Guardian Cryptic 27,735 by Chifonie

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The week kicks off with Chifonie’s Monday puzzle.

This was a typical Monday puzzle, with straghtforward clues (pretty much a write-in – for me at least).  I have seen the clue for RARE several times before, but that’s forgiveable at the start of the week.  What is less forgivable is the use of SIR = teacher in two clues in the same crossword.

I originally had PRE + CEDE for 3dn, but now see the error of my ways!

Thanks Chifonie.

Across
1 CALIPH Sultan‘s companion consuming a sauce (6)
CH (“companion” of honour) consuming A LIP (“sauce”)
4 DEBRIS Girl coming out meets teacher returning rubbish (6)
DEB(utante) (“girl coming out”) meets <=SIR (“teacher” returning)
9 GALA A delay brought about celebration (4)
<=A LAG ( “a delay”, brought about)
10 EVENING OUT Trip in the dark becoming horizontal at home with complaint (7,3)
EVEN (“horizontal”) + IN (“at home”) + GOUT (“complaint”)
11 STANCE Awkward ascent in carriage (6)
*(ascent)
12 TEMPLATE Casual worker’s former model (8)
TEMP (“casual worker”) + LATE (“former”)
13 BRASSERIE Club entertains queen in restaurant (9)
BRASSIE (golf “club”) entertains ER (“queen”)
15 STIR Teacher seizes a shirt in uproar (4)
SIR (“teacher”) seizes a T(-shirt)
16 RARE Bloody unusual (4)
Double definition
17 CELEBRITY Star born during expedition (9)
B (born) during CELERITY (“expedition”)
21 STAND OUT Catch the eye of porter apprehending joiner (5,3)
STOUT (“porter”) apprehending AND (conjunction, so “joiner”)
22 ENDEAR Win earned fraudulently (6)
*(earned)
24 SALES FORCE Small drinks for church representatives (5,5)
S (small) + ALES (“drinks”) + FOR + C.E. (“church” of England)
25 RASH Premature eruption (4)
Double definition
26 DOTARD Old fool makes a full stop approaching a road (6)
DOT (“full stop”) approaching A RD. (road)
27 AT REST Still in the theatre stalls (2,4)
Hidden in “theATRE STalls”
Down
1 COASTER Trading vessel or schooner may rest on it (7)
Double definition – for schooner, think glass.
2 LEARN Pick up king’s knight (5)
(King) LEAR + N (knight, in chess)
3 PRECEDE Go in front making president withdraw (7)
P (president) + RECEDE (“withdraw”)
5 ENIGMA Puzzle-solving in game (6)
*(in game)
6 REGULATOR Governor put transport officer in uniform (9)
T.O. (transport officer) in REGULAR (“uniform”)
7 SAUNTER Runs tea dance? It’s a stroll! (7)
*(runs tea)
8 WEST SIDE STORY Show managed its seedy worst (4,4,5)
*(its seedy worst)
14 STRANGEST Most unusual oven, in two ways (9)
RANGE (“oven”) in St. St. (street twice, so “two ways”)
16 RUTLAND County routine on moor (7)
RUT (“routine”) on LAND (“moor”)
18 EVEREST Woman gets to lie down? That’s the height of ambition! (7)
EVE (“woman”) gets REST (“to lie down”)
19 TRANSIT Tory leader managed to settle in conveyance (7)
T(ory) [leader] + RAN (“managed”) + SIT (“to settle”)
20 COFFER Hacker said to be safe (6)
Homophone [to be said] of COUGHER (“hacker”)
23 DIRGE Greek leader in ominous lament (5)
G(reek) [leader] in DIRE (“ominous”)

*anagram

38 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,735 by Chifonie”

  2. I read 3d as p recede, but yes not quite a write-in but not much head scratching. Honours acronyms other than OBE fox me a bit, dnk the golf club (played 9 holes for school sport once…), or the county, but both clear, and took minutes to recall the cardboard thing you put your drink on, despite regular use of same. Wondered about “that will endear/win you to her” or some such, and about transit/conveyance. Smiled at coffer, though no doubt it wasn’t original. All told a nice Monday 7d. Thanks Chif and Loonapick.

  5. Thanks Chifonie and loonapick

    I turned to this early as I am completely stuck on the RHS of Anto’s Quiptic. As expected, this was much easier. I liked STAND OUT and SALES FORCE.

    I raised an eyebrow at TEACHER=SIR twice too, and I thought that some of the definitions and wordplay were a bit loose (not necessarily wrong) – RASH for premature, moor for LAND and conveyance for TRANSIT.

  6. Unlike above, we struggled with this – perhaps expecting something a bit quicker for a Monday morning.

    In retrospect though, I’m not sure why we did!

  10. Thanks Chifonie; good Monday puzzle. LOI was COFFER, which took far too long to see.

    Thanks loonapick; I ticked CELEBRITY, SALES FORCE and COFFER. As usual, I wonder why the setter can’t put Greek’s leader.

