Guardian Cryptic 27,834 by Boatman

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A nice mix of clues from Boatman today…

…with a pervasive theme around tailoring and clothes: in solutions/definitions e.g. CUTTERS, CLOBBER, SEAMSTRESS, DART, HABERDASHER, LINEN DRAPER, SNIP, THREAD, CLOSE FIT, TAILOR, HABIT; in the surfaces of other clues e.g. “in stitches”, “in fashion, “fashioned from nylon”; and in solution elements e.g. HEM and SEAM.

Lots of smiles, including  11ac, 22ac, 27ac, 2dn, 3dn, and 22dn. Thanks to Boatman.

Across
1 CUTTERS Boatman’s craft — they follow a pattern (7)
double definition: =small boats, with “craft” as a plural; also =tailors, cutting cloth according to a pattern
5 CLOBBER Belt and cuff (7)
two definitions in one: CLOBBER can mean ‘clothing’=”Belt and cuff”; or CLOBBER can mean ‘strike’/’attack’, another meaning of “Belt and cuff”
9 BORED Upset with neglect of the sick (5)
BOtheRED=”Upset”, neglecting “the”
10 VIRULENCE Acrimony from Van Gogh, famil­iarly taking on authority (9)
VINCE=Vincent “Van Gogh, familiarly”, taking in RULE=”authority”
11 SEAMSTRESS Sewer rat messes about on top of sludge (10)
=Sew-er, someone who sews
(rat messes)* plus the top/first letter of Sludge
12 DART Tuck and run (4)
double definition: DART=a fold sewn into material=”Tuck”; DART=move rapidly=”run”
14 HABERDASHER He hears bard spinning yarn supplied by him (11)
(He hears bard)*
18 LINEN DRAPER He sold material, part of scripts, writing in and changing each (5,6)
LINE=”part of scripts”, with R=”writing” inside (and)*, plus PER=”each”
R=”writing” as one of the three R’s: reading, writing, arithmetic
21 SNIP 19 reflecting the tools of his trade (4)
=slang for a tailor
reversal of PINS=tools of a tailor’s trade
22 CACHINNATE Reserve falling away finally, natural to be in stitches (10)
=to laugh loudly
CACHe=”Reserve” with the final letter falling away; plus INNATE=”natural”
25 FLASHBULB Little time to cry about source of light for picture (9)
FLASH=”Little time”; plus BLUB=”cry” reversed/”about”
26 ISLAM Faith, by itself, aims for only half its members to be seen (5)
half of the letters from ItSeLf AiMs
27 THE OMEN Orchestra’s leader getting in tune at start of new film (3,4)
=1976 horror film
Orchestra getting in THEME=”tune” plus New
28 TEST RUN You might score one after international trial (4,3)
A cricketer in an international Test Match might score a TEST RUN
Down
1 CUBIST Notably Picasso: Pablo’s heart is in fashion (6)
the “heart”/middle letter of  PaBlo + IS; both inside CUT=”fashion”
2 THREAD Postings on internet article about Republican promotion (6)
a thread is a chain of replies e.g. on an internet forum
THE=”article” around R (Republican); plus AD=advert=”promotion”
3 ELDEST HAND Dealer’s left distributing the LSD and ecstasy (6,4)
=the player to the dealer’s left in a card game. They get the first card dealt, making their hand of cards ‘older’ than everyone else’s.
(the LSD and E)*, where E=”ecstasy”
4 SEVER Always after second part (5)
EVER=”Always” after S (second)
5 CORN SYRUP Scorpion’s tail in sorry mess, caught in mug of sweet goo (4,5)
ScorpioN in (sorry)*; all inside CUP=”mug”
6 ONLY Exclusively fashioned from nylon, but unfinished (4)
(nylo[n])* with its final letter n removed from the anagram
7 BONE-ACHE Central Birmingham, in short a city initially chap finds a pain (4-4)
B1 is a Central Birmingham postcode, or B-ONE; + A City initials + HE=”chap”
8 RE-ENTERS Energy absorbed by tenants goes back in (2-6)
E (Energy) inside RENTERS=”tenants”
13 WARRANTIES Battle over tirade that is the first to shatter bonds (10)
WAR=”Battle” + RANT=”tirade” + I.E.=”that is” + Shatter
15 BURIAL URN Told to carry actual train in vessel for last journey (6,3)
Homophone/”Told” of ‘bear-real-learn’: ‘bear’=”carry” + ‘real’=”actual” + ‘learn’=”train in”
16 CLOSE FIT What 19s can achieve, if put back in wardrobe (5,3)
19s being TAILORs
IF reversed/”back” and put inside CLOSET=”wardrobe”
17 INTIMATE Suggest getting close (8)
double definition
19 TAILOR Boatman changes heading: he knows how to tack (6)
“tack” means to stitch [as well as to steer a boat]
SAILOR=”Boatman”, changing the head letter to T
20 SEAMAN Boatman to join a navy (6)
SEAM=”join” + A + N (Navy)
23 HABIT Addiction to gear (5)
double definition
24 THEM Other people set Tory leader on edge (4)
Tory + HEM=”edge”

