Guardian 27,773 – Tramp

by

A very enjoyable puzzle from Tramp which has one of his characteristic themes running through some of the clues, albeit less all-pervasively than he sometimes manages (I may have missed some references). I found it mostly relatively easy by his standards, though there were a couple of clues where the answer was clear but the parsing much less so. Mant thanks to Tramp for the fun.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. MELROSE ABBEY See Bob Marley on tour: it’s ruined in Scotland (7,5)
(SEE BOB MARLEY)* – a nice anagram that leads off the mini-theme . Melrose Abbey is a ruined monastery in southern Scotland, supposedly housing the heart of Robert the Bruce
8. ANNULET Ring to cancel film (7)
ANNUL (cancel) + E.T. (Spielberg film)
9. GENESIS Exodus follows this for band (7)
Double definition – the book of Exodus follows Genesis in the Old Testament
11. THEATRE By that place outside auditorium (7)
AT (by) with THERE (that place) “outside”
12. RELIEVO Left backing, capturing rest of outstanding piece (7)
LIE (to rest) in reverse of OVER (left)
13. MISTS Films Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff, primarily (5)
Initial letters of Marley’s I Shot The Sheriff
14. ADHERENCE Trailer, so entertaining TV show gets support (9)
AD (trailer) + E.R. (tv show) in HENCE (so)
16. EVENFALLS Times with little light reading as plane crashes (9)
EVEN (plane, as in a plane surface) + FALLS (crashes) – I was unsure about the point of “reading”, but I suppose it’s saying “you can read the answer as…”. I didn’t know this word, but its meaning is clear, by analogy with “nightfall”
19. OSMIC Big microphone comes from heavy metal (5)
OS (outsize, big) + MIC – from the metal Osmium
21. GIGOLOS Lovers single? Engagement over? (7)
Reverse of SOLO (single) + GIG (engagement)
23. OSBORNE Ex-Chancellor is one: robs poor to make investment (7)
ROBS* in ONE – George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer in David Cameron’s government, now editor of the London Evening Standard
24. THE LIKE Milk teeth initially dropped out for similar ones (3,4)
Anagram of [M]ILK [T]EETH
25. RUSSIAN Republican American is turning to one like Putin? (7)
R + US + reverse of IS + AN
26. ASTI SPUMANTE It bubbles in minutes: pasta cooking (4,8)
(MINUTES PASTA)*
Down
1. MONKEYS Fiddles money playing with legends (7)
M (money) + ON (playing) + KEYS (legends, as in a diagram)
2. L-PLATES On the road, you might see them record behind Bob (1-6)
LP (record) + LATE (behind) + S (shilling = bob)
3. ON THE BALL Month (Feb) starts off with everyone alert (2,3,4)
[M]ONTH [F]EB + ALL
4. ELGAR Listener describing empty stage for musician (5)
L[E]G (leg = stage, e.g. of a sporting competion) in EAR (listener)
5. BUNGLER Incompetent musician taking note (7)
N in BUGLER
6. EPSTEIN Record lively set at home to show band’s manager (7)
E.P. (record) + SET* + IN (at home) – Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles 1962-67
7. BANTAMWEIGHT Ring man‘s bird with number? (12)
BANTAM (bird) + W[ith] + EIGHT. “Ring man” = boxer
10. SMOKESCREENS They hide the truth of kinky sex in order to escape mocking remark on return (12)
S[&]M (kinky sex) + OK (in order) + ESC[ape] + reverse of SNEER
15. HISTOGRAM Chart man’s got up to stuff (9)
HIS (man’s) + reverse of TOG + RAM (to stuff)
17. EAGLETS Unusually, left stage at end of Three Little Birds (7)
[stag]E + (L STAGE)*. Three Little Birds is a Bob Marley song
18. FELLINI Gave way to current director (7)
FELL IN (gave way) + I (symbol for electric current)
19. ORBISON One Love then Buffalo Soldier’s final parts for singer (7)
O ([one] love) + BISON (buffalo, as American bison are sometimes incorrectly named) “parted by” [soldie]R (i.e. “Soldier’s final”). One Love and Buffalo Soldier are both Bob Marley songs
20. MARMITE Spread butter around, small amount (7)
Reverse of RAM (“butter”, i.e. one that butts) + MITE (small amount)
22. STEEP High stone to go climbing (5)
ST[one] + reverse of PEE (to go). I thought “steep” for “high” seemed a little loose, but perhaps it’s as in “that’s a bit steep” describing a high price

60 comments on “Guardian 27,773 – Tramp”

  1. 15: structure surely = HIS + reverse of GOT + RAM

    Many thanks to Andrew, + Tramp, always tough but fair, and satisfying when you get there.