  11. Thank you, both.

    A pleasant change to be able to solve and parse everything after some of the recent offerings.

    Shame about the double use of the teacher/sir gag – an oversight for sure.

    SALES FORCE was nicely constructed.  The double plural in the clue suggested a plural answer and this held things up for a while.

    Lots of nice surfaces elsewhere, too.

    Nice week, all.

  15. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick. Nothing much to add here. A straightforward Monday offering, but not quite a write in. Last one celebrity and another fan of sales force and coffer. Thanks again to Chifonie and loonapick.

  16. Nowhere near a write in for me but nothing too tricky with hindsight. I thought there were some nice misdirections – LIP for sauce (I was trying DIP), expedition as something expedited for CELERITY and I liked COFFER.
    Thanks Chifonie and loonapick.

  17. Disappointing crossword. Nothing that an alert editor couldn’t have solved – two ‘sir’s and two ‘rest’s close to each other.

  18. BtheB@14 and Loonapick@4, I used to joke about early senility (square thing that light comes through, etc) but lately it’s getting too close to home. Otoh, coitus (e.g. don’t interruptus) makes me smile, like the schoolkids canvassed for gags on the ABC this morning (What do you call a myopic dinosaur: Dyuthinkisaurus).

  20. I had RUSH for 25ac, which I think fits the double definition better. I share the qualms about ENDEAR.
    Thanks both.

  21. For reasons that are hard to see in retrospect, both RASH and COFFER took me ages to see. Apart from that, straightforward Monday fare.

    Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick

  23. Thanks to Chifonie and loonapick. I enjoyed this puzzle in lieu of watching the Super Bowl half-time show. I did not know the TO in REGULATOR or the county RUTLAND but the clues and crossers  were there.

  25. Very much agree with Pex @6. I found this quite tricky especially for a Monday. Now that I’ve completed the puzzle,it doesn’t look difficult but there you go. Both COFFER and SALES FORCE took me far too long. Perhaps I’m having a bad day.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  26. Getting a bit fed up with any old thing being indicated by initial letters. Like to for transport officer.

  27. Joan Booth @26

    I agree in principle, but TO for Transport Officer is in Chambers so is as legitimate as any other abbreviation. I get more annoyed by legitimate ones not being accepted because they’re NOT in Chambers eg S for short

  29. Loonapick @ 27

    I agree with you in principle, but despite S = SHORT not being in a dictionary I’ve certainly seen it in the context of S / R / L for trouser-leg length.

  30. I agree with the consensus: Easier than the Quiptic but quite satisfying.

    Re senility: A friend recently said to me, “My doctor told me that I’m not at risk of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.” I congratulated him, and he clarified: “If I get Alzheimer’s now, it’s right on schedule.”

     

  31. @loonapick and @simon s

    S is a bit tricky with the clothing thing because as you say a jumper marked “s” will be small, whereas a pair of trousers marked 34S will be “short”.

    FWIW, The Times list of abbrs – or at least the last iteration of it that I’ve seen – allows large and small, but not long and short

  32. baerchen @ 31

    R = REGULAR doesn’t seem to be supported either, but it’s definitely in use. It’s a tricky one, I agree.

  33. Nice puzzle to start the week.  Nothing very devilish, and Chifonie again demonstrates his talent for constructing concise surfaces.  My favorites today included STANCE, COFFER, STAND OUT, AT REST, and CotD for me, SALES FORCE.  WEST SIDE STORY should probably also be on that list, as I do enjoy a long nag a ram, but I think I saw the answer too quickly, so there was not much of a PDM for me there.  On the other hand(s), RUTLAND raised a smile, as it reminded me of The Rutles TV movie (“All You Need is Cash”) and its soundtrack album, and Rutland Weekend Television (which I knew only through the album “The Rutland Weekend Songbook”).  So instead of having, say, “Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us)” going through my head, thanks to 8dn, or “Yakety Yak” thanks to 1dn, the EotD (earworm of the day) for me is this.

    Many thanks to Chifonie and loonapick and the other commenters.

  34. Thanks to Loonapick and Chifonie

    First outing for T.O. = transport officer that I can recall. Who is he/she when they’re at home anyway, that they get their own abbreviation?

    @10a I seem to remember BECOMING as a link word a couple of times recently and it seems a bit iffy to me.

    “Horizontal at home with complaint from trip in the dark” works perfectly well (better I think).

  35. I for one found this far from a write-in! Some very nice neat clues and surfaces, a few easy anagrams but got stuck in the NW in particular and ultimately DNF.

    I didn’t know any of ‘companion of honour’ = CH, DEB, BRASSIE, CELERITY, COASTER = trading vessel & transport officer = TO.

    So thanks to Chifonie for a good Monday workout!

  36. I also found this quite tricky in places, and the two Sirs were unfortunate, but on the other hand I really enjoyed COFFER, CELEBRITY and GALA. Thanks to Chifonie and Loonapick – and a special thanks to DaveMc for the link to RWT: I now have The Prefab Four’s “Let’s Be Natural” going through my head…..

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