41 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,834 by Boatman”

  1. Coming from oop t’North (of England) the homophone for “bear” at 15d does not work for me – but I guessed to none the less.  Enjoyed the work out.  Thanks Boatman for the ingenuity and manehi for the confirmations,

  2. I meant: “I guessed it none the less.”  This was one where guessing the theme early on helped but did not spoil the fun

  3. I enjoyed this, although I found parts of it quite difficult.

    My favourites were:

    – exclusively fashioned from nylon

    – little time to cry

    – suggest getting close

    – battle over tirade

    – notably Picasso

    – CORN SYRUP was fun to construct

    – and especially, sewer rat!

    New for me were ELDEST HAND + CACHINNATE.

    I could not parse the BONE part of 7d, 9a, 18a apart from LINE + PER.

    Thanks Boatman and manehi.

  4. One [of the several] I couldn’t justify was 28A (test run) and I still don’t think it works properly. Surely you’d score a test run IN an international, not AFTER it?

  6. Blaise@4. I read 28A as TEST being the international, and what you might score (RUN) coming after it.

  7. Some very nice clues along with the usual tussle with some of Boatman’s constructions. I liked the theme which helped. CACHINNATE was new to me and I thought the clue was over-complicated for a “rare” word so it was loi after using word search. I didn’t parse BORED and didn’t see it as a synonym for SICK, nor did I unpick the intricacies of LINEN DRAPER. Is ELDEST HAND a standard phrase? I liked VIRULENCE and WARRANTIES. Thanks to Boatman and manehi.

  9. I also meant to say I liked ISLAM for the different way of indicating every other letter. And did anyone else have a tentative BULL-RING for 7d? In fact it was the right-for-the-wrong-reason B that gave me CLOBBER which led to CORN SYRUP!

  10. Thanks for explaining central Birmingham. havent been there sincr the bull ring.But the crossers suggested the answer.

  11. Bear real learn? Really?

    Had headaches and backaches galore, but never a bone-ache.

    Bit clunky for me. Maybe I’m grumpy for not finding cachinnate despite having 8 of the 10 letters!

  14. Got there in the end but with a word search for cachinnate – another who felt such an obscure word needed better cluing. I also though “test run” only sort of added up but I am still not convinced of it. As for “bored”  sick – think of “I am sick of this book now” = “I am bored of this book now”.

    Otherwise, a nice theme and I do like the way it was integrated into solutions, clues and parts – double definitions like “dart” and parts of clues like “seam” were pretty vague, but the theme reduced the search space significantly and made them into much better clues. Bravo for that, and good to see “boatman” appearing in multiple guises again as we missed it last time around.

  15. Geographical unhelpfulness in 7d.  B1 is one of a number of postcodes covering central Birmingham, of which B2 and B3 have a much stronger case for representing the city centre (usually taken to be the area within the (in)famous Queensway inner ring road).  B1 covers the area to the west of the centre.  A case of general knowledge hindering the solving of a clue.

  16. TEST RUN seems fine to me if you split the clue up sufficiently … You might score one (RUN) after international (TEST) = TEST RUN (trial).

  17. Thanks to manehi and Boatman

    28a needs to be read as YOU (ONE) MIGHT SCORE ONE = RUN, coming after TEST (INTERNATIONAL)

  18. Good use of themed material with some slightly unusual phrases – the BRB has BONE-ACHE but not BURIAL URN.

    I’m not an expert on Birmingham but Wiki has this for B1: Birmingham City Centre, Broad Street (east)

    I liked SEAMSTRESS, FLASHBULB and ISLAM.

    Thanks Boatman and manehi.

  19. Thanks, all …

    Dansar – Yes, that’s the right way to parse the clue; and White King – I very much like your self-misdirection! Perhaps I’d have made more of it if I’d thought of it at the time …

    I’m in Amsterdam today with Mrs B, being Rembrandt completists, so I may not be online again until later this evening, but I’ll drop in then and see what else you’ve all found in the puzzle.

  20. Phew, done in bits in a long day on phone, pc and in waiting rooms doing end-of-era stuff, made poignant in 15d. Apart from cachinnate (thinking I’m sure natural is innate, but dnk any word with that ending), the bottom half dribbled in while the top had only seamstress, dart and haberdasher. Wondered about ‘bored with’ vs ‘sick of’. Played a bit of bridge aeons ago, but eldest hand was a guess and look up (I quite like it, like other arcanisms, eg ‘no side’ in ru). 7d has ‘erk & erk’ jotted next to it: terrible surface, wordplay like okum-picking. And 23d could have done without the ‘to’. Bearrrallearn was cute. Tired now, that’ll do. Ta B and M.