  3. Glad to be back with the iPad online version working again – thanks to Fergus in the online Guardian help dept.
    Enjoyed most of this ‘though struggled to parse SMOKESCREEN and didn’t know RELIEVO. DNK EVENFALLS either but it is a lovely word. Now fancy MARMITE on toast for breakfast!
    Thanks Tramp and Andrew.

  4. Brain a bit gluey today, made harder work of this than it was. I mean LP late S is just what the tin says, but it has a slow! next to it on my printout, along with others: the empty leg, the bantam w eight, and even st plus pee reversed, and how often has that appeared lately! Fun all the same, especially sm ok esc reens and the poetic evenfalls. Thanks Tramp and Andrew.

  5. Thanks, Andrew, for a great blog.

    Seeing Bob Marley’s name in the lovely anagram at the very beginning was enough to set me off in a happy mood – but, as usual, there was lots here to enjoy for people who’d never heard of him. For example, I enjoyed working out the clever construction of SMOKESCREENS and HISTOGRAMS,  smiled at the ring man and thought GIGOLOS was excellent. It was also nice to see ASTI SPUMANTE in full for once.

    Top favourite had to be the clever clue for the little birds – my favourite song from the Legend {1dn} and Exodus {9ac} albums – happy memories of a summer holiday in the eighties driving around France with my son on the back seat playing it interminably].

    Huge thanks, Tramp. I loved it – and I’ll be singing ‘Every little thing’s going to be all right’ all day.  😉

    [Interestingly – from Slormgorm’s FT puzzle yesterday: ‘Mistake throwing out new instrument (5)’ ]

     

     

  6. Plain sailing to start (at top) but this got more and more difficult.  V enjoyable.  I think that “plane” in 16ac works also as a verb (to even out a thing – to plane it smooth).  Eventful is a legit word – it just seems really odd as a plural.  14ac was my LOI but now I cannot see why it took me so long (I think it was because I got fixated on it being a botanical term for a runner or similar appendage). Thanks Andrew and thanks Tramp for great work.

  7. I meant “Evenfall” is a legit word.  Bloody auto-correct doesn’t know that word, it seems.

  8. Loved every minute of this solve! The theme was right up my alley. So glad that today’s puzzle was a Tramp.

    I really really wanted to put MONKEES (legends) (RIP Peter Tork) for 1d.

    Too many to name as favourites, though I have to mention 21a GIGOLOS and 19d ORBISON, and as for others, it was a learning experience for me to solve the unfamiliar 12a RALIEVO.

    I am singing Bob Marley along with you, Eileen@5. Despite so much “gloom and doom” in the world, I still believe “Ev’ry little thing’s gonna be all right”.

     

  9. Struggled a bit but got there in the end, though with some unparsed. As usual with Tramp, tough but good.

  10. [Sorry Eileen@5, I just saw that you have already mentioned GIGOLOS. I did enjoy your evocative summer holiday reminiscence, btw. Music is like that, n’est-ce-pas?]

  12. Thanks Andrew for parsing MONKEYS (and for the rest of the blog}

    What with the theme I was wondering if THE MONKEES could be justified as legends!

    Certainly not in the company of Roy and Bob.

    And  I think, Andrew you be in a minority if you found this on his easy end.

    And thanks Mr Tramp! Great puzzle.

  13. We found this tough but fair and Eileen’s entry says what I would have said (apart from being France with her son) although more eloquently. I agree EVENFALLS is a lovely word to discover. Loi was MONKEYS which we didn’t parse. Good to see you back bright and early Hedgehog. After complaining about a “nonesense surface” in Tramp’s last puzzle it’s great to see him on top form so thanks to him for an excellent work out and to Andrew for the comprehensive blog.

  14. My favourites were THE LIKE, ON THE BALL.

    New for me were Melrose Abbey + ANNULET.

