Guardian 27,817 – Picaroon

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A typically enjoyable puzzle from Picaroon. I found myself solving quite a large proportion of the clues on my first pass, so thought it was going to be a walkover, but there were a few stings in the tail.

The grid suggested a Nina, especially with SET appearing across the top, but I don’t think there’s anything there. However, what we do have is a first name (sometimes more than one) in every single clue, cleverly used in a variety of ways. Thanks to Picaroon for the entertainment

 
 
 
 
Across
8. LANDSEER Sibyl follows bag painter (8)
LAND (to “bag”, as in a prize or a fish) + SEER (Sibyl – oracle in GReek mythology)
9. HEPCAT Cool sort of record Henry and Tom cover (6)
EP (a sort of record) in H (Henry) + CAT (could be a tom)
10. PITY Ruth‘s mine and yours, at first (4)
PIT (a mine) + Y[ours]
11. PLEASANTRY Sally‘s in class, penning Latin (10)
L[atin] in PEASANTRY
12. LIMPET Clingy type left Mike, taken by current favourite (6)
I (electric current) in L M + PET (favourite). “Taken by” would seem to indicate inclusion the other way round
14. OPULENCE Oscar regularly pulls in money for luxury (8)
O[scar] + alternate letters of pUlLs in PENCE
15. STICKER For Dirk, pedant’s out of line (7)
STICKLER (pedant) less L. A dirk is a dagger, which I suppose you might stick someone with
17. WINSOME What Victor will do, a bit charming (7)
WIN (what victor will do) + SOME (a bit)
20. SPOOKIER Track plugged by Kelvin that is more unsettling (8)
K[elvin] + I.E. (that is) in SPOOR (track or scent of an animal)
22. CANARD Norman’s bird providing fake news (6)
Double definition – canard is French (e.g. Norman) for duck. The origin of the “fake news” meaning seems uncertain, though it’s probably from the “duck” sense – some ideas here
23. BOWLED OVER Amazed to play Viola, line’s forgotten in Cliff’s place (6,4)
BOW (to play a viola, for example) + LINE less IN + DOVER (site of the famous white cliffs)
24. CEDE Grant‘s a court favourite, according to hearsay (4)
Homophone of “seed”, a favourite in (e.g.) tennis
25. RED-EYE One travelling late, a shade before Amber picked up yours truly (3-3)
RED (a “shade before amber” in traffic lights) + EYE (homophone of “I” = yours truly)
26. TRESSING Nancy’s really with Carol, making a coiffure (8)
TRES (French “very”, as someone from Nancy might say) + SING (to carol)
Down
1. SATIRIST One in dire straits could be Horace (8)
I in STRAITS*
2. EDDY Guy in spin (4)
Double definition
3. TEAPOT Two lots of Mary Jane’s brewing equipment (6)
TEA + POT – both slang words for marijuana = Mary Jane
4. TREETOP Harry Potter taking drug a high point for Rowan (7)
E (drug) in POTTER*, with Rowan referring to the tree, aka Mountain Ash
5. THESAURI Hit works about Jacob’s relative with right vocabulary in these (8)
ESAU (Jacob’s brother in Genesis) + R in HIT*
6. OPEN SEASON The main youth supporting Frank in free time (4,6)
OPEN (rank) “supported by” SEA (main) + SON (youth)
7. FABRIC Terry‘s very good fortune? Not half (6)
FAB (very good) + half of RIChes
13. PACK OF LIES Bull where Jack’s found round rushes (4,2,4)
PACK (.. of cards, which includes jacks) + O (round) + FLIES (rushes)
16. EVILDOER He should be in Nick‘s wild revel, one engaging cook (8)
DO (to cook) in anagram of (REVEL + I). Nick = prison
18. MARADONA Mary drops a name introducing artist and player (8)
RA in MADONNA less one N – this ‘player’, of course
19. PRIVATE Tommy‘s revealing little (7)
Double definition
21. PROPER Guy in spin? That’s correct (6)
ROPE (guy) in PR (public relations, spin)
22. CARPET Morgan, say, and Paddy dress down (6)
CAR (Morgan is an example) + PET (temper, paddy)
24. CAST Chuck Norris finally punching Leo, for one (4)
[Norri]S in CAT (e.g. Leo)

47 comments on “Guardian 27,817 – Picaroon”

  3. This was a fun puzzle to solve, with all the names being used in different ways.

    I entered CANARY @ 22A and could not parse it. I see my error now!

    My favourites were PACK OF LIES + STICKER.

    Thank you Picaroon and Andrew.

  4. Thanks both. Haven’t seen “Norman” to indicate a French word before, I’ll try to store that away for the future

  5. I solved almost nothing on my first pass – maybe two and a half across clues, three down clues. Then gradually, clue by clue, enlightenment dawned. I found it hard to unpack the many different meanings of the names, which was exactly what the setter intended, I am sure. And barely any GK used (apart from Sibyl and Horace I guess) – often names suggest surnames or other such links, but this was all pure wordplay. A tour de force, Picaroon – bravo!

