough &lit to justify the weak anagrind. I liked firewater, though it was simple, and Spike Milligan for the arachne-esque surface.

    thanks Philistine, and Peter for the blog.

  31. I found yer Penelopes/Bexleys/’Ampsteads in the Paddington = “I found yer teef in the bison”

    Just a theory …

  32. Thanks Philistine and PeterO. Stand-out clue for me was the groce’r’s apple’s’ apostrophe’s’ which I loved. Paddington Bison? No comment…

  33. *obesity* i thought was something to do with Manchester (the bees on its coat of arms anyway) “Oh Bee City” with the O.B.E just an additional bit?

  34. ipdo @ 28 & 31

    Sorry, doesn’t work. Paddington is too far west for rhyming slang, and Paddington Basin is a mooring area on Regent’s Canal, along from the station. Nice try, though.

  35. Didn’t like GROCERS for all the reasons people have already said.

    Failed on 6 ac.  But I had to have a couple of teeth out lunchtime, so that’s my excuse 🙂

    Thanks Philistine and PeterO.

  36. I did get BISON, but Paddington Basin is local to me and it still took all 3 crossing letters. Failed at PIMP but enjoyed the long anagrams, EPITOME and UNATTACHED

  39. I suppose this was Ok but by no means one of Philistine’s best. I didn’t like BISON, which doesn’t really work, and I thought CAGED a bit weak. I was poised to carp at GROCERS but I hadn’t noticed the misplaced apostrophe-this is the Guardian after all- which made it rather a good clue. I did like FIREWATER. LOI CAMP and,yes,it was one of the easier ones but—–.
    Thanks Philistine.

  41. Despite being initially very slightly miffed about GROCER on the grounds that in my young day I wouldn’t have gone to one for an apple, I eventually caught up with the 21st century and instead felt sorrowful about greengrocers being an endangered species!

  42. It’s not even a misplaced apostrophe, as long as you read it as “Apple is sold by them” (which has the misdirection of referring to the firm rather than the fruit).

  43. A further thought on Paddington Basin. I don’t think it was very well known, even to Londoners like me, when it was simply a canal basin. It’s become better known only since it became the site of a very large and ongoing residential development. As with most such developments, I would suspect that very few of the residents are native Londoners, so would be particularly unlikely to ‘get’ the homophone.

    Apart from that, and the clever but problematic GROCERS, I though this was a very good puzzle

  45. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO. I could not parse BISON or GROCERS but I enjoyed the two long answers and FRYING PAN.

  46. To be very clear, I think Philistine fully deserves his place in Crosswordland.

    And therefore any criticism on this particular puzzle does not change that.

    However, I did have quite a few issues with his output today.

    I could, of course, mention BISON (15ac) and the anagram indicator in 24,9 (‘the way’) but these two were already singled out by many.

    I am not a great fan of clues like 6ac (CAGED) or 12d (UNATTACHED) [a device he shares with Arachne] but, hey, that’s trademark Philistine.

    Also, the order of things in the surface of 21ac (PIMP) is not really elegant but probably defensible.

    But the Spoonerism in 14ac (FRYING PAN) has a strange definition: ‘in the kitchen (with)’. What is that?

    And what is ‘at’ doing in 16ac (RESIT)? Just a link word, you say? But then a really inappropriate one.

    Does the construction in 5d (ROSE-TINTED) really work? A round B, with B being ‘teens, it may be’. Does that really tell us to take (TEENS IT)*? It’s, in my opinion, much closer to (TEENS)*. Or does Philistine, when he writes ‘may be’, mean ‘maybe’?

    Is the definition in 2d (OBESITY) really OK? ‘Large size’? In the word obesity the ‘sity’ bit doesn’t sound like ‘city’ at all. So, let’s split the word and only look at ‘sity’. Is that a homophone of ‘city’ when ‘sity’ is not even a real word?

    Conclusion: enjoyable enough but too much iffiness to my taste.

    Many thanks to PeterO and Philistine.

     

  47. As is often the case Muffin@12 took the words out of my mouth, including the old (older than Jasper Carrot) joke and the reference to costers being a type of apple (a corruption of costards) as well as short for costermonger = apple seller.See Gilbert ” when the coster’s finished jumping on his mother”.
    Wheal Dreath@20 I think you must be right about the Heroides but more people will be more familiar with the Judgement of Paris in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In this Paris is given Helen as a prize for picking Aphrodite in a beauty competition. Hardly head over heels in love.

  50. No, he is not.

    But I really think that Philistine’s clueing was, at places, too sloppy this time.

    And if I am the only one with that view, well, so be it.

    It’s not that important.

     

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