    I failed to parse the SMOK bit of 10d but could parse the rest of it.

    Thanks Tramp and Andrew

  16. Phew that was a step up from many of the recent puzzles. Thanks Andrew for helping parse quite a few…my brain is suffering the effects of a good evening out last night I fear! Not as sold on the theme as many here, but appreciated that there were a lot of clues here that made me think “how the heck am I even meant to read that?” before finally clicking into place. Found it a little reliant on odd words to fill the puzzle, but this grid was friendlier than many we’ve seen and at least it did not break into four separate puzzles for once.

    Thanks Tramp for the workout!

  17. Thanks Tramp and Andrew

    In 16a, I think ‘reading’ is part of the definition, ie a reading taken on a light meter, as in, eg. cricket. Also in 17d, the first ‘e’ comes from (thre)e, not (stag)e.

    Very enjoyable puzzle throughout.

  18. I couldn’t parse MONKEYS as it seemed to be an anagram of money with a stray ‘k’ and ‘s.’ I was also thinking that ‘Times’ was not much of a definition for EVENFALLS, doh!

    I started slowly and finished slowly but got there in the end. Much to like – I agree with Eileen that EAGLET had a great clue.

    Thanks Tramp and Andrew.

     

  19. Really enjoyed this despite knowing little about the theme.

    Some great surfaces, especially the Osborne clue.

  20. Slow to get started but got there in the end.  So many good clues.  Enjoyed it.

    Thanks Tramp and Andrew.

  21. How does ‘monkeys’ = ‘fiddles’?

    Also, is ELGAR fair? I thought this sort of two-step to get ‘lg’ was frowned on.

    Some really good clues though.

  24. A lot of good stuff here, but I’m still not sure I’m convinced by any of the explanations of “reader” in 16a so far.

    Since shorter is almost always better, I was wondering about the merits of dropping “to make investment” in 23a, to make a tighter clue (although the longer surface does make perfect sense).

    Thanks all.

  25. Many thanks Andrew for the superb blog and thanks to others for their comments.

    I wrote this puzzle over two years ago. Most of the Bob Marley references were taken from Wikipedia. I hardly write themed puzzles these days as I find that they take twice as long to write.

    I’m off to Newcastle now to attend the funeral tomorrow of my friend and PhD supervisor who suddenly died two weeks ago aged 58.

    Neil

  26. I parsed 21AC as single [SOLO] engagementGIG] over[reversed]. A clever clue. Thanks to setter and blogger. Well done, both.

  27. O ([one] love) + BISON (buffalo, as American bison are sometimes incorrectly named) “parted by” [soldie]R (i.e. “Soldier’s final”). One Love and Buffalo Soldierare both Bob Marley songs…

     

    Andrew, In 19D, I noticed that you used the passive form (parted by) to insert the “r” in Orbison, nut the setter used the active form (parts)…Thanks again…

     

  28. [Thanks to Andrew and jeff cumberbatch@27 for inviting my ongoing revisit of some great Bob Marley songs via Clue 19d.]

    [Sad to hear of your bereavement, Tramp. Hoping it will be a fitting send-off for your mentor, gone too soon: “I’m off to Newcastle now to attend the funeral tomorrow of my friend and PhD supervisor who suddenly died two weeks ago aged 58.” I am starting to think that the only thing we can do to commemorate teachers who have taught us is to go on exciting knowledge and learning in others in whatever ways can continue to do so.]

  29. Thanks to Andrew and Tramp

    16a I read READING as READING ALOUD i.e. PLANE (PLAIN) =FLAT/EVEN, but I think either Andrew or greensward@17 may have the intended parsing.

    Not sure about ADHERENCE = SUPPORT; adherence TO, support OF etc, but none of this spoiled a nice trip down musical memory lanes – listening to the big  “O” as I type.

     

  30. Thanks to Tramp and Andrew. Well I got there. Most went in quite readily but the last few seemed to take forever. Last ones were relievo (never heard of it), adherence and evenfalls (another new term). Favourites today were marmite, Orbison and monkeys, and thanks again to Tramp and Andrew.

  31. haveks Tramp and Andrew

    (Sorry in advance – I’ve just skimmed the comments, as the garden calls – I may be repeating points made).