    I thought “Jacob’s relative” a bit weak given that, as patriarch of the twelve tribes, that includes quite a few people! Still, I guess “hairy man” is a bit hoary now. “Tea” for MJ was new to me but the answer was pretty clear once I got beer brewing out of my head. That took too long…

    Thanks Andrew for the blog – oddly unnecessary as each clue was so well formed once I saw the “trick” or the right path.

  6. Paul, Puck, Philistine and now Picaroon on successive days. Now we can hope for a Prize from Pasquale, which has happened before, and a Monday puzzle from Pan, which has happened quite often. I liked this Picaroon puzzle but in my innocence could not parse 3 down.

  7. Re 12ac, “Taken by” would seem to indicate inclusion the other way round, I parsed it as Left + (Mike taken by current favourite [I PET])

    Thanks as ever for the blog.

     

  8. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

    I found the top went in very quickly, but the bottom was blank for ages, and hard work to complete. I must confess that I didn’t enjoy this slog much.

    I was unaware of two of the three slang terms for marijuana!

    CARPET was favourite.

  10. Thanks, Andrew, for a great blog, especially for the research re CANARD.

    So often I say, ‘Too many favourites to list’. Today, I could tick every single entry but I shall treasure 1dn: Horace was my children’s pet name [don’t ask] for my second husband, who did sometimes find himself in Dire Straits – one of my favourite groups – and Horace is one of my favourite poets. Perfect!

    Huge thanks, Picaroon – I absolutely loved it.

  11. Parsed 12a as Tom @7. Is it just me but wouldn’t 25a be better with “after” rather than “before”?

  12. I don’t understand the “guy” part of the double definition in 2d–would someone please enlighten me?

  13. Iroquois@12: isn’t it just that Eddy is a man’s name? Nicely misleading in that, for once, a name is just a name.

  14. My favourite crossword for ages. We’ve been spoiled this week.
    So many names with new meanings for me, althoigh all eminently deducible.

  15. Splendid – I do like a Picaroon –  as Eileen says too many favourites to list.   I also smiled at the inclusion of a proper name in every clue – that’ll confuse the ‘nebulous girl/boy/man/woman’ complainers

    Thanks very much indeed to Picaroon and to Andrew for the blog

  16. Thanks for the blog. Struggled with the last few clues for no good reason other than brain fade. Canard also of course appears in the publication “Le Canard enchaîné” which I used to try to read with my limited french when in Paris.

  17. I simply couldn’t get “carpet” to work for 22d.  Even after reading the explanation here, I still had to look up “pet”.  I think I can safely say I had no idea of that meaning until today.  One liveth and learneth.

  18. “Canard” is an essentially derogatory French name for a newspaper (Robert-Collins gives “rag” as the translation). Horace might well contribute to Le Canard enchaîné…

  20. PhilJ@17: This has come up before now. I take the view that the word in question is racist (it’s historically derived from a derogatory word for an Irishman) and should not be used by setters. I’m afraid that ruined the puzzle for me and I couldn’t be bothered finishing it.

  21. Another top class puzzle from Picaroon, not always easy, but never too daunting. Impressive to get all of those names in without compromising the clues.

    quenbarrow @6 – I predict a second appearance of the week for Paul tomorrow – just because I don’t think he would appear on Tuesdays for any other reason.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew

  22. Not much left to say except to applaud Picaroon’s ability to include names in every clue without creating any giveaways or impossibilities. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. It’s been a good week.

  23. Meant to ask if traffic lights in the UK go back to amber before turning green. If not, I agree with Hovis@7.

  25. Yes, my point exactly. Red is AFTER amber not BEFORE. Reading from top to bottom on the lights, you could say it is before but I wasn’t too keen on that.

  26. Thanks, Picaroon and Andrew.  Very nice puzzle, with all those names, and good blog too.

    Like muffin, I had the top almost all filled in and the bottom almost all blank this morning.  Then I thought of “spoor” (haven’t we had that recently?) which opened things up.  Is TRESS really a verb?

    Surely RED is a shade after amber?

     

  27. What I found most intriguing about this puzzle is the creativity of the setter. Names do mean something! Well done! Thanks to the blogger as well!

  28. @ Valentine @ 26

    tress
    /tres/
    verbARCHAIC
    gerund or present participle: tressing
    arrange (a person’s hair) into long locks.

  29. Thanks, Muffin@24. I’m thankful that American traffic lights don’t work that way. Too many of our drivers would probably start to go on red and amber.

  30. Like muffin, I found this a bit of a slog, but, as confirmed here, this was mainly because there were more unfamiliar words and meanings in the clues and answers than usual in a Guardian cryptic, and not because of any failings in the clue constructions. The only query I still have is about the ‘shade before Amber’ (which I glossed over because it was one of my first answers – after SPOOKIER and PROPER).
    I appreciated the setter’s feat in including all those names, and I very much liked the clues to PITY, SPOOKIER, SATIRIST, PROPER and the tricky BOWLED OVER.
    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  31. More than a few stings in the tail for me, but very enjoyable. A sheltered existence meant I too had no hope parsing TEAPOT and I ended up missing PRIVATE, putting in a silly ‘brevity’. No hand of God to help me there (sorry). The second outing for HEPCAT in crosswordland in the last few weeks was a help.