  22. I thought this puzzle was entirely fair (if you allow yourself to use reference works to verify the occasional rare term, ratber than as search tools). I find that what helps with Boatman puzzles is to look over the previous one or two first to get into the right frame of mind. It actually works!

    Thanks both.

  23. I liked the theme, which even I was able to spot early on, and kudos to Boatman for working it in so smoothly. A dnf for me as I didn’t know the postal code for 7d, and I’m still not sure that bones can actually ache, but I won’t argue with dictionaries. I also couldn’t parse ‘bear-real-learn,” but the definition and crossers didn’t leave much room for doubt. Lots of good clues, particularly 11a, 3d, 5d, and 19d. Thanks to Boatman and Manehi.

  24. Tough but ultimately kind of satisfying. Found the theme a bit forced. Agree about bone-ache. Never used it or heard it used. Cacchinate new to me too;though not the doing of it! Wonder where it comes from and how shall I remember it? Laughter is catching and innate maybe…?

  26. Mostly at the easier end of Boatman’s range, but I was held up by a couple of short ones for which my general knowledge was inadequate in DART and SNIP. CACHINNATE was new to me too but couldn’t be anything else once the crossers were in place.

    Thanks to Boatman and manehi

  27. Great puzzle. Thanks to Boatman, always a fun setter, and Manehi. In regards to 19d a little ambiguous since truly a Sailor also knows how to tack.

  28. DaveinNCarolina @23 and Yaffle @24, if you ever get dengue fever, you will know why it is called “bone breaker” fever. Believe me, I know, your bones can ache!
    I found this puzzle very uneven, with some clues easy write-ins and some very hard. DNG Snip. But a fun exercise all the same. Thanks to setter (why Boatman, by the way?) and assembled bloggers.

  29. Thanks Boatman and manehi

    Roberto @ 28: my understanding is that when he started setting Boatman was living on a houseboat of some type. Whether or not he still does I don’t know.

  31. Really enjoyed that. It’s all been said above so let me just reiterate the thanks to B for a good puzzle and m for an excellent blog which clarified everything perfectly.

  32. I guessed BONE ACHE – and BORED if I’m honest. One of the few times when the theme, once identified, actually helped! I think I remember CACHINNATE from the Greyfriars books. Incidentally has anyone else noticed the resemblance of Tory Mp Mark Francois to the fictional character Billy Bunter?
    Anyway, nice puzzle.
    Thanks Boatman.

  33. Roberto and Simon – There’s also a tiny copy of the plans of my erstwhile boat on my website at http://boatmancryptics.co.uk/about/ … There’s no boat now, as the floating way of living wasn’t really compatible with a new baby and a growing number of dogs – it used to take Mrs B about 10 minutes to get all of them off the barge and (according to species and temperament) either tied to a lamppost or installed in a buggy. It was fun while it lasted, though.

  34. Yarn is in 14a because it’s one of the things a haberdasher supplied. Spinning yarn obviously puts one off the scent.

  35. TerriBlislow, I’m with you and (sorry) I’m a southeasterner. ‘Berry a learn’ conceivably but never in a thousand years ‘bear real learn’, which would need two Ls, anyway.

  36. “bear-real-learn” in 15d is fine. The clue says this is what you are told, not how you would say it. So as long as it is reasonably possible that someone would pronounce “bear-real-learn” so that it sounds like “burial urn” the clue works. Indeed, it works better this way, because if that is not your pronunciation, you will hear “burial urn” rather than an instruction to “carry actual train”.

  37. Many thanks, Boatman. When I see your name on the grid I’m confident I won’t be disappointed. So often, a promising diversion from a favourite setter turns out to be little more than a write-in with nice surfaces. I’d far rather be puzzled than entertained by “story telling” surfaces (not that this lacked the latter) though agree with beery that this was B at his “easier end”.

    Cachinnate, new to me, a lovely word was clearly clued. How to remember? It strikes me that:
    ‘Cachinnate + Cacophony = Cackle’ might serve as an accurate aide-mémoire?

    Nice crossword, and an exemplary blog. Thank you, Boatman. Thank you, Manehi.

  38. Thanks Manehi. I needed help with some of the parsing – bored especially (LOI as i could not see why it was that, I agree with others re not seeing it as a synonym for sick) and islam – i got that one early but for the life of me could not work out the clue, although now I can’t work out why it was so difficult. I very much enjoyed this until my last two, being bored and cachinnate, the latter took me a while to figure out (and then check in the dictionary). Favs were 2d and 11a. Fun to learn a new word though thanks to Boatman for an enjoyable challenge

  40. Except: where does the NDA bit of linen draper come from in the clue?  I get “line” “r” and “per”, but that leaves NDA unaccunted for.

  41. Thanks all, and Boatman for confirming the parsing of 28ac.

    Beobachterin – the NDA is (and)* i.e. an anagram of ‘and’; indicated as “and changing” in the surface

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