    Rather as with Andrew, I found the gridfill to be easy, but I failed to parse some – GIGOLOS and SMOKESCREEN in particular (does me credit?). I was puzzled by the “to make investment” in 23a, as it jsut looked like a simple anagram to me.

    I loved BANTAMWEIGHT, but standout for me was MONKEYS.

  32. Thanks to Tramp (with commiserations) and Andrew.

    I didn’t enjoy this much, and it seems that what excites others may just cause my brow to cloud over; in any event a dnf but with some admirables: GIGOLOS, L-PLATES and THE LIKE among them.  The OSBORNE/ORBISON cross got me and I still can’t reconcile myself to either, even post-parse. I’ll get over it.

    RELIEVO [my TILT] brought back fond memories of playing relievio as a schoolchild, which will have to do in the absence of fond Bob Marley memories.

  34. As I actually finished it (a first for a Tramp, albeit without parsing those pesky MONKEYS), I’d agree with Andrew that this is him at his most benign. I loved every minute. Too many faves to name. Too few quiblets to bother listing.

    Thanks to Tramp and Andrew.

  35. Thanks to Tramp and Andrew. Tough going for me. Lots of terms new to me including those already mentioned (e.g., RELIEVO, EVENFALLS)  but also MELROSE ABBEY and L-PLATES and I did not parse smok in SMOKESCREEN.

  36. This was rough going for me–I’m always surprised when I find others think a puzzle is easy that I really struggled with. (And no, it’s not *just* that I’m hung over.)

    I was unable to parse SMOKESCREENS, and RELIEVO was new to me. I also couldn’t be bothered to look up a list of former chancellors, so OSBORNE was a cheat.

    [This caused me to muse that most Americans couldn’t name a single former Secretary of the Treasury, the equivalent post. (Except Alexander Hamilton, of course, thanks in no small part to the hit musical about him.) I think this is because here, cabinet members are by definition not members of Congress, so the tendency is to appoint some financier or economist to that role. With the opposite rule in Britain (cabinet ministers are by definition MPs), the Chancellor of the Exchequer is always already a prominent politician.]

  37. Thanks to Tramp and Andrew. A lovely puzzle. I was looking for ways to fit in Wagner as the ‘Ring man’ at 7. That’s how bloody cultured i am!

  38. mrpenney @36 Re: cabinet ministers are be definition MPs. Although generally the case now, they can be from “the other place” i.e. the House of Lords. Alex Douglas-Home was briefly PM in in the early 60’s and he was sitting in the Lords, not the Commons as an MP, when he got the gig. However, I think he quickly got himself elected as MP. I don’t think the rules have been changed (stand to be corrected) so it’s still theoretically possible to have a cabinet minister who is not an MP. I have no idea if there are restrictions beyond that (i.e. could a business leader or banker take a seat at the cabinet).

  39. I suppose this was at the easy end of TRAMP but I still found it quite tricky and my parsing was distinctly iffy. I didn’t know EVENFALLS,RELIEVO or OSMIC. The latter,however,was so easy I didn’t think it could be right. Like Nulie, I was tempted to put MONKEES for 1dn but I resisted. In the same way I resisted having I THREES for 2dn. Now I come to think of it, I didn’t know MELROSE ABBEY either but it was reasonably easy to work out.
    Thanks Tramp.

  40. Just a quick comment in support of John cox and pex earlier…not sure I’m a huge fan of empty stage = Leg without the middle = lg. I’m not sure how you are reasonably supposed to look at all possible synonyms of stage and use the outside letters, I suspect most get this in retro-parsing…and I prefer the clues you can go ‘both ways’ at…personal view…

  41. A tough one for me, taking time before getting any, but persevered and finished with OSMIC.

  42. Stuart@40: I’m in agreement about clues like this – in the past I’ve termed them as Russian dolls: a clue within a clue within a clue; they don’t work for me, usually for the reason you’ve indicated – there just isn’t enough to go on in the wordplay.  Fine to parse in retrospect, but impossible from a cold start.  “Down with this sort of thing“, that’s what I say (careful now – not for the easily offended).

  43. Me too, Bullhassocks, as stuff about The Ring does pop up occasionally (Imogen, maybe….?). I’m sure Faffner was a solution once. Life’s rich tapestry…I like reggae as well (saw Aswad at Finsbury Park on one UK visit).