    I liked the ‘line’s forgotten in’ in 23a and my favourite, LANDSEER, because it reminded me of the lovely dogs of the same name.

    Thanks to Picaroon and to Andrew

  32. My heart sank when I saw this. First names, for me, usually indicate sloppy clueing, curious abbreviations, references to obscure characters that are nonetheless close to the setter’s heart, &c. Can’t say I enjoyed this one but I thought it fair overall. 11ac troubled me because although it became obvious from the crossers (and it wasn’t going to be ‘pheasantry’) I cannot see how sally=pleasantry; in conversation these are close to opposites, and I can find no dictionary support for the equivalence – maybe someone else has?

  33. Alun @32

    I’ve heard “sally” used as referring to a light-hearted remark, as is a pleasantry.

  34. Alun @32:  How about, “A witty or lively remark, especially one made as an attack or as a diversion in an argument; a retort.”

  36. Muffin, William – that works as a definition for ‘sally’ but a pleasantry is an innocuous or facetious remark, i.e. a sally has something to it that a pleasantry specifically does not. Maybe I am splitting hairs, which irritates me when other people do it, so I might just leave it there!

  37. Rather belatedly, on the crossword of mathematicians..

    E T Bell on Men of Mathematics (2 Volumes, pelican costing 2/6 in 1953!).  Galois is in section 20 in the volume two.

     

     

  38. I found this much more difficult than most of the posters but,once I got started -and that took a while-it gradually unravelled. The W side went in first with the SE being the most tricky. I couldn’t see CEDE or CAST but once the first went in the other followed pretty much immediately. I liked WINSOME and LANDSEER. I don’t think TEA has been used as slang for Marijuana since the days of Cab Calloway. HEPCAT is similarly archaic.
    One to admire rather than enjoy.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  39. Came to this rather late in the day, and really enjoyed it. Not easy, but was just able to get there in the end. The only clue I didn’t care for was 15 across. I guessed that Dirk indicated dagger, but only got the answer from surrounding clues which indicated what it was. But not sure it works very well. Anyway, thanks to Picaroon for a good work out (and for not including those annoying cross reference clues, where you can only solve a clue if you have solved another first, and which we had earlier in the week: not a fan of those).

  40. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

    Not my mess of potage at all. It seemed to require a level of clairvoyance of which I am not capable. The attendant online commentary directed my attention to THESAURI and an internal groan. This was followed by the Russian doll OPULENCE and I was inclined to give up.  OPEN SEASON with “free time” as a definition decided me. HEPCAT (last used in 1937) and “Terry” (1962) justified a reluctant reveal as I didn’t have the time to offer to what was a potentially irksome tour. And so it proved: EDDY=”guy”, not for me – it’s Eddie; how to get from “player” to MARADONA – clairvoyance without the crossers (well maybe I’m just in a grumpy mood); EVILDOER I still don’t get.

    Ah well, mustn’t grumble – pleasure for many but just outside the Van Allen belt of my capacity to enjoy. A pleasant weekend to all including Picaroon and Andrew.

  41. A bit of a slog but worth it in the end.
    WordPlodder@31 I’m sorry to say that LANDSEER for me brings to mind
    “She was a vision of delight
    When first she came upon my sight.
    Now for her portrait I can’t fancier
    Better all-round man than Landseer”
    26a My first stab was RUTH for “Nancy really” for a reason that Muffin for one will appreciate.
    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew

  43. I enjoyed it immensely too. Favourites Maradona and bowled over. Got stupidly stuck on fabric for ages, which was last one in

  44. I had a similar experience to pex with very few on first pass (-KIER at 20a was my half!). The names put me off a bit at first but should never have doubted Picaroon – it unravelled very satisfactorily – great puzzle as always.

    Failed in the NW having PLAY at 2d (as in spin a record, but I suppose it doesn’t quite work for guy as a verb). I don’t think I’d have got 8a anyway so no sour grapes.

    Similar thoughts to queenbarrow re the great ‘P’ setters this week, all of whose crosswords I’ve enjoyed immensely but failed to solve in time to comment here! Belated thanks to them all.

  45. You must be clairvoyant nobby. I think you mean someone else but I did indeed get very few on first pass.

    Alphalpha @40 says it for me as well as Peter A @38: One to admire rather than enjoy

  46. Ah whoops, sorry pex, I meant thezed (@5)! Consequences of commenting late and reading all the comments in one go, along with the those from the prior two days’ crosswords

  47. I hand entered efiddler to be pronounced e-fiddler as in Nick Leeson and Barings Bank, the rogue trader.

    It seems I will do anything to finish a brilliant Picaroon crossword. My wife Soozi was pretty brilliant in deciphering most of the clues – and worthy of the adjective brilliant also.

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