  44. Apart from RELIEVO (nicely clued but didn’t know the word) and ELGAR (which I failed to parse), this one went in steadily, but Tramp is one of those setters which seems to take longer to get each clue than the complexity of the clue seems to warrant – eg. 10, 2, 15 and 22.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and OSBORNE was a gem!  Thanks Tramp and Andrew.

  45. Thanks to both although I did not enjoy it as much as I usually do. That is a me thing obviously and not the crossword.

    But I parsed EAGLETS as L STAGE and then the end of threE as the anagram fodder. I did not see stage doing double duty.

  46. Liked them all, especially EAGLETS.  Historical note: the “Buffalo soldiers” were African American men, many former slaves, who served in the 10th US Cavalry regiment in the West after the Civil War.  Native tribes gave them that nickname because their hair looked to them like the shagginess of bison.

  47. I know it’s late, but I’m (again for the 1000th time) calling a foul on the misuse of an abbreviation, this time on SM for SMOKESCREEN. S&M does not exist as an abbreviation without “and” or the & symbol. I know we should all be used to any letter standing for anything (the practice is clearly the train that’s left the station), no matter how dubious, but really, come on…. 🙁

  48. mrpenney@36 & Keyser: I think that technically, because there is no written British Constitution, anybody may be co-opted into the Cabinet as a minister. Beaverbrook was made Minister of Armaments (or somesuch title) during the war, and I don’t think he was even a Lord by then.
    [Thanks to Tramp and Andrew, of course, and I’ll have Buffalo Soldiers as an earworm for the rest of the day!]

  49. Too late for anyone to read, but I always enjoy a Tramp puzzle and this was no exception

    Only small quibble was the previously mentioned Russian-doll word, stage. All went in quite quickly apart from L-plates which took longer to parse than it should…

    Lots of fun.

    Many thanks to Tramp and Andrew.

  50. Late to comment, but I agree with several others about the cluing for ELGAR. Having gotten the crossing G, I guessed that DG must be “describing empty” and figured that there must be a musician named EDGAR. Oh, well …

    Otherwise quite enjoyable. Thanks to Tramp and Andrew.

  52. Tramp never fails to entertain (and today was no exception).

    We didn’t find it much easier than the average Tramp puzzle and were never fully convinced that it had to be EVENFALLS at 16ac.

    It is probably the use of ‘reading as’ that was confusing.

    Talking about link words, Tramp is usually very precise but what happened in 19ac (OSMIC) was a bit atypical.

    The word ‘from’ is needed to make the link work but also needed as part of the definition.  Slightly unsatisfying.

    1ac was perhaps the pick of the bunch, wonderful anagram.

    On three occasions I thought ‘we never see that word (as an answer) but now we had it twice recently (not in The Guardian, though)’. I’m talking about 12ac, 18dn and 24ac (THE LIKE) which we had in the Independent today!

    Only once, about 30 years ago, I went to a proper reggae concert and I found it extremely boring. Once but never again. That said, Bob Marley is the only artist in that genre who I can stand for a complete album. He was a real star.

    Many thanks to Andrew & Tramp.

  53. I wanted to make a more timely comment for a change, but I had trouble accessing this and some other websites on more than one host network today. Anyway, let me just say, in agreement with many other commenters, that this was a super crossword, and evidently more of a challenge for me than for some of you. I particularly liked the four long answers, only the ASTI falling quickly, and RELIEVO, OSBORNE and MARMITE.
    Thanks to Tramp and Andrew.

  54. Sil: you’re right regarding OSMIC. The “cones” is sloppy. I’m not sure how I didn’t spot that.

    Neil

  57. Dear Tramp and Andrew, You will probably be the only people to see this, but I have realised I was very remiss in not thanking you earlier for a great crossword and an enjoyable, helpful blog.

  58. Great puzzle, thanks Tramp. Took a while as evidenced by the late post!

    Theme was right up my street, far too late now but would have been interested to know if any any others tried to make I-THREES work for 2d. As Bob Marley’s backing singers they were ‘behind’ him, recorded with him and went ‘on the road’ touring with him. The theme and the enumeration made it so tempting!

    https://www.allmusic.com/artist/i-threes-mn0000068005

Comments are closed.